Title: Come as you are
Author: Tiiulicious
Rating: T
Pairings: Lauren/Sark, Sydney/Vaughn, Jack/Irina, some minor Lauren/Thomas, Lauren/Will and Jack/Rachel.
Notes: Sydney and Lauren Bristow are 17-year-old twin sisters and their parents are Jack and Irina Bristow.
Michael and Lauren DO NOT DATE in this fic. Michael is in love with Sydney and Lauren only sees him as her sister's boring boyfriend. This story is completely AU and set in the teenage years of Alias characters. I don't own any of them, athough I'd like to own Jack Bristow ;)
Sydney Anne Bristow was beyond annoyed, she and her boyfriend of almost a year, Michael Vaughn, had been waiting for the past 20 minutes for her twin sister Lauren Elena Bristow to show up at the school car park. Sydney was supposed to make sure Lauren would go straight home after school, as she was grounded for coming home three hours past her curfew two nights ago. Sydney was sick of waiting for her sister and was just about to go find her, when she spotted a familiar blonde figure emerging from the school.
It amazed Sydney to no end, that she and Lauren were not only sisters but twins as you could not find two people that were more different than they were. Sydney was level-headed, dependable and calculated while Lauren was impulsive and a consummate free sprit. Also they looked nothing like each other. Sydney had her mothers looks, she was a tall, sensual brunette with warm brown eyes while Lauren resembled more of her father as she was a willowy statuesque blonde with cold blue eyes. Both were extremely beautiful and attractive, but in different ways. Sydney was beautiful in an earthy, likeable way while Lauren possessed beauty that was more sultry and in your face.
Also their tastes in clothes were incredibly different. Sydney was most comfortable wearing jeans and usually didn't cause their over-protective father Jack any reason to want to lock Sydney in her room when she was heading out. Lauren on the other hand lived by the creed, if you have it, flaunt it and she most certainly had flaunted her god-given gifts by wearing short skirts and revealing tops.
Lauren approached the car and waved goodbye to her friends before climbing in to the BMW owned by her sister's boyfriend Michael. Due to the event's of a couple nights ago, her father had taken away her car and she was forced to ride with her sister or Michael for the next two weeks, which irked Lauren immensely. When the girls had turned sweet sixteen, their parents had chosen both of them cars that matched their personalities. The stable and elegant Sydney unwrapped a silver Mercedes Benz and the fiery, unpredictable Lauren was handed the keys to a blood-red Ferrari.
"You're late" Sydney scolded her sister as she climbed in. "Sorry, Syd, cheer practice ran late and as the captain of the Rambaldi Ravens, I couldn't just leave before we were finished" Lauren explained with an innocent, puppy dog expression on her face. The one she knew for sure worked for her big sister. Even though Syd was only three minutes older, she acted very much like a mother bear towards Lauren, who loved and sometimes hated that character trait in Sydney.
Michael was watching the exchange between the sisters with mixed emotions. On one hand, he was glad that Sydney was so close with her sister, but he had noticed a long time ago that as smart as Sydney was, Lauren was almost always able to get her way no matter what. In that aspect she was just like her mother. Michael liked Irina very much, but she was very good in replacing her husband's ideas with her own without him ever noticing.
"I think dad is being highly unfair about this whole thing. He has been acting as if I had committed a mortal sin. I was only a little bit late," Lauren wined on the backseat as she was fiddling with her long blonde hair.
"A little late?" Sydney asked incredulously. "You were supposed to come home by twelve, but the time you showed by was nearer to three. We were all worried sick about you, you didn't answer your phone and neither did Thomas. I have never seen dad so upset and scared before. I know you have done some seriously selfish things in your life, but this ranks very high on that list." Same old Lauren, she though. When she makes a mistake, it's always someone else's fault.
"I've heard that lecture before and quite frankly it's getting real old. I'm 17, not 70 and I have the right to have fun with my friends and my boyfriend." Lauren said with a clear challenge in her crystal blue eyes.
"Whatever, Lauren. I know you and your not as callous as you'd like everyone to think. Why is it that you never feel guilty about all the awful things you have done?" Sydney asked and directed her unwavering brown gaze to her sisters
eyes.
"What horrible things? I have no idea what you are talking about," Lauren noted duly. She knew what her sister was talking about but decided to play innocent. Lauren was a really good actress and could fool most of the population save two, her mother and her twin. Lauren prided herself on being unreadable and unpredictable, but for some strange reason, Sydney could read her like an open book and that was something she didn't like all that much.
"Do you like playing dumb or has it completely slipped your mind how you used and manipulated poor Will last year. You knew very well that he has been in love with you since first grade and that didn't stop you from flat-out lying to him. You played him like a fiddle and just because you wanted to be Miss Rambaldi High." Sydney accused while shooting daggers towards her sister who still maintained an air of complete innocence.
"I was going through a major drama at that point in my life and Will just happened to be there for me. It was merely coincidental that he also happened to be one of the judges. And I have you know that I never said we'd be a couple. It's not my fault that I'm not attracted to him. He is a nice guy but so totally not my type. Him following me around like a lost puppy for a month was pathetic." Lauren smirked, baiting her sister to completely lose her temper. If that were to happen, she's make Michael stop the car and leave her on the road. After that, she would be able to get rid of her two babysitters. In her mind, Lauren silently congratulated herself for a job well done.
"Major drama? What major drama, did you gain a half a pound or didn't your shoes match your dress." Sydney replied acidly.
"Offended. I had just broken up with Thomas and I resent that notion that you think I'm only interested in counting calories or dressing fabulously. Get off your high horse Syd, it's not like your perfect or anything. I didn't wreck my brand new Mercedes, because I was too busy verbally copulating on the phone." Lauren knew that that would be the final straw for Sydney and if that wouldn't make her blow a fuse, nothing would,
Michael noticed that Sydney was very near of punching her sister, so he decided to intervene before that would happen.
"Now girls, back to your own corners. It's been an especially fun 10 minutes to listen to you two go at it, but I don't think your father would like it very much that his daughters started a chick smackdown while riding in a car traveling in one of the busiest roads in all of America." Michael said with a laugh and used his free hand to squeeze Syd's thigh in a reassuring manner. This simple gesture seemed to calm her down instantly.
Damn, cursed Lauren in her mind. Why was that boring stiff always getting in the way. She was really close to getting her freedom for a couple of hours. But thanks to Saint Vaughn over here, she would have to go home and sit in her room fiddling her thumbs instead of hitting Melrose with Rachel or Kelly and doing some serious retail therapy.
The rest of the drive was spent in silence. Out of fear of a new argument, Michael had turned the radio on and Lauren was forced to listen to the old has-
beens channel, which endlessly played songs that were at least forty years out of style. She didn't understand how her sister could have possible started dating the most uninteresting man in the entire high school. Sure, Michael was good-looking and nice, but frankly Lauren would have rather watched paint dry than spent an evening alone with him. He was way too boring and sweet for her taste. She liked men who were wild, edgy and untamed.
Michael was quite relived when the Bristow mansion appeared and hoped that by the time they entered the posh estate, the girls would have forgotten their argument already. He didn't unfortunately take into account that the Bristow's could hold a grudge longer than Uncle Scrooge could count his money.
The vast Bristow estate was one of the largest mansions in southern California. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean and being located in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the world, the house had an old Hollywood feel to it and could render a passerby speechless with its majesty. Michael had always been in awe of the place his girlfriend called home. There was something about this elegant, timeless piece of architecture that still strongly affected him. His family was no where near of being poor, but their 20 room Beverly Hills home paled in comparison to this and it was closer to the size of the Bristow's guest house.
Lauren was sulking and Sydney remained quiet while the threesome entered the house. All of them knew that by now, the twins mother would be home and would want a detailed account of the day. Even though she was a busy language professor at UCLA, Irina always had time for her daughters.
Instead of going to see her mother, Lauren went straight to the mahogany stairs that would lead to her lavish bedroom decorated in red and white. She was not in the mood to endure her mother's gentle yet stern lecture about the responsibilities of life. And of course Sydney, the goody-too-shoes would delightfully join in to preach her the Irina Bristow gospel.
Downstairs, Sydney and Michael joined her mother in the kitchen where she was reading the newspaper and sipping coffee. Still in her early fourties, Irina Laura Bristow was a traffic-stopping beauty, who's eyes so closely resembled those of her daughter Sydney. She greeted the couple with a warm smile and got off the stool to gently hug her first-born. To most it was funny that Irina viewed Sydney as her first and Lauren as her baby, since the siblings were born only three minutes apart. But to Irina, it was the most natural thought, because Sydney was strong-willed, assertive and always in control and caused less consternation than Irina's younger, more mischievous daughter, who always managed to find herself in trouble.
"How was school, darling," Irina asked while guiding her daughter and Michael to sit on the kitchen stools.
"Fine, mom. Nothing special, just an average day at the magnificent learning centre that is Rambaldi High," Sydney said sarcastically while exchanging glances with her boyfriend. She knew mom would want to know more, but today she was not in the mood to chit chat with mom, especially after the row she had had with her sister.
Irina lifted her brow and noticed that her oldest was definitely not in the mood to talk. So, she decided not to push it and when she would be ready to talk, she would listen.
As a way of lifting the mood in the room, Michael handed a white handmade invitation to Irina, which his mother had sternly reminded him to give to Sydney's parents. Bill and Anna Vaughn were having a dinner party in honor of his cousin Julian moving in. He personally didn't like his cousin at all, but out of respect for his parent's and aunt, he was going to keep those opinions to himself.
"What a lovely invitation, do tell your mother that were would be delighted to attend. " Irina said with a smile and hugged Michael before going to check the date from the wall calendar.
"Mom, we're going to go to my room to do homework," Sydney said as she took her bag and left with Michael in tow to her bedroom in the second floor.
Lauren's room was across the hall from Sydney's and they could hear very loud music blasting from her speakers. Sydney ignored the music and didn't even spare a glance to her sister's door.
To be continued. In the next chapter Sark will appear and things will heat up between him and Lauren.
Reviews are more than welcome. The more I get them, the more I get inspired to write.