Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all.

Epilogue

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: Thanks to everybody who's been a loyal reader since the start, and to everybody that caught up! I really thought this fic was going to fall through the cracks for a while, I've been so busy, and it's quick heartening and completely restores my faith in myself that, now that I've posted two chapters and an epilogue after weeks of nothing, all ya'll still reacted so quick!


She loved it all.

The bright, gay blue and red streamers across the dining room ceiling. The noise, the chaos of fifteen little boys, all crowded into the cozy room. The feeling of absolute joy she felt as she watched her son dive into the colorfully wrapped presents on the table.

She noticed one small box in plain shiny white paper that hadn't been there before. A slight sense of apprehension slipped past her resolve to enjoy her son's eighth birthday, a fear, as always, that someone would see her, would follow, would find them by her.

She was standing in the corner now, hardly noticed by the small boys. But Alex noticed. He, too, saw the plainly wrapped box, and, with it in his hand, he turned to search for his grandmother.

"Abuela!" he said when he found her, hugging her neck as she kissed his cheek.

He'd seen her twice a year, on his birthday and Christmas, ever since he could remember. She'd bring him a gift, and his mom and dad would get real nervous. They were nice and everything, but they acted as if his Abuela were a threat.

Why did he call her Abuela, anyway? That was Spanish, wasn't it? He and his parents spoke French and English, Alex thought, but he'd never heard either of them use Spanish.

Alex shook his head and grinned.

"What'd you get me, Abuela?" he asked, holding the box close to his ear and shaking it.

"Open it and see," she said, smiling at the French boys who looked at them in annoyance at their continued use of English they couldn't understand.

He ripped into the box excitedly to find a handheld videogame.

"Cool!" he cried, holding it out for his friends to see, then adding it to a stack already containing a computer game, a basketball, a regulation soccer ball, and a collapsible goal for the backyard.

"I should go now," she said, smoothing his hair affectionately. "My work…I can't stay." Alex saw her eyes shift to his mother and back.

"Sure," Alex said, suddenly uncomfortable. "See you Christmas," he said, moving back.

A sad look crossed his grandmother's face as she realized what she'd feared for years: her beloved grandson had finally begun to question her existence, his parents' attitudes, and his own origin.

"Perhaps," she said softly, turning to walk out of the room.

She paused by the door long enough to whisper to Sydney in indistinct Russian.

"He's beginning to question it," she said. "You must watch him carefully now."

"You shouldn't come back than," Sydney murmured, catching her husband's eye from across the room as he heard strains of their language.

Irina nodded. "I will contact you if anything ever comes up," she murmured, switching into French. "Tell Alex I'm sorry I can't be here on Christmas I'll send his gift."


Okay, well, that was fun. This fic actually wound up being longer than either of the others. May be it was the thought that, by ending this series, I was giving up my beloved Jeff. Admittedly, many other non-Alias characters I've used in this have been stock characters, people to kill off or to facilitate torture scenes. Jeff, however, was developed into a main character that I've grown quite attached to. May be if Rambaldi's Prophet doesn't work out, I'll do an Alex fic to add to the end of this series…Yes, I can see it now…Stubby little dark-haired Alex as a delicious nineteen year old Alex…lol. Great, now I've got a plot setting itself up…Well, I guess ya'll can expect another installment sometime.