Story: Beyond All Limits
Author: Steph (stephanie406@juno.com)
Disclaimer: Don't own Alias, or any characters thus portrayed. It all belongs to JJ Abrams, Bad Robot Productions, ABC, etc.; CD approved
Rating: PG-13 (for now)
Spoilers/Summary : post "After Thirty Years"; Vaughn's alive, and Sydney's been captured
AN: Thanks much to the highly attentive reader that caught my little name mix up with the last chapter. I fixed it, but unfortunately the file is on another disk. I'll switch it out when I get online later, promise. But basically, whatever lines that were in it that referred to Calder were removed. Thanks again, and R/R!
He'd waited in the duct outside the room Khasinau had entered with a mix of patience and impatience. Vaughn knew he had to be patient and quiet, so as not to alert anyone to his presence. But he was getting impatient with waiting. Not to mention, that stew had really smelled good.
Just as Vaughn's patience was finally wearing thin, the door below opened, Khasinau stepped out, and the door shut behind him. His departing words to Sydney greatly relieved Vaughn. He and Sydney would have ample escape time. Khasinau disappeared down a hallway. Vaughn was already crawling by the time he heard a door close farther down the hall, assumingly closing behind Khasinau.
All the sudden, Vaughn heard what, to him, had to be the sweetest sound in the entire world. Sydney's voice. He took caution in case there was someone else in the room with her. He peered through the first vent and saw nothing. Same with the second.
'Bingo' he thought, peering down from the third vent, amazingly right above her head. He looked around to see who she was talking to. And then promptly burst out laughing when he realized that she was muttering to a small potted plant on the table beside her.
He watched as she stiffened at the sound of his voice. She cautiously looked upwards, her eyes finding his through the slats. And then her mouth dropped open, soon to close and turn upward in a relieved, if somewhat tremorous, smile. "Vaughn?" she whispered.
His name had never sounded so wonderful to him. Ever.
"Hey Syd" he greeted her. "Making new friends I see."
Tears filled her eyes and began to spill down her already tear-stained cheeks.
Was she crying for him? Oh Sydney… Vaughn sighed quietly, wishing he could hold her and comfort her.
"Is it really you?" she asked, squinting through her tears. "I… I thought you were dead" she hiccuped through her tears. Vaughn was hard at work trying to remove the vent cover. He'd thought taking the other one off had been difficult, but that was nothing compared to trying to loosen screws from the wrong side.
Vaughn chuckled softly. "Of course it's me, Syd. You can't get rid of me that easily!" He paused for a minute, concentrating hard on his hands. "And for a minute there myself, I'd had the same morbid thoughts. Tried getting you to leave, but you were being your stubborn self as usual." He heard her laugh. That was good. He continued, saying "And then I discovered some air at the top of the hallway, and a vent. Been crawling up here, aimlessly it seems, ever since."
"How'd you find me? Even I have no idea where I am."
"Good detective work" he said, grinning. Yeah right, he thought. His grin grew wider as one of the washers finally came off and the screw fell out.
"Oww!" he heard.
"Sorry Syd" he called, already working away at his second washer. All he needed was to get two screws out, and the vent could then be pushed down, and Sydney pulled up.
"S'okay" she replied distractedly. Curiously he peeked down at her to find her hands vigorously trying to pick the handcuffs with something… was that a fork? Vaughn grinned.
'That's my girl' he thought.
A minute later, he heard her cry of triumph. She stood, massaged her wrists, and then looked up in time to see the second screw falling. "Ah ha" she said, catching and pocketing the screw like a souvenir. "Didn't get me that time" she teased, her head lifted and giving him a teasing grin as he pushed the vent down and poked his head out.
Her smile made his heart skip a beat. He smiled back. Her smiles were always infectious. "So I see" he told her, and reached his hand down to lift her up.
She shook her head. Vaughn moved back and let her climb on the chair and boost herself in. "It's just easier to do it that way" she told him, and reached down to try and pull the vent cover back in some of the way. Whatever time could be bought by covering their escape route. Seemingly satisfied, she turned to him.
"Hey" she whispered.
"Hi" he whispered back, suddenly realizing just how confined of a space they were in.
Suddenly and completely without warning, her hands were on his cheeks, drawing him towards her, and she was leaning towards him. And then she was kissing him.
Sydney Bristow was kissing him.
Vaughn moaned softly, groaning in disappointment when she pulled away.
Now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark, and she'd completely scrambled his brain, she was all business. "So which way is out?" she asked, crawling over him to lead the way.
Two could play at this game. "Your guess is as good as mine" he told her. You could hear his shrug in his voice. "I came from the left though" he informed her. He was deciding that crawling behind her, watching that perfect little derriere, even if it was in the dark, was an acceptable substitute for kissing.
Well, as long as he got more of those kisses, than this would be fine for the meantime. He smiled to himself.
