Chapter Five
Julian awoke in the bed the next morning, feeling happier than he ever had in his life. Or at least, happier than he had been since he had been in high school. He rolled onto his side to watch Sydney sleeping when he realized that she wasn't there. He got out of bed and pulled on a pair of boxer shorts. He heard sounds coming from the kitchen and living room, so he walked through the hall to investigate, "Syd?" he said before rounding the corner. He froze when he saw Arvin Sloane in front of him.
"Mr Sark. So glad to see you on this fine morning."
Julian nodded and looked around the room to see where Sydney was. "Mr Sloane, can I ask you what you are doing here?"
"I know what you have done Mr Sark. You have been betraying me and mine since the beginning. I don't think that I can forget that. If you would please take a walk into the living room you can see what I will do if you don't come with me now," they walked into the living room, Sloane had a gun against his back, pushing him forward.
He saw three men in the room around the couch. Two men were preparing a needle with a blue liquid and one man held a gun to the cushions. He didn't know why until he saw Sydney lying on the cushions looking paler than he had ever seen her. "What have you done to her!" he screamed at Sloane.
"Just a sedative Mr Sark. But you see, that needle is filled with a mortal poison. If you don't cooperate with me, they will inject Miss Bristow with it, and you'll have to live knowing that you could prevent her death. So, if you would please follow me," he waved his hand towards the door.
"Can I just say goodbye?" he asked politely.
"She can't hear you Mr Sark. She's asleep," Sloane laughed.
"I know, but I need to do this."
He walked over to Sydney and grabbed her hand. She was fighting the drug. Her arms were moving slightly, nothing that would make them give her more, but it made him proud of her. Even when she was unable to fight, she still fought.
"Syd," he whispered. "If I never see you again, know that I love you and I will always love you. I never forgot you and I never will. I hope I will see you soon. Be brave and be strong for me." Julian bent forward and kissed her forehead and then he softly kissed her lips.
He turned towards Sloane and got up, walking to the front door. "If you hurt her, no matter what, I guarantee that I will kill you."
"Julian, I can see why you let her in. I saw her this morning, when they were taking her out of the room…" he glanced back into the house before shutting the door. "She is gorgeous. Such a toned body," Julian glared at him, "I guess that's what you get from sending her out on all those missions."
Julian turned around quickly and punched Sloane in the face. Soon, Julian was standing above Sloane holding his gun. He didn't know how he did it, there was just a period that was blank. He carefully opened the front door and saw his gun lying on the table beside the door. He grabbed it before slowly entering the living room. The men were talking about what they could do to her before they got the call from Sloane. This made his blood boil. If they touched his Sydney, he would kill them all. No mercy, was his final thought before running into the room.
He took out the man with the gun first. He was lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his head within fifteen seconds of seeing Julian in the doorway. The second was the man preparing Sydney's needle. He was down in another fifteen seconds. The man with the needle was down last. He had pushed it under Sydney's skin in her arm just when Julian shot him. As he dropped to the ground a trail of blood from where the needle had just been. Julian ran over to Sydney and saw that her eyes were flickering open. "Syd," he asked quickly.
She mumbled something in response. "Syd, can you hear me?"
Her head moved in a motion that he could consider a nod, "Come on, we've got to go," he said as he lifted her in his arms. They went to the door and he was comforted when he saw Sloane lying on the ground with blood seeping from a hole in his forehead. "Sloane's dead" he whispered to her before opening the car door and placing her in the passenger seat.
He heard an indistinctive moan from Sydney and smiled as he got in the driver's seat. They drove to the hospital with no sound except for the occasional moan from Sydney. Julian smiled when they reached the hospital. He picked up Sydney and they headed into the emergency room. The doctors immediately attended to her and got her a private room where she could be treated.
The next morning Jack Bristow was walking into Sydney's hospital room when he heard Sydney talking to someone. He had received an anonymous call from someone telling him that Sydney was in the hospital and was going to be okay, but he should come and see her for himself.
"Hey," he heard Sydney's voice say.
"You're awake," he heard a man's voice.
"Yeah, and you're still here."
"I wouldn't leave you Syd."
"I know," she whispered.
"I love you," he whispered before kissing her hand.
"I love you too," there was a moment's pause between the two, but before Jack could enter the room Sydney continued, "What do you want to do when we get out of here?" she asked.
"I want to be with you Syd. I have since I first saw you. I've been in love with you for more than ten years."
Jack took this as his opportunity to enter the room, "Sydney, are you alright?" he asked concerned.
"Hi dad, what are you doing here?" Sydney asked. She let go of Julian's hand.
"I got an anonymous call telling me you were here. Are you alright?" he turned to his right and saw Julian now standing, "What is Mr Sark doing here?"
"Dad, you remember him right? Julian Lazarey? He was my boyfriend in high school and some of university…"
"Sydney he's a terrorist!" he yelled. Sydney shook her head.
"Sir, there is an explanation," Julian spoke up, "I'm MI-6. I've been undercover for more than eight almost nine years. I've been working with them as a double agent with for the man. Recently, as you know, I've been working with SD-6 as a sort of… triple agent."
"Sydney, you don't believe him do you?"
"Dad, I've known the entire time. He told me a couple of months after he was hired."
"So you do. You're being a fool Sydney. This man is a terrorist!"
"Dad, I love him!" Sydney screamed, "I love him and I will do what I have to do so I can be with him right now. I don't want you to try and protect me anymore. I'm an adult, I have been for many years now and I can make my own decisions."
"Mr Bristow. I know that many years ago we had dinner and I told you that I loved your daughter. I never stopped loving her. I will do anything to be with her and I would give my life to protect her."
"You almost did last night," she whispered as she reached out for his hand. "Thank you for saving my life again Julian."
"It was nothing," he said as he looked into her eyes.
"It was everything," she whispered. They had forgotten about her father being in the room until he cleared his throat.
"What precautions are you going to take so you can be together," Jack asked.
Sydney turned to look at Julian, "I don't know. What are we going to do?" she asked him.
He turned to Jack for a moment "Could we please just have one moment alone?" he asked him.
He nodded, "Sure," and left the room.
"Julian what are we going to do?"
"I don't know. Your mother is in CIA custody, so I guess I can leave that behind now. I can leave the intelligence world behind. I want to be with you Sydney. I want to wake up with you every morning, and I want you to be the last person I see every night. I love you and want to be with you for the rest of my life. I will do anything I can do to make you happy."
"I want to be with you too, so much Julian."
"Do you still want to work for the CIA?" he asked.
"Maybe, I don't know yet. I want to get back soon and see what is going on. I still have to be debriefed. I might teach. I got my degree right before I ran into you."
"I'm happy you did that! I didn't know, you didn't tell me."
"What would you do?" she asked.
"I don't know. But we could figure that out later. First, I want you to get better and then I want to go with you to your house, through the front door and stay there. We won't be in danger any more. I can see Francie and Will again. They're dating now right?"
"And mating like puppies," she giggled.
He chuckled, "Well let's get your father back in here and get you strong again. Then, we can start our new life together."
"I have wanted a life with you for as long as I can remember."
---------------------------------------------------
They stood in front of the door holding hands, Julian was carrying the bags in his other hand and Sydney opened the door. "Francie?" she called from the door, "Are you and Will here?" she cried.
"In here!" she heard Francie call from the kitchen.
The pulled Julian in the apartment and he put the bags down by the door. "Your trip took a little longer than expected, I see. You were supposed to be back four days ago."
"I know, but I ran into someone and then got food poisoning so I ended up in the hospital."
Francie rounded the corner, "Oh my god are you alright?" she said before seeing Julian, "Is that?" she asked disbelievingly.
Sydney smiled, "You remember Julian, right?" she asked.
"Of course… but Syd… you remember what happened right?"
"I know, but there were reasons behind that… and now we're ready to start something new."
"Wow, I'm so happy for you!" she hugged Julian tightly. He smiled and then laughed at his discomfort.
Will entered the room, "Syd, what's Julian doing here?" he asked when he saw him.
"Um… well… Julian's moving in," she said slowly.
"What do you think you're doing? Don't you remember him? He broke your heart Syd." Will said.
"Will, please. It's all been worked out. We've spent so many years apart, but we love each other more than ever. Please accept this Will," Sydney pleaded.
Will nodded shortly and hugged Sydney. He then embraced Julian and whispered a threat to him which Julian did not take seriously, but respected nonetheless.
"Wow, Syd that's perfect!" Francie exclaimed. "Will and I were just talking about getting our own place the other day. We have been bothering you lately, I can tell."
"I love you guys, but I don't know how much more of that I can take," Sydney laughed.
Francie and Will blushed and laughed, "Well, I guess this would be the perfect time to start looking for another place."
"Well, actually, if you guys are thinking about moving in together, then I think you should stay here. I kind of think it would be a good idea for Julian and me to find a new place. Maybe a bit bigger than this," she said discreetly.
"Are you pregnant!" Francie screamed.
Sydney blushed, "No, no I'm not. But who knows, someday we might start a family. But Julian and I are planning a life together and I just think it might be time to move some place bigger."
"I think that's a great idea," Julian said by her side. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her softly, "I would love to get a bigger place with you Sydney Bristow."
---------------------------------------------------
18 months later
Sydney sat outside on a hammock watching the waves in the distance. She put down her book as she heard footsteps from behind her. "How's my little princess doing?" she heard him say.
"Which one?" she asked with a smile on her face. He laughed and sat next to her and reached over to the table, grabbing a bottle of sun-tan lotion. He squeezed out a small amount and began to rub it on her exposed swollen belly. He looked down at her feet and noticed a small toe ring on her baby toe. She noticed his perception, "I don't know why I bothered with that. I can't see my feet, so why did I even bother putting on a toe ring?"
"I think it's cute," he said smiling.
"You think it's cute? How cute?" she asked.
"Nowhere near as cute as you. You and Elizabeth-" at the name, Sydney grimaced, "Ok, so not Elizabeth… are the cutest things I have ever known."
Sydney smiled, "What about Evangeline?" she asked.
Julian smiled at her, "I like that name," he said.
"Evangeline Rose Lazarey," she said.
"My mother's middle name?" he questioned.
"Would that be alright with you?"
He smiled at her and then kissed her sweetly, "That would be wonderful!" he exclaimed.
"Well, Mr Lazarey, we have had a perfect time lately haven't we?"
"I would say so, Mrs Lazarey."
She laughed. He only called her Mrs Lazarey when he was completely and utterly happy. "Nothing can ever take this away from us you know. Everything that could have ruined this is gone."
He laid down beside her and they watched a young family playing in the waves below them until they heard a shrill baby's cry from behind them, "Sorry, she just woke up," Francie said.
"Hey! We weren't expecting you for another hour," Sydney exclaimed.
Sydney tried to get up from the hammock but was unable due to her size. "Take your time Syd, I know what you're going through," Francie said.
Julian walked around to help Sydney up and Sydney clung onto him gratefully, "What would I ever do without you," she whispered into his ear.
They walked into the house and Will came in a few minutes later with a large box in his arms. "Hey Syd," he paused when he saw her, "Wow, you're huge."
Sydney frowned, "Yeah, I am."
"Well, that's a good thing. You look radiant! When are you due, again?" he asked, trying to cover up his little mistake.
Sydney laughed when Will began to blush furiously, "Two weeks, so any day now really."
"Are you excited?" he asked Julian.
"I'm nervous. I've never really been around children before. Well… I mean, before your little Annabelle."
At the sound of her name the cries instantly stopped, "It's amazing Julian, your voice makes her stop crying. I think she has a crush on you," Francie stated.
"It's the British accent. It's so dull that it makes you go to sleep."
Sydney came up behind him, "I think it's sexy," she said quietly before kissing him softly.
"Well, we just thought you guys would want to see Anna on her first month birthday!"
"We did, we definitely did," Sydney answered.
They sat at the dining room table and toasted their champagne (ginger ale for Sydney) and proceeded to talk about the babies.
Sydney had been cooking and cleaning all morning before taking a break on the hammock, and Julian had been a little concerned about her. She had been feeling so tired recently until that morning, when she woke up with so much energy.
Sydney stood to get some more drinks and went into the kitchen. They were having fun in the dining room until they heard a crash of glass on the tile floor. Julian ran into the room to see Sydney leaning against the wall holding her belly. She looked at him and smiled, "It's time," she whispered before they quickly grabbed her things from the house and headed to the hospital.
--------------------------------------------------------
29 hours later Sydney and Julian held their daughter Evangeline Rose Lazarey in their arms. She was a healthy girl with ten fingers and ten toes.
"I love you," Julian whispered to Sydney once their daughter had fallen asleep in her arms.
"I love you too," Sydney replied.
Life was perfect, and nothing could ever take it away.