Chapter Six

Fifteen minutes later Sark re-entered the room with a grim look on his face. The phone call with Jack had not been too pleasant. Jack did not think so much of him, and it was oh-so-obvious now. He would be arriving within the next day, and he was not looking forward to the face-to-face confrontation.

Sydney was asleep once again, with a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

He sat in a chair at the side of her bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Phone call

He followed Sydney's instructions and found himself more nervous than he had ever been before. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, he put himself back into the Sark mindset.

"Jack Bristow" he heard over the line.

"Agent Bristow"

"Mr Sark, what warrants a call to my personal line? It had better be good, or I'll hang up right now"

"It's concerning your daughter"

"What have you done to her you son of a-"

"Agent Bristow, I can assure you that I have done nothing that could cause her any harm. We were having dinner together and-"

"Why were you having dinner with my daughter Mr Sark."

"It's a very long story Agent Bristow, but the short one was that someone is after one or both of us and your daughter got caught in the crossfire"

"Is she going to be alright?" his voice softening at the thought of his daughter hurt,

"She'll be fine, she's in the hospital right now, I'm with her, making sure that she's alright"

"Why would you care if she's alright Mr Sark?"

"Because, contrary to popular belief, I have a heart, and I care about your daughter. I don't want to see her hurt"

"If you stay there, you will hurt her Sark"

"I will do my best not to sir"

There was a long pause on the line, as both men were trying to calm themselves down.

"Where are you?" Jack asked.

"We're at a hospital outside Paris. I'll explain when you get here" they paused again, not knowing what to say, "I don't like to leave her alone for long, I should be getting back to check on her"

"Alright. I'll be there soon. Tell her that"

"Yes sir"

"Oh, and Sark, if you hurt her, I will kill you. You cannot doubt that"

"I don't doubt you sir. I will not hurt your daughter. I will be waiting to see you. We are in room 474. See you soon"

Sark hung up the phone and took in a deep breath. He headed back to Sydney's room.

Seven hours later

Sydney awoke to see Sark asleep in a chair at her bedside. She couldn't help but notice how young and handsome he looked. He just looked so serene and peaceful, she thought it was beautiful. She started to raise her hand to touch his face as he stirred. She smiled "hey" she said softly, and quickly lowered her hand.

He smiled seeing her smiling at him. "Hey" he said, his voice still rough from a long slumber, "I spoke to your father. He should be arriving some time today"

"Did your chat go well?"

"Not at all. I think he hates me"

"I wouldn't know why he would hate you, I mean, you were only a terrorist for many years" she said sarcastically and smiling.

"Well, I hate to tell you now, but I think I have to go back into the business for a bit" they both sighed.

"I understand"

"It's going to be hard, but it has to be done. In order for me to find out who's after us"

"I know Sark" she said as she moved her hand out to softly clasp his in hers.

He smiled softly down at her, revelling in the feeling of his hand in hers.

"Julian" she looked up at him with a questioning look "my name is Julian. I want you to call me Julian"

She smiled at him, "Thank you, Julian, for everything"

He shifted his body and pulled her hand to his mouth, laying a soft kiss on her palm, "there was nothing I'd rather do"

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until someone knocked on the door.

"Come in" said Sydney.

The door opened and Jack Bristow entered the room. He took a quick look at Sydney, lying on the bed, pale and weak and moved towards her, "Sydney," he said pained.

"Dad, thank you for coming" she weakly held her arms out to him, and he hugged her tightly, but carefully.

"I'm so glad that you are alright. When Sark called me, I didn't know what to think"

"Dad it's alright. He had nothing to do with this. At least, I don't think he had anything to do with this. You didn't, right Julian?"

"Of course not!" he said quickly.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, Sydney was sitting in her father's arms, Sark was sitting in the chair – uncomfortable with the emotional reunion – and Jack was rubbing his daughter's back soothingly. Sark quietly stood, "I'll give you some time alone to talk"

"Mr Sark, I would like you to stay. I would like to hear everything that happened, and I can tell that Sydney will not be able to tell it all."

"Alright sir," he said, sitting back down in his chair.

"Well, here it goes dad…" she told her father about the long day of running and the time spent between the two spies. She left out the part about her agreeing to stay with him, and the nice time they had that day in Paris.

When she was done, her father turned to Sark to hear what had happened next. Sark began to tell the story from when Sydney had fallen to the ground.

"When I got her to the hospital, she had lost a lot of blood. I can honestly say that I was surprised that she was still alive. I thought she would have…" he drifted off, not being able to say that he thought she would die. He composed himself by clearing his throat, "she was in surgery for hours. They repaired the damage that the bullet had caused"

"What kind of damage? Anything permanent?"

"No, nothing worse than scars. The bullet was through and through, not seriously damaging any internal organs. It scraped the edge of her left lung and shattered a couple of bones, but she'll be fine. They did some reconstructive surgery, and she should be fine soon"

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yes sir. They placed her into an induced coma so they could lessen the chances of brain damage. She woke up yesterday, and I called you soon after. If you don't mind me asking sir, where have you been over the past week? I tried reaching you several times, only getting to a secretary who told me nothing"

"There is a problem right now with Arvin Sloane. He's escaped CIA custody. We expect that it has something to do with the covenant"

"I thought that they were gone"

"So did we. I expect that they had something to do with this. I'll do whatever I can to find out who did this."

"Dad," Sydney finally spoke up, "I think I'm going to stay here in France for a bit. You know? Take a leave of absence, until this thing is all cleared up. And besides, I was just shot, I can't go back on active duty just yet."

"I'll get a secure line in here as soon as I can sweetheart."

"Mr Bristow, I would like to offer you my services to help find who did this and take them out. I have just retired from this business, but it seems to want me still and is pulling me back in"

"I appreciate that Mr Sark"

"You may call me Julian"

"Julian, then" they shook hands, "I'm going to find a secure line to call Sydney's supervisor"

"Alright dad. See you in a bit then"

Sark and Sydney were left alone in her room for a few minutes before there was another knock on the door.

"Come in" said Sydney.

The door opened, and the person they had least expected walked through the door, carrying a bouquet of roses.