A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews! Over 200, yay! I'm glad to see I haven't lost my readers because of my space in updates! But I think I'm doing much better now, though a warning ahead of time, after thanksgiving break I'll have a pretty full two weeks of schoolwork and writing will probably be at the bottom of my priorities. But until then, I'll do my best to keep updating!

This section is mainly filler/fluff, but I liked it and it's leading up to something more. I'm excited because it's only a couple more chapters until I send her back to real time, without her memories!

As always, please continue to read, enjoy, and review! Also, any suggestions or requests welcome!


"I know…" Sydney sighed into the phone. "I'm sorry…"

"But I was expecting you! I had the entire night planned out!" Sark complained.

"I'm sorry, but I have to work…" She apologized uselessly.

"Can't you just tell your people that you already had plans?"

"Oh? What sort of plans? A date with you?" She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that would go over well."

He let out a long sigh. "I miss you."

"Sark, I'm flattered." She smiled to herself. "But it's only been a few hours."

"I know. But I really wanted to see you tonight. Last night was simply so incredible, I want to spent every moment with you…"

"You're doing it again." She warned him.

"The sappy thing, you mean?"

"Yes, that's it exactly." She laughed slightly. "I'm sorry I can't see you tonight. I promise we'll reschedule for as soon as possible."

"Tomorrow?" He questioned.

"Maybe. I'll give you a call."

"Fine." He sighed again. "Have a good night."

"You too." She paused. "Don't be mad at me."

"I'm not." He assured her. "Just disappointed."

"I don't know which is worse."

"Well, I'll do my best to survive without you." He informed her. "But I will absolutely be thinking about you."

"Good to know. I'll be thinking of you too."

"Really?" He sounded both relieved and surprised.

"Of course." She grinned. "I'd much rather be with you than working tonight. You have to know that."

"Well, I had hoped it, but I'm never sure of anything with you."

"Well, let me put it simply for you then, if it were up to me I'd be with you right now."

"That's good to hear." His voice sounded almost giddy. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She clicked off the phone and returned it to the deep pocket of her pea coat.

"Who was that?"

She spun around, alarmed to find that she wasn't as alone as she had thought. "Nobody." She knew the answer was ridiculous, particularly for her situation, but she couldn't think fast enough to cover.

"Nobody?" Kendall moved further into the room, his arms folded across his chest, just slightly pulling at the seams of his suit jacket. "Agent Bristow, do I need to remind you that in our profession you do not have the luxury of secrets?"

"It was a friend." She replied quickly. "Really, nothing of importance."

"A friend?" He repeated, raising his eyebrow a little. "A friend of Sydney Bristow or Julia Thorne?"

She clenched her teeth together, knowing that she had been caught. "What do you want me to say, Director Kendall? It was Julian Sark. We were partners for months, and you know that it is necessary for partners to develop a friendship."

"A friendship, certainly, between partners. But you two are not partners any more, and I'm not sure that it is wise for you to remain in a friendship with him." The way Kendall exaggerated the word, Sydney had a feeling that he assumed they had become much more than just friends. She hated how well spies were trained to read into situations, particularly the private ones.

She ignored him and walked past him out of the room. "I don't have time to discuss this with you right now. I have work to do. That is why you required me to give up my night, isn't it?"

"Agent Bristow, your life revolves around finding a way to escape from the Covenant, what other plans could you have had tonight?" Kendall asked her pointedly, following her into the next room.

Instead of answering she only walked faster until she reached the door to the room where Andrian Lazarey stayed while under the guard and protection of the CIA. She knocked briefly before entering.

"Mr. Lazarey, I hear you have some good news for me." She greeted him with a smile and her flawless English accent.

He smiled up at her and motioned for her to sit on the small couch. "Yes, I believe I have made a discovery." His Russian accent was thick and Sydney found herself thinking about the differences between Sark and his father. "Do you have the time at this moment to work with me?"

"Mr. Lazarey, I am fully devoted to finding the box with you. I have all the time in the world." She sat. "Please, do tell!" She leaned forward eagerly as he spread out his research on the coffee table; she tried to tell her mind to stop drifting back to Sark.

…………

"Sydney, this is the third time in a row you have canceled on me!" Sark sighed loudly. "I am starting wonder whether or not you ever meant to make any thing out of us…"

"Sark, you don't really think that." Sydney told him. "You know me better than that?"

"Do I?"

"Sark, now you're just being stubborn. I've been staying at your place almost every night for two weeks, except for the couple of times I've had to cancel." She clenched the phone between her shoulder and ear and started braiding her hair. "I'm sorry I couldn't come last night…"

"Or the night before that…" He reminded her.

"I've been busy!" She ignored him. "Kendall has been keeping me very busy."

"What could be so important?"

"I'm sorry, but I really can't talk about this with you." She told him. "Look, I promise that I'll see you tomorrow. How about you pick me up for breakfast?"

"Why not tonight? I had dinner all planned out!"

"Sark, I don't know when I'll be done. Let's just plan on tomorrow." She decided.

"I'll wait for you tonight, even if it's late…"

"You're not going to give up are you?" She finished her makeup and took hold of the phone again. "I'll call you."

"Good enough." Sark gave in finally. "I'll wait for your call."

…………

"Has it really been a whole month?" Sydney mused as she cuddled against Sark's chest as they lay together in his bed.

He ran his fingers through her blonde hair slowly. "Time has passed quickly. Of course, once we managed to get past your putting me off every night."

"It wasn't every night." She reminded him.

He sighed. "But I have accepted your responsibilities and I recognize that I can't always be the first priority in your life."

"I think I've managed to make you a pretty big priority." She told him.

"Yes, you have. You've definitely been better lately."

"Well, work has been slower lately and I've been able to make my own schedule more or less."

"Good." His hand movement stopped and she looked up at him questioningly. "Though Sydney, I am worried about you."

She smiled carelessly. "Why?"

He secured his arms around her. "The Covenant is becoming impatient. They have been searching for Rambaldi's cube for months, first using both of us and now just me, but there has been hardly any results. Of course, this is because of all the times we intentionally sent them in the wrong direction. I'm afraid they are going to suspect something and find you unnecessary."

Sydney sighed. "You think they'll get rid of me."

"Don't put it so gently, Sydney." He corrected her. "I think they'll kill you."

She placed her hand on his bare chest calmingly. "I appreciate that you're so concerned about me."

"Of course I'm concerned!" He exclaimed. "I love you!"

She sat up instantly to look at him better. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that please?"

He sighed. "I love you."

She settled back down beside him. "That's what I thought you said."

He frowned. "Is that your only response?"

"Well, I'm sorry, what did you expect? You're nothing more than a good time for me." She tried desperately to keep a straight face, but she could feel his muscles tightening beneath her.

"Well, I appreciate your candor…" He started pulling away from her, but she latched her arms around his waist and held tightly.

"Don't be a baby!" She protested. He tried prying her off of himself but she started planting kisses across his chest and up his neck to keep him in place. "You're supposed to be good at reading people." She reminded him.

"I don't think anyone could read you, Agent Bristow." He gave up trying to free himself, slowly melting into her increasing kisses.

She smiled up at him mischievously and shifted herself so that she was straddling him. "You might be a little bit more than just a good time…"

"Oh?" He left his hands at his sides, not giving into her coyness. "In what way?"

She placed her hands on his chest and started sliding her palms up toward his shoulders. "Well, you're kind of cute." She leaned down and kissed his nose. "And you're kind of smart." She kissed his forehead. "And you're kind of handy with a gun, which is definitely convenient when I'm in trouble." She kissed his chest. "And you kind of smell good." She kissed his neck.

By this time he was grinning widely and his eyes had started to shut in lazy contentment. "Are you ever going to make a point?"

She smiled and silenced him with a long, deep kiss.

"I'm sorry, what was I saying?" Sark asked with a grin as she pulled away.

"I don't know. Something about loving me."

He nodded. "Oh that's right." He rolled over, flipping her onto her back. "I love you, and you were trying to convince me that you didn't love me…"

"Oh? Is that what I was doing?" She circled her arms around his neck and pulled him down close. "I thought I was proving quite the opposite."

They began to kiss again but were interrupted by the obnoxious beeping of the alarm clock on the table beside the bed.

"Damn." Sark sighed, dropping onto his back beside her.

She cuddled up against him, setting her hand on chest. "Just when things were getting good." She kissed his shoulder and started to sit up. He took hold of her wrist, holding her on the bed. "Responsibility is calling, Sark."

He frowned. "I have an idea. How about we ignore responsibility for today and spend every second of the day doing only exactly as we please!"

She glanced at the clock and then at Sark whose brilliant blue eyes were pleading with her shamelessly. "I should go…I have stuff to do…"

He shook his head. "Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow, I'm sure."

She considered her duties momentarily and then weighed them against the appeal of spending the entire day with Sark. She smiled and he knew she was giving in. She allowed him to pull her back beside him in bed.

"Now, what should we do today? Anything you want!"

"Anything I want?" She smiled at the thought.

"He nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Absolutely." He kissed her forehead. "Except for dinner. That I already have planned. And don't even think about asking, because it's a surprise"

"Well then we should start with breakfast." She decided. "Let's make it together."

He nodded, accepting the idea, and slipped out of bed. "Pancakes or waffles?" He questioned as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants.

She slowly followed his example in getting out of bed and pulling on one of his white button-up dress shirts. "Pancakes. And bacon."

"And orange juice." He added.

"And coffee." She finished buttoning up the shirt and they moved downstairs to the kitchen.

Sark stared the bacon while Sydney started mixing the batter for the pancakes. They didn't talk much, but their eyes and smiles expressed their thoughts.

"You know, you have been staying over here basically every night for a month now." Sark stated.

"Yea, that's true." Sydney smiled. "Your point is?"

"Well, this is the first time we have prepared breakfast together." He explained. "Usually you allow me to make it for you."

She nodded. "I know. That's because you always wake up so abnormally early."

He shrugged. "I enjoy the sunrise."

"But I like this." She told him. "Working together like this, it feels good…"

"It does. It makes me feel closer to you somehow."

"Well, I've always thought cooking was a very sensual activity." She paused. "With the right person of course." She laughed. "Actually, it feels like we're married."

He looked at her suddenly. "Sydney?"

"Yea?" She continued cooking nonchalantly.

"Would you ever consider…I mean do you think you could ever consider…"

She shook her head, looking up at him seriously. "Please don't Sark. Not today. Don't spoil today."

He sighed. "So, you've never thought about it?"

"Of course I've thought about it." She answered quickly. "I think about it every time I fall asleep next to you. I think about our future and whether or not we could even have a future together…"

"And what do you come up with?"

"Nothing. I can't come up with a satisfying conclusion." She confessed. "It drives me crazy, not being able to figure out all the details, but I just to be able to enjoy what we have now for as long as we have it."

"Why then?" He asked softly. "If there's no hope for anything in our future together, why do you even bother building this up now?"

She looked at him firmly. "The same reason you do. I love you."

He nodded. "I suppose for now that will have to suffice." He smiled at her. "I do love you."

"I know." She crossed the kitchen t him and kissed him quickly. "So can today just be simple, no questions, no 'what ifs'…okay?"

He returned the kiss. "Perfectly simple. Just you and me and our perfect day."