Disclaimer: See all of the previous chapters
After making sure Irina was settled and that her condition remained more or less stable after their flight, Jack walked back out of the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him. He knew that slamming the door wouldn't wake Irina, and even if he did it would probably be a good thing- she had been unconscious for quite some time- but it was still an ingrained habit. He turned away from the door, and found Sydney staring at him as she paced back in forth across the living room floor. He waited in silence knowing that she wouldn't hesitate to ask him whatever question was obviously on her mind.
Sydney stopped pacing almost as soon as she saw him. "Is Mom going to be okay," she asked quietly.
He looked at her blandly for a moment, and then said with as much gentleness as he could muster, "I think so," he paused, "I would feel better if she could see a doctor, but I think she should be fine. I don't know Irina's medical history, but I do know that she's a very strong woman." He scrutinized Sydney, really looking at her for the first time in days. He had admittedly been very distracted by trying to keep Irina alive for the last few days. He was a competent enough field medic, although he had no official training, but he was far from a real doctor.
Jack hadn't noticed the desperate look in Sydney's expressive brown eyes though, or the worried set of her shoulders. He still hadn't had a chance to find out what had happened between the time that Sloane had dragged Sydney and Irina out and when they had rescued him from Sloane.
He took a step closer to Sydney and asked, "Are you okay, Sweetheart?" He saw mixture of emotions in her eyes and then Sydney was stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him in a desperate hug. At first Jack was so startled that he couldn't muster a response and then he felt Sydney stiffen and start to pull away. With no further hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her.
"I was so scared, Dad," she said, and he could hear her voice break with emotion, "I don't want to lose either of you again."
He raised a hand to gently stroke her head, where it was pressed firmly up against his chest. It was probably the most paternal gesture he had used in years. "Sydney," he said with as much reassurance as he could muster, "Irina is not going to die from this and I am fine- thanks to you and Irina."
She nodded in acknowledgement of what he said, and he could see her regaining some of her composure. After a moment or two more in his arms, she stepped back and distractedly wiped a lone tear away from her eyes. "It's not just that, Dad," she said slowly. "I don't want to have to go back to the CIA and working against Mom. I don't want to wake up one day and have to face the fact that for the rest of my life, I will know that I was my mother's killer. Sloane's dead, why does this have to go any further?"
"Sydney," he replied slowly, "Any situation involving Irina is complicated. Her actions in the past few days have been.." He paused searching for a word, "helpful, but after the way she broke her last agreement with the CIA, they will not give her a second chance."
"Helpful? Dad, she saved both of our lives and helped us bring down Sloane! I think that qualifies as a little bit more than helpful." She looked away from him and he could see her struggling to calm down. "Dad," she said in a much quieter voice that didn't lack any of her former intensity, "I know what Mom has done- she shot me for Pete's sake- but she does love us. She's not heartless, Dad."
He looked at her piercingly for a moment. In his opinion- and that of every psychologist that had ever evaluated Sydney- her greatest flaw as an agent was her trusting nature and empathy for others. Jack wasn't certain that he could trust Sydney's evaluation of the situation and Irina's motivations. She was an enigma at the best of times and discovering her true motivations were almost impossible. He had a hard time believing that Irina's motives were that selfless.
He didn't want to remember how he responded when he had seen Irina laying on the cold floor, covered in a growing quantity of her own blood, and looking as if death was only a breath away. It was so much easier to hold on to the rage and loathing he had built up for twenty years, towards his wife, than to admit the possibility that she might truly love him. He wasn't certain what he wanted to believe.
"All I'm asking, Dad," Sydney said softly, "Is that you listen to Mom before you jump to any conclusions. I know that she hurt you and betrayed you, but she wasn't lying about everything. Not the most important things."
"It's not that simple, Sydney," he said coldly, "Love or regret doesn't excuse anything that Irina did and it certainly doesn't change how I feel about her." Without sparing Sydney a backwards glance, Jack walked away, every step filled with fury. He didn't want to listen to whatever Sydney had to say in her mother's defense. Sugarcoating the truth and defending Irina's actions wouldn't change anything.
As he walked away, he heard Sydney say quietly under her breath, "Well, it's a good thing you're feelings for Mom haven't changed. It would be a shame if you stopped loving her now."
He didn't hesitate to slam the door this time. Sydney. Was. Wrong.
============================================================================ ============================================
When Irina woke up, her surroundings were considerably different than when she had fallen asleep. She was lying in a large comfortable bed in a warm, tastefully decorated bedroom. Despite her instinctive reaction to almost any unknown room, one of immediate caution and a fear of being caged against her will, she felt comfortable in the room almost instantly. She couldn't relax though, not until she knew where Jack and Sydney were. She managed to swing her legs over the side of the bed and sit up through sheer force of will.
She noticed that she no longer wore the clothes that she had put on to rescue Jack and that the gunshot wound in her chest had been cleaned and sown up. She wondered who she had to thank for that. Irina took a deep breath and forced herself to gather her strength before she stood up. She hated the weakness that she was feeling. It was dangerous to be weak. It could get her killed or caught, that is if she wasn't already.
She stood up abruptly and walked towards the bedroom door, ignoring the lightheaded sensation that she was feeling. A door behind her creaked open and she whirled around to face her attacker.
"You shouldn't be out of bed, Irina."
"Why Jack, I didn't know you still felt that way."
He scowled at her as she had expected. "I thought I made my feelings about you more than clear during the past year. I'm sure you remember a certain visit to Camp Harris and your brush with the death penalty."
His words were harsh, but no more so than she had come to expect from Jack since she had turned herself in. She was about to drop the subject and return to the relatively safer subject of their daughter, when she caught the look in his eye and remembered the way he had caressed her face as he started to carry her out of that building.
"You're lying." Before he could object or react to what she had said she uttered one more word. "Panama."
His reaction was just as vehement as she had expected. He gave off a scoffing laugh and said derisively, "Wasn't Panama the biggest lie of all Irina? You played me again. The only difference is, that this time I didn't trust you enough to let you slip away without a trace."
Irina opened her mouth to reply, she wasn't sure what she was going to say to him. Their unfortunate reality was made up of lies and constant deceptions. Sometimes the facts and details of her aliases came easier to her tongue than those of her own life. Still somehow, she had to tell him that there were a few things she had never had to lie to him about, whether he believed her or not. Jack was just as stubborn as she was, however, and he would believe whatever he wanted to believe.
She never got to find out what she would have said to him, because at that moment the door creaked open again and Sydney stepped into the room.
Sydney smiled easily when she saw that Irina was awake, but then she stated with concern, "You shouldn't be out of bed yet, Mom."
"I know," Irina said calmly, keeping her eyes locked on Jack's. "That's what your father was just telling me." She didn't look away until Jack turned away from her and walked over to the window.
Sydney, either not noticing or ignoring the subtext between her parents, smiled at her mother as Irina sat down on the bed. She sat down next to Irina, still smiling and then explained, "Dad took out the bullet and stitched up your wound, himself. We couldn't risk taking you to a hospital, but you have been unconscious for about three days now. We were starting to get worried about you."
Irina smiled reassuringly at Sydney, pushing Jack to the back of her mind for the moment. "I'll be fine, now, Sydney. I've had much worse." She looked down at her chest where the still healing wound was carefully concealed under a clean bandage and smiled enigmatically as she looked back up, "Thank you, Jack."
He nodded at her coolly, but Irina didn't see any malice in his features. She turned back to Sydney and finally asked the question that had been tugging at her mind since she had woken up. "Where are we?"
Sydney answered quickly, "A small island in the Caribbean. This location should be untraceable. No one will be able to connect any of us to this place. I created a whole new alias to buy this place that neither SD-6 nor the CIA know about."
Irina nodded, trusting what her daughter had said, and that they were safe for the moment. Sydney was smart and Jack would have double checked all of the possible contingencies. "Good," this time she looked over at Jack, "Have you decided what the next move is?"
Jack seemed intent on watching the scenery so once again it was Sydney that answered. "No, actually we were waiting for you to wake up. We thought you should have a voice in the discussion."
Irina wondered if Jack and Sydney had really made that decision together and how much of it was really at Sydney's insistence. Irina nodded, but remained silent. This conversation had actually been going fairly well. Now she could feel the tension creep back into the room. She and Sydney had talked several times as they worked together to find Jack and she knew that Sydney was starting to trust her again. This conversation could destroy all of that.
Sloane was dead. She remembered that much at least, from after she was shot. That was good news. It was the fulfillment of the goal that she had been working towards since she had learned that Sloane had recruited Sydney. Still, Irina wasn't sure whether or not Sydney would really leave the CIA or not. Their entire lifestyle was incredibly addictive, but at least Sydney would be free of Sloane's destructive manipulation.
Despite how happy Irina was though, Sloane's death also meant that she and Jack were no longer united against a common enemy. Jack no longer had any reason not to turn her over to the CIA and the death penalty that was waiting for her.
She stated as much, "I suppose you're plans for me include a CIA cell, right Jack?" She allowed the hint of bitterness to creep into her voice. She knew that she had committed numerous crimes- she didn't dispute that- but she currently had more reasons to live than she had, had in years. She was actually coming close to forming a real relationship with her daughter and, if she wasn't mistaken, it looked as if hate wasn't the only thing that Jack felt for her. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking, he had hated her for far too long.
Irina saw Sydney shift slightly and exchange a look with Jack, who still seemed to be intensely interested in the view out the window. "Is that what you would prefer Irina," he asked quietly, coolly.
"Of course not, Jack," she snapped, no longer trying to maintain her usual calm, cool and distant appearance. "But I don't think you'll give me much choice here."
"Mom," Sydney cut in quickly, "We wouldn't go to this much trouble to keep a low profile, just to turn you over to the CIA. Dad and I- " Sydney stopped abruptly at a look from Jack.
To Irina's surprise, Sydney stood up, looking back and forth between her parents. She finally focused on Irina. "Mom, Dad pretty much already knows how I feel about all of this, I think I'm going to let you two finish this conversation. I have arrangements that need to be made." She hesitated for a moment and then moved towards, Irina.
Irina was startled for a moment, almost shocked as Sydney hugged her tightly, but she returned it with as much strength as she could. Sydney pulled away and her gaze flickered towards her father, "Thank you," she whispered, "? ?????? ?? Mom." I love you, Mom.
Irina could feel the tear trickling down her cheek. By the time she could speak again, Sydney had left the room, leaving her to, once again, face Jack.
Please leave a review and let me know what you think. BTW- the little bit of another language thrown in there, is from a translation site called, InterTran, and can be found here:
After making sure Irina was settled and that her condition remained more or less stable after their flight, Jack walked back out of the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him. He knew that slamming the door wouldn't wake Irina, and even if he did it would probably be a good thing- she had been unconscious for quite some time- but it was still an ingrained habit. He turned away from the door, and found Sydney staring at him as she paced back in forth across the living room floor. He waited in silence knowing that she wouldn't hesitate to ask him whatever question was obviously on her mind.
Sydney stopped pacing almost as soon as she saw him. "Is Mom going to be okay," she asked quietly.
He looked at her blandly for a moment, and then said with as much gentleness as he could muster, "I think so," he paused, "I would feel better if she could see a doctor, but I think she should be fine. I don't know Irina's medical history, but I do know that she's a very strong woman." He scrutinized Sydney, really looking at her for the first time in days. He had admittedly been very distracted by trying to keep Irina alive for the last few days. He was a competent enough field medic, although he had no official training, but he was far from a real doctor.
Jack hadn't noticed the desperate look in Sydney's expressive brown eyes though, or the worried set of her shoulders. He still hadn't had a chance to find out what had happened between the time that Sloane had dragged Sydney and Irina out and when they had rescued him from Sloane.
He took a step closer to Sydney and asked, "Are you okay, Sweetheart?" He saw mixture of emotions in her eyes and then Sydney was stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him in a desperate hug. At first Jack was so startled that he couldn't muster a response and then he felt Sydney stiffen and start to pull away. With no further hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her.
"I was so scared, Dad," she said, and he could hear her voice break with emotion, "I don't want to lose either of you again."
He raised a hand to gently stroke her head, where it was pressed firmly up against his chest. It was probably the most paternal gesture he had used in years. "Sydney," he said with as much reassurance as he could muster, "Irina is not going to die from this and I am fine- thanks to you and Irina."
She nodded in acknowledgement of what he said, and he could see her regaining some of her composure. After a moment or two more in his arms, she stepped back and distractedly wiped a lone tear away from her eyes. "It's not just that, Dad," she said slowly. "I don't want to have to go back to the CIA and working against Mom. I don't want to wake up one day and have to face the fact that for the rest of my life, I will know that I was my mother's killer. Sloane's dead, why does this have to go any further?"
"Sydney," he replied slowly, "Any situation involving Irina is complicated. Her actions in the past few days have been.." He paused searching for a word, "helpful, but after the way she broke her last agreement with the CIA, they will not give her a second chance."
"Helpful? Dad, she saved both of our lives and helped us bring down Sloane! I think that qualifies as a little bit more than helpful." She looked away from him and he could see her struggling to calm down. "Dad," she said in a much quieter voice that didn't lack any of her former intensity, "I know what Mom has done- she shot me for Pete's sake- but she does love us. She's not heartless, Dad."
He looked at her piercingly for a moment. In his opinion- and that of every psychologist that had ever evaluated Sydney- her greatest flaw as an agent was her trusting nature and empathy for others. Jack wasn't certain that he could trust Sydney's evaluation of the situation and Irina's motivations. She was an enigma at the best of times and discovering her true motivations were almost impossible. He had a hard time believing that Irina's motives were that selfless.
He didn't want to remember how he responded when he had seen Irina laying on the cold floor, covered in a growing quantity of her own blood, and looking as if death was only a breath away. It was so much easier to hold on to the rage and loathing he had built up for twenty years, towards his wife, than to admit the possibility that she might truly love him. He wasn't certain what he wanted to believe.
"All I'm asking, Dad," Sydney said softly, "Is that you listen to Mom before you jump to any conclusions. I know that she hurt you and betrayed you, but she wasn't lying about everything. Not the most important things."
"It's not that simple, Sydney," he said coldly, "Love or regret doesn't excuse anything that Irina did and it certainly doesn't change how I feel about her." Without sparing Sydney a backwards glance, Jack walked away, every step filled with fury. He didn't want to listen to whatever Sydney had to say in her mother's defense. Sugarcoating the truth and defending Irina's actions wouldn't change anything.
As he walked away, he heard Sydney say quietly under her breath, "Well, it's a good thing you're feelings for Mom haven't changed. It would be a shame if you stopped loving her now."
He didn't hesitate to slam the door this time. Sydney. Was. Wrong.
============================================================================ ============================================
When Irina woke up, her surroundings were considerably different than when she had fallen asleep. She was lying in a large comfortable bed in a warm, tastefully decorated bedroom. Despite her instinctive reaction to almost any unknown room, one of immediate caution and a fear of being caged against her will, she felt comfortable in the room almost instantly. She couldn't relax though, not until she knew where Jack and Sydney were. She managed to swing her legs over the side of the bed and sit up through sheer force of will.
She noticed that she no longer wore the clothes that she had put on to rescue Jack and that the gunshot wound in her chest had been cleaned and sown up. She wondered who she had to thank for that. Irina took a deep breath and forced herself to gather her strength before she stood up. She hated the weakness that she was feeling. It was dangerous to be weak. It could get her killed or caught, that is if she wasn't already.
She stood up abruptly and walked towards the bedroom door, ignoring the lightheaded sensation that she was feeling. A door behind her creaked open and she whirled around to face her attacker.
"You shouldn't be out of bed, Irina."
"Why Jack, I didn't know you still felt that way."
He scowled at her as she had expected. "I thought I made my feelings about you more than clear during the past year. I'm sure you remember a certain visit to Camp Harris and your brush with the death penalty."
His words were harsh, but no more so than she had come to expect from Jack since she had turned herself in. She was about to drop the subject and return to the relatively safer subject of their daughter, when she caught the look in his eye and remembered the way he had caressed her face as he started to carry her out of that building.
"You're lying." Before he could object or react to what she had said she uttered one more word. "Panama."
His reaction was just as vehement as she had expected. He gave off a scoffing laugh and said derisively, "Wasn't Panama the biggest lie of all Irina? You played me again. The only difference is, that this time I didn't trust you enough to let you slip away without a trace."
Irina opened her mouth to reply, she wasn't sure what she was going to say to him. Their unfortunate reality was made up of lies and constant deceptions. Sometimes the facts and details of her aliases came easier to her tongue than those of her own life. Still somehow, she had to tell him that there were a few things she had never had to lie to him about, whether he believed her or not. Jack was just as stubborn as she was, however, and he would believe whatever he wanted to believe.
She never got to find out what she would have said to him, because at that moment the door creaked open again and Sydney stepped into the room.
Sydney smiled easily when she saw that Irina was awake, but then she stated with concern, "You shouldn't be out of bed yet, Mom."
"I know," Irina said calmly, keeping her eyes locked on Jack's. "That's what your father was just telling me." She didn't look away until Jack turned away from her and walked over to the window.
Sydney, either not noticing or ignoring the subtext between her parents, smiled at her mother as Irina sat down on the bed. She sat down next to Irina, still smiling and then explained, "Dad took out the bullet and stitched up your wound, himself. We couldn't risk taking you to a hospital, but you have been unconscious for about three days now. We were starting to get worried about you."
Irina smiled reassuringly at Sydney, pushing Jack to the back of her mind for the moment. "I'll be fine, now, Sydney. I've had much worse." She looked down at her chest where the still healing wound was carefully concealed under a clean bandage and smiled enigmatically as she looked back up, "Thank you, Jack."
He nodded at her coolly, but Irina didn't see any malice in his features. She turned back to Sydney and finally asked the question that had been tugging at her mind since she had woken up. "Where are we?"
Sydney answered quickly, "A small island in the Caribbean. This location should be untraceable. No one will be able to connect any of us to this place. I created a whole new alias to buy this place that neither SD-6 nor the CIA know about."
Irina nodded, trusting what her daughter had said, and that they were safe for the moment. Sydney was smart and Jack would have double checked all of the possible contingencies. "Good," this time she looked over at Jack, "Have you decided what the next move is?"
Jack seemed intent on watching the scenery so once again it was Sydney that answered. "No, actually we were waiting for you to wake up. We thought you should have a voice in the discussion."
Irina wondered if Jack and Sydney had really made that decision together and how much of it was really at Sydney's insistence. Irina nodded, but remained silent. This conversation had actually been going fairly well. Now she could feel the tension creep back into the room. She and Sydney had talked several times as they worked together to find Jack and she knew that Sydney was starting to trust her again. This conversation could destroy all of that.
Sloane was dead. She remembered that much at least, from after she was shot. That was good news. It was the fulfillment of the goal that she had been working towards since she had learned that Sloane had recruited Sydney. Still, Irina wasn't sure whether or not Sydney would really leave the CIA or not. Their entire lifestyle was incredibly addictive, but at least Sydney would be free of Sloane's destructive manipulation.
Despite how happy Irina was though, Sloane's death also meant that she and Jack were no longer united against a common enemy. Jack no longer had any reason not to turn her over to the CIA and the death penalty that was waiting for her.
She stated as much, "I suppose you're plans for me include a CIA cell, right Jack?" She allowed the hint of bitterness to creep into her voice. She knew that she had committed numerous crimes- she didn't dispute that- but she currently had more reasons to live than she had, had in years. She was actually coming close to forming a real relationship with her daughter and, if she wasn't mistaken, it looked as if hate wasn't the only thing that Jack felt for her. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking, he had hated her for far too long.
Irina saw Sydney shift slightly and exchange a look with Jack, who still seemed to be intensely interested in the view out the window. "Is that what you would prefer Irina," he asked quietly, coolly.
"Of course not, Jack," she snapped, no longer trying to maintain her usual calm, cool and distant appearance. "But I don't think you'll give me much choice here."
"Mom," Sydney cut in quickly, "We wouldn't go to this much trouble to keep a low profile, just to turn you over to the CIA. Dad and I- " Sydney stopped abruptly at a look from Jack.
To Irina's surprise, Sydney stood up, looking back and forth between her parents. She finally focused on Irina. "Mom, Dad pretty much already knows how I feel about all of this, I think I'm going to let you two finish this conversation. I have arrangements that need to be made." She hesitated for a moment and then moved towards, Irina.
Irina was startled for a moment, almost shocked as Sydney hugged her tightly, but she returned it with as much strength as she could. Sydney pulled away and her gaze flickered towards her father, "Thank you," she whispered, "? ?????? ?? Mom." I love you, Mom.
Irina could feel the tear trickling down her cheek. By the time she could speak again, Sydney had left the room, leaving her to, once again, face Jack.
Please leave a review and let me know what you think. BTW- the little bit of another language thrown in there, is from a translation site called, InterTran, and can be found here:
