Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me. It's only a mere fantasy…
A/N: I'm a simple country girl from Georgia. If my descriptions of anything are off, I blame living in a one-horse town all my life. The only place I travel to is Arkansas to visit my grandparents, and the town they live in is even more backwoods-Hicksville than the one I live in.
"Have you heard from Piper?" Sydney asked softly.
It had been two weeks since they'd left San Francisco, with Jack confused as hell and Piper promising to contact them as soon as anything got worked out. They'd heard nothing, and Jack, being…well, Jack, was still convinced his loss of memory was some sort of terrorist stunt, despite Sydney and Vaughn's assertions that he'd tripped and knocked his head on the banister in the Haliwail home the third day they'd been there. Which wasn't entirely a fabrication. He had hit his head on the banister.
"Piper called yesterday. Things have been set in motion for them to act as a foster family for now. After they decide to tell her the truth, they'll start trying to prove relation so they can adopt without much resistance," Vaughn muttered in response.
There were, after all, ears everywhere within the CIA.
Sydney nodded slowly.
"Are you going to go back soon?" she finally asked.
Vaughn could only shrug.
"I haven't decided, honestly, if I'll go back at all." He held up a hand to silence her. "She'll have enough challenges, dealing with what the sisters deal with. I'm not sure I want to risk subjecting her to my demons, too."
Sydney recognized the vague note of despair in his voice.
"You'll go back," Sydney said with a grin. "You won't be able to stay away." Vaughn remained silent. "I'd like to go with you, when you go," she added hesitantly.
"Why?" Vaughn asked before he could stifle the question. "I mean, you don't need to feel obligated to get to know her."
"I want to," Sydney argued. "Besides…" She grinned. "Knowing what you know about my family, I'm curious to get to know a little more about yours."
Vaughn laughed.
"I hope you don't mean the sisters. Piper was a kid last time I saw her, Phoebe was a baby still, and no one knew Paige existed."
"Admit it," Sydney said, giving him a friendly jab in the ribs. "You felt like you could belong around there, even when the demons were trying to kill us."
Vaughn shook his head in mock defeat.
"Actually, I think living there would produce more stress than working here. But I guess it's not such a bad place to visit. All demons considered."
Hehehe. I like that line. "All demons considered." sighs Yes, it was a lame joke. So sue me.