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Chapter Thirteen:

Truth Takes Time

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Sydney rested her weary head against the window as she watched the landscape of England pass by her in a green blur. The car was silent as they sped over the foggy landscape, the world around them disappearing into gray mist. It mirrored her soul, cloudy with fresh pain that she could not suppress so easily. Vaughn's head rested gently on her shoulder, he was dozing gently but his hands still rested on her thigh, stroking softly. He was constantly aware of her, struggling to ease her pain even in his sleep. She turned her head, leaning it against his gently, kissing his hair. He murmured something that sounded like her name and nuzzled closer to her. Tears burned her eyes; they had both gone through so much to be able to have this simple moment together. She looked up to look at Jack, his light eyes met her dark ones in the mirror and she smiled weakly. They would do anything to protect her and had already endured so much pain, their devotion to her was unwavering.

"How is your head?" She asked softly, her words breaking the stillness. Jack shook his head and returned his eyes to the road.

"I think I'll survive," he said. His fingers clenched the steering wheel the same way they had gripped Oleg's neck.

"Sydney, the things that bastard said about you," Jack trailed off, looking up to meet his daughter's eyes once more. Pain flickered there and his heart ached at the sight. She looked away, gazing back out into the peaceful oblivion of the mist. It soothed her aching soul with its soft haze.

"It was all true," she whispered softly. "For so long, I have struggled to forget." Her voice caught in her throat. "I just want my life back."

The tears slipped free from Jack's eyes and he blinked them away, focusing on the road in front of him. "It will be over soon, baby. We'll show every one of those bastards that you don't mess with a Bristow and get away with it." He saw her smile a genuine smile; those dimples that he loved so much appearing like shadows in her cheeks.

"What do you think the prophecy says about him?" Sydney asked softly, her eyes drifting down to Vaughn. Jack shook his head.

"I don't know, but we will have answers soon enough. Don't worry. Whatever it is, Vaughn is strong enough to overcome it."

Sydney smiled, stroking Vaughn's hair and nodded. "I can only hope so."

Jack watched her in the mirror, one eye on the road, he cleared his throat softly. "Your mother will be able to provide us with some answers when we see her." His heart clenched in his chest at the though of Irina Derevko and Sydney looked up when he heard the catch in his voice. Her dark eyes softened and she studied him quietly.

"What happened between you and mom while I was gone?"

Jack had anticipated the question, expected it long before this. He was unsure of how to answer, but knew that he could not lie to her, would never lie to her again. He kept his eyes on the road, his voice neutral.

"When I contacted your mother the first time, it was on the computer true, but I wanted to tell her in person. We met in Ireland, at the same place we are heading now. We put aside the past, forgot our resentment and bitterness. I forgot my hatred of her and remembered why I loved her in the first place. She is still that good woman I married deep inside; we share a bond through you. There was no country then, no betrayal, only parents grieving the death of their only, most beloved child."

Sydney gazed at him with sad eyes, "When I became Julia, for the first time, I understood some things about mom that I never could before." She shook her head and sighed softly.

"You still love her." There was no question in her voice, merely a statement of fact that she had known for a long time. Jack had known it as well.

"Yes."

Sydney nodded, "I saw you two together when we were in Kashmir. When you went to see her when she was being held at the CIA, the way she looked at you. She still loves you too."

"Yes," it was a quiet confession on Jack's part. Sydney nodded and smiled softly, as confusing and twisted as their lives were, love was the only honesty that she knew. It kept her strong at moments like this.

"It will be good to see her again," Sydney admitted quietly. "I've missed her."

Jack smiled. For a moment, he could pretend they were a normal family. That he was a good father with a loving wife and a daughter who had never been forced to kill a man in cold blood. But he would not pretend anymore, their lives were not the ideal but at the moment, they were better than they had been for a long time.

They lapsed back into silence, Sydney resting her head against Vaughn, her eyes fluttering closed for a few moments's of rest. Jack continued driving, making his way through the misty world beyond.

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"Given you the slip again, have they?" Lauren could hear the smirk in Cole's voice from the other end of the phone. She rolled her eyes but inwardly, seethed at her failure.

"They killed Oleg." She informed him coldly, that caught his attention.

"What the hell was Oleg doing there?" He demanded.

"I don't know but I found his mangled body on the living room floor when I arrived. They were long gone and Irina Derevko is their only hope if they have the Rambaldi artifact and wish to remain alive. I know that we have agents inside her circle and I want to know where she is."

Cole sighed and Lauren could hear the sound of papers rustling on his desk. There was anger in his voice when he spoke again. "Contact Agent Sark, he is working with Derevko and has been in our pocket since we freed him from his glass CIA prison a few months ago. He should be able to help you and if you tell him that Sydney Bristow is on the way, he might just do your job for you. Don't fail me again, Lauren, or you will regret the day you joined us." He hung up on her with an abrupt click; Lauren stared at the phone with a burning anger. She would show him, she would show all of them. She was not tossed aside lightly.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed the button on the phone again and dialed the number for Julian Sark.

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The sun was setting low behind the hills of Ireland as Sydney, Vaughn and Jack arrived at the small building where they were designated to meet Irina. The land was cloaked with the fading white light, shadows stretching out into the hills. Sydney stood in front of the building, a feeling of apprehension in her chest as she watched her shadow lengthen on the ground before her. Another shadow approached hers from behind and she felt the warm arms of Vaughn slip around her waist as she stood beneath the setting sun.

Sydney grasped his hand for support, shooting him a grateful look as he did so. Jack approached her silently, his hand sliding into her free one. She stood motionless, between the two men who loved her, her protectors. They were like sentinels in the twilight, daring anyone to cross their path in the attempt to harm her. She gripped each of their hands firmly in her own and with a deep breath, started into the building.

They entered a small room that contained a couch and a few comfortable chairs, a table and lamp for reading. Irina sat at the table, her back to them as she pored over a piece of paper before her with intensity. Sydney stood silently for a moment, watching her mother, studying the way her movements were so similar to her own. Irina became aware of them, her sixth sense tingling, alerting her to the presence of others in the room.

Slowly, she looked up, her dark eyes landing first on Sydney and freezing there for a long time. Sydney was surprised to see tears gathered there, unshed. Irina stood slowly and crossed the room toward them.

"Sydney," her voice was full of love and Sydney's walls crumbled. She pulled away from Vaughn and Jack and embraced her mother tightly. She was like a little girl, returning to her mother's arms after so much pain and suffering.

"Mom," Sydney's voice was choked with tears as Irina rocked her slowly, murmuring soft words to soothe her. Jack felt a lump in his throat at the sight, the expression on Irina's face was akin to the one he had seen the day she had first become a mother. There was only love there, no betrayal or deception.

"Oh, Sydney," Irina stroked her daughter's hair lovingly. "I've missed you so much."

Sydney pulled back and Irina smiled at her daughter, wiping away the tears on her face with a gentle touch. Her smile faded as they traced the scars on her face and her body tensed with anger.

"Who did this to you?" There was anger hidden in her voice now and she turned for the first time to look at Jack and Vaughn. Surprisingly, Vaughn answered before Jack had a chance.

"The Covenant," the words dropped from his lips like poison and Irina flinched. Anger flashed in her eyes and Vaughn saw once more the formidable woman who had taken his father's life and fooled so many.

Irina took Sydney's hand and turned to the couch, setting her down gently. She sat on the table in the middle, before her daughter, and clasped her hands tightly.

"Sydney, the Covenant is looking for you. They've infiltrated agents into my circle, knowing that you might come to me if you were in desperate need of help."

Sydney nodded, "I know that they're after me. I've already met with one of their assassins, removed two tracking devices from both myself and Vaughn and killed the man who tortured me and tried to brainwash me."

Irina's eyes widened at the summary of events, "How long have you been free from them?"

Sydney frowned, struggling to calculate the passage of time. Once again, Vaughn responded for her as he crossed the room to sit down beside Sydney. He draped a protective and comforting arm across her shoulders and smiled at her as she looked to him. "Five days."

Irina smiled, a note of pride in her voice. "You did all that in five days?"

Sydney nodded, "I've had six months to make up for."

Irina studied her for a long time; at length she turned to Jack who was sitting beside her. Her faced softened into a loving smile as she gazed at him and Sydney was not surprised to see him do the same in return. Briefly, she embraced her husband and Sydney smiled.

"It's good to see you, Jack." There was love in her voice; the same that Sydney had heard in her father's only that morning. Jack could not respond but Sydney could see the way he held on to her longer than he normally would.

Irina was serious when she looked at him again, noting the wound on his forehead with a brief touch of her hand. He winced with pain and shook his head.

"You need my help," Irina said. "But with what, I can only guess. The three of you seem like you need all the help you can get."

There was a long silence in which Jack and Sydney both turned their eyes to Vaughn. He sat beside Sydney, one hand clasping her's and the other clutching tightly to the bag he had brought with him. He did not look at them for a long time and then finally, he looked up to meet the eyes of Irina Derevko.

"Sydney and I found something in my father's home in France. She was sent by the Covenant to retrieve it and I was there when she did. It was a Rambaldi artifact, a painting."

Irina's eyes widened at his words. For the first time in all the time that he had known the woman, Vaughn saw shock on her face. She stared at him for a moment, when she spoke; her voice was barely above a whisper.

"The second prophecy," the words were whispered with awe. "I have been searching for it for over thirty years. You've had it all this time?"

Vaughn nodded, somewhat uneasy with her reaction to his statement. "I never knew. My father had hidden it in a safe in the house but we found it." Vaughn leaned forward, drawing the box out of the bag.

Irina stretched a hand out for the box but Vaughn pulled it out of her grasp. She looked up at him with confusion in her eyes and Vaughn met her gaze steadily. "You must swear to help us. You were the only one we could trust to decipher the prophecy and understand me, it must be deciphered accurately. Our lives depend on it."

Irina searched his eyes; he did not flinch under her prying gaze. "The prophecy is about you," she whispered. Vaughn blinked in surprise at the accuracy of her guess and hesitated before nodding.

"You have to help us, mom," Sydney placed a hand on Irina's shoulder, pleading with her silently. "For me. Vaughn and I are both in danger as the subject of these prophecies and we have to know what it says."

Irina nodded slowly, her eyes flickering between her daughter and Vaughn. She smiled at him; "I have to admire your courage, Michael. Coming to me like this when I know how much you hate me."

Vaughn did not respond, merely sat waiting for her promise. She nodded, "I will do everything in my power to help you. I have only regained my daughter, I do not want to lose her again."

Vaughn nodded, satisfied with her answer. "I don't want to either," he whispered. Slowly, he opened the box and retrieved the prophecy. Irina sat beside Sydney; Jack perched on the other side of Vaughn as he rolled the prophecy out on the table.

Irina leaned over the table, eyes scanning the portrait briefly before focusing on the text. She traced the words on the page, murmuring softly to herself, forehead wrinkled with thought. She stopped at the bottom of the page; her murmuring ceasing abruptly and Sydney could feel her tense. She looked at her mother in alarm, "What does it say?"

Irina leaned back, rubbing her eyes before returning to read the text thoroughly once more. "It is a companion prophecy to that in the Rambaldi book," she muttered, her eyes still fixed on the portrait. "This page belonged in the Rambaldi book with the prophecy about you but it was removed long ago and hidden behind this painting. That is why Rambaldi mentioned Mt. Subasio in the other prophecy, it was a clue as to where to find this one."

She looked up at them, glancing from one to the other. "Sydney, Michael, you must both remember that Rambaldi's prophecies are open to interpretation. We have seen before, they can be taken the wrong way." She hesitated and Sydney felt as if she might scream if her mother didn't answer her question.

"Mom. What does it say?" Irina met her eyes, uncertainty written deep in the depths. Looking back to the prophecy, she attempted to read it word for word.

"This man here depicted will bear his love for her in silence," Irina glanced at Sydney. "He's talking about you of course, this was meant to follow the other prophecy immediately." She returned her eyes to the page once more, reading aloud.

"He will bear his love for her in silence, guarding her from above against the will of all others. Their passion will ignite in the ashes and end in fire. He will carry a broken heirloom, a container of time that will cease to function the day he sees her face for the first time. He will bear the mark on his flesh, an ancient design of his own choosing, that proves him to be the true chosen one. Their love will transcend the boundaries of death and with from their union, she will bear a power that will be greater than any ever known before. Their child will bring an end to all suffering and evil that has been wrought and be the one to complete my work. Only with their union can the damage done in my name be repaired and balance returned to the world. Together, they will wield the power to control my inventions and destroy those that oppose them."

Irina sat back heavily, the paper drifting from her fingers to the table below. Sydney and Vaughn stared at the prophecy with wide eyes, shock written on both of their features. They had both wondered at what the prophecy would say, but none of them had ever expected this.

"Well, it's not as bad as I expected," Sydney said slowly, still recovering from the shock the words had given her. Vaughn found himself smiling, a wave of relief washing over him. She smiled back at him and squeezed his hand tightly.

"No, it definitely could have been worse," he agreed. He shook his head, "All this time, we assumed that Rambaldi was evil, but in the end he was trying to warn us with this prophecy, and give us hope." He shook his head in disbelief. "He predicted everything, the watch my father gave me, the tattoo on my arm that I designed after a symbol my father described in his journal."

"My guardian angel," Sydney whispered. "He will guard her from above, it's too much to be coincidence."

"All these years," Irina breathed, as if speaking to herself. "He knew and he hid it from me, after I saved his life, he told me it had been destroyed but he knew. He knew and feared that I would use it against you."

Sydney and Vaughn were so wrapped up in one another that they scarcely heard her speak, slowly her words registered and they each turned to her curiously.

"Who?" Vaughn felt a sinking in his chest, he was not certain that he wanted to hear her next words.

Irina looked up at him with wide eyes, after a long moment she answered, her voice barely above a whisper. "Your father."

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