Part Five A- Ending Number One
This is the way it could've happened.
I squeezed my eyes shut and announced, in a loud, clear tone much more confidant than I was feeling, "I choose Bachelor number. one!"
One? What made me say that?
I trusted my instinct. My instinct told me that no matter how much Emerald Eyes seemed like Vaughn, Pearly Whites was the guy I needed to get. I had to follow through with the mission.
"Alright! Congratulations Pearly Whites! But, before we reveal the chosen man to the bacheloret, let's introduce her to the other bachelors!" Max suggested.
I crossed my fingers.
A screen lit up on the side of the stage, showing a person in the second chair.
"Bachelor number two is a graduate from University of San Diego and has hopes to become a doctor. Please give a round of applause for Christopher Cellins!"
Cheering followed, and I looked up at the screen. Christopher Cellins was okay looking, I guess. Hazel eyes, tanned skin, and obviously, sun streaked brown hair. He might have been Angel, he might not have been. Hopefully he wasn't. Hopefully I'd made the right decision by going with Pearly Whites.
No. The right decision would've been Emerald Eyes.
But. I had to go with the mission. My counter mission, of course, would be to give Angel over to the CIA and tell Sloane that he'd escaped from me. He could be holding valuable information that would really help us.
They were introducing Emerald Eyes now.
I was anxious to see the slightly balding, combat boot and tortoise shell glasses wearing guy I'd had a mental heart attack over.
Mental heart attack? Is that even possible?
Note to self: find a correct meaning for mental heart attack' so that I don't look back and feel dumb for that thought later.
"Please say 'hello' to the real Emerald Eyes, French born Michael Vaughn!"
Michael who? Who Vaughn???
Vaughn? What? Where? Where's Vaughn?
Emerald Eyes is Vaughn. Oh. Wait. Emerald Eyes is Vaughn?
Emerald Eyes is Vaughn?!
EMERALD EYES IS VAUGHN! VAUGHN IS ALIVE, NOT DEAD! ALIVE!
Agent Michael C. Vaughn is alive! And here! Right here! My heart was beating like a jackhammer. I couldn't believe this. It couldn't be happening. And yet it was. How.?
WHY DIDN'T I PICK HIM???????????
'Cause I'm a moron, that's why.
'Hello Sydney, this is the idiot police calling. We're taking you under arrest. Why? Because you completely screwed your chance of any public relationship with Vaughn that you could've had, that's why. People are allowed to be stupid, but you're abusing the privilege.'
Max continued. "And, the winner, Pearly Whites, Marc Abrams! Come on out, Marc. Lizzie, stand with your back facing the curtain."
When does this torture end? Marc Abrams wasn't Vaughn, so at this point who cared?
I stood though. Only ten more minutes, Sydney. Ten minutes then it's over.
A second later, I felt someone behind me.
"Alright, Lizzie. Turn around and meet your match!"
I spun around and upon doing so, I found myself staring into a familiar pair of ice blue eyes. I gasped, my heart pounding even harder, if that's possible. I didn't think I could take any more surprises today.
He smirked, and out of the corner of his mouth muttered, "Well, Miss Bristow, we meet again."
TWENTY MINUTES LATER- OUTSIDE THE STUDIO
Still trying to get over two rounds of utter shock, I pulled my keys out of my purse and headed towards my car.
Everything came together now. Pearly Whites had not been trying to cover a speech impediment; he'd been covering his English accent. That also explained his love for London and his mysterious answers. I remembered what Dixon had said over the microphone, ".areful. bachelor.is.ar." He had been saying, "Be careful. Bachelor one is Sark." How could I not have seen it coming?
Just as I was about to turn the key on my car door, I felt a warm hand grab my arm and pull me. I glanced up and saw Vaughn, the man I only forty- five minutes ago thought was dead.
He led me silently into an alleyway behind the studio. When we knew no one was around, I thought we'd start talking.
We didn't. We remained silent, not making eye contact, pretending to be looking for tails.
Finally I spoke up, "So. is blind dating a hobby of corpses?"
"Sydney-"
"You were alive. You were alive the whole time and you made me believe you were gone. Do you know what that was like for me? And then to come here and find out 'Hey, my handler is here already kicking back and dating on shallow game shows while his former agent is out there on the brink of calling in Barnett to help her deal with this?' Were you really that happy to get away from me?" I spat out.
His eyes narrowed. "Hey, I didn't exactly want to do this! And I don't see you at home mourning over me. You're here too! Don't you think I was kind of freaked out too when I saw it was you I'd been answering questions to for the past thirty minutes?"
"Look at me, Vaughn!" I gestured to my wig and outfit. "Does it look like I'm here for fun? That's right, 'Jade Eyes.' I'm here on a mission."
"Emerald Eyes," he murmured.
"What?"
He looked up and repeated, "It was Emerald Eyes, not Jade Eyes. Or were you too busy scamming on Sark to notice?"
"How immature are you? I picked him because I thought he was the guy I needed to get on this mission. I screwed up though. And it's your fault, I'll have you know. You distracted me. And I didn't want to pick Sark, I wanted to pick." I trailed off, realizing. "I didn't want to pick Sark."
"Look, Syd, I'm sorry. I really am. And it's great that we had the chance to do something in public, and we got to see each other again. But I can't. I have to go. Have fun on your date."
I reached out for his hand to bring him back. "Vaughn, wait. I didn't mean to."
"I have to go, Syd. I'll try and see you later."
He turned and left the alley as I watched with slightly wet eyes.
THAT NIGHT~ Outside Splendora Pasta
"Well, congratulations, Bristow. Well played game today. I had a memorable time here tonight," Sark commented that night after the 'date' we'd won. We spoke in hushed tones so no one entering or exiting the restaurant could here.
"Glad you had fun. And now that I've successfully survived the evening with you without regurgitating, I think I deserve an explanation of what you were doing on that show. Besides destroying my mission and hurting someone I care about," I demanded.
"Well, Nunzeo happens to be important to us as well. He holds information that we need and can't have you getting. We knew you'd be trying to get him, but we have much less. public ways to get information from him. So our only concern was to keep you from getting to him first. That's when I got my assignment."
'We.' By 'we' he meant the group my mother controlled. But I didn't care right then. "SD-6 is looking for you. Give me one reason why I shouldn't tie you up and take you to Sloane right now."
"Because, Miss Bristow, though it might be slightly amusing to even see you try, I'm afraid it might cause a bit of suspicion in the restaurant," he answered coolly. Suddenly, a phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket. "Hello? Ah, good evening, Penny dear. Yes. Yes, love you too. See you in a moment then." He snapped the phone shut and put it back in his pocket.
He smiled brilliantly, showing off the teeth he'd been nick named for. "Well, I best be off then. Hope to see you again."
I blinked, about to ask what he meant, when the roaring of a motorcycle cut me off. It stopped in front of us and a girl just a little younger than Sark hopped off.
"Oh, hi. I'm Penny Lane. You must be Sydney. How nice it is to meet you. You know, Zachary is always in such a huff about you," the girl told me as Sark put his arm around her. She handed him a helmet and walked towards the bike. He followed and got on before her. She climbed on and put her arms around his waist as he started it up.
"Goodbye, Bristow. I'll say hello to your mother for you," he called as he turned the gas.
I watched them speed off down the road, laughing as they turned down the street, out of sight from me.
My phone rang, breaking my gaze. "Hello?"
"Joey's Pizza?"
"Wrong number."
And I got into my car and drove off, ready to meet my real match.
END OF ENDING NUMBER ONE
A/N: Yep, that's the way it could've happened. And thanks to Pennylane who was actually the original one to come up with the idea for one of the bachelors to be Sark. Credit goes to her and to thank her, I made her dream come true as Sark's girlfriend. Lol. You guys like ending one? Ending two will be up soon. Oh, and for those of you reading this on ff.net who are confused, Penny Lane is an online friend on the sd-1.com boards who is madly in love with Sark. Lol. (
This is the way it could've happened.
I squeezed my eyes shut and announced, in a loud, clear tone much more confidant than I was feeling, "I choose Bachelor number. one!"
One? What made me say that?
I trusted my instinct. My instinct told me that no matter how much Emerald Eyes seemed like Vaughn, Pearly Whites was the guy I needed to get. I had to follow through with the mission.
"Alright! Congratulations Pearly Whites! But, before we reveal the chosen man to the bacheloret, let's introduce her to the other bachelors!" Max suggested.
I crossed my fingers.
A screen lit up on the side of the stage, showing a person in the second chair.
"Bachelor number two is a graduate from University of San Diego and has hopes to become a doctor. Please give a round of applause for Christopher Cellins!"
Cheering followed, and I looked up at the screen. Christopher Cellins was okay looking, I guess. Hazel eyes, tanned skin, and obviously, sun streaked brown hair. He might have been Angel, he might not have been. Hopefully he wasn't. Hopefully I'd made the right decision by going with Pearly Whites.
No. The right decision would've been Emerald Eyes.
But. I had to go with the mission. My counter mission, of course, would be to give Angel over to the CIA and tell Sloane that he'd escaped from me. He could be holding valuable information that would really help us.
They were introducing Emerald Eyes now.
I was anxious to see the slightly balding, combat boot and tortoise shell glasses wearing guy I'd had a mental heart attack over.
Mental heart attack? Is that even possible?
Note to self: find a correct meaning for mental heart attack' so that I don't look back and feel dumb for that thought later.
"Please say 'hello' to the real Emerald Eyes, French born Michael Vaughn!"
Michael who? Who Vaughn???
Vaughn? What? Where? Where's Vaughn?
Emerald Eyes is Vaughn. Oh. Wait. Emerald Eyes is Vaughn?
Emerald Eyes is Vaughn?!
EMERALD EYES IS VAUGHN! VAUGHN IS ALIVE, NOT DEAD! ALIVE!
Agent Michael C. Vaughn is alive! And here! Right here! My heart was beating like a jackhammer. I couldn't believe this. It couldn't be happening. And yet it was. How.?
WHY DIDN'T I PICK HIM???????????
'Cause I'm a moron, that's why.
'Hello Sydney, this is the idiot police calling. We're taking you under arrest. Why? Because you completely screwed your chance of any public relationship with Vaughn that you could've had, that's why. People are allowed to be stupid, but you're abusing the privilege.'
Max continued. "And, the winner, Pearly Whites, Marc Abrams! Come on out, Marc. Lizzie, stand with your back facing the curtain."
When does this torture end? Marc Abrams wasn't Vaughn, so at this point who cared?
I stood though. Only ten more minutes, Sydney. Ten minutes then it's over.
A second later, I felt someone behind me.
"Alright, Lizzie. Turn around and meet your match!"
I spun around and upon doing so, I found myself staring into a familiar pair of ice blue eyes. I gasped, my heart pounding even harder, if that's possible. I didn't think I could take any more surprises today.
He smirked, and out of the corner of his mouth muttered, "Well, Miss Bristow, we meet again."
TWENTY MINUTES LATER- OUTSIDE THE STUDIO
Still trying to get over two rounds of utter shock, I pulled my keys out of my purse and headed towards my car.
Everything came together now. Pearly Whites had not been trying to cover a speech impediment; he'd been covering his English accent. That also explained his love for London and his mysterious answers. I remembered what Dixon had said over the microphone, ".areful. bachelor.is.ar." He had been saying, "Be careful. Bachelor one is Sark." How could I not have seen it coming?
Just as I was about to turn the key on my car door, I felt a warm hand grab my arm and pull me. I glanced up and saw Vaughn, the man I only forty- five minutes ago thought was dead.
He led me silently into an alleyway behind the studio. When we knew no one was around, I thought we'd start talking.
We didn't. We remained silent, not making eye contact, pretending to be looking for tails.
Finally I spoke up, "So. is blind dating a hobby of corpses?"
"Sydney-"
"You were alive. You were alive the whole time and you made me believe you were gone. Do you know what that was like for me? And then to come here and find out 'Hey, my handler is here already kicking back and dating on shallow game shows while his former agent is out there on the brink of calling in Barnett to help her deal with this?' Were you really that happy to get away from me?" I spat out.
His eyes narrowed. "Hey, I didn't exactly want to do this! And I don't see you at home mourning over me. You're here too! Don't you think I was kind of freaked out too when I saw it was you I'd been answering questions to for the past thirty minutes?"
"Look at me, Vaughn!" I gestured to my wig and outfit. "Does it look like I'm here for fun? That's right, 'Jade Eyes.' I'm here on a mission."
"Emerald Eyes," he murmured.
"What?"
He looked up and repeated, "It was Emerald Eyes, not Jade Eyes. Or were you too busy scamming on Sark to notice?"
"How immature are you? I picked him because I thought he was the guy I needed to get on this mission. I screwed up though. And it's your fault, I'll have you know. You distracted me. And I didn't want to pick Sark, I wanted to pick." I trailed off, realizing. "I didn't want to pick Sark."
"Look, Syd, I'm sorry. I really am. And it's great that we had the chance to do something in public, and we got to see each other again. But I can't. I have to go. Have fun on your date."
I reached out for his hand to bring him back. "Vaughn, wait. I didn't mean to."
"I have to go, Syd. I'll try and see you later."
He turned and left the alley as I watched with slightly wet eyes.
THAT NIGHT~ Outside Splendora Pasta
"Well, congratulations, Bristow. Well played game today. I had a memorable time here tonight," Sark commented that night after the 'date' we'd won. We spoke in hushed tones so no one entering or exiting the restaurant could here.
"Glad you had fun. And now that I've successfully survived the evening with you without regurgitating, I think I deserve an explanation of what you were doing on that show. Besides destroying my mission and hurting someone I care about," I demanded.
"Well, Nunzeo happens to be important to us as well. He holds information that we need and can't have you getting. We knew you'd be trying to get him, but we have much less. public ways to get information from him. So our only concern was to keep you from getting to him first. That's when I got my assignment."
'We.' By 'we' he meant the group my mother controlled. But I didn't care right then. "SD-6 is looking for you. Give me one reason why I shouldn't tie you up and take you to Sloane right now."
"Because, Miss Bristow, though it might be slightly amusing to even see you try, I'm afraid it might cause a bit of suspicion in the restaurant," he answered coolly. Suddenly, a phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket. "Hello? Ah, good evening, Penny dear. Yes. Yes, love you too. See you in a moment then." He snapped the phone shut and put it back in his pocket.
He smiled brilliantly, showing off the teeth he'd been nick named for. "Well, I best be off then. Hope to see you again."
I blinked, about to ask what he meant, when the roaring of a motorcycle cut me off. It stopped in front of us and a girl just a little younger than Sark hopped off.
"Oh, hi. I'm Penny Lane. You must be Sydney. How nice it is to meet you. You know, Zachary is always in such a huff about you," the girl told me as Sark put his arm around her. She handed him a helmet and walked towards the bike. He followed and got on before her. She climbed on and put her arms around his waist as he started it up.
"Goodbye, Bristow. I'll say hello to your mother for you," he called as he turned the gas.
I watched them speed off down the road, laughing as they turned down the street, out of sight from me.
My phone rang, breaking my gaze. "Hello?"
"Joey's Pizza?"
"Wrong number."
And I got into my car and drove off, ready to meet my real match.
END OF ENDING NUMBER ONE
A/N: Yep, that's the way it could've happened. And thanks to Pennylane who was actually the original one to come up with the idea for one of the bachelors to be Sark. Credit goes to her and to thank her, I made her dream come true as Sark's girlfriend. Lol. You guys like ending one? Ending two will be up soon. Oh, and for those of you reading this on ff.net who are confused, Penny Lane is an online friend on the sd-1.com boards who is madly in love with Sark. Lol. (
