Disclaimer: All characters in this story belong to J. J. Abrams. Just borrowing for fun and mischief.
Summary: Jack puts a game into play, using Vaughn and Sydney as pawns. Will anyone come out a winner?
Author's Note: Even though the shows haven't aired yet, this takes place some time after Noah has re-established himself into Sydney's life. The following is pure fiction, so there are no spoilers. This is just something I wrote as a way of getting Noah to go away (He does absolutely nothing for me!) Thanks for reading!
* * * * *
Michael Vaughn entered the warehouse with some trepidation. This meeting he was about to have was not with Sydney Bristow, the person he usually met here, but with her father, Jack. The senior Bristow had arranged for this assignation with the younger agent, providing little information beyond time and place.
Jack was already waiting for him, a sign of impatience on his usually impassive face. Vaughn could actually feel the muscles in his body start to tense when he was faced with the Glare, his sarcastic moniker for the look of annoyance that frequently found a home on Jack Bristow's face.
"Good evening, Agent Vaughn." Jack's greeting was cursory. "Nice of you to try to get here on time."
It is so like him to get me on the defensive right off the bat, Vaughn thought to himself with a grimace. "We live in L.A. There's traffic." Vaughn replied with a casual shrug.
Jack was not amused by his insouciant attitude. "Mr. Vaughn, I called you here to talk about Sydney." His tone was clipped and matter-of-fact.
"What about her?" Vaughn asked nonchalantly. It would not do to let Jack see how just the mention of Sydney's name caused him to react like a lovesick schoolboy.
"Mr. Vaughn, I know how you feel about my daughter."
Vaughn tried to feign innocence. "I don't know what you mean."
Jack threw him a shrewd look. "Agent Vaughn, do I look like
a stupid man?"
Was this a trick question? Vaughn thought wildly.
"No, of course not."
"Then don't insult me by giving a bunch of lame-assed denials." Jack snapped at
him. "You probably thought you were being discreet, but I did catch you
checking out my daughter the night we went to Sloane's for dinner."
Vaughn flushed, the color in his face clearly giving him away. He thought he had been fairly surreptitious about the up-and-down sweep his eyes had made over Sydney's alluring person, but then again, Jack was a spy. It was ingrained in him to be observant.
"All right, so you caught me." Vaughn admitted. "What point are you trying to make by embarrassing me?"
Jack gave him a tight smile. "I think you would be very useful in coming between Sydney and Noah."
Vaughn winced at the mention of his newfound rival and didn't bother to hide it from Jack. His intense dislike for Noah Hicks stemmed partly from jealousy, but that wasn't the only reason he despised the man. Noah was one of those agents who had been in the loop; he had known that SD-6 was not part of the CIA when he and Sydney were together five years ago. He had known their true purpose, their capacity for greed and power. Yet he didn't let the woman he was supposedly in love with in on the secret. If he had truly cared about Sydney, he should have told her the truth about for whom she was really working. He shouldn't have let her devote her life to an organization that was a fraud, not to mention downright evil.
"Thank you for dispensing with any pretense about your feelings." Jack observed the younger man with an almost amused expression on his face. It wasn't that he was reveling in Vaughn's anguish that Sydney was keeping company with another man. On the contrary, he knew quite well what it was like to lose the woman you loved to a malevolent force.
No, his amusement stemmed from the nakedness of Vaughn's emotions; the way he felt was written all over his face. Jack would never have allowed himself to be so undisciplined. He always kept his feelings in check, so he always remained in control of every situation. It was a lesson Mr. Vaughn would do well to learn if he didn't want to be played as he was about to be.
And rest assured, Jack had no qualms about using Michael Vaughn's feelings for his daughter as a means for dividing Sydney and Noah. If he had to choose, Vaughn was infinitely the more tolerable of the two men. Noah Hicks was no good for Sydney because he was a man who willingly and gladly profited from the machinations of evil alliances looking to control the world. He was a man without a conscience and that made him an unsuitable match for his daughter.
Not that Vaughn was so much better. He was more honest, Jack grudgingly admitted. He took risks if threatened but he sometimes let his heart rule his head, resulting in imprudent decision-making. Vaughn was definitely too emotionally attached to Sydney, which could be a liability to her somewhere down the road. Jack knew he could trust Vaughn to put Sydney's life as his top priority, but his less-than-stellar grace under pressure might prove to be her downfall one of these days.
Having Sydney pine over Vaughn rather than doing God-knows-what with Noah was certainly more preferable in Jack's eyes. The fact that Sydney and Vaughn could never do anything about their budding attraction to each other was just an added bonus. Vaughn was not the right man for her, either, but he would do to pass the time until Sydney did find someone of whom Jack would approve.
Vaughn was pondering over Jack's sudden reversal of opinion where he was concerned. He knew Jack thought him too inexperienced, too attached, maybe even too incompetent to be Sydney's handler. Vaughn thought he had earned some points with Jack after he found the loophole in the Rambaldi Prophecy that saved Sydney from life imprisonment, but it appeared that wasn't enough. Maybe he would never earn Jack's respect, but for Sydney's sake, he would keep trying.
"Mr. Vaughn, don't take my willingness to work with you as a sign of approval." Jack remarked curtly, as if reading Vaughn's thoughts.
Vaughn jerked his head up, wondering how he did that.
"You are not exactly what I want for my daughter, either."
Vaughn's lips curved into a smirk. "But apparently, I'm the lesser of two evils, right?" He said ironically.
"Very well put." Jack nodded drolly. "You see, having Sydney follow her feelings for you instead of him serves two purposes. One, it gets her away from Noah's unhealthy influence. Two, she can never be with you as long as SD-6 exists, so I don't have to worry about her getting together with anyone else I consider unsuitable."
"And she says Sloane is manipulative." Vaughn remarked dryly. "Are you telling me you would rather have Sydney be lonely and miserable, waiting for a man she can't have than to see her with someone with whom she could actually have some semblance of a normal life?" He was incredulous that any father would want this kind of existence for his daughter.
"Wouldn't you?" Jack taunted him.
Vaughn flushed again, realizing Jack had tricked him. "I don't know if I want to be so devious when it comes to Sydney." He said, his voice hardened.
"I thought you cared about her." Jack remarked coolly.
"I do." Vaughn shot back at him. "That's why I don't like the fact that you're trying to dictate the way she should live her life."
"Do you want to see her end up with Noah?" Jack narrowed his eyes at Vaughn. "He's not an innocent civilian like Daniel Hecht, you know. Noah Hicks is an SD-6 agent. That means Sloane would have no problem with it if Sydney wanted to marry him." Jack allowed the knife to twist just a little bit deeper.
Ouch, that stung. Jack certainly knew to hit him where he lived. "What is it exactly that you want me to do?" He asked, his bravado a bit deflated.
Jack smiled victoriously. "How quickly can you find yourself a date for the evening?"
"Tonight?" He frowned. "I can probably find someone." Vaughn said slowly, looking confused.
"Is she someone who would make my daughter jealous?" Jack inquired.
Vaughn thought quickly, mentally going through the slim pickings of his Rolodex. "She's gorgeous, if that's what you're asking."
Jack gave him a satisfied look. "Here is the name of the restaurant Sydney and Noah will be dining at tonight." He handed Vaughn a slip of paper. "You already have a reservation and the maitre'd has been instructed to seat you in full view of one another."
"Wait, what do you expect me to do at the restaurant?"
Vaughn asked. "Seeing as how I'm not supposed to even know who they are, I
can't exactly challenge him to a duel for Sydney's hand."
For a brief moment, Jack Bristow allowed himself a genuine smile. "Do you expect me to do everything, Mr. Vaughn? If your date is as jaw-droppingly stunning as you say she is, Sydney cannot help but be jealous."
"And what will that accomplish?"
Jack gave him an overly patient sigh. "It will force her to re-examine her feelings where Noah is concerned." He explained as if speaking to an extremely dull-witted individual. "If she has feelings for you, she certainly cannot be thinking about committing to him. When she realizes this, she will break it off with him."
"You're betting a lot on the notion that Sydney has feelings towards me." Vaughn pointed out. "What if you're wrong? What if she sees me tonight with another woman and she doesn't care?" He hated saying those words for fear they might be true, but he had to throw them out there.
"Then you and I will both know where you stand with Sydney." Jack said briskly. "I will have to think of another way to extract Noah Hicks from my daughter's life and you will know just how important you are to her." He said softly, his subtle jibe not so subtle.
Jack was turning to leave when Vaughn called him back. "Jack?" He purposely called him by his first name just to rankle him. Jack Bristow was always so formal with him, calling him "Mr. Vaughn" or "Agent Vaughn." He felt as if he had to have the upper hand just once.
"What is it, Mr. Vaughn?"
"I was just curious about something." Vaughn paused to make sure he had Jack's full attention. "In your opinion, is there anyone in the world whom you would deem suitable enough for Sydney?"
Jack's lip curled as he looked at Vaughn through hooded eyes. "Quite frankly, Agent Vaughn, no, there is not. Good night." Then he turned on his heel and stalked away.
Talk about your grand exits, Vaughn thought wryly. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He hesitated for just a moment before looking up the number in his phone book.
"Hello?" The female voice on the other end of the line responded.
"Hi, it's Michael." He said in a low voice. "Would you have dinner with me tonight?"
To be continued…
