Author's Note: Finally, its back! I'm really sorry about the hiatus, guys. But finally my writer's block has disappeared and the story is back. I hope you guys all love it and please review. J

The next time Vaughn saw Sydney, they were in a convenience store on Third, almost a week after what had happened. She looked tired and upset. Vaughn walked over to the fridges and pulled out a drink, reading the label. Sydney walked down the aisle, looking at some chips on the other side.

"I'm glad everything worked out." Sydney's voice was shaky. Vaughn hurt to see her his bad. He wished that he could turn around and hug her. He wished that SD-6 never existed. He wished he had of told Sydney all those years ago what really happened. But wishing didn't get you anywhere.

"I am too." Was all he could say. There was so much more, just waiting to be unleashed, but he knew he couldn't. If not only for protocol, then for their safety too.

"My dad told me about…" Sydney couldn't even say his name. She felt like she was being un loyal. She should have looked harder into Noah's past. She had been so happy just to have him back, she had been blinded by it. Maybe if she had just…

"…go to the center." Sydney snapped out of her trance as she realized Vaughn had been talking to her. She raised her head and glanced at him in her peripheral vision.

"Sorry, what?"

"I said that Kendall wants you to go to the center." Sydney knew he was talking about the Joint Task Center. This meant they had some question for her. Sydney didn't know if she could deal with it right now. Her head hurt and she was still grieving Noah's death. There never seemed to be any time in the spy world. No time to complete missions, no time to grieve for the ones you lose…no time for a real life.

"When?" God, she wanted to hold Vaughn right now. She felt like if even just took her hand in his, he could make all the bad things in her life go away. He used to be able to do that when they were in High school. When ever she was sad or upset, he would hold her and she felt better…safe.

"As soon as possible." Vaughn looked at her reflection in the glass. He sighed and moved to the other side of the aisle…a little bit away from her and began to look at chips as well.

Sydney looked surprised to see him so close but she didn't move away. Instead she glanced around for the store cameras. Seeing that they weren't pointing at her and Vaughn for another minute, she slipped her hand in Vaughn's and squeezed it.

She saw Vaughn smile and she felt her heart beat race as he rubbed his thumb over hers. She felt warmth spread through her body and her head felt light. Sydney knew everything would some how work out…she had Vaughn.

Sydney ran through the series of checks to get to the Task Force. She thought longingly of the day when she could enter through the front door…with Vaughn. She finally entered the man room and zipped up her jogging sweater. Sydney looked around, not seeing Kendall or her father, she walked over to Weiss.

"Hey." She smiled at her old friend and tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear. "I just wanted to thank you…for helping the other day. I know you…"

"It was no problem, Syd." Weiss grinned at her. "Just glad you and Vaughn are okay. It was rough these past years."

"I know." Sydney looked at her hands. "I just can't wait until everything is done. With SD-6, with Sloane…I just want out."

Before Weiss could reply, Kendall came walking up accompanied by Vaughn and Jack. Vaughn smiled at Sydney with his eyes conveying how happy he was to see her. She did her best not to blush and looked at Kendall and her father.

"You've been debriefed about the situation from last week?"

Sydney blinked in surprise but nodded. She had thought that's why they had called her, to ask her about Noah and his death.

"Good." Kendall nodded curtly. "Let's move on. At o six hundred hours today, we received a walk in."

"Who?" Sydney looked between Kendall, her father and Vaughn. Something was wrong. They all knew something she didn't.

"Irina Derevko." Kendall looked to Jack when Sydney drew a blank face. "You didn't tell her?" He looked at him accusingly. "After all these years?"

"Tell me what?" Sydney looked at the three men before her. "Who is Irina Derevko?"

"Irina Derevko is a international terrorist." Vaughn looked about ready to explode.

Sydney tried to ask him what he meant, but Jack cut in sharply.

"Thank you, Agent Vaughn." The sarcasm was evident in his voice. "Sydney…I know this is going to be hard to take…"

"Stop treating me like a child." Demanded Sydney. "Tell me who this woman is."

"She's your mother." Stated Jack, bluntly.

"My mother died." Was Sydney's immediate response. She didn't even have to think about it. Sydney had spent years mourning the death of a mother she hardly knew. Laura Bristow had died in a car crash when Sydney was only six. Since then, Sydney had always felt a longing for a mother.

"Sydney…" Jack hesitated. He looked around, as if noticing for the first time they were in the middle of the task center. "Irina Derevko is a Russian spy. She was sent here years ago to marry an American CIA officer…"

"No…" Sydney took a step away from her father as the realization sunk in.

"The car crash was her escape. The Man, the terrorist that Sloane has had you and Dixon following…its Derevko." Jack was not oblivious to the fact that Sydney was starting to panic. He moved closer, in his best attempt to comfort her. "She never died, Sydney…"

Sydney froze in shock. Those three words, the words that she had wished for, for a lifetime, now seemed so vile. It had always been her dream as a child for her mother to come home…to her. Now, learning that her mother was a spy, that she was a child of deceit…she wished her father had never said the words.

"But…" She looked hopelessly around at the people who stood beside her. Kendal was as stony faced as ever. Weiss looked sorry, as if he pitied her. Her father looked concerned but at the same time he looked angry. Vaughn…Vaughn looked seething, but Sydney had no idea. What reason did Vaughn have to be mad about this information? Maybe he was mad that she was hurting…she didn't know.

"Agent Bristow…" Started Kendall. "Director Devlin thinks it is imperative that you speak to your mother."

"We already discussed this." Ground out Jack. "Irina will have no contact with Sydney."

"Well, beside the fact that that is not in your control," Smirked Kendall. "Sydney is the only one who can speak to her mother."

"What? Why?" Sydney's head shot up.

"Irina Derevko refuses to speak to anyone…but you."

Sydney stared at Kendall. He couldn't be serious. Talk to a woman who has supposedly been dead for almost thirty years? She still hadn't even wrapped her head around the fact that she was alive.

"Sydney." She looked up to find her father beside her. "You don't have to do anything…"

She found herself suddenly disliking her father. He had kept her in the dark for…well, who knows how long about the truth. All these years and nothing. She looked at her father with hatred in her eyes.

"When can I see her?"

TBC