Prompt #16: Somebody save me, I don't care how you do it – Just stay. Stay, come on, I've been waiting for you. Remy Zero – "Save Me"
The first time Irina left Jack – when she drove into an icy river and said goodbye to a woman she had grudgingly come to like, to a man she loved in spite of her daily objections, and to a child who had become the centre of her life – she told herself she had no regrets.
On her worst nights in Kashmir, she dreamed of them, imagined Jack finding out the truth and coming to rescue her. Dreamed of what she'd say, of how he'd tell her none of it mattered as long as they could be together. Of course, he never did, and Irina buried the weakness deep inside her, so deep that she forgot it was there. Forgot pancakes for breakfast and a child with messy pigtails. She had more important things to do.
The second time she left Jack, she could still feel his hands on her skin, could still taste his kiss. Again, she told herself she had no regrets. There was no time to regret. (But a tiny part of her, the woman who did remember waking up to kisses and laughter hoped that one day she would have the chance to explain. Hoped that one day Jack would listen.)
The third time Irina left Jack, they both bore bruises, though not all visible on the skin. She knew this wasn't the last time she'd walk out on him; they were living in dangerous times, trying to find Sydney's killers, trying not to kill each other, trying not to love each other.
She was waiting in a hotel room (after the twentieth, thirtieth, fortieth time) when she received word that he'd been arrested.
Months later, when she herself was a prisoner, again playing the what if game (What if Jack was free? What if he came to rescue her? What if Sydney was still alive?) she watched her dreams fall to ashes around her as Jack murdered a woman he believed to be her.
"It's about time he left you," Elena said. "No man can be expected to be loyal forever, especially not to someone like you."
In Sevogda she proved her sister wrong, but then she did what she knew best, and left Jack again.
He found her in Prague, in a tiny inn that was centuries old. She'd come here to hide, to recover away from anyone who knew she existed, to mourn the life she could have had. Buried under thick sheets, lost in the past, she didn't hear him enter, and when she finally realized someone else was in the room with her, all she could do was stare at him.
She said nothing as he climbed into the bed with her, and didn't resist when he curled up behind her, his arm around her waist to keep her in place.
"When are you going to stop running away from me?" he asked.
Now, she thought, and turned to kiss her husband.