Disclaimer~ If I owned Alias, I would have a car whose windows go all the way down and doesn't randomly have the windshield wipers start working when you turn left

Summary~ Future Fic; When Sydney disappears, Vaughn is determined to find her, for his sake and their son's

A/N: Well I survived my mission trip with only minor injuries, so I'm back now. Thanks for all of the great reviews and suggestions, yeah, William is pretty much the sweetest, most perfect little kid ever lol. here is chapter 8.

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On Christmas morning William sat in bed for a little while before getting up. Sydney had always made a big deal out of Christmas, and as far as William could tell, Vaughn really didn't. Sure, they had a tree and decorated the house, but there were no gingerbread houses, no caroling, nothing that Sydney had done with him. Nonetheless, William got excited and finally left his room.

"Hey" Vaughn said with a smile, looking up from his newspaper and coffee when William walked into the living room "I never thought you would get up"

William smiled with big eyes as he saw the pile of gifts had grown significantly since last night. A toy train ran around the track around the tree with a small tag on it that said 'from santa'. An overflowing stocking was leaning against the fireplace, as well as a large lego set and many wrapped presents under the tree.

"Wow buddy, santa sure was good to you" Vaughn said with a smile

"Dad, I have a present for you" William shouted as he ran off to his room to fetch the gift. A few minutes later he returned with a crudely wrapped package. He handed it proudly to Vaughn "Merry Christmas dad"

Vaughn slowly untied the red ribbon that held the tissue paper together. As the paper fell away he noticed that it was a plate. In the middle was William's handprint and underneath it said 'I love you daddy. Merry Christmas. Love, William'. A small tear escaped from Vaughn's eye when he saw it.

William's lips trembled "do you not like it?" he asked softly

Vaughn looked up "Oh no, no William. I love it. It really is the best present I could ask for" he reassured his son "except for maybe your mom to return" he added softly. William climbed up into his lap and hugged him.

William then went over to the tree and started surveying the presents that had not been unwrapped yet. He picked up one and looked at the card 'William-don't let your dad see you open this. Uncle Eric'. William smiled mischievously and set the gift down. He then picked up a large box "dad, can I open this?"

"Sure" Vaughn said absentmindly, as he was still touched by William's gift to him

William ripped open the paper and found a stack of storybooks inside. As much as William loved stories, he was slightly disappointed by this gift. He opened the first book and a small note fell out. The little boy walked over to Vaughn "Daddy, what does this note say?" he asked quietly, handing the piece of paper to his dad

Vaughn read aloud to William "William- I know these may seem like a boring gift to you, but I means a lot to me to give them to you. These were some of you mother's favorite storybooks when she was your age, and your grandmother and I decided that they should now belong to you. I hope you enjoy them as much as she did, and I only wish she could be here to see you open them. Love, grandpa Jack" Vaughn smiled at his son with tears in his eyes for the second time that morning. Holidays always reminded him of Sydney, and this year, more so than ever.

"Dad, will you read me one of the books?" William asked

"Sure" Vaughn replied, pulling his son onto his lap "The Velveteen Rabbit" he said, starting the story

About ten minutes later, after the story was over, Will hopped out of Vaughn's lap. He surveyed the room "Are we done?" he asked, noticing that most of the presents had been unwrapped already

"Of course not" Vaughn said "You haven't gotten a present from me yet, have you?"

"No" William said "I thought you might have forgotten" he admitted

"I don't think so" Vaughn said with a smile "Come here" William walked over and stood beside Vaughn "Now this may not seem like a very big present, but when you open it, you will get it" he said, pulling an envelope from behind his back and handing it to his son "Merry Christmas buddy" Vaughn said, ruffling William's messy blonde hair

William opened the envelope without making a sound and pulled out two tickets "What do they say?" he asked Vaughn

"These are NBA finals tickets" Vaughn said

William's jaw dropped "No"

"Yes" Vaughn said with a smile, hoping William enjoyed it "You can take anyone you want"

William's eyes widened as he threw himself into Vaughn's arms "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he yelled "I want you to come with me daddy" he said with a smile "This is the best present ever"

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That afternoon William and Vaughn made cookies. They had made some the night before, to leave out for santa clause, but William wanted to make more. These were to be special cookies. They cut them into all different shapes: candy canes, angels, bells, stars, and trees.

William had made quite a mess with all of the brightly colored frosting, but he was finally satisfied with his work "Okay dad, I think I'm done"

Vaughn added a smiley face onto one of the stars and then smiled at William "Me too" he said, stacking the cookies onto the plate "You ready to go?" he asked William

William nodded slowly and took Vaughn's hand as they left the house and got into the car.

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Jack Bristow saw no reason to celebrate Christmas this year, so he had volunteered to work today. He did not expect to see Michael Vaughn and his grandson walk into the CIA ops center today, but that is just what he saw.

"Jack" Vaughn said, shaking hands with him "Merry Christmas"

"Merry Christmas Grandpa" William said "Thank you for the books. Dad read one of them to me this morning" he added with a smile

Jack just stared, wondering why they were here "I'm glad you like them William. Next time I am over, I can read some of them to you"

"Okay" William answered with a smile

Vaughn and William started to walk away, but not before Jack could give Vaughn the 'what the hell are you doing?' glare. Vaughn just motioned to William and smiled

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Irina sat in her cell, reading. Holidays really didn't mean much when you were stuck in a CIA cell. She considered going out onto the roof, since it was a fairly nice day, but had decided to read for awhile instead. She was surprised to hear footsteps coming towards her cell, and even more surprised to see Vaughn and William standing there. "Wow" Irina said quietly "I don't know what to say" she paused "Merry Christmas"

"This is William" Vaughn said, noticing that Will had suddenly become very shy "Will" he said, turning to his son "this is Irina Derevko, your grandmother"

"I know" William said quietly "Hi. I made you some cookies" he added, holding up the plate of cookies despite the wall of glass between them

Irina smiled down at the little boy with tears in her eyes "Thank you William. This is the best present I could ask for today." She then turned to Vaughn "Perhaps I should be thanking you. I never thought you would allow him to see me"

Vaughn shifted his weight back and forth between his feet and looked up "I told you I would let him decide. And he wanted to meet you."

"I just assumed that was a promise you would chose not to keep"

"I always keep my promises" Vaughn said "When I was a little boy, my father said the most important thing in life is to keep your word no matter what. That's all I'm trying to do"

"Michael, I am so sorry. I know that you didn't want to do this, but thank you for bringing him here" she said, lowering her voice in hopes that William would not hear her. She then shifted her attention to the little boy standing just a few inches away from her who was still in awe after meeting his grandmother for the first time and surprised to see that she is in a jail cell "Hello William. I have waited so long to meet you. This really isn't the most welcoming place ever, how about we go sit out on the roof for awhile?"

"Okay" William answered

Irina called one of the guards over and had him let her out and then took William's hand. Vaughn was upset but at the same time pleased by this gesture, and made a mental note to kill Irina if she ever did anything to his son.

Up on the roof, normal conversation was still hard to come by, so the three munched on the cookies that William and Vaughn had made "thank you for the cookies William" Irina said with a smile, noticing that the little boy was still fairly intimidated by her

"You're welcome" he answered "can I ask you a question?"

"Of course" Irina said, noticing that this was one person she had to be honest with, no matter what

"Why do you have to live in that little room?" William asked innocently

"Well." She thought for a minute, trying to figure out the best way to explain this to her grandson "I did some very bad things in the past. I worked for some very bad people, and they ordered me to kill people"

William sat there with wide eyes, not knowing what to say

"But I don't do that anymore. I haven't done that for years. In fact, they are going to let me out of here in a few weeks" She finished with a smile

Vaughn's jaw dropped

"I know that doesn't make you very happy Michael, but I really think it will be good. I will be moving in with Jack, which is the highest security they can put me under" she said with a laugh "Hopefully we will find Sydney and I will see a lot more of you three"

A million thoughts ran through Vaughn's head *she's living with Jack? Are they back together? Whose crazy idea was it to let her out in the first place?*

His thoughts were interrupted by William's quiet voice "Grandpa said next time he saw me, he would read some of mommy's old books to me. Will you too?" he asked

"Of course"

"Thank you. I'm glad you're my grandma" he added, giving her a hug

Tears started to form in Irina's eyes "and I am so glad that I finally got to meet my wonderful grandson"

Vaughn noticed Jack standing at the door on top of the roof, witnessing this moment. Finally Jack spoke "I thought I might find you guys up here. I checked the cell but you weren't there, so I figured this would be the place I might find you" he turned to Irina "you met William."

"Yes." She said with a smile "I finally did"

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A/N: so there is chapter 8, I thinking that Sydney might return in the next chapter (but I also thought William would meet Irina about 3 chapters ago) Well he finally did meet her, please review and tell me what you think ~was William TOO sickeningly adorable in this chapter? ~Should Jack and Irina end up together? ~was this chapter totally OOC? Cuz it seemed like it was for some of them

Review, Review, Review!