Chapter 2: Daddy

Disclaimer: I only own Laura and Brandon, but since it's unlikely that the show will ever get this far, I have complete liberty to do whatever I want with the characters here.

A/N: I really appreciate reviews…

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"Damn," Weiss mutters as they enter the house, guns drawn.

"You're sure they were here?" Vaughn asks, hopeful that it might have been a mistake.

The house, from the outside, is dark, save one upstairs window. Inside, furniture is overturned, things smashed; there's even a shoe-sized hole in the wall.

Weiss points to the hole.

"Yeah, man. I think we can assume she had something to do with that."

Vaughn sighs.

"There's nobody in here now."

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I hear the cars drive up, but I don't want to scare Brandon. He's still sitting very close to me, even closer now that it's getting dark. He's drifting off from time to time.

Suddenly, our back door flies open. I think Brandon must have jumped three feet into the air as the sound scared him awake. I hold onto him tighter.

"CIA!" a man shouts. "If there's anyone here, show yourselves! We are armed!"

Brandon starts screaming. I shush him, but he continues to scream and yell, "Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me!" over and over.

Someone parts the bushes.

"It's the kids!" a second guy shouts. It's not the same man who yelled from the door.

The first man rushes over and hauls Brandon, still screaming, from the bush.

"Get her out of there, Weiss!" the first guy yells. "Drop the damn gun already! You're scaring them!"

I fight viciously as the man grabs my wrist and pulls me out.

"No! Let me go! Let my brother go! What did you do to my mom? Let me go!" I screech.

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Vaughn sees the daughter he hasn't seen in six years giving his partner quite a fight. He cringes as her elbow connects solidly with his jaw. He leaves Brandon, still screaming, on the ground and tackles Laura. As gently as he can without allowing her to knock him out cold, he pins her arms to her sides with her face down on the grass. He stays on top of her.

"God you're strong, Laurie!" he yells above her continued screams.

Laura gasps, gets a mouthful of grass, chokes, and starts coughing. When Vaughn realizes she's stopped fighting, he helps her sit up.

As soon as she can get in a good breath, she says, "Daddy?" It comes out as a pitiful squeak.

"Laurie," he says softly, gently.

"Brandon, stop it," Laurie yells, clenching her fists. "You're fine!"

She stands and jerks him to his feet roughly.

"Hush!" she orders.

He does.

"Daddy? How did you find us? Mom said…"

"What do you know already?" Vaughn interrupts.

Laura looks pointedly at Brandon.

"Will he let Weiss take him inside?" he asks, looking at the defiant little boy. If he wasn't such a little kid he could have been a real problem, Vaughn thinks.

Laura nods.

"Brandon, you go inside with this nice man, okay? He won't hurt you, and I'll be right in," she promises.

The little boy softens.

"Okay Laurie," he says.

Vaughn wonders why he calls his sister Laurie. He was too little to remember *him* calling her that…

"I know you were always in the CIA. Mom told me that, just today. I know that I was named after her mother that died when she was six…" She pauses, trying to remember their conversation. "And she said she was sometimes sorry she left. She was a little surprised that I remembered living in LA."

"She missed me, then?"

"Yeah, a lot, I think."

Vaughn studies her for a long moment.

"Why were you two hiding?" he asks carefully.

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I start to cry. I can't help it.

"Something happened. This van pulled up, and Mom went crazy." I show him the bruises that have appeared on my arm. "She told me to take Brandon and go hide. She didn't want us to be seen. She said not to come out until she came to get us. We heard her scream," I say in a small voice. I'm just so scared now. I try not to start sobbing.

Daddy moves to hug me, but I pull away. I can see the hurt in his eyes when I look up.

"Brandon," I say simply, my eyes downcast guiltily.

I have more control when I have to worry about my brother.

Brandon is sitting in a kitchen chair with his knees pulled up to his chin, still trembling.

I sit down and pull him into my lap.

"It's okay," I mumble. "We're okay now. Daddy's here. He'll help us." I look up at him. "Won't you?" I know I must look pitiful, but I don't really care.

"Of course," he says gently, putting his hand on my shoulder.

Then he pulls Weiss out into the hall. I stand silently and put my ear to the door. I'm rarely nosy, but I feel like I should know what's going on.

"Sydney's missing," Daddy says. "Laurie's got bruises on her arm where Syd grabbed her. Syd wouldn't hurt her intentionally. She told the kids to hide and not come out until she came to get them. Weiss, I can only think of three people that she'd react to like that. One, her mother. She's in custody. Two, Sark. He was killed two years ago. Who does that leave?"

"Three," Weiss says sarcastically. "Sloane."

Sloane? Who is that? Why is Mom so afraid of him?

"I can't believe he hasn't croaked yet!" Daddy says. I think he wasn't planning on telling me this for a while. He didn't plan on my hearing this conversation.

"We need to get them out of here," Weiss says softly. "Her name's Laura, right, only you call her Laurie?"

"Only me and her brother," I hear Daddy say as I hurry to sit back down.

Weiss walks into the kitchen.

"Come on, we need to get you two away from here."

Daddy puts his arm around me as I walk out of the kitchen carrying Brandon. This time I don't pull away. I don't want to see the same hurt expression again. He leads me to his car.

"You guys get in back," he tells me. "May be you can get some sleep. It's going to be a long night."

Two generic black sedans pull out of the Jones' driveway and disappear into the night.

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Okay, I personally like this chapter. I really like the way telling it first person is working out, it makes the story so much better. I like telling more about how Laura feels and her observations.

So, what do you think?

Review!!! (Yes, that's an order!)