A/N: Yep... don't awn a thing. If you don't like the chapter, then whatever, I just kinda wrote it. But I hope you do like it. R/R! Please!
And yes, the next few months were very interesting. Working separately, and on occasions together, Sydney and Sark came up with all the information that they needed to take down the Covenant. The CIA had put Sydney back into the middle of things, and she often found herself having to meet up with Sark on several occasions. So eventually get what she wanted. Mostly it was information that could be easily copied, but it still didn't make it any less frustrating.
Things hadn't gotten any better with Lauren, they still hated each other, even though neither of them acted on it, Sydney had the feeling that they would find themselves having an alteration again before things were done. Lauren had been working with Robert Lindsay, her employer very closely, and as it seemed, he had it out for her. Always hovering over her shoulder, waiting for her to slip up. But she wouldn't, she wouldn't give him the glorification of slipping up.
She would prove him wrong and she would love every minute of it. Because the funniest thing was that he was right, she was working for someone else: herself.
But they didn't need to know that. The sad part was the every day she got closer to achieving her goal the worse she felt about what she was going to do. She was going to back out of her friend's lives, again, and that hurt her. All because she needed some kind of closure. But it had to be done, she hoped that her friends would forgive her for what she was doing, or what she had done in the past, and they would get over it.
The CIA hadn't really found anything of importance happening. It was odd, something was usually happening, but not right now. Many people were nervous; it was too much like a foreboding to something awful that was going to happen. The calm before the storm, or so they say. There really hadn't been anything going on, nothing of importance anyway, nothing big was stolen, no one of importance got out of jail. No one turned up alive that was supposed to be dead.
Actually, it was quiet boring. Everyone was restless, even Marshall, without any missions he had really nothing to make. And since he had made everything that came to his mind last week, there was nothing to do.
Everyone expected something big to happen; hell they knew it would eventually. Everyone knew it would be anticlimactic if nothing big happened. And then they would all feel silly for thinking something was going to happen.
It had been two and a half months since she had met Sark and Simon in the club; therefore it had been the last time she had really talked about anything in depth with either of them. She had all but forced the memories into the back of her mind. She refused to think about how things would have been different if her father hadn't subjected her to Project Christmas.
But currently, Sydney had nothing to do. When she had called Sark last night to see how far along they were with their plan, he had told her that he needed to tie up a few ends, and then they would be good to go, within the next two weeks. He had also told her to clam down; she would need to have full strength to pull this off successfully.
Currently, she, Eric, Marshall and Vaughn we all playing cards in Eric's office. She and Vaughn had begun to speak on civilized terms now, and could even be caught having a conversation now and again. Things hadn't gotten any better for him with the Lauren situation. He had now fully moved into Eric's apartment and was paying rent. Which meant he wasn't living on the couch anymore, he had his own room.
Eric said something that made Sydney giggle, and Michael looked at them sadly, even though he knew he would never get her back he missed making her laugh like that.
She looked down at the cards she had in her hands and looked back at Eric, who was now saying something else quietly to her. Vaughn couldn't tell what he was saying, but he knew it made her smile. Marshall said nothing; he was lost in his own world, as if trying to figure out this game. They were playing Go Fish, because they had run out of anything else to play.
"Have any fives?" Marshall asked Sydney hopefully, the Master of everything Technological couldn't figure out this game.
"Nope," she said, giggling, she thought it was funny. So did Mike and Eric. "Go fish!"
"Damnit," he said as he drew a card.
Sydney shook her head as she looked down at her cards again. She had a Queen and a King. Looking to Marshall she smiled, "Got any queens?" She asked sweetly, knowing he was getting frustrated.
"How did you know?" He said as he handed her the queen and she happily took it and put it down in her large pile of doubles. Much larger than anyone else's, what could she say, she kicked ass at Go Fish.
Looking at each of the three in turn her gaze rested on Michael, "Got an kings?" She asked him, trying to keep her face calm; if she got this card she would win the game.
Michael looked down at his hand, "Yep." He said reluctantly, and held up the king for her. Which she snatched out of his hand, grinning like anything.
She put the cards down on her pile and she smiled, folding her hands in her lap. "I win!" She said excitedly.
Eric rolled his eyes at her, "Well, someone's modest," he said, laughing and she playfully hit him in the stomach. "Nah, I get it. I mean, if this was the first game out of, what has it been, like, twenty card games, I would be happy, too." He grinned as she stared at him in mock outrage.
Marshall was laughing at the two of them, as was Michael. It was true, she was never any good at the games they played, it could possibly have been because they were guys, and guys always seemed more into cards, and it was there thing. Having poker parties and stuff, and as she was a girl, not a girly girl, but a girl all the same, she shopped with her friends.
Or, she used to, she really didn't have any girlfriends anymore. Hell, she really never had any, other than Francie, to start out with. She found it easier to get along with guys. But that was all in the past, she just now didn't think about her friends, or lack there of.
"Hey, leave me alone, y'all are just upset because I beat you," she smirked at all of them. And they all looked at each other and nodded. And then all four of them burst out laughing it was rather funny.
The door was open so their laughter spread around through the Rotunda, it was rather humorous, they were becoming well known for their card games, and people were actually beginning to think they had started this exclusive club. Since they never played with anyone but themselves. How amusing was it that half of the people in the office were so bored that they wanted to be in on an 'exclusive' card game.
They were all laughing when Sydney felt a vibration in her pocket, which made her jump. She blushed, when all the guys looked at her funny. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID, it was Sark.
"I'll be right back," she said as she stood and walked out of Eric's office and into her own. "Yeah?" She said as she flipped up the phone to answer.
"Well, hello to you, too." The British man said, as if her were hurt.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she drawled out. "Would you like me to be another brainless bimbo." She smirked, even though he couldn't see her, she knew he hated those kinds of girls. "Oh, Sark, I missed you so much!" She squealed as if to make her point.
"Uh, stop it, now." Nope, he didn't like them one bit. "Anyway, I wanted to give you an update. We are ready to go." He told her simply.
She didn't quite know what to say. They had worked fast. Rather, he had worked fast, she felt as if she hadn't done much of anything. And it had only been last night when he told her it might take up to two weeks.
"Sydney?" He asked, after he didn't get an answer for a minute.
"What? Oh, sorry," she remembered who she was talking to. "That's great. Just tell me when you want to do this. I'm pretty much open," she shouldn't be taking this lightly. But it was all she could do from screaming with joy.
"There is something going on tomorrow, at the main building, at eight. It would be ideal to do it then."
"Alright, then tomorrow it is. I'll be there at five." She said, and didn't hang up on him like she usually would. Instead she sat there, thinking about what this would mean. They were going to take down the group who caused her so much personal torment over the past three years.
And they were going down. "Sydney, we need to talk about what will happen after this." Sark said on the other end of the line, quietly. She knew it too; they needed to talk about what would happen to their partnership. They needed to decide whether they would stay partners, or if something else was going to happen.
"We will," she promised him after another moment. "I'll see you tomorrow, Julian." She had recently started calling him Julian, but only when they were together, alone. It just seemed more comfortable to her now. And she knew she was the only one who would be able to get away with it.
"I'll be seeing you, love." He told her and hung up the phone. She flipped down the phone and held it to her chest.
Now all she had to do was get a reason to be out of the country, and something that would supposedly keep her far away from London.
Sark hung up the phone and set it down on his desk. "That was fun," he muttered to himself as he left the library and headed towards his room. He had always liked pleasing Sydney. Not that before five months ago he really had ever done that. But he was making up for lost time. He did admit that he liked it better when they weren't on opposite ends of the spectrum. He had always gone home hurt when they ran into each other. And it hadn't been exactly fun, but he had liked running into her. There were few times when he met his match, intelligence and strength wise, and he met both of those in her, sometimes she exceeded his. He couldn't help wonder what would have happened if she had been trained under Irina.
Things would certainly be different, had she been, that's for sure.
But right now, all he could really focus on what they were going to do tomorrow. He had men set up in all of the Covenant cells, and they were ready to raid said cells when either he or Sydney gave the word. Which they most certainly would, tomorrow evening they, together, would take down the Covenant. A group that had the potential to become stronger than the Alliance had been in its prime.
From his vantage point he could see a few options they could take. She could either break off their partnership, or he could, she could remain with the CIA and he could go off on his own. Or they could keep their partnership as it was, and have her working through the CIA, as a double agent. Or, and he liked this the best, she could leave the CIA and they could actually work together, building the empire that Irina had promised would be his one day.
Sark entered his room and shut the door tightly behind him, the lights were off, as he'd left them, but something seemed off. It didn't have the same air that it did before; it was sweet, like cinnamon and roses. He knew that scent. "Irina," he said as he watched as she turned on the light by the chair she was sitting in.
"Julian," she said, and gave him a small attempt at a smile. "I haven't seen you in a while." She said calmly, as if it had just been last week. No, it had been three years, and he had almost begun to think she was dead. But she couldn't be dead, no, she was sitting right in front of him.
This woman had been like a mother to him. And yet, she had left him when he was in custody. She had left him waste away, being drained for information until nothing was a secret anymore. And she, the woman who had basically raised him, had left him to that.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her coldly, crossing the room to hang up his jacket. He needed sleep, it was late, and he really needed sleep.
"I just came to see how you were." She replied softly, her eyes never leaving him.
"How'd you get in?" He thought this place would be more secure as it had been so far.
"Mark let me in, sweet man, that Mark is." She said, smiling. Apparently she had been there before. Sark shrugged and walked around the room, trying not to look at her.
"I just came to say good luck," this made him stop walking around. She didn't usually do this; she just let people go about their ways, usually watching as people rose and fell, and all the while, she herself, manipulated people to get her ways. "On what you're planning on doing. Sydney didn't tell me," she said, when she saw the look on his face. "In case you were wondering, I found out another way." She held up her hand when he was about to say something. "No, wait. I know you want to do this, and I know this is the best time to do it. I'm not stopping you; I'm actually giving you my full admiration. And help if you'd like, but I want you to think of something before you do. What are you going to do afterwards? What happens to Sydney and you after all this is done." She sighed, and he sat down on the bed, his hands holding his head. It sounded almost as if she had read his mind. "Just think about it," she told him.
Standing up, she walked over to him and planted a kiss on his head. "You were always like a son to me," she told him before walking out of his room, leaving a very confused Sark staring after her.
She was completely right, he had no idea what would happen to them. And they did need to talk about it before it happened. Sighing, he stood, and in just his pants and an undershirt he padded out into the hallway and went to go get his phone.
Walking into the library he sighed as he grabbed the phone with one hand and dialed the number. Holding it up he waited for Sydney to answer the phone as he rubbed his eyes and sighed.
"Hello?" She answered, she sounded like she was out of breath.
"Syd, it's me."
"Oh, hello, Julian."
"I think you should come back now." He said, rather quickly.
"What?" Seemingly his words have caught her off guard.
"I. Think. You. Should. Get. On. A. Plane. And. Fly. To. London. Right. Now." He drew it out for her, sarcastically.
"Why?" He knew she would come, if he really wanted her to, no matter what the reason was.
"Because, we need to talk." He told her.
"You make it sound like we are going to break up." She giggled then went on, "But alright, I'm coming."
"Thank you," he closed his eyes, and headed back to his room.
"Welcome, just promise not to break my heart." She said in a witty voice before hanging up.
"Oh, I'll try." He murmured to himself as he shut the door to his room once again. Time for sleep, he threw the cell phone onto the desk and turned off the light Irina had left on. Sydney would be there in a few hours and they would get this all worked out. But right now, he needed to rest, which was what he planned on doing.
Slipping out of his pants he slid under the covers clad in black silk boxers. He was falling asleep as soon as he lay down. And he only had one thing on his mind: Sydney.
Later that day, in London
By the time she had gotten the second phone call, she had already been at her house and was packing a small bag to go to London. The phone call from Sark had confused her, and she wasn't sure why they needed to talk now. But that was okay; she had been planning on leaving immediately. To go spend time by herself, think and the likes. But now she had to go see Sark. But she still had time to spend by herself, thinking that whatever they needed to talk about wasn't going to take that long. She got there early; it was around, eight in the morning, as she had gotten called last night.
She told her dad she was meeting a contact in Fiji, someone who knew something about where she had been; there were still no leads into her past as far as the CIA was concerned. She hadn't called anyone in London to tell someone to pick her up at the airport, she could walk. Sure there was a greater challenge of someone seeing her, but she would take it, it wasn't that far from the airport to her house. She didn't want to make anyone go through the trouble.
She had gone a little while, walking slowly so she could watch the people rushing around her. She longed, deep in her heart, that she could be one of them. She passed the park that was close to her house and stopped. She looked at all the couples and all the kids running around, and was suddenly jealous. She wanted someone to love, she had thought she had had it with Vaughn, but it wasn't true. Same thing with Noah and Danny, who both left her, by choice and by death. And all was her fault, which was why she feared going after the thing she ultimately wanted most in her life, love.
She hadn't noticed she had been standing there a while until she felt someone come stand next to her. Glancing over she saw it was Sark, reassuring herself that it wasn't someone she didn't want to talk to, she looked back at the playing children.
"How long have you been out here?" She asked him.
"Ten minutes maybe, I came outside to get out of the house and here you were." He told her softly, guessing that she didn't know how long she had been here.
"Oh," she nodded, finally tearing her gaze off of the kids and looking up at him. "I'm here," she said, her voice changing, "you sounded upset." She frowned.
He shrugged, and leaned down to rest his elbows on the railing. "I'm alright," he lied, well not really. He was all right; he just was a bit worried.
And of course, she knew this, "Don't lie to me," she told him; resting her one elbow on the rail so she was facing him. "Tell me what's wrong." She demanded of him.
He sighed, "What's going to happen. After this is all over?" He asked her, which surprised her. It wasn't like him to worry about what was going to happen to their partnership.
She couldn't give him an answer, "I want to keep working with you," she said, honestly, looking away from him.
"As I do you," he had had fun these past few months. "So what are we going to do? You can't exactly just up and leave the CIA, can you?"
She thought about this, "Not right now," she just needed time. "So, do we keep working together from different sides of the world, on different sides?"
Sark didn't answer her for a minute, "I guess." He answered, not liking that plan at all.
She stared at the children for a bit longer, before suddenly saying, "We could leave," that was all she said, no elaboration.
"What?" He asked, looking at her with a startled expression.
"I'm serious, we could leave the business. Leave it with Simon, or someone," her voice died off.
"You're serious?" He asked disbelieving her. Sure, he had thought of it sometimes, leaving the world they lived in. But it seemed like a forbidden life. One that he couldn't have, and she had always thought the same.
She frowned, then shook her head, "No, I guess I don't," she said sadly, tearing her eyes away from the frolicking children, but not before Sark saw a tear run down her face. When she saw him looking at her she quickly wiped it away and smiled.
"So that's it? We are going to continue this until I can leave from the CIA." She looked at him hopefully; she obviously wanted to be done with this conversation. He nodded slowly and she smiled again.
Looking around she frowned again, "Let's go back," she said softly, and walked around him, heading towards her home. Turning on his heel Sark caught up to her and walked along side her. It was very comfortable, like two of the most dangerous people just normally took walks around the streets of London.
They walked in silence, and when they got to the house he held open the door for her. It was very sweet; after all, he was a gentleman.
They didn't see anyone at first, as no one really paid attention to the front door, as it was hardly ever used, so people went looking for different doors first to see who had come in.
They walked silently into the kitchen where they had heard voices and they found Simon and Mark playing cards, and it looked like Mark was winning. Sydney smiled, she loved it here, and she always would.
Mark looked up when he heard them walk in, "Miss Sydney, I didn't know you were coming," he told her, trying to find out if he had been told she was coming.
Sydney smiled and walked over to sit next to him at the table, "No, I didn't tell anyone I was." She smiled at Simon who was frowning at his cards.
"I hate this game," he muttered, as Sark sat next to him at the table.
"What game?" Sark inquired, looking amused.
"Go fish," Mark said, laughing at Simon. Sydney had taught him well over the years.
Sydney laughed as Simon glared at her, "I blame you," he shook his finger at her, which caused her to laugh harder.
"I'm sorry," she grinned at Simon and blew him a kiss. "I needed someone to play with, and Mark was here." She said, trying to clam down her laughing.
Sark just sat there, he didn't see how people could enjoy that game. "I'm going to go take a shower." He said, standing and walking out of the room. They all stared after him and then looked at each other and shrugged.
Sydney had sat there, watching Simon fail miserably at the game for a while then faked a yawn and ventured upstairs. She heard the water running as she passed Sark's room, so she went inside.
Looking around she sat on the leather chair and picked up the book that was on the table. Glancing over at her shoulder at the clock she saw it was a little after three. Sighing she shook her head and looked at the book in her hands. Catcher in the Rye. Good book, it was one of her favorites. She opened it to a random page, she had read it so many times she almost knew it by heart, and begun to read.
Fifteen minutes later the water cut off and she could hear the shower door siding open. A moment after that Sark walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Sydney looked up at him, and had to admit, he looked good without a shirt on, but all right.
He stopped when he saw her curled up on the chair in his room. He was of course, only in a towel and he wondered what she was doing there. "Syd?"
"Sorry," she mumbled, standing, rather embarrassed she had even gone into his room, "You just left quickly and I wanted to see if everything was okay." She shook her head and tried not to look at him. "I'll just go," she whispered before going to the door.
But her could walk faster then she could, and was closer to the door. He grabbed her arm and stopped her from leaving. "It's alright," he said softly right behind her. She nodded and slowly turned to face him.
"What are we doing?" She asked him softly, and he couldn't tell if she meant right now or what they were going to do later. But he couldn't answer her either one. He was loosing himself in her eyes, and he feared he would drown forever if someone wouldn't stop him.
She looked up at him, seeing something she couldn't explain in his eyes. And before either of them realized it, their lips met in a passionate kiss. She pressed herself against him and wrapped her arms around his neck, and together the walked back to the bed and fell on top of it. Never letting go of each other, the towel was discarded onto the floor, and he begun to work on stripping off her clothing. She was in her underwear when he stopped and forced her to look at him. "Are you sure?" He asked softly, and she nodded, ever the gentleman. Once he saw her nod he kissed her passionately again and rolled over so he was on top of her.
He flipped the covers over them and slid her out of the rest of her clothing. And they were both overcome with the greatest sense of happiness they had felt in a long time.
A while later Sydney lay in the crook of Sark's arm. It felt right, like they were supposed to be together, and it took those years of fighting to realize it. Just as well they realized it now rather then back then, it was easier now.
Sark lay with his eyes closed and his lips pressed against Sydney's hair. His arm tightened around her shoulders as she shifted her position, her body now pressed up against his, her head on his chest. She ran her fingers up and down his chest as he smiled down at her. "That was nice," he murmured lazily against her hair.
"Mmmhmm," she agreed, her fingers stopping their movement. Looking up at him she smiled.
He smirked back at her and closed his eyes. They both wished they could stay there forever, but they couldn't. With a regretful sigh Sydney looked over at the clock to find that it was six thirty. Yep, they had been in that bed for three hours, felt good, didn't it?
"I should go get ready," she said sadly, she needed to shower, and she had a feeling that if he came with her she wouldn't get much progress. And he seemed to know this because he nodded, agreeing. Sighing she pushed herself out of the bed and grabbed a shirt that lay on the chair next to the bed. It was his, and she slipped it on, it was very comfortable.
Slipping on her pants she looked back at him, as he was still lying in the bed, and smiled at him. "We should do that again," she grinned before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Once she was in her room she hugged his shirt to her chest and threw everything else she had on her bed. "That was interesting," she said, she wondered how this would change their relationship, if it would. But they really didn't have a relationship other than partners. Maybe they would have one now. Who knows?
But it was now time for her to get ready. She wouldn't get time to herself, or that much time, but she didn't care, that was better then spending time by herself. Walking into her bathroom, Sydney turned on the shower and let her had run under the cold water, waiting for it to get hot. Yep, she took her showers hot, hotter than most people, but she liked it that way.
Slipping out of the clothes she had on, she left them in a pile on the floor and stepped into the scolding water. She liked to think while she was in the shower, and today was no different. She thought of everything that had just gone on, and knew that it was more then just sex. There had been something else there, and she couldn't identify it.
Shaking the soap out of her eyes she ran her face under the water. Tonight was going to be fun.
Vaughn walked briskly towards the building he was told to go to. He had received a call earlier that day, telling him something was going to happen. So he had followed the lead and wound up in London.
Looking at his watch he saw that it was five minutes to eight, five minutes before something big was supposed to happen. But nothing big ever happened on time, so he thought he had at least ten minutes before he would need to do anything.
Michael stuck his hand into his pocket where his gun was currently resting; he thought he would need it, so he had hurriedly stuffed it into his pocket before leaving LA. He had talked to Dixon before leaving, and they both decided it would be all right for him to go in by himself. He hardly ever did this, he was usually with Sydney, but since she was in Fiji, he went alone.
She sat down on a bench that overlooked the main lobby of a building. He reread the message he had gotten in his mind, all it said was that something big was happening. With the covenant, and that it would be good for the CIA to be there. He had no clue who the note was from, but apparently it was important.
Sighing he checked his watch again, it was now five after eight. Yep, nothing ever starts on time, Vaughn thought to himself as he looked disdainfully down onto the lobby floor again.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw three figures enter the building. Their face were hidden, because he wasn't sitting at the right angle, but he could tell the one in the middle was a woman. The two men on her sides were both tall and they were all dressed in black. Here we go, Michael thought, standing and reaching into his pocket. Fingering the gun in his hand he walked to the edge and watched as the three split up, the woman walking forward and the two men going under the balcony.
The woman stood in the middle of the lobby, and Michael had his gun ready at his side. She turned to look at the man who had gone to their right, she nodded and Michael heard a loud noise coming from another floor. The power flickered out, and the woman was gone. Michael pulled out his own gun as he heard others being shot.
Michael ran down the stairs and looked around, only one man remained, and the doors were swinging on the right side of the lobby. The two people who had gone down those doors had to be the leaders, so Michael followed them, running through the doors. They weren't that hard to find, all he had to do was follow the trail of gunshots and dead bodies.
He entered another room, and he was suddenly in a place that reminded him of SD-6, this must be the Covenant's main building, he thought, finally understanding. This was all to familiar, someone was taking down the Covenant, by themselves. The desks looked untouched, as if no one had been in there, which was probably a good thing. Suddenly he heard a gun shot, coming from an office.
Running slowly he made his way towards the room he had heard the gun shot come from. All he could see was the woman standing there with her gun in her hand, pointed at someone.
He couldn't see the other man, but he knew he was there, somewhere. He cautiously stepped into the room but stepped on a piece of glass that crunched loudly under his foot.
The woman didn't turn to see who it was, but the man stepped up out of the corner to see whom it was, and had his gun ready. It was Sark, Michael was surprised, Sark looked at him strangely for a moment then reached out and grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her through a second door, and Michael quickly followed them. Once they had reached the main floor they met up with the third man and were running out of the building.
Michael reached the lobby as they were almost towards the door, firing his gun he tried to aim it at Sark, and not the woman, but it was the woman who grabbed her arm and almost fell. She stopped, and Michael stopped, letting his gun drop down to his side. Sark and the other man continued out of the building, not noticing that she had been hit.
Slowly, after a minute of no one moving, the woman turned to face Michael, and he got the shock of his life. She stood there with her hand holding her arm, and her hair wild around her face under the black beanie she wore on her head. Even from across the room he could see the pain in her eyes. It was Sydney, she was supposed to be in Fiji, and suddenly he understood. All those times she had gone away, she had been planning this. She had faked her way back into the CIA, by pretending to loose her memories, and she had wanted to be found, and that's why they were able to. She had probably even arranged Sark to get out of jail. But he couldn't understand why.
Suddenly nothing else mattered, he had shot her, and she was in pain. Before he could even move she had fallen on her knees, and had fallen into the arms of Sark. He hadn't noticed Sark come back in, but he watched now as Sark looked on with worried eyes as he held a bleeding Sydney in his arms.
Vaughn rushed over to them. Sark had gotten Sydney to stand up, but she needed help. He was about to open his mouth when Sark realized he was there. "You?" He asked shakily, not believing he had shot him.
Michael nodded, and then looked at Sydney. She stared back at him, not making a sound, he could see the darkness of her arm and she had lost a lot of blood. Sark had taken his hand off her back, and before either of them could react Sydney dropped, unconscious to the floor.
