Disclaimer: Please don't sue me. I own nothing.
It was almost 5:30 in the morning when Jack's plane finally landed. He let the cantankerous old woman out of the row first, and then slowly stood, trying desperately to work the kinks out of his neck and back. After twisting in four different directions, a satisfying crack sounded from his lower back, and he sighed. It had been a very long flight, and a vexing one at that. He had thought a long time about his relationships, especially the tentative one he had with his daughter. There was now no doubt in his mind, he loved her more than anything else in the world, and he was determined to show her, at least a little more often. This silent declaration had spurred other, even more disturbing thoughts. He still hadn't heard from Sydney, and he was now officially worried. He couldn't risk calling her cell, because if she had been caught, it might impede her efforts of escape. Normally he would call Devlin, but the director hadn't known about this unauthorized mission, and if the call turned out to be unnecessary, he could get both young agents into a lot of trouble. He stretched once more in the tiny aisle, then retrieved his carry-on from the overhead compartment. He walked down the aisle to Will's still sleeping form. He stood over the boy for a moment, thinking how much he envied Will for his ability to sleep. Of course, Jack had given him a large enough dose of pain-killer and sedative to knock out a large animal.
He bent down and roughly shook Will's shoulder. "Wake up," he said when Will finally opened his heavy eyes, "We're here." And with that, Jack hauled the young reporter to his feet and pushed him to walk. They stumbled into the terminal five whole minutes later. They were the last passengers off the plane, and Jack had to catch Will before he fell a total of nine times. Jack didn't like the kind of attention they were getting and he dragged Will into the nearest restroom. Once inside, he waited until the other occupants left, then closed and locked the door. He walked Will over to one of the sinks and stuck his head under the steady stream of icy water. Will's eyes shot open and he started to cough. Jack let him slump to the ground and turned the water off. "You need to look conscious if we're going to get out of here without any questions," he told him.
Will looked up at the older man and was about to say something when a sudden nauseous feeling swept over him. He scrambled over to a stall while Jack patiently waited in the same spot. When Will reemerged, the color had actually returned to his cheeks. His mouth was bleeding again, but he appeared to be in a more aware state. Jack grinned and asked, "Feel better?"
"Ha ha! Has anyone ever told you that you have some serious compassion issues?" The two men stayed in the restroom a few more minutes and went over Will's cover story while he cleaned up. When they exited, they went straight to the parking lot and got in Jack's car.
Half an hour later, Jack had finished describing Will's experience to Francie. He explained that Will had been mugged by two members of a street gang. They had thought he had gold fillings in his back teeth, so they promptly removed them with pliers. Jack had just luckily happened by the poor boy's unconscious body and had brought him straight to the apartment. Francie was shocked and promised to look after him. She thanked Jack profusely and asked if he would like something to drink. "No thanks Francie, but I appreciate the offer." He stood silently for a moment, then, "Out of curiosity, would you happen to know where Sydney is?"
Francie thought for a second before remembering the specific details her roommate had told her. "Oh yeah, she went to Seattle for a conference last night. She said she should be back sometime this morning."
"So she hasn't contacted you?" Jack questioned her.
"Nope. But I can tell her to give you a call when she gets in," Francie suggested.
Jack nodded. "That would be good. Thank you." Then he turned, said a short goodbye, and left.
Outside the apartment, the sky was lightening with the rising sun. Jack sat in the drivers seat of his car and stared into the distance. He had his usual mental list of things to ruminate over: Sloane, Devlin, matters of national security, his dry cleaning; but all he could think about was his missing daughter. It was a scary thing for any parent, but it became paralyzing when that parent knew the things that Jack knew. He couldn't bring himself to think of the horrible things his little girl could be going through at that very moment. He shook himself out of his thoughts and picked up his cell phone. He did a quick bug-sweep and then dialed a number.
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"Where is it? Where could it be? Could I have left it in the snack room? No, not there. Maybe in my secretary's cubicle? Nope, not there either. Oh, yeah! I put it down in Mike's office a few days ago. But Mike isn't at work yet, so his office would be locked. Hey, there's his secretary. I think she kinda likes me, maybe she'll let me in. Hey sweetie, wanna do me a favor?"
Eric Weiss was finally happy. He had his Yo-Yo back. He had been looking for it since the previous afternoon. Mike had gone home early, so he hadn't been in his office since the day before. Not that he would be welcome there anymore, anyway. He had really messed up with the ratting to Devlin thing. He hadn't meant to betray Mike's trust, he had just been fed up with Sydney's apparent manipulation of his best friend. He had done what he thought was the right thing at the time. He would just have to make it up to him with a very big pizza and a whole lot of beer.
Just as Weiss was about to walk out of his friend's office, the phone on his desk rang. He turned toward the sound and thought for a second before going to pick it up. "It could be important," he thought, and picked it up. "Michael Vaughn's office."
"Agent Vaughn? Is that you?" Jack asked, confused, excited, and even more worried, all at the same time.
"No, this is not him," Weiss paused and they both sat in silence for a minute before, "Who is this?"
Jack was getting very annoyed with the idiot on the other end of the line. "This is someone who's calling for Agent Vaughn. If you aren't him, and you don't know where I might be able to find him, I have no reason to continue this conversation."
"Whoa, someone's a little grumpy this morning." Weiss said, making a face.
Jack sighed and started speaking again, this time very slowly, as if to a child. "Who am I speaking to?"
Weiss imitated his slow rhythm, "My name is Agent Weiss, what's yours?"
"This is Agent Jack Bristow. Am I to assume you are an acquaintance of Agent Vaughn's?" He asked, his words back to their annoyed tone.
"Yes, Mr. Bristow, you can assume that," Weiss replied.
"How close of acquaintances are you?" Jack questioned.
"We're good friends. Why?" Weiss was getting confused by this conversation. It was too early to play mind games. He had just wanted his Yo-Yo back.
"I have a proposition for you, Agent Weiss. I feel I should warn you, it won't be authorized by the director of your department. If you feel that breaking protocol, on any level, would bother you, say so now." Jack had a plan. It could either be considered brilliant beyond brilliant, or the stupidest string of thoughts to ever cross his mind. At the moment he didn't care, he just needed to help Sydney.
Weiss remained silent for a few minutes. "Oh, what the hell, it's not like I've never broken protocol for a Bristow before." "What is the proposition?" he finally said.
*****Famous last words? You'll see. Sorry the updates have been so few and far between. I can't blame it on my life anymore, so I'll have to blame my stunted brain. What can I say? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Most times it doesn't. :)