Title: Maybe Tomorrow The Pain Will Go Away

Pairing: Well it's not really romance but duh it's S/V

Rating: T to be safe. Language, some scary images (not like Sloane naked scary, more like oops a gun's pointing at my head scary), violence

Disclaimer: I do not own Alias or the characters. If I owned Alias, Vaughn wouldn't have died in the first episode. In fact if I owned Alias I would make sure they triple check all people who claim to be CIA like 42 million times. The only character I own is Erica, and it's more like she owns me. You really don't want to sue me, trust me

Quick note: This is a sequel to Love Lies Bleeding. Every thing that happened in that story holds true here (Weiss, Nadia, and Jack are all dead), the sect still exists, and Sark is still Vaughn's brother. It is about sixteen years after love lies bleeding however. And, contradictory to the show now, Vaughn is still alive (yes I am bitter over that, JJ got a very long letter from me about that particular stunt.)

Chapter One: Love Lost

Erica had to hurry. She had five minutes to pick up her paper and then another ten minutes to head back to school. Under her breath she cursed the fact that her mother was on a business trip and her father couldn't be interrupted from work.

Her chocolate brown hair (so like her mothers) was coming out of the bun as her green eyes (so like her fathers) searched frantically for the file on her computer.

"Print, goddamnit" as she hit the print button a few times.

Finally the printer roared to life and she grabbed the still hot pages from the tray. After quickly scanning to make sure she had all the pages, she grabbed her backpack and ran out from her room. She still had another eleven minutes left in her lunch period, more than enough time to get back to school.

As Erica raced down the hall, she heard sounds coming form her parents' room. Instantly she became scared. Her father was at work; her mother's plane wasn't due back until mid afternoon. Erica cautiously peeked into her parents' room and pulled back immediately.

Her father…

Her father was in there, nude, with a woman.

Not her mother…

A redhead.

Her mother was a brunette like she was.

She hadn't gotten a very good look at the woman, only enough to tell that it wasn't her mother. Her mother wasn't a redhead.

Erica didn't even realize she had left the house until she felt raindrops on her head. Her father was cheating on her mother.

No. It couldn't be. Her parents loved each other. They were always standing closely together, always holding each other.

He couldn't be cheating on her.

Erica's heart sunk with each passing step. Her father, that bastard. Did he really love her and her mother or was it just a lie?

And who was that whore he was with? Her mother was beautiful. In fact everyone told her how much she looked like her mother, how beautiful she was. Her father did too.

Called them his beautiful girls.

How could he?

Erica began to cry. She couldn't go back to school; she would go to the park instead.

And she did just that. She sat in the park in the rain and thought about her parents.

She remembered her fourth birthday; they were flying to France for the anniversary of her mother's father death. He was buried in France, but he wasn't from France, go figure. Her mother was a wreck, crying uncontrollably. And her father was comforting her. He was stroking her hair lightly and telling her it was going to be ok. He spent the flight with her mother in his arms and Erica on his lap.

Then there was the time she was sick with the chicken pox and both of her parents had called in sick to be with her. They had spent the day on the living room couch, watching movies and eating "get-better" food. Her father had protested when they went to put in another chick flick and both her and her mother had tackled him.

And the time she was twelve and had asked her parents what had happen to Grandpa. Her father had wrapped his arm around her mother's waist and told Erica quite simply that she would know when the time was right.

But then there was a few nights ago, before her mother left on her business trip. Her parents had gotten into a fight, they had thought she was asleep, but she was awake in her dark room.

"Michael we have to tell her sometime"

"Not now baby, wait until she's older"

"She's sixteen for Christ sake, she needs to know."

"Sydney I thought we agreed she was going to have a normal childhood like we didn't."

"Michael, she has to know that they are out there and they will not hesitate to grab her."

"Do you really want to put her though what we went through?"

"She deserves the truth."

"The truth Syd? Do you really think that she needs to know what happened because of her?"

"Don't you dare blame what happen on her, Vaughn, it was our fault"

"I am not blaming it own her. She's my daughter and I have every right to protect her."

"You sound like my father. 'I have every right to protect you, Sydney, so let me train you to be a super spy'"

"That's different"

"Why, my father was trying to protect me like you're trying to protect Erica. I see no difference."

"Goddamnit Sydney. Stop being so stubborn. We are not telling her and its final."

"I hate it when you patronize me, Vaughn"

That conversation had scared Erica. They weren't screaming at each other, that she could have handled. This was the tone in her parents' voices, and the fact that her mother called her father Vaughn, their last name. She knew form experience that her mother never called her father Vaughn unless she was really angry at him. And what didn't her father want to tell her?

The day after the argument, two days ago, was when her mother left for her trip. Her parents kissed coldly, still mad over the argument. Erica pretended not to notice their hostilities and had given her mother a goodbye hug and kiss.

Erica glanced at her watched and realized it was six o'clock. She had been lost in thought all afternoon and her mother was probably now home wondering what had happen to her. Erica left the park and raced home, determined to tell her mother what she had seen before her father came home from work.

Because she was in such a rush, Erica didn't notice the black car that had been watching her all day pull out into the street and follow her home.


Yay? Nay? Continue? I know! Let's go riot the death of Vaughn in front of ABC studios!