Chapter 2: Friends & Neighbors

Knock. Knock.

Sydney gets up from the couch, then hesitates wondering whether or not she should hide the evidence of what she's been doing. She then laughs to herself, realizing every person in her life is a spy – any one of them would figure it out regardless.

"There's no privacy in the life of a spy," she mutters as she heads over to answer the door. She peers through the peephole, then smiles and opens the door.

"Weiss."

"Hey baby! Can I come in?"

"Sure." Sydney moves aside and wanders back over to the couch. Weiss follows and notices an almost empty bottle of tequila on the coffee table, along with a salt shaker, numerous used up limes, and a vat of coffee ice cream.

"Looks like I missed quite a party."

" ' Beware the grieving man and his bottle…,'" Sydney says as she plops down on the couch and pours another glass.

"What? You're not a man. Wait…you don't have some random guy hidden here somewhere, do ya?" Weiss glances back towards the darkened hallway, halfway expecting to see someone.

Sydney gives him a throaty laugh.

"No…no random guy. No guy period. I was just remembering something someone said to me once. It seemed appropriate."

Weiss sits on the other side of the couch and takes the shot glass from Sydney. With a quick flick of the wrist, he down it in one gulp, then places the glass on the table. Leaning back against the sofa, he shifts to face Sydney, who is staring into the fireplace with a glazed look over her face.

"So, that defector guy you and Vaughn brought back is a huge break for us…."

"He sent you, didn't he?"

"Sent me? Who sent me?"

"Vaughn."

"What are you talking about? I haven't been by to see you in awhile and we're friends, so here I am."

"Weiss…you can't play me. It's my job to read body language and look for tells. Believe me, you suck at deception."

"Hey now – no need to get personal. Come on, I read your debrief and it sounded like some pretty intense stuff. I thought you might appreciate an outlet."

"An outlet, huh? And how much of what I 'let out' will be reported to a certain third party."

"You mean the elephant in the room?"

"Yeah – I keep trying to evict him, but just as I shove him out the door, he crawls back through the window."

Weiss chuckles, "Now there's an interesting visual!"

Sydney gives him a smile.

"Hey, I think I saw a flash of the infamous Bristow dimples. I must be wearing down your defenses."

Sydney looks down and the smile fades. Then she leans forward towards the tequila bottle again, but Weiss snatches it before she can grab it.

"Hey – don't make me kick your ass!"

"Syd, listen to me. I've already had to scrape one friend out of the bottom of a bottle. I'd rather not make that a habit."

"I don't want to feel anything right now, Eric. I just want to be numb. I thought finding out about my two years – getting some answers after all these months of not knowing, would give me some closure. But instead, it's made my life even more screwed up – huh, like I even thought that was possible. I found out some things that I'm not ready to deal with…I may never want to."

Weiss gets up and cleans the mess off the coffee table, then heads to the kitchen. Sydney's gaze returns to the fire. A few minutes later, Weiss returns with a cup of tea and hands it to her. She gives him the briefest of smiles, then accepts it gratefully. He sits down and cracks open a beer, then leans back and looks at her expectantly.

"Hey, you know what? It's Sunday night and its almost 9. My favorite show comes on now on ABC."

"Sydney, I think you're trying to railroad me. I ain't buying it."

"Oh come on, we have all night to talk. Right now, I just want to escape. This show totally kicks! It's all about spies, but of course it's completely unrealistic. But the lead character is a totally kick ass chick, which almost never happens in prime time television. And her partner is so hot he could melt the TV screen, and they have all this UST between them because the government frowns upon 'fishing off the company dock.'"

"UST – what the hell is that?"

"Unresolved Sexual Tension."

"Sounds like a communicable disease."

"Come on, Eric. Watch with me, please? I'll catch you up on everything. Then afterwards…we can talk, if you want."

"Well, okay. But only because I can't resist a begging drunk spywoman who could kill me with her pinky."

"Thanks."

~~~~~


An hour, four beers and two cups of tea later…

"Okay, now I'm really worried about you, Syd. You know way too much about this show. You said its in its fifth season now? Which means you've missed two years of it – how do you still know what's going on?"

"God bless DVD box sets. I've got the first four seasons on DVD."

Sydney grabs the empty beer bottles and her mug, then heads into the kitchen. Weiss follows her and sits on a stool at the kitchen island. Sydney tosses the empties and places the mug in the sink. She then turns around, leans back against the sink and crosses her arms, as if she can protect herself from the conversation she is about to have. Weiss returns her gaze and gives her a small smile – trying to reassure her in some way.

Sydney looks at the floor and lets out a heavy sigh.

"Before I say anything, I need you to be honest with me. Did Vaughn ask you to come check on me?"

Weiss hesitates a moment, then looks down as well. "Yeah, he did." He looks back at her. "But I had already planned on coming over, I swear! I know you and I know him. I've been around your relationship from the beginning. Reading that debrief and seeing you guys walk into JTF with the defector – it was obvious that something went down. At least it was obvious to me."

"What exactly did he tell you?"

"Syd – I came here as a friend who cares about you. I want you to use me as a sounding board – a friendly ear to spill your guts to. I'm not going to be your source of information about Vaughn, at least not when it comes to what he says about you. And I told him the same thing. Eventually, you guys will have to talk to each other."

Sydney looks up at him and snickers a little. "You're like the CIA's very own Dr. Phil."

"But with more hair, of course."

"Of course."

"Now, if you're asking me whether or not he told me about something that happened in North Korea, but did not appear in one of his 'Tolstoy-long' debriefs, then the answer is yes. He told me that he tried to tell you…something…then you said you already knew…and then you kissed."

Sydney put her right hand over her eyes and pushed on them, trying to prevent the eruption of tears she could feel threatening to pour out. When she pulled her hand away and looked back at Eric with her watery eyes, he was respectfully looking down and playing with a pot holder. After a moment, he met her gaze.

"I have another question. How much did Kendall tell you and Vaughn about my missing two years before we went to Patagonia?"

"Not very much really. He said you had been brain-washed by the Covenant into believing you were Julia Thorne. And that while they had you, they extracted some of your eggs, because of your role in the Prophecy regarding Rambaldi. He said we needed to get to Patagonia ASAP and retrieve the Cube and your…well, you know. There wasn't much time for further explanation. Vaughn about blew a gasket when he tried to question Kendall further about your missing two years and baldy told him it was 'classified.' He almost wasn't allowed to go, but I think Kendall was afraid he'd go whether he approved it or not."

"Eric, what I'm about to tell you…you have to promise me that you will not say a word to anyone about it. I mean ANYONE."

"I promise…but you're kind of scaring me. What happened?"

Sydney takes a slow deep breath, then starts to speak in a voice barely above a whisper.

"It is true that I was taken by the Covenant. They extracted pulp from my teeth and injected it into the teeth of…Fran..Francie's corpse. That is why the DNA results showed the body as being me."

"SHIT!"

"Oh, it gets worse. When I woke up a couple of days later, I was strapped down in the back of a van with duct tape across my mouth. That doctor was there…Oleg – the guy I killed in Frankfurt soon after I returned to the field. He injected me with a neuro-inhibitor…some sort of temporary paralysis drug. He adjusted the gurney I was strapped to and raised me up, so that I could watch…my own funeral."

"Shit! Shit! And double-shit!"

"Nice vocabulary you got there, Weiss. Thankfully, I still don't actually have those memories, but this is the story that I told Kendall."

"Wait – when YOU told Kendall? He knew you were alive? You were in contact with him?"

"Slow down. I'm getting to that. For six months or so I was subjected to every possible form of brain-washing technique out there – they probably invented a few new ones for me. But it is impossible to brainwash me."

"Syd, I know you are one hell of a spy, but don't you think that's a little cocky for even you to say?"

"Oh, it has nothing to do with me, really. Did Vaughn ever tell you about Project Christmas?"

"Yeah. That your dad used you as a guinea pig and you got really pissed off when you found out he turned you into a spy at the ripe old age of six."

"Well, I guess I should thank him for that now, because Project Christmas hard-wired me with a failsafe. I am actually impervious to brain-washing."

"Wow…I don't know what to say to that."

"It takes a little while for it all to sink in. Anyway, I guess I eventually started to play along with their little game and let them believe that I was brain-washed. About nine months after I…died, I escaped from the Covenant and contacted Kendall."

"WHAT!!!! Kendall knew you were alive?"

"Yeah – Dixon, too."

"WHAT!!!! Oh, Sydney….no, no, no…this is all wrong. Why didn't you come back? Where have you been since then?"

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down, Eric. I met Kendall in a safe house in Tuscany and told him the story of what I have told you so far. The CIA, FBI, NSC – nobody knew much about the Covenant at that point in time. He wanted me to continue the charade, but I wanted to come home to my dad…and to Vaughn."

"Oh, Syd…I don't like where this is going. Did you…did you come back?"

"Yeah."

"Oh my God…"

"I saw Vaughn getting out of his car outside a restaurant. I was just about to get out, when I saw he wasn't alone. He was…with Lauren…and I…I guess I…saw them kiss and go inside."

"Oh no…this is wrong in so many ways. Syd, you have got to tell Vaughn this and I mean ASAP!"

"No, you need to let me finish. I haven't told anyone this, Eric. I need to get it out. After they entered the restaurant, I saw two men pull up and look towards Vaughn's car and towards the restaurant. Then one of them seemed to be reporting to someone via a comm in his ear, then they drove off. Vaughn was being watched…they knew that he would be the first person I would come looking for."

"Sydney, I'm going to say it again…you have GOT to tell Vaughn about this!"

"Eric, do you realize how many people who have been close to me and then have either died or had their lives ruined because of me? I couldn't let that happen to Vaughn. I love him so much that I had to let him go…I mean, I loved..him so much. I called Kendall from the car and agreed to be a double agent…again. I passed information to the CIA, while seemingly following the Covenant's orders as Julia Thorne."

Weiss stands up and goes over to Sydney. He wraps her in a big bear hug and strokes the back of her hair. Sydney tries to stay tough for about a second, then she lets loose. A torrent of pain and tears come crashing down and she nearly collapses in his arms.

"Hey, hey now. Shhhh." Weiss continues to hold her upright, letting her break down. "I think that is enough for tonight. You need to get to bed and get some sleep. Are you suppose to go in to work tomorrow?"

Choking out between sobs, she says, "No. Dixon told me to take a couple of extra days. He knew that I needed to deal with some things."

"Good, good. Now, I'm going to get you to bed, then I'm going to just crash on your couch, if you don't mind. I don't want you to be alone tonight. I'll call in tomorrow and talk to Dixon, let him know that I'm taking care of you. Then we can finish this up in the morning, if you want to."

Sydney takes a step back and looks up at him. "Eric, I don't know what I'd do without you. Thank you…just…thank you."

She gives him a tight squeeze, then they both turn towards the darkened hallway, Weiss with his arm around her shoulders and Sydney with her arm around his waist.

"Just don't get any funny ideas in the middle of the night. The Weiss-man is not looking to be your love muffin."

Sydney gives him a wet, dimpled grin and slaps at his arm.

"Ow. That kind of hurt!"