Story: A world of chances, left behind

Chapter: Testing Nightmares and Cottage Kitchens

Rating: PG 13 at the moment for minimal course language but the rating will probably change later when I get into it a bit more.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't want it. JJ Abrams has it. And wants it. And might I say that it's a good job on his part. (I still hate the ending JJ - which is why I'm trying to change it so it's the way I'd like it to be. Actually I wouldn't like it to be this way at all) I still don't own it.

A/N: Okay I've read 'The Telling' like a million times now and I still hate it. Of course we can't have the happy ever afters yet but it's still annoying. So I'm back with the next chapter of "take someone else's plot line and fuck it up a bit more" but hey Vaughn in frilly aprons!!! (that's my major selling point by the way) Now you kind of have to have seen 'The Telling' or at least read it to get some of the bits, (but lets face it - most people have) coz there's some references - okay there's a few references that you won't understand if you haven't seen/read it. You have to know who says what. Simple. Anyway I'll also say again that I haven't seen the actual episode yet so some stuff might be a bit messy. Enough of my raving. Enjoy.

Summary: It's back to the CIA for Sydney. Nightmares plauge the darkness and testing lingers closer. Vaughn in frilly apron (selling point) ~*

Screams echoed all around her, black was all she saw. Panic streaked through her entire being. She felt her own voice projecting through the room. She was now screaming with the infant wail. Pain and torture, and such terrible cold.

A pair of strong hands gripped her and shook her until her eyes rolled open.

"Sydney! Sydney! Wake up!" Vaughn continued to shake her. He didn't yet know why he had allowed her into his home. Why he had offered and insisted that she accept, that he wouldn't have her spending the night alone.

Kate stood in the doorway and watched as her husband shook his ex-lover awake. Shock registered on her face as the screaming subsided and the heavy breathing replaced it. Kate was suspicious of this Sydney Bristow that had come to stay with them. She kept a close eye on her and didn't sleep well at night. She had to know people to trust them, to know them you had to get involved and talk and share common interests. As far as Kate was concerned, the only thing that her and Sydney Bristow had in common was Michael and she wasn't sharing.

Sydney gripped her head and waited for the screaming inside of her head to stop. She pushed Vaughn away from her and sat all the way up. He was fussing over her and she shoved at him to stop him, he was talking fast offering water and towels, she kept refusing and shoving at him. It was then she spotted Kate, standing in the doorway, watching him fuss. "Michael," she said without taking her eyes off Kate, "go back to bed, I'm going to be fine."

"Are you sure?" He said climbing to his bare feet and looking concerned.

"Yep." She smiled at him as though nothing had happened, that the nightmare had never been there. "Go, sleep, I'm good. I'll talk to you in the morning." She flicked the covers off to reveal her legs that stretched out of the shirt Vaughn had given her to sleep in, she climbed out of bed and shooed him out of the door and closed it. Once the door had been closed, she sighed and walked back to the bed. She knew that it would be pointless because she would spend the rest of the night tossing and turning, thinking about the dream.

~*

Sydney showered, put on the only clothes she had and made her way down Vaughn's stairs, egar for some breakfast.

Aromas filled the cottage styled blue and white kitchen. Vaughn was standing in the middle of the kitchen in a frilly apron that matched the décor, making bacon, eggs, toast, bake beans and pancakes.

"Feeding an army?" She asked snagging a piece of toast and taking up place at a kitchen stool. He smiled at her and didn't say any thing as he filled the kettle, so she threw in, "And planning to audition for a Broadway musical."

He stopped now and put his hands on his hips. "Yeah Syd, that's real funny. Why don't you come over here, put on the costume and man the eggs while I take a load off?"

"Thanks, but I'll be right." She laughed and took another bite of toast. "So where's Kate this lovely morning?"

"She's gone for a walk." He said, still a bit sensitive of the situation, he showed off but picking up the pan and flipping the pancake cooking in it high into the air and catching it again.

"Bravo, well done." Sydney clapped because he needed it not because she was impressed (although she was).

"Thank you." He took a bow and placed the pancakes in the oven with the eggs and bacon so it would stay warm. "Kate will be back soon so, I was thinking that the three of us could eat together before heading into the office."

"Yeah cool." Sydney agreed. She couldn't get over Vaughn standing around in a frilly apron making breakfast. She climbed to her feet to make coffee. "Vaughn, was - is there anything of mine left from the apartment? Do I have any photos, clothes, anything?"

Vaughn put the last of the pancakes in the oven and turned to face her. The frilly blue and white apron matched the oven mitt that he now wore. "I think - that your father has most of you photos. I guess he thought, some where inside, that you were still alive. But as for anything else, you'd have to find your father, which no one has yet done. The man is brilliant."

"Yeah," She smiled lightly, "he really is."

"He'll probably show up now that you're back. He'll still be looking for you." He said reassuringly taking her hand.

"He's out there looking for me?" Sydney snatched her hand back, not sure what she'd do if she didn't break the contact. She paced to the other side of the counter and placed both hands on its smooth surface. "Is he out there looking for me?" Desperation sounded.

"I don't know." Vaughn admitted looking at his hands and sliding the mitts off. "When he left - before he left - he said that it was my fault that you were gone. I didn't know what to do, I thought that maybe, it was my fault. But he never said that you were dead. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," Sydney paced now looking at the floor and shaking her restless hands. "I have to find him, my father, will you help me?"

"Syd," Vaughn set the mitts on the counter, "that's not who I am anymore. I have a job and a family. I can't leave them. I'm really sorry."

She wanted to feel hurt that he wouldn't help her but she didn't. She didn't need him anyway and she wasn't about stealing another woman's husband so she left it. "It's okay, really it's okay. I just need to organize my life, get back on track and I'll be fine."

"And I want to help you with that but I can't do much more for you than to offer money and accommodation for you until you can get back on top of things. I can't - no I won't go skipping around the world. I'm sorry for that, but I just won't."

"No, it's fine." She was walked out of the room, needing a moment to breathe. She stepped into the backyard where a swing set was sitting patiently. She thought it odd to have a swing set for such a small baby. Vaughn hadn't waited long she realized. She would have been gone about two months before he'd given up hope. Give about three or four months for Kate to step into her shoes and then a wedding and the baby got nine months and he was about two or three months now. No he didn't wait long at all. She sat and stewed on it when she discovered that the baby wasn't the one using the swing set. A small tribe of children in fairy and pirate costumes rounded the corner and helped themselves to the yard.

"Who are you." A young boy with a patch over his eye and a wooden sword asked Sydney when he spotted her.

"I'm Sydney, who are you?" Sydney asked watching the children carefully as they pooled around her. She counted seven, four fairies and three pirates including the one who had addressed her. If she stood on the seat that she had taken when she first stepped out, sprang hard off it and rolled the landing with a quick recovery she could bolt to the fence and clear it easily. She shook her head, *they're only children* she reminded herself, she had never had a problem with children before.

"I'm Captain Jason." The boy of about ten replied with the traditional accent of pirates. "And these are me hearties, Tim, Brad, Casey, Janet, Rose and Tina. Why are you on our ship?" He pointed his wooden sword at Sydney.

"I'm just visiting, your - uh, heartie Michael let me stay a while." She said standing and edging closer to the door back into the safeness of Vaughn's pretty kitchen.

Kate opened the door. "Ah, it's the pirates, quick Sydney, save yourself I can handle them." Kate swung out the door to pluck the nearest tinkerbell into her arms and threw her over a shoulder. She ran into the backyard and was followed by the other children.

Vaughn stepped out soon afterward and stood next to Sydney as Kate and the children battled in the center of the yard. "Kate loves the kids next door. She lets them play fairies and pirates here all the time. We have a good time."

"I can see that." Sydney laughed as Kate was pulled to the ground and sat upon by seven little bodies.

"I guess there's enough breakfast for all." He said turning back inside. "We'll bring the food out and set up the table and have a feast on our fine ship. Care to give me a hand, damsel in distress?"

"Yes I will, prince 'I'm so full of myself' charming." She said and followed him back to the kitchen to set up the breakfast.

~*

"What is your name?"

"Sydney Bristow." She replied. She hated testing, she hated being questioned like some criminal. Still Kendall had gone easy on her. He should have thrown her in a cell as soon as she had walked through the door, no, as soon as she had made the phone call.

The man doing the questioning looked at some charts and read her brain straight of the monitor that she was wired up to. He was in his mid fifties and bald. Little reading glasses sat on the end of his nose as he read the questions off a clipboard. He didn't look mean, but he did look like he knew what he was doing. "Are you an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency?"

"Yes."

"Did you work as a double agent for the CIA as part of an Alliance cell known as SD6?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever betrayed the US government intentionally?"

"No."

"Have you had a relationship of a sexual nature with former agent, Michael Vaughn?"

"Yes, but I hardly see the relevance in that question." She gripped the arm of the chair. "Who writes this? Honestly, who cares if I've slept with every one on the West Coast of America?"

"I'm sorry if this offends you Ms. Bristow but I'm required to cover all grounds in the reports that I've been given." His smile was kind and genuine.

Sydney set her jaw and looked away from him. Damn him for being nice. She nodded when he asked her if he could continue.

"Were you aware that Francine Calfo, was in actual fact Allison Georgia Doren before your confrontation in your apartment?" He was ready for the storm, he had done this many times before and these questions always hit hard.

"God what do you think? I just let my friends turn into secret agents behind my back? Do I look like I had any clue?" She breathed heavily as the monitors to her right beeped away, reading off data. She looked down at the floor and ignored the tears that were making their way down her face. "I didn't know until she came after me in my room."

"Would you like to tell me?" He asked carefully.

She swiped at the tears and went in to standard report mode. "I was dropped of at my home by former Agent Michael Vaughn. We were going away for a few days, we were happy." Memories were flooding back to her now.

*"So I did it."

"Did what?"

"I booked the hotel."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"You did?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Santa Barbara."

"Three nights starting tonight. I mean, it was probably the greatest phone call I've ever made."

"Well, you're a genius."

"Thank you." He kissed her then.

"So after the debrief I'll come and pick you up."

"Okay."*

"Then I went inside and Francie - uh - Allison was there and I spoke with her, about her day, about Will. Nothing important really. Then I checked my messages and I had a message on there from Will."

*"Sydney, it's me. Listen, this is going to sound insane but I just found Provacillium in the bathroom and I think that... I think that... uh, okay, just think about it. I think that the double is Franc--*

Will's voice echoed in her mind as the interviewer studied her and made notes. He didn't interrupt her, he'd wait it out, that was the best way.

"So I gave her some ice cream, did I say that? I got ice cream from the freezer. She ate it. Francie hates coffee ice cream."

*"I just remembered. Francie doesn't like coffee ice cream"

"No she doesn't"*

Sydney sat very still. The memories stung like hell. She was sharing her life with a criminal. It did explain a lot. How the apartment ended up bugged, why Francie was acting weird all the time. Oh she wished that she had figured it out sooner.

"Agent Bristow," The interviewer spoke now, "will you tell me what happened after she took the ice cream?"

"I left, I went to my room to get the gun. I knew that it wasn't really Francie. Something had to be off. So I went to get the gun. She followed me." Sydney remember checking to make sure the gun was loaded and then Allison -"

*"Francie doesn't like coffee ice cream"*

"We fought," Sydney continued, every blow registering on her face, every movement the wrong one in her mind, "we fought. We went through glass and windows, over benches and into walls. And in the bathroom, I saw Will. He was dead, he reminded me of Danny, dead." There were tears again but she didn't wipe them away. "I woke up in Hong Kong. I don't remember anything else besides waking up in Hong Kong."

"Nothing at all?" The interviewer looked at her amazed. "You were gone for two years and you don't remember anything?"

"Yes. I see things in my dreams, well I don't really see them, everything is black and it's really cold and there's screaming." She was so confused, her mind couldn't take anymore of the strange emptiness that she constantly felt since she had woke up in Hong Kong. "The screaming of an infant - of a child. I don't know what it means but it happens."

"It's okay. I think we'll leave it there for today." He touched her arm gently. "Sydney, will you come and see me some time? I am a departmental psychiatrist and I want to help you. I really want to help you get your memory back. Would you mind undergoing hypnosis?"

"Do you think that it would help?" Sydney asked, as she was unhooked from the machines. "You think that I would be able to remember something at a subconscious level?"

"Yes, I think that you could remember a lot. Would you like to make an appointment?" He handed her, her coat and walked her to the door.

"Um - sure, okay."

~*

"Sydney, are you okay?" Vaughn jumped up when she entered the conference room they had put him in. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I'm gonna be fine. We have to go and see Kendall now. He wants to speak to both of us. I don't know why." She threw in when he opened his mouth to speak. She smiled weakly at him and moved away towards to door.

He followed her down the hall and into the office that Kendall still manned.

"Sit." Kendall ordered as soon as the both of them were inside and the door closed. All the while he remained behind his desk, the power position. "Sydney I've briefly looked over your results from testing. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Sydney nodded resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Okay, moving on." Kendall continued. "Sydney, I know that Mr. Vaughn would have filled you in on all data we gave him. Is that correct Mr. Vaughn?"

Vaughn nodded, "Yes sir that is correct."

"Take the man out of the job but never take the job out of the man." Kendall muttered and looked back to Sydney. "Then you are fully aware that we have no idea of the whereabouts of your parents. We have several agents in different countries on look out for them. I think that they would have changed their images some how but they're out there soon. Your mother is still on the CIA's top ten most wanted along with Sloane but your father is just wanted. The man is brilliant. We believe that they are in Europe somewhere, together."

"Wait just a minute." Sydney held up a finger to Vaughn who had also dropped his jaw and was about to say something. "You think that my parents are out there living together? Like together, together, or just working together?"

"I'd say together, together." Kendall replied. "Nobody's seen or heard from them since you disappeared. They aren't running their own intelligence or we'd know about it. That means that your father is housing a fugitive."

"Why couldn't they be running their own intelligence without you knowing about it?" Vaughn finally got a word in. "You said yourself that the man's brilliant and Derevko's pretty brilliant herself.

"Mr. Vaughn, there is a reason why you're here." Kendall put his foot down half way through Vaughn's tangent and repeated calmly. "There is a reason why you're here but I'll get to you in a minute. Sydney where would they go? Do you know? Can you remember anything that might be able to help us find your parents or Sloane?"

Sydney chewed on her bottom lip, she didn't know anything that could help them. She shook her head. "I don't know anything but I'm fully willing to help in the mission to recover my parents and to find Sloane. If that's alright with you Director."

"I was hoping that you'd say that Agent Bristow." Kendall said extending a hand to her.

She accepted his hand and shook it. "When do I start?"

"Right now." Kendall said releasing her. "You can go out to my secretary and tell her to call the news stations, Sydney Bristow needs her daddy after being missing for two years."

"Right away sir." She said leaving the room in search for Kendall's secretary.

"Now Mr. Vaughn," Kendall said sitting again and looking directly at Vaughn. "Would you like to join us again now that Agent Bristow is back?"

"I can't do that." Vaughn said looking at his hands. "I have a wife and kid now Director. I can't just get up and leave whenever I feel like it, nor can I when you say jump. I love Sydney, part of me always will, but I can't help her this time. I have to think of my family."

"Well that's your decision." Kendall picked up a file and handed it to him. "What if I said that I didn't want you to come back to fly around the world. I just want you to be Agent Bristow's handler and do some basic desk work for me. It won't harm your family in any way. I promise you that."

Vaughn sighed, he would have a lot of explaining to do when he got home. "Okay, but can I start next week?"

"Yep." Kendall said climbing to his feet and shaking Vaughn's hand as he did with Sydney. "Welcome back. Now go home and break the news to that lovely wife of yours and I'll see you in your old office next Monday."

"Yes sir." Vaughn said and left. Home to break the news he thought. What fun.

~*

Sydney was on the news that night. Her image was projected to over two hundred English speaking countries and twelve non-English speaking countries.

"I request to my father, Jack Bristow, if your out there, please come home, I need to see you. If any one knows where my father is or has contact with him. Please contact the police. I really need my father back. Please Daddy."

"God I look like a sap and I sound it too." Sydney said to herself as she sat on Vaughn's couch.

"I don't know, it looked kind of real to me." Kate said entering the room and sitting next to her. "Sydney, my husband quit his job to go back to the CIA. Do you know how hard it is to hear that?"

Sydney shook her head. "No, and I'm not going to pretend to understand. But I wasn't the one who asked him to return and it sure as hell wasn't my idea."

"Well let me tell you. If he gets hurt, I won't be able to live. Over the past year and a half, he's become my whole world. I can't lose him and I won't. If he gets hurt, I will pull him out of the CIA and I will drag him far away. Away from the CIA, away from LA and away from you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do." Sydney met Kate's icy stare with one of her own. "He made the decision. Not me. So don't you blame me for something that is not my fault." She climbed to her feet and headed upstairs to the room she was staying in until she had some money and an apartment of her own. She didn't make Vaughn do anything, but she couldn't help feeling like the cause. She swore to protect him no matter what. For his wife and son.

~*

Jack sat. He watched the TV like he'd never seen it before and on the screen was his daughter begging him to come home. His wife spoke very quickly on the phone in Russian as she paced around behind his chair.

"Sydney." The word escaped his lips like a song. He'd been searching and searching and here she was.

A hand touched his shoulder and a beautiful female voice sounded in his ear. "Yes darling, but we can't go to her. She will come to us, she is strong."

"I've searched the world for her and I haven't been able to find her and now, there she is, waiting for me."

"My love, she is working for them. Right now, your daughter is the enemy. Mean while we have a lead and we must go to Russia."

"How can you be so sure that she will come to us. At least without an army behind her." Jack said moving to the TV screen and studying his daughter's image.

"Because," Irina said, "We created her."