Title: Esoteric

Summary: Three months after running Sydney gives birth.

Disclaimer: I don't own Alias or any of the characters from the show.

Rating: PG-13

Chapter Seven

Elise Stein lay in bed holding her newborn child as her fiancée Amanda Johnston sat in a chair beside her fast asleep. It was almost dawn and Elise had given birth only a few hours ago to the precious bundle she held in her arms.

Holding her child in her arms with her fiancée beside her Elise hadn't felt so happy in a long time. She looked down at her tiny daughter and smiled at how perfect she was. Elise knew that her daughter would be safe, she and Amanda would look after her no matter what, and both would lay their lives down for their child, but neither would tell her the truth of her life.

Three months ago Sydney Bristow and Lauren Reed had disappeared and a CIA helicopter they had last been seen in was found crashed in a field in Belgium with no signs of their bodies, the CIA had presumed them dead.

Then two and a half months later Elise Stein and Amanda Johnston had bought a luxury apartment in Boston Bay. Elise was expecting their child, conceived from an anonymous donor, and they had built their lives from there, in preparation for the child to be born by a home birth.

They would protect their child from Milo Rambaldi, the immortal Italian prophet who had caused her to exist for as long as they lived and Faith Derevko, named Derevko after her grandmother who had helped to set events in to order to allow her to be born, such as finding her destined father, would live in blissful ignorance of how much of a threat to the world she could be.

When Amanda stirred she found Elise holding little Faith and gazing wistfully in to her innocent eyes. "It's hard to believe something so pure can come from evil things like Sark and Rambaldi, she obviously takes after you." Sitting on the edge of the bed Amanda took hold of the child and led her to the window as Elise followed.

Looking out from the window of the apartment they owned on to the tree lined boulevard below as the sun rose for the first time over Faith's pale skin they held their breaths as though the morning light would expose their secret and Rambaldi or the CIA would storm in and take their child.

"We're finally free." Elise smiled after a few moments of anticipation. Amanda looked down at the child she would raise and the woman she loved and nodded before placing a soft kiss on her fiancée's lips.

"We're a family now Syd…Elise, no one can take that from us." Elise embraced her fiancée as she held their child in the morning light and gazed out in to the distance.

Her life had become perfect and for Sydney that had meant that something was going to go wrong, and Elise prayed that she could break free of the cursed life and destiny she had had as Sydney Bristow and start a new life with her family.

Nine years later Sydney Bristow walked in to the CIA Los Angeles office where Director Jack Bristow confronted her immediately. "Sydney?" His daughter had not aged a day although she was now nearing her forties.

"Dad." She replied tersely and in an instant he saw the pain and horror that filled Sydney's eyes. "Rambaldi, she found Lauren and I and Faith, our daughter, we didn't have time to run and there was no where to run to…I…didn't tell them. I killed them both as they slept…they're dead. My family is dead and my life is gone…I tried to kill myself with them, so we could go all together as a family, but the poison didn't work on me, I've tried to kill myself seven times and it never works…Rambaldi threatened to make me immortal nine years ago and now I can't die, I can't have my family back…" She broke down in floods of tears as she slumped against her father.

He tried to stay strong for his daughter, but after nine years of letters and photos of her new family, even though he had not met his grand daughter, the loss still cut through his heart and his daughter was damned to live eternity with the guilt of killing her family and having everyone she loves die around her as she stays alive for all eternity. Tears slipped out of his eyes and marred his face like the battle scars that marked his body from life.

"I'll make her pay." Sydney growled resolutely and rose to her feet, her tears of pain and anguish drying and a hardness forming in her eyes. "She can't die but she can suffer, and I'm going to make her suffer forever. She'll wish she could die…"

"Maybe she can." Vaughn stood beside the father and daughter after over hearing everything and looked determinedly at Jack who nodded his approval. "Marshall and the lab guys have been working on a new toy, if it works then when you kill Rambaldi, we can separate her body, without it she can't regenerate and we store the different bits in titanium boxes, we hide them in the four corners of the world and she can never regenerate, she's as good as dead."

"It'll work?" Sydney asked, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"We believe so." Vaughn replied. "Marshall and Nicole have been working on it for months, calculating the risk and success rate, testing the box to nuclear radiation and other possible corrosion factors…"

"Nicole?" Sydney asked warily.

A slight smile touched Vaughn's lips as he showed her his wedding ring. "We've been married for seven years…we have twins, a girl and a boy, Abby and Sebastian." He explained and then stopped as he thought of how touchy the subject of children and family would be for her. She smiled, remembering how happy her family had made her and seeing it reflected in Vaughn's proud eyes.

"I'm happy for you, and if you're wife and Marshall can do this then they'll make this world a hell of a lot safer."

"I think we should update you on what's been going on the past nine years." Jack explained as he led her to his office. "A lot's changed."