Running for Freedom

D

derevkointraining

Cadet
Title: Running for Freedom
Author: Derevkointraining

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything besides my creative thoughts (and Jolie, of course). Characters have been borrowed from JJ Abrams. Also, large portions of dialogue from various Alias episodes have been used, although jumbled together, hehe. I am just borrowing the words.

Rating: PG-13, because of some mild language in some parts

Summary: A/U - This is S/V, my version of S5. Definitely AU S5.
This is the sequel to: Retrieving the Weapon.
This takes place about 2 years after the story (But continues from RTW’s epilogue). Sydney and Vaughn are trying to live a normal life with their daughter until secrets Vaughn thought were buried for good surface and rip the family apart for a while. Sydney and Jolie struggle to repair the family and move on through life. Will they succeed?

WARNING – Since this loosely follows the S5 timeline, those of you who have not seen S5 might not want to read this. HOWEVER – based on the fact that my beta (Tracey) who saw S5 months after she started reading this fic didn’t feel too cheated, I think my version is more than enough different than the actual version that you won’t feel spoiled.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoy. If you want a PM, let me know!

A special thanks to my awesome beta Tracey for her time on what she proofed for me. Thanks, bud!

><><><

Epilogue from Retrieving the Weapon

Sydney was sitting on the floor of the bathroom, staring at the little stick in her hands. “We’re going to have another baby,” she thought. “Michael is going to be so excited.” She smiled but quickly frowned. “I hope Jolie isn’t too jealous.”
Pushing all negative thoughts out of her head, Sydney got up to head downstairs and start dinner. Irina would be dropping Jolie off from her play date with Sarah soon and Michael would be home from work in about an hour.

When they got married a year and a half ago, Sydney had reduced her status to part time at APO and Jack was very liberal with letting Michael go home at a decent hour.
“Sydney? Are you home?” Sydney heard her mother call from downstairs. She quickly ran a brush through her hair and left her bedroom.

“Right here.”
“Mommy!”
Sydney walked down the stairs and picked up Jolie who was now almost six. “Uh! You’re getting so big!” she commented, kissing Jolie’s cheek. “Thanks for dropping her off, Mom.”
“No problem. So Dad and I will see you this weekend?”
“Yep. We’ll be there for dinner on Friday.”
“Great. Bye Jolie.”
“Bye Grandma!”

Irina studied Sydney for a minute and then leaned over. “And congratulations, Syd,” she whispered.
Sydney looked confused. “What?”
Irina subtly moved her eyes toward Sydney’s stomach and then back up again. “I’m your mother. I can tell. And you are glowing.”
Sydney smiled and hugged Jolie closer. “See you Mom.” She leaned over and gave Irina a kiss on the cheek.
“Why did Grandma say you are glowing?”
“Grandma’s weird.” Jolie giggled.
“Let’s go make dinner.”

Forty-five minutes later dinner was ready and Michael was walking in the door.
“Where are my girls?” he shouted.
Jolie came racing into the room followed by Sydney. “Daddy!” Jolie cried, throwing herself at him. “Daddy. Grandma said that Mommy was glowing.”
“What?” Michael said, putting Jolie down and staring at Sydney.
“Jolie, please go wash your hands.” Sydney said, pushing her daughter toward the bathroom.
Jolie skipped away and Michael looked at Sydney. “Does she mean…” he trailed off.
Sydney nodded. “Yes.” She put her hands on her stomach. “Yes.”

Michael smiled widely and pulled Sydney into a hug. “That’s awesome.”
“Can we eat now?” Jolie asked, returning from the bathroom.
“Yes, darling.”
The family sat down to eat and had their normal jovial conversation about their days, complete with teasing and laughter. When the meal was almost finished, Michael looked at Sydney.
“Hey, Syd. Did we have mail today?”
“Oh! I’m sorry. I was so preoccupied this afternoon that I totally forgot. I’ll go get it.” Sydney stood up quickly and leaned out their front door to get their mail from the box.
While she was walking back to the table sifting through the various bills and magazines, she came across a small grey envelope with a black bird, almost like a raven, on it, addressed to Michael Vaughn. There was no return address.

“Hun? You got a strange little card here with a black bird on it.”
Michael froze. “Interesting,” he managed to say. “What does Renee want?” he thought, taking the card from Sydney and putting it in his pocket. “I’ll just look at it later.” He said and smiled at his family. “Let’s finish dinner.”

RUNNING FOR FREEDOM

Chapter 1:

Vaughn was sitting on his back patio alone after dinner, holding the small grey envelope in his hands. For two years, Sydney, Jolie and he had lived blissfully happy, almost too perfect lives. They were so happy to all be together that it seemed like nothing could go wrong. Michael thought he left several things in the past once Jolie came into their lives and they rescued her from Elena in Prague. But nothing good lasts forever. “It’s been almost two years since I’ve heard from Renee. Should I open this and get involved with everything again, or, should I ignore it?” He turned the envelope in his hands restlessly and decided to put it back in his pocket for now.

“Vaughn?” Vaughn smiled when he heard his wife’s voice come through the back door. He also adored how she still called him Vaughn despite that being her last name as well now.
“Right here, Syd.” He heard the door open and knew Sydney was coming outside.
She walked over to where he was sitting and eased herself into his lap. He put his arms around her.
“So, we’re going to have another baby? How are we going to break the news to Little Miss Princess upstairs that she won’t be the sole ruler of this house anymore?”

Sydney laughed. “She’ll be fine as long as we assure her that she is still just as important to us. I think she is a little insecure about the thought of a sibling because they would be with us from the beginning as a baby and we didn’t have that time to bond with her. That is what she is jealous about.”
“Well, she has nothing to worry about. If it wasn’t for her coming into our lives, I may never have convinced you to marry me.”
Sydney laughed again. “Nah. I would have married you…eventually.”

“Thanks, Syd. I appreciate it.” Sydney leaned down and gave Vaughn a kiss. “So? Tell me more about this new baby.”
“I have my official doctor’s appointment tomorrow after work. I called this morning when I got sick at work.”
“Is that why you left early?”
“Yeah. I called my mom to ask her to pick Jolie up from Sarah’s and then I picked up a pregnancy test and went home. I fell asleep for a bit and then I finally took the test. Sure enough, it was positive.”
“I’m really excited.” Vaughn moved his head closer to Sydney’s stomach. “I can’t wait to meet you, little one.”

Sydney giggled and pushed his head away. “Stop that! So will you be upset if it is another girl?”
“Nah. It doesn’t matter to me because I love you and I love our kids. Besides, Jolie likes hockey – that’s all I care about.”
“Nice, Michael.” He gave her a boyish grin.
Sydney leaned back into Vaughn’s arms. She was so happy at the moment. The couple heard their back door open and shut.

“What are you guys doing?” Jolie asked, skipping over to her parents.
“Young lady, did you finish the homework that Grandma gave you?” Vaughn asked. Since Irina stayed with Jack after the whole ordeal in Prague, she volunteered to home school Jolie since she was too advanced to be in school with children her own age and this arrangement would allow Irina to keep busy while Jack, Sydney, Nadia and Vaughn were all at work.

“Duhhhh. Daddy, I finished it like, an HOUR ago.” Jolie said to her father.
“Oh, my mistake.” Vaughn smiled at Sydney. “Hey – come here, peanut. We have something to tell you.” Vaughn shifted Sydney to one side of his lap and patted his other leg. Jolie walked over and climbed into Vaughn’s lap.
“Am I going to have a brother or sister?” Jolie asked her parents immediately.

“Actually, yes. That is what we wanted to talk to you about. How did you know?”
“Well, Grandma said you were glowing. So I looked around on the Internet to see what it meant when someone said a woman was glowing. And I found that it means they are happy to be pregnant, or something like that. So when you said you wanted to talk to me, I just guessed that was why.”
Vaughn sighed and put his hand on Jolie’s head. Sometimes it was hard for him to swallow the fact that his adorable little girl, who wasn’t even six, was smart enough to figure many things out by herself. “Well, how do you feel about this?”

Jolie shrugged and stared out into the backyard.
“Jo?” Sydney asked softly. “Baby, what are you thinking?” Jolie didn’t answer and instead kept staring into the backyard.
Sydney looked at Vaughn with a look that said, “it’s already starting.” Vaughn rubbed Sydney’s back with his other hand to reassure her things would work out.
“Sweetie,” Sydney began, taking Jolie’s hands in hers. “Another baby isn’t going to ruin the relationship the three of us have now. Not only were you my first baby, you’re so special because I thought you were gone and then I got you back which is the best present a parent can ask for. And we are not going to love you less because we didn’t live with you when you were a baby. So we don’t want you to think that. And don’t forget that you WERE raised by family even if you didn’t know it. Grandma was with you and knows the past we don’t.”

“Yeah. In fact, we didn’t have to deal with you crying or screaming all night long so at least we missed out on the sleepless nights part, and all the yucky diaper changing parts,” Vaughn tried to joke around with Jolie to lighten the mood. “So in fact, we might love you MORE for that fact when this new kid comes.”
Sydney smacked Vaughn lightly on the back of his head. He laughed. But, so did Jolie.
“Okay. Then I guess it is okay. So, what is it? A brother or a sister?”
“We don’t know yet.”

“Well, I want it to be a boy so I will always be Daddy’s only princess.”
Sydney and Vaughn laughed and hugged their daughter tightly.
“Daddy? Will you come watch American Idol with me?” Jolie asked, giving her dad her famous puppy dog face that makes anyone give her anything.
“Sure.” Jolie jumped off Vaughn’s lap and Sydney stood up. Vaughn gave Sydney a kiss before picking Jolie up and tossing her over his shoulder. She laughed all the way inside.

><><><

Two Days Later

“Mom! We’re here!” Sydney called from the living room of her parent’s apartment. Irina came out of the kitchen and Jack surfaced from one of the bedrooms.
“Grandpa!!!” Jolie squealed, running over to him.
“Hey, sweetheart!” Jack picked her up briefly. “You are getting so big!” He walked over and kissed Sydney on the cheek. “I hear congratulations are in order?”
Sydney nodded and smiled.

Jack looked at his granddaughter. “You better help your mom, okay? You are in a very special position to keep this kid in line.”
Jolie looked at him and nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll be tough.” She smiled sweetly. All of the adults laughed.
Vaughn offered to go help Irina in the kitchen. While the two of them were in there, the little grey envelope that Vaughn slid into his pants pocket two days ago fell out. He had forgotten about it and was in a rush this morning and grabbed the first pair of pants he found.
Irina noticed the grey envelope with the black raven and picked it up. “Are you ever planning on telling my daughter about this? You’ve kept it a secret long enough,” she asked.

Vaughn quickly grabbed the envelope. “I don’t need your marital advice, Irina. You and Jack may be fine now but look at your track record.”
Irina looked at him warily. “Michael. Some secrets between a husband and wife are acceptable. Yours are not. You’re not as covert as you like to think. Consider my life an object lesson. If you don’t want to end up like Jack and me, tell Sydney the truth.”
Vaughn nodded and quickly put the envelope away. “I haven’t heard from her in almost two years, you know.”

“All the more reason to say something to Sydney. Come on, let’s go bring dinner out.” Putting a hand on Vaughn’s arm, she guided him in the dining area.
When Irina and Vaughn returned to the dining/living room area, they saw that Nadia and Weiss had arrived. This was the first time everyone was seeing them since they’d been on their honeymoon for two weeks and Jolie had already worked herself into Weiss’ arms and Sydney and her sister were gabbing away.
“Nadia!” Irina called, setting down the dish of food she was carrying to run over to her younger daughter.

“Mom!” The two women embraced.
Vaughn also set down what he was carrying and walked over to his best friend. “Hey, man. I see my daughter already has her favorite uncle wrapped around her finger for the night,” he said, motioning to Jolie.
“Oh, this thing? Yeah, I don’t really know how I managed to be standing here holding it. When I walked into the apartment, a small object flung herself at me and wouldn’t let go.” Weiss joked around.
“UN-cle ER-ic,” Jolie said in a huffy tone. “That’s not nice!” Vaughn and Weiss just laughed and Jolie pouted even more.

“Okay, everyone. Dinner is ready,” Irina called out and everyone flocked to the table.
Once everyone was seated, Jack tapped his fork on his glass and stood up. “Thank you all for coming tonight. I just wanted to take a few minutes to once again say congratulations to the newlyweds and welcome back, and, congratulations to Sydney and Michael on the new addition to their family.”
“WHAT?!” Nadia screeched. “SYDNEY ANNE. You are PREGNANT? And you didn’t tell me when I walked in the door?!”

Sydney laughed. “Sorry, Nadia. Yes, I am pregnant. I found out while you were away and I had my doctor’s appointment yesterday. I am about two months along, so the baby is due mid April. And no, we don’t know if it is a boy or girl yet. We haven’t decided if we wanted to know yet.”
“Oh my god, this is so exciting! Maybe it will be born on your birthday. How awesome would that be? That would be like, the greatest gift ever.” Nadia gushed and started talking about going shopping with Syd for baby stuff.

Jolie, not used to being out of the family spotlight, was not enjoying the conversation. She started eating her dinner quietly and thinking about when she could escape from the table.
Twenty minutes later Jack stood up and left the table for a minute, returning with a small wrapped object.
“Here, Syd.”
“What’s this? A present?” Sydney unwrapped the package to find a silver baby rattle. “Dad, you shouldn’t have!”
“Actually, Syd. It’s yours. I’m just returning it. You wouldn’t let that thing out of your sight until you were almost three.”
“Shut up, I wasn’t like that!”
“Oh yes you were,” Irina broke in. “You loved that thing.”
Nadia, Vaughn and Weiss burst out laughing and started teasing Sydney about being attached to the rattle.

Jolie was sitting there fuming. “I knew they were going to like this baby more than me since it will be here from the beginning. Especially if it is born on Mommy’s birthday. I hate it. It’s not fair. This baby is going to ruin EVERYTHING.” Thinking those thoughts, Jolie slammed her napkin on the table and got up and walked away from the table. A minute later, everyone heard the spare bedroom door slam.
The table was silent. Sydney put her fork down. “I thought we cleared this up with her the other night,” she said looking miserable. “She hates me now.” Vaughn reached over and put his hand on Sydney’s back.

“She doesn’t hate you, Syd,” Nadia said. “I don’t think she could ever hate you. She just needs to get used to everything. That’s all.”
“I’m going to go talk to her,” Vaughn said, standing up. “Excuse me.”

~~~

Jolie slammed the door as hard as she could, locked it, and threw herself on the bed. “I hate everything. I don’t fit in here. I was just the discovery mom and dad made two years ago. But this stupid baby is going to have everything I didn’t get and it will be Mom and Dad’s favorite. Too bad Aunt Elena is dead now. I could have called her up and handed it over to her to experiment on.” Tears started sliding out of Jolie’s eyes. “Maybe I can just stay here with Grandma and Grandpa. They love me.” She really never wanted a sibling because having her parents around was all she ever wanted when she was younger. But now they would be too preoccupied taking care of a baby to spend much time with her, no matter how much they told her otherwise. And to make matters worse, her birthday was in two weeks and no one had even said anything to her about that yet either.

Suddenly she heard the doorknob jiggle.
“Jolie?” she heard Vaughn say, slightly knocking on the door. “Sweetheart, open the door please.”
“GO AWAY.” Jolie screamed in response.
“I’m not leaving. Open the door.”

“NO. I don’t want to talk to you.” Vaughn heard the sadness in his daughter’s voice as she was screaming and he knew she was crying.
“Well, I want to talk to you so please open the door, princess, come on. I want to know what is bothering you.”
“It doesn’t matter. It WON’T matter. I don’t matter anymore.” Jolie responded, breaking down into sobs. “JUST GO AWAY.”

TBC

(A/N) * The story starts a little slow but there's a lot of action to come. I definitely have to set up the family lifestyle and drama/angst first :smiley: *

Enjoy!
 
aww poor thing! i can see why she would be upset, but i mean she is getting a brother or a sister! thats something great!
great start!
loved it! :D
 
Oh my God! I can't tell you how excited I was to come home from a crappy day at work and have this PM waiting for me! Seriously, you made my day :D What an awesome start! I hope Jolie understands soon that a new baby won't change anything. Thank you so much for the PM, and I can't wait for the update!
 
Can I just say how excited I am that you have started this fic...
Can't wait for more.
Thanks for the pm and keep me on the list please.
 
yay so excited you started the sequel!!!
awesome start
feel bad for jolie
hope vaughn talks to her and things are ok
awesome update
loved it
thanx for the pm
cant wait for more
 
Yay!! the sequel!! I'm so happy!!

Poor Jolie, I hope she understands her parents will always love her no matter what...

I'm so excited about this fic, I can already tell it's going to be awesome!!!!


Thanks for the pm, and please keep me on your pm list....








°°NiCkY°°
 
Thanks for the comments so far, guys. I'm glad you're excited for the sequel.

Recap:

“Jolie?” she heard Vaughn say, slightly knocking on the door. “Sweetheart, open the door please.”
“GO AWAY.” Jolie screamed in response.
“I’m not leaving. Open the door.”

“NO. I don’t want to talk to you.” Vaughn heard the sadness in his daughter’s voice as she was screaming and he knew she was crying.
“Well, I want to talk to you so please open the door, princess, come on. I want to know what is bothering you.”
“It doesn’t matter. It WON’T matter. I don’t matter anymore.” Jolie responded, breaking down into sobs. “JUST GO AWAY.”

Chapter 2:

“What do you mean you don’t matter? Of course you matter. You are a very important part of this family.”
Vaughn got no response, just the sound of loud sobbing. After standing there a few more minutes, he left and went back to the table.

“She locked the door and won’t open it and she is crying hysterically,” he reported. When Sydney heard this, she put her face in her hands and started to cry herself.
Jack and Weiss looked uncomfortable and Nadia ran around the table to hug her sister. Irina, however, sat there calmly, trying to figure out what to do. She did know her granddaughter best as she raised her as a baby.

“Everyone calm down.” Irina spoke up and everyone but Sydney turned to face her. Sydney continued to hide her face in her hands. “Jolie is an incredibly sensitive individual, despite the brave front she puts up. When she first learned what a family was, she started asking for her mom and dad. She didn’t understand where she was or why her mom and dad didn’t want her.” Vaughn started to protest but Irina held up her hand to silence him. “Yes, Michael. I know what you are going to say. You would have wanted her if you knew. But this is irrelevant right now. What I am saying is Jolie’s only and constant wish was to have parents that loved her. When she got that two years ago, I had never seen her so happy. She had this brightness in her eyes that I never saw before she went to live with you two. She adores both of you so much. And right now, this baby is a huge threat to her. This baby means that she is no longer the sole star in her parent’s eyes and there will be somebody else in the way to your attention. She is terrified that, because you didn’t get the chance to be with her for three and a half years of her life, the most important three and a half years, you are going to revel in the joys of having a baby from day one and lose interest in her because you didn’t hear her first word or see her first step. In her mind, now, she’s just the older daughter. The one who will be told to help out and grow up faster. She just got a real childhood and she feels threatened that it will be taken away because there is someone younger and newer that she’ll have to look out for.”

Everyone sat in silence as Irina finished her speech. “But…Mom…we told her the other night that she had nothing to worry about.” Sydney said tearfully. “I honestly just don’t know what to do to make this better.”

“You need to convince her and start balancing your attention between your two children now. For every minute you spend talking about the new baby and getting ready for it, you need to spend time talking about Jolie. Her birthday is in two weeks. Did anyone remember that tonight as you were all talking about getting ready for the new baby? And Jack. You HAD to give Sydney that rattle now? Do you know how that probably felt like an arrow straight into the heart for Jolie? She never had anything of her parents as a baby.” Jack just looked down, afraid to face Irina. “Sydney and Michael, the two of you need to make a huge effort to make Jolie still feel special as you get ready for the new baby. Go out of your way to have quality time with her. Take her to lunch, or for ice cream or whatever. She just wants your time and attention and to feel loved. Same goes for you as well, Nadia and Eric. And Jack.”

Everyone nodded as Irina made perfect sense. “All right. Then let’s plan a really awesome birthday for her,” Eric suggested. “What were you guys going to do for it?” he looked at Sydney and Vaughn.
“I was just assuming we’d have a barbeque or something at the house with the family and some of her little friends.” Vaughn said.

Irina nodded. “Okay, well, instead of a little barbeque, it’ll be a big one. We can make it a really fun theme.”
“All she’ll want is a Princess theme.” Sydney said, finally looking up.
“Well, then Princesses it is.” The family got to talking and it was finally decided they would also get a piñata and rent one of those blow up things that the kids can jump all over. They also decided it would be a surprise party. Irina and Jack would come over and take Jolie out for breakfast and when they got back, everyone would be there. While things were coming together nicely, Vaughn still felt like there could be something more.

“Hey Syd,” he spoke up. “How do you feel about a kitten?”
“What?”
“What if we get Jolie a little kitten. One that will just be hers. One that is just from us to her. I think she would be responsible enough to take care of it. What do you think?"

“I think that is a great idea Vaughn.” Sydney finally smiled for the first time in an hour.
“I think we need to get going, Mom.” Nadia said, yawning. “We’re still a little tired from traveling.” Eric put his arm around Nadia.
“Yeah, we should head out too. But how are we going to get Jolie out of the bedroom?” Sydney said.
“I’ll go.” Irina stood up. “Nadia and Eric, thanks for coming over. I’ll see you soon.” She hugged her daughter and new son-in-law and disappeared to the back of the apartment.
Nadia and Eric wished Sydney and Vaughn luck, congratulated them again, and headed out.

~~~

“Jolie? Sweetheart? Can I come in?” Jolie, who had cried herself to sleep, slowly opened her eyes when she heard her grandmother knocking on the door. She made no effort to move off the bed.
“All right, sweetheart. I was trying to be polite and ask you to let me in but I have a key and now I am coming inside.”

Jolie watched as the door slowly opened and Irina came in. She sat on the bed and reached out to her granddaughter the only way she knew how, by speaking in Russian. While Sydney, Jack and Nadia understood and could speak Russian, no one did regularly, but Irina would with Jolie to make sure she stayed fluent in the language and to create a bond between them.
“Tell me what’s wrong, little one,” she said in her native tongue.

Jolie was silent at first and Irina saw her tear stained face. Finally, she answered her grandmother, also in Russian. “I’m scared they won’t love me as much. I’ve been the center of their attention for two years and I love it. You know all I ever wanted was my parents to find me. But now they’ll have other priorities.”
Irina carefully put her hand on Jolie’s back. “That’s not true, and you know it. Do you know your mother cried for an hour after you left the table? She kept saying, ‘Jolie hates me.’ Her worst fear is that you are going to hate her. And fear comes from love. She loves you that much that her world would probably collapse if you ever expressed major hostility toward her.”

“Really?”
“Yes, really. I know things are going to be hard and different. But one thing that will never change is that you are your parents’ first-born and they love you so much. Do you remember anything about the night your mom found you?”
“A little. I remember she wouldn’t let me go when we were in the van leaving the facility. She held me the entire car ride and up to the hotel room and she sat and talked to me until I fell asleep.”
“What did she say to you on the car ride?”

“She was mumbling really softly the whole time but I think she kept saying ‘I have you back,’ or ‘I can’t believe I found you.’ She was crying a little too.”
Irina just smiled. “You have nothing to worry about, sweetheart. And you always have me and Grandpa if you need to get away. This room is always open to you. Now come on…your parents are ready to go home.”
Jolie finally sat up and sighed. “Thank you, Grandma. But I am still a little angry. No one even mentioned my birthday and it’s going to come long before the stupid baby.”

“Well, you can be angry for a little while. How about Grandpa and I take you out for a special birthday breakfast? Just us three. Does that sound good?”
“I’d like that.” Jolie reached out and hugged her grandmother. Irina smoothed Jolie’s hair and wiped the tears off her cheeks.
Standing up, she motioned for Jolie to jump into her arms and she carried her into the living room where Michael and Sydney were waiting.

~~~

Meanwhile

“Maybe we should have talked to her first about having more children.’ Sydney said, still wiping tears from her eyes. “Then maybe she would have been more receptive.”
“I think this is just a classic case of sibling rivalry. Let’s just see what happens.” Vaughn said, hugging Sydney close and trying to comfort her.
They heard the door to the guest bedroom open and they waited anxiously to see if Irina would succeed in getting their daughter to come out.
Irina turned the corner into the living room and Sydney and Vaughn smiled with relief when they saw her holding Jolie.

Irina walked over to Sydney and Vaughn. “Well, we had a little chat. I think she is ready to go home now. Oh, and Grandpa and I are going to take Jolie out for a special birthday breakfast in two weeks,” she said with a subtle wink.
“Oh, baby girl. Come here,” Sydney cried, reaching out for her daughter and taking her from Irina. “I don’t want you to be sad. I love you so much,” Sydney continued to babble and tear up again while practically smothering Jolie against her.

“Come on, ladies, let’s go home,” Vaughn said, guiding his wife, who was still practically strangling their daughter, to the door. “Irina, Jack. Thanks for dinner. Goodnight.”
Jack and Irina smiled as the kids left. Irina turned to Jack. “You think they will be okay?”
“I think so. Jolie is pretty resilient. She’ll be able to get over any resentment or anger she has.”

><><><

Vaughn and Sydney walked into their house ten minutes later with Sydney still holding onto Jolie tightly. Surprisingly she wasn’t struggling. Sydney walked upstairs with her daughter and helped her change and get ready for bed. As Sydney was leaning down to tuck her into bed, Jolie finally spoke to her mother since before she left the table at dinner.

“Mommy?” Sydney looked down at Jolie. “Do you remember being pregnant with me?”
“Of course I do,” Sydney said as she sat down on the edge of the bed. She put a hand on Jolie’s face. “ I used to talk to you all the time. I would tell you about your daddy and your grandparents and my life. And I would tell you about all the things I couldn’t wait to do with you and how I couldn’t wait to meet you. You were the one thing that kept me sane during that horrible time in my life. You were my savior. If I hadn’t had you with me, I don’t know how I would have survived that time of my life.” A tear slipped down Sydney’s cheek as she said all this. Jolie reached up and wiped it away.

“Don’t cry, Mommy.”
“It’s a happy cry, honey.” Sydney leaned down and touched her nose to Jolie’s. “I really do love you so, so, so much. Please remember that. And remember that nothing, I mean nothing, will change that, okay?”
Jolie turned her face toward the wall in shame. “I’m really sorry about tonight.”

Sydney just smiled and kissed Jolie’s cheek. “Have sweet dreams, baby.” She stood up and noticed the picture frame Jolie had on her desk. It held the first picture of her little family that was ever taken. Sydney, Vaughn and Jolie were all curled up together asleep in Sydney’s bed in the old apartment. Nadia had secretly taken that picture. It was really adorable and it was Jolie’s favorite possession.
Sydney sighed and touched her stomach and prayed Jolie really would come around even more in the months to come. She shut off the light and left the room, leaving her daughter with her dreams.

~~~

While Sydney and Jolie were talking, Michael was once again sitting outside on the backyard patio, turning the envelope around in his hands. “I need to tell them. But it might ruin my perfect family. What am I going to do? I’ll wait until after Jolie’s birthday. That little girl needs one more really happy birthday before this felgercarb hits the fan.” With a heavy sigh, Vaughn managed to slip the envelope back into his pocket just seconds before Sydney came outside looking for him.

“So, is sitting in the dark becoming your new hobby? Because if it is, it’s a little creepy.” Sydney said, plopping herself down in his lap.
“You know it, hun. I’m becoming a night stalker.”
“Okay, that’s just not even funny. Come on, let’s go up to bed. It’s been a long night.”
With a smile, Vaughn let himself be led inside and up the stairs.

><><><

Vaughn woke up feeling restless around 7:30 a.m. He saw his wife was deeply asleep next to him but he was wide awake and didn’t want to disturb her. Then he got a brilliant idea.
Easing himself out of bed so he wouldn’t wake Sydney, he crept down the hall to Jolie’s room and promptly woke his daughter up.

“Daddy? What are you doing? It’s early on a Saturday. Go away.” Jolie grumbled when Vaughn started tickling her stomach.
“No, baby. Come on, get up. We’re going somewhere.”
“Now?”

“Yes. Get up and get dressed and meet me downstairs in twenty minutes. And be quiet so you don’t wake Mommy.”
Jolie grumbled a little more as she pulled herself out of bed. Finally she made it downstairs where her father was waiting. “This better be good, Daddy.”
Vaughn just smiled and placed a note for Sydney on the table. “We’re starting with breakfast at your favorite diner. Let’s go.”

~~~

“Mmmmmm thanks for letting me have chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream!” Jolie squealed, licking the remnants of confectioner’s sugar off her fingers.
Vaughn couldn’t help but smile at his daughter who was currently a sticky mess. “Just don’t tell your mother how much felgercarb I let you eat.” Vaughn shuddered a little at how much Sydney would yell at him for letting Jolie eat sugar for breakfast. He reached over with a napkin in his hand and wiped her face off. “Please go wash your hands.”

“Okay.” Jolie hopped off her chair and Vaughn went to pay the bill. “I’m back, Daddy,” he heard a few minutes later.
“Good. Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Hmm, on a walk.” Vaughn took Jolie’s hand and led her out of the diner and down a street he knew had a pet store on it.
As they walked by the pet store, he saw a whole batch of new kittens in the window and stopped Jolie.
“Baby, look at those,” he said pointing.
“Awwww, Daddy they are SOOOOOOO cute. Can I have one? Please?”

“I think Mommy would be really mad if we brought a kitten home. But we can go play with them.”
Jolie followed Vaughn into the store and they went over to the pen with the kittens. “Oh, Daddy, look at this little grey one with the white paws. I love it. Please? Please? Please??” she begged, trying out her puppy dog face on her dad.
“I’m sorry, honey. We have to talk to Mommy.”
“She’ll say no.”
“Well we can’t just bring it home.”
Jolie sadly put the little kitten back in the pen. “Let’s go then. I want to go home.”

Lying to his daughter broke Vaughn’s heart, but the kitten was going to be a surprise. “Come here you,” he said, scooping his little girl up and walked back toward their house with her safely in his arms.
When they got home, Jolie mumbled hello to her mom and said something about going to read up in her room.

Sydney stared at her daughter and looked at Vaughn with a curious glance. Vaughn kissed Sydney and told her he’d explain later but he needed to go do something and he’d be back soon.
Leaving the house again, Vaughn quickly jogged back to the pet shop.
“Back so soon?” the clerk asked.
“When can those kittens be sold?”
“Another week.”
“Can I put one on reserve?”
“Sure. We just got them yesterday. Let me guess – the grey one?”
“Yeah. My little girl loved that one.”

“I could tell. Okay, that one is a female. She already has all of her shots and we have people here in the store working with the kittens to get them litter box trained.” The clerk then reached into a file and pulled out a paper. “This is a list of instructions for the kitten on how to care for it and what kinds of food you will need. There are also some numbers of local vets and what some popular cat toys are. When would you like to pick her up?”

“This is great, thank you. I’ll come next Friday when they are allowed to be released.” Vaughn said, making a mental note to ask Nadia and Weiss if they wouldn’t mind caring for the kitten for a week.
The clerk finished taking Vaughn’s information and payment. Vaughn thanked the clerk again and left the store.

><><><

The next two weeks went by quickly as everyone scurried around to finish planning the party while still doing their jobs. Sydney had invited about 10 of Jolie’s better friends from her various activities. All of them were able to attend and their parents promised to make sure the party remained a secret. Nadia gladly accepted care of the kitten for a week and was having so much fun with it that Eric was scared he’d have to go get one for Nadia. Irina went about home schooling Jolie and taking her to her activities. And everyone agreed not to talk about the baby in front of Jolie until after her birthday. Vaughn also hid away the little grey envelope in his office and forced it out of his mind until then as well.

Finally, it was Friday September 30th. Sydney left work at her normal hour of 1:00 p.m. and ran a few last minute birthday errands before heading to her mother’s to pick up her daughter.
Before Sydney arrived, Irina was having a horrible time trying to get Jolie to concentrate on some math.

“Jolie, please try to finish this worksheet. I don’t want to have to give you homework this weekend.”
“So don’t! Why can’t we just do this Monday, Grandma? Please? PLEASE?”
“How about just two more problems?”
“Grandmaaaaaa…”
“Finish it. I mean it. I’m going to stand up and walk into the kitchen. When I come back, I expect at least two more problems to be finished.”

“What if I…”
“Jolie Bristow Vaughn. Don’t even think about finishing that sentence. Do your math worksheet or I will tell Grandpa you were misbehaving today and I am sure he’d suggest canceling your birthday breakfast tomorrow.”
Jolie quickly shut up. She knew her grandmother was serious when she used her full name and threatened to tell Grandpa. She picked up her pencil as Irina walked into the kitchen to find some aspirin. She loved her granddaughter very much but when Jolie decided to push her limits, it was hard to be patient.

Five minutes later, Irina walked back into the room to find Jolie sitting quietly at the table with her pencil down. She walked over and glanced at the worksheet, which had been fully completed. Irina looked up, surprised.

“I just went ahead and did it all.” Jolie said quietly. Irina glanced at the math and saw that it was correct. She knelt down next to Jolie’s chair and hugged her.
“Thank you, sweetheart. NOW you are done for the week.”
“YAY!” Jolie screamed, practically in her grandmother’s ear. “So we’re still going to breakfast tomorrow, right??”

“Of course.” Just then, Sydney let herself into the apartment.
“MOMMY!!!” Jolie screamed and ran across the room. Sydney was prepared and opened her arms so Jolie could run into them.
“Hi, baby. Did you have a good day with Grandma today?”

Jolie nodded without looking at her grandmother. Sydney glanced over and saw Irina use sign language to say “impossible.” Sydney stifled a laugh and gently picked up her little girl. “Were you a bad girl today, Jo?” Sydney said, looking into her daughter’s eyes.
Jolie’s cheeks turned pink. “Umm, not in the end…” she said. Sydney laughed and put her down.

“Go get your stuff.” Jolie ran off and Sydney walked over to her mother. “What did she do?”
“Oh, she’s just excited for tomorrow and wouldn’t concentrate. It’s fine though, I got her to do her work.”
“Okay, I don’t want to know how.” Sydney smiled. “What time are you picking her up tomorrow morning?”
“10:00.”
“Perfect.” Jolie came running back into the room. “Okay, Mom. We’ll see you tomorrow. Jo, say goodbye to Grandma.”

Jolie hugged Irina’s legs. “Bye, Grandma. See you in the morning.”
Irina reached down to pat her on the head. “Have a good night, ladies.”

~~~

After dinner and watching television together, Sydney and Vaughn were having a tough time getting Jolie to sleep. Finally they gave up and let her stay awake to do whatever she wanted as long as she stayed in her room.
Around 11:30 p.m., Vaughn and Sydney were sitting in their bed, each reading a book.

“You know, we have to celebrate our own October first,” Vaughn said as he lowered his book. “It’s our anniversary of meeting.”
Sydney smiled. “We still have a half hour to go.”
“I’m going to check on the little princess and see if she is still awake.” Vaughn said, sliding out of the bed.
He walked out of the room and down the hall, pausing at the door to his daughter’s room. He didn’t hear any noise so he carefully opened the door. What he saw made him smile and he opened the door wider.

Jolie was completely passed out on her floor with puzzle pieces spread out all around her. Vaughn quickly went back to his room and motioned for Sydney to follow him. On the way back to Jolie’s room he also grabbed his camera.
When they got back to her door, Sydney peeked in and saw how her daughter fell asleep and bit her lip to keep from laughing. Vaughn quickly took a picture.

When the flash went off, Jolie stirred for a second but didn’t wake up. Vaughn handed Sydney the camera and scooped his daughter off the floor and gently placed her in her bed.
“Sweet dreams, princess,” his whispered and kissed her forehead. Sydney also said goodnight and the two shut off the light and made their way back to their room.

Vaughn noticed it was midnight first. “Happy October first,” he said, sliding his arms around his wife.
Sydney smiled and moved closer to Vaughn. “I love you so much. You are my world,” she said as she leaned in to kiss him.
The happy couple proceeded to celebrate the anniversary of when they met and before drifting off to sleep, Vaughn leaned over to whisper into Sydney’s ear.

“Remember that I love you and always will, no matter what happens. You’ve made my life complete, especially with our two children. Nothing would be the same without you.”
Sydney thought Vaughn’s choice of words were a little odd but was too tired to think about it. “Mmm…I love you too, hun.” She kissed him and said goodnight. Within minutes she was fast asleep.

Vaughn watched his wife for a minute and kissed her cheek before shutting his own eyes. He prayed that everything would be okay once he told her his secrets. Finally he drifted off to sleep himself.

TBC...
 
I can't wait for Jolie's birthday, she's going to be so happy when she sees the kitten.....

Awesome update. Can't wait for more.








°°NiCkY°°
 
Recap:
Vaughn watched his wife for a minute and kissed her cheek before shutting his own eyes. He prayed that everything would be okay once he told her his secrets. Finally he drifted off to sleep himself.


Chapter 3:

“IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!” Jolie burst into her parent’s room at eight in the morning. She jumped on top of the bed. “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!” she repeated.
Vaughn and Sydney both groaned and looked at their clocks.
“Jolie, it is eight in the morning. On a Saturday. What is the rule?” Vaughn grumbled, shutting his eyes again.

“You broke the rule the other Saturday, Daddy. And even earlier than this! So this time I get to wake you up. Besides, it doesn’t count today because IT IS MY BIRTHDAY so get up!!” Jolie screamed again and started jumping up and down on the bed.
“Okay, I’m going to be sick…” Sydney said, jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom quickly.
Jolie’s face fell immediately. “Mommy is sick?” she asked sadly.

Vaughn quickly grabbed his daughter’s waist and pulled her down next to him. “No, baby. Maybe her stomach just didn’t like being jolted around before nine.”
Jolie was silent for a second and then an angry look crossed her face. “Wait a minute. This is because of the baby. See? The baby is ruining the morning of my birthday. I told you the baby would ruin everything. Mommy can’t even be happy it’s my birthday now because the stupid baby is making her sick. It’s not fair.” She burst into tears.

“Shhhh…” Vaughn tried to cuddle Jolie in his arms but she struggled to get off the bed. “Jo, come here.”
“No. I’m going to get ready to go to breakfast with people who love me.” Jolie smacked Vaughn’s arm away from her and ran out of the room.
“Ugh.” Vaughn groaned as he collapsed back onto the bed. Then he slowly got up and went into the bathroom to check on Sydney.
Upon opening the bathroom door, he found her sitting on the floor crying. “You heard her, didn’t you?”

Sydney nodded tearfully. “I couldn’t help it…the jumping…I didn’t want to ruin her birthday…”
Vaughn knelt down next to his wife and pulled her into a hug. “She’ll forgive you later…”
“Vaughn, honestly. I don’t know how I can do this anymore. Our daughter already hates her sibling. She cries every time the baby disrupts something and every time she cries, my heart breaks. I still feel guilty for her first three years and that guilt will never go away and now I can’t even make her happy anymore.”

“Okay, first, Syd, you need to calm down before you make yourself sick again. Second, we’ll figure this out. Okay? You didn’t ruin her birthday. Once she sees the party later, she will be fine. Why don’t you clean yourself up and then go say happy birthday to her before she leaves with your parents?”
Vaughn stood up and pulled Sydney with him. “Thank you,” she said, hugging Vaughn tightly. “I don’t know how I would go on without you.”

~~~

Jolie stormed into her bathroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth before heading into her room and slamming the door. Peering into her closet, she decided to wear a bouncy turquoise skirt that Nadia had given her and a white top with turquoise sparkles on it. She completed her outfit with a bracelet that matched the locket that she never took off and her sparkly silver flip flops. After brushing her hair, she decided she was never coming back home and took out the biggest backpack she had and began stuffing some clothes and other things she wanted in there. Then she took out a piece of paper and wrote, “I have a new home now” and dragged the backpack and note downstairs.
Placing the note on the table by the door, she dragged her backpack outside. She then sat down next to it and opened her book to read while waiting for her grandparents.

~~~

After Sydney washed up and put some regular clothes on, she headed to Jolie’s room to say good morning and happy birthday but found that she wasn’t in her room.
“Jo?” she called, going downstairs. Then she spotted the note. “Oh give me strength,” she said, leaning against the wall.
Sydney knew Jolie couldn’t get anywhere herself, or if she walked, it definitely wasn’t far yet. So she opened the front door and found out she didn’t have to look very far.
“Where are you going Jolie?”
“I don’t live here anymore so don’t worry about it,” she said, barely looking up from her book.

Sydney sat down next to her daughter and gently took the book out of her hands. Jolie turned away from her mom and crossed her arms but that didn’t stop Sydney from pulling her into her lap.
Jolie tried to struggle but Sydney, despite not being an active agent anymore, was still incredibly strong. “You’re not going anywhere. I’m not letting you,” she whispered into Jolie’s ear, holding tight to her daughter with one arm while trying to tickle her with the other hand.

Despite her best efforts to not laugh, Jolie let out a tiny giggle when Sydney tickled her.
Finally Sydney stopped tickling her and put her hand on Jolie’s head to smooth her hair. “Happy birthday, special girl,” she whispered again, kissing her cheek. “I can’t believe you are six today. I want you to stay my little baby forever.” Sydney continued to whisper really sweet things into Jolie’s ear until she finally put her arms around her mom.
“I love you Mommy,” Jolie said, her voice quivering.

Sydney looked at her daughter’s face and saw she was crying again. “Why are you crying?”
“Because I don’t want to hate you!” Jolie burst out. Sydney looked shocked for a moment.
“Well, I don’t want you to hate me either. Especially not today, because this day six years ago was the best day of my life. The moment I got to hold you in my arms was so awesome that I never wanted to let you go.”
Jolie started to cry harder. “But you are letting me go now! By having another baby you are saying I’m not all you need.”

Finally, Sydney understood and sighed. “Hey. Does it look like I am letting you go anywhere right now?” She smiled down at Jolie and hugged her more tightly to prove her statement. “And sweetie, you ARE everything to me. Your daddy and I like you so much that we want to add to the family. We’re giving you someone who will look up to you because you will be their big sister. You will be their world. You will be the one he or she goes to when mommy and daddy are being mean so you can say, ‘Yeah, parents suck, especially ours.’”
Jolie laughed. “So you are basically saying the first-born child is the most important because they were the first one to be doted on and will be the one that any younger child reveres.”

Sydney smiled to herself. “If that is how you interpreted it, then I’m not going to change your mind.”
“Okay, Mommy.”
Sydney smiled again and continued to hold her little girl in her lap. Just then, her parents drove up.
Irina got out of the car first and rushed over to Sydney and Jolie. “Happy Birthday little…oh! Why the tear-stained face?” She knelt down and rubbed her fingers on Jolie’s cheeks. Jack had walked up behind Irina, looking concerned.
Jolie turned and buried her face in her mom’s chest in embarrassment. Irina looked up at Sydney who mouthed “baby issues.’ Irina nodded.

“Sweetheart, don’t you know you are not allowed to cry on your birthday?” Jolie slowly looked up. “Come here, I want to give you a big hug.” Irina said.
Jolie untangled herself from her mom’s grip and hugged Irina, who picked her up and kissed her cheek a few times. “Six years old! I remember when you were six months old.” Jolie smiled.
“My turn.” Jack spoke and reached over to take Jolie out of Irina’s grasp. “Happy Birthday, Jolie.”
“Thanks, Grandpa.”
“Okay, are we ready to go?” Irina asked.

“Yes!” Jolie replied, still looking content in Jack’s arms.
Irina noticed the backpack on the ground. “Uh, are we taking that as well?”
Sydney shook her head. “No, I think I will take care of that.” She walked over to where her dad was standing and put a hand on Jolie’s back. “You have fun with your grandparents okay, sweetie? I’ll see you this afternoon.” She leaned over and kissed her daughters cheek. “Remember I love you,” she whispered in her ear.
“Bye Sydney, we’ll see you around one.” Jack said and he turned to walk to the car with Jolie and Irina.

Sydney watched until they drove away and then picked up the backpack to bring it inside. As she was walking inside she opened the backpack and saw the family picture of them sleeping was placed on top. Sydney got tears in her eyes, realizing how much their little family meant to Jolie and prayed that they would be able to work everything out.
“Syd? What’s with the backpack?” Vaughn asked, coming down the stairs from his shower.
“We had an attempted runaway.” Sydney said, smiling. “But we’re okay again for now. Jolie just left with Mom and Dad.”
“Good. Let’s start setting up then.”

><><><

Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss and Nadia worked hard to get everything ready while Irina and Jack were out with Jolie. The preparations went well and all the guests had gathered by 12:30.

~~~

Jack and Irina were standing around Barnes & Noble waiting for Jolie to finish picking out the zillion books they promised to buy her for her birthday.
“I’ll be right back,” Jack said. “I’m just going to check out the philosophy sections.” He walked away and called Sydney to see if they were ready.
When he got back to where Jolie and Irina were, he subtly nodded at Irina.

“Sweetheart, you have two more minutes and then we are going to pay,” Irina said, urging her granddaughter to move.
“Okay, okay, okay. Ummmm…this one!” Jolie exclaimed, pulling one more book off the shelf.
Irina smiled at Jack and helped them carry the books Jolie picked out to the register. Within minutes they were headed home.
“Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa!” Jolie said, sitting in the backseat of their car, bouncing with excitement.

“You are very welcome.”
Finally they pulled up to Sydney and Vaughn’s house and Jolie bounced out of the car. Jack picked up the bag of books while Irina caught Jolie and picked her up. They let themselves into the house.
“HELLO?!” Jolie called out. After a minute of no response she screamed again, louder. “MOMMY? DADDY?” Irina cringed at the high-pitched scream right next to her ear.
“Grandmaaaa…where is everyone?” Jolie asked.

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Irina said, putting Jolie down as Jack set the books down. “Let’s go find them.”
“Okay.” Jolie took off upstairs and checked the rooms. “Not up here!” She raced back down the stairs and grabbed her grandmother’s hand. “Maybe they are in the backyard. Daddy has been sitting out there a lot lately.”
Jolie ran to the backdoor and opened it.

“SURPRISE!!!!”
Jolie stopped in her tracks, stunned at the numerous guests standing outside smiling at her. “OH MY GOD!” she squealed and ran toward her parents who were standing in the center of it all, smiling.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! You did this for me?” Jolie continued to squeal as Vaughn swooped her up and planted a big kiss on her cheek.
“All for you, princess. Look, some of your friends are here!”

“AAHH!” Jolie squirmed out of her dad’s arms and raced over to her friends.
The party went well and everyone had a lot of fun eating, playing, talking and running around. Around eight, all of the guests had left and Jolie was lying on the grass half asleep.
“You think she had fun?” Vaughn asked, sliding his arm around Sydney, who was watching her little girl.
“Nah. I think she had a horrible time,” Sydney said, grinning wickedly. “We still have to give her the kitten…”
“I know. Come on, let’s go scrape our daughter off the ground.”

Sydney giggled and followed Vaughn. They both knelt down next to Jolie.
“Hey, honey…why don’t we go inside?”
“Can’t move,” Jolie groaned, holding her stomach. “I feel like I’m gonna barf.”
“Lovely. Must be alllll that cake and candy you ate over the past few hours.” Sydney said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, I think you are going to want to come inside. We have one more surprise for you.” Vaughn said, rubbing Jolie’s stomach lightly.

“Then bring it out here.”
“Jolie. We do not demand things in this house, even if it is our birthday.”
“Sorry, Daddy. Can you please bring it out here?”
“Nope. Sorry. Let’s go,” Vaughn said, carefully picking his daughter up and walking toward the house.
They stopped in the kitchen where Sydney gave Jolie half a glass of ginger ale for her stomach and then Vaughn carried her up to her room.

“Okay, close your eyes and hold out your hands,” he said, as Sydney walked into the room holding the little ball of fur. She carefully placed it in Jolie’s hands and told her to open her eyes.
Jolie slowly opened her eyes and stared at the little kitten. “Daddy! It’s the kitten from the pet store!”
“I know.”
“She’s mine?”

“All yours. And just yours. This is your kitten, so you have to prove to us that you can take care of her because she is just for you. You don’t have to share her with anyone.”
Jolie smiled widely. “Mine! Oh, thank you SO MUCH. I LOVE her. I’ll take good care of her, I promise. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!”
Sydney and Vaughn smiled at how happy Jolie was. “What are you going to name her?” Sydney finally asked.
Jolie thought for a minute. “Scout.”
“Scout?”

“Yes. Daddy’s code name was Boy Scout, right?”
“Yes…”
“Well, I am naming her after that because that relates back to the time you guys met which relates back to October first, which is my birthday.”
Sydney and Vaughn smiled and Sydney teared up. She sat down on Jolie’s bed next to her daughter and looked at her. “That’s a great name. I like it.”

“Good.” Jolie smiled and placed the kitten on her bed. Then she crawled into her mom’s lap. “Thank you for everything today. I had the best day.” She hugged her mom and snuggled into her arms. Then she looked up at her father. “Thank you too, Daddy. I love you both so much.”
“We love you too,” Vaughn said as Jolie yawned. “Okay why don’t you get ready for bed now. You had a big day.”
“Okay.” Sydney helped Jolie get ready for bed and soon the little girl was lying in her bed with the kitten curled up next to her.

Vaughn and Sydney watched their little girl sleep for a few minutes and then left the room. They went downstairs and cleaned up a good portion of the mess before sitting down in the backyard, exhausted. Vaughn slid his chair over to Sydney’s and took her hands.
“Today was a good day.”
“Mmmm, yeah it was,” Sydney said, smiling.
“You know how much I love you, right Sydney?” Vaughn asked.
Sydney stared at him. “Of course I do. And I love you too.”

“Okay. Well, I need to tell you something, just so there are no secrets between us.”
“Uh, okay Vaughn. You are scaring me a little. I mean, we’ve been married almost two years…I would hope I know the man I love by now. You’re not going to tell me you are really a bad guy, are you?” Sydney paused, looking at Vaughn. “Michael?”

“I guess that depends on who you ask…” Vaughn said quietly.
“WHAT?”
Vaughn sighed and pulled the little grey envelope out of his pocket. “I have to say this to you because of this. This is something I haven’t dealt with in two years and I panicked when it came in the mail a few weeks ago because I thought I left all this behind when I married you and Jolie came into our lives.”
“Okay, WHAT are you talking about?” Sydney demanded, pulling away from Vaughn.

“It’s from a long time ago. It’s before we met. Actually it’s the reason we met. It’s no accident that I was the one you came to when you walked in the CIA with your story about SD-6.”
“I don’t understand, what are you telling me?” Sydney said.
“Well, for starters, my name isn’t Michael Vaughn.”

Sydney stared at Vaughn after this statement and subconsciously put a hand on her stomach. “I don’t believe this. It’s like my mother all over again.” She stood up angrily and stormed toward the house.
“Wait…Syd. Let me explain,” Vaughn called after her.
“NO. I’ve heard enough.” Sydney ran into the house, upstairs and threw some of her things into a bag. Then she grabbed the backpack her daughter had packed earlier that morning and put the bags in her car.
She went back upstairs and retrieved the kitten from Jolie’s grasp and put the kitten in the car. Then, she went back and pulled her sleeping daughter out of her bed.

“Where are you going?” Vaughn asked, finally coming into the house to see what his wife was up to.
“That’s not for you to know right now.” Sydney said coldly and walked out the door.
As she drove off into the night, Vaughn sank down onto his front steps. “That was a mistake. I should have ignored everything…” he thought, putting his head in his hands.

TBC
 
Happy New Years, everyone. Please R&R and enjoy.

Recap:

“Where are you going?” Vaughn asked, finally coming into the house to see what his wife was up to.
“That’s not for you to know right now.” Sydney said coldly and walked out the door.
As she drove off into the night, Vaughn sank down onto his front steps. “That was a mistake. I should have ignored everything…” he thought, putting his head in his hands.

Chapter 4:

“MOM! DAD. Open the door!” Sydney said, pounding on her parents’ door while holding Jolie. The kitten was meowing in her little carrier at Sydney’s feet.
“Sydney! What is going on?” Irina said, throwing the door open.
“Take her, I have to go get the bag from the car,” Sydney said, thrusting Jolie at her mom. Irina took her granddaughter and watched Sydney run back down the hallway.

Jolie started stirring at this point. “Gramma?” she asked, confused.
“Shh…go back to sleep,” Irina said, rubbing her back.
Minutes later Sydney came back holding the bags. She stopped and picked up the kitten carrier and everyone went inside the apartment.
“Sydney, what is the meaning of this?” Jack asked sternly.

“I’ll explain in a minute, let me just go put her in the guest bed. I want her to sleep right now,” she said, taking Jolie back from her mom and disappearing into the guest room.
She placed Jolie in the bed and smoothed back her hair. “Oh, my precious little girl…” She put the kitten next to the her.
Her eyes fluttered open. “Mommy? What’s going on? Why are we here?”

“I’ll tell you in the morning. Just go to sleep and rest that tummy of yours.” Sydney leaned down and kissed her daughter. Then she stood up and went back into the living room where her parents were waiting and looking annoyed.
Sydney sank down onto the couch. “I had to get out of there. I had to get HER out of there.”
“Sydney, what are you talking about?” Jack said shortly.
She looked up. “He told me his name wasn’t Michael Vaughn.”

Irina immediately knew what Vaughn had started to try to tell Sydney. She glanced at Jack who sat there with no expression.
“What else did he say, sweetheart?”
“Nothing! I mean, I rushed out of there as soon as he said that. All I could think about was you, mom, and our own screwed up little family and I couldn’t go through that again. I couldn’t let Jolie go through that. I couldn’t let her think her dad was this great man. She’s already been through so much in her life that I couldn’t bear to put her through more. And we have this new baby coming into our lives too.”

“Maybe you should let Michael explain,” Irina said. “Maybe it isn’t what you think.”
Sydney glared at her mom. “Do you know about this?”
“No.” Irina said quickly. “I’m just saying you should listen to what Michael has to say before assuming he is bad. You’ve known him a long time. You know how much he loves you. How much he loves his daughter. He wouldn’t hurt you. If there is one thing I’ve learned from everything I’ve done, it is make sure you have all the information before assuming anything.”

“Mom. Whatever he has to say can’t be good. He was nervous. UGH. I’ll deal with this in the morning. I’m going to sleep.” With that, Sydney stood up and walked into the guest room, slipped into the bed and pulled her daughter close to her.
Back in the living room, Irina and Jack looked at each other and let Sydney be for the night.

~~~

Jolie opened her eyes and realized she was in the guest room of her grandparents’ apartment with her mother holding her tightly and the kitten snuggled between them. She thought for a second and vaguely remembered her mom pounding on their door sometime during the night and telling her to go to sleep. But she didn’t know why and wondered where her dad was.

She shifted slightly to see the clock that was on the wall. 8:00 a.m. “Mommy…” she said, softly but Sydney didn’t move. Jolie sighed and did her best to slide out from her mother’s arm without waking her. Once she freed herself, Sydney moved but didn’t wake up. Jolie sighed with relief and carefully opened the door and tiptoed into the hallway.

Wandering down the hall she found Jack sitting on the couch in the living room reading the newspaper while drinking his coffee. She walked over, climbed onto the couch and snuggled up next to her grandfather.
Jack look down at the little girl and smiled. “Morning, sunshine,” he said, patting her on the head.
Jolie looked up at him. “Grandpa…why am I here? Did something happen to Daddy?”
“Your mother had a little bit of a breakdown last night. I am sure she will tell you all about it once she is up.”

“Can’t you tell me?”
“No, I don’t really understand what is going on yet either.”
Jolie sighed and put her head in Jack’s lap. He rubbed her back and realized she was soon asleep but he didn’t mind. He continued to sit and read his paper until Irina came into the room.
“What are we going to do about…” Irina started to say but Jack held a finger to his lips to shush her and pointed down.

Irina chuckled when she saw Jolie curled up asleep in her husband’s lap. “Oh my. When did she come out here?”
“Half hour ago, I suppose. She’s really confused.”
“I’ll bet. Is Sydney awake?”
“I don’t think so.”

“Here, I’ll take her.” Irina reached down and picked Jolie up. She then settled into a chair and let her granddaughter rest on her lap so Jack could get up.
Ten minutes went by and suddenly Sydney burst into the living room, disrupting the calm of the morning.
“Where is…oh my god. Mom. Why did you take her?”

“Relax, Sydney. She came out here on her own around eight and fell asleep on your father so I took her so he could get up. We’ve just been sitting. Jack said she was really confused when she came out of the room. Sydney, you need to tell her what is going on and you need to talk to Michael.”
Sydney sighed and sat on the couch. “I know. I know. I just…Mom…I don’t know if I can handle what he is going to say.”
“Yes you can, Sydney.”

Just then, Jolie woke up again. “Okay. What is going on? Someone HAS to tell me.”
Irina looked down and Sydney looked over in shock. Jolie looked incredibly angry.
Sydney sighed. “Okay. Last night your Daddy told me some information that scared me a little and I freaked out and took you with me to sleep here.”

“Does Daddy know where we are?”
“I didn’t tell him but I’m sure he could guess.”
“Well, what did he say?”

Sydney was silent and looked at her mother who gave her a LOOK. “Jo, come with me into the guest room and we’ll talk about it.” Sydney stood up and took Jolie out of her mother’s arms. “Up we go!” Sydney hugged her tight and hoped she would be able to explain everything without breaking down into tears.
Sydney closed the door behind her as they walked into the guest room. She put Jolie on the bed and sat down next to her.

“Sweetheart, do you remember what I told you about Grandma and what happened when I was six?
“About how she died but it was really because she had to go back to the KGB?”
“Yes. And do you remember how I told you I thought her name was Laura?”
“Yes…”
“Well, last night your dad told me his name wasn’t Michael Vaughn…”
“WHAT?” Jolie interrupted. “Why? Did he say why?”

“No, I didn’t let him. I got freaked out enough by that because of what my mom did to me and my dad that I just had to get out of there.”
“You didn’t let him explain?? MOM.”
Sydney looked down in shame that her six-year-old daughter seemed more reasonable about this than she was. However, her cell phone broke the silence. Sydney looked at the caller ID. “Vaughn, M.”

“Who is it, Mommy?”
“Daddy.”
“Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“I don’t know…”
“MOMMY, answer him.”

“Jolie…”
“If you won’t I will!” Jolie screamed and grabbed the phone from Sydney in a swift move. “DADDY?” She shrieked into the phone.
“Jolie? Baby…where is your mother?”
“Right here being a bitch.”

“JOLIE!” both her mother and father screamed at the same time. “We’ll talk about the use of that word later,” Sydney hissed.
“Jolie Bristow Vaughn. I don’t ever want to hear you say something like that ever again,” Vaughn chastised from his end. “Put your mother on the phone.”

Jolie looked at her mom. “He wants to talk to you. TALK TO HIM.”
Sydney glared at her daughter for a second and then sighed. She took the phone out of Jolie’s hands. “Hello?”
“Syd…are you okay?”
“Relatively.”
“Look, I know you must have questions…”
“About a million of them.”
“Let me explain…meet me at the pier? 30 minutes?”
“Let me think about it.”
“Syd, please…”

Sydney just hung up the phone and looked down. Looking up, she had tears in her eyes and stared into Jolie’s little green eyes peering back at her.
“So?”
“He wants to explain.”
“Good. When?”
“30 minutes at the pier.”
“Let’s go. I want to hear this too. It’s only fair to me.”
“Sweetheart…”
“NO. We’re going. I’m not letting this family fall apart now.”
“Okay…” Sydney reluctantly gave in to her daughter and they threw some clothes on and left the apartment quickly to get down to the pier.

><><><

Sydney saw Vaughn sitting on the bench alone as she walked up holding her daughter’s hand. He hadn’t noticed them yet. He looked down at his watch and put his head in his hands.
Jolie looked up at her mom. She tugged on her mom’s hand to encourage her to walk forward. The two of them started toward the bench.

Suddenly Vaughn looked up and saw them standing two feet away from him. “Why is she…” he started to ask but was interrupted by Sydney.
“Anything you say, she has to hear too. We want the truth. Starting with your name.”
“Andre Michaux. Sit down, I’ll tell you the rest.”
Sydney sat on the bench and pulled Jolie into her lap. The two of them stared at Vaughn, waiting for the explanation.

“Nine years ago, a woman came to me. She said that her father had been involved in a project. Something people had gone to great lengths to cover up. She said my father was part of it. Said it was called Prophet Five.”
“But your dad was CIA…”

“Before he joined the CIA. She said his name was Michaux, and that he was a mathematician. The day you walked into CIA, you described a mission to secure a device made by a man named Mueller — the same man I was told had originated the Prophet Five project. Now, this was my first proof that this woman's story was true. But whatever it was, my father was running away from it. He changed his identity; he changed mine. I was eighteen months old at the time. That’s why I said my real name is not Michael Vaughn but I have been Michael Vaughn for as long as I could remember. Anyway, remember that little grey envelope that came in the mail a few weeks ago?”

“The one with the black bird?”
“Well, that was from Renee. She found this man, James Lehman. We’ve been chasing him for years and he agreed to meet me, finally. We believe he worked with our fathers.”
“Renee who? Who is this woman?”
“Renee Rienne.”

“VAUGHN.” Sydney was shocked. Jolie watched the whole conversation in silence.
“I debated opening that envelope. I knew I would get sucked back in to everything. You have to understand I haven’t heard from Renee in two years. I thought I left all this behind when Jolie came into our lives and we got married. She respected that. But she kept working and she knows how much I want to know about my father. So she contacted me with the option to meet Lehman. I knew I had to tell you…I just didn’t know how and I didn’t want to hurt you and with the baby and Jolie’s birthday…well, it was a hard decision.”

Sydney sat in silence for a minute, stroking Jolie’s hair. “Meet him. But on one condition. I’m coming.”
“Me too,” Jolie chimed in.
“NO.” Both parents said. “Jolie, you are lucky I let you come today. But if we are going somewhere to meet some man neither of us know, you are not coming,” Sydney continued.
Jolie pouted but kept quiet.
“Sydney…are you sure?”
“Yes. If it means that much to you then you have to do it. And I’ll be with you.” Sydney put her hand on Vaughn’s.

Vaughn smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly he felt lighter than he had felt in two weeks. He leaned over and kissed Sydney and they smiled at each other.
“Can we go home now? I am hungry.” Jolie said.
“Hmm, let’s swing by my parents to get our stuff and your little kitten. Then we’ll go home.”
“I’ll meet you at your parents’. I need to talk to your mother anyway.”
“She knew, didn’t she?”
Vaughn looked down. “I didn’t know she did. She saw the envelope and said I had to tell you. Sydney, how your mother knows things…it is creepy.”

“I know. Does my dad know?”
“Doubt it. And he will probably rip my head off when he finds out who I have been talking to.”
“We’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
Sydney, Jolie and Vaughn headed to their cars and made their way to Jack and Irina’s apartment.

~~~

“You’ve been working with WHOM?” Jack Bristow bellowed after Vaughn told him (and Irina, who knew most of it) his story.
“Renee Rienne. And I know who she is, but we have something in common. We both just want the truth about our fathers.”
“If you put my daughter and grandchildren in jeopardy…”

“DAD.” Sydney said, coming back into the living room with her bag. “Vaughn did nothing of the sort. And we are going to meet this man. I support Vaughn one hundred percent.”
“Jack…calm down. Sydney and Michael know what they are doing,” Irina said. “The least we can do is support them. For Jolie and the baby’s sake,”
Jack sat down. “Fine. I’ll do everything I can to help.”

><><><

Three Days Later

“Jolie, come here.” Vaughn said, standing in the door way to the living room, watching his daughter sit on the couch and read.
She put her book down and walked over to her father, who picked her up.
“We’re leaving in a few minutes. I just wanted to say goodbye and remind you how much I love you.”

Jolie stared into her dad’s eyes. “You’re coming back, right?” Vaughn hugged her tighter. “Right, Daddy?”
“Of course I am. But I am going to miss seeing your smiling little face for the time I will be away. You be a good girl for Aunt Nadia and Uncle Eric, okay? And do the schoolwork Grandma gives you. And don’t bother Grandpa.”

“Daddy…you are scaring me. You are just going away for a few days, right? Why are you acting like you aren’t coming back?” Jolie was starting to get hysterical.
“Shhh. I’m just reminding you.”
“VAUGHN?”
“Coming, Syd. Remember to take the watch…” Vaughn kissed Jolie on the cheek. “Okay baby. I love you. Always.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”
Vaughn put her down and walked away. Sydney came over and knelt down next to Jolie. “Hey pumpkin. You okay?”
“Yeah. Be safe, Mommy. I love you.” Jolie threw her arms around Sydney.
“Love you too, baby.” With another kiss on the cheek, Sydney stood up and she and Vaughn left the house.

Nadia wandered into the living room and noticed Jolie was looking upset.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just have a bad feeling something is going to happen to them.”
Nadia went over and hugged her niece. “Aww, don’t think that way. Come on, let’s go play with Scout.”
Nadia took Jolie by the hand and dragged her out of the room.

><><><

Rome

Vaughn and Sydney arrived in Rome and made their way to an old building and into an elevator. The elevator stopped and fumbled, then started again and stopped on a certain floor. The door opened and a flashlight was shined into Vaughn’s face.
“The watch. Show it to me.” Vaughn held out his father’s watch. The man then noticed Sydney. “I told you to come alone.”

“Whatever you say to me, she can hear.”
The man nodded. “Follow me then.” He started to move. “Before I start, you should know your father did everything he could to protect you from this.”
“Mr. Lehman, I want to know about Prophet Five.”

The man nodded. “I was a cryptologist. A specialist in patterns working for the Pentagon. In 1972, a private foundation recruited me, along with others. Scientists, linguists, the best and the brightest. That's where I met your father.”
“What was the objective?” Vaughn asked.
“We were given one page of the book. The Prophecta Chinque; the fifth prophet. The fifteenth century text that supposedly had been written in an unbreakable code.”
“They wanted you to break the code,” Sydney realized. “Were you successful?”

“After years, yes. It referred to proteins, amino acids, nucleotides. It seemed to be some sort of advanced genetics five hundred years ahead of its time. Just a few days after we turned in our report, your father contacted me. He told me what was happening to others. Accidents, car crashes, fires, heart attacks, strokes — all people who were involved with the project. So, I followed your father's advice. Changed my name, and I disappeared.”

“What's changed now? Why did you contact us and tell Renee you’d meet with me?”
“Over the years, I've developed sources - leads to where the book might be stored. But all my attempts at recovery failed.”
Vaughn looked at Sydney and nodded. “I’ll contact you when I have the book.”

~~~

Cape Town, Africa

“I’ve missed this…” Sydney giggled as she put on a wig. “I’ve been out of the field soooo long.”
“Well, I haven’t been out in the field much either in the past few years since I took on a more analyst role. But we still got it.” Vaughn said, pulling his wife close. “You know, I always hated you as a blond.”
“Well, good thing I’m not one!” Sydney smiled. “About ready to head out?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s go.”

><><><

Los Angeles

Jolie awoke from a deep sleep drenched in sweat. She sat up quickly and saw it was four in the morning. She just had a horrible nightmare that her father was killed but it didn’t feel like it was just a dream. She still had that nagging feeling that something really horrible was going to happen. She had to call her parents to tell them to stay safe.
She quietly walked out of the guest room at Nadia’s and crept downstairs to the kitchen where she picked up the phone and dialed her mother’s cell phone number.

><><><

Cape Town, Africa

Sydney and Vaughn made their way to the house of a wealthy businessman and talked their way into the party that was in full swing. They mixed a special drink that some unknowing partygoer would drink and get sick from to create a diversion.
“While we wait, would you care to dance with me, Mrs. Vaughn?” Vaughn held out his hand.
“But of course, my darling,” Sydney said with a giggle and they walked out the dance floor and began to waltz. “Mmm, I love being in your arms,” Sydney said.

Suddenly, the man who drank the doctored drink collapsed and people started rushing about. Vaughn used this time to slip into the house and make his way up to the office where the book was being held while Sydney went to disable the alarm system.
While Vaughn was taking the book out of the safe in the office, a young woman stumbled in.
“What are you doing in my dad’s office?”

“Just admiring his gun collection,” Vaughn said innocently, trying to hide the book.
“It’s horrible. By the way, you are so busted. I know you opened that safe. Have fun in jail!” The young woman said, pressing the button on the alarm pad and walked out.
Vaughn rushed to the window and planned a way to escape quickly. Outside, Sydney freaked as the alarm started blaring and started running toward their designated extraction point. As she was running her cell phone went off.

“Vaughn, I’ll be there in two minutes!”
“Mommy?”
“Jolie, what are you doing?”
“You guys need to be careful. Seriously. Be safe. Tell Daddy to make sure he is protected at all times.”
“Jo, what are you talking about?”

“I had a REALLY bad dream that Daddy died. And I have a feeling of dread. Just be careful.”
“Sweetie, now really isn’t the best time for this conversation. Does Nadia know you are on the phone?”
“It doesn’t matter, just BE CAREFUL. I love you guys. Just tell Daddy to stay safe... please?

“Yes darling. I have to go. Love you too.” Sydney clicked her phone closed and ran up to Vaughn waiting at the edge of a cliff. “Our daughter says hello and she loves you.” Vaughn looked surprised but said nothing and wrapped a strap around Sydney’s waist. Minutes later they were parachuting through the air to safety.

><><><

Los Angeles

Jolie sat in the kitchen holding the phone for a minute, hoping her mother took her seriously. With a sigh she hung up the phone to turn around and see Weiss standing in the doorway to the kitchen watching her with his arms crossed.
“Don’t tell me you are calling 1-900 numbers. I think you are a little young for that.”
“Uh… uh… I just needed to leave a message on my mom’s phone.”
“I don’t want to know. Just go to bed, now, please.”
“Yes, Uncle Eric.” Jolie said, walking past him and back to her room upstairs.

><><><

Rome

Sydney and Vaughn pulled up to the train tracks in their rented car.
“We’re early,” Sydney said.
“So why did Jolie call us?” Vaughn asked.
“Something about having a bad dream about you and to tell you to stay safe. She seemed a little freaked.”

“I’m a little freaked, Syd. I think someone is going to come after me for this…for all this information. I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel safe for us, for our family. I should have just ignored Renee.”
“Vaughn. You wanted answers. Look at the risks I took trying to find answers about my mom. We’ll take it one day at a time. Look – Lehman.”
“Okay. Here I go.” Vaughn started to get out of the car but Sydney grabbed his arm.

TBC...
 
I SERIOUSLY hope you don't make what happened in the show happen here. That would break my*cough* Jolie's heart break. And Sydney. And I'm sure they don't want the new baby growing up without a father. That would be bad...
 
6helterskelter6 said:
I SERIOUSLY hope you don't make what happened in the show happen here. That would break my*cough* Jolie's heart break. And Sydney. And I'm sure they don't want the new baby growing up without a father. That would be bad...
Click to expand...


no promises. :angelic:
i'll say it is a little hairy for a while but it doesn't take too many updates of the story to get less hairy. :D
 
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