The second her plane landed at the military base in Los Angeles, Sydney demanded to see Dixon. She was irate at what had happened between her and Sark. Dixon had lied to her when he said he hadn't known she was alive for those two years she spent with the Covenant. He and Kendall could have lied to her about what exactly went on doing those two years. If anyone had some explaining to do, it was him.
People jumped out of her way as she rounded the corners of the hallway leading to Dixon's office. She didn't even look anyone in the face on her way there. She was on a mission that wouldn't be delayed for anyone.
When she found herself face-to-face with the door to his office, she felt her resolve begin to face. This was one of the men to which she had entrusted her life time and again. Would he really hide something so big from her when he knew how desperate she was to remember and how much it killed her to have to be told what had happened?
She raised her hand to knock but stopped it at the last second. She couldn't do it. Dixon had been too good a friend to her throughout the years. They had been through too much together.
With a sigh of defeat, she turned around and headed back in the direction of her desk. There was paperwork to be done like always.
Two hours later, she wasn't any further than when she started. Every time she started to write up a first hand account of her run-in with Sark, she found herself writing down small fibs and half-truths. It was a mystery to her why she didn't seem to want to admit the exact events that had occurred.
In the back of her head, she knew it was because she was scared.
Scared that if she wrote them down, it would cement them as truth. She wouldn't be able to talk her way out of this situation if anyone found out. What had gone on between her and Sark made no sense in her head. There was no possible way that they could both be reliving the same memories.
She still agreed with her original deduction. If these memories were true, they occurred during her missing two years. The only problem with that theory was Sark had spent the whole two years she was missing locked up in a CIA prison cell. There was no way that the events still flashing through her head continually could have occurred.
Again, she found herself realizing that the only person who would know the truth was Dixon. Kendall hadn't been available since the day he had met her on that plane to relive her missing time. The government wasn't too happy with the end results of Kendall's explanation, aka Sydney's discovery of the project that had been her life.
Once again, she walked to the closed door of Dixon's office. This time she managed to knock before changing her mind. Twenty seconds later, she found herself sitting in a chair staring at her friend, unable to form the words that needed to be said.
"Is there something you needed, Sydney? Something you wanted to talk about?"
"My missing two years," she said softly.
"I'd be happy to retell you everything I know, but I don't think it will help whatever's bothering you. I mean, all the information that Kendall and I were privy to you already know."
"I've been recalling certain memories."
"So you're finally remembering for yourself?" Dixon smiled genuinely. "That's great. It will make it a lot easier for you to finish adjusting to the idea of having two years of you life gone."
Sydney shook her head and wondered the best way to phrase this. "The memories I've been having? They don't exactly fit nicely with what you and Kendall have told me.""How so?" The fact that Dixon looked concerned but not thrown off by this seemed to keep her nerves from jumping.
"Well, I remember working with Sark. And I'm not talking about the mission we went on for SD-6."
"That's impossible. Sark was in U.S. custody the whole time you were missing. I would know. I had to interrogate him for information every day. In the beginning, it was information on what had happened to you. Then, it switched to ties we thought he might potentially have with the Covenant. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't see him in his cell."
"See, that doesn't work with my memories. The time I remember spending with him would drag on for days. I remember working on an assignment with him for a whole week in Tanzania. The CIA would have missed him if he went lost for a whole week."
"Exactly." Dixon leaned back in his chair. "Want to hear what I think this is really about, Syd?"
She nodded.
"I think you're just transferring all the pent-up emotions that were created by the whole revelation with your father. I think that you've become a little preoccupied with Sark. His recapture has been something for you to focus on instead of your father's "betrayal" or Lauren Reed's death. It seems perfectly normal to me."
"That is a rather convincing explanation."
"Do your memories resemble any other occurrences you experienced that you remember?"
Sydney thought hard. "There was this one time that I got so mad at Will that I threw a glass of iced tea at his head. And he used to comfort me a lot when I was dealing with Danny's death. Will was also with me when I found the Rambaldi vial. He stabbed Allison Doren." She paused for a second and then continued, "And I guess holding a knife to Sark's throat might just be a fantasy I have."
"See? It all makes sense."
Sydney stood up. "Thank you, Dixon. I was starting to get a little worried. This whole thing with my father has made me slightly distrustful of everyone."
"You can trust me, Sydney."
"I know," she smiled at him one last time before shutting the door behind her. She almost ran straight into Marshall who was hurrying down the corridor. "What's the hurry?"
"Carrie just called. Mitch just said his first word."
"That's so great. Was it Mommy or Daddy?"
"No. He said nanotechnology." Marshall grinned from ear to ear. "He is definitely my son."
Sydney nodded her head in agreement. Marshall took a few steps but then turned back to her. "What were you talking to Dixon about?"
"Just Sark and some memories I had," she said absentmindedly. She really wanted to talk with Vaughn about what had happened, but she was beginning to wonder if he really would want to hear anything about her fake memories of being intimate with Sark.
"Yeah. I heard that he managed to evade you. I swear this second attempt was just as successful as the first."
"What?" Sydney said, snapping back to attention.
Marshall paled. "I just said that he still seems to be good at evading you. I mean, he used to do it all the time back in the day. It looks like his skills aren't rusty."
"You said second attempt," she stated. When he didn't answer, she gave him an odd look. "If this was his second attempt, what was his first?"
"The time he escaped from the plane we had flying him in to our custody," Marshall said.
She could immediately tell he was lying. "I don't think that's it. I mean, we never officially had him in our custody here at the facility. So it couldn't be classified as an escape."
Marshall looked down at the cell phone in his hand. "I'd love to stay and chat with you all day, Syd. But I really need to call Carrie and talk to her about mini-Mitch." He practically sprinted away from her.
"Weird," she muttered before taking a seat at her desk again.