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Chapter Thirteen
Out of the woods, metaphorically speaking
Wherein Jack resolves to talk with Sydney and Sydney spills the beans (of the non-magical variety)
When Jack woke up the next morning he didn’t immediately rise as per his usual morning routine. Today he’d have to have that talk with Sydney he’d been putting off. With the audacity of the blonde to haul his daughter off plus the faint but still discernable sounds from last night he’d grimly decided he needed to talk to his daughter and determine how entangled she’d become with the blonde.
They ate a quick breakfast and he sourly noted that his daughter and Sark weren’t even pretending not to be together anymore. They were smiling at each other and constantly, casually touching each other or whispering into the others ear. Marshall’s eyes looked like he was having a fit, flittering from Sydney and Sark to Jack and nowhere in between.
As they were preparing to leave the cabin Sydney resolved to talk to her dad about her and Julian and the fact that they were going to live on this side of the mirror, together. He was looking particularly grim this morning, Julian’s audacity from last night no doubt on his mind. Striking out Julian took the lead, checking his compass as he went. Marshall followed behind yammering to him something about increasing the structurally integrity of gingerbread houses. She walked next to her father, thinking on how best to broach the subject.
“We need to talk.”
Her father, always one to get right to the point. She took a deep breath and fiddled with her ring, “I’ll go first, I believe what I have to say will cover everything you want to talk about.”
She peeked a glance at him before continuing; he looked stoic and was patiently waiting for her to continue.
“Julian and I are planning on staying here, on this side of the mirror. He’s going to go back to convert his nest egg into gold and gems so we have something to live off of. We’re going to disappear from our world; it’s the best way to avoid the craziness of Rambaldi and Sloane.” That hadn’t been so hard. She nervously waited for her father to say something.
“I see. And what were you going to tell the Agency? Or were you just planning on disappearing without a trace? What about Francie, Will?” his voice was grim as he threw all his questions at her.
She faltered a little, feeling ashamed that she hadn’t even thought of what disappearing would do to her friends. She glanced up ahead at Julian and Marshall her mind quickly coming up with a solution, “I can go back, give the Agency my resignation; they shouldn’t be surprised when I disappear afterwards. Will knows about me now so I can tell him I’m getting out, disappearing. I’ll tell Francie that due to something I found out while working at the bank I’ll have to go into the Witness Protection Program.”
Her father made a skeptically face and she knew it was a bit tenuous, but telling Francie about what she really did for a living then telling her she was disappearing would be too much for her friend.
“I can still send them letters through you. I don’t think she wouldn’t have a hard time believing that I’d still be in touch with you despite being in Witness Protection. You can store the mirror someplace secure and come visit me through it or through the other mirror opening in Central Park. I’m sure they’ll be willing to set up some kind of visiting schedule for you.”
She waited for her father’s response. It was a good plan, she could even go back and visit her friends maybe even eventually tell Francie about the CIA and maybe even after that about the mirror. She could tell her father was struggling a bit and she knew it was because he was trying to give her idea serious thought and she loved him for it. She let him think things over as they walked along. Julian glanced back at them and she gave him a reassuring smile.
“I agree with the getting out of the Life and getting away from the pull of Rambaldi, Sloane and your mother. But why with Sark?”
She mentally sighed; he was going to go along with it for now, “Why with Julian? Because it was his idea, he asked me too.”
Her father digested that then, “You do need to give the Agency your resignation, it will be less of a hassle when you disappear. You can take the time to really think everything else through.”
She rolled her eyes at her dad’s unwillingness to accept that she and Julian were together now. She liked the sound of that, smiling as she negotiated over a fallen log she absently told her dad, “Well I can’t take too much time or they’ll notice I’m pregnant and that’ll bring up some questions I’m sure.”
She’d gone several steps before realizing her dad wasn’t beside her anymore. Guilty she turned back; she hadn’t meant to tell him like that.
Narrowing his eyes he negotiated the log and joined her again, glaring at Julian’s back.
“You’re not going to take this out on Julian are you? He wasn’t exactly planning on the whole children aspect.”
Her dad fixed his eyes on her, “He doesn’t want you to have the child?”
“No, no, no!” she quickly corrected him. “He wasn’t planning on it, but he’s fine with it, well he will be. It was a bit of surprise to him when I told him last night.”
Her father seemed to digest her words and they walked silently on.
Eventually he sighed, begrudgingly saying, “I suppose I’ll have the time after you hand in your resignation to get used to the idea of you and, Julian.”
The fact that he’d used Julian first name meant a lot to her and she happily hugged him, “Thanks Dad!”
Looking for Julian she grinned happily at him and he smiled slightly back. Then she noticed he and Marshall were standing by a faded sign. Marshall was reading the other side as she and her dad joined them. She squinted at the faded letters.
‘You are now leaving the 2nd Kingdom.’
Walking around to the other side she joined Marshall and read that side.
‘You are now leaving the 4th Kingdom.’
She smiled cheerfully, “We made it.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Julian drolly pointed out.
She glanced at the trees around them and laughed.
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