Disclaimer: I do not own Alias or any of it's characters or themes. This story is intended for my own amusement and no financial gain is involved.

Summary: This is set sometime in the future. I've started writing it after episode 5.13 and I don't think it contradicts the series up to that point. Depending on where the final episodes go it may be set after the series ends or it may be AU after 5.13. As far as pairings and plot go, I'm not real sure where I'm headed. Only 2 things I know for sure and that is that everyone loves Sydney and Vaughn is dead.

Sydney had never been so confused in her life. Okay, maybe that was a bit untrue. After all, what could be more confusing than waking up to find your boyfriend married and be told that you had been missing two years? So Sydney had been more confused in her life. But she was also confused now. What was Carlos involved in? It had obviously been CIA that apprehended him. So there were two options, either he was deep into something that she did not want to know about or they were looking for her. And since they had been oblivious to her presence tonight, she had to believe it was the former. So her sometimes boyfriend was a shady character, just another disappointment. And disappointment had gotten easy to handle. But now she had to think about what to do next. If they had come for him, they would also be looking for his associates, and her villa, and her identity may no longer be safe. So Sydney went to a posh little hotel downtown to rest for the night and to retrieve a different persona.

Sark didn't need to look long to find Sydney. He knew she had stashed some money and an ID at a hotel downtown, so he found her the first place he looked. Sark checked the hotel's security, took out the cameras, and watched the local officials for any signs that they might be looking for her. Then, when he knew she would be asleep, he slipped a quickly penned note under her door. And he headed back to her villa.

The next morning Sydney awoke feeling well rested and ready to move on. It was only a little difficult to leave her new life behind. She would miss Bosco the most. She almost left the room without noticing the folded note on the floor, but it caught her eye just as she was about to shut the door. She took the note and placed it in her pocket, checking the hallway as she went out. Sydney slipped out a side door to avoid any hotel lobby cameras (not knowing that Sark had already taken the system down so that she would be able to escape without her new disguise being caught on tape). She walked a few blocks to a small piatza to read the mysterious note.

Miss Bristow,

And so we meet again, in a manner of speaking. Please do not return to your villa, it is no longer safe. I trust you will be able to find a new home in another part of the world. And I apologize.

S.

And now Sydney was more confused than ever. She had known that by using the IDs supplied by her mysterious benefactor she would be allowing that person to find her. But she had done so anyways, mostly because she was curious who S might be. But now she had to acknowledge that this person must be watching her every move. And that made Sydney uneasy. But still, her current ID would be the easiest way to slip out of Italy even if she could be tracked by the mysterious S. So now the only decision left was where to go.

Eric Weiss didn't want to tell anyone that he had seen Sydney Bristow at the opera house. Who would believe him? After all, he had been forced to take a 6 month leave of absence after her most recent 'death' because he had been seeing her everywhere. And he certainly didn't want to repeat all the time in 'required' therapy. But he had told Will.

"Eric, are you listening?" Will had asked him on the flight back from Italy.

"Sorry, I guess I was spacing off," he'd replied.

"Sark had no idea why we were there," Will had continued. "He seemed surprised that we were after Carlos. I got the impression that he thought we were there for the girl."

At which point Eric's head had snapped up. "Are you sure?" he'd asked.

"Pretty sure," Will had replied. "Did you see her? Any idea who she was?"

"I wasn't sure at first, but now I know it was her. Will, it was Sydney."

And they had agreed not to keep it between themselves. So he simply tried not to think of it, but he couldn't control his dreams. And in his dreams, she was all he saw.