Author's Note: The start of this chapter is mostly dialogue- sorry people! Anyway, I'd like to thank the people who reviewed me again- you rock guys! This chapter is pretty action-less, just warning you now.
Francie settled herself in one of the armchairs and faced Sydney and Vaughn.
"All right, tell me everything," she said.
Sydney sighed. She had been kind of hoping that Francie would forget about this part. Unlikely, but you never know. She sat down on the couch, Vaughn coming to sit beside her. They quickly glanced at each other, then Sydney cleared her throat.
"I'm going to have to start, I suppose. Okay," she took a deep, shaking breath, then started to explain.
"Nearly 8 years ago I was recruited to work for the same company you work for," she started. Francie nodded.
"The CIA," she stated firmly. Sydney looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry, Francie. The company is not the CIA, not even a secret black ops section. It's a rogue company called SD-6." Francie looked disbelieving, but Sydney ignored her and continued.
"I didn't know that until last year- I told Danny who I was working for, and they found out. So, one day I came around and found him murdered," Sydney said, her voice shaking slightly. Vaughn reached over with his good hand and laid it on her hand for support. She smiled briefly over at him, then continued.
"So I decided to do something about it. I went to see the real CIA about it," she said. Vaughn took this as his cue to start.
"My name is Agent Michael Vaughn- I'm a CIA analyst. Anyway, one day Sydney here came here, looking nothing like she does normally, I might add," Sydney flinched at the memory of that god-awful wig. Vaughn grinned, and continued.
"So the CIA decided that we could use Sydney as a double agent in a plan to take down SD-6. There was a bit of a debate, considering the identity of the existing double agent, but Sydney insisted."
Francie's disbelieving expression had slowly changed to one of mild horror. Sydney jumped back in the explanation.
"So I decided to work as a double agent for the past year. I'm given a mission by Sloane, then I meet Agent Vaughn here for my counter mission." Francie looked shocked.
"Does Sloane know who he's working for?" she asked, her voice quiet. Sydney nodded.
"He's one of the few people there who do," she said. Francie looked bewildered.
"But he seems so nice…" she said, her voice drifting off towards the end. Sydney frowned.
"I used to think that too. But, Francie, there's no easy way to say this. His wife was dying of cancer, and she figured out what was going on. Then she went into remission, and Sloane killed her in order to get a promotion," Sydney said. Francie looked horrified. A stunned silence fell, then Francie stood up slowly.
"I'm going to my room, to think," she said as she walked slowly out of the room.
*
Vaughn withdrew his hand from Sydney's, scratching at the edges of his cast as he watched her. She looked so…drawn. It seemed that telling Francie had taken a lot out of her. Yet, somehow, she looked as if a great weight had been taken off her shoulders. Sydney turned and smiled at him.
"I'm going to take a shower," she said, gesturing to her filthy clothes and dirt smeared face. Vaughn nodded, and Sydney walked off to the bathroom.
Vaughn started to pack away the stuff when Francie came back out of her room. She watched him struggle one-handed with the milk before coming over to help him.
"Thought I should give you a hand," she cracked, juggling a bag of tomatoes and a bottle of juice. Vaughn grinned at her.
"Thank you," he said. Then he frowned, puzzled. "I'm not sure whether I should call you Francie or Cassandra," he added. Francie looked up at him.
"Well, I've been Francie so long that I don't really feel like Cassandra anymore," she said. Vaughn nodded, then began stuffing empty grocery bags into each other. Francie looked on, confused.
"I need them for when I take a shower," he said, waving his cast around as explanation. Francie nodded.
*
Sydney walked back down the hall, rubbing her hair dry with a towel, no longer dressed in the filthy clothes of before. She'd found her favourite fluffy white sweater, and matched it with a pair of blue jeans. Feeling refreshed, she wandered aimlessly into the lounge room and sat down on one of the armchairs, dripping water everywhere. Francie was slumped on the couch, flicking through channels on the TV, and Vaughn was browsing through the bookshelves. He looked over to see what the noise was, and grinned at Sydney.
"Oh, finally, I can have a shower," he joked. Sydney shot him a death glare, but couldn't hold it when Francie started giggling.
"You should see her at home. That was almost nothing," Francie snickered. Sydney glared at her too, then started to laugh.
"What is this, pick-on-Sydney day?" she asked. Vaughn grinned, then grabbed a garbage bag from where it was lying on the floor and began to tie it around his cast. Sydney frowned, then stood up to help him, flicking water everywhere. Vaughn backed away.
"The whole point of the bag is to keep it dry," he said, nodding at her hair. She sat back down, and Vaughn walked down the hall. Sydney turned to Francie.
"So, what do you want to do?" she asked. Francie looked around the room.
"Well, while you were in the shower, Michael and I explored a bit," she started. Sydney's eyebrow rose when she said Vaughn's name, but nodded for her to go on.
"Anyway, we looked around and found heaps of interesting stuff. There's about a million board games in the cupboard there, heaps of books all through the house, and we have cable!" Francie declared.
"Do they have Monopoly?" she asked, grinning. Francie grinned back.
"Yup, and Cluedo too!" she replied.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sydney asked.
*
"'Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200," came Sydney's voice drifting down the hall.
"Damn," came Francie's, punctuated by a thud of a metal pawn landing on a piece of cardboard with considerable force. Vaughn smiled to himself as he stood in the doorway, trying to undo the knot in the bag. He was considerably more comfortable in a pair of tracksuit pants and a hockey jersey. Sydney and Francie hadn't noticed he was there so he cleared his throat, making both Sydney and Francie jump.
"Can I join in?" he asked plaintively. Sydney giggled, and Francie reached inexplicably under the couch for something. She pulled out another board game.
"We were waiting- you cant play it with only two people," she said, brandishing a Cluedo box. Vaughn's face lit up and he plonked himself down on the floor beside them.
"I want to be Colonel Mustard," he declared.
"Ooh, I like a man in uniform," Sydney purred. Francie burst out laughing.
"Dibs on Miss. Scarlet," said Francie. Sydney frowned.
"I wanted to be her…oh well, I'll be Mrs. Peacock," she said, taking the blue pawn out of the box and setting it down on the board.
The game was getting heated, with accusations being thrown left, right and centre when Vaughn's mobile rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and all three glared at it. It rang away merrily, and Vaughn finally gave in. He stood up and wandered into the kitchen.
"Hello…"
Sydney and Francie considered peeking at the cards in the envelope as they waited. The temptation was almost too much, Francie found herself having to sit on her hands. Finally Vaughn came back in, his face serious.
"That was Weiss. He couldn't tell me much but…they're starting," he said. Sydney frowned.
"Starting what?" she asked.
"I don't know," Vaughn replied, shrugging helplessly.
Author's Note: I don't think this chapter is very good, but I don't have time to write it differently, what with exams and stuff. So this it. Reviews are always nice, and I'd like to thank the people who let me know about any potential relationships. I hadn't considered Francie/Weiss, but it does have possibilities…