Chapter Four
Title: True Lies
Author: Puts hand up. Yes me! Aeria, Doona, donna__rose@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13
Please Read and Review
Summary: Jack and Irina have a chat
A/N: Yes, I know stupid to try to write a character no one can work out, but I want to try, because I'm bored. So please hate it, love it whatever. I'm not sure I have the characters right, so if you have any suggestions, tell me. Okay, is it getting better or worse and the only way you'll get more is if you keep reviewing so well.
Oh and go and read my other story, Wish List, and review that too.
Disclaimer: Duh, not mine, Wish they were.
She swallowed and would have said something if the door hadn't creaked open, the voice of the guard drifted through, "Go ahead sir."
Vaughn walked into the room and nodded to Jack, his grey business suit looking awkward on him, his hands shoved deep in the pockets. Quickly, the tension was covered by the pair along with the masks that automatically slithered into place; Jack's eyes falling down before rising, the look of indifference back, while Irina's usual smug and secretive smile and slitted eyes took over her features where seconds before her eyes had been round and partially uncovered and her smile had been real.
Vaughn had no idea that anything had happened. "It's good that you're here," he spoke to jack, "Because I want you to hear what I have to say to the prisoner."
Jack stood up and shook his head, "I'm sorry, Agent Vaughn, I was just leaving."
Vaughn lifted a hand up and stopped Jack from departing, "Please, this will take only a minute." Reluctantly Jack sat back down. "What is it you want with her?"
"I came," Vaughn directed his attention back to Irina, her eyes shifting to his from where they had been staring, as she carefully scrutinised the prior conversation, picking it apart with a thin needle. "I came, to say thank you."
Jack raised an eyebrow as he realised that Vaughn had just achieved something he had been unable to. "You saved Sydney and many others' lives last week, and I have to thank you for that. I hear that you did it in a...round about way, but you did do it and I want you to understand that it is appreciated."
Irina nodded to him, her mind split between the present conversation and the exchange of words with Jack. She watched as Vaughn looked down at his hands, obviously not finished with her.
"I'd also like to point out that Sydney looks to you for help, advice, and while this might not be highly intelligent of her, she still insists on doing it. I want you to know that she isn't doing it for your benefit or because someone if telling her to. She does it because she believes you can help."
Vaughn looked to Jack, trying to see what he was thinking but his offensive glare was stronger than usual today and he didn't look as though he wanted to talk. Irina continued to listen silently.
"Irina, I really think you should take this seriously..."
Irina cut across him,"I take everything anyone says seriously." She glanced at Jack, "Please go on. I'm listening."
"Everyone can see the similarities in looks between you and Sydney, it is adding to this...bond between you two. What I'm worried about is that you seem to think alike as well. You react similarly, talk in the same way, have similar tastes as far as I've seen."
He looked at Jack who seemed to be off somewhere else, something he didn't often do was tune out and Vaughn filed the fact away for later study, "I mean you have got to agree with me on this, they are very alike," he said to Jack. Vaughn doubted he would agree and was shocked when he responded with a short and sharp nod. He quickly continued: his eyes still focused on Jack, "Right, and this might all seem irrelevant to you, but it is only strengthening this...this whole ideal Sydney has of you."
"What exactly do you want me to do?" Irina said, her voice regaining its normal composure, no sign of the rasp left.
Vaughn shook his head and turned back to her, "Nothing, I just want you to know what's going on."
"That's very sweet of you." Irina's eyes panned over to Jack and locked. "It's nice to have someone who opens up and lets their feelings show. Go on."
"I like Sydney," he looked at Jack whose eyes had swiftly moved and were now boring into his head, his brows low in a glower. "I mean, I respect her," Irina allowed a small laugh to escape her lips, bringing Vaughn's attention back to her. "I do, she's a fantastic agent and person. And she respects you, whether this is because you are her mother or because you deserve it I can't say, but she does."
Jack's voice made Irina jump ever so slightly that no one but she noticed, it rattled her. "How do you know all of this?"
Vaughn stared at him for a moment, "She talks to me about it, and I can tell, she wants to tell me but something or someone keeps stopping her." Jack nodded but looked unhappy.
"So, she respects you, I respect her, and I find myself wanting to respect you. You haven't put a foot wrong in the past three...four months, and I just think that you should know that I am beginning to respect you." He paused, the whole thing had come out badly and he knew he'd be dead if looks could kill and Jack would most probably be up for murder in the first. "Now, this might upset you Jack as we all know your feelings when it comes to Irina."
"At least we all think we know your feelings when it comes to me, they might, of course, just be some elaborate façade you put on to hide something else." Irina interrupted Vaughn and started talking to Jack, her voice slightly slicker than it should have been.
Vaughn shook his head, "What I was trying to say is that while you might not want me to, I am beginning to trust her. I'm actually starting to like you, you saved Sydney when you didn't have to and you have co-operated fully, I like your way of thinking and if you," he turned to Jack, "Don't like it, then, I'm sorry. If this is a mistake, I take full responsibility for myself."
Vaughn shrugged at both of them as his speech came to an end. Jack watched Irina as she smiled to herself, either in happiness or in pride for getting yet another man wrapped around her finger. Vaughn's forehead creased as he realised neither was really paying him much attention and abruptly he picked up on the subtle, but present, tension hanging in the air. "Hey, did I interrupt anything?"
"No," Jack's answer was too quick for it to be the truth and Vaughn's brow deepened. Irina just smiled enigmatically.
"Agent Vaughn, can I call you Michael," Vaughn nodded before he could stop himself, "Michael, I realise that you coming here must have taken a lot of courage and saying thank you would have been very hard considering how much you believe you should hate me. I appreciate it."
Irina's eyes slid like a very deadly snake to Jack and Vaughn's followed her gaze. "I think the fact that you could manage the gesture is positive and I am very happy that you can find it in your heart to admit you are beginning to like me. Many other people wouldn't be able to do it unless they were....under intense pressure." Irina had to grin, she was having fun and the fact that Jack's eyes were narrower than ever before was just more fun to watch.
"The fact that you came here for another reason does dim the affection a little though." Irina turned back to Vaughn, leaving Jack to regain his composure. "I think you should go after Sydney. But first, I want you to hear something." Irina had by now totally forgotten about Jack, the story she was about to tell, something she wanted to desperately do.
"Your father was killed in the building in India I was standing in last week. I did pull the trigger, but I never meant for it to kill William." Vaughn stood confused and on edge. "I had gotten a hold of a gun and time alone with Cuvee, totally alone. I was joking around with him, I picked the gun up; I wanted him to die. I thought it would go off without a hitch. He though I was stuffing around and I figured that was fine until a nock at door, he opened it, I'd run out of time. I pulled the trigger without bothering to look up from the floor."
Vaughn stared at her. "Your father was the man at the door; Cuvee thought I was sick enough to kill someone just for a laugh. He grabbed him and used him as a shield." Irina looked down, her eyes welling up, again, at the memory. "Even after he'd realised I had in fact taken the shot, he though it was a joke.
"It was horrible, I'd killed an innocent prisoner and he thought it was a joke, I played along after that, I had lost my chance. I never got another one." She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I understand if you don't believe me."
Vaughn's gaze had gone steely, his eyes turning to the colour of ivy and his forehead covered in creases. He thought for a minute, the time seeming endless to Irina. "I believe you, I don't know why, but I do. And I forgive you for your mistake."
Jack raised his head and looked unbelievingly at Vaughn. Irina looked up and smiled at him, a tear falling down the side of her cheek and onto the surface. Vaughn saw it and felt his lips turning up as he realised what had just happened. "Thank you," she whispered.
"What did you mean about going after Sydney?" he asked with some hesitation but an edge of curiosity. Vaughn purposely changing the subject, the loss of his father still a subject that stung viciously but not so much, now that he knew how.
Irina couldn't help but smile, her tears wiped away and her mind back in control of her emotions. She didn't feel all that threatened by the knowledge that Vaughn now had the smallest amount of awareness of her own emotions. Jack just continued to stare at Vaughn who had for some reason or another decided to trust Irina.
"I think you should go after her, chase her down. You love her and she loves you..." The word was awkward off her tongue and landed on both men's ears with an effect of severe shock. Jack looked at his ex-wife as though she were mad while Vaughn turned his head enough so that there was no way he could meet Jack's eyes.
The beginning of doubt already rising in his mind, he still wasn't sure enough of Sydney's true feelings to pursue this. Catching this, Irina spoke, "She does love you, you know." Irina had the look of a mother and Jack eyes wandered from face to face.
Unluckily Vaughn's head moved slightly at that and he found himself with his eyes locked with Jack's. He stuttered, "I really, don't know what she's talking about."
Jack hesitated, looking to Irina. Vaughn had his eyes glued to Jack and as her eyes darted around to meet Jacks, he found them naked, uncovered, completely open, her mind exposed, thoughts bare, she was leaving herself utterly unprotected.
The last time he'd seen those brown eyes completely unprotected was never. Jack had always thought that there was something unsaid, reserved for Laura only when she had been posing as his wife, but now, nothing. It was scary, shocking and breath-taking at the same time. But it was what he saw that shocked him the most; it was a lost sort of pleading, a beseeching that was real, from the heart, a demand for him to agree and at the edges everything else, a lost, scared look accompanied by an intelligence almost inhuman and passion greater than any he had ever seen.
He looked at her face, taking in the tear stain that was still present due to the rebel tear from moments before. He swallowed, hoping to God that he was not about to make a huge mistake. He turned back to Vaughn who was still happily unaware of the situation. Irina watched him like a hawk, her defences slipping back to where they had peacefully sat for the past thirty- something years.
Jack glanced back to Irina before nodding, slowly at first but then quickly and defiantly. "While I don't exactly know how you plan on pulling this off, Irina's right, again. Go..."
Vaughn looked almost horrified at Jack's change in behaviour, he looked younger, he looked almost happy. Vaughn tried to remember how much beer he'd had that day and when he came up with nothing, he nodded to Irina who simply smiled at him and left.
Jack remained in the seat while Irina looked at her hands. She suddenly regretted allowing Jack to see her so visibly; he was the one man who wanted revenge on her the most and she no longer had anything to keep from him. She watched him with the corner of her eye as he stood gradually, and began to wander around the room, still with his eyes on her. She carefully erected another line of defence, her eyes dimming until they were dark and completely unreadable.
Jack stopped and looked down at her properly, aware of the guard she was trying to establish. He looked for one of her few buttons and pressed it, "Why did you do that?"
"He likes her, they'd be good together," completely flat and emotionless, nothing escaping with her words.
"I mean why did you let me see?" Jack was careful of what he said, not wanting to startle her, but still trying to keep her on edge.
"Because, Sydney's happiness is worth more than mine." Irina gulped, realising that now that she'd let him in, she had very little chance of keeping him out, sharing her mind was like a drug and just a second's try had her addicted. "You can get me now, you've seen where my weaknesses lie, but at least my daughter will be happy."
Jack noticed the drop of fire mixed in with the monotone she had employed. "I don't think I'll consider doing that," he spoke slowly; "I have no reason to."
Irina let a peal of laughter flow from her lips, the regret building like a hurricane within her mind, all of her defences instantaneously failing, leaving her mind open once again. "You have every reason to, or, have you decided to forgive me?"
Jack's eyes narrowed as she looked down, her eyes out of sight. "Look at me."
"No," Irina was strict, an edge of fear gripping her voice. "No, I don't think I should." Suddenly sounding so helpless that even Jack was finding it hard to doubt her honesty.
"Please."
She shook her head, laughing almost hysterically, "No, no you shouldn't have to see me like this, it's unfair. I mean, look at what I have you acting like already, all nice, passionate, you haven't been like that for twenty years, I hate what I'm doing to you."
Jack, had he been on the other side of the glass, would have forced her to look up, but as it was he had no way of compelling her to look anywhere. He ran her words back again and found a truth that he wanted desperately to voice, "You say you hate what you're doing to me?" she nodded almost unnoticeably, "Where as I love it."
Irina's brown eyes were suddenly level with his and the deep brown pools were as naked as they had ever been before.
Haha, review and you'll get more and go check my other story. Wish List
Title: True Lies
Author: Puts hand up. Yes me! Aeria, Doona, donna__rose@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13
Please Read and Review
Summary: Jack and Irina have a chat
A/N: Yes, I know stupid to try to write a character no one can work out, but I want to try, because I'm bored. So please hate it, love it whatever. I'm not sure I have the characters right, so if you have any suggestions, tell me. Okay, is it getting better or worse and the only way you'll get more is if you keep reviewing so well.
Oh and go and read my other story, Wish List, and review that too.
Disclaimer: Duh, not mine, Wish they were.
She swallowed and would have said something if the door hadn't creaked open, the voice of the guard drifted through, "Go ahead sir."
Vaughn walked into the room and nodded to Jack, his grey business suit looking awkward on him, his hands shoved deep in the pockets. Quickly, the tension was covered by the pair along with the masks that automatically slithered into place; Jack's eyes falling down before rising, the look of indifference back, while Irina's usual smug and secretive smile and slitted eyes took over her features where seconds before her eyes had been round and partially uncovered and her smile had been real.
Vaughn had no idea that anything had happened. "It's good that you're here," he spoke to jack, "Because I want you to hear what I have to say to the prisoner."
Jack stood up and shook his head, "I'm sorry, Agent Vaughn, I was just leaving."
Vaughn lifted a hand up and stopped Jack from departing, "Please, this will take only a minute." Reluctantly Jack sat back down. "What is it you want with her?"
"I came," Vaughn directed his attention back to Irina, her eyes shifting to his from where they had been staring, as she carefully scrutinised the prior conversation, picking it apart with a thin needle. "I came, to say thank you."
Jack raised an eyebrow as he realised that Vaughn had just achieved something he had been unable to. "You saved Sydney and many others' lives last week, and I have to thank you for that. I hear that you did it in a...round about way, but you did do it and I want you to understand that it is appreciated."
Irina nodded to him, her mind split between the present conversation and the exchange of words with Jack. She watched as Vaughn looked down at his hands, obviously not finished with her.
"I'd also like to point out that Sydney looks to you for help, advice, and while this might not be highly intelligent of her, she still insists on doing it. I want you to know that she isn't doing it for your benefit or because someone if telling her to. She does it because she believes you can help."
Vaughn looked to Jack, trying to see what he was thinking but his offensive glare was stronger than usual today and he didn't look as though he wanted to talk. Irina continued to listen silently.
"Irina, I really think you should take this seriously..."
Irina cut across him,"I take everything anyone says seriously." She glanced at Jack, "Please go on. I'm listening."
"Everyone can see the similarities in looks between you and Sydney, it is adding to this...bond between you two. What I'm worried about is that you seem to think alike as well. You react similarly, talk in the same way, have similar tastes as far as I've seen."
He looked at Jack who seemed to be off somewhere else, something he didn't often do was tune out and Vaughn filed the fact away for later study, "I mean you have got to agree with me on this, they are very alike," he said to Jack. Vaughn doubted he would agree and was shocked when he responded with a short and sharp nod. He quickly continued: his eyes still focused on Jack, "Right, and this might all seem irrelevant to you, but it is only strengthening this...this whole ideal Sydney has of you."
"What exactly do you want me to do?" Irina said, her voice regaining its normal composure, no sign of the rasp left.
Vaughn shook his head and turned back to her, "Nothing, I just want you to know what's going on."
"That's very sweet of you." Irina's eyes panned over to Jack and locked. "It's nice to have someone who opens up and lets their feelings show. Go on."
"I like Sydney," he looked at Jack whose eyes had swiftly moved and were now boring into his head, his brows low in a glower. "I mean, I respect her," Irina allowed a small laugh to escape her lips, bringing Vaughn's attention back to her. "I do, she's a fantastic agent and person. And she respects you, whether this is because you are her mother or because you deserve it I can't say, but she does."
Jack's voice made Irina jump ever so slightly that no one but she noticed, it rattled her. "How do you know all of this?"
Vaughn stared at him for a moment, "She talks to me about it, and I can tell, she wants to tell me but something or someone keeps stopping her." Jack nodded but looked unhappy.
"So, she respects you, I respect her, and I find myself wanting to respect you. You haven't put a foot wrong in the past three...four months, and I just think that you should know that I am beginning to respect you." He paused, the whole thing had come out badly and he knew he'd be dead if looks could kill and Jack would most probably be up for murder in the first. "Now, this might upset you Jack as we all know your feelings when it comes to Irina."
"At least we all think we know your feelings when it comes to me, they might, of course, just be some elaborate façade you put on to hide something else." Irina interrupted Vaughn and started talking to Jack, her voice slightly slicker than it should have been.
Vaughn shook his head, "What I was trying to say is that while you might not want me to, I am beginning to trust her. I'm actually starting to like you, you saved Sydney when you didn't have to and you have co-operated fully, I like your way of thinking and if you," he turned to Jack, "Don't like it, then, I'm sorry. If this is a mistake, I take full responsibility for myself."
Vaughn shrugged at both of them as his speech came to an end. Jack watched Irina as she smiled to herself, either in happiness or in pride for getting yet another man wrapped around her finger. Vaughn's forehead creased as he realised neither was really paying him much attention and abruptly he picked up on the subtle, but present, tension hanging in the air. "Hey, did I interrupt anything?"
"No," Jack's answer was too quick for it to be the truth and Vaughn's brow deepened. Irina just smiled enigmatically.
"Agent Vaughn, can I call you Michael," Vaughn nodded before he could stop himself, "Michael, I realise that you coming here must have taken a lot of courage and saying thank you would have been very hard considering how much you believe you should hate me. I appreciate it."
Irina's eyes slid like a very deadly snake to Jack and Vaughn's followed her gaze. "I think the fact that you could manage the gesture is positive and I am very happy that you can find it in your heart to admit you are beginning to like me. Many other people wouldn't be able to do it unless they were....under intense pressure." Irina had to grin, she was having fun and the fact that Jack's eyes were narrower than ever before was just more fun to watch.
"The fact that you came here for another reason does dim the affection a little though." Irina turned back to Vaughn, leaving Jack to regain his composure. "I think you should go after Sydney. But first, I want you to hear something." Irina had by now totally forgotten about Jack, the story she was about to tell, something she wanted to desperately do.
"Your father was killed in the building in India I was standing in last week. I did pull the trigger, but I never meant for it to kill William." Vaughn stood confused and on edge. "I had gotten a hold of a gun and time alone with Cuvee, totally alone. I was joking around with him, I picked the gun up; I wanted him to die. I thought it would go off without a hitch. He though I was stuffing around and I figured that was fine until a nock at door, he opened it, I'd run out of time. I pulled the trigger without bothering to look up from the floor."
Vaughn stared at her. "Your father was the man at the door; Cuvee thought I was sick enough to kill someone just for a laugh. He grabbed him and used him as a shield." Irina looked down, her eyes welling up, again, at the memory. "Even after he'd realised I had in fact taken the shot, he though it was a joke.
"It was horrible, I'd killed an innocent prisoner and he thought it was a joke, I played along after that, I had lost my chance. I never got another one." She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I understand if you don't believe me."
Vaughn's gaze had gone steely, his eyes turning to the colour of ivy and his forehead covered in creases. He thought for a minute, the time seeming endless to Irina. "I believe you, I don't know why, but I do. And I forgive you for your mistake."
Jack raised his head and looked unbelievingly at Vaughn. Irina looked up and smiled at him, a tear falling down the side of her cheek and onto the surface. Vaughn saw it and felt his lips turning up as he realised what had just happened. "Thank you," she whispered.
"What did you mean about going after Sydney?" he asked with some hesitation but an edge of curiosity. Vaughn purposely changing the subject, the loss of his father still a subject that stung viciously but not so much, now that he knew how.
Irina couldn't help but smile, her tears wiped away and her mind back in control of her emotions. She didn't feel all that threatened by the knowledge that Vaughn now had the smallest amount of awareness of her own emotions. Jack just continued to stare at Vaughn who had for some reason or another decided to trust Irina.
"I think you should go after her, chase her down. You love her and she loves you..." The word was awkward off her tongue and landed on both men's ears with an effect of severe shock. Jack looked at his ex-wife as though she were mad while Vaughn turned his head enough so that there was no way he could meet Jack's eyes.
The beginning of doubt already rising in his mind, he still wasn't sure enough of Sydney's true feelings to pursue this. Catching this, Irina spoke, "She does love you, you know." Irina had the look of a mother and Jack eyes wandered from face to face.
Unluckily Vaughn's head moved slightly at that and he found himself with his eyes locked with Jack's. He stuttered, "I really, don't know what she's talking about."
Jack hesitated, looking to Irina. Vaughn had his eyes glued to Jack and as her eyes darted around to meet Jacks, he found them naked, uncovered, completely open, her mind exposed, thoughts bare, she was leaving herself utterly unprotected.
The last time he'd seen those brown eyes completely unprotected was never. Jack had always thought that there was something unsaid, reserved for Laura only when she had been posing as his wife, but now, nothing. It was scary, shocking and breath-taking at the same time. But it was what he saw that shocked him the most; it was a lost sort of pleading, a beseeching that was real, from the heart, a demand for him to agree and at the edges everything else, a lost, scared look accompanied by an intelligence almost inhuman and passion greater than any he had ever seen.
He looked at her face, taking in the tear stain that was still present due to the rebel tear from moments before. He swallowed, hoping to God that he was not about to make a huge mistake. He turned back to Vaughn who was still happily unaware of the situation. Irina watched him like a hawk, her defences slipping back to where they had peacefully sat for the past thirty- something years.
Jack glanced back to Irina before nodding, slowly at first but then quickly and defiantly. "While I don't exactly know how you plan on pulling this off, Irina's right, again. Go..."
Vaughn looked almost horrified at Jack's change in behaviour, he looked younger, he looked almost happy. Vaughn tried to remember how much beer he'd had that day and when he came up with nothing, he nodded to Irina who simply smiled at him and left.
Jack remained in the seat while Irina looked at her hands. She suddenly regretted allowing Jack to see her so visibly; he was the one man who wanted revenge on her the most and she no longer had anything to keep from him. She watched him with the corner of her eye as he stood gradually, and began to wander around the room, still with his eyes on her. She carefully erected another line of defence, her eyes dimming until they were dark and completely unreadable.
Jack stopped and looked down at her properly, aware of the guard she was trying to establish. He looked for one of her few buttons and pressed it, "Why did you do that?"
"He likes her, they'd be good together," completely flat and emotionless, nothing escaping with her words.
"I mean why did you let me see?" Jack was careful of what he said, not wanting to startle her, but still trying to keep her on edge.
"Because, Sydney's happiness is worth more than mine." Irina gulped, realising that now that she'd let him in, she had very little chance of keeping him out, sharing her mind was like a drug and just a second's try had her addicted. "You can get me now, you've seen where my weaknesses lie, but at least my daughter will be happy."
Jack noticed the drop of fire mixed in with the monotone she had employed. "I don't think I'll consider doing that," he spoke slowly; "I have no reason to."
Irina let a peal of laughter flow from her lips, the regret building like a hurricane within her mind, all of her defences instantaneously failing, leaving her mind open once again. "You have every reason to, or, have you decided to forgive me?"
Jack's eyes narrowed as she looked down, her eyes out of sight. "Look at me."
"No," Irina was strict, an edge of fear gripping her voice. "No, I don't think I should." Suddenly sounding so helpless that even Jack was finding it hard to doubt her honesty.
"Please."
She shook her head, laughing almost hysterically, "No, no you shouldn't have to see me like this, it's unfair. I mean, look at what I have you acting like already, all nice, passionate, you haven't been like that for twenty years, I hate what I'm doing to you."
Jack, had he been on the other side of the glass, would have forced her to look up, but as it was he had no way of compelling her to look anywhere. He ran her words back again and found a truth that he wanted desperately to voice, "You say you hate what you're doing to me?" she nodded almost unnoticeably, "Where as I love it."
Irina's brown eyes were suddenly level with his and the deep brown pools were as naked as they had ever been before.
Haha, review and you'll get more and go check my other story. Wish List