DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, except for the original ones, so don't sue. I am just a student who can't help but dance like there's no tomorrow whenever I hear Beyoncé's Crazy in Love

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"Jack, give your phone to Ana. I want to talk to her." Irina said. Jack called her, with an assurance of a secure line and told her about Ana's recent escape. Irina is in London, in her living room with Nadia and Jacob. Nadia and Jacob are playing.

Jack told her everything, including the spat in the rooftop. Frankly speaking, Irina isn't surprised with Ana's abilities in escaping. Once, when Ana was studying in a Swiss boarding school, she faked an accident, which in turn created panic amongst the students and teachers, thus allowing her to leave Switzerland and arrive in London a few days later. Irina pulled her out of the school a few weeks after that incident.

"I don't think she's in any mood for reprimanding." Jack said in the other line.

Irina, who is tinkering with her necklace, sighed. "I'm not going to shout at her. I don't shout at my children." She saw Nadia look at her and smile.

She heard him mutter something incoherent under his breath and then call Ana.

"Hello?" Ana greeted after Jack handed her the phone and leave the room. She's not feeling well. Her nose is stuffy, her head hurts and her eyes are watery. And she feels cold even if she's wearing a thick sweatshirt and jogging pants.

'Am I sick? But I rarely get sick.' She thought.

"I am not pleased with what you did, Arriana."

Ana sighed. When her mother calls her that name, she knows that she's very disappointed with her. When her mother calls her by her whole name that means she's very angry.

"I didn't raise you to be rude. You could have just told your father what you feel in a much politer way."

"Mom, he's not going to listen. He doesn't even talk to me. He doesn't care." Ana replied.

"How do you know that he doesn't care? Did you even try talking to him?"

There was a few minutes pause.

"Arriana, did you try?"

"No." Her answer was followed with a sneeze. And then another one. "Sorry." She said in a slightly muffled tone.

"Are you okay?" Irina asked, concerned.

"Dbyeah. I'b okay."

"Do you have a cold? Does your head hurt?"

"Dyes, my head hurts. But I dod't dow if I have a cold."

"Give the phone back to your father."

Irina heard Ana shuffle around and then say to a loud voice. "Eggscuse be, but bom wadts to talk to dyou."

Jack appeared a few seconds later. When he took the phone form her, he noticed that Ana's face seemed a little flushed.

"Stay in the living room." Jack said. Ana obeyed him and quietly shuffled back to the living room.

Jack and Irina's conversation lasted another hour. They talked about almost everything except for them

Jack sighed as he looked at his cell phone. He doesn't want to talk to the phone. He wants to talk to the real person.

To Irina.

He knows that she's hiding something from him but he doesn't know what it is. And there seems to be an unsaid rule that they will only sought each other out for their children's safety and concern.

'Could you live with that? Will you only take what she's offering or demand for more?' he asked himself as he walked towards the living room.

Ana is curled up in the sofa, her fist balled by her cheeks. She looks exhausted and yet so innocent. Jack quietly approached her and lightly placed a hand at the top of her forehead. She's a bit feverish.

"Ana?" Jack said in a hushed tone and softly tapped her in the shoulder. She didn't stir at all.

Jack smiled a bit and gently lifted her off the couch. Ana's weight can rival a piece of paper and her length is equal to a full length bamboo tree.

'Hmm… will she like it if I call her bamboo?'

-x0x-x0x-x0x-

Jack is in his office, finishing all the paperwork he brought from the office. It is almost midnight, but he's still wide awake.

Hearing Irina's voice again after four weeks distracted him. She always distracts him. And this drives him crazy. Sometimes he hates it. Sometimes, he doesn't.

He sighed and stood up. As he stretched his aching back, he took a look at his watch. One fifteen AM.

'It's been four hours since the phone call. Stop thinking about what you could have told her!' Jack thought irritably and looked at the phone.

"One more." Jack said under his breath. He will check one more document before going to sleep.

He was finalizing the papers when he heard a soft patter of footsteps. Puzzled, Jack stood up and went outside the room and into the hallway.

He saw Ana walking in the corridor, on her way to the front door.

"Ana, where are you going?" Jack barked and went towards her. Ana turned around and looked at him. 'My god. Do I have an unstable daughter?' he exasperatedly thought as he tried to muster a glare that would make her feel guilty with what she's doing.

"…huh?"

"I asked where you're going."

"Gavareetye pazhalooysta myedleeney." Ana replied.

Jack looked at her. Ana is barefoot but it seems that she intends to go out of the house. She also has a lost look on her face.

'She's sleepwalking.' Jack thought.

"Vi gavareetye pa angleeskee?" He asked, going towards her.

"Da. Where is mama?" Ana asked in a very heavy accent.

"She's not here. Why are you going out?" Jack asked gently. He has never heard Ana call Irina 'mama'.

Ana pouted a bit. "Who… kak vas zavoot?" she asked.

Jack surmised that she must be dreaming about an incident when she was not adept in the English language yet.

"I'm Jack Bristow, a friend of your… mama." Jack said. "You need to sleep." He said gently said and took her hand. Her temperature is very high.

"When will she be here?" Ana asked when she and Jack started to walk towards the stairs.

"I don't know. Maybe tomorrow?" He replied. As they went up the stairs, Ana talked about her new book, The Bourne Identity, saying that she has learned new words by reading it but couldn't pronounce it very well.

"How old are you?" Jack asked when he tucked her in the bed.

"Five." Ana answered sleepily. "Spaseeba." She drowsily said and slipped back to dreamland.

Jack looked at his daughter. 'Irina raised a very polite child.' he said to himself and took the electric thermometer by the night table. He placed it by Ana's ear and took her temperature.

Jack sighed when he saw the result. Ana's temperature is one hundred seven degrees Fahrenheit. He shook his head and returned the thermometer to its place. He sat on one of the chairs, and intends to watch over Ana until her temperature lowers down.

-x-x0x-x

A week later

Sydney was having coffee with Weiss and Vaughn. The day is horribly dragging. It is as if everything they're doing is in a slow motion mode.

"How is Ana coping with your dad? And vice versa? I mean every time I see them together they always seem to be sniping at each other. And now, they're living under one roof? Are they even still alive?" Weiss asked her when they sat down.

"Yeah, Syd. How is your dad? I think he met a match with Ana. When she wants to be really rude, she turns very, very polite. She can be very rude in a very polite manner." Vaughn said, sitting beside Sydney.

"Well, the insults and the rudeness ceased after the third day. They eventually got tired of their own insolence." Sydney said. "I had dinner with them last night. It was actually… fun."

"Are you sure they're not in ceasefire because you were there?" Weiss asked, sipping his coffee.

"Yes, I'm sure. I asked the neighbors." Sydney replied.

Weiss looked at his watch. "God, it's so boring. I have mountains of paperwork in my desk and it's not yet lunchtime." He said. "Marshall must have done something with the time continuum or something. The day is so slow! I want to go to lunch already."

"You're hungry already?" Vaughn asked.

"No, of course not. I'm on a diet."

"A diet? But you want to go to lunch? Is this wish because of food or because of someone?" Vaughn jested and looked at Sydney. Weiss has a crush on someone in the Rotunda.

Weiss blushed a bit. "Never mind, Vaughn." He said and steered away from the topic. "How is the annulment?"

His face turned thoughtful. "It's going smoothly. Thanks for asking." Vaughn answered and looked down. He then felt Sydney's hand slightly touch his. As he looked up, he saw the unbounded support in her eyes.

He could stare at her for a long time and not get tired at all. Sydney could do the same thing too. Weiss, noticing the "connection" and realizing that once again, he is the third wheel, slipped away quietly.

Sydney and Vaughn's "moment" was interrupted by Jack.

"Sydney may I talk to you for a while?" Sydney glanced at Vaughn.

"Uh, sure." She said and stood up.

She followed her father out of the room and into a little corner for some privacy.

"What is it dad?" She asked, concerned.

"It's your sister." Jack said. 'She's driving me insane.' He thought and looked at his eldest daughter. "Can you accompany Ana to an interior designer tomorrow morning?"

"An interior designer." Sydney repeated. "What for?" she asked, a bit confused.

"Well… I have been asked by Dixon to open my home to Ana since she's my daughter and still a minor." Jack said slowly, a bit uncomfortable with his ineptness with his daughters. "I don't want Ana to feel… misplaced inside the house." You don't want her to feel misplaced or you don't want her to feel unwanted? A thought asked as he waited for Sydney's answer.

"Sure." Sydney excitedly answered. "Have you told her?"

"Ah… no."

Sydney sighed. "Dad, you don't have to be shy. Just tell her that she's going to live with you and that she has the chance to color her walls shocking pink."

"She's going to throw a fit. She hates me." Jack said.

Sydney waved off his reply. "You know, you two need to talk. Dad, Ana's not like that."

"I know. But she's a lot like your mother. I mean, judging from her reaction to me when she slipped on the rooftop, I blind person could see that she doesn't trust me."

"Dad, if she doesn't trust you, she would have told you that in your face."

Jack sighed. Sydney's right. Ana can be as blunt as Irina sometimes. Jack nodded and then smiled at her. "Thanks."

Sydney smiled back and patted her father on the shoulder. "She's not going to get angry. I promise." She said and turned around to return to her coffee. She was halfway to her destination when she whirled back to her dad.

"Uh, dad? Will we be redecorating Ana's room or the entire house?"

-x-x-x-

"Now, if you need anything, you know where to call." Irina said to Nadia. Nadia wants to return to Argentina and start a new life.

"Okay." Nadia answered and smiled at her then to Jacob, who is in a stroller. "Bye, bye Jacob." She said and kneeled to kiss her brother on the cheek. Jacob smiled at her and then waved goodbye.

"I'll try to visit once in a while." Nadia said and ruffled Jacob's hair.

Irina smiled at her. "We'll miss you."

Her daughter looked at her and can see that there's something brewing behind her mother's eyes. She took no notice of it and smiled back at her.

"Thank you." She said and hugged her mother and her mother hugged her back.

"Don't hesitate to ask for help." Irina whispered and then kissed her on the cheek.

They parted after a few minutes, just as the soft wind blew in their faces.

"Will you tell him?" Nadia asked as they both unconsciously tucked the errant strands of hair behind their ears.

"He will know."

Nadia sighed. "He'll get angrier if he finds out from another person." The moment she said that, her mother smiled a bit.

"You sound like your sisters." She remarked and then added, "Visit them too."

"I'll try." Nadia replied and looked behind her. Yelena and Byron were approaching them. "I guess the plane's ready."

Nadia smiled once again at Irina and took her duffel bag.

"Take care, mom."

Irina's eyes suddenly became filled with tears. 'Why do all of the sudden, I'm always crying?' she asked herself as she replied to her daughter, "Take care too, honey."

Nadia started to walk towards Yelena and Byron. Byron took Nadia's bag and went ahead of the two women.

Irina watched as they walked away from her. Sighing, she began to push Jacob's stroller and started to walk the opposite way.