The flight wasn't as horrible as Sydney had imagined it could be. Her father and Sark didn't converse that much. That was mostly because Irina took up all of Sark's attention. She was intrigued by the whole memory erasing job the Covenant did on him and wanted to see what the after effects were. Seems she had a naturally inquisitive mind.

Most women would feel a little insecure when their fairly attractive mothers started pawing their boyfriends, but in Sydney's family, that's what passed for normal.

Sydney spent most of the flight staring out the window. She had a lot of explaining to do to Sark about the fact they were going to have a baby. In the back of her head, there was a small voice nagging her to just come out and tell him. But she couldn't. Not when the whole Covenant issue was unsettled. She wasn't willing to stir up both their lives with a child if she couldn't insure the baby would be protected.

Telling her mother and father about the baby had made things a little easier. It was nice to know that someone else would be helping her look out for it's safety. She needed that to stay sane, which was probably the only reason she had told them before she told Sark. But she knew that was all she needed. No one else would know what was going on until both she and Sark were ready for them to know.

The flight was as calm as could be expected from the four of them.

The real trouble that Sydney had been sure would happen sometime started when they got off the plane. Vaughn met them at the gate by himself. If she hadn't been in such a serious circumstance, she would have laughed at his reaction, or should she say reactions, to their arrival.

She stepped out of the boarding gate first and saw him smile an extremely familiar smile. No matter what happened, she and Michael Vaughn would always worry about one another when they weren't in contact. It was no longer romantic, but it was still there. They had a connection.

Her father came next, which made Vaughn turn the smile down a notch. It seemed he still hadn't broken his habit of being intimidated by Jack Bristow, and he didn't think he'd ever forget that in Jack's eyes he would never be good enough for her daughter.

Sark was next, and she saw the smile erase completely. In its place was a look of concentration. He didn't trust Julian. It also didn't help that her father, for whatever reason, approved of Sark. There was no reasoning behind it, but she knew that Vaughn knew and that it bothered him.

When her mother finally stepped out, the concentration on his face went straight out the window. Instead, his face was full of complete horror and indecision. He really had no idea what to do with the fact that one of the most wanted criminals was standing in the same airport terminal as him. This was not the kind of thing that CIA training taught you to deal with.

"Don't arrest her," Sydney whispered in his ear as she gave him a quick hug. "At least not until you've heard her crazy plan as to how we're going to pull this of. And after she tells you she wants to go into the facility alongside us."

"She can't," Vaughn answered simply, shaking his head.

"I am," Irina said determinately walking past him. "Assistant Director Dixon agreed to it."

Vaughn grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face him. "Dixon didn't say a word to me."

"That's because I just got him to agree as I was exiting the plane." Irina wiggled the cell phone that was in the palm of her hand.

"And how did you do that?" Sydney wanted to know. Her mother was truly amazing sometimes. This was one of those times.

"I explained to him that I have the best of intentions."

"We thought you had the best of intentions when we let you access Echelon that day. That didn't turn out so well," Jack pointed out.

"I wish you people would stop doubting me. I'm only underhanded and sneaky when the situation calls for it. This one doesn't. Besides, I assure Mr. Dixon that I wouldn't be compromising national security." No one failed to notice a slight smile in the corner of her mouth. "At least not today."

Vaughn sighed loudly while turning around and began to walk down the concourse. "You know I'm going to call Dixon and check this one out."

"Go ahead," Irina said, following him. "I'm telling the truth."

"That's something new."

Jack followed Vaughn and Irina without saying another word, leaving Sydney and Sark alone to head up the rear. "So, do you know what business your mother has in the CIA's facilities?"

"I have no idea," Sydney said. She looked at Sark out of the corner of her eye. "And that scares me to no extent."

"Things wouldn't be right if your mother wasn't making you confused and scared all at once." Sark slipped his hand into hers. "At least things are starting to return to normal. It's just too bad that our level of normal is so highly abnormal."

Sydney let out a deep breath and leaned her head into the crook of his arm as they followed the rest of their group out of the airport.

Vaughn flashed his badge, and the whole crew was let in through the front doors of the CIA offices. Sydney had to admit it was nice not having to hide for once. They walked down the halls in silence, and after quickly signing in, they found themselves standing in the middle of a rather familiar rotunda.

"So, who did you get to help us?" Sydney finally asked. She had been delaying asking Vaughn for fear that her friends had finally gotten tired of continuously offering her help.

"Not as many people as were there to help you find Sark," Vaughn admitted. "I mean, Amy's in the hospital still."

"How's she doing?" She took a seat at one of the tables in the briefing room that Vaughn led them into.

"She's okay. She hasn't lost consciousness again, but she's still trying to recover. The CIA has her under observation in the small med wing upstairs. What Will did to her was pretty severe."

"How is Will doing?"

"He's coping with his supposed actions. He still can't believe that he stabbed his own sister and then tried to kill you, Syd. I think it's tearing him up inside."

"He'll get over it," Sark said as he took a seat next to Sydney. At their horrified looks, he added, "I mean, it's not like Sydney isn't going to forgive him. If she can forgive me for all the stupid things I've done, then Will has nothing to worry about.

Sydney shook her head and laughed lightly, turning back towards Vaughn. "So, is there anyone else available?"

"Will and Noah are both in CIA custody. Lauren is on vacation with her family and Tyler. Marshall's agreed to help with the op tech, but we both know how he is on the actual missions. Not your number one choice for a partner. How about Anna Espinosa? Is she an option?"

"No," Sark said rather blatantly.

She rolled her eyes. "Anna isn't available right now. She's busy... doing... something." Sydney couldn't believe she had almost told Vaughn that Anna was busy working for her mother. No one was supposed to know about Irina's agenda, especially not a loyal employee of the US government.

"I'll let that one slide," Vaughn said as he turned his attention to Dixon who had just walked in.

"Tell me again why I let Irina in here," he immediately asked.

Sark raised his hand. "Because she's incredibly good at manipulating you stupid bastards?"

Dixon looked at Sydney. "Tell me again why I let Sark in here."

Sydney smiled. "I can't even answer that one, but thank you."

"It's all right. So, I just wanted to let you guys know that you have my unofficial support. I can't offer it officially seeing as half of you are or were wanted criminals." Dixon got a funny look on his face. "Come to think of it. You were all wanted by the CIA at some point in the past ten years."

"It's something about the family," Sark supplied. "It makes you want to commit a crime."

Sydney rolled her eyes again at her boyfriend's comments. "Thank you, Dixon. I understand that Marshall's going to be helping us get some of the technology up and going."

"Officially, no. Unofficially, yes. The CIA thinks that Marshall is going to be on vacation the next day or so. In reality, he's gong to be here working on your op tech. I'm sorry that there's not anything more I can do."

"It's okay," she said honestly. "In all actuality, the only two of us going in are Sark and I."

"This is news to me," Jack said, sitting up straight.

"Me, too," Irina added, raising her eyebrow. She was definitely intrigued by Sydney. It seemed her daughter was becoming more like her everyday. "Do you think that's wise?"

Sydney sent her mother a icy glare. She knew her mother was referring to the fact that she was pregnant. "I thought it over and decided it's in everyone's best interest." She put a large emphasis on everyone to get her point across to her mother. "It's too risky if a whole bunch of us went it. Sark and I are going to go in, do what has to be done, and get out. The less people to keep track of, the better."

Dixon nodded. "So, why did you have to come to LA? We both know that I could have figured out a way to give Marshall time to come to you in New York."

Sydney smiled at Dixon, causing him to start to get nervous. She only smiled like that when she knew she was about to ask for something ridiculous and impossible to get. "What do you want?"

"I lied a little a few seconds ago. When I said Sark and I were going to be the only two people going, I meant the only two former spies. I want Will to come with us to Tokyo."

"You want a mentally unstable man to accompany you to a foreign country? Out of the question."

"It's really important that he does come with us." Sydney turned to Sark, pleading with her eyes for him to help her.

"Sydney and I think we've come up with a way to get him to help us, no matter if he's normal Will or psychotic Will. So, it wouldn't be that bad."

"And are you going to return him when you're done?" Dixon asked.

"Probably."

"Probably is not good enough for me in this situation."

"It's all I can give you." Sydney stood up and walked over to where Dixon was standing. "I need your help on this one. Please."

He nodded slowly after a moment. "I'll help. But I'm telling you right now that I can't get him officially released."

"But you can let him escape," Sark supplied.

"Yes." Dixon sighed and made his way over to the door. "Be at the C Wing doors at about midnight tonight. Will will be there. Jack, could you come with me? I have a few things to talk to you about one of your upcoming missions."

"Thank you," Sydney said for the millionth time.

"I wish I could say make this the last time I have to do some ridiculous, outlandish favor for you, but I know that you'll be asking for another one in a week or two."

Sydney watched Dixon walk out of the office with her father before she turned to Sark. "I love that man."

"He's starting to grow on me, too," Sark said with a smirk.

Vaughn walked over to Sydney and Sark. "There's something you need to know, though."

"What now?" Sark asked, shaking his head.

Vaughn scowled at him. "Will is a field-certified agent with the CIA. He went undercover when you went missing for those two years, Syd."

Sydney stared at him in disbelief. Sark made a wisecrack to take a little of the tension out of the situation. "First, he's a psychotic brainwashee. Now you expect me to believe that the CIA put him through training and threw him out into the field."

"You wouldn't know about it. It all happened when you were locked up," Vaughn pointed out. "Will infiltrated the Covenant in an attempt to figure out why you had to die."

"But I pulled him out of Witness Protection," she commented.

"By the time you went to Wisconsin, he really was in Witness Protection. He quit working for the Covenant shortly after you, as Julia Thorne, made contact with Kendall. If you knew someone so familiar was working alongside you, they both believed it would send you into a downward spiral. Kendall needed you on the inside. So he pulled Will out, and Will came willingly."

"And then I had to go and screw him life up once again." Sydney blinked her tears back. "He was happy in Wisconsin, you know? I had to ruin that."

Sark realized that the conversation was getting a little too hard on Sydney and tried to steer it back to a safer topic. "So that must have been when the Covenant screwed with his head?"

"We believe that they used a brainwashing technique to place a dormant suggestion into his subconscious. He didn't know they did it until you two caught him red-handed so to speak."

"So, he was telling the truth?" Sydney asked.

"Looks like it. But the CIA is still not one hundred percent positive. Hence Dixon's inability to get him released officially." Vaughn looked over at Sydney and saw a strange look cross her face. "What's the matter?"

Sydney looked around the room wildly. "My father left with Dixon, and the three of us have been talking since then. So where the hell did my mother go?"

"Shit," Vaughn muttered to himself.

Sark watched him run out of the room and leaned back in his chair. "This can't be good."