Chapter 7 -

"Joey's Pizza?" The question came through the phone, immediately freezing Sydney. That voice, those words, she never thought she'd hear either again.

With her normal, "Wrong number," she started to hang up the phone.

Quickly she heard a reply, "This isn't the Joey's Pizza by the pier?" Indicating a meeting point.

"Sorry, you have the wrong number," Sydney placed the phone back on its receiver. Clueless to what he wanted, she was almost tempted to call Benedict first. Instead she decided to just bring her CIA cell, just in case.

In the night's darkness, she walked the familiar pier. The same pier she remembered Vaughn all but voicing his feelings for her. She hadn't been back since. Really, she never felt the need to take the trip down memory lane.

Standing at the far end, she found Vaughn leaning against the railing. A feeling of endearment was felt at first sight of him followed by a smaller, but still outstanding presence of guilt. Although she had little time to think about him lately, he was still partially with her.

"Hi," he began, his eyes shifting nervously. Sydney smiled in return, while leaning against the rail next to him. "Sorry to call you out so late. I needed to talk to you."

Nervously she wrapped her hair behind her ear. "Talk? About what?" She had an idea about the topic, but didn't voice it.

"I feel that I've let you down," Vaughn started.

"Let me down? Michael I've always commended your abilities to the superiors…"

He shifted his stance, "No, as a friend. As professional as we keep everything, I still feel we formed that bond."

"A friend…" Sydney felt the need to be sarcastic. After all they've been through, everything she did for him, or he did for her above and beyond the normal call, made it more than a friendship for her. Sure she'd given up those feelings when she gave up her handler. Still there was no need to trivialize it.

"Sydney…"

Having had a rough time the past few days, mostly due to Sark and a lack of sleep, she found herself in no mood for this discussion. How dare Vaughn interrupt her night just because he needed to resolve his feelings of regret?

"Look," she began, her voice a bit harsh but direct, "I'm going to be completely honest with you. The first year I came to CIA, you were the finest handler an agent could imagine. Along with my feelings of admiration towards your abilities, and all the times you stuck your neck out for me with Kendall, I developed an adoration for you as a person." She watched as he stared at her in silence, "I thought you felt the same. You seemed to, at least, give me signs on more than one occasion, but it changed. Now that you're getting on with your life, I'm getting on with mine, and in order to do that, I can't have you around. It's just too uncomfortable." All the words she didn't want to say when she first made her plea to Devlin, just spilled from her.

Vaughn reached out to touch her arm, but she snapped it away. "Sydney, I developed feelings, too. I meant all that I said, all that I did."

"Are you still with Alice?" Sydney asked, even though she already knew the answer. He didn't respond, confirming it. "That's what I thought. You know what, Michael? I never expected you to break up with your girlfriend just because of me. Unless you're completely over that person, it can be most foolish reason to break another's heart. What I did expect was honesty, so that I could have wasted a lot less time." Sydney stepped away to walk off. "Please don't contact me again, unless it's through Benedict." The finality of the moment prevented her from glancing back to check his reaction.

The next morning found Sydney rejuvenated, empowered. As she was riding up the elevator, she realized the only obstacle today would be whether Sark decided to grace the SD-6 main floor with his presence. Knowing the rooms were fully monitored, it didn't worry her much.

When she reached her level, she proceeded to her desk, but not before noticing two things. First was her father. From the corner of the room, his eyes were fixed on her with a look she couldn't describe. Second, was the special security section, the security she was only aware of due to her father, that had made what must be an unexpected appearance to the main floor. She gathered this by watching her father carefully eye the members, as they left Sloane's office.

Sydney looked again at her father, who had completely discontinued eye contact with her. Finding this unnerving, Sydney felt an ache developing in her gut. Confirming her suspicions, Sloane made his way over to her desk. "Sydney, can I see you in my office for a minute?"

"Sure," she answered hesitantly, following him into his office. When she sat down, Sloane took his regular seat behind his desk.

"Being employed with SD-6 has its required sacrifices. Personal privacy is one that we may give a little leeway on, unless rules are blatantly broken. Also with Ariana Kane here to investigate, we've had to put more emphasis on the small things." Sydney watched as Sloane grabbed the remote to the screen in his office, turning on a portion of what seemed to be a surveillance tape.

With the immediate sight of the pier she visited last night, Sydney fought her immediate reaction to flee the room. No doubt security would reach her once she took one step out Sloane's office. She was stuck, trapped. Feeling most areas of her body on fire, sweating and her heart beating out of her chest, all she could do was watch the video of her meeting with Vaughn.

Though the footage was far away and the meeting is brief, something struck her as odd. If they had known the person she was meeting with, wouldn't she had been confronted this morning like the other times she had been labeled?

Curious, she watched Sloane as he watched the tape with her. "I want you to know Sydney, I do try to make the environment in office as pleasant as possible. My goal is for things to be healthy inside – well as healthy as it can be under our circumstances. But as you're well aware, not everything goes as planned." Now confused by the avenue of his conversation, she listened intently, still watching the brief encounter on tape, "I also want you to know I had a meeting with Sark this morning, and he ended up explaining everything."

Sark? What the fuck is he talking about?

The answer to her question came with an onscreen close up of the party she had been talking to on the pier. Shocked and rendered speechless, she watched as Sark's body seamlessly replaced Vaughn's on screen. Even his actions mirrored what she remembered transpiring last night. Momentarily she forgot about the sweatiness, her fluctuating heartbeat, even Sloane, and was consumed with questions, ones that needed immediate answers.

"Sydney, I hope if Mr. Sark asks to meet with you under the pretenses of business in the future, you'll clear it with me. Even though he's working with SD-6, there's only a certain amount of trust I would put in what he says," Sloane turned off the screen. "I'm sorry if Mr. Sark put you in an uncomfortable situation."

Doing her best to recover her missing voice, "No need to be. I'm glad SD-6 has my best interests in mind. I'll make sure to take your suggestion, if any future meetings are attempted." She stood to leave. "Thank you for showing your concern, Arvin." Overcome with her emotions, she walked through the main floor, beginning to feel dizzy and awfully nauseous – from the concern about what Sark now knew.