Title: Second Chance
Author: Kimberley Jackson (Lunamoon1982@aol.com)
Category: Jack/Irina, a little Sydney/Vaughn
Rating: R (sexual situations)
Disclaimer: They don’t belong to me, I’m just using them. They belong to 
JJ, abc and the whole ALIAS Team. 
Summary: Sometimes you have to face death to see, that it’s never too 
late for a second chance.

December, 30th – Somewhere over the Pacific

The airplane flew high above the blue, clear water of the ocean through the sunny 
sky. It was a small plane and offered hardly enough space for the four people sitting 
inside. 
„When we land, we’ll enter the building through the side wall. Here!“ Jack Bristow 
unfolded a plan and looked from Vaughn to Sydney and back to Vaughn. He 
continued explaining the surroundings of the buildings they were about to break in. 
„Agent Vaughn, you’ll take care of the guards and...“
„I would not do so!“ 
Sydney glanced interested at her mother, knowing that she had always told the truth. 
Before she could ask her mother for a better plan, Jack gave Irina one of his warning 
looks. „You do not interrupt me!“
„I’m sorry, I just thought that it would be wiser to...“
„Let me make something clear! You are only here because Sydney convinced our 
superiors that your intel is too important to miss on this mission! But I am in charge! 
You don’t interrupt me... you don’t even talk to me!“
„Jack, I was ordered to offer you intel!“
„I don’t care!“
Sydney and Vaughn exchanged one of their looks. 
„Are you afraid of me Jack?“ Irina asked in her dry tone.
„I am not afraid of you!“ Jack snapped back.
When Sydney saw the look in his face she got up. 
„Dad! No offense, but maybe she could help us with this!“
„She is going to set us up!“ Jack got up too and looked down at Irina. 
„I am not!“ The accused got up too. She seemed absolutely under control only her 
eyes reflected her fury. „I am part of this mission and since I have to stay here I don’t 
want us all to be killed!“ 
„Or you DO want us to be killed in order to get away!“
„With all due respect, Agent Bristow, but she turned herself in!“ Vaughn looked up 
from his notes and when he caught the look, Jack Bristow gave him at his defense, 
he wished silently he wouldn’t have interfered. 
„Dad, he’s right!“
„Sydney!“ Jack warned her, but Sydney returned his angry face. 
„Dad! I’m so tired of your fights! The whole flight you have nothing else to do but 
quarreling! We are on a mission and we should trust each other!“
Jack Bristow didn’t answer but went to the back of the plane and sat down on the box 
with parachutes they brought. He took out his file and started to read. 
Sydney sighed deeply and sat down next to Vaughn again who gave her one of his 
sweet smiles. 
After a moment of silence Irina cleared her throat. „Still I think we shouldn’t take this 
way!“ Her hands still cuffed she pointed at the plan. 
„So what do you suggest?“ Vaughn asked. He didn’t look at her. Although he 
accepted her presence and tried to be nice, he would never be able to forget that she 
was the one who had killed his father. 
„They have alarms here... there and there. If we want to go in we have to do it from 
one of these points. The guards only pass by there every five minutes.“
„We DO NOT change our plan!“ Jack Bristow said from his place without looking up. 
„But her plan sounds reasonable!“ Vaughn had to admit.
„We don’t have confirmation of anything she has just said! I’m not going to risk 
everything!“
Before anyone could try to protest a loud crash combined with a shock wave threw 
them all to the ground. Before they could get up again, a second crash was heard 
and then the plane went down. 
„What just happened?“ Sydney cried out and ran to one of the windows. Under the 
plane was just the wide blue ocean. 
Jack opened the door to the pilot’s room and shut it almost at the same moment 
again. 
„What’s it?“ Vaughn asked. 
„Must have been an explosion. Almost the whole pilot room is gone. We’re about to 
crash down!“
He hurried back to the box he had been sitting at and opened it. Then he pulled out 
the parachutes. 
„But where shall we go? There’s nothing but water!“
Jack didn’t answer and so they put on the parachutes. Sydney helped Irina to close 
hers since she was still cuffed. 
„Dad! Please open the handcuffs!“
„No!“
„DAD! She won’t be able to swim with those!“
„We’ve got another problem! The door doesn‘t open and without the pilot’s controls 
we won’t be able to open it either.“
„Does that mean we’re trapped in here?“ Irina asked, her face in shock. Sydney had 
never seen her out of self-control until this moment. Her eyes went to her father. 
„Dad?“ she asked when he didn’t answer Irina’s question. 
„Step aside!“ Vaughn said softly and lifted a large metal body to break the door. But 
no matter what they tried, the door didn’t open. 
„Okay...“ Jack finally said. „You all remember the CIA emergency plan for airplane 
crashs. Try to get a hold on something! Stay away from heavy things!“ he said in his 
neutral tone as if he was talking about any intel he had received. 
„There’s nothing to hold to!“ Sydney said, trying to keep her voice from trembling and 
her mind from panicing. „Dad, you have to open Mom’s cuffs!“ 
Jack went to Irina and opened the cuffs without further discussion. 
„Okay, everybody. Stay away from the windows, shield your faces and lay down to 
the ground.” 
Trembling, Sydney did what her father had ordered. The tension was almost 
unbearable and it took all her power to keep herself from a panic attack. Vaughn took 
her hand in his and she opened her eyes to look at him. 
“I’m afraid!” she whispered and he nodded. 
“Me too!” He came closer so she could feel his arm around her. 
Irina watched as Vaughn tried to shield Sydney at least a little from the coming 
impact and froze. She started to tremble. Of course, she had always lived in the 
awareness of dying, but she had always imagined she would be shot. She wouldn’t 
have expected it to be a slow death with so much horror just before. Just waiting for 
the impact was a hell. 
She didn’t even realize, that her eyes were filling with tears. Suddenly she felt a warm 
body next to hers and an arm hugging her close. 
“Come her!” Jack Bristow pulled her closer. “Try to keep your face to the ground, no 
matter what happens!” He spoke softly. “When you feel water starting to fill the cabin 
try to get out! Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes!” Irina nodded nervously and laid her head back to her hands. 
Jack could feel her trembling and for a moment he remembered all the had shared, 
all the happy moments. He had been so in love with her and now... yes, he still loved 
her, he admitted silently. Despite all she had done to him... or Sydney. 
Before his thoughts went further the plane hit something and the impact was huge... 
they flew through the small cabin and Sydney cried out when she felt intoxicating 
pain in her head, then she lost consciousness. A little moment later there was silence 
inside the plane...

“Mmmm...” Sydney wondered where she was. There was nothing but darkness 
around her. For a little moment she truly considered to be dead, then a slight pain 
started that got stronger and stronger every moment. She lifted her hand to her head 
and was surprised that it felt warm and somehow damp. She opened her eyes and 
groaned. Despite her pain she sat up slowly and looked at her hand. It was red from 
blood. 
“Vaughn...” Sydney touched the mans face and was relieved when he stated to 
moan. He didn’t seem to have an exterior injuries except for a few minor scratches. 
“Syd... you okay?”
“I... I don’t know! Where’s Dad? And Mom?” She looked around. The whole back of 
the plane was gone, instead she saw the leaves of palms and other trees. Vaughn 
saw it too. 
When he looked back at Sydney his eyes got wide in shock. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s not bad!” she contradicted. 
“Well, it’s looks bad! Wait, let me see!” 
She cried out when he touched her forehead. 
Suddenly a squeaking made them freeze. “We’re on a tree! We must have been 
crashing onto an island!” Sydney wispered. 
“Yes! But apparently we’re about to fall down!” Vaughn moved carefully to the open 
end and looked down. “And we’re never going to survive this.” He turned around. 
“Give me your hand!” Sydney carefully got up and reached out. He pulled her slowly 
to the opening. “Do you see this branch there? It’s just one little step. I’ll go first 
and...” He caught he when she fell down. “What’s with you?”
“I feel so dizzy... everything is turning in front of my eyes!”
Another squeaking. 
“Okay, Syd! Focus!” He slapped her softly. “I swear I’m gonna carry you all the way, 
but we are going to die if we don’t get out of here! I have to leave you alone for a little 
moment! Do you think you can step onto this branch behind me?”
“Yes!” Sydney nodded. 
Vaughn slowly let go of her and made a huge step to stand on the branch. Then he 
turned around carefully. 
“Come on, Syd! Just one step! Give me your hand!”
She reached out again but suddenly she had problems with her eyes. She closed 
them for a moment. 
Vaughn looked up, his eyes full of sorrow when he heard a much louder squeaking 
now. 
“Syd, come on! You can do it!”
Sydney opened her eyes again and when the plane went down a little she just took 
the step. Vaughn reacted. He caught her, since he had seen that her step would be 
going nowhere and she was about to fall. 
“Come on! Focus! We have to get away from here!” He pulled Sydney slowly with 
him. They balanced carefully until the branch got thicker and thicker. 
Suddenly they heard loud squeaking and finally a crash behind them and knew, that 
they would have been dead now if they hadn’t escaped. 
“Come on, let’s climb down! It’s easy now!” He pointed at the branches and it seemed 
indeed not that hard anymore. 
...

“Uh...” Irina didn’t open her eyes immediately, in fact, she didn’t even know where 
she was or what had happened. Only when she saw the green leaves around her 
some memories returned. “Oh god...” she murmured and tried to move. 
She was hanging on a tree, her parachute somehow tangled with the branches of the 
tree. Her head hurt, but it was bearable... she could stand a lot of pain. At the 
moment her problem was how to get free. The parachute almost tied her arms to her 
body. 
She used all her power to get one arm free in order to open the parachutes belt. She 
measured the distance to the ground and concluded that it couldn’t be more than 
three, maybe four meters. Just one moment later she found herself falling to the 
ground and learned a mistake in her theory of “Easy-Getting-Down”. She hadn’t 
thought of the unsteady ground. Before she could react she felt an incredible pain in 
her ankle and fell on her back. 
“Damn it!” she cursed softly and rubbed her ankle but instead of getting better, the 
pain increased. 
Suddenly her eyes got caught by a body, lying between two trees on the ground 
three meters away from her. 
“Oh my god, Jack!” She crawled slowly, trying to ignore the pain in her ankle. When 
she reached Jack Bristow, who was showing no reaction. 
Irina softly turned him around and felt his pulse. He was alive. 
“Jack!” She softly slapped his face. When he didn’t react, she tore up her blouse to 
treat his wounds. Finally he moved and groaned. “Jack!” Again she slapped him and 
he opened his eyes still more unconscious than conscious. “Wake up... Jack! No, 
don’t close your eyes again... look at me! Who am I?”
“Laura...” he murmured softly and was about to close his eyes again. 
“Jack, I’m Irina... we’ve crashed down with the airplane. Please open your eyes!”
Jack opened his eyes again and squinted against the daylight. 
“Stay calm! You’ve some serious injuries on your head... can you move everything?”
“Yes.” 
“Okay!” she smiled softly and he was confused. She really seemed to care. “Thank 
you!”
“For what?”
“Well, you tried to protect me, don’t you know anymore?” She tied the piece of cloth 
around his head to protect his wound. 
He remembered. Yes, he had tried to protect her. He remembered that after this 
horrible crash, the airplane had suddenly broke apart. He and Irina had been 
catapulted out and he had held her close to him. Then his memory-loss started. 
“You’re welcome!” he finally said in his neutral voice and sat up. After he had looked 
around and examined there surroundings he looked back at her. 
“We have to find Sydney... and Agent Vaughn!” With these words he got up and 
walked a few meters into the forest. Irina held to a tree and got up. Carefully she tried 
to stand on both her feet but her ankle gave way and she almost fell back to the 
ground. 
“Come on, hurry! They may be seriously hurt!” Jack said impatiently and turned 
around. “What’s up? Are you hurt?” 
“My ankle... I thought it would be okay, but it’s not!” 
“Let me see!” He came back and took off her shoe. Although it had to cause 
incredible pain to her, Irina didn’t turn a hair. “Does that hurt?”
“Like hell!” she nodded and he sighed. 
“I’m not a doctor but to me it’s broken.”
“It’s okay! Go looking for Sydney and Vaughn, I’ll wait here!”
“That’s not an option!” Jack answered in this voice which allowed no contradiction. 
“Jack! I promise I won’t go anywhere, so...”
He looked at her in disbelief. “That’s not the point! I won’t leave you alone here, 
especially when you’re hurt and have no chance to fight animals or other dangers! 
Come on... lean yourself on me!”
He helped her to get up again. He held her around her waist and she hopped a little. 
“I don’t know how long I can take this.” She announced and he nodded. 
“Let’s start.” 
Slowly they started to make their way through the trees. 

... 

“I’m so thirsty!” Sydney leaned against a tree and closed her eyes. “And everything 
spinning in front of my eyes. I can see you three times!” she tried to smile but failed. 
Vaughn touched her forehead. “You might suffer from a concussion!”
“Isn’t it ironical?” She opened her eyes.
“What?”
“I go on missions almost everyday, but I’m not going to die from a shot or torture. I’m 
going to starve or break down from concussion!”
“Hey!” He lifted her head. “What are you talking about? You’re not going to die! 
Neither of us is! And I’m sure your parents are alive!”
“But how? We should have found them by now.” Vaughn recognized desperation in 
her voice and he softly pulled her with him. 
“Come on, let’s go! We have to find some water for you.”
He didn’t want to show her how much he worried. In fact he had no idea where Jack 
or Irina could be, nor where they were. Surely they were on an island since they had 
seen the ocean once between some trees. But what was this island? Were there 
other people living here? Was there at least a little chance for them to be found by 
the extraction team? He didn’t know and therefore he expected the worst. He 
prepared for having to survive on this island for a few days and so they had to search 
for clean, fresh water. 
“Do you hear that?” he suddenly asked and Sydney tried to concentrate on her 
surroundings. 
“What?” she whispered back.
“It sounds like a small waterfall or something.” They followed the sound a about ten 
minutes later they discovered a small lake with a beautiful waterfall. Sydney fell on 
her knees and took a handful of water. She had never ever been so thankful for 
water before. It was clear and cold and seemed to give back her strength 
immediately. 
When both had finished drinking, Vaughn started to clean the wound on Sydney’s 
forehead. 
“Ouch...” 
“Sorry!” he murmured and finally smiled. “It doesn’t seem to be that bad.”
“Still I’ve got an awful headache!” Suddenly her eyes were caught by something. 
“Hey, are those cabins?”
“What? Where?” Vaughn turned around and followed her eyes. “Well... they seem to 
be!”
“That means somebody else is living here! Maybe they have a phone or something!” 
she cheered and Vaughn sighed. 
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that. The cabins don’t look as if there were people living 
who had phones! But let’s have a look. Maybe they could help us looking for your 
parents. And you could probably lie down.”
“That would be great!” Sydney admitted sleepy.
They got up and went through the bushes around the lake towards the village of 
cabins.

...

“Okay... it’s your turn!”
Irina hissed when she accidently stepped with her bad ankle. They had been walking 
for about an hour and she was getting tired. Besides the pain in her foot became 
unbearable now. She felt as if she was going to loose consciousness every minute. 
As distraction Jack had then started to talk to her and then somehow they had come 
up with this stupid game. Alternately they had to come up with one funny memory of 
the time when they had been married. 
“Remember when we...” she began and closed her eyes. “...when we used to drive to 
the ocean every sunday? I think Sydney was three and we had a picnic and a nice 
afternoon every week. And then one week...” She groaned and stopped. “I can’t go 
on... it hurts so badly!” 
Jack stopped and helped her to sit down on the ground. He saw how pale she was 
and knew, it must cost all her power not to cry or show her pain. Jack got on his 
knees in front of her and looked at her ankle. 
“That looks bad. We have to cool it. This tropical heat can’t be good!”
“Just give me a little moment.” She lay back on the ground and shut her eyes in pain. 
Her head started to ache too and the pain seemed to get worse every minute. 
Jack leaned against the tree next to him and felt his head. 
“Did you mean when Sydney and I were running along the water and suddenly I 
stumbled?”
“Yes...” Irina smiled with closed eyes. “And then of all times this large wave had to 
come. I remember you were all soaked and it was fall!”
“Yes, and Sydney thought it was a game and jumped into the next wave.” Jack 
laughed. 
“And next day you were both having an awful cold!” She opened her eyes again. 
“Over the past years I’ve often thought what it would have been like if I hadn’t...” she 
hesitated. “If I hadn’t left.”
“Me too.” Jack admitted. Then he seemed to get aware of what his words meant and 
got up again. “Okay, let’s try to go!”
Irina sat up and ignoring the upcoming pain bravely. 
“We’ll try to find some cold water on our way!” he promised and for a moment they 
looked into each other’s eyes. Jack was still fascinated by this woman, the same way 
he had been twenty years ago. But twenty years ago his affection for her had been a 
terrible mistake, he reminded himself. He turned his head away and supported her 
again. “Okay, let’s go.”

...

“HALLOOOO!” 
Vaughn looked shocked at the woman who was walking next to him. “You scared the 
hell out of me!”
“Sorry!” Sydney shook her head in disbelief. “I just can’t accept that all these cabins 
are abandoned. I mean... they still look so good!”
“I know... I guess it has been an army camp or something. This stuff...” He pointed at 
some mattresses. “That’s US Army standard.”
“Then maybe we’ll find a map or something else that helps us to understand where 
we are!”
They stepped slowly through the cabin and left it again through the hole, that must 
have once had a door in it. 
The camp consisted of about fifteen cabins just like the one they had just entered. 
And besides some mattresses, blankets and two buckets there was nothing else that 
could be useful to them. 
“I suggest, you lay down in one of the cabins with the mattresses and I go looking for 
your parents.”
“No way... I...”
“Sydney!” Vaughn interrupted her. “You look pale and I don’t want you to break down 
somewhere out there in the forest! Besides if we separate we might both get lost. So 
I suggest you stay here...” He saw that she was about to contradict again. “...just in 
case your parents show up here!” he added. “Otherwise we might all be missing each 
other the whole time by running around stupidly.”
“Okay, that makes sense!” she had to admit and he smiled one of those smiles that 
made her knees go weak. 
“So, you’ll stay here?”
“Okay... maybe I can try to find a fireplace or something. I won’t go far!” she promised 
and he was content. 
“Okay, I’ll go and search for your parents.”
“Okay, so if you won’t be back tomorrow... I’ll try to make my way back to the coast!” 
she murmured and was unable to look at him. For a moment he didn’t know what to 
answer, then he cleared his throat. 
“I’ll be back soon, I promise!” he said in his honest voice and she smiled. 
“I’ll be waiting here!”
She watched him walking towards the trees and finally disappearing. Sighing she 
turned around and looked at the cabins. First thing she could do was to fill the 
buckets with water so they would have enough fresh water for the night. Then she 
would collect stones and woods to build a fireplace. Although it was tropically warm 
at the moment she had no idea what the night would bring. 

...

Irina was sitting on a rock, cooling her swollen ankle in the cold waves of the ocean. 
She looked out for Jack who was searching the rest of the boxes out of the plane. 
When the plane had broke apart, the boxes had flown out and had spread all over 
the beach. 
When she didn’t pay attention, a larger wave rolled over the rock and soaked her 
jeans. She cursed silently and tried instinctively to avoid the water. The result was 
that she lost her balance and fell into the shallow water. Another wave soaked her 
blouse – or the rests of it – as well. 
“Damn it!” 
When he heard her cursing, Jack turned around and saw her completely soaked, 
water dropping from her hair, sitting on the ground. He couldn’t help but laughing. 
“That’s not funny at all!” Irina stroke the wet strings of hair out of her face and crawled 
out of the water. Jack hurried to help her. 
“What were you trying to do?” he was still grinning, an expression pretty rare to be 
seen at Jack Bristow.
“I was trying to escape by swimming!” she answered ironically and looked at him, 
sparks of fury shimmering in her eyes. “What do you think I was doing? I was just 
sitting there when this damned wave soaked me all over. And I have nothing to 
change!”
He laughed out loud and helped her to get up. “That box over there must be the one 
with our Alias-Clothes. And I found the one with the electronic stuff. With a little luck I 
might be able to make the radio set work.”
“Great!” she answered ironically. 
“Come on, have a look at these clothes.” 
When they reached the boxes Irina sat down on the sand and looked over the 
clothes. 
“You must be joking!” She held up the white evening dress, which was supposed to 
be her cover-dress. “You can’t seriously expect me to wear this... here!”
“I don’t expect you!” he answered. “You asked for new clothes and that is what we 
have. It’s up to you! We still got Sydney’s dress but she might probably need it 
herself.”
“Agent Bristow!”
When they heard the lout shout, both turned around. Vaughn headed through the 
sand towards them. Jack ran to meet him. 
“You’re okay!” he said and Vaughn nodded. 
“Yes...”
“Where’s Sydney?” Jack asked before Vaughn could say another word. 
“She’s in the cabin village. It’s only five minutes from here!” He pointed at the trees. 
“Is she okay?”
“Yes... well, she has an injury at her head, but she’s already getting stubborn again.”
“Good!” Jack went back to the boxes with Vaughn following him. “We found some of 
our stuff. Is this... cabin village safe? I mean, could we stay there overnight?”
“Absolutely!” Vaughn assured and Jack nodded. 
“Fine. Then let’s take everything we need with us.”
Vaughn’s eyes went to Irina who was still sitting on the ground. 
“Hi!” he said. He had wanted to be nice, but every time he looked at her, he saw her 
killing his father. 
“Hi!” Irina replied and smiled lightly. “I’m glad, you and Sydney are alive!”
It sounded so honest that he almost got a bad conscience for being so unfriendly to 
her. 
“Okay, you’ll take this box.” Jack handed the box with the electric stuff to Vaughn, 
then he looked down at Irina. He seemed to think for a little moment, then he got to 
his knees. 
“Okay, hold on to me!”
“What?” She looked at him as if he was crazy. “I am not going to let you...”
“That was not a question!” Jack answered in his usual warning tone. “And therefore I 
don’t discuss it! Let’s point something out here. You won’t be able to walk fast and I 
don’t want to leave you behind. So I will carry you to those cabins and then Agent 
Vaughn and I will take care of the rest of the boxes.”
“I am quite capable of walking!”
“Yes, I’ve seen that over that last half hour!” he answered ironically and she looked at 
him darkly. 
“You will not carry me!” The way she stressed the words left no doubts that she was 
not willing to discuss this subject any longer. 
Vaughn stepped aside and was unsure what to say. Finally he cleared his throat. 
“With all due respect but I think Jack has a very good poin...” Before he could finish, 
Jack had lifted Irina up. She tried immediately to free herself and the more she failed 
the more furious she got. 
“Jack Bristow I warn you! Let me down!”
“I won’t! Agent Vaughn, you’ll be first and show the way.”
“JACK!”
“Irina, stop it, or I’ll take measures!”
“You don’t threat me!”
“Ms. Derevko, I think...” Vaughn started, but he didn’t even get a chance to finish his 
sentence. 
“And you don’t discuss my orders!”
“Your ORDERS? Excuse me, but when have you been put in charge here? You do 
not give orders to me!”
“Just in case you didn’t notice this is MY mission!”
“Yes, but it failed and I would call this a non-standard situation, so there’s no one in 
charge!”
“Excuse me...” Vaughn tried again, not believing what he saw right in front of him, but 
the two fighter didn’t even pay attention. 
“You are a prisoner, so you follow my orders!”
They started to shout now and Vaughn decided to let them finish their argument. He 
started to search the boxes for more stuff he could take with him now, trying not to 
listen to the fight, which to him was unnecessary. 
Suddenly he saw Jack Bristow head to the water. 
“You know what?” Jack stepped into the water and threw Irina into the cold waves. 
She shrieked with shock. 
Now they had Vaughn’s full attention. 
“Jack!” he shouted shocked, but Jack Bristow just turned around with a face as if 
nothing had happened. 
“She wants to walk by herself, fine with me! Agent Vaughn, take the box and I will 
take those over there. I don’t want to waste my time here!”
With these words he went away and took a few boxes. Vaughn looked from Irina to 
Jack, then back to Irina who was crawling out of the water. What was the matter with 
Jack Bristow?
Vaughn finally sighed and stepped into the water to help Irina. 
“Agent Vaughn!” he turned around when he heard the sharp tone of Jack’s voice. “I 
said take the box and lead me to the camp!”
“But Jack...” When he caught the look on Jack’s face, he hurried to take the box. 
Then he hurried to catch up with Jack. 
“Are you out of your mind?” he asked angrily. 
“Excuse me?” Jack looked at him coldly. “I don’t think that you have the right to 
question my orders or judge my decisions.”
“I think I do! With all due respect, but what were you thinking just... throwing her into 
the water? That’s against every protocol I know.”
“Okay, listen!” Jack Bristow stopped abruptly and turned to face Vaughn directly. “In 
extreme situations like that it’s important that I don’t have to discuss every decision I 
make! I will not do that, so either you accept it, or you try to survive by yourself!” with 
these words Jack just went on. Vaughn stared at him in disbelief and thought 
seriously of reporting him when they were back. 
“Um, Jack... that’s the wrong way!” he finally said and turned lightly left. Jack followed 
him without any further comment. 

...

She had never been so angry before. What the hell did he think, just throwing her 
into the waves? 
Irina was furious... no, actually there wasn’t even a word to describe her feelings. 
Okay, maybe she had been overreacting – she didn’t even know why she had start 
fighting with Jack again. Usually she was pretty cool and self-controlled, a fact which 
made her extraordinarily good in this whole spy-game. So why did she always loose 
her self control in discussions with Jack? He had the ability to make her furious... he 
could even make her melancholically remember the past. 
Mental note: Stay away from him! She ordered herself while standing carefully up.
Okay, but no matter what she had done, his reaction had been absolutely 
inappropriate. 
She held on to a rock and clenched her fist in order to not cry out in pain. 
“I don’t need help!” she assured herself and finally stood on her feet. “And I won’t 
accept any help either. If he thinks I will just wait here until he returns, he’s wrong! 
That son of a bitch! Damned...” She had tried to make one step and had to clench 
her teeth at the pain. But she was trained to bear pain. And this was definitely 
bearable – it had to be!
The next meters she hopped more than she walked, but the she got used to the pain. 
Although she didn’t know yet where the camp was, she would find it. 
She went bravely into the forest, trying to follow the traces, Jack and Vaughn had 
left... such as broken branches or foodsteps. 
Suddenly she heard a rustling right in front of her. She stopped, bending down for a 
larger branch and prepared for having to defend herself. 
“Irina!”
She was almost relieved, when she saw Jack coming out of the bush – almost 
relieved. Her relief was over before he had even realized it. 
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m just going to the camp!” she said in her cold voice and just walked past him. Jack 
looked at her in disbelief. She was almost moving as if she didn’t have any injury and 
for a moment he admired her for her strength, not to mention her stubbornness. Then 
he caught up with her. 
“Your foot is hurt, you shouldn’t be walking!”
“I’m pretty fine... as you can see!” 
“I know my reaction earlier was a little...”
“Listen!” Suddenly she stopped and turned to face him, her eyes sparkling from fury, 
anger and – he caught his breath – pain. “I do NOT want to talk to you! I don’t even 
want to see you! Are we clear?”
And with those words she left him back as if he was a stupid boy. Anger started to 
build up in him. Who did she think she was? Well, his reaction had probably been a 
little inappropriate, but that did not gave her the right to treat him as if he was a first 
grade student. 
He decided not to tell her that right now, since she was obviously not in the mood to 
listen to him and therefore it would most likely be the start of a new fight. 
She he just turned and went straight towards the beach to get the rest of their stuff.

...

“What were you thinking walking the whole way back here?” 
Sydney looked up at the woman, who wasn’t even reacting. She sighed and looked 
at Vaughn who came back with their first aid kit. 
“Okay, here we go! This is the only kit we have!” He opened it and examined the 
contents. 
“This might do it!” Sydney took out a bandage. “If we wrap it really tight... Well, it’s not 
perfect, but it has to work until we have a better idea.”
“Let me see!” Vaughn got on his knees next to her and examined Irinas ankle. “That 
looks really bad! I’m not sure a bandage will do!”
“Another idea?” Sydney looked at him interested. He shrugged his shoulders. 
“We should probably make sure, that every bone is back in place.”
“What?” Sydney looked at him stunned. “I don’t understand!”
“Do it!” Irina nodded and looked directly at Vaughn, who held her eyes for a moment. 
“But since we don’t have any kind of painkiller, this is going to hurt like...”
“Like hell, I know! Just do it!” Irina demanded and Vaughn took a deep breath, then 
he took her foot. 
“Okay, I’ve only been doing this once in my medical course...”
“Vaughn...” Sydney wanted to interrupt, but Irina held her back. 
“I trust you... Michael!” 
Vaughn looked at her, then he took her ankle between his hands. Before Sydney 
could cry out her protest, he made a quick move and she heard the creaking of 
bones. 
“Oh my God! What are you doing?” Sydney held her hands to her mouth. 
Irina, who had closed her eyes, opened them again and Vaughn had little sweatdrops 
on his forehead. 
“You alright?” he asked, looking up at Irina. 
“Yes... it hurts incredibly but it feels much better than before.” The woman smiled 
slightly. 
“Okay, now give me that bandage!” Vaughn ordered Sydney who just reached out 
the white bandage to him without saying any further word. “I need you to help me. 
This must be wrapped as tight as possible now! Just hold it here...” Vaughn explained 
to Sydney. Then he started to wrap the white strap tightly around the ankle until Irina 
could barely move her foot. 
“That should do it!” he finally said and looked at Sydney who was still pale. 
“Thank you!” Irina said honestly and smiled at Vaughn. He looked back at her and 
then slightly smiled back. 
“You’re welcome. I will get you some water!” He got up and left the room with Sydney 
following him. 
“Dude, you scared me! I thought you’d break her ankle a second time!” she snapped 
at him angrily and Vaughn stopped. 
“I feared so too, but obviously we did the right thing!” 
Sydney shook her head and calmed herself. She smiled tenderly at him and he 
returned her smile. 
“So, next time I expect you to trust me!”
“Okay...” she nodded and took the cup they had found in one of the boxes. After she 
had filled it with fresh water from the bucket, they returned to Irina, who was already 
standing again. 
“This is really better... I still feel pain, but it’s bearable!” she greeted them and 
Vaughn frowned his forehead. 
“Well... you should rest your ankle!”
“Yes, I will do that when we are back in LA!” she assured and Vaughn sighed when 
she left the room. 
“She’s as stubborn as you are!” he growled and Sydney looked at him outraged. 
“I am not stubborn!” When she caught his look, she nodded. “Okay, sometimes I am 
stubborn, but not that stubborn!”
“Oh come on! You invented stubbornness!” he joked and she put her hands on her 
hips. 
“That is so not true!”
“I am not going to argue with you over that! I’ve had enough unnecessary fights 
today!” Vaughn answered, while leaving the room laughing. 

...

When the cold water ran down her skin it was almost a relief. It didn’t only cool her 
body, but also her mind. She lifted her head up to have all her sorrows and thoughts 
be swept away by the fresh water. 
Irina was kneeing in the shallow water right underneath the waterfall. After all boxes 
had been brought to the camp, she had decided to refresh herself. 
She stroke some of her wet hairs out of her face and held them on her back. She was 
just wearing her black underwear and sitting there in the water as if it was her own 
element she looked just like a mermaid. At least that was what came to Jack 
Bristow's mind when he saw her. Actually he hadn’t meant to watch her, but he 
couldn’t keep his eyes of her now. He was sure she didn’t know he was standing 
there, but anyway she seduced him with every move she made. 
He was fascinated by her, the same way he had been twenty years ago. Damned he 
knew, she was a prisoner, former KGB assassin and most likely still enemy of the 
united states and him, but at the moment all he could see was a woman – the woman 
he still loved and desired. 
He tried to clear his mind. This was clearly not an option. Laura had died 20 years 
ago and with her the chance of a happy future. Irina had betrayed him, played with 
his heart and even worse, broke Sydney’s heart too. She had decided to be despised 
by her husband and daughter by leaving twenty years ago. 
Still she was a sexy and very beautiful woman, he wouldn’t be a man if he was 
immune to her appearing right now. 
Jack got angry since she woke emotions inside of him which he had believed to be 
dead already. Finally he turned around and headed back to the place with the cabins. 
She would not seduce him and play her little games with him again. He had been 
through this once and he wouldn’t replay it.
Irina had no idea that she had been observed. She let the water flow over her face 
for one last time, then she balanced back to the shore. She squeezed the water out 
of her long thick hair. After she had dried herself hastily, she pulled the thin white 
dress over her head. 
“This is ridiculous!” She looked down at herself. The long silk dress covered all of her 
legs down to her ankles. It had an elegant cut, forming out every curve of her body. 
The thin material caressed her waist like a second skin and grew wider around her 
hips. It was held by two thin white straps on her shoulders. 
At first she thought seriously about changing into her old dirty clothes again, but that 
thought was not thrilling her much. So she finally decided to just wear it as long as 
her old clothes were still soaked. 
She balanced into the water again, taking the dirty clothes with her. Her dress 
soaking with water at her ankles. She bend down and started to wash her jeans and 
the blouse – or the rest of it, she added ironically and looked at the left-overs of the 
material. There was no way she could wear it again. 
So, I guess this dress will have to do until we’re back in LA. She thought bitterly and 
finally left the water with her jeans cleaned and soaking. 

....

The night started out to be like hell... no, worse, Sydney decided and turned on her 
mattress from one side to the other and back again. Her skin was covered with sweat 
and she didn’t even want to know how many degrees they had. 
Since the cabins were made of wood, they kept the warmth of the day inside. 
Finally she sat up and grabbed for her red dress. 
“Where are you going?” Irina, who slept next to her, sat up too. 
“I’m going to have a bath...” Sydney replied and got up. Hastily she pulled on her 
shoes. 
“You shouldn’t!” Irina noticed. “It’s dangerous. You can’t see anything out there... 
especially not under water!”
“I’ve been in worse situations than that!” With these words she left the room. Irina 
cursed silently and also pulled on her dress. Then she got up and followed Sydney 
quickly. She didn’t even remember to pull on shoes. 
“Sydney... Sydney, wait!” Sydney stopped and turned around until Irina had caught 
up with her. “You can’t do that! There may be animals out there...”
“I am aware of that. But if I stay in there, I’m gonna die because of the heat!” she 
turned to continue walking, but Irina grabbed her wrist. 
“I will not allow you to go!”
“Okay, listen...” Sydney faced her. “This is getting ridiculous. What do you think I am? 
Five years old?”
“Well, at the moment you seem to be!” Irina replied, holding Sydney’s furious gaze 
without any emotion in her face. 
“That’s enough! Where do you take the right from to play a worrying mother? You 
should have done so twenty years ago instead of just selfishly leaving and destroying 
people’s life!” Sydney voice was loud now and for a second, a shadow covered Irina’s 
eyes. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to cry back at Sydney, then she finally 
nodded. 
“You’re right...” She let go of Sydney’s wrist and turned around. “I’m sorry!” 
Sydney looked at her as she slowly walked away and suddenly she wanted to 
apologize. Irina had been worrying about her, and in return she had been rude and 
mean. 
But actually, no matter how rude it had been said, it was true, Sydney concluded. Her 
mother had left, and now she had no right to return and just pretend nothing had 
happened. 
Finally, Sydney turned to walk to the lake. Suddenly she stopped. Something weird 
was going on. The sounds of the nightlife had been silenced. Nothing could be heard 
anymore, no sounds of monkeys or birds – only the sound of the nearby waterfall 
pierced the night. 
Then a rustling joined in. Slowly, Sydney stepped back, carefully scanning her 
surroundings. She looked back and saw Irina also looking around. So she had 
noticed the change, too. 
Sydney turned around and ran towards her. It was almost the same second when 
she heard a loud rustling behind her and Irina crying out. 
“Sydney! BEHIND YOU!”
Sydney instinctively turned around and saw a huge tiger running towards her. Her 
shock was so overwhelming that she didn’t pay attention to the ground anymore and 
stumbled over a branch. She cried out when she fell to the earth and closed her 
eyes, silently preparing for her death. 
Suddenly a gunshot pierced the night and when she didn’t feel the heavy body of the 
predator on her own, she opened her eyes again. She saw Vaughn running towards 
her and looked around. The tiger was lying on the ground, obviously dead. Sydney 
jumped up and ran to Vaughn who caught her into his arms. Then he held her for a 
long time. 
“That was close...” he whispered into her hair and felt Sydney trembling in his arms. 
“So, what exactly did you not understand about the sentence ‘No one is allowed to 
leave the cabin tonight’?” Jack Bristow looked at her, his relief about Sydney being 
okay pushed away by anger. He looked at Irina. “Do I have to lock you in there at 
night?”
“Dad!” Sydney had still tears in her eyes and freed herself from Vaughn’s arms. “It 
was my fault. She’s not respons...”
“I don’t want to hear anything anymore! You take your stuff into our cabin and spend 
the night there. Obviously we can’t leave either of you out of sight for just one single 
minute!”
“Dad!” Sydney was outraged. 
“Sydney! We’ve got enough problems and our amount of munition is limited. I don’t 
want to waste it because of you two just disobeying every order I give! Especially 
you!” He turned to Irina again, his eyes glittering with anger. Irina just returned his 
look, her face cold. Her lack of emotion made Jack even more furious. 
“What were you thinking? I should not have to tell you how dangerous this is! Just 
one second later, and Sydney would have most likely been dead! Or is that what you 
wanted?”
“Dad, she...”
“I am not talking to you!” Jack cut her off. “I know, you’ve always been defending her, 
but Sydney, I know her! I don’t know what you see in her, but I don’t see anything but 
cruelty and lies. And since she’s not even defending herself...” He started, and now 
Irina folded her arms. 
“Why the hell should I defend myself in any way? Since you have obviously already 
made your final opinion about me I could tell what ever I want, you wouldn’t believe 
me anyway. So, tell me, why should I make any effort to say anything at all?” Her 
voice was steady and calm and the way she threw the words into his face in her 
reasonable way put him off. “So, if you don’t mind, I will go back now and move my 
stuff into your cabin!” 
And without even waiting for his reaction she turned around and walked away. Jack 
watched her in disbelief. Why the hell did he suddenly feel bad about what he had 
said? He had been right, hadn’t he?
“Dad!” It didn’t take a look at her face to know that Sydney was seething with rage. 
“How could you be so mean?” She looked at her father directly. “It was my fault! She 
was trying to hold me back... in fact she wanted to forbid me to go! But I didn’t listen 
to her! If there is to blame anyone, it’s me... not everything that’s bad is caused by 
her, Dad!” And as Irina had done before, she just turned and went away. Jack looked 
at Vaughn who was just returning his look with his forehead furrowed. After a long 
moment of silence he cleared his throat. 
“I think, we should return to the cabins too, otherwise we’ll be the target of the next 
hungry predator!” Vaughn decided and Jack followed him without any further 
comment. 

...

“Vaughn?”
“Mmh?”
“Are you awake?” Sydney looked at the man next to her, who opened his eyes now. 
“Wide.” He answered and peeked to the other side of the cabin, where Jack and Irina 
were lying next to each other. “I have barely slept at all!” he whispered then for he 
didn’t want to wake up them. 
“Neither have I!” Sydney sighed. “I haven’t even said thank you... for rescuing my 
life.” 
He smiled back at her. “You’re welcome.”
“I know it was a stupid idea. And I didn’t meant to... cause another fight between 
Mom and Dad. It’s hard to figure out a plan anyway, we don’t need them fighting the 
whole time.” 
“Oh, don’t worry about that! If it hadn’t been you, there would have been another 
cause for them to argue.” Vaughn replied dryly and caught a warning look of Sydney. 
“That’s not funny!”
“I know, I’m sorry!”
Sydney turned her head so she could stare to the ceiling. “You know what I was 
thinking about?”
“What?”
“If we are back in LA... we should go to that really great restaurant in 15th street.”
“What do you mean? Together?” he asked playfully and she smiled at him. 
“Just a thought... since we have nearly died... or probably will...”
“Hey...” He laid his hand tenderly to her cheek. “I don’t want you to think this. We are 
going to get away from her. The CIA will already be looking for us.”
“Yes, but how long will it take until they find us?”
“I’m going to repair our radio set today. With a little luck we’re spending New Year’s 
Eve in your restaurant.” He joked and Sydney giggled. 
“Well, let’s hope so.”
It started to get light outside. The sun rose fast and sun the room was brightened by 
the sun shining directly into it. A new day had begun. 
Sydney sat up. She hadn’t used a pillow and still wore her dress... actually he had 
done a few modifications concerning the dress. She had torn the material around her 
legs so she was free to run or climb if necessary. The dress would most likely go to 
waste when they were back home for it was completely ruined. 
Suddenly her eyes got caught by something and she bumped Vaughn gently. 
“Hey... hey, you’ve GOT to see this!”
“What?”
Vaughn sat up and followed Sydney eyes. 
Jack and Irina were still deeply asleep. While sleeping they had obviously gotten 
closer to each other and now Irina’s head rested on Jack’s shoulder. His hand was 
tenderly entangled in her hair. 
Sydney looked at Vaughn in disbelief and the man laughed. 
“Well... if asleep they seem to get along really nice. I don’t wanna miss the scene 
when either of them wakes up!”
“Stop it...” Sydney punched him. “Hey, do you think I could bathe now?”
“I don’t know... but I don’t see why not.”
“You’re coming with me?” She looked at him and smiled. 
“Why not... I will take the weapon with me... just in case!” He got up and the two stole 
softly out of the cabin since they didn’t want to wake Jack or Irina. 
“Have you ever thought about the possibility that your father might still be in love with 
your mother?” Vaughn asked when they had put some distance between them and 
the cabin. Sydney shook her head determined. 
“No way! I mean... haven’t you see them fighting all the time? They’re so mean to 
each other... there’s no way!”
Vaughn shrugged his shoulders. “Just a thought... I just...” he hesitated and caught 
Sydney’s attention. 
“What? Tell me.”
“Sometimes I have the feeling as if he gets furious because of his feelings. I mean... 
I’ve never seen two adult people having such useless argumentation as your parents 
do. I just thought, maybe they try to hide their feelings by being mean to each other.”
Sydney looked at him for a moment, then she shook her head in disbelief. “No way!” 
She thought a little longer. “No... Just remember last night! He doesn’t trust her an 
inch.”
“Yes and that’s exactly what’s weird. Even I started to trust her!”
“Vaughn!” Sydney took his hand when he remembered his father now. 
“You know I used to hate her for killing my father and destroying my family. And 
although I would still not consider her a person I like, I respect her and after all that 
she has done, I trust her at least a little.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Well, maybe your father has to convince himself over and over again that he doesn’t 
trust her.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because once he trusted her, he would love her again.” He looked at her seriously. 
“Just think of it!”
“No, that’s ridiculous. Seriously, I’ve never seen a person hating someone else as 
much as my father hated her... he can’t still be in love with her. Where did you get 
this idea?”
He shrugged his shoulder. “As I said, just a thought. Let’s see who’s fastest.” 
“What are you? Twelve years old?” Sydney called, but he kept running. “Oh, wait!”
And then she started to run in order to catch up with him. 

...

Warmth surrounded her – an incredibly comfortable warmth which she hadn’t felt for 
a long time. Irina sighed in her sleep and sensed that she was about to wake up. She 
tried to hold the dream, the warmth just a little longer and stop it from fading away too 
quickly as it did every morning. 
Finally she opened her eyes slowly and realized that the room was already floated 
with sunlight. She squinted several times to get used to the light and wondered how 
she had been able to fall asleep at all. It had been unbelievably hot at night and the 
day wouldn’t get any cooler. 
Suddenly she realized, that this warmth hadn’t faded away after she had woken up... 
was she still dreaming? Still sleepy, she turned her head and found herself lying on 
Jack’s shoulder. How the hell had she gotten here?
She sat up a little too quickly to not wake him up. The sudden loss of weight on his 
shoulder had ended his sleep immediately. It took him some time to get aware of 
where he was, then he looked at Irina in bewilderment – who looked as confused as 
he felt. 
“What are you doing here?” he asked, a little more unfriendly than he had meant to 
since she obviously didn’t know what had happened either. 
For a little moment he had got her out of control. “I... I...” As she sat there, kneeing on 
the ground in her white dress, she suddenly looked weak and almost frail. She 
reminded him of the woman he had once known – Laura. But she wasn’t, he 
reminded himself quickly. 
“What do you mean, what am I doing?” The moment when they had just stared at 
each other had been enough for Irina get her safe-control back. “I could ask the 
same question to you! What were you trying? I can’t believe it...” 
“What are you trying to say?”
“I am saying, that I won’t sleep next to you anymore!” Words said, she turned around 
and rushed out of the cabin. Jack held his head. Was he just dreaming? How could 
she dare to suspect him of having tried to seduce her? Well, actually he had 
suspected her as well, but that was a completely different thing... wasn’t it? 
Irina was trembling after she had left the cabin. She made her way to the steps of 
another cabin and sank onto them. 
She had lost her self-control, even if only for a little moment. It had been enough for 
Jack Bristow to realize. She slammed her fist onto the wood she was sitting on. No 
one had ever been able to break her control – except for him. And she hated him for 
making her feel weak. Damn it, she was strong. 
She closed her eyes to regain back her mental strength. Taking a deep breath she 
got up again and made her way back to the cabin. 
She entered it without even paying attention to Jack. 
“What are you doing?” he asked suspiciously. 
“Searching for a weapon to shoot you!” she answered ironically and he sighed lightly. 
He had expected her to give an answer like that. 
“The food is in the box over there!” He finally pointed at a box and Irina looked at him 
shortly. 
“Thank you!”
Jack got up and looked out of the door. “Where are Sydney and Vaughn?”
Irina went to him and handed him one of the cereal-bars. He looked at her surprised. 
“Thanks.” He took the bar without losing her eyes. 
“I’m sure they are just having a bath.” Irina assured and as if they had heard Irina’s 
words, Sydney and Vaughn came along the small path which leaded to the lake. 
They were laughing and still playfully throwing drops of water into each other’s faces. 
When they reached the cabin they suddenly realized Jack and Irina. 
“Oh, you’re awake!” Vaughn noticed and Jack looked at him. 
“Why didn’t you wake us?”
“Oh, we didn’t want to. You two looked just so cute!” Sydney teased her father while 
entering the cabin. Jack shot her a warning glance, but Sydney didn’t even realize 
since she had already reached the box with food. She took out two bars and threw 
one of them to Vaughn. 
“So, what’s our schedule for today?” she asked and everybody, including Irina, 
looked at Jack. 
“First of all we have to repair the emergency generator, then agent Vaughn, you’ll 
have a look at the radio set.” 
“Okay then...” Sydney opened the box with the generator. “Let’s go to work!”

...

Later the day when they had finished repairing the generator Sydney went to get 
more fresh water into the buckets. She needed this moment of being alone, so she 
took her time. The morning had been stressful. Vaughn and her father had been 
quarrelling about for what to use the generator, her mother and her father had been 
fighting anyway. Sydney was just tired of those fights and so she had gone out by 
herself to get new water. 
Must be this heat, she thought while filling the buckets with water. The sun burned 
down at them mercilessly and without having anything real to eat they became all 
aggressive and somehow frustrated. 
When she returned to the cabins, Vaughn was sitting on the ground of the cabin. Her 
parents were gone. Sydney carefully put down the buckets, carefully not to spill the 
water all over the ground. 
“Where’s Dad?”
“Gone! He went looking for some fruits or other food with Irina.”
“Mom is with him?” Sydney looked at him in disbelief. 
“Yeah...” The man looked up. “I suggested it.”
“Vaughn, are you insane? They are going to kill each other!” Sydney’s brows 
furrowed in sorrow, but Vaughn shrugged his shoulders. 
“I don’t think so. They will fight, yeah... but if they want to bring some food they will 
have to work together! Jack couldn’t go on his own, and I’m busy with bringing this 
radio set back to work!”
“You could have waited for me. I would have accompanied him!” She sat down next 
to him and Vaughn smiled at her. 
“Sydney, don’t worry! I’m sure, they’re gonna be fine! And maybe they’ll realize that 
we really depend on each other out here!”
“I really hope you’re right!” Sydney replied and laid back. 
There was at least one point Vaughn was right at. Jack and Irina were quarrelling. At 
first they had just been walking without saying anything, but after a time she had 
been tired of just following him. 
“Why are you going back?”
“I am not!” Jack replied. 
“Yes, you are! We went south, but now you changed direction to north again!” she 
replied dryly and Jack stopped abruptly... which caused her to run into his back. 
“Dude!” she cursed and gave him one of her looks. 
“Well, Ms. “I-know-exactly-where-to-go”” he started ironically. “Since you seem to 
know the surroundings perfectly, I suggest you show me where to find food.”
“I was just asking why you changed direction!” 
“That is just so... you!” he answered and walked on. 
“What do you mean?”
“This whole “I know everything, but I won’t tell you, just find out yourself” kind of 
thing!” he snapped back and turned lightly south again. 
“I did not do that at all... right now!” she added and again he stopped abruptly. 
“Jack!” she cried out angrily. “Would you at least tell me when to stop?”
“You are playing your games all the time, Irina and don’t even try to pretend 
otherwise. I know you perfectly well...”
“Do you?” she interrupted, but he pretended to haven’t heard her words. 
“...your whole surrendering to the CIA was all a plan! I don’t know how it’s useful to 
you, but you are not the kind of person who just turns herself in because of a bad 
conscience. I am sure that you are still enemy of the CIA... as you’ve ever been. I 
don’t know what you’re working on, but I swear to you, I’ll find out and if I do, and I 
am right, I will kill you myself!” He had locked his eyes on hers in a silent fight. 
Damned he knew her better than she had thought, but there was no way he could 
prove his accusations. 
“Well...” She shrugged her shoulders. “Since you’ve made yourself clear I suggest 
you walk on before we catch the attention of some predators.” She commented coolly 
and for another moment he watched her suspiciously, then he seemed to consider 
her objection and walked on without paying further attention to her. They walked 
about an hour without talking or taking a break. While walking, they scanned the 
plants around them carefully to some possible food, but so far they hadn’t detected 
anything. 
Irina followed Jack, trying not to pay attention to her ankle which started to hurt again 
caused by the unsteady ground with it’s stones and branches. 
Suddenly they were standing on the beach right in front of the ocean. Looking to the 
right, they could make out some huge cliffs in the distance. 
“Great!” Irina sat down on the big trunk of a fallen tree which was lying in the sand. 
“Maybe we should turn around and go back. I don’t want to be out here when it starts 
getting dark!” She looked worried at the sun which was almost touching the horizon in 
the west. “Do you know the way back?”
Jack turned around abruptly and stared at her. “Would you mind to stop questioning 
my abilities?”
“It was a question... not an accusation!” Irina stated reasonably. Jack looked around. 
It seemed as if he wasn’t even listening to her. 
“We will have a serious problem if there is nothing to eat on this island. Our food will 
only be enough for one, maybe two more days...”
Irina held her ankle and tried to move it slowly. “But we won’t see anything if it’s dark 
anyway...”
“Do you want us to starve here?” He looked at her. “Is this your plan? Maybe you 
have food and you just wait until we’re starved.”
“You’re being ridiculous!” Irina replied without looking up at him. 
“Am I?” Jack asked ironically. 
“Yes! If I wanted to kill you, there would be much more easier methods. I wouldn’t 
manipulate an airplane and risk my own life, then spend a week with you here... 
Actually I would just have shot all of you in the plane and gotten off with a parachute!”
She looked up and gave him an amused look. He couldn’t help but agreeing with her. 
Okay, this idea of his had been a little paranoid, he admitted silently. 
“You can’t blame me for not trusting you!” he answered in his neutral voice and she 
gave him a long thoughtful look. 
“No, I guess I can’t!” She looked out at the ocean and stroke one of her hairstrands 
out of her face when a soft breeze came up. “I know you will always hate me for what 
I have done to you... to Sydney. I can’t change the past... unfortunately.”
“Remorse doesn’t suit he!” Jack commented coldly. Without looking at him she got up 
and walked a few steps towards the ocean. 
“I don’t want to justify my actions... or decisions, but you have to understand, that 
when the KGB recruited me, I was 19.” She closed her eyes. “I was full of dreams 
and hopes for a future of independence... in a society where the only thing a woman 
could achieve was marriage and children. So I soon learned, that independence was 
the one thing I would never be able to gain. It was a time where I thought I’d be going 
crazy. I just wanted more than the life that was planned for me. And then, one day a 
man came to me and ask me if I was interested in a job. To me it meant a future... 
independence and freedom. So I accepted and I gave my best.” She paused for a 
moment. “My first assignments were easy... just spying... stealing information – 
simply assignments that didn’t take longer than a few days. Soon they offered me 
other, more complicated jobs... killing jobs. Then finally they came to me for a long-
term assignment. Go to USA, gain the trust of a man, marry him and steal 
information. Marriage, that was just the thing I had never wanted... it was irony that 
the work with KGB which to me meant freedom, finally asked me to give all that up. I 
asked them: Why me? They just said, I fitted a profile and that I was good. So I did 
it...” She turned to face him and he saw tears blinking in her eyes. “I didn’t think about 
whether it was right or wrong. Through all I had to give up, I also saw a chance in all 
this. I’d be going to America. I’d be able to learn. A country were women had the 
rights to learn, to work... even to chose whom they wanted to marry. I wanted to 
make the best out of this job... but not the best for the KGB. The best for me!” she 
smiled bitterly. “I guess, I failed on that one, otherwise I wouldn’t have left 
everything.”
“Don’t make yourself a victim in all this!” Jack interrupted, but she shook her head. 
“I don’t... I am not a victim. I am quite responsible for everything that happened. But 
actually the work I have done is nothing else than you do every day. I spied for my 
country... carried out their orders. If I had been CIA, doing the same thing, everything 
would be alright! This is not about what I’ve done, Jack. This whole thing is about me 
being on the wrong side.”
She had put him off. Yeah, he had to admit, she had a good point. A damned good 
point. She had been exactly doing the same work as a CIA officer. Well, not quite the 
same, but comparable. Still, she was the enemy, he reminded himself. No matter 
what excuses she would tell him. 
“I would not consider it just like my work! I would have never prostituted myself.” He 
finally stated, looking at her with disgust in his eyes. “In your search for 
independence you’ve given up your own dignity.” 
“I have never...”
“Well, you married me, didn’t you? And as you’ve just stated you did it to gain 
freedom.” He snapped back. 
“You’re right, at first it was just a job, but then I got to know you better and you just...”
“Spare me!” he simply interrupted her, his voice filled with fury. How could she dare 
to claim that she had felt something for him? “I am tired of your little games! You 
might be a good player and you’ve won once... you won’t do a second time!”
“I was just trying to make you understand why I made certain decisions!” she 
answered and turned away. “Obviously I could have saved my efforts.”
She just turned left and started to walk away from him. Jack followed her. 
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Back! I thought, it would be best to go along the beach until we reach the rests of 
our boxes!” she simply answered without going slower or turning back. 
He decided not to argue for her plan sounded reasonable. For a long time they just 
walked along the beach, neither of them saying a word. 
“Just so you know...” she suddenly interrupted their silence. “Leaving you and 
Sydney behind twenty years ago broke my heart.” 
He laughed bitterly. “I’m sure it did! You had to search for another person to play 
games with. Tell me, did you find someone else? Has anyone been as stupid as I 
was?”
She clenched a fist, but didn’t answer. 
“How many have been there? For how many other man have you played the KGB 
whore?”
“How dare you...?” she cried out in fury and turned around so fast that he would have 
been totally surprised if he hadn’t expected her to. Her mind didn’t work rationally 
anymore. She was furious... more furious than she’s ever been. But another feeling 
joined that fury – a feeling which she hated herself for. His words hurt her deep inside 
and he didn’t even seem to care!
He caught her fist and turned her arm to her back until she cried out with frustration 
and pain. He didn’t care. 
“This is the way you wanted it to be!” he told her, his face close to hers. She didn’t 
avoid his look, her eyes sparkling with fury. Jack was sure she would kill him once he 
let her go. And then he did something he would not be able to explain later. 
Before she could even realize what he was about to do, he had broken the distance 
between them and claimed her mouth in a mixture of passion and fury. 
She had been prepared for everything... except for this and before she could even 
think about shutting her feelings out she reacted to him. Her knees going weak, she 
leaned into him and moaned softly when he deepened the kiss. 
He felt her warm, feminine body against his and pressed her closer, finally letting go 
of her arm. Soon he broke the kiss and started to explore the skin of her neck with his 
mouth. She leaned her head back to give him more access and finally moaned when 
he touched the sensitive spot underneath her ear with his hot lips. She wrapped her 
arms around him to pull him closer to her.
Suddenly he broke free. What the hell was he doing here, making out with his ex-
wife, former KGB, murder and traitor? 
Well played, Ms. Derevko, he thought, but you won’t be the winner of this game. 
It did only take him a few seconds to regain control over his feelings. 
“Obviously I was right. You’re just a cheap KGB whore!”
This time, he didn’t see it coming. Her fist hit his face so hard that for a moment he 
saw nothing but sparkling stars in front of his eyes.
“Shit!” he cursed, trying to force back the overwhelming pain. 
Irina hadn’t been prepared herself, she had just acted on her emotion and the insight 
that he had just used her to prove his point. She sank to the ground, holding her 
hand which was hurting badly. She looked up frantically and gave Jack one of her 
darkest looks. 
“Don’t you ever say that again or I swear, I’m going to kill you!” she hissed. She 
shook her hand several times and looked at it as it started to turn lightly bruised. As 
soon as her fury had subsided, she started to feel a little regret for hitting him so 
hard. But actually he deserved it, she thought grimly and got up, carefully moving the 
fingers of her hand. Then she glanced at him.
His eye started to turn black, but he seemed totally in control of his emotions again. 
Actually she had expected him to lecture her again about his authority and her just 
being a prisoner, but Jack did neither of it. He just gave her a look she couldn’t really 
define. 
“We should walk on. It’s already starting to get dark!” he then dryly noticed.
She watched him walking away and held her hand again. How did he always manage 
to break her self control? 
But another question started to build up in her head: Had he really meant to show her 
up by kissing her? There had been so much more to his kiss, something that had 
broke down all the walls she had so hardly built up around her heard to shield 
herself. He had the ability to make her feel vulnerable. And this mixed with the fact 
that he still hated her was absolutely devastating. 

...

It had almost gotten completely dark when they finally reached the cabins again. 
Sydney was sitting on the stairs, jumping up when she saw the two shadows moving 
out of the bushes. 
“Thank god, there are you! I was really worried! I thought...” she exclaimed and 
interrupted herself when she saw her father’s face. “Dad, what happened to your 
face?”
“It’s nothing!” Jack replied dryly. “I stumbled, that’s all.” With those words he entered 
the cabin without paying any more attention to the two women standing outside. 
Irina followed him with her eyes. The whole way back he hadn’t talked a little word 
with her, which, she had assumed, was due to his rage on her. But why hadn’t he told 
Sydney the truth? 
Jack entered the cabin and glanced at Vaughn who was sitting on the ground, still 
working on the radio set. 
“Any luck?”
“Not yet, but I think, I can make it work again!” Vaughn assured and looked up. 
“What’s with your eye?”
“Nothing.” He simply replied and Vaughn realized, that he wouldn’t say any further 
words about what had happened. He shrugged his shoulders and paid attention to 
the radio set again. 
Jack went to the buckets with water and soaked a small cloth in it in order to cool his 
eye. Damn Irina, he thought frustrated. She had seemed really hurt by his words and 
the worst part was, that he had a bad conscience for his words. After the kiss it had 
seemed the only way for him to regain control over his feelings since he had felt 
himself totally falling into her. Why the hell had he kissed her? He still remembered 
her soft skin against his mouth and her body pressing so close to his. He desired 
her... at this insight he moaned frustrated and Vaughn looked up. 
“You okay?”
“Yes, it’s just hurting a little!” Jack replied in his usual rational voice. 
How could he desire her... even be in love with her after all she had done? And 
worse, how could he have a bad conscience for telling her the truth about what she 
was? Damned, he felt even sorry for thinking of her as a whore. She had obviously 
managed to manipulate him again. From now on, he would stay away from her. He 
could not be in love with a federal prisoner who was most likely a danger for the 
whole nation. There wasn’t the slightest hope that this relationship could go 
somewhere. Irina would never leave prison again. 
Suddenly he got the feeling that he lost her a second time...

...

“You know what?” Sydney was sitting on the wooden stairs of the cabin, staring at 
the stars. Vaughn was sitting next to her and chewed a chocolate bar. 
“What?” he asked interested. 
“In three minutes a new year begins... and we don’t even have sparkling wine to 
celebrate.”
“Well, we have water!” he tried to cheer her up and she smiled at him. 
“Actually I was supposed to sit at home now with Francie and Will. We wanted to go 
to this new Italian restaurant in our street.” She sighed. “What if nobody will find us? 
We have barely enough food to survive the next two days!”
“I promise you I will make the radio set work tomorrow!”
“And at worst case...” Sydney and Vaughn started and turned around. Irina smiled at 
them. “...we’ll eat bugs. They’re not delicious, but they’ve many proteins. Sorry, I 
didn’t mean to listen.”
“I won’t eat a bug!” Vaughn replied and Sydney laughed. “You should do some 
survival training when we’re back!”
“So, what are you doing here?” Irina asked and Sydney shrugged her shoulders. 
“Just talking. It’s cooler here than inside. What a pity that we can’t sleep out here. Sit 
down...” Sydney offered and Irina sat down behind them. She noticed that Vaughn 
brought a little distance between him and her. Well... she couldn’t blame him. 
“What happened to your hand?” Sydney asked and pointed at Irina’s bruised skin. 
“I fell down.” She answered and Sydney furrowed her brows. 
“Did you? So did Dad!”
“Well, the ground was very unsteady!” Irina explained and looked up at the sky. 
“Happy New Year!” Vaughn suddenly interrupted and Sydney growled. 
“Let’s hope the new year won’t continue like this!” For a moment they sat there in 
silence, just staring somewhere into the dark, then finally Vaughn got up. 
“Let’s go inside. It’s a little dangerous out here!”
They went inside the cabin and shut the door behind them. Although the moonlight 
shone through a window, it was almost completely dark inside. They laid down on 
their mattresses in order to get a lest a little sleep. They would need every minute 
they could get for tomorrow would be exhausting. They had to continue their search 
for food and possibly come up with another plan than the radio set. 

...

“Hey... do you need help?” Irina was leaning at the doorframe, looking at Jack who 
was trying to figure out what mistake he had make with the radio set. Sydney and 
Vaughn were away, looking for food and so she was alone with Jack. 
“Thank you, but I can handle this myself. I don’t need your help!”
“But I know a lot about radio systems and stuff. I could at least... assist you with...”
“I think I made myself clear, didn’t I?” He gave her a cold look. She folded her arms 
and nodded. 
“I understand!” she answered and hoped, that her voice didn’t sound as she felt. He 
rejected her help... he even refused to talk to her. “Well, then I think I am... surplus to 
requirements here.” She turned around and left the cabin. Jack looked after her as 
she went away and sighed. He hadn’t meant to be so rude. Actually he wanted to be 
nice, but every time he talked to her he was just rude. 
Focus, he reminded himself, you’ve got more important things to do.
Irina strolled along the small path that lead to the lake. Her life was a mess... it was 
her own fault and it seemed as if there was no way to make good everything that 
she'd done. 
Thirty years ago she had made a deal with the devil. She had been naiv to believe 
that she could escape out of it when everything was done. Her independence took its 
price now and there was no way she could escape hell. 
Stop it, she commanded herself, it won’t get any better if you cry about it. 
When she reached the lake she bathed her feed in it and enjoyed the cool water. 
Without further ado she pulled out her dress and went through the shallow water until 
she reached the point, where it went suddenly deep. She took a header and dove 
into the cold fresh water. For a moment she didn’t move and just let herself carry 
underwater. Carry away by the cold stream into freedom. 

“This is Operation Summer, can anyone hear me?” Jack turned the sender and 
repeated the sentence several times. At least he got hissing... better than nothing. He 
was about to give up when he could suddenly hear a voice reply. He turned the 
button to make the voice sound clearer. 
“This is Ops Base, I repeat, this is Ops Base... Operation Summer, can you hear me!”
“Positive!” Jack replied and almost immediately he got answer. 
“Operation Summer, where are you?”
Jack gave the last coordinates he had seen right before the explosion and described 
the area. 
“We’ll send an extraction team and get you out in five hours! Copy that.”
“Understood!”
He couldn’t believe that they had really managed to repair the radio set. Irina... he 
had to tell her. 
He left the cabin and looked around. She wasn’t there. 
“Irina?” 
She had to be at the lake, there was no other way. He ran along the small path and 
finally reached the small shore. “Irina?” 
He could make out her dress in the grass but he couldn’t see her anywhere. After a 
moment he started to worry. Suddenly he noticed some air pockets in the middle of 
the lake. 
What if she had been diving and was now caught in some water plants? Or worse, 
victim of a water-snake or something similar? 
Without even thinking he headed into the water. There she was! He could see the 
silhouette of a shadow. Within two seconds he had reached her and grabbed her 
softly in order to pull her up. He was quite confused, when she started to beat him 
and trying to get free. Finally they came up and Irina gasped for air. 
“God, Jack! Are you insane?” She stroke her hair out of her face, looking at him in 
total disbelief. “You scared me like hell, what were you trying to do? Drowning me?”
“I’m sorry, I thought you... I called for you and you didn’t answer. And then I found 
your dress and searched the water surface, but you didn’t show up for at least three 
minutes.”
She looked at him with wide eyes, then suddenly she started to giggle. “I’m sorry, 
that’s not funny!” she managed to say while giggling and started to laugh even more. 
“But you’re still fully clothed and that’s just so... unbelievable!” She held on to the 
collar of his shirt. 
“I was really scared!” he explained and Irina looked at him smiling in surprise. 
“Really? And I thought you’d give everything for my death.” She joked and wanted to 
swim back to the shore, but Jack held her around the waist. Their faces were close... 
to close in her thoughts. 
“I do not want you to be dead!” he replied neutrally and lowered his mouth to hers. 
His lips brushed hers in a slight touch but suddenly Irina turned her head and evaded 
his kiss. 
“I’m not sure that we should do that. Your opinion of me concerning things like that is 
just a little too negative. I don’t want to prove you right.”
He was so overwhelmed by shock that he let her go. It dawned on him how much his 
words had hurt her. 
“I’m sorry!” he turned around and so did Irina. 
“What?”
“I shouldn’t have said that you’re... well, what I said yesterday. I don’t believe that... 
and I’m not just saying now, I really mean it!”
She swam slowly backwards to the shore, eyes still focused on him. 
“So, why did you say?” she asked dryly and he sighed and followed her. 
“I don’t know!”
“There’s got to be a reason! You don’t just insult anyone like that.”
“Fine, I might have been a little jealous.”
“What?” She looked at him and almost forgot to swim by her confusion. She had 
expected him to say anything... maybe, because of her job, or because the heat had 
gotten to his head... “I... I don’t understand...”
“Well...” he had caught up and almost reached her. “Technically we’re still husband 
and wife...” he used the words, she had used once and she smiled. 
“That’s not an explanation!” 
“No... I don’t know why I am telling you this. I don’t know if you’re friend or enemy... I 
don’t even really know you. Everything we once had, everything I thought to know 
about you was a lie. So believe me, if there’s a person who is more confused by my 
reason than you, it’s me!”
She laughed and realized that she had reached the shallow water. 
“Jack, where are you going?” she asked softly although she already knew. She just 
had to know from his mouth. 
“My point is...” he had reached her now and touched her cheek. “... that I think, I still 
love you.”
“You think? So you’re not sure?” she whispered teasingly and he smiled slightly. 
“I am sure... unfortunately that’s the only thing I know for sure concerning you!” 
He made her smiled again. “No...” she replied softly. “There’s a second thing you can 
be sure of...” 
She brushed his lips softly with hers, her hand lying at his cheek. When she went 
slightly back to look into his eyes, he could read permission and tenderness in it. 
God, how much he had loved this eyes... Laura’s eyes. No... Irina’s eyes. Laura had 
been a lie... but now this wasn’t Laura. It was Irina. For the first time he saw the real 
her. 
He reconnected their lips in a fiercely kiss which took their breaths away. His hands 
softly moving along the sides of her body he pulled her closer to his body, her arms 
wrapping around his neck. 
He laid her back on the soft sand into the shallow water and she shivered at the 
contradiction of the heat of his body against her and the coolness of the water. Her 
hands played at the collar of his shirt, then started to unbutton it.
Finally it landed somewhere in the water – neither of them actually cared. 
“You’re so beautiful!” Jack whispered into her ear and she turned her head to nuzzle 
at his earlobe. 
“It took me twenty years to realize how much I love you...” Her voice was more a 
whisper and hearing her words, he started passionately to caress her neck with his 
lips. She leaned back and moaned softly. 
They forgot everything around them. For a little moment they just lived for each other, 
for their love. There was no yesterday and no tomorrow, no KGB and no CIA... all 
that mattered was their love for each other... even if it could only last for a tiny 
moment in time. 
...

Laughing, they went the small path back to the cabins. Jack’s shirt was gone... they 
hadn’t found it, so he had to live without it. They were joking and playing around like 
children. 
Vaughn couldn’t believe his own eyes what he saw. He had been standing outside of 
the cabins, when the laughter had caught his attention. 
He could just see Jack kissing Irina tenderly. He had never seen Jack Bristow laugh 
or even smile before. He seemed so happy. 
“Oh my God...” 
He turned around. He hadn’t heard Sydney coming out of the cabin. Her face showed 
the same shock he felt inside. 
Now Jack and Irina noticed the two persons standing at the cabin and staring at 
them. Embarrassed they separated. 
“Dad... Mom...?” Sydney could just say those two words, but they expressed what 
she had wanted to ask. 
Irina looked down and folded her arms nervously. Jack answered in his neutral voice. 
“You’re already back?”
“Obviously!” Vaughn replied and looked from him to Irina and back to Jack. “And we 
didn’t have any luck!”
“Oh...” Jack suddenly remembered that he had managed to repair the radio set. “The 
radio set is working. They’re going to extract us in about two hours!”
Irina looked at him and a shadow laid down on her eyes. “Oh...” she murmured. 
“Well... I guess that’s... great then. Excuse me...” With these words she almost fled 
into the cabin. 
Sydney and Vaughn looked in stunned silence at each other. 
“Would you... excuse me too?” Jack said in his usual tone and followed Irina. 
“Dude...” Sydney sighed and Vaughn nodded. 
“Yeah... damned, I don’t like her, but...” They looked at each other and they knew at 
the moment their eyes met that they had the same thought.

Jack found Irina packing their stuff back into the boxes. 
“Irina?” 
She didn’t answer.
“Please don’t leave me again.” Jack whispered softly and when he hugged her from 
behind she leaned into him. 
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I just... forgot!” he replied and turned her around. Tears flew down her cheek. He 
wiped them away and kissed her softly. 
“I don’t want to loose you again...” she sobbed and laid her hands to his cheeks. “I 
made a mistake to leave you the first time and now I can’t do anything about loosing 
you again.” For the first time she really seemed to not play any game. “I was so 
foolish to forget about reality... that we would be found and I’d return to prison.”
“I love you... I love you so much...” he touched her mouth again in a soft kiss. “We will 
find a way! I’ll talk to Devlin. Maybe there is a way to give us a house in a military 
area. There would be guards everywhere around the house and you would probably 
not be allowed to go out, but we could be together...”
Irina laughed under tears and closed her eyes. “I will be punished with death after 
they have all the information they want to have. The CIA would never allow me to 
leave my cell to live in something more comfortable!” 
He knew that she was right, but he didn’t want to believe that he should lost her 
again. 
“Well, then we’ll share your cell...” Jack answered bitterly and again she laughed. 
“You’re so sweet... how could I ever leave you. If I could just turn back the time...”
Suddenly they heard Vaughn clearing his throat. They turned to look at them. Sydney 
and Vaughn were standing in the entrance and looked at each other. 
“Well... since we’ll be extracted in about two hours you should start packing your 
stuff, Jack.”
When Vaughn only addressed him, Jack looked at him confused. Sydney smiled at 
her mother. 
“I hope, you’ll have no problem with staying here for about one more day.”
“What’s your point?” Jack asked and Vaughn sighed. 
“Although it’s kind of helping a federal fugitive... we will report that Irina Derevko 
unfortunately died in the explosion of the airplane. The three of us got luckily away 
with just a few small injuries.”
“And since it was an explosion... as the radar can prove, there is no hope that they 
find the body of Irina Derevko...” Sydney smiled at her parents and looked at Vaughn. 
“It was his idea.”
Vaughn sighed slightly embarrassed. Irina went to him and smiled. 
“Thank you, Agent Vaughn... Michael. I owe you. If there’s any favor I can do you... 
contacts, anything, just tell me.”
Vaughn glanced back at her and finally smiled back. “You’re welcome. If you want to 
do me a favor, just promise me one thing!”
“What?”
“Promise me, I won’t regret letting you go!” 
She held his gaze honestly and smiled after a little moment. “You won’t, I promise!”
They smiled at each other and finally Irina touched Vaughn’s hand. “I will never forget 
what you’ve done for me despite... everything.”
“Come on, we should pack!” Jack finally noticed and they started to prepare for 
extraction. 

...

The boat stopped about 50 meters in front of the beach. Jack swam the rest of the 
way through the cold salty water and finally reached the beach. 
He didn’t even have to call for her. She stepped out of the shadow of a palm, her 
white dress and her hairs flying wildly in the wind. He smiled and ran the last way 
only to meet her lips with his in a tender kiss. 
“And?” Irina finally asked. 
“Everything worked out perfectly! They don’t doubt that you’re dead.”
She smiled at him happily, softly caressing his cheek with her hand. 
“Promise me, you’ll never betray or lie to me again.” Jack whispered, their lips so 
close as they could be without touching. 
“I promise... but I can’t promise to not betray the CIA anymore!”
He smiled. “That’s fine by me... as long as you always tell me what you plan to steal 
and when?”
“Why? Will you help me?” she asked interested, her eyes sparkling amused. He 
kissed her again and bend to her ear. 
“No, but that way I know when I will tie you to our bed...” he teased. 
“Mmmm... Do you promise?” she whispered playfully into his ear and although 
planned otherwise, they sank down into the soft white sand. 
Irina didn’t know why fate had had sympathy with her. She had gotten a second 
chance to live her life. It seemed to her as if an angel had rescued her from the 
flames of hell... an angel named Jack Bristow. 

The End