A/N- 1 Spoiler for Double Agent!
Chapter 2
Meanwhile across town, Sydney had risen, still in her pajamas and started to make her way lazily out of her room. Will and Francie were in the kitchen already preparing breakfast and they were going to spend the entire day relaxing. Whatever Francie was making smelled so good! There was nothing that could keep her from her friends and that included her job. Today, the world would have to save itself and CIA would have to bring down SD-6 without her. They could survive 24 hours without her. Actually, not even 24 hours..they would last.
The pure white light from her lamp gave the room an angelic like glow early that Saturday morning. It was barely 7:45 but she was sure that Francie had been up for at least an hour cooking this perfect morning's breakfast. It had become routine for her to wake up at 7:30 and as hard she tried, she couldn't fall back to sleep. There was no alarm waking her up only a recurring dream that had been haunting her lately. It was her and Vaughn on a mission in Paris and actually went out together on a date to this little romantic restaurant and it was nice and comfortable. They hadn't kissed or anything but he kept his hand tightly in hers. But when they had returned to the hotel, there were men waiting there. CIA men. She and Vaughn were escorted out of the hotel and things were downhill from there. They threw she and Vaughn into separate cars, screaming about patriotism and how they had been disloyal to their country. She was thrown into a dark car and knocked unconscious by a man with a gun. The dream always ended the same. She awoke form being unconscious; she was bound and gagged with Sark standing over her. He began to tell her that she caused Vaughn's death. He had been murdered the same way his father had. Vaughn was dead and she was next.
But back to the present. She had recovered from her startling dream and now focused on her sore body. Her legs, sore from her training yesterday, moved slower than she wanted to. As she made her way towards the kitchen, smelling so good, she heard one of her cell phones ring. "Damn it! What do you want?" She hissed as she slowly turned back towards her dresser, where she rested her two cell phones. It was her CIA one that was ringing loudly. "What?" She answered it, completely unprepared for what awaited her. She knew it was going to be Vaughn and a small corner of her got excited to hear his voice.
"Syd, it's Vaughn. You need to turn out all the lights, lock the doors, and get Will and Francie-they're there, right?" Vaughn's voice rambled on.
This wasn't supposed to be the way the conversation was supposed to be going! He was suppose to tell her how she had worked so hard and everything had resolved - SD-6 was gone and he was asking her out on a date. "What? Vaughn, slow down! Why are you calling me on my cell?" She instantly demanded. It was her day off and she flat out refused to do any work. Besides, if he was so rapt at seeing her, why didn't he call her home line with 'Joey's pizza'?
"You've been discovered." His voice was low and Sydney's leg almost collapsed beneath her. She moved over to the bed and sat down. This was not what she expected to her. Images of everything that could possibly go wrong went through her head. "You need to stay put and wait until I get there. I don't know what's going on yet but you need to stay there." His pace was rapid and he sounded no less than panicked.
"Vaughn, I-" She choked on her words. It was a horrible feeling she felt and it was almost worse that it was coming from Vaughn. If he was this frantic, something was really wrong. He never risked calling her cell.
"Sydney." He replied, calming his voice a little. "Syd, listen, this is going to move fast."
"I know. I can handle it." She choked again, refusing to let the tears fall onto her face. "When will-"
"I'll be there in max. five minutes." His voice was reassuring. "It's gonna be fine." Or at least he attempted to keep it level for her.
"I'll see in five." Sydney responded and hung up the phone. She tossed it onto her bed and ran her hands over her face. No tears could fall and no emotions could get in the way. She couldn't let anyone see her so upset. All thoughts of anything romantic were pushed out of her head. She got to her feet and pushed everything away and walked faster than she really could towards the kitchen.
"I'm trying to make a gourmet breakfast and you wanna use chocolate chips?" Francie had her hands on her hips, wearing an apron and oven mitts.
"Why can't we?" Will responded, moving his hand to taste what Francie was cooking.
"Because- hey good-morning." Francie retorted as she saw Sydney waddle from her bedroom.
"Morning." Sydney, trying to sound as cheerful as humanly possible.
"I'm going to see what we have in the pantry. I'll be right back." Francie took one look at Will and rolled her eyes at him. She walked towards the back of the house and started to rummage through things.
"Okay." Sydney rushed towards Will and grabbed him by the arm. "Listen, Will, Vaughn just called and he's coming over. He thinks that the uh..the uh 'bad guys' found out about me." Sydney immediately quieted her voice. "We might be taken to a safe house but Will, I need you to stay calm and stay with me."
A fresh look of fear coated Will's face. He opened his mouth to say something but failed. All he could do was stare at Sydney with his mouth opened wide.
"It's going to be okay. I promise you, it's gonna be okay. But Will, I need you to get some clothes together, throw them in a backpack, while I talk to Francie. Be as quiet as possible." Sydney clasped her hands over Will's, resting on the kitchen counter. "I promise it'll be okay. Just stay with me. I know that this is fast but I literally just hung up from Vaughn thirty seconds ago. He's worried and when he's worried, I'm tense. Things are going to move fast.you gotta stay with me. You can do that, right? I don't think we have much time."
Will simply nodded his mouth and eyes still wide and retreated into the guestroom where he had been saying.
"Where'd Will go?" Francie re-entered almost on cue. She held a new bag of flour in one hand and chocolate chip morsels in the other. "I found the chocolate chips he insisted on putting into my pancakes and he's not here?"
"He just went to grab something from his room." Sydney sat down and shrugged her shoulder genuinely. "Is there coffee?"
"Just put a fresh pot. I decided to let him win. Chocolate chip pancakes it is!" Francie placed the bag of chocolate chips on the counter. "Did you sleep?"
"Like a rock." Sydney got up once more and poured herself a cup of coffee. She was going to need all the caffeine she could get. "Wanna refill?" She asked, motioned to the pot in her hand. They all needed to awake and alert.
"Yeah, that'd be great." Francie turned her head and smiled. Sydney refilled her halfway empty mug and returned the coffee pot to its place. Sydney watched Francie turn back and then she quickly turn towards the medicine cabinet and pulled out a couple of prescription stay-awake pills. Sydney forced the large pills into her mouth and swallowed them, hard.
Silence coated the two friends as Francie finished up their breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes for Will, an omelet for Francie and some scrambled eggs with toast for Sydney. "This is going to be fun."
"What? Eating your food? Or hanging out all day?" Sydney giggled and looked at the clock hanging in the kitchen. There wouldn't be enough time for them to eat. Vaughn was due any minute and it was killing her. How was she going to explain him?
"Both. You know, you work way too hard. It's not like you're saving the world or anything like that."
"Or anything like that." Sydney replied sheepishly. These conversations were dreaded. She was going to start go on about how she worked too hard at the bank and she should quit and.Sydney began to silently pray for Vaughn to get here faster as Francie continued to babble how she should quit. If she only knew what really was going on.
"Something smells good." Will reappeared from his room and plopped his bag onto the couch before officially entering the kitchen. He smiled the best fake smile he could and sat next to Sydney by the counter.
"It should." Francie retorted, barely glancing up. Her intent was on the sizzling pan in front of her.
"You still sleeping?" Will joked as he noticed Sydney leaning on the counter, starring into her mug. He playfully punched her in the arm and smiled at her brightly. He was nervous and attempted to conceal it as much as possible.
"I guess you could say that." She picked her head up and leaned against Will's shoulder. "I wish I was still sleeping. I am too used to waking up early!"
"Ah, you poor thing. But hey, why don't you two start?" Francie shook the frying pan and motioned with her chin at the home-fries and toast already made.
Before they could answer, the doorbell rang and Sydney almost died at that moment. Her head snapped up, her sleep tasseled hair overlapping onto her shoulder. She jumped to her feet, subconsciously saying, "I'll get it." Francie looked at her funny and she quickly made up for it. "Who would be coming this early on a Saturday?" She hurried to the door, tucking her hair behind her ears and quickly checking her reflection in the mirror. She was still wearing her pajamas but looked "cute." She pulled the door open and Vaughn stood outside, with a worried look on his face.
"Sydney." He said simply and walked inside, with Sydney shutting the door tightly behind him. "I just got a call and it's been confirmed. We have to move fast or else we're all gonna get in trouble. Francie and Will here?"
"Yeah, they are. It's confirmed?" If she were anyone else, she would have collapsed to ground and lost her mind but there wasn't time to be weak and she would never be like that.
"I'm so sorry, Syd." He looked down for a moment and the worry lines were present again. "We have to you keep you safe."
"And what about you? Won't they find out that you're connected to me? I won't let you stay here if you're in danger, I won't let you." Sydney hastily replied.
"No." was his firm reply. He watched her barely accept this.
"You're lying to me." She shook her head and starred defiantly up at him. He stood a good two inches on her. "You need to leave, Vaughn. I refuse to let you get hurt." She made her way back towards the door, opening it and motioning for him to leave. "You need to leave, now!"
He took two steps back towards her and shut the door. "No. Sydney, I'll be fine. I'm more concerned about you right now. I can handle myself." He tried to reassure her.
"Like hell you can." She almost spat in his face.
"We don't have time for this." Another sharp reply.
"Syd, who is it?" Francie called, her back turned away from the door.
"Fine you win." A hiss escaped her lips. "Hey Fran, I need you to come here for a minute, Will you too!" Sydney called and pulled Vaughn into her living room. They came from the kitchen and sat down on the couch. "Vaughn, please sit." Vaughn sat down in a chair and Sydney sat down beside him. "Francie, this is Michael Vaughn, Mr. Vaughn, Francie. And you know Will." His name sounded like velvet flowing off of her tongue. His eyes darted towards Sydney.she had only called him by his first name once, when she met Alice..that night at the bar.
"Hi." Francie replied nervously.
"Hey. How's it going?" Will replied, barely whispering and shook Vaughn's extended hand.
"Hey. You're probably wondering what I'm doing here." Vaughn began and Francie nodded her head. "I work a security detail at the bank where Ms. Bristow-" He sat on the edge of the couch with Francie and Will on the two chairs directly in front. Vaughn had his hands clasped and his intense eyes bounced between the two friends and his tightly clasped hands.
"You can call me Sydney," she paused for a split second to utter the word, "Mister," but the continued in her normal voice, "Vaughn." She quickly interjected.
"I work with Sydney at the bank and there have been some creditable threats against her." Vaughn lied. He looked from Will to Francie and back again. He knew Will knew that he was lying. The two grown men couldn't bring themselves to look at each other and Syd couldn't look at either of them. She intently watched Francie's reaction. Her best friend was too focused on Vaughn to notice.
"Oh my G-d! Sydney!" Francie gasped as her eyes got wide and flickered between Sydney and Vaughn.
It was an obvious lie but it was the only way to explain to Francie what was going on. He cleared his voice and continued, "Anyway, the bank feels that these threats will affect both Sydney and anyone involved with her." He suddenly avoided everyone's eyes and wanted to open his mouth to stay something but they heard a series of cars pull up. They apparently wanted to start early. Maybe they wanted her gone by 8. Fear burned like bile burning in their throats. Vaughn and Sydney jumped to their feet and saw the row of black cars parking in front of the house. "Francie, Will, get into a room, any room with a lock and as few windows as possible. Do you have a walk-in closet?"
"Yeah, in my bedroom, run! Go and get down!" Sydney hissed and pushed the two confused friends towards her room. She and Vaughn followed a few paces behind them. Their feet made no sound against the hard wood floor and they moved like two ghost, hiding from the light.
They reached her bedroom and Sydney quickly motioned for Will and Francie to get into the closet. Vaughn came in and shut the door without noise. He stood and marveled for a moment at the most beautiful girl's bedroom, which was untidy and tidy all at the same time. If things hadn't been so crazy, he would have reveled in the sights of everything for a moment. When Sydney shut the door behind them, she turned towards Vaughn. "I'm unarmed."
"I'm prepared. We need to get out of their sightline." As he spoke, he heard men coming closer and cocking their guns. They collapsed down to the ground near her bed, calculating their next moves. Vaughn slide close to her and quickly undid his holster and fastened it around her tightly tone waist. She was facing him and leaned in to his body as he fastened the buckle. His hands felt warm against her cold body. They stayed there for a moment, and he wished he could have his hands there. His fingers lingered around her spine and he stopped breathing for a moment. An involuntary chill went up her spine, causing her body to tremble a little. Remembering to inhale, Vaughn managed to whisper, "There's extra ammo in there with a gun. It's gonna be okay."
She was glad that he couldn't see his eyes. They were probably full of worry.at least hers were. And besides, his touch felt so good. "Do you-"
"I have mine already." He let her stay there. They were breaking every rule and not caring. They should have bolted out of there when they had the chance but something in the pit of their stomachs told them not to. That it was safer to stay put in the house. Screw protocol.
They sat there is silence, waiting for something to happen. The time went by so slowly. It had barely been thirty seconds that they sat there. Sydney mentally checked every window and door, making sure that they were locked. There was silence. It was that solid, eerie silence. "I don't know what to do now." Vaughn started to whisper. "We have confirmation but no one's doing anything yet. You're not supposed to know and your father doesn't know yet." He whispered into her hair. Her head rested into his chest and she breathed softly there, almost forgetting all of her training.
"Vaughn, I'm.." She let her voice trail off and buried her head in his chest. He smelled like sweat, indistinct after shave and fine leather. Normally, she would have cracked a joke or turned away from the smell but it comforted her. It smelt like Vaughn. Realizing her position, she picked her head up and looked straight ahead. "We need to get out of here."
"Yeah, we do." He drew quiet and listened as he heard men talking outside. "We need to get out of here or at least hide."
"Well, there's a crawl space leading to the attic in my closet." Sydney answered in a hushed whisper, suddenly extremely aware that she was wearing her pajamas and began to break away from any part of his embrace. She grabbed her CIA cell phone and thrust it into her pajama pocket. Vaughn was shocked at her sudden change in emotion and got to his feet. His green eyes scanned the room once more and followed Sydney towards a door opposite the bed. She threw open the door and found Will and Francie holding each other frantically. They both jumped with a start when she flung open the door. "It's okay. We need to get into the crawl space." Sydney spoke rapidly and walked to the back of her closet and threw her neatly organized clothes onto the floor, revealing a crawl space. She turned back to her baffled friends and Vaughn, who had already locked the closet door. He stood with his hands at his side and the lines on his face more evident than ever. Sydney glanced towards him and there was a mutual agreement between the two of them. She hoisted herself into the crawl space first that started shoulder level. Will stood in marvel at his friend's upper body strength. Syd put her gun down and reached down. "Will, Francie c'mon. Vaughn's gonna give you a leg up." She was so in control of everything...she needed to make it look like everything was okay. Francie moved towards the space first and Vaughn leaned down, offering his hand and knee for Francie. She accepted it and Sydney leaned forward and pulled her up onto the ledge. Francie was soon sitting next to Sydney. "Crawl towards the back and soon, you'll see an entrance to the attic. Go there and stay low. Avoid the window on the wall." Sydney rambled through her orders and noticed the fear rising on her friend's face, "Stay with me, Fran. This is tough but you can do it. You just need to stay with me. It's okay." She quickly hugged her and then sent her back to the attic. Will was hoisted up next and then Vaughn pulled himself up but not before he put all of the clothes back to conceal the crawl space. She couldn't help but notice the ripples in his arms as he reached her level. He didn't need her help, he could handle himself very well. She moistened her lips. He was her handler.
Chapter 2
Meanwhile across town, Sydney had risen, still in her pajamas and started to make her way lazily out of her room. Will and Francie were in the kitchen already preparing breakfast and they were going to spend the entire day relaxing. Whatever Francie was making smelled so good! There was nothing that could keep her from her friends and that included her job. Today, the world would have to save itself and CIA would have to bring down SD-6 without her. They could survive 24 hours without her. Actually, not even 24 hours..they would last.
The pure white light from her lamp gave the room an angelic like glow early that Saturday morning. It was barely 7:45 but she was sure that Francie had been up for at least an hour cooking this perfect morning's breakfast. It had become routine for her to wake up at 7:30 and as hard she tried, she couldn't fall back to sleep. There was no alarm waking her up only a recurring dream that had been haunting her lately. It was her and Vaughn on a mission in Paris and actually went out together on a date to this little romantic restaurant and it was nice and comfortable. They hadn't kissed or anything but he kept his hand tightly in hers. But when they had returned to the hotel, there were men waiting there. CIA men. She and Vaughn were escorted out of the hotel and things were downhill from there. They threw she and Vaughn into separate cars, screaming about patriotism and how they had been disloyal to their country. She was thrown into a dark car and knocked unconscious by a man with a gun. The dream always ended the same. She awoke form being unconscious; she was bound and gagged with Sark standing over her. He began to tell her that she caused Vaughn's death. He had been murdered the same way his father had. Vaughn was dead and she was next.
But back to the present. She had recovered from her startling dream and now focused on her sore body. Her legs, sore from her training yesterday, moved slower than she wanted to. As she made her way towards the kitchen, smelling so good, she heard one of her cell phones ring. "Damn it! What do you want?" She hissed as she slowly turned back towards her dresser, where she rested her two cell phones. It was her CIA one that was ringing loudly. "What?" She answered it, completely unprepared for what awaited her. She knew it was going to be Vaughn and a small corner of her got excited to hear his voice.
"Syd, it's Vaughn. You need to turn out all the lights, lock the doors, and get Will and Francie-they're there, right?" Vaughn's voice rambled on.
This wasn't supposed to be the way the conversation was supposed to be going! He was suppose to tell her how she had worked so hard and everything had resolved - SD-6 was gone and he was asking her out on a date. "What? Vaughn, slow down! Why are you calling me on my cell?" She instantly demanded. It was her day off and she flat out refused to do any work. Besides, if he was so rapt at seeing her, why didn't he call her home line with 'Joey's pizza'?
"You've been discovered." His voice was low and Sydney's leg almost collapsed beneath her. She moved over to the bed and sat down. This was not what she expected to her. Images of everything that could possibly go wrong went through her head. "You need to stay put and wait until I get there. I don't know what's going on yet but you need to stay there." His pace was rapid and he sounded no less than panicked.
"Vaughn, I-" She choked on her words. It was a horrible feeling she felt and it was almost worse that it was coming from Vaughn. If he was this frantic, something was really wrong. He never risked calling her cell.
"Sydney." He replied, calming his voice a little. "Syd, listen, this is going to move fast."
"I know. I can handle it." She choked again, refusing to let the tears fall onto her face. "When will-"
"I'll be there in max. five minutes." His voice was reassuring. "It's gonna be fine." Or at least he attempted to keep it level for her.
"I'll see in five." Sydney responded and hung up the phone. She tossed it onto her bed and ran her hands over her face. No tears could fall and no emotions could get in the way. She couldn't let anyone see her so upset. All thoughts of anything romantic were pushed out of her head. She got to her feet and pushed everything away and walked faster than she really could towards the kitchen.
"I'm trying to make a gourmet breakfast and you wanna use chocolate chips?" Francie had her hands on her hips, wearing an apron and oven mitts.
"Why can't we?" Will responded, moving his hand to taste what Francie was cooking.
"Because- hey good-morning." Francie retorted as she saw Sydney waddle from her bedroom.
"Morning." Sydney, trying to sound as cheerful as humanly possible.
"I'm going to see what we have in the pantry. I'll be right back." Francie took one look at Will and rolled her eyes at him. She walked towards the back of the house and started to rummage through things.
"Okay." Sydney rushed towards Will and grabbed him by the arm. "Listen, Will, Vaughn just called and he's coming over. He thinks that the uh..the uh 'bad guys' found out about me." Sydney immediately quieted her voice. "We might be taken to a safe house but Will, I need you to stay calm and stay with me."
A fresh look of fear coated Will's face. He opened his mouth to say something but failed. All he could do was stare at Sydney with his mouth opened wide.
"It's going to be okay. I promise you, it's gonna be okay. But Will, I need you to get some clothes together, throw them in a backpack, while I talk to Francie. Be as quiet as possible." Sydney clasped her hands over Will's, resting on the kitchen counter. "I promise it'll be okay. Just stay with me. I know that this is fast but I literally just hung up from Vaughn thirty seconds ago. He's worried and when he's worried, I'm tense. Things are going to move fast.you gotta stay with me. You can do that, right? I don't think we have much time."
Will simply nodded his mouth and eyes still wide and retreated into the guestroom where he had been saying.
"Where'd Will go?" Francie re-entered almost on cue. She held a new bag of flour in one hand and chocolate chip morsels in the other. "I found the chocolate chips he insisted on putting into my pancakes and he's not here?"
"He just went to grab something from his room." Sydney sat down and shrugged her shoulder genuinely. "Is there coffee?"
"Just put a fresh pot. I decided to let him win. Chocolate chip pancakes it is!" Francie placed the bag of chocolate chips on the counter. "Did you sleep?"
"Like a rock." Sydney got up once more and poured herself a cup of coffee. She was going to need all the caffeine she could get. "Wanna refill?" She asked, motioned to the pot in her hand. They all needed to awake and alert.
"Yeah, that'd be great." Francie turned her head and smiled. Sydney refilled her halfway empty mug and returned the coffee pot to its place. Sydney watched Francie turn back and then she quickly turn towards the medicine cabinet and pulled out a couple of prescription stay-awake pills. Sydney forced the large pills into her mouth and swallowed them, hard.
Silence coated the two friends as Francie finished up their breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes for Will, an omelet for Francie and some scrambled eggs with toast for Sydney. "This is going to be fun."
"What? Eating your food? Or hanging out all day?" Sydney giggled and looked at the clock hanging in the kitchen. There wouldn't be enough time for them to eat. Vaughn was due any minute and it was killing her. How was she going to explain him?
"Both. You know, you work way too hard. It's not like you're saving the world or anything like that."
"Or anything like that." Sydney replied sheepishly. These conversations were dreaded. She was going to start go on about how she worked too hard at the bank and she should quit and.Sydney began to silently pray for Vaughn to get here faster as Francie continued to babble how she should quit. If she only knew what really was going on.
"Something smells good." Will reappeared from his room and plopped his bag onto the couch before officially entering the kitchen. He smiled the best fake smile he could and sat next to Sydney by the counter.
"It should." Francie retorted, barely glancing up. Her intent was on the sizzling pan in front of her.
"You still sleeping?" Will joked as he noticed Sydney leaning on the counter, starring into her mug. He playfully punched her in the arm and smiled at her brightly. He was nervous and attempted to conceal it as much as possible.
"I guess you could say that." She picked her head up and leaned against Will's shoulder. "I wish I was still sleeping. I am too used to waking up early!"
"Ah, you poor thing. But hey, why don't you two start?" Francie shook the frying pan and motioned with her chin at the home-fries and toast already made.
Before they could answer, the doorbell rang and Sydney almost died at that moment. Her head snapped up, her sleep tasseled hair overlapping onto her shoulder. She jumped to her feet, subconsciously saying, "I'll get it." Francie looked at her funny and she quickly made up for it. "Who would be coming this early on a Saturday?" She hurried to the door, tucking her hair behind her ears and quickly checking her reflection in the mirror. She was still wearing her pajamas but looked "cute." She pulled the door open and Vaughn stood outside, with a worried look on his face.
"Sydney." He said simply and walked inside, with Sydney shutting the door tightly behind him. "I just got a call and it's been confirmed. We have to move fast or else we're all gonna get in trouble. Francie and Will here?"
"Yeah, they are. It's confirmed?" If she were anyone else, she would have collapsed to ground and lost her mind but there wasn't time to be weak and she would never be like that.
"I'm so sorry, Syd." He looked down for a moment and the worry lines were present again. "We have to you keep you safe."
"And what about you? Won't they find out that you're connected to me? I won't let you stay here if you're in danger, I won't let you." Sydney hastily replied.
"No." was his firm reply. He watched her barely accept this.
"You're lying to me." She shook her head and starred defiantly up at him. He stood a good two inches on her. "You need to leave, Vaughn. I refuse to let you get hurt." She made her way back towards the door, opening it and motioning for him to leave. "You need to leave, now!"
He took two steps back towards her and shut the door. "No. Sydney, I'll be fine. I'm more concerned about you right now. I can handle myself." He tried to reassure her.
"Like hell you can." She almost spat in his face.
"We don't have time for this." Another sharp reply.
"Syd, who is it?" Francie called, her back turned away from the door.
"Fine you win." A hiss escaped her lips. "Hey Fran, I need you to come here for a minute, Will you too!" Sydney called and pulled Vaughn into her living room. They came from the kitchen and sat down on the couch. "Vaughn, please sit." Vaughn sat down in a chair and Sydney sat down beside him. "Francie, this is Michael Vaughn, Mr. Vaughn, Francie. And you know Will." His name sounded like velvet flowing off of her tongue. His eyes darted towards Sydney.she had only called him by his first name once, when she met Alice..that night at the bar.
"Hi." Francie replied nervously.
"Hey. How's it going?" Will replied, barely whispering and shook Vaughn's extended hand.
"Hey. You're probably wondering what I'm doing here." Vaughn began and Francie nodded her head. "I work a security detail at the bank where Ms. Bristow-" He sat on the edge of the couch with Francie and Will on the two chairs directly in front. Vaughn had his hands clasped and his intense eyes bounced between the two friends and his tightly clasped hands.
"You can call me Sydney," she paused for a split second to utter the word, "Mister," but the continued in her normal voice, "Vaughn." She quickly interjected.
"I work with Sydney at the bank and there have been some creditable threats against her." Vaughn lied. He looked from Will to Francie and back again. He knew Will knew that he was lying. The two grown men couldn't bring themselves to look at each other and Syd couldn't look at either of them. She intently watched Francie's reaction. Her best friend was too focused on Vaughn to notice.
"Oh my G-d! Sydney!" Francie gasped as her eyes got wide and flickered between Sydney and Vaughn.
It was an obvious lie but it was the only way to explain to Francie what was going on. He cleared his voice and continued, "Anyway, the bank feels that these threats will affect both Sydney and anyone involved with her." He suddenly avoided everyone's eyes and wanted to open his mouth to stay something but they heard a series of cars pull up. They apparently wanted to start early. Maybe they wanted her gone by 8. Fear burned like bile burning in their throats. Vaughn and Sydney jumped to their feet and saw the row of black cars parking in front of the house. "Francie, Will, get into a room, any room with a lock and as few windows as possible. Do you have a walk-in closet?"
"Yeah, in my bedroom, run! Go and get down!" Sydney hissed and pushed the two confused friends towards her room. She and Vaughn followed a few paces behind them. Their feet made no sound against the hard wood floor and they moved like two ghost, hiding from the light.
They reached her bedroom and Sydney quickly motioned for Will and Francie to get into the closet. Vaughn came in and shut the door without noise. He stood and marveled for a moment at the most beautiful girl's bedroom, which was untidy and tidy all at the same time. If things hadn't been so crazy, he would have reveled in the sights of everything for a moment. When Sydney shut the door behind them, she turned towards Vaughn. "I'm unarmed."
"I'm prepared. We need to get out of their sightline." As he spoke, he heard men coming closer and cocking their guns. They collapsed down to the ground near her bed, calculating their next moves. Vaughn slide close to her and quickly undid his holster and fastened it around her tightly tone waist. She was facing him and leaned in to his body as he fastened the buckle. His hands felt warm against her cold body. They stayed there for a moment, and he wished he could have his hands there. His fingers lingered around her spine and he stopped breathing for a moment. An involuntary chill went up her spine, causing her body to tremble a little. Remembering to inhale, Vaughn managed to whisper, "There's extra ammo in there with a gun. It's gonna be okay."
She was glad that he couldn't see his eyes. They were probably full of worry.at least hers were. And besides, his touch felt so good. "Do you-"
"I have mine already." He let her stay there. They were breaking every rule and not caring. They should have bolted out of there when they had the chance but something in the pit of their stomachs told them not to. That it was safer to stay put in the house. Screw protocol.
They sat there is silence, waiting for something to happen. The time went by so slowly. It had barely been thirty seconds that they sat there. Sydney mentally checked every window and door, making sure that they were locked. There was silence. It was that solid, eerie silence. "I don't know what to do now." Vaughn started to whisper. "We have confirmation but no one's doing anything yet. You're not supposed to know and your father doesn't know yet." He whispered into her hair. Her head rested into his chest and she breathed softly there, almost forgetting all of her training.
"Vaughn, I'm.." She let her voice trail off and buried her head in his chest. He smelled like sweat, indistinct after shave and fine leather. Normally, she would have cracked a joke or turned away from the smell but it comforted her. It smelt like Vaughn. Realizing her position, she picked her head up and looked straight ahead. "We need to get out of here."
"Yeah, we do." He drew quiet and listened as he heard men talking outside. "We need to get out of here or at least hide."
"Well, there's a crawl space leading to the attic in my closet." Sydney answered in a hushed whisper, suddenly extremely aware that she was wearing her pajamas and began to break away from any part of his embrace. She grabbed her CIA cell phone and thrust it into her pajama pocket. Vaughn was shocked at her sudden change in emotion and got to his feet. His green eyes scanned the room once more and followed Sydney towards a door opposite the bed. She threw open the door and found Will and Francie holding each other frantically. They both jumped with a start when she flung open the door. "It's okay. We need to get into the crawl space." Sydney spoke rapidly and walked to the back of her closet and threw her neatly organized clothes onto the floor, revealing a crawl space. She turned back to her baffled friends and Vaughn, who had already locked the closet door. He stood with his hands at his side and the lines on his face more evident than ever. Sydney glanced towards him and there was a mutual agreement between the two of them. She hoisted herself into the crawl space first that started shoulder level. Will stood in marvel at his friend's upper body strength. Syd put her gun down and reached down. "Will, Francie c'mon. Vaughn's gonna give you a leg up." She was so in control of everything...she needed to make it look like everything was okay. Francie moved towards the space first and Vaughn leaned down, offering his hand and knee for Francie. She accepted it and Sydney leaned forward and pulled her up onto the ledge. Francie was soon sitting next to Sydney. "Crawl towards the back and soon, you'll see an entrance to the attic. Go there and stay low. Avoid the window on the wall." Sydney rambled through her orders and noticed the fear rising on her friend's face, "Stay with me, Fran. This is tough but you can do it. You just need to stay with me. It's okay." She quickly hugged her and then sent her back to the attic. Will was hoisted up next and then Vaughn pulled himself up but not before he put all of the clothes back to conceal the crawl space. She couldn't help but notice the ripples in his arms as he reached her level. He didn't need her help, he could handle himself very well. She moistened her lips. He was her handler.