AN: Hey La, Hey La, my muse is back.
I'm already working on the next chapter too. This has not been reviewed by a beta, so forgive any mistakes.
Will sat in the conference room opposite Dixon and Jack, waiting. Both men looked as though they hadn't slept in years and there was noticeable strain in Jack's eyes. There was a sadness and a weariness that passed between Dixon and Jack and a silent nod punctuated their silent conversation.
A hush filled the room as if everyone were reluctant to speak out loud and Will began to wonder if they weren't waiting for more people to arrive. He though maybe Vaughn or Weiss would be joining them, but then remembered he hadn't seen either of them for the past day or so.
Jack stood up and began closing the blinds and dimmed the lights overhead. The screen on the far wall lit up, but no picture appeared.
Dixon leaned in and began quietly making Will strain to here every word.
"Will, understand that we are about to share highly classified information with you, some of which is above your clearance level. There is much we cannot tell you at all, but we feel that it is your right to know this much."
"What aren't you telling me? Why isn't Sydney here too? Has she already been briefed on this?" Will looked back and forth between the two men with mounting concern. He was beginning to dread his quest, his insistence on the truth even before he received it.
An image of the house that he shared with Francie and Syd filled the screen.
"How much do remember of the night you discovered Francie was actually Allison Doren?" Dixon asked.
"I've answered this question so many times; don't you have that answer by now?" He let out an exasperated sigh. "I remember finding the provocillium in the bathroom and calling Syd to tell her that I thought that Francie was actually the double. I went out of the bathroom and didn't see the Fran...Allison at first and then she attacked me. We fought and she stabbed me. I remember her crying. I don't remember much else until I woke up in the hospital. I did have a fleeting dream that Syd came into the bathroom and found me in the bathtub like Danny, but I'm not sure if that was real or not."
The picture on the screen changed and showed the inside of the house, torn apart as though a tornado had ripped through the dwelling. Jack moved around the room, not being able to look at the photos once more, they were etched in his brain.
"This is how the house was found when the paramedics arrived for you." Dixon continued. Will's face went slack in horror, wondering what had gone on. He knew that the fight between him and Allison had not done much damage at all. "The paramedics were called at 10:30 and arrived on the scene about 10:45. There was no tape of the call to be found and the number is untraceable. You were the only occupant of the house when they arrived. Sydney and Allison were not to be found."
Will gasped and cringed at the next photo of Sydney's bedroom; blood was marking several of the walls and glass was strewn about.
"No. That is not what the police report said. I've reviewed it; I read the CIA technician's notes from the scene. Allison and I were found and taken to St. Stephen's."
"No Will. I'm sorry."
"What? You falsified the police report? You fed me bogus documents? Why? Why didn't you tell me?" Will got up and began a hobbled pace around the conference room.
"To keep you out of the investigation, Will," Jack replied. "You would have compromised everything we were working on through the back channels by asking public questions. We needed the anonymity."
"You bastards. All you had to do was fill me in. I would have cooperated. Damn you and the CIA."
Dixon and Jack let him stew in his anger until he was ready to continue. With resignation, Will sat back in his chair, ignoring the pain that shot through his abdomen.
"So what really happened? Whose blood is that?" his voice quiet and his finger pointing toward the screen.
"From what the CIA technician's have analyzed, there was a fight in here between Sydney and we assume Allison. Blood of two individuals was found; Syd's and we're guessing Allison, though we have no DNA match to confirm it."
"Is Syd alright? Was she hurt badly?" Will looked at both agents and felt his mind reel. "Wait a minute; you said I was the only one the paramedics found?" His voice started getting louder with each word.
Jack's hand touched the younger man's shoulder and he spoke in a hollow monotone.
"Sydney has been missing since that night. We haven't been able to find her."
"NO!" Will screamed and tried to jump out of his chair. Jack's hand exerted enough force to keep him rooted to the chair. "She can't be missing; you all told me she was on assignment." He tried again to get up, with no avail.
"YOU LIED TO ME!"
"Will, we've been expending every resource we can use to find her. No one's has had any rest since she went missing. Vaughn had to be sedated twice. We're tracing all of the clues, we've interviewed every operative we can get our hands on, and Jack's been trying to break Mr. Sark. We're all looking for Sydney and for Allison and Francie too," Dixon's voice was filled with despair.
"It's been almost a month and you have nothing?" Will was beginning to hyperventilate and Jack gently pushed a glass of water into his hand. He gulped at the water and continued. "I want to help damn it, let me help." The anguish in his voice was only matched by the look in Dixon and Jack's eyes.
There's more they are not telling me. Something else is wrong, Will's mind screamed at him.
"What? You still aren't telling me something? What is it?" His gaze tripped frantically between the two men.
Air left the room as the next picture projected onto the screen. It showed the burnt out shell that remained of their house. Tears traced down Will's face as Dixon tried to explain.
"Two nights ago our agents found Sydney's house in flames and the fire department was called. Jack and Vaughn were also called to the scene. A body was found in the ashes. All of the tests are not back yet, but based on the evidence....Will, we think that it was Sydney."
Will's breathing stopped and his world went black.
Gentle shaking started to clear the fog in his mind and Will slipped back to the reality he had momentarily left. He woke to the look of Jack's eyes, broken and void of hope. With Jack's help he sat up and in an instance of pure clarity hit Jack squarely in the jaw.
"You son of a bitch. You led me to believe she was alive. She is ALIVE you motherf&%$er." He shook the pain out of his hand and watched in amazement at the lack of movement in Jack. Will then noticed that Dixon had left the room, leaving just the two grief-stricken men.
"Damn you, Jack, I love her. You and Dixon just sat here and told me that there is no hope in finding the two women I love most in the world. She's your daughter, how can you believe she's dead?"
"I..."Jack started, unable to form words to fill the silence between them. "I don't believe she's dead either and I never plan to stop looking for her, no matter what the evidence says."
He paused again, trying to find the words, "Will, if the evidence says that was her in the house, you have to let her go. Don't let my delusions sway your grief. You're too smart, too good of a man for that."
"Oh God Jack. She can't be dead. They can't be dead." Will covered his face with his hands and cried.
Jack watched as the younger man expressed his grief in ways Jack never could. Jack turned the projector off and decided against raising the lights.
"Jack?"
Jack was startled out of his reverie and looked at the recovering man.
"You said you had interrogated that British bastard Sark. He's in custody?"
"Yes."
"He knows something. He's been stalking her and he knows something. What has he told you?"
"Nothing. He's been very tight lipped."
"Jack, you need to let me talk with him."
"No. You do not have clearance." Jack sat back his chair, as if contemplating the request. Then he shook his head no.
"You owe me, let me talk to him. The CIA owes me. And I know you can make it happen. If anyone could, it's you." Will gripped his arm with a ferocity that wasn't lost on Jack.