CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE – FRIENDS
As promised, the Bristows had returned from Florence. If they thought that their government would give them a warm hello and a welcome back, they were mistaken.
Upon their arrival in Los Angeles, the FBI had taken Sydney into custody, and Jack had been "strongly advised" to meet with Kendall at the JTF. Sydney was placed into solitary confinement while Jack told their story to the higher-ups. He wasn't surprised that they didn't believe a word he said.
He showed them Irina's letter, which they immediately dismissed as another of Derevko's oft-tried manipulations of her family. So, he told them were to find the remains of Il Dire. It was only once the wreckage was collected, shipped to the states, and analyzed to determine its authenticity that Jack was finally allowed to see Sydney.
Although all the evidence supported it, Kendall and the rest of the brass were still reluctant to believe Derevko's benevolent role in the rescue of one of their agents and the elimination of one of their enemies. Although neither Jack nor Sydney had spoken their wish aloud, they had each hoped that Irina would receive some kind of clemency for her aid.
Sydney began undergoing hypnotic regression therapy. After her first week of sessions with Dr. Barnett, it became clear that Irina had not been deceiving them. Although the flashes were patchy, Sydney had recalled some of her time with Sloane, and a few scenes with Irina and Sark, apparently after she had been rescued. Although the FBI determined from these sessions that Sydney was not a danger and released her and Jack from protective custody, they made no such assumptions for Irina Derevko. Jack Bristow's petition for a new hearing and possible pardon for Irina was immediately denied without explanation.
Although Sydney was disappointed about her mother's continued status as a fugitive from the U.S. government, there were other parts of her life that were slowly falling back into place. She and Jack had moved into a small rental house, fully furnished, and not too far from where she used to live with Francie. They had barely been there a day when the visitors started coming by.
Dixon was first. When she saw him, he simply embraced her without words, too choked up to say anything for several minutes. Surprisingly, the meeting wasn't awkward. He answered all Sydney's questions about his family and his life. Other than his children getting older, his life hadn't changed much. He was still mourning Diane, and Sydney felt that he would continue to do so for a long time to come. When both she and Jack had assured him that they were in need of nothing and that they would come by for dinner that Friday, he left and Sydney felt, for the first time since she had come back, that there were parts of her life that might be salvageable.
Weiss and Marshall were next, dropping by one day in her second week out of custody, after her session with Barnett but while Jack was at the JTF filing paperwork, and provided Sydney with some much-needed levity. She discovered that Marshall had continued dating Carrie and that, much to Marshall's surprise and delight, Carrie had proposed to him just a couple months before. Sydney didn't attempt to hide her smile when Marshall quoted Carrie's reasoning that, "I knew if I waited for him, I'd have to pull an oxygen tank down the aisle." And she even laughed out loud at Marshall's explanation of the quote, "Because, you know… she'd thought that we'd be so old that… well, you know how old people have trouble breathing? Well… she didn't want to wait until we were that old."
Although Weiss joined in Sydney's laughter at Marshall's antics, and added a few one-liners and Kendall-barbs of his own, she couldn't help but notice that his eyes surveyed her with concern. When he stayed behind after Marshall left, she knew what he wanted to discuss. Vaughn's continued deep-cover assignment haunted her more than most people realized. She knew he couldn't contact her, but that knowledge didn't make the loss any easier to stomach.
"How are you, really?" Weiss had asked her, more seriously than she had ever heard him speak.
"I miss him," she replied honestly. "Have you heard anything from him since I left?"
Weiss had read Sydney's statement, and knew that she was fully aware of the nature of Vaughn's current assignment. He knew that it had to be killing her… and Vaughn. He wanted to do anything he could, but…
"Sydney, you know that all those deep-cover assignments are run out of one office in Langley, right? I haven't heard or seen anything of Mike since he left… not that I saw or heard much of him before he left." Weiss stood up from his place in Jack's armchair and paced the carpet in front of the sofa where Sydney sat.
He turned and looked at her nervously, "I… I feel like I need to apologize to you, Sydney, for not believing… for not helping Mike more in his search for you… and for letting him take this horrible assignment. I should have stopped him from going. You were dead and I was his best friend, but I didn't know how to help him. Now you're back and he's…"
"Eric," Sydney softly interrupted him, "It's all right." She stood and walked over to him, setting a hand on his arm to calm his pacing, "There's nothing to be sorry about. You acted like a good friend would, trying to help your friend grieve and move on with his life. You didn't suggest the mission, and even if you did, I wouldn't hold it against you. I'm not holding it against him."
"You're not?" Weiss asked, his eyes widening slightly in shock.
Sydney nodded solemnly, "None of us were in his situation, and we don't know how we'd react if we were. I can't judge him. I don't want to judge him. I love him."
"And he knows this?" Weiss questioned excitedly, his shocked expression melted into one of joy.
At Sydney's wide smile of assent, Eric lifted her into a bear hug, "Oh, Syd! That's the best news I've heard in years!"
She agreed through her laughter as he set her back on the ground. "Now I just need him to come home. Do you think anyone we know could find out when that might happen?"
Weiss quickly resumed his subdued demeanor, making Sydney wonder how Vaughn's leaving had affected him before he promised, "I don't know, Sydney, but I will do everything in my power to find out for you, alright?" He raised his hand and gave her a soft knock under the chin and a wink, "I'll do whatever I can to take care of my best friend's girl while he's gone."
Sydney had given Eric another quick hug and then said goodbye, a small smile playing on her lips for hours after he left.
Strangely enough, the one person who Sydney had expected to see almost the moment she stepped off of the plane did not show up until the end of her first month at home. She'd asked both Weiss and Dixon for his whereabouts, but the only answer they gave was that he had been transferred, but had been notified of her return. Just when Sydney was about to go bust down the CIA's door to find him, he turned up on her doorstep.
"Will!" Sydney's response flew out of her lips when she swung back the door. His hair was longer and darker, but he wore business clothes that she swore he wouldn't have been caught dead in before. "Come in, please. How are you?"
He looked at her, and she could tell that he was extremely uncomfortable, which was rapidly making her extremely uncomfortable. Sydney tried her best to be a proper hostess, "Will, please just come inside. I'll make some coffee, okay?"
Will didn't reply, but he stepped up into the entryway, his face just inches from hers. He tentatively raised a finger, delicately tracing her jawline before pushing a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. Sydney didn't move, too unsure of what was going on, until his eyes met hers in a piercing stare and held them as he spoke softly, "It's really you."
Sydney wasn't sure if his words were a question or a statement, so she just nodded. He slowly moved his hand over her shoulder and gently pulled her to him. "I'm glad," was all he said before moving into the kitchen, leaving Sydney standing, bewildered, at the door.
The rest of their conversation was just as confusing. Will had been transferred to Chicago, at his request, just after Vaughn left. Sydney tried to get him to talk about why he left, but he only answered that he needed a change. He said he wasn't married and hadn't dated anyone seriously, which worried her. He'd always been so resilient in the past, and even with the situation with Francie, Sydney had expected Will to recover, but he clearly hadn't.
What was most distressing for Sydney was that Will didn't appear interested in renewing old bonds. Once she had cleared up the mystery of her disappearance and explained where she had been, he seemed satisfied. He had nothing left of the old curiosity that was formerly his defining trademark, and none of the concern for her which had always been so apparent. All in all… this person was nothing like the Will she knew, loved, and who had been her closest friend. This was a hollow shell of that person, and Sydney had no idea how to respond to that.
He only stayed an hour… an hour that was strained as it was. When they said goodbye, Sydney knew that she would not be seeing him again anytime soon, unless it was of her initiation. He no longer wanted her friendship, so she hugged him, kissed him lightly on the cheek, and let him go.
There were several more days of relative quiet, with Weiss stopping by every afternoon as he had begun doing. He gave her updates on how he tried to find information on Vaughn, always to no avail. They usually watched a little television together while he helped her make dinner, and he often stayed to eat with her and Jack.
Sydney was impressed by how seriously Eric was taking his promise to watch out for her, and by how friendly he and her father had become. The less stoic Jack got along quite well with the more somber Weiss, and they were able to carry on long conversations on topics ranging from Eric's work to how the Lakers' draft picks were looking.
About a week after Will's visit, Jack had just retired for the night, leaving Eric and Sydney in the living room alone. Sydney was sitting calmly in Jack's armchair reading a new novel she had picked up at the bookstore that afternoon. Eric was slouched on the sofa, flipping through the channels, making random comments on the shoddy abilities of infomercial actors to perform simple household tasks, such as draining pasta.
When he realized that Sydney was too engrossed in her book to laugh at his jokes, he heaved a sigh, switched the television off and tossed the remote on the couch cushion. Sydney just glanced up at him with a quick smile before returning her gaze to the page in front of her, "Done for the night?"
"Yep," Eric answered, pulling himself up from the sofa and stretching. "You up for catching a movie tomorrow night? I'm dying to see the new Charlie's Angels movie," he grinned.
Sydney just raised an eyebrow, keeping her eyes fastened on her book, "Sure, we'll go watch half-naked women running around shooting at each other. Should be educational."
Weiss walked over to Sydney's chair, leaned down, and smacked a loud kiss onto her hair. "You mock," he said sweetly, "but I know you love."
"Of course I do," she answered as he walked to the door. "Goodnight!"
Eric chuckled softly as he turned back with his hand on the doorknob, "'Night, Syd."
He grabbed his jacket off of the coatrack and swung the door open only to find someone standing behind it, hand raised to knock. Before Eric had a second to respond, the visitor's eyes had moved past him to Sydney's form, still curled up on the armchair, but eyes now fully engaged with the man at her door.
She stared at him, body frozen, eyes wide, for several seconds until with a gruff grunt, he stumbled into the house, across the living room, and fell to his knees before her, laying his head in her lap.
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A/N: Much love goes from me to all my loyal readers & reviewers! As you can tell, this fic is winding down, but the encouragement I've gotten here has convinced me to continue writing. I can't tell you how much your support means to me. Thanks, everyone!
