My mother never was the maternal type. In fact, when she found out she was pregnant with me, it almost killed her. For her it was the end of her career, no field work for the next nine months, and then some. My father on the other hand was excited, he was to have a child with the woman he loved and life was going to be great. He had taken her out of the field without her knowing and she was ready to kill him, when he saw how upset she was he built her a villa in Tuscany, for the two to stay until I was born. She did love Tuscany and the villa was beautiful, but all she wanted to do was work. That was the family I was born into. My father was in love with the idea of a child, and my mother would rather have just killed me the second I was born. My parents worked out of Russia, in an agency after some sort of prophecy, I wasn't informed of the work they did until I was twelve. We were constantly moving, changing our names and identities the works. Before I had even started kindergarten, I had lived in Italy, Germany, Scotland, England, Russia and Denmark. I guess that was the life I had been given, me, Jillian Rose Sark.
When I was eleven, my dad brought a 'work friend' home. He introduced her as Julia Thorne.
"Jilly, this is a friend of mine from work her name is Julia Thorne." My dad said.
"Hello Julia." I said in a singsong voice. I was getting pretty excited because my twelfth birthday was in ten days.
"Oh, so you're the Jillian I hear so much about." She said, with a slight I-wish-I-wasn't-here voice. Before I could respond my mother kicked me out of the room.
"Yes, this is our Jillian. Honey, I think you have some homework to finish up, why don't you go up stairs to your room and finish it."
"Yes, mother." I replied not wanting to go, I loved my parents' work friends, they were so interesting. Julia, or Miss Thorne as I was supposed to call her in front of my parents, came over often, but she never seemed to like being in Russia.
That was my first encounter with her. I loved the mystique about her, she had this something that she was hiding, she hid it from us all. I was a curious child growing up, so naturally, I wanted to know more about this woman, but it was like her mind was blocked. She came over on my twelfth birthday, but shocking to me my mother did not.
"Jilly, you remember Julia right?" My father asked as he gestured her into the family room.
"Yeah. How are you Miss Thorne?" I said remembering my manners because typically my mother would walk in right behind him.
"I'm very well. Thank you. Jillian, are you having a good birthday?" She responded almost too politely.
"Oh yes, Dad where's Mom?" I asked knowing that something was up.
"Well, your mother had to go on a business thing. I'm afraid even I don't know how long she will be gone." He said not giving anything away about their 'work.'
"How is it that you're one of the top employees at your business thing and not know when your WIFE is returning on business?" I shouted, angry that my own mother would dare to skip my birthday.
"Well, Jillian, I figure now is the best time to tell you what your mother and I do for a living. We work for a secret agency that is trying to find out about this prophecy. We recently found out that our friend Julia here was a key in discovering more about this prophecy. She will be staying with us for a while." He paused.
"That doesn't explain why Mom left."
"I understand that. If you would allow me to continue without you shouting, I could tell you what happened to your mother. Miss Thorne here is with child, and her boyfriend, who works for the CIA, is desperately searching for her. Your mother went to try to get him to forget about Julia, so that we can discover more about this prophecy. That is why I don't know how long it will take for your mother to come back."
"Dad, this is some kind of sick joke isn't it? Haha Mom! I figured it out, you can come out now." I shouted through the house.
"No Jilly, this isn't some kind of sick joke. It's serious, it's for real. You CANNOT tell a soul about what your father and mother do for a living. Jillian can you promise me that?"
I didn't respond, I was in too much of a shock.
"Jillian Rose Sark, you need to promise me that, otherwise we will be forced to move. To a new house and to a new country with new identities." He explained.
"Okay I promise." I said slowly, what else was there to say, 'No Dad, I'm going to tell all my friends what happened to my mother.' Oh that would be wonderful, I could move to another house in another country and become someone else. Great! What a lot a BS I've been dealt.
"Good, now that that's settled, Julia will be living in one of the spare bedrooms, Jill, you can address her as,"
"Julia's fine." She smiled.
"You will call her Julia and she is to be your aunt."
Four and One Half Years Later (California)
BEEP BEEP BEEP The incessant noise continued, how much I wanted to ignore the beeping I could not tell you, but then again, I am forced to play mommy to a four year old, while his mother is away.
"Will, Will," I cooed softly to the sleeping figure in a Los Angeles Kings bed. "Buddy, it's time to wake up, you've got a doctor's appointment."
"Jilly, I don't like the doctor, I don't wanna go!" The boy cried back, I knew he didn't want to go, I knew he was afraid, he knew he was fine, as did I, but it was my father's request and I must obey his wishes.
"I know Buddy, but we've got to go for your uncle." I explained in the best way that I could. "Maybe when he gets back, he'll take you to a Kings game." I added as an afterthought, Will will do anything if there's hockey as a reward.
"Okay, okay I'm up!" Will shouted, hopping out of bed and looking through his closet for a shirt to wear.
"Jilly, can we have Burger King for breakfast?" Will begged.
"Sure, but only if you hurry up and brush your teeth, Don't forget!" I responded, it's the least I can do, and after all it is my father's money. Five minutes later I was brushing my teeth with that same four year old yelling at me.
"Jilly hurry up! I want some Cinniminis before my stupid doctor's appointment!" Will said stamping his foot in the bathroom door.
"Okay, I'm ready, buddy your jersey's on backwards." I noticed reaching to help him fix it around.
"But Jilly, I wanna see Conroy's name. He's my favorite." Will tried to explain, but failed horribly as this made no sense whatsoever.
"Will, everyone will think you're super cool, for having his jersey if you're wearing his name on the back."I tried to explain.
"Fine, I'll switch it." Will muttered as a sign of defeat.
"Good boy, now let's get moving." I said.
"Carry me?" Will asked. I nodded a scooped him up and walked out of the apartment, a gift from my father and towards my Audi A4, another gift from my father.
"Okay buddy, what'll it be?" I asked upon arriving to the drive thru at Burger King.
"I want Cinniminis and potato thingies!" Will grinned.
"Okay, how 'bout some OJ too?" I offered knowing that this wasn't the healthiest of meals.
"Fine, but I hate oranges." Will pouted.
"Milk then?"
"Okay." I quickly ordered our food and pulled up to the next window and offered my credit card, yet another present from my father.
"Thank you and have a nice day." The lady working behind the drive thru said handing me our breakfast.
"You too," I responded out of habit.
"Yeah, have a nice day!" Will said grabbing the bag from me and looking for his Cinniminis.
"Will, you've got to eat quickly. We're five minutes from the doctor's office." I said accelerating through a green light.
"Okay, but why do I have to go again?" Will asked with a tone of poor, woeful me.
"Because your Uncle Julian is working on a project and I need to meet with a lady about this project, and besides you can do with a check up." I explained trying not to make it as complex as it was about to be.
"All right. When is Uncle Julian coming home? I wanna see the Kings play!" Will asked knowing that every time Uncle Julian was in town he got to go to an NHL game.
"I don't know, but if you behave, I'll take you to a Kings game." I promised, knowing that Will would now be on his best behavior.
"Okay I will. Who is the lady you're meeting? Is she nice?" Will asked.
"Yeah, she's really nice, her name is Sydney, but we're here now, so no more questions, 'kay?" I asked pulling beautifully into a parking space.
"Okay." Will said, unbuckling his seat belt and hopping out of the car.
"Let's go."
We entered the doctor's office, there were mothers wrestling sick children into chairs, babies crying and that awful scent of sanitized sick that can only be found in a doctor's office.
"Hi, we have an appointment for William Bristow." I said walking up to the desk. The nurse asked all of those repetitive questions regarding our address and then asked for his insurance card and I paid the co-pay.
"Thank you. Please have a seat on the left. Dr. Wilson will see you in a moment." She replied after copying his insurance card and signing the check.
"Thanks.: I smiled. "C'mon Will, we have to take a seat now." Will followed me and sat down to watch the remainder of the movie: Finding Nemo. I sat and looked at my watch: 8:37, my palms began to sweat: this was it. She should be leaving her appointment by no later than 8:45. I was nervous, why had my father trusted me in something as large of importance as this. He claimed he had to start me early, but what if I didn't want to follow in his footsteps. Why had my hand at life been dealt to be so difficult at such a young age. I'm only sixteen for goodness sakes. Oh, no. Here she comes.
"Julia Thorne?" I ask, like I had been rehearsing in front of the mirror for the past ten days. She turned, like my father knew she would.
"Um... my name is Sydney." She replied when I nodded at her.
"Oh, sorry. My name is Jillian Sark, my father's friend's name was Julia, you look so much like her." I responded getting up to shake her hand.
"You're father?" Her voice quivered.
"Yes, perhaps you know of him, his name is Julian Sark." I elaborated, knowing what would happen next.
"Surely you were sent here by him." She said ready to knock me out at the slightest mishap in my speech.
"Sort of. You see, this little fellow, Julia's son, Will," I pointed at Will, "needs to get a check up and my father said that his doctor is Dr. Wilson and that I should schedule an appointment as soon as possible."
"Oh" She began to walk out of the office.
"Actually, Miss Bristow, there is something else I need to speak with you about." I stopped her dead in her tracks. I ran to catch up to her.
"What?" This time I actually heard her stutter.
"My father has been working undercover and has been trying to take down Prophet-5. He was working with Renee and a Michael Vaughn. Gordon Dean was on to them and that's why he and his team planned to kill Vaughn. My father wants you to know that during some under cover work, his team has been able to learn that Mr. Arvin Sloane has been secretly working for Prophet-5 in return for his daughter's cure. You are a target, yes you probably know of this already, but in case you haven't, then this is news. My father wishes to meet with members of your team to discuss ways to end Prophet-5." I paused.
"Okay, I'll contact you sometime to give you a scheduled safe meeting place." She turned to leave.
"Wait one more thing: Vaughn is still alive."