A/N – Ok, here's who the cookies go to…
a reader, abercrombieprep, (aliaswannabe2@aol.com), Mysterious Siren, Shadow, carebear9, AliasDemon99 – That's six cookies… divide them equally, lol.
DoubleAgent – Look at that, you get a cookie and that new chapter you wanted.
EyEzOnLy – Yes, you get a cookie too.
Couch – I know, I have to get the chapters up sooner, but inspiration needs to strike sooner too. (One more cookie for you)
Risa – Ok, so that's one cookie for you, and one box of double chocolate chip cookies for me? --- nah, you just keep your cookie and the box, lol.
melia – Believe me, I get jittery when writing about them. (One cookie for you.)
Dani (Glittering Pegasus) – Hey!!! Yes, there's more, of course. I know you (and a lot of other people) would kill me if I didn't put more. (Cookie!!)
Vaughn+Sydney – Thanks, I was hoping people would like this version, it'd be very sad if I went through writing it for nothing. Yes, I'm gonna give you a cookie, cause I do want to.
Brandy – (I like your screen name) Hope you like how I made their meeting… and about that cookie… you get one!
Sally Moore – I'm a little worried about this next chapter, so I hope you (and the others) like it… and you get a cookie too.
(I officially love you all!)
So denied, so I lied
Are you the now or never kind
In a day and a day love
I'm gonna be gone for good again
Are you willing to be had
Are you cool with just tonight
Michael sighed as he ran a hand through his wet hair. Right after making the 'Joey's Pizza' phone call, it had started to rain. So far, he was considering it an omen of what was to come.
"Knew I shouldn't have taken this damned assignment." He muttered, leaning against the chain-link fence that enclosed a desk and chair. "Comfy." His tone was dripping with sarcasm.
Today had not been the best day. Weiss had gotten shot, and it had taken him… very long… to wake up. Alice was this ßà close to breaking up with him. And now this.
When he heard footsteps making their way towards the gate, he opened it and waited.
"Oh my god." He heard a female voice say. Before he looked up, he noticed a strange familiarity of that voice. Then he realized why.
"Sydney?" Michael stood up straight, amazed that she was standing a few feet away after ten years. Then he stumbled back a little, almost falling over, but he caught onto the fence again. Straightening up, he blushed from the little show.
"Hi." Sydney smiled and took off her coat as she made her way into the 'cage'. "Wow… now this is a coincidence… you made the call?"
I took him a few seconds to register her question. "Um, yeah," was all he could manage to get out of his mouth.
"Oh." She stopped and sat on the desk, trying to get comfortable in the awkward situation. Putting her coat on the chair next to it, she looked up at him.
"So, you're the new double?" Michael finally found his tongue as he remembered the reason they were there. Was he supposed to bring up the past? What would Devlin say if he found out they'd dated in the past? Weiss is gonna give him hell.
"Unfortunately, yes." Sydney smiled sweetly. Michael looked confused. Why was it unfortunate? As if reading his mind, Sydney added, "No, not that it's not really, really great to see you again, it's just that my job really… sucks, for lack of a better term."
Michael laughed and nodded. "It's nice to see you too, Syd." He relished the way her shortened name slid out of his mouth.
She just smiled and kicked her legs under the table. It was like they were back in high school, back in her room, reading and practicing French (in more ways then one, wink wink)
Michael decided that he was thinking too much, so he broke the silence. "They didn't tell me a lot about you and how you got into the agency. Obviously, since they didn't even tell me your first name." He smiled and looked down at the piece of paper in his hands. "All they told me was that you work for SD-6, field agent, and that your dad is Jack Bristow." He nodded, remembering the day he'd gotten the information. "I knew Bristow sounded familiar…"
"Yeah, my dad…" Sydney started, but stopped short. "You remember David?"
Michael nodded. "Francie's brother, right? Yeah, I remember."
"Well, he and Will are… were… both reporters. Will still is, but David…" She stopped again, the pauses were bad enough, but silence was really bad. Finally, she went on. "David was killed almost a week ago."
Michael took in a breath. He had been expecting something bad, but he thought it was just a car accident and he was horribly disfigured… not that he was dead.
"Yeah, my dad actually told me that David had been working on a story about this guy, I can't think of his name at the moment." Sydney stopped and looked Michael in the eye. "So, Sloane found out and decided to have him killed. He thought he knew too much, but the truth is that David didn't even know what SD-6 meant, let alone what was going on inside." She shook her head, trying to get the image of one of Sloane's 'assassins' (as she called them) killing David, out of her head.
"I'm sorry." Was the only thing Michael could think of. He hadn't known David that well when they were teenagers, but he knew that Francie cared about him unconditionally (sisters usually do) and that Sydney was his other sister, though not by blood.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." She smiled and kicked her legs again. "I hate this warehouse."
Michael, glad to be out of the David conversation, sighed. "It's pretty cold in here, isn't it?" He tugged on his leather jacket; he hadn't had time to change after dropping by the office to tell Devlin he was taking the assignment.
Sydney's beeper beeped, startling Michael enough to make him jump, and startling Sydney enough to make her practically fall off the table. Making herself straight up again, Sydney pushed the button to stop the beep, then checked to see who it was.
"Crap, I have to go." She grabbed her coat, put it on, then looked up into Michael's questioning gaze. "Ok, here's the deal. Me and Francie are living together, and Will is too, practically. So, whenever my dog starts barking like nuts (which is lately a lot) she calls and puts in forty-seven forty-six, which is a little code for it." She took a breath and smiled, almost laughing at the way she blabbed. "Sorry, it's usually easier to explain everything at once."
Michael laughed and then suddenly realized something. "You're dog…" He started to think and add numbers together. "You still have Donovan?"
Sydney narrowed her eyes in confusion, then they widened in amazement. "Wow, yeah, I do." She smiled and threw her bag over her shoulder. "He's very stubborn, did you know that?"
Michael laughed again and nodded. "Yes, I figured he'd give you the same problem."
Sydney nodded. "Well, I better get going. I'll see you before my next trip." She smiled again and then left, a new twinkle in her eye.
Michael looked after her and smiled. It was amazing how she could still make him smile and laugh with just a movement. And that's what he thought about the whole way home.
Here's a toast
To all those
Who hear me
All too well
Sydney woke up to the sound of struggling in the living room, and laughter a little farther away.
When she walked into the room, she started to fall over laughing as Francie tried to get Donovan on a leash. She heard Will laughing and knew he was probably doubled over on the floor.
"You damn dog!" Francie pulled on his collar and finally got the leash clicked on. "Sydney! How dare you put me through that!" She playfully hit her friend's shoulder, who just laughed harder as the dog barked at them.
Sydney just went over to Will and picked him up off the floor. "Think you could take Donovan for a walk?" She tried to keep her mouth shut, to not laugh. But Will, as he nodded, was laughing and holding his side that hurt when he fell off the couch. Taking the leash, Will left quickly to dodge a hit from Francie.
Francie put her hands on her hips, trying to look serious, but after a few seconds both she and Sydney collapsed on the couch, laughing hysterically.
"That dog is gonna be the death of me." Francie put her feet on the coffee table.
"That dog is the best damn dog in the whole world." Sydney smiled, remembering when she had gotten Donovan… and also why.
"Oh, guess who Will is now 'partners' with." Francie sat up straight, looked at Sydney, waiting for at least one guess.
"Who?" Sydney squinted in confusion.
"Jackie Vaughn. She's a photographer and she's helping Will get pictures for a new story." Francie smiled and leaned back again. "She and Michael moved back here a few years ago."
Sydney just smiled, wide eyed, pretending to look shocked.
"I was gonna ask Will to invite them both to dinner, but it might be weird, cause now you've got Danny, the fiancé, and he's got Alice, the girlfriend." Francie shrugged, then rolled her shoulders to stretch.
"It was ten years ago, Francie. It wouldn't be weird." Yes it would. The though invaded Sydney's mind, and she knew it was true. She'd seen, and felt, the awkwardness that had been in the warehouse. She wouldn't be able to talk without her heart pounding in her ears. That wouldn't be good with her fiancé sitting next to her.
"Well, I still don't know." Francie got up and went into her bedroom, leaving Sydney to think.
Here's to the nights
We felt alive
Here's to the tears
You knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye
Tomorrow's gonna
Come too soon
"Jackie…" Michael tried to interrupt his sister, but it was no use.
"And you'd think that now that I was his 'partner'," Jackie put her hands up and did the little quotations sign. "he'd show me a little respect. I mean, yeah we've just met and he's four years older then me." She stopped and collapsed on the couch next to him.
"Jackie,
calm down. I'm sure he was just… annoyed that he now has to have a 'partner'."
Michael mimicked Jackie's quotation marks. "Plus, you still haven't told me his
name."
"Oh…" Jackie smiled
sheepishly. Then her eyes started sparkling, showing that she knew something he
might really want to know.
"Shit, you've got that look again, Jackie." He narrowed his eyes.
"It's Will… you remember Will Tippin." Jackie bit her lip and smiled. "I know that you haven't seen them, but them I mean Will, Francie and Sydney, in a long time, but I was gonna ask them to dinner or something."
Michael slouched on the couch. How ironic was it? The day he gets assigned as Sydney Bristow's handler, and meets up with her after ten years, he also finds out that Jackie and Will are now partners.
"Well, I don't have a choice. I only have a choice in if I go or not." Michael looked up as Jackie stood up quickly. She glared back at him, the look on his face was indifferent to hers. "Jackie, it's been ten years. It'd be weird. I have Alice now, and I'm sure Sydney has someone else too."
"A fiancé actually." Jackie gave a nervous look, as if she was caught with her hand in a cookie jar before dinner. "His name is Danny… there was a picture of them all on Will's desk and he explained who everyone was." Jackie then added in a mutter, "It's not like you'd care, you have Alice."
But Michael did care. She has a fiancé. Was the thought that ran through his mind. Yeah, he has a girlfriend, but that doesn't mean he feels any better. (No offence to Alice or anything.)
"Hey Michael?" Jackie looked over to the clock, and read the 12:00 that was blinking. "Didn't you tell Eric that you were gonna bring him those magazines and… his yo-yo?"
"Oh shit." Michael muttered and grabbed the bag full of things for Eric. He'd be out in a few days, but was still giving Michael hell. "Do I have everything? I don't wanna have to come back…" Jackie dangled his keys in front of him. Michael smiled and grabbed them.
"Love you Jackie." He kissed her cheek then raced out.
Put your name on the
line
Along with place and time
Wanna stay not to go
I wanna ditch the logical
Here's a toast
To all those
Who hear me
All too well
Sydney threw her bag down in her new apartment. Technically it was Danny's apartment, but now it was hers too. The phone started ringing about five seconds from the minute she walked in the door. "Hello?" She cheered up a bit when she heard his voice.
"Hey babe." Danny's voice went straight into her ear, making her smile. "You want to have dinner tonight? It seems I have off."
"Wow, a doctor with nights off, how did I get so lucky?" Sydney collapsed on the couch and laughed. "Sometimes it's all too surreal."
"I know." She could tell he was smiling. "So what are you doing?" Danny asked.
"Getting ready to leave." She paused, then added. "I just wanted to drop some stuff here before I went to a meeting."
"Oh… so you might not be able to come tonight?" His voice fell noticeably. It was a routine now. Whenever a meeting was mentioned, dinner was out.
"Yeah, I'm not too sure yet though." Sydney sighed as she thought of all the dinners she'd missed already. "Listen, I gotta go. I love you."
"Love you too." Danny sighed as they both hung up.
Sydney slid off the couch, and made her way into the bedroom, looking for something to hold her hair up with. She found a scrunchie in one of the bags she'd brought over.
Looking into the mirror as she pulled her hair up, she put her hands back down. In the mirror she saw herself, just… when she was younger. At fourteen she had been a normal teenager. Looking in the mirror, just because she knew her hair was a mess. Begging anyone with a car to drive her to her friend's house, or the mall.
Well, she had been a normal teenager, with a normal life. Now she was just paying the price for all that… normalness.
Sydney went into the living room and grabbed her jacket and keys.
"Damn it." She muttered as she walked out the door. "Why me?"
You know why you. Because you were friends with David. Because David and Will are both nosy. Because David was-
No, she wasn't going to get into the guilt trip after she finished thinking about David. That would just be too much.
No, for now she'd get in her car. Which she did. Turning on the radio, she made her way to the meeting, dreading the next place she would be going. Also dreading when she'd get back.
Wonder when I'll get the 'Joey's Pizza' call. Sydney laughed at the thought. Thinking back to the meeting the other day, she laughed again. She and him were very awkward around each other. Yet, when they started talking they were back in 'tell each other everything mode' as if they'd never missed a day together. She wished they hadn't. After he'd moved, they kept calling each other, but her dad limited her phone use after that. He'd sent a few letters to her, and she'd done the same to him. But that didn't last.
Everyone would think that visiting someone would be the best thing. You actually get to see them, but Sydney hated them for one reason. She always had to go home. Though she loved to see Michael, to see his face and his green eyes, she'd always dreaded seeing his image fade as the car drove away. Soon, those visits faded too.
Sydney stared in shock that those thoughts lasted all the way to her meeting. Even when she sat in her seat in the conference room, the thoughts in her head were still Michael.
Here's to the nights
We felt alive
Here's to the tears
You knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye
Tomorrow's gonna
Come too soon
Michael slid onto his couch, deliberately stalling. He was supposed to be making a certain phone call right now.
Sighing, he grabbed the cordless phone from the coffee table, but he didn't dial. Instead, he just stared at it, at the numbers that had faded since he'd used it often. Thinking back to his conversation with Eric, he thought back to the little parts of the conversation that he remembered.
-"Maybe I should have kept the assignment."- Eric had said to him. Michael had replied with -"Well, it's not my fault you don't like handler/agent assignments."-
After that they'd gotten into a whole conversation on Michael's being a push-over, which Michael enthusiastically denied.
The phone rang, which made Michael fall off the couch. Clutching the coffee table and the phone, Michael got himself into a sitting position on the floor, his legs half under the table.
"Hello?" He said, more like muttered, into the phone.
"I knew your phone wouldn't be busy." Weiss's annoyingly correct voice went straight into his ear. "You gonna make the call or what? It's not like she's not going anywhere."
Michael sighed as he wished silently that he was just a regular person. That he was back at the office, back behind is desk. His glorious unmoving, non-emotional, doesn't-have-the-ability-to-talk, no past desk.
He loves his desk.
"Yeah, but I'm sorta using it right now… you called at a bad time." Michael ran a hand through his hair, entangling himself from the floor, making his way into the kitchen.
"Well, if I try to call in thirty seconds, and I get through, I'm gonna get off this bed and come kick your ass." Anyone listening to him couldn't help, but smile. And they'd know that he was also smiling.
Michael smiled. "I'm not scared of you."
Weiss almost laughed into the phone. "Well, you should start being scared of me. I'll see you later Mike." He hung up and so did Michael, who just started dialing.
"Hello?" A different voice, not Sydney's, met his ears. It sounded like Francie, but after ten years, who knows what she'd sound like?
"Joey's Pizza?" He sighed into the phone, trying to sound real… whatever the hell that was.
"Wrong number." He heard just before she hung up. Running a hand through his hair, he looked in the mirror above the hallway table. Grabbing his keys from the table, he made his way out the door.
In the car, he turned on the radio as he made his way to the warehouse.
All my time is
Froze in motion
Can't I stay an hour
Or two or more
Don't let me let you go
Don't let me let you go
Here's a toast
To all those
Who hear me
All too well
"Hey." Michael smiled as Sydney made her way into the 'cage'. It wasn't a warehouse, or a fence. It was a 'cage' and it'd always be a 'cage'.
"Hey." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She'd always done that. He even remembered that she'd done it a lot when they were fourteen and throughout the time she'd visited him. He could even picture her writing the letters to him, or talking on the phone, and pushing her hair back behind her ear.
"World to Michael." Sydney waved a hand in front of his face and smirked when he jumped.
"Sorry, I just… zoned." He picked up the folder on the desk and looked through it. "So… you're going to France?" Sydney nodded. "Well, you know how to speak French… you did pass that exam right?"
"Hey!" Sydney slapped his shoulder playfully. "It may not be my best language, but I know it well enough."
"Prouvez-le." Michael crossed his arms, as she put her hands on her hips. Smiling, he watched her think for a minute before she actually replied.
"J'ai passé le Regents français. J'ai été en France au moins cinq fois." Sydney was going to end with that, but just for a show (such as the one where he almost fell down) she added, "Et j'ai eu un des meilleurs professeurs… vous."
Michael went an immense shade of red, before coughing to show they needed to get to work. "Well, your good at French. But the CIA doesn't need French. They want you to get the disk, but not give it to SD-6. The CIA wants that disk even more then SD-6." He stopped and took a breath, watching Sydney as listened to every word. "This guy, Jacob, his employers aren't exactly angels, he isn't either. This disk has everything about that company, and from the info we've gotten, it even gives weaknesses."
"But how am I supposed to get the disk, without Dixon knowing?" Sydney leaned on the chain fence, waiting for his answer.
"See, that's where this comes in." He reached in the bag on the table and rooted through it, pulling out another disk. "This is a pretty much exact replica of the disk you're getting. Keep this with you, and when you get the disk, give this one to Dixon."
Sydney took the disk and studied it. "What's on this one?"
"Oh, just some fake information. You wouldn't believe what the tech-guys can come up with." Michael and Sydney both laughed, then smiled.
"Marshall would love that." She shifted her bag to her other shoulder. "I better get going. My flight leaves in a few hours. I still have to tell Francie I'm going."
"Oh." Michael sat in the chair, watching her face go through emotions. "Well, have a nice trip."
"Hey." Sydney spun around and smiled at him. "You still like hockey?" Michael nodded, showing her the Kings pen he had. "Well, my friend gave me these tickets. Obviously me and you can't go together, but I thought you might like to take your girlfriend or something."
Michael stood up. How'd she know I had a girlfriend. "How'd you know I had a girlfriend?"
Sydney pulled out the two tickets from her bag and handed them to him. "Oh, Francie found out that Jackie and Will are partners… she's a gossiper, let me tell you." She smiled.
He looked at the tickets, not wanting to look up. "Ah, she sounds like Jackie. Because from Jackie I've found out that you have a fiancé named Danny." He looked up finally.
"Wow, she is like Francie." They both laughed. Michael stayed seated as she opened the 'cage'.
"I never got that hug did I?" Michael called after her.
Here's to the nights
We felt alive
Here's to the tears
You knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye
Tomorrow's gonna
Come too soon
Too soon
"What?" Sydney spun around again, looking at him with a confused look on her face.
"You remember when we were fourteen or fifteen?" Michael watched as Sydney stood there.
"Yeah, I remember." She swallowed, but made no attempt to move back towards him.
"Well, I remember the first time we saw each other at my new house, after I'd moved to San Francisco." He smiled, leaning back in the chair. "You and I were in my room. Francie and Will had been picked up by their parents about an hour before that. Your dad had been on a business trip only a few miles away, so he was gonna pick you up later." Michael stopped short and looked up at Sydney. Her eyes shone in the darkness of the warehouse. "I remember that I was sitting at my computer desk, just watching as you looked at my photo album. I remember how each time you saw a picture of me and you, you'd smile, how you looked like you were going to cry." He stopped and looked up at her.
Sydney watched as he stood up, almost like he was going to pace. "I was…" She stopped and took a breath. "I was going to cry." Visions of her looking at those photos, the film of tears on her eyes.
"Right before you left that day," He took a deep breath again, trying to keep himself in check. "I remember you promised me something. We were standing in front of my house… your dad was getting annoyed that it was taking so long, sitting in the car." Not a good memory of Jack. "You made a promise."
--Sydney hugged him tightly. Her arms around his neck, his arms around her waist. "I'm gonna hug you like this every time I see you." She smiled against his shoulder.
"That a promise?" Michael picked his head up and stared straight into her eyes.
"Definitely." He smiled and kissed her.—
"I actually kept it too." Sydney laughed.
"Not this time…" Michael looked at her, she was still standing right outside the cage. So, he made the move and walked out of it, standing a few feet from her.
Now it was her turn. So she walked straight up to him and put her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug. His arms slid around her waist, his cheek against her head which was on his shoulder.
She held him a little tighter, afraid he would disappear… again.
Here's to the nights
We felt alive
Here's to the tears
You knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye
Tomorrow's gonna
Come too soon
A/N – God that was long! I happen to like this chapter for some reason. Oh, and I took a line or two from The Box Part II… whoever noticed is a real Alias fan!
If this chapter went a little too fast (which I sorta think it did) then tell me… I might try and rewrite it.
If it's perfect… tell me!
Translations:::
Prouvez-le. --- prove it
J'ai passé le Regents français. --- I passed the French Regents.
J'ai été en France au moins cinq fois. --- I've been to France at least five times.
Et j'ai eu un des meilleurs professeurs… .vous. --- and I had one of the best teachers… you.