Author's Notes: I'm the hugest slacker ever, but thanks for sticking with
me on this story! Enjoy the extra long chapter I wrote in tribute to my
slackerness. Once again, thank you to all the reviews I always get! You
guys rock!
Disclaimer: The characters of Alias, especially Sark the cutie, belong to ABC and J.J. Abrams.
**Sydney POV**
We are both ushered into the director's office. It was someone different than Devlin, someone new. Andrew sat on the left and I sat down on the right. I put my hands up on the armrests and Andrew places his free hand next to me on top of my hand for reassurance.
"Mr. Sark, Sydney," he begins.
We both look down for a second, but then our eyes meet briefly.
"After interviewing you both, we've decided that you pose no current threat to the safety of the American people and the CIA, so no charges will be placed on you. However, we'll allow you to go about your life as normal, but the CIA will have constant surveillance on your lives." We both sigh a breath of relief and smiles creep upon both of our faces. Andrew gives my hand a squeeze and we're both happier than the day that Delia was born.
"Does that mean we're free to go?" I ask him.
"At this time, yes, but if either one of you does anything suspicious, you may be brought in for questioning," the new director tell us.
"Thank you," I tell him and we both stand up from our seats. A guard takes us to the front entrance and Delia is waiting there waiting for us.
"Can we go now Mommy?" she asks me.
I kneel down to her, "Yes, honey."
Andrew picks her up and twirls her around, "Do you want to go to the zoo?"
"Oh, can we Daddy?" she asks with her face brightening up.
"Yes, we can," he tells her.
We get a few glares from those sitting in the lobby, but we make our way towards the door.
"Wait, Sydney," I hear a voice call out to me.
I turn around and see Vaughn running towards me. Andrew turns around with Delia in his hands as well and gives me a deathly glare.
"Yes, Agent Vaughn?" I ask him very professionally.
He looks a little shocked at how the whole scene was panning out, but continued on in what he was going to say, "We'll be in touch with you in the next few days. If the three of you disappear again, we will find you and put you in federal custody."
Hurt by his words at the end a little bit, I take a second to compose myself before I reply to him. However, Andrew buts in first.
"That will be fine," he tells Vaughn.
"Good," Vaughn says. He obviously wanted to say something else, but couldn't bring himself to do it with Andrew present.
We both turn around and head out the door into a bright, sunny, LA day. My eyes squint at first and the extreme brightness, but quickly adjust. We step into the car they provided and it takes us back to Andrew's house.
When we arrive at the house, Delia runs to the kitchen, wanting to be fed, and I follow her in. I pull out a loaf of bread and peanut butter, what seemed to be the only decent thing to eat. I make her a sandwich and she runs into the family room to eat it.
I feel him come up from behind me and place his warm hands on my shoulder, "You okay?"
"I've been better," I mutter.
"I was thinking of buying a place on the Mediterranean in France for the three of us. I mean, four of us," he adds in.
"Yes, throughout all of this day, I almost forgot I was pregnant," I joke.
"How could you, you've got a bulging stomach with a little special someone in there?" he kids with me, planting a kiss on my cheek.
"I know, it's just been so. stressful," I say, sighing in relief.
"Pregnant women shouldn't be placed under a lot of stress," he says so factually.
"I know, I know," I tell him.
"You want to go to the zoo? See some giraffe?" Andrew asks me.
"Actually," I start, turn around to face him, "It sounds perfect."
"I'll get Delia ready and you sit down for a minute. Drink some water and eat something, you look a little pale," he tells me. He gets so overprotective sometimes.
"Alright," I say and sit down at the dining room table with a glass of water in hand.
I take the time to reflect on the day. The weird thing was, my father wasn't present in any of it past the part where he brought us into custody. I found that interesting. The CIA had changed in the past four years. Vaughn had become, I don't know, different. My father hadn't changed, but he seemed a lot older, probably with all the stress I put him through. How could I make it up to him?
"You ready?" Andrew says, peaking his head through.
"Yep," I say, putting on my usual happy façade and heading out the door with the two loves of my life.
Andrew drove us in his car and we headed to the LA Zoo. We quickly found a spot, considering it was a workday, and headed towards the entrance. Delia was being very obnoxious, but she was just too excited. With all the stress we've put on her in the past few days, I give her the okay to act however she wanted.
"Mommy!" she says first. "I want to see the polar bears first!"
"Okay, we'll go right there," I reassure her. Andrew takes my hand in his and we walk hand in hand after he pays the entrance fee. Delia was getting ahead of us, so I had to call her back.
"Delia, come grab Mommy's hand," I tell her.
"Okay," she reluctantly says and grabs my free hand.
We walk to the polar bear cages and no one is nearby, so she goes running around, looking at the bears and mumbling different comments about each one. Andrew and I lean back and just watch her spite.
"She's amazing," I tell him.
"She takes after her mother," Andrew says, placing a hand on my face.
"And her amazing father," I say, smiling back at him.
"I guess she just lucked out with two amazing parents," Andrew comments.
"I'd have to agree," I pipe in.
"She'll love the place I want us to move to," he informs me.
"Oh really?" I question.
"It's on the beach, and we can take out a boat all the time, teach her French," he starts rambling on.
"Of course we'll have to teach her French. And Spanish, and German, and Russian, when she's older," I tell him.
"What, six?" he asks.
"That sounds about right," I smile.
"She'll be speaking 10 languages by the time she is 10," Andrew jokes.
"She'll have the best teaching her," I comment.
"Of course," he adds, and we both just sit back in silence and watch her youth and spite and beauty.
It was soon nightfall and we had covered most of the park. Delia certainly kept us on our toes, but I had to occasionally sit down and rest my feet. A pregnant woman walking an entire zoo was not exactly the best combination, but since I was in shape, I could handle it.
We headed to the car and Delia was getting tired from the adventure she had today.
"I'm hungry," she says.
"No complaining," I say to her, a phrase I constantly stress on her.
"Sorry, mommy," she says and tilts her head to the ground.
Andrew obviously wants to break the tension so he says, "How about we go out to dinner?"
"Sounds great," I smile at him.
We all piled into the car. He started driving and I had no idea about what restaurant he was going to take us to. Any food sounded good right now. I started to remember some of my surroundings when it hit me.
"Andrew, we can't go there," I tell him.
"Why not?" he asks me.
"I've had a stressful enough day, I don't want to have to explain to my best friend why I left four years ago," I explain.
He sighs, understanding, then turns a different way, "Alright, you win."
"Good," I smile.
He pulls up in front of a very family oriented restaurant. It was kind of like a Friday's. Not exactly the place I could imagine Andrew at, at all, they probably didn't serve wine.
"Interesting choice," I tell him.
"I thought Delia might like it," he informs me.
I smile back at him and we quickly get a table and open our menus. Delia is soon coloring all over her children's menu.
"Honey, what do you want?" I ask her.
"Grilled cheese and fries," she tells me.
"Alright," I say.
"What are you having, honey?" Andrew asks me.
"I haven't had a good bacon cheeseburger in awhile, and since we're in America, and I'm a hungry pregnant woman, I think I'm going for it," I joke with him.
"Sounds perfect," he tells me.
The waitress comes and takes our order and we just have small talk and Delia insists on recapping all her favorite animals, in which I think she meant the whole park. Andrew and I just listened to her ramble on and just laugh when she would say the cutest things. We were truly blessed.
We had just gotten our food when my head perked up at the couple that walked into the door. It was Vaughn and Alice. He didn't notice me at all and was seated at the opposite end of the restaurant. Didn't surprise me that he kept it up with that woman.
"What is it?" Andrew asks me.
"What do you mean?" I reply in question.
"You have that look on your face when you get riled about something," he comments.
"Well, Vaughn just walked in," I inform him.
He does an eye sweep of the room and I see him spot him. He looks back at me.
"You think he knows we're here?" Andrew asks me.
"I don't think so," I say, looking down at my food.
"Don't worry about it, enjoy your food," he says to me.
"You're right," I tell him and I pick up my cheeseburger and take a bite out of it.
We enjoy the rest of our meal while it is prevalent that both of us are keeping an eye on Vaughn. It was amazing how Delia was oblivious to everything that was happening around her and I wish it would stay like that. Sooner or later she would know and it would probably get the best of her.
We're handed the check when I notice Vaughn had gone up to the bar to grab a drink and watch a little bit of the Kings game that was on. That's when he noticed us.
He is a little disturbed by the image he perceives, of Andrew, Delia, and I as the happy family and he was obviously trying to shake it off by absorbing himself in the game. I went to the bathroom before we left and was stopped by him on my way back to my table.
"Fancy meeting you here," he says to me.
"Indeed," I quickly reply.
"Is there a problem?" Andrew says with Delia in tow.
"Not at all," I tell him, then I turn my attention to Vaughn, "Have a good night."
Andrew wraps his hand around my waist protectively and we head out the door. Before we make it to our car, Vaughn runs out to us.
"Sydney, wait," I hear him say.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Vaughn?" Andrew asks him.
"Can we meet for lunch tomorrow?" Vaughn asks me.
I glance at Andrew, then reply, "Okay."
I get into the car and just leave Vaughn standing in awe. We pull out and away from the restaurant before Andrew says anything.
"You think having lunch will make your problems cease to exist?" he asks me.
"No, I just want him to get one thing straight, that he can never have me, and what we have now is nothing," I explain to him.
"Just checking," Andrew replies as we drive away.
Was I ready to have lunch with Vaughn to fix all our problems? Probably not, but it had to be done. So I geared myself for the meal that was about to take place tomorrow.
~Thanks for reading! Reviews are awesome as well!~ Masquerade
Disclaimer: The characters of Alias, especially Sark the cutie, belong to ABC and J.J. Abrams.
**Sydney POV**
We are both ushered into the director's office. It was someone different than Devlin, someone new. Andrew sat on the left and I sat down on the right. I put my hands up on the armrests and Andrew places his free hand next to me on top of my hand for reassurance.
"Mr. Sark, Sydney," he begins.
We both look down for a second, but then our eyes meet briefly.
"After interviewing you both, we've decided that you pose no current threat to the safety of the American people and the CIA, so no charges will be placed on you. However, we'll allow you to go about your life as normal, but the CIA will have constant surveillance on your lives." We both sigh a breath of relief and smiles creep upon both of our faces. Andrew gives my hand a squeeze and we're both happier than the day that Delia was born.
"Does that mean we're free to go?" I ask him.
"At this time, yes, but if either one of you does anything suspicious, you may be brought in for questioning," the new director tell us.
"Thank you," I tell him and we both stand up from our seats. A guard takes us to the front entrance and Delia is waiting there waiting for us.
"Can we go now Mommy?" she asks me.
I kneel down to her, "Yes, honey."
Andrew picks her up and twirls her around, "Do you want to go to the zoo?"
"Oh, can we Daddy?" she asks with her face brightening up.
"Yes, we can," he tells her.
We get a few glares from those sitting in the lobby, but we make our way towards the door.
"Wait, Sydney," I hear a voice call out to me.
I turn around and see Vaughn running towards me. Andrew turns around with Delia in his hands as well and gives me a deathly glare.
"Yes, Agent Vaughn?" I ask him very professionally.
He looks a little shocked at how the whole scene was panning out, but continued on in what he was going to say, "We'll be in touch with you in the next few days. If the three of you disappear again, we will find you and put you in federal custody."
Hurt by his words at the end a little bit, I take a second to compose myself before I reply to him. However, Andrew buts in first.
"That will be fine," he tells Vaughn.
"Good," Vaughn says. He obviously wanted to say something else, but couldn't bring himself to do it with Andrew present.
We both turn around and head out the door into a bright, sunny, LA day. My eyes squint at first and the extreme brightness, but quickly adjust. We step into the car they provided and it takes us back to Andrew's house.
When we arrive at the house, Delia runs to the kitchen, wanting to be fed, and I follow her in. I pull out a loaf of bread and peanut butter, what seemed to be the only decent thing to eat. I make her a sandwich and she runs into the family room to eat it.
I feel him come up from behind me and place his warm hands on my shoulder, "You okay?"
"I've been better," I mutter.
"I was thinking of buying a place on the Mediterranean in France for the three of us. I mean, four of us," he adds in.
"Yes, throughout all of this day, I almost forgot I was pregnant," I joke.
"How could you, you've got a bulging stomach with a little special someone in there?" he kids with me, planting a kiss on my cheek.
"I know, it's just been so. stressful," I say, sighing in relief.
"Pregnant women shouldn't be placed under a lot of stress," he says so factually.
"I know, I know," I tell him.
"You want to go to the zoo? See some giraffe?" Andrew asks me.
"Actually," I start, turn around to face him, "It sounds perfect."
"I'll get Delia ready and you sit down for a minute. Drink some water and eat something, you look a little pale," he tells me. He gets so overprotective sometimes.
"Alright," I say and sit down at the dining room table with a glass of water in hand.
I take the time to reflect on the day. The weird thing was, my father wasn't present in any of it past the part where he brought us into custody. I found that interesting. The CIA had changed in the past four years. Vaughn had become, I don't know, different. My father hadn't changed, but he seemed a lot older, probably with all the stress I put him through. How could I make it up to him?
"You ready?" Andrew says, peaking his head through.
"Yep," I say, putting on my usual happy façade and heading out the door with the two loves of my life.
Andrew drove us in his car and we headed to the LA Zoo. We quickly found a spot, considering it was a workday, and headed towards the entrance. Delia was being very obnoxious, but she was just too excited. With all the stress we've put on her in the past few days, I give her the okay to act however she wanted.
"Mommy!" she says first. "I want to see the polar bears first!"
"Okay, we'll go right there," I reassure her. Andrew takes my hand in his and we walk hand in hand after he pays the entrance fee. Delia was getting ahead of us, so I had to call her back.
"Delia, come grab Mommy's hand," I tell her.
"Okay," she reluctantly says and grabs my free hand.
We walk to the polar bear cages and no one is nearby, so she goes running around, looking at the bears and mumbling different comments about each one. Andrew and I lean back and just watch her spite.
"She's amazing," I tell him.
"She takes after her mother," Andrew says, placing a hand on my face.
"And her amazing father," I say, smiling back at him.
"I guess she just lucked out with two amazing parents," Andrew comments.
"I'd have to agree," I pipe in.
"She'll love the place I want us to move to," he informs me.
"Oh really?" I question.
"It's on the beach, and we can take out a boat all the time, teach her French," he starts rambling on.
"Of course we'll have to teach her French. And Spanish, and German, and Russian, when she's older," I tell him.
"What, six?" he asks.
"That sounds about right," I smile.
"She'll be speaking 10 languages by the time she is 10," Andrew jokes.
"She'll have the best teaching her," I comment.
"Of course," he adds, and we both just sit back in silence and watch her youth and spite and beauty.
It was soon nightfall and we had covered most of the park. Delia certainly kept us on our toes, but I had to occasionally sit down and rest my feet. A pregnant woman walking an entire zoo was not exactly the best combination, but since I was in shape, I could handle it.
We headed to the car and Delia was getting tired from the adventure she had today.
"I'm hungry," she says.
"No complaining," I say to her, a phrase I constantly stress on her.
"Sorry, mommy," she says and tilts her head to the ground.
Andrew obviously wants to break the tension so he says, "How about we go out to dinner?"
"Sounds great," I smile at him.
We all piled into the car. He started driving and I had no idea about what restaurant he was going to take us to. Any food sounded good right now. I started to remember some of my surroundings when it hit me.
"Andrew, we can't go there," I tell him.
"Why not?" he asks me.
"I've had a stressful enough day, I don't want to have to explain to my best friend why I left four years ago," I explain.
He sighs, understanding, then turns a different way, "Alright, you win."
"Good," I smile.
He pulls up in front of a very family oriented restaurant. It was kind of like a Friday's. Not exactly the place I could imagine Andrew at, at all, they probably didn't serve wine.
"Interesting choice," I tell him.
"I thought Delia might like it," he informs me.
I smile back at him and we quickly get a table and open our menus. Delia is soon coloring all over her children's menu.
"Honey, what do you want?" I ask her.
"Grilled cheese and fries," she tells me.
"Alright," I say.
"What are you having, honey?" Andrew asks me.
"I haven't had a good bacon cheeseburger in awhile, and since we're in America, and I'm a hungry pregnant woman, I think I'm going for it," I joke with him.
"Sounds perfect," he tells me.
The waitress comes and takes our order and we just have small talk and Delia insists on recapping all her favorite animals, in which I think she meant the whole park. Andrew and I just listened to her ramble on and just laugh when she would say the cutest things. We were truly blessed.
We had just gotten our food when my head perked up at the couple that walked into the door. It was Vaughn and Alice. He didn't notice me at all and was seated at the opposite end of the restaurant. Didn't surprise me that he kept it up with that woman.
"What is it?" Andrew asks me.
"What do you mean?" I reply in question.
"You have that look on your face when you get riled about something," he comments.
"Well, Vaughn just walked in," I inform him.
He does an eye sweep of the room and I see him spot him. He looks back at me.
"You think he knows we're here?" Andrew asks me.
"I don't think so," I say, looking down at my food.
"Don't worry about it, enjoy your food," he says to me.
"You're right," I tell him and I pick up my cheeseburger and take a bite out of it.
We enjoy the rest of our meal while it is prevalent that both of us are keeping an eye on Vaughn. It was amazing how Delia was oblivious to everything that was happening around her and I wish it would stay like that. Sooner or later she would know and it would probably get the best of her.
We're handed the check when I notice Vaughn had gone up to the bar to grab a drink and watch a little bit of the Kings game that was on. That's when he noticed us.
He is a little disturbed by the image he perceives, of Andrew, Delia, and I as the happy family and he was obviously trying to shake it off by absorbing himself in the game. I went to the bathroom before we left and was stopped by him on my way back to my table.
"Fancy meeting you here," he says to me.
"Indeed," I quickly reply.
"Is there a problem?" Andrew says with Delia in tow.
"Not at all," I tell him, then I turn my attention to Vaughn, "Have a good night."
Andrew wraps his hand around my waist protectively and we head out the door. Before we make it to our car, Vaughn runs out to us.
"Sydney, wait," I hear him say.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Vaughn?" Andrew asks him.
"Can we meet for lunch tomorrow?" Vaughn asks me.
I glance at Andrew, then reply, "Okay."
I get into the car and just leave Vaughn standing in awe. We pull out and away from the restaurant before Andrew says anything.
"You think having lunch will make your problems cease to exist?" he asks me.
"No, I just want him to get one thing straight, that he can never have me, and what we have now is nothing," I explain to him.
"Just checking," Andrew replies as we drive away.
Was I ready to have lunch with Vaughn to fix all our problems? Probably not, but it had to be done. So I geared myself for the meal that was about to take place tomorrow.
~Thanks for reading! Reviews are awesome as well!~ Masquerade
