Same Disclaimer Applies. I have a few more chapters to upload. Sometimes
soon.
SYROS, GREECE
"What do you mean?" Irina's caution filtered into her query.
"While we were in Kashmir, you made a concerted effort to inform Sydney and I of your status as prisoner while in the compound. But then conveniently changed the subject; you didn't expect me to let the issue lie." Jack paused, trying to read her expression.
"There's nothing to tell Jack." She insisted
"Why were you there? How long were you there? Whether you believe it or not, I would like to better understand what happened to you during the twenties years you were gone."
"That may be true but there is nothing I wish to discuss." Irina turned away from him.
"What happened to the woman willing to divulge her innermost secrets to me?" Jack's accusation served to irritate Irina's last nerve.
Jack's arrival had already put her on edge, his comment and subsequent impatience over Kashmir did nothing to calm her anxiety.
"THAT woman is sick of sitting here trying to convince you of something you never intended to contemplate." Irina's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here Jack? I'm quite aware you don't believe a word that escapes my mouth. Not that I'm carrying your child, not my reasons for turning myself into your agency. So now I'm left to ponder what you expect to get out of this little visit. What is it? A set up? Did you intend to come here and lull me into a false sense of security, before the CIA swoops in and takes me back to my cage? Or do you have other plans for me? Torture that's a little more personal maybe?" Irina stood. "I don't need your bullshit Jonathan. Whatever revenge you were planning will have to wait another day because I am not going to be mistaken for the fool you were thirty years ago. You are such a gullible simpleton Jack but I do thank you. Every time I need a good laugh, I just remember how easy it was to get you to invest everything in me. You made it almost too easy, I actually felt slightly guilty for accepting all the accolades from my superiors at the KGB." Irina scoffs.
"It's pretty effortless to see now why your parents avoided you, why Sydney doesn't want anything to do with you. You have nothing to offer Jack. You're just a lonely pathetic excuse of a man who had no one to see on his time off other than a woman who was forced to interact with you; who would rather be anywhere but in your presence." Before Jack could form a coherent thought, Irina was out the door and starting her car.
Jack sat stock still on the sofa, trying desperately to keep the bile from rising into his throat. He didn't know what he had expected when he asked her to tell him about Kashmir but it certainly had not been the tirade his name had been prominent in.
The walls of the house began closing in on him. He tried in vain to make himself believe he had known how Irina had felt about him before he came but his brain refused to stop playing her words back to him. Each one cutting him deeper than the first.
Jack rose suddenly from the couch and purposefully walked into the kitchen, looking for anything alcoholic. He found a decanter of Scotch and poured himself a glass. He snickered as he realized Scotch was the drink he gravitated to the first time Irina had breezed through his life.
One glass turned into two, then three. The third, Jack took with him out of the kitchen. His steps, foggy from hurt opposed to the alcohol, took him to the interior of Irina's room. He looked around with dulled fascination, consuming the last of the amber liquid. The room was immaculate, everything seemed placed with purpose. Before he could check his impulse, his glass was hurled across the room. Its contact with the wall eased the tension from his shoulders.
He stood on the threshold of greater understanding with obvious reservations. He wasn't sure if it was worth the pain of garnering an understanding of Irina. His restless gaze danced over the ruins of his glass before stopping at the chest of drawers pushed against the wall. Jack lumbered over and wrenched open one of the drawers; rifling through the cloths inside. Without noticing, his hand connected with a button on the top of one of the drawers, pulling the unit away from the wall. The gap exposed a locked compartment in the wall that Jack set about opening.
ARIAMOPOLIS, SYROS
Irina parked her convertible by the port and slammed her car door. She stalked to the centre of the waterfront town, without paying much attention to where she was going. Her keys bit sharply into the tender flesh of her hands but the pain was numbed by the thundering of her thoughts. Her two- inch single strapped heals clicked harshly against the bottom of her feet with every impatient step.
Jack.
Such a simple name her mind screamed at her, yet nothing was simple about the man who answered to it. With thoughts hyper-focused on Jack, she wondered, not for the first time, why she asked him to come to her.
That arrogant son-of-a-bitch, Irina gritted her teeth as Jack's image appeared in her mind's eye. Her shoulders tightened and her stride elongated in anger. No one had been able to throw her off her game as quickly or as efficiently as Jack but that was what drew her to him. Wasn't it?
She had a sudden urge to smack some sense into her own head. Blowing her cool at Jack was not how she anticipated their meeting. She didn't know what had come over her; Jack's question had created a fear in her, she hadn't experienced since she was a young girl.
Despite the uncharacteristic flare of temper, Irina refused to believe hormones were the culprits. Jack would have blamed the hormones.
{FLASHBACK}
The air was crisp and still for a winter evening in DC. The city had yet to see a large snowfall for the year but signs of winter were everywhere. Irina glanced out the window as the last vestiges of sunlight ducked under the horizon. Her day had been long, nevertheless her activities were fulfilling. As both a PhD student and T.A. for Professor Goode, she looked forward to the break Christmas would bring. First, though, she would have to finish marking the first year student's exams.
Her body ached from sitting so long at the kitchen table, though her determination to finish marking the last two papers kept her sedentary.
Just as she was writing the mark on the second last exam, she heard Jack coming through the door.
"Laura!" He called, upon depositing his briefcase and coat at the door.
"Kitchen." She returned.
Jack smiled at the sight of his wife seated at the table, ensconced by marked papers. He dipped his head to kiss her on his way to the fridge.
"How was your day?" Jack asked.
"Long." Was all she answered. It should have been Jack's first clue to her mood but it went unnoticed.
"I guess we'll go out for dinner tonight, unless you've got something in mind for dinner." Jack leaned against the counter with his glass of water and surveyed the empty countertops. He almost spilled his water when Irina turned suddenly.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!?" It took all his effort to contain his wince at her shrill tone. "I was at school all day. I had a meeting with my professor and two tutorials to run. When I did come home, I paused only long enough to breathe before I began marking. Of course that was when I wasn't trying to calm my stomach because your child doesn't seem to understand the concept to MORNING sickness." She stood and threw her pen on the table where it bounced once and landed on the floor.
"Why don't you get your lazy ass in gear and make yourself something for dinner or is it too much for your mind to comprehend. You're a bastard Jonathan Bristow, an insensitive arrogant bastard. I don't know why the hell I even married you." Irina walked out of the kitchen with Jack hot on her heels.
"Laura, I think you should lie down for a little while. You're hormones are probably all over the map." Jack tried to placate her.
She spun to face him, pointing her finger. "Don't belittle my feelings you idiot. You do whatever the hell you want for dinner, I've got to get out of here." Irina grabbed her coat from the hanger and flew out the door. Shocked, Jack merely watched in confusion.
Irina remembered that day vividly. She had walked the neighborhood for an hour before returning to the house to apologize to Jack. He had prepared a meal with light and mild foods for her uneasy stomach and greeted her with a smile.
He had taken her coat and led her into the kitchen without a word. She had been too stunned to argue as he sat her at the dinner table.
"What's going on Jack?" She eyed him carefully.
"I just wanted to make sure you had something to eat when you came home." He sat across from her.
"Jack, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, I don't know what came over me." She dropped her head, embarrassed.
"I'm not going to pretend to understand why you said the things you did but you obviously needed to blow off some steam." Jack took her hand reassuringly.
"Thank you Jack. You're amazing. I'm sorry you have to live with a neurotic pregnant woman for the next five months." Irina smiled at him, surprised at Jack's ability to forgive her and put her at ease.
"Let's eat, then we'll relax a bit, both our work can wait." Jack smiled warmly at his wife who returned it.
{END FLASHBACK}
The busy streets brought Irina back to herself. She stopped at the corner of the sidewalk and took a deep breath. She shook her head and sighed at her attitude. Her mother had told her as a young girl, speaking before she thought was a recipe for disaster.
Irina swallowed the lump forming in the back of her throat when she realized Jack would be gone when she returned to the house and she would have to find somewhere else to live. Her chest constricted painfully when she envisioned of Jack's departure. She had accomplished nothing with her outburst, if anything; she had made the situation worse.
Her goal had been to earn Jack's trust, to prove she hadn't been lying everyday of their marriage. She wanted him to get to know the real her. The woman who had worked hard as a child, had a slightly checkered passed but still loved him completely. None of that made a difference now as she had lost her last chance with Jack.
Tears tickled at her eyes, thinking of the baby she had condemned today. Her child would grow up without a father, if they survived that long; the thought chilled Irina with its accuracy.
"Dekinas. [Hello, how are you?]" Irina turned to find an older woman speaking to her in Greek.
"Kala. [I'm fine thank you]" She answered the woman.
"You speak English Kukla?" The woman asked her with a heavy accent.
"Yes, I do." Irina tried a smile.
"You don't look fine Kukla. Elethome Kathome. [Come Here and sit]" She ordered.
"I suppose I'm not, but it's nothing I can't handle." Irina said simply.
"Sometimes we forget we don't need to handle everything on our own. Share with others your pain, your experiences. They'll appreciate it as much as you will." The older woman patted Irina's leg.
"Thank you. That is very kind but I have driven away the only person I could share things with." Irina's shoulders sagged.
"You take care of the little one and yourself. And don't worry I'm sure it isn't as bad as it seems." The woman got up and moved away.
"You have no idea how bad it-" She stopped herself. "Wait, how did you know that I was..." Irina trailed off when she realized the woman was no longer visible.
Knowing nothing was waiting for her at home, she decided to take advantage of the shopping in the town. Immersing herself in an assortment of cloths and shoes, Irina purged thoughts of Jack from the deepest recesses of her mind.
Please Review (-:
SYROS, GREECE
"What do you mean?" Irina's caution filtered into her query.
"While we were in Kashmir, you made a concerted effort to inform Sydney and I of your status as prisoner while in the compound. But then conveniently changed the subject; you didn't expect me to let the issue lie." Jack paused, trying to read her expression.
"There's nothing to tell Jack." She insisted
"Why were you there? How long were you there? Whether you believe it or not, I would like to better understand what happened to you during the twenties years you were gone."
"That may be true but there is nothing I wish to discuss." Irina turned away from him.
"What happened to the woman willing to divulge her innermost secrets to me?" Jack's accusation served to irritate Irina's last nerve.
Jack's arrival had already put her on edge, his comment and subsequent impatience over Kashmir did nothing to calm her anxiety.
"THAT woman is sick of sitting here trying to convince you of something you never intended to contemplate." Irina's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here Jack? I'm quite aware you don't believe a word that escapes my mouth. Not that I'm carrying your child, not my reasons for turning myself into your agency. So now I'm left to ponder what you expect to get out of this little visit. What is it? A set up? Did you intend to come here and lull me into a false sense of security, before the CIA swoops in and takes me back to my cage? Or do you have other plans for me? Torture that's a little more personal maybe?" Irina stood. "I don't need your bullshit Jonathan. Whatever revenge you were planning will have to wait another day because I am not going to be mistaken for the fool you were thirty years ago. You are such a gullible simpleton Jack but I do thank you. Every time I need a good laugh, I just remember how easy it was to get you to invest everything in me. You made it almost too easy, I actually felt slightly guilty for accepting all the accolades from my superiors at the KGB." Irina scoffs.
"It's pretty effortless to see now why your parents avoided you, why Sydney doesn't want anything to do with you. You have nothing to offer Jack. You're just a lonely pathetic excuse of a man who had no one to see on his time off other than a woman who was forced to interact with you; who would rather be anywhere but in your presence." Before Jack could form a coherent thought, Irina was out the door and starting her car.
Jack sat stock still on the sofa, trying desperately to keep the bile from rising into his throat. He didn't know what he had expected when he asked her to tell him about Kashmir but it certainly had not been the tirade his name had been prominent in.
The walls of the house began closing in on him. He tried in vain to make himself believe he had known how Irina had felt about him before he came but his brain refused to stop playing her words back to him. Each one cutting him deeper than the first.
Jack rose suddenly from the couch and purposefully walked into the kitchen, looking for anything alcoholic. He found a decanter of Scotch and poured himself a glass. He snickered as he realized Scotch was the drink he gravitated to the first time Irina had breezed through his life.
One glass turned into two, then three. The third, Jack took with him out of the kitchen. His steps, foggy from hurt opposed to the alcohol, took him to the interior of Irina's room. He looked around with dulled fascination, consuming the last of the amber liquid. The room was immaculate, everything seemed placed with purpose. Before he could check his impulse, his glass was hurled across the room. Its contact with the wall eased the tension from his shoulders.
He stood on the threshold of greater understanding with obvious reservations. He wasn't sure if it was worth the pain of garnering an understanding of Irina. His restless gaze danced over the ruins of his glass before stopping at the chest of drawers pushed against the wall. Jack lumbered over and wrenched open one of the drawers; rifling through the cloths inside. Without noticing, his hand connected with a button on the top of one of the drawers, pulling the unit away from the wall. The gap exposed a locked compartment in the wall that Jack set about opening.
ARIAMOPOLIS, SYROS
Irina parked her convertible by the port and slammed her car door. She stalked to the centre of the waterfront town, without paying much attention to where she was going. Her keys bit sharply into the tender flesh of her hands but the pain was numbed by the thundering of her thoughts. Her two- inch single strapped heals clicked harshly against the bottom of her feet with every impatient step.
Jack.
Such a simple name her mind screamed at her, yet nothing was simple about the man who answered to it. With thoughts hyper-focused on Jack, she wondered, not for the first time, why she asked him to come to her.
That arrogant son-of-a-bitch, Irina gritted her teeth as Jack's image appeared in her mind's eye. Her shoulders tightened and her stride elongated in anger. No one had been able to throw her off her game as quickly or as efficiently as Jack but that was what drew her to him. Wasn't it?
She had a sudden urge to smack some sense into her own head. Blowing her cool at Jack was not how she anticipated their meeting. She didn't know what had come over her; Jack's question had created a fear in her, she hadn't experienced since she was a young girl.
Despite the uncharacteristic flare of temper, Irina refused to believe hormones were the culprits. Jack would have blamed the hormones.
{FLASHBACK}
The air was crisp and still for a winter evening in DC. The city had yet to see a large snowfall for the year but signs of winter were everywhere. Irina glanced out the window as the last vestiges of sunlight ducked under the horizon. Her day had been long, nevertheless her activities were fulfilling. As both a PhD student and T.A. for Professor Goode, she looked forward to the break Christmas would bring. First, though, she would have to finish marking the first year student's exams.
Her body ached from sitting so long at the kitchen table, though her determination to finish marking the last two papers kept her sedentary.
Just as she was writing the mark on the second last exam, she heard Jack coming through the door.
"Laura!" He called, upon depositing his briefcase and coat at the door.
"Kitchen." She returned.
Jack smiled at the sight of his wife seated at the table, ensconced by marked papers. He dipped his head to kiss her on his way to the fridge.
"How was your day?" Jack asked.
"Long." Was all she answered. It should have been Jack's first clue to her mood but it went unnoticed.
"I guess we'll go out for dinner tonight, unless you've got something in mind for dinner." Jack leaned against the counter with his glass of water and surveyed the empty countertops. He almost spilled his water when Irina turned suddenly.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!?" It took all his effort to contain his wince at her shrill tone. "I was at school all day. I had a meeting with my professor and two tutorials to run. When I did come home, I paused only long enough to breathe before I began marking. Of course that was when I wasn't trying to calm my stomach because your child doesn't seem to understand the concept to MORNING sickness." She stood and threw her pen on the table where it bounced once and landed on the floor.
"Why don't you get your lazy ass in gear and make yourself something for dinner or is it too much for your mind to comprehend. You're a bastard Jonathan Bristow, an insensitive arrogant bastard. I don't know why the hell I even married you." Irina walked out of the kitchen with Jack hot on her heels.
"Laura, I think you should lie down for a little while. You're hormones are probably all over the map." Jack tried to placate her.
She spun to face him, pointing her finger. "Don't belittle my feelings you idiot. You do whatever the hell you want for dinner, I've got to get out of here." Irina grabbed her coat from the hanger and flew out the door. Shocked, Jack merely watched in confusion.
Irina remembered that day vividly. She had walked the neighborhood for an hour before returning to the house to apologize to Jack. He had prepared a meal with light and mild foods for her uneasy stomach and greeted her with a smile.
He had taken her coat and led her into the kitchen without a word. She had been too stunned to argue as he sat her at the dinner table.
"What's going on Jack?" She eyed him carefully.
"I just wanted to make sure you had something to eat when you came home." He sat across from her.
"Jack, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, I don't know what came over me." She dropped her head, embarrassed.
"I'm not going to pretend to understand why you said the things you did but you obviously needed to blow off some steam." Jack took her hand reassuringly.
"Thank you Jack. You're amazing. I'm sorry you have to live with a neurotic pregnant woman for the next five months." Irina smiled at him, surprised at Jack's ability to forgive her and put her at ease.
"Let's eat, then we'll relax a bit, both our work can wait." Jack smiled warmly at his wife who returned it.
{END FLASHBACK}
The busy streets brought Irina back to herself. She stopped at the corner of the sidewalk and took a deep breath. She shook her head and sighed at her attitude. Her mother had told her as a young girl, speaking before she thought was a recipe for disaster.
Irina swallowed the lump forming in the back of her throat when she realized Jack would be gone when she returned to the house and she would have to find somewhere else to live. Her chest constricted painfully when she envisioned of Jack's departure. She had accomplished nothing with her outburst, if anything; she had made the situation worse.
Her goal had been to earn Jack's trust, to prove she hadn't been lying everyday of their marriage. She wanted him to get to know the real her. The woman who had worked hard as a child, had a slightly checkered passed but still loved him completely. None of that made a difference now as she had lost her last chance with Jack.
Tears tickled at her eyes, thinking of the baby she had condemned today. Her child would grow up without a father, if they survived that long; the thought chilled Irina with its accuracy.
"Dekinas. [Hello, how are you?]" Irina turned to find an older woman speaking to her in Greek.
"Kala. [I'm fine thank you]" She answered the woman.
"You speak English Kukla?" The woman asked her with a heavy accent.
"Yes, I do." Irina tried a smile.
"You don't look fine Kukla. Elethome Kathome. [Come Here and sit]" She ordered.
"I suppose I'm not, but it's nothing I can't handle." Irina said simply.
"Sometimes we forget we don't need to handle everything on our own. Share with others your pain, your experiences. They'll appreciate it as much as you will." The older woman patted Irina's leg.
"Thank you. That is very kind but I have driven away the only person I could share things with." Irina's shoulders sagged.
"You take care of the little one and yourself. And don't worry I'm sure it isn't as bad as it seems." The woman got up and moved away.
"You have no idea how bad it-" She stopped herself. "Wait, how did you know that I was..." Irina trailed off when she realized the woman was no longer visible.
Knowing nothing was waiting for her at home, she decided to take advantage of the shopping in the town. Immersing herself in an assortment of cloths and shoes, Irina purged thoughts of Jack from the deepest recesses of her mind.
Please Review (-: