Disclaimer: I don't own Alias, but I sure wish I did!
WARNING: Spoilers!!!
[Thoughts are in brackets]
Scene 6
Vaughn slowly opened his sleepy eyes, frowning at the sunlight that was singing 'Rise and Shine'. He sat up straighter and tried to shake off the dreamy daze. Once he became more alert and awake he saw that Sydney was no longer in the seat across from him. He could hear her voice coming from the front of the plane and poked his head out into the center isle looking in the direction the voices were coming from. What he saw brought a smile to his face. Sydney was sitting on the floor, at the opening between the cabin and cockpit, in Indian style, with pigtails and a huge smile! [Side #235, 'innocently childlike', who would guess that yesterday she was accused of mass destruction!]
He could tell that she was hanging on Captain Carver's every word, so he began to eavesdrop, which wasn't hard to do thanks to Carver's loudly animated voice. He was telling her stories of the 'glory days' when he flew for some of her dad's field missions; the man he was describing was completely different from the seriously stoic Jack Bristow they knew, the man Carver portrayed was full of charisma, compassion, and confidence. [Laura must have humbled him… Syd may LOOK like her mom but she sounds more like her dad, I wonder if he knows that…]
As if Sydney had had similar thoughts, her head dropped, crinkling her forehead to focus [I don't even know the Jack Bristow that Carver's talking about; he sure sounds interesting! It's like the whole thing with mom killed him, I wonder if he'll ever 'live' again? And you had to haul off and tell him that his murderous wife faked her own death and is probably still alive, counting the seconds until she'll wipe us all out. Good one Syd! I wonder what hurts him more, the fact that the woman he loved is the Devil in disguise, or that he actually fell for her act? I wonder if he sees her when he looks at me, maybe that's why he's kept his distance. I'm a living memorial to the lie he called 'life'. I can't image the pain of finding out that the person you loved most in the world, the one who you completely trusted, was actually using you. Maybe if he had someone like Vaughn…]
She leaned her head back to rest on the wall behind her, and turned towards the subject of her last thoughts. She smiled when she saw that he was staring in her direction, his head propped up by one hand. "Good morning sleeping beauty!" She turned back to Carver before he could tell her that SHE was the beauty, but was glad she had. [Keep your thoughts to yourself Mike!!!]
"You hungry for breakfast Captain Carver?"
"Well I guess I could eat something, if your fix'n!"
She pushed herself off the floor, "Yeah, don't want a starved pilot on our hands, you may do something drastic! Give me a second and I'll see what the options are." Then walking down the isle asked Vaughn, "How 'bout you, hungry?"
"Sure, I could eat, and if you're going to get all domestic I think I'd better see this," answered sarcastically.
She kept walking towards the kitchenette but threw her head back and stuck out her tongue, Vaughn shrugged his shoulders and continued, "sorry, but this is a rare event for me, maybe we should get pictures for proof!" That earned him a playful punch in the stomach.
"Hey you two, don't kill each other before I get some food!"
While laughing Sydney yelled back "I, I, Captain!"
They were still chuckling as they began rummaging through cabinets and the fridge. Vaughn had started coffee; Sydney began slicing a melon she found and began to talk just above a whisper, "It's like I don't even know my father, not the real Jack Bristow, I wonder if HE even remembers him… I hope I don't turn into that."
Vaughn was taken off guard by her sudden change in subject, but gave her a sympathetic and reassuring smile, "then don't!" He hesitated, as if remembering something, then continued with a hint of pride in his voice, "my dad used to say, 'you can't always choose your circumstances, but you CAN choose how you respond to them!"
"Did he do that a lot, give you advice?" He felt sad for her, it seemed like such a foreign concept to her. He didn't have his dad very long, but it was long enough for him to leave his son with happy memories. Plus, he had a mom who took every opportunity to remind him what a wonderful dad he had had. [That's what Sydney needs, a family like mine, not perfect, but always there, loving her and believing in her no matter what, I wish I could give her that…WATCH IT, coffee, focus on coffee…]
"I'm sorry Vaughn, I shouldn't have asked, its too painful."
He realized he must have been lost in thought and had not responded soon enough, causing her to think she overstepped her bounds. "Oh no its fine, I mean it IS painful, but I'm proud of my dad, I love remembering the good times. And yes, he did give me lots of good advice. I don't remember all of it, cause I was young, but I know I was loved…" He noticed that tears had filled her eyes [Way to go Mike! Remind her of what she DOESN'T have! That's just great, if she starts crying, its all your fault!]
Her soft-spoken words stopped his train of thought, "He said he loved me"
She turned to face him and began to ramble as tears trickled down her face, "last night before we took off, he said he loved me… OUT LOUD!" She dropped her head to study the melon she WASN'T cutting, "He hasn't said that since I was little, I remember he would come in and tuck me in at night, sometimes he'd read me a story, or make one up, he was so good at that, then he'd give me a kiss on the cheek and say 'good night my sweet Sydney, daddy loves you!"
Vaughn put his arm around her and she briefly rested her head on his shoulder, then reached up to wipe away the runaway tears, "he may not have been much of a dad since then, but he's the only dad I've got, I just want to live long enough to fix what's wrong between us, you know!?!"
"Yeah, well I've yet to see you fail to do something you were determined to do…"
Their 'bonding moment' was interrupted but a hungry captain, "Hey there can't be THAT many choices, quit talking about it and let's EAT!!!"
It worked the somber spell was broken and they went back to the task at hand, both caught up in their own thoughts.
[He actually told me about his dad!]
[She thinks she's ganna die soon, over MY dead body!]
TBC
WARNING: Spoilers!!!
[Thoughts are in brackets]
Scene 6
Vaughn slowly opened his sleepy eyes, frowning at the sunlight that was singing 'Rise and Shine'. He sat up straighter and tried to shake off the dreamy daze. Once he became more alert and awake he saw that Sydney was no longer in the seat across from him. He could hear her voice coming from the front of the plane and poked his head out into the center isle looking in the direction the voices were coming from. What he saw brought a smile to his face. Sydney was sitting on the floor, at the opening between the cabin and cockpit, in Indian style, with pigtails and a huge smile! [Side #235, 'innocently childlike', who would guess that yesterday she was accused of mass destruction!]
He could tell that she was hanging on Captain Carver's every word, so he began to eavesdrop, which wasn't hard to do thanks to Carver's loudly animated voice. He was telling her stories of the 'glory days' when he flew for some of her dad's field missions; the man he was describing was completely different from the seriously stoic Jack Bristow they knew, the man Carver portrayed was full of charisma, compassion, and confidence. [Laura must have humbled him… Syd may LOOK like her mom but she sounds more like her dad, I wonder if he knows that…]
As if Sydney had had similar thoughts, her head dropped, crinkling her forehead to focus [I don't even know the Jack Bristow that Carver's talking about; he sure sounds interesting! It's like the whole thing with mom killed him, I wonder if he'll ever 'live' again? And you had to haul off and tell him that his murderous wife faked her own death and is probably still alive, counting the seconds until she'll wipe us all out. Good one Syd! I wonder what hurts him more, the fact that the woman he loved is the Devil in disguise, or that he actually fell for her act? I wonder if he sees her when he looks at me, maybe that's why he's kept his distance. I'm a living memorial to the lie he called 'life'. I can't image the pain of finding out that the person you loved most in the world, the one who you completely trusted, was actually using you. Maybe if he had someone like Vaughn…]
She leaned her head back to rest on the wall behind her, and turned towards the subject of her last thoughts. She smiled when she saw that he was staring in her direction, his head propped up by one hand. "Good morning sleeping beauty!" She turned back to Carver before he could tell her that SHE was the beauty, but was glad she had. [Keep your thoughts to yourself Mike!!!]
"You hungry for breakfast Captain Carver?"
"Well I guess I could eat something, if your fix'n!"
She pushed herself off the floor, "Yeah, don't want a starved pilot on our hands, you may do something drastic! Give me a second and I'll see what the options are." Then walking down the isle asked Vaughn, "How 'bout you, hungry?"
"Sure, I could eat, and if you're going to get all domestic I think I'd better see this," answered sarcastically.
She kept walking towards the kitchenette but threw her head back and stuck out her tongue, Vaughn shrugged his shoulders and continued, "sorry, but this is a rare event for me, maybe we should get pictures for proof!" That earned him a playful punch in the stomach.
"Hey you two, don't kill each other before I get some food!"
While laughing Sydney yelled back "I, I, Captain!"
They were still chuckling as they began rummaging through cabinets and the fridge. Vaughn had started coffee; Sydney began slicing a melon she found and began to talk just above a whisper, "It's like I don't even know my father, not the real Jack Bristow, I wonder if HE even remembers him… I hope I don't turn into that."
Vaughn was taken off guard by her sudden change in subject, but gave her a sympathetic and reassuring smile, "then don't!" He hesitated, as if remembering something, then continued with a hint of pride in his voice, "my dad used to say, 'you can't always choose your circumstances, but you CAN choose how you respond to them!"
"Did he do that a lot, give you advice?" He felt sad for her, it seemed like such a foreign concept to her. He didn't have his dad very long, but it was long enough for him to leave his son with happy memories. Plus, he had a mom who took every opportunity to remind him what a wonderful dad he had had. [That's what Sydney needs, a family like mine, not perfect, but always there, loving her and believing in her no matter what, I wish I could give her that…WATCH IT, coffee, focus on coffee…]
"I'm sorry Vaughn, I shouldn't have asked, its too painful."
He realized he must have been lost in thought and had not responded soon enough, causing her to think she overstepped her bounds. "Oh no its fine, I mean it IS painful, but I'm proud of my dad, I love remembering the good times. And yes, he did give me lots of good advice. I don't remember all of it, cause I was young, but I know I was loved…" He noticed that tears had filled her eyes [Way to go Mike! Remind her of what she DOESN'T have! That's just great, if she starts crying, its all your fault!]
Her soft-spoken words stopped his train of thought, "He said he loved me"
She turned to face him and began to ramble as tears trickled down her face, "last night before we took off, he said he loved me… OUT LOUD!" She dropped her head to study the melon she WASN'T cutting, "He hasn't said that since I was little, I remember he would come in and tuck me in at night, sometimes he'd read me a story, or make one up, he was so good at that, then he'd give me a kiss on the cheek and say 'good night my sweet Sydney, daddy loves you!"
Vaughn put his arm around her and she briefly rested her head on his shoulder, then reached up to wipe away the runaway tears, "he may not have been much of a dad since then, but he's the only dad I've got, I just want to live long enough to fix what's wrong between us, you know!?!"
"Yeah, well I've yet to see you fail to do something you were determined to do…"
Their 'bonding moment' was interrupted but a hungry captain, "Hey there can't be THAT many choices, quit talking about it and let's EAT!!!"
It worked the somber spell was broken and they went back to the task at hand, both caught up in their own thoughts.
[He actually told me about his dad!]
[She thinks she's ganna die soon, over MY dead body!]
TBC