A/N – Hey folks! Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you all like it. As always, please read and review. I hope you haven't given up on me!

Jack arrived back at the hospital and ran down the corridor. He knew that if he was too long, he may be too late. He saw the room board and searched for the name Bristow. He followed along the line to reveal the room number and headed for it. He waited for the doors to open and ran through. The doctors greeted him and stopped him as he nearly bumped into them.

"Mr. Bristow."

"Doctor. Where is my wife? I have the cure. Its right here. You have to do some kind of mixing but it should work. I..." He was cut off by the older man.

"I'm sorry to tell you but your wife's condition decreased much faster than we first expected. She's no longer in this ward. She's been moved to a private intensive care unit upstairs."

"But the sign said that she was..." He looked up at the door and realised. The file hung in the silver case said 'Sydney Bristow'. "No... how bad is she?"

"She's getting worse by the day. Soon she'll be at the same stage as your wife."

"But how?"

"Your wife's a fighter Mr. Bristow. Logically she should be dead by now but she's strong. Stronger than we expected. This may help her but it's a slim chance. He held up the bottle as he passed it to a young technician. "We have none of your daughters DNA either so we have no idea where to start in treating her."

"Just do what you can." Jack said as he entered his daughter's room.

"Daddy?"

"Hey honey." He said to his daughter as she looked up. She was surrounded by tubes and machines monitoring her vital signs.

"Daddy I'm scared. Mommy fell down and the doctors were shouting. I saw her yesterday but they won't let me see her today. I feel bad and my arm hurts." She motioned to the drip protruding from her vein.

"It's ok Sydney. I'm going to check on mommy and see if she's ok. I'll ask the doctors if you can see her. You rest up and get better for her and you'll both be out of here soon."

"Do you promise?"

Jack looked down at the smaller version of his wife and smiled. He kissed her forehead and left the room.

"I hope." He whispered as he shut the door.

Jack headed up to the ward that he was told his wife was residing in and looked for her name. He needn't have looked though as she was the only person on the floor. Her bed was surrounded by a clear plastic curtain and she had many more tubes and wires than Sydney. He walked over to her slowly and noticed how pale she was. She seemed thinner too and it had only been a few days.

She stirred in her sleep and Jack rushed over to hold her hand. He was stopped by a nurse and told to wear gloves which he removed once the nurse had gone. He knew that it wasn't a contagious virus. It was a hereditary one devised by someone to kill his wife and any child she had. Someone had planted something into her system at a very young age and had intended to stop her and anyone in her genetic line.

Jack left the room and found their Doctor.

"Mr. Bristow. What is it?"

"Can Sydney see her mother? She wants to and I think that she should."

"Laura's condition is only worsening by the hour. Soon she won't even have the hazy drifting in and out of consciousness that she has now. She'll be completely comatosed soon. Do you really want your daughter to whiteness that?"

"I think that it would help. She needs to see her mother. I want her to see her mother."

"Ok then but don't say I didn't warn you."

"Warn me?"

"If this upsets her."

"Sydney is extremely mature for her age and she cant be sheltered from things for her whole life. IF god forbid, this is the last chance she gets to see her mother... then I'm going to give it to her."

Sydney sat up as her father pushed a wheelchair into her room and eased her into it.

"Where are we going?"

"To see mommy."

Her small face lit up and she sat silently as they rode in the elevator to her mothers ward. They entered the room as Irina was awaking.

"Jack... SYDNEY! Oh my baby what's that in your arm." She pointed "Oh no please don't tell me you're ill too."

"Shhh honey. Don't get too excited." Jack replied as she fell back onto the pillows dizzily.

"Mommy are you ok?"

"Yes honey mommy's fine. I'm a lot better now you're here." Irina moved the plastic curtain away so that she could see her family better.

"I don't think you're supposed to move that mommy." She turned to Jack. "Is she daddy?"

"No she's not." Jack frowned as he re-closed the curtain. "I think we should get going now. I'll come back when she's asleep." His wife smiled and waved goodbye to her daughter. When he returned, Irina was sound asleep.

Jack left the hospital after several more hours at his wife's side. He had begun to drift off and the nurses had thrown him out promising to call him at the slightest change. They were planning to inject her with the antidote in the morning and reveal any progress that they had made on curing Sydney.

He arrived home and entered the living room. The place seemed so empty without his family around. He walked over to the fireplace and looked at the wedding photograph that was perched on the edge. He sighed as he looked down at the happy face of his wife. He knew that it must have been a lie then but he still hoped that some of it had been real. He wondered when it was that she had first said 'I love you' and meant it. He placed the photo back where it had been and picked up another. This one was of the whole family. Sydney was about two and they were at the carousel. She had just finished riding and her grin was the biggest he had ever seen. They all looked so happy. Jack sank down to the floor as the pale moonlight cascaded across his face. A tear slid down his cheek and more followed. He sobbed for all he was worth late into the night. Before long, exhaustion took over and he slumped down against the couch.

The next morning, jack awoke to the sound of his wife's alarm. It was still going off every day like clockwork he mused. His neck was stiff but he had endured worse pain .He ran upstairs and turned it off. He then took a quick shower and headed out to the hospital. When he arrived, it was much like the day before. He popped in to see Sydney who was still sleeping before going up to see his wife. She looked paler still and her hair was mussed as if she had been tossing and turning all night. The doctor entered the room and smiled down at Jack.

"You should be wearing gloves you know."

"I know it's the rule but there's no point. It's in her DNA not her breath."

"We have the vile ready. We can administer it as soon as you sign this form."

"What's it for?"

"Well the drugs we're going to give her are unconventional. There not exactly antibiotics. They're liquids developed by a dead prophet to a disease we can't even master let alone find a cure for."

Jack scanned the sheet "So It's basically to say that if she dies then I won't blame you?"

"Well... it's the CIA, they..."

He was cut off by Jack. "Here. I've signed it. I'll do anything to ensure her safety. Now what about Sydney? Do I need to sign one for her?"

"We haven't exactly found anything to help her yet. Were hoping that the antibodies that form in your wife's system will help. Or at least give us some clue as how to heal her."

"So what are you saying?"

"We're no closer to helping her than we are to curing world hunger."

Jack wanted to punch the man standing in front of him for his bluntness and torture him until he apologised. He refrained since the doctor was his wife and daughters only hope.

He walked over to Irina and stroked her head as the doctor injected pale blue liquid into her vein. Jack knew that all he could do now was hope... hope and prey.