Thanks again for all the reviews. Alatariel97: thanks for reading/reviewing my other stories. Sorry I've been so lazy about updating them...but your review was very encouraging. I'll get around to updating them some time or another I promise : )
Chapter 3
It was with a heavy heart that Sydney entered the bustling office of SD-6 the following morning after English class. Noah had left her about six messages on her cell phone since the night of the party and she hadn't called him back once. Now she would have to see him face to face and explain her behavior.
What was the real reason for her avoidance of him, she wondered? He wasn't that bad at the frat party. He acted just like any typical college boy unwinding after a rough week – and was loads more polite than that nasty Skyler Banks – not that that said much. When she thought hard about it, she had to confess she was avoiding him because her intentions toward him had changed. She hadn't been able to admit it before, but deep down inside she had been thinking of him as a replacement for Danny. Someone to depend on, to comfort and be comforted by, but in a romantic way. A boyfriend. Only with Noah, she'd be able to be completely honest. That was the main attraction. No more secrets, no more leading a double life. Could anything be better than that?
Yes, said the annoying voice in her head. True love. Boys who don't change into crass perverts when they're filthy drunk. Boys who don't get filthy drunk.
She would just have to let Noah know as nicely as possible that she wasn't interested in him in that way anymore. Not that she had ever admitted to being interested in him that way in the first place – although it had been implied a million times a day since they began working together. Sydney didn't know it, but several of her coworkers at SD-6 had actually made bets on how long it would take before the two of them finally got together. That Sydney and Noah's relationship was teasing the line between friends and lovers was no secret at SD-6. Neither was pretty much anything else about the agents' lives.
"Where do we stand on Case 147?" came the cold voice of Arvin Sloane.
There were two other men in the room. One of them picked up a remote and flicked a switch. A large screen unfolded from the ceiling.
"A traffic camera recorded this footage outside Agent Bristow's apartment last night," said the man.
He flicked another switch and the screen lit up, showing a black car pulling up to the curb across from Sydney's apartment. Michael Vaughn stepped out of it, walked up to Sydney's apartment with a spring in his step, and knocked on the door. Despite the fuzzy footage, it was quite clear that when Sydney Bristow opened the door and saw who was standing before her, she was not at all displeased. She smiled radiantly at him, her cheeks turning slightly pink. Vaughn's hand grazed the curve of her back as he followed her into the apartment. The man flicked the switch and the screen went blank.
"How long was he there?" Sloane asked.
"About four hours," the man replied.
"I see. You may leave now."
The man nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Sloane sat back in his chair, staring blankly before him for a few minutes. Then he sighed and lifted his eyes to meet the gaze of the other man in the room.
"I think you know what this means, Jack," he said finally.
"Yes."
"Jack, I have great confidence in you. You've never let me down. But, considering the nature of this case – "
"I'll be fine. Though Sydney is my daughter, I believe you know where my true loyalties lie. I will stand behind any decision you make, so long as it is made in the interest of this agency," Jack said flatly.
"That is comforting," said Sloane, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "Nevertheless, Sydney is important to me. She's important to SD-6. Therefore, I am willing to consider bending the rules slightly."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Sydney Bristow is our best field agent. She may still be of use to us, particularly in acquiring the Rambaldi artifact. Nevertheless, the situation must be handled with the utmost precaution. We cannot afford to have her relaying information about SD-6 to the CIA. I am willing to entertain the possibility that her sudden friendship with Michael Vaughn is purely coincidence on both sides. They both attend the same university; stranger things have happened. But she must be watched with constant vigilance. One slip-up, and…"
"I'll take care of it," said Jack.
Sydney was working hard at the firing range when Noah Hicks entered the room. She saw him out of the corner of her eye, but ignored him, pretending to be focusing intently on her shooting. He walked slowly over to her until he was standing right beside her. He watched her shoot for a few minutes in silence.
"Syd, are you gonna tell me what's up, or will I have to beat it out of you in training later today?" he asked her when she paused to reload her gun.
"Beat it out of me?" she laughed. "Yeah right. You know I can kick your ass."
"Yeah, that's sort of why I was hoping you'd just tell me freely what's going on."
She looked up at him, biting her lip, and took a deep breath.
"Ok. What I'm about to say is gonna be awkward for us both."
"Syd, you know you can tell me anything," Noah said.
Sydney nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I like you, Noah. I really do. But lately – and I don't think it takes the skills of a highly trained spy to pick up on this – our 'friendship,' or whatever it is, has become…more than professional. I think."
Could you be anymore vague? She asked herself angrily.
Noah's face brightened. "I know what you mean, Syd, and let me just say, I'm so happy. I really like you…I mean really…and I'm so glad we're finally taking our relationship to the next level."
"I'm not," Sydney said quietly.
Noah took a step back and looked at Sydney confusedly. If there was one thing Sydney Bristow couldn't bear, it was hurting someone she cared about. And she did care about Noah, on some level – just not the way he wanted her to care about him.
"I'm so sorry," she said, reaching out and gently touching his arm. "I do care about you, Noah, and I hope we can still be good friends. I just thought – seeing as we work together – it would be best for me to tell you right now, just so there's no misunderstanding between us."
"I see," he said after a few moments. Then, with a forced smile, "Yeah, I'd like to be friends too. I'll take what I can get."
Sydney smiled at him. "Now how 'bout that beating we talked about? I've got an hour before I have to head back to campus."
"You're on."
If Michael Vaughn hadn't been so busy daydreaming about the hockey game that night, he might have noticed when he climbed into his car to drive home that a man was already sitting in the back seat of it. As he reached to put the key in the ignition, the man in the back seat leaned forward and put a gun up to Vaughn's head.
"Drop the keys and put your hands up," he said quickly. Vaughn obeyed.
"Listen very carefully," said the man. "I don't know what the hell you think you're playing at, but this 'friendship' you're developing with Sydney Bristow could very easily cost her her life."
"What are you talking about? Who are you?"
"SD-6 cameras have footage of you meeting with Sydney Bristow two separate times. My intel has confirmed that she will be attending a hockey game with you and some friends later this evening. Now, Agent Vaughn, I realize you may not be very far past puberty, but even you must be aware that your relationship with Ms. Bristow has and will continue to raise the suspicions of higher ranking officials within SD-6. It is only a matter of time before those suspicions lead to her elimination, which, considering the CIA's recent discovery about her, would be less than desirable."
"How do you know about that?" Vaughn asked incredulously.
"That is not your concern. What I need to know is why you didn't bring Sydney into the CIA directly as you were ordered."
"That's none of your business," Vaughn said quickly. Jack raised the gun and slammed it into the side of Vaughn's head. Vaughn suppressed a groan as he felt a trickle of blood running down his face.
"You will tell me what I need to know, Agent Vaughn."
"How do I know you won't use that information to hurt Sydney?" Vaughn asked, breathing heavily.
"You don't. But what you do know is that if you don't tell me everything, both you and Sydney Bristow will be killed within the hour. I can promise you that."
Something about the intensity of man's voice gave Vaughn the feeling that this was not an idle threat.
"Alright," he said. "I was ordered to capture Sydney while she was at a frat party a few nights ago and take her into custody at the CIA. They didn't tell me much about why they wanted to hold her, but I did some poking around and found out. It has to do with some ridiculous prophecy by a man named Milo Rambaldi who lived hundreds of years ago. But I guess you already knew about that…"
"Tell me everything. What I know is not your concern."
Vaughn rolled his eyes, but when the man prodded him in the head with the gun again he decided to keep going.
"Rambaldi prophesied that a certain woman would render utter desolation onto mankind, or something. The prophecy included a portrait of the woman, and various other clues as to who she would be. The woman in the portrait looks exactly like Sydney Bristow, and she fulfills all the other clues we've been able to decipher so far."
"So why haven't you done your duty to your country and handed her over?" the man asked grimly.
"I did intend to. But I knew that doing so would mean the CIA turning her into a virtual lab-rat. They'd have to run all sorts of tests – mental and biological – to determine whether she was really the woman in Rambaldi's prophecy. It didn't seem right to force that upon a girl with such little evidence. They're basing nearly all of this off one picture that happens to resemble her. Turning her over to the CIA would ruin her life."
"Agent Vaughn, I fail to see how that is relevant to the situation. As a field agent of the CIA, you have put bullets through plenty of innocent people – guards in the wrong place at the wrong time, people getting in the way of a mission – and yet I doubt you thought twice before ruining their lives forever. Why the change of heart with Ms. Bristow?"
Vaughn was silent. He braced himself to be slammed in the head with the man's gun again, but fortunately it didn't happen.
"So," the man continued after a brief pause, apparently content with Vaughn's silent response to the former question, "I take it the plan is to get as many answers out of her about the Rambaldi prophecy voluntarily, and then turn her over to the CIA?"
"Sydney will be able to confirm or deny certain aspects of the prophecy on her own without being tested. If I can get her to reveal that information – of course without her knowing the reason I'm asking the questions – perhaps we can use it to prove her innocence. We may never need to bring her in."
"And you've sanctioned this with your department head?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now listen to me. You must never meet with Sydney in private."
"What?" Vaughn asked angrily. He was beginning to be pretty irritated with this man, whoever he was.
"Your meetings must never appear secretive. If SD-6 learns that Sydney is meeting with you privately, they will suspect that she is a double agent, and will not hesitate to kill her. You must not go to her apartment again."
"What? Why not? You just said SD-6 cameras outside Sydney's apartment have footage of me going there the other night. Clearly it's not private."
"Sydney doesn't know about those cameras. She has a device in her apartment that she believes blocks the signals from any spying devices in a 25 yard radius. SD-6 manufactured a camera that would not be disabled by the device. So as far as Sydney is concerned, her apartment is a private, secretive meeting place, and therefore you must never go there again."
Vaughn began to protest, but in a flash the man was gone from the car. He looked around the parking garage, but there was no sign of him. Vaughn sighed and began to dial Sydney's cell phone number. He'd have to think of a reason to explain why he wasn't picking her and Will up for the game anymore.
A/N: Sorry about the lack of Sydney/Vaughn interaction in this chapter. Therre will be plenty (I think) in the next update, which should happen shortly. Cheers!