Chapter Four
I stayed on my knees long after I heard the guns click. Sark's eyes flashed dangerously at me, and I became worried, worried that my father and Vaughn just might become his next assassination targets. Well, Kendall, you got your wish. You got Sark, your way, as usual.
I saw him mutter something and saw his cell phone blink. He was probably calling out to Sloane.
Vaughn helped me up and squeezed my hand. I wanted to kiss him, but there was that whole little Sark- and my dad problem. I smiled as the team aimed their guns at Sark.
Suddenly, a burst of flames engulfed a building down the street. Sark must have gotten through, and the agents ducked as the wind blew, tossing flames to other buildings.
A black van came quickly and Sark jumped inside. That was the last I saw of him.
"You all right?" asked Vaughn as firefighters doused the flames.
"Yeah," I smiled, and he leaned down to kiss me.
"I almost had him, you know," I said with a small smile.
"Yeah, but aren't you glad we helped?"
"Yeah," I said, kissing him again. "I am."
***
The next night, Vaughn and I opted to go out.
"It's a surprise," he said, helping me into the car and blindfolding me.
"I don't think I can take any more surprises," I smiled.
"He stopped the car and helped me out.
"Okay, three stairs here," he guided me. I felt myself be led into an elevator and go up.
"Vaughn? What's happening?" I smiled as he kissed me.
"Shh, we're almost there."
He opened the door to a room. "We're here." He took off the blindfold. I smiled. I was in Vaughn's apartment.
I looked ahead of me and saw a table, set with candles and a tablecloth.
"Oh. . .my. . .God!" I couldn't help myself. I kissed Vaughn.
"What was that for?"
"I just felt like it."
"Well, don't thank me yet. Just wait until later."
He brought out the food as I sat down. Spaghetti. Easy, and yet romantic, very romantic.
"Spaghetti," I commented.
"Is it all right?"
"Of course. Everything's perfect." A perfect night, with Vaughn, and no thinking about Sark, or contact with Sark, for that matter. Oh wait, I just did. I thought about Sark.
We started to eat, and I just couldn't say anything. I couldn't do anything besides stare at him.
"What? Do I have something on my face?"
"No," I smiled. "You're perfect." This was probably our best date yet. He was so cute, and the fact that he had made dinner on his own was fantastic.
"It was fabulous," I said when we'd finished.
"It's not over yet," he ducked into the kitchen.
A few moments later, he returned with two sundaes, topped with heaps of whipped cream, fudge sauce and finally, a cherry.
"Here you go," he said, placing the sundae in front of me and giving me a quick kiss before sitting down across from me.
I put the first spoonful into my mouth, and after the whipped cream dissolved, I felt something hard in my mouth and I knew that it wasn't the pit of the cherry. I spit out the hard thing and saw what it was- a ring.
"I'm not proposing," he said, choosing his words carefully, "but I do want to continue seeing you, with the intention of marrying you someday. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not proposing- yet. I do want to give this ring to you," he said as he slipped it on my finger. "It was my grandmother's."
It was a small, very small diamond. I loved it. "It's beautiful," I said.
"It is," he agreed. "That's why I'm giving it to you. Syd, I love you."
"I love you too," I smiled.
He took away the empty dishes and I moved to the couch, sitting in front of the TV. This night was perfect, Vaughn and I, just the two of us.
"Hey," he sat down and put his arm around me. I scooted closer and he kissed my forehead.
"I love you," I said.
"I know," he smiled, using my usual phrase.
I closed my eyes and started to drift off. I felt Vaughn wrap his arms around me protectively and I leaned against him. God, how I love him, I thought as I drifted off into darkness.
***
I awoke when I heard Vaughn stir beside me and get up, covering me with a blanket. After I heard him go into the kitchen, I opened my eyes and wrapped myself in the blanket. I heard Vaughn's cell phone ring and he put it on speakerphone.
"Hello?"
"Agent Vaughn, have you seen Agent Bristow?"
"No, I haven't, why?"
"Her father called her house and Will said that she hadn't come home. Are you sure that you haven't seen her?"
I really need to call Will more often, give him an excuse to feed Kendall.
"Yeah, I'm sure.
"All right. I want you in here in an hour."
"All right. I'll be there." He hung up.
My cell phone went off next. "Hello?"
"Sydney, where are you?" It was my dad.
I desperately tried to come up with an answer.
"You're with Vaughn, aren't you?"
I stayed silent, trying to find an answer.
"Sydney, you are at Vaughn's, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"All right. I'll go by your house and pick you up some clean clothes. Do you want me to have Francie put something in a bag for you?"
"Yeah. Have her grab a skirt and a sweater out of the closet. Tell her to pack a hairbrush and a toothbrush for me too."
"Sydney, do I even want to know what you're doing at Vaughn's house?"
No, you really don't. I'm serious.
"He invited me over for dinner," I looked at my ring finger to make sure that it hadn't been a dream. "We fell asleep on the couch."
"We can talk about this later."
"What is there to talk about?" I asked, but he had already hung up.
"You awake?" Vaughn stuck his head back in the room.
I looked up and smiled. "Yeah. My dad called. He knows."
"Better him than Kendall. Come on. I've got a surprise."
Vaughn had made bacon and eggs.
"Oh my God," I said as I saw the table.
"When's your dad coming?"
"I'd say in a half hour."
"All right. Eat," he prodded me.
"There isn't anything hidden in the food?"
"He smiled. "No, I promise."
Just a half hour later, as my dad had said, he rang the doorbell. Vaughn answered it.
I hugged my father and he handed me the bag. I opened it and looked inside. My hairbrush and toothbrush were inside, along with a pair of black pants and the matching jacket. There was also a purple shirt and some hair stuff.
"You can go and use my shower if you want," Vaughn offered.
"Thanks," I said.
"How long are you going to take, Sydney?"
"Vaughn can drive me, like he does every day," I said, knowing where this was going.
"No, I'll take you. We need to talk anyway."
"It's fine, Syd. I'm going to get changed and go. I'll meet you there," he said, kissing me.
I shut the bathroom door and turned on the water. Stepping in, I let the warm water fall over my body as I thought.
Sure, we couldn't keep it a secret forever, but my dad guessed so easily. Was it that obvious to people, and would more people figure it out as time went on? And what would happen when and hopefully, just if Kendall found out?
I stepped out of the shower, dried off, and got dressed. I brushed my hair into a ponytail and smoothed out my jacket. I opened the door and slipped on my shoes. My father sat on the couch, staring at the wall. I silently followed him to the car and got in.
"What are you thinking?" he asked as he started the car. "Sydney, if you're found out. . ."
"I know, you don't have to go into details. We're being careful."
"Sydney," he stopped as he noticed the ring on my finger.
I looked down. "Dad," I started.
"You're engaged? Sydney! Have you lost your mind?"
"No, Dad, I'm not engaged. Vaughn wanted me to have this."
"Is it a diamond?" his voice softened.
"Yeah. It was his grandmother's."
"It looks like. . .like the ring that I gave your mother when I asked her to marry me," he said quietly, his voice still remaining soft. "Sydney, people are bound to find out," he said, regaining his usual tone. "What are you going to say about the ring?"
"That it was my mother's, just like you said."
Dad smiled. "Good answer."
"Dad, are you upset that Vaughn and I are together?"
"Not really. I trust Vaughn. How is he taking your mission with Sark?"
"All right, I guess." My dad's cell phone rang.
"Yeah?"
"Did you find her?" it was Kendall.
"Yes, I did. We're about two minutes away," he hung up.
"Kendall," I said dully.
"Yeah," he said as we pulled into the parking garage.
Vaughn met us at the door.
"Hey," he smiled at me. "Kendall needs us in debrief. Weiss, Marshall, and Dixon are already there."
I nodded and sat down in between Vaughn and Weiss.
"As all of you know, Irina Derevko is on the loose. She and Sark were recently thought to have been seen in Germany at a bank. They made a normal withdrawal, according to the server that we hacked, and left. We've tracked them to Italy. Jack Bristow has been given operational control. Agent Vaughn, Agent Weiss, and Agent Dixon will be going as well as a team of agents to track them from there."
Wait- where am I in all of this? It is my mother that we're going after.
"Kendall? Where do I come in?" I asked. "You can't possibly be leaving me in LA."
"Miss Bristow, I don't know if you remember, while you were out and about and unreachable, but you are currently on an assignment, your assignment being Mr. Sark. If you were to leave LA, and were seen by Mr. Sark, your cover would be blown."
"This is my mother that we are going after! I deserve to be there!"
"Miss Bristow, please sit."
I hadn't realized that I was standing, and I silently sat down.
"You will have radio contact with the mission. You will know what is going on, Miss Bristow."
I jumped as something vibrated in my pocket. It was my cell phone. I had set my phone to vibrate before we had entered the debrief.
"Hello?" I asked, exiting the room.
"Miss Bristow."
"Sark."
"I must say, your idea to have the CIA track you to the restaurant was fantastic. You almost had me," I heard the sarcasm in his voice.
"It was a brilliant idea, wasn't it?" I asked, just as sarcastic. "Too bad that I can't claim credit for it. Sark, I had not idea that they were following me."
"That's fine, since you seemed genuinely surprised, and you actually got down onto your knees. Had you known this was coming, you wouldn't have. I still want to meet you again, somewhere."
"Agent Bristow, get your ass back into this debrief room, now!" Kendall was.a little upset to say the least.
I put my hand over the phone and hissed, "It's Sark. He wants to arrange a meeting. I'll be back in a minute."
"All right. I'm back."
"Your.boss, would you call him? He doesn't appear very happy."
"He's just mad because I walked out of a meeting to take this call."
"All right. Meet me in Rome. Check into a hotel under Andrea Walsh and I'll find you. Be there in two days, all right?"
"Of course."
"Sydney?"
"Yes?"
"Did you ever think on my offer to join forces with me?"
"I did."
"And you considered it?"
"Yes, but I have to go. I'll be in Rome in two days." I hung up and went back into debrief.
"What did Sark say?"
"I'm meeting him in Italy in two days."
"What doesn't make sense though," said Vaughn thoughtfully, "is that even though we sent a team after you, without your knowledge and managed to corner Sark, he still wants to Sydney. Why?"
"That's a good point," said Marshall. "I mean.please tell me if I'm out of line here, but unless Sark is only interested in the Rambaldi manuscript, which Sydney hasn't exactly made clear to us, then why would Sark, who's killed countless people without even thinking about it, want to continue seeing Sydney?" He took a breath. Marshall always crammed everything into one big, long sentence. "And for that matter," he continued, "Sark might not be after the Rambaldi documents. His motive here might be to kill Sydney."
Kendall looked amazed. Usually, Marshall's rantings go on and on, without a point or purpose. This time, however, he had made a good point.
"Agent Bristow," he said finally, "mention the Rambaldi document to Sark. See what kind of a reaction you get."
"Kendall, Sark has asked me before to form a partnership with him, to work with him. He brought this up again when I was on the phone with him. He asked me if I'd considered it. I'm considering saying yes."
"If you do, Agent Bristow, you'll be on your own," said Kendall.
"We can't even inject a tracking device," said Weiss. "If Sark brings her to Sloane, which would be our main goal here, and she's checked, she'll be killed."
"Which is clearly why she'd be on her own, which would be why we'd try not to go to that. We don't need to lose one of our best agents."
"She's not joining Sark," said my father. "It's too dangerous."
"Don't I get a say in this?" I asked.
"No," said my father. "You can meet Sark, but I refuse to let you join him."
"It could lead us to Sloane. We could find him!"
"And how would you contact us?" he asked. I was so mad at him.
"I'd find a way. I will, I promise. I'm going. I'll call you from the hotel," I stood and left the room. I was on my way, whether they wanted me to be or not. I was on my way.
I stayed on my knees long after I heard the guns click. Sark's eyes flashed dangerously at me, and I became worried, worried that my father and Vaughn just might become his next assassination targets. Well, Kendall, you got your wish. You got Sark, your way, as usual.
I saw him mutter something and saw his cell phone blink. He was probably calling out to Sloane.
Vaughn helped me up and squeezed my hand. I wanted to kiss him, but there was that whole little Sark- and my dad problem. I smiled as the team aimed their guns at Sark.
Suddenly, a burst of flames engulfed a building down the street. Sark must have gotten through, and the agents ducked as the wind blew, tossing flames to other buildings.
A black van came quickly and Sark jumped inside. That was the last I saw of him.
"You all right?" asked Vaughn as firefighters doused the flames.
"Yeah," I smiled, and he leaned down to kiss me.
"I almost had him, you know," I said with a small smile.
"Yeah, but aren't you glad we helped?"
"Yeah," I said, kissing him again. "I am."
***
The next night, Vaughn and I opted to go out.
"It's a surprise," he said, helping me into the car and blindfolding me.
"I don't think I can take any more surprises," I smiled.
"He stopped the car and helped me out.
"Okay, three stairs here," he guided me. I felt myself be led into an elevator and go up.
"Vaughn? What's happening?" I smiled as he kissed me.
"Shh, we're almost there."
He opened the door to a room. "We're here." He took off the blindfold. I smiled. I was in Vaughn's apartment.
I looked ahead of me and saw a table, set with candles and a tablecloth.
"Oh. . .my. . .God!" I couldn't help myself. I kissed Vaughn.
"What was that for?"
"I just felt like it."
"Well, don't thank me yet. Just wait until later."
He brought out the food as I sat down. Spaghetti. Easy, and yet romantic, very romantic.
"Spaghetti," I commented.
"Is it all right?"
"Of course. Everything's perfect." A perfect night, with Vaughn, and no thinking about Sark, or contact with Sark, for that matter. Oh wait, I just did. I thought about Sark.
We started to eat, and I just couldn't say anything. I couldn't do anything besides stare at him.
"What? Do I have something on my face?"
"No," I smiled. "You're perfect." This was probably our best date yet. He was so cute, and the fact that he had made dinner on his own was fantastic.
"It was fabulous," I said when we'd finished.
"It's not over yet," he ducked into the kitchen.
A few moments later, he returned with two sundaes, topped with heaps of whipped cream, fudge sauce and finally, a cherry.
"Here you go," he said, placing the sundae in front of me and giving me a quick kiss before sitting down across from me.
I put the first spoonful into my mouth, and after the whipped cream dissolved, I felt something hard in my mouth and I knew that it wasn't the pit of the cherry. I spit out the hard thing and saw what it was- a ring.
"I'm not proposing," he said, choosing his words carefully, "but I do want to continue seeing you, with the intention of marrying you someday. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not proposing- yet. I do want to give this ring to you," he said as he slipped it on my finger. "It was my grandmother's."
It was a small, very small diamond. I loved it. "It's beautiful," I said.
"It is," he agreed. "That's why I'm giving it to you. Syd, I love you."
"I love you too," I smiled.
He took away the empty dishes and I moved to the couch, sitting in front of the TV. This night was perfect, Vaughn and I, just the two of us.
"Hey," he sat down and put his arm around me. I scooted closer and he kissed my forehead.
"I love you," I said.
"I know," he smiled, using my usual phrase.
I closed my eyes and started to drift off. I felt Vaughn wrap his arms around me protectively and I leaned against him. God, how I love him, I thought as I drifted off into darkness.
***
I awoke when I heard Vaughn stir beside me and get up, covering me with a blanket. After I heard him go into the kitchen, I opened my eyes and wrapped myself in the blanket. I heard Vaughn's cell phone ring and he put it on speakerphone.
"Hello?"
"Agent Vaughn, have you seen Agent Bristow?"
"No, I haven't, why?"
"Her father called her house and Will said that she hadn't come home. Are you sure that you haven't seen her?"
I really need to call Will more often, give him an excuse to feed Kendall.
"Yeah, I'm sure.
"All right. I want you in here in an hour."
"All right. I'll be there." He hung up.
My cell phone went off next. "Hello?"
"Sydney, where are you?" It was my dad.
I desperately tried to come up with an answer.
"You're with Vaughn, aren't you?"
I stayed silent, trying to find an answer.
"Sydney, you are at Vaughn's, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"All right. I'll go by your house and pick you up some clean clothes. Do you want me to have Francie put something in a bag for you?"
"Yeah. Have her grab a skirt and a sweater out of the closet. Tell her to pack a hairbrush and a toothbrush for me too."
"Sydney, do I even want to know what you're doing at Vaughn's house?"
No, you really don't. I'm serious.
"He invited me over for dinner," I looked at my ring finger to make sure that it hadn't been a dream. "We fell asleep on the couch."
"We can talk about this later."
"What is there to talk about?" I asked, but he had already hung up.
"You awake?" Vaughn stuck his head back in the room.
I looked up and smiled. "Yeah. My dad called. He knows."
"Better him than Kendall. Come on. I've got a surprise."
Vaughn had made bacon and eggs.
"Oh my God," I said as I saw the table.
"When's your dad coming?"
"I'd say in a half hour."
"All right. Eat," he prodded me.
"There isn't anything hidden in the food?"
"He smiled. "No, I promise."
Just a half hour later, as my dad had said, he rang the doorbell. Vaughn answered it.
I hugged my father and he handed me the bag. I opened it and looked inside. My hairbrush and toothbrush were inside, along with a pair of black pants and the matching jacket. There was also a purple shirt and some hair stuff.
"You can go and use my shower if you want," Vaughn offered.
"Thanks," I said.
"How long are you going to take, Sydney?"
"Vaughn can drive me, like he does every day," I said, knowing where this was going.
"No, I'll take you. We need to talk anyway."
"It's fine, Syd. I'm going to get changed and go. I'll meet you there," he said, kissing me.
I shut the bathroom door and turned on the water. Stepping in, I let the warm water fall over my body as I thought.
Sure, we couldn't keep it a secret forever, but my dad guessed so easily. Was it that obvious to people, and would more people figure it out as time went on? And what would happen when and hopefully, just if Kendall found out?
I stepped out of the shower, dried off, and got dressed. I brushed my hair into a ponytail and smoothed out my jacket. I opened the door and slipped on my shoes. My father sat on the couch, staring at the wall. I silently followed him to the car and got in.
"What are you thinking?" he asked as he started the car. "Sydney, if you're found out. . ."
"I know, you don't have to go into details. We're being careful."
"Sydney," he stopped as he noticed the ring on my finger.
I looked down. "Dad," I started.
"You're engaged? Sydney! Have you lost your mind?"
"No, Dad, I'm not engaged. Vaughn wanted me to have this."
"Is it a diamond?" his voice softened.
"Yeah. It was his grandmother's."
"It looks like. . .like the ring that I gave your mother when I asked her to marry me," he said quietly, his voice still remaining soft. "Sydney, people are bound to find out," he said, regaining his usual tone. "What are you going to say about the ring?"
"That it was my mother's, just like you said."
Dad smiled. "Good answer."
"Dad, are you upset that Vaughn and I are together?"
"Not really. I trust Vaughn. How is he taking your mission with Sark?"
"All right, I guess." My dad's cell phone rang.
"Yeah?"
"Did you find her?" it was Kendall.
"Yes, I did. We're about two minutes away," he hung up.
"Kendall," I said dully.
"Yeah," he said as we pulled into the parking garage.
Vaughn met us at the door.
"Hey," he smiled at me. "Kendall needs us in debrief. Weiss, Marshall, and Dixon are already there."
I nodded and sat down in between Vaughn and Weiss.
"As all of you know, Irina Derevko is on the loose. She and Sark were recently thought to have been seen in Germany at a bank. They made a normal withdrawal, according to the server that we hacked, and left. We've tracked them to Italy. Jack Bristow has been given operational control. Agent Vaughn, Agent Weiss, and Agent Dixon will be going as well as a team of agents to track them from there."
Wait- where am I in all of this? It is my mother that we're going after.
"Kendall? Where do I come in?" I asked. "You can't possibly be leaving me in LA."
"Miss Bristow, I don't know if you remember, while you were out and about and unreachable, but you are currently on an assignment, your assignment being Mr. Sark. If you were to leave LA, and were seen by Mr. Sark, your cover would be blown."
"This is my mother that we are going after! I deserve to be there!"
"Miss Bristow, please sit."
I hadn't realized that I was standing, and I silently sat down.
"You will have radio contact with the mission. You will know what is going on, Miss Bristow."
I jumped as something vibrated in my pocket. It was my cell phone. I had set my phone to vibrate before we had entered the debrief.
"Hello?" I asked, exiting the room.
"Miss Bristow."
"Sark."
"I must say, your idea to have the CIA track you to the restaurant was fantastic. You almost had me," I heard the sarcasm in his voice.
"It was a brilliant idea, wasn't it?" I asked, just as sarcastic. "Too bad that I can't claim credit for it. Sark, I had not idea that they were following me."
"That's fine, since you seemed genuinely surprised, and you actually got down onto your knees. Had you known this was coming, you wouldn't have. I still want to meet you again, somewhere."
"Agent Bristow, get your ass back into this debrief room, now!" Kendall was.a little upset to say the least.
I put my hand over the phone and hissed, "It's Sark. He wants to arrange a meeting. I'll be back in a minute."
"All right. I'm back."
"Your.boss, would you call him? He doesn't appear very happy."
"He's just mad because I walked out of a meeting to take this call."
"All right. Meet me in Rome. Check into a hotel under Andrea Walsh and I'll find you. Be there in two days, all right?"
"Of course."
"Sydney?"
"Yes?"
"Did you ever think on my offer to join forces with me?"
"I did."
"And you considered it?"
"Yes, but I have to go. I'll be in Rome in two days." I hung up and went back into debrief.
"What did Sark say?"
"I'm meeting him in Italy in two days."
"What doesn't make sense though," said Vaughn thoughtfully, "is that even though we sent a team after you, without your knowledge and managed to corner Sark, he still wants to Sydney. Why?"
"That's a good point," said Marshall. "I mean.please tell me if I'm out of line here, but unless Sark is only interested in the Rambaldi manuscript, which Sydney hasn't exactly made clear to us, then why would Sark, who's killed countless people without even thinking about it, want to continue seeing Sydney?" He took a breath. Marshall always crammed everything into one big, long sentence. "And for that matter," he continued, "Sark might not be after the Rambaldi documents. His motive here might be to kill Sydney."
Kendall looked amazed. Usually, Marshall's rantings go on and on, without a point or purpose. This time, however, he had made a good point.
"Agent Bristow," he said finally, "mention the Rambaldi document to Sark. See what kind of a reaction you get."
"Kendall, Sark has asked me before to form a partnership with him, to work with him. He brought this up again when I was on the phone with him. He asked me if I'd considered it. I'm considering saying yes."
"If you do, Agent Bristow, you'll be on your own," said Kendall.
"We can't even inject a tracking device," said Weiss. "If Sark brings her to Sloane, which would be our main goal here, and she's checked, she'll be killed."
"Which is clearly why she'd be on her own, which would be why we'd try not to go to that. We don't need to lose one of our best agents."
"She's not joining Sark," said my father. "It's too dangerous."
"Don't I get a say in this?" I asked.
"No," said my father. "You can meet Sark, but I refuse to let you join him."
"It could lead us to Sloane. We could find him!"
"And how would you contact us?" he asked. I was so mad at him.
"I'd find a way. I will, I promise. I'm going. I'll call you from the hotel," I stood and left the room. I was on my way, whether they wanted me to be or not. I was on my way.