Smoke and Mirrors Chapter Five
Vaughn's POV
"Vaughn... what... why?"
"I don't know..." I trailed off, hand shaking horribly, causing the scrap of curled paper to tremble.
"We... we'll get... an explanation." Sydney nervously suggested.
"Yeah..."
Thoughts filled my head. Thoughts of horrible scenarios caused by... her.
An explosion. The fire. My mother screaming and tortured, already in too much pain and too burnt to break open a window and escape.
Suddenly, I dropped the paper and it fluttered to the ground. Everything around me began to blur as my eyes spilled over with liquid. But I didn't cry. I couldn't cry. I couldn't allow Irina that victory.
Still, I found my legs weaken and collapsed onto the ash covered floor, my arm hitting a slab of plaster that had fallen through the ceiling. I didn't feel the pain. Sydney reacted immediately.
"Vaughn! Oh, God." She sat next to me and embraced me tightly. "It's okay, we'll figure this out... we'll... we will. It's okay, it's okay..."
It took my a moment of burying my face in my hands and listening to Sydney's comforting whispers to compose myself enough to say something. "She... she did this. Irina. Syd, she killed my mother."
"Vaughn, we don't know that for sure."
"How the hell do you explain that?" I demanded, pointing at the document on the floor. "I don't buy this whole fire thing. She never even lit candles... the smell always made her dizzy..."
My head was spinning and I couldn't stop the next words from tumbling out of my mouth. "I wish she never existed."
Sydney was taken aback, and for a moment her hand pulled away from mine. Then I realized my implication.
"Oh God, Syd. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
Her hand slid back into mine. "I know. It's okay. It just... surprised me."
"Syd, I'm sorry for being like this. But that woman took away my family. If it wasn't for you, I'd have nothing left."
She didn't answer. I felt a teardrop slip down my hand onto hers, and I wasn't sure whose it was.
"We can get through this," she assured me.
"It doesn't feel like I ever will."
"But you will, I promise."
"Good."
There was quiet again. We'd run out of words. Or we just didn't need them. Sydney squeezed my hand and laid her head down on my shoulder. I put my other arm around her.
And we tricked ourselves into thinking, just for a moment in time, that everything was alright.
***
"Definitely KGB. I mean this thing is like... whoa. Gotta be at least thirty years old," Marshall concluded as he waved a magnifying glass over the scrap of paper.
"That's impossible," Sydney argued. "Why wouldn't it have been found until now?"
"I'm not sure, but this follows the exact formations of every KGB message we've researched."
"Why the hell would there be KGB messages hidden in my house? Among my mother's possessions? My father did everything he possibly could to protect her from all that...."
"Right now, I'm confused myself, Mr. Vaughn. I mean this is kind of mind blowing. I haven't been this confused since I had to analyze that one artifact from Canberra... that kept me up for nights, good thing I'd just bought that jumbo cart of black coffee-"
"Marshall," Sydney cut in.
"Oh, right. Well, I'll study this more and see what I can find. I'll contact you is anything comes up."
"Thank you," I muttered.
Sydney and I walked silently to the elevator and I stared at the ground as the doors opened.
"You okay?" Sydney asked me softly while she hit the button for the parking garage.
"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine," I lied.
She placed a hand on my arm. "I think I know somewhere we can go. It'll make you feel better."
I looked at her, and she smiled a little. "Okay," I agreed.
***
"The pier?" I observed as we pulled up in front of the familiar spot.
She shrugged. "You know I come here to calm down. You even helped me once. I lean over the rail and stare at the ocean... it's so peaceful. Almost lets me forget... forget everything."
"Think it'll help me?" I asked.
"Might. But then I realized that I was wasting too much of my life trying to forget it. So I say we step away from the rail and have some fun before we forget what that what that is too."
She glanced toward the bright, dizzying array of technicolor lights from the rides on the pier and I knew exactly was she meant.
I felt the first genuine smile in two days spread across my face. "Let's go."
***
"Oh God, Syd. I haven't been on that thing since I was ten. And even then I'd get overwhelmingly sick."
She smirked. "Come on. You're saying that strong, capable, top CIA Agent Vaughn can handle seeing terrorists brutally tortured but he can't handle a Tilt a Whirl?"
"Don't I get credit for being able to handle you?"
"I didn't discredit you. I admit that's not the easiest job, which is why I'm forcing you to lighten up. Come on," she urged, grinning. Like a middle school student on her first date, she grabbed my hand and directed me towards the line.
Ten minutes later, we were spinning around in mind-shaking circles, the bright lights of the other rides a brilliant cyclone around us. Sydney laughed at my grimace and clasped my hand.
I was so dizzy when it was over that I had to lean on her for support as we walked to the next ride.
"Can you manage The Scrambler?" she asked me laughingly.
"Possibly. Do you wanna risk your throw up free hair?"
"Sure," she answered with no hesitation.
We headed to the ride. Once we were though to the colorful seats, I read the warning on the cool metal.
Smaller person on inside.
"Guess that's you, Syd," I told her, and helped her into the seat. The ride started a moment later, and we almost immediately understood the purpose for the warning. As the cars began to spin, Sydney began to slide across the seat in my direction.
Gasping, she clutched the bar and attempted to pull herself back to her position. It worked for a minute, but the ride sped up and she crashed into me again. Even with her strength, it was near impossible to fight the gravitational force.
She smiled sheepishly at me and tried to shift a little so all her weight wouldn't be pressed against my thigh. "Sorry. I tried," she yelled over the noise.
I laughed. "No problem." I lifted my arm and placed it carefully around her, pressing a kiss to her temple. The ride and the dizziness of spinning so quickly faded away, and there was just us. Sydney and Vaughn, away from the life of agents and missions, sitting in a rusty, steel boxed in seat and having fun.
If only rides didn't have to eventually end.
***
A/N: Guess what, guess what, guess what?? Elektra's gonna come back!! She's joining me again for chapter five! Yay! Okay, now encourage both of us and review, please! :-)