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vaughnfan: Jack couldn't tell Sydney the fact that he actually attended her wedding.

Disclaimer: The title of this chapter comes from the song 'Back in Black' by AC/DC

I've Been Too Long, I'm Glad To Be Back

Will sat at his desk, staring at his computer screen. The article really needed to be written, but his mind was elsewhere. One phone call, that's all it would take. But what would the repercussions be? If Sydney found out she would kill him. Will did not doubt that for a second. And what if the results confirmed his suspicions? How would he tell Sydney? He could just imagine trying to explain that.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. 'Stuff it,' he thought. He had Sydney's best interest at heart, and if his intuition was telling him that something was off, then something was off.

Picking up his phone, he dialled and then waited for the reply.

"Hey Marty…yeah, it's Will…not bad, you…I was just wondering if you could run a background check for me…anything you can get…his name is Michael Vaughn…ok then, thanks. Speak to you soon."

Placing the phone back in the receiver, Will turned back to his computer. He could focus on that article now.

Sydney was sitting mid-flight, immersed in the mission debrief. It felt so right that she had been tasked on another op. It had been too long. Yet, there was also a slight anxious feeling inside of her. After all, it had been over six months since she had been in the field.

Those thoughts were shoved to the back of her mind when she felt somebody sit down next to her. Looking up she saw that it Vaughn.

"Hey," she smiled, closing the debrief.

"Hey," he replied. "So, you ready for this?"

Sydney's head cocked slightly. "Why wouldn't I be ready?"

Vaughn shrugged. "It has been a while since you've been in the field."

Sydney tried hard not to stare incredulously at him. He had just echoed her exact thoughts. But, even given that, she wasn't about to let on that she was a little bit nervous.

"So what?" she replied breezily. "It's just like rising a bike."

Vaughn grinned. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. And besides it's not exactly the most complicated mission I've ever been tasked."

And that was the truth. The CIA had come into intel about a possible collaborator of Sloane's. Eli Rifque was a millionaire playboy who had connections to many organized crime groups. He currently resided in a penthouse in a Roman hotel. The mission was simple. Sydney was to catch his attention and get an invite up to his room- and given his reputation that would be a piece of cake. Once there she was to render him unconscious and then access and copy his computer hard drive.

"True," Vaughn agreed. "But I guess only time will tell us exactly how rusty you are."

"Oh thanks!" Sydney laughed indignantly. "That's a real nice vote of confidence."

"You know I'm joking," Vaughn replied. "We both know that you are going to great."

Sydney smiled. "Great or not, I am just glad to be back."

Sydney paused at the entryway to the hotel bar, fighting the urge to adjust her fitted black dress. Instead, she reached up and brushed a strand of her curly blonde wig out of her eye.

"See anything?" Vaughn's voice asked, coming through the comms in her ear.

Sydney took a second before answering, her eyes gazing around the room. "Got him," she replied. "He's at the bar. I'm going in."

Grabbing her mobile out of her bag, she pressed it to her ear and moved forward.

"I am sick of this…." she announced, sitting on a stool one down from Rifque. "If you think that you can just bail on me…just think long and hard about what you are missing out on…fine. Bye." She sighed huffily and then snapped her phone shut.

"Man troubles?" Rifque commented, his tone casual. Sydney turned to him.

"You could say that." She paused and then offered him her hand. "I'm Claudia."

If Rifque was surprised by her forwardness he did not let on. He simply accepted her gesture. "Eli."

"Well, Eli," Sydney smiled. "How about you buy me a drink?"

Rifque let out a small chuckle. "You certainly don't waste any time."

"What can I say? I'm in the mood for a little payback and a lot of fun," she said, subtly tracing her lower lip with her tongue. "Do you think that you could help me with that Eli?"

He raised his glass to his lips, taking a mouthful before answering. "Is that a proposition?"

"It's whatever you want it to be."

A faint smile crossed Rifque's face. "Well then, what's your poison?"

Outside the hotel, Vaughn and Weiss were inside a communications van, monitoring exactly what was going on between Sydney and Rifque.

"They're on their way up," Vaughn said. "You ready for the uplink?"

"Yup." Weiss replied, hitting a key on the computer in front of him. "She works fast, doesn't she?"

"She's one of the best," Vaughn commented. "What more would you expect?"

Weiss looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "So…I didn't get a chance to ask. How did the dinner go?"

"It was fine," Vaughn replied in a non-committal tone.

"Just fine?" Weiss winked.

"Wha…why are you winking like some sleazy goon?"

"Oh come off it, Vaughn. Everybody sees the way you two talk to each other—"

"Ssh." Vaughn suddenly cut him off, intense concentration written over his face. "She's in."

"Welcome to my humble abode," Rifque announced, with arms wide spread.

"Humble is not the word I would use," Sydney smiled, glancing around. Rifque's laptop was sitting right on the coffee table. "So, are we alone?"

"Of course," Rifque replied. "Would you like a drink?"

"Thank you," Sydney replied, opening her small bag and pulling out the lipstick Marshall had supplied her with. While it appeared to contain cosmetics is was essentially a tranquilliser gun.

"How long have you been living here?" she asked as Rifque turned his back to prepare their drinks. Taking a few steps forward, she lined up her shot.

"About…" To Sydney's horror Rifque bent down at the last second and instead of injecting itself into his skin, the tranq hit the wall above his head. He straightened in a flash. "What the hell…" he whipped around, facing Sydney. "Who are you?"

Sydney replied the only way she knew how to in a situation like this- with her fist.

Vaughn and Weiss had no way of distinguishing who was landing which hit, but it definitely sounded rough in there, and Vaughn had no hesitation in making his decision.

"I'm going in," he said pulling off his headpiece and throwing open the van's door.

"Vaughn, we've got back up to do that." Weiss protested.

"I don't care," Vaughn said bluntly. "Are you right to stay here?"

Weiss nodded, realizing that there was no point in trying to persuade Vaughn to stay. "Stay on comms," he said, handing over an earpiece. "Keep me posted."

Vaughn ran, but slowed when he got to the hotel lobby, not wanting to attract any unwanted attraction. However as he reached the elevator, Weiss's voice came through his ear.

"Vaughn."

"Yeah?"

"Syd's comm just cut out. You need to get up there ASAP."

Irina hung up the phone, an extremely pleased smile on her face. "The meeting's scheduled," she said, standing up.

Sloane looked up from his computer. "Blaine?"

"Yes," Irina replied. "And if he has the code key as promised…"

"Nobody will be able to stop us," Sloane smiled.

Irina nodded. "What about the CIA? What are they up to?"

Sloane laughed maliciously. "On a wild goose chase. They've gone after Rifque."

Vaughn burst into the hotel room, his gun raised. The sight of Sydney lying unconscious on the floor, with Rifque standing over her with a gun caused his heart to plummet.

Rifque, without hesitation, turned on Vaughn, firing his gun. Throwing himself down under the cover of the coffee table, Vaughn fired off his own gun, hitting Rifque square in the chest with a tranq.

With Rifque no longer a threat, Vaughn jumped up, noticing that the laptop had been destroyed by a bullet and was by Sydney's side in a second. There was already a bruise forming around a gash on her temple.

"Syd," he shook her gently. "Sydney, wake up."

She groaned and mumbled something incoherently.

"Vaughn?" Weiss's voice came over his comms. "What's going on?"

"Syd's out of it." Vaughn replied. "I'll be coming out the east fire exit. Meet us outside."

Then scooping Sydney into his arms, he started on the stairs outside. He was about halfway down when Sydney started to come to.

"Vaughn?" she sounded confused, stirring slightly in his arms

"Yeah." Relief coursed through his. She was ok.

"Wha…" She opened her eyes, wincing at the harsh lights. "What happened?"

"By the looks of it you copped a pistol whip to the temple."

"The hard drive?"

"No good. Rifque didn't have the best aim. Hit his laptop instead of me."

"Oh…" Sydney trailed off. "Vaughn."

"Hmm?"

"You can put me down now. I'll be ok to walk."

"You sure?"

Sydney nodded as so he stopped and let her down on her feet. Then, with him supporting her, the two of them continued on their way.

"Hey," Sydney looked said looking up at Vaughn. "Thank you."

Vaughn smiled. "You're welcome."

Sydney's expression turned wry. "I guess I was a little rusty, hey?"

Vaughn chuckled. "Maybe a little."

She suddenly sobered. "I should have got that hard drive," she muttered. "We've got nothing."

"Hang on a sec, Syd. It's still early days. Don't go all defeatist on me just yet."

But Sydney was feeling anything but defeated. If anything she was even more determined to be the one who found her mother and Sloane. There was no way she would stop until they were in the CIA clucthes. None.