Author's Notes: This was one of my favourite to think about and write. Written between Season 4 and Season 5. Five vignettes that were formed at different points of time in canon; you should be able to spot each moment easily. Section headings come from song titles (Pete Yorn, Straylight Run and Stars; awesome music if you want to check them out.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Alias.
Pairing/Character: All segments are Sydney/Vaughn-centric.

FALLEN
c. 2005/disparate

i. just another

"I'm just, uh, let Mr. Weiss know if you need anything else."

"New pen. This one's dying."

Weiss fished a pen from his breast pocket and handed it to this person scribbling furiously on the pad of paper.

She looked on with interest. Red bozo hair for a male, a swollen jaw… Is he a crazy person?

Hours later, this same person was seated in her office, his eyes fixated to the photo. Ah. Darn. I knew I shouldn't have put that Danny-and-I photo in the office. She walked around him, turning the frame away from his sight and sat down.

They held talk about the situation at the CIA, and somehow, she felt … connected.

"I have an instinct."

ii. the miracle that never came

She died with each shot from the gun she held and she watched as the doppelganger stumble and fall. I'm sorry, so sorry… Pressing the trigger for the last time, she let her arm drop and felt her body slump against the wall. Will and oh God Vaughn – Santa Barbara, Dad and Mum – The Prophecy… Helix..

Slumber beckoned as she slipped off into the dark oblivion.

When she stirred awake, a groan escaped her lips as she tried to shift her body. An unfamiliar voice rang out. "Don't move, you've suffered a severe head trauma." Peeling her eyes open, she first saw the bright lights of a confined room – an ambulance, she realised – and then of Vaughn's concerned face peering over hers, his green eyes shining with such voracity.

"Where am I headed?" she managed to croak out… Then panic seized her heart. "Will! Where-"

"He lost a lot of blood, but we got to him in time. He's on his way to Cedars," he informed her. He gave a firm squeeze to her hand, brought it towards his mouth and kissed it gently.

"You're going to be okay."

iii. what i'm trying to say

"We'll find each other. We always find each other."

With these words they parted, their eyes never leaving each other's gazes. Green met brown, a desperate tinge illuminating both. As they were roughly pushed against the wall, he wanted, so badly, to hold her in his arms and assure her of a better future.

He couldn't.

They clamped their eyes shut, only to open them in the shock of excruciating pain, as twenty-odd bullets shot through their bodies. Green met brown for the last time, and then they were closed forever.

A love that was lost, but found again.

iv. set yourself on fire

"Are you sure about this?"

She wanted to nod her head; wanted to lie to the only person that mattered, but what tumbled out of her mouth spoke otherwise.

"Yes. I want to hide away."

"Your father…"

"Don't talk to me about my father," she started, a newly-found cold edge creeping on to her voice.

"Sydney, you have got to face to it someday…"

"Of what? That he'd not only programmed me, but planned my life for me before I was even born? That nothing in my life is concrete because of all that he'd done? That all my years, lost, because of him?"

He was silent.

"I want to hide," her voice cracked as she held back the tears. "I want to get away from my father and everything in this goddamn life for good."

She didn't have to say it, but his heart broke when he realised the implications. She's prepared to leave me, too. He stayed silent, for he knew he could do nothing to sway her decision. Almost apologetic, she bit her lower lip.

"I'm sorry, Vaughn…"

"I'll go with you. We'll hide together." Then, "I won't let you leave me twice."

v. time can never kill the true heart

"So, we're here."

"Finally."

They shared a similar smile as he took her hand into his. The horizon was a beautiful mesh of colours – pink, orange, purple, blue… The couple stood there, just enjoying the zephyr breeze of the ocean.

Turning around, she fitted her head in the crook of his neck, both swaying to the beats of their hearts. The musky scent of his aftershave made her smile even wider, as she took a step back and looked him in the eye.

"I told you to ask me on the beach."

His eyes lit up, and he fumbled for the velvet box in his pocket. Laughing softly, she grabbed his hands before he could fish it out, and his face was etched with mild confusion.

"What we have go beyond the material representation of a union, Vaughn."

To this his green eyes seemed to brighten. He gave her a quick kiss on her lips, his hand cupping her delicate face.

"Sydney, I love you more than words can say," he started again and she smiled – smirked, actually – at him, knowing full well a cheese-fest is coming up in about t-minus five seconds. "I want to spend the rest of my life waking up next to you. I want to have many beautiful children –"

"How many?" she interjected.

"Enough for a hockey team?" That warranted an equally playful smack on his shoulder. "Two. A boy and a girl."

"Fine. Just as long we don't call the boy Eric."

"What? Why? Eric sounds just like the finest specimen ever to grace these grounds, after all." That cheeky dimple worked its way to his face; his cleft on his chin more defined now as he grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

"Yeah, right."

"So, I want two kids, a house in the middle of nowhere, just you and me…"

"I love you." An unexpected blurt from her.

"I love you too, Mrs Vaughn."

"Who says I'm dropping my last name?"

He gave her another lingering kiss on the lips, and as he pulled away, she snuggled closer. They stayed in that position for the longest time as they watched the sunset together; the first of many, for the future holds much promise and hope springs eternal in their lives, as long as they had each other by their sides.