Alias: To Kill A Mocking Bird

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, the show Alias, or any of its characters. Nor do I own the song "Wonder" By Megan McCauley, which can be found on the Elektra Soundtrack.

Summery: Vaughn and Sydney have a mission, of course. Based in the third season, before you find out that Lauren is the mole. Syd, and Vaughn are sent after the "Mocking Bird" a device that holds significance to the Covenant, as well as the prophecy. Sydney is still trying to get used to not knowing everything that happened the past two years, and Vaughn's wife. The song "Wonder" reminds me of Sydney and Vaughn and it inspired this story.

Wonder:

Song by, Megan McCauley

Midnight workings, weather down the storyline
I try to find the truth between all the lies
When Bleeding is feeling and feeling ain't real
Will I see you when I open my eyes?
Will I see you when I open my eyes?

When Breathing's a burden we all have to bear
And trust is one thing we're taught never to share
Somehow you just seem to shine
When loving means breaking and saying goodbye

(Chorus)
And I can't help but wonder what it is you do
You help heal the pain, and the thoughts of the truth
You're a question to the universe, a wonder to the world
And somehow, when I'm with you, I never get burned

Caught in a trap of what we're taught to believe
When night overcomes day, life's so hard to perceive
And the clock keeps on ticking through night-shattered skies
Where the stars are all broken, and so are all the ties
But the one thing remaining is you
When I'm broken and bleeding, you pull me right through

And I can't help but wonder what it is you do
When you help heal the pain, and the thoughts of the truth
You're a question to the universe, a wonder to the world
And somehow, when I'm with you there's nothing I'd rather do
Than be right there
To escape my own life and all my fear
And I cant feel
Am I really real?

Come and wipe all my tears
Come and wipe all my tears

And I can't help but wonder what it is you do
You help heal the pain, and the thoughts of the truth
You're a question to the universe, a wonder to the world
And somehow, when I'm with you...
I can't help but wonder what it is you do
You help heal the pain, and the thoughts of the truth
You're a question to the universe, a wonder to the world
And somehow, when I'm with you, I never get burned

Chapter I:

Sydney looked around the table, at the faces that surrounded her. Vaughn had come back to work for the CIA, the two things he had told her before his return echoed in her mind.

"Before you tell me it's okay that I come back, you need to know two things. One: I loved you so much, it almost killed me. And two: I do not regret moving on with my life."

Lauren sat comfortably next to her husband; their hands were above the table in a professional manner. Vaughn looked a little worn at the edges, his face was tight, and stress lines were visible at his forehead. Weiss also had his eyes focused on his best friend, a look of concern on his face. Jack looked uncomfortable, closed up as always. Her father never really let anyone past that wall to how he was feeling. She blamed her mother for that. She knew he had emotions though; love and protection were just two that she felt strongly from her father.

"Vaughn and Sydney, you're to go on a mission to retrieve the Mocking Bird. It's a Rambaldi artifact that the Covenant is after, and the CIA wants it first. The Mocking Bird is said to be a voice recorder. We don't know whose voice, or what it says. Just that is has to do with the Prophecy and it could help with your memory Sydney, we don't know. Marshall." Dixon addressed Marshall for the rest of the mission's objectives.

"Well, we think we found the device. It's a rough scale climb, off the cliffs of Moher, western Ireland. There seems to be a cave 350 feet down. And rather well hidden. Has anyone ever been to Ireland here before?" Marshall looked hopefully around the room; exasperated faces looked up at him from swivel chairs. "No? Well. I enjoyed it, there are these-"

"Marshall." Dixon ground out.

"Right, sorry. Anyway, the cave, despite the fact that no one has been in it since Rambaldi's time, the security measures are rather advanced."

"Can you get us through?" Sydney was the first to ask the question, but Vaughn had been thinking the same. Marshall laughed.

"It's advanced, for it's time, so it's still not the hardest thing I've had to work with." Marshall's voice was rightfully proud.

"How long will it take?" Dixon questioned, removing his eyes from the case file.

"Tops?" Marshall paused to think out the possible difficulties. "One hour."

"Alright. Weiss, you're on surveillance. They're going to be vulnerable scaling down that cliff, and you're going to have to watch their back. Lauren-"Dickson looked to Lauren.

"I'm still on an investigation for NSC." The answer came in a very feminine, and British, clipped tone.

"That's fine. Sydney, Weiss, and Vaughn, you leave in two hours. Jack, I'd like a word with you."

Jack and Dixon were left in the office, talking in quiet whispers, as the rest of the agents made their way out. Sydney took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She would go home and pack, then make her way to the airport with Weiss. Maybe she would take a bottle of Advil with her; she could almost sense the migraine that would be joining her head shortly.

Sydney closed the curtain in the back of the van that separated the driver and the computer desk from where she would be changing into her gear. The flight had been quiet, uncomfortable, and had felt much longer that it should have. She slipped into the black jumpsuit, and then pulled the shoulder length dark hair back into an elastic band; clipping the shorter pieces back with the always useful bobby-pin to keep it out of her eyes.

"So, you're going to be like Indian Jones?" Weiss's voice held a strong sense of amusement, something that had almost helped the trip to Ireland seem less burdensome. Sydney opened the curtain again, stepped up to her seat at the computer desk. Close to Vaughn. "Something to that extent." Vaughn's gaze didn't leave the computer screen. "Marshall said it wasn't so much technology that was needed, but fast reflexes. He said the security system consisted of trapped footing, and he gave us a scanner to locate the stones we shouldn't step on. The only real technology in the cave is a motion detecting system, he can give us ten minuets before the sensors detect us and then the cave will start to close and a poisonous gas, which works as an acid, will be emitted. It burns from the inside out. If we don't get out before the ten minuets we'll have thirty seconds before the cave is actually locked up. Just in case, we have two masks. They won't do much good though if we can't get out of there with in three hours, the gas works as a virus and evolves. It eats through plastic, rubber, cloth, skin." He finally looked over at Sydney, green meeting a light brown colour. They both knew each other enough to know the other was hurting, but they weren't in the position to help the other.

Feeling the emotions bubbling in the vehicle, Weiss spoke up.

"Well, we'll be there within 45 minutes. The Covenant shouldn't have found out where the cave is, but knowing them, I wouldn't go in with your guns on safety." The van moved swiftly and quietly over the Irish land. In daylight it was beautiful, mystical, and calming with its hilltops of misty green. At night it was mysterious, no longer relaxing, but more of an energized jumpiness. Almost as if waiting for the fairy's and leprechauns to play a prank; or for the Banshee to scream out her blood-thirsty warning.

It was easy to believe in such things in this country of fables and folk lore. It was almost easy to believe in beautiful nymphs and happy-endings. Maybe she would take a vacation here for a week or two. To relax…After finding out what happened to her for the past two years. After destroying who ever it was that destroyed her life, she would think about fairy-tales.

"Are you alright?" Vaughn's voice was soft, concern laced it. It made her heart hurt, and her stomach turn to knots.

"Just thinking." She forced a smile to her face, she could feel the corners tilting up but it still felt like a frown to her. It felt fake. She was going to be sick. Vaughn could see right through that smile.

"You sure?"

"Of course." She cleared her mind, focused on her training. The smile was believable this time. "I was just thinking that it's pretty here is all. Marshall was right." Vaughn still didn't look convinced, but he let it pass. They could feel the van slowing as it made its way to the point where they would start the climb down.

"Ready guys?" Weiss got out of the van and made his way to open the back. He pulled out the equipment, Vaughn helping. It was much easier to focus on what she was about to do, she was about to find a clue to her missing two years. She looked up at the sky, wondering for a moment what was beyond those bright lights. And how something so large could look so completely small from where she was looking at it, from where anyone was looking at it. Well, no, she knew that even the smallest things could be secretly larger than life. She worked with little things every day that ended up being priceless.

"Here's your mask." Weiss handed over the mask, it was more compact that most, and was clear for better vision. Vaughn had the scanner secured on his belt, and was slipping in his ear piece. Sydney closed her eyes, slipping in her ear piece while taking a deep breath. She needed to be determined, but her nerves were aggravating, and she had to focus on being calm.

'Think of the stars. Think of finishing this, of finding out the truth. Just don't think about what you've lost. You still have more to gain. It's not over yet.' She ran the thoughts over her mind, taking those deep breaths, and keeping her eyes closed. She could still see those little bright lights in her mind's eye.

"Let's do this." She opened steady, cool, eyes that were hard as rock and just as determined as her father's. Vaughn nodded to Weiss; they had been waiting for her to come back. It had been as though she was an empty shell for days. The look in her eye's finally showed that it wasn't just Sydney's body working; her soul was finally in it.

They made their way to the edge of the cliff, tourist had already made their way back to their Bed and Breakfast's, and who would guard a cliff that only lead to sharp rocks, a crashing sea, and a breathtaking view? Well, anyone that would be guarding the cliffs had been lured away by a good drink or two at the nearby pub by a kind stranger with an American accent.

Vaughn went first. They started by putting a sturdy link at the top, Vaughn placed more for stability as he made his way slowly down. Pushing away with his feet then gliding until he hit the side again and placing another link before kicking off and doing it all over. Ten feet at a time. Sydney went when Vaughn made it down fifty feet, following the trail he had made with the climbing equipment.

"According to the tracking system Marshall set up on the scanner, the cave should be around here. Within ten feet, approximately." Vaughn called up to Sydney, the spot didn't look very different from the rest of the cliff.

"He said it was pretty well hidden." Syd called back down, keeping an eye out for anything different as she placed her feet carefully upon the rock surface.

"How are you guys doing?" Weiss's voice cracked through their ear pieces, jarring Sydney to the point where she grabbed at the first tangible thing she could hold onto; a bird's nest, and a rather large one at that. Her hand slipped off pulling the empty nest with it and knocking lose a branch that had been sticking out of the side, covered it silky moss. But, she didn't scream as she fell.

Vaughn grabbed Sydney's hand just as the safety cord snapped her back against the cliff. She wouldn't have fallen very far, thanks to the lines they had placed as they had made their way down, but it was always good to have that extra hand when you felt like you had left your gut twenty feet above your head. Sydney breathed in a huge sigh of relief, Vaughn closed his eye's tightly trying to calm his racing gut and the feeling of pure fear that had bile rising in his throat as Sydney had lost her footing.

"Whoa," Was all Sydney managed to get out as she tried to regain some footing on the side of the cliff next to Vaughn. "Thanks. We're okay Weiss."

Vaughn shook his head and grinned, three feet to his left was an opening that hadn't been there before Sydney's fall.

"This way." He nodded to the opening, and started scaling his way towards it. Sydney followed his lead.

Vaughn slid his hands around Sydney's waist as she neared the ledge to help her onto it; memories that had been fighter their way out of the box they had been so carefully hidden in, forced their way out. The ledge was small and forced their bodies to press close together as Sydney stepped on; she had to grip his shoulders to keep her balance.

She still smelled the same. That was the first thing Vaughn noticed as he embraced Sydney on the ledge in front of the cave 350 feet down from Weiss and the van. In Ireland. Well, maybe not the first thing he noticed. He had actually noticed that it felt good to hold her again. Then that she smelled the same. Like lilacs, and earth, and some rare spice.

"Vaughn." Her voice was going to crack. She didn't want to let go. She wanted to burrow into his arms and not let go of him again, not ever. Her chin was pressed into his neck, and his face was in her hair. He didn't want to move either, she could feel it. She had to let go, she had to pull away before she decided to do something else, anything else than let go. So that's what she did. She slowly pulled away, so as not to fall off the ledge again. He looked at her from behind lowered lashes, eyes so green she would forever associate them with this land of magick from now on. She didn't have to say anything else. He was married, and this wasn't a good idea- for either of them. He moved away, and cleared his throat before pulling out the scanner to check the footing in the inside of the cavern.

"This can't be right." He furrowed his eyebrows, rescanning the tiles.

"Why? What is it?" Sydney looked down at the hand device; a picture diagram of the tiles was on the screen. The red tiles were not to be stepped on, while the blue were safe. Sydney's eyes became wide, shocked.

"What's wrong?" Weiss's voice was worried over their ear pieces.

"All of the tiles are red," Vaughn looked up from the scanner, "Every one of them."

TBC