Defying the Shadows APO is hit hard when three of their best agents wind up in the hospital, but the intrigue and deception is deepened when it is discovered one of them has dark secrets, and the only one that can discover the truth doesn't remember…

Chapter 2: Inevitable Reaction

Disclaimer: I don't, nor did or will I ever, own any aspect of Alias. All recognizable characters and plot strands belong to JJ Abrams, not to me. But this plot in this particular fic is mine. But I have no characters to claim all for my own like in some of my other fics. Like Jeffrey…I love Jeffrey!

Weiss put a hand to his head, an unfamiliar gesture to him. He could feel a similarly unfamiliar pounding right below his left temple.

He'd spent his lunch break with Nadia, and checked on Syd and Mike. Seeing Nadia come out of those sedatives had been the scariest thing he'd ever experienced. As she'd slept, she'd looked almost normal again. But then he'd seen the blood drain from her face, and the soft line of her jaw become hard and completely change the shape of her face. Then her eyes had opened, all at once, not fluttering like they did when she'd wake from a light sleep. It was as if the sedatives had suppressed the part of her that had been infected, but it reared its ugly head the moment she regained consciousness.

But she was fighting. His Nadia had broken through for just a moment when she'd uttered his name, and he'd seen her eyes change for just that instant, and she'd shifted her hand as if to reach out to him.

Eric Weiss was anything but a romantic, but these were the only ideas he had to hold to for the time.

"Man, you look bad," Marshal commented, sitting down at the computer next to the one Weiss was pretending to work at. "I don't mean, like, regular bad, I mean train wreck bad."

"Thanks, Marshal," Weiss said dryly, pulling his hand down his face. Then he paused, realizing it was a gesture he'd see Vaughn emulate many times over the years when Sydney was in the field and he was stuck back in LA.

"Oh." Marshal looked up. "You sat with Nadia, right? During lunch? Did something happen? Or not happen? I mean, did she…"

"She woke up," Weiss broke in. "Just for a minute."

"Sucks," Marshal said. "How are Syd and…"

"They figure Syd will overcome the effects of the mild sedatives they're giving her in a few days, and there's no change in Vaughn."

"I thought I'd stop by and see Syd later," Marshal said thoughtfully a moment later. "You know, so if she wakes up, she won't be alone, she'll see a familiar face and all. I mean, she might…I'm sure she'd like that at a time like this, right?"

Weiss gave him a quick look meant to be dismissive, but at the earnest look on Marshal's face he couldn't resist a quick smirk.

"I'm sure she'd appreciate it," he allowed, grinning.

Sydney barely heard the chattering, but it was somehow comforting. The inconsistency was so much more normal than the steady beep of machines. She relaxed fully for the first time in days.

But, with the comfort, came the memories. Vaughn. The wreck.

Tears were already streaming down her face when her eyes fluttered open.

She jumped a little when he focused on the face leaning over her bed.

"Syd?" Marshal said, leaning closer as if he thought she couldn't see him. "You're okay, Syd, you're safe. Everything's okay now."

"Vaughn…" Sydney gasped, her throat dry.

"No, I'm not…" Marshal began, looking suddenly very worried.

"…Isn't his name…" she managed.

Marshal paused, confused for a moment before the two parts clicked. Before he could ask her what she meant, she fell back to sleep, relieved in part of the horrible secret that kept her restless.

"She's awake? How is she?" Weiss asked casually.

"She was awake for a little while yesterday, I don't know if she woke up again. When she woke up, she was crying," Marshal stared. "At first, I thought she called me Vaughn, which, if Vaughn wakes up with her thinking I'm Vaughn, well, that would be really bad. But then she said 'Isn't his name.' 'Vaughn isn't his name.' That's what she said."

Weiss was staring blankly at Marshal now over the bank of computers they'd been working at.

"She doesn't think Vaughn is really Vaughn's name?" he finally managed to string together. "Are you on something, man?"

"No! Just…just think…consider it for a minute…just a second," Marshal said. "Sydney seemed completely lucid when she said it. And what would it take for her to really doubt Vaughn?"

Weiss, to his credit, did pause for a moment before sputtering, "It's crazy, Marshal. I've known Mike forever. We trained together."

"He was already, what, like, twenty when you guys trained? Twenty-five? There could have been anything before that that he's kept a secret all this time."

"Like what, something when he was a little kid?" Weiss bit back sarcastically.

"Well, yeah," Marshal continued enthusiastically. "Why not? We've seen it before. Kids get caught up in, say, their parents' messes all the time. What if Agent Vaughn's mother and himself became targets after his father was killed?"

"You forget," Weiss argued as the idea planted itself and began to take root. "William Vaughn was a real, legitimate agent. We have documents, agents who remember his death, who remember seeing his wife and kid at his funeral. If Vaughn isn't Vaughn, then Bill Vaughn isn't his dad, and then Irina Derevko didn't kill his dad."

Sloane pressed forward, forcing the man to take a step back.

"Her exposure only affected a small portion of her brain," Dr Simons was saying, looking down at the small man who was somehow so intimidating. "In theory, Nadia would be completely aware of everything she does but the damaged portion of her brain would block any natural physical manifestation of her reactions to any of it. The infected portion of her brain controls and limits her."

"What can you do?" Weiss asked automatically from somewhere behind this weasel like little man.

"What treatments are available?" Sloane demanded, completely shutting out Weiss.

"Well, research suggests that certain enzymes could be introduced into her brain that may destroy infected cells, but it's a risky procedure and completely experimental, and could potentially produce unknown or untreatable side effects."

"Or? There are other options."

"My recommendation would actually be removal of the infected portion of her brain." Dr Simons paused and waited for the inevitable reaction to the suggestion.

"Remove her brain?" Weiss demanded angrily, surging forward to stand next to Sloane.

"Only a small portion," the doctor corrected. "Spinal fluid would quickly fill the cavity left, and, pending complications, Nadia could potentially fully recover within a few months."

"Do it," Sloane said shortly.

"Are you crazy?" Weiss demanded, being forced to follow when Sloane strode purposefully away from the doctor. "That guy wants to cut out your daughter's brain! She's barely recovered from the bullet you put in her, and you want to just let that guy put a scalpel in her head?"

"The chances of Nadia surviving the surgery are much higher than those of her surviving foreign enzymes being injected into her temples," Sloane said flatly, continuing to move at a brisk pace.

"But what are the odds she'll come out of this without permanent brain damage?"

Sloane, finally irritated, stopped abruptly and turned to face Weiss.

"Nadia already has permanent brain damage, Agent Weiss. All we can do here is hope to keep the damage from ruining her life, and perhaps if we're lucky allow her regain some quality of life," he snapped, then turned and quickly slid into an elevator before Weiss could recover to follow him.

Nothing to say to that. Review, please! Reviews tend to help teh plot bunnies hop out of the hat faster...