One Year Later
Sydney Bristow just wanted the crying to stop. She didn't think it was too much to ask. She was a good mother. She did everything she knew how to do. She didn't have anyone to help her. All she wanted to do was stop the crying.
She watched the liquid slosh around in the small glass. She spun it around mesmerized. She had lost count of how many drinks she had poured and drank through out the night. She knew for sure that after one more drink she wouldn't be able to hear the crying anymore.
The front door creaked open. She threw back the drink quickly. It burned as it traveled down her throat. She didn't care. She poured herself another one and waited.
Eric Weiss stood beside the table. She could feel his presence. It annoyed her to no end. She didn't need a babysitter.
"What?" She asked sarcastically. "Not what you expected?"
"Actually, it's exactly what I expected." He replied walking over to the table. This had become a very common sight for him since the baby had been born.
"I just needed to stop it." She stated calmly staring at her drink again.
"Needed what to stop?" He asked her confused. He was scared for her. She wouldn't survive like this for much longer.
"The crying." She replied trembling as tears started to fall from her own cheeks.
"I don't understand, Sydney."
She just shook her head letting the tears fall.
"I miss him too. I know that it's hard I know but you have to try and be strong. You have to be strong for your daughter."
She shook her head again. "Be quiet, you'll wake her. She'll start crying again. She wants her dad. I have to find him for her."
Weiss' eyes filled with tears as he watched the broken woman in front of him take another drink from her endless glass of vodka. He sat down at the small kitchen table. He pushed the bottle away when she reached for another drink. He grabbed her small hands in his.
"Sydney, you know the baby isn't here right? She hasn't been here for months."
Sydney jumped up from the table pushing it over violently.
"Where the hell is she then? Did you take her from me?"
"Sydney, your dad is taking care of her. Do you remember when he took her away? He took her away because you were doing this to yourself." He pointed to the smashed bottle of vodka forming a puddle on the wood floor. "If you stop, he'll bring her back, you can have your baby again."
"I don't want her. She cries too much." Sydney slurred crouching down picking up the pieces of the broken bottle. She sliced her finger on the jagged glass. She didn't even feel it.
"Do you think this is what he would want you to do? It's been a year Sydney. I know that you have faith that he's going to walk through that door and it will be like nothing happened but that's now what's going to happen."
"I'm not an idiot."
"Do you think he's still alive?" Weiss asked carefully. He knew she didn't like to talk about it. It's also like he needed her confidence because he had lost his.
"Of course I do, asshole." The words stung Weiss more than she imagined.
"I want to help you, if you'll let me."
"I don't need your help, Eric. I can handle this on my own."
"Handle what, Sydney? What are you going to do?"
"This is all my fault. I didn't think it would happen this way." Sydney slipped into what seemed like a trance. It happened a lot. She would just mumble the same phrases over and over.
Weiss knew nothing helped once she slipped into the comatose state. He just sat there until she seemed to slip into reality.
"Please tell me what you're talking about. I want to help. I need to help."
"I don't think you fucking understand. You can't help me. It's all my fault. I need to fix it myself."
"Then help me understand!" He grabbed her small form shaking her. When he stopped she fell into a pile onto the floor. She sobbed, he sat down gathering her into his arms. "I'm sorry, I just I can't lose you too Sydney, I just can't."
"Please leave."
"Sydney, don't push me away."
"Leave."
"Please, don't."
"LEAVE!"
Weiss stood letting her lay on the floor. He pulled the door open. He was scared again. She wasn't the same woman he knew. She was his only friend and she was keeping secrets from him, secrets that may have cost Michael Vaughn his life.
"If you're talking to my father, tell him I want my daughter back." She yelled as he walked out the door. He looked back once more to see her rummaging through the small cabinet. He wiped a tear from his cheek and slammed the door behind him.
-
Jack Bristow would have never called himself a father. He missed that chance when his own daughter needed him. He had handed her off to a professional. He couldn't deal with a child when he was meant to.
Although he wouldn't consider himself a father he was turning out to be a pretty good grandfather, at least he thought so.
He placed the baby girl in her crib. She wiggled around and he watched as she slowly slipped into a comfortable sleep. He smiled wide at her. She had that effect on him. Ever since she had come into his life, he was always smiling. The circumstances that he had his beautiful grandchild with him all the time were not very good.
His daughter was an alcoholic. He found it hard to admit. He blamed himself. He hadn't been a good father but he swore he wouldn't let his granddaughter be hurt.
Michael Vaughn had been missing one year, one year to the day. He almost brought her over to see Sydney today. She was probably drunk. There was in fact no doubt in his mind that she was drunk.
Sydney found out soon after Vaughn's disappearance that she was pregnant. She took it well, as well as could be expected. She took care of herself. She was sure that Vaughn would turn up.
After the birth of her child and no sightings or leads on Vaughn she seemed to slowly give up. Although Sydney had seemed like she was going to be a fabulous mother the façade soon ended.
Sydney had only been home with the baby for a few weeks. Jack had decided to drop by, just for a visit. The first thing he heard when he opened the car door was a baby wailing. He frantically rushed to the front door yanking it open.
Sydney sat at the table staring at a small glass of vodka. She was mumbling to herself. He didn't even care what she was saying.
"Sydney?" He asked. "The baby's crying."
She nodded her head slowly. "I know, I don't know how to get her to stop. I thought I would try this." She stopped for a minute looking up at him. "It's working."
He looked at her dumbfounded. She just stared back expressionless. He ran into the small nursery and pulled the crying baby from her crib.
"Sydney?" he asked when he came back out into the kitchen.
"It was all my fault, you know?" She asked him.
"What was your fault?" He asked gathering everything he needed throwing it into a bag he found hanging on the door.
"Vaughn being taken. It was my fault."
"Sydney, you couldn't have done anything to stop that. They almost killed you that night." He shifted the baby in his arms.
"That's not what I mean."
"Sydney, you can't act like this. You have a daughter you need to take care of."
"I have a daughter who needs her father and I'm going to find him for her."
Jack shook his head. Sydney poured herself another drink.
"Sydney, you can't do this to yourself. Please don't do this to yourself." He sat down at the table. The baby girl in his arms stared wide eyed at her mother. She slowly calmed down falling asleep in his arms. "Don't give up."
Sydney didn't even look up from her drink.
"I'm taking her, I'll be back tomorrow. We'll talk then."
-
Jack Bristow did go back to his daughter's apartment. He went back every night for a few weeks. Almost every night was the same thing. She was either fixed on the computer screen searching or she was sitting in the exact same place at her kitchen table drinking. The sight made him sick. He tried to talk to her. He tried to talk even a little bit of sense into her but it wasn't working. After all of his failed attempts he tried to get her to talk to somebody. She refused him again. He couldn't force her to get help. Soon she refused to let him into her apartment. She didn't even want to see her daughter. She was just a reminder of what she had done. Jack still didn't know what his daughter had done. He was going to find out and he was going to save his daughter.
-
Sydney grasped the toilet bowl heaving hard. She wiped her mouth with the small face cloth and splashed her face with cold water. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. She didn't even seem like the same woman. She had huge black circles under her eyes. Her cheeks were sullen and she was sickly pale. She saw this in herself, she wasn't living in some crazy delusion but she didn't care.
She pulled the chair out from the desk and sat down turning on the laptop. She sighed as the computer sprang to life. The bright screen burned her eyes. She sifted through her e-mails. She hadn't gotten any leads on Vaughn in so long. She wouldn't give up hope. She knew she could find him. How couldn't she find him?
That's when she saw the e-mail. A smile grew on her face. It cracked her features. She hadn't smiled in months. She clicked the e-mail hoping it would open instantly. She sat holding her breath.
The e-mail was from an untraceable server but she knew it was him. The e-mail was simple.
This grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Hey, we have a drink named after you!" And the grasshopper says…
"You have a drink named Doug?" she said and smiled.
Well, I was going to use Phil.
And that was it, a simple joke. A corny joke, a terrible joke but Sydney laughed out loud. The name Phil was a link. She clicked on it and waited.
The window loaded slowly. Sydney knew what it was. It was a traffic cam. The picture was terrible, grainy and black and white. She didn't understand why but she stared at the screen. She stared for a few minutes. The cursor floated the exit button when she saw him. His hair was longer, he was wearing glasses and a hat but she knew without even a second thought. He was staring right at her. There wasn't a doubt in her mind. That man on the screen was Michael Vaughn and she was going to find him.