A Mother's Advice
Disclaimer: I don't own Sydney, Weiss, Vaughn, Barnett, Kendall, Jack, Sloane, or Derevko. But Amanda and the baby are MINE!
A/N: I just want to let everyone know that I don't really *agree* with the baby storyline, but it does make a good story, and I'm currently working on a future fic that I'm going to tie in to this story, so I have to continue to follow this general theme! ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Vaughn blinks and stares at her hand. *She's wearing the ring.*
He sighs.
"You found the picture album. I thought so."
"So?" she prompts impatiently.
"It was…it would have been yours. I almost asked you before you got out of the car that night," he says, staring at his hands. "But I thought you'd find it so much more romantic in Santa Barbara. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it, so I hid it in the album. You have everything else too?"
"Everything that was in that box. Is there more?"
"Not really. I still have a few pictures, may be a wig, but everything else of mine and yours is in that box."
*************************************************************************************************
Amanda sits at her desk trying hard to work. She found out about Sydney being taken to see the CIA doctors. But by then, she'd already left. She looked for Michael, but soon found out that he'd left, too.
Despite the problems it may cause, she hopes he is with Sydney. They need to talk about things that only the two of them know, things no one else should ever know. She can easily understand why he liked Sydney; she is level headed and handles crises without panicking, marks of a good agent and friend. But then, they were more than just friends then, weren't they.
Amanda realizes that she has been staring at the same page of data for five minutes, and she doesn't remember a word of it.
She reluctantly begins to read, but her computer chirps, indicating she has an e-mail. She opens it to find a simple one-line message:
Sydney shouldn't look for her baby.
It is signed 'her mother'.
Amanda is confused for a moment. Sydney's mother is the terrorist Irina Derevko, isn't she? Amanda asks herself.
She knows she should call Kendall immediately, but she doesn't. Instead, being sure that her husband is with Sydney, she dials Michael's cell.
"Hello?"
"Michael, it's me, are you with Sydney?" Amanda asks as she hears a woman say something in the background. She is positive it's Sydney.
*************************************************************************************************
Sydney looks at Vaughn's cell phone disdainfully. She always hated those things. They *always* ring at the worst possible moment.
"Why?" Vaughn asks in a tone, half defensive and half surprised, which makes Sydney study him closely.
"I need to talk to her, I know she's there, give her the phone!" Amanda instructs urgently.
Sydney's confusion shows plainly on her face as Vaughn hands her the phone.
"It's Amanda." His voice betrays his confusion.
"How did she…Did you…?" Sydney mumbles.
"No. I don't know how she knew I was here, but she insists that she has to talk to you," he says, shrugging.
"Amanda? What's going on?" Sydney asks.
"Sydney, you wouldn't believe the e-mail I just got," Amanda says, and Sydney can tell she is shaken by this.
"So why not call Kendall? Why me?" Sydney asks, confused.
"Because it's about you."
"Explain," Sydney says sharply.
"All the e-mail said was 'Sydney shouldn't look for her baby'. What baby?" Amanda asks, wrinkling her forehead.
"Was is signed?" Sydney ignores the question.
"Yes. 'Her mother'. That's all it said."
"She knows I'm here?!?" Sydney cries in astonishment.
"You think it's legitimate? That it's Irina Derevko?"
"It's her style. Look, thanks for letting me know, but get Kendall in there *now*. And get Marshal to try and trace it," Sydney orders.
"Right."
Sydney looks up to find Vaughn staring at her, his eyes wide and his forehead wrinkled.
"What was *that* about?" he manages to sputter.
Sydney relates her conversation.
"Vaughn, she knew who she was sending that message to! She knew it would get back to me! *She somehow knew I found out*!" Sydney says desperately.
"I'll get the computer team looking for security breaches," Vaughn promises. "She could have hacked into the medical team's files."
"She also knew I'd search for it. That's what makes me so sure this is real." Sydney's eyes are wide and her lips are drawn up into a thin line.
Vaughn is quiet for a long moment.
"Syd, I hate your mother as much as you do," he begins, "But let's be objective here. What if it's not a threat, but a warning."
"Aren't they essentially the same?"
"What if she's *warning* you that it is dangerous to look. Where would you go form there?"
"I'd assume there was some reason *she* needed me alive," she says cynically.
"Assume for a minute she just doesn't want to see you hurt. Go from there."
"Okay. May be…may be she's afraid that if I start poking around, Sloane might come after me."
"Or may be she's afraid Sloane will find out something he doesn't know. Something he can use to get you over to his side."
"Like what?"
"The child."
Sydney stands up.
"You going somewhere?" Vaughn asks.
"Yes. We're going to see Kendall and tell him your theory. If nothing else, it gives them more than one angle to work on."
"And? You never work on that alone."
"And, I feel like you might be right. This is really her, and she might be trying to keep something form Sloane," Sydney admits. She has learned to trust her feelings when working on a case.
*************************************************************************************************
Irina Derevko is back in the room of computers again. She hopes the message will get Sydney to back off for a little while, at least. But it may well have the opposite effect.
By now, she's probably hot on the child's trail, she thinks. But I *can't* have her looking around. It's too dangerous.
She hadn't expected Sydney to recover her memory after the sedatives wore off. She hadn't expected them to find she'd been pregnant so soon. She can't allow them to find anything about the child until she is ready.
But this is Sydney.
*************************************************************************************************
Kendall hears their story, and he looks at them dubiously.
"You expect me to believe that Derevko is trying to *protect* you?" he asks Sydney.
"Yes. For some reason, she thinks I'll endanger myself by looking for my child," she says defiantly.
"I'll get a few analysts to look into this. Is that all?" he asks irritably, obviously feeling his time has been wasted.
"No," Sydney says. "I'd like to be restored to my previous agent status and assist with this investigation."
Vaughn stands stupidly with his mouth hanging open. She'd given no prior indication of wishing to continue working as an agent. And, for once, Kendall is nearly speechless.
"What…You…Is this *okay* with you, Agent Vaughn?" he asks, addressing Vaughn as the head of the task force.
"Yes," he answers simply, knowing it irritates the hell out of Kendall and enjoying it.
"But we already have an agent in her position!" Kendall complains.
"Director, I believe *Agent* Bristow is capable of contributing more to this case than all of the other agents on the force combined. There is no tangible reason not to add her to the task force," Vaughn says firmly.
"Fine. I'll need a psych evaluation from Barnett before you'll be field graded," he spits at Sydney as he walks off briskly.
Sydney grins almost gleefully at Vaughn.
"I'm going to talk to Barnett. Never know when we might get a lead," she says.
Neither of them would ever have thought two years ago that she would be so relieved to get back into the agency that she'd worked, *fought*, so hard to get out of.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Not much of a cliffhanger, I know, but surely you really want to know what adventures are to come?
Please review! It'll motivate me to type the next chapter faster…
Disclaimer: I don't own Sydney, Weiss, Vaughn, Barnett, Kendall, Jack, Sloane, or Derevko. But Amanda and the baby are MINE!
A/N: I just want to let everyone know that I don't really *agree* with the baby storyline, but it does make a good story, and I'm currently working on a future fic that I'm going to tie in to this story, so I have to continue to follow this general theme! ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Vaughn blinks and stares at her hand. *She's wearing the ring.*
He sighs.
"You found the picture album. I thought so."
"So?" she prompts impatiently.
"It was…it would have been yours. I almost asked you before you got out of the car that night," he says, staring at his hands. "But I thought you'd find it so much more romantic in Santa Barbara. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it, so I hid it in the album. You have everything else too?"
"Everything that was in that box. Is there more?"
"Not really. I still have a few pictures, may be a wig, but everything else of mine and yours is in that box."
*************************************************************************************************
Amanda sits at her desk trying hard to work. She found out about Sydney being taken to see the CIA doctors. But by then, she'd already left. She looked for Michael, but soon found out that he'd left, too.
Despite the problems it may cause, she hopes he is with Sydney. They need to talk about things that only the two of them know, things no one else should ever know. She can easily understand why he liked Sydney; she is level headed and handles crises without panicking, marks of a good agent and friend. But then, they were more than just friends then, weren't they.
Amanda realizes that she has been staring at the same page of data for five minutes, and she doesn't remember a word of it.
She reluctantly begins to read, but her computer chirps, indicating she has an e-mail. She opens it to find a simple one-line message:
Sydney shouldn't look for her baby.
It is signed 'her mother'.
Amanda is confused for a moment. Sydney's mother is the terrorist Irina Derevko, isn't she? Amanda asks herself.
She knows she should call Kendall immediately, but she doesn't. Instead, being sure that her husband is with Sydney, she dials Michael's cell.
"Hello?"
"Michael, it's me, are you with Sydney?" Amanda asks as she hears a woman say something in the background. She is positive it's Sydney.
*************************************************************************************************
Sydney looks at Vaughn's cell phone disdainfully. She always hated those things. They *always* ring at the worst possible moment.
"Why?" Vaughn asks in a tone, half defensive and half surprised, which makes Sydney study him closely.
"I need to talk to her, I know she's there, give her the phone!" Amanda instructs urgently.
Sydney's confusion shows plainly on her face as Vaughn hands her the phone.
"It's Amanda." His voice betrays his confusion.
"How did she…Did you…?" Sydney mumbles.
"No. I don't know how she knew I was here, but she insists that she has to talk to you," he says, shrugging.
"Amanda? What's going on?" Sydney asks.
"Sydney, you wouldn't believe the e-mail I just got," Amanda says, and Sydney can tell she is shaken by this.
"So why not call Kendall? Why me?" Sydney asks, confused.
"Because it's about you."
"Explain," Sydney says sharply.
"All the e-mail said was 'Sydney shouldn't look for her baby'. What baby?" Amanda asks, wrinkling her forehead.
"Was is signed?" Sydney ignores the question.
"Yes. 'Her mother'. That's all it said."
"She knows I'm here?!?" Sydney cries in astonishment.
"You think it's legitimate? That it's Irina Derevko?"
"It's her style. Look, thanks for letting me know, but get Kendall in there *now*. And get Marshal to try and trace it," Sydney orders.
"Right."
Sydney looks up to find Vaughn staring at her, his eyes wide and his forehead wrinkled.
"What was *that* about?" he manages to sputter.
Sydney relates her conversation.
"Vaughn, she knew who she was sending that message to! She knew it would get back to me! *She somehow knew I found out*!" Sydney says desperately.
"I'll get the computer team looking for security breaches," Vaughn promises. "She could have hacked into the medical team's files."
"She also knew I'd search for it. That's what makes me so sure this is real." Sydney's eyes are wide and her lips are drawn up into a thin line.
Vaughn is quiet for a long moment.
"Syd, I hate your mother as much as you do," he begins, "But let's be objective here. What if it's not a threat, but a warning."
"Aren't they essentially the same?"
"What if she's *warning* you that it is dangerous to look. Where would you go form there?"
"I'd assume there was some reason *she* needed me alive," she says cynically.
"Assume for a minute she just doesn't want to see you hurt. Go from there."
"Okay. May be…may be she's afraid that if I start poking around, Sloane might come after me."
"Or may be she's afraid Sloane will find out something he doesn't know. Something he can use to get you over to his side."
"Like what?"
"The child."
Sydney stands up.
"You going somewhere?" Vaughn asks.
"Yes. We're going to see Kendall and tell him your theory. If nothing else, it gives them more than one angle to work on."
"And? You never work on that alone."
"And, I feel like you might be right. This is really her, and she might be trying to keep something form Sloane," Sydney admits. She has learned to trust her feelings when working on a case.
*************************************************************************************************
Irina Derevko is back in the room of computers again. She hopes the message will get Sydney to back off for a little while, at least. But it may well have the opposite effect.
By now, she's probably hot on the child's trail, she thinks. But I *can't* have her looking around. It's too dangerous.
She hadn't expected Sydney to recover her memory after the sedatives wore off. She hadn't expected them to find she'd been pregnant so soon. She can't allow them to find anything about the child until she is ready.
But this is Sydney.
*************************************************************************************************
Kendall hears their story, and he looks at them dubiously.
"You expect me to believe that Derevko is trying to *protect* you?" he asks Sydney.
"Yes. For some reason, she thinks I'll endanger myself by looking for my child," she says defiantly.
"I'll get a few analysts to look into this. Is that all?" he asks irritably, obviously feeling his time has been wasted.
"No," Sydney says. "I'd like to be restored to my previous agent status and assist with this investigation."
Vaughn stands stupidly with his mouth hanging open. She'd given no prior indication of wishing to continue working as an agent. And, for once, Kendall is nearly speechless.
"What…You…Is this *okay* with you, Agent Vaughn?" he asks, addressing Vaughn as the head of the task force.
"Yes," he answers simply, knowing it irritates the hell out of Kendall and enjoying it.
"But we already have an agent in her position!" Kendall complains.
"Director, I believe *Agent* Bristow is capable of contributing more to this case than all of the other agents on the force combined. There is no tangible reason not to add her to the task force," Vaughn says firmly.
"Fine. I'll need a psych evaluation from Barnett before you'll be field graded," he spits at Sydney as he walks off briskly.
Sydney grins almost gleefully at Vaughn.
"I'm going to talk to Barnett. Never know when we might get a lead," she says.
Neither of them would ever have thought two years ago that she would be so relieved to get back into the agency that she'd worked, *fought*, so hard to get out of.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Not much of a cliffhanger, I know, but surely you really want to know what adventures are to come?
Please review! It'll motivate me to type the next chapter faster…
