Thirty-Nine
Culmination
Sydney awoke to a throbbing headache that nearly brought tears to her eyes when she tried to sit up. She looked around, surveying her surroundings. She discovered that she was still in the safehouse, but now she was in one of the bedrooms. She saw that the door was open and thought she heard footsteps coming towards her room. She started to get out of bed, ready to fight off whoever was coming, but her headache threatened to make her pass out, so she glanced about quickly, looking for something with which to defend herself and spotted a handgun on the bedside table.
She wrinkled her forehead in confusion, but grabbed it all the same, aiming it in the direction of the door, her hands weak and shaking, barely able to hold the weapon. She could barely contain her gasp of surprise when her father walked into the room holding a steaming mug of what Sydney presumed was tea or coffee.
"Dad?" she asked softly, her voice wavering and her tone expressing her confusion. "I don'tówhat are youówhat's going on?"
Jack sat down in the chair facing Sydney's bed and handed her the mug. Sydney blinked, wondering why she hadn't noticed the chair when she had checked out the rest of the room earlier. She shook her head slightly, shaking off the thought. She thanked her father as she took a sip. It was tea.
"How do you feel?"
Sydney gave him a look. Jack just raised his eyebrows slightly, still expecting a response. Sydney mumbled that she felt crappy. After a moment she asked, "Why didn't Sloane kill me?"
"I don't know," Jack answered truthfully.
"But it doesn't make any sense. He obviously wants me dead, I mean, why wouldn't he? I only get in the way of whatever Rambaldi bullshit he's after."
"He's a bastard," said Jack, "you and I both know that."
"Yeah, but I really can't figure this out. I mean, unlessÖ" she trailed off.
"Unless what?"
"Unless heÖ" Sydney shook her head and got a disgusted look on her face. "Unless he cares about me and couldn't bring himself to kill me."
Jack frowned but nodded slightly all the same. "The man is twisted, but he's not without a heart."
Sydney murmured her agreement and sipped some of her tea. Suddenly she started to freak out. "Where's Vaughn? Sloane shot him and then he came after me and I couldn'tó"
"He's at the hospital," Jack assured her. "Unfortunately, I couldn't go in with him because of the nature of my absence from the CIA. But he's safe."
Sydney thanked him, then said, "So, I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm trying to make sense of this from the information I have. I'm guessing that there was some of Rambaldi's trademark invisible ink on that page we found."
"Yes."
"And," Sydney went on, "it said that in addition to Mom, Sark, and I, you would be one of the people who would know about The Telling being reversed."
Jack nodded.
"Wow," Sydney breathed. Jack didn't respond, so Sydney said, "When did you guys discover this?"
"After The Telling had been reversed," Jack explained. "I had retained all of my memories prior to using the machine, and I couldn't figure out why, so I went to your mother. We looked over the page again, and used the liquid to reveal the rest of the page. That was when we found out."
"Where's Sark?"
"He's with your mother."
"Where?" Sydney questioned, her voice dangerously low.
"Sydney, I don't know. It was safer for me not to know. They'll both be here soon, however, then we'll have to leave."
"What about the CIA? Vaughn and I were sent on this mission because we had received intelligence that indicated that you were here. Not only that, the CIA doesn't know if you defected or if Mom and Sark were holding you hostage. We need to come clean. We need to tell them what's going on."
"Sydney, we can't do that. It won't work."
"Why not?"
"We need to capture Sloane and destroy The Telling. Once we do that, we'll have sufficient evidence for the CIA and then we can explain everything to them. Right now, your mother, Sark, and I are a trio of traitors, given how Sark was busted out of the agency along with the fact that I was with him and your mother."
Sydney nodded. "Do you have any idea where The Telling is?"
"I arrived here just as Sloane was preparing to leave. I planted a tracking device on his car. Hopefully he won't find it, and hopefully he's going straight to wherever he has the machine." Jack sighed. "If he doesn't, it won't do us any good to just capture him because he'll never give up the location of The Telling and someone else will just activate it and we'll be starting all over again. This time, though, we might not be so lucky as to where we all end up."
Sydney sipped her tea again then closed her eyes and murmured, "I just want this all to be over."
Jack said softly, "I know you do."
Just then, a door opened and Jack and Sydney leaped up immediately to go greet their visitors. Sydney couldn't help but smile when she saw Sark and ran to embrace him. Irina went to Jack and pulled him into Sydney's room so as to let Sydney and Sark have a moment.
"Dad told me everything," Sydney said. Sark nodded and Sydney continued, "Vaughn's in the hospital. I'll be able to see him after we catch Sloane." Sark looked down and Sydney felt a bit guilty for talking about Vaughn in front of him. "He broke up with me," Sydney said quietly, neglecting to give any details.
Sark sighed with relief and kissed Sydney.
"I love you," Sydney said.
"I love you, too," Sark replied, kissing her again.
Sydney wrapped her arms around Sark's neck and slid her hands into his hair. Sark placed his hands on Sydney's hips, then slowly wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer to him and pressing her body to his.
They pulled back after a few long moments and looked at each other, both completely contentóat least for the moment.
Sark sighed softly and asked, "When do we leave to go after Sloane?"
A short while later, Sydney, Sark, Jack, and Irina were piled in a van and equipped with bullet-proof vests and assault rifles and were following the signal from the tracking device Jack had planted on Sloane's car. It was then that Sydney found out where her mother and Sark had beenóthey were getting the gear all four of them would need to go after Sloane.
It wasn't long before they reached the place Sloane was supposed to be. The four were surprised to find that his hideout wasn't very far from the safehouse. Sydney found herself wondering if Sloane wanted to be caught. He had been so good at covering his tracks until now and Sydney wondered if Sloane simply wanted to bring everything to an end.
When they arrived at Sloane's hideoutóa three-story mansionóthey all silently climbed out of the van and went to the front door after noting that the car Sloane had left in was parked in the driveway and still had the tracking device attached.
"This is it," Sydney said. "You guys can go look for The Telling." She lowered her voice as she said, "Sloane is mine."
Jack, Irina, and Sark all nodded their agreement and after everyone wished each other luck, they dispersed. Jack, Irina, and Sark all went for various windows around the house. Sydney stayed at the front door and kicked it down easily. She walked in and looked around, then slung her assault rifle over her shoulder and pulled out a pistol. She checked various rooms, looking for Sloane. The house was seemingly empty and Sydney felt a shiver run down her spine. She wondered if Sloane was there at all, or if he had simply driven to the house only to escape in another car, one that didn't have a tracking device.
She headed upstairs to the top floor after deciding that if Sloane was anywhere, he was probably on the top floor. She looked around and saw that every door, save for the one leading to the master bedroom was closed. She walked over to the open door of the master bedroom and peered inside. She saw a figure sitting at a desk typing something on a laptop. Sydney leaned against the doorframe and scoffed.
"You found me," Sloane chirped, not turning around. "Well done."
"You didn't exactly give us a challenge," Sydney pointed out.
"That was the point," Sloane said. "I'm sure your parents and Sark have found The Telling already."
"Probably," Sydney said.
"It doesn't really matter," Sloane said, finally turning around to look at Sydney, "the machine doesn't work anymore."
"Bullshit."
Sloane stood up and put his hands in his pockets. "Would I really lie about that, Sydney?"
She considered him, but didn't reply.
"Why do you think I made it so easy for you to find me? There's no point anymore." He stopped suddenly, then continued, "Of course, I've yet to make that known to the people working for me."
"What do you mean?" Sydney asked. "Who are you working with?"
"Oh, just some people," Sloane said nonchalantly.
"Tell me who," Sydney demanded, beginning to get angry.
Sloane smiled. "People who headed up the various cells of the Alliance."
Sydney's jaw dropped. "Are you rebuilding the Alliance?"
"I was," Sloane said with a shrug. "Like I said, it doesn't matter now. Rambaldi's greatest invention no longer works. Why should I bother trying to finish rebuilding the Alliance?"
Sydney all but rolled her eyes at him. "The people you're working with won't care that The Telling doesn't work anymore. They'll continue rebuilding the Alliance with or without you, just so they can have that power again."
"Perhaps," Sloane allowed, "but I'm not helping anymore, so..." He trailed off and put his hands up. "Go ahead, Agent Bristow. Arrest me, shoot me. Your choice."
Sydney smirked at him. "You've got a gun on you. You'll shoot me if I try to arrest you."
Sloane just looked at her and replied simply, "That's why I said you could shoot me."
Sydney set her jaw. "Unless I have a specific reason to do so, you know I won't do that."
Sloane sighed a bit and then smiled. "I do."
"So," Sydney began, "why didn't you kill me? You used The Telling on me, you put a bomb in my stomach, yet when you had the perfect chance to finish me off, you didn't take it. You just ran away. Why?"
"As hard as it is to believe, Sydney, I do care about you."
Sydney was fuming. "You're sick."
Sloane gave her a noncommittal shrug. "You don't have to believe me."
Sydney looked down, thinking, and in that moment, she felt something hit her in the chest and knock her backwards. Sloane had shot her and was now heading towards the window. Sydney looked down at the hole in her shirt and saw the bullet embedded in the vest underneath it. She gritted her teeth and called to Sloane who was struggling to get the window open. "Sloane!"
He stopped trying to open the window and looked back at her, an odd expression spreading over his face. Sydney thought it almost looked like acceptance. He knew she would kill him now. He had given her every reason to do so and he knew it.
Sydney raised her gun and aimed carefully. "You should have killed me when you had the chance." She pulled the trigger and Sloane fell to the ground. He died instantly, as Sydney had shot him right between his eyes.
She walked over to him and knelt down to look into his glazed-over eyes. With a heavy sigh, she brought her hand to his eyelids and closed them. She stood up to see her parents and Sark standing in the doorway.
"We found The Telling," Irina said softly.
Her voice suddenly strained, Sydney said quietly, "I found Sloane."
Sydney stood in the doorway watching as her mother wrapped Sloane in a blanket and lifted him up with Sark's help. She stood aside so they could exit and then watched as her father put in a call to the CIA. They had gotten Sloane and could now tell the CIA what they had been doing and thusly absolve themselves of anything of which they had been accused.
Jack hung up the phone and glanced towards his daughter who was now looking at the floor. He walked over to her and she looked up at him.
"Sloane had people rebuilding the Alliance. They're still out there."
Jack nodded.
"We have to find them."
"We will," Jack said calmly.
Sydney looked into his eyes, a skeptical expression on her face.
"We will, sweetheart," Jack assured her, his voice soft and comforting. He smiled at her, a real smile.
Sydney smiled back and hugged her father tightly. She didn't let go until a CIA team had arrived to clean the house and collect Sloane's body and The Telling.
Jack, Irina, and Sark were all escorted back to the Joint Task Force to be debriefed, but Sydney was permitted to stay behind and visit Vaughn at the hospital.
Once she arrived at the hospital and inquired about Vaughn, she was led to his room. She stopped in the doorway and watched him sleep. He looked peaceful. For a moment, Sydney was afraid to go in. She was afraid that Vaughn might be having second thoughts about breaking up with her and she didn't know if she or Vaughn would be able to cope with what Sydney would inevitably have to say: she wasn't in love with him.
Swallowing her fears, Sydney entered the room and sat down in a chair next to Vaughn's bed. Upon hearing the chair squeak as Sydney sat down, Vaughn awoke and looked over at her.
"Hey."
Sydney smiled at him and replied, "Hey."
He reached his hand out to her. She reluctantly took it.
"Syd," he began, "I don't mean to lay this on you so suddenly, but I don't want you to, I don't know, feel obligated to be with me because I got shot."
Sydney looked startled, but she couldn't help but admire this new Vaughn. This Vaughn wasn't letting Sydney walk all over him and Sydney was thankful for it.
"I meant what I said," he continued, "we can't be together when you'reó"
She cut him off. "I know, Vaughn." She shook her head slightly. "We're in different places. I can't be who you need me to be. I'm sorry."
Vaughn smiled a little. "I'm sorry, too."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, holding hands, until Sydney stood up abruptly. At Vaughn's confused look, Sydney said, "I have to go back to the Joint Task Force. Sloane's dead and I have to make sure my parents and Sark are cleared of any involvement with Sloane rebuilding the Alliance."
Vaughn raised his eyebrows and wrinkled his forehead. "Sarkó?"
Sydney sighed softly and whispered, "Long story."
Vaughn smiled just a bit and replied, "Tell me sometime."
Sydney sighed again, a faint and somewhat sad smile on her lips and said, "'Bye Vaughn," and left the room.
When Sydney reached the Joint Task Force, she learned that Jack, Irina, and Sark had already been cleared of any and all charges and had explained the events that led up to locating The Telling and killing Sloane.
She also learned that her parents and Sark were in a briefing room with Kendall, all four of them waiting for her.
Sydney entered the briefing room slowly and took a seat next to Sark. She addressed Kendall immediately, "I heard that my parents and Sark have all been cleared. I'm relieved."
Kendall nodded in her general direction and said, "That's all well and good, but you all have work to do. Now that I have confirmation that the Alliance is being rebuilt, you four are going to be in charge of stopping it from being completely rebuilt and thusly will have to bring everyone in who's responsible."
Sydney, Jack, Irina, and Sark all nodded their agreement.
Kendall passed out folders to the four of them and explained that when Jack contacted him, he immediately started acquiring intel and had already put together their first mission.
He stood up. "Get to work."
A few months had passed and Sydney was standing at her desk packing up her things. She did so slowly, as if trying to avoid the inevitable, that she would never set foot in the Joint Task Force again.
She had already tendered her resignation. She had been waiting to give her notice, and it had taken months to clean up Sloane's mess. Sydney had found from Sloane that he had started to rebuild the Alliance, but she had no idea he had gotten so far. It took a while, longer than Sydney hoped it would, but she, along with her mother, father, and Sark had finally rendered the nearly rebuilt Alliance useless. With Sloane dead, it was easy, since everyone involved had decided to abandon the operation and were easily caught and put behind bars. That fact surprised Sydney, as she had fully expected everyone to keep going, since Sloane had told her he hadn't announced to everyone that he was quitting the operation.
In bringing down the new Alliance, Sydney found herself with less missions to go on and less to do overall, leaving her time to pursue other interests. She was finally able to put her Master's degree to good use, as she had gotten a job teaching American Literature at a high school in New York. The job would begin in the fall. She considered taking one of the local offers she'd been given, but decided against it, ultimately needing to get away from the area.
Will was going to be coming to New York as well and Sydney was grateful. He too, had resigned from the CIA and had gone back to journalism, landing a job as a staff writer for The New York Times, a fact about which he was completely ecstatic.
As she packed up the last few items on her desk, she looked around at all of the people in the rotunda, and took in all of the sights and sounds she would never see again. She smiled faintly, blinking away the tears that had formed in her eyes.
She looked down again, staring absentmindedly at the box she had just filled. It was over. This phase in her life was finally over and she could finally move on and have the normal life she had always wanted. She was happy, but at the same time she felt empty. She wondered if resigning was the right thing to do, then shook her head, deciding that she was just nervous about leaving something that had been a part of her life for so long.
She sighed and picked up the box, glancing one last time at her desk and preparing to head out. She was abruptly stopped by Vaughn who had just come into view.
She smiled broadly at him. It was the first time she had seen him since visiting him at the hospital after Sloane had shot him. When he came back to the CIA, he immediately went on all the missions he could, none of them involving Sydney.
"Hi," she said softly, tears brimming in her eyes again.
"Hi," he said, returning her smile. "I saw a plane outside. Yours?"
"Dad's," she answered with a grin. "I'm leaving for New York in a few minutes."
"Ah," he said knowingly. At her look of confusion, he clarified, "Will told me about your new job."
Sydney looked a bit sheepish. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you were away so much that I could never get in touch."
Vaughn waved a hand dismissively. "It's okay, Syd." He grinned at her. "I'm happy for you."
"Thanks," she said, blushing a bit.
They both looked down at their shoes, trying to think of what to say next. Vaughn spoke first. "I'm going to miss you."
Sydney looked up at him, smiling slightly, and whispered, "Me too."
Vaughn smiled as well and then said suddenly, "I met someone."
"Yeah?" Sydney asked, a feeling of genuine happiness for Vaughn spreading through her.
Vaughn returned the grin and explained, "I was on a reconnaissance mission in France. I'd completed the mission and I'd had some time left before my flight, so I went to this baró"
Sydney was smiling so much that Vaughn stopped talking to ask why. Sydney looked sheepish again. "It's just that I can tell this is going to be a good story." She motioned for him to continue and he did, telling her almost word for word the tale he had told her when he had come to take her home from Hong Kong, on that night that had been a result of The Telling. Sydney had never guessed that something The Telling had doneóand had been reversed from going back to the night Sydney fought Allison Dorenócould actually happen without the machine.
When Vaughn finished his story, Sydney told him she was happy for him and then said what she had been dreading since she turned away from her desk with all of her belongings: "I have to go."
Vaughn walked up to her, took the box she was holding and set it down on the ground so that he could hug her one last time. Sydney surprised herself by not crying, though she did shed a few tears once they had let go of one another.
"You never did tell me that story," Vaughn told her, a broad smile crossing his face.
Sydney smiled as well, looking down at the floor. After a moment, she turned serious. "I don't know if I can."
Vaughn nodded and both were silent for a few moments.
"You'd better get going," Vaughn said finally, avoiding her eyes.
"Yeah," Sydney agreed, avoiding his as well.
After a beat, Sydney picked up her box and looked at Vaughn. She kissed his cheek tenderly. "'Bye."
"'Bye."
She walked past him and Vaughn turned to watch her go. He blinked and a tear fell onto his cheek as he watched Sydney Bristow walk out of his life.
Sydney reached her father's plane and climbed aboard. As expected, her mother and father were waiting for her as soon as she got on.
Irina and Sark had been granted clemency after they, Jack, and Sydney had shut down the Alliance operation and arrested everyone involved. Irina and Sark had proved their worth and were rewarded for their help.
Jack had decided to retire and he and Irina were going to be spending the rest of their days in an undisclosed location.
Sydney smiled at her parents, grateful that through everything, they had managed to stay together and ultimately rebuild their relationship so that it was now stronger than it had ever been.
"So where are you guys going exactly?" she asked for what was possibly the millionth time.
Jack gave her a small smile. Sydney knew she couldn't know where they would be in case there were still people who wanted Irina Derevko dead. After all, Irina was still considered dangerous, just not by the CIA.
"We'll call you when it's safe to visit," Jack told her.
"Fair enough," Sydney replied, a smile playing on her lips.
"We figured you and Sark would want the plane for a while," Irina said, "so we'll be dropped off first. Our pilots will return the plane to us once you two land in New York, whenever that may be." She gave her daughter a knowing smile.
"Thanks," Sydney said gratefully. "I love you guys." With that, she wrapped her arms around both of her parents, hugging them tightly. She pulled back and smiled through her tears, then walked to the back of the plane to find Sark.
"Hey," she said when she found him, setting her box down on a chair.
Sark was lounging on a couch a few feet away from Sydney. He stood up. "In case you're wondering where all of belongings are, your father had some people pack everything from your apartment and put it all in the cargo bay."
Sydney chuckled. "That was what I was going to say next." She walked over to him and gave him a kiss. "Let's try this again," she said, unable to hide her grin. "Hey," she said significantly.
"Hello," Sark replied, smiling and kissing her. "I heard you talking to your parents."
"And?"
"We can go anywhere."
Sydney nodded and took a seat on the couch. Sark sat down beside her and gave her a look.
"You've gotó" he looked at his watch for the date, "ótwo weeks until the semester starts."
"Uh huh," Sydney said, a smile spreading across her features as she got Sark's gist.
Sark turned to look Sydney in the eye. "Sydney Bristow," he began, smirking sweetly at her, "where do you want to go?"
FIN
A/N: First off, thanks to phi4858 and qblisa for the reviews that were ultimately the kick in the ass I needed to finish this up. Iíd had a bunch of ideas Iíd been mulling over, most of which would have made the story go a few more chapters, but I realized that I had gotten to the point where I could just wrap it up in one last chapter. (This was actually two shorter chapters, but I went ahead and combined them because they worked better that way. I also added more to the combined chapter to give it a little more meat.)
Also, thanks to everyone whoís ever read and reviewed this story. It means a great deal to me to know that people were really enjoying it.
Just for fun, hereís the rest of the A/N as I wrote it on May 1st, before I saw the finale (and before Iíd added more to this last chapter):
I was thinking about killing off Vaughn, but ultimately decided to keep him alive, mainly because the bastard grew on me. Dammit. Speaking of which, Iíve been loving the SV on Alias this season. ducks bricks Honestly, I stopped ëshipping Sarkney on the show sometime around S3. SV kinda grew on me during S4 and then continued into S5, not that I wasnít completely overjoyed when Vaughn was ìkilled.î But really, S5 has been great, all aspects of it have been fantastic. I canít wait to see how it ends.
Speaking of the show, how awesome ìThereís Only One Sydney Bristowî? Now THAT is how you do a 100th episode. Also, I canít believe how much I missed Will. I love him.
In regards to the finale, if the writers kill Jack or Irina, I will not be happy at all. They better not touch those two. I want my SpyFam intact when the show goes off the air.
So much for that. I donít even really know what to say about the finale except that I hated pretty much all of it. Yes, I was happy that SV got their happy ending because I really wanted it, but Jack dying and Sloane still being alive is just ridiculous. That bastard is SO going to get his ass rescued by someone, which means Jackís death was in vain. Plus, Sydney, who always spoke of wanting a normal life, is still freaking spying and, judging by her line about Isabelle not having unpacked, sheís constantly moving, probably because she isnít safe. I really, really hated that.
Oh yeah, and Irina went evil for some reason. And then she died. Whatever.
Thank you writers, for royally screwing up my beloved SpyFam by killing Jack and making Irina evil (WTF?) and killing her off.
Ugh. Hate.
Anyway, back to the fic, I had a lot of fun writing this. Itís definitely my favorite story and is certainly one Iíll be extremely proud of for a long time to come.
Iím going to try and finish up Wild. I donít know when Iíll have a new chapter up, but Iíll try and get back into it and write some more of it.