{A/N – Hey there!! I'm enjoying writing this fic now so please let me know if your enjoying reading it!! After the capital letters and threats... I've decided to leave out the affair but Bill Vaughn may not be as safe as you think...!}

Jack raced down the stairs of the plain CIA issue hospital and searched for Laura's room. All relations of CIA officers were bought here when anything happened to them not just when CIA cases injured them, but just in case the police or doctors needed to contact the relatives and found out that the bank they worked for didn't exist.

When he finally found it he entered just as she was replacing her robe and Jack quickly turned away.

"I... er... I'm sorry."

"Its ok Jack. You saw me naked just last night."

"Yes but things were different then..." He paused but she didn't reply sensing he had more to say. He did. "Last night I thought you were my wife."

Irina knew that this was coming. She had seen the conflict in his eyes when he entered the room.

"I'm still your wife Jack. Its just that you know more about me now."

"I know too much."

"Not in my eyes."

"Yes but in the ... "Jack thought of the possible bugs "In the man you've been having an affair with's eyes I do. What are you going to do when he realises that your still here. Weren't you supposed to leave me for him?"

"I'm pretty sure that he knows by now that I'm not on the flight that I was supposed to have caught last night. Besides, I have an excuse. I'm in hospital. I doubt I could ever have left you in the end Jack. I'd rather die. Besides its not like I slept with him or anything." She replied catching on to the code. She wasn't entirely happy with the CIA thinking that she'd had an affair but she had to stick to it now.

Jack tried to decode the part about her not sleeping with him but then he realised that that was for the attention of the bugs to make her seem better. It was then that he realised that she was sitting there on a hospital bed and he hadn't asked her why.

It was the one question that jack had been dying to ask her while holding her in his arms since he arrived at the hospital, hell since he heard that she was there.

"What's wrong with you?" He silently wished he could ask if she was feeling ok but decided that it showed too much emotion. The one thing that had made him an easy target in the first place.

"I'm not sure. The doctor wanted to do more tests and he said he'd wait until you got here before talking to me. Why would he need your permission?" The fear was evident in her expression. "Do you think its serious?"

All of Jack's inhibitions fell as he saw how afraid his wife was and he rushed to her side.

"Oh Laura... Everything's going to be fine. I bet it was just exhaustion. From what Arvin told me, you were pretty upset. Your body probably wasn't used to it and the reason they need to do more tests is because they cant find anything wrong."

She nestled her head against his chest and closed her eyes as her tears stained his shirt. It was the second time she had allowed herself to cry in his presence since they were married. The first had been many years ago. She was pregnant. She had awoken to severe pain in her stomach and the sheets were soaked with blood. Jack was on a mission and she was all alone. Her hands shook as she dialled for the ambulance and passed out.

When he had arrived home a few days later, she had broken down and collapsed into his arms. She was still clutching the small blue babygrow he bought her when they found out that Sydney was going to have a little brother. The complications had lead to further problems and she was no longer able to conceive so Sydney had become the sole heir to the Bristow life. Irina had sworn that if she couldn't have a sibling to be there for her then she would have a doting family and a wide branch of fake family in the form of friends and Neighbours.

Jack remembered that time as he held her now. He had wished that he could have been there for her when it happened but once again his job at the CIA had caused problems in his home life.

"Mr. And Mrs. Bristow?" They looked up to see the doctor standing in the doorway with a small folder in his hands.

"Yes?" Jack asked as Irina wiped her face and pulled her dressing gown closed.

"Mr. Bristow, could I have a word with you outside please?"

"Of course." He turned back towards Irina. "I'll just be outside ok?"

She nodded and Jack left the room with the doctor.

"What's this all about? Why wont you tell my wife anything?"

"As you know, she's a civilian and any top secret information cannot be discussed around her."

"Yes but what's top secret about her being exhausted?"

"Have you heard of an ancient philosopher called Milo Rambaldi?"

"Of course I have. We only have a little information on him but he's proving to be quite a revelation. If you need information on him. Agent Sloane can tell you more than me. He's somewhat an expert on the matter..."

"Its Rambaldi that we found linked to her illness." The doctor interrupted

"Illness? What illness?"

"Your wife has contracted a very serious virus that effects her bone tissue and effectively eats away at it until she finally lapses from what seems to be a certain form of cancer. Any normal hospital would have simply diagnosed her with this and prescribed chemotherapy but we know better and any form of chemical therapy would only feed the virus and shorten the infection period."

"How did she contract this virus?"

"It seems that it was in her DNA which means that your daughter could also be a carrier. We've sent someone to collect her from school and bring her straight here."

"How are you going to treat them?"

"There's no form of antidote as yet."

"So you mean to tell me that you have no idea of how to treat my wife and possibly my daughter and the only thing you can think of will only kill them faster?"

"Well there is one other option."

"What?"

"Sending you on a mission to find out how the virus was formed and released. If we gather enough information, we can begin work on an antidote but until then we have nowhere to even start."

"I'll do it."

And with that he was out of the door and on the way to the CIA.

{A/N - Well i think thats a good enough place to leave it...! and i was only half serious about the whole Bill death thing!! I might even add some lil Vaughn and lil Syd stuff in. what do you think?}