Author's Comments: Thanks for all the reviews you guys! Ya all certainly know how to make a gal feel good. Unfortunately this chapter is going to be a little depressing again, but I promise you that Chapter 8 will captivate you once again! Oh, and so you all don't think I'm a hopeless Alias addict by adding on every day, I think you should know that I've had a week of school off because of snow, leaving me much time at my disposal. So keep reading and reviewing!

Chapter 7

Vaughn sat in the warehouse, phone in hand. He had just finished making the call to his new agent, Diane Patterson, and it felt like the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. No longer was he to use the code Joey's Pizza, but Ruth's Bakery. Diane was an undercover agent within the SD-3 cell whose previous handler had resigned.

Her mission required her to steal a crystal that Rambaldi had mentioned in several of his documents but without specifics. Neither SD-3 nor the CIA knew what the crystal looked like, or even if it was located at the mission site in Rome. Diane's mission was to go to Rome and try and locate the crystal. If she was unsuccessful in locating it, her mission was to come up with a lead for SD-3 to follow up on.

Vaughn sat up on his normal spot among the crates. The warehouse seemed empty some how. Maybe because he knew she wasn't coming. It used to be the emptiness that kept him company till Sydney would arrive, but now that's all that it was, emptiness. Vaughn waited as he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. In a few seconds he would be able to see her face, his instincts told him excitedly. But then he stopped as reality kicked in again. He would see Diane's face, not Sydney's.

"Hi," Diane greeted him as she came around the corner.

"Hi," Vaughn said formally looking her up and down. She looked just like her picture. She had straight jet-black hair and brown eyes. Her features were perfect in their Asian way, with lively light colored skin that contained not a single blemish. She wore a simple black dress suite with a skirt that fell to her knees but that still showed off her long muscular legs. She was beautiful.

"My name is Agent Michael Vaughn, and I'll be you're new handler," he introduced.

"I'm sure you already know about me," Diane said gesturing to her file as she stuck out her hand for Vaughn to shake.

"Yes, very impressive work," Vaughn said, trying to make small talk, even though he wanted the meeting to be over as soon as possible. It wasn't that he didn't like the girl, he just didn't want to be there anymore.

"Well?" Diane asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well what?" Vaughn asked looking confused.

"My counter mission?" She suggested with a laugh.

"Right," Vaughn said. "Basically, if you obtain the crystal you're to put it in a small paper bag and leave it in your hotel trashcan. A CIA agent will pick it up disguised as Room Service and deliver it to one of our tech guys. They will analyze it quickly and make a copy of its obvious features for your to give to SD-6, I mean SD-3," Vaughn said correcting himself. He looked at Diane to see her reaction to his blunder, but she just kept nodding and smiling at him.

"And if I don't find it?" Diane asked.

"Go ahead and give the intel to SD-3 and we'll make plans for what to do when you're sent on your next mission. Do you have any questions?" Vaughn asked, glad that the meeting was ending.

Diane looked at him carefully, and nodded. "I do have one. How'd you get to be my handler?"

Vaughn looked away, not really wanting to answer the question, so he didn't. "Do you have any questions about the mission?" He emphasized, knowing that he probably sounded rude, but he didn't care. He didn't want to talk about Sydney with a complete stranger.

She looked slightly offended at his abruptness, but she put her hands up in surrender. "Okay, I won't ask. I don't have any questions about the mission," she said. "But just in case you're curious to why I asked, you look like crap."

The way she said it made him smile a little. "I know, I've gotten that a lot today." She waited a second hoping he was going to expand on it, but when he didn't she decided to end the meeting.

"Well, it was good meeting you Agent Vaughn," Diane said turning away, but not before looking back and saying, "And Agent Vaughn? I'm told I'm very easy to talk to. Just keep that in mind." With that she was gone.

Vaughn couldn't help but admire her a little bit. She actually seemed pretty carefree about her life style. Not to mention the fact that she was all too willing to offer her friendship to a stranger. He sighed, why couldn't things with Sydney been that easy? He had wanted an easy friendship that turned into something more. He had the friendship, he knew that, but what he wasn't allowed to give was that something more, and now he would never have that chance.

* * *

Jack Bristow stared at the road with haggard eyes. He hadn't gotten more the four possibly five hours of sleep. He had not gone into work today at the CIA or SD-6. He wasn't ready. He had tossed and turned for hours upon hours just thinking of his short termed life with his daughter. He had reprimanded himself over and over for what he had put Sydney threw, secluding her from a normal life. To make matters worse, he didn't really feel like he knew his daughter at all, and that is what killed him. How much he could have discovered just by getting to know her, instead of keeping his distance until she joined SD-6.

As upset as he was, Jack wasn't just driving. Though he had left the phone unplugged during his sleepless hours, a message had been left on his answering machine. A message saying that Irina Derevko refused to speak to the CIA until she had spoken with Jack Bristow. Jack knew what Irina wanted to talk about, and as much as Irina proved to be helping the CIA, Jack was still cautious of her devious ways. Maybe back when Irina had been Laura Bristow, Jack would have turned to her for support in such a situation as this, but not now. Jack did not want to talk to Irina about the dead daughter she had betrayed and hurt upon several occasions, but Kendall wanted him to.

In most instances, Jack believed that Kendall would have denied Irina's request, but Kendall most likely thought it would be best for Jack to talk to someone about his emotions, even if it was Irina Derevko. Jack didn't really know what good would come about from talking to Irina, and in actuality he wasn't looking forward to finding out, but he decided to treat it like a mission.

Jack parked his car in the park and got out. He walked across the campus that Sydney had tread upon so many times. The "homeless person" was in his usual spot, asleep, as it was three o'clock in the morning. Jack threw a coin into the cup that jarred the man awake as Jack continued to walk past him. The pay phone near the secret CIA entrance confirmed his clearance and he entered the office. Jack preferred to come now, while very few people were here. It made his mission much easier.

He continued down the hallway to where Irina was being held prisoner. The three gates opened and Jack faced the window that looked upon the concrete walls, the single iron bed, and Irina Derevko.

She apparently had been awake even before Jack had arrived for she was sitting on her bed and staring at the wall. She stood up and walked over to the window.

"Hello, Jack," she said quietly.

"Irina," he answered curtly.

Irina watched him in her intimidating way. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine." Jack hated these formalities. "Look, lets cut the bullshit Irina, and tell me why you wanted to see me?"

"I wanted to know for sure," Irina said simply. Jack understood, and Irina fired off her questions.

"Blood type?"

"The same."

"Dental records."

"A match."

"Birth marks?"

"She had none, Irina. Neither does Sydney."

"Hair? Eyes? Face?" Irina asked.

"God damn it Irina it was her," Jack said frustrated.

"I guess all I had to do was look into your eyes," Irina said doing just that. "You can hide most of your expressions Jack, but your love for Sydney is seen in your eyes quite plainly."

"Stop it," Jack said in a low voice. "I don't want to hear it, not from you."

"Look at me Jack," Irina demanded. "Look into my eyes, Jack." Jack refused. "Dammit Jack just look!" Jack looked up at her, and was surprised to see the same misery that Irina probably saw in his eyes in hers eyes too.

"Sydney was my daughter too, Jack. To you I may seem like a merciless traitor who killed many people, betrayed her own country, her own husband," Irina said calmly, but the tears were showing. "Who was even able to shoot her own daughter, but even though to you there is no proof, I really loved Sydney, Jack. I did. You need to know that."

Jack looked at Irina whose tears streamed freely down her face on the other side of the window, but he couldn't think of anything to say. He couldn't stay in here any more. Seeing Irina Derevko cry was not easy. Just as it had not been easy to see Laura Bristow cry. Jack turned towards the gate, and waited for it to open.

"I loved her, Jack. Is there any way--?" she asked as the gate opened.

Jack shook his head. "No. She's dead, Irina."

Jack left the office the way he came in. Past the "homeless man" and to his car, where he opened the driver's door and sat, and let himself cry for the second time in two days.