Vaughn's mother cursed at him for several hours after Sarah left for the party. She kept saying stuff about Vaughn not looking at the big picture and that he'd regret it later. Vaughn brushed her off be saying how much he trusted Sarah's judgement and wasn't at all worried.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Vaughn's mother lectured him, turning off the TV, and standing hands on hips directly in front of him.

"What?" Vaughn grabbed the remote control to the TV and flicked it back on. "Sarah's a good girl she'll be fine."

"All parents think that their kids are angels but their not!" Vaughn's mother flicked the TV off again.

"Mom," Vaughn gripped his mother's hands. "Sarah is more like a friend that my daughter. I trust her. Okay?"

"Fine." Vaughn's mom sounded defeated and left the room.

Vaughn rolled his eyes at the woman and called to her. "Mom, I'm sorry, okay? Mom?" He rolled out of bed and trampled down stairs to where his mother was sobbing at the kitchen table. "Mom, I'm really sorry. I know how to take care of my daughter. I know that you're worried about her but she's more mature than everybody thinks. She's been grown up for too long."

"She's only seventeen years old." Vaughn's mother reminded him.

"I know that mom." Vaughn rolled his eyes again. "She's been busy trying to raise her son and has had no time for herself. This is me giving her the chance."

"Okay." She said bitterly. "I hope you're right."

"I am." Vaughn said.

~*

Sarah couldn't remember the last time she had been to a party, she couldn't remember what she had for breakfast that morning.

She woke up in hospital with her father looking worried. "Dad?" She tried to say. Her mouth moved but the words just wouldn't come out.

"Sarah," Vaughn sounded very worried. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"Dad." She tried to say again but still the words refused to come out. Tears started streaming down her face. Her throat hurt and her head ached. She couldn't think straight.

"Sweetie." Vaughn said tenderly stroking her hair. "Shh, it's okay. Don't worry, don't worry."

Sarah put a hand to her mouth and cried and cried 'What happened?' was all she could think.

"It's okay." Vaughn whispered holding his crying daughter. "I'm not angry."

'Angry?' Sarah wanted to ask, 'angry about what?'

~*

"Didn't I tell you?" Vaughn's mother yelled at him. "I said that you were foolish to think that she would be sensible at a teenage drinking bash."

"Mom, it was her choice." Vaughn argued, "I upset and disappointed but it was still her choice and for whatever reason, she chose to get drunk to the point of hospitalization, I respect that."

"You're a fool!" She yelled at him. "She's still a child! She doesn't need you to respect her decisions, she doesn't need you to treat her like an adult, she needs you to be her dad."

"Mother, I need you to mind your own business and let me handle my daughter." Vaughn had lost all patience.

"Fine." She said angrily, "When she lying dead in the gutter don't come running to me." She turned on her heal and stormed off.

Vaughn rolled his eyes and shook his head, 'honestly!' he thought to himself and went to join his daughter.

~*

"How are you feeling now?" He asked a red, puffy eyed Sarah.

Sarah sat up on the bed, her memory returned and she could speak again. "Dad, I'm so sorry. I heard you and grandma yelling at each other. Maybe she's right, I am still a child."

"Sarah, honey, I love you and I will treat you however you want me to." Vaughn sat on the bed and took her hand.

"Thank you." She whispered trying to hold back her tears.

"I can take you home this afternoon." Vaughn said.

Panic shot quickly through Sarah's body. "Where's Junior?"

"He's at home." Vaughn said coolly.

"At home?" Sarah questioned shocked, "With who?"

"Don't worry, I've got a baby sitter." Vaughn shrugged off her yelling.

"A baby sitter?" Sarah asked confused.

"Yep." Vaughn confirmed. "And she's coming to stay with you on Monday while I go to Paris."

"Paris?" Sarah's eyes widened. "Why are you going to Paris without me?"

"It's business honey." Vaughn knew that she was disappointed, "When Junior's a bit older, I'll take you both to Paris."

"Really?" Sarah asked excited.

"Really." Vaughn assured her.

~*

Sarah was led in the front door by Vaughn, who had his hands firmly over her eyes. "Dad, What's going on?

"You'll see, just one more step." He released her eyes.

Sarah's smile widened and she ran to the figure holding her son, "Uncle Eric!" She shouted loudly hugging him tightly.

"How have you been?" Weiss asked handing her Junior and ruffling her hair.

"I'm great! Oh my God it so great to see you again. How's Seattle? How's Kate? What have you been doing?" Sarah asked excitedly fussing over him.

"Well," Weiss started, "Where to start. It hasn't stopped raining in Seattle since I got there, Kate is about two months away from having my first son and I've been doing nothing but work."

"Really?" Sarah was so excited. Eric Weiss was her godfather and she hadn't seen him for about five years. "Do you know what you're going to call you're son?"

"We were thinking about Ethan." A woman's voice sounded from the staircase.

"Kate?" Sarah questioned with even more excitement. "This is just getting better and better."

"Hello." Kate's very feminine voice said embracing Sarah in a hug.

"Wow!" Sarah said looking her over. "Look at you. You look so well. When I was seven months I looked like a hot air balloon with eyes and wouldn't stop eating ice-cream."

Kate laughed. "Come and show me how to be a good mom." She said taking Sarah's hand and leading her upstairs.

"Okay Mike," Weiss started putting his hands on his hips and facing him, "I'm here now what is it that you want my help with?"

"Sydney's alive." Vaughn said taking a seat.

"What?" Weiss was shocked. "Have you been dreaming? Are you doing drugs?"

"No!" Vaughn was hurt. "Jack brought me pictures of her. I went to Russia to find her."

"Russia?" Weiss asked in disbelief. "Russia where you got hit by a bus?"

"Yes, but this is something I have to do. She's my wife!" Vaughn argued.

"She was your wife." Weiss corrected. "Vaughn, Sydney's been dead for seventeen years. I was at her funeral. She was the one in the box."

"Weiss!" Vaughn was pissed off now.

"I'm sorry okay, it's just. Sydney being alive is impossible." He said calmly.

"No it's not!" Vaughn got up and started pacing around the room. "She's alive, she works for K Directorate, she has two children, Weiss, Sydney's alive."

"Okay, okay," Weiss said sitting down before he fell down, "assuming Sydney is alive, how exactly do you plan on finding her and carry out a plan to bring her home."

"She's going on a mission in Paris on Monday." Vaughn informed him.

"And you're going." Weiss finished for him.

"Yes." Vaughn said quietly. "Eric, I have to do something. She doesn't know who she really is. I need her back."

"Vaughn," Weiss was shaking his head, "if she doesn't know who she is then she sure as hell won't know who you are!"

"That's a risk that I'm willing to take." Vaughn said making his way to the kitchen.

Weiss stood up and followed him. "Is there anyway, anyway at all that I can talk you out of this?"

"Nup!" Vaughn responded turning the jug on and getting two cups out of the cupboard.

"Okay then, how can I help?" Weiss gave in.

"Well this is the only chance that I have." Vaughn reported. "I don't know if my informant will call again."

"Your informant?" Weiss questioned getting more confused by the second.

"Yeah," Vaughn continued, "this guy that I met in Russia. He said he'd call when he found out where Sydney's next mission was and he rang just the other day. She's in Paris, steeling something from the national art gallery."

"When do we leave?" Weiss asked sighing.

"Monday eleven thirty am." Vaughn got two plane tickets out of a jar full of junk sitting on his kitchen counter and handed them to Weiss.

"You knew that I'd give in didn't you?" Weiss questioned taking the ticket and a sip from the coffee that Vaughn had set down on the table in front of him.

"You always do." Vaughn did his little half smile and handed Weiss a biscuit coated in sugar that he happily accepted.

"I'm warning you, if you kill me before I get to see my son, I come back and haunt you!" Weiss warned him taking a bite out of the biscuit.

"I won't I promise." Vaughn said taking a seat at the table.

~*

Vaughn listened carefully to the argument that raged directly in front of him for a perfect time to jump in.

"What the hell?" Kate asked trying not to yell.

"Mike's my best friend Kate," Weiss argued with his wife, "I have to help him."

"So, you're just going to fly to Paris with two days notice to get yourself killed?" Kate asked angrily.

"Kate, I'm not going to get myself killed!" Weiss yelled back. "Anytime no Mike."

"Hey, I didn't mind you working for the CIA," Kate screamed winning Sarah out of her bedroom and down the stairs, "but this is going too far. I said no missions Eric. Now you're off to Paris two months before your son's born to bring back a woman who's supposed to have been dead for seventeen years! Sorry Michael."

"That's okay." Vaughn whispered.

"What?" Sarah asked shocked gaining the attention of everybody in the room.

Kate, Vaughn and Weiss just stood there and stared at her. Each of them, trying to think of a descent excuse to play off to her.

"I'll tell you later sweetie." Vaughn said leaving the couch and approaching her.

"No," Sarah stepped back, "I think that you can tell me now.

"It's complicated." He whispered.

"Complicated?" Sarah asked confused and upset. "From what I understand, you work for the CIA, and my mother is still alive!"

"Then you know everything." Vaughn replied.

"She's still alive? And you didn't tell me?" Sarah croaked letting tears stream down her face.

"I'm very, very sorry." Vaughn said taking her in his arms and holding her. "You have to understand why I didn't tell you. Please. I had to talk to her first. I don't want you to get your hopes up just to be disappointed."

"I understand but we're supposed to be best friends and best friends tell each other everything." Sarah said bitterly pulling herself away from him. "It's that I don't understand."

Vaughn leaned against the banister and ran his hands through his hair.

Kate gently touched him on the shoulder, "If you need Eric to do this for you then it's fine with me, just take care of him."

"I will." Vaughn said allowing his friend's wife to hold him while he fell to pieces.

~*

"Wow!" Weiss commented entering the hotel room. "This is really nice."

"Yep," Vaughn agreed, "stylish, yet affordable."

"Every thing in Paris is stylish." Weiss said in a matter-o-factly tone.

"Yes, but not everything is affordable." Vaughn reminded him.

"I'll drink to that." Weiss agreed.

"No you won't." Vaughn stopped him before he bee lined for the mini bar. "First of all that stuff costs a fortune and secondly we've got to sit on the art gallery."

"You're right." Weiss sat on the bed and read the TV guide.

Vaughn organized all the things that he had brought with him that he hoped would assist in the extraction of Sydney.



*A/N: This chapter was written for Steph (eboneya). With out you this chapter probably wouldn't have been finished and I probably wouldn't have a neck. Thanks heap. Luv ya.*