Champagne (Alias ficlet; Sydney Bristow, Arvin Sloane)

[selenak]

One of those fandom_muses prompts. How could I resist a Napoleon quote?

Timeline: a few years pre-show pilot. No spoilers beyond the basic set up.

Disclaimer: owned by JJ Abrams and Bad Robots.



Champagne


When Sydney went up against Anna Espinosa for the first time, she failed. It wasn’t completely unexpected; Sydney had been field rated for a year by then, and had shown herself truly gifted, but Anna Espinosa was one of the best, both in terms of experience and ruthlessness, and it said something about Sydney that she had survived at all. Sloane didn’t comment on this during the debriefing; he listened, impassively, and sent her away without condemnation or praise.

Later, he told her he needed her to escort him to a meeting with one of the clients Credit Dauphine did actual business with in order to maintain credibility. When the less than interesting negotiations about investments were concluded, Sloane took Sydney to a bar and ordered champagne.

“I don’t understand, Sir,” she said.

“In victory, you deserve champagne,” Sloane replied, quoting Napoleon. “In defeat, you need it.”

“I botched it,” she burst out. She had her father’s chin and her mother’s dark, compelling eyes, but that youthful mixture of wounded pride, vulnerability and self-directed ruthlessness was all her own.

“I am aware of that, Agent Bristow,” Sloane said, not refuting her analysis. “Do you intend to leave it at that?”

Her eyes narrowed. “No, Sir,” she said slowly. “I’d like to request permission to go after Espinosa again.”

The champagne arrived: Veuve Cliquot, his favourite. Sloane had always thought Dom Perignon to be overrated. He signalled the waiter to leave, poured in both their glasses expertly, and handed one to Sydney.

“Permission granted.”

He raised his glass to her. Her expressive face showed surprise, determination and curiosity in short order. She opened her mouth as if to ask whether they’d be toasting to her past defeat or the future victory she had just promised him, but then she closed it again, and raised her own glass, all those emotions draining away until she showed the blank, perfect mask of an agent on assignment.

“Anna Espinosa,” she said instead, and Sloane concluded, with none too surprised satisfaction, that she had evidently understood that past defeat and future victory were one and the same.

Comments

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

What an excellent last line that is - it sounds so very Arvin-ish and he always did seem to use his defeats to further his next evil plot.

I had considered listing Sloane in Friday's fannish5 list of mentors, since he did do so much to shape the spy that Sydney became.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did, too, but he got off the list for similar reasons Irina and Laura Roslin did - he shaped who Sydney became in many ways, but mentor - even evil mentor - is not his main function in the narrative of the show.

And yes, that last line struck me as the way Arvin would interpret the Napoleonic quote as evidenced by his arc...

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Thank you, you have made a Sloane fangirl V. v. v. happy.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I'm always happy to do that.*g*

[kskitten.livejournal.com]

Having finally delved into Alias I can read this, yay! First Alias fiction!
Liked the easy-going Sydney must have had once with Sloane.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Going by the backstory as it unfolds, she was on his house at a regular basis, long enough for Emily (his wife) to become her mother figure. Pre show, Jack and Sydney were practically on non speaking terms; meanwhile, there was her boss providing attention and praise. So yes, before the terrible shock of her fiance's death, they must have built up quite a rapport...