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Disclaimer: I don't own Alias
"Michael! Upsy-daisies! C'mon! Up and at 'em!" Mrs Vaughn wandered into her son's dark room and pulled open the heavy curtains.
"Mum! No! It's too bright!" Michael pulled his bed covers over his head.
"C'mon sweetie. It's time to get up. It's almost ten o'clock." Mrs Vaughn said, walking over to the bed and attempting to coax her son out.
"NO! ... Wait a second, what's the time?" Michael's head appeared from under the covers.
"It's five to eleven. I've made you brekkie, so up you hop." Seizing the moment, Mrs Vaughn yanked the doona and sheets off of Michael's bed, grinning at her son.
"Mum! That was cheap! But I'll take you up on the offer of breakfast." He slid off his bed and stiffly walked to the door.
"How's the knee this mornin'?" Mrs Vaughn asked, noticing the grimace on her son's face.
"It'll be fine. Stop stalling me mum, I want my breakfast!"
"I better start making something then..." Mrs Vaughn smiled.
"What are you talking about ma? I thought you said... Mum...?" Michael paused for a moment and sniffed the air for any cooked breakfastaromas. "No way! You lied!"
Mrs Vaughn shrugged her shoulders and began to walk out of the room. "I needed some kind of incentive for you to get out of bed. And it seems that these days food is the only one that works. Besides, I need a man's helping hand."
"Well just because you're my mum..." And Michael followed his mum into the kitchen.
---
"Mum, this is pretty good. Just like the person who made it, hey?" Michael winked at his mother and took a bite of his scrambled eggs.
"Is that because you did?" Mrs Vaughn smiled. "So, my boy, what do you plan to do today?"
"Um... Well I was going to take the dog to the park." Vaughn avoided his mother's eyes.
"What are you not telling me?" Mrs Vaughn looked closely at the son. "C'mon boy."
"Well, it's just he's been looking a bit chubby these days, so I thought..."
"Ahem? You expect me to believe that? Especially after yesterday's appointment with the physio? You heard him just as well as I did. No excessive walking!" Mrs Vaughn crossed her arms and placed them on the table.
"But I really want to go!" Vaughn pleaded.
"I never expected to hear that again! It's like, déjà vu! I used to hear that all the time when you were knee high to a grasshopper. And now! What aren't you telling me?"
"Nothin'..." Michael shifted in his seat.
"Alright, who's the girl? This is about a girl, isn't it?" Mrs Vaughn smiled, and nodded knowingly.
"Kind of." Michael said, biting his lip.
"Kind of? Well I'd hate for the lucky girl to hear you say that! How can you kind of see a girl?"
"Well, you pinky promise you won't yell and scream and pull out your hair like a crazy mother?" He extended his little finger.
"Are you insinuating that my usual reaction is crazy? And that I'm a crazy mother? Shame on you boy!" Mrs Vaughn shook her son's pinky with her own.
"I'm just telling you like it is ma." The grin on Michael's face widened.
"Hmph." Mrs Vaughn sent Michael a menacing glare. "So, about this girl...?"
"Ok, so you've promised that-"
"-that I won't go crazy. Yes, I've got it, uh-huh. Now continue."
"Alright." Michael took a deep breath and spilled his secret to his mum.
"So I got this phone call – out of the blue- and it was this girl. She said her name was Sydney and she wanted to talk to William Vaughn. I thought it was a prank call, or one of those annoying telemarketer's so I told to her to just give it up. But she insisted that she genuinely wanted to talk to dad. And so I told her he was dead, and she seemed quite upset. Then I asked her what was up and she told me about this book she had been given. It had been her mother's and she received it for her birthday and dad's name – my dad's name – had appeared in it for some mysterious reason. So that's why she wanted to talk to him." Michael looked up at his mother, fully expecting her to be angry.
"Has her ownmother passed away?" She asked.
"Yes. Her mother died seven years ago. She's like me – she lost a parent when she was young."
"Hey boy? No offence or anything, but to me this sounds just a little fishy. Doesn't it? You said yourself that you thought it was a prank. I mean, come on – you're dad used to be in Intelligence. He was a spy and now his name is in a book that this girl has? Michael, I'm not sure whether I like this..." Mrs Vaughn reached a hand to her hair and smoothed her fringe.
"Mum, you promised, leave your hair alone. Hands down." Michael reached over and pulled his mum's hands away. "I know it sounds iffy. But what happens if it is true? There's going to be a girl there waiting for me in a matter of an hour or so, and she's waiting for some answers. She sounded so genuine on the phone, and she's only thirteen! It would break her heart! It would break mine if it was me."
"I understand Michael. You feel as though you can connect with her because she's in the same boat. I get that, I really do sweetie. But I also know that because of what your father did, we need to be careful with our judgement of what sounds real and what doesn't. You know just as well as I do that your father would've made enemies. And what happens if this is one of them, and they want to settle the score because of something that your dad did? If something happens to you... you're all I've got!" Mrs Vaughn stood up and walked over to her son.
"I know..." Michael hung his head.
"I know you do, and I know you don't want to let this girl down either. Do you know the phone number of 'Sydney'?"
"Not by heart, but it would be in the phone's call memory. Do you want me to call her back?"
"No, it's alright honey. If you could just get the number for me, I'll call her up and suss it out. If it's all good, it'll be fine. And if it's not – let's not think about it right now." Mrs Vaughn patted her son's head and then began to clear the breakfast table. "It's not that I don't trust you - because I do! It's just the other people I don't trust."
"I know I know... But if it's ok, I'm still allowed to go, right?" Michael looked at his mum hopefully.
"I'll have to see, mate. 'Cause not only do you have a busted knee – but you have a busted knee that shouldn't be walked on. Understood?"
"Yes mum." Michael mumbled, slumping back down into his chair.
"So, the number?"
"Yes mum." Vaughn stood and hobbled out of the room to retrieve the phone and number.
A few moments later, Michael returned and handed the phone to his mum.
"It's ringing."
"Oh, argh!" Mrs Vaughn ripped the washing up gloves from her hands and dried her fingers quickly with a tea towel before taking the phone.
"Good morning, Bristow residence! Tracey here." Tracey's cheerful voice greeted Mrs Vaughn.
"Um, hi. I know this might sound strange, but I'm phoning about a matter concerning my son." Mrs Vaughn looked over at Vaughn who had settled himself on the kitchen bench, all ears to his mum's side of the conversation.
"A matter concerning your son? What has happened?" Tracey asked, full of concern.
"Well, Michael – my son, received a phone call yesterday from Sydney and I was just calling to 'check it out'."
"Oh yes, Sydney told me about that this morning. She left about twenty minutes ago with her puppy Rex."
"Really? Oh, ok. Well I was just phoning to check that it wasn't a hoax, that's all."
"Oh no!" Tracey laughed. "Sydney is 100 percenttrue and I guarantee that she'll be there in a few minutes. It's about a half hour walk from our house so she'll be there soon."
"Well ok then, I guess that's that then. Thank you!" Mrs Vaughn caught Michael's eye and winked at him.
"That's alright. Cheerio!"
Mrs Vaughn hung up and smiled at Michael. "Mate, it's your lucky day. We better head off, because Sydney is going to be at the park in about ten minutes or so I was told."
"We?" Michael asked.
"Yes, we... You didn't think that I'd let you walk to the park by yourself did you? You're knee!"
"Yeah... but Mum! You said you'd let me go!" Michael pouted.
"No, not the famous Vaughn pout – I'm a sucker for it! Aw, you got me! Ok then, how about I drive you, and I'll wait in the car. At least then you won't have me tagging along, and I'll have piece of mind that you aren't stuffing up your leg." Mrs Vaughn chuckled at her son.
"It's a deal. C'mon then mum! Let's go." Michael jumped off the bench and headed for the door.
A/N: So I've updated. That's a good thing right...? Feel free to tell me what you thought of the latest chapter, and any ideas you have in general on this story. I seriously love reading each and every review! Thanks to everyone!
Next time: Sydney and Vaughn meet, but what happens?