I hope I lie and tell everyone you were a good wife. (Childfic for mademeaweapon)
In an ideal situation, Sark would not be the one on this mission and this was something that both he and Sydney could agree on. It was firmly below his station (then again, Torchwood's obsession with teaching him humility seemed to lean towards putting him on missions that were always below his station, so that wasn't a surprise) and it was Bristow's little project anyway and he didn't even work for Bristow. Of course, Vaughn was laid up from his latest brush with a demon and Westen was fully integrated into the Organization as a double agent with Lang and some new agent- Allbright or something- so that left him as the only male spy left standing.
The problem seemed to be that someone (they were willing to bet a local Neqa'el) had contracted a suburb to be built on top of a Rift located outside of Chicago. If asked, they claimed they were attempting to rehabilitate wanderers, but some investigating had shown some... Rather odd behavior coming from that front. Odd enough that when Bristow caught wind that they were offering their services to any wanderer, he decided he needed a man inside or, rather, two.
Which was now why Sark and Sydney had a house with a white picket fence in a suburb that they both had a good suspicion was a front for some sort of Wanderer brainwashing protocol. It was probably the most uncomfortable thing either of them would ever have to do- Sark found it to be painfully domestic even with the constant threat hanging over their heads and Sydney, as she made a point to mention, found it to have far too much of him for her liking. Apparently, their "friendship" was only good in small doses.
"Mom?"
Oh right. And there was a child, involved. A child that was given to them. Sark had wondered vaguely when the leaders of this operation passed the child over to them if they just kept them corralled somewhere to be shoved off on new recruits. According to those same leaders, having a child made one feel a lot closer to the person they were being forced to pretend to be married to. ... At this point, Sark wasn't even sure if there was a part of this operation that made anything resembling sense, so he made it a point not to examine it too closely.
"Mom? What are you doing?" Their "son" had wandered into the living room and was tilting his head suspiciously at Sydney who kept peeking out of the curtains to see what was going on across the street, because something sure as hell was. Sark watched as she dropped the curtain and whirled to face the child, looking half-startled.
"I-"
"Spying on the neighbors again, I presume," Sark muttered over the newspaper that he wasn't actually reading. Sydney looked appalled at such a blatant disregard for their cover and he added with an subtle roll of his eyes, "Have you honestly run out of things to gossip about already?"
Sydney relaxed visibly, but the tension was still there. Sark couldn't really say he cared much. If Sydney didn't look like she wanted to break something over his head at any given moment, then there was something wrong with the world. His eyes briefly hovered over the child in the doorway who was still staring suspiciously at his "mother" like he wasn't buying that for a second. Finally, the boy just shrugged. "I'm going to go over to Billy's."
He didn't wait for the 'okay' or the 'have fun, sweetie.' To be accurate, Sark would probably say that he practically just vanished into thin air and if he hadn't become so immune to the fact that the Rift is a strange and altogether creepy place, he might have found that thought to be impossible and would have chided himself for even thinking it. As it were, he had been wondering about those kids for awhile now and it seemed like Sydney was starting to catch on.
"The kids in this place are probably enforcers, aren't they?" She said, after a moment.
Behind the newspaper, Sark scoffed lightly in disbelief and irritation. "I believe that might be the case."
"How does that even work?"
"I have no idea, but I imagine it's one of many things we're going to have to find out, now isn't it?"
Another moment of silence followed, broken, once again, by Sydney. "You know what really sucks about this whole thing?"
Sark lowered his newspaper, quirking an eyebrow at her as she sank into the nearest chair. "Hm?"
"My illusion of a normal life isn't even normal."
Word Count: 745
The problem seemed to be that someone (they were willing to bet a local Neqa'el) had contracted a suburb to be built on top of a Rift located outside of Chicago. If asked, they claimed they were attempting to rehabilitate wanderers, but some investigating had shown some... Rather odd behavior coming from that front. Odd enough that when Bristow caught wind that they were offering their services to any wanderer, he decided he needed a man inside or, rather, two.
Which was now why Sark and Sydney had a house with a white picket fence in a suburb that they both had a good suspicion was a front for some sort of Wanderer brainwashing protocol. It was probably the most uncomfortable thing either of them would ever have to do- Sark found it to be painfully domestic even with the constant threat hanging over their heads and Sydney, as she made a point to mention, found it to have far too much of him for her liking. Apparently, their "friendship" was only good in small doses.
"Mom?"
Oh right. And there was a child, involved. A child that was given to them. Sark had wondered vaguely when the leaders of this operation passed the child over to them if they just kept them corralled somewhere to be shoved off on new recruits. According to those same leaders, having a child made one feel a lot closer to the person they were being forced to pretend to be married to. ... At this point, Sark wasn't even sure if there was a part of this operation that made anything resembling sense, so he made it a point not to examine it too closely.
"Mom? What are you doing?" Their "son" had wandered into the living room and was tilting his head suspiciously at Sydney who kept peeking out of the curtains to see what was going on across the street, because something sure as hell was. Sark watched as she dropped the curtain and whirled to face the child, looking half-startled.
"I-"
"Spying on the neighbors again, I presume," Sark muttered over the newspaper that he wasn't actually reading. Sydney looked appalled at such a blatant disregard for their cover and he added with an subtle roll of his eyes, "Have you honestly run out of things to gossip about already?"
Sydney relaxed visibly, but the tension was still there. Sark couldn't really say he cared much. If Sydney didn't look like she wanted to break something over his head at any given moment, then there was something wrong with the world. His eyes briefly hovered over the child in the doorway who was still staring suspiciously at his "mother" like he wasn't buying that for a second. Finally, the boy just shrugged. "I'm going to go over to Billy's."
He didn't wait for the 'okay' or the 'have fun, sweetie.' To be accurate, Sark would probably say that he practically just vanished into thin air and if he hadn't become so immune to the fact that the Rift is a strange and altogether creepy place, he might have found that thought to be impossible and would have chided himself for even thinking it. As it were, he had been wondering about those kids for awhile now and it seemed like Sydney was starting to catch on.
"The kids in this place are probably enforcers, aren't they?" She said, after a moment.
Behind the newspaper, Sark scoffed lightly in disbelief and irritation. "I believe that might be the case."
"How does that even work?"
"I have no idea, but I imagine it's one of many things we're going to have to find out, now isn't it?"
Another moment of silence followed, broken, once again, by Sydney. "You know what really sucks about this whole thing?"
Sark lowered his newspaper, quirking an eyebrow at her as she sank into the nearest chair. "Hm?"
"My illusion of a normal life isn't even normal."
Word Count: 745