A/N: Hi, all! Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. I was really busy and will continue to be. I'll update as much as I can. Same disclaimers apply.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy!
Chapter 7: Utter Disbelief
Previously..."Michael? Is that you?"
Yes it was me.
The real question was this:
Was that really my father?
Present time...
"DAD?!?!"
"No time, Vaughn! Get in the car! QUICK!" Jack yelled. They threw the capt...I mean, Dad, into the back with me. Irina got into the driver's seat, Jack in the passenger. Before I could even put on a seatbelt, we were screeching out of the parking lot.
What a family reunion. Now I know how Sydney felt when she saw her mom. She probably had a million questions. Like I did now.
I planned on restraining myself, I did. But the questions just started to spill out.
"Where have you been? Why didn't you contact me? Does Mom know? Are you still in love with Mom? Why didn't you tell me? How...Why...What the hell is going on? Are..."
"Michael, calm down. I haven't seen you this full of questions since your first day of school."
"Dad, answer me."
He looked down for a minute, and took a deep breath. He seemed nervous that I was going to disown him. That I would tear him limb for limb for lying to me and to Mom.
Not yet.
"I have been hiding here in Lyon. I was hiding peacefully in a tiny little house on the outskirts, but I tried to contact you and I got caught. I feared for your danger, so I didn't contact you. That's why I didn't tell you or contact you."
"But what about Mom? Does she know?"
"I don't know. Irina said she'd tell her, but for all I know, your mother might still be in the dark."
By this point, Irina had started to get tired, and Jack had taken over the wheel. She walked back to the back of the van and sat with us.
"Bill, Amelié knows. I told her the night I put you into hiding. I told her to fly back to Berlin, where we're meeting her. We have a flight within the hour."
Wait, my own mother knew her dead husband and father of her child was alive and didn't tell me, her only child, for the last 27 years?
Damn. Talk about feeling unloved and left out of the loop.
We finally got to the airfield. Jack spoke briefly to the pilot (it never ceases to amaze me how quickly Jack Bristow can make his connections), and we boarded, with my father sitting across from me. Irina and Jack chose to sleep in the front to give us some privacy.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one with questions. Dad was full of them too.
"So how are you? God, you do look like me. Do you still play hockey? How do you know Jack? How do you know Sydney? Are you married? Where do you work? Do you still play hockey and put ketchup on everything? Do you..."
"Dad, Dad, calm down. Yes, I look like you. I've gotten that a lot lately," I said, pointing a look at Irina. "I'm not doing so well because Sydney is missing. I am still obsessed with hockey, but haven't played much lately. I still put ketchup on everything, but haven't felt much of an appetite for the past 6 months. I am definitely not married, because the woman I wanted to marry was kidnapped, which is why we got you out. We need to find her. I know Jack and Sydney from work."
"Work? Wait...you're CIA?"
"He's not the pope," Irina piped up.
I took a deep breath. "Yes. I'm CIA. I met Sydney when she walked in from SD-6, a little branch of a 12-piece bad guy. Her division was run by an old friend of yours, Arvin Sloane."
"SLOANE? That so-and-so didn't die yet? Geez, that Billy Joel song is right. Only the good die young. The rest will just stay on earth and rot until the end of time."
"Yes, Sloane. He killed her fiancé, so she came to the CIA. I was assigned her handler. Long story short, I was her handler for about a year and a half. After that, SD-6 fell, we started dating, and it was bliss. 5 months later, she was kidnapped. I thought she was dead."
"And you need me to find her?"
"Yes. She's in the hands of the Covenant."
"I know where she is. And I know this has been a week full of surprises, but Irina?"
"Yes?"
"Do you still need a reason to hate your sister?"