A lovely little chapter for summer. I kind of forget about this fic so sorry for the delay. Same as always: the characters aren't mine.

Jack turned the volume down on the monitor he had been watching and shook his head. So Sark knew the truth about Jack's love before Irina. It broke Jack's heart all over again to remember what he had done to Antoinette but that was the past. Now, he had to make sure the truth was cut off at its knees from Sydney. The truth about his real connection with Antoinette.

But it was too late. She had seen it all from the monitor in Marshall's office. Seen the exchange between Michael and Sark. But that was the farthest thing from her mind. She had seen the exchange between Eric and Sark and that's all she could think about.

"Syd!" She turned to the conference room to see Eric beckoning her to the meeting.

Vaughn came storming out of the cell hallway in a downright rage. He pushed past Eric, taking a seat at the end of the table and Sydney followed behind him, smiling slightly at Weiss before wandering to the other side of the room. She realized that her heart was flip-flopping more than usual for debrief and it wasn't because of the excitement of the mission. And much to her surprise, it wasn't even Vaughn. It was because of her growing feelings for Weiss.

When had that happened?

Maybe it was when he'd helped her move her bed last week. Or when he rushed over to her house when he didn't get her by phone. Maybe she had always liked him but their paths never crossed right. If he had been her handler instead of Vaughn, would it have been them to hook up? Would he have waited for her after she went missing?

Vaughn would always be in her heart. She knew that. But loving someone and being in love with someone weren't the same thing. A lump formed in her throat at the realization that her feelings had changed for Vaughn. He was different. She had changed. The new Sydney and the new Vaughn didn't fit as well together.

She sank into her chair, unable to breathe and unable to look at anyone in the room. Thinking about her father and Vaughn's unnerving connection made her shutter for some reason. And she desperately wanted to know who her father had been in love with but couldn't look at him for giving herself away.

She was more than aware of Eric as he sat down in front of her. Eye contact wouldn't be good until she figured out her heart.

No one was left. Luckily, Marshal came in.

"Hey everyone. How's it, uh, how is everyone--- doing this morning?"

The men offered half-hearted grumbles, but Sydney welcomed his question. "Hey Marshall. How're Carrie and Mitchell doing?"

"Great! He didn't scream bloody murder last night."

"Oh, that is good news! He is turning out so adorable."

"Thanks, thank you. I think he'll be quite the looker. Hey, you never know, if you have a daughter in the near future, they could date. Have you thought about it?"

"Our kids dating?"

"No, you having kids."

Sydney felt the intense heat of three extra pairs of eyes on her as she muttered an 'I don't know' and shuffled through the papers in front of her.

Thankfully, Dixon came in and order fell over the room. "Good morning. Our time is brief, so I will be. We have an operative in danger in Rio de Janeiro and we need you to go and extract her. She desperately needs out. Sydney, I'm sending you and Weiss to get her back. Weiss' contacts will be great help for this mission. Marshall, run op tech. Jack, you'll be running things from the van. Let's bring her back people."

Weiss was on the mission. For some reason, Sydney's heart was beating faster again. That wasn't a good sign. Soon she found herself sitting in a cushy, government issued airplane seat next to a joke-cracking Weiss. Weiss. He was sweet and kind, had his fair share of mystery, could definitely make her laugh but more importantly knew how to make her smile. Sydney realized she didn't know much about him. She knew he had- sisters?- was an economics major, spoke Spanish, but anyone could know that by looking at his records. Silence fell over the cabin and Sydney realized that Weiss was staring at her.

"Syd, where are you? You're a million miles away."

"Eric, do you have any siblings?"

A puzzled expression covered his face. "Uh, yeah. I have a sister back in Washington. She works as a reporter on Capitol Hill. Why?"

"I don't know. I just felt like asking. Having Sark around's gotten me to thinking."

"'Bout what?"

"Wondering if there's any normalcy left in the world."

"Well then, I'll introduce you to Quinn. She's as normal as you can be. Happy marriage, quaint little house, 2.5 kids. Well, two kids and a dog, but normalcy is what she's all about. I'm looking forward to living like that one day."

Sydney offered him a half smile as she went back to studying the mission specifics. Eric was unlike anyone she had ever had close in her life. He wasn't a spotlighter, he wasn't a glory-hog, or an arrogant imbecile. He had never tried to kill her or second-guess her like the Francie clone or Will. Personal vendettas weren't his style like Vaughn had recently taken a liking to. Laidback wasn't the term for him. Eric was special. He knew how to take control or be a safety net. A laugh was always guaranteed when Sydney was down and he always made her feel beautiful. Yeah, Eric was different. And that's why she loved him. That's why she was in love with him.