Disclaimer: Alias is not owned by me. I own a few of the characters (Adam and Cora) but I don't own the character Anya. Anya is a character based on a friend of mine. I did, however, have to age my friend 20 years for her to be the right age in the story. Lol.

Archive: Sure. Just send me a link

A/N: Alright, in this chapter, we finally get into everything a little more. And an important character is introduced. Enjoy the chap. And keep those reviews coming please! J Oh, and sorry for the extensive description of the plane. I just love plane angst. Lol.

Thank yous: Thanx so much to Yana for letting me base a character on her when I know she didn't want me to and Shannon (Aliasangel) for reading and correcting this story so I wouldn't look stupid. Lol. Everyone read her stuff, it's good! :-) Thanks!! Also, to everyone who's been reviewing. This is my first Alias fic and it's really great to know that people are enjoying it. :-)

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Chapter Four

            Planes. By now they've become a more frequent form of transportation than my car.

After shifting positions once again in my scratchy coach seat, I finally gave up and turned to the window. It was four thirty in the morning and I was one of the few still awake, gazing out the window in attempt to escape from the eerie silence that filled the plane.

I was on a connection flight, scheduled to make three stops before it reached Sydney. It had made two since I first boarded at eleven thirty. I was exhausted, but I couldn't sleep. I never can on the flight to a mission. Now with my head swarming with unsettling anxieties and apprehension.

What will happen?

Will I succeed or fail?

Live or die?

Will I escape unharmed?

However, this time, it wasn't me I was thinking about.

Will Vaughn live or die?

Will Vaughn escape unharmed?

I sighed and put on my headphones, attempting to clear the gray curtain that shrouded my thoughts. A minute later, I yanked them off in frustration. Nothing would work.

Bing.

The soft tone of the seatbelt signal rang, telling the few other insomniacs and myself to buckle up for the landing.

When we were in the air again an hour later, the early morning sun was just beginning to peek up from behind the silver rimmed clouds. The sky was a pale, glowing pink. Little rainbows reflected off the clouds, creating what looked like a ring. It was such a peaceful scene to look at that finally, with an hour left before landing in Sydney, I drifted off into that strange stage of sleep when you aren't awake, but still aware of everything around you.

I felt like I had just closed my eyes when I was shaken awake by the skinny, slightly balding man who had been sitting next to me. I forced my drooping eyelids to open, yawned, and got up. I stretched and picked up my carry on bag.

"Thank you for flying Down Under Airlines. We hope you enjoyed your flight," chirped the grinning stewardess. Don't they ever get tired? It was five thirty in the morning, for God's sake. There's nothing worse when you're half asleep than overly perky people. But I returned a smile forcedly and went on my way.

I don't even remember how, but before I knew it I had made it to the hotel and was fast asleep on the stiff, bleached sheets.

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            The next morning I was supposed to meet Vaughn. Soon enough, he called and told me to meet him at a restaurant a few miles from our hotels at twelve o'clock. On the way I had to stop and meet my co-workers. They were, after all, the people I'd be pretending to work with on a building design for the next short while. I passed by the site of the building and saw three others working there. Two women and a man. We all introduced ourselves, me as Mandy Goldman, of course.

            One of the girls was a young, energetic red-head named Cora Manchester. She, like me, was American.

            The man was probably in his early 30's. He was very bubbly and creative seeming. His name was Adam Johnson.

            Finally, the third architect, Anya Yedler. She was relatively quiet, compared with the other two. She had long, wavy blonde hair and greenish blue eyes. She was very tall, even taller than me, which I can't say about many girls. She looked only a few years older. Anya was oddly familiar looking, and I found myself wondering why.

            "Anya, do I know you from somewhere?" I asked, feeling a little embarrassed as she shook her head.

            "I don't think so," she answered timidly. After that, I had to leave. It was almost twelve.

            I continued two more blocks and stopped in front of a small, cozy looking café. My heart jumped when I spotted Vaughn seated alone, cup in hand. Even in this 75 degree weather, he wore his leather trench coat.

            Without saying a word, I pulled out the chair across the table from him.

            He looked up. "Hi."

            "Hey."

            "Mission updates," he informed quietly.

            "Yeah?"

            "We've pinpointed the Circumference to be in a building about three miles from here. A closed down library, of all places."

            I shook my head and paused a moment to order a cup of coffee from the waiter. "What will they come up with next? Bombing the set of a Barney movie?" I joked after the waiter had jotted down my order and left.

            "We'll have to meet tonight for the details. Oh, and remember not to call me Vaughn. Or Michael, for that matter. I'm Collin Packard, your partner from the U.S."

            "Right."

            "Which reminds me. We need to meet the people we'll be architects with."

            I held up my hand. "I've met them already. They're very friendly. You'll like them—"

            I looked up again, stopping my sentence dead. My hand, which I was using to fan myself with my menu, froze. Anya! That's who she reminded me of. Vaughn! Shrugging it off quickly, I got up from the table. Vaughn followed, a puzzled look in his deep jade eyes. "What is it?"

            "Umm…nothing. Nothing. Come on." He wasn't convinced, but I guess he figured it was just a "girl thing" and shrugged it off.

            I clasped his arm and led him back to the site. By the time we were halfway there, my hand had made its way down his arm to his hand. We were both quite aware of the risks of a simple gesture like holding hands, but at that moment, we didn't care. We couldn't pull apart when a thousand volts of static electricity were pulsating through our fingers.

            All too soon, we arrived at the vast, sandy plain of the construction site. Cora, Adam, and Anya were beginning to plot out the design of the building.

            "Hey Mandy," Cora smiled and waved. Vaughn and I remembered our purpose for being there and unclasped our hands reluctantly. I shot him a quick smile before answering Cora.

            "Hi Cora," I called back as we neared the group.

            "Vau…Collin, this is Cora Manchester." They shook hands. "Cora, this is my partner, Collin Packard."

            I introduced him to Adam as well.

            "And, finally, this is Anya Yedler. Anya, meet the last member of your team and my…friend, Collin Packard."

            When I gestured to Vaughn, I noticed a tiny flickering of Anya's teal eyes. It lasted only a moment, but it was something I was trained to notice. It was as if… I searched my mind for the right description…as if she were recalling a memory from long ago when she looked at him. Something stored away in the darkest depths of her mind, something that pained her to think about.

            Meanwhile, Vaughn couldn't seem to tear his green gold eyes away from Anya. He smiled warmly at her and shook her hand a lot longer than needed. Even when he'd stopped shaking, he kept his hand there.

            A burning ripple of jealousy rushed through me as I realized the odd, almost supernatural connection they were making. I was so tempted to yank Vaughn's arm away from there and shove him on the next flight back to LA, just to get him away from Anya. Finally, after a minute that dragged on for an hour, they broke eye contact.

            "How are you?" they chimed, perfectly in unison.

            "Fine, thanks," they replied to each other, again synchronized as if planned. They laughed and turned away, obviously weirded out. Another minute and they were talking again, a conversation that made it sound as if they'd known each other for years.

            I couldn't watch any longer, and went over to Cora. Cora and Adam had been busy working and hadn't seen Vaughn's twilight zone exchange with Anya.

            Cora grinned. "So what's up with you and Tom Cruise over there?" she teased, pointing to Vaughn. Pointing was rude, but Vaughn was still to busy chatting it up with Anya to notice.

            I blushed. "What do you mean," I asked innocently.

            "Oh, don't play dumb. The guy is totally gorgeous and from my point of view, it looked mike you two were holding hands on the way here."

            "Must have been a mirage," I shrugged.

            She waved her hand as she talked. "So you're just gonna pretend that you and that hottie over there are not involved?"

            "I'm not pretending. Mic…Collin and I are just really good friends."

            Cora still wouldn't give up. "Define 'good'."

            I sighed. "Okay, okay. I feel something for him. But it's nothing official and it may never be."

            Cora shook her head as if I were hopeless. "Quit talking like that and go for it, Hun!"

            I laughed, blushing furiously. Then I remembered Vaughn's meeting with Anya and my good humor drained away.

            "No, I… I really couldn't," I persisted, my tone suddenly turning cold.

            Cora got the message. "Alright, alright. You're not ready. Been there."\

            Cora did not understand as well as she might have thought. There were so many reasons why I couldn't tell Vaughn… speaking of whom, I needed to get him so we could leave.

            I walked back over to find him and Anya still conversing, talking as if there were no tomorrow. It was a childish envy, really. The idea that I was supposed to be the only girl he could talk to like that. But I had to get over that.

            "Collin?" I interrupted their conversation. "Collin, come on. We have to go." Something inside me stung painfully when I realized that he hadn't acknowledged me. "Collin Packard! Come on!"

            Vaughn finally stopped talking and looked up, his eyes clouded as he realized he'd accidentally ignored me. "Umm…okay." He turned to Anya. "I've got to go. See you tomorrow I guess."

            Anya nodded. "Okay. Bye, Collin."

            We left the site. I tried my best to walk a decent distance from Vaughn without making it seem deliberate.

            "Syd, is…is something bothering you?" he asked about halfway to my hotel, shattering the awkward silence that hung in the air between us as though it were glass. And his words, though soft and concerned, cut through me like glass.

            "No. No, nothing's wrong. Nothing at all," I answered curtly, knowing my voice sounded like ice.

            Ice breaking glass.

            I walked faster, far ahead of him. Jealousy can do very strange things to people. Very strange things.

            Vaughn sped up and was beside me again. "Syd…?" He placed a warm hand on my shoulder and I spun around to look at him.

            "Look, if there's something you want to talk about, go talk about it with your new friend Anya. You seemed pretty friendly with her back at the site, enough so that it didn't even seem like you cared about anything else! Like…" I stopped short, realizing what I was saying but knowing I had to finish the sentence or sound stupid. Quietly, I added, "me."

            Vaughn looked awestruck. Right then wished I could pull the words back, but I couldn't. They floated through the air, their anger melting a larger gap between us. They stung painfully, and I could see that in the golden-emerald depths of his eyes. He knew I was right.

            I looked away quickly, down at the ground. The ground was safe. Sidewalks couldn't feel pain. After a moment I looked up again and softly, very softly, whispered, "Vaughn, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I… it just came out. I mean… I saw the way you connected with Anya back there and I…I got jealous. And you didn't even know I was talking to you before we left… I was just so hurt and jealous. I'm sorry."

            Vaughn decided to rejoin the conversation. "Jealous? Really? Well…I'll admit it. I did feel…drawn to her. Not attracted or…in love. Just…exactly what you said. Connected. It's weird. I can't explain it. There's just something so intriguing about her. And, did you notice…?" He let his voice fade.

            "She looks just like you," I finished.

            He nodded. We stood in silence for another second, but this time it wasn't awkward. It was comforting.

            Vaughn spoke up, a small smile playing about his lips. "Were you really jealous?"

            I grinned and shook my head, answering him by pulling him into a tight embrace.