AN: This short piece is an unofficial sequel to Family Tea. I don't remember who I was chatting with, but we came to the conclusion during season three that Dixon was sleeping with Katya. Highly unlikely, yes, but in the world of Delayed Tea anything can happen.

****

"Pass the potatoes."

"I'd be delighted."

"What else would you be delighted to do?"

"Oh, I could-"

"There are children present."

"What?"

"You're the youngest, Irina. I'm demoting you."

"Elena!"

Cue the tossing of bread rolls.

"I'm just trying to keep Katya and her guest from talking dirty at Sunday table," Elena said calmly, dodging the five rolls that Irina threw with deadly accuracy at her head.

Only Irina could turn something like a yeast roll into a weapon. It said something about the role of the youngest child in their family.

"What were you saying?" Katya continued, ignoring her sisters.

"I was just about to mention the many ways I could be at your service, but I'm afraid your sisters are against making that public knowledge," he replied warmly, reaching out and tweaking her nose.

Irina rolled her eyes as Katya just smiled secretly. Elena tried, with little success, to hold back a snicker.

"Yes, Elena?"

"Nothing, Katya." She snickered again, and this time Irina joined her.

Katya crossed her arms over her chest, glaring. "Rushka, had the two in question been you and Jack, you both would have been on top of the table by now, upsetting the soup."

The man at her side paled slightly, which was no small feat.

Irina idly began juggling a few of the rolls that remained, and shrugged as she did so. "That's me. Not you."

The man watched her for a moment, and raised a brow. "They don't talk about your juggling talent in your file."

She added a fourth roll. "I almost joined a circus, once," she admitted humbly.

"Interesting."

"Walking a tightrope without a net probably would have been safer than joining the KGB," Elena muttered, and tossed her sister a fifth. It smoothly joined the rotation.

"But not nearly as amusing," Irina replied. "I never would have met Jack if I had joined that circus. Think of all the great sex I would have missed."

He considered briefly how much simpler his life had been before he had met Katya Derevko. No juggling criminals. No unwanted details of Jack Bristow's personal life. But Irina's last line, though slightly crude, was apt in his case as well.

"And Sydney," Irina continued. "I never would have had Sydney."

"This is a loss?" Katya asked, seemingly innocent. A roll flew out of rotation and smacked her between the eyes.

"Yes," said Irina calmly. "I'm sure Marcus would consider it one, as well."

Three pairs of dark eyes, sparkling with amusement, pinned him to his chair. "Definitely."

"Speaking of children," Katya began nonchalantly, "when do I get to meet yours?"

He blinked. "Don't you think that would be rather dangerous?"

"You're talking to a Derevko, Marcus," she replied, deadpan. "We love danger. And children."

"Together?"

"Is there a better combination of loves?"

Pause. "Possibly…" he replied slowly, unwilling to get on her bad side.

She smiled slightly. "Stop stepping around an invisible line. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Much," Irina and Elena chorused.

"Thank you so much," Katya hissed icily in their direction. "Trust is so easy to build around you two."

"Trust takes time," Irina replied without as much as a blink.

Katya's fists clenched.

The door flew open, admitting a whirl of snow and the forbidding form of Jack Bristow.

The rolls dropped to the floor, unheeded by Irina. "Aren't you a surprise," she started, standing with a wry smile.

"You slept with Sloane?"

She froze, and her glare turned full force onto the de facto victim- Marcus Dixon.

Marcus shrunk slightly into his chair.

"Why would you get that idea, Jack?"

"Dixon told me. It was in the transcripts of Sloane's meetings with Dr. Barnett." He turned to Marcus for confirmation. "Right?"

And paused, considering the fact that Marcus, by all rights, should not be there.

Katya tsked. "You've been a bad boy, Marcus."

Suddenly, Marcus' life had taken a very bad turn.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jack asks sternly. His gaze dropped to the bread on the floor. "Irina, did you juggle for him?"

"I didn't have an affair with Sloane," she answered instead, planting her hands on her hips. "I've never slept with him, ever." A slight expression of disgust settled on her face. "In a simple word, Jack- eww."

He dumped his coat and bag on the floor. "Sloane's just being a weasel again, hmm?"

"As usual." She crossed to him and settled her arms around his neck. "Hungry?"

Although his hands, hesitating over her backside, plainly said yes, his questioning gaze towards his colleague had to be answered.

"Marcus is with me, Jack," Katya informed him as Dixon considered how quickly his life had gone awry.

Jack blinked. "But you kissed me only a few months ago."

Irina pinched him, hard.

Dixon looked quickly at Katya. "You kissed him?"

"And she felt up his liver," Elena offered, hiding the stack of table knives under her napkin.

"You touched his liver?"

"Just trying to ascertain damage done to the organ," she sniffed, looking at him coolly. "Don't get mad, Marcus. Sometimes you have to do unpleasant things in this line of business."

Jack and Irina bristled.

"Kissing me has never been an unpleasant act," Jack stated.

Dixon hesitated, and finally settled with a safe, "I'm sure."

Sunday dinner had never been so dangerous.