Working at It

Title: Working At It
Description: Post Before The flood
The whole my name isn’t Michael Vaughn thing is straightened out, but there is still some serious tension between S/V. They are still engaged but aren’t really thinking about the wedding right now
Ship: Sydney and Vaughn
Disclaimer: I own nothing

Working At It
Part 1 ~After the Flood~


Sydney lay in bed massaging her left arm. It had been over a month since the accident, but her arm still hurt her sometimes. Then again, she knew she had gotten off easy with just a broken arm and some stitches. He was still on crutches with five pins in his leg. Sydney shook her head, as if that would erase her previous thought. She couldn’t feel sorry for him; after all, the accident was all his fault.

Sydney knew that wasn’t entirely true. She was just angry at him. He had been distracted, and the Jeep driver was going on 2 hours of sleep and a handful of speed pills. But still, she had barely talked to her fiancé since he had finished the explanation for his ‘My name isn’t Michael Vaughn…’ stunt.

There was a soft knock and Nadia’s dark figure became visible from inside the slightly ajar door. “Hey Syd. I was heading out to the store. Do you need anything?”

Sydney sat up so her back rested on the headboard. “Um… I think we need more toothpaste, and some pickles would be nice.”

“Ok, toothpaste and pickles.” Nadia repeated, making a mental note. She started to close the door but then changed her mind. “Sydney, are you alright?” She asked walking further into the room. Nadia sat on the end of Sydney’s bed. “I mean, you seem really distant since you left the hospital. You went right back to work like nothing happened, you don’t talk to me as much anymore, and what’s up with you and Vaughn? I mean you two haven’t talked in forever but you’re still wearing the ring.”

Sydney went back to rubbing her arm, avoiding Nadia’s eyes. “I’m fine. I guess I’m just a little tired lately.”

Nadia knew that wasn’t the reason, but the way Sydney said it, so drained and tired, she decided not to pursue it, not tonight.

After being released from the hospital, Sydney had gone back to live in her apartment with Nadia. A few weeks earlier she had considered asking her sister if Vaughn could move in. Sydney had known that Nadia would have immediately reminded her that it was Sydney’s apartment and then start looking for a new place to stay. Now though, she was happy for her sister’s good company and tact. Other people would have pursued a more satisfactory answer, but Nadia knew when she wasn’t going to get one.

Nadia sat there for a few more moments watching Sydney. She gave her sister one last worried glance before leaving Sydney alone again to wander through her private thoughts.

~

Sydney must have dozed off, because the next time she opened her eyes there was an assortment of smells coming from the kitchen and Nadia’s voice singing along with some Argentine music. She rolled over and looked at the clock. It was a quarter to nine.

Sydney got up and walked into the kitchen. “Hey, you got back.”

Nadia tuned around a little startled and turned down the music. “Yeah, about an hour and a half ago.”

“Seriously?”

Nadia gave her another worried look. “You’ve been asleep all evening. Don’t you remember? I left at 5:30 to do some errands.”

Sydney shrugged, “Like I said, I was tired.”

Syd sat down at the counter and reached over to sample some of Nadia’s creation. As she was leaning over the counter Sydney caught a particularly strong whiff and she felt a little nauseated. She sat back then, deciding to wait until dinner to try the sause.

Nadia continued to buzz around the kitchen, just like Sydney would if she were cooking. Then Nadia turned the music back up and started to dance.

“I love this song!” she exclaimed.

Sydney just smiled and watched her sister.

“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.” Nadia said, “Can you put out the plates?”

Syd nodded and started to set the table for two. Just then Sydney’s pager went off and so did Nadia’s. They both looked at each other thinking the same thing. ‘So much for a quiet dinner for two.’ The sisters then started to pack up Nadia’s cooking. They could microwave it when they got back, whenever that would be.

---
Here some links to the chaps.
Part 2 ~ The Explination
Part 3 ~ Yes... again
Part 4 ~ Encounter with the Rude Kind
Part 5 ~ Reality Check
Part 6 ~ In the Oven
Part 7 ~ The Union
Part 8 ~ Three's a crowd
Part 9 ~ Preminitions
Part 10 ~ People, Chiller, Blondie
Part 11 ~ Peanut Smudge
Part 12 ~ New Waters
Part 13 ~ Unwelcome
 
Ok almost done with the next chapter

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Working At It
Part 2 ~The Explanation~

Nadia drove up to the train station and let Sydney off; then she pulled away from the curb, headed to another secret entrance to APO. Sydney absentmindedly walked through the station to the turnstile. She flashed her pass to the attendant and proceeded to the tracks.

Every time she was called in to work, Sydney had to drive through 15 extra minutes of traffic, only to take a train 5 minutes back to APO’s entrance. All to go through a series of checks to make sure no one saw her enter an old rusted maintenance door. That was protocol.

The entire time she was playing with her engagement ring. ‘My name isn’t Michael Vaughn…’. The first time she heard those words terrible thoughts had run through her mind. ‘What does he mean ‘my name isn’t Michael Vaughn’?’ ‘What is his name?’… ‘Who is this man?’ But she hadn’t had time to ask. A Jeep hit them moments later.

During her time in the hospital she had come up with many scenarios. Most of which either didn’t make sense, or ended up with Vaughn going to prison. Only one seemed probable in her mind.

“He must be joking.” but she knew he wasn’t.

Vaughn had been in a medically induced comma for 3 days after the crash, and he wasn’t in any condition to give her an explanation until a few weeks later.

~flashback~

“Syd, please listen to me.”

She wouldn’t. She couldn’t even look at him right now.

“Syd, I love you, please listen.”

The anger and confusion that had been building inside her those last few weeks boiled over. “You love me? How the hell could you love me if you’ve lied to me to the last six years! Six years Michael!”

That stung. Not so much the words as the person who was saying them. She had even used his first name.

He took a deep breath. “Syd I need you to understand. Please calm down.”

She just glared at him, not responding, so he took that as a signal to continue.

“I said that my real name isn’t Michael Vaughn, and it’s not.-” Sydney started to say something but he cut her off. “- My real name is Michael Beneau. I was born in Normandy, France.”

‘Well at least that was true.’ She thought, starting to calm down.

“I never knew my real father. He left my mother when he found out she was pregnant. My mother couldn’t take care of me, so she gave me up when I was about two.”

Vaughn paused to see whether or not she believed him. If she thought he was lying, the look on her face gave nothing away.

“A few years later the CIA developed a program that involved using foreign children as operatives. I wasn’t given many details, but I do know that Bill Vaughn was the agent assigned to look for possible subjects in France. I was chosen along with two other children.”

Sydney was familiar with the CIA using children as agents. Her own father had exposed her as a subject in Project Christmas.

“After about a year, the project went south and Langley shut it down. They didn’t know what to do with the children they had recruited. Technically, none of us were even supposed to be in the states. The Agency sent as many as they could back overseas, but the records of a few of the children, including myself, had been destroyed. The CIA had to create new identities and then integrated us into the system”

Vaughn took a deep breath and continued.

“Bill Vaughn and his wife couldn’t have children, and he had taken a liking to me during his time with the project. He put a request through to the Agency and became my legal guardian. When I was about 7 the Vaughn’s decided to adopt me.”

Sydney was listing intently; analyzing every word he said.

“Unfortunately, it was difficult due to the lack of information about my past. My fath-” Vaughn caught himself, “Bill, was still trying to push the adoption through when he was killed.”

Sydney looked down. She knew it wasn’t her fault. Her mother had killed Bill Vaughn, but for some reason she always felt somewhat responsible.

“I was raised by his wife, and after high school I took the name Vaughn.” he paused, “After college, I decided to join the CIA anyway. They found out about my previous training and decided to put me into a new program they had been developing. It was called Project Gemini, and was specifically designed to train handlers who would report to a higher authority within the CIA”

Sydney was starting to get confused. ‘What is he talking about?’

“In project Gemini, the handlers were given assets who were acting as double agents. The missions would start out as any other, but as you proceeded further into the program the objectives would change. The council we were to report to would observe how the double agents reacted in certain scenarios, then give us instructions on how to develop the counter-mission. They would try and put the assets in difficult situations. They could then discover the best way for an agent to react without blowing their cover. The council would then ultimately use this information when training future double agents.”

“The day you arrived at the CIA,” he looked at her, “I had just finished training. You were my first assignment.”

Vaughn let out a deep sigh, as though he had been holding it in for a very long time. Sydney was staring at the ground, her mind racing.

Vaughn reached out for her hands. “Syd, it’s been killing me to keep this from you.”

Sydney pulled away, standing up.

Vaughn, also rising, tried to console her. “Sydney, after I got to know you I couldn’t go through with it. You became more to me than just an asset, so much more. That is why they tired to replace me, but you stopped them. Syd, Sydney! Don’t leave. Say something, please!”

She couldn’t take it right now. Of course she still loved him. Her love for him was too deep for even this to shatter it, but she needed time. Time away from him. She knew if she allowed herself, she would fall into his arms and forgive him. But she wouldn’t, she was too proud to. She just left him, standing there in the empty hospital room.

~End Flashback~

Sydney pulled the last lever into place and the wall gave in to reveal APO headquarters. She walked through the opening, her eyes squinting as they adjusted to the blinding white lights. She heard a *ding as the elevator next to her opened. She turned, expecting to see an impatient Nadia…

“Vaughn.”
 
That was so good!
Omg, All that stuff he explianed, about his past - His dad leaving, his mother giving him up, the project as a child, Bill trying to adopt him, and it couldnt go through becuas eh ewas killed...changing his name after it all anyways, and THEN deciding to join the CIA...
Holy felgercarb - that was really thought out and I LOVED IT!
Thanks for the PM
Keep up the AWESOME work!
Ash
 
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