"Jack, we can't keep hiding this from her. She's gonna find out sooner or later!" Irina played with her necklace as she spoke to Jack on the phone. It had been two months since that had started dating again, and they still hadn't spoken to Sydney about it.
"I know, I'm too old for all this sneaking around." Jack joked. Irina picked up her mug of coffee and took a sip, before placing it back down onto the kitchen table.
"All the more reason for us to tell her. Besides, I want us to spend Christmas together this year, as a family and it'll be kinda hard for is to do that if she doesn't know about us." Irina had been thinking about this for a while, she wanted Jack to be with them for Christmas day.
"Well then, it looks like we have two weeks to tell her." Jack replied. Irina looked up as Sydney walked into the kitchen, a smile on her face.
"Mom, are you nearly finished with the phone? I wanted to call Phoebe." She walked over to the fridge while she waited for her mother's answer.
"Yeah, I'll only be a couple more minutes."
"Thanks!" Sydney turned to leave, but turned around when she reached the doorway. "Who are you talking to anyways?"
"Katya." Irina hated lying to her, but she knew that it would only be for a little while longer.
"Oh, tell her I said hey!" She went back upstairs to finish doing her homework while she waited for the phone.
"So, my new name's Katya now is it?" Jack asked curiously, his tone slightly comical.
Irina sighed. "Well what did you expect me to do? I couldn't exactly say it was you, she thinks that the two of you are incapable of having a civil conversation, which 9 times out of 10 it is!" She pointed out, her ears filling with the sound of Jack's laughter. "My sister was just the first person that came into my head." She explained, laughing along with him.
"I best let you go. Talk to you later?"
"Of course. Bye Jack." Irina hung up the phone and sat back in the chair. She wasn't exactly looking forward to telling Sydney, but it had to go better than the time when they told her about their divorce.
"You're still coming tomorrow right?" Phoebe asked, resting the phone on her shoulder as she tried to take a cookie off Prue's plate. Everytime her hand got within inches of the plate, Prue slapped it away.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss a party. I'm probably having dinner with my mom and then I'll go over to my dad's, but I'll be free in the night!" Sydney idly flicked through a magazine as she talked, her eyes scanning over the pages, looking for any interesting articles. Phoebe smiled triumphantly, as she finally managed to get her hands on a cookie. She waved it infront of Prue's face before taking a bite.
"Is it still ok if Michael comes?"
"Syd, he's your boyfriend. You don't have to ask!" Sydney smiled. The past couple of months had been great; Michael and Eric had quickly fitted in with all of her friends, much to the delight of Sydney and Paige. Sydney was grateful that everyone accepted them. Danny had started to keep his distance from Sydney and Vaughn; it was harder for him to cause trouble with the guy that was dating the most popular girl in school.
"Thanks!"
Phoebe tried to take another biscuit from Prue's plate, but Prue walked out of the kitchen before she could; taking the plate with her. "Older sisters suck!" She complained to Sydney, who just laughed at her.
"You know you love her really."
"Yeah, I guess. Oh I forgot to tell you. Cole's parent's cancelled their trip to Fiji, so we can't have the New Years party over at his house anymore." Sydney could hear the disappointment in Phoebe's voice. Every New Year's Eve, they always had a party s that they could celebrate the start of a new year together, and also the start of another year of their friendship. Last year they had the party at Danny's, but that wouldn't be happening again this year.
"I could always ask my mom if we could have it here. I doubt she has any plans, so I could just ask her to go over to Katya's for a couple of hours. Or if needs be I could send her to my dad's, although I'm pretty sure that she'd rather go to her sister's." Sydney didn't see why they couldn't have it at her house; after all it was big enough, and if her mother wasn't going to use it she might as well. There was onlyone problem; convincing Irina Derevko to let her daughter have a house party. She dreaded to think how that conversation might end.
"Mom?" Sydney poked her head through the study doors. Her mother was sat at her desk marking English assignments.
"Yes dear?"
"Have you got a minute? There's something that I want to talk to you about." Sydney edged closer into the room and smiled at her mother.
"Of course." She nodded towards the couch at the side of the room, motioning for her to take a seat. She stood up and went to sit beside her daughter. Well, there's no time like the present…
"There's actually something that I've been meaning to discuss with you. But you go first."Sydney nodded and took a deep breath. "Ok, well it's about New Year's Eve." She looked at her mother, searching for some sign of a response, but there was none. "You see, we were meant to be having a party at Cole's house, but his parents already have plans. SO I was wondering if…"
"You could have the party here." Irina finished her sentence. Normally she would have said no, they both knew that. But now that she was minutes away from getting her secret off her chest, the last thing that she wanted to do was to make her pissed by saying no.
Sydney held her breath, watching her mother out of the corner of her eye. She could tell that she was thinking about it, so there was still a chance that her answer wouldn't be no.
After a few minutes, Irina spoke again. "Ok Syd, you can have the party here, on one condition…" Sydney smiled at her, but managed to keep most of her excitement inside as she waited to hear what else Irina had to say. "You look after the house! I don't want anything broken, nothing ruined and nobody gets drunk. I'm not having people throwing up all over my carpet." She had the carpet imported from Russia, they were all made from the finest material that Russia had to offer, and they couldn't be easily replaced.
"Ok." Sydney threw her arms around her mother's neck and hugged her. "Thank you." I hope you'll still be thanking me in a minute…
"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Irina sighed, picking up her daughter's hands and holding them in her own. "It's about your father…"
Sydney panicked. "Is he ok?" The expression on Irina's face made Sydney think that something had happened to him.
"Yes, he's fine." Irina reassured her. She paused not quite sure of how she should approach the subject. "You see, the past couple of months, him and I have been seeing a lot of each other. And when you love somebody the way I loved your father, you'll find that those feelings never go away. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that…"
"Oh. My. God!" She's mouth feel open as she realized what she was about to say. Irina looked at her, surprised by her interruption.
"What?"
"You guys are back together, aren't you?" Irina's cheeks reddened as her eyes fell to the floor. Sydney covered her mouth with her hands, but Irina could still see the smile that was behind her hands.
Sydney had always wanted her mom and dad to get back together. She hated having to split her time between them, although she continued to do it so that she could see both of her parents. She wanted them to be a proper family again; one that lived in the same house, ate meals together, spent the holidays together. Oh my God, she's so gonna ask him to spend Christmas with us.
"So you're not angry or upset about it?"
"Are you kidding me? This is great." She hugged her mother again. "I'm so happy for you guys." Irina hugged her daughter back, relieved that she had taken the news well. "So I guess he'll be spending Christmas with us?"
"Well, as long as it's ok with you…" Sydney's smile was the only answer that Irina needed.
