Title: L'amore Reale

Author: Stephanie (AKA Damara)

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: Ok everyone here's the spiel…these characters are not mine, they belong to J.J. and ABC. Although, if I had my way that glorious man Michael would be all mine!

Spoilers: (Sydney/Vaughn) Set Post-Salvation and The Getaway.

Summary: The only thing he couldn't have died knowing, was that she would never know how much he loved her. Because he'd never told her…and after the events of their last mission…that was unacceptable.


The abandoned warehouse was quiet as usual…dark and lonely.

CIA Agent Michael Vaughn stood pacing across the cement floor, strangely conscious of every hairline fracture he saw in the cement. Normally this location was reserved only as a rendezvous point for his debriefings with Sydney Bristow; but today it would serve another purpose.

This warehouse, over the last year and a half, had become a sort of comfort zone to him. Strangely, the connection he'd forged with the location provided a very distinct and real sense of solace for him.

This territory was theirs…his and Sydney's; the one and only place where they could both meet without fear of prying eyes.

And yet, while they both longed for more, and grasped at the sanctity of the connection that was theirs alone, they both shared the reality that their work must come first.

Until now

He'd accepted up to this point that they couldn't act on their feelings for one another, despite how terribly hard it was for him to do so. But after their latest brush with death, he simply couldn't use the dangers of the CIA and SD-6 as an excuse anymore.

He could have faced death; he could have accepted that fate knowing that it was a consequence of his loyalty and love for Sydney, for he wouldn't have been exposed to the virus that nearly claimed his life if not for her. The only thing he couldn't have died knowing, was that she would never know how much he loved her.

Because he'd never told her…and after the events of their last mission…that was unacceptable.

Whether it was a result of his fear of discovery by higher ranking officers, putting her life in jeopardy or even her rejection of the same sentiments, it didn't matter any longer. If he never did anything else for the rest of his life, he had to at least tell her the truth.

He owed her that much. And more importantly, he loved her too much to deny it to himself any longer…hence his reason for summoning Sydney's father, Jack, to this secret warehouse.

Vaughn knew that he needed to make his intentions to Jack known; he'd come to respect the tumultuous relationship between Sydney and her father over the course of their work together. But also he recognized the logistical reasoning behind such a meeting.

Jack and he would most certainly need to continue working together; and he needed him to know that his feelings for Sydney were significant enough to warrant taking the risk that they might be discovered.

He only hoped that Jack Bristow wouldn't shoot him on the spot when he heard what he had to say.