“You can’t do this, Michelle.” He said, grabbing her arm to turn her around as she walked away.

She looked her fiancée in the eye. “I have to, David. I have the opportunity to save my parent’s lives!”

“Yeah? And what happens when it goes wrong? Huh? This device is nothing to joke around about.”

She looked at him fiercely. “Don’t you think I know that? That is why the CIA has had it kept in a place like this.” She gestured to the area around her. “My parents didn’t not deserve to die like they did.” Before they could continue their argument, they were interrupted by another voice.

“No they did not.” Michelle turned from her fiancée to see her uncles and grandfather walking up.

“Your parents did not deserve to die that way.” Her grandfather said, with the look in his eye he always got when talking about her parents.

One of her Uncles intervened. “We’re here to help.”

“But dad…” David started.

Eric interrupted his son. “No, David. You don’t understand what these two people went through in their lives.”

“Mike and Syd were the best people we ever knew. We have to find a way to prevent this from happening.” Will said.

Michelle looked at these people, the people who had raised her, with love.

“Once your hooked up to ‘The Telling’ we will activate it. You will be going to year 2004, just a few days before your father dies. But, you will only find out how to prevent his death. Don’t change anything else.” Jack hesitated for a second. “Elle,” he started, using her nickname. “You do look almost exactly like your father. They might even recognize you. But try not to tell them everything at once.”

Michelle nodded and looked to David.

“We will leave you two alone for a sec.” Will said, dragging Jack and Eric over to a corner.

David turned to his fiancée. “What if this goes wrong?” he whispered.

Michelle walked over, wrapping her arms around his neck. “It won’t. I love you, David, but I have to do this.”

He nodded. “Ok. I love you too.”

They hooked her up to the machine. ~~~~~~~~

Year 2004: 21 years earlier

Sydney Vaughn walked into CIA headquarters and went straight to her husband’s desk.

“Hey,” she said, walking over to kiss him lightly.

“Hey.” Vaughn said, returning her kiss.

“Do you know anything about this new agent?” She asked, sitting on the edge of his desk, noticing their wedding picture sitting next to his computer.

He shook his head. “No. Just that she is a walk-in.” he said, before stifling a yawn.

“Tired, Mr. Vaughn?” she teased.

“Yes, Mrs. Vaughn,” he teased back, causing her to smile. “I am, but if I remember correctly, you should be pretty tired too.”

She laughed, but before she could think of a proper response, her father was motioning them into the briefing room.

Her and Vaughn sat side by side in the conference table, along with Eric, Jack and Will. A second later Kendall walked in with a Blonde haired; blue eyed woman who couldn’t have been more than 21 years old.

“Everyone, this is Agent Elle Havugn (Pronounced: Haven). Agent Havugn, These are Agents Michael and Sydney Vaughn, Analyst Will Tippin, Agent Jack Bristow, and Agent Eric Weiss.”

Michelle looked around to all these people at the table she recognized, but stopped on her father for a second. They were right. She did look like him.

“Hello,” she said, nodding to everyone.

Sydney looked at this young woman and thought that she looked awfully familiar. From the look on her husband’s face, she could tell that he thought so too.

Michelle took a seat across from her parents still glancing subtly over to her mother and father. She couldn’t believe that this had worked.

“So, Elle,” Sydney started. “Why don’t you tell us about yourself.”

“Um, ok. I was born right here is LA…” she started telling them about her and as she was doing that, Vaughn wrote the young woman’s name on a sheet of paper and switched the letters around. When he got his answer, he gestured to his wife to see the name written on it. They made eye contact for a second.

“Excuse me.” Vaughn interrupted. “But who are you? The truth please.”

Michelle just looked at him, and slowly smiled. She knew this would happen. But she also knew that she couldn’t tell them everything.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

Vaughn raised his eyebrow at the young woman. “Your last name is an anagram for VAUGHN.” He said, showing the woman the paper.

“You're right,” she said, looking down. “My name is Michelle Vaughn”

“What? Are you Mike’s sister or something?” Will asked.

Michelle shook her head. “No” then she looked at Sydney. “Do you have a mirror?”

Sydney nodded, handing her the mirror. Michelle used it to remove the color contacts from her eyes. Then looked at the people in the room. ‘Oh my gods’ could be heard throughout the room.

“Michael and Sydney Vaughn are my parents.” She said.

Forestalled Circumstances 2

All hell broke loose, people were shouting and Vaughn stood up.

“EVERYBODY SHUT-UP!” he shouted, then looked to Michelle.

“Like I said, you two are my parents.” She said, tugging her hair behind her ears.

“How in the hell is that possible? I’ll be 29 in a couple of months. I am NOT old enough to have a daughter that’s…” Sydney asked.

“20. Yes I know. Actually, I am from year 2024.”

“Ok.” Sydney sighed. How did you get here?”

“You all know about ‘The Telling’, right?” Michelle asked, everybody nodded.

“Ok. The Telling is a time traveling device. That’s how I got here.”

“How do we know that you’re really our daughter? That this isn’t some very elaborate trap?” Vaughn asked. Michelle looked at him before answering.

“Ok. Let’s see,” she started, looking at her parents. “Last May of 2003, Daddy acted drunk in order to distract guards so mom could get a kill switch to a server farm to save Uncle Will.”

Vaughn smiled and leaned back. “Yes that’s true, but you could have read that in a mission debrief.”

Michelle sighed. He was right. Then a thought occurred to her. She tugged at the chain around her neck and pulled it out, extracting the object hanging on it.

“I’m sure this looks familiar.” She said, handing it to her mother. Sydney looked at it, as did Vaughn. Yes, it did look familiar. It looked exactly like the engagement ring that was currently snuggling over her wedding band.

“Do we know that this is real?” Sydney asked.

“There is and inscription in it, isn’t there mom? One that only you and daddy know about. ‘J’taime, Toujours’”

“Is that true?” Jack asked.

Vaughn nodded. “I had it inscribed before I gave it to her.” He looked towards Michelle.

“Why do you have it?” he asked.

“That’s the ring my fiancé proposed to me with. He got it from Mom.” She answered.

“Wait a minute,” Jack said. “When were you born?”

Michelle smiled. “October 2004.” She said, looking at her parents, who smiled sheepishly.

“But that would mean that…” Will said, trailing off.

Sydney nodded. “Yes, I’m pregnant. We just found out last night.”

Everybody sat back to absorb this information. After a few minutes Kendall stood up.

“Dismissed.” He said, and everybody walked out of the room.

Sydney, Vaughn and Michelle walked towards the office that Vaughn and Sydney shared.

“Ok. I still have questions.” Vaughn said.

“Ok, but, I can’t really tell you everything right now.”

Vaughn nodded. “Alright. You speak French?” he asked.

Michelle nodded once again. “Yep. It was taught to me when I was a child.”

“Ok. What kind of guy is your fiancé?” he asked.

“VAUGHN!” Sydney scolded, sitting on her husband’s lap and slapping his shoulder. Michelle just laughed.

“Mom, that’s ok. His name is David Wiess.”

“Wiess? As in Eric Weiss? Don’t tell me that goof got married and had a kid.” Sydney teased.

Michelle laughed again and looked down at her lap.

“God, She looks just like you Vaughn.” Sydney said.

“I know. The only thing that doesn’t look like me as that smile. She has definitely got your smile.”

“So why are you here?” Sydney asked.

“Actually, I can’t tell you that right now.”

“Why not?” Vaughn asked.

“Its….Its complicated. I promise when you need to know, I will tell you.”

Sydney and Vaughn seemed to accept that for the time being. She was grateful.

Forestalled Circumstances 3

“So, You’re in the CIA?” Vaughn asked, sitting next to his wife at the kitchen table, along with Will, Jack and Eric.

“Yes. Since almost my entire family is CIA, I knew that I’d do it too.” Michelle answered.

“And you’re named after Vaughn.” Sydney asked.

Michelle nodded. “Yes, I am. And Francie. I was told a lot about Francie when I was a kid.”

Sydney looked down, Francie’s death was still fresh in her mind. Vaughn saw this, and squeezed her hand. Michelle watched this in interest.

“So how is it exactly that you got here? We know about ‘The Telling’, but we could never figure out what it did because we don’t know where it is.” Jack asked. He would have doubted this young women’s story, if it weren’t for the fact that she looked so much like Vaughn.

“Like I said before, ‘The Telling’ is a time device. It uses chemical compounds to send a person into a temporary coma. A persons DNA can be programmed into it. It uses the DNA to send the person to a certain place in time.” Michelle explained.

“Do you know where it is?” Sydney asked.

Michelle shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. Vaughn caught that and smiled.

“No. In my time, it was found before I was born. But I don’t know where it is before it was found.”

“What about Arvin Sloane? Was he caught? And Irina Derevko?” Sydney asked.

“Both Killed. Before I was born. ”

“But that means that they are killed in the next nine months.” Will asked, then turning to Sydney. “Didn’t you say that you were pregnant?”

Sydney nodded. “Yup. We found out last night.”

“Oh is that why you sounded so distracted on the phone last night?” Eric asked Vaughn.

They all laughed. “ERIC! Lets not forget that my daughter is sitting here.” Sydney said.

Michelle laughed again. “Oh don’t worry, mom. It’s not anything that I haven’t heard him say before.”

“I guess so, considering that you are marrying his son.” Vaughn said with a smirk. This statement caused Eric to spit out the beer he was drinking.

“MY WHAT?!” he exclaimed.

They all laughed again. “Would you like another beer Eric?” Sydney asked sweetly, as she stood up from the table.

“Uh, yeah, considering it’s your husband’s fault I need one anyway.” He choked out.

“Syd, honey, sit down, I’ll get it.” Vaughn said, getting up.

“Vau—“ She started, but he gave her a look that pretty much told her that arguing wouldn’t work. She sighed, sitting back in her seat. “Ok, But Vaughn, I seriously hope you aren’t going to be like this for the next 9 months, because if you are I might have to kick your ass.”

Everybody laughed. “Yes, dear.” He said bending down to kiss her, which she returned eagerly.

“Aw man. Would you two get a room.” Will and Eric said simultaneously.

Jack watched this entire exchange with an amused look on his face that had almost become a permanent fixture since he accepted their relationship.

“Don’t worry Michael,” he said as Vaughn walked back into the room. “I was the same way. It’s a first time father thing.”

“What? Getting your ass kicked by Sydney?” Eric deadpanned.

“That too.” Jack said, causing the entire table to break out in laughter.

“HEY!” Sydney said, throwing a dishtowel at her father.

Michelle watched this entire conversation with amused interest. She hoped that if things went the way they were supposed too, she would be able to experience this in her own time.

~~~~

“It has happened.” He said.

“We knew it would.” She answered.

“Yes. But we have to make sure that she doesn’t succeed.”

Forestalled Circumstances 4

“We can’t stop her if we don’t even know why she’s here.”

“The only reason she could have come is her parents. She is Sydney’s daughter, after all. Her and Sydney are the only people who can use ‘The Telling’.”

“I don’t understand how it is that Sydney and her daughter can use ‘The Telling’ and how it is I can’t. Sydney has my DNA.”

“Yes, Irina. I know that. You also know that she is chosen. Not you. You told her yourself that night on the roof. Her daughter is a direct link to Sydney. That is why she can use ‘The Telling’ just like her mother can.”

“But Sydney and Michelle don’t know this, do they?”

Arvin Sloane smiled. “No. They don’t.” *****

“Honey, just stay home. I’ll tell Kendall and cover for you.” Vaughn pleaded with his wife, as she stumbled tiredly out of their bathroom. At that point, Michelle poked her head in with a light knock on the door.

“Is everything ok?” she asked.

“Morning sickness.” Sydney rasped out, finally giving into her husband’s requests, and laying back in bed.

“Dad, I could stay here with mom. Keep her company. You could call me if you need anything.”

“All right. Just make sure she rests. She’s too damn stubborn for her own good.”

“Vaughn, if I felt up to par here, I would come kick your ass for that comment.”

“Oh, don’t worry dad. I heard the stories about how stubborn you guys are.” Michelle said.

“Uh oh.” Vaughn said.

“Like what?” Sydney asked.

“Well, like the time dad flew to Russia, against the CIA’s orders. And Grandpa Jack just about killed you for it.” She said, look pointedly at her parents.

Sydney and Vaughn laughed. “Yup, that’s true.” Vaughn said. “Ok, ladies. I gotta go.” He kissed Sydney’s forehead. “Love you.”

“I love you, too. Even if you’re a pain in the ass.” She said sleepily.

He then kissed Michelle’s forehead. “Bye, Michelle.”

She smiled. “Bye dad.”

After he left Sydney took a good look at Michelle.

“Hey,” she said, getting the young woman’s attention. “Can I ask you something?”

Michelle turned to face her mother. “Sure mom. I’ll answer it if I can.”

“Are we good parents? I mean after everybody’s dead, did Vaughn and I finally get a normal life?”

Michelle smiled, almost sadly. “You tried your best.” She said, looked down at her mother to see that she was asleep.

“I love you, mom.” She whispered.

Forestalled Circumstances 5

Michelle and Sydney had spent the better part of the early afternoon talking about little things. Sydney told Michelle about her and Vaughn’s past and Michelle laughed hysterically when Sydney told her the details about the mission in which Vaughn acted drunk. Soon, though, the phone interrupted them. Sydney got up to answer it, recognizing her husband’s cell number.

“This wouldn’t happen to be my gorgeous French-born husband would it?” She answered. He laughed.

“I sincerely hope so.”

She sighed in mock exasperation. “Oh, Damn. I was hoping you were my boyfriend.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Would you like to call me back after he calls?” he teased.

“No. That’s ok. I guess I’ll just stick with you.” She teased back, and in the background she could see Michelle laughing.

“How very gracious of you. Are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah.” Then she lowered her voice suspiciously. “Why?”

“What do you mean ‘Why?’ Can’t a husband call his wife?” he said.

“Vaughn, we are a little less than a normal husband and wife. Considering our 20 year old daughter from the future is sitting in the living room.”

He sighed. “Good point. Actually Kendall wants you in.”

“Of course he does. Kendall’s an a—“

“An ass. Yes, honey, I know. But there’s been.... developments.” he said.

She knew that tone. “Ok. Does Michelle need to come in too?”

“Yeah, might as well.”

Sydney sighed. “Ok. I’ll be in soon.”

“I love you.” He said.

She smiled ever so slightly. Hearing him say that always cheered her up.

“I love you, too.” She said, before hanging up and turning to Michelle.

“We have to go in.” ****

20 minutes later, Michelle and Sydney walked into the busier-than-usual OP’s center and went straight for Vaughn’s desk.

“Hey, what’s all the commotion?” she asked him.

“Your mother contacted us.” He said.

Michelle looked at them strangely. “Your mother? Why would your mother contact the CIA?” she asked.

Vaughn and Sydney looked at the woman in confusion. “You don’t know?” Sydney asked.

“Know what?”

“Michelle,” Sydney said gently, “Irina Derevko is my mother.”

“WHAT!?” she yelled, causing everyone in the ops center to turn around and stare.

“Get back to work!” Vaughn yelled at them, before leading Sydney and Michelle to an empty conference room.

Once they were there, Sydney spoke up. “How the hell could you not know that Irina Derevko is your grandmother?”

Michelle was silent for a moment. This changed a lot for her. “I don’t know.” She whispered.

“You do know that….” Vaughn trailed off, Michelle looked at him and nodded.

“Yes, I know that she killed your father, dad.”

“I don’t understand why my…my future self wouldn’t have told you this.” Sydney said.

Michelle shook her head. She knew. But she couldn’t tell them that. Not yet. It was too soon.

“I’m sure you had your reasons.” She whispered.

The three of them were interrupted by Eric.

“Hey, you guys, sorry to interrupt, but Kendall needs us in a briefing.”

They all nodded and filed out of the room.

Forestalled Circumstances 6

“Vaughn told you what that your mother contacted us?” Kendall asked, as Michelle, Vaughn and Sydney strode into the room.

Sydney nodded. “What did she want?”

“She said that she had information for the CIA. But that she would only give it to you, Sydney” Jack answered.

“What kind of information?” Vaughn asked.

“She wouldn’t say. She also said that she wouldn’t give it unless Sydney met with her.”

“I don’t trust her. I never have. Despite the fact that she has saved my life, I can’t believe a word she says.” Sydney said.

“And we don’t even know if she is working for Sloane. This could be a trap.” Vaughn said.

“Does she know I’m pregnant? Do you think she knows that Michelle is here?”

“Again, we don’t know. But you are going to meet with her, Agent Vaughn.” All three Vaughn’s looked up. “ You know which one I mean,” he said rudely.

“Ok, You know what? I’m getting sick of this.” Vaughn said, standing up.

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

“You insist on talking to Jack, Sydney and myself with increasing bitterness in your voice everyday. Even more so since Sydney and I got married and I want to know what the hell your problem is with us.”

Kendall looked at him fiercely for a second before answering. “My problem, Agent Vaughn, is that you and your wife have broken protocol since the day you two met.”

“Need I remind you the kind of work that my wife, as you so kindly called her, have done since we met each other?” he asked.

“That’s not the point” Kendall started, but was interrupted by Sydney and Jack who had seen the two men discreetly reaching for their guns.

“Agent Kendall, will you please excuse us.” Jack asked. Kendall looked daggers at him for a second before stalking out of the room. Vaughn had his head bent, and when he looked back up he was extremely taken aback by the amused looks on Sydney, Michelle and Jack’s faces.

“Ok, why do the three of you look like you’re about to fall on the floor laughing?”

“First of all, Vaughn, We all completely agree with you.” Sydney said.

“Actually, I just thought it was funny,” Michelle shrugged.

“Michael, like Sydney said, we completely agree with you. But you might want to watch what you say to the Director of CIA operations.”

Vaughn smiled slightly. “Your right. I was just getting tired of the way he treated us.”

Jack nodded. “I understand.” He looked at Michelle for a second. “Michelle, I was wondering if we could talk. We haven’t really gotten the chance in all the excitement. I do have a few questions.”

“Of course, grandpa. I would like that.” And they walked out of the room.

After they were gone, Sydney looked at her husband, who had sunk into a chair. She walked over to him, and surprised him when she gently sat on his lap.

“Have I ever told you how hot you look when you’re pissed off?” she asked sweetly.

“No, I don’t think you have.” He said, raising an eyebrow.

“What you said was completely true, Vaughn. I especially liked it when you referred to me as your wife.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked.

“Hmm mm. Considering we’ve only been married five months, I’m still getting used to it.”

He smiled. “Five months? Has it really been five moths?” he asked.

“Yup. Since September.” She said.

“And now we’re having a baby. We really know how to speed things along, huh?” he teased.

She laughed. “Yeah. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She whispered, leaning in closer to his mouth.

“Me neither,” he whispered back, before capturing her lips with his. ***

Jack guided Michelle to his office and they sat down.

“Is there something you should be telling me?”

She was taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“Look, Michelle, I believe you when you say that you’re my granddaughter, but I know that there has to be more to your story.”

She looked down. “There is,” she whispered reluctantly. “But I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Because it may change things before it’s supposed to.”

Jack leaned forward. “What do you mean change things? What are you here to change?”

She was silent. “Grandpa, I’m sorry, I can’t.” she whispered after a few minutes.

“It has something to do with your parents doesn’t it?”

She hesitated, then nodded. Tears started falling.

“Tell me,” Jack said gently.

“I can’t.”

“Why not.”

“ Because what happened destroyed my family!” She bit out, surprising Jack.

She stood up and began to pace, then she turned to her grandfather.

She began to tell him everything.

Forestalled Circumstances 7

Jack sat there in stunned shock as Michelle finished her story. He couldn’t believe it had come to that. By the pain in Michelle’s face he knew that she was telling the truth.

“And you came back to stop it?” Jack said gently.

Michelle nodded.

“Your right, Michelle. It has to be stopped.”

“Grandpa, you also have to understand that you can’t tell anyone else. Not yet. I don’t know yet if telling you this early will bring unforeseen consequences.”

Jack nodded his understanding. *****

Vaughn and Sydney were seated at a desk in the middle of the Ops center discussing plans for meeting her mother.

“You will of course have a Comm piece in your ear, just to make sure this isn’t a trap. We still have no idea what she could be up to.” Vaughn said.

Sydney nodded. “It still worries me that this is the first time she’s made contact since that night on the roof last year.”

“I know.” He said. He reached over to take her hand. “But like I said then, none of this is your fault.”

She wrapped her fingers tightly around her husband’s hand. “How’d I get so lucky?” she whispered.

“Same way I did.” He whispered back. She smiled at him. They were interrupted by Will and Eric.

“What in the hell were you thinking?” Eric and Will said at the same time.

“Excuse me?” Vaughn said.

“Talking to Kendall like that? Why couldn’t you have done it while we were there?” Eric asked.

“What? Who told you about that?” Sydney asked.

Will raised his eyebrows. “Nobody needed to tell us about it. We heard it.”

“Oh no.” Vaughn groaned.

“Yup.” Eric said brightly. “You, Mike, were heard by everybody here telling the CIA director to piss off.”

“Yeah. I just wish we could have been there to see his face.” Will said.

“First of all, I didn’t tell Kendall to piss off. Second, He had it coming.”

They all laughed. “So are you going to meet with your mother, Syd?” Will asked.

She sighed. “Yes. I don’t have much of a choice.”

“Well, I’ll be here on comms. To make sure your ok.” Vaughn said.

“Why not just go with?” Eric asked.

“She said to come alone, or she wouldn’t give me the information”

“Ok. Just be careful, Syd.” Eric said.

She smiled at them.

“I will.” *****

Year 2025

“She has told my past self.” Jack informed Eric, Will and David.

“How do you know?” Eric asked.

“I have the memory.”

“I’m confused.” David said.

“Think about it, David. Any thing that happens in the past is going to change the future. She has told the Jack Bristow of 2004. Of course the future Jack Bristow would have the memory of it.” Eric said.

“Gotcha. Is it bad that she told you?” he asked, turning to Jack.

Jack shook his head. “No. I had expected it. But if she tells anyone else before she should, it could have consequences.”

“Like what?” David asked.

“Anything. She could tell Sydney now, and Sydney would do anything she could to jeopardize the mission to save Vaughn.” Will said.

“But isn’t that a good thing? Saving Vaughn?” He asked.

“Of course it is. But telling them too early… There are too many possibilities of things that could happen. Michelle has instructions to only tell them when it is absolutely necessary.” Jack answered.

“Then why would she have told you?”

“Because Jack would have forced it out of her.” Eric answered. He knew how worried his son was about Michelle.

“David, don’t worry. If everything turns out the way it should, We won’t have to worry about any of this.” Eric said, trying to console David.

“Will we remember any of this?” he asked.

“No. If Michelle does save her parents, It will change her entire future.”

“A future to include her parents.” David stated.

Jack nodded. “We hope so” ***** Year 2004

“How do you know that it is her?” Irina asked.

“Because, like I told you Sydney and her daughter are the only ones that can use ‘The Telling’.

She must be here to stop some future event.”

“You don’t know what?”

He shook his head impatiently. “No, I don’t. All I know is that she is here. Not why she is here. And While Sydney and her daughter live, I can never use ‘The Telling’.”

Forestalled Circumstances 8

After her talk with her grandfather and after Jack had sufficiently calmed the young woman down, she left the office in search of the two people in her life that could always cheer her up. Uncle Will and Uncle Eric. She found them in the lounge.

“Hey there, Michelle.” Will greeted her warmly.

“Is everything ok?” Eric asked her.

“Yeah. Everything’s fine.” She said and Eric and Will could see that that wasn’t quite true but left it alone.

“Do you wanna join us?” Will asked, gesturing to the empty seat at the table.

“Sure,” she said.

“I just can’t get over how much you look like, Mike.” Eric said.

“Yeah. When I was younger, Everyone used to tell me that I had my father’s looks and my mother’s kick-ass attitude.” She smiled.

Eric and Will laughed. “Oh I don’t doubt that.” Eric said.

“So I was wondering. I know that ‘Havugn’ was an anagram for ‘Vaughn’, but where did you get ‘Elle’ from?” Will said.

“Elle was my nickname when I was little. Shortened version of Michelle. Mom said that when I was a baby that I had a problem saying my entire name, and just used to say ‘Elle’ and it just caught on.”

“You said that you’re engaged to my son,” Eric said, raising his eyebrows. “Who am I married to?”

“I don’t think you’ve met her yet. Her name is Theresa.”

Will turned to Eric. “Met anyone named Theresa, Eric?” he asked.

“Nope, Not that I know of.” He said, shrugging.

“Is…What is his name?” Will asked.

“David.”

“Is David as much of an ass as Eric here?” he teased. Michelle laughed as Eric slapped Will on the side of the head.

“No.” She laughed. “David’s a good guy.”

Will and Eric nodded. “Good, because the daughter of Michael and Sydney Vaughn deserves a good guy.” Will said.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked curiously.

Eric leaned forward. “Michelle, your parents have been through a lot. Those two alone deserve a lot. They are great people.” He explained.

“Exactly,” Will said. “So it’s only logical that their daughter deserves the best, too.”

Michelle smiled. This is exactly what she needed.

“Did you hear that your mother is going to visit Irina Derevko?” Will asked.

Michelle looked at them. “No, I thought she wasn’t going to do it.”

Eric shook his head. “She is.”

Michelle was silent for a second, before standing up. “Will you excuse me?” she asked. Eric and Will nodded and she bolted from the room.

Forestalled Circumstances 9

She found her mother and father at Vaughn’s desk talking to Jack.

“I want to go to see Derevko,” Michelle said.

Vaughn looked at her. “ Michelle, You have no idea what Derevko is capable of…” he started but was cut off.

“Dad, first of all, She is my grandmother. She died before I was born. I deserve to know. And second, I am a trained CIA agent too.”

Sydney and Jack just stood back and watched.

“Yes. I know that you are a CIA agent. And from what I have read from the files you brought with you, you’re a damn good agent. But like you said, She died before you are born. You don’t know her.”

“Yes, but I deserve to know.” She said vehemently.

“We don’t even know if she knows you’re here. If we recognized you, she surely will.” Vaughn argued.

“But,” Michelle started, but was cut off by the chuckles from Sydney and Jack.

“Ok, What in the hell is so funny.” Vaughn asked, staring incredulously at his wife and father-in-law.

“Well, you two remind us, of well, us,” Sydney laughed.

Vaughn and Michelle smiled. “Alright,” Vaughn conceded with obvious reluctance. “You can go. But I’m only giving in because it is obvious that I’m never going to win an argument with you. You argue as good as your mother.”

Sydney laughed. “That and you’re a pushover.”

“Yeah.” He admitted. “Anyway, You guys leave tonight. I’ll make sure to brief you everything you might need.” Vaughn explained. Michelle nodded.

As Sydney and Vaughn walked off, Jack pulled Michelle aside.

“You know that your father is right.” He stated.

“I know that. But I need to meet her. I need to know.”

“Michelle, I understand how important this is to you, but you have to be careful. You CANNOT underestimate this woman.”

“Grandpa, Of all people, don’t you think that I would know that?” Michelle asked intensely.

Jack paused and looked down. He knew she was right.

“Michael was right,” he said. “You argue as good as your mother.”

Michelle smiled. “Thank you for understanding.” She said.

Jack nodded. “Anytime,”

****

That night, Eric, Will, Vaughn, Sydney, Jack and Michelle were all gathered around the ops center.

“I thought she wanted you alone?” Eric asked.

“Well, we figure that she would want to meet with her granddaughter from the future.” Sydney said.

“That’s a good point, but what makes you think that this is a valid meeting? How do you know that Sloane isn’t going to be there?” Will inquired.

“We don’t.” Vaughn said.

“But...” Will started, but was cut off.

“Will, I think that any information she could give us is important, otherwise she wouldn’t risk capture by the CIA.” Sydney said.

Will nodded.

“Where are you meeting her?” Eric asked.

“At the old warehouse where we Vaughn used to give me my counter-missions.” Sydney answered.

“Ok. Well you two be careful.” Eric said to Michelle and Sydney.

“We will, Uncle Eric.” Michelle answered, and she stepped over to hug him, Will and Jack.

“Sydney,” Jack started. “Be careful.”

Sydney nodded and the three men left.

Sydney and Michelle turned to Vaughn, who sighed heavily.

“Be careful.” He said.

Sydney smiled at her husband.

“We will, Vaughn.” She said, before turning to Michelle.

“You ready?” she asked. Michelle nodded.

Michelle knew that she would never be ready to meet this woman.

But she needed to know.

Forestalled Circumstances 10

They walked into the warehouse quietly. There was no sight of her mother yet and Sydney could see Michelle was trying hard to keep it together.

“Michelle, Are you okay?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” Sydney looked at her skeptically. “Well, no not really.”

Before Sydney could reply to this, A voice behind her said, “Sydney. I thought I told you to come alone.”

Irina Derevko walked into the warehouse. Then she looked at Michelle.

“Mother,” Sydney spat out. “Does this young woman look familiar?”

“Yes. She looks remarkably like her father.” She said.

“You knew I was here, then?” Michelle asked coldly.

“Of course.” Sydney could tell there was more to that, But Irina didn’t continue.

“And I assume by your tone of voice that you know about my….history with your father.”

“Of course,” Michelle said, but like Irina, she didn’t expand on it.

“Mom, we are not here to talk about us. You said that you had information on to give the CIA.” Sydney said.

“Yes. I know where ‘The Telling’ is.”

“What? How would you know…” she started, but stopped when she came to a realization.

“You’re working with Sloane.”

Irina just looked at her daughter for a second. “Yes.”

“So are you going to give us the information or not?” Michelle asked. Irina looked toward the young woman, surprised to see hatred in her eyes.

“Is that anyway to talk to your grandmother?” Irina asked.

Sydney had seen the amount of hatred in Michelle’s eyes and after Irina said this Sydney was sure that hatred was just bumped up a notch.

“You are NOT my grandmother.” Michelle spat out and Sydney knew that she had better get the information from her mother because she could see that Michelle was rapidly losing control.

“Just give us the information, mom.” She said. Irina handed her a disk that she took out of her pocket.

“Here,” she said.

“You’re not going to tell us what’s on it?” Sydney asked.

“Now, Sydney, that’s your job.” She said, before walking out of the room.

Sydney looked at Michelle. She could see the tears pouring down the woman’s face.

“Hey,” Sydney said, taking the girl into an embrace. “It’s ok.”

“No it’s not, Mom. I can’t believe that…” She trailed off. Sydney backed away slowly.

“That what?” Sydney asked.

“Nothing,” Michelle answered, wiping the tears off. “I’m ok. We better go meet with Dad and Grandpa to give them the disk.”

Sydney nodded, knowing that the girl wouldn’t talk about.

****

“Did you give them the disk?” Sloane asked.

“Yes.”

Forestalled Circumstances 11

As Vaughn waited anxiously for Michelle and Sydney, to return, He thought about the conversation he’d just heard. Something just didn’t add up. He could understand that Michelle would be bitter against her grandmother, but Vaughn didn’t need to be there to hear the utter hatred in Michelle’s voice. It didn’t make sense. He’d have to have a conversation with his wife to see what she thought.

“Vaughn,” he heard. He turned around to see Jack coming toward him. “Are they back yet?” he asked.

Vaughn shook his head absently.

“Is something wrong?” Jack asked.

“Something doesn’t make sense,”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard everything that happened between them in there. Michelle hates Irina Derevko. Now, I hate Irina Derevko and I can understand why Michelle would be bitter. I guess my question is…Why does she hate Irina so much?” Vaughn asked.

Jack was able to keep his expression neutral, but inside he was getting nervous. He didn’t know when Michelle was going to be able to tell them about the reason she was here, but he knew that he shouldn’t. Before he could answer Vaughn, he saw Sydney and Michelle coming toward them.

“Here is the information.” Sydney said handing them the disk.

Jack took it from her. “Did she tell you what was on it?”

Sydney rolled her eyes. “No. She said that it was our job.”

“I’ll give this to Kendall. You guys better stick around, You are going to be pulled into a meeting.” Jack said before walking away.

Vaughn took a glance at Michelle and could see that she was upset.

“Michelle, are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “I think that I need to be alone for a while. Is there some place I can go to think?”

Vaughn nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure there is a empty conference room you can sit in.”

“Thanks,” she said before walking off.

Sydney saw the look on Vaughn’s face. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked.

“Well,” he started. “If you’re thinking that there is more to this than she is telling us, then yes. We are thinking the same thing.”

Sydney shook her head and sat on the seat next to his desk. “There is definitely more to this. The hatred she has for Derevko…” she trailed off.

“Yeah. I think your father knows though,” he said.

“What?”

“I was talking about it with him. When I mentioned it… he looked almost nervous. Of course being that he is Jack Bristow he was able to cover it up almost immediately but…”

Sydney sighed. He could see the dejected look on her face.

“Don’t worry, honey. Maybe you should go home. Get some rest. The stress can’t be good on you or the baby.”

She looked up and smiled at him. “I can’t, Vaughn.” As he opened his mouth to argue, she put her hand up. “I promise after they brief us on the details of that disk, I will be the first one home.”

He looked at her skeptically. “Syd, after a debrief, you’re usually the first one to a mission not home.”

Sydney smiled again. “You know me too well, Vaughn, but I assure you that I in know way will do anything to endanger our baby.”

“I know that. But like you said. I know you. Whatever is on that disk...” he was interrupted when his computer suddenly shut down, as did every other computer in the place.

“What the hell...?” Sydney said.

“You guys!” Eric said, motioning them the a conference room where Marshall, Jack and Kendall were all gathered around a computer that obviously just shut down like all of the others.

“What’s wrong?” Vaughn asked.

“That disk is password protected.” Marshall answered.

“Why did the computers shut down?” Sydney asked.

“It’s a sort of trap. When I figure out the password, all the computers should turn back on,” He answered.

“They should or they will?” Vaughn asked.

Marshall looked at him nervously.

“Should.”

Forestalled Circumstances 12

“Thank god for Marshall’s photographic memory.” Sydney said as she and Vaughn walked out of the conference room.

“Yeah. He’ll just have to work it all out on paper.” He said, before glancing at his wife. “Honey, Now would you please go home and get some rest?” Vaughn pleaded. “And before you say anything, let me point out that Marshall said it could take hours until he figures out that password. So please, humor me and go home.”

Sydney sighed. She would be irritated by this had she not found it sweet that he cared about her so much.

“Okay, Vaughn, I’ll go home. But you promise to. . .”

“Call you when anything happens?” he finished with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, I promise, Now go before I have you escorted out of here.”

“Fine, Fine.” She said, going to her desk to gather her things. “I love you, Vaughn.” She said kissing his cheek before leaving the ops center. Vaughn walked away from his desk to go in search of Michelle. He found her in an empty conference room, still wiping away tears.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked quietly.

She jumped at the sound of another voice.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He said, coming up to take a seat next to her.

“It’s ok. Where’s mom?” she asked.

“Oh, I told her to go home.” He said, with a roll of his eyes. “As I’m sure you know about Syd, she is a very stubborn woman.” He said. Michelle laughed lightly. “Yeah, I remember when I was...I couldn’t have been more then four maybe, and she was sick this one day, so grandpa came over to watch me. When he came in, he tried for like ten minutes to get her to lie down but she kept giving him a list of the things she needed to do. So grandpa got me to distract her.”

Vaughn laughed. That was Sydney alright.

“Did anything come from those discs?” Michelle asked.

Vaughn shook his head. “Not yet. There was a fail-safe on them that shut all the CIA computers down until the password could be figured out.”

Michelle sighed. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy.” She muttered.

“I know. That’s just Irina Derevko for you.”

Michelle nodded. She had known that. * * * * * Sydney walked into the front door of the house she shared with Vaughn. She set her purse down and went to the kitchen with a sudden craving for pickles. She opened the refrigerator door, grabbed the jar of pickles and closed the door again. She turned around and before she could see the face in front of her, the jar of pickles crashed to the ground and everything went black.

Forestalled Circumstances 13

Hey, You’ve reached Sydney and Michael Vaughn. We’re not here right now, but when we get your message, we’ll call you back if we feel like it.

His wife’s teasing, practically giddy voice, was what he heard on the answering machine as he called their house. She had recorded that right after they got married.

“Hey, honey, if your there pick up.” He said to the answering machine. After a moment or two, he tried again. “Marshall cracked the password, Syd.” He thought that that would have gotten her up, but he still didn’t get an answer, and he was beginning to panic. He hung up the phone and grabbed his car keys.

“Dad? What’s wrong?” Michelle asked, as she saw him rush from his desk.

“Sydney’s not answering the phone. I’m going to go to the house. Can you get Jack, Will and Eric and meet me there?” he asked. She nodded and he rushed out of there.

* * * *

She slowly became aware of her surroundings, which suddenly made her very aware of the throbbing in her head and the restraints on her hands and ankles, as she lie on a metal table.

“Hello, Sydney.”

She turned her head around to see Arvin Sloane behind her.

“You sick bastard.” She hissed.

“Now Now, Sydney. I would watch the way you talk to me.” He patronized, leaning his face closer to hers, he whispered, “Wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt that precious baby of yours, now would we?”

* * * *

Vaughn paced the living room anxiously as CIA teams scoured the house.

“Man, would you stop all that pacing. You’re making me dizzy.” Eric said from the couch.

Vaughn gave him an icy look. “Oh yes, Eric. I’m just going to stop pacing and worrying about that bastard abducting my pregnant wife.”

“Mike, you don’t even know it was Sloane who took her.” Will said. Vaughn stared at him like he’d grown another head.

“Who the hell else could it be?” he said, throwing his arms up in exasperation.

“Michael, You need to calm down or we won’t be able to find her.” Jack said softly.

Vaughn sighed. Suddenly a soft voice from the couch whispered, “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

All of them gave Michelle a looked that basically said ‘duh’.

She shook her head. “No. You don’t understand. In my history this never happened. Mom was never taken. This must be the consequence.” She realized.

Vaughn went over and sat on the chair in front of her. “I think its time you tell us why you’re really here.” He whispered intently.

* * * *

Sydney just stared at him.

“Sydney you must know that you’re the woman in the prophecy.” He continued without letting her answer. “I brought you here to make sure that you can never use ‘The Telling’. And by eliminating you while your still pregnant with your daughter, she can’t use it either.”

* * * *

Michelle looked at her grandfather, who nodded slowly.

She took a deep breath, and started from the beginning. “There is a mission, a few weeks from now. The information on disks that you got from Derevko were right and Dad went on the mission with a tactical team to get ‘The Telling’. He went in alone.”

“It was a trap, wasn’t it?” Vaughn whispered.

Michelle nodded. “Yes.” She said, squeezing her eyes shut. “They used the information as a trap to lure Mom there. They thought that she would have gone.” She looked at her father. “You managed to talk her out of it. You didn’t want to endanger the baby.”

She looked around the room, seeing that everyone was hanging onto her every word.

“When you went in, You got ‘The Telling’, but Sloane was there.”

“Well Well Well. Not exactly the Vaughn I was expecting.”

Vaughn turned around at the voice, startled. Suddenly he heard his wife’s voice.

“That son of a bitch” she muttered.

“What the hell do you want?” Vaughn said, trying to keep his cool.

“Well, actually I wanted Sydney.” He said, as he took out a remote detonator. “But you’ll do.” He pressed the button.

“NOOOOO!” Sydney screamed, collapsing on the floor as they all heard the explosions.

Jack frantically pressed on the Comm button for the tactical Team. “THE STATUS ON MICHAEL VAUGHN!” he bellowed.

“The Explosions killed everyone, sir. Arvin Sloane…” The agent paused. “…And Michael Vaughn.”

Michelle squeezed her eyes shut again as the tears poured down her face.

“Mom was there for the first ten years of my life. But when I was ten, she lost it.” She shrugged helplessly. “I always thought that I looked too much like my father and that’s why she ran off. When I got older, I forced Grandpa Jack to tell me why she left. He said that she went after Irina Derevko wanting to avenge her husband’s death. Grandpa told me that Mom ambushed Derevko. Mom shot her, but just before she could, Derevko shot her first. They were both killed.” She whispered the last part.

“What do you mean when you said ‘this must be the consequence’?” Will asked softly.

“I told Jack.” She said, nodding at Jack. “Before I was supposed to I guess.”

They all turned to Vaughn and saw the tears slowly rolling down his face. He wordlessly got up and left the house, slamming the door the door behind him.

Forestalled Circumstances 14

He walked towards his car, trying frantically to get his car keys from his pocket before he lost control of his feelings altogether.

“Dad!”

He stopped and turned around slowly.

“Dad, I am so sorry.” She sobbed. “Now you know why I had to come.”

He almost broke. She looked just like Sydney when she was upset.

“Michelle. I’m sorry, but I just can’t handle all of this right now.” He climbed into his car and drove off.

* * * *

A few hours later, he was standing alone at the pier when he felt a presence behind him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked quietly.

“Looking for you.” Eric came up to stand next to him, but Vaughn kept his eyes on the slim gold band on his left hand.

“What are you doing here?” Eric asked gently.

Vaughn was silent for a moment then said, “How did you know I was here?”

Eric shrugged. “I didn’t. I went to the ice rink first. I assumed that’s where you would go.”

Vaughn kept his eyes on his wedding band as he spoke.

“I proposed to her here.”

Eric’s eyes widened in surprise. “You did? I didn’t know that.”

He nodded. “Yep. Got down on one knee and everything.”

“Wow, man.” He paused. “You really love her don’t you?” he asked, but he already knew the answer.

Vaughn spoke without a hint of hesitation. “With everything I have.”

Eric nodded. Sydney had said that exact same thing to him about Vaughn.

“Look Mike, I know that was a lot to take back there, but we’ll get her back.”

“I hope so.”

“No. Vaughn, your wife? She kicks ass, ok? I would hate to see what she would do to Sloane when she finally gets her hands on him. Is it safe to assume that you would have learned a few things from her?” Eric asked.

Vaughn smiled. “No one could do what Syd does on a daily basis. But I assure you, when I get my hands on Sloane and Derevko…What they did to Michelle…To our family…”

Eric nodded. “I don’t pretend to understand what all this is like for you, Mike, but trust me when I say that none of us are going to let any of that happen.” He put his hand on Vaughn’s shoulder. “Now come on. They think they know where Syd’s being held.

Forestalled Circumstances 15

“We think she is being held in the old Credit Dauphine building.” Jack said.

“You would that international terrorists would know not to stay in one place after you abduct someone.” Eric stated sarcastically.

“You would think so, Mr. Weiss.” Jack agreed, before turning to Vaughn. “Vaughn, you, Weiss and Tippin will get Sydney.”

Vaughn nodded, then asked, “What about the information on the disks?”

Jack paused, then said, “We’ll figure it out when you get back.”

Vaughn didn’t quite believe him, but he kept his mouth shut.

* * * *

She’d been sleeping on and off. She had assumed that she hadn’t been here for very long and had been able figure out that she was in the old Credit Dauphine building. They hadn’t done anything to her and that fact both scared and surprised her. To pass time, Sydney thought about Vaughn. They had only been married about five months and were already having a baby. She was surprised at how happy she was about it and now this. Getting kidnapped and meeting her daughter from the future were no exactly normal occurrences, but this was her life and she knew that the only people that could keep her sane in this life was Vaughn and their child.

* * * *

2024

Jack Bristow knew it was inevitable. He knew that Michelle had told the Jack of 2004, and he know had the memory of being there when she told Vaughn why she was there. He sighed heavily. He also knew of the consequence. Sydney had not been captured in their past.

Their future was already changing and Jack Bristow could only hope it would get better.

* * * *

2004

“ Why isn’t Michelle coming with us?” Vaughn asked Jack when they were alone in the office.

“Because we need her here.”

Vaughn nodded.

“Jack,” Vaughn asked to get his attention, when he had it he continued, “ Do you think we can do this? Get Sydney back, Resolve all of this before any one else gets hurt?”

“Vaughn, the CIA. . .”

“I don’t want the company line, Jack. She’s my wife. I deserve a straight answer.”

Jack’s face hardened. “Do you remember what I said about getting as comfortable with me as you are with my daughter, Mr. Vaughn?”

Vaughn got closer to him until he was an inch from his face.

“Do you remember when I married your daughter? Or did you forget that you walked her down the aisle?”

Forestalled Circumstances 16

"What happened with you and Jack?" Will asked as they were getting their mission tech. ready.

Vaughn shook his head. "He was just being an ass."

"Mike, most men don't call their father in law an ass." He seemed to think about this for a second. "Actually, I'm sure they do, but not when your father-in-law is Jack Bristow."

Will visibly shuddered. "Even after all of the years I have known Sydney, I'm still afraid of that guy."

"Everybody is afraid of that guy." Eric said, before glancing at Vaughn. "Except Mike."

"Look, I don't want to talk about this right now." Vaughn snapped before stalking out of the room.

"Man, is he ever in a bad mood." Eric said, shaking his head.

"Well, When Sydney gets back..." Will trailed off with a smile.

Eric groaned. "Don't even go there, man. Don't even go there."

* * * *

"Hello Sydney." Irina walked in and looked at Sydney with an almost motherly look on her face.

"What do you want?" Sydney snapped.

"I just wanted to see how my daughter and unborn granddaughter are." Irina answered, choosing to ignore the venom in her daughter's voice.

"Oh, I'm great. I just love being restrained to a chair,” she said sarcastically.

Irina clicked her tongue.

"Don't worry, my dear. You won't be here for much longer. ***** “Bye dad.” Michelle said, hugging him tightly. He was surprised for a fraction of a second before hugging her tightly back.

“Tell mom I love her when you get her.”

“Will do.” He said, letting go of her. “We’ll see you when we get back.”

Michelle gave him an almost sad look as he walked away. * * * * He found Eric and Will in the room he had left them in before.

“Ok. I’m going in alone. You guys can wait outside with the backup.”

“Hello to you to Mike.” Eric cracked.

Suddenly Jack walked in. “We have a problem.”

“What?” Vaughn asked.

“Kendall can’t send back up with us.”

“WHAT?” Vaughn exploded. “Can’t or won’t?”

Jack shook his head. “Vaughn, He doesn’t have the man-power. He can give us back up in 5 hours.”

“We don’t have that kind of time!” Vaughn said, trying to keep his temper in control.

Jack nodded. “Yes. I know. That’s why the three of you are going now.” He walked out.

“We can’t do this by ourselves.” Will said.

Vaughn shook his head. “We won’t have to. We just have to stall until backup gets there.”

Eric looked at him. “You have a plan don’t you?”

“Damn right I do.”

* * * *

“Where’s Sloane?” Sydney asked.

Irina shrugged. “He had some..business to take care of.”

Oh god. She thought. “What kind of business?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“It concerns me if it has to do with my husband.”

Irina raised an eyebrow at the word ‘husband’. “I never said it had to do with your husband.”

“Talking about me?” They heard. Sydney could recognize that voice anywhere. Irina whirled around. Vaughn walked in with his gun drawn, aimed at Irina. “Hello, honey.” Vaughn said sweetly to Sydney, eyes still on Irina.

Sydney smiled at him. “Hello, dear.”

“Irina” Vaughn nodded toward her.

“Michael.” Irina started. “How nice of you to join us. I’m unarmed. You can put your gun away.”

Vaughn shrugged, but kept his gun directed at Irina.

“This isn’t a social call. I came to get my wife.”

Irina laughed. “You underestimate me, Mr. Vaughn, if you think that you can just walk in here like this. You obviously haven’t thought all of this out. Maybe I gave you too much credit.”

Vaughn took a detonater out of his pocket. The clock on it read 5 minutes.

Oh god. Sydney thought. He isn’t doing what I think he is. Is he?

“I’m pretty sure you know what this is, Irina.”

Irina laughed again. “Not very smart, Mr. Vaughn. You’d be killing yourself, and your wife and child.”

“To kill you?” he hissed. The clock read 3 minutes. Come on..Come on. He thought.

“Don’t you see Irina?” Vaughn said calmly. “It is you who underestimate me.”

Forestalled Circumstances 17

The timer hit zero…

And agents burst in the door, led by Weiss and Will, guns directed at Irina.

Irina raised her eyebrows, but said nothing as an agent slapped handcuffs on her wrists and led her away. Vaughn rushed over to undo the restraints on his wife’s wrists and ankles.

“You were bluffing.” She stated, staring at him like he was crazy.

He gave her a lopsided grin. “Yep,” He said as he got the last restraint off. Sydney stood up and punched his arm. Hard.

“Ow!” he said.

“That was for scaring the freaking hell out of me...” she said before crashing her lips onto his.

“And that,” she started breathlessly when they broke away, “Is for getting me out of here.”

He grinned. “Anytime.”

* * * *

They walked hand-in-hand into the Ops center. They spotted Jack who was talking, who he was talking to, however, was a mystery considering he was the only one in sight. When he saw the two of them coming towards him, he stopped.

“Sydney,” Jack said, relief washing over his face. Sydney stepped over to embrace him.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked, awkwardly hugging her back.

Sydney brought her hand up to wave away the question. “Oh yeah, I’m fine. What are they going to do with mom?”

“She’ll be in her old cell and I assure that she won’t be getting out this time.” Jack paused.

“What about Sloane? Was he there?”

Sydney shook her head. “Only at first. Then mom told me he had business to take care off.”

Jack sighed. He had been afraid of this.

“Who were you talking to when we walked up?” Sydney asked, with a raised eyebrow. “You weren’t talking to yourself were you?”

Jack scoffed. “Of course not.”

Vaughn looked around the room and something suddenly clicked together. He was pretty sure he knew who he had been talking to.

“Where is Michelle?” he asked.

Forestalled Circumstances 18

Jack remained silent and that was Vaughn’s answer.

“You sent her to get ‘The Telling’ didn’t you?” he demanded.

“WHAT?!” Sydney exclaimed, extremely confused.

“The mission that got me killed, you sent her on it?” he said, before he realized what he was saying. Sydney stared at them both incredulously.

“Can you two please tell me what the hell is going on?! What do you by ‘the mission you were killed on’?

Vaughn sent Jack a look, before taking Sydney’s arm and leading her to his office.

“Honey, You might want to sit down.”

*****

“Grandpa? Are you there?”

Jack lifted the link back to his ear.

“Yes, Michelle I’m here.”

There was a pause.

“They know. Don’t they?”

He looked in the direction Vaughn had taken Sydney.

“Yes. They know.”

“Make them understand, Grandpa. They have to realize that this was the only way.”

“I will. Did you get everything you needed before you left?”

“Yeah. Charges of C-4 to blow this entire warehouse.” and me along with it…

*****

Sydney sat in a stunned silence, while Vaughn let his eyes drift downwards.

“No..” she whispered.

Vaughn remained silent, but was startled when Sydney launched herself into his arms, clinging to him tightly.

“This is insane, Vaughn. Our daughter from the future saved both of our lives.” She whispered into his ear.

Vaughn nodded and wrapped his arms around her. Then stood up and grabbed her hand.

“Come on. We need to go have a talk with our daughter.”

*****

Michelle was setting the C-4 charges and was startled when she heard a familiar voice over the Comm.

“Michelle, Have you lost your goddamn mind? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“I did, daddy.” She said innocently. “I told grandpa.”

Vaughn rolled his eyes at his wife. “You are definitely your mother’s daughter,” he cracked.

“Michelle, Why? Why did you have to go?” Sydney asked.

“You have to understand. I saved daddy’s life. And yours. The future has changed. I have no place anymore. And soon this damn device will be history too.”

Suddenly they heard a grunt of pain over the Comm link.

“Actually, It won’t.”

“Sloane. You son of a..” Sydney started.

“…bitch.” Michelle finished, getting up from the floor.

“Well, I suppose I from the daughter of Michael and Sydney Vaughn, that’s high praise. Oh say hello to your parents for me.”

Michelle looked discreetly to the side of her where the remote detonator had landed when Sloane had kicked it of her hand.

“See, Michelle. You came to stop your father’s death and destroy ‘The Telling’. You may have succeeded in saving your father, but you won’t succeed in destroying ‘The Telling’.”

Sloane walked closer to her.

“And if I get ‘The Telling’. You saving their lives won’t matter anyway.”

Forestalled Circumstances 19

“Dammit,” Sydney swore. “Michelle, does he have a Comm. Link? If he does, sniffle.”

She sniffled.

“Okay. Is it like the one you’re wearing?” Vaughn continued, knowing where his wife was going with this.

Nothing.

“Okay.” He turned to Marshall, who had been sitting in the desk behind him. “Marshall, we need his RF signal.”

Marshall got to work, his fingers flying over the keyboard. “Michelle, Keep him talking.”

“Why?” she asked Sloane.

“If you die, then all I’ll have left to get rid of is your mother. Then I can use ‘The Telling’.”

“Got it,” Marshall said. “It’s 418.5 Megahertz.”

“Can you boost the feedback loop?”

“How loud?”

“180 DBs.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Do it.”

“Ok, Elle. As much as we despise what you’re doing. We understand.” Sydney said.

“When Sloane is distracted, grab the detonator. If you understand, sniffle.” Vaughn commanded.

Sniffle.

“Okay. Good luck, honey.” Vaughn looked at his wife, who nodded, then to Marshall.

“Now.”

A loud screeching went of in Sloane’s head.

“Ah!” he screamed, brining his hands up to his ears.

Michelle jumped at the detonator.

“Actually, you bastard,” Michelle hissed, “I do get what I came here for. Daddy, it was an honor to meet you. See you guys in a few months.”

She pressed the detonator.

*****

YEAR 2008

Sydney Vaughn laughed happily as the door to her house opened and her three year old daughter went running toward it.

“Daddy!” she squealed, jumping into his arms.

“Hey, there Elle. How was preschool?”

“It was great! We tolored pichers today!”

“Oh yeah? Did you bring one home?”

She nodded. “Want me ta show it to you?”

“’Course. Go get it.”

He set her down on the floor and she went running towards her room.

“Hey, handsome.” Sydney called from the kitchen. “Don’t I get a ‘Hello’ too?”

He strode into the kitchen, turned her around and slammed his lips into hers, kissing her passionately.

“Hi,” he whispered breathlessly.

“Well, Mr. Vaughn, you keep kissing me like that and Michelle might have a sibling sooner than though.”

”MM.” He moaned, kissing her again. “I’m perfectly alright with that.”

She laughed, but before she could lean in again, Michelle came bouncing into the room with a piece of paper in hand.

“Here ya go, daddy,” she said, as he scooped her up.

“It’s fantastic sweetheart. What do you think, Syd? Another one on the fridge?”

She smiled. “Of course.”

Vaughn leaned over to the fridge and placed the drawing up as Sydney wrapped her arm around his waist.

“It’s the best family photo ever.” Sydney said.

It was a picture of the three of them. All holding hands.

*****

YEAR 2024

“I’m in!!” she yelled, rushing into her parents house.

“You did it?” her mother came from down from the bedroom.

Michelle nodded excitedly.

“MICHAEL!” Sydney yelled. “Come congratulate your daughter!”

“Elli, you did it?” Michael Vaughn came in from the back yard, where he had been mowing the lawn.

Michelle nodded.

“Yup.”

“You do realize we’re your bosses, right?” Vaughn told his daughter, who just shrugged.

Sydney and Vaughn came over to embrace their daughter.

“Congratulations Sweetheart,” Sydney said.

“Yeah, honey,” Vaughn said.

“Welcome to the CIA”

She forestalled the circumstances that took her parents away from her.

This was how it was supposed to be.

END