To Make Amends

Disclaimer: It's mine! All mine! *Ahem* Right…Sorry, I don't own it. Alias isn't mine.

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Laura is relieved to see the bullet hit her mother's shoulder, and she's still conscious.

"Mom!" she squeaks, dropping to the floor beside Sydney and allowing the gun to slip from her grasp.

"It's okay," Sydney gasps, forcing a smile and reaching up with her uninjured arm to touch Laura's arm. "Help me up."

Laura struggles to pull her mother to her feet. She expects them to start trying to find their way out, but Sydney staggers toward Sloane instead. She stands over him for only a second before returning to where Laura is standing.

"He's dead," Sydney announces quietly before they turn to find their way out.

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"What the hell do you mean you don't know?!?" Vaughn yells at a cornered Weiss just as Sydney and Laura emerge from the building.

"She saw Sloane, and Laura followed them! I couldn't stop them! I couldn't put Brandon in the line of fire to go after them! They knew what they were doing!" Weiss defends frantically.

Vaughn pins Weiss against the wall of the building.

"Daddy!" Laura calls out before anything happens.

"Michael!" Sydney cries, clutching at her shoulder as they run.

Vaughn spins around. Despite their ragged appearance, he acknowledges he's never seen anything more beautiful. Neither has Weiss, for that matter, especially since they just saved him from what was about to be a brutal confrontation.

"Mommy!" Brandon yells, keeping pace with Vaughn as they run to meet them.

They all collide into a group hug, but Sydney gasps sharply when Vaughn hits her shoulder.

"Syd!" he cries, stepping away. "What happened?"

"Sloane is dead," she says, sobering from the excitement of a moment ago.

"I shot him," Laura says in an unnaturally high voice to no one in particular, as thought she just realized what happened.

"What?!?" Vaughn says incredulously as Laura begins to sob.

Sydney shakes her head at him.

"I shot him!" Laura says again, her voice rising with every word.

"Laura, you had to," Sydney says softly. "He would have killed you *and* me if you hadn't. You saved my life."

"I, uh, hate to interrupt," Weiss says, suddenly only feet away from them. "But I think Syd should see a doctor. Soon."

"He's right," Vaughn says firmly, putting one arm around Sydney and the other around Laura and leading them toward one of the waiting cars. Neither of them resists.

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Hours later, all five of us are sitting in the den in Daddy's house. Mom's arm is in a sling, and she hardly moves it. Brandon is limping around, having twisted his ankle and playing it up dramatically. Weiss is sore and stiff; you can tell by the way he moves, even though he won't tell anybody. Daddy and I bear no physical wounds. In fact, Daddy is fine now simply because he has Mom back with him. But I don't think I'll ever get over this. I fell asleep on the drive back from Nevada. I dreamed that I saw Sloane fall again, and that was haunting enough, but when I turned to Mom she was dead. I woke myself up screaming.

Mom and Daddy both think they should talk to Kendall about having me see one of the CIA psychologists. Mom especially says they're all really helpful. I don't want to talk about this with anybody, but if I have to I'd rather not be in the CIA building. When we stopped there upon returning to LA, the building seemed even more intimidating than it did the night Mom disappeared.

"…So what do we do now?" Daddy is asking as I drag myself back to the present.

"I'm not leaving again. I couldn't take it," Mom says softly, looking only at Daddy.

She looks happy. Really happy. She hasn't looked this happy - this in love - since we left. Funny. It took a bullet in her arm to drag her back where we belong.

"You're right about that. You're not leaving; I won't let you," he says lovingly, carefully putting his arm around her possessively.

"How did Kendall react to my part in it?" I ask suddenly. I hadn't been allowed in the debreifing.

My parents look at each other. I think they're glad to hear me say something; I haven't said much since we left the doctor in Nevada. Then they laugh.

"He was speechless!" Mom laughed.

"I don't think he's ever sputtered like that before," Daddy adds.

I can't help but grin. The image of that pompous, overbearing, arrogant man sputtering helplessly is too much.

"Guess I should be going," Weiss mumbles awkwardly.

"Noooo!" Brandon whines.

I look up at him.

"Okay. We'll walk you to the door," Mom says. "Laura, will you get your brother ready for bed?"

I lay out the blankets on the couch in a hurry.

"Come on, Brandon, go to sleep," I order half-heartedly.

"NO! I wanna tell Mommy good-night!" he cries.

"She'll come in here in a second, okay? Just lay down, please?"

Surprisingly, he does. Weiss is just about to walk out the door when I come out of the den. Mom and Daddy must be in the kitchen.

"Weiss," I call, stopping him. Then I lower my voice. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah, sure," he says, looking at me curiously. "What is it?"

From the look on his face, I'd have to say he's remembering how our last conversation started: with me yelling at him.

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I never gave you a chance. I jumped on you from the very beginning. I mean, our first encounter ended up with me smacking you," I say softly, my voice not carrying a hint of the humor of the last sentence.

"It's not all your fault," he says comfortingly. "I did make some stupid mistakes. And…dragging you out of your hiding place kicking and screaming didn't make a very good first impression," he adds, smiling.

"I'm serious," I say firmly, though softly. "I'm not looking for excuses. I was wrong."

My voice must have shook.

"Hey," he says softly, awkwardly putting his hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. Considering the circumstances, I think I can forget about it. Don't worry about it, okay?"

I smile nervously.

"Okay. I…I just wanted to make sure you weren't…mad, or something." I smile wider. "You're not so bad."

He laughs.

"You're not so bad either, kid!"

I just smile. He did that deliberately, so what else could I do? But he just laughs harder.

"I'll see you around, Laura. I don't hold grudges. I'm not that easy to get rid of," he kids.

I walk into the kitchen after he leaves.

"Mom, Brandon wants you to tell him good-night," I say tonelessly, sitting at the table.

"What was that about?" Daddy asks gently.

"I just had to tell him something."

"You okay?" he asks after a long silence.

"I'm fine," I lie. I can't stop hearing the guns go off.

Mom comes back in a moment later. She takes one look at me and jumps into mother-mode.

"What's wrong, Laura?" she asks quickly.

"Nothing," I mumble, swallowing the lump the forms in my throat.

"Something is. Talk to me, honey," she pleads.

"I'm just…I don't know. I killed him," I add in a whisper. "I keep seeing it…hearing it. It's like I keep living it all over again," I continue, still in a whisper.

"Laura, it's okay," Mom insists. "You were *protecting* yourself."

"You'll be okay," Daddy adds tenderly. "You'll get over it. You'll forget."

I shake my head vigorously. I know they're trying to help, but it's just driving home that I *can't* forget.

"I'll never forget," I mumble, closing my eyes.

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The end. I think. If I get enough reviews begging for more, I might continue it for one more chapter. I'm not sure I like ending it here. I'm a big fan of *happy* endings, myself.