It Was For The Best - Part 2

NOTE 1: This will be the last chapter of the year. I'm going home on Friday to celebrate Christmas with my family, and I won't have any time on the internet between Christmas and New Year. I might have a little time on the internet the first few days into the new year, while I'm staying with my parents, but they don't have wireless internet, so I won't be able to update anyway. I also won't really have any alone time while I'm home, so I'll hardly have any time to write on the story. Therefore I have no idea when the next update will be, other than it'll hopefully be sometime in January 2008. I had hoped that I would've been able to have updated another chapter before I went home, but this one took quite a while to write, and there have been many moments where I've been stuck and also not even been home to write. So this will have to do for this year. Thank you all for taking this amazing journey with me this year. Thank you for reading and for commenting. It means the world to me. :smiley:

NOTE 2: I don't have any medical background, so I don't know if the medical stuff could happen in real life. Remember that this is a fiction, so just please go along with what I write. Thank you. :smiley:

texasalias2004: 👅 to you too. Sure I can leave you hanging - it's my story, so I can do what I want. :D The rescue team is close by since several of them are already in the building, but I can't promise you that they'll get there in time to stop Cuvee.

Irina_Derevko_Bristow: Read to find out about Jack. Well, Jack is strong, a Bristow, and has been through a lot in his life, but of course that doesn't mean that he'll live. I can't promise you that Sydney and Nadia will do that. In fact, Nadia won't - she's not that near the basement.

Sydney Derevko Bristow: Yeah, I might be evil. It's good to be evil sometimes. 👅 I can do it, because it's my story, and thereby I can do what I want. I'm sorry, but the chapters take long to write, and I can't update any faster. Sometimes I'm a little stuck, and sometimes I have other things to take care of. I have to include a lot of things, so naturally it takes a long time to write a chapter.

nicewoman: Yeah, those two evil bastards were bound to get on each others nerves. There can't be too many evil bastards in charges at once - it was doomed to fail. I can let Jack die, if I want to - it's my story after all. 👅 Yes, Sloane got away, and won't be back for the rest of this story. But who knows, he might be in the third and final story. I can't promise you that it will be about that.

Chapter 25
Cuvee took a hold of Irina’s thighs and was just about to push her towards him, when two shots were fired. Cuvee froze. He looked down at himself and saw blood running down his chest. He stumbled and took a few steps back and slowly turned around. He stared a little wide eyed when he saw Jack resting his one arm on his elbow for support and with the other arm he was holding the gun in his hand, which was trained on him.

The minute Cuvee had turned around after stripping out of his clothes, Jack had opened his eyes. Although he was still alive, he could feel that he was running out of time. He saw Cuvee’s gun laying right beside him, and he was relieved that Cuvee hadn’t shot him in the head or in the heart. He knew he had to try to stop Cuvee from hurting Irina, even if it killed him. When he saw Cuvee walking closer to Irina he pulled all his strength together, rolled on his side, took the gun and pulled himself up on his elbow for support. With what little strength he had left, he gripped the gun as tightly as he could, focused on Cuvee so that he wouldn’t hit Irina, and then fired twice as fast as he could, so he could stop Cuvee before he even got the chance to get his way with her.

The moment Cuvee turned around Jack gave him his death glare. His hand was shaking, but he knew he had to use the last of his strength to finish Cuvee off completely. He gripped the gun even tighter and locked eyes with Cuvee.

“Ha….han…hands….o…off….mmmmy…wife.”

Cuvee took a small step towards Jack, and Jack fired the gun hitting Cuvee again, and he kept firing the gun putting bullets into Cuvee’s body until he fell, face first into the ground. When Cuvee fell, Jack let the gun fall out of his hand, and fell back himself exhausted and drained of strength.

Irina was relieved that Jack was still alive and that he’d shot Cuvee, but at the same time she was terrified about his condition. She pulled herself together and raised her head up as much as she could, so that she could look at him. She cried even harder when she saw how weak he was looking.

“Jack. Jack. Sweetheart, look at me. Please look at me.” He slowly rolled his head to the side, and tried his best to focus on her. “Hold on, sweetheart. Hold on.” He swallowed a few times and coughed a few times.

“I….d..d…don’t….thi….think…I…ca…ca..ca…can.”

“Jack, you have to. Do you hear me? You have to.” He closed his eyes.

“I…I’m…sor..sor…sorry. I….lo…love….love…..y…you.”

“No, Jack, no. Stay with me. Stay with me, Jack.” She heard him fighting to breathe. “SOMEBODY HELP. HELP. PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP US.”

A few seconds later Sydney, Vaughn, and five other agents burst through the door with their rifles raised. They stood dead in their tracks for a second and gasped at the sight.

“DAD. MOM.” Irina raised her head the best she could and could see Sydney.

“Sydney? You’re here?”

“Yes, mom, we’re here.”

“Help your father. Please help your father.” Vaughn and Sydney rushed to Jack’s side with two of the agents, while one checked on Cuvee, and the last two kept a look out at the door.

“Dad. Dad, can you hear me? It’s Sydney. We’re here dad. We’re here to take you home. Hold on dad. Please hold on.” Jack opened his eyes a little and smiled a little too.

“Sy….Sydne…Sydney.” She smiled at him through her tears.

“Yeah, dad I’m here.” She took his hand. He swallowed and tried his best to focus on Sydney.
.

“Lo….lo…love….y…y….y…you. Hhhh…he…help…..y…your…..mmmmoott….mother.”

“I love you too, dad. Just hold on.” She got up, while Vaughn put pressure to his wounds and got on comms with everyone else.

“Get the medics to the basement right now. Jack’s been shot three times in the chest, and it doesn’t look good. Hurry.”

“They’re on the way.”

Sydney got her knife out and cut the ropes. Irina was sobbing.

“You’re here. You’re really here.” Sydney cut the last of the ropes, put the knife away, and took off her jacket.

“Yes mom, we’re really here.” She helped Irina to sit up.

“Your sisters and brother?”

“They’re safe. Nadia and Eric got to them.” She put the jacket around her mother. “Here put this on.” Irina quickly put the jacket on and then hugged Sydney tightly. Then they looked at each other, and Irina kissed Sydney all over the face.

“You’re really here.”

“Yes.” Sydney was a little hesitant with the question she had for her mother. “Uh mom, did…uh did Cuvee hurt you?” She shook her head.

“No, your father stopped him in time.” Then she looked at Jack and gasped. “Jack.” She jumped off the table, but her legs were shaky, so Sydney put her arm around her to give her support.

“Easy mom.” They hurried as much as they could to get to Jack’s side, and they both knelt down beside him. Irina took Jack’s hand, and he opened his eyes a little again. She gripped his hand tighter.

“Don’t give up, Sweetheart. The triplets are fine, and I’m fine, so you have to be fine too. Do you hear me? Don’t give up.”

“I’mmmm…..sor…so….sorr…sorry…bbbbbbut….I….ddd…don…don’t….thhhinnk…I…ca…ca…ca..”

“Don’t say that, Jack. Don’t you dare say that. You’re not the kind of person to give up, so don’t start now. Please hold on. You have to hold on.” She shook her head frustrated. “We’re the hell are the medics?” Just then Nadia and Eric came running into the room. They too stood dead in their tracks for a second and gasped.

“Mom. Dad.” Nadia rushed to her parents’ side, while Eric turned to one of the agents standing guard outside the door.

“Get a couple of blankets or sheets or something like that.” The agent nodded and left, while Nadia hugged her mother and then looked at her father.

“Dad, the medics are on their way. Just hold on.” He opened his eyes a little again, and tried to focus on Nadia. He smiled a little again.

“Hhhhhiiii……I…..lo…lov…love…yyyyou.” She didn’t bother trying to dry her tears.

“I love you too, dad. But you can’t give up. Do you hear me? You have to listen to us. Please dad, don’t give up.”

“T..t….te….tell….th…the….tri…tr…trip….triplets….th…tha…that…I…lo..love…the..them
and….t…t…tell…mmmm….mmmmy…gggg…ggrrrannkkkids….tt…ttttt…tttoo.” Irina, Sydney, and Nadia all shook their heads.

“No, Jack. You’re going to tell them that. You’re going to watch the triplets grow up, and you’re going to spoil the grandkids rotten.”

“Only you can tell them that, dad.”

“Yes dad, they need to hear it from you.” Just then the medics arrived.

“Jack, the medics are here. They’re going to help you, and you’re going to be just fine. So just hold on.” Vaughn moved aside, so that the medics could take over, and the agent Eric had sent off returned with two blankets. Eric went over to him and took the blankets.

“Thank you.” He then walked back over to Irina and gave her the blankets. “Here. Wrap them around you.” Irina was still holding Jack’s hand, and couldn’t focus on anyone other than him, so Nadia took the blankets from him.

“Mom, you’re only wearing a jacket. You need to put one of the blankets around your waist.” Irina still didn’t move and one of the medics moved around to her side.

“Agents Bristow, I know that you don’t want to move away from Director Bristow, but we really need to be on both sides of him, to work on him properly. I have to ask you to move back a little, so that we can have room to work on him.” Sydney and Nadia nodded and started to pull Irina back.

“Mom, you have to let them work on dad.” Irina nodded through her tears and then looked at Jack giving his hand a squeeze.

“I’ll be right over here, sweetheart. You just hold on. Hold on.” She let go and let Sydney and Nadia pull her back. Nadia squatted next to her mother.

“Mom, can you stand up for a moment? It’s best if you get the blanket around you.” Irina nodded slightly.

Nadia stood up and held the blanket out, covering Irina from everyone’s sight. Sydney then helped her mother to stand, and together they wrapped the blanket around their mother’s waist. They then helped her to sit back down again, and Nadia wrapped the other blanket around Irina’s upper body. When Nadia sat back down again, Irina wrapped her arms around her daughters and hugged them tightly.

“Mom, dad’s strong. He’ll be alright.”

“Yes mom. You have to believe that. We all have to believe that.”

Vaughn and Eric moved and stood behind Irina, Sydney, and Nadia when Dixon’s voice came in over comms.

“We’ve taken all the guards down. What’s the situation with Jack?” Vaughn answered him.

“It’s hard to tell. The medics are working on him.”

“I assume that all the guards have been taken care of at your end?”

“Yes, they’re all out.”

“What about Cuvee?”

“Jack killed him before we even reached the room.”

“I’m glad.”

“Yeah, so are we.”

“I’m getting in touch with Unit Two and have them send the medical aircraft, so that it’s ready to take Jack to the hospital, when he’s ready to leave.”

“Okay.”

“Marshall and I are going to Sloane and Cuvee’s office to see if we can get the satellite readings to work again, so that we can see where Sloane is.”

“Keep us posted.”

“We will, and you do the same about Jack.”

“You got it.”

Dixon and Marshall went to Sloane and Cuvee’s office with a hand full of guards. Three of the guards went into the office first to see if it was safe to enter. When they’d checked out the office, they gave Dixon and Marshall the okay to enter. Marshall immediately went to the computer and sat down trying to get the satellite readings to work again. After a few minutes of typing away on the computer, Dixon broke the silence.

“Anything, Marshall?”

“They’ve done a great job of blocking the signal, but I think, I’ll be able to get the satellite readings to work again in a minute or two.”

“Good. Hurry as much as you can.”

A few minutes more went by before anything happened.

“Hang on. I think I’ve got it now.” Marshall entered a few more keys. “That should do it.” He got on comms with APO. “Base Camp, are you receiving satellite readings again?” Kendall came in on comms.

“Yes, got it. Hang on a sec.” A few moments went by before they heard Kendall again. “Damn it. There’s no sign of Sloane.”

“No sign at all?”

“None. We’ve checked everything, but he’s no where in sight within the range the satellite has.”

“Damn it.” Dixon shook his head frustrated, and got on comms with Chase. “Unit Two, get planes into the air, and have them search the area. He has to be somewhere.”

“We’re on it.” Dixon got back on with APO.

“We’re heading to the basement to check on the situation there.”

“Keep us posted.”

“We will.” Dixon looked at Marshall and at the other agents. “Let’s go.”

In the basement the medics were still working on Jack and Irina, Sydney, Nadia, Vaughn, and Eric were watching helplessly by. When Dixon and Marshall reached the basement, they too stood dead in their tracks for a few seconds before they looked over at Irina and the others. They walked over to them, and that’s when Marshall noticed the TV with a DVD playing of Cuvee having fun with Irina. His eyes widened in horror.

“Oh god.”

Every, but Irina, looked at him. Sydney and Nadia stood up, and then they all looked in the direction Marshall was looking in. They were all just as horrified as Marshall of what they saw. Sydney and Nadia turned pale and looked away immediately. Dixon and Marshall looked away too, and Vaughn and Eric went and pulled the plug out, and moved the equipment further away. They then walked back to Sydney and Nadia and hugged them. A few seconds later one of the medics looked up at them.

“He’s ready to be moved.” He looked at Irina. “Agent Bristow, you might want to go and tell the triplets that their father is coming out. They should probably be warned about his condition.” Irina only slightly nodded and kept her gaze at Jack. Sydney and Nadia pulled away from Vaughn and Eric and each put a hand on their mother’s shoulders.

“Mom, he’s right. We should get out and tell the triplets.” Irina still didn’t move.

“Mom, we know you don’t want to leave dad, but he’s in good hands. The triplets want to see you, and you should go out and see them too.” Irina nodded more and looked up at them.

“Yes, of course.” She shook her head and ran her hands over her face. “I can’t believe I haven’t been to see the triplets yet. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them and held them.” She put her face in her hands and started to cry harder again.

“It’s okay, mom. They’ll understand.”

“You had to be here for dad, and they would want you to be.”

“Yes, mom. And besides, we haven’t been down here that long, and they’ve been safe and well looked after the time that we’ve been down here.”

“Come on. We’ll take you to them now.” Irina nodded, and Sydney and Nadia helped her to stand up. They then put their arm around her to support her, and she put her arms around them. Dixon looked at them.

“I’ll walk out with the medics. Since they’re ready to move Jack, you should probably hurry on up to the triplets and tell them about him.” Sydney and Nadia nodded, and then they, Irina, Vaughn, Eric, and Marshall took one last look at Jack before they left the basement. When they left the room Nadia got on comms with the agents, who’d taken the triplets to safety.

“We’re leaving the basement now. Can you bring the triplets out to the front of the building?”

“Right away, agent Bristow.”

“Thank you.”

Irina quickened her pace at the thought of seeing the triplets again. Her body was still shaky, but she had more control of her legs now. They walked in silence, but just before reaching the main entrance to the prison, Irina spoke.

“What’s today’s date?”

“June 29th.”

“It’s been twenty-three days since I’ve seen them. That’s more than three weeks.” Irina started to cry even harder.

“In a few seconds you’ll see them again.”

“Yeah, mom. Just a few seconds left.” Irina nodded and they hurried a little more.

The minute they were outside, Irina spotted the triplets and they spotted her. They all ran towards each other. Irina squatted down and engulfed the triplets in her arms when they reached each other. Everyone was crying.

“Mommy.”

“We missed you.”

“Sweethearts, I missed you too. So much.”

She held them for a little while longer before looking at them and then raining kisses on their faces. When she’d done that Sydney and Vaughn gave them a hugs and kisses too, and Marshall gave them a hug. Maddie looked at Irina again.

“Nadia said that daddy was here too.”

“Yes mommy. Where’s daddy?” Irina bit her lower lip and tried to get control of her emotions.

“Daddy’s been hurt. He’s being looked after and in a few moments he’ll be carried out on a stretcher and into the waiting aircraft. He’ll need to go to hospital for further treatment.” The triplets started sobbing even harder.

“Is he hurt badly?” Irina nodded.

“Yes, he’s hurt pretty bad. So you have to be prepared for that when you see him, alright? Can you do that?”

“Yes, mommy.”

“Is he going to….to..d..d..die?” Irina started to cry more.

“I don’t know. But the important thing to remember is that he’s well looked after, and that the people, who are taking care of him know what they’re doing.” The triplets merely nodded and Irina hugged them again.

A few seconds later Vaughn spotted the medics carrying Jack out. He looked at Irina.

“They’re bringing Jack out.” Irina looked at him and nodded and moved behind the triplets, hugging them from behind. They gasped at the sight of their father.

“DADDY.”

“HOLD ON.”

“PLEASE HOLD ON, DADDY.”

Irina started to cry even harder of the triplets’ pleading cries, and when the medics started to put Jack into the aircraft, they turned around in their mother’s embrace and cried.

One of the medics walked over to Irina.

“Agent Bristow, we’re just going to get Director Bristow settled, and then you and your daughters can come onboard.” She nodded without looking at him, and he looked at Sydney and Nadia. They nodded back at him and he left. Eric looked down at Irina and the triplets and then looked at Nadia.

“I’ll be right back.” She nodded and he ran after the medic. “Excuse me.” The medic turned around.

“Yes, agent Weiss?”

“There are still room for more than just Director Bristow’s wife and two oldest daughters, right?”

“Yes, there’s room for four more people. Are you and agent Vaughn thinking of flying out with us too?” Eric shook his head.

“No, the triplets will be going with you.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s out of the question.”

“Excuse me? Just why is that out of the question?”

“Director Bristow is badly injured and we still have to work on him and make sure he’ll be alright on the flight to the hospital. There’s a lot of blood, and I don’t think the triplets need to see that.”

“What the triplets need is to be around their father. They haven’t seen him in more than three weeks.”

“But they don’t need to see him in this condition.”

“They’ve already seen him in his current condition. Those kids are strong, and they can handle this. And what Director Bristow needs is to have his family around him. It’ll be the best medicine for him.”

“That may very well be, but I won’t allow it. They’re not going.” Eric snapped.

“Look, you don’t have the authority to give me orders. I, on the other hand, have the authority to give you orders. So I’m ordering you to take the triplets on the aircraft. Is that understood?” The medic nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Let us know when you’re ready to leave.”

“We’re ready to leave in a minute or two, so you should get everyone near the aircraft.” Eric nodded and walked back to the others.

“Irina, the aircraft is ready to fly Jack to the hospital in a few minutes, so you need to get to the aircraft. I talked to one of the medics and the triplets can go too.” Irina nodded.

“I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” Eric smiled a little.

“I know.” He looked at Nadia and Sydney and they smiled at him, having seen that he was arguing with the medic about letting the triplets on the aircraft. He smiled back. “Come on.”

When they got to the aircraft, Dixon walked over to the aircraft too, after having talked to some of the other agents on sight. He gave the triplets a quick hug and then looked around at everyone.

“Vaughn, Eric, Marshall, and I will stay and finish with things here, and then meet you at the hospital.” They nodded. “I understand that the triplets are coming with you?” Sydney nodded.

“Yes, they are.” He nodded.

“It’s certainly for the best.”

The medic popped his head out from the aircraft.

“We’re ready to leave.”

“Okay.”

Everyone said a quick goodbye before Irina, Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets got into the aircraft. Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall stepped back and watched the aircraft take off. Once the aircraft flew away, Dixon got on comms with Chase.

“Unit Two, the C-4 has arrived and we’re ready to place it in the building. What are we supposed to do with Cuvee’s body?”

“Get samples of his blood, hair, and DNA from under his fingernails. We’ll compare that to the DNA samples we have of him on file. I don’t really have any doubts that this is the real Cuvee, but I want to make absolutely sure that this Cuvee is not some product of Project Helix.”

“And after?”

“He gets buried with the rest of the bodies.”

“Got it. Unit One out.” Dixon looked at all the agents that had gathered around him. “Listen up. Cuvee’s body gets buried along with all the other bodies, but we need to make sure that the right Cuvee is dead. I need someone to take DNA samples from under his fingernails and of his hair and blood. I need volunteers to do this.”

Vaughn raised his hand.

“I’ll do it.” Eric raised his hand too.

“I’m in too.”

“Me too.” Dixon looked at Marshall and nodded at all three.

“The rest of you will bring all the bodies down to the rooms in the basement, and place the C-4 all over the building. Get me when you’ve all done that, and I’ll make a final inspection.” All the agents nodded and Dixon looked at Vaughn, Eric, and Marshall. “You’ll bring C-4 as well.” They nodded too. “Get to work.”

When Vaughn, Eric, and Marshall got back to the room Cuvee was in, they stood looking at him for a few seconds. Then suddenly out of nowhere Marshall pulled out his gun and shot Cuvee twice in the head. Vaughn and Eric stepped back a bit and looked at Marshall in shock of what he’d done.

“Marshall, what the hell was that about?” Marshall looked back at them.

“Marcus said to make sure, Cuvee was dead, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m just making sure. I know that he has multiple gun shots wounds, and that he’s been checked on to make sure he was dead. But if you want to make sure someone’s dead, you shoot them in the head.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s just in the movies that people are still alive after being shot in their body multiple times. But he could’ve gotten a gun, hid it, and ended up shooting one or more of us. It’s just better to be safe than sorry.” Vaughn and Eric exchanged glances and then Vaughn put a hand on Marshall’s shoulder.

“Thank you for looking out for us Marshall.” Eric nodded.

“Yeah, thanks man.” Marshall smiled a little and put his gun away.

They took the DNA samples and then put the C-4 around the room. Vaughn strapped the last C-4 to Cuvee’s body, and now Eric stared at him and Marshall did too. Vaughn looked at them and answered them before they even asked.

“Irina might’ve killed my father, but Cuvee is responsible too. You both saw the footage of what he had done to her, when she was a prisoner here.” They gave a slight nod, not wanting to think more about it. “If he hadn’t put her through that kind of torture, had let her keep Nadia, then my father probably wouldn’t be dead. Cuvee is a bastard and he needs to pay for what he did to Irina.” They nodded and Dixon walked in.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah, we got the samples and have placed the C-4.” Dixon looked at the C-4 strapped to Cuvee. He gave Vaughn an approving nod.

“Let’s go.”

“Right behind you.”

Everyone got in the cars and Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall got into a helicopter waiting to take them to the hospital. They all got to a safe distance from the prison and Dixon got on comms with APO.

“Unit One to Base Camp.” Dixon could hear that Kendall was emotional.

“Go ahead Unite One.”

“We’re ready to blow up the prison, and then the four of us are heading to the hospital. There’s nothing more you can do, so go home. We have people looking for Sloane, and if he’s spotted on any satellite readings, we’ll get him. Jack will likely be in surgery for hours, so there’s no reason for you to sit around and wait for the result. Go home to the kids, and I’ll call you when there’s any news.”

“Yeah that sounds like a plan. But call the minute there’s any news on Jack. We want to be informed.”

“We will. Unit One out.”

Back at APO Kendall, Katya, Carrie, and Rachel watched as the prison in Kashmir got blown up. Carrie and Rachel were crying their eyes out at what had happened to Jack, and his condition. Kendall had been crying too, and started to dry his eyes. He looked over at Katya. She was still looking at the screen but wasn’t crying and didn’t seem too bothered with the situation. He walked over to Carrie, who had her face buried in her hands.

“Carrie, come here.” She stood up and Kendall hugged her. He looked over at Rachel, who had her face buried in her hands too. “You too, Rachel.” He hugged her too, and they both cried on his shoulder for a little while. He looked over at Katya. “Katya?” She turned around and as she did, Carrie and Rachel turned their heads, so they could look at Katya. She gave them a reassuring smile.

“We got them out, and Jack’s strong. He’ll pull through. And as for Sloane, we’ll get him just like we got Cuvee.” Kendall looked at her in disbelief, while Carrie and Rachel didn’t really react much, but started to dry their tears. Kendall looked at them again.

“Let’s do as Marcus said and go home.” They nodded. “I’ll just go and tell everyone.” He ran his hand over his face before walking out of the meeting room. Carrie looked at Katya.

“Katya, are you okay?” She smiled at Carrie.

“Yes, I’m absolutely fine.” They both eyed her.

“Are you sure.”

“Yes.” She stood up and walked over to them. “Everything will turn out just fine, you’ll see. Just go home and relax with your kids.”

“You want to come with us? You can just leave your car here.”

“I have some things to take care of, so you go ahead. I’ll come later.”

“Okay. See you later then.” They hugged and Carrie and Rachel walked towards the door just as Kendall came back in.

“We’re leaving.” He nodded.

“I’ll be there in an hour or so. I’m just going to call Washington and take care of a few things here, and then I’ll be on my way.”

“See you in a little while.”

“Yeah, bye.” He hugged both of them and then they left. He looked over at Katya, who tidied up a bit. When she’d done that, she looked back at Kendall, with a slight smile on her face.

“I’m leaving too.” She walked passed him and out the door. He stood for a few seconds in the meeting room in disbelief and shook his head. Then he walked out quickly and caught up with Katya. He took her by the elbow and dragged her with him. She got angry. “What do you think, you’re doing?” He didn’t answer her, but kept dragging her along, and addressed the security guards, when they walked by them.

“We’ll be in interrogation room two. Do not disturb us.” The security guards looked strangely in Kendall’s direction.

“Sir?”

“Just do as I say.”

“Yes, sir.”

Seconds later Kendall pushed Katya inside the interrogation room and slammed the door. She stared at him angrily and he stared back at her the same way.

“Cry.” She looked at him dumbfounded.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Cry.” She stared at him angrily again.

“I really think that you should start wearing a hat when you’re outside. The sun has easy access to that big, bald head of yours, and obviously it has fried your brain.” He didn’t let her words get to him and remained just as angry as she was.

“You can’t keep staying positive and calm the way you have since the triplets were kidnapped. You need to cry.”

“No I don’t. Everyone is safe, and that’s something we should smile about. Not cry about.”

“Everyone’s safe? Jack’s been shot and it’s really bad. There’s no guarantee that he’ll make it.”

“Jack’s strong. He’ll pull through just fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I choose to believe that, and to stay positive about it. If anything, we need to stay positive and calm and not sit around crying.”

“We’re allowed to cry about the horrible situation we’re in now, and have been in for more than three weeks. You haven’t done that, and it’s about time you did.”

“If you feel the need to cry, then by all means do. But I don’t need to cry.”

“You can’t even shed a few tears for your own family? Your eight-year-old nieces and nephew were kidnapped for more than three weeks. If Sark hadn’t been able to fool Sloane and Cuvee, get out of there, and contact us, Sloane would’ve been able to brainwash the triplets into believing he was their father. They would eventually be calling him ‘dad’ and not Jack. They wouldn’t even remember Jack, and they would believe that Irina abandoned them. And you would never have seen them again.”

“You don’t know that, so stop saying things like that.” He saw her bottom lip slightly tremble. No one would probably have noticed that, but he was looking for it. Instead of backing off, he continued.

“Your sister and brother-in-law were kidnapped by their worst enemies. We all know the hell Cuvee has put Irina through in the past, and he almost raped her again. If Jack hadn’t been able to shoot Cuvee, he would’ve started raping her before Sydney and Vaughn got to the room. They would’ve probably killed him before he finished, but they wouldn’t have been able to stop him before he started.”

“Stop talking about that.” He noticed her bottom lip tremble a bit more, and he pressed on.

“Jack was almost tortured to death, he was shot, and right now he’s fighting for his life. No one knows if he’s going to make it. Chances are that he probably won’t. And then what happens? What’s going to happen to Irina? To the triplets? To Sydney and Nadia? I don’t think Irina can cope without Jack. Sure, she’ll still have her children to support her, but she might as well be dead if she doesn’t have Jack by her side. And Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets won’t have their father anymore. Sydney and Nadia might get through it better than the triplets, because they’re older. But the triplets are still so young, and I hate to think what’s going to happen to them, if they grow up without a father. If Jack dies, Cuvee and Sloane might as well have killed Irina and the triplets. They might as well have taken a gun to their heads and blown their brains out.”

Katya immediately broke down sobbing. Her knees buckled and Kendall almost didn’t catch her in time before she hit the floor. He pulled her up, and she gripped his shirt, burying her head in shoulder. Her whole body was shaking.

He was surprised by her behavior. He had wanted her to cry, but he hadn’t expected her to break down like this. Not really sure on how to handle the situation, he wrapped his arms around her, and hugged her tightly, hoping it would help calm her down.

Several minutes later Katya was still in Kendall’s arms crying her eyes out. He hadn’t said anything to her, but waited for her to be ready to talk. Several minutes more went by before she said anything.

“She can’t lose him. He’s the love of her life, and if she loses him, I’m afraid that she’ll lose herself. She’ll build up walls, and no one will be able to tear them down. He can’t die. He just can’t die.”

“There’s a possibility that he will. I don’t want to think about it. I would much rather stay positive and in denial, and I agree that we have to stay positive and hope for the best, but at the same time we have to be realistic. If Jack dies, Irina and the kids will need all of our support, and we have to be prepared to give that. It doesn’t mean that we can’t hurt too. But we at least have to know that there’s a chance, Jack won’t make it.” She slightly nodded.

She continued to cry for a little while longer, but then stopped. She let go of his shirt and stepped out of his embrace, taking a few steps back and turning her back to him. She started to dry her tears. He was a bit surprised by the change in her reaction. Not thinking she was quite alright, he put a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back at him over her shoulder.

“I’m fine.” She shrugged his hand away. He sighed and shook his head.

“You’re not fine.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Katya, it’s okay to cry. It’s okay to show your emotions.”

Without warning she spun around, grabbed a hold of Kendall and pinned him to the table. He was taken aback by her behavior and stared wide eyed at her. She stared angrily at him.

“You will tell no one of what’s been going on in here. Do you understand? No one.” He started getting angry and tried to get her off, but without success.

“Get off me, Katya.”

“Do you understand? No one is to find out about this.”

“Yes, I understand. I have no intention of telling anyone. I wouldn’t do that to you. Now let me go. Right now.” She eyed him for a few seconds and then let him go.

“We will never talk about this again.” She walked towards the door, and just when she was about to put her hand on the doorknob, Kendall grabbed her from behind, slammed her against the wall, and pinned her there with his body pressed against her back.

“I warned you the last time you did this to me. I told you that if you ever did something like that again that I wouldn’t hesitate to throw you back in jail. I’ll let it slide this time giving the situation. But don’t ever do that to me again. Not ever. Do you understand?” She didn’t answer, so he nudged her. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

He let go of her and stood by the door, while she walked away from him in the other direction. They stared at each other angrily, and Kendall then shook his head, put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door. He was about to walk out, but sighed and closed the door again. He looked back at her and spoke calmer.

“If you need to talk to someone about anything and you don’t feel like you can talk to Sergei, or anyone else, you can call me. Whatever you’d want to talk about would just be between us, just like what went on in here.” She stared at him still a bit coldly and gave a nod.

“I told you, I’m fine, so I won’t be needing anyone to talk to.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Fine. Suit yourself. See you later.” He walked out shaking his head. Katya stayed in the room for a few more minutes gathering herself before leaving too.

Hours later in Kashmir Jack was still in surgery. Irina and the triplets had been checked by the doctors, had a shower, a change of clothes that the rescue team brought, and had, had something to eat and drink. They were now in the waiting room, along with Sydney, Nadia, Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall. The triplets were sleeping, too exhausted to stay awake from everything that had been going on since they’d been kidnapped, and with everything that was going on now.

Irina was sitting motionless on one of the couches. She hadn’t talked much since the triplets had fallen asleep, and she was worried sick about Jack. The others hadn’t talked much either since the triplets had fallen asleep, and after a few more moments of silence, Dixon stood up.

“I think, I’ll just go to the cafeteria and get some coffee. Should I bring back coffee for everyone?” Sydney, Nadia, Vaughn, Eric, and Marshall nodded and Vaughn looked at him.

“Yeah that sounds nice. Thank you.” Dixon nodded and looked at Irina.

“Irina would you like anything?” She shook her head slightly but didn’t look at him.

“No thank you, Marcus.” Marshall stood up too.

“I’ll help you with the coffee.” Dixon nodded and they left.

A few moments more went by in silence, and Sydney stood up.

“I’m a little hungry, so I think I’ll just go to the cafeteria.” Vaughn stood up.

“I’ll come too.”

Nadia and Eric exchanged glances. They wanted to get out and stretch their legs too, and get their minds on something else for a little while. But they also didn’t want to leave Irina alone. However, Irina picked up on it.

“Nadia, you and Eric should go with Sydney and Michael.”

“Mom, we don’t want to leave you alone.” Irina looked at Nadia, and smiled a little.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be gone for hours. Just go and stretch your legs for a little while.”

“Eric and I can go stretch our legs when Sydney and Vaughn come back.”

“Sweetheart, I’ll be okay. Really.” Sydney and Nadia exchanged glances, and Nadia looked back at Irina.

“Okay mom, if you say so. We won’t be gone long.” Irina nodded and they left.

When they got outside Vaughn noticed Chase walking towards them. He nudged Sydney, and when she looked in the direction he did, Nadia and Eric followed their gaze. Sydney sighed.

“I don’t want to deal with anything work related now, and I don’t want Chase anywhere near mom. Mom doesn’t need to be around her right now.”

“I’ll take care of her.”

“Thank you, Eric.” Eric nodded and walked off towards Chase. He walked fast, so she wouldn’t get too near the waiting room. When they met, Chase was just about to open her mouth to speak, but Eric beat her to it.

“Get lost.” Chase stared wide eyed at Eric.

“Excuse me?”

“I said, get lost.”

“Look, agent Weiss..”

“No, no, no. Right now, I’m not an agent, and I don’t think of you as a director of the CIA. Right now, I’m just plain old Eric, who’s worried sick about his father-in-law. And you are the cold hearted witch, who has treated my mother-in-law horribly for the past five years.” Chase nodded and spoke kindly.

“I know that I’ve been a cold hearted witch. I’ve even been a cold hearted bitch.” He raised his eyes a little bit in surprise by her statement. “I’m here to apologize to Irina. I want her to know that the entire CIA is behind her, including me. I’m not doing this to clear my own conscience. It’s not like I expect Irina to accept my apology or forgive me. But in case Jack dies, it would be pathetic of me to apologize after he’s dead. I know I’m probably the last person Irina wants to see now, but she also needs all the support she can get.” He spoke calmer.

“You can’t say that.” She looked at him confused.

“Can’t say what?”

“You can’t say that Jack might die. We know how horrible the situation is, and that we should be realistic, but you can’t say that Jack might die. Irina doesn’t need to hear that. She can’t lose him, so you can’t say that in front of her.”

“Okay. Does that mean that you’ll let me see her?” He eyed her and she smiled at him sincerely. “Eric, please. I’m begging you.” He sighed and nodded.

“Come on.”

“Thank you.”

They walked to the waiting room where the other three were waiting for Eric. Sydney and Nadia looked at him, confused as to why Chase was with him. Nadia looked at him.

“Why is she here?”

“She wants to apologize to your mother.”

“Nadia. Sydney.” They both looked at Chase. “I’m here to give my support to you and your mother. I just want to tell your mother that. I want to tell her how sorry I am for the way I’ve treated her all these years. I really am truly sorry.” They eyed her.

“If you hurt her or in any way upset her….” Sydney left the rest unsaid and Chase nodded.

“If she’s upset by my presence, I’ll leave immediately. You have my word.” Sydney and Nadia exchanged glances, and Nadia nodded.

“You can go see her.” Chase smiled sincerely and kindly.

“Thank you.”

“We’re just going to the cafeteria. We’ll be back in a little while.” Chase nodded and the others left.

Chase opened the door to the waiting room. Irina looked up and gave Chase her death glare. Chase spoke softly and kindly.

“Hi. It’s good to see you again. I’m so glad that you’re safe.” Irina didn’t say anything. “Can I talk to you?” Irina eyed her for a moment. She then looked at the triplets. They were still sleeping, but so as not to say anything harsh to Chase in front of them, so that she might wake them, she got up from her seat.

“Outside.” Chase nodded and they walked out into the hall. Irina closed the door and then crossed her arms across her chest. “What?”

“I don’t want this to come across as a pathetic attempt to make up for everything that I’ve ever done to you, because I know that nothing I say will ever make up for the horrible way I’ve treated you the last five years. But Irina, I’m truly sorry for the way I’ve treated you. I’ve been a total cold hearted bitch, and there’s no forgiving that. I just never really thought of you as human given your past. But when the triplets were kidnapped, my eyes were opened and I realized that you were human, because you were so heartbroken. I’m sorry that it took so long for me to see that, and that something so horrible had to happen before I opened my eyes to you. I’m truly sorry. I don’t expect you to accept my apology or to forgive me, because I don’t deserve that, but I’m here to give you my support. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Irina kept staring at Chase. But a few seconds later she broke down crying. Chase didn’t really know what to do. She put her hands on Irina’s upper arms in hopes that, that would comfort her. Irina then wrapped her arms around her, and Chase was taken aback a little. Feeling Irina needed to be held Chase wrapped her arms around Irina and hugged her, and comforted her, the best she could.

Fifteen minutes later everyone else returned. Dixon and Marshall had been told that Chase had showed up, and he was a bit worried about the situation. He and Chase still hadn’t talked since he’d found out that she’d accused Irina of being involved with Robin almost getting raped. Everyone else was concerned about the situation too. They were a bit apprehensive about what they’d see once they got to the waiting room, and as they rounded the corner they stopped dead in their tracks at the sight. Irina was still crying on Chase’s shoulder, and Chase was doing her best to comfort her by running a hand up and down her back, and speaking words of encouragement. Everyone exchanged glances. Sydney, Nadia, and Dixon looked at each other and smiled a little.

A while later everyone was sitting together in the waiting room, waiting for news about Jack. The triplets were awake, but no one was talking to each other. They were all too worried. Another thirty minutes went by before the doctor walked in. Everyone got up immediately and walked closer to the doctor. No one liked the expression on the doctor’s face, and Irina took another step closer to him.

“How’s my husband?” He looked at her, then at the triplets, and then back at Irina.

“I think it’d be best if I talk to you in private, Mrs. Bristow. Your oldest daughters are welcome to come too.” Irina shook her head.

“No, we’re all going to hear what you have to say.” He leaned closer to her, and whispered.

“Mrs. Bristow, I really don’t think the little ones, should hear this.”

“They have been separated from their father for more than three weeks. They’ve been through hell, so they can handle to hear about their father’s condition.” He looked down at them, and saw them nodding. “I’m not going to hide anything from them, so you might as well tell us yourself. Just give it to us straight, and don’t leave anything out.” The doctor sighed and nodded.

“Alright, if that’s what you want.” He looked Irina straight in the eyes. “Your husband is in critical condition. We’ve managed to stop the bleeding, and repair the damages to some extent, but he’s far from out of the woods. In fact, I don’t think he’ll ever get out of the woods.” Everyone gasped and the doctor took a deep breath. “With all the torture he’s been put through, the beating, the gun shot wounds to his chest, being without food and water for so long, and his medical history, it’s very unlikely that he’ll pull through. He’s slipped into a coma, and I don’t expect him to ever wake up from it. I expect his condition to deteriorate, and that he’ll die within a few days or a week. I’m sorry. I wish, I could bring you better news, but this is his condition.”

TBC
 
OMG, talk about a cliffhanger, Mette you did it to us again, and now we have to wait almost 4 weeks to find out what happens!!!!! :D Jack has got to be okay. :( Great update. :D There was alot of action and drama, I'm glad chase apologized, in a way I hope her and irina can be friends because irina really doesn't have any females that are her own age besides katya. Please tell me that jack will only be in a coma in this story and he will recover before part 3.LMAO I know you won't answer that. An I've said it several times, kayta/kendall need to hook up, they have great chemistry whether thats your intention or not. An sorry about the medical references, I'm a health major so its ingrained in my brain to know that stuff.lol

This chapter was so good I read it again.
 
Oh, WOW! What a cliffhanger! Marvelous chapter -- and yes, Jack has to pull through.

Good of Chase to finally apologize, and Katya & Kendall -- something's definitely up there.

I'll be gone the next 2 weeks too for Christmas & New Year's -- glad to see I won't miss any of your story while I'm gone. Look forward to reading your next installment in 2008!
 
Yay! Cuvee is dead! And blown to pieces! What a great Christmas present. :D
I love Marshall for making sure that Cuvee is really dead. :smiley:
But I'm also sad to read about Jack's condition. :mellow:

Well anyway thanks for this great update, enjoy your holiday and Merry Christmas.
 
I am so glad that everyone got out of there alive. Hopefully it will stay that way and Jack will be his usual strong and stubborn self and pull through.

Thanks for the pms.
 
It Was For The Best - Part 2.

The first chapter in the new year is here - Happy New Year. Thanks for the holiday wishes. I had a great time - hope all of you did too. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Thank you all for reading and commenting. It means a lot. :smiley:

Irina_Derevko_Bristow: Yeah, things certainly didn't end on a happy note. Time will tell if Jack will be okay. Thank you so much for saying that. :smiley: It certainly was about time Chase apologized - she and Irina just might. Actually I will answer that about Jack's coma - the doctor said that he only expect Jack to live for a week tops - so since this story ends on New Year's Eve you can be sure that Jack won't be in a coma until the third story, because Jack might die. You're free to feel what you want about Katya and Kendall. :LOL: No need to apologize about the medical references. I'm so happy to hear that.

Sydney Derevko Bristow: Yeah, Jack needed to tell Cuvee that. Sometimes fan fictions have other points - Jack might still die. Well, you know it takes a long time to write, so I can't do it any faster.

AliasMuse: Thank you very much for saying that - you're too kind. :blush: Time will tell if Jack pulls through. Yeah, Chase needed to apologize. You think something is up between Katya and Kendall? - well, you're allowed to have your thoughts. :LOL: I'm so happy to hear that.

texasalias2004: Thank you for saying that. :smiley: Time will tell if Jack will be okay.

nicewoman: Yeah, Cuvee needed to die. Marshall is a sweetheart and he wanted to, and he wanted to get back at Cuvee for kidnapping the Bristows. Yeah, things don't look too good for Jack.

sydneymicheal: Yeah, it was about time they got saved. Time will tell what will happen to Jack.

NOTE: I don't have any medical background, so I don't know if the medical stuff could happen in real life. Remember that this is a fiction, so just please go along with what I write. Thank you.

Chapter 26
Everyone stood staring at the doctor without saying anything. The tears then silently started to fall from Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets’ eyes. The triplets walked closer to Irina, and she put her arms around them when they reached her. Vaughn put an arm around Sydney and Eric did the same with Nadia. Irina tried to remain in control and looked the doctor straight in the eye.

“My husband has been through a lot in the past. He’s very strong. If there’s the slightest possibility of him pulling through, he will.”

“I don’t really believe that there’s the slightest possibility that he’ll pull through.” He sighed. “Mrs. Bristow, I can understand how you feel, but you also have to be realistic. Your husband has been through a great ordeal, and it is really very unlikely that he’ll leave this hospital alive. His condition is extremely critical.”

“Can we see him?”

“Yes, I’ll take you to see him. But before I let you near him, there’s something you should know. As I said he’s in extremely critical condition. I don’t think he’ll leave this hospital alive, but if there’s to be any hope for him at all he needs all the rest he can get, and are under no circumstances allowed to be subjected to any kind of pressure. We came close to losing him in surgery a few times, and we were worried if he was going to handle the move from the operating room to the room he’s in right now.” Sydney and Nadia gasped.

“You nearly lost him in surgery?” They doctor looked at Nadia.

“Yes.” He then looked between her and Sydney. “That’s also one of the reasons why I don’t expect him to pull through. He’s very weak, and I don’t think he has the strength to pull through.” He looked back at Irina. “You can see him all you want, and be in his room all you want, but if you’d like to have him around for a few more days, I suggest that you don’t touch him, sit on his bed, or do anything that will add pressure.” Sydney shook her head sadly.

“We can’t even touch him?”

“Not really, but I suppose that light feathery touches, won’t really do any harm.” Irina nodded and looked at the triplets smiling a little at them.

“We can do all of that, can’t we?” They nodded.

“Yes, mommy.”

“Of course.”

Maddie simply nodded, and Irina squatted down in front of them, gave them each a kiss, and then hugged them.

“Then let’s go see daddy.” She stood up again, and looked at the doctor. “Please take us to see my husband.”

“Follow me.”

They all followed the doctor to the room Jack was in, but just before he opened the door, he stopped and turned to look at them. Irina looked at him curiously.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just thought, I should prepare you for what you’re about to see. As I’ve already said, your husband is very weak, and therefore he’s very pale and very tired looking. After cleaning him up his bruises are also more noticeable, and his face is very swollen. I’m sure he’ll be almost unrecognizable to you.” Irina nodded. The doctor nodded back and turned back towards the door and opened it.

Everyone took a deep breath before following the doctor inside the room. Irina’s breath got caught in her throat when she saw Jack. He indeed looked in very bad condition. The dried blood on his face had hidden how severely his face was bruised, and it broke her to see him this badly injured. She blinked back her tears when she felt Maddie’s and Caitie’s hands tighten in hers. She looked down at them and at Ethan too, and smiled a little to comfort them. Although she’d cried around them earlier, she also knew she had to be strong for them now.

“Do you want to walk closer to the bed?”

“Would that be okay?”

“It….it…it won’t kill him?”

Irina bit back her tears and gave them an encouraging smile squatting down in front of them. She shook her head.

“No not at all. You heard what the doctor said. We can be in his room all we want.” The triplets nodded and the doctor looked at them.

“You’re mother’s right. You can go as near to him as you want, and sit on chairs right beside his bed. And as I said, you can even give him light feathery touches.” The triplets looked at him and nodded.

“Okay.” He gave them a small smile and motioned for the bed.

“Go see your father.” The triplets slightly nodded, but was still a little hesitant. The doctor gave them a reassuring smile. “It really is okay to go closer to him.” Irina looked at them a little concerned.

“Don’t you want to take a closer look at daddy?” They nodded.

“Yes, of course mommy, but we’re also still scared.”

“It’s okay to be scared. I’m scared too. We’re all scared.”

“Yeah, I’m terrified.” Everyone looked at Marshall and he gave a weak smile through his tears. Irina smiled in return and then looked back at the triplets.

“See, even uncle Marshall is scared.” The triplets nodded and a few seconds later Ethan slowly walked towards Jack’s bed. Everyone watched as he walked all the way up to the headboard.

“Hi daddy. I’ve missed you. We’ve all missed you.” He smiled a little. “But you already know that we’ve missed you, because we always miss you when you’re not around.”

Irina had to bite her bottom lip hard to keep the tears from falling. Maddie and Caitie walked closer to their father. Maddie joined Ethan on his side, and Caitie went to stand on the other side of the bed. Sydney and Nadia walked up to stand beside Irina, and each took one of her hands in theirs. She tightened the grip on their hands, swallowed, and then looked at them smiling a little. They both gave her a small smile through their tears before all three walked closer to the bed. Sydney stood behind Ethan and Maddie, and Irina and Nadia walked to the other side and stood behind Caitie. Everyone else gathered at the foot of the bed. The doctor looked over at Irina.

“I’ll leave you alone with him. There’s a nurse right outside the room at all times, so if you need to get in touch with me just let her know and she’ll get me.” Irina looked at him.

“Okay.”

“I’ll be back a little while later to talk to you about accommodations. We’ll make room for all of you, so that you can stay in the hospital and be close to him.” She smiled a little.

“Thank you.” He nodded and gave a small smile before leaving.

Everyone stood by the bed for a few minutes in silence before Vaughn, Eric, Marshall, and Dixon got chairs for everyone to sit on. After sitting in silence for half an hour, Dixon looked at his watch, and then looked over at Irina.

“We should probably get in touch with the people back home. They’d want to know how things are going. I can call Kendall, and he can get in touch with everyone. Or would you rather call Katya or Sergei, Irina, and have one of them get in touch with everyone?” Irina looked at Dixon.

“No, I’d appreciate it if you got in touch with Kendall. I can call Katya and Sergei later.” He nodded and got up. Chase got up too.

“I think food is the last thing on everyone’s mind at the moment, but I also think we’re probably hungrier than we realize. I’m just going to talk to the nurse to see if the cafeteria is still open, or if there’s any other way of getting something to eat and drink.” Irina nodded and Marshall got up too.

“I’ll help.” They walked out the door, and Vaughn got up from his seat too.

“I just need to talk to Marcus. I’ll be right back.” He gave Sydney’s shoulder a squeeze, and she nodded back. He walked out and walked over to Marcus, who was just about to make the phone call, and saw that Marshall and Chase were about to walk over to the nurse. “Marcus, wait a minute. You too, Marshall.” Dixon looked at him puzzled, and so did Marshall and Chase. They joined Vaughn and Dixon.

“What is it, Vaughn?”

“Could you tell Kendall not to let the kids know? The doctor only seems to think that Jack will live a few days. A week at the most. If that’s the case, I don’t think the kids need to know that. I’d rather be there myself to tell my children that their grandfather has passed away. They shouldn’t be told over the phone that their grandfather might die. I haven’t talked it over with Sydney, Eric, or Nadia, but I think, it’s best this way.” He looked at Marshall. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah, I think that’s best too. Besides they don’t know that we went to get Jack, Irina, and the triplets.” Dixon nodded.

“I agree too, but I can’t really keep the information from Stephen and Robin. They know the real reason for leaving.” Vaughn sighed.

“I know, and I know that it’ll probably be hard to remain silent, so I hate to have to ask them to do that.”

“It’s okay. It might be hard, but they’ll understand.” Vaughn smiled a little.

“Thank you. Tell Kendall, we’ll all check in with the kids later on to tell them we’re alright.”

“I will.” Vaughn nodded and went back to Jack’s room while Marshall and Chase walked back over to the nurse and Dixon made the phone call to Kendall.

Everyone had something to eat in Jack’s room, though Irina hardly ate anything. Later Chase called Devlin to ask about further developments in finding Sloane, Dixon had made another call to APO to ask about the same and had also made a call to Stephen and Robin, and everyone else had called their children too. Irina had had a brief conversation with Katya and Sergei, and they’d talked to the triplets too.

A while later they’d talked to the doctor about accommodations. Irina and the triplets would stay in the same room with Jack, and the others would be sleeping in the waiting room that was just down the hall from Jack’s room. Dixon, Marshall, and Chase turned in, and when they’d said goodnight to everyone and left the room the triplets went to sleep too. Maddie leaned closer to Jack.

“Goodnight daddy. I love you.” Caitie was next.

“I love you too, daddy. Goodnight.” Ethan was the last one.

“See you tomorrow, daddy. I love you. Goodnight.”

None of them had touched Jack. Irina could tell that they wanted too, but that they were also afraid of doing that. She hadn’t touched Jack either, and neither had Sydney and Nadia. She wanted too, but remembered what the doctor had said. She didn’t even dare to give Jack light feathery touches. She wasn’t going to be the one to push him over the edge. She already knew that it was her fault that they’d been kidnapped in the first place, that Jack had been tortured, and that he had gotten shot. She knew that if he died, she’d be the one, who killed him. She didn’t need to be the reason he died so soon after coming out of surgery.

A while later Vaughn and Eric went to bed too, and an hour later Sydney rubbed her eyes.

“I don’t want to leave, but I can hardly keep my eyes open.” Nadia tried to suppress a yawn.

“Yeah, me too.” Irina looked between them.

“It’s late and it’s been a long and hectic day. It’s natural that you’re tired. You should go to bed.” Sydney and Nadia exchanged glances and realized their mother was right.

“Yeah that would probably be best.”

“You should go to bed too, mom.”

“I’m not tired.” Sydney and Nadia exchanged glances again, both being concerned about their mother.

“Mom, you’ve been through hell. And not just during the time you were kidnapped, but in all the time the triplets were kidnapped. You need to rest.”

“It’s a bit hard to rest with your father’s condition.”

“We know, mom. But you also need to be strong for the triplets.”

“I will be.” She looked at them and smiled a little. “I’ll rest the best I can. I promise.” Sydney and Nadia had a feeling that she wasn’t going to rest properly, but also knew not to argue with her about this. They both smiled back a little.

“Okay mom.” Nadia stood and hugged her mother. “Goodnight mom. I love you.”

“Goodnight sweetheart. I love you too.” Nadia looked at her father.

“Goodnight dad. I love you.” Sydney stood and walked over to her mother. She hugged her.

“I love you, mom. Goodnight.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. Goodnight.” Sydney looked at her father too.

“I love you, dad. Goodnight.”

Sydney and Nadia gave their mother another smile before walking over to look at the triplets. Two couches, a table, and two mattresses had been brought in to Jack’s room. Caitie and Maddie were each sleeping on a couch, and Ethan was sleeping on one of the mattresses. The other mattress was for Irina. They gave them a kiss on their foreheads and gave their mother one last small smile before they left the room.

Irina moved her chair a little closer to Jack when Sydney and Nadia left. She sat there looking at him without saying anything. She couldn’t believe that she might not have him in her life anymore. She’d been without him enough in her life. So she decided to stay positive. He was going to make it, and things would be like they were before the triplets were kidnapped. She smiled at him a little.

“The doctors did a good job. You’re well looked after, and you’ll be well looked after throughout your recovery. I expect it’ll be a while before you can be moved back home. I know you wouldn’t want to be doing all of your recovery here. So I think they’ll let you do the last of your recovery at a hospital at home when you’re safe enough to move.” She laughed a little. “I know you won’t like that. You hate hospitals, and will never admit to being sick. But it’ll be the best for you. I think you’ll agree with me on that, even though you’ll probably have to stay in hospital for maybe a month total.”

She sat talking to him on and off throughout the night. Other times she just sat there watching him. She also looked over at the triplets to make sure that they were alright. They didn’t seem to have nightmares, and she was happy about that. She figured that getting some crayons and something for them to draw on would be good for them. They loved to color. They could make some new drawings for the fridge that they could put up when Jack came home from the hospital. She smiled at the thought and went back to looking at Jack.

Meanwhile back home in the States Kendall had gone to APO for a while to check in on things. Katya, Carrie, and Rachel all stayed back at the safe house with everyone else. They all knew that they couldn’t do much. They could only sit and wait to hear that Jack was getting better or worse, and wait to hear if there were any new leads on Sloane.

Kendall had agreed with Devlin that he’d go to APO for a few hours every day, until everyone got home from India. When he wasn’t at APO, he would still call in to check on how things were going, and the agents there could call him if anything important turned up, whether that had something to do with Sloane or not. Kendall would likewise get calls if there were any new leads on Sloane or on other important matters.

Kendall came back to the safe house after having been at APO. He got a bottle of water out of the fridge and walked outside into the backyard. He walked over to Sergei, who was watching Katya, Carrie, Will, and Rachel playing with the kids, and who were all further away from them. Sergei looked at Kendall as he sat down next to them.

“Any news about anything?” He sighed.

“No nothing.” He took a sip of his water. “How are things here?”

“They’re okay considering the circumstances. Carrie, Will, Rachel, and I try our best not to give anything away. It’s the same with Stephen and Robin. But if they need to talk about it, one of us will go for a walk with them away from the house. The rest of the kids seem to be doing okay at the moment. It helped that they talked to their parents.”

“What about Katya?”

“She’s calm and positive like always. I don’t expect that to change.”

Kendall took a deep breath and exhaled slowly without Sergei seeing or hearing it. He looked at Katya, and could see that she was smiling more than the others as she was pushing Isabelle on the swing. He sighed. It seemed that what had happened at APO hadn’t helped. Kendall looked back at Sergei.

“No, I don’t expect that to change either.”

Sarah and Becky came running towards Kendall and Sergei. They were smiling, and Kendall and Sergei smiled back at them.

“Hi uncle Kendall.” They gave him a hug.

“Hi girls. Are you having fun?”

“Yeah, we are.”

“That’s good to hear.” Becky took Sergei’s hand in hers.

“Are you two coming?”

“Of course.”

Kendall and Sergei got up. Kendall picked up Sarah, Sergei picked up Becky, and they walked over to join the others. Katya, Carrie, Will, and Rachel looked at Kendall as he joined them. He shook his head a little indicating that he hadn’t heard anything new. They all nodded in return and went back to paying attention to the kids.

When morning came at the hospital in India Irina was still sitting watching Jack. She hadn’t slept at all, and hadn’t even attempted it. She took her eyes off of him when she noticed Ethan starting to sit up. She smiled at him and he walked over to her and sat in her lap. She gave him a kiss and hugged him.

“Morning sweetheart.”

“Morning mommy.” He gave her a kiss too, and then looked at his father. “Morning daddy.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I slept fine.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“How’s daddy?”

“The doctor hasn’t been in here yet, but I don’t think there’s any change since last night.” They sat in silence for a few seconds just watching Jack. “I thought, we could get some crayons and something for you, Caitie, and Maddie to draw on. Would you like that?”

“Yes that would nice.” She kissed his cheek.

“Good.”

A few minutes later Caitie and Maddie woke up too. They walked over and said good morning to their parents and brother, and sat down next to Irina. A few minutes after that Sydney and Nadia walked into the room. They gave Irina and the triplets a small smile when they saw them. They then noticed the mattress that Irina was supposed to have slept on, and saw that it looked the same as when they had left the room. The blankets and pillow were in the same spot as when they’d left the room, and it all looked untouched. They looked at each other briefly and sighed before walking over to their mother and siblings to give them a hug.

Ten minutes later a nurse walked into the room.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.”

“I was told to ask you what you want to do about breakfast. You can either have it at the cafeteria, here, or in the waiting room. Where would you like it served?” Sydney looked at her.

“I don’t know about the ones still in the waiting room, but you can serve breakfast to the ones of us in here, here.” The nurse smiled.

“I’ll pass that on, and I’ll just go ask the others in the waiting room. That’s if they’re up yet?”

“They’re awake at least, so you can go ahead and ask them.”

“I’ll do that then. Breakfast will be here in ten to fifteen minutes.” Irina smiled at the nurse a little.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” She was about to walk out, but looked back at Irina. “The doctor will be to check on your husband in a few hours.”

“Thank you.” The nurse nodded and left.

Two minutes later Dixon walked into Jack’s room. He gave them a nod, and they nodded in return.

“Vaughn and Eric will be in here to have breakfast with you in a few minutes. In the meantime the rest of us will stay in the waiting room, and go over some work while we eat. I just thought I’d let you know.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“How are you?”

“As well, as can be expected.” Dixon nodded.

“And Jack?”

“The doctor hasn’t been to see him yet. I think he’s about the same as yesterday, though”

“We’ll be in here later.” Irina smiled a little at him.

“Okay. Enjoy breakfast.”

“You too.”

Breakfast went by mostly in silence. Irina didn’t eat much this time either. After, Vaughn and Eric took the empty trays away, and some time after that Marshall, Dixon, and Chase joined them. A while later the triplets went to the bathroom to change into the clothes the rescue team had brought with them, and that they’d worn after being examined at the hospital. Everyone had received something to sleep in by the hospital, and everyone else had already changed before coming into Jack’s room. With the exception of Irina, who had worn her clothes all night. The following two hours after breakfast were also mostly spent in silence. Sydney looked at her mother.

“We didn’t bring more than one set of clothes for everyone. So since we’ll probably be here for a while, maybe we should go out and buy some new clothes, and what else we might need.” Nadia nodded.

“I think that’s a good idea. I think getting out of here for a few hours will do us all good. We can find a nice place to have lunch.” She looked at the triplets. “What do you guys say to that?” Ethan smiled a little.

“I think that’s a good idea. We can get crayons.” Nadia smiled back.

“Yes absolutely.” She looked at Caitie and Maddie. “What do you two think?” Maddie nodded.

“I think that would be nice.” Caitie nodded too.

“Yeah, me too.”

“Then let’s go.” They got up from their seats. Everyone else did too except for Irina. Sydney looked at her.

“Mom, are you coming?” Irina shook her head.

“I’m not leaving your father alone.”

“Irina, Eric and I can stay behind and look after Jack while you go out.”

“That’s kind of you to offer Michael, but I vowed to Jack on our wedding day that I’d never leave him again.” Sydney and Nadia sighed a little and walked over to their mother.

“Mom, you know that, that’s not the leaving you were referring to.”

“Yeah, mom. Besides, dad would want you to get out and get some air. He would want you to take care of yourself.” Irina smiled.

“Yes, he would. Your father is a kind and caring man, who only wants what’s best for you. But it’s best for me to stay here.”

“Mom, the fresh air will do you good. It’ll do all of us good.”

“Mom, please?”

“I can’t.” Maddie walked back over to her mother.

“It’s okay, mommy. We’ll bring you back some new clothes and what else you might need.” Caitie joined her sister.

“Yeah, you stay with daddy. Sydney and Nadia will know what to get for you.” Irina looked at them, smiled at them, and then hugged and kissed them.

“Thank you, sweethearts.” Ethan walked over to his mother.

“We’ll get something for daddy too. He’ll at least need a razor and shaving cream.” Irina bit her lower lip as she smiled at her son.

“Yes, he will. You get him that.” She gave him a hug and a kiss too, and the triplets joined Sydney, Nadia, and everyone else again. Nadia looked at her mother.

“Are you sure, you don’t want to join us?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll be fine. I have your father to keep me company.” Sydney and Nadia still didn’t like leaving their mother alone, but also knew she wouldn’t change her mind.

“Okay. We have our phones on us, so you can call us if there’s any change, or if there’s anything you want us to buy.”

“I will. Have a good time.”

“We’ll try. Bye.”

Irina sat looking at Jack for almost half an hour before talking to him.

“Now that we’re alone, I can tell you what happened. Apparently Sark wasn’t on the side of evil after all. He convinced you-know-who to let him go and get the last documents meant for brainwashing the triplets.” She couldn’t bring herself to mention Cuvee and Sloane by name. “Luckily you-know-who were going to town that day, and when they left he was able to get the other documents from their office, and everything else he needed. He’s burned all the documents, so that won’t be a problem any longer.”

She took a deep breath thinking how horrible things could’ve gotten if Sark hadn’t been able to get away. But things could still have gone horribly wrong if Cuvee and Sloane hadn’t left the prison that day. Sark might not have had the opportunity to get in to their office and look through everything and get all the information he needed. She shook the thought from her mind, and smiled a little instead.

“It turns out that Sark has a girlfriend and a daughter. They were kidnapped by you-know-who and Sark was forced to work with them if he wanted to see his family alive again. He found the information on their whereabouts, and had them rescued and brought to safety before he contacted APO. He took Sydney’s number from your phone, and called her.” She laughed a little. “I’m sure you can imagine how they didn’t believe him at first. But he gave them all the information he had on our whereabouts, and the videotaping of him burning the documents. He proved himself, and they started to work out a rescue mission.”

She sat there watching him to see if there would be any reaction from him. She hoped there would be, but there wasn’t. She sighed and went on.

“All the guards at the prison were taken out, but unfortunately the smaller one of you-know-who escaped. APO still doesn’t know anything about his whereabouts. Nor do any other intelligence agencies that are on the lookout for him. He was put into a bulletproofed car, and he’d fixed the computer, so that APO lost satellite readings. The rescue team on that side was under heavy fire, so it took too long for Marshall to get to the office and fix it, so that APO had satellite readings again. But Marshall put another bullet into you-know-whose leg.”

She watched for a reaction, and when she didn’t get one she told herself, she’d be telling this to Jack again when he woke up. She thought about the triplets and smiled.

“The triplets are fine. They were rescued without any complications and brought to safety immediately. We have three, brave eight-year-old.” She smiled broader. “They get that from you.” She kept smiling at him for a few seconds before going on. “Well I suppose they might not be completely fine. But they don’t seem too traumatized. They slept through the night, but I think that has to do with the two of us being in the room. I think they feel safe immediately when they’re in the same room with us. Just like we talked about it being a form of security when they used to snuggle with me every morning when I got back from Sovogda after I’d been gone for so long, and the way they kept snuggling with us for a long time even after we moved to LA.” She smiled again a little broader. “I look forward to them snuggling with us Christmas morning.”

She took a few seconds to think about Christmas, and the talk they’d had in Kashmir about what they were looking forward to. She told herself that they’d be doing all of the things that they’d talked about.

“Everyone went out, which is why I’m the only one here. Sydney, Nadia, and everyone else did only bring one set of clothes for us, so they all went to get us something to wear. The triplets will also bring back crayons.” She smiled.” You know how they love to draw. And I think, it’ll be good for them.” Irina looked up from Jack and at the door when she heard someone enter.

“Hello Mrs. Bristow.”

“Hello doctor.”

“The nurse said she saw everyone leave. They said they went out to get clothes and what else they might need. May I ask why you didn’t go with them?”

“I need to stay by my husband.”

“I see.” He walked closer to Jack’s bed. “I’m just going to do a quick examination. Mostly just look at his monitors. They’ll give me most of the information that I need. You’re welcome to stay. It won’t take long.” She nodded.

“Thank you. I’d like to stay.”

The doctor nodded and opened the folder of Jack’s latest results that he’d brought with him. He walked over to the monitor, took out a pen from his pocket, and started comparing the new readings to the ones from the day before. He wrote down the new results, and Irina couldn’t tell if the new results were better than the old ones. She thought, she’d leave him to examine Jack in peace, and wait to get the final result when he was done.

When the doctor had finished comparing notes a few minutes later, he walked to the headboard, put the folder down, the pen down with it, and got out his small flashlight. Irina held her breath as the doctor touched Jack and examined his eyes. He then put the flashlight in his pocket again, and Irina breathed. But only for a few seconds. Next the doctor slowly pulled Jack’s sheet down and examined his wounds. Irina knew that the doctor knew what he was doing, but she also feared that he would put too much pressure on Jack. A short while later the doctor finished his examination and Irina could breathe again.

She looked as the doctor picked up the folder again and made notes of his latest examination and compared them to the old ones. When he closed the folder and put the pen in his pocket he sighed before turning to look at her.

“Mrs. Bristow I wish I had better news to tell, and that you had someone here with you.”

“I’ll be alright. You can go ahead and tell me.” He sighed again and nodded.

“Unfortunately your husband’s condition has deteriorated slightly. All of his results were worse than yesterday. I can only conclude as I told you yesterday that his condition will continue to deteriorate. I’m sorry that I couldn’t bring you better news.”

“You say that his condition has only deteriorated slightly. That could still mean that he’ll pull through. As I told you, my husband is strong.”

“Mrs. Bristow I can understand that it can’t be easy to realize that your husband will no longer be with you, but that is the brutal reality. We’re talking days here. I expect he’ll only be around for a few more days. You should prepare yourself for that, and not live in denial. If you want someone to talk to, to help you get through this we have excellent psychiatrists here.”

“Thank you for the offer, but no thank you. I don’t need to talk to anyone, because I know how strong my husband is. He’s been through hell in the past. He got through that, so I see no reason why he shouldn’t make it this time.”

“If that’s what you want to believe, I won’t stand in the way of that. I don’t think it’s healthy that you think this way, but I won’t stand in the way of that. I only hope that you’ll be honest with your children about the results that I gave you.”

“I told you yesterday that I wasn’t going to hide the truth from them, so I’m not going to start now.”

“I’m glad.” He sighed. “I’ll leave you alone with your husband. Let the nurse outside know if there’s anything you need.”

“I will.” He gave her a nod and walked out.

Irina looked back at Jack. She couldn’t think of anything to talk to him about, so she just sat there watching him.

Two hours later a nurse walked in.

“I thought you’d left with your family and everyone else, but the doctor told me you were still here.” Irina smiled.

“My husband doesn’t like hospitals, so I stayed to make sure he doesn’t leave his bed.”

“I see.” The nurse walked a little closer. “I came to ask you if you’d like some lunch.”

“Thank you, but no. I’m not hungry.”

“Are you sure I shouldn’t bring you something? You could always safe it for when you get hungry.” Irina smiled politely.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll let you know if I get hungry.”

The nurse thought that Irina should have something to eat after having spoken with the doctor, but also didn’t want to push her on the matter.

“Well as you know I’m right outside, so just let me know if I can get you anything.”

“I will. Thank you.” The nurse nodded and left.

A few hours later everyone got back. Irina smiled at them when they walked in. The triplets walked over to her, hugged her and gave her a kiss.

“Hi mommy. Hi daddy.”

“Did you have a good time?”

“Yes, it was nice.”

“I’m glad.” Sydney and Nadia looked at their mother a little nervously.

“Uh mom? Did the doctor examine dad yet?”

“Yes, a while back.”

“What did he say?” Irina sighed, but still smiled a little.

“He said that your father’s condition has deteriorated a little.” Everyone gasped a little, and she looked at the triplets. “The doctor really only said a little. Daddy can still pull through.” Ethan smiled.

“Yes, he can.” Irina looked at him and smiled. Caitie and Maddie looked from their mother to their brother and then back at their mother. They nodded and smiled a little. Irina engulfed all three in a hug.

“Will you show me what you bought?”

“Of course mommy.”

The triplets walked over to the table and couches and Irina followed them. When she walked passed Sydney and Nadia she gave them a hug, a kiss on the cheek, and an encouraging smile. They smiled a little, but sighed when Irina walked over to the table and had her back turned to them.

The triplets showed their mother everything that had been bought, and they told their father about it too. Irina, the triplets, Sydney, Nadia, Vaughn, and Eric had dinner in Jack’s room, while Marshall, Dixon, and Chase had dinner in the cafeteria. Irina hardly touched her food, saying she wasn’t that hungry.

After dinner Marshall, Dixon, and Chase came back and they all stayed in Jack’s room for a while. They talked from time to time, but a lot of the time also went by in silence.

A while later Vaughn, Eric, Marshall, Dixon, and Chase went to sleep, and half an hour later Irina told the triplets a story and kissed them goodnight. She stayed by their side until they were asleep and went back to sit by Jack.

Sydney and Nadia stayed in the room for another hour, but then thought they’d go to bed too. Sydney put a hand on her mother’s shoulder.

“Nadia and I are off to bed. Make sure you get some sleep too.” Irina gave Sydney a small smile.

“I’ll rest.”

Nadia sighed not really thinking that would be the case. They said goodnight to their parents, and hugged and kissed Irina goodnight. Before walking out they gave the triplets a kiss on their foreheads.

Irina looked at Jack for a long time. She didn’t really know what to say to him. But after a while she said something. She continued talking to him on and off throughout the night without getting any sleep.

The next day Dixon and Chase had been on the phone with APO and Devlin. They had agreed that Chase should return to work in the US to help with finding Sloane. They all had lunch together in Jack’s room and two hours later it was time for her to leave. Everyone but Irina would be walking her to her car, and they’d all gone out to wait for Chase in the hall while she and Irina said goodbye to each other in Jack’s room.

“I’m not done apologizing to you yet. I’ll be doing a lot of that when you get back. Believe me, I’ll be doing a lot of it. But before I go, I just want you to know that I never believed you had anything to do with what happened to Robin and her friend. I didn’t want to believe that you had changed, so I wanted to see if I could provoke your anger. I thought that maybe somehow I would find evidence of the terrorist you once were, and show that everyone had been wrong about you. I know that you’ve never been anything but kind to Robin and Stephen, and I feel so ashamed for accusing you. And ashamed for using Robin like that. That’s what I regret the most in the way I’ve treated you, and the thing I’ll be apologizing for the most.” Irina smiled a little.

“Thank you for telling me. I don’t need a million apologizes. You might not have been nice towards me, but I know you love Robin and Stephen very much, and that they love you. That’s all that matter and I’m happy for them that they have you in their life. I hope by your apology that we can all spend time together.” Chase smiled back.

“I certainly hope that too.” Chase reached out her hand to Irina. “Bye Irina. Take care and I’ll see you at home.” Irina took Chase’s hand and shook it.

“Bye Hayden. Get back home safe and say hi to Robin and Stephen.”

“I will.” Chase looked over at Jack. She remembered her conversation with Eric, and didn’t really want to say goodbye to Jack in case Irina would think that by saying that, she thought Jack would die. She smiled a little at him. “Take care, Jack.” She walked to the door and looked back at Irina and smiled. “Bye.” She nodded and smiled a little in return.

When she’d left Irina sat back down next to Jack. She let out a small laugh.

“Well who would’ve thought, but Chase actually apologized. Can you believe it? I hardly can, but it’s nice. And it’ll be good for everyone that she and I can be in the same room now. Especially for Robin and Stephen.”

She sat looking at Jack for a while without saying anything. She then leaned forward in her chair and studied the beard that had started to grow. It wasn’t much, but enough for her.

“You know, we really need to do something about that beard you’re starting to grow. When you get better and can sit up, we’ll remove it. As you know, Ethan bought a razor and shaving cream yesterday, so there’s no excuse mister.” She smiled. “I remember early in our marriage when you got home from a mission that had lasted four months. You had this disgusting beard. I refused to kiss you until you removed it. You asked me why I wouldn’t kiss you, and I said it’d be like kissing a goat. You asked me how I’d know that, and I told you I just knew. Then you told me you wouldn’t be shaving it off, and I refused to kiss you. You kept it on for three days before you shaved it off. I wasn’t able to keep my hands off you when I saw you without the beard, but eventually I had to, thanks to you.” She smiled fondly as she remembered that time.

It had been hard being apart from him during those four months, just like it was every time they were apart. But that time had been harder because that had also been the time the KGB had first talked about extracting her. She’d been scared that she’d be extracted before Jack got home, but a month before he got home, the KGB told her that she could stay. She’d been relieved that they’d believed her lie, and she had spent the next month planning on how to welcome Jack home.

She knew he’d be home late in the evening, so she hadn’t planned much. A little wine and dancing and making up for lost time in the bedroom. But that changed when he’d called her, and told her that he didn’t have to be at work until late the following day. She didn’t have to teach the following day because it was the middle of July, so she knew they didn’t have to go to bed early. Sydney would probably wake up early, but she knew Jack would be home, so she’d get between her parents and stay until they decided to get up.

Irina had planned to just wear jeans and a shirt, but with Jack staying longer the next morning, she’d put on her best and sexiest underwear, and wore one of Jack’s shirts over it leaving it open. She’d prepared some fruit to go with the wine, and had spread out a blanket on the living room floor, placing the wine and fruit there. The living room was lit only by candlelight, and soft music was playing.

When she heard the front door open, she didn’t move although she wanted to. When Jack called for her, she answered him, telling him she was in the living room. She was excited to see him again, but instead of being ready to jump into his arms, she stood gaping at him when she saw the beard on his face. He was gaping at her too, but that was by seeing her in her underwear and her body that was illuminated by candlelight.

After he had recovered a little, he walked over to her and was just about to kiss her when she stopped him. At first it was fun teasing each other. Her telling him that kissing him would be like kissing a goat. He’d tried to kiss her anyway, but when her cheek made contact with his beard and it was still a little scratchy in places, she’d gotten stubborn and pushed him away not wanting to kiss him. He’d gotten stubborn too saying he wasn’t going to shave it off. She’d refused to kiss him until he did, and that had been the end of that night. Irina blew the candles out and cleaned up downstairs while Jack went up to check on Sydney and unpack.

Their stubbornness had lasted for three days. Three days after coming home Jack had gotten the day off. It was a Saturday, and they’d agreed to spend the day doing what Sydney wanted. It had been hot, and they’d spent some of the day at the beach, and the rest of the day at a fair. They’d gotten home later than usual, and Sydney was put straight to bed. She had fallen asleep in the car, so Irina couldn’t understand what had kept Jack upstairs for so long.

When he got downstairs he’d offered her something to drink. She looked up at him, noticed a bottle of alcohol in his hand, but also noticed he had shaved. She smiled broadly at him, and he smiled broadly at her. She’d jumped up from the couch, and covered his mouth with hers not wanting to let go. Kissing him again was too good.

They’d ended up making love on the couch before opening the bottle of alcohol. They’d both taken big gulps to begin with and soon half the bottle was gone. After having been in the heat all day, and not having had anything more solid than corndogs for dinner, they’d gotten drunk quickly. Jack had decided to make toast to settle the hunger in his stomach. While he waited for that to finish, he walked back into the living room. They both drank more of the alcohol and when Irina had caressed his face and started kissing him again, he decided to settle a different hunger and forgot all about the toast he was making.

They’d gotten too lost in each other to notice that something was burning. Only when Jack had looked up and noticed the smoke coming out from the kitchen had they’d remembered the toast. They’d gotten off each other as quickly as they could and stumbled to the kitchen. Despite their drunken state, they’d sobered rather quickly from having to put out the fire. When the fire was out Irina had put her clothes on and had checked on Sydney. She’d been fast asleep. They’d agreed it was best to move to a hotel, so as not to risk any of them inhaling any smoke. They’d woken Sydney, gone to the Summit and ended up staying for a week until the damages had been repaired.

Irina laughed a little and looked at Jack again.

“But we made up for lost time when we moved back into the house again a week later, and I was still not able to keep my hands off you.” She smiled and looked at the beard again. “I actually do know that kissing you with a beard like that would be like kissing a goat, because I kissed a goat once. I was seven, and I was at a farm with my parents and Katya. She and I made a bet.” She shook her head. “I can’t remember what the bet was about, but I lost and Katya said I had to kiss a goat. I didn’t want to, but she said that a bet was a bet. I really wished she’d thought of something else for me to do rather than have me kiss a goat.” She laughed. “But who other than Katya would make you kiss a goat, right?” She sat smiling at him and didn’t say much else until the others got back.

The rest of the day went by much like the previous day. A little while after everyone had gotten back from saying goodbye to Chase, the doctor came and examined Jack. The result was not good. Jack’s condition had deteriorated further. The doctor tried to talk to Irina about it, but she kept saying that Jack was strong.

Everyone ate together in Jack’s room, and stayed until late. Dixon and Marshall went to bed first. They were followed a short while later by Vaughn and Eric, and the triplets were tugged in at the same time.

Sydney and Nadia stayed with their mother for a little while longer before saying goodnight and leaving. When they were out in the hall they looked at each other. They knew that it would probably be best if they said something to her about his condition. But none of them had the heart to tell their mother to let their father go. They couldn’t do that, because they couldn’t let him go either, even though they were more realistic about his condition than she was.

Irina didn’t sleep at all night. She looked at Jack and talked to him from time to time. She also looked over at the triplets. They slept peacefully.

When morning came the triplets walked over and joined their mother for a while before going to the bathroom to change. A while later Sydney and Nadia joined them, a few minutes after that Vaughn and Eric, and some time after that the nurse came and asked about breakfast. They all decided to have breakfast in Jack’s room, and Dixon and Marshall joined them a few minutes later. Irina didn’t eat much.

They spent the rest of the morning in Jack’s room. The triplets spent the time mostly drawing. They’d also borrowed some cards, games, and puzzles that everyone occupied their time with. Later they also had lunch in the room, but again Irina didn’t really eat anything, and in the afternoon everyone went for a walk outside. Except for Irina.

After sitting watching Jack for a while she spoke to him.

“It’s July 2nd today in case you’re wondering.” She smiled.” Next year we’ll have to celebrate the 4th of July twice as much since we’ll be missing it this year. Well maybe we could celebrate when we get home and you’re better.” She nodded. “Yeah, I think everyone would like that.”

She continued talking about the party, telling Jack what meat they should get for the barbeque and what other food they should make and what beverages to get. After, she talked to him about other things and also just remained silent at times looking at him.

When everyone got back from their walk, they all went back to playing cards, games, drawing, and making puzzles. They all had dinner in Jack’s room, but Irina played with her food more than she ate it.

Shortly after dinner the doctor came into the room. Dixon and Marshall cleaned up while he did the examination. Irina held her breath every time the doctor touched Jack just like she’d done all the other times the doctor had examined him. The doctor examined Jack longer than he’d done the other times, and he carefully compared the new results to the old ones. When he was done he looked around at everyone and looked lastly at Irina.

“Can I talk to all of you outside?”

Everyone was a bit nervous by the tone in the doctor’s voice except for Irina, who didn’t seem to show any nervousness. Instead she smiled a little at the doctor and nodded.

“Of course.” She got up from her seat. So did everyone else and they followed, the doctor into the hall.

Dixon and Marshall came back and joined them when they spotted everyone outside Jack’s room. They were nervous about the situation too, and it didn’t make things better for anyone when the doctor took a few seconds before saying anything. The doctor took a breath before looking at Irina.

“I really wish that this examination had a better outcome, but unfortunately it didn’t. Mr. Bristow’s condition has deteriorated rapidly. In fact it has deteriorated so rapidly that I don’t expect him to make it through the night. In a situation like this, it’s my experience that the people losing a loved one feel better having said their goodbyes when the person is still alive. I recommend that you say your goodbyes now, and don’t wait until after Mr. Bristow has taken his last breath. If you don’t, you might regret it later on.”

Marshall started to shake a little and Dixon put his arm around him. Nadia started sobbing and put her face in her hands. Eric hugged her from behind and buried his face in her neck. Sydney turned in Vaughn’s arms and buried her face in his shoulder crying her eyes out, and Vaughn hugged her tightly. The triplets wrapped their arms around their mother, and started crying. Irina put her arms around them, staring blankly at the door to Jack’s room.

TBC
 
Great update, I hope jack comes out of this alright. Irina really needs to get some sleep and to eat she hasn't had a good days rest and food since the triplets were kidnapped. Is Irina gonna have a mental breakdown soon? I know alot of her actions are probably from lack of sleep and because jack is injured but she blaming herself for jack condition.
 
It Was For The Best - Part 2.

Next chapter is here. Thank you all for reading and for commenting. It means a lot.

texasalias2004: Yeah, it really is sad. Time will tell if Jack will pull through.

Irina_Derevko_Bristow: Thank you. Time will tell what happens to Jack. Yes, she most definitely needs that. She's not really going to have a mental breakdown - she will if Jack dies. But something will happen to her. Irina will always blame herself for everything - she believes that had she only told Jack the truth about her all those years ago that he would have forgiven her since he forgave her after everything she's done, and that they would've been spared all the hurt they've been through in their lives.

nicewoman: Read to find out if Jack dies.

sydneymicheal: No it doesn't look good. Time will tell if he recovers.

Chapter 27
Irina continued to stare blankly at the door for a few seconds. Her lips were trembling and she was on the verge of tears. But instead of letting her tears fall, she got furious.

“No. I’m not going to let him give up that easily.” Everyone stared wide eyed at Irina through their tears.

“Mrs. Bristow I think maybe you need to sit down.” She shook her head.

“No. What I need is to talk some sense into my husband.” She let go of the triplets and stormed passed the doctor, and burst into Jack’s room. Everyone looked at each other for a brief second before following her.

“Mom, wait.”

Irina was shaking her head furiously when she reached the headboard. She looked down at Jack for a few seconds and then she started yelling.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Are you just going to give up that easily? Are you really just going to lay there and die?”

“Mom, please stop.” Irina didn’t pay any attention to Nadia.

“You never give up. You’re stronger than that. You’re more stubborn than that. And you fight. So fight, god damn it. Fight.”

“Mom, calm down.” She didn’t pay any attention to Sydney either.

“Jack, if you die, I swear I’m never talking to you again. Not while I’m alive, and I’m sure as hell not going to talk to you in the afterlife. You’re on your own there. So you better damn well fight if you want me to talk to you again. Do you hear me? Am I getting through that thick head of yours? Am I? Damn it Jack, don’t you dare give up. Don’t you even da….da..” Her vision got a bit blurry and she shook her head. “Fight dammm…” She started to stumble a little. “Jack, fi..figh…fighhhh…” She collapsed on the floor, and the doctor rushed to her side.

“MOMMY, DON’T DIE.”

“PLEASE HOLD ON, MOMMY.”

Sydney and Nadia held Maddie and Caitie back when they tried to run towards their mother. They wanted to get to their mother themselves, but also knew that the doctor needed room to examine her. All they could do was comfort their sisters. Ethan stood silently by and looked between his parents.

The doctor shook Irina and slapped her lightly on her cheek.

“Mrs. Bristow, I need you to wake up. Come on.” Irina started to groan a little, and her head started to roll from side to side a little. Her voice was only a whisper.

“Jaa…Jack….I…I..lov….love…..y..you.” The doctor looked over at the others and gave the triplets a reassuring smile.

“Your mother is going to be just fine. She just needs to rest. She’s not going to die.” Maddie and Caitie nodded slightly and Ethan nodded a bit more. The doctor looked at Dixon. “Could you get the nurse outside the door, please?”

“Yes.” Dixon left the room and returned with the nurse a few seconds later. She walked over to the doctor and he looked up at her.

“Get a stretcher and some help in here. We need to get her to a room, so that she can rest.”

“Right away, doctor.”

The nurse left and returned a few minutes later with two doctors, a nurse, and a stretcher. Everyone made room for them to get the stretcher to Irina. Once she was on the stretcher the doctor looked at his colleagues and the nurses.

“Let’s put her in the nearest room from here. Go ahead and get her settled. I’ll be right there.”

“Right away.” The two doctors and nurses left and Jack’s doctor looked at Sydney and Nadia.

“I have a feeling that your mother hasn’t eaten much the last couple of days.” Nadia nodded.

“Yes, she has hardly touched her food, and she hasn’t been drinking much either.”

“Has she slept much?” Sydney shook her head.

“No, we don’t think she’s slept at all since she came here. Probably not much before that either.”

“We’ll make sure to rectify that.” He looked at the triplets and smiled. “Your mother will be just fine. We’ll take good care of her, and she’s in no danger of dying.” The triplets nodded and the doctor looked around at everyone. “As I said a little while ago, I advice you to say your goodbyes to Mr. Bristow. I think that will be best for you.”

Sydney and Nadia bit their bottom lip, holding back the tears to stop themselves from sobbing again at the moment. They nodded and hugged Maddie and Caitie tighter when they turned in their embraces. Maddie shook her head.

“I don’t want to say goodbye to daddy.”

“Me either.” Sydney and Nadia looked at their sisters.

“We don’t want to say goodbye to dad either.”

“Maybe we could go and sit with mom for a while? Would you like that?” They both nodded slightly. Sydney looked at Ethan.

“Ethan, do you want to come with us to sit with mom for a while?”

Ethan looked at Sydney and then looked back at his father. He smiled a little before turning back towards Sydney.

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Nadia looked at Eric, Vaughn, Dixon, and Marshall.

“Maybe some of you could say goodbye to dad?” They looked around at each other for a few seconds, and slightly nodded at Nadia. She nodded back.

“Then I will take you to your mother’s room. Follow me.” The doctor walked out of Jack’s room first followed by Sydney, Maddie, Nadia, Caitie, and Ethan.

Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall stayed in the room looking around at each other. None of them could really bring themselves to be the first one to say goodbye to Jack. Marshall shook his head and dried his tears.

“I don’t think I can do this right now. I really need to talk to Carrie. Tell her how things are.” Vaughn nodded.

“It’s okay Marshall. We understand. Call Carrie and talk to her.” Marshall nodded and left the room a little fast. Dixon looked at Vaughn and Eric.

“I don’t want to pressure you two into saying goodbye to Jack first, but maybe you should say your goodbyes now. You’ll have plenty of time to do it in before Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets get back, and as his sons-in-laws I’d think you’d want to spend quite a bit of time with him alone.” Eric nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“I’ll leave you alone then, and call home too.” Vaughn and Eric nodded and Dixon left them alone in the room with Jack.

Vaughn and Eric stood in the room looking at Jack for a long time without saying anything. Vaughn ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.

“I can’t say goodbye to him. I just can’t.”

“Then maybe we don’t.” Vaughn looked at Eric confused.

“What are you talking about?”

“Maybe we follow Irina’s example. Maybe provoking him or yelling at him is what he needs in order to wake up.” Eric walked away from Vaughn and walked to stand by Jack’s bed. Vaughn followed him slowly and ended up on the other side of the bed.

“What exactly did you have in mind?” Eric looked up at Vaughn.

“I don’t know, but maybe something like this.” He looked down at Jack. “Hey Jack, remember when Nadia and I found out we were expecting David, and we told everyone at APO about it? Later by the coffeemaker you heard Vaughn and I talking and laughing, and as you walked up closer behind us, you thought you heard me talking about the many different times, Nadia and I could’ve produced him. When we saw you and you gave us your death glare, we tried to deny that, that was what we were talking about, and you walked away believing that we hadn’t talked about that. Or maybe you walked away not wanting to believe that. Remember? Well, let me tell you that you heard correctly. I was telling Vaughn the many, many different ways Nadia could’ve gotten pregnant.” Vaughn stared wide eyed and Eric.

“Eric, stop. Don’t tell him that.” Eric ignored Vaughn and went on.

“Let me tell you something about Nadia that you probably didn’t know. She’s wild. Very wild. I mean, I’m talking about some serious wild positions here. She’s very bendy and the things she can do with her mouth are amazing.”

“Geez Eric. Just stop.”

“And when she speaks Spanish to me, I get really horny. I just can’t keep my hands off of her. And she loves it. She loves my hands on her, my mouth on her, my tongue on her. In fact, Nadia is as horny as I am.”

“Jack doesn’t need to hear about that.” Eric snapped at Vaughn.

“I think that’s exactly what he needs to hear. If there’s anyway that he can hear me on some subconscious level, then hearing me talk about Nadia like that will get him angry. And maybe provoking his anger like that will make him wake up.” Eric looked back at Jack and snapped at him too. “Come on Jack. I know you don’t want to hear me talk about Nadia like that. So show me that Bristow death glare of yours. I know you want to. Come on Jack. Come on.”

Vaughn eyed Eric and thought that he had a point. Maybe provoking Jack’s anger was what would make Jack wake up. It couldn’t hurt and especially not when they were in the room alone with him. He decided to follow Eric’s thinking.

“Hey Jack? If you die, do you realize who Irina will turn to for comfort? She’ll turn to Stan. Sure she might have hated him in the past, but that will change with your death. Since you’ll be dead Michelle won’t have you to drool over anymore. She won’t have any interest in Stan either, and he’ll be free to spend all his free time with Irina. He’ll be more caring towards her, because he’ll realize that, that’s what he needs to be in order to get her. Irina won’t like it at first, but she’ll be so heartbroken about your death that she’ll think Stan has changed and she’ll want him to take the pain away. Just imagine that, Jack. Imagine Stan with his hands allover Irina and her taking pleasure in his touches. If you don’t want that to happen, you damn well better wake up, Jack. Show us your death glare.”

“Yeah, Jack, we want to see it. We want to see that death glare. But do you know what I want to see more than that?” As tears started to form in his eyes, he calmed down. “I want to see the smile on my wife’s face when she’s talking to her father. I want to see the smile on her face, when I see her watching her father with her children. I want to see the smile on her face, when I see her watching her parents and she sees how much in love they are.” The tears were falling down his cheeks by now, but he didn’t attempt to dry them. “Please don’t take that smile away, Jack. Please don’t.” Vaughn was crying too, but didn’t dry them either.

“Jack, please don’t deprive my children of their grandfather. Don’t deprive any of your grandchildren of their grandfather. Or your children of their father, or Irina of her husband. They all need you. We all need you. Especially Irina. She can’t live without you. And you put the same smile on Sydney’s face that you do with Nadia. Don’t take that away. You have to fight, Jack. Fight.”

Vaughn and Eric stayed in Jack’s room for a long time just crying and looking at Jack without saying anything. They were each remembering their time with him and still couldn’t and wouldn’t say goodbye.

There was a knock on the door that broke them from their thoughts.

“Yeah.”

Marshall walked in. It was obvious that he’d done a lot more crying since the last time they saw him. He walked into the room a little.

“I don’t want to disturb if you’re not done yet.” Vaughn and Eric looked at each other and gave each other a short nod. Vaughn looked back at Marshall.

“I think we’ve said what we needed to say. We might be in here later with Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets, so you can go ahead and talk to Jack now, if you want.” Marshall nodded slightly.

“Yeah, I should probably do that.” They nodded and walked towards the door. Eric stopped before walking passed Marshall.

“How’s Carrie?”

“Not good. It was hard to tell her when I’m not able to be with her.”

“That’s understandable.” Eric gave Marshall’s shoulder a squeeze before walking out of the room. Vaughn did the same.

“Take your time.” Marshall nodded and was left alone with Jack.

He walked closer to the bed and looked at him. He tried several times to speak, but no words came out and the tears started falling again. After a while he chuckled a little.

“It’s funny how I always ramble on and on about pointless things, but now when it really matters I can’t get the words out. But I think you know, what you mean to me.” He smiled. “I’ve never admired another person the way I admire you. I’ve learned so much from you, and a lot of it has been from just observing you. There was a time when I thought that you and I would not really be friends. But the friendship, we’ve built over the last five years, is a friendship I’ll cherish forever. And I’m proud to call you my friend.” He chuckled a little again. “I can’t imagine anyone not being proud of calling you his or her friend. Thank you, my friend, for letting me, be part of your life. Thank you for the way you’ve opened your heart to my family, and thank you for letting us be part of yours.”

He stood for another few minutes just looking at Jack without saying anything. Like Vaughn and Eric, he too, thought back on his life with Jack. He was about to open his mouth to say goodbye, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. He stood for another two minutes and then turned to leave. Just before putting his hand on the door knob, he looked back at Jack.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can I just have a favor to ask of you. Yeah, I know I’m not really in a position to ask anything of you, because you’re the one in a hospital bed with gunshot wounds in your chest and the one, who has been tortured. But this is really important. If you’ll grant me this favor I promise I’ll never ask for anything ever again. Not ever. No, nothing ever again, and I’ll do whatever I can to repay you. Absolutely anything you need.” He took a breath. “Could you please not die? I know it’s asking a lot with your current condition, but please don’t die. You have no idea how much you’ll be missed and how much you’re needed. So please don’t die. Just do whatever you can to hold on. Please Jack.” He stood looking at Jack for a few more seconds and then left the room.

Marshall met Dixon in the hall. He told Dixon that there was no one in Jack’s room, so Dixon decided to go in and say goodbye. But when he got in his room all he could do was just look at Jack. He also thought back on their time together. He shook his head.

“This can’t be how it ends for you. It just can’t be.” He wanted to say more. He wanted to tell him how honored he was to know him, and what he meant to him as a friend and a colleague. But the words wouldn’t come out. Not that they needed to be expressed. Jack knew what he meant to Dixon. So instead of talking he silently prayed for Jack to live. When he was done he looked at Jack. “I’m counting on you to pull through.” He stayed for another minute before he left.

Half an hour later Ethan walked into Jack’s room. He walked up to the headboard and smiled at his father.

“Hi daddy. Mommy’s okay. She just needs to rest. But she’ll come and see you when she’s better. It might be a while, because she’s passed out at the moment.” He smiled a little broader at his father. “I found a new place to hide one of mommy’s presents. She’ll never be able to find it there. Your anniversary is next, so I’ll use the place for that present, and think of a new place to hide one of her Christmas presents.” He leaned closer and gave Jack a light kiss on his cheek. “I love you, daddy.” He remained standing and just looked at his father.

After a while Sydney, Nadia, Maddie, and Caitie walked into the room. Nadia, Caitie, and Maddie walked on the other side of the bed opposite of Ethan. She sat down on the chair by the bed with Caitie and Maddie sitting in her lap. She put her arms around them and pulled them closer. Sydney walked up to Ethan and sat down in the chair next to him, and Ethan sat down in her lap. She put her arms around him and pulled him closer.

“We wondered where you went.” He smiled at her.

“I just wanted to talk to daddy.”

“Okay.”

They sat in silence for a while before Maddie spoke. She looked around at everyone.

“What’s your favorite memory with daddy?” They all looked at each other and Sydney smiled.

“I guess, I’ll go first since I’m the oldest.” She thought for a while and then smiled a little more. “I have a lot of favorite memories with dad. One of them is when I was five. Mom was on a trip, and it was just dad and I for a few days. He was still busy with work, but he was able to get off work a little earlier every day than what he usually did on most days. Mom was coming home Sunday, and I thought that dad would be at work for a large part of Saturday. But that Saturday morning when he woke me up, he told me that he had the entire day off. I remember jumping out of bed raining kisses allover his face.” Everyone smiled. “It wasn’t really beach weather, but I wanted to make a sandcastle, so dad took me there without hesitation. After, we went to the carrousel and then home. We played a bunch of games throughout the rest of the day, and watched some cartoons in the evening. When it was time for bed, dad told me that he’d read to me until I fell asleep. It was so wonderful to have him all to myself, so I fought to stay awake for as long as I could, because I wanted the day to continue forever. And dad was great. He never once told me to go to asleep.” Nadia smiled warmly.

“He was enjoying his time alone with you, just as much as you were enjoying your time alone with him.” Sydney nodded.

“Yeah, he told me that the next day.”

“Do you know how long you were able to stay awake?”

“Yes, I asked dad the next day. Almost two hours.” Caitie looked at Sydney.

“Any favorite memory with dad from when you were older?”

“I have a lot of those too. One of my favorites was when I got married. The talk we had before he walked me down the aisle with the look in his eyes that told me how much he loved me and how happy and proud he was of me, but that also told me that he still thought of me as his little girl, and that he had a hard time letting me go.” They all smiled a little more. “And then there was him walking me down the aisle, his teary eyes as Vaughn and I said, our vows, and our first dance together after the ceremony.” She blinked back her tears and smiled. “I’ll cherish those moments and a million more forever.”

Everyone looked at Nadia next and she smiled.

“I guess it’s my turn. Well, since I don’t have any childhood memories with dad, I can only go with the memories I have with him as an adult.”

She thought for a while. One of her favorite moments was when she had gone to his apartment on her first night home from the hospital after being in a coma and asked if he was her father. She had been relieved, had a great talk with him, and stayed at his place for the night. It had been wonderful. Another had been at the safe house, when she’d asked him if it’d be alright with him that she took his last name. But she couldn’t tell the triplets that. They didn’t know that there had been doubts as to who her father was. Maybe they’d know when they were older. Maybe one day they’d know the entire truth about their parents’ lives and theirs. But it wasn’t her or Sydney’s place to tell them that, and now was not the time to say anything that might make them ask questions, they couldn’t give the answer to.

Caitie tugged at Nadia’s sleeve.

“Have you thought of something yet?” Nadia couldn’t help but laugh a little as she looked at her sister.

“One of my absolute favorites is my wedding day too, and I experienced all the same things that Sydney did. Even though he wasn’t with me as a child, he still looked as me as his little girl. But really every moment since we all got together as a family have been my favorite moments with him.” Sydney nodded.

“I think we can all agree on that.” The triplets nodded too. Sydney nudged Ethan a little. “You were the first one born out of the three of you, so you’re next.

Ethan thought for a while. Some of his favorite moments were hiding presents for his father. It was their secret and no one else knew about it. But since it was their secret he couldn’t tell his sisters about it. He closed his eyes and thought for a little while longer. Then he smiled even more than before.

“Every moment I’ve spent with daddy is my favorite moment. But the one that will be my favorite one out of all of them hasn’t happened yet.” Sydney and Nadia’s smiles faded, and they exchanged glances. Sydney then hugged her brother tighter.

“Sweetie, you know what the doctor said. You know that dad probably won’t live throughout the night.” He nodded.

“I know what the doctor said, but doctors can be wrong. And I’m telling you, my favorite moment with daddy hasn’t happened yet.”

“Ethan, I know it’s hard to let go of dad, but you have to list…” He cut her off.

“No, Sydney.” He sounded neither sad, nor angry, but remained calm. “My favorite moment with daddy hasn’t happened yet. When it does, I’ll let you know.”

Caitie and Maddie looked at their brother and he looked at them. None of them said anything. They just sat there looking at each other in the eyes.

Sydney and Nadia looked at their siblings, and then at each other. With their eyes they asked each other what was going on between the triplets, but they both shrugged. They didn’t have a clue. They kept looking at them, and stared a little wide eyed when the triplets started to smile simultaneously a little. Sydney and Nadia looked at each other again, not knowing what to think of what just happened.

They all remained silent for a while after that, but then Maddie broke the silence.

“One of my favorite memories with daddy is when we’re at the cabin at Christmas, and we’re out playing in the snow. I love when we built a snowman with daddy.” Everyone smiled. “I’m looking forward to us doing that again with him this year.” Caitie smiled.

“I’m looking forward to that too. And also to daddy reading a story in front of the fireplace.” Sydney and Nadia shook their heads in disbelief at what they were hearing. Nadia hugged Caitie and Maddie closer.

“We all want dad to live. But we all have to be realistic and realize that he most likely won’t.”

“We are being realistic, Nadia.” Nadia looked over at Ethan. “Daddy will live. You’ll see.”

“Ethan, you don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do Sydney. I know it in here.” He put his hand on his heart. “I can feel that daddy won’t die.” Sydney and Nadia had to bite their bottom lip to stop themselves from crying. They didn’t have the heart to try to convince their siblings that their father would die, so they kept quiet leaving them to their beliefs. Sydney kissed Ethan’s head.

“Okay, if you say so, sweetie.” Caitie looked at Ethan and Maddie.

“We should probably tell mommy that daddy’s going to be fine.” Maddie nodded.

“I think, she’d like that even if she can’t hear us at the moment.” Ethan nodded and got off Sydney’s lap. Caitie and Maddie got off Nadia’s lap, and the three of them left the room. Once they left Sydney and Nadia started crying.

“I can’t believe they think dad’s going to be okay.”

“I can’t either, but could it be that they’re right?” Sydney looked at Nadia. “Syd, I can’t say goodbye to dad. I can’t. I’ve had too little time with him. I want more. I know what dad’s been through, and know that the doctor’s probably right, but at the same time I want to believe that Ethan is right. You told me once that on the train in Sovogda mom told you I was alive even though you’d seen me be tackled by all those people, who had been infected. Could it be that Ethan has inherited something similar to that? I know it’s not the same like with mom and that, that particular case could just be because of the Rambaldi prophecy. But is it possible that he’s actually able to somehow see that dad’s going to live?”

“I don’t know. He seems really sure, and I want to believe him too, but I just don’t know. Dad’s been through so much and he’s only gotten worse. I would think that if he was going to make it that he would’ve gotten better by now. I just don’t know what I’m going to do if I start believing that he’ll live, and it turns out that dad has died during the night. But maybe believing that dad will be alright is our last resort.” Sydney looked at her father. “Dad, I love you. If there’s anyway for you to hear me, please know that we believe in you. You’re stronger than life itself. Your time is not up yet. You have to pull through. You have to find the strength to pull through. You have it in you to do that, so find it.”

“Dad, I love you too. We all love you and we can’t live without you. So find that strength we know you have and fight. Fight.” They stayed silent for a long time before Nadia looked at Sydney. “I know that we should probably sleep in here, if we’re going to believe that dad’s going to be okay. But in case it turns out the way the doctor think it will, I don’t think I could bear to witness him flatline. I know I’m horrible for saying that, but I just can’t watch him die.” Sydney nodded.

“I know. I wouldn’t be able to watch that either. And in case Ethan isn’t right, I think it’s best that we’re not in here. I would hate to think what it’ll do to them if it turns out, they’re wrong. We’ll all sleep in the waiting room.”

“Good.”

They stayed in the room for a while longer alone before they were joined by Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall. Vaughn went to stand by Sydney’s chair, and Eric went to stand by Nadia’s chair.

“Did you say goodbye?”

“No, we couldn’t.”

“Ethan said that Jack’s not going to die. He said something about feeling it in his heart.”

“Yeah, he told us that. Maddie and Caitie believe that too. We’ve started to believe it a little too. We know that it’s probably insane to believe that, but right now all we can do is hope.” Eric kissed Nadia’s head.

“It’s not insane to hope.”

“We’ve decided to all sleep in the waiting room. We haven’t talked it over with the triplets yet, but we think it’s best, in case dad does die during the night. We don’t want them to see that if it happens, and we wouldn’t be able to watch it either.”

“I think that’s a wise decision.”

A few minutes later the triplets came back into Jack’s room.

“Mommy’s still sleeping.”

“We said goodnight to her.”

“Speaking of sleep. Sydney and I think it would be nice if we all slept in the waiting room together. Would you like that?” Ethan nodded.

“Yeah that would be nice.” Maddie and Caitie nodded, and Sydney and Nadia smiled, glad that it hadn’t been hard to convince them.

“It’s getting late, so maybe we should turn in.”

“Yeah, I think we could all use the rest.” Sydney swallowed, and then did her best to smile. “Say goodnight to dad.” Caitie walked closer.

“Goodnight daddy. I love you.” Maddie was next.

“I love you too, daddy. Goodnight.” Then it was Ethan’s turn.

“See you tomorrow daddy. Goodnight. I love you.”

Sydney and Nadia bit down on their lip when Ethan said he’d be seeing their father the next day. They tried their best to believe that they would. Nadia was next in line to say goodnight.

“I love you dad. Goodnight.” Sydney was the last one.

“Goodnight dad. I love you.”

They stood looking at Jack for a few minutes before gathering the triplets’ things and leaving the room. Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall took the triplets to the waiting room, while Sydney and Nadia went to their mother’s room. Once in there, they stood watching her for a little while. Nadia shook her head.

“I wish mom had taken better care of herself. If dad dies tonight and she’s not there, I hate to think what it’ll do to her. She won’t have had the chance to say goodbye.”

“I guess we just have to believe more strongly that what Ethan said will come true.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Nadia gave her mother a kiss. “Goodnight mom. I love you.” Sydney did the same.

“I love you too, mom. Goodnight.” They left the room and went to bed.

In the middle of the night Irina woke up. She was a bit confused where she was and what had happened. But she quickly remembered everything, and became more awake, though, she was still a bit groggy. She sat up slowly, looking around in the room. She realized that she wasn’t in Jack’s room and that she was alone. She needed to see him, and was about to get out of bed when she noticed the IV in her arm. She knew that she should probably keep it in, because it gave her the nourishment she had been lacking due to not eating and drinking. But she also knew that it would prevent her from seeing Jack. She wasn’t going to let anything or anyone stop her from seeing him, so she took it out, and made a promise to herself and her children that she would eat and drink properly.

Her legs were a bit shaky when she tried to stand, so she had to sit back down for a while. She took a couple of deep breaths and the second time she tried to stand, she felt better. She walked slowly to the door and walked out into the hall. She noticed the desk outside Jack’s door where a nurse usually sat. No one was there at the moment, and she was a bit worried about that. Not wanting to think the worst, she continued out into the hall.

She went to the waiting room and looked through the windows. She smiled when she saw the triplets sleeping on mattresses with Sydney on one side of them, and Nadia on the other. Vaughn was spooned against Sydney, and Eric was spooned against Nadia. Dixon and Marshall were sleeping on two of the couches. Her smile faded a little. The triplets had spent every night in their father’s room, but now they were here and she didn’t know what to make of it. She bit down on her lip and started to walk towards Jack’s room hoping she wasn’t too late.

When she got to his door, her hand was shaking as she reached out for the doorknob. She steadied herself and took a couple of deep breaths preparing herself for the worst before opening the door. She smiled through her tears when she saw that Jack was still alive. After closing the door quietly behind her, she walked over to his bed and sat in the chair she’d been sitting in every night. She smiled at him.

“Hi sweetheart. I’m sorry I left. I didn’t want to, but it’s not like I had a choice.” Her smile faded and she started to cry even more. “I’m sorry Jack. I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just that you can’t die. You just can’t. I know I left you for a total of more than twenty years, but if you leave you can’t come back. You’ll be gone forever.” She put her head in her hands and started sobbing. “Please don’t leave me. Don’t leave. I need you. I’m not strong without you.” She looked at him. “I can’t even sleep properly when you’re not by my side, so how do you expect me to live without you. I love you Jack. I love you so much. Please don’t let this be how it ends for us. Please don’t let it.”

She wanted to crawl into bed with him, and just hold him close and kiss him. This would be her last time to do that, if he died during the night. But she couldn’t get herself to do it. The doctor’s words were too much embedded in her mind. She couldn’t even bring herself to touch him just a little even though the doctor had agreed to light feathery touches. Instead she put her face back in her hands and continued sobbing.

The next morning the doctor walked into Jack’s room. He saw Irina silently sitting there watching Jack. She wasn’t crying at the moment, but from her puffy eyes the doctor could tell that she had been. He walked closer and looked at her.

“Mrs. Bristow you belong in your bed.” She kept her eyes on Jack.

“No, I belong by my husband.”

“You need to take care of yourself.”

“What I need is my husband.” Feeling like he wouldn’t be able to convince her to take care of herself, he sighed and let it go.

“I’m just going to examine your husband.”

Irina bit her bottom lip at the thought of the doctor touching Jack. The tears started to fall a little again, and she nodded.

“Okay.” The doctor nodded and started the examination.

Irina held her breath every time the doctor touched Jack, but she never looked at the doctor. Not even when he took longer to examine Jack and comparing the results.

“I don’t believe it.” Now she looked at the doctor curious about the surprised tone in his voice.

“What is it?” The doctor looked at her.

“Well, given the fact that I was surprised that I hadn’t heard your husband flatline during the night, I’m even more surprised now. I’ve just compared the results from now to the ones from yesterday, and your husband is actually doing a little better.” Irina gaped and then smiled a little.

“He’s doing better?”

“Yes, a little bit. I don’t want you to get your hopes up too much. It’s too early to tell if this means anything. He could still die.” Irina smiled a little more, but wanted to be reassured.

“But he’s doing better?” The doctor smiled back a little.

“Yes surprisingly, he’s doing better.” She smiled more and looked at Jack again.

“Did you hear that, sweetheart? You’re doing better. Now you just have to make it all the way. And I know you can do it. I know you can.”

“Mrs. Bristow there’s still no guarantee that he’ll make it.” She looked back at the doctor.

“You thought that he would die during the night, but were surprised that he’s still alive, and even doing better. I think that proves how strong my husband is. You might not think that the fact that he’s doing a little better is guarantee enough that he’ll make it, but I do. Since he’s not dead yet, I know he won’t die.” The doctor sighed.

“Very well. You’re allowed to think what you will. But just keep in mind that he could still die.” Irina didn’t respond to what he said, and he sighed again. “I don’t know how much longer your family will be sleeping, but should I have breakfast send up?” She smiled and nodded.

“Yes, I think that’ll be a good idea. And I’ll wake them up now. It’s time they got up anyway.”

“Okay. And you’ll make sure to eat this time?” She nodded.

“Yes, I’ll make sure to eat.” He nodded and left. She looked at Jack again and smiled. “I’m going to wake everyone and tell them the good news, and then we’re going to have breakfast in here.” She stood up and wanted to give him a kiss, but the doctor’s words were still embedded in her mind even though Jack was doing better. Instead she just looked at him for another few seconds before leaving.

When she got to the waiting room everyone was still sleeping. She stood outside just looking in on them before walking in. When she was inside she squatted down by the mattresses and gently shook the triplets, Sydney, and Nadia. Caitie woke up first.

“Mommy.” She got up off the mattress and hugged her mother. Everyone else woke up too and Maddie and Ethan also hugged their mother.

“Mommy, are you okay?” Irina smiled at Maddie.

“Yes, I’m fine sweetheart. I’m sorry if I made you worry. I was just too worried about daddy to worry about myself.” Sydney and Nadia looked at their mother a little worried.

“Mom, do you know how things are with dad? Do you know if he’s….” She shook her head.

“No, Sydney. Your father’s not dead. The doctor just examined him, and he’s actually doing a little better.” Sydney, Nadia, Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall were a little stunned at first, but then smiled in relief.

“Really, mom?” Irina smiled even more.

“Really, Nadia. The doctor said not to get our hopes up, because it might mean nothing. But we all know how strong he is. I’ve no doubt that he’ll make it.”

“I don’t doubt that either, mommy.” Irina smiled at Ethan, and Sydney and Nadia couldn’t help but look at each other thinking about what Ethan had said the night before.

“Breakfast is being send up to your father’s room. I thought we could all eat there.”

“That’s sounds like a good idea. Will you promise to eat this time?” Irina nodded at Nadia.

“Yes, I’ll eat.”

They all got up and changed before going to Jack’s room. Sydney and Nadia were relieved when they saw their father. Hearing he was still alive was one thing, but seeing it with their own eyes was something else. They all said good morning to him, and then sat down to eat when the food arrived. Everyone was happy to see that Irina was eating and that she finished everything on her plate.

They spent the rest of the morning playing games and drawing, and after lunch everyone went out for a walk with the exception of Irina. Sydney and Nadia felt that it would’ve been good for her to get out and get some air, but also felt better leaving her since she’d eaten breakfast and lunch.

When everyone got back the rest of the afternoon and evening were spent the same way the morning was, and after dinner the doctor examined Jack again. To his surprise Jack was doing better than when he had examined him that morning.

The triplets slept in Jack’s room with Irina, and when Sydney and Nadia were about to leave to get some sleep, they looked at their mother.

“Mom, will you make sure to get some sleep?”

“It’s great that you’re eating again, but you also need to sleep.”

“I promise I’ll try to sleep. I might not sleep on the mattress, but I’ll try to get some sleep in the chair.”

“I would be best if you slept on the mattress.”

“I know, but I also want to be as close to your father as possible.” Sydney and Nadia couldn’t help but smile at that.

“Okay mom. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight mom.”

“Goodnight girls.”

When they left Irina sat watching Jack for a while. She then talked to him for a while, and after that she went to get a blanket and a pillow. She made herself comfortable in the chair, and then talked to Jack some more before attempting to get some sleep.

The next morning when everyone joined Irina and the triplets in Jack’s room, Sydney and Nadia were happy to see that their mother was sitting with a blanket and a pillow. They walked closer.

“Did you sleep, mom?”

“Not much, but a little bit.”

“That’s good to hear.” The triplets woke up and Ethan went to Jack’s bed.

“Happy 4th of July, daddy.” He looked around at everyone else. “Happy 4th of July.”

“Happy 4th of July to you too.”

“So, since we won’t be celebrating like we usually do, is there anything specific you’d like to do today?” The triplets looked around at each other and then shook their heads.

“No, not really. We just want to be with daddy.”

“We’ll do that then.”

Shortly after, Dixon and Marshall went to get breakfast for everyone, and half an hour after they’d eaten the doctor came and examined Jack. He shook his head in disbelief.

“It’s amazing. Mr. Bristow is doing better. A lot better than yesterday and a lot better than he was when he came out of surgery. I’m still not going to say that he’ll make it, and I still advice you not to touch him. But things are definitely looking a lot better.”

“That’s great.”

“Is there anything I can do for you? It’s the 4th of July, so is there any way I can make the day a little special for you? We can have a TV and a DVD-player brought up. I’m sure we have some movies you can all watch.”

“That would nice.”

“Then I’ll arrange it. Although dinner is hours away, I can arrange for you to have something from a restaurant.”

“We don’t want you to go to any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all.”

“Then thank you. That would be nice.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll go and get the TV and DVD-player.”

They spent all day watching TV, movies, and playing games. Some time after dinner Vaughn looked at his watch.

“We should probably call home. I think everyone’s up by now.”

“We should tell the kids that we’re staying away longer. I don’t think they’ll like that, but I don’t want to go home until we know for sure what’s going to happen to dad.”

“So far they’ve been pretty okay with us being away. I think that as long as we talk to them every day, they’re going to be fine.” Irina smiled at Nadia.

“I’m sure they will.” Caitie looked at Irina.

“Can we call home and talk to aunt Katya, uncle Sergei, and uncle Kendall?”

“Absolutely.” She looked around at everyone. “Why don’t we all call home and then have some ice-cream after we’re done?”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

The kids at home were happy to hear from their parents again. They weren’t too happy with their parents having to be gone longer than they’d thought, but were also happy that they heard from them every day. Everyone else at home was happy to hear that Jack was doing better. Katya was still her happy self, and although Kendall wasn’t too pleased with it, he wasn’t too frustrated about it now that Jack was doing better.

Back at the hospital everyone had ice-cream and when it was time for the triplets to go to sleep, Irina told them a story. Everyone stayed for a while longer in Jack’s room before going to bed. Irina stayed in the chair during the night and slept a little bit on and off.

The following day went much the same way as the other days. Everyone played games throughout most of the day, and everyone except for Irina went for a walk. Jack was examined twice by the doctor and each time he was doing better to the doctor’s surprise. Irina ate everything that was served to her at every meal, but still stayed in the chair during the night. She slept as much as she could, which was a little more than the night before.

The day after that, everyone had breakfast in Jack’s room as usual. Everyone but Irina went out for a walk after breakfast, and after having lunch in Jack’s room they all stayed there to play games. In the middle of the afternoon everyone was playing a board game when Ethan looked over at his father. He saw Jack’s hand move a little and he smiled. Then he turned his head and looked at everyone else.

“Look.”

Everyone turned to look at Jack and saw his hand move again. They looked at each other and smiled. They got up fast and went to stand by the bed just in time to see Jack open his eyes.

TBC
 
Mette you are killing me with these huge cliffhangers and then just leaving it at that for weeks!!!! :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: Please update really soon I hope jack makes a full recovery. I'm glad that irina is eating and got a little rest. Good for the triplets for thinking like irina that jack is gonna make it.
 
Everyone turned to look at Jack and saw his hand move again. They looked at each other and smiled. They got up fast and went to stand by the bed just in time to see Jack open his eyes.
*taking deep breath of relief* :smiley:

Wow, what a story! Thanks for not killing Jack. :smiley: I loved it when Weiss telling him about Nadia. 👅
 
It Was For The Best - Part 2.

Sorry for the long wait. I really had hoped I would've updated sooner, and have written more chapters, but I've had trouble with what to put in the chapter. There have also been times when I haven't had much time, ending up seeing things on TV even though the computer's been on, and times when I've been out the night before and gotten to bed late so that I slept until late the next day and haven't had much energy to write. I can't promise you that you'll get the next chapter any sooner than you got this one, because I'll be very busy the next month or so, but the next chapter is here, and I hope you'll enjoy it. Thank you all so much for reading and commenting. It means so much to me. :smiley:

texasalias2004: Yes, he certainly is. Sorry that I didn't update sooner, but now you know why. :smiley:

Irina_Derevko_Bristow: Sorry about that - well, I'm not really sorry. 👅 You really thought the end of the last chapter was a huge cliffhanger? It wasn't meant to be - it was meant for you to breathe easy, because Jack finally woke up. Sorry it took so long to update, but now you know why. :smiley: Don't worry, Jack will make a full recovery - he might have to stay in the hospital for a long time, and it'll be weeks before he's back to full strenght, but he'll be just fine in time. Yeah, Irina really needs to take better care of herself, so it's good that she's started to. Yes, good for them, but Irina was in denial about Jack's condition - she couldn't stand to think of her life without Jack, so she made herself believe that he was going to be alright, but in reality she didn't know whether he would live or die.

sydneymicheal: I'm glad he's awake too. Yeah, no one's as stubborn as Jack Bristow. :D

nicewoman: Thank you very much for saying that - you're too kind. :blush: Jack doesn't die in my universe - at least he won't get killed from gunshot wounds or torture. I'm glad you liked Eric. :D

Chapter 28
Jack blinked a few times and groaned a little. Irina, Sydney, and Nadia started to cry, but for the first time in a long time they cried tears of joy. The rest of them smiled at Jack.

“Hi daddy.”

Jack tried to turn his head to the sound of his son’s voice, but couldn’t really manage to do that. Instead he swallowed a few times and tried to talk.

“Hhh….hhh…..hiiii.”

Irina wanted to say something, but was too stunned and thrilled at the same time that Jack had woken up. Sydney and Nadia looked at their mother and expected her to say something, but when she didn’t say anything, they exchanged glances and Sydney spoke.

“Hi dad. We’re all here. Mom, Nadia, Caitie, Maddie, Vaughn, Eric, Marcus, Marshall, and you heard Ethan. Do you remember what happened?” He gave a slight nod. Dixon looked around at everyone.

“I’m just going to tell the nurse to get the doctor.” Dixon left and came back into the room a few seconds later.

A couple of minutes later the doctor returned with another doctor and a nurse. He smiled around at everyone before looking at Jack.

“Hello Mr. Bristow. I’m Dr. Benson, and my staff and I have been taking care of you, though you’ve done the hard part. It’s good to see you’re awake. It was a close call, and I’m really impressed by your strength. I’m just going to examine you. Now I realize that you’re probably exhausted and that you could have trouble talking. That’s all perfectly understandable. But I’m sure that if we work together, you’ll be able to tell me a few things on how you’re feeling. Don’t you think?”

“Ye….y….ye….yes.”

“Good.” The doctor looked around at everyone. “This will take some time. You can wait in the waiting room, or around somewhere. I’ll come and find you when we’re done.”

Irina stood in her place not able to move. Sydney and Nadia exchanged glances again, and Nadia put her hand on her mother’s elbow and tugged her towards her. After a few seconds Irina moved and everyone left the room.

Once outside the room Irina stared at the door to Jack’s room for a little while, while everyone else was hugging each other. She then buried her face in her hands and started to cry. Sydney and Nadia noticed her and went to hug her. Irina put her arms around them and buried her head in their shoulders.

“Mom, dad’s awake. I’m sure he’s going to be fine.” It took a few moments for Irina to respond.

“I know. I know. It’s just overwhelming to see him finally awake.”

“We know, mom.”

The triplets walked over to their mother and she hugged them too. Then she hugged Eric and Vaughn, then Dixon and Marshall, and then her children once again. They all started to dry their tears and smiled around at each other.

“I think we should get something to celebrate this happy occasion with. But I think we’ll all have to settle for juice and sodas.” They all laughed. “I’ll just go to the cafeteria and get us all something to drink.”

“I’ll help.”

“Thank you. We’ll be in the waiting room.” Dixon and Marshall nodded and headed for the cafeteria.

A little over three hours later everyone was sitting in the waiting room waiting for the doctor. They had spent some of the time talking and were now playing different games. The doctor walked in a few minutes later and everyone got up from their seats. He smiled at them.

“Well, I must admit that I’m very surprised and impressed. I never expected Mr. Bristow to pull through, but he sure proved me wrong, and I’m very happy for all of you.”

“How is he?” The doctor looked at Nadia.

“He’s still very weak.” He looked around at everyone else. “With time he’s going to be just fine, but he’ll need plenty of rest, and therefore he can still not be subjected to any kind of pressure. We’ll have to see how fast he recovers, but I expect him to be here for a few more weeks. He doesn’t have much strength at the moment, so I wouldn’t put any pressure on him to talk. He’s the only one, who can decide how strong he feels and how much he can take, so let him set the pace.”

“But he’ll be alright? You’re certain of that?” He smiled at Sydney.

“Yes, I’m most definitely certain of that. I might not have believed that when he got out of surgery, but I’m certain of it now. Although he’s still weak and needs rest, I can safely say that after examining him for the past three hours, he won’t die.” Everyone smiled back at him and sighed in relief. “I don’t know how awake he is right now, but you can go see him, and be in his room as much as you want and just as much as you were before.”

Everyone looked around at each other and they hugged again. Maddie tugged on her mother’s sleeve and smiled.

“Let’s go see daddy.” Irina smiled back at her.

“Yes, let’s go see daddy.”

They all walked back into Jack’s room and gathered around his bed. After a few minutes of just watching him, Jack started stirring a little, and his eyes opened a little. Irina didn’t say anything and Sydney and Nadia exchanged glances again. When Irina still didn’t say anything Sydney spoke.

“Hi, dad. The doctor said you’re going to be just fine. We’re all fine, so no need to worry about us. You just concentrate on getting better.”

“Yes daddy. We’re all fine.” Jack smiled a little by the sound of Sydney’s and Caitie’s voices.

“Now you just have to be fine, so that we can all go home.” He smiled again by the sound of Maddie’s voice.

“I…wwwwiii…wwwwii…wwwwwii..”

“Relax dad. Don’t overdue it. The doctor said you should set the pace and that you’re the only one, who can decide how much you can take, but there’s no reason to pressure yourself to talk. Just relax.” Jack nodded slightly at what Nadia said and smiled a little again.

Irina still remained silent just looking at Jack. Sydney and Nadia exchanged glances again, and Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall couldn’t help but notice that they exchanged glances and that Irina hadn’t said anything. Sydney gave Nadia a nod, and Nadia took a step closer to her mother and nudged her, a little, indicating that she should say something. Irina looked at Nadia, and Nadia indicated with her eyes that she should say something. Irina nodded and looked back at Jack.

“Nadia’s right, Jack. Just relax.” Jack smiled a little again, and nodded slightly. Irina kept looking at him without saying anything else. After a few minutes of silence she looked up and looked around at everyone else. “We should go to the cafeteria and get something to eat. That way Jack can also get his rest.”

Sydney and Nadia looked at each other again. They were a bit surprised hearing that their mother wanted to leave their father’s side, but realized that she was right. It was dinnertime and their father did need his rest, so maybe a little time alone could do him some good. They were also glad to hear that their mother had suggested that they get something to eat. Sydney looked at her mother and nodded.

“That sounds like a good idea, mom.”

“Yeah, I think so too.” Irina smiled at Sydney and Nadia.

“Good.” She looked at the triplets. “Wouldn’t you like to do that too?” They all nodded. She looked back at Jack. “Jack, we’re going to the cafeteria to eat, so that we don’t disturb you in here. We’ll be back later.” He gave a slight nod. “Okay, bye.” They left the room quietly and went to the cafeteria.

They ate dinner somewhat in silence. Everyone was relieved that Jack would be alright, but they were too emotionally drained to talk much during dinner. When they were done eating they stayed at the cafeteria and had some coffee. After a while of sitting in silence Nadia looked at her mother.

“We should call home when everyone’s awake back home and tell them the good news. We can even tell the kids that we found you and that you’re alright. Of course we’ll have to tell them that dad’s not feeling too good, but as long as they know that you’re all safe, I think that’ll be alright.” Sydney nodded.

“I think that’s a great idea.” She looked at her mother and smiled. “Mom, you and the triplets will be able to talk to the kids. They would love to hear your voices. What do you think about that?” Irina looked at Sydney and smiled a little.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. I would certainly love to talk to them.” She looked around at the triplets. “Wouldn’t you like to talk to everyone too?”

“Yes that would be great.”

“When can we call home?”

“It’ll be a few more hours. It’s only 5.41 in the morning at home and no one’s up yet. It’ll be at least two hours before we can call them.” The triplets nodded.

“How much can we tell them?”

“Well, it would probably scare them if you told them what really happened. You should probably just tell them that you’re alright and leave it at that.” Sydney looked around at the triplets.

“We’ve told them that you were taken by bad men, and I don’t think there’s any reason to tell them anything other than that. It’s the truth anyway. All that matter to them is that you’re alright. That’s all they need to hear.”

“Okay. We can do that.” Sydney smiled at them.

“I’m glad.”

“What if they ask about daddy? What do we tell them then?”

“We’ll handle that. We could probably just tell them that dad’s been hurt a little, that he needs his rest, but that he’s going to be fine, and that he can’t come to the phone at the moment.” Sydney looked at everyone else and they nodded.

“Okay.” Sydney looked around at everyone again.

“If everyone’s done, we should probably head back to dad’s room.”

“I was thinking that we could get an ice cream first.” Sydney looked at her mother surprised.

“Now? You want us to get an ice cream now?”

“It’s not late, and we had dinner a little while ago. It’ll be dessert. Also, we should celebrate that your father will be fine in any way we can, so you could say that we are celebrating by having ice cream.” Sydney nodded and smiled a little.

“Of course, mom.”

“Then let’s go get an ice cream.”

They all got up and walked over to pick the ice cream they wanted. When they’d paid they walked back to the table and sat down to eat it. Irina took her time eating hers and was the last one to finish. Nadia looked at her watch and was surprised to see that a little more than half an hour had passed since they had bought the ice creams. She didn’t comment on it but looked at her mother instead and smiled.

“Now that we’re all done we can go see dad.” Irina was a bit hesitant in giving a response but nodded after a few seconds and smiled a little.

“Yeah sure. Let’s go.” They all got up and went to Jack’s room.

When they got there Jack was sleeping. They looked at him for a little while before Nadia looked around at everyone.

“Since dad’s not awake maybe we could play a game?”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

“Me too.” Everyone else nodded too.

“Great. Then let’s pick a game from here or one of the ones that are in the waiting room.”

“We should probably play it in there.” Everyone looked at Irina a little confused.

“Why, mom?”

“So that we don’t disturb your father in case we start to shout a little. He needs his rest.” Everyone looked around at each other shrugging a little, realizing that she was probably right.

“Yeah, I see your point.” Irina smiled a little.

“Let’s go then.” Irina went over to pick up a few of the games so that they would have something to choose from. She then walked over and opened the door waiting for the others. The triplets walked over to her and the four of them headed for the waiting room.

The rest of them stood in Jack’s room for a few seconds looking at each other, not really knowing what to make of Irina’s behavior. But they ended up just shrugging and followed the others to the waiting room.

They played games and had a good time. After playing for an hour and a half Nadia looked at her watch.

“I think we can call home now. Everyone should be up.”

“Yes that would be a good idea.”

“So how do we do it? Do we each call someone or do we call the number at the safe house?”

“I thought that I could call Katya while one of you calls Sergei and another one calls Kendall. Marshall, you’ll of course call Carrie and Marcus, you’ll call Hayden, and then maybe someone can call Will or Rachel. I assume most of them are still at the safe house, so we can just talk briefly with them, and then they can put the kids on the phone. We can then get off all the phones except for one and then the phone they use at home can be passed around. Or we can hang up and call the phone at the safe house and everyone can listen in.”

“That’s sounds like a good plan, mom. I can call Will, and then Nadia can call Sergei. If Kendall hasn’t left yet he can listen in on the conversation with Sergei.” Sydney looked over at Dixon. “And if he has left then maybe you could call him after you’ve talked with Hayden?” Dixon nodded.

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

“Oh wait. What about Stephen and Robin? If Hayden’s at work, they can’t get on the phone with her.”

“If Hayden’s at work, I guess Stephen and Robin can listen in on the conversation with Will and Rachel. I can then either call them after I talked to her, or I’ll be able to talk with them if we call the phone at the house, so everyone can listen in. And if Kendall’s at APO, I can just make a quick call to him before I talk to my kids, and then maybe we can call him again after we talk to everyone at the house.”

“Okay, it’s a deal. So mom you’ll call Katya, I’ll call Sergei and get Kendall on the phone if he’s still at the house and then Becky. Sydney you’ll call Will and get Rachel on the phone and then Isabelle and Sarah and possibly Stephen and Robin. Marshall, you’ll call Carrie and then get your children on the phone and Marcus you’ll call Hayden and get Stephen and Robin on the phone if she’s still at the house and after that call Kendall if he’s at APO. Then after we’ve all had a brief conversation on our own phones, we’ll hang up and call the phone at the safe house, so that everyone can listen in. Is everyone onboard with that?”

“Yeah, it sounds great.” Everyone else nodded.

“Okay. Let’s call home and tell everyone the great news.”

“What about us? Who are we going to talk to first?” The triplets looked at their mother.

“Well, one of you can go with Sydney and then talk to Isabelle and Sarah first. The other one can go with Nadia and talk to Becky first, and the last one can go with Marshall and talk to Mitchell, Matthew, Chloe, and Gracie first. Then when we get on the phone with everyone at the same time, you can talk to everyone else, and that’s also when I’ll be talking to everyone else. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like a good idea, mommy.”

“I agree.”

“Me too.” Irina smiled at them.

“Good. Then let’s get started on those phone calls.”

They scattered around the waiting room inside and out in the hall, so that they each would have a little bit of privacy. Irina got on the phone with Katya, and after two rings she picked up.

“Hello?”

“Katya, it’s me.”

“How are you? Is there any news on Jack?”

“Yes that’s why I called. He woke up. He finally woke up and the doctor says he’s going to be fine.”

“Irina, that’s wonderful news.”

“Yes, it is.” Irina started to cry. “I can’t believe I almost lost him.”

“Irina, it’s over. Jack’s going to be alright. There’s no need to think about what could’ve happened. All you have to think about is that Jack’s going to be fine, and within long you can all come back home.”

“I know, I know.” She started to dry her tears. “I know.”

“So other than being happy that Jack woke up, and still worrying about what could’ve happened, how are you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you still eating properly?”

“Yes, I am.”

“What about sleep? Do you get enough of that too?”

“I haven’t been able to sleep much, but I sleep as much as I can.”

“You need to take care of yourself. Now that you know Jack will be fine please promise me that you’ll take better care of yourself.”

“I will. So, who’s at the house? I assume you’re there.”

“Yes, I am, and everyone else is here too.”

“So Kendall hasn’t left for APO yet, and Hayden is there too?”

“Jim is just about to leave, and Hayden is almost ready to leave as well.”

“Then I guess everyone else just caught them on the phone. That’s good.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re calling everyone at the same time, and we’re telling all the kids at home that Jack, the triplets, and I, are alright. Now that we know that Jack’s going to be fine, we can tell them that we’re alright, and that way we can also put the children’s minds more at ease.”

“That’s a good idea. They’ll be happy and relieved to hear that.”

“We’re calling the phone at the house in a few minutes, so that all of us can talk to all of you at the same time.”

“It’ll be good for them to hear your voices again. That will definitely put their minds even more at ease.”

“It’ll be good to hear their voices too.”

Irina and Katya talked for a few minutes more before Sydney came and found her mother.

“Mom?”

“Hang on, Katya.” Irina took the phone away from her ear, and looked in Sydney’s direction. “Yes, sweetheart?”

“We’re ready to call the phone at the house, and the kids are anxious to talk to you. But if you need a few more minutes to talk to Katya, we can wait.” Irina smiled at Sydney.

“No, I’m ready to call the house. If I need to talk to Katya alone, I can just call her later.” Sydney smiled back.

“Okay. I’ll just go and tell the others. We’ll be in the waiting room.”

“I’ll be right there.” Sydney left and Irina got back on the phone with Katya. “Katya, we’re ready to call the house, so I’m hanging up now.”

“Talk to you in a few seconds then.” They both laughed a little.

“Yeah, bye.”

“Bye.”

Irina hung up the phone and walked back into the waiting room. She sat down on one of the couches with Maddie in her lap, Caitie on one side of her, and Nadia on her other side. When everyone was settled Sydney called the safe house.

“Hello? Grandma, are you there?” Irina smiled at Isabelle’s voice.

“Yes, I’m here, sweetheart.”

“Hi grandma. We missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“Me too.”
She smiled when she heard Sarah and Becky’s voices too.

“I’ve missed you too. So much. How are you?”

“We’re better now that you, grandpa, Maddie, Ethan, and Caitie are okay and safe.”

“Mommy said that grandpa’s been hurt, but that he’s going to be fine.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Is he still resting, or can he talk now?”

“No, grandpa can’t come to the phone right now. It’ll probably be a while before you can talk to him.”

“Oh.”

“But he’s really okay and safe?”


“Yes, he’s just fine. He just needs plenty of rest. I’ll make sure you talk to him when he’s up for it.”

“Okay.”

“When are you coming home?”


“I don’t know when we’ll be coming home. Grandpa has to stay in hospital for a while. It might take a few weeks before he’s allowed to leave.”

“What about you, mommy? Do you and daddy have to be away for that long?” Sydney and Vaughn looked at each other. The two of them and Nadia and Eric looked at Irina, and she nodded.

“We’ll more than likely be home in a few days. There’s nothing we can do for grandpa to make him get better sooner, so we’ll be coming home soon.”

“You’re coming home soon too, right daddy?” Marshall smiled.

“Yes, Matthew, I’ll be home soon.”

“The only ones, who’ll be staying until Jack can come home, are Maddie, Caitie, Ethan, and I. And before you know it, we’ll be home too.”

“Because grandpa is strong.” Everyone smiled.

“Yes, that’s right.”

They talked to everyone back home for almost two hours, but then decided that it was time to hang up, since it was getting late in India.

“Say hi to grandpa and tell him we miss him, and that we’re glad that he’s okay.”

“We will.”

“Give him a kiss too.”

“We’ll do that too.”

“And tell him that we love him.”

“We will remember to tell him that too.”

“We love you too, grandma.”

“I love you too. I love all of you.”

The phone was passed around, so that everyone could say goodbye. After a few minutes they hung up the phone. Everyone stood up and stretched.

“We should get to bed. I think we could all use the rest, and it’s getting quite late.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“Then let’s move the triplet’s stuff back into dad’s room.”

“It’ll be better if we all sleep here.” Everyone looked at Irina a little confused.

“Why, mom?”

“Because, if any of us, need to go to the bathroom at night, we might wake your father, and he doesn’t need to be disturbed by us. He should get as much rest as he can.” Everyone looked around at each other not really sure what to think of it, but realized that Irina made a good point.

“Of course. That makes sense.”

“Why don’t you go in and say goodnight to your father, and I’ll get things set up in here?”

“Okay, mom. We’ll bring your stuff in here.”

“Thank you.”

When they got to Jack’s room, he was awake a little. Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall said a quick goodnight, gathered Irina’s things, and then left. Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets stood around the bed.

“Hi daddy. We’re going to sleep in the waiting room so that we don’t wake you, in case we have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.”

“We talked to everyone at home. They said to tell you that they miss you and that they’re glad you’re okay.”

“They also told us to tell you that they all love you.” Jack smiled a little.

“Dad, they were so happy to hear that you were all okay, and they can’t wait to talk to you.”

“We told them it might take a few days before that happens, so you just take it easy, and don’t push yourself to get better because you think that you have to talk to them. You’ll have plenty of time to talk to them.” He gave a slight nod.

“We should let you get your rest. We just came to say goodnight. Goodnight, dad.”

“Goodnight, dad.”

Sydney and Nadia walked towards the door and stood there waiting for the triplets. Ethan looked at them and smiled.

“You can go ahead. We’ll be right there.” They smiled back.

“Okay.” They left and Ethan leaned closer to his father’s head.

“Everyone back home told us to give you a kiss too.” He gave his father a light feathery kiss on the cheek. “That was from me too.” Jack smiled a little. Caitie leaned closer too, and also gave him a light feathery kiss on the cheek.

“And that was from everyone and me. Goodnight, daddy. I love you.” He smiled again.

“I’m next.” Jack smiled at Maddie’s voice and received a light feathery kiss on the cheek from her too. “I love you, daddy. Sweet dreams.”

“And I love you too, daddy. Goodnight, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite.” The triplets giggled and Jack smiled a little more.

“Mommy will be in here to say goodnight in a minute.” Jack gave a slight nod.

“See you tomorrow, daddy.” He nodded again and the triplets left.

A few minutes later Irina walked into Jack’s room. She stepped a few feet into the room and stood looking at him without saying anything. Then she took a deep breath and put on a smile before walking all the way up to the bed.

“Hi. The kids said they told you that we called home and that we told the grandkids that we’re alright. You should’ve heard them. They were so happy, and soon you’ll be able to hear them yourself.” He nodded a little and smiled a little too. “Well, I should let you get your rest. I just came to say goodnight.” She looked at him and wanted to touch and kiss him. But she also remembered what the doctor had said when Jack was still in a coma. She couldn’t get passed the warning that if she touched him he could die. Instead of touching him, she decided to let him get his rest. “Goodnight Jack.” He gave a slight nod and she left.

The next morning the triplets walked into Jack’s room to see if he was awake. They smiled at their father when they saw him open his eyes a little.

“Good morning, daddy.”

“Morning, daddy.”

“Hi daddy. Morning.”

“Hhh…hhi.”

“We’re going to the cafeteria soon to get breakfast. Can we get you anything?”

“Wa….waaater.”

“Okay. I’ll just go and get the nurse.” Maddie left, and a few moments later she returned with the nurse.

“Good morning Mr. Bristow. Your daughter said that you’d like some water?”

“Ye…yesss.”

“I’ll just go and get it. I’ll tell the doctor that you’re awake, so he will more than likely be here soon to check on you.”

“O..kkay.”

The nurse left and a few seconds later Irina and everyone else walked into Jack’s room. Irina looked at the triplets and Jack a little alarmed.

“What’s wrong? We just saw the nurse leave.”

“Nothing’s wrong, mommy. Daddy’s just thirsty, so she going to get him some water.” Irina breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

“Okay.” She walked closer to Jack’s bed as did everyone else. “Morning, Jack.”

“Mmm…morning.”

“Morning, dad.”

“Good morning, dad.”

“Hh…hhi.”

“You sound better today, dad.” Jack nodded slightly.

“We decided to get breakfast in the cafeteria. After that we’ll come back here.” He nodded again. “But we’ll just wait to leave until the nurse comes back.”

“When we come back we’ll tell you about everything we’ve bought since we’ve been here.”

“And about all the drawings we’ve made.”

“And about all the games we’ve played.” Irina walked up behind the triplets.

“We don’t want to talk daddy’s ears off so soon after he’s woken up. He still needs his rest, so that he can recover completely.” The triplets nodded. “We’ll tell him about everything little by little.”

A few seconds later the nurse came back into the room with water.

“Good morning everyone.” Everyone said a good morning and nodded, and the nurse walked over to Jack. “Here’s your water Mr. Bristow.” She put the straw in his mouth, and Jack drank some of the water. “Would you like more?”

“N..no…thh..thanks.”

“Okay. I’ll just put the water here, and place the call-button in your hand in case you want more, and your family is not here to help you.” Jack nodded and she placed the button in his hand. “The doctor will be here in a few minutes.” He nodded again and she left. Nadia looked at her mother.

“Maybe we should wait to leave until after the doctor arrives.” Irina gave a slight nod.

“Sure. We can do that.”

The few minutes before the doctor arrived were spent mostly in silence. When he arrived everyone turned to look in his direction. He smiled at them.

“Good morning all.” Irina smiled back.

“Good morning.” Everyone else greeted him as well, and he walked over to Jack.

“Good morning, Mr. Bristow.”

“Mmorning.”

“You certainly sound better than yesterday. I’m just going to examine you.” Jack nodded and the doctor turned to look at everyone else. “We’ll you be here for the examination?” Irina shook her head.

“No. We’re going to the cafeteria to get breakfast.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll probably be done before you come back, so I’ll just come find you.”

“Okay. Thank you.” The doctor nodded and Irina looked at everyone else. “Let’s go eat breakfast.” They left and headed for the cafeteria.

While they were eating breakfast the doctor came down to the cafeteria to talk to them. He told them that Jack was doing better. He still didn’t have much strength, but his speech was stronger, and he was doing better than the day before.

After they’d eaten breakfast they went back to Jack’s room. They spent the time talking a little bit to him about what they’d been doing during the time they’d been at the hospital, and he responded a little with short answers.

When lunch came around they went to the cafeteria again, and after Irina suggested that they go for a walk around town. Since Jack would be resting anyway, she thought it would be a good idea for them all to go out and get some fresh air. No one thought there was anything strange about that, so they all agreed.

When they got back from their walk they went back to Jack’s room. He was sleeping, so they went to the waiting room and played some games for a while. An hour later they walked back to Jack’s room. He was awake, so they went in there to talk to him until it was dinnertime.

When dinnertime came around they went back to the cafeteria.

“So, now that dad’s going to be alright, I was thinking that maybe it’s time for all of us to head home. Everyone except you, mom, and the triplets.” Irina looked at Sydney and nodded a little. “The kids miss us, and we miss them. It would be different if we didn’t know what would happen with dad, but we do. There’s also not really much for us to do here.” Irina nodded again.

“No, you’re right. You should go home.”

“Well, we would have to make arrangements first, and get a plane here, so I don’t think we’ll be leaving tomorrow. But maybe the day after tomorrow?” She looked around at Vaughn, Nadia, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall. They all nodded.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea, Syd.”

“It would probably also be good for me to get home soon. I can’t very well let Kendall take care of all the work alone. I can call him later and make the arrangements.”

“Would it be alright with you, if we went home?” Sydney and at Nadia looked at the triplets. They nodded.

“Yes, absolutely.”

“We have mommy and daddy, so we’ll be alright.”

“There are people at home, who need you more than us.” Everyone smiled at the triplets.

“Okay. Then we’ll make the arrangements.”

They stayed at the cafeteria for a while longer before going back to Jack’s room. He was awake when they got back. They talked to him, but also played cards quietly. Later they called home to talk to everyone, and when they’d done that they stayed in Jack’s room until it was time for bed.

Vaughn, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall said a quick goodnight and left the room with Irina, who went to get the waiting room ready for sleep. Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets stayed in Jack’s room to say goodnight to him. Maddie was first.

“Goodnight daddy.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Sydney and Nadia looked at each other, and then looked back at their father in time to see Caitie giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Goodnight daddy.” Sydney and Nadia looked at each other again and smiled.

“Goodnight daddy.” Ethan also gave his father a kiss on the cheek, and Jack smiled a little just like he’d done with Maddie and Caitie.

Sydney was the next to say goodnight to Jack, and she followed her siblings’ example, and also gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Goodnight dad.” Nadia was last and she also gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Goodnight dad.” Jack continued to smile.

“G..goodnight.” They left the room just as Irina entered. They exchanged smiles, and she walked over to Jack’s bed.

“The beds have been taken care of, so I just came to say goodnight.” She wanted to reach out and touch him, but she didn’t. Instead she just smiled a little at Jack. “Goodnight Jack. See you tomorrow.” Jack smiled a little.

“G..goodnight.”

She watched him for a few seconds more before leaving the room. When she’d left Jack’s smile faded. He wished she’d given him a kiss too.

The next morning Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets walked into their father’s room first. They smiled when they saw that he was awake, and that his eyes were more open than they’d been since he woke up.

“Good morning dad.” He turned his head a little, so that he could look at them better, and he smiled.

“Mmorning.”

“Can we get you anything, dad?”

“Wa..water..th..thanks.” Nadia poured him some water, and put the straw in his mouth. He drank a lot of it. “Thank you.”

“You look better today.”

“I feel better.” He smiled a little more. “A little.” Everyone laughed a little.

“That’s good to hear. And you sound better too.” He nodded.

“We’re going to get breakfast in the cafeteria, but everyone else should be here in a few seconds to say good morning.”

“Okay.”

A few seconds later everyone walked into the room. They smiled too when they saw that Jack looked much better than he’d done since he woke up, and that his eyes were more open.

“Good morning, Jack. You look much better today.”

“Morning, Marcus.”

“You sound better too.”

“Yeah.”

Irina smiled a little and walked closer.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“We’re just going to the cafeteria to get breakfast. We’ll tell the nurse that you’re awake.”

“Thanks.”

“We’ll be back in a little while. Bye.”

“Okay. Bye.”

They left and went to the cafeteria to get breakfast. The doctor came to see them, and told them that Jack was doing much better than the day before. He was still weak, and not ready to sit up yet, but it was an improvement that his speech was so strong already.

When they were done with breakfast they went back to Jack’s room. He was awake, so they stayed there and talked to him since he was able to talk more.

When it was time for lunch they went to the cafeteria again, and told Jack that after they’d eaten they’d go for a walk and maybe do a little bit of shopping.

They got back from their walk in the middle of the afternoon. Jack was still awake, so they decided to have coffee in his room. Irina looked at the triplets.

“Will you help me get the coffee from the cafeteria?”

“Of course, mommy.”

“I’ll help too.”

“Thanks Marshall.”

When they left Jack looked around at everyone else.

“So, how did you find us?”

“Sark helped us.” Jack looked at Sydney surprised.

“What? But Sark was in on it with Sloane and Cuvee.”

“No, he wasn’t. He stopped working with Sloane about a year after Mongolia.”

“Then how come he was working with them?”

“They forced him to. When Sark left Sloane, Sloane swore he’d get his revenge on him, and he did about three months ago when he and Cuvee kidnapped Sark’s girlfriend and their daughter. They told him that he had to help in kidnapping all of you if he ever wanted to see his family again. If he didn’t follow their orders his family would be killed.” Jack stared dumbfounded.

“His what?” Everyone chuckled a little.

“Yeah, we were surprised too. But apparently he met a woman some months after leaving Sloane and fell in love with her right on the spot. After a few weeks of dating her he told her everything about his life, and she helped him turn his life around for the better.”

“He’s lived a crime free life for the last four years.”

“That’s really hard to believe considering everything he’s done to us over the years.”

“Yes, it is, but he really is genuine.” Jack nodded slightly.

“Well, I certainly am happy that he was able to help. But just how did that happen if his family was still kidnapped?”

“One day Sloane and Cuvee went away for the day. Before they left Sark convinced them that he had changed sides, and that he wanted to help them for real.”

“He asked them to let him go and get the last documents needed for brainwashing the triplets, and while doing that he also asked for a few days off. In order for Sloane and Cuvee not to get suspicious he suggested that he’d be accompanied by guards. Naturally they were reluctant at first, but bought into his story and let him go.”

“Sloane and Cuvee left before he did, and he told the guards that they were not leaving for several hours. All the time he’d been with Sloane and Cuvee, he’d been locked in a room and only been let out whenever they needed him, so he had gotten to know his way around the vents. He had found their office this way, and when he was sure he was alone, he crawled through the vent to their office.”

“He knew the combination to the safe, and found yours and mom’s phones there. He took my number from your phone, which is how he got in contact with us. The other documents for brainwashing the triplets were also in there, and he took them with him. When he’d gotten that, he looked around on their computer and in the drawers and found out where his family was and also found the satellite readings of the prison, so that we would know how to get you out.”

“He also took a gun with him, and he used that to kill the guards that were with him in the car. Once he was on his own in the car and on a busy road, he got a team ready and told them where his family was. He got his family safe first before calling us. With the help of the satellite readings we started working out a rescue mission.”

“I thought it seemed like we were kept in the dark longer than usual one day.” He remembered sitting in the darkness haunted by the DVDs and the empty expression he’d seen in Irina’s eyes as they’d been forced to watch the DVDs of Cuvee having fun with her. He closed his eyes for a brief moment wanting the horrible images to go away. “So what happened to the documents for brainwashing the triplets? Did Sark give you those?”

“No, he destroyed them. He videotaped himself destroying the documents he took from Kashmir, and sent us that video. We could conclude that the documents were real.”

“What about the last documents he told Sloane and Cuvee he would get?”

“The meeting was already set up and he couldn’t change that. That’s why we weren’t able to get to you sooner. When he contacted us it would be about seventy hours before he could get those. He wanted to get them, so in case anything went wrong and Sloane and Cuvee got away, they wouldn’t be able to get them. He destroyed them as well, and sent us a video of him destroying them.”

“We really wish we could’ve gotten to you sooner.” Jack nodded and smiled a little.

“I know you do. But I’m also no stranger to planning missions. Everything needed to be in order before you could come get us. Everything needed to be planned in perfect detail for you to pull off the mission successfully. And you did. We’re all safe and alive, and the documents are destroyed and will no longer be a problem.” Everyone smiled.

“At least now everything is alright.” Jack smiled a little too, but then his smile faded.

“So I know what happened to Cuvee, but what happened to Sloane? Did you get him? Either dead or alive?” Everyone looked around at each other not really knowing how to break the news or who should do it. “You’re all being very quiet. I take it, it’s not good news.” They smiled a little at how they were not good at hiding the bad news. Finally Dixon answered him.

“I’m sorry, Jack, but Sloane got away. Apparently we were spotted, probably from a window, and he blocked the satellite signal so that we lost the readings. We knew where the garage was, so my team stayed there to see if he came from that side. He did, but he had too many guards to help him, and some of them were able to help him get away. He also got away in a bulletproofed car, so there was no way for us to stop him. We were under heavy fire, so it took a long time for us to get Marshall to the office, so that he could fix the satellite signal. Once he did, Sloane was long gone, and we haven’t heard anything about his whereabouts since.” Jack sighed deeply frustrated.

“Damn it.”

“Yeah, we all wish the result had been better. The only good thing we can tell you is that Sloane got another bullet in his already injured knee. Marshall made sure of that.” Jack smiled a little.

“Good for Marshall.”

“Yeah. We can only hope that, that will slow Sloane down, and either kill him or make him stay in hiding forever.”

“We also took DNA samples of Cuvee, just to make sure that he was not a product of Project Helix. But he was the real deal, and you killed him, so he will no longer be a problem, and he was buried under the ruins of the prison.” Jack’s smiled left his face and his voice turned low and icy.

“Good.”

Chills ran down everyone’s spine. They all remembered the video they’d seen of Cuvee having fun with Irina when Dixon and Marshall came down to the basement at the prison. They’d all only seen a glimpse of it, and they couldn’t bear to think that Jack and Irina had been forced to watch more than a glimpse.

Sydney and Vaughn could also vividly remember the sight that met them when they reached the basement. Had Jack not been able to get free and kill Cuvee, they would’ve walked in on the live show of what they saw on the video. Everyone felt the same after having heard that Sydney and Vaughn found Irina tied to the desk.

Everyone stayed silent for a few minutes not really knowing what to say. Eric finally broke the silence.

“So that’s how we knew where you were.” Jack nodded.

A few seconds later Irina, the triplets, and Marshall came back with coffee and juice. Everything was passed around and they sat in Jack’s room enjoying it while talking and showing Jack what they’d bought when they were out. They spent the rest of the afternoon doing that, and when dinnertime came around they went to the cafeteria.

The rest of the evening was spent like the previous night, and when everyone said goodnight to Jack, Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets gave their father a kiss on the cheek, while Irina was in the waiting room making the beds ready. When she came to Jack’s room she only said goodnight and didn’t kiss him.

The next morning Sydney, Nadia, and the triplets walked into their father’s room first. They each gave him a kiss on the cheek, and were happy to see that he looked better. When everyone else came into the room, they greeted Jack good morning, and after a few seconds went to the cafeteria to get breakfast.

Sydney, Vaughn, Nadia, Eric, Dixon, and Marshall were leaving in the afternoon, so after breakfast they packed their things, while the triplets stayed in Jack’s room. Irina helped with the packing, and after that was done, they all went into Jack’s room to spend time with him.

After having had lunch in the cafeteria they all went back to Jack’s room and when it was time to leave they each took turns to say goodbye, while the rest of them checked their things in the waiting room to make sure they’d remembered everything.

Dixon and Marshall were the first to say goodbye, and they stood on the same side of the bed, so that Jack wouldn’t have too move his head too much.

“Take care, Jack, and get better soon so that we can get you home.” Jack smiled in return.

“Thanks, Marcus.”

He lifted his hand a little and opened it. Dixon put his hand in Jack’s and let Jack squeeze first, so that he wouldn’t hurt him. When Dixon could feel how much Jack could handle, he squeezed back. He took a step back so that Marshall could get closer.

“Well, I don’t have to tell you how happy we are that you’re alright.” Jack smiled. “But I will anyway.” Jack chuckled a little. “Life wouldn’t have been the same without you, Jack. So we’re all extremely thrilled that you pulled through.” Marshall got a little teary eyed and Jack held out his hand for him, which he took.

“Thank you, Marshall.”

“I’m sorry Sloane got away. We should’ve gotten him.”

“Don’t worry about it. He had too many men helping him. You shot him in his knee, so his bound to be in pain. You did good Marshall.”

“Thanks.”

Vaughn and Eric walked in.

“We’re done with our luggage, but if you need a few minutes more with Jack, we can wait.”

“No, we’re done.” Dixon looked back at Jack. “See you soon, Jack.”

“Yeah. Say hi to everyone at home.”

“We will.”

“Bye, Jack. Take care.”

“You too, Marshall.”

Dixon and Marshall left and Vaughn and Eric walked closer to the bed. They exchanged glances remembering the last time they’d been alone with Jack and what they’d told him. Jack noticed them acting a little strange.

“What’s wrong?” Vaughn and Eric looked at each other quickly, but then looked back at Jack again. Vaughn smiled.

“Nothing’s wrong, Jack. It just seems a bit strange not to be going in here everyday since we’ve done that for a while now.”

“But you’ll be going home to your children, so I think that beats being in a hospital.” They all smiled.

“Yes, of course.”

“And before you know it, you’ll be going home too.”

“Yeah, you’ll be sleeping in your own bed, and going back to work. Everything will be back to normal in no time.”

Jack couldn’t help but think of Irina not kissing him, and wondered if things would be back to normal soon. But instead of thinking more about it he just nodded and smiled a little.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Everyone back home is looking forward to you coming back.”

“They’re looking forward to talking to you too, and since you’re doing better day by day, I guess it’s only a matter of time until you’re up to talking to them.”

“Yes, I certainly hope so.”

“We’re sure of it.”

“Just keep in mind that you, Irina, and the triplets are safe and alright, and that you’ll get to see the grandkids soon. That should help you heal sooner.” Jack smiled.

“Yes, absolutely.”

The door opened and Sydney and Nadia walked in.

“We’ve checked the bags, but if you need to talk to dad some more, we can wait.”

“No, I don’t really think there’s much more to say.”

“No, me either.” Eric looked back at Jack. “Bye Jack. Take care and we’ll see each other soon.” Jack held his hand out and Eric took it and let Jack squeeze as much as he could like Dixon and Marshall had done.

“Bye, Eric and thank you. Give Becky and David a kiss from me.”

“I will.” He let go of Jack’s hand and Vaughn took it.

“Take care, Jack. We look forward to getting you home.”

“I look forward to coming home. Give Isabelle, Sarah, and Nicholas a kiss from me.”

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye, Vaughn.”

Eric and Vaughn left the room and walked a bit away from the room, when they got out into the hall. Vaughn let out a breath of relief.

“Luckily it seems he doesn’t remember what we said to him when he was in a coma.”

“Yeah that’s certainly lucky. But if he does remember eventually, you’re so screwed.”

“What? Why am I the one, who’s screwed? You started everything by saying how Nadia is as horny as you, and how she’s wild, bendy, and has an amazing mouth. If anyone’s screwed, it’s you, because Jack certainly wouldn’t want to hear you say that about his daughter.”

“No, he wouldn’t, but I still make Nadia happy.” Eric laughed a little. “And not just happy like that.” He wiggled his eyes while Vaughn rolled his. “I make her happy in more ways than just that, and all Jack wants is for his children to be happy. And I’ve also given him two grandchildren. But you talked about Stan. And what good has Stan ever done for Jack? Nothing. All Stan does, is annoy Jack with his constant drooling over Irina, and Jack hates that.”

“Yeah, I know, but still.”

“But still what, Vaughn? You told Jack to imagine Stan with his hands all over Irina and her taking pleasure in his touches. With Jack being as overprotective as he is, do you really think he wants to think of another man getting anywhere near his wife? And especially Stan?”

“Well, no.” Vaughn looked towards Jack’s room a little nervously. He definitely knew that Jack didn’t want to think about that, and he knew that he’d receive the worst Bristow death glare in his life, if Jack ever remembered anything he’d said to him. Vaughn shook the thought from his mind. “But he wouldn’t want to think about you having you hands, mouth, and tongue all over Nadia either.” Eric also looked towards the door a little nervously, and then shook his head.

“I know.” They looked at each other, seeing that both feared the consequences if Jack would ever know what they’d told him.

“Let’s just hope Jack didn’t hear a thing, and not think about it anymore or act strange around him.” Eric nodded.

“Yeah, let’s do that. He would never treat us nicely again, if he remembers any of it.”

“Not treat us nicely? He would make our lives a living hell.” They both thought for a second of what Jack would do to them. Vaughn shook his head, not wanting to think more about it. “Let’s just pretend that the conversation never happened.” Eric nodded.

“Yeah that’s for the best.” They stood in the hall for another few seconds before they went back to the waiting room.

Meanwhile in Jack’s room Jack had held out his hand for Sydney and Nadia the minute they’d walked all the way up to his bed. They took it without hesitation, but let him set the pressure.

“Now that we’re here saying goodbye, we really wish we didn’t have to leave, dad.”

“Yeah, we would like to stay and leave with you.” He smiled at them.

“Thank you, but there’s no need for you to think that. Besides, the kids miss you, and it would be best for them if you went home, even though they know that we’re all alright. I know how they felt when your sisters and brother were kidnapped, so I can’t imagine it was any easier when your mother and I were kidnapped too.”

“No, it certainly wasn’t easy. They were scared that something was going to happen to us, and they didn’t want us to leave the house to go to work. We had to call home several times during the day to let them know, we were alright.”

“And it wasn’t easy when we had to leave to get you. It helped that we were able to call a lot here too, and that everyone at home has been taking care of them, and has taken time off. But it certainly helped the most when we could tell them that you, mom, and the triplets were alright.”

“And they’ll be just fine once you all come home. They really miss you.”

“I miss them too. We all do. Give them all a big hug and a big kiss from me. Well the kids anyway. You don’t need to kiss Kendall or Will or anyone like that for me.” Sydney and Nadia laughed out loud, and Jack chuckled.

“You’re certainly getting better by the minute, dad.”

“Laughter is the best medicine, right?”

“Yes, it certainly is.” They laughed a little more, but then Jack grimaced a little. Sydney and Nadia stopped laughing, and looked at him concerned.

“Dad, are you okay?”

“Should we get the doctor?” He smiled.

“I’m fine. No need to get the doctor. I just laughed a little too much.”

“Just take it easy, and don’t overdue it. The more you overdue it, the longer it’ll take for you to recover.”

“We wouldn’t want you to be in the hospital longer than you have to, and I don’t think you do either.” He shook his head.

“No, I certainly don’t.”

“You’ve been through a lot, and your body needs to heal at its own speed. So just relax, and let people take care of you.”

“Promise us that you’ll take it easy and do everything the doctors and nurses tell you. No matter how many times they tell you.”

Sydney smirked a little remembering when Jack was released after being treated for radiation poisoning. She remembered him telling her that he was treated like an idiot, because every day they told him what to do even though the procedure was the same.

Jack saw the look in her eyes and knew what she was thinking of. He rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I promise.”

“Dad, that didn’t sound very convincing.”

“Yes, mom, I promise to do everything the doctors and nurses tell me, no matter how many times they tell me. How was that? Better?” Both Sydney and Nadia gave him a stern look.

“Dad, it’s not funny. We came very close to losing you. And although we know that you’re going to be fine now, we would much rather have you come home sooner than later.”

“You will have to be here longer if you don’t do as you’re told. And you just said you don’t want that.” He sighed and nodded.

“Yes, you’re right.” He smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry.” They smiled back.

“Don’t worry about it. Just concentrate on getting better. Now promise that you’ll do everything you’re told, and promise you won’t overdue it.”

“And be sincere this time.” He chuckled a little and they let out a small laugh too. He spoke sincerely.

“Sweethearts, I promise you that I’ll take it easy, and do everything I’m told.”

“Good.” Sydney looked at her watch. “It’s time for us to go. Bye, dad, and take care. I can’t wait for you to come home. I love you.” She gave him a kiss on his forehead, and he squeezed her hand.

“Bye, Sydney. I love you too.”

“Bye, dad. I look forward to you coming home. I love you. Take care.” Nadia also gave him a kiss on the forehead, and he squeezed her hand too.

“Bye, Nadia. I love you too.”

Five seconds later the door opened and everyone walked in.

“It’s time to leave.”

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, we are.” Sydney looked back at her father and smiled. “Bye, dad.” Nadia looked at him too and smiled.

“Bye, dad.” He smiled back at them.

“Bye girls.”

Everyone left the room except for Irina, who walked up to Jack’s bed.

“The triplets and I are going for a walk after we’ve said goodbye to everyone. They haven’t been outside all day, so it’ll be good for them.”

“Yes, of course.”

“I think we’ll end up going to the playground, so it’ll probably be a while before we get back.”

“Okay.”

“You also haven’t rested much today when you’ve been on your own, so it’s important that you do that.”

Jack knew he got plenty of rest when other people were in the room with him, and he also felt a little lonely when he was left in the room alone. But he didn’t want to prevent his children from going outside, and try to enjoy their time here for as long as they needed to be here. He nodded slightly.

“Yeah, sure.”

She nodded back and they just looked at each other for a few seconds without saying anything. Irina then looked at her watch.

“Well, I should go. Talk to you later.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

Irina left and Jack sighed feeling the loneliness already. He stared up in the ceiling, and decided that they only way to pass the time was to try to sleep.

Irina and the triplets came back in the late afternoon. Jack was awake, so the stayed in there and the triplets talked eagerly about their time on the playground.

When dinnertime came around Irina and the triplets went to the cafeteria, and Jack felt the loneliness again. He didn’t feel the need to sleep, so he tried to think of something happy, and not remember the time they’d spent in the prison.

But the more he tried to think of happier times, the more the images from the time in Kashmir came to him. He couldn’t shake the DVDs they’d watched from his mind, or Cuvee’s smirk, or Cuvee kissing Irina, or Cuvee rubbing himself against the back of her head. He especially couldn’t shake the image of Irina being tied to the desk naked thinking she was about to get raped, and Cuvee groping her. If he hadn’t been able to get free of the chains, Cuvee would’ve raped her. Although Sydney and Vaughn had been close, Jack knew that they wouldn’t have made it in time.

He took a deep breath. He’d noticed Irina’s behavior since he’d been awake. She hadn’t kissed him, and hadn’t even touched him. Although she seemed fine on the outside, he figured she wasn’t ready for any kind of intimacy. Not even ready to touch him just a little bit. He didn’t know what to do about that. He certainly didn’t want to push her into talking about it if she wasn’t ready. That might just make it harder for her. He decided he would see how things turned out and take it from there.

Jack thought Irina and the triplets were away longer than usual, which only made him more certain that she had a hard time being in his presence after everything that had happened.

When they finally got back the triplets did the most of the talking, and later they left the room to call home. Jack was getting tired, and wasn’t up for talking to everyone back home yet, so they stepped out of his room, so they wouldn’t disturb him. He even thought that the phone conversation took longer than it had the previous night. But he also just suspected that everyone at home wanted to talk to them. He especially knew that the grandkids wanted to talk a lot with Irina and the triplets.

Jack was almost falling asleep when they finally came back to his room. Irina noticed, and was immediately concerned that they’d woken him, and thought that, that would affect his healing process.

“I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to wake you.” He shook his head a little.

“You didn’t. I wasn’t asleep yet.”

“But you almost were, and you really need your rest, so we should let you sleep.”

“No really, it’s okay.”

“Don’t overdue it. You’re still far away from your full strength, and you need all the rest you can get. Besides, it’s late anyway.” She looked at the triplets. “I’m just going to get the waiting room ready for bed. In the meantime you say goodnight to daddy. Don’t take too long. He needs his rest.” They nodded.

“We won’t take too long, mommy.” She smiled at them.

“Good.” She looked back at Jack. “I’ll be back in a little while.” He nodded.

“Okay.” She left and the triplets walked closer. Caitie gave Jack a kiss on the cheek.

“Goodnight, daddy. Sleep well.”

“Goodnight, Caitie. You too.” Ethan was the next to give him a kiss.

“Goodnight, daddy. Sweet dreams.”

“Goodnight, Ethan. The same to you.” Maddie also gave him a kiss.

“Goodnight, daddy. See you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Maddie. Yes you will.”

The triplets decided to give him one more kiss before leaving, and Jack smiled broadly when they left.

Irina came back to his room a few minutes after the triplets left. She smiled a little at him.

“Well, since you were almost asleep before, there’s nothing for me to do other than to say goodnight.” Jack nodded.

“No, I guess not.” Irina nodded.

“Okay then. Goodnight, Jack.”

“Goodnight, Irina.”

She left quickly, and Jack now knew that she definitely wasn’t ready for intimacy of any kind, and wouldn’t be for a while. Instead of talking to her about it, he decided that he would let her have her space, and let her come to him when she was ready to talk and be intimate again.

TBC
 
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