Chapter 6
My mother is dead.
All she could do was stand there, staring helplessly into oh god...who is she? Cindy's eyes. Cindy's expression was one of disbelief, which soon turned into confusion. "You're...You're huge."
For the first time in her entire life, Kate's mind went blissfully blank. She didn't feel the cool metal of the door handle, the thud of her feet pounding down the stairs, didn’t feel the snow underneath as she ran outside and down the street.
Loss of breath caused her to stop, and as she sucked in air greedily, she took stock of her surroundings. The road she had unconsciously taken was covered in snow and pine needles from the nearby trees, but in the distance she could see an old building that was obviously deserted.
Having no where else to go, Kate walked closer until she reached a wooden fence and her breath caught in her throat as she realized where she had come.
Graves littered a small plot of land before her. Some tombstones were broken from age and nature, giving it eerie desolation. She couldn't help but be reminded of her own father's grave, the nice neat plot where she had left daises only weeks before.
Jumping the fence, she landed on something hard. She stepped off of it, and used her hand to scoop off snow that had accumulated. Underneath was the top half of a tombstone, bearing only 'RIP'. A twinge of sadness went to her brain, and she couldn’t help but think this was where her mother was. Mom is dead. Dad told me she was dead. But how did Cindy know my name?
A bee sting on her neck brought her back to reality with a thud, and Kate didn’t even have time to remember that bees hibernate before she passed out onto the snowy graves.
***
It was a few seconds after Kate bolted until anyone in the room moved. Sydney sat there in open-mouthed shock, still reeling that her baby girl had grown up without her knowledge. The last thing she could remember was rocking her to sleep in a rocking chair her father had given to her the day after she told him she was pregnant. "Your mother used to rock you to sleep every night. It was the only way you would sleep through the entire night."
Scenes played through her mind again, just like before, except with more clarity, and vivid colors.
The first thing you notice is the daises everywhere, the second, his face, beaming at you. It almost makes you weak in the knees, but your father holds you up, and you walk down, eyes cemented to his. You can barely stand, and you pray that your knees will hold you up for a few minutes longer---2 in the morning, just on a whim, you run to Sav-On’s, and wait in agony as the little stick has two red lines. You stare at it for a minute, thinking it might be wrong, shake your head, and look at it again. You drop it, run into the bedroom and jump on the man sleeping there. "Syd?" he mumbles sleepily, and you kiss him hard, and he responds to you instantly. "I'm pregnant," you whisper, and all traces of sleepiness leave his eyes----"Just push harder, Syd!" he tells you, as you grunt in pain. You didn't let them give you the epidural, and now you're cursing everything on earth. "YOU push HARDER Vaughn!" The last time you called him Vaughn was when you were pissed at him for bringing home the wrong ice cream, and he cringes at the memory. Another contraction ripples through you, and you yell, "I hate you for TOUCHING ME." And then the doctor announces a head, and then shoulders, and then the rest of the body, and finally the legs. "It's a girl," Michael whispers in your ear, and you can't help but beam-----
"Cindy, are you all right? You were out for twenty minutes." She turned to the man at her right, who was staring at her with a frightened look in his eyes. She thought he had her mistaken for someone else and was going to tell him so when he asked, "Who is Emily?"
Her eyes narrowed, and she remained silent. Her spy instincts never left her for a second, and she wasn’t about to tell a strange man who thought she was someone else about her baby girl. A little boy walked up to the man and tugged at his hand. "Daddy, shouldn't we go after her? She’s probably still sad about her dad dying."
That caught Sydney's attention, and she turned to the boy slowly. "Her father is dead?" she asked calmly, hoping her voice wouldn't betray the sudden dread she felt inside.
His eyes became confused as he squinted at her. "Mom, you should know better than anyone. Kate talks to you more than me or Dad."
Her brain chose to ignore how he addressed her and chose to focus on the fact that Vaughn was dead. Her hands came up to her face, and she breathed deeply, trying to quell the overwhelming urge to start sobbing hysterically. Remembrances of him paraded through her mind; his face, his voice, his touch, the smell that she could recognize as soon as he walked into a room, all torturing her, reminding her that she would never see, touch, hear, feel, or smell him again. Her senses screamed in agony at the loss.
She didn’t hear John asking, "Who the hell are you?", but she felt the presence, and knew without even looking. Removing her hands from her face, she kept her eyes closed, lifted her head, and asked quietly, "Is he dead?"
The voice was one she remembered from her childhood, slightly accented, with an almost melodic rhythm. "I'm so sorry Sydney."
Hearing the confirmation broke down any barriers she had built, and the sobs racked her body until she was still, held in her mothers embrace. John and Wesley had backed away, although John was getting angry and frustrated by the lack of answers. It took a few minutes for her to regain her composure, and she sat up and pushed her way out of Irina's arms.
"Mom, what the hell is going on? One minute I'm rocking Emily to sleep and the next she’s a teenager and my husband is dead and I have no idea where I am." She paused for a minute, before continuing quietly, "Last time I checked we weren't exactly exchanging letters either."
Irina looked at her daughter sadly, and for the first time, Sydney saw her truly ashamed. "I feel I have to take some of the blame for your situation. Anna Espinoza became the head of K-directorate 18 years ago, and felt she needed to do something to make herself worthy of the position. I had recently stolen something from them, something they took pride in, and she decided to take you to make her revenge. You were abducted from your home and your mind was conditioned so that you remembered nothing. They planted you with an agent who claimed to be your aunt, and she had you start a new life. I didn't know until two weeks later when your father made contact with me and told me of the situation.
"It took me five years to find you, Sydney. I never imagined she would cover her tracks as well as she did. By then, you were married and pregnant, so it would have been worse to take you out of that life. I watched you though, and I watched your family. Emily and Vaughn were always protected, I made sure.
"However, one night, someone interrupted the security feed I had coming in from their home, and Vaughn was poisoned. Anna wanted Emily to have a taste of what it was like to have a family and normality, and then wanted it ripped away from her. I was so angry that night; I had her assassinated, which is what I should have done in the first place.
"I did the only thing I could do, I sent your daughter to you. One of my people switched the paper work so that Emily was sent to you. I thought that if you could have your daughter and your new family, perhaps you could live peacefully. I didn't know that you would regain your memory." Her face was pained as she continued, "If you're wondering how I knew, its because your house is bugged. I watched carefully, because I wasn’t about to let anything happen to you or my granddaughter again."
Irina and Sydney had long ago forgotten the presences of John and Wesley, who had listened in fascination and horror as Irina revealed exactly how Kate had come to their home, and who she was. John felt betrayed when he heard that his wife had a daughter and husband, and still loved them. It pained him just as much that she had no remembrance of their life together, only the one with "Vaughn"
Wesley's eyes had become larger and larger as Irina had spoken, but he didn't really understand. He thought perhaps this woman had snuck in and replaced his mother while she had spoken to Kate maybe she was a twin that his mom didn't know about. Nine year olds don't usually recognize denial.
Sydney's eyes clouded over as she looked longingly towards the door. "I don't know where she is. She just ran."
Irina smiled a tight smile. "She's downstairs, I found her before I came here. I would never be able to live with myself if something happened to her."
Eyes flashing, Sydney jumped off the bed. "If she's anything like me, she wouldn't just be sitting down there. What did you do to her?" When Irina just folded her arms across her chest, Sydney flung the door open and ran down the stairs. Emily was sleeping peacefully on the couch, her body comfortably positioned. Feeling her pulse, Sydney felt her heart slow a little and she sighed in relief when she realized that Emily was just tranquilized.
"I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to her," Irina said loudly, causing Sydney to drop her daughter's arm. The movement caused Emily to stir, and she pulled her arms up to her head sleepily. "It wasn't a strong dose, just enough to knock her out for a few minutes."
Sydney ignored her and bent down to stroke Emily's hair. Her eyes fluttered open, revealing the dark green orbs to her mother's chocolate brown ones. Confusion spread across her features as she was pulled into a hug, which she didn't return, because her brain was still fuzzy from the dart's poison.
TBC...