PACIFIER

"Children are the anchors of a mother's life." -Sophocles

Bunker, MO (Elysium)

"Looks like I'm going to have to kill the co-founder of the Rambaldi Mother's Club!"

Those sarcastic words from her son Tom rattle around in the mind of Mary Falk. Tom said those words in a meeting with Milo Rambaldi on the very day that Nadia Falk was buried, the very meeting that led to the Ultimate Prophecy/Project Nadia rampage that destroyed Rambaldi's prophecy for good.

And now, with the very co-founder of the so-called Rambaldi Mother's Club pointing a gun at her face, Mary is wondering if it's going to be her turn to kill Irina Derevko. Problem is...there are no weapons she'd have ready access to before Irina put a bullet between her eyes.

After making her rather direct introduction, Irina keeps her intent stare pointed right at Mary, along with her gun. She's standing just inside the sliding patio door, keeping her gun pointed.

Mary probably deduces that the open patio door was a trap to catch Mary off guard. Irina's good at simple traps like that, just like how she as able to get access to Mary's cell phone the day she first exchanged texts with her in the Missouri snow.

But Mary picked up on something almost immediately after Irina pointed the gun at her. If Irina wanted her dead...she'd be dead already. Irina had her absolutely positively dead to rights when Mary went to close the sliding patio door. And usually, if Irina just wants to put someone out of their misery, she doesn't flinch. So Irina wants something.

Finally, after taking a few seconds to assess the situation, Mary lowers her hands and, with a pang of worry in her voice, asks "We can talk. Put down the gun, Irina, and we can talk."

Irina doesn't obey. She coolly retorts "We can talk like this. Consider the gun...like a child's security blanket. I feel better with it pointed at you right now."

"Why? I won't hurt you..."

"Sorry Mary. The last time I took you at your word, you led me to a trap that ended up killing me."

"Do you really think I'm a threat to you? Look at me, I'm unarmed! You see any knives lying around?"

Irina scans around the kitchen and doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. Still, she can't be too trusting. "No, but with what happened with Julieta and the kids, can you blame me for keeping my gun up as defense against an angry grandmother? Like I said, I feel safer with it. I won't hurt you either as long as you don't pull something out of your bag of tricks."

Mary finally accepts that Irina's not going to lower the gun. "Ok, Irina. Let's talk. First off, why Julieta?"

Irina raises an eyebrow at that. She immediately deduces that this Julieta meant more to them than she thought. "Of all that has gone on...that's your first question?"

"The kids are alive, she's dead. You said all three would be returned unharmed. I ask again: what happened?"

After a pause, Irina says "Julieta tried to escape from Mitch. He shot her. Not my decision. End of story."

Mary looks at the gun Irina's holding. "With that?"

"No. Sloane gave Mitch a gun. Before you ask, I don't know why."

"What did you do to Mitch?"

"You could say that I punished him. Mitch didn't obey. Now he's paying for it. I did not want the hostages harmed. That's all you need to know right now."

Mary pauses to think about what Irina just said. This confirms the story that Maria told, but the nugget about Sloane giving Mitch the gun is interesting.

Which leads Mary to the next issue on her mind. "Maria told her parents what happened after that, how he went after them. Why them, Irina?"

"Because Mitch isn't right in the head, especially when it comes to Tom or anyone he loves."

Mary can believe that. She witnessed the breakdown of the friendship Tom and Mitch had. She witnessed Mitch's greed and temper overcome his reason. It always was such a tenuous balance for Mitch to balance his self-centeredness and reason. "So Mitch thought that killing Maria would give him some sort of joy at the expense of his arch enemy. I must say, that's a classic symptom of self-centered narcissism if there ever was one."

"I knew that when I picked him. His dead hombre Cesar had the same problem."

"And yet you left him alone with the hostages?"

"I didn't know he had a gun. Plus, Sloane sent me on an errand. That's not important right now."

Mary notices that Irina's being awfully short and terse with her answers. She also notices that Irina has not moved a centimeter, not even to shift her body weight. One thing Mary admired about Irina is the self-control she has over herself, right on down to physical ability. While occasional over-confidence was Irina's weakness, Irina always displayed almost unnatural patience.

As Mary takes the time out to gauge Irina, Irina asks "Aren't you going to ask me why I would agree to have two short fuses working under me?"

Mary shrugs, but yes, she'd like the answer to that question. "Because they were the ones you were stuck with?"

Irina shakes her head. "No way. I could have chosen anyone to work under me...it was my task to round up the rest of the group after me, Elena, and Arvin were selected. But I chose those two because..."

CLICK CLACK! "DROP THE GUN, IRINA!"

Mary's jaw drops in shock as she looks over an equally stunned Irina and sees her husband Thomas standing behind Irina just outside the patio doorway, holding a double-barreled shotgun at the back of Irina's head.

Irina can't believe it. Is she slipping? Did she get sucked into the conversation too much? There is NO way Thomas Falk, a disposable Army veteran that had a mental breakdown in Vietnam, could sneak up on her of all people.

Of course, Irina could just teleport right behind Thomas and get the drop back on him. But she's not here to cause any bloodshed. However, this act does lose her some leverage.

So she decides to play along. "Judging by the clicks of your gun, I'm going to guess there are two barrels in that shotgun of yours. Correct?"

Thomas, with a snarl eerily reminiscent of his son Tom's, says "You better believe it, bitch. Give me one good reason I shouldn't spray your brains on my nice kitchen floor."

Irina almost wants to giggle. Toughguy talk does that to her, she's heard it so many times before. Instead, she just smiles at Mary and says "I'm impressed. Guess your husband has some skill after all. You always said he was kind of...average."

Before an offended Mary can respond, Thomas snarls "The next words out of your mouth better be an explanation as to why you're pointing a gun at my wife, or I will make good on my promise to ruin my kitchen floor."

Irina just casually shrugs and says "Very well. I'll give you two reasons why you shouldn't dirty this nice floor with my brain matter. One, it'll be an awful mess..."

Thomas is not amused. "Enough sarcasm! I will shoot if you keep this up!"

Irina just continues unabashed. "...and two, because I'm here to help you and your family."

Thomas is now extremely confused at that last part and looks at Mary for answers. Mary looks back at him, knowing full well the previous text chats she exchanged with Irina. Seems like Irina's keeping up that story.

Irina, who was focusing her attention on Thomas, now shifts back to Mary. "Tell your husband to put his gun away."

Mary looks up at Thomas, then back at Irina with a look like she's regained control of this situation. "Not until you put your gun away."

Irina stares a hole into Mary's eyes...a look that says that Irina's trying to gauge if she can trust her. She then looks at her gun for a few seconds. With Thomas pointing a shotgun maybe an inch from the back of her head, and knowing his Army training has probably made him downright surgical with that gun from an inch away, she decides to concede this round. "I was going to do this later, but I'll do you one better."

Irina releases the magazine clip from the gun, cocks the gun to take the bullet out of the chamber, grabs the flying bullet out of the air, and holds the gun, bullet, and magazine in the air for Thomas and Mary to see. Calmly, she says "I'm going to set this on the kitchen table to my right. Mary, tell Mr. Falk to stand down now.

Mary studies Irina for a bit, a little surprised at this move. She thought Irina was going to be stubborn, but Thomas's bold move actually had the effect of removing Irina's leverage completely, at least on the surface. And the fact that she disassembled her gun...that's very surprising to Mary to say the least.

Mary tells Thomas "Back off."

Irina tersely says "No! He needs to lower his gun."

"What's to stop you from bailing out on us?"

"Not going to do that."

"Why?

"Because I'm here to surrender."

Mary's jaw just about drops to the floor. "You're WHAT?" Mary can't believe what she just heard.

An equally shocked Thomas chimes in with a "You can't be serious..."

Irina, both looking and sounding very humble, says to Mary "I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

Mary looks away and shakes her head. She disbelievingly asks "What's the play, Irina?"

"Do you remember the conversation we had in the private jet over the Pacific Ocean? The one we had after Sydney had Isabelle?"

Oh yes, Mary remembers that conversation very well.

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, circa 2006 (Earth)

Irina Derevko sits in a white leather airplane chair, examining The Horizon for herself. It's not filled with the liquid that presumably would make her immortal. That would later be located in Rambaldi's Tomb in Mongolia.

But still, Irina can't help but be mesmerized by this little sphere. After all, it's one half of what she's spent much of her life striving for.

Low-mid-low-high-low. Irina's near-trance is broken when she hears the unmistakable bird whistle from Mary Falk, signaling that she's present for a chat, probably to go over what she just did to get that empty sphere.

Irina immediately gets up out of her seat and walks a few feet up to the open door of the cockpit of the private jet, where a pilot and stewardess are sitting. She leans in and tells the pilot "Don't disturb me for a while. I want to be alone."

The cheery pilot turns his head and lets out a country chuckle. "Ma'am, we're still 9 hours away from Hong Kong. We'll give you all peace and quiet you'll need for as long as you need, honey."

Irina just nods and closes the cockpit door. She's alone in the seating area of the private jet, which is just a couple of comfy leather chairs spaced out plenty far enough to give ample shoulder and arm room if there were more than just her flying.

Irina takes her seat next to the airplane window. Outside, it's nighttime and the full moon illuminates a small portion of the Pacific Ocean, the only evidence that anything even exists below her.

She sits back so she gets comfortable. Then, she lets out a deep breath and says "Hello Mary."

"Hello Irina." Mary is not visibly present in the plane, but her filtered voice still cuts through planes of existence and into the ears of Irina. Irina can hear Mary because of a genetic modification that Rambaldi made to their seedbearers long ago: Laurent L'Andre and Alec Derevko respectively. Only members of their bloodlines can hear their Elysian counterparts. How Rambaldi knew how to do that...only he knows.

Irina looks at The Horizon again. "Well, I got it."

"Yes you did. You handled yourself well back there."

"It's funny how you devote your life to something so small. Some people devote themselves to their careers, their religious beliefs, their family..." Irina suddenly looks away from The Horizon and looks out at the dark ocean below.

"You seem troubled."

A dismayed Irina, still looking out at the ocean, says "Is it that obvious?"

"It was obvious before, too. When you were around Sydney...when you saw Nadia..."

Irina closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them again. "My oldest daughter is now a mother, just like I am. My youngest daughter is lying on a hospital bed like Snow White. I have seen the best and worst of the two best things I did in my life. One daughter just created life, while the other is barely has life. Could things have been different had I not..."

Suddenly, Irina stops. She's getting too personal, and that's not her style at all.

"Irina, I've never seen you like this before."

Irina's breaths are now focused and controlled...a defense mechanism to prevent feelings from bubbling up to the surface. "I was there to help deliver my granddaughter a few hours ago. I will never get to see that child again. I will never get a chance to see her take her first steps, hear her first words, meet her first boyfriend...because this is what I am. I've only felt like this one time before."

"You had no choice, Irina."

"Of course I didn't. I never wanted to leave Jack. But the KGB didn't give me a choice." Irina then looks forward and takes a deep breath. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this...maybe it's because we're not all that different you and me. We're both mothers. We both had to make the decision to leave our family, we both left children behind, and we both are not proud of the lives we have lived since those decisions were made."

"Irina, there's not a lot that I'm proud of. But I was proud that I was able to save Nadia from the Soviet Union. I gave her a chance at life. If I could do it all over again, I'd save Nadia again. Maybe I wouldn't leave my family to do so, but..."

Mary stops when a tear escapes Irina's eye and falls down her cheek.

"Irina?"

Irina has been shot, stabbed, cut, tortured, slapped, punched, kicked, in labor, in pain...but in all those occasions, you couldn't find a tear anywhere near her eyes. But you bring up Nadia, and she starts getting misty.

After setting down The Horizon on the drop-down table in front of her, Irina dabs her eye with a napkin from the box next to the sphere. It would seem that her tactics of hiding her emotions are failing her right now. "Mary, you were candid to me before about what you went through after you left your family. I feel I owe you the same favor. I've never said what I'm about to say to anyone, and it is to never leave this airplane. We will never speak of this again after tonight. Are we clear?"

Mary's voice comes through this time a little a little sad, like she knows she's going to see a different side of Irina. "Of course. Your secret is safe with me."

Irina looks back out the airplane window. "I didn't have a great childhood at all. Feuding with my sisters, scraping out a living...the KGB gave me a sense of direction alright...right into Jack's arms. I also ended up in Arvin Sloane's, too." Irina shudders after saying his name.

"Pardon my asking, but what did you see in Arvin in the first place?"

Irina snickers. "It's amazing what you'll see after you drink more vodka martinis than you can count."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have broke your train of thought."

Irina looks back forward and, still glum, says "It was a fair question, and one that I ask myself from time to time. But there was one good thing that came out of our fling: Nadia." Irina hangs her head again. "When I found out I was pregnant with Nadia, I facilitated some strife between me and Jack. I wasn't asked to do this, but when I was told by the KGB that my time with him was ending, I couldn't just break it off with him cold like they wanted. But at the same time, I decided didn't want to break his heart by telling him I slept with Arvin. So I kept that a secret...and I kept her a secret. I've had to hide many secrets in my life, but that was the hardest one by far."

"I know the feeling. My children dominated my thoughts all the time, but no one I ran across could know they even existed. It was hard for me, too."

Irina nods and says "I know it was. I think that's why I'm about to tell you what I'm about to tell you. I know you'll understand. Plus, there's the fact that you're a ghost and no one will ever know I told you."

Mary lets out a laugh, then says "Go for it. I'm listening."

Irina to the seat to her right, thinking Mary would be there. "I've been carrying this memory too long without addressing it." Irina looks down at the ground, takes a few deep breaths, then says "I was in KGB custody when I went into labor with Nadia. I knew leading up to it that she would never be mine. But I still needed to bring her into this world. The labor was intense for as short as it lasted. And then..." Irina takes a deep breath and leans back in her seat. "I can still remember Nadia screaming for the first time like it was yesterday. I remember looking down, and there she was...kicking, screaming, and I'll never forget how small she was. I carried her a full term, but she came out so small, like she was a month premature."

"She was healthy, wasn't she?"

"Oh yes. She was so precious. They laid her on my lap after they cleaned her off and cut the cord...I don't think the doctor knew of the arrangement I had with the KGB. I didn't want to hold her or bond with her...it'd be too hard when they took her away. But she was still crying and screaming. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell her it was going to be ok, but I didn't want to get attached to her, either. I looked up at the doctors and went to ask what they were doing, but Nadia brushed her arm on my hand as she was having a fit. I looked down at her, and I couldn't help it. I told her it was going to be ok and touched her cheek with my right index finger..." Another tear falls down Irina's face. She shakes her head and wipes the tear away quickly. When she speaks again, her voice starts to crack. "She looked down at the finger...she grabbed it with her right hand...and she put it in her mouth and started sucking on it like a pacifier! She immediately stopped crying...and then she looked up at me..."

This time, there's nothing that Irina can do to stop the tears. For the first time in years, someone has seen her cry. She doesn't stop crying for a while, either.

"Take your time, Irina. It's ok." Mary's voice seems to indicate she feels bad for Irina.

Irina stops and takes a deep breath. When she's ready again, she continues. "She looked up at me...and she kept sucking my finger...she kept holding on to my hand...she looked like the pain of childbirth completely vanished from her...and then for a few seconds, we bonded. She looked like she loved me...and I knew then I loved her, too. Oh god..." Irina then buries her head in her hands as another crying fit takes over. Still, she manages to talk through her hands. "Mary...surely you know what I'm talking about when you lock eyes with your child for the first time..."

"I do. From the moment you see them, you're ready to do anything for them."

Irina lifts up her head. Her face remains tear-soaked. This is definitely a different Irina than anyone in the world has ever seen. "For five seconds, everything was perfect. Then, it was over. Two Soviet troops ran into the room and snatched her from my lap. Nadia immediately started screaming and crying again. As they ran out of the room with her...I screamed and cried, too. I screamed and cried for her. My baby was gone...and I just had this feeling that I'd never see her again."

"So that's why you were at the hospital the day me and Bill infiltrated it!"

Irina nods her head quickly, wiping more tears off in the process. "I wanted my daughter back. The moment I was discharged from the hospital, I was done playing by the KGB's rules. I just wanted my daughter, I wanted to run away, change our names...I wanted to be a mother to her. There was no way I could raise Sydney, but at least I could have Nadia." Irina then looks over to her right, where she thinks Mary would be. "Are you still close with Bill Vaughn?"

"Yes."

"Tell him I'm sorry for shooting him. I normally would have been more patient with him, but in the days that followed Nadia's birth, I was just a frantic mother...searching for her baby. And when he ran up to me suddenly, I had no idea what to think. I didn't know if he was KGB, Prophet Five, Covenant..."

"We were CIA at the time...we left Prophet Five by then. After that mission, we went rogue."

"I know, I went rogue after that, too. It didn't take long after that day for the Soviets to find me. I was sloppy and unfocused. Oh, and my right arm was almost useless for a while after you shot me!"

Mary laughs and says "Would you like an apology?"

Irina waves her hand and says "Nah. Eye for an eye. I can count on one hand how many times I've been shot, so you're in good company. But once I realized my life would be nothing but evading capture, living in caves and other remote places, I knew that was no life for a child. I had to let her go..." Irina closes her eyes tightly and her voice starts to sound pained. "...I had to let go any hope I had of being a mother. I had to let go of a life that I had so badly wanted with Jack. And I had to become a criminal to survive because being a criminal was how I survived in my teen years and being a criminal was all I knew. I guess it's fitting that Nadia had a similar childhood that I did once you and Bill saved her..." Irina opens her eyes and looks right again. "I just realized that I haven't thanked you for doing saving her. I can't believe you blew yourself up..."

"It's alright, Irina. I said my peace on that. Go on."

"When I realized it was Nadia that helped rescue me in Guatemala...you don't know how I felt. Were you there when all that happened?"

"No. But I did see you give Tom permission to marry Nadia."

Irina smiles as the last of her tears are wiped away. "That was a pleasant surprise, that he would ask my permission like that. I was honored. And I don't think I let on too much, but I was happy he asked me. At least then I could say that I had some impact on Nadia's life." Irina then looks away. "Mary, thank you for letting me share that. I've buried those memories for so long because of what they do to me. I cried when I hugged Nadia on the airplane for good reason. For a moment, those memories of her innocent little brown eyes looking up at me while she sucked my finger in peace...they came back. And it took me some time when I was changing in the bathroom to bury those memories."

"Thank you for sharing, Irina. I know it was difficult."

"And I want to thank you for looking out for Nadia, not just back then, but ever since she became a part of your son's life."

"She's like a daughter to me. I want so much for her to walk down the aisle and marry my son. They'll be so happy together, I just know they will."

Irina smiles and says "I wish I could see that. Speaking of your son, how is he doing?"

"Not well. Well, better than he would have been had we not sent Julian Sark, but it's like the fire has completely gone out in him. It's bothering me."

"Based on what I saw in Sovogda, and based on the stories you've told me, I find it hard to believe that Tom has lost the fire he has in his belly."

"I'm sure it's still there. But he's pretty down of late. He's still trying to figure out how to confess to Nadia the sins he committed in Mexico."

"You really think my daughter would leave him over all that? Tom Falk is not Arvin Sloane. And yet, Nadia still tried to love Arvin from what you tell me. She clings to the ones she loves like she has nothing else on this world to cling onto."

"Listen, Nadia is your daughter, and she takes after you in a lot of ways. If it were you, what would you do after you read Tom's letter?"

Irina lets out a chuckle. "Tom is to Nadia what Jack was to me. Was Jack capable of doing dirty deeds to do his job? Of course. It didn't bother me none, and I don't think it will bother Nadia. It'll probably bother her more that he's remorseful about it, actually."

"Tom still thinks he was at fault for what happened to her."

"Absolutely not. I was there, you were there. That's all on Sloane, and Tom needs to make that clear. Nadia will realize that, she can see beyond the first layer. I only wonder if Sloane will still be alive after Nadia reads Tom's letter. If I were her and someone tried that on Jack when I was still in love with him, I'd break that person's neck and sleep like a baby the following night."

"Maybe I should tell him your theory about how Nadia will react. He's so worried about Nadia resenting him. But I'm afraid when I tell him the truth, he's going to resent me."

Irina looks right and imagines she's looking in Mary's eyes, even though she has no idea what she looks like. "But Tom and Nadia will live happily ever after when all of that is over right?"

"Right. And that's good enough for me."

"Me too. Um, Sark's regained consciousness, by the way. Do you want me to tell him to change his story yet?"

"No. I want to wait for Nadia to come back...Sloane's getting close on getting the cure. I want Nadia to see Sark if possible. If what you say about her is true, she'll want to fight to get Tom out. That will only drive them into each others arms even more."

Irina agreeably nods. "Makes sense. You know, I still have your diary. If you're worried about losing Tom, maybe that will help him."

"I need to sit down with you and take look at that. I don't want everything released. But don't do anything with it until I say so."

Irina nods and says "That's fine."

"Irina, I'm sorry about what happened when Nadia was born. I feel for you, I really do."

Irina just shrugs and says "Maybe in another life, I can be a mother. But not this one."

At this point, Mary and Irina would say their goodbyes. Mary talked with Tom the next day and revealed the plot with Irina to get him thrown in prison to protect him, in exchange for helping Irina locate The Horizon. Tom would not be happy and would disown Mary...until Sloane showed up with excerpts from Mary's diary. The rest, as they say, would be history.

San Felipe, Mexico (Elysium, present day)

"Maybe in another life, I can be a mother."

Mary remembers those words from Irina as clear as day. Mary believed Irina then...but does she believe her now? That question is the giant elephant in the room.

"Mary?"

Mary looks up at Thomas and suddenly remembers the very tense situation that she's in: Irina pointing a gun at her, Thomas pointing a shotgun at Irina. And it's up to her to call off Thomas.

She looks back at Irina, who doesn't look back at her with an icy glare or a calm, collected glare...but a humble stare instead. It wasn't easy for Irina to tell that story to Mary. And now, it looks like Irina's thinking about that story once again.

Mary looks back at Thomas and calmly says "Lower your gun."

Thomas doesn't look so sure. "Mary, are you sure?"

With a humble look of her own, Mary tells Thomas "I believe her."

As an apprehensive Thomas slowly lowers his shotgun, Mary locks eyes with Irina once again. They both look at each other with a look like they're on the same page again.

Irina then calmly says "I'm going to set my gun on the table..." She slowly walks over to the kitchen table near the patio door. Thomas watches her closely, as does Mary. Both are waiting for Irina to make a sudden move.

It wouldn't come. Irina gently sets the gun pieces on the table, then folds her hands and rests them at her waist, patiently awaiting the next move and trying to look non-threatening.

Mary looks back at Thomas and says "Go put the shotgun away and go to the bar like you said you were going to do."

Thomas shakes his head. "No. I want to be here to make sure Irina doesn't do anything to you."

"She won't."

"How can you be so sure?"

Mary then turns her glare to Irina. "Because, I'm her only saving grace right now." More like the only person crazy enough to actually entertain what Irina's trying to sell.

Still, Irina forms an affirmative look on her face, like Mary just read her mind.

Thomas lets out a sigh. "Fine..." Thomas then looks over at Irina. "Don't do anything to her. She's all I've got."

Irina just replies "She's the only hope I've got, too."

Mary hides a chuckle as she looks over at Thomas. "Go on, Tom. I'll call you when we're done. And not a word to anyone about this...I don't think I need to tell you that, but still..."

Thomas nods and starts walking towards the bedroom. But he pauses next to Mary. "I can't even process all this, so you're secret is safe. I just came back because I forgot my wallet when I heard the commotion..."

An impatient Mary says "Tom, just go please."

"Ok, ok. I'm going now." He walks into the bedroom, walks back out after a couple seconds, holds up his wallet for Mary and Irina to see, and then teleports away.

Now that they're alone again, Irina leans on the table and puts a hand on her hip. "Ok, I thought guns were a limited commodity in this place."

Mary nods and says "They are."

"Then what is your husband doing with a shotgun?"

"Thomas is a hunter. He hunts deer, pheasant, turkey...if it's edible and you can shoot it, he hunts it. People still need to eat, you know, and game doesn't just magically appear on people's plates. There's a lot of good hunting grounds around here, but he travels on occasion to hunt game that's in season. Plus, he thought it was ideal employment for him. He's good with a gun."

"He's also pretty sneaky, too. I have to give your husband credit, he caught me completely unaware."

Mary incredulously snickers. "You're just being modest. No one sneaks up on Irina Derevko."

Irina shrugs. "He did."

Mary rolls her eyes, growing bored of this conversation. "Ok, fine. Alright, it's just me and you now." Mary then sighs. "So you're doing all this because you still think you can be a mother to Nadia. That's why you were so interested in her well-being after Cesar's attack on her. That's why you promised me to keep the hostages safe."

Irina doesn't immediately answer. Instead, she pulls out a kitchen chair and sits on it. "You were about to make some green tea before I showed up. I can see the box near the coffee pot to your right. If you wouldn't mind, green tea was one of my favorite drinks, but it's been a while since I had a cup, I'm afraid."

Mary looks over at the box and lets out a shrug. Can't hurt giving her a cup. "Alright, I'll start making some. But you need to start explaining yourself."

As Mary starts to prepare the coffee maker to make hot water, Irina looks down at the kitchen floor and thinks about what she's about to say. This is it. All or nothing for her. "You're right, Mary. The KGB took away any chance I had at a normal family life. They took me away from my children. There wasn't a single day that went by when I wished I could give up my criminal life and just be a mother. But you know that would be impossible."

Mary starts pouring a large cup full of water, but she isn't fully sold on Irina's intentions yet. "Irina, you have this unnatural ability to wear many faces for many different people. How do I know that you're not just playing me right now? How do I know that you're not just taking advantage of an emotional moment between us?"

Irina looks back up at Mary. "You think I was faking it on the plane?"

"Didn't say that. But I think you could be faking it now."

"Why would I lie to you?"

Mary flashes Irina a stern glance. "You pointed a gun at me, and when my husband put a gun to your head, all of the sudden you softened up like a pillow!"

"I pointed a gun at you because I didn't know how you were going to react to seeing me again! You see that gun now?" Irina points at the disassembled gun. "You can keep it. We took three guns from the Elysian Council armory, I still need to give Sloane's gun back, and Kelly has Elena's gun at last check this morning. This is the third."

Mary forms an incredulous smirk. "Won't your comrades get suspicious if you suddenly are missing your gun?"

"That's why I want you to keep it and not turn it in right away. I may need it again."

Mary shakes her head as she pours the water into the coffee maker. "Yeah right, and I'm supposed to just give it to you at your beckon call."

A somewhat irritated Irina says "Mary, if you truly believed I was lying, you'd be putting something in that cup, or you'd be reaching for a knife to throw at me. But instead, you're giving a woman that helped kidnap your granddaughter a cup of green tea. So drop the tough chick attitude, because it's about as believable as a Soviet news program."

Mary doesn't change her generally incredulous look on her face, but knows internally that Irina has her dead to rights again. It's a lot harder to fool Irina when she can actually see you. That was the only way she could match wits with Irina over 5 years ago. She knows Irina is a master at reading people, and Mary can't fake it like Irina can. Not many people can. Sydney was the only one in her class.

Irina continues, no longer stern, but warm and humble instead. "Mary, you were the only person that I could be myself around. I always had to throw up a shield or one of your so-called different faces around everyone I dealt with. But you were the only one that I could be real with. You were like my conscience, sometimes my voice of reason. Even though I couldn't see you, and even though you betrayed me in the end, I don't think you were faking it around me."

Mary hits the button to start the coffee maker and looks back at Irina with a less-than-enthused glare. "But you're right, I did betray you in the end. Rambaldi wanted you dead, along with anyone that would abuse his inventions."

"So you strung me along for year, eventually leading me into a trap with Sydney and neglecting to tell me that I was immune to The Horizon's effects all that time. That's actually rather impressive, Mary. I'd be more angry about it, but I deserved what I had coming." Irina's voice kind of trails off at the end.

Mary makes a mental note of that. Mary does believe that Irina could be being genuine to her. And her saying she deserved Jack shooting her dead, that's interesting to her considering she seemed so sure she was going to kill Sydney.

But instead of pressing that issue at the moment, Mary has other concerns she wants to clear up. "So you want to be a decent human being. And you think this is your chance. And you need my help somehow."

"That pretty much covers it, yes."

"What makes you think you can succeed?"

"Better question: what do I have to lose?"

Makes sense to Mary. "Ok, so tell me what your grand plan is and why you need me."

Irina relaxes in her chair. "I'm betraying the others. Sloane, Elena, Mitch, Kelly, and Francisco Alvarado's army of former cartel members...I'm handing them to you and everyone else on a silver platter. I will tell you their locations, I will tell you their plans, and if you need my help bringing them down, I can do that, too. This was my plan all along...a plan I've been working on once I got tired of seeing Sloane and Elena's faces in Hell."

"And what do you want in return for all that?"

"Forgiveness."

Mary flashes her a quick surprised glance. "Excuse me?"

"You're right, Mary. I do have many faces to many people, and I think just about everyone that knows me can tell you how much of a criminal I was. But ever since the KGB took Nadia away from me, no one except you has actually seen the person I really am. Irina the Criminal was just a way for Irina the Mother to survive. This right here is my one chance to be the person I want to be, and you're the only one that knows me for who I really am. When I told you my story on the plane about Nadia, that was not an act. Those tears were not an act. My grief was not an act. The tears I shed when I embraced Nadia for the first time since she sucked on my finger, that was not an act, either. Your son Tom can attest to that. When he asked me for permission to marry Nadia, he said he believed I cared about Nadia. Well, I did. I still do."

Mary turns back to the coffee maker, which is churning out hot water for the teabags as Irina tells her story. Mary actually does want to believe Irina. This was the hunch that she had ever since Irina contacted her via text in the first place. She knew Irina wouldn't want any harm done to Nadia or Maria. And in the back of her mind, she thought that Irina may be making a play for amnesty.

And Mary suspected that Irina may indeed want to be a mother in this lifetime.

Still looking at the coffee maker, Mary agreeably says "You're right. I am your only hope. There's no one else you could approach with this scheme of yours. Tom would kill you. Laurent would kill you. Alec would happily kill you. Rambaldi wouldn't believe you and would send Laurent or Alec to kill you...probably Alec since he hates your guts. My other son Eddie would kill you and be sad he couldn't kill you over and over again."

"Why's that?"

"Julieta was his girlfriend. They were starting to fall in love before Mitch shot her."

Irina hangs her head. "Even though it wasn't my fault...I'm sorry. I'll make sure Mitch is the first sacrifice. I'm sure Eddie will want to be there for that."

Mary ignores her apology and peace offering and continues. "Even Jack would be more than happy to end your life again. Nadia...actually, I really don't know how she'd react."

"Family is a touchy subject with her."

The hot water for the green tea finishes brewing. Mary reaches up to grab two coffee cups and says "It's not that. She can't believe you'd try to kill Sydney. Sydney herself can't believe it either, but Nadia feels really betrayed for believing in you."

"I wasn't going to kill Sydney."

Mary pauses while reaching for the coffee pot full of hot water and looks at Irina with an incredulous look that beats any other she has given in this rather eventful meeting. "Irina, don't give me lectures on 'being real' with one another when you feed me that crap."

Irina leans forward. "I'm serious, Mary."

Mary lets out an incredulous gasp, refusing to believe Irina for one second. In fact, she doesn't even want to address it right away. But, she does have a promise she has yet to deliver.

She pours hot water into each coffee cup. She takes out two teabags and puts a bag in each cup. "Do you take sugar?"

"No. Straight up is fine."

Mary then starts walking over to Irina's direction. Irina sits back casually and says "Don't even think about throwing that on my face."

Mary cracks a defiant smirk. "No...I figure you have enough scars." She's referring to the frostbite scars that crease half of Irina's face.

Mary sets Irina's cup on the table in front of her. Then, Mary takes a seat herself across from Irina, her back to the patio door. "Speaking of which, where did you get those scars? You didn't have them when you died."

Irina starts dunking her teabag in her cup. "I was buried in the frozen Cocytus Lake in the Ninth Circle of Hell. Me, Sloane, and Elena's heads were exposed to the cold wind while the rest of our bodies were buried in ice. Oddly enough, Lucifer's wings caused the wind that gave me those scars."

Mary takes a sip of her green tea. "So Dante's Inferno was correct after all."

Irina nods. "It was, actually. It surprised me, too. I figured the Devil would brand me some other way besides these scars."

Mary decides to change the subject immediately, trying to catch Irina off-guard. "You're lying if you didn't say you didn't try to kill Sydney. I was there."

Irina takes a sip of her green tea this time and appears satisfied and not the least bit off-guard. "There was no way I could kill my own daughter, Mary. For a few moments, I thought I could. After all, she was all that stood between me and immortality. If I had gave in when Sydney asked me to, I just know the CIA would have had me in chains for the rest of my life. That wasn't going to happen. And if I couldn't have immortality, well, what else was there for me to live for? So I thought I could do it. But when it came time to...I froze. I created that life...no way I could end it."

Mary takes another sip of her green tea and asks "Is that why you said 'thank you' to Jack after he shot you?."

Irina slowly nods. "Exactly. Jack made the choice for me. Sydney would never have given up fighting. And knowing that you had turned on me, I knew you wouldn't let me escape. Death was my only escape. And I guess I can take some small satisfaction in that I died with The Horizon's power still in me so no one else more corrupt than I was could take advantage. Where did Jack bury me?"

Mary pauses mid-drink and looks at Irina surprised. She lowers her cup and says "Oh, Jack shot you into outer space with The Horizon."

Irina leans her head back and starts laughing. "Oh Jack! I'm probably a solid chunk of ice now...or I've crashed into Jupiter."

Mary shakes her head. "No, Jack says at last check, about a week before he died, you were about to exit the asteroid field. NASA says your body has a 78% chance of hitting this asteroid just past Pluto in about 50 years or so. If you miss it, who knows."

Irina lowers her head, appearing troubled over the reminder that Jack had passed away at about the time she crossed the portal. "I was both surprised and sad to hear he had died. It was Mitch and Cesar that you spotted at his house the day he appeared on his doorstep. When they told me he suddenly appeared, I was stunned. He always was in good health, but maybe the stress got to him. By the way, good driving. You were gaining on us."

Mary sips her tea and nods. "Yeah, right back at you." Then Mary sets down her cup gently and takes a deep breath. This next part could get hairy. "There's something about Jack I need to tell you about. It involves Nadia."

Irina just casually sips her tea and asks "What is it?"

"You're going to want to set that cup down."

Irina gives Mary a conspicuous look, but sets down the tea anyway.

Mary takes another breath. "Sometime before the attack on her, Nadia and Jack had a surprise paternity test done..."

Irina quickly covers her gaping and shocked mouth, realizing immediately what that means. Through her hand, she utters "No way..."

Mary nods. "It was determined that Jack has above a 99.9% chance of being Nadia's father."

Irina quickly gets out of her seat and starts pacing. She can't believe it. She puts her hands on the back of her head and starts vexing and wondering how this would even be possible.

"What you did with your love life was your own business, but didn't you say you stopped being romantic with Jack towards the end?"

"Yes! I made it a point to not be romantic with him at all! That's partly why I slept with Sloane...infidelity would have given me an easy break I thought. Jack is Nadia's father...that's impossible!" Irina then turns around and looks back at Mary. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

Mary slowly shakes her head. "I swear on my life as well as Nadia's. Nadia and Jack have the results to prove it."

Irina lowers her head and goes back to thinking about when she could have possibly been romantic with Jack.

Then, she remembers. "I knew something was wrong when Nadia came out so small. My affair with Sloane happened right at the 9 month mark of when Nadia was born. That's why I felt it was his. But I remember I wanted one more fling with Jack about a month after that. I remember there was a lot of tequila, slow-dancing, and make-up sex..."

Mary throws up her hands, not THAT interested in Irina's sex history. "Hey, that's between you and him. You didn't need to tell me all that. But you could be right. Sounds like she as a month premature."

Irina quickly walks back towards her seat. "How did Nadia react when she found out?"

"She was shocked, as you would expect. Her feelings for Sloane are what killed her after all, and when she found out that those feelings were unwarranted, she didn't hardly speak to anyone for a couple of days, including her husband and her daughter. She was actually talking to Jack about it for the first time when you and Mitch took Julieta and the kids..."

Irina snaps her fingers. "Oh, speaking of which..." Irina walks out the still-open patio door and walks around the corner. The rustling of a plastic grocery bag is heard and she walks back in holding said plastic bag. "This is Maria's Leapfrog thing. Julieta's book is also in there. These were left at the hostage site. You should have these back."

Mary just says "Set them on the table. I'll make sure Nadia gets them."

Irina folds her arms and calmly asks "How is Maria doing, by the way?"

Sullenly, Mary says "She's frightened. So is Emilio, the orphan boy. She's a pretty strong kid, so I think she'll fine after a while. She wasn't mistreated in your custody besides what Mitch did, was she?"

Irina shakes her head as she takes her seat again. "No. I made sure they were well treated. I kept them company last night and told them a bedtime story."

Mary nods. "That's what Tom tells me Maria told him. Thank you for doing that."

Irina cracks a small smile and says "You're welcome. I'm sorry things turned out the way they did. The plan Sloane had was to lure you, Tom, and Nadia into a trap using Francisco's army in an ambush and the hostages as the bait. But those gangsters not exactly in a hurry to attack. I was going to lie to Mitch and say they were and then I was going to turn Mitch over to you guys to do whatever you wanted. And that was when I was going to surrender, not now."

"So what's your plan with Mitch now? Just drop him off at the doorstep of Tom and Nadia's house?"

Irina shakes her head. "No. I get the feeling Tom, Nadia, and Eddie will want him on his feet and conscious when they encounter him. So I'm going to tell him that he's the bait this time and that Tom, Nadia, and you are out for revenge. I'll tell him that the army is ready to go this time, Sloane has given the ok, and he can watch the slaughter for himself."

"You almost sound like that your deception is actually the truth."

Irina shakes her head. "Nonsense. But Mitch is a livewire. If he is told he has a chance to get revenge on Tom, he'll do anything I tell him. We can figure out the details later after my terms are agreed to."

Mary leans back in her seat. At this point, she's just about convinced Irina wants to help them. "So, you really do want to help Nadia and all of us out. You really have no animosity for what I did to you?"

Irina shrugs as she takes another sip from her cup. "I wasn't thrilled, but you didn't pull the trigger, either. Were our roles reversed, I may have done something similar, so I can't begrudge you too much. Like I said, Jack killing me was a favor."

Mary takes a sip from her cup, sets it back down, and leans forward towards Irina. "Listen, I can't guarantee you the Elysian Council will go for this, letting you stay in Elysium in exchange for everyone else. I don't even know how that all works. But Irina, I'm going to say something here, and it's something I shouldn't be saying. But there's a big part of me that believes in what you're trying to do here. But there's still a small part of me that has doubt."

Irina stands up and says "I'll tell you what. I still have to go back to Baltimore to check on Mitch..."

"That's where the hostages were?"

"Yes. The Charleston Restaurant. Mitch thought it'd be a good trap since Tom was there before. It's vacant now. Anyway, there may need to be a time when I have to find a place to stay. I only go through you for any communication. You're my only ally here. And quite frankly, if you want to be rid of Sloane, Elena, and everyone else, I'm your only hope."

Mary stews on that. She really can't argue with Irina. She'd probably be the only person besides Sloane and Elena themselves that would know where they are as well as the whereabouts of Kelly, Mitch, and the army of cartel gangsters.

But above all that, she does actually think that Irina could be telling the truth when it comes to wanting to be a mother...a normal human being. And if Irina's willing to help them in return, then this might actually work. Irina's shown no signs of hostility, save for the initial surprise gun pointing. Irina's actually giving up her gun. And Mary knows that Irina probably could have evaded Thomas's surprise sneak up from behind, but she didn't. Instead, Irina was downright truthful and straight-forward.

Mary nods and does something that would have once been unthinkable. She reaches out her hand for a handshake. "I'm taking you at your word. You shake hands with me, and our alliance is reformed. I won't betray you if you don't betray me. Shake hands on it, and we both agree to live up to our words."

Irina lets out a relieved smile. She happily returns the handshake. "You have a deal."

With hands still clinched, Mary tersely says "Don't make me regret this."

Irina cracks a smile and says "You won't." Irina then lets go of the handshake and asks "When can I see the Elysian Council?"

"As a matter of fact, Paris of Troy has confessed to his role in the big scheme. He's taken the rest of the Elysian Council and most of Il Credo Divino with him to the portal. They should be there as we speak."

Irina steps around the table and says "I'll take you there. In fact, it's probably good that we get there before the Council encounters someone worse than our group."

Mary cocks her head. "Who?"

With a hint of worry in her voice, Irina replies "Helen of Troy told me that we maybe had a day head start before he and his minions started looking for us. They're probably at the portal as we speak, waiting for someone of authority to tell them what's going on."

Mary, this time very intently, asks "WHO?"

With a look of worry on her face, Irina replies "The Ambassador."

END OF CHAPTER