A/N: I think I am going to have to put a spoiler warning on this story. Mostly cause I'm using some stuff that happens in season four in this story now and I don't want to spoil anyone without warning them first. So yeah, there be spoilers in my story now. You have been warned.

"Vaughn, I'm waiting." Sydney said as he continued to stay silent.

"I know," Vaughn answered, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm just trying to figure out how to word this."

"Well think faster," She answered impatiently.

He dared to laugh and she smiled reluctantly. "Alright okay, this isn't going to come out right at all and you're going to have to wait until I explain everything before you judge okay?"

Sydney nodded.

Vaughn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Part, well… a really big part of why I was working with your mother behind your back was because the Covenant wanted you as an agent, as assassin more specially."

She stared at him for a long time. "W-what!" She wasn't even sure what the hell the Covenant was but by the sound of things, it was another terrorist group. Just what she needed. "You told me it was because of your sister."

"It was a part," He answered slowly, clearly doing some very fast thinking.

"So you lied?" She asked accusingly.

"No," He responded immediately. "I just didn't tell you the whole truth."

"That's lying, Vaughn," She snapped.

"I'm aware of that." He answered carefully, suppressing the need to add 'now' to the end of his sentence. That wouldn't help him any.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. He didn't tell her that she was sought after by a terrorist group to become an assassin. What the hell was wrong with him? "Why? Why me?"

"You were a great agent Syd," He said softly. "The CIA wasn't the only one who realized that."

Well, he had a point about that. And she'd quit right after marrying him. Ironic, no? "You knew that they were trying to recruit me." It was more of a statement than a question but he wasn't sure which one she wanted it to be.

"Yes," He said, deciding to determine it be a question and just go with it.

"And you didn't tell me!" She cried.

"I didn't think it was important." As soon as the sentence was out of his mouth, he realized how badly it had sounded.

"Wasn't important?" She shrieked. What was going on in his head for him to think that wasn't important? "Are you that naïve or just plain stupid?"

"Syd-" He started.

She interrupted him. "You said that there was more to the story and I shouldn't judge until you explain. So explain." The look in her eyes left no room for question.

-break-

"Vaughn," Sydney mumbled sleepily. The ringing of his cursed cell phone had woken her up for the thousandth time. She wanted to smash it. She really and truly did. Didn't the CIA realize that she needed her sleep because she was pregnant and that calling Vaughn in the middle of the night wasn't going to let that happen? "Turn it off."

"I will, after I take this call." Vaughn answered, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead, brushing some hair from her eyes in the process.

"You're impossible," She murmured.

"I know. This'll just take a sec." He said, getting out of the bed and walking out to the living room before turning the phone on. "I told you not to call on this phone." He said before the other person could get a word out. "They track the calls."

"Not this one," came the reply from a melodic yet hardened voice.

"Oh," He asked, not believing them. "And you're sure of this?"

"Yes," The voice answered harshly.

"Why are you calling anyway? Why not wait for the usual meet?" Their contacts where scheduled to meet in two days, and swap information. Why couldn't whatever she had to talk about wait until then?

"Because this is a little more important," The voice answered, her tone back to being melodious again.

"What?" He asked warily.

"The Covenant has decided that it's not longer worth their trouble to have Sydney as an assassin. She's good but not that good."

He was a silent for a long time. Was she lying to him? That wasn't something he would put past her but then again, Sydney was her daughter. She wouldn't lie about something like that. Hopefully. But then again, this was the same woman who had shot her daughter in the shoulder.

"Agent Vaughn? Did you hear me?" Irina asked, tired of the silence.

"Yeah," Vaughn answered, licking his lips. "Is that all you called for?"

"No," She answered after a moment's hesitation.

A frown touched his brow, "What then?"

The line was silent for a solid sixty seconds before Irina replied with, "I have received intel that they have shifted their attentions to you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked though he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what that meant.

Irina hesitated more. She obviously didn't like having to tell him this. "There is a contract on your life Agent Vaughn," She told him with a forced even voice. "And if the assassin they have hired finds Sydney within the vicinity of you; they have the orders to carry out the contract on her life as well."

This proved to silence Vaughn. So because he tried to keep his wife and child safe from the Covenant, they were going to kill him and most likely Sydney as well. Those sons of bitches. God, how was he going to explain this to Sydney? She was going to hate him, he knew her that well. He couldn't say to her that if an assassin showed up on their doorstep in the middle of the night that he knew about it and just neglected to tell her about it.

"I have an offer for you." Irina said breaking him out of his thoughts.

"What would that be?" Vaughn asked. Even he thought he sounded far too calm.

"You leave L.A. and Sydney, and I can guarantee that nothing will happen to her or your child."

-break-

Sydney stared at him long after he'd finished explaining it to her. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that a terrorist group had wanted her for an assassin but for him to add this on top of it? She was going to be suffering a mental overload before she knew it.

At last, she licked her lips and swallowed hard. "They put a contract on your life?" She asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Yes," Vaughn answered evenly with a small nod.

She was going to ask him about the contract on her life, but he'd already told her about that. A fact that had only came back to mind when he told her again.

"Why didn't you tell me and the CIA?" She demanded. "They could have put us in a witness protection."

"Would you have wanted to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder?" He pointed out.

"If it meant that I had you and Cory, yes!" She shot back.

He licked his lips and took a breath before answering. "Are you saying that because you truly care for me or because you want to change the past?"

Her eyes narrowed. How dare he even suggest such a thing? She was on the Goddamn plane with him, wasn't she? "Don't change the subject," She hissed. "You made a shitty choice!"

"I made a mistake, Sydney," He countered, "several of them. And I'm sorry about that. I regret it every f-cking day."

Sydney stared at him with cold eyes. She had no doubt that he regretted his decisions and somewhere deep down, she wanted to forgive him for that but she was embittered by his actions and she knew it.

"Syd?" Vaughn asked softly, breaking the silence.

"I can't do it Vaughn," She whispered. "I just can't do it. You kept something from me, something I had every right to know about. Why'd you do it? Why couldn't you just tell me?" She was near tears now and he saw that.

He got up from his chair and closed the small distance between them, hugging her tightly and giving her the desperately needed shoulder to cry on. "I should've told you. I know that. But I wanted to protect you. I didn't want you to worry, and lay awake at night. I love you too much to put you through that."

She nodded, silent tears falling down her cheeks. She wanted to tell him that she'd lain awake countless nights after he'd disappeared wondering what the hell had happened to him. Without really meaning to, she wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight grip. God, she'd missed being in his arms. She'd spent a great many nights awake just missing his embrace too. Being in his arms again made her come to the very simple conclusion that forgiveness wasn't what she was lacking. It was trust.

"I know," She whispered. "I know you do."

"But?" He prompted.

"You still kept something from me," She sighed, taking a deep breath. "And…I can…forgive you for that…" She whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear. "But I cannot trust you."

Just the fact that she said she forgave him when she really didn't have to made him disregard the trust thing. They could rebuild the trust that had been lost between them. All that really mattered to him was her forgiveness.

"I don't expect you to," He told her. And that was the truth. She was starting to sound more like the Sydney he remembered and that was a very good thing. "You're sounding more like the old Sydney."

"I wasn't aware I'd changed," She replied sardonically.

A soft smile appeared at the corners of his mouth and he explained to her exactly how much she'd changed. "That doesn't sound much like you," He finished.

She nodded and reluctantly pulled herself out of his arms. "Well," She sighed. "I'm tired of fighting. I just want to throw up my hands and say 'come what may'."

He stared at her, her admission shocking him into a silence. That was definitely not the Sydney he knew. "You can't give up." He told her softly.

"Can't I?" She responded. "I know this is stupid. I know it makes me weak. I know I should slap you and leave…" She trailed off, her eyes filling with tears again. Slowly she took in a deep breath and continued on a new subject, "I don't want to have to fight normality anymore. A normal person would walk away from you… but… I don't want to do that."

He didn't want to misinterpret her words though, if he was hearing her correctly that would mean…

"Syd?" He asked quietly, fighting to keep a hold on his emotions. "What are you saying?"

"We don't have to go back to L.A.," She told him avoiding the question. "If you want to live in Sweden because of your sister…" She paused, licking her lips. "Then Cory and I will be right there with you."

"Syd-" Vaughn started to protest.

Sydney interrupted him, her brown eyes flashing with determination. "You won't change my mind," She told him fiercely, "I just want you to answer one question; why didn't you leave a goodbye?"

-break-

A silent sigh escaped Vaughn as he tried to force himself for the thousandth time to get up out of the chair, grab his suitcase and walk out of that door.

Easer said than done.

She was almost six months pregnant now and glowing more with every passing day. Being a mother suited her. He could tell. She would be a perfect mother. Well, she was going to have to seeing as she was going to have to act as both mother and father.

God, if there was any other way; he'd do it in an instant. But the more he thought about it, the more Irina's plan made sense to him and it turned from being a difficult choice to the only choice tripling in difficulty. It still seemed surreal to him that because he had tried to save his wife from the Covenant's grasp that now they were all being punished in a completely different way.

With another sigh and a great deal of effort, he stood up from the chair he'd moved to the edge of their bed so he could watch her sleep. Just standing up made him start to rethink everything all over again.

No! You have to do this! For Sydney and your child!

He brought up his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, trying to silence the doubts in him. This had to happen. If Sydney and their child were ever going to have a future, this had to happen. He knew that but that didn't mean he had to like it.

After licking his lips nervously, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, brushing some of her hair off of her forehead in the process. "I love you Syd," He whispered against her skin before lifting his hand to touch her protruding stomach gingerly, "And this one too…" He added. She didn't stir in her sleep and in the back of his mind, he thanked her for that. For her to wake up would only make this harder.

With one final heavy sigh, he moved the chair back to its original position next to the wall, grabbed his suitcase from where he put it by the door and with a final glance at Sydney's sleeping body, he walked out of her life, not knowing when he'd be able to see her again.

-break-

"It had to look like you have been abandoned," Vaughn explained. "I trust your acting skills but…"

"Irina didn't want to leave anything to chance," Sydney filled in for him.

He nodded. "I sent you an email."

Her eyes narrowed in confusion, "What?"

"Three months after I left," He informed her, "after Cory was born. I sent you an email disguised as junk mail."

"I delete junk mail without looking at it," She admitted softly. Noah had tried to do the same thing years ago and she had deleted that as well. You'd think she would have learned from that mistake.

"I figured," He told her.

"How's that?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Because I told you about the Covenant and all that that entails in the email," He replied in an even tone.

"Oh," She murmured looking down at their feet. She was going to check every junk mail that came across her inbox from now on.

A silence fell between them as she struggled to sort everything he had told her in the last half hour. She hadn't been lying when she said that she just wanted to give up the struggle she'd had going with normality. She hadn't been lying when she said that she forgave him. She hadn't been lying when she said that she'd live in Sweden with him if that's what he wanted. That much she knew. Now it was just processing everything and tucking it away for her memory.

"Tell me about your sister," She requested suddenly surprising him.

He quickly recovered and asked as calmly as he could, "What do you want to know?"

"Anything you can or want to tell me." She answered.

"Well…" He started, deciding on where to start. "She's three years older than me. It was before my dad met my maman-"

"Does she know?" She interrupted. "Claire I mean, that you have a sister?"

He shook his head, "No… she doesn't. My dad never told her and it's not my place to do so." A slight frown line appeared between her brows and he added, "Lexy asked that she'd be the one to tell Claire."

"Is Lexy short for Alexandria?" She asked, assuming that this Lexy (Alexandria) was Vaughn's sister. She was right for he nodded. "That's a pretty name."

"It fits the woman," He replied. "She looks like you."

This surprised her. She was sure that nothing else could have surprised her anymore. Well, she stood corrected. "She does?"

"Well, sort of," He corrected. "She has the same hair color as you, you're both the same height, the same high cheekbones and pointed chin, but that's where the similarities stop now that I think about it. Her skin's not as fair, and her eyes are grey instead of brown."

"You're going into very great detail," She teased.

"I'm just reciting what she told me to tell you," He defended.

Again, she was surprised when she thought that nothing else could have surprised her. "She told you to say all that? Why?"

"She figured that if you ever let me within speaking distance of you again, that you'd want to know about her. She didn't want me to 'mess up her image'." He explained.

Sydney laughed. "She sounds like a real character."

"She is," Vaughn admitted, "but you'll like her."

-break-

"What are you going to do first?"

Vaughn blinked and turned his gaze to his sister, her question finally registering on him. "What do you mean –first?"

"The Covenant's been dismantled for a couple weeks now," Lexy explained. "I would have thought that you would have rushed back to L.A. and your family."

He sighed and fidgeted in his chair. They were eating lunch at an outdoor café in Stockholm where Lexy lived for years now. It had been her idea. She said that she wouldn't see her little brother for a long time and she wanted to make the most of time he was there. "It's more complicated than that."

"Don't get vague with me, Michael," She ordered. "You've told me everything and in case you have forgotten, I have been there for a lot of your problems. She'll forgive you."

He snorted. "You don't know Sydney if you think that."

She gave him a stern look. "Hiding out here in Stockholm isn't going to solve any of your problems."

"But it'll delay them for a while," He muttered.

"Michael," She sighed. "You're my brother and because of that, I love you but you are acting like a scared little child right now!"

A smile crossed his face despite the seriousness of the conversation. "I suppose I am," He admitted.

"Of course you are," She agreed. "Go to L.A. and Sydney and Cory."

"Easier said than done," He murmured.

"Says the man who won't go back home and face the woman he left and their child."

"You're too willful for your own good, Lex." He teased.

"I know I am," She answered. "Now go to L.A."

"Just like that?"

"You've spent the past six years moving around at a moment's notice, this can't be too much of a stretch for you," She told him wryly.

Vaughn chuckled, "You'd be surprised."

"I'm sure I would be," Lexy replied. "Now go to her."

-break-

"Mommy… my head hurts," Cory murmured from the backseat of the car. Again, once they had landed, Vaughn had called a mysterious contact and ten minutes later they had a car to use for their full disposal.

Sydney bit her lip, throwing a sideways glance towards Vaughn as she turned around in her seat to look at her daughter, "You think you can make it for another five minutes?" She asked softly.

Cory nodded, closing her eyes against the glare of the streetlights. "It really hurts."

Sydney's heart –and Vaughn's- broke with that little sentence. "I know, sweetie. We're almost there." She threw a look towards Vaughn asking for him to back her up.

"Did Mommy ever tell you that you have an Aunt Lexy?" Vaughn asked.

Sydney stared at him. And this was going to help with Cory's headache how?

"No…" Cory answered meekly.

"Well, you do have an Aunt Lexy. My sister," Vaughn explained. "We're going to see her."

This perked Cory up a little. "We are?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yep, and she can't wait to meet you."

"Really?" Cory inquired, sounding curious rather than in pain now.

Vaughn nodded again. "She can get rid of headaches in an instant, you know." He told her.

"How can she do that?"

"If I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret anymore," He answered.

"But I wanna know!" Cory whined.

"We'll just have to wait to see if Aunt Lexy wants to trust you with her secret," He replied, diplomatically.

Cory pouted. She even went so far as to open her eyes and give her father the puppy dog pout in the rearview mirror but he still refused to tell her. His ability to distract Cory from her headache made Sydney smile. Fatherhood suited him, she concluded.

True to Sydney's prediction, Vaughn stopped the car in front of a townhouse little more than three minutes later. Vaughn handled their luggage while Sydney carried Cory because once the car had stopped; her daughter's headache had grown worse. Sydney couldn't help but wonder if the headache was connected to the bite on her child's arm and made the mental note to get a medically trained person to take a look at it sometime very soon.

Vaughn glanced to Sydney as he rung the doorbell. Their eyes met and he looked just as worried about Cory as she felt. At least she wasn't alone in that.

"Just a second, I'm coming!" called a woman from inside. And two seconds later, the woman, brunette and tall like Sydney, opened the door. She stared at them confused for a split second before the confusion disappeared, replaced by a wry smile.

"Well, I'll be damned."

Next chapter: Sisters and zoos