Disclaimer: Vaughn, Sydney, Sloane and Weiss are properties of J.J. Abrams.  Everyone else is my creation.

Summary: My first attempt at an Action/Adventure/Romance fanfic. There have been rumors that Sydney would meet up with a former love interest in a future episode, so I thought I'd try it out.  The setting is in Las Vegas, but has nothing to do with "The Coup." Sydney will pose as a cocktail waitress again, but just so it doesn't seem redundant of the show, let's pretend she never went to Vegas before.

This story will be spread out over several chapters. Not a whole lot of angst-y stuff, but hopefully, it'll be an entertaining read.

Credit Dauphine

Sydney wrenched open the door to the briefing room, an excuse on her lips. "I'm sorry, but the traffic--" She suddenly noticed that Sloane was the only other person in the room. "I thought I was late. Where is everyone?"

"You are late, Sydney, but the only person you have kept waiting is me." Sloane said in a brittle voice. "No one else is attending this briefing."

"Why not?" She took a seat. "What is this about?"

Sloane paused a few moments before answering. "Sydney, I'm about to ask you to do something that has nothing to do with SD-6. This is a personal matter that I want kept strictly between us."

He wants me to do a personal favor for him! Was he out of his mind? "All right." She said carefully.

Sloane looked thoughtful. "Sydney, you and Emily are friends, wouldn't you say?"

Why was he bringing up his wife? "Yes." Before she'd found out what a despicable creature Arvin Sloane really was, Sydney and Emily Sloane had had a close relationship. Sydney looked at her as the mother figure she didn't have and Emily treated her like a daughter. But since Danny's murder (which was a direct result of Emily's loving husband's paranoia) and Emily's subsequent diagnosis of lymphoma, Sydney found herself feeling awkward in having any sort of contact with her friend.

"And you wouldn't want to see her hurt?"

"Of course not."

Sloane paused at this point, appearing contemplative. "Well, there is a certain party who has information about me which could hurt Emily." Sloane met her gaze. "She isn't a well woman, Sydney, as you know. If she were to receive this information…" He let his words trail off, letting her draw her own conclusions.

"What kind of information are we talking about?" If it was about the fact that you're evil incarnate, she probably already knows that!

"Photographs." Sloane said abruptly. "Of me and another woman."

Oh, God, was he trying to make me sick? Sydney tried desperately to keep those revolting images from getting inside her brain. "I see." She said neutrally. "And who has these photographs?"

Sloane flashed a photo onto the monitor in front of her. "Do you recognize this man?"

Sydney's eyes widened in shock. "That's Jason Durant." She said softly.

"So you remember him."

"We dated when I was an undergrad at UCLA." Sydney told him. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Sydney, do you know what he does now?"

"No."

"I assume you know who his father is? Garson Durant?"

"He's an international financier." She replied. "He does very well, I believe."

Sloane smiled at her gross understatement. "The man is worth several hundred million dollars."

"I know that now, but I didn't back then." Sydney said. "Jason told me his father was rich and he always had money to burn, but I didn't really pay attention."

"I knew Garson Durant in school. We were friends. We knew the same people, pledged to the same fraternity. We even traveled through Europe together after we graduated from college." Sloane told her.

"We went down different paths after college. I joined the CIA and he went into his father's banking firm. We still kept in touch, however. Whenever he was in L.A. or I was in New York, we'd see each other and go out to dinner."

"On one of those dinners, Garson brought a young woman along." Sloane's eyes grew hazy as he reminisced and Sydney almost believed he had a heart. "She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. The only problem was that she was dating my good friend."

"You're talking about Emily?" Sydney inquired.

"Yes." Sloane concurred. "She was lovely. Long curly hair flowing over her shoulders, graceful hands, crystal blue eyes that seemed to look right into my soul. I fell hard for her and miraculously, she felt the same way about me."

Sydney gulped. She couldn't imagine anyone falling in love with someone as despicable as Arvin Sloane, but somehow Emily had. Maybe she had been able to see some good in him, even if it was buried deep beneath the smarmy smile and the calculating eyes.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, she left New York and Garson and came out here with me. We were married a few months later."

"She chose you over him." Her words were a statement rather than a question.

Sloane nodded briefly. "And he has never gotten over that, apparently. I didn't realize how much he wanted to destroy me until one of the photographs was delivered to my house last week."

"But why would he want to hurt Emily like that?" Sydney questioned. "If he still cares about her, why would he do that to her?"

"Because he knows she would leave me." Sloane said matter-of-factly. "And that I would suffer for it greatly."

"But she's sick!" Sydney burst out. "It's possible she may be dying, yet he would make her spend her last days alone and miserable?"

"All the more for me to feel guilty about if she does succumb to her illness."

Sydney burned inside, hating that she had to deal with so many callous, unethical people. "How did he get these pictures of you?"

"I was a guest at the Oasis Hotel in Las Vegas last month." He told her. "After I received the photograph, I did some further checking and found out that young Jason runs the hotel."

"They have hidden cameras in the rooms?"

"Not all of them." Sloane shook his head. "The Oasis has a number of VIP suites and I was given one during my stay."

Sydney frowned. "But you're not—I mean, you're not exactly a…well-known figure." She said delicately. "Why--?" She let the question die on her lips.

Sloane understood her unspoken confusion. "No doubt these rooms are used by the more famous or influential guests who stay at the hotel." He allowed. "Somehow Garson must have known I was there and he arranged for me to have one of the special suites."

"Then you're probably not the only one this has happened to." Sydney felt her stomach turn. Was this what Jason Durant was up to these days? It was hard for her to imagine that the generous, fun-loving Jason she had known was now involved in gambling (even if it was legal), making illicit videos, and no doubt, blackmail.

"My concern is not for other people, Sydney." Sloane said unsympathetically. "It is for me."

Big surprise there, she thought wryly. "So you want me to get these photographs?"

"And the negatives." Sloane added.

"How am I supposed to do that?" She queried. "Jason knows me."

"That's what I'm counting on."

Sydney stared at him. "You want me to use our past friendship to get on the inside?"

"With a cover story, of course." Sloane replied. "You'll be applying for a job as a cocktail waitress at the hotel."

"So I obviously can't be the college coed he knew seven years ago."

"No, you'll have gone through a rough patch in your life." Sloane conceded. "How ever you want to play it will be fine. I trust you."

Did he trust her? She wondered to herself. Not so long ago, you thought I was the mole against your precious SD-6. Now you want me to save your ass.

A thought struck her. "How did you know I knew Jason?" She asked curiously. "I hadn't been recruited to work here yet when I knew him."

He gave her a benign smile. "I've known you since you were a baby, Sydney. You have never been far from my sight." He said cryptically.

Which meant he'd been watching her—maybe all of her life—and she'd never even known it. It was enough to make her skin crawl.

"I will do this for you," Her voice was icy-cool and controlled. "But I want something in return." She gave him a look of steely resolve.

Sloane looked vaguely amused at her request. "And what would that be, Sydney?" He asked, in that dangerously quiet voice he had.

"You know there will come a day when I will want to leave here." She began. "You know I'm in graduate school and that I would like to become a teacher."

"An admirable profession, but a waste of your talents." Sloane observed.

Sydney bit back a sharp retort. "Be that as it may, those are my plans and I intend to stick to them."

"That is why I am asking you that when I choose to leave SD-6, you will let me go." Her eyes never wavered from his beady gaze. "You will not have someone watching my home or following me when I go to work. You will have to trust that what I have seen and done here will remain with me and only me."

Sloane appeared contemplative. She could almost see the wheels turning in that twisted brain of his. "I have no doubt that you have learned your lesson about keeping the activities of this agency confidential, Sydney."

Was he calling Danny's murder "my lesson?" It was all she could do not to slide across the table and strangle him.

"Very well, Sydney. I agree to your terms."

"Then I will be on the first available flight to Las Vegas."

To be continued…