Title: Rainy Days and Mondays Chapter 6
Author: Karin (Bailsgal)
Email: celtic_7@hotmail.com
Feedback: Live for it!
Summary: When Vaughn can't handle seeing Syd with Noah any longer, he accepts a posting to the American Embassy in London. However a bad mission and unsaid things lead Sydney to his door.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine. All Alias characters belong to the very talented mind of JJ Abrams. Emma Brody and Doug Roach and the rest of the London Embassy crew belong to the cancelled Fox show The American Embassy, produced by Jersey Television., Michelle Fox and Danny DeVito
Distribution: Whoever wants it just ask and it's yours.
Rating : PG to start.
Classification: Angst/Adventure and Romance.what could a person ask for?
Author's Note: I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my dear friend and beta girl extraordinar Anne-Marie! I'd be lost without her help and support. And to all the wonderful people who took the time to send me feedback.. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Attempting to shake off the last vestiges of her drug-induced sleep Sydney woke up slowly. She hated waking up in strange places but with her job it was a 'hazard' she was forced to face. As she looked around she became increasingly alarmed. Where the hell was she? They were supposed to be going to some friend of Vaughn and Emma's but this place looked more like something out of Moulin Rogue! What was this place? Then panic set in; maybe they hadn't made it to this Gary's place? Maybe whoever it was that had been chasing her had taken care of Vaughn and his friends leaving her in the clutches of some mad Bohemian with colour issues! Sydney strained to sit up and look around the room. She almost jumped as her eyes landed on a series of wigs resting on mannequin heads.
"Okay deep breath," she reminded herself, trying to catch her breath.
"Where the hell am I?" she whispered to herself. She could see two doors; one must be the way out and the other was perhaps a closet? There was a large window with what appeared to be a little fire escape on the outside of the building. Whoever was holding her didn't seem too concerned about guarding this particular escape route.
"Let me check on her."
Sydney heard a male voice outside the door but she did not recognise it at all.
"I need to get out of here," she muttered to herself as she moved to the window. She ignored her body's painful reminders of the shooting as her fingers fumbled with the lock. Her inability to manage the simple catch had to be another reminder of her drugged haze. Why had she agreed to let Vaughn drug her? She should have stayed conscious regardless of the pain! She wasn't some Barbie doll after all! She was a trained spy. Pain should have been her middle name. If she'd been conscious she could have helped stop whatever had happened.
Putting all of the strength she had into it, Sydney pushed the stubborn window up just as the bedroom door opened.
"Sydney?"
The man who spoke was clearly shocked that she was attempting an escape.
"Doug?" Sydney asked, turning at the sound of Vaughn's friend's voice.
"What are you doing? My God you need to get back into bed," he said moving to her side and gently easing her away from the window and back to bed.
"I didn't know.." she stammered as he helped her settle under the covers again.
"Mike will kill me if anything happens to you," he muttered as he pulled the blankets up around her and tucked in the edges of the blankets.
"Where is Vaughn?" she asked looking towards the door.
"He took Donovan for a walk," Doug answered, sitting down on the overstuffed chair.
"He's taken the dog for a walk? Are you serious?" she demanded in disbelief. Vaughn had promised to be here when she woke up and she was feeling a little put out.
"He's meeting with a colleague Syd. David Peirson. You met him at the Embassy," Doug smirked, noting the faint pout that hovered around Syd's mouth.
"Are you sure he can be trusted? Vaughn will be safe, right?" Syd demanded as she struggled to sit up.
"You need to relax. And yes he'll be perfectly safe. There's no need to worry. David would lay down his life for Michael, just like I would," Doug soothed as he pushed Syd back down on the mattress.
"How do I know that?" she said belligerently.
"Because it's the one thing in all this mess that I'm sure of. David is totally loyal to Vaughn."
"Why? Why do you trust him?" Syd demanded. She was not prepared to let go of this just because Doug Roach said it was okay.
"The four of us, Michael, Eric, David and I graduated from the CIA training program together. That very first day we swore a pact that we would have each other's backs regardless of the reasons. If Eric suddenly showed up here as a wanted man, the three of us would risk not only our careers but our lives for him. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Doug looked her straight in the eye as he said this and what Sydney saw in his eyes gave her more comfort than his words ever could.
"David can be trusted then," she said quietly.
"Yes," he sighed.
"So is he safe out there? Is he prepared for trouble?" she asked gesturing vaguely toward the outside world.
"He'll be watched. No one will get close to him, don't worry. He needed to meet with David face to face. The stuff they have to discuss can't be talked about over open phone lines, Syd. You know how dangerous that can be," Doug said crossing his foot over his thigh in a relaxed manner.
"And Emma?"
"Shopping," he answered picking at a piece of fluff on his sweater.
"You let her go alone?" Sydney asked rather surprised. From what she'd seen of the couple, Doug was very protective of Emma so letting her wander the streets with a gang of spies on their trail seemed out of character for him.
"I didn't have a choice! Gary didn't stock up the shelves before leaving on vacation. Michael and Donovan walked her to the store and an agent has will follow her once she's inside. I know she's safe. Mike wouldn't let anything happen to her."
Doug steeple his fingers in front of him and began to ponder their situation. He knew Emma was safe but he was regretting that he'd let Michael take the meeting with David, instead of going himself. If anything happened to Mike, how would he know what to do with Sydney? Doug was not an incompetent man but this was a different world than he was used to working in. Give him a group of terrorists and he'd know exactly what to expect or do but put him in the world of international spies and he was lost. Sure he'd watched his share of James Bond movies but he doubted that qualified him to watch Sydney.
"So let me guess. you got stuck babysitting me," she sighed, feeling like a huge inconvenience. They'd all be safe at home if it weren't for her turning to Vaughn for help. She'd signed their death warrants herself.
"Pretty much," he nodded.
"And this is Gary's place?" she asked, her eyebrow raised in question.
"Mike didn't get a chance to tell you about Gary did he?" Doug smirked.
"No but I'm guessing he should have," she said and almost giggled as she looked around the room.
"Well it's kind of like this. Gary is a cross dressing musician. He used to be Emma's old neighbour before she moved in with Mike. He's a great guy. You'd like him," Doug said lifting up a piece of long, purple hair from a nearby wig. He let it slide through his fingers.
"I just can't see Vaughn and you."
"Oh we probably wouldn't if it weren't for Emma. She was friends with Gary first," Doug laughed. "Big, he-men Special Agents like Mike and I have a rep to protect after all but Gary's cool and he's not gay or anything. He just likes to wear woman's clothing. He's a crazy man."
"If he were gay, would that bother you?" Sydney asked. She was interested in what Agent Roach's response would be to her question.
"In the beginning, yes. Hell, hanging out with a guy in a dress bothered me too," Doug laughed, ruefully this time.
"Hanging out with a crossing dressing musician is another side of Vaughn that I would never have guessed at," Syd smiled sadly and shook her head. There were so many things she didn't know.
"Mike's not an easy guy to get to know but I guess considering the nature of the relationship you two have, you can't expect much else," Doug shrugged. He knew from his conversations with Vaughn that the other man had regrets about his relationship with Agent Bristow.
"The whole agent/handler relationship is kind of strange and in our case all of our personal and private conversations have been kind of one sided," Syd said thoughtfully as she snuggled under the blankets to take the chill from her skin. "It was usually me crying to him about my pathetic excuse for a life. He knows more about me than I'll ever know about him."
"He should. He was your handler. It was his job to know your whole file but it was safer for you to know nothing about him."
"I wouldn't quite call our relationship appropriate though, Doug. We blurred a few of the lines.lines that people like Devlin and my father drew."
Doug couldn't help but notice how she frowned as she said these words or the way her fingers subconsciously pleated the plush blanket. Apparently the guilt that Michael had over their conduct wasn't solely his. Syd obviously felt bad about some things as well.
"Michael Vaughn did something inappropriate? I'm shocked," Doug laughed as he dramatically threw the back of his hand against his forehead.
"I'm serious! Somewhere in our relationship he. we crossed a line and it almost cost him his job. He was demoted, did he tell you that? Handlers are supposed to be detached, professional."
"And Mike wasn't?"
"Oh he tried to be professional, but he understood I needed more.I wasn't.wasn't your typical agent," she stammered, trying to explain why Vaughn went against protocol.
"I know, he's told me," Doug said gently and nodded his head. He was playing with a large powder puff that he'd picked up off Gary's dressing table.
"Vaughn was there for me. I. I told him a lot.I opened up to him, shared things with him that maybe I shouldn't have," Sydney struggled to find the right words to explain her relationship with Vaughn but how could she explain her feelings for him to Doug when she wasn't sure of them herself? She knew she loved Vaughn and that losing him had hurt her deeply but could she say the words out loud? Admittedly she'd mumbled something to Emma about loving Vaughn before she passed out and she'd hadn't denied her feelings when she'd been confronted with them later but telling Doug was something else again.
"Why do you always call him Vaughn?" Doug asked suddenly, changing the flow of conversation when he noticed that Sydney had grown uncomfortable.
"I don't know. It's just always felt right. In LA, everyone calls him by his last name." she shrugged, smiling as her voice trailed into silence.
"You've never called him Michael?"
"Nope."
"Weird. Here, he's anything but plain old Vaughn," Doug said and examined the powder-puff one last time before tossing it onto the dressing table. It raised a cloud of talc as it landed with a soft whoosh.
"So how long have you two known each other?" Sydney asked.
"Sometimes it feels like forever but it's only been since the academy. Mike and I are both only children so he's the closest thing to a brother I have."
"Dave and Eric don't fall into that category?" she asked gently.
"Oh sure they do but I thought we were just talking about Mike," Doug's forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"We are. I'm just teasing Doug," Syd smiled at him.
"Ah you're playing with me. Not nice," he groaned picking up a silk scarf and flinging it at her. As it drifted to the floor well short of its target, Sydney began to giggle.
"Yup."
"A woman who's not only beautiful but knows how to dish it out as well! Ah yes, a woman after my own heart. I can see why Mike thinks you're so special," Doug said but stopped abruptly and looked at Sydney. How could he have been so stupid! Mike will kill him when he found out about that little slip!
"It's okay, Doug. I know he cares about me. We're friends," she smiled awkwardly. They drifted into an awkward silence. Sydney twisted the blankets in her fingers and Doug tried to force the redness of his mistake from his cheeks.
"So tell me about you and Emma," Syd said suddenly, turning the tables.
"We meet on the plane on her way over here."
"Love at first sight?"
"That's not exactly what I'd call it," he said carefully.
"What then?"
"How about lust with potential?"
"Doug!" Sydney exclaimed laughing out loud and wincing in pain.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, guess I shouldn't be laughing so much," she gasped. Doug watched her for a moment to make sure she was okay and when Syd waved her hand at him, he nodded and continued the story.
"Honestly, when I first met Emma the last thing I thought I wanted was a relationship but she helped me become a better person. The more time I spent with her, the more I found that I didn't want her as another notch on my bedpost. I actually liked her and I was always seemed to be there when she needed someone."
"Coincidence?" Sydney cocked an eyebrow.
"Not really. It was just that I really enjoyed being with her. She's different. I wanted to be there for her," Doug had a really hard time admitting these things, mostly because he loved the aloof playboy image that he'd swaggered around the Embassy with but loving Emma had done away with that.
"Sort of like Vaughn and I."
"Sort of. As hard as I tried to convince myself, and her, that I couldn't handle a relationship and my life as a CIA operative, the more I failed," he said looking Sydney in the eye.
"So you fell hard," Sydney didn't ask him, she told him.
"Oh yeah. Head first, ass over tea kettle," Doug smirked at her but the moment was cut short as they heard the front door fly open and crash into the wall.
"Hey can I get some help here guys?!" Emma called as the door crashed again.
"Christ Emma! You scared the hell out of us!" Doug yelled back, as he jumped up and raced down the hall to help his girlfriend.
"Close the door before Donnie gets out," Emma ordered.
"Mike and Donovan aren't back yet."
"What do you mean they aren't back? They should have been back ages ago. I saw him with David in the park. He said they'd only be a few minutes and on my way back from the store I went by the park and they were gone," Emma stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face Doug which made him crash into her. Her face was stark white.
"Damn it Em, will you not do that! I thought we talked about this! It's not a good habit, honey. I always end up walking into." Doug grabbed at her arm as his weight knocked her off balance but his triad ended when he saw the look on her face. Could Emma be right? Could Vaughn be in trouble?
"No Emma. It is highly unlikely and Vaughn is too smart for that. He wouldn't be dumb enough to get caught," he said, reading her expression.
"Well what if he is in trouble? And what about Donovan?"
"Honey, Michael is a trained CIA operative. He knows how to take care of himself and Donovan is so ugly that no one in his right mind would bother with the little runt," Doug said, trying to make Emma laugh. His ploy failed miserably as she was too worried about Michael by this point to find the humour in anything.
"But what if something has happened to him," she said as she followed Doug into the small kitchen with more grocery bags.
"Em look, he's fine, so relax. Knowing him, he probably got caught up in some other business with Dave. The last thing we need is Sydney getting all worried about Mike," Doug warned as he put his bags down on the counter. He took Emma's bags from her and put them beside the others. When both their arms were empty, Doug wrapped his arms around Emma's waist and pulled her to him.
"It's okay. Relax," he said again.
"I'll try," she sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Why don't we get this stuff put away and we'll go hang out with Sydney until Mike gets back," Doug suggested as he slowly rocked them back and forth, his finger massaging her lower back.
"We can do that but could you kiss me first before we do anything else?" she whispered against his neck.
"I can do that," he said softly, catching her lips in a soft, delicate kiss that quickly had the room temperature rising faster than either of them was prepared for.
"Why is it that even the simplest kiss with you melts my shorts?" Doug asked her, resting his forehead against hers.
"I thought that only happened when I kissed you," Emma answered, rubbing her nose against his.
"You know I love you right?" he asked suddenly, catching her slightly off guard.
"I never doubted it for a minute baby," she said easily, as if he'd merely asked her if the world would still be rotating around the sun come morning.
"Shouldn't you tell me that you love me too?" he said with feigned hurt and disgust.
"Oh I don't love you, I'm just using you. I'm actually waiting for Charlie to leave Camilla for me," she teased.
"Oh so you see yourself as the next Princess of Wales do you?" he nipped her neck.
"Well I won't get a title like that by dating a CIA agent, now will I?" she giggled as he licked her neck where he'd bit her.
"Doug!" she laughed again pushing him away from her.
"What?" he asked giving her his most innocent look.
"Go keep Sydney company!" She shoved him out of the kitchen.
"No one will know if we." he persisted.
"Go.Sydney.now!" she kicked him softly in the ass as he passed her.
"You're no fun. Maybe Sydney will play with me?" he grumbled as he wandered down the hall.
"Keep that up and you'll be sleeping with da fishes," Emma threatened in her best gangster voice.
"Ya really scarin' me Frankie," he hollered back, laughing off her threat.
"Best sleep with one eye open big man!" She warned him, hitting him in the back with a throw pillow she'd picked up off the sofa.
Sydney listened to the conversation between Doug and Emma carefully. Could Vaughn really be missing, as Emma feared? Or had work delayed him as Doug had surmised? Sydney refused to let herself believe something had happened to him. Doug had pointed out that Vaughn was a trained CIA agent therefore he would be fine.
"Wasn't his father a trained CIA field officer when your mother killed him?" asked a little voice in her head.
"Shut up," she growled quietly and closed her eyes to block out the vision of Vaughn and David lying in some seedy London alley, full of bullet holes.
"Syd? You sleeping, Syd?" Doug called softly, just in case she was asleep; the last thing he wanted was to wake her.
"No, just thinking," she answered, afraid to open her eyes and see that image again.
"You didn't hear Em and I."
"I did actually," she said, her eyes now open and locked on Doug.
"Look, Em has a tendency to worry sometimes. She's probably just overreacting," Doug tried to explain but he knew that Sydney understood this world much better than Emma ever could.
"Is he normally this late?" she asked, starting to formulate a plan for finding Vaughn in her head.
"Well no, but."
"Have you tried calling his or David's cellphone?" Sydney asked.
Doug frowned and shook his head.
"I wasn't really worried until Emma started freakin out. I..she can overact and Vaughn. she's always worried about him for one reason or another. I'm just not really sure he'd appreciate us checking up on him."
"Then let me do it for you. Give me his cell number," Sydney demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Look we could be worrying for."
"Doug I know these people. You have no idea what they are capable of," she interrupted him quietly. She didn't want Emma to hear their conversation.
"And if he doesn't answer?" Doug asked before momentarily leaving the room. He came back in with his own cellphone and hit speed-dial. When the connection was made he handed the phone to Sydney.
"Then we worry," she said counting the rings.
"You've reached Michael. I'm sorry I'm not available at the moment but leave me a message at the sound of the beep and I'll be happy to return your call as soon as possible. If it's urgent you can contact my 24 hour number at." and Vaughn's voice went on listing a London based number.
"He's leaving a number," Sydney said hopefully, looking to Doug.
"That's the Embassy's CIA office number he's leaving but we can't call there in case they have a tap on the lines. I'll try Dave's," Doug said, as he took the phone back from Sydney and punched in another number.
Sydney sat in tense silence, waiting for Doug to say something but he remained silent for a while before hitting the disconnect button. She didn't like the look she read in his eyes. There could have been a million reasons why Vaughn hadn't answered but David as well? No, this was not good, not good at all.
"So do we worry now?" she asked.
"We worry now," Doug said grimly.
TBC
Author: Karin (Bailsgal)
Email: celtic_7@hotmail.com
Feedback: Live for it!
Summary: When Vaughn can't handle seeing Syd with Noah any longer, he accepts a posting to the American Embassy in London. However a bad mission and unsaid things lead Sydney to his door.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine. All Alias characters belong to the very talented mind of JJ Abrams. Emma Brody and Doug Roach and the rest of the London Embassy crew belong to the cancelled Fox show The American Embassy, produced by Jersey Television., Michelle Fox and Danny DeVito
Distribution: Whoever wants it just ask and it's yours.
Rating : PG to start.
Classification: Angst/Adventure and Romance.what could a person ask for?
Author's Note: I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my dear friend and beta girl extraordinar Anne-Marie! I'd be lost without her help and support. And to all the wonderful people who took the time to send me feedback.. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Attempting to shake off the last vestiges of her drug-induced sleep Sydney woke up slowly. She hated waking up in strange places but with her job it was a 'hazard' she was forced to face. As she looked around she became increasingly alarmed. Where the hell was she? They were supposed to be going to some friend of Vaughn and Emma's but this place looked more like something out of Moulin Rogue! What was this place? Then panic set in; maybe they hadn't made it to this Gary's place? Maybe whoever it was that had been chasing her had taken care of Vaughn and his friends leaving her in the clutches of some mad Bohemian with colour issues! Sydney strained to sit up and look around the room. She almost jumped as her eyes landed on a series of wigs resting on mannequin heads.
"Okay deep breath," she reminded herself, trying to catch her breath.
"Where the hell am I?" she whispered to herself. She could see two doors; one must be the way out and the other was perhaps a closet? There was a large window with what appeared to be a little fire escape on the outside of the building. Whoever was holding her didn't seem too concerned about guarding this particular escape route.
"Let me check on her."
Sydney heard a male voice outside the door but she did not recognise it at all.
"I need to get out of here," she muttered to herself as she moved to the window. She ignored her body's painful reminders of the shooting as her fingers fumbled with the lock. Her inability to manage the simple catch had to be another reminder of her drugged haze. Why had she agreed to let Vaughn drug her? She should have stayed conscious regardless of the pain! She wasn't some Barbie doll after all! She was a trained spy. Pain should have been her middle name. If she'd been conscious she could have helped stop whatever had happened.
Putting all of the strength she had into it, Sydney pushed the stubborn window up just as the bedroom door opened.
"Sydney?"
The man who spoke was clearly shocked that she was attempting an escape.
"Doug?" Sydney asked, turning at the sound of Vaughn's friend's voice.
"What are you doing? My God you need to get back into bed," he said moving to her side and gently easing her away from the window and back to bed.
"I didn't know.." she stammered as he helped her settle under the covers again.
"Mike will kill me if anything happens to you," he muttered as he pulled the blankets up around her and tucked in the edges of the blankets.
"Where is Vaughn?" she asked looking towards the door.
"He took Donovan for a walk," Doug answered, sitting down on the overstuffed chair.
"He's taken the dog for a walk? Are you serious?" she demanded in disbelief. Vaughn had promised to be here when she woke up and she was feeling a little put out.
"He's meeting with a colleague Syd. David Peirson. You met him at the Embassy," Doug smirked, noting the faint pout that hovered around Syd's mouth.
"Are you sure he can be trusted? Vaughn will be safe, right?" Syd demanded as she struggled to sit up.
"You need to relax. And yes he'll be perfectly safe. There's no need to worry. David would lay down his life for Michael, just like I would," Doug soothed as he pushed Syd back down on the mattress.
"How do I know that?" she said belligerently.
"Because it's the one thing in all this mess that I'm sure of. David is totally loyal to Vaughn."
"Why? Why do you trust him?" Syd demanded. She was not prepared to let go of this just because Doug Roach said it was okay.
"The four of us, Michael, Eric, David and I graduated from the CIA training program together. That very first day we swore a pact that we would have each other's backs regardless of the reasons. If Eric suddenly showed up here as a wanted man, the three of us would risk not only our careers but our lives for him. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Doug looked her straight in the eye as he said this and what Sydney saw in his eyes gave her more comfort than his words ever could.
"David can be trusted then," she said quietly.
"Yes," he sighed.
"So is he safe out there? Is he prepared for trouble?" she asked gesturing vaguely toward the outside world.
"He'll be watched. No one will get close to him, don't worry. He needed to meet with David face to face. The stuff they have to discuss can't be talked about over open phone lines, Syd. You know how dangerous that can be," Doug said crossing his foot over his thigh in a relaxed manner.
"And Emma?"
"Shopping," he answered picking at a piece of fluff on his sweater.
"You let her go alone?" Sydney asked rather surprised. From what she'd seen of the couple, Doug was very protective of Emma so letting her wander the streets with a gang of spies on their trail seemed out of character for him.
"I didn't have a choice! Gary didn't stock up the shelves before leaving on vacation. Michael and Donovan walked her to the store and an agent has will follow her once she's inside. I know she's safe. Mike wouldn't let anything happen to her."
Doug steeple his fingers in front of him and began to ponder their situation. He knew Emma was safe but he was regretting that he'd let Michael take the meeting with David, instead of going himself. If anything happened to Mike, how would he know what to do with Sydney? Doug was not an incompetent man but this was a different world than he was used to working in. Give him a group of terrorists and he'd know exactly what to expect or do but put him in the world of international spies and he was lost. Sure he'd watched his share of James Bond movies but he doubted that qualified him to watch Sydney.
"So let me guess. you got stuck babysitting me," she sighed, feeling like a huge inconvenience. They'd all be safe at home if it weren't for her turning to Vaughn for help. She'd signed their death warrants herself.
"Pretty much," he nodded.
"And this is Gary's place?" she asked, her eyebrow raised in question.
"Mike didn't get a chance to tell you about Gary did he?" Doug smirked.
"No but I'm guessing he should have," she said and almost giggled as she looked around the room.
"Well it's kind of like this. Gary is a cross dressing musician. He used to be Emma's old neighbour before she moved in with Mike. He's a great guy. You'd like him," Doug said lifting up a piece of long, purple hair from a nearby wig. He let it slide through his fingers.
"I just can't see Vaughn and you."
"Oh we probably wouldn't if it weren't for Emma. She was friends with Gary first," Doug laughed. "Big, he-men Special Agents like Mike and I have a rep to protect after all but Gary's cool and he's not gay or anything. He just likes to wear woman's clothing. He's a crazy man."
"If he were gay, would that bother you?" Sydney asked. She was interested in what Agent Roach's response would be to her question.
"In the beginning, yes. Hell, hanging out with a guy in a dress bothered me too," Doug laughed, ruefully this time.
"Hanging out with a crossing dressing musician is another side of Vaughn that I would never have guessed at," Syd smiled sadly and shook her head. There were so many things she didn't know.
"Mike's not an easy guy to get to know but I guess considering the nature of the relationship you two have, you can't expect much else," Doug shrugged. He knew from his conversations with Vaughn that the other man had regrets about his relationship with Agent Bristow.
"The whole agent/handler relationship is kind of strange and in our case all of our personal and private conversations have been kind of one sided," Syd said thoughtfully as she snuggled under the blankets to take the chill from her skin. "It was usually me crying to him about my pathetic excuse for a life. He knows more about me than I'll ever know about him."
"He should. He was your handler. It was his job to know your whole file but it was safer for you to know nothing about him."
"I wouldn't quite call our relationship appropriate though, Doug. We blurred a few of the lines.lines that people like Devlin and my father drew."
Doug couldn't help but notice how she frowned as she said these words or the way her fingers subconsciously pleated the plush blanket. Apparently the guilt that Michael had over their conduct wasn't solely his. Syd obviously felt bad about some things as well.
"Michael Vaughn did something inappropriate? I'm shocked," Doug laughed as he dramatically threw the back of his hand against his forehead.
"I'm serious! Somewhere in our relationship he. we crossed a line and it almost cost him his job. He was demoted, did he tell you that? Handlers are supposed to be detached, professional."
"And Mike wasn't?"
"Oh he tried to be professional, but he understood I needed more.I wasn't.wasn't your typical agent," she stammered, trying to explain why Vaughn went against protocol.
"I know, he's told me," Doug said gently and nodded his head. He was playing with a large powder puff that he'd picked up off Gary's dressing table.
"Vaughn was there for me. I. I told him a lot.I opened up to him, shared things with him that maybe I shouldn't have," Sydney struggled to find the right words to explain her relationship with Vaughn but how could she explain her feelings for him to Doug when she wasn't sure of them herself? She knew she loved Vaughn and that losing him had hurt her deeply but could she say the words out loud? Admittedly she'd mumbled something to Emma about loving Vaughn before she passed out and she'd hadn't denied her feelings when she'd been confronted with them later but telling Doug was something else again.
"Why do you always call him Vaughn?" Doug asked suddenly, changing the flow of conversation when he noticed that Sydney had grown uncomfortable.
"I don't know. It's just always felt right. In LA, everyone calls him by his last name." she shrugged, smiling as her voice trailed into silence.
"You've never called him Michael?"
"Nope."
"Weird. Here, he's anything but plain old Vaughn," Doug said and examined the powder-puff one last time before tossing it onto the dressing table. It raised a cloud of talc as it landed with a soft whoosh.
"So how long have you two known each other?" Sydney asked.
"Sometimes it feels like forever but it's only been since the academy. Mike and I are both only children so he's the closest thing to a brother I have."
"Dave and Eric don't fall into that category?" she asked gently.
"Oh sure they do but I thought we were just talking about Mike," Doug's forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"We are. I'm just teasing Doug," Syd smiled at him.
"Ah you're playing with me. Not nice," he groaned picking up a silk scarf and flinging it at her. As it drifted to the floor well short of its target, Sydney began to giggle.
"Yup."
"A woman who's not only beautiful but knows how to dish it out as well! Ah yes, a woman after my own heart. I can see why Mike thinks you're so special," Doug said but stopped abruptly and looked at Sydney. How could he have been so stupid! Mike will kill him when he found out about that little slip!
"It's okay, Doug. I know he cares about me. We're friends," she smiled awkwardly. They drifted into an awkward silence. Sydney twisted the blankets in her fingers and Doug tried to force the redness of his mistake from his cheeks.
"So tell me about you and Emma," Syd said suddenly, turning the tables.
"We meet on the plane on her way over here."
"Love at first sight?"
"That's not exactly what I'd call it," he said carefully.
"What then?"
"How about lust with potential?"
"Doug!" Sydney exclaimed laughing out loud and wincing in pain.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, guess I shouldn't be laughing so much," she gasped. Doug watched her for a moment to make sure she was okay and when Syd waved her hand at him, he nodded and continued the story.
"Honestly, when I first met Emma the last thing I thought I wanted was a relationship but she helped me become a better person. The more time I spent with her, the more I found that I didn't want her as another notch on my bedpost. I actually liked her and I was always seemed to be there when she needed someone."
"Coincidence?" Sydney cocked an eyebrow.
"Not really. It was just that I really enjoyed being with her. She's different. I wanted to be there for her," Doug had a really hard time admitting these things, mostly because he loved the aloof playboy image that he'd swaggered around the Embassy with but loving Emma had done away with that.
"Sort of like Vaughn and I."
"Sort of. As hard as I tried to convince myself, and her, that I couldn't handle a relationship and my life as a CIA operative, the more I failed," he said looking Sydney in the eye.
"So you fell hard," Sydney didn't ask him, she told him.
"Oh yeah. Head first, ass over tea kettle," Doug smirked at her but the moment was cut short as they heard the front door fly open and crash into the wall.
"Hey can I get some help here guys?!" Emma called as the door crashed again.
"Christ Emma! You scared the hell out of us!" Doug yelled back, as he jumped up and raced down the hall to help his girlfriend.
"Close the door before Donnie gets out," Emma ordered.
"Mike and Donovan aren't back yet."
"What do you mean they aren't back? They should have been back ages ago. I saw him with David in the park. He said they'd only be a few minutes and on my way back from the store I went by the park and they were gone," Emma stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face Doug which made him crash into her. Her face was stark white.
"Damn it Em, will you not do that! I thought we talked about this! It's not a good habit, honey. I always end up walking into." Doug grabbed at her arm as his weight knocked her off balance but his triad ended when he saw the look on her face. Could Emma be right? Could Vaughn be in trouble?
"No Emma. It is highly unlikely and Vaughn is too smart for that. He wouldn't be dumb enough to get caught," he said, reading her expression.
"Well what if he is in trouble? And what about Donovan?"
"Honey, Michael is a trained CIA operative. He knows how to take care of himself and Donovan is so ugly that no one in his right mind would bother with the little runt," Doug said, trying to make Emma laugh. His ploy failed miserably as she was too worried about Michael by this point to find the humour in anything.
"But what if something has happened to him," she said as she followed Doug into the small kitchen with more grocery bags.
"Em look, he's fine, so relax. Knowing him, he probably got caught up in some other business with Dave. The last thing we need is Sydney getting all worried about Mike," Doug warned as he put his bags down on the counter. He took Emma's bags from her and put them beside the others. When both their arms were empty, Doug wrapped his arms around Emma's waist and pulled her to him.
"It's okay. Relax," he said again.
"I'll try," she sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Why don't we get this stuff put away and we'll go hang out with Sydney until Mike gets back," Doug suggested as he slowly rocked them back and forth, his finger massaging her lower back.
"We can do that but could you kiss me first before we do anything else?" she whispered against his neck.
"I can do that," he said softly, catching her lips in a soft, delicate kiss that quickly had the room temperature rising faster than either of them was prepared for.
"Why is it that even the simplest kiss with you melts my shorts?" Doug asked her, resting his forehead against hers.
"I thought that only happened when I kissed you," Emma answered, rubbing her nose against his.
"You know I love you right?" he asked suddenly, catching her slightly off guard.
"I never doubted it for a minute baby," she said easily, as if he'd merely asked her if the world would still be rotating around the sun come morning.
"Shouldn't you tell me that you love me too?" he said with feigned hurt and disgust.
"Oh I don't love you, I'm just using you. I'm actually waiting for Charlie to leave Camilla for me," she teased.
"Oh so you see yourself as the next Princess of Wales do you?" he nipped her neck.
"Well I won't get a title like that by dating a CIA agent, now will I?" she giggled as he licked her neck where he'd bit her.
"Doug!" she laughed again pushing him away from her.
"What?" he asked giving her his most innocent look.
"Go keep Sydney company!" She shoved him out of the kitchen.
"No one will know if we." he persisted.
"Go.Sydney.now!" she kicked him softly in the ass as he passed her.
"You're no fun. Maybe Sydney will play with me?" he grumbled as he wandered down the hall.
"Keep that up and you'll be sleeping with da fishes," Emma threatened in her best gangster voice.
"Ya really scarin' me Frankie," he hollered back, laughing off her threat.
"Best sleep with one eye open big man!" She warned him, hitting him in the back with a throw pillow she'd picked up off the sofa.
Sydney listened to the conversation between Doug and Emma carefully. Could Vaughn really be missing, as Emma feared? Or had work delayed him as Doug had surmised? Sydney refused to let herself believe something had happened to him. Doug had pointed out that Vaughn was a trained CIA agent therefore he would be fine.
"Wasn't his father a trained CIA field officer when your mother killed him?" asked a little voice in her head.
"Shut up," she growled quietly and closed her eyes to block out the vision of Vaughn and David lying in some seedy London alley, full of bullet holes.
"Syd? You sleeping, Syd?" Doug called softly, just in case she was asleep; the last thing he wanted was to wake her.
"No, just thinking," she answered, afraid to open her eyes and see that image again.
"You didn't hear Em and I."
"I did actually," she said, her eyes now open and locked on Doug.
"Look, Em has a tendency to worry sometimes. She's probably just overreacting," Doug tried to explain but he knew that Sydney understood this world much better than Emma ever could.
"Is he normally this late?" she asked, starting to formulate a plan for finding Vaughn in her head.
"Well no, but."
"Have you tried calling his or David's cellphone?" Sydney asked.
Doug frowned and shook his head.
"I wasn't really worried until Emma started freakin out. I..she can overact and Vaughn. she's always worried about him for one reason or another. I'm just not really sure he'd appreciate us checking up on him."
"Then let me do it for you. Give me his cell number," Sydney demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Look we could be worrying for."
"Doug I know these people. You have no idea what they are capable of," she interrupted him quietly. She didn't want Emma to hear their conversation.
"And if he doesn't answer?" Doug asked before momentarily leaving the room. He came back in with his own cellphone and hit speed-dial. When the connection was made he handed the phone to Sydney.
"Then we worry," she said counting the rings.
"You've reached Michael. I'm sorry I'm not available at the moment but leave me a message at the sound of the beep and I'll be happy to return your call as soon as possible. If it's urgent you can contact my 24 hour number at." and Vaughn's voice went on listing a London based number.
"He's leaving a number," Sydney said hopefully, looking to Doug.
"That's the Embassy's CIA office number he's leaving but we can't call there in case they have a tap on the lines. I'll try Dave's," Doug said, as he took the phone back from Sydney and punched in another number.
Sydney sat in tense silence, waiting for Doug to say something but he remained silent for a while before hitting the disconnect button. She didn't like the look she read in his eyes. There could have been a million reasons why Vaughn hadn't answered but David as well? No, this was not good, not good at all.
"So do we worry now?" she asked.
"We worry now," Doug said grimly.
TBC
