The next few days went by rather quickly and as promised, Jack Bristow was able to obtain some of Michael Vaughn's DNA in his personal effects. He's had also found the safety deposit key in Vaughn's possessions along with a note, Paphiopedilum khan. Julian, Sydney and Jack headed to Vancouver, where they met Harry and Draco at the CIA safehouse just a few blocks from the bank. Taking out a vial from his robes, Draco added the hairs and took a sip. Within moments he was transformed into a living, breathing replica of Michael Vaughn. When he turned to face Sydney, she visibly flinched before she got her emotions under control, but not before Sark noticed her reaction. Walking over to where she was standing, Julian gave her a knowing look, which caused her to smirk and shake her head reprovingly. She could do her job, she had absolutely no guilt over taking Michael Vaughn's life.

When Draco got to the bank, the Manager recognizing Andre Micheaux, came over and spoke French, welcoming his friend to the bank and asking him what he needed. Draco in disguise, greeted the man and showed him the key. The Manager nodded and walked back to a corridor, Draco following closely. When they reached a separate vault, the man gestured to the retinal scan device. Draco smirked inwardly, being briefed by his fiancé about such technology ahead of time and placed his left eye level with the scan. Once verified, he was directed to place his thumb on another scanner, which he did. The Manager seemed pleased with the verification and went to move towards the vault before he stopped suddenly.

"J'aurai besoin du mot de passé avant que me puisse vous permittee dans la voute Monsieur Micheaux."

"Bien sur mom ami...orchidee."

The Manager smiled and led Draco into the vault where Draco took out the key and waited for the man to lead him to the appropriate box, which he did. The Manager then put his key in and Draco followed suit, then stood back to allow the man to turn the keys and take the box out of the wall, placing it on the table in the middle of the room.

"Je vais vous donner un moment de vie privee, Monsieur Micheaux."

"Je vous remercie." Draco nodded and waited for the man to leave before he opened the box and looked inside.

There was a smallish orb, about the size of his hand that had runic markings all over it. Draco took it out and placed it into an enchanted bag, much like Hermione's beaded bag. He'd noticed some papers in the box and decided to take those too, placing them with the orb. He closed the box and placed it back into the wall. Removing both keys, Draco pocketed his and took the other outside the vault and handed it over to the Manager, gave the man a curt nod and walked back up through the bank. Sydney and Julian were waiting for him in a garage around the corner and Harry was under his invisibility cloak somewhere in the bank.

When Draco stopped outside, he felt something brush up against him, and he smirked knowing that Harry was close by, completely invisible to all the Muggles walking by. Draco silently cast a 'notice-me-not' charm, to prevent unwanted eyes from following him into the parking structure. Once he'd found Sark and Bristow, he cancelled the charm smirking at the surprise registering on both operatives faces. They hadn't noticed him until he had cancelled the spell, and were even more surprised when Harry appeared from under his invisibility cloak.

"That's handy," smiled Sydney.

Harry just nodded while Draco rolled his eyes. Harry laughed at the look on Malfoy's face. "You'd think by now you'd be over it Malfoy." Harry teased, causing Draco to sneer while Sark and Sydney looked on with interest.

"I refuse to comment, Potter." Draco snarked, causing Harry to roll his eyes. "We should get back to the safehouse. We can debate the merits of gadgets later." Draco moved into his seat in the back of the car, while the other three looked on in amusement.

"Were you able to procure the item?" Sark drawled sarcastically.

Draco just rolled his eyes but didn't say anything, gesturing for the others to get into the vehicle. "This transformation isn't going to last forever, so unless we are leaving immediately, I'm going to have to find my own way back to the safehouse." Draco snarked at Sark, who just smirked back in amusement.

Sydney moved to the car, and Julian opened the door for her which caused Draco to raise his eyebrow questioningly. Seeing the look on Michael Vaughn's face, Sydney just scowled while Harry and Sark got into the car.

Once they'd returned to the safehouse, Sark was surprised to see Mia there waiting with Jack, they were talking quietly to each other. Jack seemed particularly impressed with Mia, which Sark thought amusing. Apparently Sydney didn't, if the frown on her face was any indication. When Draco finally morphed back into his own body, he moved over to Mia and enveloped her into his arms and whispered something in her ear which caused her to blush brightly. Sark couldn't help but feel like an intruder, watching how comfortable they were with each other.

Sydney was also watching the blonde wizard with Julian's former lover. It was clear that the couple was very much in love with each other, and it gave Sydney pause to think that it wasn't so long ago that Julian was sleeping with the woman across from her. Sydney might have felt jealous as she looked over at Julian, but he just looked perplexed, like he was trying to put together pieces of a puzzle and the solution was eluding him. Sydney turned around, and walked into the kitchen to get something to drink, so she didn't see Julian's eyes follow her as she left the room.

A few minutes later Sydney felt strong arms envelope her from behind, and she smiled softly to herself as Julian whispered into her ear. "You don't have anything to be concerned about Sydney. I hope you know that."

Sydney just nodded and whispered softly. "I know Julian, it's just strange when I think about how different everything was just a couple months ago. You were with Hermione, I was..." Sydney's voice fell off, not sure she wanted to think about the last few months.

"You were with Agent Vaughn. Perhaps not formally, but I'm sure the emotions were there."

Sydney sighed and shrugged. "Actually, things with Vaughn were strained. He had begun dating Alice again, a former girlfriend whom he had broken up with previously. Our dynamic was complicated. But it wasn't him I was thinking of."

"No? Then what has you reminiscing in such melancholy?"

"I thought you knew already, but I suppose it wasn't exactly common knowledge. My father tried to keep the entire thing under wraps. I guess he did a better job than I thought."

Confused, Sark turned Sydney around in his arms and gave her a questioning look. "I'm not sure what you are talking about Sydney."

"You were familiar with the Snowman, correct?"

Sark nodded. "He was a known assassin for K-directorate. I had heard rumors that he had been killed in a mission, but those reports were never confirmed."

"Yes, I killed him." Sydney looked up at Sark, who looked a bit surprised by the revelation.

"And how did that come about?" Sark wondered.

"I was sent on a mission by SD-6 to Australia to find a man named Calder."

Sark's eyes widened at recognition of the alias. "Igor Valenko, Head of Khasinau's money laundering operation."

Sydney nodded. "A former SD operative had come in from a deep cover mission. He was debriefed and Sloane thought he was loyal, so I was assigned to work with him. I had worked with this operative before, but it was during a time when I'd just started out as an agent, and he was already Field qualified. We had a relationship, and fell in love...but he left for his assignment and I didn't see him again until he returned. He wanted to pick up where we left off, and gave me a plane ticket to join him in the South Pacific for a week, to see if we could start over. When he called me to finalize plans, I told him I couldn't go with him...because of my mother. He said he understood and we said our goodbyes, but when I went on the mission and found Calder dead, I also found the Snowman. We fought and he hesitated to kill me, I took the opening and stabbed him. When I took off the mask...it was Noah." Sydney wiped a tear from her cheek while Sark just held her, watching the emotions of sadness and guilt flittering across her face.

"Noah Hicks?" Sark asked. Sydney nodded, looking into Julian's face, but his expression gave nothing away. Sydney shouldn't have been surprised that Julian knew of Noah, he was a double agent for K-directorate, but she still flinched when Sark said his name.

"I did not know that Noah Hicks was the Snowman." Stated Julian, as he rubbed Sydney's arms soothingly. "I did know that you had a relationship of sorts with him years ago. When he came to work for K-directorate, I met him once in the field. This was years ago however. Were you tempted to start over with him?"

Sydney nodded. "Noah was my first love, and my first heartbreak. I'd thought it had something to do with Vaughn, my reason for turning him down, but then I realized it wasn't. It's ironic you know, based on our history that we ended up here. You are everything I thought you were and so much more besides. The last few days I've taken to going over every interaction we've had, and I can honestly say I'd never once considered you to be a double agent."

Sark just shrugged noncommittally. "Sydney, I've always felt you were a talented operative, but you wear your heart on your sleeve." At the heated glare being leveled at him, Sark just smirked. "It's not necessarily a bad thing, in that you've retained a level of innocence that belies what we do in our chosen profession. At your best, you are focused, precise and deadly and at your worst you are impetuous, unpredictable and temperamental. Somehow, it works to make you into one hell of an operative and an even more appealing woman. When Mia and I were together, I told her several times that I am not a good man, but I do try to be a man of my word. I don't have to sugarcoat my past, and I don't have to be circumspect about my baser proclivities." At the hint of a smile on Sydney's face, Julian's smirk deepened. "You have held my fascination for years, Sydney."

Sydney smiled brightly and cupped Julian's cheek with her hand, which he leaned into, never breaking eye contact. "I'm willing to see where this goes Julian and all I need from you is honesty. It's the hardest thing to offer in our business, but the one thing necessary to move forward. I don't expect you to change who you are. I'm very attracted to who you are, I'm pretty sure I always have been. You challenge me to be a better operative, and you make me feel things I didn't know were possible. I look forward to testing each other's limits." Sydney finished cheekily, which caused Julian to laugh.

"Oh, don't you worry Sydney. I definitely plan on testing you, thoroughly and often."

Sydney laughed, smacking Julian's chest and smiled widely at the blonde man before her. They were so caught up with each other they didn't notice the small, petite brunette standing there in the doorway watching the interaction with a look of fondness on her face. When a gentle "hmm-hmm" was heard, Sydney and Julian turned to see Hermione standing there, smiling kindly at them.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you both might be interested in joining us to get updated on some new developments."

Sydney nodded, and placed her hand on Julian's arm in support before she left the room, nodding at the other woman. The silence in the room was awkward at first before Hermione rolled her eyes in irritation. "Are we not going to speak to each other now? I'd like to think we parted on good terms, but perhaps I was mistaken?"

Julian gave Mia one of his patented condescending looks, which just caused the witch to glower angrily back at him. When she turned to leave, Julian moved over and gently grasped her arm to stop her. "You were not mistaken, my Mia. You will have to forgive me. I'm not sure how I should act around you."

"Well, normal would be appreciated. Look Julian, I'm happy for you. You and Sydney seem to have gotten over whatever obstacles were preventing you both from being together. I'd meant it when I said you deserve to be happy and I think with Sydney you can be. It seems as if she understands you in a way you never gave me the opportunity to. We spent the majority of the time we were together talking about my past or having sex. You shared very little with me, other than what I was able to ascertain on my own. You are going to have to learn to open up and trust at some point, because unless Sydney is willing to open her heart with no guarantees of reciprocation, she will eventually tire of the mind games you are so used to playing."

Sark looked at Mia in shock. He had never been spoken to in such a way, and he would have never tolerated someone doing so without retaliating. But he knew deep down, that his Mia cared for him and wanted the best for him. "Is this what being a...what did you call it once...swot is?"

Hermione looked taken aback momentarily until she heard someone chuckling behind her. Turning around she saw Draco standing there smirking at her knowingly. She huffed out in irritation and placed her hands on her hips. "I'll have you both know, that being an unmitigated prat does neither one of you any justice. It just makes me want to smack that arrogant aristocratic smirk off of both your faces!" With that, Hermione left the kitchen, causing both blondes to smile at her display of temper.

"I think I'm going to pay for that at some point." Sark stated, shaking his head affectionately.

"Granger can be a know-it-all, but I've found over the years she is usually right. Look, she cares about you which is something I'm not overly excited about, but Granger has a habit of taking in lost causes and underdogs." At Sark's look, Draco just shrugged. "She's logical to a fault, has the most generous heart of anyone I've ever known, and see's things others don't. Potter told me about your background, which I know Granger is aware of. Trust is a funny thing to give when you're not used to receiving it and when everyone around you has ulterior motives so you can't take anything at face value."

"Is that what life was like for you?" Sark inquired.

"Yes. My parents taught me that trusting anyone was tantamount to marrying outside my social class. That belief was ingrained into me, and perpetuated when I went to school. You may have not been raised as an aristocrat, but you are one whether you want it or not. Your father lives in St. Petersburg, and as far as I'm aware, you are his sole heir, the last of the Romanov line. Do you think that Sydney will not be upset if she were to learn of your secrets some other way, especially since you know all hers? And you do, don't you?"

Sark glared angrily at the blonde wizard, who looked at him as if he knew him. "What right do you have to sit in judgment of me?" Sneered Sark condescendingly.

Draco just smirked and shrugged. "I've been where you are, at a much younger age. But I had one thing you didn't, I had parents who loved me in their own twisted way. You have a good woman in there, who seems to be so much like Granger it's scary. Both are highly intelligent, strong, independent, kind-hearted, brave and fiercely loyal, not to mention beautiful. It is unfortunate that both your and Sydney's choices were predetermined for you, but you have the choice now to decide your own future, your own fate."

Julian looked at Draco with something akin to respect and smirked. "You are much more intelligent than you look."

Draco, smirked right back. "Smarter than you." And with that, Draco turned around and walked out of the room, relishing in the fact he got the last word in.