Eyghon
Author's notes: I had to cut this chapter because it was way too long, so 'the end' I mentioned will actually be in chapter 13. Enjoy and review please!
Chapter
12: Home, at last
Francine
Calfo quietly made her way up to her room. Her parents were sleeping
in the room next to hers. She was supposed to stay home and study but
instead she had decided to go to Will's to watch movies. Her parents
would freak if they knew what she had done so she couldn't afford to
be caught.
After silently climbing the wooden stairs, she found herself in the hallway. There were no risks now, as the floor wouldn't creak. From afar, she could see her bedroom door was open. It was rather strange because she had closed it before climbing out the window. What was the point in going over the wall if the wide open door gave her away by allowing anyone passing by to see she wasn't there? If her parents had noticed she had vanished, surely they wouldn't have simply gotten back into bed. They would have waited for her. Now standing in the doorway, she froze at the sight that greeted her.
A woman was standing in the middle of her room, half hidden by the shadows. At hearing Francie's gasp, she turned around sharply. Francie was still standing at the same spot, mouth gaping open.
"Sydney!" She had just spotted her best friend's limp body in the woman's arms. Francie covered her mouth, eyes widening. Bruises covered Sydney's face.
"She's asleep," murmured the woman, turning back around.
Francie watched the woman's every move as she walked toward the bed and slowly, as if reluctantly, lowered her burden on it. The young girl shifted, missing the warmth of the woman's embrace.
Irina faced her daughter's friend. "You didn't see me here tonight." Francie blinked. "You found her here when you came home. She was alone and you saw no one. Do you understand?" This time, Francie nodded and watched as the woman stepped around her. In the hallway, Irina turned toward her once more, and nonchalantly said, her voice cold as steel, "don't make me come back for you."
Francie didn't wait to see if the woman had left her house and rushed to her friend's side. "Sydney!" she whispered loudly. She could see her friend's chest rise and fall. Reassured, she tentatively reached out and shook her shoulder. Sydney didn't budge. She was sleeping as if in a coma. Francie observed her more closely. She wasn't wearing the same clothes as the day she went missing. Francie stroked Sydney's cheek. She was warm but her face was covered in cuts and bruises. Yet she seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
Not sure what to do, and worried about her friend's inability to wake up, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed 911. She explained that she had found her friend asleep and couldn't wake her up. The annoying operator asked if she had consumed any substance; understand drugs, medication, or alcohol. Francie barked her address and hang up. She found the card Jack Bristow had left her and dialed the number on it. He had told her to call her at any hour of day or night if she remembered anything.
"Mr. Bristow?"
"Who is this?" grumbled the man.
"Francie, Francie Calfo, Sydney's friend."
"What is it Miss Calfo?"
"It's Sydney, she's here!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Sydney, she's here, at my place, in my room! I just got home and I found her here, she's asleep, I think, but I can't get her to wake up!" Francie was getting hysterical. Why was everyone having a hard time understanding the situation?
"Alright, I'm on my way."
Before she could reply, he hung up.
Sydney slowly came too. Blinding lights were hanging from the ceiling. She frowned, there was a strange smell floating in the air. Her mouth was dry, her whole body felt numb and the bed sheets were scratching her.
"Sydney?" asked a worried voice.
Sydney blinked hard, trying to focus, "Fran?"
"Yes, it's me."
"Where am I?" croaked Sydney.
"In Los Angeles, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. You're home, Sydney."
"Oh! Francie, you're all right. I saw her hit you…"
"Yeah I'm fine. I got a minor concussion but I'm okay now. I still have a bump if you want to touch," she added, joking.
"I'm so sorry! It's all my fault…"
"Don't be ridiculous," Francie interrupted, "you should worry about yourself, I'm sorry to be blunt but you look like shit girl!"
Sydney smiled; she had missed her friend and her uncommon humour. Frowning, she asked, "Seriously, how did I end up here?"
"That's what I'd like to know," said Jack Bristow, who had just come entered the room.
"Dad!"
"Hello Sydney." He smiled at her, and nodded toward Francie as a greeting. He was dressed as usual, impeccably in suit, tie, shirt, and shiny shoes. He was clean-shaven, didn't seem tired or worried. The only thing betraying the events of the last few days was the sling in which rested his left arm. "Miss Calfo, would you mind leaving us please?"
"Uh yeah…sure, no problem," she agreed, though slightly taken aback by Jack's request. "See you later Syd." She kissed her friend on the cheek and left the room.
Jack approached his daughter's bed and asked crisply, "How are you feeling?"
"Funny…but in a weird way. What is that?" She asked, pointing to his arm.
"I…hurt my shoulder, but it's a minor injury, nothing to worry about."
"Good, I was so worried about you…they told me things…"
"I thought so. Are you feeling good enough to answer some questions?" He asked gently, taking a seat by her side, a concerned look on his face.
"Yeah, I guess."
"I talked to your doctor earlier; you don't have any injuries that warrant a long stay here. You can go home with me tomorrow afternoon."
"Sounds great," smiled Sydney.
"Now, what I want to know is how you got to your friend's house."
"My friend's house? What do you mean?"
Jack was had his business face on. It reminded Sydney of when she would come home from friends' houses. He would openly scrutinize her, looking for clues to see if she was lying or hiding something. He was doing the same thing right now.
"Dad?" insisted a confused Sydney.
"What is the last thing you remember?"
"Err…" She thought hard. What was she supposed to say or not? Moreover, how in hell had she ended up here? The last thing she remembered was kissing her mother goodnight, but she couldn't tell her father that. "I was in a car, and there was an accident. I blacked out and here I am." Talking about her previous awakening was the best course of action. She would act as if what happened in Italy had actually never existed. It was the most logical thing to do.
"That's all? I need more details, it's important Sydney, make an effort," insisted her father.
"I'm trying!" She sighed. "They put me in a car…"
"They? Who are 'they'? How many were they; what kind of car was it?"
"Dad! I…I was scared, okay? I was scared and it's all a blur! It's not that easy!"
"Just…give me as many details as you can," encouraged Jack, softening.
Sydney sighed. "So they put me in a car, I don't know what kind because I was blindfolded." She swallowed hard. "There were four men, but one got into another car. I didn't see their faces. They were new, I think."
"New?" prompted Jack.
"Yeah, there was this guy, Nikolai; he was here from the beginning. He was the leader," she added. He would have asked if there was a chief, best to cover that now. "Then three new guys arrived, to take me from Russia to the Ukraine."
"Was it him, the leader?" Jack showed his daughter a picture of the man identified by the CIA while stealing a car used in Sydney's kidnapping.
"Yeah!"
"What happened after you got in the car?"
"We drove for a while, there was nothing, no traffic, and it was quiet. Then there were loud noises, we got into some kind of accident I guess."
"How did the accident happen?"
Sydney wondered what she should do. She knew how it had happened of course. Irina's mercenaries had caused it, but if she told him masked men had rescued her, he would try to discover who had hired them…
"Sydney, how did the accident happen?" Repeated Jack annoyed.
"I don't know. I told you I was blindfolded, and then I blacked out during the crash," quickly explained Sydney, looking away.
Jack felt she was hiding something, but decided not to push the issue for now. Maybe he was imagining things. After all, why would Sydney hide information about her kidnappers? That sounded ridiculous…but still, something wasn't right.
"You told me you were in Russia. Do you know how you got there?"
"Yeah, by plane, but they drugged me as soon as I woke up."
"Woke up. From what?"
"They drugged me before, then I woke up in a plane, and they drugged me again, and after that we were in a house, in Russia."
"Did you see any of these people's faces?"
"No, only Nikolai."
"Who was with him?"
"What do you mean?" Her throat tightened, this was the delicate part.
"From what Miss Calfo told us, someone knocked her over the head from behind. What were you doing in the meantime?"
"Nikolai grabbed me. After a while, the woman who hit Fran helped the guy to get me in a car. No, it was a van actually."
"A woman? You never mentioned a woman before."
"Yeah…I was in and out you know, it's a little fuzzy and they both had ski masks. I was so scared," she added, half seeking his comfort, half to get him off her back.
Jack nodded, thoughtful. "Get some rest, we'll finish later." He got up and pecked her on the cheek. It surprised her. It was only a peck, but still, he never showed any outward affection toward her usually. She didn't mind the gesture.
"Where are you going?"
"I have work to do Sydney. Don't worry, there's a guard outside your door, nothing is going to happen to you here." He left, without any explanation about his involvement in this whole mess. Sydney didn't care if there was a guard or not. She just wanted her father, but apparently, he didn't understand that. He was gone already.
The next morning, Jack came back, still looking like he was here for business, but a little less…tense than the day before.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
He nodded curtly and eyed his surroundings, not so sure of what he should do now. He didn't want to leave. There was nothing to do at the office and he preferred not to leave Sydney alone, at least for now. He felt guilty and ineeded/i to be here. Eventually, he settled in the chair by his daughter's bed and opened the newspaper he had brought with him.
"Dad?" Sydney called out, irritated by his apparent indifference.
"Yes? What is it Sydney?"
"Are we going to talk about it or just pretend like nothing happened?"
"Talk about what Sydney?"
She sighed. He wanted to play hard to get. Fine with her. "Yesterday you questioned me like a criminal. I felt like I had done something wrong. I hadn't. Today it's my turn to ask the question, and you are at fault."
For a fraction of a second, she saw him flinch. He lost his cool. It was brief, but she saw it. She smirked inwardly, so he wasn't flawless after all. Before he could find an excuse to run out on her, she attacked bitterly. "The movie. You know why they did it?"
His lips set on a thin line and he nodded curtly.
"Are you going to apologize?"
He blinked, "why should I?"
"You know why." Then, she lost her cool. His lack of reaction was infuriating. "God damn it, Dad! That guy beat the crap out of me because you played smart-ass! Why did you do that? Why couldn't you just do what they told you to do!"
"You'll be out of here tomorrow Sydney. There's no long-term damage. You'll be sore for a few days and that's it."
"I thought he was going to kill me!"
"I'm sorry, Sydney. I'm sorry this happened to you. I never wanted you to get caught in the middle."
"You lied to me." Her tone softened, he had apologized. Her father had apologized to her.
"I did it to protect you."
"They said they wanted information from you, because you were an agent of the US government. What are you? FBI? NSA? CIA?"
"I'll go find your doctor. Maybe you're good enough to get out of here now."
Sydney smiled and nodded. She wouldn't get her answers but she had won some points. Getting her out of here was his way to make it up to her. She hated hospitals. The sooner she was out of here, the happier she would be.
"Dad, wait."
"Yes?"
"What happened to me? After I lost consciousness I mean, how did I get here?"
"I don't know. Your friend, Francine, she found you on her bed. She called 911."
Sydney frowned, wondering why her mother had brought her back home like that.
Taking her confusion for worry, Jack added, "She said you were asleep, and that you looked peaceful."
"What else? You're hiding something." It was just a hunch, Jack Bristow was unreadable, but he fell for it and answered her.
"The lab exams revealed different substances in your bloodstream. They found chemicals used in sleeping drugs. My best guess is they drugged you and brought you back here. But that doesn't explain the painkillers."
Sydney's eyes narrowed. He was looking straight at her, as if he knew. She gulped and tried to control her emotions. She was being paranoid. There was no way he could know.
"What do you mean?"
"Did they give you pills?"
"Yeah…I was feeling really bad, I guess they wanted me to make it to the exchange." She shrugged nonchalantly.
Jack nodded and left.
Sydney was now alone in her hospital room. She thought back to the events of the previous night, trying to get rid of the fog that surrounded it. She wondered what had really happened, and why. Her mother must have drugged her somehow, maybe while she was sleeping. Then it hit her, the tea. They had had a long, honest talk, or that's what Sydney thought at the time, and all the while Irina knew it would be the last time they would see each other, because she had decided so.
Since the beginning, she had naively thought her mother would bring her home, as in 'at her house'. Unconsciously, she knew it wouldn't happen. She knew there would be no tearful family reunion between the three of them. She had dreamed of such a thing all her life, since a little girl. Even after she knew 'people in heaven' couldn't come back down, she had hoped. Now, after her mother's warning and promise, she still couldn't help but be disappointed and surprised to find herself alone, in a Los Angeles hospital. Her mother had fulfilled her promises, to keep her safe and to bring her back home. She had never said anything about sticking around her and Jack. Only that she would keep an eye on her. Maybe she had kept that promise too; maybe she was out there, somewhere.
Actually, when Sydney thought of it, Irina hadn't lied to her; she only went behind her back to bring her home. Maybe it was for the best. Sydney wondered how she could have been able to say goodbye to her mother after all that happened. It was obvious, she couldn't have. It would have been more painful to say goodbye at the airport, or wherever Irina would have dropped her off, than to just kiss her goodnight and never see her again.
Sydney had blindly trusted her mother, and she was now 'paying the price'…Sydney scolded at herself. She was reacting as a bratty child, who only saw that she had been lied to. Okay she had lost control over things, yes, she felt betrayed, but what if it was for the best? After all, she didn't have to lie about how she had come back to America without ID or passport or money. She already had a hard time concealing her mother's involvement in this whole mess. Her father was even already suspicious of her, she could tell. She didn't need to give him one more reason to doubt her story by making up a story about how she got here. Irina had told her to tell the whole truth, but she couldn't betray her mother like that. In addition, it would ruin Jack.
What he didn't know couldn't hurt him, right?
TBC