5.

An hour later Will and Francie left, promising to be back later with movies and chocolate. Sydney, although genuinely exhausted had pretended to be tired to encourage them to go. As much as she wanted them there she had things to discuss with her father and handler.

Jack and Vaughn had given the impression of leaving half an hour before. Really they had gone down to the ground floor waiting room and watched until the saw Sydney's friends leave.

When they returned to Sydney's room they found her asleep.

As her Jack took her hand she awoke again.

"Are you ready to talk about the mission Sydney?" Her father asked, "We understand if you'd like to talk about it later."

"Jack, can't you see she needs to sleep." Vaughn interrupted.

"No, Vaughn, I was just dosing. I can sleep later. We need to discuss this now." She said softly, her head still hurt when she spoke but not as much as before, the morphine the doctor had given her had kicked in. "Did we get the prototype?"

Vaughn looked at Jack, then back to Sydney again. "Yes and no. You still had the box on you when our man picked you up but the prototype was a fake. In fact, we have reason to believe that Owens' himself didn't know it wasn't real. What we did find was interesting though, the box itself held the plans Rambaldi had designed for the machine. I don't know if you know but the prototype is a scale model of a machine Rambaldi created to actually travel through time. So the mission was a success. The box is in safe CIA hands. As far as SD6 knows though, Owens still has it."

'Some success.' Sydney thought, mentally looking herself up and down. "What about Owens? Is he in custody?"

"No, we sent some men up to the roof but he was long gone. We now have reports he's checked out of the hotel. At this moment we do not know where he is." Vaughn replied.

"And you think he'll come after me?" Sydney asked after hearing the concern in his voice.

"As Agent Vaughn just said, we do not know Owens' current location, but, to answer your question, we think he'll probably want the box back."

Sydney gave each of them a concerned glance.

"Sydney, you have no reason to feel unsafe. While you are here you will be kept under constant surveillance, there will be two agents posted outside and it is almost impossible for someone to get up here unannounced, a list has been given to both the receptions downstairs and up here and only people on that list are allowed access to this floor." Her father reassured her.

"What about Francie and Will? Don't you think they notice that I'm being guarded?"

"With any luck, they will never notice the agents outside. They have been instructed to watch from the waiting room so they will look like any other people coming in to visit their friends and family. If your friends happen to ask why they need passes to this floor just explain that there is an Senator recovering from a heart bypass who wishes to remain anonymous."

Sydney shifts in her bed, momentarily sending a spike of pain through her head.

"Syd are you Ok?" Vaughn asked.

"I think she just needs some sleep, Agent Vaughn." Jack stated. "Would you like me to get a doctor Sydney?"

"No. I just need a rest." Sydney said softly her voice full of sleep.

"Bye Syd." Vaughn said touching her hand as her said it. He started for the door, holding it open for Jack to come through.

"I'll just be a moment Agent Vaughn." He said, shutting the door. Turning back to Sydney he bent over her and kissed her check. "Don't worry Sydney, we have agents working flat out trying to track down Owens. The moment we know where he is we'll let you know." He paused as if to say something more. Sydney knew that since the death of his wife when she was only six years old he found it hard to show his emotions. "Goodnight Sydney." He said finally.

As he reached the door Sydney called him back. "Yes Sydney?"

"I love you dad."

Pausing for a moment longer he told Sydney he loved her too, but she hadn't heard as by this time she had fallen fast asleep.