"Drop your weapons! Hands on your head! On your knees!" A loud
clamoring came through the door headed by two familiar faces. They
brandished their guns and brought each woman to her knees. Sophia's eyes
filled with hatred and responded slowly. She was clearly annoyed with it
but didn't bother to fight back. She even had the tenacity to yawn as one
agent handcuffed her.
"Hello boys." She tilted her head to the side and looked quite bored. "We meet again."
"Shut up!" One agent shouted, knocking her out with his gun. "Slut." He hissed underneath his breath and dragged her out of the building.
In a mere thirty seconds, a team of twenty CIA agents dressed head to toe in black combat gear, had invaded the building and had all of the women, including Sophia, in US custody. They were promptly hand cuffed and one by one, forced outside of the cold building to the van, waiting outside.
One man caught Sydney's eye and maybe all was not lost. "Daddy?" Sydney managed to gasp before she fainted away from the world. Her body wanted to reach out to him but there wasn't enough energy in her frail frame to do so.
Jack Bristow was one of those CIA men and was the senior in charge. He shouted orders to the men and told them what to do with their bitchy captives. His eyes quickly searched the room and rested on the gurney. "Sydney!" Jack gasped, dropping his gun by his side and ran to his daughter, who had turned pale and was clearly dying. "Sydney." His hands ran over her forehead and his eyes glanced over body, surveying the damage done to her.
He took his knife from his black pants pocket and cutting the restraints. She didn't even move or make any notice that anything had happened. "G-d Sydney. What did she do to you?"
Vaughn had heard everything that was going on, heard the swears in French by the black hair woman that was torturing as she was carried way, heard the yells of the CIA officers, heard Sydney's cry to her father. They were going to be free. "Is-is she breathing?" Vaughn managed to gasp. He tried to lift his head to see more clearly but the toxins in his system had clearly taken control. His eyes were glued shut and he hung limp against the wall. The contusions on his face were beginning to swell and with it, his eyes swelled shut.
Jack looked up from his daughter's leg, bleeding profusely and starred at the man chained to the wall. "Agent Vaughn?" He couldn't believe it. Vaughn had always looked so strong and here he was broken and chained to the wall. His blood started to run cold as he saw the red liquid expelling itself in the same manner from Vaughn's leg as it was Sydney's.
There wasn't enough time for formalities. He felt his life slipping away from him. His seconds were flying past him. "Screw that Agent crap, Jack. Is she breathing?" His body was finally going and with his last breath, he needed to know if she was breathing. He wasn't going to die as a CIA agent but as a man asking about the woman he loved. "Is she breathing?" Before he could hear an answer, his body erupted in heavy coughing and started to shake. "I need to know before."his cough took over again. *Before I die, I need to know if I'm going to see her on the other side.*
Jack leaned over his daughter, feeling the light icy breath on his cheek. "She's breathing, Vaughn. Barely but she is." He replied and lifted her up into his arms. Her brown eyes had rolled back into her head and she shook from shock. "We need to get you both medical attention." He took a long look at Vaughn and adjusted his daughter in his arms. She was so light and sickly feeling.
*No shit Jack. Looks like I really am going to be Syd's guardian angel.* Vaughn thought cynically.
"Agent Weiss," Jack beckoned to the nearby agent without bothering to turn to look at him, "Get Vaughn and get to the van."
Weiss came forward among the agents and nodded to Jack. "I'll meet you in the van." Weiss walked towards Vaughn and started to cut him free. "Hey man." No reply. "Mike? It's Eric. C'mon, you there?" Vaughn's eyes were still shut and he was unresponsive. He had shut down mentally and needed a lot of help to be pulled from his state. Weiss worked at the restraints for a few minutes, worry lines took over his face for his dear friend, "We're almost there, man." And with that, Vaughn was set free from his tight bondage and promptly collapsed. "Looks like I'm gonna have to help you outta here." Weiss motioned for another agent to help him. "I'm gonna need some help here. I ain't in the best of shape."
Vaughn didn't even react to the cold cement on the ground under his cut feet but somehow, Lord knows how, he managed to gasp, "Looks like it."
Weiss started to help Vaughn to his feet but stood up and looked around. "Hey you! New kid! Come help with Agent Vaughn!"
The young recruit's eyes got wide for a moment and practically skipped over. "How do you do sir? I'm Agent Anderson." The new recruit said, taking Vaughn's other arm and allowing him to put weight on him. He followed Weiss's example and took his other arm and looped it under Vaughn's leg, carrying him out of the door.
"He doesn't give a crap who you are, Anderson. He just wants to get to the hospital. Right, Mike?"
"Don't give a damn." And started to cough again. Blood erupted from his mouth and he knew that something was seriously wrong with him by Weiss's suppressed groans and worried comments to the nearby agents. Something about getting the medics and some IV's..
Weiss knew he had to keep his mind of off his failing body. "So, since you've been gone, a lot's happened. I mean a lot."
Vaughn started to cough again and kept his eyes shut but due to some miracle, he started to snap out of it. "Who are you dating now?"
Weiss laughed a little. "Now, now Mikey. Truth takes time and it's a long time to Our Lady of Heaven Hospital." He adjusted Vaughn's weight against his shoulder and step by step, he brought his best friend out from Death's Door.
"Where's Sydney?" Vaughn asked after the silence of making his way across the room. Each breath was more painful than the last and the only thing that kept him going was Weiss' promises of see Sydney and painkillers.
"She's being put in the van. I'll put ya down right next to her. Don't worry, man. Just relax. Nothing's gonna happen to either one of you. You're my best friend and I'll be damned if some bitch takes you away from me."
Vaughn coughed hard again and started to shake from hypothermia. "That bitch was my mother." He managed to utter. The words burned in his mouth and fell like acid rain.
Weiss's eyes grew wide for moment as he repeated the words that Vaughn said. Anderson was too disgusted by the condition of Vaughn to react to anything that was going on. He kept his eyes focused on the area in front of him, trying not to look at the track marks or the blood dripping down his arm and hadn't heard a thing Vaughn had said.
They reached the doorway and it was light out. The sun had risen over the Normandy horizon and its pure light flooded the Central Intelligence vans. The daylight had barely broken outside but everything seemed calm and peaceful. It was a needed day of rest and calmness for him. It was beautiful and it was nothing less than euphoric.
"Yup." Vaughn whispered trying to open his eyes against the landscape. His entire world was pitch black and filled with strange voices telling him how lucky he was or that he was being taken to the hospital or worry shouts over Sydney..she lost so much blood and he was too. .
Weiss and Anderson took Vaughn and carefully laid him down in the van, next to Sydney, who had just been laid down on the back of the van. As his eyes had slowly opened by some miracle and slowly adjusted to the black interior of the van. There were agents swarming about him and there were medical supplies everywhere. He looked at Sydney, who lay so peacefully on her back. Her legs were already beginning to be covered in gauze. But the gauze was already the greatest shade of red he had ever seen. His eyes trailed down to his own leg that was bleeding heavily. One of the agents was attempting to wrap his leg but it was bleeding just as badly as Sydney's. Red was now his least favorite color.
An agent stepped into the black van and went to Sydney first. She had not uttered a word since her father had picked her up. The gentle agent threw on a pair of gloves and found a fresh vein to start an IV. At the prick of the needle, Sydney was brought from her comatose state by screaming, "Please, please! No more drugs! What do you want from me? I told you! I don't know where Sloane is! Why won't you believe me? Please, anything but the drugs!"
"Sydney..it's okay. We're trying to help you, sweetheart." Jack stroked her head lovingly. "Shhh."
"No!" She shouted with all her energy. In her mind, she was still on the gurney in the little torture room. "Please," she began to sob, "no more."
Jack's heart was now broken. His little girl was clearly destroyed and was going to need serious rehabilitation if she ever wanted to survive this incident. His hands continued to stroke her head as he sat at the head of the little make-shift bed while another agent drove. All of the women from the torture room had been taken in another van and were being watched by another dozen agents. They had brought 24 men into the facility and all had returned, safely. Even Sydney and Vaughn had been returned, in one piece, so to speak.
"Syd..it's okay." Vaughn slurred and reached out to touch her before his body suddenly gave in on him. Another agent, probably a doctor or something, started a line in his left arm and started to give Vaughn blood and antibiotics. He faded out slightly and shut his eyes more tightly than before.
"G-d! He's seizing!" One agent cried as Vaughn's body started to shake uncontrollably.
"Five of ativan! IV push! C'mon, Vaughn. Don't you dare give up on me!" Agent Craig shouted to the other agents. He was a doctor and was the head medic for the rescue. His demands were shouted at the other agents, also trained in medicine. They ruffled through their black bags for the medication to stop the seizure. "What did they do to you?" Vaughn and Craig had met each other during another op and had developed a friendship.
Jack sat back against the black fabric seat and had an absolute stunned look on his face. "Don't let him die." He managed to speak at last. "It would be the end of Sydney." He spoke softly. No one bothered to listen to what he was saying. They were too busy intubating him.putting a tube in his throat to help him breath. "He means the world to Sydney." Jack ran his hands over his face and looked back at Sydney, who already had an oxygen mask on and had so many tubes and wires coming from her body. "And don't let my baby go."
The medics continued to work on Vaughn and Sydney, alternating who was in the most critical condition. Sydney had lost the most blood but Vaughn had been pumped with the most chemicals. She had been electrocuted and tortured but Vaughn had been tortured in a different way. Little things like cigarette burns, turning violent shades of violet lined his arms and feet. He was suffering from hypothermia, accounting for the blue tinge to his skin and his body and had severe frostbite on his feet. His face had been severely beaten, turning brilliant shades of black, blue, yellow and green. Every inch of him was swollen and his track marks were growing the signs of infection.
Sydney had perfect moon shaped burn marks lining her chest and stomach. She too had been beaten and the soles of her feet had been cut with razor and those abrasions had already started to become infection. She was severely dehydrated and suffered malnutrition. They had been captives for almost a week now and she had not received a drop of food or water. If they had not been found when they did, death was waiting at the doorstep for both of them..
"Don't hurt me! Please, stay away!" Sydney started to shriek from her safe hospital bed.
Jack jumped to his feet from the chair he had fallen asleep in and rushed to his daughter's side. He ran his hand over her forehead, trying to sooth her from her savage dreams. "Sweetie, it's me, Daddy. It's time to open your eyes. It's okay. There's no one here to hurt you. It's okay, sweetie. It's okay." He sat on her bed and held her hand tightly within his. "It's okay." Her hands were so cold and she seemed so far away. "Come back home, sweetie." She was lost and afraid and no one could bring her back. She was gone and he had to get her back, somehow.
Her eyes shot open and she start to gasp from breath. Her body shot up a little and she was terrified. "Stay away from me, Sophia!" She shouted into her private hotel suite. It smelled horribly of that hospital smell that attacks you as soon as you enter the building. It was sterile but at the same time, it was warmer and more inviting than the prison cell that she had been accustomed to for a week.
"Sydney, it's okay! She's not here to hurt you anymore." Jack placed his hands on her shoulders and started again to comfort her. He slowly eased her back down onto the soft pillow and pressed her to stay there.
"Daddy?" She felt so helpless. "Are you really there?" She reached for him, seeing the IV in her arm and began to panic more.
"And I'm not going anywhere." Jack sat there in the most father like role to date. This was his little girl and she was clearly falling apart at the seams. His large hands surrounded hers and he kissed her forehead. "I'm going to stay with you until you get better."
"Where's Vaughn?" She asked, sitting up a little more in her bed. Gone were her tattered clothes and replaced with a sterile hospital gown and fresh gauze dressings on her legs. Her legs had been bandaged at an angle and she could not straighten her legs if she tried. Parts of the dressings had been soaked through with antibiotic cream and others had been soaked through with blood.
Her hospital room had two large chairs and the traditional hospital settings but there were three bouquets of fresh roses adorning shelves and tables. Compliments of Will, Francie, and the CIA. Antibiotics, blood, and saline hung on her IV and slowly poured into her veins. Her body was blissfully numb with painkillers.
"He's in another room." Jack replied simply, rising to his feet. "I should go get the doctor and tell them you're awake."
She reached for and grabbed him, "Don't leave me! I need you to stay."
He nodded and sat back down. "I understand."
She shook her head, trying to clear her foggy head. The marvelous painkillers also clouded her thought train. Her strawberry tongue went to lick her lips but found them swollen and chapped. Her brow creased in concern for her body and managed to ask, "What happened?"
Jack ran his thumb over her hand, soothing her as he spoke softly, trying not to speak in a business tone, "I don't know how but you were discovered at the hotel and I brought-"
She waved for him to stop with her free hand, clearly frustrated with him. "I know that part. What happened at the safe house? Will and Francie?" The panic rose in her throat.
Jack sighed and smiled a little, "They're fine. They weren't even disturbed during this whole incident. We brought them back home and put them in the Joint Task Force. Now your situation. You. You were discovered at the safe house and this woman claiming to be Sophia Vaughn-"
"Claiming to be?" This woman was clearly Vaughn's mother. She knew everything and anything about Vaughn.
"She was not Sophia Vaughn." Jack's voice was firm and stern, "That woman was Ophelia Hart. She used a new cloning technique to impersonate Agent Vaughn's mother. It would make him more susceptible. Anyway, she and her following brought you to her lab and tried to get information out of you. She is the one the Alliance answers to. She inherited it from her father, the creator the Alliance of 12. She wanted to know where Sloane was. He disappeared shortly after your discovery. I do not know what is going. Arvin had not told me anything-"A cell phone cut off his conversation. He turned away from a moment, leaving Sydney alone with her thoughts. This was a lot to take in. This Ophelia woman that she would be the key to finding Sloane? That was almost laughable. No, wait. It was laughable.
And she had bothered with a little double agent. She had sought her out, found her, sedated her, and then proceeded to torture her, impersonate her handler's mother, and torture him. It seemed like a big ordeal to go through just..it just didn't make sense. Two and two now only equaled three and a half.
Jack, meanwhile proceeded to answer the phone and stood up very straight as the person on the other end spoke. Her father turned back to her and as he finished, he turned back towards her, with a stunned look on his face. "Your uh, your mother is going on a mission with a few agents. They've found Arvin and she knows the area well. And after what happens, she wants to be the one to kill him."
"Figures Mom would want to pull the trigger." She laughed quietly to herself. It was the first time she had smiled in a long time. She almost forgot how to curl her lips into the friendly expression, "Yeah, well. If I weren't here, I would be pulling the trigger." Sydney remarked cynically.
Jack let out a sigh and put his phone back into his jacket pocket. Good old Jack Bristow never changed out his CIA standard black suit since he had gotten to the hospital. It was a CIA affiliated hospital and everyone there knew what had happened with Sydney and her handler. "We almost lost you." His voice quavered in a reflexive tone.
"Almost doesn't count, Dad." She remarked profoundly, sensing the weakness in her father's voice. "They're not going to knock me down that easily."
Jack sat back down on the bed and the tears were evident in his eyes, "Sydney, I know we haven't been close all these year but," He stopped, clearly moved by what he was about to say, "But I want you to know that-"
"I know Dad." She replied, sensing his thoughts. "I feel the same way." Guilt suddenly pounded on her and she slowly let out a breath. "That's why," She bit down on her lip, "why I have to tell you a few things. About me and about Vaughn."
His eyes got wide for a second but Sydney didn't notice. She had looked down at her lap and started to gush over what had happened. The letter from Irinia.the pills and Bourbon and the gun..the spiked tool.the Bourbon, again.what Vaughn had done.how he was the one that stopped from her from killing herself and how he kept talking to her when she was being tortured by Sophia.
When she had finished, she was on the brink of tears and looked at her dad, like a worried teenager. He had gotten up and turned his back on her. His breathing was heavy and shook his shoulders. "I owe Michael Vaughn your life and mine then." He said after years of silence. Realizations that his girl had grown up and fallen love without him. He had missed so much in his life..busy saving the world from Arvin Sloane he forgot his daughter in the process. She had gushed about this one man and now it was clear that there was emotional attachment there. She was in love with her handler.
She raised her eyebrows in worry once more. "Yeah," her tears flooded her eyes, "I guess so."
He couldn't stand there anymore. His attention span had run out and a list of things to do had formed in his mind. "I'm going to and see how Mr. Vaughn made it out of his surgery."
"Hey Dad," she called after him.
"Yes?" He turned back towards her with puppy dog looking eyes. He had been replaced, whether he liked it or not. Okay, grant it, he hadn't always been the best father and he had missed much of Sydney's life but he was now a prominent part of her life and as soon as she needed him, she replaced him.
"Thank you, for everything."
"Yes." He replied simply and turned to go once more.
"And Dad?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, sweetie." He smiled quickly.
"Agent Vaughn, if you're there.I just wanted to say, that I think I owe my daughter's life to you." Jack spoke softly to him, standing straight near the foot of the bed, holding his coat in one hand and a briefcase in the other with a newspaper tucked under his arm. He looked like the stereotypical corporate man.
Vaughn's eyes opened again and gone was the black interior of the van but instead bright lights of a hospital room. "What?" He asked sleepily, adjusting his body in the soft bed. He had oxygen tubes running beneath his nose and his body felt so heavy. He wasn't quite sure what was going on but he decided to go with anyway.
"Sydney told me what happened. I owe my daughter to you. You saved her." Jack, for the first time, showed true emotion to Vaughn. "I don't know what I do without her. You saved her from herself." Jack replied in a matter-of-fact one. *Please tell me my daughter didn't fall for an idiot.*
Vaughn was now officially confused. "What?"
Jack sighed impatiently and walked to the head of the bed, "She told me about the letter from Irinia.the pills and Bourbon and the gun..the spiked tool.the Bourbon, again." Jack edged closer to Vaughn, lying on the hospital bed. "She told me you're the one that stopped from her from killing herself and you kept talking to her when she was being tortured by Sophia." *Okay, he's just numb from the medication. Or just keep telling yourself that.*
Vaughn sat up a little bit, his tattered clothes were now replaced by a hospital gown and his leg was bandaged tightly. "Who's Sophia?"
"Your mother." Jack couldn't help raising his eyebrows at the 33 year old. He couldn't be that sedated that he didn't know his mother's own name.
"My mother's name is Felicity Delorme Vaughn." Vaughn replied, attempting to sit up a little. This was officially confusing. "But the woman who tortured me said her name was Sophia Delorme. And knew everything about me.and my father..and Irinia."
A few more pieces began to fall into place for the troubled father. Maybe Vaughn wasn't a moron. "This makes sense then. This woman, Ophelia Hart impersonated your mother to torture you and Sydney. She is the head of the Alliance or should I say was the head of the Alliance. She must have had a mole in the CIA but got the wrong information off of our faux server. Any inexperience hacker attempting to hack into the system will get into the server with fake information, including agent files. There are all the agents' files there but with some alterations. For example on your father's, your mother's name was Sophia Nanette Delorme."
"And that's why Irinia thought my mother's name was Nanette." And Vaughn caught on quickly as well, even with the painkillers in his system.
Jack nodded knowingly, "She only received parts of the information you're your father. Also, Nanette was the wife of his alias." He remembered the case well but didn't want to go into details with him. He didn't have the heart to tell Vaughn that it was suppose to be him going on the mission not William.
Silence coated the two men for a moment until Vaughn spoke, "I have a few questions, sir. How's Sydney?" His green eyes flickered with life for a moment, quickly praying that she was alive and doing okay. His limbs started to get more comfortable in his skin and his mind was focusing quickly. The seizure had had no lasting affect on him. He was going to be okay.
"She's been asking about you." Jack almost smiled. He suddenly knew that he had found the missing half to his daughter. The way she spoke about him saving her were like flashing lights to Jack. His daughter was in love and obviously her love loved her back. "But she's fine." Jack turned to go and prepare to go back to his daughter's room but was promptly stopped by Vaughn calling out one last question to him.
"Good. Good." He smiled a little, "When are we going home?"
Jack looked over his shoulder and answered, "Tonight, actually. You're flying home first under your alias but Sydney needs to stay here for observation for another day or so." painfully slow. You may be in love with my daughter but I'm taking her home. She's mine for another day and then you can have her. I give her to you, Michael Vaughn.
"Tonight?" Vaughn's green eyes got wide for a moment. He only had a little while to get things in order to prepare for what he needed to do before he saw Sydney. He had dreamed of it so many times and after their near death experience, it was time for it to become reality.
"Hello boys." She tilted her head to the side and looked quite bored. "We meet again."
"Shut up!" One agent shouted, knocking her out with his gun. "Slut." He hissed underneath his breath and dragged her out of the building.
In a mere thirty seconds, a team of twenty CIA agents dressed head to toe in black combat gear, had invaded the building and had all of the women, including Sophia, in US custody. They were promptly hand cuffed and one by one, forced outside of the cold building to the van, waiting outside.
One man caught Sydney's eye and maybe all was not lost. "Daddy?" Sydney managed to gasp before she fainted away from the world. Her body wanted to reach out to him but there wasn't enough energy in her frail frame to do so.
Jack Bristow was one of those CIA men and was the senior in charge. He shouted orders to the men and told them what to do with their bitchy captives. His eyes quickly searched the room and rested on the gurney. "Sydney!" Jack gasped, dropping his gun by his side and ran to his daughter, who had turned pale and was clearly dying. "Sydney." His hands ran over her forehead and his eyes glanced over body, surveying the damage done to her.
He took his knife from his black pants pocket and cutting the restraints. She didn't even move or make any notice that anything had happened. "G-d Sydney. What did she do to you?"
Vaughn had heard everything that was going on, heard the swears in French by the black hair woman that was torturing as she was carried way, heard the yells of the CIA officers, heard Sydney's cry to her father. They were going to be free. "Is-is she breathing?" Vaughn managed to gasp. He tried to lift his head to see more clearly but the toxins in his system had clearly taken control. His eyes were glued shut and he hung limp against the wall. The contusions on his face were beginning to swell and with it, his eyes swelled shut.
Jack looked up from his daughter's leg, bleeding profusely and starred at the man chained to the wall. "Agent Vaughn?" He couldn't believe it. Vaughn had always looked so strong and here he was broken and chained to the wall. His blood started to run cold as he saw the red liquid expelling itself in the same manner from Vaughn's leg as it was Sydney's.
There wasn't enough time for formalities. He felt his life slipping away from him. His seconds were flying past him. "Screw that Agent crap, Jack. Is she breathing?" His body was finally going and with his last breath, he needed to know if she was breathing. He wasn't going to die as a CIA agent but as a man asking about the woman he loved. "Is she breathing?" Before he could hear an answer, his body erupted in heavy coughing and started to shake. "I need to know before."his cough took over again. *Before I die, I need to know if I'm going to see her on the other side.*
Jack leaned over his daughter, feeling the light icy breath on his cheek. "She's breathing, Vaughn. Barely but she is." He replied and lifted her up into his arms. Her brown eyes had rolled back into her head and she shook from shock. "We need to get you both medical attention." He took a long look at Vaughn and adjusted his daughter in his arms. She was so light and sickly feeling.
*No shit Jack. Looks like I really am going to be Syd's guardian angel.* Vaughn thought cynically.
"Agent Weiss," Jack beckoned to the nearby agent without bothering to turn to look at him, "Get Vaughn and get to the van."
Weiss came forward among the agents and nodded to Jack. "I'll meet you in the van." Weiss walked towards Vaughn and started to cut him free. "Hey man." No reply. "Mike? It's Eric. C'mon, you there?" Vaughn's eyes were still shut and he was unresponsive. He had shut down mentally and needed a lot of help to be pulled from his state. Weiss worked at the restraints for a few minutes, worry lines took over his face for his dear friend, "We're almost there, man." And with that, Vaughn was set free from his tight bondage and promptly collapsed. "Looks like I'm gonna have to help you outta here." Weiss motioned for another agent to help him. "I'm gonna need some help here. I ain't in the best of shape."
Vaughn didn't even react to the cold cement on the ground under his cut feet but somehow, Lord knows how, he managed to gasp, "Looks like it."
Weiss started to help Vaughn to his feet but stood up and looked around. "Hey you! New kid! Come help with Agent Vaughn!"
The young recruit's eyes got wide for a moment and practically skipped over. "How do you do sir? I'm Agent Anderson." The new recruit said, taking Vaughn's other arm and allowing him to put weight on him. He followed Weiss's example and took his other arm and looped it under Vaughn's leg, carrying him out of the door.
"He doesn't give a crap who you are, Anderson. He just wants to get to the hospital. Right, Mike?"
"Don't give a damn." And started to cough again. Blood erupted from his mouth and he knew that something was seriously wrong with him by Weiss's suppressed groans and worried comments to the nearby agents. Something about getting the medics and some IV's..
Weiss knew he had to keep his mind of off his failing body. "So, since you've been gone, a lot's happened. I mean a lot."
Vaughn started to cough again and kept his eyes shut but due to some miracle, he started to snap out of it. "Who are you dating now?"
Weiss laughed a little. "Now, now Mikey. Truth takes time and it's a long time to Our Lady of Heaven Hospital." He adjusted Vaughn's weight against his shoulder and step by step, he brought his best friend out from Death's Door.
"Where's Sydney?" Vaughn asked after the silence of making his way across the room. Each breath was more painful than the last and the only thing that kept him going was Weiss' promises of see Sydney and painkillers.
"She's being put in the van. I'll put ya down right next to her. Don't worry, man. Just relax. Nothing's gonna happen to either one of you. You're my best friend and I'll be damned if some bitch takes you away from me."
Vaughn coughed hard again and started to shake from hypothermia. "That bitch was my mother." He managed to utter. The words burned in his mouth and fell like acid rain.
Weiss's eyes grew wide for moment as he repeated the words that Vaughn said. Anderson was too disgusted by the condition of Vaughn to react to anything that was going on. He kept his eyes focused on the area in front of him, trying not to look at the track marks or the blood dripping down his arm and hadn't heard a thing Vaughn had said.
They reached the doorway and it was light out. The sun had risen over the Normandy horizon and its pure light flooded the Central Intelligence vans. The daylight had barely broken outside but everything seemed calm and peaceful. It was a needed day of rest and calmness for him. It was beautiful and it was nothing less than euphoric.
"Yup." Vaughn whispered trying to open his eyes against the landscape. His entire world was pitch black and filled with strange voices telling him how lucky he was or that he was being taken to the hospital or worry shouts over Sydney..she lost so much blood and he was too. .
Weiss and Anderson took Vaughn and carefully laid him down in the van, next to Sydney, who had just been laid down on the back of the van. As his eyes had slowly opened by some miracle and slowly adjusted to the black interior of the van. There were agents swarming about him and there were medical supplies everywhere. He looked at Sydney, who lay so peacefully on her back. Her legs were already beginning to be covered in gauze. But the gauze was already the greatest shade of red he had ever seen. His eyes trailed down to his own leg that was bleeding heavily. One of the agents was attempting to wrap his leg but it was bleeding just as badly as Sydney's. Red was now his least favorite color.
An agent stepped into the black van and went to Sydney first. She had not uttered a word since her father had picked her up. The gentle agent threw on a pair of gloves and found a fresh vein to start an IV. At the prick of the needle, Sydney was brought from her comatose state by screaming, "Please, please! No more drugs! What do you want from me? I told you! I don't know where Sloane is! Why won't you believe me? Please, anything but the drugs!"
"Sydney..it's okay. We're trying to help you, sweetheart." Jack stroked her head lovingly. "Shhh."
"No!" She shouted with all her energy. In her mind, she was still on the gurney in the little torture room. "Please," she began to sob, "no more."
Jack's heart was now broken. His little girl was clearly destroyed and was going to need serious rehabilitation if she ever wanted to survive this incident. His hands continued to stroke her head as he sat at the head of the little make-shift bed while another agent drove. All of the women from the torture room had been taken in another van and were being watched by another dozen agents. They had brought 24 men into the facility and all had returned, safely. Even Sydney and Vaughn had been returned, in one piece, so to speak.
"Syd..it's okay." Vaughn slurred and reached out to touch her before his body suddenly gave in on him. Another agent, probably a doctor or something, started a line in his left arm and started to give Vaughn blood and antibiotics. He faded out slightly and shut his eyes more tightly than before.
"G-d! He's seizing!" One agent cried as Vaughn's body started to shake uncontrollably.
"Five of ativan! IV push! C'mon, Vaughn. Don't you dare give up on me!" Agent Craig shouted to the other agents. He was a doctor and was the head medic for the rescue. His demands were shouted at the other agents, also trained in medicine. They ruffled through their black bags for the medication to stop the seizure. "What did they do to you?" Vaughn and Craig had met each other during another op and had developed a friendship.
Jack sat back against the black fabric seat and had an absolute stunned look on his face. "Don't let him die." He managed to speak at last. "It would be the end of Sydney." He spoke softly. No one bothered to listen to what he was saying. They were too busy intubating him.putting a tube in his throat to help him breath. "He means the world to Sydney." Jack ran his hands over his face and looked back at Sydney, who already had an oxygen mask on and had so many tubes and wires coming from her body. "And don't let my baby go."
The medics continued to work on Vaughn and Sydney, alternating who was in the most critical condition. Sydney had lost the most blood but Vaughn had been pumped with the most chemicals. She had been electrocuted and tortured but Vaughn had been tortured in a different way. Little things like cigarette burns, turning violent shades of violet lined his arms and feet. He was suffering from hypothermia, accounting for the blue tinge to his skin and his body and had severe frostbite on his feet. His face had been severely beaten, turning brilliant shades of black, blue, yellow and green. Every inch of him was swollen and his track marks were growing the signs of infection.
Sydney had perfect moon shaped burn marks lining her chest and stomach. She too had been beaten and the soles of her feet had been cut with razor and those abrasions had already started to become infection. She was severely dehydrated and suffered malnutrition. They had been captives for almost a week now and she had not received a drop of food or water. If they had not been found when they did, death was waiting at the doorstep for both of them..
"Don't hurt me! Please, stay away!" Sydney started to shriek from her safe hospital bed.
Jack jumped to his feet from the chair he had fallen asleep in and rushed to his daughter's side. He ran his hand over her forehead, trying to sooth her from her savage dreams. "Sweetie, it's me, Daddy. It's time to open your eyes. It's okay. There's no one here to hurt you. It's okay, sweetie. It's okay." He sat on her bed and held her hand tightly within his. "It's okay." Her hands were so cold and she seemed so far away. "Come back home, sweetie." She was lost and afraid and no one could bring her back. She was gone and he had to get her back, somehow.
Her eyes shot open and she start to gasp from breath. Her body shot up a little and she was terrified. "Stay away from me, Sophia!" She shouted into her private hotel suite. It smelled horribly of that hospital smell that attacks you as soon as you enter the building. It was sterile but at the same time, it was warmer and more inviting than the prison cell that she had been accustomed to for a week.
"Sydney, it's okay! She's not here to hurt you anymore." Jack placed his hands on her shoulders and started again to comfort her. He slowly eased her back down onto the soft pillow and pressed her to stay there.
"Daddy?" She felt so helpless. "Are you really there?" She reached for him, seeing the IV in her arm and began to panic more.
"And I'm not going anywhere." Jack sat there in the most father like role to date. This was his little girl and she was clearly falling apart at the seams. His large hands surrounded hers and he kissed her forehead. "I'm going to stay with you until you get better."
"Where's Vaughn?" She asked, sitting up a little more in her bed. Gone were her tattered clothes and replaced with a sterile hospital gown and fresh gauze dressings on her legs. Her legs had been bandaged at an angle and she could not straighten her legs if she tried. Parts of the dressings had been soaked through with antibiotic cream and others had been soaked through with blood.
Her hospital room had two large chairs and the traditional hospital settings but there were three bouquets of fresh roses adorning shelves and tables. Compliments of Will, Francie, and the CIA. Antibiotics, blood, and saline hung on her IV and slowly poured into her veins. Her body was blissfully numb with painkillers.
"He's in another room." Jack replied simply, rising to his feet. "I should go get the doctor and tell them you're awake."
She reached for and grabbed him, "Don't leave me! I need you to stay."
He nodded and sat back down. "I understand."
She shook her head, trying to clear her foggy head. The marvelous painkillers also clouded her thought train. Her strawberry tongue went to lick her lips but found them swollen and chapped. Her brow creased in concern for her body and managed to ask, "What happened?"
Jack ran his thumb over her hand, soothing her as he spoke softly, trying not to speak in a business tone, "I don't know how but you were discovered at the hotel and I brought-"
She waved for him to stop with her free hand, clearly frustrated with him. "I know that part. What happened at the safe house? Will and Francie?" The panic rose in her throat.
Jack sighed and smiled a little, "They're fine. They weren't even disturbed during this whole incident. We brought them back home and put them in the Joint Task Force. Now your situation. You. You were discovered at the safe house and this woman claiming to be Sophia Vaughn-"
"Claiming to be?" This woman was clearly Vaughn's mother. She knew everything and anything about Vaughn.
"She was not Sophia Vaughn." Jack's voice was firm and stern, "That woman was Ophelia Hart. She used a new cloning technique to impersonate Agent Vaughn's mother. It would make him more susceptible. Anyway, she and her following brought you to her lab and tried to get information out of you. She is the one the Alliance answers to. She inherited it from her father, the creator the Alliance of 12. She wanted to know where Sloane was. He disappeared shortly after your discovery. I do not know what is going. Arvin had not told me anything-"A cell phone cut off his conversation. He turned away from a moment, leaving Sydney alone with her thoughts. This was a lot to take in. This Ophelia woman that she would be the key to finding Sloane? That was almost laughable. No, wait. It was laughable.
And she had bothered with a little double agent. She had sought her out, found her, sedated her, and then proceeded to torture her, impersonate her handler's mother, and torture him. It seemed like a big ordeal to go through just..it just didn't make sense. Two and two now only equaled three and a half.
Jack, meanwhile proceeded to answer the phone and stood up very straight as the person on the other end spoke. Her father turned back to her and as he finished, he turned back towards her, with a stunned look on his face. "Your uh, your mother is going on a mission with a few agents. They've found Arvin and she knows the area well. And after what happens, she wants to be the one to kill him."
"Figures Mom would want to pull the trigger." She laughed quietly to herself. It was the first time she had smiled in a long time. She almost forgot how to curl her lips into the friendly expression, "Yeah, well. If I weren't here, I would be pulling the trigger." Sydney remarked cynically.
Jack let out a sigh and put his phone back into his jacket pocket. Good old Jack Bristow never changed out his CIA standard black suit since he had gotten to the hospital. It was a CIA affiliated hospital and everyone there knew what had happened with Sydney and her handler. "We almost lost you." His voice quavered in a reflexive tone.
"Almost doesn't count, Dad." She remarked profoundly, sensing the weakness in her father's voice. "They're not going to knock me down that easily."
Jack sat back down on the bed and the tears were evident in his eyes, "Sydney, I know we haven't been close all these year but," He stopped, clearly moved by what he was about to say, "But I want you to know that-"
"I know Dad." She replied, sensing his thoughts. "I feel the same way." Guilt suddenly pounded on her and she slowly let out a breath. "That's why," She bit down on her lip, "why I have to tell you a few things. About me and about Vaughn."
His eyes got wide for a second but Sydney didn't notice. She had looked down at her lap and started to gush over what had happened. The letter from Irinia.the pills and Bourbon and the gun..the spiked tool.the Bourbon, again.what Vaughn had done.how he was the one that stopped from her from killing herself and how he kept talking to her when she was being tortured by Sophia.
When she had finished, she was on the brink of tears and looked at her dad, like a worried teenager. He had gotten up and turned his back on her. His breathing was heavy and shook his shoulders. "I owe Michael Vaughn your life and mine then." He said after years of silence. Realizations that his girl had grown up and fallen love without him. He had missed so much in his life..busy saving the world from Arvin Sloane he forgot his daughter in the process. She had gushed about this one man and now it was clear that there was emotional attachment there. She was in love with her handler.
She raised her eyebrows in worry once more. "Yeah," her tears flooded her eyes, "I guess so."
He couldn't stand there anymore. His attention span had run out and a list of things to do had formed in his mind. "I'm going to and see how Mr. Vaughn made it out of his surgery."
"Hey Dad," she called after him.
"Yes?" He turned back towards her with puppy dog looking eyes. He had been replaced, whether he liked it or not. Okay, grant it, he hadn't always been the best father and he had missed much of Sydney's life but he was now a prominent part of her life and as soon as she needed him, she replaced him.
"Thank you, for everything."
"Yes." He replied simply and turned to go once more.
"And Dad?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, sweetie." He smiled quickly.
"Agent Vaughn, if you're there.I just wanted to say, that I think I owe my daughter's life to you." Jack spoke softly to him, standing straight near the foot of the bed, holding his coat in one hand and a briefcase in the other with a newspaper tucked under his arm. He looked like the stereotypical corporate man.
Vaughn's eyes opened again and gone was the black interior of the van but instead bright lights of a hospital room. "What?" He asked sleepily, adjusting his body in the soft bed. He had oxygen tubes running beneath his nose and his body felt so heavy. He wasn't quite sure what was going on but he decided to go with anyway.
"Sydney told me what happened. I owe my daughter to you. You saved her." Jack, for the first time, showed true emotion to Vaughn. "I don't know what I do without her. You saved her from herself." Jack replied in a matter-of-fact one. *Please tell me my daughter didn't fall for an idiot.*
Vaughn was now officially confused. "What?"
Jack sighed impatiently and walked to the head of the bed, "She told me about the letter from Irinia.the pills and Bourbon and the gun..the spiked tool.the Bourbon, again." Jack edged closer to Vaughn, lying on the hospital bed. "She told me you're the one that stopped from her from killing herself and you kept talking to her when she was being tortured by Sophia." *Okay, he's just numb from the medication. Or just keep telling yourself that.*
Vaughn sat up a little bit, his tattered clothes were now replaced by a hospital gown and his leg was bandaged tightly. "Who's Sophia?"
"Your mother." Jack couldn't help raising his eyebrows at the 33 year old. He couldn't be that sedated that he didn't know his mother's own name.
"My mother's name is Felicity Delorme Vaughn." Vaughn replied, attempting to sit up a little. This was officially confusing. "But the woman who tortured me said her name was Sophia Delorme. And knew everything about me.and my father..and Irinia."
A few more pieces began to fall into place for the troubled father. Maybe Vaughn wasn't a moron. "This makes sense then. This woman, Ophelia Hart impersonated your mother to torture you and Sydney. She is the head of the Alliance or should I say was the head of the Alliance. She must have had a mole in the CIA but got the wrong information off of our faux server. Any inexperience hacker attempting to hack into the system will get into the server with fake information, including agent files. There are all the agents' files there but with some alterations. For example on your father's, your mother's name was Sophia Nanette Delorme."
"And that's why Irinia thought my mother's name was Nanette." And Vaughn caught on quickly as well, even with the painkillers in his system.
Jack nodded knowingly, "She only received parts of the information you're your father. Also, Nanette was the wife of his alias." He remembered the case well but didn't want to go into details with him. He didn't have the heart to tell Vaughn that it was suppose to be him going on the mission not William.
Silence coated the two men for a moment until Vaughn spoke, "I have a few questions, sir. How's Sydney?" His green eyes flickered with life for a moment, quickly praying that she was alive and doing okay. His limbs started to get more comfortable in his skin and his mind was focusing quickly. The seizure had had no lasting affect on him. He was going to be okay.
"She's been asking about you." Jack almost smiled. He suddenly knew that he had found the missing half to his daughter. The way she spoke about him saving her were like flashing lights to Jack. His daughter was in love and obviously her love loved her back. "But she's fine." Jack turned to go and prepare to go back to his daughter's room but was promptly stopped by Vaughn calling out one last question to him.
"Good. Good." He smiled a little, "When are we going home?"
Jack looked over his shoulder and answered, "Tonight, actually. You're flying home first under your alias but Sydney needs to stay here for observation for another day or so." painfully slow. You may be in love with my daughter but I'm taking her home. She's mine for another day and then you can have her. I give her to you, Michael Vaughn.
"Tonight?" Vaughn's green eyes got wide for a moment. He only had a little while to get things in order to prepare for what he needed to do before he saw Sydney. He had dreamed of it so many times and after their near death experience, it was time for it to become reality.