Author's Note: In answer to a tumblr prompt asking for Jack visiting Irina in prison late at night and their interactions in those early days of their reunion. Please review with any thoughts :)
Strangers In The Night
Jack waved the armed guard away. He nodded and walked away, just as he always did when Agent Bristow made these late night visits. Before he left, the guard looped the feed on the security cameras. He knew it wasn't the best thing to do, but Agent Bristow was keeping his brother out of prison and making sure he could afford his daughter's medical care. A little deception was worth it for that. What did he care what Agent Bristow did twice a week in the middle of the night with the prisoner?
Irina could hear the sound of his polished dress shoes down the hallway and smiled. Was it Thursday already? She changed yoga positions, transitioning from cobra to downward dog. Yes, Jack would appreciate this position much more. Her mind flashed with the memories of their married life. It may have been twenty years, but she remembered what her husband liked.
True to her prediction, Jack reached the glass wall and stared at her incredible form before clearing his throat to announce his presence.
Irina stood up and walked to the glass, pushing her hair behind her ear. "I wasn't expecting you."
"It's Thursday at one in the morning. Were you expecting someone else?" he asked. She knew he was teasing, even if his face and voice indicated otherwise.
"Sometimes it is difficult to keep track of time when I'm here all by myself."
"Lest we forget you're here by choice," Jack pointed out.
She nodded. "How else would I get to see my daughter everyday?"
"Sydney comes to see you every day?"
"Every day she's here. Especially since Kashmir. She's starting to trust me."
Jack's frown deepened. "I'll have a talk with her."
"I don't see why. You're certainly spending quite a lot of your free time with me, Jack. I'm sure you have better things to do late at night twice a week than visit an imprisoned terrorist."
He evaded the implied question by explaining, "You saved my life, and Sydney's, in Kashmir. You have my gratitude."
"And your trust?" she asked, a hint of hopefulness bleeding into her voice.
The smallest suggestion of a smile crept to his mouth. "Never. But keeping away from you no longer serves a beneficial purpose. Seeing you and speaking to you will give me more insight into your true purpose here."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I'm not telling you anything you haven't already figured out."
She nodded in agreement. Slowly and carefully, she lifted her left hand up and pressed it to the glass. "I hate being in a cage," she murmured, more to herself than to Jack.
It took every fiber of self-control in Jack Bristow's body to prevent himself from placing his hand on the glass, to prevent himself from reaching out to try to touch her. He stared at her hand, a hand he knew better than he knew his own, even after twenty years.
Irina watched his face, seeing the overwhelming emotion pass through those dark brown eyes. And when his eyes met hers, they stared at each other for a long time, so much passing unsaid between them.
Jack broke the spell. "I should go. I'll be back soon."
Irina lowered her hand and stepped backward away from him. "When?"
"When I have the time." With that he turned and walked away.