Disclaimer: I own nothing! Too bad… All the characters are property of JJ, Bad Robot, etc.

Author's Note: Thanks for the people who reviewed, but if more people don't, I'm not sure if I will keep posting, so please let me know if I should continue!

Chapter 3

"Mom?" Sydney repeated, not able to believe that her mother – who her father had supposedly KILLED – was standing in the same room as her, no more than 15 feet away.

"Hello Sydney." Though Irina's voice was measured and controlled as always, if anyone at the conference table were close enough to her they would have been able to see a faint glistening in Irina's eye.

"Wh-What are you doing here? I mean, Dad told me that he killed you but…" Sydney trailed off, quite confused at the situation in front of her.

"Yes. Sydney, I really do regret the fact that I had to tell you that, but I can assure you, it was absolutely necessary to protect your mother." Jack said, anxiously glancing at his daughter, hoping that she wouldn't explode.

At these words Sydney leaned into her chair, her face pale and her body limp, not fully believing the scene that was playing out in front of her. Vaughn briefly touched her hand and she glanced over at him quickly. She seemed to gain some strength from seeing the secure presence of her boyfriend and sat up a bit straighter.

Nadia then spoke up for the first time, her face streaked with tear marks. "I think that what I and every person in this room would like right now is an explanation. Mom…Mom" she said again, the second time repeating the word softly to herself. "How – What happened? How did you come to be here?"

"Yes Nadia, you're right. I do owe all of you an explanation. I would have to say that this all started…maybe a year ago. It was around that time that I realized my life was at risk. Though there have been assassination attempts made on my life in the past, the attempts were growing in both number and frequency. In February of the last year, I finally recognized one of the people sent to kill me. It was someone who I knew well actually, someone who I had worked with before. I'd worked with him while I was working with Julian Sark. Once I realized this, it soon became clear that Mr. Sark – and likely Ms. Reed as well – were behind the attempts on my life. Sark had worked with me enough to know that I have extensive files and contacts that would be useful to anyone. He knew where they were but knew that as long as I was alive he would never have a chance to take them from me. However, if I were dead, it would make the retrieval of the documents infinitely easier. I knew that Sark would not give up so I decided that the only way I would ever be safe again would be if I were to fake my own death. I contacted Jack and asked him to help me. We both knew that it would be easiest to fake the death if he were involved in it." She said, flashing a brief, almost tentative smile at Jack.

"We also wanted to somehow have it be a government sanctioned assassination, as if that were so, there would be papers documenting the death, papers that Lauren and Sark would no doubt find. To advance our plan, I called an assassin who I had worked with in the past. I gave him orders to – to kill Sydney. I did it in such a way that Jack would be able to document the call and take it to the government, who sanctioned my assassination, believing that I was a threat to one of their most valuable agents." This time, she smiled openly at Sydney, who did nothing but stare at her mother with her mouth slightly open.

"Once I was dead, I was free to operate as I liked. However, it was around this time that Nadia reappeared. I decided that I wanted to do whatever I could to see my daughters again – both of them, together. I made the decision to contact Kendall. I told him that in return for my freedom, I would give the United States all the Rambaldi artifacts I own. It took awhile but he agreed, with the condition that I have agents around me at all times."

Irina finished and looked down at her hands; she had no idea what the reaction of the people in the room would be and wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.

"So…you're free? I mean you can live in the US and everything?" Nadia asked, sounding a little doubtful.

"Yes. Well, I'm as free as I can be with armed guards around me everywhere I go!' Irina said with a sad smile.

"And…you're coming with us on this trip." Sydney stated.

"Yes I am. Since it concerns Rambaldi, Arvin thought it would be a good idea to have one expert in the group. And also, since Sark is involved, I would like to foil his plans for obviously personal reasons. I will be Charlotte Crown."

"My wife." Jack said, a slight sneer on his face. It was obvious that while he had helped Irina keep her life he still was not entirely comfortable with her. It was also obvious that Sloane had not consulted with him before making the decision to include Irina in the mission.

"Yeah." Irina said softly, searching Jack's eyes for some sign that he was happy at the prospect of the mission. She found none.

"Well." Weiss said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Mike, it looks like it's you and me and family Bristow. I'm really looking forward to this mission. Marshall…got an extra bulletproof vest I can borrow?"