Author's Note: Hi everyone! This story is the sequel to It's Never Long Enough, the first Jack/Irina story I wrote. This originally started as an epilogue, but I couldn't let it go. Six chapters later, here we are. A full-blown sequel. This story, unlike the first one, is a singular plotline instead of a series of vignettes. We rejoin our couple 8 years after successfully faking their deaths. Enjoy, and please review!

Finally Forever

Good Morning

Jack awoke slowly, turning over onto his back as the bright morning light streamed in through the open window. The ocean breeze passed through his curly hair, causing him to smile and sigh with contentment. Just then, a warm, soft presence pressed against his lips. His smile grew larger. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her more strongly.

Irina pulled away with a laugh and leaned against him on her elbows. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

"Is it late?" he asked, not bothering to turn and look at the clock.

"Yes. But it doesn't really matter, does it?" She smiled brightly.

Jack looked at her adoringly. "I guess not. I suppose we'll get up now." Despite his words, he didn't make any attempt to move.

Irina frowned. "Why? We had a long flight yesterday. I have no intention of getting out of this bed, nor of having you leave me here by myself."

"I was going to go for a run on the beach, but I can go later. What did you have in mind?" Jack asked. He was more than a little amused by Irina's sudden desire to be a homebody. During their eight years together, wandering the world under the cover of their faked deaths, Irina had always been the paranoid one. She always had one eye over her shoulder and never wanted to stay in one place for too long. He was cautious, certainly, but she had taken it to a whole other level. In eight years, Sark was the only one who ever knew about them. And even then, he never knew exactly where they were or when they would contact him. Jack had to admit that he was a useful little cockroach to have in their pocket.

Irina twisted around to lie on her back, perpendicular to Jack and resting her head on his broad chest. Only the thin white sheet covered her body. She crossed her legs, bent at the knees, and bobbed her ankle. "I don't know. How about absolutely nothing? We have nowhere to be, nothing to see, nothing to do. It's about time we just reveled in it, don't you think?"

He draped one arm over her thin body and ran the other hand through her hair. It still hadn't started to gray. His was completely white by now. Every so often, they changed the color while they traveled, but they both liked things better this way. Something about their current location seemed to be putting both of them in a somewhat sentimental mood. "I agree." Jack continued his lazy circles through her long brunette locks.

They didn't say anything for a long time. After so many years apart, simply being together, being able to touch and hold one another without fear of who would see or who would find out or when they would be forced apart by the powers that be, was enough for them.

It was Irina who broke the silence. "I had a dream about you last night."

Jack smiled. "Oh really? Was I good?"

She chuckled and nudged him in response. "You're always good, sweetheart. It wasn't that kind of dream. Well, it started out that way. It was our wedding night…"

"Speaking of good," Jack interjected with a playful grin.

Irina laughed. "Yes, it was very good. But in my dream, instead of falling asleep like we did, I told you everything."

"And what did I say to that?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea. I think the dream ended. What would you have said?"

Jack sighed. "I don't know, Irina."

She could feel him tense up. "I know you don't like thinking about it. I'm sorry to bring it up. But our wedding night was the moment I knew."

"What do you mean?" he asked, turning slightly to look at her.

Irina twisted around to face him. "Jack, when I met you, I knew what to expect. It was all in your file. Brilliant, logical, calm, quiet, detached. I was prepared for that. And I know you don't like hearing it, but I did a damn good job at worming my way under that thick skin of yours. But then you started falling in love with me. On our second date, I could see the change. And I was completely unprepared."

Jack nodded. "I took you to the river, and it started to rain. I was so afraid I ruined it."

"But you didn't. You started to laugh. You have a great laugh, Jack. And you just made everything so much fun. You're full of joy and warmth, and I would have never guessed it about you."

"We had our first kiss in the rain," he recalled. Jack was trying to cling to happy memories in light of how Irina felt the need to tell him about her KGB assignment to deceive him.

She smiled. "And it's the way you kissed me that I never expected. So full of tenderness and passion. I went home that night in real trouble. I wasn't briefed on how to handle a man with such a capacity for love, for I knew even then that not only would you fall in love with me, but that you already had. I was so young and inexperienced. But I kept on with my assignment."

He wasn't very amused by this tale anymore. "What a devoted little agent you were," he said acerbically.

Irina frowned and explained, "You understand how this business is, Jack. We compartmentalize everything. We have to. But with a deep cover assignment like mine, the KGB trained me to an even higher level. When I was with you, I was living a completely different life than when we were apart. It wasn't until our wedding night that everything started to fall apart for me. Do you remember when we were making love, and I turned us over? You ran your hand down my leg and told me you loved me, something you had said many times before, but I looked at you, Jack. I really looked at you, and I could see it in your eyes how much you loved me. I felt it. And when I told you I loved you, it was the first time I said it and actually meant it. That was when I knew that I loved you, that I would always love you, and that our marriage would be real for me. It was real, Jack. I had to compartmentalize being in the KGB, because whenever we were together, you were my life. My love and my life. And when I had to leave, it was that true life that had to be tucked away in a lost part of my mind and my heart. And, of course, between the imprisonment and the torture and the rest of my time with the KGB before I went into business for myself, my heart became hardened. I never thought I could be the person I was with you ever again, at least not until I saw Sydney again. You both reminded me of who I really was behind everything that I had experienced. When we did the assignment in Kashmir, I made the decision to truly let you both back into my heart."

Jack wasn't quite sure how to respond. She had told him before that she had truly loved him during their marriage, but it somehow it did not sink in until this moment. And everything else, all that she had gone through. He knew that she had only shared a fraction of her past with him. Her anguish went deeper than he had presumed.

Irina could tell that he was conflicted by her story. She decided to tell him more. "You already know that Cuvée and I had a relationship when I was young. He was my first. I thought I loved him. I was so sure that you wouldn't affect me because of how I felt about him. But I did not know love until you, Jack. Please believe me. I loved you then as I love you now. You don't doubt that, do you?"

He reached out and stroked her cheek. "How could I doubt it? We've spent eight years together, Irina. And we're not in our twenties anymore. You don't have the luxury of our early years of being able to deceive me for a decade and then go off and live another life. This is what we have. We have these years because of what we planned together. We sacrificed everything to be together. And I've been thankful for every minute of it, sweetheart." Jack kissed her for a long time.

Eventually Irina slid away from him and out of bed, walking toward the bathroom, completely unashamed of her gorgeous naked body. Jack smiled as he watched her. She smiled slyly at him. "I think it's time we got out of bed now."

She closed the door behind her, and Jack got out of bed. It was probably time for him to take his run now.