Chapter Seven

"What's going on? Why is everything in French?" Laura held the stance of someone that, despite the unnerving effect that being suddenly forgetful had on her, would get to the bottom of what's going on. She had gotten to her feet now and was looking about the room, curiously taking in the foreign leaflets and posters that had yet to be pinned to the wall. As she looked around she brought her thumb to her mouth where she started to tap her bottom lip with the long nail, Jack recognised it as a sign that she was worried, he had never been able to break her of the habit. Once he realised who she really was he had wondered whether or not that was real or something she had made-up, now it looked as though he had his answer.

She turned around and looked at him briefly. He strode across the room and moved her hand away from her mouth "Laura, you have to stay calm." He saw the flicker of annoyance at his words, she wanted answers and he was being infuriatingly secretive.

"How am I supposed to stay calm when you're not telling me anything?" she pulled her hand out of his and he put it right back again. This was so difficult, he wanted to take her in his arms and tell her that everything was fine, that they would be going home soon. But he couldn't. That part of them didn't exist anymore, she didn't exist anymore.

Watching her now and how she was acting, he compared her to the woman she had been a couple of minutes before. Both strong in different ways, Laura didn't hide her worry though; they both had tempers but dealt with it in different ways. Laura was less likely to lash out at him physically. But most of all; Laura's trust was absolute; he saw it when he looked into her brown eyes. On the outside they were the same as Irina's but the feeling behind them was different. Not that he made a point of looking so deeply into Irina's. Laura would trust him with her life, Irina would probably not hesitate in taking his. But then neither would he. At least that was what he told himself. "You'd better sit down" he said gently and led her back to the bed.

"Jack, what's wrong? You look so troubled" she pushed aside her own fears for the moment. She knew that he kept some things bottled up inside, most often when he returned from a mission. Little by little she had gotten him to open up so the weight of his troubles didn't rest solely on his shoulders. That was what she intended to get him to do now, especially considering whatever worried him had something to do with her predicament. They were sat side by side on the bed "you know that you can tell me anything" she rested her head on his left shoulder, her eyes closed a little as tiredness tried to overcome her need to hear what was going on.

Jack tried to sort out his thoughts, how was he going to explain this one to her? He prided himself on being able to think problems through in any given situation, but having Laura again in such close quarters, and settling herself against him was kind of distracting. Not that he was complaining. He absently slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, the familiar pattern of long ago easily reasserting itself. "This isn't something I think you'll be able to fix" he treaded into the conversation carefully so as not to freak her out when the bombshell hit. She needed to know and sooner rather than later, if the Laura persona returned at a later date the same questions she had now would arise again and he would be in the same position. It was better to do this now.

"Why don't you let me decide that, hmm?" her eyelids dropped to a close every few seconds and the gentle rise and fall of her husbands chest was lulling her to sleep. The uncertainty of earlier was steadily leaving her as she became familiar with her surroundings, having Jack with her helped a lot. He could sort through anything, even when she could not. "Come on, I'm waiting" she added playfully "you don't want me to get impatient."

He laughed in spite of what he was about to say, he was trying so hard not to get used to this, he knew it could and would disappear all too soon and he would lose Laura all over again. "You and I haven't seen each other for twenty years..." he felt her draw back from him but his hand on hers kept her close, from venturing too far. "You...died, in a car accident" Jack had decided telling her the real truth would be too much for her to handle, this whole situation was utterly ridiculous!

Laura was silent; there was a sharp intake of breath and then nothing until she pulled away from him abruptly. He heard her shoes squeak on the freshly polished floor and looked up when the faint sound stopped. The door stood her; her hand rested on the door handle "don't be stupid, that's impossible" there was hardly any tone to her voice.

First disbelief, then denial, then anger; Jack moved quickly across the room to be near her before it could progress to fear, fear of the unknown, fear of what would happen next. He felt relief when she did not pull away from him "I thought you had died, when in reality you survived and began another life, you didn't know who you were..." Laura was just as thorough as him and once she had gotten over the shock and re-gathered her wits she would have many questions, she would want to know every single aspect of what had happened.

"Where's Sydney? I want to see my daughter" her back was facing him and he walked to stand in front of her.

There was doubt in her eyes; she actually doubted his word and that hurt a lot. He couldn't exactly blame her though; if their positions were reversed he wouldn't believe it either. There were definite flaws in his explanation and Laura saw right through to that. "The woman you saw in this room before was Sydney" he wrapped his arms around her, feeling the urgent need to comfort her when she needed him the most, he held her close as she cried against him.

His mobile phone rang, shattering the quiet that had descended again. He ignored it, whoever was calling could wait; his wife needed him more than anyone else could in that moment. It continued to ring incessantly, stopping and starting for close to a minute, it was grating on his nerves. Jack glanced at the numbers that flashed on the small screen and stiffened. It was Sloane. He had told Jack that he would not call again, that it would be up to him. That only meant one thing; Sloane was watching them. He had seen everything.

The urge to crush the noisy phone in place of Sloane was strong to say the least. But Jack would not give his enemy the satisfaction of seeing that this was getting to him. At least Arvin respected him though, unlike Irina, he would probably gloat to kingdom come upon seeing her in this tortured state. Even though technically she was not herself at that point. "Laura, we have to leave the hospital, I'm going to take you somewhere safe" but could the CIA really be considered safe for her? Not likely, but just now, with Sloane seeing their every move Jack couldn't take her anywhere else that he could consider her definitely out of Sloane's reach. He conveniently pushed away to the far corners of his mind the memory where he had promised Irina he would keep her away from the CIA.

His comment begged the immediate question of why exactly he needed to spirit her away to somewhere safe. He had a bit more explaining to do than he had originally planned, Jack was going to have to be careful of what he said around her. "You're keeping something from me" Laura rightly accused. The phone rang again and she unexpectedly yanked it out of Jack's hand and answered it, tiring of its interruptions. "Whoever's calling try again later, Jack and I have more important things to talk about than answering you" she switched the phone off, not caring whether she offended the caller or not. Jack couldn't help but smirk; he had forgotten how much she had to be interrupted during serious discussions. "Jack, please, I know you're keeping something from me, what is it? What happened to you that made you so closed off?"

She looked so insistent, so hurt, what was he supposed to say? "I'll explain everything later, but right now we have to leave" so much for getting everything out into the open now. He dried her wet cheeks with his finger and smiled encouragingly at her. He had promised her when they were married that he would never ever bring work home with him. He did not envision any scenario like this twenty plus years ago. "Do you trust me?"

Laura nodded in surprise. "Of course" she answered.

He leaned forward, whilst wondering if he should continue on this dangerous and rocky course, nothing good would come of getting close to her. He pulled away and went to the door instead, opened it and waited for her to join him. She knew something was amiss, he could see it when he looked into her eyes.

Sydney was pacing in the corridor outside and Vaughn had retaken his earlier seat in the corridor. He stood a second after the younger Agent stopped and both turned to face the 'reunited' husband and wife. Sydney glanced in concern from one to the other and noted how close together they were both stood, they looked altogether too comfortable for them to be Jack and Irina. There was a sign of uncertainty in her mother's demeanor and Sydney knew then whom it was that they were still dealing with. "Mom?" she questioned hesitantly as she took three steps forward.

Laura was taking in the woman in front of her, all grown up and definitely not the six year old she remembered. This woman was strong and soft at the same time, kind and gentle. Sydney stared at her nervously, she tried to bring up memories of years past of the mother she knew as Laura, not Irina. It was harder than she thought it would be. It was difficult to say which was worse; Laura seeing the adult daughter that she only remembered as a child or Sydney dealing with the mother she had tried to remember from when she was a child after getting used to a completely different mother as an adult. It was quite confusing. Almost unseen Jack and Vaughn left them alone to retire to the waiting room around the corner. "I can't believe this is happening" Laura said "I'm so sorry, for leaving you..."

"Oh mom, it wasn't your fault!" Sydney interrupted. She needed to ease her worry, her guilt. They were at a loss over what to do next, they were as strangers meeting on a road, needing each other to continue but being unsure of how to go about it. "I missed you so much --."

Laura shortened the distance between them and hugged her daughter, they might not know each other properly anymore but the bond between them would never disappear "I'll won't ever leave again, sweetheart" Laura swore. She sounded so sure of herself, Sydney had told herself over and over again that she wouldn't cry over her mother again but it was impossible not to. Laura couldn't know that at any time her sincere promise would be broken.

Jack and Vaughn sat opposite each other in the waiting room, they blocked out what was being said around the corner, it was a private moment and neither wanted to listen in on what was being said. None of them spoke, Jack didn't want to start a conversation and Vaughn wasn't sure how too. What was he supposed to say? Sorry the persona of your dead wife is back in the woman that created her? The junior Agent had an inkling that that would not go down to well. But on the upside, if he did say that and Jack reacted, at least a hospital bed wasn't too far away. "Look, I can't know what's going through your head right now in regard to what's going on but, you can -- talk to me about it, it's gotta be better than talking to Barnett, right?"

"I want you to find a reason to take Sydney away from this, once Laura...once she's gone, I want you to make sure Sydney doesn't speak to Irina" Jack ordered by way of ignoring Vaughn's offer of help.

"Why? What's going on?" maybe Irina informing him that in some way Jack respected him was getting to Vaughn's head, but he thought the other man might make him privy to his plans.

He was wrong. "You should know by now Agent Vaughn that I don't tell you my plans. It is your duty, on the off chance that I need your assistance, to do as I ask. I don't want Sydney to come into contact with Irina; make it happen" that said, Jack rose and strode away.

Laura was making her way in the opposite direction to him, along the corridor when he arrived back at the spot where he had left the two women. Sydney's eyes were dry now but red and puffy, she met his enquiring gaze and he relaxed, not so on edge when he saw the door to the rest room swing shut. An Agent was close by anyway. "It's so weird, seeing her and talking to her, she's just the same" Sydney smiled; seeing Jack and Laura so at ease with one another reminded her so much of when she was a kid, she couldn't have been happier.

"You know that could change, I don't want you to get used to this --."

"I know, I do, I know. But dad, please, let me enjoy this" she almost pleaded. The last thing Sydney wanted was for her father to ruin this. Jack paused, sighed and nodded. He agreed wordlessly. He couldn't say no and deny her this. Both turned at the time when they heard a door slam shut and the sound of someone falling, seeing nothing they stayed put and sat down to wait for Laura to return.

She did a couple of minutes later, looking better and more at ease. "I'm ready" Laura announced and took Jack's hand in hers and led the way towards the exit. Minutes later the team of Agents left the area. The hidden cameras followed their every move.

The plane waited in the hangar for Jack and Laura, Sydney and Vaughn had already boarded and waited patiently for the remaining two passengers to join them. All they wanted to do now was relax for the trip home; things would be hectic once they got back to Los Angeles. The Agency had everything covered for their return home, everything except nourishment and that was what the couple were getting, it came in the form of chocolate bars and soda cans. One of the Agents that were accompanying them took the food and drinks off them and carried it aboard, leaving Jack and Laura alone. "You'll be home soon," he told her with a smile, though goodness knew what awaited them in LA.

"You expect me to believe?"

The cold voice almost sent chills down his spine. "Irina..." he whispered the name. It was inevitable that she would return, but did it have to be now? When things were running so smoothly. He faced her and saw, unsurprisingly that she was livid. Jack wondered when it was that she had come back; he had not noticed any changes. She must have been keeping it all in until they were alone. That time was now.

"You completely betrayed my trust!" Irina spat out, her eyes blazed with unchecked anger as she glared at Jack. He was stood in front of her, the both of them a few meters from the plane that had been hired to fly the Agents and her to LA.

Jack actually laughed, in the current situation it was probably a bad idea, but he hadn't gotten where he was by being worried about other people's reactions. "Come now, Irina, do you really think you're the right person to be talking about betrayal?" he responded sarcastically before pressing on, not caring to hear an answer. "I informed the CIA of your predicament and they decided it was in your best interests to turn yourself over to them, temporarily, or at least until Sloane is apprehended."

"You say that like I have a choice in the matter. We both know it could take years until Sloane is even found, let alone taken into custody, and I am not willing to go back to that cell until the CIA decide to do their jobs properly. What would be stopping them from trying to pass another sentence?" her voice was still low as she spoke but anger simmered to the surface and Jack knew he should move; being in striking distance and all. "I don't have information for them that would help in their investigation, Sloane stopped trusting me the second he decided it would be worth his while to poison me and throw me in a locked room!"

"We both know that isn't true, Irina" he smiled smugly, as though he knew something that she did not know he knew. Sloane didn't just wake up one morning and decide to imprison you for no reason. You have information that he wants. He gets it and he gives you a cure, until you talk the CIA will be happy to make arrangements for you to stay in Los Angeles."

He was blackmailing her, pure and simple. He forgot one thing however; Irina Derevko did not allow herself to become blackmailed. Her tone was low and deadly when she answered "you son of a bitch, Jack. I will never help the CIA, and I will never help Sloane, and I will never ever help you" that signaled the end of the conversation.

Only problem for Irina was, Jack did not give up so easily. And he wouldn't concede to one of the Agencies top ten most wanted. Newsflash Irina, you don't help Sloane and you'll die, then you won't be much help to anyone."

She wasn't certain whether he was angry about that because he would rather she live, or because dead she would not be of any use to him. Both ways she would be out of his life and she had a sneaking feeling he would rather that not become the case. She smirked, using it as ammunition against him, "be careful, people might begin to think you actually care what happens to me." Irina watched him carefully, trying to identify any visible emotion.

Instead he shook his head, returning her mocking gaze in a cool and detached manner. "The possibility of that ended a long time ago, right around the time I found out you was really a deceitful --."

She interrupted him mid rant, not content to let him get the last word. "Beware your acid tongue, you might accidentally burn yourself" Irina taunted, baiting him. He was so easy to bait, he rose to the occasion every time, as Sydney had found out in Kashmir.

Jack absently knew that he was playing right into her hands, he couldn't help himself though, there was something fascinating about this, she was the perfect opponent for him, neither would admit defeat and they both gave back as good as they got. He wasn't sure how long they had been stood out there but, pretty soon, Sydney would come looking for them. He hadn't told her about his promise to her mother that he would not take her back to the cell; though Sydney knew that would be inevitable, she would not appreciate his flat out lie to her. "You don't have a choice here, now you can either get on that plane on your own or I can bring out shackles and lead you myself," he threatened.

"I'm not going anywhere; I will give you one warning. Try and take me and I will shoot you" Jack was going to point out that that was impossible as she had no gun, but there was something in her voice that warned him to be careful. She was deadly serious.

"Sloane is watching us, Irina, somehow he is keeping tabs on everything we do" Jack warned her. "Going back to LA is the safest course to take --." She didn't falter at that piece of information like he had expected her to, if he didn't know any better he would have thought she already knew.

"Safer for you, perhaps. I would rather take my chances with Sloane than with the CIA" Jack chanced a step closer to hear. What was he going to do? Appeal to her more rational or caring side? That wasn't such a bad idea, "Sydney wouldn't want Sloane to capture. If that happens it will mean your death, do you seriously think she could handle that again?"

If the look Irina was sending his way could turn him to ice then Jack would be screaming 'frostbite' "emotional blackmail, Jack? I didn't think that was your style" she produced the gun he didn't think she had. "Stupid CIA Agents, they are too trusting" Irina laughed condescendingly "and these are the people you think I would be safe with?"

"If you run, we will follow" he threatened, but she knew that already.

"I've been running most of my life, Jack, why should now be any different?" the question was only partly rhetorical.

He thought that for an instance he heard a trace of sadness at that, but then again he could have been imagining things. He dismissed it as just that, his imagination. Jack sensed that for a second she became less aware of her surroundings as she faltered, was it a flicker of uncertainty or pain? He didn't care to analyze just as he took the opportunity to disarm her. He reached out to grab her arm and Irina pulled back abruptly regaining her senses. The gun went off and Irina spoke "that was a warning, try something stupid like that again and I will shoot you."