Chapter Five

A/N: Fans of Lauren Reed, run now.

Vaughn smiled lightly and shook Lauren's hand. Sydney could tell that Lauren's eyes were sweeping over her boyfriends figure appreciatively, and cleared her throat loudly after Vaughn introduced himself. Lauren turned towards her, and Sydney gave her a tightlipped smile. "Sydney Bristow."

"Nice to meet you both," she said, eyes still focused on Vaughn. Resentment curled in Sydney's stomach, sure she was used to other women checking out Vaughn, but 'Miss Lauren Reed' was hardly being subtle.

"So, Miss Reed, you wanted to ask us about my mother?" Sydney spoke up, knowing her feelings were slightly juvenile but for some reason felt helpless to put an end to them.

"Oh, yes," Lauren replied, darting her eyes away from Vaughn, who seemed to be slightly taken aback.

"We should get to that. Agent Vaughn and I... *we'll* need to be going soon." Not-So-Subtle implications of the relationship between Vaughn and I… that's not too Jr. High. Nice going, Syd. What's next, braces?

"Oh, alright. Then yes, Agent Bristow. We can 'get to it' right away."

"Thank you."

Lauren's spine straightened considerably as she led them to a conference room, and Vaughn furrowed his eyebrows at Sydney's behavior. She was never the type to become jealous, or rude unless there was a reason. Even stranger was the jolt of familiarity when he was introduced to her. If he hadn't been so in love with Sydney, he might have found her attractive and tried to talk to her.

For a reason unknown to her, Sydney kept thinking of insults to throw at Lauren, and was surprised at her own level of animosity towards her. 'I just met her, why do I detest her so much?'  Determined to keep her mouth shut, she sat down next to Vaughn and folded her hands.

Lauren began to explain what they had found so far, and proceeded to ask her questions about Irina and what had been said to her during her residence the Ops Center.

Sydney and Vaughn answered her questions as best as they could, Sydney biting her tongue several times to prevent herself from letting slip the rather impolite comments she was harboring.


Finally, Lauren looked up from her notepad at Sydney and cleared her throat. "Miss Bristow, did Derevko ever drop any hints towards you of her eventual endgame?"


"Meaning...?"


"Other than justifiable suspicion, did you ever have valid reason to believe that Irina Derevko was less than loyal to the Central Intelligence Agency?"


"Are you implying that I knew she was a traitor all along?"


"Understand, Agent Bristow, I'm simply exploring all possible-"


"Well I had no idea. As you said, I was suspicious, understandably. But it's not like she ever told me during a mother-daughter tea party that she was going to betray us!"

Lauren glared at Sydney and scribbled on her notepad. From where she was sitting, Sydney couldn't tell just how hard the pen was pressing into the paper, but from the sound that the paper was emitting, she could imagine it was close to ripping.

"Are we done?" She controlled her voice so that the hostility was masked and merely sounded bored. 

Lauren was really starting to hate Sydney Bristow, and the hate that filled her did not seem new. It was like she had hated her from the moment she had heard her name, two weeks ago. Now she felt like her hate was justified; Sydney Bristow was arrogant and self-righteous. "For now. I may have more questions later."

"Fine." With that she left the conference room in a huff, and Vaughn was left vaguely wondering what the hell just happened.

Vaughn excused himself politely and hurried after Sydney, who was making her way out of the Ops center.

Lauren placed her notepad and pen in her briefcase and left the conference room. Realizing that the disk she used to type up her reports was still in her car, she headed to the garage. Once there, she started towards her car, but stopped short before she turned the corner.

"Syd, what was that all about?" Vaughn questioned once they were alone in the parking garage, away from listening ears... or so they thought.
"I don't know..." Sydney replied, still wondering about the situation herself. "I just... there's something I don't like about her." She paused, reflecting on the feelings that overcame her. "It was like I had this resentment, like I've always disliked her. For a second, I even felt jealous, and I don't even know her!"

Turning away from Vaughn, she bit her lip. The emotions running through her were so strong that she couldn't even look him in the face. One second she was angry with him, so bitter, that she wanted to turn around and slap him. Then… then it was just longing coursing through her. Tears filled her eyes, and she flung herself into Vaughn's arms.

"Syd, what's wrong?" he asked, startled, as he held her.

"I have no idea," she sniffled, "I have all these emotions running through me, and I don't know why."

For another few moments, he just held her and rocked her slowly, moving his hand soothingly through her hair, letting her cry. Then he asked gently, "Syd, tell me what you're feeling."


She pulled back slowly, still keeping a tight grip on his hand, and looked straight into his patient eyes. "I... I can't describe it well. It's just... I don't know. Like when we met Lauren. I didn't like her. I mean, right away I didn't like her. Not just a bad instinct or assumption, though. It was as though I had a reason to hate her, one that I've had for a while. And she started to come on to you... I'm used to people doing that..." she smiled a little, and then became serious again. "But for some reason I couldn't handle it. It just... I don't know. I've been having these bizarre feelings about everything the last few days. It's like I've... I don't know. Like I've been in a constant state of deja vu. And I always feel like something... always... doesn't belong," she finished, wondering if she even understood what she meant.

"I'm sorry, I must be making absolutely no sense."

"Don't be sorry," he murmured as he brushed a stray hair from her face. "To be honest, there was something inside me that was attracted to her." Sydney tried to pull her hand from his, but his grip held tight. "Don't. It's gone, Syd. You know you've ruined other women for me." His tone became playful. "Have you been slipping things into my drinks?"

"No," her tone mischievous, "Its just the really good sex." Sydney felt as if she was riding an emotional roller coaster, because now that he was holding her hand she felt safe and relaxed, and ready for a little shameless flirting.

*

Lauren brought a hand to her temple as she watched the display before her. She felt all the hope and optimism about the handsome male agent drain away and become replaced quickly by jealousy and hurt. She'd felt something with him! She knew she had... and he'd felt it too, he'd even admitted it to his... she forced out the word in her mind... girlfriend. But she... this *Sydney* stole it away. Took away all her chances. And had the nerve to insult her, to decide right off the bat that she hated... not only disliked...but *hated* her.

*

"Oh really," his tone shifted so that it had an almost lazy sultry to it, "I thought-" Sydney's lips touching his interrupted his sentence, and he pulled her closer until his hands roamed freely down her back.

She pulled away with a cocky smile. "Sometimes you just have to let me have the last word, Vaughn."

"Sometimes? Syd, you always have the last word, whether I like it or not."

"Yea, so what," she whispered as she pulled him back to her. He didn't object, but what man would when Sydney Bristow was kissing them like that?

*

Lauren pulled her head back around the corner in disgust. The last thing she wanted to see was a woman that she despised sticking her tongue down the throat of a man she had developed a crush on. No, it was more than a crush, she decided. She was a woman, far too old for childish crushes. She had a *feeling* for him, something that stirred deep within her. Something that was almost unnatural, something that seemed completely inconceivable. She'd never been one to fall so easily under a man's spell. But this was different. It was almost as if she felt... like she was *supposed* to have an attraction to him. It was in her nature, in her blood, to fall for him.


To be with him.


And that's when she realized... it all suddenly fit. This Sydney Bristow was the most despicable, horrible person she had ever met. And she was stealing her soul mate.

A resolution began to form in Lauren's mind as she leaned against the concrete wall. Michael Vaughn felt something for her as well, and that had to mean they were meant, they were destined. Somehow she'd have to convince him of that very fact, even if it meant incurring the wrath of Sydney Bristow.

TBC…