Kaylee was surprised to wake up the next morning with Sark's arms still firmly planted around her naked body. She would have really guessed that he would have freaked out somewhere during the night and run away in fear of what they had done together. Or at least that's always what had happened to her before when her ex-lovers realized they had slept with the daughter of one of the world's most dangerous women.

She turned over so she could see Sark just to make sure that he was actually there. She was surprised to find him completely awake and staring back at her.

"Hi," she said simply.

"Good morning," Sark whispered. He planted a small kiss on the bridge of her nose. "I know we have to talk about what happened last night. But can we just put it off for a little while?"

"Since you look so damn cute with that worry face," Kaylee said turning back over, "I guess we could."

Sark smiled and pulled her a little closer to him. He had just slept with the daughter of his boss of ten years, and he didn't care. He wanted to live in the moment for a little while longer because he knew that this kind of display of affection could never, ever happen again. A spy who wants to keep himself from dying never lets his emotions get tangled up in the game, and that's exactly what would happen if he allowed himself to care for Kaylee more than he already feared he did.

Kaylee's voice interrupted his thoughts after a few minutes of silence. "I suppose that, since we're putting off reality for a little while, and we've both gotten plenty of rest, you wouldn't mind another round?" She could just picture his shocked face at her proposition.

"Why picture it when you can actually see it?" she thought and turned back over. She was stunned to see that he didn't look shocked but rather he looked eager at the proposition. "Even better," she murmured as she pulled his face close for a kiss.

And that was when their whole little secluded world came crashing down.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Irina had been sitting in one of the main offices in her London base of operations when she had gotten the news of Kaylee and Sark's abduction the day before. She had confidence that her daughter has been raised with an adequate enough education to get her free from whomever had kidnapped her, especially since none of the major government organizations or crime syndicates were admitting to having Kaylee in their custody. Irina figured it must be some new organization which would mean the whole operation was probably extremely sloppy.

However, she found herself concerned enough to finish up her business in London rather quickly and return to Paris. She wasn't surprised when she was informed that Kaylee and Sark were hiding out in Kaylee's summer home. Irina had specifically instructed Kaylee to equip the house with top of the line surveillance and security gear as soon as she had purchased it. Kaylee had received strict instructions if some emergency came up that was tied to her mother's work somehow to go here, to the one place that wasn't connected to Irina in any way.

Not wanting to alarm Sark who Kaylee probably had sleeping on the coach in case someone found them, Irina used a small decoder to jam the digital keypad and used her own hand to open the door. The door swung open.

"Wow, no Sark on the coach," Irina thought. "I was wrong about that one. Kaylee must be getting a little cocky about her skills. Just like her sister is." Imagining Kaylee passed out on her bed from the shock of being tortured by her captors, Irina began to make her way a little more quickly upstairs to the room she knew her daughter favored and let herself in.

She was surprised to see that her daughter had a man in her bed. She was even more surprised when she realized that man was her business associate and the only man in her life she currently trusted.

"Well, well," Irina said out loud, "What do we have here?"

Sark immediately stopped kissing Kaylee and froze his entire body. This was probably the worst possible scenario he could have imagined. Kaylee, not missing a beat, got out of bed and threw on her robe, which was sitting on the chair next to the bed. She sat back down on the bed next to Sark. Seeing the look of horror still emblazoned on his face, she slipped her hand quietly into his for support.

"What have you been doing with my daughter?" Irina asked Sark with a smirk. Not waiting for Sark to answer her, Irina walked over to her daughter. "Can I talk with you a moment in private, darling?"

Irina grasped Kaylee's arm lightly and led her out of the room. Right as they reached the door, Irina called behind her, "Please put some clothes on, Sark. I want to talk with you next."

Kaylee sat down on the coach in the living room that she had been on with Sark only twelve hours earlier. She stared up at her mother blankly. For once in her life, she couldn't gage what her mother's reaction would be. "I'm not sure where to begin," she admitted.

"Darling, I'm not mad," Irina reassured her.

Kaylee's jaw dropped open. "But you've never approved of any man I've been intimate with. Not once."

"I'm aware," Irina said coolly. "But you've never dated a man like Andrew Sark. He's good for you. "

"You're confusing the hell out of me, mother. Are you pissed off or are you actually happy?"

Irina let out a sigh. "Let me let you in on a little secret. I practically raised Sark to fall in love with you and vice versa. I had always intended for you two to be together. I just never imagined that it would happen so quickly. You're both so stubborn I assumed you'd need a lot more pushing."

"No matter if it made us happy or not, you were going to force us to be together." Kaylee felt her temper flare for the hundredth time since she had met Sark a few days earlier. She knew she was being irrational when she should have been happy with what her mother told her, but irrationality was another trait she had inherited from her mother.

"Oh come on," Irina said with a doubtful look on her face. "You didn't notice a pattern of men you were bringing home? What qualities did they all have?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, mother," Kaylee said obstinately.

"They all walked around with their emotions on their sleeve. How many of them told you they loved you within days of meeting you? They were all pushovers who would do whatever you wanted them to. And not because you had them wrapped around your finger, but because they thought it was just easier to let you control them. They were just pathetic, dear. And my daughter deserves much, much better than that."

"And what does this have to do with anything really?"

"I wanted you to transfer my emotions of dislike onto yourself. I figured if I trained you to hate men who were the exact opposite of Sark you would have an easier time when you met him. By doing that, I convinced you to raise your standards. I mean, you haven't seriously date a man in almost two years. I could remember a time when you felt weird if you were single for a month." Irina paused to collect her thoughts. "Andrew Sark has proven himself to me. He's a good man. Like a good spy, he keeps his emotions hidden from the world, and he would die than let a woman know they were controlling him. I'm not saying a woman couldn't because personally I have for years. It's just that the woman would have to let him think he was still in control as she was calling all the shots."

"What was the purpose of this whole plot?" Kaylee said. She really wanted her mother to get right to the point. But knowing Irina like she did, she knew that it might take years to learn what her mother was really planning with this whole scheme.

"Honestly, I just wanted to see you happy. I wanted to see you with a guy who was at your level. You've always dated guys so beneath you."

"True," Kaylee said with a smile. "But there wasn't much of a selection. I had to take what I could get because most of the guys out there were scared shitless to date me because of you."

"Sark isn't scared to date you," Irina said trying to steer the subject back to her daughter's new lover.

"I'm not so sure about that. He told me that the only reason he was holding back was because being the boss's daughter, I was off limits. If he weren't scared, that wouldn't bother him. And by the way, mother, we're not dating. In his mind, this was a one time thing, I'm sure."

"I have a feeling it had more to do with what he was feeling than what he thought I would feel. Well, you two should have a chat about that with one another when I'm done speaking with him," Irina said in a dismissive tone. "Would you bring him down to me?"

Kaylee sighed. When her mother was through giving answers, there was no power on earth that could make her divulge more. Kaylee trudged upstairs and flung herself on the bed in exasperation. She looked up to see Sark sitting on the end of it looking rather worried.

"Oh, calm down," Kaylee said taking a little of her anger out on him. "She wants to talk to you."

"Shouldn't we talk first?" Sark asked. He couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"That would probably be the best thing to do," Kaylee admitted as she sat up. "Mom can wait."

Sark began, "What happened last night was--"

Kaylee cut him off. "A one time thing. I know, I know. You don't have to bang it into my head. I understand that you can't have attachments if you want to be good at your job. I'm the daughter of Irina Derevko. I know how emotional detachment goes."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Oh really?" Kaylee said, curious. Sark still hadn't made eye contact with her which was strange. He had always presented himself as extremely cocky since she had first seen him. The research she had quickly compiled on him since that time said that he loved to shake people up by making eye contact with them and not breaking it until it was almost impossibly uncomfortable.

"I was going to say that what happened last night probably should be a one time thing. That's what my head's telling me to consider it. Like you said, as a good spy, I know emotion kills. But I honestly don't want it to be over."

Kaylee stared at him, completely speechless. This is not what she had expected to hear this cocky, stubborn man say.

"Listen. You remember that conversation we had before when you accused me of being in love with Sydney." Kaylee nodded. "I think that's when I realized how much trouble I was in. I explained to you that I could easily be in love with her, but I'm not. I said that I just couldn't understand how she could be so open and vulnerable. The way you're not."

"If that's a compliment, I don't know how I should take it."

"It is a compliment. You don't wear your emotions on your sleeve like Sydney does. You're more like me. Neither one of us could possess that open vulnerability. You hide your emotions until you almost bust with pent up anger and rage. I understand that because I do it to. That was the one major point that Sydney and I differ on. The one main thing that kept me from developing feelings greater than admiration for her." Sark quickly changed the tone of his voice to something a little more joking, but he still failed to look up at her. "Hell, I really think you were wrong when you said she was my perfect fit."

"Why?" Kaylee asked.

"Because you're my perfect fit and then some," Sark said finally making eye contact with her. "And it scares me to hell."