Somnolence
By: Lomeinie

Rating: PG
Spoilers: Season 3's "Breaking Point" and "Conscious"

Summary: What happened in the night between "Breaking Point" and the morning of "Conscious"? Here's what I think could have happened – Missing scene

Disclaimers: I don't own "Alias" as it belongs to J.J. Abrams, Bad Robot Productions, and ABC. I have made no money off of this and I expect not to be sued for it.

/
som·no·lence is defined as
A state of drowsiness; sleepiness.

/
The helicopter ride lasted for just a few miles as it was designed only to get them all away from the facility as quickly as possible. But in case of the unlikely events someone had regained consciousness in time to raise the alarm, the ride only lasted for a few miles away from the facility and then the helicopter landed long enough to deposited everyone in it onto a field where a pre-placed car was waiting to take them back to Los Angeles, with their drive being kept as short as possible by having their destination be an empty warehouse located just on the outskirts of the city.

Sydney had crashed hard in the car as her body came down from the adrenaline high she had been on since Lindsey's people had thrown her into the cell at Camp Williams. She had quickly resettled beside Jack in the car when they switched to it from the helicopter, and within minutes of laying her head on her father's shoulder she was fast asleep again. When they arrived at their destination, Jack was the one to gently wake her up while everyone else disembarked from the car. When she first opened her eyes, Sydney seemed disoriented and startled but then she quickly remembered that the arms wrapped around her belonged to her father. She was safe, and Lindsey no longer had her, her father had made sure of that.

With his arm still wrapped around her, Jack and Sydney entered the warehouse last, and once they were inside Jack helped Sydney over to the last empty makeshift bed. Sydney sat down heavily on the bed grateful to be able to rest again as she looked around at the rest of the team who had saved her from Lindsey. While she had been surprised to see Sloane in on this at first she was even more surprised to see Lauren had been involved in her rescue. What in the world had changed to make the woman want to help rescue her?

But that was a question Sydney was too tired to ask as she watched Vaughn seated on one of the other beds with Lauren deep in conversation with her, tending to the mark on her face left by an unknown assailant. Sloane was up helping her father open and search through some wooden crates that were stacked throughout the room. She watched them all silently, stifling a yawn before she decided she didn't want to fight the sleep her body so desperately needed anymore. She was about to lay back when her stomach growled loudly causing her to wake up just a little bit as she looked around to see if anyone had had heard it.

No one appeared to have heard it besides her but that didn't stop her father appearing before her a few seconds later with a sealed packet in his hands. Sydney took one look at the offering and she grimaced in disgust, "Combat rations?" She clearly saw the U.S. military markings on the foil before she took it from him and ripped it open.

"I'm sorry but it's all we have since we can't risk leaving here tonight," Jack said apologetically, "And you should try to eat something before you sleep."

Sydney nodded, "Thanks." She took the fork he offered her and opened the pack further to discover her dinner was to be Salisbury steak, which wasn't half bad surprisingly.

"Combat rations certainly aren't my first choice for dinner," she heard Sloane comment, "But the military has worked on making these considerably more palatable then some of the field rations we've tried to keep down before in the past, haven't they Jack?" Sydney watched her father, waiting for a response from him but he only ignored Sloane's attempt to make conversation. No one spoke for the rest of the meal and before she laid down, Sydney had taken a few sips of water that was once again provided by the combat rations.

Everyone settled in for the night as they all knew they needed a few hours of sleep before they began to deal with the framing of the Covenant for Sydney's rescue from Camp Williams. There was a slight problem though because while it went without saying Sydney would get one of the cots placed in the room, there were only three other beds left for four other people. Since Sloane had been shot some hours before with a bullet meant for Jack, he had been given one of the beds (on the far end away from Sydney much to her relief) which left two of the cots empty. After a very short discussion of who should get them, Lauren settled onto the cot beside Sydney's which left Vaughn and her father to debate who would get the last open bed.

The debate was a short one as Jack made the statement someone needed to stay awake to keep watch, which he himself volunteered to do. Vaughn only argued the point with Jack for a few minutes before he settled on the cot between Lauren and Sloane. Jack moved a chair closer to Sydney's bed, and began to look at some papers. Within minutes of each of their heads hitting their pillows, everyone else was asleep, everyone save Sydney. Sydney had closed her eyes but she couldn't sleep with her father still awake. She knew he had to be just as tired as the rest of them but he had volunteered to keep watch but from what she wasn't sure.

Sydney kept her eyes closed until she could hear snoring coming from Sloane's end of the room, which was annoying at best. When she opened her eyes she saw that her father was slumped in the chair he sat in, his neck bent in an uncomfortable angle, his eyes closed. The papers he had been holding had fallen from his hands onto the floor. Shaking her head Sydney sat up with a whisper of, "Dad!"

Jack's eyes snapped open and he looked at her, "Sydney, is something wrong?"

Sydney shook her head and moved over on the bed, "You're tired too." She gestured at the empty space beside her and Jack started to protest, "Dad, we're safe for the night. There's no need for you to stay up when you're tired too. Besides we're all going to need to be well rested if we're to outsmart Lindsey."

Sydney was surprised when her father nodding in agreement and stood up from the chair before he sat down on the bed beside her. The cot was just wide enough for them to lay down side by side, and after she removed the prison uniform shirt preferring to sleep in the tank top beneath, Sydney settled down beside Jack.

"Goodnight, Dad," she whispered.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," Jack replied, half asleep already.

Sydney laid there a second before she wrapped her hand into his and kissed his cheek, "Thank you."

The End

/
Author's Note: Yes I am still working on AFTER LIFE and CODA -- I have not abandoned either but I decided to write this one with the hopes it would help my creative juices flow again to where I could work on those other 2 stories.