My Best Friend’s Girl

Rating: PG

Pairing: Sydney/Weiss

Spoilers: I’ve seen up to Season 3 “Blowback” so up till then only.

Summary: She’s my best friend’s girl… and she used to be mine

Notes:  Doesn’t reflect the end of season three, so can be considered AU.

 

He is not, Vaughn reminds himself for the hundredth time, jealous.

 

Yes, once upon a time, he loved Sydney Bristow. Loved her so much he would have done anything for her. Walked away from his job for her, died for her.

 

Would have died with her, and when he thought she was dead, he considered it.

 

Then he realised that Syd would have kicked his ass for thinking like that, so he tried to stop, finding solace in denial, in talking to her as if she was still there, just so that he wouldn’t feel quite so alone. He knew at the time that what he was doing was crazy, but he didn’t care enough to stop. Because when he was talking to her, she was still there, still alive, still with him.

 

Then she answered him back, like in those old jokes that kids still like to tell, the ones about hearing voices not being a problem but when they answer you back, it’s time to get worried. That’s when he knew that loving Sydney wasn’t a problem, nor was remembering her. But holding onto her like that was killing him slowly, and he didn’t want to die like that.

 

Sydney wouldn’t want that for him.

 

So he moved on. Met Lauren, hit it off with her, married her a little more quickly than he might once have done, but he and Syd had wasted too much time, and he didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. They had the big wedding at the farm in Virginia, and he held his new wife in his arms, and he told her that he’d never been happier.

 

He told her the truth.

 

Just like he told her the truth when Sydney came back from the dead. That he had loved Syd, and that a part of him always would. But that he loved her now, that he was married to her and he wasn’t going to change that for anything.

 

He told her the truth.

 

He told Sydney that same truth and he means every word. He moved on with his life, and he has no regrets.

 

Well, not many.

 

He moved on with his life, and he knows how hard it was for him. So he was willing to cut Sydney some slack when she tried to get her life back, because he knew all too well how hard it was to wake up one day and find out that the world had changed suddenly, that everything you knew was different, that all your hopes for the future had vanished into the ether.

 

That’s why he was so relieved when Weiss put in a word for her, got her living in the place next door to his. Because she was going to need a friend, someone who she could talk to, a bridge between her old world and her new, and who better than Eric Weiss? After all, he was Vaughn’s friend and colleague and he above all knew the ins and outs of the Saga of Sydney and Vaughn. No better man than Weiss to help her get her life back together.

 

Vaughn told himself that, and he meant every word.

 

He knew that Sydney needed a friend.

 

What he hadn’t bargained on was Weiss becoming more than a friend.

 

They’re subtle about it, he has to give them that. There’s nothing outward in their demeanour to tip the others off that they’re anything other than what they claim to be; colleagues, friends, neighbours.

 

Vaughn knows different.

 

Vaughn knows Weiss, knows what he’s like when he’s around a woman he’s attracted to, can spot the subtle changes in voice and body language. There’s also the matter of the marked lack of conversation about Weiss’s love life that’s come up between them lately, where once upon a time hearing about the latest disastrous date that Weiss’s sister had set him up on had been one of the few things guaranteed to draw a laugh from Vaughn. Then of course, there’s the real give-away; that look that Weiss gets in his eyes when he’s watching Sydney and he thinks no-one is watching him.

 

Vaughn’s well acquainted with that look.

 

If it were just those things, Vaughn might think that it’s all one-sided, that Weiss has fallen into the knight in shining armour trap, wanting to save the damsel in distress, even if he knows that said damsel is more than capable of saving herself.

 

But Vaughn knows Sydney too. He knows what she’s like when she’s around a man that she’s attracted to, knows the slight differences in her demeanour, her stance. He knows what the little smile she throws at Weiss every so often means, because he remembers when that smile was directed at him and him alone.

 

At first, he thought that he was just imagining things that weren’t there. Then there were too many looks to write off to sheer coincidence, too many little in-jokes when they thought he wasn’t listening, too much of an electricity between them for him to deny it any longer. He’s waiting for them to tell him, but so far they haven’t, and he knows the reasons why; the job, the weight of history, the complex cobweb of friendship and something more that tie them all together. There are times when he wants to tell them that he’s figured it out, that they can just drop the façade and get on with whatever the hell it is that they’re doing. But he doesn’t, and he’s honest enough with himself, if no-one else, to admit to the fact that he really doesn’t want that confirmation.

 

Because once he gets it, it will be real, and he’s not sure how he feels about it.

 

He knows that he’s moved on with his life. He knows that he loves his wife, doesn’t want to lose her.

 

He knows that Sydney deserves to be happy, knows that Weiss will treat her well. Knows that he should be happy for them.

 

She’s his best friend’s girl, and even if she used to be his, that’s in the past. Over and done with.

 

That’s what he tells himself as he watches Sydney and Weiss walk out of the office on their way to get some lunch, talking animatedly, a huge smile on Sydney’s face.

 

For good measure, he adds once more that he’s not jealous.

 

He’s not.

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