So this is the last chapter for a month. Maybe I'll have a new one up before I leave, but not very likely. Because this chapter, and the next one started out as one chapter, but then I got to typing and discovered that I really had one very long (it would probably push 20 pages) chapter, or two reasonably sized. I opted for the two chapters. So here it is.
Thanks to everyone that took the 10 seconds to leave a note. It makes me so happy.
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"Have a good summer!" Mary called, as her students ran out of the classroom. The last day of school was always bitter sweet. Everyone wanted out of school so badly. The summer was a time of freedom, but there were people, there were friends, that student's knew no matter what was said in year books, that they would never hang out with again, or even see again.
There was one student left in Mary's class, quickly packing up her things. The bell snuck up on her, and her keys were still buried in her backpack, her yearbook still out, and three or four pens were scattered around several desks. After pulling out her keys, and throwing everything else into her backpack, she turned to Mary. "Bye Ms. Waters." The final student said.
"Good luck next year. Tell me how things go Susan."
"I will Ms. Waters." Susan waved goodbye to Mary, and then left, leaving Mary alone in an empty classroom. She looked around at the now bare walls, and the desks arranged, for the second time that year, in nice and tidy rows. A feeling of emptiness overcame her. She got that way every year, after the final bell of the school year, and her classroom was still for the summer. All those years Sydney was at the CIA, she yearned to be at the front of a classroom, molding the minds of students, and to open their eyes to the wonders of literature. And now, Mary was living out that dream, and Sydney had become a repressed memory, coming out only with Travis. She felt natural, with all eyes on her, waiting for her next move. And now that the school year was over, Mary knew that it would have to wait.
This year she decided to break the streak. She wasn't going to teach summer school, as she had for the past six summers she had been Mary Waters. Instead, she was going to be extra help at a small New York bookstore. "It is an odd feeling, shutting the door for three months." Gretchen commented, as she walked into Mary's classroom. "And I've only been teaching three years."
"I have been teaching for seven, and it always feels empty."
"A group of us are going to get some beers, want to come?"
"I can't. I have to finish packing. I move Sunday, and I have barely begun to pack."
"Come on, just an hour. And then I'll come over and help you pack. Come on, a couple drinks to celebrate the end of the year. You have done this tradition every year. Why stop now."
Mary smiled at the thought. "Ok, one hour, and one drink."
"We're meeting up at the Bleu."
"Alright. I'll meet everyone there. I just have to drop something off at Kelsey's work."
"Bring her along too!"
"Will do. I'll see you later Gretchen."
"See you at the Bleu Mary!" Mary smiled and then drove off to Kelsey's office. She walked into Kelsey's office with the file under her arm. But she didn't enter as Mary Waters. No, she entered as Sydney Bristow.
"Are those the pictures?" Kelsey excitedly asked, shutting the door, and closing the blinds.
"I cannot believe I am going to show you my file."
"You could have told me this kind of stuff."
"And have someone overhear it? Believe me, showing you the basics of this file is a safer way."
"Do I have to look at the whole thing now?"
"Yes. I have to watch it like a hawk. It's always with me."
"That explains the creases." Kelsey looked quietly at the file that Sydney had presented to her. "Did you really go all those places?"
"Those are only the unclassified ones. And the ones that weren't done for someone else."
"And here I was thinking that the most interesting place you had ever been was New York City."
"None of them were for vacation. I risked my life at every single one of those places."
"I'll thank you for that later." Kelsey handed Sydney her file back. "How much of that stuff didn't you show me?"
"About four or five inches of stuff."
"Four or five inches! I saw three pages. What is in the rest?"
"Lets see. The classified information. A lot of mission specs. My statement after joining. And about the last inch is all stuff about me, now." Sydney slid the file into her backpack, and upon doing so transformed into Mary. "Kelsey, what time you off?"
"About now, why?"
"End of year drinks. Want to come?"
"But I'm not a teacher."
"Gretchen said that you could come. Come on. I need someone that will make sure I only have one drink, and that I only stay one hour." Kelsey opened her mouth to ask Mary why Gretchen or someone else couldn't do that for her, but Mary was quicker. "I don't trust Gretchen to watch me. And besides, I need someone to balance out all of the positive stuff. We need someone to brag to about how we don't have to work for three months. I mean we all say that, but you know, we all end up working anyway for the extra money. Please Kelse?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, great! We're meeting at the Bleu."
Mary and Kelsey walked down to the parking lot together. Together, they then marched into the Bleu. It wasn't hard finding their table. Already there were about 20 teachers huddled around a table. They were greeted, and ordered drinks. The over all mood was cheerful, as everyone swapped outrageous stories of the things some of their students did, and their plans for the summer.
Two margaritas (Mary's), and four beers (Kelsey's), the party was beginning to wind down. Many teachers had already begun to head home to tend to their families. "Mary, Mary, Mary. You said one drink, one hour." Kelsey, reminded.
"How many did you have?"
"I dunno. About as many as you."
"No. Because I only had two. You had way more than me. Why am I so drunk then?"
"I dunno. You said one drink, one hour."
"You were supposed to remind me." Mary drunkenly said.
"I tried to remind you Mary. But you just kept ordering." Gretchen said. "Come, on, I'll take you home."
"No, no, no, no." Mary protested. "Call Vaughn. He'll come rescue me. He always has."
"Who is Vaughn? What happened to Travis? I mean you guys are moving in together this Sunday."
"Hey look at this!" Mary picked up a spoon, and balanced it carefully on her nose.
"Wow that is so cool!" Kelsey marveled.
"Mary, who is Vaughn?" Gretchen pushed, hoping to aid her drunken friend.
"My boyfriend silly."
"Look at this! Look at this!" Kelsey said, modeling Mary's balancing act.
"Travis. Your boyfriend's name is Travis."
"Yeah. That's what I said."
"Is Travis's number in your cell phone?"
"Maybe. Hey, do you think the bartender will let me get another beer?"
"I hope not. Is your phone in your purse?"
"Ya." Mary then looked down at the table. "Oh. No its not." She picked up her phone, and threw it at Gretchen, not even bothering to aim very well.
"Mary. That hurt."
"I have been shot more times than you can count. That was nothing. You try having your own mother put a bullet through your arm, just because you were tied to metal chair, and your hair was blue. And then I had to escape, and save Vaughn from death. And all with a bullet in my shoulder. That is pain."
"What?" Gretchen asked, as she casually flipped through Mary's phone book looking for a Vaughn, who she didn't know, or Travis.
"What?" Mary asked.
"You better shut up Mary. You're talking crazy now." Kelsey added. "How many spoons do you think I can get on the end of my nose?"
"I have no idea."
"Mary, I couldn't find this Vaughn guy. I'm going to call Travis."
"Why would you call Vaughn? I'm dating Travis now. I haven't dated Vaughn since I moved to Greenwich. Did you know that me and Travis are moving in together Sunday."
Gretchen let out a scream of confusion as the phone rang. "Hello?" Travis answered.
"Hello, is this Travis?"
"Yeah."
"Hi. This is Gretchen, you know, Mary's friend. We met when you came to school last time."
"Oh yeah. Hi. What can I do for you?"
"I am calling because of Mary."
"Is she ok? She's not hurt or anything is she?" Travis panicked.
"No, not hurt. Just drunk. She asked me to call-" Gretchen paused, unsure of what to say next. Mary had asked for Vaughn, not Travis. But Gretchen couldn't find a Vaughn, so Travis was the opted choice. But would Mary get mad at her if she told Travis she asked for Vaughn? Would Travis get jealous? She decided not to mention anything to Travis. "She asked me to call you, instead of me driving her home."
Travis sounded a little annoyed. "Ok, great. I'll be over there in like 30 minutes." He said.
"Ok, thanks."
"Wait a second. Where is there?"
"The Bleu."
"The Bleu. Ok. I'll be there. Don't let her have any more drinks. How many did she have anyway?"
"Only two margaritas."
"How drunk is she?"
"Like a college kid coming home from a kegger."
"And only two margaritas? How is that possible?"
"I don't know. It's really scary."
"I will be there. Bye."
"Bye." Gretchen slid Mary's phone into Mary's purse. "Mary, Travis is going to be here in a little bit."
"Travis." Mary repeated, as if the words were foreign to her tongue.
Gretchen only sighed, and slid into the seat next to Mary, to 'baby-sit' Mary and Kelsey. She watched in amusement as Mary put a spoon on her nose, and a full beer on her head, stood up, and walked around.
"What do you guys think?"
"Woah." Kelsey said.
"Talent." Gretchen agreed. "Too bad you can't do that kind of stuff when you're sober." She was getting annoyed with Mary and Kelsey. She had never seen her friends act so stupidly before. It was like she was back in school, teaching her hyper-active sophomores. On the last day of school, it was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to hang out with her friends, when they were drunk. And she was willing to bet good money that they would have preferred to celebrate the summer, and end of the week sober as well.
"Shut up. I can do all this and more when I'm sober. Some body just put something in my drinks." The sun light was hitting her etched glass mug, creating patterns of light on the table. And Mary was spinning her glass, mesmerized by the designs it created.
Kelsey looked over at the bartender. She squinted her eyes, trying to keep him in focus. "I don't think he poisoned you. Why would anyone want to poison you? Especially an aging man, actually. More than aging. Try ancient. He's old enough to be my dad."
"That's not that old." The bartender said, after he approached the table. He collected the empty drinks.
"You look like someone I know." Kelsey said.
"You look like my dad. But you can't be my dad. My dad died." Mary said. "I was like 15, I think. Cancer." Mary drunkenly slurred.
"Is that so?" The bartender added.
"You do look like Mary." Gretchen said. "And I only had one drink, and not drunk off my ass. And you look like Mary."
"Sorry. Never married, never had a kid." He said. He heard a jingle from the front door. One look at the bar's newest occupant, and he quickly scurried to the back room, with the dirty mugs.
But Vaughn already saw who he was. He saw Jack talking to Sydney. He couldn't tell what, but he was immediately worried. A million questions raced through his mind all at once. There were a million thoughts on top of his million questions. Why was the infamous Jack Bristow talking to Sydney? He never was much of the father type, to just stop by and check on his daughter for no particular reason. Was Sydney's cover compromised? Why didn't Weiss contact him if Sydney was in trouble? What was Jack doing talking to Sydney? He wasn't undercover. It was dangerous for them two to be seen together. Was Sydney in trouble? Would she have to leave again, with no word on where she was? Would he have to search the globe for who every Sydney had become? Why was Jack Bristow talking to his girlfriend? Why did Jack run and hide at the sight of him? Please let Sydney be ok. Is Sydney in trouble? Sloane found her, didn't he? Am I in trouble too? Why haven't I been told that we were in trouble? Just as long as Sydney and I are together. That is all I ask. I don't care if we have to change our names, our identities. I don't care what happens, just as long as we're together. I should have married Sydney when she wanted to get married. We're moving in together. Is Sydney ok?
Travis walked over to Mary. "Travis!" Mary shouted, running over to Travis. She put her hands on his chest. And began stroking him. She looked up at his sparkling brown eyes, that warmed her heart. "When did you dye your hair Vaughn? It was much cuter brown."
"Mary. Come on lets go home."
"No. I think I was having fun here." Mary looked over at her friends. "Yeah, definitely staying here. But thanks for coming."
"I'm leaving." Gretchen said. "And I'm taking Kelsey with me."
Kelsey, put her hand on Gretchen's knee. "I'm not sleeping with you. I don't care how sexy you are."
Gretchen looked at Kelsey, and raised her eyebrow.
"Go home Ms. Waters. I'm not going to be serving you any more drinks." The bartender added.
Mary took two steps closer to the table, tripping on a chair, and falling into Vaughn's caring embrace. "Listen to your father Sydney. Let's go home." He softly whispered.
"Who are you to tell me to listen to him?" She harshly whispered back.
"Your fiancé. Come on."
"No." Travis didn't have the patience. He picked Mary up, and carried her out of the bar, despite her kicking and hitting the entire way out the door. Vaughn put Sydney into the car. By the time that he had driven Mary to her apartment, she had passed out. He carried her into her apartment, and put her gently on the bed. He slipped in beside her, despite it being only 7:00. He held her until she woke the next morning.
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