*sneaks back in* I've been bad. Very Very Bad. I should not be allowed to go see movies that much. Or at least not the same movie THAT many times.

Oh and should I mention I'm going to see it again over the weekend? Hmm, maybe not...

Ok, but back to the business at hand. *clears throat* WE HAVE AN UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No you aren't dreaming. We truly have an update. And I am going to try and get this wrapped up by Feb. 9th because after that, I doubt anything will see the light of day until the end of March.

I would like to thank Jen who kept after me to work on this. I'd also like to thank her for the partial beta . Partial only because I think she fell aleep waiting for the end.

Thanks to Old Romantic for doing the whole beta and encouraging me to go ahead and post it.

I feel a bit rusty with this, so hopefully you won't be disappointed. And after this bit, it will go a bit AU. Well, maybe not really AU, maybe more of a speculation type thing. Or not. Hmmm. I really should decide, shouldn't I?

As always, please see the first few parts for disclaimers, spoilers, and distribution stuff.

Ok, so here is part 14. I hope it was worth the wait.

Enjoy!

Becky

PS-I almost forgot. There are a couple of parts in here where you might not want to be eating or drinking anything.

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Part 14

He's started talking again. Telling me it's my last chance. Telling me to save myself. To save Sydney. As he places the metal tip of the cable against my face, I flinch. I can't help it. But in that same moment, I realize that I am saving myself because by not telling him anything, I'm saving Sydney. And by saving her, I will have saved myself. No, not saved. Redeemed.

He asks me again who I'm working for. For the first time he seems to hesitate and I can't help wondering if that is part of his strategy or if he really thinks that this time I'll give him the answer he so desperately wants.

After a moment, he tires of waiting and he slowly moves the other cable closer to my cheek. I've heard of people whose lives pass before their eyes when they realize that they are about to die. I've never been one to put much faith in things like that. And up to a point, I was right. As I'm sitting here waiting for the quick, cool kiss of the other connector, it's not my life I see.

It's Sydney's.

Sydney tucked safely in my arms just hours after she was born. Sydney at her first birthday party with cake and frosting smeared all over her dress, face, and my tie. Sydney at six, her tiny, cold hand clasped in mine as we stood in the rain beside the grave of a women neither of us knew, but loved nonetheless.

And then I see her as an adult. There are no recollections of first dates and prom dresses. No parent-teacher conferences or high school graduations. No engagement parties or wedding receptions. Just Sydney, the grown, independent young woman standing beside the grave of her murdered fiancé. Sydney sitting quietly in a conference room as she learned that her mother was a duplicitous traitor responsible for the murders of thirteen CIA agents, her handler's father among them. Finally, I see Sydney standing in the pouring rain as she told me that she knew about Project Christmas.

I close my eyes against the memories and pray for an end to this torment. I keep them closed as I wait for that jolt of electricity, but they snap open only a few seconds later when the door bursts open. The vision before me is not one I've seen and I fear it is just a glimpse of what my daughter's life will become because of me. Because of me…

Somehow this sick image twists and I realize I'm not hallucinating. I'm not dreaming. And I'm certainly not dead.

The shock wears off and I feel the cable fall from my cheek, but Geiger's hesitation costs him dearly this time. I hear the first shot fired and the dull thud tells me that it found its target. The second does as well. Three and four are fired quickly and I hear him stagger back, his gun clattering to the floor seconds before his lifeless body follows suit.

I close my eyes again briefly, but open them when I hear her moving towards me. I watch as she looks at me, at the injuries I've sustained and I don't see the woman who just saved my life. I see the little girl who had just been told something bad happened to mommy.

But this isn't twenty some odd years ago. And Sydney is no longer that little girl. I can tell she's trying to be strong, trying to not let me see how bad this really is. But I already know. And it is so much worse than she could ever imagine because all I can see is her standing in the doorway, firing the gun, ending another man's life to save mine.

I know that isn't what she's thinking about now. She probably won't until the shock of all of this wears off. But then she will and it will haunt her.

Several months ago, I told her that I had hoped she would never have to make the choice to willingly end another man's life to save some else's. At that point it had been Vaughn's life she was trying to save. But today, it was mine.

*

I don't know what's happening. I'm afraid that it is like the time when Cole broke in here, but I don't think so. It seems different. Maybe it's because of the masks? Cole's men didn't wear masks.

My hands are bound behind my back and I'm pulled up from the floor. Not as roughly as some I've seen, but then again, they were resisting and I wasn't and then again, I didn't have a gun and some of the others did and I want to tell them to be careful that this is a new suit, but somehow I don't think they'd listen. Not that they'd care if they did.

They start to lead me away, but I do try and pull away, not in a menacing way that could get me hurt, or worse yet, killed, but I just want to ask Dixon something. When I say his name he just looks at me, like he's kind of sad, and shakes his head. And now I don't know what to think because they are taking me out of here and then I see Syd come in and, wait, why is Syd dressed like these other guys? Why isn't she being dragged out of here like the rest of us and…

Oh.

OH!

OHHH!

I'm pushed through the door, but I still want to go back and find out what's going on because no one will tell me anything and I don't think these guys know how intimidating it is for them to not be talking. Or maybe they do and that's why they aren't and if that's the case they really are doing a good job because I'm scared right now.

Really scared.

Like really scared.

Seriously scared.

I'm pushed forward because apparently I wasn't moving fast enough for them and we get to this van and it looks like one of our vans, just a standard issue CIA van and I still don't know what's going on and nobody else seems to know either and then I wonder if they'll let me make a phone call. But probably not, because I don't think these guys are the police and even if they were why would they come storming in like they did and I'd still like to know what Syd was doing there.

When they close the doors and the van starts moving slowly I don't care about why Syd was there. I don't care about who these masked men, and maybe women, are. I just want them to let me go so I can go home and call my mother and play with Mr. Snookums. But then I'd have to stop at the store for batteries cause I forgot to turn him off yesterday and he must have just wandered around the apartment doing his little robotic kitty meow, which is just too cute, and I just don't think I'm going to want to go anywhere but home once this mess is cleared up.

It will be cleared up, won't it?

It has to be.

Yeah, it will be.

I think.

I hope.

God, I'm scared. Am I sweating? Cause when I get nervous, I start sweating and that's just not attractive and then I'll need to change clothes and who knows if they'll have anything in my size when we get to where ever we are going.

But I'll still need to remember to get batteries for Mr. Snookums. I should write that down. "Does anyone have a pen?"

*

I walk back through the door, trying to ignore confused looks I get from the people being led out. I try desperately not to notice how scared Marshall looks, but I can't help it. Everyone looks scared. But at least they won't have to be much longer.

When I see them getting ready to take Dixon out, I stop them. I try to reassure him that this will be over soon. And it will be. I thank him, but those two small words seem so inadequate for the help he has provided. And I don't just mean today. He has been there so many times for me. Both before and after Danny died that I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay him.

But maybe, just maybe, finally telling him the truth was a start.

In the next moment I know it's not. When he tells me not to talk to him, it is said with such hurt, such contempt, that I'm surprised he even bothered to acknowledge me.

As they lead him away, I know that more than SD-6 has come to an end. I just hope that the friendships forged here can be resurrected.

*

I pull the mask from my head and look around. People are still being taken out of here. They are still being tended to. Their bodies are still being covered. And I don't have any idea where Sydney is.

So I stand here, and as I do, I know I'm looking at the past. The lies, deceptions, and the pain caused from within these walls no longer exists. One more quick survey still has me looking for her. And then I see her. Standing in the midst of all this chaos and destruction, I finally see her and I swear, my mouth goes dry because not only am I seeing the past, I'm seeing the future as well. My future. And for the first time I don't have to wait to embrace it.

I take the time to reassure myself that she is really there before I take that first step forward. And then the second, followed quickly by third and then she is in my arms and with the first touch of her lips everything around us melts away.

*

Jackson has to be kidding. There is no way that Mike and Syd are kissing. Sure, there's a pool as to when this would happen if and when SD-6 was taken down, hell there has been since the day she first walked in, but I know them. There is no way they would do this now. Not here. My friends wouldn't let me down.

No.

No.

Shit. They are. You have got to be kidding me. Here? Now? Jesus.

I just lost fifty bucks. Damn it!

Okay, enough of this crap. Time to break this up before anyone else sees and then maybe I can get Jackson to keep quiet by splitting the pool with him. "Hey guys."

Okay, they aren't stopping. Crap, they have got to stop this. "I just talked to base. We did it. We kicked their asses."

I wait a minute and they still don't stop. I want to jump up and down, but I'm too mature for that. "Hey!" I move to a different side, hoping that one of them will see me through peripheral vision. "Guys! Did you hear what I said?" Great, no chance in hell of either of them seeing me because their eyes are closed.

Still not stopping… "Asses." And I know there is no point in continuing. They aren't going to stop. But still I have to finish what I started. "Kicked."

I stand here for another second or two before I head off, leaving them in privacy. Well, as much privacy as they are going to get in the middle of fucking SD-6. Jesus, there is inappropriate and then there is inappropriate.

But even as I think this, I change my mind. For the two of them, nothing is more appropriate than this.