The Perfect Weapon Chapter 2009: Part 1 Section 2 of 3
Chapter 2009: Part 1 Section 2 of 3
“You didn’t give me your opinion about Sydney’s memories,” Irina reminded Dave when Jack left to get more jello and no doubt make another in the endless string of phone calls. He was going to end up with the phone permanently adhered to his head. She sighed. He was also trying to give her and Dave time alone. Doubleplay.
“Her memories are important and are recoverable, as you know from your effort with her care package. But...” Dave paused. “I think - if you want my opinion-“
“Does it matter? You’re going to give it anyway.”
“I don’t have to. I can sleep.” Dave yawned elaborately.
Irina looked at Dave’s face. He could and should sleep. That yawn had been real and he had just made it seem like a ruse to hide his tirednesss. The shadows were still dark under his eyes. Now that he knew the truth, he had fallen into more natural sleep patterns, but it would require time and rest and an abundance of good food before he was more than a shadow. “You could sleep. But you’re dying to give your opinion. Aren’t you?”
“Who me? Nah.”
“Dave!” Irina laughed. “Tell me or no more jello.”
“Oh no, stop the torture! I guess I can give it to you. Sydney’s memories are important to regain, but what’s more important is what you do with the present. You can’t live on the past.”
“I did. My memory book. And didn’t you rely on that too, when you were captive? Which I suppose, in both our cases, was hardly living.”
“No. And I was busy being the Pied Piper of Hamelin while chained to a cave wall. Speaking of which, any news on our rat?”
Irina pressed her lips together. “The small recon team we left at the encampment is all dead. Unfortunate collateral damage. Jack spoke with the families himself. Apologized for their loss.”
“Of course. And speaking of which, the other day when I found out about my parents, you apologized without hesitation.” Dave lay back and Irina took the cup from him again. He cursed silently and looked over at his iv. Did he need more pain killer or less? Irina leaned over him and spooned another bite of jello into his mouth.
“I know you hate this, but live with it.” Irina gave him the last spoonful and sat back down. “The apology? Yes, I did give it with no hesitation. I don’t know... I do know. I had so much pride before. What a waste.”
“That is astonishing, if you don’t mind my saying.”
“And if I did mind?”
“Too freakin’ bad. What happened?”
“Jack already told you.” Irina’s mouth flattened out. “We played Human Battleship and I lost.”
“Or did you win?”
“Yes, of course. He hammered at me relentlessly - and don’t make any sexual comments, David Caro!”
Dave’s mouth dropped open. “I...um, wasn’t going to. It’s not my mind that’s in the gutter. Poor Jack. Especially since you’re a biter.” Dave began to whistle the theme from the movie, Jaws.
“Stop it.” Irina pressed her lips together and then surrendered to the laughter. Perhaps she and Jack did need to get a room. “Listen to my story.”
“I’m agog with anticipation.”
“What’s that? You thought you were a god and could anticipate everything?”
“Ha. Ha. Call the nurse. I may rip out my stitches from laughing.”
“Excuse me.” Judith Barnett tapped on the glass. Sydney looked up and smiled as the guard opened the door. “I hope I’m not interrupting the fun in here...”
Sark stood up. “I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure, madam.”
“This is Dr. Barnett. She is therapist for...well, almost everyone,” Sydney introduced them. “And this is Julian Sark, who is...confused.”
“Pleased to meet you, Julian. May I call you Julian?” Judy asked, knowing that in the past the boy hadn’t liked the name. Moving swiftly across the floor, she sat down in a chair to mark her territory.
“Yes,” Sark said cautiously, waiting until the older woman sat down before reseating himself. Irina had drummed into them the value of good manners. And if nothing else, it didn’t hurt. “Why are you here? Let me guess. An emergency call for poor Sydney?”
“Consider it group therapy for the Project Christmas Alumni group,” Judy suggested. “Now... I understand you both recovered some memories on this mission? Tell me about them. Sydney, if you would begin...” Judy gave Sydney a long look. They both knew Sydney had already told her therapist about this, but Sydney’s cooperation would ease Sark’s. He was a follower. She nodded approvingly as Sydney took the bait and began to speak. When she finished, Sark followed haltingly.
“I remembered a flash of a scene of Dave killing someone to save me.”
“Was that a scary memory?”
“Yes and no. I didn’t see it fully, just a flash of his hand, really. And I had the memory or knowledge that he had done so to save me. Which he told me when he called the other day. Do you know if he’s going to call again?” Sark asked eagerly.
“I’m sure he will,” Judy said soothingly. “In fact, Jack told me today that Dave was speaking of coming to see you as soon as he can, given his medical problems.”
“Good!” Sark smiled and then recalled himself and said formally, “Thank you for that information.”
“Of course.” Judy looked carefully at Sark. He had looked like the kid he should be by virtue of his age, for a moment. They had done an excellent job between the three of them - Jack, Irina and Dave - of breaking him down to facilitate possible rehabilitation. She had no doubt they would do an equally stellar job of breaking Arvin Sloane down to facilitate possible dismemberment. After they somehow tortured him psychologically. Speaking of which, back to the fun of psychotherapy. “If you wouldn’t mind answering another question. What was the best part of the mission, aside from saving your uncle Dave?” Judy asked.
“For me, it was...being part of a family again,” Sydney said softly. “Being with my parents, working with them, seeing them interact. Being a family again. A new start.” She looked at Sark. “Your turn.”
“It was just a mission-“ Sark began.
Sydney rolled her eyes. “Word of advice, Julian. Dr. Barnett can and will wait you out until you tell her the truth. So stop wasting time and just tell her.”
Sark looked at this Dr. Barnett. Sydney was right. Obstinacy was in the blonde’s eyes. Nonetheless, what did he have to gain by this conversation? “Why should I tell you anything?”
“Hmm. Good question. Perhaps this answer might work. If you prove recalcitrant, then I might have to use my authority as attending therapist here to refuse Dr. Caro’s debriefing of you until such time as I feel you are emotionally capable of withstanding whatever truths he might tell you.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“Surely not. I’m merely presenting you with options.”
“I am so bloody sick of options,” Sark muttered. “And I thought therapy was widely considered worthless if the client does not wish to participate.”
“A misconception," Judy said crisply. "Now, shall we proceed-“
“It is unclear to me as to the purpose of your visit or your questions. Nor do I understand why you are asking these questions in Sydney’s presence.”
“Can I answer?” Sydney asked.
“Trying for the A in class, teacher’s pet?” Sark sneered.
“Shut up, Piggy. I’m guessing that what you’re trying to do, Dr. Barnett, is a psych assessment in preparation for Dave’s visit to Julian.”
“Very good. And Sydney is present because based upon my own assessment of your personality, you will answer more fully if someone you trust is here.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. You see, I’ve been checking on you. You don’t like the color red although you try to hide it. You have a strong preference for the color blue, which you do not indulge. Your only known girlfriend and by that I mean a woman to whom you’ve had an emotional attachment is Allison Doren. Which betrays a lack of good judgment and a desire for a partner stronger than yourself. And perhaps most importantly, you prefer being around other people at most times, although you go to great pains to portray yourself as a misanthropic loner with a deep veneer of cynicism and a polysyllabic vocabulary that makes itself most evident when you are under stress. Did I miss anything significant?”
Sark’s mouth fell open. Sydney began to laugh. “Let me guess, Dr. Barnett. You also subscribe to the Bristows’ notion that there is no substitute for extensive background research? What else do you know?”
“I want to talk to Dave,” Sark blurted out. This blonde therapist scared the crap out of him.
Irina did laugh. How she had missed Dave, even if she had never acknowledged it in her own little prison. He had been and would be again the very best friend. Once he completely trusted her again, if he ever would fully, that was. The potential for a reserve of some of his trust was a price she might have to pay. “Did you ever wonder, Dave, what would have happened if I’d been sent to target you?”
“Uck.” Dave looked at Irina with such horror that Jack could only laugh silently in amusement and gratitude as he waited in the hallway and watched them in the reflection of the window in the room’s door. He shook his head and walked away. They would be fine. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. He’d like to sleep. The Katzenjammer kids in there needed to talk about this one. So, maybe he’d lie down for ten minutes. That room he’d been offered was too far away. There had to be a cot somewhere.
“Uck? Uck!” Irina scowled.
Dave smiled tiredly. “Sorry, you’re not my type. Soooo not my type.”
“Why not? Your blonde obsession?”
“No. I’m not quite that shallow!” Dave said irritably, shifting against the sheets. “And another thing-“ He broke off, moving around again, swearing at his knee.
“Dave!” Irina looked over at his iv. “Do you need more painkiller?”
“A little,” Dave admitted grudgingly.
“For godssakes, Dave. Just ask for help,” Irina snapped as she adjusted the dosage. Then she rolled her eyes. “I just sounded like Jack talking to me. You and I are quite the pair.”
“Another reason why targeting me wouldn’t have worked, long term.”
“Another reason? Tell me why-“
“Don’t you know what would have happened if you’d been sent to target me?”
“No. You tell me. According to Jack, I have a limited imagination.”
“Perhaps he’s right if you don’t know what would have happened. You would have ended up with him anyway.”
“What? I don’t understand-“
Dave decided not to respond to that comment. “Let me ask you this. Do you think you would have been successful targeting me?”
“Yes. Of course,” Irina answered automatically. Then she heard her own words and winced. What the hell was she thinking? That she should be proud at being a successful duplicitous whore? Damn these old patterns of always having to win, to be the best even when winning meant losing.
“Even knowing that you are not my type? Think about the women I dated. Were they like you, or rather, Laura?”
“Same difference,” Irina said absently as she went through her memories, almost missing Dave’s assessing gaze.
“Okay. Assuming what I saw in Laura was you, then Laura was not my type. Think about the women I dated. Were they like you?”
Irina thought and then shook her head. No, they were not. They had all been blondes, of course, all intelligent, of course. But they’d all been, in her mind, somewhat bland. “No, they weren’t like me, Dave. I’m interesting.”
“Hey!” Dave laughed aloud.
“Actually, that always puzzled me. You and Jack are so much alike, but the women you dated were very different from me. I’m not being arrogant, just curious.”
“Well, you know I can always understand curiosity.” Dave rubbed his jaw, so glad to be without a beard for more than a decade. “Jack and I, we’re alike in the way our brains work in some ways-“
“You mean how you’re constantly observing and assessing?” Irina nodded. Her brain worked that way as well, but she’d had a tendency to miss unpleasant or inconvenient emotional truths. “Jack’s mind, the way he does that is cool and calm, even if it is so annoyingly elliptical at times, because so often he’s not even aware of doing it.”
“No, because he’s a gamesplayer by the hardwiring of his brain. I have to work on gamesplaying.”
“But you’re a better manipulator.”
“We all have our gifts.” Dave smiled. “And one of Jack’s was the ability to compartmentalize his consciousness. He could turn off the on button and not be cognizant of his observations and judgments. I could not.”
“Yes. You, however, are always ‘on’, so...” Irina looked at Dave now, so exhausted he should just sleep, but no. He would force himself to stay awake until the job was done or his curiosity satisfied. Dave was always so aware of everything, that it was as though he was constantly running. He needed a partner who would be like a restful stop, but he’d made the mistake of thinking he should sit down, when he needed to keep moving so that his muscles didn’t cramp up. She nodded, pleased with the analogy. She’d tell Jack later. Speaking of which, what was taking so long with that jello?
“So I always wanted a woman who was more restful, calm....” Dave closed his eyes. Maybe the fact that he really couldn’t remember any one specific trait of any of them, other than his fiancee, was an indication that Irina was right, as Jack had been so long ago.
Irina thought back to the years she had known Dave and the women he had dated. In her opinion, they truly had all been a little bland and had failed to challenge him in ways he needed. The only exception had been his fiancee, the woman Jack had found for him. Even she had been relatively quiet, but with a spark under the surface. Somewhat like Judy, only she had a feeling that what Judy hid was far more than a spark. Jack was right, damn him, Judy was the type of woman Dave should have been with all along. She would challenge him, indeed. If he was being a jerk, she would probably slap him. Dave needed that. Irina smiled. She couldn’t wait to see this set up.
Jack opened his eyes and swore in several languages. Why was it so damn noisy in the corridor? Why was this cot so damn narrow? Why did a hospital have to smell like a hospital? Why couldn’t he close his eyes and sleep for five minutes without waking up with his jaw clenched? Why couldn’t he just stop being angry at his wife? This was ridiculous! He swung his legs over the side of the cot and sat up. Pulling out his phone, he punched in a number and waited impatiently.
“Are you done yet?” Jack asked the moment the phone was answered.
“Hello, Jack. How are you? I hope your day is going well. And the weather is lovely-“
“Judy, I don’t have the patience right now for your therapeutic snottiness...”
“Why not? What are you upset about?”
“How could you tell?”
“Your voice has the quality it gets when that stick that’s up your ass is pressing against your larynx on its way up to making a point at the top of your head.”
Jack blinked and then began to laugh. “You are such a duplicitous woman. You seem so cool on the outside, but once I got to know you... And really, Judy, is that any way to talk to a patient?” He smiled. Her technique was based on the fact that smart-mouthed comments worked with this patient.
“You’re almost not a patient anymore, Jack,” Judy told him softly. “Surely, you know that. Just as you must know I don’t generally talk to other patients like I talk to you.”
“Yeah, I’m a special case that requires shock treatment.”
“Sometimes. But will you tell me what’s wrong or do you want to just go into a hideyhole and brood about it?”
Jack groaned. “That’s what I just did.” He looked around the little room the size of a closet which contained a cot and a shelf of supplies. Just what would relax your average claustrophobic. Not that he was one, of course. But he clearly needed to find another room so that he and Irina could actually sleep in something other than a chair. “I went into a supply room to pretend to sleep for five minutes and couldn’t and...”
“And then you called me, knowing I’d call you on it. An improvement in my book. I’ll write it down later. Now, I’ll do what you want me to do and ask again, what’s the problem?”
“I’m angry with myself. Because...” Jack took a breath. “I’m angry with my wife. She thought enough about coming home to imagine what color shirt she’d wear. Red, of course. And yet she didn’t act on it and...”
“Did she apologize and mean it?”
“Yes. And so, I should...”
“Get over it?” Judy tapped a pencil on her desk. “Emotions are not like water coming out of a faucet. You can't just turn them on and off. But you do need to look at the color of the water-“
“Oh no, an analogy.”
“You love them, right?” Judy smiled. “If the water you can’t turn off is nasty brown instead of clear, you wouldn’t drink it, would you?”
“No. I’d let it run down the drain.”
“Exactly. Don’t ignore your negative emotions, just channel them properly. And I’d like to point out that I don’t think Irina expects you to turn off your anger immediately. You are the one who expects that, no one else. She might not necessarily look forward to dealing with your anger, but then again....she might,” Judy hinted. “You just need to find a productive way to deal with it.”
Jack sat silently for a long moment. “I’m being an idiot. I just need to use my abilities on a personal basis.”
“Bulls-eye.”
“So, you don’t think I could have targeted you successfully, Dave?” Irina asked.
Dave shook his head. “Probably not. Had you targeted me, you would have had a tougher assignment because you would have had to fashion yourself into what I wanted. And assuming you could have done that successfully for all those years and that I wouldn’t see through it, which is unlikely...” Dave frowned. “But you know, maybe I wouldn’t. I never suspected the depths of Arvin’s pathology.”
“None of us did. Keep in mind - he’s so insane, he’s gifted.”
“He’s so insane, he’s gifted?” Dave began to laugh. “I’ll remember that as a clinical assessment. But my point is-“
“Oh, you do have one? How reassuring...”
“Is that purring tone to your voice supposed to mean something? Do you have a hairball you need to spit up?”
Irina sighed. She would never be able to intimidate Dave. How could you intimidate someone who’d already lived through hell? He also knew her too well. He’d seen her sad, angry, happy, tipsy. He’d seen her having a water fight with her husband in the lake at his family’s cabin, for godssakes. “Go on.”
“Jack likes that voice, I bet.”
“Yes. He does.” Irina smiled. “Especially if I use it while we’re playing one of our word games.”
“And therein lies an important difference. Those games of yours. Jack and I are not the same. What he found, finds attractive in you - the gamesplaying, the volatility, the intensity- I would find exhausting in a wife.”
“But you were always smiling at us, you liked to be with me, didn’t you?”
“Of course, I did,” Dave said reassuringly. “I loved Laura. After Jack, Laura was my closest friend. And I was smiling because you made Jack happy, you both were happy. How could I not be happy for you, then?”
“But then, why wouldn’t I have been successful with you?” Irina pressed. “Why? I was good--”
“Listen to yourself. My god, are you truly so needful of always getting that A grade that you would rather cut off your nose to spite your face and have been with me, than Jack?”
“No.” Irina looked away. “You’re right. Thank you for reminding me,” she said, nearly choking on the words. “I already did that. I tried to get that A in gamesmanship and so I left my loved ones behind and cut them deeply. I hope I’ve learned my lesson from that.” She looked back and shook her head. “No. I know I’ve learned my lesson. But...” She smiled. “Can’t you tell me...”
“Apparently I have to. Geez, can’t you let anything go?” Dave flopped his free arm over his face. Then he sighed and uncovered his face. “You can’t, which is why if you actually learn that lesson, there is hope. That’s why Jack has hope. That intensity worked best when you were in Jack’s presence and it was channeled. But when you weren’t with Jack, you were just, well, tense. That’s what people said at the memorial service.” Dave looked over at her. The woman was much more relaxed now, even if her anxiety about their relationship was as clear as her efforts to integrate herself. Then again, a life of deception would make anyone tense.
“What’s your point, Dave?” Irina asked irritably. As if she wanted to know what her friends had said at her memorial service! Mirrors reflecting truth were so annoying. She’d rather look at a more comforting truth, the truth according to Dave. “Can we circle back to what you said before, that I would have ended up with Jack anyway?”
“Sure. It’s the best thing I’ve said so far, right?”
“Right. But I don’t understand it...Am I...thinking inside the box again?”
“What does that mean? A box, what box?”
“Oh. That’s an expression these days. It means that one’s thought processes are limited to what one already knows.”
Dave nodded. “Good one. Let me ask you this. What do you know of love, not romantic love, but the love between friends?”
“I know I love you and would have done anything to save you, but beyond that?” Irina blinked. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I know you aren’t,” Dave said softly. “And I could lead you down that path, but I’m too damn tired, so I’ll just tell you.”
“Thank god,” Irina muttered. “I’d like to finish this conversation before socialism gets another turn at bat. Grey is not my color.”
“Be quiet, comrade. Red is your color, anyway. Speaking of which, speaking of going home, you would have ended up with Jack because if we’d been dating, you would have met him very soon in any relationship we’d have had.”
“And so...”
“And so, the kind of chemistry you two have is instantaneous. Don’t forget, I saw you two the day you met. I know the truth. I forgot it for a while in my anger, but I know the truth. That kind of chemistry is undeniable. I would have seen it and I would have not only stepped aside, I would have pushed Jack at you.” Dave lay back and waited for her to absorb his words.
“You would, wouldn’t you?” Irina said wonderingly. If she hadn’t been a KGB agent who would have been extracted for her failure with Agent Caro, she and Jack would have... She smiled in relief. “Even if I’d made myself into Miss Perfect for you on a rational basis, you would have seen the truth that lies between Jack and me and pushed us together. Because...” Irina closed her eyes. How many times would she have to learn this simple truth. “Because you love him and therefore want him to be happy.”
“Of course.” Dave smiled. He’d used one of Jack’s circles and they still worked. “So....Happy now?”
Irina’s eyes popped open. “You... You are going to love me again.”
“I have every faith that I will love you again.” Or at least I have faith in Jack’s judgment, so I’ll keep my heart open, Dave promised himself just as he’d promised Jack. If she had the opened soul of the woman he had known as Laura, then he would love her again. “So..” Dave shrugged. “Might as well start as I mean to go on.”
“Sometimes.” Irina frowned. “Jane Austen has a perfect quotation about the getting into the habit of loving, but I can’t call it to mind.”
“Jane Austen?” Dave pretended to gag, then he stopped abruptly. “You really did think Pride and Prejudice was the best novel ever written?”
“Yes, of course.” Irina looked askance at Dave. “Who wouldn’t?”
“Let me ask you this? What I saw of you when you were Laura - how much of that was a lie?”
Irina nodded. Dave would keep pressing on this point. She was certain that it was the key that would open at least one circle of his trust again. She was equally certain that his endless curiosity about how the human mind worked, how it interacted with the soul would have inspired his questions regardless of his intentions about trusting her. “It was...What you saw, you more than anyone besides Jack, was the truth. I may have lied about...certain details, but I never pretended. I...never had to. Well, except for Arvin.”
“Arvin’s always the exception. But that’s an interesting distinction- You lied, but you didn’t pretend.”
“Yes. That’s what you meant, isn’t it? How much of Laura was me?”
Dave nodded. “How much of Laura was a person you didn’t know was in you until you became her so easily it was like shedding a skin, not adding one?”
Irina’s mouth dropped open slightly. “How do you do that?" She shook her head. "I didn’t know that until you just said it, but that’s it. How did you know? It's more than just paying attention.”
“I had the luxury of time to do nothing but think when Arvin first moved me into what I now know was Afghanistan. I had caught bits and pieces and knew that the central government of the Soviet Union couldn’t hold together, that it was falling apart and I wanted to understand you because I thought I’d be seeing you soon.”
“Because you thought that if you were still in captivity that meant I must not have been free under Soviet rule and now that the Soviet system was gone, I would go home.” Irina shook her head. “I’m s-“
“No. You don’t need to keep saying it. You said it sincerely. Once is all I need.” Dave smiled. “I may still have a little anger, but I’m not a premier grudgeholder like Jack.”
“Thank you. You’re being more kind to me than I have a right to expect.”
“That’s what friends are for, isn’t it? To catch us when we need it.”
“Yes.” Irina looked down at her hands, that had not caught Jack before. Hands that had made, as Dave said, a fine mess. She looked up into Dave’s assessing eyes and answered his unspoken question. “I know I’m being...not myself in some ways. Jack would say in good ways. I feel...”
“Misplaced? Tell me about it. Transition times are exhausting.” Dave closed his eyes. What awaited him was beyond his imagination, he knew. He would have to trust Jack’s assertion that everything would be okay, including his faith in his wife. “Believe me, I know.”
“Yes, yes, that’s it.” Irina looked over at Dave. They were both in the same place. Going home to a home that was unknown. They could bond again over that commonality, if Dave would allow it. He was more amenable than she’d expected...Jack. Jack and his set ups, his prior preparation. Jack must have asked him to give her a chance. A second chance. Or was it a third chance? She shook her head. “I’m...lucky, I know. I also know I’m being emotional in ways I’ve never been before. I don’t know...”
“What’s bothering you most? It can’t be Jack.”
“No. Not Jack. Partly...” Irina looked Dave in the eye. “It’s you.”
“Just don’t screw up and we’ll be fine.” Dave looked at Irina and then smiled.
Irina rolled her eyes. “Because you of course would never screw up.”
“Of course not.” Dave tapped Irina’s hand. “What else is bothering you? Something with Sydney?”
“No. I think I’m anxious about Sydney’s boyfriend, who is very important to her.”
Dave nodded. Jack would want him to reassure Irina. He reached out to touch Irina’s hand. “Hey. If all else fails, Jack and I will double team him and he won’t stand a chance.”
Irina brightened. “You’re right. The boy is not an idiot. I hope. Certainly, he’ll see that he only has two options.”
Vaughn crossed and recrossed his arms. He stared at the monitors. He looked at Sydney and Sark. It was as if they’d been shrunk to Barbie-size and caged inside a television, like he’d thought when he was a little boy. He’d thought that there were real people inside his tv putting on plays and living lives he couldn’t see when he turned off the television. Then, he had grown concerned about the trapped people. His mother had had to explain it to him over and over. There had to be a way out. There had to be. He wasn’t trapped into a situation where in order to be with the woman he loved he had to forgive his father’s murderer. He couldn’t be trapped like that.
Irina got up and looked down the hall. Where was Jack?
“Is Vaughn the right guy for Sydney, anyway?”
“Does it matter what I think?” Irina shrugged. Then she smiled. “What could I say? That sometimes he reminds me of Jack?”
“Does he? Well, then she could marry Sark.”
“He’s not her type. Too easily led. In that way he’s not like Jack.” Irina sat back down. She patted Dave’s hand. “And you know what? You’re not Jack. You’re not my type either.”
“Thank god. I was worried. And I really don’t want a wife who treats her husband like an ear of corn.”
“I don’t understand-“
“Nibble. Nibble. Nibble.”
Irina laughed. “My husband likes it when I bite him.”
“Yeah, I know.
“What else do you know that he likes?”
“I’m not going to fall into that trap. Just pay attention. Remember when I gave you that advice before?”
“No.” Jack walked into the room and held out the jello. “I don’t. When did you give my wife advice?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Irina said. “It was just decorating advice. The red dining room, remember?”
“David Caro, king of the scummiest apartments on earth, gave you decorating advice?” Jack asked suspiciously. “Like what? Dirt is a cheap substitute for brown kitchen floor covering?”
“He did give me decorating advice. He told me you would like the color red in our dining room and brighter colors throughout the rest of the house.”
“You did?” Jack asked Dave.
“Mumph,” Dave said as he took the jello and began to eat it. “So, Irina finish your story about Panama. The Cliff Notes version anyway, because actually...” He looked at his hand and watched its fine trembles. “I am tired. Damn it! This is so stupid!”
“What?” Jack asked. “The fact that eating makes you tired? Get over it.” He took the jello cup away and picked up the spoon. It was his turn. “You use up energy you don’t have with frustration.” He shoved the spoon into Dave’s mouth. “I want you to get better so that we can play hockey together.”
“And you can force me to tell you what we’re trying to avoid?”
“Something like that.” Jack smiled the kind of smile that always made Dave wince. He held up the full spoon and once again stuck it in Dave’s mouth. “Just imagine this is a hockey puck.”
Dave burst out laughing. He shook his head. “I’ve probably eaten worse in my time.”
“No doubt. Now eat. Seeing your ribs stick out is making me anxious. And as I recall, you always considered me...” Jack rolled his eyes. “Sensitive. Blech. So, you wouldn’t want to make me anxious, now would you?”
Dave nodded and swallowed as Jack fed him. He was right, he needed to eat and rest and be a grown up about it, but it was so odd to have Jack take care of him. “Distract me like you did before, Lorena.”
Irina gritted her teeth. She should have never told him that she didn’t like that name. “Where were we?”
“In a completely inappropriate description of how Jack hammered at you relentlessly, using sex as a weapon-“
“I did not!” Jack said, shocked. “Or rather, I can’t believe she told you that.” He slammed the empty cup down on the tray and tossed the spoon in.
Irina began to laugh. “He’s teasing, Jack. Although you did use sex as a--” She stopped abruptly and turned a suspicious look on Dave. “I didn’t tell you that and obviously Jack didn’t. So, how did you make the guess that he would use sex as a weapon?”
“You know, I’m reeeeeally tired...” Dave whispered and closed his eyes. If Irina had chosen to forget what Jack had done on missions before they were married, it certainly was not his job to remind her of that fact. Nope. Nor was it in his best interests to blurt out anything about the manual. Distract her, Jack, he thought silently.
TBC at Chapter 2009 Part 1 Section 3 of 3