I just want to thank everyone for their awesome reviews. They keep me, as a writer going. If you haven't left a review, I forgive you. Please leave one with this chapter. I know you want too…
This chapter is where things get confusing. If you haven't figured it out yet, Mary Waters is Sydney Bristow, and Travis Armstrong is Michael Vaughn. There are times where I will switch from Mary to Sydney, depending on the conversation, or what is going on. Or I might make Travis turn into Vaughn. I try to make it obvious when they change. Anyway, I hope it's not too, too confusing for you.
I revised chapter four, and added something that will be rather important later on. I suggest that you go back and read chapter four again, even if it is just the flashback. I'll remind you to read the change again, later, but now is as good as a time as ever.
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"What subject do you teach?" Travis asked, as he and Mary walked to the car from the restaurant. Travis had taken her to his favorite restaurant in all of New York. It was a quiet little place that the tourists seemed to often neglect because it was so small. But Travis knew the owner, and loved it there. The chilly spring air blew quietly through Mary's hair, blowing the blonde strands across her face. The air was thick with the sent of rain, and the stars were blanketed by a thick veil of clouds.
"High school English." Mary answered.
"Brave." He joked. "My junior English class was just horrible. We were always rowdy at the end of the day."
"The last two classes are actually senior level English. So they are a little more mature." They walked on. "That restaurant was so amazing."
Travis chuckled. "One day, I'll have to take you to my favorite restaurant in France."
"You've been to France?" Mary's eyebrow rose. She knew he had been to France. She had been as well. She had even tasted the food he was talking about. No- she had to remind herself. She had never been to France. She had never eaten at that restaurant. Sydney had.
"I did a semester abroad in college." Travis knew that was a lie. He hadn't just spent a semester in France; he had spent three years after his father- no wait, Travis' father still lived, when Michael's father died.
"I would have loved to travel the world. I heard that Taipei is a nice place." She said, a smile escaping her slim lips.
"I've heard that too." Travis agreed, he put his arm around Mary, and pulled her close. She blushed, and leaned into him. The warmth of his embrace, that she had missed for so long, felt so right.
"I love you Vaughn." Mary quietly whispered.
"I love you more Sydney." Travis said. He leaned over and gently allowed his lips to brush hers. As the two approached the car, they both noticed a little pink slip on the windshield. "Great, a ticket." Travis complained.
Mary chuckled, "I told you we couldn't park here."
"I didn't think that dinner would take more than two hours." He whined. He lowered his voice. "It never took more than an hour and a half in LA." He commented.
Mary kept her voice low. "We always had dinner cooked, to make it quicker, in case we needed to have a fast getaway."
"I'll pay this later. Come on, the next part of this date is closing soon, and we need to get there, and through before then." He said, as the two stepped into the car. There was a comfortable silence between the two.
"When did they catch you Vaughn?" Mary said, slipping into Sydney.
With the mention of Vaughn, Travis no longer had red hair, and blue eyes, but brown, with vivid green. And he was no longer Travis, but Michael. "A year after you. Something pulled me to the warehouse everyday. I was tagged, because they saw us at that restaurant together. It took them a year, to find out who I was. They got Donavan when I was walking him. He's only dead because they missed me. Everyone agreed it wasn't safe. The things I was worried about earlier was gone. I had no idea where, or who you were, I didn't have to worry about Donavan, considering that he was sacrificed, and my mother was on her way out, lung cancer. Weiss told me she died shortly after I 'died.' And Eric, and just about everyone else was telling me to hide. I did, hoping that when it was all over, I could just look once more in your eyes. So the next day, I marched up to Devlin and asked for a new me. I was given the standard bag, file, and keys to a bookshop that someone who just died-lived most of his life in the witness protection program and died as a stranger to his own mother- for a living. I still do little things here and there for the CIA, but I miss the action." He said.
Sydney put her hand gently on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry Vaughn."
"It's not so bad when I have my girl sitting next to me again." He smiled over at Sydney. "You have no idea how much I missed you."
"I have a pretty good idea."
"We're here." Sydney had been watching Vaughn that she wasn't looking where they were going. She looked out her window.
"The art museum? How did you know that I liked art so much?"
Travis gave a sly grin, "You seemed like that kind of girl, with your pretty eyes, and how you like Shakespeare."
"You have an entire wall full of my favorite books."
He lowered his voice. "I nicknamed that wall 'Sydney's Wall.' I know you love those books." He admitted. Mary was thankful that it was dark; she blushed furiously.
"Looks closed." She commented.
"I thought they closed later on Saturdays." Vaughn undid his seatbelt, and opened his door. It was as if Sydney and Vaughn left with the open door. Mary and Travis remained. "Shall we go and see Mary?" Travis said, taking her hand after he opened her door.
"Yes." They walked up to the door. The lights were out, and the doors locked.
"Closed for fundraiser." Travis read. "And instructions for how to get in, if we are part of the fundraiser.
"See, the Met is closed." She teased.
"What do you say we sneak in?"
"Sneak in?"
"Yeah sure."
"I'm not dressed for a fancy party."
"And how would you know Miss Mary?"
"What you have another idea how to get in?"
"I sure do. I watch a lot of those spy movies. I'll use the handy dandy lazer that is disguised as this pen," Travis pulled a pen out of his pocket and clicked it, revealing a real pen. Mary laughed. "Sorry this pen," Travis pulled another pen, but didn't click it, but they both knew that it was a pen "and I will cut through the glass, and we can waltz in look at the art, and leave."
At this point Mary was howling with laughter. "You remind me so much of Marshal." She slipped. "A friend from College." She stuttered, trying to recover her slip. "He could make me laugh like that."
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know. We lost touch after college." At this point Mary was making stories up. She and Travis both knew Marshal, and they both knew that he was still working, safe and sound, so to speak. "I think he met some guy, and they're living together on the west coast." She said. Travis raised his eyebrow. He hadn't heard that Marshal was gay, but then, he wouldn't know. Subtly, like an old spy, she shook her head, and indicated to the security camera watching their every move. She put her back towards them. "If we're ever suspected of a crime, they can lip read." She quietly whispered. "Marshal had to do it once."
Travis looked up at the sky. "It's going to rain soon." He announced, as the looming thunder boomed in the distance.
"I like the rain." She whispered. Travis picked up Mary's chin, and gently kissed her.
***Flashback***
"I got the folder Vaughn, I'll meet you at the rendezvous point." Sydney in a hushed voice. Quietly, she opened the door, and looked both ways for the guards, only to find it empty. She breathed a quick sigh of relief, as she calmly walked down the hall.
"They found the van. I'm on the run." Vaughn's panicked voice rang. She could hear his foot steps run around on the dew stained grass.
Sydney's heart stopped. "Where are you?"
"On the east lawn."
"I'll meet you there." Sydney took off running. Her heavy footsteps did not go unnoticed by the guards. She didn't hear him approach. But at the sound of the first gun, she ran towards a door. She quickly got into it, and braced herself against it. The doorknob slowly turned as the guard tried to inconspicuously open the door. She pushed the door open, smashing the guard between the door and the wall. He hit the wall with a bang, and fell to the ground unconscious. Sydney took his keys, and gun and ran down the stairs. She took the car with pictures of himself and his family on the dash board as his, and jumped in. She raced out of the parking lot towards the east lawn. She saw Vaughn dodging bullets, as he took off running. Sydney got out the stolen gun, and shot one of the three guards in the leg. He fell to the ground in pain. After noticing how poorly trained the one guard she already took out was, she was sure that one or both of the remaining guards would stop to tend to his fallen friend. She was right. The slower one stopped, turned around and ran to his wounded comrade. The remaining one, began to shoot at the tires, but never made it. Sydney was able to toss Vaughn the gun as she got closer, and he stopped running to aim at the remaining guard's leg. He fell. The uninjured guard ran over to his other bud, as Sydney and Vaughn drove away. They reached the end of the lawn, and stretched out in front of them was a thick forest.
"They were calling for backup. Tire tracks can be traced." Vaughn said. He and Sydney both knew what they needed to do. They jumped out of the back window, broken by the stray bullets, and took off running into the woods. They ran until the voices became a distant memory. They silently sat, on a high branch on one of the large trees, huddled, to avoid diction. Below them, a search was carried out. There came a large crash, and a brilliant flash.
"Thunderstorm." Vaughn mouthed, as the large roll of thunder quickly followed. Heavy droplets fell, echoing on the leaves. The guards called off the search, as the incompetents ran for cover. The two climbed slowly out of the tree. "I think the end of the woods is that way." Vaughn said, pointing towards the far east.
"Ok." The two ran through the trees to where they could call for a lift. They found a clearing large enough for a chopper to land. Vaughn quietly radioed for the chopper, as he and Sydney sat in the middle of this clearing.
"They'll be here soon." Vaughn said, taking a seat a safe distance from Sydney. He didn't trust himself around her. Not when her wet clothing clung to her skin, showing off every curve, and her hair lay limp as if she had just gotten out of the shower. The night was brutal. Sydney moved to the edge of the clearing, leaning against a tree for more shelter. But Vaughn could see that she still shivered in the rain. He moved closer to her, and put his arms around her to keep her warm. She looked up at him, her thanks in her eyes. He looked into her soft brown eyes, and brought his lips close to hers. She gave a small smile, as she did the same. When their lips met, a spark of electricity rose between them. "Screw protocol." He whispered as the two separated from their first kiss. Sydney could only smile.
***End Flashback***
"I like the rain too." Travis agreed, as he remembered Vaughn's and Sydney's first magical kiss. The two sat, leaning against the building until the rain came down. They sat, watching the sidewalks wet, and the trees moisten. "You ready to go?" Vaughn asked.
"Yeah." The two slowly stood up, and walked back to the car, the rain rolling slowly off their skin.
They got to the dry car, and passionately kissed, before Travis drove Mary back to her hotel. In the elevator, Travis looked at Mary. He got close, and lowered his voice, changing to Vaughn.
"I'm getting intel." Vaughn plainly said. Mary looked at him. Through the blue contacts, Vaughn could see the brown eyes of Sydney emerge.
"What kind?" Sydney asked.
"The good kind?"
"We're running out of floors. Are you planning on telling me?"
"Efforts have doubled to get rid of the Alliance."
"That doesn't tell me much. When I joined, efforts tripled. Doubled isn't a lot."
"Eric sent me an estimate."
"How long?"
"A year."
"They said that three years ago."
"This time he means it."
"I just want to be Sydney again." They reached Mary's floor.
Stopping outside the door, Mary leaned over and passionately kissed Travis. "Soon." He whispered. Mary smiled, and went inside the room.
"Good night Travis." She said before shutting the door.
"Night Mary." She smiled one last time, before shutting the door. Kelsey was laying on the bed pretending not to notice her friend coming back.
"How was it?" Kelsey, unconvincingly dully asked.
"Good." Mary paused. "Really good."
"That's nice." Kelsey turned a page in the magazine. She suddenly bolted up. "Tell me everything." She demanded.
"I was waiting to see how long you would last." Mary teased.
"I was really trying."
"45 seconds, not bad."
"What did you do? Where'd he take you? Is he as nice as he seemed? After that kiss you guys shared outside just now, you're going to see him again, right?" Mary looked over at her best friend. "Ok, so I was watching. I ordered some more pillows, heard something outside the door, and saw you kissing him." Kelsey admitted.
"You didn't order more pillows." Mary said. There was a knock on their door.
"Housekeeping." A voice replied.
"What were you saying?" Kelsey teased, her face smug. She went up to get the pillows, and threw all three of them onto her bed. "You want one?" She offered. Mary shook her head no.
Mary changed into her pajamas, sat cross-legged on the bed opposite to her friend, "Everything."
"Do not leave out any detail."
Mary smiled, and began to tell her tale from the night, leaving out details. Kelsey didn't have to know, she couldn't know, about when Sydney came out.
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