A Thin Line (Alias,XO,ADULT,UC) [Complete]

[LittleBit]

A Thin Line
Author: LittleBit
Category: Liz centered Crossover; UC
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from either Alias or Roswell. I’m just borrowing their characters for my own sick mind to use for my amusement.
Rating: MATURE, some parts up to ADULT
Summary: Set several years in the future of the Roswell Universe but nothing after ‘Wipe Out’ happened. No dupes, no stupid alien jellyfish, Alex is alive, and Tess isn’t a murderous. As for what happened after ‘Wipe Out’ read on, however for the sake of the story, instead of Liz getting shot in 1999, she was shot in 1994. Also, this is set after ‘Passage II’ of Alias. So SD6 is still in operation, Sydney and Vaughn are not together, Irina is in CIA custody and Sark is allied with Sloane. I may borrow some lines or scenarios from the show but they are not mine.

I don’t want to give away too much or you’ll know most of the storyline but let’s just say that Liz learns that not everything is black and white. Especially when it comes to love.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Prologue-LOS ANGELES

Sydney Bristow glanced at the clock on her computer to check the time. It was almost time for her to end her day at SD 6 but it would not be the end of her workday. She had a meeting with her CIA handler Michael Vaughn after she left the SD6 offices. Arvin Sloane, her boss at SD6 and the man she hated most in the world, had not given her the latest mission assignment but Sydney had thought it was a good idea to meet with Vaughn to pass on the little bit of activity she had seen in the last few days. There wouldn’t be much to tell, mostly closed meetings between Sloane and his newest asset/ally Sark, her mother’s former right hand man. Not a combination that Sydney liked to see working together.

Sydney realized that she should have been prepared for Sark to deceive her about his true intentions for getting to Sloane. But she had been too worried about getting the antidote to save Vaughn and getting revenge on Sloane. The deal with Sark had seemed to be the perfect set up for her. But things had not worked out that way. Instead of killing Sloane, Sark had made some kind of deal to work with Sloane and SD6. Her and her father had been working on figuring out exactly what he was up to ever since the partnership had become known but so far they had nothing.

Sydney pulled herself from her thoughts so that she could wrap up the task at hand. Perhaps if things went smoothly she might be able to have dinner with Will and Francie. It would be a nice way to start the weekend. She had been so busy lately that she hadn’t been able to see them much and it would be nice to have a night off with her friends so she quickly began wrapping things up.

Sydney had just closed out a report when she caught sight of an unfamiliar face. Sydney knew every person that worked in the offices, if not on a personal level then at least their faces and name. But she had no clue that the newest arrival was. It was a woman, shorter than Sydney, she estimated about 5’3” with long dark brown hair and eyes to match, both setting off her olive toned skin. She walked with her head held high and with a grace and confidence that Sydney guessed wouldn’t have changed if she were dressed in sneakers and jeans instead of the suit and heels.

The woman passed everyone around and headed straight for Sloane’s office. The woman knocked on the outer door to the office before going inside. The whole episode peaked Sydney’s curiosity. It wasn’t often that visitors were seen in SD 6, she would have to ask her father if he knew anything about it. With the thought cataloged in her mind, Sydney turned her attention back to wrapping up her work.

Fifteen minutes later, the inner office button on her phone buzzed and Sydney picked it up. She instantly recognized Sloane’s voice. “Sydney, can you come to my office right away.”

“I’m on my way.” Sydney answered before pushing herself back away from her desk.

Sydney quickly made her way to Sloane’s office and let herself inside. She saw Sloane sitting behind his desk and the mysterious woman Sydney had spotted earlier sitting in one of the visitor’s chairs. When she entered, Sloane motioned for her to take the other available chair. “Sydney, thank you for coming, I know that you were hoping to head for home but I must encroach on you for a short time longer. I wanted to introduce to someone, this is Elizabeth Parker. Elizabeth, Sydney Bristow.”

“Hello.” Sydney said offering a friendly smile and her hand.

Liz took Sydney’s proffered hand and shook. “It is nice to meet you.”

Sloane watch the woman before saying, “Liz is a transfer from our SD 9 and I’ve assigned her to be your new partner.”

[LittleBit]

A Thin Line
Author: LittleBit
Category: Liz centered Crossover; UC
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from either Alias or Roswell. I’m just borrowing their characters for my own sick mind to use for my amusement.
Rating: R, some parts up to NC17
Summary: Set several years in the future of the Roswell Universe but nothing after ‘Wipe Out’ happened. No dupes, no stupid alien jellyfish, Alex is alive, and Tess isn’t a murderous. As for what happened after ‘Wipe Out’ read on, however for the sake of the story, instead of Liz getting shot in 1999, she was shot in 1994. Also, this is set after ‘Passage II’ of Alias. So SD6 is still in operation, Sydney and Vaughn are not together, Irina is in CIA custody and Sark is allied with Sloane. I may borrow some lines or scenarios from the show but they are not mine.


Thanks everyone for the feed back, I crave it. And I didn't mention this before but I wanted to say thank you for Calinia for the beautiful banner that she made me.

Also, I wanted to mention something before the story goes on. This story is centered around Liz. The others are mentioned, and two have interaction with Liz but only one will actually make a physical appearance in the story. The others will come in the sequel, yep you heard right. Sequel.

PART 1

“Liz is a transfer from our SD 9 office and I’ve assigned her to be your new partner.”

Sydney had been trained too well to show all of her emotions over Sloane’s announcement. While she was confused, surprised, and worried that Sloane might be assigning a babysitter because he didn’t trust her, Sydney only let her face register faint surprise as she said, “I was not aware that you planned to assign me a new partner.”

“It was a recent decision. Dixon will still aid in missions when needed. I arranged for Liz’s transfer several weeks ago but did not come to a decision as to who she would be partnered with until I had word of her arrival.” Sloane said giving Sydney an explanation. “I met Liz in Paris when visiting with Morgana Dubois at SD 9 after I was voted into the Alliance. Morgana introduced me to Liz, one of her finest operatives. Liz has been with the organization for three years. She was recruited and spent her first two years in New York before transferring to Paris.”

“When I met Mr. Sloane, I expressed an interest in coming back to the States. I loved Europe but I was born and raised in America and missed it. I had thought about transferring back to New York and SD 4 but Mr. Sloane suggested that I give SD 6 and Los Angeles consideration. I grew up in the southwest, New Mexico actually and couldn’t pass up the offer to return to the region.” Liz stated.

“How long have you been in Los Angeles?” Sydney asked trying to be polite. The whole meeting was troubling, in Liz she saw herself before Danny was killed. Unknowingly working for SD 6 while thinking that she was serving her country. At least that was the impression Liz showed, whether it was genuine or not was still yet to be seen. But Sydney would find out, and as soon as possible.

“I’ve been back in the States for almost a week but just arrived in LA this morning. I knew that I was not expected to report for work until Monday but I couldn’t resist coming in to let Mr. Sloane know that I had arrived.” Liz answered her. It had taken quite a few weeks to arrange a move back to the States but Liz was happy to be back. She had stopped off to see Alex in San Francisco for a visit before coming to Los Angeles. She knew that she should have gone to see her mother and Maria but that would have entailed a trip to Roswell and going to Roswell was too painful.

“I’ve arranged for a meeting on Monday before her debriefing with security section so that Liz has an opportunity to meet the people she will be working with but I thought since she was here, you two should meet.” Sloane stated then addressed Liz specifically.

“Sydney will help with whatever you need to adjust. Since I have no pending assignments for the two of you, you can used the free time for an adjustment period but don’t get too relaxed.”

“Not in our line of work.” Liz declared half in jest, half seriousness. The ability to quickly adjust to a given situation was critical to your survival.

Sloane smiled at Liz’s comment, pleased to see that the young agent was attentive and eager to work. Her and Sydney would make an exceptional team. “Well then I will dismiss you both so that you can get started on your evenings and your weekends. I’m sure Liz still has some unpacking to do.”

“Story of my life.” Liz said thinking of all of the times throughout the years she had packed hurriedly for a mission. They didn’t even include the times she had packed up her life and moved from Roswell to Florida, Florida to New York, New York to Paris, then Paris to Los Angeles. She looked at both Mr. Sloane and Sydney and smiled. “Thank you again Mr. Sloane and I’ll see you on Monday Sydney.”

“I wouldn’t miss it.” Sydney said smiling back.

Liz nodded goodbye to her boss before leaving the office. She headed back the way she came to get back to the elevator when she felt someone bump into her. It was a man from what she could see, but only got a quick glimpse of a gray suit and blonde hair before he was past her, not even apologizing for bumping into her.

“Jerk.” Liz muttered before entering the elevator.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After leaving SD6 and the Credit Dauphine offices, Sydney followed protocol and contacted Vaughn to let him know that it wasn’t going to be an average meet up and why. When she drove to the meeting sight, she took a route that weaved through the city streets then backtracked halfway and took another route. She didn’t know if she was feeling paranoid but she wanted to feel confident that no one from security section or even Sloane was following her.

Once she was sure she was safe, Sydney parked her car in the shadows outside of the warehouse and went inside. Vaughn had already arrived and was waiting for her. As was her father. She smiled at Vaughn in welcome before looking at her father. “Dad, I’m glad you’re here. I looked for you but you had already left.”

“Vaughn contacted me after he spoke to you and told me of your meeting with Sloane. I had no idea he planned to reassign you to another partner or I would have tried to warn you.” Jack informed her.

“I know, it just came as a shock.” Sydney said reassuring him then looked at Vaughn. “I know that it hasn’t been long since I contacted you but have you been able to find out anything?”

Vaughn nodded, produced a folder then handed it to Sydney. “It was in some of the personal files we’ve managed to filch out of the Alliance. When I contacted Jack, he checked his computer and found that Sloane had sent him a memo about the meeting you mentioned for Monday with a copy of her SD file.”

Sydney opened it and read aloud what she scanned. “Elizabeth Parker, 23, 5'3", 105 lbs. Age 23, born and raised in Roswell, New Mexico. At age 17 she briefly worked for Congresswoman Vanessa Whitacker until the Congresswoman’s death. Several months later she moved to Miami, Florida. Graduated from high school there with honors. Attended Columbia University on full scholarship, first majoring in Biochemistry before switching to Economics. Father killed in botched robbery attempt at the family’s café in Roswell during her junior year.”

“Recruited by an agent of SD 4 after IQ and psych test scores showed her to be a prime candidate for agent training. Excelled in training and became an active field agent fourteen months after starting. Training and special skills listed are hand-to-hand, martial arts, weapons. She’s an ambidextrous shooter?” Sydney asked with a mixture of admiration and surprise in her voice. It wasn’t often that someone was as talented with both hands when dealing with weapons. A lot of people could fight in unarmed with both hands and also shoot but not many could with the level of skill that Liz’s file indicated.

“It appears so.” Jack said.

“Impressive computer skills, speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and German fluently, studying Russian and Chinese. Her job history I already know.” Sydney stated as she looked over Liz’s operation log. Her file was impressive for such a young agent. She had a 97% accuracy rate in some hazardous missions, mostly Intel gathering and extractions. “She’s a model agent, it’s no wonder why Sloane would want her. I didn’t get any impressions that she was anything but an agent trying to do her best and glad to be transferred back to the States. Any rumors that she might be a double or had been?”

“No. She’s never been linked with any other group.” Vaughn informed her. “The CIA had nothing on her until they acquired the files from the Alliance.”

“Well that’s some relief. At least I don’t have to worry about her counter missions when I’m trying to conduct my own.” Sydney commented.

“We can’t be clear if this latest move by Sloane is simply matching two highly qualified agents together or another method to keep an eye on where your loyalties lie. First the partnership with Sark and now this partner switch.” Jack declared. “You must keep a on your guard.”

“Sloane said he didn’t have any mission plans set for us right away, I’m guessing a week before we are sent out. I’ll use the time to feel her out.” Sydney informed them. Having a new partner wouldn’t stop her work for the CIA; just add complexity to the equation. She had worked with Dixon for years; she knew his work pattern and the way he thought. She would just have to be extra careful.

“I’m going to do a little more digging and see if I can come up with anything.” Jack stated. He left Vaughn and Sydney in the warehouse then, giving them a minute to talk.

“Any big plans for the weekend?” Vaughn asked.

“No, I plan on taking a nice relaxing weekend.” Sydney said dreamily. “As a matter of fact, I’m meeting Francie and Will for dinner as soon as I’m done here.”

“Then I won’t keep you.” Vaughn said. As Sydney left the warehouse, Vaughn hoped for a time when he could join her for dinner with her friends.

[LittleBit]

Wow, so many readers! I'm jumping up and down for joy. I forgot the thrill of feedback. I'm glad everyone seems to like this story, I hope I continue to entertain you.

BTW, I want to thank Calinia for betaing this for me as well as being my sounding board on my ideas. I'm constantly hounding her for her imput and she is nice enough to listen as well as add some of her own. Thanks.

Here's the next part, which tells you a little bit about how Liz got to where she is now. I'm actually posting faster than I had planned but I wanted to see your reactions. I hope it clears up some stuff, if it doesn't let me know.


PART 2

Liz used the box cutter to slice apart the packaging tape on yet another box and pulled away the flaps. While moving could be exciting, the new place and people, unpacking sucked. But Liz wanted to get her apartment in order before she officially began work on Monday. She had been too tired after the trip to SD6 last night to do much more than dig out some of her kitchen stuff to make something to eat. So now she had the rest of Saturday and Sunday to get things unpacked.

So far, the transfer to Los Angeles seemed to be starting off good. She had a wonderful two-bedroom first floor apartment not far from the beach and a short drive to work. The offices of SD6 weren’t much different than the previous two she had worked at, Sloane seemed pleased to have her and now she had met her partner. She had read Sydney’s file and had requested for mission reports so to familiarize herself more. Now she felt ready and prepared to get to work.

The irony Liz lived with everyday was not lost on her. She had gone from a girl who hid from a secret government agency to a woman who worked for a secret government agency. The smallest of small town girls had moved out of the small town and traveled the world. True, it was not the way she had envisioned it when she left Roswell, but Liz enjoyed her life.

Leaving Roswell had been a hard decision but a necessary one. After the skins’ attack on the town and their ensuing destruction, the tentative truce Max and her had formed disappeared. Max became distant once again and refused to talk to her unless he had to. The rest of the group soon picked up the chasm in their relationship and it wasn’t long before everyone knew why. Almost immediately Michael and Isabel joined Max and Tess in their exclusion of Liz from their inner circle.

Despite the fact that the aliens shunned her, the humans of the group still remained friends with Liz, regardless of the fact that Maria and Alex still maintained their relationships with Michael and Isabel. They didn’t tolerate any bashing of Liz, although neither really knew what had gotten into their friend that she had slept with Kyle. But after the first argument that ended in her stating that it wasn’t up for discussion, they dropped it.

Liz took advantage of the spare time she had when she wasn’t working or doing her homework by asking Alex to teach her what he knew about computers. She thought it might help in school and had been intrigued over the whole hacking thing ever since Alex had broken into the FBI database though Topolsky’s computer. Alex agreed and Liz learned quickly.

Liz wasn’t the only human who the aliens didn’t want in their company. Kyle had been banned too but unlike Liz, he didn’t much give a damn. The only alien he cared about being friendly with was Tess and that was because she lived in his house. So he and Liz became close, hanging out whenever Alex and Maria were otherwise occupied. But one-night things got out of hand and they ended up sleeping together. In the light of day, they both regretted it and things were never the same between them.

By the end of the school year, with things being so awkward with Kyle and things so hostile with Max, Liz decided to go to Florida and her aunt’s again. She talked to Alex and Maria on the phone and exchanged emails but did not have contact with any of the aliens in Roswell. The summer was great, she felt like she had room to breathe for once in a long time. It was such a release that Liz didn’t want to give that feeling up so she worked it out with both her aunt and her parents to spend her last year of high school in Florida. She worked hard and was rewarded with honor roll and a full scholarship to Columbia. True, Columbia wasn’t Harvard but it was a great school and she didn’t have to bother her parents for tuition money.

College life suited Liz well. She flourished in the environment and studied hard. She made friends and even dated frequently, becoming intimate with two of them. However she didn’t get too close to them, she had opened herself too much before, bared her soul even and did not want to be hurt again.

But despite her new life, she still kept in touch with Maria and Alex. Alex had successfully broken loose of the alien abyss during his senior year when he realized that things weren’t going to go anywhere with Isabel. He was accepted to MIT, and he and Liz visited each other as much as possible. With Liz and Alex on the east coast, Maria the only one left in Roswell. But Maria was happy, she had found what she was looking for with Michael and Liz was happy for her.

Liz didn’t go back to Roswell until her junior year of college, and then it wasn’t for a cheerful reunion with her friends but to bury her father. Jeff Parker had been staying late in the café one night, closing up when an armed man came in and attempted to rob the store. But when her father had told him that there was no money in the register, her mother had already taken it to the night drop at the bank, he became frustrated and shot him. The shot had been at almost point blank range. Her mother returned from the bank and found her husband lying in a pool of blood. He died on the way to the hospital his killer was never caught.

The funeral was a somber affair. Most of the town showed up for it, her father had been a respected and well-known businessman who had grown up in Roswell. Liz stood beside her mother at the gravesite, with Maria and Alex on her other side. Michael was with Maria, he and Liz having come to a kind of peace out of respect for her father and also their separate relationships with Maria. Liz left two days later, and despite the fact that her mother still lived in the area, she had not been back since. That was over three years ago.

Liz felt numb after her father’s death but went on with school; she knew it was what her father would want. But by that time, Liz had abandoned her love of science; her heart just wasn’t in it. So by the summer after, she had lost her way and wasn’t sure what to do with her life. Then an opportunity dropped into her life.

At the beginning of the summer, Liz was approached by a female rep, a Silvia Wolf from Credit Dauphine. Silvia claimed that her company who had a large branch in New York City kept an ear out to the colleges of the area and looked for people who fit a certain profile. With the combination of her IQ test, her grades, and even a personality-profiling test that she had taken in her freshman psych class; Credit Dauphine was positive that Liz fit that profile.

Liz took them up on their offer and began to work at Credit Dauphine. It was months before she found out that she hadn’t fit the profile for the banking business but for something totally unexpected. Credit Dauphine was the front company for something known as SD 4, one of twelve black ops divisions of the CIA across the globe. Liz had been shocked and her first instinct was to turn them down but ended up taking some time to think it over. In the end, she decided to take the job. A part of her wanted to know that she was doing good in the world.

Liz kept up with her schooling and on her off hours, worked for SD 4 under the guise of Credit Dauphine’s New York branch. Like with her studies, Liz attacked the training with enthusiasm. She enjoyed the training, finding things out about herself that she never knew. Like the fact that she could shoot and do other tasks with either hand, a useful skill in the field. She learned how to speak German, Italian, and a little French to add to the Spanish she had taken in high school and college. After evaluations, tests, and training, Liz was put out for active field duty.

No one in her life outside of the people she worked with knew what she did for a living. She had been lying to her mother about her life since she was sixteen so it wasn’t hard and just added to her friends to the list. She had already lied to them about Future Max’s visits so it wasn’t a huge stretch. To say she kept elements of her life compartmentalized was an understatement. But all the lying did have a price, it was hell on dating. The constant covering, for the constant disappearing and the bruises resulted in lies, not the best thing to establish a relationship on.

Her first missions were simple and familiarized her with how they worked. But the first one that required her to pull a gun and shoot someone threw her. It didn’t matter that it was self-defense; she was still shooting at another person. Liz hated to think that it had gotten easier but over the last few years, it had.

After two years at SD4, an opportunity that Liz couldn’t pass up was presented to her, to transfer to SD 9 in Paris. They needed an American field agent and she jumped on it. She told her family and friends that the bank was transferring her to one of their other offices. Liz loved Paris. The shopping, culture, and just the ambience of the city were great. Not to mention that the position gave her a chance to learn French and Russian had even started to study Chinese. But when she met Mr. Sloane at her director’s office, Liz couldn’t pass up the opening to move back to the states.

The ringing of the phone interrupted Liz’s musings and she looked around for it. The contents of the boxes were strewn all over the place so it made it hard to find the phone. She finally found it under an empty box and hit the power button. “Hello?”

“Lizzie!” Maria’s voice filtered through the phone. “I got your message with the new number and just had to call to you. It’s so nice to talk to you without knowing there’s a whole ocean between us.”

“Maria, I just talked to a few days ago at Alex’s.” Liz reminded her.

“That was different, you weren’t in your own place then.” Maria said as if it was a reasonable explanation. “So I guess that it’s safe to assume that you still aren’t planning to come visit Roswell any time soon now that you’re so close? Because you know you could, Michael and I have plenty of room here.”

Liz knew that Maria and Michael had plenty of room in their four-bedroom house to accommodate her but lodging wasn’t the problem. “No, sorry. I just can’t.”

“It’s okay, I knew it was a long shot.” Maria assured her.

“Maybe you two could come here for a visit soon.” Liz offered. “I went into my new office today and got settled.”

“How was it?”

“Not much different then the others but I met a woman I’ll be working with a lot and she seemed nice.” Liz said. “I’m anxious to get started.”

“After all the things we’ve seen, how you can get excited over working for a bank, I’ll never know.” Maria declared.

“Funny isn’t it?” Liz said before changing the topic of conversation to a safer subject matter.

[LittleBit]

Hey everyone! I'm glad that I'm still doing good on this story. I've not finished it yet but I'm at part 39 so like with the show, expect it to take awhile for things to unfold.

BTW, Liz does not have powers and she will not develop them. Anything after Wipe Out didn't happen so Ava never came so she never told Liz that she was changed. So in my mind, it isn't a possiblity.

PART 3=Meeting new Faces

By Monday, Liz had everything unpacked and her new apartment was starting to feel like home. That was important to her, she traveled so much that she had to ground herself with a comfortable home. The two-bedroom apartment worked well for that. When Liz had told her mother about it, she had asked Liz why she needed so much space. Liz just explained that she liked having the extra space; she used one room for her bedroom and the other as a combination office/exercise room. With her odd hours, it was easier to work out at home then worrying about getting to the gym.

Liz knew that her mother didn’t buy it, presuming that her daughter just wasn’t telling her something; like that she had some secret lover living with her. Although it wasn’t true, Liz didn’t feel like arguing with her. Their relationship had been strained ever since her father had died and Liz’s refusal to visit Roswell had not helped it. Instead she would send her mother tickets to either where she lived or a place where they could vacation together. Her mom just didn’t understand all of Liz’s reasons behind her self-imposed exile.

Thankfully Alex and Maria were more understanding of her unwillingness to visit her hometown. Of course they knew the reason why whereas her mother didn’t. They knew that Roswell represented too much pain for Liz. It held memories of her father and of Max that she didn’t want to relive. Max was a part of her past that she had let go but still cared about. She would always love him but she knew he was Tess’s. And she was okay with that; she would go on and live her life. But it would take an extreme circumstance to get her back there.

So with her apartment in order, Liz was even more ready to get to work that day. She pulled into the parking garage in the basement of the Credit Dauphine building a good twenty minutes before she was expected. She sat in her car for ten minutes before heading in. She took the private elevator to the correct floor, and after going through the security screenings to verify her identity; she walked out into the offices.

People were bustling around the office weaving in and around the desks, preparing to get their week started. Liz guessed it looked like almost every other office in the city on a typical Monday morning. The only difference was that most ordinary people weren’t preparing to travel the world to fight the bad guys either.

Liz didn’t know which set of desks were assigned to her and was about to head to Mr. Sloane’s office when she felt someone come up behind her. She turned to see Sydney standing behind her, having just arrived in the office as well. Sydney offered her a small smile, “Good morning.”

“Morning Sydney. Have a good weekend?” Liz asked politely.

“Very good. The best in a long time.” Sydney replied, thinking fondly of the nice relaxing weekend she spent with her friends. “You?”

“Spent it unpacking boxes and figuring out where it would all fit, nothing exciting.” Liz shrugged.

Just then Mr. Sloane came out of his office and over to them. Liz couldn’t be sure but she thought she saw Sydney’s posture tense just for a second before relaxing again. Liz brushed it off as she said good morning to her new boss. Sloane told them that the introduction meeting would be in ten minutes before leaving.

While they were waiting for the meeting to begin, Sydney showed Liz her workspace. It was ordinary gray metal desk, with a computer placed on its surface. Nothing fancy but she wouldn’t need much. Then the new partners headed for the main conference room.

As was customary when she entered a room, Liz studied the people inside the moment she caught sight of them. There were four men in addition to Mr. Sloane seated around the long conference table, two on either side of him. Immediately to his left was a tall older man. He gave off the air of someone who was not to be messed with. A man that could only be described as a tech geek stood next to him. He wore an ill fitted brown suit but had a kind face.

Across the table from him was a formidable looking dark skinned man with kind but serious eyes. And between him and Mr. Sloane was a man that Liz recognized. They had never met but his activities were well known among the agency. In the last few months he had caused them quite a few problems.

Mr. Sloane stood when Sydney and her entered, the other four men rising as well in greeting. “Gentleman, may I introduce you to our newest operative Elizabeth Parker. Liz, this is Jack Bristow. Sydney’s father as well as the assistant director of operations here at SD6.”

Liz was surprised to learn that the stern looking man was related to Sydney, let alone her father but shook his hand in greeting. “Nice to meet you.”

Jack didn’t say anything in response only nodded before Mr. Sloane moved on to the other introductions. “This is Marshall Flinkman. Marshall is in charge of our tech department. He will handle any op tech you need as well as computer security you need help with.”

Liz moved to shake Marshall’s hand, which he took and shook excitedly almost taking her hand off. “It’s great to meet another female agent. You guys are just wow. That didn’t come out the way I… I just meant that… I’m not a guy who does the whole sexual harassment thing. If I did…well you could probably beat me up easily. I just fully support equality among the sexes… you know members of both sexes being able to do everything equally. Okay, not everything or we’d have pregnant men walking around. But almost everything.”

Liz saw Sydney smiling at Marshall’s ramblings and Liz figured it was something she was used to. She didn’t want to make the man feel any more nervous so she just smiled. “Thank you for the compliment, Marshall.”

Marshall nodded, dipping his head shyly before stepping back. The man who had sat across from him then came forwards at Mr. Sloane’s call. “This Marcus Dixon, Sydney’s former partner.”

Liz smiled at him, she felt slightly guilty at meeting him. She had assumed from the previous meeting with Sydney and Mr. Sloane that her transfer had broken up the partners. But Dixon seemed to hold no animosity towards her as she shook his hand. That brought them to the last person.

“And this is Mr. Sark, a recent addition to our agency. He is now cooperating with us by giving us critical information in exchange for immunity for his deeds.” Mr. Sloane announced repeating the cover story he had created when he publicized the partnership to his employees.

“I’m aware of Mr. Sark’s activities.” Liz said distastefully. Every branch in the agency knew of the elusive Mr. Sark. While the man himself was an enigma, his crimes were well known. She had seen surveillance footage of him but this was the first time she had ever seen him in the flesh. He defined the term deadly handsome with his blue eyes, curly blonde hair and angelic looking face. Too bad the cherub image was just a façade that held the brute within.

Sark raised a blonde eyebrow in question at the antipathy in her voice. He didn’t recognize her face, but she acted as if she knew him. “Have we met?”

“No. But I’m familiar with your work, your reputation proceeds you.” Liz stated.

“Should that be taken as a compliment?” Sark asked, a smirk beginning at the side of his mouth.

“You can take it however you want.” Liz remarked.

Sloane disregarded the comment and moved forward in business. “Liz comes to us from our Paris office and has been assigned to be Sydney’s partner. Dixon will still assist when necessary on surveillance and support.”

As Sloane began to talk about future details, Sark listened with half an ear and studied the newest operative Elizabeth Parker, finding the latter far more interesting then Sloane’s chatter. She was beautiful, dressed in a coffee colored suite that highlighted her feminine curves and accentuated her long dark hair and olive colored skin.

It was a natural kind of beauty, one that would stand out whether dressed in the finest clothes or shabby rags. However it wasn’t her beauty that he found so interesting, after all he was used to being around beautiful woman. They were a common occurrence in the circles of his work.

No, what fascinated Sark was were the woman’s eyes. She looked no older than himself, yet her eyes told another story. They looked like the eyes of someone twice her age. Like someone who had seen and experienced a great deal, coming out stronger in the end. Yet as much as he could read from them, he was positive that he had only scratched the surface. Perhaps he would have to investigate and find out what was buried beneath the surface.

[LittleBit]

Hey everyone! I'm back with another part.

Yes, Sark and Liz will be the featured pair in this story but don't look for it to happen too soon.

To me, this next part is kind of boring but it was a necessary part.

PART 4

For most of the morning, Liz was in meetings. First the introduction meeting that Mr. Sloane arranged with the senior staff then with Security Section. While she had been through it all before, she still had to be debriefed on the protocol of the office. They were set of laws that Liz and every operative had to live by, like that you told no one what you did. If you violated that rule, the person you told was eliminated. And Security Section had a way of finding out that was why Liz never told anyone. She just cataloged it with the other secrets she had. Like the fact that aliens existed or that time travel was possible with the use of an alien device called the granolith. Or that a future version of her ex-boyfriend had came to warn her about the future. Yeah, she was a whole database of secrets.

When she was done with the meetings, Liz went back to her desk and started familiarizing herself with it. She also went about scanning the mission logs for Sydney. She had requested access from Mr. Sloane so to become acquainted with what Sydney had been working on. He had granted it, praising her for wanting to be as informed as possible. Liz was surprised at what she read as well as intrigued. She was still reading it over when Sydney popped up next to her.

“I was wondering if you might want to have lunch with me?” Sydney asked her. Sydney had decided it was time to try and get a line on her new partner. “It can give us a chance to talk outside of the office.”

Liz smiled at the invite. She hadn’t even realized how late in the day it was or how hungry she had gotten until that moment. “I’d like that.”

They left the office a few minutes later and went down the street to a place Sydney frequented. “They’re fast and the food here is good.”

“That’s the bad thing about moving to a new city, you loose all your knowledge of good restaurants and pubs.” Liz complained good-naturedly. “Not to mention the best places to go shopping. But it’s also fun and entertaining to experiment with the places I find.”

“You should try my friend Francie’s restaurant. It’s nothing extravagant but she does offer gourmet food and a full bar.” Sydney suggested. “I can give you the name and address if you’re interested.”

“Sounds like a place to try. Thanks.” Liz said. “I know it has to be weird to have me come in here and throw everything into chaos. I know you and Dixon have worked together for years.”

“Yeah, we have. But I knew that it could happen some day. And I’ve worked with other partners before. It’s all a part of the job, to be ready for anything.” Sydney said as she looked through the menu.

Liz did so as well and after their waitress took their order, Liz said. “While I’m thankful for the invite, I know that you initiated it with the hopes of getting us on familiar terms. I can’t blame you, we’re going to have to count on each other when we’re in the field.”

“For someone in our line of work, I should have realized that my intentions would be obvious.” Sydney confessed. She knew that Liz would know that she was digging for information but would most likely blow it off as curiosity about her new partner. It helped to know some about the people you worked with. And Sydney did think that Liz was nice person and a skilled agent. She could see that they would work well together.

“Don’t worry about it.” Liz declared. “I did something similar. I’ve been reviewing your mission reports, trying to get a feel for you.”

Both of them chuckled at the similarity of their actions. Liz took a sip of her water before asking, “So what did you want to know about me?”

“Anything you want to tell me.” Sydney stated.

“Let’s see, I was born and pretty much grew up in Roswell, New Mexico. My parents owned a small grease café there called the Crashdown Café, which I worked in when I was a teenager. I worked hard at school and got a scholarship to Columbia. Then I got recruited for the agency a few years later in New York, then went to the Paris office.”

Acting as if she didn’t know anything from Liz’s file, Sydney asked, “I’m guessing your parents missed you when you were in Paris.”

Sydney noticed sadness bloom in Liz’s eyes as she said, “My mother wasn’t very happy about it though she understood I needed to go where was best for my job. Except for her sister, she doesn’t have any family left. My father was killed when I was still in college.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. I miss him, we were closer than my mother and I.” Liz said accepting Sydney’s condolences. “It must be strange for you, working with your father.”

“I didn’t really know my father, despite the fact that he was the one who raised me until I found out that he worked for SD6.” Sydney lowered her eyes and nodded. “To say it is strange working with him is putting it mildly. You read through my files so you know who my mother is.”

“Irina Derevko.” Liz stated.

“So you see how unique my family is.” Sydney stated. “That can create tense relationships.”

“Telling lies can do all kinds of damage, binding people together or tearing them apart.” Liz said thinking of her own secrets. When the aliens had trusted the humans with their secret, it had bound the humans and aliens together, creating a tight trusting unit. But her own secret about Future Max and his visit that had caused her to construct the sham of Max catching her with Kyle had effectively shattered the trust that they had in her.

“And yet we chose to live our lives this way.” Sydney commented.

“Yeah, well. Sometimes secrets are necessary.” Liz stated. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“As I’ve said earlier, I’ve read your reports and am familiar with your work so I know of your past dealings with Mr. Sark. And that he used to work with your mother.” Liz said.

“Yes, according to all of the Intel we’ve got and from when we’ve met in the field, Sark was working for my mother.” Sydney confirmed.

“Now I know that Mr. Sloane is the director of SD6 and gives the orders so we should do what he says but have you had problems carrying out the order to work with Mr. Sark?” Liz asked.

Sydney’s body tensed at the question. She didn’t like thinking about the fact that she was responsible for Sark being allied with Sloane. “So far, I’ve only been ordered to gather his testimony in regards to his knowledge of my mother’s organization and some other Intel but yes, it hasn’t been pleasant. Thankfully I haven’t had to work in the field with him yet.”

“Do you think we will?”

“I don’t know. Sloane might feel it’s needed.” Sydney stated. “Although now he knows that I’m not the only one who finds the thought repulsive.”

Liz tried not to look embarrassed by the reference to the meeting earlier. “Sometimes, I don’t realize what I’m saying before it’s out of my mouth. While it was what I was thinking, I shouldn’t have said it.”

“I’m sure he’s heard worse.” Sydney commented. “Some of it from me.”

“I’ve heard quite a bit about him, luckily I don’t know anyone until now that has run up against him.” Liz stated. “I don’t believe that he’s simply turned himself in though, he must have some other agenda.”

“Possibly.” Sydney said although she agreed wholeheartedly, mainly because she knew that he was allied to Sloane, not given himself up.

“One thing that bothers me.” Liz added.

“What?”

“Why do the bad guys have to be so good looking?” Liz joked.

Sydney laughed along with Liz, although her declaration had given her goose bumps.

[LittleBit]

<center>AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really hope you guys like this next part. I have at least 40 parts written and this one is still one of my favorites. That's why I couldn't wait to post it. Enjoy!</Center>

PART 5

Over the next few days, Liz settled into her job at SD6. She enjoyed meeting the new people and working with them but she was starting to get restless. She was used to be in the field a few days out of the week. With finishing things up in Paris, moving to the states and visiting Alex along with arriving in LA, it had been almost a month since she’d been on a mission. Liz was ready to go back.

Deciding that a night hanging around her apartment was not the best solution to the problem, Liz decided to treat herself to a nice dinner out. She had read about a wonderful French bistro a few miles away from the office so after work, she headed over. One thing working with the agency had done, it had exposed her to a whole buffet of different cuisines.

While it was after six o’clock, it was still early for the dinner crowd so she was able to get a small two-seater table with not much wait. The waiter had just taken her drink and salad order when one of the bartenders came over and placed a glass of red wine in front of her. “Uh, I didn’t order this.”

“The blonde gentleman requested it.” The bartender explained motioning with his head in the direction of the man he was referring to.

Liz looked over and felt herself freeze when she saw that the man who had ordered the wine. She recognized him instantly; after all she’d seen his cocky smile all over the office for the last several days. She knew he hadn’t been sitting there when she had entered, she would have seen him. Sark must have arrived just after her because he was still dressed in the black suit and dark blue dress shirt he’d been wearing at the office. He caught her eye and raised his glass to her. But just she ignored it and turned back to her menu. The waiter arrived at that moment with her iced tea, which she gratefully accepted and disregarded the wine.

Sark studied Liz from his table. He had noticed her the instant he’d entered the bistro. He had not planned for the meeting; it had been a twist of fate that they had ended up in the same restaurant. But he would use it to his advantage to approach her, starting with sending her a glass of the wine of the vintage he was currently drinking. Sark watched as the bartender delivered the glass and Elizabeth inquire about it. When she glanced up at him, he raised his own glass in salutation but she just lowered her eyes back to the menu in front of her and blatantly ignored the wine. He had to admire her audacity.

Over the last few days, since Sloane had first introduced Elizabeth Parker to him and the others Sark had been probing into her background. With his new standing at SD6 it was sinfully simple to acquire the records for her. The Alliance of course had an extensive file on her, just like they did with all the people that worked for them. But what Sark was interested was not her work record, despite the fact that it was impressive and could see why Sloane had paired her up with Sydney. No what he was looking for was what was read between the lines. That was where he would find what he was looking for.

After reading the official file, Sark started digging deeper. He started at the beginning, looking into her past. He pulled up her birth and school records. She had come from a simple background but had showed exceptional intelligence early on. She was active in school activities until she was sixteen when suddenly she dropped them and her grades dropped slightly.

Around the same time, several notations were made in her file of ‘Liz’ skipping class and there was even a record of an arrest for possession of alcohol and trespassing at the local Sheriff’s department although later the charges had been dropped. Nothing out of the ordinary, just evidence of teenage rebellion.

Her record continued the same way until the next winter when it appeared to improve at least her grades. Again there were notations from her counselor concerning her behavior. The counselor stated that Liz appeared to be withdrawn and had broken off several of what the counselor stated as close friendships with students including a boy that had been considered Liz’s boyfriend. A few months later, Liz’s parents requested that her records be transferred to a Secondary school in Florida. Sark was curious to know what had happened to initiate Liz to start over more than half a country away.

The rest of her Secondary school and first two years of her college career had been average, no reports to raise any flags. He saw that her father was gunned down in the family’s diner and that she had reinvented herself again. She dropped her major and seemed to drift until the Alliance recruited her.

Her psych profile illustrated an intelligent woman who was sociable and friendly but shied away from relationships that were too serious; the reason given was her profession and the level of secrecy she had to live with. Sark on the other hand saw a different cause. Something had taught Elizabeth to hide herself away, to distance herself from the people around her. It was the same thing that caused what Sark had seen in her eyes.

Deciding to no longer remain on the sidelines, Sark called his waiter over. He informed him that he would be changing his dining location to another table. He picked up his glass of wine before rising and proceeding to her table. He knew that she was aware of his movement but preceded to ignore him until he commented, “Is something wrong with the wine Agent Parker? I have found it to be quite good.”

Liz finally raised her eyes to meet his gaze. “I don’t doubt it.”

“Do your tastes run to other vintages? Or perhaps you prefer white?” Sark inquired.

“No, I have a fondness for red. It is the purchaser I find unpleasant.” Liz commented.

“I see because you have a problem with me, you deny yourself the experience of a first-class wine. Pity.” Sark stated as he sat down. He leaned back casually as if they were old acquaintances.

Liz’s right eyebrow rose in question. “I did not invite you to join me.”

“True, but I thought perhaps we could become further acquainted with each other since we are working together. We are after all colleagues, Elizabeth.” Sark suggested before taking a sip of wine. “I have reviewed your file and found that we are a great deal similar. Solitary creatures that live through our work.”

“I am nothing like you.” Liz contended. “You kill people without any hesitation, for profit.”

“And you’ve never taken a life?”

Memories of various times Liz had played a part in the death of someone flashed before her, Pierce and the skins mixed in with adversaries she had ran into on missions. “That’s different.”

“Because it is to serve your country?” Sark asked.

“Yes.” Liz answered. “Whereas you’ve killed people for selfish purposes.”

“And you serving your country is done purely for selfless reasons?” Sark inquired.

“Of course.”

“But it is not true.” Sark acknowledged.

“Excuse me?” Liz questioned his audaciousness.

“I said you are mistaken. You serve your country because you have this asinine belief that you are doing your part to make the world a better place. You receive pleasure from that feeling, not to mention praise at your job. So any good you do during your mission is for the greater glory of Elizabeth.” Sark explained.

As much as she wanted to, Liz couldn’t challenge his argument. While she wanted to dispute and say that he was wrong, she knew that he was correct. She did do what she did for the sensation of feeling like she was doing good. But she wasn’t going to give him the satisfactory of admitting it so she changed the subject. “Why did you call me Elizabeth?”

“That is your name is it not?” Sark questioned.

“Yes, but everyone calls me Liz.”

“I am not everyone.” Sark replied simply.

“I don’t believe it is fair for you to call me by my given name when I have yet to know yours.” Liz challenged. She wasn’t sure if the statement had hit it’s intended mark or not, Sark was too good at masking his thoughts and reactions for her to read him. Instead she waited to see what he would say. However she did not get the chance because her pager went off. She checked the display. SLOANE 911. She glanced back up at Sark and said. “As much as I’m enjoying this witty banter and hate to cut it short but I have to head back to the office.”

“Sloane have another selfless mission?” Sark asked but Liz only collected her things, paid her bill and departed the restaurant. Sark watched her go. While he ate his dinner alone, Sark came to the conclusion that his encounter had gone well to establish later discussions.

[LittleBit]

I'm glad you all like this fic. I wanted to leave a note before the update to let you guys know some stuff.

1) If you don't like Sark, you probably shouldn't continue reading this story. Besides Liz, he is a big part of the story.

2) This story will take place almost entirely in the world of Alias. The aliens and Maria don't really have a part in the first story, but they are a big part of the sequel.

3) As I said, this story is primarily Alias, so I wanted to let you all know that all the big characters (Kendall, Weiss, Irina, etc.) will make an appearance at some point in the story.

Now, on with the story:

PART 6

The office was virtually empty when Liz made her way back through SD6. It didn’t surprise her; most of the agents in SD6 were analysts and worked behind a desk so they wouldn’t have had to be in the office when the field agents were given mission assignments.

Liz knew that Mr. Sloane would already be aware that she was in the building, would have known the minute she used her security access card in the garage so there was no need to notify him of her arrival. She had been informed that all mission briefings would be given in the conference room so she headed there first. She headed in that direction, spotting Sydney entering the office as she did. Sydney’s clothes were different than those she had been wearing earlier, an indication that unlike Liz, she had made it home before being paged.

Sydney smiled in greeting. “Nothing like going home only to be paged back in.”

“Tell me about it, I was in the middle of dinner.” Liz said.

“A date?” Sydney asked.

“No. Not a date.” Liz stated firmly. The brief encounter with Sark was not a date, the farthest thing from it. They had just happened to have stopped off at the same restaurant for their evening meal. So why did she feel like she had just been caught in the old eraser room at West Roswell?

Liz became aware that Sydney was watching her and she needed to do something. She motioned with her head towards the conference room. “Shall we?”

The two operatives made their way into the conference room and saw that Marshall and Jack Bristow were already there, fiddling with a few of his toys. They had just sat down when Mr. Sloane came in. “Thank you for the prompt return.”

Liz and Sydney nodded in acknowledgement of the welcome as Sloane sat down and got down to task at hand. Using a small remote, he flipped on both the wall and desk monitors and the picture of an elderly man appeared. “Mario Giaboni, patriarch of the Giaboni family and CEO of Giaboni Industries.”

“Mario Giaboni was a known collector of historical Italian artifacts and artwork up until his death a week ago. At which time, his private vault was unlocked and opened. Inside among several other priceless artworks was a rare Rambaldi manuscript. The manuscript had previously thought to have vanished and presumed to be destroyed when the building it was said to be held in was bombed.”

Sloane pressed the remote again and the picture switched to another one of a much younger man. “The manuscript along with the rest of the estate acceded to Mario’s grandson, Antonio. Antonio’s taste unlike his grandfather, is very modern and he has decided to sell off all of the artwork in an private auction tomorrow night.”

Liz noticed the lack of mention of the manuscript when Mr. Sloane referred to the artwork that would be auctioned. “But not the Rambaldi manuscript.”

Sloane’s eyes flashed with satisfaction that Liz had noticed the lack of reference before answering. “No, it is being purchased in a private sale.”

The picture changed again. “Gerard Cuvee. As you are aware, Cuvee possesses several Rambaldi artifacts. When the manuscript was discovered, several buyers approached Antonio. We intercepted a communication that reported that Antonio had accepted Cuvee’s offer and that the exchange would occur the day after the auction, two days from now. Your assignment is to fly to Marsala, access the vault and acquire the manuscript before that happens.” Sloane explained. He didn’t disclose the fact that he had made a bid as well and had been declined. Therefore he would acquire the manuscript by other means.

Jack stepped in then to add his own explanation. “The vault can only be disengaged with a voice print. When Mario died, it was reset to recognize Antonio’s. Sydney will be attending the auction as act as if she is a buyer. She will acquire the print then proceed to the vault, access it and get the manuscript. The vault is not guarded, they rely solely on video surveillance.”

“While Sydney gets the print, Liz, under the guise of one of the waitress the caterer is bringing in for the auction, will access the sub-floor where the electrical system that contains the hard drive for the security surrounding the vault. She’ll loop the feed as well as run surveillance to watch over Sydney. When the operation is complete, withdrawal and proceed to the extraction point.” Sloane said giving the final details of the mission before turning to the tech op. “Marshall…”

Marshall leapt from his seat at Sloane’s acknowledgement. He looked like a kid with a new toy. “Okay…this auction is going to be pretty swanky so I figured Ms. Bristow will be dress to the nines. But a digital voice recorder wouldn’t match her dress so I came up with this…” He pulled out necklace made of white gold with a large crystal pendant and hung it around his neck. He moved around displaying the necklace.

“The crystal works as a microphone while the bail at the tip of the crystal works as the activation switch…so while you’re talking to the person you need the print of…you just act like you’re playing with your necklace like women do and presto…you’ve got the print. I made up matching earrings to use for your comm…I wouldn’t want you to clash and be self-conscious. And you don’t want to be self-conscious while your…”

“Marshall.” Sloane called out in warning at his chatter.

Marshall handed Sydney the necklace before picking up his next toy. “Now for Ms. Parker I had to come up with a few other things. Now this…” Marshall held up what looked like a pricey nametag. “looks like just any ordinary nametag that you would see at a restaurant or private party.”

Marshall placed it on his lapel of his jacket and flashed a big smile like a waiter might carry out. “Hi, my name is Marshall and I’ll be your server…well I’m sure you won’t be saying that because you’ll just have a tray with drinks or those little stuff mushrooms…well that and your name isn’t Marshall but you know what I mean. Anyhow when you get down to the basement you’ll want to get into the room as soon as you can and won’t want to take the trouble to pick the lock. So you just unhook the fastener and voila…a skeleton key guaranteed to open any door. Ow…be careful, because the end of the key is still sharp.”

“Thank you.” Liz said as she accepted the nametag.

“I have a mini-computer for you too.” Marshall added as he pulled out the object. “I mean…if you’re going to loop the feed so the guards don’t see Ms. Bristow…because that would be a bad thing. She’d have to fight with them and the manuscript might get messed up…and that would make the whole mission worthless. You just pull out this little wire like this…” Marshall demonstrated. “…and wire it in the central junction box then you should have no problem looping the video signal for as long as you need it. When you’re done, just pull the connection and the regular feed will start back up. They won’t know that they were watching a recording.” Marshall explained.

“Thank you Marshall.” Sloane said with an air of irritation in his voice then looked at Sydney and Liz. “Any questions about the mission?”

“No.” They both agreed.

“Good, you leave for Italy in four hours.” Sloane said in dismissal.

They all stood then and Sloane left. Marshall handed over the cases that they could use to store their tech equipment while traveling. They then worked on wardrobe. Liz’s waitress uniform was already preset because she would have to wear the same attire as the other help but she still had to wear a little bit of disguise. So she picked out her wig and other elements while Sydney had to pick out everything, from a wig to her dress and shoes. Once the disguises were established, they had pictures taken for with their aliases and other credentials they would need. Finally an hour or so later, they were prepared and ready to go.

The two new partners walked out to the parking garage together. Just before Liz slid into her car, she called out to Sydney, “See you at the airport.”

Sydney waved goodbye to Liz before slipping into her own car. She still had work to do before they left, she needed to contact Vaughn and find out her counter mission.

[LittleBit]

I'm glad you guys are still liking this story. It's been a lot of fun to write especially the L/S interaction. There will be some Sydney/Vaughn stuff but I promise not do what the writers' did at the end of S2. But that doesn't mean I won't come up with some cliffhangers of my own.

I want to say thanks to Roswell Slayer for the Italian Translations she did in the next part. I didn't feel comfortable doing an Alias Xover without having the language in there. So if you can't read Italian, the english subtitles are right after it.

PART 7

MARSALA

Once they arrived in Italy, Liz was the first one in position since her cover required it of her. It gave her the chance to do reconnaissance and relay it to Sydney before her partner’s arrival. The waitress role gave her the perfect mask to watch people and at the same time remain unnoticed. She had already diagramed the layout of the room not to mention the arrangement of the discrete security guards in her head. They might need that information later.

As Liz walked around the large ballroom weaving in and out of the crowd carrying a tray of canapés she spotted the host of the auction Antonio Giaboni. A few minutes later, she was surprised to also spot Cuvee on the opposite side of the room. He must have decided to attend the auction before he picked up the manuscript; hopefully he hadn’t acquired it before now.

Liz pushed a stray strand of red hair from the wig she was wearing and spoke into the comm. on her wrist. “Sydney? What’s your location?”

“I’m coming in the front entrance now and passing the guards. I will be entering the ballroom in a minute.” Liz heard Sydney’s response in her earpiece.

“Giaboni will be straight ahead on the opposite end of the room. Cuvee is here as well.” Liz informed her.

“Can you tell if he might have the manuscript on him?” Sydney asked.


“Not that I can see.” Liz answered eyeing the subject of their discussion. The cut of his suit was form fitting and Liz didn’t think that he would be able to hide a manuscript from the fifteenth century. Liz turned then and spotted Sydney coming through the doorway.

Sydney clutched the skirt of her gown as she stepped down the two steps that led into the ballroom. She would have preferred to wear something different but the auction was black tie affair so the gown was necessary. But Sydney had chosen it carefully so that it would be as convenient to run or fight in if necessary.

It was black spaghetti strap gown with a loose-fitting floor length skirt. Marshall’s necklace adorned her neck and the earrings were in her ears but were hidden behind the curly strands of her blonde wig. She spotted Giaboni and Cuvee; Liz was about ten feet away with her waitress’s tray. Another of the wait staff stepped up next to her with a tray and Sydney snagged a flute of champagne from their tray. The auction would be starting soon and she needed to get the voiceprint before it did. Then she would make her move up to the vault.

Sydney strolled over to Giaboni and smiled flirtatiously at him. “La festa meravigliosa, io’m ansioso di osservare l'essere di grafica offerto. Da ciò che io’il ve è stato detto, i pezzi sono squisiti.” [Wonderful party, I’m anxious to view the artwork being offered. From what I’ve been told, the pieces are exquisite.]”

Antonio smiled charmingly at her, “Gli specialisti di arte io’il ve ha assunto certamente ha indicato erano. Ma non sono realmente al mio gusto.” [The art specialists I’ve employed certainly indicated they were. But they are not really to my taste.]

““La sua perdita è il nostro guadagno.” [Your lost is our gain.] Sydney said before excusing herself. When she got far enough away, she activated her comm. “I’ve got the voiceprint and primed to go.”

“Copy.” Liz said. She saw activity around the platform where the auctioneer would be coordinating the details of the auction, he was talking to Giaboni. She knew that that meant that the auction would be starting at any moment. Five minutes later, the auctioneer called the crowd to attention.

Acting as if she was pushing her hair back again, Liz whispered to Sydney through their comm. “Making my way to the electrical room.”

“Copy that,” Sydney answered. “I’ll be moving into position on your signal.”

Liz started working her way towards the edge of the crowd; from there she headed back to the kitchen. She dumped off her tray and went to the cellar entrance. The kitchen was a hive of activity and no one noticed her movements. She shut the door behind her before she crept down the aged staircase. It was clear just like it was supposed to be.

At the bottom of the stairs, Liz found the door that would take her into the electrical room. She tried the handle and found that it was locked. She unfastened her nametag and pulled out the pin/key. She inserted into the lock and turned it. She smiled as she heard the audible click, gotta love tech guys.

Liz slipped in and closed the door behind her. A single lighting fixture that seemed to work on a relay switch illuminated the room. When the door was opened, the light was activated so she wasn’t met by complete darkness. Quickly scanning the room, Liz found the junction box she would need.

After she pulled out her mini computer, she withdrew the wiring and started going about attaching just as Marshall had told her. Once that was done, an image popped up on the screen. It was the feed from the security cameras surrounding the vault. She activated her comm. to let Sydney know what she was doing. “I’ve made it to the room and hooked into the feed. I’m recording and ready to loop.”

“I’m moving.” Sydney said as she proceeded towards the entrance to the ballroom. On the other side was the foyer and from there the main staircase. The guards that had been stationed there had moved when the auction started but Sydney still moved as quickly and cautiously as possible up the carpeted steps. She knew that the vault was off of Giaboni’s private office and didn’t waste time finding it. “I’m outside the door.”

“Looping, now.” Liz answered back as she activated the program. “Go.”

Sydney opened the door and entered the office. It had the look of an old world office, full of wood and plush dark colors. It would have been comfortable to unwind in but Sydney didn’t have that option at the time. Instead she approached one of the large wall bookcases and flipped the switch next it that would reveal the vault.

It slid away silently and revealed the metal door of the vault. Sydney saw the voice recognition panel just as it prompted her to identify herself. She slid the necklace off of her neck and positioned the microphone against the speaker and played back the recorder. She held her breath, waiting to see if the computer would accept it. A minute later, Sydney heard the door lock disengage. “I’ve bypassed the lock and am going in. Going radio silent.”

“Copy.” Liz said as she watched Sydney go into the vault. The cameras only covered the outside of the vault, and she was blind on the inside.

The vault was good size, about the size of a walk in closet. One side was made up of metal drawers and she knew that would be where the manuscript would be. She pulled out two before she found the right one. The manuscript looked aged and possibly fragile so was careful as she pulled it out. Then she reached into her evening clutch and extracted the camera from the CIA.

Vaughn handed her the small camera. “We can’t risk swapping the manuscript for a fake one. Your new partner might notice and if not, Sloane will become suspicious if you present him with a fake. So your counter mission is to photograph all the pages, capturing as much detail as possible and hand them over when you return.”

Sydney took the small camera that was disguised as a silver lighter and smiled. “Does it really light?”

“Try it.” Vaughn said.

Sydney pushed the trigger and a small flame ignited. “Well if I get in a jam, I can always hold this up to sprinklers.”

Sydney hoped she wouldn’t need that contingency plan as she paged through the yellowed pages, clicking the shutter as fast as she could to record what was there. There were over two-dozen pages but it only took five minutes before she slipped the manuscript into the strap around her waist. The skirt hid the bulge from it and she went out of the vault. “I’ve got the package and proceeding to the extraction point.”

“Copy. Meet you there.” Liz said. She watched on her monitor and when she saw Sydney exit the office, she pulled her connection wire and exited out of the system. She quickly stowed the equipment and exited the room, locking it back up as she did. She quickly made her way through the kitchen and out the back door. From there she proceeded to the extraction point.

At the same time, Sydney made her way out of the office and back down the stairs. The auction was proceeding as if they were none the wiser and she decided not to take her chances. As she exited the building, Sydney felt like a weight had been lifted off of her. It had been one of the most flawless missions she’d been on in a long time. Now it was time to go home.

**NOTE: Here’s a note about something Calinia and I talked about in the last part, the lack of call names. I’ve rewatched several episodes where Dixon and Sydney went on missions together for SD6 and this is what I’ve determined. SD6 only used call names when they were in contact with SD6, not when they were talking to each other over their comms. So that is why Liz and Sydney referred to each other by name and not codes. Just wanted to clear that up

[LittleBit]

Here's a new part for you. I hope you like it. It's more Sydney/Liz bonding.

PART 8

OVER THE ATLANTIC

Liz shifted in her seat and tried to make herself more comfortable. She didn’t mind the long flights but she wished that they didn’t have to sit in coach to fly there. The seats were never very comfortable. Thankfully she was short so she didn’t have to worry about lack of legroom.

Liz finished typing up her report, saved it into her laptop then shut it down. After she stowed it in her carryon, she reached up and stretched her arms. While she did, she looked around the plane. It was only half full, most of the people seated in the middle row while the two seaters, like the one her and Sydney had been assigned were empty. She looked over at her partner and saw her reading a book. “What are you reading?”

Sydney looked up from her book. “Just something for school.”

“You’re in your last year of your graduate studies aren’t you?” Liz asked. “In what?”

“Literature.”

“That’s a surprising choice given what we do for a living.” Liz stated.

“For as long as I can remember, I wanted some kind of association with my mother. My dad wasn’t around much growing up, as you can understand so I clung to the memories I had of her. Because of that I decided to be a literature professor, like my mother. That of course was before I found out the truth about her.” Sydney explained.

“And now?”

“Now I’m too close to wrapping up my studies to think of changing my curriculum.” Sydney responded.

“Yeah, I can see how that would be difficult. I changed my major towards the end of my junior year and it was easier said than done.” Liz explained. “I always loved science, the first time I walked into a chemistry lab and smelled the sulfur, I felt completely at ease. Like I was home.”

“Why did you change?” Sydney asked curiously.

“It didn’t feel right after my dad died. He was the one who had always encouraged me.” Liz answered. It was true, but only partly. While her dad’s death had played a role in her abandoning her major, it was the deciding factor, not the primary one. What had started her uncertainty was the whole experience with the aliens.

When she had been in Roswell, Liz had seen proof of things that science had only scratched the surface of, the existence of life on other worlds, cloning, genetic programming, time travel. And while that should have pointed her in the direction to prove those things, it scared the hell out of her.

Liz had seen what obsession could do to a person, what they could be driven to. Pierce’s obsession on proving the existence of aliens had pushed him to kidnap and subsequently torture a teenager. She didn’t want that to happen to her. Because of that she found herself wandering away from science and subsequently it led her to the path her life was on now.

“That must have been hard.” Sydney said. Although she now knew that her mother was alive that didn’t erase the years of loss she had felt.

“It was especially considering his killer was never caught.” Liz stated. “Like I said before, my mother and her sister are all the family I have left. My aunt lived in Florida until my father died, then she moved to Roswell to help my mom; they opened up a tourist store after she sold the café. My father was killed there and she didn’t want to stay there anymore. I can’t blame her, I couldn’t imagine living there after, knowing he was killed there.”

“I felt the same way after Danny died. He was killed in the house that we were going to live in after we got married. I couldn’t think about living there anymore and got a new apartment.” Sydney confessed. She was surprised at the admission; she never spoke about Danny with anyone from work. It was a rarity for her to even talk about him with Francie.

“Danny was your fiancée.” Liz stated. She knew the history behind Sydney’s fiancé’s death. Liz felt bad for Sydney, despite the fact that Sydney had broken the code of conduct; Liz personally didn’t believe that she deserved what happened. Danny had been on his way to being a doctor. He could have been brought into the agency; he would have been an asset.

“Yes, he was.” Sydney concurred.

They sat silent for a few minutes. Thinking of her dad, Liz said. “My dad always listened to old time rock and roll, I can’t listen to it anymore because of it.”

“White roses.” Sydney said.

“What?” Liz asked.

“I can’t bear to have white roses around me.” Sydney explained her comment. “I threw a white rose on Danny’s coffin when they buried him.”

“I don’t like them much either, but for another reason.” Liz said in more of a whisper.

“Bad memories?” Sydney asked. “Old boyfriend?”

“Yeah, one I loved very much. He used to bring me white roses all of the time. I broke his heart although I didn’t want to and we didn’t part on good terms. Now I can’t look at one without feeling a pang of nostalgia.” Liz explained. She had not owned a white rose since the last bouquet that Max had brought her when he had serenaded her from the street below her balcony. She favored lilies or orchids now.

“What about now? Did you leave anyone behind in Paris when you moved?” Sydney asked.

“No. I didn’t leave anyone behind when I left. I’ve dated off and on but nothing serious in a long time.” Liz confirmed. “My friend Maria is always telling me that I should try to date more but that’s just because she’s happily living with her high school sweetheart and can’t understand why me and our friend Alex are still single.”

Sydney noticed the small smile on Liz’s lips when she spoke of her friends. “You guys are close?”

“Yeah, Maria, Alex, and I have been friends for a long time. Maria and I since we were in diapers and Alex since we were about ten. I’m an only child so they are like my siblings.” Liz said.

“Sounds like me and my friend Francie. We’ve been friends since seventh grade.” Sydney commented. “She’s the one that owns her own restaurant.”

“The one I still need to visit.” Liz remarked. “Maria’s still in Roswell but Alex lives not to far away in San Francisco. I visited him before coming to LA. We had a lot of fun.”

“I haven’t been to San Francisco in ages.” Sydney said.

“We went to the wharf, Alcatrez, China town, and all the other tourist stuff. It was kind of nice visiting a place and actually be able to see the sights, or spend more than twenty-four hours in the city. It had been a while, probably since I first moved to Paris.” Liz remarked.

“Maybe our next assignment will keep us fixed for a little longer.” Sydney stated. “Although depending on what this manuscript says we’ll probably have another one just like the last.”

“The standard snatch and grab.” Liz said. “You do realize that most of what do would be considered grand larceny if we didn’t work for the agency.”

Sydney held her tongue to keep from saying anything about who they were really working for. Instead she nodded and turned back to her book.

[LittleBit]

Hey guys, here's some more for you.

Elf: I'm glad you liked the white rose thing. I rewatched the pilot when I first started to write this and the white rose during the funeral caught my attention and I knew I had to use it.

PART 9

Their return flight from Italy landed before the end of a typical business day so instead of meeting a confiscation at the airport to hand off the Rambaldi manuscript, Sydney and Liz took it to the sub floors of Credit Dauphine and delivered to Sloane personally. When they arrived at his office, they found Sark and Sloane in conference but were waved in. Sydney handed over the Rambaldi manuscript and both of them turned in their reports.

“Did you have any difficulties?” Sloane asked.

“No. The mission went off smoothly.” Sydney answered.

“No difficulties bypassing the security systems?” Sark inquired sounding somewhat smug.

Liz’s eyes narrowed slightly at him but she only said, “No, no difficulties. Of course it was a straightforward system that a first year tech could have operated. I was in and out of there without alerting any of the security guards that they had been watching a looped image.”

“Well done.” Sloane said expressing his approval “I’m pleased to see that my instincts were on target in pairing the two of you. Now the two of you should go home and get some rest. I don’t expect to see you back in the office until day after tomorrow unless new Intel is discovered.”

Sydney and Liz both nodded before exiting Sloane’s office. They headed towards the exit when Liz remembered something she wanted to do. “You go ahead, I’ve got something to take care of first.”

“Have a good evening.” Sydney called out before heading to the elevator. If she hurried, she could get home before Francie, change clothes and go for a run. Therefore she could slip away, go to the rotunda and deliver the camera with the Rambaldi pictures. Then she could go home and sleep.

After saying goodbye to Sydney, Liz headed to Marshall’s office. It was more like a lab than an office and totally fit the character of the person who worked there. When she entered, he did not look up from the gadget he was working on so she rapped her knuckles against the doorframe.

The noise startled him and Marshall looked up at her. The glasses he wore inflated his eyes to three times their normal size and Liz couldn’t help but stifle a giggle at the image.

Marshall realized the cause of her laughter and slid them back onto his head. “Uh…hello Ms. Parker. I didn’t see you there…wh..what can I do for you?”

“Nothing. Sydney and I just got back and I just wanted to come by and say thank you for your help with the tech op. Everything worked perfectly and we met our mission objective.” Liz stated.

Marshall looked at her with astonishment, surprised at the sentiment. “Wow…no one’s ever came by and thanked me. I mean…they’ve told me I’ve done a good job…I even got a pat on the shoulder once…but those were usually extenuating circumstances.”

“Well I have a friend who’s big into computers and other techno stuff so I know how much hard work is put into it. I like to show my appreciation.” Liz explained.

“I’m happy to help.” Marshall said.

“Well I should be going.” Liz said.

“Yeah,…I’m sure you’ve had a long flight…and probably have jetlag. I don’t know, I’ve never been farther than California and never been on a plane…I’m scared of flying.” Marshall rambled then remembered why he was saying what he was saying and said. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Marshall.” Liz said slipping out before she could be drawn into another tête-à-tête.

The parking garage was quiet and virtually empty when she reached her car. She was glad to be going home, except for a few hours of sleep on the plane ride to Italy; Liz had gotten almost no sleep in the last thirty-six hours. Not to mention the fact that the long plane ride had left her feeling grimy and she wanted nothing more than to sink into a hot tub.

Liz slid into the driver’s seat and jammed her key into the ignition. But when she turned it, nothing happened. She tried it several more times before resigning to the fact that the car was not going to start. She huffed out a sigh, she knew what was wrong with it and knew that it wasn’t something simple she could fix, it would have to be taken to a garage to be fixed. It seemed that her desires would have to wait a little longer.

As Liz climbed out of her car, she slammed the door to get out her frustrations. It didn’t help the car to start but it made Liz feel a little better. At least until she heard a voice behind her.

“Why Elizabeth, hasn’t anyone ever told you that slamming doors is bad-manners?” Sark asked.

“And who am I going to offend? The car? I’m not too happy with it at the moment so I don’t really care about its feelings.” Liz said frustrated. “What are you doing here any way?”

“Leaving the office, same as you. Although it appears I’m being more successful.” Sark said motioning the car that he was currently sitting in, obviously commenting on the fact that his car was running.

Liz eyed the car for a minute. It was a sleek black, convertible Mercedes. She had seen it in the garage before but had not considered the fact that it was probably his. But now that she thought about it, Sark was the only one who could have owned the magnificent car. It just screamed him. She pulled her thoughts away from her perusal of the car and turned her attention back to Sark. “Well I’ll be leaving shortly.”

“Is car mechanics one of your many skills?” Sark asked sarcastically.

“As a matter of fact I’m not a complete idiot when it comes to cars. But I had planned to go to the parking garage’s office and arrange for a tow truck to come get my car. Then I’m going to call a cab.” Liz stated. Since they were in a building that had high security, she couldn’t simply call any tow truck to come pick up her car. They wouldn’t get past the entrance. But if she went to the garage’s office and tell them the problem, they would arrange to have it sent to a nearby garage and have it fixed. Considering she was unfamiliar with the mechanics in LA, it was helpful to know that it would be taken care of.

“May I suggest another strategy? Forgo the taxi and I shall drive you home.” Sark offered.

Liz looked at him curiously. “Why?”

“Because it is the polite thing to do.” Sark stated simply. Normally he wouldn’t have concerned himself with someone else’s car troubles but when he had seen who it was, he could not pass up the opportunity to speak with her again outside of the office. So when he watched her take her frustrations out on her vehicle he had made his move.

“Mmnn… so you’re going to give me a ride home out of the goodness of your heart?” Liz asked distrustfully.

Sark smirked. “I did not believe you thought I had a heart.”

“True.” Liz agreed.

“I am simply offering to drive you home. But I do not wish to force your arm in the decision, so you may either accept or decline it. Just choose one without delay.” Sark stated.

Liz bit her lip for a minute trying to decide one to do. She really didn’t relish the idea of having to call a cab, wait for it, and then have to shell out the cash that the driver would want. Not to mention spending the next twenty minutes in said cab. But was that worse than accepting a ride from Sark? She looked at the car for a minute then decided that yes it was.

“I accept. Let me grab my bag.” Liz agreed. She grabbed the carryon that she had taken to Italy and her purse before heading back over to Sark’s car. She was surprised to see that he had put his car in park and came around to open the door for her. She slid into the comfortable leather seat and pulled her legs in behind her before he shut the door. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome Elizabeth.” Sark said as he round the back of the car and got back in. He shifted the car into gear before they were off.