Not even ten minutes into the flight to Colorado and Sydney decided that she did not like this guy. This Michael Vaughn. However nice he seemed when she first met him flew out the window the second she tried to have a conversation with him. He was arrogant, self absorbed; he didn't listen to anything she had to say; he argued with her constantly on how they were going to pull off this mission; he didn't believe that he could ever be wrong; and probably the worst of it all, he tried to make her his assistant, not his partner.
Little did she know that Vaughn's thoughts about her were exactly the same. How the woman ever managed to keep her job as a spy was beyond him. She had no people skills what-so-ever! Or at least none as far as he could tell.
"We can't just waltz into his hotel room," Sydney snapped.
Vaughn rolled his eyes. "I wasn't saying that." He refrained from calling her a nasty name but only just barely. "We have to be invited first."
It was simple. They "run into" Sark and Reed and get to talking to them and then coerce them to invite the agents up to their room for drinks. The pair could knock out Sark and Reed by a simple drug slipped into their drinks and while they were out cold, plant the necessary listening device. But she had to find any and every flaw she possibly could. Insufferable wench.
"It's too risky," She argued. It would be risky enough to even approach Sark and Reed much less go up to their hotel room. God, how stupid could this guy get? With their luck, Sark and Reed would probably recognize them as CIA agents. It would be much better to lay low and observe them secretly.
"Then how to you propose we plant the listening device in their room?" He asked.
"I impersonate one of the maids," She answered. "And plant it while they're not there."
"Yeah, that's not risky," He muttered more to himself than her. Not that he cared if she heard him anyway. "Why do you have to be the one to plant it?"
She snorted. "I don't think you'd be up to the challenge." How they were ever going to pretend to be newlyweds was beyond her.
He raised an eyebrow. "Are you calling me under qualified?"
"Your words, not mine." She answered with a dismissive wave of her hand.
If she didn't shut up, then he was going to be bringing a dead body back to L.A. with him. "We're supposed to be married." He reminded her.
"Why anyone would want to marry you is beyond me." She retorted.
Having to clench his fist to keep from hitting her, he glared at her venomously. "I was going to say the same thing about you but that would have made me immature."
Her jaw dropped as she stared at him. First he called her unmarriageable and then he had the audacity to call her immature. That bastard! And she didn't know how to respond to that except for ignoring him which she proceeded to do. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her portable radio she'd packed for when she went on her daily jog and a book.
"What are you doing?" He asked, his voice full of disgust.
"You'd think you'd recognize when a girl was ignoring you," She told him a definite hint of sing-song in her voice as she put her headphones on. "It has to happen to you all the time."
Somehow he managed to keep his retort to himself. "We have to sort out what we're going to do."
"We can do it later," She shrugged.
"No," He countered, through clenched teeth. "We have to do it now."
"Why?" She asked innocently.
"You know why," He threw at her.
"Actually, I want to hear you say it," She replied, her eyes flashing coldly.
"This is ridiculous," He hissed at her. "We are two adults here and we're fighting like children."
Sadly, he had a point. She couldn't remember the last time she'd fought with anyone this immaturely. Well no, that was a lie. She remembered but she had been around five at the time.
Swallowing her pride –no minor feat- she nodded. "Alright, what if we watch Sark and Reed for the first couple of days, learn their habits and then approach them?"
What she'd never know was that he was thinking the exact same thing. Nodding to show he understood the plan, he answered, "Sounds good."
Sydney gaped at him for a moment. He agreed; he actually agreed to something she proposed. "When are we scheduled to land?" Good, change of subject.
Vaughn checked his watch. "About a half hour."
She nodded. "We should go over our story. How we met, how long we were dating, the works."
"We met at a friend's party." There, that was simple. Of course she had to argue with it.
"My friend or yours?"
"Does it matter?" He asked, near a growl. She really knew how to get on his nerves didn't she?
"It will when our stories contradict," She answered haughtily. If they were caught with their stories contradicting by Sark and Reed, then they were busted. And that was not in her plans for this mission.
"Mine then," He answered with a dismissive wave.
"Why yours?" She challenged.
"Mutual?" He offered. This girl had to have every little thing go her way and it was driving him fricking insane.
She considered it for a moment before shrugging. "Sure. Name for mutual friend?"
"I don't know… Marie." There that should make her happy. Knowing her, if he'd proposed a guy's name, she would have gone off on some masculine superiority thing.
Unfortunately for him, he was dead wrong. To her, if they met through a mutual girl friend, then it would be too complicated. He'd have to have a story about how he met this girl friend and why they weren't dating and it would be too complicated.
"How about a couple?" She proposed. "I'm friends with the girl and you're friends with the guy and everybody's happy."
"You mean you're happy," He muttered under his breath. "Sounds good. What next?"
"How long were we dating?" She asked.
"I'm going to let you pick that one." He answered.
After giving him a glare, she said, "Eighteen months."
"Engaged for six months," He added.
This brought a smile, though smug, to her face. "Now you're getting it."
If she means getting how to keep her happy, then she was dead on. "How would you like for me to have proposed to you?"
This question was a little harder. She had how she wanted to be proposed to all planned out in her head but it was the sharing it with this pompous jerk that irked her. Well, she might as well tell him.
"We both love the ocean," She started, "and… we usually take walks along the beach in the moonlight. Just because. Then on one of those walks, under the full moon, you suggest that we have dinner on the beach. So I agree and we spend the next hour or so feeding each other fruit and finger food and then you feed me a strawberry and inside's a ring. That's when you tell me how much you love me and you ask me to marry you."
He was dumbfounded at the lengthiness of her story. He'd expected something like over dinner at Christmas, but not that whole long story. Well, if that's the way she wanted it. "Okay."
While her face didn't smile, her eyes did and he couldn't help the silent wish that she keep that smile in her eyes all the time. "Simple wedding?" She asked.
He nodded. "Definitely."
After a couple moments of silence, he leaned over and rifled around in his suitcase for a couple moments before pulling out an eight by ten velvet box. "Choose your ring." He said, opening the box to reveal a vast array of rings. "They all have a built in cameras, thanks to Marshall."
So he had gotten them from Marshall. It would have been a little odd for a man –spy or no- to carry around a box of rings. "He needs to get out of the office more," She commented taking the box and looking the rings over.
"Especially considering he has a son now," He added.
She nodded her agreement. More than once she wondered how Carrie, Marshall's wife, was handling her husband being at the office almost twenty four seven. It almost made her glad that she wasn't married and now that Danny was gone, there were no prospects. She could come and go as she pleased and no one would care. At least no one that she cared about.
"I like these," She said finally, pulling one of the diamond engagement rings and a simple wedding ring out of the box. After holding them up for him to see, she slipped the rings on. Of course they fit perfectly.
Glad that she chose the simple wedding ring, he took the box back, taking out the matching wedding ring and then putting the box back in his suitcase. Once he put his ring on as well, he looked at her and said, "And we just got married."
Marshall had a point, they both thought, they were going to need all the help they could get.
-break-
"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Adams," said the hotel manager, the suck up, when they entered the hotel. After another fight in the car that brought them from the airport, Sydney reluctantly agreed to hold onto his arm and fawn over him like she really was married to him. They might have had a non fighting moment on the plane but that didn't mean she could stand the guy any more than before. "We've been waiting for you."
"I highly doubt that," Vaughn answered, sounding haughty and doing a good job of it.
Couldn't be that much of a stretch, she thought.
"We're not that important," He continued, seeing the manager's face harden.
At this, the manager laughed. "Nonsense," He insisted. "Everyone who stays at this hotel is important."
"You seek to flatter us," Sydney answered twirling a piece of her hair around her forefinger.
"Not at all, Mrs. Adams," The manager countered.
Hiding the inward cringe she felt coming on, she smiled at the man. "Call me Melissa please." Both the manager and the man whose arm she was clutching raised an eyebrow at her. "I guess I'm just not used to be calling Mrs. yet." She added.
The manager laughed again and the sound was starting to get on both hers and Vaughn's nerves. "If that's what the lady wants, then that's what the lady gets."
She gave the man a smile before turning to her "husband". "James, I'm going to go use the little girl's room, okay?"
"Okay, Mel," Vaughn answered having to force himself not to retort something smart at her. "I'll check in for us."
She gave him a forced smile and kissed him on the cheek before disengaging herself from him –almost roughly- and walking away. Yeah, she needed to go to the bathroom because she was going to throw up after kissing that man's cheek.
"She seems a little…" The manager trailed off, not wanting to insult Vaughn about his wife but in his opinion, they seemed a little cold towards each other. Newlyweds weren't cold, that was for sure.
"It's the flying," Vaughn answered quickly. "It's never agreed with her and it always makes her a little cranky."
"Ah," The manager said. That explained a lot. "Come, we'll get you checked in." He told Vaughn, leading him over to the reception desk.
"The sooner, the better," Vaughn replied. He meant it as, the sooner they got checked in, the sooner he could get some sleep and get away from her.
The manager gave him a knowing smile and he had to keep from rolling his eyes and correcting the man. If he wanted to think something newlywed related, let him.
"Can we get a king size bed," Vaughn requested. Oh, that really sounded like the opposite than what he wanted. He figured that the bigger the bed, the less likely he was to run into her in the middle of the night.
"Certainly," The manager added, again with the knowing smile.
Sick old bastard, Vaughn cursed mentally as he let his gaze wander around the lobby.
Sydney sighed and stared into the mirror in the women's room, trying to calm her nerves. She wasn't sure how much longer she could pretend to be in love with that jerk. Only by reminding herself that it was for the good of the country was she able to put that fake smile back on her lips.
Feminine giggling from right outside the door made her freeze. After a couple moments of acting like a deer caught in the highlights, she grabbed her purse and headed for one of the stalls. She wasn't quite ready to face anybody.
"Julian…" The woman giggled, opening the door. "You can't come into the women's room with me."
Sydney's mouth fell open. Julian, that could mean…
"Why not?" Julian answered making the woman giggle again. "You can't leave my side ever, Lauren. We're married now."
That confirmed it. The two people she had been sent to spy on were in the fricking women's bathroom with her. Oh shit. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted that he sounded rather chauvinistic. Kind of like the jerk she was supposed to be married to.
"Because," Lauren sighed clearly over exaggerated. "You just can't."
"That's not very convincing," Sark countered eliciting another giggle from Lauren.
Oh, Sydney was definitely going to puke now. And she was stuck in a stall in the same bathroom as them. Oh, if she had to listen to them… ew.
Vaughn stopped his wandering eyes, seeing what Sydney was hearing. Sark and Lauren, standing in the doorway to the women's room. It didn't look like Sark was going to let his new wife go in there alone either.
For reasons unknown to him, considering he hated the woman, he turned to the manager and said, "I don't think they're allowed to do that." He nodded towards the couple who were up to groping each other now.
"I'll be right back," The manager replied, leaving the desk to go break up the couple.
Vaughn nodded and watched leaning against the desk, looking bored. Why did he do that? Of course he knew Sydney was in that bathroom and knowing her, she could hide herself, but it might have been interesting to force her to listen to the couple go at it.
"Excuse me," The manager interrupted the couple. Sydney almost cried with relief. She wouldn't have to listen to that. "Either in or out."
"He'll be waiting outside," Lauren answered before Sark could open his mouth. She gave her husband a look before slipping inside.
Sydney waited until the other woman was in the one of the stalls before grabbing her purse and making a break for the door. "Oh, excuse me," She said, purposely running into the manager who was still standing outside the door with Sark.
"M-mrs. Adams, I mean… Melissa," The manager stammered seeing who had crashed into him. "I didn't see you there." He definitely looked embarrassed seeing her come out of the same bathroom where another couple was about to…
Sydney gave him an abashed smile. "No, it's my fault." She countered. "I was just so anxious to get back to my James that I wasn't watching where I was going." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sark watching her. Great. "Please forgive me."
"There's nothing to forgive," The manager insisted. "Come, we've almost got you checked in."
"The sooner, the better," She answered, following the manager.
"Your husband said the same thing," He commented.
"Did he?" She asked, trying not to sound too shocked.
"Mmhmm," He answered. Well, that just meant they thought alike sometimes. Nothing earth shattering.
She hoped.
Ten minutes later, ten minutes full of apologies from the hotel manager, Sydney and Vaughn were finally able to grab their keys and make a break for the room. According to the manager, their luggage had already been brought up.
"You owe me one," Vaughn told her when they entered the elevator.
Sydney jerked away from him, seeing as they were alone. "Oh yeah?" She challenged. "For what?"
"Sending the manager after Sark and Reed," He answered simply.
She stared at him. "You did that?" She stammered.
"You're welcome, dear," He replied sarcastically.
"Bite me," She shot at him.
"I'd rather not, thanks." He countered.
Throwing him a glare she crossed her arms over her chest. "Any girl who does marry you is seriously disturbed."
"I'd say the same about you and any man who marries you," He answered chuckling.
"So we're in agreement."
"Looks that way," He nodded. "Oh, we need to act more in love."
"Excuse me?"
"The manager," He explained. "He sense that something was off. I blamed it on the plane but we can't do that for two weeks."
A sigh escaped her lips. "It's kind of hard to act in love with someone like you."
"Right back you," He murmured.
Thankfully for both of them, the elevator reached their floor seconds later. He reached for her hand, which she gave to him reluctantly, and with their best fake smiles, the couple emerged from the elevator. Sydney winked at one of the middle aged ladies waiting for the elevator and held her up her free left hand for show.
"Newlyweds," One of the ladies whispered to the other as the couple headed down the hall.
"Cute couple," The other replied before their voices faded.
"Nice touch," Vaughn commented. "With the wink."
Sydney shrugged, "Kept the old birds happy didn't it?"
He kept his laughter soundless as he pulled her to a stop outside one of the doors. "After you," He said, unlocking it. "Unless you want me to carry you."
She threw him a nasty look. "I think I can walk," She replied, striding inside before he could retort anything. After a quick glance around at the room, she dumped her purse on a chair and collapsed on the bed.
"What are you doing?" He asked, heading for his suitcase.
"Sleeping," She mumbled back.
Rolling his eyes, he opened his suitcase and pulled out two bug detectors. "We have to sweep for bugs," He reminded her.
Groaning, she sat up and took the detector he handed her. "Fine. I'll take the bathroom."
"Don't take too long," He told her. "I'd like to brush my teeth sometime tonight."
As it turned out, the room wasn't bugged and she only took ten minutes in the bathroom. Tossing the detector back in his open suitcase, she gestured towards the bathroom. "All yours, master."
He rolled his eyes at her. "Thanks." There was no gratitude in his voice.
After he closed the bathroom door behind him, she crossed to her own suitcase and pulled out some clothes to sleep in. Seeing as she was alone and the room was unbugged, she changed right on the spot. He came back out of the bathroom –changed as well, she noted- just as she finished brushing her hair.
"Do you want the left or right side?" He asked, putting his stuff away in his suitcase.
"Excuse me?" She asked, grabbing the covers on the bed and pulling them down. "I am not sleeping in the same bed as you."
Oh for the love of… she was so fricking stubborn! "The floor's open," He told her.
"For you maybe," She sneered.
"It's a king sized bed," He pointed out. "I don't think it'll be a problem."
Grinding her back teeth, she nodded reluctantly. "As long as you don't move in your sleep," She answered sitting down on the right hand side.
"The same goes for you," He retorted, sitting on the opposite side.
After a five minute glaring war where they silently dared the other to lie down first, she broke the glare first and lay down, her back turned towards him. He took the truce and did the same, also turning his back to her.
Though they opened their mouths to do so several times, neither said goodnight.
SSB's note: Okay, I'm going to answer some questions to clear some things up.
Vaughn works for the same office as Sydney and Dixon, they just have never crossed paths before now.
Yes, this will be a S/V story.
Anything else, ask and you shall recieve an answer.
Thanks to ALIASobsessed89, Lara783, soccerfreek324, Five Stories Fallen, TimeIsOnYourSide, Oreata, Lil Aussie Alias Chick, Number47, claire, Forceful, ArodLoverus2001, Natalie, dolphingurl1, Allegra Moon, noggi, SonnyCarlyJasonCourtney, sydofthesea, Antigone11, alias-sydney931001, SuperDuck123, gils, kelly, Aliasdoll, TheUptwonGirl, ktlee14, total vartan lover, katejones2005, Charlie, angelonwings, chickieedee, Serindipity9, BrSoccerChic, AliasFan47, and livingArtemis for reviewing.
You guys rock my socks!
Melanie
Next chapter: Of bathrooms and horses
