Feedback:
Sure, constructive criticism is always welcome.
I have a thick skin. Like it
or not, ça m’est égal. e-mail:
lamotto2003@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: I understand that Alias is the property of JJ Abrams and ABC.
I have no aspirations as a writer and will never profit from it.
I do it purely as a form of self-entertainment and speculation therapy.
Blame JJ and his schizophrenic writing staff (at least since Phase One).
If they didn’t keep blowing up the show’s premise every couple of
months, I wouldn’t have to do this.
Summary: You can only
compartmentalize so much…
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Spoilers: The Telling, of course
Classification:
Angst, with a bit of Action and Romance thrown in for good measure.
A/N1:
A note on the timing of this tale.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the passage of time in Alias-land
was pretty damn vague during Season Two (intentional?).
So, for the purposes of this fic, I decided to peg everything to ATY with
one week per episode through Season Two.
Then, there’s everybody’s favorite two-year leap.
You’d be amazed at how well it worked out.
(And yes, I did spend way too much time thinking about it….)
Much beta love to my two primary betas for
this fic, the lovely Daera and Crunkn8r82.
It wouldn’t be half the fic it is without them, particularly Dae.
“Since
that night, you were missing”, he paused trying to keep his emotions in check,
but failing. “You’ve been missing for almost two years.”
Sydney
felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her.
When she was finally able to catch her breath, she whispered, “No, that’s
not possible…” She saw Vaughn looking at her, his tortured expression, a
mixture of anguish, concern, and, could that be, suspicion?
“Vaughn,
the last thing I remember was shooting Francie’s double! Then, I woke up here
in an alley yesterday. What’s the
date?!”
“October
3, 2004”, he murmured, still unable to tear his gaze from her.
She looked and felt like Sydney, but this was just not possible - not
after everything that had happened. And
what was with the amnesia? Two
years! It was too convenient.
She
stared at him incredulously and then lifted her shirt and stared at the scar on
her stomach once again. She
remembered a bullet grazing her there during her struggle with the double, but
it had completely healed and the scar was no longer even pink, but a white
streak. How was this possible?
“What
is that?”
“I
think I got it when I was fighting with the double, but I thought that that was
yesterday!” she cried, starting to break down.
“What’s going on?”
Vaughn’s
suspicions started to melt away when he saw that scar.
Although they had found half of her jacket and one of her shoes, nowhere
had they reported the additional tear in the blood-soaked garment that would
have lined up perfectly with that scar. He
had spent weeks poring over the pictures of her apartment from that night and
all of the evidence they had found from the struggle there and the traces of her
that were at the Pallisades. Still,
he couldn’t take any chances.
“Sydney,
I need to ask you some questions. They
won’t let me bring you in until I get some answers.”
“But
Vaughn, I just told you I don’t remember anything!
As for questions, I’ve got a few of my own…”, she yelled at him
while rising and gesturing to his left hand.
She started pacing the room like an animal at the zoo.
Vaughn
remained seated and held his head in his hands.
“Syd”, he pleaded, “a lot of things have changed since you’ve
been gone. I want to give you
answers to everything, but a lot of it is Omega-17.
I’ll be able to tell you a little more once you’ve answered a few
personal questions about your life before that night.”
Sydney
suddenly stopped pacing. It finally
struck her what he was getting at. “Oh
my God, you think I’m a double…, but we destroyed Markovich’s
device!”
Vaughn
met her gaze. “You’ve been gone
for almost two years”, he said slowly and deliberately, “the CIA knows that
Sloane has been trying to rebuild the device.
Even if he hasn’t succeeded yet, it’s been more than enough time for
a surgical double. I’m not saying
that I believe that’s the case, but the CIA has to be careful.”
He paused before continuing, “ Will you answer the questions?”
“Fine”,
Sydney tossed out curtly, “Fire away!”
Vaughn nodded and pulled out his cell phone.
Sydney regarded him curiously. After
he dialed the phone and gave his number and password, she could tell that he had
been connected with Kendall. The
conversation started calmly, but quickly became strained.
“I’ve
arrived and confirm delivery of the package.
I need a set of the questions.”
“Yes,
I KNOW that, but that would be WHY I need a set of the questions….”
“Listen
you son-of-a-bitch, I don’t work for you anymore!
I let you pull me back into this nightmare on the off-chance that this might
be for real and, now that I’m letting you know it might be, you’re
hesitating to give me information that would prove it one way or the other! Now, give me the God-damned questions or I’m out of here
and I’ll tell her to leave too!!”
Sydney
gaped at the one-sided exchange she was witnessing.
Vaughn had obviously left the CIA, or at least the Joint Task Force.
Now, she understood what he had meant when he said that they had called
him back. She couldn’t even
imagine what could have occurred between the two men to cause this level of
animosity. She knew Kendall was a
jerk, but she had never seen Vaughn act this way.
Vaughn saw her horrified expression after his last remark and quickly
softened his demeanor and shook his head slightly to assure her that he was not
about to abandon her.
Apparently,
Kendall was giving him whatever these questions were because Vaughn calmed down
even further and started nodding his head.
“Okay,
now what are the answers…”
“You’re
kidding. You can’t possibly
be serious. You have us on video
surveillance! Fine!”
Sydney
whipped her head around, searching for where the camera might be.
She couldn’t believe that they had been watching her since yesterday! Vaughn noticed what she was doing and nodded at the cheap
tapestry that was hanging on the wall behind her. She immediately turned scowling and gave it the finger.
Despite
his agitated state, Vaughn couldn’t help but laugh.
He quickly composed himself and motioned for Sydney to sit down.
He held the cell phone between them.
In a cynical tone, he stated, “Sydney, apparently Director Kendall is
afraid that I might somehow give you the answers.
So, he would like to hear them for himself .”
They could both hear Kendall let go a string of invectives, indicating
his displeasure at Vaughn’s comment not to mention Sydney’s previous
gesture. Vaughn simply rolled his
eyes, shook his head, and waited for him to shut up.
Now, despite the situation, even Sydney was smiling slightly.
Vaughn finally interrupted Kendall’s tirade, “Can we get started now?”
“Why
not? You’ve already clearly made
up your mind on the subject..”, they heard Kendall bite through the phone.
Vaughn
took a deep breath, stared at Sydney, and started, “Sydney, when you were
young, a few weeks after your mother left, you and your father found something
that she had left behind for you. Could
you explain what that was?”
Sydney
thought for a moment, smiled sadly, and began, “As you know, my mother ‘died’
right before the Holidays. I had
been begging her for a pet, a cat to be exact.
My Mom said we couldn’t have one because she was allergic, but I didn’t
want a dog because my parents said that I would have to walk it or clean up the
yard after it. After she was gone,
my Dad and I found some wrapped Christmas presents hidden in the garage. Among them was a big stuffed cat. I slept with that cat for years”, she said softly as tears
glazed her eyes.
Vaughn
brought the phone to his ear and asked, “Can I continue with the next
question?” However, his
expression immediately soured and he turned to Sydney apologetically, “Kendall
would like to know if it had a name?”
Sydney
shook her head in disbelief. She
grabbed the phone from Vaughn’s hand and hissed into it, “His name
was Mr. Whiskers. Would you also
like to know what color he was and if he had any special markings?”
“No,
that won’t be necessary…”
She
handed the phone back to a smirking Vaughn who again inquired if he should
continue. He then asked Sydney the
next question. “When you were on
one of your last missions with Dixon for SD-6 in Rabat, he told you that you had
a “thing” that you always did. What
was it?”
Sydney
smiled slightly and tucked her hair behind her left ear.
Vaughn gazed at her, remembering how she always did do that, and smiled
in return. Then, they simply stared
at each other for a few moments until Kendall interrupted the silence, “Are
you having a problem with the question Ms. Bristow?”
“Sorry,
Director Kendall, as you have video on us, I was simply showing you”,
she responded, “But since you obviously weren’t paying attention, I’ll
tell you. I have a tendency to keep
tucking my hair behind my ears.”
“May I
ask the last question, Kendall?”, Vaughn queried.
“You
mean the last question for now…”, Kendall corrected.
“Whatever,
may I?”, retorted the beleaguered former agent.
“Go
ahead…”
“Syd,
when you and Will Tippin were at the movies once, you were asked to leave the
theater. What was the movie and why
were you asked to leave?”
Sydney
appeared confused for a moment and then she had a flash of recollection and had
to suppress a laugh. Vaughn gave
her a quizzical look and she nodded that she was ready to answer.
“When we went to see the ‘Lord of the Rings’”, she began, “we
got to the theater a little bit late. There
weren’t many seats left that weren’t right up front. However, we found some in the middle of the theater and had
to work our way in to them. Once we
were seated, we realized that we were near a very loud man and his wife.
He kept commenting and making snide remarks during the movie.
He was driving us crazy, but there was really nowhere we
could move without disturbing a bunch of other people.
We asked him politely to keep it down, but he brushed us off.”
She paused for a moment before continuing, “ Later on, he fell asleep
and started snoring with his mouth wide open.
His wife got up to use the restroom a little after that.”
Sydney started laughing, “ As soon as she left, Will took a piece of
popcorn and tried to shoot it in his mouth.
Then, he asked me to give it a try….
The people around us were cheering us on.”
Now, there were tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried to continue
without cracking up, “ By the time his wife got back, his mouth was full of
popcorn. She caught us in the act,
reported us to the manager, and we were escorted out.
However, we were given a round of applause by the fellow movie
goers around us as we left.”
She
looked up at Vaughn when she finished, wearing a broad grin.
He returned it with a sad smile and added, “God Bless Will Tippin…”.
After that, he pulled the cell up to his ear and asked Kendall, “Has
she answered everything to you satisfaction?”
Sydney
stared at him, confused, and interrupted, “Don’t you get a question?”
He asked Kendall to hold on for a second and asked her to repeat what she
had said. “Why don’t you get a
question?” she repeated. “It
seems that all the important men in my life got a question, except for you.
Why is that?”
Vaughn
wore an uncomfortable expression and momentarily shifted his gaze downward, but
before he could say anything, they both heard Kendall yell through the phone,
“Do not answer that Mr. Vaughn! She
is cleared to the next level, but only that.
No Omega-17 information until she’s back stateside and has passed
physical exams! Bring her back home!”
After that, they could hear Kendall hang up.
An
awkward silence ensued between the two of them.
Vaughn broke it when he looked up and asked her softly, “What’s the
best dinner you ever made me that I never ate?”
Sydney
was still confused by Kendall’s response to her question, but answered
quietly, “Chicken Cacciatore”.
They
never did eat that first meal that she had made him.
Will and Francie, no – Francie’s double, had come back
from the movies around 11:30, found the food on the stove, and assumed that they
were leftovers which were up for grabs. “You
know, given all the surveillance in the apartment and the fact that she
ate half of it, they probably know what I made that night.”
Vaughn
shrugged, “Given all the things Sloane knows about the two of us, I doubt he
bothered to keep that one on the list.”
Sydney
was just about to ask what he had meant by his last comment when Vaughn’s cell
started ringing. Vaughn answered to find that it was Kendall again, yelling.
Vaughn’s look of complete exasperation was followed by one of
incredulity. “You have audio on
us too!! Listen, you jackass,
you pulled me back in! Let me
bring her in my way. Despite
what you may think, I have no intention of divulging anything Omega-17. You’re the one raising all the red flags, not
me. I’ll talk to you when we get
to the safe house stateside. Until
then, I’m going to handle things my way.”
With that, he hung up the phone and handed it to Sydney.
While staring at the tapestry, he bit out, “If he calls again, you get
to talk to him”.
As
Sydney put the cell on the side table, she breathed, “Vaughn, what the hell is
going on?”
“I’ll tell you what I can, but not here. We have to get going. You may not remember the last two years, but I doubt that’s the case for whomever’s responsible”.