Disclaimer: Everything Alias is the property of JJ Abrams, Bad Robot Productions, ABC, and Touchstone. Please consider this a humble tribute to the genius of the Alias characters and plotlines. No harm intended.
Rating: PG for mild language.
Feedback: Welcomed, especially if you like the story enough for me to keep writing it.
Author's Note: I have little knowledge of the CIA. Pardon any misinformation. One important assumption that I'm making is that all CIA operatives and officers have a cover –they cannot tell anybody the truth about their employer. And, I recently changed Jess' cover name from Adrienne Steadman to Rory McAllister. If I missed any Adriennes, please read Rory. Thanks!
Chapter Fifteen – Full House Two Babes and the Three Men that Love Them"Where is she?" Vaughn barked impatiently.
"Relax, man. She'll be here," Weiss said. "She had a rehearsal for Sunday night."
"Rehearsal?" Vaughn questioned suspiciously.
"Yeah, she's not doing the set alone. She's working with two musicians that already perform at the club," Weiss explained.
Vaughn, Weiss, Will, and Sydney were waiting for Jess in the warehouse where Vaughn and Sydney usually met. Sydney had been brought up to speed on the plan for Sunday night and then after that, the four of them fell into an uneasy silence.
Vaughn was so jittery it took every ounce of self-control just to sit still on his crate. The impending separation from Jess was looming over him like a storm cloud. He had one more day to be with her and then she would be gone from his life again. He would still see her, but Vaughn was no longer convinced that was going to be a good thing. He wondered if he could stand by and watch Jess develop a relationship with another man. Even though it was not truly a romantic relationship, it would be a partnership. And the bond between partners in the field could be just as intense as a romantic bond. The way he so easily followed Sydney to Taipei had proved that.
Vaughn turned his attention to Sydney, and allowed himself to do something he didn't often do. He let his eyes take in every bit of her, from her silky brown hair to the tips of her two-inch heels. He marveled for the hundredth time that someone so tough could be so elegant. His eyes slowly followed the line of the slit in her long, black skirt. He took careful note of the way her legs were crossed at the ankles, and how her slender calf muscles contracted as she casually swung her long legs. The soft, pink sweater reflected on her face, giving her an alluring glow. As Vaughn's eyes moved over her face, he realized that Sydney had caught him staring at her. He immediately felt guilty and turned his gaze towards the floor.
Vaughn was overcome with guilt, but not because Sydney had caught him. He felt like his wife was coming to meet his mistress. His two worlds were going to collide, and he wasn't sure there would be any survivors.
Weiss was sad. He liked having Jess around again. And he was concerned about her. Maybe no one else could tell that Raven Song was still haunting her, but he could. Weiss also knew that this assignment could have a high emotional toll on Jess… and Vaughn… and Sydney. Hell, the only person that it didn't pose a threat to was Will. After more consideration, Weiss decided that Will also was in emotional jeopardy. How could he spend that much time with an incredible woman like Jess and not develop feelings for her? Weiss shook his head sadly.
Sydney's mind was cluttered. For reasons she wouldn't admit even to herself, she was feeling threatened. And when she was threatened, she naturally became combative. This was the woman that she had encouraged Vaughn to give another chance. This woman had felt Vaughn's kisses, and received his love. This woman would soon be a bigger part of Will's life than she was. And, from what her father said, this woman was very good at her job. For Will's sake, Sydney had to like Jess, but yet how could she when she was competing against Jess on every level? Sydney decided that she would say as little as possible during the briefing.
Will looked down at his hands as they fidgeted nervously in his lap. The entire day had been surreal. Returning to his old life was more difficult than he anticipated. The things he had witnessed in the last months were life changing.
And Jess… Will had a hard time getting her out of his mind. She intimidated him. Why did they have to choose an agent of her caliber? In training, instructors had joked about "super spies" – agents that could practically catch bullets, vanish into thin air, and return from the dead. Will was fairly certain that Jess fit into that category.
He looked up at Sydney briefly. He knew that Sydney was a super-spy too, but since he had known her since college, before SD-6 had recruited her, he didn't feel intimidated by her. He looked back down at his hands.
Will pictured Jess from the meeting that morning: her hair… her eyes… the smile… the grace. Why did she have to be so beautiful? He thought back the instructor he first pictured when Vaughn told him of the plan. Will was certain that in many ways he would have been safer with that woman.
The door of the warehouse opened and closed bringing all four sets of eyes up and focused in the direction of the door. "Back here, Jess," Weiss called.
Silently, she appeared at the gate of the cage where they were gathered. In stark comparison to Sydney, Jess was wearing a navy tank sweater, faded Levis, and a pair of white canvas mules. Their collective gaze was so intense that Jess did a quick shoulder check to see if there was someone else coming up behind her. She stopped abruptly just inside the cage and looked at Weiss. "What?" she asked.
Weiss gave her a big smile, "You're late."
"I'm sorry about that, but the club owner pulled out a couple of songs at the last minute that he wants us to work up for Sunday night."
"I hope he's paying you for this," Weiss commented sarcastically.
"Yeah, all the alcohol I can drink, and all the lecherous stares that I can handle," Jess replied with the same sarcasm.
Weiss chuckled as he got up off his crate. "Jess, this is Sydney Bristow. Sydney, this is Jess Anderson. You two are going to be seeing a lot of each other the next few months."
"Nice to meet you, Sydney," Jess said shaking Sydney's hand.
"My pleasure, really," Sydney replied. "I've heard a lot about you." As Jess shot a questioning look at Vaughn, Sydney wondered if Jess knew how much Vaughn had confided in her. "And I want to thank you for the warning on that mission."
Jess smiled warmly. "I'm glad everything worked out."
Weiss sat back down on his crate, and Jess took a place next to him. She kicked off her mules and pulled her legs up to the crate and crossed them. Jess nodded a reserved greeting to Vaughn and then smiled at Will and said, "Hey Will."
"Rory," Will nodded a greeting.
"Good idea, Will," Weiss said. "We should all start addressing Jess as Rory." Everybody nodded agreement.
"Okay, lets get on with this," Vaughn said, having a low tolerance for the glances that Will and Jess were sharing. "How did things go at the airport?" he asked Will and Sydney.
"Good," Sydney said. "I made one SD-6 tracker, but that was it."
"Not so good for me," Will commented. "I had to file a claim for my lost luggage."
Everyone laughed knowing that Will didn't have any luggage to loose.
"Hey, Tippin," Weiss said, "I'm the resident funny man." Everyone except Vaughn laughed again. Vaughn was having a hard time embracing the spontaneous camaraderie of the group.
"Plans for tonight?" Vaughn asked Will.
"I'm gonna spend some time over at Syd's and then go home."
"Good," Vaughn said. "We've got a unit near your apartment. They'll be there every night until you make your move to Jess', uh," Vaughn shot a look at Jess, "I mean, Rory's house."
Vaughn addressed Jess, "Speaking of your house, Rory," Vaughn drug out her new name sarcastically, "You'll be moving in tomorrow?"
"Uh-huh," Jess nodded. "I think the movers got most of the stuff there today… just waiting for me and my personal effects." After a brief pause, Jess said, "Can you brief me on the security and surveillance procedures for the house?"
"Yeah, sure," Vaughn said. "We've put sensors on all the doors and windows. If anybody tries to force entry, an alarm will go off at the command center. The locks on the doors are the most secure known to the consumer market. Only five keys exist. You have two – one for you and one to give to Will when he…" Vaughn stumbled momentarily, "Moves in. I have one, Weiss has one, and one will be kept at the command center.
"The keys look like most metal keys, but they are actually a combination of metal and magnetic coding. The lock will search for the embedded magnetic code. If a key or any other device that does not have the code is put into the lock, an alarm will go off at the command center, and a team will be there in less than ten minutes." Jess nodded her approval.
Vaughn continued, "The garage door is secured with a keypad." Vaughn reached down into his briefcase and brought out a large kraft envelope. He pulled out two business cards, wrote down the eight-digit combination on each card, and handed one card to Jess and one to Will. "As always, memorize the combination, and shred the card. You'll also need…" Vaughn reached into the envelope again and pulled out a bracelet and a watch. "These…" he handed the bracelet to Jess and the watch to Will. "Again, these are magnetically coded and will be scanned by the garage keypad. If anybody attempts to use the keypad without one of those, the command center will send a team in."
Will turned the watch over in his hands, "What, no Rolex?"
As Sydney and Jess giggled, Weiss pointed a finger at Will and spoke in a stern voice, "Tippin, I'm warning you…!"
Vaughn tried to ignore them and continued, "The only surveillance will be provided by several cameras throughout the house and on the grounds. Video only, they are meant to capture images of anyone who might break into or be snooping around the house."
"Uh, exactly how many cameras are there, and in which rooms?" Jess asked suspiciously.
"Worried about your privacy?" Weiss teased. "You've got nothing that those boys at the command center haven't seen before."
"Just the same, I'm not thrilled with the idea of my shower becoming a water cooler topic," Jess said. Will comically turned his head and looked at Jess with wide eyes as if the thought of her showering was something he had not considered.
"There are no cameras in the bedrooms or bathrooms," Vaughn stated.
"Any surveillance teams?" Jess asked.
"We have teams monitoring it right now, and we'll keep them on it for about a week after Will moves in. After that, there will be no direct surveillance," Vaughn said.
"Except from your house," Jess pointed out. Vaughn gave Jess an angry stare. He felt as if she were challenging him.
"Yes, direct surveillance could be done from my house, but there are no plans to do that unless something goes wrong."
Sydney looked back and forth between Vaughn and Jess as they stared at each other. It was news to her that Jess and Will would be living next to Vaughn. "Oh, Vaughn," she thought sadly, "You're just setting yourself up for more heartache."