AN: Music for this chapter (on repeat): Crimson Tide Theme by Hans Zimmer from The Crimson Tide Soundtrack, Holla' If You Hear Me (The Rebel) by Tupac, Take My Breathe Away by Berlin.
FORTY-FIVE
o
*Crimson Tide*
Atlantic Ocean- 200 miles off the coast of Spain
Jack, Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss, Dixon, Carrie and Marshall stood on the deck of the US Juneau warship in life vests and Navy clothes scanning the horizon with binoculars.
The ship was in the middle of the Annual War Games and had agreed to drop them with their transportation ship.
"Are you certain these are the coordinates Agent Bristow?" Capt. Rabb adjusted his binoculars as they ship swayed beneath them and Marshall looked green with seasickness.
"Positive Captain. I've double-checked twice. This is the spot." Jack furrowed his brow again, looking down at the coordinates in his hand.
"I don't see anything yet. Seaman Smith!" The Captain hollered.
"Yes sir?" The young man in a Navy blue hat, light blue shirt and orange vest stood at attention at his side.
"Has the radar picked up any ships in the 100 mile radius?" The Captain continued scanning the sea for signs of the ship.
"Yes sir. Three ships. One heading towards us, one headed East and the other South East, sir."
The young man snapped out in a loud clear voice. He couldn't have been more then eighteen years old.
"Excellent." The Captain smiled. "Sounds like you're ride should be here soon Agent Bristow!" He turned his head smiling at Jack.
Suddenly the sea rippled and a black submarine shot out from beneath the sea less then 200 yards off the bow.
"Holy shit!" Captain Rabb screamed watching the unidentified submarine break the surface in front of them and everyone else gapped in awe."Seaman Smith who the hell is that and why didn't we see them coming?" The Captain turned red in rage as the deck crew scrambled to ready positions.
"Wait, that's not a US submarine Capt.?" Jack and everyone else asked watching the giant black bullet bobbed in the waves, believing that it was.
"No, Agent Bristow it is not!" The Captain was furious another team caught them on surprise.
"They're not on the sonar Sir." The young man frantically checked the equipment. "They're still not showing up! Wait…I'm getting something," The young man pressed his head set to his ears, "It's the Russians, sir!"
"Dear God!" Jack's eyes bugged out.
The black hatch opened and a pool of water fell inside before a young Russian sailor smiled up at them. "Welcome aboard!"
They dropped down through the hatch one at a time in disbelief, following the sailor through the narrow passage ways, watching as the Russian's working at various posts throughout the enourmous sub as they were led to the bow.
"What class submarine is this?" Weiss asked Dixon through gritted teeth, not recognizing it as they passed through the sub and many sailors whose eyes were watching curiously.
What really surprised them, was the fact females were allowed to serve on submarines in the Russian navy…but then again, Irina was in charge and she was a prime example that women can do anything men can do and probably better.
"None I've ever seen." Dixon looked around in fascination.
"Oh my God, we're on a Russian Submarine!" Marshall's eyes were wide as he tried to talk out of the side of his mouth.
Jack and Sydney were the first into the command center and saw Irina's back to them, Sark on her right and the Capt of the Submarine to the left looking at a grid.
"Empress Irina, your visitors have arrived, ma'am." The sailor announced them in Russian and snapped to attention while Irina turned around with a big smile.
"Hello!" She greeted them with a big smile walking towards them followed by Sark and the Captain.
Jack was the first of the ripple affect to gawk at her uniform matching the crew and see the many medals blazoned across the breast.
"Captain Sergei Sukalov, I would like to introduce to you our Comrades on this mission, Agents Dixon, Wiess, Flinkman, Vaughn , Bowman and the Agents Bristow, my husband, and daughter." She wished she could grab Jack and kiss him senseless on the spot.
The Captain smiled brightly, not much older then Jack and fairly good looking, extended his hand in the American gesture and squeezed Jack's hand soundly.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Sir."
"Likewise Captain." Jack returned the smile and everyone else shook hands.
Irina's eyes danced with the reflected red and blue lights in the small room as she watched the exchange and Jack couldn't take his eyes off of her, seeing her for the first time in her Russian military uniform.
"Captain, Empress, we are ready to submerge."
A blonde haired sailor about twenty years old came to stand in front of them.
"All right, proceed. Set our depth at 400 meters." The Captain ordered and grabbed the bars above the walk way as did Irina so everyone else followed suit with an adrenaline rush and awe, none of them having been on a submarine before, only seen the specs.
"Aye aye Captain." The man snapped off a salute and relayed the command, "Set our depth at 400 meters!"
"Set our depth at 400 meters!" Another sailor relayed it around the room.
"Setting our depth at 400 meters, sir!" A young man who was piloting the submarine called back.
"All crew members prepare to dive!"The CO ordered into a Com and spread the word throughout the ship.
"Hang on!" Irina's eyes smiled at the bewildered faces behind her and everyone prepared to descend into the black depths of the ocean, holding on for dear life.
"Commencing dive!" The pilot shot back and slowly pushed in, forcing the massive submarine down.
"Commencing dive!"
"Commencing dive!" The officers on deck sounded the repeat of command and sub started slanting forward at a drastic angle and descending rapidly into the sea.
"50 meters…75 meters…100 meters…125 meters…140 meters…170 meters…200 meters…" The co-pilot sounded off the depths every few seconds as they hit them.
"Whoa…" Marshall's little arms struggled to hold on as their bodies all tipped forward at a sharp angle the sub creaked under the pressure and their ears began popping.
"This is like, way better then a ride at Magic Mountain." Weiss smiled brightly and Sydney giggled before noticing something that caught her attention.
In the officers chair just off to the side, Lena sat sleeping peacefully, sucking happily on her pacifier in her car seat that was strapped down. She was wearing a teeny-tiny Russian sailors shirt and pants, the traditional blue and white horizontal stripes.
"Oh my God, Mom?" Sydney's eyes went wide and pointed with her head towards the baby. "Lena?"
Their eyebrows rose in surprise and astonishment looking at the baby strapped in and asleep descending into the ocean on an unclassified submarine.
"What?" Jack's eyes went wide, then realized Irina had said she would be along for the 'ride' and meet up with them after, which is why they brought Carrie but that was when he was thinking they'd be traveling by ship or helicopter…not submarine!
"The Grand Duchess is an excellent submariner!" The Captain looked at Lena and then smiled back at Jack and to Irina who smiled happily looking over at her baby who'd adjusted well to all the pressure changes and acted like this was nothing new to her.
"375 meters…400 meters! Depth reached, sir!" The pilot shouted back and the sub started pulling level.
"Crew return to your positions, cruise depth has been reached." The CO commanded into the Com again and Irina and the Captain let go of the bars so everyone else did too.
"Hi um…excuse me?" Marshall raised his hand timidly, looking to Irina and her piercing eyes and the Captain. "I have a question…what is the class of this submarine…I mean it doesn't look like its Akula, and it dives much faster… and the propulsion system sounds different." Seeing the Captains stern stare and Irina's cocked eyebrow, "I mean…oh boy…I probably shouldn't have asked that." He stepped behind Weiss as means of protection.
"It is not Akula and you have very good ears, Marshall. "Irina's mouth twitched into a smile when she saw the little man cower. "It's something you've never seen before."
That was all she was going to give them for now and quickly moved on,
"Comrade Yelnik will show you to your quarters and then to the situation room. I'll meet you there." She used her best commanding voice and everyone seemed to straighten up with her tone, even Jack, who was ready to pounce on her in uniform, commanding a submarine and giving them orders. He couldn't wait until he had her behind closed doors.
Irina couldn't wait to get Jack behind closed doors, he looked so cute in his Navy uniform even if it was only a disguise to blend in on their ship, she wouldn't mind tearing it off of him.
"Yes ma'am." He gave her a small smile and turned on his heel to follow the others. "Agent Bristow." The young Russian sailor stopped in front of a door a few feet down from the bridge reading 'Captain' in Cyrillic and opened it, pointing him inside. "Your quarters."
"My quarters?" Jack pointed to himself, rereading the name on the door unsure.
"Yes, sir. They are Empress Irina's quarters while on board, sir. It is always a great honor to have the Tsar cruising with us and we try to make her as comfortable as possible, sir." The young man replied stoically with perfect posture. "The Empress Irina will escort you to the situation room, sir."
Jack's face lit into a smile. 'Yes!' He was going to have her alone for a moment. He gave a little wave to Sydney as she passed, smiling and followed the sailor to their quarters.
"These are your quarters Comrades." The sailor turned around showing them to a series of tiny, stacked bunks far back in the submarine with the rest of the crew.
There was eighteen inches of space to walk between bunks stacked two high, with eighteen inches of headroom.
"Oh man this sucks! Why can't I get the Captains room like Jack!" Weiss had to suck in his gut to squeeze between bunks, throwing his small black bag onto one of the lower spaces.
"Because you're not married to the Tsar!"Vaughn laughed and took the bunk above him, Sydney on the opposite top bunk and Dixon below her. Carrie was on the next top bunk down and Marshall beneath her.
"You know from the looks of everything…this submarine is almost brand new." Marshall smiled inspecting his surrounding, intrigued by the mysterious secret vessel.
"I think its fun! Like camping!" Sydney lit up into a big smile still fascinated by yet another aspect of her mother's life she knew nothing about.
"Syd, I didn't know your mom was an Officer in the military, did you?" Weiss looked at her funny, "I mean shit…she's got more medals the Patton!"
"Well I knew she was an Officer at some point in the KGB…after her re-education," She stumbled on the word and they all nodded in sadness, "But I've never asked her about it…I just read it in her KGB file."
Jack set down his black backpack on the single bed and smiled. 'They were going to have fun in there.' He laughed imagining he and Irina sleeping on a twin bed together.
The room was fairly small but beautiful, decorated with spectacular finished wood moldings and panels that Jack guessed came from the pines in the Urals. The Captain had quite an extensive collection of books both in English and Cyrillic and fabulous collections of CDs and DVDs. He smiled widely when he saw what must have been a 'special' new accommodation to the cabin for this mission.
A small crib was fastened securely to one wall and Lena's soft pink blanket and fuzzy yellow bear were sitting on its little mattress. The carving on the railing held her name and title with the inscription that read 'May you sleep with peaceful dreams as the angels guard you.' The Russian population, including its Navy, had all ready apparently fallen in love with the little Duchess. Suddenly the door opened and Irina stepped through with a big smile, followed by another young sailor carrying Lena in the car seat.
"Where shall I set her down Empress Irina, ma'am?" The young sailor stood tall holding the baby.
"There is fine Comrade Vaskovich. Thank you." She responded quickly in Russian, pointing to the floor where he stood with a big smile. "That is all, you are excused." He set Lena down carefully.
"Empress," He snapped back to attention and saluted Irina, who saluted back and he nodded, turning on his heel and was out the door, closing it behind him.
"Well, well, well…aren't you just chock-full of surprises?" Jack smiled warmly walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her, cupping her face and holding it in his hands. "A submarine Irina? I would have never expected this." He laughed and flashed her a brilliant smile before descending his lips onto hers.
She wrapped her hands around his neck, running her hands through his hair as their tongues welcomed one another into their familiar depths.
"I missed you." Irina smiled against him, as she hugged him, closing her eyes and Thankful he was holding her. "And don't you know to expect the unexpected from me by now, Jack?" She laughed into his chest and Jack laughed back. "I'll explain why when we meet the others in the situation room…which is in just a few minutes." She brought her lips to his again. "I can't get enough of you. The last three days have been torture. My body, my heart…everything aches for you." She inhaled his scent deeply as Jack gently kissed her face and neck.
"I missed you, too. God, did I miss you, Irina. My wife. My heart. My love." He buried his face into the crook of her neck. "I plan on making good use of that twin bed while we're here." He said seriously and Irina giggled squeezing his butt.
"Oh, I've already been thinking about that myself." She leaned her head down against Jacks' cheek buried in her neck.
"How much time do we have?" He asked seriously and she laughed again.
"Not enough, Jack, not enough." Her arms wrapped around his broad shoulders, smiling.
"Damn it! You look so sexy in your uniform." He cursed and felt Irina's giggles going through him before pulling her back to look at her again, "I had no idea you owned such thing." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You're quite the decorated Officer." His fingers grazed the medals and ribbons of various colors.
"Yes, well that was long ago and ancient history now." She sighed, thinking about what seemed like a different lifetime now and moved to retrieve Lena from the confines of her car seat, kneeling down in front of the baby and making Jack stare at her beautiful legs as her skirt rode up her leg.
"From after Kashmir?" Jack asked cautiously watching her scoop up their baby and nestled her carefully into her arms.
"Mmmhmm." She answered without words softly and Jack knew she didn't want to talk about it right now.
"Hello my little peanut!" Jack dropped a light kiss to Lena's forehead and she scrunched her eyebrows up and snorted in her sleep making them both laugh softly. "Daddy missed you…" He ran his fingers softly over her hair with a smile. "I swear she gets bigger every time I miss seeing her for a few days."
"That's because she does." Irina smiled softly thinking about how fast her little baby was growing and she carefully moved to place the baby in his arms.
Jack swayed carefully from side to side observing anything that might be new or different about her since he saw her four days ago.
"So you're trying to make her a Russian submariner now?" Jack laughed softly fingering her soft cotton outfit.
"That was a gift from the Captain." Irina sighed with a big smile, "He's quite taken with her already. Did you see the crib he had put in so she would be safe in her sleep?" She nodded towards the other end of the room and Jack smiled he had.
"It's beautiful and the inscription, too." He smiled and used his free hand to bring his lips to Irina's again. "I really missed you." Jack admitted, having not slept well at all the last few nights without his little security blanket nestled next to him or over him.
"Me too. I love you, I love you, I love you!" She peppered his lips with hers smiling. "We've got to go." She gave him one last languid kiss until they couldn't breathe before turning to leave and Jack caught her hand.
"Just one more." He breathed out quickly as his mouth captured hers once more stealing her breath and unable to get enough of her.
"So here we sit; where is our fearless leader?" Weiss smiled, around the table they were all tightly packed around.
This room's walls were covered in the same beautiful wooden slates casting a warm glow around the room with their soft yellows and reds.
"She'll be here momentarily." Sark smiled shyly passing water bottles around the table to everyone from a small refrigerator at the end of the room under a small bar.
'Russians and their bars!' They all thought laughing.
"Ok Sark, spill your guts. What do you know about this mysterious submarine?" Vaughn probed him for the information they all wanted.
"Yeah, spill it." Sydney grilled him with a small hint of a smile.
"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say. Why don't you ask Irina?" He gave her a small mysterious smile.
"Ask me what?" Irina smiled entering the room and hearing the last part of Sark's response. Jack followed behind her with the baby in his arms.
"Oh! Let me hold her!" Sydney's eyes lit up seeing her sister and her voice begged her father. Carefully, he passed the baby to her sister.
"Oh, I missed you." She inhaled her sisters' baby scent and cuddled her tightly.
"Sydney," Irina leaned over and kissed the side of Sydney's mouth with a smile having not gotten to say 'hello' to her daughter yet. "So what do you want to know?"
"What is the deal with this mysterious submarine?" Sydney raised her eyebrows looking at her with that adorable pouting face.
"The seven of you work for the CIA. So, if I tell you…you will be forced to put it into your reports. Correct?" Irina raised a challenging eyebrow at them as she took a seat.
A few grumbles and individual conversations followed for a few seconds before they all turned their attention back to her,
"We will leave out whatever you tell us. We'll report it as an Akula class." Sydney answered very diplomatically with a smart smile.
"Do I have your word?" Irina looked pointedly at all of them, internally smiling, knowing she was going to tell them anyway but loved to toy with them while she had the chance.
"Yes!" They all chimed together.
"Good, because I know where you all live and if this gets to your government. I'll know it was one of you!" She narrowed her eyebrows with a dangerous smile and Marshall gulped. "You don't recognize this submarine because it's fairly new to our fleet. The fastest, most silent running submarine in the world…including your new Virginia Class." Her eyes sparkled with amusement stunning them with her knowledge of their navy, "I bet that when we surfaced, you had no idea we'd been following directly under you all day? Did you?" She smiled, twisting off the cap to her water.
"No…no…they…we," Marshall swallowed hard again, shaking at being on board such a submarine by a country the United States used to fear. "Didn't see you until you blew out of the water in front of us. You weren't on our radar."
"Marshall!" Weiss elbowed him, "You just gave her confirmation that her submarine is undetectable to our Navy!"
"Oh shit!" Marshall sunk down in his seat and Irina laughed softly, taking a sip of water.
"It's alright, Marshall. You didn't tell me anything we didn't already know." Irina tried to ease the cute man's conscience. "We've known for quite sometime."
"How?" Marshall asked with narrowed eyebrows.
"You're not the only country with spies." She answered flatly, knowing it would strike a nerve taking another sip of water as they all looked around uncomfortable with that thought.
"Ok…we can accept that. Now you can please tell us…why we are on this sub?" Sydney picked the M&Ms out of the bowl of trail mix on the table, surprised to find such a food item on a Russian sub.
"Because we need to get there quickly and be undetectable." Irina grabbed a black remote and hit a button. A screen came out of the ceiling and she hit another button bringing up a topographical map. "We will surface here," She pointed to a spot with a red laser, just off the Libyan coast, "And come ashore here under the cover of darkness," She pointed again to a small valley that was an wash for flash floods in the desert. "We will hump it to the rendezvous point here, 11 miles from the coast where we will get the remaining supplies necessary to get to, and break into, the compound from my contact."
"Eleven miles." Marshall repeated softly, thinking he had no idea how the hell he was going to be able to make it that far trudging through the massive desert.
"From there we travel to this spot, and isolated location in the valley of the dunes where we will be safe to rest during the day without anyone seeing us." Her topographical map changed angles projecting the height and dips of the dunes and they all swallowed the hard lumps in their throats at the challenge a head of them.
Everyone except Jack, had left the interrogation room while Irina was getting the fine details from Zamir as it took hours. This was all going to be new information to them.
"On the second night, we will reach Sloane's compound located here, according to Zamir. It was built on a natural oasis, hidden amongst the dunes. Security…" She turned to look at them, "Is going to be tight. The entire complex is guarded by roaming patrols: 4 sets of 3 that make passes every twenty minutes. There are snipers on every corner of the roof and one in the middle of each wall. A giant atrium is on one end surrounding the plants of the oasis but Zamir said the glass is bullet and explosive proof. 50,000 volts of electricity run through the metal baring supporting the glass…certain death if we try to get in that way, its not an option. All other access points are like that of the NSA…they change every half hour to a different serial combination running off a server inside the mainframe of the complex. Marshall," She turned to him, "That is where you come in. We'll take out the patrols and snipers while you're hacking into the mainframe using the actual keypad in the door at the side of the compound. It has to be timed perfectly, or the entire complex goes into lock down and there is no way in…or out." She raised her eyebrows momentarily before continuing, "According to Zamir the compound is split into two separate spaces, connected by a series of hallways and tunnels. The back half with the atrium is the living quarters where Sloane lives. The front half is his laboratory…" She sighed thinking about what he was doing with that laboratory.
"It's also sleeping and living quarters to the 100 guards who patrol the complex internally and externally. Once we find the compound, we will send the exact GPS coordinates back to the CIA and from their they will task and In-fared satellite over our location…sending back a signal with images of body heat so we will all know where the people are located inside the compound. The special Kevlar I brought for everyone, has a therma-control source over the plates, that cools off body heat so all of our team will seem much cooler on the images. We don't want any friendly fire incidents among the chaos." She smiled lightly and got smiles in return. "We have two objectives: One is to capture Sloane and the other…is to find and destroy my eggs or any embryos he's already fertilized in the lab." Irina looked to the baby in Sydney's arms and then away. "We will arrive on the Libyan coast at 10:20 PM tomorrow evening…once the mission is completed, we will exit Libya by crossing the border into Egypt and my contact will bring us into Cairo where we will meet up with you, Carrie," Irina smiled softly at the young woman, "And Lena. There are three SVR agents on board who will take you to my home there, to wait for us and keep you safe. " She paused a moment, looking at her baby and then back to the young woman, "If we do not arrive by 10PM on Saturday night…my SVR Agents will escort you to Italy to leave the baby with Katya and Marcello,"
She paused and watched the younger woman's eyes fill with fear and sadness as she looked around at all the faces of the people going on this dangerous mission, "From Rome, my Agents will escort you back to Los Angeles and make sure you arrive safely."
"How, how, how…will I know when to leave? If you, if you don't come back?" Carrie fidgeted nervously, not liking the idea at all.
"I've spoken with my Agents, they know what to do in the event we don't return. They will let you know." Irina gave her a small smile.
"But I plan on kickin-ass and takin' names, so I'm coming back!" Sydney smiled and everyone laughed, easing the tension in the room. "That evil ass-clown is getting what's coming to him! Who's with me now?"
"Hell yeah!" Weiss and Vaughn cheered and Jack, Irina and Dixon smiled and shook their heads with laughter.
"Now…who's hungry for dinner?" Irina smiled brightly standing.
"Now the Russian Navy, knows how to eat!" Weiss smiled, rubbing his full belly as they all headed back to their bunks for the night, "And the standard vodka with your meal?! I want to join this navy!" He laughed and Sydney poked him from behind playfully.
*Holla If Ya Hear Me (The Rebel)*
"Oh my God…do you hear that?" He stopped suddenly causing everyone to run into each other. "It's Tupac! On a Russian submarine!" He started laughing hysterically as they continued walking into the crew's quarters and the music grew louder.
The Russian sailors were all in their bunks, some standing on the side, getting ready for bed, talking and jamming out to Tupac. The sailors immediately ceased talking to look at the group of 'invaders' onto their sub, looking at them curiously and with fascination knowing they were all CIA Agents save the blonde one who arrived with the Tsar.
"Howdy!" Weiss smiled widely waving at the hundreds of eyes looking at them, without moving. "Tupac rules!" He shouted after a second when no one answered him and his proclamation elicited a few heavily accented enthusiastic 'Yeahs!' as they shouted back with smiles.
"Ah Tupac, breaking cultural barriers everywhere!" Vaughn laughed gripping Sydney's shoulders from behind as the walked single file through the passage saying 'Da svidanya' to everyone with smiles. Suddenly everyone started whispering and it was like a rolling wave through the bunks as they pointed their eyes and fingers at Sydney.
Sydney immediately felt the eyes on her and smiled shyly.
"Grand Duchess Sydney, I think they recognize you." Weiss whispered in singsong voice over his shoulder to Sydney directly behind him. "Say hello to your people."
"I am!" She smiled back, speaking through clenched teeth.
Suddenly, the curious faces turned to smiles and small waves, some embarrassed, bashful, blushing from those young males who already formed crushes on the their new Duchess.
They made it to their bunks and all climbed in, chatting and laughing, hanging over the sides and teasing one another like they were all at camp and not about to set out on a dangerous mission.
"Carrie's getting the best deal here." Weiss teased her and her head came flying out of her bunk to look at him and he laughed, "She gets to stay on board this bad-ass submarine, move into the Captains quarters and then hang out in Cairo at Irina's lavish pad checking out the pyramids, Nile and Kasbahs."
"Oh yeah right! I'm just in charge of the care of Russia's tiniest Grand Duchess on pins and needles until Saturday night at 10PM when you all come strolling in!" Carrie huffed and got the entire group to laugh. "You better all come back or I'm going to come find you and kick all your corpses ass'!" They burst into a thunderous laugh with her dead serious fighting tone.
"I fully intend on coming back." Sydney looked defiantly against the ceiling of her small bunk, staring at its gray paint before rolling on her side and reaching her hand over the side to find Vaughn's. "I'm getting married in August." She smiled brightly and everyone went 'awe' at the happy couple holding hands above them.
"Are you going to keep that tradition and wear your Mom's smokin' dress?" Weiss looked up at her and waggled his eyebrows up at Vaughn.
"No, are you kidding?" Sydney giggled eyes wide open, "I'm a size 6! When we went to try on dresses she was like 1 and 2! There is no way I could squeeze into that dress."
"Holy shit!" Carrie chimed in, "I think I was that in like 4th grade! And those damn legs of hers go on forever! Not fair I say!"
"Well, she never used to be that tiny. Not when I was little, I mean she was probably the size I am now." Sydney sighed and propped her head up on her bent elbow, everyone listening with rapt fascination hearing about Irina and Sydney."I said something to her about that one day a few weeks ago, about how quickly she lost the baby weight, if she even had any to begin with…and how tiny she is now." Her brown eyes filled with sadness, "She told me that she can't keep weight on now…after solitary… in Kashmir when they starved her. They only fed her once every 10 to 12 days for 10 months and then when they did feed her, she couldn't keep it down…her body would reject it…It really fucked up her thyroid." Her tone became hard with anger.
"Son-of-a-bitch." Weiss grumbled and rolled over with his hand on his belly, "I cannot imagine not eating for 12 days, let alone keeping that up for a year. I don't know how she's still alive."
"Well, she almost wasn't. You know, we all know. We all saw the tape of what she looked like when she came out." Sydney felt tears stinging her eyes and refused to let them out, "Nothing but skin and bones…literally. Mom said that after awhile…the hunger stops and you just feel 'nothing.' She said she weighed 67 lbs when she was finally released from solitary."
They all remained silent for a moment thinking about it, especially Sark, who was still new to learning this information on Irina; which was odd being the one to know her the longest out of everyone; including her husband, Jack.
"The way she described dying today, what it felt like…Lethal Injection," Vaughn said softly, feeling the hair stand up on his arms, "That's got to be the most surreal experience for her, to die and come back to life."
"No wonder she was confused when she first came to in the hospital." Sydney sniffled remembering what Irina had said today, and a tear coursed down her face and straight into her hair as she lay on her back.
"No shit…I'd be freaked out, too, watching my soul leave my body behind and then wandering around in the dark waiting for the demons or angels to take you 'home." Weiss shivered at the thought before rolling on his side to look up at Sydney again, "Did she ever tell you…who came for her? Surely the angels, I mean, yeah she's done some bad shit but we all have. That doesn't mean we should go to hell. Right?"
"She never talks about it." Sydney sighed, "But she did ask my dad once right after, if he wanted to know what Heaven looked like. So, I guess it was the angels." She smiled softly.
"So what does Heaven look like?" Marshall rolled over onto his stomach and looked up Sydney and Dixon held his, breath, wanting to hear about the place his wife was now.
"I don't know. I've never asked her."
"And your dad didn't tell you what she told him?" Weiss furrowed his eyebrows.
"My dad doesn't know. He told her…'some other time," Sydney took a deep breath, wiping the stinging salty tear tracks. "I think he's scared to ask her about it. Reminds him of how close he came to losing her again and he doesn't want to think about it."
"Well, its obvious he's protective of her," Vaughn smiled quietly, "I mean look at the way he beat the crap out of Zamir today."
"Yeah, no kidding, I can't imagine what he's going to do to Sloane or Cuvee now." Weiss turned onto his back again. "He almost killed Zamir with just his fists for 'almost' hurting Irina. Those two bastards," He shook his head, not wanting to think about the images of Irina in Kashmir.
"I think that's the point. Why he's so protective of her now." Sydney sniffled and moved onto her side again, "He still feels so helpless and blames himself for not realizing she was still alive, for not being able to save her in Kashmir. I mean that has to haunt him, it haunts me, and she was screaming 'his' name for help and all he could do was sit there and watch a twenty year old tape of the events."
"I want to rip that fucker's eyes out!" Weiss pounded his fist into the ceiling above him thinking about Cuvee. "He's next on our list of major ass- whoop-ins'! Sorry Mike," He apologized realizing the ceiling he just hit was the bottom of Vaughn's bed.
"You tear out his eyes, and I'll rip off his balls and make him eat them." Vaughn crinkled his brow, his heart heavy for both Irina and Sydney who was sniffling on the bunk beside him, and he was angry at the man that caused the pain and tears.
"I'm going to cut his dick off and shove it in his now open eye socket!" Sydney's voice was hard as glass and her comment elicited a small round of laughter.
"I'm going to hold him down for Irina. Let her extract her long deserved revenge from him." Sark said quietly, lying on his stomach with his arms bunching up his pillow.
"I'll help you." Dixon added softly.
"Me too." Weiss gave Sark a small smile.
"Sloane's first up to bat." Sydney turned on her side again. "He's going to pay for lying to me when he recruited me, for lying to my Dad about my Mom being dead when she wasn't, for killing Danny." She sniffled again and Vaughn reached across the small divided to hold her hand, for support, "For lying to all of us at SD-6, for trying to kill my Mom and sell Lena on the Black Market, for stealing her eggs."
"For killing my Diane." Dixon felt the anger rising inside him.
"For manipulating me into sending my Allison into this mess...who killed your wife for him," Sark admitted and gave a look of apology to Dixon, "And for suggesting Sydney's friend be killed and replace with my Allison…and manipulating me into turning on Irina. For hurting her…and her family." He added so quietly they almost didn't hear him.
"Yes, he's going to pay." Sydney said resolutely.
Irina lay on the small twin bed, on her side with her blouse hanging off of her as Lena lay beside her, nursing and falling fast asleep as Irina inspected her every part with a smile. She had taken her hair down and it fell in a wave around her shoulders and bent elbow supporting her head. She'd already lost her black boots and her shirt and skirt would soon be joining them. She heard the water in the cabin's bathroom turn off and realized Jack was finished showering.
He quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door and his breath caught staring at Irina and their baby.
"You're so beautiful…" He smiled softly taking in the scene before him.
"You're not so hard on the eyes either…" She smiled appreciatively at her husband, drinking in his beautiful body.
Jack laughed softly and walked towards them, sitting on the edge of the little bed and palming the baby's head softly, running his thumb over her soft hair that was starting to curl slightly.
He leaned in slowly, with his eyes locked on Irina's and met her with his kiss. "I love you…" He smiled and stood to get some clothes on and Irina caught his hand.
"I love you too…" She flashed him her beautiful smile that turned seductive, "And don't bother putting clothes on…I planned on taking them off of you anyway."
"Ooh, alright…but you're wearing entirely too many clothes." He smiled, laughing softly.
"Well I won't be soon…" She cocked her eyebrow and gave him a naughty grin. Irina disengaged herself from the sleeping baby and kissed her little head softly before rolling into a sitting position and softly scooping Lena up into her arms.
Jack gave her his hand to help pull her off the bed.
"Thank you." She smiled and stepped around him to place the baby in her little crib, covering her with her soft plink blanket and whispering into her ear in Russian, "Sweet Dreams." She turned to stand directly in front of Jack with a gleam in her eye and slowly slid her shirt off of her shoulders, letting it pool on the floor behind her as Jack's breathing picked up.
Two of her long fingers guided her bra strap over one shoulder and then the next, letting it fall at her feet as her smile grew watching Jack swallow hard. Her hands went behind her back and slowly unzipped her skirt and the sound seemed to thunder in their ears in the silence of the room. Her thumbs laced beneath her waistband and slid to her sides, shimming the material and her underwear past her hips and to the floor where she stepped out of them and closed the distance between she and Jack.
*Take My Breath Away*
Her erect nipples brushing lightly against his chest with their close proximity to one another. Jack inhaled a soft but sharp breath and Irina wrapped her fingers into the soft cotton towel, pulling lightly on the fabric, releasing it and letting it fall to the floor with her clothes. Her hands moved to his arms and softly, traced the contours of his muscles. She leaned forward slightly and placed and languid kiss into the base of his throat and Jack moaned softly.
Irina's hands moving up his shoulders to his neck and threading into his hair, as her fingers played with the wet curls at the base of neck. Her kisses moving slowly towards his ear and Jack closed his eyes reveling in her touch and the feel of her body pressed against his.
"Take my breath away." She whispered huskily into his ear and Jack scooped her up into his arm, his lips capturing hers in a heated kiss with his tongue swooping into her mouth and claiming it as his own.
He walked slowly towards the little bed and laid her gently on it, their mouths connected as he climbed over her, his weight resting on his forearms as his body settled between her inviting legs. Her tongue fought back and pushed its way into his mouth, forcing him to surrender as she took control over his mouth. His bottom lip covered in small kisses between lips, sucking, biting and laving in and out of his mouth teasing his tongue with its brief touches. His mouth pulled away and moved to her jaw-line, placing gentle kisses along it and eliciting small gasps from Irina when he kissed her most sensitive spots with brushes of his hot tongue and her inflamed skin. His tongue darted out to trace the contours of her ear and nibbled softly on her earlobe, pulling it into his mouth and sucking lightly as he began moving slowing against her, their bodies rubbing together as his hardness grazed over her lower abdomen making them both shiver in anticipation.
Irina's hands were greedy to touch him and moved down his back with light touches and over his firm behind, circling behind his thighs around to the front and stroking the skin around his member lightly feeling his muscles contracting with his soft rocking motion. Her lithe fingers reached for his shaft and wrapped around its length one finger at a time causing Jack to inhale sharply and arch slightly when she began stroking him in time with his soft thrusts. Her left hand sliding between his legs to cup him and caress the skin behind his balls with light pressure rapidly bringing Jack to full readiness as the speed of his rocking increased, moaning into her neck with the nerves she was lighting on fire.
Wanting to return the feeling, his mouth and flaming tongue moved down her chest placing sensual kisses down the line of her scar and over her breasts as he rocked back slightly on his heels, pulling his shaft away from her grip. His tongue making small languid circles around her sensitive areolas, closing his mouth over the entire nipple of one breast while his hand softly massaged the other, his thumb flicking and pinching its peak while his tongue and teeth tortured the other.
Irina shivered under his touch and threaded her fingers into his hair as his mouth moved down again, his sweltering tongue swirling into and out of her naval, tasting the taut skin around it. His opened mouthed kisses, nipping and laving softly at her skin working their way down her body and dragging his tongue along the length of the scar stretching across her abdomen from where he'd shot her. His hands caressing down the length of her body, gently kneading his fingers into her contours as his mouth kissed and greeted every inch of her flesh. She tugged lightly on his head and pulled his mouth back to hers, wrapping her arms around his neck and back and one leg around his hips.
"I need you now…" Her brown eyes pierced his and rocked her body into his groin. "Please…" She begged into his mouth as her tongue flicked the roof of his mouth and pulled back to suck his lip and trace its curves with her magical tongue. He slid one hand down her body as he balanced his weight on his knees and one forearm.
His strong hands splaying over her hip and caressing over the protruding bone, he dipped his hips, rubbing his rock hard shaft against her wetness for a few thrusts before plunging in and smothering her screams of pleasure with his mouth. Her body convulsed against the intruder, squeezing him rapidly as she adjusted his size and let him slide in further. His hand pulling up on her hip, guiding her leg up to wrap around him.
Irina locked her legs around his waist and hips, hanging suspended from his body and he pushed himself up on his arms, straddling her shoulders with his arms and began rocking into her making them both gasp and moan. His length sliding easily in and out of her hot core with Irina's muscles clenching him in their own rhythm that complimented his. The tilt and angle of their hips allowing him to penetrate her deeply and he felt her shudder every time he was fully inside her, filling her completely as she trembled beneath him with her growing excitement. His pace increased as she gripped him like a glove pulling his orgasm out of him every time he pulled back and almost out, before driving backing into her warmth.
"I love you." He whispered, panting as he looked down into her swirling brown depths and Irina pulled her legs tighter around him, pulling them as close together as they could be.
"I love you, Jack." She leaned her head up and seized his lips, moaning into his mouth feeling his length penetrating her very soul, rubbing her just the right angle and igniting her nerve bundles deep within her body. Her moans turned to panting mews and his to grunts to groans as they push each other towards their climax. His speed became fluid pounding and his depth was stealing her breath.
"Oh God, Irina." He grunted into her with his eyes screwing shut as her body enveloped his entire length and gripped him like a vice pushing him further towards the edge.
"Jack!" She inhaled sharply trying to steal a breath before her body rocked with her explosion and Jack swallowed the screaming of his name as her body pulsed and trembled around him.
Tears escaping her eyes and rolling into her silky dark hair as she rode the waves of pleasure and Jack kept up his pace, thrusting into her deeply and grunting loudly as he spilled his essence inside body, moaning against her mouth and suckling on her tongue and lips as his shaft continued to stroke her internally until they had nothing left.
He dropped onto his forearms but remained hovering over her, panting heavily and searching her face.
"Hey." He reached the back of his hand up to wipe away her tears with a soft smile and tone, "Why are you crying?"
Irina kept her legs locked around him, holding him inside as she continued to tremble. "Because, I love you so much. I'm just so happy to be home." She whispered softly, with shaking breath looking into his beautiful loving eyes.
Jack's heart skipped a beat and breath caught looking down at the beautiful woman who was his wife, seeing the love and adoration she had for him shining through her tear filled eyes and slowly, he dipped his lips to caress hers; his tongue gently laving along the length of her bottom lip before seeking admittance inside.
Irina wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed his head to hers.
"I would rather die than live without you again." Jack whispered into her face as his eyes poured into hers. "I love you, Irina."
When they finally fell asleep, Irina was sprawled on top of him, her arms and legs straddling his body, her head on his chest and long mane flowing over his shoulder and arm as he kept her nestled tightly against him beneath their blankets. Her slight weight was a warming welcome after spending too many nights without her in his arms.