Title: Can I Count on You?

Author: Kimmy

Rating: PG-PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I disclaim. Don't sue!

Email: hibiscus_sweetie@hotmail.com

Feedback: Please, pretty please? It encourages me to write more and more chapters. hehe.

Archived: Cover Me and Allies

Spoilers: None at the moment, but there may be some later.

Summary: 5 years later. Sydney Bristow is now Sarah Hunter, a preschool teacher in Connecticut. What happens when Sloane finds her and wants her dead? Who will she turn to? The only man she trusts?

Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm back with another story. It just seems like once I do one story, another one pops miraculously into my brain. Weird huh? Anyways, enough with my annoying ramblings and enjoy the fic. PLEASE REVIEW!! The more reviews I get, the more I'm encourage to write more! hint hint.

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Can I Count on You?

by

Kim Phan

Chapter 1

Sydney stands in the kitchen, stirring the spaghetti sauce. She picks up the spoon and tastes the sauce. Mmm...delicious. She was so glad that she had the day off today. More time to relax. She was also thankful for the wonderful friends she had here. Lauren had graciously volunteered to pick Michelle.

Her sweet little girl who was too smart for her own good. *I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She has her parents' genes.* Sydney thought. With her dirty blond hair and bright green eyes, you couldn't help, but love her. Michelle was all Sydney had left of her old life. Francie and Will thought she was dead. To Vaughn, she might as well been dead. The only other person she ever saw from her past was her father and even then it was only once a year.

As great as her new friends were, they could never replace her old treasure friends. Sydney wiped a tear that had fallen on her cheek. She heard the door opening and closing. She realized that Michelle was home.

"Mommy, I'm home!" Sydney turned around and smiled as the young girl ran into the kitchen and hugged her mom.

"Hey sweetie. How was school?" Sydney asked as she bent down and stroked her daughter's dark blond hair.

"It was fine except for this man. He kept asking all these questions, Mommy." Sydney furrowed her eyebrows worried.

"Like what, sweetie?"

"Well, he asked me if my mom was Sydney Bristow, but I said no because you told me that if anyone asked, your name was Sarah Hunter. Then he asked me where I live and if you used to live in Los Angeles. I told him I wasn't supposed to talk to strangers though and walked away." Michelle gave Sydney a smile. Sydney smiled nervously back. Whoever this man was, he was someone from her past. She questioned Michelle again.

"What did he look like, Michelle?"

"Umm...he had gray hair, he was kind of short, and he had scary looking eyes. They were almost black." There was only one person that Sydney could think of. Sloane. She panicked and almost forgot to breathe.

"Umm..Michelle, sweetie. Why don't you go into your room and pack some clothes and your teddy bear okay? We're going on a little trip." Michelle nodded innocently and went to her room. Sydney hurried into her room and took out her suitcase. She started piling things in. Luckily her spy expertise had taught her what to pack in dire situations. When she was done, she grabbed the phone and quickly dialed the number she knew by heart. Sydney prayed to god that he wouldn't hang up the phone.

"Michael Vaughn."

"I need your help." Sydney could hear a sharp intake of breath.

"Sydney?"

"Please don't hang up, Vaughn. I think Sloane has found me. I have no clue what to do." She could tell that her voice was breaking as she was speaking. She silently scolded herself for being weak. Sydney heard a sigh.

"Meet me at the safe house in Houston, Texas. You know where that is. You've been there before."

"Okay, thank you." Sydney heard a click of the phone and hung up. She ran out of her room and went into Michelle's room. She would think about how Vaughn was going to react to Michelle later. Right, they had to leave. For all she knew, Sloane could already be on his way to her house.

"Are you done packing, sweetie?"

"Yeah." Sydney absently nodded and led Michelle out of the house and into their car. She quickly backed the car out of the drive way and got ready to race down the street when she heard the sound of a big explosion. Sydney saw bits and pieces of her house falling in the air. Her entire house was on fire. She heard Michelle gasp in the back seat and saw her tears in the rearview mirror. Coming to her senses, Sydney drove quickly away.

A few moments later, a man in a black SUV came up to the house. Seeing the damage, he called his boss.

"The job's done."

"Good. Make sure you get the bodies." Sloane hung up the phone and smiled. Sydney Bristow deserved what she got. It's a shame her little girl had to hurt in the process, but that wasn't his fault. It was hers.