Title: Only You

Author: Sarandipity

Rating: PG-13ish

Relationship: Sark/Sydney

Summary: When Sydney is recruited to SD-6 she has to work within Credit Dauphine before she can start to train as an agent. What if she was put as a secretary for one of the most powerful senior agents at SD-6? What if it was no other than Mr. Sark?

A/N: This story came to me years ago and now that I have some spare time I've come to write it. I might not continue with the story if it isn't taken well. But one thing is sure, I'M BACK!

Might Sydney never spend another holiday with her father would be one of her most favorite presents of all. Her father flew her out from Los Angeles to New York to spend New Years Eve with him. He spent most of his time traveling for his company so he flew her out and now that she's out of school it's easier to spend the holidays with him. He's was lucky she had a reliable job, if he asked her a year ago while she was a waitress Sydney probably would have been working not only New Years Eve but Christmas as well. Sydney looked back and realize she shouldn't have gone to New York. She didn't know what to expect going to New York than bitter cold and room service.

Jack Bristow put her in a suite above his in the Hilton. It was a nice and quiet room and from her window she could see the Empire State Building. Before her father was let out of his meeting she found a little shop in the lobby and bought some stationary. Sydney bought a postcard of Times Square and wrote a small, chicken scratch message to Francie while she was in Paris being an au pair:

Dear Francie,

I'm in New York for the weekend, spending time with my Dad. I saw the skaters in the R.C. and found a cute snow globe with the statue of liberty just for you. I hope your doing wonderful in Paris and the little monsters aren't a handful.

Love, Sydney

Sydney sent the postcard out with a special new york stamp and hoped she would get it before coming home. She returned to her room to get ready for the dinner with her father. He had reservations at the Tavern on the Green. She was excited and hopeful they could spend a whole evening without an argument, which did not happen. Sydney shouldn't have expected it to.

Sydney began to get ready and made sure she would wear one of her mother's pieces of jewelry. Sydney found the beautiful hairpin to decorate her hair. It was a medium sized pin made out of crystals in a style of a bouquet of flowers. It was one of Sydney's favorite pieces because it was one of her mother's favorites as well. She had so many pictures of her mother wearing the pin, and each one of them which had her father in it, he was smiling adoringly, either at the camera or at her mother. Sydney had a false hope that he might get a smile out of her father if she wore the pin.

Her father came late and lost the reservation. He didn't even apologize, which is a quite horrible way to start the evening and for Sydney who has never been to New York. He decided just to catch a meal in the lobby's restaurant, which Sydney could of already told anyone that it was not an approving ambiance for her father.

"The china is quite large. I wonder what the potions will entail." He squinted his eyes and rearranged his placemat, moving his wineglass to the other side of his plate.

"I'm looking forward to the chinese salad," Sydney crossed her legs and brought up the menu a little more in her lap. "yummy."

He rolled his eyes from her childish excitement. "You're already too thin enough, Sydney. You should have the duck or the quail. What about the stake?"

Sydney's stomach threw a home-run when he mentioned the stake.

"I'm still a little jet-legged, dad. The stake sounds horrible to me."

"I told you not to take a tranquilizer on the plane." Jack reprimanded.

"I didn't take a tranquilizer." Sydney stressed.

"Then you shouldn't of have the free champagne. I put you in First, hoping you would get some sleep and instead you disregard my advice and now you can't have a nice dinner in New York."

Sydney wanted to run for a taxi and fly back home or perhaps to Francie and dance on top of the Eiffel Tower like they should have.

The waiter came and Sydney ordered her salad like she wanted, plus a glass of vodka. Alcohol would be her best friend then to replace Francie and Will while she was in a strange new place with almost a complete stranger. Sydney hated to think her father was a complete stranger, but as he came late did he even didn't even disclose the reason for his tardiness. Sydney was left alone to her own conclusions, like an alien abduction? She sighed as she hit planet earth and decided that it was more like a overworked meeting.

"Vodka? Are you insane?" Jack whispered over his plate as Sydney acquired the proper identification for the waiter.

Sydney just ignored him. "So, what do you think about the struggle of the post-war Serbia and the continuation of racial discrimination presently?"

"You are irresponsible enough, to have hard liquor in you is..."

"Oh, Dad it's just a glass of Smirnoff, I'm of age and don't you think I drank even more than that at UCLA? Come on. Francie was very popular around the frat parties." Sydney reached for a bread stick and placed it on her plate.

Jack leaned back defeated but still upset. As Sydney reaches over the table for the basket of bread, her sleeve rising up her arm and exposing a long narrow scar.

"Where's that from?" Jack inquired. Sydney paused and then looked at the scar and smiled nervously.

"Oh, I got that from the car accident years ago. Don't you remember?" Actually, Jack did remember it. Sydney totaled her graduation present while changing the radio station. The accident was entirely her fault as she drove into a telephone pole and almost knocked almost half of the power of the neighborhood. She passed out from a concussion and had a few scrapes and bruises but the car ended up in worse shape than the telephone pole or his daughter. But Jack certainly did not remember such a scar from her accident.

"How is school, Sydney?"

Sydney looked up from buttering her bread. "You...you didn't get my email in October?"

Jack eyes narrowed. "What email, Sydney?"

"I sent you an email." The waiter brought back their drinks and Sydney took the vodka almost to hide behind. "...and you didn't get it, okay. I thought you didn't call me back because you were angry. Wow...this is going to be a good night." She whispered to herself as Jack was straining to hear.

"Sydney..."

"I didn't apply for graduate school."

"What!" Sydney took a gulp from her glass as she tried to grab onto any gracefulness and poise she had left before her father ruined her in public with his rage. "You didn't apply for post-graduate studies?"

"I have a new job Dad. A great job at Credit Dauphine. I have my own house and a beautiful new car. I'm a secretary for one of the most important people in Credit Dauphine and soon I'll be put in advance placement where I'll get my own secretary. Oh, dad, it's such a great job and the guy I work for is so nice and considerate, he even gave me 200,000 flyer miles on my credit card. I'm getting ahead in the world and I'm going to make it."

Jack took the napkin from his lap and placed it on his plate. "I'm very disappointed in you Sydney. I..." Jack interrupted himself and moved uncomfortably in his chair as Sydney finished off her glass of vodka. "You think this job is going to secure you, Sydney. You need to go to graduate school nowadays. Is it the money, Sydney? I'll help you if you need it."

"No, Dad. It's not the money, it's because I love my job and I'm good at it."

"I expected more from you Sydney. More than this."

Sydney jaw dropped and her eyes lowered to her empty plate. Was she such a disappointment? Was she so terrible? What did she ever done wrong? Before she had the courage to speak up, Sydney cellphone rang. She sighed as she answered it. She wasn't sure if she was happy that she answered it or perhaps frustrated because she knew it was Melissa from the office.

"Hello? Melissa, calm down please." "Your not interrupting me, no, nothing important." "Please Melissa, breathe." "What is going on?" "What you mean the report is gone, I sent it up to you before I left." "What do you mean that the mail room lost it!" "What! No, no, everything is going to be alright." "Why can't you call Kenneth?" "He'll make sure that he'll get all the supplies he needs." "He's home?" "Well get him on the phone." "Do it now, Melissa." "No, Melissa I'm not upset at you...everything is going to be okay."

Sydney shut her cellphone and looked at her father. "Look, Dad. I'm going to have to go back to my LA and get everything sorted."

"You work for a bank Sydney, you can take an hour to spend with you father."

Sydney stood up and collected her bag. "But you never showed me the same courtesy," Sydney looked back to see Jack eyes glaze over. Sydney couldn't tell if his face showed concern, perhaps loss, or possibly some regret. Sydney wished she didn't because all she wanted to do was slap that look off of his face and speak his emotion in words. But she also knew that was the vodka talking.

Sydney stole someone else's cab, almost a cultural crime in New York City and asked for JFK. Sydney got the first flight out of there, making two stops on the way in Chicago and Phenix. By seven a.m. Sydney was back in warm, smoggy LA and searched for a cab to take her straight to Credit Dauphine. Sydney got there as people were coming to work on a normal schedule while Sydney's was completely behind. Jet-lagged, cranky, tired, and possibly had a hangover, Sydney walked into the main active agent's level and went to where Melissa was searching over her desk.

"Melissa, did you go home at all during the night?" Sydney asked concerned.

"No, I was afraid I would find it and you wouldn't have to leave New York. You say you never see your father."

Sydney rubbed her eyes. "Believe me, you probably saved me more than interrupted me." She whispered, she looked around and saw the mess of papers behalf of the search. "So, Kenneth is on vacation with his family. Where's Eliza?"

"Cabo," Melissa asked.

"Why is she in Cabo?" Sydney asked annoyed.

"Sorority trip?"

"Who in the right mind recruits a-soon-to-be-agent from a sorority?" Sydney shook her head, "I don't want to know...urgh."

"And Sloane? He hasn't approached you yet?" Sydney asked.

"He hasn't come in yet."

Sydney nodded her head. "This is good, we could get this done before he comes in and picks through his mail. Okay, get Vuruka on the phone."

"The Russian?" Melissa asked as she made a disgusted face. "The one who brought in the duck blood soup to potluck?"

"She's Armenian." Sydney corrected.

"But she doesn't speak english...and that's a polish dish..." Melissa sidetracked, she picked up the phone and called armory. They got Vuruka to send up the carbon copies of the orders and faxed it through the secure server. Sydney pulled the numbers off her secure network and began to write them down for armory's approval. Sydney got it all done and ran down to where Kenneth's station use to be and gave it to his temp, he soon approved it, stamped and signed it. An hour later Sydney ran up from armory and handed it to Mr. Sloane himself.

"You came all the way from New York to hand me this yourself?" Sloane wondered.

"Just dinner with my father, nothing I couldn't leave." Sydney smiled as he saw it approved by arms.

"You show much commitment to your job Sydney, it will pay off soon." He commented.

"Thank you sir, it's a pleasure."

Sydney went back to Melissa, sitting behind her desk and biting her nonexistent nails. "So?"

"Everything is fine."

Melissa sighed and stood up and left the mess to Sydney. Sydney took the chair and leaned her throbbing head back as she used her feet to moving the revolving chair back and forth in a soothing motion. "You're never temp-ing for me again, Melissa."

"I wouldn't bother." Melissa smiled and promised her a very nice late christmas present. Sydney told her it wasn't necessary but Melissa insisted.

Sydney ran her fingers through her hair and as she did she brushed her hairpin right out of her hair, oblivious that it dropped on the floor. She began to pile the paperwork up and shifting it in order. She put it in her bottom drawer and put her photography frames back up on their stand on the corner of her desk. All Sydney thought about was going home and sleeping but she knew she had to stay and put on a full day, it would show Sloane her persistence and dedication.

She looked at her clock and realized she had to start getting things in order before the nine o'clocks began to roll in. She ordered the same coffee and breakfast item that she bought every morning and began to get things set up on the schedule database.

He came in, never a minute early and never a minute late and when Sydney saw him come round her desk her hangover shortly disappeared and a smile appeared on her face.

"Good morning, Mr. Lazerey."

"You know Sydney, you can call me Julian."

"I can, but I won't." Sydney took a sip from her coffee cup and handed his messages to him as he exchanged it for his blackberry.

"You will, one day."

Sydney scoffed it. "You wish."

As he walked into his office, Sydney couldn't help but crack a small smile. Yep, she loved her job. It was all worth it.