Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Yep, Jeff and Leah are still the only ones that belong to me.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hours after Leah had left to meet her boyfriend, Sydney was still pacing restlessly around her house.

Overall, she took it pretty well, Sydney reminded herself for the umpteenth time. It had been the fact that her father didn't know that bothered her so much. Leah would come home later, they'd talk, and Sydney would convince Leah it was for the best Vaughn didn't know about his daughter.

The computer set up in the corner of the living room chimed, signaling new e-mail in Sydney's inbox. It surprised Sydney; it had been a little under a year since she had required Leah to let her know exactly where she was, but even then Leah's cell phone had come with e-mail capabilities and Leah had preferred that to actually calling. Leah had always been good about giving Sydney a general idea where she would be.

Something warned Sydney even before she opened the e-mail to see it wasn't a short little note saying she'd be home in an hour. Sydney sat frozen, her only movement to scroll down on the e-mail.

Mom, I'm sorry. I'm going to find my father. It's not only unfair to him not to know about me, but it's unfair to me too. I'm an adult, I'm going off to college in a few months. I need to know my father to know all of who I am, Mom. Please don't worry about me. I have plenty of money, and I can take care of myself. You insisted on all those self-defense lessons so you wouldn't have to worry, right? I'll call you later. Love ya, Leah.

It took Sydney several long minutes to move, or even to think beyond the panic. Her baby had gone looking for Vaughn. Once Leah put her mind to something, there was a damn good chance she'd manage it. There'd be no question whose child she was, with Vaughn's green eyes and so many of his mannerisms and her face a carbon copy of Sydney's at that age.

That the CIA agents Sydney had worked with would know wasn't the problem. But the agents, and more importantly Arvin Sloane, of SD-6 would know her for the child of an agent that disappeared without a trace over eighteen years ago.

Finally, Sydney broke free of the fear. Typing commands rapidly into the computer, pulling up the unsecured server address the e-mail had been sent from, then tracing that back to the IP of the computer took her less than five minutes. The IP was that of Jeffrey Patterson's personal computer in his room.

Sydney toyed with the idea of trying to call Jack Bristow, but she'd only talked to him twice since she'd left, and the last time had been over five years ago. There was no way to know how to get in touch with him now. Stopping only to grab her purse, Sydney shot out the door on her way to Jeffrey's house. Jeff had better have some answers, or…or…or she'd hurt him until he did!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Vaughn paced the confines of his office in the CIA building miserably. He had mountains of work on his desk he should have been doing, but he just couldn't get her out of his mind today. He'd trained himself to get on with his life, and locked her memory away in a tightly shut box near his heart, but he rarely thought about her consciously. He couldn't stop the dreams, but he sure as hell could try.

Today, Sydney seemed to be in everything. Everything he said or did or looked at reminded him of her, of the one night they'd had, of how she'd disappeared before he'd been able to see her again.

He was pretty sure SD-6 hadn't found out about them, or her status as a double agent. They would have made damn sure the CIA had found the body if they'd killed her. But he didn't know.

Jack had never persisted to pester the higher-ups to continue the search for her when all leads came up dead ends. So he'd probably heard from her. But Vaughn didn't know, and days like this, infrequent as they were after close to nineteen years, were enough to send him home to his lonely apartment with an earsplitting migraine.

Something just felt different today. Like something was going to change.

Right, Vaughn scoffed at himself. And pigs are going to fly, and people are all good at heart.

A life in the CIA had certainly rid him of that last illusion. For awhile there, he'd thought Fate was apologizing for dealing him such a bad hand by giving him a shot with Sydney, but then that had been snatched away as well.

Yeah, he was no longer an idealistic kid. He put no stock whatsoever in his "feeling" that something was about to happen.

With a sound between a groan and a roar, Vaughn launched himself toward his desk. Sydney or no, he had to get something done today. No use letting the director know what was in his head.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sydney would have missed the flash of fear of Jeff's face had she not been trained to notice just such slips. She climbed from her car with a smile.

"Hi, Jeffrey, is Leah here?" she asked cheerily.

Jeff was flustered. He'd assumed when he saw her car that she'd gotten the e-mail, but this wasn't reaction he'd expected.

"Hey, Ms. Bristow. She's not here. Why?" Jeff asked carefully.

"Have you seen her today?"

"Uh, actually…"

"Don't lie to me, Jeffery," Sydney warned in a tone she'd heard her own father use far too often in her life.

"Really, Ms. Bristow, I…"

Sydney moved toward him so fast he had no chance to react. Before he knew what had happened, she had his arm twisted painfully behind his back.

"Arg!"

"Tell me where my daughter is, you lying, conniving little…" She gave his arm a painful jerk with each word.

"Ugh! Okay! Stop! Ow!"

She gave him a little push as she released him.


"Wimp. My daughter is too good for you. Now where the hell is she? That e-mail came from your computer!" she snapped.

Jeff rubbed his shoulder, which throbbed.

"Damn, where'd you learn to do that? Okay!" he yelped, edging away when Sydney moved toward him again. "All I know is she was looking for her father. She typed up the e-mail around noon today, and I promised her I'd give her a few hours head start before I sent it to you."

Sydney narrowed her eyes.

"There's more."

"Ms. Bristow, really…"

"Jeffrey, if you don't tell me the truth, and all of it, in the next five seconds, I'm going to do the same to your other arm."

"Okay, okay. What were a secret agent in another life?" he joked awkwardly, fearful of her attacking him again.

"Something like that," Sydney said with a tight smile.

"Okay. Can I ask you something first?" Jeff asked cautiously.

"What?" Sydney asked shortly.

"Why are you so worried? I mean, Lee sort of ran off, but she's not a kid. She can take care of herself. What's wrong? What's the difference between her going to find her father alone and going off to college alone?"

Jeff's insight was just enough to remind Sydney she'd been out of espionage for a long time, and she was slipping.

"Jeff, it'll suffice to say there are things about this Leah doesn't understand," Sydney said softly. "And things she doesn't know. Things I would have told her if I thought she'd run off like this. Now, please, what else did Leah tell you?"

"She said you'd told her about living someplace before you had her, and that was where she was going because it had to be where you met her father." Jeff figured that if Leah was right, her mother would know where to go, but if she was wrong she wasn't headed for trouble.

"Is she going to contact you, Jeffrey?"

Jeff paused. "Yeah. She said she'd call me tonight. Why?"

"Find out where she is when she calls. But don't tell her I want to know. Jeffrey, you just have to believe me when I tell you she has no idea what she's up against, and it's not something she can handle. Don't warn her, just find out where she is so I can go get her."

Jeff must have sensed her sincerity, or her panic, one, because he agreed readily.

"Okay, is Lee in real danger, Ms. Bristow?" Jeff was genuinely worried. "Be honest with me. After nearly dislocating my shoulder, you owe me that," he added with a thin smile.

Sydney sighed. "Yes, I believe Leah may be in mortal danger if I don't stop her."

They had yet to move from the driveway, and Sydney turned and grabbed a notebook and pencil from her car.

"Here," she said, scribbling her cell number down on a piece of paper and handing it to Jeff. "I'm going to start driving in the direction I think she went. Call me the second you hear form her. And give me your number."

She handed him the notebook and he wrote down a number.

"My cell. I don't know where I'll be or what I'll be doing, but I'll keep the phone with me at all times until Leah is home."

"Okay. Don't forget. As soon as you hear from her."

Sydney started to get into her car, and Jeff started back into the house that would be empty until his parent got home from work. He planned to do some quality pacing until Leah called.

"Hey, Jeff, wait," Sydney said, turning back. "I didn't hurt you too much before, did I?"

Jeff laughed. "Scared me, more than anything," he lied. "I've never seen you move so fast, Ms. Bristow."

"And…I didn't mean that part about my daughter being too good for you. Actually, I think you're good for her." Her expression became anxious again. "I can't handle loosing my daughter, Jeff, and I don't think you want to lose her, either."

Jeff seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Leah means a lot to me," he finally said.

"Good to hear," Sydney mumbled as she got into her car.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ok, I could seriously see my mother putting a potential boyfriend in a headlock to interrogate him. My aunt was absolutely horrible to all my cousin's boyfriends, but then, they deserved it. At least here Sydney threatens Jeff, then winds up letting him know she approves of him. So much for her cover as the disapproving mother! And note the comment in the Vaughn section about he director. You'll need to remember that later…

And please review. I refuse to write without reviews…(yes, that is a threat!)