Thanks for the reviews :)
For Ryanne, and anyone else who's confused, I've decided to do a recap of all the important stuff.
The CIA wanted Sydney to work for them again because there was money taken from a bank account known only to the original Alliance members, one of whom was Henry Lloyd (he left the Alliance because of a disagreement and was never seen or heard from again). Sydney found out that there are 4 disks, which Lloyd has given to 4 different people to keep for him. Syd found the first one and on it was information about Lloyd, his contacts etc. There was also part of a code on it. The CIA need the remaining disks to find out what Lloyd is trying to do and to complete the code. As for Marie. . . well you'll just have to wait and see!
I hope I haven't left anything out, if I have feel free to ask. I had just finished writing this chapter and I managed to delete about four pages of it. I was so frustrated when I rewrote it that I know it's not as good as it originally was, but I'm hoping to get this fic finished before my exams start so that doesn't leave me much time for deleting pages and pages of what I thought was good work.
Please, please review!!!!!!!!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
An apprehensive silence descended over the Ops Centre while everyone waited for news of the mission. The usual background noises were there, but inconspicuously so; phones ringing, printers spewing sheets of paper with irrelevant messages on them, the occasional hesitant cough that refused to be stifled. Sydney sat down with a heavy sigh at Vaughn's desk as he paced the floor in front of her. She couldn't bring herself to sit at her own desk, because she knew she would be forced to look at Marie's unoccupied seat and the empty space which had been cleared of her belongings.
Vaughn glanced over at her, slightly worried. He tried to smile reassuringly but it came off more sympathetic than anything. Sydney didn't mind - she was grateful that he made the effort.
"You look really tense" he remarked, moving to stand behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders.
"I *am* really tense," she said, managing a weak smile. He smiled back and began to massage her shoulders, slowly and rhythmically. She closed her eyes and momentarily allowed herself to forget about everything that was happening. Vaughn smiled softly to himself when he felt her relax and wished everything would always be so easy.
Suddenly the noise level rose from a low lullaby of murmurs, to a frantic buzz of activity. Sydney's eyes snapped open and she shot up straight in the chair. Vaughn paused, his hands resting on Sydney. They exchanged a hopeful glance and went to join the throng of people gathered in the middle of the room.
"What's going on?" demanded Sydney, tired and impatient from all the worry and anxiety.
"The mission was successful!" said Kendall, shooting a triumphant glance at Jack. Never one to admit he was wrong, Jack simply folded his arms across his chest and nodded. "The team are on their way back," continued Kendall. "If any of you have things you want to do, I suggest you do them now because we have a hell of a lot of work to do." He glanced briefly at Sydney before pulling Jack to one side to talk about what was to be done.
Sydney sighed; she knew she had something important to do and now she did not have an excuse to put it off.
"I'm gonna talk to Marie," Sydney told Vaughn, silently seeking his support. He understood and pulled her to him in a gentle embrace. She drank in the warmth and comfort he provided her with until she felt almost dizzy with love for him. Though she wanted to remain in his arms forever, Sydney reluctantly tore herself away from him. She smiled a little sadly at the prospect of officially losing another friend, although she knew she had never had Marie's friendship in the first place.
* * *
"Hey," said Sydney, twisting her hands together uncertainly. Marie looked up, surprised.
"Sydney! Hi!" She was enthusiastic, but her eagerness soon subsided when she realised what Sydney must think of her. "Wait!" she interjected, as she saw Sydney open her mouth to speak. "Don't say anything. Just - just let me explain." Sydney hardened her face when Marie began to speak but she could not help the wave of pity that overcame her when Marie pleaded for a chance to explain.
"I know what you must be thinking, and I know you probably won't believe a word I say, but I'd like to try anyway. Your friendship means so much to me, Syd, and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't at least try to save that." She paused and Sydney nodded slightly for her to continue. "You heard me talking to Richard, so you know that I know him. . . God, I don't know where to begin with all this." She trailed off and covered her tear- stained face with her hands.
"Try starting from the beginning. It doesn't matter how long it takes," Sydney offered gently, when she saw how difficult this was for Marie. Marie raised her head and smiled softly.
"My mother died shortly after I was born. I never knew her so I didn't miss her at all, but my father did. He missed her so much, and I think I reminded him of her. He was an American and we left China only a few days after my mother's funeral. When I was a young child, he could hardly bear to look at me. He died in a plane crash when I was four. I didn't miss him much, he had never given me anything to miss," she laughed bitterly before carrying on. "I was brought up by a friend of my father. . . Richard." Sydney was shocked, but did not allow it to show. It certainly explained a few things about Marie's relationship with Richard. "He was so good to me. I loved him in a way I had never even loved my father. He played with me, read to me, took me on trips to the park and the zoo. He had no wife or children of his own and I quickly became his whole world. When I left school he provided me with a job, in an office. You know, I never even thought to ask what the company did - I just dealt with statistics. Eventually, I found out that it was a company very much like SD-6 was and a man named Henry Lloyd was the head of it. I went to see Richard that evening and told him I was quitting. Lloyd came to see me, as I told Richard the other day, but I told him pretty much the same thing. Thankfully, I didn't have any problems getting away - I didn't let Lloyd know that I knew the truth. I came to the CIA a year or so later, I guess it was an attempt to wash away the sin I had been unknowingly involved in. Sydney, I'm not a double agent! I had to say that or he would have killed me. He loved me once, but all that disappeared when I refused to obey him. By convincing him I could give him the disks we have I got him to tell me where the other ones were - I assume that went well?" she paused in her story to look up enquiringly at Sydney.
"Yeah, it did," Sydney said automatically. She was preoccupied with trying to take in everything Marie told her. She reminded herself time and again that she should not take Marie's story at face value, but Marie's earnestness and the open apology in her eyes seemed genuine. After fighting a fleeting mental battle, Sydney decided to believe Marie.
"Sydney, you've got to believe me," Marie said desperately. "I'll do anything to prove I'm not lying."
"You told us where the disks where," Sydney said softly.
"So. . . you believe me?" Marie asked, almost incredulously.
"Yeah, I do," Sydney smiled. Marie released a breath she did not even know she was holding. She smiled back.
"Wanna get out of there?" Sydney asked, a grin spreading across her face as she realised that she had her friend back. That she had never lost her to begin with.
"I actually kind of like it," Marie said before grinning happily at Sydney. "Of course I do! What are you waiting for?" she exclaimed when Sydney looked at her, slightly puzzled. Sydney laughed and went off to convince the right people that Marie should be released.
Marie's imprisonment did not last much longer - Kendall had watched the whole of her conversation with Sydney and had himself come to the conclusion that she was telling the truth.
* * *
Sydney sighed exasperatedly when she found herself back at her much-hated CIA computer. The information from all the disks had been collected and divided up to make analysing quicker and easier. In theory, anyway. Sydney was not doing very well with her share of it. Marie, who was not faring much better, looked up and smiled sympathetically.
"How are you getting on?" Sydney asked, although she knew the answer.
"Not great," replied Marie. "There are loads of references to this one building in Brazil, but I can't make any sense of it." They returned to their work, after exchanging an understanding smile.
"You wanna swap?" Sydney asked at length, when she realised that she still hadn't made any progress.
"Gladly," Marie said, popping the disk out of her computer. Sydney did the same and each passed the disk to the other.
An hour later, they were called to Kendall's office.
"We've got most of the information we need to take down Lloyd," said Kendall, beaming at his agents with a look of pure pride on his face. If she had not been preoccupied with elation at the thought that this would soon all be over, Sydney would have found his expression incredibly funny and Vaughn made a mental note to remind her of it later. "We know what the weapons are and that they're still in an early stage of production. However, we still don't know where they are so until we do we can't do anything. No one is to rest until we find those weapons."
"Um. . . I think we may be able to help there," Marie began shyly, indicating herself and Sydney. "There were a lot of references to a building in Brazil on one of the disks we were searching."
"Let me see that," demanded Kendall. Marie went to fetch the disk with alarming speed. She pushed it into Kendall's computer and for an agonizing few minutes there was silence as he read through what was on it. The silence was broken by the sound of the printer. "Jack, see what you can do with this," he said, handing the piece of paper to Jack, who took one look at it and walked out of the room. Sydney glared at Kendall, itching with impatience and longing to follow her father. It was obvious that Kendall had no intention of telling them his suspicions until Jack had finished. Everyone stayed late that night; working, talking, speculating about what would happen.
* * *
The next day, Vaughn and Sydney returned to work, having had very little sleep. They had stayed working longer than everyone else, Sydney determination to do her job and Vaughn's determination to support her overruling any need to rest either of them had. When they had finally gone home, neither had been able to relax. Sydney yawned her way through her debriefing with Kendall. It was lucky that Marie had also been there because she could not remember more than two sentences he had said. Marie briefly outlined the meeting for her: the weapons were in Brazil as they had thought, Lloyd was there too, but only for three more days so they would be making their move soon but if Agent Bristow yawned one more time Kendall would send her alone and weapon-less to Brazil right now.
"He said that?" giggled Sydney. "How did I not even hear my own name? I must have been almost asleep!" Marie laughed and her eyes widened slightly when she saw Vaughn creep up behind Sydney, a finger to his lips indicating that Marie should not warn her. Sydney jumped in shock when Vaughn tickled her from behind.
"Kendall said I have to keep you awake," he grinned at her when she turned around to hit him playfully.
"Oh he did, did he?" Sydney asked, raising her eyebrows when she saw Vaughn stifling a yawn. "Did he also tell you that for you to do that you have to be awake yourself?" Vaughn smiled back at her and put his arm around her waist, steering her towards her desk.
"Come on, back to work," he said, twisting around to talk to Marie.
"And here I was, thinking you just wanted to spend time with us," Sydney said with a mock irritated sigh.
The little group broke up as Kendall came towards them.
"You three go home and get some rest. We leave for Brazil tomorrow." Sydney calmly bent down to pick up her bag from the floor by her desk, but inside she was very high-spirited. Tomorrow! In a days time this would all be over! She wondered what she wanted to do when it was finished. Would she stay at the CIA? Or carry on teaching? She quickly pushed all thoughts of the future to one side. They would only be a distraction on this mission.
* * *
"Okay, on three." Kendall was positioned in an inconspicuous car outside the building, where he could monitor the building's surveillance and also communicate with his agents.
"One," Sydney tightened her grip on the rifle in her hand.
"Two," Vaughn scanned the area below him - a laboratory - and saw Lloyd walking around with a decided air of superiority.
"Three!" Agents appeared from everywhere and nowhere. Some grabbed the unsuspecting Lloyd and forced him outside. Sydney jumped down into the lab and made her way over to the door behind which was the room where the weapons were being developed. She made quick work of the door's security system, which was separate to the rest of the building's, and wrenched the door open. Once inside she began to download data and files from the computers. Meanwhile, the other agents got everyone out of the building, making sure that no one escaped.
After an agonizing few minutes, Vaughn saw Sydney emerge from the room. He had insisted on staying behind until Sydney was out; it was his way of making sure that she was safe. He grabbed her hand and together than began to run. They crashed through a big window just as the building exploded. Aside from a few minor cuts and scratches from the glass, they landed unhurt.
* * *
Lloyd was arrested, along with many of the other people working in the lab. On the journey back to LA, Sydney reflected that she had done her job well and realised that she now only had a few loose ends to tie up. Vaughn understood that she wanted to be alone, to think things through, so he and Marie were playing cards with a few other agents at the other end of the small plane. As Sydney sat in solitary silence, staring out of the window, Kendall came and sat beside her.
"Sydney," he said companionably.
"I have some things I'd like to talk to you about," she began, a little uneasily.
"Go ahead," he smiled. Sydney realised that she had never seen him like this. He was relaxed and she could almost imagine that, given the right circumstances, or the right people, he could probably be quite friendly.
"Well, first of all, now that this is finished. . . well, I'm not sure if I'll be coming back." Kendall drew in a sharp breath.
"I was expecting this, to tell you the truth," he confessed.
"I don't know yet," continued Sydney, "I mean. . . I am *considering* staying with the CIA," she paused, waiting to see if he would try to persuade her. When he didn't she pressed on. "I'd like some time to think about it. Is that okay?"
"By all means, you can have the week off. Agent Vaughn too. You both deserve it." Sydney smiled warmly at him.
"Thanks," she said. She wrung her hands nervously. "I have some conditions though."
"What are they?" Kendall asked suspiciously, only just managing to keep up the friendly façade.
"Number one: no more threatening to move Agent Vaughn. We will try to behave appropriately, but you must allow us to comfort each other or support each other whenever it's necessary."
"Fine by me. You've both proved your worth recently, and I don't think your relationship will ever be able to stop you working to the best of your ability."
Surprised by his easy acceptance, Sydney carried on.
"Second, no more secrecy," Sydney paused again. "I know, I know, security and all that," she continued hastily when Kendall's eyebrows shot up, "but I'm not a double agent anymore. That was the main reason people couldn't know, wasn't it? I don't want to have to lie to my friends about what I'm doing or where I'm going and if you make me, then I'm going back to my teaching job."
Reluctantly, Kendall agreed to this as well. He was determined not to lose one of his best agents.
"Anything else?" he asked. A mischievous twinkle appeared in Sydney's eyes. She had only planned to ask for two things, but she had got them so easily that she became more adventurous.
"More time off would be nice," she ventured.
"Don't push your luck," Kendall grinned.
"Oh well, it was worth a try," she laughed, settling down more comfortably in her seat. The remainder of the flight was passed in amiable chatter but by the time they arrived in LA, Sydney felt that she was still no closer to finding an answer to her big decision.
TBC. . .
A/N: The next chapter will be the last one, so I want to get everything that needs explaining in this one. If anyone had a question that I didn't answer, please let me know and I'll re-do this chapter to add it in. Thanks.
For Ryanne, and anyone else who's confused, I've decided to do a recap of all the important stuff.
The CIA wanted Sydney to work for them again because there was money taken from a bank account known only to the original Alliance members, one of whom was Henry Lloyd (he left the Alliance because of a disagreement and was never seen or heard from again). Sydney found out that there are 4 disks, which Lloyd has given to 4 different people to keep for him. Syd found the first one and on it was information about Lloyd, his contacts etc. There was also part of a code on it. The CIA need the remaining disks to find out what Lloyd is trying to do and to complete the code. As for Marie. . . well you'll just have to wait and see!
I hope I haven't left anything out, if I have feel free to ask. I had just finished writing this chapter and I managed to delete about four pages of it. I was so frustrated when I rewrote it that I know it's not as good as it originally was, but I'm hoping to get this fic finished before my exams start so that doesn't leave me much time for deleting pages and pages of what I thought was good work.
Please, please review!!!!!!!!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
An apprehensive silence descended over the Ops Centre while everyone waited for news of the mission. The usual background noises were there, but inconspicuously so; phones ringing, printers spewing sheets of paper with irrelevant messages on them, the occasional hesitant cough that refused to be stifled. Sydney sat down with a heavy sigh at Vaughn's desk as he paced the floor in front of her. She couldn't bring herself to sit at her own desk, because she knew she would be forced to look at Marie's unoccupied seat and the empty space which had been cleared of her belongings.
Vaughn glanced over at her, slightly worried. He tried to smile reassuringly but it came off more sympathetic than anything. Sydney didn't mind - she was grateful that he made the effort.
"You look really tense" he remarked, moving to stand behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders.
"I *am* really tense," she said, managing a weak smile. He smiled back and began to massage her shoulders, slowly and rhythmically. She closed her eyes and momentarily allowed herself to forget about everything that was happening. Vaughn smiled softly to himself when he felt her relax and wished everything would always be so easy.
Suddenly the noise level rose from a low lullaby of murmurs, to a frantic buzz of activity. Sydney's eyes snapped open and she shot up straight in the chair. Vaughn paused, his hands resting on Sydney. They exchanged a hopeful glance and went to join the throng of people gathered in the middle of the room.
"What's going on?" demanded Sydney, tired and impatient from all the worry and anxiety.
"The mission was successful!" said Kendall, shooting a triumphant glance at Jack. Never one to admit he was wrong, Jack simply folded his arms across his chest and nodded. "The team are on their way back," continued Kendall. "If any of you have things you want to do, I suggest you do them now because we have a hell of a lot of work to do." He glanced briefly at Sydney before pulling Jack to one side to talk about what was to be done.
Sydney sighed; she knew she had something important to do and now she did not have an excuse to put it off.
"I'm gonna talk to Marie," Sydney told Vaughn, silently seeking his support. He understood and pulled her to him in a gentle embrace. She drank in the warmth and comfort he provided her with until she felt almost dizzy with love for him. Though she wanted to remain in his arms forever, Sydney reluctantly tore herself away from him. She smiled a little sadly at the prospect of officially losing another friend, although she knew she had never had Marie's friendship in the first place.
* * *
"Hey," said Sydney, twisting her hands together uncertainly. Marie looked up, surprised.
"Sydney! Hi!" She was enthusiastic, but her eagerness soon subsided when she realised what Sydney must think of her. "Wait!" she interjected, as she saw Sydney open her mouth to speak. "Don't say anything. Just - just let me explain." Sydney hardened her face when Marie began to speak but she could not help the wave of pity that overcame her when Marie pleaded for a chance to explain.
"I know what you must be thinking, and I know you probably won't believe a word I say, but I'd like to try anyway. Your friendship means so much to me, Syd, and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't at least try to save that." She paused and Sydney nodded slightly for her to continue. "You heard me talking to Richard, so you know that I know him. . . God, I don't know where to begin with all this." She trailed off and covered her tear- stained face with her hands.
"Try starting from the beginning. It doesn't matter how long it takes," Sydney offered gently, when she saw how difficult this was for Marie. Marie raised her head and smiled softly.
"My mother died shortly after I was born. I never knew her so I didn't miss her at all, but my father did. He missed her so much, and I think I reminded him of her. He was an American and we left China only a few days after my mother's funeral. When I was a young child, he could hardly bear to look at me. He died in a plane crash when I was four. I didn't miss him much, he had never given me anything to miss," she laughed bitterly before carrying on. "I was brought up by a friend of my father. . . Richard." Sydney was shocked, but did not allow it to show. It certainly explained a few things about Marie's relationship with Richard. "He was so good to me. I loved him in a way I had never even loved my father. He played with me, read to me, took me on trips to the park and the zoo. He had no wife or children of his own and I quickly became his whole world. When I left school he provided me with a job, in an office. You know, I never even thought to ask what the company did - I just dealt with statistics. Eventually, I found out that it was a company very much like SD-6 was and a man named Henry Lloyd was the head of it. I went to see Richard that evening and told him I was quitting. Lloyd came to see me, as I told Richard the other day, but I told him pretty much the same thing. Thankfully, I didn't have any problems getting away - I didn't let Lloyd know that I knew the truth. I came to the CIA a year or so later, I guess it was an attempt to wash away the sin I had been unknowingly involved in. Sydney, I'm not a double agent! I had to say that or he would have killed me. He loved me once, but all that disappeared when I refused to obey him. By convincing him I could give him the disks we have I got him to tell me where the other ones were - I assume that went well?" she paused in her story to look up enquiringly at Sydney.
"Yeah, it did," Sydney said automatically. She was preoccupied with trying to take in everything Marie told her. She reminded herself time and again that she should not take Marie's story at face value, but Marie's earnestness and the open apology in her eyes seemed genuine. After fighting a fleeting mental battle, Sydney decided to believe Marie.
"Sydney, you've got to believe me," Marie said desperately. "I'll do anything to prove I'm not lying."
"You told us where the disks where," Sydney said softly.
"So. . . you believe me?" Marie asked, almost incredulously.
"Yeah, I do," Sydney smiled. Marie released a breath she did not even know she was holding. She smiled back.
"Wanna get out of there?" Sydney asked, a grin spreading across her face as she realised that she had her friend back. That she had never lost her to begin with.
"I actually kind of like it," Marie said before grinning happily at Sydney. "Of course I do! What are you waiting for?" she exclaimed when Sydney looked at her, slightly puzzled. Sydney laughed and went off to convince the right people that Marie should be released.
Marie's imprisonment did not last much longer - Kendall had watched the whole of her conversation with Sydney and had himself come to the conclusion that she was telling the truth.
* * *
Sydney sighed exasperatedly when she found herself back at her much-hated CIA computer. The information from all the disks had been collected and divided up to make analysing quicker and easier. In theory, anyway. Sydney was not doing very well with her share of it. Marie, who was not faring much better, looked up and smiled sympathetically.
"How are you getting on?" Sydney asked, although she knew the answer.
"Not great," replied Marie. "There are loads of references to this one building in Brazil, but I can't make any sense of it." They returned to their work, after exchanging an understanding smile.
"You wanna swap?" Sydney asked at length, when she realised that she still hadn't made any progress.
"Gladly," Marie said, popping the disk out of her computer. Sydney did the same and each passed the disk to the other.
An hour later, they were called to Kendall's office.
"We've got most of the information we need to take down Lloyd," said Kendall, beaming at his agents with a look of pure pride on his face. If she had not been preoccupied with elation at the thought that this would soon all be over, Sydney would have found his expression incredibly funny and Vaughn made a mental note to remind her of it later. "We know what the weapons are and that they're still in an early stage of production. However, we still don't know where they are so until we do we can't do anything. No one is to rest until we find those weapons."
"Um. . . I think we may be able to help there," Marie began shyly, indicating herself and Sydney. "There were a lot of references to a building in Brazil on one of the disks we were searching."
"Let me see that," demanded Kendall. Marie went to fetch the disk with alarming speed. She pushed it into Kendall's computer and for an agonizing few minutes there was silence as he read through what was on it. The silence was broken by the sound of the printer. "Jack, see what you can do with this," he said, handing the piece of paper to Jack, who took one look at it and walked out of the room. Sydney glared at Kendall, itching with impatience and longing to follow her father. It was obvious that Kendall had no intention of telling them his suspicions until Jack had finished. Everyone stayed late that night; working, talking, speculating about what would happen.
* * *
The next day, Vaughn and Sydney returned to work, having had very little sleep. They had stayed working longer than everyone else, Sydney determination to do her job and Vaughn's determination to support her overruling any need to rest either of them had. When they had finally gone home, neither had been able to relax. Sydney yawned her way through her debriefing with Kendall. It was lucky that Marie had also been there because she could not remember more than two sentences he had said. Marie briefly outlined the meeting for her: the weapons were in Brazil as they had thought, Lloyd was there too, but only for three more days so they would be making their move soon but if Agent Bristow yawned one more time Kendall would send her alone and weapon-less to Brazil right now.
"He said that?" giggled Sydney. "How did I not even hear my own name? I must have been almost asleep!" Marie laughed and her eyes widened slightly when she saw Vaughn creep up behind Sydney, a finger to his lips indicating that Marie should not warn her. Sydney jumped in shock when Vaughn tickled her from behind.
"Kendall said I have to keep you awake," he grinned at her when she turned around to hit him playfully.
"Oh he did, did he?" Sydney asked, raising her eyebrows when she saw Vaughn stifling a yawn. "Did he also tell you that for you to do that you have to be awake yourself?" Vaughn smiled back at her and put his arm around her waist, steering her towards her desk.
"Come on, back to work," he said, twisting around to talk to Marie.
"And here I was, thinking you just wanted to spend time with us," Sydney said with a mock irritated sigh.
The little group broke up as Kendall came towards them.
"You three go home and get some rest. We leave for Brazil tomorrow." Sydney calmly bent down to pick up her bag from the floor by her desk, but inside she was very high-spirited. Tomorrow! In a days time this would all be over! She wondered what she wanted to do when it was finished. Would she stay at the CIA? Or carry on teaching? She quickly pushed all thoughts of the future to one side. They would only be a distraction on this mission.
* * *
"Okay, on three." Kendall was positioned in an inconspicuous car outside the building, where he could monitor the building's surveillance and also communicate with his agents.
"One," Sydney tightened her grip on the rifle in her hand.
"Two," Vaughn scanned the area below him - a laboratory - and saw Lloyd walking around with a decided air of superiority.
"Three!" Agents appeared from everywhere and nowhere. Some grabbed the unsuspecting Lloyd and forced him outside. Sydney jumped down into the lab and made her way over to the door behind which was the room where the weapons were being developed. She made quick work of the door's security system, which was separate to the rest of the building's, and wrenched the door open. Once inside she began to download data and files from the computers. Meanwhile, the other agents got everyone out of the building, making sure that no one escaped.
After an agonizing few minutes, Vaughn saw Sydney emerge from the room. He had insisted on staying behind until Sydney was out; it was his way of making sure that she was safe. He grabbed her hand and together than began to run. They crashed through a big window just as the building exploded. Aside from a few minor cuts and scratches from the glass, they landed unhurt.
* * *
Lloyd was arrested, along with many of the other people working in the lab. On the journey back to LA, Sydney reflected that she had done her job well and realised that she now only had a few loose ends to tie up. Vaughn understood that she wanted to be alone, to think things through, so he and Marie were playing cards with a few other agents at the other end of the small plane. As Sydney sat in solitary silence, staring out of the window, Kendall came and sat beside her.
"Sydney," he said companionably.
"I have some things I'd like to talk to you about," she began, a little uneasily.
"Go ahead," he smiled. Sydney realised that she had never seen him like this. He was relaxed and she could almost imagine that, given the right circumstances, or the right people, he could probably be quite friendly.
"Well, first of all, now that this is finished. . . well, I'm not sure if I'll be coming back." Kendall drew in a sharp breath.
"I was expecting this, to tell you the truth," he confessed.
"I don't know yet," continued Sydney, "I mean. . . I am *considering* staying with the CIA," she paused, waiting to see if he would try to persuade her. When he didn't she pressed on. "I'd like some time to think about it. Is that okay?"
"By all means, you can have the week off. Agent Vaughn too. You both deserve it." Sydney smiled warmly at him.
"Thanks," she said. She wrung her hands nervously. "I have some conditions though."
"What are they?" Kendall asked suspiciously, only just managing to keep up the friendly façade.
"Number one: no more threatening to move Agent Vaughn. We will try to behave appropriately, but you must allow us to comfort each other or support each other whenever it's necessary."
"Fine by me. You've both proved your worth recently, and I don't think your relationship will ever be able to stop you working to the best of your ability."
Surprised by his easy acceptance, Sydney carried on.
"Second, no more secrecy," Sydney paused again. "I know, I know, security and all that," she continued hastily when Kendall's eyebrows shot up, "but I'm not a double agent anymore. That was the main reason people couldn't know, wasn't it? I don't want to have to lie to my friends about what I'm doing or where I'm going and if you make me, then I'm going back to my teaching job."
Reluctantly, Kendall agreed to this as well. He was determined not to lose one of his best agents.
"Anything else?" he asked. A mischievous twinkle appeared in Sydney's eyes. She had only planned to ask for two things, but she had got them so easily that she became more adventurous.
"More time off would be nice," she ventured.
"Don't push your luck," Kendall grinned.
"Oh well, it was worth a try," she laughed, settling down more comfortably in her seat. The remainder of the flight was passed in amiable chatter but by the time they arrived in LA, Sydney felt that she was still no closer to finding an answer to her big decision.
TBC. . .
A/N: The next chapter will be the last one, so I want to get everything that needs explaining in this one. If anyone had a question that I didn't answer, please let me know and I'll re-do this chapter to add it in. Thanks.