When Love is not Enough

omg Jack is so evil! he has to tell syd or she will be so upset. :(
although he also has to be a loyal CIA officer... (n)
this is such a good story!!! thanks for the PM!
~Heather
 
When Love is not Enough- parts 4 and 5

Rating: PG13
Pairing: S/V- well kinda
Note: This fic is mid "Frame" AU
Thanks: Thanks to "B" for putting up with my constant need for the computer. To yumytaffy for your AMAZING work on every part that i send you and for your comments. Im eternally grateful to you To Doona, for always finding something lovely to say about this fic. And for taking time out of your busy schedule to read your adoring fan's fic LOL. To Kat for getting me onto this -a dubious blessing And Thank you to everyone who has read and/or reviewed.

Here we go





Syd POV




I took the long way back to the office, thinking about what Vaughn had said. The look on his face as he had walked away was almost like sheer determination. Like there was some huge obstacle standing between him and me. But there wasn’t anymore. Lauren was just about out of the picture.

I knew that in California it took six months of separation before you could divorce someone, but I had waited a while already; another six months wouldn’t matter, especially because at the end of it, Vaughn and I would be together.

That was all I could think about. I had missed him so much, and now, things were going back to the way they were meant to be. He was my soul mate. I had never loved anyone the way that I loved him. Maybe I’ll tell him that, I thought.

But we’d have to talk first.

I went looking for Vaughn, hoping to take him up on his promise that we would talk. I approached his desk, thinking that maybe he was around, but his desk was empty and he was nowhere around. I saw Eric heading my way. I smiled and started towards him, figuring that he would know where Vaughn was.

His greeting was definitely not what I was expecting.

“Syd, um, hey, Vaughn’s not around, and I’m not really sure where he is, come to think of it. I think he’s gone home.”

“Home?” I queried. “I thought he was sleeping on your sofa.”

“Oh, yes, that’s what I meant,” Eric stuttered.

“Would it be okay if I dropped by?” I asked.

“Oh, um, he was feeling sick. Really sick. So maybe not. Maybe you should wait until tomorrow. You know, things are always different the next day.” He laughed nervously. “Well I got to go…work. See you.”

With a small wave, Eric headed back to his desk before I could query what he’d said,
so I decided that I’d leave talking to Vaughn until tomorrow. One more day won’t hurt; a couple of hours won’t make any difference, I thought to myself.

I didn’t know how wrong I was.





Vaughn POV




As I came in the door, I saw Lauren sitting on the sofa. She looked up as I came into the living room. She looked about as surprised as I was that I was actually here.

“Hey,” I said.

“Michael,” she said, standing up.

Coming forward, she hesitated and then hugged me. I tensed for a moment but then relaxed. She was my wife, not some woman who had betrayed me with some man I despised. But that had been my life a couple of hours before. Now she was a traitor and everyone knew except, of course, the one person I wanted to tell.

Sydney.

As her name came into my head, I pulled away from Lauren. I can’t do this, I thought to myself; I could just turn around and walk out. Someone else could do this. I could go find Sydney and…

But “could” was not a luxury I had. Instead, I had to pretend that I wanted Lauren back.

“We need to talk.” The cliché sounded forced, but Lauren seemed not to notice and even looked genuinely pleased.

She moved towards the sofa, pulling me along. We sat, and she looked expectantly at me.
I looked around, hoping that something would present a solution to this, a phone call or maybe a meteor crashing into my front room. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear that this was going to happen.

“Umm, I’d like to make this work,” I started.

Lauren nodded. “What exactly?” she asked.

“Us, our marriage,” I said.

“I only want to do this if it’s what you want. I mean, what you really want,” she stated.

“I want,” I paused. You behind bars, I thought. I started again, “I want you, and I want our marriage to last.”

My stomach twisted as I lied. I couldn’t do this if I felt physically sick every time I spoke to her. Jack and Dixon better come up with a Plan B. Fast.

Suddenly, my cell phone rang. “Hold that thought,” I said to Lauren, “I’ll be back, I promise.”

Lauren smiled at me as I walked to the hall to take the call. I looked down at my caller ID. It flashed: Syd Cell.

Taking a breath, I answered it.

“Hello?”
 
Great chapter!! Poor Syd for being left out of the loop. And poor Vaughn for being forced to stay with Lauren. :(
Thanks for the PM! I cant wait for more!
 
When Love is not Enough- parts 6 and 7

Rating: PG13
Pairing: S/V- well kinda
Note: This fic is mid "Frame" AU
Thanks: Thanks to "B" for trying to be my walking thesaurus! Thanks to Kat for convincing me to this. Thanks to Doona for taking time out to read this. Thank you to yumytaffy- you're so great!!! My fic and i thank you. Thank you to everyone who has read or reviewed.

Here we go.




Vaughn POV


“Hello?”

With that one word, I knew she would know something was wrong. I sounded strained as though I was doing something I didn’t want to.

“I just wanted to see how you were,” Sydney said. “Eric said you weren’t feeling well.”

“Not feeling well?” I quickly tried to cover the question. “Um, yeah, I think I had a cold coming on. I actually have to go, you know?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. I hope you feel better tomorrow.”

“Yeah, so do I.” I doubt it, I added to myself.

“Well, bye.”

“Yeah, bye.”

I cut the call as quickly as I could, but as I turned around, I saw Lauren retreating back to her place on the sofa.

“Sorry ‘bout that. You know, work.”

Lauren nodded and moved over on the sofa so I could sit next to her. Next to her was the last place I wanted to be, but duty called, so I sat down.

“I was saying how I want to make us work.” I smiled convincingly. “If you want us to go and see someone, then we will. You are the woman I married. I want us to work.”

Lauren seemed rather impressed with my speech or maybe she was just impressed with what she thought were her excellent skills at fooling me. I gritted my teeth as she leaned into kiss me. There had so better be a Plan B by tomorrow, I thought to myself.


Next Morning

God, briefing was going to hell this morning. Lauren was treating me as though I was some kind of Lauren magnet. I had forgotten what “time alone” was.

I had told Lauren that I was meeting Eric; I think I had used “guy things” as my excuse. She had believed me readily enough, but the lines were starting to blur between who was actually fooling who.

I wasn’t sure if she was so accepting of my leaving the house so that she could go meet Sark, not that I really wanted to think about that particularly repulsive detail of her betrayal.

Eric was waiting for me to arrive.

“You’re late. Tardiness is a sin, Michael Vaughn.”

“Shut up.”

“Shut up yourself. You told me 7:00 sharp, and here I am, arriving at 7:00 sharp, and the master of ceremonies is late. I’m missing the morning cartoons for you. Be grateful.”

“Oh. Eric, I am grateful. Do I have a sign on me, which says, ‘Lauren, please stay attached to me for hours at a time’? I mean, honestly?’

Eric looked me up and down as though checking me out, much to the amusement of some early morning joggers.

“Nah, you’re sign free. So how is Operation: Lauren going? I mean I’m gathering that this is the main reason for our clandestine little meeting. That or you have a crush on me, which will be really hard to break to Syd…”

Eric cut himself off as he said Sydney’s name. My look must have spoken volumes because he looked rather guilty.

“Sorry, man. I was just joking. I didn’t mean to bring Sydney up. I know this whole thing is s**t for you right now. I probably wasn’t helping though that doesn’t mean you get to stop being grateful that I’m missing cartoons for you,” he added with a smile.

We stood in silence for a moment.

“She called last night.”

Those four words were enough for Eric’s attention to come crashing back to me. He looked at me questioningly.

“This is a bad thing, why?”

“Because I was with Lauren at the time,” I said.

“Oh.”

“‘Oh’ indeed. Don’t worry; neither of them knew about the other one. Not that I should have to lie to Syd. I mean, she could be an asset on this, right? If she knew, then maybe this could be over quicker—”

Eric interrupted, “Do you want Syd to know because she would be an asset to stopping Lauren or, because if Syd knew, then you wouldn’t be held personally responsible for breaking her heart—again—by Jack Bristow?”

“I want her to know because I can’t lie to her. I mean, it hurts, Eric. Every time I do, it’s like I have constant appendicitis. I will have a mental breakdown if I don’t tell her.”

“Okay, I was just letting you get deep there because I feel sorry for you. I mean, soon you’ll have both Bristows hating you. Maybe you should talk to Dixon; he’ll be more open about telling Syd than Jack would be. Anyway we gotta go. The briefing is going to start in ten minutes.”

Eric moved towards his car. Climbing in the front seat, he waited a moment.

“Don’t break her heart again, Mike. She’ll kill you for it.”

I looked at him. “Briefing starts in seven minutes,” I said.

Eric just shook his head at me as he closed the door and started his car.

I did the same. Work will be so fun this morning, I thought.


-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


I made my way into the briefing room with Marshall nattering on behind me. I wasn’t really listening. This fact was proven when Marshall asked me a question.

“Ah, yes, I agree,” I vaguely answered.

Marshall gave me a look. Obviously, “I agree” was not the sort of answer he was looking for. I didn’t get a chance to make amends with Marshall, though, because the briefing started.

I took my place next to Lauren as Sydney came and sat down; she smiled cautiously at me as though she was unsure if smiling was the right thing for her to be doing in association with me. Lauren’s eyes flicked between us. Sydney didn’t say anything, but her jaw tightened. Looks like she’d picked up a thing or to from Jack, I thought, smiling slightly.

Sydney, saw me smiling and gave me a look, seemingly asking, care to share? I looked down but winced slightly as I did. Eric had seen mine and Sydney’s silent conversation and decided that I needed a kick in the shin to stop it.

Sydney looked down, too, almost disappointed. I wanted to say something, but a stern look from Jack stopped me. It looked like everyone had been observing us, so I tried to focus on the briefing. Duty called.




Syd POV


I made my way to the briefing room, trying to spot Vaughn on the way. I saw him up front with Marshall chattering away behind him. I tried to catch up to him but suddenly felt someone lightly grab my sleeve. I turned around, but the culprit had moved on, and so had Vaughn. Also, my father was somehow in front of me, moving quickly towards the briefing room as though he had to beat someone there.

As I sat down in the briefing room, I smiled at cautiously at Vaughn. I felt unsure smiling at him especially with Lauren sitting like some vulture next to him.

Also, Vaughn had sounded odd on the phone last night as though talking to me was the last thing he wanted, but he had said he wanted us to talk. When he said that he had to go, I actually didn’t know whether it was a man thing or maybe just a Vaughn thing.

I shook off the feeling that was hanging around me. Vaughn and I were going to work this out, but I had a nagging feeling, a belief that maybe we wouldn’t and that things, as my life seemed to go, would be screwed up by this time tomorrow.

I’ve just been spending to much time with my dad, I thought, smiling. I also caught Vaughn smiling at the same moment. We both seemed to be finding something amusing about this briefing, or maybe it was something else. I gave Vaughn a questioning look, but he looked down, a pained expression crossing his face as he did. Why is it so painful to look at me? I silently asked him, sighing.

My thoughts went back to my dad. He must be rubbing off on me, I thought. Mind you, my dad had always been cynical about Vaughn. He never really approved of him though what father approved of the man who his daughter was seeing?

Not that I had ever really trusted my dad. I mean, after growing up thinking that your dad sold airplane parts and then finding out that he was not just a spy but also a double agent, you were bound to have trust issues. Mind you, us Bristows always had trust issues; must be in our genes.

But I had always liked to think that my father was wrong, that his analysis of a person was off, that maybe my mother had changed, and that, no, Vaughn would not one day turn out to break my heart. Unfortunately, he’d been right on both accounts. He wouldn’t take it well that Vaughn and I were working this out. He’d always warned me not to become the other woman, not to get tangled up with Vaughn. That was probably because my father was the world expert on not letting go of the love of your life. Maybe this was something that was also in my genes, because I had certainly not let go of Vaughn, but now I didn’t have to. Lauren would be the one to. I felt a small tinge, maybe sympathy, for Lauren. Maybe Vaughn was the love of her life. I knew the pain of losing that.

It doesn’t matter, though. I know that Vaughn and I are meant to be/ Always have been, always will be. I smiled at that thought. Yeah, always will be.

Lauren would get over it. It just now meant that I didn’t have to get over Vaughn, not that that would have happened in this lifetime.

My thoughts were interrupted by my Dad’s voice.

“Vaughn, Weiss, and Marshall, Dixon would like to see you in his office now,” he said.

This was odd. All three of them, at once? I wondered.

Never mind. Ours was a business of secrets.
 
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