Chapter Three: Silk Boxers and Old Spice
Sydney glared at the offending door that had closed behind Sark. Her only comfort was the realization that she'd found a chink in Sark's emotional amour but only now she wished she hadn't bated him. In his infuriating way he'd retaliated by punishing her like a child by locking her in her room for being bad. She quickly finished off the omelet and by habit gathered up the dishes to put into the kitchen. She was annoyed to find that Sark had taken his and her knife when she hadn't been paying attention. Did he always have to be so damn thorough?
She pictured stabbing him with her fork but when she looked down at the fork she noticed how delicate the prongs were and how useless it would be as a weapon. But it could come in handy as a lock pick.
Sydney focused her thoughts and decided to search the room for anything that might assist her or be of interest to the CIA. The room looked like any other room with paintings on the wall and neutral colored rugs on the floor. The dresser drawers contained various neatly folded clothes with the exception of the top one that contained an array of silk boxers.
As she searched through the boxers she remembered the painfully sweet memory of Danny. He'd started only wearing silk boxers after she'd told him how she loved the feel of them against her skin. She'd even told him about a particularly erotic fantasy she had of him wearing a red one. In turn, he stripped danced for her their last Valentines Day wearing red boxers trying to turning her fantasy into reality. The dance had been more comically then sexy but it was his wanting to please her by doing crazy things that were only one of the many things she'd loved about him.
"Tell me my love; is this everything that you dreamed of?" Danny asked doing his best rendition of Fabio by using his deepest, sexiest, faux accented voice. He was wearing a rented tuxedo that came with a top hat and cane.
Sydney who was sitting on the bed was trying her hardest not to laugh. "More, much more…" She squeaked out. She knew what was coming next. She had told him about a fantasy of hers a few weeks ago and it looked like Danny was going to act it out.
Danny used the cane to turn on the music as he had rehearsed. As the music came on he posed for Sydney's benefit. He then threw the hat to Sydney only find that it was the cane he threw and not the hat.
Sydney caught the cane deftly from the air with one hand and nodded for him to continue.
Danny tossed the hat aside and began gyrating to the music slowly taking off his bow tie followed by his jacket and shirt. After each item was removed from his body, he whirled it above his head and then tossed it toward Sydney. He then turned around so that Sydney would get a view of his backside before he began jiggling it.
Sydney had to stuff Danny's shirt into her mouth to keep from laughing.
Then like a seasoned stripper Danny tore the Velcro pants from his body for the finale. The absence of sound caused Danny, who was only wearing red silk boxers, to whirl around wondering what was wrong. He saw Sydney with her face pressed against the bed, shoulders shaking.
"Sydney! Are you ok? What's wrong?" Danny asked concerned.
"Oh Danny, that was… that was…" Sydney could no longer contain the laughter anymore.
Instead of being insulted and getting mad as Sydney feared, Danny laughed along with her. "So, not like your fantasy huh?" He asked after the laughter died down.
Sydney looked into his eyes, all traces of laugher gone from her eyes. "You're my fantasy Danny."
"Ok, I can accept that. Step aside Fabio, step aside Romeo, here comes Dan the Man." Danny joked.
Sydney pinned him to the bed so that she was sitting on top looking down into his eyes. "I'm serious Danny. I never thought that I would ever find someone who would love me." Sydney's voice slightly quivered with emotion, tears were beginning to form in her eyes.
"Syd, anyone who knows you can't help falling in love with you. I feel like the luckiest son of a bitch that it was me that you chose and not some…" He was unable to finish as Sydney's lips pressed against his.
"Tell me you love me." Sydney ordered.
"I love you." Danny whispered before kissing her.
"Always?" Sydney asked.
"Forever!" He vowed.
Forever had only lasted six more short months. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and realized that she was elbow deep in Sark's boxers. Feeling her face heat, she withdrew her arms from the drawer and quickly shut it. She sent a silent prayer that there were no hidden cameras in the room.
She knew that she was a great operative but it was Marshall's gadgets that kept her one of the best. She wished he had one of his bug killing devices. She moved onto the next drawer and the next but found nothing remotely helpful.
The closet was devoid of boxes of any personal affects such as pictures and only held eleven full tailor made suits with the letter S in the space where a tag should be. She checked the bathroom last and was horrified to see her reflection. With no make up and her hair horribly tangled, she didn't look like the competent operative that she was, instead she looked young and vulnerable. No wonder Sark had treated her like a child, she looked like one, she thought. She glanced with longing at the shower but she knew that she only had a few more minutes before Sark's return.
She found a black leather toiletry bag with Colgate whitening toothpaste, a toothbrush, Old Spice deodorant, hair styling wax, and a comb in it. She searched for a razor, something that could come in handy but she couldn't find one. She wondered if she could throw one of the chairs in the mirror and use the shards as a weapon, or burn the toothbrush bristles together and sharpen it. But each plan was discarded as the she heard Sark's voice in her head telling her why it wasn't a great idea. The former being that breaking the mirror would cause too much noise and by using the shards it may end up hurting her as much as whoever came after her. The latter plan could work if she had a lighter or matches, which she had neither of.
Sydney decided to indulge her vanity and use the remaining minutes to wash her face and comb her hair. After pulling her hair up in her usual ponytail she noticed that the deodorant hadn't quite made it back into the black bag. She picked it up and popped off the cap. Bringing it to her nose, she closed her eyes to savor the scent. Vaughn. It was the same brand that Vaughn wore. She pushed back the panic and fear that washed over her as she thought about Vaughn. He had to be alive she thought. He just had to be.
Then almost like magic she could almost feel his breath on her neck, the comforting feel of his presence behind her. She was able to choke back the sob but a tear escaped her eye. Quickly brushing it away she took a few breaths and opened her eyes. Sark was standing behind her and she could see his reflection in the mirror. There was intense sadness in his normally emotionally vacant eyes and his hand was hovering over her shoulder offering comfort.
When she turned around to face him the hand and any trace of emotion was no longer there making her think that maybe it had been a trick of the light.
