Title: Wish List
Author: Donna donna__rose@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: They're not mine, if you think they are you are obviously either insane or a very dumb lawyer.
Summary: Syd wishes, Vaughn delivers, a happy ending. I dunno, read it and then you can write my summary for me.
Notes: Merry Christmas, lots of updates today huh! Anyways, keep reading and reviewing!!! It's taking me forever to write all of these, but hey, I have a month off school, so one chapter for each every day....Well, R&R and we'll see how it goes!
Chapter Nine
A week and a half later, Sydney was running at around fifty percent her capacity down a back alleyway, past the back of pubs and murky shops, bullet after bullet being fired at her as she clutched the small family photo to her chest. Sloane had sent her, completely alone on what was meant to be a simple mission. She was to enter Dream, a second hand shop in downtown England, buy the photo in its frame and leave. Unluckily, she was met with ten agents who took off after her as soon as she had exited the shop. For the past five minutes, she had weaved up and down the laneways and dodged the bullets, the whole time, promising herself that Sloane would be getting a piece of her mind when she got back.
Listening carefully, she heard the men behind her breathing heavily and decided it was time to show them who was in charge. Accelerating she was soon out of sight and probably miles away. The men were left, doubled over, clutching their chests and cursing her. She went straight to the airport and caught a plane home, trying, but failing to catch up on the sleep she had been deprived of since the day when she had last seen Vaughn.
The ride was bumpy and rough, she was almost ready to go and shoot the pilot but realized that this might blow her cover, this of course brought painful memories of Vaughn's joke regarding her inclination to rip Sloane's finger off and she was set for another four hours of tossing and turning.
Her new handler, a fifty-something year old woman was fine. She was relatively nice, didn't stick to protocol as tightly as Sydney had expected, instead letting Sydney talk to her about things they shouldn't have been discussing but never once speaking of Vaughn. Claire was great, smart and ambitious but not Vaughn and while Sydney told herself night after night that this was what she wanted, deep down she knew it wasn't.
Landing in Los Angeles, Sydney made her way home in a cab, once there; she collapsed on the sofa and fell instantly into a sleepless slumber. At several stages in the following hours, she was conscience enough to notice Francie watching over her, a worried look on her features.
The night was filled with dreams, all of them bad, nothing worth remembering, but all full of hatred and bitterness. Several involving Vaughn. When Sydney did awake properly, it was to the sound of her beeper, still attached to the top of her rumpled and slightly blood splattered pants. A large, unclean gash suddenly present on her upper leg. Wanting to let loose a scream, but settling for a sigh, she looked down to find that Sloane was waiting for her. Gazing up at the clock she realized it was just past ten on the Wednesday morning, standing up she chose not to shower and instead headed straight out to the car, climbing in, her eyes still bleary with sleep, she silently cursed the world for putting her through this, her mind telling her that she was being selfish but her heart telling her that the life she was living was ridiculously unfair and worthless.
Parking the car, directly behind the one she knew to be Sloane's, she let her door scrap against his immaculate paint job. Smirking, she stormed through security and into the room where all of their usual meetings were held. There she found Sloane, Marshall and her father waiting for her, each, checking their watches as she walked in. Marshall grinning at her, her father scowled at the world and Sloane looking at her with his analyzing stare as usual.
Ignoring their looks, she didn't take a seat. "I'm taking the week off," she announced, silently hoping to pick a fight just so she could yell.
Sloane raised an eyebrow at her and told her, "You cannot take the day off, yet alone the week, Sydney. We have missions to go to."
She shook her head, "No, you think I have missions to go to, but I don't; I am not going. She turned to walk out, but found the door locked electronically.
"May I ask why?"
Sydney glared at him, acutely aware of the warning looks her father was directing towards her. "Yes, it's because a few days ago I was shot at, chased, attacked and assaulted by men you told me weren't going to be there." She took a breath and continued, "Now that's fine, I understand that my work is dangerous, but to page me the next morning and tell me I can't take the day off because you have more missions for me is....well it's not fair."
Sloane, his fingers clicking together as his voice came out calm and level. "Sydney, life isn't fair."
"I don't care, either you unlock this door and give me the day off or," she pulled a gun from her hip, shocking herself and everyone else, "I'll blow the glass." Sloane's eyes narrowed before he clicked a button below the table. The glass was bullet proof, but he didn't want Sydney letting off shots.
Storming out Sydney re-holstered her gun and began to make her way towards her car. She was almost there when she heard heavy footsteps, hurried and running behind her. Whirling around, ready to attack anyone Sloane had decided to throw at her, 'for her own good' but found her dad, slowing as he approached.
Gruffly, he glared at her, worry and bemusement mirrored in his eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you out of your mind? He'll have you killed." Sydney just watched him, her eyes dark with anger.
"He cannot expect me to just ignore my latest near death experience. If he wants me to walk unknowingly into death, then he can give me a day off. Okay?" She opened her car door and climbed in, putting the key into the ignition hole with more force than she needed and for a second she thought she had snapped the key.
"Not really, no." Sydney sighed with exasperation edging her voice and slammed the door shut, missing her father's hand by a couple of millimeters. Revving the car a few times, she looked back and reversed quickly out of the car park, almost causing an accident once she got out onto the roads. Jack just watched after her, vowing to work out what had gotten into his daughter. Turning back, he made his way down to the SD-6 area.
Walking into Sloane's office he was faced with an angered look, "What was wrong with her?"
"I don't know," Jack answered honestly; sure that Sloane would have been watching him via one of the many security cameras. "She must just be having a bad day. I'll get to the bottom of it. If it remains a problem, I'll talk to you." Jack turned and left, not waiting for a response.
Making his way out he walked over to Dixon who was sitting silently at his desk, searching some files for something or other. Bending over he whispered. "Dixon, have you noticed anything...weird about Sydney lately?"
Dixon looked up at him startled, before replying. "She's seemed a little edgy lately. But that's all." He was inclined to ask why, but chose not to when he caught the look of anger in Jack's eyes. As an after thought he added. "You might ask Marshall, he's been spending a lot of time with her."
Jack nodded and turned to walk over to the tech lab. Entering he spotted Marshall and barked. "Marshall," startled, he dropped something made out of glass on his foot, it shattered and he looked at it as though he were about to cry. Sharply, "Marshall, have you noticed anything wrong with Sydney?"
Marshall looked up and shook his head, "No, she's been fine, really good Mr Bristow. She was a bit, sharp with me on Friday, but hey, since then she just sits in the corner and listens while I explain things to her."
Noticing something, Jack questioned, "She just listens? She never asks questions? Never interrupts?"
"No sir." Marshall stammered out, still eyeing wherever it was he had dropped.
Jack nodded and walked briskly out. Marshall collapsed onto the floor and started picking the little pieces of glass up, careful not to touch the liquid that had spilled from inside, knowing full well that if he did he would be paralyzed for a good two days.
Jack stormed into CIA headquarters and, with out knocking, opened the door and stomped into Devlin's office. He looked up from his desk where he had been taking a call and quickly ended the conversation. Looking up he nodded to Jack, "Jack, how can I help you?"
Jack was on a first name basis with Devlin and got straight to the point, knowing that to waist time would be to risk his daughter's cover and life. "Ben, Sydney just told Sloane that she's taking the week off," Devlin made no show of knowing why she might have done this. "Then she proceeded to threaten to shoot the door down if he didn't let her out."
Devlin's brow creased down hard, "I don't know why." He said, "She has not been ordered to do any such thing." He stood up and walked over to the filing cabinet. He had a good idea of why his top agent had been acting so erratically lately, but he wanted to make sure nothing else had happened to upset her. "Sit down," he said as he pulled out a file ten times bigger than any other agent's.
Flicking through, he pulled paper after paper, checking to make sure that there was no significance in the day, the weather, the year to Agent Bristow. Shaking his head, he explained to Jack, "You and I haven't met since it happened; I hadn't thought it would have such a huge effect, but my judgment was wrong."
Jack looked at him, questioningly. "Agent Vaughn organized an emotional back up mission." Jack's mouth dropped open, he'd heard of them and they only occurred once in a blue moon. "He went over and all seemed to go well, but then, we're not sure exactly, something went wrong and your daughter had him reassigned." Jack watched Devlin carefully, not allowing any emotion to show on his face.
"What do you mean, 'had him reassigned'?" Jack knew that Sydney was attached to Vaughn, so why she would have him reassigned raised some unwanted thoughts.
"She just walked into the CIZ building and came in here, sat in that very chair and said. And I quote," he pulled out another piece of paper. "I want a new handler.' I of course asked her why and all she would tell me was that she felt that as she was working so much she needed someone more experienced." He shrugged, "We assigned Claire MacIntire to her and she seems to be doing fine."
Jack nodded. "I'm going to have to find her." He raised an eyebrow in question, silently hoping that Devlin would know what he was thinking.
"You think it's happened again?" Devlin asked. Jack could only nod before turning to the door. As an after thought, Devlin added, "You might want to speak to Agent Vaughn, he's in his usual office doing some research. He wouldn't talk to me, but you might be able to get something out of him." Seeing a look cross Jack's face, Devlin hastened to add, "In legal ways, Jack, we don't know that he did anything wrong."
Jack nodded and left.
Hahaha, read and review, it is the only way to get more!
Author: Donna donna__rose@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: They're not mine, if you think they are you are obviously either insane or a very dumb lawyer.
Summary: Syd wishes, Vaughn delivers, a happy ending. I dunno, read it and then you can write my summary for me.
Notes: Merry Christmas, lots of updates today huh! Anyways, keep reading and reviewing!!! It's taking me forever to write all of these, but hey, I have a month off school, so one chapter for each every day....Well, R&R and we'll see how it goes!
Chapter Nine
A week and a half later, Sydney was running at around fifty percent her capacity down a back alleyway, past the back of pubs and murky shops, bullet after bullet being fired at her as she clutched the small family photo to her chest. Sloane had sent her, completely alone on what was meant to be a simple mission. She was to enter Dream, a second hand shop in downtown England, buy the photo in its frame and leave. Unluckily, she was met with ten agents who took off after her as soon as she had exited the shop. For the past five minutes, she had weaved up and down the laneways and dodged the bullets, the whole time, promising herself that Sloane would be getting a piece of her mind when she got back.
Listening carefully, she heard the men behind her breathing heavily and decided it was time to show them who was in charge. Accelerating she was soon out of sight and probably miles away. The men were left, doubled over, clutching their chests and cursing her. She went straight to the airport and caught a plane home, trying, but failing to catch up on the sleep she had been deprived of since the day when she had last seen Vaughn.
The ride was bumpy and rough, she was almost ready to go and shoot the pilot but realized that this might blow her cover, this of course brought painful memories of Vaughn's joke regarding her inclination to rip Sloane's finger off and she was set for another four hours of tossing and turning.
Her new handler, a fifty-something year old woman was fine. She was relatively nice, didn't stick to protocol as tightly as Sydney had expected, instead letting Sydney talk to her about things they shouldn't have been discussing but never once speaking of Vaughn. Claire was great, smart and ambitious but not Vaughn and while Sydney told herself night after night that this was what she wanted, deep down she knew it wasn't.
Landing in Los Angeles, Sydney made her way home in a cab, once there; she collapsed on the sofa and fell instantly into a sleepless slumber. At several stages in the following hours, she was conscience enough to notice Francie watching over her, a worried look on her features.
The night was filled with dreams, all of them bad, nothing worth remembering, but all full of hatred and bitterness. Several involving Vaughn. When Sydney did awake properly, it was to the sound of her beeper, still attached to the top of her rumpled and slightly blood splattered pants. A large, unclean gash suddenly present on her upper leg. Wanting to let loose a scream, but settling for a sigh, she looked down to find that Sloane was waiting for her. Gazing up at the clock she realized it was just past ten on the Wednesday morning, standing up she chose not to shower and instead headed straight out to the car, climbing in, her eyes still bleary with sleep, she silently cursed the world for putting her through this, her mind telling her that she was being selfish but her heart telling her that the life she was living was ridiculously unfair and worthless.
Parking the car, directly behind the one she knew to be Sloane's, she let her door scrap against his immaculate paint job. Smirking, she stormed through security and into the room where all of their usual meetings were held. There she found Sloane, Marshall and her father waiting for her, each, checking their watches as she walked in. Marshall grinning at her, her father scowled at the world and Sloane looking at her with his analyzing stare as usual.
Ignoring their looks, she didn't take a seat. "I'm taking the week off," she announced, silently hoping to pick a fight just so she could yell.
Sloane raised an eyebrow at her and told her, "You cannot take the day off, yet alone the week, Sydney. We have missions to go to."
She shook her head, "No, you think I have missions to go to, but I don't; I am not going. She turned to walk out, but found the door locked electronically.
"May I ask why?"
Sydney glared at him, acutely aware of the warning looks her father was directing towards her. "Yes, it's because a few days ago I was shot at, chased, attacked and assaulted by men you told me weren't going to be there." She took a breath and continued, "Now that's fine, I understand that my work is dangerous, but to page me the next morning and tell me I can't take the day off because you have more missions for me is....well it's not fair."
Sloane, his fingers clicking together as his voice came out calm and level. "Sydney, life isn't fair."
"I don't care, either you unlock this door and give me the day off or," she pulled a gun from her hip, shocking herself and everyone else, "I'll blow the glass." Sloane's eyes narrowed before he clicked a button below the table. The glass was bullet proof, but he didn't want Sydney letting off shots.
Storming out Sydney re-holstered her gun and began to make her way towards her car. She was almost there when she heard heavy footsteps, hurried and running behind her. Whirling around, ready to attack anyone Sloane had decided to throw at her, 'for her own good' but found her dad, slowing as he approached.
Gruffly, he glared at her, worry and bemusement mirrored in his eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you out of your mind? He'll have you killed." Sydney just watched him, her eyes dark with anger.
"He cannot expect me to just ignore my latest near death experience. If he wants me to walk unknowingly into death, then he can give me a day off. Okay?" She opened her car door and climbed in, putting the key into the ignition hole with more force than she needed and for a second she thought she had snapped the key.
"Not really, no." Sydney sighed with exasperation edging her voice and slammed the door shut, missing her father's hand by a couple of millimeters. Revving the car a few times, she looked back and reversed quickly out of the car park, almost causing an accident once she got out onto the roads. Jack just watched after her, vowing to work out what had gotten into his daughter. Turning back, he made his way down to the SD-6 area.
Walking into Sloane's office he was faced with an angered look, "What was wrong with her?"
"I don't know," Jack answered honestly; sure that Sloane would have been watching him via one of the many security cameras. "She must just be having a bad day. I'll get to the bottom of it. If it remains a problem, I'll talk to you." Jack turned and left, not waiting for a response.
Making his way out he walked over to Dixon who was sitting silently at his desk, searching some files for something or other. Bending over he whispered. "Dixon, have you noticed anything...weird about Sydney lately?"
Dixon looked up at him startled, before replying. "She's seemed a little edgy lately. But that's all." He was inclined to ask why, but chose not to when he caught the look of anger in Jack's eyes. As an after thought he added. "You might ask Marshall, he's been spending a lot of time with her."
Jack nodded and turned to walk over to the tech lab. Entering he spotted Marshall and barked. "Marshall," startled, he dropped something made out of glass on his foot, it shattered and he looked at it as though he were about to cry. Sharply, "Marshall, have you noticed anything wrong with Sydney?"
Marshall looked up and shook his head, "No, she's been fine, really good Mr Bristow. She was a bit, sharp with me on Friday, but hey, since then she just sits in the corner and listens while I explain things to her."
Noticing something, Jack questioned, "She just listens? She never asks questions? Never interrupts?"
"No sir." Marshall stammered out, still eyeing wherever it was he had dropped.
Jack nodded and walked briskly out. Marshall collapsed onto the floor and started picking the little pieces of glass up, careful not to touch the liquid that had spilled from inside, knowing full well that if he did he would be paralyzed for a good two days.
Jack stormed into CIA headquarters and, with out knocking, opened the door and stomped into Devlin's office. He looked up from his desk where he had been taking a call and quickly ended the conversation. Looking up he nodded to Jack, "Jack, how can I help you?"
Jack was on a first name basis with Devlin and got straight to the point, knowing that to waist time would be to risk his daughter's cover and life. "Ben, Sydney just told Sloane that she's taking the week off," Devlin made no show of knowing why she might have done this. "Then she proceeded to threaten to shoot the door down if he didn't let her out."
Devlin's brow creased down hard, "I don't know why." He said, "She has not been ordered to do any such thing." He stood up and walked over to the filing cabinet. He had a good idea of why his top agent had been acting so erratically lately, but he wanted to make sure nothing else had happened to upset her. "Sit down," he said as he pulled out a file ten times bigger than any other agent's.
Flicking through, he pulled paper after paper, checking to make sure that there was no significance in the day, the weather, the year to Agent Bristow. Shaking his head, he explained to Jack, "You and I haven't met since it happened; I hadn't thought it would have such a huge effect, but my judgment was wrong."
Jack looked at him, questioningly. "Agent Vaughn organized an emotional back up mission." Jack's mouth dropped open, he'd heard of them and they only occurred once in a blue moon. "He went over and all seemed to go well, but then, we're not sure exactly, something went wrong and your daughter had him reassigned." Jack watched Devlin carefully, not allowing any emotion to show on his face.
"What do you mean, 'had him reassigned'?" Jack knew that Sydney was attached to Vaughn, so why she would have him reassigned raised some unwanted thoughts.
"She just walked into the CIZ building and came in here, sat in that very chair and said. And I quote," he pulled out another piece of paper. "I want a new handler.' I of course asked her why and all she would tell me was that she felt that as she was working so much she needed someone more experienced." He shrugged, "We assigned Claire MacIntire to her and she seems to be doing fine."
Jack nodded. "I'm going to have to find her." He raised an eyebrow in question, silently hoping that Devlin would know what he was thinking.
"You think it's happened again?" Devlin asked. Jack could only nod before turning to the door. As an after thought, Devlin added, "You might want to speak to Agent Vaughn, he's in his usual office doing some research. He wouldn't talk to me, but you might be able to get something out of him." Seeing a look cross Jack's face, Devlin hastened to add, "In legal ways, Jack, we don't know that he did anything wrong."
Jack nodded and left.
Hahaha, read and review, it is the only way to get more!