Chapter 13

Turning the old picture frame around in his hand, Vaughn continued thinking back to all the times in his childhood that he was most in awe of his father. He remembered the way that his dad could always seem to hit the baseball when they were at practice. He remembered when the team that his dad had taught went all the way to state. None of it had been true. It had all been a lie.

He remembered playing football in the backyard with their neighbors. He remembered that when his father had brought home a pool table. Thus began one of Vaughn's many fascinations. It had all been a lie.

He recalled the time that he had first gone ice-skating. He had fallen. His father had told him to practice at it. That led to Vaughn joining the school hockey team. It had all been a lie.

Rage overtook Vaughn and he threw the picture frame against the wall. The glass shattered, and that's when Vaughn saw the envelope.

Sydney finished up the paperwork for the day and left to go to Vaughn's house. She hadn't felt safe at her place after she had found out that Francie had actually been Allison. She used the key Vaughn had given her before he left to get in. Feeding Donovan, she settled back, popped in a copy of Alice in Wonderland, and watched the Disney video that she had watched so much when she was younger.

Jack called Sydney's cell phone. "Hey, Sydney, it's me."

"Oh, hi."

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to get something to eat?"

"Sure."

"I'll pick you up at your place in five minutes, okay?"

"Actually, I'm staying at Vaughn's place." Sydney heard silence at the other end of the line.

"I'll be there soon."

"Okay."

"It was all a lie," Vaughn said aloud. "Just a big fat lie," he said as he opened up the envelope. He pulled out a letter.

Dear Michael,

If you're reading this letter, then my secret is out. I'm sorry that you had to find out the way that you did. It wasn't my intention to shock you like this, but certain things must occur in the course of time. I am sorry that I had to lie to you all your childhood, but it was an assignment. If this helps relieve your anger a little bit, I did love you and your mother, and it did hurt when I had to leave. I want to let you know that I will always love you.

William Vaughn

"How are you doing," Jack asked when Sydney got into the car.

"Fine," Sydney replied, somewhat confused.

"I mean in regards to…" Jack sighed, "in regards to revealing the fact that you are pregnant to everyone today."

"It's an adjustment."

"I'm sure it is."

"Dad, I want you to know that I'm happy. Even with everything that's happened, I'm happy."

"I know. Even though I've known it has happened, it's never easy to realize that your kid has grown up. To me, you'll always be that little girl with pigtails."

"Always?"

"Always," Jack responded with a smile. "Some things may change…" A pause. "Many things may change, but nothing will change the simple fact that you are my daughter and I love you."

Sydney smiled, and the dinner that followed was relatively stress-free.

Jack had just paid for the meal when he got a phone call. Looking up at Sydney, he stated the simple fact he had just learned. "Sloane just got pardoned."

It's a lie, Vaughn told himself. It has to be a lie. He kept repeating those nine words in his mind, but no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that it was true, he kept coming back to the last line of the letter. "I want to let you know that I will always love you." As hard as he tried, Vaughn couldn't convince himself that the last statement was a lie.

The plane landed a few hours later, and after turning the disk in at the Joint Task Force building, Vaughn returned home to find Sydney crying into one of his pillows.

"Hey, babe, what's wrong?" he asked laying down next to her. He put his arm around her body and she pulled it closer.

"I just want to sleep," she said, and moments later, she was lost in blissful sleep.

Arvin Clone had taken the schematics of Project: Helix to the main mechanic. "I need you to make another one of these."

Looking the plans over, the mechanic agreed.

Morning dawned in Los Angeles, and another day began. Vaughn woke up before Sydney this time, and went into his kitchen and made up some omelets. He saw an opened bag of marshmallows on the table and laughed. Perhaps sleeping with Sydney over time would give him a really good recipe. "Don't frost the pie." "Put the Bacon in first." "Chocolate Chips, Yum." And yesterday's "Don't add the marshmallows."

He heard Sydney get up and head for the bathroom followed by a retching, a flush, and then the whir of her toothbrush. When she came out a few minutes later, she was noticeably pale. "Hey Vaughn?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to start planning our wedding to make October 1.

"You're right."

Sydney smiled, and Vaughn smiled back, both aware that they were one day closer to spending the rest of their life together.

Three weeks later…

Jack looked down at the request Sydney had filed two days earlier. The request was for Project: Christmas to be activated again in order to train their child. All Jack had to do was sign on the line to make it go into effect. All Jack had to do to make the request go away was slip it into the shredder. Picking up his pen, Jack signed on the line.

Project: Christmas was back.

Allison walked into full view of Arvin Clone, Anna, and McKenas Cole. "Good. Do you have the bugs?"

"Yes."

"Then the let's commence the next stage of our operation."

Andrian Lazerey returned home. Putting the key in the box where he had stored all the other ones, he realized that he only had one key left until he had all the keys necessary to get the Rambaldi Cube.

…TBC…