* * * * *
Samantha's friends beat the doctors, and arrived to the room before the doctors had finished their examination. The doctors had barely put their foot out the door, before they had already surrounded her. The adults followed, but stayed in the back, watching the girl interact with her friends. Samantha's mood immediately brightened. It could have been the anti depressants the doctors gave her (after a very brief psych evaluation, it was obvious that Samantha needed some) but it was likely just the company of her best friends. Everyone was still talking when Samantha fell asleep. Her friends understood, and left as silently as they could.
"Sydney, I have to get Irina back. Kendall allowed her to visit for today."
"Wait, I didn't get a chance to say good bye to Samantha yet."
"There are a lot of important goodbyes you missed. I hardly doubt this was the most important goodbye to miss." Jack snapped.
"I didn't have a choice." Irina snapped back.
"You don't have a choice now either.
"Both of you shut up!" Sydney said, stepping in like a middle child. "You just have to face the fact that you have to go back to your cell before Sam wakes up."
"Will you explain to her any questions she might have?"
"Yes. Sure."
"Let's go." Jack ordered, standing up.
"Dad, I'm not sure if this is a good idea yet. She may be on antidepressants, but Mom is the only family she's got left."
Jack looked solemnly at his daughter. "Take it up with Kendall."
It wasn't often that Sydney would turn to her father for support, but the one time she needed him to back her up, he wasn't there. "Samantha is a lot like you Sydney. She'll be fine."
"That's what scares me." Sydney silently whispered.
"And what about Samantha?" Weiss asked. "The doctors were talking about releasing her soon. What happens then?"
"You three are to stick to the plan."
"Permanently?" Weiss' voice cracked.
"Until a more permanent plan is drawn up." Jack answered. "It could be a week at most. Just hang tight in the safe house."
Weiss grumbled. "There go the Kings tickets you and I had." He said, turning towards Vaughn.
"Just think of it as a vacation." Vaughn answered. "A week long vacation where we're still working."
"That makes it work. No matter where we are." Weiss retorted.
"We'll keep in touch as far as the plan goes over the next week." Jack said. "I'll see you later honey." Jack waved to Sydney.
"Bye Dad."
Irina took one look at Jack's face, and decided that it would be best if she just waved good-bye to Sydney. Weiss fell back into the chair he was sitting in. "A week of babysitting. They have three of their best agents babysitting one teen age girl."
"Hey. They're harder than they sound. My sisters were terrors when they were 17." Vaughn said. "Kylie rebelled, and Sarah decided to be a mall rat."
"And you spent all your time at the hockey rink." Sydney said, kissing Vaughn. "Your poor mother must not have seen you three much.
"You know me too well. But she saw us. I mean Kylie was two years older than Sarah, who was four years older than me. So I mean she wouldn't see us but at different times."
"Yeah, well, my sister Elizabeth wasn't an angel either. But it doesn't take three of the CIA's best agents to watch Samantha."
"You mean two of the best." Sydney joked.
"You mean me and Mike, right?" Weiss played along.
"I think she means me and her." Vaughn said, putting his arm around Sydney's shoulder. The three of them were laughing as quietly as they could, but they were still a little too loud. Samantha stirred in her bed. The three of them quickly shut their mouths and looked at Samantha, hoping that she would remain sleeping. Luckily for them, she did.
"It's hard to imagine that somewhere in that head of hers, Samantha has the power to destroy governments, and she doesn't even know it." Sydney said her voice trailing off, killing the goofy mood, and quickly replacing it with a much more serious one.
"It's even harder to imagine that she was just a baby when it happened. When your mother explained to our team how exactly the JIP worked, I was amazed. Its incredible that with all the problems that went wrong with the scores of other kids, Samantha has managed to hold on this long." Weiss said.
"It's just like your mother said Syd. Samantha is as strong willed as you are." Vaughn said.
"That's what scares me." Sydney quietly said to herself again.
"What was that Dear?"
Sydney smiled up at her boyfriend. "Nothing. It's nothing."
* * * * *