Sorry it's been so long since the last update! i've been up to my neck in school stuff to finish my senior year. but now i'm done and i've got 6 whole months to write my butt off (when i'm not working). anyway, i hope you like this latest chapter! ^_^
Chapter 8 – But For the Grace of God
I can hear the neighbors
They're arguin' again
And there hasn't been peace on our street
Since who knows when
I don't mean to listen in
But the shoutin' is so loud
I turn up the radio to drown it out
And silently I say a little prayer.
But for the grace of God, though I
I must have been born a lucky guy
Heaven only knows how I've been blessed
With the gift of your love
And I look around and all I see
Is your happiness embracing me
Oh, Lord I'd be lost
But for the grace of God.
I can see that old man
He's walkin' past our door
And I've been told that he's rich
But he seems so poor
'Cause no one comes to call on him
And his phone, it never rings
He wanders through his empty home
Surrounded by his things
And silently I say a little prayer, yes I do,
But for the grace of God, though I
I must have been born a lucky guy
Heaven only knows how I've been blessed
With the gift of your love
And I look around and all I see
Is your happiness embracing me
Oh, Lord I'd be lost
But for the grace of God.
And I look around and all I see
Is your happiness embracin' me
Oh, Lord I'd be lost
But for the grace of God, yeah.
I'd be lost but for the grace of God, yeah
--“But for the Grace of God” by Keith Urban--
“Vaughn.” I said, answering my phone.
“Michael, it’s me.” My sister Mikhalia said in her trademark French accent, “The team has arrived and I’m on my way to Los Angeles.”
“Alright. I’ll see you in a few hours. Be safe.”
“I will. Goodbye.”
“Bye.” I hung up the phone and pulled Sydney into a hug.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“For being here and keeping me sane.” I replied.
“I’m your wife; that’s what I’m here for.” She said with a smile before she kissed me.
“Now all we have to do is wait for her to get here.”
7 HOURS LATER…
I was frantically pacing the floor when my cellphone rang.
“Vaughn.” I answered.
“Agent Vaughn, this is Director Kendall. Your sister Mikhalia is in our protective custody and she’s waiting here at the rotunda. I thought you’d like to come down here and talk to her.”
“Thank you sir. I’ll be there right away.”
“Alright then. Goodbye.” I hung up the phone & grabbed my jacket.
“Where are you going?” Sydney asked.
“Mikhalia’s down at the JTF. You wanna come with?”
“Yeah.” She grabbed her jacket and left with me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The entire ride to the JTF was spent in relative silence as I thought about what lay ahead for me. I was going to meet the sister-in-law I never knew I had. Something told me she didn’t know about me either. This was certainly going to be interesting…
We arrived at the rotunda a short while later with Vaughn leading the way. I felt the butterflies rise in the pit of my stomach as we got closer and closer to the mainroom of the rotunda.
We finally reached the mainroom and Kendall came to greet us. He seemed a bit surprised that I was at Vaughn’s heels, but he quickly shrugged it off as he addressed Vaughn.
“Agent Vaughn, we have your sister here. She’ll be undergoing a debriefing for her projects in FI and then we’ll get her into the CIA system. I don’t suppose I have to ask if you’ll take care of her during this time.” He said.
“Absolutely not sir. She’s my sister and I’ll do whatever I can to help her out.” Vaughn replied. With that, Kendall led us to a room where a young woman that looked almost identical to Vaughn sat.
“Michael!” she said, jumping up and hugging Vaughn. She took one look at me and whispered something to him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Qui est ceci?” Mikhalia asked me. (“Who is this?”)
“C'est mon épouse, Sydney” I replied. (“This is my wife, Sydney.”)
“Il fait très beau de vous rencontrer Mikhalia.” Sydney said with a smile. (“It’s nice to meet you Mikhalia.”)
“Well then, I guess my French does me no good at this point, does it?”
“Mikhalia, Sydney is also a CIA agent.”
“I always knew you’d marry one of your own.”
“And I always knew that one day I’d have to bail you out of big trouble.”
“Maman always said you’d still be a big brother, no matter how far across the world I was. I suppose she was right.”
“She usually is.”
“And she’s a bit angry with you.”
“Why?”
“Because you haven’t come to see her in so long.”
“She knows I’m busy with work.”
“And she also knows that even when I’m flying to Hong Kong in an hour, I still come to see her.”
“That’s because you’re in France and she doesn’t live very far from the airport.”
“That’s Maman for you. She knows not rhyme or reason, just principle.”
“I remember she always used to say that when we were kids.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I sat for a few moments longer, watching them catch up on old times, before I cleared my throat.
“Vaughn? Debrief?” I said.
“Right.” I replied, turning to Mikhalia, “You’ll be given a full debriefing before you’re allowed to leave. They’ll call me once you’re finished and come get you. Right now, I have to go with Sydney to get some things for the twins.”
“Twins?” Mikhalia asked. Vaughn pointed to my belly and her face lit up.
“Elle a des jumeaux et ne m'avez-vous pas dit?” She said. (“She’s having twins and you didn’t tell me?”)
“There wasn’t a proper moment to tell you.” Vaughn replied.
“Pah, proper moment…” She chastised, “Michael, vous savez que vous pourriez m'avoir dit au sujet d'elle avant que vous l'ayez épousée ou l'ayez obtenue enceinte.” (“Michael, you know you could have told me about her before you married her or got her pregnant.”)
“I would have gotten him to tell you if I’d known about you.” I said.
“Vous ne lui avez pas même dit au sujet de moi?!” (“You didn’t even tell her about me?!”)
“Mikhalia, calme vers le bas. J'étais juste après protocole.” (“Mikhalia, calm down. I was just following protocol.”)
“Protocol! Michael, je ne m'inquiète pas de votre protocole stupide!” Mikhalia yelled, “You could have atleast told her you have a sister!” (“Michael, I don’t care about your stupid protocol!”)
“Enough!” I yelled loud. Mikhalia and Vaughn stopped and looked at me.
“All this childish arguing is getting you nowhere!” I continued, “Mikhalia, I’m sure Michael wanted to tell me about you, but he had his own reasons. And Vaughn, though you may have had your own reasons, you could’ve atleast casually mentioned that you had a sister.”
“I’m sorry Syd.” Vaughn said.
