Title: All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'

Author: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)

'Ship: You ask this. why?

Spoilers/Timeline: Pre-Phase One, Post-The Getaway, AU

A/N: Italicized lyrics come from Dashboard Confessional's Bend and Not Break off of their newest album. Big heart there. Sorry for the wait. College admissions stuff (I got into one!!...now I just got to wait for the other .5) AP classes (DIE DIE DIE) performances and a million other things have been going on. For those of you reading the other things of mine.I'm trying to get them all updated this week.I make no promises, but I am trying. Love to you all.

I am fairly agile

I can bend and not break

Or I can break and take it with a smile

And I am so resilient

I recover quickly

I'll convince you soon that I am fine

He sat in the same position, his fingers moving mechanically across the smooth black keys, his eyes trained on the screen. Had it really been almost 7 months since he had sat in the same spot, typing out the letter that would seal his fate? Had it really been almost 7 months since he had last seen her, really seen her? Heard her speak, seen her smile?

          He stilled his fingers over the keys, listening to the sounds of the agents as they rushed past his door, an excitement pulsing through the entire building. Standing, he walked to his door, watching as the agents rushed by, not noticing his presence.

          "John.John! What's going on?"

          "Raid just got out.they're bringing in the higher-ups."

          "Casualties?" He asked anxiously, needing to know.

          "Couple of deaths on their side, couple of injuries on ours. One got hurt pretty badly, they aren't sure if she's gonna make it." His chest contracted. Please no.not her.please."But O'Connell's a tough chick. She'll make it."

          Relief flooded his body as he watched the other man walk away, closely followed by a tinge of guilt. This woman was possibly dying and all he could think about was how grateful he was that it wasn't her. A knot formed in his stomach and he quickly moved back into his office, shutting the door behind him. Sinking back into his chair, he tried to refocus his mind on the task at hand. This was something that needed to be done! But all he could think about was how she had finally done it. And how he wasn't there to see it happen.

          She stood looking into the abyss, the crackles and sparks of the wires as they pulled themselves from their places flashed blue and white all around her. The destruction, the appearance of a war zone.she had never seen anything more beautiful in all her life. She smiled softly as she looked at the room around her, the realization of it all flooding over her body. It was over.

          She turned to leave, only to jump back as she came face to face with his smile.

          "Geeze Weiss! Do you always have to do that!?" She gasped, slowing down her heart rate.

          "What?" Weiss smiled good-naturedly. "I didn't do a damn thing. I was simply standing here, watching."

          "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sydney grinned as she took a step forward, enveloping a man who had quickly become one of her best friends in a tight hug. "We did it Eric. We did it."

          "No Sydney. You did. None of this would have happened if you hadn't worked so hard. Congratulations kid."

          She grinned widely as she pulled away, looking at the ruins around her. "Look at this place. 9 years of my life were spent here. 7 of them not knowing a thing. And now it's done."

          "You worked hard to do it. We're all so proud of you."

          "Any word on O'Connell?" She suddenly turned serious, dropping her voice.

          "No, not yet. But you know Elyse; the woman will be back in the office Monday, ready to reject yet another offer of mine." Weiss joked, eliciting a smile.

          They slowly turned, walking towards the door, the smile never leaving her face. When she had only a foot left standing in the offices that had bound her to a double life for so long, she slowly turned and looked over the ruins once more, a sad smile crossing her features. She leaned against the door jam slightly, feeling the weight of everything fall upon her shoulders.

          "He would have been here, you know. If you had asked him."

          She turned to Weiss slowly, smiling slightly. "Come on, let's get out of here."

          Wrapping an arm around each other, the two walked slowly out of the building, leaving behind the sparks, the destruction, and a double life.

          His eyes stayed focused on the screen, his fingers moving swiftly once again. He had finally gotten back to the point where he could semi-concentrate on what he needed to do and he refused to allow anything to sidetrack him at this point. His fingers forced down the keys with a gentle ease, his ears trained only to the sounds of the click, click, clack. Reaching for his cup of coffee, he froze suddenly, his eyes coming in contact with the other person, sitting silently across from him.

          "How long have you been sitting there?"

          "A while."

          "How are you? I heard things went really we."

          "Why weren't you there?" She broke in swiftly, eliciting a sigh.

          "Because I couldn't be. I took myself out of that situation a long time ago."

          "That's bullsh-t and you know it. I read the debrief, you wrote it."
          "Syd."

          "The entire thing reeked of you. The style, the way we moved in. You planned it out. We always said we'd go in together. Why weren't you there?"

          "Because I knew if I saw you again I wouldn't be able to do it." His tone was sharp, forceful. He was done playing games. "These last 7 months haven't been exactly easy for me Sydney. I've been going insane wondering if you're all right. Asking Eric whether or not you came back this time, injuries, if you've told him anything. You've been all I thought about and it's driven me mad."

          She stared at him, shocked slightly by his outburst, but unwilling to allow him to see the kind of effect that he had on her. "Then I guess we can't move past this.this infraction. But I'm not the one who left Vaughn. I'm not the one who left without so much as a word. That was you. You made the decision for us to have no form of communication. You made the decision to never know if I had come back from a mission. You made the decision to not be there today. You broke a promise to me in that respect Vaughn, and you left me wondering what it was that I did to make you not even come back for this."

          She stood, keeping full eye contact with him, never wavering. "Don't play High and Mighty with me. Because I'm the one you destroyed on your way to the top. So thanks for caring enough to send a letter, Mr. Senior Officer, but next time, don't bother."

          She threw a crinkled white envelope down on his desk before storming out of his office, slamming the door behind her.

          Grabbing the worn envelope, Vaughn slowly pulled out the piece of paper that lay inside. Unfolding it, his heart stopped for a moment.

          It was his letter to her, tear stains blurring the once carefully thought out words.