FAMILY MATTERS

Eyghon

Chapter 17: Home sweet home

Neither Nadia nor Sydney spoke a word on the plane ride back to Los Angeles. Nadia had so many issues to deal with that her sister couldn't tell what was on her mind at the moment.

Sydney too had a lot on her mind. First, she had to figure out a way to explain her sister's miraculous recovery without involving her mother. Then there was the issue she and Irina had discussed before separating. Doctor Jain. The oh-so-nice Indian doctor who had treated Sydney for a bite on the neck was the one. He was the culprit who had raped Nadia while she was unconscious. The saying 'don't trust what you see' wouldn't leave her head ever since she'd seen his face on the tape, while he was moving back and forth between Nadia's legs..

Sydney promised her mother she would let Nadia have a piece of the guy, so she could get 'closure'. She knew her mother wanted her pound of flesh as well, and so did she. Getting their hands on the 'good doctor' would be a piece of cake, but she needed to talk Nadia before anything else. The question was, 'how'?

Eric had returned to LA several days before. He wanted to stay for the administration of the cure but Sydney insisted he should go back to work or risk Chase's wrath. Eric had accepted, after all, Nadia was safe and he really hated family vacations. Irina and Katya tended to make him creepy.

Two agents were waiting by Sydney's car when Nadia and she made their way out of Terminal 4. They strongly encouraged her to come to APO and meet Director Chase before going anywhere else.

So here she was, with Nadia, walking toward her office, escorted by two agents. Everybody was looking at them. First, because they heard their director was in trouble, but mainly because they all knew of Nadia's condition, and now were seeing her move freely through the office like nothing happened.

"Director Chase," greeted Sydney seeing the woman sitting in her chair behind her desk. Sydney spotted a flicker of surprise on Chase's face but her boss quickly recovered.

"Director Bristow. Agent Santos."

"Director," simply replied Nadia, looking from her sister in confusion after hearing her new title.

"I think you have some explaining to do, Director Bristow," started Chase, barely hiding her fury. "Your sister being in the condition she is can only mean you went behind my back."

"Yes, I did."

Chase was surprised at her confession and moved in for the kill. "This is unacceptable behaviour, and as acting supervisor of the APO branch, I hereby demote you…"

"Director Chase, before you get any ideas, I'd like to remind you that, as Director of this division, I am entitled to a certain level of privacy. I got a lead and pursued it, expecting it to be a dead end like the others and unworthy of bothering you with it. However, this time, I succeeded, so here's my report." She handed Chase a red floppy drive containing a few pages she had typed on her laptop on the plane. It explained how she got an anonymous tip about Doctor Frankel's work, found his files and had a chemist she knew from her days at SD-6 concoct an antidote for Nadia.

She made no mention of her mother, aunt, or of Doctor Varnina. Irina had released the woman and her daughter with enough money to allow her to retire and send her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to any Ivy League college in the country. She would not talk.

"Well, I'll have to have this verified. In the meantime, consider yourself on paid administrative leave. You may go."

"Gladly." Sydney smiled briefly, a twinkle in her eyes but didn't overdo it. Chase would be capable of putting her in a cell for gloating. "Come on let's go, there's someone who's impatient to see you I'm sure." She gently lead Nadia out of her office and then into the metro.

Thirty minutes later, they were standing before their apartment building. Sydney went over to her apartment and glanced back to see Nadia headed to the next door. Weiss's head popped out after Nadia rang the bell. He smiled broadly at her, ecstatic.

"Nadia! It's you! It's really you!" He took a step outside and engulfed her in one of his trademark bear hugs.

She gave him a slight smile and hugged him shyly in return. She waved at Sydney as she went in Eric's apartment.

Sydney swept her living room with her eyes. Nothing had changed since her departure with Nadia a few days earlier. Weiss must have moved back into his apartment as soon as she'd left. Her eyes caught the phone message machine blinking red light. It indicated 23 messages were left in her absence but she didn't bother checking them now. Instead, she dialed Vaughn's number. He answered on the first ring, as if he'd been standing by the phone all day, waiting.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's me. I'm back in LA."

"Great! Is Nadia okay?"

"Yeah, she's…herself again. We haven't talked much. She's at Weiss's now."

"So…is it over? I mean…are you ready to…start again?"

"I think we need to talk."

"Of course, where are you? Your apartment? Do you want me to come over?"

"No. I'd rather we meet somewhere…neutral. At the pier, one hour?"

"Okay, I'll be there."

"Bye." She hung up.

She could hear the smile in his voice and had one on her face too. She felt full of energy despite the long flight she endured and went to take a shower and change for her 'date'. She was going on a date with Vaughn. The thought made her giddy but also nervous. She feared he might hurt her again. However, sometimes in life you had to take a chance.

She tried to think about what to tell him, how to start, but she couldn't find the proper words. Maybe she should just let him talk, as he had tried to do in the hospital.

She would never speak of what she knew about his father to him, or the reason Irina killed him. It was ironical, that all these years, Irina had been deemed 'the bad guy' by them both for killing William Vaughn, and that now, he turned out to be a sadistic rapist KGB officer.

Vaughn was convinced, like everybody else, CIA included, that Irina had killed Bill, and it would remain this way. It was her mother's wish.

In Weiss's apartment, Nadia was curled up on the couch against Eric. She told him everything. Everything she remembered that is and he filled in the blanks for her. He held her while she grieved for her lost child…and for Sofya's betrayal.

Eric was sweet. He brought her water, tissues, and just held her while she cried. She went back to her apartment at nightfall. Sydney wasn't there but Nadia found a note from Sydney pinned on the kitchen counter saying she had gone out for coffee with Vaughn. Nadia smiled to herself. Weiss filled her in earlier about Vaughn and Sydney's problem. He sounded pessimistic about their relationship and she was glad to find out things seemed to be headed the right way for her sister.

Her own relationship with Eric had been damaged by the aftermath of Sovogda. Namely, her condition of 'zombie'. She remembered him bathing her like a child, dressing her, sometimes feeding her. She threw food in his face on multiple occasions but he always made sure she ate and drank enough anyway. He never looked at her the wrong way, or took advantage of the situation. She remembered hitting him…and Sydney too. She had screamed, kicked, and punched but neither of them had ever relented.

She made herself a cup of tea and settled on the couch. She didn't bother to turn the TV on, instead was lost in her thoughts.

Nadia heard the door open an hour later. She hadn't touched her tea, her mind clogged with thoughts of what happened to her. Talking to Weiss had helped but she wasn't healed. Far from it. She smiled brightly at her sister.

"Hey, you're back!"

"Hey! Sorry I didn't tell you I was leaving…"

"It's okay, I found your note."

"How was it at Eric's?"

"Okay…we talked, I cried, he listened."

"He's a great guy."

"He is. How was your date with Vaughn? Weiss told me about you two."

"Oh it wasn't a date, just coffee, casual. Two friends."

"You two will never be just friends Syd."

Sydney looked at her, shaken by the statement, made with such conviction. "Maybe you're right," she admitted, lowering her head. "We're trying to take things slow. Not repeat the same mistakes. Mom told me a lot and he came clean, filled in the gaps. We both needed that so we could really move on, together or otherwise." Her mind went back to the conversation she had had with Vaughn earlier in the day.

The pier, earlier:
"I was not born Michael Vaughn, but I'm still your Vaughn, I'm still the guy who loves hockey and gave you a picture frame for our first Christmas. I'm still the guy who would go to the end of the world to find you, I haven't changed, and you just have more insight about me. You've always known the real me. I only hid my name and my origins, it doesn't change who I am."

"But how can I trust you after you lied to me for so many years?"

"I never lied to you about anything else, Sydney."

Sydney's apartment, now.
"I think things are going to work out for you two," said Nadia with a confident smile.

"Yeah." She sighed and came to sit with her little sister. "So how are things with Eric? I mean, before Sovogda, you two seemed headed toward a more intimate relationship."

Nadia let out a quiet laugh. "Ah, you picked up on that huh?"

"Hard not to. Come on, spill."

"I like him. I really do but…I'm not ready to be intimate with him. After what happened…I mean it was the next step, it was what I had in mind at least, but now…I don't know if I can."

"Why not?"

Nadia exhaled loudly, carefully choosing her words. "It's just weird. There's all that stuff that keeps popping in my head and there's so much missing…It's like I'm stuck on that, I can't get past it. I'm obsessed."

"You need to deal with it, Nadia."

"I know! Sorry. I just don't know how."

After a while, Sydney got up and went to her room without a word. She came back with an APO file in her hand. Nadia looked at her questioningly. "You need closure." She said in way of explanation.

Nadia hesitantly took the red folder from her sister and frowned in confusion as she read its contents. "I don't understand."

"Doctor Jain is the guy you're looking for."

"I don't get it. He treated me after Anna branded me in the neck, but I don't know him."

"He also treated you after Sovogda. He was part of the team who treated your bullet wound and then worked on ridding you of the waste particles stored in your brain." She then told Nadia all about the procedures she had underwent while unconscious and the reasons why.

"Wait…you mean…he's the one?" Sydney looked at her impassively, waiting for her sister to say the words, knowing saying it meant dealing with it, psychologically speaking. Nadia went on. "The one that…raped me?"

"Yes."

"But you told me…"

"I lied. I didn't think you needed to know."

Nadia's face hardened in anger. "And what made you change your mind?"

"Mom. She said you needed to be a part of it."

"'It' what?"

"Torturing him…cutting him to pieces…feeding him to the sharks. Whatever you want, but Mom and I want in on it also."

TBC