The Perfect Weapon: Chapter 2012: Part 1
Chapter 2012: Part 1
Sloane swallowed. Or tried to. The thickness in his throat threatened to choke him. Cautiously he pressed the button, hope and fear vying for dominance. Damn Irina. Damn Jack.
Vaughn frowned as he looked at Irina’s waist, which even under her suit jacket, seemed too thick. “What are you hiding?” he snapped out, pointing to her waist.
“Vaughn....” Sydney began. “Let it...”
“No. She’s got something under there and knowing her, it might be---”
Sydney shook her head. “It’s nothing! Let it go---”
Kendall closed his eyes briefly, before saying stiffly, “Ms. Derevko or Mrs. Bristow or...whatever! Would you ease Vaughn’s mind and tell him there is nothing---”
“Laur- I don’t know what name to use. Laura or Irina.”
“Whatever. Whatever you want.”
“Honestly, Kendall, after what we’ve shared...” Irina’s eyes danced down toward the direction of Kendall’s boxers. In a low husky voice that made Jack roll his eyes, she purred, “Surely, you can call me Irina.”
“Yeah. And you should be calling me Eric or perhaps...sweetie, Kendall.” Weiss grinned.
“Can I kill myself now?” Kendall muttered.
“Please do,” Jack muttered.
Irina sighed. “But there is something. I admit it.” She sighed again, ignoring Jack’s sudden fit of coughing as he realized that she was enjoying herself a little too much. How had he known... Oh. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Vaughn has sharp eyes-“
“I knew it!” Vaughn smiled triumphantly. He knew she was hiding something. Now the truth would finally be revealed and this endless cycle of desire and fear would end. He would not have to make the choice--
“Oh, you knew it. I was hiding this because...” She pulled a small square of fabric out of her shirt.
Vaughn snatched it up. Shaking it out, he stared in bemusement at the dress in his hand. “What is this? Some kind of-“
“Oh!” Jack exclaimed, biting his lip so he wouldn’t laugh aloud. That might prove fatal given the look of consternation on Irina’s face. “The BOB dress. How... exciting! Did you get the armband too?”
“Jack!” Irina growled. Sydney bit her lip and looked at the ceiling. Her parents were so embarrassing.
“BOB?” Everyone chorused.
Jack shook his head. “Nothing, nothing. She knew I liked her in the dress and---”
Sydney interjected with a pained smile she directed anywhere but in Vaughn’s direction, “So, she asked me to ask the wardrobe people if they still had it, if she could buy it and she wanted to surprise my father with it tonight and if I took it we couldn’t find a way to do a pass off once she left here and she’s not allowed to bring a purse in here with her...”
“Oh,” everyone chorused.
“It was just a man-woman thing, Vaughn,” Weiss hissed. Damn it, Vaughn had to make a decision soon. This constant internal battle was spilling over onto everyone. It had the potential to damage - Weiss looked instantly at Jack and watched his eyes. Okay. He’d come to a decision, Weiss would guess. “Nothing to get your knickers in a twist about. Geez.”
“You spoiled the surprise,” Carrie glared at Vaughn.
“How did I become the bad guy in this scenario?” Vaughn grumbled.
“You’re not really,” Jack said firmly, glaring at the group, while noting the controlled but stricken expression on Sydney’s face. That sight was becoming all too regular. “It’s okay. You were doing your job. I don’t blame you--”
“And neither do I,” Irina said softly. “May I have my dress back now, however? Or were you planning on wearing it home?”
“Home? We just got here,” Dave complained as he stumped into the rotunda after completing another debriefing session upstairs. And if he had to fill out one more health insurance form, he was going to kill someone. Speaking of which....Dave looked from person to person. You could cut the tension in here with a machete. Who had started it this time? Vaughn, apparently, from the look of consternation on his face.
Vaughn rubbed his forehead and stared at the square of fabric Irina placed on her desk. He watched Jack bend his head and whisper something in her ear. She smiled. Her phone rang. She snatched it up and began barking an order in some harsh language he didn’t even recognize. Staring at the folded dress that apparently held a fond memory for Jack and Irina, Vaughn blinked as he realized she was gazing at him now. Damn it. Damn her. Damn her for looking at him with compassion mixed with impatience.
“How dare you?” she whispered. “Who are you?”
“Oh god, I just want the drama to be over,” Sydney whispered as she plunked down next to Dave on a bench.
“I know, Princess.” Dave held his hand, palm up. Sydney put hers on top of his hand and they sat there quietly for a moment before going in to see Sark. Dave looked up at Jack. The two men nodded at each other.
“Vaughn?” Jack asked softly. “Might I speak with you in Kendall’s office for a moment?” Jack ignored the fact that everyone looked away immediately. Except for Kendall.
“Yeah, sure, you can use my office. Go ahead.” Kendall waved in the direction of his office, raising his voice slightly as Jack and Vaughn moved away. “No problem. The fact that you refuse to have your own office -“
“I’ve explained to you on earlier occasions. A good supervisor works with and knows his team, which is much harder to do when one is down the hall and behind glass-“
“But Jack...” Irina smiled as she put the phone down and touched her husband’s hand. “You didn’t have a problem knowing me when I was down the hall and behind glass...”
Sydney groaned. Jack grinned. “Well, those were special circumstances and not the type I intend to replicate with Vaughn. So, Kendall-“
“As I was saying, the fact that you refuse your own office and then just commandeer mine whenever you feel like it is-“
“The best of both worlds.” Jack gestured in the direction of the office. Vaughn sighed, ducked his head, and slowly walked through the door. Jack followed, stopped, put his hand on the doorframe and looked at Kendall. “Oh and before I forget. I’d like a different parking space.”
“Well, Bristow, I’ll just get my steno pad and take notes and get right on that!” Kendall sniped. “Just where do you want your parking space?”
Jack looked back at Irina. “Far away from the security cameras.”
“Sooo...” Vaughn paced nervously as Jack closed the door to Kendall’s office behind him. “Why did you want a parking space far away from the security cameras? Let me guess - so that no one can see you tossing my lifeless body into your trunk?”
“Something like that.” Jack tilted his head slightly as Vaughn snorted and resumed pacing. “It’s...interesting. You seem to have no problem confronting me verbally and yet...”
“And yet what, Jack? Stop being so cryptic and-“
“And yet you can’t confront your own fears and needs and decide if you’re going to dump Sydney or not.” Jack paused as Vaughn took a deep breath. “Was that clear enough for you?”
“It’s not that simple!” Vaughn protested as he sat down with a hard thump on an overly-firm office couch. Where the hell did Kendall get his furniture? Vaughn wondered as he tried to avoid the feeling of sinking beneath the quagmire of conflicting needs. Hard Butts Are Us? He shifted uncomfortably and rose to his feet again to pace. His hopes for the future had died the day Irina had walked back in here with Jack and now -
Sometimes...a flower does not transplant well.
Susan stopped in front of Dave and Sydney. “So, I hear you’re going to tell Sark the truth that he’s really a Jersey boy.”
“Yes. What did you bring him as a welcome home gift? A basket of petrochemicals?” Sydney teased, remembering Susan’s ready stream of negative comments about New Jersey.
“It would be appropriate,” Susan sniffed with the inborn disdain of a native New Yorker for the state to the east. “Poor guy. I can’t believe I’m saying that about him, but today’s going to be a tough one-“
“I can’t believe you’re saying that either,” Sydney agreed. “Has he been growing on you?”
“Yeah, like a fungus. Judy says-“ Susan grinned.
“Is Dr. Barnett coming down to watch or participate?” Dave asked. “I’ve been calling her-“
“She’s tied up right now. She hopes to be down soon,” Susan looked down at her watch. Yes, she’d call her down after Dave went into the cell. As per the plan. She looked up at Sydney, who nodded imperceptibly. Susan looked around for their other conspirator. “Where’s Vaughn?”
Sydney tensed and nodded toward Kendall’s office. “In there. With my father.”
“Oh...” Susan whispered, gauging from the tight-lipped expression on Sydney’s face that Vaughn wasn’t in there asking for advice on engagement rings. “I’m sorry. I know how hard this has been.”
Sydney tried to shake off her depression. “Barbie and Ken never had all this trouble, Nia would say.”
“True. Because Barbie and Ken had no parents that we know of; no one except Midge and Allen, really,” Susan agreed. “I hope I can meet this Nia soon. You and Vaughn have spoken of her so often, I already feel like she’s a girlfriend.”
“You never know.” Sydney gave a half-smile as she craned around Susan, trying to see if there were any signs of life coming from Kendall’s office. She barely noticed Susan’s commiserating pat on her shoulder before Susan moved off to talk with Weiss. “I wish this were over. All of it,” Sydney hissed fiercely to Dave.
“I know. You’re tired of the drama in your personal life. You’re more like me than your parents in that respect.”
“I know.” Sydney rolled her eyes. “They really love the drama, don’t they?”
Dave nodded. “I can see why, in some ways, you know. They do bring excitement into each other’s lives.”
“Excitement. Yeah. But too much...” Sydney squeezed Dave’s hand. “But I guess one person’s too much is another person’s not enough.”
“Yes, Goldilocks, it has to be just right.” Dave squeezed Sydney’s hand in return. “The problem is that...Vaughn is like you and hates the drama.”
Sydney sighed. She shifted closer to Dave and put her head on his shoulder. “Which is one reason why we have a problem. Bringing his father’s assassin back into his life is somewhat dramatic.”
“Just a little.” Dave leaned over and kissed Sydney’s head. “You are a good match in many ways, but that could be a deal breaker. I’m sorry.”
“I know it is, Dave. What do you think it would take?”
“Work. Patience. Forgiveness. Patience. Maybe, even sacrifice.”
“You left out love.”
“Ah. Yes, I did. A hard lesson I’ve learned in life is that you start there, but-“
“Love is not enough.” Sydney slumped back, resting her head against the wall. “I know. I think sometimes about what if....What if my mother had made a different choice in Panama?”
“What do you think?” Dave asked, easily slipping back into his own patterns.
“It...My father would have pursued her. And not in some nice man-woman chase game that she keeps mentioning-“
“I don’t think nice is the adjective I’d use when it comes to your parents in a chase game.” Dave grinned as he thought of the scenario Irina had spun for him the other day when they were alone.
“Well, no. Actually, they might have killed each other. Or...She’s mentioned how blind she was. Could he have taken her? Could he?”
“They’re both remarkable gamesplayers. If your mother was on point, they both could have ended up dead. If. If not....having seen Jack in action, one of his strengths when he’s totally focused on the game in play is a lack of self-deception. He may do that in his personal life, but professionally and now? No.”
Sydney nodded. “Too many betrayals. Sloane, especially.”
“Yes. I’ve seen your father. He’s...ruthless when it comes to exploiting weaknesses. Ruthless. And if he decided your mother was only an enemy to be neutralized...And if she fell victim to her own self-delusion...”
“Then, if Dad saw the situation as a professional one, he’d use his personal knowledge of her against her and...probably consider it evening up the score.”
“Probably?” Dave scoffed. “Definitely. Gamesplayers don’t like to lose. They hate it.”
“You mean, they hate, loathe and despise it?” Sydney laughed, as she imitated her father.
“Like that. They take it personally, very personally -- because the gamesmanship is part of their internal makeup, it’s inherent. So, a failure in a game is...” Dave trailed off, waiting for Sydney to fill in the blank.
“So, it’s a failure of the self.” Sydney nodded as she turned excitedly to Dave. Finally, she got it. “Is that part of what Dad felt like when he discovered the truth about Mom? It was a double failure or so he thought. No wonder he couldn’t trust his own judgment on personal matters...”
“Absolutely.” Dave relaxed. Sydney had finally achieved another breakthrough.
“I...see.” Sydney nodded slowly. She leaned over to kiss Dave’s cheek. “Thank you. You’ve given me so much to think about and...I think I understand now. I had an appointment with Dr. Barnett on Monday, but I think I’ll cancel.”
“Uh...wait.” Dave shifted nervously. No therapist liked to hear that an outsider had covered material meant for a session. And he still hadn’t connected with her to talk about his midnight raid last weekend on Sark’s cell. She had been ‘unavailable’ according to Susan every time he’d called. Maybe she truly was the busiest therapist in the world - given the fact that she had this crew as patients that could be true - or maybe she was being passive-aggressive. Either way, after the plans for today were put into effect, his ass was going to be grass with her. “Maybe, you should see her, regardless-“
“Just in case?” Sydney laughed. “No. That’s for you old folks!” She turned her head so that Dave did not see her smirk. It wasn’t only the older generation who had games going. At least it kept her mind distracted from the leaden fear weighing down every step she took these days. Although...she was growing less fearful and more, well, angry. Oh, she knew Vaughn would have never chosen to be in this position, but damn it! She wanted to come first, she wanted to be his first choice, above everything and everyone else. She knew that was...wishful thinking, but... “Speaking of Justin Case...Are you planning on setting up Arezou with Sark?”
Dave sighed. “If we knew where she was, I might follow up on some groundwork I laid in that direction.”
“If only...” Sydney agreed with a small smile. Dave narrowed his eyes. That smile looked remarkably like Jack’s when he was up to something....
“You don’t understand what it’s like to want to trust, need to trust and yet---” Emily stopped.
“You’re right!” Irina gritted out. “But he does. So perhaps you’ll listen to him.”
“That’s Jack, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s Jack,” Irina said quickly. “Talk to him.”
“Emily?”
Arvin shuddered as he listened.
Jack tapped his finger against his other arm as he debated how to handle the conversation. “Let me lay it on the line. You have only two options. Stay or go.”
“Dave said the same thing,” Vaughn said slowly. Jack would not have brought him in here to reiterate Dave's words, so what tactic was he going to use? Vaughn wondered, vowing he would stay calm, that he could compartmentalize, that he would not allow Jack to draw him into some emotional mess which would merely muddy the waters further.
“No doubt. Either you stay and find a way to handle this or...” Jack nodded to himself as he rephrased his next words. “Either stay, Option A or Option B - if you can’t give everything you have and are to Sydney, then set her free so that she can find someone who can give her what she deserves.”
“But...I love her.”
“So what?” Jack shrugged.
“I don’t appreciate your flippancy!” Vaughn snarled.
“I’m not being flippant. I’m being honest. There is a difference.” Jack leaned back against the door and stared at Vaughn for a moment as he contemplated his next tactic. “Let me put it to you this way. You love her? So what? It’s what you do with the love that matters.”
“What does-“ Vaughn groaned as Jack opened his mouth to speak. “Another analogy?”
“No, a lesson from life. Irina loved me and Sydney and yet, she left us without a backward glance twenty years ago. You would be the first to deride the kind of love that permits one person to hurt the other that way. But what do you think you’re doing now, by withholding a portion of yourself from Sydney, by making snide comments at every possible juncture, by-“
“You are equating me with Irina? That’s prepost--”
“Is it? Aren’t you contemplating leaving Sydney behind because it’s easier for you to imagine finding someone else than it is to imagine how to handle this situation? Aren’t you?” Jack stepped forward and took Vaughn by the shoulders. “Answer me. Aren’t you?”
Vaughn looked down at his feet and slowly nodded. He winced when Jack pushed him aside
“You know what? You and Irina both lack imagination.”
“Jack...” Vaughn clenched his jaw and his fists.
“And another thing-“ Jack began, circling around verbally. If one assault fails, try another. It had worked in Panama, after all.
“I don’t need another thing!” Vaughn spun around as Jack moved back toward the door.
“You need to hear this. Irina’s betrayal at the end of ten years was a huge, gaping wound. It was a knife to the gut that almost killed me. I don’t deny that. I’ve never denied that. But at the end of ten years, a million tiny little cuts can also kill. I don’t want Sydney to wake up ten years from now and realize that her soul has been flayed until it’s in tatters.”
“I would never-“
“Never? Ha. You’re doing it right now. You’re withdrawing emotionally. You’re not being unfaithful to her physically, but you’re withdrawing just-“
“If this is going to be a diatribe about my dating Alice when Sydney and I were-“
“Ah. You see your own patterns. Excellent,” Jack said snidely. “You’re withdrawing from her to protect yourself. Because you are planning on leaving her, aren’t you?”
“No-“
“No? Then you’re prepared to commit yourself to her, to her happiness, wholeheartedly? Because that’s what she deserves. Hell, that’s what we all deserve, Michael. That’s what she is prepared to give you. Are you going to offer her less in return?” Jack demanded, hoping he was making the right choice himself in confronting Vaughn like this.
“You mean like Irina offered you less when she was Laura?” Vaughn snapped.
“Yeah, like that. As I told Irina in Panama, I want it all. I deserve it all. If she couldn’t give me that, then...” Jack shrugged.
“Then what?” Vaughn demanded, taking a step forward, feeling the ground grow shaky under his feet.
“If she hadn’t come back, after all was said and done, I would have moved on. That is the option I would have selected. ”
“You...would have moved on?” Vaughn gulped. But...but Jack so obviously and deeply loved Irina, that the thought of him being with someone else was almost as unthinkable as....
“Yes. As Sydney will move on eventually after you dump her.” Jack gave a humorless smile. “Or did you think she was going to stay home moping forever while weeping into her Lean Cuisine?”
“Well, no...of course not,” Vaughn countered, beginning to pace again.
“Of course not. She’s a lovely woman. Any man would be lucky to date my daughter. In fact...” Jack drawled, deciding swiftly on another change of direction. “Julian said something like that to Dave the other night when he and Sydney were here.”
“Excuse me? Sydney was here with Dave and...Sark?” Vaughn asked, his eyes narrowing. “This is the first I’ve heard about that!”
“Really? How terrible. I fear I’ve made a faux pas!” Jack smiled, that horrible smile that always made Vaughn feel as though a shark were about to separate his leg from the rest of his body. Vaughn tensed for the inevitable bite. “Is Sydney keeping secrets too? Perhaps she sees the handwriting on the wall and is taking a page from the book - Aesop, I think - about one in the hand being better than two in the bush. And Sark - we know how malleable he is. If Sydney told him to stay put - in her hand, as it were - he’d stay put. Perhaps that quality seems attractive to my daughter at this juncture, hmm?”
Vaughn clenched his hands as he felt the blood rush to his face. There it was, the bite. No one knew how to separate flesh from bone better than Jack. Although given his conversation with Dave the other day, he wasn’t bad at it either. “You’re trying to play me, to push me into a decision that I’m not ready to make- And you’‘re making it sound like I’m running away from difficulty-“
“How interesting - I haven’t said that at all...”
“Guilt makes us defensive,” Emily whispered.
Arvin curled his hand around the frame encircling a picture of Emily in her garden from twenty years ago. They had been so young. When had his hand gotten so old, complete with age spots? When...Who...Why? Was it real? Could it be? Dare he take a chance? It was probably just Irina or Jack or Irina and Jack or some combination playing with his mind. Gaslighting him.
Although...Jack’s anger was more prone to quick and dirty and deadly jabs. Dave...Dave was more likely to engage in psychological torture. Dave was the one with the greatest amount of patience. Dave was the one who had had years to contemplate the nature of revenge. But Irina said Dave wasn’t doing well after his release from the cave, that those years in darkness had taken a toll on him. Could he trust Irina at all?
Arvin carefully set the frame down on the desk, ensuring that it didn’t wobble, before letting go of his hand. The only constant, the only true trustworthiness about Irina, he decided, was the obsession they shared with Rambaldi. In the end, he would be wise only to focus on what she could bring him to solve that puzzle. As for the other... Arvin gingerly began to listen again, trying to separate truth from wishful thinking.
“I’m sorry, so sorry. I know he probably told you he’s changed but...” Jack sighed loudly.
“Has she told you she’s changed?”
“Yes. And--”
“And you’re choosing to believe her, aren’t you? To have faith?”
“Yes. I have -- or am learning to have -- faith.”
“Are you? But then how can you ask me not to? I should have faith. I know he loves me.”
“I know you love Sydney,” Jack began. “But--” He stopped at the look of utter confusion on Vaughn’s face.
I cannot make up my mind.
“At the risk of boring you through repetition, let me point out once again that you don’t have any other options, Michael. Stay or go. Option A or B. If you choose Sydney, this honor of which you speak would not allow you to ask Sydney to forfeit her parents in an Option C, now would it?”
Vaughn looked down, hoping Jack would not see the flush on his cheeks. In his darkest moments, he had contemplated throwing the burden of choice back on Sydney. He looked up. Oh shit, of course, Jack had seen the redness in his face.
Jack unclenched his jaw as he saw the truth in Vaughn’s quick flush of guilt. “If you choose Sydney, you’re also choosing her parents. While we’ll hardly be living in each other’s pockets, you will be interacting with Irina on occasion. Especially, should I ever get my wish and have grandchildren.”
“I know,” Vaughn agreed softly and turned his back on Jack. He knew how Jack longed to spoil Sydney’s children as a way to compensate for his failures with his daughter. He knew too that Jack would be a good grandfather, the kind a child would adore, the way he had come to know Sydney had adored her father before the disaster of Irina’s betrayal and Jack’s breakdown had befallen them.
“If you know that, then the question as always comes back to this. Can you handle it or not?”
Ignoring Jack’s last question, Vaughn spun around. “Then you know I’m not doing this to hurt her!”
“I know that’s not your intention, but nonetheless, you are still hurting her.” Jack stayed planted in front of the doorway. “I won’t reiterate the cliche about the road to hell-“
“So, what do you want me to do? Just stop it? Just like that?” Vaughn snapped his fingers.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I want you to do in the sense that it’s time to fish or cut bait. I understand, we all understand your dilemma, hell, even Irina understands. But there is a limit to how long anyone can expect our loved ones to put up with -“
“I have never said anything to Sydney-“ Vaughn said urgently.
“And that’s the problem, perhaps. You’re...pissing around the toilet, making a bigger mess than if you just took direct aim.”
Vaughn blinked in surprise at Jack’s language. For a while now, that stick that had been up Jack’s butt had seemed to loosen up and he’d startle them all with some casual comment or slang language that none of them had even expected him to know, let alone use. “You want me to aim my anger at Sydney?”
“I want you to focus on Sydney. Talk to her. Directly. One to one.”
“And say what? That I love her, but...” Vaughn looked away once again, then back at Jack. He saw the fleeting discomfort on Jack’s face, underlying the determination and sighed. Jack was trying to help. He’d been trying for a while, if only he’d been willing to listen. “Jack...” Vaughn began slowly. “I... Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“How do you.... I mean you. How did you forgive her for what she had done? Because she doesn’t deserve it.”
“And I don’t deserve Sydney’s forgiveness for having been a bad father, either. And you don’t deserve Alice’s forgiveness for going out with her when you were in love with Sydney. Who deserves forgiveness? No one. It doesn’t mean that if we are truly remorseful we should be endlessly beaten up with our transgressions, but... Forgiveness is a gift. It’s...a form of grace, which is always a gift.”
Vaughn looked away from Jack’s intensity and down at his feet as he thought about Jack’s words. Words of wisdom gleaned, he knew, from a hard life and equally hard choices. The kinds of words his father might have given him, had he lived. Of course, then none of them would be in this position. Vaughn slammed his hand against his thigh. He didn’t need Jack or Dave pointing out the circularity of his thoughts. He forced himself back to the point. “A... choice we make to withhold or bestow?”
Jack moved forward again toward Vaughn. “Exactly. I chose to forgive her because I love her, the real her, the potential within her, the potential for us. Did I make the choice and have... a magic wand wave over me and all my hurt and anger disappear? No. I had to work on forgiving her. It is a journey I chose to take. With her. Because I love her, the real her, the potential within.
“But, that’s irrelevant to you. You would forgive her because of what it would mean to Sydney, to your life together. You would forgive her or at least let it go for Sydney’s sake. For the sake of the love you feel for her. For the sake of....the journey you could make together. If not, it’s time to take the other fork in the road and allow Sydney to do the same.”
“I don’t know what to choose-“ Vaughn said, as he’d said to himself and Weiss countless times. He stopped as the door opened and Kendall strolled in without so much as a knock. “How to make it work...”
Kendall interrupted. “If you ask my opinion-“
“We weren’t!” Jack and Vaughn said in unison.
Kendall shrugged. “Failing to make a decision is in and of itself is a choice.”
“He’s right,” Jack agreed. When Kendall’s mouth dropped open, Jack shrugged. “Odds are that throwing random shoots at a dart board, one will eventually make a bullseye. Congratulations, Sylvester, on a bullseye. Finally.”
Vaughn looked down at his hands, ignoring the banter of the older men as his mind swirled. He blurted out, “What about Thanksgiving and Christmas?”
“Thanksgiving and Christmas?” Jack echoed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and prayed for patience.
“Yes. Holiday dinners!”
“Go out to restaurants?” Kendall suggested.
Vaughn stuttered. “B, b, but...my mother. It would be...dishonorable beyond what I am prepared to handle to force her to sit down with her husband’s killer-“
“True enough. No one is suggesting that, are they?” Jack pressed. When Vaughn shook his head, Jack continued. “So...don’t have her sit down with Irina except when absolutely necessary.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest, doubtful about the primacy of these concerns. Dave and Judy would say that Vaughn was projecting his own discomfort onto his mother. “Many people never see their children’s in-laws after the wedding except at a grandchild’s christening. It’s hardly insurmountable. Nor is a turkey dinner.”
‘But what do I say to my mother about...her? About...” Vaughn looked away. He was a freakin’ spy and he couldn’t come up with a stupid lie? No wonder Jack was staring at him with dangerous impatience. Vaughn felt the skin on his back tighten with trepidation as he recognized the look of finality on Jack’s face. Someone or some...idea was about to die.
Kendall shrugged. “You’re making this more difficult than it has to be. Just tell her that Irina’s a bitch or interfering or a mean drunk - whatever. Or simply that you just don’t like her and don’t want to spend time with her. What’s so hard to believe about that? Every day, people find out they don’t like their in-laws. Hell, Irina killed Jack’s father, so-“
“She what?” Vaughn asked absently, as he tried to run options through his mind, but kept circling back to the only two Jack had offered: stay or go.”
“Long story. No hard feelings, at all. Just the opposite in fact.”
“I will never understand...” Vaughn shook his head. “I will also never understand why Kendall knows this-“
Kendall rolled his eyes. “I assure you I know only because Jack took great delight in showing me the pardon for that crime as well as a host of others.”
Vaughn pursed his lips, then nodded at Jack. “I see. She confessed to crimes to enable you to get pardons so that certain individuals could not - if they discovered those crimes - use them against you or Irina or Sydney.”
“Yeah. It’s called covering your ass.” Kendall rubbed his hand over his head.
“Yes. And now can you take your ass out of here?” Jack asked, pointing to the door. “Don’t you have something you need to...direct? Somewhere?”
“Oh yeah. Like this operation? Remember? Work? And poor poor Sark...” Kendall clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
“Go. We’ll be out soon.” Jack waited until Kendall departed and then turned back to Vaughn. “I’d like you to pick up Nia at the airport. She’s due in early this afternoon, after we’re done with Sark.”
“Nia?” Vaughn blinked at the abrupt change in subject. What circuitous path was Jack taking now?
“Yes. Remember Nia and her part in our plan?” Jack asked slowly, seeing the panic in Vaughn’s eyes as he confronted his choices. He felt some sympathy for Vaughn, but his first priority had to be Sydney and after watching her slow loss of hope over the last few months, it was time to make a choice.
“Nia hates my guts-“ Vaughn broke off his protest. As if Jack cared about that. “And I thought one of the junior agents was going to do that-“ Vaughn protested, although silently he rejoiced in the opportunity to get out of the rotunda.
“I thought you could use a break. And Nia doesn’t hate your guts. She just...wonders about you. And having brothers, she enjoys teasing you and you rise to the bait. Every time.” Just like Sark and Sydney, but Jack decided pointing that out would not strengthen his game plan. “In any case, bring her back here and then you can have the rest of the day off. Don’t feel compelled to come to the party tonight.”
“Why take time today though?”
“You have comp time coming and I believe you could use the time elsewhere to...think.”
“About what? My options?”
“Yes. Your options. Limited as they are.” Jack held up one finger and then a second.
Vaughn looked into Jack’s eyes. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that the notion of transferring you out of here is very tempting.”
Vaughn blanched. “You...”
“I know you’ve spoken with Devlin about the idea of a transfer.”
“All I did was speak about it, just in case...”
“You can walk away without a big scene, if that’s what scares you. But you’ll always live with regrets for what might have been. And I think you’ll always feel a tug on your heart from where it is bound to Sydney’s. Equally importantly, a transfer coming from above, as it were, would absolve you of responsibility. And as you know, I’m strongly in favor of people taking responsibility for their own actions. Within reason, of course.”
Vaughn frowned. “Within reason? What does that caveat mean? What...secondary motive or idea or...whatever do you have in mind?”
“You know, Vaughn, I understand your dilemma. Really, I do. And since your father isn’t here to help you, I should make every attempt to do so. To give you a push in the right direction.”
“What, off of a cliff?”
“No, that might be Irina’s job later this week.” Jack smiled thinly. “The push I’m going to give you is out of your little...nest.”
Vaughn ignored Jack’s words to ask sullenly, “What do you want from me? Just tell me already and stop torturing me.”
Jack nodded and said briskly, “I want you to consider your options. I also want you to use the time off today to pack.”
“To pack? To pack what?”
“To pack your belongings and move yourself back to your apartment.”
“Excuse me?”
“I would like you to stop all but living with my daughter. If you don’t intend to marry her, then get out the hell out of her apartment.”
Vaughn blinked. “I think that’s...I know that’s our business, not--”
“You made it my business when you went over my head to Devlin. And I’ll take the heat for it with Sydney. You can blame me. I don’t mind,” Jack said lightly, as he watched Vaughn carefully. Would he obey the order? Would the fact that he’d been ordered to take an option he’d been considering push him the other way? Reverse psychology often worked. As did the idea that people wanted most what they could not have. And if not...
Jack sighed. He’d thrown that high school boyfriend out of their house for getting fresh with Sydney on the living room couch. He could do the same to Vaughn. He was being high-handed and overprotective, Sydney would say. Welllll... people have patterns. He’d work on erasing that pattern another time. He didn’t have to change right now, did he? Not when it might prove more effective than standing by.
“Sydney-“ Vaughn protested.
“Let me ask you this. If and when you have a daughter, what would you do if you saw the man she loved living with her but unable to commit? And she wanted him to?”
Vaughn sighed. “I’d tell him to get the hell out.”
“Consider yourself told.” Jack jerked the door open, wondering if Vaughn would take the order. “Get the hell out.”
TBC at Chapter 2012: Part 2