Hey here is something I started writing awhile ago. Hope you enjoy.

It is set early season 3. It is slightly AU basically because I'm not entirely sure of what happens in S3, due to many things but hey enough of that.

Disclaimer: I don't own nothing.

Thrown against the wall she fell into unconsciousness hitting her head hard on the wall and the ground. She was thrown onto the street with that shock, and the puddle, she started to come around. She pushed up onto hands and knees. People didn't give her a second glance as she did, it was normality in that area. She started to stumble along until she could go no further. She collapsed in a garden pulled herself under a bush and let sleep take her.

Sydney woke up the next morning early as she always did now. She got up quickly having no desire to stay where the dreams lurked. By 7:30 she was out the door about to go for a run when she saw a pair of feet sticking out of one of the bushes in the front garden. She frowned and walked over looking under the bush she was shocked, it was a young girl of no more than 16 out cold bruised and cut all over. As Sydney checked for a pulse the girl caught her hand and pushed her away attempting to get up and fight but her legs gave out. Sydney looked down at her.

"Hey it's ok I won't hurt you" she said helping the girl to her feet.

"That's what they all say" she said and broke from Sydney's grip and finding support on the fence instead "Thanks for not attacking me or something I owe you." She shook her head slightly and thought "You ever need anything from information to money ask for Little at the Jokers bar in town. They'll know how to find me"

"Where did you learn that?" asked Sydney

"Around" she said with no emotion and Sydney recognised the tiny flicker in her eyes as she said it.

"Come in" said Sydney "I'll get you cleaned up and then I'll let you go"

"No!" said the girl quickly. Sydney narrowed her eyes,

"Why?"

"Look it is nothing against you but I have to do something" she said and started to walk away from her before she turned back "Any another time I would have taken up on your offer but I they find that I've been helped they could kill you. I don't want another on my conscience. I'll see you around" she smiled before starting to walk again and she stumbled gripping the fence in support with one hand and the other went to her chest. Sydney ran up to her and led her back to the house. She didn't protest too much, she could hardly speak from coughing. Sydney laid her on the sofa and she quickly fell asleep. Sydney took it as a chance to look over her quickly. Noticing a small mark on her shoulder where her shirt had slipped down she leant down to see it more clearly. Her eyes widened as she saw and recognised the small mark.

"Who are you?" she asked to no one and went to get the phone. Her father picked up after two rings.

"Bristow" he said

"Hey Dad"

"Hello Sydney" he said and became slightly more human "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine" she thought for a moment "Dad can you come to my place I have something to show you?"

"Yes I'll be there in about five minutes"

"See you" said Sydney as Jack put the phone down. Sydney looked at the girl for a moment then felt her forehead, she wasn't really all that surprised to find she was running a temperature. She got a cold flannel and placed on the girl's forehead. She stood over the child and looked at her.

She was small and skinny but seemed strong from the muscles she could see on her arms. She had blonde hair and hazel eyes, the hair was long and messy. The general feel for was unkempt. The clothes she was wearing would have been good quality once, it was fairly ordinary for a teenager jeans and t-shirt as well as fingerless gloves. She looked as though she had had a hard life and the mark on her shoulder would have been why.

When Jack arrived she was just starting to regain consciousness. Sydney led him into the front room and showed him the mark. Jack's face instantly became hard. The girl opened her eyes suddenly then flinched back as she saw Jack standing over her. Her eyes widened in what looked like fear.

"You know me don't you" Jack loomed over the girl. She seemed to get a hold of herself and her face hardened

"I know of you" she said sitting up but as far away from him as possible.

"You're Covenant aren't you?" he said leaning down so she had to look into his eyes.

"Are you trying to bring it down?" she asked.

"Answer the question" said Jack.

"No you answer my question" she said standing up becoming angry "You can't scare me with your shit. I've been through what you can't imagine. If what they say about you is true then I want to help you" Jack looked hard at her and she stared right back taking on the Bristow glare. She was shaking very slightly. Sydney wasn't sure why it could have been her weak state, anger or fear. "Please" the girl whispered "You have no idea what they do to you"

"Dad" said Sydney walking up to stand next to Jack. At that word the girl went white.

"You?" she said and sat down "No"

"What?" said Jack and after a minute said "We are"

"I'm supposed to kill your daughter" she shook her head as Sydney looked at her "No I can't you helped me" She looked up at Sydney with her scared eyes "I can't do it but they'll kill me this time" She looked back to Jack "I don't want to be…. I can't tell you here"

"Ok" said Jack "You're coming in with us" She nodded.

"How old are you?" asked Sydney.

"14"

"Can you tell us your name?" said Jack.

"Little" Jack looked at her for a second then nodded.

"We'll need a pick up" said Sydney. Jack nodded and took out his mobile and walked away.

"I'm sorry" said Little.

"It isn't your fault"

"It is I…I wanted to take on this job" she said quietly "It was a chance to try and find someone who could take them down. The briefing told me what you have both done"

"Oh" she went to say more when Jack came back in at that moment and told them to get ready to go. He went telling Sydney to wait until the team came then go to work.

The team was there in under ten minutes to take Little out of the house. The two men who held her were doing so very tightly it made her wince, she managed not to show it very much but Sydney saw. She couldn't do anything. To the team that came to get Little she was a criminal and to be treated with extreme force if she tried to escape. Sydney was fairly sure she wouldn't though because of the fact she had told the girl not to annoy them and that she wanted to be somewhere safe.

Sydney got to headquarters half an hour later and she immediately went to find her father. He turned as she walked into his office and nodded to her.

"Little as she calls herself is being searched right now" Before she could make a comment there was a knock at the door and Vaughn walked in. He nodded at Jack and half smiled at Sydney in greeting. She nodded in response and he almost sighed then turned back to Jack.

"What's the development?" he asked.

"The development is down in the holding cells" said Jack "Let's go" and he walked out, the two younger agents following closely. Sydney was keeping some distance between the two of them. They walked down the stairs into an interviewing room. They saw Little in some new clothes and cleaned up. She was staring at the table top and didn't look up when as they walked in.

"You ok?" Sydney asked and Little looked up from the table and nodded.

"Alright, Little this is Agent Michael Vaughn he is also with us. You can trust him too if you want" said Jack and she nodded again.

"Could I have a piece of paper?" she asked looking right at Jack. He ripped one out of the folder he was carrying and gave her it and a pen. She wrote something down in tiny handwriting and pushed it towards Jack who put it in the folder and didn't comment.

"I will leave you two to question her I have to talk with Dixon" said Jack standing and as he was going to leave he leant down and whispered in Sydney's ear "Just keep talking to her until I get back don't try and get any real information ok?" she nodded and turned back to Little.

"What is your real name?" asked Vaughn.

"Danielle Killian"

"How old are you?" asked Sydney.

"16"

"Why are you here?" said Vaughn

"I'm visiting family in the city" Vaughn looked at Sydney who raised her eyebrows very slightly and looked into his eyes trying to make him understand.

In Jack's office he took out the piece of paper and read it quickly. He put the paper into his pocket and walked to Dixon's office everybody who saw him got out of his way quickly. All agents learned to be scared of that face on the older Bristow. When Jack arrived at Dixon's office he was talking to Lauren but he saw Jack's face he dismissed her and she saw it too and walked out quickly. He walked over and laid the note on Dixon's desk half covering it with his hand. Dixon looked at him for a second before reading it. He seemed to pale and he took a deep breath before continuing.

"Take her elsewhere and leave this to Syd and Vaughn" Jack nodded and walked away towards the interview room. They were still questioning Danielle as she called herself now. They saw Jack at the window and went to talk to him. Jack dropped the note into Sydney's pocket whilst telling her that there was no need to question Danielle further and that Dixon said they should take her out and show her the city because of the inconvenience. Vaughn was very confused but decided to play along as Sydney seemed to be doing.

They took Little out of headquarters through the basement and into Sydney's car. She wouldn't let Vaughn speak until they were away from the CIA.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Vaughn really confused now and getting frustrated.

"Calm down" said Sydney "What is your name?" she asked the girl looking at her in the rear view mirror.

"Zara Katherine Hardin Thompson" she said.

"How old are you?"

"14"

"Why are you here?"

She took a deep breath before saying with a perfectly straight face and in an emotionless voice "I'm here to kill you to get to your father" Vaughn looked shocked and instantly pulled his gun out and pointed at her. She raised her eyebrows "You really think I would even be here if I intended to carry this out and besides Sydney would probably already be dead"

"Who… no What are you?" asked Vaughn looking at this kid who talked about killing as if she did it all the time.

"I think she does Vaughn" he looked back at Sydney forgetting for a second she could read him easily "We'll both be explained to when we get to the pier."

"Ah not a good idea they know about the pier always have someone posted there in the day" said Zara from the back.

"Warehouse?" said Sydney and Zara shrugged.

"Park would probably be better though I know somewhere no one goes" she said and Sydney nodded. Vaughn hissed at her.

"Syd what are you doing? She could be leading us into a trap" she waved him into silence.

"Trust me" she said and looked at him for a moment before her eyes fixed on the road again. The pain in her eyes hurt him greatly.

"I do" he whispered. Zara in the back watched this exchange then shook her head and looked out of the window.

"Look Vaughn" she said "Reach into my pocket and read that note then burn it ok" He nodded and did as she said and both of them held their breath as he did so. His hand lingered in her pocket for a second then he drew his hand out slowly. He read the note on the scrap of paper and his eyes widened.

It read

They are here. I will tell you for safety.

It was in tiny neat writing. So small you had to squint to read it and he immediately knew why, so the cameras couldn't see it. After he showed it Sydney he took a box of matches out of his pocket and burnt the paper letting the ashes out of the window.

"Are you sure of that Zara?" Vaughn asked and she nodded.

"I was there when they were talking about it. I don't know who it is but I'll probably be able to recognise them. There would only have been so many that they would have sent."

"How were you there?"

"You'd be amazed at where I can get into and what I've heard. I was basically at best a pet for them but I'm really just an experiment."

Vaughn looked at Sydney as Zara was talking and noticed the very fixed expression she wore. She knew how the younger girl felt of course. He wanted to reach out, to hold her hand and tell her everything was alright but of course he couldn't. She would have flinched away anyway, she didn't trust him anymore with her feelings.

They pulled into the back of the park and all got out of the car. Zara walked in between the two adults and talked to them about things like school. They seemed confused at what she was doing for a minute then they talked back. They were joking and laughing as she led them into a far corner of the park. As they walked there were fewer and fewer people. Suddenly there was a great shout and a boy a little older than Zara came running over towards them.

"Megan!" he shouted and run straight to Zara and hugged her picking her up and spinning her around in the process.

"Hey…Mat" she said looking at the other two as he put her down. Sydney raised her eyebrows at her but she waved her off.

"What the hell are you doing here Meg?" said the boy "I thought you went back to England"

"I did I'm here for a visit" she said.

"Why didn't you look me up?" he asked

"Because if you remember in our last meeting I told you never to try and contact me again" she said looking hard at him "And I told you why" Vaughn stepped up behind the boy.

"Let go of her kid unless you want me to call the police" he said and that did it the boy let go of Zara and backed off quickly.

"I'm sorry" he said and stepped back again "I won't bother you again, you're happy with your folks I understand I hope you have a good life" As he started to walk away Zara called him back.

"Don't tell anyone you've seen me ok Mat" she looked him in the eye "I'm sorry" she said he nodded and then he held a hand up and walked away.

Sydney looked at Zara who had a blank expression on her face and as she felt the older woman looking at her she turned to look at her. You couldn't have read a definite emotion in the young girls eyes there was anger, sadness, guilt, pain and fear all rolled into one look. Zara turned and started to walk again the other two followed quickly and they reached the back of the park.

Zara told them to sit on a nearby bench and wait for a few minutes. She slipped through the slightly more wild part of the park scratching some of the trees on the way. She sighed as she reached her destination, a natural ring of trees. She quickly pulled herself up into the branches of the furthest from where she had entered. She seemed to disappear into the leaves and she closed her eyes listening for the others arrival.

About five minutes later she heard footsteps come towards her and she opened her eyes. Looking out through the branches she saw Sydney looking around for her below.

"Damn it" she said thinking Zara had run for it. Zara dropped out of her tree and Sydney pulled her gun out on instinct and trained it on the young girl who barely registered it.

"I wouldn't give you the slip" Sydney looked at her with a somewhat doubtful gaze "I just like climbing trees" she said as she pulled herself up into the branches of the tree again but stayed where Sydney could see her Zara half smiled. Sydney sighed and shook her head putting her gun away.

A few minutes later Vaughn stepped into the clearing. He stood watching the two of them, Sydney was leaning against a tree with her eyes closed and Zara, well Zara was just sitting on a branch swinging her legs and looking right at him.

He felt uncomfortable under her gaze, it was far too knowing for a teenager. He stepped forward and a twig snapped which caused Sydney to open her eyes and look at him briefly before standing straight and walking over to stand next to him. She turned to Zara who jumped off the branch and landed at their feet. She quickly sat down as did Sydney, Vaughn decided to stay standing so he could pace.

"Will you really tell us everything that you know?" asked Vaughn, starting to pace, the girl nodded. "How long have you been with them?" he asked.

"For about…six years" she said and Vaughn stumbled as he paced and Sydney stood up abruptly.

"They recruited you when you were 8?" she said disbelieving.

TBC

Hope you like. Constructive criticism appreciated. Thanks.