(no subject)
Title: Attendance
Date posted: 02-24-08
Fandom: Alias
Disclaimer: Not mine, not ever.
Spoilers: Up to Syd's graduation.
Notes: At the_retelling someone mentioned a deleted scene that involved Irina expressing an interest in attending Sydney's graduation.
His hand on Irina's wrist was less authoritative than he meant it to be. This was grip was supposed to mean a shackle, a tether, but her wrist- not dainty or delicate at all, just smaller- fit perfectly, and he didn't want to bruise her. She was following him quietly as he navigated the folding chairs on the lawn, feeling the slight resistance as Irina's heels got stuck in the dirt.
"Michael is over there," she murmurs, and he sees Vaughn standing with Tippin and Francie. His smile is just a fraction to big, a shade too boastful. It's irritating.
There are two seats near the front, and he lets Irina in first, the move of a gentleman, so that he can sit on the aisle. Irina crosses her legs at the ankles, like she did when they were young. He lets himself admit that he enjoys this, seeing Irina without being bound, and the suit she is wearing is finely tailored, cream and sedate with a brooch on her lapel.
(Really, she shouldn't have a brooch, the pin could be used as a weapon. He should demand it from her right now.)
They got there early, to find seats, and Irina is looking through the program with interest. He has already found the best route back to the car, where they could duck for cover, and the most likely vantage points for a shooter. He's working on how he could get to Sydney while keeping a grip on Irina when she points in the program. "Magna cum laude," she says, her finger on Bristow, Sydney Anne. Jack nods. "She should received highest honor."
He doesn't take the bait. It would be rude to embarrass Sydney.
The graduates come out some time later, identical in their caps and robes, but Irina takes his arm and presses it with one finger. "There's Sydney," she whispers, her eyes sharp as a hawk. He sees their daughter for a second before she sits and is lost in a sea of black.
The speaker is interesting, if long-winded, and while Irina appears to be paying attention, he knows she can see the several possible escape routes, and has calculated how long it would take her to get to freedom. In a second, he can see it: her hair streaming behind her, the sensible pumps being kicked aside.
He's thinking about ways to catch her when the first name is called, Abney, Alexander. Irina sits up just a bit straighter, and he's struck with a memory of one of Sydney's dance recitals as a child, one of the few he had attended. They had dutifully applauded the toddler tumblers and the preschoolers who danced to some pop song, but when Sydney's kindergarten class had been announced, Laura's back had straightened, her full attention on the five-year-old in the pink fairy costume: their Sydney.
Sydney's name is announced with no more fanfare than anyone else's, and Tippin whistles a celebratory sound at her arrival on the stage. He can just see his daughter cast her eyes to the audience to locate her friends before stepping forward to receive her diploma, and he can tell she's spotted them by the grin she casts in their direction. She solemnly takes her diploma, shakes the hand of the dean, and looks to the audience again as she finishes crossing the stage.
He realizes that she's looking for him a moment later, and the smile she gives him fills him with as much joy as it does regret: she seems both thrilled and relieved to see him. Upon seeing Irina, she almost stumbles- a quick, graceless move that is caught just before she gets off the stage.
"You told her I was going to come, didn't you?" Irina hisses.
"I did," he replies, his eyes following Sydney back to her seat, and he comes so close to saying 'Laura' that his throat burns with it.
At the end of the ceremony, the students refrain from tossing their hats in the air, (which Jack appreciates, because it allows him to keep his eyes on the places a sniper would most likely choose) and get up to find their friends and family. He stands and Irina follows, her pin catching the sunlight. She opens her mouth to ask something before thinking better of it.
Sydney finds them ten minutes later, after greeting her friends first, and kissing Vaughn soundly. She tucks her hair behind her ear without thinking as she approaches. "I didn't know if you guys would make it," she says awkwardly, like they haven't spoken in months, but her eyes are wide with the image of her parents side by side.
"Of course we came," Irina says briskly, as though she's been to every function. She softens, and her smile is mirrored by Sydney as she says, "Congratulations, sweetheart."
He can see Sydney at five leaping into her mother's arms after the successful recital, full of energy as she recounted every moment, her arms twined around Laura's neck. She hugs Irina now, an adult, and then turns to him. "Thank you, Dad," When she releases him from her embrace, she says, "I'm going to lunch with Vaughn and Will and Francie. I... I guess you have to get back."
"Yes," Irina says, "Have fun with your friends." Sydney looks to him as though asking permission, and when he nods she leaves, a spring in her step as she joins the others.
"She looks beautiful," Irina says as they walk back to the car, her hand in the crook of his elbow, like they're a normal couple leaving their daughter's graduation, and he nods, because it's a true statement. He only opens her door because he wants to make sure she won't escape. She waits until he's driving to say, "If nothing else, you must believe that-" she pauses, "That everything with Sydney was real."
He thinks of Irina catching their daughter, mindful of delicate fairy wings, and peppering Sydney's face with kisses. "I know."
Date posted: 02-24-08
Fandom: Alias
Disclaimer: Not mine, not ever.
Spoilers: Up to Syd's graduation.
Notes: At the_retelling someone mentioned a deleted scene that involved Irina expressing an interest in attending Sydney's graduation.
His hand on Irina's wrist was less authoritative than he meant it to be. This was grip was supposed to mean a shackle, a tether, but her wrist- not dainty or delicate at all, just smaller- fit perfectly, and he didn't want to bruise her. She was following him quietly as he navigated the folding chairs on the lawn, feeling the slight resistance as Irina's heels got stuck in the dirt.
"Michael is over there," she murmurs, and he sees Vaughn standing with Tippin and Francie. His smile is just a fraction to big, a shade too boastful. It's irritating.
There are two seats near the front, and he lets Irina in first, the move of a gentleman, so that he can sit on the aisle. Irina crosses her legs at the ankles, like she did when they were young. He lets himself admit that he enjoys this, seeing Irina without being bound, and the suit she is wearing is finely tailored, cream and sedate with a brooch on her lapel.
(Really, she shouldn't have a brooch, the pin could be used as a weapon. He should demand it from her right now.)
They got there early, to find seats, and Irina is looking through the program with interest. He has already found the best route back to the car, where they could duck for cover, and the most likely vantage points for a shooter. He's working on how he could get to Sydney while keeping a grip on Irina when she points in the program. "Magna cum laude," she says, her finger on Bristow, Sydney Anne. Jack nods. "She should received highest honor."
He doesn't take the bait. It would be rude to embarrass Sydney.
The graduates come out some time later, identical in their caps and robes, but Irina takes his arm and presses it with one finger. "There's Sydney," she whispers, her eyes sharp as a hawk. He sees their daughter for a second before she sits and is lost in a sea of black.
The speaker is interesting, if long-winded, and while Irina appears to be paying attention, he knows she can see the several possible escape routes, and has calculated how long it would take her to get to freedom. In a second, he can see it: her hair streaming behind her, the sensible pumps being kicked aside.
He's thinking about ways to catch her when the first name is called, Abney, Alexander. Irina sits up just a bit straighter, and he's struck with a memory of one of Sydney's dance recitals as a child, one of the few he had attended. They had dutifully applauded the toddler tumblers and the preschoolers who danced to some pop song, but when Sydney's kindergarten class had been announced, Laura's back had straightened, her full attention on the five-year-old in the pink fairy costume: their Sydney.
Sydney's name is announced with no more fanfare than anyone else's, and Tippin whistles a celebratory sound at her arrival on the stage. He can just see his daughter cast her eyes to the audience to locate her friends before stepping forward to receive her diploma, and he can tell she's spotted them by the grin she casts in their direction. She solemnly takes her diploma, shakes the hand of the dean, and looks to the audience again as she finishes crossing the stage.
He realizes that she's looking for him a moment later, and the smile she gives him fills him with as much joy as it does regret: she seems both thrilled and relieved to see him. Upon seeing Irina, she almost stumbles- a quick, graceless move that is caught just before she gets off the stage.
"You told her I was going to come, didn't you?" Irina hisses.
"I did," he replies, his eyes following Sydney back to her seat, and he comes so close to saying 'Laura' that his throat burns with it.
At the end of the ceremony, the students refrain from tossing their hats in the air, (which Jack appreciates, because it allows him to keep his eyes on the places a sniper would most likely choose) and get up to find their friends and family. He stands and Irina follows, her pin catching the sunlight. She opens her mouth to ask something before thinking better of it.
Sydney finds them ten minutes later, after greeting her friends first, and kissing Vaughn soundly. She tucks her hair behind her ear without thinking as she approaches. "I didn't know if you guys would make it," she says awkwardly, like they haven't spoken in months, but her eyes are wide with the image of her parents side by side.
"Of course we came," Irina says briskly, as though she's been to every function. She softens, and her smile is mirrored by Sydney as she says, "Congratulations, sweetheart."
He can see Sydney at five leaping into her mother's arms after the successful recital, full of energy as she recounted every moment, her arms twined around Laura's neck. She hugs Irina now, an adult, and then turns to him. "Thank you, Dad," When she releases him from her embrace, she says, "I'm going to lunch with Vaughn and Will and Francie. I... I guess you have to get back."
"Yes," Irina says, "Have fun with your friends." Sydney looks to him as though asking permission, and when he nods she leaves, a spring in her step as she joins the others.
"She looks beautiful," Irina says as they walk back to the car, her hand in the crook of his elbow, like they're a normal couple leaving their daughter's graduation, and he nods, because it's a true statement. He only opens her door because he wants to make sure she won't escape. She waits until he's driving to say, "If nothing else, you must believe that-" she pauses, "That everything with Sydney was real."
He thinks of Irina catching their daughter, mindful of delicate fairy wings, and peppering Sydney's face with kisses. "I know."