Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I own nothing as a matter of fact. I am making no profit off of this. I am just writing this for fun.

Chapter 2: A Little History

As Sydney took the first steps through the double doors leading to either salvation, or insanity she felt more uneasy and truly scared than she had before any mission. She was seeing people she knew to be dead and not only that but she was also sleepwalking around her home while wielding weaponry and stabbing random headboards. She couldn’t take this anymore. She told Vaughn that she had made an appointment with a psychiatrist and he was not at all surprised, in fact he was more relieved. He had noticed that something wasn’t right with Sydney for a while but it was when he noticed a large jagged slash in their headboard that he really started to worry.

“Oh hello Miss Bristow. But shouldn’t I be calling you Mrs. Vaughn?” said Dr. James from behind her desk as Sydney entered.

“I kept my maiden name. Sydney Vaughn? It just doesn’t fit.” Sydney replied as she slowly entered into the doctor’s office.

“Please take a seat.”

“Ok.” Sydney sat on the couch and began to drum her finger on the table in front of her nervously.

“So Miss Bristow,” said Dr. James coming over to take her seat opposite Sydney, “What seems to be the trouble? You seemed very anxious on the phone.”

“Oh were to start?”

“Well I should get a psychological profile of you first. Let’s start simple, just tell me about you family.”

Sydney laughed as she said, “I thought you said you wanted to start simple!”

“How about your mother and father?”

“You are really not making this any easier. Here let me see the file.” Sydney grabbed the file from the psychiatrist’s hands and removed all the pictures.

“Hey! What are you doing with my files?!”

“You want it simple here it is,” Sydney took a picture and placed it on the table between them, “Ok. This is my father, Jack Bristow. He was an agent for the CIA. He was one of the most cryptic and utterly creepy men I’ve ever known. I loved him though. He blew himself up while trying to keep an invincible lunatic trapped in a temple in a mountain in Italy,” Sydney put another picture on the table, “This is my mother, Irina Derevko.”

“Wait. You mother is Irina Derevko?”

“Not is, was. She’s dead too. Her being a Russian terrorist didn’t exactly make her great “soccer mom” material. I mean, I still have the scar from when she shot me.”

“She shot you?”

“Sure. Oh and before she died she was in the process of trying to strangle me.”

“So I’m guessing you had love issues with your mother?”

“Not really. She was always telling me she loved me, in fact, she was telling me she loved me while she was trying to kill me.”

“Wow.”

“Exactly. And that isn’t even the tip of the insanity,” Sydney put another picture on the table, “Alright, now this man is the most evil, insidious bastard in the history of the universe. Arvin Slone... He was behind the deaths of almost every person I’ve ever cared about. He killed my fiancée, one of my best friends, and then he got my other best friend shipped into protective custody. He also had an affair with my mother which produced this,” Sydney put the last picture on the table, “This is my sister Nadia.”

“Wouldn’t she be your half-sister?”

“No. We didn’t even know the other one existed until we were both adults, but she’s my sister. It’s kinda funny, when I first met her, if anyone ever called her my sister I always corrected them and reminded them that she’s my half-sister. She is...was my sister.”

“Was?”

“Well. She’s dead too.”

“How did she...?”

“Arvin Slone killed her.”

“Her father?”

“Yes. Do you want me to continue? Cause we could be here for a while.”

“No...um...I think...uh...I think I’ve got a handle on it.”

“I’m glad one of us does.”

Dr. James cleared her throat and said, “Well that’s enough personal history for now. Why don’t you just tell me what brought you here today?”

“Well...I think...I think I might be going insane but I wanted a professional opinion. I wanted to know whether to buy or rent a padded cell.”

“What’s making you say that?”

“I think that unless you're Haley Joel Osment, seeing dead people is a pretty classic sign that you are losing it.”

“You’re seeing dead people?” Dr. James said making a few quick notes in Sydney’s file.

“So far, I’ve seen two of them.”

“Which two?”

“My mother, and my sister.”

“Why do you think you’re seeing them?”

“How should I know,” said Sydney standing up, “ It’s not my job to think. That’s your job!!”

“Take it easy. Miss Bristow. Just calm down.”

“No!! No matter what I am seeing or not seeing, you will not treat me like some little child!! I don’t even know why I came here. I should have remembered...all shrinks are fifty times more insane than any of their patients. Just look at Freud. I’m done.” She almost ran out of the doctor’s office in a moment. After she was sure Sydney was gone Dr. James picked up her phone and dialed a number.

“Hello. Yes, she just left. She’s seen them already. Yes...both of them. Tell the others.”