Author: Princess Box
Rating: G
Genre: General
Timeline: AU - about 14 years after 'The Telling'. No EvilFrancie, no Lauren, Will is still Will, Diane is still alive.
Summary: Alex thinks she knows her parents but Syd and Vaughn are hiding something.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Alias'! Anyone you don't recognise is mine and anyone you do isn't. The title is a song by 'The Ataris', who I was listening to while writing this and I thought it fit quite nicely! The name of the chapter is a line from that song.
Author's Note: This is my first ever FanFic and I haven't read many, so here's hoping I know what I'm doing! Please please please review and constructive criticism is most welcome - I really wanna get better at this!
Oh, and I'm from New Zealand so I don't know what it's like to live in LA or much about the USA.
If you like this I'll keep writing. I've got a few more chapters planned but I'm in the middle of my final exams at the mo. School's out til February! YAY!
LOS ANGELES
"Just another boring meeting with another boring accountant."
I can't help but grin. While I'm enjoying the quiet, emptiness of the house, my parents are stuck in traffic on the way to their hotel.
They work for the government - financial advisors. Piles of paperwork in their messy brown offices, with a meeting or conference abroad once or twice a month. This time it was London. Only for four days.
"Vaughn, let me speak to her," I heard in the background.
"Hey Alex. Are you okay?"
Mom's always worried. Not that I can't take care of myself, but that I'll get lonely. She hates leaving me alone. After my grandmother died, when Mom was only six, Granddad was always away on business trips. I know she feels she's doing the same to me, but once again I tried to explain that, being sixteen, I love having the house to myself.
"She'll be fine Syd," Dad whispered gently.
"We love you."
Deciding to make the most of the peaceful house, I curled up in bed with my Golden Retriever, Milo, and my favourite book. I was just drifting off to sleep when the doorbell rang.
"Shit," I muttered, as Milo jumped up with fright.
"Hey Will," I beamed, opening the door to my godfather. "Where's your key?"
"I knew you were alone and I didn't want to scare you," he teased.
I groaned. "Mom didn't ask you to check on me, did she?"
"Nah. I just thought you might be lonely...and I'm hungry," pushing past me to the kitchen.
"Your wife is a chef!" I exclaimed and, after pausing, added "She hasn't kicked you out yet, has she?"
"Fran's working late at the restaurant and she didn't leave me any dinner."
"Hey, is this yours?" I asked from the living room, holding a cigarette lighter up for him to see.
He wandered into the room and slumped on the couch, while taking a sip from the bottle of beer in his hand. "Nope. Why?"
"I found it under the couch when I was looking for Milo's ball. It's not mine, and Mom and dad don't smoke. I don't think anyone else's been around lately so I assumed it was either yours or Francie's. It doesn't work though so I guess it doesn't matter."
Will froze and his head snapped in my direction. "Actually, I just remembered. I did loose a blue lighter," he replied, just a little too quickly and a little too loudly, snatching it from my hand. "It must have fallen out of my pocket."
"Okaaaaaay," I answered slowly, a little confused by his outburst.
"I have to go. Just remembered, there's somewhere I have to go," he stammered. I took the beer from his hand as he gave me a quick hug, before running out the door.
I sat back down on the couch, taking a cold gulp. That was strange. I mean, Will's always popping in and out, always watching our TV, always eating from the fridge - that's nothing unusual. I sighed, dropping the subject, and deciding to go back to bed.
On the way back to my room I caught my reflection in the mirror and grimaced. My straight brown hair, which usually fell in soft layers around my face to my shoulders, is sticking out at every angle from lying in bed. Dragging it into a ponytail, I try to make myself look a little more presentable.
Like my mother, everyone says. "You're definitely your mother's daughter."
Whatever THAT means. Well, we're the same height and I have her face - the jaw line and dimples.
"Every time I see those dimples, I remember exactly why I fell for you and why I still love you," I recall overhearing my father whisper to my Mom after one of their very rare fights.
Well, it wasn't so much a fight. More like a hushed debate. Sometimes I hear them when they think I'm asleep. I don't know what they have to argue about though. Money, I guess. Don't everyone's parents argue about money?
I definitely resemble him though, I muse. Being half French, I inherited his dark olive skin, as well as his big, green eyes.
"There are gonna be guys lined up for miles for this one," I remembered Dad's best friend Eric taunting Dad a few years ago. "Her cocky father knows how bloody handsome he is, and YOU know her mother's got her own line of men waiting their turn!" He tried looking seductively at Mom.
"My baby's underage," he growled in reply, as Mom playfully punched him in the stomach.
"Alex. Come in here."
I groaned as I stood to meet my mother in the kitchen, where I assumed she wanted help putting the dinner dishes into the dishwasher.
"Michael and I have to go on another trip," she began, referring to my father.
"Really? Another one?" They'd only been home a few days and still looked exhausted from the long flights.
"I'm sorry honey but it's important. Would you like to come with us? I know you've been to Paris a few times..."
"Won't you be stuck in bank meetings the whole time, or having dinners with bald businessmen?"
"I know you find our trips boring but we thought you might like to invite Kaitlyn and James. It's your birthday soon and your dad and I thought you might like to show your friends around your favourite city."
Immediately my face lit up. I hugged her and ran to the phone.
"Hey J!"
"Lexy!" I couldn't help but grin. I love how he calls me that.
"My parents are going away next week..."
"They're going away again? Dude, you're so lucky. Are you gonna throw a huge party this time?"
"You wish. I called to see if you and Kat wanted to come with me...to Paris!"
"PARIS! Are you kidding! I'd love to." I could picture the cute smile on his face. "Kat can't though. Her thing..."
"Shit! Promise you won't tell her I forgot," I begged. Kaitlyn was going away with her boyfriend and she had talked non-stop about the trip for weeks.
"You'll still come though?" It would suck if neither of my best friends could make the trip.
"Of course. And I've never been to Paris so you can show me all the sites."
My heart soared. James and I together, alone, in the City of Love!
We meet when we were toddlers – James, Kaitlyn and I. Well, J and Kat are twins so they've always known each other, but our parents are friends and we became inseparable.
It was hard at times, being best friends with both of them, being stuck in the middle of all their arguments. Things have changed though. Now they're so close it's scary!
I love being best friends with, being so close to, both a girl and a guy – the brother and sister I never had. I can get James' opinion, as well as Kaitlyn's, about anything and everything.
There's only one thing they don't know about me though.
PARIS
"Today is the last day we'll have to work, okay guys."
"Yup, it's fine Dad."
I really didn't mind. I love Paris and seeing it with someone my own age was so different.
My dad's mom lives about two hours from the city centre. Grand-père died when Dad was eight, so when he moved to Los Angeles, she moved back to France to be closer to her sisters and brother. So I usually come to France at least once a year and as a result, know my way around Paris nearly as well as LA.
"Yeah. Your daughter's a great tour guide Michael."
"Remember to watch out for pickpockets and..."
"They'll be fine Syd. Come on, we're going to be late to the conference. Have fun you two!"
"Sorry about my parents," I grinned after they'd left.
"Don't be stupid Lex," James smiled back. "You know I love your parents. Now, where're you taking me today?"
He slipped his hand into mine and squeezed it gently, leading me out the door.
I'd spent the last two days showing James some of my favourite places in the world. We'd climbed to the top of 'L'Arc de Triomphe' and 'Notre-Dame, spent hours wondering the galleries of 'Le Louvre', and debated over whether New Paris and 'La Defense' ruined the atmosphere of the city.
And I showed him all the other great things about this city. Little cafés and boutiques, places my mother and father had discovered, all hidden away from the paths of noisy tourists.
I entertained him by showing off my French - having random conversations with shopkeepers and locals. Sometimes I'd pretend that we're French, sometimes that we're loud, obnoxious tourists (speaking extremely badly, every word pronounced incorrectly).
My parents taught me French as soon as I could speak English and I love being able to use, what I consider to be, my other native tongue.
Today I decided to show J the 'Basilique du Sacre-Coeur', the most amazing church I have ever seen. We wondered through the 'Place du Tertre' on our way, watching the artists at work.
"Let's get our picture drawn," he asked, excitedly.
We stood together, grinning like idiots, while a funny French man drew our caricature.
We were still laughing about the artist's interpretation of our faces when we reached the top of the steps to the 'Sacre-Coeur'. I was thrilled when James appeared to love the church as much as me. The building is so old and mysterious, I can spend hours just sitting inside by myself.
We had lunch in a small creperie, where we scored a free meal because the owner is old friends with my Dad. We talked to him for a while, about my family and what Dad was like at school, which had us laughing. Well, he didn't speak much English and James doesn't speak any French, so I was laughing while J sat there looking extremely confused.
After saying our 'au revoirs', we had a boat trip down the Seine.
In the late afternoon, we headed for Paris' most famous attraction - 'La Tour Eiffel'. We flocked to the elevators with what seemed like half the cities population, all the families and couples speaking a different language. We stood at the top just as the sun began to set. The view was gorgeous. James and I stood hand-in-hand, unable to say anything.
I know this sounds cheesy, but every time I stand here, looking out across the city, I see the same thing. One couple who don't notice anything but each other.
So as the sky began to change from orange to purple, I reached up and gently pressed my lips to his.
He pulled back for a second, surprised by my move. My heart dipped. I instantly regretted what I had done. We had been friends forever and with one stupid action I had destroyed our friendship. How could I be so thoughtless, so immature?
"Sorry," I whispered as I began to turn away. He gently cupped my face in his hand, turning me to face him, pressing our lips back together. We deepened the kiss before parting at the same time, smiling up at each other.
"You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to do that," he whispered in my ear, his eyes sparkling.