Alias Fan Gillian
Cadet
Great chapter. I can't wait to read more.
Thanks for the pm.
Thanks for the pm.
secret_agent_angel
Cadet
omg i love this fic
i hope julia remebers that she is syd soon.
i hope julia remebers that she is syd soon.
Hello everyone!
I'm finally here, with a new chapter
I don't have much to say, I just wanted to thank you guy for the wonderful reviews you left.
And as I did in the french thread, this chapter is dedicated to Jenn
The next chapter will be up faster because... well it's a surprise. I'm all excited about that...
Love you all!!
Laurie
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 10: Truth, fiction and confidences.</span>
The first thing Julia noticed was the sound of footsteps in the hallway. After that, she had the feeling everything had happened in slow motion. She had seen Michael look in the door’s direction, aware of every movement around him. Then, he had abruptly put her purse back on the table, not to say thrown. And truth be told, she didn’t care about the fact that he had thrown it; he could have set it on fire, she wouldn’t have reacted. All that mattered was that right after that, he had turned around, had pushed her against the “wall” and had finally put his lips on hers.
At first, she had been surprised, this move being the last of her expectations, but it hadn’t taken her more than a quarter of second to realise that this kiss was all she wanted.
The outside world faded away, and she found herself transported in another dimension, where everything was turning around her; or rather, she was right in the middle of a tornado. A tornado of emotions.
Her tongue entered in collision with Michael’s, causing in her a sensation of infinite softness, and, at the same time, of raw and wild desire. She felt all the emotions she had always refused to feel infiltrate each and every part of her, leaving an eternal mark there. Her body was pressed against his, finding its place like it was where it belonged.
Their kiss intensified, and she realised that she was slowly losing the bit of self-control she had left. Her heart started beating faster when he put his left arm on her waist, his hand meeting her bare skin, and the other one on her neck, firmly maintaining her close to him. The only answer she was able to give him was to kiss him back, using the strength she was not putting into the dance of their tongues to put her arms around him.
Suddenly, in the middle of this chaos of emotions in which she navigated, the tornado stopped, and she got carried away to another world, also unknown, but so familiar to her heart. Suddenly, she wasn’t standing in a room or in a storm, but inside a building in ruins. She was still kissing him and tasting his lips for the first time, but everything was different.
It was only impressions, waves of feelings that were assaulting her and could have very well been side effects of this kiss, this journey he was taking her on, but it just felt so real...
Vaughn had almost forgotten what it was like to kiss Sydney Bristow, to share her breath and caress her tongue with his. He had been through hell without her, only to find himself in heaven again, in her arms. All those strong emotions were assaulting his heart, and he felt it inflate from his love for her, and at the same time compress with how much this kiss meant to him...
It took him several seconds, several minutes perhaps, to go back to a normal enough state to hear someone cough at the other end of the room. He eventually remembered why he had started what he was doing, but he didn’t want it to end anyway. He would have wanted it to last one small more eternity...
Julia was the one that pulled back first, even if it was just to breathe. She hadn’t even noticed that someone else was standing in the room. Her eyes met Michael’s, and there were both surprised by what they could mutually see in them.
What Vaughn believed he had seen in her gaze in the nightclub the day before was nothing compared to what he could see at this moment. She looked totally lost, vulnerable, as if this kiss had succeeded in lowering all the barriers she had built around herself. She had kissed him back for the mission, but it was much more than that: she had abandoned herself to him.
Julia was having a hard time facing all the love she saw in Michael. Why would he have feelings for her? His gaze was so intense that she wanted to disappear in it. His eyes were burning with a flame she wasn’t sure to able to deal with. How did Julia Thorne deal with feelings?
She could have sworn he was about to stroke her cheek when she heard someone cough again. It hadn’t been an hallucination, she thought. There really was someone else in the room.
Vaughn was the first to turn around, and the way the receptionist looked at him let him know his “distraction” had worked. The only thing she had seen was the kiss. And he wasn’t surprised that she looked slightly shocked since Julia and him had acted liked the end of the word was coming. In fact, it was more the beginning of everything...
-Sorry, he managed to articulate as he withdrew his hand from Julia’s neck.
She immediately felt empty, but she was careful not to show it.
-What are you doing her? the woman asked.
Was she jealous? It was completely stupid, but Julia had the feeling she had gotten her revenge. “And now I’m acting like a twelve-year-old teenager. That’s promising.”
If Vaughn had thought about this distraction, he hadn’t had the time to think about what he was going to say after. He looked at Julia, hoping she had found something to say, but she wasn’t even capable of speaking. Her heart was beating wildly, her skin was on fire, and her brain did not seem to want to function the right way. She didn’t think she would succeed in aligning two coherent words during the day...
-I think we found each other, Vaughn answered the woman.
It was without any doubt the worst excuse he had ever found after being caught kissing a girl, and Weiss would have probably laughed like crazy if he had heard him. He comforted himself by keeping in mind that nothing could be worse than the day Jack Bristow had caught him kissing his daughter in the “flirting corner” of the CIA, as his friend had so well named it.
The young woman had been expecting anything but that answer. This man definitely had other exceptional qualities besides his bewitching eyes, his devastating smile and his gorgeous body...
He put his arm around Julia’s waist, and she let her do so without moving at all. She was slowly catching up her breath, but the rest... the contact that Michael had just renewed with her was certainly not making things easier...
She smiled mechanically, not to hide the way she felt, it was absolutely impossible, but to try to play the game. The problem was that she had lost herself between a kiss that was to put her out of danger and sharing everything she was deep inside of her without a man she had known for four days. Right now, she was unable to distinguish her “character” from who she was, especially since it had been something so uncertain lately.
-I guess this means neither of you will need our services anymore?
-No, thank you, answered Vaughn. I have the love of my life in my arms, and I am not going to let her go any time soon.
He too was mixing up truth and fiction. He was mixing up this client that was supposed to have found the love of this life, with Michael Vartan, the spy that had just used a kiss to save both of their lives, with Michael Vaughn, the man that diversion had once and for all brought back to the world of the livings. Sydney was the only thing he had ever needed.
---------------------------------------
Julia hadn’t pronounced a word since she had said a vague “goodbye” to the young lady from the reception when they had exited the building. Even though her whole body was asking for his proximity, she had stayed as far as she could from him.
Vaughn brought the car in front of the entrance and she quickly got in. He immediately started the engine again, and a mile away from there, he decided to break the silence.
-Are you okay?
Why did he always have to worry about her and her well-being? He could have found so many things to say. He could have subtly let her know that he had had fun, that he had taken advantage of the situation. But no. He wanted to know how she was doing.
Was it a bad thing that the only thing she wanted to do was jump on him and kiss him once again?
-Yeah. I’m great.
Vaughn realised that she wasn’t fine because of the word she had chosen to use. Indeed, it was exactly what told him that something was wrong. But he couldn’t figure out if it was because their kiss had affected her as much as it affected him, or on the contrary, because she thought he had acted like a teenager, taking advantage of her while saving their lives.
-I’m sorry about what happened there, he started. I didn’t find any other way... I didn’t find any other “diversion”.
Julia shook her head, and couldn’t help but sigh. As if what she felt wasn’t strong enough, he had to apologize and act like a perfect gentleman, giving her another reason to fall for him. He wasn’t making things easy. It seemed natural, spontaneous and sincere coming from him, but she wished he could just stop behaving this way, and break the spell he had cast on her.
-Michael, don’t apologize. You had no other choice. Just... don’t apologize, she told him with a cold voice, even if it wasn’t her intention. She almost wanted to get mad at him for being so wonderful.
She wanted to run at the other end of the world to detach herself from his influence, or to give into her attraction for real. She wanted everything but stay in this position, stuck in between what she wanted to feel – nothing – and what she felt near him – emotions she had no control over.
“Who would have thought that one day, I would have been in this state because of a “wonderful” man?”
-Okay. I just wanted to make things clear between us.
During the same day, he had managed to use the worst excuse that had ever been invented, and now a lie bigger than a house.
Clear? Nothing had ever been more confused, muddled and blurred in his life than this situation. And it was the same thing for Julia. Michael’s sentence couldn’t have been further from the truth...
---------------------------------------
Vaughn hung up his phone and put it on the seat next to him. He had been careful not be followed by any Covenant members, and as he had parked his car next to the warehouse where he was to meet Jack, his cell phone had rung. It was Julia, wanting to ask him if he could go to a private club in Rome the following week in order to meet Simon Walker. He had tried to detect something in the sound of her voice, but she hadn’t shown any emotion.
Their kiss from the day before wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but he was dying to know what she had felt. Of course, she had kissed him back with such intensity that it should have given him an idea, but he no longer knew what to trust. And he didn’t know what he expected from her either...
Aware of the fact that it wasn’t very safe for him to stay here a long time, he grabbed his phone, and after putting it in his pocket, he got out of his car and walked towards the entrance of the old warehouse.
Jack was already waiting for him, sitting on a chair, and Vaughn had to keep himself from laughing face with how nervous he was in his presence. As if he was going to end up on the floor with a gun pointed on his forehead if he said something wrong...
-Hello Jack
“Thankfully, he can’t read my thoughts as easily as Sydney”
-Hello.
He took a seat in front of him, and Jack spoke first.
-How did your second mission go?
-Better than the first I guess. Except for the fact that we didn’t retrieve the document we were looking for. We don’t know if the information was false or if we got there too late. Either way, we got nothing.
-And you have another mission planned? he asked him.
-No, not in the near future. But next week, I’m going to meet one of my superiors, Simon Walker. I guess we’ll figure out something then, and I should also learn more about what exactly we are looking for. The man whose identity I took told me that I had to prove my “value” during the first two missions and that if I passed this “test”, I would be accepted definitively.
-Listen, he started again a few seconds later, about Sydney... I know a pendant is a slight proof, but–
Jack cut him.
-I believe you Vaughn. If you say it’s her, then I trust you.
-I just wanted to say that if the pendant had been the main factor of my discovery, I have no doubt on her iden–
He stopped talking, Jack’s words sinking in. He was speechless. Had he just said that?
-What happened?
What the hell had gone through his mind and had made him want to justify himself whereas Jack already trusted him? How could he forget that he had shared this kiss with his daughter?
-I kissed her, said Vaughn as fast as he could. I mean... we kissed. For the mission, he added.
There was a silence between the two men for a few seconds, and after having once again measured the weight of what he was about to say, Jack finally spoke.
-Good.
-What do you mean ‘good’? Vaughn asked, surprised.
Of all the reactions, it was the one he had least expected.
-Just what I said.
-‘Good’? You don’t seriously think that I should...
-Get closer to Julia? Become intimate with her? Yes.
-It’s out of question! he answered while brutally rising from his chair.
What was going on in Jack’s mind? Was he really asking him to seduce his own daughter?
-And why is that, Mr Vaughn?
Jack insisted on his name, and Vaughn the tension between he and Sydney’s father increase a little bit more.
-The last thing I want to do is seduce Sydney – I mean Julia, to get information for her and betray her afterwards. I can’t do that.
Truth be told, Vaughn hadn’t had a chance to think about what could have happened between Julia and him and what was possible. Things had gone too fast since he had “met” her. He didn’t know what his limits were inside of this game he had started playing.
-We’re not talking about what you want or can do anymore, Michael! Jack told him, raising from his chair too and bringing his face a few inches from Vaughn’s. We are talking about what you must and will do! Stop thinking only about yourself and take a look around you! Your first objective is still to take down the Covenant, and what I’m asking you to do will only make it easier and faster!
-Listen Jack, I am not like you! I can’t, and don’t want to focus on a mission and forget that I’m a human being, as well as the people surrounding me! There are lines I’m not going to cross!
-No, you listen to me! Do you really think this situation is easy for me? We do not have the time to care about our own personal problems!
-It’s a question of moral!
-It’s not like you never slept with her!
Things were going a lot further than Jack had initially planned it. Michael Vaughn wasn’t one to five in easily, and he couldn’t hold him onto that, because he was almost worse. But right now, he had to convince him. By all means.
-And moreover, he added out of breath, preventing him for talking, if Julia doesn’t share your bed, who do you think she will be sharing it with? This Simon Walker, maybe? You may feel like you are using her, but the reason you first got yourself into this is her, and only her. Don’t you prefer to be with her than to watch her being with man that’s using her in a whole other way? A man she would despise if she knew who she really is?
What was Vaughn supposed to answer? Everything Jack had just told him was true, but...
-I know, he said. I know that, it’s just that... it’s already so hard to be next to her and pretend to be someone else, pretend that she is someone else, that I don’t know her and don’t feel anything about her... so if have to be with her, I don’t know if can handle it. Especially if I have to lie to her most of the time.
Things were now a little calmer between the two men, and Vaughn took advantage of that to sit back. His arms came resting on the length of his legs, and he started studying attentively his hands, unable to look at Jack while speaking.
-To be honest, he admitted, it scares me. I’m lost.
Never once in his life he would have thought that one day, he would confide in Jack Bristow. But back when his life was “normal”, he would have poured his heart out either to Sydney, either to Weiss. Despite the fact that he did not always understand the way he felt, Weiss had always been there for him. And at this very moment, he couldn’t speak to any of them. Plus, Vaughn didn’t know when he would get another chance to talk to someone that knew who he really was.
For a brief moment, Jack thought about saying, “I know”, or I understand, but he changed his mind and chose different words.
-I just need to know you will do what I asked you to, but not for the mission. I want to you to do it for me, because I know she will be safe with you; for her because it’s what she would want you to do, to take care of her; and for you, because succeeding in realising this mission is the only chance you have to bring her back with you and to avenge what’s happening to her.
He was now totally sure that Jack trusted him, and it gave him more assurance, maybe enough courage to involve himself that much in his mission.
He knew bringing Sydney back home with him meant that he might hope to find her again for real one day. But he didn’t care thinking about that too much, because he knew it was nearly impossible. And for now, he had to focus on the present, and his conversation with Jack.
He finally answered Jack, more self-confident than he had thought he could be.
-Okay.
TBC....
See, no cliffhanger this time . And that's not something that is going to be happening often in the next chapters, so enjoy...
I'm finally here, with a new chapter
I don't have much to say, I just wanted to thank you guy for the wonderful reviews you left.
And as I did in the french thread, this chapter is dedicated to Jenn
The next chapter will be up faster because... well it's a surprise. I'm all excited about that...
Love you all!!
Laurie
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 10: Truth, fiction and confidences.</span>
The first thing Julia noticed was the sound of footsteps in the hallway. After that, she had the feeling everything had happened in slow motion. She had seen Michael look in the door’s direction, aware of every movement around him. Then, he had abruptly put her purse back on the table, not to say thrown. And truth be told, she didn’t care about the fact that he had thrown it; he could have set it on fire, she wouldn’t have reacted. All that mattered was that right after that, he had turned around, had pushed her against the “wall” and had finally put his lips on hers.
At first, she had been surprised, this move being the last of her expectations, but it hadn’t taken her more than a quarter of second to realise that this kiss was all she wanted.
The outside world faded away, and she found herself transported in another dimension, where everything was turning around her; or rather, she was right in the middle of a tornado. A tornado of emotions.
Her tongue entered in collision with Michael’s, causing in her a sensation of infinite softness, and, at the same time, of raw and wild desire. She felt all the emotions she had always refused to feel infiltrate each and every part of her, leaving an eternal mark there. Her body was pressed against his, finding its place like it was where it belonged.
Their kiss intensified, and she realised that she was slowly losing the bit of self-control she had left. Her heart started beating faster when he put his left arm on her waist, his hand meeting her bare skin, and the other one on her neck, firmly maintaining her close to him. The only answer she was able to give him was to kiss him back, using the strength she was not putting into the dance of their tongues to put her arms around him.
Suddenly, in the middle of this chaos of emotions in which she navigated, the tornado stopped, and she got carried away to another world, also unknown, but so familiar to her heart. Suddenly, she wasn’t standing in a room or in a storm, but inside a building in ruins. She was still kissing him and tasting his lips for the first time, but everything was different.
It was only impressions, waves of feelings that were assaulting her and could have very well been side effects of this kiss, this journey he was taking her on, but it just felt so real...
Vaughn had almost forgotten what it was like to kiss Sydney Bristow, to share her breath and caress her tongue with his. He had been through hell without her, only to find himself in heaven again, in her arms. All those strong emotions were assaulting his heart, and he felt it inflate from his love for her, and at the same time compress with how much this kiss meant to him...
It took him several seconds, several minutes perhaps, to go back to a normal enough state to hear someone cough at the other end of the room. He eventually remembered why he had started what he was doing, but he didn’t want it to end anyway. He would have wanted it to last one small more eternity...
Julia was the one that pulled back first, even if it was just to breathe. She hadn’t even noticed that someone else was standing in the room. Her eyes met Michael’s, and there were both surprised by what they could mutually see in them.
What Vaughn believed he had seen in her gaze in the nightclub the day before was nothing compared to what he could see at this moment. She looked totally lost, vulnerable, as if this kiss had succeeded in lowering all the barriers she had built around herself. She had kissed him back for the mission, but it was much more than that: she had abandoned herself to him.
Julia was having a hard time facing all the love she saw in Michael. Why would he have feelings for her? His gaze was so intense that she wanted to disappear in it. His eyes were burning with a flame she wasn’t sure to able to deal with. How did Julia Thorne deal with feelings?
She could have sworn he was about to stroke her cheek when she heard someone cough again. It hadn’t been an hallucination, she thought. There really was someone else in the room.
Vaughn was the first to turn around, and the way the receptionist looked at him let him know his “distraction” had worked. The only thing she had seen was the kiss. And he wasn’t surprised that she looked slightly shocked since Julia and him had acted liked the end of the word was coming. In fact, it was more the beginning of everything...
-Sorry, he managed to articulate as he withdrew his hand from Julia’s neck.
She immediately felt empty, but she was careful not to show it.
-What are you doing her? the woman asked.
Was she jealous? It was completely stupid, but Julia had the feeling she had gotten her revenge. “And now I’m acting like a twelve-year-old teenager. That’s promising.”
If Vaughn had thought about this distraction, he hadn’t had the time to think about what he was going to say after. He looked at Julia, hoping she had found something to say, but she wasn’t even capable of speaking. Her heart was beating wildly, her skin was on fire, and her brain did not seem to want to function the right way. She didn’t think she would succeed in aligning two coherent words during the day...
-I think we found each other, Vaughn answered the woman.
It was without any doubt the worst excuse he had ever found after being caught kissing a girl, and Weiss would have probably laughed like crazy if he had heard him. He comforted himself by keeping in mind that nothing could be worse than the day Jack Bristow had caught him kissing his daughter in the “flirting corner” of the CIA, as his friend had so well named it.
The young woman had been expecting anything but that answer. This man definitely had other exceptional qualities besides his bewitching eyes, his devastating smile and his gorgeous body...
He put his arm around Julia’s waist, and she let her do so without moving at all. She was slowly catching up her breath, but the rest... the contact that Michael had just renewed with her was certainly not making things easier...
She smiled mechanically, not to hide the way she felt, it was absolutely impossible, but to try to play the game. The problem was that she had lost herself between a kiss that was to put her out of danger and sharing everything she was deep inside of her without a man she had known for four days. Right now, she was unable to distinguish her “character” from who she was, especially since it had been something so uncertain lately.
-I guess this means neither of you will need our services anymore?
-No, thank you, answered Vaughn. I have the love of my life in my arms, and I am not going to let her go any time soon.
He too was mixing up truth and fiction. He was mixing up this client that was supposed to have found the love of this life, with Michael Vartan, the spy that had just used a kiss to save both of their lives, with Michael Vaughn, the man that diversion had once and for all brought back to the world of the livings. Sydney was the only thing he had ever needed.
---------------------------------------
Julia hadn’t pronounced a word since she had said a vague “goodbye” to the young lady from the reception when they had exited the building. Even though her whole body was asking for his proximity, she had stayed as far as she could from him.
Vaughn brought the car in front of the entrance and she quickly got in. He immediately started the engine again, and a mile away from there, he decided to break the silence.
-Are you okay?
Why did he always have to worry about her and her well-being? He could have found so many things to say. He could have subtly let her know that he had had fun, that he had taken advantage of the situation. But no. He wanted to know how she was doing.
Was it a bad thing that the only thing she wanted to do was jump on him and kiss him once again?
-Yeah. I’m great.
Vaughn realised that she wasn’t fine because of the word she had chosen to use. Indeed, it was exactly what told him that something was wrong. But he couldn’t figure out if it was because their kiss had affected her as much as it affected him, or on the contrary, because she thought he had acted like a teenager, taking advantage of her while saving their lives.
-I’m sorry about what happened there, he started. I didn’t find any other way... I didn’t find any other “diversion”.
Julia shook her head, and couldn’t help but sigh. As if what she felt wasn’t strong enough, he had to apologize and act like a perfect gentleman, giving her another reason to fall for him. He wasn’t making things easy. It seemed natural, spontaneous and sincere coming from him, but she wished he could just stop behaving this way, and break the spell he had cast on her.
-Michael, don’t apologize. You had no other choice. Just... don’t apologize, she told him with a cold voice, even if it wasn’t her intention. She almost wanted to get mad at him for being so wonderful.
She wanted to run at the other end of the world to detach herself from his influence, or to give into her attraction for real. She wanted everything but stay in this position, stuck in between what she wanted to feel – nothing – and what she felt near him – emotions she had no control over.
“Who would have thought that one day, I would have been in this state because of a “wonderful” man?”
-Okay. I just wanted to make things clear between us.
During the same day, he had managed to use the worst excuse that had ever been invented, and now a lie bigger than a house.
Clear? Nothing had ever been more confused, muddled and blurred in his life than this situation. And it was the same thing for Julia. Michael’s sentence couldn’t have been further from the truth...
---------------------------------------
Vaughn hung up his phone and put it on the seat next to him. He had been careful not be followed by any Covenant members, and as he had parked his car next to the warehouse where he was to meet Jack, his cell phone had rung. It was Julia, wanting to ask him if he could go to a private club in Rome the following week in order to meet Simon Walker. He had tried to detect something in the sound of her voice, but she hadn’t shown any emotion.
Their kiss from the day before wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but he was dying to know what she had felt. Of course, she had kissed him back with such intensity that it should have given him an idea, but he no longer knew what to trust. And he didn’t know what he expected from her either...
Aware of the fact that it wasn’t very safe for him to stay here a long time, he grabbed his phone, and after putting it in his pocket, he got out of his car and walked towards the entrance of the old warehouse.
Jack was already waiting for him, sitting on a chair, and Vaughn had to keep himself from laughing face with how nervous he was in his presence. As if he was going to end up on the floor with a gun pointed on his forehead if he said something wrong...
-Hello Jack
“Thankfully, he can’t read my thoughts as easily as Sydney”
-Hello.
He took a seat in front of him, and Jack spoke first.
-How did your second mission go?
-Better than the first I guess. Except for the fact that we didn’t retrieve the document we were looking for. We don’t know if the information was false or if we got there too late. Either way, we got nothing.
-And you have another mission planned? he asked him.
-No, not in the near future. But next week, I’m going to meet one of my superiors, Simon Walker. I guess we’ll figure out something then, and I should also learn more about what exactly we are looking for. The man whose identity I took told me that I had to prove my “value” during the first two missions and that if I passed this “test”, I would be accepted definitively.
-Listen, he started again a few seconds later, about Sydney... I know a pendant is a slight proof, but–
Jack cut him.
-I believe you Vaughn. If you say it’s her, then I trust you.
-I just wanted to say that if the pendant had been the main factor of my discovery, I have no doubt on her iden–
He stopped talking, Jack’s words sinking in. He was speechless. Had he just said that?
-What happened?
What the hell had gone through his mind and had made him want to justify himself whereas Jack already trusted him? How could he forget that he had shared this kiss with his daughter?
-I kissed her, said Vaughn as fast as he could. I mean... we kissed. For the mission, he added.
There was a silence between the two men for a few seconds, and after having once again measured the weight of what he was about to say, Jack finally spoke.
-Good.
-What do you mean ‘good’? Vaughn asked, surprised.
Of all the reactions, it was the one he had least expected.
-Just what I said.
-‘Good’? You don’t seriously think that I should...
-Get closer to Julia? Become intimate with her? Yes.
-It’s out of question! he answered while brutally rising from his chair.
What was going on in Jack’s mind? Was he really asking him to seduce his own daughter?
-And why is that, Mr Vaughn?
Jack insisted on his name, and Vaughn the tension between he and Sydney’s father increase a little bit more.
-The last thing I want to do is seduce Sydney – I mean Julia, to get information for her and betray her afterwards. I can’t do that.
Truth be told, Vaughn hadn’t had a chance to think about what could have happened between Julia and him and what was possible. Things had gone too fast since he had “met” her. He didn’t know what his limits were inside of this game he had started playing.
-We’re not talking about what you want or can do anymore, Michael! Jack told him, raising from his chair too and bringing his face a few inches from Vaughn’s. We are talking about what you must and will do! Stop thinking only about yourself and take a look around you! Your first objective is still to take down the Covenant, and what I’m asking you to do will only make it easier and faster!
-Listen Jack, I am not like you! I can’t, and don’t want to focus on a mission and forget that I’m a human being, as well as the people surrounding me! There are lines I’m not going to cross!
-No, you listen to me! Do you really think this situation is easy for me? We do not have the time to care about our own personal problems!
-It’s a question of moral!
-It’s not like you never slept with her!
Things were going a lot further than Jack had initially planned it. Michael Vaughn wasn’t one to five in easily, and he couldn’t hold him onto that, because he was almost worse. But right now, he had to convince him. By all means.
-And moreover, he added out of breath, preventing him for talking, if Julia doesn’t share your bed, who do you think she will be sharing it with? This Simon Walker, maybe? You may feel like you are using her, but the reason you first got yourself into this is her, and only her. Don’t you prefer to be with her than to watch her being with man that’s using her in a whole other way? A man she would despise if she knew who she really is?
What was Vaughn supposed to answer? Everything Jack had just told him was true, but...
-I know, he said. I know that, it’s just that... it’s already so hard to be next to her and pretend to be someone else, pretend that she is someone else, that I don’t know her and don’t feel anything about her... so if have to be with her, I don’t know if can handle it. Especially if I have to lie to her most of the time.
Things were now a little calmer between the two men, and Vaughn took advantage of that to sit back. His arms came resting on the length of his legs, and he started studying attentively his hands, unable to look at Jack while speaking.
-To be honest, he admitted, it scares me. I’m lost.
Never once in his life he would have thought that one day, he would confide in Jack Bristow. But back when his life was “normal”, he would have poured his heart out either to Sydney, either to Weiss. Despite the fact that he did not always understand the way he felt, Weiss had always been there for him. And at this very moment, he couldn’t speak to any of them. Plus, Vaughn didn’t know when he would get another chance to talk to someone that knew who he really was.
For a brief moment, Jack thought about saying, “I know”, or I understand, but he changed his mind and chose different words.
-I just need to know you will do what I asked you to, but not for the mission. I want to you to do it for me, because I know she will be safe with you; for her because it’s what she would want you to do, to take care of her; and for you, because succeeding in realising this mission is the only chance you have to bring her back with you and to avenge what’s happening to her.
He was now totally sure that Jack trusted him, and it gave him more assurance, maybe enough courage to involve himself that much in his mission.
He knew bringing Sydney back home with him meant that he might hope to find her again for real one day. But he didn’t care thinking about that too much, because he knew it was nearly impossible. And for now, he had to focus on the present, and his conversation with Jack.
He finally answered Jack, more self-confident than he had thought he could be.
-Okay.
TBC....
See, no cliffhanger this time
. And that's not something that is going to be happening often in the next chapters, so enjoy... sexcivaughn14
welcome home
FIRST! YAY! lol! good update
mrs.marshal030791
Cadet
2nd wooo. haha great update. cant wait for more. thanks for the pm
Alias Fan Gillian
Cadet
Great chapter. Please post more soon.
Thanks for the pm.
Thanks for the pm.
secret_agent_angel
Cadet
OMG that was great
i love this fic but i want syd back to normal
i love this fic but i want syd back to normal
AmyLeerockergurl15
Cadet
Great chapter, thanks for the pm and update soon!
Em
Em
*escapes from Real Life*
Hello!!
I would have updated earlier, but I barely had time on the computer during this week. If I had a choise, I'd spend my days writing, translating and posting here instead of studying, but school comes first. So... Sorry about the long wait between the chapters!
That being said... This chapter is very special to me because I'm not the one who translated it. Elsa Caplan did. And since she's my friend and our friendship means a lot to me, so does what she did! (Not to mention that did an amazing job!)
I hope you'll like where I'm taking the story
Thanks for reading this fic! I love you guys!
Laurie
Oh, and I can finally post this poster I made such a long time ago...
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 11: Superiors</span>
In the middle of a dance floor in a private club, the music playing in the background, she danced, her arms up, her eyes closed. Completely disconnected from the outside world, lost in the dance, she had almost left her fears and anguishes behind when he came up to her and put his arms around her waist, putting his large, imposing hands on her hips. She didn’t reject him, even though she would have much preferred to enjoy her moment of escape on her own, and continued dancing with him until the song was over.
Perfectly conscious of the fact that Julia had had enough of dancing, and refusing to think that she’d had enough of dancing with him, Simon gripped her hand and led her across the dance floor toward their small private room, containing a couch adapted to the angle of the room and a glass table.
She hadn’t really come back down from her high when she took place next to him and he asked her if she wanted something to drink.
-Beer? He asked her.
-No, thanks.
She couldn’t stop sneaking glances in the direction of the club entrance, expecting and not expecting him to show up.
No, her four days of vacation had done nothing to help her state of mind. Everything was still tangled up inside, torn between everything that she had felt these past two weeks. The very night of her second mission with Michael, she was already lost. She could still taste his kisses, his lips, his mouth, and it was enough to drive her crazy. She had tried to distract herself, but nothing had worked. At six in the afternoon, she had stepped out on her balcony, leaned against the door, and while observing the city lights, she became convinced that there was only one thing to do: leave. It only took her a few seconds to find her phone and dial the number of her travel agency.
She had always been an impulsive and impatient person, and given that she wanted to leave that very night, she chose the destination that would allow her to waste as little time as possible after setting foot inside the airport. Two hours later, she had found herself a thousand feet in the air on a plane bound for Norway…
She had thought the cold of the northern country could temper the fire that Michael had kindled in her when they met, but she quickly realized that nothing would. Being thousands of miles away from him didn’t help either. Once there, she took advantage of the comforts the hotel provided to help her relax: the pool, the Jacuzzi, the gym…but nothing was enough to banish the image of this man from her mind.
Usually, when something bothered her, and she didn’t want to see Simon, she would go out to nightclubs and find a man with whom to spend the night; but her current problem was a man, and she hadn’t found herself in this situation before. Moreover, she was convinced that if she used this “method”, the very face of the person she was running away from wouldn’t stop appearing before her eyes, that she would be searching for the taste of his kisses in those of the perfect stranger she would have chosen.
The first night, she had wanted to stay on her room’s balcony – she always got a room with one – but the cold made it impossible for her to stay there for more than five minutes. She probably would have stayed if he had been there to put his arms around her, she thought as she had stepped back into the warmth of her room.
And it was that thought that made her decide to go back home. The distance didn’t help, and she much preferred the climate in Rome, Mediterranean and warm, even if it was only the beginning of April. She took a plane back to Rome the next day, unable to catch a flight any sooner, and landed early the next afternoon.
-I missed you all week, Simon told her while he put his left hand on her shoulder, before softly sliding it down the length of her arm.
What was she supposed to say? For a split second, she didn’t know how to respond. Oh, right.
-You too, darling.
When she had returned two days ago, she had hailed a taxi and began to give the driver her address. Mid-way, she had changed her mind and decided not to return to her apartment. Simon was the last person she wanted to see, and there was a good chance that she would find him there. Instead, she went to a spa center in an effort to get a hold of herself, and if possible, to ease the tension from her body. In a way, it had worked, but now that she was waiting for Michael to arrive, it was as if she had never gone there in the first place.
Simon laced his fingers though hers, and put his other hand on her left shoulder.
-We’ll have to do something about that, he whispered, his look burning with desire.
She had already tried, the night she had met with Michael, to compare what she felt for both men, but at that moment, she didn’t want Michael or his influence on her. Today, she felt as if she had already crossed a limit beyond which she needed him physically speaking. She tried to remember all the other men she had been with up to now, while Simon caressed her arm, but she couldn’t remember feeling anything comparable to what Michael made her feel. With all the others, Simon included, she felt with her body, with her mind, whereas with Michael, she felt with her heart.
She searched a little further back in her memory – back to her first real boyfriend, but she couldn’t remember what she had really felt for him. She could remember his name, what he looked like, the place and the circumstances, but when she tried to remember anything else, there was nothing. Did that mean that she had never felt anything? Had she always been like this? Emotionless? Heartless?Why did she feel nothing with the others but the touch of their skin and hands, their mouths, and absolutely everything with Michael? What made him so special?
She was drawn out of her thoughts by the feeling of Simon’s lips on hers. This kiss had no intensity, but she told herself that if she didn’t feel anything, at least she could have fun. After all, her relationship with Simon had never been more than just a game. It was the only thing she was sure of.
____
It took Vaughn a while to find Simon and Julia amongst the crowd, and once he did, he wished it would have taken him longer, wished he’d had more time to prepare himself for what he was going to see.
While he was aware that Sydney had had relationships with other men during the time he was her handler – a kiss with Will, and much more with Noah – he had chased those images from his mind as best he could, and he had never had to deal with them. Until now…
Simon was kissing Julia. Julia was kissing Simon.
Sydney was kissing another man.
Jack had warned him about this. He had thought about it, he had reflected on it, but nothing could have prepared him for the shock he had just received. It hurt him, and broke his heart, but at the same time, it filled him with rage. Who could say where he and Sydney would be right now if all of this hadn’t happened? A year and a half. An unspoken declaration, hundreds of days lost. And now he had to find her in another man’s arms? Her mouth against his, her hands travelling his body, her eyes closed to savor the kiss of this man?
During his four day break, Vaughn had had a chance to reflect on what Sydney’s father had asked of him. Toward the end of their conversation, he’d thought he had found the strength to do it, but once he had sat down in his new apartment, he had realized he had about as much strength to unpack his boxes as he did to “seduce” Julia. And if Jack’s blessing had convinced him to do it, the kiss he had just witnessed gave him strength he didn’t know he had for this “mission”.
He strode with confidence toward Julia, whose lips had just left Simon’s. Forever, he hoped.
_____
Simon felt Julia pull back, and went to kiss her again, but when he saw her gaze fall on someone in the crowd, he stopped himself. He knew that the night was just beginning, and that he would have time later to be alone with her.
Once Michael came into view, the knot in Julia’s stomach returned, even if she had relaxed herself a little bit with Simon. She just had the time to take a deep breath, and he was standing in front of her.
-Good evening.
Was it possible that the sound of his voice had such an effect on her? Could he hear her heart beat wildly in her chest?
She reminded herself that Simon was still there, and she made the introductions.
-Simon Walker, Michael Vartan.
The two shook hands, and Vaughn felt a great desire to break his superior’s. He stopped himself, knowing it was the last thing he should do. For now.
He supposed a “pleased to meet you” wasn’t really appropriate, so he settled for taking a place on the couch.
-So, began Simon, I heard you were very good? Julia says you’re the best.
He immediately looked at her upon hearing this. A spark had just appeared in his eyes, and the same phenomenon occurred in Julia, which did not escape Simon’s attention. He told himself it was just his imagination, which was always more active when he was near her, but he could no longer ignore it when Michael spoke again and that spark seemed to grow in each of them.
-I hope so.
Vaughn smiled at Julia, and she felt herself melt. She had hoped to appear less affected while in Simon’s presence, but there was nothing she could do. Her heart jumped in her chest when the sound of his voice reached her ears once more.
-Does that mean I’m in?
Simon decided to be the one that would give an answer. He didn’t want to give that satisfaction to Julia, seeing how much she seemed to like this man.
-Yes, he confirmed. I suppose that now you’ll want to know what we’re looking for?
His tone was that of a jealous man, or a possessive one, as if Julia belonged to him, and Vaughn couldn’t help but notice. He had to control himself so he wouldn’t talk back to him in the same manner. After all, if Julia was with Simon, Sydney was with him. He was hers, she was his, and he wouldn’t be able to stand to see Julia, or even know that he was with another man for much longer.
-Yes.
-You already know what the Covenant’s priority is, you can probably guess the rest…
He was more asking a question than confirming anything, but it was Julia who responded, with great interest.
-Rambaldi.
Vaughn knew this was what they were after, but it still made him want to laugh. Rambaldi? Were people ever going to stop being obsessed with this man and his “work”?
He found people who believed in Rambaldi and his prophecies to be so ridiculous that he almost forgot who was standing in front of him. Sydney. What kind of person did they turn her into that she would now believe in such things?
If there was one thing that Sydney hated during the time he knew her, besides Arvin Sloane, it was Rambaldi; and the interest Julia showed scared Vaughn. But he had to put his feelings aside and pretend that Rambaldi was his priority, when in fact it was the person standing beside him in flesh and blood.
-Are we looking for a new artifact?
-No, Simon responded right away. It’s even better. We believe Rambaldi’s work is going to continue beyond his time, that he will be reborn through a descendant.
-A descendant? Like a direct descendant?
-In a way, yes, he responded. Probably closer than this.
-His own child? Vaughn asked, incredulous.
Will these stories ever stop getting crazier and crazier?
-And that of the Chosen One, added Julia.
No. Apparently not. Did Julia know that she was speaking about herself? Wasn’t this worse than everything else?
Everything became clear to Vaughn, and he finally understood what had torn Sydney away from him a year and a half ago. He had to fight to control himself in front of them. How far were these prophecies going to go?
-The Chosen One? Do we already know who this woman is? he asked them.
He tried to seem curious, and above all, interested, but that became harder with each new piece of information he gathered.
-Yes, said Simon. It’s already taken care of.
“Taken care of”? Did Simon know who Julia really was? Was he a part of all this? Vaughn could barely control himself any longer – his arm began to rise and he covered by running his hand through his hair. It was too much for him. He didn’t know how much more he would be able to take.
-Taken care of?
-We’ve already got what we wanted from her, and we’ve got an eye on her, just in case something unexpected happens. But she’s no longer a problem.
Vaughn felt bile rise up to his throat. “Got what we wanted”? “An eye on her”? “No longer a problem”?
Was the man in front of him human? He talked about Sydney as though she was common merchandise. He clearly knew who Julia really was, and he was taking advantage of her in a way no one had ever done, in a way no one should have. How could Vaughn not kill this man on the spot? Where would he find the strength?
He looked at Julia, searching for a trace, however infinitesimal, of one of Sydney’s smiles, to help him through this. There was none, but he did see a little bit of the woman he was desperately in love with, hidden behind the walls only he knew how to tear down.
-So we’re looking for something that will help us find the descendant, or child of Rambaldi? It’s more than I could imagine.
Yes, this situation was crazier, more ridiculous, more twisted than anything on the planet. But he was doing this for Sydney.
-I know, said Julia. I had trouble believing it at first, too.
“Breathe. Just breathe and everything will be alright.”
As if someone, somewhere had heard him, the ring of a cell phone reverberated in the atmosphere. Julia went to grab her bag from the table, but her arm brushed against Vaughn’s in passing and she dropped it to her side, affected by the feel of his skin against hers. It was Simon who picked up his phone, and she thought she must have really looked like an idiot.
First, she had wanted to pick her phone whereas it wasn’t even ringing, and then, she had dropped her purse that was only inches away from her. When she came out her thoughts, Simon had already hung up, put his phone back in his pocket, and got ready to leave.
-I have to go, he announced.
He went to shake Vaughn’s hand, and he shook it against his wishes for the second time that night. The desire to break it before was nothing compared to what he was feeling right now.
“For Sydney”, he reminded himself. “For us.”
Simon sidled up to Julia and kissed her in a rather provocative way.
-We’ll see each other later, sweetheart?
She let him think so, even though she had no desire to see him again tonight. Anyway, it wasn’t the first time that she wasn’t going to spend the night at his place even after he had asked.
Simon started to walk toward the exit, but he turned around one last time toward Julia before she was out of his sight, and saw her crouch at the same time as Michael to retrieve something from the ground. From where he was, he couldn’t see their hands touch behind the table, but he could see their faces, inches from one another, and he could see the way Julia behaved. She lowered her eyes, grabbed what must have been her purse, and quickly got up again, putting some distance between herself and Michael.
What did this man have that was so special that made Julia behave this way? Simon had no idea. What he did know was that he didn’t like the way Julia acted around him. And above all, he didn’t like him.
___
During the short but intense moment during which he found himself next to her, their hands still touching because they had both gone to retrieve her purse, Vaughn had been two seconds away from kissing her. She was so beautiful, and for the first time that evening, he had truly allowed himself to look at her. Drop dead gorgeous.
She had moved away before he had had a chance to turn his thoughts into action, but he didn’t really regret this occasion. He didn’t want to rush things. Even if he did want to kiss her endlessly.
-So, he asked her, did you have a good week?
Julia shouldn’t have been taken aback by his question, but she was still pleasantly surprised.
-Very good, she responded.
“Except for the fact that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for the past seventy-two hours”.
-In fact, she said before she could stop the words from escaping her lips, I went to Norway.
She couldn’t believe it. She had had no intention of sharing that with him.
-Norway? he repeated, incredulous.
-I know, she said, embarrassed.
It was clear he was going to tease her with this new information, judging by his smile, let alone his laugh, and Julia played along.
-What?
-What were you doing in Norway?
A huge smile appeared on Julia’s face, the kind of smile Vaughn had been looking for in her earlier in the evening.
-To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I just…got on the first flight I could find, she answered truthfully.
He continued to smile like a fool, and even though that had more of an effect on her than anything so simple had before, it piqued her curiosity.
-What is it?
-Nothing.
-Michael.
The way she said his name, as if it had been made to tumble from her lips, made his smile disappear and brought his feelings for her to the surface. She had cast a spell on him just by saying his first name. Sydney had never done it, and he knew this was one of the first things he would like about Julia.
-Dance with me.
He spoke just as she was about to ask him why he was smiling so much, and she stood there, her lips partially open, hearing a new song begin what seemed to her to be a few kilometers in the distance.
She hadn’t yet given him an answer when Michael extended his hand toward her, renewing his invitation. Now, it was up to her.
----
Once outside the club and certain that no one could overhear him, Simon took out his phone again and quickly dialled a number. The person on the other end answered almost immediately.
-What took you so long?
-I’m sorry, answered Simon. I was with Julia and the new recruit. I had to leave.
-How is he?
-Good, apparently.
-Good. And Julia? Anything out of the ordinary with her?
Simon wanted to mention her nervousness around Michael, but he held back. Nowhere in his contract did it say that he was supposed to be the one sleeping with her.
-No, no change in her behaviour. Everything is going acc –
The man cut him off.
-And the mission?
He should have known that, with him, it didn’t help to stir the pot.
-Things are moving forward. The parchment with the information we’re looking for should be in our hands soon.
-Good. I trust you will make sure everything happens as I’ve ordered. Call me when you have news.
-Yes, sir. I will.
Their conversation ended as abruptly as it had begun, without a hello or a goodbye. And it was always better to say that things were going according to plan when dealing with men like Arvin Sloane.
TBC....
Hello!!
I would have updated earlier, but I barely had time on the computer during this week. If I had a choise, I'd spend my days writing, translating and posting here instead of studying, but school comes first. So... Sorry about the long wait between the chapters!
That being said... This chapter is very special to me because I'm not the one who translated it. Elsa Caplan did. And since she's my friend and our friendship means a lot to me, so does what she did!
(Not to mention that did an amazing job!)I hope you'll like where I'm taking the story
Thanks for reading this fic! I love you guys!
Laurie
Oh, and I can finally post this poster I made such a long time ago...
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 11: Superiors</span>
In the middle of a dance floor in a private club, the music playing in the background, she danced, her arms up, her eyes closed. Completely disconnected from the outside world, lost in the dance, she had almost left her fears and anguishes behind when he came up to her and put his arms around her waist, putting his large, imposing hands on her hips. She didn’t reject him, even though she would have much preferred to enjoy her moment of escape on her own, and continued dancing with him until the song was over.
Perfectly conscious of the fact that Julia had had enough of dancing, and refusing to think that she’d had enough of dancing with him, Simon gripped her hand and led her across the dance floor toward their small private room, containing a couch adapted to the angle of the room and a glass table.
She hadn’t really come back down from her high when she took place next to him and he asked her if she wanted something to drink.
-Beer? He asked her.
-No, thanks.
She couldn’t stop sneaking glances in the direction of the club entrance, expecting and not expecting him to show up.
No, her four days of vacation had done nothing to help her state of mind. Everything was still tangled up inside, torn between everything that she had felt these past two weeks. The very night of her second mission with Michael, she was already lost. She could still taste his kisses, his lips, his mouth, and it was enough to drive her crazy. She had tried to distract herself, but nothing had worked. At six in the afternoon, she had stepped out on her balcony, leaned against the door, and while observing the city lights, she became convinced that there was only one thing to do: leave. It only took her a few seconds to find her phone and dial the number of her travel agency.
She had always been an impulsive and impatient person, and given that she wanted to leave that very night, she chose the destination that would allow her to waste as little time as possible after setting foot inside the airport. Two hours later, she had found herself a thousand feet in the air on a plane bound for Norway…
She had thought the cold of the northern country could temper the fire that Michael had kindled in her when they met, but she quickly realized that nothing would. Being thousands of miles away from him didn’t help either. Once there, she took advantage of the comforts the hotel provided to help her relax: the pool, the Jacuzzi, the gym…but nothing was enough to banish the image of this man from her mind.
Usually, when something bothered her, and she didn’t want to see Simon, she would go out to nightclubs and find a man with whom to spend the night; but her current problem was a man, and she hadn’t found herself in this situation before. Moreover, she was convinced that if she used this “method”, the very face of the person she was running away from wouldn’t stop appearing before her eyes, that she would be searching for the taste of his kisses in those of the perfect stranger she would have chosen.
The first night, she had wanted to stay on her room’s balcony – she always got a room with one – but the cold made it impossible for her to stay there for more than five minutes. She probably would have stayed if he had been there to put his arms around her, she thought as she had stepped back into the warmth of her room.
And it was that thought that made her decide to go back home. The distance didn’t help, and she much preferred the climate in Rome, Mediterranean and warm, even if it was only the beginning of April. She took a plane back to Rome the next day, unable to catch a flight any sooner, and landed early the next afternoon.
-I missed you all week, Simon told her while he put his left hand on her shoulder, before softly sliding it down the length of her arm.
What was she supposed to say? For a split second, she didn’t know how to respond. Oh, right.
-You too, darling.
When she had returned two days ago, she had hailed a taxi and began to give the driver her address. Mid-way, she had changed her mind and decided not to return to her apartment. Simon was the last person she wanted to see, and there was a good chance that she would find him there. Instead, she went to a spa center in an effort to get a hold of herself, and if possible, to ease the tension from her body. In a way, it had worked, but now that she was waiting for Michael to arrive, it was as if she had never gone there in the first place.
Simon laced his fingers though hers, and put his other hand on her left shoulder.
-We’ll have to do something about that, he whispered, his look burning with desire.
She had already tried, the night she had met with Michael, to compare what she felt for both men, but at that moment, she didn’t want Michael or his influence on her. Today, she felt as if she had already crossed a limit beyond which she needed him physically speaking. She tried to remember all the other men she had been with up to now, while Simon caressed her arm, but she couldn’t remember feeling anything comparable to what Michael made her feel. With all the others, Simon included, she felt with her body, with her mind, whereas with Michael, she felt with her heart.
She searched a little further back in her memory – back to her first real boyfriend, but she couldn’t remember what she had really felt for him. She could remember his name, what he looked like, the place and the circumstances, but when she tried to remember anything else, there was nothing. Did that mean that she had never felt anything? Had she always been like this? Emotionless? Heartless?Why did she feel nothing with the others but the touch of their skin and hands, their mouths, and absolutely everything with Michael? What made him so special?
She was drawn out of her thoughts by the feeling of Simon’s lips on hers. This kiss had no intensity, but she told herself that if she didn’t feel anything, at least she could have fun. After all, her relationship with Simon had never been more than just a game. It was the only thing she was sure of.
____
It took Vaughn a while to find Simon and Julia amongst the crowd, and once he did, he wished it would have taken him longer, wished he’d had more time to prepare himself for what he was going to see.
While he was aware that Sydney had had relationships with other men during the time he was her handler – a kiss with Will, and much more with Noah – he had chased those images from his mind as best he could, and he had never had to deal with them. Until now…
Simon was kissing Julia. Julia was kissing Simon.
Sydney was kissing another man.
Jack had warned him about this. He had thought about it, he had reflected on it, but nothing could have prepared him for the shock he had just received. It hurt him, and broke his heart, but at the same time, it filled him with rage. Who could say where he and Sydney would be right now if all of this hadn’t happened? A year and a half. An unspoken declaration, hundreds of days lost. And now he had to find her in another man’s arms? Her mouth against his, her hands travelling his body, her eyes closed to savor the kiss of this man?
During his four day break, Vaughn had had a chance to reflect on what Sydney’s father had asked of him. Toward the end of their conversation, he’d thought he had found the strength to do it, but once he had sat down in his new apartment, he had realized he had about as much strength to unpack his boxes as he did to “seduce” Julia. And if Jack’s blessing had convinced him to do it, the kiss he had just witnessed gave him strength he didn’t know he had for this “mission”.
He strode with confidence toward Julia, whose lips had just left Simon’s. Forever, he hoped.
_____
Simon felt Julia pull back, and went to kiss her again, but when he saw her gaze fall on someone in the crowd, he stopped himself. He knew that the night was just beginning, and that he would have time later to be alone with her.
Once Michael came into view, the knot in Julia’s stomach returned, even if she had relaxed herself a little bit with Simon. She just had the time to take a deep breath, and he was standing in front of her.
-Good evening.
Was it possible that the sound of his voice had such an effect on her? Could he hear her heart beat wildly in her chest?
She reminded herself that Simon was still there, and she made the introductions.
-Simon Walker, Michael Vartan.
The two shook hands, and Vaughn felt a great desire to break his superior’s. He stopped himself, knowing it was the last thing he should do. For now.
He supposed a “pleased to meet you” wasn’t really appropriate, so he settled for taking a place on the couch.
-So, began Simon, I heard you were very good? Julia says you’re the best.
He immediately looked at her upon hearing this. A spark had just appeared in his eyes, and the same phenomenon occurred in Julia, which did not escape Simon’s attention. He told himself it was just his imagination, which was always more active when he was near her, but he could no longer ignore it when Michael spoke again and that spark seemed to grow in each of them.
-I hope so.
Vaughn smiled at Julia, and she felt herself melt. She had hoped to appear less affected while in Simon’s presence, but there was nothing she could do. Her heart jumped in her chest when the sound of his voice reached her ears once more.
-Does that mean I’m in?
Simon decided to be the one that would give an answer. He didn’t want to give that satisfaction to Julia, seeing how much she seemed to like this man.
-Yes, he confirmed. I suppose that now you’ll want to know what we’re looking for?
His tone was that of a jealous man, or a possessive one, as if Julia belonged to him, and Vaughn couldn’t help but notice. He had to control himself so he wouldn’t talk back to him in the same manner. After all, if Julia was with Simon, Sydney was with him. He was hers, she was his, and he wouldn’t be able to stand to see Julia, or even know that he was with another man for much longer.
-Yes.
-You already know what the Covenant’s priority is, you can probably guess the rest…
He was more asking a question than confirming anything, but it was Julia who responded, with great interest.
-Rambaldi.
Vaughn knew this was what they were after, but it still made him want to laugh. Rambaldi? Were people ever going to stop being obsessed with this man and his “work”?
He found people who believed in Rambaldi and his prophecies to be so ridiculous that he almost forgot who was standing in front of him. Sydney. What kind of person did they turn her into that she would now believe in such things?
If there was one thing that Sydney hated during the time he knew her, besides Arvin Sloane, it was Rambaldi; and the interest Julia showed scared Vaughn. But he had to put his feelings aside and pretend that Rambaldi was his priority, when in fact it was the person standing beside him in flesh and blood.
-Are we looking for a new artifact?
-No, Simon responded right away. It’s even better. We believe Rambaldi’s work is going to continue beyond his time, that he will be reborn through a descendant.
-A descendant? Like a direct descendant?
-In a way, yes, he responded. Probably closer than this.
-His own child? Vaughn asked, incredulous.
Will these stories ever stop getting crazier and crazier?
-And that of the Chosen One, added Julia.
No. Apparently not. Did Julia know that she was speaking about herself? Wasn’t this worse than everything else?
Everything became clear to Vaughn, and he finally understood what had torn Sydney away from him a year and a half ago. He had to fight to control himself in front of them. How far were these prophecies going to go?
-The Chosen One? Do we already know who this woman is? he asked them.
He tried to seem curious, and above all, interested, but that became harder with each new piece of information he gathered.
-Yes, said Simon. It’s already taken care of.
“Taken care of”? Did Simon know who Julia really was? Was he a part of all this? Vaughn could barely control himself any longer – his arm began to rise and he covered by running his hand through his hair. It was too much for him. He didn’t know how much more he would be able to take.
-Taken care of?
-We’ve already got what we wanted from her, and we’ve got an eye on her, just in case something unexpected happens. But she’s no longer a problem.
Vaughn felt bile rise up to his throat. “Got what we wanted”? “An eye on her”? “No longer a problem”?
Was the man in front of him human? He talked about Sydney as though she was common merchandise. He clearly knew who Julia really was, and he was taking advantage of her in a way no one had ever done, in a way no one should have. How could Vaughn not kill this man on the spot? Where would he find the strength?
He looked at Julia, searching for a trace, however infinitesimal, of one of Sydney’s smiles, to help him through this. There was none, but he did see a little bit of the woman he was desperately in love with, hidden behind the walls only he knew how to tear down.
-So we’re looking for something that will help us find the descendant, or child of Rambaldi? It’s more than I could imagine.
Yes, this situation was crazier, more ridiculous, more twisted than anything on the planet. But he was doing this for Sydney.
-I know, said Julia. I had trouble believing it at first, too.
“Breathe. Just breathe and everything will be alright.”
As if someone, somewhere had heard him, the ring of a cell phone reverberated in the atmosphere. Julia went to grab her bag from the table, but her arm brushed against Vaughn’s in passing and she dropped it to her side, affected by the feel of his skin against hers. It was Simon who picked up his phone, and she thought she must have really looked like an idiot.
First, she had wanted to pick her phone whereas it wasn’t even ringing, and then, she had dropped her purse that was only inches away from her. When she came out her thoughts, Simon had already hung up, put his phone back in his pocket, and got ready to leave.
-I have to go, he announced.
He went to shake Vaughn’s hand, and he shook it against his wishes for the second time that night. The desire to break it before was nothing compared to what he was feeling right now.
“For Sydney”, he reminded himself. “For us.”
Simon sidled up to Julia and kissed her in a rather provocative way.
-We’ll see each other later, sweetheart?
She let him think so, even though she had no desire to see him again tonight. Anyway, it wasn’t the first time that she wasn’t going to spend the night at his place even after he had asked.
Simon started to walk toward the exit, but he turned around one last time toward Julia before she was out of his sight, and saw her crouch at the same time as Michael to retrieve something from the ground. From where he was, he couldn’t see their hands touch behind the table, but he could see their faces, inches from one another, and he could see the way Julia behaved. She lowered her eyes, grabbed what must have been her purse, and quickly got up again, putting some distance between herself and Michael.
What did this man have that was so special that made Julia behave this way? Simon had no idea. What he did know was that he didn’t like the way Julia acted around him. And above all, he didn’t like him.
___
During the short but intense moment during which he found himself next to her, their hands still touching because they had both gone to retrieve her purse, Vaughn had been two seconds away from kissing her. She was so beautiful, and for the first time that evening, he had truly allowed himself to look at her. Drop dead gorgeous.
She had moved away before he had had a chance to turn his thoughts into action, but he didn’t really regret this occasion. He didn’t want to rush things. Even if he did want to kiss her endlessly.
-So, he asked her, did you have a good week?
Julia shouldn’t have been taken aback by his question, but she was still pleasantly surprised.
-Very good, she responded.
“Except for the fact that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for the past seventy-two hours”.
-In fact, she said before she could stop the words from escaping her lips, I went to Norway.
She couldn’t believe it. She had had no intention of sharing that with him.
-Norway? he repeated, incredulous.
-I know, she said, embarrassed.
It was clear he was going to tease her with this new information, judging by his smile, let alone his laugh, and Julia played along.
-What?
-What were you doing in Norway?
A huge smile appeared on Julia’s face, the kind of smile Vaughn had been looking for in her earlier in the evening.
-To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I just…got on the first flight I could find, she answered truthfully.
He continued to smile like a fool, and even though that had more of an effect on her than anything so simple had before, it piqued her curiosity.
-What is it?
-Nothing.
-Michael.
The way she said his name, as if it had been made to tumble from her lips, made his smile disappear and brought his feelings for her to the surface. She had cast a spell on him just by saying his first name. Sydney had never done it, and he knew this was one of the first things he would like about Julia.
-Dance with me.
He spoke just as she was about to ask him why he was smiling so much, and she stood there, her lips partially open, hearing a new song begin what seemed to her to be a few kilometers in the distance.
She hadn’t yet given him an answer when Michael extended his hand toward her, renewing his invitation. Now, it was up to her.
----
Once outside the club and certain that no one could overhear him, Simon took out his phone again and quickly dialled a number. The person on the other end answered almost immediately.
-What took you so long?
-I’m sorry, answered Simon. I was with Julia and the new recruit. I had to leave.
-How is he?
-Good, apparently.
-Good. And Julia? Anything out of the ordinary with her?
Simon wanted to mention her nervousness around Michael, but he held back. Nowhere in his contract did it say that he was supposed to be the one sleeping with her.
-No, no change in her behaviour. Everything is going acc –
The man cut him off.
-And the mission?
He should have known that, with him, it didn’t help to stir the pot.
-Things are moving forward. The parchment with the information we’re looking for should be in our hands soon.
-Good. I trust you will make sure everything happens as I’ve ordered. Call me when you have news.
-Yes, sir. I will.
Their conversation ended as abruptly as it had begun, without a hello or a goodbye. And it was always better to say that things were going according to plan when dealing with men like Arvin Sloane.
TBC....
*goes back to reading*sexcivaughn14
welcome home
that was good...scandalous but good! lol!
mightylittleone
Cadet
This is awesome! Can you please add me to the PM list? Thanks!
kittykatsmeow
Cadet
Absolutely AMAZING!!!! God!!! I love this story soooooo much! That was just a great chapter!
Please post more...SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the PM.
-Miriam
Please post more...SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the PM.
-Miriam
mrs.marshal030791
Cadet
oh cant wait for more. their gonna dance yayness. lol. thanks for the pm
sexcivaughn14
welcome home
nice reaction there brenda
AmyLeerockergurl15
Cadet
That was great! You write both of Vaughn's and Julia/Syd's emotions so well! Thanks for the pm and update soon!
Em
Em