ALMOST CAUGHT

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Alias. I just borrowed them for this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

Every mission made Sydney's stomach flip flop with nerves but this one made the butterflies kick it up a notch.

Her objective was to retrieve a small ruby gem from the eye of a statue, replacing it with a fake. Seemed somewhat simple enough. But in this line of work, one tends to count on at least something going wrong.

---

Sydney stalked across the roof of the museum, making her way to the glass skylight that sat high above her target. She tossed her backpack onto the ground and took out her laser cutting pen. "I'm in position and am cutting through the glass." Placing a suction cup on the glass pane, she began cutting a circle around it. The glass circle that she had cut gave way on the last cut and she moved it onto the ground next to her backpack. She set up her cable system and hooked herself to the rope, getting ready to lower herself down into the room below. "I'm ready, just tell me when." She waited to hear Dixon's voice, her heart beating quickly as adrenaline coursed through her veins.

"Go!" Dixon commanded.

Sydney wasted no time in lowering herself down. In a few short seconds she came to a stop, hovering above a glass case that housed the statue. She twisted herself around so that she was hanging upside down, making it easier to reach the case. "Alarms off?"

"Alarms off on three. One, two, three." Dixon's fingers flew over the keyboard that he was using to control the museum's alarms system.

Sydney lifted the case up and took a deep breath as she took the ruby out of the statue's right eye. An alarm immediately went off but Sydney acted as if she didn't even hear it. She replaced the ruby with the fake and then put the glass case back over the statue.

"You've got one minute, Syd."

"I'm outta here," she began twisting herself back up and climbing back up to the roof. Clearing herself past the glass, she stepped onto the roof. But just as she was just about to remove her ropes she felt something slam into her shoulder, causing her to fall backwards through the glass. She was free falling for what seemed like forever and then came to an abrupt halt a few feet from the ground, bouncing back up a bit as if she were bungee jumping. The shards of glass rained onto the ground, smashing all around her.

"Sydney!" Dixon called out to her.

She looked up towards the roof and saw two men's faces appear. Grunting in pain, she began swinging in order to avoid the oncoming bullets that began to fly towards her. Reaching behind her back she grabbed her gun and returned fire, hitting each man in the head. One of them fell forward and fell through the open skylight. His body splattered on impact as it hit the ground.

"Sydney!" Dixon continued to yell.

Sydney swayed back and forth, hanging upside down with only the rope twisted around her ankles. Blood drained from her wound splashing onto the white floor beneath her causing a weird pattern as she continued swinging back and forth. Each swing made her want to throw up but she steeled herself against it and focused on getting herself down.

"Sydney! Are you okay? Answer me!" Dixon yelled.

"Dixon," she said, now aware that he was calling to her. Before she could say anything else, more gunshots rang out, this time from the entrance of the room. She returned fire and hit the man firing at her but not before he'd hit the rope, severing it and causing her to crash to the ground, landing on her wounded shoulder. Sydney screamed out in pain as she felt the wound tear and her shoulder dislocate.

"I'm on my way in! Hang on!" Dixon dashed out of the van and made his way to the back of the museum.

Sydney laid on the ground, clutching her shoulder, tears streaming down her face. She wanted to pass out and not have to feel the pain but she knew if she did she'd never wake up again because they'd kill her for sure.

Dixon managed to get to the room where Sydney was, gasping at the sight of all the blood on the floor and the awkward look of her shoulder. Without hesitation he scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder, ignoring her cries of pain.

He got her back to the van, easing her down into the passenger seat as gently as he could. Rushing back to the driver's side, he quickly climbed in and peeled away. "Hold on, Syd," Dixon said as he sped along the streets.

Sydney's head rolled as she faded in and out of consciousness, her arm hanging limply by her side as the wound bled freely down her chest and back.

Dixon raced across the grassy area that was being used as a mock air strip. A small plane started it's engine as he approached, the door opening to greet them. Dixon threw the van in park and jumped out, running around to get Sydney out. He carried her in his arms and got her into the plane. Within seconds the plane sped across the grass and soared into the air.

He laid Sydney down on the floor of the plane and began ripping her shirt to get a better look at the wound. Taking out his cell he phoned back to SD-6. "I'm on my way in. We've got the gem but Sydney is hurt." He listened to the person on the other end and then hung up, tossing the cell onto a near by seat. Placing his hands over her wound he began applying pressure. Sydney moaned in pain as he pressed harder, sickened by the thought of her being hurt. "I'm sorry, kiddo. Hang in there. We'll be home soon."

---

Sydney slowly woke up, finding Dixon asleep in a chair beside her bed. Her grunt in pain as she tried to move woke him up instantly. "Syd. You okay?"

"Where am I?"

"You're at SD-6. You were shot a few days ago. I..."

"A few DAYS," Sydney repeated.

"Three to be exact."

Sydney moved the blankets off of her and painfully sat up, "I have to get out of here."

"What? What are you talking about? Lay back down." Dixon didn't quite know what to do.

In one quick tug, Sydney pulled out her IV. "Where are my clothes?"

"Syd, you're not going anywhere, please."

Sydney looked directly into Dixon's eyes, "Where are my clothes?"

"You don't really have any. They cut off the ones you came in with."

"Then find me something to wear out of here," she said through clenched teeth.

"Why do you have to leave?"

"If I don't get back home Francie is going to wonder what the hell happened to me." Sydney put her hand to her head as a wave of dizziness hit her.

Dixon put a hand out towards her to steady her, "You alright?"

Sydney waved him away, "I'm fine. Please, find me something to wear and get me home."

Dixon paused for a moment, clenching his jaw, then he turned and left the room. Moments later her returned with a set of scrubs. "This is the best I can do."

"It'll have to do."

---

Dixon drove Sydney home, against his wishes. She entered the apartment slowly for every step caused her great pain. "Will? Francie?" No one answered and she was thankful for it.

She managed to take a quick bath and change into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt which made her feel a lot better. She ditched the scrubs, tucking them into the corner of her closet where she'd be able to dispose of them later. Climbing into bed, she turned the TV on and tried her best to relax, despite the pain that consumed her upper body. After a few minutes she fell asleep.

---

"Syd? Syd are you in there?" Will asked as he knocked on her bedroom door. There was no reply so he slowly opened the door. Peering inside he saw Sydney lying on her stomach on her bed. Just as he was about to close the door he noticed something...blood. He slowly approached her, swallowing hard as he got closer, fearing she was dead. "Syd?" He reached out to touch her back. His contact with her body startled her and she bolted upright, giving him the answer to where all of the blood was coming from.

"Will?"

"Syd, you're bleeding for christ sake!" Putting his hands on her shoulders he eased her onto her back. Grabbing one of the sheets he put it over the bleeding wound on her shoulder. "What the hell happened? I mean, I know that it's probably a top secret thing so I don't need all of the details but...damn." Will felt his hands shaking as he put pressure on her wound. "I'm so not good at this whole spy thing."

"I think the stiches just tore," Sydney said as she moved Will's hands away so she could look at the wound. Carefully lifting up the surgical tape she slowly removed the bloodstained wad of gauze that covered the wound. "Yep, looks like a few of them tore. Get me a towel from the bathroom." Will dashed out of the room and then returned with a hand towel. She placed it over the wound and applied pressure. "It should stop bleeding in a few minutes."

"I'm glad you're so calm about this," he said as he sat down on the bed next to her. "How are you gonna explain this to Francie?"

"I don't know. Did you cover for me while I was away?"

"As best as I could. I told her you had called me about going on a last minute business trip. But this is going to be a tough one to cover up," he said, motioning towards her shoulder.

Just as Will stopped talking the front door opened and closed. "Will?" Francie's voice boomed from down the hall. Will and Sydney looked at each other. "Syd? Syd are you home?" Francie soon appeared in the doorway, immediately gasping at the sight before her. "Oh my God, Syd!"

"It's okay, Francie. It's not as bad as it looks," Sydney lied.

Francie covered her mouth with her hand as she walked over to the side of the bed, noting all of the blood on the sheets and on Sydney. "I'll call the police!"

"Wait! Francie, no!"

Francie turned back around, "What? What do you mean 'no'?"

"This didn't happen here. It happened while I was away on my trip. I fell asleep and tore the stitches, that's all." Francie took a seat on the other side of Sydney. "We were delivering a safety deposit box to one of our clients and let's just say that someone else wanted the contents REALLY bad. There was a gun fight and I, unfortunately, got in the way."

Francie began to cry, "You need to quit this job, Syd. It's not worth dying over someone else's money."

"I know, you're right," Syd agreed in order to pacify her.

"Let's get you to the hospital," Francie said as she got up from the bed and reached out towards Sydney.

Sydney put up her hand, "No. I'm fine, really." Pulling the towel away she peeked in at the wound and saw that it had stopped bleeding. "It's okay, it stopped." Francie looked at Will and then back at Sydney. "Really. It's fine."

Francie let out a heavy sigh. "You want me to get you anything? Some of your favorite chicken soup?"

"Sure," Sydney said with a smile. Francie shook her head and left the room.

"I don't know how long you can keep up this lying game, Syd." Will got up from the bed and took the bloody towel from Sydney.

"I don't know either."


THE END