"How was school?"

Sydney stared out the window. "Fine."

"What did you learn?"

Sydney shrugged. "Some stuff."

"Oh. Well, did anything interesting happen?"

"There were tryouts for the Thanksgiving play."

"Well, that's exciting. Are you going to take part?"

"I guess." Sydney chewed on her thumbnail. "If I have to."

They were stopped at a red light. Irina reached across to brush Sydney's hair behind her ear, mostly as an excuse to touch her. "You don't have to."

"I don't want to."

"Okay."

Sydney was silent for a while. As they pulled into their driveway, she spoke again. "Mommy, can I go to a different school?"

Irina turned off the engine. "Why do you want to change schools?"

"'Cause everyone there feels sorry for me. An' the only reason anyone wants to play with me is 'cause Daddy died. Mrs. Harris told everyone they have to be nice to me."

"Sweetheart, those kids were your friends before Daddy—" She couldn't finish the sentence.

"Yeah, but now it's different." Sydney finally looked at Irina, and for the first time Irina saw the empty expression in her daughter's eyes.

"Okay, baby," she said. "You don't have to go back to school."

It didn't matter, she told herself. In a few weeks' time she and Sydney would be in Moscow anyway.

"You have one last assignment," Yuri had told her. His arms were still wrapped around her, his breath hot against her neck, his belly pressed against her back as he pumped his hips.

"What?"

"An assassination."

"Who?"

"William Vaughn."

She didn't know him, and she didn't care who he was. She had already decided nothing mattered except getting out of America.

Now, hours later, Sydney was finally in bed and Irina was in the shower, scrubbing the feel of Yuri from her skin as she replayed their conversation. She would spend the next week or so planning, and once Vaughn was taken care of, Yuri would give her an extraction date. He'd given her the go ahead to tell people she was planning to leave Los Angeles.

Earlier, she had phoned Emily and told her she was thinking of going to Montana to spend time with relatives. Emily thought that was a great idea. "It will be good for you and Sydney to get away for a while," she had said.

Irina sank down to her haunches as the water beat down on her back. When she'd first come to America, naively thinking she knew everything there was to know about life, she had been completely unprepared for the people who would take hold of her heart. Jack, who was never meant to be anything more than her mark. He'd quickly become her friend, then her love.

She had loved Sydney from the moment she'd realized she was pregnant. When she received orders to have a child with Jack just three days after she found out they were already expecting, she'd been filled with such sweet relief that her child was in no danger.

Emily, whose gentle demeanor always reminded Irina of Tatiana Levin, Elena's best friend.

She thought of her students, some more memorable than others, but she realized now that she loved them too, loved teaching and exchanging ideas.

For the first time, she allowed herself to think of who she would miss when she left Los Angeles.

She had a life here – true, it was Laura's life – but Irina had never been as successful as she should have been when it came to drawing the line between where Irina ended and Laura began.

There had always been more of Irina in Laura than she'd intended. She'd been unable to help it; early in her relationship with Jack she'd known he would like Irina, and she had found herself sharing more of herself with him than she should have.

Irina had never been one to spend time thinking about what could have been, but she wondered now just how different her life would be if she had turned down the assignment.

And she thought of Jack, curling around her as she slept. Sydney's dimpled grin. The child even now growing inside her. Jack's child.

No, she thought, her life couldn't have taken any path other than this. No matter how it had ended, she was meant to have met Jack and married him. It didn't matter that they had only had ten years together.

When she finally got out of the shower, she put on one of Jack's shirts and climbed into bed. Clutching his pillow to her chest, she fell asleep thinking of him.

The parking garage was almost empty this time of night. Irina heard footsteps approach, and took a deep breath. It was time to begin.

She slammed the trunk of her car and swore loudly.

"Something wrong?"

Irina looked up at William Vaughn and smiled ruefully. "I drove over a nail."

"You got a spare?"

"Yeah, but I don't have a –" she faltered "—a jack."

He smiled, and nodded towards his car. "I've got one."

Irina slipped her gun from its holster at the small of her back as she followed Vaughn to his car. He seemed like a nice man, and she was sorry she had to kill him.

He never saw it coming. A single bullet to the back of his head and he fell to his knees.

Irina reholstered the weapon, and returned to her own car. Fifteen minutes after she drove off, she had to pull over to throw up.

It's over now. You can go home.

But there was another voice that said you can never go home again.

"How long will you be gone?" Emily asked.

Irina shrugged. "I don't know. I just – I can't be here anymore. This house –"

She waved her hand vaguely around the kitchen. She and Emily were sitting at the kitchen table; Sydney was watching TV in the living room. If she hadn't known she would never see Emily again, Irina might have been annoyed that she dropped by or called every day. But as it was, she was grateful for Emily's friendship, and knew Emily's heart was in the right place.

"We'll miss you," Emily said.

Irina smiled. "You and Arvin have been so good to us."

"You're our best friends."

Irina squeezed Emily's hand and poured them both another cup of tea.

"If there's anything you need . . ." Emily left the sentence hanging.

Irina nodded. "I know. Thank you."

Emily wrapped her hands around her teacup and stared down into it. "Arvin's thinking of leaving the Agency," she said.

"What? Why?"

"I think he's finally realized he's not immortal." She blinked back tears. "He said he couldn't bear the thought of what losing him would do to me."

"Oh." Irina's hand trembled and she put her cup down before she dropped it.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

Irina shook her head. "It's okay."

Emily was silent for a moment, then said, softly, "We're trying to have a baby."

Irina thought of her own baby then, and Sydney, who would grow up without their father. Pain cut through her, sharp and strong, but it was only for a moment. She opened her eyes and managed to smile at Emily.