Sydney followed the CIA directions to the house that they assumed Kaylee was staying at. She was surprised to realize that it wasn't the same house that she stole the Rambaldi book from or the main house of their mother's operations. It was a small cottage on the outskirts of Paris with enough of a yard to keep whatever happened in the cottage private. Praying that there was no security around the perimeter of the house, Sydney went closer to inspect.
The door appeared to be casually armed with an average door lock. Sydney knew that the one lock couldn't be the only one on the door. The other locks were probably too tough for her to manually pick so the walking through the front door option was out. Sydney continued around the house searching for other ways to enter.
"No way she would be stupid enough to leave windows wide open," Sydney though to herself. On closer inspection, she realized that she was indeed stupid enough. The window in the kitchen was propped open just a crack with a small twig. Sydney hoped that no one was downstairs and quickly lifted the window open all the way.
She slid in the open window and found herself in what she would normally think was a cottage that had been abandoned for the year. However, if the CIA said her sister was staying here, her sister was staying here.
There was a woman's voice speaking softly upstairs. Sydney decided to follow it in hopes that it belonged to Kaylee. Otherwise, she had probably broken into the wrong cottage. "Which is never good.," she thought to herself.
As she tiptoed up the stairs, she heard the woman's voice sharply cut off and then there was silence. Not one to be cautious in situations that could be potentially dangerous, Sydney began to hurry to the room she thought the voice was coming from. She flung the door open and put herself into a solid attack position.
The room was empty.
"I hope this cottage isn't haunted," Sydney said out loud.
"Nope," Sydney heard the woman's voice say. Next she heard the click of a gun's safety being clicked off.
"Well, at least I found you," Sydney said, trying to look on the bright side of the situation.
"But you also found the barrel of my gun," Kaylee answered. "What the hell are you doing here, Sydney?"
"I needed to talk with you. And it would be a lot easier if you stopped pointing that gun at me."
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Kaylee motioned to a chair in the corner. "However, feel free to have a seat. The gun will stay pointed at you, but if you behave, that will be the only uncomfortable thing that will happen to you."
Sydney sat down without saying a word.
"You wanted to talk. So talk."
"I was hoping that you would be a little more hospitable. I'm here to offer you a deal from the CIA."
"Let me guess. If I join you, then neither Mom or Sark will get hurt?" Kaylee said patronizingly.
"No. If you join me, then you won't end up dead."
"And you think that's going to sway me over to your side?"
"No, not really. That was the CIA's deal. It wasn't my deal. I know you love Mom, Kaylee. You love her about as much as I love our father. I could never abandon him. But Dad's not like Mom. She's lying to you, Kaylee. That's all her life is. One big lie. You need to start realizing that even though you're her daughter she will still use you if the plan calls for it. She's using you now to get under my skin and keep me from doing my job."
Kaylee held the hand that wasn't holding the gun to stop Sydney's speech. "I only have two words for you. Project Christmas. Dad lied to you as much if not more than Mom has ever lied to me. My life was a choice. I chose to be a spy, but our Dad took that choice away from you. Don't try to paint me a pretty picture about how your side of the family is the noble one. You don't know Mom well enough. If you did, you may understand the reasons why she's been forced to do the things she's done in the past."
"Maybe you can enlighten me," Sydney said.
"It's not my job. If Mom thought you could handle it, she would have told you already."
"Kaylee, our Mother lied to our father from the moment she met him to the day she staged her own death. Dad's the best agent I've ever seen when it comes to creating aliases. He's also the first one to see through someone's deception. Irina Derevko had him fooled completely. She has you fooled, too. Please come with me. I'm not going to force you to stay in the CIA's custody. I just want you to give it a try. See how our organization is run. If you still think we're the bad guys and Mom's organization is the good guys, you can leave. I promise."
"I never claimed the CIA was the bad guys. You do good work. The only problem is you'll never make any progress with your conservative tactics. The only way this Rambaldi mystery will be solved is through drastic action."
"So the answer's no?" Sydney asked.
"No, I will not be joining you today."
"Okay." Sydney visibly relaxed in her chair. "I'm not leaving just yet though. However, the business portion of this meeting is over. You can put down the gun."
Kaylee thought it over for a moment and then returned the gun to the holster sitting on the bed. She figured if need be she could take Sydney out with her bare hands. "What is there left to discuss?" she asked.
"I don't know exactly. I just want to know a little more about you. I mean, yes we're on different sides professionally. But you're still the little sister I never knew I had. I think I have the right to get to know a little."
"Anything information you really wanted to know, the CIA would have for you in their files. Why don't you start there?"
"Do you hate me?" Sydney said with a laugh.
"Yes," Kaylee answered. "Does that scare you?"
"No. It confused me, but I'm not scared. Why do you hate me? You barely even know me."
"I know you. Or at least I know people like you. You're the rule followers. The ones who will break them but only if the world depends on it. You're straight-laced and you do everything right. You're perfect. The only part of your life that isn't perfect is you keep losing people. Why don't you ask me the question you really want to know the answer to?"
"How about first you ask me the question I know you want to ask? Why have I been the only one who's been in contact with you? Why hasn't our father tried to see you?"
"And what makes you think I care?" Kaylee tried to cover. Sydney's words had hit a little too close to home.
"You care. I know you do. Dad's having a little trouble adapting to the situation though he'd be the last one to admit it. He loves me with all of his heart, and it took him years after Mom decided to kill off her life as Laura Bristow for him to be able to even look at me. When he looked at me, all he could see was Mom and the hurt she caused him. It's going to take him a little time to adjust to another reminder of the pain she inflicted upon him. Trust me. He will want to see you. Just give it time."
Kaylee nodded, hoping that Sydney didn't see the tears that she could feel welling up in her eyes. She knew that she needed to change the subject and fast. "Aren't you going to ask me the question you came here to ask?"
"And what question is that?" Sydney said, playing dumb.
"What am I doing with Sark?"
Sydney laughed. "I was slowly working up to that one. But yeah, what the hell is your relationship with him? He's not like us, Kaylee. Bristow women don't mix with cold-blooded killers."
"You forget," Kaylee said with a snicker. "I'm not a Bristow woman. I'm a Derevko. We are cold-blooded killers. It only fits that we form relationships with others of our kind."
"Okay, let's forget the whole murder angle. Your relationship with Sark is never going to go anywhere, Kaylee. I've seen Sark use his charm on women a million times. He's almost swayed me once or twice by it. He doesn't fall in love. He just uses you until you're not beneficial to him anymore."
"I never said that I wanted him to love me. And how are you so certain he's using me?"
"I saw the way you looked at him in Madrid. He's more than a man who's good in bed to you."
Kaylee looked shocked. "And how do you know that he's good in bed, Agent Bristow? Have we been having some inappropriate fantasies about the bad boy?" Sydney sent Kaylee a look that burned into her. "Guess I wasn't too far off on that one."
"Have you two even defined your relationship at all?"
"Unlike you, I don't always need boundaries or definitions. Sometimes it's a lot more easy and fun to go with the flow of things. You should try it the next time your life spins out of control. Because my research tells me that happens a lot to you."
"I'd like to say that I missed having a sister who innately hates me in my life, but I can't say that I do."
"If I piss you off, then why don't you just leave?" Kaylee suggested.
"You still haven't told me your feelings for Sark and why exactly you have any feeling towards him."
"God damnit! Don't try to fix me, Sydney. I'm not broken." She paused. "No matter how much you think I am."
Sydney realized that the conversation wasn't going to progress any further. "At least not today," she thought. "But at least I planted some seeds of thought in her head." Sydney stood up and made her way to the door. When she was about to leave the room, she turned back towards Kaylee and just stared for a minute.
"What is it now?" Kaylee asked. "Do you want to know if I really am a cold-blooded murder like my mother or Sark? Or do you want to say that you'll give me time to think over your offer? Or did you think of another way you can try to fix me? What the hell do you want from me?"
"I was just wondering if I could use the front door instead of climbing back out the kitchen window."
"Oh." Kaylee pushed her way in front of Sydney and walked downstairs to the front door. She quickly punched in the code and scanned her handprint. The door's locks made a satisfying click. Kaylee turned to go back upstairs but was surprised to find herself being pulled into Sydney's arms.
"No matter what, you're my sister. I don't know you, but that doesn't mean I don't instinctively love you. And someday you'll learn that everyone is broken in someway."
"Even you?" Kaylee said with a slight smile.
"Especially me." Sydney turned her back on her sister and walked down the long driveway.