A/N: I just want to add before you read the chapter that none of us really know what Vaughn thinks. He could be like thinking of green jell-o all the time for all we know. This is just my take on what Vaughn thinks about. You'll see what I mean soon.
Oh, and assume that Vaughn and Weiss have actual offices at the JTF, not desks in a big giant room with a bunch of other people. You'll see.
"Dude, you have got to stop this craziness." Vaughn mumbled something incoherent, causing Weiss to lean forward. "What?"
Vaughn picked up his head from its spot in his desk and repeated, "When I find Sydney."
Weiss groaned and sat down, "Dude, she's been gone for three years."
"She's still out there."
"You don't know that." Weiss answered, resting his elbows on his knees, "I'm just saying that you need to let her go and move on with your life."
"No," Vaughn replied, shaking his head. "I can't," He added.
Weiss knew that he wasn't going to persuade Vaughn to give up the fruitless search for Sydney, at least not today, so he stood up. "So are you and me gonna get drunk or are you just going to waste away here at your desk?"
Vaughn thought about it and finally stood up, "Yeah, so which bar that I'm not even going to remember tomorrow are we going to today?" A small joke but it was a start. At least he wasn't moping over Sydney anymore.
Weiss grinned, "The best one. I swear you won't remember anything about it tomorrow."
"And yet somehow I always do." Vaughn answered, following Weiss out of his office.
"Well, that's because you don't drink yourself into a coma." Weiss joked.
"Well, one of us has to be sober, driving drunk doesn't really look all that great on our records." Vaughn countered, moving back into serious Vaughn.
"That's what cabs are for." Weiss answered, "Now come on, you have to get completely drunk with me tonight. You owe it to yourself."
Vaughn stopped walking and stared at his best friend. Weiss just shrugged innocently and kept walking. Hesitating for a second, Vaughn decided to follow Weiss. Maybe getting drunk will take my mind of Sydney.
()
Beep, beep, beep
Vaughn stirred slightly in his sleep but didn't make the effort to get up.
Beep, beep, beep
Ten minutes later the alarm clock went off again. This time Vaughn threw back the covers and slammed the snooze button. He sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his sore head. Well, Eric was partially right, I don't remember how I got home. Too bad I still remember the bar though. That's just gonna make him more anxious to get me even drunker the next time. Vaughn groaned at the thought of becoming drunker than he had been the night before and waking up with a worse splitting headache. No way in hell. I'd rather give up my search for Sydney.
Sydney. That name had haunted him for the past three years. Every night the woman behind the name lived in his dreams. In his dreams, she was still with him and not out God-knows-where. He swore he wouldn't give up on her, that he would find her and that wasn't a promise he was eager to break. No matter what anyone said.
He had heard it all. "She's gone, you have to let her go." "Dude, she's not coming back, just accept that and move on." "You'll never find her, you know she's good at covering her tracks." And so on and so on. It seemed that only Jack, a man that Vaughn had never been able to get on the good side of, seemed to believe that Sydney was still out there and that they would find her. But Jack's contacts turned up nothing.
So Vaughn had resorted to the old fashioned way of doing things. Doing them himself. He searched endlessly through records and reports. He strained his eyes until he could barely see and only then did he take a break. He slaved over his desk, trying to find some clue that would lead him to her. He was convinced not to let anyone help him. They might overlook something that would mean nothing to most people and everything to Sydney. That had happened once. An intern had been assigned to Vaughn to add in his search, before Vaughn had refused all help, and had overlooked something. An ATM statement. Sydney had withdrawn money but had done it on one her alias's cards. The intern didn't recognize the name and tossed it aside. Vaughn had been sifting through some papers when he spotted the statement. That's what finally made him deny all help from anyone. He knew her the best and he would be the one to find her.
Well, you're not gonna find her if you don't get your ass to work, He told himself, forcing himself to get up off the bed and stumble into the shower. Of course, he shed his pajamas before entering the shower. Wet P.J.s were not something he wanted to deal with in the morning.
"Mike, man, are you here?" Weiss called after Vaughn had exited the shower and had put on some clothes.
Thank God for that. The last person I want seeing me naked is Weiss or maybe Jack. Ah well, hell, both of them are never going to see me naked. Unless I'm dead. And even then, I'll be covering my eyes and grimacing while looking down, or would it be looking up. I wonder if I am going to heaven or hell. Probably hell. Being a spy doesn't earn you brownie points with the big man upstairs. And if that doesn't land me in hell, my dreams of Sydney will do the trick. What can I say, I'm a man. Men dream. I dream of Sydney. End of story.
"Hello? Mike? Anyone home?"
Crap, should probably say something so he doesn't think I'm dead or something. And knowing Eric, he would think I'm dead. "I'll be out in a minute."
"Okay." Weiss answered and Vaughn could hear the refrigerator door opening. I wonder if giving that man a key to my apartment was a good idea. I swear he eats more of my food than I do. "So do you remember that bar?"
"Yes," Vaughn answered. He could almost hear Weiss's thoughts to bring him to another bar, so he added, "But I don't remember how I got home and my head is killing me."
"Well, I guess that's close enough. So we gonna get drunk again tonight?"
"No, we're not." Vaughn answered, making an appearance in the living room where Weiss was slumped over the coach eating a left over sandwich. "But you can get drunk all you want, tonight. I'm not going out."
"Dude, don't tell me that you're going to work yourself into a hole again tonight."
"I'm planning on it." Vaughn answered, grabbing an espresso drink out of the fridge. No time for hot coffee this morning. "And don't try to talk me out of it. I'm a grown man I can do what I want and you can't stop me."
Weiss shrugged, "Whatever man, I just don't want you to kill yourself trying to find her. It's not gonna do her or you any good." Most likely because I'll end up in hell. Vaughn added, silently for him. Yay, hell. I can't wait.
()
"Good morning, Agent Vaughn. Good morning, Agent Weiss." The JTF main office's secretary, Wendy said with a wide smile.
"Good morning, Wendy." Both men replied and continued on their way to their respective offices which were at opposite ends of the Joint Task Force. A blessing sometimes, in Vaughn's mind. Eric's a good guy and all but all day with him and his jokes, five days a week would drive me insane. And I can't really find Sydney if I'm in the nut house.
They reached Vaughn's office first and with some persuasion, Weiss kept walking to his own office. Vaughn took off his suit jacket, throwing it on its familiar spot on the couch. He didn't bother with hanging it up anymore. That would take too much time.
"Agent Vaughn, these came in this morning." Jack Bristow half set, half tossed a manila folder down on Vaughn's desk.
"Thanks, Jack." Vaughn answered, trying to be friendly.
"You're welcome, Agent Vaughn." Jack answered, stressing the Agent part and exiting Vaughn's office promptly after.
Okay, so he's not in a friendly kind of mood today. Not that he ever is really. That man is definitely going to hell. No question about that. So is Irina. Actually, come to think of it, it seems that the whole Bristow-Derevko clan is going to hell. Except Sydney, of course. God wouldn't turn away someone like Sydney. Me, on the other hand. Vaughn rubbed his head, which was still reeling from last night's events and started to flip through the pages in the folder. What is it with me and hell today? Everything turns into whether I'm going to hell or not. Well, here's to hoping that it doesn't happen for a while. I don't want to see God or Satan until I'm like old and wrinkly and grey-haired. Not that that would ever happen to me. Old, wrinkly, and grey-haired aren't really my look. Vaughn shook his head, trying to get his mind off the idea of hell and growing old and focus on finding Sydney.
Ring, ring, ring.
His desk phone started ringing. Thank God, I need a distraction away from the subject of hell. He thought, reaching for the phone. "Agent Vaughn here."
"Geez Mike, you sound so desk agenty."
Juliette. The sister, great. "Thanks Jules. Did you have a reason for calling me or is it just to bug me?"
"If I said to bug you, you'd hang up on me." Juliette laughed.
Well, she's got me there. I would do that. "Then I'm hanging up, right?" He asked, with a laugh.
"Ha. Ha. Mike, very funny."
"Get to the point, already."
"Alright, geez relax." Juliette answered. Then she took a deep breath. Uh, oh, bad news, was Vaughn's first thought. "David and I are coming to L.A. next week, with the kids." She said at last.
Oh, God, the kids. Kill me. Kill me now. "That's nice." He answered, starting to flip through the papers again. He knew what she wanted.
"Mike, come on, you're their uncle. They love and miss you. All I ask for is one hour. Mike, are you even listening to me?" Vaughn didn't answer immediately. Instead, he just stared at the photo in the folder. "Mike? Hello? Earth to Mike, come in."
Vaughn snapped out of his little daze long enough to say, "I'll call you back, Jules. Something's come up." He hung up the phone before she had the chance to respond. He bolted from the office, grabbing his jacket and the photo.
He rushed past Weiss, who had to pretty much dive out of the way to escape a collision with Vaughn. "What's up with you, man?"
"I found her." Vaughn answered, not slowing his pace.
Weiss stared shocked for a moment, then ran after him. "What?"
Vaughn handed him the photo, speeding up his pace, "That was taken by a post office surveillance camera two days ago. She's in Colorado."
Weiss managed to hand the photo back to Vaughn and asked, "What are you planning on doing?"
"I'm going to Colorado."
A/N: Since I got questions about it, Lea is not Vaughn's child. Let us do the math for a moment. Vaughn is like 30 or so in this story. Lea is like 14 because she is a freshman in high school.. So, if Vaughn were Lea's father, he would have been 16 when she was born. And yeah, why would Lea be in Colorado while Vaughn's still in California?
Dora- Well, I hope that Vaughn found her soon enough for ya. And I can promise you that it will be interesting when they meet.
Ren201- I love stories where Syd leaves too, I think that's why I wrote this fic.
TheUptownGirl- Um, yeah, you asked me if Lea's dad was french. And the answer is, I guess so. My dad's not french but I ask him for help with my french homework, so that's where the inspiration for her needing help came from.
Strawbery Popsicle- Okay, I feel like I have to defend my writing a little bit. The last chapter was still kinda setting things up for the story. I didn't take care of it all in the prologue and wanted to add more stuff to Syd's new life. And the things I mentioned in the second chapter did help with the developement of the plot. Syd's mental to-do list included going to the post office which is where the photo of her that helped Vaughn locate her was taken. And Mrs. Ashley and Angelique are going to have places in the plot. Along with the things that Syd has to do during the weekend. To name one, the school dance. I appreciate the help and I took some of the things you said into consideration. I just got the feeling that you were attacking my writing a little after only two chapters.
Fair Cate- I loved the scene where she ran into someone like Vaughn, too. I was like, okay have to have her run into someone that looks like Vaughn and have her freak out cause it's brilliant. Apparently I was right.
Agent Flamingo- I think she always looks good in red hair too! I don't think she looks good with blonde or black. It has to be brown or red. Nothing else. You would think they would learn that the CIA. It's like, come on people, give her a believable hair color.
Maddy- Thanks. I like that you called it awesome.
daisyduke947- I admit that it would be a twist to have Vaughn be Lea's dad, but I don't think that's where I'm going with this. I explained why she isn't Vaughn's daughter in the author's note, so yeah, too lazy to rewrite it.
Rach5- I'm posting as fast as I can but I've two other stories and a lot of other things going on. I wonder where I find the time to write my stories sometimes.