superintelligentone
Cadet
Season 4: Episode 6 - "Nocturne"
2/9/2005
Summary by superintelligentone aka SIO
Scene opens with the caption ‘Universiteit Van Amsterdam’. As a church bell tolls, a young woman wearing a backpack pushes open a wrought iron gate inside gloomy corridor. She is a student late for class. We see there are leaded glass windows and vaulted archways of a Renaissance era university. The female teacher is already calling the class to order as the young woman enters her classroom and takes her seat. The classroom has stained glass windows. The teacher, Mrs. Cowell appears to be an American woman in her mid 30s. She is heard to say “All right everyone, settle. Notebooks out. We're going to start with three sentences. At least one noun and one verb in each one ... in English.” Looking towards a young woman Mrs. Cowell says “Uh, Martina. Why don't you go first. Three things you saw on your way to class today.” Martina struggles to say in English, with a Dutch accent “Uh, I saw ... a man ... ped...peddling his bicycle?” The teacher encourages “Peddling...good, good ...” The young woman continues “And then I saw...my friend Klaus...kiss Katrina Walt.” Giggles are heard, then we see the reaction of an unhappy brunette who is apparently Katrina. Martina continues “And then I saw Katrina slap Klaus' face.” More giggles are heard as she explains “It's true! Katrina hates Klaus.” We hear a cell phone start to ring. Mrs. Cowell looks around the room, but no one stops the ringing nor answers the call. She notices that the ringing is coming from the backpack on the floor belonging to the student who was late for class. The teacher calls out “Anna, please turn your phone off.” The students have confused expressions. Mrs. Cowell says sternly “Your phone; turn it off.” Anna opens her backpack and examines her cellphone, then says “It...wasn't ringing.” The teacher looks around the room with increasing fright and her breathing turns into short gasps of panic. She grabs her purse and says “Martina...take over class” and rushes from the classroom. The students look at each other in bewilderment and murmur about what just happened.
Mrs. Cowell looks out to the right side of the hallway before hurrying towards the other end. As she rounds a corner she sees a big burly man talking into a cellphone. He spots her and puts down his phone. The teacher frantically turns and heads back in the other direction, drawing a semi-automatic pistol from her purse as goes. A shadow of a second man precedes him as he descends a staircase in front of her. This man slowly raises his pistol at her. She turns again but sees the first man calmly screwing a silencer onto his handgun. Cowell is in a near panic as she turns and raises her gun to fire, but the second man isn’t there. She whips around to shoot the first man, but he is gone as well. Just then, the student, Martina steps into the hallway and into the teacher's line of fire. Martina looks shocked and cries out “Mrs. Cowell?” The teacher looks past Martina and sees the man is back still calmly screwing the silencer onto his pistol. The student shouts “Mrs. Cowell!” Still looking at the man, the teacher frantically says in Dutch to Martina, “Het is grappig.” (It is funny) "Begrijp je me?" (Do you understand me?) Vertel het hen is grappig" (Tell them it is funny). The teacher puts the pistol under her chin. Martina rushes forward to stop her, crying “Mrs. Cowell!” as we hear the gun go off.
The scene switches to Los Angeles at night. We see Sydney wobbling towards us on ice skates, passing a hockey puck back and forth with Vaughn in an empty, foggy, skating rink. As they near the goal, Sydney awkwardly skates forward with the puck and calls the ‘play-by-play’ like a hockey commentator “Bobby Orr...moves in for the shot...” Shooting the puck throws Syd off balance, so her feet fly out backwards from under her. We see her eyes widen and her mouth make an “Ohhh” as she falls hard onto her chest. Vaughn has a huge smile on his face as he skates over to help her up. Sydney giggles in embarrassment as she turns onto her side and puts her arm out for him to pull her up. She joking scolds him “Don't laugh at me!” Vaughn helps her up and replies “Oh, I wouldn't dream of it.” He then giggles “Let me get your stick” and skates off to retrieve it. Sydney brushes the snow from her arms as Vaughn returns her hockey stick to her.
They are both standing about 10 feet from the net when Vaughn tells her “All right, let 'er rip.” Syd’s wristshot pulls wide to her left side, completely missing the net. Seeing that her stick is making contact with the puck too far ahead of her when she shoots, Vaughn skates up behind her, saying “Here...move back.” He positions Syd into the right position, but her shot flips weakly into the net. Vaughn demonstrates the proper way, saying “Use a little more wrist. You just put a little more snap in it, like this” and fires a rising wrist shot that zips into the net “Lift it (the puck) up.” Sydney turns and asks “What position did you play?” He explains “I was defense. High school coach moved me up to center.” Preparing for another shot, Syd teases “You were a chick magnet, right?” Her shot flips weakly into the net again. Vaughn laughs at her misperception, saying “Actually, my first face off I ever took as a center, I got knocked right on my ass. The other team's center was like this 15 year old, 6 foot 2, bearded ... Actually, probably on steroids, now that I think about it...” Sydney giggles, causing her shot to weakly slide onto the net.” Vaughn continues “Finally, there was 12 seconds left, we were down by a goal... I'd had my teeth kicked in so many times, I said ‘You know what? Screw it.’ I stopped caring. I won the draw, skated around him, moved in for the shot.” He pokes the puck away from Syd, skates around her and fires a shot into the net as if demonstrating what happened. Sydney raises her arms in victory, saying “You tied the game.” Vaughn has a regretful smile and admits “Nah, I hit the post.” He sighs “But I did learn something about...how we can let fear get in the way. Syd, I know you want to take things slow, but...what are you afraid of?” Syd has a disappointed expression that suggests ‘Don’t you know?’ They both look each other in the eyes in silence for several seconds, but then both their cell phones ring. Sydney is the first to answer the phones, saying “Yeah.”
The next scene is of the Union Station subway platform outside the APO. From inside, we see the secret entrance of the APO open. The scene switches to slow motion so that we can see that Sydney looks unhappy and distracted as she is walking the corridor. She composes herself and the scene returns to realtime motion
Inside the briefing room, we see a CIA identity picture of the university teacher who killed herself, as Sloane explains “Her name is Nancy Cahill, an operative at Langley's Narcotics Task Force specializing in the development of new synthetics. She's been stationed in Europe for the past three years. Her cover - Associate Professor at Amsterdam University. She shot herself 36 hours ago. Eyewitness report - a student from Cahill's class. Sydney reads from her transcript “‘Vertel hen het is grappig.’ Tell them it's funny” and looks up in puzzlement. Jack notes “Cahill's most recent psych eval reported nothing of note. Her mental status reviews have been exemplary.” Vaughn asks “What's our assignment?” Sloane explains “Cahill's husband, Jason, also an agent, has gone off the grid.” We see an identity photo of the man, as Sloane continues “Hasn't been in touch with his handler in 3 weeks. All attempts to contact him after his wife's death have been unsuccessful. Our objective is quite simple - locate Jason Cahill. So Dixon, you take Weiss; retrace Nancy Cahill's final days. Vaughn, you and Nadia do the same thing for Jason Cahill. Sydney, Jack; Cahill's Amsterdam apartment. Standard protocol: recover all files, classified computers, any evidence of CIA affiliation.” Looking around the room, Sloane asks “Any questions?”
The next scene starts at nighttime outside of an upscale apartment building in Amsterdam, Holland. We see Sydney and Jack walking down a darkened hallway with flashlights. They enter the Cahill's dark apartment and shines their flashlights around the living room. Syd tries to turn on a table lamp, but it doesn't go on. She shines her flashlight over the top of a lower, second table lamp and tells her father “No bulbs.” They continue searching by flashlight. Sydney enters the kitchen and finds that wall switch doesn't turn on any lights either. Jack notices that the back of the TV set is loose, so he opens it up. Inside, he finds a laptop computer wrapped in plastic and sealed with duct tape. Sydney searches through the drawers, the refrigerator, and shelves. Jack unwraps the computer and inserts a USB memory drive into the port to download information. Meanwhile, Sydney opens a lower cupboard and after moving some pots, discovers a padlock on a hidden door. There is a faint light coming through the cracks from behind the door as she picks the lock. Syd opens the door and craws inside without informing Jack. She finds narrow passageway between the walls of the apartment. A breeze blows scattered papers strewn on the floor and she notes the papers fastened to the walls are filled with disturbing drawings and strange writings. As she walks deeper into the passageway, Sydney hears the buzzing of flies and shines her light to the floor to find a plate of old, half-eaten food. She takes note of each paper on the walls. As she turns around, Sydney is suddenly attacked by a snarling madman. It is Jason Cahill, who knocks Syd to the floor and savagely bites the right side of her neck. She desperately pushes her right hand against his face, holding him away. Cahill begins vomiting blood onto Syd and presses closer towards her when a single gunshot rings out. Cahill collapses on top of her and we see that Jack has shot him in the back. Sydney pushes Cahill’s corpse off and sits up, gasping. Jack lowers his pistol and looks disturbed at seeing what the madman has done to her. Sydney has an expression that changes from surprise and gratitude at being saved, to one of disbelief and pain.
Sometime later we see Sydney, who is wearing a red hospital gown, lying on her back in a CAT scan machine. We see a diagnostic image of her brain as Jack watches with concern from behind the CAT scan technicians.
A short time later, Sydney is nervously tapping a rubber reflex mallet against her palm as she waits for her results while sitting on an examination table in another room. This time she is dressed in her street clothes and has a bandage over her neck wound. She looks up as Doctor Jain enters and says with a smile “Good news, Agent Bristow. Your blood work's negative and your scans are clean.” Jack, who is also in the room, gives Sydney a little nod of assurance, to which she nods back in acknowledgement. The doctor wants to examine her, so he asks “May I?” Sydney’s looks like her mind is occupied with other things, but she regains focus and says “Sure.” Jain removes her bandage and inspects the bite wound. He says “Looks fine. My little brother did the same thing to me once. Bit me like this.” Jack asks “Perhaps you can tell us now what you were looking for in the CAT scan.” The doctor leads them to another room an explains “The Cahills came in contact with a drug that affected the nervous system. The pineal gland was about twice its normal size.” We see the corpse of Jason Cahill lying on a table with his brain exposed. Dr. Jain continues “Nancy Cahill's autopsy revealed the same condition.” Syd asks “Which indicates what?” The doctor replies “By itself? Nothing. The pineal creates melatonin, which regulates sleep cycles and body temperature. However, acute melatonin imbalance has been known to induce uncharacteristic behaviour, even acts of extreme violence.” Sydney points out “The writing in Cahill's closet ... It seemed like he was suffering from severe paranoia. Seeing demons.” Dr. Jain nods and says “I know. I initially assumed we were dealing with a psychotropic, but hallucinogens have particular biochemical markers, none of which were present here.” Jack asks “No matter what drug Jason Cahill may have been exposed to, he couldn't have transmitted it to Sydney by biting her. So why the CAT scan?” Jain explains “The Cahills dealt with emerging drugs.” Looking to Syd, he says “I wanted to take every precaution, but all of our diagnostics indicate that you're fine. Do you feel okay?” Sydney nods and replies “Fine.” Jack has a sceptical glance at Sydney and then looks back to the doctor for assurance.
Sometime later, Sloane is sitting at his desk, holding a meeting in his office. He says “Langley wants to know what substance the Cahills came in contact with. Who's manufacturing it? What's it being used for? So, what do we know?” Looking down at his notes, Vaughn reports “Neither Cahill travelled outside Amsterdam in the past month. In her last days, Nancy placed twice her usual amount of phone calls. They were routed through anonymous relays. It’s standard deep cover protocol.” Marshall suggests “Well, if you give me the routing numbers, I'll see if I can hack a backtrace. Now, as far as Cahill's laptop, the hard drive was erased, but it's possible the files weren't completely rewritten. I'll see if I can reconstruct them.” Sloane shows one of Jason Cahill's strange papers and asks the team “Okay, what do we know about these?” With Nadia looking at him, Weiss points out “Jason Cahill was analysing data: names, dates, links between sources. He was looking for something. I don't know, maybe his mind. This guy was a little crazy. His wife actually locked him in his closet.” His voice trails off as he notices Jack joining the meeting. Jack informs everyone “Sydney's fine, just exhausted. She hasn't slept in 36 hours, so I'm sending her home.” Sloane concurs, saying “Yes, of course.” Noticing that she still at her desk, Vaughn says “Excuse me” and leaves to check on her. Nadia looks towards Syd with concern.
Vaughn calls out “Hey” as he approaches Sydney. She replies “Hey” and then they start walking together, apparently towards the exit. Seeing that Vaughn is leaning to take a peek at the bandage on her neck, she pulls her hair back so he have a better look, then teases “Oh, you think it's sexy, don't you?” He chuckles and replies “Only if I'd done it ... You need a ride home?” Syd replies “No, thanks.” She stops and admits “I was freaked out, but now I'm just tired.” After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Syd gives him a weak smile and says “Good night”. She turns and walks towards the secret door. Vaughn watches her go with a look that suggests that he is regrets that she won’t confide in him and that they aren’t close any longer.
Later at her house, Sydney sees the time on her bedside digital clock changes from 12:10 am to 12:11 am from her bed. It is obvious that she has insomnia. She rubs her forehead in fatigue, and we see that she is tormented by flashbacks of Jason Cahill's snarling face from when she was pinned to the floor. We see that Sydney is trying to sleep, but the flashbacks keeps happening. now lying on her side. She turns over and sees that her clock-radio now reads 1:45 am. Sydney rises from her bed and enters the bathroom. She studies her tired appearance in the mirror and then slowly peels back the tape of the bandage to look at her injury. Syd doesn’t replace the bandage, but instead untucks her hair from behind her ear in order to covers it. As she looks down on the vanity, she notices a black spider on it. Strange sounds are heard as she observes it scurry behind a prescription bottle. When Syd picks up the bottle and then the next one, but the spider is gone. She studies her reflection in the mirror again. We then see her searching through a drawer in the bathroom and takes out a digital thermometer.
At the front door, Nadia turns on the entrance light as she and Weiss enter the house. Weiss is continuing a conversation “It’s not that big of a deal. You still think that's funny?” Nadia replies “I do.” Weiss chuckles “Great.” After turning on the kitchen light, Nadia looks across the room and notices Sydney standing in the doorway of her bedroom. Nadia apologises “Oh, God.. I hope we didn't wake you up. How are you doing?” Sydney smiles and replies “I'm fine. I had a headache. I couldn't sleep, but I'm fine. Have you...learned anything new?” Syd joins them at the kitchen counter. Weiss tells her “Uh well, let me just say Cahill's papers. Just thinking about them makes my head hurt.” Nadia informs her sister “Marshall said he's making some progress with Cahill's hard disk. He thinks he may be able to retrieve the data.” Weiss concurs “Yeah.” and starts to remove his overcoat, since he is getting hot from wearing it in the house. Sydney’s eyes widen and a surprised, smile of embarrassment comes to her face as she says “Oh...” Weiss is puzzled at her reaction and says “What?” Syd is embarrassed to ask “Are you st....” (meaning ‘staying for the night’). Weiss smiles as he figures out what she was thinking and says “What, staying over?” Sydney has a big grin for her sister and twists her head to indicate ‘Well, are you?’, but when Weiss says “No”, Syd turns to see his reaction. Nadia who is has a grin on her face, turns to look at Weiss in amusement. Suddenly, he is unsure of his situation, then turns towards Nadia asking “Unless I am, am I?” Nadia is amused to clarify “You're not.” Weiss repeats “I'm not.” She tells him “I'll walk you out.” Weiss explains to Sydney with a touch of regret “She'll walk me out.” and then quickly adds with an optimistic grin “She almost said yes...You saw that, right?” Nadia tries to stop Weiss from causing further embarrassment by telling him “Right now” and pushing on his arm. Sydney nods in agreement to him, then gets a big grin of amusement. Weiss holds his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart and says to Nadia “This close, I was--.” As he is being hustled away by Nadia, he turns to Sydney and says “Good night.” Sydney has a big smile for him and says “Good night” in return. The digital thermometer in her hand that she brought from the bathroom makes a beep sound unexpectedly. She looks down at it and sees that it reads ‘111 degrees F’, an impossibly high temperature. Sydney puts her hand to her head as if she has a headache and then touches the side of her face to check if it feels warm. Looking back at the thermometer, she sees temperature is still rising:112, 113, 114, 115, 116.” Sydney has an expression that shows that she knows that it can’t be correct and something is wrong.
The next morning, Sydney is at the APO, standing in front of the wall of monitors in the briefing room, using a remote control to flip through the scans of Jason Cahill's papers. She zooms in on one page in particular until the word ‘vampire’ fills the screen. She is lost in thought when Vaughn calls out from behind her, “Hey”, which startles her. He smiles sheepishly and apologises “Sorry. You're here early.” Syd who is wearing a bandage again replies with a smile “I couldn't sleep.” He nods in understanding. Looking at another page, she asks “What do you think about this? Was Jason Cahill just delusional?” Vaughn offers “Well, we're assuming the Cahills realized they were affected - something they came in contact with. Probably a drug from one of their sources. But which source, which drug, they didn't know. Looks like they were retracing their steps, trying to figure it out.” Sydney nods then adds “Maybe looking for an antidote. Vaughn nods in agreement. She sighs and looks back at him with a concerned expression.
Sometime later the rest of the team are gathered around the briefing table as Marshall says “I thought I was losing my mind. The hard disk was wiped clean, remember? But the data recovery wasn't a problem. The files were fragmented.” Sydney asks him “What's on the disk?” Smiling with enthusiasm Marshall says “The motherlode. Cahill's travel itinerary, dead drop protocols, routing numbers for discretionary funds...” Sloane interrupts “What's pressing for now - According to his records, Jason Cahill has a meeting scheduled for Bucharest (Romania). His contact is known to him as ‘The Count’”. Sydney rolls her eyes and comments “The Count? You've got to be kidding me.” Vaughn adds “Well, the Count is mentioned several times in Cahill's papers. He seems to be one of their sources. He supplies them with samples of new drugs.” Marshall stands up to put a photo into the tabletop scanner and says “Now, here is a photo. I retrieved it from one of Cahill's disks.” The photo soon appears onscreen, so Marshall announces “Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing ‘The Count’. Sloane says “The meeting is tomorrow night. Obviously, Cahill won't attend, but we will. Sydney, you will identify yourself as an associate of Jason. You'll lead him into a conversation, and find out what drugs he'd acquired for them.” Dixon immediately interrupts, saying “It's a mistake.” Sydney and then Sloane turn in surprise to look at Dixon. Sloane is obviously annoyed as he asks “I beg your pardon?” Dixon clarifies “Sending Sydney back into the field so quickly. It's a tactical error.” Syd gently tries to assure him “No, it's...” Dixon interrupts her and says with concern “Sydney, someone else can do this.” Syd forcefully insists “I'm fine.” Sloane nods in agreement and adjourns the meeting by saying “That's it.” Sloane and Dixon stare at each other with open contempt.
As they exit the briefing room, Marshall says to Syd “Well, you know, based on my limited experience with mind-altering drugs, this one must have been a doozy.” Sydney asks “Theoretically, could the drug's effects have a delayed reaction?” Not understanding her point, Marshall says “Well, there is a half hour or so for it to kick in.” Sydney corrects him “That's not what I mean. I mean a while, like a day or two.” A cellphone is heard ringing as she is talking. Marshall is distracted by the ringing coming from his phone and says “Uh, I’m not sure...” Checking the called ID, he excuses himself to take the call “Hold on a second. It's my wife.” Marshall answers his cellphone “Hey, honey ...” He whispers to Syd “I'll look into it, okay?” Marshall turns and walks into his office saying “Yeah, sure, put him on. Hey, Boo-boo! Daddy loves you, yes he does!” Sydney turns and sees Nadia showing her a DVD in its case for her back at her desk.
As Syd approaches, Nadia hands it to her and explains “Scans of Cahill's papers. His references to The Count.” Sydney says “Thank you” but then closes eyes and lets out a little groan as she touches her left brow in pain. Nadia looks at her sister with concern and asks “Another headache?” Syd whispers “Yeah” and blinks several times. Wanting to help, Nadia suggests “I've got some aspirin. You want it?” Sydney replies “No, thanks. This is gonna sound crazy. After you got home last night, I took my temperature.” Her sister makes a “Mm-Hmm?” sound, so Sydney continues “It was 111.” Nadia is incredulous, saying “Syd, that's not possible.” She replies “I know. I must have been dreaming, right?” looking for her to support her conclusion.” Nadia asks “Have you told Dr. Jain?” Sydney points out “Everything was back to normal this morning. All my tests came back negative.” Nadia tells her “You have to let them know.” Syd tries to rationalise why she shouldn’t “Well, you just said it yourself. It's not possible.” Nadia points out “It's not, but you still have to (tell the doctor).” Sydney says “If I tell them, they'll sideline me for who knows how long.” Nadia threatens “If you don't tell them, I will.” Syd looks her in the eyes and insists in hushed tones “Nadia, I'm fine. I shouldn't have said anything.” Sydney sees Vaughn approaching them and cuts off the conversation. He comes up and says to Syd “Hey. The plane's waiting.” She replies “Okay” and gives Nadia a silent request for her cooperation. Nadia has a silent expression that shows that she is still concerned for her. Vaughn notices the awkward silence and asks “Uh, what's going on here, girl stuff?” Nadia sees the wordless plea in her sisters eyes, so she replies with a weak smile “People stuff.” Sydney has a barely perceptible nod of thanks, to which Nadia responds “Be safe.” Sydney gives her a weak smile and walks away with Vaughn. Nadia looks like she is concerned about whether she did the correct thing.
The next scene has Dixon walking into Sloane's office asking “You wanted to see me?” Sloane smiles, sets down a glass of water and says “Yes, please” waving for him to approach the desk. Sloane says in a serious tone “You know, Marcus, I appreciate your friendship with Sydney. Having said that, whether or not an agent is fit for duty is my decision.” Dixon points out “We both know Sydney has a history of putting her work ahead of her own well-being. I was just suggesting that someone else –” Sloane interrupts him and rises from his desk, saying “Dixon ... In the 11 years that you worked for me at SD-6, I came to recognize your brilliance as a field agent.” He comes up to look Dixon in the face to say “But during those 11 years, not once did you suspect you were working for a renegade organization.” Dixon takes offense and looks at him coldly as he says “What are you suggesting? That somehow my loyalty is a liability?” Sloane replies with equal coldness “I'm suggesting that you do your job, and that I do mine.” The implication is that Dixon isn't perceptive enough, nor intelligent enough to tell him how to do his job. We see that Dixon and Sloane are don’t respect each other as they stare at each other in silence. It is obvious that Dixon is seething underneath, but he suppresses what he wants to say and walks away. Sloane looks puzzled that he walked away without saying anything further.
Nighttime in a hotel in Bucharest, Romania. Photographs of Jason Cahill's drawings are seen on a table. Sydney is seen seated on a couch, wearing a white, hotel bathrobe, working on a laptop computer while holding a mug. Vaughn is seated nearby, ejecting the clip of ammunition from his pistol. Jack walks into the sitting room and announces “11:30 (pm), we should move. Sydney, when we find The Count, you'll approach him and see what he knows. If he gets suspicious, the abort code is ‘takedown.’” Looking towards Vaughn, he adds “Once we're inside the club, you take point, I'll cover the back.” As Sydney raises her mug to take another sip, she sees a tarantula moving inside. Horrified, she drops the mug, which inexplicably spills blood down the front of her robe, and splashes onto her face. As she jumps to her feet, the mug shatters on the floor. When she sits back down, she is startled to find tea instead of blood all over her. Vaughn calls out in concern “Sydney!” Syd looks around in confusion and then looks back down at her bathrobe. Her father Jack also looks at her in concern with his mouth slightly open. Seeing that she was imagining things, Sydney sheepish explains “The tea was hotter than I expected.” Jack looks towards Vaughn sceptically for a few moments and then looks back to see that she is still upset. After a few moments she asks “Give me a minute to change?” After she leaves the room, Jack says to Vaughn “I want one of us to have line-of-sight on her at all times. Vaughn nods in agreement.
A short time later, Sydney is seen walking into a nightclub, wearing a strawberry blonde wig with long ringlets and a headpiece, dressed in a short black cape and black bustier in a style that could be described as ‘Naughty Victorian’. The music playing is ‘Dope Show’ by Marilyn Manson. As she passes by Vaughn, seated at the bar, she asks “Do you see him?” He replies “Negative.” Sydney strolls the floor searching for their contact. A man wearing black t-shirt under a black leather jacket is seen walking with a swagger and an insolent expression past Jack. Through his com-link Jack announces “Okay, he's at the front bar.” Sydney replies “I'm on my way.” Vaughn looks on from an nearby bar. Syd walks up next to The Count at the front bar and says in Romanian “We have a mutual friend.” He quickly looks at her from head to foot, then replies with a sneer “I don't think so” in Romanian and waves dismissively at Syd. She presses on in his language “Jason Cahill. He couldn't be here. He sent me.” The Count looks back at her and switches to Romanian accented English “Is good.” Jack is drinking a dark beer at the same bar listening in. The Count continues “Is good you come, but uh, not safe to talk in the open. At end of hall, is balcony. Count to ten, meet me there.” As the count walks away, we see Jack is standing not far from Sydney. She reports “He could run. I'm not gonna wait.” We see Jack say “I agree. Go.
The Count works his way through the crowd and looks over his left shoulder to see if anyone is following. Sydney follows some distance behind him. As she walks, she starts blinking and the sounds around her becomes distorted. A woman toasts Syd and other strangers look at her as if they know her. Her attention turns to a seeming familiar blonde woman kissing a man sitting in a chair who has similar hair to Vaughn’s. When the woman moves her head from the man, Sydney sees that it is Vaughn. But after a patron walks between Syd and them, we see that it merely a couple of strangers. Sydney blinks a few times and the sounds return to normal. Sydney walks past some patrons on her way up a staircase and walks into the balcony where The Count is nervously waiting. He locks the door behind her for privacy, then demands in a worried tone “Who are you? Why did Jason not come?” Syd calmly explains in her normal voice “He's sick. He sent me to talk to you for him.” The Count is still agitated as he says “He's sick? He's sick how?” Sydney tries to clam him “Listen, he wanted me to tell you –” The Count points his finger at her accusingly and says “You're lying” then draws a revolver from a back holster. He points it at her and demands “Who are you? “ Syd assures him “I'm not lying.” The Count orders “Turn around.” Sydney tells him “Look, I just wanted –” He yells and screams “I said turn around. Turn around!” She complies and the man shoves he against the wall to frisk her for weapons. Sydney admits to him “Cahill is dead. His wife is too.” Finding her pistol, he steps away from her, asking “Who are you? You police?” and throws the gun aside. Sydney turns to face him and says “I don't know what they told you, but they're dead because...” The Count interrupts “Oh no, you lie again!” She continues “They were affected by a drug. I'm trying to find out what that is.” The Count is upset by that news and says to himself “Oh, my God.” Syd demands “You know that drug is. Tell me what it is.” The Count rushes forward and whacks her on the head with the butt of his pistol. Instead of unbolting the door, the frightened man breaks the door open.
Vaughn spots the man coming out with a handgun, so he fires at him. The Count returns fires which forces him to take cover behind a pillar. He radios to Jack “We're under fire! Takedown! Takedown!” Jack runs through the crowd, headed for the stairs. Vaughn tackles the Count by the legs as he runs for the stairs. The Count tumbles down a flight of steps and ends up on the landing. The Count gets up and is getting a pistol ready, when Vaughn dives at him. They tumble down another flight of stairs. Vaughn grabs the dazed man by his jacket and punches him with his left hand in the face which knocks him out. Vaughn turns to see Sydney at the top of the stairs pointing her pistol at the Count. He asks her “You all right?” Syd says with concern “Your arm.” Vaughn has been shot in the right biceps. He touches his wound and then says “I’m okay. Let's get him out of here.”
Sometime later in the hotel room, we see The Count flicking his cigarette into an ashtray then nervously take a drag. We hear the sound of a door open and then close. Moments later Jack, followed by Sydney and Vaughn enter from the next room. Jack looks coldly at him before sitting down at the table and then Syd begins the interrogation “We know who you are, Andre Sterescu.” The Count mockingly notes “Ah yes. It’s a good pronunciation.” Vaughn takes a seat across from him and Sydney continues “We know you're a Romanian national, 32 years old. Charged twice with possession of black market electronics.” Jack adds “We know you were convicted three years ago for fencing stolen pharmaceuticals.” Sterescu points out “Yes. I wanted to appeal this one...” Cutting him off, Jack asks “Tell us what you know about this man” placing a photo of Jason Cahill on the table. The Count glances at the picture nonchalantly and then taps his cigarette into the ashtray once again. Jack warns him “I will only say if you choose not to cooperate with us, you'll regret that decision for the rest of your life.” Sterescu pauses for a moment and then smirks “Who are you guys, huh?” Jack stares coldly at him and says in an ominous near whisper “Just answer the question.” The man pauses and then gulps, saying “He told me he was chemist. Worked for pharmaceutical company. He hired me to be his, uh...spy. Keep eye on competition.” Vaughn points out “In a sense, that's true, but in fact, you were spying on behalf of the US Government.” Sterescu’s demeanor brightens, having deduced that he is dealing with American agents, and responses “Oh” with a smile and nods. Vaughn continues “Who called the meeting, you or Cahill?” The now cooperative man responds “He did.” Vaughn asks “Why?”, but Sterescu shrugs and replies “I don't know.” Jack points out “You performed other jobs for him.’ to which the Count responds “Yeah.” Jack tells him “Start with the most recent (jobs).” Sterescu is completely cooperative and says “Uh, I need this ...how do you say?” mimicking writing “This, uh, pen.” Sydney's cell phone rings as Jack hands Andre a pen. Looking at the caller ID, she says to Vaughn “(It’s) Marshall.”
Sydney walks into the kitchen to take the call. From his lab, Marshall says “Hey, Syd, guess what? Your idea? Well, you were right.” She doesn’t understand what he means so Syd asks “What idea?” Marshall clarifies “The incubation period. Turns out I did some research. The Germans and the Czechs, uh well, not all of the Germans...just the chemists, anyway, they've been toying around with some designer analogs across the blood brain barrier via a pathogen. So, in other words, this drug works like a virus:” As she is listening, Sydney picks up a kettle, fills a teapot, and then pours a cup of tea. Marshall continues “It gets in your blood. It incubates for a few days. It infects you and then permanently alters your brain. Weird, huh? Anyway, I called Dr. Jain, and he's gonna culture Cahill's blood and make sure that's not what we're dealing with, okay? Syd...this...isn't about...you? I mean, you're feeling okay, right?” Sydney's face shows that she is worried, but she replies “Yeah ... Thank you, Marshall.” He answers “No problem. That's what I'm here for” and hangs up. Sydney folds her cellphone. She looks stunned and worried.
Back in the other room, Jack is reading the notes that The Count has written, while the man yawns and rubs his eyes. Sydney walks back into the room, drinking from her mug of teas as Jack says “Nocturne. Two weeks ago, you delivered a sample of it to Cahill. Tell me about it.” Sterescu holds his thumb and forefinger about three inches apart and explains “It comes in vial like this. Cahill says is like speed, only better.” Sydney asks “What do you mean, like speed?”
He explains “You take, you don't sleep. Except not...” he demonstrates trembling, and continues “just energy. But no need to rest.” Jack points out “You failed to include where it came from.” The Count explains “Yes, because I don't know.” As Sterescu continues to talk, Sydney’s hearing distorts and she is surprised to see him opening up his revolver and begin loading it with bullets. He says “Cahill says, uh, Nocture developed in Eastern Bloc.” Syd looks at Jack and then Vaughn, but she is puzzled why neither one is reacting to him loading the handgun. Sydney closes her eyes in an attempt to make the delusion go away. The Count continues “But I find no evidence of this, so I ask an associate. One week later, he bring me a sample of Nocturne.” She sees him flip the cylinder shut and bring the barrel of the revolver towards his mouth. Syd looks at The Count incredulously as she hears the hammer being cocked. We hear Jack say “He didn't tell you where he got the Nocturne?” and Sterescu reply “No.” Sydney then gets the delusion of the man looking right at her, saying “Is too bad for you ... Because you're dying, too” and places the muzzle into his mouth. We see Sydney flinch and gasp as she hears the gunshot. The real Sterescu looks at her in puzzlement, as does Vaughn and Jack. Vaughn asks with concern “You all right?” After looking at The Count for a moment, Syd replies “Yeah’, giving a brief nod to Vaughn and Jack, and then returns looking at the man.
Sometime later, we see Sloane and Dr. Jain at the APO on video conferencing through a laptop computer. Dr. Jain says “It seems that Nocturne incorporates a stimulant which overrides the pineal gland.” Back in the hotel room, Vaughn, who is seated to Jack’s left, points out “There was intel a few years ago that the North Koreans were working on an experimental program just like this one, trying to create 24 hour soldiers.” The doctor adds “And there have been others. All failures because no one understood the true biochemical nature of dreaming.” Seeking clarification, Vaughn asks “So, the Cahill's delusions were...were forms of dreams?” Dr. Jain replies “Nightmares. Yes, in a matter of speaking. The problem being with these dreams, once triggered there's no waking up.” We then notice Sydney has been listening quietly, seated to Jack’s right. Ominous music is heard, indicating that she is starting another delusion. Sloane calls out “Sydney, you listening? It's working, isn't it? Bit by bit, I'm wearing down your defenses. I'm gaining your trust.” Syd turns looks at her father, but as Jack leans back, she is shocked and gasps at seeing Sloane lean forward to speak, sitting at the end of the couch instead of Vaughn. Sloane continues “But we both know at some point, I'll betray you. And the people you care most deeply about? They'll die.” The imaginary Sloane leans back behind Jack, and then she notices her father looking at her in concern. The reason is because Sydney staring wide-eyed in fear past him. Vaughn is back, sitting at the end of the couch and asks her “Syd, you okay?” Syd looks away, and thinks for a moment, then gets up and heads for the other room.
Sydney enters the other room, grabs the sleeping Sterescu by the shoulders and pins him against the chair he's sitting in. The man cries out in fright as he wakes. She stares him in the eyes as she says at a quiet volume “You weren't surprised when I told you Cahill had died from Nocturne.” Her volume increases “You weren't surprised.” The Count protests “I don't know.” Her eyes bulge with anger and her volume increases to a shout “Why weren't you surprised?” He continues to protest “I don't know what you mean!” Syd demands “What aren't you telling me!?” Sterescu assures her “I’m telling you everything.” Enraged, Sydney screams “Do not lie to me!” and chokes him with her right hand. Syd explains in desperation “I'm one of them.” Then she resumes her anger “Do you hear me, you son of a b*tch?” Sydney gets wild-eyed and grits her teeth as she says forcefully “Cahill bit me!” Syd is surprised as Jack and Vaughn yank her off of the choking man. The Count drops to the floor gasping. Vaughn pushes her back a few steps and she seems to regain her composure. Sterescu gets back on his feet and gives in to Sydney’s demands saying “Okay! I know it was bad. It is why I was to meet Cahill! I contact him to tell him. I don't find Nocturne...at least, not what they make today.” Vaughn asks “So what did you give Cahill?” The Count confesses “Old sample. It was meant to be destroyed. This drug, it go right through skin!” Vaughn says with contempt “And he didn't know this.” Sterescu says apologetically “I need money! I lied to him. I'm sorry.” Sydney bows her head down, leaning on the back of a chair for support and holds her left hand to her brow. Jack demands “From where? Where did it come from!?” The Count replies “I don’t know. I don't know... Is somewhere in Prague. I don't know.” He looks towards Sydney with tears and says in remorse “I'm sorry. I'm very sorry.” Sydney leans her head down on her arms and is starts to weep silently. Vaughn puts a comforting hand on her left shoulder as Jack turns back to Andre with an accusatory look.
Daytime at the APO, Weiss and Nadia are working on interpreting Mrs. Cahill's last words. He says to her “What was the last thing Nancy Cahill said to that eyewitness? ‘Vertel hen het is grappig?’ Tell them it's funny? That's gotta mean something else.” Nadia mouths the words silently and then types the word "grappig" into the CIA database. Immediately, a window pops up with a match. Nadia’s eyes light-up and she reads the listing “The Grappig Group, Prague. A loose affiliation of biochemical engineers.” She opens up a second window and reads “Milan Latuza, Grappig Senior Chemist. Specializes in synthesis and isolation of novel therapeutics.” Weiss speculates “Nancy Cahill had found where Nocturne originated, only she was too far gone to do anything about it.”
Back at the hotel, Jack and Vaughn listens to Sloane on video conferencing say “Jack, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but even if we could recover a sample of the drug, we don't have time to engineer an antidote. Sydney needs medical attention.” We see Syd is lying on the couch having restless sleep. Vaughn immediately offers “Unless Latuza's already taken that step for us. If they realized they made a bad batch of Nocturne, it's possible they manufactured a remedy (already). Jack immediately agrees, saying “Contact the jet. We're going to Prague.”
It is nighttime in Prague, The Czech Republic. We see a black van pull to a stop at the back of an industrial building. Inside the van, Jack opens a laptop and says to Vaughn “Once you've accessed Latuza's database, any files that may be even remotely related to Nocturne - research, test results, formulas...” Vaughn interrupts “I'll grab what I can.” Sydney who is sitting in the front passenger seat, blinks and closes her eyes, signs of an approaching Nocturne attack. After a pause, Vaughn asks Jack “What if I don't find anything?” Jack replies quietly “Let's not discuss that here.” Sydney, who is listening to them, looks over her left shoulder towards the rear of the van in suspicion. In her delusion, she hears Jack warn Vaughn in a hushed tone “Sydney's not as trustworthy as her mother.” Vaughn nods in agreement, looks over in her direction with concern and says “I know.” Jack says in a confidential tone “I'm going to kill her just like I did Irina.” Vaughn replies “Good.” In a normal tone, Jack says “Latuza's office is on the 6th floor. You'll need to get a key.” Vaughn replies “Yeah” and heads for the sliding door. Sydney secretly reaches for a knife inside a tactical kit on the floor as he opens the door. She slides it up her sleeve when he closes the door. When she turns to look at Jack, she is surprised to see him pulling a pistol on her from his backpack. But a moment later, she sees that he's only holding a bottle of water. She turns her head and blinks repeatedly, apparently realizing that she is having delusions. Jack notices the concerned look on her face, so he asks “What is it?” After some hesitation, Sydney says “Dad...” and gets up to join him in the back. She continues “Do we have any tranquillizers?” Jack who is looking at her with concern, answers “No.” After a few seconds of contemplation, Syd requests “Then I think you'd better tie me up.” Jack looks like he wants to say something, but he can’t find the words. Sydney puts her head in her hand in anguish.
Inside the building, an overweight security guard is sitting in front of a pair of surveillance monitors, speaking on the phone in Czech. Suddenly, the monitors go out, so he tells the other person that he has a problem. As he checks to see what is wrong, lights go out. The guard turns on his flashlight and heads down a corridor to the electrical room. As he reaches for the circuit breaker box, he gets knocked out by Vaughn. Taking the guards’s keys, Vaughn radios “All right, I'm in. Headed upstairs.”
Inside the van, Jack is binding Sydney's hands with duct tape. She is already bound around the chest by more of the tape. Sydney looks up at Jack with a sad expression and asks “I'm gonna be all right, aren't I?” Her father assures her “Of course you will.” Syd worries “What if we can't make it stop?” Jack doesn’t even want to think about such a thing, saying softly “Shhh...don't talk.” Sydney gets another delusion and hears Jack coldly add “You can't imagine how much I hate it...when you talk.” Startled at what she’s heard, Sydney asks in disbelief “What?” Her father explains “The reason I killed your mother? I had a desperate need to make her voice stop ringing in my ears. What torments me now, is that every time I look at you, I see your mother's face.” Sydney is devastated to hear that and softly cries “No”, shaking her head and closes her eyes as if that could stop her hallucination. She tries to assure herself “That's ... That’s not true. That's not...” In reality, Jack is trying to break through to her, urging “Sydney, listen to me. This is all going to pass.”
Back inside the darkened building, Vaughn is walking in a corridor, aided by a flashlight. He radios by com-link “All right, I'm on the 6th floor. How is she?” Inside the van, Sydney is in tears as Jack replies “We’re okay. Just get to the lab and find the damn antidote!” Syd is sobbing, but trying not to cry. We see Vaughn entering Dr. Latuza's office and beginning his search.
Inside the van, Jack is trying to help calm his daughter, saying “Sydney, look at me.” She stops sobbing and looks up at him.” He tells her “Breathe, in and out. That's right.” She does what he asks and breathes in and out, which seems to calm her. Jack says “That's right. Good.” The tone of Jack's voice changes ominously “Look into my eyes... They're the last thing you'll ever see.” Once again, Sydney is devastated to hear her father’s rejection and softly cries in disbelief “Noooo!” In reality, Jack desperately tries to assure her, with his voice breaking “Sydney! I'm here with you!”
Vaughn is still searching Latuza’s office, opening and searching through filing cabinets, but he's frustrated not finding anything useful.
With his face full of concern, Jack instructs “Sydney, look at me! Breathe!” She nods and takes a deep breath. Once again, Syd sees her father say coldly with haunted eyes “Your mother killed me...just like I'm gonna kill you.” With her eyes welling with tears, Sydney shakes her head ‘no’ and says in defiance “I won't let you!” Staring coldly, her father says “How are you going to stop me? You're tied up.” She looks down and sobs. In reality, Jack's voice is full of parental love and concern as he desperately tries to make her understand “Sydney! I'm here with you. No one's going to harm you. I won't let anything happen to you!” She seems to understand and looks at him with tears in her eyes, calling out “Dad...” Jack comfortingly assures her “I'm here, Sydney.” Syd sobs and looks off to the side in a moment of thought, then she looks back, pleading “Will you hug me?” Overwhelmed with paternal love, Jack immediately replies “Of course I will”, leaning forward to give her a long, comforting embrace. He whispers to her “It's okay.” Jack pulls back in order to look into her eyes, then unexpectedly she head butts him. Falling to the floor, Jack calls out “Sydney! No!” Syd gives him a kick to the head, knocking him out. She then takes out the folding knife from her sleeve and cuts at the tape restraining her.
Vaughn tries to make contact by com-link, saying “Jack, can you hear me? Jack, what is it? What's happened?” Realising that Jack can’t respond, Vaughn knows that Sydney must have overcome him. Vaughn is frustrated that he can’t find the antidote, shining the flashlight all over the room. He then notices that the LED digital clock on the file cabinet in front of him is indicating 2:58 am. All of the electricity should be turned off, so that means that it has an independent power supply. He follows the cord to a power bar on the floor and sees that another cord is running to a wall mounted case. Vaughn opens the case to reveal a small refrigerator inside, filled with vials and test tubes. Vaughn opens the door and searches the vials, reading their labels. The 2 inch vials contain a dark liquid. The 3 inch vials contain a yellow liquid. He looks at the front left vial of yellow liquid, and is satisfied that it is the antidote. Vaughn takes it and a syringe from the countertop, radioing “I've got the antidote. I'm on my way.”
When Vaughn gets back to the van, he slides opens the door only to find that it is deserted and there are strips of cut duct tape laying around. From the distance he hears Sydney calling out in desperation “Help! ... Help! ... Anybody?” He runs down the alley and then around a corner where he sees Syd. As Vaughn runs towards her, she pleads “Help!” She is crying and looks like she doesn’t know what to do. Vaughn slows to a stop and looks down at Jack who is propped up against the wall of a building. Sydney cries “My father...I think...” Looking back at her, Vaughn says incredulously “Sydney, what did you do?” Crying hysterically, Sydney sobs “I think I killed him!”
Sydney bends down and puts her left hand on Jack's shoulder, but with her right hand she pulls out Jack’s semi-automatic pistol and aims it at Vaughn. He steps back in shock and asks “What are you doing?” Sydney looks at him as she would an enemy and orders “Get...get down. On your knees.” Vaughn looks her in the eyes and explains “Sydney, it's Michael. I've got the antidote. It's right here in this bag.” Sydney looks disappointed in him and says “Don't lie to me.” He says softly and gently “Sydney...Sydney, listen to me...” Sobbing, she orders him “Put your hands up... now!” Reluctantly, he complies. Sydney reveals her motivation, saying “I know what this is.” Tears flow as she reveals her the hurt that she feels, condemning him with “This is a game to you! A cruel joke at my expense.” Vaughn truly doesn’t understand that he is facing Sydney’s suppressed rage and asks “What, what's a game?” She explains “You and me. Admit it.” Vaughn has a look that says that he is sorry that she thinks that way, and gently says “No, Sydney...Sydney, listen to me. What are you scared of? Syd unburdens herself and cries “I am scared! ... I’m scared you're gonna betray me...again ... Like you did when you married Lauren.” Vaughn is stunned at how hurt she really is, and tries to assure her in a near whisper “Sydney, I would never, ever hurt you.” She whispers “Stop! Stop right there.” He tells her “You need to give me the gun, all right?” Syd warns him “I said stop!” Vaughn is sure that he can convince her, so he says “Just give me the gun” and steps toward Sydney. Syd pulls the trigger and the hammer clicks, but it doesn’t fire. She immediately cocks the hammer and pulls the trigger again, but the pistol still won’t fire. Vaughn flinches and looks at Sydney in disbelief that she'd actually tried to kill him. He immediately sweeps the gun to the side, but he can’t take the weapon out of her hands. Syd tries to hit him over the head with it, but he blocks the blow and tries to twist her arm to make her drop the pistol. She counters with a right side-kick to his gut that drives him back. She tries to follow-up with a swinging left kick, but Vaughn steps up and traps her leg. Leaning and twisting, Sydney delivers a scissor-kick to the head with her right foot. As he falls back to a metal dumpster, Syd rolls on her back and flips her feet back down to spring to a stand. Vaughn turns to face her and manages to block her punches and kicks, but she manages to jam her right forearm to his throat, pinning him against the dumpster. Struggling to push her off, Vaughn gasps “Sydney...don't do this.” He pushes his left hand against Sydney's face and head-butts her to drive her back. Syd rushes forwards, grabs him and turns him around, intending on smashing his head against the dumpster. He jams his right elbow into her stomach and then shoves her backward, pinning her against the brick wall by holding his right forearm against her chest. He still tries to reason with her, saying “Sydney, don't do this.” Sydney bends her head down and bites his hand to force him to let go. Syd gouges Vaughn’s face and knees him in the stomach. She grabs the stunned Vaughn and slams him face-first into the wall and then throws him to the pavement onto his back. Sydney finds a 3 foot long metal pipe on the ground and walks up towards her stunned opponent. Vaughn who is getting back up, gets hit on the back and Syd then uses it chop him in the legs knocking him off his feet. Syd looks at him with contempt for a moment, and then starts a vicious swing that is certain to deliver the fatal blow. Vaughn can only cringe and try to shield himself with his right forearm. Suddenly Jack rushes up from behind, grabs Sydney’s right arm and delivers a choke hold that renders her unconscious. He gently lays her onto the pavement as Vaughn says “You took the bullets out.” Jack turns to him with a half smirk “It seemed a reasonable precaution.” Vaughn retrieves his bag, takes out the vial of the antidote and the syringe. As Jack looks on in concern, Vaughn fills it with the proper dose and injects the antidote into Sydney's arm.
Sometime later, it is daytime in Los Angeles. Sloane, who is holding a debriefing of the APO team in his office, announces “Preliminary report from Medical Services -- Sydney will be fine. For that, I know we are all deeply grateful. Furthermore, Interpol has raided both the office and laboratory of Dr. Milan Latuza. The Nocturne program has been dismantled. That threat is now over. Okay, that's it.” The meeting breaks up, but Sloane asks Dixon to remain behind. Sloane is offering him an apology, admitting “Sending Sydney out...”nodding his head “a tactical error, indeed.” Dixon nods his head, turns towards his left as if thinking about something, and then walks up to Sloane. He says “I'd have said this earlier, but when I get done, it's likely you'll have me relieved of my position and I didn't want that to happen while Sydney was in the field.” Sloane’s face turns grim. Dixon continues “I've asked myself countless times why I never saw the true nature of SD-6. For a while, I punished myself over it. Finally, I realized... My only failure was that of imagination. Despite all the evil I'd encountered, I'd never imagined a person could exist -- someone as throughly ... toxic as yourself. I won't make that mistake again. You want us to believe you've reformed. That for the love of your daughter you've decided to listen to the better angels of your nature. Arvin ... let's be honest. You don't have any. And on that inevitable day when your true motive reveals itself? I promise you ... I'll be there. I'll be waiting.” Dixon turns and walks out of the office. Sloane stares in silent rage, but whether it is because he is offended because he truly is reformed, or that Dixon is correct is unknown at this time. Sloane blinks as if to say ‘We will see about that!’
We see Sydney lying in a hospital bed in a room at APO Medical Services. She has a troubled expression on her face until she hears someone approaching. She looks at the doorway and sees Vaughn enter. Syd greets him with a brief smile and says “Hey.” He replies “Hey” and approaches her bed. Sydney looks up at him apologetically and says “Vaughn, what I said to you ... What I did ...” He sits down beside of her and says “Syd, you weren't yourself.” Sydney pauses and then whispers “No” as she shakes her head. Vaughn shakes his head also and looks at her quietly. Sydney looks away, still troubled, and then raises her head up to give him kiss on the lips. Sydney gives Vaughn a tenative smile and he returns the same kind of weak smile. It is a kiss of friendship rather than love. Looking down on the bedsheet, Syd sees a black spider. She has an emotionless expression. Vaughn turns to see what she's looking at, and smiles slightly. He picks it up and removes it from her bed. Vaughn smiles at Sydney and explains “My father liked spiders. He said they were good luck.” Sydney gives Vaughn a sideways glance and says “I've never heard that” and gives a sceptical smirk. Vaughn returns the smirk and says “No?” She smiles warmly for a moment, and then they look at each other quietly, seemingly at a loss for words. Vaughn purses his lips and whispers to her “Get some rest.” Sydney lies back down, looking him in the eyes. He whispers “I'll see you tomorrow.” Syd nods and whispers “Okay.” Vaughn leaves with a weak smile. Sydney returns to her contemplative expression, probably thinking about what the Nocturne has exposed from her subconscious.
END
2/9/2005
Summary by superintelligentone aka SIO
Scene opens with the caption ‘Universiteit Van Amsterdam’. As a church bell tolls, a young woman wearing a backpack pushes open a wrought iron gate inside gloomy corridor. She is a student late for class. We see there are leaded glass windows and vaulted archways of a Renaissance era university. The female teacher is already calling the class to order as the young woman enters her classroom and takes her seat. The classroom has stained glass windows. The teacher, Mrs. Cowell appears to be an American woman in her mid 30s. She is heard to say “All right everyone, settle. Notebooks out. We're going to start with three sentences. At least one noun and one verb in each one ... in English.” Looking towards a young woman Mrs. Cowell says “Uh, Martina. Why don't you go first. Three things you saw on your way to class today.” Martina struggles to say in English, with a Dutch accent “Uh, I saw ... a man ... ped...peddling his bicycle?” The teacher encourages “Peddling...good, good ...” The young woman continues “And then I saw...my friend Klaus...kiss Katrina Walt.” Giggles are heard, then we see the reaction of an unhappy brunette who is apparently Katrina. Martina continues “And then I saw Katrina slap Klaus' face.” More giggles are heard as she explains “It's true! Katrina hates Klaus.” We hear a cell phone start to ring. Mrs. Cowell looks around the room, but no one stops the ringing nor answers the call. She notices that the ringing is coming from the backpack on the floor belonging to the student who was late for class. The teacher calls out “Anna, please turn your phone off.” The students have confused expressions. Mrs. Cowell says sternly “Your phone; turn it off.” Anna opens her backpack and examines her cellphone, then says “It...wasn't ringing.” The teacher looks around the room with increasing fright and her breathing turns into short gasps of panic. She grabs her purse and says “Martina...take over class” and rushes from the classroom. The students look at each other in bewilderment and murmur about what just happened.
Mrs. Cowell looks out to the right side of the hallway before hurrying towards the other end. As she rounds a corner she sees a big burly man talking into a cellphone. He spots her and puts down his phone. The teacher frantically turns and heads back in the other direction, drawing a semi-automatic pistol from her purse as goes. A shadow of a second man precedes him as he descends a staircase in front of her. This man slowly raises his pistol at her. She turns again but sees the first man calmly screwing a silencer onto his handgun. Cowell is in a near panic as she turns and raises her gun to fire, but the second man isn’t there. She whips around to shoot the first man, but he is gone as well. Just then, the student, Martina steps into the hallway and into the teacher's line of fire. Martina looks shocked and cries out “Mrs. Cowell?” The teacher looks past Martina and sees the man is back still calmly screwing the silencer onto his pistol. The student shouts “Mrs. Cowell!” Still looking at the man, the teacher frantically says in Dutch to Martina, “Het is grappig.” (It is funny) "Begrijp je me?" (Do you understand me?) Vertel het hen is grappig" (Tell them it is funny). The teacher puts the pistol under her chin. Martina rushes forward to stop her, crying “Mrs. Cowell!” as we hear the gun go off.
The scene switches to Los Angeles at night. We see Sydney wobbling towards us on ice skates, passing a hockey puck back and forth with Vaughn in an empty, foggy, skating rink. As they near the goal, Sydney awkwardly skates forward with the puck and calls the ‘play-by-play’ like a hockey commentator “Bobby Orr...moves in for the shot...” Shooting the puck throws Syd off balance, so her feet fly out backwards from under her. We see her eyes widen and her mouth make an “Ohhh” as she falls hard onto her chest. Vaughn has a huge smile on his face as he skates over to help her up. Sydney giggles in embarrassment as she turns onto her side and puts her arm out for him to pull her up. She joking scolds him “Don't laugh at me!” Vaughn helps her up and replies “Oh, I wouldn't dream of it.” He then giggles “Let me get your stick” and skates off to retrieve it. Sydney brushes the snow from her arms as Vaughn returns her hockey stick to her.
They are both standing about 10 feet from the net when Vaughn tells her “All right, let 'er rip.” Syd’s wristshot pulls wide to her left side, completely missing the net. Seeing that her stick is making contact with the puck too far ahead of her when she shoots, Vaughn skates up behind her, saying “Here...move back.” He positions Syd into the right position, but her shot flips weakly into the net. Vaughn demonstrates the proper way, saying “Use a little more wrist. You just put a little more snap in it, like this” and fires a rising wrist shot that zips into the net “Lift it (the puck) up.” Sydney turns and asks “What position did you play?” He explains “I was defense. High school coach moved me up to center.” Preparing for another shot, Syd teases “You were a chick magnet, right?” Her shot flips weakly into the net again. Vaughn laughs at her misperception, saying “Actually, my first face off I ever took as a center, I got knocked right on my ass. The other team's center was like this 15 year old, 6 foot 2, bearded ... Actually, probably on steroids, now that I think about it...” Sydney giggles, causing her shot to weakly slide onto the net.” Vaughn continues “Finally, there was 12 seconds left, we were down by a goal... I'd had my teeth kicked in so many times, I said ‘You know what? Screw it.’ I stopped caring. I won the draw, skated around him, moved in for the shot.” He pokes the puck away from Syd, skates around her and fires a shot into the net as if demonstrating what happened. Sydney raises her arms in victory, saying “You tied the game.” Vaughn has a regretful smile and admits “Nah, I hit the post.” He sighs “But I did learn something about...how we can let fear get in the way. Syd, I know you want to take things slow, but...what are you afraid of?” Syd has a disappointed expression that suggests ‘Don’t you know?’ They both look each other in the eyes in silence for several seconds, but then both their cell phones ring. Sydney is the first to answer the phones, saying “Yeah.”
The next scene is of the Union Station subway platform outside the APO. From inside, we see the secret entrance of the APO open. The scene switches to slow motion so that we can see that Sydney looks unhappy and distracted as she is walking the corridor. She composes herself and the scene returns to realtime motion
Inside the briefing room, we see a CIA identity picture of the university teacher who killed herself, as Sloane explains “Her name is Nancy Cahill, an operative at Langley's Narcotics Task Force specializing in the development of new synthetics. She's been stationed in Europe for the past three years. Her cover - Associate Professor at Amsterdam University. She shot herself 36 hours ago. Eyewitness report - a student from Cahill's class. Sydney reads from her transcript “‘Vertel hen het is grappig.’ Tell them it's funny” and looks up in puzzlement. Jack notes “Cahill's most recent psych eval reported nothing of note. Her mental status reviews have been exemplary.” Vaughn asks “What's our assignment?” Sloane explains “Cahill's husband, Jason, also an agent, has gone off the grid.” We see an identity photo of the man, as Sloane continues “Hasn't been in touch with his handler in 3 weeks. All attempts to contact him after his wife's death have been unsuccessful. Our objective is quite simple - locate Jason Cahill. So Dixon, you take Weiss; retrace Nancy Cahill's final days. Vaughn, you and Nadia do the same thing for Jason Cahill. Sydney, Jack; Cahill's Amsterdam apartment. Standard protocol: recover all files, classified computers, any evidence of CIA affiliation.” Looking around the room, Sloane asks “Any questions?”
The next scene starts at nighttime outside of an upscale apartment building in Amsterdam, Holland. We see Sydney and Jack walking down a darkened hallway with flashlights. They enter the Cahill's dark apartment and shines their flashlights around the living room. Syd tries to turn on a table lamp, but it doesn't go on. She shines her flashlight over the top of a lower, second table lamp and tells her father “No bulbs.” They continue searching by flashlight. Sydney enters the kitchen and finds that wall switch doesn't turn on any lights either. Jack notices that the back of the TV set is loose, so he opens it up. Inside, he finds a laptop computer wrapped in plastic and sealed with duct tape. Sydney searches through the drawers, the refrigerator, and shelves. Jack unwraps the computer and inserts a USB memory drive into the port to download information. Meanwhile, Sydney opens a lower cupboard and after moving some pots, discovers a padlock on a hidden door. There is a faint light coming through the cracks from behind the door as she picks the lock. Syd opens the door and craws inside without informing Jack. She finds narrow passageway between the walls of the apartment. A breeze blows scattered papers strewn on the floor and she notes the papers fastened to the walls are filled with disturbing drawings and strange writings. As she walks deeper into the passageway, Sydney hears the buzzing of flies and shines her light to the floor to find a plate of old, half-eaten food. She takes note of each paper on the walls. As she turns around, Sydney is suddenly attacked by a snarling madman. It is Jason Cahill, who knocks Syd to the floor and savagely bites the right side of her neck. She desperately pushes her right hand against his face, holding him away. Cahill begins vomiting blood onto Syd and presses closer towards her when a single gunshot rings out. Cahill collapses on top of her and we see that Jack has shot him in the back. Sydney pushes Cahill’s corpse off and sits up, gasping. Jack lowers his pistol and looks disturbed at seeing what the madman has done to her. Sydney has an expression that changes from surprise and gratitude at being saved, to one of disbelief and pain.
Sometime later we see Sydney, who is wearing a red hospital gown, lying on her back in a CAT scan machine. We see a diagnostic image of her brain as Jack watches with concern from behind the CAT scan technicians.
A short time later, Sydney is nervously tapping a rubber reflex mallet against her palm as she waits for her results while sitting on an examination table in another room. This time she is dressed in her street clothes and has a bandage over her neck wound. She looks up as Doctor Jain enters and says with a smile “Good news, Agent Bristow. Your blood work's negative and your scans are clean.” Jack, who is also in the room, gives Sydney a little nod of assurance, to which she nods back in acknowledgement. The doctor wants to examine her, so he asks “May I?” Sydney’s looks like her mind is occupied with other things, but she regains focus and says “Sure.” Jain removes her bandage and inspects the bite wound. He says “Looks fine. My little brother did the same thing to me once. Bit me like this.” Jack asks “Perhaps you can tell us now what you were looking for in the CAT scan.” The doctor leads them to another room an explains “The Cahills came in contact with a drug that affected the nervous system. The pineal gland was about twice its normal size.” We see the corpse of Jason Cahill lying on a table with his brain exposed. Dr. Jain continues “Nancy Cahill's autopsy revealed the same condition.” Syd asks “Which indicates what?” The doctor replies “By itself? Nothing. The pineal creates melatonin, which regulates sleep cycles and body temperature. However, acute melatonin imbalance has been known to induce uncharacteristic behaviour, even acts of extreme violence.” Sydney points out “The writing in Cahill's closet ... It seemed like he was suffering from severe paranoia. Seeing demons.” Dr. Jain nods and says “I know. I initially assumed we were dealing with a psychotropic, but hallucinogens have particular biochemical markers, none of which were present here.” Jack asks “No matter what drug Jason Cahill may have been exposed to, he couldn't have transmitted it to Sydney by biting her. So why the CAT scan?” Jain explains “The Cahills dealt with emerging drugs.” Looking to Syd, he says “I wanted to take every precaution, but all of our diagnostics indicate that you're fine. Do you feel okay?” Sydney nods and replies “Fine.” Jack has a sceptical glance at Sydney and then looks back to the doctor for assurance.
Sometime later, Sloane is sitting at his desk, holding a meeting in his office. He says “Langley wants to know what substance the Cahills came in contact with. Who's manufacturing it? What's it being used for? So, what do we know?” Looking down at his notes, Vaughn reports “Neither Cahill travelled outside Amsterdam in the past month. In her last days, Nancy placed twice her usual amount of phone calls. They were routed through anonymous relays. It’s standard deep cover protocol.” Marshall suggests “Well, if you give me the routing numbers, I'll see if I can hack a backtrace. Now, as far as Cahill's laptop, the hard drive was erased, but it's possible the files weren't completely rewritten. I'll see if I can reconstruct them.” Sloane shows one of Jason Cahill's strange papers and asks the team “Okay, what do we know about these?” With Nadia looking at him, Weiss points out “Jason Cahill was analysing data: names, dates, links between sources. He was looking for something. I don't know, maybe his mind. This guy was a little crazy. His wife actually locked him in his closet.” His voice trails off as he notices Jack joining the meeting. Jack informs everyone “Sydney's fine, just exhausted. She hasn't slept in 36 hours, so I'm sending her home.” Sloane concurs, saying “Yes, of course.” Noticing that she still at her desk, Vaughn says “Excuse me” and leaves to check on her. Nadia looks towards Syd with concern.
Vaughn calls out “Hey” as he approaches Sydney. She replies “Hey” and then they start walking together, apparently towards the exit. Seeing that Vaughn is leaning to take a peek at the bandage on her neck, she pulls her hair back so he have a better look, then teases “Oh, you think it's sexy, don't you?” He chuckles and replies “Only if I'd done it ... You need a ride home?” Syd replies “No, thanks.” She stops and admits “I was freaked out, but now I'm just tired.” After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Syd gives him a weak smile and says “Good night”. She turns and walks towards the secret door. Vaughn watches her go with a look that suggests that he is regrets that she won’t confide in him and that they aren’t close any longer.
Later at her house, Sydney sees the time on her bedside digital clock changes from 12:10 am to 12:11 am from her bed. It is obvious that she has insomnia. She rubs her forehead in fatigue, and we see that she is tormented by flashbacks of Jason Cahill's snarling face from when she was pinned to the floor. We see that Sydney is trying to sleep, but the flashbacks keeps happening. now lying on her side. She turns over and sees that her clock-radio now reads 1:45 am. Sydney rises from her bed and enters the bathroom. She studies her tired appearance in the mirror and then slowly peels back the tape of the bandage to look at her injury. Syd doesn’t replace the bandage, but instead untucks her hair from behind her ear in order to covers it. As she looks down on the vanity, she notices a black spider on it. Strange sounds are heard as she observes it scurry behind a prescription bottle. When Syd picks up the bottle and then the next one, but the spider is gone. She studies her reflection in the mirror again. We then see her searching through a drawer in the bathroom and takes out a digital thermometer.
At the front door, Nadia turns on the entrance light as she and Weiss enter the house. Weiss is continuing a conversation “It’s not that big of a deal. You still think that's funny?” Nadia replies “I do.” Weiss chuckles “Great.” After turning on the kitchen light, Nadia looks across the room and notices Sydney standing in the doorway of her bedroom. Nadia apologises “Oh, God.. I hope we didn't wake you up. How are you doing?” Sydney smiles and replies “I'm fine. I had a headache. I couldn't sleep, but I'm fine. Have you...learned anything new?” Syd joins them at the kitchen counter. Weiss tells her “Uh well, let me just say Cahill's papers. Just thinking about them makes my head hurt.” Nadia informs her sister “Marshall said he's making some progress with Cahill's hard disk. He thinks he may be able to retrieve the data.” Weiss concurs “Yeah.” and starts to remove his overcoat, since he is getting hot from wearing it in the house. Sydney’s eyes widen and a surprised, smile of embarrassment comes to her face as she says “Oh...” Weiss is puzzled at her reaction and says “What?” Syd is embarrassed to ask “Are you st....” (meaning ‘staying for the night’). Weiss smiles as he figures out what she was thinking and says “What, staying over?” Sydney has a big grin for her sister and twists her head to indicate ‘Well, are you?’, but when Weiss says “No”, Syd turns to see his reaction. Nadia who is has a grin on her face, turns to look at Weiss in amusement. Suddenly, he is unsure of his situation, then turns towards Nadia asking “Unless I am, am I?” Nadia is amused to clarify “You're not.” Weiss repeats “I'm not.” She tells him “I'll walk you out.” Weiss explains to Sydney with a touch of regret “She'll walk me out.” and then quickly adds with an optimistic grin “She almost said yes...You saw that, right?” Nadia tries to stop Weiss from causing further embarrassment by telling him “Right now” and pushing on his arm. Sydney nods in agreement to him, then gets a big grin of amusement. Weiss holds his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart and says to Nadia “This close, I was--.” As he is being hustled away by Nadia, he turns to Sydney and says “Good night.” Sydney has a big smile for him and says “Good night” in return. The digital thermometer in her hand that she brought from the bathroom makes a beep sound unexpectedly. She looks down at it and sees that it reads ‘111 degrees F’, an impossibly high temperature. Sydney puts her hand to her head as if she has a headache and then touches the side of her face to check if it feels warm. Looking back at the thermometer, she sees temperature is still rising:112, 113, 114, 115, 116.” Sydney has an expression that shows that she knows that it can’t be correct and something is wrong.
The next morning, Sydney is at the APO, standing in front of the wall of monitors in the briefing room, using a remote control to flip through the scans of Jason Cahill's papers. She zooms in on one page in particular until the word ‘vampire’ fills the screen. She is lost in thought when Vaughn calls out from behind her, “Hey”, which startles her. He smiles sheepishly and apologises “Sorry. You're here early.” Syd who is wearing a bandage again replies with a smile “I couldn't sleep.” He nods in understanding. Looking at another page, she asks “What do you think about this? Was Jason Cahill just delusional?” Vaughn offers “Well, we're assuming the Cahills realized they were affected - something they came in contact with. Probably a drug from one of their sources. But which source, which drug, they didn't know. Looks like they were retracing their steps, trying to figure it out.” Sydney nods then adds “Maybe looking for an antidote. Vaughn nods in agreement. She sighs and looks back at him with a concerned expression.
Sometime later the rest of the team are gathered around the briefing table as Marshall says “I thought I was losing my mind. The hard disk was wiped clean, remember? But the data recovery wasn't a problem. The files were fragmented.” Sydney asks him “What's on the disk?” Smiling with enthusiasm Marshall says “The motherlode. Cahill's travel itinerary, dead drop protocols, routing numbers for discretionary funds...” Sloane interrupts “What's pressing for now - According to his records, Jason Cahill has a meeting scheduled for Bucharest (Romania). His contact is known to him as ‘The Count’”. Sydney rolls her eyes and comments “The Count? You've got to be kidding me.” Vaughn adds “Well, the Count is mentioned several times in Cahill's papers. He seems to be one of their sources. He supplies them with samples of new drugs.” Marshall stands up to put a photo into the tabletop scanner and says “Now, here is a photo. I retrieved it from one of Cahill's disks.” The photo soon appears onscreen, so Marshall announces “Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing ‘The Count’. Sloane says “The meeting is tomorrow night. Obviously, Cahill won't attend, but we will. Sydney, you will identify yourself as an associate of Jason. You'll lead him into a conversation, and find out what drugs he'd acquired for them.” Dixon immediately interrupts, saying “It's a mistake.” Sydney and then Sloane turn in surprise to look at Dixon. Sloane is obviously annoyed as he asks “I beg your pardon?” Dixon clarifies “Sending Sydney back into the field so quickly. It's a tactical error.” Syd gently tries to assure him “No, it's...” Dixon interrupts her and says with concern “Sydney, someone else can do this.” Syd forcefully insists “I'm fine.” Sloane nods in agreement and adjourns the meeting by saying “That's it.” Sloane and Dixon stare at each other with open contempt.
As they exit the briefing room, Marshall says to Syd “Well, you know, based on my limited experience with mind-altering drugs, this one must have been a doozy.” Sydney asks “Theoretically, could the drug's effects have a delayed reaction?” Not understanding her point, Marshall says “Well, there is a half hour or so for it to kick in.” Sydney corrects him “That's not what I mean. I mean a while, like a day or two.” A cellphone is heard ringing as she is talking. Marshall is distracted by the ringing coming from his phone and says “Uh, I’m not sure...” Checking the called ID, he excuses himself to take the call “Hold on a second. It's my wife.” Marshall answers his cellphone “Hey, honey ...” He whispers to Syd “I'll look into it, okay?” Marshall turns and walks into his office saying “Yeah, sure, put him on. Hey, Boo-boo! Daddy loves you, yes he does!” Sydney turns and sees Nadia showing her a DVD in its case for her back at her desk.
As Syd approaches, Nadia hands it to her and explains “Scans of Cahill's papers. His references to The Count.” Sydney says “Thank you” but then closes eyes and lets out a little groan as she touches her left brow in pain. Nadia looks at her sister with concern and asks “Another headache?” Syd whispers “Yeah” and blinks several times. Wanting to help, Nadia suggests “I've got some aspirin. You want it?” Sydney replies “No, thanks. This is gonna sound crazy. After you got home last night, I took my temperature.” Her sister makes a “Mm-Hmm?” sound, so Sydney continues “It was 111.” Nadia is incredulous, saying “Syd, that's not possible.” She replies “I know. I must have been dreaming, right?” looking for her to support her conclusion.” Nadia asks “Have you told Dr. Jain?” Sydney points out “Everything was back to normal this morning. All my tests came back negative.” Nadia tells her “You have to let them know.” Syd tries to rationalise why she shouldn’t “Well, you just said it yourself. It's not possible.” Nadia points out “It's not, but you still have to (tell the doctor).” Sydney says “If I tell them, they'll sideline me for who knows how long.” Nadia threatens “If you don't tell them, I will.” Syd looks her in the eyes and insists in hushed tones “Nadia, I'm fine. I shouldn't have said anything.” Sydney sees Vaughn approaching them and cuts off the conversation. He comes up and says to Syd “Hey. The plane's waiting.” She replies “Okay” and gives Nadia a silent request for her cooperation. Nadia has a silent expression that shows that she is still concerned for her. Vaughn notices the awkward silence and asks “Uh, what's going on here, girl stuff?” Nadia sees the wordless plea in her sisters eyes, so she replies with a weak smile “People stuff.” Sydney has a barely perceptible nod of thanks, to which Nadia responds “Be safe.” Sydney gives her a weak smile and walks away with Vaughn. Nadia looks like she is concerned about whether she did the correct thing.
The next scene has Dixon walking into Sloane's office asking “You wanted to see me?” Sloane smiles, sets down a glass of water and says “Yes, please” waving for him to approach the desk. Sloane says in a serious tone “You know, Marcus, I appreciate your friendship with Sydney. Having said that, whether or not an agent is fit for duty is my decision.” Dixon points out “We both know Sydney has a history of putting her work ahead of her own well-being. I was just suggesting that someone else –” Sloane interrupts him and rises from his desk, saying “Dixon ... In the 11 years that you worked for me at SD-6, I came to recognize your brilliance as a field agent.” He comes up to look Dixon in the face to say “But during those 11 years, not once did you suspect you were working for a renegade organization.” Dixon takes offense and looks at him coldly as he says “What are you suggesting? That somehow my loyalty is a liability?” Sloane replies with equal coldness “I'm suggesting that you do your job, and that I do mine.” The implication is that Dixon isn't perceptive enough, nor intelligent enough to tell him how to do his job. We see that Dixon and Sloane are don’t respect each other as they stare at each other in silence. It is obvious that Dixon is seething underneath, but he suppresses what he wants to say and walks away. Sloane looks puzzled that he walked away without saying anything further.
Nighttime in a hotel in Bucharest, Romania. Photographs of Jason Cahill's drawings are seen on a table. Sydney is seen seated on a couch, wearing a white, hotel bathrobe, working on a laptop computer while holding a mug. Vaughn is seated nearby, ejecting the clip of ammunition from his pistol. Jack walks into the sitting room and announces “11:30 (pm), we should move. Sydney, when we find The Count, you'll approach him and see what he knows. If he gets suspicious, the abort code is ‘takedown.’” Looking towards Vaughn, he adds “Once we're inside the club, you take point, I'll cover the back.” As Sydney raises her mug to take another sip, she sees a tarantula moving inside. Horrified, she drops the mug, which inexplicably spills blood down the front of her robe, and splashes onto her face. As she jumps to her feet, the mug shatters on the floor. When she sits back down, she is startled to find tea instead of blood all over her. Vaughn calls out in concern “Sydney!” Syd looks around in confusion and then looks back down at her bathrobe. Her father Jack also looks at her in concern with his mouth slightly open. Seeing that she was imagining things, Sydney sheepish explains “The tea was hotter than I expected.” Jack looks towards Vaughn sceptically for a few moments and then looks back to see that she is still upset. After a few moments she asks “Give me a minute to change?” After she leaves the room, Jack says to Vaughn “I want one of us to have line-of-sight on her at all times. Vaughn nods in agreement.
A short time later, Sydney is seen walking into a nightclub, wearing a strawberry blonde wig with long ringlets and a headpiece, dressed in a short black cape and black bustier in a style that could be described as ‘Naughty Victorian’. The music playing is ‘Dope Show’ by Marilyn Manson. As she passes by Vaughn, seated at the bar, she asks “Do you see him?” He replies “Negative.” Sydney strolls the floor searching for their contact. A man wearing black t-shirt under a black leather jacket is seen walking with a swagger and an insolent expression past Jack. Through his com-link Jack announces “Okay, he's at the front bar.” Sydney replies “I'm on my way.” Vaughn looks on from an nearby bar. Syd walks up next to The Count at the front bar and says in Romanian “We have a mutual friend.” He quickly looks at her from head to foot, then replies with a sneer “I don't think so” in Romanian and waves dismissively at Syd. She presses on in his language “Jason Cahill. He couldn't be here. He sent me.” The Count looks back at her and switches to Romanian accented English “Is good.” Jack is drinking a dark beer at the same bar listening in. The Count continues “Is good you come, but uh, not safe to talk in the open. At end of hall, is balcony. Count to ten, meet me there.” As the count walks away, we see Jack is standing not far from Sydney. She reports “He could run. I'm not gonna wait.” We see Jack say “I agree. Go.
The Count works his way through the crowd and looks over his left shoulder to see if anyone is following. Sydney follows some distance behind him. As she walks, she starts blinking and the sounds around her becomes distorted. A woman toasts Syd and other strangers look at her as if they know her. Her attention turns to a seeming familiar blonde woman kissing a man sitting in a chair who has similar hair to Vaughn’s. When the woman moves her head from the man, Sydney sees that it is Vaughn. But after a patron walks between Syd and them, we see that it merely a couple of strangers. Sydney blinks a few times and the sounds return to normal. Sydney walks past some patrons on her way up a staircase and walks into the balcony where The Count is nervously waiting. He locks the door behind her for privacy, then demands in a worried tone “Who are you? Why did Jason not come?” Syd calmly explains in her normal voice “He's sick. He sent me to talk to you for him.” The Count is still agitated as he says “He's sick? He's sick how?” Sydney tries to clam him “Listen, he wanted me to tell you –” The Count points his finger at her accusingly and says “You're lying” then draws a revolver from a back holster. He points it at her and demands “Who are you? “ Syd assures him “I'm not lying.” The Count orders “Turn around.” Sydney tells him “Look, I just wanted –” He yells and screams “I said turn around. Turn around!” She complies and the man shoves he against the wall to frisk her for weapons. Sydney admits to him “Cahill is dead. His wife is too.” Finding her pistol, he steps away from her, asking “Who are you? You police?” and throws the gun aside. Sydney turns to face him and says “I don't know what they told you, but they're dead because...” The Count interrupts “Oh no, you lie again!” She continues “They were affected by a drug. I'm trying to find out what that is.” The Count is upset by that news and says to himself “Oh, my God.” Syd demands “You know that drug is. Tell me what it is.” The Count rushes forward and whacks her on the head with the butt of his pistol. Instead of unbolting the door, the frightened man breaks the door open.
Vaughn spots the man coming out with a handgun, so he fires at him. The Count returns fires which forces him to take cover behind a pillar. He radios to Jack “We're under fire! Takedown! Takedown!” Jack runs through the crowd, headed for the stairs. Vaughn tackles the Count by the legs as he runs for the stairs. The Count tumbles down a flight of steps and ends up on the landing. The Count gets up and is getting a pistol ready, when Vaughn dives at him. They tumble down another flight of stairs. Vaughn grabs the dazed man by his jacket and punches him with his left hand in the face which knocks him out. Vaughn turns to see Sydney at the top of the stairs pointing her pistol at the Count. He asks her “You all right?” Syd says with concern “Your arm.” Vaughn has been shot in the right biceps. He touches his wound and then says “I’m okay. Let's get him out of here.”
Sometime later in the hotel room, we see The Count flicking his cigarette into an ashtray then nervously take a drag. We hear the sound of a door open and then close. Moments later Jack, followed by Sydney and Vaughn enter from the next room. Jack looks coldly at him before sitting down at the table and then Syd begins the interrogation “We know who you are, Andre Sterescu.” The Count mockingly notes “Ah yes. It’s a good pronunciation.” Vaughn takes a seat across from him and Sydney continues “We know you're a Romanian national, 32 years old. Charged twice with possession of black market electronics.” Jack adds “We know you were convicted three years ago for fencing stolen pharmaceuticals.” Sterescu points out “Yes. I wanted to appeal this one...” Cutting him off, Jack asks “Tell us what you know about this man” placing a photo of Jason Cahill on the table. The Count glances at the picture nonchalantly and then taps his cigarette into the ashtray once again. Jack warns him “I will only say if you choose not to cooperate with us, you'll regret that decision for the rest of your life.” Sterescu pauses for a moment and then smirks “Who are you guys, huh?” Jack stares coldly at him and says in an ominous near whisper “Just answer the question.” The man pauses and then gulps, saying “He told me he was chemist. Worked for pharmaceutical company. He hired me to be his, uh...spy. Keep eye on competition.” Vaughn points out “In a sense, that's true, but in fact, you were spying on behalf of the US Government.” Sterescu’s demeanor brightens, having deduced that he is dealing with American agents, and responses “Oh” with a smile and nods. Vaughn continues “Who called the meeting, you or Cahill?” The now cooperative man responds “He did.” Vaughn asks “Why?”, but Sterescu shrugs and replies “I don't know.” Jack points out “You performed other jobs for him.’ to which the Count responds “Yeah.” Jack tells him “Start with the most recent (jobs).” Sterescu is completely cooperative and says “Uh, I need this ...how do you say?” mimicking writing “This, uh, pen.” Sydney's cell phone rings as Jack hands Andre a pen. Looking at the caller ID, she says to Vaughn “(It’s) Marshall.”
Sydney walks into the kitchen to take the call. From his lab, Marshall says “Hey, Syd, guess what? Your idea? Well, you were right.” She doesn’t understand what he means so Syd asks “What idea?” Marshall clarifies “The incubation period. Turns out I did some research. The Germans and the Czechs, uh well, not all of the Germans...just the chemists, anyway, they've been toying around with some designer analogs across the blood brain barrier via a pathogen. So, in other words, this drug works like a virus:” As she is listening, Sydney picks up a kettle, fills a teapot, and then pours a cup of tea. Marshall continues “It gets in your blood. It incubates for a few days. It infects you and then permanently alters your brain. Weird, huh? Anyway, I called Dr. Jain, and he's gonna culture Cahill's blood and make sure that's not what we're dealing with, okay? Syd...this...isn't about...you? I mean, you're feeling okay, right?” Sydney's face shows that she is worried, but she replies “Yeah ... Thank you, Marshall.” He answers “No problem. That's what I'm here for” and hangs up. Sydney folds her cellphone. She looks stunned and worried.
Back in the other room, Jack is reading the notes that The Count has written, while the man yawns and rubs his eyes. Sydney walks back into the room, drinking from her mug of teas as Jack says “Nocturne. Two weeks ago, you delivered a sample of it to Cahill. Tell me about it.” Sterescu holds his thumb and forefinger about three inches apart and explains “It comes in vial like this. Cahill says is like speed, only better.” Sydney asks “What do you mean, like speed?”
He explains “You take, you don't sleep. Except not...” he demonstrates trembling, and continues “just energy. But no need to rest.” Jack points out “You failed to include where it came from.” The Count explains “Yes, because I don't know.” As Sterescu continues to talk, Sydney’s hearing distorts and she is surprised to see him opening up his revolver and begin loading it with bullets. He says “Cahill says, uh, Nocture developed in Eastern Bloc.” Syd looks at Jack and then Vaughn, but she is puzzled why neither one is reacting to him loading the handgun. Sydney closes her eyes in an attempt to make the delusion go away. The Count continues “But I find no evidence of this, so I ask an associate. One week later, he bring me a sample of Nocturne.” She sees him flip the cylinder shut and bring the barrel of the revolver towards his mouth. Syd looks at The Count incredulously as she hears the hammer being cocked. We hear Jack say “He didn't tell you where he got the Nocturne?” and Sterescu reply “No.” Sydney then gets the delusion of the man looking right at her, saying “Is too bad for you ... Because you're dying, too” and places the muzzle into his mouth. We see Sydney flinch and gasp as she hears the gunshot. The real Sterescu looks at her in puzzlement, as does Vaughn and Jack. Vaughn asks with concern “You all right?” After looking at The Count for a moment, Syd replies “Yeah’, giving a brief nod to Vaughn and Jack, and then returns looking at the man.
Sometime later, we see Sloane and Dr. Jain at the APO on video conferencing through a laptop computer. Dr. Jain says “It seems that Nocturne incorporates a stimulant which overrides the pineal gland.” Back in the hotel room, Vaughn, who is seated to Jack’s left, points out “There was intel a few years ago that the North Koreans were working on an experimental program just like this one, trying to create 24 hour soldiers.” The doctor adds “And there have been others. All failures because no one understood the true biochemical nature of dreaming.” Seeking clarification, Vaughn asks “So, the Cahill's delusions were...were forms of dreams?” Dr. Jain replies “Nightmares. Yes, in a matter of speaking. The problem being with these dreams, once triggered there's no waking up.” We then notice Sydney has been listening quietly, seated to Jack’s right. Ominous music is heard, indicating that she is starting another delusion. Sloane calls out “Sydney, you listening? It's working, isn't it? Bit by bit, I'm wearing down your defenses. I'm gaining your trust.” Syd turns looks at her father, but as Jack leans back, she is shocked and gasps at seeing Sloane lean forward to speak, sitting at the end of the couch instead of Vaughn. Sloane continues “But we both know at some point, I'll betray you. And the people you care most deeply about? They'll die.” The imaginary Sloane leans back behind Jack, and then she notices her father looking at her in concern. The reason is because Sydney staring wide-eyed in fear past him. Vaughn is back, sitting at the end of the couch and asks her “Syd, you okay?” Syd looks away, and thinks for a moment, then gets up and heads for the other room.
Sydney enters the other room, grabs the sleeping Sterescu by the shoulders and pins him against the chair he's sitting in. The man cries out in fright as he wakes. She stares him in the eyes as she says at a quiet volume “You weren't surprised when I told you Cahill had died from Nocturne.” Her volume increases “You weren't surprised.” The Count protests “I don't know.” Her eyes bulge with anger and her volume increases to a shout “Why weren't you surprised?” He continues to protest “I don't know what you mean!” Syd demands “What aren't you telling me!?” Sterescu assures her “I’m telling you everything.” Enraged, Sydney screams “Do not lie to me!” and chokes him with her right hand. Syd explains in desperation “I'm one of them.” Then she resumes her anger “Do you hear me, you son of a b*tch?” Sydney gets wild-eyed and grits her teeth as she says forcefully “Cahill bit me!” Syd is surprised as Jack and Vaughn yank her off of the choking man. The Count drops to the floor gasping. Vaughn pushes her back a few steps and she seems to regain her composure. Sterescu gets back on his feet and gives in to Sydney’s demands saying “Okay! I know it was bad. It is why I was to meet Cahill! I contact him to tell him. I don't find Nocturne...at least, not what they make today.” Vaughn asks “So what did you give Cahill?” The Count confesses “Old sample. It was meant to be destroyed. This drug, it go right through skin!” Vaughn says with contempt “And he didn't know this.” Sterescu says apologetically “I need money! I lied to him. I'm sorry.” Sydney bows her head down, leaning on the back of a chair for support and holds her left hand to her brow. Jack demands “From where? Where did it come from!?” The Count replies “I don’t know. I don't know... Is somewhere in Prague. I don't know.” He looks towards Sydney with tears and says in remorse “I'm sorry. I'm very sorry.” Sydney leans her head down on her arms and is starts to weep silently. Vaughn puts a comforting hand on her left shoulder as Jack turns back to Andre with an accusatory look.
Daytime at the APO, Weiss and Nadia are working on interpreting Mrs. Cahill's last words. He says to her “What was the last thing Nancy Cahill said to that eyewitness? ‘Vertel hen het is grappig?’ Tell them it's funny? That's gotta mean something else.” Nadia mouths the words silently and then types the word "grappig" into the CIA database. Immediately, a window pops up with a match. Nadia’s eyes light-up and she reads the listing “The Grappig Group, Prague. A loose affiliation of biochemical engineers.” She opens up a second window and reads “Milan Latuza, Grappig Senior Chemist. Specializes in synthesis and isolation of novel therapeutics.” Weiss speculates “Nancy Cahill had found where Nocturne originated, only she was too far gone to do anything about it.”
Back at the hotel, Jack and Vaughn listens to Sloane on video conferencing say “Jack, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but even if we could recover a sample of the drug, we don't have time to engineer an antidote. Sydney needs medical attention.” We see Syd is lying on the couch having restless sleep. Vaughn immediately offers “Unless Latuza's already taken that step for us. If they realized they made a bad batch of Nocturne, it's possible they manufactured a remedy (already). Jack immediately agrees, saying “Contact the jet. We're going to Prague.”
It is nighttime in Prague, The Czech Republic. We see a black van pull to a stop at the back of an industrial building. Inside the van, Jack opens a laptop and says to Vaughn “Once you've accessed Latuza's database, any files that may be even remotely related to Nocturne - research, test results, formulas...” Vaughn interrupts “I'll grab what I can.” Sydney who is sitting in the front passenger seat, blinks and closes her eyes, signs of an approaching Nocturne attack. After a pause, Vaughn asks Jack “What if I don't find anything?” Jack replies quietly “Let's not discuss that here.” Sydney, who is listening to them, looks over her left shoulder towards the rear of the van in suspicion. In her delusion, she hears Jack warn Vaughn in a hushed tone “Sydney's not as trustworthy as her mother.” Vaughn nods in agreement, looks over in her direction with concern and says “I know.” Jack says in a confidential tone “I'm going to kill her just like I did Irina.” Vaughn replies “Good.” In a normal tone, Jack says “Latuza's office is on the 6th floor. You'll need to get a key.” Vaughn replies “Yeah” and heads for the sliding door. Sydney secretly reaches for a knife inside a tactical kit on the floor as he opens the door. She slides it up her sleeve when he closes the door. When she turns to look at Jack, she is surprised to see him pulling a pistol on her from his backpack. But a moment later, she sees that he's only holding a bottle of water. She turns her head and blinks repeatedly, apparently realizing that she is having delusions. Jack notices the concerned look on her face, so he asks “What is it?” After some hesitation, Sydney says “Dad...” and gets up to join him in the back. She continues “Do we have any tranquillizers?” Jack who is looking at her with concern, answers “No.” After a few seconds of contemplation, Syd requests “Then I think you'd better tie me up.” Jack looks like he wants to say something, but he can’t find the words. Sydney puts her head in her hand in anguish.
Inside the building, an overweight security guard is sitting in front of a pair of surveillance monitors, speaking on the phone in Czech. Suddenly, the monitors go out, so he tells the other person that he has a problem. As he checks to see what is wrong, lights go out. The guard turns on his flashlight and heads down a corridor to the electrical room. As he reaches for the circuit breaker box, he gets knocked out by Vaughn. Taking the guards’s keys, Vaughn radios “All right, I'm in. Headed upstairs.”
Inside the van, Jack is binding Sydney's hands with duct tape. She is already bound around the chest by more of the tape. Sydney looks up at Jack with a sad expression and asks “I'm gonna be all right, aren't I?” Her father assures her “Of course you will.” Syd worries “What if we can't make it stop?” Jack doesn’t even want to think about such a thing, saying softly “Shhh...don't talk.” Sydney gets another delusion and hears Jack coldly add “You can't imagine how much I hate it...when you talk.” Startled at what she’s heard, Sydney asks in disbelief “What?” Her father explains “The reason I killed your mother? I had a desperate need to make her voice stop ringing in my ears. What torments me now, is that every time I look at you, I see your mother's face.” Sydney is devastated to hear that and softly cries “No”, shaking her head and closes her eyes as if that could stop her hallucination. She tries to assure herself “That's ... That’s not true. That's not...” In reality, Jack is trying to break through to her, urging “Sydney, listen to me. This is all going to pass.”
Back inside the darkened building, Vaughn is walking in a corridor, aided by a flashlight. He radios by com-link “All right, I'm on the 6th floor. How is she?” Inside the van, Sydney is in tears as Jack replies “We’re okay. Just get to the lab and find the damn antidote!” Syd is sobbing, but trying not to cry. We see Vaughn entering Dr. Latuza's office and beginning his search.
Inside the van, Jack is trying to help calm his daughter, saying “Sydney, look at me.” She stops sobbing and looks up at him.” He tells her “Breathe, in and out. That's right.” She does what he asks and breathes in and out, which seems to calm her. Jack says “That's right. Good.” The tone of Jack's voice changes ominously “Look into my eyes... They're the last thing you'll ever see.” Once again, Sydney is devastated to hear her father’s rejection and softly cries in disbelief “Noooo!” In reality, Jack desperately tries to assure her, with his voice breaking “Sydney! I'm here with you!”
Vaughn is still searching Latuza’s office, opening and searching through filing cabinets, but he's frustrated not finding anything useful.
With his face full of concern, Jack instructs “Sydney, look at me! Breathe!” She nods and takes a deep breath. Once again, Syd sees her father say coldly with haunted eyes “Your mother killed me...just like I'm gonna kill you.” With her eyes welling with tears, Sydney shakes her head ‘no’ and says in defiance “I won't let you!” Staring coldly, her father says “How are you going to stop me? You're tied up.” She looks down and sobs. In reality, Jack's voice is full of parental love and concern as he desperately tries to make her understand “Sydney! I'm here with you. No one's going to harm you. I won't let anything happen to you!” She seems to understand and looks at him with tears in her eyes, calling out “Dad...” Jack comfortingly assures her “I'm here, Sydney.” Syd sobs and looks off to the side in a moment of thought, then she looks back, pleading “Will you hug me?” Overwhelmed with paternal love, Jack immediately replies “Of course I will”, leaning forward to give her a long, comforting embrace. He whispers to her “It's okay.” Jack pulls back in order to look into her eyes, then unexpectedly she head butts him. Falling to the floor, Jack calls out “Sydney! No!” Syd gives him a kick to the head, knocking him out. She then takes out the folding knife from her sleeve and cuts at the tape restraining her.
Vaughn tries to make contact by com-link, saying “Jack, can you hear me? Jack, what is it? What's happened?” Realising that Jack can’t respond, Vaughn knows that Sydney must have overcome him. Vaughn is frustrated that he can’t find the antidote, shining the flashlight all over the room. He then notices that the LED digital clock on the file cabinet in front of him is indicating 2:58 am. All of the electricity should be turned off, so that means that it has an independent power supply. He follows the cord to a power bar on the floor and sees that another cord is running to a wall mounted case. Vaughn opens the case to reveal a small refrigerator inside, filled with vials and test tubes. Vaughn opens the door and searches the vials, reading their labels. The 2 inch vials contain a dark liquid. The 3 inch vials contain a yellow liquid. He looks at the front left vial of yellow liquid, and is satisfied that it is the antidote. Vaughn takes it and a syringe from the countertop, radioing “I've got the antidote. I'm on my way.”
When Vaughn gets back to the van, he slides opens the door only to find that it is deserted and there are strips of cut duct tape laying around. From the distance he hears Sydney calling out in desperation “Help! ... Help! ... Anybody?” He runs down the alley and then around a corner where he sees Syd. As Vaughn runs towards her, she pleads “Help!” She is crying and looks like she doesn’t know what to do. Vaughn slows to a stop and looks down at Jack who is propped up against the wall of a building. Sydney cries “My father...I think...” Looking back at her, Vaughn says incredulously “Sydney, what did you do?” Crying hysterically, Sydney sobs “I think I killed him!”
Sydney bends down and puts her left hand on Jack's shoulder, but with her right hand she pulls out Jack’s semi-automatic pistol and aims it at Vaughn. He steps back in shock and asks “What are you doing?” Sydney looks at him as she would an enemy and orders “Get...get down. On your knees.” Vaughn looks her in the eyes and explains “Sydney, it's Michael. I've got the antidote. It's right here in this bag.” Sydney looks disappointed in him and says “Don't lie to me.” He says softly and gently “Sydney...Sydney, listen to me...” Sobbing, she orders him “Put your hands up... now!” Reluctantly, he complies. Sydney reveals her motivation, saying “I know what this is.” Tears flow as she reveals her the hurt that she feels, condemning him with “This is a game to you! A cruel joke at my expense.” Vaughn truly doesn’t understand that he is facing Sydney’s suppressed rage and asks “What, what's a game?” She explains “You and me. Admit it.” Vaughn has a look that says that he is sorry that she thinks that way, and gently says “No, Sydney...Sydney, listen to me. What are you scared of? Syd unburdens herself and cries “I am scared! ... I’m scared you're gonna betray me...again ... Like you did when you married Lauren.” Vaughn is stunned at how hurt she really is, and tries to assure her in a near whisper “Sydney, I would never, ever hurt you.” She whispers “Stop! Stop right there.” He tells her “You need to give me the gun, all right?” Syd warns him “I said stop!” Vaughn is sure that he can convince her, so he says “Just give me the gun” and steps toward Sydney. Syd pulls the trigger and the hammer clicks, but it doesn’t fire. She immediately cocks the hammer and pulls the trigger again, but the pistol still won’t fire. Vaughn flinches and looks at Sydney in disbelief that she'd actually tried to kill him. He immediately sweeps the gun to the side, but he can’t take the weapon out of her hands. Syd tries to hit him over the head with it, but he blocks the blow and tries to twist her arm to make her drop the pistol. She counters with a right side-kick to his gut that drives him back. She tries to follow-up with a swinging left kick, but Vaughn steps up and traps her leg. Leaning and twisting, Sydney delivers a scissor-kick to the head with her right foot. As he falls back to a metal dumpster, Syd rolls on her back and flips her feet back down to spring to a stand. Vaughn turns to face her and manages to block her punches and kicks, but she manages to jam her right forearm to his throat, pinning him against the dumpster. Struggling to push her off, Vaughn gasps “Sydney...don't do this.” He pushes his left hand against Sydney's face and head-butts her to drive her back. Syd rushes forwards, grabs him and turns him around, intending on smashing his head against the dumpster. He jams his right elbow into her stomach and then shoves her backward, pinning her against the brick wall by holding his right forearm against her chest. He still tries to reason with her, saying “Sydney, don't do this.” Sydney bends her head down and bites his hand to force him to let go. Syd gouges Vaughn’s face and knees him in the stomach. She grabs the stunned Vaughn and slams him face-first into the wall and then throws him to the pavement onto his back. Sydney finds a 3 foot long metal pipe on the ground and walks up towards her stunned opponent. Vaughn who is getting back up, gets hit on the back and Syd then uses it chop him in the legs knocking him off his feet. Syd looks at him with contempt for a moment, and then starts a vicious swing that is certain to deliver the fatal blow. Vaughn can only cringe and try to shield himself with his right forearm. Suddenly Jack rushes up from behind, grabs Sydney’s right arm and delivers a choke hold that renders her unconscious. He gently lays her onto the pavement as Vaughn says “You took the bullets out.” Jack turns to him with a half smirk “It seemed a reasonable precaution.” Vaughn retrieves his bag, takes out the vial of the antidote and the syringe. As Jack looks on in concern, Vaughn fills it with the proper dose and injects the antidote into Sydney's arm.
Sometime later, it is daytime in Los Angeles. Sloane, who is holding a debriefing of the APO team in his office, announces “Preliminary report from Medical Services -- Sydney will be fine. For that, I know we are all deeply grateful. Furthermore, Interpol has raided both the office and laboratory of Dr. Milan Latuza. The Nocturne program has been dismantled. That threat is now over. Okay, that's it.” The meeting breaks up, but Sloane asks Dixon to remain behind. Sloane is offering him an apology, admitting “Sending Sydney out...”nodding his head “a tactical error, indeed.” Dixon nods his head, turns towards his left as if thinking about something, and then walks up to Sloane. He says “I'd have said this earlier, but when I get done, it's likely you'll have me relieved of my position and I didn't want that to happen while Sydney was in the field.” Sloane’s face turns grim. Dixon continues “I've asked myself countless times why I never saw the true nature of SD-6. For a while, I punished myself over it. Finally, I realized... My only failure was that of imagination. Despite all the evil I'd encountered, I'd never imagined a person could exist -- someone as throughly ... toxic as yourself. I won't make that mistake again. You want us to believe you've reformed. That for the love of your daughter you've decided to listen to the better angels of your nature. Arvin ... let's be honest. You don't have any. And on that inevitable day when your true motive reveals itself? I promise you ... I'll be there. I'll be waiting.” Dixon turns and walks out of the office. Sloane stares in silent rage, but whether it is because he is offended because he truly is reformed, or that Dixon is correct is unknown at this time. Sloane blinks as if to say ‘We will see about that!’
We see Sydney lying in a hospital bed in a room at APO Medical Services. She has a troubled expression on her face until she hears someone approaching. She looks at the doorway and sees Vaughn enter. Syd greets him with a brief smile and says “Hey.” He replies “Hey” and approaches her bed. Sydney looks up at him apologetically and says “Vaughn, what I said to you ... What I did ...” He sits down beside of her and says “Syd, you weren't yourself.” Sydney pauses and then whispers “No” as she shakes her head. Vaughn shakes his head also and looks at her quietly. Sydney looks away, still troubled, and then raises her head up to give him kiss on the lips. Sydney gives Vaughn a tenative smile and he returns the same kind of weak smile. It is a kiss of friendship rather than love. Looking down on the bedsheet, Syd sees a black spider. She has an emotionless expression. Vaughn turns to see what she's looking at, and smiles slightly. He picks it up and removes it from her bed. Vaughn smiles at Sydney and explains “My father liked spiders. He said they were good luck.” Sydney gives Vaughn a sideways glance and says “I've never heard that” and gives a sceptical smirk. Vaughn returns the smirk and says “No?” She smiles warmly for a moment, and then they look at each other quietly, seemingly at a loss for words. Vaughn purses his lips and whispers to her “Get some rest.” Sydney lies back down, looking him in the eyes. He whispers “I'll see you tomorrow.” Syd nods and whispers “Okay.” Vaughn leaves with a weak smile. Sydney returns to her contemplative expression, probably thinking about what the Nocturne has exposed from her subconscious.
END
