D: Not mine, sadly. And don't own jack, sadly too. So don't bother.
An: SOOO sorry I haven't updated in so long. And last chapter was meant to be a bigger cliffhanger, but I re-wrote a longer ending, not leaving it where Sydney fell down the stairs. I thought it should be longer; but I forgot to fix my An at the end, so if it was a little confusing, sorry!! But leaving it hanging with Weiss heading into a salon IS a great ending in it self, right?? Any who, once again sorry for the long wait. My beloved uncle died suddenly and we just had the whole wake and funeral. My family is pretty shook up, including me. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!!
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1 ½ hours later they met up with the remaining guys. Eric had a huge smile plastered on his face. Sydney kept glancing at him and giggling.
"What's so funny? And why does Eric look like he's had one to many?" Vaughn asked looking Eric up and down.
"He's still on cloud 9. From his manicure AND pedicure. By 4 very..pleasant young ladies. From SPAIN. They heard it was his 'first time' and decided to treat him EXTRA special." Sydney explained slowly, smirking the whole time. Vaughn just smiled, shaking his head.
"Damn. Wish I'D picked the short straw!" Angelo muttered seeing the look on Eric's face.
"Me too." Came a voice. Sydney turned slightly and her eyes bulged out.
"Dad!" she gasped, giggling. He just shrugged and proceeded to herd them to their seats by the gate they'd go through. Vaughn helped Sydney sit, then gingerly allowed her to prop her foot up on his knee.
"Hurt much?" he asked. She nodded a little and shrugged. He frowned sadly. He hated seeing her in any pain.
"I'm sorry Syd." He said softly. She narrowed her eyes at him and leaned forward.
"Michael Vaughn. This is NOT your fault! It was an accident!" she made him look right at her. She cocked an eyebrow at him to get him to agree.
"Alright. But I still feel bad." He agreed. Glad when that was enough for her.
"Cute toes." He mentioned, touching some of the tips of her toes. She beamed at her French manicured toes.
"Thanks." She replied. It was almost midnight when they finally boarded the flight to New York. Sydney snuggled down, her feet in Vaughn's lap and slept more than half of the long flight. They only had about 20 minutes barely to get to their last flight to LA once in New York, so it was faster for Vaughn to just carry Sydney across the airport. Their 'target' was on his way in a special CIA transport plane. They boarded the last flight to LA around 3:00pm Eastern Time, and landed in LA at 6:00pm LA time. Just in time for dinner. That's what Eric kept pointing out to Vaughn anyways.
"Did Mr. Castello get here safely?" Jack asked when they all entered the JTF HQ.
"Yes. He was very compliant, and he wanted to apologize to Agent Bristow for his behavior. He's a very cooperative man when he's sober." Kendall explained, noticing Sydney's annoyed face.
"And how are you, Ms. Bristow?" Kendall asked, nodding to her ankle.
"They say it's not broken, just a bad sprain. It was pretty swollen so the X-ray's aren't the best. It'll take some time, but I'll be fine." Sydney answered.
"None the less, we'll have our doc's check you out. But you'' get time off from us. You'll just have to come up with something for SD-6. I'm sure Jack will help with that. After the debrief, go see the infirmary." Kendall instructed. Sydney nodded.
They debriefed for close to an hour, very excited about the potential huge information they would be getting form their target, Mr. Castello. Once done, Jack escorted Sydney to the infirmary to go over their cover story with SD-6. With the new of a permanent cast to be put in place in 2 weeks and the fact that she'd be away from work, or rather taking down the enemy, Sydney wasn't a very happy camper. As she came back from the infirmary to go to her desk, now in an all black air splint (think Ozzy Osbourne), Vaughn went up to her to hear the news.
"You okay? You look ready to maul someone." Vaughn asked, helping her to sit.
"They're gonna put me in a walking cast in a couple weeks. For 4 to 6 weeks. They found a fracture. Plus at least 3-4 weeks of therapy before I'm 'field ready'. Vaughn! That's like...3 MONTHS!" she said, pouting.
"You'll still do desk stuff. Here and at SD-6. You're still in the game; just side lined for the next 2 weeks. Then on light duty." He comforted. She looked at him a moment and smiled.
"You always know what to say to make me feel better. Thank you." She said, touching his hand. She held onto his hand an extra moment till Jack walked up, causing her to startle.
"Ready Sydney?" he asked, helping her to her feet, Vaughn handing her her crutches.
"Got the medical papers?" Sydney asked.
"Yep. If Sloane snoops around about verifying your visit to the ER, he'll find these." Jack said, leading her out.
"See ya Vaughn." Sydney said over her shoulder as they headed to a SD- 6 meeting.
45 minutes later, after arriving at SD-6, Sydney receiving concerned questions and comments, Sloane met up with them for the late night 'emergency' meeting.
"I see now why it was so urgent for you to meet with me Sydney. What happened, my dear?" Sloane asked, playing off his 'fatherly' role. Sydney ground her teeth, but smiled sheepishly and sat down delicately.
"Well, even with all my abilities as and agent of the US, me and frozen WATER do NOT get along! I went for my first lesson on ice skating...and the ice won. Hairline fracture on top of a severe sprain. 2 weeks in this airsplint, then to a walking cast for 4 to 6 weeks more. Then, therapy. At least 3 weeks. Maybe 4. I'm NOT a very happy person right now, but I was told by the crowd of on lookers that the FALL was very GRACEFUL." Sydney said, pouring on the girly talk and smiles at the appropriate moments. Jack had to literally pinch himself from either gaping at her in amazement or cracking up from laughter. Sloane listened intently, smiling and frowning at times.
"She called me from the hospital, I picked her up after they finished assessing her, picking up the medical charts. Her friends had taken her to the nearest hospital. Thought you'd want to make sure these went into her proper files at our own hospital." Jack explained, handing Sloane the folder of med. files.
"That's just too bad Sydney. I do hope you aren't too uncomfortable. Well, all I can see for you for now is some vacation time. At least till your mobile enough on that casted foot, then I can put you on point ops and desk calls until you can be back to field status. Do keep me updated on your recovery. I'll see you in a couple weeks. It'll be darker around here without that smile of yours around, but I think we'll survive, sweetie." Sloane said, hugging Sydney slightly then left the conference room Jack helped Syd to her feet and gave her her crutches.
"I almost lost it there a minute." Jack whispered slightly so Sydney could hear. She gave him on of her 100-watt smiles and hobbled out the room.
On her way out later that night, she realized something VERY important.
"How am I gonna get home?" she wondered as she looked at her casted foot. RIGHT foot.
"Shoot. My dad already left for the night..super agents can't even realize the necessity of DRIVING!" she mumbled to herself as she heard footsteps come up behind her in the garage.
"Hey Sydney, wow...heard you got hurt, what was it, ice-skating? Bumber." Dixon said as he came over with his briefcase in hand, tie loosened. She had been away doing all the paper work for leaving work and light duty work so she didn't get a chance to see him yet. Sydney turned to his direction and smiled at him.
"Dixon! My most favorite partner!" Sydney said, smiling more at his blush.
"Sydney. I'm your ONLY partner. What is it you want?" he said playing along.
"Well, you see.my Dad drove me here in my car after leaving from here in a cab to pick me up, since he knew I couldn't leave my car at the hospital parking lot, being all drugged up on pain meds I wouldn't be able to drive. But..he left earlier, probably cause he knew the meds had worn off. He figured I'd be safe to drive home myself. But..I hurt my RIGHT ankle!" Sydney said, pointing out her foot by wiggling her toes a little.
"Oh! THE Jack Bristow forgot one IMPORTANT detail! C'mon then girl, I'll escort you home." Dixon said, offering his elbow.
"Dixon...I'm on CRUTCHES! I'd LOVE to take your arm..but-" Sydney pointed out. He just laughed and dropped his elbow, but stayed in step with Sydney, opened her door and helped her into his SUV. The drive home consisted of Sydney explaining her prognosis and she'd be out.
"Well, rest up. Take over your front couch and watch movies all day long, eating all the ice cream you can. I want my partner back at ONLY 110% like she usually is. But ONLY completely healed, ya hear girl?! I'll miss you, call me for some company some time. Me and Diane can bring you dinner one night." Dixon offered, giving her a kiss on the cheek and escorting her to her door.
"I will. Bye Dixon." She replied, smiling sadly. She hated lying to him the most.
"Night Ice Queen." He replied, chuckling at her mortified but smiling face. She hobbled herself inside to find Francie and Will eating ice cream watching TV. They turned at the same time and Sydney held her breath trying to look innocent before the onslaught of questions began.
"OH MY WORD!! Sweet Jesus Sydney, what the HELL happened to you!?!" Francie exclaimed jumping up and practically sprinting to Sydney. Will eyed Sydney's gaze over Francie's shoulder and could already tell it was from a mission.
"I have a hairline fracture, but mostly a sever sprain." Sydney said first, glad to tell ONE truthful sentence. The lies came next.
"How?!" Francie said as she herded her like a mother hen to the couch, propping her whole leg up gingerly.
"I stumbled over the curb in my works parking lot." Sydney said evenly.
"What?! What had you attention so bad that you didn't realize the curb was there. I mean, you're IN that parking lot enough to KNOW the whole place blind folded!" Francie exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Sydney's mind kept churning, going with her logic.
"I..I kind of was...DISTRACTED. Looking at...SOMEone." Sydney played blushing for real.
"OOHHH! Is it Picture Frame guy?! This Michael fellow?! Did he come to your rescue, do the knightly thing?!" Francie said, getting all into it. Sydney beamed. Now some more truth!
"Actually. He did. Carried me all the way to the emergency room." Sydney beamed, looking to Will. He just smiled at her giddy face. He was happy she was happy. Nuff said. Francie squealed happily.
"Too bad I won't be seeing him for a little while, at least 2 weeks. Not until they put that walking cast on me." Sydney said, truly sad. She yawned then, her eyes watering.
"You've definitely had a rough day with this catastrophe. Still haven't' heard why you didn't CALL us!" Francie said, raising her eyebrows at Syd.
"Sorry...I was too embarrassed. My co-workers were there. One brought me home. My cars still at work." Sydney said as she went to get up.
"Oh, not you don't. Will, carry her to her room and put her on her bed. I'll help you change. You're staying off that foot." Francie said, going down the hall. Will leaned to her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah..just stepped funny on a mission. A drunk guy grabbed me to go 'Tango' a little to roughly." Sydney whispered as she put her arm around his neck and allowed him to carry her to her room.
"Tango?" Will said softly.
"Yep, my dad and Vaughn taught me HOURS before that, for the mission. I'll have to show you...AFTER I heal up." she said as he set her on her bed.
Francie fussed over her for the rest of the night helping her get to bed, giving her a bell if she needed anything, leaving a night light on, fluffing her pillow under her foot. Sydney couldn't stop rolling her eyes at Will, but she had to love her best friend. She fell asleep after eating some ice cream and taking a pain pill.
When Sydney finally woke up, light poured in her room. She sat up, forgetting what had happened the day before for a moment. Then she felt more than saw her foot.
"Owwww..eerrrrrmm..my poor footsie." She mumbled to herself. She glanced at her clock on her nightstand.
"My goodness!" she exclaimed when she saw that it was after 10am. She immediately looked for her 'Vaughn' phone only to find just her SD-6 pager and CIA phone. She got alarmed, knowing she put it there the night before when she heard Will talking to someone, coming down the hall. He poked his head in and smiled.
"Nope Mike, she's up now. Yeah..here, it's Mi..Vaughn." Will said, handing her her missing phone.
"You were talking to him? For how long?" Sydney said sitting up, shocked. Will just shrugged.
"It rang a while ago...you were so knocked out you didn't answer. I did so he wouldn't freak out and send a swat team here or something. We were just chatting about guy stuff." Will said walking out. Sydney just gawked.
"Hey Vaughn. Have a nice chat with Will?" she asked first, still weirded out.
"Yeah...nice to talk to a guy about .whatever, whose not Eric. So, how you doing this morning?" he asked sweetly.
"Good. Ankles a bit sore. But very much rested." Sydney replied.
"Yeah...11 hours will do that for you. So, think you can come in to head quarters? We need to go over some briefings we didn't get to last night. Only for a little while. Oh, and your mom's been asking about you." Vaughn mentioned. She smiled at that.
"Sure. Just don't expect work attire. I don't think ANY of my suit pants fit over this thing." Sydney kidded.
"Yeah..but you have cute toes. That's all that matters." He teased making her laugh.
"Okay, I'll be there in a bit. Gotta figure out how to take a shower in this contraption." She realized.
"Easy. Grocery bag it with a wash towel wrapped around the top. No problem in the bath. Know from experience." Vaughn said.
"You've been in a similar situation?" Sydney asked, curious.
"I didn't play hockey my whole life without a few injuries here and there. 12 years old, broke my ankle clean through when I collided with a goalie. 8 weeks in 2 different casts." Vaughn mentioned. She smiled picturing it.
"Thanks for the tip. Bye Vaughn" she said a little reluctantly.
"Bye Syd. See you soon." Vaughn replied hanging up. Will came back in then with a muffin and some coffee and orange juice.
"Breakfast, m'lady. That you're 'knight'?" Will kidded, happy to see her blush.
"Yes, Vaughn actually did rescue me. I've gotta go in for awhile, can you help me?" she asked helplessly.
"Absolutely." He replied then proceeded to get everything she needed ready for her and put it in reaching distance. She managed wall enough and put on Adidas pants with pale yellow stripes, a pale yellow blouse with her suit type jacket. She pulled her hair all the way up from in a yellow scrunchie, hair spritzed out on top.
"Okay. All ready. Oh, wait. My jeeps at work!" she froze.
"You couldn't drive it anyway, and it's here now. Dixon had it brought here. There's a car waiting for you outside." Will mentioned as he went over some of his 'Travel Agency' reports.
"Really? But..how can I just climb into a CIA escort without raising suspicions?" Sydney said as she made her way to the living room windows. Then she saw her 'escort'. It was a cab. She smiled and nodded.
"Should have known." She mumbled.
"Yeah, those CIA..pretty bright people, ya know? Not just air between the ears." Will kidded, poking fun at her. She just rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Ha ha, very cute. See you later." She said, hobbling out the door, her purse draped across her chest. The 'cab' drove her around to be sure to loose any tails to an abandoned alley where she switched to a standard CIA car and then escorted her to the JTF HQ. Once there, the young agent helped Sydney out of the car and carried her purse all the way into the main bull pen area where she was greeted by both Vaughn and Eric.
"Wow Bristow. Nice contraption there. Can tell that sucks." Eric commented, not having seen her new splint.
"Yeah, I really hate these crutches. They're killing my arms. And my shoulder." She grumbled, not very happy. Vaughn's face pinched up in worry.
"I'm sorry, sit down here. I'll be right back. Eric, get her whatever she wants." Vaughn suddenly said, rushing off.
"Okay, sit here m'lady. Anything you need, m'lady? Magazine? Snack? Shot of vodka? Coloring book?" Eric stared, going gin to one of his voices. Sydney just giggled away, shaking her head, but nodding at the vodka part.
"My kink of Lady!" Eric joked, more giggles ensuing. Vaughn finally returned with Sydney's father.
"Hi sweet heart. Not liking the crutches, I hear. Glad to see Agent Weiss cheering you up. Listen, for today, you're gonna stay of those crutches as much as possible. We're all gonna help with that." Jack said, looking at Eric, then to Vaughn. Sydney smiled, but shook her head.
"No, really, I'm fine. Please, don't bother.." She started.
"I really hate to pull rank here; as your ranking officer, I'm telling you this is what's going to happen. Understood?" Jack said evenly, a hint of a smile on his face when he saw that Syd-6-year-old-stubborn face appear slightly. Sydney huffed slightly looking at Vaughn.
"All right. How exactly are you all going to help?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Simple." Jack said and he stooped down and sweeped Sydney up into his arms.
"Like so." he explained. Sydney just rolled her eyes more, blushing.
"Kendall can't have you in a wheel chair, it'll be too hard to get around here." Vaughn explained when she glared at him playfully.
"Right now..your mother wants to see you." Jack explained, leaving Vaughn and Eric and heading to the roof. When he got through the door, they found Irina walking slowly around the very edge with one of the guards, talking casually.
"Hey mom!" Sydney called out, kicking her good foot unconsciously from her father's arms, a smile spreading on her face. Irina turned and grinned at the innocent site of her 'family' then scowled at Syd's injury. She nodded by to the guard and made her way to the middle of the roof, meeting them.
"Oh, my poor girl. You Okay?" Irina said first, taking Sydney's chin in her hand. Sydney shrugged a little, smiling sadly.
"I will be. For now, it's vacation and SERIOUS TLC." Syd said smiling and wiggling in Jack's arms. Jack just smiled then gently set her on her good foot. Irina took Sydney's other arm and set her down on the ground, sitting next to her as well.
"Thank you daddy." Sydney said, beaming at him goodbye.
"Anytime, see you later...Irina." Jack said, nodding his acknowledgement to her.
"Jack." Irina replied back, smiling truthfully at him. Before he could turn away, he couldn't help but smile back at her. Sydney witnessed all this and when she had Irina alone, she narrowed her eyes playfully at her.
"What?" Irina asked innocently. Syd just shook her head, rolling her eyes. Sydney stayed with her mother for an hour, just catching up. Vaughn came to take her back inside for the meeting not to long later.
"We have that meeting to go over the rest of the mission I told you about. Sorry to cut things short." He apologized, squatting down to their level.
"No problem. Need to stretch my legs more and since hobble here can't keep up.." Irina teased.
"Hey, not fair! Okay, bye mom. I'll try to get in to visit again soon." Sydney said, squeezing her mom's hand. Then Irina leaned over and kissed Sydney on the temple for the first time since she was a little girl.
"Bye baby." She said motherly.
"Bye mama." Sydney said back in a whisper, teary eyed. She wrapped her arms around Vaughn's neck and he swept her up, carrying her to the door.
"You okay?" he whispered quietly as they went down stairs.
"Yeah. GREAT!" she answered, taking notice how close she was to his gorgeous emerald eyes. You couldn't wipe the silly grin on her face as they entered the meeting office. The meeting didn't take long for Sydney, but Vaughn had to stay for more information, so Eric was next to escort Sydney to lunch. He took her to the cafeteria and ordered for them and they ate, Sydney almost choking, most of the time, on her food from all of Eric's jokes and stories. Vaughn joined them shortly after. He looked distressed. Sydney was the first to notice.
"What's wrong Vaughn?" Sydney asked, her face growing concerned.
"Dude, you look like someone ran over your dog..." Eric joked, then saw his best friends face pale.
"Oh my gawd...what happened to Donovan?" Eric said, getting serious.
"Ah...I just go a call from my neighbor. Apparently Donovan got out of my yard going after a cat and chased it up a woodpile, but he didn't make it. The woodpile fell on top of him. They had to dig him out. He's in the hospital right now. I just had to okay a surgery for him...for something, I think to save his life." Vaughn said in a disbelieving voice, his face gaunt, and eyes full of fear.
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An: There's the next chapter! Another little cliffhanger. Hope you like it, please review and tell me what you think!! I'd really love them and would be your best friend forever!!! Please!!!?? Thanx!!
An: SOOO sorry I haven't updated in so long. And last chapter was meant to be a bigger cliffhanger, but I re-wrote a longer ending, not leaving it where Sydney fell down the stairs. I thought it should be longer; but I forgot to fix my An at the end, so if it was a little confusing, sorry!! But leaving it hanging with Weiss heading into a salon IS a great ending in it self, right?? Any who, once again sorry for the long wait. My beloved uncle died suddenly and we just had the whole wake and funeral. My family is pretty shook up, including me. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!!
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1 ½ hours later they met up with the remaining guys. Eric had a huge smile plastered on his face. Sydney kept glancing at him and giggling.
"What's so funny? And why does Eric look like he's had one to many?" Vaughn asked looking Eric up and down.
"He's still on cloud 9. From his manicure AND pedicure. By 4 very..pleasant young ladies. From SPAIN. They heard it was his 'first time' and decided to treat him EXTRA special." Sydney explained slowly, smirking the whole time. Vaughn just smiled, shaking his head.
"Damn. Wish I'D picked the short straw!" Angelo muttered seeing the look on Eric's face.
"Me too." Came a voice. Sydney turned slightly and her eyes bulged out.
"Dad!" she gasped, giggling. He just shrugged and proceeded to herd them to their seats by the gate they'd go through. Vaughn helped Sydney sit, then gingerly allowed her to prop her foot up on his knee.
"Hurt much?" he asked. She nodded a little and shrugged. He frowned sadly. He hated seeing her in any pain.
"I'm sorry Syd." He said softly. She narrowed her eyes at him and leaned forward.
"Michael Vaughn. This is NOT your fault! It was an accident!" she made him look right at her. She cocked an eyebrow at him to get him to agree.
"Alright. But I still feel bad." He agreed. Glad when that was enough for her.
"Cute toes." He mentioned, touching some of the tips of her toes. She beamed at her French manicured toes.
"Thanks." She replied. It was almost midnight when they finally boarded the flight to New York. Sydney snuggled down, her feet in Vaughn's lap and slept more than half of the long flight. They only had about 20 minutes barely to get to their last flight to LA once in New York, so it was faster for Vaughn to just carry Sydney across the airport. Their 'target' was on his way in a special CIA transport plane. They boarded the last flight to LA around 3:00pm Eastern Time, and landed in LA at 6:00pm LA time. Just in time for dinner. That's what Eric kept pointing out to Vaughn anyways.
"Did Mr. Castello get here safely?" Jack asked when they all entered the JTF HQ.
"Yes. He was very compliant, and he wanted to apologize to Agent Bristow for his behavior. He's a very cooperative man when he's sober." Kendall explained, noticing Sydney's annoyed face.
"And how are you, Ms. Bristow?" Kendall asked, nodding to her ankle.
"They say it's not broken, just a bad sprain. It was pretty swollen so the X-ray's aren't the best. It'll take some time, but I'll be fine." Sydney answered.
"None the less, we'll have our doc's check you out. But you'' get time off from us. You'll just have to come up with something for SD-6. I'm sure Jack will help with that. After the debrief, go see the infirmary." Kendall instructed. Sydney nodded.
They debriefed for close to an hour, very excited about the potential huge information they would be getting form their target, Mr. Castello. Once done, Jack escorted Sydney to the infirmary to go over their cover story with SD-6. With the new of a permanent cast to be put in place in 2 weeks and the fact that she'd be away from work, or rather taking down the enemy, Sydney wasn't a very happy camper. As she came back from the infirmary to go to her desk, now in an all black air splint (think Ozzy Osbourne), Vaughn went up to her to hear the news.
"You okay? You look ready to maul someone." Vaughn asked, helping her to sit.
"They're gonna put me in a walking cast in a couple weeks. For 4 to 6 weeks. They found a fracture. Plus at least 3-4 weeks of therapy before I'm 'field ready'. Vaughn! That's like...3 MONTHS!" she said, pouting.
"You'll still do desk stuff. Here and at SD-6. You're still in the game; just side lined for the next 2 weeks. Then on light duty." He comforted. She looked at him a moment and smiled.
"You always know what to say to make me feel better. Thank you." She said, touching his hand. She held onto his hand an extra moment till Jack walked up, causing her to startle.
"Ready Sydney?" he asked, helping her to her feet, Vaughn handing her her crutches.
"Got the medical papers?" Sydney asked.
"Yep. If Sloane snoops around about verifying your visit to the ER, he'll find these." Jack said, leading her out.
"See ya Vaughn." Sydney said over her shoulder as they headed to a SD- 6 meeting.
45 minutes later, after arriving at SD-6, Sydney receiving concerned questions and comments, Sloane met up with them for the late night 'emergency' meeting.
"I see now why it was so urgent for you to meet with me Sydney. What happened, my dear?" Sloane asked, playing off his 'fatherly' role. Sydney ground her teeth, but smiled sheepishly and sat down delicately.
"Well, even with all my abilities as and agent of the US, me and frozen WATER do NOT get along! I went for my first lesson on ice skating...and the ice won. Hairline fracture on top of a severe sprain. 2 weeks in this airsplint, then to a walking cast for 4 to 6 weeks more. Then, therapy. At least 3 weeks. Maybe 4. I'm NOT a very happy person right now, but I was told by the crowd of on lookers that the FALL was very GRACEFUL." Sydney said, pouring on the girly talk and smiles at the appropriate moments. Jack had to literally pinch himself from either gaping at her in amazement or cracking up from laughter. Sloane listened intently, smiling and frowning at times.
"She called me from the hospital, I picked her up after they finished assessing her, picking up the medical charts. Her friends had taken her to the nearest hospital. Thought you'd want to make sure these went into her proper files at our own hospital." Jack explained, handing Sloane the folder of med. files.
"That's just too bad Sydney. I do hope you aren't too uncomfortable. Well, all I can see for you for now is some vacation time. At least till your mobile enough on that casted foot, then I can put you on point ops and desk calls until you can be back to field status. Do keep me updated on your recovery. I'll see you in a couple weeks. It'll be darker around here without that smile of yours around, but I think we'll survive, sweetie." Sloane said, hugging Sydney slightly then left the conference room Jack helped Syd to her feet and gave her her crutches.
"I almost lost it there a minute." Jack whispered slightly so Sydney could hear. She gave him on of her 100-watt smiles and hobbled out the room.
On her way out later that night, she realized something VERY important.
"How am I gonna get home?" she wondered as she looked at her casted foot. RIGHT foot.
"Shoot. My dad already left for the night..super agents can't even realize the necessity of DRIVING!" she mumbled to herself as she heard footsteps come up behind her in the garage.
"Hey Sydney, wow...heard you got hurt, what was it, ice-skating? Bumber." Dixon said as he came over with his briefcase in hand, tie loosened. She had been away doing all the paper work for leaving work and light duty work so she didn't get a chance to see him yet. Sydney turned to his direction and smiled at him.
"Dixon! My most favorite partner!" Sydney said, smiling more at his blush.
"Sydney. I'm your ONLY partner. What is it you want?" he said playing along.
"Well, you see.my Dad drove me here in my car after leaving from here in a cab to pick me up, since he knew I couldn't leave my car at the hospital parking lot, being all drugged up on pain meds I wouldn't be able to drive. But..he left earlier, probably cause he knew the meds had worn off. He figured I'd be safe to drive home myself. But..I hurt my RIGHT ankle!" Sydney said, pointing out her foot by wiggling her toes a little.
"Oh! THE Jack Bristow forgot one IMPORTANT detail! C'mon then girl, I'll escort you home." Dixon said, offering his elbow.
"Dixon...I'm on CRUTCHES! I'd LOVE to take your arm..but-" Sydney pointed out. He just laughed and dropped his elbow, but stayed in step with Sydney, opened her door and helped her into his SUV. The drive home consisted of Sydney explaining her prognosis and she'd be out.
"Well, rest up. Take over your front couch and watch movies all day long, eating all the ice cream you can. I want my partner back at ONLY 110% like she usually is. But ONLY completely healed, ya hear girl?! I'll miss you, call me for some company some time. Me and Diane can bring you dinner one night." Dixon offered, giving her a kiss on the cheek and escorting her to her door.
"I will. Bye Dixon." She replied, smiling sadly. She hated lying to him the most.
"Night Ice Queen." He replied, chuckling at her mortified but smiling face. She hobbled herself inside to find Francie and Will eating ice cream watching TV. They turned at the same time and Sydney held her breath trying to look innocent before the onslaught of questions began.
"OH MY WORD!! Sweet Jesus Sydney, what the HELL happened to you!?!" Francie exclaimed jumping up and practically sprinting to Sydney. Will eyed Sydney's gaze over Francie's shoulder and could already tell it was from a mission.
"I have a hairline fracture, but mostly a sever sprain." Sydney said first, glad to tell ONE truthful sentence. The lies came next.
"How?!" Francie said as she herded her like a mother hen to the couch, propping her whole leg up gingerly.
"I stumbled over the curb in my works parking lot." Sydney said evenly.
"What?! What had you attention so bad that you didn't realize the curb was there. I mean, you're IN that parking lot enough to KNOW the whole place blind folded!" Francie exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Sydney's mind kept churning, going with her logic.
"I..I kind of was...DISTRACTED. Looking at...SOMEone." Sydney played blushing for real.
"OOHHH! Is it Picture Frame guy?! This Michael fellow?! Did he come to your rescue, do the knightly thing?!" Francie said, getting all into it. Sydney beamed. Now some more truth!
"Actually. He did. Carried me all the way to the emergency room." Sydney beamed, looking to Will. He just smiled at her giddy face. He was happy she was happy. Nuff said. Francie squealed happily.
"Too bad I won't be seeing him for a little while, at least 2 weeks. Not until they put that walking cast on me." Sydney said, truly sad. She yawned then, her eyes watering.
"You've definitely had a rough day with this catastrophe. Still haven't' heard why you didn't CALL us!" Francie said, raising her eyebrows at Syd.
"Sorry...I was too embarrassed. My co-workers were there. One brought me home. My cars still at work." Sydney said as she went to get up.
"Oh, not you don't. Will, carry her to her room and put her on her bed. I'll help you change. You're staying off that foot." Francie said, going down the hall. Will leaned to her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah..just stepped funny on a mission. A drunk guy grabbed me to go 'Tango' a little to roughly." Sydney whispered as she put her arm around his neck and allowed him to carry her to her room.
"Tango?" Will said softly.
"Yep, my dad and Vaughn taught me HOURS before that, for the mission. I'll have to show you...AFTER I heal up." she said as he set her on her bed.
Francie fussed over her for the rest of the night helping her get to bed, giving her a bell if she needed anything, leaving a night light on, fluffing her pillow under her foot. Sydney couldn't stop rolling her eyes at Will, but she had to love her best friend. She fell asleep after eating some ice cream and taking a pain pill.
When Sydney finally woke up, light poured in her room. She sat up, forgetting what had happened the day before for a moment. Then she felt more than saw her foot.
"Owwww..eerrrrrmm..my poor footsie." She mumbled to herself. She glanced at her clock on her nightstand.
"My goodness!" she exclaimed when she saw that it was after 10am. She immediately looked for her 'Vaughn' phone only to find just her SD-6 pager and CIA phone. She got alarmed, knowing she put it there the night before when she heard Will talking to someone, coming down the hall. He poked his head in and smiled.
"Nope Mike, she's up now. Yeah..here, it's Mi..Vaughn." Will said, handing her her missing phone.
"You were talking to him? For how long?" Sydney said sitting up, shocked. Will just shrugged.
"It rang a while ago...you were so knocked out you didn't answer. I did so he wouldn't freak out and send a swat team here or something. We were just chatting about guy stuff." Will said walking out. Sydney just gawked.
"Hey Vaughn. Have a nice chat with Will?" she asked first, still weirded out.
"Yeah...nice to talk to a guy about .whatever, whose not Eric. So, how you doing this morning?" he asked sweetly.
"Good. Ankles a bit sore. But very much rested." Sydney replied.
"Yeah...11 hours will do that for you. So, think you can come in to head quarters? We need to go over some briefings we didn't get to last night. Only for a little while. Oh, and your mom's been asking about you." Vaughn mentioned. She smiled at that.
"Sure. Just don't expect work attire. I don't think ANY of my suit pants fit over this thing." Sydney kidded.
"Yeah..but you have cute toes. That's all that matters." He teased making her laugh.
"Okay, I'll be there in a bit. Gotta figure out how to take a shower in this contraption." She realized.
"Easy. Grocery bag it with a wash towel wrapped around the top. No problem in the bath. Know from experience." Vaughn said.
"You've been in a similar situation?" Sydney asked, curious.
"I didn't play hockey my whole life without a few injuries here and there. 12 years old, broke my ankle clean through when I collided with a goalie. 8 weeks in 2 different casts." Vaughn mentioned. She smiled picturing it.
"Thanks for the tip. Bye Vaughn" she said a little reluctantly.
"Bye Syd. See you soon." Vaughn replied hanging up. Will came back in then with a muffin and some coffee and orange juice.
"Breakfast, m'lady. That you're 'knight'?" Will kidded, happy to see her blush.
"Yes, Vaughn actually did rescue me. I've gotta go in for awhile, can you help me?" she asked helplessly.
"Absolutely." He replied then proceeded to get everything she needed ready for her and put it in reaching distance. She managed wall enough and put on Adidas pants with pale yellow stripes, a pale yellow blouse with her suit type jacket. She pulled her hair all the way up from in a yellow scrunchie, hair spritzed out on top.
"Okay. All ready. Oh, wait. My jeeps at work!" she froze.
"You couldn't drive it anyway, and it's here now. Dixon had it brought here. There's a car waiting for you outside." Will mentioned as he went over some of his 'Travel Agency' reports.
"Really? But..how can I just climb into a CIA escort without raising suspicions?" Sydney said as she made her way to the living room windows. Then she saw her 'escort'. It was a cab. She smiled and nodded.
"Should have known." She mumbled.
"Yeah, those CIA..pretty bright people, ya know? Not just air between the ears." Will kidded, poking fun at her. She just rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Ha ha, very cute. See you later." She said, hobbling out the door, her purse draped across her chest. The 'cab' drove her around to be sure to loose any tails to an abandoned alley where she switched to a standard CIA car and then escorted her to the JTF HQ. Once there, the young agent helped Sydney out of the car and carried her purse all the way into the main bull pen area where she was greeted by both Vaughn and Eric.
"Wow Bristow. Nice contraption there. Can tell that sucks." Eric commented, not having seen her new splint.
"Yeah, I really hate these crutches. They're killing my arms. And my shoulder." She grumbled, not very happy. Vaughn's face pinched up in worry.
"I'm sorry, sit down here. I'll be right back. Eric, get her whatever she wants." Vaughn suddenly said, rushing off.
"Okay, sit here m'lady. Anything you need, m'lady? Magazine? Snack? Shot of vodka? Coloring book?" Eric stared, going gin to one of his voices. Sydney just giggled away, shaking her head, but nodding at the vodka part.
"My kink of Lady!" Eric joked, more giggles ensuing. Vaughn finally returned with Sydney's father.
"Hi sweet heart. Not liking the crutches, I hear. Glad to see Agent Weiss cheering you up. Listen, for today, you're gonna stay of those crutches as much as possible. We're all gonna help with that." Jack said, looking at Eric, then to Vaughn. Sydney smiled, but shook her head.
"No, really, I'm fine. Please, don't bother.." She started.
"I really hate to pull rank here; as your ranking officer, I'm telling you this is what's going to happen. Understood?" Jack said evenly, a hint of a smile on his face when he saw that Syd-6-year-old-stubborn face appear slightly. Sydney huffed slightly looking at Vaughn.
"All right. How exactly are you all going to help?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Simple." Jack said and he stooped down and sweeped Sydney up into his arms.
"Like so." he explained. Sydney just rolled her eyes more, blushing.
"Kendall can't have you in a wheel chair, it'll be too hard to get around here." Vaughn explained when she glared at him playfully.
"Right now..your mother wants to see you." Jack explained, leaving Vaughn and Eric and heading to the roof. When he got through the door, they found Irina walking slowly around the very edge with one of the guards, talking casually.
"Hey mom!" Sydney called out, kicking her good foot unconsciously from her father's arms, a smile spreading on her face. Irina turned and grinned at the innocent site of her 'family' then scowled at Syd's injury. She nodded by to the guard and made her way to the middle of the roof, meeting them.
"Oh, my poor girl. You Okay?" Irina said first, taking Sydney's chin in her hand. Sydney shrugged a little, smiling sadly.
"I will be. For now, it's vacation and SERIOUS TLC." Syd said smiling and wiggling in Jack's arms. Jack just smiled then gently set her on her good foot. Irina took Sydney's other arm and set her down on the ground, sitting next to her as well.
"Thank you daddy." Sydney said, beaming at him goodbye.
"Anytime, see you later...Irina." Jack said, nodding his acknowledgement to her.
"Jack." Irina replied back, smiling truthfully at him. Before he could turn away, he couldn't help but smile back at her. Sydney witnessed all this and when she had Irina alone, she narrowed her eyes playfully at her.
"What?" Irina asked innocently. Syd just shook her head, rolling her eyes. Sydney stayed with her mother for an hour, just catching up. Vaughn came to take her back inside for the meeting not to long later.
"We have that meeting to go over the rest of the mission I told you about. Sorry to cut things short." He apologized, squatting down to their level.
"No problem. Need to stretch my legs more and since hobble here can't keep up.." Irina teased.
"Hey, not fair! Okay, bye mom. I'll try to get in to visit again soon." Sydney said, squeezing her mom's hand. Then Irina leaned over and kissed Sydney on the temple for the first time since she was a little girl.
"Bye baby." She said motherly.
"Bye mama." Sydney said back in a whisper, teary eyed. She wrapped her arms around Vaughn's neck and he swept her up, carrying her to the door.
"You okay?" he whispered quietly as they went down stairs.
"Yeah. GREAT!" she answered, taking notice how close she was to his gorgeous emerald eyes. You couldn't wipe the silly grin on her face as they entered the meeting office. The meeting didn't take long for Sydney, but Vaughn had to stay for more information, so Eric was next to escort Sydney to lunch. He took her to the cafeteria and ordered for them and they ate, Sydney almost choking, most of the time, on her food from all of Eric's jokes and stories. Vaughn joined them shortly after. He looked distressed. Sydney was the first to notice.
"What's wrong Vaughn?" Sydney asked, her face growing concerned.
"Dude, you look like someone ran over your dog..." Eric joked, then saw his best friends face pale.
"Oh my gawd...what happened to Donovan?" Eric said, getting serious.
"Ah...I just go a call from my neighbor. Apparently Donovan got out of my yard going after a cat and chased it up a woodpile, but he didn't make it. The woodpile fell on top of him. They had to dig him out. He's in the hospital right now. I just had to okay a surgery for him...for something, I think to save his life." Vaughn said in a disbelieving voice, his face gaunt, and eyes full of fear.
{#}
An: There's the next chapter! Another little cliffhanger. Hope you like it, please review and tell me what you think!! I'd really love them and would be your best friend forever!!! Please!!!?? Thanx!!
