JUST GOT BACK FROM SEEING HARRY POTTER!!! so good....can't wait for the next one. I'm all inspired to re-read the books (agian) lol! Hey, did any aussies who may just happen to be reading this, watch the Hawthorn/Essendon game last weekend? That fight...now THAT was real football! (for those who don't know, a fight broke out between about 10 players ( I think) during a footy game. Punches were thrown and blood was spilled...was good entertainment!
Before I start I would like to make notes to the following reviewers...
Zakes: Being an Australian, I am well aware that our nation's capital is Canberra not Sydney. Plus I don't think that I wrote that Sydney was the capital of Australia...(checks chapter one)...I actually mentioned that Sydney was the Capital of New South Wales.
Agent Flamingo: I actually thought about calling soccer 'football' in my fic coz Sark's a brit and all...but most people here in Australia (cept all you lovely people from the UK) would call it soccer. So, it didn't seem right me calling it 'football', specially since I'm a huge supporter of the AFL here.
Chapter Four - Leaving on a Jet Plane...
Sydney stood in the waiting area outside gate 47 and stared out the window to her plane outside. The sky had already started its transition from night to day; thin streaks of pink and orange started to break through the dark cover that, hours before, engulfed the State's main airport in black and blue. A light drizzle of rain outside came down like a fine curtain and, acting as a barrier, separating the brown-hair heroine from herself and the plane. Her gaze floated from the window to the line of people waiting to board the aircraft. Some looked overcome with excitement to be travelling by plane while other frequent fliers, mostly businessmen, looked tired and impatient. The string of people seemed to be decreasing at a rate quicker than her train of thought. She looked back out the window to watch some airport employees, clad in florescent orange jumpsuits, load baggage into the planes belly. Se reached out to follow the rivers of water, which had formed as a result of the rain running down the length of the window. She reached out and followed the running stream using her fingers, the temperature radiating from the glass was cold against her hand. Even without touching it she could feel its iciness. Suddenly the sound of a loud bell tolled from the speaker above, but her gaze did not wander from the mesmerising water of the rain down the window. Crackling with static the monotone voice announced: "this is the final boarding call for flight 2547, direct to Shanghai, China. This is the final boarding call for flight 2547 direct to Shanghai, now boarding at gate 47" She inhaled deeply and, letting out a heavy sigh, looking herself in the eye using the reflecting of the glass. I need more time to think.
"I know you don't really want to get on the plane Syd." Vaughn spoke from behind her. She didn't turn around to look at him but rather stared at his reflection standing next to her in the window, the raindrops on the window slightly distorting his image. "Or you would have boarded it by now."
"Why shouldn't I leave? It's not like there was anything for me here any more. Just like there was nothing left for me back in Los Angeles."
"What are you talking about Sydney?" Vaughn questioned, his hands moving to rest themselves upon her shoulders. "You have your father, you have me..." "That's not what I was talking about." She moved away from him causing his hand to fall back to his sides. "That life..."she paused and took a deep breath. "My past life with the CIA, I hated it. I despised how choices I made affected others around me. How one wrong decision could result in the death of yet another agent. I'm not only talking about other CIA agents who risk their life day in and day out for their country, but for Francie and Danny. They died for stupid, pointless reasons. I swear they would still be alive today if it hadn't been for me." I need to get as far away from you as possible. "How can you stand there and try to convince me to come back to that life?" "I don't Syd, I promise I would never want to force anything on you that you didn't want to do...but...." He didn't know if he could bring himself to say it, tell her the truth about Sark and her mother. She needs to know the truth. She deserves to be told."But what?" She asked with glint of frustration in her eye. Vaughn looked morbidly at the blue carpet below. Is there anyway I can say this without her hating me? "I do have a plane to catch so if you wouldn't mind being a little more responsive..."
"It's your mother." He looked up to her and her face was blank, her facial expression didn't allow him to read what she was thinking. "About 2 months ago Echelon intercepts had picked up the word's 'Irina Derevko'. Rumours have been circulating through the underworld that she had died whilst on a mission. They say she fell from a cliff face in Albania." Vaughn easily imagined his father's killer fall from a towering cliff face and smashing on the sharp, jagged rocks ground below her. Her remains would be so badly mutilated from the drop that the only method of identifying her would be though her DNA records. "Naturally I looked into it, tried to find out the truth of what had happened. According to my sources your mother hasn't been seen by anyone for the period since her disappearance." Sydney's eye's filled with tears, she tried to blink them away but one slipped away from her and slid down her porcelain cheek. "Unfortunately that's not the only thing." Sydney could tell from the look on his face that he was going to struggle with this. "Last week a security camera at a bank in London caught an image of who we believe was Sark." She stared at him at first in shook, and then in disbelief."There's no way..."she murmured, grabbing the photo from his hand. It showed a black and white image of a man in a black Armani suit with short ruffled hair, standing next to a wall, staring out at the road.
"I don't know what to tell you said but I think..." he didn't have a chance to finish.
"...that Sark had something to do with it? You always did tend to jump to conclusions. If, and I emphasise if, he were alive and well he would have found a way to contact me. It's not as if I was hard to find...even you could do it." She said those words with such a bitter tone in her voice that it stabbed at Vaughn. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that. You have been nothing but loyal to me, even though..."
"...you destroyed my life." He finished her sentence, hurtfully looking down on her. She looked up at him with pity in her eyes."Vaughn, I'm so sorry. It was never my intention to hurt you."
"Well you did. I can't possibly express the feeling of rejection and pain you inflicted on me after I found that you had left me for him. You will never know the hatred I feel for Sark for taking you away from me."
"Now you know how I felt when you were with Lauren all those years ago. It tears at your soul, doesn't it? Hurts every morning to get out of bed and having to put on a happy facade for those around, so they think that you're coping with it; but, on the inside you really want to rip that person standing between yourself and the one you love to shreds. To receive sweet satisfaction from seeing their bloodied face look up at you as they begged for mercy." Vaughn was dumbfounded at Sydney's sudden burst of repulsion towards his ex-wife. "Love's a bitch, ain't it?"
"That was different. When I married her I didn't know she was covenant. Everyone knew Sark was working for them. He still does you know."
"Shut up!" She quietly demanded. "Sark left them, he left them for me! He told me that I kept him honest, turned him into a whole new person." She closed her eyes and played the whole scene out in her mind. It was as if she were still there, standing on that beach covered in the star-filled darkness of night. See could feel the gritty sand worm its way in-between her toes and the taste of salt on the night air. I owe you everything Sydney, and you owe me nothing...
"If that's all true Sydney then why hasn't he come to see you? To explain what happened with your mother, and the true reason he faked his own death? If he truly loves you, like you claim, the same way I still love you..." Sydney looked up to face him, her eyes were glittery, the effect of the light reflecting from the water collecting in her eyes. He reached out to wipe away a tear that had appeared on her cheek. The tenderness radiating from him told her he was telling the truth, "...then he would never have let you go. I know because I still feel that way about you Syd. You're right. I do wake up each morning and wondering where you are and if you're safe. Something I close my eyes and I can imagine you lying close to me. I can feel your heart beating, hear sweet voice and run my hand through your silky hair. Then I'll open them up again and you're gone. Even the sweetest dream will never compare to the real thing. I don't want it to be a burden I forever have to live with."
Sydney stood in disbelief of what Vaughn had just expressed to her. She really did love him and leaving Vaughn was the hardest thing she ever had to do. "I understand how you feel, because I feel it when I'm not with Julian." This was the first time she had mentioned his name, and it dug into him like a knife. However, he keep the pain to himself, never making a mental note not to show Sydney how she really affected him. "I'm sorry Vaughn, I truly am, but I don't love you in the same way. I still care for you and you'll always have a place in my heart, but I can never love you the way I love Sark."
"How can you love him more than me?" His teeth were clamped together as spat out the words at a tearful Sydney. "Haven't I been loyal to you, to our relationship?" His voice was starting to rise in volume much more than it should have.
"Vaughn, keep your voice down." Sydney fruitlessly pleaded, but he ignored her. "I've risked my life you more than once, Sydney." He said her name with such spitefulness, that she could feel her own anger starting to bubble over. "I nearly died while infiltrating SD-6 with you. In Taipei I nearly drowned trying to help you, and you left me for that cocky, arrogant, British bastard..."
WHACK! Sydney slapped him hard across the cheek. Her hand still throbbing from the force of impact when her hand made contact with his skin. He stood astonished. Reaching up to touch his face, he couldn't believe that his Sydney just hit him. "Fuck you Vaughn! If you still love me, as you so openly claim to, you will respect my feelings and those who they belong to." She roughly grabbed the handle bar of her bag and turned to face him one last time. "Don't follow me. Stop looking for me, your presence isn't welcome any more..." She pushed him out of her path and made her way to finally board the plane.
Without even staying to watch the plane leave, Vaughn marched angrily out into the mainstream of the terminal. He was absolutely fuming over the way Sydney had treated him. Others could obviously sense his anger and frustration in the airport, they all moved aside and allowed him to pass them with little interference. I'm gonna find Sark, he promised himself, and when I do he's gonna pay for what he's done to her...
That last scene when Syd slaps Vaughn was SOOOOOO satisfying for me. I've been trying to think of a scene where I have have a slapping session and inflict pain on the non-worthy Syd lover. (sorry all you SV shippers...)
"So what is Vaughn going to do now?" I hear you say? or more importantly "WHERE IS SARK?" All these questions will be answered if...(you guessed it)...REVIEW!!! That's right, all it takes is one little review from you to me for the next chapter to appear! Of course it may take a couple of day's coz I've just finished writing this one, but i can tell you that SARK WILL BE MEETING SYDNEY IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!! (gasp!)