E-mail: writerlms@msn.com
Website: www.isnt-it-romantic.net/home
Feedback: Writer's don't require petty things like food and water; they live off your gracious feedback… so do me a favor and FEED ME! ;)
Distribution: Sure thing, just please e-mail me and let me know where I can find it.
Disclaimer: Alias, Sydney Bristow, Michael Vaughn and all related components are owned by ABC and Touchstone, and were created by JJ Abrams and Bad Robot Productions. The characters of Lee and Amanda belong to Shoot the Moon Productions and Warner Brothers Entertainment. Please accept this as high praise and do not sue me. ;)
Summary: Crossover of Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Alias. Syd's latest mission involves the notorious Adi Briol and hits very close to home for Vaughn.
Rating: PG
Classification: Romance, Drama, Action/Adventure
CIA Headquarters – Mid-day – Agent Vaughn's Office
He looked up from his pile of paperwork and saw Weiss's familiar grin gracing his doorway. Pizza, he surmised. It must be lunchtime already.
"I'm swamped, Eric," he said, before his friend could even suggest lunch. "But if you're going to Mario's, maybe you could bring me back a slice?"
"Actually, I wanted to let you know that you have a visitor." Weiss sauntered in, a little full of himself.
"A visitor? I don't have any appointments scheduled. Since when do we take unannounced guests?" he asked.
"Maybe you could make an exception for an old friend of the family. Whatta ya say, Mikie?" a voice asked from behind Weiss.
The image of the tall, sandy haired man in the doorway assaulted his senses. All at once he was ten years old again. I Hey sport, I know you're confused right now, but what you need to remember is that your father was a very brave man. Always stand by what's right, Mikie, and I promise you he'll be proud." /I
"Lee." He stood quickly and made his way to the door, his hand outstretched. "What are you doing here?"
Lee shook his hand firmly, but then pulled him in for a quick manly embrace, patting him on the back twice. "Can't a man visit his own godson without a good reason?"
"Mikie?" Weiss snickered.
"That makes its way around the office, I'll know who's closet to invade for skeletons." Vaughn gave him a punch in the arm.
"I'd be careful Eric, he's stealthier than he looks."
"I've no doubt, sir." Weiss said, rubbing his shoulder, then offered Lee his hand. "It's nice to have met you Agent Stetson. I think I'll be going before he attacks me again."
Lee nodded his goodbye and Vaughn lead him by the shoulder into his office. "Have a seat." Once situated, Vaughn gave his godfather a suspicious look. "It's not that I'm not happy to see you, but there's got to be something behind it. Right?"
Lee settled into the chair with a brief sigh. "I should have come around more. Your mother and you…well, it couldn't have been easy."
"You were out there doing your job. We both knew what the life of an agent was like." Vaughn said, his mouth turning up on one side in a knowing smile. "How's retirement?"
"I wish I knew." Lee laughed.
"What do you mean? I thought you handed in your badge."
"You would have thought that I would have been the one they had to pry away from his desk, but Amanda, well, she decided she wasn't ready to go back to being a full-time housewife." Lee smiled at the thought of his wife. "We were three weeks into our first real vacation in the Caribbean when she dropped the bombshell on me. We were going back in."
"You're both back?"
"Part-time…you might call us consultants." He grinned.
"So this is official." Vaughn toyed with the coin on his desk.
Lee looked down at his godson's hand; the light caught the glint of gold from the coin. "That is eerie."
"What?" Vaughn placed the coin down flat on his desk.
"Your dad, he used to do the same damn thing. I can't tell you how many times when we were sitting out on a stakeout, I'd find him running a silver dollar through his fingers."
Vaughn smiled. He never knew the habit had been inherited. It pleased him to know there was a bit of his dad in him. "So," he said, "are you going to stop changing the subject and fill me in on why you're in LA?"
"SD-6," Lee said, suddenly very serious.
Vaughn got suddenly tense. "SD-6? I don't know…"
"It's ok, Mikie, Devlin's given us full clearance." He shoved a piece of paper across the desk.
Inspecting it, Vaughn saw that Lee's credentials were in order. "What do you have?"
"Back in the late 80's Amanda and I crossed paths with one Adi Birol."
"The leader of the Karbala," Vaughn interjected.
"That's him."
"I remember the ordeal you went through when he held Amanda captive, but you finally put him away." Vaughn said.
"He's out. Got some kind of obsession with an ancient philosopher scientist named…"
"Rimbaldi," Vaughn finished.
"I read the file. I see your Agent Bristow managed to get quite a few pieces of the Rimbaldi puzzle for SD-6 and the CIA."
Vaughn fought the color rising in his face at the mention of Sydney's name. "Yes, SD-6 now has the clock, but they don't know how it works."
"Birol may have the key. We believe SD-6 is going to try and buy it from him. He's anxious to rebuild the Karbala, now that the focus is off his extremists and onto Bin Laden's he's feeling pretty secure. A bankroll from SD-6 would make the Karbala equally as dangerous, if not more so than Al Qaida."
Vaughn sat in stunned amazement. He knew SD-6 was capable of unspeakable acts, but he never imagined they could fund something as extreme as the Karbala. "So you need Syd…Agent Bristow to intercept the money and get the key."
Lee raised an eyebrow at Vaughn's slip. "I…know you're concerned for your agent, Mikie, but certainly you can see the necessity."
"She's not going to be able to pull this off alone." Vaughn stated matter- of-factly.
"No," Lee agreed, "she's not. You'll be going with her. Amanda and I will be your eyes and ears."
"Going with her?" Vaughn asked, stunned. "Devlin approved this? It's unheard of, a handler being seen in public with his agent."
"This is an exception. Birol knows Amanda and I, he'd spot us in a second. Maybe you'd prefer we use another agent?"
"No," he said, a little too quickly. "That is, I know Sydney and the case. It makes sense that I should be the one to back her up."
"Good. You know Amanda and I are partners." Lee smiled. "And as much as I hate the idea of her being within 500 square miles of Birol, she's a pro and I want her in my corner. I have the feeling Agent Bristow will feel the same about you."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sydney walked carefully through the empty bungalow. Though it was on their list of coded meeting places, Vaughn had never used it before. When neared the kitchen she was shocked to see it full of people. Maybe she had the wrong address?
She had not been noticed, so she decided to turn and make her way out. Surely, the CIA had made a mistake. Then she heard her name.
"Sydney." It was Vaughn, she was sure of it. When she turned, she saw his form right away, standing against an island in the kitchen, looking more at home and comfortable than she'd ever seen him in all their time together. He was smiling and seemed to be very at ease with the two strangers. "Come in, let me introduce you."
She walked carefully into the room, unsure of the strangers and of Vaughn's sudden mood adjustment. "What's going on?"
The strange couple just looked at her and smiled, then glanced at Vaughn for introductions. Now all eyes were on him.
"Agent Bristow, Agents Lee Stetson and Amanda King." Vaughn couldn't seem to suppress a grin.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Agent Bristow. I've read a great deal about your work within SD-6." Sydney turned a worried eye to Vaughn, but Lee continued. "It's alright, we've gotten clearance."
Amanda shouldered past the men and offered Sydney her hand. "Just call me Amanda, Sydney is it? It appears this next counter-mission of yours is going to be a group effort. I hope you won't mind the company."
"Vaughn?" Sydney asked, worrying her lip. This wasn't protocol. It wasn't safe. And frankly, these too were a little to relaxed for field agents. Not to mention they had apparently replaced Vaughn with a laid back double.
"It's ok," he assured her. "Sydney, Lee is my godfather and my father's former partner… and Amanda is his partner and wife."
"His wife?" She wasn't sure what intrigued her more. Adding two new agents to the mix, the fact that they were related to Vaughn or that this man and his partner were married. What must that be like? To be married to someone who knows all your secrets. She eyed Vaughn, but this time it wasn't skepticism she saw there, but potential.
"It's true," Amanda said. "Almost sixteen years now."
"Almost didn't happen though," Lee interrupted, taking his wife's hand tenderly. I almost lost her at the hands of that madman Birol."
"As in Adi Birol?" Sydney asked.
"Yes, he's the reason we're all here." Vaughn said.
"Sloane just gave me orders to meet him at this exclusive resort in Negril, the day after tomorrow. Some kind of trade."
Vaughn grabbed her gently by the forearm and pulled her toward the living room. "Why don't we all have a seat?"
Sydney still looked at him as though his face was green. This scenario didn't make sense. Using outside operatives on a counter-mission was unheard of.
They all took a seat in the minimally decorated living room. There were three pieces of furniture in the large space: a love seat, a sofa and an end table. Amanda and Lee took the love seat. Sydney sat on one end of the sofa and Vaughn perched on the edge of the middle. This couple intrigued her. It was fascinating to watch them together. Amanda's hand rested gently near the crook of her husband's elbow her other hand wrapped securely around his back as he laid out plans on the coffee table.
It was then that she noticed Vaughn. He was looking at the man with such respect and attentiveness, some faint glimpse of awe in his eyes. She'd seen him interact with his officials before, but this was different. Clearly, he admired Lee Stetson. Of course, the man was his godfather and his father's partner, anyone coming in contact with Vaughn stock would have to be admirable. Perhaps Vaughn saw something of his dad in Lee.
"Sydney?" Lee asked.
"Hmm?" She took her glance away from Vaughn and faced him, embarrassed that she had been staring at her handler. "Yes?"
"I was asking about your rendezvous with Birol," he continued. "What is the timetable?"
"I'm to check in at the Half Moon Club at noon, play the role of the tourist, blend into the sand…I'll be wearing a very specific outfit. The man is a real slime, he's insisted picking out the bikini so he can recognize me." Vaughn raises and eyebrow and this and I wonder if it's about Birol's fetish or something else entirely. "I will be given coordinates to a specific location on the island where I am to retrieve the key and drop the cash."
Amanda leans across the coffee table and gives her a concerned look, the look of a mother. "Sydney, you must be very careful with Birol. If he suspects you are not who you say you are, I guarantee he will not be kind."
Lee puts his arm around Amanda and takes her hand with his free one, kissing it lightly. Clearly Birol has inflicted some scars on them both.
Lee turned from his wife long enough to look at Sydney and say, "This is why Mikie's going with you."
"What?" Sydney stood up and looked down at her handler. "You can't go with me. It's not safe."
"Devlin approved it." He stood to meet her, sensing her frustration. "Lee and Amanda will be there as well, listening in and making sure Birol doesn't get very far. I know it's not protocol Sydney, but this is not your average counter-mission. We all need to work together on this one. You trust me, don't you?"
Amanda watched the exchange between the agent and her handler. Did she trust him? She's asked herself the same question of Lee only once and the answer hand never changed. Always and in everything. There was something familiar between Michael and Sydney Bristow, something that brought back vivid memories of a spy peeking in her kitchen window. She grasped Lee's hand tighter and they shared a look that told her he was thinking the very same thing.
"I trust you, Vaughn." IAlways and in everything/I, she added silently.
Website: www.isnt-it-romantic.net/home
Feedback: Writer's don't require petty things like food and water; they live off your gracious feedback… so do me a favor and FEED ME! ;)
Distribution: Sure thing, just please e-mail me and let me know where I can find it.
Disclaimer: Alias, Sydney Bristow, Michael Vaughn and all related components are owned by ABC and Touchstone, and were created by JJ Abrams and Bad Robot Productions. The characters of Lee and Amanda belong to Shoot the Moon Productions and Warner Brothers Entertainment. Please accept this as high praise and do not sue me. ;)
Summary: Crossover of Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Alias. Syd's latest mission involves the notorious Adi Briol and hits very close to home for Vaughn.
Rating: PG
Classification: Romance, Drama, Action/Adventure
CIA Headquarters – Mid-day – Agent Vaughn's Office
He looked up from his pile of paperwork and saw Weiss's familiar grin gracing his doorway. Pizza, he surmised. It must be lunchtime already.
"I'm swamped, Eric," he said, before his friend could even suggest lunch. "But if you're going to Mario's, maybe you could bring me back a slice?"
"Actually, I wanted to let you know that you have a visitor." Weiss sauntered in, a little full of himself.
"A visitor? I don't have any appointments scheduled. Since when do we take unannounced guests?" he asked.
"Maybe you could make an exception for an old friend of the family. Whatta ya say, Mikie?" a voice asked from behind Weiss.
The image of the tall, sandy haired man in the doorway assaulted his senses. All at once he was ten years old again. I Hey sport, I know you're confused right now, but what you need to remember is that your father was a very brave man. Always stand by what's right, Mikie, and I promise you he'll be proud." /I
"Lee." He stood quickly and made his way to the door, his hand outstretched. "What are you doing here?"
Lee shook his hand firmly, but then pulled him in for a quick manly embrace, patting him on the back twice. "Can't a man visit his own godson without a good reason?"
"Mikie?" Weiss snickered.
"That makes its way around the office, I'll know who's closet to invade for skeletons." Vaughn gave him a punch in the arm.
"I'd be careful Eric, he's stealthier than he looks."
"I've no doubt, sir." Weiss said, rubbing his shoulder, then offered Lee his hand. "It's nice to have met you Agent Stetson. I think I'll be going before he attacks me again."
Lee nodded his goodbye and Vaughn lead him by the shoulder into his office. "Have a seat." Once situated, Vaughn gave his godfather a suspicious look. "It's not that I'm not happy to see you, but there's got to be something behind it. Right?"
Lee settled into the chair with a brief sigh. "I should have come around more. Your mother and you…well, it couldn't have been easy."
"You were out there doing your job. We both knew what the life of an agent was like." Vaughn said, his mouth turning up on one side in a knowing smile. "How's retirement?"
"I wish I knew." Lee laughed.
"What do you mean? I thought you handed in your badge."
"You would have thought that I would have been the one they had to pry away from his desk, but Amanda, well, she decided she wasn't ready to go back to being a full-time housewife." Lee smiled at the thought of his wife. "We were three weeks into our first real vacation in the Caribbean when she dropped the bombshell on me. We were going back in."
"You're both back?"
"Part-time…you might call us consultants." He grinned.
"So this is official." Vaughn toyed with the coin on his desk.
Lee looked down at his godson's hand; the light caught the glint of gold from the coin. "That is eerie."
"What?" Vaughn placed the coin down flat on his desk.
"Your dad, he used to do the same damn thing. I can't tell you how many times when we were sitting out on a stakeout, I'd find him running a silver dollar through his fingers."
Vaughn smiled. He never knew the habit had been inherited. It pleased him to know there was a bit of his dad in him. "So," he said, "are you going to stop changing the subject and fill me in on why you're in LA?"
"SD-6," Lee said, suddenly very serious.
Vaughn got suddenly tense. "SD-6? I don't know…"
"It's ok, Mikie, Devlin's given us full clearance." He shoved a piece of paper across the desk.
Inspecting it, Vaughn saw that Lee's credentials were in order. "What do you have?"
"Back in the late 80's Amanda and I crossed paths with one Adi Birol."
"The leader of the Karbala," Vaughn interjected.
"That's him."
"I remember the ordeal you went through when he held Amanda captive, but you finally put him away." Vaughn said.
"He's out. Got some kind of obsession with an ancient philosopher scientist named…"
"Rimbaldi," Vaughn finished.
"I read the file. I see your Agent Bristow managed to get quite a few pieces of the Rimbaldi puzzle for SD-6 and the CIA."
Vaughn fought the color rising in his face at the mention of Sydney's name. "Yes, SD-6 now has the clock, but they don't know how it works."
"Birol may have the key. We believe SD-6 is going to try and buy it from him. He's anxious to rebuild the Karbala, now that the focus is off his extremists and onto Bin Laden's he's feeling pretty secure. A bankroll from SD-6 would make the Karbala equally as dangerous, if not more so than Al Qaida."
Vaughn sat in stunned amazement. He knew SD-6 was capable of unspeakable acts, but he never imagined they could fund something as extreme as the Karbala. "So you need Syd…Agent Bristow to intercept the money and get the key."
Lee raised an eyebrow at Vaughn's slip. "I…know you're concerned for your agent, Mikie, but certainly you can see the necessity."
"She's not going to be able to pull this off alone." Vaughn stated matter- of-factly.
"No," Lee agreed, "she's not. You'll be going with her. Amanda and I will be your eyes and ears."
"Going with her?" Vaughn asked, stunned. "Devlin approved this? It's unheard of, a handler being seen in public with his agent."
"This is an exception. Birol knows Amanda and I, he'd spot us in a second. Maybe you'd prefer we use another agent?"
"No," he said, a little too quickly. "That is, I know Sydney and the case. It makes sense that I should be the one to back her up."
"Good. You know Amanda and I are partners." Lee smiled. "And as much as I hate the idea of her being within 500 square miles of Birol, she's a pro and I want her in my corner. I have the feeling Agent Bristow will feel the same about you."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sydney walked carefully through the empty bungalow. Though it was on their list of coded meeting places, Vaughn had never used it before. When neared the kitchen she was shocked to see it full of people. Maybe she had the wrong address?
She had not been noticed, so she decided to turn and make her way out. Surely, the CIA had made a mistake. Then she heard her name.
"Sydney." It was Vaughn, she was sure of it. When she turned, she saw his form right away, standing against an island in the kitchen, looking more at home and comfortable than she'd ever seen him in all their time together. He was smiling and seemed to be very at ease with the two strangers. "Come in, let me introduce you."
She walked carefully into the room, unsure of the strangers and of Vaughn's sudden mood adjustment. "What's going on?"
The strange couple just looked at her and smiled, then glanced at Vaughn for introductions. Now all eyes were on him.
"Agent Bristow, Agents Lee Stetson and Amanda King." Vaughn couldn't seem to suppress a grin.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Agent Bristow. I've read a great deal about your work within SD-6." Sydney turned a worried eye to Vaughn, but Lee continued. "It's alright, we've gotten clearance."
Amanda shouldered past the men and offered Sydney her hand. "Just call me Amanda, Sydney is it? It appears this next counter-mission of yours is going to be a group effort. I hope you won't mind the company."
"Vaughn?" Sydney asked, worrying her lip. This wasn't protocol. It wasn't safe. And frankly, these too were a little to relaxed for field agents. Not to mention they had apparently replaced Vaughn with a laid back double.
"It's ok," he assured her. "Sydney, Lee is my godfather and my father's former partner… and Amanda is his partner and wife."
"His wife?" She wasn't sure what intrigued her more. Adding two new agents to the mix, the fact that they were related to Vaughn or that this man and his partner were married. What must that be like? To be married to someone who knows all your secrets. She eyed Vaughn, but this time it wasn't skepticism she saw there, but potential.
"It's true," Amanda said. "Almost sixteen years now."
"Almost didn't happen though," Lee interrupted, taking his wife's hand tenderly. I almost lost her at the hands of that madman Birol."
"As in Adi Birol?" Sydney asked.
"Yes, he's the reason we're all here." Vaughn said.
"Sloane just gave me orders to meet him at this exclusive resort in Negril, the day after tomorrow. Some kind of trade."
Vaughn grabbed her gently by the forearm and pulled her toward the living room. "Why don't we all have a seat?"
Sydney still looked at him as though his face was green. This scenario didn't make sense. Using outside operatives on a counter-mission was unheard of.
They all took a seat in the minimally decorated living room. There were three pieces of furniture in the large space: a love seat, a sofa and an end table. Amanda and Lee took the love seat. Sydney sat on one end of the sofa and Vaughn perched on the edge of the middle. This couple intrigued her. It was fascinating to watch them together. Amanda's hand rested gently near the crook of her husband's elbow her other hand wrapped securely around his back as he laid out plans on the coffee table.
It was then that she noticed Vaughn. He was looking at the man with such respect and attentiveness, some faint glimpse of awe in his eyes. She'd seen him interact with his officials before, but this was different. Clearly, he admired Lee Stetson. Of course, the man was his godfather and his father's partner, anyone coming in contact with Vaughn stock would have to be admirable. Perhaps Vaughn saw something of his dad in Lee.
"Sydney?" Lee asked.
"Hmm?" She took her glance away from Vaughn and faced him, embarrassed that she had been staring at her handler. "Yes?"
"I was asking about your rendezvous with Birol," he continued. "What is the timetable?"
"I'm to check in at the Half Moon Club at noon, play the role of the tourist, blend into the sand…I'll be wearing a very specific outfit. The man is a real slime, he's insisted picking out the bikini so he can recognize me." Vaughn raises and eyebrow and this and I wonder if it's about Birol's fetish or something else entirely. "I will be given coordinates to a specific location on the island where I am to retrieve the key and drop the cash."
Amanda leans across the coffee table and gives her a concerned look, the look of a mother. "Sydney, you must be very careful with Birol. If he suspects you are not who you say you are, I guarantee he will not be kind."
Lee puts his arm around Amanda and takes her hand with his free one, kissing it lightly. Clearly Birol has inflicted some scars on them both.
Lee turned from his wife long enough to look at Sydney and say, "This is why Mikie's going with you."
"What?" Sydney stood up and looked down at her handler. "You can't go with me. It's not safe."
"Devlin approved it." He stood to meet her, sensing her frustration. "Lee and Amanda will be there as well, listening in and making sure Birol doesn't get very far. I know it's not protocol Sydney, but this is not your average counter-mission. We all need to work together on this one. You trust me, don't you?"
Amanda watched the exchange between the agent and her handler. Did she trust him? She's asked herself the same question of Lee only once and the answer hand never changed. Always and in everything. There was something familiar between Michael and Sydney Bristow, something that brought back vivid memories of a spy peeking in her kitchen window. She grasped Lee's hand tighter and they shared a look that told her he was thinking the very same thing.
"I trust you, Vaughn." IAlways and in everything/I, she added silently.