Disclamer: Alias is still not mine, if it was it would not be stopping and Lena Olin would never be let off the set.
Laura has just received a new book from her husband, from that bookshop in Prague. She is alone on the couch in the middle of the afternoon.

The sun is bright outside.

She turns the book over in her hands trying to muster the courage to open it. "Maybe", she thinks, "just maybe there is no order in there, just a story of love, life and death, not real death".

She finally opens the book. Taking a candle she passes it under the page, she prays as she is doing that. But it is no use. Cyrillic letters appear in the margin. They say: kill. Laura sobs, Irina sighs. She knows the man; she met him at a dinner with Jack. He had a little boy that played with Sydney.


A few hours later after having found an appropriate time and place where she can do what has to be done Irina goes to get Sydney from school. When she drives back home the little girl keeps talking on and on about what she has done at school that day.

She shows her mother her drawings and the piece of cooked clay that vaguely resembles an elephant.

The little girl is so proud and generally so innocent that Irina forgets all about who she is and lets Laura take over fully, at least for a little while.

Before the child was born Irina wouldn't have believed that anyone could love another person so much. She feels sad at the thought that one day she will have to leave her, and Jack, but she tucks that thought away, deep down away.


Jack comes back from work a few hours later.

He takes a delighted Sydney in his arms and then goes to kiss his wife tenderly. He lets go of Sydney who rushes to go and play in the living room before diner, leaving her parents alone.

They start kissing again,

like lovesick teenagers.

Their hands start brushing against each other's body.

Laura pulls back, slightly out of breath: "Not now, Sydney is too close, we're going to have diner".

Jack finally pulls back also and is scrutinizing every apparent inch of his wife as if he could drink her in just by looking at her.

"I missed you." he finally says.

Laura laughs gently, "You only left this morning."

"I know."

"I'm leaving on a mission tomorrow. I guess it's in anticipation of leaving you."

She turns serious: "How long will you be gone this time?"

"Only about a couple of days, maybe three."

She looks so sad, so frightened, Jack is at a loss.

"I'll be back soon; it's not going to be very dangerous you know. I'll be ok."

"I know, I know. It just doesn't mean that I'm not scared for my husband. I love you"

"I love you too."

At that they resume their smooching only to be interrupted a few minutes later by an imperious "I'm hungry" from their daughter. They separate laughing and have diner. That night is one of the best sex they ever had, both have trouble getting out of bed the next morning.


After her husband leaves Laura wakes her daughter up and manages, through her endless babble, to get her dressed, fed and in the car. After kissing her goodbye and dropping her off at school she goes to the University.

Her first class isn't until ten but she still has a few papers to correct and there is always someone there to talk to or a student in need of some kind of help.

Her class is actually enthusiastic today, which is a good change. Even if she is a good and appreciated teacher, getting students excited about English literature can be a daunting task. Laura gives out the papers and is happy to see the look on some of her students' faces. Some even come to thank her for their grades, all she says is "you got the mark you deserved", but she is happy all the same. Irina thinks she should stop being stupid, if one of them knew who she really is they would hate her. After class she has lunch and then goes to correct more papers.

At three she leaves to go get Sydney from school.

The little girl resumes her incessant prattle as soon as she sees her mother. There is yet another set of drawings to show and this time Sydney proudly shows her that she can now write her name. All by herself. And that she knows the names of the letters in it. That afternoon she spends a lot of time with her crayons writing it over and over again saying the letters to herself as she draws them: "S. Y. D. N. E. Y.: Sydney" Laura is so proud that she hugs her daughter tightly and starts playing with her that game that has no name but that consists mainly of running around in circles and a lot of laughing. Sydney is delighted and exhausted by the end of the afternoon.

It helps her forget that once again her father will not come home from work tonight.

It helps Laura forget that once again she will sleep alone tonight.

That evening after putting Sydney to bed and making sure she is sound asleep Irina slips out into the night. She is headed for the docks. There she finds the man she has been assigned to kill. He seems surprised to see her there. He is even more surprised when she gets her gun out and shoots him in the head.

During all that time Irina has her eyes planted into his and she does not turn or blink but watches him die.

This is her way to try to ward off bad conscience. It doesn't really work, but at least this way she can't accuse herself of cowardice.

She accuses herself of thousands of other things but not of that.

She then drags the body into an abandoned building and sets fire to it, she thinks this unnecessary but the orders were clear: make the body unrecognizable. Truthfully she hates doing that. It makes her seem so much more of a savage and cold hearted woman than she really is.

Well than Laura is she reasons because Irina is becoming more and more that woman every day.

She returns home and before going to bed she checks on her daughter who is still sleeping peacefully. She watches her sleep.

So beautiful and innocent.

THE END. please review, please, please, please?