Believe

Chapter Thirteen

Together Again

Sydney was feeling fairly anxious about her father's coming. She just had the feeling that Jack wasn't going to listen to reason where Sark was concerned and he wouldn't understand the deal she and Sark had made. Jack had this annoying quality of not listening to the words she said when they didn't suit him. She often tired of trying to explain things to him when he was in that mode and she had no doubt that he would be in it when he arrived to the Whitechapel house. And he would be even less attentive when he learned that they would have to leave the house almost as soon as he arrived.

She barely felt the tiny hand touch her hip, but she did notice. She looked down to see Rogan staring up at her with eyes that were almost as innocent as she had ever seen. Still, there was a slightly darker undertone to his big beautiful eyes that Sydney immediately regretted. Her life had singed the edges of Rogan's childish innocence, no matter how hard she tried to stop it from happening. Even when she had tried to quit doing what she did. She wrapped her arms around Rogan, squeezing him tight. She loved the feel of her child in her arms, safe with her, even if her somewhat sanity ambiguous mother was after him.

"I missed you so much when you were gone, baby! But now you're back with me and we'll stay together until you're a super big boy!"

"I missed you, too, Mommy!" He returned her hug and buried his face in her stomach. He seemed almost as carefree as he had before, so Sydney tried not to read too much into Rogan's inherent sadness underneath everything else.

"Do you know where Mr. Sark is? And why d'ya look so sad?"

"Mr. Sark is in one of the bedrooms working. And your Grandpa Jack is on his way here. He missed you almost as much as I missed you."

"Grandma Irina talked abou' Grandpa Jack some. But Mr. Sark always made her stop."

"Did he? You and Mr. Sark get along really well, don't you? What did Mr. Sark do with you while you were away?"

"He read me stories and let me play wif toys. He always tried to make Grandma Irina and Cole be estra careful when they talked to me. And sometimes, we pretended like he was my Daddy, so other people wouldn't get…supicus." He seemed confused by his last word. Sydney tried to think of what Rogan could be trying to say.

"Suspicious?"

"Mhm. That's what I said. Mr. Sark said that to me."

"Mr. Sark's been teaching you words?"

Rogan nodded dutifully then glanced back at the bedrooms. He obviously wanted to be talking to Sark again. For some reason, the two had bonded while Sydney was absent in his life, and Sydney wasn't sure how she felt about the bond they shared. Once upon a time, she wouldn't have minded the two of them getting along, with Sark acting as a father figure in Rogan's life. In her fantasy, where Sark had left the Rambaldi quest the way she had tried to, he had been. But she had always known that was unrealistic and she had expected it to stay that way. The kidnapping had changed all of that. Sark could obviously influence Rogan with one single word, that was the way it was with children, and she didn't know if Rogan should keep spending time with someone as simply diabolical as Sark could be. Still, she could see he was itching to see Sark. Maybe it wouldn't hurt for him to keep in contact with Sark while they tried to rid themselves of this Rambaldi mess, then Rogan could go back to being a normal kid without Sark's presence in his life.

"You go on back to see Sark, Rogan. I'm sure that he won't mind if you interrupt his work."

Sydney knew Sark just might mind the interruption, but Sydney knew Sark wouldn't say anything to Rogan about it. She smiled just slightly at the thought of his discontent at being torn away from his work. She also saw the light in Rogan's eyes when she gave him permission. He squeezed his mother one last time and then took off in the direction of Sark's room. Almost simultaneously, the front door opened. Jack Bristow's towering figure loomed in the door. Sydney took a deep breath. This was it. Time for an explanation. An explanation that even she didn't understand.

Sark sat at his mother's small desk, running his hands through his just barely wet hair. He'd taken a long, cold shower after that kiss with Sydney, while she waited on her father to meet them here at the Whitechapel house. He had disappeared into the bedroom after he and Sydney had begun to plan how to beat Irina, and now he was going to look at this other piece of journal he took from Irina. He had recognized it almost instantly; it looked like all of the other journals he had seen as a child. His mother had been devoted to her journal, writing in it nearly every day. He could remember her sitting at this very desk, her pen moving across the smooth pages furiously. After she had died, he had kept them, read them when he missed his mother more than he had wanted to admit when he was a teenager, and felt like he knew her from reading them. They had all been filled with tales of their days together; some of her feelings at being so alone, but none had ever mentioned Rambaldi. But when he saw this journal in the drawer with the prophecy, he had known it was his mother's. This was one he hadn't read before. This was one Irina had kept. He wondered briefly if she had left it intentionally out for him to find, but he wouldn't dwell on it. He had to read this one too. His curiosity was getting the best of him (a mistake a spy should never fall for).

He opened the book reverently, scanning over the familiar slant of words across the page. She was seventeen when she had started this journal, just barely a woman. The beginning spoke of her family, but quickly fell into her father and Rambaldi's great mystery. He read the first few pages, surprised at the almost insane tone to her words as she rambled about how Rambaldi would bring about the greatest child of the world, things that he had known for many years, but had never connected with his mother. Alecksandria was obviously very connected to Rambaldi and what he believed and he understood how she should have been part of the Covenant. He didn't know what had changed her, what had made her stop believing in Rambaldi, or if she ever had. He had no idea what to expect from the rest of this journal, but he had the feeling they would only raise more questions about his mother's tie to Rambaldi. She was fanatical about this man, had she always known that he would be the Guardian? Was that why she quit spying? Because she wanted to raise the Guardian properly. Would she have raised him on stories of Rambaldi when he had gotten old enough to understand them, explained the religion of the man who had prophesied his future? Would she have protected him from his future, had having a child changed all that she had believed? So many questions and he could only hope that this journal would answer those questions the farther he got into them. He wondered, briefly, if this journal even mentioned her pregnancy with him. Again, he wondered if Irina was trying to distract him from what he should be focusing on. Irina loved to distract him. He sighed loudly, in actual exasperation. Sark was rarely exasperated.

It was almost as if Rogan knew that Sark needed a moment's break. He came into the room quietly, his head down, but a small, mischievous smile on his face. Sark watched him with mild amusement, because he knew that the child was so quiet because he didn't want to disturb Sark.

"Hello, Rogan."

He looked up guiltily, particularly when he saw that Sark was at a desk, appearing to have been doing some work. He finally replied. "Hi, Mr. Sark. Whatcha doin'?"

"Reading something my mother left behind for me to read. May I help you with something?"

He shook his head silently and he glanced up at Sark, obviously wanting to say more. Sark waited for a few moments, giving Rogan time to say what he needed to say. But Rogan took respect to a whole new level, particularly for a little boy.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Rogan's face burst into a full fledged grin. "Grandpa's on his way and Mommy said we're gonna go away wif him and it's gonna be a secret, like everythin' else has been."

Sark nearly laughed at Rogan's excitement over the espionage they were playing at. He was obviously born to a superspy due to the comment. Everything Rogan did reminded Sark of Sydney. He was the spitting image of his mother…with a few possible features from his famous and important father. They had yet to find the perfect sketch of Rambaldi, so they weren't quite positive what likenesses Rogan had inherited.

"You're right, Rogan. We will be leaving as soon as your grandfather arrives." Sark continued his explanation of what was happening until they both heard the door open. Jack was here. They would wait a few moments before going out, though it was quite a task to restrain Rogan from running out to greet Jack. They needed to give Sydney time to explain, though. At least a short version. He held onto Rogan and timed the entry to five minutes before he would let Rogan loose.

Jack's stony silence would be enough to crack a less formidable opponent, but Sydney knew how to ignore it. She refused to let his behavior wrack her nerves as she told him the whole story of what had transpired. His face remained stoic; Sydney would have expected no less from her father. Somehow, though, his eyes actually betrayed him, particularly when she filled in Irina's involvement in the kidnapping of her grandson and how she had planned on using them all like puppets in a show. Jack would never become accustomed to being betrayed by the woman he had once loved, now matter how many times she did it or how much he expected it from her. Sydney felt a pang of sympathy for Jack, because Sark had betrayed her in a similar way. She understood how it felt now, as well as the overwhelming desire to protect a child. Sydney finished the story with what the Rambaldi prophecy had predicted. Jack's anger at Rambaldi's involvement in his child's life broke through the stiff façade and he felt he immediately devised a plan that would best beat Rambaldi and Irina.

"You and Sark must separate immediately. You will go into hiding with Rogan. Sark is on his own, he has to face the consequences of betraying us. I will find a way to take care of Irina and when I do, that prophecy will be void."

Sydney had been prepared for Jack to try to take charge of her life. He was a leader to the core and nothing would ever change that. He was her father and while he often hid it, he only wanted to keep his family safe. Sydney had that same intention and she had her own ideas on what to do to stop this prophecy from coming true. She tried to think of the best way to tell her father that if he was going to help her, he was going to do it her way. Jack was never the most receptive at accepting orders or suggestions.

"Actually, Dad, Sark and I have come up with our own plan. You do play an important part to it. We need a safe, untraceable place to work everything out. Mom might know about this place, it was Sark's childhood home, so it will be easy for her to find us here. It's imperative that we have a safe place that she can't trace to any of us to finish it out. Sark wanted us to leave as soon as you got here, because the two of us assumed you would already have a place ready."

"Sydney, that can't be wise. Sark has proven once again that he can't be trusted. We will leave him here to deal with the backlash himself. Getting Rogan to a safe place is the most important thing we can do right now and letting Sark joining us will endanger that. Irina will not be happy that Sark also betrayed her."

"It's truly not up to you, Dad. I don't trust him, either, but we must play this out for Rogan's sake. I would appreciate you accepting this decision, instead of fighting me on it. I don't have the time or energy to fight you about this and I don't have anywhere else to go."

Before Jack had the chance to respond, Rogan burst into the room, a pristine looking Sark, following closely behind. Despite the lack of sleep, Sark looked as alert and immaculate as he ever had. Sark's expression was cool the instant he saw Jack, the look of almost adoration he had for the boy in front him vanished before anyone even noticed it. Rogan jumped onto Jack with an energy only 3 ½ year olds possessed. Rogan doted on his grandfather with the freedom of emotion children were blessed with.

Jack felt a rush of relief at just seeing his grandson. He didn't care how many times Sydney had told him that Rogan was okay, Jack hadn't seriously believed it until he saw Rogan right then. He allowed himself to embrace the small child, thankful that he didn't seem any more scarred than he was. Irina hadn't poisoned the child against him and he was thankful for that.

"I missed you almos' as much as I missed Mommy, Grandpa. I met Grandma Irina wif Sark and she said she used to love you and that you used to love her, which is so gross"

Jack was almost thrown off guard by Rogan's simple comments regarding Irina. He wasn't even sure how he was supposed to reply to that. Luckily, Rogan rattled on, regaling Jack with jumbled or almost nonsensical tales. Jack let him prattle for a few more moments and that's when he made his decision that he voiced as soon as Rogan took a breath.

"I've got a place. Let's go."