Chapter Three

Sydney looked over at Sark, who looked forwards at the road making sure that he did not stop driving – afraid of what she would do to him.

"You were in love with Lauren? But she was married to Vaughn, and she was covenant…" she drifted off, beginning to figure out how that happened. "So you had an affair with her, then you fell in love with her, and now she's dead and you're out of the whole spy/bad-guy world?"

"That's how the story goes" he looked over at her surprised at her reaction. She wasn't beating him to a pulp! That's what he had expected from her. "Why aren't you beating me to a bloody pulp? That's what I had expected from you for having an affair with your now-boyfriend's wife. I could have hurt your precious Agent Vaughn" he said Vaughn's name with a certain coldness that did not go unnoticed by Sydney.

She frowned and looked down at her hands in her lap. "I broke up with Vaughn last week. Just before I took this holiday. So, I honestly couldn't care less about Vaughn right now."

"I'm surprised Sydney, I thought that you two were pining after each other when he and Lauren were married."

"We were, but when we got back together after her death, he didn't know me anymore. He didn't realize that I had changed through those two missing years."

"How did he not notice that you had changed! Even I noticed, and I'm not a person who knows you all that well."

"I don't know. How should I know. I mean, I thought that it would have been obvious! But he's fucking clueless! He didn't pick up on anything! He thought that we could go back to being just like it was before I left, but that was impossible. Things changed. We were both different, I was tougher and I'd been hurt by him, and then Simon. He had given up on our love and married someone else so quickly after I 'died' that he just… changed. I think he just expected me to forgive him instantly when I came back" she realized that she was ranting and blushed. "I'm sorry to be telling you this, I'm babbling and shouldn't burden you with this, you don't really care."

"Sydney, it's okay, really. I understand when you just need to have a good rant about the shit that happens in life. And you obviously needed it. I'm glad that someone was here to listen to you" he smiled turning his head to look at her with sympathetic eyes. "If you need to talk, I'll be here for you. I know that's an odd thing to say and hear, but I mean it. If you ever need anything, just ask."

"Thanks. The weird thing is that I know you mean it. I can read you pretty well Sark."

Sark turned one last corner and drove into a parking lot. "We should be able to find a clothing store pretty close to here. We should get you more than one outfit, because you can't go back to the hotel now. If you'd like, I have a house just outside of the city. I'm going to be going there later if you'd like to stay."

She sighed. "Well I really shouldn't go back to the hotel, and I can't find another place because of the whole fact that we were part of a shoot-out in a fancy hotel in Paris, so I guess I'll accept your offer" she said smiling shyly. "Um… how long can I stay, because I don't want to be a burden to you. And I'm supposed to be in Paris for the next two weeks…"

"Well seeing as how I caused your holiday to be ruined by being part of the focus of that shoot-out, you can stay as long as you'd like. And I think that you should allow me to buy you whatever you try on today. It's the least I could do. I mean, you saved my ass up there" he said smiling, reaching for her hand to shake on it. She reached out took his hand in hers and shook.

"It looks like we have a deal Mr. Sark."

"Oh and one more thing… Since you've agreed to stay with me, you have to agree to come to a function that I've been invited to at the Louvre next week. And you would need to find a gown because it will be quite the event."

"Okay, I'll agree. But there can be no business dealings are we clear?"

"Crystal. And Sydney, I'm done with that. You have nothing to worry about."

They walked down the street side by side looking for a place to shop. They found one store that appealed to the pair and they walked inside. They were immediately assaulted with people trying to sell them their fine garments. They both declined assistance saying that they were just wishing to browse the shop.

After trying on many different outfits and modelling them for Sark, Sydney left the store with two pairs of jeans, three pairs of pants, a couple of skirts and many different tops. She was wearing a white peasant skirt and red tank top. Sark had gotten rid of his sweats and was wearing dark blue jeans and a white t-shirt.

"Sark, you really don't have to do all this. Seriously, at least let me buy you dinner or something. You can't just let me stand by and have you paying for all these new clothes, and letting me stay with you."

"Okay, I'll let you buy me dinner. But Sydney, you must know that I have over $800 million dollars sitting in a bank account and there are no longer any bombs that I'm interested in buying, so I shall spend that money any way I'd like to. And if it happens to be spent buying things for you, then so be it."

She sighed. "Fine, do what you want, even if it makes me extraordinarily happy. Plus, I get new clothes! And you can never really have enough clothes. Or shoes."

"Oh and don't forget, you still need to buy shoes, and a gown."

"When do I need to do that by? Because I don't think we have time today. That's something that I need to look around for. Dresses are not something that can be bought quickly."

"No you don't need it until next Wednesday, so you have a few days to look around."

"You know Sark, I don't want to scare you, but I have to tell you something."

He looked at her sceptically, having no idea as to what she was about to say. "Go ahead."

"Well before I tell you, I have to ask you this. Where would you like to go for dinner?"

"Well there's a little bistro near my home, we could go there if you'd like. We still have a little time before we should eat. And I would like to hear what you're so hesitant to say now Sydney. You're actually making me quite nervous."

"Okay. Here it is" Sydney paused and smirked. She looked into his eyes and her smirk grew into a hesitant smile. "I had a really surprisingly nice time with you today."

"That's what you wanted to say! I thought you were going to say that you were lying earlier and about to take me into custody or something!"

She laughed. "No, just having a nice time with an ex-terrorist and still enemy of the United States."

"Yeah I'm still on that list aren't I?"

"I'll let you in on a secret. I'm going to try and get you off it when I get back. I can see now that you're not bad."

"That would be nice" he said smiling, his blue eyes wide and sparkling. "By the way… I had a really nice time today as well Sydney."

They walked the remaining distance to the car in silence. Both Sark and Sydney were smiling and you could just tell that they were happy.