AN: Music of this chapter (on repeat): Carol of The Bells by George Winston, Believe by Josh Groban, O Holy Night by Susan Boyle
THIRTY-FOUR
o
When dinner was finished they all moved into the Throne Room again, feeling full, free and easy after a few shots of vodka and when Jack deposited Irina on the piano bench instead of the chair everyone stopped conversation.
"Jack…" She looked at him with wide eyes and flustered with nervousness.
"Mom, you can play again?" Sydney's eyebrows shut up in surprise, immediately getting emotional.
"Yes. She can." Jack replied softly, staring into Irina's big brown eyes with nothing but love and support.
"Mom, please…" Sydney begged seeing the resistance on Irina's part and desperately wanting to hear her mother play, "I haven't heard you play since I was six years old."
Irina turned her eyes from Jack to her daughter with Sydney's plea, knowing she wasn't going to be able to resist the 'puppy look' on Sydney's face.
She also knew that Sydney had still felt guilty over the fact that she had saved Sydney from her injury and this was her chance to relieve some of her daughter's unnecessary burden.
The others in the room, stared at her with hopeful wondering eyes as they had never heard Irina play and were fascinated to do so, save Katya.
"And I haven't heard you play since I was fifteen…before you left for America." Katya added softly with tears already pooling in her eyes as she held Lena in her arms. "Please Rina."
Irina's own eyes started to tear and she had to blink them back looking from her daughter to her sister.
"Ok." She agreed softly, seeing how much it meant to both of them. "Let's see." She turned her attention back to the piano looking at the keys with no music in front of her thinking about what to play.
"Doesn't she need music?" Weiss asked quietly to Sydney in wonder.
"No." Sydney shook her head feeling her own tears coming before Irina played her first note staring at her mother at the piano and seeing flashbacks to her childhood that she'd thought were lost forever because of Project Christmas. "She plays from ear, by memory. Always has."
Irina placed her hands above the keys hovering for just a moment before she started to play something she hadn't played since her last Christmas with Jack and Sydney.
*Carol of The Bells*
The song started slowly at first and was instantly recognizable to them all as Irina continued to play, her fingers moving faster and faster as the tempo picked up and the melody changed.
Sydney and Katya both had tears streaming down there faces from the moment she began playing her first notes both at the memory and sight of Irina playing again and relief that her injury hadn't ruined her musical genius for the rest of her life.
Mikhail had heard the faint sounds of the piano coming from downstairs behind his closed door and opened it a crack to listen. When he realized it was Irina that must be playing he moved quietly to sit next to the wall in the hallway and listen to beautiful sounds coming from the room below him with a smile on his face. He hadn't heard her play since she was sixteen, if he remembered correctly.
Weiss, Marshall, Sergei, Sofia and Vaughn stood in awe as they watched Irina's hands fly with incredible speed and grace along the black and white keys.
Sergei saw his mother's tears and smile as she watched her sister again for the first time in over thirty years play. He walked up silently behind her as she cradled the baby in her arms and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her from behind with a smile as she watched his incredible aunt.
'Another one of her surprises.' Weiss thought to himself realizing now why Jack and Sydney had both been worried by Irina's hand injury and possibility of never playing the piano again. He also realized from watching the speed and accuracy at which her fingers and hands flew up and down the keys why her hands were so deadly with a knife.
Marshall stood transfixed at yet another one of Irina Derevko's geniuses and mouthed 'wow' to Vaughn when the two met eyes.
Vaughn nodded and wrapped his arms around Sydney much the same way Sergei had done with his mother, offering her his support as he wiped her tears knowing how much seeing her mother play again meant to her. Not only at bringing back something from her childhood, something real about her mother, but because he had known the terrible guilt she felt when Irina sacrificed her hand to save her from the damage Cuvee inflicted in Moscow that night.
Sofia watched leaning on the back of the couch with Weiss beside her, both mesmerized by watching Irina. She turned her head slightly and smiled at Weiss seeing this man was enjoying it as well and equally stunned. She'd heard her mother and grandmother when she was little, talking about her aunt Irina and how she used to play the piano all the time so beautifully. She was very little but she could clearly remember her Grandmother sitting on the piano bench crying to her mother that she 'could still hear Irina playing…' Sofia didn't understand at the time but realized when she got older that her grandmother was haunted by Irina's absence and like a ghost, could hear the music and see her daughter sitting there playing in her own mind.
Jack's face lit into a warm smile as he watched her long fingers glide gracefully with amazing speed over the ivory keys.
Her face completely calm and relaxed as if this took no effort at all. He had always been and would always be fascinated by the sight of Irina playing the piano the way she did and the incredible music she could create out of her own mind.
Improvising familiar melodies making them her own or memorizing entire classical pieces down to the very last note just from hearing them. He wasn't try to 'woe' her when he said he loved her resonating mind as it was equally beautiful and mesmerizing as her body.
As Irina continued to play out the end of the song, her fingers slowing as a smiled finally graced her lips when the last notes were played.
Sydney had held her breath the entire song and when Irina was finished went flying over to her and thrown her arms around her from behind, almost knocking Irina right off the bench as everyone applauded loudly and some whistles courtesy Sergei and Weiss.
She could hear Sydney crying into her hair and feel her shaking as her arms held her shoulders. She beneath the embrace so she could wrap her own arms around Sydney with a smile.
"I'm so happy you're ok. That you can still play so beautifully," Sydney sobbed into Irina's hair as her arms clung to her mother's shoulders. "I was so worried you were never going to be able to play again and it was my fault and-"
"Sydney, no." Irina squeezed her tighter, pulling her closer to her body and meeting Jack's eyes over Sydney's shoulder. "You didn't do anything, it wasn't your fault." She turned her face to kiss Sydney's ear through her hair. "I'm okay now." She pulled Sydney back smiling wiping Sydney's tears, "I told you I would play again one day."Her comment got the intended response and Sydney smiled through her tears with a little laugh and threw her arms around Irina again. Rocking her body with hers in happiness as they sat together on the bench.
Sydney helped Irina to stand and when she turned to face her audience another round of applause went up and she smiled shyly…something most of them weren't used to, and gave a little bow with her head.
Jack took two steps and swooped her up into his arms, looking into her smiling eyes before kissing her soundly on the lips earning more whistles and applause making them both laugh against each others lips.
Mikhail smiled brightly, laughing softly hearing the happy people below and their obvious amusement at something after Irina's spectacular playing.
The first playing of any piano he'd heard in decades. Quietly, he slipped back into the room and waited for the right time to meet the young man who was his son.
The laughter and excitement had settled some as everyone found a seat around the fire place and tree to start opening gift. Sydney and Vaughn shared one large fluffy chair with Sydney sitting off to the side of his lap and Irina did the same with Jack on the other chair opposite them, Irina feeding the baby her bottle.
Weiss and Sofia sat on the fur rug in front of the tree and fireplace handing out gifts while Marshall, Katya, Sergei and Dmitri held down the couch.
The most hysterical bouts of laughter came when Irina opened her fourth Kevlar vest of the evening from Sydney and threw her hands up in surrender after already receiving one from Katya, Jack and Dmitri.
"Ok, ok…I get your point." She smiled and set it on top the others; "I'll wear Kevlar next time."
"Next time?" Dmitri's eyes went wide as his voice raised and everyone died with laughter at the poor older man's reaction. "There better not 'be' a next time! Or you'll be buying me a pace-maker, more likely a coffin!" He added and even smiled at Irina, who was 'thankful' everyone was able to find humor at the horrible situation now.
The other hysterical moments of the night came when Weiss gave Sydney a 'Pretty Pretty Princess Game,' when Irina received 'The Princess and Pea' from Marshall and when Jack opened his gift from Weiss which were books entitled, '101 Ways For A Jackass To Apologize,' and 'The Manual of Apologies for Today's Bumbling Jackass.'
"Just thought those may come in handy for you, Jack." Weiss smirked, comfortable in the safe distance on the other side of the room, as everyone continued to die with laughter and Jack's cheeks flushed crimson, he added, "And titled appropriate don't you think? Come on Jack…" Weiss began to melt under Jack's stare.
"Very funny, Agent Weiss. Very funny." Jack finally cracked a smile.
Irina nudged Jack's neck with her nose giving the warm skin there a kiss as she whispered into his ear when everyone else began talking amongst themselves about their gifts, laughing and passing out the contents of gifts inside the stockings.
She pulled back to look in his eyes and he knew what she was going to do.
"No…wait." He said softly and Irina creased her brow in confusion.
"Why?" She whispered back.
"Just…wait." He said with a smile as he motioned to Vaughn who looked like he just ate a bucket of nails holding a big box in his hands he'd just retrieved with a smile from behind the tree.
Irina's eyes sparkled with fascination seeing Jack's face watching Vaughn and wondering what was going on, she leaned back against Jack and kissed Lena's head.
"Ok…I'll wait." She said softly smiling.
"For me?" Sydney took the big box from Vaughn with wondering eyes, her face lit into an enormous smile before kissing him quickly on the lips and started tearing the paper off.
When she opened the box, there was a slightly smaller wrapped box inside. She laughed shaking her head as she ripped its paper off as well, finding another smaller wrapped box. "What is this?" She paused briefly to look at Vaughn with a strange smile before ripping into the next box and finding yet another smaller wrapped box, and again and again until her eyes were getting wide and everyone suddenly grew quiet holding their breath as she pulled out the last tiny box.
"Oh my..." Irina said barely above a whisper and Jack could feel her holding her breath when she realized what was in that box.
Slowly and with tears already forming in her eyes, Sydney unwrapped the last tiny box to reveal the small velvet ring box. Sydney sucked in a breath as tears started streaking down her cheeks and hands shaking she flipped open the top to reveal a stunning diamond ring. "Oh my God…" She echoed Irina's earlier sentiments as she found it difficult to swallow looking over at Vaughn.
He took a deep breath and dropped to one knee in front of her and her tears were blinding as she looked down at him, covering her mouth with one hand in shock.
"Sydney…" He began with a shaky voice staring into her beautiful brown eyes, he took her hand in his. "From the first moment you walked into my office with your crazy red hair," He smiled and everyone laughed including Sydney, "I knew that there was something special about you…You were unlike anyone…I'd ever met in my entire life. You fascinated me in so many ways from your feisty fighting attitude to your insurmountable strength at having the ability to go on after experiencing such tragedy…" He found his own eyes being to blur, "We became a team…I love you…and I want us to be a team for the rest of our lives." He swallowed and he heard Sydney holding back her sobs as she looked at him, hand shaking in his. "Sydney…will you marry me?"
She started nodding 'yes' before she said the word and Vaughn breathed a sigh of relief sliding the rind onto her finger and engulfing her in a hug as everyone clapped, cheered and cried.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! I'll marry you." She smiled, crying happily into his neck as he lifted her off her feet before kissing her.
"How did you know?" Irina was crying almost as much as Sydney when she turned her head to face Jack.
"He asked me." Jack smiled softly, wiping her tears with his thumbs, before capturing her lips in a kiss.
"Oh God, Vaughn... its beautiful!" Sydney didn't bother wiping her tears as she looked from the ring on her hand to the man she loved.
"It was the ring my father…gave my mother." He smiled softly wiping her tears as one lone tear finally slipped down his cheek.
"Your mother's ring?" She covered her mouth again in shock as she whispered through her fingers.
"She was very excited to have you wear it." He smiled and she threw her arms around him.
Weiss was crying in the corner having witnessed the entire relationship develop from the moment she walked into the CIA, through their first attempt at a date that ended in gun fire, their desperate first kiss at SD-6s' take down and now their engagement.
"I've been waiting for this moment for almost three years!" Weiss smiled excitedly as he hugged them both, laughing and making them laugh.
Everyone began congratulating them and Irina and Jack held off until the end, placing a sleeping Lena in her basket and watching their oldest glow with happiness.
"Mom." Sydney saw Irina standing there with tears matching her own and threw her arms around her.
"Oh Sydney, I'm so happy for you Sweetheart." Irina peppered her face with kisses before squeezing her again.
"I love you. I'm so happy for you. Congratulations."
"Congratulations." Jack extended his hand to Vaughn with a smile.
"Thanks." Vaughn smiled back, clasping Jack's hand tightly.
When Irina relinquished Sydney, she threw her arms around Vaughn, kissing his cheeks and squeezing him harder then she ever had. "Congratulations." She pulled back to cup his face in her hand as more tears pooled in her eyes. "I couldn't think of a better man to marry my daughter. I'm so happy…for both of you." She smiled and kissed him again, with a big hug that made Vaughn smile and return the hug, holding Irina tighter then he ever had before.
"Dad…" Sydney smiled and felt herself start crying again when she saw the unshed tears in Jack's eyes, she launched herself into his arms.
"Congratulations Sweetheart." Jack held her close, happy that his child had finally found happiness after all the years of pain.
"You knew didn't you?" She pulled back searching his eyes for the truth. "That look in your eyes upstairs…like you had a secret."
"Yes," Jack laughed at her investigative skills, 'once a spy, always a spy.' "He asked me for my blessing earlier tonight."
"He did?" She asked barely above a whisper as tears came to her eyes remembering Danny's attempt and failure and how far her relationship with her father had come since then.
Jack nodded and she threw her arms around him again.
"Thank you Dad."
Dmitri had brought in more hot chocolate, coffee, and vodka for celebration when the excitement calmed down and everyone immediately began talking wedding dates.
"Now..." Irina turned in Jack's arms, whispering. "I'll go get him." She was about to walk away when he tugged on her arm.
"No, I will." He smiled, brushing her face with his fingers as he pulled her close. "You shouldn't be walking around and all this crying and laughing has already worn you out, I can tell." He challenged her to disagree with his eyebrows. "Give me five minutes."
"Ok." She kissed him soundly with an enormous smile before letting him go. She sat in the chair fidgeting with her fingers and bouncing her leg as she mentally calculated the time watching the others take shots of vodka in celebration.
When Jack had come back into the room and nodded at her, she took a deep breath and walked over to stand in front of Vaughn who had his back to them as he talked to Sydney and Weiss.
"Michael." She reached over and clasped his hand in hers, surprising everyone a little at what she was doing with the serious look on her face. "Tonight may be the most important night of your life thus far." She took a deep breath searching his eyes as she spoke softly. "Miracles do happen…wishes do come true."
"Irina…what are you talking about?" He suddenly felt his mouth go dry watching the tears form in her eyes and the look on her face.
"Yesterday, I awoke to a miracle standing beside my bed." She spoke slowly as everyone was now paying attention to their' conversation wondering what the hell she was talking about. "Michael, the miracle standing beside my bed was your father."
His eyes went wide then stood stone faced still staring at her. "You told me my father was dead." He spit out rapidly, not understanding.
"Yes," Irina pulled his hand up to hold it with both of hers as the tears fell. "Because I thought he was…he's alive Michael."
He heard the gasps and saw Irina's eyes leave his to look over his shoulder. Slowly, he turned around and came face to face with the father he hadn't seen since he was a little boy.
Mikhail took a step closer into the room seeing his son as a man for the first time, tears in his eyes. "Hello son."
"Dad…" Vaughn felt his eyes getting blurry as he took in the man before him, his now grey hair, the lines on his face and the wooden cane he walked with but looking into his face…hearing his voice, he knew he was staring at his father. "You're alive…"
"Yes, son." Mikhail couldn't believe the beautiful man in front of him was his little boy all grown up.
"I don't understand." Vaughn blinked back his stinging tears. "Irina told me you were killed escaping prison…you stepped on a landmine." He spoke softly in shock.
"I survived the blast." Mikhail spoke softly taking another step closer and everyone saw his leg had obviously been injured. "Rina thought I was killed…she didn't know and I didn't know she was alive either until I saw her on a magazine."
"You're alive…" Vaughn couldn't believe what he was seeing, what he was hearing watching his father walk towards him with a stiff leg. His eyes were overflowing with tears as Mikhail came to stand directly in front of him, looking at his face and finding his eyes with a smile through his own tears. "Dad?" Vaughn repeated in barely above a whisper as the tears ran off his chin, still in shock and unable to breathe.
"Yes…" Mikhail answered softly and moved slowly to wrap his arms around Vaughn.
Vaughn stood there stiffly for a moment in his father's embrace before crumbling and hugging him back as the tears fell holding onto one another for the first time in almost twenty-five years.
"I love you son…" He kissed Vaughn's head as he held him close.
Everyone else in the room who hadn't known about Mikhail stood in shock watching father and son holding onto each other.
Slowly, Irina reached her hand over to find Sydney's and squeeze it as Mikhail's eyes met hers' over Vaughn's shoulder, sharing a knowing smile of what it was like to hold your child in your arms again after so many years apart.
Sydney saw the exchange between her mother and Vaughn's father and looked over to see Irina had streams of tears rolling down her cheeks watching the scene before her. She pulled on her mother's hand until Irina was at her side and she wrapped her arm around her shoulder, pulling her head into her and kissing her mother's temple, holding her close as they cried together.
After a moment longer, Vaughn pulled back out of his father's embrace but remained just as close looking at the man before he finally smiled. "I can't believe it…you're really alive." He smiled but it soon began fading to wonder and confusion again. "If you've been alive all this time…where have you been?"
That was everyone's cue to give Vaughn and his father their space and Irina smiled softly, grasping Mikhail's forearm as she passed offering her silent strength.
Mikhail caught her arm as she was pulling away and pulled her head to his lips, kissing her face just below her temple.
"Thank you." He smiled softly as everyone watched still in shock at this evening's events. She nodded at him through her tears smiling back at Vaughn before taking Sydney's hand in her own and leading them out of the room.
"Mom did you know he was alive?" Sydney gasped when everyone had moved into the other living room, needing to hear from her own lips she didn't know.
"Sweetheart no. I didn't know he was alive until yesterday." She ran her hand over the side of Sydney's face and down her hair. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing either but there he was alive and standing in front of me."
"And then she fainted." Jack added softly, looking between Sydney and Irina.
"You did?" Sydney was immediately alarmed.
"Yes." Irina smiled as more tears fell. "Sydney the last time I saw him was just as I told you; during our escape attempt when he stepped on the mine and it exploded…then I was hit on the head and knocked out. I thought he was dead." She shook her head thinking about that day and still wondering how Mikhail had survived it with just losing his leg.
"He just showed up here?" Katya asked, her face pale at seeing her childhood friend still alive as well.
"Yes." Dmitri brought them all drinks and offered what he knew softly. "The guards told me someone claiming to be an old friend wanted to see Irina and when I looked on the monitor at the security camera. I thought I was going to faint. Jack was at the store and Irina was sleeping when I let him in. I couldn't believe it either. "
"And when I got home I went upstairs and he was just standing there, holding Lena and watching Irina sleep." Jack added the next part of the bizarre tale. "Scared me to death until I saw his face, and I knew instantly who he was." He found Irina's hand and gave it a gently squeeze. "You were so sick, we didn't want to wake you yet and scare you so we went out of the room and talked. He said he hadn't known Irina was still alive until he saw her on a Russian magazine cover somewhere in Siberia."
"I thought I saw a ghost in the hallway, or that I was hallucinating until he spoke to me." Irina wiped at her tears. "Then I fainted and when I came to…he was standing right there in front of me next to the bed."
"Well where has be been all these years?" Katya sat heavily into the couch, confused and upset.
"Siberia." Irina sighed. "He couldn't return to his family as a fugitive and he thought I'd been killed in Kashmir…so he went to live a life of seclusion. He's been living alone on a farm in Siberia for the last twenty years."
"My God." Katya rubbed her forehead between her fingers. "What happened to his leg?" She asked after a moment, already having an idea.
"He lost it from the knee down when he stepped on the mine."
Sofia handed her a box of tissues that they all passed around.
"I still can't believe he wasn't killed that day."
"This is so insane." Weiss paced behind the couch. "I mean first we find out you were KGB and then you come back from the dead… and then we find out Mike's dad was KGB and now he's back from the dead. I'm never going to believe anyone is ever 'really' dead again unless I see them die and see their bodies, and even then it's still questionable. I need another drink." He shook his head before slamming another shot of vodka.
"He's been upstairs this whole time?" It just dawned on Sydney as she turned back to her parents.
"Yes." Irina sighed softly with a small smile. "He wanted to wait…so we did what he asked."
"Wow…Mike's just got to be floored in there. Asking Syd to marry him and finding out his father's alive all in less then an hour." Weiss sat down on the edge of the sofa running his hands over his face, concerned for his friend.
Vaughn had sat absolutely still looking at his father as Mikhail recanted the details of his life in a brief overview from the moment Irina had taken him to Mexico, leading up to yesterday.
Explaining to him why he never came to find them, tell him he was still alive and Vaughn was racing through a wide variety of emotions as he listened to what his father had to say.
Remembering going through the same thing with Sydney and Irina only now it was his own life, his own father.
Mikhail was nervous and thankful at how quiet his son was sitting in front of him listening. When he came to the end of his story he waited for Vaughn's reaction having seen the emotions raging across his son's face.
"Say something…please?" Mikhail grabbed his son's fingers and squeezed.
"What am I supposed to say? What do you expect me to say? I don't 'know' what to say. I don't know how to feel." Vaughn looked down at their connected hands. "I just…need some time. To process all this."
"I don't expect anything from you, son. I know I'm in no position to…I just wanted you to know the truth. To be in your life…if you want me to. No pressure." Mikhail smiled softly. "I just can't believe the man I see before me is the same little slugger I used to hit baseballs with in our back yard."
Vaughn smiled softly at the memory, "Irina told me…that both of you passed time in prison by wondering about Sydney and I."
"Yes, we did." Mikhail felt a fresh surge of tears and he blinked them back, "She wondered if Sydney went out for her Thanksgiving Day play. What part she played; and I wondered if you made the baseball team…what position you'd played."
"I made the team that year, I was short-stop." Vaughn sniffled and wiped his tears with the back of his hand. He heard his father's sigh at finally knowing the truth behind the question that'd kept him going in prison.
"I always thought that's what you'd play. You were always quick with the glove." Mikhail shook Vaughn's hand beneath his grasp with a smile. "Michael…I know I have no right to ask and you don't have to answer me…but how is your mother?"
Vaughn took a deep breath and began to think about how his mother was going to react to finding out her husband was still alive. "She's ok." He offered his father knowing that he'd married his mother out of love and could still see it on his face. "She moved us back to Paris the year after you 'died.' I moved back to the States to attend college…I wanted to be in the CIA…like you."
"Jack told me that." Mikhail struggled to take a breath, "I'm sorry son. For not being the man you thought I was."
"Time will tell…if you are the man I thought you were, the same father I remember." Vaughn offered his honesty, "When we learned of Irina's identity, that she was a KGB agent who'd married Jack as an assignment…we all assumed that she was in no way, the woman that Sydney remembered as her mother…Jack thought that their entire relationship had been her fabricated lie…that the woman who was Irina Derevko was nothing more then a manipulative, lying murderer." His eyes staring directly into his father's, he could see how hearing those words spoken about Irina pained him. "We were wrong; it took along time to learn the truth…for Sydney, and Jack…to see she was the same loving mother, same wife that had been 'Laura Bristow.' To see Laura was Irina and Irina was Laura…there was just more to her." Vaughn paused to take a breath, "I want to believe that Mikhail Vontonavich is the same man and father as the man who was William Vaughn to see that William was Mikhail, and Mikhail was William, that there is just more to you."
Mikhail felt like Michael had just given him a tremendous gift and he knew he owed it to Irina for helping his son to see, understand their love for their families wasn't a lie. They were the same parents their children had remembered.
"How ever long it takes; I'm not going anywhere, ever again." Mikhail smiled softly and grabbed Vaughn pulling him into his embrace, holding him close. "l love you, son, more then I could possibly ever begin to say. I missed you so much. I've thought about you every hour of everyday."
"I missed you, too." Vaughn still couldn't believe his father was alive and holding him. "Dad."
Mikhail felt his breath catch and pulled his son closer hearing his admission. "You're already twice the man I ever was." He sighed with a smile, pulling back, he placed one hand on Vaughn's shoulder and the other against his cheek. He looked into his eyes for a long moment. "I have to 'thank you' for…You were able to save Rina…when I wasn't." He felt tears begin to sting his eyes again.
Vaughn knew what his father was referencing to: He was able to save the pregnant Irina by carrying her out of Sloane's prison compound and his father wasn't able to get Irina out of Kashmir. "You don't have to thank me for saving her life…I knew what she had done for you." Vaughn searched his father's eyes, "When she let herself get captured trying to give you a chance to escape. It wasn't your fault. You didn't purposely leave her behind Dad. She knew you wouldn't," He smiled softly thinking about the stubborn brunette, "That's why she took that choice away from you by letting herself get caught." He paused watching his father's reaction, "Leaving her behind wasn't an option for me, and because Irina was unconscious…she couldn't take that choice away from me." He smiled again and chuckled softly when his father did.
"She is stubborn." Mikhail smiled his warm smile, and slapped Vaughn's knee, holding onto it with his hand.
"So is Sydney." Vaughn laughed, surprised at the ease he felt already in his father's presence. "She drives me so crazy sometimes."
"Like mother like daughter." Mikhail laughed.
"I have a feeling you're talking about me with that reference." Irina entered the room smiling warmly seeing their apparent 'ease' with one another already, a good sign. "Should my ears be burning?"
"Just referencing how insanely stubborn you can be at times." Mikhail smiled as he used his cane to stand, Vaughn immediately helping his father.
Irina walked up to the both of them, happy to see the bright smiles on both their faces. "Stubborn? Me? Never?"
She laughed pointing to herself in mock surprise, "I don't mean to interrupt but mass will be starting soon and we need to get going." She smiled softly, "Michael, if you want to stay here and catch up with your father instead, I completely understand."
"No," Vaughn immediately answered shaking his head, "Not that I wouldn't love chatting more with my Dad," He smiled over at Mikhail and he saw Irina's smile grow with the reference out of the corner of his eye, "But I take my role as Lena's Godfather seriously and I really want to be there." He smiled and Irina felt her heartstrings being tugged.
"Ok." She smiled warmly and grasped his hand, kissing his cheek.
"Mikhail, please say that you'll come to?" She reached for her old friends hand as well, still holding onto Vaughn's and surprised he let her with no awkwardness it normally held when they touched or embraced.
"Rina," Mikhail leaned over and kissed her temple with a smile, "I wouldn't miss your baby's baptism for anything tonight. She is a little miracle." He smiled cupping her cheek and running his thumb over its curve.
"Yes, she is." She smiled warmly thinking about her baby girl, then laughed as they walked out of the room to join the others. "Your son is going to make an excellent father to our grandchildren." She flashed her brilliant smile at Vaughn who was stunned and blushing.
"He did a marvelous job getting me through labor with Lena."
"Our Grandchildren." Mikhail laughed and smiled looking from Irina to his son and back again. "I can't believe we're going to share grandchildren." He laughed wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "You certainly don't look old enough to be a Babushka already."
"Oh no." She smiled over at Vaughn again, "I can't wait to spoil them rotten. I think I will be a fun Babushka." She arched her eyebrows self-reflecting as Vaughn and Mikhail laughed.
"Yes, a weekend at Babushka Irina's house, I'm positive, will never be boring." Vaughn smiled as Irina playfully hit him.
"Babushka Irina and Grandpa Jack." Mikhail smiled, trying out their titles. "Sounds good."
"So does, Grandpa Mikhail and Grandma Bella." She waggled her eyebrows laughing in happiness at having her friend back, and her daughter engaged.
"Ok ok you two! Geesh!" Vaughn shook his head rolling his eyes with a smile, "We just got engaged! It will be a little while until you can claim your titles!"
"Not too long, I hope." Irina gave Vaughn her catlike grin.
"Until then, I'm more then happy to practice my Grandfathering skills with Lena, especially the spoiling part if she's Michael's God-daughter and your daughter." He continued to smile and laugh at the look on her face."What is that look, Rina?"
"You…Grandfather to 'my' daughter just sounds so…wrong." She smiled and laughed when he agreed after hearing her say it. "How about Uncle Mikhail?"
"Agreed." Mikhail laughed and kissed her hairline just as they entered the other living room to see all the expectant faces awaiting them.
"Is everyone snuggled in?" Irina held Lena tightly to her chest beneath the layers of warm fur blankets and her own coat as they all bundled into the two sleighs bound for the church and the mid-night service.
Katya, Sofia, Sergei, Marshall, and Weiss were in the sleigh behind the one carrying Irina, Jack, Sydney, Michael, Mikhail and Lena. Irina's bodyguards riding in the fronts of each sleigh with the drivers.
*Believe*
"Oh, I just love Christmas!" Sofia snuggled down into the blankets, "I always feel like a little girl again. It's so magical."
"It's my favorite holiday too." Weiss smiled and laid his arm over the back of the seat with a smile. "Great food, great gifts, great laughs and great…company." He smiled and everyone laughed, as he dropped his arm around Sofia's shoulders.
Irina turned her head to the laughing voices and bright faces behind her at the excitement and fun it was to be traveling by horse and sleigh through the snow on Christmas Eve.
Everyone snuggled up under the warm fur blankets with warm hot chocolate in hand. Weiss and Sofia were snuggled into one corner and he raised his eyebrows with an enormous smile when he saw Irina smiling and laughing at him with his arm around Sofia.
"I thought Russian Orthodox followed the Julian calendar?" Marshall asked tipping his hat back on his head and it immediately fell into his eyes again. "That means their Christmas isn't until January 12th, right?"
"Yes. You are correct Mr. Flinkman." Katya smiled warmly at the cute little man she'd grown a fondness for during the days surrounding Irina's execution. "But over the last few decades, more and more Russian's have begun to celebrate with the rest of the western countries in December. Of course, we still celebrate in January, too." She laughed, "Russian's are always in the mood to celebrate and have a chance to drink more vodka." The others laughed with the face she was making. "Irina and Jack wanted to combine both traditions so, we are having Lena baptized in the Orthodox faith on the Christian Christmas Eve. The church now recognizes both nights as holy and holds mass on both days. Tonight's service is actually the International service, which recognizes Christmas traditions, songs, and customs from around the world. Highly appropriate I think, for the crowd we have gathered tonight for Lena's baptism: Italians, Americans, Russians, French…"
"And German." Weiss added his own heritage.
"English." Marshall shrugged with a smile. "I know, surprising."
The horses began to pull and they all cheered with glee as they floated over the beautiful snow covered grown, dodging between the hundreds of lit trees on Alexander's grounds, making their way to the street.
"Irina." Jack pulled her closer on their side of the sleigh, pulling the blankets up around her more. "I certainly don't think this is a good idea for your health! Alexei said no more going out into the cold winter Russian air."
"He said no 'running' in the cold winter Russian air Jack. He didn't say anything about riding in a sleigh." She challenged him with that smile he loved and shook his head, knowing it was no win situation with her. She saw him role his eyes and pinched him beneath the blankets causing him to jump and Sydney, Mikhail and Vaughn to chuckle. "It's actually a warm night and I've been a very good girl, and I've been letting you carry me all over the place."
"Letting me?" Jack pulled her in tighter to his shoulder, wrapping his arm around her shoulders with a laugh and a smile. "As if its for 'my benefit?"
"Oh admit it, you like carrying me around." She purred in her froggy voice and it just made Jack laugh.
"You are so stubborn. I don't know whether to kiss you or strangle you at times." He laughed as did everyone else in their' sleigh.
"Well I'd prefer the former." She smiled, looking incredibly beautiful in her white fur hat and coat, dark hair spilling over her shoulders as the moonlight danced about in her dark eyes.
Jack cupped her face with his gloved hands and kissed her softly on the lips earning whistling, applause and a chorus of 'oohs and awes' from behind them as Weiss, Sergei, Sofia, Marshall and even Katya cheered them on.
"All right, Jack!" Weiss yelled into the night, throwing his fist into the air while everyone laughed.
"And he's someone we're trusting with our daughter's well-being?" Jack smiled, still cupping her face as she laughed and leaned into to kiss him again quickly.
"Poor bastard." Weiss sighed, shaking his head as everyone in his sleigh laughed, "He's still got another, what is it, another week left before the six weeks of torture is up?"
"Oh, I don't know if I'd feel too sorry for him, Mr. Weiss," Katya purred with a knowing smile after seeing Jack and Irina,
"If I know my sister, she's very 'creative'…and very 'crafty'…she's a problem solver. I'm sure they've found a way to still 'have fun." She raised her eyebrows and another hilarious round of laughter went up in their sleigh.
"Well they sound like they're having fun." Mikhail smiled to Jack and Irina as he watched the sleigh behind them.
"No doubt, laughing at my expense." Jack grumbled and felt his groin twitch as Irina slid her hand up his thigh under the blanket, making him blush as he caught Sydney smiling at her parents.
*O Holy Night*
The church was decorated spectacularly for the holiday and the entire service was to be conducted in the soft glow of thousands of candles and low lighting on the stage.
Before the service began, Irina, Jack, Sydney and 'The Godfathers' went to speak with the priest who would be performing the baptism explaining to them how it would go and what was expected of each of them when taking on such a 'serious responsibility.'
He asked them if it would be ok to include her baptism as a part of the celebration of Christ's birth on the same night, baptizing her as a child of God on the Eve of Jesus' birth, have her represent the baby who brought the world a 'second chance,' saving us from our sins and giving us a 'rebirth.'
They couldn't believe how fitting it was for Lena to play such a role as she had done that in their own lives so agreed happily to having her be included in such a special service.
They were to sit front row and after the children's portion of the service was over, Lena would be baptized.
The church was packed when the service began and everyone in the church roared with laughter as they watched a little boy playing a Shepard start beating Joseph over the head with his cane, tired of his pushing during their re-enactment of the nativity.
Lena slept peacefully the entire service in Irina's arms. When it was her turn to be baptized, Irina carried her up to the altar with Jack at her side and the Godparents following behind. A hush of whispers began as a wave from the front of the church to the back as everyone watched 'whom they thought' might be 'the Romanov' and her family walk up to the front.
When the priest announced the baby's name as her 'Imperial Grand Duchess Lena Alix Irina' a soft gasp from those present in the church when their suspicions had been confirmed.
They sat quietly with smiles on their faces, most with tears in their eyes at realizing how special this baby was. She was the first member of the Imperial Romanov family to be baptized in a Russian Orthodox Church since the Revolution and the fall of communism, Russia's second chance as well as the symbolic correlation of representing the baby Jesus in the service, the world's second chance.
Lena remained asleep in Irina's arms and through the entire baptism, even as she was passed from one person to the next. The only time she made any kind of noise or movement at all came when the priest held her in his hands and blessed her head with the baptismal water. She shot her arm into the air and yawned, earning a collective 'awe' from the entire church at just how precious she was in her beautiful christening gown, looking like a tiny angel in the soft glow of candle light.
As the priest performed the ceremony, he mixed in the sermon of how the birth of a tiny baby that night, in the most unlikely of places, changed the world bringing with him unlimited love and forgiveness in his tiny heart, offering us all, a second chance.
All of them having tears in their eyes when the ceremony was over at how Lena's birth and life had been much the same and represented all those things to Jack and Irina, their family.
The priest handed the baby back to Irina and when they turned around, saw that every single Russian in that church had tears in their eyes, dabbing their cheeks. They all smiled warmly at Irina and her family as they took their seats again the service resumed.
When it was over, they had to stay a moment longer to sign the documents and found when they stepped outside, every single person who'd attended the service, numbering into the hundreds, now stood out front with small candles in their hands, smiles on their faces waiting to see them off. No one made any move to harass them, stop them from getting back into their sleighs, but rather the exact opposite, remaining silent as they passed and parted in a way as Irina led the way, like Moses had done when parting the Red Sea.
When everyone was settled back into the sleighs, Irina remained standing from her position in the sleigh, smiled brightly and waved, shouting to those who'd waited to see them off, "Merry Christmas!"
The crowd's faces lit up with happiness and everyone shouted some kind of greeting back to her.
Waving as the sleighs pulled away and disappeared down the street.
"Wow…that was amazing." Marshall watched as the last tiny lights of candles disappeared, having never witnessed Russian's reactions to Irina now. "They love her, I mean they 'really…love her." He marveled with a big smile. "The way they all waited outside in the cold and snow, with the beautiful candles…the way they just parted in awe of her presence." He shook his head in wonder.
"Yes," Katya smiled warmly, "She has that affect on people."
"It's like she's already been crowned as Queen… or Tsar, I guess." Weiss was stunned by the scene as well. "Like its already been decided."
"The Russian people don't need a crown to believe in their ruler." Katya smiled turning her gaze to those who's rap attention she held, "Russian's have been looking for 'their mother,' someone to unit us all again for quite a long time. They believe they've found her, in Irina. It doesn't matter what her status may be…they'll, keep believing in her no matter what. She's brought hope to a people who've been without for along time. To them, she is their 'Mother Russia. Irina was born for this."
The younger man smiled to the young woman lying on the table as he waved the wand over her soft olive skin. When the sounds of a soft 'whooshing' could be heard he smiled to the black and white screen picking out the tiny little white bundle easily. With a smiled, he pressed off some snap shots and helped the girl to sit.
Another young woman in white helped the dark complexioned girl off the small paper covered table.
The two women smiled nervously at one another before chatting happily in their native tongue.
The man in the white lab coat began printing off data from the computer in front of him as well as making a digital recording of the sound they'd just heard. He picked up the papers and photos and walked with almost a bounce in his step down the long corridor.
Knock. Knock. Knock. He tapped softly on the door.
"Come in." The man whirled around in his chair and smiled expectantly at the young man before him. "So…what do you have for me?"
The man smiled eagerly and placed the folder before him on the desk and pressed play on the recorder as the sound filled the space. "Congratulations Mr. Sloane." He smiled brightly, answering in his thick accent, watching as Sloane picked up the black and white photograph smiling, "It's official now. You're going to be a father. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too Klaus." Sloane traced the outline of the tiny baby on the sonogram with a wide grin as the doctor left the office. "Soon, my precious child…I can't wait to meet you."