Chapter Ten: The Meeting

She was holding the gift wrapped in red as expected, and she suggested they go somewhere more private before they'd even exchanged hellos. Jack and Emily had no choice but to agree-- she was turning and walking away before they had a chance to protest.

She didn't turn to speak to them until they were inside her suite on the tenth floor. "Jack," she said, a soft smile playing about her lips. For a flickering of a moment, Jack wondered how old she was. Early seventies? He'd always thought of seventy as old, but this woman…sure, she had lines on her face, but she just seemed so-- strong. Powerful.

"Hello…Grandma," Jack said haltingly. When he'd gotten her message, there'd been no doubt in his mind that he'd wanted to see her, but now…something just seemed…off. And he thought, for the first time, that maybe there was a reason his and Emily's parents had kept them from their grandmother for so many years.

"You look so handsome." Irina continued to smile at him, but luckily, she didn't try to hug him or anything. Jack didn't know if he'd have been able to handle that.

"And Emily." Irina turned her attention to her granddaughter then, shooting her a warm smile. Emily offered her a brilliant one in return. "You were so young when you moved away." Moved away. As if they'd simply left because Jack's father had gotten a new job or something simple like that. Probably Jack's mother would have claimed they'd come to the island for a change of scenery, or because she and her husband had always wanted to open a restaurant. Somehow Jack knew it had been more than that.

"Do you remember me?" Irina asked Emily.

"Yes." Jack wondered how much Emily did remember. Of course she remembered she'd had a grandma, but how much did she actually know about the woman? How much did Jack even know?

Pretty much just that she was his grandmother. And that his mother had called her a liar and a manipulator. He supposed in some ways, the same could be said about his own mother, but still…

"You look so much like your mom," Irina told Emily, smiling fondly.

"Oh," Emily said, in that charming, self-deprecating way she had that made everyone fall instantly in love with her. Jack knew that he wasn't like that. People had to know him before they liked him. "Everyone says that. Jack looks like our dad-- but I guess you knew that."

"Yes," Irina said, shooting a flickering of a smile in Jack's direction before turning back to Emily. Somehow, the attention Irina was paying Jack's sister didn't strike Jack as quite right, either. Sure, she'd always been nice to Emily. But Jack had been the special one in her eyes. It didn't seem that she thought that way anymore. "I remember your father always called you princess, Emily. Does he still?" Jack remembered that, too. Hey, princess. How's daddy's little girl? It seemed that that had happened less, once they'd moved to the island. They'd all started spending more time together. They'd gotten to know each other well enough that they'd known better than to idealize each other.

"Oh." Emily smiled another self-deprecating smile. "Not so much lately."

"Well, that's okay," Irina said kindly. "Fathers and daughters grow apart, it's only natural. Your mother was never that close with her own father, but still he would have done anything for her." She frowned, so briefly that Emily probably didn't notice. Jack did. "He did do anything for her."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jack asked flatly. Something about this whole situation just seemed so wrong. All he wanted was to get the hell out of there.

If Irina was surprised by his bluntness, she didn't show it. "He had something to do with you ending up on this island, Jack," Irina said simply. "Don't tell me you think you just ended up here by chance."

Jack knew damned good and well that they hadn't. He also knew that, while his parents might have hidden things from him, at least they wanted what was best for him. He didn't know if the same was true of his grandmother. "Look, I was looking forward to seeing you," he said. "But I think this meeting was a mistake. We have to go.

"Oh." Irina looked a little hurt, but not terribly surprised. "Okay, then. I guess this is goodbye."

"I guess it is," Jack said tersely.

Irina caught Emily's arm before she could walk out the door. "It was wonderful to see you again, sweetheart."

"You, too, Grandma." Oh, God. Jack didn't like this one bit. Emily was so impressionable and rebellious. Yes, Jack knew he'd made the right decision to get the two of them out of there.

But he also knew, deep down, that Emily and his grandmother were women who got whatever the hell they wanted. And if they wanted to see each other again, they would.