She was late. And if she was spotted because she was late, the charade would be over and the Agency would fail to capture the weapon. Millions of people would die. And that horrified her.
But not enough to turn her around.
Sydney moved quietly down the corridor of Operations, ears intent for any noise. The route was familiar, of course; she had walked it when released from observation when doctors thought she and Vaughn could be dying. A shortcut led up to the main floor…
Bingo.
Sydney stood in the shadows, hands clenched into fists as growing anger engulfed her. Lauren Reed sat at a spare desk off to the side of the Rotunda, pouring over a file, her blonde hair glowing from the soft light. For once the rest of the floor was empty. Even Intelligence members needed sleep, and Agency headquarters downtown could monitor things for a few hours. It was why she had risked a visit to Vaughn.
Vaughn… she closed her eyes for a moment. He'd looked so helpless, but the way he had lit up at her presence… it was awe-inspiring. It was humbling. It was almost as beautiful as he was. He loved her so much that her mere presence, even if he thought she was a drug-induced dream, was enough for him to drop his guard and treat her as the most beautiful and treasured woman in the world.
She didn't deserve such worship, she knew. He did, of course. But not her.
Sydney shook her head forcibly. She couldn't afford to be distracted right now. Which is why she abandoned caution entirely, stormed up to Lauren and grasped her by the hair. With casual strength, Sydney flipped her around and slammed the other woman back against the desk. Hard.
"He trusted you," she spat out. "I trusted you!"
"Sydney," Lauren gasped, astonished. The force of impact had knocked the wind out of her. "Agent Bristow, what - "
Sydney only gripped the blonde harder around her throat, eyes glaring infernos of blistering rage.
"I know what you're doing to him," she whispered, her anger so sharp it burned her throat. Her voice was almost guttural. "How could you? How could you?"
"Sydn - " Lauren choked out. She batted weakly at her attacker's hand. "Let… explain!"
And then Sydney's earpiece clicked. "Your little show of strength set off action sensors," Sark drawled in her ear, apparently having found her note to him. "You need to leave, Agent Bristow."
Lauren closed her bulging eyes, sagging. Her arm flopped to her side. Reluctantly, Sydney eased her grip.
"I never intended to hurt him," the younger woman wheezed desperately the moment she was allowed to draw in air. "I swear to you. Ask the doctor!"
Her words spilled out quickly, knowing Sydney's rationality was possibly short-lived.
"Ask him what?" Jack and Irina's daughter asked, with mock-innocent curiosity.
"He gave him something - "
Sydney's eyes narrowed dangerously.
" - that countermanded what Lindsey forced me to give him. David knew from the beginning what I was doing, Agent Bristow. I would never - "
Sydney rolled her eyes, grimacing in resignation. Sark again called her name in her earpiece. "Listen to me," she hissed, leaning in close. "If it comes to it… I can't keep him safe right now. I know you can. You've proven that. But if you harm one more hair on his head, for whatever reason, I will personally see to it that you pay."
Lauren didn't answer, panting for breath.
"What you're doing will stop now. Or I'll make sure you get the same experience. Am I clear?"
She shook the British woman a little.
"Yes," Lauren managed to choke out.
"Ms. Bristow?" Sark inquired.
"If I find any additional injuries on him when I come back, those will be your fault," Sydney growled, releasing her. "If he has one scratch, I'll give you two."
Lauren nodded mutely.
"Remember that," she threatened one final time.
And then she turned on her heel, fleeing back into the darkness.
If there was such a thing as a human-friendly cocoon, this was it, Will decided.
He sat on the neatly-made bed Vaughn had vacated, just watching the three Caplans at play. Aaron had woken up abruptly, crying out half-remembered memories of narrow hallways and harsh voices as the spider venom took its time to fully leave his bloodstream.
And though all three of them had immediately rushed into the room, there was no urgency in Elsa and Neil's movements now. They moved conspiratively through every nook and cranny of the small hospital room, noisily shooing away any boogeymen that were trying to steal little Aaron's happy dreams. Under the bed, in the storage closet, by the window, under Mr. Will's shoes…
And Will lounged back and watched, feeling more relaxed than he had since Sydney's secret had exploded into his life.
He was waiting for her as she jogged toward him, brown hair flowing behind her, body enshrouded in black.
Stomach turning, Sydney nevertheless recommitted and climbed into the van, perching herself on the seat behind him.
"Emily says hello," Sark informed her, removing his earpiece and starting the engine.
But the van was silent as they drove off.
"I am disappointed," Katya mused to her little sister, a smirk of amusement on her lush lips as she studied the gun aimed at her heart. "There was a time when you would have detected me before I arrived in the room. Has your time with the American altered your abilities?"
Irina arched an eyebrow in return, breathing steady against the knife pressed against her throat. "Don't flatter yourself," she assured the new arrival. Holding the revolver easily in a one-handed grip, Irina raised her free hand. Wall panels slid open immediately, their quiet wisp a deceptively mild introduction to the six unsmiling men that stepped out, matching Irina's aim.
Vaughn couldn't go back to sleep.
Funny, that. It often seemed as though all he did nowadays was sleep. But tonight, for obvious reasons, he was wide awake.
She was right here. She was in this room.
Vaughn raised his hand in the air, studying the brunette strands with all the fascination of a newborn pawing with a mobile toy. The soft light of the hospital room caused the silky pieces of hair to shimmer like the most precious of gems.
Which she was, of course.
He brought his hand, the hair curled around his fist, to his mouth, kissing Sydney's souvenir softly. And then Vaughn almost laughed out loud at his foolishness. Usually it took Weiss' company and a great deal of alcohol for him to be so showy with his emotions.
Speaking of alcohol, he was thirsty. And maybe a drink of his only available beverage - water - would help him settle back down and sleep. The sooner he did that, the sooner he'd eventually be able to leave Medical Services behind.
For once, he was not afraid of surrendering himself to his dreams, and doing so without a sedative. Sydney had been here. Nothing could touch him. Even in his mind. And besides, grabbing a sip of water was routine for him in his current state. Lauren would bring it to him and help him drink, and then David would knock him out, and he'd wake up the next morning.
Drenched in sweat, from nightmares he couldn't recall.
Vaughn's eyes widened, the hair falling softly into the bed as his euphoria faded and his natural sharpness asserted control once more.
The water.
His mind raced, recalling every horrible wake-up, every one of his breakdowns while in sessions with Dr. Barnett. Every single moment he had doubted his own sanity, and friends, doctors and superiors had treated him as a man on the brink of losing his mind.
Every one of those moments had involved water. But that would mean -
Someone knocked at his door. Vaughn turned his head, body tensing immediately.
Lauren leaned against the doorframe.
"We need to talk," was all she said.
For a moment, no one spoke. Even the guards seemed to hold their breaths.
And then Sloane adjusted his stance in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Irina," he prompted. Cole swiveled in his, clearly stunned at the other man's foolishness in questioning what she was doing.
But Irina merely handed them both a tight smile of equal parts patience and amusement. With a nod to Katya she lowered the gun, a movement reflexively followed by the elder Derevko with her knife. The guards accepted her unspoken signal and simply disappeared back into where they came from.
Cole's awe increased tenfold as the two formidable women embraced in a firm hug.
Now, Vaughn knew, was a time when Eric's overprotectiveness was unbelievably handy. The traitor stepped closer to him, moving to close the door -
And stopped short as Vaughn withdrew his left arm from the cover of the blankets, careful not to jostle the strands of hair resting on his chest. He aimed his service pistol at her with deadly accuracy, expertly cocking the barrel in his one-handed grip. "Don't move," he warned her, green eyes shooting sparks.
Lauren nodded, slowly raising her hands to shoulder level. "What now, Agent Vaughn?" she inquired, calmly.
A good question. Eric had given him back his gun, but his cell phone sat on the night table, just barely out of his reach. Thanks, Weiss.
"What did you do to me?" he demanded instead, stalling. Could he order her to give him the phone?
Green eyes locked on green, Lauren reached into her jacket pocket. Vaughn's hand tightened on the trigger, watching her with rapt caution. Tears of shame spilled as she held up a plastic baggie filled with white, salt-like powder.
"It's a medical cocktail," she murmured, no longer able to look at him. "A mixture of memory and muscle-impairing drugs, with just a light sedative interlaced in with it. It's not fatal, Michael. I swear."
Well. That was good to know. "Why?" he asked her, confusion genuine. "I trusted you, Lauren!"
She flinched. Though he didn't know it, his pained question echoed through her, the bruises on her heavily powder-coated throat flaring back to life.
"Know that I never wanted to hurt you," she told him. "That I did everything possible to ensure this would not affect you long-term."
He laughed bitterly, though his aim remained steady. "Of course, Agent Reed," he mocked. "You only wanted me to think I was losing my mind. Nothing major."
But she shook her head. "No," she insisted. "No, Michael. Lindsey was the one that commissioned the drug. And when it became clear I would have no choice but to play along, I brought Dr. Matthews into it. Just to make sure - "
The revelation hit him like a punch to the gut.
"David was in on this?" he repeated dully.
Lauren took her chance, crossing the room in two strides and twisting his gun out of his hand. "Listen to me," she hissed. "I stood by and watched so many times as you were hurt. I'm not just NSC, I'm a British Intelligence officer, you wolly! I am not a traitor!"
She glared down at him, trembling with disgust. Not for him, but for herself.
"The White House has suspected for years that Lindsey was corrupt," she spat, the words just just spilling out of her. "But they can't touch him. He's too highly ranked. I'm on loan to the States, Agent Vaughn, and I ultimately don't answer to your government. I was thus the perfect operative to use - "
"To smoke him out," Vaughn finished. She nodded, even smiled a little. But he remained unmoved.
"That doesn't explain why you betrayed me," he answered, coldly. "You and David."
"But we didn't," she rushed to explain. They probably only had moments remaining until agents alerted by the sensor alarms Sydney had set off arrived.
She tucked the gun away, resting the powder packet on Vaughn's bed. And she pulled out a syringe. Immediately, he went to move away from her. Realizing his reflexive fear, she took a step back and held it straight up, making certain he could see that the IV feeder needle was still capped. I'm not going to hurt you, Michael, she tried to project. Never again.
"I asked David for help," Lauren explained. Vaughn had yet to relax. "I told him what I had to give you. This was his intervention. The chemicals nullify the powder from your bloodstream and ensure that any effects ultimately fade away. When you thought he was knocking you out to escape PTSD dreams, the powder in the water you drank every night was what truly lowered your guard. The IV neutralized the drug's most harmful effects, and kept you under while it worked."
He beckoned hesitantly, still eyeing the needle with alert wariness. She stepped toward him again and rested it carefully in his hand. That explained the dreams.
"It takes some time to act," she continued, as he examined the syringe. "And sometimes - such as when you took a drink when Barnett was here - we couldn't give it to you. That's why you had an anxiety attack. But I swear, Michael, this was only temporary. I had hoped to include you in on this - "
"But you didn't," he barked. She was telling the truth, he had realized. But she'd still used him.
She lowered her head, accepting the rebuke. "Kendall ordered my silence," she informed him, though she knew he would hardly change his mind and forgive her with that knowledge. "No one else here knew, Agent Vaughn. Just the three of us. And now you." And Sydney, somehow.
Still staring at the clear-colored liquid inside the syringe, Vaughn didn't even look at her. "Get out."
Lauren blinked the tears from her eyes, steeling her shoulders. She had one more task to complete first.
Disgusted, Vaughn threw the needle away from him with all his strength. But it barely managed to clear the bed and land on the floor.
"I told you to leave," he growled, pointedly studying the strands of hair lying on his blankets and not his still-apparent weakness.
"I know," Lauren murmured. "Mich - Agent Vaughn, David did his best to clean the more long-term and harmful drug effects from your system. But parts of it still clearly linger, even though your physical wounds have all but healed. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I can help you. I can make it so you can get out of this bed and back to your life."
He didn't reply, but she plowed on anyway. It was now or never.
"Will you let me do that, Michael?"
"Langley just called," murmured one of the guards to his partner, outside Aaron's room. Will skidded to a halt, three coffee cups balanced in two hands.
"Not again," she groused, shifting in position with a soft rustle of clothing. "Man, Vaughn just can't win."
Will frowned, blue eyes wide with worry. What happened to Vaughn?
Dennis Fisher sighed. Justine Manning had been his partner for nearly twelve years. If he'd learned anything, he knew she had a tendancy to over-emphasize with complete strangers, and he hated to see her hurting. "It might be nothing. He could be getting tired of bedrest and just decided to stand up, even. Kendall reportedly had the motion sensors turned all the way up. We've tracked flies using that."
"Yeah," she grunted. They fell silent for a moment.
Will leaned out as much as he dared, focusing intently on the two CIA agents watching over the Caplans.
"That's a heartbreaker, what's gonna happen to him," she spoke up once more. "PTSD takes the best of them."
Will winced as if struck. Oh, God, he moaned inwardly. How'd Syd take the news? He hardly knew Vaughn after all, though he admired the agent's decency and high moral standards. But Syd's happiness was tied to Vaughn's health of late. She has to be heart-broken.
Dennis shook his head in agreement. "What gets me," he ranted quietly, "is that Agent Vaughn went through hell, and the CIA has nothing to show for it. We didn't get Sloane's location, or learn why Cole suddenly decided to join up. And don't get me started on Derevko. Those three have just vanished! Speaking for myself, if I had to go down, I'd want my sacrifice to mean something. I feel for the guy, I really do."
Justine smiled to herself. Her partner pretended to be tough, but she could see through his cracks easily. "Sooner or later, they all slip up," she soothed, though they stood on opposite sides of the doorframe.
Instincts telling him he'd heard everything he'd be able to, Will stepped casually around the corner, pace that of a man who had grabbed cups too hot and was trying to reach his destination as soon as possible. They nodded to him, Justine kind enough to grab the door.
Elsa and Neil, dozing while they waited, rose when he entered. Both smiled their thanks as he handed them coffee. "How is he?" Will asked, glancing at Aaron. It was clear the sleeping family had not heard their guards.
Aaron didn't stir, the bedcovers engulfing his tiny frame like a tent.
But even as his parents gave Mr. Will happy-sounding responses, the little boy lay unblinking under the blankets, mind lost in a past that had returned to prominence as the Secret Agent Guards outside his door had talked. Vaughn had not been the only recent captive after all, and children's memories are far stronger than any adult's, even those with CIA training. Especially since spider venom had, for a short while, enhanced those memories even further.
Dennis' answers were closer than he had yet to realize.
- to be continued -
Hi. So. Remember when I said I'd never disappear for two months again? Well, in my defense, I haven't! That was three months! (Hardy har har!)
And I know I'm a horrible, cruel, neglectful author, and for that I apologize. However, if you want to tell me you still kinda like me, I'm nominated for the following awards in the Alias Festival of Fiction. Your vote is welcome and appreciated at AliasFOF.com. :)
- Outstanding Vaughn Characterization (Down the Barrel)
- Outstanding Angst (On the Brink)
- Outstanding Post-Ep/Missing Scene (To Serve and Protect)
- Author
- Outstanding Long Story (Surmising Alliances)
- Outstanding Sydney/Vaughn Romance (Surmising Alliances)
- Outstanding Characterization of a Supporting Character (Remembering
What Was - Dixon)
- Outstanding Work in Progress Story (Presages)
Linz: So you're trying the guilt method, oh? Well look, it worked! :P
Tine: Your wish is my command. :)
Poe baby: I see Irina and Katya as exact opposites, Truly fascinating - and played by 2 very good actresses.
Al: Done.
Maggieann452: Hope you enjoyed whatever else you read!
Teaser: "Hi, Mr. Mike!"
Eyghon: More is here!
Kyla: Hope you liked it!
Alexei04: Ouch. Hope you did okay on your research paper! lol
Ginnie: Syd is back with all guns blazing - and as you read, she's only a little angry at dear Ms. Reed. ;) Of course, now the question is, should Vaughn trust Lauren?
Agent Flamingo: Thanks! My fav part too, admittingly.
MvsGirl: Welcome back. :)
Ilovemypenguin: Hopefully their next reunion will be longer, for both their sakes.
Kay10197: It feels like a long time since I've posted a chapter! Oh,wait…
Sugarqube: Hopefully it didn't hurt Syd that much. lol
valley-girl2: No, the italic part is new. :P And so, you don't like Lindsay? Why not? He's such a sweet guy! And I'm sure he'll eventually torture himself over missing Syd, but he's currently still in "Oh my God she was here!" euphoria. lol
Raina: He certainly was tricked, but not by Syd. That dang Lauren, man. (And David, and Kendall, and Lindsay).
Tash: 'Thoroughly confused' seems to be the trend, I dare say.
Delordra: Well, they're making nice. Derevko style. ;)
Kittyfantastico: You typed that out? Awwww. :hugs: