20 years later..

Chapter One

Jack Bristow had decided he hated his job as he rubbed his hands over his face. He had been setting behind his desk in his office for the last three hours doing paperwork. Maybe it was time to retire of course if he could afford too he would have already done so. But that wasn't possible at the moment. There were still college tuition that needed to be paid for, and his job came with great health insurance that was needed. So Jack knew he was going to be a part of the CIA until it killed him most likely from a heart attack from all this paperwork.

It hadn't always been this bad but ever since he was declared directer of the Los Angles department the paperwork would drive him up the wall. Jack almost longed for years ago when he could bring his work home with him and finish it there. But ever since Laura's accident Jack had never brought work home again. Not after what his bringing work home caused.

Jack still felt guilty to this day twenty years after the accident for being the cause of Laura almost dying and in a why she had. Because of him and it being easier to work from home, his wife lost over thirty years of memories along with suffering brain damage. She still twenty years later suffered side effects from the accident.

The KGB had targeted Laura's car that night the CIA never did find out why though only that they had targeted her and had meant to kill her. Jack always felt it was because of a few missions he had been on months before and where he had killed a few KGB agents.

Why they wanted to kill his wife instead of him, Jack could only think it was because they wanted revenge to make him suffer. And suffer he did, as he had to watch his wife lay in a coma for over three months. His little girl crying herself to sleep most nights because her Mother hadn't woken up yet.

Then after Laura finally did opened her eyes to learn that she couldn't speak and barely could move broke his heart all over again. Laura was a trooper though she had to learn to talk all over again and walk which took almost a year and that was when they all learned from Laura that she had no memories before waking from her coma. The doctors had warned Jack memory loss was possible with Laura's injury. Laura had surprised Jack by saying that she loved him even though she could not remember anything from before. She loved him because of the way he had treated her since she had woken up, and she hadn't wanted to hurt him by telling him and Sydney she couldn't remember them.

Laura had lost so much because of his work. But the health insurance covered all her rehab cost so Jack could not quit no matter how much he wanted too. Instead, he became a desk jockey in the last twenty years he hardly ever went on a mission. He did game theories and was very good at it so good he was made dictator. And lots of paperwork came with that job.

Hopefully after he finished his paperwork Jack could head home. The last few night he hadn't been able to eat dinner with his family, last minute emergencies taken place that required his attention. That Agent Vaughn was out to destroy anytime he might be able to spend with his family, Jack promised that the younger man made it his life's goal to stop him for going home this last week.

The last two nights just as he was getting his things together to head home when the knock would come from Agent Vaughn that demanded his attention that cause him not to be able to get home and eat the dinner his wife had cooked for him. Jack hated having to call and tell Laura he would not be able to make dinner after she had gone to all the trouble of starting dinner already. Laura was a sport though she would just laugh it off and tell him she would leave a plate in the refrigerator for him, so he could heat it up when he got home.

Laura would have liked to stay up and waited from him, but ever since the accident she could not stay awake past eleven pm. Plus she had work during the week and had to be up early at least during the school year. Jack was just so proud of his Wife how she did not let her brain injury stop her from teaching. She had worked so hard going back to school herself to be able to teach again.

Jack knew that Sydney looked up to her Mother for never giving up. Yes she wasn't the same after the accident. They all had to learn to live together again when Laura had gotten out of the hospital plus Sydney was learning to make new friends. Jack had sold their old house to buy one that did not have stairs. While Laura could walk with the help of a cane at that time she still had trouble going up and down stairs alone. Jack did not feel comfortable to leave his recovering Wife and seven-year-old daughter alone in a house with stairs.

Jack wasn't a stupid man he had told Laura all about his thoughts on this, and she agreed with him. So he went to a Realtor seen a few houses then took pictures of all the rooms and showed them to Laura and Sydney. As, a family in Laura's hospital room they picked their new house from those pictures. It was a nice new build three-bedroom house that had two bathrooms and an office. No stairs only the setup to get into the front door.

It was in their new house that they became a family. And Sydney learned about how even when her Mother had bad days, and it was hard for to remember things she did not give up. How she had to take things slow but that did not stop Laura Bristow if anything it just made her try harder. And made Jack love her even more than he ever did.

Loving Laura now was like loving a whole new person she wasn't the same at all, she didn't like the same foods she once did which had Jack sometimes wondering if Laura before had pretended to like the same things he did. She had always been strong-willed though that she kept. But they fight a lot if Laura thought he was doing something wrong, she would not agree to anything unless she thought it was the right thing to do. She did not want him going on missions and always let him know that. She also did not want to know anything about his work which was a real shifted from before her accident where she listened and asked many questions about them.

Laura had wanted to kill him when she learned he had used Project Christmas on Sydney. If she had been able to moved her body as she could now Jack was sure she would have. But as he had pleaded his case to Laura promising had told no one about using it on Sydney not even his best friend Arvin.

Jack had only used it until he was sure that Sydney could protect herself if someone tried to hurt her or brainwash her. It was during that conversation that Jack had shared with Laura that her accident hadn't been an accident that she had been targeted by the KGB. Jack told Laura he was sure it was because of him, he did not want Sydney to be defenseless if they came after her next.

Laura did understand after that but made him promise to not use Project Christmas on Sydney again, which of course Jack agreed to once he was sure Sydney could protect herself which was a year after he had told Laura which had caused a lot of fights between them.

Even still recovering as she was Laura had threatened to leave Jack more than once and had even packed bags for Sydney and herself if he didn't stop. Jack could still remember how Laura had set him down and just told him she was taking their daughter and leaving unless he stopped. She told Jack she knew he was just using Project Christmas on Sydney because he was afraid, but they couldn't live and fear. Sydney was not going to get hurt the KGB hadn't come after her, and it had been two year since the accident it was time to withdraw Sydney and let her just be a little girl again.

Jack agreed he loved Laura and Sydney too much to risk losing them, plus if they left he wouldn't be able to protect them. It was after that, that Jack and Laura really connected as husband and wife again. They even renewed their wedding vows.

Jack took a deep breath and let it out clearing away his memories for now if he wanted to get home on time tonight he had to get this paperwork done. And if Agent Vaughn showed up at his office door again tonight he was going to assign the younger man the must boring and time-consuming case he could find. Maybe that would keep him so busy he wouldn't darken Jack's office door again for a long time.

Agent Vaughn was a second generation CIA following in his Father's footsteps. A Father the young officer lost when he was just a boy. Jack could not help but remember how Sydney had almost lost her Mother because of the KGB, Agent Vaughn had lost his Father to the KGB. That's why Jack wasn't too hard on the young agent when he kept looking into the old cases of the KGB. Both men would like to know who had in one case killed his Father, in the other almost killed Jack's wife. It was something the CIA had closed the case on but neither man had.

Jack had actually been the one who had recruited Agent Vaughn into the CIA, he had gotten the job of recruiting new agents after asking to be mostly sideline to a desk. Jack had looked through a lot of files on possible new agents. Vaughn's stood out because the young man had already made inquiries about working for the CIA because he wanted to follow his Father's footsteps.

Jack didn't buy that, so he was on the next flight out and at the door of one Micheal Vaughn. The true reason Vaughn wanted to join the CIA was because yes he did want to follow in his Father's footsteps but also he wanted to learn who had killed his Father and why?

Jack had saw passion behind the younger man's eyes that day and knew he would make a good CIA agent.

Jack hadn't seen Vaughn again until he had been assigned to the L.A. branch of the CIA. Vaughn would on his spare time look into the open case of who killed his Father along with who had tried to kill Jack's Wife. It had been years and still no new leads had appeared since the fall of the KGB you would have thought something or someone would have spilled the bills or taken credited for out smarting the CIA but no one ever had.

Jack had decided to just move on from it, well more like Laura had ordered him too. She didn't care who had almost killed her because she wanted to live her life for the now not the past. And because who ever it was had never tried again, in her book it was a closed case. She was alive and had her family the KGB was dissolved, so it was over. She did not want Jack always trying to find who had targeted her and not be able to be there for their family. Furthermore, she had to plead with him that he was needed as a husband and father more than out there searching for someone who might already be dead.

Jack could deny his Wife nothing, so he let it drop, that didn't mean he stopped Vaughn in his search he even helped the young man when he need clearance for files or mission that would hopefully one day lead to learning who had tried to kill Laura and had killed Willaim Vaughn.