Briefing



Sydney took a seat next to her father and scanned the room, checking to see whom was in attendance. Her gaze settled on Dixon for a moment and they exchanged smiles. Sydney still felt guilty over everything that had happened regarding him and SD-6, and hoped that they would eventually be able to have their old friendship back.

She continued to look around the room and noticed that Vaughn was sitting across from her. She raised an eyebrow at him so as to ask him how he had gotten here so fast.

Vaughn mouthed "Quick shower," then gave her a small smile.

Sydney nodded and looked around once more, noting that Marshall was absent as well as their ringleader Kendall. A moment later though, Kendall entered and Sydney turned her head towards him as he walked to the head of the table.

"I have some good news," he announced with one of 'so-what-if-something-great-happened-we-still-have-a-shitload-of-work-to-do' smiles. "Thanks to the tracking device we put on one of the pages of the Rambaldi book, we were able—"

Sydney cut Kendall off. "You put a tracking device on the Rambaldi book?"

"Yes," Kendall said, irritated and desperately trying to not roll his eyes. "Marshall made it for us last week."

As if on cue, Marshall entered the room looking adorably flustered. "Sorry I'm uh, late, I was playing this really cool new version of Tetris that I programmed. You're probably thinking, 'Uh, Marshall, how could have created a new version of Tetris? It's just falling blocks.' Well, I added—"

"Marshall, please," Kendall said, growing tense.

"Sorry sir, I'm just uh, really excited." He was smiling one of his typical 'doesn't-this-make-me-so-huggable' smiles and his eyes were shining. He glanced at Kendall and his smile quickly faded. He sat down, his cheeks beet red, and looked around nervously at the other people in the room, his gaze inevitably landing on Sydney who had on one of her so-warm-and-beautiful-you-could-cry smiles aimed at Marshall.

"Where was I?" Kendall asked to no one in particular, his forehead wrinkling.

"The tracking device on the Rambaldi book," Vaughn supplied automatically.

"Yes, the tracking device that Marshall made," Kendall said, recalling what he had been speaking about, then instantly regretting mentioning Marshall because he knew it would give Marshall another opportunity to speak.

Marshall stood up, all smiles, and began to explain his creation. "Okay, now this is really incredible. It's really useful in sticky situations, which is appropriate because it's even better than the liquid one I made a while back and it's, well, sticky. This one, you just spread it on whatever you want to follow, in this case it would be one of the pages of the Rambaldi book and it's completely undetectable." He pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to the group. "Cool huh? It's like a glue stick, I couldn't get the stuff to not be sticky, but it's still barely, if at all, noticeable." Marshall sat down quickly to avoid any comments from Kendall and noticed that Sydney had the back of her hand against her mouth as she stifled a giggle. Marshall blushed and smiled.

"All right, well, let's try to get through this meeting before the big vein in my head pops," Kendall said sardonically.

Sydney was grateful that her hand was still in front of her face because she was now sporting a huge grin. She glanced at Vaughn who also had his hand blocking his mouth and at her father out of the corner of her eye who was wearing a tiny 'Jack Bristow' smile. Sydney suddenly felt a strong pang of admiration in her chest. She thought of her mother, how the woman could have betrayed a man so guarded but yet so willing to give his heart. It hurt Sydney that her mother could take advantage of her father's virtues.

Her smile had long since faded and she had her gaze focused on the table in front of her. She had her hands at her sides and she set her jaw as she clenched her hands into fists and her whole body tensed. Kendall was speaking and, despite her anger and anticipation in wanting to destroy her mother, Sydney was actually comprehending what he was saying.

Jack was listening as well, his gaze focused on Kendall. For a moment though, he glanced at his daughter and was pained to see that she seemed to be more upset than before. His eyes fell on her tense jaw line, her rigid back, and her clenched fists. Silently, he reached out a hand and grasped one of her fists. He pried open her hand and held it in his, watching as her body relaxed, including her face muscles, her back, and her other fist.

Sydney felt at ease and gripped her father's hand tightly, then released it, letting him know that she was okay. She drowned out Kendall's voice after that, and was surprised to hear him address her.

"Miss Bristow?"

"Yes?" Sydney asked, snapping her head up to gaze at Kendall.

Damn Murphy's Law.

"Did you hear what I said?"

Sydney was silent for a moment. "I uh—"

Vaughn chimed in, "So sir, Sydney, Jack, and Dixon are going to Sloane's villa in Tuscany to try and obtain the Rambaldi book and eliminate Sloane, Sark, and Derevko?"

Sydney's heart skipped a beat. There it was again—a reference to the man she secretly desired. She thanked Vaughn with a smile for preventing her from looking like an ass in front of Kendall, before her thoughts turned to Sark again. She would have a chance with Sark on this mission, and it was the only chance she would get, as she, her father, and Dixon had been assigned to eliminate him as well as Sloane and her mother.

If she was able to make it work, she would be on the run for the rest of her life because Sark was an enemy of the United States. She wanted so badly for—by some bizarre twist of fate—Sark to be on their side, working in opposition to Sloane.

Warmth spread through her body and her face was flushed with arousal. A content sigh escaped her lips and she momentarily froze. Her attraction to Sark was steadily increasing and, once again, she found herself afraid of how badly she wanted and needed him—

Inside me.

She dismissed that thought. She wanted and needed Sark for more than just sex.

That's new.

Sydney tensed. She barely even knew Sark and practically every time they had been within ten feet of each other they were attempting to end the other's life. But she still felt something strong towards him.

Could it be—

Love?