Description: This is an AU story that picks up at the end of A Free Agent.
There are no actual spoilers for the next episode in this story (I don't
read spoilers), other than the bathtub scene seen in the promo. The
following is from my imagination, if it happens to be on the show at any
point, well that would kick much ass.
Disclaimer: I am completely obsessed with this show. Unfortunately, I own
no part of it. Dedication: Okay, here it is, my second attempt at fan
fiction. Enjoy. For Carli and Cindy.
New Life By: Cliffieluv
The house was quiet and Sydney couldn't have been more grateful. She had spent two excruciating weeks held captive in Switzerland and what she needed now was a calm atmosphere where she could think and breathe. Two weeks of torture. Two weeks of mind games. Two weeks of silent prayers. It was enough to break anyone's spirit.
The bathroom door opened. Light flooded her guardian angel as he walked in. Vaughn had not given up on her, not even for a second. He had asked Dixon, Marshall, even Lennox for help. She could have photographed the look on Sloane's face when Vaughn and Lennox knocked down the door. Vaughn took him out in one shot. She remembers standing up wobbly, stepping as hard as she could on the Devil's body, then falling into Vaughn's arms.
Sloane had starved her. He deprived her water until she begged. He moved her through tunnels through Switzerland into the most remote regions he could find. Two long weeks later, the CIA had finally found her.
"Hey," he said softly, sitting down beside the tub, "how's my girl?"
"Tired," Sydney replied, "so tired," she tried to smile, "but very happy to see you."
He removed a bottle from his pocket and poured a capful of what Sydney thought smelled like lavender into her bath. The aroma was soothing. He brought his hand up to her cheek, lingering on her skin, caressing it.
"If I could take it all away," he looked into her eyes, "you know I would in a heartbeat."
"I know," she believed any and every word out of his mouth.
He lathered his hands with shampoo, and mixed the scented lather into her long hair. She waited for him to fill a cup with clean water, letting the smell of raspberries fill her senses. "Lean back," he guided her backward, tilting her head and rinsing it with water.
"Sydney," he said after a moment, "you need to know something."
She opened her eyes, and looked at him, curiously, "What is it, Vaughn?" she asked.
"Kendall and Devlin held a meeting this morning," he took a deep breath, "apparently the CIA feels that Emma and James's physical relationship, in part, caused her death. This morning they edited the rulebook forbidding any and all fraternizing between co-workers." He didn't want to tell her the rest. "Violators of the new rule will be punished by an interdisciplinary council and immediately removed from their position. I'm going to lose my job, Syd."
"What do we do?" She asked quietly. She wasn't able to look at him.
"It depends. Do you still want to quit?" She shook her head no. "I need to help find Sark. He was there too, when Sloane, when he, tortured me. I need to," her voice cracked.
"It's okay, I understand," he turned her face so she was looking at him, "then we have to keep us quiet," he thought for a moment, "do you totally hate that idea? I would quit, seriously I would, but Syd, I hate the idea of you going after Sark without me."
"I'm not giving you up Vaughn," she said slowly, "I kept my feelings a secret before. I can do it again."
"We didn't do a good job. I think everyone knew," he smiled, "well, if Weiss counts as everyone." He remembered the flirting corner comment just as well as she did. "I just won't do something like this in public." He leaned in close and kissed her softly on the lips.
"I missed you so much Vaughn," she said when they broke apart, "Hey, you're too far away," she felt playful, something she hadn't been in a while. She pulled him up and into the tub, fully dressed. The suds flowed all over, wetting the floor. "Oops," she smiled as she leaned into his chest, "I'm not so tired anymore."
He kissed her again. "You're freakishly strong, you know that?" She laughed. "I've been told that," she kissed his neck, "besides I was getting cold, wanted you in here with me."
"I'm not complaining," he smiled and she gave him an amused look, "alright well not too much. I'm the one still dressed here."
"Well why didn't you just say that," she smiled. This was exactly what she needed, spending time with Vaughn to forget about the last two weeks. She pulled off his shirt and threw it onto the floor. "Better?" He smiled. Oh yeah.
His cell phone rang from the pocket of his jacket on the floor. "Don't answer it," she said and she wasn't asking. "I have to Syd," he said regretfully. "What could they want? Didn't you just leave the office?"
He pouted. "Yeah, and I have to go back. We have to go back," he corrected, looking at the message. "They wanted me to call you in."
"I haven't even been home for two days!" She exclaimed to which he responded, "I know Syd but they probably want to debrief you as soon as possible."
"If only they knew what kind of debriefing was going on right now, they would leave us alone!" She laughed. It felt good to laugh again. "Fine, we'll go in ten minutes." She kissed his neck, hands thrown lazily over his shoulders. "Syd, Syd we should go now." She whimpered. "Five? C'mon Vaughn." Her smiles made him melt. "Okay."
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into CIA headquarters, in two separate cars instead of one. For now, this was how it was going to have to be. They parked next to each other and walked through the front door together. Weiss instantly shot him a curious look, but Vaughn refused to make eye contact with his best friend, and walked with Sydney by his side to Kendall's office.
"We're here," he acknowledged his boss, "If this is about debriefing Syd - Agent Bristow, I think it could wait."
"I disagree Agent Vaughn," Kendall stated, "Devlin, Jack Bristow and I are ready right now. Let's go Agent Bristow." He led her away without another word to Vaughn.
"You just so happened to walk in at the same time as Sydney," Weiss said, coming up behind Vaughn. "Leave it alone, Eric," he said seriously. "Is this a don't ask, I can't tell kind of thing. I get that man." He slapped Vaughn on the shoulder. "You should have washed all the bubbles out of your hair though." Vaughn's hand instantly went to his hair and Weiss laughed.
Vaughn spent the next hour at his desk, pretending to do work, but really worrying about what was going on with Sydney. It would not be easy for her to talk about Sloane and his treatment of her when she was his prisoner. She emerged from the conference room in a panic. She ran into the women's bathroom. He left his office immediately and almost ran into Jack.
"What's wrong with Sydney? What did they say to her?" He asked, trying to mask his concern for her as nothing more than what a handler would ask about his asset.
"She said she was feeling queasy. She ran out of the room before I could ask anything else," Jack responded, looking just as concerned as Vaughn. "Has she mentioned to you anything about feeling sick?"
"She was fine yesterday morning." Vaughn said. His eyes widened. "When I stopped by to check up on her," he added lamely. He'd been in the office only a few hours and already he was letting their relationship slip, to her father no less. Jack gave him a curious look but let it go.
Sydney returned from the bathroom, looking visibly pale. "I'm sorry," she said to her father, Kendall and Devlin, "I don't know what came over me. I think my body is still reacting from being deprived food for so long. I'm not used to eating well anything and I had an English muffin this morning," she said sadly.
"It's alright Agent Bristow, we have enough for the moment. You should go home and rest up. We appreciate you coming in," she was surprised that for once Kendall was acting decently towards her.
"Thank you, I will," she replied. She walked by Vaughn and gave him a small smile. She was halfway around the corner when she felt his arms around her. She let him hold her for a moment but pulled away. "No, no doing that," she scolded, but with a smile.
"I couldn't help myself." He had on a look of concern. "Are you alright? You looked so pale before. I was worried about you, not that I could show it," there was bitterness in his voice at the situation they were placed in.
"I'm alright. I've been, um, throwing up a lot, even while I was with Sloane," she said to which Vaughn looked down. "We are up to sharing that type of stuff with each other, aren't we?" She asked, nervously but with a giggle.
"Oh, of course." He smiled. "I'm just worried about you. It goes with the territory."
"You always know the right things to say." She blushed. "Oh, no." She put her hand to her mouth again. She was about to run to the bathroom but the feeling subsided just as soon as it had arrived. "What's going on Syd?" She shook her head. "I don't know."
"I need to go home and rest. I'll call you tonight."
"If you feel sick, call me earlier." She nodded that she would, and left him standing there wondering just what was going on.
Sydney was on her way out the door when an intense desire to speak her mother flooded through her. She made her way to the cell. Her mother was sitting there meditating. One day she was going to ask her to teach her the secret to that.
"Mom," she said, getting the elder woman's attention.
"Sydney," Irina smiled, looking up from her position on the floor, "I didn't expect to see you so soon. Jack filled me in on what happened. Why are you not recuperating?"
"Devlin and Kendall couldn't wait more than a day to debrief me." Her mother made a face. "No, it's fine. I told them all that happened. I'm not feeling well though, so they let me go home."
"What's the matter?"
"My stomach. I haven't been able to keep down food, and what little I do manage to swallow comes right back up an hour later." She looked uncomfortably at her mother. This was the first time they had ever spoken about something so personal and it felt awkward, though also reassuring. "I think little butterflies are living inside there." She admitted with a laugh. "I'll be fine in a few days, once my system gets used to eating food and drinking water on a regular basis again."
The butterfly remark stuck in Irina's head. "Sydney," she began, "have you been having sex?" she asked bluntly.
Sydney's mouth opened in surprise, but she managed to shut it quickly enough. "What? Why, why would you ask me that?"
"When I was pregnant with you, I called you my baby butterfly. You've been throwing up Sydney. It's a logical assumption." Sydney's eyes widened. "Besides, I'm your mother. I can tell, you, look different," she said softly. No. No. "Mom, I'm not, pregnant. I can't be."
"Are you sure? Would Agent Vaughn possibly think otherwise?" Sydney demanded her mother be quiet. "Mom, stop," she said rather harshly. "I'm sorry, it's just you can't say that, not now. Do you understand?" Irina nodded.
"Not that you're going to see him, but don't tell Vaughn anything about, anything," she asked as a daughter to a mother, "I won't, Sydney. You find out though, for your own peace of mind."
Sydney left the CIA building. She made one stop on her way home, to the nearest CVS. She'd prove her mother's hypothesis wrong. Or, possibly correct.
She sat on top of the closed toilet seat, staring at the stick on the counter. A tiny stick of fate, she thought. She placed a hand on her stomach. There couldn't be another life in there, could there? Her mother had put the possibility into her head and now she couldn't shake it. She and Vaughn had been as careful as reasonably possible, but there was always a risk.
"I'll be one of the 2 percent," she muttered under her breath, "either way, everything will be okay," she tried to convince herself.
She didn't realize anyone was behind her until she heard the familiar voice. "So this is what's been going on with you." Will said, staring at her with open eyes.
"Oh," she stood up quickly, "this isn't what it looks like, Will."
"It looks like you're taking a pregnancy test."
"Alright, its exactly what it looks like." She said, flustered. "Doesn't anyone know how to knock anymore? A bathroom is private, you know."
"I called out for you but you didn't answer." He lowered his voice. "I spoke with Vaughn today at work, and he mentioned you were sick. I came home to check up on you," he said with concern.
"Thanks Will. I appreciate that." She smiled at her good friend. "You and Vaughn talk about me?" She asked.
"Sometimes. Um, Syd," he was dying to ask her questions but wasn't sure if he should, "if I ask you a really personal question will you tell me the truth?"
She knew what he was implying. "I'll tell you everything Will. I just need to talk with him first."
"We are talking about Vaughn right?" Will said to which Sydney nodded. "Not that I really have to say it, but don't tell anyone. We can get fired just for talking to each other outside of the office. This, well this could get ugly," she grimaced.
"It'll be fine. You're having a baby, how can that be bad?" He had looked at the stick before speaking. Sydney's eyes widened as she took in his words. She picked up the stick and saw the plus sign.
"Oh my God." It was the only thing she could say.
"You're having a baby."
New Life By: Cliffieluv
The house was quiet and Sydney couldn't have been more grateful. She had spent two excruciating weeks held captive in Switzerland and what she needed now was a calm atmosphere where she could think and breathe. Two weeks of torture. Two weeks of mind games. Two weeks of silent prayers. It was enough to break anyone's spirit.
The bathroom door opened. Light flooded her guardian angel as he walked in. Vaughn had not given up on her, not even for a second. He had asked Dixon, Marshall, even Lennox for help. She could have photographed the look on Sloane's face when Vaughn and Lennox knocked down the door. Vaughn took him out in one shot. She remembers standing up wobbly, stepping as hard as she could on the Devil's body, then falling into Vaughn's arms.
Sloane had starved her. He deprived her water until she begged. He moved her through tunnels through Switzerland into the most remote regions he could find. Two long weeks later, the CIA had finally found her.
"Hey," he said softly, sitting down beside the tub, "how's my girl?"
"Tired," Sydney replied, "so tired," she tried to smile, "but very happy to see you."
He removed a bottle from his pocket and poured a capful of what Sydney thought smelled like lavender into her bath. The aroma was soothing. He brought his hand up to her cheek, lingering on her skin, caressing it.
"If I could take it all away," he looked into her eyes, "you know I would in a heartbeat."
"I know," she believed any and every word out of his mouth.
He lathered his hands with shampoo, and mixed the scented lather into her long hair. She waited for him to fill a cup with clean water, letting the smell of raspberries fill her senses. "Lean back," he guided her backward, tilting her head and rinsing it with water.
"Sydney," he said after a moment, "you need to know something."
She opened her eyes, and looked at him, curiously, "What is it, Vaughn?" she asked.
"Kendall and Devlin held a meeting this morning," he took a deep breath, "apparently the CIA feels that Emma and James's physical relationship, in part, caused her death. This morning they edited the rulebook forbidding any and all fraternizing between co-workers." He didn't want to tell her the rest. "Violators of the new rule will be punished by an interdisciplinary council and immediately removed from their position. I'm going to lose my job, Syd."
"What do we do?" She asked quietly. She wasn't able to look at him.
"It depends. Do you still want to quit?" She shook her head no. "I need to help find Sark. He was there too, when Sloane, when he, tortured me. I need to," her voice cracked.
"It's okay, I understand," he turned her face so she was looking at him, "then we have to keep us quiet," he thought for a moment, "do you totally hate that idea? I would quit, seriously I would, but Syd, I hate the idea of you going after Sark without me."
"I'm not giving you up Vaughn," she said slowly, "I kept my feelings a secret before. I can do it again."
"We didn't do a good job. I think everyone knew," he smiled, "well, if Weiss counts as everyone." He remembered the flirting corner comment just as well as she did. "I just won't do something like this in public." He leaned in close and kissed her softly on the lips.
"I missed you so much Vaughn," she said when they broke apart, "Hey, you're too far away," she felt playful, something she hadn't been in a while. She pulled him up and into the tub, fully dressed. The suds flowed all over, wetting the floor. "Oops," she smiled as she leaned into his chest, "I'm not so tired anymore."
He kissed her again. "You're freakishly strong, you know that?" She laughed. "I've been told that," she kissed his neck, "besides I was getting cold, wanted you in here with me."
"I'm not complaining," he smiled and she gave him an amused look, "alright well not too much. I'm the one still dressed here."
"Well why didn't you just say that," she smiled. This was exactly what she needed, spending time with Vaughn to forget about the last two weeks. She pulled off his shirt and threw it onto the floor. "Better?" He smiled. Oh yeah.
His cell phone rang from the pocket of his jacket on the floor. "Don't answer it," she said and she wasn't asking. "I have to Syd," he said regretfully. "What could they want? Didn't you just leave the office?"
He pouted. "Yeah, and I have to go back. We have to go back," he corrected, looking at the message. "They wanted me to call you in."
"I haven't even been home for two days!" She exclaimed to which he responded, "I know Syd but they probably want to debrief you as soon as possible."
"If only they knew what kind of debriefing was going on right now, they would leave us alone!" She laughed. It felt good to laugh again. "Fine, we'll go in ten minutes." She kissed his neck, hands thrown lazily over his shoulders. "Syd, Syd we should go now." She whimpered. "Five? C'mon Vaughn." Her smiles made him melt. "Okay."
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into CIA headquarters, in two separate cars instead of one. For now, this was how it was going to have to be. They parked next to each other and walked through the front door together. Weiss instantly shot him a curious look, but Vaughn refused to make eye contact with his best friend, and walked with Sydney by his side to Kendall's office.
"We're here," he acknowledged his boss, "If this is about debriefing Syd - Agent Bristow, I think it could wait."
"I disagree Agent Vaughn," Kendall stated, "Devlin, Jack Bristow and I are ready right now. Let's go Agent Bristow." He led her away without another word to Vaughn.
"You just so happened to walk in at the same time as Sydney," Weiss said, coming up behind Vaughn. "Leave it alone, Eric," he said seriously. "Is this a don't ask, I can't tell kind of thing. I get that man." He slapped Vaughn on the shoulder. "You should have washed all the bubbles out of your hair though." Vaughn's hand instantly went to his hair and Weiss laughed.
Vaughn spent the next hour at his desk, pretending to do work, but really worrying about what was going on with Sydney. It would not be easy for her to talk about Sloane and his treatment of her when she was his prisoner. She emerged from the conference room in a panic. She ran into the women's bathroom. He left his office immediately and almost ran into Jack.
"What's wrong with Sydney? What did they say to her?" He asked, trying to mask his concern for her as nothing more than what a handler would ask about his asset.
"She said she was feeling queasy. She ran out of the room before I could ask anything else," Jack responded, looking just as concerned as Vaughn. "Has she mentioned to you anything about feeling sick?"
"She was fine yesterday morning." Vaughn said. His eyes widened. "When I stopped by to check up on her," he added lamely. He'd been in the office only a few hours and already he was letting their relationship slip, to her father no less. Jack gave him a curious look but let it go.
Sydney returned from the bathroom, looking visibly pale. "I'm sorry," she said to her father, Kendall and Devlin, "I don't know what came over me. I think my body is still reacting from being deprived food for so long. I'm not used to eating well anything and I had an English muffin this morning," she said sadly.
"It's alright Agent Bristow, we have enough for the moment. You should go home and rest up. We appreciate you coming in," she was surprised that for once Kendall was acting decently towards her.
"Thank you, I will," she replied. She walked by Vaughn and gave him a small smile. She was halfway around the corner when she felt his arms around her. She let him hold her for a moment but pulled away. "No, no doing that," she scolded, but with a smile.
"I couldn't help myself." He had on a look of concern. "Are you alright? You looked so pale before. I was worried about you, not that I could show it," there was bitterness in his voice at the situation they were placed in.
"I'm alright. I've been, um, throwing up a lot, even while I was with Sloane," she said to which Vaughn looked down. "We are up to sharing that type of stuff with each other, aren't we?" She asked, nervously but with a giggle.
"Oh, of course." He smiled. "I'm just worried about you. It goes with the territory."
"You always know the right things to say." She blushed. "Oh, no." She put her hand to her mouth again. She was about to run to the bathroom but the feeling subsided just as soon as it had arrived. "What's going on Syd?" She shook her head. "I don't know."
"I need to go home and rest. I'll call you tonight."
"If you feel sick, call me earlier." She nodded that she would, and left him standing there wondering just what was going on.
Sydney was on her way out the door when an intense desire to speak her mother flooded through her. She made her way to the cell. Her mother was sitting there meditating. One day she was going to ask her to teach her the secret to that.
"Mom," she said, getting the elder woman's attention.
"Sydney," Irina smiled, looking up from her position on the floor, "I didn't expect to see you so soon. Jack filled me in on what happened. Why are you not recuperating?"
"Devlin and Kendall couldn't wait more than a day to debrief me." Her mother made a face. "No, it's fine. I told them all that happened. I'm not feeling well though, so they let me go home."
"What's the matter?"
"My stomach. I haven't been able to keep down food, and what little I do manage to swallow comes right back up an hour later." She looked uncomfortably at her mother. This was the first time they had ever spoken about something so personal and it felt awkward, though also reassuring. "I think little butterflies are living inside there." She admitted with a laugh. "I'll be fine in a few days, once my system gets used to eating food and drinking water on a regular basis again."
The butterfly remark stuck in Irina's head. "Sydney," she began, "have you been having sex?" she asked bluntly.
Sydney's mouth opened in surprise, but she managed to shut it quickly enough. "What? Why, why would you ask me that?"
"When I was pregnant with you, I called you my baby butterfly. You've been throwing up Sydney. It's a logical assumption." Sydney's eyes widened. "Besides, I'm your mother. I can tell, you, look different," she said softly. No. No. "Mom, I'm not, pregnant. I can't be."
"Are you sure? Would Agent Vaughn possibly think otherwise?" Sydney demanded her mother be quiet. "Mom, stop," she said rather harshly. "I'm sorry, it's just you can't say that, not now. Do you understand?" Irina nodded.
"Not that you're going to see him, but don't tell Vaughn anything about, anything," she asked as a daughter to a mother, "I won't, Sydney. You find out though, for your own peace of mind."
Sydney left the CIA building. She made one stop on her way home, to the nearest CVS. She'd prove her mother's hypothesis wrong. Or, possibly correct.
She sat on top of the closed toilet seat, staring at the stick on the counter. A tiny stick of fate, she thought. She placed a hand on her stomach. There couldn't be another life in there, could there? Her mother had put the possibility into her head and now she couldn't shake it. She and Vaughn had been as careful as reasonably possible, but there was always a risk.
"I'll be one of the 2 percent," she muttered under her breath, "either way, everything will be okay," she tried to convince herself.
She didn't realize anyone was behind her until she heard the familiar voice. "So this is what's been going on with you." Will said, staring at her with open eyes.
"Oh," she stood up quickly, "this isn't what it looks like, Will."
"It looks like you're taking a pregnancy test."
"Alright, its exactly what it looks like." She said, flustered. "Doesn't anyone know how to knock anymore? A bathroom is private, you know."
"I called out for you but you didn't answer." He lowered his voice. "I spoke with Vaughn today at work, and he mentioned you were sick. I came home to check up on you," he said with concern.
"Thanks Will. I appreciate that." She smiled at her good friend. "You and Vaughn talk about me?" She asked.
"Sometimes. Um, Syd," he was dying to ask her questions but wasn't sure if he should, "if I ask you a really personal question will you tell me the truth?"
She knew what he was implying. "I'll tell you everything Will. I just need to talk with him first."
"We are talking about Vaughn right?" Will said to which Sydney nodded. "Not that I really have to say it, but don't tell anyone. We can get fired just for talking to each other outside of the office. This, well this could get ugly," she grimaced.
"It'll be fine. You're having a baby, how can that be bad?" He had looked at the stick before speaking. Sydney's eyes widened as she took in his words. She picked up the stick and saw the plus sign.
"Oh my God." It was the only thing she could say.
"You're having a baby."