See, look! I'm trying to update quick, cuz all you people who have reviewed rock so very much!
FF.net: thanks guys. I guess we can call that my slight crisis of self doubt or something… I forget the word… but either way, I really appreciate the reviews, and no worries, I will see this thing through!
SD-1: Ahh! Not the GabsSporkers! (You can't see, but I'm trembling in fear right now…)
I stared at the other occupants of the room. Irina gave me her usual serenely calm look; Jack looked almost apologetic; Sark seemed bored; and Dixon was obviously confused.
"Who is that?" he asked, turning to Jack.
"That was Sydney's CIA handler," Sark broke in, before moving to take a seat himself. I glared at him, not liking how he phrased that.
"Michael, sit down. We have a lot to discuss, and not a lot of time," Jack said.
"I don't get it- what the hell is going on here?"
"If you would be so kind as to take a seat and calm yourself, all will be explained," Irina looked a little too amused as she said this. She always made me wonder if she was playing mind games with me… I never could tell. Reluctantly, I moved to sit near Dixon, who was still giving me a thinly veiled look of distrust. I switched my gaze to Sark, who was staring at me with the same indefinable look as he always did. It was impossible to categorize him.
Jack and Irina looked at each other for a moment, and seemed to communicate all they needed to with their eyes. Then they turned back to us.
"Michael, as you know, this is Dixon. Dixon, this is Michael Vaughn. As Mr. Sark said, Vaughn was Sydney's handler with the CIA, and he's been heavily involved in the search for her from day one." Dixon turned to me again, a look of respect now etched across his features.
"That doesn't explain how Dixon is here, with us, when SD-6 is still operational," I noted, not quite in the mood to be friendly just yet.
"He's getting there," Irina said, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"Dixon is here because I asked him to be. Sloane sent him on a mission to Morocco with orders to eliminate a target who was a threat to SD-6 and 'national security.' It turns out I was that threat. I don't know how Sloane tracked me down, but he did. Fortunately, Dixon realized it was me, so he didn't pull the trigger. He approached me instead, and I had no choice but to explain everything. He met Irina for the first time today, as well as becoming reacquainted with Sark. He's going to be helping us now, and will eventually become a double agent as Sydney and I were. For the moment, we want to keep him away from the CIA so we can be sure he is able to stay involved with looking for Sydney."
I took a moment to let that all sink in before turning to Dixon.
"And you believed Jack when he told you the truth about SD-6?"
"Not at first. I didn't want to believe it. I'd invested so many years of my life into this, I couldn't fathom the possibility of it all being a lie. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I had been losing faith in Sloane after he was so quick to abandon the search for Sydney. She was one of the best agents I've ever known, and Sloane had always claimed to care about her. But as soon as she disappeared, he moved on. He never told anyone else the truth when people asked if she had been found- he always said 'we're still looking, and we're hopeful.' Too many things just weren't adding up."
Irina looked at me, her dark eyes seemingly boring a hole through me.
"Do you have any other questions?" I thought for a moment, running my hand through my hair before shaking my head.
"No, not right now. I can't think of anything at the moment."
"Ok then, here's the plan for now: you, Mr. Vaughn, will continue as you were before, keeping Irina and Jack up to date on anything of importance. Mr. Dixon will carry on at SD-6, and I will be putting in an appearance on each of his missions to ensure that what he takes back is of no danger to us. If the opportunity arises, SD-6 will be taken down." I frowned.
"Shouldn't we wait for Syd? She should be there when SD-6 crumbles." For the first- and only- time in memory, neither Jack nor Irina would meet my eyes. Dixon looked from me to Sark, waiting for an answer. For his part, Sark glanced to Jack and Irina before facing me.
"Mr. Vaughn, we don't know that Sydney is still alive, or that we'll even be able to find her. If we have the opportunity to absolve ourselves of SD-6, we can't pass up on that simply because we would like for Miss Bristow to be there."
"She's still alive. We just saw her in Mexico. We will find her, and she will be there to take down SD-6. She deserves to be there for the end of it."
"I'm not disagreeing. However, you saw her alive two weeks ago. That doesn't guarantee her continued survival today, or in the future. For all you know, she could have been killed as she was taken away. And for that matter, you didn't even see her, you just saw a car that she was in. You have no proof that she's alive."
"Colin Michaels didn't say she was dead." Sark raised an eyebrow mildly.
"And you're going to take his word at face value?"
"He didn't lie about anything else."
"Of course not. Who would lie when they have a gun trained on them?" Obviously realizing how volatile the situation was, Irina tried to step in.
"Sark, calm down. Vaughn, we need to recognize the possibility that Sydney-" I cut her off angrily.
"No, Irina, there is no other possibility! We have to find Sydney alive. Are we done?" I directed the question to Jack. He stared at me for a moment before nodding.
"Thank you. Be in touch, and soon." I turned on my heel and walked out, knowing full well that I had been rude, and that Dixon had probably not formed a favorable impression of me. But I didn't care. I couldn't face the possibility of Sydney not coming back.
Now, I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter at ff.net…
miss.pebbles: yeah, I have a fondness for Toronto, even though I've never been there…
Secret Agent Girl: Don't feel bad! And I'll keep posting here, I promise!
carrie: Thanks for reviewing, glad you like!
iceskatebaby: Thank you, kind words very much appreciated!
snowangel: Huge S/V shipper, huh? We'll see if I can't work some S/V in at some point…
black.Hawk: Good point, there are a lot of good stories without a lot of reviews… I'm almost at 100 here, so I'm happy!
Jade: Guess you know what Dixon's doing there now! And Vaughn's still going to meet with Francie, in a chapter or 2…
mary_d: Thanks! I try to update fairly quick, I know I'm not always so good about it…
Valoriahn: Thanks for the constant reviews. Was your curiosity about Dixon answered?
coolbeans: Thanks for giving my little tale another try!
And Susan: Soon enough, you moose? ;) Yeah, too bad there's no ninja here…