Title: And With His Death Came Great Suffering
Author: chatnoir
disclaimer: Alias is not mine, never was, and never will be... and I'd buy it off JJ... but I'm broke...
rating: PG- PG13
summary: Jack's dead, Sydney's gone missing, and now the NSC knows that Sydney killed Sark's father. Where does Vaughn fit into all of this?
Spoilers: season 3, up to episode 4
Timeline: somewhere after episode 3.4, but not that far into the future...
Distribution: SD-1, ff.net, others: please ask
THIS IS A SPOILER FREE ZONE!, please respect the fact that I'm spoiler free and don't wanna know what might happen in future eps... plus remember that I'm west coast!
a huge thank you to Jasmine for betaing this
*initially posted on October 26, 2003 at 5:36 PM at SD-1*
Prologue
"Hello?"
"Lauren? This is Eric. Is Michael there?" his voice was flooded with desperation.
"Yeah, he's making dinner though."
"Call him over, it's urgent from Dixon."
"You can tell me first. I have authorized clearance."
Clearly upset and angry at her answer, he replied, "It's a personal matter."
"Fine." She set the phone down. "Michael! It's Eric."
"Tell him to leave a message. The pasta sauce might burn," came Vaughn's voice from the kitchen.
"He says it's urgent. And don't worry about the pasta, we have an oven, we can reheat last night's leftovers." Unfortunately, Eric heard it and winced, remembering Vaughn's recount of that special night years ago.
Vaughn entered the study, trying to remain calm when in truth the remark sent chills down his body. He took the phone from Lauren and waited for her to exit the room before speaking into the handset.
"Eric? What's up?"
"Mike, something's happened."
"What's going on? Is everything okay?"
"No, everything's not okay. Jack Bristow was shot two days ago. A report just came through and confirmed it as a stray shot. It wasn't even directed at him."
"What?" Surprise went through Vaughn's system. He never once thought the emotionless, indestructible, and proud elder Bristow would ever die of something so trivial. It never went through his mind. Something so simple as a shot— a bullet. He would have imagined the situation to be extraordinary, something big, an explosion maybe. He never thought it would be a stray shot of all things. Never.
"It's funny. Two years ago, another question might have entered your mind."
"Yeah Eric, and what's that?"
"Maybe something along the lines of, 'How's Sydney doing? Has she heard?'" Weiss mimicked Vaughn's voice.
A brief silence. Vaughn was cursing himself for being so stupid. He knew that a simple "What?" would never fool Weiss' detection. He knew him too well… Weiss would always know that Vaughn would always be tormenting himself with thoughts of Sydney. A simple drop in the way he spoke, and Weiss would instantly know what thoughts were racing through his mind.
"How is she?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean YOU DON'T KNOW?" His voice rose in anger, in frustration.
"I just don't know Mike. She was just told maybe two hours ago. No one's seen her since."
"You're supposed to be looking after her. You promised me you would."
"We've been trying to reach her!" Weiss' own patience was at the breaking point. He would not be targeted as the scapegoat on this one.
"Eric, I know this isn't your fault, but I need to know, why are you calling me if you're trying to find her?"
"You're the only one capable of finding her."
"Fine. I'm on my way."
As he was hanging up, Lauren came into the room again.
"Michael. We need to talk."
"Please not right now. There's something happening at work," Vaughn was trying to make it to the door as fast as he could.
"I know. That's why we need to talk. The NSC has information that makes Sydney the primary suspect as the murderer of Lazarey," her voice trailed off with an ominous tone.
Michael Vaughn's hand slipped off the doorknob.
~ end prologue ~
