AN: Music for this chapter (on repeat): Flower by Moby, Blue Monday by Orgy.
FORTY-SIX
o
Jack walked into the Captains cabin at 9:30PM the following night and smiled, watching Irina getting dressed and laughed softly.
"What are you laughing at?" She turned to face him as she pulled her black cargo pants up her long legs. Standing in nothing but her sports bra, underwear and now pants.
"I was beginning to wonder if you owned any regular underwear anymore or if you just always wore thongs or went commando?" He snickered watching her black cotton panties disappear as she zipped up her pants, sitting on the bed, all ready dressed in his black fatigues.
"Of course I do!" Irina laughed back at him, adjusting her belt. "You've got to have something breathable and comfortable on under fatigues silly." Her accent thickened with her words and the sparkle in her eye teasing him. Her body was rippling with hard curves down her arms, back and abs and he motioned her with his fingers to come to him after watching her pull the black formfitting shirt over her head and down her body. "What?" She asked coyly walking to stand in front of him as her hands swooped behind her head, pulling her long hair out from the back of her shirt.
Jack's fingers danced at the shirts hemline and his face held a naughty smile as he inched the fabric up, kissing each section of her protruding abdominals, following their indentions with his tongue and making her laugh and her body swirl with desire.
"Jack, you have to stop that or we'll never leave this cabin." She cupped his head with a smile and ran her fingernails over his scalp.
"I can't help it; you're just so tempting." He placed on last, soft kiss just above her belly button and lightly pulled her shirt down, looking up at her with a mischievous grin. "I'll let you finish now."
"Thank you." She smiled brightly and bent to kiss his lips quickly, continuing to tuck her shirt in.
"Where's your Kevlar?" Jack narrowed his eyebrow at her.
"In the storage room with yours and everyone elses!" She used her teacher tone with him, kneeling down to lace up her boots.
"Just checking." Jack grinned at her with a shrug, "I have to protect my heart after all." It was true, she owned his heart and it was tangled inside with her own.
"The same goes for you!" She stood and wrapped her arm around his neck pressing the other hand over his heart, "Take care of mine." She smiled and dropped her mouth to his.
"You ready?" He whispered into her face.
"As I'll ever be." She smiled, kissing once more quickly then backed up, slinging her black backpack of clothes on her back and scooping up Lena out of the crib, nuzzling her face into the crook of the baby's neck.
Jack followed her out and through the submarine to the storage room where their gear was being stowed.
*Flower*
"Ok, does everyone have everything?" Irina asked the group standing around her as she finished strapping her holsters to her legs. She pulled a magazine and slammed it into the base of each weapon before securing them on the sides of her thighs.
Sydney and Vaughn shared a glance, having seen those guns…those holsters before when she helped them in that hallway in Mexico City. Fighting with her in hand-to-hand combat on the same side was going to be interesting.
"We're ready." Sydney smiled with a nod looking at the group a massed wearing all black, with faces painted to match and Kevlar in place, weapons ready. Irina grabbed a metal case from one shell and removed two syringes, one with an orange cap, the other with a blue; both filled with clear liquid and no one had any idea what they were for.
"What is that for, Mom?" Sydney narrowed her eyebrows watching Irina secure the syringes in her vest pocket.
"Just in case, Sydney." Irina looked up at her with a hint of sadness, hoping she wouldn't have to use them. Seeing the look on her daughter's face, she needed to explain more, "In case Sloane's already found a surrogate and implanted an embryo." She added softly, looking away as she spoke and Sydney swallowed hard looking to her father who had the same expression.
Jack reached into his own bag and retrieved seven small black pouches handing them to everyone on the team except Irina. The curious group looked inside with wide-eyes.
"What's that for?" Irina furrowed her own brows curiously as Jack handed her the last one. She opened the small pouch and discovered it was thermally insulated with dry ice and inside was a bottle of insulin, four syringes and several hard pieces of candy. She looked up surprised when she saw that everyone on the team had the same items.
"My 'just in case." Jack raised his eyebrows expectantly with a small smile, looking at her and everyone else. "Just in case, for whatever reason any of us happen to get separated with you," His eyes flashed to hers, "And you need insulin or a sugar rush, we will all be ready."
She gave him a small smile shaking her head as he took the pouch out of her hand and pushed it into another small pocket on her vest.
He was right, it was a smart move to make but she was lovingly astonished at how far her husband had thought ahead in concerns to her safety. She had already secured her own supply and now he was adding to it.
Sydney inhaled deeply and Vaughn saw the concern as they all secured the pouches inside their vests. It absolutely made sense what Jack had done, but it also scared Sydney; everyone a little to realize how dangerous being the field was for her mother now.
Irina reached up and kissed Jack's lips, cupping his face and smiling.
"Thank you." She reached down and pulled on her black pack and secured the black band Com around her neck and fastened in her earpiece, all of them doing the same. She walked over Carrie holding Lena and took the baby out of her arms with a smile, holding her close and whispering her love and how much she would miss her into her little ear, kissing her little face, hands and head repeatedly, not wanting to say 'goodbye,' knowing there was always the possibility it would be the last.
Everyone stood quietly, hands on weapons watching Irina looking stealthy and ninja-like, holding the tiny baby in pink with such a mother's love, such a contrast.
She handed her back to Carrie with a tinge of unshed tears and smiled warmly at the young woman and her baby. "I love you, Lena." She whispered in Russian and bent over kissing the baby once more and making her smile, and wiggle in Carrie's arms. "Thank you…Ms. Bowman." Irina smiled warmly at the woman who would be looking after her baby.
"I'll take very good care of her, I promise." Carrie shifted the baby in her arms with a serious smile.
"I know you will." Irina placed her hand on Carrie's forearm with a smile. "We'll see you Saturday." She kissed Lena's little foot one more time and Jack and Sydney stepped up to say their own 'goodbye,' before they left the room…every member of the team had kissed her 'goodbye' feeling this little baby was their lucky charm.
*Won't Back Down*
Single file following Irina and with heads held high they walked to the bridge as every sailor stopped to salute Irina as she passed, in awe of their fearless, beautiful leader who was equal parts loving and fierce.
"Are you ready, Empress?" The Captain smiled at the group assembled before him.
"Yes, Captain…proceed." She smiled and bit her lip nervously watching Carrie strap Lena into her car seat and give the baby her pacifier.
"Prepare to blow!" The Captain commanded to the CO and the command rang out around the control room.
"Aye, aye Captain, Prepare to blow!"
"Hang on." Irina looked back at her team and grabbed the bars above them.
"Surfacing now, Sir." The pilot called out and the submarine rapidly started angling back at a sharp angle and the incredible speed and pressure making all their ears pop with the depth change.
"350 meters…325 meters…300 meters…275 meters…250 meters…225 meters…200 meters…" The co-pilot called out their depths as the sub launched toward the surface creaking and moaning with the intense pressure outside.
"100 meters…50 meters!" The pilot called out excitedly.
"Hang on tight! This is going to be a ride!" The Captain smiled back at the group of Agents.
Their eyes going wide with anticipation and then the sudden jolt as the sub broke the surface, launching part way out of the air and splashing heavily down on the sea again.
"Whoa!" They all chorused together, Russian and Americans with big smiles at the rush of such power.
"Empress Irina, always a pleasure." The Captain kissed her hand with a smile, "I'll see the Duchess to Cairo. Please be safe, ma'am." He stood to attention, as did every Russian officer and sailor on deck and with his command, everyone saluted her and held it.
"Thank you, Captain. It's always a pleasure to ride with the pride of our fleet." She smiled back and returned the salute. The Russians held their salutes until she turned her back and then remained at attention until she was gone.
The big black hatch was opened and one by one they climbed out onto the top of submarine in the black of night, rolling on the dark sea. Groups of Russian sailors were inflating the rubber boat that would take them to shore and when it was ready, they pushed away from the submarine and watched as the Russian sailors remained at attention saluting until they were lost in the darkness.
The sky was partly cloudy and every now and then the clouds would break and let the beautiful full moon cascade down onto them and the gorgeous water.
*Blue Monday*
The Mediterranean Sea was fairly calm and they rolled quietly into the sands of Libya without much sound.
When everyone had exited the boat, they drug it up onto the sand and Irina pulled out a knife and slashed it to pieces before they buried it shallowly in the sand.
"Let's go." She pressed the Com on her neck speaking quietly, with weapons ready they crept into the desert night. Irina leading the way with her GPS positioning device, they trudged up the wash and into the giant dunes of the vast desert with determined pace. The sand was deep and their muscles burned as they climbed one dune and descended the other side only face another mountain of sand in front of them. The desert was cold at night and slight breeze was blowing sand particles into their skin, making it sting.
"Ok, let's take a break for a few minutes." She paused and waved them down on the far side of a dune, hiding in its shadows from the moonlight. "We're almost there."
"Oh, Thank God!" Marshall and Weiss chorused simultaneously, happy to get a break after hours of hiking up and down enormous sand dunes.
Irina crouched and pulled out her water bottle and a Power Bar to keep her sugar up. The others did the same, enjoying the short reprieve.
"How many miles do you think we've gone?" Vaughn, sipped greedily at his water looking at Irina as she pulled up her shirt enough to inject insulin.
"Five…but with the dunes, probably ten." She sighed, pushing in the plunger. "We're a little more then half way."
"Another ten miles in the sand?" Marshall rolled his eyes and collapsed back onto the warm sand that had held onto the day's sunlight. "I think I am just going to start rolling down the far side of the dunes." He huffed out and everyone laughed softly, mindful of where they were.
"So how many times have you taken trips on submarines, Mom?" Sydney smiled over at Irina, still surprised with that part of their journey, eating her own snack and drinking water. "The Captain made it sound like you are a regular."
"No." Irina laughed, digging her hand into the warm sand with a smile, "Not a regular. I've been on a submarine maybe, five times in my life, including this last voyage."
"What were the other trips for?" Sydney sipped at her water staring intently at her mother as a beam of moonlight struck her face putting her in the spotlight
"Well…excluding this trip I was onboard for experimental and training purposes and then her maiden voyage a couple of years ago or so." Irina paused cupping a handful of sand and letting it flow through her fingers. "My first time on a submarine was after my extraction, taking me back to Russia." She concentrated on the feel of the warm sand and the way it felt slipping between her fingers, remembering those horrible days.
"They took you back to Russia on a submarine?" Sydney's eyes were wide as were everyone else's and Marshall sat back up again, looking intently at Irina. "How?"
"The night of the accident." She sighed, collecting herself, "Kashinau and I boarded a Russian cargo ship, that was disguised as Japanese cargo ship… out of Long Beach. On the second day at sea we met with a Soviet submarine and boarded. They took us the remaining distance back to Russia under the Pacific. Took eight very long days." Her eyes flashed up to Jack's with sadness.
"How come my father went through Mexico…and you went on submarine across the sea?" Vaughn asked quietly, curious.
"Two reasons." Irina opened her Power Bar and ran her hair over her ear. "Your father went through Mexico and then to Cuba where he took a flight to Moscow. It was much faster and…he wasn't a risk, I was. He wasn't going back to go to prison. I was." She sighed quietly, "Kashinau had to be extracted as well, in order to bring me back. They couldn't risk me escaping…the ship in Long Beach was closest and they figured once they had me out to sea and then trapped under it with an entire crew of Soviet submariners. I wasn't going anywhere. There wasn't anywhere to go." She looked up with a forced smile and shrugged. "From there we boarded a plane to Moscow and Kashinau let me see my father before they arrested me."
"Mom, I'm sorry." Sydney felt terrible for bringing up a painful subject.
Irina's hand immediately left the sand and cupped Sydney's head with a genuine smile, "Don't be, Sweetheart. It's ok. It's just the facts."
"That bastard Kashinau." Sydney shook her head with anger at the man who had forced her mother back to Russia, "I'm glad you shot him."
"You shot him?" Sark's eyes went wide looking at Irina. She had told him the CIA had killed him.
"Yes." Irina met his eyes nodding her head slowly knowing that had to have surprised him. "I let him live long enough…for the pain he caused in my life. Extracting me against my will, taking me to prison…treating me like his own machine, forcing me to shoot my daughter," Irina inhaled her anger and looked away momentarily disgusted by the man, "Congratulating me as he deemed that… 'his' success in re-educating me in Kashmir with Cuvee…That was the last straw…he had Sydney trapped in Barcelona…so shot him." Her eyes went back to Sark's, "I'm sorry I lied to you, Julian. But I couldn't tell you then…I couldn't risk Cuvee finding out I'd turned on them."
"No, I understand." Sark said quietly, taking a sip of his water, "I never liked the man very much…never liked the way he treated you."
The man had treated Irina like she was his personal puppet and sex object that he could leer at anytime he wanted to, make discriminating sexual comments too with Cuvee when Irina left the room and Sark was still present.
"I'm glad it was you who shot him. I'm sure it surprised the hell out of him. I would have like to seen the look on his face."
Irina gave him a quick smile of appreciation.
"Well, I was there." Sydney gave her Mom a half smile, and turned her eyes to Sark, "Absolute shock was the look on his face, that Mom had shot him instead of me. Right in the chest. Perfect aim."
"We better get going." Irina stood and brushed the sand off of her with a smile, slinging her backpack over her shoulders. She started walking down the sand dune and Jack caught up to her quickly, wrapping one arm around her neck to momentarily bring her closer to him so that he could kiss her head. He didn't need to say anything.
"I love you, Jack. Never forget that." She said softly and he grabbed her arm forcing her to stop and the others' to slow way down, seeing the look in Jack's eyes and the way he had stopped Irina.
"Why are you telling me that?" Jack's heartbeat quickened with flashing concern as the last time she added that it was because she knew she was leaving him. "Irina, we're going to make it out of this. I am not losing you again. Don't even think that way."
"I just wanted you to know, Jack. I don't plan on going anywhere." She smiled up at him, taking his hand in hers. "Thinking about my extraction, being reminded of my time in prison. I remembered all the thoughts I had. Thoughts they made me believe. That you would come to hate me, believe my love for you was a lie. I just needed to say it now."
Jack let out the breath he was holding in, relieved and tortured all at the same time.
"I love you too, Irina." His eyes found hers in the darkness as he whispered to her, the slight breeze making a few wisps of hair blow in front of her face and he reached up to tuck them behind her ear. "You never forget that." He smiled back at her and dropped a quick kiss to her lips, going in for seconds and making the others laugh behind them.
They trudged on over the dunes for a few more hours, breathless and exhausted, their leg muscles burning and tired.
"Ok, this is it." Irina looked down at her GPS with a smile and dropped to her knees, trying to stay low. "And we're ahead of schedule."
"Oh God…my legs are burning!" Marshall dropped right behind her. "I'm so tired."
Irina turned around and patted his knee with a soft smile, knowing this technical wizard was not used to fieldwork this intense.
"Take a break for awhile. I'm going to check the perimeter to look for him." She smiled again and jumped right back up, slinging her gun strap around her shoulder, "Jack, will you come with me, please?" She waited with her beautiful smile in place as Jack jumped up behind her. "All of you stay put. If he sees you before me, he will shoot!" She looked at them pointedly with raised eyebrows.
"I bet they're going to go make-out in the sand." Weiss whispered with a smile once Jack and Irina disappeared over the ridge into the darkness.
"Stop it! They are not!" Sydney furrowed her eyebrows trying not to laugh and shaking her head.
"Syd…technically, this is their honeymoon and we are trudging through the Libyan desert in Africa. I think if they want a little time to kiss and make-out in the sand its perfectly allowable." Weiss defended Jack and Irina with a smile as he leaned back against his pack in the sand.
"Stop." Jack grabbed Irina's arm with a smile once they cleared the ridge, "I have to kiss you properly. I haven't done so in too many hours."
"I agree." Irina smiled seductively and wrapped her arms and gun around Jack as her mouth captured his with searing tongues battling for connection and unable to get enough of the other.
Finally they broke apart when they had to breathe and Irina placed two quick kisses on his lips with a smile.
"That was just what I needed." She flashed her brilliant smile and turned from him continuing around the dune and leaving Jack staring breathless for a moment before catching up.
"Jack," Irina said softly, gripping the AK-47 in her hand as her eyes scanned the horizon. "I wanted to tell you, who the contact of mine is we're meeting. It's Dubey." She turned her eyes to his, cautiously, remembering what had happened at their last encounter with the man.
Jack swallowed hard and looked away a moment. He really had no desire to ever meet this man face to face. Just seeing him on the beach mauling Irina that day in Jakarta was enough. He looked back and nodded and he saw the brief flash of sadness cross Irina's face before she looked away.
"I trust you, Irina." He said softly, holding his stare until her eyes slowly came back to his. Her black depths found his and felt the weight lift instantly giving him a smile.
"Thank you." She smiled softly and turned back to the horizon looking for a sign of Dubey.
"But if he hits you again I'm going to knock him out." Jack added seriously, cracking a grin when her eyes flashed back to his in surprise and then a smile seeing his.
"There he is." Irina pointed with her finger behind Jack and down the dune a ways. She clicked out Morris code with her flashlight and it was answered by Dubey.
"Mountaineer, proceed northwest and down the dune. We've found the contact." Jack pressed his fingers into his neck, activating the black Com there.
"Roger that. On the move." Sydney answered him back and the troops stood, brushing off sand and grabbing their weapons on high alert. They marched over the dune and found Jack and Irina about half way down the enormous slope on the other side waiting for them. Like a flock of ravens, they moved through the night across the sand in a V-formation with Irina as the point.
Irina approached Dubey and two of his men first as the others hung back giving them distance.
"Irina." Dubey greeted her with a kiss to both cheeks after he jumped over the side of one of the jeeps. "Good to see you again. I've got everything you asked for." He smiled, not willing to relinquish her hand just yet.
"Thank you again, Vijay, for finding Zamir and helping me now." Irina slowly pulled back on her hand and the man released it. "I know you took a great risk with your Libyan contacts to meet us."
"It's very dangerous, Irina, are you certain about doing this? Just a few people taking on an entire compound." Dubey's eyes going over her shoulder to the people in the shadows he could barely see.
"We may be few, but we are mighty." She smiled warmly, yet dangerously, "We will be fine." She turned and motioned for them to come closer. "Vijay Dubey, I would like to introduce you to a few people. You already know Mr. Sark." She smiled seeing them approach and Sark nodded at Dubey in acknowledgment, "Agents, Dixon, Weiss, Flinkman, and Vaughn." She named them off as she went around the half circle, "My daughter, Agent Bristow." She smiled at Sydney and saw Dubey's surprise out of the corner of her eye.
"Well, this is certainly a surprise. It's pleasure to meet the daughter of Irina Derevko." Dubey smiled widely at Sydney, taking in her resilient beauty in his surprise.
"And my husband…Agent Bristow." She smiled widely at Jack who stood defiantly tall and intimidating dressed in black and strapped with weapons. He looked damn sexy.
Dubey's eyes were wide and he swallowed the knot in this throat hearing her say 'husband' as the two men stood sizing each other up. 'So this is the man who stole her heart?' He looked over Jack and they both remained silent for a moment.
"Husband?" He turned his gaze to Irina, giving her a small smile through his shock before stepping towards Jack, extending his hand, "Jack Bristow…Congratulations. You are a lucky man. Your…wife," Dubey raised his eyebrows as it sounded funny on his tongue, "It's an extraordinary woman."
Jack accepted his hand and they both squeezed painfully hard.
"Thank you and I'm well aware of how fortunate I am." Jack stepped towards Irina, in a possessive move with his straight face and sharp voice.
"You seem oddly familiar." Dubey was searching Jack's face, something about it was sparking a memory.
"Perhaps…Mr. Dubey," Jack looked him dead in the eyes, his tone lethal and everyone stood perfectly still watching the exchange. "Your mind is recalling that day on the beach in Jakarta." Jack had been waiting for the opportunity and Dubey gave it to him.
Sark's eyes were wide in wonder having no idea about what they were talking about.
"You were in Jakarta?" Dubey's eyebrows went up and he took a step back from Irina, his mind flashing through the images of that day. The kiss, how he was touching Irina, holding her…the baby…the three men in suits who were her guards. "Her security detail… There were three of you but only two at the restaurant."
'Oh boy…' Irina sighed, this could get ugly and she hoped Jack would keep his cool.
"That's correct. I stayed at home with our daughters." Jack remained frozen and stone still, though he emphasized 'our', "Though I must say, I was terribly disappointed when my wife came home with a swollen split cheek and lip from where you hit her, Mr. Dubey."
"Ohhhh shit!" Weiss hissed under his breath.
"He hit Irina?" Sark asked quietly to Vaughn and he nodded that Dubey had. "Bastard."
"I didn't know she was married then, Agent Bristow." Dubey swallowed hard thinking about her going home to the man before him that night, battered and bleeding from their game.
Jack cocked his eyebrow at the man, "What does being married have to do with hitting a woman? If she wasn't my wife, it would still be unacceptable."
"Apparently, Agent Bristow, you don't understand the game. Our game got a bit rough…it does sometimes," The man smiled with a dangerous gleam in his eyes, emphasize 'our' and reminding Jack that he had been with Irina, too. "She broke my nose and dislocated my arm."
"Well, if she hadn't I would have." Jack broke his icy stare from him and turned to smile at Irina, hearing for the first time what she had done to Dubey for hitting her.
"It's good to know that the man who holds her heart, is protective of it." Dubey, said after a moment of watching Irina's eyes dance looking into her husband's. She was happy. What he had said he wanted for her. "Irina," He turned his gaze back to her, "You should get going. There are only a few more hours of darkness for cover and you need to be in the deep dunes before the sun breaks." He gave her a small smile and turned, speaking in Arabic and motioning for his men to get into his jeep, leaving the two with supplies for Irina."I'll meet you back here Saturday morning to take you into Egypt." He turned around and kissed her cheek, not carrying if she was married or not. "Be careful." He squeezed her hand and jumped into his jeep. Turning it on and tearing away through the sand into the darkness.
"Dude Jack, I thought you were going to deck him!" Weiss's face looked amused as Irina turned and started going through the bags in the back of the jeeps, making sure they had what she asked for.
"It wasn't necessary to hit him, Agent Weiss," Jack watched Irina carefully, "I just wanted to clarify for him that it was unacceptable to hurt my wife."
'Your words that night hurt me more then his physical abuse.' Irina thought to herself as she pummeled through the gear, listening to their conversation. Of course, she'd never tell him that now. What was the point of ripping open a healed wound? She knew Jack loved her and the reasons why he had lost control that night.
"Are you ok?" Irina heard Sydney ask quietly coming up to stand beside her, and helping her with the equipment check. Sydney had seen the obvious awkwardness and discomfort racing across Irina's face during the confrontation between her father and Dubey.
"Yes," Irina turned to smile at her, "Thank you for asking." She brushed her hand over Sydney's hair smiling. Her daughter had such a big heart. "I haven't told you I loved you today." She smiled and Sydney's face lit up, "Sydney, I love you." Irina leaned over and kissed her.
"I love you too, Mom." Sydney flashed her a big dimple grin, her heart always melting hearing her mother say those words.
"We better get going." Irina said softly smiling, "You take that one and follow me."
"Ok." Sydney continued smiling radiantly, loving being in the field with her Mom.
"Load up, troops!" Irina commanded and jumped behind the wheel of the tan jeep.
"Sweet! I'm riding with the Siberian Tiger." Weiss smiled, waggling his eyebrows at Vaughn and jumped in the backseat of Irina's jeep with Sark. Jack climbed in the passenger seat and Vaughn, Marshall and Dixon loaded up with Sydney.
They set off driving over the dunes trying to beat the daylight and had laughs and smiles as they Baja over the over the giant sand mountains. When they reached their destination deep within the largest dunes, the sun began to peak out.
Irina jumped out immediately and flew into action. Throwing duffle bags at everyone.
"Desert fatigues for the daylight." She smiled brightly and Sydney couldn't help but think, her mother's contacts had turned out to be very reliable. Maybe her father should have listened to her when they were in India.
"Um, where are we supposed to change?" Marshall looked around at all the sand as the sun came up.
"Right here." Irina smiled and started stripping off her Kevlar and outer shirt and all the men gulped.
"You, yo, you're going to change right here?" Marshall babbled watching as she started stripping her shirt off.
"Sure, why not?" Irina laughed at all their wide eyes and Sydney started stripping to. "You can turn around if you want, I'll turn my back, too. If you're shy." She tore her shirt off and stood before them in her sports bra and a smile.
When she reached for her belt, the death glare Jack shot the men, made them all turn instantly and Irina and Sydney giggled.
"Dad." Sydney called out and motioned for him to turn around as well. He may be fine seeing her mother in next to nothing but she wasn't about to let him watch her taking her clothes off.
Jack suddenly snapped to, realizing that Sydney was stripping as well and turned around while the women changed. Irina and Sydney sharing smiles and laughs as they stare at the backs of the men, taking their clothes off and putting new ones on.
"Ok, we're dressed." Irina called out and she and Sydney sat down in the sand, turning their backs and giggling.
The guys turned around and saw them huddled together, whispering and laughing, something that was never good with women. Slowly then quickly the guys started ripping off their clothes and putting on new ones.
"Are you ready yet?" Sydney called over her shoulder after five minutes giggling, finished with wiping the black paint from their faces. "You take longer then we did."
"Yes, we're ready!" Jack gave an exasperated sigh, feeling the desert heat already picking up.
"Ok, then." Irina jumped up smiling, turning to face them, "We need to get the sand tarps out and cover the jeeps and make some shade. Then we can get some breakfast."
With that task done, and breakfast eaten they now sat under their sun and sand shelter between the two jeeps and under the tarps covering them, playing cards.
"Marshall! That's not fair! You can count cards!" Sydney laughed when Marshall won again and everyone laughed throwing in their' hands for Sydney to scoop up and shuffle.
"Oh my God, it's hot!" Weiss exaggerated his speech as the dry air surrounded them.
"At least there is no humidity." Irina smiled thoughtfully, handing him a bottle of water. "The GPS says its 114 degrees."
"Crimany! It's only 10 am!" Weiss whined and everyone laughed.
"I love it. It's like we're camping!" Sydney smiled brightly.
"Everything is like camping for you!" Weiss shot back at her and everyone laughed, "Sleeping on the sub was like camping for you!"
"Hey, I can't help it! I love to go camping and I haven't gone in a really long time." Syd smiled and then her features fell thinking about the last time, "The last time I went…was with Danny, Francie and Will…just before Danny died…We went to Lake Piru."
Sark felt an unfamiliar twinge of guilt hearing the woman's name again.
Jack felt his daughters pain at losing the man she loved, remembering the savage way he was murdered in their home, left for her to find by Sloane.
"Isn't Piru up by Magic Mountain…in Valencia?" Weiss smiled, trying to bring a smile back to Sydney's face.
"Yeah." She finally looked up again with a small smile.
"We used to go there when you were little." Irina was happy to hear that her daughter continued to go there, still enjoyed camping, something she loved, being in nature. "That's where you broke your leg."
"Oh yeah." Sydney smiled, "I remember very vividly breaking my leg. You were crying." She smiled softly at her mother and Irina shook her head remembering, "And Dad carrying me to the car, but I never remembered where we were at."
"How did you break your leg camping?" Dixon laughed picking up the new cards she dealt.
"She was five years old and jumped out of the tree and onto our tent." Irina raised her eyebrows, "To this day I can still see you flying out of that tree in slow motion, with your little pigtails flying behind you and crashing to the ground." She shook her head as everyone else laughed and finally she broke into giggling with them. "Sydney said she thought she would bounce off the tent back up to the tree." She added and everyone burst into hysterics.
"Oh Syd, I can so see you doing that!" Vaughn laughed hard and then hugged her, still laughing when he saw her embarrassment, making her blush.
"Well why not? You did, Mom. You jumped off the balcony onto the tent in Spain, bounced and went flying onto the ground." Sydney finally laughed, and everyone laughed harder realizing how crazy both mother and daughter were.
"God, what a day that was…both days!" Jack smiled, laughing at and with Irina and Sydney. "You two are something else. Both of you give me chest pain!"
Everyone died laughing again.
"Ok more stories about Syd when she as little!" Weiss lit up with a smile
"Her ballet recital when she was two. Oh Jack, do you remember?" Irina grasped his knee, her heart melting and smile infectious remembering.
"Yeah, I remember." Jack broke into a wide grin staring at Sydney. "She was a snowflake."
"Awww!" Everyone chorused and Sydney blushed with a big smile, giggling, not remembering this at all.
"She was more like a one flake blizzard!" Irina smiled widely. "All they had to do was skip in a circle but not our Sydney. She went flying around the stage on her own path, twirling and kicking and spinning until she was dizzy and fell over."
Everyone burst out laughing with the image they conjured up of Sydney on a rampage.
"She stole the show!"
"More, more, more!" Vaughn chanted, smiling and laughing hearing about his fiancé as a Wild Child.
"Well, her espionage tactics were present from birth." Jack cocked his eyebrow with a smile, "When she was 10 months old, she figured out to get out of her crib!"
Everyone started laughing again.
"Yes!" Irina's eyes lit up, "She scared us to death. It was a Monday morning, I remember because I had spent all weekend correcting mid-terms and was exhausted."
The thought of Irina Derevko as a college professor at UCLA was still shocking to many of them.
"We used to bring her into bed with us in the morning and we always left the door open a crack so we could hear her when she woke up. I remember I was lying over your chest, with my face towards the door," She smiled at Jack and he returned it bashfully, "I heard a soft whooshing noise coming from the hallway. She was crawling though we didn't know what it was. Suddenly, the door just started opening wider, but we couldn't see anyone, it was like a ghost; and she was snorting! Do you remember? She always used to breath like that, through her nose when she was determined."
Jack nodded along smiling, recalling this morning well, as everyone continued to laugh at 'snorting Sydney the ghost.'
Sark sat stunned watching and listening to the details of Irina's life he never knew, her smile and how happy she was recalling them.
"Then suddenly, the sheet on the bed right in front of me started moving toward the floor as she pulled herself up, and then these two chubby little hands clutched the edge followed by her sweet little face and big toothy grin trying to peer up at us. She was so proud of herself for escaping and making it into our room."
Everyone continued to laugh and Sydney smiled brightly, proud of herself as a baby.
"And she stood there bouncing on the edge of our bed calling, 'Mama, Mama, Mama' until Irina picked her up and brought her into the bed with us." Jack smiled laughing, still seeing that image very clearly in his head. "Irina picked her up and sat Sydney on her lap while we looked at our baby stunned and she lit into the biggest smile and started clapping for herself."
The laughter was loud and some were rolling on the sand with their sides hurting.
"So what did you guys do? To keep her in? Did you know how she was getting out?" Dixon asked the logical parenting questions with a big smile, still laughing.
"Well, we couldn't figure out how she kept getting out, it went on for about four or five days. I'd put her down and she'd escape and every morning she crawled into our bedroom." Irina bit her lip with an amused expression, "And then one day, I put her down for a nap and watched her from the hallway. Right away, our little problem solver was pushing all her stuffed animals into the corner of her crib and using them as a stepping block while she hung onto the railing and lifted herself over," Irina laughed softly shaking her head, "And she just hung there for a moment, dangling from the side by both strong little hands, then one as she grabbed one of the bars with the other…then shimmied down to the floor until her toes touched. She dropped to her knees and came crawling right towards the door. When her little hand pulled back the door and she saw me standing there her eyes went wide and then broke into a big smile and rapidly crawled towards me with her little giggle. Our sneaky baby. We had to take all the stuffed animals out of her crib. Boy, did that make her mad!"
Everyone died of laughter again.
"Good luck with your kids buddy!" Weiss slapped Vaughn on the back laughing hard, "Jumping out of trees, and climbing out of cribs!"
"And riding her tricycle off the sofa at two!" Irina added with dancing laughter.
"And sliding down the stairs in sleeping bag at four!" Jack added, recounting all the crazy things that Sydney had done as a child.
"Jumping into the deep end of the pool by herself at two and half!" Irina kept laughing, bantering back and forth with Jack and their memories.
"Stapling her lip with a stapler at three!" Jack added and they all cringed and laughed at the same time.
"Oh, we could go on for a long time!" Irina laughed until her body shook and she pulled Sydney's temple to her lips.
"It's amazing you survived your childhood, Syd!" Weiss cracked up, "I think your code name should be 'Danger!" Everyone lost it again.
"Actually, Mountaineer is perfect for her…" Irina smiled, smoothing her hand over the back of Sydney's hair, "She was always climbing on everything!"
They laughed again and when it died down Sydney yawned and it set off a chain reaction. None of them had slept for more then 24 hours.
"I think we should all take turns sleeping now. We've had a long night, and tonight will be a very long night," Irina smiled her beautiful grin, patting Sydney's arm, "You guys go to sleep and I'll take the first watch-shift."
"I'll sit up with you." Jack smiled lovingly at her. "We can do it in pairs of two."
"Sounds good."
Everyone agreed and lay down on their mats, trying to get some sleep
When everyone as fast asleep, Jack and Irina began whispering softly to each other, conversing about their other favorite memories from their past and when two hours had past they woke Sydney and Vaughn to take the next.
Irina ended up falling asleep with her head on Jack's chest; her arm sprawled over his side and Jack's arm around her back holding her there having played with her hair until he fell asleep.
Vaughn looked over to Sydney and saw her watching her parents with an enormous smile.
"They are so cute, aren't they?" She whispered to him, turning her head with a big smile and glancing back at her parents.
Vaughn smiled softly, laughing to himself quietly. They did look pretty cute and that pose, was exactly the way he and Sydney often awoke in, in the morning. It was also pretty familiar to Jack and Irina it seemed, seeing them that way now and remembering Irina's recanting of 'Escapee Baby Sydney' and that she had been sleeping on Jack's chest that morning.
"That's how they used to sleep when I was little." She whispered back, as if just reading his mind, smiling madly at remembering and witnessing her parents sleeping together for the first time since her mother had come back, seeing them now with adult eyes.
"Apparently, it's a position that both you and your mother enjoy." Vaughn whispered back smiling and was greeted with her enormous dimply smile. "Something else you inherited from her."
When Weiss and Sark took over, they, too waited politely to begin speaking until they were sure that Vaughn and Sydney had fallen asleep.
Sark sat, staring intently at Irina sleeping so peacefully on Jack's chest, and right behind them, Sydney sleeping the exact same way on Vaughn's chest.
"Like mother like daughter, huh?" Weiss cracked a smiled seeing what Sark was looking at.
"It sounds and looks that way." Sark softly. "Hearing about Sydney as an infant and child, she definitely has a lot of Irina in her. Her ability to escape for one." He cracked a smiled turning back to Weiss.
"The fetish for jumping bikes another…Irina jumps over cars and off buildings and Sydney jumps her tricycle off the couch!" Weiss laughed softly.
"Sydney jumps out of trees and Irina jumps off skyscrapers. Yes, I definitely see a connection." Sark laughed softly with him, twisting the butt of his gun in the sand with his hands as he sat back against the jeeps tire, watching the sleeping bodies before him.
"I've never witnessed Irina sleep." He said quietly after a minute of silence and Weiss looked up at him and then followed his eyesight to Irina.
"Never?" Weiss asked softly, finding that extremely strange considering Irina raised him.
"No. For seventeen years, I only saw her meditating." Sark said softly, wondering if the reasons she hadn't slept had something to do with what happened to her in Kashmir, or because she wasn't able to sleep in Jack's arms, or both.