epilogue -
* * * *
"Did he accept it?"
"Yes," he replied, knowing she meant the name - not the pardon. That sort of politics had never impressed her. "He seemed a little disconcerted that we'd asked for Sydney's input though."
"You didn't tell him about Yellow, did you?"
"I probably shouldn't have. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by that point already." He smiled at her low laugh and refused to feel guilty about doing so. "I did refrain from mentioning that the poor cat was orange though."
"Poor Sydney," she said through another snort of laughter. "She meant well."
"Lucky Stephen," he countered. "Can you imagine what she would have wanted to name him if we'd asked her when she was six?"
"Considering what she calls him now, I shudder to think what she'd have come up with then. And really, I doubt he would have been much better at that age." There was fond - if somewhat melancholy- amusement in her voice. "He probably would have named the cat Orange. He's always been a very literal child."
"Did you ever wonder…?" He immediately regretted the question and was unable to finish it.
"What could have been?" she concluded softly. There was a long pause before she spoke again. "Sydney would have adored him. He was a beautiful baby."
"That adoration wouldn't have lasted long. The novelty would have certainly worn off by the time he'd learned to talk."
"Undoubtedly. They would have tried to kill each other as teenagers."
"If not earlier. And they would have made both of us insane long before then."
They didn't admit aloud how nearly those things had come to pass anyhow. Nor did they speak of the other differences there would have been - of the lives not lost, the scars not inflicted. For the moment, it was enough to speculate wistfully about mischievous children and ill-named felines.
"Could you have managed teaching both of them to drive?"
"I sincerely doubt it. Sydney was bad enough. I can't imagine going through that twice."
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
I too am one of those people who cringes at the thought of Sydney and Sark being siblings… on the show. In this tiny corner of the Alternate-Universe though, I thought it might be fun just to see if I could make SpySibs sound plausible.
Sark has been called "Stephen" here because according to an interview with David Anders, Victor Garber himself calls the boy "Steve" since J.J. Abrams neglected to give him a proper name.
For those who commented that the "children's" ages were a little off - Sorry. I didn't know when I started this how old Sydney was supposed to be when her mom died so I was basing numbers on the impression that it happened a little over twenty years ago and on the actors' real ages. Chalk any discrepancies up to Jack simply doing a little fuzzy math. He's under a lot of stress. Also bear in mind that if Sark seems "young", that was intended to be more Jack's view of him than may actually be the case in "reality".
Missing Scenes:
For a look at what happened between Sark and Irina after Jack left Hong Kong in chapter eighteen, Irina's version of the story can be found in "Mat' i Syn" at http://www.fanfiction.ws/read.php?storyid=1479393
For the full story behind Sark and Sydney's meeting in New Orleans that Syd recounts to Jack in chapter twenty-two, see "Sestrá i Brat" at http://www.fanfiction.ws/read.php?storyid=1510242
Thanks:
Many thanks to Rez for beta-ing the last several chapters.
And thank you to all the folks who gave this odd story a chance and so nicely encouraged me in the reviews. I write to entertain myself but it's awfully cool to know that other people have enjoyed this as well.
* * * *
* * * *
"Did he accept it?"
"Yes," he replied, knowing she meant the name - not the pardon. That sort of politics had never impressed her. "He seemed a little disconcerted that we'd asked for Sydney's input though."
"You didn't tell him about Yellow, did you?"
"I probably shouldn't have. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by that point already." He smiled at her low laugh and refused to feel guilty about doing so. "I did refrain from mentioning that the poor cat was orange though."
"Poor Sydney," she said through another snort of laughter. "She meant well."
"Lucky Stephen," he countered. "Can you imagine what she would have wanted to name him if we'd asked her when she was six?"
"Considering what she calls him now, I shudder to think what she'd have come up with then. And really, I doubt he would have been much better at that age." There was fond - if somewhat melancholy- amusement in her voice. "He probably would have named the cat Orange. He's always been a very literal child."
"Did you ever wonder…?" He immediately regretted the question and was unable to finish it.
"What could have been?" she concluded softly. There was a long pause before she spoke again. "Sydney would have adored him. He was a beautiful baby."
"That adoration wouldn't have lasted long. The novelty would have certainly worn off by the time he'd learned to talk."
"Undoubtedly. They would have tried to kill each other as teenagers."
"If not earlier. And they would have made both of us insane long before then."
They didn't admit aloud how nearly those things had come to pass anyhow. Nor did they speak of the other differences there would have been - of the lives not lost, the scars not inflicted. For the moment, it was enough to speculate wistfully about mischievous children and ill-named felines.
"Could you have managed teaching both of them to drive?"
"I sincerely doubt it. Sydney was bad enough. I can't imagine going through that twice."
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
I too am one of those people who cringes at the thought of Sydney and Sark being siblings… on the show. In this tiny corner of the Alternate-Universe though, I thought it might be fun just to see if I could make SpySibs sound plausible.
Sark has been called "Stephen" here because according to an interview with David Anders, Victor Garber himself calls the boy "Steve" since J.J. Abrams neglected to give him a proper name.
For those who commented that the "children's" ages were a little off - Sorry. I didn't know when I started this how old Sydney was supposed to be when her mom died so I was basing numbers on the impression that it happened a little over twenty years ago and on the actors' real ages. Chalk any discrepancies up to Jack simply doing a little fuzzy math. He's under a lot of stress. Also bear in mind that if Sark seems "young", that was intended to be more Jack's view of him than may actually be the case in "reality".
Missing Scenes:
For a look at what happened between Sark and Irina after Jack left Hong Kong in chapter eighteen, Irina's version of the story can be found in "Mat' i Syn" at http://www.fanfiction.ws/read.php?storyid=1479393
For the full story behind Sark and Sydney's meeting in New Orleans that Syd recounts to Jack in chapter twenty-two, see "Sestrá i Brat" at http://www.fanfiction.ws/read.php?storyid=1510242
Thanks:
Many thanks to Rez for beta-ing the last several chapters.
And thank you to all the folks who gave this odd story a chance and so nicely encouraged me in the reviews. I write to entertain myself but it's awfully cool to know that other people have enjoyed this as well.
* * * *