A/N: So usually my account emails me with review alerts, but it hasn't been at all for my last update and so I was afraid that nobody was enjoying it because I hadn't heard anything, but then I decided to check the site and saw that people had been reviewing! So, yay! And thank you! Anyway, here's the update…it's not too exciting, well, important stuff happens…but I'm excited for the next one! I was almost going to end the story soon, but I've thought of a new twist and I think I might be expanding it. Or maybe I'll end it and then make a sequel. I'll see what sort of responses I get to the next update. So, in other words, please update and let me know what you think!
………
"Another phone call?"
"I'm sorry, am I calling too often?" Sydney instantly worried that he might become annoyed with her.
"Of course not!" Sark assured her quickly. "You could call me every hour and I wouldn't mind."
"Really?"
He was quiet briefly and she wondered if he had meant to say that much to her. "I enjoy talking with you Sydney. I look forward to your phone calls."
She smiled at his sincerity.
"But, for the sake of clarity, why are you calling me this morning? We talked yesterday, and you usually don't call so often."
Glancing at the clock, she noticed that it was getting late and her dad would be there soon to pick her up. She decided to get straight to the point. "How long did we work together? I mean before I lost my memories."
"Seven months and five days." Sark answered without having to think for a second. "And then the CIA invaded my flat in Rome and took me away. I didn't know what had happened to you until you came to visit me in my cell back in LA."
"That's a long time."
"Yea, it was." He sighed. "Why the sudden curiosity?"
"I've been having flashes."
"Flashes?"
"Memory flashes. Of us…"
"Of us?" His voice rose slightly in excitement.
"Yes, of us working together."
"Oh, of course." His voice returned to normal. "Well, we did work together."
"Yea…we did…" She considered his tone for a minute, but decided not to press for an explanation.
"Is that all you called for?"
"Yes." She answered slowly, wanting to keep him on the phone longer. She wanted more of her memories, more than a few flashes of the two of them typing on a computer or firing guns. "Did we jump off a balcony once?"
Sark laughed suddenly. "Yes, we did."
"I remember that." She smiled. "I think there were guns involved…did you get shot?"
"Yes, I did actually. It wasn't pleasant." He was still laughing at the memory of flying over the railing as they clung to each other desperately. "We were in Venice."
"Venice? Really? I don't remember that much." She shut her eyes trying to pull up more of the memory, but it was useless. "What were we doing in Venice?"
"Crashing a party." He informed her casually. "We needed information from a man named Zimmerman and he was hosting one of his annual parties at his home in Venice, and so we crashed, by posing as someone else."
"I see. I wish I could remember more."
"It was a very eventful evening." Sark hinted, wishing she would remember the kisses they shared that night. "After that night we spent the week in Scotland, lying low for a while. Perhaps one day you will remember it better."
"Perhaps." It wasn't the first time Sydney had thought of retrieving her memories one day. She just hadn't been able to figure out a plausible way yet.
"So, I don't mean to change the topic so abruptly, but I received a message this afternoon from Arvin Sloane." Sark stated suddenly.
"Sloane?" Sydney didn't care to hear that name. "What did he want?"
"He claims to have information for us, but refuses to see me alone." Sark explained. "He would like to speak with the two of us, in person."
"Oh?" Sydney panicked. So far she had been able to keep her pregnancy secret from Sark, since their conversations were always on the phone and never face to face. He hadn't seen her since her stomach had really started to bulge. She was past six months now. She knew hiding her stomach was now impossible. "Why?"
"I don't know, Sydney. He wouldn't tell me anything until he saw us in person. Both of us." He paused. "I asked him if I could come alone. I explained to him that it would be difficult for you to get to Zurich for the meeting."
"That's true. I don't know how I'd manage to sneak away from the CIA for a couple days."
"But Sloane refused to see me without you." Sark finished. "Do you think you could manage it somehow?"
Sydney thought again about her pregnancy and how much she wished she could hide it from him forever. "I don't know…I mean it's Sloane!"
"Strangely, you use to trust him, and even value his opinions and the information he could offer you." Sark gently reminded her.
"Yet another thing I can't remember…or understand." She sighed.
"Sydney, will you come to Zurich?" Sark questioned.
"I have to think about it." She replied. "I don't know if I'll be able to get away." She heard her doorbell and quickly jumped off the couch where she had been sitting.
"But you will try."
"Yes, I'll try…" Sydney peeked out the window and her dad smiled at her from the front step. "I have to go now!"
"Sydney, promise me."
"Promise you what?"
"Promise me that you will try to come." Sark clarified.
"It's hard to promise to try and see Sloane…" She smiled, slowly unlocking her front door.
"Don't promise for Arvin." Sark corrected her. "Promise for me. I would like to see you."
Sydney was caught off guard and for a moment couldn't reply. "I would like to see you too. I promise I will try, for you."
"Alright, then goodbye."
"Goodbye." She clicked off the phone and opened the door. "Hi dad!"
"Were you on the phone just now?" He asked immediately.
"Umm, yes I was." She smiled with practiced nonchalance. "It was the wrong number."
"Fine. Are you ready for work?"
"Yea, let me just get my jacket." She retrieved it from the living room and followed her dad out to his car. He had recently gotten into the habit of picking her up for work, when she was coming in late and Weiss was already gone. He hadn't told her directly, but she knew it was because he worried about her driving alone. "Dad, if I needed to take a few days off work, do you think that could be arranged?"
"Are you not feeling well?" Jack was instantly worried. "Should we discuss your maternity leave with Dixon?"
"No, of course not." Sydney protested quickly. "It's hardly time for me to take a maternity leave. Besides, I've told you before that I'm not leaving until we figure out everything about my missing years."
"You know we will do everything we can about that, but it may not work out exactly as you hope. When the baby comes, you're going to have to take a break." He paused. "Though, of course, since you have decided not to keep the baby, you won't have a very long break." He hesitated again and glanced at her sideways. "Unless, you change your mind."
"No." She sighed. "I'm not changing my mind."
"So why do you ask for time off?"
"There's just something I need to do. It's personal."
"Sydney, I believe the time could be arranged, but you know as well as I do that Dixon will not take the excuse 'it's personal'. You will have to give him a reason for your absence."
She nodded. "I know, I just need to think of one first." Jack didn't respond, but she knew he wasn't happy with her answer. "Dad, I don't mean to hide things from you, but there's just some stuff that I need to keep to myself for now."
"Sydney, if there's anything I can do to help you, you know I will."
"I know you would want to, but that doesn't mean you would." She replied. "If you didn't approve, you wouldn't help."
"Does that mean that what you are going to be doing is something I wouldn't approve of?"
"Maybe." She smiled. "I don't even know if I approve of it, but it has to be done." She hoped her tone would signal to her father that her mind was made up. "Trust me, I'm no looking forward to it."
"Sydney, you have to be careful…"
"Dad, I promise, I will be safe." Sydney told him. "That's the one thing I am sure of. I will be taken care of."
"How can you so certain? You're going to be alone, without any of us to take care of you…"
"I won't be alone."
"Sydney, where are you going?"
Luckily for Sydney they were just pulling into the parking lot. Before he had a chance to interrogate her further, Sydney was climbing out of the car and hurrying as fast as she could waddle into the office. Jack waited for a moment, frustrated, and then followed her into work.
…………
"I am glad you were able to work out the time off." Sark's cool voice spoke over the phone as he answered Sydney's call.
"Yea, it wasn't so hard." She hesitated. "I'll be landing in Zurich in about twenty minutes."
"And I'll be there to pick you up." Sark informed her. "We have a meeting with Sloane in one hour, so we should have just enough to stop for coffee if you wish."
Sydney sighed. She had been debating how to break the news to him throughout the whole flight, and she still hadn't decided if she wanted to warn him or just surprise him.
"Is something wrong, Sydney?"
"Damn. I hate how good you are at picking up on the tones of my voice." She gazed out the window, chewing on her lip nervously. "Sark, I've been keeping something from you…for a long time now."
"Oh?" He didn't sound too concerned.
"This is serious Sark." She wanted to make sure he understood her. "I've been lying to you for months, during all the phone calls, and even when I saw you in Patagonia."
"Sydney, you can tell me anything!" Sark assured her. "I thought we had agreed that you trusted me."
"I do trust you Sark, that's not why I have been lying to you." Sydney told him. "I've been afraid to tell you because of what you'd think of me."
"Sydney…"
"No, let me finish." She cut him off and the proceeded quickly. "Please don't judge me."
"Sydney, you're making me nervous."
"I'm pregnant." She spit it out abruptly. She waited for his reply and when it didn't come she spoke again. "I'm sorry. I probably should have told you earlier, but things were going so well between us, and I didn't want to give you a reason to hate me."
"Going so well?" Sark repeated slowly. "What does that mean exactly?"
"I…I don't know." Sydney realized that she had been saying whatever came into her mind without processing what she meant by it. "We've been getting along well, and we've been trusting each other…"
"And yet you've been lying to me…"
"I know." She wanted to cry, strangely hating what she knew he must be thinking about her. "And I'm sorry…"
"How long?"
"What?"
"How long have you been lying to me?"
"For as long as we've been working together."
He was quiet again briefly and then let out a small laugh. "Are you and Agent Vaughn having an affair?"
"What?"
"I just assume that it is his child. He is your true love, isn't he?"
"No!" Sydney snapped quickly and knew she would have to explain herself. "I haven't been interested in Vaughn for a long time."
"Really?" Sark's voice expressed a hint of unmistakable joy. "So then, there must be a new man in your life."
"Sark, there's nobody in my life."
"Then who's the father?"
"I'm seven months pregnant, Sark." She paused, letting the statement sink in. "This happened during the time that I can't remember."
"So you don't know who the father is."
"I have a pretty good idea."
"Oh?"
"Well, you know that I don't remember much of my past couple of years, though I do know some facts, such as the fact that I had a relationship with Simon Walker. I can't remember any of the details, but I do know that we were intimate, and I'm not happy about it, but we all have to pay for our consequences." She took a deep breath. "He's the only man that I have any assurance that I was with during those years, and I'd like to believe that I wasn't exactly living like a whore."
"You weren't." He told her quickly.
"That's comforting." Glancing out the window, she noticed that the plane was descending. "So, with what I know, I have to believe that Simon Walker is the father of my baby."
Sark didn't respond.
"Sark?"
"I need to go now Sydney. I'll see you in a little while."
"Sark, please don't judge me for this…"
"I'm not judging you Sydney. This news was unexpected. It will take me time to process. I just wish you would have told me earlier." He hung up the phone quickly, leaving her to consider his short temper.
Why does he care so much? She couldn't understand his response to her news. It's not like it involves him at all! This is my life, and beyond work, he doesn't need to be concerned about it. So why does it matter that I took so long to tell him?
