She moved from the spot at the door, leaving Claire to simply gape at
the doorway. "Vaughn?" She received no answer as she advanced further into
the room. The tone of her voice was all too familiar. It was that
unbelieving tone that she had used when he found out that he was keeping
things, important things from her. "What do you have to tell me?" Sydney
walked closer into the room, easing Claire into a nearby chair as she
inched closer to the bed. The hand made quilt felt comfortable against her
from as she sat down. There was no doubt in her mind that something was
wrong. There was something in Isabelle's stark movements and the
sorrowfulness in Vaughn's tone.
Isabelle had stood up abruptly and walked quickly towards the window, keeping her hands on her hips. Her head started to spin and her eyes started to burn with threat of tears. She felt a rush of cool air hit her as she waked towards the frosty pane. Her lips were drawn into a thin straight line and she kept an emotionless face.
"Vaughn? Vaughn, what is it? It can't be that bad." She sought after his eye contact but he adamantly refused to look at her. "C'mon, baby. It's us. We've been through so much! How bad can it be?"
Vaughn sat in silence, starring down at his hands and felt his brow wrinkle in worry. He honestly couldn't answer her without saying something he would regret. His mind was working in overdrive just to say one simple thing.
By this time, Weiss and Maisie had joined them in Vaughn's bedroom. They had both taken residence in an oversized chair and Maisie was kept occupied by Weiss bouncing her up and down. "Are! You! Feeling! Better! Oncle!" Maisie squealed and managed to jet out before she was bounced up again.
"Yeah." Vaughn choked out, making his first attempt at sound since Sydney came into the room. "Hey, man, why don't you take Maisie back into her room for a minute? I need to talk to Syd about something."
"No Oncle! I wanna stay with you!" Maisie quickly whined as soon as she landed back down on Weiss's knee. She fought away from the grasp of the agent and barreled towards her uncle, almost knocking Sydney over. "Mommy, can I stay?"
"You can stay." Isabelle replied rather coldly. She didn't even turn to acknowledge her daughter. "You can stay."
"Good!" Maisie replied triumphantly. She crossed her arms as she nuzzled nearer her beloved uncle.
Sydney was now growing absolutely impatient. "What is do you have to tell me, Vaughn? This game is getting old!" She was growing absolutely nervous. This wasn't like Vaughn to keep something from her and this was obviously very bad. Very, very bad.
He suddenly became a ticking time bomb and couldn't take it anymore. "I'm not Maisie's uncle-I'm her father!" Vaughn finally erupted, finally able to look her in the eye. After a moment of being calming himself, he spoke softly again. "I'm Maisie's father."
She felt her eyes grow very wide and couldn't even more her mouth to speak. Her mind was absolutely blank. Her heart started to race in her chest and her body went into certifiable shock. "What? I don't understand!" She gasped, looking nothing but surprised at the news. "How is Maisie yours?" She stood up and looked back and for the between the little girl and now her father? They looked so similar and they did have similar personality traits. "Who's her mother?" Not Alice. Please oh Lord, anyone but Alice. She had this uncontrolled animosity towards her and she felt if Alice and he had a child together, they would have a bond that they would never have. "And why isn't she living with you?"
"Let me answer one question at a time?"
Sydney nodded obediently.
Unwillingly for the second time that day, Vaughn started on his second story. "About seven years ago, I was working in the Agency as a rookie and I met this girl, Jeanette Salve. We were both going through the same training and everything and we had-we had a lot in common." Vaughn inhaled deeply and felt the pain soar through his eyes. He reached forward to grab Sydney's hand and she gave them, willingly. A rush of heat started to pass through their bodies.
He saw the beautiful woman standing before him. She was striking with her long black hair and olive toned skin. She was perfectly toned and stood gracefully at all times. She was absolutely beautiful. "Well, we hit it off and were going out." He paused for a moment, reliving moments of their dates, "We fell in love. She was my first love." Now he entered into the part that he had been dreading. Telling Sydney about loving another woman was territory enough for one lifetime but for the second time? At first, it was Alice and now Jeanette? He sighed heavily and continued. "We had been going out for something like two and a half years we found out that she was pregnant."
Tears had sprung to her eyes unexpectedly and she wished them away. This was the love of her life talking about getting another woman pregnant. She unintentionally tightened all the muscles in her body but managed to keep a straight face, even though Vaughn was no longer looking her. He had chosen to stare down at their joined hands. "We had barely been in the office a few months, barely done a few field ops and then all of the sudden, we were faced with a baby. I mean, it definitely wasn't planned. Now, working for the Agency was difficult enough but to be pregnant and working for the Agency? And plus, she was being sent undercover for three years over in Guyana. There was a drug ring there and she had some inside details that could've really helped. We talked about it for a long time. We came to decision that she was not going to abort the pregnancy or tell Devlin that she couldn't go on the mission."
"Devlin. Devlin. Devlin." Maisie beamed at the way the words fell off her lips. It was a funny little word that she had grown to love very quickly. She was still sitting proudly on Weiss's knee, as he attempted to tickle her while she spout little toddler phrases. Most of it were little questions or just random bits of information that she felt like staying.
Vaughn acknowledged his little girl with a sad little smile. "We both knew that I couldn't raise the child on my own. I was barely capable of handling myself, let alone a baby. And with constantly going in and out of the country. Besides, it wasn't safe for us. About six months in, one of her contacts turned on her and she was instantly put in danger. And I-I was in danger too. This man was so dangerous and was wanted. He was like Sloane" His eyes looked quickly at the little girl dancing up and down on Weiss's knee. She was the most beautiful creature known. Every movement was more perfect than the last. "So, we decided on adoption. But again, because to the Agency, we had to go through a CIA hospital and figure out how to do this safely. After Jeanie gave birth, we started to go through the proper motions to give our little girl up for adoption." He took a moment to glance at his immobile sister, as if he wasn't sure if he should continue the story or not. "We hated the idea of leaving her with complete strangers and we figured we could at least watch her a little bit and see her grow."
A long pause filled the space for a moment and then Sydney quickly jumped in. "How did she end up with Isabelle?" If she had strength enough, she would have gotten to her feet and start to pace but somehow, she couldn't even move. Her body felt stiff and she honestly felt like she had been hit hard with something. "It just can't be a coincidence ." There were no such things as coincidences in their world.
"I lied to my husband. I told him that I had a daughter from a previous relationship and Maisie was my daughter. Michael went undercover or whatever it is you spies do and left her at an adoption agency under a different name. I went in, I adopted her. End of story." She whipped around with all the ferocity of an ice princess. Her eyes held enough pain to last three lifetimes. Every movement was stark and brash. She walked strongly over to the bed and held Sydney's eyes with her frosty gaze. She had the same trademark wrinkles above her eyebrows. "David has no idea about Maisie."
Sydney let go of Vaughn's hands for a moment and stood up. "You and Jeanie? And then Maisie and then David?" She looked to Isabelle for reassurance of getting the name right and received a curt nod. "Yes, David and Isabelle?" Her head ached with the new information. She started to pace slightly, occasionally glancing at Isabelle or Vaughn, who both looked equally pained and panicked. Nothing in this world could have prepared her for this. This was absolutely shocking. As she started to work on putting the pieces back together, she stopped abruptly. "But wait a minute." She did some quick math in her head. "If the op was only suppose to be three years, where's Jeanette now?"
Isabelle had stood up abruptly and walked quickly towards the window, keeping her hands on her hips. Her head started to spin and her eyes started to burn with threat of tears. She felt a rush of cool air hit her as she waked towards the frosty pane. Her lips were drawn into a thin straight line and she kept an emotionless face.
"Vaughn? Vaughn, what is it? It can't be that bad." She sought after his eye contact but he adamantly refused to look at her. "C'mon, baby. It's us. We've been through so much! How bad can it be?"
Vaughn sat in silence, starring down at his hands and felt his brow wrinkle in worry. He honestly couldn't answer her without saying something he would regret. His mind was working in overdrive just to say one simple thing.
By this time, Weiss and Maisie had joined them in Vaughn's bedroom. They had both taken residence in an oversized chair and Maisie was kept occupied by Weiss bouncing her up and down. "Are! You! Feeling! Better! Oncle!" Maisie squealed and managed to jet out before she was bounced up again.
"Yeah." Vaughn choked out, making his first attempt at sound since Sydney came into the room. "Hey, man, why don't you take Maisie back into her room for a minute? I need to talk to Syd about something."
"No Oncle! I wanna stay with you!" Maisie quickly whined as soon as she landed back down on Weiss's knee. She fought away from the grasp of the agent and barreled towards her uncle, almost knocking Sydney over. "Mommy, can I stay?"
"You can stay." Isabelle replied rather coldly. She didn't even turn to acknowledge her daughter. "You can stay."
"Good!" Maisie replied triumphantly. She crossed her arms as she nuzzled nearer her beloved uncle.
Sydney was now growing absolutely impatient. "What is do you have to tell me, Vaughn? This game is getting old!" She was growing absolutely nervous. This wasn't like Vaughn to keep something from her and this was obviously very bad. Very, very bad.
He suddenly became a ticking time bomb and couldn't take it anymore. "I'm not Maisie's uncle-I'm her father!" Vaughn finally erupted, finally able to look her in the eye. After a moment of being calming himself, he spoke softly again. "I'm Maisie's father."
She felt her eyes grow very wide and couldn't even more her mouth to speak. Her mind was absolutely blank. Her heart started to race in her chest and her body went into certifiable shock. "What? I don't understand!" She gasped, looking nothing but surprised at the news. "How is Maisie yours?" She stood up and looked back and for the between the little girl and now her father? They looked so similar and they did have similar personality traits. "Who's her mother?" Not Alice. Please oh Lord, anyone but Alice. She had this uncontrolled animosity towards her and she felt if Alice and he had a child together, they would have a bond that they would never have. "And why isn't she living with you?"
"Let me answer one question at a time?"
Sydney nodded obediently.
Unwillingly for the second time that day, Vaughn started on his second story. "About seven years ago, I was working in the Agency as a rookie and I met this girl, Jeanette Salve. We were both going through the same training and everything and we had-we had a lot in common." Vaughn inhaled deeply and felt the pain soar through his eyes. He reached forward to grab Sydney's hand and she gave them, willingly. A rush of heat started to pass through their bodies.
He saw the beautiful woman standing before him. She was striking with her long black hair and olive toned skin. She was perfectly toned and stood gracefully at all times. She was absolutely beautiful. "Well, we hit it off and were going out." He paused for a moment, reliving moments of their dates, "We fell in love. She was my first love." Now he entered into the part that he had been dreading. Telling Sydney about loving another woman was territory enough for one lifetime but for the second time? At first, it was Alice and now Jeanette? He sighed heavily and continued. "We had been going out for something like two and a half years we found out that she was pregnant."
Tears had sprung to her eyes unexpectedly and she wished them away. This was the love of her life talking about getting another woman pregnant. She unintentionally tightened all the muscles in her body but managed to keep a straight face, even though Vaughn was no longer looking her. He had chosen to stare down at their joined hands. "We had barely been in the office a few months, barely done a few field ops and then all of the sudden, we were faced with a baby. I mean, it definitely wasn't planned. Now, working for the Agency was difficult enough but to be pregnant and working for the Agency? And plus, she was being sent undercover for three years over in Guyana. There was a drug ring there and she had some inside details that could've really helped. We talked about it for a long time. We came to decision that she was not going to abort the pregnancy or tell Devlin that she couldn't go on the mission."
"Devlin. Devlin. Devlin." Maisie beamed at the way the words fell off her lips. It was a funny little word that she had grown to love very quickly. She was still sitting proudly on Weiss's knee, as he attempted to tickle her while she spout little toddler phrases. Most of it were little questions or just random bits of information that she felt like staying.
Vaughn acknowledged his little girl with a sad little smile. "We both knew that I couldn't raise the child on my own. I was barely capable of handling myself, let alone a baby. And with constantly going in and out of the country. Besides, it wasn't safe for us. About six months in, one of her contacts turned on her and she was instantly put in danger. And I-I was in danger too. This man was so dangerous and was wanted. He was like Sloane" His eyes looked quickly at the little girl dancing up and down on Weiss's knee. She was the most beautiful creature known. Every movement was more perfect than the last. "So, we decided on adoption. But again, because to the Agency, we had to go through a CIA hospital and figure out how to do this safely. After Jeanie gave birth, we started to go through the proper motions to give our little girl up for adoption." He took a moment to glance at his immobile sister, as if he wasn't sure if he should continue the story or not. "We hated the idea of leaving her with complete strangers and we figured we could at least watch her a little bit and see her grow."
A long pause filled the space for a moment and then Sydney quickly jumped in. "How did she end up with Isabelle?" If she had strength enough, she would have gotten to her feet and start to pace but somehow, she couldn't even move. Her body felt stiff and she honestly felt like she had been hit hard with something. "It just can't be a coincidence ." There were no such things as coincidences in their world.
"I lied to my husband. I told him that I had a daughter from a previous relationship and Maisie was my daughter. Michael went undercover or whatever it is you spies do and left her at an adoption agency under a different name. I went in, I adopted her. End of story." She whipped around with all the ferocity of an ice princess. Her eyes held enough pain to last three lifetimes. Every movement was stark and brash. She walked strongly over to the bed and held Sydney's eyes with her frosty gaze. She had the same trademark wrinkles above her eyebrows. "David has no idea about Maisie."
Sydney let go of Vaughn's hands for a moment and stood up. "You and Jeanie? And then Maisie and then David?" She looked to Isabelle for reassurance of getting the name right and received a curt nod. "Yes, David and Isabelle?" Her head ached with the new information. She started to pace slightly, occasionally glancing at Isabelle or Vaughn, who both looked equally pained and panicked. Nothing in this world could have prepared her for this. This was absolutely shocking. As she started to work on putting the pieces back together, she stopped abruptly. "But wait a minute." She did some quick math in her head. "If the op was only suppose to be three years, where's Jeanette now?"