Shadow of Deceit

I'm glad they got out in one piece, but I'm not sure on how feel about "Julia" going along with Vaughn so easily unless she really didn't want to be there, and has her memories of her father and sister intact...
Guess i'll just have to wait and see...
Thanks for the pm.
Can't wait for more.
 
That was a great update. I have to agree I'm glad they got out in one piece. Now they can work together to stop Irina. That chapter was worth the wait. I can't wait for another update! Thanks for the pm!
 
Hey guys, Lauren wrote this chapter but she's getting back from her trip today so I'm posting this for her.

~Kay :D


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Chapter Four


Sydney pushed the glass double doors open and walked out of the conference room, trying to hold back a sigh. She had sat through a four hour conference with the director of the Los Angeles branch of the CIA, Hayden Chase and she was exhausted. All she wanted to do was go back to the safe house where she was to be staying and go to sleep. She hadn't closed her eyes for 72 hours and it was starting to effect her. Normally she could work on limited hours of sleep, but the travel from Russia to Australia to the United States within two days really took it out of her. She didn't want to hear anymore about her extraction or any other thing about Australia. However, most of the briefing had been to inform her that she was to be an agent for the CIA.


Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she had not left CIA headquarters. She had undergone a lie detector test, during which she revealed that Irina Derevko had held her hostage for 17 years. The CIA were fools for believing her story, but Sydney couldn't let anything slip through her cover, and she passed the test with flying colors. After that, she had been thrust back and forth between doctors, administrators, computer specialists and more. Ultimately, her relation to Jack Bristow had helped thrust her into higher-level clearance, as had her story of how she had come by her position.


And so she had fulfilled the first part of her mission, and was now a field agent for the CIA, a double agent for Prophet Five. She had gained the CIA's trust in no time, which, considering her expectations, wasn't a great surprise. She had always been good on making herself convincing.


“Agent Bristow?”


Sydney turned to see Michael Vaughn push open the doors of the conference room and follow her out. He flashed a her a tired smile as he caught up to her. “Hey,” he said.


She smiled back at him, trying not to focus too hard on his piercing green eyes. “Hi,” she replied.


“Long meeting, huh?” He asked her, walking alongside her.


She sighed at last, not caring what he thought. “Too long,” she answered. “I never knew that a meeting could take this long.”


Vaughn laughed. “Well, it was your first meeting with the CIA, and its not every day we get a new agent as brilliant as you,” His voice faded away as he finished his sentence and she looked up to see his cheeks darkening with red.


She lowered her chin to hide her smile as she said, “Thank you.”


Vaughn smiled again. “You're welcome.” He stopped and she did as well and he turned to face her. “Do you have any questions about anything?”


She folded her arms across her chest as she shook her head. “I think I understand everything. My job, status, call sign. It's just all crowded in my head right now. I just need some time to get it all sorted out. You know, I've been awake for three days straight. My thinking skills aren't exactly up to par.”


“I know what you mean,” Vaughn began, but a voice interrupted them.


“Sydney. Vaughn.”


The two turned to see Jack striding towards them, having just exited the conference room behind Director Chase. He didn't say anything until he drew even with the pair of agents. Jack looked over the two of them, his eyes lingering on Sydney for a longer moment.


“Sydney, may I have a word, please?” He asked her, trying not to be too gruff, but not succeeding very well.


Sydney surveyed him, her eyes narrowing slightly, but a minute later, she inclined her head shortly. “Sure,” she responded, flatly.


Jack looked over at Vaughn. “Vaughn, could you give us a moment?”


Vaughn shifted on his feet, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. “Yeah, sure,” he replied. He gave Sydney another slight smile, and walked away. Sydney watched him cross the room and sit at a desk, but not before he looked back and met her eye. She turned away quickly to look at Jack.


He looked very uncomfortable and couldn't meet her eye, but she didn't notice as she felt an emotion bubbling inside her. She didn't know why she was feeling resentment towards Jack right now, but she was. “We have nothing to talk about,” she said a bit too harshly.


“We have plenty to talk about,” Jack replied.


“What? Like how you abandoned me and didn't come to get me until now?” Sydney snapped, surprising even herself. She hadn't felt this angry at her father for many years, and why she was suddenly wishing that he had come to extract her was beyond her.


Jack took hold of Sydney’s arm as several agents looked up from their computer screens and pulled Sydney into a small room and closed the door, so they could not be overheard. Sydney jerked her arm out of his grip and crossed them over her chest again, but Jack ignored that. “Sydney you have no idea what you're talking about,” he told her.


“How long has it been, Dad,” she sneered, drawing out the word “dad” snidely. “Eighteen years since the accident? Seventeen? Seventeen years and not once have you ever tried to come and get me?”


“I thought you were dead,” Jack retorted, gruffly, his face hard. “I never knew you were alive until-”


“Oh, come on,” Sydney laughed under her breath.


Jack stopped and looked at his daughter, whose eyes bored into his. He blinked. For a moment, he saw his wife staring back at him. He saw Irina in Sydney. But he shook himself out of it and told her, “I came as soon as I discovered you were alive, Sydney.”


She simply looked at him, but he willed himself not to look away from that headstrong glare. After a moment, Sydney shook her head slightly, then pushed the door of the room open and stormed out, not wanting to confront Jack any longer. How could he even think about talking to her right now? Her anger towards him, combined with her hatred towards his involvement with the CIA was clouding her mind and her thoughts. The only thing that interrupted the thoughts whizzing through her head was running headlong into something solid. She reached out and grabbed hold of the young woman before she fell to the ground, catching her and steadying her. “Whoa,” Sydney exclaimed. “Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going.”


The other woman gained her balance, her own hands on Sydney's arms, and she straightened, pushing her long black hair out of her eyes and behind her shoulders. “No, it's my fault,” she returned, her voice tinted in an accent. Her eyes rose to look at the woman who had run into her.


Sydney looked up at the same time and their eyes met. Nothing flickered in the other woman's dark brown, almost black eyes, but Sydney had seen that face somewhere before. Sydney's forehead furrowed as she examined the other woman closely. Her eyes roved the other's body, then moved to her face, and their eyes met again. This time, Sydney caught sight of a look that she had seen somewhere before...a look that had once been directed towards her. Irina was looking out at her from this woman's face. Sydney took a surprised step back, but the other woman's expression turned to concern and Sydney remembered.


A small hand reached into her line of vision and a voice said, “Syddie, are you ok? You ouched?” The young Sydney looked up from the concrete to where she had fallen and saw the same pair of dark eyes concernedly watching her. Her bicycle lay on the ground beside her, its wheel still rotating after Sydney had crashed and her knees were scraped and bleeding. But Sydney didn't mind a little bit of blood. After all, it was her first time without training wheels and she was young enough as it is to ride a full-sized bike.


Sydney took the hand and felt a slight bit of damp on its thumb, as it has just been inside the other's mouth, being sucked on. She looked up again and said, “Yes, I'm fine,” and her sister pulled her to her feet, stronger than she looked.



Sydney gasped and looked again at the woman, this time seeing who was standing before her. “Nadia,” she whispered. It wasn't a question.


Nadia looked closely at the woman who had caught her. She hadn't been expecting this and her hand went up to her mouth. Her eyes surveyed the other, but they immediately rested upon a small silver locket around the other woman's throat. She had seen that before...


Dolly's Dreaming was playing. Sydney was practicing piano again. Busy with a crayon in her small hand, Nadia didn't pay attention until she heard her father's voice in the hallway. She looked up, tucking a piece of black hair behind her ear and heard her father walk into the sitting room next door. Putting down her crayon, she got up silently and picked up Mr. Beary, her stuffed bear, and shuffled into the living room. She passed Sydney and looked over as she did to see a shiny silver locket winking at her from her sister's neck. She didn't think of it, as she was intent on seeing her dad.


“Hi daddy,” she mumbled through a mouth full of thumb.


“Hi, angel!” He replied, scooping her into his arms.



Her breath caught in her throat as she looked into the other woman's eyes and saw someone she hadn't seen in 17 years. “Sydney,” she breathed back, too dumbfounded to move.


Sydney involuntarily moved forward and pulled her sister into a tight embrace. She could think of nothing but Nadia right now, not even her mission. She felt hot tears burn her eyes and swallowed hard, trying to stop from crying, but felt even as she was trying not to, her sister began to shake in her arms.


Nadia couldn't help it. She was weeping with joy. Pulling back, Nadia whispered, “Is it really you, Syd?”


Sydney's own shock at suddenly meeting her sister kept her silent and she only nodded. Her mother had only mentioned Nadia a few times, back when they had just been in the accident, when the six-year-old Sydney had cried out for her sister. Irina repeated that Nadia wasn't ever coming until Sydney stopped asking. Irina hadn't mentioned her again, and Sydney had slowly forgotten that she had a sister. Seeing Nadia now, Sydney realized that she may have always known that she had a sister, but 17 years of denial had made her mind erase Nadia. But now she was in front of her and despite knowing her orders and mission, her heart warmed to this beautiful and graceful young woman.


“Oh my God,” Nadia laughed through her tears and this time she leaned forward and hugged Sydney tightly, never wanting to let go. Her older sister wasn't dead. Although her dad had told her that Julia Thorne was actually her older sister under alias, Nadia hadn't believed it, or perhaps hadn't expected it. She had grown up believing that Sydney had died along with their mother in an accident and now both were alive and, seemingly, well. She hadn't believed that this Julia Thorne was her sister. Until now. “Syd!”


Sydney pulled back this time, and she carefully wiped a tear from Nadia's cheek. “It's ok. I'm here,” she said, but her eyebrows were furrowing. She tried to hide it, though, as she put a hand to her younger sister's cheek. But almost as soon as she put it there, she jerked it away.


“I can't believe it's you,” Nadia said, and she looked in shock.


Sydney tried to smile. “Yeah,” she whispered. But her mind was once again whirling and she suddenly wanted to get away. “I-I'm sorry,” she faltered, and backed up a step. “I-I have to meet Agent Vaughn...excuse me.” Abruptly, she turned on her heels and strode away, knowing that she was leaving Nadia behind her, confused and, she was sure, hurt. After turning a corner, she found the restroom and hurried inside, making it to the toilet just in time. After a minute hunched over the bowl, she spat out the last bit of ooze from her mouth and straightened, wiping her mouth with bit of tissue. Her hands was shaking as she placed them on either side of the toilet. The shock of meeting Nadia had caught up with her, but she was confused. Why hadn't her mother told her about Nadia? She hadn't said that Nadia was dead, but she hadn't confirmed her existence either. Meanwhile, her mission was coming to the front of her mind again, but now a different feeling was inside her.


She knew her job, and she knew that she couldn't get close to anyone except Vaughn and even then it was her job, but when she had executed the first embrace with Nadia, she had felt something flutter inside her. An unblemished love for her sister. How she still carried that love with her throughout the years of forgotten siblings, she didn't know. She knew her mission. But would it be complicated now that she had felt this bond with her long-lost sister? Would Nadia get in the way and cause Sydney to have to eliminate her? She felt sickness coming again and retched once more. After she had finished being sick, she remained knelt in front of the toilet again. She would have to take out Nadia if her sister got in her way in the future, and she knew that. Would she be able to? Sydney shook herself and stood shakily. Enough of this. She was being a fool. She didn't even know this young woman who used to be her little sister. She wasn't going to get attached and she wouldn't hesitate if a situation presented itself.


Sydney went to the sink and rinsed her mouth out, then splashed her face with cold water. Shaking her head, she looked at her reflection. A few strands of her straight brown hair were damp from the splashing and framed her face. Her face was set, but she saw in her own eyes that she wasn't quite back to normal. Rolling her head on her neck, Sydney pushed all through out of her head except her mission to get close to Vaughn. If she met Nadia again, and there was no doubt that she would, of course she would talk with her, so as not to blow her cover, but she vowed right then that she would not get attached to anyone, not even her sister.


The sound of the door opening shook her out of her stupor and she looked into the mirror to see the reflection of a young woman enter. She was dressed in a black suit, but Sydney could tell that her body was slender and as strong as the light blue eyes that stared at her in turn. She was of medium height, only very slightly taller than Sydney herself, and she carried herself with confidence. Her blond hair was held back in a single French braid, out of her face. She smiled as she crossed to the sink and said, “Hallo,” in a heavy British accent.


Sydney smiled, relief spreading over her face, and she leaned forward to embrace the woman, one of her former co agents at Prophet Five. Pulling back, she said, “It's good to see you again, Lauren.”


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Aww. . .What an update. . .
I loved the scene between Syd and Nadia. . .And the flashbacks were adorable. :love:
and the cliffhanger!?
I cant wait for the next update sweetie! :hug:

Zoe
 
I knew it was too good to be true,...Hopefully Nadia will get to her, and Jack will be able to convinve her that he didn't know she was alive...
Can't wait for more.
Thanks for the pm.
 
Syd is working together with Lauren ? :o_O: :ermm:

I hope Nadia'll get to her.

Can't wait for the next update. :coolthumb:
 
awhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh how cute was that :smiley::smiley::smiley:
syd and nadia, so cute luv it, i hope nadia gets to her.

lauren and syd ummmmmmm that could be intresting.

thx for the pm, update sssssssssoooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnn
or ill go mad :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:
 
So Sydney is playing the CIA and her father for a fool. Her mission is to be a triple agent and instead of Lauren getting close to Vaughn (as in season 3) to help Prophet 5, it'll be Sydney. And instead of Sydney and Lauren hating each other (again season 3), they're really friends. What a twist.

Thanks for the PM.

Chris
 
i didn't know you knew sydney bristow, lauren (Sydney Bristow, CIA!

lol. Well, I get around! :smiley: Excepting I don't have a British accent.

I feel so pleased that everyone likes it so far! I am co-writing with an amazing young woman!
 
Thank you guys so much for reviewing. I'm so glad that everyone likes it so far. ^_^

Awww, thanks... :blush: that means so much to me Lauren! :smiley: You're such a wonderful writer and and incredible person!
 
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