DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, except for the original ones, so don't sue. I just borrowed them so that they can help me analyze if a raise in taxes of gasoline will affect the sale of cars… thank you…

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Mountaineer, where are you?"

"Fourth floor. I'm chasing the assassin. He's on his way up the rooftop." Sydney breathlessly answered as she chased the killer.

The Covenant dared the CIA to prevent a disaster they planned for the Diplomat's Dinner in Bern. The CIA didn't accept the 'challenge' but the Agency instructed that they surveil event and to let nothing happen.

It failed.

The Covenant was able to kill (finally) the Macedonian Ambassador and his wife. The assassin was able to get through the security precautions the CIA and the Swiss authorities put up.

Sydney burst out of the rooftop, out of breath and filled with adrenaline. She looked around and saw their assassin at the edge of the roof.

"FREEZE! Don't move!" Sydney shouted as she cocked her gun to the killer. He slowly turned around and looked at her.

"Step off the ledge, NOW!"

She couldn't see his reaction because he is wearing a mask.

"I'm not bluffing. Get off the ledge!"

The whirring of the helicopter and the lights it flashed distracted Sydney.

"Ciao signorina!" The assassin said and jumped off.

"Oh, my god." Sydney said and ran to the ledge. "Retriever, he jumped off the roof."

"What? Did he rappel down?"

"No. He parachuted."

-x-x-x-

Tabula Rasa.

You are nothing.

You will be no one.

You will love nobody except for one.

"Gabrielle."

Arvin Sloane watched as the girl turn to face him.

"Uncle Arvin." She greeted, obviously delighted, and gave him a big smile and a hug. Sloane reciprocated with the same happiness. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Sloane chuckled. "How are you? I heard about your first job. They said you were excellent. Good work."

The girl smiled even brighter. "Thank you."

"Nadia's in the living room. Frederick will be bringing your things upstairs."

"Okay. See you later, Julian." Gabrielle said and scurried off to go to the living room.

Sloane turned towards the person who brought her to him.

"If her mother finds out that you were part of her daughter's death, she will kill you."

"Mr. Sark, I appreciate your concern, but I doubt if Irina will know." Sloane answered, looking at the young man in front of him. "She wouldn't know if no one will tell her, right?"

Sark just cocked a brow. "And what about the CIA? They will hunt her down."

He was shocked when The Covenant introduced him to their new… human resource person. He was still in mourning when he found out about Gabrielle Rinaldi.

"Mr. Sark, meet, Gabrielle Rinaldi. She will be the replacement of Ms. Thorne."

He wasn't able to respond quickly. He was too busy looking for his jaw that dropped to the floor when he saw her.

"Mr. Sark?"

"Yes. Uh… it's nice to meet you." Sark said and cleared his throat. He couldn't see any signs of recognition in her gray eyes.

He took aside her handler and whispered to him "That's Anya Ivanovnich."

"Yes, sir. But she agreed to… change her alias."

"She's dead." Sark said and looked at Ana. She didn't seem to care about her handler, him or where she is.

"That's what they wanted to do. They tested Project Double Vision on one of the prisoners. It was a success if they made you believe she's really dead."

Sark looked at him and then to Ana. "She doesn't remember anything?"

Ana's handler looked at him. "They didn't tell you about this, did they?"

"Just answer the question." Sark said fiercely.

"I don't know. The microchip they implanted on her works most of the time. But it cannot fully control her."

"Mr. Sark, Gabrielle is in my care. They will never be able to locate her when she's with me."

A crash and a string of curses stopped Sark from replying. Both men ran towards the sound and were stunned to see Gabrielle standing by the window, holding a letter opener. The object is dull, but in her hands, they might as well be sharp knives.

"Don't you dare come near me!" She shouted. Nadia was looking at her friend. She saw that Gabrielle's gray eyes were sparking fear and anger. Those feelings were practically non-existent when Nadia's with her.

"Where the hell am I?" Then she saw Sloane. "You bastard, what did you do to me?!" But she didn't lunge towards him.

"Ana, please, calm down…" Sark said to her and approached the distraught girl.

"Julian, where's mom?"

"Ana, put down the letter opener."

"No. They'll be brainwashing me again. I want to go…" she wasn't able to continue because she suddenly slumped forward, unconscious.

Nadia turned to her father. She is evidently shocked with Gabrielle's outburst.

"I'm sorry, dear; Gabrielle's hallucinating from the medication Dr. Emerson gave her." Sloane said to Nadia as he handed Frederick the tranq gun. He then turned to Sark. "As for you, I suggest that you report this… malfunction to your superiors. It might cost them an asset."

And with those words, he and Frederick left.

"Sark, what is going on? Why did you call her… oh… shit." Nadia said. She just realized who her 'friend' is.

Sark shook his head as he looked worriedly at Ana.

"Act like nothing happened." He ordered Nadia as he lifted Ana's limp body from the floor.

Nadia just looked at his retreating figure. She is confused and a bit angry at what happened.

'Who will I trust in this house?'

-x-x-x-

"Brafft…"

Jack smiled when he heard the incoherent baby talk. "I thought your mother said that you can say real words." Jack said as he changed the baby's diaper in the changing station he installed in his room.

"Mama-da…" Jacob said when he heard the word 'mother'. He knows that the word signifies his mother. He then looked at his father and tried to reach for Jack's nose.

Jack chuckled as he threw away the smelly diaper in the trash can. "Mommy's not here, buddy. You're going to stay with me for a few days." Jack said and lifted the baby.

He could smell Irina's scent on the baby and Jacob's things. It was subtle, but it's driving him crazy. And even if Jacob resembles him more, his son's smile came from Irina. That simple fact made him miss her more.

Jacob rubbed his nose against his father's cheek. Tenderness erupted in Jack's heart as he held his son. He kissed Jacob on the forehead.

Suddenly his cell phone rang. Jack placed Jacob in the middle of the bed and then received the call.

"Bristow."

"Jack, we need you in the office, right now. It's important." It was Dixon.

Jack looked at his son, who is playing with his toes. "I can't."

"Jack, please. I know it's a weekend and it's your day off, but this is really urgent." Dixon answered. Jack started to take his weekend off after he came back from his leave and seems that it makes him more relax when he's at work.

He heard Jack in the other line. "Good. Be here in fifteen minutes."

Jack heard the other line go dead. He's a bit confused to whom he will leave Jacob with. He sighed again and then looked at his son.

"I guess you'll be seeing where daddy works."

-x0x-x0x-x0x-

Jonathan Donahue Bristow entered the CIA rotunda, pushing his son's stroller and wearing a light blue polo and linen slacks. A diaper bag is in his left shoulder.

Suddenly, all the women in the office began to fawn over him and the baby.

"Oh, my god. He is just so adorable."

"Mr. Bristow, the baby is such a cutie pie."

"Agent Bristow, is he your son? He is such a lollipop!"

Jack was perplexed at their reaction and just looked at them.

"Uh, thank you?" He said and quickly walked the conference room to get away from the growing mob of women.

"Jack?! What the…?!" Dixon was flabbergasted at the sight of Jack Bristow pushing the baby carriage.

"I told you I couldn't come."

"Why didn't you tell me that you had a… visitor?" Dixon asked, looking at the black-haired child in the stroller.

"And what would you have done? Asked the other agents to baby-sit my son? I don't think so." Jack replied as he pushed the stroller inside the conference room. He was the last one to arrive.

"Dad…? Why did you bring Jacob with you?" Sydney asked as she stood up and approached them. When Jacob saw her, he waved his little hands at her.

"I can't leave him alone in the house." Jack answered when Sydney kneeled to kiss her brother. Vaughn and Weiss were just looking at them.

"Mr. Bristow… wow, you have a baby…" Marshall remarked as he craned his neck to see the baby.

"Jack, we can't…" Dixon started to say but he was cut off by Jack.

"Dixon, my child isn't bugged nor is his things. And I doubt if he could tell his mother anything he heard in this meeting."

Dixon sighed then looked at the baby again. He was playing with his teething ring.

"Fine, let's start this meeting people."

He waited for a while before the people in the room found their seats. "First of all, the Macedonian President is blaming the CIA for the death of the Ambassador and his wife. They refuse to cooperate in the investigation and the only personal effects we have of the Ambassador are a rosary, a letter addressed to his wife and a bible."

"Second, our informant inside the Covenant reported to us the identity of our assassin. Her name is Gabrielle Rinaldi."

"Any information about her?" Weiss asked.

Dixon looked at Marshall but Marshall's attention was at the baby.

"Marshall?"

Marshall looked up and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry… the baby reminds me so much of Mitchell."

Dixon just raised a brow.

"Oh, right. Uh, Gabrielle Rinaldi. Uh, we don't have any information on her. Nada, zip, zilch, nothing. No birth certificate, no transcripts, no receipts in her name. it seems that she only came to existence just three weeks ago."

The group was silent. They all know that they couldn't hunt for a person who seems non-existent.

Dixon cleared his throat. "Lastly, the cameras in the US embassy in Macedonia caught this in the front gate." He turned on the monitors and played the video.

They saw a woman leave a small box at the front gate. She turned to where the security camera is located and gave a big smile.

It was Lauren.

"There was a note inside the box; it said You gave me new life. For that, I thank you."

"Did you confirm it's her?" Sydney asked.

"Yes."

They were silent once again. All of them were remembering the time when they were informed that Lauren's dead body was missing.

Vaughn can feel the anger building up inside him. He can feel Sydney's gaze but his anger made him accidentally knock over the coffee mug in front of him. It landed to the floor in a crash.

The crash startled Jacob, who was nodding off to sleep.

He started to cry.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." Vaughn said as he stood up. Jack just glared at him and scooped Jacob from his stroller. He tried to pacify him but the baby wouldn't stop crying.

It wasn't until they heard a weird sound did Jacob stop.

"Here Mr. Bristow." Marshall said to Jack as he handed him a weird-looking thing that could maybe pass of as a toy. "It's a rattle."

"Uh… thank you." Jack answered as he took it. He then shook the rattle in front of the baby. Jacob sniffled and reached for the toy.

'You have a rattle in your pocket?" Weiss asked in disbelief. Dixon just shook his head. He had seen weirder things coming out of Marshall's pockets.

Marshall smiled, embarrassed again.

"Oh, Mitchell and Carrie are in my office."

-0-0-0-

A/N- Thank you to Irina Rocks from