A/N - Yep, don't own Alias. All I own is my season three DVD set. R/R! Enjoy
It's been three years, Michael Vaughn though to himself, entering the CIA building which he worked. Three years since I last saw her. Her of course was Sydney Bristow. Despite his constant effort to get her off his mind, every time he walked into this building he was reminded of her. As he knew most people here were. They still all expected her to come back; walking into the front door was if it had only been three days. Like nothing had happened, only they had realized that it was impossible, she was most likely dead, never to return.
Even though he had moved on, he was now married to Lauren Reed; Vaughn wasn't as in love with her as he had been with Sydney. No one would ever affect his heart and mind like that. No one, no matter how many times he had to remind himself a day that he was with Lauren, that he loved Lauren, she didn't come close to Sydney. His Sydney. And she knew it. But she was happy with a life like hers. Other than Vaughn, people didn't seem to like her very much, it could be because she had taken over where Sydney worked, and they didn't like it. But they had warmed up on her a little over the past year.
His status in the office having moved up, he was back into an office again, a bigger one this time. It had a view too. After passing Marshal, who wanted to show him pictures of his kid, he entered his office and shut the door behind him. His desk was cluttered with papers and pens, things like that. He also had a few pictures. A picture of him and Lauren, and few other random ones of him and his friends, one of them he was playing hockey. The pictures of Sydney he had were tucked away in the drawers of his desk. Only Weiss knew that they were there, and that Vaughn sometimes would stare at them.
No, not to be mistaken, he really was happy, it was just some days. Like this one, on this day three years ago, he had asked Sydney to go away with him. He was going to ask her to marry him. But then she disappeared and there was a fire, and he buried her. Or someone else, he knew she was alive, everyone did, they had a picture of her from a short while after she was gone. But none since.
"Mike," Eric Weiss came in without knocking, knowing what day this was, as it was on his mind as well. "How're you doing?" He asked with concern, as he too missed Sydney.
Sighing Michael ran a hand over his chin. "I've been better, you?"
"Fine, just fine." They stared around the room for a few minutes, the awkward silence settling over them.
"So-"
Eric was cut off by Lauren walking into the room. "Hello," she said, walking up right beside Vaughn, giving him a quick kiss, oblivious to what day it was. "You didn't wait for me," she accused him. He sent a helpless glance at Eric who stood there, before saying something.
"I asked him to come in," he started, looking from his best friend to Lauren, "I had to ask him a question about something." He nodded at Mike gave him a small smile of appreciation.
"Oh, well, okay." Lauren could tell there was something else. But she didn't want to press it.
Another awkward silence, Lauren couldn't see why her husband and his best friend had such grim looks on their faces. Just as she was about o say something, Dixon stuck his head into Vaughn's office. "I need all of you," he said briskly, before walking out and heading into the conference room.
All three of them, as if on cue, sighed. Knowing that something big happened, but none of them wanted to know what it was. Pushing himself out of his chair, Mike followed Lauren and Eric out of his office and into the room Dixon had just vanished into. Upon entering the room they found an angry looking Jack Bristow, and a worried looking Dixon. Taking their seats Vaughn was the first one to speak, "Why are we all here, I didn't know there was a meeting planned for today."
He didn't make it clear as to whom he was addressing, so it was up in the air. Jack and Dixon looked at each other, and Jack was the one to answer, "We have required Intel as to the whereabouts of one of our missing agents."
Now this make everyone in the room grow very quiet, except Lauren, who had never known Sydney, and didn't know what the big deal was. "So why exactly are we here, I mean, this happens all the time, right? Why is this time so special?" She asked, looking around the room, wondering why everyone looked so shocked.
It was a minute or two before anyone spoke, Marshall was the one to break the silence. "Sy-Sydney?" He asked, almost as if he was afraid to find out the answer.
Jack nodded his head a little. "Yes," he answered in a small voice. Vaughn and Eric looked at each other, Lauren was still confused, but said nothing. God this brought back so many memories for everyone.
"Where is she?" Michael asked in a strange voice, ignoring the look he got from his wife, "Where is Sydney?" She asked again, this time louder.
"Florence," it was Dixon who spoke this time. "We have pictures of her. It seems that she is living as a civilian. But we cannot be sure, we are sending in a team to get her." So that's why he called the meeting, to see out of them, which ones would want to go rescue their missing jewel.
"We thought it would be best if the people who got her knew her best." Jack stated, looking at Eric and Michael, pointedly, before continuing. "But, I would understand if you didn't want to go." Meaning, he himself was not going, he didn't trust himself to go on this mission.
"I'll go," Eric said, Jack knew that he would, now looking over at Michael. Not saying anything, but silently waiting to see if this man could get over feelings he had for his daughter.
Lauren was still glaring at him, he knew she didn't want him to go, but this was something he needed to do for herself. "I'll go as well." He said quietly, ignoring the look he got from Lauren, not caring, which made her all the angrier at him.
Dixon nodded silently and pressed a button on his computer, Sydney's face filled the main screen, as well as all of their screens in front of them. "This picture was taken yesterday, it is outside an apartment building where some suspicious activity has been going on. Records show that she lives in the fifth floor apartment, under the name of Julia Thorne. To our notice she was not involved with the said activities, but one can not be sure." Dixon paused, looking at the picture, as all the other men in the room were doing as well, looking at this girl who was one in the same as the woman they gave up so many years ago. "I want you two to go into her apartment and bring her back. You will have a team incase the building has security. Marshall will run the optec." With one last look around he group, he nodded, then looked down, "Bring her home safely," he told them quietly before leaving.
Jack looked around all of them, discluding Lauren, and then nodded, knowing his daughter would be safe with them. Walking out of the room, leaving Sydney's old friends and a very angry wife alone, Eric and Michael and Marshall all looked at each other, wondering what was going to happen now.
Lauren made an angry sound and stormed out of the room. "You might want to go follow her, man." Eric said softly, Mike knew that was what he had to do. Getting out of his chair he slowly followed Lauren, not in any big hurry.
"Lauren," he called to her when he was out of the conference room, and he saw her walking away from him. When she heard her name being call, she stopped and turned on her heel to face Michael.
"What!"
"What's the matter-"?
"What's the matter! Are you honestly asking me what the matter is?" She stared as his face then pulled him into the hallway, "How could you go and volunteer for the mission? You know I don't want you to be involved with her anymore, given your… history with that woman." She huffed, not that Michael was really listening. I mean, he was, but his mind was elsewhere.
"I don't think you get it," he said harshly before she could say anything else, "She was my life, before you, she disappeared, I have to know if it's really her or not. If you aren't okay with that then you have to get over with it, because I'm going whether you like it or not." He stated in a finalizing tone before walking away, leaving her in the hallway staring after his receding form. Going into his office he slammed his door, sighing and hit his head against the wall.
Not wanting to deal with this was going to cause further problems. His marriage was already strained, but this was going to make it worse. Not that it mattered, as stated; he wasn't truly in love with her. It was just there.
Looking around the office Mike sat down in his chair and rocked himself back and forth. How he was going to do this was beyond him, but he was going to sure as hell try.
-Two Hours Later-
"We are going to go in as security men. Yesterday Sydney had cameras installed in her apartment, we are supposed to go in saying we are going to check the system," Eric was telling Mike about their cover as they were on the plane. "We have the cameras linked to our own servers, so we can tell if she is in or where she is in the apartment." Eric fell silent after this last statement. Looking as confused as Michael felt, it took a while for them to say what was on their minds, and Eric spoke first.
"We haven't been able to find her in, God; it's been three years, why now?" He said quietly, Mike was thinking the exact same thing. But nothing could be said, neither one wanted to think of what was going through their heads, that she hadn't wanted to be found. Sydney was capable of it too, if she didn't want to be found, she wasn't going to be. Until now, and it baffled them both, but they didn't want to think the worse.
Just when Mike was about to say something, another agent along with them came into the room, "We will be landing in five minutes." He said briskly before turning on his heel and exiting the room again. Eric looked over at Michael and sighed.
"Here we go."
-One Hour Later-
They were in the parking lot of her building. It wasn't run down like Vaughn had though, it was rather elegant. With guards at the front door, doormen, everything that you would associate with a fancy hotel. But no, this is where she lived, it seemed like a dream compared to her old place, as now she had a full floor of her own.
Michael jumped slightly when Eric entered the van, "The video feed should be up shortly," he said quietly, knowing he had scared his friend. Sitting across from him, Eric looked over at Michael sadly, "Are you sure you can do this?" He asked him, knowing that he himself had battled his mind to find out if he could really do this, if he could really see this girl after three years and still have a clear head. In the end he thought he could, but it still remained to be seen whether Vaughn could.
After thinking for a while, he could answer, "I'm ready." He said, in an odd tone, like he was going to face his worse fear. The voice both scared Eric and made him stronger. After another second of silence, a voice came into their ear pieces.
"You should have the feed… now," the voice belonged to a younger agent, Sarah. "Can you see anything?" Michael and Eric both turned their attention to the three different screens in front of them. Each with four different pictures. They could see clearly, in black and white, the layout of her apartment, as well as a person lying in the bed. Eric gasped, she was more beautiful than he had remembered.
"Yes, we can see." He said, almost whispered back to her. "We are going in." He nodded to himself, then looked over at his entranced friend. "Mike, come on." He said forcefully, to get him out of this stupor that he had created for himself. It worked, Mike nodded and they filed out of the van. "Now team, we want this to go smoothly, no shootings, we are going into her apartment, tranquilizing her, and then bringing her out of there. Got it?" He didn't wait for an answer, "Good."
Eric and Vaughn made their way up to the elevator, ignoring the looks they got from the people milling around the lobby. They were with a gurney, as their cover was now someone in apartment five had called in an emergency. After getting up to the fifth floor, after what seemed to be an endless time, they reached the locked door of the fifth floor apartment. Eric silently handed Michael the key card that they had obtained earlier that day from Marshall, which he used to open the door.
Praying they didn't wake her, the two agents entered the apartment, knowing the dangers that could happen, knowing what would happen if she were to escape their hands again. Leaving the stretcher in the hallway, Eric and Mike walked quietly down the hallway, at the end there was an open door with soft music coming out of it. Mike peeked his head through the door, this was it. Sydney's room, she was still sleeping peacefully when they entered the room.
Angelic, those were the only words that could come to either of their minds. Her long ebony hair flowed across the pillows, and looked like a dark cloud. Eric stepped ahead of Mike with the needle they were to use on her. It was incredibly depressing, neither of them ever imagined the day when they were going to have to tranquillize their best friend, because she was possibly a threat.
Just as Eric was about to inject the needle in her outstretched arm, she stirred. As if feeling their presence there, but she did not wake up. The two men didn't dare let out their breathes as Eric shot the medicine into her veins. Her breathing slowed and they knew she was no longer a risk until she woke up.
Picking her up softly, Mike carried her to the gurney they left in the hallway. Stretching her out across it, Eric went to work strapping her down to it, they had to make this look like it was an actual emergency. Closing the door softly, they rolled her down back into the awaiting elevator. Once they got down to the ground level, it was show time. Rushing out the people who had just looked at them skeptically were now desperately trying to see what was going on. They ran through the lobby, and out to the back of the van. Which just happened looked like an ambulance. Michael stayed in the back with her and Eric drove to the extraction point.
They were really doing this. They were really bring her home.
Once they were out of the parking lot, the rest of the agents they had brought with them, made their way up to her apartment, to see what she had been doing these last few years.
-Three Hours Later. In LA—
Once they had reached the ground, Sydney had been whisked away, being put in the hospital and under surveillance, Michael and Eric were under strict orders to come directly back to the Rotunda. Which they did, only to be greeted with worried faces.
Jack, Dixon and Marshall all congratulated and thanks them profusely for bringing her home. Lauren was still angry at her husband, but he didn't care.
No one seemed to notice when the phone rang, other than an aid. "Sir," she said, not sure which one of the men she was supposed to be directing that 'sir' to. "She's awake."
To Be Continued.
