Part 15a.

This song is The Man Who Sold the World by David Bowie (Covered by Nirvana)

He said I was his friend
Which came as a surprise
I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone
A long long time ago

Seven years later.

Vaughn unlocked the front door and dropped his small carry-on bag warily to the floor. Without pausing, he unzipped his jacked and threw it haphazardly on the stairs, which led to the upper level. The house echoed eerily of silence.

The housekeeper only came every couple of days now, and Dawn was away at school again so the house was usually empty of late. And with him and Irina always travelling; keeping track of their assets, he never got the chance to mind the quiet that had developed over the last few years. He usually even found it comforting the odd time he found a moment to relax. But tonight, even with exhaustion dripping from his body, he found it oddly disconcerting.

He shrugged off his strange imaginings and wandered into his living room. He could almost feel the couch calling out to him and he embraced its call by throwing himself down upon it. It had been a long and tiring trip and he felt the start of a headache coming on.

He sighed to himself and lay his arm over his eyes. His headache was starting and Irina wasn't even home yet.

Vaughn was about to let himself drift off into unconsciousness, as his exhaustion settled in, when he heard the front door unlock. He groaned at the interruption and braced himself for what would inevitably follow. The door slammed shut and the noise reverberated through his aching head causing his headache to claim a stronger grip on his gray matter. He could almost feel his stress hormones rising as he heard the telltale sound of Irina's shoes in the hallway.

Vaughn slowly brought the arm that was lying over his face down and he saw Irina enter the living room and eye him lying on the couch. Her arms were crossed over her chest indicating that she was still angry with him. If that wasn't enough, her mouth was tightened into a thin line and she was staring at him. No, she definitely wasn't happy with him.

Vaughn was content to keep the silence as he eyed Irina who was eyeing him. He knew how this game was played. Apparently he was the more patient of the two though, because she finally uncrossed her arms and held out her hand.

"Fine. Be like that!" she snapped and moved closer to him. "Why don't you just give me the damn disk and I will go put it in the safe. Obviously you look like you are in no shape to move from that couch for the next week, and since you insisted on bringing it home--"

Vaughn waved his hand at her. "I did what you suggested. I made the switch already."

Vaughn listened to the sweet sound of silence as Irina stared at him hard for a few more minutes before turning around and switching on the TV. Vaughn tried not to wince as the blaring sound from the TV invaded his mind but he wasn't too successful. As his ears adjusted to the increased volume he looked at her in confusion as she flipped through the channels until she landed on the local weather forecasting channel. "What are you doing?" he asked finally.

Irina turned back at him and threw the remote control into his lap. "Just checking to see if hell has frozen over."

Vaughn rolled his eyes. And he had thought she might just let it go if he did what she wanted. He used the remote to turn off the TV.

Irina wasn't finished yet though. "Because I mean, if the great Michael Vaughn finally took his head out of his ass for once in his life, to listen to someone other than himself, hell must have frozen over. Forget that I have almost fifty years in this business and that I may have learned a thing or two, forget that you weren't even born when I went on my first mission, forget all of that! Because Michael Vaughn knows everything!--"

"Irina"

"You think that you have a stronger death wish than me? Is that what you think? That life has been so much harder on you?"

"Irina!" Vaughn finally shouted at her as he stood up and faced her directly.

She closed her mouth and looked at him. She was obviously still angry with him, but there was something more in her face. She continued speaking but she was almost whispering now. "You made a mistake. You almost got yourself killed out there because you were too stubborn to wait for me. You think that listening to me at the end of our mission is going to make up for it?"

Vaughn looked away. He knew she was right. He had almost been killed because he had decided to proceed alone. If Irina hadn't anticipated the guards' movements when she didn't find him at his post, he would have been dead. "You're right. I'm sorry I didn't wait." He replied quietly as well.

Irina sat down on the couch, drained. "Michael, you have to stop this. You are going through each day like you pray that it's your last. Don't think that I haven't seen it. Thank heaven Dawn is away at school or she would have picked up on it as well. It's been sixteen years. You have to move on."

Vaughn turned away. "I can't."

Irina sighed and Vaughn turned back to face her. "You don't understand."

Irina looked at him. "Don't I?"

Vaughn looked hard at her face and debated saying anything further. He shook his head and decided against it. She already thought he was crazy. He didn't need to give her confirmation.

As Vaughn turned again to leave, Irina spoke. "She hasn't been coming to see you as often, has she?"

Vaughn froze in his tracks, fear piercing him to the bone. He turned back to look at her, forcing his face to remain blank, but she was looking down anyway. He was unable to force himself to speak though.

Irina looked back up at him. "I know. Jack visited me as well, but now it's been over a year."

Irina stood up and put a hand on Vaughn's arm. "I'm going to go out for a little bit. Go shower, and go to bed. We can talk more about this in the morning if you want."

Vaughn nodded slowly as he watched Irina leave the room. A moment later he heard the front door close. He didn't know if he was supposed to feel better now or worse.

***

Vaughn stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel. The hot water had helped his aching muscles a little and the aspirin had taken the edge out of his headache. Too bad I can't find anything to cure the ache within my soul, he thought despondently to himself.

He grabbed the pair of flannel pants and a T-shirt from the pile of clean laundry sitting on his bed and put them on. He briefly debated going to bed and putting an end to this miserable day but then he changed his mind. He decided to get something to drink. He needed something harsh and preferably alcoholic.

He wandered through his darkened house, not bothering to turn on any lights. He fumbled with the latch on his liquor cabinet and he was about to reach in when he heard a small noise coming from his den. He looked at the clock on the wall and wondered briefly if Irina would be back already. He left the cabinet door open and turned to investigate.

The door to his study was slightly ajar but the lights were off. Without hesitation, Vaughn turned on the light switch that was close to the door and walked towards his desk. A quick glance told him that all his papers were in order and he noticed nothing obviously out of place.

Vaughn rubbed his forehead in confusion. I must be more tired than I thought because I'm hearing things now, he thought to himself. He shook his head and was about to turn around and leave his office when he heard the distinct sound of a handgun being cocked behind him.

Whether it was because of his headache or years of experience in the business, Vaughn calmly raised his hands and turned around. He knew the drill. However, his jaw dropped slightly as he recognized the person moving slowly out of the shadows and he realized that he should probably be more afraid than he was. "We really need to stop meeting this way." Vaughn stated matter of factly.

Sark tipped his head in silent agreement but he kept his gun trailed on Vaughn's chest.

Vaughn lowered his hands slowly and leaned back against his desk. "What do you want Sark?" Vaughn asked warily. "There's nothing for you here. I'm assuming that if you wanted to kill me you would have done so already."

"That's not quiet true, Mr. Vaughn." Sark answered slowly.

The apprehension in Vaughn's face increased slightly. "There's nothing for you here. You've already taken everything from me that you could."

Sark continued to look at him seriously before twisted his lips like he was thinking. "That's also not quite true."

Vaughn leaned back quickly to release the secret latch on his desk so that he could retrieve his own gun but a loud shot rang through the room. Vaughn staggered back away from his desk and for a brief moment wondered why his stomach was burning.

Instinctively Vaughn brought his hands up to his mid-section to hold it against the burning in his stomach but that didn't ease the pain. He just felt his hands getting wet.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Vaughn brought his left hand up to his face, but all he could see was that it was covered in blood. And like a cheap special effects show, his world suddenly caught up to the real time as he felt the pain burst forth from his stomach and travel all the way throughout his body. He saw his world tilt sideways, but it was only when he felt the floor beneath him, that he realized he had fallen to the ground.

Sark crouched down and waited a moment for Vaughn to overcome his initial stress. As Vaughn's eyes slowly focused back onto his face he continued. "Mr. Vaughn, I'm going to be straight with you, you will die today. But you and I have certain things to discuss before you do."

Black spots swirled before his eyes but Vaughn was able to finally focus on the man in front of him. "…Why?" he forced out as a strangled whisper.

Sark leaned down so that he was closer to Vaughn's face. "Because you would have gotten yourself killed any day now, but I wouldn't have been there. You are the one who wants to die, Mr. Vaughn."

Vaughn felt his eyes starting to roll to the back of his head and he would have passed out from the shock if Sark had not slapped his face.

"Not yet, Mr. Vaughn, we're not done yet." Sark shook Vaughn's face and then held his chin so that Vaughn had no choice but to look at him.

"What do you want?…" Vaughn whispered before he started to cough up blood.

Sark leaned back on his heels before putting his gun away in his waistband. "I'm in a position to give you some peace Mr. Vaughn, but I need something from you in return."

Sark saw Vaughn try to focus his eyes on him and took that as a sign that he was still following the conversation.

"I have nothing…just my daughter--" Vaughn's voice caught in his throat as another spasm racked his body. But the words that he had just spoken out loud finally reached his brain. "No……." he whispered his scream until he doubled over coughing.

Sark turned Vaughn's head so that he didn't choke on his own blood and then helped him lean up against the bottom of his desk.

"Sydney comes to visit you sometimes, doesn't she?"

Vaughn closed his eyes briefly in shock and pain but he slowly nodded his head, unable to speak.

"Well you can be with her one day. I can give you and her peace but I need something from you in return." Sark paused a moment as Vaughn processed his words. "I want to court your daughter."

Vaughn's eyes widened in surprise and anger as he started to curse. "You bastard! You stay away from her!" his anger gave him a sudden burst of energy that allowed him to propel himself towards Sark and knock him off balance.

Sark retaliated by knocking Vaughn back with a swift sweep of his arm. Vaughn fell back against the desk, banging his head against the wood and causing more blood to come out of his mouth. Sark waited for Vaughn's coughing to quiet before he resumed talking.

"Listen, you don't have much time. I will give you what you want. I will give you and Sydney an eternity together. But if I do that, I am giving you the power to stop me. I know how you insist on telling your daughter the truth about everything. I want to court her. In doing so, I swear that I will never lie to her. But if she manages to still love me for who I am, then I want you to never communicate to her anything about me. You know that some communication is possible. You know that Sydney has been able to whisper things into your head. I'm sure that she's even saved your life once or twice over the last few years. Isn't that why you keep risking yourself? In the hopes that she will appear to you again? It's not that she doesn't want to, but her energy is getting weaker. She is starting to dissipate. But I can fix this, I can bind you two together forever, but in return I want you to give me a chance to know love as well."

Sark watched as Vaughn verged on passing out again but he forced Vaughn to look at him. "Promise me that you will not say anything to her unless I lie to her."

Vaughn looked into his killer's face. He would have spit into it but he didn't have the energy. "She will never love you for who you are Sark. She's too good a person for that."

Sark moved back slightly. "Then you have nothing to worry about, don't you?" His voice was hard.

Vaughn closed his eyes. What kind of choice was he being asked to make? He knew he was going to die shortly, there was nothing he could do about that. He could see the darkness hovering on the edges of his vision. He wasn't even sure there was anything he would want to do about it, even if he could, except for the threat to his daughter. Because though it was dark, the oblivion held the lure of peace for him.

But if what Sark had told him was true…he had no choice but to agree to it. He could sink into oblivion forever and Sark could still pursue his daughter or he could be with Sydney and in some way with his daughter as well. He could watch over her.

Vaughn closed his eyes. He could not bear to look into Sark's face as he gave a short nod to seal his fate. The pain was coming in waves now and he could barely concentrate on anything else. He kept his eyes closed, trying to stop the spasms from overtaking his body but he felt his head gently being placed back against the desk. He wanted to open his eyes. He wanted to know what was happening but he kept his eyes closed.

Suddenly a soft melody entered the room and the shock of it almost made him forget his pain and open his eyes. But it was a melody so haunting and yet so familiar and it seemed to tug at his very soul. He kept his eyes closed and embraced the melody. After that, it was not long before he understood everything.

***

Irina opened the front door to the house and let herself in. It was well into the middle of the night so she made her way through the hallway quietly not willing to wake Vaughn up. She was unsure if he had taken her advice of a shower and bed or merely just collapsed on his living room couch. His exhaustion had been obvious.

It was therefore with some surprise that she saw the light to his study on and the door slightly ajar. She felt her anger at his stubbornness returning and before she could stop herself she had changed her direction and was heading towards his study. She had already planned a few choice words for him as she reached the door and threw it open.

Irina stared at the sight before her for a full minute before she braced herself against the doorway. This was too much.

Somehow her feet brought her into the room before giving out on her and as she knelt beside Vaughn's lifeless body, she lay herself across his chest and cried. It wasn't fair. She couldn't do this by herself. She wasn't strong enough anymore for this and she was tired of doing this! She let her sobs overtake her last shred of control as she collapsed on top of his unmoving chest and gave into the oblivion of complete anguish. As the sobs racked through body, she wasn't even sure anymore what she was mourning and as time ticked away and her sobs echoed throughout the empty house, the night faded away and the sun started to peak its way over the horizon.

Drained and exhausted, Irina's cries finally subsided and she was able to lift her face up and looked into his. She noticed that for the first time ever, he looked at peace.

Irina clenched her fist in anger and misery. She was getting tired of burying members of her family. But her anger allowed her to forced herself back up to assess the situation in the hopes of finding out what had happened. Obviously the gunshot wound to his stomach had killed him but as she looked around the study she could see nothing missing. She saw the curtains blowing slightly from the wind so Irina walked over to the window. It was partially opened and the lock looked like it had been forced.

Irina slammed the window shut in anger. There was nothing she could do about it now, except clean up and deal with the mess. She would also have to tell Dawn.

As Irina was about to turn away from the window she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection. It seemed that her life had now come full circle. Like his father before him, she was left to move on again with him dead at her feet. With his father she'd had to move on to protect her daughter and now with his son she had to move on once again to protect her granddaughter. And like before, she was left wearing their blood as a reminder of her sins. Irina closed her eyes. Her life was coming full circle and she was getting tired of burying the people that she cared about.

Oh no, not me
We never lost control
You're face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World