Title: Chat
Author: Jenn
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: How Does It Feel?
Dedications: Emily, Charley/47, tessa, Christina
Lyrics and Suggested Soundtrack: How Does it Feel?- Radford
Languages: French and mebbe a lil' German but you won't need a translator… I'll be nice this time and I'm really really sorry if I butcher the languages or render them completely lakvjrnvlskergbslkjdfbg~
Archived: FanFiction, SD-1, AllAlias, CoverMe
Distribution: sure… just let me know so I can check in once in awhile

23.

How Does It Feel?

"Ah. I was wondering if you would come. But now that I know, I'm afraid that you won't be leaving."

She freezes at the sound of the lilting German accent, her blood coming to a sudden stop in her veins. She knows inside of her what is happening. Who it's happening to. But she refuses to believe it, somehow manages to fumble the combination open perfectly, somehow manages to stick her trembling hands into the vault without touching the lasers, somehow manages to pull the SSG out completely intact despite the way her eyes are burning.

People say that in times of shock, when your world is turned upside down and nothing makes sense anymore because there is nothing else except for the one blaring truth, everything goes slowly. That the seconds themselves trickle past in a slow descent to fact. To actuality.

That's not true.

She doesn't know where the time went, doesn't understand how now she's running in the corridor, slinking down the walls, staying out of the camera's eyes like nobody's business when she can't even think.

vaughnvaughnvaughnvaughnvaughnvaughn

The voice comes crackling over the comm. link like a cracked record. "Who do you work for?"

The response is immediate. "French mafia," and then in hushed quiet tones, "Faites-confiance moi. Allez-vous en." Trust me. Go. She hears his urgency, knows it in her bones that the last part of that sentence was directed towards her.

She knows that he wants her to leave without him, to save herself.

But she also knows that he doesn't think she actually will.

"Mit wem sprichst du?" Who are you talking to?

There's only silence crackling through the comm. She speaks, her voice quiet. "You know that I'm not going to leave you, Vaughn."

Feelings I need, they don't matter
You're just a breath away from me

"S'il vous plait. Allez. Allez-vous." Please. Go. Go.

There's a muffled cry as his voice gets distant and the angry voice comes blaring in her ear. "I have your partner."

The scene that we play doesn't change things
It's still a crime scene we've made
I've got angels crashing over my head
Crying for the things that you said

She gulps, quietly. "Ich weiss." I know.

"Er wird sterben ob du nicht in fünf Minuten hier bist." He will die if you aren't here in five minutes.

So how does it feel...to feel?
So how does it feel...to feel?

She hears his voice in the background. "Don't come here! Do-"


Silence.


And Kendall's voice floods her head like the voice of God. "Agent Bristow, head to extraction point now."

"What?"

I've got angels crashing over my head
They keep crying for the things that you said
Now that you're gone...

She's breathless. "You know I can't do that. I can't leave him here!"

"Agent Bristow, believe that we have other competent agents. We will send out a team as soon as possible but we cannot do that until you are out of the area!"

"No. No, that is not acceptable. We don't know what he wants, what he's going to do. Re-open the channel. I can talk to him, reason with him, get him to see a w-"

"-That's enough. We know what he wants and what he's willing to do to get it back. You have it now. Go to the extraction point."

I've got angels crashing over my head
They keep crying for the things that you said
Now that you're gone...

She bites her lip.

"We don't have surveillance anymore, Sydney. Head to the extraction point."


Her father.


"Dad… dad you know I can't."

"Sydney, listen to me. We don't have time. Kendall's right, what you have in your possession is the top priority right now. We need you back."


And then she's running.


There's no one in the hallways, no one patrolling the area. Her heart aches as her body hits the open air, the cold biting into her senses and numbing her, the icy air whipping across her face, her curled hair coming undone and slapping at her cheeks, her vision blurred by the tears.

The grass yields under her footsteps, the moisture almost tangible through her feet.

vaughnvaughnvaughnvaughnvaughn

She takes a look back and the estate, glowing in the lights that surround the walls, looking at the darkened second floor, visualing Vaughn sitting there, wanting her to be running away. Wanting her to save him. Hating himself for wanting her there.

So how does it feel...to feel?
So how does it feel...to feel?

The car speeds up the street, coming to an abrupt halt in front of her. She opens the door, sees the expectant face of Weiss in the driver's seat. "Get in!"

There's a moment's hesitation before she shakes her head. "No."

She puts the wrapped parcel under the passenger seat. "Tell my dad I'm sorry," she manages to say before she turns around and starts running back.

The response she gets is distant. "Tell him yourself, I'd like to keep my genitals thank you very much!"

She'd smile under different circumstances.

Turns her comm. back on. "Dad?"

"Sydney… where the hell are you?"

"Weiss has the SSG."

"He's supposed to have you too."

"We can't get have everything we want."


"Sydney, you can't get everything you want."

Her eyes narrow, confusion still raging throughout her body. "Vaughn, I'm not asking for everything I want. I'm just asking for you."

There's a flash of something she can't quite define in his eyes. "Sydney… ask me for anything else and I'll give it to you," his eyes beg and plead with her. "Anything."

"What happened in that hallway Vaughn?" Her voice is rising in intensity if not volume. The shadows of the warehouse have now become oppressive. "What happened that made you leave and come back a shadow of the person I knew before? What did they say to you? And how was it powerful enough to change you so much?"

Tears are threatening to fall.

"Sydney… you need to be in Cairo in less that 42 hours. We need to go over your counter mission."

Her jaw clenches as she steps forward, pushing him against the wall with her hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes. "Vaughn, look at me."

His gaze lifts to her forehead and down to her chin before settling in her nose.

"Tell me you don't have any feelings for me."

"Syd…"

"Tell me."

Resignedly he looks up, sadness in his eyes. "I don't have feelings for you."

She watches his eyes, looks at the emotions behind them and how fast he's blinking.

And her heart aches a little less. "You're lying."

The city we breathe isn't changing
You're just a step away from home

A small smile comes over her features- one of relief that comes from releasing a too-long-held breath. She leans her head on his shoulder, against his neck and breathes out. "God, Vaughn."

She raises her head, an unspoken question in her eyes. "Don't do that to me."

The life that we live doesn't matter
If you don't find yourself leading your own

"Syd…"

But she's still caught up in her relief that he's lying. Doesn't realize that there had to be a reason for this deception.

Lays a kiss on his neck.

I've got angels crashing over my head
They're crying for the things that you said

Her hands come on either side of his face and she lays her lips on his.

It takes a minute for her to realize that he's not kissing back. She take a step backward, looking at him, watching as his hand come up to hers and pull them together and away from his face.

So how does it feel?
To feel?

"Agent Bristow. We need to go over the counter mission."

She shakes the memory out of her head, forces it to slip out of her conscious before she turns around for the car again.

She reaches the outer wall, scales over it with little exertion and she's off again.

Running.

'Cause I don't wanna come down
I know it's almost too late
Don't you wanna give in
This time, it's okay

All the hallways look ominous and dark.

There are no guards.

And she realizes that it must be because they're all waiting for her.

There's a hand over her mouth as she comes across the corner and the other arm comes to hold her waist. She feels the adrenaline rush through her body and she moves forward before kicking out hard behind her.

Takes the hand that was on her face and snaps it backwards.

And is out of the hearing distance before she can hear a moan.

Walks calmly through the door as if she was invited.

She looks at the scene, Vaughn on the ground, Jager two feet in front of him with a gun pointed in Vaughn's face.

I've got angels crashing over my head
They keep crying for the things that you said
Now that you're gone...


"Ah. I see you have decided to grace us with your presence."

And then she's off, composure gone as she kicks the gun flying out of his hand. The arms of the guards come over her and she uses the hold to flip over so that she ends up behind them before delivering a sweeping kick that leaves them both on the ground.

She seizes the guns out of their holsters and points them at Jager. "Untie him."

There's a flash in his eyes. "That would be very convenient for you wouldn't it?"

She lifts one of the guns so that it was aiming at a spot just above his head. "I'd really hate to destroy your little get-together, Herr Jager."

"I couldn't care less, Frau Mendel," he says, smiling. "I was wondering when I would get to see for myself who you were. You weren't a familiar name on the guest list you see. And now I'm sure that I would have remembered you had I met you before."

The gun trigger is pulled and there's an explosion ending in a bullet hole in the wall above his head. "Thank God for silencers."

She keeps the guns trained on Jager. "Es-tu blessé?" Are you hurt?

She hears Vaughn's voice on the right side of her. "Non."

There's a smirk growing on Jager's face.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Warum sagst du nicht mir?" Why don't you tell me?


"Sydney!"




And then there's blackness.





CHAT






tbc…
more?