Sorry for the long interval between updates, I've been suffering from a
lack of inspiration. Writer's block - let's hope it's passed.
As always, reviews are welcome and much appreciated!
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"Are you all right?" I ask casually as Bryce speeds past the tenth car in a row on the highway, his jaw clenched.
"It seems like that's something I should be asking you - what was going on back there?"
I pause before continuing, unsure of how candid I want to be with Bryce, "What do you mean?"
"Come on, Syd, you weren't alone in the bathroom. Did Mike follow you in there?" Bryce looks over at me. "I know it is none of my business, but I don't want to see you hurt -- either of you. He's married now, whether you like it or not, and I can't imagine that being alone with him is a good idea."
'You have no idea,' I say to myself and sigh, rubbing my hand over my face. "Bryce, thank you for your concern, but seriously, I just don't want to talk about it, not right now."
"Fair enough," Bryce offers me a hopeful smile, "So, why do you think we have been called in?"
"I have no idea. It could be anything."
"Don't you think it's strange that you would get called in?"
"I guess so, but maybe it has something to do with me, or Sloane, or my mom."
"Or maybe Kendall doesn't want to let you out of his control, even for the weekend."
"Then there's that. I guess we will just have to wait and see."
I spend the rest of our ride thinking about what had occurred between Vaughn and I in the bathroom, guilt slowly worming its way into my feelings; by the time Bryce has pulled into his parking spot, I can barely keep from holding my head in my hands. No matter how much I want Vaughn, I can't continue to act on my feelings. I can't make Vaughn that man, he's not the type of person who cheats on his wife.
"Syd, are you coming?" Bryce is already standing outside of the car.
"Sorry, I'm just." "Not a problem," Bryce interrupts before I can offer him a half-assed excuse, "You've got a lot on your mind."
I join him outside and we make our way into the building. I recognize a familiar feeling in my stomach, the feeling of anticipation I always get when I come in to be updated on a mission. I'm glad to feel something other than guilt, however fleeting.
Kendall meets us at the door, motioning for us to follow him into the large conference room. "Thanks for coming in on a Friday night, folks."
Bryce gives me a look that clearly says, 'Like we had a choice.'
I roll my eyes and take one of two empty chairs, putting Bryce at my right and Marshall on my left. Vaughn and Melanie are across the table from me and I avoid looking either of them in the eye. Dixon is sitting on the other side of Vaughn with a disappointed-looking Will at his right. Weiss heads up the left end of the table and raises a hand to wave at Bryce and myself. My father is on the other side of Bryce and past him are three men who appear to be new recruits.
"I'm sure you all are wondering what you are doing here," Kendall smirks. "But before I continue, are you with us Agent Bristow?"
Suddenly, all eyes are on me. I return Kendall's ironed-on smile, "Yes, sir."
"All right then, let's cut to the chase." Kendall moves to the front of the room and the image of a rather homely man appears on the screen behind him. "This is Walter Bingham, president of InnoCorp, a high-end IT firm out of Houston. The government uses InnoCorp technology to secure information about so-called top-secret projects in all of its branches. We have reason to believe that Bingham has been siphoning off information about these projects and is prepared to auction it off to the highest bidder. We have been asked to retrieve the information, destroy it and bring Bingham into custody, preferably alive."
"How do we know Bingham hasn't already sold the information?" My dad is the first one to speak up."
"Good question, Jack. Given the nature of what has been stolen from the servers and communications, if that information were already in the wrong hands, let's just say that we would know about it. The United States would be in rather precarious standing with more than one country that we have historically been quite friendly with. At this point I can't share any more information then that with you but I have told you more than enough for you to get the importance of this mission."
"Excuse, Director Kendall," Melanie asks politely from across the table, "Do we know who would be bidding for the information?"
"We have some speculation but only Bingham knows for sure who he has offered the information to. The list of usual suspects can be assumed: Franklin, Scot, Neiman, Romanow," Kendall continues to rattle off a list names completely unfamiliar to me, it appears that the "usual suspects" has seen some changes in the last two years. "And of course Arvin Sloane; we have noticed increased activity coming from his sector."
At Sloane's name my interest has been piqued, I look up and see Vaughn staring intently at me. Our eyes lock for the briefest of moments before Kendall's voice breaks into our interlude. "We will leave in tomorrow morning at seven for Houston. Bingham is scheduled to spend the day judging a beauty contest, we will have an agent there posing as a contestant. Bingham has judged more than a few of these pageants and seems to have a penchant for securing a date for the night with one of the eager young ladies. Agent Bristow, it's going to be your job to make sure you are the woman he attaches himself to for the night. Will that be a problem?"
'Super.' Again, all eyes are on me, "Of course not, sir."
"Good. Agent Vaughn, you will provide back up for Agent Bristow while your wife will take point on information retrieval and destruction. We believe Bingham has secured the stolen intel on a laptop computer in his private office at InnoCorp. Melanie, you will break into InnoCorp with Agents Weiss and Armstrong. Jack, you will run the mission on-site with Ford and Phelps on tech and comms relaying to Marshall here in L.A. Agent Dixon, I am putting you in charge here at headquarters."
Two of the unfamiliar faces at the end of the table nod at hearing Kendall's direction. The third man sits with an expectant look on his face, no doubt hoping to be called into action.
"Carson," agent number three can't conceal his excitement, "You will be giving second back-up to Agents Vaughn and Bristow."
Kendall keeps going to detail each part of our mission. I spend the next thirty minutes trying to focus on what he is saying while avoiding eye contact with Vaughn. Kendall finally calls on Marshall to describe our technology for the mission.
Marshall springs out of his seat and into action, some things never change. "Hey there folks, I know it's been a long week so I will be quick. Sydney, good to have you back in the game, so to speak. We've all seen those beauty contests and know that accessorizing is the key to any winning outfit? Well, I've got just the ticket for you."
Marshall proceeds to pull out a gorgeous set of jewelry and demonstrate how each piece works. The teardrop earrings provide audio and visual, the bracelet is loaded with two tranquilizers and the matching ring contains an antidote to the tranquilizers in case I accidentally shoot myself as Marshall informed us he managed to do a number of times while he was designing the piece. The crowning achievement of his set was an evening purse with a disassembled gun hidden within the lining and the handles.
"Thank you, Marshall," I can't help but laugh as he finishes his demonstration with a bow.
"No problem, it's my job," Marshall grins, turning his attention to the rest of the room. "There's nothing special for the rest of you, just the normal guns and comms. Agent Edwards, I mean, Agent Vaughn, I have a memory encryption and deletion program for you to run on Bingham's computer as well as a self-contained explosion chamber, I'll show you how to use it after the meeting. It's still in my office, I'm working out a few kinks with it."
"I'm not going to blow myself up, am I?" Melanie asks with mock concern, her voice clearly communicating that if anything goes wrong she is coming back gunning for Marshall.
"N-n-n-no, it's not one of THOSE kind of kinks; I'm just waiting for the cleaning service decal to adhere to the outside of the case. I designed it myself. It has foot coming down on a dustball with the tagline."
"That's all for now," Kendall stops him before he can really get going. "Does anyone have any questions?"
Will who now looks more pissed off than disappointed, clears his throat, "Can I ask why you called me here, sir -- you haven't given me anything to do on this op."
"Yes, Agent Tippin, you will get to undertake the formidable task of analyzing the information we gather from Bingham's home and work computers as well as InnoCorp's client server to uncover possible leads and indicators as to who might want the information and to see if Bingham is working alone. To avoid having to explain the situation to you tomorrow I decided to call you in tonight."
"Thank you, sir, explaining it twice definitely would have been an inconvenience to you," Will pastes a smile on his face, inwardly I know he is probably steaming from having left his date with Marie. Bryce and I exchange knowing looks.
"All right, thanks everyone for coming in. Go home and get a good night's sleep, I'll see you tomorrow morning at the air strip at seven o'clock sharp. Tippin, you don't have to be to the office until noon." Kendall picks his notebook up and strides out of the room ahead of the rest of us.
I catch Will's eye and offer him a smile, he shrugs and rises from his chair. Coming to my side of the table he leans down and whispers in my ear, "I guess I'll see you when you get back, Marie gave me a key to her apartment so it looks like I am heading over there tonight - don't wait up."
I stand and give him a playful punch in the shoulder, "And here I was feeling sorry for you for having to break out of your date with Marie. Whatever, Tippin, I won't let that happen again."
"Come on, Syd, have a little pity on me -- at least you are leaving town, I'm stuck at the office for the weekend," Will juts his lower lip out.
"I'll be sure to send you a postcard, I might even have time to pick you up a souvenir," I laugh, happy to banter with Will instead of brood over Vaughn.
"Sometimes it is such a curse having to use my quick mind instead of brute strength to win my battles. Of course, you have both so you wouldn't know what it's like to have to rely on one or the other. It's good to have you back, Syd, I'm glad you decided to stay with us."
"What else was I going to do? It's sort of hard to explain a two-year gap on your resume." I switch to interviewing voice, "Oh, well, I've been missing for the past two years and just recently turned up in an alley in Hong Kong and the government thought I might have been a triple agent. So, what sort of benefit plan do you offer?"
"Regardless, I can't imagine you doing anything else, you are destined to bring down the bad guys, whoever they are. I'll see you later," Will gives me a quick hug before exiting the room.
While Will and I were talking everyone else has filtered out, but Vaughn and myself.
I busy myself gathering my new jewels and packing them into my handy purse. Vaughn's hand comes down on top of mine as I reach for the earrings.
"Sydney, there's something you should know."
"Stop, Vaughn," I pull my hand out from under his, stuffing the earrings into the handbag. "Whatever you have to say doesn't matter. Unless it has to do with the mission, I don't want to hear it. What happened between us tonight was a mistake, it shouldn't have happened and I am going to make sure it doesn't happen again. Do I need to remind you that you are married? I may not like her much, but Melanie is your wife and deserves your fidelity and respect. I will not let you be the kind of man who cheats on his wife; no matter what our feelings are for each other we would both end up feeling far too guilty and it would ruin what we had. So whatever you have to say, Vaughn, just keep it to yourself, for both of our sakes."
Before Vaughn can respond I am out the door, swallowing the tears that are threatening to fall. I see Bryce look up as I exit the room and I make may way over to him. "Are you ready to go?"
"Sure, Syd, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, I just had to clear the air. Let's get out of here."
Bryce and I are leaving the JTF as Melanie is walking back in carrying Marshall's self-contained explosion chamber, complete with newly-affixed bright green decal. I can't help but look back and instantly regret doing so as I watch her walk up to Vaughn and give him a brief kiss on the lips.
* * *
Bryce and I ride home in silence, keeping whatever thoughts we have about the mission to ourselves. We have to leave by 6:15 to make it to the airstrip in time so we both head off to our rooms once we are back at Will's place.
After putting on sweatpants and long-sleeved tee shirt I go in search of the bathroom down the hall, hoping there will be a toothbrush waiting there for me. Bryce meets me in the hallway, carrying two toothbrushes, one red and one blue, and a tube of toothpaste.
"Looking for these? I thought you might need one, I didn't figure you brought the one from your jail cell."
I laugh, taking the red toothbrush from his extended hand, "What would I do without you?"
"Probably lead a very happy life," Bryce flips on the light in the bathroom, indicating that we share the sink. "You know, since you decided to stay with the CIA I technically don't have to be here."
"Whatever, you're too attached to me already. Besides, I'm pretty sure Kendall would still want to make sure I was 'protected'."
Bryce rolls his eyes as he spreads toothpaste our toothbrushes, "Okay, I'll stay, just don't spit in my hair like you see happening in sitcoms, I do not find spit in my ear funny."
I smile wickedly at him as I run the toothbrush back and forth over my teeth. And though I am tempted, we have an accident free tooth brushing episode.
"So, are you worried about working with Mike tomorrow?" Bryce asks, trying to sound as casual as possible.
In the midst of dealing with my guilt about possibly breaking up a marriage and trying to concentrate on what was expected of me with incapacitating Bingham I have managed to avoid thinking about that aspect of the mission. "I don't know, I guess I was too preoccupied with hoping I remember how to do everything right tomorrow. I mean, it isn't the optimal situation to say the least, but we are professionals and I am sure we can act that way tomorrow and get our jobs done."
"Well, that certainly sounds like the right attitude to have and if I didn't know better, I'd be sure it would work wonderfully."
"What makes you think it won't?"
"Experience, I tried working with someone who I loved and who I was no longer with and it didn't turn out well. That's why I am here instead of the East Coast which is where my family and friends still live."
"I'm sorry, Bryce, I obviously didn't know. But forgive me for saying this, we are different people and for right now this is the only solution there is. I'm not moving and I can't ask Vaughn to move. Despite my personal history with anyone, I have always had one objective, to get rid of Sloane and the CIA is my only means of doing that for right now. But thank you for telling me, I will be careful, I promise you."
"All right, enough lecturing from me, you can take care of yourself. Just remember, I know what you are going through if you want to talk to someone, well, I'm here." Bryce shakes his head back and forth, aware of how corny he sounds, "It's just that sometimes it is easier to talk to someone who is not so involved with your situation, that's how come Will, Mike, Eric and I became such good friends after I moved here. Of course now that I say that, I guess I am rather involved, so feel free not to tell me anything."
I can't help but smile and I am glad to note that I am not offended by Bryce's concern for Vaughn and I. It's good to know that I haven't lost my trust in human beings. "Okay, we had better get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."
"Good night, Sydney."
I head back down the hall to my room, leaving Bryce alone in the bathroom. As I enter my room I can hear him sighing, no doubt frustrated with my stoicism.
* * *
Thanks for reading, sorry to give you no action, but it is coming and hopefully all before next Sunday. I hate to say it, but I hate writing the mission stuff, it's much harder than the human relationship aspect so please ignore any elementary or just plain wrong terminology, I may get the show but it doesn't mean I can replicate that aspect of it :)
Please review, I've missed you all!
As always, reviews are welcome and much appreciated!
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"Are you all right?" I ask casually as Bryce speeds past the tenth car in a row on the highway, his jaw clenched.
"It seems like that's something I should be asking you - what was going on back there?"
I pause before continuing, unsure of how candid I want to be with Bryce, "What do you mean?"
"Come on, Syd, you weren't alone in the bathroom. Did Mike follow you in there?" Bryce looks over at me. "I know it is none of my business, but I don't want to see you hurt -- either of you. He's married now, whether you like it or not, and I can't imagine that being alone with him is a good idea."
'You have no idea,' I say to myself and sigh, rubbing my hand over my face. "Bryce, thank you for your concern, but seriously, I just don't want to talk about it, not right now."
"Fair enough," Bryce offers me a hopeful smile, "So, why do you think we have been called in?"
"I have no idea. It could be anything."
"Don't you think it's strange that you would get called in?"
"I guess so, but maybe it has something to do with me, or Sloane, or my mom."
"Or maybe Kendall doesn't want to let you out of his control, even for the weekend."
"Then there's that. I guess we will just have to wait and see."
I spend the rest of our ride thinking about what had occurred between Vaughn and I in the bathroom, guilt slowly worming its way into my feelings; by the time Bryce has pulled into his parking spot, I can barely keep from holding my head in my hands. No matter how much I want Vaughn, I can't continue to act on my feelings. I can't make Vaughn that man, he's not the type of person who cheats on his wife.
"Syd, are you coming?" Bryce is already standing outside of the car.
"Sorry, I'm just." "Not a problem," Bryce interrupts before I can offer him a half-assed excuse, "You've got a lot on your mind."
I join him outside and we make our way into the building. I recognize a familiar feeling in my stomach, the feeling of anticipation I always get when I come in to be updated on a mission. I'm glad to feel something other than guilt, however fleeting.
Kendall meets us at the door, motioning for us to follow him into the large conference room. "Thanks for coming in on a Friday night, folks."
Bryce gives me a look that clearly says, 'Like we had a choice.'
I roll my eyes and take one of two empty chairs, putting Bryce at my right and Marshall on my left. Vaughn and Melanie are across the table from me and I avoid looking either of them in the eye. Dixon is sitting on the other side of Vaughn with a disappointed-looking Will at his right. Weiss heads up the left end of the table and raises a hand to wave at Bryce and myself. My father is on the other side of Bryce and past him are three men who appear to be new recruits.
"I'm sure you all are wondering what you are doing here," Kendall smirks. "But before I continue, are you with us Agent Bristow?"
Suddenly, all eyes are on me. I return Kendall's ironed-on smile, "Yes, sir."
"All right then, let's cut to the chase." Kendall moves to the front of the room and the image of a rather homely man appears on the screen behind him. "This is Walter Bingham, president of InnoCorp, a high-end IT firm out of Houston. The government uses InnoCorp technology to secure information about so-called top-secret projects in all of its branches. We have reason to believe that Bingham has been siphoning off information about these projects and is prepared to auction it off to the highest bidder. We have been asked to retrieve the information, destroy it and bring Bingham into custody, preferably alive."
"How do we know Bingham hasn't already sold the information?" My dad is the first one to speak up."
"Good question, Jack. Given the nature of what has been stolen from the servers and communications, if that information were already in the wrong hands, let's just say that we would know about it. The United States would be in rather precarious standing with more than one country that we have historically been quite friendly with. At this point I can't share any more information then that with you but I have told you more than enough for you to get the importance of this mission."
"Excuse, Director Kendall," Melanie asks politely from across the table, "Do we know who would be bidding for the information?"
"We have some speculation but only Bingham knows for sure who he has offered the information to. The list of usual suspects can be assumed: Franklin, Scot, Neiman, Romanow," Kendall continues to rattle off a list names completely unfamiliar to me, it appears that the "usual suspects" has seen some changes in the last two years. "And of course Arvin Sloane; we have noticed increased activity coming from his sector."
At Sloane's name my interest has been piqued, I look up and see Vaughn staring intently at me. Our eyes lock for the briefest of moments before Kendall's voice breaks into our interlude. "We will leave in tomorrow morning at seven for Houston. Bingham is scheduled to spend the day judging a beauty contest, we will have an agent there posing as a contestant. Bingham has judged more than a few of these pageants and seems to have a penchant for securing a date for the night with one of the eager young ladies. Agent Bristow, it's going to be your job to make sure you are the woman he attaches himself to for the night. Will that be a problem?"
'Super.' Again, all eyes are on me, "Of course not, sir."
"Good. Agent Vaughn, you will provide back up for Agent Bristow while your wife will take point on information retrieval and destruction. We believe Bingham has secured the stolen intel on a laptop computer in his private office at InnoCorp. Melanie, you will break into InnoCorp with Agents Weiss and Armstrong. Jack, you will run the mission on-site with Ford and Phelps on tech and comms relaying to Marshall here in L.A. Agent Dixon, I am putting you in charge here at headquarters."
Two of the unfamiliar faces at the end of the table nod at hearing Kendall's direction. The third man sits with an expectant look on his face, no doubt hoping to be called into action.
"Carson," agent number three can't conceal his excitement, "You will be giving second back-up to Agents Vaughn and Bristow."
Kendall keeps going to detail each part of our mission. I spend the next thirty minutes trying to focus on what he is saying while avoiding eye contact with Vaughn. Kendall finally calls on Marshall to describe our technology for the mission.
Marshall springs out of his seat and into action, some things never change. "Hey there folks, I know it's been a long week so I will be quick. Sydney, good to have you back in the game, so to speak. We've all seen those beauty contests and know that accessorizing is the key to any winning outfit? Well, I've got just the ticket for you."
Marshall proceeds to pull out a gorgeous set of jewelry and demonstrate how each piece works. The teardrop earrings provide audio and visual, the bracelet is loaded with two tranquilizers and the matching ring contains an antidote to the tranquilizers in case I accidentally shoot myself as Marshall informed us he managed to do a number of times while he was designing the piece. The crowning achievement of his set was an evening purse with a disassembled gun hidden within the lining and the handles.
"Thank you, Marshall," I can't help but laugh as he finishes his demonstration with a bow.
"No problem, it's my job," Marshall grins, turning his attention to the rest of the room. "There's nothing special for the rest of you, just the normal guns and comms. Agent Edwards, I mean, Agent Vaughn, I have a memory encryption and deletion program for you to run on Bingham's computer as well as a self-contained explosion chamber, I'll show you how to use it after the meeting. It's still in my office, I'm working out a few kinks with it."
"I'm not going to blow myself up, am I?" Melanie asks with mock concern, her voice clearly communicating that if anything goes wrong she is coming back gunning for Marshall.
"N-n-n-no, it's not one of THOSE kind of kinks; I'm just waiting for the cleaning service decal to adhere to the outside of the case. I designed it myself. It has foot coming down on a dustball with the tagline."
"That's all for now," Kendall stops him before he can really get going. "Does anyone have any questions?"
Will who now looks more pissed off than disappointed, clears his throat, "Can I ask why you called me here, sir -- you haven't given me anything to do on this op."
"Yes, Agent Tippin, you will get to undertake the formidable task of analyzing the information we gather from Bingham's home and work computers as well as InnoCorp's client server to uncover possible leads and indicators as to who might want the information and to see if Bingham is working alone. To avoid having to explain the situation to you tomorrow I decided to call you in tonight."
"Thank you, sir, explaining it twice definitely would have been an inconvenience to you," Will pastes a smile on his face, inwardly I know he is probably steaming from having left his date with Marie. Bryce and I exchange knowing looks.
"All right, thanks everyone for coming in. Go home and get a good night's sleep, I'll see you tomorrow morning at the air strip at seven o'clock sharp. Tippin, you don't have to be to the office until noon." Kendall picks his notebook up and strides out of the room ahead of the rest of us.
I catch Will's eye and offer him a smile, he shrugs and rises from his chair. Coming to my side of the table he leans down and whispers in my ear, "I guess I'll see you when you get back, Marie gave me a key to her apartment so it looks like I am heading over there tonight - don't wait up."
I stand and give him a playful punch in the shoulder, "And here I was feeling sorry for you for having to break out of your date with Marie. Whatever, Tippin, I won't let that happen again."
"Come on, Syd, have a little pity on me -- at least you are leaving town, I'm stuck at the office for the weekend," Will juts his lower lip out.
"I'll be sure to send you a postcard, I might even have time to pick you up a souvenir," I laugh, happy to banter with Will instead of brood over Vaughn.
"Sometimes it is such a curse having to use my quick mind instead of brute strength to win my battles. Of course, you have both so you wouldn't know what it's like to have to rely on one or the other. It's good to have you back, Syd, I'm glad you decided to stay with us."
"What else was I going to do? It's sort of hard to explain a two-year gap on your resume." I switch to interviewing voice, "Oh, well, I've been missing for the past two years and just recently turned up in an alley in Hong Kong and the government thought I might have been a triple agent. So, what sort of benefit plan do you offer?"
"Regardless, I can't imagine you doing anything else, you are destined to bring down the bad guys, whoever they are. I'll see you later," Will gives me a quick hug before exiting the room.
While Will and I were talking everyone else has filtered out, but Vaughn and myself.
I busy myself gathering my new jewels and packing them into my handy purse. Vaughn's hand comes down on top of mine as I reach for the earrings.
"Sydney, there's something you should know."
"Stop, Vaughn," I pull my hand out from under his, stuffing the earrings into the handbag. "Whatever you have to say doesn't matter. Unless it has to do with the mission, I don't want to hear it. What happened between us tonight was a mistake, it shouldn't have happened and I am going to make sure it doesn't happen again. Do I need to remind you that you are married? I may not like her much, but Melanie is your wife and deserves your fidelity and respect. I will not let you be the kind of man who cheats on his wife; no matter what our feelings are for each other we would both end up feeling far too guilty and it would ruin what we had. So whatever you have to say, Vaughn, just keep it to yourself, for both of our sakes."
Before Vaughn can respond I am out the door, swallowing the tears that are threatening to fall. I see Bryce look up as I exit the room and I make may way over to him. "Are you ready to go?"
"Sure, Syd, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, I just had to clear the air. Let's get out of here."
Bryce and I are leaving the JTF as Melanie is walking back in carrying Marshall's self-contained explosion chamber, complete with newly-affixed bright green decal. I can't help but look back and instantly regret doing so as I watch her walk up to Vaughn and give him a brief kiss on the lips.
* * *
Bryce and I ride home in silence, keeping whatever thoughts we have about the mission to ourselves. We have to leave by 6:15 to make it to the airstrip in time so we both head off to our rooms once we are back at Will's place.
After putting on sweatpants and long-sleeved tee shirt I go in search of the bathroom down the hall, hoping there will be a toothbrush waiting there for me. Bryce meets me in the hallway, carrying two toothbrushes, one red and one blue, and a tube of toothpaste.
"Looking for these? I thought you might need one, I didn't figure you brought the one from your jail cell."
I laugh, taking the red toothbrush from his extended hand, "What would I do without you?"
"Probably lead a very happy life," Bryce flips on the light in the bathroom, indicating that we share the sink. "You know, since you decided to stay with the CIA I technically don't have to be here."
"Whatever, you're too attached to me already. Besides, I'm pretty sure Kendall would still want to make sure I was 'protected'."
Bryce rolls his eyes as he spreads toothpaste our toothbrushes, "Okay, I'll stay, just don't spit in my hair like you see happening in sitcoms, I do not find spit in my ear funny."
I smile wickedly at him as I run the toothbrush back and forth over my teeth. And though I am tempted, we have an accident free tooth brushing episode.
"So, are you worried about working with Mike tomorrow?" Bryce asks, trying to sound as casual as possible.
In the midst of dealing with my guilt about possibly breaking up a marriage and trying to concentrate on what was expected of me with incapacitating Bingham I have managed to avoid thinking about that aspect of the mission. "I don't know, I guess I was too preoccupied with hoping I remember how to do everything right tomorrow. I mean, it isn't the optimal situation to say the least, but we are professionals and I am sure we can act that way tomorrow and get our jobs done."
"Well, that certainly sounds like the right attitude to have and if I didn't know better, I'd be sure it would work wonderfully."
"What makes you think it won't?"
"Experience, I tried working with someone who I loved and who I was no longer with and it didn't turn out well. That's why I am here instead of the East Coast which is where my family and friends still live."
"I'm sorry, Bryce, I obviously didn't know. But forgive me for saying this, we are different people and for right now this is the only solution there is. I'm not moving and I can't ask Vaughn to move. Despite my personal history with anyone, I have always had one objective, to get rid of Sloane and the CIA is my only means of doing that for right now. But thank you for telling me, I will be careful, I promise you."
"All right, enough lecturing from me, you can take care of yourself. Just remember, I know what you are going through if you want to talk to someone, well, I'm here." Bryce shakes his head back and forth, aware of how corny he sounds, "It's just that sometimes it is easier to talk to someone who is not so involved with your situation, that's how come Will, Mike, Eric and I became such good friends after I moved here. Of course now that I say that, I guess I am rather involved, so feel free not to tell me anything."
I can't help but smile and I am glad to note that I am not offended by Bryce's concern for Vaughn and I. It's good to know that I haven't lost my trust in human beings. "Okay, we had better get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."
"Good night, Sydney."
I head back down the hall to my room, leaving Bryce alone in the bathroom. As I enter my room I can hear him sighing, no doubt frustrated with my stoicism.
* * *
Thanks for reading, sorry to give you no action, but it is coming and hopefully all before next Sunday. I hate to say it, but I hate writing the mission stuff, it's much harder than the human relationship aspect so please ignore any elementary or just plain wrong terminology, I may get the show but it doesn't mean I can replicate that aspect of it :)
Please review, I've missed you all!