Title: Takeoffs and Landings
Author: Princess Box
Rating: G
Genre: General
Timeline: AU - about 14 years after 'The Telling'. No EvilFrancie, no Lauren, Will is still Will, Diane is still alive.
Summary: Alex thinks she knows her parents but Syd and Vaughn are hiding something.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Alias'! Anyone you don't recognise is mine and anyone you do isn't.
Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update. My friend's been here for the last 4 days – we had an ALIAS marathon, watching all of season one, only stopping to grab more food – so I haven't been able to write anything. I finally emerged from my room this morning long enough to see the gorgeous summer weather before returning to my computer to quickly right this. Wrote it in record time so I hope it is ok.
LOS ANGELES
"What was your favourite disguise?"
"I'll answer that one," Dad said quickly before Mom had a chance to speak. "Okay. Well, I never really have much of a disguise. The point is to fit in with everyone else and the guys……they normally wear suits – so hundreds and hundreds of different suits. Your Mom, on the other hand, has had to wear some of the most outrageous outfits. Let's see, there was the sex club in Germany. She was dressed as a dominatrix in red leather, whip and all."
I choked on my laughter, but I couldn't hold it in. "You?"
Mom poked her tongue out at me. "I was a very expensive prostitute once. Lacy underwear, red and black."
"Don't worry; I knocked him unconscious before anything happened." She added quickly.
"And I was watching through the video camera in her earrings. Normally I would only be able to see what she was seeing, but that room had a lot of mirrors!"
-
Mom and Dad had taken the day off work, so, after waking up with all the information I'd learnt the night before still swirling in my head, I had the day to talk things over with them. Now we were on to more light-hearted questions, my curiosity getting the better of me. Who wouldn't want to learn first hand all the exciting details of being a spy?
-
"Strangest mission?"
"I've had to do some really weird things over the last 25 years but there was one mission I've never really gotten over."
Even Dad was looking intently at Mom, waiting to hear what she was talking about.
"When my mother was in CIA custody the first time, before she escaped, there was an incident involving nuclear weapons in Pakistan. She was the only person, available to the CIA, that knew their whereabouts and how to reach them. Kendall, our former Director, ordered Mom to lead me to them but my father, who didn't trust Mom at all at the time, insisted on coming with us. A Bristow family vacation – the first time we'd all been together, apart from one or two meeting in Mom's cell, since I was six years old. It was so weird. My parents would be reminiscing, laughing about something that had happened twenty years earlier. Then my Dad would suddenly realise what was happening and storm off. They argued a lot but it was fun."
Now that he knew the mission Mom was referring to, Dad continued. "They were captured and Irina helped them to escape."
"But we still needed Agent Vaughn to save us! My guardian angel."
They squeezed each others hands and smiled at one another.
-
"Hey, wait, so you're both 'Agent Vaughn', right? Isn't that kinda weird?"
"Well, normally we're just Sydney and Vaughn."
I had always wondered why my mom called Dad by their last name.
"We all have a name everyone calls us by. For some of us it's our first name and others it's their last."
"Oh, okay. So Marcus is 'Dixon' and Eric is 'Weiss'," I added, finally understanding.
"And, before we were married, there were two 'Agent Bristow's. I've always had a twin!"
-
"What's the most illegal thing you've ever done……apart from working for SD-6 and stuff? Have you ever done anything illegal, that the CIA didn't know about, didn't tell you to do?"
"Um……let's see…… Most illegal……most illegal……"
"You have to choose which thing is the most illegal?" I asked disbelieving. "You break the law regularly?"
"I always followed the rule book!" Dad cried, pretending to be insulted that I was accusing him of doing something against his country. "Well, until I met your mother. She's a REALLY bad influence!"
She grinned. "You think it'd be the whole prophecy thing?"
"Yeah, I'd say so. Shootout, kidnapping, police chase, illegal departure of the country, etc, etc, etc."
"What?" I tried to ask, but my jaw just dropped and nothing came out.
"Well, I was arrested by the FBI……long story……and your dad knew that if he didn't prove I was innocent, SD-6 would kill me."
"Jack, your grandfather, and I came up with a plan which involved getting Syd to Italy. Jack threatened a CIA/FBI Officer to learn where she was being held. Then we were able to intercept a team who were about to transport her to another location. We held the Agents at gunpoint and kidnapped her."
"Mike, Dad and Eric were wearing masks so I had no idea what was happening. I climbed into the van and they showed their faces – I couldn't believe it! Your dad is right, he ALWAYS followed the rules."
They smiled at each other.
"We gave your Mom a new look and she took a car to drive to the plane we had waiting on a private airstrip. But the police were on the look out for the CIA cars we had borrowed. It resulted in a huge car chase – it was even on TV! Eventually, even with her amazing ability in speed and stunt driving, she was surrounded by hundreds of police cars."
"Not entirely surrounded. I was at the end of a wharf so I accelerated and drove straight into the Pacific Ocean. I couldn't swim back up or I would've been arrested, so I breathed the air from the tires for ten minutes. By the time I resurfaced, I was assumed dead and everyone had gone. I flew to Italy and subsequently, I was proven innocent."
"For what?"
"Well, it's a long story - which you probably won't believe."
"And it's classified Omega 17."
"We'll tell you one day."
-
"Okay, I think you've asked enough questions for now. It's my turn."
"Mom," I goraned. "I don't have a secret criminal past like you! What could you possibly want to know?"
"James…"
"How did you know something had happened when we got home that day?" I paused. "Ohmigod! You don't plant audio devices or video recorders on me when I go out, or have me followed by a security team, or watch me via satellite, or…"
Mom and Dad just laughed.
"Al, we're spies!" he pointed out.
"We would never do something like that to you, destroy your privacy, but we are spies."
"We're trained to read people's emotions through their facial expressions and body movements. You two looked so happy, in a different way than usual, and you were both grinning like idiots! So, come on! I wanna know what James Hammond did to my little girl!"
"Um…well…we kissed on top of the Eiffel Tower."
-
My parents are so funny. Most teenagers wouldn't be comfortable telling their parents something like that but my Dad wolf whistled and my Mom gave me a big hug.
"I'm so proud of you two! You guys looked so happy!" she exclaimed. "I wanna know all about it."
"You sound like an excited twelve year old girl." Dad stood up and grinned down at Mom. He put on a squeaky voice. "Ohmigod, ohmigod, that boy just looked at you! I think he likes you!"
At the same time, Mom and I both jumped up, grabbed a pillow and started beating him over the head.
Mom leaned in to his ear. "A twelve year old? You think I act like a twelve year old?" She pushed him backwards until he was lying on the couch. She lay down on top of him and kissed him long and hard.
"No, not twelve," I answered for him. "Fifteen. You two are like a couple of horny teenagers."
Grabbing a leach, I ran out the door with Milo at my heels, giving them some time to themselves.