Sydney glanced up at Vaughn as he rose to go to the kitchen. Leaning
forward, she caught his pant leg and tugged gently. "Get me some water?"
she asked, smiling as he bent down to kiss her quickly.
"Okay," he assented, continuing his journey across the living room. The tv flashed behind him; the pregame show was starting. "The Los Angeles Kings vs. the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Considering how it ended last season, the Kings better get some padding for their rear ends. This is going to be a short game."
"So we're due back in at work on Monday?" Sydney called from the couch as Vaughn turned on the Brita in the kitchen.
"Yeah, one more day of freedom from the tyrants," he sighed upon returning to his spot on the couch and handing Sydney her glass. She took it gratefully, laying her head on his shoulder as she sipped it slowly.
The moment was relaxed and perfect. Almost.
*Ring, ring. *
"Ugh, you were saying?" Sydney groaned, lifting her head and handing him his phone.
He looked at her apologetically as he flipped his phone open. "Hello?"
"Agent Vaughn? This is Lauren Reed again."
Sydney's pupils dilated noticeably at hearing the voice on the other end of Vaughn's cell phone. He sighed both to reassure her and to spite Lauren. "Is there something I can do for you, Ms. Reed?"
"Yes there is, actually. We're calling in several agents for further questioning concerning Irina Derevko. Would it be a problem for you to come in today at 4?"
He glanced at his watch. 3:27.
"Actually, I'm slightly preoccupied. Would it be possible to have me in at another time?"
"I'm afraid, Mr. Vaughn, that with all the time you've been..." she paused and cleared her throat, "*preoccupied* this weekend, this simply cannot be held off any longer. I'll see you at four."
Click.
"Damnit," he muttered, pressing the end button on his phone violently. "I have to go in." She pressed her face into his shoulder briefly before kissing him.
"Then go in and get it over with," she said, her eyes mere inches away from his. He kissed her again, quickly, and got up from the couch. The announcers chattered away in the background, but she was no longer interested. Hockey wasn't all that appealing to her; the highlight of the game was watching his eyes light up and seeing him jump up from their comfortable position screaming and shaking his fist.
He returned a few minutes later dressed in his standard oxford suit, tightening his tie as he reached for his keys on the counter top. He smiled sadly at her. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Rising on her knees, she leaned against the back of the couch, looking up at him with a small smile on her face. "I know you will, but I'll still tape the game for you." "I'm not just going to rush because of the game you know."
Her eyes narrowed. "Uh huh." Her doubt caused him to walk over to her and kiss her soundly.
"Hockey isn't my only love," he whispered, giving her one last peck before exiting noisily through the door.
***
Lauren was sitting at the table in conference room C, spine straight and eyebrows raised at his late entrance. "Agent Vaughn, so glad you could make it."
Before he even sat down, he made it a point to be upfront and direct. He really didn't need an NSC agent with a crush to keep him from spending the evening with Sydney. "Hello, Ms. Reed. I don't mean to be rude upfront but could we possibly make this as quickly as possible? I have to get home."
"Hm. What's the rush?" She was probing into his personal life, and he immediately bristled.
"Is that your first question? Because I don't believe it concerned Irina Derevko."
Lauren sighed, clearly growing exasperated. "Alright, then. What was the last time you were in contact with Irina Derevko?"
"Willingly?" he questioned, thinking of all the times he was forced to work with her.
"Yes."
"Uh... had to have been..."
"When the CIA needed to gain control of a computer program called Echelon. She had knowledge that would help us to do so. That would have been... last December."
"And there was nothing that could have hinted her plans?"
"Nothing," he confirmed, then added in a mutter, "for the second time."
Lauren didn't seem to notice. At least, she didn't show it. "Did you ever have conversations with Derevko about subjects other than intelligence necessary for the missions?"
He saw a warning light blaze in his mind. "What are you asking?"
"We simply want to check for emotional biases in this case-"
Half rising from his seat, he exclaimed indignantly, "Emotional biases! The woman killed my father!" After a second he remembered she was only doing her job, and resumed his earlier position.
Lauren sighed. "Yes, alright. Moving on. What did you usually converse with her about?"
"You seem to already know," Vaughn deadpanned. She sighed again. He rubbed his forehead and answered, if only to stop the sighing. "When the CIA needed unavailable information, she would sometimes be able to provide us with necessary and usually accurate intel."
"Anything else?"
His mind quickly ran through every meeting with Derevko, but it skidded to a screeching stop when it reached the conversation he had with her after he recovered from the virus.
He's struggling, deciding how to put this into words without risking his job or her life. "You asked me some questions. I told you I'd answer them if you helped me. You did help me and I thank you for that."
She responds in typical fashion, echoing his earlier sentiments. "I didn't do it for you. He continues in what he thinks is a normal tone, all things considering. "I'm trying to live a normal life, which was always hard given what I do but it's gotten harder since I met your daughter. It's not that knowing her hasn't made my life better. It has. But it's also made it that much worse," he hesitates, "I think I've said enough."
"The problem, Mr. Vaughn, is that to the one person who matters, you haven't said anything."
Drumming his fingers on the table, his eyes rise to meet Lauren's without a second's hesitation, even though his mind was still whirling over that conversation. "No. We only discussed intel."
Her eyes narrowed. She didn't believe him.
And he found he didn't care too much.
"You're sure that's all?" she emphasized. He nodded. Maybe a bit too eagerly, but then, he wasn't trying to win a Tony. Just trying to get this aggravating blonde off his back.
"All right, then. Can you explain how it was exactly that you first came into personal contact with Derevko?"
A new memory collided with the previous one.
"That woman, forty-eight hours ago, was one hundred per cent bad news. But now she's ours and there is just a chance, Mr. Vaughn, that she has turned."
"...When she got done with my father, he could only be identified by his dental records."
"Yes. Nevertheless, she headed up an organization that controlled people who influenced policy decisions at NATO, the U.N., and the World Bank. Even with all our resources, the CIA doesn't know the full scope of her operation.
The key players, their methods, acquisitions, ambitions... "
"If I can get her to talk, I don't want you to ask Sydney to see her ever again."
"Well, I'm not going to make that promise."
"You're not the easiest guy to work with, are you?"
"No. No, definitely not."
Vaughn thought carefully before answering. "When Derevko turned herself in, it was a very emotional experience for Agent Bri... Sydney. Finding that the woman she'd always thought to be her mother was re-entering her life as a completely different person. To make matters worse, she was being forced into seeing her for intel by Director Kendall. Meeting with her then would have broken Sydney, but the information was imperative. So I offered to go in her place."
Lauren jotted a few notes down on her pad and looked back up, skeptical and a bit too green for his personal taste. "Are you telling me, Agent Vaughn, that you agreed to meet with the murderer of your father just so Agent Bristow, her daughter, wouldn't have to?"
"Yes." He found he enjoyed watching her eyes widen with the implication of his feelings for Sydney, as if it gave him satisfaction. As if it was what she deserved.
"And you did this with no care as to what emotional stress would be placed upon you?"
Vaughn waited what seemed a long time before answering. It knew why know, but back then he couldn't remember if it actually occurred to him or if he did it automatically.
"Sydney has dealt with more issues and emotional journeys that anyone I've ever come into contract with. Her comfort and peace, if only in place of that five minute meeting, was worth it."
Lauren stared at him, amazed and brimming with jealousy. Finally, she scratched down her notes, pressing down so hard that she broke a pencil point in the process. Then she looked back up at him, cleared her throat, and choked out, "Ok. That's all for today, I think. Thank you."
"My pleasure," he muttered to himself sarcastically, rising from his seat. Drawing more attention than he wanted, he practically ran out of the Ops Center to the parking garage. For some reason unbeknownst to him, it became increasingly harder to breathe inside the building, and he felt that he needed to see Sydney right then or else...or else...he didn't know what. All he knew was that he wanted to hold her in his arms until he died.
Perhaps because of the unforeseeable force that always seemed to be amidst the two of them, his phone began to ring at that precise moment and he knew exactly who he'd find on the other end. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me." He smiled at that as he climbed into his car. "Are you finished?"
"Yeah, debrief just ended." He slammed the door shut.
"Where are you?"
"I haven't left yet. I'm in the car about to pull out of the parking garage."
"Oh. In that case, I'm hanging up. See you in a minute." Click.
'That was odd,' he thought, but he only had to ponder it for a second, however, because as he glanced up into his rearview mirror he saw a slim figure in dark colors advancing towards him.
Even from the distance she was unmistakable, her hips swinging with each step, arm reaching to place her cell phone in her purse, face baring the tiniest hint of a smile. Caught in the moment, he stared at the mirror, paralyzed. He came back to himself and performed a mental shake, surprised that she could still affect him like that.
He greeted her with a small kiss. "Why are you here?" he asked, forehead wrinkling in concern.
"I don't know, Kendall said it was urgent," she replied. "Didn't you get paged?"
"Apparently not," he said, checking his beeper, "and nobody informed me of an urgent meeting while I was in there."
"Hmm," she sighed, "Probably just another seductive mission to steal information from some man with excessive facial hair." Vaughn chuckled, though he didn't feel totally comfortable downplaying her missions as a joke.
"Anyway," she added, "Want to come along? I'm sure you can find something to do, and then we can leave together."
He wasn't exactly excited about the prospect of returning to the ops center, but the sudden desperation to be with Sydney hadn't died off yet. "Sure," he said, feeling the urge to kiss her coming on strong.
Before he could fulfill his wish, Weiss burst through the door of the parking garage, huffing and looking around, panicked. When he saw Vaughn standing with Sydney, he let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank god!" he panted, jogging over to the pair, "I saw you leaving on the security cameras and ran out here to stop you. Thanks for distracting him, Syd. My ass would have been on the wrong side of Kendall's shoe."
Vaughn smirked, "God, Weiss, when was the last time you went for a run?"
He grimaced. "Too long, apparently. Ready for the most boring hour of your life?"
Sydney glanced sideways at him as they began to walk back to the rotunda. "Why do you say that?"
"Something I heard," he said, "You guys are going to search some old storage facility in Africa. Personally, that's not exactly my idea of a good time."
Both Sydney and Vaughn got chills when they heard this, although neither could explain why. All they knew was that it was a mission they dreaded, and something terrible awaited them in that building in Africa.
"Okay," he assented, continuing his journey across the living room. The tv flashed behind him; the pregame show was starting. "The Los Angeles Kings vs. the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Considering how it ended last season, the Kings better get some padding for their rear ends. This is going to be a short game."
"So we're due back in at work on Monday?" Sydney called from the couch as Vaughn turned on the Brita in the kitchen.
"Yeah, one more day of freedom from the tyrants," he sighed upon returning to his spot on the couch and handing Sydney her glass. She took it gratefully, laying her head on his shoulder as she sipped it slowly.
The moment was relaxed and perfect. Almost.
*Ring, ring. *
"Ugh, you were saying?" Sydney groaned, lifting her head and handing him his phone.
He looked at her apologetically as he flipped his phone open. "Hello?"
"Agent Vaughn? This is Lauren Reed again."
Sydney's pupils dilated noticeably at hearing the voice on the other end of Vaughn's cell phone. He sighed both to reassure her and to spite Lauren. "Is there something I can do for you, Ms. Reed?"
"Yes there is, actually. We're calling in several agents for further questioning concerning Irina Derevko. Would it be a problem for you to come in today at 4?"
He glanced at his watch. 3:27.
"Actually, I'm slightly preoccupied. Would it be possible to have me in at another time?"
"I'm afraid, Mr. Vaughn, that with all the time you've been..." she paused and cleared her throat, "*preoccupied* this weekend, this simply cannot be held off any longer. I'll see you at four."
Click.
"Damnit," he muttered, pressing the end button on his phone violently. "I have to go in." She pressed her face into his shoulder briefly before kissing him.
"Then go in and get it over with," she said, her eyes mere inches away from his. He kissed her again, quickly, and got up from the couch. The announcers chattered away in the background, but she was no longer interested. Hockey wasn't all that appealing to her; the highlight of the game was watching his eyes light up and seeing him jump up from their comfortable position screaming and shaking his fist.
He returned a few minutes later dressed in his standard oxford suit, tightening his tie as he reached for his keys on the counter top. He smiled sadly at her. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Rising on her knees, she leaned against the back of the couch, looking up at him with a small smile on her face. "I know you will, but I'll still tape the game for you." "I'm not just going to rush because of the game you know."
Her eyes narrowed. "Uh huh." Her doubt caused him to walk over to her and kiss her soundly.
"Hockey isn't my only love," he whispered, giving her one last peck before exiting noisily through the door.
***
Lauren was sitting at the table in conference room C, spine straight and eyebrows raised at his late entrance. "Agent Vaughn, so glad you could make it."
Before he even sat down, he made it a point to be upfront and direct. He really didn't need an NSC agent with a crush to keep him from spending the evening with Sydney. "Hello, Ms. Reed. I don't mean to be rude upfront but could we possibly make this as quickly as possible? I have to get home."
"Hm. What's the rush?" She was probing into his personal life, and he immediately bristled.
"Is that your first question? Because I don't believe it concerned Irina Derevko."
Lauren sighed, clearly growing exasperated. "Alright, then. What was the last time you were in contact with Irina Derevko?"
"Willingly?" he questioned, thinking of all the times he was forced to work with her.
"Yes."
"Uh... had to have been..."
"When the CIA needed to gain control of a computer program called Echelon. She had knowledge that would help us to do so. That would have been... last December."
"And there was nothing that could have hinted her plans?"
"Nothing," he confirmed, then added in a mutter, "for the second time."
Lauren didn't seem to notice. At least, she didn't show it. "Did you ever have conversations with Derevko about subjects other than intelligence necessary for the missions?"
He saw a warning light blaze in his mind. "What are you asking?"
"We simply want to check for emotional biases in this case-"
Half rising from his seat, he exclaimed indignantly, "Emotional biases! The woman killed my father!" After a second he remembered she was only doing her job, and resumed his earlier position.
Lauren sighed. "Yes, alright. Moving on. What did you usually converse with her about?"
"You seem to already know," Vaughn deadpanned. She sighed again. He rubbed his forehead and answered, if only to stop the sighing. "When the CIA needed unavailable information, she would sometimes be able to provide us with necessary and usually accurate intel."
"Anything else?"
His mind quickly ran through every meeting with Derevko, but it skidded to a screeching stop when it reached the conversation he had with her after he recovered from the virus.
He's struggling, deciding how to put this into words without risking his job or her life. "You asked me some questions. I told you I'd answer them if you helped me. You did help me and I thank you for that."
She responds in typical fashion, echoing his earlier sentiments. "I didn't do it for you. He continues in what he thinks is a normal tone, all things considering. "I'm trying to live a normal life, which was always hard given what I do but it's gotten harder since I met your daughter. It's not that knowing her hasn't made my life better. It has. But it's also made it that much worse," he hesitates, "I think I've said enough."
"The problem, Mr. Vaughn, is that to the one person who matters, you haven't said anything."
Drumming his fingers on the table, his eyes rise to meet Lauren's without a second's hesitation, even though his mind was still whirling over that conversation. "No. We only discussed intel."
Her eyes narrowed. She didn't believe him.
And he found he didn't care too much.
"You're sure that's all?" she emphasized. He nodded. Maybe a bit too eagerly, but then, he wasn't trying to win a Tony. Just trying to get this aggravating blonde off his back.
"All right, then. Can you explain how it was exactly that you first came into personal contact with Derevko?"
A new memory collided with the previous one.
"That woman, forty-eight hours ago, was one hundred per cent bad news. But now she's ours and there is just a chance, Mr. Vaughn, that she has turned."
"...When she got done with my father, he could only be identified by his dental records."
"Yes. Nevertheless, she headed up an organization that controlled people who influenced policy decisions at NATO, the U.N., and the World Bank. Even with all our resources, the CIA doesn't know the full scope of her operation.
The key players, their methods, acquisitions, ambitions... "
"If I can get her to talk, I don't want you to ask Sydney to see her ever again."
"Well, I'm not going to make that promise."
"You're not the easiest guy to work with, are you?"
"No. No, definitely not."
Vaughn thought carefully before answering. "When Derevko turned herself in, it was a very emotional experience for Agent Bri... Sydney. Finding that the woman she'd always thought to be her mother was re-entering her life as a completely different person. To make matters worse, she was being forced into seeing her for intel by Director Kendall. Meeting with her then would have broken Sydney, but the information was imperative. So I offered to go in her place."
Lauren jotted a few notes down on her pad and looked back up, skeptical and a bit too green for his personal taste. "Are you telling me, Agent Vaughn, that you agreed to meet with the murderer of your father just so Agent Bristow, her daughter, wouldn't have to?"
"Yes." He found he enjoyed watching her eyes widen with the implication of his feelings for Sydney, as if it gave him satisfaction. As if it was what she deserved.
"And you did this with no care as to what emotional stress would be placed upon you?"
Vaughn waited what seemed a long time before answering. It knew why know, but back then he couldn't remember if it actually occurred to him or if he did it automatically.
"Sydney has dealt with more issues and emotional journeys that anyone I've ever come into contract with. Her comfort and peace, if only in place of that five minute meeting, was worth it."
Lauren stared at him, amazed and brimming with jealousy. Finally, she scratched down her notes, pressing down so hard that she broke a pencil point in the process. Then she looked back up at him, cleared her throat, and choked out, "Ok. That's all for today, I think. Thank you."
"My pleasure," he muttered to himself sarcastically, rising from his seat. Drawing more attention than he wanted, he practically ran out of the Ops Center to the parking garage. For some reason unbeknownst to him, it became increasingly harder to breathe inside the building, and he felt that he needed to see Sydney right then or else...or else...he didn't know what. All he knew was that he wanted to hold her in his arms until he died.
Perhaps because of the unforeseeable force that always seemed to be amidst the two of them, his phone began to ring at that precise moment and he knew exactly who he'd find on the other end. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me." He smiled at that as he climbed into his car. "Are you finished?"
"Yeah, debrief just ended." He slammed the door shut.
"Where are you?"
"I haven't left yet. I'm in the car about to pull out of the parking garage."
"Oh. In that case, I'm hanging up. See you in a minute." Click.
'That was odd,' he thought, but he only had to ponder it for a second, however, because as he glanced up into his rearview mirror he saw a slim figure in dark colors advancing towards him.
Even from the distance she was unmistakable, her hips swinging with each step, arm reaching to place her cell phone in her purse, face baring the tiniest hint of a smile. Caught in the moment, he stared at the mirror, paralyzed. He came back to himself and performed a mental shake, surprised that she could still affect him like that.
He greeted her with a small kiss. "Why are you here?" he asked, forehead wrinkling in concern.
"I don't know, Kendall said it was urgent," she replied. "Didn't you get paged?"
"Apparently not," he said, checking his beeper, "and nobody informed me of an urgent meeting while I was in there."
"Hmm," she sighed, "Probably just another seductive mission to steal information from some man with excessive facial hair." Vaughn chuckled, though he didn't feel totally comfortable downplaying her missions as a joke.
"Anyway," she added, "Want to come along? I'm sure you can find something to do, and then we can leave together."
He wasn't exactly excited about the prospect of returning to the ops center, but the sudden desperation to be with Sydney hadn't died off yet. "Sure," he said, feeling the urge to kiss her coming on strong.
Before he could fulfill his wish, Weiss burst through the door of the parking garage, huffing and looking around, panicked. When he saw Vaughn standing with Sydney, he let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank god!" he panted, jogging over to the pair, "I saw you leaving on the security cameras and ran out here to stop you. Thanks for distracting him, Syd. My ass would have been on the wrong side of Kendall's shoe."
Vaughn smirked, "God, Weiss, when was the last time you went for a run?"
He grimaced. "Too long, apparently. Ready for the most boring hour of your life?"
Sydney glanced sideways at him as they began to walk back to the rotunda. "Why do you say that?"
"Something I heard," he said, "You guys are going to search some old storage facility in Africa. Personally, that's not exactly my idea of a good time."
Both Sydney and Vaughn got chills when they heard this, although neither could explain why. All they knew was that it was a mission they dreaded, and something terrible awaited them in that building in Africa.