Tourniquet

OO interesting!!!
-I really want to know what their big secret is!!!!!
Can't wait to find out more!! Thanks for the pm!!
 
Now I'm more curious than ever at what Sydney and Vaughn were doing before Sydney wiped out her memory. Also, Michael is really going to have to keep an eye on Sydney if the Covenant is looking for her. I will admit I was getting worried that something was going to happen to her while she went to the store.

Thanks for the PM.

Chris
 
Okay, new chapter. It's fairly long. I promise the actualy storyline starts coming in soon, but first I have to set it all up or it won't make much sense. And the fic isn't always this happy. It's gets more angsty soon, but it also gets very interesting. There's one more chapter until you start to figure out what Sydney and Vaughn did during Syd's missing two years. Anyway, enjoy this chapter :D :D :D :D !!!

Chapter 3


~Vaughn~

“Vaughn, get up,” I felt someone’s warm breathe whispering into my ear.

Slowly and regretfully I opened my eyes. “What? Why?” I asked, completely disoriented.

“You’ve got work and I have a very important debriefing to get to.”

I took the pillow and put it over my head. “Too early!”

I heard Sydney’s muffle laugh come from above me. She placed her hand on my shoulder and rested her chin there. “Come on,” she urged.

I grunted.

“Vaughn…”

I didn’t attempt to move.

“Please, for me,” she said in that tiny, little, irresistible voice. I rolled onto my back so her smiling face was resting on my chest.

“That’s unfair,” I whined.

“Ha-ha, I have the power,” she said, dramatically.

I laughed while trying to stifle a yawn.

“Tired?” she asked.

“Only slightly,” I said, sarcastically.

She shook her head and smiled that dimpled smile that I loved and missed so much.

“Come on, up!” she said pulling me to my feet. I sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing my tired eyes. I slowly lifted my head to look at Sydney standing in front of me. I laughed.

“Eager?” I teased when I saw her completely dressed in a black skirt slightly above the knee, sleeveless black shirt, and knee high boots. Her hair slick and shinny was pulled behind her ears in a clip.

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s been two years.”

She had a point. I got up quickly knowing Sydney was in a hurry. I dressed and showered fast and together we were out the door in record time. I noticed Sydney twisting her hands in her lap the entire drive there. I reached over for it.

“Everything will be fine,” I said with a reassuring smile.

“I know, but it’s going to be so different. There’s going to be all these people I don’t know, and everyone’s going to be asking me questions; questions which I can’t even give a proper answer to because I don’t know the answer myself,” she rambled on in a panicked way.

“Syd,” I interrupted her,” everything is going to be fine!”

She nodded her head, trying to accept that. I could tell she was desperately trying to convince herself. There were a few rare occasions where I could actually remember Sydney panicking about something and this was one of them. We sat in a traffic jam for about fifteen minutes, while I was actually becoming worried about Sydney. She looked so pale and nervous; something I was not used to from the Sydney Bristow I knew. I stayed quite, through. This was something that she had to face herself and I knew that no amount of reassuring would help her.

“Come on,” I said, once I had the car parked.

She didn’t say a word, just nodded her head slowly and got out of the car. When I stepped out, I looked at her over the top of the roof of the car. She stood with her hand still perched on the door handle with a blank expression upon her face.

“Syd?” I said, rushing over to her. Her face was expressionless and her eyes glazed over.

“Juliet?” she whispered so quietly that I wasn’t even sure if I was just hearing things or she actually said that word that made my whole world come to a complete stop.

“What? Sydney, what did you say?” I asked placing my hands firmly on her shoulders. Instantly her eyes snapped back into focus.

“Vaughn, what are we doing? We’re going to be late!” she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the double doors of the CIA.

In that moment I honestly believed that I must have been going crazy. There was no other explanation for what just happened. My mind must have been playing a joke on me, a cruel one. I was able to convince myself that it was simply a trick of the mind as Sydney lead me blindly through the halls and over to the elevator.

“Vaughn, are you alright?” she asked, regarding my mystified expression.

“What, oh yah, I’m fine,” I said with a wave of a hand. Fact was, I knew I wasn’t fine. I wasn’t imagining things. She had really said it, and I knew it. I just didn’t want to acknowledge it.

~*~*~*~*

~Sydney~

Vaughn looked more nervous than I felt. What had happened from point A to point B that made him like this? He had his eyes trained upward looking at the light on the elevator indicating the changing floors. He knew I was watching him intently, but he was obviously trying to ignore me. Something was on his mind that he was choosing not to tell me, which hurt. Before we could reach our destination, I placed my hand on his arm gently.

“Vaughn?”

He turned his head slowly to look at me.

“I’m fine,” he said, shortly.

“Vaughn, what’s wrong?!”

“Nothing. There’s nothing wrong!”

“There’s definitely something wrong,” I said, taking a step away from him.

“Sydney, I’m fine.”

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Whatever, I wasn’t going to play this game. If there was something he didn’t want to tell me, then so be it. Didn’t mean I had to be happy with him though.

“Fine, if you can’t tell me something, that’s your business. I’ll see you later,” I said, curtly, stalking out of the elevator and leaving him standing there. I didn’t want to do this by myself, but right now I didn’t see much of an option. Quickly, I went through the familiar routine of security measures before I could actually enter the CIA. I was quickly cleared. As I walked into the rotunda almost immediately Marshall was at my feet.

“Syd!” he said, practically throwing himself into my arms.

“Marshall, hi,” I said.

He pulled back with excited grin. “It’s so good to see you, Syd. How are you? I heard you don’t remember anything about the last two years. Is that true? Your dad told everyone you were alive, but everyone just thought he was crazy. He was right, though. Mr. Bristow’s always right. I went to your funeral, you know. It was very sad. I cried myself, but I’m fine now that you’re back,” he told me running out of breath

I smiled, trying to take in the mouthful of words he just threw at me “It’s good to be back,” I said. “We’ll catch up later, Marshall. There are a couple important things I need to do first,” I told him.

“Oh yah, of course! Silly me,” he said, smacking his head. “I’ll be here whenever you want to catch up.”

I smiled and left Marshall. I saw Weiss standing off to the side with a bunch of people I didn’t recognize. I approached them

“Hi,” I said coming up behind him.

“Syd, hey!” he said, pulling me into a tight hug. He pulled back.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Good. Well, relatively speaking.”

He nodded in understanding.

I looked curiously at the people standing in front of us. Weiss noticed.

“Oh, I guess you haven’t been introduced. These are some of the new recruits. Well, relatively new.” He listed off their names as I mentally tried storing them. I glanced down at my watch.

“Well, I should be going. I’ve got a debriefing in about five minutes,” I said with a small wave as I walked off.

I walked slowly across the rotunda, noticing all the people I didn’t know. I got a couple curious stares. I was sure most people knew who I was. I ignored them all and walked a little quicker.

I strolled into the room and was surprised to see some people already seated. I wasn’t expecting a large crowd to be present. I saw Vaughn out of the corner of my eye standing by himself. I made no move to go and talk to him, though. He could come over here if he really wanted to. I saw him moving slowly towards me. I turned so my back was to him.

“Syd?” he whispered into my ear. I didn’t respond.

“Sydney…”

“What?’ I said, turning around so that his face was right in front of mine. At that exact moment Dixon walked into the room. People began moving to their seats and the sound of shuffling paper could be heard.

Quickly I walked over to my designated seat. Vaughn followed and sat next to me. We were both quiet. Our conversation wasn’t done. He knew that, and I knew that.

Dixon stood in front of the many eyes watching him.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sure most of you have noticed we have a familiar face among us today,” Dixon said.

I smiled.

“I like to take the pleasure in welcoming you back personally, Sydney.”

I nodded in response.

“Now, as most of you are already aware, Agent Bristow has been thought to be dead for the past two years when a there was a fire at her house, but evidently that’s not the case since she sitting among us today. I understand that you don’t remember anything of your past two years, Agent Bristow?” he asked, formally.

“That’s a correct assumption,” I responded.

“Could you give a brief summary of what you do remember?”

I paused, trying to gather my thoughts. “I remember the fire briefly. I was fighting Alison Doren, who was a double of my best friend Francie Calfo. I was unaware of this for several months. My other friend, Will Tippin, who is now in witness protection, discovered the truth about her and warned me through a message on my cell phone. I tested Will’s theory by using personal information only the real Francie Calfo would know. The double forgot the small detail that Francie hated coffee ice cream. This was a clear indication to me that I hadn’t been living with my friend for months now. I attempted to take her by surprise, but she was a step ahead of me. I went to retrieve my gun, but she realized that I had discovered the truth about her; therefore I wasn’t able to use the element of surprise. I shot at her, but missed. That’s where the fight began. It went all throughout the house, and was one of the most intense fights I have ever been involved in. We were both trying to reach the gun. Near the end of the fight she was able to push me into a mirror. At that point I barely had any energy left in me. She knew this and reached for the gun that was now at my side. Although I may have been practically lifeless, I wasn’t about to lose this fight. I slashed her across the hand with a piece of shattered glass from the broken mirror. I shocked her and she stepped back. I was able to reach the gun and fired three bullets into her chest, killing her. After that, I passed out and I don’t remember anything else.

Dixon nodded. A man I didn’t recognize spoke.

“You don’t remember being held captive by the Covenant?”

“The Covenant?” I asked, having no idea what he was talking about.

“They’re a fairly new group dealing in organized crime, their main focus being Rambaldi. They’ve been known to possibly be more of a threat then the Alliance ever was,” Vaughn said, turning to look at me

I nodded in understanding. “No, I do not remember being held captive by the Covenant.”

“So I would be correct in assuming that you remember nothing of your last two years?” the man asked.

“Yes, you would be,” I said, impatiently. What was it that they didn’t get?

Dixon scratched his chin. “It appears there’s not much information we can really get from you at this point,” he said.

“No, I’m sorry. There’s really not.”

“All right then,” Dixon said, standing. “You’ll have to go through a physc eval before we can officially welcome you back to the CIA. Besides that small fact, though, I like to take the honour of welcoming you back,” he said with a soft smile.

“Thank you,” I said. Everyone stood to leave. Some looking quite upset that I didn’t have more to offer in their investigation. What could I do, though? I remembered nothing. It felt like just yesterday I was planning my vacation to Santa Barbara with Vaughn.

I stood. Vaughn followed suit.

“We need to talk,’ I said.

“I know,” he said with his head down.

~Vaughn~

I had enough time now to come up with a convincing lie to tell Sydney for my strange behavior before. I hated lying to her, but I saw no other option available. She couldn’t no the truth and I hated having her mad at me. I lead her over to the corner of the room that had been deemed the “flirting corner” by Weiss. I saw Sydney smile slightly.

“What?” I asked in amusement.

“Nothing,” she said trying to hide her large, dimpled smile. I could see that was trying to stay mad at me.

“Syd? What?” I said.

She sighed. “It’s the flirting corner,” she said, with a laugh.

I laughed at her. Suddenly she went very serious.

“I’m still mad,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

I nodded my head. “I know. I had no reason to treat you like that before.”

“You’re right. You didn’t,” she said, defensively.

“I know, I know,” I sighed trying to formulate my lie in my head. I had to be careful. Sydney could see a lie a mile away. “It’s just that…well, it’s been two years since I’ve actually been able to come to the CIA with you. Standing in that elevator all the emotions of losing you just kind of came back to me,” I lied, trying to sound sincerely sad. It wasn’t that I didn’t miss Sydney during those two years. I knew she was alive, and it wasn’t actually what upset me in the elevator.

“I didn’t want to tell you. You were already nervous enough about coming back. I didn’t want to have to remind you of your missing two years,” I told her, praying she wouldn’t see the lie. I looked up at her. I knew she believed me. Her eyes had the soft glow that she got when she sympathized with someone.

“Vaughn, I’m sorry. Sorry, that you had to go through my death. I wish I was able to tell you what happened while I was gone. Unfortunately, though, I can’t,” she said, touching my arm gently.

“It’s alright. I just wanted to let you know that I wasn’t upset with you.” I paused. “So we’re okay?”

“We’re perfect,” she said, hugging me. We stood like that for a moment. She rested her head on my shoulder.

“We’ll figure out what happened during those two years. I know we will,” she whispered quietly into my ear.

If only she really knew, she might have been singing a different tune.
 
OO I love this story!!!! :woot:
-Who is Juliet!! My first thought was daughter maybe!????
I can't wait to find out!! Thanks for the pm!!
 
This has such a fantastic plot. Can't wait to know what really happened!
Vaughn did a good job lying to Sydney. :P
 
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