CHAPTER 2

"What do you think all of this is about? It's strange that no one is telling us anything. And do you see all the looks people have been giving us since we got her?" Eric Weiss asked curiously from his best friend Michael Vaughn. They had been directed in an empty office where the duo had been sitting for a while now.

Michael didn't get a change to respond when an agent came in to the room to inform the two men that they were needed upstairs. After sharing puzzled looks, Eric and Michael exited the room and made their way to the same direction Sydney had went 45 minutes earlier.

Neither man spoke, choosing to just remain silent for the 3-minute elevator ride. Michael had a bad suspicion while Eric sent a text message to Rachel to inform her that he was still at the office and this would probably take time, so she could just get comfortable in Michael and Sydney's guest room and get some sleep.

Michael entered first and noticed Jack staring at Eric with an unreadable expression. He then saw his wife holding hands with her mother and a familiar looking raven-haired woman. Nadia. That revelation hit him like a ton of bricks.

Eric was distracted and his mind was still with the woman he had married seven months ago and their unborn baby boy. He didn't notice his best friend stopping in mid-walk and continued to make his way to where Jack was standing.

Only after Jack put a hand to his shoulder, he refocused on the scene in front of him. Jack Bristow didn't show emotions and affection, the last time he had touched his shoulder in the same manner was at Nadia's funeral, so it came as a huge surprise.

"Eric…You came," said a voice Eric would have recognized anywhere. It was Nadia's voice and in no time a petite body was slammed into his with such force it almost knocked the wind out of him.

Eric hadn't fully gotten his head around that his deceased wife was hugging him when she pressed her lips into his and gave him a searing kiss that it felt like a powerful electric shock had just cursed through him. He was hallucinating, he had to be hallucination, Eric thought to himself. But if this truly was all in his head, it felt pretty damn real and he would be in dire need of a lift to the funny farm.

"I'm alive, I'm here and I will never leave you again. I love you," Nadia said after releasing Eric's lips from hers. He remained quiet, in a loss for words. Not that there were any universally accepted things to say to a woman who he had married and buried three years ago.

Nadia took Eric's hand into hers and started giving his fingers baby kisses. She stopped when she noticed the unfamiliar ring in her husbands left ring finger. It was a simple, golden band while the ring she had slipped onto his finger on their wedding day had been a wider platinum one. Before she could ask about the ring, he spoke to her for the first time in almost three years.

"There is something I want you to understand. I never stopped loving you or thinking about you. You were always in my mind and my heart. Then something happened and I was feeling happy again. I never thought I could be again, but she made me feel alive and made the bad memories seemed distant…" Eric said choking back tears. He needed to tell her, he needed her to understand.

"You are with someone else. You didn't wait for me after all, did you?" came Nadia's sad reply and she pulled away from him fighting back tears that had started erupting.

"I thought you were dead. I buried you with the teddy bear I gave you for valentine's day and our wedding photo. I thought I would never see you again." Eric started but then knew there weren't anything he could have said to her to make this less of an impossible situation.

"I was your wife and I have been gone less than three years and already you've found someone else. Where did you find her, possibly my funeral? Did I really mean that little to you after all?" Nadia asked acidly. She didn't care about being fare or placing herself into his shoes. She wanted him to admit to still loving her and leaving who ever it was that had made herself comfortable in the life of her husband.

"You meant everything for me. I thought I wasn't going to survive without you, but I did thanks to her. I loved you so much it hurt mentally and physically to never be able to kiss or make love to you again. She came into my life and I love her. Her name is Rachel and she's pregnant with my child," Eric said desperately trying to make her see that it wasn't a easy thing for him. He hadn't entered into a relationship with another woman on a whim.

Nadia felt sick to her stomach, her husband was having a child with someone else. He wasn't going to leave her; she wasn't going to get him back. Those were the thought that swirled inside her head in a dizzying speed.

"Tell me that this is all a dream and we can go home to continue the life that was stolen from us. Please, Eric, tell me that," Nadia said looking deep into his eyes again. She felt dizzy and confused. This hadn't been the reunion she had imagined in her head in those years of captivity.

"I would give anything to make this better, but I can't leave my child. He is innocent in all of this and he's my flesh and blood. I love you and I always will, but he's my son," Eric said with tears now openly pouring from his eyes. He wanted to take Nadia into his arms and never let her out of his sight again, but he had someone else that depended on him now. It didn't matter what he wanted, Rachel and his son's needs were now more important. It almost literally killed him to tell that to the woman he was still madly in love with.

Sydney had chosen that time to intervene in the conversation. Things were heating up and Nadia looked very frail. She took her place next to her sister and hugged her tightly.

"You need to rest. You have gone through major drama and you're not going to get the answers you need tonight. Tomorrow will be a new day to work everything out." Sydney said gently guiding Nadia to the bed and taking a seat next to the bed.

Eric read Sydney's expression loud and clear. He needed to go now. He looked at Nadia for a moment, needing to memorize everything about her appearance and the way she was laying in the sterile sheets.

--

Sydney had succeeded in making Nadia to go to sleep for at least a little while. When she had known for sure that her sister was sleeping, she had went to call Michael, who told her that he and Eric were driving around L.A just so he could be rational before talking to Rachel.

Sydney returned, hoping to find Nadia sleeping peacefully, but that wasn't the case. She was sitting in the bed, looking at Sydney with pleading eyes.

"Tell me what happened after my so-called death. Did he just start dating someone like I never even existed? I am still his wife and he didn't even want to stay here with me tonight," Nadia asked, needing to find out the truth.

"He would have stayed if you would have asked. He was broken and miserable for a long time after we all though you were dead. After your funeral, Eric took a month off of work to spend it in Argentina where you had grown up, to feel closer to you. He didn't forget you; it wasn't easy for him to move on. 15 months after, he came to me and asked was he betraying your memory if he took a new CIA recruit to dinner. The after a while, he asked was he being selfish to want to marry again." Sydney tried explaining, but knowing there really wasn't anything she could have said to make the pain her sister was feeling to go away.

"What was their wedding like? Was Michael the best man, did his mother fuss about the wedding arrangements, did he serenade her during the reception? Nadia asked in rapid speed, she just needed to know. It hurt her so badly, but if she didn't know what happened, she could never fully understand it.

"They got married at the beach in Malibu. Neither was wearing any shoes and she walked to the aisle to the tune of 'I Can't Live Without Your Love'. It was a small, simple ceremony reserved only for those closest to them." Sydney said climbing to bed and embracing Nadia tightly and stroking her long, black hair. Nadia was now openly crying, imagining her husband promising to love, honor and obey another woman.

--

Michael had driven the car in silence, leaving his best friend alone with his thoughts. There really wasn't anything he could have told him to make the situation easier. After aimlessly driving for a while, they had reached the house that Michael and Sydney shared together. There was a light burning in the living room and another in the guestroom, which was a clear indicator that Rachel was still awake.

Eric cautiously entered the house and made his way to the guestroom. There in the bed lay the woman who wasn't his wife after all. He was still technically married to Nadia. Rachel looked peaceful, she was reading a book and scrunching her nose in a gesture that he found endlessly cute. She looked up and smiled at him in that way that always affected him.

Eric signed and removed his shoes before lying next to Rachel. He kissed her gently on the lips and then focused all of his attention on to her growing baby bump. He had taken up singing and reading for the baby before going to bed at night. He pressed his head on her stomach gently and started softly rubbing her belly.

"What happened at work? You're not yourself tonight. Is it something bad? Please tell me," Rachel said in a worried tone while stroking his hair.

"Nadia is alive," was Eric's response and he looked up directly into Rachel's eyes when he dropped the bomb that had now turned all of their lives upside down in a matter of hours.

To be continued…

Next chapter: Rachel's reaction and Nadia thinks about her life.