Title: True Lies
Author: Puts hand up. Yes me! Aeria, Doona, donna__rose@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13
Please Read and Review
Summary: Jack, Irina, Syd and Vaughn have to play happy families on a mission
A/N: Merry Christmas everyone, I got heaps of stuff for Chrissy! And now, I will update, update, update and hope that you all will read this on Boxing Day! It's getting longer and longer and loosing some tension, but don't worry, I'll resurrect it soon. AND...read and review or I won't ever update, if you R&R enough, you'll have more every day!
Disclaimer: Duh, not mine, Wish they were.
Chapter Nine
Jack had been watching Irina for hours on and off, their stop over in Japan lasting over an hour, but she had not stirred and was still asleep in the same position as she had been during take off. They were now three hours from a quick stop over in Sydney and Jack was perfectly intent on sitting there watching her sleep for the rest of his life, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone including himself. He watched her with wide eyes, both Sydney and Vaughn sleeping behind him, Vaughn's neck warmed by Sydney's head as she nestled, peacefully, there.
Jack was disrupted when the object of his observation snapped her eyes open, the pupils going from covering most of her brown irises to small circles as the light assaulted her. Catching Jack's gaze firmly, her eyes were warm and welcoming mixed with a sense of unease and fear. She was obviously trying to make the best of a difficult situation. Her voice hoarse with sleep, she asked, "Where are we?"
Jack silently thanked her for ignoring whatever emotions she must have noticed in his own stare, "We're just flying over the Great Barrier Reef."
She smiled, realizing she'd done something right and pushed further, never one to be happy with only half. "The Great Barrier Reef?" he nodded, "I went scuba diving there once." A flash of Irina's slim body flowing through the water bounded through Jack's mind uninvited. "It was rather beautiful. I wish I could do it again..." she let her voice trail off, leaving Jack with the choice over whether conversation continued or not.
He smiled slightly at the irony, his eyes still locked with hers. "Kendall called. You were right; he wants us to establish ourselves as tourists. We're to act rich and happy until Thursday night." Jack was, by now, having trouble. She was acting, sounding and looking like a naïve bystander, so honestly that Jack found himself trusting her like he would anyone else. Perhaps even more.
Still she posed a threat for the moment. She smiled at him, deciding not to gloat about something else she had been right about. Breaking eye contact for the first time since she had woken, she scrambled around to look over to where Vaughn sat, asleep, their daughter's head nestled, now quite deeply, in the crook of Vaughn's neck, his head moving down, on top of hers. So closely that his lips were literally nesting against her forehead, both agents with strikingly rich grins on their faces.
Jack smiled in spite of himself, happy to see his daughter sleeping so well and so happily. Irina turned back around, a deep frown etching itself into her features as she slowly began to stretch in her chair.
Catching her confusion, Jack queried, "What?"
"I don't remember getting this blanket out..." she watched the emotion cross his face, Jack suddenly too proud to look away. After a moment's pause, Irina pushed harder, "Did it just materialize out of thin air, or did the stork deliver it?" No reaction, "Santa Clause perhaps? Or the Tooth Fairy?"
"Stop being stupid. You were shivering, you looked cold so I covered you with a blanket. If you are going to insist on trying to rattle me," Jack's voice was harsh but whispered to avoid attention.
"I obviously have," she threw in quickly.
Jack ignored her and continued, "Every time I do anything that you find intriguing, outrageous, wrong or unusual, tell me now!" Jack glared at her with all illusions of being nice lifted and the passion regained.
"What changed you mind," she hissed, her voice snake like. Jack tried to predict where she was going with her opening rhetorical question. "Decided you might not like the idea of me looking uncomfortable?"
Jack looked around them, realizing that despite the fact that the entire argument had been in hushed whispers, several people in Business class were now watching them out of the corner of their eyes. Trying to regain control, Jack lowered his voice another notch, still not prepared to concede. "That was not it!"
"Then what," her accent was back, defiantly not French, "You did it out of hate? To spite me?" This was defiantly not normal behaviour for any couple and the side way glances they were getting were growing in number.
"Be quiet," he conceded, unable to blow a mission on his own pride.
"No Jack, I will not!" As soon as his name was out, Jack knew that he had to shut her up. There were two ways to do that and one involved a lot of blood and a blown mission. Deciding to put the mission before everything else bar the life of himself and his agents, Jack chose the least appealing.
Leaning over quickly to where Irina still had her mouth open, ready to continue speaking, her face taunt with frustration and exasperation. He hesitated a moment before, his eyes locking with hers and Irina undoubtedly seeing exactly what he was about to force upon her. And then, careful to keep his hands in his lap, Jack lets his lips mould into hers, her emotion instantly dimmed her passion affected differently. Her lips were warm, he noticed quickly, warm and silky smooth yet the friction and tension was humongous. He remembered kissing Laura and it had been totally different, momentarily, he wondered why.
He leaned back slowly and turned to look down, avoiding her eyes, unprepared to see what she was feeling and scared of what she might find in his own mind, his thoughts already reeling away from what he had wrongly anticipated.
Irina turned and looked out the window silently smiling for some unknown reason. She sat, knowing full well that Jack had done what he had done for purely professional reasons but still, now they were even, she was no longer in front because of India, he had now gotten his back. Turning further, she licked her top lip before almost contentedly sucking on her lower lip, exactly where Jack's mouth had been seconds before.
Behind them, Sydney watched from the crook of Vaughn's neck, she had had no idea anything could be so passionate and now, she could see her mother's reflection in the plane window as Irina sucked her bottom lip, her expression something akin to mischievous happiness. Smiling, the action over, Sydney closed her eyes and pushed further into a sleeping Vaughn's neck, placing a hand, hesitantly on his smooth chest.
The plane skidded to a halt, awaking Vaughn. He looked out the window, expecting to see Sydney airport as they stopped over. Sydney's voce drifted over from beside him, "We're in Melbourne, you slept through Sydney." She grinned at him before unbuckling her seat belt and standing up. Vaughn followed suit, grabbing the backpack from beneath his chair. Irina and Jack walked soundlessly out in front, blatantly avoiding each other.
The group made their way off the plane, each careful to keep the façade but all preoccupied with their own, private thoughts. Going through customs was easy, their bags checked and again the metal detector fooled. On the other end they watched, nonchalantly, as an agent left their bags among the others and moving on. Grabbing their luggage, they walked out into the multi-layered parking lot and car rental area.
By this stage, both Jack and Irina had regained all composure and were acting the happy, if somewhat distant, couple. Approaching the attendant at the desk of Easy Ride, Jack picked out the most expensive rental and adopted a slight southern accent when talking to the young man who cheerfully handed over the papers in exchange for Chris Pearson's platinum credit card. Jack told the man that they wanted the car for a week and signed the insurance and terms papers before following another young man out to where the open top, silver Mercedes sat waiting, inside a large garage.
Nodding Jack motioned for the man to throw him the keys, winking, the young red haired youth did so and Jack stuck out his hand to catch them. Unluckily, Irina was quick enough to grab them from thin air and gracefully slide into the front seat. Grinning, the boy shrugged and Jack could do naught but chuckle at her playfulness before helping Sydney into the back. Sliding into the front seat beside his wife, Jack smiled at the attendant before buckling in and watching as Irina drove off at a speed illegal in all countries but considered safe if the driver knew what she or he was doing.
The drive was rather easy, Irina knowing the area well enough not to get lost, driving on the wrong side of the road coming as second nature to her and deciding to take the Western Ring road before driving across the West Gate Bridge, the small but homely city visible to the left. The docklands work was coming into it's latest bought of construction, housed high rises, expensive gyms and promenades and the newest theme park and film making area now totally cleared and ready for construction.
Irina pulled large pink-tinged glasses from somewhere and let her hair run rampant behind her as she sped all the way, turning into the Crown underground car par and screeching to a stop in front of the ticket machine. She grabbed a ticket and searched for a car park, her mood turning dark when, after twenty minutes, they still had no park. Eventually she gave up and parked in the road behind what was marked, 'Executive', and got out, carelessly letting her door clunk against the bright blue car she was now blocking.
Vaughn just raised an eyebrow, silently wondering what the next few days would hold before lifting Sydney form the car, his face growing how when he felt her arms wrap behind his head. Putting her down, he stepped back and turned to walk into the reception area.
As the four entered, they booked the best two rooms and, grabbing one of the smartly dressed young men, Jack slipping him a twenty and told him their rooms' numbers. The man smiled back before beginning to lug all four suitcases towards the elevator. Jack just smiled and wandered up towards their room.
Arriving, he smiled at Sydney who led Vaughn into the room next door, he opened his own door, slipping the key card in and opening it up to Irina, her hair now pushed back under a purple scarf. She wandered in, exclaiming loudly at it's beauty and continued with cooing noises until the door was shut, upon which she sat down heavily on the King sized, four poster, bed, covered in red velvet sheets and golden pillows.
She looked up at Jack who was busy opening his suitcase. "It's gross," she told him, her voice higher than usual. "Far too regal." Jack nodded from behind her and continued to unpack, lifting his clothing out of the suitcase and dumping it into draws, leaving the guns, gadgets and kits hidden beneath the second lining and carefully hiding the case in the wardrobe to the west of the room.
Seeing that Jack had closed up for the moment, Irina took to studying the room further. It was supposedly one of six royal suits, two were free at the moment, one was theirs, one was Sydney's and the other two were booked. To the east a rounded window gave a grand view of the city and the open air swimming pool, exclusive to the upper class residents. The Yarra River was visible below, its murky brown depths hiding the tranquil beauty underneath and the glass city buildings' shadows not casting far enough to reach the river in tune to the city's regulations. Smiling, Irina took a seat at the couch and watched the sun as it began to move lower on the horizon, behind her, she could hear Jack moving about, aimlessly, still too scared to leave her by herself, but unable to talk to her or acknowledge her presence.
Go! Read and Review and read all of my other fics!
Author: Puts hand up. Yes me! Aeria, Doona, donna__rose@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13
Please Read and Review
Summary: Jack, Irina, Syd and Vaughn have to play happy families on a mission
A/N: Merry Christmas everyone, I got heaps of stuff for Chrissy! And now, I will update, update, update and hope that you all will read this on Boxing Day! It's getting longer and longer and loosing some tension, but don't worry, I'll resurrect it soon. AND...read and review or I won't ever update, if you R&R enough, you'll have more every day!
Disclaimer: Duh, not mine, Wish they were.
Chapter Nine
Jack had been watching Irina for hours on and off, their stop over in Japan lasting over an hour, but she had not stirred and was still asleep in the same position as she had been during take off. They were now three hours from a quick stop over in Sydney and Jack was perfectly intent on sitting there watching her sleep for the rest of his life, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone including himself. He watched her with wide eyes, both Sydney and Vaughn sleeping behind him, Vaughn's neck warmed by Sydney's head as she nestled, peacefully, there.
Jack was disrupted when the object of his observation snapped her eyes open, the pupils going from covering most of her brown irises to small circles as the light assaulted her. Catching Jack's gaze firmly, her eyes were warm and welcoming mixed with a sense of unease and fear. She was obviously trying to make the best of a difficult situation. Her voice hoarse with sleep, she asked, "Where are we?"
Jack silently thanked her for ignoring whatever emotions she must have noticed in his own stare, "We're just flying over the Great Barrier Reef."
She smiled, realizing she'd done something right and pushed further, never one to be happy with only half. "The Great Barrier Reef?" he nodded, "I went scuba diving there once." A flash of Irina's slim body flowing through the water bounded through Jack's mind uninvited. "It was rather beautiful. I wish I could do it again..." she let her voice trail off, leaving Jack with the choice over whether conversation continued or not.
He smiled slightly at the irony, his eyes still locked with hers. "Kendall called. You were right; he wants us to establish ourselves as tourists. We're to act rich and happy until Thursday night." Jack was, by now, having trouble. She was acting, sounding and looking like a naïve bystander, so honestly that Jack found himself trusting her like he would anyone else. Perhaps even more.
Still she posed a threat for the moment. She smiled at him, deciding not to gloat about something else she had been right about. Breaking eye contact for the first time since she had woken, she scrambled around to look over to where Vaughn sat, asleep, their daughter's head nestled, now quite deeply, in the crook of Vaughn's neck, his head moving down, on top of hers. So closely that his lips were literally nesting against her forehead, both agents with strikingly rich grins on their faces.
Jack smiled in spite of himself, happy to see his daughter sleeping so well and so happily. Irina turned back around, a deep frown etching itself into her features as she slowly began to stretch in her chair.
Catching her confusion, Jack queried, "What?"
"I don't remember getting this blanket out..." she watched the emotion cross his face, Jack suddenly too proud to look away. After a moment's pause, Irina pushed harder, "Did it just materialize out of thin air, or did the stork deliver it?" No reaction, "Santa Clause perhaps? Or the Tooth Fairy?"
"Stop being stupid. You were shivering, you looked cold so I covered you with a blanket. If you are going to insist on trying to rattle me," Jack's voice was harsh but whispered to avoid attention.
"I obviously have," she threw in quickly.
Jack ignored her and continued, "Every time I do anything that you find intriguing, outrageous, wrong or unusual, tell me now!" Jack glared at her with all illusions of being nice lifted and the passion regained.
"What changed you mind," she hissed, her voice snake like. Jack tried to predict where she was going with her opening rhetorical question. "Decided you might not like the idea of me looking uncomfortable?"
Jack looked around them, realizing that despite the fact that the entire argument had been in hushed whispers, several people in Business class were now watching them out of the corner of their eyes. Trying to regain control, Jack lowered his voice another notch, still not prepared to concede. "That was not it!"
"Then what," her accent was back, defiantly not French, "You did it out of hate? To spite me?" This was defiantly not normal behaviour for any couple and the side way glances they were getting were growing in number.
"Be quiet," he conceded, unable to blow a mission on his own pride.
"No Jack, I will not!" As soon as his name was out, Jack knew that he had to shut her up. There were two ways to do that and one involved a lot of blood and a blown mission. Deciding to put the mission before everything else bar the life of himself and his agents, Jack chose the least appealing.
Leaning over quickly to where Irina still had her mouth open, ready to continue speaking, her face taunt with frustration and exasperation. He hesitated a moment before, his eyes locking with hers and Irina undoubtedly seeing exactly what he was about to force upon her. And then, careful to keep his hands in his lap, Jack lets his lips mould into hers, her emotion instantly dimmed her passion affected differently. Her lips were warm, he noticed quickly, warm and silky smooth yet the friction and tension was humongous. He remembered kissing Laura and it had been totally different, momentarily, he wondered why.
He leaned back slowly and turned to look down, avoiding her eyes, unprepared to see what she was feeling and scared of what she might find in his own mind, his thoughts already reeling away from what he had wrongly anticipated.
Irina turned and looked out the window silently smiling for some unknown reason. She sat, knowing full well that Jack had done what he had done for purely professional reasons but still, now they were even, she was no longer in front because of India, he had now gotten his back. Turning further, she licked her top lip before almost contentedly sucking on her lower lip, exactly where Jack's mouth had been seconds before.
Behind them, Sydney watched from the crook of Vaughn's neck, she had had no idea anything could be so passionate and now, she could see her mother's reflection in the plane window as Irina sucked her bottom lip, her expression something akin to mischievous happiness. Smiling, the action over, Sydney closed her eyes and pushed further into a sleeping Vaughn's neck, placing a hand, hesitantly on his smooth chest.
The plane skidded to a halt, awaking Vaughn. He looked out the window, expecting to see Sydney airport as they stopped over. Sydney's voce drifted over from beside him, "We're in Melbourne, you slept through Sydney." She grinned at him before unbuckling her seat belt and standing up. Vaughn followed suit, grabbing the backpack from beneath his chair. Irina and Jack walked soundlessly out in front, blatantly avoiding each other.
The group made their way off the plane, each careful to keep the façade but all preoccupied with their own, private thoughts. Going through customs was easy, their bags checked and again the metal detector fooled. On the other end they watched, nonchalantly, as an agent left their bags among the others and moving on. Grabbing their luggage, they walked out into the multi-layered parking lot and car rental area.
By this stage, both Jack and Irina had regained all composure and were acting the happy, if somewhat distant, couple. Approaching the attendant at the desk of Easy Ride, Jack picked out the most expensive rental and adopted a slight southern accent when talking to the young man who cheerfully handed over the papers in exchange for Chris Pearson's platinum credit card. Jack told the man that they wanted the car for a week and signed the insurance and terms papers before following another young man out to where the open top, silver Mercedes sat waiting, inside a large garage.
Nodding Jack motioned for the man to throw him the keys, winking, the young red haired youth did so and Jack stuck out his hand to catch them. Unluckily, Irina was quick enough to grab them from thin air and gracefully slide into the front seat. Grinning, the boy shrugged and Jack could do naught but chuckle at her playfulness before helping Sydney into the back. Sliding into the front seat beside his wife, Jack smiled at the attendant before buckling in and watching as Irina drove off at a speed illegal in all countries but considered safe if the driver knew what she or he was doing.
The drive was rather easy, Irina knowing the area well enough not to get lost, driving on the wrong side of the road coming as second nature to her and deciding to take the Western Ring road before driving across the West Gate Bridge, the small but homely city visible to the left. The docklands work was coming into it's latest bought of construction, housed high rises, expensive gyms and promenades and the newest theme park and film making area now totally cleared and ready for construction.
Irina pulled large pink-tinged glasses from somewhere and let her hair run rampant behind her as she sped all the way, turning into the Crown underground car par and screeching to a stop in front of the ticket machine. She grabbed a ticket and searched for a car park, her mood turning dark when, after twenty minutes, they still had no park. Eventually she gave up and parked in the road behind what was marked, 'Executive', and got out, carelessly letting her door clunk against the bright blue car she was now blocking.
Vaughn just raised an eyebrow, silently wondering what the next few days would hold before lifting Sydney form the car, his face growing how when he felt her arms wrap behind his head. Putting her down, he stepped back and turned to walk into the reception area.
As the four entered, they booked the best two rooms and, grabbing one of the smartly dressed young men, Jack slipping him a twenty and told him their rooms' numbers. The man smiled back before beginning to lug all four suitcases towards the elevator. Jack just smiled and wandered up towards their room.
Arriving, he smiled at Sydney who led Vaughn into the room next door, he opened his own door, slipping the key card in and opening it up to Irina, her hair now pushed back under a purple scarf. She wandered in, exclaiming loudly at it's beauty and continued with cooing noises until the door was shut, upon which she sat down heavily on the King sized, four poster, bed, covered in red velvet sheets and golden pillows.
She looked up at Jack who was busy opening his suitcase. "It's gross," she told him, her voice higher than usual. "Far too regal." Jack nodded from behind her and continued to unpack, lifting his clothing out of the suitcase and dumping it into draws, leaving the guns, gadgets and kits hidden beneath the second lining and carefully hiding the case in the wardrobe to the west of the room.
Seeing that Jack had closed up for the moment, Irina took to studying the room further. It was supposedly one of six royal suits, two were free at the moment, one was theirs, one was Sydney's and the other two were booked. To the east a rounded window gave a grand view of the city and the open air swimming pool, exclusive to the upper class residents. The Yarra River was visible below, its murky brown depths hiding the tranquil beauty underneath and the glass city buildings' shadows not casting far enough to reach the river in tune to the city's regulations. Smiling, Irina took a seat at the couch and watched the sun as it began to move lower on the horizon, behind her, she could hear Jack moving about, aimlessly, still too scared to leave her by herself, but unable to talk to her or acknowledge her presence.
Go! Read and Review and read all of my other fics!