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It was only a three weeks time before a familiar figure walked through Cryptology. He looked up at the stacks of books above him, trying to blend in. Mary was in the back shelving books, while Travis ran out for some late lunch for the two of them. She didn't hear him enter. His presence went unknown. The man quickly dashed down a dark isle when he saw someone approaching. Mary heard the new customer enter, and quickly set down her books, and went to the front to greet the other. She smiled at the familiar elderly lady. "Lilly. How are you this fine afternoon?" Mary asked, offering assistance to the old woman, who promptly shook her off.
"I'm just fine. Has that boy proposed to you yet?" She demanded.
"Not yet. When he does, I promise you, I will tell you the second you walk through the door."
"Every day, I come in here, and I tell Travis to propose to you already. He was crazy about you the minute you walked through that door. Now. I want to know the minute he proposes to you."
"I promise Lilly."
"You swear."
"I swear. The minute."
"Good. Because two people shouldn't live together if they aren't married."
"We've heard the speech Lilly. We're just taking it one step at a time."
"You're taking it two steps too slow. You should be wearing a ring."
"You tell Mic-Travis that." Sydney slipped for a split second before Mary stepped in to recover.
"Oh. I will. You deserve a ring. You have to demand that ring."
Mary laughed. "I'll let him take his time."
"How can you be sure it's going to happen? Because when a boy takes that long of time after you've moved in together, he's not ready for commitment."
"We've only been living together for a month Lilly."
"That's a month longer than it should take!"
"It's going to happen. I'm 100% positive he'll propose to me in his own due time. And when that happens, I'll invite you to our wedding."
"I'll have to get a new dress then."
"So will I."
"Of course. You will be the bride." Mary blushed, as she did everyday when she had this conversation with Lilly. Everyday, Lilly would come in, and demand to see a ring, until Mary would change the subject. And if Mary wasn't in the store at the time, or Travis was in front, Lilly would pester Travis to propose to Mary.
"Do you need any help today Lilly?"
"My book?"
"I'm so sorry Lilly. Someone bought that book this morning. You didn't put it on hold, and I tried to steer her to another book, but she was looking for that specific book. I think her aunt was the author of it or something. Do you need help finding another book?"
"How can I guarantee the same book everyday?" Lilly asked, getting right into Mary's face, very serious about her question.
"Uh, buy the book?"
"That's right. You know how to end up with the same man everyday?"
"Buy the man?"
"That's right. And how do you buy the man. You get a ring! So start demanding that ring Mary. And maybe I'll start getting my books everyday."
"I'll ask for you. But you pick out a book, and we'll give it to you for free this time." Mary escorted Lilly to her usual chair in the corner. "Need any recommendations?"
"No. I'm finished with these shelves. Could you be a dear and grab me a book off the top shelf. My bones are old, and I can't reach that high."
Mary grabbed a book for Lilly, and handed it to her. "If you need any more help Lilly, I'll be in the back room."
The man lurking in the corners must have broken a rib from trying not to laugh at what he had just over heard. He had to wait silently for his opportunity to come. But the conversation he had just overheard was too funny for him for words. It reminded him of his own grandmother trying to pressure him to ask his ex-wife to marry him. "You ask that Laura soon Jack! I want to see some great grandchildren before I die!" His daughter Sydney met his grandmother, but she was far too young to remember him. Jack Bristow, the lurking man, cursed under his breath.. He was going to have to wait to talk to Sydney. It was too dangerous for him to talk to her in front of that Lilly woman. But then he heard his golden opportunity. Mary was going to the back room, and out of Lilly's earshot. Mary's back was turned to Jack when he entered the back room. She only heard the door shut.
"You're back Travis! What did you get?" Mary said, as she spun around. Sydney emerged shocked at who she saw instead. "Dad? What are you doing here?" Her instincts took over, and she rushed over and hugged him. "I missed you Daddy."
"I missed you too Sydney."
"What are you doing here? If we get caught, we could get killed." She worriedly said, hiding her father's face from the window.
"It's ok Sydney. I come bearing good news."
"It's over?"
"Sloane was put into custody early this morning."
"Why weren't you there? This was our work? Why couldn't you be there to put the cuffs on?"
"I was. I took the first flight over here. Kendall is not too happy because there is all sorts of debriefings I have to do, but I figured that I should be the one that should tell you the good news. The original plan was to have Agent Vaughn tell you, but since you see him more than we do at this point…" Jack's voice trailed off as he smiled. At the mention of Vaughn's name, Sydney's heart gave the largest smile to ever show on her face. Jack had rarely seen his daughter so happy.
"I'll tell him Dad." From the backroom, Sydney could hear Lilly pestering Travis to give Mary a ring. The conversation was hard to make out through the closed door and walls, but it was unmistakable. Travis was getting pushed. "Vaughn's back with lunch." Sydney told her father.
"Hey Mary, there are some sandwiches waiting for us on the front desk. And Lilly told me that you were going to beg me for a ring." Travis said, sticking his head through the door. "Jack." Vaughn said, noticing the older male's presence. Vaughn's original plan was to return to the front desk, but upon seeing Sydney and Jack talking so intensely, he came in. Sydney held open her arm and Vaughn walked right into it, giving her a quick greeting kiss.
"Lilly gave me a hard time too." She responded, with a small smile. She took Vaughn's hand, and gave it an excited squeeze.
"Jack." Vaughn took Jack's hand and shook it. "What's going on?"
"It's over." Sydney answered.
"Over?"
"Sloane is in custody, and the entire alliance was raided this morning."
"It's all over." Vaughn repeated to himself.
"Yes, we're free Vaughn. We're free." Sydney said.
"I almost feel guilty. We benefit from your work."
"You two put just as much work into this case as all of us." Jack assured him. He reached inside his jacket, and pulled out two plane tickets, and handed them to Sydney and Vaughn. Sydney opened hers and smiled. "Those are your tickets to LA. Kendall wants you in for a week of debriefing and other stuff."
"Dad, these are first class." Sydney noted with a smile.
Jack turned a lovely shade of red. "That was my doing. I figured with all that you've been through, it was the least I could do."
Sydney went over and hugged her father. "Thanks so much Dad."
"Thanks Jack." Vaughn added.
"I really don't want to cut this short, but I have to get back-"
"Dad, you just got here. Don't spend all day on an airplane for a 30 minute meeting with us. Stay tonight. Go back tomorrow. Tonight… you can be our guest at our house. You can stay in our guest room, and we have much to catch up on." Sydney insisted. As Sydney was speaking, Vaughn nervously agreed with her. Part of him was still terrified of Jack, but the other part knew that Sydney was right. And besides, Jack was going to be his father-in-law.
"But."
"No buts Dad."
"Alright you've talked me into it. I need to see another asset first that is here in the city. They were an SD-7 asset and an old friend of mine."
"Well, let me give you our address, and you can meet us there." Sydney picked up a scrap piece of paper from the floor, pulled a marker from a box, and scribbled their address for her father. "If we're not home, go head and go in. I'm sure Roxy will be more than happy to see you."
"Roxy is-?"
"Our dog."
"Right, right. I'll see you two tonight then."
"See ya Dad." Jack turned and left, leaving Sydney and Vaughn alone in the storage room.
"We're free!" Sydney squealed, jumping into Vaughn's arms and passionately kissing him. "Michael, we're free."
"Yes Sydney. We're free." Vaughn put Sydney down.
"What's wrong Michael?" She asked, as his face got very serious.
"Say it again."
"Say what?"
"Michael."
"Why? I'm not messing up your name or anything, right? It is Michael?" Sydney teased.
"I just like hearing you say that."
"Good. Because you can hear it all you want now." Sydney said, kissing him again.
"There's something I need to do first." Vaughn took two steps backward, and Sydney's face fell as his presence diminished. He got down on one knee. Sydney gasped, knowing exactly what was coming next. Vaughn reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny velvet black box.
"Sydney, my everything, my all, my other better half. We have been through more things together than any human should be able to count, and not all of it good. But one thing I have always known for sure is that everything is better with you by my side. My fear floats away with the passing breeze. Fate separated us. Destiny had other plans, and brought us together. I can't imagine my life without you, only my life with you. I love you more each day, and I don't see an end to the trend. Sydney Anne Bristow, or Mary Hannah Waters, I love you no matter who you are, will you give me the highest honor of being my wife?"
Tears of joy flooded down from Sydney's cheeks. "If you think my answer has changed any from the last time you asked me, you have got to be crazy. Of coarse I'll marry you." Sydney joined Vaughn on his knees, kissing him. Vaughn pushed Sydney back enough to slide the ring on Sydney's finger. "How did you know to have this ring with you today?" She asked, admiring it.
"I've been carrying it around since we moved in together. You know that antique place on the corner by the movie theater?"
"Yeah?"
"I saw this in there while we were looking for the end table. I saw it, and I just knew that you had to have that ring. I then gave Eric the money to buy it for me. And since I didn't know when I would get the chance to propose to you…"
"…Again."
"Again," Vaughn repeated. "I've been carrying it around with me."
"You were wrong."
"W-w-w-what?" Vaughn stuttered.
"I could live without this ring. It's you I can't live without." Sydney kissed him again.
Vaughn panicked slightly. "We can always exchange the ring if you don't like it."
"Oh no. I love this ring. If I picked it out myself, I still wouldn't have found a more perfect ring."
"So, who should we tell first?" Vaughn asked, putting his arm around Sydney.
"Hmm… my father should be the first. But I promised Lilly that the minute it happened, I would tell her."
"Hide the ring, because I agree. Besides, if Lilly found out that I proposed to you in the storage room, she'll get on my hide for proposing wrong."
"I don't want to hide the fact that you and I are engaged any longer. I have held it in me for seven years now."
"You did it wrong Travis! You need to take her out for a nice dinner. And propose to her over desert with the whole restaurant! You don't propose to a woman in the back room of your bookstore!" Vaughn mimicked. "Please save me from her."
"Fine, but it will be hard. I have this beautiful ring, and a very sexy man, and I want to show both of them off."
"Go home then. Avoid seeing Lilly all together. Go home and clean out that guest room of ours that we've thrown all of our unpacked boxes into." Vaughn suggested.
"Oh my God! I totally forgot about all of the stuff in the guest room! And Dad is staying there tonight!"
"Ok, so you're heading home, and I am going to put out a desperate plea to Amelia and Thomas, and George, and everyone else that works here, or even worked here a day to come and work for a week, starting in three days."
"Right. And I'll take a cab." Sydney said. "Don't want to waste our good parking spot."
"Ok."
The two left the back room. "You two weren't back there getting naked were you?" Lilly immediately inquired when they came out. Sydney kept her hand behind Vaughn's back to hide the ring from Lilly.
"No, we were fully clothed." Vaughn assured the aging woman.
"Then you were kissing. Because I have never seen, or read of anyone in a closet for that long, and all they were doing was talking."
"There was some kissing." Sydney admitted.
"Did you demand the ring like I told you to Mary?" Lilly asked.
"I politely asked him if he wanted to marry me." Sydney said, dodging the question.
"And you didn't bring her a ring, right Travis?"
"No."
"Good. I would have been very disappointed with you. You should ask a woman to marry her in a restaurant. My husband did it at a dance, while we were in the center. I would have preferred the restaurant."
"I'll keep that in consideration."
"I'll see you at home." Sydney said, kissing Vaughn before leaving. "I'll see you later Lilly."
"You beg for that ring some more. Tell him no more sex until he asks you to marry him, and I'll see you later." Sydney left the shop, laughing at what Lilly had said. She quickly hailed a cab, and jumped in. For the ride home, Sydney sat there, admiring her ring. After paying the cab, she walked up to her house, pausing slightly when she could see the entire house. It was her and Vaughn's house. Their house. Together. They would live there after they were married. They would raise children in that house. Because it was their house.
Sydney rushed inside to deal with the boxes, picked up the cordless phone, and dialed the numbers that her fingers had been aching to dial for seven years.. It rang twice before a soft female voice answered. "Hello?" Sydney's heart skipped a beat, and her words lost. "Hello?" The woman tried again.
"Francie?" Sydney's voice finally cracked.
"Yes?" Francie said, unsure of whom she was talking to. "Who is this?"
"Fran, this is Sydney." Sydney heard the phone being dropped, and Francie cursing as she tried to catch it. But to no avail. The phone dropped with a loud clutter. But Francie was back on her end in a matter of seconds again.
"That's not possible. Sydney died six years ago."
"Fran, hear me out. I'm not dead. I had to disappear for a while. I know this may sound like it's the most preposterous thing you have ever heard. But it's all true." Sydney began to tell her tale to Francie, and Francie just sat on her end too shocked for words.
"Sydney?" Over the phone, Sydney could hear her best friend start to cry. "How? Why? What?"
"It's been too dangerous for you, for me, for everyone... too dangerous for me to even call you. I had almost called you so many times. If by some chance your phone had been bugged… I was afraid that if they knew that I had contact with you, or Will, or anyone, that they would kill you. It was a chance I wasn't willing to risk."
"Why are you telling me this now? Isn't it still risky?"
"No. The people I was running from were destroyed. I can become Sydney again."
"That's great Sydney."
"Yeah. In fact Michael and I are coming to LA next week for some debriefing and some other things. It would be great if I could squeeze hooking up with you and Will sometime in there."
"Who is Michael?" Francie inquired.
"You're essentially the first to know, but Michael is my fiancé."
There was a squeal from the other end. "That is so great Syd! When?"
"This afternoon."
"Are you serious, you just got engaged this afternoon?"
"Yeah. I mean kinda. He proposed to me seven years ago. I had said yes then, but nothing could be official until today."
"I am so happy for you Sydney."
"So tell me… what has been up with you? I mean surely everything has changed since I left!" Sydney begged, as she pushed boxes around. The two gabbed like they used to do on the couch. Francie had gotten married in Sydney's absence to Vincent, and had a son Tanner (3) and a daughter Margo (15 months). Sydney had no desire to end the conversation, but she had another phone call to make before her father arrived and Vaughn got home.
She dialed Will's number carefully. This phone call would be harder to make. Will had been in the loop. He would have known that SD-6 was coming down. He already knew that Sydney was CIA. Her secrets were his. "Hello?" Will's voice answered.
"Hi Will!" Sydney cheerfully answered.
"Sydney! It took you long enough to contact us! I would have thought that we would be the first people you called so that you could find Vaughn!"
Sydney laughed. "Well, would you believe that I was at work when I found out?"
"It wouldn't have stopped you before?"
"Would you believe me if I told you that Vaughn proposed to me only an hour ago? Actually it's more like two hours ago at this point. I just talked to Francie for an hour."
"What? You mean?"
"Was it your idea, or my Dad's, or Eric's idea to put me in Greenwich, and Vaughn in New York so that we could find each other easier?"
"Actually it was your Dad's."
"Well thanks."
"Anytime Syd. So you and Vaughn are engaged?"
"Yeah. Him and I only found each other 7 months ago."
"Oh, so that's what you east coasters are calling it? Finding each other?"
"No. Well, that's what Vaughn and I are calling it. But like around our friends, and Lilly we're calling it meeting. Because finding implies that we met before. When we're Travis and Mary, we supposedly had never met before… at least until Kelsey and I went to New York and went into his bookshop. And the rest, is history."
"So I was the third person you talked to? I feel insulted Syd! I thought we were better friends than that. Even after all these silent years."
"So you're jealous that the first person I saw was Vaughn, after my father talked to us, and then I called Francie, because she was completely out of the loop?"
"Precisely." Will paused. "When did Kendall get you guys to come in?"
"Next week. Which is good because Vaughn has to find all of his workers to come in and cover for us while we're gone."
"Well, if the CIA doesn't stick you up in a safe house or a hotel or something, I have a guest room in my apartment, and you two are more than welcome to it."
"Thanks Will. I have no idea what we're going to do. But your offer sounds really good."
"Oh yeah. Anytime Syd. And I don't think that the CIA will throw too much of a fit if it's your security they're worried about. They bugged my place when I became a field agent."
"You're a field agent! That's great Will! And I don't think that the bugging will be a problem, our house isn't bugged. I think. I hope. I mean that's why I moved once. And then I moved again with Vaughn into our little house in the suburbs."
"A house in the suburbs. How cute. Who would have thought that Sydney and Vaughn would say, 'Hey? Let's move to a house in the suburbs, where we can live like normal people?'"
"Very funny. Normal is a very good word. Which reminds me. My father is coming for dinner tonight, so I have to think of something to cook to impress him. Which means I have to make a dash for the store so I won't feed him tuna or cereal. So I gotta go Will."
"Alright Syd. I'll see you really soon. Ok?"
"I promise. Bye Will."
"Bye Sydney." With a smile, Sydney hung up the phone, and looked around her bare kitchen. Looking at her watch, Sydney cursed her short time, grabbed her keys off of the counter, and ran out the door. She didn't think much as she grabbed marinade off of the shelf, and found some chicken. All she knew was that things were going as she had planned six years ago. She was going to be cooking a meal for her father, and for her fiancé. That word, fiancé, still sounded strange to her, even after seven years. Most women don't have seven years to contemplate the word fiancé and all that their fiancé encompasses. But to Sydney, Vaughn was her ticket to normal. And not just her ticket to normal, he was her destiny. Sydney became so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost left the store without paying for anything. Fortunately, a kind sales clerk stopped her. While placing her groceries in the car, she didn't even notice when someone started calling her name across the parking lot. The name they used was the name her mind had already discarded, her WPP name, Mary.
"Mary!" Gretchen called. Sydney kept walking in her daze. "Mary!" Gretchen tried again.
This time Sydney heard her. Sydney turned to see Gretchen standing there. Sydney quickly put her ring inside her pocket. She needed to make this conversation quick, and explaining everything from the ring, to her father would take too much time. Sydney spun around. "Hey Gretchen."
"I was actually going to call you tonight, but this will save some time. On Wednesday Trevor is having a poker night thing with his buddies. I have no plans, so what do you say we have a girls night out?" Gretchen offered.
Sydney couldn't be rude. But that idea did not seem at all appetizing. At least this time she had a way out. "I'm sorry Gretch. Michael- sorry Travis and I are flying out to LA on Monday. We'll be gone all week."
"Michael?"
"Long story best saved for tomorrow or sometime other than right now. I have to go home an marinade these chickens before Mi-Travis comes home with a business associate of his."
"Right. Of course." Gretchen said, feeling slightly hurt. "You are going to have to tell me that story soon."
"Oh, I promise you soon." With that Sydney returned her cart, and made a mad dash for her car. When she pulled into their driveway, a car was parked on the street. Sydney was a little upset that she didn't beat her father back to her own house. She grabbed the bag from the back seat, and made her way into the house. "Dad?" She called out. "Dad, you here?"
Jack came out from the study. "Hi Sydney." He said, embracing his daughter.
"Hi."
"I wasn't expecting you home so soon. I mean, the shop doesn't close for another half an hour." Jack said, helping Sydney unload the groceries.
"Yeah. Well, Michael and I forgot that all of the boxes we failed to open after the move had been stored in the guest room, so I left early to deal with that. And plus, our fridge was bare, and I didn't think that feeding you Cheerios for dinner would be very good."
"I would have been fine with some cereal. You didn't have to go out of your way for us."
"It was my pleasure. Besides. I haven't seen you in so long, that it will be fun. Wait a second. What do you mean by us?" While talking with her father, Sydney had failed to notice a second person in her house. They were standing at the edge of the hallway, barely visible to someone busying them self in the kitchen.
"Hello Sydney." Sydney turned, and saw the last person she expected to see.
* * * * *
In Thread Number 4, [URL= Waters[/URL] was just updated for the last time for like a month or so. So enjoy it while you can!
lots of love
cathy