CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Nathan leaned back on the chair, munching on the bag of chips and watching the computer monitor in front of him. He's staying in the Majestic, under the name of his friend, Cedric Averson IV, who smuggled him in. His friend, on the other hand, is back in school.

He watched the scene in front of him unfold. The man he almost killed is visiting his sister. This is the third day in a row that Jack Bristow stepped into Sofya's room to check on her. But since she's still asleep, there's nothing to do but watch her and then leave.

"How is she doing?" the agent asked, standing by Sofya's bed. A female doctor, about a foot shorter than him, appeared.

"The statistics are good," She answered, taking the clipboard by the foot of the bed. "I'm not going to be surprised if she wakes up tomorrow or the day after."

"That's good, right?"

"Oh, yes. It's a very good sign of her recovery."

Nathan, though very perplexed at Jack Bristow's concern and visits, (even his daughter drops in at least once a day) is very pleased with the news. Their birthday is coming and he wants to be out of this country before that.

He reached for his can of soda and started to drink it.

"Your daughter will be alright, sir. You don't have to worry."

The soda almost sputtered out of his nose when he heard the comment. 'Daughter? His daughter!'

He wiped his mouth and tried to think. His mother was with Jack Bristow for ten years, from 1971 to 1981. They had a daughter, Sydney Bristow, his half sister. That was the reason why he didn't do anything rash when he came to her house.

And he's the only one who knows about this information. His mother doesn't know that he knows about it.

He took the thick folder by the side of the computer. It has everything on Jack Bristow—his missions, his personal life. Nathan started to read it again. Bristow didn't try to correct the doctor with his relation to his sister. They are in a CIA-run hospital. Patients, whether they are criminals or agents, will be treated with the same medical support that they will need. The only difference with them is the level of security needed. Jack Bristow doesn't have to pretend.

Then, realization struck him. He could remember his Uncle Benjamin's words from the night he interfered his murder attempt.

"You don't know who you're dealing with. I don't want you to regret this in the future."

His first thought with those words is that he will be forever haunted by his actions. Or that Sydney Bristow and the CIA will hunt him down. Or that his mother will get angry at him. Thinking about it now, he believes that Benjamin Petersen knew something that he didn't know that night.

Nathan knows he's not stupid. And he knows that his skills in deduction are very, very good. His uncle was telling him something that night. He's telling him that Jack Bristow is his father.

Horrified at the thought, he stared at the photograph. They have the same lips, the arch of his eyebrows, the crook of the nose and the humongous ears. Why didn't he see it before?

'Am I a clone of this man?' he thought incredulously, slamming the folder shut. He stood up and started to pace around.

"Uncle Benj, you oaf…" he muttered, rubbing his face with his hands. His mother will call any minute now. How will he tackle her with this?

His cell phone rang. Nathan groaned, unprepared for it. He took it from the bed and pressed the 'receive' button.

"Mama," he started and took a deep breath, "I've been waiting for your call."

-x-x-x-
A few days later

She smiled at her sister, who's seated on the chair by her side.

"I really appreciate you visiting." Nadia said, as she sat upright and leaned on the pillows. Sydney never fails to visit her everyday.

"It's nothing, you're my sister. It's like an obligation or something." Sydney answered, looking at Nadia. There are a couple of scratches and wounds on her face and neck, a gift from the explosion.

Nadia laughed a bit, "I like the reason, 'or something' much better."

Her sister brow rose, "How are you feeling?"

"Why do you always ask that question? I'm fine." She answered, playing with the blue plastic bracelet in her left wrist, "As usual, the food is horrible."

This time, Sydney smiled, "Don't worry. You'll be coming home soon."

"How soon? The nurses are starting to scare me."

The minute she said that, a nurse came in, holding a tray and a cheerful, yet eerie smile on her face.

"Good morning, Ms. Santos. Here's your breakfast." The nurse started and placed the tray on the side table, "How are we feeling today?"

"Fine." Nadia answered automatically as the nurse began fixing the pillows she's leaning on.

"Good." She placed the tray on Nadia's lap. "I'll be back in an hour."

Sydney looked at Nadia as the nurse closed the door behind her. An amused smile appeared on her face, "Well, aren't you going to eat it?"

Nadia raised a brow, "Let me see you try it." She replied in a challenging tone.

"No, thank you." She shook her head, "But maybe another tray will come in. One filled with nutritious, but much more delicious food just like in the past five days."

Nadia just shrugged and stared at her food.

True enough; the same nurse came in, bearing another tray and she has the same smile plastered on her face. She took the tray on Nadia's lap and replaced it with the tray she was carrying. She then said goodbye and left.

"Told you so." Sydney said, looking at the bowl of assorted fruits, a plate of croissants and a tall glass of orange juice.

"You know, this reminds me of the orphanage." Nadia started, "You see, there were a lot of children there and the nuns were having a hard time providing for us. Then, an anonymous benefactor came and he was very generous to the orphanage. His generosity enabled most of us to go to college."

"A benefactor?" Sydney asked, her interest, peaking. She doesn't see the relation of the anonymous food giver and the benefactor, but still, "Have you found out his identity?"

Her sister shook her head, "I tried to, but unfortunately, all the leads I had were all dead ends. They said he died, but the money still trickles in the orphanage once in a while."

"When did this benefactor…?"

Nadia shrugged, "They said I was a good luck charm to them."

Sydney looked at her. A generous benefactor suddenly appears after Nadia ended up in the orphanage. Coincidence, or another one of their father's deeds?

-x-x-x-
(A week later)

The back of the spoon became her mirror. Her face is riddled with scratches and scabs and they look horrible. Her hands, in contrast, seem to have no recollection of the bits and pieces of glass that lacerated it. There are no markings of the wounds anywhere.

Sofya gingerly touched her face. The cuts feel so rough under her fingers. They said that she is healing at a very rapid rate. She doesn't believe them.

"Just eat the food, Iya."

She snorted, ignoring the voice coming from her com link. The person talking to her doesn't know the taste of what she's eating.

"Tastes just like sawdust." She mumbled.

"Well, just eat something. You'll need your strength."

She began toying with the food on the plate. She understands her brother's concern. When she first woke up, she staggered out of the hospital room, hungry and looking for food. The agents guarding her were so surprised that they almost shot her with a tranquilizer.

Sofya took the spoon and scooped a small portion of the buttered vegetables. She placed it in her mouth and started to chew.

'What do they cook this with? Rubber sap?'

After a few more spoonfuls, she gave up. Her taste buds couldn't take the torture.

She sighed and took the dull red apple. She then leaned back on the pillows as her teeth sank into the fruit.

"Apples don't keep the doctor away, you know. Unless you throw it at them."

She rolled her eyes and continued biting into the fruit that banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.

'Stupid Adam and Eve.' She thought and then sighed at the allusion. She looked at the door and waited for someone to come in.

"No one's going to visit you."

"Shut up." Sofya muttered, "You're the cause of all this." She tossed the core to the tray. She was pleased to hear it clang but a core frown surfaced in her face.

"Well, if you're wondering, they're fine. Cedric managed everything." He said, referring to her five roommates. "No need to worry about them."

"Stop it. You're just reminding me that I'm stuck here." The frown deepened. She started to shift her position in the bed. No one can gauge how much she wanted to run away from this place.

The door to the room opened and a blonde, petite nurse went in.

"Good afternoon." She greeted happily, "Oh, I see that you didn't finish your food."

Sofya gave her a pained smile. The nurse just smiled back and took the tray. She wonders how the woman can be so damn happy when she's attending to a criminal.

'Well, maybe she doesn't know that you're a criminal?'

"There's a girl just like you who hates eating the food here." The nurse winked at her, "Good thing for both of you, you have someone who sends you lunch. I think you'll enjoy this one."

A male nurse went in, holding another tray.

Suspicion snaked inside her, "Who sent it?"

"Silly girl, your father sent it."

"My father?" Confusion is palpable in her tone, but the nurse took no notice of it.

"Yes, your father. One look at you and I wouldn't have known, but now I see the resemblance. You both have prominent ears except his are bigger." The nurse smiled wider, "Now go pick up that spoon and eat."

Sofya watched her leave. When the nurse was gone, she shook her head in puzzlement.

"Did you send it?" she whispered, looking at the bowl of clear soup in front of her.

"Do I look old enough to look like your father?" she heard him shuffle around, "You know, that nurse is weird."

"I know what you mean." She answered, "Do you think I should eat it?"

"I think poisoning people is the most cowardly thing the CIA can do."

"Is that a yes?"

"Da."

She smiled and took the spoon, "Do you think I can do it tomorrow?" she whispered and tasted the soup. A small smile appeared on her lips when the warm liquid teased her taste buds.

"If you're up to it." He replied, sighing, "Besides, our eighteenth birthday is coming up. You might be celebrating it inside a cell if we keep postponing your escape."

"Stop the sarcasm, Nate." Sofya hissed and started to eat.

"Fine, okay. Just make sure you're ready tomorrow."

-x-x-x-

Jack stepped out of the elevator with Arvin Sloane a few steps behind him.

"Have you visited her?" Sloane asked as he fell into stride beside his old 'friend'. A couple of people are coming out of the elevator with them, most of them, nurses.

"Who?" Jack asked, but Sloane didn't answer. When he looked at his companion, he found him looking at the closing doors of the elevator.

"What is it?" Jack inquired when he noticed Sloane's facial expression.

Arvin shook his head, "Nothing." He answered and looked at Jack. "I asked you if you had visited your youngest daughter."

"She was always asleep." Jack gruffly replied as they walked towards Nadia's room. Sloane had volunteered that he and Jack will help her and Sydney with the vases and baskets of flowers inside Nadia's hospital room.

Sloane decided not to press on the subject and instead focused on their current work, "The double agents will be transferred to Langley after you interrogate them." He started. Dixon, instead of finding Irina Derevko in Turkey, found three of the fifteen people Mikhail Premenov (or Nathan Derevko) supposedly killed, alive and being kept as prisoners. And a lot of documents gathered in the place suggest that they are moles for Olivia Reed.

"They will be transferred soon." Jack remarked as they turned the corner.

A few minutes later, they were helping Sydney with the flowers.

'She looks a lot better.' Jack thought as he discreetly watched his second daughter. She looks a lot better than Sofya, actually.

'But then again, Nadia was poisoned, Sofya was… never mind.' He said to himself and took one of the humongous baskets of chrysanthemums from an anonymous sender. He can hear Nadia asking Sydney about Alexia/Sofya.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang. Using his right hand, he took it from his pocket and received the call.

"Bristow."

The call lasted for a few seconds. When he returned the phone back to his pocket, he called for Sloane.

"May I talk to you in private?"

The two sisters looked at each other. Sydney shrugged, but both know that something serious just came up.

fifteen minutes before Jack's phone call

"Doctor, may I ask what medicine you've been giving me? I can distinctly remember having wounds in my hands." The girl asked as she showed the doctor her palms.

The doctor smiled at her, "We didn't give you anything. You just heal very fast." She answered and checked the clipboard.

Sofya smiled at her, but wished that the doctor come closer. The agents are outside, waiting for this visit to finish, and if the doctor doesn't come near her, she might not be able to escape.

"Your stab wounds, however, opens up quite easily. It's worrying sometimes."

Sofya's eyebrows knotted in confusion. "And you're implying…?"

"Don't move a lot." The doctor simply replied. She then went towards her and checked her IV.

A small pop echoed in the room.

In one swift motion, Sofya pulled the doctor towards her before the unconscious woman fell to the floor. She then took the IV off her arm, slipped out of the bed before hoisting the doctor to where she was lying down and covered her with the blanket.

"You heard the doctor, Iya. Take it easy."

Sofya ignored her brother and put on the lab coat. She then went towards the bathroom to get the other tranquilizer Nathan hid in the ventilation shaft. Thankfully, the doctor's coat is a bit large for her and the sleeves covered the tranq guns easily.

She peeked out the window and found the agents patiently sitting on the chairs. Not a single soul is passing by the corridors.

"Looping videos… now."

Sofya slightly opened the door and quickly shot the agents. Luckily, they didn't fall down the chair they are sitting on.

"That was good, considering that your vision isn't perfect."

She slipped out of the room and silently closed the door. Coldness shot up through her when her bare feet came in contact with the floor. She muttered a curse under her breath, but walked as though she has shoes.

"Your clothes are in the utility closet, two corridors to your right."

She quickened her pace. Some nurses greeted her and Sofya just smiled back, but went on with her business.

A few seconds later, she disappeared from sight. Nobody notice her enter the service closet.

"There's a duffel bag on top of the cabinet. Everything's in there."

She got rid of the patient/doctor outfit and took out the clothes her brother packed for her. She checked on her wounds and bruises before dressing up into a white shirt, a blue jacket, blue jeans and her light blue cross trainers. She looked inside one of the bag's pockets and found a comb, elastic rubber bands and the container of her eyeglasses.

"You know, I think I'm going to stand out in this blue outfit." Sofya mumbled as she tied her hair into a half ponytail.

Her brother laughed, "The only way to fit in is to stand out."

She put on her eyeglasses before stepping out of the room. She worked her way out of the busy corridors and into the elevator.

"Your ride is a dark blue Peugeot in the basement garage."

One of the elevator doors opened. People streamed out and two of them were Dumbo-fly-home and the Man with the Creepy Stare. Her heart skipped a beat as she shirked away from view and lowered her head.

"Have you visited her?" she heard the Man with the creepy stare ask. She felt his eyes land at her as she hurried inside the elevator. She needs to hurry or she might get caught.

There are a few people who went in with her and most of them got off from one floor to another. She was the last one to get off the lift.

Her eyes scanned the garage. "Where is it?"

"Away from the cameras, of course."

"Could you please be a bit more specific?" getting a bit irritated, "Never mind, I see it. Keys?"

"In the dashboard."

Sofya silently walked towards the car, admiring its beauty. Her fingers skimmed the automobile when she neared it.

She opened the door and slipped in. she took the key from the dashboard and started the car.

The engine purred. Sofya smiled and backed out of the parking space.

"Airstrip is five miles from here. There's a bag in the backseat, with a cell phone inside. If you get lost, call me."

Sofya ignored the teasing voice. Her freedom is a few minutes away.

-x-x-x-
(Three days later)

Jack went inside Sloane's office and slowly walked towards the desk. He then stood in front of it and waited for Sloane to look up.

"Jack." He greeted, "What can I do for you?"

He didn't answer him. Instead, he handed to him a folder.

"What's this?"

"My leave of absence. Chase approved it. I'm giving you notice."

Sloane sighed and closed the folder. He then leaned back on the chair and looked at Jack, waiting for an explanation. He has a feeling that this LoA is related to Sofya's recent and successful escape.

"I need time to think clearly." Jack started, "And I won't be able to do that with a psychiatrist."

"Doctor Barnett-"

"I'll be leaving the office later. I expect no calls from this office starting tomorrow." He interrupted and turned to leave. Sloane didn't try to stop him at all.

He walked towards Marshall's office, ignoring the agents who smiled at him or hid from him.

Jack peered inside their tech's office and found him busy building another contraption for a future mission. Without knocking, he pushed the door open and stepped in.

"Marshall."

"Mr. Bristow." He slightly stuttered, "Uh, I got what you asked for." He turned around and retrieved a PDA from his table.

"It'll show you the passive-active transmitter's location. It's going take a general turn first and then it will become more specific once you get to the last location it says."

Jack raised a brow. He didn't understand what Marshall said.

"Uh, for example the tracker said the signal's in France. So you go to France," Marshall looked at expectantly at Jack, hoping to have any affirmation that he's getting what he's saying.

"So you're there in France having croissants and everything, and then the tracker says that you have to go Marseille. So you go to Marseille and then the tracker, after a few hours says that the signals in this little town…" He shook his head, realizing that he's not getting to the point, "Anyway, what I'm saying is that, the location gets more and more specific until you find the source.

Jack took the PDA from his hands, "Will this take a very long time?"

"Not that long." Marshall answered and grinned at him.

"Thank you, Marshall." Jack said and started to leave.

"Uh, Mr. Bristow?" Marshall called out.

Jack turned his head and looked at him. He waited for the tech to continue.

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone about this, right?"

Something appeared on the older agent's face which Marshall believes is a smile. Jack didn't answer his question and left him to wonder.

"Hmm… I guess that was a yes."
-x-x-x-