Hahaha...

Andi Horton: Your review made me laugh... Funny funny stuff

M: Thanks so much for the wonderful review but I'm sure that there are other great fics besides this one. Just keep looking~

Secret Agent Girl: I know I've dedicated like a million chapters to you but your reviews always make me laugh... especially when you tell me what you're doing (ex: the "flailing arm Kermit dance")... Thanks for choosing my fic to read :)

J. Turenne: Hey, we all make mistakes. Just don't make it again ;)

The Wanlorn: Oooohh... So THAT'S what happened to you... I see I see. Oh well, you're back and reviewing every chapter so I'm not complaining. Hope the shift + enter thing worked… I had to re-space this whole thing because it was prewritten… sigh the things I do for you guys ;)

To the people who actually wanted to know:

In chapter 10, I mentioned the birth of a certum toad and told you all that you didn't want to know how it was actually born because it is "super-gross".

However, I guess some of you did want to know. So here it is:

1) Picture a toad

2) Picture his back

3) Now think pimple except when it pops, it's not pus-stuff that comes out. It's a baby certum toad.

Ewwwwwwwww

Okay, I've wasted enough of your time:

Here it is~ Enjoy

29.

The bars made their usual screeching noise as they rose up towards the ceiling, opening the passage that was the hall of death.

To Jack anyway.

Needing to take the breath he always took, he paused for a second before stepping in front of the glass.

"I need to talk to you."

Irina Derevko walked up to it, her face only a few inches away from his though the tension between them was as palpable as the glass separating them.

"Why?"

"Damn it Irina, now is not the time for an interrogation."

Almost simultaneously, "Then answer my question and we'll move on. Is there some reason why my question isn't valid?"

They both stopped at the same time. Silence fell once again.

She looked down towards the floor. "Is this how it's always going to be Jack? Will we always be at each other's throat every time one of us opens our mouths?"

"It's quite possible."

She nodded.

"It's about Sydney isn't it? What has she done?"

"I think you know what she has done. You knew what was between them from the very beginning."

Her eyes lit up as she processed what Jack was telling her. "They gave in to each other."

"I don't see why that makes you so happy."

"They found love. What can be a more joyous event?"

He clenched his jaw and she immediately regretted speaking. There were times when she forgot that she was dead to him. That Laura had died.

"Love is weakness. Love clouds your senses until you can't think straight anymore; can't even see what's in front of your eyes. Love affects your judgment and love kills those who you love."

Her reply was soft. "No. Love is power. It can be wasted or it can be used but either way, it is efficient. It is desperation."

He exhaled quickly, laughing to himself. "You haven't changed at all have you? You still don't understand the simple morals. There are reasons for rules and there are reasons for protocol and there are reasons why a handler cannot have romantic relations with his asset."

His last words were hushed, said straight into the glass so that none but she could hear them though they were the most intense of all.

"We are not normal people and we do not lead normal lives. In this world, in our world, we don't have the same kind of normalcy. Everything is dangerous and every action-"

Irina finished his sentence. "-has an equal or opposite reaction. Issac Newton. Yes, I know. But isn't that all the more reason to grab on to any semblance of normalcy you can?"

He shook his head. "No. Not when it endangers lives. Not when you have nothing to gain."

"Don't you mean everything?"

"What?"

"I think you mean, 'not when you have everything to gain.'"

"What's the difference?"

She sighed to herself. It was no use. He had always been as stubborn as a mule. "Why did you come here? Obviously it wasn't just to chat. What do you need me for?"

"Daniel Hecht is alive."

"Sydney's fiancé?"

"Ex. Ex fiancé. And he knows everything."

Her reply was immediate and matter of fact. "Kill him."

"SD-6 has possession of him."

"Does he still love her?"

"Maniacally so."

"She has to pretend to love him."

"She's already been instructed to do just that."

"Then what do you need me for?"

"It's what happens next."

"Jack, why do you come to me? You have resources at your disposal, people waiting to help you. Why me?"

You know why. Why are you insisting on me telling you why?

"Because I hate you for what you did to me. But the past is nothing. And despite your actions, you are still the most brilliant person I've ever come in contact with. And because I need your help for our daughter."

She nodded then.

He took out his keys and entered her cell.

God damn her for being so beautiful.

"I think you should start from the beginning."

"There's no time. Apparently, Sydney and Vaughn have been seeing each other for three months and are now engaged."

He ignored the subtle raising of her eyebrows.

"Two days ago, Sydney was at Agent Vaughn's house when Daniel Hecht appeared at her door and tried to… go back to the way things used to be with her. She escaped, came to CIA headquarters, broke down in interrogation and almost told Kendall the truth about her whereabouts when she was paged. By Sloane. He had Dermott and his crew check up on Hecht and when they found him-"

Irina nodded. "They found Vaughn. They know he's a CIA agent but Sydney lied and now they have retaken Hecht because of Sydney's professed love for him?"

Jack nodded.

"Why do you need my help? It seems as though everything has already been taken care of."

"There is one more thing."

Irina looked into his eyes, looked past the guarded exterior and saw the love and confusion that swam underneath.

"You're planning on assassinating him aren't you?"

How do you always look through me? How can you read my mind like you do? Why are you Irina Derevko? Couldn't you have stayed Laura forever?

He cleared his throat. "Two weeks."

"Do you have this planned out too or is this what you need me for?"

Suddenly, he didn't know anymore.

"I wanted to run it by you, see if anything should be changed or if there is... room for error."

She sat on the thin mattress, nodding as she ran her fingers through her hair.

They both knew the truth. And they were both willing to live the facade.


And the conversation between them suddenly flew, two intellectual giants discussing a plan.

"He's kept in a room in Section E-"

"Video-taped?"

"Of course."

"How are you going to get past that?"

"Marshall's cigarette lighter scrambles all electronic devices for about 3 minutes."

"He hasn't come up with a back up?" Irina's eyes took on their inquisitive hardness, her mind warming up and ready to absorb all the information being fed to her.

"Not that I know of."

"What about the guards?"

"Another one of Marshall's inventions. The tranquilizer spray."

"And the key?"

"Already copied."

"What are you planning on using?"

"Bendolyne Pentaoxide." (Yes I made it up)

"How long does it take to go through the system?"

"Less than 5 minutes."

Irina shook her head quickly. "I need more specific numbers than that."

Jack looked at her. You would. "It depends on size. With someone Danny's size, it should take maximum 4 minutes."

"He'll still be alive when the power is back on."

"I'm not going to be staying to watch him die, Irina. I'm not like-" he stopped. That was a floodgate he didn't want to open.

She smiled a little. "You're not like me."

"I'm not going to apologize."

"I don't expect you to. What you said was true and you do have the right to be a bit resentful don't you?"

He was silent.

"Where will you be when they find him?"

"As far away as I possible can."

"And you know the route you're taking out of the building?"

"Of course."

"And if someone should see you?"

She almost sounded as if she cared. "Stay in the building; I wouldn't want to be conveniently gone if I had been spotted a moment before."

"Won't the guards remember you sprayed them?"

"Modifications can be made and hallucinations are often present."

"Even so."

"What?"

She hesitated before speaking again. "Jack, this one is different."

"I know that."

"Does Sydney know what you're planning on doing?"

"Daniel Hecht is now no more than a hindrance in her life if she wishes to pursue her relationship with Agent Vaughn."

"The heart works in strange ways."

"I thought you were for their love."

"Love is a tool."

The words stung.

"Not if you're the victim."

"Even then, it can still be used."

"How?"

"Deception."


Jack shook his head, not wanting to believe the words coming out of her mouth. He heard Irina speak again.

"Perhaps she wants Danny gone. But gone doesn't translate into dead."

"It did in your case."

"Don't transmute our past into Sydney's future." She stood up, regal and towering above him. "I am truly sorry for all the hurt I caused you Jack but that is no reason to punish her."

"Punish? I'm trying to help her."

"You're trying to help yourself. Trying to save yourself."

"By helping her breach protocol?"

"By plugging up the one leak that could kill you."

"And is looking out for my life such a horrible thing? Maybe you had no qualms about leaving your life behind but I don't have another identity waiting for me under the river.

"I have to be here to protect Sydney and if, in doing so, I'm also protecting myself, then so be it."

"In our lives, we face death every day. What's to stop us from embracing it?"

"The possibility of never being able to return. The fear that everything truly will stop one last time."

"Daniel has died already."

"No. He thought he did."

"Embrace life. And if in doing so, one must embrace death, let it happen. It only happens once."

"It will happen." He stood up, walking back towards the door.

"Jack."

He turned at the sound of her voice.

"There is no room for error."

TBC...

Wow... I'm confusing myself, I don't even understand half the stuff I wrote and I'm pretty sure that none of it makes sense. But I wanted Irina in the story.

Blah...

Review anyway~

-Jenn