A/N: Yeah, so I know the time zone things are messed up, I just didn't feel like figuring everything out. So yeah. Sorry about that one. Other than that, hope you like it! R/R please!

Simon put the cell phone back in his pocket and walked back into the living room of the small apartment. "That was Jules," he told Sark who was wandering around the apartment, just looking, when he heard the name Jules he looked over to Simon with confusion.

"Sorry, who?"

"Right, Sydney, sorry, it's a habit. Sydney said that she will not be able to meet us at the airport tomorrow as she is on a mission. But she will be in London for another day, so she will stay in the house. So we will see her tomorrow and she will leave the day after next." Simon nodded as he sat down on the couch, watching Sark as he looked around.

"Why do you call her Jules?" Sark suddenly asked after a few minutes of silence.

"She hasn't told you?" Sark shook his head and Simon sighed. "When she was kidnapped three years ago, the Covenant tried to brainwash her, making her think her name was Julia Thorne, an orphan girl who became a contract killer. Though, the brainwashing somehow had no affect on her. When I met her, she was still with the Covenant, so she still called herself Julia. It wasn't until a while later I found out who she really was. But I still refer to her using her old name."

"Oh," Sark was still a bit confused but let the subject drop, noticing the change in Simon's voice as he talked about his partner. It was almost as if Simon felt bad about Sydney, and all the things that had happened to her.

He also wondered what storied she had told about him if any. But he would wait to talk to Sydney about that. Sark sat down in a chair he had placed close enough to the window to look out it, but not close enough to be spotted from the outside.

Simon opened his mouth as if to say something, but then thought twice about it and closed his mouth. He did this a few times, before actually saying anything. "I don't know how you knew Sydney, I know you were enemies and all, but I don't know how you new her on her a personal level. But I want to warn you, she's odd. I didn't know her before, but I've heard enough things over the years to make assumptions. She's not the same person she was before. She's different now, she'll with drawl and shut you out one moment, then act like nothing happened the next. Oh, and keep her away from glass, she likes to throw it when she gets angry, which is a lot."

Sark nodded; he had figured she would be different after three years. "After she left the Covenant, what did she do?"

"She became a freelance agent. The best one I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. But she was vicious; she killed a lot to, just for the fun of it."

Sark nodded, that sounded just like him. Which he couldn't tell if it were a good thing or not, he knew he was good, but Sydney was better than him, and he couldn't imagine her doing some of the things he had done. He didn't think he wanted to. But all those years ago, he had been sincere in wanting to work with her. He knew her talents were as good as his, and he respected that, not many people were as good as he and Irina Derveko were. But Sydney was, and that made him think about her, what would happen if she switched sides. And now, as it seems, that has happened, or at least, sort of.

It was now ten o'clock. Their flight left at six in the morning. Simon cursed Julia for making them get up so early, but he knew that it was probably for the best. Sark's and Simon's stomachs rumbled at the same time. "I guess I'm hungrier than I thought." Simon mumbled, standing.

Walking into the kitchen he noted that the shelves were all empty. And the only thing they had that resembled food as a loaf of bread in the fridge. "Maybe you can convince her to get some food." Simon grumbled to Sark who stood in the doorway, all he could do in reply was chuckle.

The only booty that Simon could come up with was a few take out menus. "Let's see, we have, Chinese, pizza or… nope, that's all. Chinese or pizza, take your pick," he slid the menus down the counter over to Sark.

Looking at both of them distastefully, "Chinese." He said, not liking either choice, but Chinese was a hell of a lot better than pizza. Sark also had the mind set that you could only get a decent pizza in Italy. So that was his own fault, Domino's is actually quite good.

Simon nodded and walked to the other side of the kitchen, where Sark stood looking at the menu. "Pick whatever you want; I'll get the guards to buy it."

A little while later the two men, and their guards, all sat on the couches and floor around the small coffee table in the middle of the living room, eating Chinese food out of the cartons.

"You have enough food here to feed a small army," murmured one of the guards who sat on the floor.

"Yes, but that's the only way to eat Chinese food," Simon commented. And everyone went happily back to eating their food.

When they were all done, it was around midnight, because it had taken a long time for the food to get there and all. And then they had to eat, and clean up, and all that.

They all sat on the couches, laughing and talking, when suddenly Simon declared that he needed to get some sleep, and advised Sark to do the same. "We have an early flight," he noted dully. It was true, they would be leaving the country in a matter of six hours, and they could sleep on the plane, but they actually had to get on the plane first. Meaning they had to get up, which would be harder and harder as it got later and later.


It was just past midnight when Sydney saw the two men she needed to. She fingered the disk that was in her purse as she took the shot of vodka that the man down the bar had gotten for her. Giving him a wicked smile she stood, pushing her purse up on her arm and hiding the disk in her pocket.

Walking a little closer to the men at the table she saw one of them take a disk, identical to the one she had in her hand, and slid it across the table. Here was her chance, the other man didn't pick up the disk, so she could possibly rush over and switch them. Walking over quickly she fell and hit her hand on the side of the table, both men jumped as she hit the ground. Putting her hand on the table she stood up. "Sorry, sirs, it's these damn heels." She said, in a bubbly tone of voice, making it seem as if she were a dumb blonde, without being blonde. A spoiled kid and she did it well. Both of the men had been to busy looking at her bare legs to actually notice anything else.

"It's alright," one of them finally managed to reply to her comment.

"Bye, dolls," she gave them a fake smile and turned to walk away, "Pigs," she muttered. Then looking down into her hand she smiled, she had expertly gotten the disk without them knowing.

Exiting the bar she got into her car, a blackish blue BMW that she had purchased because of its speed the year before.

Since Sydney knew the people who the Covenant sent to make exchanges, she knew that they would be in the bar for a long time, so she had safe time to get to her London house. Which she had nicknamed 'The Castle of Hope' she wasn't exactly sure why, but she had.

On her way, she flipped out her cell phone, dialing a number she had memorized she quickly put the phone to her ear.

"Dixon," Dixon answered the phone in his office, knowing that it was Sydney. He wouldn't have answered it otherwise.

"I've got the disk, I'll be staying in London for another two days to go over it."

"Alright, be careful." He told her and hung up. She put her phone back into her purse and sped off down the roads. She had decided against calling Simon because she would see them in a few hours anyway, so it wasn't a matter of an emergency.

Once she had parked her car in the underground garage, Syd made her way upstairs. She owned one of the larger mansions in London, and it amused her to look out the window, to see the people who gazed admiringly up at her house. Her house, other than her Florence apartment, this one was her favorite. It wasn't necessarily the most modern of her homes, but it was the most comfortable. She had spent a few months getting everything perfect in that house, and had spent equal time in it as she did in Florence. All the other houses were just there if she needed a safe place to go. Or someone else did.

Making her way onto the main floor she smiled at the maids and the housekeeper. "So good to see you again, Miss Sydney," Mark, the housekeeper, smiled at her. "How long will you be staying?"

"The next two days. Um, I need two rooms prepared, please. Simon and another friend are coming to stay here. I don't know how long though," she gave him a warm smile before disappearing into the giant living room.

Her laptop lay on the table in the middle of the room, walking over to it, she turned on the stereo. Music filled the room as she sat down on the couch, turning on her laptop. She was still wearing what she had in the bar, but she didn't care, she didn't feel like changing into anything else right now.

Once the laptop was warmed up, she slid the disk into the drive and waited for the contents to load. This disk was supposed to have everything that the Covenant had. Deals, people, everything. And now she had it, well, the CIA had it too, but more importantly, she had it. Meaning she could do anything with it she wanted. Which was going through the information, on her own, and then making a copy of it, but not the whole thing. She was going to delete some of the information on it, before handing it over to the CIA. Sitting back she waited for the disk to fully load onto her computer before she could go through all the files. She was anxious; she wanted to know the most secretive things that went on in the Covenant, those she didn't know already, that was.

Sydney had not been in this house for almost three months. She didn't usually do any work out of it, because she didn't want to invade the homey feeling of it all. But since she couldn't go anywhere else right now, she would be working here. Meaning soon it was going to be filled with people. Sydney shuttered when she thought about the last time it had been more than just her, Simon and her servants. It had been last year; Simon had talked her into having a party. A fancy party, she had people from all over come. Her mother had even come.

The whole thing has been a disaster from the start, there had been so many people. All that she knew. It had been an elegant party, but the problem was, that someone had decided they wanted to get into a fight about Rambaldi.

Saying that they were at the house of the Chosen, and apparently more people knew about the prophecy than she had thought. The men fought over what the prophecy really meant. And the night ended horribly, with Sydney trying to be comforted by Simon, who had no idea about any prophecy until that night. It was just bad. She had promised herself that she was not going to ever have another party. She was content to just attend them.

When she no longer heard her computer making the noise it did when she downloaded things, she pushed her thoughts deep into the back of her mind and focused on the topic at hand. It was almost two in the morning and she knew that she would get no sleep tonight. Sighing she began to look through the files. Half of them she knew about, and would read later. The ones she stopped to look at where the ones with people she had either never heard of, or didn't know anything about.

She read her own file. She had known most of the details, but she was still amazed at the strength she had. It had taken them almost six months to completely break her, or so they thought. Once she had finished reading her own file, she began to look through the others. There were only a few folders on people she had never seen. By the time she had finished looking through the entire thing it was about five six in the morning. Sighing, Sydney noticed that she had a total of five more files to go through. All new people.

Her thoughts drifted for a second, she was tired, she could normally stay up for long hours without sleep, but now they were beginning to take a toll on her body. Simon and Sark would be getting on the plane right now, and would be here in a few hours, she had arranged for them to be picked up at the airport upon arrival, her person guard was going to pick them up. As he was the only one she trusted to do the job.

A soft knock on the living room door startled her out of her thoughts. The person opened the door, it was Mark. "I come bearing lots of coffee, Miss Sydney. And some food." She smiled; Mark had always taken care of her like a father would. And she loved him like a father. He placed the tray of food and coffee down on the table next to her laptop. "You look tired, Miss Sydney. You should get some rest."

Leaning back into the sofa, she smiled up at him, "I will, just as soon as I finish this work." When she saw his reprimanding look, she furthered, "I promise."

He shook his head a little, and began to go out of the room, "I worry about you Miss Sydney," he said sadly and planted a fatherly kiss on her forehead. She smiled at him, thinking how great it would have been if he had really been her father. "Don't forget, you promised," he said as he exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Pouring herself some coffee, she didn't put any sugar in it, if she did, she would fall asleep, and she needed to stay away for a little while longer. Taking a sip she cursed herself as she burnt her tongue.

Turning her attention back to the computer, she held the cup in one hand as she went through the remaining files until she had one left. This one didn't have a title, but she didn't note that at first. Clicking it open, she almost dropped the cup in her hand as she gazed upon the picture that was staring back at her.

She calmly set her cup down on the count and got up off the sofa. Walking over to the stereo she turned it up louder. She didn't want anyone to hear her scream.


Simon and Sark had been sitting on the plane for five hours. The light had just gone on to say they were landing. They both were grateful, they didn't particularly like sitting on a plane filled with crying babies for five hours.

Once they had landed, they waited for everyone to get off, Simon lead the way, knowing who would be waiting for them. Getting off the plane, Simon saw Jules' guard waiting for them in the main building of the airport. "There's our ride." He motioned his head for Sark to follow him, and they walked up to the guard.

"Mr. Walker." The guard nodded, "This way." He pointed his hand and followed the two as they walked through the masses of people.

"How long ago did you leave her?" Simon called back to the guard.

"Half an hour maybe," was the gruff reply, the man didn't like talking to people who weren't Sydney.

Simon nodded and they spent the rest of the way in silence. Once they were in the car, Simon and Sark sat in the back, both looking around the place they were born.

About fifteen minutes later they arrived at a large mansion, "This is it," Simon said to Sark, who was staring up at the home. They went around to the back and entered the underground garage. Sark noted the expensive cars that filled the garage, and reminded himself to compliment Sydney on them.

Once the car was parked, the two men got out of the car, Sark followed Simon up t the main level. Both were assaulted by incredibly loud music as they entered. The first person Simon saw was Mark. "Good day, Mr. Walker," Mark greeted him, "And Mr. Sark, I presume," he gave them a smile when he was confirmed by a nod from Sark. "She's been in there since she got home, at two this morning. She promised me she would sleep when she was finished. But I don't think she ever did," he said, with a meaningful glance at Simon, who nodded understanding.

"You're welcome to go in at your own will. I'll have your stuff put in your rooms." Mark nodded to both of them before turning down the hallway.

"Come on, you'll get the tour later." Simon told him, walking off in a different direction that the one Mark had gone it. Sark followed him closely, as they entered the room where the music was coming from.

Simon walked over to the stereo and turned it off, the silence was just as loud as the music had been. Sydney was standing by a window, she didn't make a move to show she noticed them, in fact she didn't move at all. Sark noticed the open laptop and tray of food on the table in the middle of the room. All of it was untouched.

"Sydney?" Simon called out to her, not going near here, a little afraid of what she might to.

"Hmm?" She turned to them, finally, with a look in her eyes that scared them both.

"What happened?" Simon asked her, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Oh, nothing," she said dismissively. Walking over to her computer, she pushed the top down, but not before Sark saw a picture of someone who looked familiar on the screen. Frowning he looked back up to her. The look hadn't left her eyes, but she was till trying to smile as if nothing had happened.

"You two must be tired," she said suddenly, cutting off Simon as he was about to say something. "Let me take you to your rooms, and then I'll give you a tour later on tonight."

Walking past them she brushed arms with Sark, who was startled by the touch, kind of. He noted that Simon looked upset; he was frowning at Sydney's back. Shaking off his worry he followed her, and Simon followed him.

They worked their way upstairs, and Sydney stopped one of what seemed like countless doors, "Simon, this is your room." She said, even though he knew it was. He stayed here every time he stayed in the house, as it was his favorite room. Nodding her opened the door; it was exactly as he had last seen it.

"Alright, but I want to talk to you, Jules." He said, glaring at her, before he disappeared into the room.

"Right then. Your room," she said as she turned her attention to Sark. Who had still not said anything. "I hope you like it here." She said, although he thought that it sounded more like she was saying it to himself.

She stopped at a door just after they turned the corner. "This is your room," She said, opening the door to a very large room. "My room is right across the hall," she pointed to the door that was, as she said, across from his. "If you need anything, just ask." She said, before she turned and went into her own room.

Shaking his head, Sark entered his room and closed the door behind him. "This will certainly be interesting," he sighed as he lay down on the bed.


The Rotunda

Vaughn sat at his desk, rocking himself back and forth with his feet. He thought of Sydney, as far as he could tell, and he had just gotten into work, there had been no word on whether she had the disk or not.

He looked up when there was a knock on his open door, it was Dixon. "We received word at about midnight. Syd has successfully gotten the disk, and is staying in London for today and tomorrow to go over the information." Dixon told Vaughn before he turned away from his doorway.

A flash of white gold caught his attention. Lauren, he had seen nor spoken to her in the last two days. And he didn't feel like dealing with her now.

After a few minutes had passed, Michael found Eric standing in his doorway. "You remember Allison Doren?" Eric asked him. Michael nodded, he remember, she had killed one of Syd's best friends and posed as her for God knows how long.

"Yeah, well, she's dead. Cops in Florence just found her body."

Michael sat up straighter in his chair and motioned for Eric to come in.

"The body was so disfigured, they had to do a DNA test from the teeth, but it was her. The autopsy report said that she had been dead for at least five weeks." Eric shook his head, "I read the report, and saw pictures, Mike, and it was horrible. Whoever did this must have hated her."

Both of them fell silent, they could only think of one person who had hated Allison more than anything; Sydney. But she couldn't have, or could she? They had only found Sydney a month ago, and from the report she had been dead longer than that. Was it possible that Sydney had killed her before they found her?

Both of the men wanted to dispel that theory from their heads, the Sydney they knew and loved would never do something like that. But then again, as they would both come to realize, she was not the Sydney they had once known.