AN: Just a short chapter this time folks :)

Of two minds

Sydney –

She watched as Jack took a sharp inhale, looked to the floor then looked straight back at her.

He stabbed her with a look of uncertainty, a look that told her he was about to do something because of her.

She glanced at Vaughn, she could see the small beads of sweat slowly sliding from his forehead near his bruised eye. He'd already taken one beating today, she was quietly praying Jack wouldn't give him another.

"Sloane", was Jack's opening line. He spoke confidently and sounded ready to shout.

"You decided to ignore the mission and pretend you really were there to invest today didn't you?"

All eyes shot towards Sloane. His cold exterior was leaning against the closed door behind him. He often chose to stand over the rest of us during a briefing.

Even though it was clear that Jack was in charge, Sloane stood slowly and everyone could feel his oozing authority. His stench of assurance wafted Sydney, enough to make her clench.

She studied his face, but Sloane was no easy man to read.

A slight cough, and he finally responded. "Jack. Now, now. We've all had such a tough day. Poor Vaughn here - " he'd attempted to shift the spotlight by pointing to Vaughn's horrid black eye. Jack was not taking any of it however.

"No Sloane. No, this isn't this is going to go. I make the calls surrounding this mission and I feel your conduct showed absolutely no regard to the mission itself, or your fellow agents".

It was a hard sting of critique slapped on the table by Jack. He was doing his best to deliver his authority in the hope that Sloane would for once, 'sit back and take it'.

Sydney watched Jack then looked back at Sloane. It was as though a war was being fought between them, but only in their heads.

Sloane steadied himself by placing a hand upon the table, Dixon shuddering slightly at disgust as the hand lay rested beside him.

"You may be in charge for now, Agent Bristow, but you don't criticise me for a mission that clearly went overt due to one's action that was not mine".

He was kind of right. Sloane may have acted like a jerk and if he had tried to break free from the meeting room, he may have done some good. But his actions were not those that compromised the mission, a fact that everyone in that room was well aware of.

Sydney began to feel like she was standing on a stage with a harsh bright spotlight stinging her eyes. They were still staring at each other, but the blame had yet to have been convincingly moved.

Vaughn –

So was Jack protecting him now or did he actually come here to have a go at Sloane? He didn't mind the attention being elsewhere for a while but he knew sooner or later all eyes would move to him.

To see Sloane get the blame would be pleasant, but ultimately everyone would know it was not the truth.

"Just quit this Jack. We're tired, we all want to go home on time so why not just get this over with." He suddenly said, his voice was calm and tired but not angry or forceful.

Jack looked surprised by Vaughn speaking up, but only slightly.

As Jack took his eye off Sloane and quickly looked down at his files again, Vaughn felt Sydney's hand squeeze on his knee. It was the most effective way to show any kind of affection in this transparent cage.

He stole a quick look at Sydney, whom had a look of readiness. She was ready to cut in as soon as Jack got too much. Vaughn appreciated Sydney acting so defensive of him, but he didn't like the idea of having Sydney get every word against Jack.

"Vaughn. You did make some risky errors in this mission" Jack began. He looked strangely cautious and was directing his attention strictly towards him and no one else.

He's toning it down for me. Jack Bristow had been silenced. Nearly.

Vaughn wanted to smile and even do a dance of joy at the appearance that Sydney had actually got Jack off his back for once. But for now, he placed his hand over Sydney's and returned a thankful squeeze.

Jack continued, "You carried on with the mission, as I had asked which then caused our evacuation to be discarded." He took a small intake of breath and was about to continue when Sydney jumped in.

"Because I had stupidly gone to the computer room, therefore putting Vaughn's cover at risk." She sounded slightly pushy, but calm.

Oh Sydney. Please don't get angry. Vaughn was scared she'd become infuriated with her father again and he'd hate for Sydney to make a scene.

Weiss –

He watched as Sydney continued to look straight at Jack then back at Vaughn. She gave Jack a threatening glare, but subtle. She gave Vaughn a comforting slight smile.

Weiss had been spending a lot of time with Nadia lately so he was over at Sydney's apartment a hell of a lot. He always enjoyed spending evenings in with everyone. They'd order pizza and get drunk enough to say ridiculously funny things to each other.

Weiss would usually end up laughing by the pizza box as Nadia would get her coat to leave for his place or bowling. It was that time that Sydney and Vaughn would curl up on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and sleepily talk to one another.

He would see them rub noses and laugh silently at each other. Vaughn would wrap his arm around her and nuzzle his face into her neck and Sydney would curl up to him and rest her head against his chest.

They always looked so happy with each other. So content to be in the others presence. Even whilst drunkenly trying to play scrabble they would be sat close to each other and exchange kisses after a good word was placed.

Weiss always envied their relationship. He wanted one that full of love and happiness. Nadia was great and they were getting on really well, but they hadn't reached that stage yet.

He took this opportunity of momentarily silence so glance at Nadia beside him. Yes, she was great indeed.

Jack suddenly began speaking again.

"Sydney dammit". He spoke without raising his voice but he sounded annoyed and slightly angry still.

"The bio trackers were a surprise, yes." He then began to pace back and forth in front of them all.

"But still. By finding Vaughn you alerted the rest of us to the situation and therefore allowed us time to try and deal with it."

Sydney breathed in sharply and seemed to make herself slightly taller whilst still sitting down. She was quick to respond before Jack could continue,

"I alerted you all by falling unconscious and therefore completely useless, into the room we were trying to shift attention from".

Well when you put it like that Syd. She appeared to be trying to soak up all the blame here. Weiss couldn't think why other than to try and protect Vaughn, but Jack seemed to have other plans in mind.

It was as though there was a hidden tension between them. Sydney must have spoken to Jack prior to the meeting. He seemed bound to ignore Vaughn's fault and yet wanted to not blame Sydney.

Weiss was kind of used to this by now. Sydney often steered from protocol yet she was always so good at it that the mission would rarely fail. For this reason Jack always seemed ridiculous when trying to discipline Sydney, yet he had to anyway.

The moment anyone else did something wrong however, Jack had no problem putting them back in their place.

He was kind of scary when he would point out the rules. Jack always kept that cold intimidating stare.

Sydney hadn't stopped staring at Jack with a 'matter of fact' expression. She was pushing him to write off that it was her fault and leave Vaughn alone.

Weiss knew Vaughn had messed things up a little when he'd refused to leave the room so caused more time in the building and risked his own safety. To Weiss and most likely anyone else other than Jack, it wasn't a big deal.

It had been dangerous and something to not do again, but the mission was a success and who was to blame for the chaos was not a prime aspect.

It appeared that Sydney had stunned Jack. He had nothing in response. You could see his brain ticking away trying to defend Sydney's actions.

Weiss saw as Vaughn's hand moved from Sydney's on his own lap, to the table top.

Vaughn stood up. Uh oh.

"Jack." He stated, nodding at him to ask silently for permission to speak. Jack did nothing so Vaughn took his chance to address the room.

"I made a mistake of not taking a chance to get out and get Sydney out soon enough. The mess up was mine. Sorry guys"

Sydney smiled.