Daughter of Darkness
Chapter 10: Nightclub Deals
By Gaz Destiny
Rated: PG-13
Spoiler: Snowman
Disclaimer: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. I don't own the Goo Goo Dolls song coming up later.
A/N: summer still sucks, and I still don't have a job, damn I'm pathetic, hey at least I'm only a sophomore and have an excuse….Andrew is not Sark's first name, but for the sake of my story it is.
Feedback: Hey look this is an extra long chapter around nine pages, and only one review…you people not reading should be very happy with me…
Quotes of the update:
Everyone is unique, just like everybody else.
Happiness is found in the frozen food section, where they keep the ice-cream.
--Emily (the girl who plays the girl from Everwood)
Saturday Morning
"How was your flight, Fi?" Sark asked as they walked out of the airport.
"It was good, long, but good," she answered. "Have you had a chance to think about what I asked you?"
"Of course, it's risky, I must say that," he nodded, opening the passenger side door of his expensive car for her.
Do you listen to yourself?
Never live for someone else
Do you like the way you feel
Nothing hurts when no one's real
She wants to shake this scene
Yeah she wants to shake with me
She's not looking for the holes in all the lies
"Please, I need you to do this for me," she told him, once he'd gotten in.
*I wanna bullet proof your soul
Would you like to lose control
I won't let you fall until you tell me so*
"Do you love him?" he asked, glancing at the star shaped diamond ring she was wearing.
*What are we?
(Watcha wanna be)
Everything!
That you wanna be
All I need
(Right in front of me)
I've known before
*Would you come my way
Or did you burn out to the end
Would you come my way
Should have listened when you called my name*
"Oh, I forgot to take my ring off," she laughed, looking at the stone with a melancholy smile, as she took it off and slipped it into her purse.
"Do you love him?" Sark asked again, maneuvering the car out of the airport driveway.
*Yeah she wants to tear you down
And she leaves without a sound
It's like fallin' backwards
Into no one's arms*
"I did," she answered simply.
*You're a bullet through my soul
But I'll never let you know
I won't let you fall until you let it go
*What are we?
(Watcha wanna be)
Everything!
That you wanna be
All I need
(Right in front of me)
I've known before
*Would you come my way
Or did you burn out to the end
Would you come my way
Should have listened when you called my name*
"So?" he asked just as simply, knowing she had more to say but didn't want to say it.
"So what?" she all but snapped. "So is everything pretty much set up? I was thinking that I could pick up the artifact, I'm a little less conspicuous than you."
"Alright," he nodded in agreement. Then after a pause, "Maybe you shouldn't have come tonight if that's what you were planning."
"No, we'll just pick a different place, it really isn't that smart to use the same place both times anyways," she told him.
"Sounds good," he said, not even bothering her a glance.
"Look, I'm sorry," she whispered, reaching a hand out, placing it on his arm.
"It's alright," he told her, placing a hand on her leg with a gentle squeeze.
*Would you come my way
Or did you burn out to the end
Would you come my way
Should have listened when you called my name
Should have listened when you called my name
Should have listened when you called my name
Should have listened when you called my name
Should have listened when you called my name*
"Soon it'll be all over, at least for me, and then all we'll have to worry about is you," she smiled, throwing in a small laugh.
"I'll take care of that, it'll be simple enough," he said, driving the car off the highway. "I've already been working on a plan."
"Sydney and Dixon saw me meet you at the airport, they'll be there tonight," she told him. "That'll make it perfect for what I was thinking to work sooner than later."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"When I go pick up the artifact, we have to make sure SD-6 knows when and where, I'll explain the rest later, after I've figured it out," she laughed, as the car became darkened from the cover of the parking garage they'd pulled into.
~*~
Saturday Afternoon
He watched her, watched her doze, the beads of sweat roll down her skin. The feel of her warm breath on his chest, soft and gentle, it was a nice feeling. He reached out and carefully brushed her hair off her face.
"We have to go soon," she mumbled, lazily opening one eye.
"I know," he whispered, letting one arm wrap around her loosely, as her fingers ran languidly up and down his bare chest.
"The Saturday after next," she told him suddenly.
"What about it?" he asked, looking down into her eyes.
"That's when we should plan to meet for the pickup," she answered. "I want out as soon as possible."
"Then how about next Saturday?" he suggested.
"I can't, I have plans," she replied, before going back to slowly running her fingers up and down his chest.
They were silent for a moment, a silent acknowledgement of who her plans were with took place, along with a silent agreement not to say anything aloud, her out of her consideration of his distaste for the idea that she was indeed engaged to someone else, and him out of his distaste for the guy she was engaged to.
"We should get up," she said finally.
"We have time," he told her, catching her lips with his in a soft, quick, kiss, which she didn't let him get out of as quick as he had planned.
They continued kissing, long passionate kisses, sometimes soft and gentle, other times hard and filled with desire, and then she did the unthinkable.
"Promise me something," she said suddenly, pulling out of one of those wonderful kisses where he was ravishing her mouth.
"What?" he asked, looking into her eyes.
"That you won't—you know what? Never mind," she said, suddenly going through a drastic attitude change.
"Tell me," he told her, turning her head to face him, his hand under her chin, seeking her eyes with his.
"No—I said never mind, it's totally unimportant," she said, looking away as she found a particular string in the blanket covering them completely fascinating.
"Of course it is?" he practically growled, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, you don't have to be so annoying about it," she pretended to pout.
He gave her a determined look, and she sighed in defeat.
"I wanted you to promise you won't leave me," she finally told him, looking down at the blanket, "and that you'll get out soon."
"Hmm?" he asked, the look on his face forcing her to battle with her inner-self not to laugh.
It was funny, the look of confusion on his face. One—well two—simple questions confused a genius, after that thought, she failed and started giggling uncontrollably, but then stopping to think about what she'd made him promise her instantly stopped the giggles and go serious again.
"Promise me you won't leave me," she said, giving him the sad puppy eyes.
"That would never happen," he told her, kissing her again.
"Promise," she whispered between kisses.
"Promise."
~*~
Saturday Evening
She sat on the edge of the bed pulling on her sandals, struggling for a moment with the annoying complicated straps.
"Are you almost ready?" Sark asked walking out of the bathroom, with only his pants on, as he toweled his hair dry.
"Farther along than you are," she told him, before going into the closet to find a dress. Coming out with a skimpy backless red dress, she said, "I knew I left this here, I've been looking for it for months."
She quickly pulled the dress on over her head and turned her back towards him.
"Could you tie this up?" she asked, closing her eyes as his fingers brushed lightly over her back while he fixed the ribbons crisscrossing her back and tied the ribbon into a bow just over her lower back. "Thanks."
"Are you ready?" he asked a few minutes later.
"Where are my sunglasses?" she asked slightly frantic.
"On the table," he said pointing to the expensive Armani glasses.
"Okay, I'm ready," she smiled, putting on her sunglasses after pulling her hair up under her black felt hat.
~*~
Saturday Night
"They're here," Dixon whispered into his microphone from his vantage point near the door.
"I see them," Sydney whispered back from her seat at the bar.
Sark had just walked in with his arm around Fi's waist, just in time to be instantly greeted by Henry Stratford and his wife, Diane. They all sat down and started talking. Fiona and Diane started talking about else in their social circle, blocking out whatever the guys were saying.
"Did you hear about what happened between Audrey and Louis?" Diane asked, slipping right into gossipy housewife mode.
"No, do tell," Fi replied, going right into the same mode, knowing that the two of them talking blocked out everything Sark and Stratford were talking about.
"Thursday, Louis caught her in the pool house with her tennis pro, word is he's already filing for divorce, of course you didn't hear it from me," Diane told her.
"Of course, but it's not like I feel sorry for her, I mean really, she's been so unfaithful, poor Louis, having to deal with that, I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew," Fi said.
"I'll have it to you in two weeks, but I have to go to Moscow to pick it up first," Henry was saying.
"I could pick it up, I have to be in Moscow that weekend anyways," Fi offered turning her attention away from Diane.
They agreed on that and planned when and where she'd pick up the case with Sark's purchase in it, with SD-6 and the CIA both listening in.
~*~
Monday Morning
As Claudia wheeled her suitcase out of the airport to the spot to meet taxis, she was happy to find that a taxi pulled up just as she got to the curb. She put her small suitcase in the back with her, and the taxi pulled away almost the instant she closed the door.
"Zürich bank please," she told the driver.
Something wasn't right, she knew how to get to the bank from the airport, and wherever they were going wasn't it. They suddenly pulled off the main road and into the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse. Her hand instantly sought out the handgun tucked away in her suitcase, which she'd had to have special papers from the CIA to carry in her checked bag; luckily she didn't have to get a new paper each time.
The driver turned around, holding a gun in his hand, she quickly noted the bullet proof glass and readied herself in case he started to open it.
"Claudia, let go of the gun," the driver said, removing a skin like mask.
"Dad," she frowned. He had his gun aimed at her, and she had her own aimed at him, it would have been funny under different circumstances, "What's going on?"
"Shouldn't you have already been at your hotel?" he questioned, looking quite stern. "You were in Madrid, weren't you?"
"Mm-hmm," she nodded, finding no point in lying to someone who can tell when you're lying.
"You're working for Sark," he said rather than asked.
"No, not exactly, I'm working with him," she corrected. "Well, not even that really. I do a couple jobs here and there, but nothing really. Like those disks, I just never handed over, I had them, I just didn't hand them over and left a card in the safe for when you figured out what you thought would be where they were hidden. I've just done tiny, insignificant things."
"Why?" he asked simply.
"Because, you were right about me having this kind of job, and now I want out," she answered just as simply. "But then again, I'm glad I've done what I've done, even if you and the rest of SD-6 are complete and total evil."
"When did you finally realize this?" he asked.
"Um, while I was in London, but I wasn't positive until after I got back," she told him.
"What made you change your mind?" he asked, falling into the 'worried father inquisition' preformed by fathers all the way back to fathers hundreds of generations before him.
"I'm pregnant," she answered, looking downwards.
He wasn't sure what to say, what does a father say when he finds out his daughter is unmarried and pregnant, nothing, absolutely nothing. She was too old to yell at, but still young to have a kid.
"Michael doesn't know, and he won't, unless you tell him, 'cause there's pretty much no chance the other people who know will tell him," she continued, still looking away.
"Are you perfectly sure they won't tell?" he asked, wanting to make sure she knew what she was going on about.
"Perfectly, there are only two other people, ones a doctor in Lisbon, and the other is Sark," she answered.
"Sark," he repeated disbelievingly.
"Uh-huh, that's why he's helping me get out, in a couple weeks I'll be another Missing-and-Supposed-to-be-Dead person, last seen unmoving with blood pouring from a gunshot wound, taken by a nondescript man in a nondescript white van, which was followed into a parking garage full of white vans," she told him. "I planned it carefully; everyone works right off of the other. It's foolproof, except of course when someone knows I'm Fiona, but even then it's pretty much failsafe unless someone goes to the news and tells the general populous, then it kind of ruins everything."
"You were just going to let your mother and I think you were dead?" he inquired, keeping his anger out of his tone.
"Yeah," she nodded, without the slightest problem. "I mean it's not like I could come up to the two of you and say, 'Mom, Dad, I'm going to fake my death to protect my unborn child, who is also the child of Mr. Sark one of the criminal geniuses I'm supposed to be working against every day, so don't worry about me, I'll be perfectly fine.' How was I supposed to say that? Really? Sometimes I start to worry about you."
"And here I thought it was me who had to worry about you," he smiled softly, before going back into his serious manner, and asking, "So Sark's the father? Do you even know his first name?"
"Yes on both counts, and his first name's Andrew," she answered, not even missing a beat. "Hey, could you do me a favor and back off, leave him alone? Once I'm out, he's going to start working on a way out. I need him alive, if I'm going to—"
"Going to what?" he asked, after she'd suddenly stopped.
"He promised me he'd protect me, and he very well can't do that if he's dead, now can he?" she laughed lightly.
Arvin Sloane was not a happy person at that moment, no parent in their right mind would be, but he wasn't angry, she was doing just what he wanted her to do, getting out, getting away from the life he didn't want for his only child.
~*~
Thursday
"Oh, I missed you," Claudia smiled, wrapping her arms around Michael's neck. "I'm so sorry I couldn't get back yesterday. Things took longer than I expected."
"I missed you to," Michael said, hugging her back.
He kissed her, it was quick and sweet, but no spark, she wondered briefly as he lead her to the baggage claim if he noticed it.
"Dad and I had a nice talk Monday," she told him in the car on the way back to her apartment. "It was weird on the nice level."
"That's nice, what'd you talk about?" he asked.
"We talked about life, about how everything's changed over the years. It was the needed conversation between a parent and their grown child," she answered. "He says he likes you, just doesn't like your job, most people don't want their kids to marry a guy who works for the government, neither does he, I think he said it was something about the pay and low chance of moving up, I'm not sure, that's about when I started getting dizzy from sitting in a taxi for too long."
~*~
God, I'm such an idiot. I spend a month trying to figure out if Michael will still want me when I got back, and here I am about to do something that'll break his heart. But then again, I didn't plan on it, I didn't know for sure until after I arrived home. The news didn't come until then, I guess I probably waited till to late to find out.
After the hockey game he'd wanted to see so much on Friday, he drove us to Santa Barbra, and surprised me with a weekend to make up for missing the other weekend.
Wednesday Eric had me called down to meet him. They needed me to help them get the box, Sydney couldn't just hand it over after picking it up, that would make SD-6 suspicious, especially after they're elaborate plan. Okay, it wasn't actually elaborate, it was just something Dad and I had come up in the while we were sitting in the Taxi talking. It would work though, as long as I filled Sark in on it and had him make sure the guard let Sydney through before I came. Dad wasn't too happy that he wouldn't be getting the artifact, until I told him it wasn't actually a Rambaldi artifact, but some really expensive jewelry set Andrew (Sark) was buying.
The plan itself was kind of stupid, but so was everything else. Saturday night at precisely ten o'clock, Fiona was supposed to walk directly through an art gallery in Moscow to the main office, where she (I) was supposed to pick up a silver case. Ten minutes earlier, Sydney is supposed to go in, in some disguise that's supposed to look like me (Fiona, this is starting to confuse me, so I hope you're keeping up). At that exact moment, the power will be cut and a fight will break out across the room (courtesy of Dixon and several other agents), giving Sydney easy access to the main office, which will still have it's power, since it's attached to a backup generator because they tend to keep the more expensive things in there. Yes, I already know all about this club, it was one of the things Andrew and I went over in great detail before I flew to Zürich.
At this time I'll be in one of the CIA vehicles dressed as Fiona (myself, even though everyone else doesn't know that). With five minutes till ten, I'll walk in. By then the lights will have come back on, and the guard should already be back in place. The guard will let me right in, having been told ahead of time that I'll be arriving five till ten rather than at ten. I'd stop Sydney and make her hand over the case. From there she would go back to Dixon and tell him what happened from her point of view (i.e. Fiona came in and stopped her) and I would take the case back to the CIA vehicle, where Michael and the other CIA agents would be waiting for me.
It was such a stupid plan, and so obviously not fool-proof, but it was also such a simple plan that something couldn't easily go wrong. That fact would be enough to distract people away from how stupid it was until everything else had gone in affect. I planned on following it exactly, every little bit, yep, okay, so I was exactly planning anything. But like I said, things could go wrong so easily.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
TBC….
~*~*~*~
A/N: looking for some reviews, I wrote ten pages and would like to know what people think, as long as it's not pure flame, need to have constructive criticism if you want me to take you seriously, unless it's something good about my story, then I could listen all day. ^_^