Disclaimer: Surprise surprise, I don't own Alias.. or the characters.. or anything else related to the show. And I stole the title from a song by Thursday.. which also happens to be my favorite song, so don't sue meh.
A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. This one was harder to write than I anticipated. Actually, I completely rewrote it this morning because I hated the whole thing :P Thank you for the reviews! Every single one is greatly appreciated, and although I kind of know where I'm going with this, I do take your ideas and interpretations into consideration. And really, they mean a lot to me, so thanks :)
Tomorrow I'll Be You
"Well, my dear sister," Katya replied with a condescending smile, "I'm glad that you didn't."
"Yeah Irina," joined McKenas Cole, "'Cause you're pretty good at messing things up."
Katya reached across the table and turned the light back on. "But that's not what we came to talk to you about," she continued, her face growing serious.
Irina did nothing to acknowledge her sister or Cole. Instead, she shifted her attention to a leaky crack in the wall.
"It's been an interesting few days," Katya went on with a touch of indifference, then added, "Jack has himself in a tizzy looking for you. I couldn't imagine why.."
Irina's disinterested gaze towards the wall turned into one of annoyance directed at Katya.
"Why am I here," Irina asked, noticeably irritated.
"Irina," Katya replied, "you know why you're here."
Katya studied her sister for a moment then went on, "I simply want to talk. Perhaps we can settle our differences and resume our work."
Irina's eyes narrowed maliciously on her sister. "My dear sister, you need to get your priorities straight," Irina sneered, a trace of her accent showing through her anger. She then turned to Cole, "And you. You are the reason this light needs to stay off."
With that, she reached back over the table to turn out the light.
Back in LA
Sydney had gathered her things in record time, anxious to get as far away from LA as possible. She was waiting for Vaughn to finish his phone call when something caught her eye. She walked over to the kitchen counter and stopped in front of the papers her father had left. Her first instinct was to throw them into the fireplace, but for one reason or another she just stared at them. She was snapped out of her reverie by a pair of strong hands massaging her shoulders.
"You're really tense," he stated.
With a small grin she replied, "I think it's warranted in this situation."
She could hear the smile in his voice as he conceded, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
He guided her back to the couch and sat down beside her. "So I booked us on the next flight to Fleury. I have some things I need to take care of there," he informed her.
Sydney nodded.
"You ready," he asked warmly.
She nodded again, this time with a smile, and then asked, "Vaughn, what about you?"
"Oh... a lot of my things are in Fleury," he reassured, and then added, "We have to stop at the bank, though. I have our passports there and we'll need to close any accounts."
He got up and made his way into the kitchen with the intent of leaving a note for Weiss.
She smiled, "You have a passport for me?"
"You'd be surprised, Syd," he grinned.
Sydney smiled and grabbed his hand as they made their way out the door; her father's papers lay forgotten on the counter.
Weiss was watching Jack's second encounter with Sark on one of the few working monitors in the rotunda when a hand on his shoulder interrupted him.
"Anything," the director asked.
"No, but this is the second time he's been in there. It's been over an hour," Weiss replied looking at his watch. "Do we have any audio?"
Dixon shook his head, "We're lucky to have video at this point."
They both continued to watch the feed until Dixon began again, "I'm having Sark transported to a better secured facility while we clean up this mess. He should be leaving shortly."
"Does Jack know this," asked Weiss with a glance in Dixon's direction.
"Knowing Jack, I'm sure he does," Dixon answered, "which is why I wanted you to watch him. If anything, the move may put an end to whatever Jack is concocting."
Weiss was skeptical, but kept his mouth shut. Dixon continued, "I need Sydney's and Vaughn's reports regarding Palermo, but neither are answering their phones. Are they still at the hospital?"
Weiss shook his head as glanced at his watch once again, "No, I left them both at Sydney's. Actually I should go check on them. I'll let them know about the reports."
Dixon nodded, and with one final glance at the monitor he returned to his office.
"Irina," Cole started as he reached across the table to turn on the light once again, "as clever as that was, you might want to watch your mouth."
Katya ignored Cole and continued, "I've been in contact with Jack these past few years, Irina." She smiled and then added, "Of course, he doesn't know that. He misses you."
Irina really had no idea what Katya was talking about, and Katya must have noticed her sister's questioning expression because she elaborated. "I suppose I can tell you. It was all very fortunate, really," she said as she motioned for Cole to leave. He did so, mumbling something about women and migraines.
Once Katya had Irina's attention she started, "Shortly after we... removed you from our operation, we took Sydney. I'm sure you guessed as much."
She folded her hands on the top of the table and leaned back into the chair as she continued, "It didn't take long for Jack to try and contact you. Since you were unavailable, I played the part of the concerned mother. It worked out very well."
At this point, Irina was seething, but Katya went on unfazed, "However, Jack insisted on meeting. He began asking questions. I couldn't have him ruining what I have worked so hard for, so I called in a few favors."
There was a short lull in the conversation as she thought about what she wanted to reveal.
"I had him imprisoned," she chuckled, "for working with you."
Irina had had enough. She leaned over the table and clasped her hands in front of her as she calmly asked, "Why are you telling me this?"
Katya grew serious and contemplated her answer. "You would have figured it out anyway because I'm going to let you go."
Irina was stunned, "What?"
"Jack is looking for you at this very moment. I can't afford for Julian to bring him here, which I'm sure he will," Katya explained, "So, I'm letting you go."
Katya stood up and made her way to the door. As she opened it, she turned to look at her sister once again. "Just remember, if you come back we will hold you for longer than two years. And it won't be so comfortable," Katya sneered as she left the room.
Irina remained in the chair, ruminating over what just occurred. She had no idea what had happened to Sydney after the Covenant abducted her, but she intended to find out.
With one last glance around the room, she turned off the lamp and left the room.
After a quick stop at the bank, Sydney and Vaughn successfully boarded their flight and were on their way to France. Sydney had fallen asleep right away, leaving her head to rest on Vaughn's shoulder while he combed his fingers through her silky hair. It wasn't until about two hours into the flight that he decided to wake her.
"Hey, Syd," he murmured into her hair as he caressed her cheek.
She stirred but didn't wake, and he smiled when she murmured something about not eating sundaes without cherries.
"Syyd, wake up," he cooed, drawing out her name.
After a bit of coercion, her eyes fluttered open and landed on Vaughn.
"Hey," he smiled, "I thought I should wake you before your neck does."
Sydney winced, rubbing the side of her neck, "Now that you mention it.."
"C'mere," he whispered as he began to massage her shoulders, "So, have you thought about where you want to go?"
"Mmm," she replied and closed her eyes as Vaughn continued his ministrations; "I was kind of hoping we could stay in France."
Vaughn smiled, "That is very appealing, even though it's probably the first place they'd look."
"Can we try," she asked, jutting out her lower lip in a pout.
Vaughn chuckled, "Of course we can." He finished his sentence by pulling on her lip and adding, "That won't always work, you know."
She offered a sly smile and replied, "Yeah it will."
"Yeah it will," he conceded with a smile. He noticed she had fallen asleep and pulled her closer, resting his head on hers as he followed her into a peaceful slumber.
A/N: Okay, so I hope I explained the whole Katya/Irina thing well. I think that was the hardest part to write so far.. so please let me know how I did. Constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated :)