Title: Enclosed Places / Exposed Spaces

Author: Luna

Rating: R/NC-17

Ship: Sydney/Sark

Timeline: Set before Phase 1.

Distribution: SD-1, Cover Me

Part 2 for Cover Me June/July Challenge, Sequel to Enclosed Places.

A/N: All feedback is greatly appreciated!

Exposed Spaces

Day 4 - Debriefs

I watch Kendall rub his forehead with his hand as he scans over the report that he is holding. My report. My debrief on the failed SD-6 mission.

I should be paying attention, but honestly, I'm not really interested in what he has to say. I'm exhausted, and I just want to gone home. My brain is numb and my body aches.

It's been four days since we escaped our prison, and washed up on a beach in Hong Kong. It's been four days since we escaped hell, and I feel more exhausted now than I ever did during our confinement.

I look around the briefing room. My dad is sitting on my right, and he catches my eye. He gives me a tight smile before I break eye contact with him and continue looking around. Vaughn is next to me looking down at a copy of my report. He looks up and also catches my eye. His forehead is wrinkled with concern and though a part of me is touched, I don't really need his sympathy.

I'm fine.

Really.

What I do need right now, is a nice long, warm bath... and maybe a really stiff drink.

Four days ago, we managed to hitchhike a ride into the city center where we found a payphone that we could use to report in. Sark used it first, but his call was short and nondescript. When he was finally connected to whatever number he dialed, all he did was give a series of numbers before hanging up. My call wasn't as simple.

I had to call my handler.

I remember Sark standing next to me, listening in on my conversation as I did to his.

"Vaughn."

"Vaughn. It's Sydney."

"Oh my god!  Syd are you ok? Where are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm in Hong Kong. We were captured and detained on a ship but we managed to escape."

"We? You and Sark?"

"um…yes. Listen could you tell my father that I'm fine?"

"Sure, no problem. Do you want me to send an extraction team? You should probably call SD-6, but if you'd rather not…"

"No, you're right. That's what Sark suggested as well. We-"

"Sark?" There was a pause on the other end. "Syd wait, does he know about you?"

"Yes. Listen I can't get into it now, but I think I'm fine. I have to go. I will come in when SD-6 is done with me."

"Ok. Syd take care."

The conversation would have been awkward enough without Sark listening but he didn't say anything to me. I just remember him watching me with those piercing eyes of his.

Kendall breaks my reverie by throwing the file folder with my report in it dramatically down on the table. "So, Agent Bristow, you are telling me that Sark now knows you are a double agent for the CIA but that that's okay, because he's really an agent for the SIS?"

I can feel my lips pursing together in anger. "He's known since last year. He said that Agent Haladaki was a mole for Derevko's organization. That he told them about me."

I look to my father to see if he believes me, but strangely enough, my father is looking away. Even Vaughn says nothing. I don't completely understand it, but it seems that Haladaki is a topic that no one wants to talk about.

"And you believe that he's British Intelligence?"

"Yes."

"Need I remind you that everything we know of Mr. Sark, points to him as a ruthless, conniving, mercenary who runs from one employer to another, depending on who will pay him the most."

"That would be the image he would have to portray in order to infiltrate all the organizations that he has."

"He has also conveniently told you a story that by its very nature cannot be verified. He's told you that MI6 will deny all knowledge of his employment with them. He has no ID to show you, he has nothing to prove to you that what he has told you is true, and yet you believe him."

I force the words out through my clenched teeth. "Yes, I do."

Kendall turns to my father. "Jack?"

My dad looks to me and then back to Kendall. "Agent Kendall, perhaps it would be best if we continued this tomorrow or the next day. Sydney just got out of debrief with SD-6. Arvin Sloane told me that Sark is going to a clinic in Switzerland to recover. He will be there for at least three months. This isn't something that we need to solve tonight."

I want to kiss my father. Debrief with SD-6. Sure if that's what you want to call it. The extent of my debriefing with SD-6 was forty-eight hours of questioning by McCullough.

A battle for dominance is going on in front of my eyes, but finally Kendall decides to cut his losses. "Fine. We'll resume this in two days. In the meantime Agent Vaughn, I want you to try and get some confirmation from MI6. I doubt you'll be successful but try all avenues. Jack, I want you to talk to Sloane. Try to see if he is any more suspicious of Sydney than he was before. You," he points to me like I don't deserve a name. "Go home and rest. We'll reconvene on Thursday."

As I stand and start picking up my papers Kendall addresses me once more on his way out of the room. "Oh by the way Agent Bristow, you need to arrange for an appointment with Dr. Barnett before Thursday."

I feel like crying. When did people just stop being happy that I made it home alive? Why is it that now when I survive some horrible ordeal, they just ask themselves if I am a security risk? I think that they would almost be happier if I was dead. It would certainly be a lot less work for them all.

SD-6 thinks that I broke and that I may not be reliable now. The CIA instead thinks that I am crazy and doesn't trust my judgment.

I always thought debriefs were the thing to look forward to. They used to mean that I got home safe, that I survived another mission and that more often than not, I was successful. After which, it usually meant that I got a day or two off to recover and become whole again.

Now it seems like these debriefs are only the start of a struggle that will end up being much harder than any mission I ever faced in the field.

I'm just thankful that there were some things I didn't put in my report. If these last few days are any indication of people's reaction to what happened on the mission, then I'm very glad that I kept some things to myself.

Besides, I learned a long time ago, some things are none of the government's business.

Just my own.