AN: Music for this Chapter (on repeat): If God Will Send His Angels by U2 from the City of Angels Soundtrack, There Goes My Hero by Foo Fighters, Do Your Thing by the Basement Jaxx, Nara by E.S. Posthumus, I Grieve by Peter Gabriel, Deliver Me by Sarah Brightman, Time by Hans Zimmer from The Thin Red Line Soundtrack, Space Between by Dave Matthews Band, Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
TWENTY
o
*If God Will Send His Angels*
The car ride home had been absolutely silent except for the few fussy noises Lena made sitting in the back with Sydney, reminding them life will go on. Pulling into the driveway, they sat in the car, staring at the house not wanting to go in.
"This can't be happening." Sydney broke the silence. "It just can't be happening."
"Sydney," Jack began with a lump in his throat.
"No, Dad! This is ridiculous. We have to do something." She got out of the car, removed the car seat and made way for the house with Jack and Katya immediately following.
"Sydney," Jack caught up to her, pulling gently on her arm to stop. "I promised your mother we wouldn't do anything that would get us killed or thrown in prison with her. " He spoke softly, "Sydney," He moved to hug her and she stepped away from him, the sadness inside her turning to anger.
Sydney opened the door quickly and stepped inside. Setting Lena in her carrier on the table, she immediately started grabbing frozen bags of breast milk from the freezer and stuffed them inside the diaper bag along with some clean bottles. She picked up the baby in her carrier and like lightning flew past Jack and Katya into her father's room. There she began gathering some more diapers, clothing, blankets and the Baby Bjorn snuggly that Carrie had given Irina as a baby gift.
"I'm going to Vaughn's. I just need some space for awhile and then I'll be back, ok?" In one swift move she turned to hug her aunt and then kissed her father's cheek. "I'll take Lena with me and let you get some sleep tonight since you stayed up with her most of last night." Before either could protest she was out the door.
"She's up to something." Jack watched as Sydney strode with purpose in her step towards her car.
"She's upset, Jack, understandably so. Give her time." Katya put her hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I refuse to sit by and do nothing." Sydney whispered to her sister, strapping the car seat into its base in her car. "It's you and me now, Lena. It's up to us to save Mom." She bent forward placing a light kiss on her sister's head before shutting the door and driving away.
"Hello," Vaughn answered in a sleepy voice.
"Hey," Sydney maneuvered the car across two lanes of the freeway, calling Vaughn the moment she was able to in the car. "It's me."
"Syd, my God. I've been so worried." Vaughn sat straight up in bed, fully alert now. "I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours."
"We were at the NSC facility." Sydney held back tears trying to stay focused.
"Syd," Vaughn's voice deflated knowing that she was there to say her goodbyes to Irina, his heart breaking for her.
"Listen Vaughn," Sydney interrupted him, "I know it's late, but can you meet me in thirty minutes at LAX?"
"Syd, why? What's going on? Where are you going?" Vaughn started putting on his pants, knowing he'd be there no matter what her answer was.
"Just, trust me, please? Gate 47B." She hung up the phone and threw it into the passenger seat. "I thought maybe we could use some back up." She looked in the rearview mirror, talking to her sister reflected in the mirror bouncing her image back to Sydney.
Sydney waited anxiously outside the gate as the plane was boarding.
"Syd," Vaughn rushed towards her carrying a duffel bag. "What's going on and why are we at LAX?" He picked up Lena's carrier and diaper bag as they boarded the plane.
"We're going to Washington and I couldn't use the agency plane without my dad finding out so we're flying commercially." She whispered and then handed the woman their tickets. "We'll be landing in Dulles in 5 hours. I'll explain when we get there."
"Is this legal?" Vaughn asked securing the car seat containing Lena in the seat between he and Sydney.
"Is what legal?" Sydney asked stuffing their bags into the overhead compartment and Lena's diaper bag under the seat.
"Flying on an airplane with a baby," He looked at his watch seeing it was just past mid-night. "Just minutes over five days old?"
"I think so, though it might not be done often in normal society." She took the window seat and Vaughn the aisle. "We've never done anything according to normal society so why start now, right?" She smiled trying to ease the butterflies in her stomach.
The plane started making its way down the runway and Vaughn handed Sydney a piece of gum for her ears.
"Thanks." She smiled brightly at the man beside her whom, had no idea what he had just volunteered for but was there none-the-less because she asked him to. "What about Lena's ears?" Sydney suddenly looked panicked at her sister still sleeping in the car seat between them. "Do baby's ears naturally pop?"
"I don't know." Vaughn looked stupefied around the plane hoping there were other parents onboard to see what they were doing, there were none. "She needs to suck on something. Didn't Weiss and Marshall buy her a pacifier?" He reached under the seat for the diaper bag, digging furiously through it.
"Yes, multiple in many sizes, colors and shapes." Sydney laughed, "I know I put one in there."
"Ah ha!" Vaughn pulled the little white and pink Nuk out from the bottom of the bag triumphantly. He gave it to the baby who started sucking on it furiously without waking up. Vaughn ran his hand softly over her head and pulled her blanket up around her.
Sydney was watching the whole time, feeling her heart soar. "You're going to make a great father." She announced when he was done fussing over the baby.
"Thanks." He smiled remembering Irina's comments about grandchildren and then his smile fell, remembering why they were on this plane. "So are you going to tell me this plan now?" He sat back motioning the flight attendant for a drink.
"No, I think it's better if I tell you once we're on the ground." She looked out the window to the Los Angeles skyline quickly disappearing.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to cause a scene on the plane."
"Sydney! Are you crazy?" Vaughn whispered once they'd landed and were now standing a few hundred yards away from the White House.
Sydney was dressed completely in black from head to toe and had just finished strapping Lena into the Baby Bjorn that was securely fastened to the front of her chest. She pulled out the pacifier once again and waited for Lena to take it before answering Vaughn.
"No, I'm not crazy, Vaughn." She began zipping up her coat around the baby, leaving a crack at the neck so Lena could breath. "I'm desperate."
"Sydney, stop and think about this. You have a baby strapped to your chest and your planning on breaking and entering into the White House for Christ-sake! That's insane!" He shouted though kept putting his gear in his bag and pulling on his black attire. "Think of how dangerous this is. For you, for the baby!" He grabbed her arm as she began opening the secret entrance into one of the underground tunnels into the White House used mostly by Secret Service in case of Emergency.
"Vaughn, if I don't go in there and try my mother's going to die." She turned towards him tears in her eyes. "I grew up without my mother. You grew up without your father. You know how that feels and I'm quite certain that if we don't find someway to stop my mother's Execution, Lena will grow up without my father as well! Because I don't think he can handle losing my mother again, it almost killed him the last time! I will not let my sister grow up without our mother or our father. This is our one and only chance; our one shot to change my sister's future forever." She pulled her arm away from his grasp, tears stinging her cheeks in the cold November air.
"Ok." Vaughn agreed softly and helped her to pull the door back.
*There Goes My Hero*
Vaughn flipped on his night vision goggles and signaled Sydney to follow behind him. They crept silently down the long entrance that took them underground beneath the park and street and straight into the sublevels of the White House.
"The door's protected by a civil alarm system." Vaughn set his gun down and pulled out his wire cutters. "If we can re-route the wires without breaking the circuit, the alarm shouldn't go off."
"Here." Sydney reached into the pack and pulled out various colors of wires to Vaughn's surprise. "I came prepared for this. Embassies are all wired like this, too." She smiled as he took a red one and went to work.
"Got it." He wiped the sweat form his brow, motioning for Sydney to be silent as he opened the door and did a quick security sweep.
A guard just inside the entrance was dosing lightly in a chair and Vaughn shot him in the neck with a tranquilizer dart before he even stirred. They crept down another hallway that stopped with a big steel door leading them into the kitchen.
"How many guards?" Sydney asked as Vaughn threaded a scope under the door to look around.
"Two on the right, three on the left." He whispered, pulling the scope back and standing.
"I'll take the ones on the left, you take the ones on the right." Sydney commanded, loading her tranquilizer gun.
"No Syd. I'll take the ones on the left; you take the ones on the right. There are more on the left and you have the baby strapped to the front of you remember?" Vaughn argued.
"True, but I have a quicker shot then you." She smiled while peeking inside her jacket to make sure Lena was still sleeping against her chest. "We need to make this silent. I've got the left, ready? On the count of three…1, 2, 3!"
*Do Your Thing *
Sydney burst open the door and she and Vaughn fired back-to-back at all agents, rendering them useless before they could even draw their weapons.
"We're committing at least a dozen felonies, you know?" Vaughn crept silently towards the guards, removing their weapons and throwing them down the trash chute while he and Sydney passed it.
They made their way up to the second story through a server's staircase, shooting another tranq. dart into the armed guard at the top, propping him up nicely in his chair to make it look as though he were just sleeping before removing his weapon and creeping through down the dark hallway.
Two armed guards rounded a corner on their nightly patrol and Sydney pulled Vaughn into a room nearby.
"This is so insane!" He whispered after the guards had passed and they shot them in the backs. "We can't just waltz right into the President's bedroom! There are at least two guards posted just outside the door." Vaughn loaded another tranq. clip into his gun. "So how do we get in without tipping off security?"
"We use the balcony." She made her way towards the French doors in the bedroom they were currently hiding in.
Vaughn moved first and Sydney followed as they crept through the shadows, towards the President's bedroom balcony located just above the Oval Office. Vaughn stopped her and motioned to the two guards posted outside the doors.
Silently, they decided which one each was going to take and aimed. Knocking both unconscious simultaneously.
Sydney turned the handle doors slowly, trying to muffle any noise with her glove while Vaughn kept an eye out for snipers.
Stepping inside the giant room, she quietly pulled Vaughn in behind her and shut the door. The President and First Lady were sleeping soundly in their bed and Sydney motioned Vaughn to take the right again while she took the left. Sitting supremely gingerly on the bed, Sydney reached over to the nightstand and turned on the light.
The President instantly awakened, as did his wife, and Sydney immediately covered his mouth while Vaughn hers; motioning them not to scream.
Lena chose this time to start making fussy noises and both the President and First Lady's eyes darted to the bulge under Sydney's jacket. When she had assurance from their eyes they wouldn't scream, she let go of the President's mouth and unzipped her jacket exposing the baby.
"Oh my God," Laura whispered, tears already in her eyes.
"Mr. President, First Lady, I'm sorry to drop in like this but you've left me no other choice." Sydney swallowed the massive lump in her throat as she sat on the bed. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sydney Bristow, CIA and this," She unfastened the Baby Bjorn and removed Lena, turning her to face their now captivated audience, "Is my sister Lena. She is five days old and in less then twenty-four hours, our mother is going to be executed by your Administration for crimes she did not commit."
The President immediately knew whom she was referring to by the look on his face.
"George?" Laura turned to him having no idea what was going on and who was being executed and why this desperate crazy girl was in their bedroom at 3 o'clock in the morning with a newborn baby.
"Your mother is Irina Derevko?" The President asked Sydney.
"Yes and I realize you refused to meet with President Putin but I feel you're making a grave mistake."
"Putin? George what's going on? Who's Irina Derevko and why is she being executed?" Laura pulled on his pajama sleeve.
"She is a Russian born terrorist, who married a CIA operative in the seventies as a KGB agent to steal information. She mothered a child, killed twelve CIA agents then faked her death only to return to Russia to start the world's largest international crime syndicate, turned herself in twenty years later claiming to want to help only to use her time in custody to obtain information and then escape, stealing US government property before she fled the country. Isn't that the woman in question, Ms. Bristow?" The President's tone very cold and distant.
"Not exactly." Sydney sighed, realizing this might very well take all night. "Yes, all of what you said is true but you've left out some very key informational points, Mr. President."
Lena started fussing as she was hungry and Sydney whipped out a bottle and started feeding her much to the surprise of everyone in the room, including Vaughn as she was making the President of the United States wait for an explanation.
"My mother never killed any CIA officers while she was working for the KGB. You've been misinformed." Sydney ran her hand over her sister's forehead, smoothing out some wild hair. "The officers my mother supposedly killed were all in fact KGB agents, on missions within the CIA."
The President was taken back and leaned against his headboard, the Senate Committee neglected to tell him that.
"My mother's orders were to fake their deaths so that they could be extracted back to Russia. These same twelve agents are the basis for which she is condemned to death tomorrow. Because your Senators are embarrassed by the fact that my mother and those twelve agents were able to fool the US government over thirty years ago."
"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Laura took control of the situation.
Sydney proceeded to tell them Irina's story over the next two hours, all the way up until present.
"My God," Laura's eyes started to tear again for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning after Sydney had finished, reaching over to finger Lena's toes while she slept in Sydney's arms.
"Sydney," The President began as the first light of morning began breaking through the windows, his voice soft. "I must say that I am stunned by what you've told me tonight but you must understand what kind of position this puts me in. Even without killing those agents, your mother's list of crimes against this country is long, beginning with marrying your father to steal information as a member of the KGB."
"Thirty years ago," Sydney interrupted him, "And she loved… loves my father and the fact that she was an agent for the KGB is ridiculous now. You accept and work with Vladimir Putin, a former-KGB operative, known to have worked as a spy inside the US, who is now President of Russia, working with a staff of more then 6, 000 former-KGB operatives, not to mention he 'graduated' from the KGB Academy with my mother!" Sydney rambled on through tears with anger in her voice, feeling the urgency of this situation. "Why are his crimes in a war that happened thirty years ago forgiven by this country but not my mother's?"
*Nara *
"What do you want to me to say?" The President looked up sadly.
"I want to hear that you realize my mother's value to this country…to her country, to my family and that you will grant her the pardon she deserves." Sydney's tears continued to fall.
The President sighed, "Sydney, I fear that nothing I can say will be what you want to hear."
"For years, I have killed myself, literally, with blood, sweat and tears for this country."
"I know, you're one of our best operatives." The President placed his hand over Sydney's.
"But now I feel as though it was all for nothing. To sacrifice so much for a country I no longer believe in." She let it die on her lips. "Tell me where the justice is being served by having my mother killed?" When he could not answer Sydney stood beside the bed. "There is no justice in executing my mother. Not to the United States. Because they will be losing a valuable asset of knowledge for the intelligence community, potentially saving millions of lives. Not for Russia. Who will lose their true leader and benefactor; the one person getting the country back on her feet again, not to mention the same person responsible for the good relations between the US and Russia there are today. Not for my father who will lose the love of his life or my sister and I who will lose our mother!" Sydney's voice rose with every point she was making, alerting the guards outside the door to their presence. They stormed in, guns drawn aiming directly at Sydney and Vaughn. Sydney stood defiantly, wiping back her tears and strapping Lena into the Baby Bjorn again as if she and the President were still the only two people in the room. "So I ask you again, Mr. President…Where is the justice in killing my mother?"
"Drop your weapons! Drop your weapons! On your knees!" The guards shouted repeatedly and Vaughn fell to his knees, as did Sydney with the baby strapped to her chest, arms in the air as tears streamed down her face.
"Enough!" The President shouted, waving his arms for the guards to back off as he got out of bed.
"But sir," The guard began baffled by the President's actions. "These two are not to be harmed or charged with anything is that understood? " The President commanded walking over to his chair and putting on his robe.
"Yes, Mr. President." The guard nodded and shouldered his side arm.
The President walked over in front of Sydney and extended her a hand. "We have two daughters, for you to fly here, go through all this, you must really love your mother and for that, I cannot blame you." He reached up running his fingers through Lena's dark hair. "But Sydney, I am sorry. I cannot grant your request."
Tears immediately came flooding forth from Sydney's eyes and she tried not to start sobbing in front of the President.
"Then I resign as an Officer for the CIA for I no longer believe that this is the country I believed it to be." She choked back her tears and stood taller. "A country of liberty and freedom where ever a person's life counts…matters. Where justice is served. Tonight at 8:00 PM, our mother is scheduled to die and if you do nothing to stop it you will be directly responsible for her death. Ask yourself if you can live with that knowledge Mr. President; that you are unjustly taking away the life of someone and robbing my sister of the chance of ever knowing her mother? I brought her here so that you could see one of the lives you are currently playing God with." The tears surfaced again as she stood staring the President in the eye.
"Syd, let's go." Vaughn took her by the hand leading her slowly towards the door.
Sydney said nothing the entire flight back to Los Angeles, simply stared out the window of the airplane unless Lena needed to be fed or changed. Her thoughts swimming around the fact that she'd failed her mother.
"Thank you for coming with us." She finally spoke when Vaughn had snapped Lena's seat into the base in the back of Sydney's car.
Vaughn looked at her from across the car and felt his heart breaking. He walked slowly towards her with his arms open and she fell into them, holding him tightly and crying into his neck.
"I failed her, Vaughn." She whispered, pulling back and wiping her tears away angrily.
"You didn't fail her, Syd, the system did." He pulled her head to his chest and kissed her hair.
"Will you come?" She asked quietly, knowing Vaughn knew what she was talking about. "I told her we wouldn't let her be alone." She choked back a sob, getting a headache from all the crying she'd done in the last 48 hours.
"Yes. I'll be there." Vaughn kissed her softly and opened her car door, guiding her in. "Get some sleep, Syd. It's been a long night."
"Sydney," Jack greeted her at the door, taking her bag and the baby's, looking as though he hadn't slept all night either. "Are you ok?" He cupped her face forcing her to look him in the eye. When she didn't respond, he pulled her into his arms, holding her close, kissing the top of her head. "Let's get you two to bed." He picked up Lena's carrier with one hand and held Sydney's with the other.
Sydney changed her clothes and crawled into her father's bed, the baby lying beside her, fast asleep again after her feeding. Sydney, for one moment, jealous of her sister's innocence during this whole situation completely unaware of what was happening around her and the people she loved. But then, Sydney realized how horrible it would be for Lena to never know their mother except through stories and pictures; to have your sister raising you as your mother. She traced the lines of Lena's face softly, easily recognizing her mother's features and wondering if somehow, her sister's birth wasn't God's way of leaving a part of their mother behind for them? Sydney's hand sought out Lena's tiny one and it instantly curled around her finger. She kissed the tiny fist, leaning her head in towards her sister's and with tears in her eyes began the first step in keeping her promise to her mother. She started humming 'The Russian Lullaby' to Lena.
*I Grieve*
"Sydney," Her father voice broke her dreams with a gentle shaking of her shoulder. "It's time to go." He offered her his hand and then pulled her into his arms.
"I have to say goodbye to Katya." Sydney slipped on her shoes when she pulled away from her father's embrace. "Where's Lena?"
"With Sophia in the garden." Jack nodded in the direction of the window revealing the beautiful snow covered hedges that surrounded Alexander Palace in the winter.
The sun was shinning brightly and a warm breeze kept the air from being too cold.
Sophia suddenly appeared in view of the window with the baby wrapped in a white fur blanket nestled in the crook of her arm contrasting sharply with the morbid black they were all wearing. Sophia was apparently talking to the baby and began pointing to a group of geese in the sky, who had waited too long to fly south for the winter.
"I brought our bags down already." Jack informed Sydney as he pulled his winter coat on over his suit Jacket. "Dmitri's pulling the car around front."
"Ok Dad." She smiled sadly making her way up the stairs to find her aunt and say goodbye. She couldn't find her in her own room and knew where she would probably be: her mother's room.
"Katya," She tapped on the door stepping inside the massive room. Her aunt was standing by the window, picture frame clutched to her chest, watching the snow start to fall outside. "We're leaving." She spoke softly coming to stand beside her aunt. Katya said nothing but continued to stare out the window. "May I?" Sydney asked indicating the picture.
Katya's gaze held to the window as she passed the frame to Sydney. The frame contained two photos. The first was taken the day of the nap: the photo that had awakened Irina and Sydney from their nap with a bright flash in their eyes, as Katya stood over them with the camera. Irina and Sydney's heads were pressed together, holding hands sleeping, both with smiles on their faces. The second photo had been taken on the day Sydney left Russia to return to the US. She was standing behind her mother who was seated on the bench in the garden, in full bloom then, now covered by snow. Sydney was bent over, hugging her mother from behind, both arms wrapped around her neck. Irina had one hand on Sydney's arm, the other over her pregnant belly. The infectious Derevko smile raging across both faces.
"You know," Katya spoke still staring out the window, "I still think that she has just gone away on one of her trips again and that she'll be home soon." A stream of tears started making their way down her cheek, "And then I come in here and look out this window and I am reminded that she 'is' home."
Sydney wrapped her arms around her aunt's shoulders, hugging her from behind as both their gazes fell onto the fresh mound of brown dirt under the massive oak tree near the garden, contrasting so badly with the bright white snow.
"I still can't let her go, Sydney." Katya cried, "I want to walk into the kitchen in the morning and see her beautiful smile, or watch her bend into variously strange angles doing yoga in the garden while the summer breeze blows softly through her hair. Or pick up the phone and hear her rant and rave over how much your father drives her nuts at times!" She laughed through the tears, as did Sydney. They stood motionless, watching that mound of brown dirt slowly be covered by the snow. "God, I miss her." She sighed looking at Irina's smiling face in the photo.
"Sydney!" She could hear her father calling her, "It's time to go." Sydney kissed her aunt and gave her one final hug goodbye before leaving her alone in the room to mourn in her own way.
"Sydney!" She heard her father calling again as she made her way down the steps. "Dad?" She looked around unable to find him but could hear his voice. She walked out the door into the blinding light bouncing off the snow.
"Sydney." He called out again, this time she felt her shoulder shaking, "Sydney." Jack whispered into her ear, "Its time to go, Sweetheart."
"Dad," Her eyes started to flutter open slowly. "What time is it?"
"You've been sleeping since you got home from Vaughn's. It's almost five-thirty and we need to leave here in an hour to make it to Riverside before eight." Jack spoke softly as he pulled on his suit coat. "Vaughn called, he'll meet us at the NSC facility before we go in." Her father attempted to tie his tie in the mirror; shaky nerves make his hands fumble again and again with the knot.
"I was dreaming." Sydney sighed covering her eyes with her arm, wiping the tears away as they fell realizing the nightmare was only just beginning.
"Sydney, could you?" Her father turned to her, his tie hung haphazardly around his neck. She got out of bed and stood behind him looking in the mirror tying his tie for him. When she finished, their eyes met in the mirror, silently sharing in the pain they were both feeling.
"Where's Lena?" Sydney asked picking up her soft blanket off the bed, pulling it to her nose, inhaling the fresh baby scent she left on everything.
"Katya's getting her ready." Jack sat heavily on the bed, intending to put on his shoes, but instead just sat there.
"Dad," Sydney paused at the door, slowly walking back towards him. When she sat beside him, she noticed that he was crying.
"I feel like I'm getting ready for her funeral and she's not even dead yet, Sydney." He sobbed and she pulled him into her arms. "How could this happen?"
"I don't know, Dad." Sydney rocked back and forth with her father, "I don't know."
When both had stopped crying, Jack used his fingers, and brushed her hair behind her ear. "You should get ready."
Sydney stood slowly and made her way for the door.
"Sydney," Jack reached out, taking hold of her hand and rubbing his thumb over the back as Irina always did with him, "Thank you." He gave her a small smile.
She nodded and went to change clothes.
*Deliver Me*
Irina had spent the morning meditating, trying to take herself out of the situation for a few hours but finding it hard as her body was in constant ache for her baby. She tried sleeping to pass the hours but that wasn't helping and now she'd been granted a visitation by a Russian Orthodox priest to read her Last Rites. They'd been praying for the last two hours and Irina had made her peace with God with the priest granting her absolution. The sound of the chains clanking together interrupted her prayer as the guards approached to take her to the Execution Chamber. The priest anointed her with one last blessing and kissed her forehead before she was roughly hauled to her feet by the guards. Waiting for them to finish securing her chains, Irina glanced over to the glass wall separating her from the rest of the world and there she saw it, the combined handprints of her daughters and husband, smudged into the glass.
"Let's go." The guard pulled on her arm, guiding her out of the cell as she kept focus on the handprints until she could no longer see them.
The walk to the chamber seemed like miles as a million thoughts were racing through her mind. She'd escaped death numerous times and every time, she thought could be her last. This time she knew it was permanent. There were no more lives to live, hers' had run out.
The chamber door opened and the first thing Irina saw was not the black table that would hold her to her death, but the faces of those she loved on the other side of the glass keeping their word they wouldn't let her be alone. She found her smile and kept her eyes on them as the guards walked her towards the table and began strapping her down. Jack, Sydney, Lena, Katya, Michael, Dixon, Weiss, Marshall and even Kendall were there to see her to the end.
*Time*
Sydney kept looking at the red light, waiting for it to start blinking, indicating a 'Stay of Execution.' Hoping somehow that she'd gotten through to the President. At exactly eight o'clock, the table was tipped back and Irina could no longer see her family, just the steel plated ceiling of the Death Chamber and Sydney lost the strong façade she was trying to keep up for her mother.
The tears turning to sobs as the first plunger of toxins emptied into Irina's veins; and then the second minute and second plunger. Still no red light. With the third plunger Irina's bodied started to convulse with the overdose of Potassium, though she fought it her eyes closed and bloody tears left trails in their wake.
Sydney was sobbing uncontrollably and Jack held her tightly with one arm and the baby with the other.
The fourth plunger made Irina's heartbeat skyrocket past 300bpm and blood began stream from her nose. With the fifth plunger her body started jumping wildly for a few seconds and then her heart rate dropped dramatically. They all watched in slow motion as the sixth and final plunger began emptying into Irina, who's heart-rate had already dropped below twenty and her body was no longer moving. They watched in silent horror as the numbers fell for her vitals and the heart monitor went into a beeping frenzy as Irina's heart rate dropped below 10bpm and then the deafening solid tone of her heart finally flat-lining.
Sydney pulled from her father's arms screaming, "No!" Pounding on the glass watching helplessly as the red light finally began flashing simultaneously with Irina's flat-line. It was too late.
The doctors who'd been injecting the lethal dose of toxins immediately flew into action, jamming a long needle filled with Adrenaline into Irina's heart and nothing.
Jack handed the baby to Katya and flew through the doors, pushing past security and getting inside the chamber.
"Get ready and clear!" The doctor's shocked Irina's lifeless body watching as it bounced on the table. "Again!" They alternated bagging her with oxygen and the paddles. The technician cranked the voltage. "Clear!" And again Irina's body bounced from the table.
Jack standing over her head, wiping the blood trails from her eyes, nose and mouth with his shaking fingers. "Come on, Irina!" He whispered.
"Clear!" They shocked her again and nothing.
"Come on, Irina!" Jack screamed, tears streaming down his face.
"Clear!"
Again nothing.
"No…" He sobbed resting his head against her cold cheek. A doctor pulled Jack away.
"Clear!"
Nothing.
"She's gone." One of them said, standing silently by as the sound of the flat-line filled the room.
"No!" Sydney could be heard screaming through the glass and Jack looked up in time to see Vaughn catch her as she was falling.
"Again!" The doctor with the paddles shouted, seeing Sydney. "Clear!" He jolted Irina again, nothing. "Again!" He shouted breaking into a sweat. "Clear!"
Nothing.
"Again!" He shouted. "Clear!"
Nothing.
The doctor grabbed another syringe full of Adrenaline and plunged it into Irina's heart.
"Crank it!" The other doctor looked at the technician in charge of the voltage, lubing up the paddles again.
"But doctor, " the man looked at him horrified. "It's been too long. She'll have too much damage!"
"Again!" He screamed and the man cranked the voltage, "Clear!"
Irina's heart registered a few beats then stopped.
"Again!"
"Clear!" The higher they turned the voltage, the further into the air Irina's body would jump.
Again a few more beats and then it stopped.
"All the way!" He screamed across the room to the tech, "Turn it as high as it will go!"
"Come on, Irina!" Jack pleaded watching her lifeless bleeding body.
"Again! And clear!" The doctor shouted and Irina's body flew violently into the air off the table and Sydney passed out.
"Sydney!" Vaughn screamed laying her gently on the floor.
"It's done." The man sat back in his leather chair, loosening his tie.
"When?" Sloane walked around the lab, watching as the lab technicians began preparations to fertilize Irina's eggs.
"The Execution was carried out at 8 pm as scheduled. Irina Derevko is dead." The man sighed pouring another glass of whiskey.
"Excellent." Sloane nodded the 'go ahead' to the lab tech who began the fertilization; the procedure projected on a plasma screen TV on the wall so Sloane could see what the tech was seeing in the microscope. "And you're positive Jack had no access to her before hand? I can't afford to find out he slipped her something before hand to revive her later."
"Positive. I restricted his access to her and convinced the Justice Department to back me on it, citing that very example you just gave me. That Bristow is crazy, he'd try anything." The man poured himself another drink with shaky hands. "Which brings me to my next question. What's to stop Bristow from coming after me?"
"He's just lost the love of his life for a second time, Senator, this time leaving behind a newborn. He'll be too busy wallowing in his grief and caring for the child to come after you."
"You didn't see the look in his eyes when I announced the sentence." The Senator looked over the Washington, D.C. skyline; the Capital building illuminated in the background. "If security hadn't been there, I'm quite certain he would have ripped my heart out with his bare hands. I need more assurance."
"I've given you my assurance, Senator Douglas, plus $3 million dollars and a promise to keep your secrets. Don't try to force my hand." Sloane's tone unmistakable as he watched the needle pierce on of Irina's eggs.
*Space Between*
"Sydney," Irina's voice whispered.
"Mom?" Sydney reached out for her mother with tears in her eyes.
"Sydney, sweetheart, its time to wake up." Irina smiled.
"You're here!" Sydney smiled through her tears. "You're ok!"
"I told you I would always be with you Sweetheart…always." Irina started to move away.
"Mom! Don't go!" Sydney tried desperately to reach her mother but she couldn't move.
"Wake up, Sweetheart." Irina whispered one last time before she was gone.
"Her heart-rate is steady." Sydney heard someone through the fog in her mind and she forced her eyes open. Looking around she was in a hospital room, covered by a blanket, lying in a bed.
"Sydney!" Vaughn was at her side instantly as was her father. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah," She sobbed, remembering her dream and the days events, she closed her eyes again. "What's this?" She picked up her arm and felt the IV attached to her hand.
"You were dehydrated and suffering from exhaustion." Jack sat down softly next her on the bed, holding her hand with sadness in his eyes. "Not surprising with what you've been through the last few days." He reached forward tucking a stray behind her ear.
"How long have I been out?" She wiped the angry tears spilling onto her cheeks.
"About five hours." Vaughn shifted his weight on his feet, exhaustion about ready to take him over.
"And Mom?" Sydney sobbed, looking into her father's eyes with deep sadness, wondering what had become of her mother's body.
"Sydney…Sweetheart," Jack felt his own eyes begin to blur, unable to speak, he cupped her face in his hand.
A soft 'whooshing' noise and the steady beats of a monitor alerted Sydney that she was not alone in this room. She turned her head to look at the occupant in the bed next to her and she flew to her feet.
"Mom!" She moved to her mother's side instantly, getting as close as she could without getting in the doctors and nurses way.
*Hallelujah*
Irina lay in the hospital bed with a ventilator tube taped to her mouth and electrodes stuck on every major sensory position on her body, tubes were sticking out of her everywhere it seemed to Sydney.
"Oh my God, Dad…is she?" Sydney's voice quivered afraid to ask if her mother was going to make it.
"I don't know, Sydney." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting his head on hers as they watched the doctors continue to monitor Irina.
Katya was sitting in a chair in the far corner of the room feeding Lena and Vaughn came to stand next to Sydney and Jack.
"I don't understand." Sydney whispered, tears in her eyes looking at her mother, wanting so badly to rush to her and hold her hand.
"Her vitals are holding stable for now, but I want to prepare you for the worst. Let's go in the hall." The doctor spoke softly and pulled out her chart, holding the door open. Once in the hall, Sydney saw that everyone who was at the Execution, was now waiting patiently for word on Irina outside the ICU.
Jack wrapped his arm around Sydney who carefully lifted a sleeping Lena from Katya into her arms, needing to feel her sister's comfort, bracing herself for the news.
"In all honesty, she should be dead." The doctor waited until everyone was standing around him before he began his explanation. "I can see no medical reason as to why she's still alive but she is." He paused briefly to look at Irina lying in the bed behind the Intensive Care Unit glass. "The amount of toxins in her system is off the charts, enough to kill her…which is why it's called, 'Lethal Injection." He added sadly. "Now we need to filter those toxins out of her system. Her kidneys can't handle the large amount of Potassium and have started breaking down, which is why she's hooked to the dialysis machine. We also put a shunt into her heart, which has her blood flow directly through a Rapid-Detox machine which is filtering her blood and returning it to her bloodstream, all the while keeping her fluid levels up with the IVs. We usually use it on patients brought in on a drug overdose. She is the first we've ever tried from Lethal Injection." He looked solemnly at them, knowing they were working against the impossible. "Her pancreas has not produced any insulin in the last hour, so we've started giving her supplemental shots, hoping that once her system is filtered, it will return to normal function."
"And if it doesn't?" Sydney asked quietly, whispering still in shock.
"Then she'll have to take insulin for the rest of her life, similar to that of a diabetic."
Sydney nodded, tears making small streams down her cheeks, and leaned back into Jack, brushing her fingers along the curve of Lena's small head and neck.
"Our main concern right now is her liver. It's functioning is very low right now and as one of the body's natural detoxifiers, it's taking a pretty hard hit. We're doing everything in our power to make sure she doesn't lose it. She was also hemorrhaging in her lungs and we managed to get that under control but we'll have to keep an eye on that as well. Her body temperature is slowly climbing back to normal range. She is currently at 96.2 degrees, which is a good sign that her body is fighting back." He offered them a small smile of hope.
"What about brain damage?" Jack was finding it hard to breathe realizing the damage but couldn't help feeling elated over the fact that she was still alive, and her heart was beating again.
"As far we can tell, her brain activity is normal, which is truly remarkable; nothing short of a miracle in my professional opinion. The amount of toxins she incurred should've rendered her brain dead, if not a vegetable. Time will tell us for certain what's going on in there but if she can pull through the rest of this, I have faith she will pull through all the way. For now, it's wait and see."
Sydney let the information sink in a minute and then took notice of her surroundings. They weren't at the CIA approved Naval hospital, but ULCA Medical Center. "What are we doing here, at UCLA?" She turned to her father and then Kendall in surprise.
"UCLA Medical has the best detoxification system in the western half of the United States." Kendall gave her a small smile having thrown protocol out the window the moment that red light began to flash during the execution.
Sydney offered her silent thanks with a soft smile. "I didn't get your name?" Sydney turned to the doctor in front of her.
"Dr. Ryan Peterson." He extended his hand for her to shake. "I've taken over as Ms. Derevko's primary doctor now that's she's holding stable. I didn't catch your name?"
"Sydney Bristow." She offered a small smile.
Jack extended his hand as well in the introductions, "Jack."
"Bristow? Sydney…Jack," The doctor looked from her to Jack and back with surprise. "Your mother was Laura Bristow, the English Lit. Professor here at UCLA wasn't she?"
"Yes." Sydney breathed out in a whisper.
"She used to talk about you all the time." He smiled sadly, "I was in her class the year she passed away but-" The pieces started coming together for the doctor as he looked at the girl in front of him and then to the woman lying in the bed behind the glass, "My God! That's her isn't it? I thought she looked familiar, but I thought it had to be impossible…"
"Yes, Irina was…is Laura." Jack answered honestly, seeing the doctor was about to ask more questions he undoubtedly had, "It's a long story." This was the problem with going to civilian hospitals.
"I'll take your word for it." Dr. Peterson shook his head in disbelief with a smile as he looked over her chart. "It's amazing and I promise, we'll take the very best care of her." He smiled up at Sydney and Jack, "Her class was always my favorite, even though she gave me a hard time." He laughed, "She was tough, but she was also funny as hell. I'm looking forward to her waking up so that I can say, 'hello."
"I'm sure she'll like that." Sydney gave him a small smile through her tears, having never met a student of her mother's before and hoping that it would be true; her mother would pull through this.
"Thank you." Jack, Sydney and Katya offered in unison.
"I'll be back in a half hour to check in." He nodded with a soft smile and headed in the direction of the nurses station.
"Dad," Sydney turned in her father's arms to embrace him, "What happened?"
"Your mother was pardoned." Jack smiled speaking softly.
"She was?" Sydney's heart began beat faster, a smile spreading through her tears. "What happened? What changed?"
"I think you know better then we do, Sydney." Katya stepped forward, her heavy accent, breaking through a small smile, "Why don't you fill us in." Her smile turning into the same Cheshire cat grin that Irina always wore.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sydney's gaze darted to Vaughn and back, wondering what he'd told them.
"It seems that the President and First Lady had some unexpected visitors drop by last night." Kendall crossed his arms in an attempt to look stern.
Sydney's eyes once again sought out Vaughn's whom was shaking his head 'no' he hadn't said anything.
"Brought some information to their attention bringing along and I quote, 'a powerful tool of persuasion." Kendall's arms relaxed and he reached out to stroke the bottom of Lena's foot, giving Sydney a smile, who was looking very much like a deer in headlights.
"He called an emergency meeting with Putin and agreed to pardon Irina." Katya reached out and embraced Sydney's forearm with her hand, tears in her eyes.
"That's where you went to the other night, wasn't it?" Jack spoke softly looking Sydney in the eye, "And took your sister as your 'powerful tool of persuasion? Flew all the way to Washington, broke into the White House with your sister strapped to your chest?"
"Dad," Sydney started to panic thinking of how much trouble she was going to be in with her father for breaking into the White House with her sister, "Dad, I had to!" The tears sprang forward once again, "If you want me to apologize for doing anything to save Mom, I won't!"
"Sydney," Jack grabbed her shoulders, "It's ok." He smiled "You saved her life, Sydney! You saved her life." His tears brimming on the edge of his lids, threatening to fall, he pulled her and the baby to his chest fiercely. "Thank you."
"I just hope it wasn't too late." Sydney dried the tears on her cheeks looking at her mother through the glass once again.