Chapter 98: Father Knows Best

"It is a wise father that knows his own child." – William Shakespeare

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you is determinism; the way you play it is free will." – Jawaharlal Nehru

"Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game." – Goethe

"Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves." – Ralph Waldo Emerson


They heard Will go to the door, "Hey!" he said.

"Hello Will."

Sydney looked at Vaughn. He said, "Your dad?"

Sydney got up, going to the door, "You be ok sitting?"

He nodded and then she went out.

"Dad?" she called on her way out, seeing him standing just outside the living room.

"Hello sweetheart," he said smiling, "I just stopped by to see how everything was going. Will was telling me it's been a rough few days."

Sydney smiled at her father's concern, "Come on in Dad, I wanna make sure Vaughn's ok - he's sitting up right now. We can talk in there, ok?"

"Of course," Jack said following his daughter.

"Good morning Francie," he said as he passed her.

"Morning Jack," she said.

Sydney got to the bedroom first, smiling at Vaughn who was sitting patiently.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I'm getting tired now..."

"Ok honey," she said moving over to help him lay back.

Jack walked in just as Sydney was getting Vaughn settled.

"Hello Michael," he said as he entered, "how are you feeling?"

Vaughn smiled, "Pretty good today," he said.

"That's wonderful," Jack said smiling.

Sydney sat down on the bed, "Yeah, it's been kinda rough on him..."

"How so?" Jack asked.

"Well, first he had an infected wound, that was very bad...then he had a very nervous therapy session with Barnett. That actually went pretty well...but after that we over-exerted and then we had a really bad, painful night, complete with the infected wound bleeding. So...it's been eventful to say the least."

"My, my...I guess so...but you're feeling better today?"

"Yeah, I am," Vaughn replied.

Sydney looked to Vaughn, "You hungry?"

"Yeah..."

"You wanna stay for lunch dad?"

"Sure, that'd be nice."

"Ok...what would you like," Sydney asked Vaughn.

He shrugged, "Whatever Francie wants to make...if she's making it..."

"I'll go tell her...be right back," she said moving off the bed and smiling at her dad on the way out.

Jack shifted unsure if he should go or stay.

"You can sit," Vaughn said pointing to the chair.

Jack sat.

"Did you stop by to check on Sydney?" Vaughn asked.

Jack smiled, "Well, yes...but to check on you too..."

"Really?" Vaughn asked.

"Of course," Jack said, "You're important to Sydney. You make her happy..."

Vaughn looked sheepishly at him.

"Well of course, I worry about my daughter, but I worry about you too...contrary to what you might think, I care about you too..."

Vaughn smiled, "Thank you."

"You're a good man and a good agent...I'm glad you and Sydney found each other."

"Me too..."

Jack smiled, "You feel up to a rematch today?"

"Yeah, I think so...you know...you make Sydney happy too...now you do..."

Jack smiled, "I made a lot of mistakes...I'm glad to hear that I've made an improvement."

Sydney walked back in after that, glancing at the two, "You two have a nice chat?" she asked.

"Yes, we did," Jack said, "Michael had agreed to another rematch so we can settle this whole issue as to who is the better Othello player."

"That should be fun," Sydney said, "I know we'll all look forward to witnessing the showdown."

"Yes...and if he ties me again, we'll have to find a new game...chess perhaps or checkers?"

"Checkers?" Vaughn said with a grin, "You want to play checkers with me old man?"

Jack laughed, "Old man! You just watch and see...when I'm kicking your young little ass in all the games!"

Vaughn laughed and Sydney joined in.

They talked for a few minutes before Sydney said, "You wanna go out on the couch today Vaughn?"

"Can we go outside?" Vaughn asked, looking like he was eight again.

Sydney smiled, "Yeah, honey, we can go outside..."

She looked to her dad, "Can you help us?"

"I'd be happy to," Jack said, rising from the chair, "What do I do?"

Sydney smiled, "Nothing yet, just a second..." she moved to sit on Vaughn's legs, sitting him up and then moved off to swing his legs off of the bed and helped him to stand before her.

Jack smiled as he watched the whole scene unfold, "That's quite amazing actually...very synchronistic..."

Sydney smiled, "Thank you...we work well as a team," Sydney said sharing a smile with Vaughn.

"Ok, dad...we each take a side and then help him walk outside...I'll take the left side...we're going to the patio..."

"Alright," Jack said moving to support Vaughn on the right.

"Ok, let's move," Sydney said starting to move to the patio.

They maneuvered Vaughn around the house, through the patio doors and out to the lawn chair that he had inhabited before. Sydney instructed her father to ease Vaughn into the chair. Once they had him down, Sydney got him settled in the chair comfortably and slightly off the chair so that his back was not pressed against the plastic of the chair.

"You cold?" Sydney asked.

"Nah, I'm good right now..."

"Ok," she said kissing him. She turned to her father, "Thanks for your help dad."

"My pleasure Sydney," Jack said.

"Yeah, thanks," Vaughn echoed.

Jack smiled.

Sydney said, "I'll go check on lunch...why don't you sit down dad."

"Ok, I'll do that," Jack said, taking a seat across from Vaughn. He looked over at the man that had stolen his daughter's heart. Vaughn's head was resting comfortably on a pillow that Sydney had brought out and his face was pointed upward, golden rays of sunlight framed his head like a halo. He smiled sheepishly as he noticed Jack's scrutiny.

"Sorry," Jack said, "I didn't mean to stare...I just realized how nice it must for you to get out of the house...just being outside...it must be hard to stay inside all the time."

"Yeah...it is...but Sydney makes it more than bareable. I'm very much looking forward to getting better though so I can get out of the house more...go somewhere...gets a little drab in the house sometimes...same walls...you know..."

"I'd imagine it would get rather cell-like..." Jack said looking at him pointedly.

Vaughn looked over at him, "I didn't say that..."

"You didn't have to...I know all about torture Michael...if you need to talk...you know...I'm...well...you can call..."

"Thank you..."

"You know why I've always liked games Michael?"

"Why?"

"Because I've always thought that if I knew the strategy and I knew the rules, and I could envision the moves, that I could solve any problem, figure anything out...but that's really not true. There are things that the best strategy cannot solve, cannot undo...game theory is a wonderful tool, but it's just that – it's just a heuristic device...that's all..."

Vaughn smiled, "I think I get it..."

"Good, cause I'm terrible at this whole fatherly thing..."

"You're doing fine," Vaughn assured him.

Sydney came out smiling at the two, "Lunch is almost ready...Francie and Will are going to bring it out here..."

"Excellent," Jack said, "I'm sure it'll be wonderful as usual..."

Sydney sat down next to Vaughn. He looked very happy to be outside. She loved that Vaughn and her dad seemed to be getting along. She'd have to ask him about that later.

"So, how's work going dad?"

"You mean do we have any leads?"

Vaughn turned his attention away from the beauty of the outdoors to their conversation.

"Yeah...do you?"

"No...not yet...have you been working on any of the files that Will–" he broke off as Will and Francie entered with lunch.

"It's ok dad, Francie knows...I thought it was time to tell her..."

Francie smiled at Jack, "Go ahead, talk spy...I'm all ears..."

Jack smiled, "The files that Will compiled?"

"I started looking through them...but we haven't done much..."

"No of course not, you've been occupied...I understand..." Jack said, meaning it.

Sydney smiled. She watched the interaction between her friends and father with interest, but what interested her more were the conversations that her father and Vaughn seemed to carry. They seemed much more at ease with each other than they had in the past, and she was grateful. Vaughn was going to be a part of her life...for good she hoped, and her father was too now...so she was glad they were getting along.

After lunch, Will and Francie cleared away the remnants and then broke out the games.
They all watched in a huddled circle as Vaughn and Jack played another game of Othello.

It was too close to count the pieces, although Will was desperately trying to. When all the spaces were finished, Jack counted, "Well, I'll be damned," he said quietly.

"What? WHAT?" Will asked excitedly.

"Michael beat me..."

Sydney beamed from her perch next to Vaughn and kissed him on the cheek.

Jack sat back baffled, "See – that just proves what I said before..." he said looking at Vaughn, "I had perfect strategy...I planned every move and anticipated yours...and you still won...that's why it's a game...even life...it's the same game..."

Vaughn smiled, "Very true."

Will and Francie looked to Sydney for some semblance of what was going on, but she shrugged back at them because she had no more clues that they did.

"Chess?" Jack asked.

"Sure," Vaughn replied.

He put the Othello game back in the box and brought out the chessboard, setting it up with precision and detail.

For the next hour and a half, Jack and Vaughn were locked in a concentrated bubble. Will and Francie came in and out, watching and doing other things, like taking Donovan out for a walk. Sydney stayed right where she was though, through the whole thing, fascinated by the way these two very important men in her life bounced back and forth on the board. Each game they played seemed to go the same way. Her father would be ahead, then Vaughn, back and forth...and no one ever knew until the end who was in the lead for the win.

She watched intently as Vaughn strategized in his head – she swore she could see wheels turning, but her father was a mirror image...both strategizing, anticipating. She started to smile just watching the two of them, so serious.

Vaughn made his move, "Check..."

Jack's brow furrowed.

"Are you doing this on purpose?" Vaughn asked, his own brow furrowing slightly.

"Do I look like I'm doing this on purpose Michael?"

Sydney started to giggle and had to go in the house before she lost it completely. Vaughn was totally kicking her dad's ass...and she was enjoying it much too thoroughly.

When she composed herself to come out enough, they hadn't moved at all, her dad was still trying to get out of Vaughn's check.

Jack looked up at her, "I see you've collected yourself enough to return...you're quite enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I am enjoying it immensely!" Sydney said sitting down again, but this time on Vaughn's chair.
He put his arm around her and they waited until Jack finally moved. Will and Francie returned a few seconds later after Sydney had come into the house yelling, "Vaughn's kicking my dad's ass!" and giggling uncontrollably.

Vaughn made Sydney move down to him and he whispered something in her ear that Jack couldn't hear.

She smiled and moved a piece for Vaughn, "Checkmate," she said smiling happily and leaning more into Vaughn. "Wanna play again daddy?" she asked giggling. Will and Francie laughed heartily too and even Jack had to join in.

"Now what should we play?" Vaughn asked.

"Maybe we should play something that everyone can...maybe then I'll be able to beat someone..."

Everyone laughed again.

"How about poker?" Will asked hopefully.

Sydney snickered, "I admire you're diligence Will, but do you really wanna play poker with me and these two?" she said motioning to Jack and Vaughn. "Don't you lose enough?"

"Bring it on spy girl!" he said sticking her tongue out at him.

"Very mature," Sydney said in response.

"Lets play!" Will said, grabbing the cards.