A/N:
The new chapter's finally here! Please enjoy and review.
The First Step: Acceptance
Sydney POV
Demanding the keys to his car, I frantically grab at them as Weiss holds them out, practically breaking his fingers in the process. As another agent approaches him with a stack of paperwork in hand and a look saying,
‘You’d better plan for a late night here because you’re not leaving until you look these over,’ Weiss mutters, “Sure, whatever. Take. Drive. It’s not like I’m going anywhere for a while.”
I thrust his cell phone into his hand and start to take off in the direction of the parking garage. Before I make it two steps, though, Weiss calls out to me, and I turn to see him struggling to balance the files handed to him and shrug off the impatient agent who is trying to drag him in the direction some computers. He successfully breaks free and shoots a warning glance to his would-be captor and ushers me to the area just outside the once beloved flirting corner.
“That guy,” he nods towards the now-departing agent who is looking bent on finding anyone else on whom he can dump more work, “must have been drinking too much of this office’s coffee. I mean, the stuff isn’t
too bad – at first. But the buildup of whatever that extra taste is has got to have
some effect. I guess we’ve seen the result.”
“Weiss—”
“Yeah, I know you’ve got to turn the world upside down for Vaughn again. But wait, weren’t you dreading telling him about his… about Lauren not even two minutes ago? What’s got you in a rush all of a sudden? You’ve come up with a plan already?”
“Not exactly… Not at all, actually. I just… I
need to see him,” I answer determinedly.
Weiss nods, seeming to understand, but I don’t think there is any way for him to realize how much more there is behind my answer. It’s more than just a need to see Vaughn – it’s a requirement. I will never be able to figure out how to tell him that his entire relationship with Lauren has been a deception from the beginning without seeing him, feeling his presence. He was once the only person in whom I could confide; it was so easy to talk to him about anything, whether it was work, or issues with my parents, or planning a weekend vacation… We are finally climbing our way to that level of comfort that was recently a daunting height above us, seemingly unreachable with the numerous, merciless rockslides that had us tumbling down to the beginning over and over again. I can only hope that our grip on the peak is firm this time, that the talk we will have will not destroy the sanctuary we are restoring.
“Syd,” Weiss says, not noticing that my thoughts had wandered, “Good luck.” The concern in his eyes is genuine, for both me and Vaughn. “Call me if you need anything…well, anything that doesn’t require me leaving here for a while. With Coffee-Brain on the loose, I could be here until next
week, even if you weren’t taking my car.”
“Thanks, Weiss.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Vaughn POV
‘We need to talk… ’ Her voice reverberates in my mind, but it’s not the words that worry me – it’s her tone. That unmistakable seriousness, that control of her voice to mask the tremble that had wanted to show itself in full light, that had wanted to betray a waver in her ever-present confidence… that she felt she needed to hide it from me…
that is what refuses to leave my mind and what is making me loathe these minutes of nothing but waiting for her in confusion and worry.
I glance at my watch for the third time in as many minutes, wondering why the damn second hand is not moving any faster…
‘Second hand… moving… my watch… that was once my father’s watch…
"Your father's watch?"
"Mmhm…"
"It's working again?"
"Yeah… There was a misunderstanding...well, more of a non-understanding, and it was fixed."
"We can break it again, if you want.”
"Nah. Let it live its life again. It'll stop when it knows that it's time…”’
It’s time. It’s past time. It was past time even before it was made to start again.
With that thought, I get a screwdriver – still the greatest invention ever – from my toolbox in the garage and open the back of my watch. I dig out the battery and toss it in the trash, but before I can close the watch, something catches my eye. It’s small and stuck to on of the wires and it looks like… No, it can’t be… But it is. It’s a transmitting device – a bug. I pry it off with the screwdriver, not wanting to touch it in case a fingerprint can be lifted from it, and place it in a plastic bag.
When I’m through, I close the watch and look at it in my hand. It doesn’t take long for me to figure out how it got there; there was only one person who would’ve had the opportunity to plant it. I grip the watch in my hand so hard that it leaves a deep imprint.
‘That b****…’
The reason that some things of hers are missing from the house and why she is nowhere to be found is making too much sense now. The anger within me has just about reached its boiling point, but before it can bubble over past the point of no return, Sydney walks in without knocking, and I know without a doubt what she has to say to me.
“Vaughn, I think we should sit down.” The look in her eyes is compassionate and determined – an unfortunate combination for the person on the receiving end if one had no idea what the news was.
“We don’t need to sit down. I—“ I stop, remembering the bug I found in my watch. I motion for her not to speak then lead her out into the backyard.
I hurry to allay her confusion once I shut the door. “Syd, I already know.” The lines on my face must be an inch deep.
“You – you know?” Her expression changes to bewilderment.
I close my eyes and breathe deeply to try to calm myself, but it hardly helps. “Lauren’s a traitor, isn’t she.”
“Yes.” She pauses to gauge how I’m handling this. “How did you know?”
I point to the room we just left, and she turns her gaze toward it. “She planted a bug in my watch. There are probably more. We’ll have to have my things swept before I move.”
Sydney looks back at me, but I keep my attention focused on the inside of the house. “And some clothes and things of hers are missing, and she’s disappeared…”
“Yeah, you said that on the phone—“
I continue, almost growling to myself. “She’s gone. She betrayed me, and she’s escaped.”
“Vaughn,” she says, grabbing my arm and shaking me a little. She breaks through to me, and I look at her, seeing the worry etched on her face. “We’ll find her,” she tries to reassure me.
‘Damn right, I will.’ Instead of answering her, I ask, “How much information do we have on her now?”
“I’m not sure. Investigations have just been started. We—“
“Let’s go then. I need to catch up, and we need to have that bug analyzed.”
She just looks at me for a second then agrees to go. She insists on driving, feeling that with my current state of mind, it would be safer. But before we leave, we sandwich the bug with a couple of pillows stuffed into a small cooler so we can take it to Marshall.
The first few minutes of the ride to the office are silent, but it’s like there’s a storm brewing in my mind, and it’s only a matter of time before lightning strikes.
TBC
