Magnificent Lies
Niege
Sydney woke up to the bright French sun streaming through the hotel window. She tried ignoring it for a while, snuggling closer to Vaughn's warm, bare chest, but it soon became too bright tune out.
"Why is it so bright…." She mumbled to herself as she squinted at the clock that rested on the nightstand. Seven o'clock.
Sitting up in the bed and looking out the window, she gasped as she saw the reason for the overwhelming brightness. Everything was covered in a layer of snow. All she could see was white, with the dark Seine running past in a blur, flooded from the heavy precipitation. It had been cold and cloudy the days beforehand, but she hadn't expected a snowstorm. If she looked closer, she could see a myriad of snowflakes falling, clumping together on the ground below.
She felt Vaughn sit up next to her, missing the warmth from her body.
"Syd?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. "Wha- Wow." His sparkling green eyes took it all in, from the snow-frosted Eiffel Tower to the barely visible streets. Most had been snow-plowed, but the snow quickly recovered the asphalt. He wrapped his arms around Sydney from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"I like waking up with you." She said, sinking back into the warmth of Vaughn's chest. He began to plant butterfly kisses on her neck and shoulder, grinning like a fool when she tilted her head to the side to give him better access to the smooth skin. Suddenly she had a thought about something other than how amazing Vaughn was. "What about our flight?" She asked. "It doesn't look like they are going to be allowing any planes to take off for a while. How are we going to get home?"
"I'll call the airport, but I'm sure that all flights are going to be cancelled for a while. Do you think your parents got out before the snow?" He replied, voicing his own question. He hoped that Irina, Volkov, and especially Jack had flown back to Los Angeles. He wanted some time away from Jack so that he could get used to the fact that he had killed his father, and he also couldn't stand the idea of having Jack looming over his shoulder every time he went to give Sydney a kiss or hold her hand.
"I'll check." Sydney said, and withdrew the binoculars from their spot in her suitcase. She pulled a robe around her, over Vaughn's shirt, and stepped out onto the freezing cold balcony, her bare toes curling up as they made contact with the powdery snow.
Focusing in on the hotel room her parents had occupied, she gasped at what she saw.
"Vaughn!" She called into the hotel room. "Vaughn!"
He ran out onto the balcony, still shirtless. She speechlessly handed her binoculars to him. The hotel room was torn apart, drawers out, rug thrown back, furniture torn. Looking down at the street below, Vaughn saw a white van speed past, barely stopping to let three men jump in. It was almost like they had been looking for something, the way they had torn up the hotel room. He assumed it hadn't been SD-6, because they hadn't know that Jack was in France. Despite eliminating one of the chief suspects, he was still left with quite a few; any number of spy rings may have been searching for Volkov too, and somehow tracked him to Jack's hotel room, either visually or by electronics.
Meanwhile Sydney frantically searched for her cell phone, then sat down on the bed anddialed her voicemail. There was a message from Francie, just saying hello, and then her father's voice came on.
"Sydney, it's me. I wanted to let you know that we got the last flight out. I'll call you when we land."
She let out a huge sigh of relief at this. Vaughn returned from the balcony, his forehead wrinkling as he thought.
"We can't stay here. Whoever they were, if they were after your parents or Volkov, we're in trouble."
"I know. But it doesn't look like they are going to be letting any planes fly for a while. It's still snowing pretty hard, and there must be at least a foot of snow on the ground already. Where can we go?" They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"When I was a kid, we used to go skiing, every year. It was this place on the Alps, Combloux. We could go there, maybe even have a little fun on the slopes while we wait for the weather to clear up." He grinned at the thought of a ski-vacation with Sydney.
"Sounds great. Do we need reservations?" Sydney was excited now. This mission really had turned into a vacation. A dream vacation. And though she knew it would have to end at some point, it didn't look like it would be soon.
"Nope. My parents know the owner of a nice hotel there. It'll be no problem." He paused. "My mom lives in Nice. Maybe we could see her before we leave. I'd like her to meet you. If you want, I mean." He turned a little pink, he had never invited any of his girlfriends to meet his mother before. But the huge beaming smile that never failed to make his heart skip about a million beats quickly reassured him. She didn't even need to say anything.
"When do we leave?" She asked after giving him a kiss, getting up from the bed and stretching out her still sleepy muscles.
"As soon as we can. I don't want to risk being found by those guys from your parents hotel. We can take a cab to a rental car place." Vaughn said, then went to call to reserve a car. Meanwhile, Sydney started packing her things, zipping the suitcase just as Vaughn hung up the phone.
"I'll call Sloane while you pack up." She said. Vaughn nodded and pulled out his suitcase. As he walked over to the closet to get his suits out of it, she pulled out her cell phone, dialing the number she knew by heart, and turning on the bug-killer she kept in her suitcase whenever she traveled.
"Arvin Sloane." His voice came through after two rings. Just the sound of his voice gave her goose-bumps.
"Mr. Sloane, this is Sydney Bristow."
"Ah, Sydney. I heard about the snowstorm." He said, sounding pleased to hear from her. She could just imagine him sitting in his bare office, leaning back in his chair as he talked to her.
"Yes, it looks like we might be stuck here for a while." She paused, knowing there was no way she could tell him about the people who had raided her parents room without exposing them. "Agent Vaughn and I are going to lay low for a while, but we'll try to get back as soon as we can."
"Don't worry about it Sydney. You deserve a few days off." Sydney could barely believe her ears. "After all, France is a lovely country, not one to be rushed through. It was Emily's favorite country, actually, after Italy of course." Sloane stopped, his thoughts of Emily distracting him. Sydney took this as a signal to end the conversation.
"Thank you. I'll call you in a few days then?"
"Yes." He said, and she was about to hang up when he continued. "And Sydney? Try to have some fun." Then she heard a soft click and knew he had disconnected. Sydney pressed the end call button on her cell, then heading to help Vaughn pack. It wasn't strange for Sloane to insist she had a few days off, but it was odd that he had seemed so distracted on the phone. She just brushed it off though; what did she care if Sloane had finally gone of the edge? If anything, it would only make her job easier.
When Vaughn's suitcase was packed up again, they headed out of their room and onto the elevator. As they stepped off into the lobby, walking side by side, Vaughn subconsciously put his hand the small of her back, guiding her to the reception desk and putting a huge smile on Sydney's face. She was noticing that this happened a lot around Vaughn.
They checked out, and got a cab outside, and about a half an hour later they were standing in front of a new looking silver Chevrolet SUV.
"Wow. We kind of lucked out on the rental car lottery!" Sydney exclaimed, then narrowed her eyes at Vaughn playfully. "Vaughn? What did you do?"
"Who, me?" Vaughn said innocently, then grinned and opened the passenger side door for her. Soon they were on the road, heading southeast towards Nice and Combloux.
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More ASAP!!!!! I am having so much fun with this fic!!! Except for deciding which car they were going to have. Not my strong point. Anyway, I am totally loving all the beautiful, amazing, wonderful reviews!
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