Hello all! I'm branching from my usual places to post fic. So I'm using to introduce myself (as an author) here. The first three parts don't carry themselves as well as the following parts do, so I've lumped them all together for the first post.
Title: Little Lies
Genre: S/V angst/humor/smut-ish/songfic/slightly AU
Rating: PG-13 with R chapters
When: 3.19 "Hourglass" This is after Vaughn is ordered to stay married to Lauren, but instead of he and Syd being sent to get Conrad, they go on this little mission.
Summary: We uncover lies, then we just tell ourselves new ones, because the truth hurts too much. Sydney and Vaughn explore this concept, intimately together, and alone.
Disclaimer: I do not own, or derive any profit from the Alias characters. The same goes for the song "Little Lies," which belongs to Fleetwood Mac and can be found on the albums "Tango in the Night," "The Very Best of…," and "Greatest Hits."
Part One: Intro
Syd threw down the safe-opening device in disgust, then touched her fingertip to an earpiece hidden behind her blonde and red wig.
"Boy Scout, we're too late. The safe is empty."
In a crowded nightclub one floor up, Vaughn touched his own earpiece.
"Copy, Mountaineer. I knew this was too easy. Let's get out of here."
Syd closed the distressingly empty safe, and retrieved the device on the floor. She examined it for damage, and hoped she hadn't broken any of the circuitry inside. Marshall would be bummed if she had. He was the only truly happy person she knew anymore, and she didn't want to see him frown, if only for a minor reason.
She checked the office she broke into for any evidence of her presence there. Finding none, she peeked out the door, confirmed the basement hall was empty, and then slipped out, locking the door like it had never been picked.
She walked a couple doors down to a bathroom, and stepped inside. The bartender (and anyone watching, incidentally) was supposed to think this was where she went. She asked him for directions as a pretense for going down into the basement. She already knew the location of the bathroom, of course. It was two doors down from an office belonging to a Follower of Rambaldi.
Intel had informed them that this man kept in his office a short Rambaldi manuscript detailing how the Passenger could be found. So of course, Dixon sent Sydney and Vaughn to retrieve the manuscript. And of course, as was the case all too often lately, the Covenant beat them there. Syd dismally wondered if they'd ever get the upper hand on the Covenant.
In the bathroom, Syd checked her disguise. A shoulder-length blonde wig, liberally streaked with red, covered her long brown hair. The wig went well with the short, red, strapless dress she wore. She leaned into the mirror to check her makeup, and looked again at the strange color of the contact lenses in her eyes. It was what most would call "hazel," a color not brown, blue, or green.
She and Vaughn both were equipped with contacts. They replicated retinal scans of the man whose office she raided. But as it turned out, all she needed was the simple code-breaking device Marshall gave her "just in case". Like Vaughn stated, "too easy". But then again, they should've realized that by the lack of guards in the basement.
Syd reapplied her lipstick, a "hooker red," as Francie would've called it. Lipstick Sydney Bristow would never wear.
Poor Francie, Sydney thought sadly.
~*~
Part Two: Just a Day or Two
If I could turn the page
In time then I'd rearrange
Just a day or two
(Close my, close my, close my eyes)
Sydney closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Such things came upon her at unexpected times. So often she was reminded of the life she lost. Kendall said that when she was kidnapped, she was told that "Sydney Bristow is dead." And it was very true. The Sydney Bristow that had lived and been friends with Francie was dead, her life obliterated. The Sydney Bristow that stood here, in the bathroom of a very exclusive Vienna nightclub, was a different person. She remembered the life of that other Sydney, but the life she lived now barely resembled that other life. So much was so different.
Sometimes when she was at home, alone with nothing but her thoughts and fantasies, Syd dreamed about going back in time, changing a few things. Just a few things, that's all it would take.
Maybe if that night, the night she fought Allison and then was kidnapped by the Covenant, maybe if she would've called Vaughn instead of confronting Allison by herself. The Covenant would've never captured her, Vaughn would've never suffered her death, and never married Lauren. Maybe even Will would still be in her life, instead of the Witness Protection Program.
But she would've still lost Francie. Maybe if she could change something even further back than that. If she could make it where she'd never joined SD-6. She'd have Francie and Will, and none of their lives would be in danger. That would've been before Noah, before Danny, before Vaughn. Before Vaughn. And still estranged from her father. Still thinking her mother was dead.
And ending that train of thought, Syd would conclude, like she always did, that would've beens, could've beens didn't make her feel better. No magic solution existed that would make her life the way she wanted it. She just had to play the cruel hand Fate dealt her.
Syd left the bathroom, ascended the stairs to the main level, and threaded her way through a crowd of dancers to rejoin Vaughn at the bar. She smiled at him, nodded, and wordlessly they left. As they drove back to the hotel that was their base for this mission, Sydney couldn't help but dwell on their failure.
"I can't believe the Covenant got ahead of us again." Syd sighed heavily and stared out the car window.
"I know. We made sure that Lauren didn't know what we were doing." Hearing the anger underlying his voice, Syd looked over at Vaughn, only to see the burning in his eyes. She very rarely saw him like that, and the times she had, it'd been about her, so long ago. Pushing that thought aside, another took its place.
"Maybe this was a distraction. Maybe they just sent us here to chase our tails while they're busy somewhere else."
"Yeah, maybe. But why?" Syd shook her head at Vaughn's query.
"Who knows," she replied tiredly. "We can figure it out when we get back home."
"Yeah, when we get back home," Vaughn repeated, harshly. Syd could tell he didn't look forward to it. She knew that masquerading as a happy husband, while knowing his wife worked for the Covenant, was hard on Vaughn, but it was difficult for her to muster any sympathy. He had put her through too much.
They drove in silence the rest of the way to the hotel, each of them thinking their own dark thoughts. The silence continued as Vaughn parked the car in the hotel garage, and they strutted back to their hotel room, in character.
After entering the room, Syd plopped down in a chair, threw her head back, and closed her eyes. She listened with little interest as Vaughn telephoned their contact and relayed the information that the mission was unsuccessful. A few more moments of silence, then Vaughn said "Okay," and hung up. He came to where Syd was sitting, and she looked up at him. Many conflicting emotions swam in his eyes, but she didn't trouble herself to identify any of them.
"Base ops says to stay the night here, keeping in with our aliases in case we're being watched. A plane will be waiting to take us home tomorrow. It won’t be until noon, though, and we’ll have to call to confirm."
Syd nodded, not wanting to say anything.
Vaughn sat down on the corner of the bed, just a few feet from where Syd sat. He put his hands on his knees and leaned forward, sighing.
~*~
Part Three: So I'll Settle For One Day
But I couldn't find a way
So I'll settle for one day
To believe in you
(Tell me, tell me, tell me lies)
"Syd, I'm sorry." She stared at him, expression blank.
"You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault the mission failed." Vaughn shook his head.
"No, not that." He paused, looking at her. Syd's face remained exasperatingly blank. Why was she closing herself to him now? Perhaps that's why he was apologizing. "I'm sorry about what I did to you."
"And what did you do to me?" Not only was her face blank, but her tone was neutral. She gave nothing away. She was protecting herself from him. Something he thought she would never have to do.
"I hurt you. I acted like a fool, a stupid fool, blind to what was going on around me. I reached out to you and then burned you. Tried to have my cake and eat it too I guess. And I'm apologizing." There, he had put it out there. Admitted what he did to her. Admitted it to himself. It hurt, but it felt like a cleansing hurt. He watched as a little emotion came back to her face. Unfortunately, it was anger. He realized, perhaps much too late, that maybe he hurt her more than he thought.
"Why are we talking about this now?" Her voice was sharp, and it seemed she didn't really know why he was bringing it up. Or maybe she didn't care. He crumpled his brow at her.
"We're not going anywhere for over twelve hours. What else are we going to do? Draw straws for the bed?"
Reflexively, Syd looked at the queen-sized bed. They were in a nice hotel, but got a budget room. There was no couch, no hide-away bed, just the regular bed, nightstands, the dresser, a table, and chairs. She realized that unless they could put away some of the awkwardness present between them, somebody would sleep on the floor.
She ran a tense hand through hair that wasn't hers, and sat up straight.
"Fine, but what the hell do you want me to say? Yeah, you hurt me, and it's great you're apologizing, but the situation still isn't resolved, and no one knows when it will be!" She looked at him, and finally let her emotions shape her face.
Vaughn watched Syd's anger, frustration, sadness, and longing present themselves to him. He sunk his head into his hands. He didn't know what to do. He felt trapped in an impossible situation. Forced to stay with a wife he now despised. Unable to move his life forward, and perhaps move it in the direction it was supposed to go - with the woman he really loved. He felt as if now he possessed some inkling of what Sydney had gone through. She too experienced having her free will ripped from her, much more than he ever had, and she still struggled with it.
"Remember Nice?" Her whisper cut across the agonizing silence between them like a razor.
His head sprung out of his hands, and he looked at her with surprise and confusion. He couldn't believe what she said, what she implied. But the look in her eyes told him that it was true. It was everything he thought it might be, and more.
~*~
A/N: I will have Part Four up within a week or two.
Title: Little Lies
Genre: S/V angst/humor/smut-ish/songfic/slightly AU
Rating: PG-13 with R chapters
When: 3.19 "Hourglass" This is after Vaughn is ordered to stay married to Lauren, but instead of he and Syd being sent to get Conrad, they go on this little mission.
Summary: We uncover lies, then we just tell ourselves new ones, because the truth hurts too much. Sydney and Vaughn explore this concept, intimately together, and alone.
Disclaimer: I do not own, or derive any profit from the Alias characters. The same goes for the song "Little Lies," which belongs to Fleetwood Mac and can be found on the albums "Tango in the Night," "The Very Best of…," and "Greatest Hits."
Part One: Intro
Syd threw down the safe-opening device in disgust, then touched her fingertip to an earpiece hidden behind her blonde and red wig.
"Boy Scout, we're too late. The safe is empty."
In a crowded nightclub one floor up, Vaughn touched his own earpiece.
"Copy, Mountaineer. I knew this was too easy. Let's get out of here."
Syd closed the distressingly empty safe, and retrieved the device on the floor. She examined it for damage, and hoped she hadn't broken any of the circuitry inside. Marshall would be bummed if she had. He was the only truly happy person she knew anymore, and she didn't want to see him frown, if only for a minor reason.
She checked the office she broke into for any evidence of her presence there. Finding none, she peeked out the door, confirmed the basement hall was empty, and then slipped out, locking the door like it had never been picked.
She walked a couple doors down to a bathroom, and stepped inside. The bartender (and anyone watching, incidentally) was supposed to think this was where she went. She asked him for directions as a pretense for going down into the basement. She already knew the location of the bathroom, of course. It was two doors down from an office belonging to a Follower of Rambaldi.
Intel had informed them that this man kept in his office a short Rambaldi manuscript detailing how the Passenger could be found. So of course, Dixon sent Sydney and Vaughn to retrieve the manuscript. And of course, as was the case all too often lately, the Covenant beat them there. Syd dismally wondered if they'd ever get the upper hand on the Covenant.
In the bathroom, Syd checked her disguise. A shoulder-length blonde wig, liberally streaked with red, covered her long brown hair. The wig went well with the short, red, strapless dress she wore. She leaned into the mirror to check her makeup, and looked again at the strange color of the contact lenses in her eyes. It was what most would call "hazel," a color not brown, blue, or green.
She and Vaughn both were equipped with contacts. They replicated retinal scans of the man whose office she raided. But as it turned out, all she needed was the simple code-breaking device Marshall gave her "just in case". Like Vaughn stated, "too easy". But then again, they should've realized that by the lack of guards in the basement.
Syd reapplied her lipstick, a "hooker red," as Francie would've called it. Lipstick Sydney Bristow would never wear.
Poor Francie, Sydney thought sadly.
~*~
Part Two: Just a Day or Two
If I could turn the page
In time then I'd rearrange
Just a day or two
(Close my, close my, close my eyes)
Sydney closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Such things came upon her at unexpected times. So often she was reminded of the life she lost. Kendall said that when she was kidnapped, she was told that "Sydney Bristow is dead." And it was very true. The Sydney Bristow that had lived and been friends with Francie was dead, her life obliterated. The Sydney Bristow that stood here, in the bathroom of a very exclusive Vienna nightclub, was a different person. She remembered the life of that other Sydney, but the life she lived now barely resembled that other life. So much was so different.
Sometimes when she was at home, alone with nothing but her thoughts and fantasies, Syd dreamed about going back in time, changing a few things. Just a few things, that's all it would take.
Maybe if that night, the night she fought Allison and then was kidnapped by the Covenant, maybe if she would've called Vaughn instead of confronting Allison by herself. The Covenant would've never captured her, Vaughn would've never suffered her death, and never married Lauren. Maybe even Will would still be in her life, instead of the Witness Protection Program.
But she would've still lost Francie. Maybe if she could change something even further back than that. If she could make it where she'd never joined SD-6. She'd have Francie and Will, and none of their lives would be in danger. That would've been before Noah, before Danny, before Vaughn. Before Vaughn. And still estranged from her father. Still thinking her mother was dead.
And ending that train of thought, Syd would conclude, like she always did, that would've beens, could've beens didn't make her feel better. No magic solution existed that would make her life the way she wanted it. She just had to play the cruel hand Fate dealt her.
Syd left the bathroom, ascended the stairs to the main level, and threaded her way through a crowd of dancers to rejoin Vaughn at the bar. She smiled at him, nodded, and wordlessly they left. As they drove back to the hotel that was their base for this mission, Sydney couldn't help but dwell on their failure.
"I can't believe the Covenant got ahead of us again." Syd sighed heavily and stared out the car window.
"I know. We made sure that Lauren didn't know what we were doing." Hearing the anger underlying his voice, Syd looked over at Vaughn, only to see the burning in his eyes. She very rarely saw him like that, and the times she had, it'd been about her, so long ago. Pushing that thought aside, another took its place.
"Maybe this was a distraction. Maybe they just sent us here to chase our tails while they're busy somewhere else."
"Yeah, maybe. But why?" Syd shook her head at Vaughn's query.
"Who knows," she replied tiredly. "We can figure it out when we get back home."
"Yeah, when we get back home," Vaughn repeated, harshly. Syd could tell he didn't look forward to it. She knew that masquerading as a happy husband, while knowing his wife worked for the Covenant, was hard on Vaughn, but it was difficult for her to muster any sympathy. He had put her through too much.
They drove in silence the rest of the way to the hotel, each of them thinking their own dark thoughts. The silence continued as Vaughn parked the car in the hotel garage, and they strutted back to their hotel room, in character.
After entering the room, Syd plopped down in a chair, threw her head back, and closed her eyes. She listened with little interest as Vaughn telephoned their contact and relayed the information that the mission was unsuccessful. A few more moments of silence, then Vaughn said "Okay," and hung up. He came to where Syd was sitting, and she looked up at him. Many conflicting emotions swam in his eyes, but she didn't trouble herself to identify any of them.
"Base ops says to stay the night here, keeping in with our aliases in case we're being watched. A plane will be waiting to take us home tomorrow. It won’t be until noon, though, and we’ll have to call to confirm."
Syd nodded, not wanting to say anything.
Vaughn sat down on the corner of the bed, just a few feet from where Syd sat. He put his hands on his knees and leaned forward, sighing.
~*~
Part Three: So I'll Settle For One Day
But I couldn't find a way
So I'll settle for one day
To believe in you
(Tell me, tell me, tell me lies)
"Syd, I'm sorry." She stared at him, expression blank.
"You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault the mission failed." Vaughn shook his head.
"No, not that." He paused, looking at her. Syd's face remained exasperatingly blank. Why was she closing herself to him now? Perhaps that's why he was apologizing. "I'm sorry about what I did to you."
"And what did you do to me?" Not only was her face blank, but her tone was neutral. She gave nothing away. She was protecting herself from him. Something he thought she would never have to do.
"I hurt you. I acted like a fool, a stupid fool, blind to what was going on around me. I reached out to you and then burned you. Tried to have my cake and eat it too I guess. And I'm apologizing." There, he had put it out there. Admitted what he did to her. Admitted it to himself. It hurt, but it felt like a cleansing hurt. He watched as a little emotion came back to her face. Unfortunately, it was anger. He realized, perhaps much too late, that maybe he hurt her more than he thought.
"Why are we talking about this now?" Her voice was sharp, and it seemed she didn't really know why he was bringing it up. Or maybe she didn't care. He crumpled his brow at her.
"We're not going anywhere for over twelve hours. What else are we going to do? Draw straws for the bed?"
Reflexively, Syd looked at the queen-sized bed. They were in a nice hotel, but got a budget room. There was no couch, no hide-away bed, just the regular bed, nightstands, the dresser, a table, and chairs. She realized that unless they could put away some of the awkwardness present between them, somebody would sleep on the floor.
She ran a tense hand through hair that wasn't hers, and sat up straight.
"Fine, but what the hell do you want me to say? Yeah, you hurt me, and it's great you're apologizing, but the situation still isn't resolved, and no one knows when it will be!" She looked at him, and finally let her emotions shape her face.
Vaughn watched Syd's anger, frustration, sadness, and longing present themselves to him. He sunk his head into his hands. He didn't know what to do. He felt trapped in an impossible situation. Forced to stay with a wife he now despised. Unable to move his life forward, and perhaps move it in the direction it was supposed to go - with the woman he really loved. He felt as if now he possessed some inkling of what Sydney had gone through. She too experienced having her free will ripped from her, much more than he ever had, and she still struggled with it.
"Remember Nice?" Her whisper cut across the agonizing silence between them like a razor.
His head sprung out of his hands, and he looked at her with surprise and confusion. He couldn't believe what she said, what she implied. But the look in her eyes told him that it was true. It was everything he thought it might be, and more.
~*~
A/N: I will have Part Four up within a week or two.
