Sydney was sitting at her desk in the CIA offices when she came across the note. It must have been dropped there when she had been away from the desk. It had neither a stamp nor any address. Just her name written in very familiar handwriting.

All it said was "Come."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~One year earlier~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

It had broken her heart when Sark didn't show up with Kaylee that day in Rome. They had waited half of an hour past the time they had agreed on to leave. Her mother and father argued with one another for twenty minutes straight about whether leaving was the right thing to do. In the end, they decided that it was.

Vaughn held Sydney's hand the whole car drive and plane ride home to L.A. She was distraught with grief for her sister and the man she had come to realize was one of her best friends. It hurt him to see her so upset.

When they reached L.A., Sydney took her young nephew back to her house. It went unsaid that she was going to take care of him. Grayson knew her the best out of all his relatives, and Will had temporarily moved back in with Sydney. The main reason her taking Gray went unsaid was that not one person present wanted to talk about the fact that his parents were never going to be available to raise their own son.

For a week, life had gone on without much incidence or much investigation in to what had really happened. No one brought the subject up with Sydney or any of the people present that day in Rome. No one wanted to talk about it.

Sydney refused to believe that Sark and Kaylee were dead, and she was proud to tell anyone who would ask. People had begun to speculate that she was going to have a break down just like Vaughn had when she disappeared for two years.

When Sark waltzed into her house two weeks after his disappearance, she began to agree that it was possible she was losing her mind.

"You're not real," she whispered staring at him in shock.

"Everyone keeps telling me that. You. Your sister."

"Kaylee," Sydney said as she stood up and walked over to where Sark was standing. She reached her hand out cautiously to touch Sark. When she hit an actual person, she screamed.

"I told you I was real, Syd."

She finally allowed herself to believe he was real when he called her Syd. It was said in such a familiar tone that she knew she wasn't imagining things. She took in his appearance now that she knew this whole thing wasn't all in her head.

He was dressed in a pullover sweater and a pair of jeans, simple clothing that, unlike his normal attire, didn't make him stand out in a crowd. She had to admit to herself, though, that no matter what he wore, he always seemed to look good and draw attention to himself that way. Half of his face showed signs of recovering from a massive bruise. His hands were covered in gauze. "War wounds," Sydney thought. She could only assume that the hand injury was from the cut-up job she had done on both of them when they were tied back to back.

Sark smiled at her and limped his way over to the couch.

"You're still hurting," she stated.

"Pain killers help. I've never had my back cut up so badly before. And your sister bloody shot me in my side." Sydney looked at him in surprise. "I'll be okay. Listen. No one can know that I'm alive. They can't know I've come to see you. Can you promise me that?"

Sydney nodded. "Is my sister all right?"

"She will be." Sark was interrupted by a little boy running into the room. "Grayson?"

"You're my daddy," the young boy said.

Sark's mouth dropped open. Sydney believed this is the first time, ever, she had seen Sark truly astonished. "He knows who I am."

"Me and Gray here have been having a few chats while you two have been awol. I explained to him who you were and showed him a picture. Funny thing is, the little bugger said he already met you once. You, and I quote, 'are the nice man who hugged Mommy when she was crying'. Care to explain that?"

"No," Sark said to Sydney. He turned his attention back to Grayson. "Hey, little man."

"Can I see Mommy now? Aunt Sydney says that you know where she is." Grayson crawled up into Sark's lap.

"Didn't think we were dead, huh, Syd?" he said with a smirk. He wrapped his arms around his son.

"I've learned over the years that you can't be killed even if I try really, really hard. And believe me I have," Sydney said and sat down next to them. "Why are you here, Sark?"

"I wanted to let you know that Kaylee and I are all right."

"You just said that she isn't all right. You said she would be," Sydney corrected.

"Whatever the Covenant did to her, it took me two weeks to undo. She's hurting inside and out. She needs our son with her. To help her heal. That's the second reason I came here."

"How am I supposed to explain Grayson's sudden disappearance? I can't just tell the CIA that he was kidnapped and I don't really want to go after him."

"Tell the CIA that Grayson wants to live with his grandmother for a while. Make up some bullshit about how you think it's the right thing for him to do. You were always good at lying when you had to."

"My mother's just going to love that grandmother thing." She sighed. "But I'll do it."

"How is Irina these days?"

"Still flying high with her government pardon. She actually convinced the CIA to look into giving her clearance so she can become an agent. And you don't even want to see her and my father together."

"Like newlyweds?"

"I'll never understand. First he hates her. Then he loves her. Then he hates that he loves but still does. It's like a bad novel. Right now she's closing up her business dealings in Paris while my father works on getting her that clearance. She'll be there for a few months. I'll let her know that she's supposed to have Gray with her."

"Thank you, Sydney." Sark stood up with Grayson in his arms. "Are you ready to go home, little man?"


"Is Mommy there?"

"Yes, she is."

"Then let's go!" Grayson giggled as Sark tickled his stomach and threw him over his shoulder.

Sydney stood up next to Sark and touched his cheek lightly. "You're going to be a great father."

He smiled at her. "We can't stay in contact with you, you know that. But we won't be missing forever."

"I'm sure I'll hear from you again someday."

Sark smirked one last time and walked out of the front door with Grayson in his arms waving goodbye to his aunt.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~Present Day~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Sydney looked over at the man sitting next to her on the plane. She watched as he fidgeted with the ring that was on his left hand. A giggle escaped her mouth.

"What?" Vaughn asked her.

"I was just remembering how much I hated that nervous habit of yours when you were married to Lauren. But now…"

"Now that you're the one I'm married to, you find it kind of cute, right?"

"I find everything you do cute," she admitted.

Vaughn stared out at the ocean the plane was flying over. "Now can you tell me why we both had to request off a week and fly to Australia?"

Sydney reached into a bag and pulled out a pen. She twisted it. "I got a note from Kaylee. The only word it said was come. She needs us for some reason. I'm not going to be the one to refuse her."

"Is this a happy situation or a dangerous situation?"

"I honestly don't know."