Chapter 14: Dazed and Confused

"What the hell are you doing here?' The voice lashed out at Will. All Will could do was freeze and think 'please don't kill me.' "Well, Mr. Tippen?"

"Um I brought Sydney." Will finally said stepping to the side allowing Sark to view Sydney who was currently lying on a pool lounger singing. When she sees Sark she stops singing.

"'ello shexy! You ha.ave per..pre.pretty eyesh."

Sark brushes past Will and kneels to Sydney's side. He smells her breath and then opens her eyes wider with his fingers. He then takes her pulse. When he's finished he stands up and pins Will against the wall with his forearm to Will's throat. "What did you put into her drink?"

"Me? What? I didn't put anything in her drink!" Will choked out.

Sark lets him go as he sees Sydney get up from the lounger and weave toward to pool. He grabs her before she falls in. She looks up at him smiling and touches his lip.

"Dida know that your lipsh do thish?" She forces his lips to smile with her forefinger and thumb. He moves her hand away from his mouth.

"Do you think we should take her to the hospital?" Asked Will.

"Don't be an idiot. We can't take her to a hospital without bringing SD-6 into this. How long has she been like this?

"30 minutes?"

"Find out exactly what was put into her drink. Call me on her cell when you find out." Sark ordered as he picked Sydney up into his arms after unsuccessfully getting her to move.

"I'm not letting you leave with her." Will replied with false bravado stepping in front of Sark.

"Though I applaud your bravery Mr. Tippin, I don't have the time for it. You can assist Ms. Bristow by doing as I ask."

"Put her down Sark!" Vaughn ordered at gunpoint. He had just entered the indoor pool deck and was blocking the exit.

"And if I don't? Are you really going to shoot me Mr. Vaughn?" He takes a step.

"Don't test me Sark, I would love an excuse to put a bullet into you." Vaughn had a grim smile on his face.

"Let's review our options shall we? You can shoot me while I hold Ms. Bristow in the chance that you're a good shot and she won't be hit. And since Ms. Bristow must be carried out of here one of us must do it. If you would like to take her, I'd be happy to hold your gun. Not an agreeable option? I didn't think so. Now put away the gun or shoot me." Sark brushed past Will and walked toward the exit and Vaughn. Vaughn lowered his gun and followed Sark out of the room.

"Hey wait a second!" Will rushed after them.

"Do you know what was put into her drink?" Sark was asking Vaughn as Will caught up to them.

"It's a drug called Venerex. It's a cross between Rohypnol and Pentothol Sodium, one of the reunion members decided that it was payback time and spiked the dinner punch."

Sydney had her arms around Sark's neck. And she was fidgeting and playing with his hair.

"Pentothol Sodium and Rohypnol as in truth serum and roofies?" Asked Will shocked.

"Row, row row your bo..boat, gennly, down the shreem." Sydney sang.

"Why weren't you affected?" Vaughn asked Will.

"I didn't drink the punch, I can't stand the stuff. I always get that red line around my mouth."

"I'm drunk! I drank punch!" Said Sydney to no one in particular. "I wan'ed to punch you bu' I couldn'. You 'ave nice abs." Sydney put a hand on Sark's chest. "You 'ave a ha..heart! I thought you're a mash..machine. Kill, kill, kill."

"It has some kind of adrenaline inducers in it. Her heart is beating abnormally fast and her blood pressure is rising. I need the ingredients in Venerex, find it for me." He ignored the anger that came into Vaughn's eyes at his order.

Vaughn makes the call on his cell. "Hello, this is agent Vaughn, I need you to get me the ingredients to the drug Venerex asap, let me know if there is any known counteragents." He kept the phone to his ear and shot Sark an 'anything else' look. "Just so we understand each other, I'm not going to leave you alone with her for even a second."

Sark just gives Vaughn one of his infamous smirks. "Yes, I'm here. What's the use of a counteragent that you have to take before taking the drug? Nevermind, the ingredients? Just a second, I don't have a pen."

"Just hold the phone up to my ear, I'll remember it." Said Sark and Vaughn complied grudgingly. "Uh uh, yes, a scopolamine base." He nods to signal Vaughn that he's finished. When they reach the lobby they see a dozen people lying on the ground with some medics attending them. Sark hands Sydney to Vaughn and swipes a medic bag.

"What are you doing?" Vaughn asked. "Those people need that medicine."

"And so does Sydney. If it'll make you feel better, Mr. Tippin can brings down what I don't need."

"Hello? I'm here, you don't have to talk about me as if I'm not here." Will interrupted angry at himself and feeling guilty about bringing Sydney to his reunion.

"Ooooh! You 'ave the cutesh di..dimple on your shin." Sydney said patting Vaughn's face. "Can I kish you?"

"Fine! Let's go." Vaughn conceded walking more quickly toward the elevators. He turned his head to avoid the kiss which landed on his ear.

They took the elevator up to Sark's penthouse suite listening to Sidney sing La Vie en Rouge in French.

"Aren't you guys trained to fight off this stuff so that you don't say things when you're captured?" Will asked as Sark got to work finding a counteragent to the drug and Vaughn laid Sydney down on the bed."

"Normally yes, but I've never heard about Venerex before today." Said Vaughn frustrated.

"She's trained to hide anything classified by singing or reciting poems. The other stuff is things she wants to say or is thinking but never allowed herself to say." Sark informed them causing both Will and Vaughn to think that Venerex was a drug that Sark must have used it on someone before.

"So if I ask her the access code to enter SD-6." Will said before Vaughn could stop him.

"1, 2 buckle my shoe, three four.I'm out the door, " Sydney replied automatically and without her slur. She then blinks a couple of times and says, "Well 'ello Franshi! I didn' know you're gonna be 'er."

"She's gone into stage two. She's starting to hallucinate. Keep her calm, I don't want her to go into cardiac arrest." Sark was scribbling formulas down on a piece of paper.

"The lash time I 'ah shex? Months, not shince No..noah. We 'ah shex and then 'e d..died. 'veryone I lo..love diesh. I wan' shex. You know, wa I shink? I shink that I shoul' shleep wish Shark!" There was utter silence in the room. "Then 'e'll d.die an' everyone will be shafe." She finished and Will and Vaughn started breathing again.

"Maybe we should get her to talk about something else?" Will whispered to Vaughn.

Vaughn went to the bed and held Sydney's hand, which was hot. He felt her forehead and it was very hot. "Sark, she's burning up!"

"Take her into the shower and start with warm water and then gradually get it colder. Will, get some ice and fill up the bathtub. Make sure that she stay's awake or we wont be able to tell if the counteragent will work or not."

Vaughn took Sydney into the bathroom and turned the shower on. He waited until it was warm and then got into it pulling her in with him. She was murmuring under her breath and he was afraid she was losing consciousness.

"Hey Sydney, it's me Michael."

"Mom? Mommy?" She looked at him fearfully seeing not him but her mother.

"No, It's me Vaughn."

"Vaughn? Why'sh she 'ate mmme?" The water was running down her face and body, making her wet clothes cling to her body. She held onto him as if he was a lifeline, and rested her head on his chest. Vaughn realized that she wasn't shaking with cold but from sobs. "I tr..tried to be go.good."

"You are very good Sydney." Vaughn said holding her tighter. She was till burning up. He turned the water colder.

"Why'n' she lo..love me?"

"You listen to me Sydney. Your mother doesn't love you because she incapable of loving anyone. It's not your fault. You are the most caring and wonderful person I know. You don't need your mother to love you. Your father loves you, your friends love you, I.I love you Sydney."

"Such a beautiful declaration, it's a pity that she wont remember it when this is over." Sark interrupted sardonically. "I need you to put her down so I can give her the counteragent. It'll be a lot faster if I inject it into her blood system." Once Sydney was on the floor Sark injects her with the counteragent.

"How do you know it's the right amount?" Asked Vaughn worried.

"When it works."

"If it doesn't?"

"She'll die."

"I don't want to die." Said Sydney without slurring. Sark took her pulse.

"It worked. Now we have to get her fever down." Sark said picking her up and putting her in a tub filled with ice and cold water.

Will came in and added another few buckets of ice. "Is that enough?"

"Watch Ms. Bristow, Mr. Vaughn and I will be in the next room."

Once they were in the other room Sark turned to Vaughn. "This is formula for the counteragent. I'm sure that they'll be needing it downstairs." He hands him a piece of paper.

"What are the other two syringes for?" Vaughn asked.

"You'd better hurry if you don't want anyone to die." Sark said over his shoulder as he pockets the two syringes and exits the room.

"You arrogant son of a bitch." Vaughn muttered under his breath and picked up the phone.