Title: Into the Deep
Author: Jennifer Campbell
Fandom: Alias
Spoilers: General season 2
Pairings: Sydney/Danny, Sydney/Vaughn
Rating: PG-13 for language
Disclaimer: The show Alias and its characters belong to people
with a lot more money than I have. Please don't sue.
Notes:Hi, everyone. So you've made it as far as chapter 5. Bless you. I hope you're enjoying reading my story as much as I enjoy writing it. Thank you to Neptune, who had many great suggestions on how to improve this chapter.
I love reading your feedback. Thank you to everyone who has written. I've noticed that quite a bit of the feedback focuses on how I'm going to manage a Sydney/Vaughn plotline when Sydney is married. Not easily, I tell you. These things take time to develop, but Syd and Vaughn's big moment is coming. I promise!
##
The sun had come out strong that day, and it felt like early spring. Clouds drifted on a light breeze, and Sydney shed her coat as she and her father walked down the neighborhood street. Children played in their yards, and one of the neighbors was raking leaves. Sydney waved at him as they passed.
The balmy weather had no affect on Jack, though, who was as serious and businesslike as ever. Sydney had thought out plenty of spiteful things to say to him, about how he had deliberately kept information from her about Irina, but now she couldn't bring herself to vocalize any of it. Her father's authoritative manner made her hold back. Despite the progress they had made toward healing their relationship, he often had that affect on her.
After they had walked a block or so, Jack finally spoke --quietly, to keep their conversation from carrying. "I don't have much time. I have a plane to catch in an hour."
"A CIA mission?"
"Something like that. Sydney, I couldn't help but notice that when Danny answered the door, he looked upset."
She shifted uncomfortably. "We were talking, but it was on the verge of getting ugly. I think we would have had a fight if you hadn't interrupted us." She looked up at him. "He's not stupid, Dad. He knows something is going on that I'm not telling him."
"You can't say anything. You know that."
"Yes, so everyone keeps telling me. But why? Danny and I never fight. We tell each other everything. I'm no good at keeping secrets from him."
"You think it would help matters to tell Danny that you're involved with the CIA and that there is a former Russian spy on your tail? Would you compromise the cover of others -- such as myself and Agent Vaughn? How much would you tell him, Sydney?"
"More than you told me," she snapped, and instantly regretted it. But why should she? Her father deserved to know how she felt about his omissions of truth.
He stopped walking and looked at her, but he squinted a little in the midday sun. "I told you everything you needed to know."
"You know that's not true," she said, her words clipped and angry. "But don't worry. Mom filled in the gaps for me."
His jaw tightened. "I see."
"You don't look surprised."
"I read Agent Vaughn's report, about your contact with Derevko. It's why I'm here. I suspected she would tell you. Vaughn also informed me privately that when he pressed you for details, you immediately changed the subject. Under the circumstances, he thought it better to let you do so. I don't have that luxury."
Sydney could hardly believe the calmness with which he spoke, like he was chatting about the weather. Maybe for him this sort of situation was just another day at the office. He lied as a matter of habit, but she couldn't handle the tangle of deceit. At this moment, she could hardly endure standing so close to him. She regarded him with cold determination.
"What passed between Irina and me is none of your business."
"It most certainly is."
"Maybe I don't want to talk to you about it. Have you thought about that?"
She started to walk away, but Jack grabbed her arm. Sydney bit back a cry of pain.
"You will tell me, Sydney, and you will do so now. The security and welfare of this nation might depend on it."
"Why should I? When you didn't tell me that the woman who was stalking me happened to be my mother? That she was alive all these years?" She was shaking now with rage and yanked her arm from his grip. "You should have told me. Instead you left me clueless, and I ended up trapped in a bathroom and completely off my guard, which is probably exactly what she wanted."
It felt good to get that out, like the lifting of an unbearable weight. She breathed deep a few times to get herself under control and waited for her father's response, half-fearing what he would say. She was both surprised and gratified to see that he looked regretful.
"If I hurt you, I'm sorry," he said. "I only wanted to protect you. From all of this. I only found out within the last year myself that Derevko was alive."
"You betrayed the trust I put in you. Betrayed me."
"I'm sorry you feel that way."
Sydney didn't know what to say, so she turned and walked across the street, and her father followed. They entered a park, lush in the summertime but now barren and brown. A set of swings swayed empty in the wind, and a lone bird chirped in the branches above the bench where they sat down. Sydney suddenly felt cold and pulled on her coat. She found her voice then, and the steadiness of it surprised her.
"She threatened me at first, to stop me from calling out. She told me she had hurt Vaughn in some way and that he wouldn't help me. Then she told me she was my mother. I didn't believe her, so she gave me a toy I had had as a child. She had kept it all these years."
"You believed her then?"
She nodded. "Yes, but no. Laura Bristow was my mother, not Irina Derevko. I got angry with her."
"What happened next?"
"She said she didn't have time to argue with me, and she left."
"Nothing else?" Jack looked at her intently.
She hesitated, hearing Irina's words in her mind. In a few days time, I will be leaving Los Angeles, and I want you to come with me. She knew she should tell her father, but she still hurt and didn't trust him as much as she otherwise might have.
"There was nothing else. After that, I went looking for Vaughn."
He nodded and reached under his coat, pulling out a small metallic tube. He handed it to Sydney.
"What's this?" She pulled off the top. "Lipstick?"
"It's a homing device. Keep it with you at all times, and the CIA can track you anywhere. It also has a panic button of sorts. If you twist the bottom, it sends out a signal. It's a way of alerting us if you're in trouble."
"You mean if Irina shows up again," Sydney prompted, and he nodded. She examined the device. "A homing beacon in a lipstick. Who would have thought."
As she slipped it into her coat pocket, Jack stood, and she had to crane her neck to look up at him. He said, "I have to go. I'm due at the airport soon. I'll be gone for only a couple of days, and we will talk again when I return."
She nodded, and he walked away. Sydney watched as he grew smaller, then turned a corner and vanished. She knew she should go home, but she couldn't bring herself to move. The peace she felt here in this park would vanish all too quickly once she left. So she closed her eyes, listened to the bird chirp above her, and sat there for a long time.
#
The monitor depicted a simple map, with a red dot marking Sydney's location. As she moved, the map would shift, keeping her dot in the center of the screen. But she hadn't moved in 10 minutes. Vaughn wondered, as he studied the screen, why she hadn't gone home yet.
"She's still sitting there, huh?" Weiss said as he leaned over Vaughn's shoulder. "Gee this is interesting. It's exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon. Stuck in a cold, cramped CIA van watching a dot on a screen."
"At least we have the van now. It's an improvement."
"An improvement would be some coffee and doughnuts to go with it."
Before Vaughn could answer, his cell phone rang. The caller ID didn't say who it was, but Vaughn already knew before he pressed the receive button. The reception was weak and crackling.
"Vaughn here."
"It's Jack. Is the device working?"
"No problems so far."
"I'm on my way to the airport now. I'll check in when I reach Puerto Rico. Keep her safe."
"We will."
Vaughn hung up and glanced at Weiss. "He's worried about his daughter."
"Of course he is. His crazy homicidal ex-wife is after her. Derevko's already killed one agent and almost got you too. I'd be worried, if she were my daughter." He pointed at the screen. "She's moving."
True enough, the map was sliding slowly to the left as Sydney walked back toward her house. They settled in to watch. There was no point in moving the van to follow her -- not when she was going only a few blocks.
"So where is SD-6 sending Bristow this time?" Weiss asked as he kicked his feet up on a console.
"Puerto Rico."
"Hmm, nice. Does Sydney know, about the double-agent thing?"
"Not unless Jack told her, and I doubt he'd do that."
"Well that's about the only thing she doesn't know, after last night. Speaking of, how's your arm?"
"It's fine. The concussion was worse." He brushed his fingers over his bandaged forearm. It stung, but only enough to cause slight discomfort. "This took a few stitches, but the doctor said I avoided infection. I probably have Sydney to thank for that. The doctor was impressed at how well she treated the cut."
He half-smiled as he remembered Sydney's stubborn insistence that she clean him up, and how ridiculously overstuffed her purse was. Lucky for him that she had had all the right medical supplies, and that she kept her cool after all that had happened. Vaughn was certain had their positions been reversed, he wouldn't have been so calm.
Weiss stared at him hard, then shook his head soberly. "Here we go again."
"What?"
"That look you just got. That's a bad, bad sign."
"What in the hell are you talking about?"
"Uh-uh, buddy. Playing dumb doesn't work with me. We've known each other a long time, and I recognize the signs when you're falling for a pretty girl. I'm telling you now that this one is a bad idea."
"Who?" Vaughn said, baffled. Then it hit him what Weiss must be thinking, and he laughed out loud. "You mean Sydney?"
"She's married, you know. That means off-limits. Besides, her father would probably disembowel you if anything happened between you two."
"That's ... gross, Weiss. And no need to worry. I'm not falling for Sydney."
"You can't fool me."
"I'm not," Vaughn said, a little too harshly. He was starting to get irritated with this whole conversation. "If I were interested in her, would I be going out on a date tonight?"
Weiss raised his eyebrows. "A date, really? With who?"
"A nurse at the hospital," he said, grinning. "She took my blood pressure."
"You met her just last night? That's fast work. Does she have a friend?"
"Not that I know of."
"Too bad. I guess that means I'm drinking alone tonight."
"Sorry, buddy."
"I'll survive. Hey, look," Weiss said, nodding toward the screen. "Stop the presses. She's made it home." He sighed dramatically. "The excitement never ends in the life of a CIA agent. What time does the next shift get here?"
"In an hour, and I could do with a little less excitement myself." Vaughn brushed his fingertips over the screen. "I wish we knew what Derevko wanted with her."
"I wish Derevko would show so we could grab her and get out of here. Then we could drop her in the middle of headquarters and let her fend for herself against a bunch of pissed-off agents with guns."
Vaughn didn't answer. He simply stared at the red dot, lost in thought about all that the past few days had brought into his life.
#
Danny was hanging colorful lights above the garage when Sydney walked up the driveway. He looked down at her from his perch atop his ladder but didn't speak. Neither did Sydney. She went inside and started the usual weekend household chores.
Danny found her much later, on her hands and knees, scrubbing fiercely at the bathtub.
"We should put up the Christmas tree tomorrow," he said.
"Sure."
He nodded, looked like he was about to say something more, then left. Sydney sighed and went back to taking out her frustrations on the soap scum.
She had finished on the tub and had moved onto the toilet when the phone rang. For one paralyzing moment, she thought it might be Vaughn, or maybe even her mother. Irina had said they would talk again soon. But not yet, Sydney thought. I'm not ready yet. She wondered whether she ever would be.
"Hello?" Danny said, and Sydney strained to hear. "Speaking ... yeah... no, no I don't mind. ... I'll be there as soon as I can. ... No problem. Bye."
He came into the bathroom. "That was the hospital. They've had a lot of people call in sick today and need me to come in. I told them OK."
So it had been a normal call. Sydney inwardly sighed in relief, but outside, she did her best to look perturbed. "On a Saturday? But it's your day off."
"Sick people don't take off weekends, Syd."
"I know, I know. How long do they want you?"
"Only a few hours. I should be home for dinner."
"Don't let them work you too hard."
He gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, and not long after, Sydney heard his car pulling out of the driveway.
Now that she had the house to herself and could relax for a while, she put away her cleaning supplies and booted up the computer. She hadn't emptied her e-mail box all day, and it was probably overrun with spam. As she went down the list of new messages, she clicked delete on almost every one. Some promised sex, others cheap airfare, and they had wild names in the sender box, like "naked Britney" and "Big Boy."
She marked the delete box on the last message and was about to trash them all when she stopped. The final message listed the sender as "tudy1800." Tudy. The name of her stuffed bear -- the one Irina had given to her the previous night. For several seconds, Sydney considered dumping that message, too, but the mouse moved almost of its own volition and opened the file.
It was an advertisement for debt relief. Sydney laughed at herself for seeing hints of conspiracy where there were none and moved her clicker over the delete button, but again she hesitated. She noticed something strange about the advertisement's wording.
"Find debt relief now!" it said in big letters. Then, in smaller type, it continued: "Creditors draining your account? Not enough money for FOOD and rent? Are you getting dragged into COURT? You're not ALONE! And there is a way out!"
Then it listed some Web page link, but that's not what interested Sydney. The words in all capital letters seemed too strange to be coincidental. "FOOD. COURT. ALONE." My God it was a message from her.
Irina Derevko wanted to meet her at the food court, undoubtedly the one at the mall, considering that's where Sydney had spotted her before. And Irina wanted her to come alone. Sydney knew what that meant: losing her CIA protectors. Otherwise, Irina probably wouldn't show. But when? The message included no time.
Sydney shook herself. Was she really considering this? Irina Derevko was the bad guy, a murderer and thief who had made Sydney's life hell for the past week. And yet, she was her mother, the woman whom Sydney had spent years wishing she could have had only one more day with. Now the chance lay before her on a silver platter. A chance to know her mother. If she didn't go, she would regret it forever.
Besides, meeting with her didn't necessarily mean Sydney would leave Los Angeles with her. Maybe Irina had something important to tell her, but Sydney had been too distraught at their first meeting to understand it.
Without consciously realizing it, Sydney decided she would go. But she still had to figure out when. The answer wasn't in the message itself, so she looked to the sender name and grinned in triumph. "Tudy1800," it said. The 1800 was military time, meaning 6 p.m.
The clock above the computer said 5 p.m., so she had an hour to get there. Not much time, especially considering she had to figure out how to lose her government tails, but at least Danny shouldn't be home before then with his nagging questions. She said a silent thanks for small blessings and went about making her preparations.
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