A/N So this chapter is kind of a filler connecting time passage little bit,
sorry but the action is coming!!! Thanks for all the great replies please
keep them coming!!!!
I have had several e-mail requests for people to be e-mailed when I update this story so if you would like to be included on that list just e-mail me at erincollicutt@rogers.com or post your e-mail address in a feedback post and I'll e-mail you when the story is updated.
Redemption Chapter 16
Using her hip to close the car door Sydney struggled with the take out bags, her purse and briefcase as she fumbled for her keys. Inserting the key into the door she found it was unlocked.
"Hey Katy," Sydney called out as she entered the house kicking off her shoes. "Do you like Chinese? I didn't know what to get so I got a little of everything.Katy?" Sydney stopped cold the bags falling to the floor as she stood on the landing and saw a man passed out on the hallway floor. "Will?" She knelt down beside him checking for a pulse. Slowly he moved groaning slightly as he opened his eyes and saw Sydney.
"You hit me," he accused scooting away from her.
"What are you talking about Will? I just got home-" she knelt down and took his arm helping him get up.
"No, I saw you-" Will staggered to his feet and gently touched his forehead feeling the dark sticky substance. "You hit me with a baseball bat. Did they double you?" he muttered confused.
"Will, I just got-What are you doing here? How did you get in? Where's Kat?"
"I came back early, I used my key," he ran a hand through his tousled hair stumbling slightly as he followed Sydney down the hall.
"I'll look upstairs, check down here," Sydney took the stairs two at a time.
"A cat? You got a cat? Syd I thought you were allergic to cats?" he blinked several times finally able to see clearly. Someone had hit him over the head with a baseball bat and Sydney got a cat, strange combination but he couldn't think clearly anyway, his head was throbbing.
"Here kitty kitty," he called clucking his tongue. He could hear Sydney opening and closing doors upstairs and he checked the hall closet before moving to the kitchen and checking the cupboards. "Here kitty cat." He squatted down to check the cupboard under the kitchen sink. "Syd if you're that loud, you won't find the cat, you'll scare it away," he shouted up at her hearing the cupboard doors slam. He heard a noise from the cupboard under the sink and slowly opened the door. "Ha found you Kitty- Jesus Shit," Will fell back as he came face to face with Sydney's Kat who certainly wasn't a cat; she was a teenager with a baseball bat. "SYD!" He didn't say anything else just watched the girl grip the baseball bat. They hadn't doubled Sydney but someone had apparently come pretty close.
Sydney nearly fell down the stairs as she followed the sound of Will's voice. She fell to her knees and peeked in the small cupboard. Kathryn had managed to tuck herself in the back between the water pipes. "It's okay Katy, you can come out," she held out her hand and Kathryn took it pulling herself out of the cupboard.
Will stood back wiping the blood off his forehead with a paper towel. Sydney stood before him, her hands resting lightly on the younger girl's shoulders. "Katy this is my friend Will," Sydney introduced them. "Will this is Kathryn, my sister."
"Your sister?" his mouth hung open.
"Yes, her sister, trying to catch flies?"
"Katy-" Sydney sighed giving her the silent shut up squeeze. "I brought dinner, it's in the hallway."
"I'll take that as my silent cue," Kathryn turned to get the take-out but Will stopped her.
"It's nice to meet you Sydney's sis-uh Kat," Will gave her a nervous smile. He reached for the bat; "how about I just take this off your hands."
"If I'd wanted to hurt you, I would have." Kathryn handed him the bat and turned on her heel walking out of the room.
"If she'd wanted to hurt me-" Will winced touching his forehead.
"Will I'm really sorry about this, let me see," Sydney wet a dish towel and dabbed at the cut on his forehead.
"Since when do you have a sister?"
"It's a very long story," she sighed. "Stay for dinner?"
"You owe me."
~ ~ ~
Will stabbed a chicken ball with his fork and chewed on it thoughtfully. "This is unreal you do realize this Sydney. She's like a little mini identical miniature sized..you."
"It's complicated," she agreed nodding. She and Will sat at the counter eating dinner.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah fine," she gave him a smile. "I'm just worried about her. She's had a rough couple of days and today was really bad. She's not usually this quiet."
"So your mom had another kid, and no one knew about her?"
"No one other than Sloane, my mother and The Covenant, well that's all we know anyway."
"So you have the same mom, is Jack her fath-"
"No," Sydney cut him off. "Her father is a sonofabitch bastard who is hopefully spending eternity burning in hell at the moment." Sydney's blood began to boil just thinking about Alexander Khasinau.
"Nice guy," he raised an eyebrow.
"Will, I need your help."
"Of course anything."
"I have leave early tomorrow morning for a mission in London and my dad is in Switzerland, I need you to stay with Kathryn, for about a week or so, if there was someone else I would-"
"It's fine, Syd don't worry about it." He smiled at her glancing over at Kathryn who sat on the couch watching TV while she ate her dinner. "She's a teenager, we'll be fine."
"Will, it's not that simple-" Sydney twirled some noodles around her fork deciding the best way to broach the subject. "She had regression therapy yesterday. She'll have nightmares and my dad sedated her last night so I don't know what they'll be like without the sedation. You'll have to take her to the OP Center tomorrow for counseling and a meeting with the directors, Agent Weiss will sit in and there are FBI Agents watching the house but I have no idea what's going on with her. She's been through hell this past week and I don't know how or if she's dealing with it. She's strong and tough and smart but. she's human and I'm afraid she might break soon and I don't really trust anyone to stay with her, if anything happens Lindsey is going to put her in protective custody and we'll loose any control over her. I've already told her that I was leaving-"
"Syd- we'll be fine, I promise." He gave her a reassuring smile that faded as his eyes connected with Kathryn's cold gaze. "Just fine. Looks like its just you and me kid!" he called over to her, her response wasn't exactly what he expected.
"I don't need a babysitter."
~ ~ ~
Three Weeks Later
Sydney smiled softly as she set her suitcase down and slipped off her shoes. She crouched down beside the couch where Will lay and pulled the blanket up around his shoulders and slowly slipped off his glasses.
"Hey," Will opened his eyes he yawned stretching his arms. "What time is it?"
"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you," she sat back on the coffee table. "It's a little after 3 AM."
"You were supposed to be back almost two weeks ago, what happened are you alright?" Groggily he sat up slipping his glasses back on.
"I know, I'm sorry, there were complications, we had to stay an extra few days. How is she?"
"Sleeping," he shrugged. "She didn't say but I know she was really worried about you. Her nightmares were really bad, she'd wake up sick, screaming, crying, the things she said," he shuddered at the remembrance of her words. "The first week or so was really, really bad but they're better now, she's better now."
Her eye caught sight of a child's toy on the floor and picked it up. "Weiss was here?" she asked holding up the yellow yo-yo.
"Yeah," he nodded stretching again. "He's upstairs with her now, he's come almost every night since you left. She still pretends not to like him but she sleeps a lot better when he's around. Check this out," he passed her a sketchbook that had been wedged in the corner of the couch.
"She drew these?" Sydney quickly flipped through the book. Her sister certainly was an artist. Some were nice scenery drawings, Will had obviously taken her to the beach and the track and various other places. Some were dark, faces haven been scratched out or the entire picture ruined. Some were comical, she laughed at one of Will sleeping a cigar hanging out of his mouth and another of Weiss with yo-yo's on every finger.
"She's good, really good." He nodded.
"Is there anything she isn't good at," Sydney laughed setting the book back down.
"Actually yes, I'm afraid there was an incident in the kitchen."
"What kind of incident?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"A small oven fire.. Apparently she can't cook to save her life," Will laughed leaning back on the couch. "Weiss brought this for you," he handed her an envelope.
Sydney burst out laughing as she opened the envelope and then grew quiet as she flipped through the papers.
"Is it serious?" Will asked concern evident in his voice.
Sydney shook her head and showed him the test results. "They're Kat's IQ results."
"That's.high," he said surprised.
"I knew she was smart but. my sister is a full fledged genius." She stood up tucking the papers back into the envelope. "I'm going to go crash, go back to sleep."
"See you in the morning," he rolled over and fell back asleep.
Sydney slowly walked up the stairs every muscle screamed out in agony. She entered Kathryn's room and sat on the side of the bed. Her body was covered in a slick sheen of sweat and all the blankets were twisted at her feet. She moved restlessly in her sleep, obviously in the midst of a gentle nightmare. It was bad enough to leave her unsettled. She took a damp cloth from the bedside table and gently wiped down her sister's face.
"Syd?"
She turned to face Eric bringing a finger to her lips and he lowered his voice. "You're back, how are you?"
"Sore, you didn't tell her?"
"You asked me not to. How is it?"
Sydney raised her shirt showing Weiss the bandage on her abdomen, "clean shot, only a week in the hospital."
"You were lucky."
"I know," she nodded. "Will you help me change the bandage?"
"Sure,"
He stood and followed her out of the room neither of them seeing Kathryn wide awake clearly in shock after having seen her sisters bandage. She shut her eyes tightly trying to stop the tears that flowed. While she had been angry with Sydney for leaving her for so long with Will, her sister had been lying in a hospital bed recuperating after what could have been a near fatal gunshot wound. She swallowed hard feeling horrible as she turned over and shut her eyes, but she couldn't sleep. It wasn't until a half hour later that Eric returned to the chair beside her bed that she finally drifted off again once she heard the familiar drum of his slight snoring as he fell asleep.
~ ~ ~
Two Weeks Later
Jack slammed his phone down and stood up storming out of his office, nearly knocking into his secretary who held his phone messages. "Not now," he growled walking past her. Several agents had to dodge his wrath as he strode towards Dixon's office. He opened the door letting it slam behind him. Dixon was just hanging up the phone.
"What the hell are you thinking? You can't send her to Spain."
"Jack this was not my decision to make. The order came from Devlin, they've already asked her and she agreed."
"This is ridiculous, she's not a field agent, she's not even an agent for Christ's sake. This could get her killed."
"Jack I know, alright. I couldn't change their minds, that's why you're going with her. Briefing's in ten."
He turned on his heel walking out of Dixons office. He walked back to his office pausing in the doorway he turned around. "Kat in my office now!" he entered the office, the door slamming behind him. Several moments later Kathryn entered his office quietly closing the door behind her. She sat on the couch her arms crossed over her chest. She swallowed nervously while chewing her lower lip. Her eyes followed Jack as he furiously paced the carpeted floor. Finally he stopped and sat on the edge of his desk. His eyes cold as steel as he looked at her, like he was looking right through her. "What in the hell were you thinking when you said yes?"
I have had several e-mail requests for people to be e-mailed when I update this story so if you would like to be included on that list just e-mail me at erincollicutt@rogers.com or post your e-mail address in a feedback post and I'll e-mail you when the story is updated.
Redemption Chapter 16
Using her hip to close the car door Sydney struggled with the take out bags, her purse and briefcase as she fumbled for her keys. Inserting the key into the door she found it was unlocked.
"Hey Katy," Sydney called out as she entered the house kicking off her shoes. "Do you like Chinese? I didn't know what to get so I got a little of everything.Katy?" Sydney stopped cold the bags falling to the floor as she stood on the landing and saw a man passed out on the hallway floor. "Will?" She knelt down beside him checking for a pulse. Slowly he moved groaning slightly as he opened his eyes and saw Sydney.
"You hit me," he accused scooting away from her.
"What are you talking about Will? I just got home-" she knelt down and took his arm helping him get up.
"No, I saw you-" Will staggered to his feet and gently touched his forehead feeling the dark sticky substance. "You hit me with a baseball bat. Did they double you?" he muttered confused.
"Will, I just got-What are you doing here? How did you get in? Where's Kat?"
"I came back early, I used my key," he ran a hand through his tousled hair stumbling slightly as he followed Sydney down the hall.
"I'll look upstairs, check down here," Sydney took the stairs two at a time.
"A cat? You got a cat? Syd I thought you were allergic to cats?" he blinked several times finally able to see clearly. Someone had hit him over the head with a baseball bat and Sydney got a cat, strange combination but he couldn't think clearly anyway, his head was throbbing.
"Here kitty kitty," he called clucking his tongue. He could hear Sydney opening and closing doors upstairs and he checked the hall closet before moving to the kitchen and checking the cupboards. "Here kitty cat." He squatted down to check the cupboard under the kitchen sink. "Syd if you're that loud, you won't find the cat, you'll scare it away," he shouted up at her hearing the cupboard doors slam. He heard a noise from the cupboard under the sink and slowly opened the door. "Ha found you Kitty- Jesus Shit," Will fell back as he came face to face with Sydney's Kat who certainly wasn't a cat; she was a teenager with a baseball bat. "SYD!" He didn't say anything else just watched the girl grip the baseball bat. They hadn't doubled Sydney but someone had apparently come pretty close.
Sydney nearly fell down the stairs as she followed the sound of Will's voice. She fell to her knees and peeked in the small cupboard. Kathryn had managed to tuck herself in the back between the water pipes. "It's okay Katy, you can come out," she held out her hand and Kathryn took it pulling herself out of the cupboard.
Will stood back wiping the blood off his forehead with a paper towel. Sydney stood before him, her hands resting lightly on the younger girl's shoulders. "Katy this is my friend Will," Sydney introduced them. "Will this is Kathryn, my sister."
"Your sister?" his mouth hung open.
"Yes, her sister, trying to catch flies?"
"Katy-" Sydney sighed giving her the silent shut up squeeze. "I brought dinner, it's in the hallway."
"I'll take that as my silent cue," Kathryn turned to get the take-out but Will stopped her.
"It's nice to meet you Sydney's sis-uh Kat," Will gave her a nervous smile. He reached for the bat; "how about I just take this off your hands."
"If I'd wanted to hurt you, I would have." Kathryn handed him the bat and turned on her heel walking out of the room.
"If she'd wanted to hurt me-" Will winced touching his forehead.
"Will I'm really sorry about this, let me see," Sydney wet a dish towel and dabbed at the cut on his forehead.
"Since when do you have a sister?"
"It's a very long story," she sighed. "Stay for dinner?"
"You owe me."
~ ~ ~
Will stabbed a chicken ball with his fork and chewed on it thoughtfully. "This is unreal you do realize this Sydney. She's like a little mini identical miniature sized..you."
"It's complicated," she agreed nodding. She and Will sat at the counter eating dinner.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah fine," she gave him a smile. "I'm just worried about her. She's had a rough couple of days and today was really bad. She's not usually this quiet."
"So your mom had another kid, and no one knew about her?"
"No one other than Sloane, my mother and The Covenant, well that's all we know anyway."
"So you have the same mom, is Jack her fath-"
"No," Sydney cut him off. "Her father is a sonofabitch bastard who is hopefully spending eternity burning in hell at the moment." Sydney's blood began to boil just thinking about Alexander Khasinau.
"Nice guy," he raised an eyebrow.
"Will, I need your help."
"Of course anything."
"I have leave early tomorrow morning for a mission in London and my dad is in Switzerland, I need you to stay with Kathryn, for about a week or so, if there was someone else I would-"
"It's fine, Syd don't worry about it." He smiled at her glancing over at Kathryn who sat on the couch watching TV while she ate her dinner. "She's a teenager, we'll be fine."
"Will, it's not that simple-" Sydney twirled some noodles around her fork deciding the best way to broach the subject. "She had regression therapy yesterday. She'll have nightmares and my dad sedated her last night so I don't know what they'll be like without the sedation. You'll have to take her to the OP Center tomorrow for counseling and a meeting with the directors, Agent Weiss will sit in and there are FBI Agents watching the house but I have no idea what's going on with her. She's been through hell this past week and I don't know how or if she's dealing with it. She's strong and tough and smart but. she's human and I'm afraid she might break soon and I don't really trust anyone to stay with her, if anything happens Lindsey is going to put her in protective custody and we'll loose any control over her. I've already told her that I was leaving-"
"Syd- we'll be fine, I promise." He gave her a reassuring smile that faded as his eyes connected with Kathryn's cold gaze. "Just fine. Looks like its just you and me kid!" he called over to her, her response wasn't exactly what he expected.
"I don't need a babysitter."
~ ~ ~
Three Weeks Later
Sydney smiled softly as she set her suitcase down and slipped off her shoes. She crouched down beside the couch where Will lay and pulled the blanket up around his shoulders and slowly slipped off his glasses.
"Hey," Will opened his eyes he yawned stretching his arms. "What time is it?"
"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you," she sat back on the coffee table. "It's a little after 3 AM."
"You were supposed to be back almost two weeks ago, what happened are you alright?" Groggily he sat up slipping his glasses back on.
"I know, I'm sorry, there were complications, we had to stay an extra few days. How is she?"
"Sleeping," he shrugged. "She didn't say but I know she was really worried about you. Her nightmares were really bad, she'd wake up sick, screaming, crying, the things she said," he shuddered at the remembrance of her words. "The first week or so was really, really bad but they're better now, she's better now."
Her eye caught sight of a child's toy on the floor and picked it up. "Weiss was here?" she asked holding up the yellow yo-yo.
"Yeah," he nodded stretching again. "He's upstairs with her now, he's come almost every night since you left. She still pretends not to like him but she sleeps a lot better when he's around. Check this out," he passed her a sketchbook that had been wedged in the corner of the couch.
"She drew these?" Sydney quickly flipped through the book. Her sister certainly was an artist. Some were nice scenery drawings, Will had obviously taken her to the beach and the track and various other places. Some were dark, faces haven been scratched out or the entire picture ruined. Some were comical, she laughed at one of Will sleeping a cigar hanging out of his mouth and another of Weiss with yo-yo's on every finger.
"She's good, really good." He nodded.
"Is there anything she isn't good at," Sydney laughed setting the book back down.
"Actually yes, I'm afraid there was an incident in the kitchen."
"What kind of incident?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"A small oven fire.. Apparently she can't cook to save her life," Will laughed leaning back on the couch. "Weiss brought this for you," he handed her an envelope.
Sydney burst out laughing as she opened the envelope and then grew quiet as she flipped through the papers.
"Is it serious?" Will asked concern evident in his voice.
Sydney shook her head and showed him the test results. "They're Kat's IQ results."
"That's.high," he said surprised.
"I knew she was smart but. my sister is a full fledged genius." She stood up tucking the papers back into the envelope. "I'm going to go crash, go back to sleep."
"See you in the morning," he rolled over and fell back asleep.
Sydney slowly walked up the stairs every muscle screamed out in agony. She entered Kathryn's room and sat on the side of the bed. Her body was covered in a slick sheen of sweat and all the blankets were twisted at her feet. She moved restlessly in her sleep, obviously in the midst of a gentle nightmare. It was bad enough to leave her unsettled. She took a damp cloth from the bedside table and gently wiped down her sister's face.
"Syd?"
She turned to face Eric bringing a finger to her lips and he lowered his voice. "You're back, how are you?"
"Sore, you didn't tell her?"
"You asked me not to. How is it?"
Sydney raised her shirt showing Weiss the bandage on her abdomen, "clean shot, only a week in the hospital."
"You were lucky."
"I know," she nodded. "Will you help me change the bandage?"
"Sure,"
He stood and followed her out of the room neither of them seeing Kathryn wide awake clearly in shock after having seen her sisters bandage. She shut her eyes tightly trying to stop the tears that flowed. While she had been angry with Sydney for leaving her for so long with Will, her sister had been lying in a hospital bed recuperating after what could have been a near fatal gunshot wound. She swallowed hard feeling horrible as she turned over and shut her eyes, but she couldn't sleep. It wasn't until a half hour later that Eric returned to the chair beside her bed that she finally drifted off again once she heard the familiar drum of his slight snoring as he fell asleep.
~ ~ ~
Two Weeks Later
Jack slammed his phone down and stood up storming out of his office, nearly knocking into his secretary who held his phone messages. "Not now," he growled walking past her. Several agents had to dodge his wrath as he strode towards Dixon's office. He opened the door letting it slam behind him. Dixon was just hanging up the phone.
"What the hell are you thinking? You can't send her to Spain."
"Jack this was not my decision to make. The order came from Devlin, they've already asked her and she agreed."
"This is ridiculous, she's not a field agent, she's not even an agent for Christ's sake. This could get her killed."
"Jack I know, alright. I couldn't change their minds, that's why you're going with her. Briefing's in ten."
He turned on his heel walking out of Dixons office. He walked back to his office pausing in the doorway he turned around. "Kat in my office now!" he entered the office, the door slamming behind him. Several moments later Kathryn entered his office quietly closing the door behind her. She sat on the couch her arms crossed over her chest. She swallowed nervously while chewing her lower lip. Her eyes followed Jack as he furiously paced the carpeted floor. Finally he stopped and sat on the edge of his desk. His eyes cold as steel as he looked at her, like he was looking right through her. "What in the hell were you thinking when you said yes?"