Los Angeles, USA

He stared at Sark's profile on the screen. Hate wasn't a strong enough word. Loathe nearly summed it up. He loathed Sark.

He then saw Sydney's picture on the projection in front.

But I love her

"Sydney has been MIA for almost three days now. Our primary aim is of getting her back. Secondary aim is bringing Sark in. Dead or alive." Sloane had been Sark's former employer, but when it came to the relationship between him and Sydney, he knew he would die to save her.

"So where's Sark now?" he broke the silence with the obvious question.

I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch as soon as I see his face

Weiss saw Vaughn's pained face and whispered.

"Calm down man, she can take anything that bastard throws at her."

"We believe one of Sark's contacts is residing in Buenos Aires. Nadia, Vaughn, you're looking for a Carlos Mestrianos." The screen activated to show a picture of a clean-cut 20-year-old man. "Find the location of Sark and get out of there."

London, England

"Come in here again and I'll kick your ass." She spat at him as he entered the suite.

"I guess I'll have to stay longer," he sneered at her. "And it's my house anyway. You should be thanking me that you get to stay in the best room in the house!"

"Hmmm, my room or a room of a wanted terrorist," she said sarcastically before asking "Best room in the house? I thought the master lived in the best room?"

"Fine then it's the second best- but does it matter?" he said with a small smile.

Sydney smiled back.

"So is there a reason you came or did you just want to talk about bigger rooms?" she said, her face becoming serious once more.

"Yes, in fact," he said, the smile dissolving from his face. He paused.
This wouldn't be easy. "Pizza or Chinese?" he finally said, retiring to the easiest thing.

I can't just come out with it

"What?" she asked surprised. "Are you kidding me?"

"What do you mean? Its called being polite- you should try it sometime." He turned on his heel and left the room in a huff.

She lay on her bed staring at the white ceiling above her, daydreams flooding her featherbrained head. She immediately stood up as she realised what she was doing. She slapped herself. Hard.

Sydney Bristow, Julian Sark is not the right guy.

She jumped into an attack stance as soon as she heard the door opening. Deirdre stood there in her usual maid's outfit.

"Mr. Sark would like to know if you are coming to dinner, Ms Bristow."

"So did he finally make a decision between the food?" she said sarcastically.

"I believe he did Ms. Bristow," she said ignoring Sydney's impoliteness, "I think you'd be pleasantly surprised." She laughed as she left the room.

Its Sark, he never surprises me.

She followed Deirdre down the stairs and through the corridors. She saw the dining room where Sark and she usually ate dinner but Deirdre was going somewhere else.

"Where are we going?" she asked whilst trying to memorise the route and formulating an escape plan.

"Mr. Sark wanted dinner tonight to be special."

"Maybe I should go upstairs and get changed then?"

"That's not necessary Ms. Bristow, Mr. Sark ordered that it was an informal dinner.

Informal? No suits then? What the hell is going on?

She was now in a garden filled with flowers. At one end there was a swimming pool with a table and chairs placed on its far edge. Sark was sitting in one of the chairs, the two things that shocked her was 1) she was allowed outside and 2) Sark was wearing cargo pants and a shirt!

No suit? Seriously? What the fuck is going on?

Sark stood up and pulled put a chair for Sydney. She took the chair and watched as he sat in front of her. All of the sudden, a dog came charging out of the house and onto Sark's lap. He stroked the puppy gently and turned his attention to Sydney.

"This is Rolo," he said softly handing the pup to Sydney. The dog licked her face delicately. "I think he likes you."

She held the pup in her arms and cuddled him. Sark watched as she played with him before interrupting the fun.

"So Sydney, I made a decision in the end," he paused and signalled to Deirdre who ran inside and came out accompanied by other cooks pushing a large trolley in her direction. "Voila!" He pulled the large top covering the food off to reveal a selection of meals. Including the pizza and Chinese Sydney had earlier refused.

Sark was meanwhile was thinking how he could make this last night together memorable, it would be the last night she'd be here, The last night as Sydney Bristow, The last night alive. And he was counting down the hours.

They ate in complete silence until Sydney broke it.

"So how did you know Chinese was my favourite?" she asked timidly.

"Your favourite?" he asked surprised staring at the dog. "Then why does my Rolo seem to be gaining weight?" he laughed and glanced up at her. Their eyes met before Sydney turned away.

"I just thought he should be included," she shrugged, "I mean its is great rice."

"I'm just glad I could share it with you."

Sydney smiled and looked at her empty plate. "I never knew you had a dog."

"I only just got him. He stays in this house though. I don't want this cute puppy getting in any mischief like his owner." He said smiling at Sydney who too smiled back before returning to the dog.

They had avoided talking about work that was bliss, but now it was broken and they had spoke of it so lightly, Sydney started to see Sark as a different man.

Sark pulled out a bag from behind him. He handed it to Sydney.

"What's this?" she asked, bewildered at Sark's kind gesture.

"Open it and you'll see."

He waited as she pulled out the pink box from inside and fumbled with the wrapping. He stared at her face as it lit up as she saw what was inside.

"Oh, Sark, I really can't take this."

"Sure you can."

"Why are you giving me this?"

"Because I bought it and it didn't quite fit me. Anyway, I think it's a bit too feminine for me, don't you think?" he joked as she stood up and looked the sparkling dress up and down. "Does it prove I'm not a bad man after all?"

"No, It just proves you have a sense of style." She smiled. Before she knew what she was doing she was standing in front of Sark and hugging him. He was quite shocked at the intimation but accepted it. She slowly let go and crouched on the ground beside Rolo who was patting her feet with his small brown paws. She stroked him and reflected on what had just happened.

Am I drugged? Its Sark.

It slowly got dark and Sark moved to sit at the pools edge to dip his feet. Sydney joined him as soon as Rolo had curled up in his basket.

"So…" She sighed and splashed her feet round the cool water.

"So…?" he repeated. He looked over at her.

She's CIA, that's forbidden.

She turned and looked him in the eye.

"Somehow I don't think I'm going to survive to see tomorrow." She whispered, completely out of the blue.

"What makes you say that?" Sark's face remained expressionless.

"The way you acted today. It was different… It was nice…Y-you wouldn't do that if I was going to l-live." She stuttered. She stood up and ran towards her room, back up the stairs and closed the door, tears streaming down her face.

He stared up at the light in her room, a floor up. He knew what he had to do… It would go against the thing he believed it and the things he didn't believe in, but it was Sydney.

Three hours later Sydney was woken by an urgent crashing sound on her door.

"Leave me alone" she cried between tears.

"Sydney, do you think that will achieve anything?" Sark bellowed as he knocked the door down with a great push. He walked over to her. She fell into his arms; she started caressing him, sobbing

"Don't leave me Sark… don't leave me."

He leaned in "I won't Sydney, we're getting out of here." She leaned in and her lips brushed his mouth. He smelt the alcohol on her breath. She was drunk.

"Keep me safe," she whimpered. "Just keep me safe."

He felt her breath on his skin. He shuddered and closed his eyes. His world was spinning. He had lost control of everything. This would be the memorable night he was planning, for her, and for him it was paradise.

She kissed him softly. Occasionally breaking away to whisper, "Keep me safe" He held onto her waist as she slowly pulled him to the bed.

Once he was on top of her, she let go and smiled. The smile awoke him and he realised what was happening. He shouldn't taking advantage of a drunken woman. He broke off completely and jumped off her and ran to the wardrobe and started pulling a long suitcase out of it.

He voice became serious, "Sydney, we've got to go."

"Why?" she asked dumbfounded.

"Sydney, This is me keeping you safe."

And I don't know what's come over me.