Sydney opened her front door to find her house dark and lonely. "Just as I left you." She whispered. After a few minutes of looking through her fridge, freezer and pantry she realised she had no food for dinner. Sydney decided to call her Dad, she could use a little company – and some food.

"Dad?"

"Yes, Sydney? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. What are you doing tonight? Do you think you would want to come over? Bring some pizza or something?"

"Sure, I'll be here at the office until five, but I'll try to get to your place by six at the latest. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, that's great Dad. Thank you."

Jack Bristow sighed into the phone sadly. "Today's the day isn't it, Sydney?"

"Yes."

He understood.


Marshall balanced Mitchell on his hip, while reaching for the door. A trail of snot ran down his arm and smeared all over his front door knob. "Great. Just great. Thanks a lot Mitchell." He said, as Mitchell giggled to himself. He opened the door and looked down at a pair of sharp looking business shoes. His eyes ran up the visitors body until his eyes fell upon Sark's face. Sark was standing awkwardly, as if he had really no idea how he had landed on Marshall's front step.

"Mr Flinkman, hello. How are you?"

"Uhh Carrie!" Marshall turned away from the door. "Carrie! Take Mitchell!" Seconds later, a flustered Carrie came to the door, oven mitts in her hands. She took Mitchell away before looking back outside. She frowned at Sark and whispered to Marshall. He raised his arms up and shrugged, "I have no idea. I don't know. What? No. Carrie, don't be stupid. No! I'll be … outside!" he reached for the door and shut it behind him as he joined Sark outside.

"Sark. Hi. What are you doing at my house?"

"I believe you work with Michael Vaughn?"

"Yeah, of course. Vaughn's a real nice guy. In fact, he asked me to lunch the other day. I'm pretty jazzed." Noticing Sark's facial expression Marshall added, "Not that I don't miss having eggs with you! They were great eggs …"

Sark nodded slowly. "Michael Vaughn isn't who you think he is. Be careful around him. Please. Tell no one I came to visit you, especially Mr. Vaughn himself. And please refrain from having lunch with him." Sark turned and walked to his car.

"What?" Marshall cried. "What's wrong with Vaughn? Does he have, like, chicken pox or something? Sark!" But without even looking back at Marshall, Sark walked up to his car, got in and drove away, leaving Marshall bewildered on his front lawn.


"How's Nadia, Dad?" Sydney asked as she reached for another slice of pizza.

Jack Bristow took a sip of red wine before saying, "She's fine. A little worried about you though, but fine. Weiss makes her a lot happier these days."

"It's lonely without her here, but as long as she's happy with Weiss. Thanks for the flowers by the way," she said, looking at them sitting in a vase on her bench.

"Not to worry, I passed a flower shop on the way, it seemed only necessary." He said smiling. He returned his glass to the table as his face turned stern. "Sydney, you do realise you have to come back to work soon."

"I know." She said slowly. "I am, tomorrow. I just needed some time away from everything."

"I understand Sydney. Thank you for dinner, but I must be off. Get some sleep if you are coming back into work tomorrow, I don't doubt Sloane has a mission all ready for you."

"Great." she said sarcastically, smiling at her father.


Sydney entered the briefing room to find everyone already seated. They all looked up at her as she entered. Dixon and Marshall smiled at her warmly, but Sydney noted Sloane's annoyed expression. She glanced over at her usual seat, and all of the sudden, sitting next to Vaughn wasn't as fun as it use to be ever since Sark had spoken to her.

"Sorry I'm late." She said politely as she took her seat. Vaughn looked across at her and grinned.
"Welcome back, Syd."
"Thanks." She smiled.

"Quite alright Sydney, it wasn't as if we were waiting for you or anything. As you all know," Sloane began, after giving Sydney a dirty look, "before Anna Espinosa was taken into custody she discovered another priceless Rambaldi artifact located in Venice, Italy. Sydney, I need you to make a trade with her associate tonight. Vaughn, Weiss you will be backup. Please see Marshall for a tech briefing. That is all, thank you."
And with that, Sloane stood up and walked out of the briefing room.
"Someone's crabby." Marshall muttered.


Sydney arrived out the front of the building in which the exchange would be taking place. She and Danny had visited Venice once - but now was not the time to be thinking about that.
She walked into the building, scanning the small, crowded restaurant inside for a minute or so until she finally identified the man she was looking for in one of the booths at the back of the restaurant.

"Boy scout, I've found Anna's associative. I'm going radio silent."

"Be careful." Vaughn said.

Sydney clicked off the earpiece and walked over to the man.

Her disguise consisted of a smart black suit she had bought from a local mall, with a short, cropped blonde wig she wore years ago as a bad Halloween costume. She sat down across from the man and stared at him. He had a small head with even smaller eyes, and as he looked Sydney up and down he smirked.

"Good evening. You must be …"

"Katrina Samson, I am here to trade for an artifact I believe you have. Let's not muck around, ok?"

"Ok Katrina, whatever you wish. I assume you bought the substance?"

"Of course, shall we?"

He reached down into his bag, which lay beside him on the chair and withdrew a rectangular, shiny instrument. "We shall. Here."

Sydney reached across the table, picked it up and looked it over. It seemed to be just like the one Sloane had wanted.

"Good, I am satisfied." she looked around her carefully before pulling out a small test tube from her pocket. She passed it to him silently and after he snatched it out of her hands quickly, he held it up to his eyes making the blue liquid shimmer in the restaurant's over head lights.

"I assume it is of enough power to leave any victim blind?"

"And a whole lot more. We have a deal?"

The man looked at her once again before saying, "Yes."

He casually picked up his bag and walked away. She turned her earpiece back on and turned her face away from the restaurant's crowd. "I have the artifact, Boy scout."

"Great job Sydney. Meet you out the front in sixty seconds."

Once again she turned the earpiece off and stood up, discreetly hiding the artifact under her jacket.

"Ms Bristow." He said as he walked into her.

Sydney moaned and rolled her eyes. "Not now. Why the hell is your problem? Stop following me Sark!" she whispered fiercely.

"I have something that concerns Mr. Vaughn that I believe you will take a special interest in. Take it, please." He stressed the last word as he pulled out a small file full of papers from under his jacket and handed it to her as his eyes scanned the restaurant, making sure no one was seeing this second exchange. As he turned back to Sydney, he smirked, noticing her outfit for what seemed to be the very first time. "My, my don't we look ravishing tonight?"

Sydney ignored his comment and with both the Rambaldi artifact and package of papers underneath her own business suit jacket, she walked past him and out of the restaurant hurriedly. She jumped into the CIA van as Weiss sped off into the darkness.

"Everything run smoothly?" he asked from the front of the van, eyeing her from the mirror.

"Yes, of course." She said adjusting the papers, before pulling the artifact out.
"Here." She said, handing it to Vaughn.
He smiled at her. She hesitated, but then smiled back.