DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah. Don't sue, please, because I extremely worship JJ Abrams and his creative brain. In fact, I'll buy anything (in my case, my parents reluctantly buy it for me) that has Alias in it... well, I'll think twice if it's Sloane's face, but then again...

CHAPTER FIVE

Dixon is in his office, doing paperwork when Sydney burst in holding a folder.

"We have information on the identity of the freelance assassin who attempted to kill the Macedonian Ambassador."

Dixon looked up and motioned her to sit down.

"The freelancer's a Russian-born named Anya Ivanovna. She and her mother fled out of the USSR and into Switzerland in 1990. We think it's an alias, but she has school transcripts and several records with the Swiss government." Sydney said as she handed the folder to Dixon.

He took the folder and read its contents. Dixon nodded his head and then closed it.

"Good work." Dixon said and then looked at her. Jack left something, for him to give to Sydney. Jack knew Sydney will not see or talk to him, so he left it with Dixon.

"There is something your father left for you." He saw Sydney put on a guarded look on her face. "He knew that you will not believe him if he tells you, so he left something for you, for it to speak for him." Dixon said as he opened a drawer in his table.

"I gave my father enough time for him to explain what he did. He didn't use that chance." Sydney said in a disinterested tone. She watched as Dixon passed her a small envelope. She didn't take it.

Dixon looked at her face. Jack was right; Sydney is very good in hiding what she's truly feeling.

"Take it. Not for your father's explanation, but for you. I don't know how you feel about this, but I do know it's complicated. Jack hasn't told me everything and I think he wants you to know first."

Sydney looked at the envelope. She then looked at Dixon again.

"I don't know. I think I don't want to know what he did to me and Nadia."

"Then you'll be depriving yourself of the truth." Dixon said

Sydney thought for a while and decided to take the small envelope with her. But before she left, she asked Dixon something.

"Where's my dad?"

Dixon looked at her. "He's in Panama."

-x-x-x-

Irina is in the den, sitting on her comfy leather chair, reading some papers. Her face is expressionless, but deep inside, reading every sentence creates an unfathomable cut in her heart. But she knows there is a reason behind it. A very rational reason.

Irina looked up from the folder and looked at her son. He is sitting on a quilt she set on the floor, playing with one of his fuzzy toys. He is one of her miracles, a gift from above. Irina could watch him for hours and hours and not get tired. Letting out a deep breath, she closed the folder and stood up. She went to the baby and sat beside him.

"Mommy loves you very much. Don't ever forget that." Irina whispered in Russian and kissed her son's forehead. The baby gave a little gurgle and fluttered his little hands at her.

There was a knock on the door. A few minutes later, it opened, and in came a teenage girl holding a sandwich. Half of her face is swathed in bandages while her right wrist and two of the fingers in her left hand is in a cast.

"Ana, why are you out of bed?" Irina said, concern, can be traced in her voice.

"Mom, I'm injured, not sick." Ana replied as she closed the door and went towards them. "Hello, little boy." She cooed as the baby looked up and then smiled at her. He recognized his sister's voice. She sat down beside them.

"Did you miss me, little brother? Did you miss Ana?" She asked again and kissed her brother. "Hmm... you smell really nice." She murmured as she made a funny face for the baby. He laughed and tried to reach for the sandwich.

Irina watched the whole scene in front of her. These two children are one of the factors in her life that made her sane. She doesn't know what she would do if they are taken away from her.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Irina said and the door opened. It was Dante, one of her bodyguards. He went towards where she is sitting. His face is dim and Irina could tell that something is wrong.

"What is it?" She asked as she stood up. Dante whispered something in her ear that made her a bit afraid.

"He's here?" Irina asked. Ana looked up when she heard her mother's voice. It was a bit shaky and almost panicky.

Dante nodded his head.

Irina looked away from him and pressed her lips together.

"Let him stay in the living room. Don't let him go farther than the kitchen." Irina ordered. Dante nodded and hurriedly went out.

Irina walked to her table and placed the folders in the drawer. "Ana, watch over your brother and don't leave the room unless Dante, Byron, Francis or myself told you so." Irina said and walked out of the room. "And that's an instruction." She said as she looked back.

Ana can be quite curious, and most of the time, Irina can handle the situation. But this time, the situation involves someone she doesn't want her daughter to know.

'Unfair, yes. But Ana's father can be quite irrational when it comes to me.' She thought and closed the door, readying herself to face an inner demon she hasn't let go yet.

Jack.

-x-x-x-

Jack is seated in the sofa. He was caught when he tried to sneak in the pavilion. He looked at the three men who were standing by the sofa. They were burly, big, tough looking people and he wondered why they didn't beat him up when they caught him.

"What are you doing here?" Irina angrily asked when she entered the room. The men turned to leave. "You very well know the consequences if we're found together!"

Jack looked at the furious woman standing in front of him. More than a year has passed since they last saw each other.

"It's nice to see you, too." Jack replied sarcastically.

Irina glared at him. 'How could he show his face to me after what he had done?' she thought and she slapped him hard in the face.

"Are you running to me because your experiment has gone awry?!" she angrily said.

Jack realized what Irina meant when he saw the burning rage in her eyes. 'She knows about that fricking S.A.B document.' Jack thought, recovering from the blow he received.

"That was a mistake..."

"MISTAKE?! YOU TREATED HER LIKE AN EXPERIMENT! YOU PLAYED GOD AND YOU CONTROLLED HER LIFE! AND YOU BLAMED EVERYTHING TO ME! AND NOW YOUR TELLING ME WHAT YOU DID IS A MISTAKE?!?!?!"

What she said angered him. "IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU, I NEVER WOULD HAVE DONE THAT!!! IF YOU WEREN'T A FING KGB AGENT, I WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED TO DOCUMENT MY DAUGHTER'S LIFE!!! IF I HADNT MET YOU, THEN SYDNEY WOULDN'T HAVE A GODDAMN AWFUL LIFE WITH ME!!!" Jack shouted back and stood up.

"Don't you dare throw the fault at me! You don't have the right to blame me for what you did to Sydney. I don't have responsibility on what you did!" Irina hissed, the temper, blazing in her eyes.

"You are equally responsible for that situation! If you hadn't gotten pregnant, if you weren't a fricking Rambaldi descendant, this situation would never have existed!"

"Stop pointing the finger at me for your ineptness as a father after Laura died! I never blamed you when my children..." Irina suddenly stopped. She just blurted out that she has more children.

"Huh...?" Jack asked. "What do you mean children?" he asked suspiciously. Sydney mentioned another child, not children.

Irina stared at him. "Nothing." She lied and tried to leave. Jack attempted to block her way.

She was going to send him off when they both heard a crash and then a baby crying.

"What the...?" Jack exclaimed when Irina pushed him out of her way and hurried out of the living room.

Irina hastily went to the study and opened the door. She found her son still sitting on the quilt, crying. Irina scooped her wailing son, kissed him in the forehead.

"Hush now, mommy's here." Irina whispered to his ear and murmured more soothing words to the baby. She turned to Ana. She is sitting by the bookshelves, surrounded by shards of a broken glass vase.

"Mom, I'm sorry..." she said, sobbing. Her head is down.

"Is anything broken?" Irina asked and went towards her daughter. Both of her children are crying.

She nodded her head slightly. "Yes, the vase..." Ana sobbed and looked up at her mother. "I'm sorry... I was getting something up in the shelf when I accidentally tip the vase over... it fell down."

"Honey, you're more important than that container." Irina said when the baby settled down and stopped crying. She then went down on her knees, careful not to kneel on the broken glass.

"Signora, we heard something crash."

"It's okay Dante." Irina said when she heard the voice. "Everything's fine. Just a little accident."

"Are you sure?" Dante asked and approached them. "Why is the bambina crying?"

"She got scared when she broke the vase." Irina said and smoothed her daughter's hair. Tears are still streaming her eyes.

"Honey, it's just a vase." She said to her daughter and smiled at her to comfort the crying child. "You're brother was just frightened by the sound of the crash." Irina then turned to the baby. She gently kissed him in the cheeks.

"But it's your favorite vase." Ana pointed out, wiping away the tears in her cheeks.

"My favorite vase is at home. Up in the highest shelf in the library." Irina replied and looked at her.

"I'll clean it up, then." Ana said and tried to stand up.

"You will do no such thing!" Dante exclaimed. "You are injured, don't force yourself too much." He said and helped the girl up.

"Dante's right, Ana. Come, let's go up." Irina said and stood up. The baby is now playing with his mother's necklace.

"Who is he?" Ana asked in a polite tone. Irina turned to where she was looking and saw Jack standing by the doorway, wearing a stunned expression on his face.

'Oh my god.' Irina thought as she turned to her daughter, uncertain on what she will tell her. "I'll tell you later."

"Why not now?" Ana asked, staring at her mother. The bandages on her face didn't diminish the intensity of her gray eyes.

"It's... complicated." Irina replied as she shifted the baby's position in her arms.

"How... complicated?" Ana asked again, looking interestedly at the man. Her mother seemed nervous when she saw him a while ago. He must be the 'he' her mother is talking about with a hint of panic in her voice.

"Ana..." Irina said in a warning tone.

Her daughter shrugged and went out of the room, taking one last look at Jack before leaving.

Jack was struck on how familiar the eyes were. He noticed that she smiled a bit when she turned away and, even if the bandages cover half her face, he is very sure that the girl is a younger version of Irina.

Irina, carrying the baby, followed her daughter out. But before she could leave, Jack grabbed her arm.

"You have a lot of explaining to do."

Irina just looked at him.

"No, Jack. You're the one who has a lot of explaining to do."

-x-x-x-

Sydney is in her desk, staring at the envelope Dixon gave her. She doesn't know what she will do to it.

She sighed, and opened it. The envelope revealed a key and a paper with a bank's name and several account numbers written on them.

'Great, another bank.' Sydney thought and frowned.

This is how Vaughn found her, staring at the key with a frown on her beautiful face.

"Syd, are you okay?" Vaughn asked, concerned. Sydney looked up and smiled when she saw him.

"I'm fine. It's just that..." Sydney trailed off. Vaughn knew about the Wittenberg files and he felt very angry at Jack.

Vaughn took one of the chairs and sat on it. He looked at her, waiting for Sydney to tell him what's bothering her.

"My father left something for me and it's a key. Another bank. Dixon said it's my father's explanation." She finally said and sighed. She showed him the piece of paper.

"What will you do?" Vaughn asked.

Sydney shook her head. "I don't know. It might only turn out to be a trail of lies again. I mean, I don't even know if everything that happened to me is a result of an experiment or an experiment my father instigated."

"That account could be the answer. You will never know unless you access it." He looked at her earnestly. "I'll go with you if you want me to." Vaughn said.

Sydney smiled at him. "Okay."

Vaughn took her hand and held it.

"Thank you." Sydney said and kissed him lightly on the lips. Vaughn looked in her eyes and gave her a bedimpled smile.

"When do you plan to check it out?"