Thanks all for reading! Answers will come in due time.
Chapter 3.
I had a dream
Strange it may seems
It was my perfect day
Open my eyes
I realize
This is my perfect day
*-*-*-*
“Mommy, can we go to the park?”
“Not today, dear. We have to clean up the mess from yesterday.”
“Can we have ice cream later?”
“Sure, ice cream sounds great.”
“Chocolate ice cream.”
“Alright.”
“With cream.”
“Sure.”
“And cherries.”
“You don’t like cherries, honey.”
“They’re pretty.”
“Alright, you can have cherries.”
Ailish smiled and was silent for a moment. She looked up at her mother with a concerned look.
“I won’t have to eat them, right mommy?”
Sydney laughed.
“No, I’ll eat them for you.”
“Yay!”
More relaxed now, Ailish focused back on her pancakes.
“Well, I’m done.” Vaughn said, getting up and taking his plate to the sink. “I’m going get started on the cleaning.”
“Ailish, finish your breakfast, mommy is going to help Uncle Michael.”
“And then ice cream?”
“Ice cream after lunch.”
“Why not after bleakfast?” Ailish whined. Sydney smiled. Her daughter impressed by her almost perfect pronunciation at such a young age, but ‘breakfast’ was still a word she struggled with.
“Because you don’t eat ice cream after breakfast.”
“Why not?”
“Because… Actually, I don’t know.” Sydney admitted, with a shrug and a laugh. “I suppose we can eat ice cream after breakfast.”
“Yay… chocolate ice cream?”
Sydney sighed, and laughed.
“We’ve been through this already. Now finish your breakfast and don’t forget to wash your face afterwards. It looks like you’ve grown a chocolate mustache.”
Ailish giggled.
“I think she looks adorable.” Vaughn said from the living room. “Syd, do you want to keep those wrapping papers? Never mind, that was a stupid question.” He added, stuffing the papers inside the plastic trash bag.
“Glad you realized that before I was forced to give you a sarcastic answer.”
“Mommy, what’s sarcastic?”
“Sarcastic is..” Sydney was saved from an explanation as the phone rang and she went to answer it.
Ailish turned to Vaughn.
“Uncle Michael, what’s sarcastic?”
“Uh… sarcastic is when a person says exactly the contrary of what she means. So it’s kind of an irony.”
The girl nodded, with a look of deep concentration on her face.
“Alright…”
“Ailish, grandpa Jack is asking if you want to go to the zoo with him.”
Ailish nodded excitedly, her light brown hair flying up and down with the motion.
“Yay the zoo!” She jumped off her seat. “Are you coming?’
“Mommy and Uncle Michael are staying to clean everything up. I guess we can meet you there later.”
“Yay! I’ll put on my shoes.” Ailish said, already running upstairs.
Sydney put her hand over the phone as she talked to Vaughn.
“You might want to inspect this, or she’ll end up going to the zoo in her jammies and pink sneakers.”
Vaughn nodded and walked after Ailish.
-----
“Grandpa!” Ailish squealed, hopping down the stairs dangerously fast. Jack caught her and raised her up in the air, just like Vaughn had done the day before, a huge smile spreading on his face. “Make me fly, grandpa! Make me fly!”
Jack happily complied, and Ailish giggled madly as her grandfather turned her around in the air.
“Hey daddy.” Sydney said, approaching and giving her father a kiss.
“Hey honey.” Jack said, putting Ailish down. “I hope I’m not interrupting any plans. I just felt like taking my favorite granddaughter out.”
“You’re not interrupting anything. Vaughn and I will meet you at the zoo as soon as we finish cleaning.”
“Alright.” Jack took Ailish by the hand and bend down to talk to her. “You look very pretty today, princess.”
“Uncle Michael made my ponytails.”
“Well, then he did a good job.” Jack said. “They look lovely.”
He picked the bag Sydney handed him, with all Ailish would need for a morning at the zoo.
“Shall we go?”
Ailish nodded. Everyone said their goodbyes, and grandfather and granddaughter were already walking down the steps that leaded to the house when the girl looked up at him.
“Can we have ice cream?”
“Sure.”
“Chocolate ice cream?”
Sydney laughed, and closed the door.
“Come on, Bristow, we have cleaning to do.” Vaughn said, taking her by the hand.
Sydney smiled, and let go of his hand as they got back to the living room, so they could start to work. After some time, Vaughn interrupted the comfortable silence that had settled.
“Yesterday night… Ailish told me she dreamt about me being her father.”
Sydney sighed.
“She just won’t give up on the subject. I’m sorry if this is awkward for you.”
“No, it’s ok. I understand how she must feel. I am a constant presence here, and since she never met Andrew…”
“It’s only natural for her to think of you as a father. Yes, I know.”
“Syd, I love Ailish as if she were my own daughter, you know that.”
“I know.” She put one hand on his shoulder so he would straighten up and look at her. “Vaughn… I’ve been meaning to thank you… for all that you’ve done for her – for us.”
“Syd, there’s no need-“
“No, really.” She insisted. “You’ve supported us so much… You have been a father to her and such a loyal friend to me. I can never thank you enough-“
“So don’t thank me.” Vaughn said. “Syd, I’m not here because I feel obliged or something. I’m here because I love you both. Simple as that.” He smiled at her, dismissing the subject. “Now let’s finish this up. At the rate we’re going the ice cream will have to wait until dinner.”
Sydney nodded, smiling, and deciding it was better to let it go. Vaughn had seemed somewhat uneasy. She started to sweep the kitchen floor, and allowed her mind to wonder, just for a while, what exactly he had meant when he said he loved them both.
*-*-*-*
“Come on, grandpa. The baby lion, the baby lion.” Ailish tugged her grandfather’s sleeve insistently. “I wanna see the baby lion.”
“Honey, grandpa already asked the lady. They’re cleaning the baby lion’s cage. We can’t see him today.” Jack said, with all the patient he could muster.
“Where is it?” Ailish inquired.
Since he didn’t know, but was sure Ailish wasn’t going to give up the subject until she got a satisfying answer, Jack decided to change the subject.
“Do you want your ice cream now?” he asked in a tone a little too excited, which would have scared anyone who knew somber and serious Agent Jack Bristow.
Ailish nodded, and started to run towards the ice cream parlor. She ran as fast as her small legs allowed her, and Jack only needed a few long strides to keep up with her.
From the corner of his eyes he saw Sydney and Vaughn approaching.
“Look Aili, it’s mommy.”
“Mommy!” Ailish looked around, found her mother, and ran to her instead of continuing towards the ice cream parlor. As soon as she was on Sydney’s hearing reach, she started to ramble. “Mommy Grandpa got me a bear. Not a real bear, though. Grandpa said we couldn’t buy a real bear coz they are too big. I told him the bear could sleep at my bed but he still said no so we got a stuffed bear instead. He’s cute and his name is Lilly. He’s a boy. Grandpa said Lilly is a girl name but I told him boys can also be named Lilly.” Ailish suddenly turned, and beamed at Vaughn. “Uncle Michael! Grandpa got me a bear. Not a real bear, though.”
“I heard it, sweetie.” Vaughn said, before Ailish could start her narration all over again.
“And where is your bear, darling?” Sydney asked.
“He’s in the bag. Grandpa told me bears aren’t afraid of the dark, so we let him inside, but the zipper is a little opened so he can breath.” Ailish said, while nodding enthusiastically.
“Alright, you can introduce him to mommy and Uncle Michael later.”
“Alright, then. Now ice cream.” Ailish exclaimed, taking Sydney by one hand and Vaughn by the other and pulling them both towards the parlor.
Jack watched with a smile on his face. They made a pretty picture, those three. He and Vaughn had had some problems in the past, but now they had good relations. One could even say they were… friends.
Ailish absolutely worshipped Vaughn, who, in return, was completely devoted to her, despite of living in another continent now.
Sydney and Vaughn’s friendship came from a long way. They had saved each others’ lives a fair amount of times, escaped from dangerous situations together more times then one could count, and had built, along the years, a relationship of complete trustiness, respect and mutual affection.
And one didn’t need to be a genius to notice that there was more to that… affection than both were letting on.
But Jack wasn’t one to pry, especially when it came to his daughter’s relationships. With Ailish’s birth, the fragile bond he and Sydney had built while working to bring SD-6 to an end had been strengthened, and he did his best not to destroy it again.
“Grandpa! Ice cream.” Ailish called, snapping Jack out of his reverie.
“Oh, sure darling.” He said. Ailish was already in possession of her so-desired chocolate ice cream. Luckily she didn’t remember the cream or the cherries. Sydney and Vaughn were smart not to bring it up.
“Chocolate, grandpa, chocolate.” She said, and Jack asked for a chocolate ice cream.
Sydney armed herself with paper napkins, and the four of them started to walk calmly, chatting and laughing with the easiness the years had brought.
Somehow, Ailish and Jack ended up walking on the front, Sydney and Vaughn being left behind.
Vaughn saw Sydney ogling his ice cream, and laughed.
“Wanna a taste?”
“Oh, yes please.” She scooped a generous portion of the ice cream with her spoon. “How come I got lured into buying a chocolate ice cream? I don’t even like chocolate ice cream.”
“It’s the dimpled smile.” Vaughn said.
“What?” Sydney laughed.
“The dimpled smile. It lures one into doing everything.”
“Such as…”
“I don’t know…” He shrugged. “Breaking into the Vatican… ignoring about fifty protocol rules per day… going out to buy watermelons in the middle of the night…”
“Hey, a pregnant woman has no power over her food choices. What could I do? Your phone was just the first that came to mind.” She said, grinning at him.
“Yes, smile your way out of it.” Vaughn said, wordless giving her his strawberry ice cream and taking the chocolate one from her.
Sydney laughed, and they continued to observe the animals, as she distractedly put a hand on his arm, leaving it there.
*-*-*-*
Ailish snuggled against Vaughn’s chest, as he picked her up from the back seat of Sydney’s car. She had fallen asleep not five minutes after they left Jack’s house, where they had gone after the zoo, and remained that way all the way home.
Sydney walked in the front, so she could open the door to the two of them. Just as they were getting inside the house Ailish opened her eyes a little, her vision fuzzy and her mind still almost completely asleep.
“Uncle Michael?” She whispered in a drowsy voice.
“Yes, honey?”
“What’s an irony?”
Vaughn smiled. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. Ailish was already back to sleep.
“I’ll tell you in the morning.” He said, kissed her forehead, and carried her to bedroom.
*-*-*-*
Chapter 3.
I had a dream
Strange it may seems
It was my perfect day
Open my eyes
I realize
This is my perfect day
*-*-*-*
“Mommy, can we go to the park?”
“Not today, dear. We have to clean up the mess from yesterday.”
“Can we have ice cream later?”
“Sure, ice cream sounds great.”
“Chocolate ice cream.”
“Alright.”
“With cream.”
“Sure.”
“And cherries.”
“You don’t like cherries, honey.”
“They’re pretty.”
“Alright, you can have cherries.”
Ailish smiled and was silent for a moment. She looked up at her mother with a concerned look.
“I won’t have to eat them, right mommy?”
Sydney laughed.
“No, I’ll eat them for you.”
“Yay!”
More relaxed now, Ailish focused back on her pancakes.
“Well, I’m done.” Vaughn said, getting up and taking his plate to the sink. “I’m going get started on the cleaning.”
“Ailish, finish your breakfast, mommy is going to help Uncle Michael.”
“And then ice cream?”
“Ice cream after lunch.”
“Why not after bleakfast?” Ailish whined. Sydney smiled. Her daughter impressed by her almost perfect pronunciation at such a young age, but ‘breakfast’ was still a word she struggled with.
“Because you don’t eat ice cream after breakfast.”
“Why not?”
“Because… Actually, I don’t know.” Sydney admitted, with a shrug and a laugh. “I suppose we can eat ice cream after breakfast.”
“Yay… chocolate ice cream?”
Sydney sighed, and laughed.
“We’ve been through this already. Now finish your breakfast and don’t forget to wash your face afterwards. It looks like you’ve grown a chocolate mustache.”
Ailish giggled.
“I think she looks adorable.” Vaughn said from the living room. “Syd, do you want to keep those wrapping papers? Never mind, that was a stupid question.” He added, stuffing the papers inside the plastic trash bag.
“Glad you realized that before I was forced to give you a sarcastic answer.”
“Mommy, what’s sarcastic?”
“Sarcastic is..” Sydney was saved from an explanation as the phone rang and she went to answer it.
Ailish turned to Vaughn.
“Uncle Michael, what’s sarcastic?”
“Uh… sarcastic is when a person says exactly the contrary of what she means. So it’s kind of an irony.”
The girl nodded, with a look of deep concentration on her face.
“Alright…”
“Ailish, grandpa Jack is asking if you want to go to the zoo with him.”
Ailish nodded excitedly, her light brown hair flying up and down with the motion.
“Yay the zoo!” She jumped off her seat. “Are you coming?’
“Mommy and Uncle Michael are staying to clean everything up. I guess we can meet you there later.”
“Yay! I’ll put on my shoes.” Ailish said, already running upstairs.
Sydney put her hand over the phone as she talked to Vaughn.
“You might want to inspect this, or she’ll end up going to the zoo in her jammies and pink sneakers.”
Vaughn nodded and walked after Ailish.
-----
“Grandpa!” Ailish squealed, hopping down the stairs dangerously fast. Jack caught her and raised her up in the air, just like Vaughn had done the day before, a huge smile spreading on his face. “Make me fly, grandpa! Make me fly!”
Jack happily complied, and Ailish giggled madly as her grandfather turned her around in the air.
“Hey daddy.” Sydney said, approaching and giving her father a kiss.
“Hey honey.” Jack said, putting Ailish down. “I hope I’m not interrupting any plans. I just felt like taking my favorite granddaughter out.”
“You’re not interrupting anything. Vaughn and I will meet you at the zoo as soon as we finish cleaning.”
“Alright.” Jack took Ailish by the hand and bend down to talk to her. “You look very pretty today, princess.”
“Uncle Michael made my ponytails.”
“Well, then he did a good job.” Jack said. “They look lovely.”
He picked the bag Sydney handed him, with all Ailish would need for a morning at the zoo.
“Shall we go?”
Ailish nodded. Everyone said their goodbyes, and grandfather and granddaughter were already walking down the steps that leaded to the house when the girl looked up at him.
“Can we have ice cream?”
“Sure.”
“Chocolate ice cream?”
Sydney laughed, and closed the door.
“Come on, Bristow, we have cleaning to do.” Vaughn said, taking her by the hand.
Sydney smiled, and let go of his hand as they got back to the living room, so they could start to work. After some time, Vaughn interrupted the comfortable silence that had settled.
“Yesterday night… Ailish told me she dreamt about me being her father.”
Sydney sighed.
“She just won’t give up on the subject. I’m sorry if this is awkward for you.”
“No, it’s ok. I understand how she must feel. I am a constant presence here, and since she never met Andrew…”
“It’s only natural for her to think of you as a father. Yes, I know.”
“Syd, I love Ailish as if she were my own daughter, you know that.”
“I know.” She put one hand on his shoulder so he would straighten up and look at her. “Vaughn… I’ve been meaning to thank you… for all that you’ve done for her – for us.”
“Syd, there’s no need-“
“No, really.” She insisted. “You’ve supported us so much… You have been a father to her and such a loyal friend to me. I can never thank you enough-“
“So don’t thank me.” Vaughn said. “Syd, I’m not here because I feel obliged or something. I’m here because I love you both. Simple as that.” He smiled at her, dismissing the subject. “Now let’s finish this up. At the rate we’re going the ice cream will have to wait until dinner.”
Sydney nodded, smiling, and deciding it was better to let it go. Vaughn had seemed somewhat uneasy. She started to sweep the kitchen floor, and allowed her mind to wonder, just for a while, what exactly he had meant when he said he loved them both.
*-*-*-*
“Come on, grandpa. The baby lion, the baby lion.” Ailish tugged her grandfather’s sleeve insistently. “I wanna see the baby lion.”
“Honey, grandpa already asked the lady. They’re cleaning the baby lion’s cage. We can’t see him today.” Jack said, with all the patient he could muster.
“Where is it?” Ailish inquired.
Since he didn’t know, but was sure Ailish wasn’t going to give up the subject until she got a satisfying answer, Jack decided to change the subject.
“Do you want your ice cream now?” he asked in a tone a little too excited, which would have scared anyone who knew somber and serious Agent Jack Bristow.
Ailish nodded, and started to run towards the ice cream parlor. She ran as fast as her small legs allowed her, and Jack only needed a few long strides to keep up with her.
From the corner of his eyes he saw Sydney and Vaughn approaching.
“Look Aili, it’s mommy.”
“Mommy!” Ailish looked around, found her mother, and ran to her instead of continuing towards the ice cream parlor. As soon as she was on Sydney’s hearing reach, she started to ramble. “Mommy Grandpa got me a bear. Not a real bear, though. Grandpa said we couldn’t buy a real bear coz they are too big. I told him the bear could sleep at my bed but he still said no so we got a stuffed bear instead. He’s cute and his name is Lilly. He’s a boy. Grandpa said Lilly is a girl name but I told him boys can also be named Lilly.” Ailish suddenly turned, and beamed at Vaughn. “Uncle Michael! Grandpa got me a bear. Not a real bear, though.”
“I heard it, sweetie.” Vaughn said, before Ailish could start her narration all over again.
“And where is your bear, darling?” Sydney asked.
“He’s in the bag. Grandpa told me bears aren’t afraid of the dark, so we let him inside, but the zipper is a little opened so he can breath.” Ailish said, while nodding enthusiastically.
“Alright, you can introduce him to mommy and Uncle Michael later.”
“Alright, then. Now ice cream.” Ailish exclaimed, taking Sydney by one hand and Vaughn by the other and pulling them both towards the parlor.
Jack watched with a smile on his face. They made a pretty picture, those three. He and Vaughn had had some problems in the past, but now they had good relations. One could even say they were… friends.
Ailish absolutely worshipped Vaughn, who, in return, was completely devoted to her, despite of living in another continent now.
Sydney and Vaughn’s friendship came from a long way. They had saved each others’ lives a fair amount of times, escaped from dangerous situations together more times then one could count, and had built, along the years, a relationship of complete trustiness, respect and mutual affection.
And one didn’t need to be a genius to notice that there was more to that… affection than both were letting on.
But Jack wasn’t one to pry, especially when it came to his daughter’s relationships. With Ailish’s birth, the fragile bond he and Sydney had built while working to bring SD-6 to an end had been strengthened, and he did his best not to destroy it again.
“Grandpa! Ice cream.” Ailish called, snapping Jack out of his reverie.
“Oh, sure darling.” He said. Ailish was already in possession of her so-desired chocolate ice cream. Luckily she didn’t remember the cream or the cherries. Sydney and Vaughn were smart not to bring it up.
“Chocolate, grandpa, chocolate.” She said, and Jack asked for a chocolate ice cream.
Sydney armed herself with paper napkins, and the four of them started to walk calmly, chatting and laughing with the easiness the years had brought.
Somehow, Ailish and Jack ended up walking on the front, Sydney and Vaughn being left behind.
Vaughn saw Sydney ogling his ice cream, and laughed.
“Wanna a taste?”
“Oh, yes please.” She scooped a generous portion of the ice cream with her spoon. “How come I got lured into buying a chocolate ice cream? I don’t even like chocolate ice cream.”
“It’s the dimpled smile.” Vaughn said.
“What?” Sydney laughed.
“The dimpled smile. It lures one into doing everything.”
“Such as…”
“I don’t know…” He shrugged. “Breaking into the Vatican… ignoring about fifty protocol rules per day… going out to buy watermelons in the middle of the night…”
“Hey, a pregnant woman has no power over her food choices. What could I do? Your phone was just the first that came to mind.” She said, grinning at him.
“Yes, smile your way out of it.” Vaughn said, wordless giving her his strawberry ice cream and taking the chocolate one from her.
Sydney laughed, and they continued to observe the animals, as she distractedly put a hand on his arm, leaving it there.
*-*-*-*
Ailish snuggled against Vaughn’s chest, as he picked her up from the back seat of Sydney’s car. She had fallen asleep not five minutes after they left Jack’s house, where they had gone after the zoo, and remained that way all the way home.
Sydney walked in the front, so she could open the door to the two of them. Just as they were getting inside the house Ailish opened her eyes a little, her vision fuzzy and her mind still almost completely asleep.
“Uncle Michael?” She whispered in a drowsy voice.
“Yes, honey?”
“What’s an irony?”
Vaughn smiled. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. Ailish was already back to sleep.
“I’ll tell you in the morning.” He said, kissed her forehead, and carried her to bedroom.
*-*-*-*