A/N: Okay...it's Christmas time and that means update! Whoo-hoo! So...Harry Chrismahanukwazakha to you all...and I watch far too much TV for my own good...

"Daddy?"

All three pairs of eyes turned towards the door and the little girl standing just inside it. Cory stared at Vaughn, obvious wonder in her eyes and something else that Sydney deemed to be alarm. An awkward silence fell over them as no one made the move to say or do anything.

It was one of those moments where you realize that all your mistakes, faults, choices, and judgments have affect someone besides just yourself. You realize that your imperfections have caused another life pain, more pain than was ever necessary. Your entire life, especially your missteps flash before your eyes and you're powerless to stop it. You see the troubles you've caused that other person and regret fills your very soul. And you can't do anything but let the regret and bitterness sweep its way over you.

"Daddy?" Cory repeated, barely above a whisper. This time Vaughn managed a nod. Cory frowned and yelled out, "You can't be my daddy." Then she turned and ran back outside. Trish, who had come back towards the house after Cory, stood in the doorway, staring blankly at her nephew before gritting her teeth and going after Cory.

Vaughn exhaled deeply while his hand pinched the bridge of his nose. "What did she mean by that?"

Sydney took offense by the innocent question and retorted, shortly, "Hell if I should know. You're mister-know-it-all, why don't you tell me?"

He winced visibly, and looked at her with pleading eyes, "Syd…"

She waved her hand dismissively, "Just don't."

Claire's heavy sigh turned both of their attentions from their brewing fight and to her.

Sydney's face clouded with concern. "Is something the matter Claire?"

Claire shook her head, "No…nothing that can't be solved by a very long talk."

Sydney's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean?"

"Earlier, Trish took it upon herself to 'make Cory feel better,'" Claire said, air quotes and all. "I don't know exactly what she said, but apparently it's changed Cory's view of you, Michael."

Vaughn's eyebrows nearly reached his hairline and he asked. "What happened to being mad at me?"

Claire sighed impatiently with a motherly tint to it, "I can wait to yell and scream at you. I don't think Cory can."

"Hold on a minute," Sydney cut in. "You want him to go talk to her?" Claire nodded. "Oh no," Sydney protested, "If anything I am going to talk to my daughter because unlike some people, I have been there for her."

Vaughn winced again but said nothing, and silently contemplated how the two women in his life had so suddenly reversed positions. Next thing he knew they were going to switch again…

"Sydney," Claire chided, "I think Cory needs an explanation from her father. You just going out there will only convince her more of whatever Trish told her."

Sydney sighed, resignedly, and turned to Vaughn, a glare in her eyes. "Remember what you promised me." Vaughn nodded silently and went out the back door in search of his daughter. Sydney stared after him for a couple moments before turning back to Claire. "Claire…"

Claire interrupted her, "She needs to hear it from him, Sydney."

Sydney sighed again, her shoulders falling. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I don't like that much either, Sydney." Claire snapped. "What got into you? Bringing him back here? After everything that he did to you?"

Sydney smiled, in spite of herself at Claire's worrying. It seemed at times that the elderly woman thought of Sydney as her real daughter and Vaughn the one who married into the family and not the other way around. She sank into one of the kitchen table chairs before responding, quietly. "I still love him Claire." She turned her head upwards and looked at her mother-in-law. "Does that make me the weakest person you've ever met or what?"

Claire shook her head and didn't laugh at Sydney's after comment. "No, Sydney…" She said, "That makes you human."

Sydney gave a bitter laugh but said nothing.

She shrieked with laughter and wriggled on the ground as his merciless hands tickled her sides (her only ticklish spot) ruthlessly. He straddled her waist, pinning her to the ground and making escape impossible, not that she wanted to escape much anyway. It was these moments, of free laughter and no worries that she lived for and held close on the endless trips around the world. The life of a spy was so lonely sometimes and Sydney counted the days until she was Mrs. Michael Vaughn and she could quit that life.

"Vaughn!" She shrieked, "Stop!"

Vaughn just laughed.

Somehow, Sydney managed the effort to beat her hands wildly in the air, trying to stop his incessant tickling. One of Vaughn's hands left her side and with one sweep, caught both her wrists in his powerful grip. Then he pinned her hands above her head, trapping her even more than before.

Sydney pouted at her defeat, still wriggling helplessly against his relentless tickling. "Stop!" She yelled again, laughing.

Vaughn did stop on command this time and she exhaled deeply. "Thank you."

"Say it," He commanded softly.

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "No. You can't make me," She relied.

He raised a hand over her stomach, ready to strike, and repeated, "Say it."

Her eyes widened in shock. Being tickled again was definitely not in her immediateplans. "Okay! I will!"

He put his hand down and waited for her. When she didn't continue, his hand twitched, getting ready to tickle her again. "Well?"

She smiled. "Get off me first."

A frown touched his brow. "But I have such a good view from where I'm sitting." He whined.

She laughed. "I bet you do. Now off."

He grumbled but obeyed her command nonetheless.

Sydney sat up, and rubbed the back of her neck as though it pained her. It didn't really, it was just a distraction to delay the inevitable.

"Come on," Vaughn nudged.

"Fine," She sighed and mumbled a few words that sounded remarkably like, "stupid stubborn Frenchman." Vaughn laughed and poked her in the side to hurry her up. "Okay, fine. The Kings are the best hockey team in the league."

"And?" He prompted.

"And," She sighed, "The Rangers suck."

"And?" He prompted again.

"And," She said through gritted teeth, "They smell bad too."

He grinned. "Now, was that so hard?"

She laughed. "What is it with you and your precious Kings?"

His mouth dropped a little. "Syd! They're the best team in the league, you said so yourself. Not the stupid Rangers. The Kings."

She leaned back on her arms, craning her head towards the sky, "Hmm…sometimes I think you love your Kings more than me."

"That simply isn't possible," He replied, leaning over to kiss her cheek. She turned her head at the last second and he caught her lips instead. She leaned into the kiss before breaking it off with a smile playing on her lips. His eyes opened, a little disappointed and saw her looking at him. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

He decided not to push her on it and got to his feet instead. She looked at him confused when he offered a hand to help her up. "Come on, let's go get ice cream."

She smiled and accepted his hand. "I'm going to make you get coffee."

He laughed, "Not if I can help it."

Vaughn sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair again. This was going to be harder than he thought. Sydney and his mother had been somewhat to not at all forgiving but then again, they had known him for a very long time and they were adults, they comprehended things better than a child did. Cory on the other hand, was neither. She had never met him –though he was pretty sure that she had seen at least a picture of him and knew who he was- and she was only six years old. She wouldn't understand that her daddy left because he thought that he was doing the right thing.

He sighed again and had to push himself to walk up to where Cory and Trish sat under the shade of a large oak tree. He bit back the wistful smile when he realized that Cory had picked this place to run away to. He used to do it all the time when he younger and had a fight with his mother.

He cleared his throat and two heads jerked up to look at him. Cory merely looked down again and started to play with grass beneath her fingers. Trish, on the other hand, she looked livid. "What are you doing here?" She hissed, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him out of hearing range of Cory.

Vaughn had neither the time nor the energy tofight with his crazy aunt and he sighed. "I just want to talk to my daughter."

Trish snorted and crossed her arms across her chest. "Your daughter?" She repeated. "Some father you've been. Walking out on her and her mother before she was even born!"

Vaughn sighed again and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Maman said you said something to her. What did you say?"

"As if I would tell you." Trish retorted.

Vaughn scoffed. "Stop being difficult, Aunt Trish, and just tell me."

Trish eyed him carefully and decided after a long while to ignore his snappy tone. "She was upset about you, among other things." Vaughn's eyes narrowed at the mention of 'other things' but he decided not to ask. "So, to give her some closure on your disappearing act, I told her that last week when I was consulting my crystal ball…" Vaughn snorted and again stayed wordless. "…you contacted me from beyond the grave."

Vaughn stared at her. "Beyond the grave?" He repeated after a long silence. "I cannot believe you did that."

"Did what?"

"Did what?" Vaughn repeated, incredulously. "You told her that I was dead! I knew your crystal ball gazing and your psychic readings were a fraud but I never thought that you would go so far but to tell my daughter that I was dead."

Trish stayed level headed, unlike him. "What would you rather I told her?"

"Nothing," Vaughn snapped. "You should have kept your big mouth shut and not have told her anything." He exhaled heavily, and pinched the bridge of his nose for a couple minutes.

"Michael…"

Vaughn shook his head, slowly. "I don't want to talk about it." He said slowly. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go talk to my daughter and try to do some damage control before she gets it in her head that I'm a ghost." Trish stared at him as he walked away from her and back over to where Cory sat playing idly in the grass for a couple minutes before storming back towards the house.

Cory ignored him for several minutes, intent on making a grass house. Vaughn took that time to really study his daughter. Sure, he had seen pictures of her (private inspectors he hired to trail her and Sydney had taken care of that) but compared to actually seeing her, pictures did not do her justice. She looked like a younger version of Sydney with green eyes. She had Sydney's hair, she had her dimples, and she had that air about her that said she could take care of herself.

Cory put the final touches on her grass house before looking up, eyes wide. "Are you a ghost?" She asked.

Vaughn wanted to laugh but he wasn't sure how she would take that, so he smiled softly and shook his head. "No, I am not a ghost."

"Then how did you talk to Aunt Trish on her crystal ball?" She continued.

"I didn't." He replied, simply.

"So Aunt Trish lied to me?" She asked, her brow furrowing in deep thought.

He nodded. "Yes, she did."

"Why'd she do that?"

Vaughn couldn't think of better reason than she was a heartless bitch, so he merely shrugged and said, "I don't know."

Cory nodded and dropped her gaze to her grass house. She was silent for a very long time and Vaughn swore that more than once, he saw her shoulders shake with silent tears. He wanted to enfold her in his arms and stop the tears but he wasn't sure how that would go. Finally she looked up and stared at him with watery green eyes. "How come you left us?" She asked in a whisper.

If it was possible, Vaughn would have built a time machine, gone back in time, kept his nosey ass out of things that should never included him, and maybe then things would go right for him. Or he could take the simple route and…well he had yet to discover that one.

As building a time machine was impossible and any other route just ended in more heartbreak for Cory, Sydney, and himself, Vaughn started to contemplate was to tell her. He couldn't tell her the whole truth. No, that would be way too much for her to understand. The last thing he wanted was to expose her to the evils of the world at such a young age. No…the whole truth would be too much for her. It was almost too much for Sydney.

The abridged version however…that might work.

"Well…" He started, slowly. She watched him with childhood innocence and unusual patience. "…it was to protect you and Mommy."

Cory tilted her head to the side, inquiringly, and after a pause asked. "Do you love me?"

Vaughn's heart melted right then and there. In less than a half hour after their first meeting, Cory had managed to worm her way into the deepest recesses of his heart reserved for only Sydney and his mother. Of course, he had always felt a love for his daughter but it had never been that deep kind of love that only grows after long amounts of time.

"Of course I do." Vaughn replied, in a hoarse whisper.

Cory nodded slowly and looked down at the grass again. "If you love me, why have you been gone forever?"

He wanted to correct her and say that he hadn't been gone forever. If he had, she wouldn't have been born. But he sensed that this was serious time for her and to laugh would probably set off her temper, which considering she was Sydney's daughter, she was pretty much guaranteed to have.

He sighed, softly and said, "It's more complicated than that."

"How?"

"It just is." Damn, she was one curious child.

"That's not a very good reason." She pointed out, matter-of-factly.

Vaughn dared laughter and surprisingly, Cory didn't get mad. Instead, she giggled. "You're right, it's not." He said, still laughing.

Cory giggled again before climbing to her feet. Vaughn watched her with a slight frown as she closed the distance –about a yard- between them and suddenly plopped down on his lap. He made a slight 'oomph' sound at the sudden weight of six year old on his lap but quickly adjusted her to one knee, balancing her weight easier.

"What's your favorite animal at the zoo?" She asked, after sighing contently.

"The elephants," Vaughn replied, smiling happily at her.

"Really?" Cory asked, excitedly. "Me too! I love elephants. I even asked Mommy if we could get one."

Vaughn laughed again. "Where would you keep it?"

"In the backyard," Cory replied, sounding very proud of herself for thinking of such a good argument for her case. She launched into a story about seeing the elephants at the zoo a couple days ago but Vaughn didn't hear any of it.

He was reveling in the fact that he had so obviously won his daughter's affection and most importantly, her forgiveness. Maybe it was because she was so young and forgiveness came easy to her or the fact that she hadn't ever fully experienced the bitter pain of his betrayal that she forgave him so quickly.

Either way, Vaughn was more than happy to accept the victory without questioning it. Now if only his mother and Aunt Trish, and Eric, and everyone he came into contact with in L.A. and most importantly, Sydney would be able to forgive and forget as easily and welcome him back into their lives.

okay…I have the feeling that some of you may hate the way I dealt with the Cory/Vaughn conversation…and I understand that but I have two very good excuses. One, Cory is six years old. Young children tend to forgive and forget a lot easier than adults. And two, I'm a sucker for the almighty God that is Vaughn and I figured that he needs someone on his side. And who better than his daughter? Don't worry…Mummy dearest –both of them- will be quite livid with Cory's acceptance. I can't make everything easy…