froggygrl101, Muddy Poodle, RoutineRiot & agent belle: Thank you all so much for your reviews.

Muddy Poodle: How is Lauren still alive? Well, this is a fic set in the world of Alias...is anybody ever truly dead?

Disclaimer: The title of this chapter comes from the song 'No Such Thing' by John Mayer

I Just Found Out There's No Such Thing As The Real World, Just A Lie You've Got To Rise Above

Summer blinked. "But…but I thought that you worked at the CIA…you said that you knew…"

"Summer, I omitted several details when I first approached you. The higher ups, and myself, wanted to wait before telling you everything. We wanted to be sure that you would be able to handle the truth."

Summer's eyes narrowed. "What the hell have you gotten me into?"

"There is somebody here who will explain everything to you," Thea gestured behind her. "Will you come this way, please?"

Summer hesitated for a few seconds, but then against her better judgement fell into step behind Thea. The cat getting killed by curiosity all of a sudden made perfect sense to her.

"Here." Thea stopped at a closed door. "I just want to prepare you. When I open this door, you are bound to get a shock."

"What do you mean by shock?" Summer asked.

"You need to see for yourself." With that Thea pushed open the door.

Summer had been about to step through the door when she froze. It wasn't possible, she was imagining things, she was being set up…and Thea had completely underestimated her reaction. Shock was nothing to what she was experiencing now.

The woman standing in the room, her face- it was the same one that was in the several precious photographs that she possessed. Staring directly into her eyes Summer drew in a deep breath and finally found it in herself to speak.

"Mum?"

"Hello Summer," Lauren replied, her voice smooth. Summer felt a small jolt. Her mother spoke with a British accent. She had never known that fact, it had never once been mentioned to her.

Summer could only continue to stare. Her mother's hair was no longer the blonde hue that was in her pictures; instead it had been changed to a dark red. Summer couldn't help but think that the suited her even more.

"I understand that this must be feeling completely surreal for you," Lauren started. "But—"

"Surreal does not even begin to cover what I am feeling," Summer cut in. "You are standing here talking and breathing and…you're supposed to be dead!"

Lauren's expression suddenly turned wrought. "I know and I am so sorry for whatever I put you through, but that is what they had to believe."

"They?"

"Your father…and Sydney. I presume that she is still a part of his life."

Summer nodded slightly. "Yes…but why did you want dad and Sydney to think that? Why would you want me to think that? It makes absolutely no sense."

"Summer," Lauren gestured to a chair in front of her. "You should sit down. Everything will make sense once I have made some things clear. The truth- about Michael and Sydney and the people they work with."

Summer made no move to sit down. "Why should I listen to you? If you have really been alive all this time, why is now the first time that I am seeing you? Nineteen years and you have made no attempt to contact me. What gives you the right to come bursting into my life now?"

"Summer, this is what I have been trying to explain. I have wanted to contact you over the years- so much that it hurt. But I couldn't. It would have put both our lives at risk."

Summer crossed her arms. "At risk? And why is that?"

"Because," Lauren said. "Michael and Sydney do not really work for the CIA."

"Dr Emery!"

She looked up from the notes she was making on a chart, to se a nurse heading in her direction. "Yes, Amanda?"

"Your coma patient..."

Dr Emery frowned, capping her pen. "Lauren Reed?" Amanda nodded. "What about her?"

"There's been... you need to come now."

Hurriedly Dr Emery followed Amanda into Lauren's room. "What is the urgency?"

Amanda grabbed the chart from the end of the bed. "I was going over these results and…well, I just wanted you to check. To be honest, I thought that I was imagining things."

Dr Emery read over the chart, ensuring her expression did not change as she took in the results. Right away she could see what had got the nurse so frazzled- there seemed to be a definite improvement in brain function.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Amanda's voice broke into Dr Emery thoughts. "There is improvement, isn't there?"

Dr Emery looked the nurse directly in the eyes. "This is nothing new," she lied. "Ms Reed's functioning has been fluctuating since her arrival. How long have you be assigned to her?"

"Um, this is my first day…so does that mean that this change is nothing?"

"What I am saying is that we cannot get excited prematurely," she replied calmly. Placing the chart back down, she looked at the nurse. "Unless this change proves to be consistent, there is nothing that we can do. Why don't you go and attend to your other patients, Amanda. I will stay here and monitor Ms Reed."

"But…" Amanda seemed less than eager to leave.

"Go," Dr Emery said firmly. She waited until the nurse had closed the door behind her before pulling a phone out of her pocket and hitting one of the speed dials.

"What's your status?" came the abrupt answer from the other end.

"There's improvement. We are going to need extraction."

"How long?"

"I'll need a day to make it appear authentic, for the formula to kick. Equipment and charts will also need to be altered," Dr Emery replied. "Do you have the replacement body?"

"Ready when you need it. We'll be waiting for your go ahead."

Disbelief was written all over Summer's face. "They're not CIA?"

Lauren nodded. "That is correct."

"So then, who do they work for?" Summer shot back.

"A rogue organization hostile towards the United States."

Summer was shaking her head. "No…I can't…there is no way that this can be true. I have known dad and Sydney my whole life. I would know if they were criminals."

"And I was married to Michael," Lauren said quietly. "I got to witness first hand what he was capable of."

"Well, if he was such a terrible person why did you marry him?"

"I didn't…" Lauren paused, blinking furiously as if trying to stop herself from crying. "I believed that he was CIA as well- after all we worked there together. And I did not discover the truth about who he really was until it was too late."

"Too late?"

Lauren looked at Summer directly in the eyes. "If I may ask, just what did your father tell you? About how I died?"

Summer hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "I was told that you married and that you and dad started having problems and so you separated. Shortly after you were in a car accident, fell into a coma and it was then that you were discovered to be pregnant. After I was born you developed an infection and died."

"A car accident," Lauren closed her eyes briefly. "An accident- that is what they told you?"

"Yes."

"I was not in a car accident, Summer," Lauren replied, her voice sad. "I was shot."

Summer blinked. "What?"

"I have the scars right here on my chest to prove it."

"But why would dad tell me you were in a car accident if—"

"Because it was your father who shot me."

Summer took a step back, swallowing hard. "No, I don't believe you. He wouldn't—"

"He discovered that I knew the truth about him and he had to eliminate any threats to his and Sydney's organization." Lauren picked up a thick folder off the table. "I have copies of all CIA reports on the incident right here. Hospital records on my injuries and how they were inflicted. True profiles on Michael, Sydney and their associates. It's all here and it is all official documentation. Here," Lauren offered it to Summer. "Read it."

Even thought its contents was the last thing that Summer ever wanted to see, she still took the folder, opened it and started to read.

Thea stood abruptly as her patient's eyes fluttered open. She could barely believe that she was awake- after all this time.

"Ms Reed."

"Where…" Lauren broke off, struggling to speak. "Where am I?"

"You're safe," Thea assured her.

"What happened to me?"

"Do you not remember?"

"I…" Lauren's upper lip curled. "He shot me."

Thea nodded. "Yes. You have been in a coma…for close to five months."

"What?!" If Lauren had any energy she would have sat up at that point. "I've what?"

"You've been in a coma- in a CIA hospital. When you started to show signs of improvement, we managed to execute your extraction from the facility. You are alive and will recover, but the CIA believes you to be dead. Which means that you are free to go about your business as you please. We are extremely happy with the result."

Lauren was frowning. "We…you mean the Covenant?"

Thea shook her head, almost sadly. "The Covenant no longer exists. Those of us still willing to continue its work are trying to rebuild as we speak. Your expertise and your experience will be crucial to our success. That is why I was placed at the hospital- so that somebody could watch you, in the hope that one day you would regain consciousness and need extraction."

Lauren eyed off the other woman. "And who are you exactly?"

"Thea Emery," she replied. "Until the Covenant crumbled, they had me placed in St Petersburg."

Lauren paused for a few seconds. "You worked directly under McKenas Cole. I heard your name mentioned a few times."

"Yes, I did." Thea replied.

"And you spent the past five months sitting…" Lauren trailed off, her hand going to her abdomen. "I have been out of it for five months?"

"Yes."

"What happened…what happened to my…"

"You had a daughter several days ago. Given where you were, the surveillance you were under, we had no choice but to let the child be taken by her father- Michael Vaughn."

Lauren's expression was oddly blank. "He's got her?"

"I'm sorry—"

"No, it's fine. A baby was never part of the plan anyway," Lauren interjected. "And who knows, she may be of use to us one day."

Feeling numb, Summer dropped into one of the chairs as she thumbed through the contents of the folder. It was almost as if nothing felt real to her anymore and she had no idea what to believe. She had grown up thinking that her mother was dead, but that illusion had been completely shattered. She knew her father and Sydney to be two of the most caring and loving people, but according to the CIA reports and police files in front of her, that was not the case either.

After closing the folder, she took a few seconds before looking up at her mother. "If you didn't die, then what happened?"

"I was in a hospital run by your father's organization. Thea, posing as a doctor, faked my death by injecting me with a toxin that simulated death. The CIA then extracted me from the morgue, exchanging my body with another that had been surgically altered to resemble me. I've spent the past nineteen years living under another name, but still continuing my work for the government."

Summer could not respond, and instead squeezed her eyes shut. If she did that long enough then maybe she would eventually wake up. Wake up and find that this entire situation was nothing but a horrible dream.

"Summer," Lauren started. "I know that all of this must be so hard for you to hear. And even more hard for you to hear."

"Oh yeah, just a tad," Summer could not keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "You have just told me that basically the past nineteen years of my life has been a lie." She paused. "And I am sorry, but I've known dad and Sydney a hell of a lot longer than you. I'm not going to take the word of a stranger over those of the people who raised me."

Lauren's expression hardened slightly. "Fair enough," she said. "So, why don't you go home? Take that folder and read over it carefully. You say that you know your father, which means that you'll know if something he tells you about me is a little off. You're an intelligent girl Summer and I realise that I cannot tell you what to believe. But what you need to realise as that as your mother all I want to do is protect you. Think it over for a couple of days, form your own opinion and then let me know."

"Let you know what?"

"Whether you want to forget that this meet ever happened or whether you want to continue the work you started with us, serving your country."

Summer stood up, clutching the folder to her chest. "A couple of days?"

Lauren nodded. "I will be contactable through Thea."

"Ok," Summer whispered and then made to head out of the room.

"Summer." Lauren's voice stopped her.

"Yes?"

"It was…" her mother's voice faltered. "It was wonderful to finally meet you. I have been waiting for this day for nineteen years."

Not knowing how to respond to such a comment, Summer turned on her heel and walked out of the door.