CHAPTER 3

Sydney had downed her fifth shot knowing full well she should not be drinking in her situation, though going to see her mother was never a normal situation and the added presence of Sark was not a good thing. She grinned mischievously to herself, kissing him had been good though she would have to thank her mother for the trip entertainment when she met up with her.

She and Tanner were now playing shot pool she liked to play this way she found out now she enjoyed winning even more because she was able to take a shot with every ball sunk. She was winning when Sark showed up at her side.

"I don't think that drinking yourself into a stupor will make seeing your mother any less painful Miss Bristow." He whispered quietly in her ear.

"She whipped around quickly spilling her shot on the floor

"You don't know the first thing about my life so buzz off Blondie" she spat out angrily and turned back to the pool game with tanner looking on expectantly. "Is he bothering you Sydney?"

Sinking another ball she said "always" and grabbed a shot of whiskey downing it before Sark could grab it from her.

"Sorry love but I think that's enough" he said and wrapped his arm around her waist to steer her away from the pool table

"You're going to have to play on your own "he said to Tanner while pulling Sydney out of the bar and back to their cabin.

Opening the door and the pushing Sydney inside he shut it angrily "what the bloody hell do you think your doing?"

Sydney threw her arms up "what does it look I'm doing? You know there is nothing wrong with wanting to have a little fun once and a while"

" one would think that when going to see Irina Derevko they would want as clear a mind as one could get." He shook his head in disbelieve "obviously you don't care if Irina is displeased."

"Why should I care, once again I am called back to see my mother when she is the one who left in the first place. Why should I cater to her needs? I don't need her you know, if you knew what's good for you, you would walk away from her and never look back. She's evil and everything that comes with it." Sydney said obviously upset about having to visit her mom.

"Irina has raised me into who I am today. I have no intention of ever betraying her."

"Well that makes one of us then." Sydney said as she resumed looking out the window.

She felt annoyed now knowing that Sark probably didn't realize the full force of his comment about him being raise by her mother and that she wasn't. She had a headache now and leaned her head against the cool glass of the window to clam her.

She was tired suddenly and wanted to lie down pulling her bag out of underneath her seat she set it down and messed with it to give it a rounded shape she lay her head on it and closed her eyes rolling over to face the wall her knees pulled up to her chest and her hand laid across her stomach.

Sark watched her from his seat how she made a point to not look at him and he swore he thought he saw her eyes get a little glassy.

Going to see her mother was affecting her more than he thought it would, though he shouldn't have doubted how Sydney would feel about his being here to accompany her on her trip. Not that he had a choice in the matter Irina had told him to stay with her at all times. So he couldn't really blame her for hating their situation.

But did she really have to be so bloody stubborn all the time? He pulled out the book he had been reading earlier and slowly grew accustomed to the silence on her end.

A few hours had passed since Sydney had gone to sleep and Sark had long since finished reading the book and was now typing away on his laptop fully concentrating on the screen before him.

Sydney turned over quietly and went unnoticed by Sark who was still immersed in his laptop activities. She watched him trying not to move so that he would not notice she was awake.

She studied him for a while until she noticed something, she was astonished to see that Sark had no visible scars on his face or neck, with their line of work there is always scars, emotional and physical. Sark had none though in fact he didn't even have any worry lines no stress wrinkles nothing and that made her think of Vaughn. Vaughn used to constantly worry about her about her job about everything and he had the wrinkles to prove it. When compared to Sark with his baby smooth skin and young model looks Vaughn was an old worn out man.

She wondered if Sark had someone like Vaughn back home. Did he have a girl that worried about him constantly? Did she even know what he did for living? Then she realized that he once had Allison Doren. She felt a pang of sadness for her lost friend. God did she miss Francie. Then she realized that Sark was the reason she was gone, he was the reason the Allison was gone as well. She couldn't blame herself but she found herself doing so every time she thought of Francie.

Sark had been with Allison while she was Francie and she wondered if he missed her too. She spoke before she could control herself

"May I ask you something Sark?" she said and Sark looked up quickly and realized that she must have been awake and watching him for some time now.

He sighed "if you must"

Hoping that he wouldn't suddenly decide to shoot her for asking him this question

"Did you love her?" She said while looking out the window

"Francie… I mean Allison."

Sark looked back down at the screen on the laptop and he paused the game of minesweeper.

"Why do you ask?" he wondered where she was going with this question and wished that she had never asked it. This was a subject that was never crossed for him and he liked it that way.

"Just making conversation I guess" Sydney said shrugging her shoulders and looking back at him.

"I prefer silence" he stated simply and went back to his game.

"Sorry I asked" she spat at him.

She went back to ignoring him while looking thru her bag for aspirin. She was immersed in rifling thru her bag when she heard beeping come from Sark's direction it was giving her a headache even worse than before.

"Would you mind turning off whatever is making that infernal racket?"

"Actually I do mind, it helps me know what I'm doing wrong and I like it." Sark shot back at her "so why don't you go back to ignoring me like before, it seemed to work for the both of us."

Ignoring his comment she continued on "what are you doing anyway?" she asked leaning over to try and get a look at the screen.

"Beating my best score" He said in all seriousness.

"You're playing a game?" Sydney said surprised that he would do something so normal and got up to sit next to him.

"Right" he answered and looked up at her and smirked "don't seem so shocked Sydney, I do know how to entertain myself when the need arises."

They sat in silence both looking at the screen and passing the time until they reached their destination.

Every once and a while Sydney's voice could be heard saying

"Can I play now?"