Chapter 10
"Some people just can't appreciate pure talent."
Chapter 10: Talent Is In the Eye of the Beholder
Caitlin and Eric entered the airport on Friday at a slight jog. "If we're late, I'm telling them it's all your fault," Caitlin threatened as they headed to the television screen displaying the departures and arrivals.
"Oh really?" Eric raised his eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, you had something to do with it as well."
"Well, you started it." She rolled her eyes. "Making out in your office. What are we, 15 years old?"
Caitlin was interrupted by the overhead speaker. "Transcontinental Airlines is proud to announce the arrival of Flight 200 from Paris at Gate C3."
"Just in time," Eric said with relief.
"Yeah, no thanks to you, Agent Weiss," Caitlin replied teasingly, walking ahead of him to find the baggage claim area.
"It takes two, baby," Eric sang off key as he caught up with her. "C'mon, give us a smile, Sinclair."
She smiled at him. "Fine. You're forgiven. Just promise never to sing again."
"Can I dance?"
"I don't know, can you?" she asked as they reached the baggage claim and sat down to wait for Sydney and Michael.
"Would you like a demonstration?" He stood up and, to her horror, began moonwalking.
"Stop! Stop!" Caitlin shrieked between fits of laughter. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down next to her, trying to ignore the looks they were receiving from the elderly woman sitting to their right.
"See? I can dance. I've got moves you've never seen."
"And believe me, you don't want to," Vaughn called from about ten feet away, where he stood with Sydney and their son.
"Nobody asked for your opinion!" Eric yelled back. "Hi, Sydney," he said almost as an afterthought.
"Uncle Eric!" Christian Vaughn ran a bit unsteadily toward them and launched himself in Eric's lap. Vaughn and Sydney followed at a slower pace, getting their first impressions of Caitlin as they walked.
Trust Weiss to go after the blondes, Vaughn thought. She's beautiful, but she looks pretty down-to-earth. That's good, he doesn't need another high-maintenance girl.
She looks like she could put up with Eric's crap, mused Sydney. That's a plus.
"Hey, buddy!" Eric grabbed Christian around the waist and tossed him in the air.
"Who that?" Christian asked, pointing a chubby finger at Caitlin.
"Christian, this is Caitlin. We like her, she's cool," Eric whispered conspiratorially in his ear.
"Oh. OK. Hi, Caitlin!" Christian waved to her.
"Hi yourself, cutie." Caitlin smiled at the camaraderie between the man and the boy. Remembering the two adults she had yet to meet, she got to her feet and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Caitlin Sinclair."
"Agent Sinclair, I'm Michael Vaughn." He took her hand in his firm grip and shook it.
"Look, if I'm going to be entrusting my life to you and your team, you'd better call me Caitlin, Agent Vaughn."
"Alright, Caitlin. Then you can call me Mike or Vaughn, whichever works for you. Just don't tell the higher-ups." He winked a green eye. "Last time I started calling a female agent by her first name, all hell broke loose."
"And look where it got you," Sydney said, reaching her hand to Caitlin. "Hi Caitlin, I'm Sydney. If you call me Mrs. Vaughn, I'll deck you. It wasn't so long ago that I was a CIA-trained kickass machine."
Caitlin laughed appreciatively. "Point taken." She looked the other woman up and down. About five-ten, she'd guess, and even though she was a wife and mother now, Caitlin was willing to bet that she still put up a good fight.
Caitlin's gaze shifted to Sydney's husband, who was currently embracing Eric like a brother. Very, very easy on the eyes, that man, she thought with the interest of a woman appreciating a fine figure and nothing more.
Sydney nudged her. "Look, the blood brothers have found each other again. You'd think they'd been apart for years and years." Caitlin watched with great amusement as Weiss grabbed Vaughn in a friendly headlock.
"Hey, Weiss, chill with the barbarianism and give me a hug!" Sydney yelled.
"You got it, Mrs. Vaughn," Eric answered. He grabbed Sydney around the waist and spun her in a circle. When he set her down, she gave him a friendly peck.
"You big goof. We missed you."
"It's mutual, Syd. I missed having someone to laugh at my jokes." He whispered loudly, "The Sinclair doesn't have much of a sense of humor...Ow!" He rubbed his side where Caitlin had elbowed him.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Who's laughing now, Agent Weiss?" Caitlin said smugly as Vaughn doubled over in laughter.
"You know, I think I'm gonna like you," Sydney said, linking her arm in Caitlin's. "Hey! Luggage! Now!" She ordered to Eric and Michael.
"Yes, ma'am, Agent Bristow, ma'am!" They said in unison, saluting her.
"Come here, Chris," Sydney said to her son. She sat on the bench and pulled him into her lap. "You said hi to Miss Caitlin?"
Christian nodded. "We like her. Uncle Eric said."
Sydney nodded. "Yes, we like her." She smiled warmly at Caitlin. "So, how do you like L.A.?"
"Well, these past few weeks have been so crazy that I haven't seen much of it, but from what I can gather, it's nice. Different, but nice."
"Yeah, Eric tells me that you two have been working around the clock getting ready for the upcoming op. How are the plans going?"
Caitlin couldn't resist; she reached out and tickled Christian's pudgy tummy. "I think everything's in place. All we have to do is sit back and wait until Monday." Her stomach jumped when she thought that in a matter of three days, she would be in the hands of a man she hated more anything in the world.
Sydney could see the nervousness in Caitlin's eyes. "That's good, it always helps to have everything nailed down, every possibility taken care of, before you put your life on the line. How are you doing?"
Caitlin wanted to give a flippant answer, but somehow she knew that Sydney would see through that. "I'm a little freaked. This man is more evil than anyone I've ever known. If anything goes wrong, he could kill me or my family in a heartbeat. In all honesty, my gut instinct is telling me to run, not to go through with this. The only thing that's driving me is David. I have to get Valdez for David."
Vengeance. If there was one thing Sydney Bristow Vaughn understood, it was the power of vengeance. "David was your CIA partner, right?"
Caitlin nodded. "Rafael Valdez killed him in cold blood. Now it's my turn to steal his life away."
Sydney took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "That's a lot to handle. Look...I don't know how much Eric's told you about my involvement with the destruction of SD-6."
"He said that you and your dad were the primary forces in bringing it to its end."
"Well, it was a joint effort with the CIA, but we were double agents inside SD-6. Did he tell you why I first went to the CIA?" When Caitlin shook her head, Sydney continued. "Before I ever knew that SD-6 was part of the Alliance, before I met Vaughn, before anything, I was engaged to be married. He was a doctor. Danny. I loved him so much that I couldn't bear to lie to him, tell him that I worked for a bank when I really was a spy. So I told him the truth, or what I thought was the truth, about SD-6. Arvin Sloane, the head of SD-6, found out. He had Danny killed, and when I refused to come back to work, he tried to kill me. Long story short, I discovered the truth about the Alliance and became a double agent. But my purpose, at least at first, was not noble or honorable. All I cared about was revenge. I wanted Sloane to pay for what he had done to me and Danny, like you want Valdez to pay for David's life." She looked intently into Caitlin's eyes. "Caitlin, take it from someone who knows. Vengeance will eat away at your very heart until your entire world is upside down. If you let it drive your thoughts and actions, soon you won't know who you are or what to believe. I realized one day that in my quest for revenge, I was becoming the very thing that I despised."
"What happened?" Caitlin asked.
Sydney nodded to the men, who were searching for the luggage on the conveyor belt. "He happened. It happened so gradually I didn't even realize it at the time, but bit by bit, he broke down the walls I had built around my heart. Every time I met with him, I came away with a new hope for the future. Just maybe, I had something else to gain besides Arvin Sloane's death. Just maybe, vengeance didn't have to be my purpose. Don't you see? Love was a much better purpose than revenge. Love doesn't destroy, it rebuilds. The love he gave me strengthened my resolve to take down SD-6, but not just for myself, or Danny's memory. From then on, I did it for us, for me and Michael, for the future that we could share when this was all over. On the day that SD-6 fell, he was right there waiting for me. And I'll tell you, that was a much better reward than anything Sloane's death could have brought me." She smiled, thinking of how he had kissed her that day. Yes, that certainly was the best reward I could have asked for. "So all I'm saying is, find your purpose and hang on to it like hell. Let it, and not your thirst for revenge, drive you to do what you have to do."
Caitlin thought it over. "Vengeance is easier," she admitted quietly, more to herself than to Sydney.
" 'But I, I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.' "
Caitlin laughed dryly. "Frost. Touche."
"Well, what do you expect from a high school English teacher?" Sydney asked. "Seriously, though, it has made all the difference. I've got my two men that I absolutely adore, and a life that I wouldn't trade for anything. So that's my advice to you, Caitlin Sinclair. Get a life."
Caitlin took in everything that Sydney had said. I do want what she has. I want someone who I can just be myself with, no holds barred. I just want something in my life to be real. She came out of her thoughts as she saw the men coming back.
"Mommy has two men, but I'm her favorite," Christian said to Caitlin, grinning impishly.
"Yeah, but she's loved me longer," Vaughn said as he walked up with the luggage. "Nothin' you can do about that, squirt." He grinned, his face identical to his son's, and grabbed Christian up in a big hug. "C'mon, let's go home."
~*~*~
"So, just to recap, we'll have five agents, including you, Mike, positioned around the rink to back up Caitlin. I'll be in the van in the parking lot. If all goes well, we'll be able to hear what's going on through her comm., which is hidden inside these earrings." Weiss held up the jewelry. "She and Valdez talk, yakkedy yak, he takes her to a van, or car, whatever he's planning to do. We follow. If they get on a plane, which they most likely will, we'll either be able to hear the destination through the comm, or we just assume they're headed to SD-3 headquarters." He turned to Caitlin. "Sinclair, when you get to headquarters, we need you to start working on Valdez. Make him trust you, make it seem as if you're really pissed at the CIA and want to help him out. Find out when and where the weapons sale will be. If you think you're in danger, use the code phrase in a conversation, and haul ass to the extraction point. The rest is in your debrief folder. Any questions? No? Then, we're a go?" Weiss asked, looking at Caitlin and Vaughn for confirmation.
Vaughn nodded. "We're a go."
"We're a go," Caitlin said.
"All right. Now, can we eat?" Weiss asked, standing up and slapping his stomach. "Whose bright idea was it to debrief before dinner?"
"Yours," Vaughn and Caitlin said simultaneously.
"Oh. Right. What the hell was I thinking?" Eric grinned and headed to the kitchen.
Vaughn shook his head. "If he's not thinking with his stomach, then he's acting directly on its behalf. But that's Eric for you." He smiled at Caitlin. "So, are you ready for Monday?"
Caitlin smiled. "As I'll ever be."
"You know, I can't thank you enough." Vaughn studied Caitlin's face, acquainting himself with the woman who had so effectively turned Weiss's life upside down.
"For what? I haven't done anything."
Vaughn held up a hand. "You have. Look, I don't know what's up with you and Eric. I may be his best friend, but he doesn't tell me everything, especially not when it comes to you. But I know that you've had an amazing effect on him. Don't get me wrong, I love Eric exactly as he is. He's a great guy. But sometimes, I don't know, he seems a little lost, almost like he's waiting for something. It's like he's half a person, you know? And for whatever reason, ever since he met you, I haven't gotten that feeling from him. He seems genuinely happy these days, even though I know he's worried about you. So, for that, I thank you."
Caitlin's head was spinning. She had had that effect on Eric? "Well...uh...thanks. Wow."
"Plus, thanks to you, I get to work and watch a Kings game at the same time," Vaughn teased.
"Oh yeah, Mr. Hockey. Just, y'know, watch my back in between hat tricks, if you don't mind."
"My pleasure, Agent Sinclair."
A couple of hours later, Eric and Caitlin got ready to leave the Vaughns' house. Sydney reached out and enveloped Caitlin in a warm hug. "Remember, find a purpose."
"Will do. Thanks for everything."
"You're welcome. Good luck." Sydney released Caitlin and turned to Eric, giving him the same treatment. "She's fantastic. Don't let her get away," she whispered.
"Haha, bossy as always, Sydney. Give Christian a kiss for me in the morning." He turned to Vaughn. "Good to have you back, man."
"What on earth did you do without me?" Vaughn asked jokingly, slapping Eric on the back. "Good night, guys."
"Good night," Eric and Caitlin said, turning to walk toward Eric's car.
"You OK?" Eric asked Caitlin on the drive to her house.
"Yeah. I'm just thinking about things." She was still pondering what Sydney had said. What was her purpose? Was she just caught up in vengeance, wanting payment for David's death? She looked at Eric from the corner of her eye. What would happen to them after this operation? Caitlin decided, then and there, that that would be her purpose. She and Eric may not have a future, but she had to get out of this alive to find out.
Eric pulled up in Caitlin's driveway, turning off the ignition. "Come on, I'll walk you to the door." He got out and came around to her side of the car, grabbing her hand as she shut the car door. "So, you liked them?"
"Vaughn and Sydney? Yeah, they're great people. So in love, it's cute."
"Yeah. Vaughn's been starry-eyed over Sydney for more years than I care to count. He's a great guy, but he's also great at what he does. He won't let you down, Caitlin." He turned to face her as they reached her door. "And neither will I. Win or lose, I will get you through this. Trust me."
She may have had questions regarding her and Eric, but trust wasn't one of them. "I do."
"Good. Now, get some sleep. Don't forget-"
"I know, I know. Lock the doors, keep the phone by the bed, call you if I need anything."
"That's my girl." He kissed her on the forehead. "Good night, sweetheart, well it's time to go..."
"I told you not to sing!" She yelled, clamping her hands over her ears and running into the house. "The horror, the horror!"
Eric smiled and shook his head, turning to go back to his car. "Some people just can't appreciate pure talent."
Posted by Carrie on 08:06 PM