Disclaimer: Alias is not mine.

A/N: It's been awhile. If you remember what's going on in the story, skip past the italics.

Previously on Where You Gone When You're Gone:

Sark's POV
"I'm tracking your location right now." I responded, forgetting all about the library, the man who sponsored charities, non-profit organizations and small businesses, and those pills that Sydney insisted on taking.

Chapter 11- Help from Santa

"Between birth and death lies desire, Desire for life, for love, for everything good. And this is the source of all suffering." -- Outcast Consensus 17, Why Existence? From Andromeda episode #116, The Sum of its Parts

---Vanessa's POV---
Do this, I encouraged myself mentally. Do this for him.

"Here's everything I know about war: somebody wins, somebody loses, and nothing is ever the same again." I recited a line from Andromeda silently. "And it's time for somebody to lose."

I hit the speed dial number and awaited a response.

"Do you know what the hell is going on? Where are you?" Isaac yelled at me.

"Don't yell at me." I retorted, barely able to keep my voice from breaking.

"Where are you?" He repeated in a softer tone.

"That doesn't matter." I slowed my speed as I reached a red light. "What does matter is that I can tell you where Sydney is going."

---Sark's POV---
I didn't stop the car, I merely slowed it down as I watched Sydney hobble towards me. I sped off again while she nursed her left arm.

"Look what you're doing to my seats." I snapped at her.

Wrong thing to say.

I noticed immediately her expression and tried to backtrack it before getting interrupted.

"Well I'm sorry Sark if my 2 bullet wounds are bleeding out and destroying your upholstery. What the hell was I thinking?" She barked.

I wanted to take back what I had said but decided against it after hearing her comeback. I opted, instead, to remain silent as I pulled on to the interstate.

"Sark," She groaned about half an hour later.

"Yeah?"

"I don't feel too good. I need my pills." she complained.

"What are they… magical pills or something. You seem to think that they cure every illness that you have." I commented.

I did not miss the fact that she failed to reply to this comment.

One glance in the rearview mirror told me that they weren't following us.

"So, tell me abut this Daniel Hefferman guy." I spoke to Sydney.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, stealing a glance at me.

"What did he do? I mean, he wasn't the healthiest guy in the world." I commented.

It took her awhile to respond. "I don't remember."

"You and your memory." I whispered softly.

"I remember some of it!" she snapped at me before continuing in a softer voice. "Just not everything. What I do remember is of no concern to you."

"I'm investigating this for your mother." I half-lied. "Isn't her concern rightly placed?"

"Not in this it isn't. Oh, get off at this exit."

"What?"

"Just get off."

I pulled off, cutting off a few cars in the process.

Sydney directed me towards a storage where she hobbled over to a room and unlocked it before heading inside.

Watching her close and lock the door I waited in suspense.

---Sydney's POV---

"What are we doing?" he asked me.

"You are waiting, and I am going to bandage this up."

It took me a few minutes to pull out a bullets and clean my arm and leg. I changed into a simple tan colored short-sleeved Gadzooks shirt and some jean shorts complete with tan flip flops.

"What's with the outfit?" He asked.

"We're going on a little field trip. Oh and, I got you one too."

I made sure to get quite a distance away from Sark before he found out what he was going to be wearing.

---Vanessa's POV---
Sounds emitting from the horn's of other cars awoke me. I wiped the tears from my eyes and hoped that my embarrassment from crying myself to sleep would soon go away.

"Yeah real mature there asshole." I muttered as a guy passed me while giving me the bird.

I took a breath and raised up the volume as I sped up and left all the other cars at was now the second red light at that intersection.

"I need your arms to hold me now, the nights are so unkind." I sang sadly as I reached for my phone once again. "Bring back those nights when I held you beside me."

So many times, so many night I had shielded my heart from the fact that he only came whenever someone else had pushed him away. He came when he had no where else to vent an emotion. I was how he stayed emotionless.

"Uncry these tears… I cried so many nights. Unbreak my hearrrt."

What could I say? He had made it very clear what this was. How could I be mad at him for sticking to his word. He was after all, a man of his word.

"Time is so unkind and life is so cruel without you here beside me."

"Hello?" He greeted me.

"One thing. I'm going to tell you one thing and then I never wanna hear from you again." I struggled to keep my voice at a normal octave. "The pills. Sydney and the pills."

I ended the conversation before he could respond and flung my phone into the passenger seat.

---Sark's POV---
I stole a glance at Sydney as we pulled away from a gas station. I noticed a bottle beside her.

Had she taken those pills again? What did Vanessa mean by Sydney and the pills?

I was going to ask her about the pills when she informed me that we had reached out destination.

I could not believe what I was seeing. It seemed as surreal as the clothes I was wearing- baggy jeans and a wife beater. Sure, it wasn't like anything in any of the Fast and the Furious movies, but it was interesting. They didn't need to worry about the cops around here because they were on their payroll. 6 cars "raced" at a time. The drivers would be accompanied by a passenger. During the race they would transmit messages to one another and hold their meeting. If they ran out of time then someone would simply shout "best 2 out of 3!" and then they would repeat this all over again. 'The crowd' was simply a bunch of agents who worked for the head honchos who drove the cars. They were there to back up there boss if the time called for it.

"Whose your friend?" A guy called after Sydney after a race. He was in baggy jeans and a loose fitting black t-shirt. However, since the guy had muscles like a WWE champ, the shirt didn't hide much. He must have been 6' 3''. The buzz cut look on his head finished off his appearance, making him appear to be someone who might have no trouble at least qualifying for the Marines.

"Sark. But you knew that already, didn't you?" She replied coolly.

"I'd be dead if I didn't know the players in this game. Anyone would."

"And this," Sydney turned to introduce the man, "is Sebastian."

My facial expression revealed that I already knew who this man was.

"Now that the necessities are over with, let's talk business."

Sydney led us to a restaurant nearby. It's walls were plain and white while the actual room was filled with overstuffed booths and black and white tiled floors.

"Hi, we'll have 3 shrimp fried rice, please." Sydney ordered.

I watched as Sebastian grinned.

"Um, we'll have 2 shrimp fried rice and 1 Rosemary chicken with oven roasted potatoes and chef vegetables." I spoke up, eyeing Sydney as I did. I did her silently to challenge me.

She congratulated me with her eyes before crossing her legs slowly and informing the waiter of what we wanted to drink.

"I'll have any red wine, he'll have a Corona, and he," she glanced at me coyly, "will have anything you can concoct back there with fiber. The more the better."

The waiter glanced at me.

"Sweetie," I rubbed Sydney's hand softly, "no need to be shy. The waiter doesn't really care if its really for you. It's okay."

"Can I see your list of your-" I started before Sydney flashed me a look.

"I'll have a… Corona as well."

To be an actor you have to look and act the part, I reminded myself.

"So, what are we talking about?" Sebastian questioned once the waiter had left.

"Sark's induction." She responded.

"Into what?" Sebastian questioned.

"What do you think?"

"I think you're out of your fucking mind." he snapped.

"And I think someone is forgetting all about our deal." Sydney sighed and popped another pill as soon as the waiter brought her wine.

"You shouldn't be taking those pills with alcohol. In fact, you shouldn't be taking them at all." he pointed out.

She scoffed.

"Is this why its taking so goddamn long?" He demanded to know. One of his muscles seemed to randomly twitch.

"No. Now get the fuck out of my face." She whispered angrily.

"Let's go." I demanded.. I pulled Sydney out of her seat and dragged her out of the restaurant.

I didn't speak until I had gotten a good 25 minutes away.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I demanded.

"What do you mean?" she responded faintly.

"I'm not obtuse. So stop acting like I am. What's going on? Who was Daniel Hefferman? Why do you take those pills, really? What the hell is going on?"

A/N: Comments? Questions… they make me update faster.