Recovery

Disclaimer: I don't own Alias. Sorry, wish I did.

A/N: Another fact- This started off as the epilogue, but as I wrote it turned itself into another chapter. So it starts off a little weird, format-wise. _____________________________________________________________________________________

They have a hotel room in Pavo. They silently agreed beforehand to get a room with two beds. They aren't sure what they are really ready for. The first night, they sleep in separate beds.

Both of them are wondering what's in store for them when they approach the adoption agency the next morning. Neither of them knows what to expect. This is new to them.

"Syd?" Vaughn finally whispers at around five am. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah," she says, turning over to face him.

"You haven't slept all night." It's not a question.

"Neither have you," she defends. "I'm just…I don't know. We're so close to getting my…our baby, after all this time. And we're so close," she says, her tone changing slightly.

"Yeah," he says softly, noticing the change.

They stare at each other in the dark for a few moments.

"Let's just get up," Sydney says finally, breaking the spell. "This isn't doing us any good. Surely there's somewhere we can get some decent coffee. It'll do us some good, at least." she rises from her bed and starts to dress.

When they arrive at the front door of the agency, Sydney begins to look at everything as though it *can't* be real. She can't believe she's there. She can't believe that she's about to begin the process of getting back the child she's previously only seen for literally a matter of seconds.

Vaughn holds onto her arm as they approach the desk inside the building.

"Can I help you?" a gray-haired woman asks them.

"We…Our daughter was adopted through this agency," Vaughn says with difficulty.

"Yes?"

"We want to get her back," Vaughn says carefully. "It was a mistake."

"If she's been adopted, it could be a long process," the woman warns.

"Ma'am, could we speak to the top person here?" Sydney asks with feigned patience.

"Well, you could, but I'm sure I can help you…"

"I'm afraid our situation is unlike anything you've dealt with before," Sydney says, a hint of sarcasm slipping into her voice.

"I'll go get someone," the woman mutters reluctantly.

A woman whom Sydney judges to be in her mid-thirties walks out promptly. Her lips are pursed as though she's annoyed by this interruption.

"Is there a problem?" she asks briskly.

"Could we perhaps talk somewhere more…private?" Sydney asks, still maintaining a tone of forced politeness.

"This is going to get…complicated," Vaughn adds when the woman doesn't answer.

"We'll go to my office," the woman sighs, even more reluctant than the gray-haired woman.

"My name," she says, sitting behind a massive oak desk, "Is Lillian Brown. I'm very busy here, so if you would, let's make this quick."

Sydney and Vaughn look at each other, silently debating who should start.

"This is going to be anything but quick," he says finally. "We're going to have to ask for complete confidentiality. Nothing leaves this room unless we says so."

"I can't promise that indefinitely, but I can for now," she says, eager to get this over with.

"My name is Michael Vaughn," he says slowly, his eyes never leaving the woman's face. "And I'm an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency."

They tell Lillian Brown everything. How Sydney disappeared for two years. How doctors found she'd been pregnant. How she'd had therapy to recover memories. How they'd called the agency by chance and found out that a note signed by Laura Bristow had been left. How Laura Bristow was an alias of a known terrorist. How neither of them had known the child existed until recently and they want her very much.

Lillian Brown sits silently through the entire long explanation.

"I'll call the adoptive parents to set up tests to prove your parenthood," she says simply.

Tears run down Sydney's cheeks.

"Thank you," she says softly.

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Bobby comes home to find Lizzy in tears.

She tells him about the phone call from Lillian Brown.

"It was too perfect!" Lizzy cries. "Kassie is *ours*!"

"Lizzy, surely her parents can't just *show up* after over a year and reclaim their child!" Bobby exclaims.

"That's what she said! She says that if these people *are* her parents, then something wasn't right about the adoption! Bobby, I can't lose Kassie!"

Bobby calls the agency and is quickly told that he has no choice but to bring the child in for testing at the specified time. It will be set up so that he won't meet the people, but he has to come.

He decides that Lizzy is in no condition to come, so he takes the baby alone the next morning. They prick her finger to take a blood sample. Under any other circumstances, he'd have appreciated how gentle they were with the baby. As it is, he glares at everyone with obvious contempt.

******************************************************************************************

Vaughn and Sydney are at the agency hours after Robert Gordon has left with the baby. They both sit nervously as the technicians take blood samples.

On the way out, Sydney insists on talking to Lillian Brown.

"Mrs. Brown," Sydney says, "How long will it be before the results are clear? And after that, how long before I can get my baby?"

"Two or three days on the tests," Lillian Brown says, never looking up. "If they prove you're the parents, we'll have to work something out between the adoptive parents and yourselves. It's a policy that all of you have the opportunity to meet. It minimizes animosity sometimes, or at least gives the people losing the child some peace."

"Thank you," Sydney mumbles, rejoining Vaughn.

Both of them in need of comfort, they spend that night together. When they've heard nothing the next night, they spend it together as well.

"Syd, I've missed you," Vaughn says on that second morning. He caresses her cheek gently.

She reaches up and holds his hand against her face.

"I've missed you too," she whispers softly.

"Syd?" he says nervously. "I…I love you."

She smiles widely.

"I love you too, Vaughn," she says. "And this time I'm not going anywhere," she promises.

******************************************************************************************

"Bobby, we have to be at the agency at 6:00 this evening," Lizzy tells him sadly. "We're meeting her parents."

"We'll be okay, Liz. We'll get through this," Bobby promises.

The young couple walks into Lillian Brown's office to find the slightly older couple already there. Lizzy notices right away that the woman seems genuinely worried. Her eyes rest hungrily on Kassie. Lizzy hugs the baby protectively.

Bobby studies the man. He sees him stand protectively behind the woman, his arm around her waist. He too watches Kassie.

******************************************************************************************

All Sydney can think of when Elizabeth Gordon walks into the office is, "She has my baby". Her body tenses and she feels Vaughn slip his arm around her.

Lillian Brown jumps up to make introductions.

"Robert and Elizabeth Gordon, this is Michael Vaughn and Sydney Bristow," she says cheerfully. She takes the baby, but she almost has to pry her from Lizzy's arms.

"You're not married?" Lizzy asks sharply. Bobby puts an arm around her shoulders.

Sydney shakes her head slowly.

"There were…complications. We just realized there was a child," she says evasively.

Bobby snorts.

"How can you not know you have a kid?" he asks, looking at Sydney as if she's crazy.

"We're not obligated to explain our situation," Vaughn snaps at the man. "We only want our daughter."

"Kassie is ours!" Lizzy says possessively.

"I didn't want to give her up! It wasn't my choice!" Sydney says loudly.

"Look," Lillian says, jumping in, "I understand this is difficult, to say the least. But I can assure you, Elizabeth, if you knew the circumstances you'd understand why I can't let you keep this baby."

"What are the circumstances?" Lizzy asks sarcastically.

"I can't tell you. If Michael and Sydney see it fit to tell you, that's their choice," Lillian says calmly.

Lizzy forces herself to calm down and think rationally.

"Look, Miss Bristow, you show up after more than a year and suddenly want the child you abandoned. *My* child. Why? Surely you must understand that I can't just give up my child without knowing why," she says pleadingly.

Sydney nods.

"I understand. I know I have no choice but to tell you some things, but there are things even I'm not at liberty to explain. For example, I can't tell you *how* I was unaware I had a child, you'll just have to believe that I didn't know. I only found out recently, when I encountered some…problems in my life. I've always wanted a family. And I have a child. I can't live the rest of my life not knowing what happened to her. And I can't live knowing her but not being able to tell her I'm her mother. I need my baby," she concludes, her voice even more pleading than Lizzy's.

Lizzy hangs her head.

"Okay," she says softly, almost inaudibly.

She looks up, her eyes full of tears.

"But please, let us have one more day with her."

Sydney nods.

"Let me hold her first, just for a minute before you go," she begs.

Lillian hands the squirming little girl to her mother. Sydney studies her striking green eyes. Her wispy brown hair. Her familiar smile.

Too soon, Lillian takes the baby from Sydney and gives her to Lizzy.

"I'll call you to arrange a meeting tomorrow," she says as Lizzy and Bobby leave.

Sydney watches them leave with tears running down her cheeks. Vaughn wipes them away and holds her tenderly.

"It's just one more day," he comforts. To Lillian Brown he says, "We'll want to change her name."

"I'll have all the necessary papers," she promises. "Seven okay with you?"

"Fine," Vaughn says, leading Sydney out of the office.

"She has your eyes Vaughn," Sydney says, lying beside him in bed that night.

"She has your smile," he says, moving closer to her.

They are no longer upset about waiting another day for their baby. They know how hard it is for the Gordons, especially with the limited information they have.

Sydney has thought of nothing but her baby all night, with the exception of one stretch of time. She remembers every detail about that small face.

Vaughn remembers all of Sydney's features on the tiny face.

"May be we can have a son someday," Vaughn mumbles sleepily. "So I'll have someone look like me." at first he doesn't think Sydney hears him.

"That sounds like fun," she finally mumbles before they drift off.

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"I have made this…longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short." -Blaise Pascal

This is exactly how I feel about this chapter. It would take me days to shorten it, but to do that I'd probably ruin the mood anyway. This is technically the last chapter, but there will be an epilogue!