kidblink83
Cadet
Title: I'd Rather Love and Love Well (Chapters 1 through 6)
Author: Mystic83
Rating: Currently PG13 but some parts in the future will be R
Feedback: Yes please! Send them to emwerbeach@hotmail.com!
Summary: Sydney Bristow and Kaylee Derevko were raised separate from one another. When each one discovers the other's presence, hell breaks lose and the Rambaldi prophecy begins to be fulfilled. S/V,
Sa/OC.
Author's Note: I'm writing this one and posting it on fanfiction.net. So I'm going to post a lot of it right now so that I can catch this message board up to the point that I'm posting it on fanfiction.net.
Author’s Note: None of the characters belong to me except for Kaylee Derevko. The situations in the Season 1 of Alias occurred, but the Season 2 has been slightly altered to fit my purposes. Irina never turned herself over to the CIA’s custody, but SD-6 was still taken down. The story will follow the vague plotline of seasons 2 and 3 with a few significant changes.
Sydney Bristow woke up to her alarm blaring. Sighing to herself, she rolled over to hit the snooze button for another solid nine minutes sleep. “Why don’t I just set this thing a half-hour later and get some solid sleep?” she wondered out loud to herself as she jammed a pillow over her head to block out the morning sunlight that was creeping in her window.
Just as she was starting to feel that sleepy haze come on her once more, her cell phone rang obnoxiously.
“Wha...” she managed to mutter after locating her cell phone in the pants she had flung on the floor the night before. She was never too neat after coming in from a mission in the wee hours of the morning, but at least she had learned over the years to create the same mess over and over again. That way, it was always easy to locate where she put things the night before.
“Joey’s Pizza.”
“Vaughn? Is that you?” Sydney asked, highly confused by the greeting she had received. It had been at least two months since SD-6 had been brought down and her double agent status had been canceled. There was no longer any need for the subterfuge the CIA used to contact her.
“Yeah, Syd. It’s me,” Michael Vaughn said. “I don’t know why I said that. Old habit, I guess. Or maybe I just wanted to hear your reaction. Then again, I could have just thrown it in for nostalgia’s sake.”
“Very clever,” Sydney said. She turned over and checked the clock at the side of her bed. “But don’t you think that it would have been better if you saved the cleverness until after 8:23 in the morning? I might be amazingly witty during my ‘day job’ but that doesn’t mean I’m witty at all hours.” She paused as she tried to take in what was really happening. “Why are you calling me, Vaughn? You know I just got home from Bombay four hours ago.”
“We need you to come into work as soon as possible. We’ve hit a minor problem in our dealings with your mother. It‘s not a huge deal, but we just thought you‘d like to know what was going on as soon as possible. Don‘t worry.”
“Sure,” Sydney said softly while she heard Vaughn hang up. Her face scrunched up in concern as she looked at her phone. “What would be so important with my mother that they would rush me into work?” she mused.
The CIA had been investigating Irina Derevko since she had surfaced in Sydney’s life the previous year. Not many leads could be found as to why she had revealed herself to her daughter as “The Man” and then mysteriously disappeared without any explanation. Assistant Director Kendall was constantly making Sydney relive the short time her mother had her in custody so that the agency may be able to form some clue as to why Irina would want the world to know she was alive after twenty-four years of hiding.
“Why would they get a lead now after a whole year of nothing?” Sydney rushed to get dressed as she realized that no matter how much Vaughn downplayed it, something enormous has transpired.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Sydney calmly walked into the briefing room at the CIA Headquarters. She didn’t want Vaughn to know how much his phone call had upset and confused her. Walking past all the desks, she began to notice that people were stopping their work to stare at her when they thought her gaze was focused elsewhere. Sydney tried to piece together why everyone seemed to be in on a secret that she didn’t know about as she pushed open the large glass door leading into the small conference room. She took a seat at the briefing table next to Dixon and began to look around the room at everyone who was present.
Her father sat opposite her and was looking through some information on the computer screen in front of him. If Sydney weren’t so familiar with him, this behavior would have seemed normal. But in all of the mission briefs and meetings she had gone through, never once did Jack Bristow fail to make eye contact with her immediately when she entered the room. “Something is definitely up,” she thought.
On Jack’s right was Vaughn who was doing the polar opposite of Jack. His gaze was so intensely fixed on Sydney that she automatically could tell that whatever was about to happen was going to probably hurt her or shock her greatly. Vaughn’s body language was never very hard to read especially when it came to matters that concerned Sydney. He had never been able to mask his concern for her.
Rounding out the table was Weiss and Marshall. Marshall seemed a little nervous himself. “But then he’s always nervous,” Sydney thought, “but Weiss, the king of calm, is also fidgeting a lot.” Director Kendall was standing at the head of the table, seemingly gathering his thoughts for the impending brief.
Tired of sitting in silence, Sydney finally said, “Could you please tell me what’s going on before someone hurts himself trying to avoid my eyes?”
Weiss chuckled softly at Sydney’s bluntness as Kendall pressed a button on the keypad in front of him. A young woman’s picture appeared on the screens in front of each person. The woman was of average build with short brown hair. She was seated at a cafe in what looked to be a French city, probably Paris, talking with another woman seated across from her. A passerby’s body blocked the other woman’s face from identification.
“Who is that?” Sydney asked, knowing that the answer couldn’t be good.
All the other occupants of the room began to shuffle in their seats, and no one made a move to answer her question. Sydney looked pleadingly at Vaughn, knowing that if someone was going to inform her of what was going on, it would be him.
“That’s your sister, Sydney.”
Sydney looked around in horror as all of her co-workers stopped trying to avoid her eyes and began trying to gauge her reaction to the news that she had a sister.
“This can’t be right,” Sydney finally said after a few moments of thought. “I can’t have a sister. My mother was in hiding for twenty-four years so I doubt she would have found time to get pregnant. And my father? Through all the years he spent trying to raise me, he couldn’t even find time to play with me, sorry Dad, let alone form a healthy relationship with another woman. Where did you get this supposed solid intel, Director Kendall?”
“FROM a reliable source we have working undercover in Paris to infiltrate whatever organization Irina has set up. I’m sorry, Sydney. The woman in the photograph is your sister, and the woman she’s having lunch with is your mother.”
Sydney looked at her father in confusion. Now not only did she have a sister, but she also had a sister who was probably working with her mother on whatever Rambaldi plot Irina was currently planning. “Why can’t my life ever be just a little bit simple?” Sydney thought to herself.
“Could you explain a little more?” Vaughn asked Kendall. He realized that Sydney wasn’t her normal, rational self so someone had to help her gather all the information on this new development.
“Sure,” Kendall said as he passed out folders to everyone present. “The woman in the photograph has been going by the alias Viviane Auteur, but the CIA has discovered that her real name is Kaylee Derevko.” As Kendall said her real name, the photograph on the screens changed to a series of surveillance video captures. In all of them, Kaylee Derevko was stealing a Rambaldi artifact from different European locations.
“If I didn’t know better, I would have thought those were pictures of Sydney on her missions,” Marshall babbled. “I mean, Sydney on her missions for the CIA trying to keep the artifacts away from SD-6. Not stealing them for her mother or anything. Because we all know, she would never turn on us. I mean, she‘s Sydney Bristow, super spy.”
“Marshall,” Dixon said lightly.
“Sorry.”
Sydney smiled softly to herself. No matter what drastic changes occurred in her life, she could always count on Marshall to make her laugh with his incoherent babbling.
“As I was saying,” Director Kendall continued, “Kaylee Derevko has been doing work not unlike what we have had you doing Sydney. She’s collecting Rambaldi artifacts for some unknown use, presumably for your mother. We haven’t been able to successfully tie her thefts to Irina Derevko’s operations, but we do that the two are in constant contact. This could just be attributed to a regular mother-daughter visiting schedule, but I really think that Irina has her tied up in both the personal and professional life she leads.”
“That’s great and all,” Sydney said, “but what I still want to know is how the hell do I have a sister! Can we please explain that and then we’ll continue with how this fits into the U.S. government?”
“I think Sydney’s a little overwhelmed right now,” Jack Bristow finally spoke up for the first time. “Why don’t we call this briefing to an end for now? I’ll answer some of Sydney’s questions and then we can move on to missions and how we’ll be dealing with this new intel.”
“Agreed,” Director Kendall said. “I want to see everyone back in this conference room in two hours.”
Sydney watched everyone slowly leave the room murmuring words of support as they passed her seat. Vaughn squeezed her shoulder sympathetically as he passed, and Sydney found the small gesture oddly comforting. Now that the room was clear, she turned to her father, “So, start explaining. Is this Kaylee Derevko my half-sister, stepsister?”
“Full sister,” Jack Bristow explained. “Kaylee is twenty four years old which means the CIA have placed her birth about eight months after Irina’s disappearance. When your mother staged that accident to be extracted from the United States, she must have been already pregnant with Kaylee. I’m guessing she chose to keep it a secret so that I wouldn’t get more attached to her as a wife.”
“Or maybe she didn’t want to hurt you by adding the grief of losing a child on top of a wife,” Sydney said hopefully.
Jack sent her a skeptical look and continued on with his explanation. “Your mother raised Kaylee in one of her hideouts in France. Irina told her that her father had died in a car crash outside of Marseilles when she was still in the womb. She didn’t mention you at all, Sydney. I’m sorry.”
“No big deal,” Sydney said with a smirk. “I mean, why should the sister I never knew about know about me? It makes sense.”
“We’re still not sure of how much involvement she really has in Irina’s organization. It’s obvious she’s stealing Rambaldi artifacts for some purpose, but we can’t pinpoint it. No agent has managed to get any intel on when she transfers the artifacts over to another party, and there has definitely not been any visual proof.” Jack paused in his explanation to take a good look at Sydney to determine how she was taking this new advance in the investigation of Irina Derevko. Sydney was staring hard at the computer monitors almost like she was on the verge of realizing something. “Sydney?” Jack said, hopeful that she had come up with a lead.
“She seems to have my love of wigs.” Sydney turned her computer screen towards her father.
Jack realized that Sydney was right. In every picture they had, Kaylee had a different wig on, including a few that looked very similar to ones Sydney had worn on previous missions. “What do you think that means?” he asked.
“Well, it could mean two things. One, it’s genetic that the Bristow children love wigs.” Sydney paused to look at the skeptical look on her father’s face. “No, I didn’t think so either. Two, someone wants to make it look like I’m stealing Rambaldi artifacts for my own agenda. I think the only reason my mother has risked Kaylee stealing these artifacts is to make the CIA doubt my intentions for about the millionth time. We both know what happens when they think I’m involved in unofficial ops.” Sydney paused to remember the countless times the CIA had strapped her down to some chair in an effort to decide whether or not she had gone double or triple agent on them.
“That would make sense,” Jack admitted. “But why would your mother risk us discovering Kaylee wasn’t you? She hid her from our sights for twenty-four years. There had to have been a reason for that. Why is the risk suddenly good enough to take?”
“That I don’t know,” Sydney admitted. “But I think that we might want to bump up the reassembling time to right about now. I want to meet this Kaylee.”
That very same morning, Kaylee Derevko woke up to the sounds of the latest hit French pop song. Growling to herself, she hit the snooze button and rolled over. Sadly, her sleep was interrupted rather quickly by the double doors leading into her bedroom in Irina’s chateau bursting open.
“This had better be good. What?” she growled grumpily from under the protection of her bed covers.
“Darling, is that any way to great your mother?” Irina Derevko asked her daughter as she entered the room.
Kaylee popped out from underneath the covers with an astonished look on her face. “Mother, when did you get home?”
“Just a few hours ago. I had to debrief some of my agents on the success of our mission, but as soon as I was done, I came right up here.” Irina took a seat on the bed and leaned her head on the headboard. “I have to say that I’m thoroughly exhausted.”
Kaylee turned over to stare at her mother’s worn appearance. “What happened to your arm?” she asked as she noticed the bandage.
“Oh, one of the guards had a knife hidden. Mizler’s team seemed to miss that one when they were taking the guards’ weapons away. Don’t worry, honey. I had a talk with Agent Mizler, and it’s all worked out now.”
Abruptly, Kaylee changed the subject as she glanced at the clock. She never really liked to talk about what her mother meant by ‘all worked out‘. “Why are you here so early? You never wake me up before eight.”
“Well, my main business associate is flying into the country today, and I wanted you to be up and ready to meet him.”
“Really?” Kaylee asked. Her mother always seemed to try her hardest to keep her personal side, a.k.a. Kaylee, out of her professional side. “Does that mean you’ll finally tell me why I’ve been stealing these Rambaldi artifacts for you? Because it’s been months since I started and I still haven’t gotten anything close to a proper explanation.”
“I’ll give you one right now. Rambaldi has become infamous in the past year and a half for a certain prophecy he proclaimed. It appears that on page 47 of a particular document he created, he claims there will be a woman who will possess three certain abnormalities in her genetic structure. This woman will fulfill all points of Rambaldi’s prophecy and render the greatest power unto utter desolation. The CIA and Interpol have been scrambling to discover the identity of this woman so she can be subdued.”
“Is it Sydney?” Kaylee asked. She still didn’t understand why her mother was having her impersonate this American spy while she stole the Rambaldi artifacts.
“No, it isn’t,” Irina said with a chuckle. “The U.S. government thought for a long while that it was her, and she went through some horrible tests. Then, when they realized it couldn’t be her, they switched the focus onto me.”
“Okay, hold on.” Kaylee thrust her hands up in the air to halt her mother’s talking. “I’m already confused. First, how did they figure out so easily that Sydney wasn’t the one? If they were willing to put her through such harsh testing, they had to have been completely sure the woman wasn‘t her to stop them.”
“Well, the woman the prophecy speaks of has never seen Mount Subasio in Italy. Sydney escaped her own government’s custody and made it to Subasio. So, that disqualified her as the woman. If she was, there was no way she would have ever successfully completed her journey to Italy.”
“Oh.” Kaylee said, even more confused. “My second question is why did they switch the focus onto you? I mean, the prophecy you said spoke of genetic qualities. There’s no way some American spy can have that close a genetic structure as you. You‘ve only ever been in America for days, at the most one week. ”
“Actually, there is a way.” Irina paused knowing there was no way around telling Kaylee the truth she had hidden from her for so long. “Sydney Bristow isn’t just some anonymous American spy, Kaylee. She’s your sister.”
“What?” Kaylee screamed, practically waking up the whole house. “My sister? I have a sister that you never told me about?”
“Yes, dear. Settle down and I’ll explain it all to you.” Irina took a pause to collect her thoughts. “You remember how I told you that the U.S. government forced me to leave the country after your father’s death?”
“Yes, they thought that you had caused the accident that took his life because of your previous involvement with the K.G.B.”
“Well, there are a few things about that story that aren’t completely true. Your father wasn’t the one who got into a car accident. It was me. Your father worked for the CIA, and his superiors were constantly pressuring him to bring me in for testing once they found out my past connection to the K.G.B. They wanted to be sure that the K.G.B. had no more influence on me. I loved Jack Bristow, but I couldn’t take the constant pressure by him and by his government. I staged a car accident so that I could escape the country and that life. About that time, I realized that I was pregnant with you.”
“So my father’s alive somewhere out there AND I have a sister I never knew about?”
“Yes. Sydney was the first child I had with Jack Bristow. She was six when I disappeared. I kept close tabs on her and Jack all of my life. They’re my family, but I was forced to leave them because the work I’m doing is more important than anything, even my own life. Sydney grew up to follow in both her parents’ footsteps, though she didn’t know it at the time. She became an agent with SD-6. You remember me telling you about SD-6 and Arvin Sloane?” Seeing Kaylee nod, Irina continued, “Good. When she realized that SD-6’s operations weren’t legit, she became a double agent for the real CIA.”
Kaylee, once again, interrupted her mother. “Why have you been having me impersonate her?”
“For the simple reason that I decided it was time she and Jack realized you existed. I knew that if I just came out and told them, there was no way they’d believe it was true. Instead, I set it up so that they can believe it was their own discovery. That will make it easier on you.”
“Easier on me?” Kaylee was confused for the umpteenth time that morning.
“Sydney will come looking for you almost immediately after she hears of your existence.”
“Oh.”
“Are you ready for me to finish explaining about Rambaldi’s prophecy and how we fit into it? Or do you still want some more family background?”
“Yes, mother. Please continue with the Rambaldi prophecy.” Kaylee realized her mother was being to grow impatient of her questions.
“Good. The CIA switched their focus onto me and my activities as soon as Sydney told them of our meeting in Taipei. However, I was missing one of the genetic anomalies, but the CIA wasn’t clever enough to pick up on that right away.”
“So, the woman in the prophecy wasn’t you either. That only leaves...” Kaylee’s voice trailed off as she realized what her mother was telling her.
“The woman in the prophecy is not me or your sister, Kaylee. It’s you.”
“Well, that makes sense,” Kaylee said rather nonchalantly. “I mean, at least now I finally know why you would never let me go to Italy.”
“Couldn’t have you wrecking a centuries old prophecy just because you wanted to go on a little vacation.” Irina softly chuckled. She should have known that Kaylee wouldn’t take the news that badly. Unlike Sydney, Irina had been present to raise Kaylee right. Like Sydney, she had turned out a strong, independent woman who could handle anything that life seemed to through at her. Unlike Sydney, she always seemed to take things at face value and not let them affect her too much. “I’m proud of you.”
“Well, gee, thanks, mom.” Kaylee got out of bed and began getting dressed. “Enough about this prophecy mumbo jumbo. Who’s this business associate I’m meeting? I’ve never known you to keep associates so close that they’re allowed to see your home base, so to speak.”
“This one is quite special, Kaylee. He’s the only one I’ve trusted with my full identity. I think you’ll get along with him quite nicely.” Irina stood up and, with a smile, left as abruptly as she came.
Kaylee thought of how momentous this day might turn out to be. “Mother’s finally letting me in on the ‘family business’,” she thought out loud. “This is huge.” Grabbing a towel, she rushed to the bathroom adjoining her room to take a quick shower.
After jumping around the bathroom a little in excitement, she finally got herself in the shower. Kaylee wrapped her favorite burgundy towel around herself and rushed out into the hall to tell one of the servants that she would need more towels by the next day.
“Excuse me--” started a strong voice, but Kaylee couldn’t tell who it was before she ended up in a heap on the floor. Looking up, she took in the man who had spoken.
The man definitely looked like he had been traveling for a long time. His blond hair was slightly messed up, and his bright blue eyes had large bags underneath them. He had a lean, muscular build to his body and was fairly young looking. “But he makes up for that with style,” she thought, knowing that she was rather obviously giving him the once over and then some. Even though the rest of this stranger looked disheveled, his clothing was flawless. He was wearing crisp black pants with a white Oxford shirt rolled up at the elbow and with the top few buttons undone. Kaylee couldn’t help but admire that this man had obviously spent a lot of time outdoors to get such a nice tan.
“Um, hello,” he said looking down at the position she had claimed on the floor.
“Hi. I’m sorry. I was just looking for... a...” Kaylee paused when she realized the man’s smirk had turned into an all-out gaze of confusion. “What’s the matter?”
“Sydney?” the man asked. “What the hell are you doing here?”
‘How does he know Sydney if I barely knew about her?“ Kaylee thought. She suddenly realized that this man must be her mother’s mystery business partner, and obviously he had some previous contact with her newly discovered sister. Before she had a chance to correct the man, he was dragging her back into the room from which she came.
“Get dressed, Sydney,” he demanded. “And while you’re getting dressed, you can explain to me when you started working with your mother. And why the hell you‘re in France. And why you haven‘t bit my head off yet. It‘s not like you to be so civilized.”
Kaylee figured that he was right about one thing. She really did need to get dressed if she was to handle this situation properly. “I’ll save telling him who I really am ‘til later,” she thought.
“Stay right there, would you? I won’t be that long,” she smiled as she went towards the bathroom. Thinking twice about what a spunky American spy would say, she turned at the door, “And don’t think I’m doing this because you told me to.” To add emphasis, she slammed the door a little too loudly.
Kaylee rested her body against the closed door and finally allowed herself a small smirk. “Too bad my mom’s around and I’ll have to tell him I’m not Sydney. This could have been fun for a little while.”
Meanwhile, Sark found himself alone in a room that had obviously been lived in for quite a long time. He couldn’t figure out what Sydney Bristow, the great CIA spy, was doing in her mother’s chateau. “I hadn’t even heard she left the United States,” he mused to himself. “What does Irina have planned that would involve Sydney?”
Sark began to examine the room a little closer, hoping to pick up a clue or two about what was going on. Everything looked to be in order until he reached the desk. Proudly displayed all over the whole desk were numerous framed photos of Sydney and Irina. It looked as though Irina had been around as Sydney was growing up because there were photos of the two all the way from when Sydney was a young child to her college graduation.
“Impossible,” Sark said to himself. “Irina couldn’t have hidden the fact that Sydney existed all those years from me. There’s no way.”
“No way what?” came a voice from behind Sark.
Kaylee had been watching Sark look over the contents of her desk for the past few minutes. She knew she should have interrupted his search as soon as she had finished dressing, but she just couldn’t stop herself from spending a few moments admiring this man who held such a high regard in her mother’s eyes.
“Who the hell are you?” Sark said, his trademark smirk no longer present. He paused a moment and took a more detailed look at the woman in front of him. “You’re... not Sydney, are you?” The smirk had returned.
“No, I’m not, Sydney. Sorry for not telling you sooner, but I chose putting clothes on over explaining the whole situation to you immediately.”
“I would say not a bad decision, but I don’t think I really would have minded if you had put off the whole clothing thing.” Sark helped himself to a seat on her bed. “So, explanation, please?”
“My name is Kaylee Derevko. I’m Irina’s daughter. I’m surprised you didn’t know of my existence if you truly worked as close with my mother as she implied.” Kaylee sat down across from him on the bed.
“I’m surprised I didn’t know of you either. Seems that you’ve been a significant part of Irina’s life since you’ve been born.” Sark paused a moment in thought. “Can I assume that your father is also Jack Bristow? I can’t imagine any other father could produce a daughter that looks so similar to a girl who is only her half-sister.”
“You’re right. Jack Bristow is my father, and Sydney is my sister. Though I have to admit, like you, I just found out about that today. Irina obviously knew you’d spill the beans.”
“She does know me well,” Sark said as he stood up again. This girl was looking at him a little too intensely for his liking. It was rather disconcerting to see a face that resembles your enemy so well looking at you so civilly.
“I hope you don’t think I’m impolite, but can I ask you,” Kaylee posed a moment to add a little dramatic flare to her question, “who the hell are you?”
Sark chuckled at this young woman’s spunk, a quality he so often admired in her sister. “You can call me Sark. Like you’ve already guessed, I am the close business associate your mother has flown in. I guess you could call me her right hand man.”
“Nice to meet you... Sark,” Kaylee said, not sure if she believed this man actually wanted her to call him Sark.
“She had me fly in because she said she had just finished developments on a new secret weapon that could help tip the scales in our favor.” Thinking about the information he had just divulged, he stopped himself from going further.
“I wouldn’t censor yourself if I were you, Sark,” a voice called out from the doorway. “We Derevkos don’t like it when people try to withhold information.”
“Irina,” Sark immediately rushed over to greet his employer. “It’s good to see you’re doing well.”
“The same to you, the same to you.” Irina took in the situation. “I see you’ve met my little Kaylee.”
“If you want to call twenty-four little...” Kaylee mutter.
Her mother looked adoringly over at her and then back up at Sark. “You don’t have to worry about censoring yourself around her. She probably knows more about this operation than you do. Though I do have to admit, I’ve kept your presence a secret. Can I see you outside for a moment, Sark?”
“Of course,” Sark answered. “It was very nice to meet you, Kaylee. I’m sure we’ll be running into one another again.”
“One can only hope,” Kaylee said just loud enough for Sark to hear.
Outside of Kaylee’s bedroom, Irina noticed that Sark had slightly paled. “What’s the matter, Sark?” she asked bluntly.
“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Sark said. “Yet.”
“Okay. If you’re sure?” Sark nodded, and Irina began to lead him down the hallway to one of her many sitting rooms. “Let’s get down to business. I called you here because of a secret weapon I’ve found.”
“Yes. You said it was the key to the prophecy. I have to admit I can not figure out what it could be.”
“Not what, Sark. Who.”
Sark just looked at Irina in puzzlement. It had never occurred to him that a person could be the key to finally figuring out what Rambaldi’s prophecy was proclaiming.
Irina realized that Sark may be running a little on overload and decided to help him along a little. “I’ve found the woman the prophecy talks of at last. Funny to realize that she’s been under my nose all this time.”
“Kaylee...” Sark whispered.
Sydney couldn’t believe it had all been set up so easily. The CIA had created a pattern for the heists Kaylee had previously made, and with it they were able to deduce her next objective. As quick as a blink of an eye, Sydney found herself scheduled to leave on a plane to Brighton, England where another extremely valuable Rambaldi artifact was hidden. All she had to do was say goodbye to Francie and Will then she was off to the airport to meet the sister she never knew she had.
Lucky for Sydney, Francie and Will had told her a few days ago that they planned to eat lunch at Malarkey’s Tavern which was right across the street from Francie’s restaurant. According to Francie, “my food may be the best in the world, but sometimes even I get tired of it.” Sydney found herself chuckling softly at the comment as she pushed hard on the solid wood front door of the restaurant. She heard her name as soon as she set foot inside the tavern and immediately located her best friends seated at one of the back booths.
“Hey, guys!”
“What are you doing here, Syd?” Will asked her as soon as she got her jacket off.
“Well, I just wanted to let you know that I have to leave on yet another business trip today.”
Predictable as always, Francie commented, “But you’re always going on these trips.”
“I know. And I realize I say this every time but this trip’s really important. There’s a client I’ve really been waiting to get a meeting with, and the bank’s finally set it up.”
“Really?” Francie replied. “Looks like you’re not the only one whose wishes are being granted.” Francie made slight head motions towards Will.
“What is going on?” Sydney said. She was happy that her time with Francie and Will would be casual like always. She liked having people to talk to who she could guarantee wouldn’t add to the problems she was facing in her life.
“Well, our little Will over here has finally scored a big date with his boss’s daughter. Only don’t tell the boss.”
“Will! You didn’t! Haven’t you been lusting after that girl for two months now?”
“I’m proud to say that yes I have, and the lusting finally paid off.”
“Well, it’s good to see you out there in the world dating,” Sydney commented. She was constantly worried about Will and the fact that he hadn’t formed a solid relationship with another woman since that whole fiasco where they kissed.
“Yeah, we were afraid that you’re little run in with Syd had scarred you for life,” Francie said as if she had read exactly what Sydney was thinking.
“Francie!” Syd screamed. “That was blunt!”
“No, I deserved it,” Will admitted. “I mean, didn’t we all think for a while there that my whole life would be spent pinning after the great Sydney Bristow?”
“Oh, shut up!” Sydney playfully slapped Will’s arm.
“Why oh why can’t you have a sister, Sydney? Then this entire debate wouldn’t be going on. I could finally live my dream of spending the rest of my life with a Bristow woman,” Will continued to tease.
Sydney tried to smile without giving too much away. ‘If Will only knew how close his dream was to reality,’ she thought. Pushing all notions of her sister out of her mind, Sydney threw her heart and soul into relaxing with her two best friends before she tried to turn her life upside down one more time.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kaylee couldn’t help but eavesdrop at the door while her mother told Sark about the different missions she had sent Kaylee on. It seemed that these missions had another purpose other than letting Sydney, Jack, and the CIA learn of her existence. Her mother was testing her to see if she would be field ready to do what would eventually need to be done. Frustratingly, her mother and Sark never went into detail about what exactly she was being prepared to do.
Hearing Irina and Sark begin to finish up their business talk, Kaylee raced halfway down the hallway and then turned around to walk back towards where she had been hiding. When the two associates had exited the meeting room, the only thing they saw was Kaylee walking down the hall toward them.
“Couldn’t wait to see me again,” Sark said to immediately return to the teasing-like conversation they had begun earlier.
“Actually, no,” Kaylee said. She had decided her mother probably wouldn’t be happy if she continued to flirt with her right hand man. “I just wanted to be a part of whatever business was going on. I know I’m a huge part of what’s going to happen next. I want to be involved.”
“And you will be,” Irina agreed. “Starting tonight, I want you and Sark to go recover a Rambaldi artifact we’ve located in the south of England. It should be a relatively easy assignment with little to no problem.”
“Then, why send both of us?” Kaylee said, quick to point out the oddness of the plan.
“Well, I think you two should get to know each other a little more,” Irina said rather shadily. “I think Rambaldi would have like that.”
Once again, Irina left the area with a flourish. “I really hate when she does that,” Kaylee muttered.
“At least I know I’m not the only one she likes to leave half confused and wishing she had explained herself a little more,” Sark said honestly. “So, kid, I guess it’s just you and me for a while.”
“If you want to call twenty-four-year-olds kids, sure,” Kaylee said hoping Sark would pick up on the fact that she was listening to his conversation with her mother.
“No, you’re what. You’re no kid.” Sark gave her a smirk and walked off down the hall. When he was almost out of sight, he turned around and called. “I see you on the plane, kid!”
“Did he not just listen to what I said?” Kaylee muttered as she returned once again to her bedroom.
Brighton, England was the site of a Royal Pavilion designed by King Henry IV as a seaside fantasy palace. The architecture was a surprising mix of an Indian influenced exterior with an Oriental influence interior. It had always been one of Sydney’s favorite places to stop when there was call for her to travel across the channel from England to France or vice versa. She was surprised to find that a Rambaldi artifact was hidden inside the Music Room of the Royal Pavilion. True to the CIA’s normal accuracy, Sydney found the artifact almost immediately after she entered the Pavilion after hours. Secured tight against the mantel of the fireplace in the Music Room was a small disc of glass similar to the one Sydney fought with Anna over in Malaga, Spain.
Sydney quickly stored the glass disc in her satchel since she had begun to hear movement outside the Music Room entrance. She swiftly hid behind one of the large armchairs in the room and prepared herself to see what she could only assume would be a mirror image of herself.
She was not disappointed. Irina had indeed sent her little sister on a mission to recover this artifact. Sydney waited until Kaylee had reached the mantelpiece before stepping out from her hiding spot.
“Looking for this?”
Kaylee was surprised to hear someone else in the room. Her mother had assured her that the guards had been paid off to keep this room clear for the whole night. She was even more shocked to realize that her companion was none other than her sister, Sydney.
“Nice wig,” Sydney remarked. “Didn’t I wear that one in ?”
“Well, isn’t it the famous Sydney Bristow?” Kaylee managed to sound convincingly unamazed at this new development in the mission.
“I really wish everyone would stop calling me that. What’s a spy to do when she can’t go anywhere without being recognized?” Sydney flung herself onto the chair she had been hiding behind. “Do you know who I really am?”
“Do you know who I really am?” Kaylee asked.
“I take that as a yes. Listen. I didn’t come here for the artifact really. In fact, this artifact is near to worthless to you. The disc can’t be properly implemented without the Rambaldi clock device which happens to be in CIA custody. Which begs the question why did Mom send you here to get it if it wasn’t useful?”
Kaylee sat herself down on the floor where she was standing. “I can only assume it was because she knew you were going to intercept me. Mom never designs a mission that doesn’t have some purpose.”
“Let’s cut the mission felgercarb for a little bit,” Sydney said bluntly. “How long have you know I’ve existed?”
“Counting today? About 30 hours. I would ask you the same question, but my extensive knowledge of you tells me that if you had known about me before we already would have met.”
“Been doing your research, I see. Or has Irina just been feeding you information on me? Do you really know whom you’re working for?”
Kaylee chuckled to herself. Who would have thought that her main nemesis in the spy world would be her own sister? “I know exactly who I’m working for. Wouldn’t it have been easy for you if I didn’t know how ‘evil’ Mom was? If I wasn’t aware that she had fooled you and our father into thinking she really cared for you in her life as Laura Bristow?”
“Yeah, that probably would have been nice,” Sydney admitted. “I take it you don’t feel like coming with me to have a little chat with the American government.”
“I don’t think I have time to go through that today. Maybe you can call Mom up and schedule an appointment with her when I’m not so busy.” Kaylee paused to stand up and brace herself. “I think we’ve moved past the witty repertoire section of our first meeting. Can we move on to the part where I show you that your little sister is twice as good as you at this spying thing?”
Sydney laughed realizing that like all sisters they were about to have their first sibling brawl. “Even though I’ve told you that this disc is worthless, you still want to fight me for it?”
“Mom wants it for a reason. I don’t like to disappoint her.”
“Okay, if we have t--” Sydney was interrupted by a foot straight to her jaw. The abruptness of the blow knocked her backward into the wall and mixed her senses up for a little bit.
“I was never one for waiting for the banter to finish to start fighting. Call me impatient,” Kaylee said with a smile.
Not quick enough to block the next punch Kaylee sent her way, Sydney did manage to pull it together in time to properly shield herself and deflect most of the blow.
Sydney picked up the metal barrier pole that was protecting one of the Pavilion’s artworks and chucked it towards Kaylee. She knew that it was too heavy and slow to do any damage, but it would buy her a few precious seconds to recover.
Kaylee dodged the pole with ease but soon realized that in concentrating on the pole she had lost her focus on Sydney. Before she knew it, she took a kick in the stomach and an uppercut to the face.
“Jesus, you pack a punch, sis,” Kaylee remarked rubbing her aching jaw. “Too bad it doesn’t seem like you can take one.” Kaylee cracked her knuckles and back and launched herself towards Sydney.
Sydney caught her in mid-air and threw her towards the same section of wall she had previously impacted. Kaylee managed to twist herself in air and allow most of the impact to be absorbed by her back. She quickly stood up and ran towards the escaping Sydney. Tackling her from behind, Kaylee rammed Sydney’s face into the ground. Before she could recover, she found Kaylee sitting on top of her pinning her arms beneath her.
“Hope that didn’t do too much permanent damage. I know how pretty our face is.” Kaylee reached into Sydney’s bag and took the glass disc. “Thanks, sis. You make this job fun!”
With a quick kiss on Sydney’s forehead and a wink, she was running to the window on the other side of the room. It was all Sydney could to stand up and hobble to the window to watch her sister escape. She was coherent enough to recognize the man who was driving the car her sister had gotten into.
“What the hell is Sark doing in all of this?” Sydney muttered. Sighing to herself, she reached into her bag and drew out a large makeup compact the size of a certain glass disc. “Well, little sis, you might have beaten me in the fighting department, but you have so much to learn about what it takes to be a spy.”
Author: Mystic83
Rating: Currently PG13 but some parts in the future will be R
Feedback: Yes please! Send them to emwerbeach@hotmail.com!
Summary: Sydney Bristow and Kaylee Derevko were raised separate from one another. When each one discovers the other's presence, hell breaks lose and the Rambaldi prophecy begins to be fulfilled. S/V,
Sa/OC.
Author's Note: I'm writing this one and posting it on fanfiction.net. So I'm going to post a lot of it right now so that I can catch this message board up to the point that I'm posting it on fanfiction.net.
Author’s Note: None of the characters belong to me except for Kaylee Derevko. The situations in the Season 1 of Alias occurred, but the Season 2 has been slightly altered to fit my purposes. Irina never turned herself over to the CIA’s custody, but SD-6 was still taken down. The story will follow the vague plotline of seasons 2 and 3 with a few significant changes.
Sydney Bristow woke up to her alarm blaring. Sighing to herself, she rolled over to hit the snooze button for another solid nine minutes sleep. “Why don’t I just set this thing a half-hour later and get some solid sleep?” she wondered out loud to herself as she jammed a pillow over her head to block out the morning sunlight that was creeping in her window.
Just as she was starting to feel that sleepy haze come on her once more, her cell phone rang obnoxiously.
“Wha...” she managed to mutter after locating her cell phone in the pants she had flung on the floor the night before. She was never too neat after coming in from a mission in the wee hours of the morning, but at least she had learned over the years to create the same mess over and over again. That way, it was always easy to locate where she put things the night before.
“Joey’s Pizza.”
“Vaughn? Is that you?” Sydney asked, highly confused by the greeting she had received. It had been at least two months since SD-6 had been brought down and her double agent status had been canceled. There was no longer any need for the subterfuge the CIA used to contact her.
“Yeah, Syd. It’s me,” Michael Vaughn said. “I don’t know why I said that. Old habit, I guess. Or maybe I just wanted to hear your reaction. Then again, I could have just thrown it in for nostalgia’s sake.”
“Very clever,” Sydney said. She turned over and checked the clock at the side of her bed. “But don’t you think that it would have been better if you saved the cleverness until after 8:23 in the morning? I might be amazingly witty during my ‘day job’ but that doesn’t mean I’m witty at all hours.” She paused as she tried to take in what was really happening. “Why are you calling me, Vaughn? You know I just got home from Bombay four hours ago.”
“We need you to come into work as soon as possible. We’ve hit a minor problem in our dealings with your mother. It‘s not a huge deal, but we just thought you‘d like to know what was going on as soon as possible. Don‘t worry.”
“Sure,” Sydney said softly while she heard Vaughn hang up. Her face scrunched up in concern as she looked at her phone. “What would be so important with my mother that they would rush me into work?” she mused.
The CIA had been investigating Irina Derevko since she had surfaced in Sydney’s life the previous year. Not many leads could be found as to why she had revealed herself to her daughter as “The Man” and then mysteriously disappeared without any explanation. Assistant Director Kendall was constantly making Sydney relive the short time her mother had her in custody so that the agency may be able to form some clue as to why Irina would want the world to know she was alive after twenty-four years of hiding.
“Why would they get a lead now after a whole year of nothing?” Sydney rushed to get dressed as she realized that no matter how much Vaughn downplayed it, something enormous has transpired.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Sydney calmly walked into the briefing room at the CIA Headquarters. She didn’t want Vaughn to know how much his phone call had upset and confused her. Walking past all the desks, she began to notice that people were stopping their work to stare at her when they thought her gaze was focused elsewhere. Sydney tried to piece together why everyone seemed to be in on a secret that she didn’t know about as she pushed open the large glass door leading into the small conference room. She took a seat at the briefing table next to Dixon and began to look around the room at everyone who was present.
Her father sat opposite her and was looking through some information on the computer screen in front of him. If Sydney weren’t so familiar with him, this behavior would have seemed normal. But in all of the mission briefs and meetings she had gone through, never once did Jack Bristow fail to make eye contact with her immediately when she entered the room. “Something is definitely up,” she thought.
On Jack’s right was Vaughn who was doing the polar opposite of Jack. His gaze was so intensely fixed on Sydney that she automatically could tell that whatever was about to happen was going to probably hurt her or shock her greatly. Vaughn’s body language was never very hard to read especially when it came to matters that concerned Sydney. He had never been able to mask his concern for her.
Rounding out the table was Weiss and Marshall. Marshall seemed a little nervous himself. “But then he’s always nervous,” Sydney thought, “but Weiss, the king of calm, is also fidgeting a lot.” Director Kendall was standing at the head of the table, seemingly gathering his thoughts for the impending brief.
Tired of sitting in silence, Sydney finally said, “Could you please tell me what’s going on before someone hurts himself trying to avoid my eyes?”
Weiss chuckled softly at Sydney’s bluntness as Kendall pressed a button on the keypad in front of him. A young woman’s picture appeared on the screens in front of each person. The woman was of average build with short brown hair. She was seated at a cafe in what looked to be a French city, probably Paris, talking with another woman seated across from her. A passerby’s body blocked the other woman’s face from identification.
“Who is that?” Sydney asked, knowing that the answer couldn’t be good.
All the other occupants of the room began to shuffle in their seats, and no one made a move to answer her question. Sydney looked pleadingly at Vaughn, knowing that if someone was going to inform her of what was going on, it would be him.
“That’s your sister, Sydney.”
Sydney looked around in horror as all of her co-workers stopped trying to avoid her eyes and began trying to gauge her reaction to the news that she had a sister.
“This can’t be right,” Sydney finally said after a few moments of thought. “I can’t have a sister. My mother was in hiding for twenty-four years so I doubt she would have found time to get pregnant. And my father? Through all the years he spent trying to raise me, he couldn’t even find time to play with me, sorry Dad, let alone form a healthy relationship with another woman. Where did you get this supposed solid intel, Director Kendall?”
“FROM a reliable source we have working undercover in Paris to infiltrate whatever organization Irina has set up. I’m sorry, Sydney. The woman in the photograph is your sister, and the woman she’s having lunch with is your mother.”
Sydney looked at her father in confusion. Now not only did she have a sister, but she also had a sister who was probably working with her mother on whatever Rambaldi plot Irina was currently planning. “Why can’t my life ever be just a little bit simple?” Sydney thought to herself.
“Could you explain a little more?” Vaughn asked Kendall. He realized that Sydney wasn’t her normal, rational self so someone had to help her gather all the information on this new development.
“Sure,” Kendall said as he passed out folders to everyone present. “The woman in the photograph has been going by the alias Viviane Auteur, but the CIA has discovered that her real name is Kaylee Derevko.” As Kendall said her real name, the photograph on the screens changed to a series of surveillance video captures. In all of them, Kaylee Derevko was stealing a Rambaldi artifact from different European locations.
“If I didn’t know better, I would have thought those were pictures of Sydney on her missions,” Marshall babbled. “I mean, Sydney on her missions for the CIA trying to keep the artifacts away from SD-6. Not stealing them for her mother or anything. Because we all know, she would never turn on us. I mean, she‘s Sydney Bristow, super spy.”
“Marshall,” Dixon said lightly.
“Sorry.”
Sydney smiled softly to herself. No matter what drastic changes occurred in her life, she could always count on Marshall to make her laugh with his incoherent babbling.
“As I was saying,” Director Kendall continued, “Kaylee Derevko has been doing work not unlike what we have had you doing Sydney. She’s collecting Rambaldi artifacts for some unknown use, presumably for your mother. We haven’t been able to successfully tie her thefts to Irina Derevko’s operations, but we do that the two are in constant contact. This could just be attributed to a regular mother-daughter visiting schedule, but I really think that Irina has her tied up in both the personal and professional life she leads.”
“That’s great and all,” Sydney said, “but what I still want to know is how the hell do I have a sister! Can we please explain that and then we’ll continue with how this fits into the U.S. government?”
“I think Sydney’s a little overwhelmed right now,” Jack Bristow finally spoke up for the first time. “Why don’t we call this briefing to an end for now? I’ll answer some of Sydney’s questions and then we can move on to missions and how we’ll be dealing with this new intel.”
“Agreed,” Director Kendall said. “I want to see everyone back in this conference room in two hours.”
Sydney watched everyone slowly leave the room murmuring words of support as they passed her seat. Vaughn squeezed her shoulder sympathetically as he passed, and Sydney found the small gesture oddly comforting. Now that the room was clear, she turned to her father, “So, start explaining. Is this Kaylee Derevko my half-sister, stepsister?”
“Full sister,” Jack Bristow explained. “Kaylee is twenty four years old which means the CIA have placed her birth about eight months after Irina’s disappearance. When your mother staged that accident to be extracted from the United States, she must have been already pregnant with Kaylee. I’m guessing she chose to keep it a secret so that I wouldn’t get more attached to her as a wife.”
“Or maybe she didn’t want to hurt you by adding the grief of losing a child on top of a wife,” Sydney said hopefully.
Jack sent her a skeptical look and continued on with his explanation. “Your mother raised Kaylee in one of her hideouts in France. Irina told her that her father had died in a car crash outside of Marseilles when she was still in the womb. She didn’t mention you at all, Sydney. I’m sorry.”
“No big deal,” Sydney said with a smirk. “I mean, why should the sister I never knew about know about me? It makes sense.”
“We’re still not sure of how much involvement she really has in Irina’s organization. It’s obvious she’s stealing Rambaldi artifacts for some purpose, but we can’t pinpoint it. No agent has managed to get any intel on when she transfers the artifacts over to another party, and there has definitely not been any visual proof.” Jack paused in his explanation to take a good look at Sydney to determine how she was taking this new advance in the investigation of Irina Derevko. Sydney was staring hard at the computer monitors almost like she was on the verge of realizing something. “Sydney?” Jack said, hopeful that she had come up with a lead.
“She seems to have my love of wigs.” Sydney turned her computer screen towards her father.
Jack realized that Sydney was right. In every picture they had, Kaylee had a different wig on, including a few that looked very similar to ones Sydney had worn on previous missions. “What do you think that means?” he asked.
“Well, it could mean two things. One, it’s genetic that the Bristow children love wigs.” Sydney paused to look at the skeptical look on her father’s face. “No, I didn’t think so either. Two, someone wants to make it look like I’m stealing Rambaldi artifacts for my own agenda. I think the only reason my mother has risked Kaylee stealing these artifacts is to make the CIA doubt my intentions for about the millionth time. We both know what happens when they think I’m involved in unofficial ops.” Sydney paused to remember the countless times the CIA had strapped her down to some chair in an effort to decide whether or not she had gone double or triple agent on them.
“That would make sense,” Jack admitted. “But why would your mother risk us discovering Kaylee wasn’t you? She hid her from our sights for twenty-four years. There had to have been a reason for that. Why is the risk suddenly good enough to take?”
“That I don’t know,” Sydney admitted. “But I think that we might want to bump up the reassembling time to right about now. I want to meet this Kaylee.”
That very same morning, Kaylee Derevko woke up to the sounds of the latest hit French pop song. Growling to herself, she hit the snooze button and rolled over. Sadly, her sleep was interrupted rather quickly by the double doors leading into her bedroom in Irina’s chateau bursting open.
“This had better be good. What?” she growled grumpily from under the protection of her bed covers.
“Darling, is that any way to great your mother?” Irina Derevko asked her daughter as she entered the room.
Kaylee popped out from underneath the covers with an astonished look on her face. “Mother, when did you get home?”
“Just a few hours ago. I had to debrief some of my agents on the success of our mission, but as soon as I was done, I came right up here.” Irina took a seat on the bed and leaned her head on the headboard. “I have to say that I’m thoroughly exhausted.”
Kaylee turned over to stare at her mother’s worn appearance. “What happened to your arm?” she asked as she noticed the bandage.
“Oh, one of the guards had a knife hidden. Mizler’s team seemed to miss that one when they were taking the guards’ weapons away. Don’t worry, honey. I had a talk with Agent Mizler, and it’s all worked out now.”
Abruptly, Kaylee changed the subject as she glanced at the clock. She never really liked to talk about what her mother meant by ‘all worked out‘. “Why are you here so early? You never wake me up before eight.”
“Well, my main business associate is flying into the country today, and I wanted you to be up and ready to meet him.”
“Really?” Kaylee asked. Her mother always seemed to try her hardest to keep her personal side, a.k.a. Kaylee, out of her professional side. “Does that mean you’ll finally tell me why I’ve been stealing these Rambaldi artifacts for you? Because it’s been months since I started and I still haven’t gotten anything close to a proper explanation.”
“I’ll give you one right now. Rambaldi has become infamous in the past year and a half for a certain prophecy he proclaimed. It appears that on page 47 of a particular document he created, he claims there will be a woman who will possess three certain abnormalities in her genetic structure. This woman will fulfill all points of Rambaldi’s prophecy and render the greatest power unto utter desolation. The CIA and Interpol have been scrambling to discover the identity of this woman so she can be subdued.”
“Is it Sydney?” Kaylee asked. She still didn’t understand why her mother was having her impersonate this American spy while she stole the Rambaldi artifacts.
“No, it isn’t,” Irina said with a chuckle. “The U.S. government thought for a long while that it was her, and she went through some horrible tests. Then, when they realized it couldn’t be her, they switched the focus onto me.”
“Okay, hold on.” Kaylee thrust her hands up in the air to halt her mother’s talking. “I’m already confused. First, how did they figure out so easily that Sydney wasn’t the one? If they were willing to put her through such harsh testing, they had to have been completely sure the woman wasn‘t her to stop them.”
“Well, the woman the prophecy speaks of has never seen Mount Subasio in Italy. Sydney escaped her own government’s custody and made it to Subasio. So, that disqualified her as the woman. If she was, there was no way she would have ever successfully completed her journey to Italy.”
“Oh.” Kaylee said, even more confused. “My second question is why did they switch the focus onto you? I mean, the prophecy you said spoke of genetic qualities. There’s no way some American spy can have that close a genetic structure as you. You‘ve only ever been in America for days, at the most one week. ”
“Actually, there is a way.” Irina paused knowing there was no way around telling Kaylee the truth she had hidden from her for so long. “Sydney Bristow isn’t just some anonymous American spy, Kaylee. She’s your sister.”
“What?” Kaylee screamed, practically waking up the whole house. “My sister? I have a sister that you never told me about?”
“Yes, dear. Settle down and I’ll explain it all to you.” Irina took a pause to collect her thoughts. “You remember how I told you that the U.S. government forced me to leave the country after your father’s death?”
“Yes, they thought that you had caused the accident that took his life because of your previous involvement with the K.G.B.”
“Well, there are a few things about that story that aren’t completely true. Your father wasn’t the one who got into a car accident. It was me. Your father worked for the CIA, and his superiors were constantly pressuring him to bring me in for testing once they found out my past connection to the K.G.B. They wanted to be sure that the K.G.B. had no more influence on me. I loved Jack Bristow, but I couldn’t take the constant pressure by him and by his government. I staged a car accident so that I could escape the country and that life. About that time, I realized that I was pregnant with you.”
“So my father’s alive somewhere out there AND I have a sister I never knew about?”
“Yes. Sydney was the first child I had with Jack Bristow. She was six when I disappeared. I kept close tabs on her and Jack all of my life. They’re my family, but I was forced to leave them because the work I’m doing is more important than anything, even my own life. Sydney grew up to follow in both her parents’ footsteps, though she didn’t know it at the time. She became an agent with SD-6. You remember me telling you about SD-6 and Arvin Sloane?” Seeing Kaylee nod, Irina continued, “Good. When she realized that SD-6’s operations weren’t legit, she became a double agent for the real CIA.”
Kaylee, once again, interrupted her mother. “Why have you been having me impersonate her?”
“For the simple reason that I decided it was time she and Jack realized you existed. I knew that if I just came out and told them, there was no way they’d believe it was true. Instead, I set it up so that they can believe it was their own discovery. That will make it easier on you.”
“Easier on me?” Kaylee was confused for the umpteenth time that morning.
“Sydney will come looking for you almost immediately after she hears of your existence.”
“Oh.”
“Are you ready for me to finish explaining about Rambaldi’s prophecy and how we fit into it? Or do you still want some more family background?”
“Yes, mother. Please continue with the Rambaldi prophecy.” Kaylee realized her mother was being to grow impatient of her questions.
“Good. The CIA switched their focus onto me and my activities as soon as Sydney told them of our meeting in Taipei. However, I was missing one of the genetic anomalies, but the CIA wasn’t clever enough to pick up on that right away.”
“So, the woman in the prophecy wasn’t you either. That only leaves...” Kaylee’s voice trailed off as she realized what her mother was telling her.
“The woman in the prophecy is not me or your sister, Kaylee. It’s you.”
“Well, that makes sense,” Kaylee said rather nonchalantly. “I mean, at least now I finally know why you would never let me go to Italy.”
“Couldn’t have you wrecking a centuries old prophecy just because you wanted to go on a little vacation.” Irina softly chuckled. She should have known that Kaylee wouldn’t take the news that badly. Unlike Sydney, Irina had been present to raise Kaylee right. Like Sydney, she had turned out a strong, independent woman who could handle anything that life seemed to through at her. Unlike Sydney, she always seemed to take things at face value and not let them affect her too much. “I’m proud of you.”
“Well, gee, thanks, mom.” Kaylee got out of bed and began getting dressed. “Enough about this prophecy mumbo jumbo. Who’s this business associate I’m meeting? I’ve never known you to keep associates so close that they’re allowed to see your home base, so to speak.”
“This one is quite special, Kaylee. He’s the only one I’ve trusted with my full identity. I think you’ll get along with him quite nicely.” Irina stood up and, with a smile, left as abruptly as she came.
Kaylee thought of how momentous this day might turn out to be. “Mother’s finally letting me in on the ‘family business’,” she thought out loud. “This is huge.” Grabbing a towel, she rushed to the bathroom adjoining her room to take a quick shower.
After jumping around the bathroom a little in excitement, she finally got herself in the shower. Kaylee wrapped her favorite burgundy towel around herself and rushed out into the hall to tell one of the servants that she would need more towels by the next day.
“Excuse me--” started a strong voice, but Kaylee couldn’t tell who it was before she ended up in a heap on the floor. Looking up, she took in the man who had spoken.
The man definitely looked like he had been traveling for a long time. His blond hair was slightly messed up, and his bright blue eyes had large bags underneath them. He had a lean, muscular build to his body and was fairly young looking. “But he makes up for that with style,” she thought, knowing that she was rather obviously giving him the once over and then some. Even though the rest of this stranger looked disheveled, his clothing was flawless. He was wearing crisp black pants with a white Oxford shirt rolled up at the elbow and with the top few buttons undone. Kaylee couldn’t help but admire that this man had obviously spent a lot of time outdoors to get such a nice tan.
“Um, hello,” he said looking down at the position she had claimed on the floor.
“Hi. I’m sorry. I was just looking for... a...” Kaylee paused when she realized the man’s smirk had turned into an all-out gaze of confusion. “What’s the matter?”
“Sydney?” the man asked. “What the hell are you doing here?”
‘How does he know Sydney if I barely knew about her?“ Kaylee thought. She suddenly realized that this man must be her mother’s mystery business partner, and obviously he had some previous contact with her newly discovered sister. Before she had a chance to correct the man, he was dragging her back into the room from which she came.
“Get dressed, Sydney,” he demanded. “And while you’re getting dressed, you can explain to me when you started working with your mother. And why the hell you‘re in France. And why you haven‘t bit my head off yet. It‘s not like you to be so civilized.”
Kaylee figured that he was right about one thing. She really did need to get dressed if she was to handle this situation properly. “I’ll save telling him who I really am ‘til later,” she thought.
“Stay right there, would you? I won’t be that long,” she smiled as she went towards the bathroom. Thinking twice about what a spunky American spy would say, she turned at the door, “And don’t think I’m doing this because you told me to.” To add emphasis, she slammed the door a little too loudly.
Kaylee rested her body against the closed door and finally allowed herself a small smirk. “Too bad my mom’s around and I’ll have to tell him I’m not Sydney. This could have been fun for a little while.”
Meanwhile, Sark found himself alone in a room that had obviously been lived in for quite a long time. He couldn’t figure out what Sydney Bristow, the great CIA spy, was doing in her mother’s chateau. “I hadn’t even heard she left the United States,” he mused to himself. “What does Irina have planned that would involve Sydney?”
Sark began to examine the room a little closer, hoping to pick up a clue or two about what was going on. Everything looked to be in order until he reached the desk. Proudly displayed all over the whole desk were numerous framed photos of Sydney and Irina. It looked as though Irina had been around as Sydney was growing up because there were photos of the two all the way from when Sydney was a young child to her college graduation.
“Impossible,” Sark said to himself. “Irina couldn’t have hidden the fact that Sydney existed all those years from me. There’s no way.”
“No way what?” came a voice from behind Sark.
Kaylee had been watching Sark look over the contents of her desk for the past few minutes. She knew she should have interrupted his search as soon as she had finished dressing, but she just couldn’t stop herself from spending a few moments admiring this man who held such a high regard in her mother’s eyes.
“Who the hell are you?” Sark said, his trademark smirk no longer present. He paused a moment and took a more detailed look at the woman in front of him. “You’re... not Sydney, are you?” The smirk had returned.
“No, I’m not, Sydney. Sorry for not telling you sooner, but I chose putting clothes on over explaining the whole situation to you immediately.”
“I would say not a bad decision, but I don’t think I really would have minded if you had put off the whole clothing thing.” Sark helped himself to a seat on her bed. “So, explanation, please?”
“My name is Kaylee Derevko. I’m Irina’s daughter. I’m surprised you didn’t know of my existence if you truly worked as close with my mother as she implied.” Kaylee sat down across from him on the bed.
“I’m surprised I didn’t know of you either. Seems that you’ve been a significant part of Irina’s life since you’ve been born.” Sark paused a moment in thought. “Can I assume that your father is also Jack Bristow? I can’t imagine any other father could produce a daughter that looks so similar to a girl who is only her half-sister.”
“You’re right. Jack Bristow is my father, and Sydney is my sister. Though I have to admit, like you, I just found out about that today. Irina obviously knew you’d spill the beans.”
“She does know me well,” Sark said as he stood up again. This girl was looking at him a little too intensely for his liking. It was rather disconcerting to see a face that resembles your enemy so well looking at you so civilly.
“I hope you don’t think I’m impolite, but can I ask you,” Kaylee posed a moment to add a little dramatic flare to her question, “who the hell are you?”
Sark chuckled at this young woman’s spunk, a quality he so often admired in her sister. “You can call me Sark. Like you’ve already guessed, I am the close business associate your mother has flown in. I guess you could call me her right hand man.”
“Nice to meet you... Sark,” Kaylee said, not sure if she believed this man actually wanted her to call him Sark.
“She had me fly in because she said she had just finished developments on a new secret weapon that could help tip the scales in our favor.” Thinking about the information he had just divulged, he stopped himself from going further.
“I wouldn’t censor yourself if I were you, Sark,” a voice called out from the doorway. “We Derevkos don’t like it when people try to withhold information.”
“Irina,” Sark immediately rushed over to greet his employer. “It’s good to see you’re doing well.”
“The same to you, the same to you.” Irina took in the situation. “I see you’ve met my little Kaylee.”
“If you want to call twenty-four little...” Kaylee mutter.
Her mother looked adoringly over at her and then back up at Sark. “You don’t have to worry about censoring yourself around her. She probably knows more about this operation than you do. Though I do have to admit, I’ve kept your presence a secret. Can I see you outside for a moment, Sark?”
“Of course,” Sark answered. “It was very nice to meet you, Kaylee. I’m sure we’ll be running into one another again.”
“One can only hope,” Kaylee said just loud enough for Sark to hear.
Outside of Kaylee’s bedroom, Irina noticed that Sark had slightly paled. “What’s the matter, Sark?” she asked bluntly.
“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Sark said. “Yet.”
“Okay. If you’re sure?” Sark nodded, and Irina began to lead him down the hallway to one of her many sitting rooms. “Let’s get down to business. I called you here because of a secret weapon I’ve found.”
“Yes. You said it was the key to the prophecy. I have to admit I can not figure out what it could be.”
“Not what, Sark. Who.”
Sark just looked at Irina in puzzlement. It had never occurred to him that a person could be the key to finally figuring out what Rambaldi’s prophecy was proclaiming.
Irina realized that Sark may be running a little on overload and decided to help him along a little. “I’ve found the woman the prophecy talks of at last. Funny to realize that she’s been under my nose all this time.”
“Kaylee...” Sark whispered.
Sydney couldn’t believe it had all been set up so easily. The CIA had created a pattern for the heists Kaylee had previously made, and with it they were able to deduce her next objective. As quick as a blink of an eye, Sydney found herself scheduled to leave on a plane to Brighton, England where another extremely valuable Rambaldi artifact was hidden. All she had to do was say goodbye to Francie and Will then she was off to the airport to meet the sister she never knew she had.
Lucky for Sydney, Francie and Will had told her a few days ago that they planned to eat lunch at Malarkey’s Tavern which was right across the street from Francie’s restaurant. According to Francie, “my food may be the best in the world, but sometimes even I get tired of it.” Sydney found herself chuckling softly at the comment as she pushed hard on the solid wood front door of the restaurant. She heard her name as soon as she set foot inside the tavern and immediately located her best friends seated at one of the back booths.
“Hey, guys!”
“What are you doing here, Syd?” Will asked her as soon as she got her jacket off.
“Well, I just wanted to let you know that I have to leave on yet another business trip today.”
Predictable as always, Francie commented, “But you’re always going on these trips.”
“I know. And I realize I say this every time but this trip’s really important. There’s a client I’ve really been waiting to get a meeting with, and the bank’s finally set it up.”
“Really?” Francie replied. “Looks like you’re not the only one whose wishes are being granted.” Francie made slight head motions towards Will.
“What is going on?” Sydney said. She was happy that her time with Francie and Will would be casual like always. She liked having people to talk to who she could guarantee wouldn’t add to the problems she was facing in her life.
“Well, our little Will over here has finally scored a big date with his boss’s daughter. Only don’t tell the boss.”
“Will! You didn’t! Haven’t you been lusting after that girl for two months now?”
“I’m proud to say that yes I have, and the lusting finally paid off.”
“Well, it’s good to see you out there in the world dating,” Sydney commented. She was constantly worried about Will and the fact that he hadn’t formed a solid relationship with another woman since that whole fiasco where they kissed.
“Yeah, we were afraid that you’re little run in with Syd had scarred you for life,” Francie said as if she had read exactly what Sydney was thinking.
“Francie!” Syd screamed. “That was blunt!”
“No, I deserved it,” Will admitted. “I mean, didn’t we all think for a while there that my whole life would be spent pinning after the great Sydney Bristow?”
“Oh, shut up!” Sydney playfully slapped Will’s arm.
“Why oh why can’t you have a sister, Sydney? Then this entire debate wouldn’t be going on. I could finally live my dream of spending the rest of my life with a Bristow woman,” Will continued to tease.
Sydney tried to smile without giving too much away. ‘If Will only knew how close his dream was to reality,’ she thought. Pushing all notions of her sister out of her mind, Sydney threw her heart and soul into relaxing with her two best friends before she tried to turn her life upside down one more time.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kaylee couldn’t help but eavesdrop at the door while her mother told Sark about the different missions she had sent Kaylee on. It seemed that these missions had another purpose other than letting Sydney, Jack, and the CIA learn of her existence. Her mother was testing her to see if she would be field ready to do what would eventually need to be done. Frustratingly, her mother and Sark never went into detail about what exactly she was being prepared to do.
Hearing Irina and Sark begin to finish up their business talk, Kaylee raced halfway down the hallway and then turned around to walk back towards where she had been hiding. When the two associates had exited the meeting room, the only thing they saw was Kaylee walking down the hall toward them.
“Couldn’t wait to see me again,” Sark said to immediately return to the teasing-like conversation they had begun earlier.
“Actually, no,” Kaylee said. She had decided her mother probably wouldn’t be happy if she continued to flirt with her right hand man. “I just wanted to be a part of whatever business was going on. I know I’m a huge part of what’s going to happen next. I want to be involved.”
“And you will be,” Irina agreed. “Starting tonight, I want you and Sark to go recover a Rambaldi artifact we’ve located in the south of England. It should be a relatively easy assignment with little to no problem.”
“Then, why send both of us?” Kaylee said, quick to point out the oddness of the plan.
“Well, I think you two should get to know each other a little more,” Irina said rather shadily. “I think Rambaldi would have like that.”
Once again, Irina left the area with a flourish. “I really hate when she does that,” Kaylee muttered.
“At least I know I’m not the only one she likes to leave half confused and wishing she had explained herself a little more,” Sark said honestly. “So, kid, I guess it’s just you and me for a while.”
“If you want to call twenty-four-year-olds kids, sure,” Kaylee said hoping Sark would pick up on the fact that she was listening to his conversation with her mother.
“No, you’re what. You’re no kid.” Sark gave her a smirk and walked off down the hall. When he was almost out of sight, he turned around and called. “I see you on the plane, kid!”
“Did he not just listen to what I said?” Kaylee muttered as she returned once again to her bedroom.
Brighton, England was the site of a Royal Pavilion designed by King Henry IV as a seaside fantasy palace. The architecture was a surprising mix of an Indian influenced exterior with an Oriental influence interior. It had always been one of Sydney’s favorite places to stop when there was call for her to travel across the channel from England to France or vice versa. She was surprised to find that a Rambaldi artifact was hidden inside the Music Room of the Royal Pavilion. True to the CIA’s normal accuracy, Sydney found the artifact almost immediately after she entered the Pavilion after hours. Secured tight against the mantel of the fireplace in the Music Room was a small disc of glass similar to the one Sydney fought with Anna over in Malaga, Spain.
Sydney quickly stored the glass disc in her satchel since she had begun to hear movement outside the Music Room entrance. She swiftly hid behind one of the large armchairs in the room and prepared herself to see what she could only assume would be a mirror image of herself.
She was not disappointed. Irina had indeed sent her little sister on a mission to recover this artifact. Sydney waited until Kaylee had reached the mantelpiece before stepping out from her hiding spot.
“Looking for this?”
Kaylee was surprised to hear someone else in the room. Her mother had assured her that the guards had been paid off to keep this room clear for the whole night. She was even more shocked to realize that her companion was none other than her sister, Sydney.
“Nice wig,” Sydney remarked. “Didn’t I wear that one in ?”
“Well, isn’t it the famous Sydney Bristow?” Kaylee managed to sound convincingly unamazed at this new development in the mission.
“I really wish everyone would stop calling me that. What’s a spy to do when she can’t go anywhere without being recognized?” Sydney flung herself onto the chair she had been hiding behind. “Do you know who I really am?”
“Do you know who I really am?” Kaylee asked.
“I take that as a yes. Listen. I didn’t come here for the artifact really. In fact, this artifact is near to worthless to you. The disc can’t be properly implemented without the Rambaldi clock device which happens to be in CIA custody. Which begs the question why did Mom send you here to get it if it wasn’t useful?”
Kaylee sat herself down on the floor where she was standing. “I can only assume it was because she knew you were going to intercept me. Mom never designs a mission that doesn’t have some purpose.”
“Let’s cut the mission felgercarb for a little bit,” Sydney said bluntly. “How long have you know I’ve existed?”
“Counting today? About 30 hours. I would ask you the same question, but my extensive knowledge of you tells me that if you had known about me before we already would have met.”
“Been doing your research, I see. Or has Irina just been feeding you information on me? Do you really know whom you’re working for?”
Kaylee chuckled to herself. Who would have thought that her main nemesis in the spy world would be her own sister? “I know exactly who I’m working for. Wouldn’t it have been easy for you if I didn’t know how ‘evil’ Mom was? If I wasn’t aware that she had fooled you and our father into thinking she really cared for you in her life as Laura Bristow?”
“Yeah, that probably would have been nice,” Sydney admitted. “I take it you don’t feel like coming with me to have a little chat with the American government.”
“I don’t think I have time to go through that today. Maybe you can call Mom up and schedule an appointment with her when I’m not so busy.” Kaylee paused to stand up and brace herself. “I think we’ve moved past the witty repertoire section of our first meeting. Can we move on to the part where I show you that your little sister is twice as good as you at this spying thing?”
Sydney laughed realizing that like all sisters they were about to have their first sibling brawl. “Even though I’ve told you that this disc is worthless, you still want to fight me for it?”
“Mom wants it for a reason. I don’t like to disappoint her.”
“Okay, if we have t--” Sydney was interrupted by a foot straight to her jaw. The abruptness of the blow knocked her backward into the wall and mixed her senses up for a little bit.
“I was never one for waiting for the banter to finish to start fighting. Call me impatient,” Kaylee said with a smile.
Not quick enough to block the next punch Kaylee sent her way, Sydney did manage to pull it together in time to properly shield herself and deflect most of the blow.
Sydney picked up the metal barrier pole that was protecting one of the Pavilion’s artworks and chucked it towards Kaylee. She knew that it was too heavy and slow to do any damage, but it would buy her a few precious seconds to recover.
Kaylee dodged the pole with ease but soon realized that in concentrating on the pole she had lost her focus on Sydney. Before she knew it, she took a kick in the stomach and an uppercut to the face.
“Jesus, you pack a punch, sis,” Kaylee remarked rubbing her aching jaw. “Too bad it doesn’t seem like you can take one.” Kaylee cracked her knuckles and back and launched herself towards Sydney.
Sydney caught her in mid-air and threw her towards the same section of wall she had previously impacted. Kaylee managed to twist herself in air and allow most of the impact to be absorbed by her back. She quickly stood up and ran towards the escaping Sydney. Tackling her from behind, Kaylee rammed Sydney’s face into the ground. Before she could recover, she found Kaylee sitting on top of her pinning her arms beneath her.
“Hope that didn’t do too much permanent damage. I know how pretty our face is.” Kaylee reached into Sydney’s bag and took the glass disc. “Thanks, sis. You make this job fun!”
With a quick kiss on Sydney’s forehead and a wink, she was running to the window on the other side of the room. It was all Sydney could to stand up and hobble to the window to watch her sister escape. She was coherent enough to recognize the man who was driving the car her sister had gotten into.
“What the hell is Sark doing in all of this?” Sydney muttered. Sighing to herself, she reached into her bag and drew out a large makeup compact the size of a certain glass disc. “Well, little sis, you might have beaten me in the fighting department, but you have so much to learn about what it takes to be a spy.”