First chapter written from Syd's POV

The rest will be written from my POV


She woke up in a bright room. At first, all she could see was white light, but eventually, other colors began to shine through and take shape, until she realized...

She was in a condominium of some sort. She could smell the distinct scent of salt water; hear the crashing of waves. Though she had always loved the ocean, it provided no solace. How many times in the past two days had she opened her eyes and discovered she was in a foreign place? Way too many.


"Oh, thank God Sydney, you're awake!" a voice invaded her thoughts, and touches of a Russian accent revealed its source before Sydney even turned around.


"Mom!" she exclaimed. She was not quite sure how to feel about this. How exactly had she gotten here? Where exactly was here?


Her mother closed the space between them, and leaned down to embrace Sydney tightly. CIA agents had threatened her mother's life the last time they had touched each other. This was definitely a strange feeling. Irina released her hold on Sydney just enough to look into her eyes and smiled at her daughter.


"Jack," Irina shouted "She's awake!"


Sydney took this moment of broken eye contact to take in her mother's appearance. She had not aged at all, which was not surprising. Her skin was deeply tan, her body still in excellent shape, her hair shorter than Sydney remembered....but there was something else. When Irina turned to her once again, she realized that her face was completely different. Her smile lit up the room and her eyes had a certain radiance to them; she was happy.


"Sydney!" a new voice invaded her thoughts and snapped her out of her reverie. Sydney turned to her father, and ignoring her developing headache, rushed to him and embraced him. To her it felt like a few hours since they had last been together, to him it had been an eternity. She was stunned that he embraced her as tightly as he did. He had never been the type to show emotion. This Jack Bristow was obviously a very different man.


"Oh, Sydney, I never believed you were dead, never! I knew this day would come! Oh thank God!" he exclaimed, tears falling down his face, onto Sydney's own. She held onto him, before releasing him to look at him. He had changed as well. He had grown a beard; Sydney could not recall him ever having one. She decided in her mind that she loved it. It suited him. The stoic, cynical look his face had once held was now gone, replaced by a look of happiness similar to her mother's. What exactly was going on here?

Tears were now forming in her own eyes and noticing them immediately, her father wiped them away from her cheeks. The gesture was something she had been waiting for all her life; her father had never held her quite like this! She returned his smile, and looked over to her mother, who gazed at them both with loving eyes. Irina walked to them and threw her arms around her family, reunited at last. The embrace lasted for several minutes before any of them spoke.


"I guess we have some explaining to do Irina," he said, looking at his wife.


"Yes Jack, we do."


"Well Sydney, you might want to sit back down," Jack stated, as he assisted her back to her resting place on their off-white couch. "You're mother and I are back together."


"I gathered that much," Sydney said "but how? What happened?"


"Well Sydney, your father discovered that I had been framed by the KGB. I never murdered all those CIA agents."


"Seriously?" Sydney said, her voice cracking.


"Seriously. I did kill several people, but it was only to complete my plan."


"Which was...?"


"I convinced Sloane to destroy the Alliance, you already know that. Though it appeared that I escaped CIA custody in order to assist Sloane, my only intention was to destroy him, for all he had done to you, to our family. I did just that. I brought him into CIA custody, finally doing what I should have done all those years ago, when I was forced to leave you."


Sydney's tears were now running freely down her face. She held her mother's gaze, allowing her to continue the apology that was coming.


"Sydney, I've always loved you, and your father, that was never fabricated. I should have told your father the truth...I was so fearful the KGB would hurt him, or you. I knew the only way to escape them was to leave, to establish my own organization, and eventually destroy all the forces that were keeping me from you." By this time, Irina was sobbing as well. "I would have never left you if I had another choice Sydney. Honey, please believe me, please forgive me."


Sydney looked at her mother, a woman who had betrayed her, her father, and the United States government. A woman who had killed many people to get what she wanted. Despite this Sydney could not ignore one fact: what Irina Derevko had wanted all along was to be reunited with her family. She had suffered silently, accused of crimes she really HAD NOT committed, separated from those she loved, forced to create false alliances with the likes of Arvin Sloane - she had done it all for her family. In most cases, it seemed completely insane and horribly dysfunctional, but in Sydney's family, nothing seemed strange anymore.


"Mom," Sydney choked out, "Of course I forgive you!"

Irina embraced her daughter tightly, crying tears of joy. Even Jack was crying. Though this was an overload of information, Sydney was overjoyed that her family had been given a second chance. Now, her mind could only wander to Vaughn. Would they be given a similar chance?