Partners

allie said:
3 chapters!!!!! *does a happy dance* the last chapter had a very evil cliffhanger!!! thanx 4 the pm and post more soon!!!!!!!!!!
dito!!
Thanks for whole 3 chapters!!!!!! :smiley:
And also thanks for the PM!
They're great!
Please post mores soon :woot:
 
CLIFFHANGER! YAY!

Anyhoo... past that... So, I'm assuming that the other double is Jack, that hasn't changed. Though, aside from the Irina aspect, I'm not sure what Vaughn's dad has to do with him. But, frankly, I'm looking forward to some Jack-runs-into-Vaughn type thing.

So, was Syd like following him? And if so, is it because she felt something was up?

So many questions... post more soon Angel dear.

Elle

PS I just nominated SOMEONE :cough:you:cough: for the fan fic contest. It's like the challenge on SD-1, but you don't write around it. ;)
 
okay so i read the first chapter and i loved it, but then final projects and exams came along and i have to leave most of them hanging and now i came back and see all these wonderful chapter. really amazes me. really really well done. just wow. simply wonderful :smiley:
--Mandy :angelic:
 
uhh i did a bad thing....i went to sd-1 and read all the chapters and read to chapter 17...hehe...ima so bad..hey...love ur fic angel..thats why i did it..=)
 
Everyone, thanks so much for your support!

Elle, GAHHH!!!! Make me cry *sniff* Thank you so much for that nomination. *hugs*

iL0v3vAuHgN, It's okay if you went to SD-1 and read all that I wrote ;) I'm flattered that you'd go. I dunno if I recognize your screen-name though. :thinking:

To everyone, I'm really sorry I didn't post all my chapters here. But hey, at least you didn't have to wait 3 months for my last update like they did. lol. YES, I'm TERRIBLE. :( But in the next few days, I'm going to post all that I have written (probably two per day) because I will be going away on a trip for 5 weeks. I leave monday and I won't be back until August.

Sorry, if you get overwhelmed by all the chapters.



Chapter 12

Vaughn is wide-eyed staring and waiting for her to reply.

“ Um..I..um…well…” Sydney is completely flustered. She never gets flustered. Why does he have this effect on her now? After the initial jumpy feeling fades out, Sydney clears her throat. Her mind is racing for an excuse, a reason to be here. But her mind is blank. Screw it! She thinks, you don’t have to make up an excuse. Why did he lie about where he was going?

“ Well, what are YOU doing here?” she remarks. Then immediately realizes how lame she sounded. Couldn’t she come up with anything better beside throw his own words back at him like a ten year old?

Vaughn’s eyebrows raise a little, amused at her childish come back. “ I asked you first…” he replies back with the same immature attitude. “ the question is…what are YOU doing here?” Now he feels like an annoying kid.

She doesn’t respond with an excuse or an explanation. He is getting a little impatient and decides to push her a little. “ or maybe the better question is…why were you, for a lack of a better word…spying…on me?” He slowly enunciates and accents the word “ spying.” He certainly got the upper-hand in their little game after that comment.

“ I was…following…you because I thought you were going to WORK. I thought it might have been an emergency…you left so abruptly…” she tries to take his advantage away from him. “ What else could it have been that made you dash out of there?” She crosses her arms in front of her chest. Now the ball was back in his court again.

He turns his head away from her hard stare. “ Something important came up. I didn’t say it was work…” He says quietly to the ground not wanting to look at her while he lied. “ for SD-6..” he adds on. There, now it wasn’t a complete lie.

“ Why did Alice say it was work then?” she continues with her interrogation. She won’t be satisfied until she gets to the bottom of this. “ She IS your girlfriend isn’t she?” Whoa! Where did that come from? Her brain does a double take. It just came out. It’s not good to just blurt things without thinking, she reprimands herself.

“ Sydney, you should know better than anyone that there are things you can’t even tell those closest to you…” he stops a moment. “ Even though you really want to tell them everything.” He looks up into her eyes; brown ones that were now sparkling from the moonlight. “ It would be so easy to tell the truth…” She is startled by what she sees in his eyes. “ Sometimes I just want to tell everything…” They seem to be searching for something. Something from her? At the same time, they are expressing an overwhelming feeling of sadness too. She is mesmerized. She swallows hard as he suddenly breaks away his penetrating gaze and says, “ But...then I know I can’t. It’d be too dangerous.”

He shakes his head to clear the air. What was he thinking? Was he going to tell her the real reason he left so quickly? She takes a deep breath to recover from whatever just happened. She isn’t even sure what it was, but she was glad to be moving on from it.

“ Yeah. I know you can’t tell Alice everything. But if it wasn’t work related…why did leave? Why did you lie?”

He is quiet again feeling like a little boy who had to explain to his mother why he lied about getting detention. Then his shame suddenly turns into surprise. When did it turn from him demanding why she was spying on him to her grilling him with all these questions? And without him noticing until now. She was good. He had to give her that.

“ I didn’t lie exactly. I told her it was important. I just didn’t feel like elaborating. It was something very personal…” his voice drifts away. Will she let it go at that? Probably not, he thinks.

“ The page was from my mother. She needed me to do something for her…” he stops, not wanting to continue with the lying. “ She was reminding me about…”

Sydney sees his hesitation and reluctance to continue and knows that she should just drop the issue. It is obvious that he wasn’t doing anything Sloane would consider “suspicious.” He wasn’t going off betraying SD-6. It isn’t her position to pry into his personal life like this.

“ Look Vaughn…you don’t have to explain anymore. I’m the one that should explain. I apologize for following you. I thought it was work. It’s just that…when you took a different turn instead of going into Credit Dauphine. I became curious and my instincts told me to follow…I”

“ You thought I was doing something that I shouldn’t be doing…”

“ No!” she says like a reflex. “ I mean…yes,” she hangs her head down. “ I mean…I don’t know what to think.” She closes her eyes in confusion and brings her hand up rub her forehead. “ You know it’s hard to trust people. Sloane said, it’s the nature of the job, and you always has to be alert…or else, others are going to take you down, you know?” she is trying desperately to explain herself, but is not sure everything is coming out the way she wanted.

“ I know. I think I saw it in the spy handbook somewhere,” he jokes to ease her nerves. He knows she doesn’t mean any harm. . “ Page twenty?” She relaxes a little and lets out a little nervous laugh.

“ Yeah, I think I have a bumper sticker with those same words too,” she smiles. “ But seriously Vaughn. Sloane told me to be cautious, not too overly trusting.”

“ That makes sense.”

“ No, but…I really do want to trust you. I don’t know what it is, but I feel that I am more than half way there already and we haven’t even been on a mission together yet.”

He smiles at that. It makes him glad that she feels that way. “ I know what you mean,” he says. “ I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

“ It’s good. I don’t need more people who I can’t trust. Do you?” He shakes his head. “ But you probably don’t trust me now…after my behavior tonight.” She says a little embarrassed. “ You have personal things…I should mind my own business.”

They stand there in silence for a few seconds. She starts to get nervous that the pestering awkwardness is coming back. All of a sudden, Vaughn reaches down quickly and grabs her dangling hand. His hand is warm. He starts walking while leading her behind him. She is completely surprised. But deep down, she is getting a little exciting sensation. The type you get when someone has a surprise birthday gift just waiting for you to discover. She wonders where he is taking her.

They walk a few feet or so and stop in front of the gravestone that he had been talking to earlier. She looks down at the engraved words: William C. Vaughn. Loving Husband and Father. Hero for the Country.

Sydney Bristow had given him a chance to go without explaining anything a few minutes ago. But he couldn’t do it. She deserved something more. Besides, he wanted to show her.

“ My dad,” Vaughn says sadly. “ My mother calls sometimes wanting me to come visit him. Tonight was one of those days. I went to the gift shop to get him something first” he wasn’t completely lying to her. It was all true except for the time reference. His mother does call to remind him about going to the cemetery when she gets overwhelmed by memories or loneliness. It just wasn’t tonight.


He had never brought anyone to his dad’s grave site. He would have brought Kristine, but they weren’t even suppose to know each other. He didn’t even think about bringing Alice here. He doesn’t even talk about his dad with Alice. But for some reason he made a split second decision to bring HER here. She was right about what Sloane said. In his life, trust is a tricky thing. But needed to be able to work together. Deep down hidden inside, he might have known it was little more than just wanting to do it for work. He wanted to share this with her. Wanted her to trust him. Wanted to trust her.

“ So you got him a hockey stick and puck?” she is amused.

“ Yeah, he introduced me to that passion when I was only six.” Sydney tried to imagine him as a little kid. She saw the image in front of her eyes.

A cute little boy all padded up skating in a hockey rink with his dad skating in big circles hovering around him, teaching him the game. Then the image started to blur in her mind. The boy started to spin on the ice, faster and faster. And the father started stretching out his hands to guide him. Round and round they went. Then as she looked closer, the image was transforming quickly. It was no longer Vaughn as a little boy with his father. It was a little girl in a pink tutu. And her mother was teaching her how to dance. She could feel a tear welling up in her eyes as she watched on. She hadn’t thought about her mother for awhile now. She thought she would have moved on by now. She thought that she wouldn’t feel this sad every time she remembered how abruptly her mother had been taken away from her. She was so young.

“ I remember my mother teaching me ballet when I was only five,” Vaughn looked at her through the corner of his eye and saw the nostalgic look on her face. “ I used to watch her dance and thought she was an angel she so was so graceful.” He saw that she was staring into space and half smiling. He then turned to stare at the same open space that she was and tried to see him and his dad. They stayed standing and staring. Each down their own memory path to a time when they were innocent and happy. A time when their guardians were there to teach them and protect them.

His thoughts are disrupted when he hears a sniffle. She is crying softly. She tried to hold the tears in, but they rolled down her cheek anyway. She lifts her free hand to wipe the tears away. That’s when he notices that he still had her other hand in his grip. He squeezed her captured hand gently, and she smiles again.

“ I’m sorry…” she quickly apologizes. “ I just thought about my mother…she died when I was six. She missed my first ballet recital.”

“ Sydney, I…”

“ It’s okay. I’m really past it now. I have wonderful memories of what a loving mother she was and that should be enough. It’s just that sometimes I wonder what she would think of me now. She’s probably disappointed that I didn’t become a ballerina,” she lets her dimples show in a big smile. “ What would she say if she knew I was a spy for the CIA?” she chuckles to herself.

“ Well…I don’t plan to do this forever. So she shouldn’t worry. I think she would be happy to know that I am studying to be an English teacher, just like her. When she died, I read some of her writing and it inspired me to be an English teacher.” She didn’t know how good it would feel to share this. She turns her head to face him to find that he is looking at her intently.

“ What…” she asks quietly. “ Do I sound like a nut case?”

“ No…” he furrows his eyebrows. “ you sound…amazing…” Now it was his turn to wonder where his words came from. “ I mean, I wouldn’t be able to go to graduate school and do your day job as well.”

“ I’m sure you could…if you wanted to.”

“ I don’t know,” he shakes his head. “ But I guess I’m doing what I knew I would be doing since I was eight.”

Sydney Bristow couldn’t believe her ears. He knew he was going to be a spy when he was eight? She didn’t know if she wanted to do it when she was nineteen when that recruiting agent approached her.

“ How did you know at eight that you wanted to a CIA agent?”

“ How did you know at six that you wanted to be an English teacher?” She doesn’t understand at first.

“ Because my mother was…” then her gaze fall from his face to the inscription carved on the hard stone. She reads the year of death and understands. This hero of the country died and left a wife and eight year old son behind.

“ Vaughn…I had no idea that your father. That’s why you decided to join?”

He knew he shouldn’t say anymore because he might reveal too much, but the way she was looking at him. Her genuine expression made him feel that it was alright to tell her. He gave in to her questioning eyes.

“ Yeah. My dad died in the field. I wanted to continue what he was doing…that’s why I signed up. When I was eight, they didn’t tell us any details. When I joined, I asked about him and his assignment, but it was all top confidential files. His death has always been something of a mystery in my life. I have always wanted to know what happened. Who killed him. Why exactly. They tried to feed me lies and explanations, but I saw right through them… But my search hasn’t gotten me anywhere except for a life of more lies and secrets. Isn’t life ironic?”

She couldn’t even speak. Her whole life, her mother’s death had affected every aspect of her being. Her hopes, her fears, her motivation in school. Now, she is learning that HE has gone through the same. And even worse because his father was murdered. She held on to his hand tighter to show her support.

“ If you need…I can help you with your search,” He was grateful for her considerate offer. But she shouldn’t be dragged into this.

“ You don’t need to,”

“ I want to. I understand about losing someone that dear to you at a young age. If I didn’t know that my mother died in a car accident, I would want to find out more .”

“ Thanks,” he gave her a weak smile.

All of a sudden, they hear some gurgling noise. Sydney quickly removes her hand from his and covers her stomach in embarrassment. She gives him a sheepish look. “ You left before dinner…my stomach blames you,”

He gives her a laugh. “I apologize deeply to your stomach. I’m sorry that I missed out on your cooking. I’m sure it would have been delightful.”

“ Oh yes definitely. I’m quite the chef,” she flashes him her dimples again. “ But don’t worry. I have feeling you’ll be getting a taste of it in the future.”

“ I hope so.” They look at each other and a new feeling hangs over them. Friendship? Trust? They are no longer complete strangers. Far from it, if they really thought about it. Tonight, they shared a part of themselves with each other that they never told anyone else and came out more at peace. They could both relate to each other’s losses in the past. They were now connected beyond simply as co-workers.
 
Chapter 13

He watches her lightly twirl her pen between her fingers as Sloane’s voice slowly become monotone in the background. He wonders if it is nerves that’s making her jittery or if it is just an unconscious little habit. This is the first assignment that they are going to be working on together as partners. Maybe she is still hesitant.

After pondering awhile, he settles for the latter as he sees how calm and collected the rest of her seems. Her eyes quickly glance across the table to see him staring at her hand. She stops abruptly feeling a little self-conscious. Noticing her sudden stiffness, he shifts in his own seat to a more comfortable position. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees him give her a quick half smile, and her hand nervously goes to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Their attentions turn on Sloane again as he pushes a black folder towards their direction. The leather folder glides down the smooth surface and they both reach out to get it at the same time. Just as their fingertips are about to brush past lightly, Vaughn quickly retracts his hand.

“Uh, you go ahead,” he nods. She can have first look; he’ll wait.

“Those are the floor plans of the building. Marked in blue are the two places where the suitcase with the Rambaldi artifact could be located. There’s one in each of the far ends.”

“ There are two suitcases?” Sydney questions as he hands the folder over to Vaughn.

“ Yes. Giovanni DiRisio is a man who knows the value of Rambaldi. One of the suitcases is a fake.”

“ How do we know that both aren’t fakes?” Vaughn asks the exact question that Sydney is also thinking.

“ Good question. We don’t. We do not have intel of another suitcase as of now, so we will get what we can. Sydney, you will go to the one in the left and Vaughn, you will retrieve the one on the right. There is no way you two will walk out of the party undetected with two rather large suitcases. Another agent will be waiting in the last room down the middle of three corridors marked in green. Just hand the suitcases over to him and he’ll take it from there. You leave for Florence tonight. Any questions will be answered when you get back…” Sloane ends cryptically.

Vaughn gives a sideways glance to Sydney at Sloane’s last words. Her eyebrows go up to say she has no clue what he meant either.


***********************

Vaughn ties Donovan’s leash to the leg of a park bench, then sits down and takes out the newspaper. The sun’s glare is unbearable so he pulls down the shades that were resting on the top of his head. As he scans the headlines, he hears the footsteps of someone approaching.

A woman sits down on the opposite side of the bench, crosses her legs, and sets a lunch box down in her lap. Donovan immediately inches towards the direction of food. Vaughn looks at the lower left corner of his newspaper, but his eyes follow Donovan’s movement. As the dog sniffs around the woman’s sandals, Vaughn catches a glimpse of red painted toenails through the open toed shoes. “ So she’s a girly girl at heart,” he thinks and smiles. No dress shoes today either. He has never seen her dressed so casually. Her hair is even down. He decides that he likes seeing her more relaxed, even if they are here for business.

Kristine reaches down to pet the cute little pup. She never knew he had a dog. Then again, she is not surprised. He seems like he would be a dog person. She giggles as the dog starts licking her toes and whimpering.

“ Can I give him something?” she asks quietly.

“ Sure. Just don’t spoil him.”

She breaks off a piece of her sandwich and tosses it to the ground. “ I’ll try not to,” she smiles.

“ The key is to not look at those puppy dog eyes. One look and you’re his slave,” he chuckles and shakes his head baffled about how much he does for that dog. He just can’t say no sometimes.

“ Yeah. There are some eyes I just can’t resist,” Her face suddenly flushes. Thank goodness a slight breeze passes. She quickly changes the subject.

“ Anyway, I understand you two will be arriving separately.”

“ Right. Sloane thinks that will make it less suspicious since we’re after two suitcases. The people would suspect couples that came in together.” She nods her head at the logic, but then he adds on, “ But we’re flying out together. Just arriving at the party separately.”

“ Okay…you have to make sure you are the one to get the suitcase in the left room.”

“ He assigned that one to her,”

“ I know. But that’s the real one. You have to figure out a way to make her switch with you.”

Vaughn sighs in frustration. Of course, they always HAVE to make the counter hard on him. Sydney will be suspicious if he just asks to switch. What’s he going to do?

“ How do you know that’s the real one? Sloane didn’t seem to know,” Vaughn does not trust that evil man and wonders if he lied.

“ We’ve been following DiRisio for awhile. Sloane just got his intel recently.”

“ Alright. If I get to the right suitcase, I still just can’t walk out with it.” She likes how his mind is always working and questioning. Though it is irritating when he presses on about something she can’t tell, she believes no one can afford to blindly follow orders in this trade.

“ We’re also sending someone there. Instead of going to the middle corridor, you’ll have to be fast and get to the right corridor, where our agent is located with another fake suitcase.”

“This just gets better and better, doesn’t it Donny?” he sarcastically lets out and pulls at the dog’s leash.

She pops a grape into her mouth and says to the dog, “ I think he’s ready for the challenge, don’t you think?” She gives the dog a wink and gets up. He finally looks up to see her stride away in a purple floral dress with her hair bouncing up and down. His hand reaches down to scratch behind Donovan’s ear to silence the dog’s whimpers.


*************************************


Vaughn stands on the balcony overlooking the city. Their first stop before the mission is this hotel. It is a place for them to transform themselves into completely different characters. They could not simply get on the plane dressed the way this grand gathering requires of them. He closes his eyes feeling the night breeze. He takes a deep breath and looks up at the stars.

“ So are you watching dad?…Why am I nervous?…I’ve done this. Maybe it’s been a while since field work, but it’s like riding a bike right?” He wants to run his fingers through his hair but remembers that it was just done up for the occasion.

Inside the room, Sydney applies the final touches to her make up in front of the bathroom mirror. She presses her lips together a few times and bats her long eyelashes. In the mirror, she sees the scar on her shoulder from her last mission. It is healing nicely, but it is still a reminder of her failure. And of that man. It bothers her that she has no clue who he is. After dabbing a little cover-up on her shoulder, she does a final assessment of her appearance.

She gently pushes the door open and steps out of the bathroom. She looks over at the door to the balcony and sees his outline against the moonlight. He is all dressed up and ready in his black suit. He leans against the balcony rail in a slouching manner and he seems to be in deep thought. She walks closer to where he is, but he doesn’t notice with his back turned. She hears him mumble a little.

“ Am I ready? Of course I am.”

She almost laughs when she realizes that he’s giving himself a pep talk about the mission. It is funny, yet delightful to see someone prepare himself as if he were going out to a battlefield. As she thinks that maybe she should give it a try sometime, she just can’t hold it in any longer.

His heart jumps and his eyes open at the sound of her laughter from behind. He whips around and forgets what he was going to say as he sees her disguise.

She looks very different. She is wearing a clingy black dress with a plunging neckline. Two long slits travel up her thigh coming dangerously high up. With the sparkling diamond necklace, it is difficult not to stare at her long neck. Her eyes are blue and complimentary to her short blond wig.

Sydney looks at Vaughn’s blank stare and immediately goes on the defensive. She holds up a hand and says, “ I know what you’re going to say…. I DON’T pick the wardrobe. So just don’t say anything….”

He doesn’t mean to stare. He is just caught off guard by her ensemble. “ I wasn’t going to say anything actually,” he says as a smile unconsciously creeps to his mouth. It is funny to see her so defensive about what she looks like.


“ Well…I knew you what you were thinking…” she says back stubbornly. “ See? You’re laughing at me…” her arms fold across her chest to try and hide herself.

“ No, I’m not. You think you can read my mind?” he turns around again to hide his amusement.

Sydney stands there unsure what to say to that.

Not noticing her silence, he continues “ If you can do that, tell me what I’m thinking right now…” He meant those words to be funny, but they are both caught off guard by how different it came out. He said it too slowly and tentatively to be taken as a light joke. He silently curses himself and wants to take it back.

She hangs her mouth open as she thinks and then finally says, “ You are thinking…that I will hurt you if you continue to tease me.” With that, they both relax again. “You should get going. I’ll see you in an hour,” she returns to the room and he follows.

As his hand opens the door to leave, he hears her say, “ You’re ready…”
 
Great chapters !!!! (y) (y)
And I don't think it's overwhelming to get more than one chapter. I like it. Once again - great chapters!
Thanks for the PM! And please post more soon :woot:
 
awwww. that's so perfect... hum... should i go to sd-1 too... hum.... ponders
--Mandy :angelic:
 
angelbleu said:
A cute little boy all padded up skating in a hockey rink with his dad skating in big circles hovering around him, teaching him the game. Then the image started to blur in her mind. The boy started to spin on the ice, faster and faster. And the father started stretching out his hands to guide him. Round and round they went. Then as she looked closer, the image was transforming quickly. It was no longer Vaughn as a little boy with his father. It was a little girl in a pink tutu. And her mother was teaching her how to dance. She could feel a tear welling up in her eyes as she watched on. She hadn’t thought about her mother for awhile now. She thought she would have moved on by now. She thought that she wouldn’t feel this sad every time she remembered how abruptly her mother had been taken away from her. She was so young.
I LOVED that part...it was so sad...
 
wow that was alot to read!!! but i like how you are posting more then one chap!!! anyways you are such an awesome writer and i love this story!!
 
:cries: ANGEL YOU'RE LEAVING!! 😭 The V-A's will be so sad! :hug: :sniff:

:laughs: Vaugh pep talk... I'm telling you, the whole time that was going on, I kept wondering if he was going to mutter something about the REAL CIA... I suppose I'm just paranoid that way...

:Pokes Angel: You missy, :Pokes again: better have Vaughn tell her the truth soon. ;) JK JK... But it better happen. Cuz otherwise, we're lacking in the S/V fluff, and that's no fun, is it??? :laughs:

Great chapter again Angel! See ya around! :hug:
 
Here's the next Two

Chapter 14


Sydney pats the sides of her blond wig. She rolls her eyes thinking that she’ll never get used to the feel of coarse fake hair no matter how many missions she’s been on. Her hands are surprisingly jittery and she smiles at the irony. Only an hour ago, she was the one laughing at him for being nervous. It’s her turn now. Dixon was never nervous on any missions, and she’d come to let Dixon’s guide her like a role model. He was on a higher level she hoped to attain someday. With Vaughn, she can’t put her finger on it yet, but it feels different. She sees him as her equal. She wonders how she would work with him. Would they naturally fall in sync with how the other operated? Or would they clash so hard that nothing gets accomplished?

She dismisses her worries as she remembers how far they had come since their first meeting. At the same time that she remembers all that has transpired between them, she becomes increasingly confused. What exactly did transpire when they were on the balcony at the hotel room? It didn’t feel right, but it didn’t feel wrong either. It must have been nerves mixed with the ions in the air.

She begins to analyze how the night had started. The image of his slouching figure hanging over the balcony flashes before her eyes. Before the scene is played out in her mind, she is suddenly interrupted by a warm breeze from the outside as the driver of limo swings the door open for her. She gives a polite smile and nods while noticing his unmoving gaze from her thigh as she extends her right leg to the ground. As she lifts herself from a sitting position, her left foot lands directly on top his foot. She digs the heel hard into his leathery shoes and out of the corner of her eye sees him wince slightly. “Sorry,” she says in Italian and gives him an innocent smile. Then her attention is drawn to the brilliance of her surrounding. She stares at the three story marble mansion and thinks to herself, “ This DiRisio sure knows how to live.” Let the mission begin.


********************


Every few minutes, he gets the urge to glance over at the entrance to see if she has arrived. Every time his eyes catch the head of a blond, he mistakenly thinks that it’s her. He has tried to mingle as if he were just another rich guest, but he couldn’t seem to hold a conversation with anyone. “Everyone here is so fake,” he thinks to himself. Even though he is the one with the fake identity, he feels that he is more real than all of them.

He taps his foot impatiently and checks his watch again. His mind begins to fill with worries. “Syd…hurry up so we can get this over with. Why isn’t she here yet? It’s almost been an hour. Nothing can go wrong in a simple limo ride from the hotel to here right? Even if something did, she can handle herself…couldn’t she?” He hangs his head down and stares at the floor to try and calm down. “ Think about what you got to do. What’s your game plan when she gets here?” Though he tries hard, his mind can’t focus.

The first thing he sees when he lifts his head is a server carrying a plate of champagne. He eyes a sparkling glass as the server weaves through the crowd knowing that it just might calm him down enough. “ No I probably shouldn’t on a mission…But it’s only one glass…even so, maybe my judgement will be impaired…” He goes back and forth while watching the number of glasses quickly decrease. With each disappearing glass, his temptation increases. Giving a defeated sigh, he decides that a drink would be the best to calm his nerves.

One glass remains as the server slowly approaches his side of the room. He reaches quickly for the glass but instead of feeling the coolness of glass, he is surprised to feel the touch of another hand. The woman quickly whips her body around and he pulls his hand away fast.

“ Sorry,” they say at the same time. He takes a step back and brings his hands up in a gesture for her to take the glass.

“ You go ahead,” he insists politely. The woman doesn’t respond immediately. She gives him a quick once over looking him up and down making him a little uncomfortable.

“ That’s not necessary. I think you had your eyes on it for awhile… am I right?” her mouth curls into a smile and one of her eyebrows raises in question. He clears his throat and lets out an embarrassed chuckle.

“ Uh yes. But where I come from…ladies first,” On the outside, he flashes her one of the fake smiles he’s been working on all night. On the inside, he cringes at his demeanor. He never liked putting on the Mr. Suave persona, but feels as if he has to.
“ Well then,” she tilts her head slightly amused and wraps her slender fingers around the glass. “ Where I come from…” He watches as her arm reaches past him to stop another server on his way past. “ there is always more than one glass…” She takes a glass off the plate and hands it to him as she brings her own glass to her mouth.


*********************


Sydney glances from one side of the room to the other in search of him. Even though they should not be linked together, she still needs to signal to him that she’s here and ready. She walks casually through the clusters of people while looking up to scan the people on the second floor. “He wouldn’t have already gone to get the suitcase, would he?” she thinks just as she spots his back in a far corner. She smiles at the fact that he kept his word to wait for her.

“ I’m just going to walk past close enough to catch his gaze and we’ll head our separate ways to where the suitcases are…” she strategizes as she walks in towards his direction. As she approaches, she notices that he’s talking to someone. Quite deep in conversation too. He is blocking the other person so she can’t get a glimpse of the person’s face. She is almost on tiptoes trying to make out the person’s face. He shifts his weigh to the left and she sees a red dress with a long slit. So it’s a woman, she concludes. He takes a step back to gesture something to the woman, and Sydney sees the ends of long black hair down the woman’s waist. “ How does he have time to chat with random women?” she thinks in frustration. “ I know I was late but…” Sydney sucks in a quick breath of air as she recognizes the other woman.

Her eyes widen in shock and she curses under her breath. “Damn it! What is she doing?” Picking up her walking pace, she approaches them with full force.

“ Mr. Johnson!” Sydney cries out his alias in a high-pitched voice. They both turn around startled by her outburst. “ I am so sorry I am late,” she flashes him a wide grin and slips her arm into his.

He turns to give her a confused look while trying to hide his reaction from the other woman. They aren’t suppose to know each other on this mission. “What the hell are you doing Syd…” he throws her a hard dazed stare.

“ Please forgive me. I am a terrible date.” She licks her lips and continues to display her dimples towards him. She leans in closer and brushes her hand up and down his suit sleeve. Then she turns to the woman in red and her big smile turns into a smirk. Vaughn straightens his posture and clears his throat hoping for Sydney to give him a clue as to what is going on.

“ But I see you kept yourself busy meeting new acquaintances,” she says with a cool tone. But somehow he gets the feeling that her iciness isn’t directed at him, but at the woman. As she brings her hand up to play with his collar, he feels his face heat up. He doesn’t like how little he feels in the situation.

To regain some control, he wraps his arm around her waist and brings her even closer. She looks into his eyes and he sees her surprise.

“ Yes. We were just getting to know each other when you showed up,” he returns her fake smile and raises his eyebrows letting her know that he can play along with her game even if he is utterly confused.

He turns his head and gives an apologetic look to the woman in red. “ I’m sorry…I didn’t even introduce my date Ms…”

“ Sydney Bristow,” the woman in red finishes his sentence and squints her eyes. Vaughn is shocked beyond belief, but remains composed on the outside.

His throat is dry and he takes another sip of his champagne. “ uh, you two know each other?” He looks from one woman to the other. His confusion and frustration increases as he realizes that the two women seem to be having their own little intense dual. He is probably invisible in their eyes at this moment.

“ We go way back, don’t we Anna?” Sydney answers with contempt in her eyes.

“ Yes. We certainly do,” the woman purses her lips tightly together. “So this is your new flavor…for these events?” She hisses as she redirects her attention to Vaughn through the corner of her eyes.

“ He is my date for tonight only. He doesn’t accompany me to all these types of events as you call it.” Sydney retorts back. She doesn’t know if Anna buys her attempt to make it seem as if Vaughn was not her new partner.

“ Where is your date?” Sydney questions hoping that the masked man may in fact be here tonight as well.

“ I came solo tonight,” Anna answers with clenched teeth. The two women do not believe a word that the other says and yet they continue to throw fighting words back and forth.

Wanting to relieve the mounting tension and knowing that they do not have much time left to complete the mission, Vaughn drops his arm and brushes his watch against Sydney’s palm. He looks at Anna and says, “ I’m sorry. It was very nice to meet you, but now that my date is here…I would like a dance.” He turns to Sydney, grabs her wrist to lead her away.

Anna clutches her champagne glass in her hand and eyes the two as they make their way to the dance floor. Her bitterness slowly dies down as she sees that they are not the happy couple they were pretending to be just a minute ago.
 
Chapter 15

While he leads her to the dance floor, they both pretend to smile graciously at all the other couples around them. She places one hand in his and the other on his shoulder as she tries to keep her eyes away feeling guilty at her behavior just now. Anna just brings out a catty side that no one, not even herself, would ever think she had.

He takes her hand as the other reaches down to her waist. He tries to act cool because all eyes seem to be on them. They go through the required dancing motions like two robots. After twirling her around lightheartedly for show, he notices that people are slowly returning to their own business and he pulls her in with a quick jerk.

“ What is going on? What the hell were you doing? ” No more playing it cool anymore, he demands some explanation.

She doesn’t like his tone and immediately goes on the defensive. “ What the hell were YOU doing? Do you even know who that was?” she gives him an indignant glare.

“ No! but apparently you do…” he bites back quickly.

“ Yeah. I should know since I’ve been around for awhile…” she huffs.

Scrunching up his forehead in confusion, “ What is THAT suppose to mean?” He unconsciously leans in closer so they’re faces are just inches away.

“ It means that I know better than to make conversation with strange women who I don’t know,” Sensing herself getting a little too worked up, she loosens the tight grip she didn’t even realize she had on his shoulder.

“ Right. It would be better if I just stood there looking like an idiot waiting stiffly for my LATE…DATE…when I didn’t even know I had one…” he sarcastically retorts back. What is she getting so frustrated about? He is the one that wasn’t let in on anything that was happening minutes ago. Her eyes widen equally fervent. How dare he be mad when she wasn’t even that late.

“ I’m sorry I was late, but I’m surprised you even noticed.” She glances from side to side seeing others turn their heads toward them. She shrugs her shoulders and puts on a cutesy smile for them. “ We’re making a scene,” she says through her smiling teeth.

He looks around to see that they are indeed drawing a fair amount of attention. He drops his head and whispers, “ Just great!” he rolls his eyes. “ We weren’t suppose to know each other. Why a change of plans?” He is adamant on getting an answer. He doesn’t like not knowing what’s going to happen on a mission. As he talks, he moves her around the dance floor so they were not in the center anymore.

She lets him guide her along to a more inconspicuous area. Their bodies move in rhythm as tries to analyze her actions. She closes her eyes and sighs because she can’t really understand what came over her either. Why did she in a way compromise the mission when she saw them talking?

In a softer tone she answers, “ I…I wanted to warn you I guess. The woman you were talking to… is Anna Espinosa.”

Vaughn remembers hearing that name before, but he can’t put his finger on when and where. But just the sound of her name brings a chilly vibe. She can’t be good news.

“She was born in Cuba, raised in Russia. One of the last of the Cold War babies. Does the word K-directorate mean anything to you?” she asks snidely. Apparently some of the left over steam hadn’t all blown away.

“ I can handle myself. She didn’t know about me…that is until you came.”

Sydney’s mouth open in bewilderment. What he is getting at? “ You probably wouldn’t know if she was using you being distracted by her ensemble!”

“ You think that’s the type of person I am?” The heat rising to his face. She looks away quickly in shame. She knows he is not that type of person. She is letting her emotions get the better of her.

“ I can tell when I’m being used. You’re right. I was used back there. But not by Anna!” His own words even surprised himself. Maybe that’s where all the anger came from. Not because she was late or because she changed the plans. He could handle all that. An agent deals with surprises and changes al the time. The truth of how he felt has come out. When she put her arm in his, when she brushed against him, and when she played with his collar. It was all to get to Anna. He had felt used by her.

They stare at each other intensely both breathing heavily as the music comes to a halt. They snap out of their gazes as clapping fills the room with people giving their appreciation to the instrumentalists.

Over the loud rumbling of clapping hands, she grabs the edge of his suit and leans over his ear so he can hear. “ Look. I think we need to focus on the mission.” She turns her head to look at him with sincerity in her eyes. He nods in agreement accepting her offer of truce.
 
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