Chapter Two
Sydney is completely still as she holds the small box in her hands, unable to move her eyes away. She quickly blinks away the tear before Francie sees.
"Uh, Syd? How do you know whom it's from? I haven't even given you the card that goes with it yet."
That snaps Sydney out of her thoughts. Her heart skips a beat as she realizes that there's a card too. Francie hands her a white envelope with her name written neatly on the center. She has never seen his handwriting before, but somehow the pen strokes are familiar. Her name had never looked so special on paper. She extends her shaky hand and reaches for the envelope.
Francie has never seen Sydney like this. Francie may be oblivious to why Sydney devotes her time so much to an insignificant bank job, but she knows her friend on other levels. Even though she doesn't know why, she slowly backs away towards the door because she knows it is the right thing to do at the moment. She opens her mouth to say she'll be back later, but decides that Sydney probably wouldn't even hear her anyway and quietly closes the door behind her.
Sydney puts the box carefully on the nearest table and takes out the card from the envelope. It is a small white card with an angel drawn in silver lining. She takes her index finger and traces the outline a few times and thinks back to a cold night in a huge stadium. The men with guns were well hidden but she sensed them eyeing her every move. She clicked on her earpiece. "Who am I talking to?" Don't let it be that Lambert.
She had never felt so relieved to hear the friendly voice that she thought only a few days ago that she might not ever hear again. " Your invisible friend." How true, she thought. That was the first turning point in their relationship. It was beginning to move from a strictly professional work relationship towards a friendship.
"Good. Where are you?" Please let him be near. Her own thoughts surprised her. It was beginning to register that this wasn't exactly a risk-free operation. She didn't trust Anna or K-directorate, and she certainly didn't trust the men with guns. She wasn't even sure if she could trust the CIA. "Satellite relay station back in LA, watching you from a two hundred mile orbit." Relief went from her head to her toes, which picked her mood right up.
"My guardian angel," she turned her head upward as to really acknowledge him up there in the sky watching over her. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was smiling. "I was going to same the same thing to you."
As the memory draws to an end, Sydney returns to the present. She realizes that she has only been looking at the front of the card. It said so much. She almost laughs at her own stupidity for thinking she had already read the card. She slowly opens the card and reads:
Sydney, To make your special day just a little more perfect- the way you always imagined. Sorry I can't be there. V.
She moves her head from side to side because she couldn't believe he remembered. Then she shakes her head harder at her herself because she couldn't believe she almost forgot that he always listened to everything she said, no matter how insignificant.
It was five months ago, one month after she got engaged to Andrew. They were sitting across from each other in the warehouse. It was one of the shortest debriefings they ever had. The meetings were getting shorter and shorter, and she didn't know how to stop the trend. It was partly because things were at the point of routine. She could almost guess what they wanted her to do even before a Joey's Pizza's call was made. They quickly exchanged business words like a formality. Then they sat uncomfortably in silence. Both knew the meeting was officially over but no one moved. Then he broke the silence.
" Uh, so how is the planning going?" he asked while staring at the dirty floor. At first she was completely taken back by surprise. They hadn't talked about personal things in a long time. She couldn't pinpoint exactly when they stopped sharing little tidbits about their lives outside their jobs, but she had a feeling it was when she and Andrew started becoming a little more serious.
"Um, It's going good.uh, Francie is helping me a great deal. Who needs a planner, when they've got Francie." He chuckled a little back at the floor. "She is so on top of things. I just let her take over. She is a stickler for tradition and superstitious things. I never really cared much about tradition. I don't think anything about me is traditional." She stopped just as she realized she was beginning to babble. It had been so long since she talked to him about things other than SD-6 and missions that she didn't know how to carry on.
" Like what?"
" What do mean like what?"
" Like what type of traditions." He was seriously making an effort to continue this awkward conversation.
" Oh. She says there are certain type of flowers that I have to get. We're going to go look at little bride and groom statuettes tomorrow. And did you know how much goes into seating arrangements? I'm talking serious research into all the guests' history." I'm doing it again, she thought. Stop it.
"I didn't know that. I guess I always imagined a small wedding for myself, not that many guests" he said as he finally lifted his eyes to meet hers.
" Yeah, me too actually," now it was her turn to put her head down and stare at her hands. "But, uh Andrew, unlike myself, has a huge extended family and is a very.sociable.person."
" I see."
"Well, all the traditions aren't bad. I know it's really only done on the day of the wedding, but you know that tradition where the bride is suppose to get something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue?"
He simply nodded. "Um, I know it's silly, but I always wanted one thing for the blue part. When I was six right after my mom died, I lived with my grandmother for awhile before my Dad found a permanent nanny. Anyway, she had this beautiful silver necklace. It had a deep blue stone. If I squinted really hard I could see my little face, it was so clear blue." She paused to remember it exactly. She was off in her own memory world, and he just stared at her staring into space. " There were little diamonds surrounding the blue that sparkled in the light. The darkness of the blue and the light of the white diamonds were in balance. My grandmother said she would give it to me on my wedding day. I always remembered that. Little girls think about their wedding days and all I knew for sure was that I wanted that necklace."
" Is she coming to the wedding?" he asked
She almost forgot he was there she was so wrapped in her own childhood thoughts. "um, no. She died a few years ago of a heart attack. The house was never sold, but a wild fire two years ago burned most of it. I heard that some things on the top floor were still saved, but I couldn't bring myself to go back there."
" I'm sorry," he added quietly.
" It's okay really. I don't know why I brought that up. I just thought if I had that blue necklace, it would just make the day just a little more perfect. You know?"
"Yeah, I know." He did know. He understood it all. The sound of tapping on the door brought her back to reality.
Sydney felt her eyes just to make sure no one saw her crying on her own wedding day, took a deep breath and said, "Come in."
Sydney is completely still as she holds the small box in her hands, unable to move her eyes away. She quickly blinks away the tear before Francie sees.
"Uh, Syd? How do you know whom it's from? I haven't even given you the card that goes with it yet."
That snaps Sydney out of her thoughts. Her heart skips a beat as she realizes that there's a card too. Francie hands her a white envelope with her name written neatly on the center. She has never seen his handwriting before, but somehow the pen strokes are familiar. Her name had never looked so special on paper. She extends her shaky hand and reaches for the envelope.
Francie has never seen Sydney like this. Francie may be oblivious to why Sydney devotes her time so much to an insignificant bank job, but she knows her friend on other levels. Even though she doesn't know why, she slowly backs away towards the door because she knows it is the right thing to do at the moment. She opens her mouth to say she'll be back later, but decides that Sydney probably wouldn't even hear her anyway and quietly closes the door behind her.
Sydney puts the box carefully on the nearest table and takes out the card from the envelope. It is a small white card with an angel drawn in silver lining. She takes her index finger and traces the outline a few times and thinks back to a cold night in a huge stadium. The men with guns were well hidden but she sensed them eyeing her every move. She clicked on her earpiece. "Who am I talking to?" Don't let it be that Lambert.
She had never felt so relieved to hear the friendly voice that she thought only a few days ago that she might not ever hear again. " Your invisible friend." How true, she thought. That was the first turning point in their relationship. It was beginning to move from a strictly professional work relationship towards a friendship.
"Good. Where are you?" Please let him be near. Her own thoughts surprised her. It was beginning to register that this wasn't exactly a risk-free operation. She didn't trust Anna or K-directorate, and she certainly didn't trust the men with guns. She wasn't even sure if she could trust the CIA. "Satellite relay station back in LA, watching you from a two hundred mile orbit." Relief went from her head to her toes, which picked her mood right up.
"My guardian angel," she turned her head upward as to really acknowledge him up there in the sky watching over her. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was smiling. "I was going to same the same thing to you."
As the memory draws to an end, Sydney returns to the present. She realizes that she has only been looking at the front of the card. It said so much. She almost laughs at her own stupidity for thinking she had already read the card. She slowly opens the card and reads:
Sydney, To make your special day just a little more perfect- the way you always imagined. Sorry I can't be there. V.
She moves her head from side to side because she couldn't believe he remembered. Then she shakes her head harder at her herself because she couldn't believe she almost forgot that he always listened to everything she said, no matter how insignificant.
It was five months ago, one month after she got engaged to Andrew. They were sitting across from each other in the warehouse. It was one of the shortest debriefings they ever had. The meetings were getting shorter and shorter, and she didn't know how to stop the trend. It was partly because things were at the point of routine. She could almost guess what they wanted her to do even before a Joey's Pizza's call was made. They quickly exchanged business words like a formality. Then they sat uncomfortably in silence. Both knew the meeting was officially over but no one moved. Then he broke the silence.
" Uh, so how is the planning going?" he asked while staring at the dirty floor. At first she was completely taken back by surprise. They hadn't talked about personal things in a long time. She couldn't pinpoint exactly when they stopped sharing little tidbits about their lives outside their jobs, but she had a feeling it was when she and Andrew started becoming a little more serious.
"Um, It's going good.uh, Francie is helping me a great deal. Who needs a planner, when they've got Francie." He chuckled a little back at the floor. "She is so on top of things. I just let her take over. She is a stickler for tradition and superstitious things. I never really cared much about tradition. I don't think anything about me is traditional." She stopped just as she realized she was beginning to babble. It had been so long since she talked to him about things other than SD-6 and missions that she didn't know how to carry on.
" Like what?"
" What do mean like what?"
" Like what type of traditions." He was seriously making an effort to continue this awkward conversation.
" Oh. She says there are certain type of flowers that I have to get. We're going to go look at little bride and groom statuettes tomorrow. And did you know how much goes into seating arrangements? I'm talking serious research into all the guests' history." I'm doing it again, she thought. Stop it.
"I didn't know that. I guess I always imagined a small wedding for myself, not that many guests" he said as he finally lifted his eyes to meet hers.
" Yeah, me too actually," now it was her turn to put her head down and stare at her hands. "But, uh Andrew, unlike myself, has a huge extended family and is a very.sociable.person."
" I see."
"Well, all the traditions aren't bad. I know it's really only done on the day of the wedding, but you know that tradition where the bride is suppose to get something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue?"
He simply nodded. "Um, I know it's silly, but I always wanted one thing for the blue part. When I was six right after my mom died, I lived with my grandmother for awhile before my Dad found a permanent nanny. Anyway, she had this beautiful silver necklace. It had a deep blue stone. If I squinted really hard I could see my little face, it was so clear blue." She paused to remember it exactly. She was off in her own memory world, and he just stared at her staring into space. " There were little diamonds surrounding the blue that sparkled in the light. The darkness of the blue and the light of the white diamonds were in balance. My grandmother said she would give it to me on my wedding day. I always remembered that. Little girls think about their wedding days and all I knew for sure was that I wanted that necklace."
" Is she coming to the wedding?" he asked
She almost forgot he was there she was so wrapped in her own childhood thoughts. "um, no. She died a few years ago of a heart attack. The house was never sold, but a wild fire two years ago burned most of it. I heard that some things on the top floor were still saved, but I couldn't bring myself to go back there."
" I'm sorry," he added quietly.
" It's okay really. I don't know why I brought that up. I just thought if I had that blue necklace, it would just make the day just a little more perfect. You know?"
"Yeah, I know." He did know. He understood it all. The sound of tapping on the door brought her back to reality.
Sydney felt her eyes just to make sure no one saw her crying on her own wedding day, took a deep breath and said, "Come in."