Title: That's What Family's For
Author: Kayar
Disclaimer: Alias and its characters are not mine. It belongs to ABC, Bad Robot Productions, and a genius by the name of J.J. Abrams.
Our story picks up right where the Season 3 finale leaves off…
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Sydney blinked back tears as she stared up at her father. Jack slowly walked over to the table and took his seat across from her.
"Sydney…" Jack began, pausing to search for the right words. "Sydney, I need to explain…" Sydney glared at her father but said nothing. "You never were supposed to have found these documents. I hid them here years ago because I wanted to protect you."
"Protect me how?" Sydney asked in a wavering voice. "You've been manipulating me my entire life and now you say you were protecting me?" She gestured to the documents. "You had my whole life planned out, didn't you? You wanted me to be recruited by SD-6, to become a double agent, to be captured by the Covenant…" Sydney trailed off, unable to say any more.
"Sydney…" Jack began again, but Sydney had already stood and was walking toward the door.
"Don't," she warned, and resolutely marched out, leaving Jack to stare blankly at the papers spread out in front of him.
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Two weeks later, Sydney sat in her apartment, idly flipping through her copy of Alice in Wonderland. She was hoping that if she sat at home and did absolutely nothing, it lessened her chances of being in a situation where her father was controlling her. The shrill ring of her telephone snapped her out of her reverie. She briefly considered letting the answering machine pick up in case it was her father calling, but eventually decided to pick it up. It would have more of an effect if she hung up on him, anyway.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Syd."
"Hey!" Sydney couldn't help but grin at the sound of Vaughn's voice. The last time she had seen him was at the debrief of their Palermo mission. Dixon wasn't happy that they had gone on an unsanctioned mission, but he was pleased that they had discovered the location of the Rambaldi artifact.
"Are you doing anything important right now?" Vaughn asked.
"No. Why?"
"Well, I was driving around, and there's this new coffee shop downtown. I didn't know if you'd be interested in having coffee with me today."
"Sure! I'd love to," Sydney said. "What time?"
"Actually," Vaughn replied, and Sydney could almost hear him smiling, "I'm outside you're apartment right now. So whenever you're ready?"
"Okay," Sydney smiled, surprised but pleased. "Let me get ready, and I'll be out in a few minutes."
"Can't wait," Vaughn said. "See you then."
xxxx
"So I talked to Weiss," Vaughn was saying. "He told me they found your sister yesterday."
Sydney looked up from her coffee. "Really?" Nadia had been missing for over two weeks, and Weiss' team had been having a hard time finding any leads. "Where?"
"The team found her near Istanbul. She told us that Sloane kidnapped her in order to find the Rambaldi artifact. She was too upset to say much else, but Dixon was hoping you could stop by the safe house and talk to her."
"Of course I will," Sydney said. "Do you know where she's staying?"
Vaughn shook his head. "I have no idea. Since her first safe house was compromised, Dixon's disclosing her location on a need-to-know basis."
Sydney began to reply, but the beeping of her pager cut her off. A split second later, Vaughn's pager went off as well. Both checked the name and number, then looked at each other resignedly.
"Dixon?"
"Yeah."
"I guess we should go," Vaughn said as he reached for his wallet to pay for the coffee.
"Just as long as my father isn't there," Sydney muttered darkly.
Vaughn glanced up sharply. Sydney had told him about what she had found in Wittenburg. "You don't have to go if you don't want to."
"No, it's okay. I'll be fine." Sydney tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. "It just makes me sick that he would do something like that to me."
Vaughn looked concerned. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"
Sydney forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."
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A/N: Did you like it? Did you hate it? Was it just okay? Please review and let me know what you think!
Kristin
