Chap.38- Loving You
"Sydney, please....let me explain," Sark begged. He took a step toward her and she shrank away from him, pulling her knees closer to her chest. The drug Irina's guards had used to knock her unconscious still held her in a strong grip. Her head spun and she tried to escape, but her limbs felt heavy and immobile. He sighed in defeat. "It was never supposed to end up like this."
"That's all you have to say for yourself?" Sydney spat back at him, a sudden fire igniting and tearing through the haziness of her brain. "What was it supposed to end up like, then? Were you supposed to nonchalantly tell me who you really were one day?"
"It was never supposed to last for three years."
"I don't care about what was supposed to happen. It did happen." Sydney turned to face her mother who had been silent. "I know it was your idea. How did you manage to slip by the CIA? Why?"
"Sydney, I never wanted anything less than the best for you." She whispered. Irina turned to Sark. "Go stand watch." He hesitated, but obeyed. Irina waited for the door to shut and continued. "When your father told me that you were transferring to Langley, I knew it was because of Vaughn. And when Vaughn was took leave from field duty and was assigned to interrogate me at one of my monthly sessions, I could tell that things weren't going so well for him at home. But I knew that it would take time." She paused and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "Whenever your father and I ever spoke, he always expressed his concern for your safety. He told me that you were taking the most dangerous missions, that you rarely followed protocol, and that you had nearly gotten yourself killed on ninety percent of the missions you went on because you were too hasty."
"Are you trying to justify yourself? Trying to make it seem like you did everything for me?"
"I did do everything for you, Sydney! Do you think that I would put my standing at risk to make you miserable? I understood that you needed something in your life to temporarily fill the gap that Vaughn left behind. It wasn't anything that I or your father could fill. So I used the Project Helix method on Sark and implanted him into Langley's hospital, knowing that one day, you were bound to get hurt."
"Wait! I blew up Project Helix myself. I was there with Agent Lennox. You're lying."
"Am I?" She asked demurely. "Then how do you explain what just happened before your eyes? Sydney, don't be foolish. It may be hard to create, but it's never as hard to recreate. Remember that." Sydney was silent. "Everything went as planned. When I felt that Vaughn and his wife were on the verge of a breakup, I recruited Sark back to Los Angeles. All the missions that you went on from your arrival in Los Angeles had been the doing of my contacts on my instruction, and they made sure that you were never harmed."
"Never harmed? What do you mean never harmed? I was pregnant and your friends killed my child!" Sydney sat, waiting for Irina to answer. She never did. "I was supposed to become pregnant, was I?" She hissed. "You murdered my child, and it was all part of your plan."
"I'm still the same person, Sydney. I'm still the same person." Sark broke out suddenly, unable to contain his guilt. "That's why I told your father about the baby before you were going on that mission. Because I knew what Irina was planning. Sydney, you have to believe me. Sydney....I love you. I'm still the same person. Please, you have to believe me." Sydney remembered when she first met Scott, when she said 'yes' to his proposal, their wedding, his kisses, his touch....
Sydney screamed. She screamed out of hurt. She screamed out of anger. She screamed out of injustice. She screamed for Vaughn. She screamed for her make-believe husband Scott.
She screamed for herself.
--
Jack's face set into one of a steely glare from his worried expression as he heard Sydney hang up the phone. He had tried to persuade her to turn around, that there was nothing wrong. Her stubbornness that he had once proudly praised as coming from himself was now his worst enemy.
Once Sydney had mentioned that Scott had driven down to Santa Barbara, he could have kicked himself for not thinking about it sooner. Irina. It was always Irina managing to slip by the CIA, by the government, by him. Only she could possibly expect his thoroughness and be sure to provide a liable background for Scott, knowing that he would perform a check the first time that Sydney mentioned his name to him.
Irina. He cursed her name as he drove to Sydney's house, breaking into the house and searching for clues of Scott's identity. He entered the guest bathroom and rummaged in the medicine cabinet, looking for nothing until he saw a medication that Scott had prescribed to someone else: S. Julian. He took the bottle and drove to a pharmaceutical company, to a "friend" that owed him a "favor".
"The label's been tampered with. I did an analysis and it's nothing that I've ever seen before. It's not FDA approved or even in the charts. But I did a check through some friends of my own who are higher up in the foreign markets."
"And?" Jack asked impatiently, checking his watch.
"It's a medicine called Provacillium. All they would tell me is that it has something to do with genetic engineering. Nothing specific, real vague."
Jack stiffened at the mention of Provacillium.
"Thank you." He said, taking the bottle and slide on the microscope. "I was never here. You've never heard of me. This never happened."
He realized, walking out, that he hadn't heard from Julian Sark in the last 3 years. It was rumored that he had died and remains were unknown, but Jack Bristow had found him. Julian Sark had become a part of his family and he didn't even know it.
"Kendall, this is Jack." He said, speaking swiftly and eloquently into his cell phone. "I have reason to suspect that Julian Sark is now at Irina Derevko's residence. I believe that is a violation of her agreement and that we have reason to be alarmed. I would like to request the assembly of sharpshooters."
"Jack, the sighting of Julian Sark has been confirmed. They are assembling as we speak. I'll direct you to the head of the team."
Jack spoke to the head and ordered that under no circumstances was Sydney to be hurt and if, at any time they had a clear shot of either Irina or Sark, they should take it.
"Sir, a woman is screaming, sir."
"Can you see what she looks like?" Jack asked, trying not to sound alarmed when he heard the screams through the intercom link.
"No, sir. I can confirm that it is not Irina Derevko. I repeat. It is not Irina Derevko."
"Do you have a clear shot of Derevko or Sark?"
"No, sir. A curtain is blocking my view, sir."
"Is there another way you can position yourself?"
"No, sir. She's moving, sir. Should I take the shot, sir?"
Jack hesitated.
"Take the shot."
--
Sydney heard the glass breaking and she instinctively ducked. When she looked up, Sark was dead in a pool of his own blood. He was shot once through the chest. Her limbs felt lighter and she was beginning to regain movement. She pushed herself up from her position on the couch and stumbled forward.
Sydney tripped over Sark's body, but she continued to crawl toward where her mother had hung her coat. She could see her comm. link outlined slightly in her front pocket. She pulled herself up.
"Sydney!" Irina called.
Sydney looked down and saw the red dot aimed at her chest. The sharpshooter had mistaken her for Irina. Before she could react, she heard the soft silenced shot of the gun, and she saw her mother's pained face.
Irina looked down and felt the blood that poured from her stomach. She gasped for breath.
"I love you, Sydney."
Irina fell forward into Sydney's arms, and she felt her weak legs give out under her. Tears fell down her cheeks.
"I love you too, mom."
--
Oh my gosh, you guys all must hate me by now. I'm really really really really really really really really sorry!!!!! I really am. Jeez, what can I do to make it up to you all! Thank you for ALL of your reviews! Thank you thank you!
Man, you guys are so good to me.
I suck. I know.
To answer some of your questions that I can remember off the top of my head, I did think about making Scott actually Vaughn and Vaughn someone else....but then I remembered all those beautiful moments that Sydney and Vaughn had with each other and I felt that the struggle was definitely worth it. =D
Love you all Always,
Jen
P.S. Please do not hesitate to yell at me. I know I deserve it. ::hangs head:: I will never do this again until the story is finished!!! You all better hold me to it!
P.P.S. I do also blame FF.net because when I actually have something to update, they do this stupid server crap on me. I say....REBEL!!!! LOL. JK. Heh. Don't shoot me FF. net.