Suspicion



Sydney drove home that afternoon to pack. Will was gone, presumably at work, but Francie was home.

"Hey Fran," Sydney said with a warm smile when she saw her friend in the kitchen.

"Hello Sydney," Francie replied with a tight smile.

Sydney frowned a bit and tilted her head to one side as she looked at her friend. "Are you okay?" she asked, biting her lip.

Francie narrowed her eyes at her and frowned. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

Sydney shoved her hands into her pockets and shrugged. "I don't know, you've just been acting a bit weird lately, you know? I mean, you just haven't been all that friendly, I guess."

"Oh," Francie said simply, still frowning. "Well, maybe it's the thing with Will." She shrugged. "I've had a lot on my mind, and I'm nervous because he and I are friends and I don't want to ruin our friendship with a relationship. Not that I don't like being with him. He's a good guy." Francie shot Sydney a big fake smile.

"Yeah, he is," Sydney said, smiling back.

Francie decided to change the subject. "Speaking of good guys, from what I've seen of your boyfriend, he seems like a good guy, too. You're lucky to have him."

Sydney bit her lip and nodded. A feeling of uneasiness settled in her stomach. She needed to end things with Vaughn if she ever wanted something to happen with Sark.

Assuming things go well with this mission, that is.

Sydney sighed. It was quite possible that Sark could end up dead before she got a chance to confess her feelings for him. She suddenly stiffened.

What if he doesn't feel the same way?

She swallowed hard. She figured he had to, though, just in the way their sarcastic banter had always played out. They always seemed to be testing the other, see if he or she would let his or her guard down and open up. Neither one ever did, but Sydney knew that it was time. There was something there, something that could develop into something great if given the chance.

I have a chance.

"What?" Francie's voice shook Sydney from her thoughts.

Sydney raised her eyebrows at her friend. "What?" she asked in a confused tone.

Francie gave her a small lopsided grin. "You've been staring at me for the past two minutes, deep in thought."

Sydney blushed and quickly averted her gaze to the floor. "Oh, uh, no, I was just—"

"—Thinking," Francie finished.

"Maybe," Sydney conceded, scuffing her shoe.

Francie lifted her hand and moved her wrist in a circular motion. "About...?"

"Nothing," Sydney said quickly.

"Sydney, I see right through you," Francie said with a laugh. She thought wryly, 'If you only knew how true that statement is.' "Let me guess," Francie continued, "you were thinking about your guy."

Yes, except he's not really mine yet...

Sydney bit her tongue to keep that response from rolling off of it. Instead, she nodded and smiled broadly as she tried to ignore the knot that had just formed in her stomach as another lie that would be added to the dozens that she had already told poured out of her mouth. "Yeah, I was thinking about him."

"Awww," Francie purred, and Sydney laughed.

"Hey listen," Sydney began after a moment, "I have to go pack. I have another trip." She gave Francie a sad smile.

Francie rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Sydney, you have to quit that damn job of yours."

Sydney laughed a little and shook her head. "I can't quit my job."

"Sure you can," Francie insisted, "you can get a job as a banker anywhere. What's so special about this place?"

Sydney shrugged. "I just like it, that's all. Plus, I've been working there for so long, it would suck to have to start over somewhere else. Besides, I'm used to it."

Francie sighed and gave a careless shrug of her shoulders. "Suit yourself."

Sydney glanced down at the floor, feeling guilt pile up on top of more guilt. She not only had the whole Sark thing to worry about, along with what could happen with Vaughn, but now she had the whole 'my-best-friend-is-worried-about-me-with-this-damn-job-and-as-much-as-I-want-to-tell-her-the-truth-about-what-I-do-I-can't' problem. She swallowed hard and stepped forward to give Francie a hug, which she noted that Francie didn't seem too excited about. She attributed it to the conversation they had just had, but she couldn't help but wonder why Francie, someone who hugged people for the hell of it, was giving her—the best friend, no less—a half-assed hug.

Francie broke the hug and moved a few errant strands of hair away from Sydney's face. Sydney was suddenly calm, forgetting about the half-assed hug and focusing on the almost motherly act of Francie touching her hair and gently tucking it behind her ear.

"I have to get back to the restaurant, my employees are probably lost without me." She gave Sydney a wink and a smile and Sydney smiled back. "Love you, Syd."

"Love you."

Sydney watched as Francie grabbed her coat and left then sighed as she wandered to her bedroom to pack. She tugged her suitcase from her closet and tossed it onto her bed, then began raiding through the clothes she had and flinging some onto the bed. She went to her dresser and selected some undergarments, purposely making sure she grabbed a pair of black panties and a black bra, a grin spreading across her face, and heat seeping into her cheeks.

She carefully folded everything, all the while thinking about Francie and how badly she wanted to spill her guts about her job. But she knew she couldn't, so she chased the idea out of her head before she could seriously consider it and risk landing herself in prison for revealing secrets that could threaten national security.

Instead, she tried thinking of something else.

Sark.

She rolled her eyes. Of course, Sark had to pop into her head. Not that she was complaining, but she had enough to worry about right now than to think of his soft, smooth tongue starting at her lips and working its way down her neck, over her breasts and stomach, and down to—

Ugh.

Sydney shook her head, forcing the image to retreat to the back of her mind. She closed her suitcase with a sharp exhale of breath and dragged it on its wheels to the door where she grabbed her coat and keys and headed for her car.