Chapter Four
Sydney wanted to continue with the second session, to ignore her father behind the glass-viewing window and pretend she hadn't even seen him yet. She knew he would not interrupt and would instead wait impatiently for her to finish. But she had caught his eye and knew that he knew she had seen him. He looked annoyed and Sydney felt guilty that she had done this behind his back; gone against his wishes that he only had out of worry for her well being. And then she to felt annoyed, he was her father but she was an adult too! If she wanted another Hypnotherapy session soon she wasn't going to find her father and ask his permission. She knew also that when Vaughn found out he would be disappointed, he would understand why she did it but the disappointment would still be there. Her father she could get away from but Vaughn she couldn't.
Will looked nervous as he glanced from Jack to Sydney; he wondered if Jack would turn on him, berate him for not stopping his daughter. Luckily for him Jack paid him no heed. The Doctor spoke through the mic; feeling the tension and breaking the silence that had descended over the two rooms. The session – all of them, were over for today. There would be no more until Sydney was well rested. Sydney would not sleep yet though, she would stay awake and analyse the newest memories. He had so many questions and now it seemed her mother may have some of the answers. She leant forward in the chair and heard the door open as someone left. She kind of hoped it was her dad; she did not want to deal with the third degree just then. But it was the Doctor that was gone, to give them some space.
Jack spoke to Will, acknowledging him. "Give us a few minutes."
Will looked hesitant to leave but Sydney nodded to let him know it was okay. "I'll be right outside" and if he heard raised voices he would march on back inside – he wouldn't know what to say but he would return anyway. The door opened and closed again and the two Bristow's were left alone. Father and daughter, each with equally stubborn personalities that believed themselves to be correct on the matter of the sessions; ensuring neither would back down.
Jack moved forward into the next room; even if they did begin to shout it was unlikely anyone in the corridor would hear them as the room was soundproof. "Dad –"Sydney started but was cut off. She should have guessed that her father would want the first word; he had been standing there solemnly for the last five minutes, hands in pockets, probably running through his mind what to say to her.
He would not want to mess things up by speaking out in annoyance. But what one thinks and what one says can be two completely different things. "You completely ignored what I said. You went against my orders –"he almost winced. That had not come out right.
"Your orders?" she echoed. "I can make up my own mind of whether I come back for more sessions, I don't need to ask for your permission" she stood up and faced him with a stern expression. "I admit that maybe I should have told you but then I didn't expect you to follow me here."
"I didn't follow you here; Vaughn was looking for you and came to me to see if that's where you were. I thought you may have come here but went to see Dixon to make sure" Jack corrected her almost defensively. "I'm not going to apologise for coming here, I was worried you were overdoing things with your overzealous want to find out about your missing memories" he spoke all at once and paused to take a breath.
"Overzealous?" she questioned in disbelief. Was she really that bad? Sydney ignored for now that he had expressed concern. She though he would have been worried but had not really expected him to openly admit it. She charged on, wanting to say her bit "I am finding out more now than I thought I would, you can't expect me to wait and sit around doing nothing."
"You wouldn't be doing nothing; you have information to research" Jack reminded her. He was agitated but did not show it; sometimes it infuriated him that he no longer had much say in her actions, that she saw his belief at knowing what was best for her as trying to control her.
"And now that I've had this second session I have more information to research" she countered; wanting him to challenge that logic so she could show him that she knew what was best.
Jack stopped; more interested now in finding out what she had to say about the memories than arguing his point. "And what did you find out?"
Sydney hadn't expected him to chance the direction of the conversation quite so fast or so soon. The topic of her newfound memories couldn't really be considered safe either with him just now, not with Irina coming into the picture. "Remember the last time it ended with me about to get shot?" he nodded; of course he remembered. It was her reaction to that incident that caused him to stop the last session so abruptly. "This time, when I saw more, mo was there. She saved my life" Sydney saw from his slight reaction; curiosity tinged with confusion and dubiousness, that his interest had grown. "She told me that we had to leave; that the Covenant were on their way. She wouldn't tell me anything else"
Jack nodded and he looked as though he were far away then and lost in his thoughts. "I told you that your mother and I spoke before I was taken into solitary..." Sydney remembered. She had wondered at this since then; what else had they talked about? Had it all been business between them or had something long gone been renewed on either of their parts? As a child she had thought back on the times when they were all together; that it might be possible again after so long...Jack carried on speaking, "a few weeks after I got out Irina contacted me again, I told her that you were doing well considering how long you'd been missing and what you found on your return. Not once did she mention seeing you."
Peter stretched his legs as he calmly paced the room he had been placed in upon reaching the checkpoint at LAX and announcing who he was. His joints creaked as he raised his arms above his head and cracked his knuckles. He hated flying yet it was something he did often and should have become accustomed to, but he would never get used to it. He had been in the grey walled room with pale blue carpet and no windows for an hour; and he was becoming impatient. There was an air conditioning system but it was turned off so he was becoming unbearably warm. He had thought the CIA would come to collect him straight away; his picture would be sent to them and he would be taken to their headquarters for questioning. That was what he had planned would happen.
But thus far none of that had happened, as far as he was aware. That only meant one thing; they did not know who he was, Sydney did not know who he was. He wanted to know the reason why.
"Ask her a question" Sydney instructed from the passenger seat of Jack's car. He was on the drivers side with the laptop balanced on his lap. At least this time she had made contact. It felt like an absurd reconstruction of when they had questioned Irina in her cell to see whether she was being truthful about what she told them. And now they doubted her word again only this time they had no clue where in the world she was. Irina wasn't giving an answer on that front. "About the memories...about..."
Jack typed in a question. 'How is Luc?' 'Still dead' was the immediate reply.
In hindsight it was not a particularly good way to test her, and number of people could know of his demise. Luc was a man, a contact that they had gone to early on in their search for Sydney. Things had not gone as planned and he had been killed.
'Jack, what's wrong? Why are you testing me?' Irina queried.
'Sydney is recalling memories' he typed, ignoring her question.
'That's great' a few seconds passed by this time before her answer.
The reply was short and curt. His heart sank. Sydney noticed his change in demeanour "dad, what's wrong?" she wondered what it was about her mother's short answer that upset him.
Jack answered quietly as he stared at the last message on the screen. "I was growing suspicious before I went into solitary; when I came out and told her you were back I didn't mention you had no memory of the past two years. When I told her just now that you were remembering again she shouldn't have had any idea what I was talking about." He typed in that Dixon had contacted him and he had to leave; the connection was terminated. "That wasn't your mother."
Vaughn stepped into the bare room at LAX containing the man known only as 'Peter'. The German was sat down at the table now drumming his fingers on the wood. He looked up as the CIA Agent entered and his eyes narrowed; not trusting this new stranger. Vaughn was curious – this man had known Sydney for the two years that she had been lost to him and so many other people in her life. Peter could answer so many questions and that was why Dixon had sent him there. When first they had gotten word that a man had just arrived at the airport, telling the security there that he needed to peak with Agent Bristow of the CIA, they had been confused as to who he was. It had struck them with his name and the description they were given just who this man was. It appeared they didn't need Will's contact anymore, Peter had come to them.
"I know you came here to talk to Agent Bristow, well let me tell you now that until you answer some of my questions, you won't see her" Vaughn had drawn up the bargain. All Peter had to do was accept; or they would both walk away with nothing.
Sydney knew this dream; this memory. It was the first that she had had only a couple of nights ago. She had snuck into a room of the beautiful house and the gun flew from her hands due to a well-aimed kick.
"Don't make me fight you, I don't want to kill you, Sydney" the voice was soft spoken, calm and so familiar. It should have been. Irina moved away from the corner of the room and into the centre where there was room enough to fight. They were in a study; which was spacious. She had been planning on having more book cases fitted, maybe the tall ones, the type that reached the ceiling and spanned the length of the wall.
"My name is Julia Thorne, Derevko. Though it doesn't matter what my name is; you still won't get a chance to kill me. The house will explode in..." she glanced at her watch "4 minutes. Whether I kill you or the explosion does, you're still going to die."
Irina shook her head as she weighed up the woman that looked like her daughter but had an utterly different personality. "You're right; you're not my daughter. Sydney doesn't talk quite so much during a fight" Neither woman moved, none of them attacking first. The seconds ticked by as they stood in the quiet room, "why are you doing this?" she asked, wanting answers for the sudden intrusion. It was unexpected and Irina did not like to be surprised in such a way.
Julia scoffed. "You think you can kill a member of the Covenant and get away with it?" she moved quickly, grabbed the gun that was still lying on the marble floor where it had fallen, and spun around even as she heard the click of another gun. This would get them nowhere. They stood aiming at one another; Julia glared at Irina who stood defiantly but with a calm demeanour still. Julia tossed her gun away, understanding her intentions Irina nodded and did likewise. The Covenant Agent looked at her watch again and cocked an eyebrow "2 and a half minutes; we'll have to make this fast."
"Don't worry, this won't take long" Irina answered her. A flicker of emotion showed and Julia took it as a weakness to use against her. This woman that she now faced; strong but unwilling to kill, it would be her downfall Julia decided, for she had no such qualms.
They circled one another like two Tigers in a cage about to fight for supremacy. They checked each other for any sign of physical weakness that could be used against them; Julia favoured her right ankle, possibly a result of her most recent fight outside in the corridor. Julia through a right-handed punch that Irina blocked but did not follow through with an attack of her own; she was staying on the defensive and her opponent smirked. This should be easy she decided. And then Irina kicked out with her right leg and using Julia's bad ankle against her, it caused her to fall backwards. She saved herself from falling to the floor completely and pulled Irina to the side and off balance. Both women easily recovered; they were still warming up. The time was ticking. The door slammed open and Julia's previous opponent, no longer using the floor as a place to 'sleep', burst in and aimed his gun at the woman that not so long ago defeated him. Neither woman took their eyes off one another to see who was there but as the other guards were outside it was a simple process of elimination. Irina ordered him to stop.
The man was furious and kept his finger on the trigger; he stepped forward and Irina glanced to her left to order him again to stand down. Julia took the opening and ran forward. She kicked Irina, Julia's foot connecting with the side of her head and the brunette toppled to the floor; Julia followed through with another kick, this time aiming at her stomach. But Irina caught her foot and twisted, Julia had no choice but to turn lest her ankle be broken. 1 minute 20 seconds remained. They both made for the nearby gun, which Irina had flung to the floor, and fought for possession of the weapon as they surged to their feet. The man was forgotten as they fought on and he waved his gun from one woman to the other trying to get a fix on the blonde. "I won't kill you" Irina felt her grip on the gun lessen.
Julia just looked at her coolly; with no remorse. "Too bad" the gun went off, the noise sounding preposterously loud in the otherwise eerily quiet room.
Irina relinquished her hold on the gun and the burning pain in her stomach intensified with each slowing beat of her heart. She slid to the floor and Julia moved with her; perhaps to see her mark take her last breath, to be certain her mission was complete, that Irina Derevko was truly dead. Irina closed her eyes and tensed, a short time passed before she opened them again and looked Julia in the eye, trying to find some sign of Sydney in her. There was nothing. That was, quite possibly, a good thing. Technically it was not her daughter that had killed her. Though she knew, even as she fought for her last few seconds of life, that if Sydney did somehow ever recall this moment she would still blame herself. There were no last words, after all this was Julia Thorne, what would she care for sentimental words of a mother to her daughter? And besides, the woman was leaving anyway. The man shook himself out of his shocked state of mind and began shooting at Julia as she jumped the first floor balcony of the study. Irina hoped he missed. She wondered if Jack would learn of her death, she thought. The house would be gone soon, her body undistinguishable among the rubble and debris. Would he think of her? Wonder why she suddenly faded out with no word? If he did find out, would her mourn her passing? Again? She wasn't sure. Maybe he would find thank Julia for doing something that he should have done long ago. Irina did not want him to find out, in this case it would be better if he was left wondering rather than knowing the truth – not that he would agree with that. It just didn't seem fair that she should cause him one last great pain; even if it was not intended. But then, it was comforting to know someone would miss her.
Her mind was foggy now and her eyes closed again; one last, final time. Outside Julia waited and was satisfied when the explosion rocked the quiet area.
Sydney bolted upright in bed, something that was becoming a regular occurrence, and a wretched sob escaped. Vaughn was not there, Dixon had sent him goodness knows where, and she was alone. She reached for the phone on the bedside cabinet and shaky fingers pressed the digits. A tired voice answered and Sydney spoke through her tears, a more alert voice now answered "Sydney! What happened? Sydney?"
She took deep breaths. "Dad..." she tried to calm her quivering voice but the images assaulted her mind "I killed mom" Sydney told him as another cry escaped. "I'm sorry, Daddy, I killed my mom...!"
