Chapter 14: Part of Said Team
Disclaimer: I'm not JJ Abrams, or ABC…therefore Alias isn't mine.
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Michael had just finished explaining what had happened to Sydney, and Danny sat silently through the whole thing. His eyes had grown wider and wider until they were wild.
"We can't just sit here! Why are you just sitting there? We have to find her! Why aren't you finding her?!?" Danny yelled hysterically. "Who knows what her mother will do?!?"
Little did Danny know that referring to Derevko as her mother lowered the chances of Michael jumping to do anything. Or would have before…He just made a point of avoiding thinking of Derevko as Sydney and Lorrie's mother.
"We have nothing to go on. We don't know where to look. We can't waste manpower going in the wrong direction," Michael said coolly. For some reason, he'd come to dislike Danny. He did know that a man that had a family ought to spend more time with them than Danny did with his; he often worked until after 7, leaving Sydney alone with the baby.
"But she could be torturing Sydney right now!" Danny snapped.
"I know," Michael growled, gritting his teeth to keep from saying anything more. It was then he realized he'd broken his own rule: he'd come to like Sydney, to enjoy her company too much. She'd made many endeavors to be friends, despite his distance, and she'd finally broken through his defenses at some point.
Michael retreated outside into the chilly November evening, and quickly wished he was wearing a sweatshirt over the thin cotton one he wore. But he couldn't bring himself to go back inside with Danny, who was overly eager to go looking for his wife but had no clue where to start. Nor of the procedures they'd have to wade through before action could be taken.
The entire team, including Jack Bristow, was combing the Millers' backyard. He saw that one of them had unearthed Lorrie's duffle bag from behind a bush; Derevko must have grabbed her just as she was leaving. As he watched, Taylor Miller walked out and started talking to Jack. May be they understand each other, Michael thought. God knows no one else understood either of them. And he himself certainly didn't like Miller and more than he liked Jack.
Jack must have said something to send Miller back into the house, because presently Jack headed toward where Michael was standing. He'd thought he was hidden from the other agents' view, but Jack had been frighteningly observant even when Michael had joined the CIA.
"Agent Vaughn," Jack acknowledged shortly. "Has anyone briefed you on the progress?"
"No," Michael said just as shortly and not tacking on the usual "sir" at the end. He and Bristow were civil, at best. Now he had gone and let Bristow's daughter get kidnapped. He noticed the angry look in his superior's eyes. "Sir, Derevko could have gotten around the best agent. It might have been sooner if there'd been a recruit here."
Bristow's eyes flashed. "I placed you here trusting you were capable of recruit level work…"
"Now we both know this should not have been considered recruit work, after all," Michael said shortly.
Jack ignored him. "Between the evidence found here and electronic trails found by analysts at the op center, I believe I can locate Derevko. Kendall, however, sees it differently. He won't approve a mission based on the current intel."
Michael took several seconds to catch the hidden message; Jack had always bee none to follow orders to the letter. He looked curiously at the man.
"Are you suggesting…" Michael trailed off.
"You screwed up, Agent Vaughn. I assumed you'd like the chance to rectify that mistake," Jack said calmly.
Michael looked at his warily. "What did you have in mind?"
"We round up whatever team we can and extract Sydney and Lorrie Miller ourselves," Jack said quietly, careful of the team overhearing. "I believe Taylor Miller could be a valuable part of said team. He's had the most recent contact with Derevko."
Michael was surprised that Jack was waiting for his reaction, as though that alone could change his mind.
Michael just nodded. "Personally, I think Daniel Hecht could be helpful. He's so anxious to help that he'll only get in our way if we try to keep him out of anything, anyway. He'll do whatever you want at this stage," he suggested. "Unfortunately, that might be the only team you can employ to go against Kendall. Most of the agents are afraid of him."
It was Jack's turn to nod gravely. "I know. Can I count you in? I should acknowledge that you don't have to do this, as it is entirely outside the agency."
Michael stopped to think of how sweet Sydney's smile was when she wasn't mad, and how cute her baby was, and how much Lorrie seemed to look to Sydney for support…and how cute she was when she was mad…
"I'm in," he said before turning and going back inside quickly; thinking about Jaime had reminded him that the poor kid was still alone in his room where Sydney had left him for a nap just before she'd been kidnapped, hoping he'd sleep right through their trip to the safe house.
Inside, Michael ignored Danny, who sat brooding in the kitchen, and went straight into Jaime's room. The baby sat up in his crib, whimpering softly, as though he'd been crying but was now too tired to do anything more. When he saw Michael, though, he started crying loudly and waving his tiny fists in the air.
Awkward and afraid of dropping the squirming baby, Michael picked him up. His face, if anyone had seem it, was a mixture of confusion and fear. Jaime cried harder.
"Uh, hold on, little guy," Michael said, trying to mimic Sydney's way of talking to him. "What's wrong?"
He ran through the list of possibilities. "Are you cold? No, it's plenty warm in here. "You wet?" He made a face. "I guess I'm going to have to change you, huh? I bet you're hungry too."
Michael made quite a sight, wrestling Jaime on the changing table, then holding him there with one hand and rummaging for diapers and wipes with the other.
"I'm not good at this, buddy, you've got to be still!" Michael said as Jaime almost rolled off the table again.
Jaime laughed and continued to wiggle around.
Michael stopped searching for diapers and smiled. "You could put anyone in a good mood, couldn't you?" he asked in awe.
Jaime gurgled his consent. Michael smiled broader and continued about his task. Once Jaime was sloppily changed and comfortable, Michael carried him into the freshly deserted kitchen. It occurred to him to wonder if Danny had deliberately left to avoid his kid.
He found the thought made him more angry than it should have; it was way too personal. The kid had stolen his way into the hard agent's heart.
Michael took a full five minutes to become confident that he'd strapped Jaime into his high chair, and by then he's started whimpering again.
"Come on, buddy, I'm trying!" Michael complained, laughing as he went through cabinets looking for either oatmeal or Cheerios to keep Jaime busy until he could feed him. Or may be he'd find jars of baby food. Hell, what was he doing with this kid? He'd be lucky if he didn't leave Jaime with any permanent damage.
He answered his question under his breath a few seconds later. "Because his father is ignoring him, that's what."
Finally, he opened a cabinet to find several jars of baby food on the top shelf. He grabbed a jar of orange goop and dug a spoon out of the dishwasher.
After setting the unopened jar on the tray of Jaime's high chair, Michael paused and looked at the full-sized spoon in his hand. Then he looked at Jaime. Then he looked back at the spoon. Then he grinned.
"This can't be right, buddy. Don't you have nay of those little spoons?" he asked as he rifled through some drawers. "Ah-ha!" Triumphantly, he held up the white-rubber tipped spoon.
Most likely, more food got on the high chair, the floor, and Michael then Jaime actually ate, and that wasn't counting what got on Jaime. He seemed to sense the naïveté of Michael right away, and delighted in first knocking the open jar off of the tray onto the floor and Michael's shirt, then repeatedly knocking the spoon from Michael's hand, sending it everywhere. Michael couldn't figure out exactly how the orange blob wound up in his hair.
Jaime giggled and clapped the whole time, and while Michael tried to return the kitchen to its original state he wondered how Danny could not hear his son and be irresistibly drawn to his happy laughter. The thought made Michael angry.
By the time Michael had finished cleaning up the mess, Jaime's eyelids had begun to droop. He took advantage of the baby's inactive state to attempt to balance his on his hip the way he'd seen Sydney do, but soon found it impossible, so he sort of draped Jaime over his shoulder, where he seemed quite comfortable and soon fell asleep.
Smiling, Michael carried the baby into the nursery. Somehow, he managed to change him into warm pajamas. Then he laid him in the crib, and tucked a blanket around his tiny body.
When Michael found Danny before he left, having been clearly dismissed by Jack Bristow earlier that day, he told him he'd put Jaime to bed, and all Danny said was ,"Oh, thanks."
"One of the agents is planning to extract your wife from where she's being held," Michael added. "You want to be part of the team that goes in?"
Danny was suddenly paying attention.
"Yes! When?"
"I'll be in touch," Michael said vaguely, Danny's disinterest in his child becoming more evident to him.
Michael made sure to find Jack before he left the area.
"You know where to find me. And Hecht's in for his wife's extraction," he added.
"I'll be in touch by tomorrow," Jack promised tonelessly. "And Miller is more than willing to go along with whatever we do."
On that note, Michael went home to his empty apartment. His silent apartment. In the little while he'd been in Sydney's house, he'd become used to having her and Jaime around, and, he had to admit, he'd enjoyed taking care of Jaime, even though his father should have been doing that.
The hell with getting too attached. He was too attached.
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Aw, how sweet! I've always loved the thought of seeing big, tough Agent Vaughn handling a baby. Men are always so afraid of babies, anyway, and I'm sure Vaughn hasn't had much opportunity in his line of work to be around kids. You should see my version of him with older kids…meaning a thirteen-year-old. (See "Among The Missing," if you haven't already! I think the interaction between Laura and Brandon and Vaughn is pretty funny…especially when she starts testing him! And Weiss is no better than Vaughn…Such easy targets!)