He felt Irina move closer to him, the hand that was not gripping his came to rest on his arm as she curled herself against him. Her voice whispered through the silence of the room "Jack, I..." her forehead found its way to his shoulder "...need to sleep near you, push me to my side now, or don't."
His mind was suddenly inundated with images of countless nights when he and the body of the woman next to him had lain in this bed together. He was raw and hurting and lying with her in the dark was too much like living in the memory of happier times. He didn't deserve happiness now, he'd wronged the only thing in his life that had been so utterly right. Sydney was gone.
"It was never your side." The words flew at her and she released him instantly. He didn't need to be physical to push her away. His intent was clear. The bed had been his and Laura's. His words were knives, cutting into an already bleeding wound.
Irina shifted from him. The spectre of a woman who had never existed lay between them. "I suppose she was never my daughter either." She spat the words at him. "You had 20 years with her that you squandered, you weren't exactly her father." She felt him stiffen. She could cut him too.
Neither moved for some time. In their youths they'd been people of words, if not with others then with each other. Time had silenced them. Both busy guarding wounds that had been so easily reopened. Trust would not come easily.
She felt suffocated and made to flee. He had gripped her wrist before she even noticed the movement of his arm. "I'm sorry. Stay." The irony that this man, this man was apologising to her, was not lost. She couldn't move.
"We're too skilled at hurting each other." Either could have said it. Both knew it was true. One of Irina's legs hung over the side of the bed, her back to him, wrist still encompassed by his fingers. "We have to stop this. She's worth more then whatever cheap satisfaction we get from hurling the past at each other." Her voice was heavy with accent, emotions running high.
He tugged her arm with enough force to pull her back fully into the bed. To his side. He caught her gaze and held it with resolve. "We'll make this work." She took him at his word, settling in against him. Arms wrapped around each other as eyes closed to the beckoning night.
The obstacle of each other set aside, the ghost of Laura vanquished however temporarily.
They had to make this work.