"Pulled a bomb out of Dhiren Patel," Vaughn said in amazement.  Maybe he should have been a field agent.  That life certainly sounded more interesting.  And dangerous.

"The very one," Sydney said with a grin.  Vaughn understood; as much as she might hate the lies and the deceit, she still loved the excitement of the job, too.  Still loved doing it well.

"Damn," Vaughn muttered.  He had said the same thing when he read her note about what had occurred.

"Yeah," Sydney agreed, appearing to understand him completely.

Remember Alice.  Remember your promise to Jack to help take care of her.  "Any luck with the Alliance member?" he asked, trying to remember to be professional.  It had been her countermission, after all.  She hadn't mentioned it at all at her dead drop.

Sydney looked at him with surprise and confusion.  "The what?"

"You were supposed to I.D. the minister that SD-6's been trying to protect."

"Thanks.  I remember," Sydney snapped.  "No, I didn't get it."

"Sydney, if we are going to take down SD-6--"

"Stop.  No."

Suddenly, the identity of that minister became very important to him.  "Look, I'm just saying that identifying--"

"Look, I was busy trying to keep one of the most important humanitarians on the planet--"

"--all of the Alliance members is kind of critical--"

"--from blowing up," she continued to speak over of him.

"Fine!" he snapped back with more frustration in his voice than there should have been.

They stared at each other.  "Anyway, I have a paper to finish," she told him as she got up and walked towards the door.

He thought about the file folder in his briefcase, the thought of which had been poking at him ever since he had made the copy.  He knew he shouldn't do it.  Knew it well.  What he was about to do went against every regulation, against everything that Jack had taught him about the business.  "Hey."

He was almost hoping that she was angry enough to walk on out the door.  She wasn't; she stopped and turned to look at him.

"I have something for you."  The words almost stuck in his throat.  He got out the thick file folder and stared at it for a moment.  Then, he walked over to her and handed it to her.  "I know you have a lot of questions about Jack.  I don't know if you even want this, but I copied his file.  Which wasn't easy in the current climate."

He knew he was about to betray Jack's trust even more, but he had been thinking about her words every day since the dock.  She had a right to know; he would want to know in her position.  "Jack's being investigated right now."

"What?"

He looked down at the floor.  "With a wife and daughter working for the enemy, his loyalty is questionable at best."

Sydney shook her head and stared down at the folder.  "Not my dad."

"I know, Sydney.  You don't have to defend him to me."

"Thank you," she said, turning and taking the folder with her.  Now, Vaughn could only hope that for once Jack wouldn't know about something he had done.

***

Sydney carefully turned the pages of her father's folder.  It was thick, full of papers marked "Confidential" and "Copy".  Even after knowing that he was CIA, even after seeing Vaughn's admiration for him, she had not realized how good of an agent he was.  Looking at his cases, she could not believe some of the stuff he had been involved in over the years.

She looked over at the content's listing again.  One of his cases was missing.  She again flipped through the pages on the other side.  It wasn't there.

"Sorry, I'm late."  Francie's voice made her close the folder.

"Hey.  It's after one already?"  She had been lost in the folder.  She stuffed it into her backpack.

"It's one thirty," Francie answered, and Sydney wanted to wince.  She should have been paying attention to the time.  What if Francie had walked up and seen the folder?  What questions would she be asking?

"Oh, God.  You got to be kidding."

"Okay," Francie said, not worried about the time.  She held a piece of paper in her hands.  "So, I'm in my Operations and Technology Management class, and I realize two things.  One, I prepared the wrong chapter."

"No!"

"I don't want to talk about it.  And two, you and I are going to have a Halloween party."  She waved the paper in her hand.

"We are?  Francie, we just moved in."

"I know," Francie said with a grin.  "Housewarming/Halloween Party."  She handed Sydney a piece of paper as they began walking out of the library.  "Guest list!"

Sydney was amazed at the size of the list.  "What?  Is it too big?" Francie asked.

"I think you put down everyone we've met since seventh grade.  You invited Kenny."

"So?"  Francie's shoulders stiffened. "He's a kid.  It's Halloween."

"Francie," Sydney said, knowing that her friend wouldn't want to hear what she was about to say.  "If you want to see Charlie again, you don't have to throw a massive Halloween party and invite his nephew."

"I love Kenny."

"I know you do."  Sydney looked over at her friend.  "But just admit that you're hoping, just a little, that Charlie will bring him."

She glanced over towards the hospital and then stopped.  "Is that Will?" she asked Francie.  Then, she asked herself why the sight of him on campus made the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention.

***

Laura continued to stare at Dixon's report, unsure why it had her feeling uneasy.  Berlin had gone smoothly.  Sydney had managed to grab Schiller without any problems.

Well, with no real problems.  She had changed the extraction point in the middle of the operation because she thought someone was following her.  Dixon did not mention spotting anyone in his report, but there was no hint of suspicion in his writing.  But Sloane would have questions.  Laura knew his nature well.

However, it was not Sloane that was upsetting her.  It was herself.  She was questioning her own daughter's actions.  Why had Sydney changed the rules in the middle of the game?  Sydney usually liked to follow the plan, if at all possible.  Did the sudden change in behavior signify anything?  Could she be hiding something?  Maybe there was even a possibility that she could be working for someone else.

Laura would pull anyone else in for a few questions.  But she knew Sydney.  She was loyal.  She tried not to think about how Sydney had reacted when she found out the people she worked for was the people she had thought she had been working against.  She couldn't allow herself to think about her daughter's anger or her strange behavior recently.  She just couldn't.

***

"What are you doing out here, Mom?  Everyone else is inside bobbing for apples."

Laura turned to look at her, and Sydney was amazed again at how beautiful her mother was.  She was in a costume; she loved dressing up and pretending to be someone she wasn't.  The child in Sydney shied away from what the adult thought about that fact now.  Her father, of course, arrived in a pair of slacks and a button up shirt.

Her mother was dressed up as a fairy godmother.  She looked like an angel in the white lacy dress.  The sparkle in her hair and on her face added to the illusion of purity.  At one time, Sydney would have believed the lie.

"I've had a little too much to drink," Laura told her.  "I thought some fresh air--and some of Francie's cookies--might help."  A plate with a small pile of treats sat on the table beside her.

Moving away from the wall, Laura sat down in one of the lounge chairs and sighed.  "Francie's really upset that Charlie didn't show, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is," Sydney agreed, sitting down across from her mother.  She studied her mother, noticing little changes that had happened since Danny's death, since Sydney had learned the truth.  The lines around her eyes were more defined, making her look her age.  There were more gray hairs scattered through her black hair, but Laura was one of those people who looked more distinguished with them.

Nibbling on one of the cookies, Laura said, "I feel so sorry for her, but I know there is no way to fix a broken heart."

"Time is the only cure," Sydney said with a smile.  She remembered her mother telling her that after her first boyfriend had broken up with her.  Larry had decided that Lisa, the only girl with boobs in their class, was better girlfriend material.  "Larry was a jerk."

Laura looked confused for a minute and then she smiled.  "Oh, totally.  Knew it the moment he walked into our kitchen."

"So, why didn't you tell me?"

Laughing, her mother shook her head.  "Because children never listen to their parents.  My mother tried to warn me about my first serious boyfriend, but I didn't listen.  I thought he was incredible.  I followed him like a puppy, took his beliefs as my own."

"What happened?  What finally opened your eyes?"  Laura so seldom talked about the early years of her life.  Her parents had died in a plane crash when she was eighteen, and she had never found it easy to talk about what she had lost.

"I met your father," she answered.  "It took me a little bit, but I realized that I liked his ideas better."

Sydney sat back in surprise.  "You mean you changed one man's ideas for another?  Doesn't sound like my independent mother."

"Well, the difference between Alex and Jack was that Jack wanted to hear my thoughts, my ideas.  I didn't have to believe everything he believed."  Laura leaned over and whispered, "One of the many reasons I liked your father's ideas better."

Sydney laughed and leaned back in her chair.  "So, why are drinking so much tonight?  You hardly ever touch more than a glass of wine."

"I think your father's having an affair."  Laura looked even more surprised by what she had just said than Sydney felt.  "Damn, I have had way too much to drink tonight."

"Why would you think that Dad's having an affair?"

Laura waved her hand.  "Forget it.  It's nothing."

Leaning forward, Sydney said, "It's not nothing.  I've never seen you have a minute's doubt about Dad.  I mean, he's the most honest person I know."

Tears sparkled in her mother's eyes.  "I know.  I know that, Sydney, but lately everything has seemed so off.  Jack's not been himself, and--"

Laura looked over at her sighed.  "There was this one comment he made one night.  The night you kissed Will--"

Sydney shifted in her seat.  "Yeah, that was not a comfortable night.  Will and I talked after Dad left us."

"Good," Laura said.  "He deserves to know where he stands with you.  You shouldn't have led him on."

"I know," Sydney whispered.  The conversation had not been long, but it had been painful.  She was glad that it had happened though, that she hadn't left Will with any false sense of hope.

"Anyway," Laura said as she twirled a pumpkin cookie between her fingers.  "He said that it was easy to make mistakes when you are tired and lonely."

She looked down at her lap.  "Those words just stayed with me."

"Mom--"

"A friend of his at work was caught giving information to the enemy."  Laura stopped as if realizing she was giving too much away.  "A corporate spy," she explained in a calmer voice.  "I wondered if maybe he had done something while he was tired and lonely."

Sydney reached over and squeezed her mother's arm.  "Mom, Dad wouldn't sleep with another woman because he was tired and lonely.  He would come home to you.  Give him some time to recover from whatever is happening at work."

Laura smile was small but sincere.  "Thank you.  I needed to hear that.  And don't worry, I will give him all the time he needs."

"Maybe you could tell him the truth, too.  Sometimes it is our own conscience that gets to us," Sydney said, silently urging her mother to do the right thing, to come clean.  She could help them take down SD-6.

She would be a great help.  Current speculation at the CIA had her being an agent with SD-6 for ten years.  That was when she had resigned from UCLA and started working for the Foundation for the Improvement of Public Education.  She had Sloane's ear and his confidence.

"I can't," Laura whispered.  "I can't take that chance."

"Chance?"

Laura stared at her.  She bit her lip, and then said, "You know what they did to Danny."

The cut was deep, and Sydney knew her mother had only made it to push her away, to change the subject.  It wasn't her real concern.  "That's cruel."

"But true," she said.

Sydney snapped, "Is it?  Or is it the fact that my honest father might have a hard time forgiving the lies?"

Laura released a shaky breath.  "You start to lie to hide the truth, but then the lies become more real than the truth, and you don't want to face the truth anymore."

A sneaking suspicion that the CIA was wrong started to form in Sydney's mind.  "How long have you worked for them?"

"Sydney--"

"How long?"  Her voice was sharp in her own ears.

"1982," her mother finally answered.  "I started working with Sloane in 1982."

"Twenty years?"  Sydney felt the world spin below her.  The lies had been happening since she was a little girl.

Tears slid down Laura's cheeks.  "Yes, twenty years.  That's a long time for lying.  Nearly impossible to forgive."

"You could always--" She struggled to remember her own self-assigned job--the recruitment of Laura Bristow.  She wanted to scream at her, to demand answers to how she could betray Jack that way.

"I don't think so, Sydney."  Laura stood and picked up her empty plate.  "Now, you need to go greet your guests."  She tilted her chin towards the sliding glass door.  "I just saw Dixon walk by.  He's finally here."