Before Sark could even process it, the Underground nightclub was flooded with paramedics and gendarmes. Sydney was quickly hooked up to an IV and a bag of blood while being put on a stretcher and rolled to a nearby waiting ambulance. The only reason Sark thinks he was allowed to go along in the ambulance was the fact that he would not let go of Sydney's hand.

Instead of being transported to the nearest public hospital, Sydney was taken to a secure French Intelligence hospital. Sark figured that this was all due to the pull Jack Bristow had in the intelligence world. In the back of his head, he knew that the phone call he had placed to him was probably the best thing and worst thing he could have done.

Sydney was immediately whisked into surgery where the bullet was removed from her chest. It hadn't pierced the heart but had done some serious internal damage. The shock to her system and internal injuries had caused her heart to stop. The surgery took two and a half hours, and by the end the doctors still had no explanation for the mysterious shock her system underwent to start her breathing again.

Sark was afraid that they were going to deny him access to her when she came out of surgery. But for some reason, they didn't even pay attention to his presence in the room. He sat by her side for six straight hours, barely moving. Every second he was afraid that she would stop breathing and he would lose her all over again.

The only think that broke his vigil was the sound of Jack Bristow's voice.

"I got here as soon as I could, Sark. How is my daughter doing?"

"The doctor's say that if she can make it through the next twenty-four hours, she has a fifty percent chance of recovering. She went without oxygen for at least four minutes, so they're not sure if she'll ever wake up."

"They don't know Sydney," Jack said. He pulled a chair up on the other side of the bed. "She's my little fighter."

"Mr. Bristow?" Sark asked hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"The doctors still have no idea what caused her heart to start beating again. They can't figure out what happened. I was wondering…" He trailed off to try to rephrase what he was about to ask. "Well, I hope you don't take this as an accusation because it's far from it. But, do you know what caused her body to do that?"

Jack nodded slowly. "It was actually the work of the Covenant that saved her." Seeing the look of shock on Sark's face, he continued. "When Sydney was kidnapped by them, they made a few improvements on her body. They altered certain aspects to make her an even more valuable asset. The CIA discovered most of them and had the process reversed. Except for one improvement which they couldn't reverse without killing her."

Sark motioned for him to continue. "It was a new form of technology they were trying out. They attached small electro charges to the walls of Sydney's heart. The charges were inactive and set to become activated if her heart was to stop beating for a length of over four minutes. This gave Sydney a leave way in case an assignment they sent her on forced her to pretend she was dead."

"So the Covenant made it impossible for her to die?"

"Theoretically, yes. If at any point her heart stopped beating, the charges would serve as a defibrillator. They would shock her heart back into working."

"The Covenant is a lot more immoral and vile than I ever guessed."

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, each one holding one of Sydney's hands. The only noise was the steady beep of the heart monitor reassuring them that Sydney was still there.

"We need to discuss something, Mr. Sark," Jack said, finally interrupting the silence. "What are your intentions with my daughter?"

Sark took a deep breath. No matter what he told people, Jack Bristow was one of the few people who had ever intimidated him. "Let me start with saying that I'm exactly the person you think I am. I'm not going to try to convince you that I'm the best thing for your daughter because frankly, I'm not sure if I am. But your daughter has been the best thing I've ever had in my life. She has that effect on everyone she comes into contact with."

"We agree on that point."

Summing up all his courage, Sark said the last words he knew Jack wanted to hear. "I love your daughter, Mr. Bristow. She's the only person I think I've ever loved."

"I know that you love her," Jack said simply.

"How?" Sark asked, confused.

"The fact that when she needed help, when she needed me the most, you pushed all your previous feelings and opinions to the back of your head and called me. I know it must not have been easy for you, but you did what was most important for Sydney."

Jack held up his hand as Sark tried to say something. "Don't interrupt. I know exactly what kind of man you are, Julian Sark. You're a murderer, a thief, a scoundrel. That won't change no matter how much you love my daughter. I can't fault you for those things, though. Because I'm no saint. I've probably done things twice as horrible as your actions."

"Thank you, sir."

"For whatever reason, my daughter seems to care for you. I trust her judgment more than anyone else's. If she sees good in you, there must be some truth to that. You and I both know Sydney will make it through this. And if she chooses to stay with you, I'm going to let her do that. She will be in contact with me on a regular basis, though. The CIA knows that she's with you so there is no more need for the secrecy she made me swear to."

"Understood."

Jack stared Sark straight in the eye. "Let me make something clear. I don't blame you for what's happened to her. I understand that you made an extremely hard choice to avenge my daughter. For that I'm grateful. But if you cause my daughter to be hurt ever again, I won't be so lenient. You're not the only one who can be vengeful and ruthless."

Sark nodded. Inside, he was thanking whoever was listening for the compassion and understanding Jack Bristow had given him. "Thank you."

The two men stayed by her side for days. The doctors kept coming in and telling them they should go get some rest, rent a hotel room, take a break. All they got in response were either an unintelligible growl or a scowl. Both men were in a silent pact not to leave her side for a moment.

After a week of no improvement, the doctor started to prep the two men for what may be in store for her. "The longer she stays unconscious, the harder and less probable it is that she'll ever wake up. You may want to consider what her wishes would be."

Sark stood up, grabbed the young doctor by the color of his jacket, and slammed him up against the wall. "If you are suggesting what I think you are, I advise you to reconsider. There is no bloody way I'm going to let this woman die if she's still fighting for her life."

"Security," the young doctor yelled loudly.

Jack got up and placed his hand on Sark's shoulder. "Why don't you put him down?"

When Sark complied with the suggestion, Jack led the young doctor out into the hall, trying to smooth over the situation. He didn't want the hospital staff deciding they were hostile visitors and banning them from seeing Sydney.

Sark was left staring at the wall with the doctor's insinuation echoing through his head. Unable to contain his rage, he punched the wall with all his might. That only gave the wall a large dent and him a hand with bloody knuckles.

"That looked like it hurt," whispered a very familiar, very hoarse voice from behind him.

Hearing it, he shut his eyes and turned around slowly. He pleaded with anyone who was listening that this not be a trick of his mind. He opened his eyes to the scene he had been imagining in his head for a week.

"Sydney." He was surprised he could even form that one word.

"Do I really look that bad?" she asked in jest.

"You look beautiful." He rushed over to her side and grabbed her hand.

"What happened?"

"That's not important now. The only thing that matters is that you woke up for us."

"Us?"

"Your father's outside trying to keep the doctors from suing me for abuse." Sark smiled and went out into the hallway.

When Jack came into the room, Sydney started to cry. "Daddy?"

"I'm here, baby," Jack said as he sat down on the hospital bed and pulled her close. "I'm here."

"How? Why?"

"Sark called me as soon as the Covenant implants revived you."

"Revived me?" she asked.

"You died, Sydney," Sark said from his position by the doorway. He was hesitant to intrude on this father-daughter moment. His hesitation was erased when Sydney held out her hand for him.

"You are the two most important men in my life. For all the doubts I had, I knew that you two wouldn't let me down."

"You need to rest, Sydney," Sark said. Jack nodded and stood up.

"You'll explain more later, right?" she asked, even though she was already falling asleep again.

"Absolutely."

The two men went to their respected seats and settled in for another night of uncomfortable sleep.

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

When Sydney woke up in the morning, Sark was the only person asleep by her bedside. He was sleeping sighting up in probably the most uncomfortable chair she had ever seen. Feeling a slight pressure, she glanced down and saw his hand in hers. She couldn't help but stare at how strangely peaceful he seemed for the few moments before he realized she had woken up. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn that smile on his face got wider as his eyes met hers.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hi," he whispered back.

They stared at each other in silence for longer than both realized. "You should probably explain to me what happened," Sydney finally suggested.

"You're not going to like it. And it's not going to be easy to hear," he began.

"I'm a strong woman. I can take it."

"I know that." He winked at her which made her smiled even more. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was getting up from where the Covenant agent had kicked me. I saw that she was talking to you and you were staring at me… with a look of horror…"

"That's right. That was the moment she told me she was going to shoot you. Which she did. Then, she told me that I should probably be with you in your last few moments on earth. Little did she know that you couldn't kill Sydney Bristow."

"Damn straight!" Sydney said in a rather weak attempt at shouting.

"Well, you did die for about four or five minutes."

"Please tell me you killed her for me."

"That's a little more cruel than I like to hear you, Agent Bristow. But, yes, I did kill her."

Sydney noticed that he was holding something back. "What aren't you telling me?"

"The woman that shot you. That was Lina."

"Your sister shot me?" Sark waited for the other half of the story to sink in. "And you killed her?"

"She's not the little sister I remember. Working as a spy, with Cummings, without me by her side, it changed her. She was so cold, even by my standards."

"How did you get the courage to kill your own sister?" Sydney wasn't appalled at the idea of it, only shocked.

"I guess I thought about all the courage I've seen you have throughout the years. I knew that since you were dead and there was really nothing I could do about that, I could at least make sure that your killer was brought to justice." He smiled at her.

"Don't put on a brave front for me. I know that this whole thing is tearing you up inside. You don't have to be strong with me."

Sark nodded and laid his head down on the bed. Sydney began to lightly stroke his hair in an almost motherly, soothing manner. They stayed like that for quite a while.

Eventually, Sydney whispered something. "What did you say?" he asked, raising his head.

"I said I lied to you."

"About what?"

"I remember everything up until the moment that I blacked out. I guess that was when my heart stopped."

"You remember everything up until that moment?" he asked. In his mind, he was trying to run through all the things he had said to her before she had slipped away.

"I remember you telling me that you liked the way I complicated your life," she said with a grin.

"Do you remember the part where you said you loved me, flaws and all?"

She nodded. "It seemed like you were trying to tell me something before I stopped breathing."

"It isn't that important," Sark said, standing up.

"Maybe it is important to me," she said defiantly.

"Listen. I need to go get your father. He's trying to wrap up some CIA business he had down in one of the empty offices on this floor. He told me to come get him when you woke up."

Sark couldn't bear to look at her in the eyes as he went to leave the room. As he got to the door, he felt his strength of will slowly filter out. In the back of his head, there was this crazy nagging feeling that he had to tell Sydney how he felt. That if he didn't, she was going to walk out of his life, probably for good. There was also another little voice in the back of his head that was telling him to let her go, don't try to trap her in your life, don't let her know.

He realized he had paused at the door when he heard Sydney's voice call out his name timidly. Seeing the look in her eyes, he knew there was only one thing he could do.