A/N: I'm so sorry about the extremely long delay. School hasn't been treating me too kindly, I'm afraid, and I had a bit of writers block for a while. I did this chapter over a few times, because I couldn't seem to get it right. Anyway, sorry again, and I hope you like it.

Chapter Twelve

"Sark?" she gasped.

There was no reply. Instead, Sark slowly ran his eyes over her body, quite obviously checking her out.

Julia, stunned and confused at this sudden turn of events, could not bring herself to form a coherent sentence. So rather than verbally attacking him for staring at her so blatantly, she settled for next best thing – she stared right back.

Unfortunately, this allowed her to notice how good Sark looked. Needless to say, he always looked good, but tonight, standing there with his shirt open at the collar and his sleeves casually rolled up, he looked particularly hot.

Their eyes met.

Sark's gaze was so intense that it was almost unnerving; yet she couldn't look away – she was transfixed. Then she frowned slightly, noticing, but unable to read, the curious expression on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Julia finally managed, voicing the question that had been lingering in her mind for the past few minutes. "Aren't you supposed to be -" She was cut off as Sark abruptly closed the gap between them and covered her mouth with his.

Julia stiffened slightly as Sark's arms slipped around her, every instinct telling her to resist him.

She didn't listen, of course.

Desire coursed through her body as his tongue teased her, urging her lips open to allow him full access to her mouth. She complied, kissing him back so hard that there was most certainly going to be a bruise there the following morning. She allowed him to push her back into the house, vaguely registering the sound of the door slamming shut as his lean body pressed her up against the nearest wall.

Sark's hands were all over her - stroking her hips, lacing through her hair, tugging at her clothes – like he couldn't get enough of her. The passion behind his kisses did not go unnoticed by Julia either. In fact, it blew her away, leaving her feeling completely submissive and, believe it or not, rather........weak.

No more than five minutes ago, Julia would have thought that the rather clichéd idea of a man making her weak at the knees was completely ludicrous, but Sark had indeed proved her wrong.

Bloody Sark.

She had an extreme disliking for the times when Sark got the better of her. But it was impossible to hate him, or to even find him remotely annoying, when he was kissing her so fervently.

"Hi," Sark suddenly murmured against her mouth, speaking for the first time since his arrival.

"Hey," she whispered back, drawing him in for another kiss. Then, "Can I make a suggestion?"

"Of course," he replied breathlessly, his lips a fraction away from hers. "What is it?"

Julia bit her lip, barely able to contain a smile. "Bedroom," she said softly, inclining her head to the aforementioned place.

As simple as the statement was, there was no need for elaboration. It seemed as though Sark didn't need to be told twice.

"Right," he said slowly, his eyes clouding over with desire. "Right. Well, let's go then."

Julia stirred in her sleep.

She was in bed - she knew that much. But with her mind foggy with sleep, there wasn't much more she couldn't figure out after that. Except that she felt warm. And safe.

It was an unfamiliar experience for Julia, but she chose to ignore this fact and decided not to question it as she snuggled deeper into the source of the warmth before she woke up completely.

A strong arm slipped around her shoulders. "Good morning," a familiar male voice mumbled above her head.

Sark?

Julia's eyes blinked open as she peered up at the person who spoke. She was greeted by a lovely pair of blue eyes and a sleepy smile. Her heart panged with an emotion she didn't quite recognise, and she couldn't control the smile that lit up her own face. "Morning," she murmured back.

Sark trailed his fingers gently through her hair, sending warm tingles down her spine. "Did you sleep well?"

Julia only managed a drowsy "Mmmhmmm........" before resting her head back on his chest again.

Wait a second –

Sark!

Julia shot up into a sitting position, frantically grabbing at the sheets to cover up her currently clothes-less state. "What are you doing here?" she hissed, extracting herself from Sark in order to shoot him her deadliest glare.

Sark yawned, still half asleep. "Pardon?"

That is so adorable, Julia thought to herself, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Wait – what am I saying? I'm supposed to be asking him why the hell he's in Sydney's house, not thinking about how cute he is!

"You heard me – what are you doing here?!" Julia repeated harshly, prodding him in the stomach.

"Ow!" Sark exclaimed, hastily moving out of her reach. "You know, we were having a rather nice moment, until you started yelling at me. Did you notice?" he accused, pulling the blankets up around him.

Actually, she had noticed. It had occurred to her that instead of the usual wave of repulsion and the compelling need to run away that usually accompanied waking up next to a man she'd just slept with, there was an irresistible urge to let her guard down, curl up against Sark, and fall asleep again. That moment had been fleeting, yes, but she distinctly remembered feeling more relaxed and secure than she had ever been in her entire life.

In fact, waking up next to Sark, she realised, wasn't so bad. Well, at least until a few minutes ago it wasn't.

"I didn't...........yell," Julia corrected him slowly. Then she added, more forcefully, "Now explain yourself!"

Sark folded his arms grumpily in response.

Julia glared at him for a few moments before sighing heavily. She decided to abandon her original plan of which involved firing various insults and threats at Sark until he told her exactly what was going on. Clearly that wasn't going to work so well if he insisted on acting like a child.

So instead she climbed out of bed, bringing the sheets with her. "Why do we always end up screwing each other?" Julia muttered to herself, frustrated.

"I'm sure there are people in far worse situations than we are, Julia," Sark retorted from behind her. "Besides, I thought you enjoyed our little trysts."

"Who gave you that idea?" Julia replied viciously as she pulled on her clothes.

Sark smirked. Oh, that wasn't a very good sign. "No one. The fact that you practically melted when I kissed you is evidence enough."

"Well, I wasn't the one who flew half way across the world for a fuck!" Julia countered maliciously, hoping that Sark hadn't noticed the flush that had crept into her cheeks. Ok, so Sark was a good kisser. Alright, fine – an incredible kisser. Who just happened to have the ability to render her completely helpless every time he touched her. Did he really need to rub it in?

Oh, right - of course he did.

Sark's composure faltered for a split second. "I did not come here just to sleep with you," he objected crossly, getting up.

She stared at him incredulously. "Ok, so let me get this straight - you just happened to get on a plane, wander over to Sydney's house, and start groping me the second I opened the door. Yeah. The whole point of your trip wasn't to just to get me into bed. I totally believe you," Julia snapped sarcastically.

"Believe it or not, I have some business to take care of over here," Sark informed her smoothly as he slipped on his shirt.

"Did any of that business involve screwing me, by any chance?" she put in.

There was that infuriating smirk again. "Perhaps."

I'm gonna kill that little son of a bitch -

"Bored of Lauren already, huh?" Julia offered sweetly, biting back the sharp remark on the tip of her tongue.

He inched towards her. "Something like that."

Julia watched him closely, mindful of how he was moving closer by the second. The sensible thing to do would have been to back away from him; to maximize the space between them – but Julia, being as stubborn as she was, stood her ground and refused to move. "I don't suppose you would care to elaborate," she said, pretending to be unperturbed by his closeness.

"No, I don't really feel like it." Sark moved even nearer, keeping his eyes on her the whole time, as if to memorise her face.

"Then what do you feel like?" she shot back, agitated.

Sark shook his head, amused by her annoyance. "You have so many questions, Julia."

The space between them was now almost non-existent. This time, the warmth of his body and the alluring scent of his aftershave made her take a step backward. Such a tempting combination was clouding her judgment, and that was something she really could not afford right now.

It seemed that Sark was affecting her much more than she'd like to admit.

Julia swallowed visibly, and finally managed to muster up the sense to reply: "That's only because you won't give me any answers -"

Sark suddenly kissed her, not allowing her to say anymore. No matter – Julia had already forgotten what she was going to say anyway. All that mattered was the feel of Sark's soft lips against hers and the lovely warm feeling that was spreading through her body........

I think you should stop now.......

No, I don't want to......

This is wrong......

But it feels right.......

The voice of reason finally won in the end, and Julia reluctantly broke off the kiss.

"You shouldn't be here," Julia said quietly, turning her head away from him so that he couldn't kiss her again – and vice versa. She didn't need the temptation.

"Don't you think I know that?" His voice sounded strained, almost desperate, like he was trying so hard to hold back.

"Then what are you doing here?" she whispered back, meeting his eyes again. "You know, the Covenant will seriously kick our asses if they find out that you're here -"

"Julia -" Sark started.

"No, listen to me!" she interrupted sternly. "You can't just turn up unannounced like this, Sark. Weiss lives down the street - he could've seen you! I can't risk the CIA getting suspicious and finding out that I'm not Sydney."

"You won't need to worry about Weiss," Sark informed her solemnly. "If he did happen to see me, simply tell him that Ms Bristow and I are having a passionate affair and that we can't keep our hands off one another." He barely managed to keep a straight face before breaking out into a grin. "I certainly wouldn't object to that story."

Julia stared at him, appalled. How could he possibly be cracking jokes about this?

Sark's grin faded into a crestfallen expression. "Sorry. That was a rather lame joke, wasn't it?"

Julia smiled unconsciously, unable to stay mad at him when he was looking so dejected. "Only a little bit," she said consolingly, as if speaking to a small child. Then she added, "This is serious, Sark."

He nodded. "I know."

Julia sat down on the bed. "Come here," she instructed gently, patting the space next to her. As Sark sat down with her, she couldn't figure out why she suddenly felt the need to take care of him. It was quite clear that Sark didn't need to be taken care of.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Sark spoke.

"I suppose you want me to tell you why I'm here," Sark stated.

"That........that would be nice, yes," Julia answered slowly.

Sark frowned, thinking. "Well, you see, the problem is that I don't know why I came here." He paused, and then corrected himself. "I mean, I do know why I came here, but I don't know why I came here. Do you know what I mean?"

Julia bit her lip, trying desperately to hold back a giggle. The usually calm, collected and stoic Sark was rambling – a sight that she hadn't yet had the pleasure of seeing.

Until now.

"I'm sorry. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," she grinned, thoroughly enjoying herself at Sark's expense. She momentarily forgot that they were supposed to be having a 'serious' talk.

"Right. Of course you don't," Sark agreed, and relapsed into silence again.

Julia looked at him expectantly.

Sighing, Sark explained, "I was telling the truth before - I did have some business to take care of here in LA. And I suppose if I had been smart I would have done what I was supposed to do and leave. But I didn't. I came here."

"Why?"

He shrugged, almost shyly. "I don't know. I guess.........I guess I really wanted to see you again. I couldn't get you out of my head. So I thought I'd go and see you again just one last time. I was only going to say hello – which was a rather stupid thing to do, considering the circumstances, but I never intended to put you or the mission in danger..........or sleep with you, for that matter." Then he murmured under his breath, "Perhaps I should learn to control myself a bit better."

Julia gaped at him. She had been expecting a whole range of excuses with varying degrees of pathetic-ness, but she hadn't been expecting........honesty. That, coupled with the fact that he had supposedly missed her, was what really astounded her.

"Well," Sark said as he stood up. "I guess I should go."

"Yeah, you should," she replied shortly, purposely being callous.

Sark's expression was wiped blank as he nodded. "Right."

"Hey," Julia called to his retreating back.

He turned around almost immediately, and her eyes softened. "Will I be getting another late-night visit again tonight?" Julia asked, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

Sark seemed slightly taken aback, but he grinned in spite of it. "It depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not you want another late-night visit."

Julia giggled. "If it's anywhere near as eventful as last night's visit, then I'd love another late night visit."

Sark's grin widened. "Well I guess it's settled, then."

Julia simply could not wipe the smile off her face as Sark left. What they were doing was risky – not to mention stupid – but Julia realised that she didn't give a shit. She liked having Sark around – so what? She was allowed to have a little fun, wasn't she?

Maybe it was time for her to stop following the rules.

A/N: It's finally done! I wanted to thank you for all the reviews – I saw that there were a few new readers there too. Thanks for reading guys!