His hands covered the sides of her slender neck, thumbs resting lightly
above her collar bone. Her arms wound around his neck, one of her soft
hands pressing him to her. Their lips continued to mesh together, becoming
more and more intense. As he moved his hands to her soft, shiny hair, he
felt her draw back.
Sark watched as her eyes searched wildly, her lips swollen and her skin flushed from their kiss. He caught his breath, realizing he was going to have to account for what had just happened, well aware of the fact that she was probably going to ream him out. On the other hand, she didn't pull away instantaneously and she had been returning his kiss with equal fervor. "Listen, I had to—"
His explanation was cut off as Anna grabbed his collar, bringing her lips to his once again. His hands grinded against her hips, her own hands roaming over his short hair. The kiss heated up quickly, almost as though there was a certain desperate urgency to it. And then some. There was also the red-hot passion enwrapped in the kiss, almost as though they were two lovers coming together for the first time after much strife and angst.
Anna pushed him away with her hands again, her back against the wall. Her breathing was fragmented and her eyes darted past him, still betraying a hint of the fieriness of their kiss. "The guards....came back."
Sark ran his hands over his hair and face, trying to cool down from the sheer heat of the passing moment. "Guards?" he asked distractedly, realizing that far from being disgruntled with what had just happened, he'd like to have been able to continue it....to touch her, to feel her....to kiss her. He mentally tried to shake those thoughts from his mind, shocked and mildly disgusted at his lack of inhibition.
"Well, that's why you...ugh....that's why we just did what we did, right?" Anna inferred, trying to sooth her hypersensitive nerves. Her whole body was still reeling from his mouth, his hands, the whole thing! She tried to shield her frazzled expression, managing to glare steely at him.
Sark recovered quickly. "Yes, absolutely. We blended with the crowd. I think we can make our exit now," he added, his accent sounding a little shaky to him.
********
Anna stared down at the words but they blurred before her eyes. She couldn't think straight. The kiss kept endlessly playing in her mind and she could practically feel the pressure of his hands touching her. Anna slammed the folder shut, frustrated. It nearly sickened her that the only interaction she'd had with a man in the months had to be with the one guy who could not be any worse to be with. Well, aside from it being a crime, Sark lacked morals and had done some truly horrible things. He'd coldly killed more than a few CIA agents and she remembered all too vividly his attempt to kill her. Sark couldn't be trusted. He was a horrible person...but, she thought as she snuck a glance at his face, intently staring out the window, he wasn't bad looking. In fact, he was actually pretty cute, with defined bones and smooth skin and bright blue, intense eyes that just... "Christ!" Anna said under her breath to her self. She just couldn't stop.
"Pardon me?" Sark looked up, his expression amused. He tucked his chin into his hand, looking at her expectantly.
Anna tried her best to look nonchalant. "Nothing...I was just reading the...ugh...the..." Great, cool, Anna, real cool.
"Files," he finished for her, taking them from her hand, his lips still curled in a smile. "You know, you might find it more beneficial if you read it right-side up," he commented calmly, putting the folder, the right way now, back in her hands.
Anna hid her mortification quickly, inwardly wondering how long she had been reading it upside-down. "As much as I'd love to take literacy tips from you...shut up!" Anna jumped up haughtily, her skin flushed pink.
"All this anger, where does it stem from?"
"It's not anger, it's hatred," she replied sweetly, her lips stretched in a wide, fake smile.
Sark looked up at her, his blue eyes gleaming. "You're no picnic, either, do you know that?
"I didn't realize that I was—," Anna was cut off as the plane lurched backwards and she stumbled forwards, falling into Sark's lap. She closed her eyes, her chest heaving with the effort of breathing. She felt his arms around her waist tighten, protecting her. When Anna opened her eyes again, he was looking at her intensely, his eyes unreadable.
"You alright?" he asked, his voice low and his eyes unmoving from her face.
Anna swallowed awkwardly, at the same time feeling uncomfortable under his stare and distracted by the fact that their faces were just inches apart. "I think I'm ok..." she whispered.
"Probably just turbulence," he said huskily, his fingers rubbing circles on her waist.
"Turbulence..."
He reached to brush a stray hair from her face, drawing their faces closer together.
"Sorry, about that back there. Hit a rough patch of air but it should be smooth from here on out," a loud, clear voice explained over the intercom system on the plane.
The moment was broken and Anna leapt away from him, her cheeks even more red. She moved quickly away from him, nearly running to the bathroom. Anna was angry at herself for almost giving in, for almost forgetting who she was...and who he was. As she opened the bathroom door, she took one last glance at Sark, wondering what was going on inside his head. What was he thinking?
Beautiful disaster. That's how Sark saw Anna. She was this beautiful creature who drew her towards him with her wit and fire. But in the same way, to have the feelings he had when he was within feet of her was unbearable. Though he hated to admit, he was attracted to her. But, he reasoned, I am just a man. Maybe he was just a guy attracted to a girl. Maybe it was as simple as that.
But maybe it wasn't. His attraction to and interest in Anna was starting to overcome him. It wasn't like he loved her. Well, he didn't even really like her. But she had somehow maneuvered her way into his thoughts and sometimes he became so distracted that he lost his sharpness. And that was disastrous. He had to be clear and detached. Basically, Sark had to just be away from her.
******
"I want someone else."
Anna looked up, her expression smiling at him, having no idea what he was talking about. "Ok, that's...great. You do that." She returned to her work, shaking her head at his rumblings.
"This isn't working," he tried again.
Anna's eyes held that look that one gives to someone they think is completely insane. "Ok, well....it happens to all men at some point...though I'm not all that surprised with you—"
"No, Anna, listen...," Sark tried to get her attention, grabbing her papers away from her and putting them on the seat behind him.
"Oh, what? Could you articulate this time, pleeease!" she said, exasperation entering her voice.
"When we get back to Langley, I'm asking for someone else. A different CIA operative," he said bluntly, lifting his eyes up to see her face.
Anna's brown eyes sparkled with confusion as she tried to respond to his words. "Someone else?"
"I just don't believe that this partnership is working out. With someone else perhaps more would be achieved," Sark said, trying to not let any trace of emotion shine through his blank expression. He could see the hurt in her eyes.
Anna exhaled deeply, sitting back in her chair. "Right....because successful missions obviously indicate a lack of achievement," she answered, a hint of anger lacing her voice.
"Listen, it's nothing personal—,"
Anna put up her hand to stop him. "No, you know what, it's up to you. But just remember, you asked for me. So good luck and good riddance," she stated briskly. She rose from her seat and headed to the back of the plane, feeling her hands shake slightly.
****** A few weeks later ******
Anna tested her tea to see if it was still too hot, blowing on it lightly. She looked up at Francie sitting across from her, flipping through the mail. Anna stared down at her plain mug again, her hands knotting together. Again, she snuck a glance at Francie.
Francie got her, throwing her mail down on the smooth, clean table. "Ok, girl, what?
"What?" Anna repeated blankly.
Francie laughed. "Seriously, you've been looking at me like you have something to say for the past 15 minutes."
"I have not! I'm just....taking in my surroundings," scoffed Anna, taking a sip of her peppermint tea.
"Because Steve the delivery guy is oh so hot!" Francie whispered conspiratorially, making sure Steve, a tall red-headed gangly creature with a nose five times too large for his face didn't hear.
Anna dissolved into giggles. "Ok, so there's kind of this guy...," she blurted out quickly.
"Whoa, what? Who, when, where? HOW?" Francie demanded, getting excited for her friend. She leaned forward expectantly.
"Ok, but you can't tell Sydney about this....he's kind of a guy at work and you know how people disapprove of interoffice dating..."
"But Sydney's dating Michael. They work together."
Anna smiled, trying to figure out how to choose her words. "Right...but see this guy is pretty....high level...one that's definitely off-limits. But there's another reason, Syd really doesn't like him and I'd kind of rather keep it between you and me. But nothing's going to come of it anyway so it doesn't matter."
"Why? Tell me about him? Is he cute?" Francie questioned, happy on the inside that Anna was finally getting back out into the world of love.
Anna suddenly felt very shy and like she was 12 years old. "Well, he's smart...most of the time, and he can be so funny, and he definitely knows how to make me crazy! Oh, and he's so cute," Anna summarized quickly. She actually kind of felt semi-sick talking about Sark in such nice ways. "Hot- cute though, not goofy cute with the great personality," she added, smiling timidly.
Francie grinned knowingly but her expression quickly went serious again. "So has anything happened between you two?"
Anna's mind flashed back to their kiss(es) 3 weeks ago and she could feel her cheeks grow warm, unable to stop them.
"Oh, so there has! Look at you, going all red. Spill it!"
"Ok! Ok! So remember that business trip I went on a few weeks ago—,"
Francie feigned innocence. "Oh wait, which trip was that again? Paris? London?"
Anna looked at her friend pointedly. "Fran—,"
Francie waved her hand in dismissal. "I know, I know! Your job is important, blah blah blah. So get back to the dirt!"
Anna bit her lip, smiling down into her cup. "We may have....well, I mean, there may have been a kiss....or two."
Francie knocked her hands on the table approvingly. "Yay! This is great!"
"Except not so great. All those 'good' things I said, well, there are SO many more bad ones. He's so cocky. And such a smart-ass. He drives me insane! I mean like literally, insane. And sometimes, I totally want to kill him sometimes. Does he have to be so snide? And such a jerk!" Anna ranted, growing more and more emphatic.
Francie shook her head in response, coming to a realization about her friend. "You've got it bad!"
Anna looked away, at the ceiling, at her mug, anywhere but at Francie. "No seriously! He's a jerk. Besides, nothing else can come of it. Ever. Case closed." Her expression turned solemn and she stood up to leave.
Francie grabbed her arm. "Anna, think positive! This is the first time I've seen you get all crushed out on a guy, in a long time. It's been years since you've actually cared for someone. More than just a casual thing. Not since Sam," Francie said softly.
Anna felt a wave of guilt sweep over her. How could ever possibly care for Sark in the same way as she had Sam? It just wasn't possible; they were on completely different sides of the spectrum. "It's just not possible. Some things just can't happen." She put her hand on top of Francie's warmly. "I've got to get going. You won't tell, right?"
Francie nodded in agreement, her brows furrowed together in concern. "Anna-- ."
Anna tried to smile brightly as she pulled the strap of her bag onto her shoulder. "Fran, don't worry, ok? I'm totally fine! See you tonight."
But she wasn't fine, she realized, stepping into the bright sunlight. Not at all. But she didn't even know why she cared. Her and Sark not working together was for the best. For once, that arrogant cocky ass was right, she thought somewhat sadly.
*******
"Hi." Sark came up behind Anna as she stood at her desk, clearly looking for something among the masses of paper, folders, disks and cds that littered her workspace. He wore a dark suit, his hands stuffed into its pockets, as he waited for her response, expecting it to be chilly, judging from the way she had noted his presence as though he were a mere fly on the wall.
"Hello. Mission a success?" she asked, looking uninterested in the response. She brushed past him, moving around to the other side of her desk, still rifling.
Sark spun around to follow her. "Went brilliantly, thanks for asking."
Anna avoided his eyes intentionally, flipping through papers as she scanned them. "How's working with Weiss? Are you achieving all you wanted?" she asked, trying to sound casual but a trace of bitterness had entered her voice.
"So far successful. I don't think he approves of me. He definitely doesn't like me."
She finally shot a quick glance at him. "Hard to see...," she muttered coldly.
Sark felt slightly stung, though he knew this was an improvement from her general avoidance of him the past couple of weeks. "Anna, about what happened....I was hoping we could be professional about this." He knew the second he said it, she'd make him regret it.
Anna turned to face him, their bodies close. "We don't work together anymore, remember? So I'm no longer getting paid to be semi-nice to you." She slapped a file folder to his chest before striding off towards the debrief room, her head high.
"That went well," he mumbled quietly under his breath, returning to his own desk. He sat in his chair for a few minutes, feeling...dejected? He'd lied to her. Working with Weiss wasn't great. It was damn boring. At least when he had been partnered with Anna, she had sparred with him, intrigued him. The past weeks at the CIA had been the most monotonous, routine time of his life and he could barely wait to escape from right when he arrived in the morning. At least Anna had made the missions interesting. And frustrating.
It was obvious at times that she detested him, yet at others, she seemed tolerant of him. And then there were the times when it seemed like Anna really connected to him. Sark, most of all, missed the inconsistency. He knew it was bizarre. Consistency was supposed to be this amazing thing. But one of the reasons he was so drawn to Anna was because he truly had no idea what she was thinking from one moment to the next and Sark never had any idea what she was going to do. She was unexpected.
Sark knew what he was doing would ultimately save them both from so much drama and so many problems. But he hated seeing the hate in her eyes when she looked at him because it wasn't entirely mutual anymore. Yes, she drove him insane and sometimes he definitely didn't like her, but he didn't hate her. Not even a little. Not even at all.
********
"Parker, medical services need to see you as soon as possible," Kendall stated, matter-of-factly.
"What? Why?" demanded Anna.
Kendall looked tiredly at her. "If I knew why, I'd tell you. Go."
She headed down to the basement floor, where the labs were, going over to the sign in desk. "Hi, I'm Anna—,"
"Parker, yes, we've been waiting for you. Come right this way," a middle- aged man interrupted, his body cloaked in a white coat.
"Wait, I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on!"
"I'm Dr. Hayward and I just need to run a few tests," he summed up quickly, obviously anxious to get going.
Anna balked, drawing away from the arm the doctor had extended to her. "Tests? For what? Tell me what the hell is going on here!"
Dr. Hayward took a deep breath before looking her straight into the eyes. "Fine. A whileback, you infiltrated a facility headed by Alison Doren, a member of the Covenant. It's now known that the basement floor was devoted to medical testing. Do you remember being exposed to any toxins, chemicals, anything like that?"
Anna racked her mind. "Well, I don't think so. I mean, when the building was on fire, there was this chemical smell and it was pretty strong....but that's about it. Why? What's happening?"
"I can't disclose that information," Dr. Hayward said, his voice stern.
"You will tell me, or I'll refuse to submit myself for testing," Anna returned, just as strongly.
The exhausted doctor realized how serious she was and pulled her off to the side of the room. "Last week, a CIA team invaded the new facility, as you know the old one was burned down—,"
"Yeah, almost with me in it!"
"Yes, well, within the new facility, there were a number of patients with mysterious symptoms...bleeding from many orifices of the body, inflamed lungs, rashes—basically they were completely dehabilitated."
Anna looked away horrified, starting to realize what the Doctor was saying. "What caused it?" she asked shakily.
"Signs are pointing to the release of the chemical you detected in the building. We're not positive yet and we'd like to run some tests on you to detect for any symptoms or heightened levels of susceptibility to infection," Doctor Hayward explained, guiding Anna to a quarantined cell, much like Sark's old cell.
"Ugh, yes—do what you need. But I'd like to be kept informed," she said unevenly.
And there he was. Sark sat on one of the two beds, his shirtsleeves rolled up; he looked up as he saw Anna and Doctor Hayward approach, looking somber.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Anna exclaimed, partially in fury, partially in disbelief.
"Well, Mr. Sark was exposed to the chemical, although for a much shorter period than you so we're testing him as well. We also like to keep you two separated from our other patients." The doctor looked at Anna's semi- disgusted expression. "That's not going to be a problem, is it, Agent Parker?"
Anna tried to compose herself, now torn between worry and horror. "It's no problem." Not for you, she added silently.
She entered the cell, sitting opposite Sark, her head in her hands. They just sat there, all the unspoken words dancing in the air. But they didn't need to speak. They just knew.
Sark watched as her eyes searched wildly, her lips swollen and her skin flushed from their kiss. He caught his breath, realizing he was going to have to account for what had just happened, well aware of the fact that she was probably going to ream him out. On the other hand, she didn't pull away instantaneously and she had been returning his kiss with equal fervor. "Listen, I had to—"
His explanation was cut off as Anna grabbed his collar, bringing her lips to his once again. His hands grinded against her hips, her own hands roaming over his short hair. The kiss heated up quickly, almost as though there was a certain desperate urgency to it. And then some. There was also the red-hot passion enwrapped in the kiss, almost as though they were two lovers coming together for the first time after much strife and angst.
Anna pushed him away with her hands again, her back against the wall. Her breathing was fragmented and her eyes darted past him, still betraying a hint of the fieriness of their kiss. "The guards....came back."
Sark ran his hands over his hair and face, trying to cool down from the sheer heat of the passing moment. "Guards?" he asked distractedly, realizing that far from being disgruntled with what had just happened, he'd like to have been able to continue it....to touch her, to feel her....to kiss her. He mentally tried to shake those thoughts from his mind, shocked and mildly disgusted at his lack of inhibition.
"Well, that's why you...ugh....that's why we just did what we did, right?" Anna inferred, trying to sooth her hypersensitive nerves. Her whole body was still reeling from his mouth, his hands, the whole thing! She tried to shield her frazzled expression, managing to glare steely at him.
Sark recovered quickly. "Yes, absolutely. We blended with the crowd. I think we can make our exit now," he added, his accent sounding a little shaky to him.
********
Anna stared down at the words but they blurred before her eyes. She couldn't think straight. The kiss kept endlessly playing in her mind and she could practically feel the pressure of his hands touching her. Anna slammed the folder shut, frustrated. It nearly sickened her that the only interaction she'd had with a man in the months had to be with the one guy who could not be any worse to be with. Well, aside from it being a crime, Sark lacked morals and had done some truly horrible things. He'd coldly killed more than a few CIA agents and she remembered all too vividly his attempt to kill her. Sark couldn't be trusted. He was a horrible person...but, she thought as she snuck a glance at his face, intently staring out the window, he wasn't bad looking. In fact, he was actually pretty cute, with defined bones and smooth skin and bright blue, intense eyes that just... "Christ!" Anna said under her breath to her self. She just couldn't stop.
"Pardon me?" Sark looked up, his expression amused. He tucked his chin into his hand, looking at her expectantly.
Anna tried her best to look nonchalant. "Nothing...I was just reading the...ugh...the..." Great, cool, Anna, real cool.
"Files," he finished for her, taking them from her hand, his lips still curled in a smile. "You know, you might find it more beneficial if you read it right-side up," he commented calmly, putting the folder, the right way now, back in her hands.
Anna hid her mortification quickly, inwardly wondering how long she had been reading it upside-down. "As much as I'd love to take literacy tips from you...shut up!" Anna jumped up haughtily, her skin flushed pink.
"All this anger, where does it stem from?"
"It's not anger, it's hatred," she replied sweetly, her lips stretched in a wide, fake smile.
Sark looked up at her, his blue eyes gleaming. "You're no picnic, either, do you know that?
"I didn't realize that I was—," Anna was cut off as the plane lurched backwards and she stumbled forwards, falling into Sark's lap. She closed her eyes, her chest heaving with the effort of breathing. She felt his arms around her waist tighten, protecting her. When Anna opened her eyes again, he was looking at her intensely, his eyes unreadable.
"You alright?" he asked, his voice low and his eyes unmoving from her face.
Anna swallowed awkwardly, at the same time feeling uncomfortable under his stare and distracted by the fact that their faces were just inches apart. "I think I'm ok..." she whispered.
"Probably just turbulence," he said huskily, his fingers rubbing circles on her waist.
"Turbulence..."
He reached to brush a stray hair from her face, drawing their faces closer together.
"Sorry, about that back there. Hit a rough patch of air but it should be smooth from here on out," a loud, clear voice explained over the intercom system on the plane.
The moment was broken and Anna leapt away from him, her cheeks even more red. She moved quickly away from him, nearly running to the bathroom. Anna was angry at herself for almost giving in, for almost forgetting who she was...and who he was. As she opened the bathroom door, she took one last glance at Sark, wondering what was going on inside his head. What was he thinking?
Beautiful disaster. That's how Sark saw Anna. She was this beautiful creature who drew her towards him with her wit and fire. But in the same way, to have the feelings he had when he was within feet of her was unbearable. Though he hated to admit, he was attracted to her. But, he reasoned, I am just a man. Maybe he was just a guy attracted to a girl. Maybe it was as simple as that.
But maybe it wasn't. His attraction to and interest in Anna was starting to overcome him. It wasn't like he loved her. Well, he didn't even really like her. But she had somehow maneuvered her way into his thoughts and sometimes he became so distracted that he lost his sharpness. And that was disastrous. He had to be clear and detached. Basically, Sark had to just be away from her.
******
"I want someone else."
Anna looked up, her expression smiling at him, having no idea what he was talking about. "Ok, that's...great. You do that." She returned to her work, shaking her head at his rumblings.
"This isn't working," he tried again.
Anna's eyes held that look that one gives to someone they think is completely insane. "Ok, well....it happens to all men at some point...though I'm not all that surprised with you—"
"No, Anna, listen...," Sark tried to get her attention, grabbing her papers away from her and putting them on the seat behind him.
"Oh, what? Could you articulate this time, pleeease!" she said, exasperation entering her voice.
"When we get back to Langley, I'm asking for someone else. A different CIA operative," he said bluntly, lifting his eyes up to see her face.
Anna's brown eyes sparkled with confusion as she tried to respond to his words. "Someone else?"
"I just don't believe that this partnership is working out. With someone else perhaps more would be achieved," Sark said, trying to not let any trace of emotion shine through his blank expression. He could see the hurt in her eyes.
Anna exhaled deeply, sitting back in her chair. "Right....because successful missions obviously indicate a lack of achievement," she answered, a hint of anger lacing her voice.
"Listen, it's nothing personal—,"
Anna put up her hand to stop him. "No, you know what, it's up to you. But just remember, you asked for me. So good luck and good riddance," she stated briskly. She rose from her seat and headed to the back of the plane, feeling her hands shake slightly.
****** A few weeks later ******
Anna tested her tea to see if it was still too hot, blowing on it lightly. She looked up at Francie sitting across from her, flipping through the mail. Anna stared down at her plain mug again, her hands knotting together. Again, she snuck a glance at Francie.
Francie got her, throwing her mail down on the smooth, clean table. "Ok, girl, what?
"What?" Anna repeated blankly.
Francie laughed. "Seriously, you've been looking at me like you have something to say for the past 15 minutes."
"I have not! I'm just....taking in my surroundings," scoffed Anna, taking a sip of her peppermint tea.
"Because Steve the delivery guy is oh so hot!" Francie whispered conspiratorially, making sure Steve, a tall red-headed gangly creature with a nose five times too large for his face didn't hear.
Anna dissolved into giggles. "Ok, so there's kind of this guy...," she blurted out quickly.
"Whoa, what? Who, when, where? HOW?" Francie demanded, getting excited for her friend. She leaned forward expectantly.
"Ok, but you can't tell Sydney about this....he's kind of a guy at work and you know how people disapprove of interoffice dating..."
"But Sydney's dating Michael. They work together."
Anna smiled, trying to figure out how to choose her words. "Right...but see this guy is pretty....high level...one that's definitely off-limits. But there's another reason, Syd really doesn't like him and I'd kind of rather keep it between you and me. But nothing's going to come of it anyway so it doesn't matter."
"Why? Tell me about him? Is he cute?" Francie questioned, happy on the inside that Anna was finally getting back out into the world of love.
Anna suddenly felt very shy and like she was 12 years old. "Well, he's smart...most of the time, and he can be so funny, and he definitely knows how to make me crazy! Oh, and he's so cute," Anna summarized quickly. She actually kind of felt semi-sick talking about Sark in such nice ways. "Hot- cute though, not goofy cute with the great personality," she added, smiling timidly.
Francie grinned knowingly but her expression quickly went serious again. "So has anything happened between you two?"
Anna's mind flashed back to their kiss(es) 3 weeks ago and she could feel her cheeks grow warm, unable to stop them.
"Oh, so there has! Look at you, going all red. Spill it!"
"Ok! Ok! So remember that business trip I went on a few weeks ago—,"
Francie feigned innocence. "Oh wait, which trip was that again? Paris? London?"
Anna looked at her friend pointedly. "Fran—,"
Francie waved her hand in dismissal. "I know, I know! Your job is important, blah blah blah. So get back to the dirt!"
Anna bit her lip, smiling down into her cup. "We may have....well, I mean, there may have been a kiss....or two."
Francie knocked her hands on the table approvingly. "Yay! This is great!"
"Except not so great. All those 'good' things I said, well, there are SO many more bad ones. He's so cocky. And such a smart-ass. He drives me insane! I mean like literally, insane. And sometimes, I totally want to kill him sometimes. Does he have to be so snide? And such a jerk!" Anna ranted, growing more and more emphatic.
Francie shook her head in response, coming to a realization about her friend. "You've got it bad!"
Anna looked away, at the ceiling, at her mug, anywhere but at Francie. "No seriously! He's a jerk. Besides, nothing else can come of it. Ever. Case closed." Her expression turned solemn and she stood up to leave.
Francie grabbed her arm. "Anna, think positive! This is the first time I've seen you get all crushed out on a guy, in a long time. It's been years since you've actually cared for someone. More than just a casual thing. Not since Sam," Francie said softly.
Anna felt a wave of guilt sweep over her. How could ever possibly care for Sark in the same way as she had Sam? It just wasn't possible; they were on completely different sides of the spectrum. "It's just not possible. Some things just can't happen." She put her hand on top of Francie's warmly. "I've got to get going. You won't tell, right?"
Francie nodded in agreement, her brows furrowed together in concern. "Anna-- ."
Anna tried to smile brightly as she pulled the strap of her bag onto her shoulder. "Fran, don't worry, ok? I'm totally fine! See you tonight."
But she wasn't fine, she realized, stepping into the bright sunlight. Not at all. But she didn't even know why she cared. Her and Sark not working together was for the best. For once, that arrogant cocky ass was right, she thought somewhat sadly.
*******
"Hi." Sark came up behind Anna as she stood at her desk, clearly looking for something among the masses of paper, folders, disks and cds that littered her workspace. He wore a dark suit, his hands stuffed into its pockets, as he waited for her response, expecting it to be chilly, judging from the way she had noted his presence as though he were a mere fly on the wall.
"Hello. Mission a success?" she asked, looking uninterested in the response. She brushed past him, moving around to the other side of her desk, still rifling.
Sark spun around to follow her. "Went brilliantly, thanks for asking."
Anna avoided his eyes intentionally, flipping through papers as she scanned them. "How's working with Weiss? Are you achieving all you wanted?" she asked, trying to sound casual but a trace of bitterness had entered her voice.
"So far successful. I don't think he approves of me. He definitely doesn't like me."
She finally shot a quick glance at him. "Hard to see...," she muttered coldly.
Sark felt slightly stung, though he knew this was an improvement from her general avoidance of him the past couple of weeks. "Anna, about what happened....I was hoping we could be professional about this." He knew the second he said it, she'd make him regret it.
Anna turned to face him, their bodies close. "We don't work together anymore, remember? So I'm no longer getting paid to be semi-nice to you." She slapped a file folder to his chest before striding off towards the debrief room, her head high.
"That went well," he mumbled quietly under his breath, returning to his own desk. He sat in his chair for a few minutes, feeling...dejected? He'd lied to her. Working with Weiss wasn't great. It was damn boring. At least when he had been partnered with Anna, she had sparred with him, intrigued him. The past weeks at the CIA had been the most monotonous, routine time of his life and he could barely wait to escape from right when he arrived in the morning. At least Anna had made the missions interesting. And frustrating.
It was obvious at times that she detested him, yet at others, she seemed tolerant of him. And then there were the times when it seemed like Anna really connected to him. Sark, most of all, missed the inconsistency. He knew it was bizarre. Consistency was supposed to be this amazing thing. But one of the reasons he was so drawn to Anna was because he truly had no idea what she was thinking from one moment to the next and Sark never had any idea what she was going to do. She was unexpected.
Sark knew what he was doing would ultimately save them both from so much drama and so many problems. But he hated seeing the hate in her eyes when she looked at him because it wasn't entirely mutual anymore. Yes, she drove him insane and sometimes he definitely didn't like her, but he didn't hate her. Not even a little. Not even at all.
********
"Parker, medical services need to see you as soon as possible," Kendall stated, matter-of-factly.
"What? Why?" demanded Anna.
Kendall looked tiredly at her. "If I knew why, I'd tell you. Go."
She headed down to the basement floor, where the labs were, going over to the sign in desk. "Hi, I'm Anna—,"
"Parker, yes, we've been waiting for you. Come right this way," a middle- aged man interrupted, his body cloaked in a white coat.
"Wait, I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on!"
"I'm Dr. Hayward and I just need to run a few tests," he summed up quickly, obviously anxious to get going.
Anna balked, drawing away from the arm the doctor had extended to her. "Tests? For what? Tell me what the hell is going on here!"
Dr. Hayward took a deep breath before looking her straight into the eyes. "Fine. A whileback, you infiltrated a facility headed by Alison Doren, a member of the Covenant. It's now known that the basement floor was devoted to medical testing. Do you remember being exposed to any toxins, chemicals, anything like that?"
Anna racked her mind. "Well, I don't think so. I mean, when the building was on fire, there was this chemical smell and it was pretty strong....but that's about it. Why? What's happening?"
"I can't disclose that information," Dr. Hayward said, his voice stern.
"You will tell me, or I'll refuse to submit myself for testing," Anna returned, just as strongly.
The exhausted doctor realized how serious she was and pulled her off to the side of the room. "Last week, a CIA team invaded the new facility, as you know the old one was burned down—,"
"Yeah, almost with me in it!"
"Yes, well, within the new facility, there were a number of patients with mysterious symptoms...bleeding from many orifices of the body, inflamed lungs, rashes—basically they were completely dehabilitated."
Anna looked away horrified, starting to realize what the Doctor was saying. "What caused it?" she asked shakily.
"Signs are pointing to the release of the chemical you detected in the building. We're not positive yet and we'd like to run some tests on you to detect for any symptoms or heightened levels of susceptibility to infection," Doctor Hayward explained, guiding Anna to a quarantined cell, much like Sark's old cell.
"Ugh, yes—do what you need. But I'd like to be kept informed," she said unevenly.
And there he was. Sark sat on one of the two beds, his shirtsleeves rolled up; he looked up as he saw Anna and Doctor Hayward approach, looking somber.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Anna exclaimed, partially in fury, partially in disbelief.
"Well, Mr. Sark was exposed to the chemical, although for a much shorter period than you so we're testing him as well. We also like to keep you two separated from our other patients." The doctor looked at Anna's semi- disgusted expression. "That's not going to be a problem, is it, Agent Parker?"
Anna tried to compose herself, now torn between worry and horror. "It's no problem." Not for you, she added silently.
She entered the cell, sitting opposite Sark, her head in her hands. They just sat there, all the unspoken words dancing in the air. But they didn't need to speak. They just knew.