Chapter Ten

Will stared at the agent sitting in the armchair in one corner of the room. He was starting to make it a game, trying to see how long he could stare at her until she looked up. The file on her lap must have been very interesting, because it was nearing five minutes and she hadn't looked up once. The TV was on, as usual, but he wasn't watching it--hadn't been watching it really for the past couple hours. He was way beyond boredom and he was way past being afraid he'd been forgotten.

He knew he'd been forgotten.

Two days ago, he'd been furious that Sydney, who was supposed to be his best friend, didn't even give him a call. Jack Bristow was a no show and at that point, even that guy who Jack had picked up sopping wet and bleeding would have been good. But there was no one. Just this unfriendly, silent CIA agent who simply sat there until it was time for her to go home. Then he would be alone, but it didn't really make a difference because they hardly spoke to each other. He couldn't recall ever having a conversation with her.

Finally, to his delight, she looked up, and a flush spread across her cheekbones when she realized he was staring at her.

"What are you reading there, Ms. Santiago?" Will asked playfully.

"A report," she answered. "How long have you been staring at me?"

"Long enough for me to wonder just how compelling that report is."

"Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Tippin?"

"How many times do I have to ask you to call me Will? We've been stuck in this damned room for a long time, and I don't even know your first name. Gimme a break!"

"Is there something I can do for you, Will?" she repeated, endlessly polite.

He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but settled for a loud moan, throwing his head back on the couch.

"How about a little freedom?"

She only smiled tightly.

"Come on. You can't be having too much fun baby-sitting me everyday. Can't I just go outside? Five minutes, that's all I'm asking."

"I'm sorry, Will. It's not possible."

"Always the same answer," he muttered. "Are you people trying to drive me crazy?"

For once, Santiago looked sympathetic. "No, we're trying to protect you."

"How much longer do I have to stay here then?"

"I don't know," she said apologetically.

Will cursed under his breath. "You do realize that people who know me and see me everyday will wonder where the hell I am."

"We've taken care of that."

"Oh, yeah? How?"

"Your boss believes you're on vacation and the message on your machine supports that."

"Great, just great."

The expression on his face must really have been hopeless because Santiago put aside her file folder and sat forward in her seat.

"Tell me about yourself," she said.

"Read my file."

"I did, but it doesn't tell me about you. It's just a bunch of statistics and dry information."

"Why so interested all of a sudden?" he asked.

"You ask too many questions," she huffed, reaching for her work.

"Wait, wait," he said, waving a hand at her. "Sorry, I'm just...sorry. Put that back down and let's start over."

Her lips curved in a small smile and he saw that she was a rather attractive woman. Petite and dark-haired, he wouldn't have taken her to be a CIA officer at first glance. The sharpness in her almond-shaped dark brown eyes told him of an observant and intellectual mind.

"Hi, I'm Will Tippin," Will said jokingly.

"Hi, Will. I'm Erika Santiago. It's nice to meet you."

She grinned and it was like he was looking at a whole other person. Will decided he may be able to last in this small room for a little while longer.

* * *

Sydney didn't know why she was having such a hard time giving Vaughn a call. She felt like a teenager calling a boy for the first time--although, she didn't know too many teenagers who had their lives hanging on the balance because of one phone call, no matter how much it felt like it. Squaring her shoulders, Sydney picked up the phone next to her bed and dialed the number she'd memorized the second it had been given to her.

Vaughn answered on the second ring and he was on his second hello when she managed to respond.

"Hi, Michael," she said, making sure to use his first name in case someone was listening.

"Sydney!" he exclaimed, recognizing her voice immediately. "I was starting to think I wouldn't hear from you."

"I've been busy," she hedged. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Good. How about you?"

"Busy," she repeated awkwardly. "Um...would you like to go to dinner sometime?"

"How's tonight?"

His eagerness embarrassed them both.

"If that's alright," he added belatedly. "Sorry, Syd. I didn't mean to come out sounding like an overeager teenager."

Sydney smiled. "I was just thinking the same thing about myself. It's like I'm sixteen again and calling Joe Douglas to see if he wanted to borrow my notes from math class."

He laughed. "Lucky Joe."

"Dinner tonight would be great."

"How about I pick you up?"

"Sure." She gave him her address. "Does seven sound alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll see you then."

"Bye."

Sydney put the phone back in its cradle. Chewing on her bottom lip, she got up and opened her closet. She had to pick a dress that she would normally wear on a date.

A date with Vaughn.

Not quite believing that this was happening, Sydney had to force herself to focus on the task at hand, but she couldn't quite ignore the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. So much was riding on this, their lives being the most important.

His life was in her hands and upon this realization, Sydney's hands clenched at her sides. Tears pooled in her eyes as the gravity of the situation hit her in full force. The words of warning she'd heard from Weiss, her father, Dixon, and Sloane rang loudly in her head. She had reassured them all that she would take care, and she believed she knew they would make it out of this, but self-doubt entered her psyche. Naïveité had always been Sydney's weakest point and it had been working against her while she'd concocted this ridiculous plan to date Vaughn. It was like something out of a horrible romance novel, and she couldn't believe she was going through with it. It was all her fault and if anything ever happened to Vaughn...

Later, as she was putting various accessories in her purse, she added one extra item: a gun.

* * *

Weiss crossed his arms just as Jack clasped his hands in front of him. The older man had been the one to call him to meet, and he told Weiss about the situation with Sloane. Although, not an experienced handler, Weiss knew that Sydney would be out of commission until this charade with Vaughn was over. Devlin would not be happy about that, but they had to protect their assets--and their asses, Weiss added with a hint of black humor.

But what Jack was asking now would be nearly impossible to do.

"In order for this ridiculous plan you and Sydney concocted to work, Mr. Vaughn must be reinstated into active duty," he stated in no uncertain terms.

"No one at the Agency, outside of our little circle that is, knows why Vaughn is out. Everyone else who knows him thinks he's on extended leave. Besides, if we let him go back to work, he'll give himself away."

"SD-6 has assets in the CIA and Sloane will use them all to dig up information on Vaughn..."

"We shredded his file on Sydney and I personally went through his desk to make sure there wasn't any mention of her in anything he owned."

"Regardless," Jack said. "Despite what Sydney thinks, Sloane isn't letting her do this because he's had a moment of weakness; when the time is right, he'll have her use her relationship with Vaughn much in the same way that Sydney's mother used her relationship with me."

"What about the other way around?" Weiss questioned, not missing the fleeting look of pain in Jack's eyes.

Jack shook his head. "No, Sloane has this undying trust in Sydney, which she's used to her advantage at this point. He'll feed her some story about how he's trying to protect the CIA from itself, and use her to extract information from Mr. Vaughn."

It made sense with what Weiss knew of Arvin Sloane. The man was a snake. "Have you told her this?" he asked.

"No, not yet."

Weiss shoved his hands in his pockets. "I doubt Mike's going to have a sudden recovery. Telling him the truth is the only way we can get this to work."

"He's not the same man he was."

"He cares about Sydney enough to do what we tell him."

Jack didn't doubt that, but he didn't want to leave the fate of this situation in the hands of an amnesiac. "Talk to him and see what he knows," he instructed. "With what you learn, we'll decide what to do next."

Weiss nodded and Jack left without a word of farewell before the younger man realized he'd accepted Jack's orders without question.

"That guy definitely has an air of authority," he mumbled to himself.

Weiss was walking back to his car when his cell phone rang. Seeing Vaughn's number on the display, he smiled.

"Mike," he answered. "How are you doing?"

"Great. Syd finally called me today."

"Oh yeah?" Weiss had to fight to keep his voice steady. "What did she say?"

"She asked me out, actually," Vaughn said smugly.

"You must have been an impression on her."

"So, I guess we didn't date before huh?"

"Nope. Listen, do you wanna go get a drink or something tonight?"

"I can't. I'm picking her up at seven."

"Oh. Where are you taking her?"

"Rosalina's," Vaughn answered. "It's a nice Italian place."

"Well, have fun."

"Don't sound too excited, Eric."

"Sorry. I just want you to be sure you know what you're doing."

Silence greeted him. Weiss was afraid he'd overstepped his boundaries and he wracked his brain for a way to fix things.

"Have we had this conversation before?" Vaughn asked and Weiss could read the frown in his voice.

"We'll talk later," Weiss said.

"Alright. See ya."

"Bye."

Weiss pocketed his phone and got into the car. Things were happening too fast and he was beginning to feel overwhelmed. He picked up his phone again and called the office. Someone had to be at Rosalina's to make sure that things would go smoothly. He didn't think he could handle anything else happening that day.