A/N: Thank you for all of your reviews, they have been very encouraging! You guys are great. : )

Chapter Eight

Julia cursed Manticore, the Covenant, Sark, and every other person she could think of, no matter how irrelevant they were to her current situation.

Her current situation being that she was in heat.

Thankfully, she'd gotten home before Sark had and hastily locked herself in the first room she could gain access to. She hoped that the door was sturdy so that when Sark undoubtedly came looking for her, she wouldn't blow the door straight of its hinges to get to him.

Speaking of Sark, Julia wondered what might have been going through his head at that moment. He was probably thinking that she belonged in some kind of mental institution. And maybe he would be correct, considering how she had practically threw herself at him, shamelessly flirting and coming onto him like overly enthusiastic sixteen year old girl with a crush.

And she'd kissed him. Although she'd hardly call it a kiss. She imagined that a proper kiss with Sark would last a lot longer, involve a lot more tongue action and he certainly wouldn't have any clothes on..........

Whoa. Julia couldn't get rid of that thought fast enough. If Sark ever found out that she'd been fantasizing about kissing him she'd never live it down.

Julia decided that she needed an cold shower. Unfortunately, though, there wasn't one connected to this room, and the closest available shower she could think of was upstairs.

Great.

Praying that Sark wasn't back yet, she unlocked the door and slipped out of the room.

And walked straight into Sark's chest.

Julia slowly ran her eyes over his body, desire consuming every inch of her.

Oh wow, he looked so good.

"Julia, are you quite alright?" Sark asked, his British accent making him sound even more desirable.

"Yep, just fine," Julia replied hurriedly, trying to distance herself from him as quickly as possible before she shoved him up against the wall and devoured him.

Why did she have to be in heat? Why now? Why here?

Sark looked at her curiously. "Are you going to make a habit of running off as if I have some sort of contagious disease? Because I'm afraid it's rather damaging on my self-esteem -"

Under normal circumstances she would have made some smart remark about his already over-inflated ego, but instead she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him to her, crushing her mouth against his. Any sort of will power had left her completely – the only thought in her mind was how good it felt to have Sark's tongue in her mouth.

If Sark was surprised – or horrified, for that matter – he didn't show it. He responded almost immediately, his arms tightening around her as her body molded perfectly into his.

Neither of them complained as they stumbled towards the bedroom in a midst of hungry kisses, leaving a trail of abandoned clothing on the floor.

"Julia?"

Sydney froze and turned around slowly. "What did you just call me?"

Regret flicked across Max's features, as if she had let slip something that she shouldn't have. "Nothing," she said immediately.

Sydney wasn't going to accept that as an answer. Max had called her Julia, she was sure of it. "No. You called me Julia. I want to know why."

"Agent Bristow," one of the agents called her. "We need to go."

"Don't worry about me," she said, waving him away. "I'll come later."

"Great," Max muttered under her breath. "We get to spend some quality time together. Just me and Sydney. Yay."

Turning back to Max, she said, "You haven't answered my question."

"Well, technically, you didn't actually ask me a question. So I can't answer you."

Sydney wasn't in the mood for Max's smart-ass comments anymore. Not only did this woman have the potential to help the CIA take down the Covenant, but now she also may have had important information about Sydney's missing two years. The alias Julia Thorne was the only connection she had, and Max had used it.

She hadn't been able to get much out of Simon Walker before he had been killed, but she wasn't going to make the same mistake with Max.

Sydney sat down in front of Max, not afraid to let her desperation show. "Max," she began, the authority in her voice dissipating. "Please. I'm asking you nicely, not as a CIA agent, but as a person who really needs your help. I need to know why you called me Julia."

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this," Max stated incredulously. "It's only a name."

"It's more than just a name to me," Sydney pressed.

Max stared at her. "You're pretty whack, you know that, right?"

Not having any idea what she was talking about, Sydney chose not to respond.

Max groaned, agitated. "Look, this is just a misunderstanding, that's all. You kinda look a lot like someone I knew. A lot," she explained.

"Care to elaborate?" Sydney asked, feeling a small glimmer of hope.

"Nope."

Her eyes were pleading. "Max, what have you got to lose?"

Max choked in surprise. "Are you kidding me? I have plenty to lose. I'm in CIA custody, for crying out loud. But you're not going to fool me, Sydney. You've got something up your sleeve, I know it. I'm not going to fall for some stupid sob-story about you needing my help and I'm certainly not going to tell you anything," she said fiercely.

Sydney was slightly taken aback at first. Then she sighed. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to get through to her this way, no matter how hard she tried.

The truth. That's what she had to tell her. Max clearly wasn't stupid, and Sydney was certain that she wasn't a bad person either. Cryptic mind games weren't going to do any good. Mutual trust had to be established - all she needed to do was convince Max that they were on the same side.

So she proceeded to explain to Max the details of her missing two years and how she knew that during that time, she had become Julia Thorne. Max looked at little skeptical at first. Sydney didn't blame her. To a normal person, the whole story would sound completely ludicrous.

But Max wasn't a normal person.

"I know that the Covenant is responsible for my disappearance. And maybe you know that the Covenant is evil, or maybe you don't, but the fact that you managed to get out of Manticore tells me that you're a good person and that you're not like them."

"What are you trying to say?" she asked, trying to seem defiant, but instead sounding curious.

"The CIA wants to destroy the Covenant," Sydney told her. "And I want to know why they took two years of my life. And to tell you the truth you're the only lead we have, Max." She took a deep breath, hoping that she was saying this right. "The Covenant is evil. They are the ones that fund Manticore, they are the reason children are being brought up as spies when they should be playing in the park. If you could give us some information on the Covenant, you could help us put an end to it all. The Covenant and Manticore will cease to exist, and they won't be able to hurt you or anyone else."

The conflict was starting to show in Max's eyes. "Like I said before, maybe you've got the wrong girl. How do you know that I even have this information? You could be wasting you're breath."

Sydney knew that she'd almost hit a home run - just one more base to go. "I don't want a confession. I already know that you're X5-452, and there's nothing you can do to convince us otherwise. I saw you with my own eyes, when Director Renfro was showing you and X5-494 off at Manticore."

That seemed to ring a bell with Max. Her eyes widened slightly in realization, though she remained silent.

"As soon as you co-operate, you'll be free to go," Sydney finished.

After a moment she let out a harsh laugh. "You've got a transgenic freak in your hands, and you don't want to cut me up? You can't honestly think that I actually believe that you'll let me go."

"The X5s aren't exactly high on the list of our priorities at the moment. The Covenant is more of a threat and we're focusing on that. So we're not going to hurt you, you have my word. And you will be allowed to go. It's not as if we have any other reason to keep you here," Sydney smiled. "And the CIA are the good guys, remember?"

"Supposedly," came the quick reply.

Sydney wasn't quite sure what Max meant by that, but she decided not to question it.

"So do we have a deal?" She was almost certain that she was going to get the answer she wanted.

Max thought for a moment, an intense debate taking place in her mind. "Alright. But I can't promise you anything." Then she added as an after-thought, "You are so damn persistent. It's really annoying."

Sydney hid a triumphant grin.

These were the times when she actually thanked her mother for giving her such a stubborn personality.

Sark opened his eyes lazily, taking a moment to register the unfamiliar environment that he was in. He glanced at the clock – 6:30am – and his gaze fell on the scattering of clothing on the floor.

The memory of last night's, erm, activities, hit him hard. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened or why it had happened, but he did discover something – Julia was a minx.

Sark had, once or twice, suspected that she would be fantastic in bed, but he had never in his wildest dreams thought that she would actually show him exactly how fantastic. He hadn't expected her to pounce on him and rip his clothes off.

Not that he was complaining, or anything.

Sark rolled over, expecting to see Julia lying next to him, only to find that the other side of the bed was empty.

It took a lot more effort for him to get out of bed than it usually did – Julia had left him rather exhausted – but he somehow managed to drag himself up. After locating the whereabouts of his clothes, he picked them up, got dressed and went looking for Julia.

He found her sitting out on the verandah, the chilly morning breeze blowing silky tendrils of hair away from her face. She looked particularly delectable with only an oversized shirt on.

One of his shirts.

"Well, this is an unusual change," Sark commented. "I'm usually the one who disappears before my bed-partner wakes up."

Julia glanced at him briefly before returning her gaze to the view of the beach. "Hi."

She seemed emotionally void. Somewhat different from the insatiable little minx he had been with only a few hours ago.

"Sorry about last night," she said quietly.

"You're sorry?" Sark echoed.

"Yeah. Something weird just came over me. It's hard to explain. But it won't happen again," Julia promised.

To say he was disappointed was an understatement. "I'm not sorry about last night," Sark stated truthfully. "I enjoyed it. Immensely."

"Well at least someone did," Julia snapped suddenly, suggesting that the feeling wasn't mutual.

Ouch.

No man ever wanted to hear that they weren't good in bed, indirectly or not.

"That's not the impression you gave me when we were in bed together," Sark retaliated, his ego getting the better of him.

"Like I said, something weird came over me," she muttered darkly.

"Would you kindly explain that to me?"

Julia ran a hand through her hair uneasily, not looking at him. "You don't want to know."

"Oh yes, I do," Sark objected, taking a seat next to her. "Please, enlighten me."

She looked extremely reluctant.

"Well," she said slowly, carefully contemplating what she was going to say. "I have.........cat DNA in me, which means that I acquire some of the abilities that a cat has – you know, I can jump very high and I can see in the dark, but..........it also means that a few times a year I'll go into heat. Just like a cat. And that's what happened yesterday. I - I went into heat, and usually I just pounce on the first guy I get my hands on. This time it just.........happened to be you."

Sark did everything he could to prevent his jaw from dropping. Now this had to be one of the strangest things he had ever heard. A human? In heat? "You can't be serious."

Julia shrugged, embarrassed.

"Well, judging by your performance last night I have to say that it must be a man's dream come true, to come across an X5 in heat," he said, without thinking.

There was a moment where the tiniest bit of hurt wavered across her face. And then it disappeared and was replaced by anger.

"Oh really," Julia snarled. "Well I don't suppose you'd think about how I feel, not being able to control my own body and then waking up next to a man who only thinks of me as a good fuck!"

She was yelling by the time she'd finished, tears springing to her eyes.

Then she bolted, and Sark assumed she was getting as far away from him as possible.

He didn't blame her.