* * * * *
Samantha's eyes fluttered open. It took her several seconds for her eyes to adjust to the light. It only took her a matter of seconds before she figured out where she was. Upon seeing Irina, she wanted to give a small shout, but the tube in her mouth prevented her to. Jack was the first to notice the open eyes. "Wake up Irina, she's awake!"
"Sammy?" Irina said, quickly rushing to Samantha's side, and holding her hand.
"I'll go get a doctor, and Syd, and Mike." Weiss offered.
"How are you doing sweetheart?" Samantha attempted to smile, and pointed to the tube. "Mr. Weiss went to go get a doctor to take that out for you. You gave us quite a scare."
A doctor and a nurse came in. The nurse immediately went about checking Samantha over. The doctor however smiled at Samantha. "Good morning Ms. Daily. How are you feeling?" Slightly aggravated at the question, Samantha pointed to the tube. "The tube is there to help you breathe. We'll take it out the second Nurse Maine makes sure its safe to. With a thumbs up or down, how are you doing?" Samantha put her thumb to the side. The doctor made a quick note. "And can you tell me who you are?" Samantha nodded.
"There was no head trauma, why would she not remember anything?" Irina demanded.
"She stopped breathing for a little while. It's purely protocol. Now Ms. Daily, can you point to the people you recognize." Samantha pointed to Irina.
"She's never met the rest of us."
"I understand that. I wanted to check to make sure she does recognize you."
"All clear." Maine said.
"Very good. Now Samantha, on the count of three, I want you to cough, and we'll get this tube out of your throat. 1, 2, 3." Samantha coughed, and the doctor pulled the tube out. Samantha coughed a little more. "There, that should be better."
"How are you feeling Sammy?"
Samantha gave a weak smile. "Like my mother tried to kill me."
"Glad to see your sense of humor never left."
"Where are they?"
"Your parents?" Samantha nodded.
Irina was about to tell Samantha the whole story, but Jack quickly interjected. "We have to wait for Sydney and Vaughn to get in here, and Weiss too. He went to go get them." With smiles on their faces, the trio entered the room.
"Who are they? Who are you?"
"Doctor, will you please give us a moment?" Jack said. It was more of a demand than a request, and the doctor did as he was told. "Go ahead, tell Samantha the truth." Jack instructed his ex-wife.
"What? What aren't you telling me?"
Irina took a deep breath before beginning. "Samantha, your parents and I, we used to be Russian spies."
Samantha gave a laugh, which obviously hurt, because she quickly retreated to a small smile. "What do you mean used to be?"
"At this point we're all federal prisoners of the US government."
"Right."
"These people here are all agents of the CIA. Sydney, my daughter, Vaughn and Weiss were sent to arrest your parents for treason. They were not Jeff and Karen Daily, as you were led to believe. They were really Vicktor and Abbgail Derevko, my brother and sister-in-law."
"So am I really Samantha Derevko?"
"If you would stop interrupting me, I could finish what I was telling you. You were born Samantha Gretchen." Irina began to tell Samantha everything she knew. Samantha laid there dumbfounded at what she was hearing. Anything that wasn't highly classified, Samantha now knew. Like a sponge, she soaked it up. The news seemed to hurt her, but with all that she had been through for the past month, she wouldn't show it.
Irina looked at the dumbfounded girl, hoping for some hint of emotion. The only thing that they could see was shock. Sydney stood against the windowsill, holding Vaughn's hand, as she listened to a life story, much like her own. "What aren't you telling me?"
"What makes you say I'm holding anything from you?" Irina asked.
Samantha smiled. "You have that same look as when I would ask you if you would ever stop loving me. You would always say, yes, but you had that look, and I knew you were lying. You may be forced to lie, and it may not be a joke, but you have that look. What aren't you telling me Aunt Irina?"
"Everything I can. What you may not understand is how much of the information I've already told you is classified, and Jack here is going to ring my neck when we get back for telling you. A lot of the stuff I have chosen not to say is for your protection."
"So the shooter?" Samantha asked. The images of her friends getting shot for was still raw in her mind. "He was trying to get the information that was trapped inside of me?"
"That was his goal."
"Did you get him?"
"Unfortunately no."
"I've been trying for a long time now. As soon as we find Sark's evil lair, we're going to try to arrest him." Sydney added her two cents.
"Why would you do such a thing!?" Samantha suddenly burst. "Why would you program children to become killing machines."
"It was the cold war. No one knew any better. Sydney was part of Project Christmas, which was the precursor to the JIP. You have to understand that both sides did experiments like this."
"I still don't understand."
"No one expects you to."
"Good." Samantha suddenly got very quiet. She looked past Sydney and Vaughn, and out the window. The group just watched her. The only sound came from outside. "How did you arrest them?" Samantha finally asked.
"Sammy, I don't think you want to hear about your parent's arrest. I don't know the details of it myself, and it's often hard to hear those kinds of things."
"No. She tried to kill me. I want to know."
* * * * *