Disclaimer: nothing is mine
Here you go. Thanks for the reviews.
Sydney walked out of the cell block then to go back to work. She went to find her father after walking out. He was in his office looking over a report, he looked up and smiled as she walked in.
"Hey Dad"
"Hello sweetheart. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, I just have to ask you to approve something" she said.
He pressed a button before continuing "What?"
"Well yesterday after the park we went to meet some of Zara's contacts" his eyes widened at this "They weren't Covenant or at least they are but they're trying to bring them do from the inside"
He looked at her as she told him everything that had happened yesterday. He was shocked at the mention of Yann Kowal and Ivan Filipov.
"I thought they were both dead" he said after she had finished.
"Who?" asked Sydney
"Kowal and Filipov" he said "They are good men they helped us on many occasions. They were Polish and Russian intelligence but they wanted the cold war to end as soon as possible."
"Well they want to help bring the target in and Zara said that we should go and get their help in shadowing her today"
"Does she think it's necessary?" asked Jack.
"Yes she seemed quite adamant about that" Sydney thought for a minute "She seemed scared too come to think of it."
"We should take her advice then" said Jack "I'll talk to Dixon about Weiss going there"
"Vaughn or me or both of us will have to go with him. They would probably think that they had been caught they seem to know everything that is going on"
"Then I'll talk to Dixon about the three of you going now" he got up and went to leave but Sydney started to talk again.
"Could we put Zara into a safe house rather than in that cell?" she asked "Even though I'm sure Mum enjoys having someone to talk to. She has to have lessons and it would be easier to have them in a safe house than entailing a guard to stand in the cell while the tutor is in there"
"I'll talk to Dixon" he said again "Sydney go and find Vaughn. Just get him out of everyone's hair, he's been driving everyone mad"
"How?"
"By being irritable and having sudden bursts of rage for no reason."
"Where's Lauren?"
"She's at the house preparing to go on a trip. Please Sydney go and find Agent Vaughn and calm him down. You were always the only one who could do that"
She shook her head slightly surprised that her father was encouraging her to see Vaughn.
"Alright I'll go" she said and walked out to find Vaughn.
She found him after about ten minutes of searching. He was at his desk. He didn't see her. She walked over to her desk and scribbled a quick note on a scrap of paper. She walked to his desk and stopped in front of it putting one hand on it.
"Hey" she said
"I'll get it done alright" he said not looking up
"Vaughn" Sydney sighed he was annoyed. He looked up at his name.
"Sorry Syd" he said "I'm just tired"
She smiled and put her head on one side gently pushing the note towards him. He went to get a new pen and grabbed the note at the same time.
"Aren't we all" she said "We might have to go out and about in a minute"
"Ok" he said
"See you later then"
"Ok" he said and she walked away. He continued writing for a few minutes before unfolding the note and reading it.
Meet me in the second computer room on the left off the north corridor in 20 minutes. It's not under surveillance we can talk freely.
Pinch SHe smiled after he read it and quickly put it in his pocket.
Nineteen minutes later he was outside the room. He looked quickly from side to side. He gripped the folder he was holding and walked in. Sydney wasn't there yet so he just sat down in the corner of the room on the chair there. A minute later she walked in. She didn't notice him at first and let out a frustrated sigh as she put the folder she was carrying down.
"I hope that wasn't because of me" Vaughn said and she spun round to face him.
"Don't do that" she said smiling slightly "And no it wasn't I'm just tired."
"Join the club" he said stretching "So what's up?"
"Well.." then she told him all about what had happened with Zara that morning and her dad. When she was finished she walked over to him and pinched his arm.
"Hey what was that for?"
"I promised you a pinch to prove I wasn't a hallucination" she said smiling.
"Aren't I supposed to pinch you if you are supposed to be a hallucination?"
"Maybe" she said and shrugged "I don't know"
"Well then"
"Ow!" she said jumping away from him
"You're not a dream then"
"No, did you have to pinch that hard?"
"I'm sorry" he said gently stroking her arm.
"Hey I'm ok you're nothing compared to 250 pound security"
"I should hope so. I don't think I ever want to be 250 pounds thank you"
"Good" she smiled at him. She still couldn't shake the image of his lifeless eyes from his head. "Vaughn" she said quietly.
He looked up at her jade met brown. He saw some fear in those eyes. He walked over to her and opened his arms. She fell into them, not quite crying but shaking. He rubbed circles on her back.
"Syd, it's ok. I'm here tell me what wrong." He whispered and she pulled back slightly so she could look him in the eyes.
"Please be careful of her Vaughn" Sydney whispered.
"I will be" Her eyes began to fill with tears and he put a hand up to her cheek "Syd what happened?"
"It's stupid" she said breaking away from him.
"No Syd nothing that gets you this worked up is nothing" he caught her arms and turned her round to face him. "Tell me" he pleaded. She never could lie to those emerald eyes that held so much of her.
"I had a nightmare. It was horrible" she looked at the floor.
"Syd" Vaughn lifted her head holding her chin with one hand "What happened?"
"I had a flashback, Sloane was in the room talking to me about you. Saying you wouldn't be the same when I came back that you were falling for someone else. He just kept doing it then I was in my old apartment and Will was there then I walked through a door." She paused and looked at him "I saw her holding you tied up you looked hurt and scared then… then"
Vaughn hugged her close silencing her. He could guess what happened next. He didn't know what to say to comfort her properly.
"Syd, I promise I'll be careful" he whispered to her "I won't leave you again nor will I let you get hurt"
She started to sob and he rocked her gently whispering comforting words to her. It wasn't so much the dream that set Sydney off, it was everything and his promise. His words always got to her no matter how much she tried to hide the fact. They had from the very beginning, he could show he cared in a single word, gesture or look.
They stood there holding each other for awhile before Sydney calmed down enough to speak
"We'd better go and see if it has been cleared"
"Ok" he said gently letting go of her slowly, she was still nervous he could tell, at least she hadn't pulled away sooner. They stood for a second looking at each other. "You go out first" and she nodded. Just as she was about to walk out the door she turned to him and whispered.
"Stay strong"
He sighed he wanted to just kiss her and hug her to him right then and never let her go but he had to keep up this charade even when she wasn't here it seemed.
TBC
Hope you like.