Partners

this is great but wont syd be ticked to find what vaughn is doing??!! or am i just lost??!! anyways cant wait to see how the mission goes!!
 
Angel angel angel angel angel!!! This is jus beyond amazing!!!! I remember I started this out but never had the time to finish, but I'm so happy I did it now because this absolutely rocks!!! really!!! i'm without words here!!

*cheers and claps*

I can't wait to see another chapter of this, hun. If you'd PM me when you post I'd really appreciate.

Wonderful job!!!! (y) (y) *huggles*
 
Thank you guys for reading and responding.....even if just to let me know you're reading. :D



Chapter 7



Sydney Bristow closes her eyes as the plane takes off from the LA airport towards Japan. It’s only been a little over a month since her last mission with Dixon, but it feels like years since she’s been out in the field. She rarely doubts herself, but deep down in the pit of her stomach she’s scared that she might be a little rusty. She always had Dixon watching her, directing her where to go and coming to support her when she needed it on a mission. This time, she is flying solo and is unsure that everything will go as planned.

She tells herself that she is not Sydney Bristow for the next four hours; she is Ms. Sophia Dubois, a wealthy foreign investor attending an extravagant business party thrown at the residence of the head of a corporate bank. She was told that a long corridor in the East Wing of the mansion would lead downstairs to where all “important meetings” were held and where all valuable assets were kept. She jumps right into character as she is greeted at the door.

* * * * * * *

“She’s good. Gets right into the role. Don’t you think?” Vaughn gives an unamused look. He is upset about the fact that she just showed up on his mission. He felt that he should have been given more warning that she was going to come. Did she not trust him to get the job done?

“ Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

“ It was a last minute decision made by my father. After I told him your reaction to the counter-mission . . . he thought it would help if I guided you on this one.” He just nods his head. She is taken back. It never occurred to her that he would be this mad that she showed up. She rarely shows up unannounced when he’s out on a mission, but the few times that she did, he seemed surprised, but glad. “ Do you not want me here?”

“ No . . . it’s not that. I just . . . don’t like being surprised . . .when I’m not ready . . .to be surprised,” after the awkward words leave his mouth, he realizes how stupid they were and lets out a laugh. He shouldn’t be mad at her. She is the best handler that he’s had, and he is truly happy that he’s so lucky. He smiles in an apologetic way and she returns it showing her acceptance of the apology. After a few seconds of silence, they both direct their attention back towards the monitors. The first thing he did on the mission was get access to a small control room before Sydney even landed from the plane.

“ If she ever quits the spy trade, she could be a really great actress,” Kristine jokes. They have been watching Sydney from the first moment she walked into the mansion. Vaughn didn’t even recognize her at first with the short blonde wig and the extremely tight business suit.

“ I guess she was made to be a field agent,” Vaughn agrees. They stop talking as they keep a close eye on Sydney as she mingles with the crowds so no one suspects her of trying to steal a valuable disk. They notice that she stops abruptly as she is greeted by another tall woman with long dark brown, almost black, hair.

“ Who’s that?” Vaughn asks.

“ I don’t know. I think she might know her though. They seem to be exchanging heated words.”

“ Do you think her cover is blown?”

“ No, it doesn’t seem like either one is drawing much attention to themselves.” They continue to watch as Sydney and the other woman separate and turn their heads back to give each other challenging glances. Sydney heads to the East Wing stopping only to grab another glass of wine. Her footsteps quicken as she rounds the corner and off the view of the monitor.

“ Okay, I think she’s going down to where the disk is. Are you ready?” Kristine looks Vaughn straight in the eye. Except instead of seeing his green eyes, she sees dark brown ones. She hands him his mask. As he puts it over his head, her hands automatically reach up to help him pull it down and secure it around his neck letting her fingers linger a little longer.

“ How do I look?” he asks light-heartedly. She gives the once over on his black ensemble and ends her gaze at his eyes.

“ I can’t even recognize you . . .” she says with a hint of sad regret. He gives her an affirmative head nod, smiles, and heads out quickly. She is left standing alone in the dark room and says quietly to herself, “ and I’d know you anywhere.”


* * * * * * *

He runs down the long corridor and down the winding staircase to the basement. As he passes the knocked out guards at the front entrance to the storage room, he thinks that she must be an excellent fighter to have those two men down in such a short time. He opens the door slowly and cautiously, takes a step inside, and scans the room for her. The room is very dark and surprisingly empty. The only light seems to be a dim glow in the opposite end of the room on a black desk. He eyes travel down the leg of bureau and could have sworn he saw something move. She was wearing a black suit so he couldn’t be sure. He moves his hand up to his ears and clicks the ear-piece on to hear Kristine’s calm voice.

“ Okay.” She says, “ I checked the surveillance on the connecting hallways and didn’t see her anywhere. So I’m pretty positive that she’s still in the room somewhere. I don’t know if she’s gotten the disk already. Maybe you should try to see if the disk is still there. It’s in one of the drawers.”

He doesn’t doubt that Sydney is still in the room somewhere hiding. Even if Kristine didn’t confirm it, he could feel her presence in some weird way. He walks to the bureau slowly and rummages through each of the drawers. There are a bunch of papers and pictures. Then he sees a wooden box with its lock already pried open. When he opens it, only indentations of where a disk used to be remain. As he steps away from bureau, his eyes catch a piece of a blonde wig at the lower corner under the desk.

Kristine watches his hesitation and stare at the desk and understands. “ Maybe you could pretend to walk away. It is a long room and your black attire will blend in. When she thinks you might be off, she’ll come out.”

He turns around slowly and starts to walk away. As he gets half way to the end of the room and goes into the shadow, he hears her moving from her crouched position under the desk.

“ Are you looking for this?” she holds up the disk in the dim light. He moves out of the shadow, but all she could see is his outline.

He could hear Kristine’s voice reminding him. “ Don’t answer Vaughn.”

Sydney squints hard to try and make out this stranger in black. She gives him a questioning look and guesses at his identity. “ I knew Anna wouldn’t come alone. You must be her partner.”

He remains silent.

“ Not a talker, eh?” Sydney smirks. She doesn’t know what comes over her when she’s on missions to make her say things she normally would not. She is much too confident for her own liking. She makes quick remarks as a defense. The worse thing for an agent in combat to do is let the enemy see her as weak.

He remains still.

“ Not a mover either I see.”

He thinks he must appear really inexperienced at the present moment, but all he can think about is how to get the disk from her without having to fight. With every new remark she has, it is more apparent that he doesn’t seem likely to succeed without it. He knows she is just trying to act tough. He learned to do the same when he started training as a field agent.

His outward appearance is cool, but inside, his brain is working overtime to come up with a plan. He grabs the gun from his side and points it straight at her. Maybe if he threatens for the disk . . .

“ Oh I see. Is that the way you think it’s going to work? That I’m just going to give the disk up? What you have is a toy. I am not threatened by toys.” Sydney mouth rattles on while in her mind, she tries to figure out exactly who is pointing the gun at her. He didn’t deny that he was Anna’s partner. But didn’t let on that he was either. He could be from an entirely different organization, she thinks.

Kristine sees that Vaughn may be in some trouble with this whole unable to talk standard and tries to help him. “Shoot the picture on the wall.”

His finger curls around the trigger, but hesitates.

“If you show her you mean business, maybe she’ll relent a little,” Kristine adds to get him to focus.

He brings his other hand up to give his shaky hand more stability and swallows hard. With one quick jerk to the right, he lets the gun shoot. With a bang, glass is shattered everywhere as the painting falls down to the ground. Sydney feels her stomach jump all the way to her throat but doesn’t let him see her flinch. A few seconds of silence pass as they both could only hear their hearts beating frantically.

“ You missed,” she says as she puts the disk in her pocket and gets ready for a full-on attack. She takes two big steps and kicks her legs up towards his head. Lucky for him, his reflexes are still intact and he quickly ducks. She charges on, throwing punches left and right and he moves quickly to avoid them. “Is this some new technique?” she thinks to herself. She is baffled as to why he only avoids and doesn’t fight back.

His eyes are glued to the disk that is sticking out. As he reaches to grab it from her leg pocket, she gives his arm a swift kick away. Then she spins quickly and kicks him in the stomach. The force was so great that he fell to the floor. Usually Sydney would have started running to get away, but in the back of her mind, she wants to find out the identity of this masked person.

As he tries get up from the ground, she runs over and pins him down with his back hard pressed against the floor. She is on top as her legs are straddling him on either side. She leans in and presses her weight down so he can’t move his legs.

Vaughn could hear Kristine’s frantic voice ringing in his ears, “ Vaughn!! She’s going for your mask! Vaughn!”

He can’t move his leg at all with her right on top, but realizes that his hands are free. Right as her fingers grab onto the bottom of the ski mask at his neck, his hand lands on top of hers and pries her hand away quickly. She doesn’t give up that easily and tries again. This time, she holds one of his hands down with one hand while the other hand goes for his mask again.

“ Vaughn!” Kristine says, “ Use the knife in your other leg pocket . . .Vaughn . . .you will be exposed . . .” He is still immobile as Sydney lifts the mask enough to expose his neck. “ DO IT!!!” Kristine screams.

Time seems to pass by excruciatingly slowly as he reaches with his free arm down. In one quick motion, the blade cuts across her right shoulder. It wasn’t a deep cut, but enough so that blood starts seeping through her shirt. She flinches back with surprise and lets go of his mask. Then as fast as he could, he threw his first punch during their whole fight. She was not ready for his attack and falls to the floor a little dazed. He gets up, grabs the disk, and runs towards the door in a flash.

After a few minutes, Sydney lies on the floor and tries to regain focus. She wasn’t ready for what had just happened in the last part of the fight. Her head is still reeling as she looks around the room. From the doorway, she sees someone walk in. As the person steps closer towards the dim light, she makes out his face. She asks in a shaky voice, “ Vaughn?”




A/N: I know....I know....Don't hate me....I can't believe I made Vaughn cut her either.... :blink: :confused:
 
That's a great chapter...
It's still a little bit weired that they changed more or less the rôles- but I get more and more used to it... :D
Please post more soon ( ok i know you've just posted ;) )
 
wow that was great!!!! i love the fight scene and just wait til syd finds out!! that is if she does!! omg you gotta post more soon!!
 
OMG, why did he cut her! Would she know that Vaughn was the other person or will she think that hes just there because Slone told him to watch her? Great chapter (not the part where he cut her)! Cant wait for more!
~ASH~
 
OH YES!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS A GREAT CHAPTER ANGEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! O0O0O NICE FIGHT NICE FIGHT! HE SLICED HER! YEAH!!!!! GO ACTION VAUGHN!!!!
 
Why did he have to cut her??!!!!!!that was a great chapter.Keep up the good work.I can't wait for the next chapter!!
 
hey when are yea gonna post more??!! i need more now!! i love this fic and am dieing to find out what happens!!
 
Aww does miss Kristine have a crush on our Vaughn?? LOL, cuz that;s what it seemed like, when she said she'd know him anywhere. Am I right?? Love... triangle? But there's a triangle and a square... what's that?? :blink:

OOO WHAT'S VAUGHN GONNA SAY??? Is he gonna say that Sloane sent him??? Or is he gonna say that the CIA Sent him, and explain the whole deal??? :gasp:

Anxiously waiting,
Elle (LOL, all of Allalias goes "HUH???")
 
Thank you guys. I don't really write action very well...so your nice comments really meant a lot.



Chapter 8



“ Vaughn?” Sydney couldn’t believe her eyes. Why on earth would he be here while she’s on a mission? Did she get hit so hard that she is seeing things? She gives her head a little shake to snap herself out of it, but it doesn’t help.

He sees her confusion and his steps quicken to help her up.

“ What . . .what are you . . .” Sydney stutters.

“ Um, I was sent here by Sloane.” That’s half the truth at least. He puts one arm under her elbow and the other on her lower back to give her support. Once she is up from the floor, she quickly shrugs him off. She has been independent most of her life and thinks she doesn’t need others to help her with anything.

“ Why would he do that?” she asks clearly frustrated. It isn’t anger that takes over, but simple bewilderment. “When he sent me here to retrieve the disk . . .Why would he send you too? . . .Why have two agents come . . .not telling them . . .” her voice drifts away as she realizes the answer to her own questions. In a disappointed tone, she says, “ He didn’t think I could do it by myself . . .” She searches his face for confirmation. He just stands there with a sympathetic look. She tries to swallow down a hard lump that has formed in her throat.

“ I think we got to get out of here soon. When I came down, security was starting to get suspicious.” He says heading towards the door. Her body moves along as he guides her out, but her mind isn’t aware. All she can think about was how she had failed. She failed, and Sloane knew she would.

* * * * * * *

They rush out of the mansion to the extraction point where a plane was waiting for them. Neither one had time to think about everything that had happened in the last hour while they ran. They are the only two people in the back of the plane. They sit facing each other, but neither dare to look at the another. They sit with their heads down reflecting on their own thoughts. Vaughn finally looks up and his eyes go directly toward her shoulder. It is hard to tell that she is bleeding because her jacket is such a dark color. The blood just blends into the fabric that clings tightly to her body. An overwhelming flood of guilt passes through his system.

“ Your shoulder . . .um . . .it . . .” his soft voice breaks her out of her trance. She had been too busy recounting the night’s events over and over in her head that she was momentarily unaware of his presence. She almost forgot about her wound too. When she looks down, the blood is so well blended that for a second, she thinks that it had disappeared. Her left hand moves up to cover the gash just to see if it was still there. When she feels the dampness of the shirt, she gives herself a little chuckle.

“ I wasn’t expecting that one.” her eyebrows raise and she gives him an embarrassed smile. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her when she finally looks at him.

His head turns away like a reflex. “ Bastard . . .” he curses at himself. He didn’t realize that he had said it out-loud and immediately hopes that she didn’t hear. She is really surprised by his reaction. For some reason she feels the need to ease his quiet outburst.

“ It’s not that bad. He didn’t cut me that deep . . .I was just caught off guard,” when she sees that he isn’t responding, she adds in a light tone, “ I’ve handled worse. This is nothing.” The more she tries to make light of the situation, the more he just wants someone to hit him. Hard.

“ Um . . .maybe you should . . .I’ll get the first aid box” He gets up and walks to the wall where the box is hidden. When he returns, he sets the box down in front of her and moves his seat closer than before.

“ Thanks. Yeah . . .” She tries to remove the jacket slowly, but it is not easily taken off. With the soaking of blood, it clung to her skin even tighter. His hand instinctively goes to help her ease out of her jacket. Once the jacket is removed, her bare shoulder is fully exposed and the degree of her wound suddenly becomes more aware to both of them. He feels sick that he was responsible. She notices his discomfort and wishes she could cover herself.

“ Are you okay? You don’t have to help. I can do this by myself,” she says reassuringly.

“ No . . .I . . .” he never thought this would affect him so much. Whenever he fought on missions before, he would always try to leave weapons out. He tried to knock people out and then move on. When he did wound others, he never returned to see how badly he hurt had them. He realize that this is the first time that he has hurt someone and is actually witnessing what he has done. He swallows hard.

“ I didn’t take you to be the squeamish type,” she teases him.

“ I’m fine. I want to help.” He says reaching for the box. The first thing he does is clean off all the blood. He moves cautiously and gently, careful not to break her. His touch makes contact with her skin as his hand grazes her bare shoulder and she stiffens. Seeing her tense up and jerk slightly, he quickly takes back his hand. He feels how cold his hands are, and turns away from her immediately. While his back is to her, he blows on his hands and rubs them feverishly together. She watches on with a confused expression.

“ What are you doing?”

“Uh . . .warming my hands so they don’t make you cold,”

She couldn’t help but let out a giggle of amusement. “ You don’t have to do that.”

“ It’s already done.” He turns around to show her his hands. He then moves in close and the second time he touches her, she doesn’t tense up at all. When he presses down to hold the blood flow, she sucks in her breath quickly. Whenever she winces in pain, he feels his stomach jump up with her. He attributes the feeling to his sense of guilt. With one hand pressing down on the cut, the other moves down her slender arms. He lifts her arm up and down gently as he wraps the bandage around and around.

Sydney sits there and lets him move her anyway he needs to help her get cleaned up. Whenever his head moves in close enough, she tries to make out his scent. She suddenly realizes that she has stopped thinking about how the mission went. At that realization, her thoughts immediately return to her failure and the masked stranger.

“ I guess he was right to send you.” Vaughn’s ears perk up as she breaks the silence and he lets out a held breath. He was so intent and focused on bandaging her without causing too much pain that he had been holding his breath without knowing it.

“ But the disk is still lost,” she continues. He listens to her talk and looks at her profile through the corner of his eyes while still working on wrapping.

“ It was all my fault. He was down, but I had to find out who he was.” At the mention of the other man, his whole body freezes.

“ It’s weird. He could be KGB, or another organization for that matter. He didn’t deny he was Anna’s partner, but never said he was. In fact, he didn’t even say anything. It’s strange. Another thing, except for this . . .” she tilts her head to indicate her cut, “ he was acting like he didn’t want to fight.” Her mind tries to recall what the man looked like, but the room was so dark and he was completely covered that he remains a mystery. Once she gives up trying to remember the guy, she notices that Vaughn has stopped moving.

“ Are you done?”

“ Uh . . .yeah . . .” he says as he moves away to examine her.

“ Thanks.” She gives him a smile and he tries to return it, but it comes out forced.

“ I guess Sloane was right,” she says sadly. “ I always thought I could do it by myself,” He wanted to tell her that she could, and if he hadn’t been assigned to make her fail, she would have succeeded the mission. It would so much easier if he could just tell her everything; but he can’t.

“ I guess I do need a partner,” she stops and changes her words.“ I mean . . .I think I am ready to have a new partner.” She nods to herself because she is satisfied with her decision. He, on the other hand, after the occurrences of the mission, doesn’t know if he is ready for what this new job entails. Little did he know that someone else would have the same uncertain feelings.


* * * * * * * *

Kristine watches through the monitor at all that transpires on her plane ride back to LA. Vaughn had forgotten to turn off the camera on his shirt once they boarded the plane. She is both glad and disappointed at seeing the interaction on the plane. Her head is telling her, “ This is good. Mission is completed. Vaughn and Sydney will be partners. This is just what the CIA needs.” Another part is worried for Vaughn.

“ I think you need to have a little talk with him,” Weiss’ voice startles her. She quickly turns around unaware that she wasn’t the only one watching the monitor.

“ I know what you’re going to say,” she holds up her hand. “ But let’s just see where this goes first…”
 
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