Disclaimer: Alias, unfortunately, does not belong to me,

Note: This is actually the third Alias fanfic I've done, the first two I might end up putting on here at some point in the future.

Another Missing Memory

Chapter One

It had been fairly easy to gain access to the beautiful manor house; her target was becoming too lax in the security department. Sydney thought back on the past week. So many times it would have been easy to finish the job, instead of waiting until now. For some reason the Covenant had told her to hold off, she didn't question them. 'Julia' didn't question them. There was a long silver mirror that hung the length of the pale blue wall, the inside of the bedroom that she was moving toward reflected in the glass. Her heart pounded and she stopped quickly upon hearing footsteps heading in her direction. Julia hurriedly surveyed her surroundings for a place to hide; and found none. She berated herself for not being more careful and for acting cocky when she thought this would be a quick in and out. The blonde listened carefully and heard only one set of footsteps; she could handle whatever came around the corner no problem.

Julia stepped swiftly across the corridor and pressed her back against the wall, she glanced to the right and saw he would be opponent out of the corner of her eyes. Quick as a flash her leg shot out to knock him off balance, the muscular 6ft something guy called out in surprise and toppled backwards, falling against the wall where he regained his balance enough to block a left hook. He countered with a double punch aimed at her face; each of Julia's hand grabbed a wrist and twisted them outwards. His pale face twisted into a grimace, pain shooting up each arm.
She kneed him viciously in the stomach and he doubled over, he may have been strong but he had no technique, and his movements slow. Taking an ornament from a nearby corner table she smashed it over the back of his head; her opponent fell to the hardwood floor and stayed there, shards of porcelain littered the floor.

Julia walked passed him, fully alert and ready for another attack. Her mark had to have heard her; the fight couldn't possibly have gone unnoticed. She tiptoed towards the door, which was partially ajar; she pushed it open with the gun that was now aimed in the direction of the room. The young woman listened out for a sign that there was another presence there; a shadow crossed her line of vision and Julia wasted no time in following "you had to have known this was coming" she called out. "Why prolong the inevitable?" she asked a clichéd question. Julia didn't see the kick aimed at her outstretched arms so the gun flew from her grasp, then she spun to face her attacker.

Los Angeles

Sydney shot upright in her bed; the sheets were tangled around her like she had been struggling in her sleep. She ran her hand over her face; her breathing was starting to slow down and even out. A hand slid across her waist and moved to stroke her stomach; Sydney glanced down at Vaughn's face.

His eyes were only partly open, still half asleep. "Are you okay?"

A fake smile appeared to accompany the half-hearted nod that she shot his way. "Just a stupid dream" she settled back down and straightened out the streets. Vaughn was watching her closely; Sydney looked across at him and laughed at his half awake, concerned and confused look. "We have to get up in a couple of hours" she told him through yawns.

"Who is Roger Ashford?"

Sydney shook her head and her brow furrowed at his out of the blue question. "I don't know, why do you ask?" she closed her eyes again, trying to find rest.

"You called out his name in your sleep" he responded. He was now more awake and her eyes shot open to meet his questioning gaze "right before you woke up."

Sydney stared at the wall and focused on a spot in the corner as though that might clue her in. "I don't know," she repeated.

CIA Operations Center

"I only remember Ashford because the CIA had me do some background research on him, they didn't say why and I thought it was a waste of time" Sydney was sat on a chair beside Will Tippin, her ex-reporter friend. He had returned to LA a few months ago, the CIA had rehired him on a temporary basis, at least it was supposed to be temporary. Will wasn't complaining, he had a steady income with his new job and he got to see Sydney everyday. He had missed the daily banter they used to have.

Sydney read the information on the screen, the picture of the man; Roger Ashford, was new to her, she had never seen him before in her life. "Why was it a waste of time?"

Will scrolled down the page so his friend could continue reading. "The guy died, like, two years ago. The TOD isn't exact but roughly it was two years ago."

She tore her eyes away from the screen. "How did he die?"

Will pushed back from the screen and swiveled the chair to face her. He shrugged "I don't know, it doesn't say" he reached towards the desk again and closed the page. "Hey, are you okay?" he leaned forward in the chair.

She smiled at him warmly and looked reassuring. "I'm fine, I just wanted to check up on something."

He didn't look entirely convinced and wanted to find out what it was that was bothering her, she was saying everything was okay but he saw in her eyes that it was a lie. "Okay..." he relented and backed off the subject. "But if you change your mind, I'll be here..." he waved his arm and indicated the desk that had become as cluttered as his old desk at the paper had been. "Researching information on dead guys."

Sydney grinned, genuinely this time. "Thanks, hey, are you coming by tonight? Vaughn and I are ordering in and we always get way too much food..."

"So you just want me there to eat your leftovers?" his blue eyes twinkled with mirth as he feigned being hurt by her comment. "Fine, fine, now I know why you invite me around all the time" Sydney pushed his arm playfully and Will's smile grew. He was glad he had made her happy again, if only for a few minutes. "I'm there."

Empty boxes of takeout food were spread across the table; as were drinks and napkins. Sydney, Vaughn and Will were all sat on the floor trying to remain interested in the made for TV movie they were supposedly watching. They were way too full up, even with Will's help in eating, to even think about the chocolate and cream dessert that awaited them in the kitchen. Sydney had invited her dad over too but Jack Bristow had declined the offer; saying he had work, something his daughter knew wasn't true.

Will interrupted her thoughts; he was pointing at the TV screen with a look of disbelief. "Oh come on, he wouldn't just walk in like that!" he critiqued and then look at his two friends in turn. "He wouldn't, right? I mean in real life you wouldn't just walk into that kind of situation without backup?" he waited for confirmation from the professionals.

The man on the screen had wandered into a warehouse alone after a tip- off that a bomb was about to go off at that location, when he got the call he had been half way across town and would have had time to get help. But he chose to sort out the problem himself. They watched as the fearless, or stupid protagonist tried to decide which wire to cut and could imagine, if Marshall was watching the same movie, him shouting technical mumbo jumbo at the TV, and telling Carrie how way off base the guy was with the bomb diffusion. "No way, we'd have help, professionals that are trained to deal with that kind of situation," Vaughn answered.

Will nodded, that's what he had thought. He scoffed "is this guy even law enforcement --?"

"Well there was that one time in Africa" Sydney contradicted Vaughn's earlier statement. Both men stopped watching the film and feeling their eyes on her, she looked at them. "You remember? There was that guy...what was his name?" she stopped to think and Vaughn took that moment to interrupt.

"We never diffused a bomb in Africa."

"Yeah we did, there was a man Peter or Petey or something" it was annoying her not being able to remember a simple short name.

The two men shared puzzled glances. "Maybe it was a mission with Dixon at SD-6, before you started working with the CIA" Will suggested.

Sydney nodded. "Yeah, that must be it" there was still a nagging doubt in her mind that it was it at all though, she would talk to Dixon about it tomorrow and clear up all her doubts. Or create more.