CHAPTER EIGHT – MISTAKES
"Yes… Alright. I will have a car waiting for you when your plane touches down… I will… Goodbye."
Vargas finished his conversation with one Bristow and turned to face the other. She had remained silent throughout the exchange, listening. He inspected her now – hands grasping the edges of the aging porcelain sink, knuckles white with tension, head hanging down. She spoke without looking up.
"My father? He's coming here?"
"Yes," Vaughn replied, "He's on a plane from Italy right now. It will be arriving in a few hours."
Vaughn paused, waiting to see if Sydney would respond. She didn't.
"He'll come here to pick you up. He told me you'll both be returning to L.A. I assume that's under directive from Kendall… I was supposed to put you on a plane to the States last night, before…" His voice trailed off, remembering his admission that had caused her to flee.
They sat in silence for a few moments. Slowly, Sydney raised her head to meet Vaughn's gaze in the mirror.
"Am I to assume that you will not be coming with us?" Stone-cold Sydney was back again. The bitterness that had receded when they kissed minutes before had returned with full force. The prospect of her leaving while carrying that malice towards him was impossible to bear. He needed her to know… to understand… NOW.
Vaughn stepped assuredly across the room to where she stood, watching him. He moved directly behind her, holding her gaze while he opened her vice-grip on the sink. When her hands were free, he spun her to face him, pinning her elbows to her side so she could not escape. She averted her gaze and he began to speak.
"Sydney… I love you with everything in me. I never want you to doubt that – ever. I will do whatever it takes to make you believe me. I know I've made mistakes…"
Sydney's head jerked as she returned her hard gaze to his face. Mistakes? Is he serious? I'd say that marrying someone else counts as more than a simple 'mistake.' She moved her stare back to the floor as he continued.
"I've made a lot of mistakes, but they can be rectified… if you will let me rectify them. But first, you need to forgive me… can you do that?" Vaughn's heart was beating wildly now, fearing the answer to his next question.
"Do you love me enough to be patient until I can come back to you? Because I promise – I will come back to you. I will come back and spend the rest of my life making this up to you. Will you let me do that?"
Sydney's heart was thudding in her chest as Vaughn finished his entreaty. Her face was flushed and she didn't know what to think. Can I believe his promise? she wondered. He'd promised things before… he'd promised to keep her safe… and he didn't.
Her mind was telling her not to believe him – to leave him in Asia with his wife and never look back. I can't afford to take this chance. But her heart was insisting something quite the opposite… If I don't trust him now, will I ever be able to live with myself… without him?
She could feel the intensity of Vaughn's stare as it seared onto her downturned face. Cautiously, she lifted her eyelids to meet it. As she studied his eyes, she saw the fire that was burning there – for her – stronger than she had ever seen it before.
Sydney knew he was not lying… and she made her decision.
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Jack Bristow clicked his cell phone shut after finishing his conversation with Erik Vargas. That was exceptionally strange. Vaughn really has his cover down cold. Vaughn clearly believed they were being listened-to, and had spoken accordingly. Jack said as little as possible, so to not compromise him.
The part that concerned Jack the most was that he hadn't been able to relay his concern for Sydney's safety. When Vaughn had mentioned an "institution in Tai Pei," Jack understood a cover story had been created for Vargas's superiors. He could not risk disclosing Sydney's apparent actions in Italy without damaging her cover.
He knew that Sloane had associates who would be on the hunt for Sydney, if only to ensure their own safety. Jack had to trust that Vaughn would keep her safe – from everyone – until the plane landed in Hong Kong.
And then there were the other Rambaldi followers – they would likely be after her as well. The papers Jack had briefly scanned at the villa were unbelievable at best, and terrifying at worst. It was apparent that they had been wrong in believing that Sydney was not the woman in the prophesy. He reached under his feet to his briefcase and removed the stiff pages, setting the stack on the tray-table he lowered from the seat-back in front of him.
He quickly flipped to the page where he had left off, scanning it again with a shaking of his head. How could they have been so wrong? Did they translate page 47 improperly? Was it a fake? He turned the page over and started reading the remaining pages.
It appeared that Rambaldi had more than just one page of information on Sydney. In what looked to be succeeding entries from a diary, the details of his daughter's life were laid out before him. There were more pictures, dates, events – all unequivocally referring to Sydney. Her birthday, her mother's "death," the day she was recruited into SD-6. Jack knew those dates, although he had not discovered the date of her recruitment into SD-6 until months after it had taken place.
There were also dates Jack wasn't as certain about. What happened on October 1, 2001? Jack racked his brain, trying to recall his own whereabouts at that time… Of course – her walk-in to the CIA. He kept skimming the pages, taking note of the dates he recognized and wishing he was capable of understanding the remaining text on the pages.
Finally, Jack reached the last page of the journal entries. He realized that whatever mistakes the U.S. had made in interpreting and attempting to prevent the prophesy were irreversible now. The page contained only a date and a single line of text. The date was just three days ago. The line was "E fine. E realizzata."
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A/N: Yea! More reviews!
Thanks to megvaughn2003, twin*muse, alexis, Sarah88, thesheeplover, Aliasgurl, & Skylark for joining the party! And to Ryanne, MyAlias, & jandl for their continued praise… I am soooo grateful!
