2

Time in seclusion: 00:22:37

"…there's a week worth of groceries in the fridge and cupboards. You have your cell phone, right?"

Jack tore his eyes away from the avocado-colored refrigerator, which he appeared to have grown inexplicably fascinated with, to nod and pat the left side pocket of his suit jacket.

"Okay, good," Jen said as she swept out of the kitchen, through the living room, and into the front hall of the safe house. "And you have your gun?"

He nodded once more but didn't give away where on his body it was hidden.

"Okay…good." She grimaced when she realized that numerous variations of 'okay, good' had been her answer to his last hand-full of responses. "I spoke with Vaughn about fifteen minutes ago and he and Sydney were on their way here, so they should be arriving soon. I'm sure you and Sydney will be fine."

"Of course we will." Nowhere in sight was the anxious Jack Bristow who'd all but panicked when told that Sydney would be joining him in the safe house.

"Yes, well…" Why in the world was she feeling so nervous when Jack was calm and collected? "If anything comes up, I'm only a phone call away. Please don't hesitate to call me."

"I know. And I won't."

"And Vaughn or I will stop by and check on you two in a couple of days."

"That's fine."

Jen clamped her lips together and examined her view of Jack. His face was turned away from her – apparently something in one of the bedrooms had piqued his interest – so what she saw was a side profile of his face: the bump of his pursed lips, the flicker of his eyelashes as he strained to hear again whatever had captured his attention. She knew it was ridiculous to be so concerned. Jack could take care of himself; no one was more aware of this than she was after having monitored so many of his missions in which things always seemed to go wrong. Unfortunately, she also knew how erratic he could become when in situations involving his daughter.

"Well," she said with a bright voice and a clap of her hands, "if there's nothing else, then I'll—"

"Just find those tapes, okay?"

The request was quiet, almost plaintive, and made her stare at him a bit longer than she'd intended to.

"You know I will, Jack," she declared with her best imitation of unquestioning assurance. When he didn't respond or look back in her direction, she let herself out through the front door and waited for Vaughn and Sydney to make their appearance. She couldn't explain why, but a sense of foreboding was filling her belly.

The low rumble of an engine and the crunch of loose gravel underneath tires lifted her from her thoughts as she blinked and saw a car pull up in front of the house. Soon both the car's front doors opened and out stepped Vaughn and a young woman she assumed was Sydney.

"You made it," Jen greeted cheerfully. She uncrossed her arms and trotted out to meet them by the car.

"Yeah, traffic was surprisingly light," Vaughn stated as he opened one of the back passenger doors and pulled out a carry-on size suitcase. "Syd, Jen Wallis. Jen, Sydney Bristow."

"It's good to finally meet you. Jack's said a lot about you in that laconic way of his," Jen quipped, holding out her hand to the woman who stood before her. Sydney was tall, which wasn't surprising given the height of her parents, and she was dressed casually in a pair of loose fitting jeans and a light gray sweater, her hair pulled back into a low ponytail. "But it's always nice to put a face to a name."

"Yes, it is." Sydney's hand was cool to her touch and Jen could tell she was being scrutinized. "So…you're my father's handler. I've often wondered what you looked like."

"And? Do I pass muster?"

"Yes, definitely. I guess I… I just expected my dad's handler to be older and surlier and…"

"Manlier?" Jen supplied with a knowing smile.

"Actually, yes." Sydney cocked her head to her right and openly evaluated her father's handler. She was of medium height, had blondish-brown hair pinned up into a bun, and a friendly air about her. Her black pantsuit showed off a trim figure and she looked to be about Vaughn's age. Shoving her hands into the side pockets of her jeans, Sydney broke out into a sheepish grin. "I know it's silly of me to have assumed that my dad's handler would be a man. I just—"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Jen dismissed with a wrinkle of her nose and a wave of a hand. "I get that a lot, and the truth of the matter is that I probably wouldn't have gotten this position if your father hadn't happened to antagonize and piss off everyone else within the Agency four years ago. He needed a new handler at the time, no one wanted the job, so I volunteered."

"And we all thought she was insane," Vaughn interjected as he joined the two women and handed Sydney her canvas backpack. "We were convinced you had hit your head and lost your mind."

"And you still sometimes think that, right?" Jen teased with a boisterous laugh, which soon had Vaughn laughing as well. Sydney took note of the playfulness between the two agents who stood on either side of her in their dark suits. She instantly knew there was a back story there that she wasn't privy to. "Anyway," Jen continued, shaking her head and pushing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes, "I was eager to make a name for myself in the Agency and knew that becoming handler for such an important agent as Jack was a fantastic opportunity, so I pushed hard for the assignment. There were misgivings on Devlin's part, but I think he finally agreed to my proposition because he figured that once Jack and I met, we'd immediately want nothing more to do with each other."

"I take it that's not what happened?" Sydney asked.

"Well, as predicted, your father immediately ran to Devlin and demanded another handler. Someone with more experience, someone a little less…fluffy." Jen snickered as that word came to her mind. "Yeah, I actually think he called me that once: fluffy. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. But when Devlin met with me, I told him everything went fine and that I had a feeling Jack and I would forge a wonderful asset/handler relationship."

"I still can't believe Devlin bought that line," Vaughn sneered.

"He didn't, genius," Jen sarcastically retorted. "I think Devlin was just sick of Jack at that point and was happy to have anyone other than himself deal with him. And I don't know why you're complaining 'cause I happen to remember a certain female handler recommending you to Devlin as the perfect candidate for becoming one himself about a year ago."

"Yeah, you did, didn't you? I still owe you for that." A smile stretched across Vaughn's face as he gazed at his friend with both admiration and appreciation.

Sydney took note of that as well. "So, you two…know each other well?" she asked tentatively, her eyes flitting back and forth from one smiling face to the other, her heart quickening ever so slightly in pace.

"Oh, God, yeah. How many years do you think we're talking about, Mike? Six? Seven?"

"Yeah, at least, I guess. I mean, we go back to Camp Swampy."

"Camp Swampy?" Sydney's mouth fell open as she digested this information. She knew so little about Vaughn but had wedged herself so deeply into his life that she sometimes forgot he had friends and acquaintances she would never have heard of before. "You guys joined the Agency together?"

"Well, not 'together' in the sense that we knew each other beforehand. We met our first year in. You know, Vaughn…Wallis…Weiss…" Jen rattled off, her shoulders drawing upwards into a nonchalant shrug. "Alphabetical seating has its benefits, I suppose."

"Yeah, I suppose," Sydney muttered, a tinge of annoyance creeping into her voice.

Catching the minor shift in her tone, Vaughn shot Sydney a look of alarm and reached out to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Is something wrong?"

"What? No." She shook her head as she attempted to mask her jealousy. "No, it's just that… I was thinking I should probably get inside the house."

"Oh, right. Of course." Gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb, Jen pointed at the front door. "Your father's already inside. We drove here together in a rental car and since Devlin wants the two of you to have a car in case of an emergency, we hid it around back. But this means I'm now left without a way back to the office. Mike? Think I can hitch a ride with you?"

"Yeah, sure. Just let me get Sydney settled first."

"Okay. I'll wait for you here."

As Vaughn escorted Sydney towards the door, her suitcase in his right hand, he noticed that her usual smile had fallen into a straight line and her eyes were firmly anchored onto the ground, refusing to meet his. "Hey, don't worry about having to be holed up for a few days," he reassured her with a calm voice as he misread the reason for why she was upset. "We'll find those tapes and break you out of here in no time."

"Oh, I know you will. That's not why I'm—" She caught herself at the last second and silently chastised herself for almost saying too much. "Never mind."

"No, what were you going to say? That's not why you're what? Is there something going on I should know about?"

Coming to a halt several feet away from the front door, Sydney snuck a peek over her shoulder towards where Jen was waiting by Vaughn's car and saw the female agent holding an animated conversation with someone via her cell phone. She would laugh every couple of seconds as her free hand waved in front of her body with dramatic flair. What could possibly be bothering me, Vaughn? Sydney questioned in her head as she turned her attention back to her handler. Certainly not the fact that you know everything about my life and friends, and yet I know nothing about yours.

Using every bit of power within her to conceal her bitterness and hurt, she forced herself to smile and quickly covered what little distance there was to the door. "Don't mind me. I'm just annoyed. I mean, there's so much stuff going on right now with SD-6 and my mother's organization, and I should be out dealing with that. But instead of doing my job – doing something useful – I'm stuck in this safe house because of some stupid tapes."

"I know. It's frustrating," Vaughn sympathized as he set her case down and inserted a key into the front lock to open the door. "But we're going to be doing everything within our power to get both you and your dad out of here as soon as possible, and I really think everything's going to be fine between—"

"Hello, Sydney."

Stepping into the house, Vaughn and Sydney swung their heads in the direction of the voice. They could see Jack's figure partially shrouded in shadows as he spoke to them from the living room.

"Hey, Dad," Sydney greeted with a genuine expression of pleasure before redirecting her eyes to Vaughn. "Look, I know everything's going to be fine with me and my dad. Don't worry about us. Just find those tapes, okay? I'm beginning to run out of believable places to go on extended business trips when it comes to explaining to Francie where I've gone."

Vaughn chuckled at her request and gave her right hand a quick squeeze. "You've got it. Take care of yourself, Syd."

"Always."