Chapter Fifteen

"Julian?" he heard her call from the living room. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the study."

"Can you come to the living room? Weiss wants to talk to you."

"I'll be right there" he printed off the information about Arvin Sloane and prepared himself for the inevitable. Sydney was going to be hurting, and he didn't want it to happen, but she needed to know.

"Weiss, come on! I was not that drunk."

"Sydney you were totally hitting on me! But I couldn't do anything, because it would have hurt Vaughn."

"Oh so it wouldn't hurt me, the morning after, but all you cared about was Vaughn? I'm hurt Weiss. I'm hurt" she pouted.

"Oh Sydney, you know how I love you."

Sark walked into the room with the papers in his hands and the moment Sydney saw his face, she knew something serious was about to happen. "Does Weiss know what's going on, Syd?" he asked her.

"Basically."

"I found something else. You're not going to like it."

"I don't like anything that causes you to have that serious look. So who's betrayed me now?"

Weiss looked at her shocked. "Syd, not everyone you care about is betraying you."

She looked at him and shook her head. She pinched his cheeks and spoke to him in a baby voice "you are so clueless aren't you?"

"Syd," Sark spoke up again. "The Covenant hired a new man for the hit on you."

"Julian!" she pleaded "Please just tell me who it is."

"Arvin Sloane."

Sydney paled and stopped breathing. Weiss froze. "What!" he screamed. "I'm working for that man!"

"How are you working for him?" Sydney asked, "I thought he would be in CIA custody! Not your boss!"

"You know how I 'resigned' from the CIA?" Sydney nodded, Sark had no idea that he had resigned, "Well, I was asked to join a black-ops unit in the CIA. Like a real SD-6. But I didn't know when I signed on who my boss was. Imagine my surprise when I see Arvin Sloane in the briefing room, and not in handcuffs."

Sydney was frozen. Sark walked up to her and held her hand. "Why does this keep happening! Don't people understand who he is? What he does? Why do they continue to put their trust in him!"

"Sydney," Sark pulled her into his arms, Weiss looked a little shocked when he saw this, "I'm sure that they will stop him."

"Weiss, I'm going to stop him. Julian, Simon and I will stop him. I'm going to make him pay for ruining my life time and again."

"Simon? Who's Simon?" Weiss asked.

"Simon Walker. He's alive. We're working with him to bring the Covenant down."

"Woah, this is news to me. I had no idea that he was still alive. I mean, I heard him die over the coms!"

"Well it's not hard to fake someone's death Weiss. They've faked mine, and Julian's."

"And Allie's" Sark added, receiving a cold glare from both Sydney and Weiss.

"Julian, please don't bring her up right now."

"Sorry, love" he looked down at the ground.

"Syd, you've got him so whipped" Weiss said happily, Sydney laughed and Sark looked like he could kill him in an instant.

"Julian, we have to put a stop to this. Weiss, would you be able to help us out with this?" he nodded "We'll need you to update us on Sloane's location. Whether or not he's in the country. Just don't talk to anyone about this. Vaughn is the only person who can know. Do not under any circumstances involve my father or Nadia. She'll be heartbroken, and my father could be in on it. He's unpredictable."

"Of course Syd."

"Ok, so you call us every night, or email us. Just it has to be through a secure server. Give us all the information you can. We need to take him down. For all the people that he's hurt."

"Syd" Julian spoke, "We'll get him for what he's done to you. I understand that you need to bring him down."

She smiled at him, "He took too much away from me. He took my life, Danny's, Francie's… then he took two years of my life. And now he's trying to kill me. Plus, he put your life in danger. Now he's tricked the CIA into letting him work for them. I can't stand him! He needs to be brought down."

"We'll do that Syd" Weiss spoke up.

"Thanks you guys. You don't know how much this means to me. You're doing so much."

"He's taken something from all of us."

They went to the kitchen and talked about their plans to bring him down while making lunch.

"Weiss, I remember earlier that you wanted to talk to Julian about something… If you'd like, I can leave you two alone for a bit, so you can talk." Sydney offered.

"Ok." Weiss said.

"I'll be on the balcony" Sydney said standing up from the table. She went over to Sark and kissed him softly, then headed out to the balcony.

"So Mr Weiss, what is it you'd like to talk about?"

"First off, it's Eric, or Weiss. You're dating my best friend in the world, so you can call me by my name."

"Eric then, what would you like to talk about?"

"Sydney. She's been through a lot Sark, I want to be sure that this isn't just some fling. I want to make sure that you won't play around with her and break her heart."

"I have no intention of doing so. And if I'm calling you by your first name, Eric, you should call me Julian. But if you're more comfortable with Sark, then by all means, continue."

"Julian, I don't know if you're aware, but Sydney's birthday is on Friday. I don't even know if she remembers. But I think that we should plan something for her. Something special."

"What do you think we should do?"

"Well, I was thinking about a double date. My girlfriend is flying into Paris on Thursday for a business meeting and she's been wanting to meet Sydney. Do you think we could do something like that?"

"Of course! I think that would be perfect. I know Sydney loves dancing. Do you think we should take the girls for a night in Paris, dinner and dancing in one of the clubs?"

"Jennifer loves dancing! We haven't been yet. Oh, what would the dress code be?"

"Formal. Sydney loves dressing up. She proved that to me the other night" Sark blushed.

"Is the infamous, stone-cold Mr Sark blushing! I think he is!"

Sark coughed. "Well, I can make the arrangements tonight. Would you be able to get a hold of a tux by then?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright then. I'll go get Sydney. And Weiss, don't let this slip."

He pretended to zip his lips shut. Sark walked to the balcony where Sydney was bathing in the sun with her eyes closed and a sun hat guarding her face from the sunlight.

"Syd?"

She looked at him and stood. Giving him a once-over, feeling his body with her hands, "Syd, what are you doing?"

She smiled at him "I'm checking for wounds. I just want to make sure that you aren't dead."

He laughed, "I can assure you that neither Eric nor I am injured."

"You called him Eric!"

"Yes, love" he kissed her forehead. "How about we go back inside. Eric is probably wanting to tell you something."

"Weiss, what do you want to tell me?"

"Huh?" he looked at her confused. "Oh right! Well, Jennifer is flying into Paris in two days, so you can meet her."

She looked at him, "Jennifer?"

"My girlfriend!"

"Oh the girl you told me about on the phone! You never mentioned her name Weiss."

"Well, I'm sorry about that, but we were kind of talking about something else at the time."

"So why don't you tell me about her?" Sydney asked. Sark stood and whispered in her ear that he was going to work in the study, she kissed him softly and he left the room.

"She's perfect Syd. She's got brown hair, deep chocolate brown eyes, she's tall and beautiful. We've been dating since a couple of weeks after you left, so we're going on three months. And well, I'm so in love with her. I'm going to tell her when she's here because, Hello! Paris! The city of love… Actually our three month anniversary is on Friday! That's so perfect!"

"Weiss, I love you! You're such a romantic" she kissed his forehead.

"Well, I need to go into Paris tomorrow with Sar-Julian, so I can rent a tux. I'm going to surprise Jen with dinner for our anniversary. I can't believe I've been with her for a quarter of a year!"

"You're so cute. I'll talk to Julian about that in a minute. I just want to tell you something" she paused, "I'm leaving the CIA. I'm leaving New York and I'm going to be living here for a while."

"Well this is a shock."

"I can't exactly take down Sloane when I'm working for the same company, now can I?'

"I guess not. But Syd, have you really thought this through?"

"Yeah. And I've talked to Julian about it, he's fine with me staying with him."

"If you're sure, and he's ok with it, then I can't argue. Plus, you'll be living in France, outside Paris! How exciting is that!"

"Very" she smiled.

"Well, I'll go un pack now, if you don't mind. I kind of feel like taking a little nap. I'm a little jet-lagged."

"Go ahead!"

"Julian" Sydney knocked on his study door "can I come in?" she asked.

"Of course Sydney" he replied.

"Weiss was wondering if he could take you into Paris tomorrow so he could rent a tux. It's his three month anniversary with his girlfriend on Friday, so he wants to look all fancy-like" she said smiling.

"Of course. But only if you'll come with us. I'll try on tuxes too, and you can watch both of your boys look fancy. And if you come, I'll buy you a fancy dress."

"How could I say no to that? You in a tux and a new dress? There's no other answer" she kissed him softly and sat on his lap. "You really don't mind me being here do you?"

"Of course not. I don't want you to ever think that you have to leave. You're always welcome here."

They sat like that for a while. Sark didn't know how long it was until he realized that an hour had passed and Sydney was asleep in his arms, her head on his shoulder.

He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, and Weiss was just leaving his. He saw the sleeping Sydney in Sark's arms and was silent. He opened the door for him and Sark nodded his thanks to him. As Sark laid Sydney down on the bed, Weiss watched from the doorway. His only thoughts while watching this action were she's so peaceful and beautiful and, he's totally in love with her.

He watched him kiss her forehead and whisper something that he couldn't hear into her ear and tucked her under the covers carefully. It was odd to see someone who was so ruthless and violent be so caring and soft.

Sark turned and saw Weiss watching him and they left the room quietly, closing the door behind them.

When they got to the living room, Sark looked at the clock and noticed the time. It was 7:30. Where did the day go? He wondered. "Eric, we should eat something for dinner. I expect Sydney is out for the night."

"Yeah sure. What do you have?"

"I'm not sure. I don't really cook that much. Sydney has been doing that, but I'm sure there's something." They opened the fridge and found some pasta, ham and various cheeses and vegetables. "See? There's food."

They just ate what they felt like. Grabbing little things from the fridge when they wanted. An hour later they were talking to each other about their girlfriends over tequila. They were both a little drunk. "Don't kill me Eric, but…" Sark paused when Weiss burst out into laughter.

"HA! When you say 'Eric'" he imitated Sark, "it's so… just so… BRITISH!" and they both fell into another fit of giggles.

"Well, don't kill me, but I'm SO in love with Sydney. I'd do anything for her."

"I know" he laughed, "I love her too. Just not that way. I saw how you feel when you put her in the bed today. You are SO hooked."

"Well, you're the same way!" Weiss looked at him surprised, "not with Sydney" he stumbled "Sydney, of course. You're that way when you talk about Jennifer. You are going to marry her. I can just tell."

"Did you know that I'm psychic?"

"No, I didn't!"

"Well I am!"

"That's good to know. I'll be sure to ask you to read Sydney's mind in the morning. But for now, I'm going to go and join her in bed."

"I'll see you tomorrow!" And they both stumbled off to their different beds.

Sark let his clothes fall to the floor and got into bed next to Sydney and pulled her sloppily into his arms. Thankfully she did not wake, and he soon fell asleep.