A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks for being so patient waiting for this chapter, and thank you even more for all the really nice reviews. You guys make my day!
Chapter 36: "Not So Secret Anymore"
Weiss filled a mug with steaming water and absently watched as the water slowly turned reddish-brown from the bag of tea steeping inside of it. He had been alone in the kitchen for the past ten minutes, making tea he was sure that Sydney wouldn't drink, but being there was better than the alternative -- being out in the living room with Sydney, where he felt as useful as a box of rocks. It had been hours since Jack Bristow advised him to take Sydney to a safe house two hours outside of L.A., and even longer since he received confirmation that the accident in Virginia had claimed Vaughn and Elise's lives. In the entire time since then, Sydney hadn't said a word. He knew that she wasn't quite in a catatonic state, but she was so eerily quiet that she was actually starting to scare him, and he had no idea of how to reach her. He knew that he was going to have to find a way, however, because she needed him now. Truth be told, he needed her just as much, because he wasn't prepared to deal with the reality of his best friend being dead.
He leaned his elbows onto the kitchen counter and buried his face in his hands, as he tried in vain to convince himself that the whole night had been merely a bad dream. Shortly after Tommy informed him of the accident, he called back with the devastating news that the accident had been fatal. Ever since then, Weiss had been trying to make sense of the situation. By all accounts, the accident sounded like it actually had been an accident, but at the same time, it all seemed a little too coincidental. He was almost positive that Sloane had ordered someone to kill Vaughn, and if that was the case, there was no telling what kind of danger Sydney might be in. There was a whole team back at headquarters assessing the situation, but in the meantime, he could do nothing but wait to hear from Jack and Devlin and the wait was driving him crazy.
He sighed as he picked up the mug and some sugar packets and walked into the living room. Sydney was sitting in an overstuffed chair, her knees tucked to her chest, when Weiss set the mug down in front of her.
"It's tea," he offered as he took a seat on the couch next to the chair. He was surprised and caught off guard when she looked at him and spoke for the first time in hours.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. I know it's not much, but I thought -- "
"No, I appreciate it. How long do you think we'll be here?" she quietly asked.
"I'm not sure. The agency's still investigating the accident and trying to figure out how much Sloane knows. They want to be sure that Sloane didn't cause the accident before they allow you to go back to work at SD-6."
"Work?" she bitterly scoffed. "I'm not going back to work."
"What? Syd, you know that you can't -- " Weiss cut himself off from telling her that she was in no frame of mind to make such an important decision right now. He knew that for the moment, at least, he needed to give her space and time to deal with her grief. Rational thinking could wait until later.
She looked back at him defensively, bracing herself to hear all of the reasons why she had to go back to SD-6. She was grateful, however, when she realized that he wasn't going to lecture her right now.
After a few moments of staring at each other and letting silent understanding pass between them, they lapsed into a deep silence, both of them unprepared and unwilling to contemplate how much their lives were going to be changed by Vaughn's absence from them.
Sydney restlessly leaned forward to lift the mug from the coffee table, but froze when she caught a glimpse of her left hand. It seemed as if it had been ages ago, but when she got home earlier that evening, she slipped on her engagement ring, and she forgot to take it off before she left the house to confront Sloane. Had he noticed it, she wondered? Not that it mattered at this point, she bitterly reminded herself. She drew her hand back and simply stared at the diamond on her finger, remembering her shock when she first opened the ring box and saw it glittering back at her, remembering the nervously hopeful look on Vaughn's face when he asked her to marry him, remembering how it felt when he slipped the ring onto her finger. She covered her mouth with her hand as she choked back a sob and tears stung her eyes.
"We were getting married," she whispered.
"Did you say something?" Weiss asked as he snapped out of his contemplative state and focused his attention on her.
"Vaughn and I were engaged."
"What? Since when?" Weiss asked, wide-eyed.
"Since my birthday. He surprised me by booking a room for us in Santa Monica and that night, he asked me to marry him and I said yes." She raised her hand to show him the ring and Weiss's mouth dropped when he saw it.
"Mike never told me that you two were -- he never even mentioned that he was thinking of asking you to marry him."
"He wanted to tell you," Sydney assured him. "He wanted you to be his best man, but we were waiting until SD-6 was gone to tell everyone, because we thought it would be safer that way. Please don't be mad at him for not telling you," she pleaded.
"Sydney, of course I'm not mad. I just -- I wish that I would have known. I can't even imagine how excited he must have been when you said yes. I swear, he had a thing for you from the first day he met you. A week after you started working with us, I had to remind him that he had a girlfriend," he chuckled lightly. "He was so crazy about you. You changed his life, his career, everything."
"No, he changed *my* life," she murmured. "When I came to the CIA, I thought it would take a few weeks at the most to destroy SD-6 and after he made me realize how long it was really going to take, I felt so dejected, like I was going to spend the rest of my life trying to take those bastards down. But from the beginning, he believed in me and reassured me that I could do this. He had so much faith in me and always told me how amazing I was, and never let me lose sight of what we were working for. And he risked his career and his life for me and made me feel like I could accomplish anything as long as he was on my side, and I -- "
Weiss swallowed uncomfortably as her voice broke off with choked tears. He had seen Sydney get emotional and cry before, but he had never seen her look so broken and devastated and it broke his heart.
"I'm done with this," she abruptly announced as she angrily brushed the tears from her eyes. I'm not doing this without him. There's no point. It doesn't matter if I ever get out of this life if he's not here to share it with me," she vehemently shook her head.
"Sydney, come on. That's not true and you know it. You *have* to finish this, because that's what Mike would want. You're so close to succeeding at everything that you and he worked so hard for, and he would be devastated if he knew that you were giving up now. Don't you want to do this for him? For yourself?" Weiss urged her.
"Weiss, I'm tired of this," she said with a dejected sigh. I'm tired of fighting. The only thing that kept me going for this long was Vaughn and the promise of the life we were going to have when this was over. Without that, there's nothing left to fight for."
"I don't buy that for a minute, Sydney," Weiss angrily replied. "One of the things that Vaughn loved the most about you was how much of a fighter you are, how resilient and determined you are. From the day that you walked into our office, he admired that about you. Don't prove him wrong. Don't give up on paying SD-6 back for everything that they've taken from you."
"But I don't know how to do this without him," she quietly cried.
Weiss placed his hand over hers and squeezed it tightly. "Neither do I, Sydney, but we'll find a way, I promise. We have to. We have to do that for him because he would want us to."
Sydney nodded half-heartedly and tried to muster a tiny smile for Weiss through her tears. She appreciated his efforts to be strong for her, but deep inside, she knew that she would never find a way to go on without Vaughn. Even worse than that, she wasn't sure that she wanted to.
***** Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he lowered his gun and placed it back in his shoulder holster. He didn't expecting anyone to find him, Vaughn and Elise where they were, but his instincts had taken over and caused him to draw his gun. As he straightened his suit jacket, Elise regarded him warily and he gave her an apologetic nod, hoping that he hadn't scared her too terribly.
Vaughn noted both of their expressions and anxiously looked back and forth between Jack and his mother, as he waited for some kind of explanation. "You two already know each other?" he bewilderedly asked when no explanation was forthcoming.
"No, not yet," Elise said with exaggerated sweetness. "We were just starting to get to know each other when Jack offered me a glass of water, and that's the last thing I remember before I woke up just now. I do know, however, that I would never let myself fall asleep while my only child was unconscious and suffering from a head injury, so I was hoping that perhaps Jack could provide some insight as to how that might have happened."
Jack was stunned and taken aback by the challenging tone in Elise's voice. He didn't know anything about Elise Vaughn, but ever since he met Vaughn and learned of the connection between their families, he imagined that Elise was nothing more than a mild-mannered, quiet Frenchwoman. When she first regained consciousness after the accident, she was scared and concerned about Vaughn's condition, so he was just beginning to get a glimpse of the assertive, strong-willed woman behind the cool, patrician facade.
"I, uh . . . I gave you a sedative," Jack admitted. "I thought that it would calm you, and you needed to rest after the accident."
"I needed to rest?" Elise asked disbelievingly. "I don't recall being tired, and I was obviously concerned about my son and wanted to be with him when he woke up," she glared at Jack before turning her attention to Vaughn and wrinkling her nose. "Sweetheart, you look like hell."
Jack watched as Elise set a bottle of peroxide and some gauze cloths down onto the night-stand next to the bed, then cleared his throat before speaking again.
"Yes, I imagined that you would want to be with Michael, Mrs. Vaughn, but I needed to speak with him privately once he awoke, and I wasn't sure that I could trust you to stay out of the way."
"You didn't think that you could trust me?" Elise scoffed as she poured peroxide onto one of the cloths and began to clean the abrasions on Vaughn's face. "Excuse me, Mr. Bristow, but frankly, I don't think that I'm the one worthy of mistrust here. If you don't mind, now that Michael is awake, I'd appreciate an explanation of where we are what we -- and you -- are doing here."
Ignoring the unpleasant sting of the peroxide in his cuts and temporarily forgetting about their precarious situation, Vaughn watched his mother and Jack with interest, just barely managing to hide a knowing smirk. He recognized his mother's tone from countless scoldings he received when he was younger and the almost chastened look on Jack's face reminded him of the look he used to see on his father's face whenever he'd drawn his wife's wrath. Vaughn knew how intimidating his mother could be, but he never would have expected her scare tactics to work on Jack Bristow.
Jack glanced at Vaughn for a moment, his face betraying the silent debate he was having with himself about how much to divulge to Vaughn while Elise was in the room.
"For the moment, we're in a safe house just outside of Virginia Beach, but this was merely a temporary stop until you regained consciousness. In a few hours, the two of you will be transported to Langley Air Force Base, and then you'll be flown to Lyon."
"We're going to France?" Vaughn raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. I figured that the two of you could easily blend in there for the next two weeks. I thought about placing you somewhere more rural and out of the way, but -- "
"We're less likely to draw attention in a big city," Vaughn finished.
"Exactly," Jack nodded. "The agency is setting up an apartment for you in Lyon and there'll be a security team in place to assure your safety."
Vaughn nodded, but Jack was more interested in Elise's non-reaction to his news. "I take it that this is acceptable to you?" he asked. "You don't seem very surprised by any of this."
Elise rolled her eyes slightly in response. "My husband was a spy, Mr. Bristow. There really isn't much that surprises me anymore. I've certainly never had my death faked before, but I know how easily -- and successfully -- the company can make someone disappear when it needs to. If this is what we have to do, this is what we have to do," she shrugged. "Do you think that this man -- Arvin Sloane -- do you think that he'll try to find us?"
"Not if he genuinely believes that the two of you were killed in the accident, which is what I'm hoping for, obviously. Whether he believes it, however, depends on Sydney's ability to sell her grief to him."
Vaughn winced as Elise continued to clean his wounds, and glanced over at Jack. "What did Sydney say when you told her about all of this?"
Jack uncomfortably shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked down at the floor. As the seconds passed and Jack's silence grew more conspicuous, Elise stopped attending to Vaughn as they both waited for his answer.
"You *did* tell her, didn't you, Jack?" Vaughn asked.
"I haven't spoken with Sydney yet."
"So she doesn't know that you staged the accident? Elise asked, with a horrified expression on her face. "She thinks that Michael is really dead?"
"Yes, she does, and for the time being, we need for her to continue believing that."
"Are you out of your mind?" Vaughn asked in disbelief as he abruptly stood and took a step toward Jack. "You can't let her go on believing that I'm dead."
"I can, and I will," Jack firmly responded. "I didn't make this decision lightly, Vaughn, but the fact of the matter is that if Sloane has pictures of you, it's not going to be difficult for him to find out that you're CIA, and if he becomes aware of your affiliation with the agency, it won't be a great leap for him to surmise that perhaps Sydney's involvement with the CIA is more extensive than the mere fact of her relationship with you. Believe me, Vaughn, I've put a great deal of thought into my plan, and Sydney's reactions need to be as realistic as possible if we're going to have any hope of keeping Sloane in the dark about her status as a double agent."
"Her reactions? Jack, this is *Sydney* that we're talking about, and you and I both know that she acts first and considers the consequences later. If she thinks I'm dead, if she thinks that Sloane had me killed, she won't hesitate to confront him again. Forget the takedown, she could be risking her life if she goes back to SD-6."
"Are you suggesting that my daughter is reckless?"
"No, she's not reckless, but she's headstrong and impetuous and fearless. I love all of those things about her, but those are the same things that could get her killed."
"I don't disagree, but believe that we can trust her to keep her wits about her, at least until SD-6 is destroyed. She's worked too hard and for too long to jeopardize the op now when the end is so close."
"Jack, if she thinks that Sloane had me killed, she's not going to care about the op or anything else. She'll feel like she has nothing to lose by confronting him again."
"Please don't take this the wrong way, Vaughn," Jack condescendingly began, "but perhaps you're slightly overestimating your importance in Sydney's life."
"I don't think I am," Vaughn replied between clenched teeth.
Elise watched Jack and Vaughn's tense exchange with uneasy fascination, wondering how their seeming power struggle would play out. Both men's backs were ramrod straight with tension and she could almost feel the quiet, controlled anger emanating from both of them.
"Call her and tell her the truth, Jack," Vaughn quietly ordered.
"I intend to do no such thing."
"Jack, I'm serious. She can't go through this again."
"This is not the same situation as with Danny, surely you must realize that," Jack huffed.
"It is the same."
"It's really not."
"*Yes,* it is, because . . ." Vaughn sighed and rubbed his aching forehead as he realized that there was only one way he was going to be able to convince Jack to tell Sydney that he was alive. "It is the same, because Sydney and I are engaged," he said softly.
The two men simply stared at each other for several tense moments until Elise gasped and they both turned their attention to her.
"You and Sydney are engaged to be married?" Elise asked in wide-eyed surprise. "Since when?"
"Since April, Mom," Vaughn admitted. "When I flew out here and surprised Sydney for her birthday, I asked her to marry me and she said yes. We wanted to tell you, but we were keeping it a secret until the SD-6 operation was over. Sydney was fine with the idea of me telling you on my own, but I wanted her to be with me when you found out. That's why I was so insistent about you coming to L.A. in July -- that's when we were going to tell you. We were going to tell you too, obviously," Vaughn said as he turned back towards Jack.
"Oh my goodness," Elise murmured as she placed a hand over her mouth. "I . . . I'm speechless."
"Well, that's a first," Vaughn smiled at her.
"Oh, sweetheart. Congratulations," she cried as she wrapped him in a tight hug. "That's the best news I've ever heard."
"Thanks, Mom," he whispered as he hugged her back. He let out a sigh of relief that she wasn't upset with him for not telling her sooner. He should have known that she'd be so thrilled at the news that she would hardly care that he kept it from her for so long.
When they broke their embrace, Vaughn turned back to Jack once more. "No hug from you?" he cracked. "I'm joking," he quickly said when Jack blankly stared at him in response. "I would have asked for your permission, but, uh, Sydney told me once that that didn't go over too well when Danny tried that."
"Those were different circumstances. Things were much . . . they were different then."
"I know they were," Vaughn agreed. "So, does that mean that I should have asked? Because, frankly, it's a little late for that now, and I don't think Sydney's going to give me the ring back."
Jack couldn't help but smile in spite of himself. He wasn't sure whether to take Vaughn's ability to joke with him right now as a sign of Vaughn's refusal to be intimidated by him or as a sign of his complete mental illness.
"I suppose congratulations are in order." Jack extended his hand and Vaughn shook it firmly.
"Thanks, but actually, I'd just as soon skip the congratulations so you can call Sydney and tell her the truth. I know you're only trying to protect her, Jack, and I respect that, but she needs to know that I'm okay. She's a good actress and I have complete faith that she can fake the grieving girlfriend routine, but it would be cruel to let her go on believing that I'm dead."
"I'll go call Weiss," Jack said with a slight nod. He left the room to make his phone call and Vaughn turned back to his mother, surprised to find her deep in thought with a troubled expression on her face.
"Mom, are you okay? I know that tonight has been unreal. Do you need to rest or something?"
"No, darling, I'm fine. I was just thinking."
"About what?" Vaughn prompted.
"About your father and how he would react to the news that you're getting married."
"Do you think he'd be happy?"
"Of course he would," she smile. "He'd be so excited about welcoming Sydney into the family. He would have loved her, you know."
"Yeah, I know," he smiled back at her. "I told her once that he would have been incredibly impressed by her abilities as an agent."
"No doubt, but I think he also would have liked her just for the kind of person she is, for the way that she obviously loves you very much."
"I wish that they could have met each other," he softly acknowledged.
"Me too. But on the day that you and Sydney get married, he'll be there. You'll feel his presence. We both will," she promised.
Vaughn hugged her again and saw Jack reenter the room over her shoulder. "She wants to speak to you," Jack said, holding out the phone to him.
"Is it safe?" Vaughn apprehensively asked.
"As long as you keep it brief and don't tell her any details about where you are or where you're going."
Vaughn nodded as he took the phone from Jack, and Elise smiled and patted his forearm before following Jack out of the room.
"Would you like coffee, Jack?" Elise asked as they walked through the living room and into the kitchen.
"Thank you," he nodded. "Did you have any idea that Sydney and Michael were so serious about each other?" He had seen the depth of Sydney's emotion when she first told him about her relationship with Vaughn, and Vaughn's concern for her had been evident at their impromptu dinner, but he hadn't contemplated that the two of them were prepared to spend the rest of their lives together. He wondered if perhaps he had missed a sign that Elise had been privy to.
"Well, the fact that she snuck into his place in Virginia to visit him might have been a small clue," she wryly laughed as she filled a coffee pot with water.
"In the all-too brief time that I spent with them, I could tell that they were very serious about each other, and after Sydney left, the difference in Michael's mood was like night and day. He missed her terribly, and he talked about her all the time, but he never even hinted that he was thinking of asking her to marry him."
"You seemed to take the news well," Jack dryly observed.
Elise finished fiddling with the coffee maker, then turned around to face Jack. "Why wouldn't I have reacted well to Michael's announcement?"
"Well, I know that Sydney made you aware of her mother's role in your husband's death, and I think it would be understandable if you had reservations about her marrying your son."
"I agree. It *would* be understandable, and I do have concerns about their decision to marry, but they're the typical concerns that any parent would have. They have nothing to do with your ex-wife."
"I find that hard to fathom."
"To be honest, so do I. I'm not going to lie to you, Jack. I was stunned when Sydney told me about the connection between your family and mine. It wasn't easy to hear about her mother, and for a brief moment, I allowed myself to entertain the possibility that her motives for being with Michael were less than pure.
"But I watched her as she spoke to me. I saw her, saw the way that it was breaking her heart to tell me the truth, and the fear in her eyes that I would hate her. It was painfully obvious how much she loved my son, and whatever my personal feelings are about her mother, I won't let them affect my feelings about Sydney or her relationship with Michael. She makes him happy, and that's all I care about, so I hope that the two of them will have a long and happy marriage.
"Besides, when two people really love each other, when they're meant to be together, there's nothing that can come between them. Not family, not friends, not even government agencies -- legitimate and otherwise," she softly smiled.
"You sound as if you're speaking from personal experience."
"I am. William and I didn't date for very long before we got married, and the CIA was not at all happy that he chose to marry a foreign national, especially after such a short courtship. It was during the height of the cold war, and the agency was obviously concerned that I may have been spying on him, and I -- oh God, I'm so sorry," she apologetically stammered. "I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying."
"Don't apologize," Jack shook his head. "Your husband was simply a luckier and smarter man than I was."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. William was known to play the role of "fool in love" on a regular basis," she smiled. "Obviously, I wasn't a spy, but if I had been, the United States might be a territory of France right now," she laughed.
Jack smiled slightly in response. A short while ago, he had been impressed by Elise's steeliness and obvious emotional strength, but now he found himself surprisingly charmed by her warmth and sense of humor.
"Sydney was very impressed by you when she returned from Virginia, and now I see why. It would appear that the two of you have a mutual admiration society."
Elise smiled back at him. "Perhaps we do. Sydney is a beautiful young woman. You must be very proud of her."
"I am, although I take no credit for the kind of person that she's grown into."
"Well, I'm sure that you deserve at least part of the credit. Children don't raise themselves, you know."
"For all intents and purposes, Sydney did. In the years after my wife's supposed death, I too emotionally distant to be a good father to Sydney, and once it became clear that she was doing fine without my parental input, I think I gave up any pretense of trying. I figured that I'd be more of a detriment to her than anything else."
"But it's obvious how much you love her," Elise pointed out. I mean, look at the lengths to which you've gone to protect her and her boyfriend. I think that maybe you're being too hard on yourself."
"Maybe I'm not," Jack replied with a faint smile.
Elise gave him a sympathetic look before she turned to remove the pot from the coffee maker. She poured two steaming cups of coffee and handed one to Jack.
"I hope you won't take offense to this, Jack, but I'm beginning to wonder if guilt is a Bristow family trait," she smiled. "Is it genetic? Because I'd really hate for our grandchildren to flog themselves every time they steal a cookie from the cookie jar."
Jack smiled in spite of himself as he stirred sugar into his tea. "If it is genetic, I think it only runs on my side of the family, so there's not much reason to -- "
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he instantly regretted them, but Elise's momentary unease was quickly replaced by a conspiratorial smile.
"You know, it just struck me -- we're going to have grandchildren in common one day. As you'll no doubt come to learn, I'm very excited by that prospect."
"Having grandchildren?"
She nodded. "Most of my friends have grandchildren, and I've always been so jealous of them, although I'm not sure why. Maybe I just miss having someone to spoil," she smiled.
"I always feared that Michael would get too caught up in his career to settle down and have a family," she admitted. "And I was concerned that my husband's bloodlines would end with Michael. If he has a child, though, it will almost feel like a part of William will live on in a way. That probably sounds very schmaltzy," she sighed, embarrassed by her admission to an almost perfect stranger.
"Not at all. It's perfectly understandable. Its strange, however, to think that his bloodlines are going to mix with those of the woman who killed him."
"It is, but maybe it's God's way of finally righting the wrong that was committed when she killed him. I don't know," she sighed. "I'm not a strong believer in fate, but life makes you wonder sometimes. William and I weren't in any particular hurry to expand our family, but I always thought that it would be nice to have a daughter. And now I feel like I'm gaining one and she just happens to be the daughter of the woman who made it impossible for me to have another child with him," she realized, shaking her head at the irony.
"Do you really think of Sydney as a daughter?" Jack asked with interest.
"Well, I haven't spent that much time with her, but I liked her from the moment I met her, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know her better. I meant what I said before -- I think she's lovely, and she's going to be my son's wife, so yes, I already think of her like a daughter.
"What?" she asked when she saw the slightly surprised expression on Jack's face.
"It's just ironic. I was an only child and Sydney obviously never knew her mother's family, so I think she always longed for a sense of family. It's ironic that she finally found that in the family of one of her mother's victims."
"Life is funny that way, isn't it? It takes twists and turns that you'd never expect. Like this one," she wryly laughed as she looked around the austere safe house. "I know that I gave you a hard time earlier, but I just want to say, Jack, that if it turns out that you saved my son's life tonight, I can't thank you enough for that."
"Well, I'm not sure that I have saved his life. I'm not even sure that Sloane planned to make an attempt on his life, but the last time that Sloane tried to kill a man that Sydney loved, I was too late to prevent it. I didn't want to make the same mistake twice.
"I *won't* make the same mistake twice," he vowed.
***** Vaughn took a deep breath before he spoke, almost afraid that Sydney wouldn't really be on the other end of the line.
"Syd?"
"Vaughn," she breathed a teary sigh of relief. "Oh my God. Thank God you're alright. I thought . . . I was so scared that you -- "
"Shhh. Sydney, it's okay," he assured her when he heard her softly crying. "I'm fine. I'm just a little bruised, that's all."
"But it could have been so much worse. It still could be."
"No, it will be fine. Your dad is on top of everything. It's actually a little scary how good he is at faking a death. It made me realize that if I ever get out of line, he could have me killed for real and do it without leaving a trace," he smiled.
"Vaughn," Sydney laughed through her tears, "don't joke about that."
"It got you to laugh, right? Seriously, your dad's not going to let anything happen to me or my mom."
"How is your mom? She's okay, right?" she worriedly asked.
"Yeah, she's fine. She barely had a scratch on her."
"Good. She must think this is all so crazy -- as if my family wasn't already crazy enough," she muttered. "My mother kills her husband and my father fakes her death. She must be loving the Bristows right now."
"One in particular. Syd, I should tell you that, um, she knows about our engagement. So does your dad."
"They do? My dad didn't say anything about it when he spoke to me just now."
"Yeah, I think he's still trying to process it, or convince himself that it's all a bad dream," he laughed.
"What made you tell them? Did you say something while you were unconscious?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who talks in my sleep," he reminded her. "No. I told them. I had to in order to convince your dad to call you and tell you that I was okay. He was a little reluctant to let you in on that secret at first, and don't be mad at him for that, okay?" he quickly added.
"Wait, what are you saying? My father was going to let me believe for the next two weeks that you were dead?" Sydney asked in disbelief.
"Syd, calm down. He just thought that your reaction to my death needed to be believable for Sloane's sake, and he's right about that. I argued that you were a good enough actress to pull that off even if you knew the truth and now I need you to prove me right. You can't let on to anyone other than Weiss that you know I'm alive."
"I can do that," she sighed. "I'm just . . . Vaughn, the last few hours when I thought that you were dead were -- I can't even describe them. It was like reliving Danny's death all over again."
"I know. That's why I begged your dad not to let you go through that again, and he eventually realized that I was right, so don't hold it against him, okay? He would do anything for you, Syd. Everything that he's done so far has been for you."
"Are you running for president of the Jack Bristow fanclub or something?" she softly laughed.
"I'm not sure that I'm qualified for that job, but I do respect him, and he and I have the same primary goal which is to keep you as safe as possible, so I understand where he's coming from, even if I don't always agree with his methods. That's why, I need you to promise me something."
"What?"
"Once my mom and I leave the country, there's not going to be anything that I can do to make sure that you're safe, so I need you to listen to your dad and do whatever he says. I know that you're not great at taking direction, but --"
"Hey!" she protested.
"Come on, Syd. It's true, you're not," Vaughn smiled, "but you need to be. There are only two more weeks until this is over, but now that Sloane has even more reason to be suspicious of you, you have to play this completely by the book. So whatever your dad and Kendall and Weiss tell you to do, you have to do it. Promise me that you will so I won't give myself an ulcer worrying about you."
"I promise," she softly said, "but I need you to promise me that you're going to be careful too, Vaughn. I need you to come back to me," she urgently pleaded.
"I will, and when I do, I'm taking you the hell away from all of this. I'm sorry that I let any of this happen. It was so stupid of me."
"Vaughn, don't you dare blame yourself for this mess. I mean it. I don't want you spending the next two weeks beating yourself up for what happened. There's only one person to blame here, and it's not you, okay?"
"Okay," he sighed just as Jack appeared in the doorway and pointed to his watch. "Syd, your dad is telling me to wrap this up, so I've got to go. Be careful, okay? I love you. I'll see you soon."
"Not soon enough. I love you, too," she whispered.
"Bye."
Vaughn hung up the phone and pressed it to his forehead as he closed his eyes and said a silent prayer that she would be safe until he could hold her in his arms again.
TBC . . .
Chapter 36: "Not So Secret Anymore"
Weiss filled a mug with steaming water and absently watched as the water slowly turned reddish-brown from the bag of tea steeping inside of it. He had been alone in the kitchen for the past ten minutes, making tea he was sure that Sydney wouldn't drink, but being there was better than the alternative -- being out in the living room with Sydney, where he felt as useful as a box of rocks. It had been hours since Jack Bristow advised him to take Sydney to a safe house two hours outside of L.A., and even longer since he received confirmation that the accident in Virginia had claimed Vaughn and Elise's lives. In the entire time since then, Sydney hadn't said a word. He knew that she wasn't quite in a catatonic state, but she was so eerily quiet that she was actually starting to scare him, and he had no idea of how to reach her. He knew that he was going to have to find a way, however, because she needed him now. Truth be told, he needed her just as much, because he wasn't prepared to deal with the reality of his best friend being dead.
He leaned his elbows onto the kitchen counter and buried his face in his hands, as he tried in vain to convince himself that the whole night had been merely a bad dream. Shortly after Tommy informed him of the accident, he called back with the devastating news that the accident had been fatal. Ever since then, Weiss had been trying to make sense of the situation. By all accounts, the accident sounded like it actually had been an accident, but at the same time, it all seemed a little too coincidental. He was almost positive that Sloane had ordered someone to kill Vaughn, and if that was the case, there was no telling what kind of danger Sydney might be in. There was a whole team back at headquarters assessing the situation, but in the meantime, he could do nothing but wait to hear from Jack and Devlin and the wait was driving him crazy.
He sighed as he picked up the mug and some sugar packets and walked into the living room. Sydney was sitting in an overstuffed chair, her knees tucked to her chest, when Weiss set the mug down in front of her.
"It's tea," he offered as he took a seat on the couch next to the chair. He was surprised and caught off guard when she looked at him and spoke for the first time in hours.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. I know it's not much, but I thought -- "
"No, I appreciate it. How long do you think we'll be here?" she quietly asked.
"I'm not sure. The agency's still investigating the accident and trying to figure out how much Sloane knows. They want to be sure that Sloane didn't cause the accident before they allow you to go back to work at SD-6."
"Work?" she bitterly scoffed. "I'm not going back to work."
"What? Syd, you know that you can't -- " Weiss cut himself off from telling her that she was in no frame of mind to make such an important decision right now. He knew that for the moment, at least, he needed to give her space and time to deal with her grief. Rational thinking could wait until later.
She looked back at him defensively, bracing herself to hear all of the reasons why she had to go back to SD-6. She was grateful, however, when she realized that he wasn't going to lecture her right now.
After a few moments of staring at each other and letting silent understanding pass between them, they lapsed into a deep silence, both of them unprepared and unwilling to contemplate how much their lives were going to be changed by Vaughn's absence from them.
Sydney restlessly leaned forward to lift the mug from the coffee table, but froze when she caught a glimpse of her left hand. It seemed as if it had been ages ago, but when she got home earlier that evening, she slipped on her engagement ring, and she forgot to take it off before she left the house to confront Sloane. Had he noticed it, she wondered? Not that it mattered at this point, she bitterly reminded herself. She drew her hand back and simply stared at the diamond on her finger, remembering her shock when she first opened the ring box and saw it glittering back at her, remembering the nervously hopeful look on Vaughn's face when he asked her to marry him, remembering how it felt when he slipped the ring onto her finger. She covered her mouth with her hand as she choked back a sob and tears stung her eyes.
"We were getting married," she whispered.
"Did you say something?" Weiss asked as he snapped out of his contemplative state and focused his attention on her.
"Vaughn and I were engaged."
"What? Since when?" Weiss asked, wide-eyed.
"Since my birthday. He surprised me by booking a room for us in Santa Monica and that night, he asked me to marry him and I said yes." She raised her hand to show him the ring and Weiss's mouth dropped when he saw it.
"Mike never told me that you two were -- he never even mentioned that he was thinking of asking you to marry him."
"He wanted to tell you," Sydney assured him. "He wanted you to be his best man, but we were waiting until SD-6 was gone to tell everyone, because we thought it would be safer that way. Please don't be mad at him for not telling you," she pleaded.
"Sydney, of course I'm not mad. I just -- I wish that I would have known. I can't even imagine how excited he must have been when you said yes. I swear, he had a thing for you from the first day he met you. A week after you started working with us, I had to remind him that he had a girlfriend," he chuckled lightly. "He was so crazy about you. You changed his life, his career, everything."
"No, he changed *my* life," she murmured. "When I came to the CIA, I thought it would take a few weeks at the most to destroy SD-6 and after he made me realize how long it was really going to take, I felt so dejected, like I was going to spend the rest of my life trying to take those bastards down. But from the beginning, he believed in me and reassured me that I could do this. He had so much faith in me and always told me how amazing I was, and never let me lose sight of what we were working for. And he risked his career and his life for me and made me feel like I could accomplish anything as long as he was on my side, and I -- "
Weiss swallowed uncomfortably as her voice broke off with choked tears. He had seen Sydney get emotional and cry before, but he had never seen her look so broken and devastated and it broke his heart.
"I'm done with this," she abruptly announced as she angrily brushed the tears from her eyes. I'm not doing this without him. There's no point. It doesn't matter if I ever get out of this life if he's not here to share it with me," she vehemently shook her head.
"Sydney, come on. That's not true and you know it. You *have* to finish this, because that's what Mike would want. You're so close to succeeding at everything that you and he worked so hard for, and he would be devastated if he knew that you were giving up now. Don't you want to do this for him? For yourself?" Weiss urged her.
"Weiss, I'm tired of this," she said with a dejected sigh. I'm tired of fighting. The only thing that kept me going for this long was Vaughn and the promise of the life we were going to have when this was over. Without that, there's nothing left to fight for."
"I don't buy that for a minute, Sydney," Weiss angrily replied. "One of the things that Vaughn loved the most about you was how much of a fighter you are, how resilient and determined you are. From the day that you walked into our office, he admired that about you. Don't prove him wrong. Don't give up on paying SD-6 back for everything that they've taken from you."
"But I don't know how to do this without him," she quietly cried.
Weiss placed his hand over hers and squeezed it tightly. "Neither do I, Sydney, but we'll find a way, I promise. We have to. We have to do that for him because he would want us to."
Sydney nodded half-heartedly and tried to muster a tiny smile for Weiss through her tears. She appreciated his efforts to be strong for her, but deep inside, she knew that she would never find a way to go on without Vaughn. Even worse than that, she wasn't sure that she wanted to.
***** Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he lowered his gun and placed it back in his shoulder holster. He didn't expecting anyone to find him, Vaughn and Elise where they were, but his instincts had taken over and caused him to draw his gun. As he straightened his suit jacket, Elise regarded him warily and he gave her an apologetic nod, hoping that he hadn't scared her too terribly.
Vaughn noted both of their expressions and anxiously looked back and forth between Jack and his mother, as he waited for some kind of explanation. "You two already know each other?" he bewilderedly asked when no explanation was forthcoming.
"No, not yet," Elise said with exaggerated sweetness. "We were just starting to get to know each other when Jack offered me a glass of water, and that's the last thing I remember before I woke up just now. I do know, however, that I would never let myself fall asleep while my only child was unconscious and suffering from a head injury, so I was hoping that perhaps Jack could provide some insight as to how that might have happened."
Jack was stunned and taken aback by the challenging tone in Elise's voice. He didn't know anything about Elise Vaughn, but ever since he met Vaughn and learned of the connection between their families, he imagined that Elise was nothing more than a mild-mannered, quiet Frenchwoman. When she first regained consciousness after the accident, she was scared and concerned about Vaughn's condition, so he was just beginning to get a glimpse of the assertive, strong-willed woman behind the cool, patrician facade.
"I, uh . . . I gave you a sedative," Jack admitted. "I thought that it would calm you, and you needed to rest after the accident."
"I needed to rest?" Elise asked disbelievingly. "I don't recall being tired, and I was obviously concerned about my son and wanted to be with him when he woke up," she glared at Jack before turning her attention to Vaughn and wrinkling her nose. "Sweetheart, you look like hell."
Jack watched as Elise set a bottle of peroxide and some gauze cloths down onto the night-stand next to the bed, then cleared his throat before speaking again.
"Yes, I imagined that you would want to be with Michael, Mrs. Vaughn, but I needed to speak with him privately once he awoke, and I wasn't sure that I could trust you to stay out of the way."
"You didn't think that you could trust me?" Elise scoffed as she poured peroxide onto one of the cloths and began to clean the abrasions on Vaughn's face. "Excuse me, Mr. Bristow, but frankly, I don't think that I'm the one worthy of mistrust here. If you don't mind, now that Michael is awake, I'd appreciate an explanation of where we are what we -- and you -- are doing here."
Ignoring the unpleasant sting of the peroxide in his cuts and temporarily forgetting about their precarious situation, Vaughn watched his mother and Jack with interest, just barely managing to hide a knowing smirk. He recognized his mother's tone from countless scoldings he received when he was younger and the almost chastened look on Jack's face reminded him of the look he used to see on his father's face whenever he'd drawn his wife's wrath. Vaughn knew how intimidating his mother could be, but he never would have expected her scare tactics to work on Jack Bristow.
Jack glanced at Vaughn for a moment, his face betraying the silent debate he was having with himself about how much to divulge to Vaughn while Elise was in the room.
"For the moment, we're in a safe house just outside of Virginia Beach, but this was merely a temporary stop until you regained consciousness. In a few hours, the two of you will be transported to Langley Air Force Base, and then you'll be flown to Lyon."
"We're going to France?" Vaughn raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. I figured that the two of you could easily blend in there for the next two weeks. I thought about placing you somewhere more rural and out of the way, but -- "
"We're less likely to draw attention in a big city," Vaughn finished.
"Exactly," Jack nodded. "The agency is setting up an apartment for you in Lyon and there'll be a security team in place to assure your safety."
Vaughn nodded, but Jack was more interested in Elise's non-reaction to his news. "I take it that this is acceptable to you?" he asked. "You don't seem very surprised by any of this."
Elise rolled her eyes slightly in response. "My husband was a spy, Mr. Bristow. There really isn't much that surprises me anymore. I've certainly never had my death faked before, but I know how easily -- and successfully -- the company can make someone disappear when it needs to. If this is what we have to do, this is what we have to do," she shrugged. "Do you think that this man -- Arvin Sloane -- do you think that he'll try to find us?"
"Not if he genuinely believes that the two of you were killed in the accident, which is what I'm hoping for, obviously. Whether he believes it, however, depends on Sydney's ability to sell her grief to him."
Vaughn winced as Elise continued to clean his wounds, and glanced over at Jack. "What did Sydney say when you told her about all of this?"
Jack uncomfortably shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked down at the floor. As the seconds passed and Jack's silence grew more conspicuous, Elise stopped attending to Vaughn as they both waited for his answer.
"You *did* tell her, didn't you, Jack?" Vaughn asked.
"I haven't spoken with Sydney yet."
"So she doesn't know that you staged the accident? Elise asked, with a horrified expression on her face. "She thinks that Michael is really dead?"
"Yes, she does, and for the time being, we need for her to continue believing that."
"Are you out of your mind?" Vaughn asked in disbelief as he abruptly stood and took a step toward Jack. "You can't let her go on believing that I'm dead."
"I can, and I will," Jack firmly responded. "I didn't make this decision lightly, Vaughn, but the fact of the matter is that if Sloane has pictures of you, it's not going to be difficult for him to find out that you're CIA, and if he becomes aware of your affiliation with the agency, it won't be a great leap for him to surmise that perhaps Sydney's involvement with the CIA is more extensive than the mere fact of her relationship with you. Believe me, Vaughn, I've put a great deal of thought into my plan, and Sydney's reactions need to be as realistic as possible if we're going to have any hope of keeping Sloane in the dark about her status as a double agent."
"Her reactions? Jack, this is *Sydney* that we're talking about, and you and I both know that she acts first and considers the consequences later. If she thinks I'm dead, if she thinks that Sloane had me killed, she won't hesitate to confront him again. Forget the takedown, she could be risking her life if she goes back to SD-6."
"Are you suggesting that my daughter is reckless?"
"No, she's not reckless, but she's headstrong and impetuous and fearless. I love all of those things about her, but those are the same things that could get her killed."
"I don't disagree, but believe that we can trust her to keep her wits about her, at least until SD-6 is destroyed. She's worked too hard and for too long to jeopardize the op now when the end is so close."
"Jack, if she thinks that Sloane had me killed, she's not going to care about the op or anything else. She'll feel like she has nothing to lose by confronting him again."
"Please don't take this the wrong way, Vaughn," Jack condescendingly began, "but perhaps you're slightly overestimating your importance in Sydney's life."
"I don't think I am," Vaughn replied between clenched teeth.
Elise watched Jack and Vaughn's tense exchange with uneasy fascination, wondering how their seeming power struggle would play out. Both men's backs were ramrod straight with tension and she could almost feel the quiet, controlled anger emanating from both of them.
"Call her and tell her the truth, Jack," Vaughn quietly ordered.
"I intend to do no such thing."
"Jack, I'm serious. She can't go through this again."
"This is not the same situation as with Danny, surely you must realize that," Jack huffed.
"It is the same."
"It's really not."
"*Yes,* it is, because . . ." Vaughn sighed and rubbed his aching forehead as he realized that there was only one way he was going to be able to convince Jack to tell Sydney that he was alive. "It is the same, because Sydney and I are engaged," he said softly.
The two men simply stared at each other for several tense moments until Elise gasped and they both turned their attention to her.
"You and Sydney are engaged to be married?" Elise asked in wide-eyed surprise. "Since when?"
"Since April, Mom," Vaughn admitted. "When I flew out here and surprised Sydney for her birthday, I asked her to marry me and she said yes. We wanted to tell you, but we were keeping it a secret until the SD-6 operation was over. Sydney was fine with the idea of me telling you on my own, but I wanted her to be with me when you found out. That's why I was so insistent about you coming to L.A. in July -- that's when we were going to tell you. We were going to tell you too, obviously," Vaughn said as he turned back towards Jack.
"Oh my goodness," Elise murmured as she placed a hand over her mouth. "I . . . I'm speechless."
"Well, that's a first," Vaughn smiled at her.
"Oh, sweetheart. Congratulations," she cried as she wrapped him in a tight hug. "That's the best news I've ever heard."
"Thanks, Mom," he whispered as he hugged her back. He let out a sigh of relief that she wasn't upset with him for not telling her sooner. He should have known that she'd be so thrilled at the news that she would hardly care that he kept it from her for so long.
When they broke their embrace, Vaughn turned back to Jack once more. "No hug from you?" he cracked. "I'm joking," he quickly said when Jack blankly stared at him in response. "I would have asked for your permission, but, uh, Sydney told me once that that didn't go over too well when Danny tried that."
"Those were different circumstances. Things were much . . . they were different then."
"I know they were," Vaughn agreed. "So, does that mean that I should have asked? Because, frankly, it's a little late for that now, and I don't think Sydney's going to give me the ring back."
Jack couldn't help but smile in spite of himself. He wasn't sure whether to take Vaughn's ability to joke with him right now as a sign of Vaughn's refusal to be intimidated by him or as a sign of his complete mental illness.
"I suppose congratulations are in order." Jack extended his hand and Vaughn shook it firmly.
"Thanks, but actually, I'd just as soon skip the congratulations so you can call Sydney and tell her the truth. I know you're only trying to protect her, Jack, and I respect that, but she needs to know that I'm okay. She's a good actress and I have complete faith that she can fake the grieving girlfriend routine, but it would be cruel to let her go on believing that I'm dead."
"I'll go call Weiss," Jack said with a slight nod. He left the room to make his phone call and Vaughn turned back to his mother, surprised to find her deep in thought with a troubled expression on her face.
"Mom, are you okay? I know that tonight has been unreal. Do you need to rest or something?"
"No, darling, I'm fine. I was just thinking."
"About what?" Vaughn prompted.
"About your father and how he would react to the news that you're getting married."
"Do you think he'd be happy?"
"Of course he would," she smile. "He'd be so excited about welcoming Sydney into the family. He would have loved her, you know."
"Yeah, I know," he smiled back at her. "I told her once that he would have been incredibly impressed by her abilities as an agent."
"No doubt, but I think he also would have liked her just for the kind of person she is, for the way that she obviously loves you very much."
"I wish that they could have met each other," he softly acknowledged.
"Me too. But on the day that you and Sydney get married, he'll be there. You'll feel his presence. We both will," she promised.
Vaughn hugged her again and saw Jack reenter the room over her shoulder. "She wants to speak to you," Jack said, holding out the phone to him.
"Is it safe?" Vaughn apprehensively asked.
"As long as you keep it brief and don't tell her any details about where you are or where you're going."
Vaughn nodded as he took the phone from Jack, and Elise smiled and patted his forearm before following Jack out of the room.
"Would you like coffee, Jack?" Elise asked as they walked through the living room and into the kitchen.
"Thank you," he nodded. "Did you have any idea that Sydney and Michael were so serious about each other?" He had seen the depth of Sydney's emotion when she first told him about her relationship with Vaughn, and Vaughn's concern for her had been evident at their impromptu dinner, but he hadn't contemplated that the two of them were prepared to spend the rest of their lives together. He wondered if perhaps he had missed a sign that Elise had been privy to.
"Well, the fact that she snuck into his place in Virginia to visit him might have been a small clue," she wryly laughed as she filled a coffee pot with water.
"In the all-too brief time that I spent with them, I could tell that they were very serious about each other, and after Sydney left, the difference in Michael's mood was like night and day. He missed her terribly, and he talked about her all the time, but he never even hinted that he was thinking of asking her to marry him."
"You seemed to take the news well," Jack dryly observed.
Elise finished fiddling with the coffee maker, then turned around to face Jack. "Why wouldn't I have reacted well to Michael's announcement?"
"Well, I know that Sydney made you aware of her mother's role in your husband's death, and I think it would be understandable if you had reservations about her marrying your son."
"I agree. It *would* be understandable, and I do have concerns about their decision to marry, but they're the typical concerns that any parent would have. They have nothing to do with your ex-wife."
"I find that hard to fathom."
"To be honest, so do I. I'm not going to lie to you, Jack. I was stunned when Sydney told me about the connection between your family and mine. It wasn't easy to hear about her mother, and for a brief moment, I allowed myself to entertain the possibility that her motives for being with Michael were less than pure.
"But I watched her as she spoke to me. I saw her, saw the way that it was breaking her heart to tell me the truth, and the fear in her eyes that I would hate her. It was painfully obvious how much she loved my son, and whatever my personal feelings are about her mother, I won't let them affect my feelings about Sydney or her relationship with Michael. She makes him happy, and that's all I care about, so I hope that the two of them will have a long and happy marriage.
"Besides, when two people really love each other, when they're meant to be together, there's nothing that can come between them. Not family, not friends, not even government agencies -- legitimate and otherwise," she softly smiled.
"You sound as if you're speaking from personal experience."
"I am. William and I didn't date for very long before we got married, and the CIA was not at all happy that he chose to marry a foreign national, especially after such a short courtship. It was during the height of the cold war, and the agency was obviously concerned that I may have been spying on him, and I -- oh God, I'm so sorry," she apologetically stammered. "I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying."
"Don't apologize," Jack shook his head. "Your husband was simply a luckier and smarter man than I was."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. William was known to play the role of "fool in love" on a regular basis," she smiled. "Obviously, I wasn't a spy, but if I had been, the United States might be a territory of France right now," she laughed.
Jack smiled slightly in response. A short while ago, he had been impressed by Elise's steeliness and obvious emotional strength, but now he found himself surprisingly charmed by her warmth and sense of humor.
"Sydney was very impressed by you when she returned from Virginia, and now I see why. It would appear that the two of you have a mutual admiration society."
Elise smiled back at him. "Perhaps we do. Sydney is a beautiful young woman. You must be very proud of her."
"I am, although I take no credit for the kind of person that she's grown into."
"Well, I'm sure that you deserve at least part of the credit. Children don't raise themselves, you know."
"For all intents and purposes, Sydney did. In the years after my wife's supposed death, I too emotionally distant to be a good father to Sydney, and once it became clear that she was doing fine without my parental input, I think I gave up any pretense of trying. I figured that I'd be more of a detriment to her than anything else."
"But it's obvious how much you love her," Elise pointed out. I mean, look at the lengths to which you've gone to protect her and her boyfriend. I think that maybe you're being too hard on yourself."
"Maybe I'm not," Jack replied with a faint smile.
Elise gave him a sympathetic look before she turned to remove the pot from the coffee maker. She poured two steaming cups of coffee and handed one to Jack.
"I hope you won't take offense to this, Jack, but I'm beginning to wonder if guilt is a Bristow family trait," she smiled. "Is it genetic? Because I'd really hate for our grandchildren to flog themselves every time they steal a cookie from the cookie jar."
Jack smiled in spite of himself as he stirred sugar into his tea. "If it is genetic, I think it only runs on my side of the family, so there's not much reason to -- "
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he instantly regretted them, but Elise's momentary unease was quickly replaced by a conspiratorial smile.
"You know, it just struck me -- we're going to have grandchildren in common one day. As you'll no doubt come to learn, I'm very excited by that prospect."
"Having grandchildren?"
She nodded. "Most of my friends have grandchildren, and I've always been so jealous of them, although I'm not sure why. Maybe I just miss having someone to spoil," she smiled.
"I always feared that Michael would get too caught up in his career to settle down and have a family," she admitted. "And I was concerned that my husband's bloodlines would end with Michael. If he has a child, though, it will almost feel like a part of William will live on in a way. That probably sounds very schmaltzy," she sighed, embarrassed by her admission to an almost perfect stranger.
"Not at all. It's perfectly understandable. Its strange, however, to think that his bloodlines are going to mix with those of the woman who killed him."
"It is, but maybe it's God's way of finally righting the wrong that was committed when she killed him. I don't know," she sighed. "I'm not a strong believer in fate, but life makes you wonder sometimes. William and I weren't in any particular hurry to expand our family, but I always thought that it would be nice to have a daughter. And now I feel like I'm gaining one and she just happens to be the daughter of the woman who made it impossible for me to have another child with him," she realized, shaking her head at the irony.
"Do you really think of Sydney as a daughter?" Jack asked with interest.
"Well, I haven't spent that much time with her, but I liked her from the moment I met her, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know her better. I meant what I said before -- I think she's lovely, and she's going to be my son's wife, so yes, I already think of her like a daughter.
"What?" she asked when she saw the slightly surprised expression on Jack's face.
"It's just ironic. I was an only child and Sydney obviously never knew her mother's family, so I think she always longed for a sense of family. It's ironic that she finally found that in the family of one of her mother's victims."
"Life is funny that way, isn't it? It takes twists and turns that you'd never expect. Like this one," she wryly laughed as she looked around the austere safe house. "I know that I gave you a hard time earlier, but I just want to say, Jack, that if it turns out that you saved my son's life tonight, I can't thank you enough for that."
"Well, I'm not sure that I have saved his life. I'm not even sure that Sloane planned to make an attempt on his life, but the last time that Sloane tried to kill a man that Sydney loved, I was too late to prevent it. I didn't want to make the same mistake twice.
"I *won't* make the same mistake twice," he vowed.
***** Vaughn took a deep breath before he spoke, almost afraid that Sydney wouldn't really be on the other end of the line.
"Syd?"
"Vaughn," she breathed a teary sigh of relief. "Oh my God. Thank God you're alright. I thought . . . I was so scared that you -- "
"Shhh. Sydney, it's okay," he assured her when he heard her softly crying. "I'm fine. I'm just a little bruised, that's all."
"But it could have been so much worse. It still could be."
"No, it will be fine. Your dad is on top of everything. It's actually a little scary how good he is at faking a death. It made me realize that if I ever get out of line, he could have me killed for real and do it without leaving a trace," he smiled.
"Vaughn," Sydney laughed through her tears, "don't joke about that."
"It got you to laugh, right? Seriously, your dad's not going to let anything happen to me or my mom."
"How is your mom? She's okay, right?" she worriedly asked.
"Yeah, she's fine. She barely had a scratch on her."
"Good. She must think this is all so crazy -- as if my family wasn't already crazy enough," she muttered. "My mother kills her husband and my father fakes her death. She must be loving the Bristows right now."
"One in particular. Syd, I should tell you that, um, she knows about our engagement. So does your dad."
"They do? My dad didn't say anything about it when he spoke to me just now."
"Yeah, I think he's still trying to process it, or convince himself that it's all a bad dream," he laughed.
"What made you tell them? Did you say something while you were unconscious?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who talks in my sleep," he reminded her. "No. I told them. I had to in order to convince your dad to call you and tell you that I was okay. He was a little reluctant to let you in on that secret at first, and don't be mad at him for that, okay?" he quickly added.
"Wait, what are you saying? My father was going to let me believe for the next two weeks that you were dead?" Sydney asked in disbelief.
"Syd, calm down. He just thought that your reaction to my death needed to be believable for Sloane's sake, and he's right about that. I argued that you were a good enough actress to pull that off even if you knew the truth and now I need you to prove me right. You can't let on to anyone other than Weiss that you know I'm alive."
"I can do that," she sighed. "I'm just . . . Vaughn, the last few hours when I thought that you were dead were -- I can't even describe them. It was like reliving Danny's death all over again."
"I know. That's why I begged your dad not to let you go through that again, and he eventually realized that I was right, so don't hold it against him, okay? He would do anything for you, Syd. Everything that he's done so far has been for you."
"Are you running for president of the Jack Bristow fanclub or something?" she softly laughed.
"I'm not sure that I'm qualified for that job, but I do respect him, and he and I have the same primary goal which is to keep you as safe as possible, so I understand where he's coming from, even if I don't always agree with his methods. That's why, I need you to promise me something."
"What?"
"Once my mom and I leave the country, there's not going to be anything that I can do to make sure that you're safe, so I need you to listen to your dad and do whatever he says. I know that you're not great at taking direction, but --"
"Hey!" she protested.
"Come on, Syd. It's true, you're not," Vaughn smiled, "but you need to be. There are only two more weeks until this is over, but now that Sloane has even more reason to be suspicious of you, you have to play this completely by the book. So whatever your dad and Kendall and Weiss tell you to do, you have to do it. Promise me that you will so I won't give myself an ulcer worrying about you."
"I promise," she softly said, "but I need you to promise me that you're going to be careful too, Vaughn. I need you to come back to me," she urgently pleaded.
"I will, and when I do, I'm taking you the hell away from all of this. I'm sorry that I let any of this happen. It was so stupid of me."
"Vaughn, don't you dare blame yourself for this mess. I mean it. I don't want you spending the next two weeks beating yourself up for what happened. There's only one person to blame here, and it's not you, okay?"
"Okay," he sighed just as Jack appeared in the doorway and pointed to his watch. "Syd, your dad is telling me to wrap this up, so I've got to go. Be careful, okay? I love you. I'll see you soon."
"Not soon enough. I love you, too," she whispered.
"Bye."
Vaughn hung up the phone and pressed it to his forehead as he closed his eyes and said a silent prayer that she would be safe until he could hold her in his arms again.
TBC . . .