"Is she asleep already?" Irina asks when Jack returns downstairs.
"She was out like a light." Jack puts a jazz record on, then holds out his hand. Smiling, Irina rises from the couch and walks over to him.
"What story did she want tonight?"
"Alice, again, of course." Jack chuckles, then pulls Irina closer and they begin to sway to the music.
It still surprises Irina to realize how deeply she loves him. All those years ago, when she had left Russia, she had thought of Jack as her enemy and was prepared to hate him. She had never imagined nights like this, had never dreamed of love and a child.
"Sydney said if we gave her a sister, she wants her to be called Alice."
Irina smiles. "And what did you say to that?"
"I said I'd talk to Mommy."
Irina feels that familiar stab of guilt. Sydney was a surprise, one the KGB allowed because she had argued a child would cement her cover. They would never allow a second child.
She knows Jack wants more children and the part of her that wishes this life was real wants more children too.
"We've spoken about this, Jack," she says.
"Years ago," he argues. "But Sydney's older now, and you're teaching schedule is lighter, and I'm not traveling as much."
She wants to say yes.
She cannot possibly agree.
"Just think about it." Jack kisses her neck.
And then he starts to sing along to Sinatra, and she feels her resolve weakening.
"Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away—"
"If we had another baby, would you want a boy or a girl?" She asks the question before she can stop herself.
"It doesn't matter." He smiles. "How about you?"
She shrugs. "I don't know."
"You want to start trying for Baby Bristow tonight?"
She pulls back slightly. "Jack, I – I'm on the Pill anyway and I'm still not sure—"
He tugs her toward him. "No pressure, sweetheart." He winks. "But we can practice in the meantime, just in case you change your mind."
"I'm not sure you need any more practice."
Guiding her to the couch, he shakes his head, his expression serious. "You can never get enough practice."
"Is that what they teach you at the CIA?"
"Laura, honey, you know I don't practice with anybody else."
"You'd better not, Mr. Bristow." She feigns indignance, but doesn't stop him from taking her shirt off.
"It's been a long time. I may have lost my touch." He runs his hands over her bare back, giving her shivers all up her spine.
She laughs, her earlier tension gone. Jack always manages to make her smile, something else that had surprised her in the beginning. "It's been twenty-four hours, Jack. I'm pretty sure you haven't forgotten anything."
He pulls her onto the couch with him. "It never hurts to make certain."
"Right."
"I love you, Laura."
"Love you too, Jack," she says, and it is the truth.