DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, except for the original ones. The SpyHerd, including myself, are going out for a swim in the Pacific. You are all welcome to join us.

A/N- Hello… I noticed that some of the reviews I got are from 'anonymous' reviewers, and I was wondering if I could just give you (the anonymous reviewers) an email message to "alert" you when a new chapter comes. But then again… Anyway, thanks for the reviews… :D

CHAPTER EIGHT

"He's your father."

Ana stared at her mother. She doesn't believe what she's hearing.

"No he's not." Ana softly said. Her tone doesn't betray the emotions that are stirring inside her. She scrutinized Irina's face and realized that she is dead serious. She kept quiet, waiting for her mother to explain.

Irina saw a flicker of rage, betrayal and shock in Ana's gray eyes but it was quickly masked with indifference.

"Jack Bristow is your father." Irina repeated but she gave no explanation.

Ana's mouth twitched a bit. She then stood up and left the room.

Irina sighed and followed her out, leaving the door open. Ana was halfway towards her bedroom when Irina caught up with her.

"Ana, wait." Irina said and touched her daughter's shoulder.

"Go away. Leave me alone." Ana replied a bit angrily. She will evade the issue rather than face it because she knows that it will lead her to violence.

"Ana, you need to know why…"

"An explanation? Why do I need an explanation?!" Ana asked. "My father's dead. I don't need an explanation, because I saw him die. He died protecting me!" She continued, her voice cracking a little. She is trying hard not to let the tears fall.

"Andrei Vanlevko was my father. Not Jack Bristow."

Irina shook her head. Angry tears fell out of Ana's eyes. Her mother is telling the truth, but she refuses to believe her.

"I don't believe you." Ana said.

"Are you asking for a paternity test?" Irina incredulously asked. 'Ana is asking for a paternity test while Jack did not?' she thought as she looked at her daughter in amazement.

"Yes." Ana replied, jutting her chin up. Her father is an empty space. A person who died when she was two years old and became a void in her life. She doesn't need a father. She grew up fine without him.

'Well, technically speaking, I grew up fine without him.' Ana thought as she left her mother in the hallway. But she knows her mother is telling the truth. She just doesn't know what she's going to do with that reality.

'Jack Bristow doesn't need me and I certainly don't need him.'

-x-x-x-

"Yes, thank you." Jack said as he ended the call. Dixon informed him of the assassin's possible identity, Anya Ivanovnich.

'The Macedonian Ambassador probably needs a prosthetic hand with that gunshot wound. Besides, the bastard deserved it.' Jack thought as he walked out of the study. He retraced his steps and returned to the living room. He saw a woman sitting in one of the chairs, flipping through a photo album. He didn't make a sound. Instead, he watched her. He has a strong feeling she is related to Irina.

She looked up from what the pictures and looked at him. She sensed his presence.

Jack noted the facial resemblance of the woman to Irina. They have the same brown hair, the same brown eyes but a different mouth and eyebrows.

"Jack Bristow, I presume?" she coolly asked. She is evaluating him. Face, body, stance.

"Yelena Derevko?" Jack replied in the same tone. He saw the woman smile a bit. She stood up and approached him.

"I have heard so many things about you. You are quite… fascinating." She said, circling around him like he's some sort of prey.

"So I was told." Jack replied. Katya told him almost the same thing. He looked at his watch. It is almost dinner time.

"Yelena…" Irina said. She felt two pairs of eyes looking at her. "Oh, I see you've already met. Jack, my sister, Yelena, Jack." Irina said 'introducing' them to each other. She is carrying Jacob.

"Where is Ana?" Yelena asked as she abandoned Jack and moved towards her younger sister. Both saw the pained expression in Irina's face.

"In her room." Irina replied. Jacob is saying something incoherent and at the same time, playing with his mother's necklace.

"Is he staying here?" Yelena asked in Russian.

Irina looked at her then to Jack. She shrugged.

"Where are you staying?" She asked him. Jack shook his head. He didn't plan on staying but the children changed things.

"You can stay here, if you want to." Irina said then left the room. She is going to go to the kitchen.

Yelena smiled a bit. "Will you be staying for dinner?" She asked.

"Yes. And I'll probably stay over here, too."

-x-x-x-

[Somewhere in Switzerland]

Seated in a beautiful mahogany chair and furiously scribbling away the day, she was startled by the door opening. She has been alone in the den almost all morning, finishing Rambaldi's last words.

"Nadia, aren't you tired of being cooped inside this room?" Her father asked as he went towards her.

She ignored him and continued writing. Sloane placed a hand on her shoulder and watched her work.

"I want this over with, so if you could just please step back and let me finish this." Nadia said, not looking at him. She can't believe she broke out of the CIA safe house for another safe house.

Sloane stepped away from her. He walked towards one of the seats in front of her and sat down.

"You haven't spoken a word about your mother. Did Sydney tell you all about her?" Sloane asked after a few minutes.

Nadia stopped writing and looked at him.

"Why will I ask the most beloved child what our mother is like?" Nadia asked, looking at him directly in the eye.

'Why would she love the child with the man she despises? I was only created for the sheer purpose of alleviating Sydney of the burden of being the Chosen One.' Nadia thought as she waited for his answer.

Sloane tapped his chin a bit and then stood up again. He positioned himself by the table's side. "I wouldn't call Sydney the most beloved child, my dear…" He said as he stroked Nadia's hair. Nadia tried very hard not to show her disgust. Her father's touch seems incestuous.

"You see, there is another child. She begged KGB to allow her to keep the infant. She's five years younger than you, almost seventeen. A few of your mother's happiness." Sloane said in a malicious tone.

"What's her name?" Nadia asked, a bit interested, but at the same time envious.

"Your mother named her Ana. She's a spitting image of Irina when she was younger." Sloane said. "Ana's the only one who grew up feeling what a mother's love is like." He added in a mocking tone. He is still stroking Nadia's hair.

"Who's her father?" Nadia asked, ignoring the way Sloane is telling her this 'revelation'.

"Jack Bristow."

She looked at him inquiringly. Sloane smiled a bit.

"You might be thinking it's impossible since they've never seen each other until almost three years ago. But that is not the case." Sloane replied then walked back to the chair.

"You see, Irina hid your existence from the world because I'm your father. Your mother hid Ana's existence because she didn't want Ana to be taken away from her."

He saw Nadia's face darken. He could easily read in her face the growing hatred for Irina. Sloane turned to leave the room. He smiled, feeling that he had succeeded in his quest to plant seeds of hate in Nadia. He wants her to feel detestation for her mother and her sister. Especially for Ana.

He wants Rambaldi's word to be fulfilled.

-x-x-x-

Ana is quietly sitting in her chair, looking at her dinner. Dante made fettuccini, steak, mashed potatoes and buttered vegetables. But she's wondering how she'll eat them. Her right wrist is broken while the pointing finger and middle finger in her left hand are fractured.

"Bambina, do you want to be fed like your brother?" Dante jokingly asked as they ate. She smiled weakly at him. Unconsciously, she smoothed a strand of hair that got lost in her face and then took her fork with her right hand. She began to eat.

"Finally, you've started to eat!" Francis exclaimed. "Why are you so quiet? This is the first time I've actually ate dinner with you without hearing your voice!" That statement earned him a kick from his lover, Dante.

Jack looked at the three men sitting by his right. Yelena is sitting next to her niece but Ana is sitting directly in front of him. Irina is at the head of the table, trying to feed Jacob with mashed potatoes. But Jacob is flinging most of what his mother is giving him. He's quite entertained with what he is doing.

"Jacob, please stop." Irina said in a soothing tone. The baby ignored her and laughed. Irina smiled a bit. She's wondering what her appearance looks like, but she knows that there is at least half a plate of mashed potatoes in her hair and clothes.

Jack looked at Irina. She looks… adorable.

"Maybe he doesn't want mashed potatoes." Jack said.

Irina looked at him then shrugged.

"I'll be in the den." She announced after sipping her mango juice. She lifted Jacob off his chair and walked out of the dining room. Jack watched her, a bit fascinated with the ease in her actions.

"She'll be feeding him in the den?" Jack asked, looking at Yelena.

"Irina's still breast-feeding him. Sometimes, Jacob doesn't like eating solid food." Yelena answered.

Jack raised a brow then nodded his head. His attention turned to Ana. His daughter. The child who inherited his mother's gray eyes. He tried to imagine what his mother's reaction would be, if she had seen Ana. She would have been pleased.

Ana avoided his gaze and ate her dinner with her head down. Jack can feel her burning resentment at him. But he ignored it. He can't change how she feels.

"May I be excused?" his daughter asked after a few minutes. She has finished everything in her plate and her mango juice. She wants to escape the silence of the dining room. Most of the time, she's the one who talks and all of them find it quite entertaining. But at this moment, she doesn't want to talk. All she wants to do right now is sleep.

"Of course." Yelena said in Russian. Ana gave her a small smile and stood up. As she went out of the room, Irina went in, holding a baby monitor.

"Ana, could you please watch over your brother for a while?" She asked. "He's in the room."

"Sure." Her daughter mumbled and exited.

Irina sighed. Ana's still angry. She shook her head and went to her chair.

"Did she finish eating?" Irina asked as she unconsciously tucked her hair behind her ear. She still has mashed potatoes in her hair.

"Yes. She did." Byron answered. "She ate everything we placed on her plate."

Irina nodded her head and started to eat. She looked at Jack, who is talking to Francis. She envies Dante and Francis' relationship. Both were closet gays when she first met them but she immediately saw the attraction between the two men. Now, they are so happy together. Only in her imagination was she able to see herself happy with Jack. She knows their relationship is complicated and she knows that Jack still hates her for what she had done. Her children are also caught up in this web of intrigues and it seems that everything is her fault.

'God, my life is so complicated.'

A/N- Hello… I think this a dragging chapter… what do you think? I like reading your reviews so I think you should leave one :-)