21A/N: Hello! How is everybody doing? Well, by the title of my story, I think you'd be able to guess what it's going to be about. Hope you like it! I think it's pretty weird due to my lack of good memory when it comes to the facts about when Sydney's mom "died" and when Jack found out about her, but let's just say that he did...at the end of this story! : D ReViEw! Oh, I forgot, I don't know when take your daughter to school day is either, because I've never went with my parents. (Tear tear, I feel Sydney's pain, lol)
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The alarm clock rings. It no longer came as a surprise to him that he hadn't woken up already; although he used to wake up before the alarm clock went off. You'd probably ask yourself why he would have an alarm clock if he didn't need one, but it wasn't his alarm clock, it was his wife's. Now, it belonged to him. Now, he did need one. Ever since that day three years ago, he had trouble sleeping, and when he finally did sleep, he had trouble waking up on time. Every night he'd go to sleep with thoughts of her, and every morning he'd wake up with them. Why'd she have to go?
It was 8:30. The nanny should have taken Sydney to school by now; he needed to get to work soon as well. Sydney, his darling daughter. She had gone through a trauma when she found out her mother died, but she had gotten better. She didn't deserve such a loss like that; she was too innocent. But after that time, she had gotten stronger, wiser, and not so fragile. There were times where she had gone back to her broken self, and he couldn't bear to see her that way. He'd admit, he wasn't a good father, which he regretted. He knew he purposely kept his distance from her, to not get too close. Sometimes he just couldn't stand to look at her, because he saw Laura. He swore to himself that it would be better some day.
He walked out of his room, toward the kitchen. He stopped before he went in because he saw Sydney sitting on the counter with her backpack on. She was eating a doughnut with milk and he saw a cup of coffee and more doughnuts on a plate next to her, which he figured was for him. She put down her milk and looked around her to see if anyone was there. She slowly picked up the cup of coffee and took a sip. She gagged and put it back down. He then decided to greet her.
"Good huh?" he asked. Sydney looked up with a huge smile on her face.
"Morning daddy! Breakfast? No, I wouldn't say that the coffee was good, I don't see how you people could stand the stuff, maybe you have more immunity for gross drinks or whatever than me," she said excitedly.
He smiled so proudly in his mind, but only little of that evidence showed on his face. She always sounded so smart, and she truly was. "Where's Rosa? Aren't you supposed to be at school?" He got the coffee from the counter and took a sip. He almost gagged too, but it was strong, and he needed the stuff.
"Rosa is in the shower. About school, um, yes and no."
"Um, how about, yes, you are supposed to be at school."
"Well daddy, technically, yes, I am, but I don't have to today."
"And why's that?" he asked.
Her smile got broader and she began to jump up and down. "It's take your daughter to work day! You can take me to the airplane part place you work at and I'm bringing my backpack because I need my notebook to take notes. You can give me the grand tour and everything! C'mon, you might be late, so let's brownbag your breakfast." She ran to the pantry and got a brown lunch bag, and put the doughnuts in it. Then she grabbed the coffee from him and poured it in a thermos. She paused and looked at him and saw that he had no intention on moving. "Dad. come on."
He didn't want to let her down, but he had to. "Sydney, you can't come to work with me." Her smile disappeared. She looked as if the she was about to cry.
"Wh-why not?" she asked.
"The place where I work is a dangerous place. It's not a place I would want you to be involved in." He was telling the truth. The CIA was a dangerous place and not where he'd like Sydney to be involved in.
"B-but daddy, what if I want to be like you when I grow up, I need know about your job so I have knowledge in the future."
"You're in 3rd grade, you don't need to know about my job."
"No, it's not really even about learning about your job, it's just being able to go there with you. I just want to hang around with you while you work, that's all. You watch, if you take me to school, I'll be the only girl in class, all the other girls will be with their parents at their work."
When she said she just want to hang around with him, he felt his heart break. He wanted to hang around with her too, but he couldn't. "Then you'll just have to live with that," he said flatly.
Water filled her eyes. "Fine, take me to school, I didn't want to go to your job anyway," she lied. She handed him his breakfast and went outside to wait by the car.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The drive to Sydney's school was silent. All he could hear were her sniffles and her furiously writing in her notebook. He didn't dare to look in the rear-view mirror; he wouldn't be able to take Sydney's crushed face again. He finally got to the front of the school and stopped. She hurriedly gathered her things and got out of the car before he could ask if she needed an excuse note for being late. She ran into the school. He looked in the back seat and noticed that she had forgotten her notebook. He took it and a sheet of a torn out paper fell out of the book. He read it and noticed that she had prepared it the night before because the date at the top of the page was yesterday's. He could tell she added things because they were in different ink and written differently.
September 18, 1981
TAKE YOUR DAUGHTER TO SCHOOL DAY NOTES -tomorrow! :)
Father's Work: Airplane parts factory
What he does: DON'T EXACTLY KNOW, AND DON'T REALLY CARE!
Time of lunch break: HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO EAT!
Friends at work: PROBABLY HAS NONE!
Other information: MY DAD HATES ME, HE NEVER WANTS ME AROUND. HE LIES, AND DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ME. I BET MY MOM WOULD'VE LET ME GO TO WORK WITH HER! She shouldn't have died.. :( at least she loves me. He let her die.. Dad doesn't love me. I try to get him to love me, but I don't think he ever will. Is there something wrong with me?
There was a big sad face at the bottom of the paper. He felt as if someone just punched him in the stomach. How could she think such a thing? He loved her so much! 'She thinks I let Laura die.' he thought.
When he got in the CIA building, one of the agents walked up to him. "Agent Bristow, I have some news regarding your wife."
A/N: ok, there it is. Pretty bad huh? Tell me what you think. :)