Title: Need & Want

Summary: Sydney is forced to swallow her pride and rely on Sark.

Spoilers: S2, Pre Phase One

Disclaimer: Alias isn't mine, if it was I'd be one rich teenager.

Rating: PG-13

A/N1: This story is gregorwarrick's fault for suggesting I climb an embankment and for teasing me about an Alias character, the rest is all made up. Thankfully.

A/N2: I wrote this a few months ago and only got around to publishing it. It's been a long time since I published something using this penname but I plan to update regularly again.

The mission was supposed to be simple. Go to Brazil, exchange information with the contact that had information for Sloane, then go back and let Vaughn debrief her. Then Sark was assigned with her, as if that didn't make things bad enough the contact had to get paranoid on them and hide the file with the information in the middle of a Brazilian rain forest.

So there she was hanging from a cliff in the middle of nowhere with her safety harness snapped and lying over sixty feet below on the dirt floor - a place she did not wish to end up on. She clung to the face by small vines that grew over it. Her foot slipped and she shouted out in brash panic.

Sark, who was already safely up, ten feet or so above her, on the solid ground looked over the edge to where she clung for dear life. "Sydney?" He called down. "Are you alright?" She refused to ask for his help and shouted back that she was fine and she'd just be a minute.

Sark wasn't fooled though. He noticed the harness on the ground below and he knew she was in trouble. "Stay there. I'm coming down!" He secured his harness back on and began to go down again, but Sydney objected.

"I don't need your damn help, Sark."

He paused at the top and sat on the edge, that was where he lived his life, surviving one day at a time, pushing his luck and people like Sydney to the limit. "Fine." He answered. "I'll leave you to it."

That was what Sydney wanted. For Sark to leave her alone, or for him to take a nose dive over the edge, but she'd settle for just not needing to lower herself to ask for his aid. She climbed up to the next vine, but it was loose and came away. With her grip gone she slid down at least another few feet and finally caught a jutting rock to stop her.

Sark was now ready to climb down and rescue her, but he knew she would still resist and she could hold on a little longer, so he waited for her to be pushed to her limit before helping.

Sydney risked a glance at her stomach. It was covered in dust and dirt, but thankfully only had one or two scratches on. Her arm on the other hand was a different matter. It ached as gravity tried to devour her and pull her down to certain death below. She could hold on much longer, but she was determined that no matter what she would die with dignity and pride. She wouldn't ask for Sark's help.

She pushed up with her feet to try and get to the next strong looking vine, but her shoe lace caught on a jagged rock and was pulled off as she pulled up towards the vine. "Damn it." She muttered. The rock face was plagued with sharp stones and jutting rocks. Her foot would be cut to pieces before she even got half way up. Then the vine began to feel loose, so she switched to another one, only to find that one loose too. The whole area around her was loose, she remembered Sark mentioning something a few minutes ago, but had paid little attention to him. Now she was stuck and had to switch from vine to vine as the previous ones began to give way.

Sark grinned when she wasn't looking. Sydney Bristow was well and truly at her limit. Superior agent she may have been, but she had no chance at reaching the top without him and that would mean bending her morals and principles, wounding her pride and there was nothing Sark liked better than to bend her and push her morals to her oh so human limit.

"Sark." Her voice barley travelled to where he sat, but he could still hear her well enough to grin at his victory. "I'm stuck."

"And?" He asked, his tone sounding bored and uninterested. She swallowed hard and felt her pride fall to the ground and die below her.

"I need you to help me." She practically growled.

"Pardon? I didn't quite hear that."

"Help me you cocky son of a…"

"Now, now, Sydney. Is that any way to speak to me? After all I'm the only thing between you and an untimely death." She couldn't bite back what little pride she had left.

"And I always thought you'd be the reason for my untimely death." She retorted. "Guess I was mistaken. When you and Sloane have a lovers tiff and he wants you dead it'll be a job I will willingly volunteer for."

She knew she should just back down, but she couldn't and Sark knew it. She sighed and knew he could easily let her die and tell Sloane it was an accident, he could even bend the truth to pass a lie detector easily and she may have been Sloane's Goddaughter, but lately Sark had been like the son he'd never had. And when it boiled down to it who would Sloane trust? His surrogate daughter, or son?

She cringed at the thought of having Sloane as a father and Sark as a brother. Her family might have been screwed up, but that family would bring a whole new dimension to dysfunctional. She felt her grip begin to waver and a fresh stab of pain in her shoulder blade brought her back to her situation. "Sark!" She shouted louder. " I need you help."

He was still sitting on the edge with his harness over his desert combat pants and white shirt. It would take him only an instant to help her, but he deliberately held back. "And I should do that because?"

"Because you're my partner!" She shouted, desperately trying to convince him to help her. "You always said we should work together, now we are and you're going to let me fall to my death?" She tried to sound innocent and trusting, but he wasn't fooled.

"I believe you must have me confused with agent Dixon, who actually gives a damn about his partner and the whole patriotic crap." He argued. "However, you are right, it would be a shame to lose an invaluable asset like yourself just because of your pride." Since when was she an invaluable asset to him? She would never be an asset to him; she loathed her only chance of survival as much as she loathed Sloane and very few people earned that much hate from her. Even Kendall wasn't hated by her that much. "What would I gain from saving you?" He continued.

As her left arm gave way and she clung by only one arm she shouted her panicked response. "The satisfaction that I'd owe my life to you." Just feed his ego a little and he might help her. He laughed cruelly and shook his head.

"Let me rephrase that. What would you do for me?" His words sent shivers down her exhausted body and only the adrenaline that flew through her body allowed her to force out.

"W-what do y-you mean?" She'd stumbled twice and Sark knew that it was from a mixture of shock and fear. Shock at his words and fear of what his twisted mind wanted from her.

"First I'll save you, then you find out."

"I'm won't agree to something that I haven't been informed about." She argued, but it was useless, if she didn't agree soon she'd be joining her harness on the ground below. This, Sark, also knew.

"You don't have much choice I'm afraid Sydney. Now do we have a deal?" He secured his harness and drops a little over the edge to wait for her agreement.

"Yes." She mumbled, barely audible to Sark. "Anything you want."

He grinned at his accomplishment. He'd broken his greatest enemy and mad her beg for his help. "I believe your friend Will is quite well, if you go back on our agreement he won't be, do you understand?" She nodded. "Do you understand?"

"Yes."

He climbed down and she wrapped her arms around him as they climbed up. She could feel the heat of his body through his shirt and she hated being this close to him, this dependant. He helped her over the edge and she sprawled out onto the precious ground. She was safe, she was alive…she was in debt to Sark.

He stood over her and took in the sight of her. She was sweating from exhaustion and loose strands of hair hung from her ponytail. When she saw Sark's gaze taking in every part of her body she scrambled to her feet. What had she done? She'd promised Sark she'd do anything if he saved her! She looked over the edge again and bit her lower lip. Would it have been better if she'd just dropped and never promised her archenemy to do what he wanted?

He smiled slyly as he advanced towards her. "It's very simple Sydney. You needed help and in return I wanted something."

"What do you want?" She asked bluntly showing no sign of weakness or fear. He smiled innocently as he replied. "A simple thank you."

She had never expected him to request that. She'd expected his warped mind to come up with something to make her loathe him more. "Thank you…" Just as the words were out his lips covered hers and then just as quickly as it occurred Sark pulled away.

"That wasn't hard now was it?" He smirked as he went ahead, no longer distracted from his mission.

Sydney was vaguely aware that she was following him and although her mind was screaming for her to shout at him or hurt him in some way she couldn't will herself to do it. She remained quiet until they got to the airport after their mission was complete and they were about to go to board separate planes.

He smirked as he glanced at her and she glared at him. "You've been surprisingly quiet Miss Bristow. I think perhaps I should kiss you more often. It makes you so much more pleasant to work with."

"I hate you." She growled.

"Then why did you kiss me back?"

He left her as she turned bright red and rushed off to get on her flight and as far away from Sark as possible.

When she arrived back at SD-6 she walked straight into a grinning Sark. He watched as she turned bright red and lowered her gaze to the floor. "The debriefing should be fun." He muttered in her ear before heading to his office.

Fin.