Thank you all for your feedback
Chapter Fifteen:
Convergence
"Syd, Vaughn." Weiss walked into his apartment, calling out their names.
"What is it?" Sydney asked, from the couch, as Vaughn appeared from the guest bedroom.
"I've got a car here to take you back to the JTF." Weiss explained. "There's a chopper waiting for you there."
"Where are we going?" Vaughn asked.
"The two of you have been granted special access to Project Black Hole. They want you in Nevada as soon as possible."
Sydney walked to the kitchen bench and grabbed her bag. "Ana?"
Weiss nodded. "Kendall has approved a face to face interaction between the two of you." He opened the front door. "You're going to see Ana, Syd. Today."
Kendall was waiting for them by the entrance. "Sydney, Vaughn, welcome. If you could please come this way."
"Why the sudden meeting?" Sydney asked as they walked thought the halls of Project Black Hole. "Why are you allowing Vaughn and I access here? I thought it was strictly off limits to any unauthorized personnel."
"It is," Kendall replied. "But these are extenuating circumstances. Ana was asking to speak with you." He looked at Sydney.
"With me? She barely knows me. Why would she want to speak with me?"
"Why do you think we got you down here so fast?" Kendall stopped by an unmarked door. "We are just as curious as you."
Quietly Sydney entered the room. It was completely bare, apart from a table and two chairs in the centre. The stark white walls chillingly reminded Sydney of a jail cell and she shuddered. How could they make a child stay in a room such as this? Cautiously she approached the table, where Ana was seated, completey immersed in something.
"Hello Ana," she said softly as she reached the table. The little girl's head snapped up and for a second she looked surprised, but then her face broke into a wide grin.
"Hello Mrs Vaughn," she replied and then put her head back down.
"What have you got there?" Sydney asked.
"Colouring book," Ana mumbled, her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration. She looked up. "Do you want to help?"
Sydney couldn't help but smile. "Sure," she said, sitting on the chair besides Ana's and picking up a crayon.
"Don't go out of the lines," Ana said seriously. "It has to look good."
"Ok," Sydney nodded, holding back her laughter as she resisted the urge to wrap her arms around this little girl.
Vaughn watched this scene through a two-way mirror. There was something heartening about it. To watch Sydney interact with this little girl…her daughter. For the first time in weeks he was seeing her truly relaxed and it was almost as if she possessed some sort of a glow.
He felt a flutter as Sydney laughed at something that Ana had said. She deserved to be able to laugh like that all the time. It hadn't been occurring to often as late.
Sydney looked up at that point. Even though she could only see her reflection, Vaughn knew that she was aware of him watching. With a bright smile in his direction, Sydney turned back. And though she couldn't see him, Vaughn smiled back.
To see Sydney like this, it made the events of the past weeks unquestionably worth it.
"Ana," Sydney placed down her crayon. "Could I ask you a question?"
"Yup," she nodded, still continuing with her colouring.
"Why did you ask to see me?"
Ana shrugged. "I don't know."
"You don't?"
"Nope."
"Oh, ok." Sydney paused, wondering if she should ask her next question. She decided to risk it. "Ana, do you want to talk about the people who took you?"
"Ok." Ana replied, sounding completely blasé about the whole topic.
"Did they hurt you?"
"No. They gave me chocolate, but I didn't eat it." She looked up at Sydney with a serious expression. "You shouldn't take food from strangers."
Sydney smiled. "You're a very smart girl."
"Somebody else told me that, but I can't remember who."
"That's ok." Sydney patted her hand. "So these people, can you remember anything they said?"
Ana put down her crayon, her forehead creased with concentration. "Some stuff."
"Like what?" Sydney pressed.
"They didn't call me Ana. I told them my name, but they didn't say it."
"What did they call you?"
"Second something… and they called me…I think it was Rammali…Rammaldi…" Ana trailed off in a laugh. "They were silly names."
Sydney tried hard to smile back. "Yeah, pretty silly." She leaned in. "Ana is a much better name."
"My full name is Anastasie." Ana announced proudly. "Did you know that?"
"Yes," Sydney nodded. "I did."
"Do you know a lot of things, Mrs Vaughn?"
"Oh, I know a bit."
Ana eyed her suspiciously. "Ok, where does Santa live?"
"The North Pole."
"Why is the grass green?"
"Because they ran out of purple paint." Sydney replied with a straight face. She could just imagine the expression on Vaughn's face on the other side of that mirror.
Ana's eyes widened with surprise. Sydney guessed that this question game was a regular occurrence for her and that this was quite possibly the first time she'd ever gotten an answer to the 'why is the grass green' question.
"Anything else that you want to ask me?"
Ana nodded.
"What is it?"
"Are you my mum?"
"This is a waste of time." Kendall let out a frustrated sigh as he came up beside Vaughn. "The kid is giving her nothing."
"So just because there is no information being received, we should stop Sydney interacting with her own child?" Vaughn shot back.
"The only reason the two of you were allowed access to this facility was in the hope that Sydney could get something viable from Ana, and they are in there talking about Santa and purple grass."
"This isn't about satisfying your insane obsessions with a dead man," Vaughn said. His voice was controlled, but inside he was seething. "This is about bringing together a mother and a child."
"Oh, this is—" Kendall suddenly cut off, his face snapping towards the mirror. "Did you hear that?"
Vaughn nodded dumbly. If they had heard correctly, Ana had just asked Sydney if she was her mother.
"Are you my mum?"
Sydney blinked, completely thrown by the question. "Why would you ask me that, Ana?" she replied, gently.
The little girl shrugged. "I…I…it was just in here." Ana put her index finger on the top of her head.
"What was in there?"
"That you are my mum." Ana looked up at Sydney, and in a manner quite like her mother, asked bluntly. "Well, are you?"
Sydney glanced towards the mirror. Should she? Would Kendall approve? In that split second, Sydney shoved those thoughts aside. This was about her and Ana, nobody else.
"Yes," she replied softly. "I am."
"Good." Ana nodded. "You're nice."
Sydney smiled. "I'm sorry we didn't get to meet earlier."
"That's ok." Ana picked up a crayon. "I knew we couldn't."
"Pardon?" Sydney leaned in closer, unsure whether she had heard Ana correctly. "What was that?"
"I knew we couldn't." Ana replied.
"And was that just in here again?" Sydney gently tapped the top of Ana's head.
Ana nodded. "There are lots of things in there."
"What sort of things?"
Ana placed down her crayon. "That you were my mum, and I know daddy is behind that." Ana pointed to the mirror. "I wasn't scared when the bad people took me, because they weren't you. I knew that I was going to live with you."
Sydney stared at Ana, dumbfounded. "You really thought all these things?"
Ana nodded and then pulled Sydney towards her so she could whisper. "And I know a special secret."
"What?" Sydney whispered back.
"I know that I am going to have a baby brother."
Before Sydney could respond Ana wrapped her tiny arms around her neck in a tight hug.
When Sydney finally left Ana and entered the adjacent room, Kendall swooped upon her so fast that she barely had time to blink.
"What did she whisper to you?" he demanded. "It was inaudible to us."
"She asked for another colouring book." Sydney replied without missing a beat. "She didn't want to hurt your feelings by saying that she didn't like the one she has now."
"Oh." Kendall couldn't keep the disappointment off his face.
"Um, do you think Vaughn and I could have a moment alone?" Sydney asked.
Kendall hesitated and then nodded shortly. After he had closed the door behind him, Vaughn turned to Sydney. "What is it now?"
"We need to talk."
A/N: Two more chaps to go...