I can officially say that this is my longest chapter I have ever written. And I am very proud of myself. I kinda liked writing a long chapter. I don't know if I'll do it again, because not a lot of the rest of the story works well with long chapters. Oh well. Tell me what you think. And ideas for where I should be taking this, I would really appreciate them. Actually for any of my stories!
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Jessica was up half the night, nervous about lunch the next day. As she got Raquel and Juliana ready for school, she had almost forgotten about the lunch. She ran Raquel to day care, and then took Juliana by the hand, and the two sprinted to her school.
"*Mama?*" Juliana said, before she went into her classroom.
"*What is it sweetie?*"
"*I don't feel good.*"
Jessica took the back of her head, and put it to her daughter's forehead. "*You don't feel hot. Do you think that you can make it through the day? There won't be anyone to take care of you.*"
Juliana shrugged her shoulders.
"*Ok. Why don't you try to stay here? If by lunch, you're not feeling better, go to the nurse's office and have her call me. Ok?*"
Juliana nodded. She gave her mother a hug, and then went into her classroom.
"Why did I say lunch? I know she'll want to leave at lunch. I have that thing with that guy at lunch." Jessica muttered to herself as she walked to her office. "After lunch, it wouldn't be so bad. I don't teach or anything today."
"*You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity.*" Shana Allenson entering Jessica's office.
Jessica smiled looking up at the fellow language teacher. Shana taught French, and English. "It's also a sign that you're nervous." Shana then said, switching into a language that she knew Jessica was more familiar and comfortable with. "So, tell me, what you nervous about are."
"I think I have a lunch date with a guy I've never met before."
"Is he hot?"
"I have never seen him before."
"Then why did you agree to do this date."
"I don't know. His name felt familiar. His voice felt familiar."
"Maybe part of your past?"
"I don't know."
"So you're nervous about that."
"And that Juliana isn't feeling all that great, and I still sent her to school because I didn't have anyplace for her to go, and I told her to call me at lunch if she still didn't feel well."
"You double booked your lunch."
"Yeah."
"Well, if Juliana calls, I could keep her in my office."
"Your office? As in the one you won't let your own kids into because there is so much stuff that you're afraid that something will get knocked down and hit them."
"Ok,ok, ok. I'll pick her up from school for you and bring her here."
"Thanks."
"I got office hours now. Call me if you need me to do that for you."
"Thanks Shana."
Jessica picked up a pen, and a stack of papers and began to grade them. She had barely started the second paper when her office phone rang.
"Jessica English."
"*Ms. English, your daughter Juliana threw up in class.*"
"*Is she ok?*"
"*She threw up and is running a slight fever.*" The nurse repeated.
Jessica looked at her clock. It was only 10:20. The Michael guy was coming at noon. "*I'll be right over to pick her up.*"
"*Thank you.*" Jessica hung up the phone. She picked up her purse, and left her office.
"*Mommy, I tried to make it to lunch, I really did.*" Juliana cried upon seeing her mother.
"*I know sweetie. There are some things you just can't control.*"
"*Are we going home?*"
"*I'm sorry sweetie, I have to be at my office at least until after lunch. Then we'll see if I can go home.*"
"*Ok.*" Jessica made a bed out of their coats on the floor in her office. Juliana immediately went to sleep. At noon, Jessica heard a soft knock on her door. Shaking, she got up and answered the door.
"Are you Michael Vaughn?" She asked, ushering him into her office. Her heart skipped a beat, or two, or three. Oh, who was she kidding? Her heart stopped beating until he was no longer looking at her with the intense green eyes that she had only seen in one other person. Juliana.
Vaughn was speechless. He hadn't seen, or talked to Sydney, a.k.a. Jessica English in so long. She didn't look as if she aged. The only signs of aging on her was curled up in a ball on the floor in her office. Juliana did not go unnoticed to Vaughn. It took him a minute to answer her question. "Y-y-yeah." He finally stuttered.
The two sat uneasily looking each other in their office. "You look familiar." She finally said, studding his face.
"I-I-I do?"
"Yeah." She looked at him some more. "Did we used to know each other?"
Vaughn took a deep breath. "Actually, that is why I'm here."
"I was right."
"Yeah. I don't know how to even start this."
"You are from the States."
"Yeah. Listen, this may be hard for you to hear."
"Not here." Jessica said.
"What?"
"My daughter got sick during school today. What ever you are going to tell me, I want to know without her around."
"Does she speak English?"
"No."
"Then we will only talk in English. She can't understand us." Jessica looked at Vaughn with much curiosity.
"Ok then."
Vaughn stood up from his chair and began to pace the room. "I don't even know where to begin. It has taken me six years to find you. I've driven everyone crazy to find you. I almost forgot about Alexandra when she was little. God! I even did that yesterday. She almost had my head. But look at you Sydney. You are still as beautiful as that day when you left. I must sound like a babbling idiot."
"Sydney? You called me Sydney."
"Oh my God! I didn't mean to call you Sydney just yet. There are so many things that should come first."
"My name is Sydney."
"Yes."
"How do you know that?"
Vaughn sat down in his chair again, and looked Sydney (A/N Jessica is Sydney (if you never got that) and from now on is going to be called Sydney) in the eye. "I am your husband." Sydney didn't say anything. She just looked at Vaughn bewildered. Vaughn understood, and uneasily sat down in his chair. He just watched Sydney stare at him. "Are you ok?"
"Hold on, let me get the facts straight."
"Ok."
"My name is Sydney."
"Sydney Bristow Vaughn to be exact."
"I am not Jessica English."
"No."
"Why then do I have a name tag from a party of some sort that says Jessica English on it?"
"It's a complicated story, best to cover on a different day."
"Ok. And we're married."
"Yes." Suddenly Sydney burst out laughing. "What is so funny?" Vaughn asked.
"This! Everything! What you just told me!"
"But it is all true."
"It's been six years, why didn't you come sooner?"
"We couldn't find you."
"Couldn't find me?"
"Yes."
Sydney began to laugh again. "This is funny."
"What can I do to make you believe me?"
"Provide me with proof."
"I can't right now."
"That is what I figured."
"I'm sorry."
"I know you can't provide hard evidence, but I believe that I knew you." Sydney said.
"How so?"
"When you walked into my office, there was immediately something familiar about you. My heart skipped a beat. And if there is one thing I have learned over six years of not knowing my past, is that the heart never forgets."
"The heart never forgets." Vaughn quietly repeated to himself.
"This is a lot to take in. And I'm not sure I believe it all."
"I'm sure of it."
There was a grumble from the room. Vaughn looked embarrassed as he realized how hungry he was. "Sorry, I didn't realize how long ago breakfast was. Would you like to go to the cafeteria with me and get some lunch?"
"I'd love to, but…"
"I understand. I'll go and get something for us."
"Thank you." Sydney reached for her purse to give him some money.
"No, today lunch is on me."
"Thank you. Let me write down what I'd like."
"Do mind if I could see if I still know what you like?" Vaughn hoped he still knew Sydney's favorite foods. "Maybe you might believe that we were married."
Sydney smiled at the thought. "Sure, but knowing what I like to eat, doesn't prove we were married, just that you knew me really well." She propped her head up on her fist, as she leaned back in her chair. That was a lot of information to take in. She wasn't Jessica English anymore. She was Sydney Vaughn. But she had to admit that she liked the name Sydney Vaughn so much better. She looked at Juliana, and pushed some of her hairs behind her daughter's ear.
Juliana stirred, at the jester of love her mother had done. "Mama?"
"*Yes?*"
"*Can you get me some water?*"
"*Ok. I'll be right back. I don't want you to go anywhere.*"
"*I won't*"
"*I'll be right back.*"
Sydney picked up a mug, and went into the hallway to the water fountain. She looked up into the metal backing, and looked at her distorted reflection. The reflection of Sydney Vaughn, not Jessica English. When the cup was filled she went into her office where she saw Juliana playing on her computer.
"*Feeling better?*"
"*No.*"
"*Not sleepy anymore?*"
"*No.*"
"*Ok, well, here's your water.*"
"*Thank you.*" Juliana took the mug with two hands and sipped the water.
"Sydney, I got the food." Vaughn said when he came into the office again. He saw mother and daughter sitting playing a computer solitaire game.
"*Who are you?*" Juliana asked.
"*Juliana, say hello to my friend, Michael Vaughn.*"
"*Hello.*" She said.
"Friend Sydney?" Vaughn said.
"Not yet. It is hard for me to process right now. Can't imagine if she found out now. Besides, I just know that I knew you once."
"Ok."
"*What did you say Mommy?*"
"*Not now.*"
"*Please?*"
"*No. What I needed to say to Mr. Vaughn, I didn't want you to hear.*"
"*Why?*"
"*Because it was grown up talk.*"
"*Oh.*"
"*Why don't you go put in a movie?*" Sydney said. Juliana thought on it for a minute, and then jumped (unenthusiastically, but still jumped) off her mother's lap, and walked to the TV and put one of the two movies that lived in the office on. While singing dishes played out in front of Juliana, Sydney and Vaughn had a chance to talk.
"I got you a chicken salad."
"How did you know it was my favorite?
"It used to be your favorite."
"Still is." They didn't say much as they ate. The two just looked at each other intently.
"She looks just like Alexandra." Vaughn commented, looking at Juliana.
"Who is Alexandra?"
"Our daughter." He said.
"I was right."
"Excuse me?"
"Yesterday I had this memory, my first in years, and there was a little girl in it, and I assumed that she was my daughter. Do you have any pictures of her?"
"Yeah." Vaughn pulled his wallet out, and pulled out two pictures from where he kept his bills. He looked at them with love, and then handed them to Sydney.
Sydney took the first one, and smiled. She looked at Alexandra's soccer picture, and lingered at the sight. "They do look alike." She said.
"Yeah, they really do."
Sydney then put the other picture on top, and her smile faded for a minute. It was of her, and Vaughn, and a young Alexandra. She didn't say anything as she looked at the picture. "When was this taken?"
"Two days before you disappeared."
Sydney continued to look at the photo. "It's starting to feel real. I'm starting to believe you."
"Real?"
"Yeah, well, you know, when you first came in, I wasn't sure I could believe you." She handed the photo back to Vaughn, who put them both into his wallet.
"Pictures can be faked."
"But the heart never forgets."
"You keep saying that."
"I have three memories that take place before six years ago. One sitting on the couch talking to someone probably my best friend, one meeting someone in a warehouse someone, and the last of Alexandra. And if there is one thing I have learned, it takes something powerful for me to remember, and all of those memories obviously aren't memories of the head, but memories of the heart, because the heart never forgets."
"The person you were talking to was probably Francie, your best friend since college, or Will, your other best friend from high school. The person you were meeting at the warehouse was me. Unless there was someone else you were meeting at a warehouse."
"Why did we meet at a warehouse?"
"Ties into the whole Jessica English thing."
Juliana looked up at her mother's name. But when Sydney and Vaughn noticed that she was looking, the conversation stopped. Juliana looked irritated that her mother was hiding information from her, but turned back to her movie. "Just how complicated was my life?"
"Worse than a corn maze a mile high, and five miles wide and ten miles tall."
"That is really complicated.
"But after we got married, it gets a whole lot simpler."
"Tell me."
"I'd love to but…"
"But what?"
"It will take a while, and I have to get back to my crew before then."
"Crew?"
"Its-"
"Complicated? That is what I figured."
"Syd?"
"It's ok, really."
"I'd ask you to dinner tomorrow, but I am being pushed by a number of people to go home tomorrow. One of which is Alexandra. How about dinner tonight?"
Sydney was flabbergasted. "Uh sure?"
"Ok, I'll pick you up at six."
"Um, six thirty is better for me."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Sydney smiled, as Vaughn left the office.
"*Mommy, who was that man?*" Juliana asked.
"*Someone I'll introduce to you more formally later.*" Juliana was still not satisfied with that answer, but she knew that was as far as she was going to get. That night, over dinner, Vaughn told Sydney her story. Every turn, every twist that he knew of. Sydney just sat back in her chair, eating, and trying to believe everything. Vaughn spent almost twenty minutes trying to convince her that she was once CIA. He even had to call Weiss and have him convince her. Sydney was shocked when she learned that the same Weiss she was talking to was the same Weiss that she had allowed into her classroom as a future teacher. She was even more shocked when she learned why he was really in her classroom. Three hours later, Sydney was confused by her own life, but understood that it was all true.
"I know I'm going back to LA tomorrow, but I want you to come with me." Vaughn said, as he drove Sydney home.
"TOMORROW?!?! YOU WANT ME TO PACK UP EVERYTHING I KNOW IS TRUE, AND LEAVE WITH YOU TOMORROW! NO!"
"I know. It's sudden but…"
"No buts, I'm not going."
"I understand." Michael stopped the car. They both looked up at the apartment building.
"Michael, this is very new to me. In two days, I remember that I have a husband and a daughter, and then meet my husband, and learn about my past self, and discover that my name is Sydney Bristow-Vaughn. Excuse me for wanting to do everything else in baby steps."
"Actually, I understand. I didn't think that you would actually come."
"I'm glad."
"Maybe in a couple of weeks, Alexandra and I could come out here."
"I don't know."
"Its baby steps. I know Will and Francie well enough to know that the minute you get home, they will swarm you. Your father would give you distance for a while, but eventually would cave. This way, you are only meeting Alexandra, so if you do decide to come to LA, there will be more familiar faces."
"Maybe."
"Either way, I will call you."
"Ok. Thanks Michael, for lunch, for dinner, for everything."
"You're welcome Syd." Sydney smiled at Vaughn, and then got out of the car and went into the apartment.
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