inferno

Wonderful update! (y) I love that their relationship is building into just that, a relationship. It's more than just sex and a safe place to sleep now...it's becoming comfort and communication.

And as for the part with Sark playing air guitar in his underwear...BRILLIANT!
laughing0xa.gif
And WOO HOO for a fellow Empire Records junkie! That's my favorite show of all time! Everytime I do something silly, I'm always like "I do not regret the things I have done, but those I did not do!" :Punkrock:
 
Hey m-c, another fantastic addition to the work. I caught that "Empire Records" reference being an empire records nerd myself. "Damn the Man!!" I love the internal drama going on with Sidney and Sark. Something is going to explode and I can't wait to be around and watch the pieces land where they may.

Nice job sweetie!! :hug:

P.S. The PM did work.
 
aww you're all so sweet. but anywho i'm in france and won't be back until the very end (like the 29th). i'll try to update as soon as i get home, but obviously the rents and the friends will come first. will have been gone four weeks and miss them all desperately.
but anyway thanks for replying; i love to know what you guys like. i have this whole thing planned in my head, in fact i only have a few more chaps to write before it's over. that isn't counting the chaps i have written but not updated with yet, so don't worry, you've still got a ways to go.
glad there are other empire records freaks around. in my group in france whenever people are being annoying and singing i can't help but think "could you please not sing, mark?" "one of these days, i'm gonna show you little people" and so on. hehe. i'm a nerd.
love you. glad the pm worked. sorry i can't update for a while.

m-c
 
ixx. how could i not
sark yawned as he woke up. sydney was still next to him, sleeping but not snuggled into him. he smiled and looked at her.
“god you’re gorgeous,” he whispered.
she was sound asleep. he just looked at her, watched her sleep. she was beautiful to him even in her sleep; her chest rising and falling with every breath; strands of her brown hair fell across her flawless freckled face. finally he couldn’t take it anymore and wrapped her in his arms.
she giggled slightly. “you woke me up.”
“i hope you don’t mind,” he whispered. “i needed to touch you.”
damn it, what are you doing? this isn’t what you are supposed to be doing. he scolded himself in his mind.
sydney giggled again, her eyes still closed.
“how’s your shoulder?” sark asked.
“it’s fine,” she sighed. “i can’t believe you shot me.”
“you’re still complaining about that?” he teased, kissing her gently.
she opened her eyes and smiled. “never thought i’d be in this position. in fact, i kind of hoped i wouldn’t.”
“so we’re having a confidence booster for breakfast?” he laughed.
“oh come on,” she said. “you know very well this isn’t a place i expected. you didn’t expect me here either. you’re cruel. you’re evil. you’re a bad man. i should punish you.”
“maybe you should,” he smirked.
“yeah,” sydney grinned. “maybe i should.”
“you son of a b****!” someone burst into the room.
“look i’m sorry. i told ms. derevko that she had to wait, but she—” harris started, racing in behind her.
“you nauseating, irresponsible—” she was still yelling.
“irina—” sark sighed.
“you obtuse moron!” she exclaimed. “that’s my daughter! my daughter! i’m going to kill you. you arrogant, pompous—”
“irina come on,” he cut in. “give me a break. at least let me wake up and get out of bed so we can actually have a discussion.”
“no. i’m going to kill you right there,” she replied. “you stupid, sick son of a—”
“shut up!” sydney yelled. “do you seriously think you have a say in whether i am here or not? go f*** yourself! i am not your daughter. and if i want to be here, i will be here. if i want to be with sark, i will. nothing you say or do can have any effect on that at all. in fact, you not wanting me to be with him makes me want to be with him even more. you disgust me. you think you can just waltz in here and be my mother. you abandoned me. you were the worst mother anyone could ask for. so don’t come in here yelling at sark for having me here. i chose to stay.”
irina just stared at her. sark burst out laughing, but immediately tried to hold it in when both sydney and irina glared at him. he choked his s******s back.
“come on,” he chuckled. “she just told you, told you, irina derevko, to go f*** yourself. and you have to let her because she’s your daughter. that’s humourous to me.”
“you chose to stay?” irina asked quietly, ignoring sark.
“what—you think i’m so weak he forced me to stay? you think i’d let him do that?” sydney scoffed. “of course i chose to stay. i couldn’t handle going back to l.a. i have no one there.”
“you have your father.”
“please. you ruined dad. he has nothing now. he keeps that letter that you left for him in his desk and reads it thirty times a day. he’s nothing anymore,” sydney said. “you destroyed him.”
“that was never my intention. i simply—” irina started.
“guess what? i don’t care. i don’t care what your intentions were. i don’t care if you do everything in life for me, for dad. i don’t care about you at all.”
“sydney,” sark said quietly, “maybe you should give her a chance.”
“give her a chance?” she asked. “what the hell sark?”
“irina, harris, leave for a second please.”
harris—who, looking slightly uncomfortable, was standing behind irina—did as he was told immediately. irina scoffed but stalked out of the room.
“look sydney,” he sighed, “if you are going to stay here you two have to at least be civil to each other. i work with her. so if you are going to work with me, you have to put up with her. deal with that. i’m not saying you have to love her or even like her or call her mom; you just have to deal with her for a while.”
he brushed a piece of her hair out of her face. sydney smiled.
“so now you want me to work with you?” she asked.
“i need you to work with me. i need you to stay here with me. after being with you for this long, how could i let you go? i couldn’t live without pissing you off,” he smirked.
“you’d miss the sex more,” she giggled.
“yeah,” sark nodded, grinning. “yeah i would…so you’ll at least be civil?”
“i’ll at least be civil,” she replied.
“go take a shower and give me a while with irina okay? harris brought up your bags. they are next to the closet.”
sydney nodded. “okay.”
she brought her lips to his. he pushed into her shoulder as he kissed her. she groaned and pulled away.
“***hole,” she scoffed as she stalked off to the bathroom.
sark smirked. he certainly did like pissing her off.
he pulled himself out of bed. he looked down at what he was wearing; still boxers, a wifebeater and socks. he chuckled. he knew it would piss irina off if he didn’t even bother to get dressed for her, so he went to talk to her without putting on any other clothes.
“harris please leave,” he asked, closing his bedroom door behind him. harris left. “irina, you can’t do that ever again.”
“that’s my daughter,” she growled but kept her voice low. “don’t tell me what i can and can’t do when you are spending nights in the same bed as my daughter. you—”
“seriously shut up,” he interrupted. “you can berate me all you want, but nothing is going to change. she’s here; she wants to work with me; i want her to work with me. this is what’s happening and you have to deal with it. i’m surprised you even know she’s here—you always said it hurt you too much to keep tabs on her.”
“that was before i learned that you had kidnapped her,” irina scoffed.
“well this is for real,” he said. “she’s here on her own accord. i was telling you the truth the other day when i said she had left. it just so happened that she came back that night. and after her shoulder heals, she’s going to become part of my operation.”
“what’s wrong with her shoulder?”
“i shot her.” it was a statement. “she was looking through my papers and i told her to put them down or i would shoot her. she didn’t put them down. i shot her.”
“i thought you cared about her,” irina said in an accusatory tone. “i thought she meant more to you than your business. i thought she was actually something important to you.”
“irina, please. i adore sydney. that doesn’t mean i’m not going to protect myself and my business when it comes to her involvement,” sark replied. “and you know very well that you would shoot jack if it came down to it.”
before irina could reply, sydney came out of the bedroom. she was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but both sark and irina were taken back by her beauty. she had her still-wet hair pulled into a loose ponytail, some hair slipped out to frame her face.
“sydney, can i talk to you for a moment?” sark asked.
she nodded and went back into the bedroom. sark closed the door behind them and pushed her against it, forcing his lips upon hers. he could feel her smile as she kissed him back. eventually he pulled away.
“you are so bloody fine,” he chuckled. “want to f*** right now? i’m sure it would leave a great impression on your mother.”
“as nice as that sounds,” she giggled as he kissed her neck, “i think we should get to work.”
“yeah,” he breathed. “we probably should.”
but he didn’t move. he just stood there, his arms wrapped around her, looking at her. she was so beautiful. i love you. he thought.
“let’s go,” sydney whispered. “irina’s probably getting pissed.”
“that just makes it all the better,” he chuckled.
she rolled her eyes and pushed him off. “i’m going.”
“well wait. what should i wear?” sark grinned.
“you’re going to make me dress you?” she scoffed.
“you know men, horrible fashion sense,” he laughed.
“just put on jeans and a button-down. it’ll really piss irina off if you don’t dress all fancy for her,” sydney laughed.
“that’s exactly what i thought.”
he quickly put on his clothes and followed her out the door, checking out her ass as her hips swung back and forth. irina scoffed when she saw what sark was looking at, but she didn’t say anything. she looked at sydney. sydney looked at her. it was very uncomfortable.
“so this is awkward,” sark stifled a chuckle. “maybe we should go eat breakfast. we can update sydney on our business relationship.”
“good idea,” sydney said, taking sark’s arm and leading the way downstairs.
sark knew that the only reason she had latched onto him was to make her mother angry, but it was okay with him. irina stalked behind them with disdain but didn’t say anything to show her annoyance.
before they reached the breakfast room, harris came racing in to stop them.
“mr. sark,” he was breathing heavily, as though he had been running for a while. there was an air of urgency in his voice. “we need to get out of here. now. cia found you.”
sark didn’t ask any questions.
“irina, empty the office. harris, the safe. sydney, stay here we’ll be back. hurry,” he instructed.
the three raced off in different directions. sydney just stood there. she was nervous, but she didn’t know what to do. she wanted to help. sark told you to stay put, so stay put. don’t do anything stupid now, she thought to herself.
sark sped back to his room. he grabbed sydney’s bags and his in-case-of-emergency-already-packed bags. he tore through the house and deleted all signs that he had another residence. he grabbed his computers and ran back downstairs.
harris was already there with sydney, holding a locked box in one hand and a key in the other.
“you got everything?” sark asked.
harris nodded. “john’s pulling up the car. there’s irina, let’s go.”
irina carried two boxes full of papers. “wait. sark, there’s another box.”
“i’ll get it,” sydney offered.
“no,” sark stopped her. “take the luggage, it will be lighter, and you can roll it. we don’t want to aggravate your shoulder.”
sydney was suspicious that that wasn’t the only reason he didn’t want her carrying his files, but she did as she was told.
“i’ll meet you guys in the car,” sark said, taking off for his office.
everyone piled into the sleek white escalade; sark in the driver’s seat and sydney next to him. harris and irina in the back. irina wasn’t happy that she wasn’t important enough to be in the front seat, but she didn’t argue.
“john, call everyone and clean up. if you can’t get everything out in time, destroy it,” sark instructed. “here’s a list of fake information you guys can give up if you are forced. good luck.”
“yes sir. you as well,” john said.
sark threw it into drive and took off. everyone’s adrenaline was pumping from the urgent getaway.
“do you think the escalade is really a good choice?” sydney asked. “i mean, isn’t it what you drove when you kidnapped me?”
“it changes plates every two weeks. and i’m going to have it repainted as soon as we get to our location,” sark replied.
“where are we going sark?” irina wondered. “my place?”
“no, we can’t risk it. if they have someone trailing us we can’t lead them from one headquarters to another,” he said. “we’ll go to my flat.”
“good idea,” irina agreed.
they drove in silence for a while. sark’s mansion had been far from other civilisation, and all of the roads were empty. sark was flying down them at ninety miles an hour, taking curves at fifty.
“harris,” sark said as he drove, “how do you know cia found us?”
“jonas called on my cell,” harris replied. “he said it was to risky to even call on the mansion’s line and didn’t want to call your cell just in case. word from him is that cia had found you and was planning a raid as soon as they could get a plane over here with bristow and vaughn on it. they are really pissed off that you have sydney.”
harris’s voice was much more confident than sydney had ever heard it before. it was as though being an important role in keeping sark’s operation safe had boosted his conviction.
“okay,” sark nodded to himself. “okay.”
“is there enough room at your flat for all of us?” sydney asked.
“there are two bedrooms and a couch,” he replied, indirectly answering her question.
“i’ll sleep on the floor if need be,” harris offered.
“that won’t be necessary,” sark said. “sydney and i can share a bed. irina will take the other. you can have the couch.”
irina clenched her teeth, fighting her anger. she couldn’t hold it down.
“julian, i think the way you are taunting me is immature and juvenile,” she snapped. “i understand that you are with my daughter and i don’t appreciate your weak attempts to anger me.”
sark was silent for a moment.
“irina, this is an important moment in ensuring the safety of our organisation. i was not trying to taunt you. i am a businessman, and this is business,” sark explained. “i don’t want harris sleeping on the floor because i can’t afford to have him sore and therefore slower than usual. i need everyone to be at the top of their game. you need everyone to be at the top of their game. we can’t afford anything less. so i was not being childish, i was being responsible.”
irina was silent this time. she hadn’t even taken that as a possibility. she just assumed that sark must have been doing it to piss her off. she berated herself in her mind because she knew she had made a mistake. she knew sark would make her admit it, so she did.
“i apologise,” she said quietly. “i made an assumption. it was a mistake.”
“don’t bother being sorry, just realise that not everything i do is to affect you in some way,” sark replied.
irina was mute; she was embarrassed. sark didn’t smirk; he had been telling the truth: what he had said was not to anger irina but was to make sure everything went well. he was too worried about his organisation to think of much else. that wasn’t true. he was too worried about losing sydney to think of much else.
***
within a few hours, irina, sark, sydney and harris were safely stowed at sark’s flat in london. they were quiet, all collected in the living room, no lights on.
“sark,” sydney said quietly, “they aren’t going to give up until they find me.”
“i know,” he replied. “i know.”
he was thinking. his life was swirling around him, threatening to disappear, and he didn’t know what to do. he closed his eyes and just thought.
“what happens if they come banging on the door in the middle of the night?” irina asked. “what are we going to do then?”
sydney sighed. “do you really think they are going to bother banging on the door? they’re just going to come in. there’s no way we can hide if they find the apartment.”
sark was silent for a moment. “if they come in the middle of the night, we’ll make enough of a distraction for irina to get away. that’s all that can be done.”
“sark,” irina looked at him, “don’t put me before yourself. you’ve never been like that before. what are you thinking?”
“if i try to escape, they’ll shoot me without blinking an eye,” sark replied. “if you try to escape, they’ll hesitate. they don’t want you dead. they need you alive. they’ll probably chase you instead of shooting you. i’m sure jack will go after you. that gives us a much better chance of getting away as well. and if you escape but we can’t, you’ve always been the mastermind when it comes to escape plans. you broke me out once, who’s to say you won’t do it again?”
“dad would go after you,” sydney said. “even before he came to me, he would go after you. you’ve become his obsession. he wouldn’t let anyone kill you. his first priority is most likely getting you instead of getting me. it would definitely give us a better chance to get away if he’s chasing you.”
“okay.”
“sir, should i have some of that fake information to give up?” harris asked. “just in case?”
sark shook his head. “you don’t need it. i’ve always kept you dressed like the standard twenty-four year-old. i have a background for you; i have a job for you; i have friends who call you harry. if you are a good enough actor to make them believe i am just an old friend who came to stay for the weekend, there’s no way they will think you work for me. everything is too good for them to have any reason to question it.”
“thank you sir,” he replied. “but i would like to stay with you and help. if i get caught and they release me, they’ll still keep an eye on me. i wouldn’t be able to work for you again.”
sark grinned. “you like me that much do you? don’t worry about it. we’ll find a way. but right now it’s getting late. i’m going to bed.”
“we all should. we need our rest, just in case,” sydney said.
the others mumbled in agreement and headed off to their beds for the night. harris crashed on the couch with a blanket pulled over him. irina went to the guest bedroom, and sark and sydney took the master.
“is this all my fault?” sydney asked, curling into sark.
he sighed. “no it’s not your fault. it’s my fault.”
“don’t take the blame. i know if i wasn’t here this wouldn’t be happening,” she said.
“if i didn’t want you here, you wouldn’t be here,” he replied. if i could control my bloody emotions, this wouldn’t be happening, he added to himself.
“it’s gonna be okay…”
sark couldn’t tell if sydney was telling him or asking him. he kissed her lightly on the forehead.
“it’s going to be okay,” he assured her.
she smiled and nestled into him. he tucked his arm around her and stared at the ceiling as she fell asleep.
you could get rid of her, he thought as he lay in bed, eyes wide open. give her back to the cia and you’d be safe. they’d be too happy with her back to worry about you, at least for a while. you could start a new life. just send her back……i can’t. i bloody can’t.
he was so angry at himself. since when had he, he, mr. sark, been unable to control his emotion? since when had he become so soft? why? he knew why. she was the reason for everything.
if you could just be a man and let her go this would all be fine. but no, you’re obsessed now. just like you were with her mother. what—do those women have something in their genes that you can’t ignore? does their d.n.a. predestine you to fall for them? you bloody moron.
he sighed. as much as he hated himself for it, he truly did care about her; he truly did love her. he looked at her sleeping beside him. she was so beautiful.
“i love you, gorgeous,” he whispered. “even in this life, how could i not love you?”



lover-ly. hope you like it. the next one will probably take a while to get out because meg's gonna edit a best of the best challenge fic for me. but more are coming i promise. i really like where it went. i hope you will too.

m-c
 
Oh boy acting chica ur killing me :( (n) almost a whole month with no new updates please im begging for some more of ur splendiferous writing im an Inferno addict! lol
bRoKeN
 
eek! i didn't realise it had been so long. i sent the next chapter to meg. i have a lot of other chapters finished, but i get them beta-ed before putting them up here. so i'll try to send them to her more quickly, and i'll throw some of the blame on her for being slow ;)
trust me though, inferno wouldn't be half as good without my meg-athon.

m-c
 
ACK!!! I found this weeks ago, and was waiting for an update :smiley: It appeared like there was going to be one... but *taps foot impatiently* ACK If I can't have ALIAS can't I have some AMESOME FANFIC!! :smiley: PLEASE PLEASE UP date SOON and PM me when you do??? Thanks!!!
 
haha! blame meg! hehe. i'll get it out to you as soon as she gets it to me!
i heart you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you're so sweet. :love:

m-c
 
it's been way too long. i'm sorry, i don't know what's been happening with my beta, but she hasn't gotten back to me. so here are two un-betaed chapters, don't hate me for the yucky parts.

xx. motivation
sark woke up with a gun to his head. he yawned and stretched before he opened his eyes and saw the beretta d cougar l aimed between his eyes. he glanced to his right; sydney wasn’t there. nervously, he looked past the barrel of the gun to the person holding it.
“good morning to you to irina,” he smirked. “you always had such a nice bedside manner. where’s your daughter?”
“don’t worry, she’s still here. the cia didn’t come in the middle of the night,” she replied.
“i’m so glad. why the lovely wake-up?” he asked.
“if you hurt her, i will kill you,” irina explained, gun still to his head. “it will be slow. i will shoot you in your knees and break all of your fingers. i will slice your c*** in half. i will pull your teeth out one by one. i will crucify you.”
“so good to know,” sark smirked. “mind if i get out of bed now?”
“this is not a joke,” she snarled.
he grabbed the gun and twisted her arm backward.
“you think that i take hurting sydney as a joke?” he growled. “that is the last thing i would ever joke about. i take you as a joke. look at you. i was asleep, so you obviously had advantage when i woke up and you had a gun to my head. it was a cowardly way to gain advantage, but you had it. and now look at you. you are cringing, and i could break your arm with a flip of my bloody wrist. you are depressing. you are supposed to be smart, powerful. you are pathetic. i’m not going to hurt your daughter, and there’s no way in hell you are going to ‘crucify’ me.”
he let go of her arm. irina rubbed it, glaring at sark.
“aren’t you supposed to be smart and powerful?” she asked. “you are pathetic. you are so in love with sydney that it tears you apart. i only have to be with you one day, i only have to talk to you, to realise how head over heels you are for her. you react to things emotionally; you didn’t race out of your mansion because you were afraid for your organisation, you were afraid that the cia would come take sydney. that is what is pathetic. you are what is pathetic. you’re letting your emotions rule your life. that is weak. that is depressing.”
sark restrained himself from reacting. instead, he got out of bed and went to his suitcase. without bothering to ask her to leave he began to change. she started for the door.
“irina, is feeling strongly about something really a weakness?” he said.
“it is in this life.”
she closed the door behind her.
sark sighed. he didn’t want to think about it. he was at home; he had his two favourite women and probably his closest friend in the world. he was going to enjoy it.
“morning,” he said, walking into the living room.
sydney was curled in the big living room chair with a coffee cup in her hand. the sun slid through the window onto her face. she smiled.
“hello sleepyhead.”
“how’s your shoulder?” sark asked as he poured himself coffee.
“eh, you know. it’s nice to feel,” she grinned.
he nodded. “harris, what’s up?”
“cia raided the mansion about an hour after we left. john and the crew got almost everything out, only had to destroy a little,” harris replied, looking up from his eggs at the counter. “no casualties or injuries. john was the only one at the house. he’s still in custody to my knowledge. i assume he’ll contact as soon as he knows it’s safe.”
“good,” sark nodded. “very good. john’s a good guy. he knows to contact jonas just in case. and he knows to contact as soon as he can…how’d ya sleep harris? couch wasn’t too bad i hope?”
“no, sir, it was fine,” he said. “you?”
“i slept well. woke up nicely,” sark smirked, sending a look irina’s way. “what do we have to do today? anything too important?”
harris glanced at sydney. sark nodded, signifying it was all right.
“jonas gave word that the rambaldi necklace has been found,” harris said quietly.
the other three snapped to attention.
“was the necklace missing?” sydney asked.
“i told you when i faked the necklace deal to get to you. it was stolen a long time ago,” sark replied. “who has it?”
“walker.”
irina sighed, sark shook his head.
“did he contact you?” sark asked irina.
“no,” she said. “and you said jonas contacted you, harris?”
“yes. i haven’t heard anything from walker,” he replied.
“damn him,” sark muttered under his breath.
“i know an easy way to get to him,” sydney said.
“how?”
“it was only about three days ago when i bought the gun from him. he was convinced that having seen it, you would love it—which you will by the way—and would come back and by more. we could just contact him and say you wanted to buy more,” she suggested. “we’ll just get him to come and then….well, i’m sure we could come up with some way to make him talk.”
“wait,” irina said. “think about it. simon knows we can easily find out things like that. don’t you think he would be able to keep it quiet? i don’t trust this.”
“don’t you think the cia would be able to keep the fact that they were raiding my mansion quiet?” sark asked. “trust me, jonas can get anything that is supposed to be kept quiet.”
“i just think that there are other ways of going about this. you can’t just agree with her because you care about her—”
“come up with a better way and we’ll take yours. don’t blame it on the fact that we are together—”
“irina, sydney, come on. you agreed to be civil to each other—”
“if she wasn’t so—”
“i’m not the one at fault—”
the words were all overlapping and nothing could be heard or understood. their voices rose as their words got more mixed together, each trying to overpower the other.
“shut up!” harris screamed.
the other three quieted. they looked at him, surprised such a loud voice could come out of such a habitually quiet person.
“i realise that this is hard for you, irina and sydney. you are mother and daughter. you have a lot of issues that you have to work out, and it is going to take a long time. and i know this is hard for you, sark, for both are woman you care about. i realise that this situation is probably not the ideal choice for any of you. but please. we have to work together. there’s not a choice. this is the only situation we have. we all have to deal with it and live with each other or nothing is ever going to get done,” he explained. “irina, if you have a better way to bring out simon, please explain it and we will give you our attention. sydney, at the moment your idea is the way we are going to go because we have no other and it seems good enough, but it may not be the best way. can everyone deal with that?”
they nodded, still slightly surprised at his reaction. they all realised it was nice to have a voice of reason among the chaos. they did have to work together, so they might as well make it as bearable as possible.
harris turned to irina. “do you have a better way of going about this?”
“sydney’s plan is fine,” she said quietly.
“once we get to him, we’ll ask him about it. if he doesn’t talk, like sydney said, we have ways of compelling him to. what ever happened to your friendship with him?” sark asked.
“it disintegrated after the necklace was stolen. we had no more connections. without the necklace, he was just in the business of selling guns. he was not useful to me anymore,” she explained.
“sydney do you really think walker will believe that sark wants to buy the guns?” harris asked.
“he gave it to me for free because he was so certain that sark would come back to buy more,” sydney said. “plus i think we had a connection.”
“a connection?” sark asked, raising his eyebrows.
“yes. he’s a lot like you, you know? arrogant, sarcastic, antagonistic. he seemed to like to poke at me, the way you do. liked to piss me off,” she explained.
sark chuckled but didn’t respond.
after a few moments of silence, irina spoke. “how soon can we contact him?”
***
it was easy to get to walker. sydney contacted him, said he was right, that sark wanted to buy more guns. she convinced him to do the business on their property instead of his. there was nothing to it.
the four got to the meeting place very early. they needed to formulate their plan.
“i don’t see why this should be hard to do at all. he’s not the type to go through torture if he has any other choice. we just threaten to beat him to a pulp and he talks,” sark shrugged.
“what if that doesn’t work?” irina asked. “we need a back-up plan.”
sydney cleared her throat. sark looked at her.
“no! no way,” he exclaimed. “you’re not—i won’t—just, no.”
“sark,” she said gently, “i can get the information we need. it’s not going to mean anything, but sex always wins.”
“what are you talking about?” harris cut in.
“to get sark to talk, i kissed him. i knew he was attracted to me, so i used it to my advantage, i could do the same to walker,” she explained.
“you’re not going to. i won’t let—” he cut himself off.
he looked at her, true care in his eyes. she nodded.
“this is the way it has to be sark. if it worked on you, it will work on simon,” she said.
“fine,” he sighed. “damn, he’s going to enjoy this.”
sydney chuckled.
“sark can i talk to you for a moment?” irina asked. she pulled him aside. “you are just going to let her throw herself at a man to get information? you are going to use her as a sex object?”
“it was her choice,” he replied. “and this is just going to be a plan b. he’s going to talk the first time so it’s not going to matter. and think about it, do you really think i would be able to change her mind? she’s got your blood in her.”
irina sighed. “i suppose you are right.”
she walked away.
“do you want me to look out for him? during the meeting i’ll stay out of sight in case you need surprise help,” harris suggested to sark as he walked back over.
“sure. that’d be great.”
harris headed off to await walker’s car. sydney giggled once he was out of hearing range.
“he’s all grown up now that he is important,” she smiled. “he used to be cowardly, but you give him importance, and he certainly steps up.”
“everyone has the potential to step up when you give them a reason to,” sark nodded.
***
simon showed up on time and was not at all surprised to see all three of them waiting for him. he grinned and greeted them, knowing full well the possibility that he was about to be tortured.
“let’s skip all the bulls***,” sark sighed. “why didn’t you contact us when you regained possession of the necklace?”
“we were no longer friends. i did not feel i was obligated to tell you such things anymore,” simon explained.
“we were no longer friends because you lost the necklace. now that you have found it, it is ours,” irina said. “hand it over.”
simon laughed quietly. “why would i do that?”
“the necklace was ours when you lost it, so now that you have it back, it’s still ours,” she replied.
“children’s rules don’t apply in this life,” he chuckled.
“well you guys are bickering like you are five,” sydney sighed. “it’s not going to get you anywhere.”
“what do you propose we do, miss bristow?” simon asked, his tone taunting.
she elbowed him in the side of the head. the blow was so hard he fell to his knees.
“i propose we beat the living s*** out of you, and then after you give us the necklace, we’ll kill you,” she snarled.
she kicked him in the stomach. he swallowed a groan.
“i thought you were a businesswoman,” he said.
“i am. and if this is what i have to do to get business done, it’s what i have to do,” she replied.
“i’ll give you the necklace only if you share the information you get from analysis,” he offered.
sydney looked at sark and irina. irina stepped forward.
“for one, get your ass off the ground,” she scoffed. “and secondly, that necklace was analysed for months with no progress what makes you think we’ll get anything from it this time around?”
“it’s been years; there’s new technology. plus, i know you won’t quit until you understand it,” simon replied, standing up and brushing the dirt off of his clothes. “so give me information or i won’t give you the necklace.”
sark sighed. “we’ll tell you what you want to know if we discover anything. in return we get the necklace and any information on cia movements that you know of.”
“why are cia movements that important to you?” he asked. “ohh. they’re looking for her, aren’t they? you are going to be on the run forever because they are never going to stop looking for her. so how long have you had her so far? how long have you been able to avoid the wrath of the cia, of her father?”
“that’s none of your business,” sark replied. “take us to the necklace.”
simon chuckled. “whatever you say, it’s in my car.”
“you carry it around in your car?” sydney scoffed.
“well, i expected i would have to hand it over today. i may be smarter than you give me credit for,” he replied.
“doubt it.”
simon grinned and shook his head. “that girl of yours has an attitude problem, julian.”
“let’s go get the necklace,” irina cut in before sark could overreact.
***
simon willingly handed over the necklace. he even restrained himself from taunting sark anymore. as sark and irina were inspecting the necklace, sydney glared at simon.
“you’re a pretty angry chick, huh?” he chuckled.
“don’t call me a bloody chick,” she scoffed.
“‘bloody’? did you seriously just say ‘bloody’? and how long have you been with sark?” he laughed. “do you watch football with him too?”
“yes as a matter of fact she does,” sark came back with a smirk on his face, raising his eyebrows at sydney.
she knew what he was thinking. the night they watched a football game together was the night they had oral sex. she smiled and shook her head at sark.
“don’t think i’m always going to be watching football with you,” she said impishly.
“oh please, you had a great time,” he scoffed. “you’d do it any time you had the chance.”
she reddened and stifled a giggle.
irina returned and interrupted the conversation. “you never got anything from it?”
“no. rambaldi was insane. i’m not even sure if the necklace has anything to understand anymore,” simon sighed.
“can we talk to you alone?” she asked.
“which we?”
irina nodded to sark.
“anything you want to say can be said in front of sydney and harris,” sark said defensively.
“sark, it’s fine,” harris said.
“we’ll be right back,” sydney added.
she and harris walked a little ways away. he smiled at her. he’s cute she thought to herself. harris seemed to grow up since she had first met him. his black hair was getting shaggy and he hadn’t shaved that morning so stubble was sprinkled across his chin and jaw. he was pretty damn tall too; 6’ 4”, 6’ 5” sydney guessed. she hadn’t really noticed him before that moment, before she actually got the chance to look at him.
“you seem to have grown up a lot. i mean, even since i first met you,” she said.
“i understand sark now that you’ve come,” he replied. “before he was just this—this amorphous enigma that i couldn’t begin to grasp. he was just this terrifying, powerful creature. but now…now i get him.”
“why?” she smiled.
“because he’s crazy about. i mean, he worships you,” harris explained.
sydney blushed deeply. he quickly attempted to backtrack.
“i mean—that’s just---i understand his motivation now. he does things for you. he wants his money and his power and his clothes and everything because of you. he alternately makes you happy and makes you furious; and he loves it. i’m not sure which he likes better, pissing you off or making you laugh, but both of them send adrenaline throbbing through his veins.”
“sydney, harris! let’s go,” sark called.
sydney tried to stop the red of her face and headed back toward sark and irina.
“what was that?” she asked sark, walking to the car.
“nothing,” he shrugged. “just patching up old friendships.”
sydney opened her car door and glanced back at the dust billowing up being simon’s wheels as he drove away, wondering what sark wasn’t telling her.
 
xxi. she’s a rebel
she’s a rebel
she’s a saint
she’s the salt of the earth
and she’s dangerous


the four of them sat in the living room; each with a cup in their hands. irina had black coffee; harris had a beer; sark had red wine; sydney had apple juice. they told stories. harris talked about when he was growing up. irina talked about when she was growing up. the other two didn’t want to share; sark had killed his father and sydney had grown up without a mother.
“think we’re gonna get anything from the necklace?” harris asked, taking a sip from his bottle.
irina sighed. “probably not anytime soon.”
“i understand so little about rambaldi,” sark shrugged. “like walker said, the necklace could have just been a gift to his daughter.”
“could you imagine being the daughter of this guy? i mean, that would have been a pretty messed up family life with a prophet as a dad,” sydney said.
“more messed up than a mother who faked her death and a father who trained you to be a spy?” sark asked without thinking.
the room was silent. everyone looked at him. he suppressed a laugh.
“i’m going to bed.”
sydney stalked off to the bedroom. sark said good night and followed her.

she’s a rebel
vigilante
missing link on the brink of destruction
from chicago
to toronto
she’s the one that they call old whatsername


“that was a s***ty thing to do sark,” she rolled her eyes when he came in.
“remember who you’re talking to. i kidnapped you, shot you. i’m not really worried about doing ‘s***ty’ things,” he chuckled.
he was checking her out as she pulled her pants down to put on pajamas.
“i thought maybe you’d changed,” she sighed.
“would you want me to?” he asked, pulling her shirt over her head for her.

she’s the symbol
of resistance
and she’s holding on my heart like a hand grenade


sydney pulled away and went on undressing.
“i guess i wouldn’t,” she sighed. “you wouldn’t really be you were if you weren’t an egotistical british f***.”
“why thank you,” he smirked. “it’s all part of my charm.”
she swung around suddenly, connecting her fist to his jaw. he fell back onto the bed; his lip immediately swelling and blood seeping from the edge of his mouth.
“lovely,” he said.
she stepped over to him wearing only her bra and underwear. he grinned but she hit him again.
“have i now entered an abusive relationship?” he asked tauntingly.
she sat in his lap.

is she thinking
what i’m thinking?
is she the mother of all bombs?
gonna detonate
is she trouble
like i’m trouble?
make it a double


sydney kissed him, hard. it made his fresh injury sting, but he kissed back. she pulled away slowly, leaving him grinning, a trail of blood still trickling from his mouth. she wiped the blood away and put her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. he didn’t say anything but kept the smirking grin on his face.
she slipped his tie over his head and put it on. then she went to work slowly unbuttoning his shirt.
“i hate that you’re a tease.”
she continued unbuttoning his shirt, not saying anything. sark studied her face. she seemed almost in pain. he looked at her harder. as she pushed the shirt off of his shoulders and ran her hands over his chest, she looked like she was holding back. she needed assurance that she was where she was supposed to be. she needed to know staying with him was the right choice.
he grabbed her face. her deep brown eyes looked at him almost pleadingly. he kissed her. it was gentle but passionate. they pulled apart from each other. he brushed a piece of hair out of her face. she smiled. god he loved her smile.
he stood, set sydney lightly on the bed, and walked to the bathroom.
“what are you doing?” she asked.
he started a bath. he could almost hear the smile tiptoe across her face. when the water was the right temperature and the right salts and scents had been added, sark headed back to the bedroom. sydney was sitting on the bed crossed legged, her hands in her lap. she beamed.
he pulled his tie over her head and unfastened her bra, setting both of them next to her on the bed. she willingly uncrossed her legs and let him completely undress her.
he lifted her into his arms and let his lips drop to hers. this kiss was less gentle. she giggled as he carried her to the bathroom. he eased her into the already-filled tub and turned off the water. she moaned quietly.
sark took a sponge and began to wash sydney. she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. he ran the sponge over her shoulders.
suddenly she grabbed him and pulled him into the tub with him, clothes and all. he cried out in surprise and she shrieked with laughter. water splashed over the edge an onto the bathroom floor.
“bloody hell woman!” sark exclaimed.
she kissed him hard. “don’t pretend like you mind.”

twist of fate
or a melody that
she sings the revolution
the dawning of our lives


he ignored the fact that half of his thousand-dollar suit was getting soaked and ruined by bath salts and started kissing her. his face stung from her sadism, but he ignored it. they were kissing hard, water splashing onto the floor, clouds of bubbles sent flying off the edge of the water.
she turned her attention to his drenched pants, and she yanked them to his ankles. he slithered out of them, taking off his underwear and socks too.
“i never liked baths when i was a boy,” he smirked. “maybe if you were in them i would have liked them better.”
“just maybe?” she asked, pulling him to her again.
she ran her hands over his hard, wet torso. he refocused his lips on her neck, sending her into a fit of giggles.
the bathtub was large enough that she had enough room to roll him over. when he was below her she slowly eased herself onto him.
“god you’re huge,” she moaned.
“that’s what they all say,” sark smirked.
she kissed him powerfully, biting on his swelled lip as she did.
“so what—you’re a sadist now instead of a masochist?” he asked as he pulled away.
she didn’t answer; she just started thrusting her hips onto his. he threw his head back and let out a deep breath.

she brings this liberation
that i just can’t define
nothing comes to mind


she rode him hard. their hearts were beating wildly; their breath ragged and lost in each other’s heat.
“god sydney,” the words slipped over his lips. “i l—”
she kissed him, burying the words she knew he was going to say. she continued to ride him as she kissed him.
his breath was hard and heavy. he didn’t know which parts of him were under the water and which weren’t. he closed his eyes but he could still see sydney.
she pushed harder and harder until she exploded. her contractions brought sark with her into the waves of ecstasy.

she’s a rebel
she’s a rebel
she’s a rebel
and she’s dangerous


when their orgasms passed, sydney rolled off of sark and pulled herself out of the tub. he grabbed her leg as she wrapped a towel around herself.
“what i was going to say—” he started again.
“think before you say it,” she cut him off, placing a finger over his lips. “think of who i am. think of who you are. think of the business in which we are both involved. think of my father. think of vaughn. think of my mother. do you really want to say it?”
he looked at her incredulously. “yes.”
that wasn’t the answer she expected. she bent down and kissed him lightly. “well, don’t.”
 
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