Title: The Ace of Hearts
Author: Melanie(that would be me)or sweetsouthernbell07 (Vaughn'n'Syd4eva on Sd-1)
Rating: PG-PG-13...somewhere in there
Summary: Sydney and Vaughn play a card game to pass the time on a plan trip.
A/N: Okay so this is set during The Prophecy...and yeah, I know that Syd and Vaughn said that they would have to fly to Vatican City in seperate planes but for the point of this story, I changed it. It's all about the S/V fluff anyway, right? This was originally an entry to the FFWF fanfic challage, so yeah...

Enjoy!

She looked up, shook her head, and dropped it again, trying to read the page in front of her. No such luck.

On normal missions, she would have things to do. But not this mission. This one didn't entail learning the schematics of a building or trying to figure out one of Marshall's latest creations or keeping up an alias on the plane. In fact, now she had very little to do. She knew the blueprints of the Vatican. She knew exactly what to do with the equipment. And on the small private CIA plane with only Vaughn and the pilot to keep her company, there wasn't any alias to keep up.

In short, Sydney Bristow was bored.

Finally fed up with the whole situation, she slammed the book closed and with an overly exaggerated sigh, she said, "Fine, we'll play your game."

A smile passed through Vaughn's eyes as he reached for the deck of cards in his briefcase, a novelty that could be blamed on Weiss for even being there.

Sydney watched as he split the deck in half, after shuffling it, and handed her one of the halves. A small smile played on her lips. "So, how do you play this game?"

"Well…" He started, "It's a combination of a whole bunch of games." She nodded, silently telling him to continue. "Okay, so number cards, two through five are truth or dare cards. For instance, if you draw a three, you ask truth or dare and so on."

She nodded, "Okay."

"Number cards six through ten are shot cards. You draw a seven, the other person has to take a shot."

"There's one problem with that." She paused, and he looked at her, "How are we going to take shots without any liquor?"

He laughed lightly, and reached over to his briefcase again, and extracted two shot glasses and a bottle of tequila. At her confused expression, he explained, "Weiss put them in there. I didn't realize it until after we took off."

"Did Weiss think that you and I would be drinking on this flight?" She asked, lightly, the realizing something, she added in a darker tone, "Weiss knows about the mission?"

"He knows but he's trustworthy. Man keeps secrets like no other. He won't tell anyone."

"Good to know."

A smirk touched his lips briefly before he continued explaining the game. "Face cards are money cards. You draw a face card, the other has to give you money. Jacks are five, Queens are ten, and Kings are twenty."

"That's smart," She commented, "What about aces?"

Now he was flushed a slight red color. The Michael Vaughn is nervous and blushing, she thought wryly.

"Well…the ace of diamonds, spades, and clubs are stripping cards. If you draw one, the other person has to strip an article of clothing."

Now she understood why he was embarrassed. Who wouldn't be? "What about the ace of hearts?"

"The kiss card." He answered. "You get to kiss whoever you want and they can't argue."

"Hence why it's the ace of hearts, it might be your only chance to kiss a person you have a crush on." She reasoned.

"Yes, exactly."

"How bored where you when you made up this game?" She asked the question, lightly and without judgment.

"Not bored," He explained, "But very very drunk. It was a college thing." He shrugged.

"Okay, let's play." She reached for her half of the deck that she had placed on the table between them, picked off the top card, and set it down face up. "Four." She paused in her sentence, and looked at him, "Truth or Dare, Vaughn?"

"Truth."

"Chicken," She teased, eliciting another smile from him. "What's you favorite childhood memory?"

"Lame question," He teased back, this time eliciting a smile from her. "I used to spend my summers in France and down the street from my mother's family's home; there was this ice cream shop. They had the best ice cream in the world." He paused before adding, "We should go sometime." She smiled. "Anyway, my dad used to take me there every day we were in France."

"That's sweet," She commented.

Nodding, he reached for his half of the deck and picked off the top card. "Seven, take a shot, Syd."

Making a face, she picked up the shot glass he set on the table and threw back the tequila quickly, wishing there was some salt and lime. Then she plucked a card off her half, "Queen. Ten bucks, Vaughn."

He shook his head and pulled out his wallet. "I always hate this part of the game." His hand extracted a ten dollar bill and tossed it over to her.

"Really? Cause I love it." She smirked.

He reached for a card, "Two. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

He rested his head in his hand, trying to think of a question. "How fast can you disarm the alarm?"

She rolled her eyes, "Business freak." He smiled. "Under twenty seconds. Would you relax already?"

"I can try."

"Good, now…ten. You're turn for a shot."

He made the same face she did when she had to take a shot and threw it back easily, silently mirroring her same wish for salt and a lime. "I hate this part, too."

She laughed. "Okay, so…four. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Do you ever pick dare?" He teased.

"Sometimes."

"Okay, what's your favorite fairy tale?"

"Alice in Wonderland," She said, immediately.

"You know, the guy who wrote that was tripping on acid."

Her head tilted to the side, "What?"

"Little known fact."

Smiling, she added, "Anyway, my mom used to read that to me every night." They shared a silent understanding about the loss of a parent for a moment before she picked off another card. "Ace of spades. Strip it, big boy."

A smirk passed by on his lips and he reached down and took of his shoe. "There."

"You chicken," She said, feigning disappointment.

"I know." Another card. "Jack, hand me five dollars."

She took the ten he gave her earlier, ripped it in half and threw him one of the halves. "There."

"This is half of a ten."

"And half of ten is five." She pointed out.

"You're evil."

"I know," She reached for another card. "Six. Another shot."

He threw back the shot, grimacing, "I told you that I hate this part of this game, right?" She nodded. "Okay…eight. Ha ha! A shot for Miss Bristow."

She threw him a glare before throwing back the shot. "I hate this part too." He laughed. "Five. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"You chicken," She teased, "So, what's your favorite fairy tale?"

"Cinderella." At her raised eyebrow, he explained. "It's French. My mother used to read it to my sister all the time. It stuck."

"Okay, not so weird anymore." They shared a laugh. "King…twenty big ones."

"I really hate this part." He said, pulling a twenty out of his wallet and tossing it to her. "So…three. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Adventurous today?" He teased and she shrugged. "Okay, when we get back to L.A., I dare you to walk down the cat food aisle of a pet store, singing 'Ice Ice baby' as loud as you can."

"You strange little man," She shook her head and then nodded. "And fine." He smiled and she picked another card. "Six."

"Damnit," He swore before taking the shot. "Third one." He shook his head in disbelief. "Ace of diamonds."

Mischievously, she unzipped her sweater, revealing a white t-shirt and slipped it off slowly, then tossed it to the side, causing him to swallow hard. "Two. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"You're so chicken!" She half yelled. "What's your favorite season and why?"

"Fall because summers in L.A. are hot. So fall's a nice break from the heat." He shook his head, slightly, "So…nine. Shot time."

She grimaced and threw back the shot quickly, "I definitely hate this part." He laughed. "Jack."

"Here," He tossed the half of a ten back to her, "Your five back."

She laughed, "Good, my half was getting lonely." She put the two halves off to the side and reached for another card, "Ace of clubs. You know the deal."

It was his turn to her a mischievous look, as he pulled off the sweater he wore, over his head, revealing a black t-shirt. She swallowed hard. 'It's just Vaughn. Just Vaughn. A very sexy Vaughn!'

"Five. Truth or dare, Syd?"

"Truth."

"What do you really think of the prophecy?"

She lowered her head, momentarily and just as he was going to apologize and ask another question, she said quietly, "I hope he's wrong." She didn't offer more and he didn't ask. Shaking off the dark mood, she reached for another card, "King."

"Here," He tossed her another twenty. "Ten, shot time again."

She laughed and took the shot easily, in a weak effort to forget what they were talking about. "Four. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Instead of commenting that he was chicken, she asked, "Why do you want to help me?"

"Because I believe that there is no way you could ever be this person that Rambaldi's talking about."

She half smiled, "Thanks."

"You don't need to thank me." He assured. "Jack." She threw him one of the halves of the ripped ten and he laughed. "I knew you were going to do that."

"Agent Bristow? Agent Vaughn?" Both Sydney and Vaughn stopped in their game and looked up to see the pilot standing in the cabin with them. "We've landed."

"Thank you," Sydney said quietly and the pilot nodded, then returned to the cockpit. She turned to Vaughn and smiled, "That was fun."

"Yeah, it was." He agreed. Then, he stood up, grabbed the two shot glasses and the tequila bottle and tossed those into his briefcase. After that, he picked up his half of the ten, put it in his wallet and put his wallet away. Then he put his shoe back on, picked up his sweater but didn't put it back on, gathered the rest of his stuff and without a word spoken between them, stepped off the plane through the door the pilot had opened without either of them noticing. Before he left, he smiled at her briefly.

Smiling and curiosity getting the better of her, she picked up the next card off her half of the deck. "The ace of hearts," She mused, smiling wider. She stood up, gathered her things as well, including her half of the ten, and glanced at the card.

"Maybe someday."

And before I lead you all on to think that there might notbe a new chapter, I will tell you here and now that I am planning more for this story and I will have it up by Christmas. Okay? Sound good? Now please review and tell me what you think!