Title: Almost Perfect
Author: Chelsea (#47)
Distribution: Anywhere you want, just let me know!
Rating: PG
Summary: Three years post ATY. Sydney is a school teacher and thinks Vaughn is dead, Will is a ranch hand, Francie is w/ the CIA and Vaughn is lonely and miserable.
Disclaimer: The only thing I own are the characters Jodi Granger, Steve Sanders, and Becky James. Everything else (the show, or any other copyrighted items) belong to the rightful owners, whoever they might be.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Background Information: Sydney was saved from her mother in Taipei by Jack and Will; no one was killed. Vaughn survived, but Sydney is unaware of this fact. Dixon reported Sydney, and she and Will were sent into witness protection directly after returning. Vaughn doesn't know Syd's whereabouts. Will's article was printed; the beginning of the end for SD-6. Francie was told the truth after she caused much trouble by continually going to the police. She was recruited after refusing to enter WP.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I got the transcript from Secret Agent Fan. The text between the "~" are basically copy/paste. I changed it around a little, but it was already well worded. Just know that those aren't mine. It's really long! If you haven't seen the pilot episode, then beware!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 15: Just like the movies
Tom's POV
The lights in the auditorium finally dimmed, and the spotlight came on. A short, balding, scruffy-faced man walked into the spotlight. As was the custom, all of the students started to applaud in welcome. Tom just happened to be close enough to the stage that he could see the man smirk.
"Thank you for that kind welcome. I'm afraid that there has been a slight change in plans." As if on cue someone turned of the projector. "We have a small film that we will be showing you. I must warn you though," he finished the sentence on a slight laugh/growl, "parental discretion is advised."
The movie came on. There was no music and the film was poor quality, it looked like it may have been surveillance footage. On the screen, Tom watched as two Asian men dragged a young woman into an old storage room. She was wearing a black cat suit and had flaming red hair. They shoved her head underwater and held her there while she struggled. (It was like some really great spy movie; Tom was hooked.) The men pulled the woman back and threw her to the ground, for the first time the audience was given a clear view of the gasping woman's face. The crowd let out a gasp of their own as they recognized the face of their beloved Miss Carter.
Tom practically jumped up out of his chair, trying to get a closer look at the screen. He glanced over at his buddy incredulously.
The men started to yell at her in a foreign language, which she answered in. Tom winced when one man grabbed her up by her hair and threw her into a chair. They started to talk to her and, once again, Tom winced when one of them slapped her. The men then cuffed her to the chair, and stepped back.
The students were deathly quiet as they watched the Spanish teacher stare at the door, fearfully panting.
The door opened and another Asian man walked in carrying a syringe. Squirting it, he walked over and, with the two other men holding her down, tried to inject her. She squirmed around until they finally managed to get the needle in her arm. That done he stepped back and Miss Carter stared at him and then slipped into unconsciousness. The screen faded. "30 Minutes Later" appeared on the black screen.
The scene then continued. The first thing that was noticeable was that the woman was now awake. She lifted her head, moaned, closed her eyes, and allowed her head to fall back.
The man, with the syringe, was in front of her. This time when she started talking, it was English.
If there had been any doubt about whether or not the woman in the footage was indeed their teacher, they were put to rest at the sound of her voice. She was obviously drugged, but it was definitely the voice of Stacey Carter.
"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. I don't know what you put in that stuff. Wow. Wooo."
The man answered in English. "I'd rather not make this too painful."
"Me, too. Thanks. Glad we're on the same page. It's good." The man took a step closer to her. "Woahhhhhh..."
"Who are you working for? I'll not ask you again."
"Okay. Get a pen."
If it was possible, the entire room became even more silent, waiting for her answer. Tom dug around in his pocket to do as she had said, waiting along with her interrogator.
She waited until the man got out a pad of paper and took his seat. "Write this down. E-M-E-T-I-B. You got that?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Now reverse it."
Tom did so along with the other man. He looked at the end result, 'Bite Me', and laughed slightly at the sound of her drug-affected laughter. He just stared at the woman on the screen. She was completely different from the one that he knew. He was absolutely shocked at the words and tone of voice that came next.
"I've got bad news for you, man. I'm your worst enemy. I've got nothing to lose."
One of the guards from earlier carried a black kit over to the man which, when opened, revealed dentistry utensils.
The man's words sent shivers down Tom's spine. "That's not exactly true. You have teeth."
Tom was holding his breath, amazed that she wasn't going to cave. They stuck a metal utensil into her mouth and pried it open. The man was standing over her with a tooth-pulling utensil in hand.
"Okay. Let's try one more time. Who do you work for?"
Again, Tom, and everyone else, waited for her to answer the man. This time it seemed that she would, because she started to mumble; trying to talk around the device. They removed it so she could talk.
"Ah... I just want to say... start with the teeth in the back. If you don't mind."
Tom was amazed. He wanted to look away, to stop watching, but he couldn't. He couldn't take his eyes off the screen, and he couldn't keep her blood- curdling screams that accompanied the un-medicated tooth pulling.
The creepy little man walked back into the spotlight and the film paused.
"I'm sure that you've figured out by now that the unfortunate woman in this footage is your very own Miss Carter. Don't feel too sorry for her, there is more to this that you haven't seen. It is just as entertaining as the rest, I assure you.
"Now, I would love to continue the film, but I think it would be far more interesting to have the star on stage don't you?" He turned and motioned off stage. Two people were escorted onto the stage at gunpoint. Not surprisingly, the room was once again filled with gasps and screams.
The small man started to speak again. "Miss.what is it? Miss Carter? Isn't that what you go by these days, Sydney?"
Sydney?
"No, I don't think that suits you.
"Agent Bristow, if you do not show yourself in the next 30 seconds, your father and friend will die. I would hate to have to kill your father too: after Danny."
The door at the back of the auditorium swung open, slamming against the wall. Every head in the room pivoted around to see who it was. Predictably enough, it was Miss Carter/Sydney Bristow.
A man with an assault rifle, who had been guarding the door, stepped forward to apprehend her, but the man on stage frantically screamed for him to stop.
"Do not get within arms reach of her. Not under any circumstances."
The guard took a step back and motioned her toward the stage. She kept her eyes locked on the man, on stage, the entire time. Tom watched in awe as she passed him. There wasn't a trace of fear on her lovely face. There was, however, hatred.
When she finally reached the stage, Sloane motioned her towards a chair. Four armed guards ran onto the stage, each aiming a gun at her head.
Tom was wondering why they needed four armed guards, not in reaching distance, surrounding a high school Spanish teacher.
As one of the men began cuffing her arms and legs to the chair, Sydney spoke. "What do you want Sloane."
"Revenge, Sydney. You ruined everything that I'd built my life around. The only possible way I can think of to repay your kindness is to do the same to you.
"A teacher; that's what you've always wanted to be, right? I plan to take that from you like you did to me. I want everyone to know what you really are."
Tom was becoming impatient; he wanted to hear the answers to some of his questions as soon as he possibly could. He assumed that "Sloane" was going to be the one to give them to him.
"I'm sure that you're all wondering why we have taken such extreme precautions. Let's just watch the rest of the video."
The film that had been paused on a faded screen came back on again. Sydney was still setting in the chair, her mouth was bloody and swollen.
The man walked into the room and pulled a chair up next to her.
"The pill I gave you helps the pain. I could tell because you stopped screaming so loudly. That medication, however, only lasts for two hours. And it's been two hours almost. So," he stood up, "you have a choice. Which way to go next?" He held up a bottle of pills and the tooth-pulling utensil. "Tell me, and you get one more."
She mumbled something.
"Louder!"
"I can't..."
The man leaned forward until he was only inches from her face. "Who do you work for, you pretty little girl?"
The familiar gasp came from the audience once again as Sydney head bunts him; he falls to the ground. ~She flipped her chair over so the back of the chair choked him across his throat. She got the handcuffs undone, grabbed the man and the chair, sat him down on it and handcuffed him. Sydney broke a broom over her knee, snapping it in two, and came near him with the puller.~
"No... no..."
~She jabbed the utensil into his crotch and he screamed. Two guards entered. She hit the first guy with the broom. Hit the second guy. She kicked the first man, hit the second with the piece of broom and roundhouse kicked the first. She grabbed the two guns from the men and left.~
Once again the screen faded to black, this time the words read, "Who is she?" Picture after picture of Sydney in different disguises flashed up on the screen. She gave her name several times, never was it the same: Victoria King, Kate Jones, Christiana Stevens, and many more. It showed her crying her way out of different situations in different languages and dialects.
A picture of Sydney, handcuffed to a chair, flashed on the screen. You can't see the man who's talking, but who wants to anyway?
"Ms. Bristow, I'm special officer Kendall, FBI."
FBI?
"You're being held under national security directive 81A. Per the directive, we can legally file formal charges against you based on current evidence. We would appreciate your cooperation in answering a series of questions. If you choose legal counsel, then this meeting is canceled and we'll determine the charges based on current evidence. It's your decision."
"I have nothing to hide."
~Kendall nodded slightly and opened a folder.~ "Please state your name and occupation."
"Sydney Bristow. I'm an intelligence officer for the United States government."
"Under which agency?"
"CIA."
The film stopped, the silence ringing in everyone's ears until Sydney broke it. "Where did you get that footage?"
"Haladki wasn't our only mole."
Tom was completely confused. He knew enough about the FBI and CIA to know that everything that they were hearing was probably classified information, but he couldn't follow any of it anyway, so it didn't really matter.
"What about the mission surveillance?"
"Courtesy of your dear mother.
"After your original Taipei mission, she has had a man following you. He wasn't allowed to return to her until she summoned him, so you were lucky. However, when she finally got a hold of this man, she gladly contacted me. Not only was she able to give me your current alias, she was able to reveal to me that your father was also a mole. Needless to say I was upset." He walked over and stood in front of her. "Your friend over there told me the only information that I needed: where to find you."
Every light on the stage suddenly flashed on, making it impossible for the people onstage to see past the edge of it. Once again the doors were launched open, but this time it was every door that led into the auditorium simultaneously, not just one. Through each door two people with guns and vests came through, taking out the guards posted there.
Sloane whipped out a gun and pointed it at Becky James' head; Sydney and her father had already had guns trained on them.
The man, who looked to be in charge, shouted up at the stage, "Sloane if you move another inch we'll turn you into a human sieve!"
From his close position, Tom could see that Sydney had visibly paled and tears were gathering in her eyes, which were searching the darkness frantically.
Sloane's face was a mask of pure terror. The hand holding the gun was trembling, but when he spoke the words were as steady and chilling as ever. "If you shoot me you'll never get out of here alive."
"I have enough men in this room for you, and all your men, to have at least three holes put through you."
Tom glanced around the auditorium and could see that the man was bluffing. They had enough to take out Sloane's group, but not as many as he claimed. At best there were only eight of them: seven men and one woman.
Sloane didn't look like he was going to back down. He stared first at his target then back out into the darkness. As the mystery man started to count down Sloane became more frantic. As the count neared the single digits Sloane raised the gun and the room was filled with gunfire.
Tom and the rest of the room scrambled to the floor in a frantic effort to avoid the flying bullets. Everything that happened next was in a haze; adrenaline surges tend to have that effect. The next thing that he remembered seeing was a tall blonde man run up on stage, followed by a younger girl, and grab Sydney in a desperate hug. She started to cry, but couldn't hug back because she was still cuffed. Her father walked over and nodded to the man who was holding his daughter then bent down to un-cuff her. Two of the vested "conquerors" walked up onto the stage. As soon as they stepped into the light Sydney's eyes were locked on the pair. She was now hugging the blonde man back, but she was starring at the handsome hero.
The auditorium was strangely quiet. Instead of the chaos that would normally follow such an occurrence, the room was again filled with silence. They were watching with rapt attention as the woman standing beside the rescue leader gently pushed him forward.
The young girl onstage noticed that Sydney's attention was not on the man she was crying on and stepped up to remove her friend. At his confused look she motioned towards the man who was burning a whole through the woman before him.
Sydney managed to get out a chocked whisper that, fortunately for the audience, the microphones picked up making it possible for the entire auditorium to hear.
"Vaughn? I-I thought you were dead."
He grabbed her and held her tightly, maybe too tightly, and whispered back into her hair, "I know."
They stood there holding each other while Vaughn's friend and the blonde man embraced and he introduced her to his friend. (They learned that the woman was Francie, the blonde man was Will, and the girl was Jodi.)
Francie then turned back to the newly reunited couple and whispered, "Syd?"
She turned her head and looked at her. "Francie?!" The two women hugged and the tears, that never really stopped, began to fall again.
The reunion continued onstage as the students and teachers were escorted out of the auditorium.
Tom was one of the last people out of the room. He looked back when he heard Sydney talking again. He looked back, the secret romance fan that he was, and watched the scene.
She walked up to Vaughn and stood awkwardly before him, staring at his shoes. "I guess my cover's blown, huh?"
"Yeah. I never thought I'd be glad to hear that."
She looked up at him, hopeful. "Now what?"
"Well, right now I'm going to do something that could very well get me fired."
As he leaned towards her, she whispered almost inaudibly, "I hope so."
Then they kissed. It was just like the movies, and Tom was embarrassed as he always was as he walked out of the "theater" feeling giddy over a happy ending.
The End
A/N: I'm back! Thanks for reading this, and for replying, that's the only thing that keeps me writing. I will post the epilogue later, it's called "Reagan Anne!" so keep your eyes open!
Author: Chelsea (#47)
Distribution: Anywhere you want, just let me know!
Rating: PG
Summary: Three years post ATY. Sydney is a school teacher and thinks Vaughn is dead, Will is a ranch hand, Francie is w/ the CIA and Vaughn is lonely and miserable.
Disclaimer: The only thing I own are the characters Jodi Granger, Steve Sanders, and Becky James. Everything else (the show, or any other copyrighted items) belong to the rightful owners, whoever they might be.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Background Information: Sydney was saved from her mother in Taipei by Jack and Will; no one was killed. Vaughn survived, but Sydney is unaware of this fact. Dixon reported Sydney, and she and Will were sent into witness protection directly after returning. Vaughn doesn't know Syd's whereabouts. Will's article was printed; the beginning of the end for SD-6. Francie was told the truth after she caused much trouble by continually going to the police. She was recruited after refusing to enter WP.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I got the transcript from Secret Agent Fan. The text between the "~" are basically copy/paste. I changed it around a little, but it was already well worded. Just know that those aren't mine. It's really long! If you haven't seen the pilot episode, then beware!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 15: Just like the movies
Tom's POV
The lights in the auditorium finally dimmed, and the spotlight came on. A short, balding, scruffy-faced man walked into the spotlight. As was the custom, all of the students started to applaud in welcome. Tom just happened to be close enough to the stage that he could see the man smirk.
"Thank you for that kind welcome. I'm afraid that there has been a slight change in plans." As if on cue someone turned of the projector. "We have a small film that we will be showing you. I must warn you though," he finished the sentence on a slight laugh/growl, "parental discretion is advised."
The movie came on. There was no music and the film was poor quality, it looked like it may have been surveillance footage. On the screen, Tom watched as two Asian men dragged a young woman into an old storage room. She was wearing a black cat suit and had flaming red hair. They shoved her head underwater and held her there while she struggled. (It was like some really great spy movie; Tom was hooked.) The men pulled the woman back and threw her to the ground, for the first time the audience was given a clear view of the gasping woman's face. The crowd let out a gasp of their own as they recognized the face of their beloved Miss Carter.
Tom practically jumped up out of his chair, trying to get a closer look at the screen. He glanced over at his buddy incredulously.
The men started to yell at her in a foreign language, which she answered in. Tom winced when one man grabbed her up by her hair and threw her into a chair. They started to talk to her and, once again, Tom winced when one of them slapped her. The men then cuffed her to the chair, and stepped back.
The students were deathly quiet as they watched the Spanish teacher stare at the door, fearfully panting.
The door opened and another Asian man walked in carrying a syringe. Squirting it, he walked over and, with the two other men holding her down, tried to inject her. She squirmed around until they finally managed to get the needle in her arm. That done he stepped back and Miss Carter stared at him and then slipped into unconsciousness. The screen faded. "30 Minutes Later" appeared on the black screen.
The scene then continued. The first thing that was noticeable was that the woman was now awake. She lifted her head, moaned, closed her eyes, and allowed her head to fall back.
The man, with the syringe, was in front of her. This time when she started talking, it was English.
If there had been any doubt about whether or not the woman in the footage was indeed their teacher, they were put to rest at the sound of her voice. She was obviously drugged, but it was definitely the voice of Stacey Carter.
"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. I don't know what you put in that stuff. Wow. Wooo."
The man answered in English. "I'd rather not make this too painful."
"Me, too. Thanks. Glad we're on the same page. It's good." The man took a step closer to her. "Woahhhhhh..."
"Who are you working for? I'll not ask you again."
"Okay. Get a pen."
If it was possible, the entire room became even more silent, waiting for her answer. Tom dug around in his pocket to do as she had said, waiting along with her interrogator.
She waited until the man got out a pad of paper and took his seat. "Write this down. E-M-E-T-I-B. You got that?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Now reverse it."
Tom did so along with the other man. He looked at the end result, 'Bite Me', and laughed slightly at the sound of her drug-affected laughter. He just stared at the woman on the screen. She was completely different from the one that he knew. He was absolutely shocked at the words and tone of voice that came next.
"I've got bad news for you, man. I'm your worst enemy. I've got nothing to lose."
One of the guards from earlier carried a black kit over to the man which, when opened, revealed dentistry utensils.
The man's words sent shivers down Tom's spine. "That's not exactly true. You have teeth."
Tom was holding his breath, amazed that she wasn't going to cave. They stuck a metal utensil into her mouth and pried it open. The man was standing over her with a tooth-pulling utensil in hand.
"Okay. Let's try one more time. Who do you work for?"
Again, Tom, and everyone else, waited for her to answer the man. This time it seemed that she would, because she started to mumble; trying to talk around the device. They removed it so she could talk.
"Ah... I just want to say... start with the teeth in the back. If you don't mind."
Tom was amazed. He wanted to look away, to stop watching, but he couldn't. He couldn't take his eyes off the screen, and he couldn't keep her blood- curdling screams that accompanied the un-medicated tooth pulling.
The creepy little man walked back into the spotlight and the film paused.
"I'm sure that you've figured out by now that the unfortunate woman in this footage is your very own Miss Carter. Don't feel too sorry for her, there is more to this that you haven't seen. It is just as entertaining as the rest, I assure you.
"Now, I would love to continue the film, but I think it would be far more interesting to have the star on stage don't you?" He turned and motioned off stage. Two people were escorted onto the stage at gunpoint. Not surprisingly, the room was once again filled with gasps and screams.
The small man started to speak again. "Miss.what is it? Miss Carter? Isn't that what you go by these days, Sydney?"
Sydney?
"No, I don't think that suits you.
"Agent Bristow, if you do not show yourself in the next 30 seconds, your father and friend will die. I would hate to have to kill your father too: after Danny."
The door at the back of the auditorium swung open, slamming against the wall. Every head in the room pivoted around to see who it was. Predictably enough, it was Miss Carter/Sydney Bristow.
A man with an assault rifle, who had been guarding the door, stepped forward to apprehend her, but the man on stage frantically screamed for him to stop.
"Do not get within arms reach of her. Not under any circumstances."
The guard took a step back and motioned her toward the stage. She kept her eyes locked on the man, on stage, the entire time. Tom watched in awe as she passed him. There wasn't a trace of fear on her lovely face. There was, however, hatred.
When she finally reached the stage, Sloane motioned her towards a chair. Four armed guards ran onto the stage, each aiming a gun at her head.
Tom was wondering why they needed four armed guards, not in reaching distance, surrounding a high school Spanish teacher.
As one of the men began cuffing her arms and legs to the chair, Sydney spoke. "What do you want Sloane."
"Revenge, Sydney. You ruined everything that I'd built my life around. The only possible way I can think of to repay your kindness is to do the same to you.
"A teacher; that's what you've always wanted to be, right? I plan to take that from you like you did to me. I want everyone to know what you really are."
Tom was becoming impatient; he wanted to hear the answers to some of his questions as soon as he possibly could. He assumed that "Sloane" was going to be the one to give them to him.
"I'm sure that you're all wondering why we have taken such extreme precautions. Let's just watch the rest of the video."
The film that had been paused on a faded screen came back on again. Sydney was still setting in the chair, her mouth was bloody and swollen.
The man walked into the room and pulled a chair up next to her.
"The pill I gave you helps the pain. I could tell because you stopped screaming so loudly. That medication, however, only lasts for two hours. And it's been two hours almost. So," he stood up, "you have a choice. Which way to go next?" He held up a bottle of pills and the tooth-pulling utensil. "Tell me, and you get one more."
She mumbled something.
"Louder!"
"I can't..."
The man leaned forward until he was only inches from her face. "Who do you work for, you pretty little girl?"
The familiar gasp came from the audience once again as Sydney head bunts him; he falls to the ground. ~She flipped her chair over so the back of the chair choked him across his throat. She got the handcuffs undone, grabbed the man and the chair, sat him down on it and handcuffed him. Sydney broke a broom over her knee, snapping it in two, and came near him with the puller.~
"No... no..."
~She jabbed the utensil into his crotch and he screamed. Two guards entered. She hit the first guy with the broom. Hit the second guy. She kicked the first man, hit the second with the piece of broom and roundhouse kicked the first. She grabbed the two guns from the men and left.~
Once again the screen faded to black, this time the words read, "Who is she?" Picture after picture of Sydney in different disguises flashed up on the screen. She gave her name several times, never was it the same: Victoria King, Kate Jones, Christiana Stevens, and many more. It showed her crying her way out of different situations in different languages and dialects.
A picture of Sydney, handcuffed to a chair, flashed on the screen. You can't see the man who's talking, but who wants to anyway?
"Ms. Bristow, I'm special officer Kendall, FBI."
FBI?
"You're being held under national security directive 81A. Per the directive, we can legally file formal charges against you based on current evidence. We would appreciate your cooperation in answering a series of questions. If you choose legal counsel, then this meeting is canceled and we'll determine the charges based on current evidence. It's your decision."
"I have nothing to hide."
~Kendall nodded slightly and opened a folder.~ "Please state your name and occupation."
"Sydney Bristow. I'm an intelligence officer for the United States government."
"Under which agency?"
"CIA."
The film stopped, the silence ringing in everyone's ears until Sydney broke it. "Where did you get that footage?"
"Haladki wasn't our only mole."
Tom was completely confused. He knew enough about the FBI and CIA to know that everything that they were hearing was probably classified information, but he couldn't follow any of it anyway, so it didn't really matter.
"What about the mission surveillance?"
"Courtesy of your dear mother.
"After your original Taipei mission, she has had a man following you. He wasn't allowed to return to her until she summoned him, so you were lucky. However, when she finally got a hold of this man, she gladly contacted me. Not only was she able to give me your current alias, she was able to reveal to me that your father was also a mole. Needless to say I was upset." He walked over and stood in front of her. "Your friend over there told me the only information that I needed: where to find you."
Every light on the stage suddenly flashed on, making it impossible for the people onstage to see past the edge of it. Once again the doors were launched open, but this time it was every door that led into the auditorium simultaneously, not just one. Through each door two people with guns and vests came through, taking out the guards posted there.
Sloane whipped out a gun and pointed it at Becky James' head; Sydney and her father had already had guns trained on them.
The man, who looked to be in charge, shouted up at the stage, "Sloane if you move another inch we'll turn you into a human sieve!"
From his close position, Tom could see that Sydney had visibly paled and tears were gathering in her eyes, which were searching the darkness frantically.
Sloane's face was a mask of pure terror. The hand holding the gun was trembling, but when he spoke the words were as steady and chilling as ever. "If you shoot me you'll never get out of here alive."
"I have enough men in this room for you, and all your men, to have at least three holes put through you."
Tom glanced around the auditorium and could see that the man was bluffing. They had enough to take out Sloane's group, but not as many as he claimed. At best there were only eight of them: seven men and one woman.
Sloane didn't look like he was going to back down. He stared first at his target then back out into the darkness. As the mystery man started to count down Sloane became more frantic. As the count neared the single digits Sloane raised the gun and the room was filled with gunfire.
Tom and the rest of the room scrambled to the floor in a frantic effort to avoid the flying bullets. Everything that happened next was in a haze; adrenaline surges tend to have that effect. The next thing that he remembered seeing was a tall blonde man run up on stage, followed by a younger girl, and grab Sydney in a desperate hug. She started to cry, but couldn't hug back because she was still cuffed. Her father walked over and nodded to the man who was holding his daughter then bent down to un-cuff her. Two of the vested "conquerors" walked up onto the stage. As soon as they stepped into the light Sydney's eyes were locked on the pair. She was now hugging the blonde man back, but she was starring at the handsome hero.
The auditorium was strangely quiet. Instead of the chaos that would normally follow such an occurrence, the room was again filled with silence. They were watching with rapt attention as the woman standing beside the rescue leader gently pushed him forward.
The young girl onstage noticed that Sydney's attention was not on the man she was crying on and stepped up to remove her friend. At his confused look she motioned towards the man who was burning a whole through the woman before him.
Sydney managed to get out a chocked whisper that, fortunately for the audience, the microphones picked up making it possible for the entire auditorium to hear.
"Vaughn? I-I thought you were dead."
He grabbed her and held her tightly, maybe too tightly, and whispered back into her hair, "I know."
They stood there holding each other while Vaughn's friend and the blonde man embraced and he introduced her to his friend. (They learned that the woman was Francie, the blonde man was Will, and the girl was Jodi.)
Francie then turned back to the newly reunited couple and whispered, "Syd?"
She turned her head and looked at her. "Francie?!" The two women hugged and the tears, that never really stopped, began to fall again.
The reunion continued onstage as the students and teachers were escorted out of the auditorium.
Tom was one of the last people out of the room. He looked back when he heard Sydney talking again. He looked back, the secret romance fan that he was, and watched the scene.
She walked up to Vaughn and stood awkwardly before him, staring at his shoes. "I guess my cover's blown, huh?"
"Yeah. I never thought I'd be glad to hear that."
She looked up at him, hopeful. "Now what?"
"Well, right now I'm going to do something that could very well get me fired."
As he leaned towards her, she whispered almost inaudibly, "I hope so."
Then they kissed. It was just like the movies, and Tom was embarrassed as he always was as he walked out of the "theater" feeling giddy over a happy ending.
The End
A/N: I'm back! Thanks for reading this, and for replying, that's the only thing that keeps me writing. I will post the epilogue later, it's called "Reagan Anne!" so keep your eyes open!