Homecoming



"How did we do it, Sark?" Sydney asked, laying in his arms after their second bout of lovemaking.

Sark bit his lip, briefly considering a sarcastic response, but he held it back, sensing that Sydney had something serious and important on her mind. "How did we do what?"

Sydney sighed and flipped over onto her back so she could look up into his eyes. "I just feel like I've known you forever. Our—" She swallowed, wondering how Sark would react, "—relationship just seems like it effortlessly skipped several steps, but it doesn't feel like we missed anything." She bit her lip. "Does that make sense?"

Sark nodded, understanding completely. "Yes," he said, leaning down and melding his lips to hers, then playfully nuzzling his nose against her nose.

Sydney giggled and moved closer to him, resting her head on his chest and sighing with content. "I don't want this to end," she told him, echoing what she had said earlier.

Sark held her tighter and pressed his lips to her hair, her cheek, her ear. "I told you it won't," he said firmly, but he too was worried that something might happen to tear them apart.

"I believe you," Sydney said with a sigh, lifting her head slightly to plant a kiss on his jaw.

I hope to God he's right...


The next morning, there was a series of knocks on the door. Sydney sat up quickly, clutching the sheet to her chest. Sark sat up beside her.

"Who is it?" Sydney asked, her voice unsteady.

"It's me, Sydney," Jack said from the other side of the door, "and your mother and Dixon. We have a plane waiting for us to head home, we need to go."

"Okay," Sydney said, "just give me a minute." She stood up quickly and began collecting her clothes. She threw on the day-old stuff, knowing that her father had probably put her suitcase in her room and since she hadn't been in there to retrieve it, she was stuck with her dirty clothes.

Sark had begun to dress as well and after a minute, they were both ready. Sydney bit her lip and stood by Sark, whispering in his ear.

"How are we going to explain this? Us? To everyone? I'm sure my father is wondering why I stayed in your room instead of my own."

Sark looked into her eyes, noting that they were wide with fear and worry. "It doesn't matter. They'll see us come out of the room together and they can draw their own conclusions. Surely you're not the kind of person to care what other people think?"

Sydney shook her head.

"Good," Sark said approvingly.

Sydney nodded and made her way to the door as Sark went to pick up his suitcase. She glanced over her shoulder at him and ran a hand through her hair, realizing that she didn't have a brush. She mumbled a curse for not retrieving her suitcase before engaging in her nocturnal activities with Sark. She opened the door slowly and smiled at her visitors.

Irina returned the smile, Dixon was expressionless, and Jack was visibly pissed. Irina patted Jack's arm when she saw the look on his face.

"Jack, our daughter's in love," she said softly, turning his head towards her to gaze into his eyes.

Jack clenched his jaw and frowned, then looked back at Sydney who was wearing a smile and nodding at him. His features softened and he thought back to their conversation on the plane—how at ease she was in telling him she had broken up with Vaughn. He should have inferred that there was someone else whom she loved. He just had a hard time believing that she could love someone whom she had long believed was her enemy up until learning the truth yesterday. But he could see how it could have happened. After all, he had fallen in love all over again with Irina, even after she had deceived him for so long. Then, she had seemingly deceived him again in Panama and his feelings had lessened, but they were still there. But once he had found out that she was working in opposition to Sloane the whole time, the feelings had resurfaced, stronger than ever.

He gave Sydney a small smile and gave a small nod of approval to Sark. But he made a note to ask Irina how in the hell she knew there was anything between Sydney and Sark when they arrived back in Los Angeles.


When they arrived back home, there was a briefing about what had taken place while they were in Tuscany. Sark and Irina were subjected to a lengthy debrief after turning over all of the Rambaldi-related things they had taken from Sloane and were officially put on the CIA's payroll.

After the whole ordeal was over, Sydney and Sark prepared to head to Sydney's house, but were stopped by Vaughn.

"Hey," Vaughn said with a smile, his green eyes shining.

"H-hey," Sydney mumbled, a knot forming in her stomach.

Vaughn managed a quick nod to Sark, obviously not completely trusting him. "Hey, uh, do you think we could talk for a minute?" he asked, looking into Sydney's eyes. He glanced at Sark and added, "Alone?"

Sark narrowed his eyes and looked at Sydney who averted her gaze to the floor. "Of course," he began, feeling anger well up inside of him at Sydney for not telling him there was someone else, "we're through here, anyway." He glanced at Sydney again, his lips pursed, then brushed past Vaughn and walked through the rotunda.

Damn it. I should have said something beforehand. I'll fix it. Once I'm done talking to Vaughn.

Sydney crossed her arms over her chest, watching Sark walk away. Vaughn looked over his shoulder to follow where Sydney's eyes were focused.

"Wh-what was uh, that all about?" Vaughn asked curiously.

"Vaughn, I don't know how to tell you this," Sydney began, and was cut off by Vaughn.

"Sydney, is there something between you and Sark?"

Sydney nodded, her doe eyes brightening at the mention of Sark. She was warm again and she fought the urge to smile. "Yeah."

Vaughn nodded slowly, his jaw clenched. "How long?"

None of your business.

"Vaughn, why is that any of your business?" Sydney asked, her eyes narrowing in her annoyance at Vaughn's probing.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow at her and frowned. "Maybe because I would like to know if you were cheating on me when we were going out."

Sydney scoffed. "Right Vaughn, because I traveled halfway around the world with you on missions and I apparently had time to go sneak off and find Sark."

"So, then you just started this yesterday?" Vaughn inquired, his voice increasing in volume.

"Yes, okay? It started yesterday. But it wasn't sudden, Vaughn, I had had these feelings already," Sydney told him, her gaze quickly darting to the floor when his eyes fell on her.

"That's why you broke up with me," Vaughn stated, "so you could be with him."

"Vaughn! That wasn't the only reason, damn it!" Sydney yelled. "I told you I wasn't in love with you and that was the truth."

"Of course not, you were in love with Sark." Sydney started to reply but Vaughn's features softened as if a light bulb had just been turned on at the sudden realization. "You're in love with Sark," he said quietly.

You have no idea how much I'm in love with him, but God yes, I am in love with Sark.

"Yes," Sydney said softly, nodding slowly, "I'm in love with Sark."

Vaughn touched her arm. "Well, then I'm happy for you."

"Thank you," Sydney said, stepping forward and giving him a hug, which he returned with an awkward pat on her back.

"I'll see you," Vaughn told her when they pulled apart.

"Okay," Sydney said with a small smile. She noticed something between hurt and happiness in Vaughn's eyes. Hurt because he loved her, happiness because he was glad that she was finally happy. Sydney pressed her palm to Vaughn's cheek then left to go find Sark.

She spotted him on a planter box just outside the building seated comfortably, eyes staring at the passing traffic. She took a seat next to him and he didn't look at her or even acknowledge her presence.

"Sark, there is nothing between Vaughn and I. I broke up with him and that's the end of it."

"Sydney, he clearly still has feelings for you and he's not going to take 'no' for an answer."

"Well, he doesn't have a choice because I explained to him twice that I'm not in love with him and that I'm in love with you," Sydney said, her brown eyes finally catching the gaze of Sark's blue ones.

"Are you positive? I don't want to stand in the way—"

"Sark, damn it, I love you, okay? I—"

Sark quieted her with a sudden kiss. He pulled back after a moment, letting her react. Sydney blushed and grinned, her dimples prominent. She reached behind Sark's head and pulled him to her, connecting her lips to his. When they separated, both were smiling broadly.

"Hey, you know what?" Sydney asked suddenly.

"What?"

Sydney chuckled. "You're lucky I heard that conversation between you and my mother because otherwise I would still have no clue what your first name is."

Sark laughed. "That's true." He shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I hadn't even told you on my own. I mean, you slept with me—twice—without me actually telling you my first name."

Sydney blushed again and ducked her head. "That would really make a slut, wouldn't it? Sleeping with someone twice without knowing his first name." She chuckled.

Sark pondered this for a moment. "Yeah, that sounds about right," he said, chuckling.

"Hey, thanks a lot," she said laughing, punching him playfully in the shoulder.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sark teased her, referring to the punch.

"Ohh, you did not just go there," Sydney said, her voice almost taunting.

"I'm just saying that your so-called 'punch' wasn't exactly what I'm used to or would expect from the great Sydney Bristow," Sark said with a grin.

"All right then," Sydney said, standing up and rolling up her sleeves and putting up her fists.

"You want to fight?" Sark asked, his eyebrows raised.

"No, Andrew, I'm just doing this so I can stand here looking like an idiot," Sydney said, rolling her eyes.

Sark pursed his lips and scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"You are not pondering that," Sydney told him, slightly pissed off.

"You're right," Sark said, nodding.

"Good."

"But I was," Sark said with another grin, knowing it would get a rise out of her.

"All right, that's it," Sydney said with a shake of her head and lunging towards him.

Sark surprised her by sidestepping and grabbing her arm as she turned, pinning it behind her back and standing behind her, his face in her hair. He considered mocking her skills but decided he shouldn't, knowing that would piss her off further and that he wouldn't be so lucky if she tried again. So instead, he just kept her arm pinned behind her back with one of his arms and wrapped the other around her waist.

To his surprise, Sydney started laughing. "This is so silly."

Sark loosened his grip and chuckled. "I agree."

At that moment, Sydney took the opportunity to twist out of his grasp and pin Sark's arm behind his back with one hand and grasp his throat with the other.

"Nice," Sark mumbled.

"Thanks."

"I hope you've proven your point," Sark said, straining his neck to try and catch a glimpse of her face.

"Pretty much," Sydney said, still keeping her grip on his arm and throat.

"Mind releasing me?"

Sydney chuckled and let go just as Sark spun around and pulled her into his arms. "Well, hey there Mr. Just Lost." She winked at him.

"Hello to you too, Ms. I-know-we-didn't-actually-finish-the-fight-but-I'm-still-declaring-myself-the-winner."

Sydney grinned and melded her lips to his, threading her fingers through Sark's hair as he held her to him, hugging her tightly. The kiss ended and Sydney turned her head so that her cheek pressed against Sark's chest. She noticed Vaughn standing by the CIA's entrance. She sighed and was then relieved to see that he just nodded, finally fully grasping her feelings for Sark.

Vaughn looked straight ahead after that and went to his car.

Sydney kissed Sark again and just relished the feeling of being in his arms.

God, I don't want this to ever end.

"Andrew?"

"Yes?"

"I just keep getting this feeling that something's going to come along and ruin this for us. I don't know why, but for some reason I just keep thinking that's going to happen," Sydney said, her voice breaking.

"Sydney, everything's going to be fine, I promise. Nothing and no one are going to destroy this. Sydney, you have to believe that." He kissed the top of her head. "When we finally take down Sloane, we won't have to worry at all."

"What if we never do?" Sydney asked, looking up into Sark's eyes, her own eyes glistening with tears.

"We will," Sark said firmly, "we will."

"Okay," Sydney said, burying her face in Sark's chest, "okay."

Sark held her tighter and kissed the top of her head again. "I love you Sydney, and I swear to you, no one will ruin this. Not Sloane, not anybody."

Sydney looked up at him and smiled a little. "Let's go to my place. I want you to meet Francie and Will." She swallowed. "Wait, you've already met Will..." She pulled back, a knot forming in her stomach.

Sark pulled her back to him, whispering that he had never intended to hurt her by hurting Will, and that he had just wanted to obtain the page.

"Let's get going," Sydney said again and she took Sark's hand and they began to walk.