Okay. Hi everyone who doesn't want to kill me. Hi people who do want to kill me! Well another day, another chapter. Must warn this chapter was writing while I was actually watching an Alias episode (Season Three) at one in the morning and I accidentally wrote in a long rambling about how we all love to hate Lauren. I think I got most of it out, but if at any point the word Lauren rears its ugly head, ignore it.
I originally intended to end the fic long before this point. But due to the popularity of this fic (and the fact I might get stabbed with a crayon if I end the fic) I have decided to keep it going for several more chapters (read: at least five more). But alas I am running out of quotes to use from the song Love Heals, so excluding the end chapter, the rest of the chapters will not contain quotes from the song Love Heals, but other suitable quotes.
Let me take my love and bury it in a hole six foot deep. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Once More with Feeling)
Pain. You just have to ride it out. You can only hope it goes away on its own, hope the wound that caused it heals. There are no solutions, no easy answers, you just breathe deep and wait for it to subside.- Grey's Anatomy
They all stared at the wound, transfixed.
"We need to get out of here now!" Irina repeated, trying to shake them all out of the state of shock.
It worked as they burst into a flurry of activity, Jack running to grab a first aid kit, Syd grabbing her daughter, Ameile grabbing her bags, and Vaughn disappearing down the hallway, reappearing with their emergency bags. They silently fled from the house, Jack leading them to a discreet black van. Jack opened the back and Ameile and Vaughn threw the bags in as Jack pulled a duffel bag from the van.
"Vaughn, you're in the front with me." He said pulling a gun from the bag and tossing it to Vaughn. "I'll need you to shoot if we have any followers". He looked to his daughter still holding Isabelle tightly. "Keep Isabelle in the back with you, Ameile, and Irina. There's a seat back there you can buckle her into. I'm leaving the two other guns in the bag for you and Irina. Also dress your mother's wound. I don't think I need to tell you to keep low and out of sight of the windows." He ordered, handing the first aid kit to Irina.
Ameile, Isabelle, Irina, and Syd all got into the back of the van as Jack and Vaughn made their way to the front.
"Mommy what's going on?" Isabelle asked as Syd buckled her into her seat.
"I don't know sweetheart. Why don't you try to take a little nap? We are going to go to a different house." Syd replied. She kissed her daughter on the forehead and made way towards her mother.
Irina had taken their guns out and was now opening the first aid kit as Ameile watch, silent.
"Mom, is the bullet still in the wound?"
"Yeah. It's not that deep, just a flesh wound."
Syd sat down and gently prodded the wound, relieved to learn her mother was right, that it was just a flesh wound. The bullet was still there, but it wasn't incredibly deep. It didn't look like any nerves had been damaged.
"I'm going to have to remove the bullet; it's going to be hard in a moving van though."
"I trust you Sydney."
"Does the first aid kit have antiseptic?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Ameile, I'm going to need your help. I need you to hold Irina's arm still while I try to get the bullet out."
"I'll try Sydney. I have never been the best around blood though." Ameile replied, looking slightly pale at the sight of the wound.
"Mommy, what's wrong with Grandma?" Isabelle asked, straining against her seatbelt to see what was going on.
"Isabelle, sweetie, could you please try to take a little nap. Mommy has to put a really complicated band aid on Grandma's boo-boo and she needs to concentrate."
"Oh. Okay Mommy, I'll try to take a nap."
"Thank you Isabelle."
The van sped up noticeably and all three adults looked worriedly out of the back window, but they could see no one following them.
"Okay, Ameile if you could just hold Irina's arm still." Ameile grasped the other woman's arm, aware of the intense awkwardness of the moment.
"Mom this might sting a little." Sydney warned as she poured some of the antiseptic onto the wound. Irina clenched her teeth but did not flinch.
Sydney sterilized a pair of tweezers and gently stuck them into the wound fishing for the bullet. When she found it, she slowly pulled it out, making sure not the move it around too much. As soon as the bullet was released from the wound, more blood began to flow and Sydney swore, grabbing gauze to try and ebb the flow.
"I'm going to have to stitch it Mom."
Irina nodded, her eyes closed.
"Ameile, you can let go of her arm for a moment, can you help me sterilize the needle?"
Working together, the heat sterilized the needle quickly, washed it in some antiseptic than slowly dried it again under a flame.
"Okay Ameile, I need you to hold her arm still, but I also need you to wipe away any excess blood so I can see what I'm stitching. Can you do that?"
"Yes. I think I can manage that Sydney." Ameile replied, taking some fresh gauze and once again holding Irina's arm.
"Don't worry Mom, I'm a great sewer. I got an A plus in Home Ec and I watch very carefully when they are suturing on Grey's Anatomy." Sydney said, rewashing the wound with antiseptic. She slowly and carefully began to stitch the wound as Ameile darted in every so often to wipe away blood. Finally Sydney finished. She wrapped the arm with clean gauze and dropped all the dirty equipment into an old plastic bag.
"Thank you Sydney." Irina replied, prodding the covered wound tentatively.
Sydney checked to make sure Isabelle was asleep before she continued.
"What happened, Mom?"
"I went out for a jog after Ameile arrived. Remember how we told you how there are still some minor cells of Prophet Five out there, and that they are after you and Vaughn? I ran into several of the members of one cell. They had received information about where we were hiding. They were stakeout about a mile down the road. I jogged passed what looked like a broken down car, and the next thing I knew, I had a bullet in my arm. Two men jumped out of the car and tried to force me to come with them. I recognized the men from a photo we have of the members of a Prophet Five cell. I managed to escape from them, but they already knew our position. We had to leave that place."
"Where is Dad taking us?"
"To another safe house I presume. Hopefully, they won't be able to follow us. We'll figure out what we are going to do when we get there."
"Good. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in hiding, living a lie." Sydney replied, glancing at Isabelle's sleeping figure. "I don't want that life for her."
"No child deserves that life." Ameile said quietly.
Irina sighed and looked at Ameile, surprised when she maintained the eye contact.
"Ameile. I'm sorry. I realize that it probably doesn't matter. I also realize that it's not very much after what I've done to you, but I am truly sorry. Not a day goes by that I don't regret that decision in my life. I am sorry for all the pain I caused you and your family. And I realize that most people believe I am just some evil terrorist, but I have tried so hard to make amends for all the wrongs I have done in my life. And it is not just because Sydney fell in love with Michael that I am apologizing to you. I have felt guilt over what I did to William long before our children ever met. I understand if you don't want to forgive me, but I ask you to try for our granddaughter's sake."
"I have tried very hard to grant you forgiveness Irina, but, truth be told, it is going to take time. I had to bury my husband because of you, the love of my life. Pain fades with time. Forgiveness takes time; but, rest assured, I am heading down the path of forgiveness."
"Thank you Ameile."
Not as evil as last chapter.
Reviews make me as a happy as a shirtless Vaughn speaking French. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
Feeling a little bored waiting for me to update? Why don't you sink your teeth into my brand new fan fic Broken!