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A/N: This takes place after Double Agent-please review! The lyrics are Avril Lavigne's 'Naked' If you don't like to read the lyrics, then just skip over them- they are indicated with lyrics right here


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Growing Downward

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Chapter One: Only Her

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I wake up in the morning Put on my face The one that's gonna get me Through another day Doesn't really matter How I feel inside 'Cause life is like a game sometimes


Sydney steps up to the glass of her mother's cell, almost 4 months since her last visit- a week before the Alliance takedown- a week before she ever imagined the Alliance could actually be taken down- a week before the day she and Vaughn slept together...

Irina smiles at her daughter, searching her eyes for a sign of distress. But there is none. None whatsoever. Sydney is smiling, her eyes bright and vivid. Something Irina had not seen on her daughter for 21 years. Though she looked as if she gained a few pounds, nothing looked out of place.

But then you came around me The walls just disappeared Nothing to surround me And keep me from my fears I'm unprotected See how I've opened up Oh, you've made me trust

Suddenly, Sydney turns to look at the ground, somehow looking apologetic.

"I'm sorry. I should have come sooner." Sydney chanced a glance up at her mother, whose head was cocked slightly to the side.

"What do you mean, Sydney? Is everything alright?" Irina suddenly stepped closer to her daughter, placing her hands on the glass that seperated them.

"It's just that I was in debrief with everyone and it got carried away and then..." Sydney trailed off, rambling.

Sydney! Please just tell me what is wrong!?" Irina stared wide-eyed.

"We took them down. The Alliance I mean." Sydney blurted out, meeting her mother's eyes.

Irina smiled brightly. "Really? Oh Sydney! I am so happy for you!"

Sydney smiled, feeling like she was six years old again.


Because I've nver felt like this before I'm naked Around you Does it show? You see right through me And I can't hide I'm naked Around you And it feels so right


"Yah..." She suddenly started again, " But Sark and Sloane are still missing..."


"You'll get them, in due time, ... in due time." Irina assured her daughter, still smiling broadly.

Before another word could be said, Vaughn and Jack burst into the hallway, making their way straight toward Sydney, ducking under the iron gates.

"What is it?" Sydney asked, mirroring the frantic looks on their faces.

"Sark, Sloane, and Anna just invaded headquarters, we need to get you out of here before they find us." Jack sped through, grabbing Sydney's arm.

Irina gaped, "Hurry, hurry, go far away." She tried to help from inside her cell with comforting, encouraging words.

I'm tyring to remember Why I was afraid To be myself and let the Covers fall away I guess I never had someone like you To help me, to help me fit In my skin


Just as Jack, Vaughn, and Sydney reached the first gate, gunshots rang through the air, their echoes bouncing from wall to wall violently. The shots were soon followed by all three villains, guns in hand.

Jack and Vaughn didn't even have time to draw their guns before the fight had broken out. Sydney was fighting both Anna and Sark, kicking their guns from their hands. Jack and Vaughn turned to Sloane, punching the gun from his hand, but Sloane was fighting back.

Irina could only watch in horror as her daughter got kicked repeatedly, losing the battle between Anna and Sark. She wanted so badly to leave the cell, to help fight the people who hurt her daughter, but she could do nothing.

I never felt like this before I'm naked Around you Does it show? You see right through me And I can't hide I'm naked Around you And it feels so right

Sydney ended up on the floor, unconscious. Jack and Vaughn managed to knock Sloane out, but then ended up fighting Anna and Sark, resulting in a bloody massacre.


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A few hours later...

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"Sydney? Syd? Come on, wake up Syd!" Vaughn touched Sydney's cheek tenderly, Jack hovering over him.

"Michael?"

Vaughn smiled as Sydney used his given name.

"Hey Syd." He smiled and helped her sit up.

Sydney saw Vaughn, her dad, and her mom all hovering over her, care displayed in all three pairs of eyes.

"Are you alright Sydney?" Jack asked cautiously.

"I ...I think so. What happened to Sloane, and Sark? And what about Anna?"

"We knocked them all out, with Irina's help." Vaughn said quietly.

Irina smiled as she remembered Jack slipping the key to her cell through the compartment when the fighting got to be too much for just Vaughn and him.


I'm naked Oh oh yeah Does it show? Yeah, I'm naked Oh oh, yeah yeah


"I believe the medics are on their way..." Irina mentioned, looking down the corridor.

Sydney nodded groggily. She could hardly understand what she was saying, "This might not be the best time to tell you this, but I'm pregnant." And with that, Sydney left three startled faces, entering her unconscious world again.

I'm so naked around you And I can't hide You're gonna see right through, baby



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TBC

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REVIEW!!!

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