Chapter 2-
Faith slowly walked back into the kitchen. "Hey mom? Do you mind if I skip this one?" She fidgeted as she kept Max's notebook behind her back.
"No hun." Sydney kissed her cheek then grabbed her water bottle. "I'll be back soon." And left.
Max stood and left the room also. A few seconds later Faith heard his door shut soundly. Get a grip Faith!
She walked down the hallway and knocked on the door to her brother's room. "What?!" He called. He sounded annoyed already.
Faith took the notebook out behind her back and walked in. The first thing she saw was her brother at his desk writing.
"Faith have you seen my..." He stopped when he saw what she was holding. "My notebook." He finished.
"Yeah. You must have dropped it in my room last night." She went over and handed it to him. Sitting on his bed she played with her bracelets. "Max, I wanna talk."
"Again?" He replied.
"Yes. Again." She accented each word. Nervous and fidgeting she finally continued. "I read your notebook."
"What?!" He stood up, angry now. And Faith was terrified of him even though he was only 7 years old. You're sixteen and your scared now?!
"I read it and what you wrote... Max they're scary!" Faith stood also, she was getting angry to. Angry at him for never telling her, angry at herself for never figuring out.
"How did you even read it? It's in a code..." Max asked her surprised.
Faith looked down then back at him. Angrily she told him. "Well, did you know that Rambaldi used the same exact code to write his 'prophecies'? You do know what the hell they put mom and dad through..." She snapped.
Max nodded. "Just not yet please?! Don't tell them."
Faith looked at her little brother. "Fine. For now I won't tell them. But if it becomes this thing with you then I go straight to them." Faith went to the door. "And don't show Mrs. Quinn what you write. She's worried." With that, Faith went to her own room.
Sydney collapsed on the bench in front of the park and took a sip of her water. When the blue car pulled up in front of her she stood and went over to it.
"Hey babe." Vaughn said as he got out and went over to her.
"Hi." Sydney smiled and put her arms around him.
"Eww... you're all sweaty." He pulled away a bit and kissed her. "Want a ride home?" He asked.
"Sure." She replied as he opened the passenger side door. "Thank you."
Vaughn got in the other side and drove them home.
"Max! Faith!" Vaughn yelled as he walked through the door. Sydney followed him inside and shut the door behind her.
"Hey daddy." Faith kissed him on the cheek then smiled.
Vaughn noticed the pencil behind her ear and Max holding his own. "You two doing homework?"
"I am..." Max said. "Faith is writing a new song."
"Really?" Sydney asked. "You ever gonna let us see the others that you've written? All 20 of them?"
"Not yet." Faith teased.
"Finish your homework?" Vaughn sat on the couch and put his feet on the coffee table.
"Yep." She nodded. The phone rang and Faith raced to it. "Hello... hey Steph... no... Its punch then kick... it's always punch first... your kidding right?... hold on..." Faith put her hand over the receiver. "Excuse me." She left and shut the door to her bedroom. Bits of conversation fluttered out of the room.
"I'm gonna go finish my homework." Max left his mom and dad alone in the living room.
"So... how was work?" Sydney sat next to Vaughn on the couch. He slid his arm around her waist as she put hers around his shoulder, playing with his hair.
"Fine..." Vaughn sighed. "Robson talked to me today... you know, the guy who took over after Devlin retired... Anyway, he told me that this next mission they need someone young. And when he told me how young I told him that he was going to have a hard time finding anyone young enough."
"How young?" Sydney asked him.
"He and Eric both agree that they have to be seventeen or sixteen... maybe eighteen." Vaughn said.
"Eric agreed with that?" She was surprised. Francie and Eric's son Terri was fifteen and they'd never let him go on a mission.
"Yeah. I was just as surprised as you were." Vaughn looked to Sydney. "They wanna come over tonight. Robson and Eric, which means Francie and Terri also."
"That's okay." Sydney kissed him on the cheek.
"Mom!" Faith ran into the living room and jumped on the couch hugging her mother.
"What do you want?" Sydney narrowed her eyes at Faith.
"Can Steph come over for dinner please?!" Faith begged. "She needs help with her fighting moves and I told her that I'd ask if she could come and practice in the basement training area... please?!"
"I don't know. Terri could use the company and he loves to train... okay..." Faith hugged Sydney then ran to call Stephanie.
"She didn't even ask why Terri was coming over." Vaughn mused.
"Well, she probably just wanted to quickly tell Steph because if you heard Stephanie has a small crush on him." Sydney laughed.
"Oh, I could so use that." Vaughn smiled when Sydney slapped him playfully.
"Well, I better start cooking." Sydney got up and pulled Vaughn up with her. "Don't think you're not gonna help."
"But mom!..." Vaughn teased whining.
7:00
"Hey Stephanie. Everyone's in the living room." Sydney smiled as she let Stephanie in the house.
"Thanks Mrs. Vaughn." She smiled back.
"I told you that you should call me Sydney." Sydney told her.
"I know. It just slipped." Stephanie laughed as they walked into the living room.
Weiss, Francie and Robson were on the couch. Vaughn was leaning back on the floor using his elbows as support. Terri was sitting on the floor also with Faith in his lap.
"Hey Steph." Terri gave Stephanie one of his gorgeous smiles.
"Hey Terri." Steph choked out.
"Steph, do you want to train after or before dinner?" Faith asked going over to her friend.
"How about before." Steph eyed Terri when he got up.
"You okay with that?" Faith asked Terri. He nodded and the three headed to the basement.
"So, Steph. I didn't know you fought." Terri started the conversation.
"Y..Yeah. Well. Sort of." She stuttered.
"What she means to say is that when she should be on her feet she is on her ass instead." Faith gave Steph a smirk as she threw her a sports bra. "Go get changed."
"Yeah, yeah." Steph muttered when she noticed Terri was smiling.
When Steph got back she watched as Terri and Faith threw punches at each other. Whenever Faith was about to punch him, he'd move a bit to the left or the right. It looked like Faith was going to punch again so he moved to the left, but Faith slid to the floor and kicked his feet out from under him.
"Don't let your guard down." She panted. Then she smiled at Steph. "Why don't you show her some moves while I go ask my dad something." She ran up the stairs and shut the door after her.
"I am no good at fighting. I will be on the floor in a matter of seconds." Steph told him honestly.
Terri just nodded. "Well we gotta do something while Faith is gone. Come on. I'll show you how to defend your self." He gave her another smile.
She smiled back and shot. "You weren't doing too good a job of defending your own body with Faith." She laughed.
Terri just shook his head and walked over to her.
"Hold your hands up like this." Terri took her hands in his and held them up, noting that her hands shook when he touched her. He looked up at her and shook her so that her hands stayed in the same spot.
They were the same height so when she looked up she was looking straight in his eyes. Deep brown. He was sweating and had no shirt on so Steph could feel the heat radiating off of him. She watched as he backed away and got into a fighting position.
"Ready?" Terri asked her.
"Uh huh." She nodded and they started. He punched she ducked. He kicked she moved to the side. At one point he went to punch and she moved and punched back. Her fist met his chest and he got pushed back.
"That was..." He took a breath. "That was great." Smiling he took a long breath.
"How's it going down here?" Faith ran down the steps to the basement, three water bottles in hand.
"It's going great. She just punched me." Terri grabbed a water bottle and took a long... sip.
"Only you would like getting punched." Faith and Steph laughed taking one water bottle.
"Hey why don't we show her the moves we made up?" Terri turned to Faith and smiled.
"Perfect. Go sit over there." Faith gestured to the chair in the corner. "We made these up one day..." They both started fighting.
An hour later dinner was ready and the three teenagers were beat.
Faith slid into the chair next to Steph and whispered. "Have fun down there while I was gone?"
Steph smirked. "A blast." And they both burst out laughing.
"Girls. Eat." Sydney smiled.
Soon everyone was in a conversation about Vaughn's job and the mission he was working on.
"It needs to be someone young. They are the only ones who will have a chance of getting in and out safely." Robson told Vaughn.
"He's right man." Weiss stated. "Only people eighteen and down are allowed inside... it has to be someone either that age or looks that age... and no one older then eighteen actually looks younger."
Terri took a sip of his soda. "I gotta agree with Dad, Mike. From what I've heard the guy hates anyone older then that."
"That still doesn't mean that we will actually find someone who at the age of six or seventeen has the ability to do all this." Vaughn argued.
"Come on Dad. I bet there are tons of kids who can fight and do all the work that field agents do." Faith ignored the glare coming from her dad.
"Michael. Just look at Faith and Terri. They are only fifteen and sixteen and they are doing better then I was when I worked on missions." Sydney said.
"I hear that you train..." Robson said to Faith. "What do you do when you train?"
Faith looked hesitant then answered. "I do a lot. Kick-boxing, just throwing punches, working on moves." Faith took a long sip of her water.
Robson just nodded a gleam in his eyes.
Vaughn raised his head a knowing look on his face. "No, don't even think about it. I won't allow it. No." He finished.
"What?" Faith asked getting confused. She looked down the Max who had the same look on his face.
"I was just thinking... that you fit all qualities for what we need." Robson told her. Vaughn was still shaking his head.
"You mean me? Me go on the mission?" Faith asked.
"Well. Yeah." Robson finished.
"No. Absolutely not." Vaughn argued. "I won't allow my daughter to go on a mission where she could get hurt or be killed."
"Dad. One, calm the hell down. Two, I can get hurt in school and I can be killed in school and you still make me go." Faith stated.
"It's not the same. There is less likely a chance..." Vaughn noticed everyone staring at him. He looked at Sydney. "What do you think?"
"I don't know..." Sydney looked at him then to Faith. "I think we should let her decide."
"Really?!" Faith exclaimed.
"Really." Sydney nodded then looked to Vaughn.
"Fine. It's her decision." He told Robson.
"So, Faith. Are you in?" Weiss asked. Terri and Steph looked at her surprised and both wanting to know what she was going to say.
Max looked at his sister with a very worried expression on his face.
"Yeah. I'm in." Faith smiled.