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Chapter Four:
Through It All

The joy felt from reuniting with their friends was abruptly dissolved when Kendall walked back in.

"We have the preliminary DNA results," he announced. "They are reliable, but not totally conclusive. We'll have to wait until more extensive tests are conducted before we can receive a definite result."

Sydney was nodding impatiently. "I know all this. Can you please just tell us what you know now?"

Silently Kendall handed Sydney the test results. Scanning the paper, Sydney experienced just about every emotion that a human being was capable of feeling.

Because according to the results in front of her, Sydney was Ana's mother.

As the words on the paper started to swim, Sydney looked up. But it was no improvement. The walls, the faces around her, they were all blurry.

"Excuse me," she whispered, standing abruptly. "Excuse me." She walked quickly out of the room. Jack made out to follow her, but stopped and turned towards Vaughn.

"You should go."

Vaughn nodded and headed out of the conference room. He knew exactly where Sydney would be.

Sydney stared into the clear liquid before her, angry. At the world, at everything that had happened, but most of all at herself. Angry that she was allowing herself to get so low.

It had been three months. She should just accept what had happened in Patagonia and move on. Drinking, alone, in a bar would not exactly help her to do that.

When a figure slumped down on the stool beside her, Sydney glanced up. Her stomach jolted slightly. She didn't want Vaughn to see her like this, but then again, he wasn't in such great shape himself.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey," he replied, motioning to the bar tender. Silence descended between them until Vaughn had his own glass in front of him.

"Don't we make a sad pair?" Sydney couldn't help commenting. To her relief a ghost of a smile crossed Vaughn's face.

"I don't think sad is a strong enough word," he said, before taking a mouthful.

Sydney nodded slowly in agreement, while examining Vaughn's features. He looked so tired and old. It broke her heart to think that this was the man she had fallen in love with. Devastated her to seewhat he had become.

"How is…everything?" she asked carefully.

Vaughn took a long drink before shrugging. "Everything is the same…which makes it all the more harder. The world keeps going, oblivious to the fact that the woman I married…" he trailed off, shaking his head.

"God, I am pathetic." Sydney muttered more to herself, but Vaughn heard anyway and his head snapped up.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look at me. I can't move past Patagonia. It just won't leave me. Yes, it was a terrible thing to happen, but compared to what you must be going through…it's trivial."

"Sydney—"

"I couldn't even begin to imagine…well, maybe I could after my father, but to fully understand what you are feeling? I wouldn't wish what you would going through on anybody."

"Sydney, you are not pathetic and what happened is not trivial." Vaughn said. "You were robbed…a part of you stolen. I think you can be forgiven for taking your time to move on."

Sydney looked back into her drink before taking a mouthful. "I just feel…angry. All the time. It's like there's nothing I can do to sate the rage inside me."

"I can understand that." Vaughn replied, his voice sardonic.

Sydney looked at him. "I heard you burnt down your house."

"It wasn't a happy place." Vaughn said, his tone matter-of- fact. "Besides it helped with the rage."

Sydney gave him a small smile as she brought her glass to her lips. Maybe they were going to get through this after all.

Vaughn headed straight to the area that Weiss had dubbed the 'flirting corner' all those years ago. Sydney was there, as he predicted, sitting on the floor, her knees up to her chest. Silently he positioned himself next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Talk to me Syd," Vaughn said quietly.

"I thought I wanted this. To know for sure whether the Covenant had been successful in Patagonia. But now…the conformation of an existence of a child." Sydney looked up into Vaughn's eyes. "An innocent little girl created by a bunch of freaks for god knows what reason."

Vaughn brought a hand up and gently stroked her hair. "But we now we know and we can do something about it."

"It's not that simple. I mothered a child and had absolutely no say in the matter. And what is going to happen to Ana now? Is the CIA going to expect me to take her and care for her? I don't know if I could do that. Every time I'd look at her, I'd see what she represents."

"Syd, how about you just take this one step at a time, ok?"

Sydney looked into his eyes. With a sharp intake of breath, she brought a hand up to his cheek. "Your eyes…Ana's…should we speak to Kendall or somebody?"

"I think we should leave that until another time," Vaughn suggested. "Until the CIA has extracted Ana."

"Ok," Sydney nodded and motioned towards the door. "Perhaps we should get back there."

Within the hour Kendall and Dixon had already tasked a team for the extraction of Ana, and had them prepping for the op en route to Australia.

Sydney had wanted to take part, but as she was no longer field-rated, or a member of the CIA, she was not allowed. Instead, it was suggested that she and Vaughn return to Weiss's apartment, on the promise that they would be contacted as soon as the team touched down in Melbourne.

Meanwhile Jack was seated in his car, his laptop opened in front of him.

Mozart182: Distinguished composer looking for music lover.

He waited patiently for a reply. Irina didn't disappoint.

Handel4me: Hello Jack. What brings you to my door?"

Mozart182: Our daughter.

Handel4me: Is she ok?

Mozart182: She has found her daughter.

Handel4me: How?

Mozart182: It's ok. The child came to her. There was no intervention.

Handel4me: Thank you for telling me.

Mozart182: Ok. I'll keep you informed of any new information.

Handel4me: Ok…I miss you.

Mozart182: Miss you too.

After shutting down his computer Jack drove back to the JTF, to wait for contact from the team headed to Australia to be made.

"That was Weiss," Vaughn said, placing the phone back in the receiver. "The team had touched down and is on the way to Ana's residence now."

Sydney was out of the front door before Vaughn had even grabbed the keys to their rental car. It amazed him, that after leading a relatively average life for five years, just how quickly their lives had returned to the craziness of before.

And how easily they just accepted that craziness.

"Sydney." Dixon said as he entered the small room when she and Vaughn had been seated. Kendall and Jack were following closely behind.

She rose quickly. "Have you heard from the team? Have they found her? When are they getting back?"

"Syd." Vaughn clasped her hand and gently pulled her back into her seat. "How about you let them talk."

Sydney nodded. "Ok. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Dixon sat opposite her. I'm afraid I have some bad news, Syd. The team was unable to locate Ana."

"What?" Sydney stared at him. "But we have her address and the school. How could they not find her?"

Silently Kendall moved to the other side of the room, where a TV and a video were set up. After placing a cassette in the player, he turned to Sydney. "This footage was picked up by a neighbour's security camera," he explained, pressing play.

Sydney watched, her eyes trained to the screen. The picture did not show all that much, it was mostly focused on the neighbours driveway. But at the top left hand side of the screen there was an end half of an unmarked van. As the video continued, it showed two men, one of them carrying an unconscious child climb into the back of it. There was no mistaking that the child was Ana.

"Who are they?" Vaughn asked.

"We don't know." Jack admitted.

"We're running a copy of the tape through our facial recognition databaseas we speak." Dixon added.

"But, it is our belief," Kendall said, his tone serious. "That they are members of the Covenant."