Chapter 1
Wednesday Morning, September 16th
“What do you mean they’re all unavailable?” Jack Bristow agitatedly paced behind his desk as he spoke into the phone. “Are you seriously telling me that every single senior agent whom we trust is out on assignment? How suspiciously convenient. How am I supposed to go out of the country and investigate the rumors of this leak? I have to have someone here to watch her for me, and it has to be someone with experience…Like Hell you’re going to send me some rookie agent.” Jack heard a soft knock at his office door. “Never mind. I’ll just call Langley and see if they can help me figure something out.” Hanging up the phone, he walked over to his office door. Opening the door, he looked down at the source of the knock.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. But I need you to sign my permission slip for the field trip this afternoon.” A pair of innocent brown eyes peered up at Jack as his daughter held out a piece of paper.
Taking the paper, he motioned for Sydney to enter the office. “Don’t worry about it, Sydney. Where exactly are you going again?” He watched as his daughter’s eyes lit up with excitement. Her long brown hair swayed a little as she walked.
“We’re going to the Griffith Observatory. I can’t wait. Of course it’ll be very hard to see any constellations or anything other than clouds and sky in the daytime, but it should be a very interesting trip anyway.” Sydney sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of her father’s desk. As she watched him sit down in his own chair and pull out a pen, she noticed an airline ticket sticking out from under one of the corners of her father’s desk blotter. “Are you going out of town again, Daddy?”
Jack followed her gaze and nodded. “Yes.”
“Your business must be doing really well. There must be a huge market for airplane parts, because this is the fifth time this month you’ve gone away, and it’s only the third week of September.” Sydney’s eyes narrowed a little, as she tapped her fingers on the edge of the chair. “Did you forget that Maria’s going out of town tomorrow?” Her dad shook his head, indicating that he hadn’t forgotten. “So am I going to stay with the Johnsons next door again? Or is someone coming here? And how long will you be gone?”
Jack sighed. “To answer your first two questions, I’m not sure who’ll you’ll be staying with yet. As for how long I’ll be gone, hopefully not longer than a week.” He looked at his daughter across the desk. She seemed older for some reason. When had the innocence disappeared from her eyes? He sighed. His twelve-year-old daughter looked more and more like her mother every day. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t mind leaving town so much. The memories in this house, the pain that he felt whenever he looked at his daughter, was sometimes just too much. Shaking his head, he put his signature on the paper and handed it back to his daughter.
She took the offered paper and rose from her chair. “Oh, well I guess I’ll find out when you get home tonight.” She turned to head out of the office. Reaching the door, she placed her hand on the doorknob and paused. She turned back towards her father, an unreadable expression on her face. “You will be here for dinner, right? I mean, you aren’t leaving for your trip today, are you?”
“I’m not scheduled to leave until tomorrow, but I may be late tonight. So…I don’t know if I’ll make dinner or not.” Jack saw the flash of disappointment in his daughter’s eyes, and calling on his agent training, he masked the guilt he felt for making her feel that way.
Sydney’s eyes looked down at the floor as she turned the doorknob and opened the door. “Oh, okay then. I better finish getting ready for school; I wouldn’t want to miss the bus.” She stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.
Jack laid his head on the back of his chair. He knew Sydney missed having him around, but it was for the best, wasn’t it? He loved his daughter, and he was only doing what was best for her, wasn’t he? He was a better professional if he compartmentalized his emotions. Without emotions, people couldn’t get close enough to disappoint you. What was the saying ‘Once bitten twice shy’ or was it ‘Once made a fool of shame on them, twice, shame on you’? Perhaps ‘Never lose your heart, use your head’ was more the motto he should live by. Shaking his head, he leaned forward. He needed to call D.C. and figure out what to do about Sydney’s safety while he was gone.
SMK a SMK a SMK
Billy Melrose hated giving out long assignments in the middle of the week, but sometimes it couldn’t be helped. “All right people, you have your assignments. Are there any questions?” The section chief asked as he scanned the faces of his staff. A smile crossed his lips as his eyes fell on the two partners seated next to each other at the end of the conference table. He knew their relationship was something more than partners, and he couldn’t be happier for them. How deep their relationship went, well he wasn’t exactly sure, but he was confident that they would tell him when they were ready. After all, he had told them time and time again that their relationship, whatever it was, was fine with him.
Now, he observed Amanda scanning her folder and saw the look of concern etched on her face. He watched as she turned to look in her partner’s direction and saw a look of equal concern appear on his face. He knew their assignment was not going to sit well with her, but she was the best choice. Seeing Lee begin to open his mouth in protest, Billy decided now was the best time to dismiss everyone. “Good, if there are no questions or comments, I expect everyone to get busy. Amanda, Scarecrow, I’d like to see you both in my office.” The pair nodded as Billy preceded his agents out of the conference room.
Moments after he entered his office and was moving towards the chair behind his desk, he heard the click of the door as it latched into place. As he sat in his chair, he again noticed the worried expressions his two agents wore.
“Sir…” Amanda began as she approached the desk, with Lee close behind her.
Billy put his hand up to stop Amanda’s query. “Have a seat, you two. I know you have concerns; that’s why I wanted to talk to you both in the privacy of my office.” They both nodded their understanding and he watched as the pair took their usual seats in front of his desk. “Before you say what’s on your mind, let me say that I chose you, Amanda, because I think your skills are just what are needed on this case.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate your confidence in me, but I’m concerned for my family’s safety.” Amanda held the folder in her hands tightly. “I mean, I do my best to keep my family out of harm’s way and away from anything Agency related, and it just seems to me that this assignment will be putting them directly in the path of danger.”
“What kind of protection are we going to give the family if she accepts…if we accept this assignment?” Lee knew that Amanda’s allegiance was torn. One look at the girl’s background and he had known, without a doubt, that his wife would not be turning down the assignment, but he also knew, that by accepting it, she would be bringing danger into her home.
Lee’s use of the term ‘the family’ rather than ‘Amanda’s family’ didn’t go unnoticed by Billy. “Well, we’ll put a full surveillance on your house.” He looked towards Amanda. “And since Lee has also been assigned to this case, you’ll have a twenty-four hour agent on duty as well.”
Amanda looked from Lee to Billy. “Excuse me, sir, but how exactly am I going to explain Lee’s presence at the house, overnight?”
“Look, I know you two are in a relationship and I can only assume that your family knows that as well.” Billy looked pointedly at Amanda. He watched as Amanda glanced at Lee, who shrugged, and then turned her attention back towards him and nodded. “So, I think you two can come up with some sort of ruse that would require Lee to crash at your house for a little while, right?”
“I guess we could tell them that my apartment is being fumigated for roaches. They do a regular spraying at least twice a year.” Lee watched as Amanda raised her eyebrows. “What? They do, I’m just usually out of town when they occur.”
Amanda sighed. “I guess that would work. There’s a pullout couch in the living room. I’m sure the boys would be thrilled. And it would make me feel better if you were there overnight just in case something went wrong.”
“Good,” Billy smiled. “Then that’s settled.”
“Uh, sir, I do have one question. I mean, well, this poor girl,” Amanda pointed to the file in her hand, “it says here that she usually stays with the nanny, family friends or distant relatives. Why the sudden change?”
“Well, the truth of the matter is that her father is an operative with the CIA…”
Lee quickly opened his file and thumbed through it. “Wait, I didn’t see that mentioned in my folder.” He looked back at his boss. “If her father is CIA, how come we’re in charge of protecting his daughter?”
“Lee, what does it matter? It says here, that she lost her mother when she was six years old in some sort of car crash and, while her father runs all over the world, he leaves her in the care of either a nanny or ‘family friend’. I think it would be nice for her to be part of a family, even if it is for just a little while.” Amanda wanted to reach over and touch her husband, however she hesitated. She knew that some of Sydney Bristow’s history would hit a little too close to home for him and any contact now might remind of him of his own past.
“A-man-da,” Lee drew out her name as he turned to look directly at his wife, “the point of my question is this, if her father is CIA, why aren’t they doing something to help protect their own? Why do we have to put Phillip and Jamie in danger?”
Needing to make him understand, Amanda reached over and put a hand on his arm. Her action had the desired affect; her husband’s features relaxed slightly and when he turned towards her, their eyes locked. She knew exactly what he was trying to say; she felt the same way. However, after reading about Sydney, she had a strong desire to help make up for what the girl had missed these last few years; the kind of love and understanding that only a mother could give. “Lee, believe me, I’m worried about their safety, too, but I don’t think it would do any good for this poor girl to be stuck with someone like Francine. She needs to be in a friendly and nurturing environment. I want her to stay with us and make her feel like she’s a part of the family.”
Lee closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew better than to argue with Amanda when she was in mother hen mode. “I hear you. I don’t have to like it though.” As his wife removed her hand from his arm, he turned his attention back towards his boss. “I still want to know why the CIA turned to us to protect this girl.”
Billy leaned forward in his chair and opened the top folder on his desk. “Well, it seems that the CIA may have a leak.”
“Is there any branch of this government that can keep its secrets, secret?” Lee mumbled.
Billy chuckled. “Yeah, I know sometimes it seems that nobody is really on their own side anymore. Anyway, Jack Bristow is trying to discover how deep this particular leak goes and it appears that it may have something to do with his daughter.” He held up his hand to silence any further comment from the pair in front of him. “Jack is unofficially CIA. As far as anyone who knows him, including his daughter, is concerned, he sells airplane parts.” Closing the file, he passed it over to Lee. “The information contained in that file was given to Dr. Smyth directly from the CIA’s Deputy Director. I’m letting you see it so that you’re familiar with why we need to keep a close eye on Sydney. I don’t think I need to remind you the importance of keeping anything you read in there strictly within this room.”
“Billy, Amanda and I know how to keep a secret.” Lee kept his eyes on the file in front of him. He didn’t need to look at his wife to know that she had looked in his direction. It may not have been the easiest thing in the world for them, but he thought that they had done a pretty good job of keeping their marriage a secret for the last seven months.
“I’m not saying that you can’t. I’m only trying to make it clear to you that the information in that folder is ‘need to know’. I need to make sure you are mindful of the fact that Sydney doesn’t know anything about her father’s true profession.”
Lee passed the folder over to Amanda then stood and placed his hands on his friend’s desk. “Oh come on, Billy. How stupid do you think we are?” He looked his boss directly in the eye. “You’re not talking to two freshman agents. Need I remind you that Amanda has kept her true profession from her family for the last four years?”
Billy nodded. “At ease, Scarecrow. I hear what you’re saying. I have the utmost confidence in both of you. It actually makes this whole set up a lot easier.” The section chief kept his gaze locked with Lee’s. “However, I’m only stressing the point because the CIA almost didn’t hand over that information; I had to threaten not to cooperate unless they gave us a good reason to do so.”
Lee sat back in his seat and looked over at his wife. He knew what she was thinking. This case, although on the outside seemed innocent enough, inside, well it was a web of lies. Here was a man putting the life of his daughter in the hands of total strangers. Although, it made the most sense to have Sydney Bristow stay with their family because to the average outsider, the King family appeared to be your typical suburban family, but in truth, there were a number of secrets that had a serious chance of coming to the surface this week, secrets that made the King-Stetson family anything but normal. The irony of the whole situation was that they had kept their marriage a secret for seven months on the pretense of keeping their family safe from the world of the Agency, and now…and now the Agency was putting them in a potentially dangerous situation. Running his hand through his hair, he turned his attention back towards Billy. “Okay, so we keep this information secret. What I don’t understand is why Jack Bristow fears for the safety of his daughter.”
Amanda shook her head. She knew her husband had barely skimmed the contents of the folder. “Lee, according to this, Jack’s wife was a KGB agent by the name of Irina Derevko.”
“How the…? What the…?” Lee grabbed the folder from Amanda’s hands.
“Sir, I thought Sydney’s background information said her mother’s name was Laura Bristow.” Amanda opened the folder on Sydney that she had been given earlier.
“Well that’s what she led everyone to believe. It seems Irina Derevko deceived poor Jack into believing that she was American. She had everyone believing she was an English teacher who loved her husband and daughter. Apparently Jack was working on something called Project Christmas and, before you ask, no, we don’t have any information on it. The CIA refused to give us any information on that project other than it was something top secret. Anyway, it must have been something big, because the KGB sent in Irina Derevko to get that information. She manipulated Jack into falling in love with her, got him to marry her and then, whether part of her cover or not, they had Sydney. Then in 1981 Laura Bristow, aka Irina, was killed in a car accident. Shortly after that, Jack learned the truth about his wife. As hard as it is to grieve for a loved one, it’s even harder to find out that you were grieving for someone you only thought you knew.”
A look of sympathy crossed Amanda’s features. “Oh, that’s just horrible. I can’t even imagine what that man must be going through.”
Lee reached over and clasped Amanda’s hand in his. He could almost relate to Jack Bristow. He knew a lot about being used and he knew how hard it had been for him to trust again. He thought back to Eva and realized that he had been in a similar situation. Although Eva had told him, when they were protecting Angelo that she had loved him, she had in fact used him. He couldn’t believe that he had almost asked her to marry him. He shuddered at that thought. Looking over at his wife, now, he realized just how lucky he was. It had taken him a long time to trust Amanda and even longer for him to trust himself to admit how deep his feelings for her ran. He said a silent prayer of thanks every day to whomever it was that had brought Amanda King…Stetson, into his life.
Amanda squeezed Lee’s hand. She noticed the faraway look in his eyes and knew he was thinking back to something in his own past that allowed him to relate in some way to Jack Bristow. “Sir, it says in Sydney’s file that a man named Arvin Sloane is her legal guardian. It also says that Mr. Sloane is with the CIA. I’m curious, why isn’t Sydney going to stay with him? I mean, I’m willing to let Sydney stay with us, it’s just…”
Billy shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly, I don’t know. Perhaps Mr. Sloane isn’t available.”
“Sloane…I recognize that name from Jack’s folder.” Lee interrupted as he began scanning the contents of the folder in his hand. “Here it is. It says that Arvin Sloane headed up the investigation into Laura Bristow, I mean Irina Derevko’s accident. It also says here that Mr. Sloane is Jack Bristow’s direct superior, which explains why he headed up the investigation.”
Billy nodded. “Yes, I read that too. It also says that the investigation was a joint effort between the FBI and CIA. An FBI agent was pursuing Sydney’s mother and died in the crash as well. When the investigation turned up information that Laura was actually KGB, they arrested Jack and put him in solitary for six months under the suspicion that he was working as a double agent.”
Amanda shuddered. She knew exactly what it was like to be wrongly accused. She never regretted running off with Lee during the Stemwinder incident almost a year ago. She knew, without a doubt, that she would have been worse off in an Agency holding cell. She would have been totally cut off from her family, from Lee, and treated like an enemy of her own country. “Sir, I’m guessing that Sydney doesn’t know any of this, right?”
Billy nodded. “According to the Deputy Director, Sydney believes her mother to be Laura Bristow, devoted mother and teacher, who died tragically in a car accident when she was six. However, it seems that Jack has recently received intel that the KGB is looking to get their hands on more information regarding Project Christmas. I don’t have confirmation on this, but I gather something about Project Christmas has him discreetly increasing security around Sydney. Regardless, it seemed very important to the CIA that Sydney be placed in an environment that she was not only protected, but she wouldn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary.”
Picking up a piece of paper from his desk, he handed it to Amanda. “Now, according to this, Jack and Sydney will be arriving tomorrow morning at eleven a.m. at Dulles on flight 369 from LAX. I suggest you familiarize yourself with her background and Jack’s. I want you two to meet them at the airport. It’ll give you a chance to meet Jack and for him to get to know a little bit about the people who will be watching his daughter. It’ll also give Sydney a chance to get acquainted with you before her father goes on his ‘business trip’.”
Lee and Amanda rose from their seats, folders in hand. As they made their way towards the office door, Lee paused and turned back towards Billy. “Do you mind if I check in with a few of my contacts at the CIA and some of my ‘family’? I want to see what I can find out about this Project Christmas?”
“No, go ahead, but don’t be surprised if you can’t find anything.”
Lee nodded. “Well if I can’t get anywhere I may just pull Jack Bristow aside and ask him directly. I want to know why it’s so important that he has to have his daughter protected.” He turned and as he followed Amanda out into the bullpen, he thought to himself, ‘I also want to find out why it’s worth the risk of putting my family in danger to protect his daughter.’ Putting his hand at the small of his wife’s back, he led her out of the bullpen and towards the elevators.
Story Notes:
Disclaimer: The characters from Scarecrow and Mrs. King are the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. I have borrowed the characters without the consent or knowledge of Warner Brothers or Shoot the Moon. The characters of Alias were created by J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot Productions and are the property of ABC and Touchstone. This story, however, is copyrighted to the mentioned author. This story is for entertainment purposes ONLY. If you would like to add it to an archive, please just let me know.
Summary: The Agency asks Amanda to take in the daughter of a CIA agent. Will it cause our favorite pair to end their mystery marriage? This is an SMK/Alias crossover, however, this is really a story about Lee and Amanda, and their love for each other and for Phillip and Jamie, as well as Lee finding his place within his family. For all those non-Alias fans, all Alias references are explained in detail in order to allow you the ability to follow the story with ease.
Timeframe: The story takes place in the fall of 1987. SMK timeframe is after fourth season. The marriage and their jobs are still a secret. Alias timeframe is pre-SD-6, since SD-6 was started roughly in 1991. (Note SD-6 is the black ops division of the CIA that Sydney was recruited to, however for Alias fans, we all know that SD-6 was not really part of the CIA.)
Notes: I want to extend a very special thank you to Jan for betaing this story for me. This story wouldn’t be the same without her input and guidance. In fact, Jan really deserves to have her name as co-author, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Sure, the idea and most of the words are mine, but her input was essential in making this as well-rounded and well-written as it could be. When it seemed that the characters weren’t quite right, she helped me get them back on track. So this story is as much Jan’s as it is mine.
When the idea for this story first came to my mind, I didn’t realize until my fingers started typing that it would end up being mostly a Lee and Amanda story with Lee finding out just where he fits into the family. But that’s exactly what happened. I promise you there is action, adventure and romance, but it’s mostly a story about Lee and his family, and without giving anything away, it also became another ‘how the secrets’ got out story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
On another note, in “Dead Ringer” Amanda says that she lives in a three-bedroom house, but in “Life of the Party” there is a scene where Amanda asks Phillip and Jamie if they had “cleaned their rooms” and Phillip mentions that he has cleaned his room, but can’t speak for Jamie. So either Amanda had an addition added on between first and second season or the writers neglected to beta their own work. Either way, for my story I’m going on the assumption that each boy has his own room. Also, for anyone who is not familiar with Alias, and for those who are, I did the calculations and guess what, Sydney Bristow is actually the same age as Jamie King. Who’d have thunk it? Therefore I combined the storylines of two of my favorite shows. With regards to Alias, a lot of what I mention in here, we the audience know now, based on how the show has played out, but obviously only Jack and a few others knew the truth about Sydney’s mom.
One more story note, later on, to indicate that the dialogue is in Russian, since I don’t know Russian and I figure most of the readers don’t, I italicized anything that is supposed to be said in Russian.
And now, the story…
Summary: The Agency asks Amanda to take in the daughter of a CIA agent. Will it cause our favorite pair to end their mystery marriage? This is an SMK/Alias crossover, however, this is really a story about Lee and Amanda, and their love for each other and for Phillip and Jamie, as well as Lee finding his place within his family. For all those non-Alias fans, all Alias references are explained in detail in order to allow you the ability to follow the story with ease.
Timeframe: The story takes place in the fall of 1987. SMK timeframe is after fourth season. The marriage and their jobs are still a secret. Alias timeframe is pre-SD-6, since SD-6 was started roughly in 1991. (Note SD-6 is the black ops division of the CIA that Sydney was recruited to, however for Alias fans, we all know that SD-6 was not really part of the CIA.)
Notes: I want to extend a very special thank you to Jan for betaing this story for me. This story wouldn’t be the same without her input and guidance. In fact, Jan really deserves to have her name as co-author, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Sure, the idea and most of the words are mine, but her input was essential in making this as well-rounded and well-written as it could be. When it seemed that the characters weren’t quite right, she helped me get them back on track. So this story is as much Jan’s as it is mine.
When the idea for this story first came to my mind, I didn’t realize until my fingers started typing that it would end up being mostly a Lee and Amanda story with Lee finding out just where he fits into the family. But that’s exactly what happened. I promise you there is action, adventure and romance, but it’s mostly a story about Lee and his family, and without giving anything away, it also became another ‘how the secrets’ got out story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
On another note, in “Dead Ringer” Amanda says that she lives in a three-bedroom house, but in “Life of the Party” there is a scene where Amanda asks Phillip and Jamie if they had “cleaned their rooms” and Phillip mentions that he has cleaned his room, but can’t speak for Jamie. So either Amanda had an addition added on between first and second season or the writers neglected to beta their own work. Either way, for my story I’m going on the assumption that each boy has his own room. Also, for anyone who is not familiar with Alias, and for those who are, I did the calculations and guess what, Sydney Bristow is actually the same age as Jamie King. Who’d have thunk it? Therefore I combined the storylines of two of my favorite shows. With regards to Alias, a lot of what I mention in here, we the audience know now, based on how the show has played out, but obviously only Jack and a few others knew the truth about Sydney’s mom.
One more story note, later on, to indicate that the dialogue is in Russian, since I don’t know Russian and I figure most of the readers don’t, I italicized anything that is supposed to be said in Russian.
And now, the story…