Author’s Note: Sequel to No Rest for the Wicked
Rated R, just to be on the safe side, because things could either get ugly, or steamy…depending on my mood
Eventually, this will be a Sarkney, because I just love writing that ship, I really do. And while I did just finish up a memory-loss story, believe me, this will be a very different fic. First, the memory loss and answers will be resolved very soon. This will almost be like a season 3 re-write…and that may just segway into a season 4 speculation (if I keep some aspects of season 3 in my story…I’m not sure about that yet). So, here it is, I hope you enjoy. It’s called Expose Me.
Expose Me
I have so many talents
I'm afraid to show them
People may not like them
so they're hidden
Hidden within
Where no one can hate them
-Counting Crows, “Expose Me”
Prologue
As soon as I hear the operator say ‘dispatch’ the next words come tumbling out of my mouth, I don’t think, just speak. “This is officer 2300844, calling for connection. Confirmation: looking glass.”
Those must have been the right words because the voice on the other line says, “Stand by.”
There is a pause and a ringing sound. Then I hear another voice. A voice I recognize. “This is Kendall.”
Kendall. He must know what happened to me. I must have been kidnapped. Or been on a mission and have slight amnesia. He’ll know. “I just woke up in Hong Kong. I don't know how long I've been here or how I got here.”
There is a long pause, like he is surprised to hear from me, or angry at me. I can’t tell. So I try again. “Hello?”
He speaks, quickly and efficiently. “Get to our safehouse at Tsimshatsui as quickly as possible. You remember how to get there?”
I wrack my brain for the information, it’s still a little fuzzy, but I remember. “Of course I do.”
His last words are, “I'll make sure they're expecting you.”
I answer quickly, “Okay.”
He hangs up the phone, as do I.
I make my way to the safehouse. I remember everything about the area, and about the house – but still cannot remember why I am in Hong Kong. It’s like a part of my brain is missing.
I start to feel lost again, even though I know exactly where I am.
And I’m waiting. Just waiting.
I’m waiting for somebody. I’m waiting for answers. I’m waiting for my life to make sense again.
- - -
[1]
CIA safehouse at Tsimshatsui
She had been waiting for at least 12 hours, if not more, before she started to get frustrated. She was pacing the room, tracing the scar on her abdomen lightly, desperately trying to remember where it came from. Her mind kept wandering – and spouting off questions…
Was there nobody in close proximity to Hong Kong that could get to her? What the hell was going on? Why wasn’t anyone coming sooner? Was she not on a mission when this happened?
All these questions were running through her head when she heard the door open slowly. She turned to face in that direction and was surprised to see a familiar face, one that she had not seen in a while. She took in the dark hair, the deep set brown eyes, and the familiar way he walked – Agent Jim Lennox.
She looked at him with confusion clearly written on her face. That same confusion seeped through her voice as she asked, tentatively, “Lennox?”
He grinned at her. “Yeah, it’s me. I’d ask you how the hell you are, but it seems that you have some problems.”
She laughed – she couldn’t believe that she was actually laughing at a time like this, but she was. “You know, that’s why I liked you. You’re a straight shooter, Lennox.”
“It’s the best I can do after you were so straightforward with me about Emma.” His tone sobered both of them up instantly.
Sydney knew then that it must be bad news, or else he would not have brought up Emma. “Lennox, what is going on? I need to you to be completely honest with me.”
He sighed and started pacing around the room. “Sydney, I can’t tell you everything right away. The first thing is going to be a shock enough.”
She looked at him, her brown eyes half fearful and half confused. “What does that mean?”
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here. I stayed in Fiji longer than I expected, and even left the CIA briefly, but I missed the work. The thing is, a year after Emma’s death, I came back to the CIA and have been working in the LA office where you worked.”
Sydney’s eyes scrunched together in confusion. Her tone, when she spoke, had the same confused air to it. “I don’t understand. I just saw you a few months ago.”
His eyes were sad for her, as he relayed the biggest shock of all. “Sydney, you’ve been missing for two years. You were declared dead through dental records and your ‘ashes’ were spread out at sea.”
Sydney sank into the couch – speechless, completely and utterly speechless. Two years. Declared dead. Waking up in Hong Kong. Lennox meeting her here. She couldn’t even muster the strength or will to cry. It was as if she were stuck in a nightmare, or the Twilight Zone.
Lennox just watched her. He was hesitant about how to treat her, for he had only known her briefly. They had connected on a certain level, through the deaths of their fiancées, however she had been long gone before he went back to the CIA and now here he was, facing a woman he hardly knew, giving her some of the worst news of her life. It was disconcerting.
The CIA had almost called Vaughn in specially, to come meet her. But what would the point in that have been? To torture both of them with the way they were callously ripped apart the past two years? It seemed needlessly cruel to Jim Lennox, who remembered an honest, caring, and special person in Sydney Bristow. So instead, he offered to go, because she needed a friend through this most of all – not a former lover.
He was silent as he watched her digest the information. She was extremely quiet and appeared calm – to an untrained eye. But he could see the questions in her eyes, the shaking of her hands, the tears that threatened to gather.
Finally she spoke. “Does everybody think I’m dead?”
Seeing her so vulnerable made him suddenly thank the powers that be for allowing him to come instead of Vaughn. That certainly would have broken her down so completely. This was already bad enough for her to deal with.
He answered her question slowly, carefully. “They did and most still do. Nobody will be told until you are cleared of all suspicion. But a lot has changed over the past two years. There are things that I can’t tell you yet – you must be checked out by a doctor and debriefed.”
“Lennox, don’t coddle me. The CIA better not keep details of my own life from me. Or details about those I love.”
“Sydney – “
She shook her head. Sydney Bristow would not be treated like a criminal; Sydney Bristow would not need clearance to learn about her own life. Her opinion on this was strong, and she voiced it. “Oh no, I will not stand for this. This sort of treatment is entirely unacceptable.”
While Lennox completely understood her sentiment, “I know this is hard for you – “
She snorted in annoyance, “Hard for me? This is more than just hard for me. My whole life has shattered, changed completely, and in ways that I’m told that I don’t have clearance to yet. How am I supposed to react to that?”
Lennox just shook his head. “I don’t know. But running away isn’t the answer.”
She looked at him and understood. Sydney realized that this was the best that he could give her at the moment. And so she took it, not without reservations and a bit of anger, but she took it just the same. “I know that, I really do. So what do we do now?”
“You come with me to LA.”
She nodded – and slept fitfully the whole ride home.
- - -
The next day – CIA medical services
She was sick of the testing. All the machines, the poking, the prodding, it made her feel non-human. Sydney felt like a guinea pig – or a slab of meat. It really was not pleasant at all.
She still had no answers about what the CIA knew. It was slowly killing her on the inside, all of this waiting.
There was a knock on her door – not asking permission, just a warning – and it opened, revealing her first visitor. Not surprisingly it was Kendall, with Lennox in tow. They were the only two people from her former life who knew she was alive, and apparently her only allies at the moment. The lack of choice grated at her nerves.
Lennox spoke first. He could read something in Kendall’s demeanor that he didn’t quite understand – and he could tell it was making Sydney uncomfortable because she didn’t either.
“Sydney, how are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve had needles poked into me all day.”
“We had to run tests, Sydney, to make sure that you were not programmed in any way. You had to be cleared from suspicion.”
“I shouldn’t be under suspicion at all. I don’t have any memory of the past two years. I’m not guilty here – as much as I hate it, I’m the victim of something.”
“We don’t know that. You were declared dead just about two years ago. I was at your funeral. I, for one, have no idea where you have been. You can understand protocol – I had to go through the same thing myself with the whole Project: Helix mess.”
Sydney sighed. He did understand – somewhat. It was nice to have an ally. But now it was time for the still-reigning authority to speak. She looked pointedly at Kendall, clearly awaiting something, anything to come from him
“None of what I’m going to say to you is pleasant. Many lives were affected by your death.”
“I need to know it all – the good, and especially the bad.”
“I’m afraid there is not much good, besides the addition of Agent Lennox.”
“Well, I’m prepared.”
Kendall just looked at her, as if unsure about her statement. “First of all – we found no traces of conditioning on you; we did examine the new scar however, we are unsure as to how it came about.”
“Okay, fine. Tell me about Vaughn, my dad, Will, everybody.”
Kendall made a brief sound, but said nothing for a few moments. Lennox sat on a chair next to her bed and took her hand in his.
As Kendall talked, Lennox could feel her shaking – first in fear, then in anger, then in sorrow. All he could do was hold on to her.
- - -
Four days ago – Namibia, the Fish River Gorge
Simon awoke first, having been shot a full three minutes before Sark. He took in the scene that faced him with eyes filled red in anger.
The cave had crumbled – leaving all evidence of Rambaldi’s presence in a pile of dust. The cube was gone, and Julia was gone with it.
Simon wondered who she was, how she had been able to cheat the Covenant out of a cube. He wanted to know what her real name was. When he figured all of that out – he would kill her for the position she had put him in.
He saw Sark lying on the ground, stirring slightly as the effect of the tranquilizer wore off. Somehow, he did not believe that Sark was completely innocent in the whole affair – but he had no proof.
That did not mean he was about to trust Sark, but it meant that they were stuck with each other until further notice; which probably would not be too long, as they had very bad news to give to the Covenant.
It was up to them to inform the Covenant that they had failed.
- -
Back in CIA Medical Services – one hour later
Will was alive. But he was deeply immersed in the Witness Protection Program. It was where he belonged, where he was safe, and Sydney respected that.
Her father was in jail. No, it wasn’t just jail; it was the tightest security prison a person could be in. His own daughter was not even allowed to see him. And it was all because he had contacted her mother.
Sloane had received a pardon – a pardon from the US government, forgiving him of his treachery. It was almost too much to bear, thinking of that man as free.
Weiss was still an agent, as was Dixon. Marshall was still the tech guy.
But Vaughn was not an agent anymore. He had not resigned either. He had been let go. And he was drunk. He had been fired for being a drunk, and he still was one.
As she lay in bed thinking, her mood became even more depressed. In the haze of her sorrow and loneliness, she heard a faint noise, like the sound of footsteps. They were so close to her door and it was opening – that before she could pretend to be asleep, in hopes that the person would go away – the thoughtful face of Jim Lennox shone through her dark mood.
“I know you must be going stir crazy in here,” his voice stated, conspiratorially.
“Actually, I would have been, but I’m still trying to process everything that Kendall told me.”
“I know it is a lot to take in, but you’re tough Sydney, you’re strong. If anybody can pull herself together to do her job, it’s you.”
“What do you mean: to do my job?”
“Well, you do want to find out what happened to you, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. But – “
“But nothing. First, I want to bring a couple of visitors in to see you. As soon as Kendall informed the rest of the office of your, well, being alive, they begged to see you. Of course, that was after the shock wore off, but shock is to be expected in this situation.”
“Of course,” she said slowly, knowing who would be coming through the door shortly.
Five minutes later, she was enveloped into the arms of Eric Weiss – in the form of the friendliest bear hug she’d ever experienced. Dixon stood back a moment, not touching her, but showing her with his expressive face how shocked – yet glad – he was that she was, in fact, alive.
When he did speak, after all of the surprised expressions and glad-tidings were out of the way, it was very business-like. “In the two years that you were gone, a new organization began to slowly gain prominence. They are called The Covenant. I believe, as Weiss and Lennox do, that they are the ones who took you.”
She shuddered at the thought of what might have been done to her, but was skeptical. So she asked, “What makes you think that they would have taken me?”
“They have a very strong connection to the hunt for –“
“Don’t say it. We all know who you are talking about.”
Weiss snorted, “Doesn’t the world have more important things to deal with than some dead guy from centuries ago?”
While they all agreed, they knew that it was a real possibility that this group was responsible for her missing two years.
Lennox started talking again, his voice lowered, “Now, Kendall did not want to hear anything about you going on a mission – not so soon. But we have a lead that if you wanted to check out quietly, we would back you up on it.”
“And go against the big man’s orders?”
Dixon spoke for the group – as he had known her the longest – and said in a caring voice, “You are more important to us than the job right now. And if what you find out can benefit the CIA, than Kendall might turn a blind eye to these actions.”
Sydney wanted to laugh at Dixon’s assessment. The Kendall she knew didn’t turn a blind eye to anything, it had seemed. “He won’t do that. You know how he – “
“These are special circumstances,” Lennox interrupted. “Now, there is a Covenant front company in France that we have some specs on, based on a recent mission that Dixon went on. The only thing we need to work out is how we are sneaking you out of this hospital.”
Sydney smiled for perhaps the second time since she had woken up in Hong Kong. She had friends who still loved her, even after an unexplained missing two years.
- - -
At the same time – LA, a shady bar in an even shadier neighborhood
The weary man, who looked years older than he was, slammed back another shot of cheap whiskey.
As he slid the empty shot glass down the bar, it hit a splinter of wood sticking up and was thrown off balance. The sound of the glass breaking barely registered with any of the other clientele. It was just another drunk, breaking another shot glass.
The stools were shaky, their legs uneven, and the padding torn and flattened with too much use. The walls were brown and dirty, with too much graffiti to read the words.
He looked around the room and was momentarily disgusted. At least he had started out in high class joints, with expensive alcohol. But the bars and the liquor cheapened with every month that went by.
So here he was, two years later, and if he stepped down another notch, he would be no better than the homeless drunk that sat on the street corner where the bar was located.
But he would keep coming back; he knew he would, even as he was disgusted with himself for doing so. There was nothing he could do. He had to drown out her voice in his head: the voice that would never go away, the voice of a ghost.
- - -
36 hours later – Rouen, France
She stood in front of the monitor, staring at the words. It was her name, Sydney Bristow, followed by the words ‘Operation: Thorne’.
That was all the confirmation she needed. A shudder passed through her body, but still she was unable to tear hear eyes away from the screen.
As she read the limited information on the screen, she found part of the answers she was looking for. She had been kidnapped by the Covenant. They had done something to her for the past two years – and she desperately wanted to remember it. No, she desperately needed to remember it. She was rooted to the spot as she stared at her name, and the other name.
Author’s Note 2: Okay – here’s a small explanation for my choices in this chapter. I’m sure some people are like…Lennox? :blink: So here goes:
Personally, I never understood why they actually brought Vaughn back in to get Sydney (I mean, I do understand why they did it, but there are also valid reasons why it would have been a bit better if they hadn’t). Seeing Vaughn and having him tell her that he’s married and that she’s been missing for two years could cause undue stress on somebody suffering for amnesia of the past two years and in their mind, was just planning a trip with her boyfriend to Santa Barbara last she remembered. I dunno…that just always seemed like a bad choice to me…
So…enter Lennox: Lennox, because they had a slight connection through losing their fiancés, Lennox, because I love Ethan Hawke, and Lennox, because they seemed to work well together in that episode. Lennox might seem a random choice (and he is, really) but I plan on giving him a pretty big role in this story…so bear with me!
Rated R, just to be on the safe side, because things could either get ugly, or steamy…depending on my mood
Eventually, this will be a Sarkney, because I just love writing that ship, I really do. And while I did just finish up a memory-loss story, believe me, this will be a very different fic. First, the memory loss and answers will be resolved very soon. This will almost be like a season 3 re-write…and that may just segway into a season 4 speculation (if I keep some aspects of season 3 in my story…I’m not sure about that yet). So, here it is, I hope you enjoy. It’s called Expose Me.
Expose Me
I have so many talents
I'm afraid to show them
People may not like them
so they're hidden
Hidden within
Where no one can hate them
-Counting Crows, “Expose Me”
Prologue
As soon as I hear the operator say ‘dispatch’ the next words come tumbling out of my mouth, I don’t think, just speak. “This is officer 2300844, calling for connection. Confirmation: looking glass.”
Those must have been the right words because the voice on the other line says, “Stand by.”
There is a pause and a ringing sound. Then I hear another voice. A voice I recognize. “This is Kendall.”
Kendall. He must know what happened to me. I must have been kidnapped. Or been on a mission and have slight amnesia. He’ll know. “I just woke up in Hong Kong. I don't know how long I've been here or how I got here.”
There is a long pause, like he is surprised to hear from me, or angry at me. I can’t tell. So I try again. “Hello?”
He speaks, quickly and efficiently. “Get to our safehouse at Tsimshatsui as quickly as possible. You remember how to get there?”
I wrack my brain for the information, it’s still a little fuzzy, but I remember. “Of course I do.”
His last words are, “I'll make sure they're expecting you.”
I answer quickly, “Okay.”
He hangs up the phone, as do I.
I make my way to the safehouse. I remember everything about the area, and about the house – but still cannot remember why I am in Hong Kong. It’s like a part of my brain is missing.
I start to feel lost again, even though I know exactly where I am.
And I’m waiting. Just waiting.
I’m waiting for somebody. I’m waiting for answers. I’m waiting for my life to make sense again.
- - -
[1]
CIA safehouse at Tsimshatsui
She had been waiting for at least 12 hours, if not more, before she started to get frustrated. She was pacing the room, tracing the scar on her abdomen lightly, desperately trying to remember where it came from. Her mind kept wandering – and spouting off questions…
Was there nobody in close proximity to Hong Kong that could get to her? What the hell was going on? Why wasn’t anyone coming sooner? Was she not on a mission when this happened?
All these questions were running through her head when she heard the door open slowly. She turned to face in that direction and was surprised to see a familiar face, one that she had not seen in a while. She took in the dark hair, the deep set brown eyes, and the familiar way he walked – Agent Jim Lennox.
She looked at him with confusion clearly written on her face. That same confusion seeped through her voice as she asked, tentatively, “Lennox?”
He grinned at her. “Yeah, it’s me. I’d ask you how the hell you are, but it seems that you have some problems.”
She laughed – she couldn’t believe that she was actually laughing at a time like this, but she was. “You know, that’s why I liked you. You’re a straight shooter, Lennox.”
“It’s the best I can do after you were so straightforward with me about Emma.” His tone sobered both of them up instantly.
Sydney knew then that it must be bad news, or else he would not have brought up Emma. “Lennox, what is going on? I need to you to be completely honest with me.”
He sighed and started pacing around the room. “Sydney, I can’t tell you everything right away. The first thing is going to be a shock enough.”
She looked at him, her brown eyes half fearful and half confused. “What does that mean?”
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here. I stayed in Fiji longer than I expected, and even left the CIA briefly, but I missed the work. The thing is, a year after Emma’s death, I came back to the CIA and have been working in the LA office where you worked.”
Sydney’s eyes scrunched together in confusion. Her tone, when she spoke, had the same confused air to it. “I don’t understand. I just saw you a few months ago.”
His eyes were sad for her, as he relayed the biggest shock of all. “Sydney, you’ve been missing for two years. You were declared dead through dental records and your ‘ashes’ were spread out at sea.”
Sydney sank into the couch – speechless, completely and utterly speechless. Two years. Declared dead. Waking up in Hong Kong. Lennox meeting her here. She couldn’t even muster the strength or will to cry. It was as if she were stuck in a nightmare, or the Twilight Zone.
Lennox just watched her. He was hesitant about how to treat her, for he had only known her briefly. They had connected on a certain level, through the deaths of their fiancées, however she had been long gone before he went back to the CIA and now here he was, facing a woman he hardly knew, giving her some of the worst news of her life. It was disconcerting.
The CIA had almost called Vaughn in specially, to come meet her. But what would the point in that have been? To torture both of them with the way they were callously ripped apart the past two years? It seemed needlessly cruel to Jim Lennox, who remembered an honest, caring, and special person in Sydney Bristow. So instead, he offered to go, because she needed a friend through this most of all – not a former lover.
He was silent as he watched her digest the information. She was extremely quiet and appeared calm – to an untrained eye. But he could see the questions in her eyes, the shaking of her hands, the tears that threatened to gather.
Finally she spoke. “Does everybody think I’m dead?”
Seeing her so vulnerable made him suddenly thank the powers that be for allowing him to come instead of Vaughn. That certainly would have broken her down so completely. This was already bad enough for her to deal with.
He answered her question slowly, carefully. “They did and most still do. Nobody will be told until you are cleared of all suspicion. But a lot has changed over the past two years. There are things that I can’t tell you yet – you must be checked out by a doctor and debriefed.”
“Lennox, don’t coddle me. The CIA better not keep details of my own life from me. Or details about those I love.”
“Sydney – “
She shook her head. Sydney Bristow would not be treated like a criminal; Sydney Bristow would not need clearance to learn about her own life. Her opinion on this was strong, and she voiced it. “Oh no, I will not stand for this. This sort of treatment is entirely unacceptable.”
While Lennox completely understood her sentiment, “I know this is hard for you – “
She snorted in annoyance, “Hard for me? This is more than just hard for me. My whole life has shattered, changed completely, and in ways that I’m told that I don’t have clearance to yet. How am I supposed to react to that?”
Lennox just shook his head. “I don’t know. But running away isn’t the answer.”
She looked at him and understood. Sydney realized that this was the best that he could give her at the moment. And so she took it, not without reservations and a bit of anger, but she took it just the same. “I know that, I really do. So what do we do now?”
“You come with me to LA.”
She nodded – and slept fitfully the whole ride home.
- - -
The next day – CIA medical services
She was sick of the testing. All the machines, the poking, the prodding, it made her feel non-human. Sydney felt like a guinea pig – or a slab of meat. It really was not pleasant at all.
She still had no answers about what the CIA knew. It was slowly killing her on the inside, all of this waiting.
There was a knock on her door – not asking permission, just a warning – and it opened, revealing her first visitor. Not surprisingly it was Kendall, with Lennox in tow. They were the only two people from her former life who knew she was alive, and apparently her only allies at the moment. The lack of choice grated at her nerves.
Lennox spoke first. He could read something in Kendall’s demeanor that he didn’t quite understand – and he could tell it was making Sydney uncomfortable because she didn’t either.
“Sydney, how are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve had needles poked into me all day.”
“We had to run tests, Sydney, to make sure that you were not programmed in any way. You had to be cleared from suspicion.”
“I shouldn’t be under suspicion at all. I don’t have any memory of the past two years. I’m not guilty here – as much as I hate it, I’m the victim of something.”
“We don’t know that. You were declared dead just about two years ago. I was at your funeral. I, for one, have no idea where you have been. You can understand protocol – I had to go through the same thing myself with the whole Project: Helix mess.”
Sydney sighed. He did understand – somewhat. It was nice to have an ally. But now it was time for the still-reigning authority to speak. She looked pointedly at Kendall, clearly awaiting something, anything to come from him
“None of what I’m going to say to you is pleasant. Many lives were affected by your death.”
“I need to know it all – the good, and especially the bad.”
“I’m afraid there is not much good, besides the addition of Agent Lennox.”
“Well, I’m prepared.”
Kendall just looked at her, as if unsure about her statement. “First of all – we found no traces of conditioning on you; we did examine the new scar however, we are unsure as to how it came about.”
“Okay, fine. Tell me about Vaughn, my dad, Will, everybody.”
Kendall made a brief sound, but said nothing for a few moments. Lennox sat on a chair next to her bed and took her hand in his.
As Kendall talked, Lennox could feel her shaking – first in fear, then in anger, then in sorrow. All he could do was hold on to her.
- - -
Four days ago – Namibia, the Fish River Gorge
Simon awoke first, having been shot a full three minutes before Sark. He took in the scene that faced him with eyes filled red in anger.
The cave had crumbled – leaving all evidence of Rambaldi’s presence in a pile of dust. The cube was gone, and Julia was gone with it.
Simon wondered who she was, how she had been able to cheat the Covenant out of a cube. He wanted to know what her real name was. When he figured all of that out – he would kill her for the position she had put him in.
He saw Sark lying on the ground, stirring slightly as the effect of the tranquilizer wore off. Somehow, he did not believe that Sark was completely innocent in the whole affair – but he had no proof.
That did not mean he was about to trust Sark, but it meant that they were stuck with each other until further notice; which probably would not be too long, as they had very bad news to give to the Covenant.
It was up to them to inform the Covenant that they had failed.
- -
Back in CIA Medical Services – one hour later
Will was alive. But he was deeply immersed in the Witness Protection Program. It was where he belonged, where he was safe, and Sydney respected that.
Her father was in jail. No, it wasn’t just jail; it was the tightest security prison a person could be in. His own daughter was not even allowed to see him. And it was all because he had contacted her mother.
Sloane had received a pardon – a pardon from the US government, forgiving him of his treachery. It was almost too much to bear, thinking of that man as free.
Weiss was still an agent, as was Dixon. Marshall was still the tech guy.
But Vaughn was not an agent anymore. He had not resigned either. He had been let go. And he was drunk. He had been fired for being a drunk, and he still was one.
As she lay in bed thinking, her mood became even more depressed. In the haze of her sorrow and loneliness, she heard a faint noise, like the sound of footsteps. They were so close to her door and it was opening – that before she could pretend to be asleep, in hopes that the person would go away – the thoughtful face of Jim Lennox shone through her dark mood.
“I know you must be going stir crazy in here,” his voice stated, conspiratorially.
“Actually, I would have been, but I’m still trying to process everything that Kendall told me.”
“I know it is a lot to take in, but you’re tough Sydney, you’re strong. If anybody can pull herself together to do her job, it’s you.”
“What do you mean: to do my job?”
“Well, you do want to find out what happened to you, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. But – “
“But nothing. First, I want to bring a couple of visitors in to see you. As soon as Kendall informed the rest of the office of your, well, being alive, they begged to see you. Of course, that was after the shock wore off, but shock is to be expected in this situation.”
“Of course,” she said slowly, knowing who would be coming through the door shortly.
Five minutes later, she was enveloped into the arms of Eric Weiss – in the form of the friendliest bear hug she’d ever experienced. Dixon stood back a moment, not touching her, but showing her with his expressive face how shocked – yet glad – he was that she was, in fact, alive.
When he did speak, after all of the surprised expressions and glad-tidings were out of the way, it was very business-like. “In the two years that you were gone, a new organization began to slowly gain prominence. They are called The Covenant. I believe, as Weiss and Lennox do, that they are the ones who took you.”
She shuddered at the thought of what might have been done to her, but was skeptical. So she asked, “What makes you think that they would have taken me?”
“They have a very strong connection to the hunt for –“
“Don’t say it. We all know who you are talking about.”
Weiss snorted, “Doesn’t the world have more important things to deal with than some dead guy from centuries ago?”
While they all agreed, they knew that it was a real possibility that this group was responsible for her missing two years.
Lennox started talking again, his voice lowered, “Now, Kendall did not want to hear anything about you going on a mission – not so soon. But we have a lead that if you wanted to check out quietly, we would back you up on it.”
“And go against the big man’s orders?”
Dixon spoke for the group – as he had known her the longest – and said in a caring voice, “You are more important to us than the job right now. And if what you find out can benefit the CIA, than Kendall might turn a blind eye to these actions.”
Sydney wanted to laugh at Dixon’s assessment. The Kendall she knew didn’t turn a blind eye to anything, it had seemed. “He won’t do that. You know how he – “
“These are special circumstances,” Lennox interrupted. “Now, there is a Covenant front company in France that we have some specs on, based on a recent mission that Dixon went on. The only thing we need to work out is how we are sneaking you out of this hospital.”
Sydney smiled for perhaps the second time since she had woken up in Hong Kong. She had friends who still loved her, even after an unexplained missing two years.
- - -
At the same time – LA, a shady bar in an even shadier neighborhood
The weary man, who looked years older than he was, slammed back another shot of cheap whiskey.
As he slid the empty shot glass down the bar, it hit a splinter of wood sticking up and was thrown off balance. The sound of the glass breaking barely registered with any of the other clientele. It was just another drunk, breaking another shot glass.
The stools were shaky, their legs uneven, and the padding torn and flattened with too much use. The walls were brown and dirty, with too much graffiti to read the words.
He looked around the room and was momentarily disgusted. At least he had started out in high class joints, with expensive alcohol. But the bars and the liquor cheapened with every month that went by.
So here he was, two years later, and if he stepped down another notch, he would be no better than the homeless drunk that sat on the street corner where the bar was located.
But he would keep coming back; he knew he would, even as he was disgusted with himself for doing so. There was nothing he could do. He had to drown out her voice in his head: the voice that would never go away, the voice of a ghost.
- - -
36 hours later – Rouen, France
She stood in front of the monitor, staring at the words. It was her name, Sydney Bristow, followed by the words ‘Operation: Thorne’.
That was all the confirmation she needed. A shudder passed through her body, but still she was unable to tear hear eyes away from the screen.
As she read the limited information on the screen, she found part of the answers she was looking for. She had been kidnapped by the Covenant. They had done something to her for the past two years – and she desperately wanted to remember it. No, she desperately needed to remember it. She was rooted to the spot as she stared at her name, and the other name.
Author’s Note 2: Okay – here’s a small explanation for my choices in this chapter. I’m sure some people are like…Lennox? :blink: So here goes:
Personally, I never understood why they actually brought Vaughn back in to get Sydney (I mean, I do understand why they did it, but there are also valid reasons why it would have been a bit better if they hadn’t). Seeing Vaughn and having him tell her that he’s married and that she’s been missing for two years could cause undue stress on somebody suffering for amnesia of the past two years and in their mind, was just planning a trip with her boyfriend to Santa Barbara last she remembered. I dunno…that just always seemed like a bad choice to me…
So…enter Lennox: Lennox, because they had a slight connection through losing their fiancés, Lennox, because I love Ethan Hawke, and Lennox, because they seemed to work well together in that episode. Lennox might seem a random choice (and he is, really) but I plan on giving him a pretty big role in this story…so bear with me!
).
, but in a good way!