A/N: Huge thank you to Jasmine for betaing this chapter...

I think my frustrations on Lauren really shows.. and I'm sorry if it offends anyone... but... yeah.... I'm just... an angry teenager.

oh.. and I wanted to post this because well.. I'm afraid that JJ will be using the same procedure... so.. I wanted to get my idea out first... remember.. I'm spoiler free.. it might all be wrong.

initially posted on Nov. 9 at 12:09 PM PST

thank you to:

TheUptownGirl: hmm… continue posting at sd-1 please! :P we only got like… 2 chapters! And I wanted more ;) thanks for reviewing though

YoungStarsOwner: I'm glad you loved it!


Chapter 2
~One Step Back~

Flashback

"Michael. We need to talk."

"Please not right now. There's something happening at work," Vaughn was trying to make it to the door as fast as he could.

"I know. That's why we need to talk. The NSC has information that makes Sydney the primary suspect as the murderer of Lazarey," her voice trailed off with an ominous tone.

Michael Vaughn's hand slipped off the doorknob.

"What do you mean?" he questioned cautiously.

"Michael, you lied to me."

"And what exactly did I lie about?" delaying the inevitable.

"You knew that Sydney killed him and you decided to not tell me."

"I was under orders not to tell—" He tried to defend himself, but the anger in his wife's voice stopped him, cold.

"I am your wife. You're not supposed to lie to me. And you are hindering my work on purpose. I was assigned to find the murderer. You knew and you decided to not tell me. You are supposed to report to me. I have authority on this case, Michael. And you withheld information. From your own WIFE! I can get you reassigned. I can also get charges thrown on you. Withholding information, aiding a traitor."

"You have no right to that. No jurisdiction—"

Silence pervaded the hallway. The anger and tension was mounting. Weiss' words, That's why you don't marry between agencies… was ringing through Vaughn's mind. God, this conversation should be going on at the Task Force Center, where work belonged. It shouldn't happen at home. Home is for our personal lives, not our professional lives. It was inescapable that their private and professional lives would crash though.

"How did you find out? How did the NSC get information that it was Sydney?" Thousands of possibilities ran through his head, ranging from torture to a simple slip of a note to a high placed officer.

"Julia Thorne," she threw out the words like they were the most despicable things known to mankind. Her face glowed with a triumphant look.

Vaughn's forehead creased with curiosity and confusion. He started walking back to the living room, not able to stand the look on her face at the moment. "How do you know about Julia Thorne?"

"Why? You know everything the CIA has on her anyway?"

"I didn't ask about what the CIA asked. I asked about how you found out about her." He was losing his patience with her. Extracting the necessary information from Lauren was like pulling teeth. And it wasn't her teeth that were being pulled.

"Marshall had rerouted the video clip before he started the pixel sharpening. The out-routed computer was not connected to the government network. Because it was rerouted through the computer, it would save the encrypted information and can never be deleted. It's kind of like when you go to a website, the computer memorizes the web address and you can't ever delete it no matter how many times you empty the history or the temporary internet files."

"How did he get the information?" He queried, but inside, he was berating himself. 'How come he couldn't help Sydney more? How come he could never protect her the right way? Why could he have not helped Jack more? Why didn't he search for Sydney after she went missing? Why didn't he believe Jack that it was necessary to keep searching? Why had he allowed her to go into her house by herself?' Ultimately, the question was, 'Why had he given up on her so quickly if he loved her like he knew he did?' Lauren's answer brought him back to the conversation.

"Marshall hooked his PDA to the outside computer after detecting which one of the forty-seven it was. The flash memory chip had enough of the data of the clip. He then used another software he had designed to sharpen the clip. It wasn't as great as his previous one, and it took longer. But it still did a remarkable job. He found the words "Julia" being mouthed first by zooming in and restoring the movement of Lazarey's mouth. When the entire clip had been reworked, we saw Sydney's face. It's undeniable that she did it in my mind. But of course, the CIA wants a confirmation, and we can't do that without Sydney."

"How come I wasn't informed of this?"

"It was NSC, not CIA."

"So there's a search going on for Sydney?" He kept his voice emotionless on purpose, trying to not betray his inner feelings to his wife.

"Yes."

"What are they going to do if she's found?" he inquired.

"When, not if, Michael. Even the great Sydney Bristow can't avoid the methods the NSC uses to find people."

"You mean the CIA will being doing all the footwork," he nearly scoffed.

"No. We've enlisted the help of top Army strategists, the CIA, and the FBI."

Shit. They were pulling out the best and with no limitations.

"Why all the people if she's still in LA?"

"Because she no longer is."

"How do you know that for sure?" He knew Sydney. She probably wasn't even aware of these occurrences. Especially after the death of her father, she wouldn't be aware of what was going on around her.

"We know." He was starting to hate her naïve attitude of 'The NSC knows everything.'

"What's going to happen to her?"

"She'll be undergoing some intensive testing to try and regain her memory." She replied hesitantly.

"And those are?" He prodded.

"It's an operation," she conceded. With Vaughn's quizzical look, she continued, "We'll be operating on her brain. The surgeons will attach small electrodes to her temporal lobes, most likely her memorial region. They'll be sending in 30 milli-volts of electricity to stimulate the neurons. It will hopefully manipulate her brainwaves due to the higher than normal electrical current running through her brain which forces the potassium sodium channels to open up quicker. They will also have small wires that they will be touching at certain identified areas on her brain. Her brain activity should rise above the normal ten percent, maybe even going up to fifty or sixty percent. She'll be given a shot before that would force her to answer all questions truthfully."

"And she'll be awake for this? It sounds complete unethical." Vaughn's voice was of disgust. Lauren caught his tone.

"Yes, Michael, she will be. It's a brain surgery. She'll be explaining to us what she remembers. And since she has a photographic memory, she should remember things quite clearly within those two missing years. They're also trained surgeons. They've practiced this type of thing before," she replied quietly, trying to reassure him that everything will be okay with her manner.

"You mean they've never done this operation before?" Why was he not surprised? The NSC was going to any lengths to gather the information they needed. His voice was strained, "What are the side effects of this surgery?"

She didn't answer.

"Lauren, what are the side effects of this surgery?" His voice made her fear him. She rarely saw him in this mood, and when he was, they usually decided to stay away from each other until he calmed down. But this time, she wasn't able to escape this situation.

She quietly said, "Possible brain damage, paralysis, even death. But… she'll forget everything after the surgery."

"What do you mean by everything?"

"She won't remember anything that happened in her life. It's the main side effect of the surgery."

"And if this surgery doesn't work, you do realize that you're going to be wasting the best goddamn agent the agency has ever seen?"

"Damnit Michael, you have too much personal connection to this."

"So what if I do. What you're going to be doing to her is completely unethical. You're going to be killing her Lauren. Who gives you the right to play with someone's life like this?"

"You need to stop thinking of her as your ex-girlfriend. She's the enemy now. She's going to be arrested anyway. Her methods are completely unorthodox, and can be held for threatening her superior."

Silence clouded the once homey room. They sat there, glaring at each other. Vaughn's mind was racing through the places that Sydney could be. He was going to save her, even if it meant his job, maybe even his marriage. He was going to save her because it was the only way he could repay for not doing enough before.

"I forgot to mention, Marshall also found something interesting."

"What's that?" Vaughn remarked. He voice was resigned, his attitude was in a hostile mode. They had found out that Sydney had killed Lazarey. It would only be a matter of time before the NSC located Sydney. They will find her and operate on her, and they wouldn't care what would happen to her. She would probably just be disposed of afterwards, after they got the information they wanted.

"It appears that someone downloaded a virus onto AD Dixon's computer, which stopped the restoration of the first video clip on Marshall's computer. AD Dixon denies any knowledge of doing the act himself. Nevertheless, he has been detained until further evaluation." There was a superior tone to her voice. The rivalry between the two agencies on this case had been astronomical. Now the NSC had finally caught up to the CIA, and Lauren had finished her first successful assignment. He should be happy for her. But he couldn't be because it clashed with his private life. It was either side with Lauren and be cooperative with the NSC or to help Sydney escape and assist the CIA in destroying the Covenant.

"If Dixon is detained, who's in charge?"

"You're looking at her."

"You're not CIA."

"Doesn't matter. Director Lindsey has put me in charge of operations as of thirty minutes ago."

End Flashback



* I have no idea what I was talking about with the surgery... just making sure you know that

** I also have no clue about computers... so... forgive me if that's all wrong as well.