Keeping The Faith

Disclaimer: I do not own Alias, nor am I in any way associated with any member of the crew or cast of the show, or rep of ABC.

Spoilers: This chapters contains no spoilers for "The Indicator." However, you might be spoiled toward the end if you have not seen "The Enemy Walks In."

"...so I said, 'No, it's completely healthy!' But she's all, 'Ugh, whatever,' and I'm just like...Sydney?"

Sydney looked up from her bowl of cereal. "Huh?"

Will raised an eyebrow at her. Francie put her hands on her hips.

"Have you heard a word I've said?" she demanded.

"Uh..."

"Francie was just talking about a customer at the restaurant," Will explained.

Francie groaned, forgetting about Sydney's lack of interest. "She was being such a witch!"

Sydney smiled. "Well, if this person didn't like your restaurant, there's something seriously wrong with them."

Francie grinned and turned to Will. "See? Why can't you be more supportive like that?"

Will widened his eyes. "What? I'm always supportive!"

"You were making fun of me about this!"

"So?"

"So, you're not being supportive!"

Will threw his hands up in the air and shook his head.

"You guys are too much," Sydney laughed. She looked at her watch and frowned. "Hey, if I don't go now, I'm going to be late for work," she said, standing up and walking around the counter.

"Okay, bye, hon," Francie said, leaning over to give her friend a quick hug.

"Bye, Syd," Will added, kissing Sydney on the cheek.

"See you guys later!" Sydney called over her shoulder, grabbing her coat and purse and running out the door.

"...so I said, 'Well, hello, there,' and she's all, 'Oh, please,' and I'm just like...Mike?"

Vaughn looked up from his hands. "Huh?"

"Come on, man, don't you want to hear my story?"

Vaughn smiled. "You trying to hook up with a nurse doesn't exactly constitute as a story, Eric."

"Yes, it does. And if it doesn't, we can pretend it does."

Vaughn rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot."

Weiss grinned. "Only sometimes. Hey, how're my fish?"

Vaughn sighed. "You're fish are fine, Weiss, how many times do you have to ask?"

"Many, many times," Weiss replied defensively. "My fish are very special to me."

"Ooh..." Vaughn winced.

Weiss widened his eyes. "What? What? What happened? What'd you do?"

"Uh, well, see, one of them accidentally...you know...died."

"Accidentally? How did my fish just accidentally die? Did you overfeed the tank, did you not clean out the water..."

"Weiss, Weiss, calm down," Vaughn laughed. "I'm just joking."

Weiss gave a tiny shake of his head. "Dude, that is not funny."

"I dunno, I kinda thought it was."

Weiss moaned. "Don't ever do that again, got it?"

"Okay, okay...how's your neck?"

Weiss shrugged, fingering his bandage. "It's better, I guess. Don't worry, I'll be able to go bar-bouncing with you in a week or two."

Someone knocked on the door, and the men looked up.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but..." the nurse at the door said.

Vaughn held up his hand. "Oh, sure, it's not a problem. I should get going, anyway." He stood up and looked back at his friend. Weiss motioned to the nurse with his eyes and wiggled his brows. Vaughn shook his head in disbelief.

"See you later, buddy," he said.

"Bye, Mike."

Vaughn walked past the nurse, who stayed rooted in place for a split second.

"Have a nice day, Agent Vaughn," she said, smiling.

"Uh, you too, Nancy," he replied, slinking out the door.

"Have a nice day, Agent Vaughn," he heard Weiss mock.

"Shut up," the nurse replied.

Vaughn laughed and walked out of the hospital.

"Dad?" Sydney called.

Jack Bristow stopped and turned to look at his daughter. "Yes, Sydney?"

"Can we talk about something?"

Jack glanced around. "Here?"

Sydney looked at her surroundings. They were in the middle of SD-6. "It's really important."

"So important that it can't wait an hour or so?" Jack asked.

"It's about mom," she whispered urgently.

Jack frowned. "What about her?"

"I...well, somebody told me something about what happened in Madagascar..."

"Who?"

"Dad, that's not..."

"Who told you what, Sydney?"

Sydney blinked. She inched closer to her father. "Vaughn told me that..."

Jack took in a deep breath. "Agent Vaughn doesn't know what he's talking about."

Sydney furrowed her eyebrows. "You don't even know what he said."

Jack pursed his lips. "I can guess."

"Listen, he also said something else...something about...about some sort of...spy school. Do you know anything about this?"

Jack felt himself steaming. He clenched his teeth and replied, "Sydney, Agent Vaughn is a fool. Do you understand me? He is feeding you lies."

Sydney bit her lip. After a moment, she nodded. "I know. I can't believe he would say something like that."

"But you believed him?"

Sydney tilted her head. "No. No, I didn't. It's funny. Before the whole Madagascar thing, I probably would have believed this spy school crap. But there's no way I could believe it now."

Jack nodded. "Good."

Sydney gave a sigh of relief. "So there is no spy school?"

Jack gave her a small smile. "No spy school. Just Agent Vaughn's imagination."

Sydney smiled back. "Okay. Thanks, Dad."

"Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have someone I need to...see."