That was then…

Part 2: This is Now

Sydney was having one of her sad days.

She had those now . . . The days where she mourned for the parts of her old life that she missed.

Her friends: Dixon, Weiss, Marshall, Vaughn . . .

God, especially Vaughn.

But that was a door she had closed, and she was determined to move on from.

Logically she knew she could go and seek Vaughn out. Go to one of his favorite hang-outs and accidentally bump into him.

But the way she saw it, her presence in his life had led to his death just as surely as her being in Danny's life led to his. And when she thought of it from that vantage point, the choice was crystal clear:

Sydney Bristow's happiness for Michael Vaughn's life?

Fair trade.

In the meantime though, her soul missed its mate.

She was staring blindly at the television, trying to will herself into getting up and working on the paper she had due for one of her classes (She'd already written the paper once. How hard could it be to write it again?) when Francie plopped down next to her on the sofa.

"Ok Syd, out with it." She looped an arm around Sydney and pulled her into a loose hug.

Sydney closed her eyes.

God, she'd missed Francie . . .

"What's wrong? Is it a guy? I knew it, it's a guy! Why didn't you tell me there was a guy? Oh my god, you never tell me anything anymore!" Francie wailed, pulling away from her. She had worked herself into a frenzy with very little effort, as was Francie's way.

Sydney smiled, opening her mouth to say, she wasn't sure what, when the doorbell rang. Francie hopped up from the sofa and wagged a finger at Sydney. "Don't think you're off the hook, missy."

The corner of Sydney's mouth lifted of its own accord. "Missy? Really?"

Francie yanked the door open, smiling over her shoulder at Sydney, but Sydney could still see over her shoulder.

Sydney stood shakily as her heart dropped to her knees.

"Dad?"

tbc...

oOo

~*This woman here depicted…*~

A/N: Point of acknowledgement: The "…fair trade" business that I've used in both the prologue and this part is a bastardization of a Bruce Willis line shamelessly stolen from the movie "Sin City"