For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Previously, on the West Wing/Alias: In the 80s, Jack and Sloane discuss Crystal and Ian while Ian, in Moscow, makes a deal with Derevko for Sloane only to turn and make his own deal for Crystal's protection. On the return from the Soviet Union, Ian and Crystal stop by Credit Dauphine. Ian and Sloane face off and Sloane shows an agent approaching Crystal in the lobby. More recently, Josh gets suckered by the DCI and Leo tells him to take it up with the Democratic Caucus and, consequently, gets nowhere. Sydney picks Crystal up at the airport and takes her home to discuss Ian. When his name is brought up, she freaks and leaves.

Everybody's got a million questions Everybody wants to know the score What you went through It's something you Should be over now

Los Angeles, California

Today

Morning

Vaughn entered Sydney's house, shedding his leather jacket and hanging it up. "I don't know what to tell you," he said. "Weiss and I checked the airport, coffee shops... We can't exactly order a manhunt for her."

Sydney sighed. "She hasn't been back by. I only know of one thing left that we can do."

"Wait for her flight?"

Sydney shook her head. "That's still hours away." She picked up the phone, flipping through her address book, dialing a number from the page she stopped on.

Vaughn eased over, to read the page of numbers. His eyes landed on a person they'd met earlier in the year.

Sam Seaborn.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Seaborn, this is Sydney Bristow, we met--"

"Of course I remember you, Agent Bristow. What can I do for you?"

"Crystal..."

Sam's voice was suddenly tense. "What about her? She's... This isn't a condolence call, is it?"

"No, of course not. She's alive and well and was here till about forty-five minutes ago."

"She's in California?"

"On a layover on her way home."

"Okay."

"Mr. Seaborn, she... We were talking about an agent she must've known and before I could do much more than bring up the subject, she left."

"Left?"

"Got up and just... vanished."

"Well, that's nothing new."

"It's not?"

"No. When we were kids, she used to just... disappear."

"Why?"

"For the adventure, at least that's what she used to say. Hence her occupation."

"What would you say?" asked Sydney.

"It's a defense mechanism."

"Oh?"

"She... had a good reason to 'vanish' as a child."

"What's that?"

"To avoid the pain... caused by her father."

"What do you mean?"

"My uncle's a bit of a blustery man, a big guy, very brash... with a penchant for alcohol. And once he's had a glass or two, he would blame his daughter for the problems of the world."

"Verbal abuse?"

Vaughn caught her eyes questioningly.

"There was one time... God, I remember it like it was yesterday... I was spending the summer with her and my uncle and aunt. We'd gotten industrious and changed the lock on the liquor cabinet. Uncle John was so pissed... He started yelling at her and the next thing I know, he's picked her up off the ground, his hands around her neck and she's gasping for breath."

"You're kidding..."

"I wish I were. I'd never seen my uncle act that way, y'know, and I got him off of her... and she starts telling me how this has gone on for years but no one's said a word. John was a prominent criminal attorney. He's since retired but Crys hasn't said one word to him since she turned eighteen."

"Do you think this agent hurt her? That's why she ran?"

Sam sighed slightly. "I don't know. I hope not."

"Okay."

"She usually brushes it off after a while. Or at least... she buries the pain and fights on after an hour or two of cooling off. I wouldn't worry about her too much."

"All right... Thank you."

"Sure."

Los Angeles, California

Sixteen years, ten months ago

Morning

Ian knocked on Jack's door. When Jack looked up, he could tell the younger man was distraught. "Agent Guthrie."

"Can I come in?" asked Ian.

Jack nodded, and Ian entered, closing the door behind him. "I gotta say, you California guys have it nice. I'd rather be here than in frozen Soviet territory." He quietly picked up a notepad from Jack's desk and started to write, although not about the weather.

"There is something to be said for seasons, though," Jack said, arching an eyebrow as he watched Ian, who handed him the notepad.

'You always were the sane one. I want out.'

"I think I'm ready for some monotone weather."

Jack wrote in return: 'He's onto you.'

While they carried on a bland conversation about the differences in California and D.C. weather, they continued their written conversation.

Ian frantically scribbled. 'I don't think my contingencies for Crystal are going to work. When I leave, I want her out, too.'

Jack was cautious. 'There's only so much one can do to deter Sloane. He's got his sights set on her.'

'I'll die before I let him have her. You've got to help me, Jack.'

Their verbal conversation was winding down and Jack wrote one last message: 'Go. I'll contact you soon.'

Ian nodded. As he turned to leave, Jack tore the paper from the notepad and shredded it.

Washington D.C.

Today

Morning

Josh was in his office, typing an e-mail, when Donna appeared at the door. "You have a visitor at the Southwest entrance."

"Tell me it's a courier..."

"I think it's a courier."

"It's about time," Josh said, saving a draft of the e-mail and heading towards the entrance.

"Mr. Lyman?" asked the courier.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Sign here?" he asked, holding out a clipboard.

Josh did so, and was handed an envelope. He opened it as he started walking back to his office. He sighed. "For cryin' out loud!"

"Josh?" asked Donna, looking up at him. He was almost to his door.

"See if Leo's got a minute," he said, disappearing into his office and closing the door. "Why didn't you just *say* so!" he yelled, his voice only slightly muffled through the wall.

Donna quietly opened his door after making a phone call. "He's got a minute now."

Josh glanced up slightly from the file he'd been couriered. "Great," he said, standing.

"What is it?"

"National security," he said, passing her and heading for his boss's office. He nodded at Margaret before entering Leo's office. "So, I finally got it."

"Finally got what?" Leo asked.

"What all this insanity has been about. With national security."

Leo glanced up from a briefing book, removing his glasses. "What is it?"

"When the CIA took down the Alliance, they destroyed the interior of the SD-6 headquarters in Los Angeles. They want the money to gut the remaining intelligence equipment and get it ready to sell."

"I thought they'd budgeted everything for the Alliance case."

"Yeah, they did sorta. Sorta they didn't. They hadn't counted on bringing in new agents to the CIA. They've blown their budget on the case."

"What are they going to do with the money they make from the sale?"

Josh shook his head slightly. "They're going to donate it to children's health research."

Leo chuckled slightly. "All right. I'll call off the First Lady."

"Thank you."

"You're just going to have to make sure Amy Gardner leaves it alone."

He sighed heavily.

Washington, D.C.

Sixteen years, nine months ago

Afternoon

Ian pulled the mail from the box, sifting through the envelopes, selecting a brown padded envelope with no return address. He entered the apartment, dropping the mail on the coffee table and ripping the envelope open, removing a tape, labeled only with three characters: SD-6.

He popped it into the tape player, sliding his headphones on his ears and pressing play. A familiar voice soon filled his head, that of Jack Bristow.

"Your latest mission from Sloane will send you to Hanoi, Vietnam to secure a Rambaldi artifact. It's a talisman that decodes ten pages of the manuscript, or so Sloane wants you to think. It's a trap, Ian. He's tired of your run-around. Your communiqué of last Friday states the CIA wants you in Vietnam for communist information because the NSA picked up on an operation still in planning stages. The easiest way to end this without the loss of your or Crystal's life is to not even try for the talisman. Find out about the operation and tell Sloane you were held up by troops."

Ian exhaled, stopping the tape and sliding the headphones back off, setting them on top of the tape player. As he did so, he heard a key slide into the lock and turned to see Crystal enter, her arms laden with library books. "Hey," he said.

She blew her bangs out of her eyes, managing to close the door with her foot. "Hi."

"How was the library?"

"Hot and stuffy, so I checked out and came home."

He nodded. "I was thinking, for dinner?"

"Hm?" she asked, dropping her books onto the couch, watching them bounce slightly.

"How 'bout a pizza?"

"Sounds great."

"You wanna call out?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, heading towards the phone.

While she was distracted, Ian quickly erased the tape and headed into the kitchen, tossing it into the garbage can, and soon taking out the trash.

Los Angeles, California

Today

A few hours ago

Sydney returned to the CIA office with one goal in mind: to talk to her father. "You have a minute?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I talked to Crystal Seaborn today."

"Oh?"

"About Ian Guthrie."

Jack's expression was unreadable. "I told you to leave it alone."

"And I didn't. Tell me what I don't know. Tell me why Crystal bolted the minute I brought up his name and the possibility of his being a mole."

"Ian Guthrie was Crystal's first partner."

Sydney frowned slightly. "What?"

"Ian Guthrie was Crystal Seaborn's first partner," he repeated. "Ian was... approached by Sloane. He was a double agent. And sometimes a triple agent. No one ever really knew what side he was on. He located several Rambaldi artifacts for Sloane. Like us, he was sent on counter missions. He was his own man, Sydney. He was a maverick. He was... I think he was the best con artist the CIA ever had."

"Why?"

"He had... issues. That he was mostly able to hide. He had a twisted sense of duty, a twisted sense of love."

"Love?" Sydney repeated.

"He and Crystal were... more than partners."

She nodded slowly. "That explains why she left. But, if he was mentally... unstable... why was he still an agent? Why wasn't he benched?"

"It was the Cold War with a staunchly Republican president. We needed every last person to fight Communism."

She nodded a little.

"The other thing..."

She looked at her father.

"Sloane tried to recruit her."

"What?"

"Sloane tried to use Ian to recruit her to SD-6."

"Obviously it didn't happen..."

"Correct."

"So, then... what did happen?"

Hanoi, Vietnam

Sixteen years, nine months ago

Night

"Here's what's happening," Ian said, sitting in a dingy hotel room with Crystal. "The NSA sent new information on the operation that's being planned. Information's being sent back and forth from here to Moscow like there's no tomorrow, which... there may not be. This Cold War might get hot again."

Crystal nodded.

Ian unrolled blue prints across the bed between them. "The communications center is here," he said, indicating a room in the central most part of the building. "There's only one way in and one way out of this room. You're going to enter the building from the South side, and work your way in this way and disable the communications apparatus. Before you do that, I'm going to be entering through here," he said, indicating the northern entrance. "And I'm going to disable the security system located here ten minutes after my entry. Any questions?"

"None."

"Let's get going," he said, standing. He watched as Crystal stood, shouldering her equipment pack. "Hey, Crys..."

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I love you."

She smiled. "Love you, too. C'mon!"

They took separate cars to the building. Crystal waited the prerequisite ten minutes before entering the building from the South. She moved methodically, waiting for the ambush she was sure would come for her. Ian had disarmed the security system, the building should be in a state of chaos, but she saw no one.

Something was wrong.

She reached the central-most room and opened the door... finding nothing but a storage closet.

Crystal frantically radioed Ian. "We've got bad intel, abort. We need to abort now."

Her radio crackled to life. "Not yet."

"There's nothing here. There's no communications center." She looked up, spotting a person appear around a corner. Raising her service weapon, she fired before taking cover. "We need to get out. Now! I'll meet you outside."

"Not yet!" Ian returned.

The next voice Crystal heard over her radio was not Ian's and it did not speak in English. She sprinted towards the Northern part of the building, to locate her partner, listening to the rushed conversation in Vietnamese. As she reached the room where Ian said the security office was held, she watched in horror as the man she loved was murdered.

"IAN!"

The momentary shock and terror had to be just that--momentary--as the gun was soon trained on her. She fired off three rounds into his killer before fleeing. She changed the frequency on her radio, calling the nearest CIA headquarters.

"This is Patriot requesting emergency exit from Hanoi, Vietnam. Rebel is down, repeat..." Her voice cracked slightly. "Rebel is down."

"Copy that, Patriot, proceed to EX-12 and wait for communication," responded the voice over her radio.

"What about Rebel?"

"This line's no longer safe; radio silence until EX-12."

Crystal entered the sedan Ian had left parked a few blocks from their target, tossing her equipment into the passenger seat and quickly taking off. Glancing in the rearview mirror, she saw the building explode.

Her heart shattered.

Orange County, California

Today

A few hours ago

She knocked on his door quietly, a shell-shocked look on her face.

Sam opened the door to his little house, surprised to see her there. "Crys."

"Hi," she whispered.

"Come in?"

"Thanks," she said, entering.

"I got a call from one of your friends in the CIA."

"Sydney."

He nodded.

"I just... I thought I was past all this."

"I know," he said gently.

"I thought I was doing pretty good, moving on."

He nodded again.

"I have a flight back in a little while, but I just wanted to come by and see you..."

"I'm glad you did."

"Y'know, you're my constant. The only thing that has been for my whole life."

Sam quietly pulled his cousin into his arms, hugging her. "I'm always going to be here for you."

"I know," she whispered.

"Though, I think there's another guy who'd like that job, too."

"Josh."

He nodded.

"Yeah..."

"What do you think about that?"

"I think... that'd be nice. I think... that I thought I was over things that I wasn't and I need to be for that to happen first."

Los Angeles, California

Sixteen years, nine months ago

Afternoon

Jack entered Sloane's office. "You wanted to hear when Guthrie and Seaborn returned to the states?"

"Well?"

"Agent Seaborn is back in Washington."

"What about Guthrie?"

"He was killed in the building explosion."

Sloane smiled slightly. "We'll get her."

Jack's expression was flat as he gave Sloane a curt nod.

Los Angeles, California

Today

Hours ago

"Did he ever try again?" Sydney asked.

"He tossed around theories to get her to join SD-6. But he didn't count on her loyalty to the CIA, to the country. While it was easy to recruit those who weren't in the business yet, she was there. Plus, going without Ian... There was no way that would happen."

"That explains so much," she said.

"But it failed to meet our objective."

Sydney nodded slightly. "To find Sloane."

"Which is why I tried to move you off that route. It wasn't necessary. It wouldn't turn up any information we could use."

"Yeah... I should apologize to Crystal."

"If I were you..."

She looked at her father.

"I wouldn't bring up Ian again. No one wants to know they were the victim of a con artist, of a double agent. The heart doesn't belong in this business."

"But it's there."

"Think of how much easier it would be otherwise."

"I don't think it'd be easier. I think it'd be harder. No one would care one way or the other about the job, about the country. The heart belongs here, Dad."

Washington, D.C.

Today

Half an hour ago

Donna met Crystal in the lobby. She smiled slightly. "He's still in a meeting, but he should be out shortly."

Crystal returned the smile. "Okay."

"C'mon, you can wait in his office."

Crystal followed the young assistant, her hands in the pockets of her zippered Princeton sweatshirt.

"You want some coffee?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks."

"How was the flight?"

"Long," Crystal said with a tired smile. "It's nice not to be at cruising altitude anymore."

"I'm sure it is."

"Crys?"

She turned, seeing Josh head down the corridor towards her. "Josh."

He hugged her, lifting her off the floor an inch or two. "How are you?" he asked softly.

"Tired," she murmured, her feet back on the ground.

"Listen, tonight, there's this thing I sorta forgot about."

"Hm?"

"It's a memorial--candlelight vigil--commemorating the survivors of the Vietnam War at the Wall and I told Leo I'd be there, 'cause he was in the Air Force and served over there."

"What time?"

"About half an hour."

"Can I go with you?"

"You want to?"

She nodded. "I know people who served there, too. Some who lived and some who died."

"Great," he said softly. "Come in my office and hang out for thirty minutes?"

"Sounds like a great plan."

As they continued onto the office together, the phone on Donna's desk rang: "Josh Lyman?" She shook her head. "Hold on a moment." Putting her hand over the mouthpiece, she looked at her boss. "It's Amy Gardner."

Josh exhaled. "Put her through." He looked at Crys. "I don't know how long this'll take."

She shrugged. "I'm here."

He smiled, kissing her cheek softly. "Thanks."

Everybody wants to hear the secrets That you never told a soul before And it's not that strange Because it wouldn't change What happened anyhow

End.