He felt his eyes grow wide and his heart beat loudly as he started to ramble incoherently. "What? Claire? I don't understand! What the hell are you doing here?" He couldn't stand the sight of his sister bruised, beaten, and broken lying in a small huddle in the corner. Sydney pushed herself to that she sitting was sitting fairly upright. His body felt stiff and rigid.

"Please." Claire dragged her limp body closer and found herself sitting on the left hand side of her brother, shoulder to shoulder. "You need to keep your voice down. They don't know who you are. They know Sydney and they know me but for your own sakes! They've already tried to kill me and they'll probably torture me again for information but you still have a chance!" She pleaded in a small voice. Vaughn took a good look at her face. She had been severely beaten and was obviously in a lot of pain. Her voice reflected all the pain that was rushing through her.

"Who?" He unwrapped his arms from Sydney and attempted to touch Claire but she protested. He was absolutely distraught by seeing his sister this way. This is what he had wanted to protect her from.

"It's Stephan. He discovered that I was a double and captured me!" She started to sob silently. "I can't believe he's captured you. Oh G-d. Oh G-d." The tears overcame her body and shook her violently. "I begged him not to."

"Stephan? Stephan who?" Vaughn tried to capture her eye and placed his hand on each of her shoulders. "C'mon, talk to me! Who are you a double for?" He pushed himself onto his haunches, so he sat higher than her.

"Sark. Stephan Sark. He recruited me into his organization after Samuel's death and my recruitment into 5. He thought I would rebel against them and work for him. I went back to my superiors and I-and I became a double. I told him I would work against 5 for him but I was really working against him. I saw the paperwork. I knew what he had done!" The tears coursed down her face in the darkness, collecting in little pools of her pores.

"What? What? C'mon, keep talking!" Vaughn urged her, sounding a bit more severe than intended.

She stopped her tears for a moment a looked at her brother in horror. She seemed to stop breathing for a moment and it looked like she was straining to speak or to hear something. "He killed Samuel. Ordered it and then decided to do it on his own. Right there in his bed-our bed. I found him when I came home. The place had been ransacked and when I went into the background, I saw it. There he was, covered head to toe in blood. It's all really just a blur now but I just remember not being able to talk and I heard a voice screaming and-and it was my own." She spoke in a sober voice, her tone shaking violently as she saw the images of her royal blue bed cover inundated with blood and feeling his blood seep into her clothes as she touched his face, in horror.

This was all too close to home for Sydney. She sat up, wrapping her arms around her body and rested her chin on her knees. This was exactly what it felt like for her to lose Danny. She understood more than anyone else in this world.

"I never understood why he killed him. Samuel was just a man. Just a man." Claire continued, letting her emotions block her vocal cards for a little while. Her agent training was obviously kicking in. She stopped her tears and looked at Vaughn hard and continued, "Then, he killed Mom. Right there, in the middle of the street. She was picking out apples to make into a pie for a new couple that had moved in up the hill and they came up on either side of her and abducted her. They took her back to a warehouse and beat her until she slipped unconscious. From there, they burnt her face and tortured her until finally her heart gave out. He killed her and all the while, I was working for him. I had to sit at the same table with him and share my food with him. And then, he discovered I was still with 5 and now, I'm here."

Absolute horror had set into his body. Vaughn let his body go limp. He fell back on his haunches and looked away from her and towards the door. His brow was wrinkled in concern and he didn't exactly know what to make of this. It was bad enough that he had come to terms with his mother's death and the fact that he had been captured but to hear of his sister's status broke his heart in two. "After that night that I told you, I had to call Sark and tell him what happened. He had the house bugged and wanted to know if I was loyal."

This wasn't happening. This was absolutely, no doubt not happening. His sister was NOT a double agent and was not associating with Sark. "No. No. No."

"Vaughn." Sydney placed her hand on his arm to comfort him in any way possible. She felt so frail and so hopeless. "Vaughn."

"No, Sydney." His head snapped back towards his sister. "You are not an agent, let alone a double agent."

"Listen to me." She pleaded hoarsely. "Sark killed Mom and found out I was a double. Then, he found out about your meeting in the club and sent in one of his finest agents to infiltrate. She did and they captured you."

"There is no way that you're a double agent!" Vaughn managed to yell.

"Then what the hell am I doing here with you? If I'm not a double, then why I am in this G-d forsaken cell with you? Huh? Answer me that, Mike." She snapped back, unable to contain her temper for a moment longer. He couldn't. "You have no clue what it's like to live with that everyday. The lying, the deceit. It eats away at you and pretty soon, all you have of yours is a punching bag, two cell phones, and enough bruises on your body to keep the cosmetic industry in business for years."

"Don't forget about the tangled webs of lies and keeping them straight all the time. It's worst thing when you almost get caught, isn't it? That out of control feeling that takes over and all you can do is keep your mouth shut and push the emotions away. You're inhumane until you're all alone in your room and all you can do is cry and after you're done, you wipe your eyes and continue lying. Horrible, isn't it?" Sydney spoke up, her voice surprisingly calm but saturated in poison. "And when they ask you 'who do you work for,' what are you suppose to say? Do you say the place that you first worked for or the place you're suppose to work for or is that the same thing? Five words can cause so much trouble."

"Not as much trouble as 'double agent.'" Claire crossed her arms in front of her chest and sank back into the corner.

Vaughn managed to find a spot against the wall and leaned against it, letting his head rest against it as he starred at the ceiling. He couldn't find the right words at that moment, so instead, he just listened to the girls compare life stories.

"You worked for SD-6?" Claire questioned, feeling strength return slowly to her body.

Sydney never got to answer the question. A man swept into the room and pulled Sydney to her shakey feet. His tall frame was outlined by the blinding light that filled the outside world, the world beyond the heavy wooden door that shut them out. Her hands were bound with hand cuffs and she was thrown out the door into the desolate unknown.

Claire was pulled next, leaving Vaughn alone in the room. He started to second guess his existence. He was alone for what seemed like days on the end. He had no idea what was going on in the other rooms. He didn't know about the swollen eyes or broken bones. Or that Sydney had given up home of a rescue and she had stopped dreaming. Yes, that was when the torture had really gotten to her. She stopped dreaming. Vaughn had no idea that her life quickly became an endless circle of beatings followed by passing out only to awake to a small cup of water and begin again. She felt her ribs poke from beneath her skin and her face run gaunt

All he did know was that a large guard would come in every once and a while and just kick him in the rib cage. Over and over and over and over. They would just beat him until he bled and bruised but mostly until he passed out. He seemed to run out of air the fastest. They seemed to know exactly where to hit and put pressure. They knew about the cancer and the tumor.

The heavy wooden door swung open. Round eight was beginning and Vaughn felt like this time, he would surely be knocked out early. The pain was too intense and the malnutrition too intense. He watched with slit eyes as the door swung open, letting yellow light burn his eyes. His eyes slammed shut. It was painful to keep them open for much longer. He was lying on his side, resting on broken ribs. The guard shut the door firmly behind him and turned on a small flashlight from the depths of his pockets. Before turning around, the guard adjusted his black cloak to cover his face. Slowly, he turned around and face Vaughn, his light still obscured by darkness. He crouched down in front of Vaughn. He set the flashlight down nearby, letting the light flash upwards. "Michael." The guard was not a male but in fact a beautiful woman, in a long black cloak. She reached forward and touched his face in stir him from his state that he was in. "Michael Vaughn, please open your eyes."

He thought it was a dream. He hadn't heard that voice in such a long time and the old wounds of heartache started to surface again. His eyes refused to look and his ears refused to listen. This was unbelievable.

"Mike, please listen to me. You have to or else we won't be able to get you out of here. I know you don't believe who I am right now and I can't say that I don't blame you."

"You're suppose to be dead." He finally manage to speak after a few moments of silence. His thoughts were coming together more clearly and suddenly things were clicking. "Devlin gave up on finding your body. He wouldn't even let me search for you anymore." He whispered, not being able to speak any louder.

"Darling, I know."

"You're suppose to be dead." He repeated again, finding his speech slurred from the bruises.

"I know, darling and I can explain everything. I promise. We'll have to talk later. I'm going to come back tonight and fetch you, the girl, and Claire. Sark's leaving tonight and he's leaving me in charge. As soon as his plane departs, I've issued a security check on the grounds. You need to be awake with the girls and I'll come for you. We'll get you a safe house. I promise."

"How do I know this isn't a trap?"

She looked at him hard, the light reflecting little elements of her face. "You don't but darling, I need you to trust me. For my sake, for yours, Sydney's and especially Maisie."

He must have been delirious. "This has to be a trap. There's no way you're alive."

She sighed, frustrated that he was so unbelieving, "Ask me anything about anything." She relented.

Vaughn thought for a moment, "What were we going to name our daughter?"

Jeanette instantly started to smile a little, "Jaqueline Willow Vaughn. Jaqueline after my father Joseph and Willow after your father, William."

That was it. She knew the exact piece of information only Jeanette would know. "Jeanie. Jeanie, it's really you." He wanted to reach out but found his arms unable to move. He was lucky that he was conscious.

"Darling, we have to talk later. Be prepared to leave. Be safe until." She got up in one motion and made her way towards the door.

"Jeanie!" He gasped and watched her turn around once more, the light flickered around to shine him in the face. "Promise me you'll get Sydney out of here?"

She didn't even hesitate, "I swear to you."

The door slammed shut and the light drained from the room. He felt so sick at that moment and wished he had something in his stomach to vomit. .