Title: Your Friends and Mine |
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Chapter 1 Alice POV I walk quickly to get out of the lobby of my office building before any of my co-workers spot me. All I want to do is get to the restaurant for lunch, and I know that if anyone catches me I’ll probably be delayed. I’ve had a rough morning, and I really need to get away from the office for a little while. The restaurant is only a couple of blocks from work. I met a client there for a business lunch one day, and since then it’s become my regular lunch spot. It has a wonderful, relaxing atmosphere where I can forget about everything for an hour. I walk into the restaurant and spot the owner across the room. I give her a little wave, and she smiles and waves in return. We’ve become friends in the time I’ve been coming here. The restaurant is new and I’ve become her first real regular. At first we said hello to each other when I would come in, but it gradually led to short conversations, and now we’re at the point where we often have lunch together. Today is one of those days and I walk over to meet her. “Hey Alice,” she greets me warmly and gestures for me to sit down with her. “Hi Francie,” I say, sitting my purse on the chair next to me. “How are you?” “I’m great. How are you?” I can hear the concern in her voice. It’s the same tone everyone’s been using since my dad passed away. It’s been a few weeks, but the pain is still pretty fresh. “I’m alright. I’ve been sleeping better this week. Michael finally convinced me to see a doctor and she gave me some sleeping pills. They’re helping,” I tell her. “And how are things going with Michael?” she asks, “Any better?” I sigh. The last time we talked, I had told her how I felt as if Michael were pulling away from me again. “You know, he’s been really great about my dad, so I shouldn’t complain. For a little while I felt like I had all his attention, but it didn’t last long. He works a lot. He’s always getting called into work, and I know it occupies his thoughts most of the time. It’s why we broke up the first time. I feel like there’s something else too, though. If I didn’t know better I’d say there was someone else, but Michael is not the kind of guy that would ever cheat.” “Girl, just be careful,” Francie says in warning, “That’s what I thought about Charlie.” I nod. She had told me all about Charlie, that creep. How anyone could cheat on such a great person like Francie is beyond me. She’s so warm and personable, and she’s pretty, too. Some guys are just idiots, I guess. “Michael’s different,” I say, “He has very strong beliefs and ideals. I know him, and he would never cheat.” “Okay, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Charlie hasn’t completely spoiled me on men, so I’ll trust you that you’ve got one of the good ones,” she smiles. “I do,” I say, smiling back “But anyway, enough about me, what have you been up to?” “Work! That’s all I ever do anymore.” She sounds exasperated, but I can tell she loves this place. I can tell by the way that she pays attention to every detail. “Well,” she continues, “that’s not completely true. I haven’t had a chance to tell you about my birthday. Remember how I was telling you that Sydney and Will were hiding something from me? Every time I’d walk in the room they would stop talking and look all guilty. Well, it turns out they were planning a surprise party for me. It was really great, I had no idea.” “Oh Francie, I totally forgot about your birthday!” I say, feeling horrible. “Don’t even! I wouldn’t expect you to remember with everything you’ve been going through. I didn’t tell you to make you feel bad.” “Well, your friends sound really great. Did you ever get to have that spa date with Sydney?” I ask her, remembering that Francie had been excited about it but that her roommate had had to cancel at the last minute. “No, God, you want to talk about a workaholic! At least Michael stays in town when he’s working, right? The bank sends Sydney all over the place, it seems like she’s hardly ever around anymore. I mean, she was always busy, but now more than ever. Between her trips and me trying to get the restaurant off the ground, I feel like we’re never in the house at the same time.” “It sounds like we need to send Sydney and Michael to a Workaholics anonymous support group,” I joke. “Totally!” Francie agrees. We sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes, eating the fabulous lunch that the waiter brought while we were talking. The atmosphere isn’t the only thing that’s great here, the food is to die for. “So when are you going to bring Michael in here for me to meet?” Francie asks, breaking the silence. “I’d love for you to meet him sometime, if I could pry him away from work long enough.” I roll my eyes. “Well, if you think lunch is good around here, you should try dinner. Seriously, you should bring him in. Just let me know and I’ll make sure I’m here.” I think about it and remember the conversation I had with Michael last night. He had committed to dinner tonight, but couldn’t promise anything for the rest of the week. His schedule was so tight and he didn’t want to make plans and have to break him. Of course, no date was ever a guarantee with him as he often got called in unexpectedly. Still, we did have plans for tonight. “Well, how’s tonight?” I ask. Chapter 2 Vaughn POV The specs of Sydney’s latest mission are spread out on my desk before me. I sigh as I toss down a picture of the man she has to charm in order to acquire the latest intel for Sloane. He looks deadly. Of course, Sloane will never see the actual intel, but I can’t help hating him for sending her on these dangerous missions, conveniently forgetting for a moment that I am doing the same thing. I put Sydney into as much danger as Sloane does. More, actually, because I put her in his path, and that is more dangerous than anything. I know I shouldn’t be thinking like this. Sydney is my asset. It’s my job to send her on missions, it’s her job to be in dangerous situations. Well, Sydney may be good at compartmentalizing, but I suck. I tried once to be the detached, by-the-books handler and it didn’t really work out. I can’t help it that I care about her. My phone rings and I pick it up, still pouring over the mission details. The operator tells me that it’s Alice, and I tell him to put her through. “Hey Alice,” I say when I hear the line connect. “What’s up?” “Well, I wanted to know if we’re still on for dinner tonight?” she asks, “I’d really like to take you to that restaurant I’ve been telling you about.” Shit. I had forgotten all about dinner. I hate being out with Alice when Sydney is in the field. I know that I make terrible company as I have a hard time thinking of anything else. I consider canceling, but I realize that’s not fair to Alice. I never know when Syd will be in the field, so I can’t exactly plan around it. “Yeah, dinner will be fine. What restaurant was that?” I ask, not remembering her mentioning a specific place. “Michael, I know I told you about it,” she chides. I sigh, knowing that she probably did, but that I was not listening as well as I should have. “It’s the one that I go to for lunch all the time. I’d really like to try it for dinner, and I’d like you to meet the owner. She and I have become friends and she’s really great.” “Sure, that sounds great. Sorry, I think I remember you mentioning it now.” I don’t. “Great, I’ll call her and tell her we’ll be there at 7:30. Pick me up at 7:00?” “Okay. I’ll see you then.” We say our goodbyes and I hang up the phone. I rub my forehead, trying to erase the beginnings of the headache growing there. Alice is a good person, and if I want to be honest, canceling dinner would have been nothing compared to the other ways that I’m not being fair to her. When we got back together, I swore to myself that she would have all of me. I know there are aspects of my life that she can never understand or know about, but when I made a commitment to her, I wanted it to be real. I do care about Alice, but my commitment to her comes into question every time I see Sydney. But I can’t pursue any kind of romantic relationship with Sydney, and that is the reality that is my life. ~~ I’m driving towards the restaurant and Alice is telling me about her day at work. I guess it’s been pretty rough for her since she returned after her dad’s death. She’s been having trouble concentrating, and I know she wasn’t sleeping very well until I got her to go to her doctor. She needs me now, and I’m kind of a sucker for a woman in need. I know it’s kind of archaic, but most men like to play the white knight. Every time Sydney needs me… Damn it, this isn’t about Sydney, it’s about Alice. I try to focus on what Alice is saying as I follow her directions to the restaurant. It’s only as we pull up in front of it that I realize where we are. Francie’s restaurant. Shit. Yes, I know where Francie’s restaurant is. That doesn’t make me a stalker; it means I’m doing my job. I have to make sure Sydney is safe, wherever she spends time. Alice is getting out of the car while I’m sitting there trying to think of a way to get out of this. Francie’s restaurant, what are the odds? Not that it should be terribly surprising. I mean, what are the odds that I would end up as the handler for a woman whose mother killed my father? Seriously, nothing goes the way I expect when it comes to Sydney Bristow. “Michael,” Alice pops her head back into the car, “Are you coming?” “Yeah.” Scenarios are racing through my head. I could tell her I just got paged, that I need to go to the office. But then what’s to stop her from rearranging this for another night? She’s friends with Francie. She’s friends with Francie? Oh God. I consider that this is probably actually the best time to come. Meet her, get it over with, and never come back. Sydney is out of town, so there’s no chance of her walking in and Alice recognizing Rita. Okay, good. This is going to be fine. I’m psyching myself up. The restaurant seems really nice. I’ve never actually been in before, of course. I never thought I would ever be in here, but fate plays nasty, nasty games. I spot Francie before Alice does, but try not to let her see me looking at her. That would never do. Francie spots us and comes over. “Alice! I wasn’t sure if you were actually going to show.” She turns to me. “You’ve gotta be Michael.” “Yes, it’s great to meet you, Francie.” Wait. Shit. Did Alice tell me her name? No strange reaction from Alice, it must be okay. Whew. “It’s great to meet you too. I’ve got a great table waiting.” Francie leads us to the table and we all sit down. I smile, but I feel very nervous. This is going to be interesting. “So I finally get to meet the famous Michael,” Francie comments. “I didn’t think Alice would ever bring you in here. I hear you work a lot.” “Yeah, well, I have a hectic job,” I say, hoping I don’t have to go into detail. “This is a really great place you’ve got. Alice goes on about how good the food is.” “Thanks,” she says, “business is pretty good. So many restaurants go under all the time in L.A., but we seem to be doing alright.” I look around at the other patrons, the restaurant is fairly full and everyone seems to be relaxed and enjoying themselves. “Actually, it looks like you’re doing really well.” “Francie,” Alice starts, “Before I left this afternoon you said you were going to try to convince Sydney to join us for dinner.” I almost jump at the mention of her name, but I’ve got that one covered. Thought that one through in the car, thank you very much. “No, Syd left today on another trip. You’d think they’d give her a little advance warning, but these trips just come out of nowhere,” says Francie, and then turning to me, “Sydney is my roommate, by the way. She works for Credit Dauphine and they send her on, like, a zillion trips a year. Anyway, you’ll have to meet her some other time.” Yeah, not in a million years. Alice will never meet Sydney. Alice has met Rita, but Alice will never meet Sydney. “But,” Francie continues, “I did invite my friend Will tonight, I hope you don’t mind.” My heart stops. I swear to God it stops. Okay, Francie is one thing, but Alice has met Will as Rita’s friend. I have to get us out of this situation now. Now is the time to get the page, to have to go work. There’s no way that Alice can see Will. As I’m about to tell Alice that I’ve been paged, I see Francie waving at someone at the door. Too late. Chapter 3 Will POV As I’m driving towards Francie’s restaurant my thoughts drift to Sydney, as they are prone to do. I wonder what she’s doing, where she is. According to Francie, she’s in Albuquerque, but I know that’s not true. Albania, maybe, but not Albuquerque. I’m glad I know about what Sydney does. As much as it’s screwed up my life, I like being in the loop, her loop. It’s frustrating, sometimes, that I know what’s going on in general but never in detail, but it’s good to know that she can talk to me. It’s brought us closer, that’s for certain. For a little while I fooled myself into thinking that this would bring us together in the way that I’ve always wanted. Meeting Michael Vaughn planted doubt that my wishes would be realized, and running into him with his girlfriend a couple of weeks ago with Sydney shattered them all to hell. It was an awkward situation for everyone except… Alice, was it? Anyway, it was awkward, but when I looked at Syd I knew it was more than awkward, it was painful. Even Alice, who doesn’t know the kind of bond these two ‘colleagues’ need to have, would have to have been pretty dim not to feel the tension in the air between her boyfriend and this other woman. I knew then for sure that Sydney was in love with her handler. I would love to hate the guy, I really would. He’s got the heart of the woman I’ve loved for years and he’s not doing anything about it. I know that there are rules forbidding him to do anything about it, and that it would be dangerous, but I kind of think that at this point, what’s one more secret? I don’t know him well enough to know if he loves her, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s attached to her, and feels more for her than a handler should feel for his asset. These terms still sound weird to me, but I’m getting used to them. Anyway, I don’t hate him. I actually kind of like the guy, and if this job comes through I’ll like him even more. I’m still waiting on the results of my psych evaluation. This is a painfully slow process, but maybe that’s intentional, I don’t know. I arrive at the restaurant and find a place to park. Francie called earlier and asked me to meet her and some friends for dinner. That’s when she told me that Syd had gone to Albuquerque at the last minute. I don’t know these friends. Apparently the woman comes into the restaurant a lot and Francie is meeting the man tonight for the first time. It should be good, Francie is generally a good judge of character, with the exception of Charlie, and she seems to really like this woman. I walk in the door and seek Francie out. The hostess points to a table in the back, and I see Francie waving to me. I start to walk over to her, but when I see who she’s sitting with I stop. Oh…my…god. Francie is looking at me oddly, wondering why I’ve stopped. What the hell is going on? Where’s Sydney? Maybe she didn’t go on her trip after all, maybe she’s here and this is all part of some elaborate plan. Then I look at the man sitting at the table. Vaughn’s expression almost mirrors mine. Panic. He’s maybe a little more composed, but not much. I see Francie start to rise to come and see what’s wrong so I start to move toward them. There are really no other options at this point. “Hey,” I say to Francie as I reach the table. I don’t know if I’m supposed to recognize Vaughn and his girlfriend or not. I did ‘meet’ them only two weeks ago, so I should recognize them. I look to Vaughn for a clue. “Will,” says Francie, “this is Alice and Michael.” “Hey,” I say to them, sitting down. Alice is looking at me as if she’s trying to place me. Vaughn isn’t saying anything so I decide to play dumb and not point out the fact that we’ve met unless Alice does. “Haven’t we met?” Alice asks. “Ummm…” I start, wondering where I should go now? “Yes!” she interrupts me. “We met a couple of weeks back at that bar. You were with Rita.” She turns to Vaughn. “Do you remember, Michael?” “Oh, right. Nice to see you again, Will,” he says, nodding. “Yeah, you too. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you guys,” I say, trying to be convincing. Vaughn may be used to this kind of thing, but I’m not. “Wait, you guys have met?” Francie asks. “What a small world!” She has no idea. Francie turns to me and asks the question I’m dreading. “Who’s Rita?” “Rita’s a friend, Rita’s just a friend,” I stammer. “Rita and I work together,” Vaughn adds “at the State Department.” I have a feeling he included the last part to remind me. I appreciate it. “Why haven’t I met this girl? Are you dating her?” Francie asks me, giving me kind of a death stare. “No, we’re just friends. You haven’t met her because we’re just friends,” I try to convince her. “We usually introduce our friends to each other. Has Sydney met her?” Francie asks a little huffily. I jump a little at the introduction of her name to the conversation, and although Vaughn’s reaction is a less noticeable, I see him cringe a little too. “No, Syd hasn’t met her. Look, it’s not a big deal,” I say, trying to get off the topic. This is very uncomfortable. “So Alice, I hear you come here all the time. Isn’t it great?” “It is great, I love it. But by the look on Francie’s face, I don’t think she’s going to let you change the topic so easily,” she grins at me. Turning to Fran, she says “Not to stir the pot, but even though I only ran into them for a minute, I have to say that the two of them looked very close. There was definitely some kind of sexual tension in the air!” I feel my face getting red as I look at Vaughn, whose face is as white as mine is red. Alice thought the sexual tension was between Syd and me? Ha. I guess she is that dim. I should probably give her a break; Syd told me the woman’s father had just died. Maybe she wasn’t quite with it at the time. She is right that Syd and I are close though, and I don’t know how to dispute it. I wonder what Vaughn’s thinking. I don’t know, maybe he thinks there is something going on between Syd and me. Maybe he’s as jealous of me as I am of him. “Help me out here, man,” I say to him with a smile. I present it as sort of a joke, but I’m pleading to him with my eyes. “Give the guy a break,” Vaughn says. “Rita told me they’re just friends too. In fact, I think she’s interested in someone at work.” I try not to react but I think my eyebrows shoot up a little. Why did he say that? Is he trying to eliminate the speculation a little more, or is he trying to say something to me? Maybe a little of both. If I were a better actor, that might have made Fran drop the subject, but she sees my reaction and it just makes it worse. “See! I saw that reaction, Will! You are interested in her,” she says “Whatever. I’d like to meet her and judge for myself. If she’s just a friend, as you say, then there’s no harm done, right?” “We should all get together!” Alice jumps in. “Rita seems really nice, I’m sure you’d like her, Francie. And you know, while we’re talking about meeting people, I’d really like to meet Sydney too.” It’s almost comical. If it wasn’t life threatening, it would be comical. I feel like I’m trapped in “Much Ado About Nothing” or one of Shakespeare’s many other plays involving mistaken identities. “That would be great!” says Francie. I look at Vaughn, not knowing what to do or say here. Syd and Rita obviously can’t meet. Vaughn is not saying anything, and I wish once again that I could hear what he’s thinking. I guess we just sit and let them plan, and find a way out of it later. All I know is that this is messy. Messy, and complicated, and I have a feeling it will not end well. Chapter 4 Sydney POV “So, how many Alice’s do you think there are in the greater Los Angeles area?” I ask Vaughn, disposing of the niceties we usually exchange before launching into serious conversation. This is way too important for niceties. “Apparently not very many,” he answers with a sigh. He looks as tortured about this as I am. “No, apparently not. God! Francie mentioned that she had met this woman named Alice, but I never would have imagined that she was ‘Alice’ Alice. I remember kind of cringing when I heard the name, but I think that was just a reaction to the name, but maybe I should have listened to my subconscious or something. Maybe I should have pieced it together, but God, how could I have been expected to? What are the odds? I mean, Vaughn, can this really be a coincidence?” I know I’m rambling, but I’m freaking out! Will practically pounced on me as soon as I walked in the door, telling me that we had a major problem on our hands. Francie, luckily, was not home so Will was able to detail the whole debacle. What a mess. “Wait,” says Vaughn “You cringed when you heard the name Alice?” Leave it to him to pick up on that out of everything I said. He looks very curious, and maybe a little smug, but I’m not going to satisfy his curiosity with an answer. I have to slow down and not ramble, the last thing we need is for me to reveal things that I don’t want to be revealing. Whatever I may feel about Vaughn’s relationship with Alice is really irrelevant right now. Well, I guess it’s not exactly irrelevant. I mean, what else is this woman going to take from me? First she gets to be with Vaughn, and now she gets to be with Francie too. Okay, I’m not in fifth grade, I know that. I know that people don’t ‘take friends away’. And if Francie was spending time with anyone else, I would feel really happy for her because I’m not around a lot, and I would hope that I could become friends with the person, but this isn’t just anyone, this is Alice. ‘Vaughn’s Alice. And as for him, I have no claim on him. They were together before I even knew him, when I was engaged to Danny for God’s sake. But still, it hurts me to think of him with her. “Whatever,” I say, trying to bring his focus around to the more important part of my statement, “Do you really think that this was all a coincidence?” “Yeah, I mean, you don’t?” he asks, his forehead wrinkling in that telltale way. “I don’t know, it just seems all too convenient. Maybe someone set this up,” I suggest. Vaughn looks perplexed as he leans one shoulder up against the chain link divider. He’s silent for a moment, lost in thought before he looks back up at me. “I don’t think so,” He says finally. “Who would set it up? SD-6 wouldn’t go to the trouble. If they knew about your affiliation with me, they would have just had you killed, and maybe me for that matter. They wouldn’t set up a friendship between Alice and Francie.” “Well, don’t you think it’s at least worth looking into?” I ask. “How did Alice find the restaurant in the first place?” “Umm…” he says, thinking. “She said she had a business lunch there. I guess it’s worth finding out who it was with.” “Yeah,” I nod. “But that still doesn’t solve what we’re going to do about this. Francie and Alice can’t remain friends, it’s too risky. Alice wants to meet you,” he says with a pained look on his face. “Well, Alice has met me,” I say quietly. He thinks he’s pained. I’m the one who has to see him with someone else, to hear about her. I asked him not to explain about her, and he turns around and tells me about her father dying. I mean, I feel sorry for her; I’m not a cold-hearted person. But I just don’t really need to know the details of her life, of their life together. I don’t begrudge him a normal life, but I don’t want to know about it. “Syd…” he starts, but trails off as if he doesn’t really know what he wants to say, and we sit in an uncomfortable silence. I feel a tear threatening to slide down my cheek and I’m doing everything I can not to let it. The last thing either of us needs right now is for me to cry. “So,” I say after a moment, feeling somewhat composed, “What do we do?” “I think I have to break up with Alice,” he says, focusing his gaze intently on me. “Vaughn,” I start, looking away from him so that I have the courage to say what I do, “what good will that do?” Pain flashes briefly across his face and he looks down without answering me. “If you break up with Alice, that won’t stop her from being friends with Francie. In fact, she may turn to her for comfort. Francie’s a really good listener and she offers a great shoulder to cry on. It would probably bring them closer, and then it would be impossible for me to avoid “meeting” her. She’d probably come to my house.” That last thought gives me chills. I do not want to think of Alice in my house. “Then we have to go through Francie,” he says. “We have to bring her in.” “No.” “Syd, it may be our only option,” he counters. “No, Vaughn, I’m adamant about this,” I say, my voice hard. “Look what’s happened to the people who have found out about my life. Danny is dead, Will was almost killed and his life has been turned upside down. I won’t do the same to Francie.” “We’ll protect her,” he offers. “Like Will was protected?” I ask, remembering the “safe house” that Sark infiltrated. Vaughn sighs and closes his eyes. “Do you have any other suggestions?” he asks. “We have to sabotage their friendship somehow. Destroy the trust,” I say. I have no idea what I’m talking about really, but there’s no way in Hell I’m going to let Francie find out about my life. Vaughn is quiet and I can tell he’s thinking over what I’ve just said. He is in handler mode. Fran and Alice have provided the mission and he is coming up with the counter. I can’t help but think that he’s adorable when he’s like this, but I try to push the thoughts out of my head. After what seems like an eternity he raises his head and looks at me. “What if we lead Alice to believe that I’m having an affair with Francie?” Chapter 5 POV of Agent Carl Williams, CIA I watch the two agents on the monitor I’ve got set up in the van. They assume that the warehouse is clean, but they’ve become too complacent. I hid the camera in there shortly before their meeting, needing to get an update on their progress. I fiddle with the knob, trying to get a clearer sound. Bristow is telling Vaughn that she refuses to tell Ms. Calfo the truth. I rub my chin nervously. This operation has been put in my hands, and I’m not as confident as my superiors that it will go according to plan. I see so many variables, but so far everything seems to be going well. They’ve stopped talking and I’m afraid that they are at an impasse. But then Agent Vaughn says something that makes me sigh with relief. “What if we lead Alice to believe that I’m having an affair with Francie?” Excellent. ~~ Vaughn POV “What?” Sydney asks, looking shocked. I knew that this may not sit well, but so far I think it’s the best solution we’ve got. “Syd, it’s feasible. Alice is not the confrontational type. If she thought I was having an affair with Francie, she would simply cut contact with her,” I explain. “What if Francie tries to contact her? She’s going to wonder what happened. One minute they’re making plans and then she never hears from her again? She’s not one to let that go,” Sydney reasons. “I can have Alice’s phone numbers changed, that’s not a problem. Her landline and mobile are both with AT&T, so she wouldn’t question both of them having to be changed. I hardly think anyone would be overly surprised at an AT&T screw-up,” I surmise. “As for her work number, she doesn’t give that out since she carries her mobile all the time.” “What about you?” Syd asks quietly. I know what she’s trying to say, but I need her to say it. “What about me?” “What about your relationship with Alice? I’m assuming that she would break up with you when she finds out,” she clarifies. I can’t quite decipher the emotion behind what she’s saying. Hope? Fear? If that’s what she’s feeling, then we’re in the same place. I’ve been holding on to my relationship with Alice for so many reasons, and fear is a prominent one. If I’m left without a commitment to Alice, I’m that much freer to get closer to Sydney. Protocol alone is not enough to keep me detached, as I think I’ve proven more than once. Honestly, though, Alice is not enough to keep me detached, as much as I fooled myself into thinking she would be. I look at Sydney for a long minute before I speak. “That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” I say, looking directly into her eyes. “Are you sure?” she asks. “Yes,” I say, trying to convey to her that there is no doubt. She looks at me for a moment before nodding. “Okay,” she says. “How do we go about this? How in the world are we going to make it look like you’re having an affair with Fran?” “Photos. Somehow we have to get photos of Francie and me together to Alice. I’ll just have to figure out a reasonable way to get them to her so that she won’t question the source,” I say. “And how exactly do you plan on getting photos of you and Francie together?” Sydney asks with a wry smile. “You’re cute, but Fran’s not the type of person who betrays her friends.” I chuckle, looking away. She’s embarrassed me a little by calling me cute. “Photoshop,” I say. “Photoshop?” she repeats. “Yes, Photoshop. You can do damn near anything with Photoshop, including putting two people together who never were together. Last week I saw a picture of Julia Roberts making out with Michael Jackson while I was at the Supermarket. Somehow I don’t think that was real. Looked pretty real, though.” She smiles at the thought of Julia Roberts and Michael Jackson and my heart beats a little faster. I don’t know why I bother going to the gym for my cardio exercise, having Sydney Bristow smile at me increases my heart rate and is much more pleasant. “We’ll have to arrange a chance encounter between Francie and me. We’ll have an innocent conversation, which will be photographed, and then I’ll have someone doctor the shots,” I continue. “When do you want to do this?” Sydney asks. “As soon as possible,” I say. “I want to get the work on the photos started. I still have to figure out how to get them in Alice’s hands, but I want to leave a reasonable amount of time anyway. I just met Francie last night, and I don’t move that fast,” I smirk. “Besides, it’ll give me time to look into who Alice met with at Francie’s restaurant in the first place. You might be on to something there.” “Okay, well I will find out Fran’s schedule for the next couple of days and I’ll call you,” she says. I nod and look down at my hands. I’m surprised when she reaches out to hold them in her own. “Are you alright with all of this?” She asks. “I know that we don’t really have any other options, but this isn’t going to be easy. I know that you care about Alice, and she’s going to experience the ultimate betrayal, from both the man she loves and a friend.” “I know,” I say, closing my eyes. “She’s already been through so much, with her dad and all. I wish there was another way.” “What about just telling Alice the truth?” she asks, simply. She lets go of my hands, as if the idea of it alone makes it improper for us to touch. “No,” I shake my head. “We can’t risk it.” “You were willing to risk it with Francie!” she says defensively. “Yes, but Sydney, Francie is already at risk just by being in your life, she’s already known to SD-6. Alice is not, and if I tell her, it puts her in danger. Alice knowing the truth would be a greater security risk to you as well. Francie loves you, and if we had to tell her, I’m sure she would do everything possible to keep your secret. Alice doesn’t have the same emotional investment.” “You’re right,” she says, nodding. “It’s best that neither of them have to know.” “Yes,” I agree. “I’d better get going,” she says, picking up her purse. “I’ll call you.” I watch her leave and then I hang my head and let out a long sigh. Sydney was right about one thing; this is not going to be easy. ~~ Carl Williams’ POV I watch Agent Vaughn leave the warehouse and I turn my surveillance equipment off. I’m a little concerned that he is going to be looking into my affiliation with Alice, but I feel pretty confident that I covered my tracks sufficiently. The man I hired to become Alice’s client and bring her to the restaurant never knew my name, and he never saw my face. No, I don’t think I’ve got anything to worry about. Everything is working out just right. Chapter 6 Sydney POV The aroma of lasagna baking in the oven greets me as I walk in the door. Francie makes the best lasagna in the world, and my stomach growls in anticipation. I don’t know whether she’s making it for us, or if she has a date, but I sure want some of it. “Hey Fran,” I say, sitting down on a stool at the counter. “Hey yourself!” she says back. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in a month.” “I know, I feel that way too,” I smile. “How is everything?” “Not bad,” she says, pulling the lasagna out of the oven, “but I have a scoop for you. Will is seeing someone!” “He is?” I ask, trying to sound surprised. “Yes, some chick named Rita! He says they’re just friends, but isn’t that what he said about that Jenny girl, and then you saw her in nothing but his shirt,” she says, giving me that ‘I don’t think so’ look. “Anyway, it was the weirdest thing. I was having dinner with Alice and her boyfriend Michael… remember I told you about her? So anyway, I invited Will. Well, he gets there, and they all recognize each other. I guess they met not too long ago when Will was out with this Rita chick, whom Michael works with.” “What a coincidence,” I say truthfully. “Yeah, and although Will says they’re not dating, Alice says they looked kind of cozy, you know?” I nod in response. I know. “So, I don’t care what he says. I am going to find out more about this and we ‘have’ to meet her,” she says. I just nod again, knowing that Will is going to be taking care of this tonight. I hate having to deceive Francie like this. I know that I always deceive her by telling her I’m going to places like Denver when I’m really going to Moscow, that I work for a bank instead of the CIA, that she doesn’t know my mother is alive and a former member of the KGB. I could go on. But this is different. This directly involves Francie, and I hate that. She’s going to be hurt when Alice cuts contact out of the blue. She won’t know what happened, and she’ll probably be worried when she can’t get in touch with Alice. We’re going to have to figure out something to cover that. The door opens and Will walks in. “Lasagna!” he says, inhaling deeply. Like I said, Francie’s lasagna is famous. “We were just talking about you.” Francie tells him as he sits down on the stool next to me. “Oh yeah? What about?” he asks. “About you and Rita,” Francie says, stressing the name. “Oh,” he says. “Look, you guys, there ‘was’ something going on with Rita.” “I knew it!” Francie says, pointing a finger at him. “But it’s over now. We weren’t dating or anything, just you know, it was just a… fling. It’s over now.” Wow, Will really sucks at lying. If he gets this job with the CIA, he’s going to have to improve on that. “Why didn’t you just tell us that at the restaurant then?” Francie asks him. “Because Rita wouldn’t want Michael to know she goes out and has flings, she has a reputation to protect at work,” he says. Okay, that was a little better. Lying takes practice. Trust me, I know. Francie seems to be satisfied with that. She starts to dish up the lasagna and asks us if we want garlic bread. My stomach is very relieved that it gets to partake. I pour some wine and the three of us settle in for a rare relaxing evening together. ~~ Vaughn has called me in to the warehouse again this morning, which most likely means we have a problem. I tried to find out Fran’s schedule, but she doesn’t plan to be anywhere besides the restaurant. But that shouldn’t be a big problem. Besides, I haven’t even told Vaughn about that yet. I hope it’s not anything major, I just want this to all be over with. I see Vaughn waiting for me as I walk towards our normal meeting place. He looks up at me and smiles, but he looks perturbed. This isn’t unusual, and I feel a twinge of guilt as it usually has something to do with me. “Hey,” I say as I reach where he’s standing. “Hey,” he replies, still smiling. “So what’s up?” I ask. “I didn’t think we’d be meeting so soon.” “Well, I was talking to the guy who’s going to be manipulating the photos of Francie and me. He says that it’s not important that Francie and I are in the same place at the same time. It helps if the background is the same, but what’s more important is the activity,” he tells me. “What do you mean, the activity?” “Well, if we want it to look realistic, we should have pictures of Francie kissing someone, and me kissing someone.” “Oh,” I say, not knowing what else to say. “I was wondering if you have any pictures of Francie kissing someone?” Vaughn asks. I have to think for a moment, and then I shake my head. “Not recent ones, no. The most recent ones would have been with Charlie, but all ‘those’ pictures have been expunged. Francie took great pleasure in that.” “We’ll have to get a picture of her kissing someone then. Do Francie and Will ever kiss in greeting?” I ask. “Not usually,” I reply. “They’re more of the hugging type.” “Do you think he could find a situation in which to kiss her?” he asks. “You want to have Will kiss Francie?” I ask, surprised. “Who else is there?” he asks. “Will is the only one who we could bring into this that could reasonably kiss Francie. Plus, he’s about my height, so the angle would be right.” I can’t argue with his reasoning, but it leaves me a feeling troubled. How much more complicated will this thing get? I’m worried that this will hurt Will and Francie’s friendship, and I tell Vaughn so. He nods in response. “I know,” he says, “but friendships have been known to survive a kiss that later turns out to be a mistake.” I smile and look down, thinking about the kisses that Will and I shared. Definitely mistakes, but our friendship did survive. “I’ll ask him,” I say. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll ask him.” “Good,” he says. He looks down at his hands and I can tell that he’s suddenly feeling nervous. He clears his throat and continues. “There, ah… there’s also the problem of Francie’s stand-in. I need someone to kiss.” He’s doing his best to look anywhere but at me. “What about Alice?” I ask, though it pains me to do so. I hate the thought of him kissing Alice, and I generally do everything I can to keep that image from entering my mind. “No,” he says, shaking his head, “she’s too short, the angle would be all wrong.” He pauses for a moment and then says something that makes my stomach tighten up. “You and Francie are about the same height, aren’t you?”
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