Disclaimer: I don't own Alias.

Love and War

Armor And Amour

Door-to-door salespeople are a very unique group of human beings. To make a living, they must possess certain characteristics. Up front, they are all charm and caring. They smile and they seduce, telling you all about how much easier your life will be with their product. But underneath the fake smiles and solicitous façade, they're just in it for the cash. And once they have their foot in your door, its all over.

Jack Bristow thought Irina was pretty similar to a door-to-door salesperson. She was one of those unique people that not only have the ability to perfectly conceal their own emotions with a figurative wall, they can quickly and subtly tear down everyone else's, brick by brick. Every time he was with her, he searched and searched for a flaw in the steel defense she had permanently in place, but there were no dents, no seams, no weak points whatsoever. And no matter how hard he tried to resist, there was something about her that disarmed him, that allowed her to take complete control of the situation, the conversation, and, hell, probably even his thoughts as well. All this without him noticing until it was too late, and he was up the river without a paddle.

Taking a deep breath, he motioned to a guard standing at the first iron barred gate. He waited impatiently as the guard verified his identity and let him through. Irina was in the back of the cell, meditating. She faced him, though her eyes were closed.

Figures, he thought. Why sleep when you can meditate? He knew from the surveillance tapes that she had not once slept inside the cell. She meditated for no more than two hours a day, and spent the remainder of her time pacing the cell, stretching, or reading. And he knew it was all in an effort to psyche him out.

Irina listened as the last gate closed behind him. She knew, of course, that it was Jack, even though he had made no sound entering. She knew because she could feel him shooting daggers at her, mentally urging her to get up already. She stayed still a minute longer, just to aggravate him. Besides, if she had gotten up right away, it might seem as if she was eager to talk to him. He would feel in control, which he wasn't.

"Irina." He growled. He knew she was aware of his presence.

"Jack." She stated simply, opening her eyes to reveal two perfectly guarded, deep brown eyes. She apparently didn't care that he was there, it didn't appear to evoke any emotion in her. Actually, she was fairly happy to have someone to talk to. The cell was timeless, there were no windows to signal if it was night or day, and the guards refused to talk to her. If she didn't have such an extraordinary sense of time, she might not even know the date. As it were, she knew exactly how long she had been in the cell; three months, seven days, and she also supposed it was about seven in the morning, judging by the guard shifts. But nothing could quell the boredom and loneliness she felt in the cell, so she found herself welcoming any visitors. (In her own way, of course.)

He knew she was going to be difficult to deal with, and he didn't especially want to let her immediately command the conversation, a fate that was probably inevitable anyway, so he got straight to the point.

"About India." He paused as she arched her eyebrows, though the rest of her face remained unchanged, the faint, secretive smile still in place. "You shouldn't have said that on the plane."

"I shouldn't have said what?" She asked mildly, rising to her feet and stretching, catlike, to expose a good four inches of her midriff below her black top. She watched Jack out of the corner of her eye as his focus shifted down to her exposed skin for a split second, then quickly flicked back to her face. He glared at her for playing with him like she was.

"You know what I'm talking about," he said. How could she not? It had been a well-placed comment designed to implant ideas in Sydney's mind that should not even be thought of, much less taken to heart.

"Jack, I said many things on the plane. Now how am I supposed to know which one you are referring to? I may be better than most people are at reading emotions, but I certainly cannot read minds." She said this playfully, though there was the ever-underlying contempt and overall condescending tone that made him feel as though she were laughing at him. Fine. If she wanted him to spell it out for her, he would.

"You told Sydney that Agent Vaughn was in love with her." What she had said had been true; everyone knew that he was falling for his asset. Jack knew. Agent Weiss knew. Hell, Kendall probably knew. And Irina knew, god knows how. She had barely spent any time with either of them, much less both of them together. Everyone knew but Sydney. Nonetheless, the fact that it was true did not give Irina the right to go about matchmaking.

"Actually, I said nothing of the sort. If I remember correctly, I told her that Agent Vaughn has trouble sleeping when she is on missions." She corrected, still not bothering to respond to Jack's initial comment. She didn't want to talk about her boundaries, she wanted to talk about her daughter and Agent Vaughn. Jack realized that she was redirecting the conversation and avoiding the question, but he didn't feel like trying to get back to the point at the moment. This subject suited him fine.

"Which was, if I may add, purely speculation. As Sydney said, I seriously doubt he told you that."

"He did, actually. We had a conversation not long ago. You didn't think I helped find the cure to his disease for nothing, did you?" She said smugly, knowing he would do almost anything to know what Agent Vaughn had revealed to her. Meanwhile, Jack frowned even more, his brows knitting together. Damn. He should have known she never would have helped find the antidote without something in return.

"Always thinking of yourself, Irina." He said coldly, "I'm surprised that I seem to be the only one who thinks you have an ultimate plan, and that you're just using the CIA, not to mention your daughter, to help yourself." The moment the words left his mouth, he saw a change in her face. For a split second, her face fell, and all the layers of defense she had worked so hard to put up came crashing down, exposing, for the first time, emotion. Locking eyes with her, he saw that she was genuinely hurt by his statement; she seemed crushed somehow. But she glanced down, breaking eye contact, and when she looked back up, Irina was back in the game, her eyes as unreadable as ever. Jack was silent for a moment as he mulled over what he had seen. Had he found a chink in her armor? Normally, he'd continue to chew her out, to make her hurt, but for some reason, he didn't want to. He cleared his throat and changed the subject, somewhat abruptly. "What did he say?"

"I can't tell you." She said simply, examining her fingernails. She didn't want to let on how much his statement had stung. True, she had made a deal with Vaughn, but the information she had elicited from him she fully intended on using to help her daughter, not to help herself. What good would Vaughn's confession of love do for her? Certainly not get her out of this cell. She could have asked him a million other questions, questions that could have done her some good, but instead she chose to ask him about Sydney. Surely Jack knew this.

"If you don't tell me now, I'll just pull the tapes from the time he was sick." He pointed out, knowing he could have them at a moments notice.

"Hmmm. I believe the cameras weren't running that day. Something about repairing the internal microphinal layers. They assigned some extra guards. Funny, that." She had noticed the red light hadn't been blinking throughout her conversation with Agent Vaughn. Jack's face got even stonier. He knew that Vaughn only had the power to shut off the tapes because of his rank of Senior Handler, a rank he only had because of Sydney. She cocked her head to the right. "Why can't you just let them be happy. If you really wanted to help Sydney, you'd be prodding them, too."

"How do you know that's what Sydney wants?"

"She loves him. It's obvious; there's so much tension between them, I'm surprised they've held out this long. In fact, I'd be worried if she wasn't interested in Agent Vaughn." She could see that there was not only a physical attraction between the two, but also a bond that went below the surface. In Irina's opinion, Sydney couldn't do much better. And Sydney shouldn't have to settle for less.

"Love has no place in our line of work. She's risking her life as it is, she doesn't need to endanger her heart, too." Jack knew from experience; feelings could only get in the way of the goal. One of the many reasons he tried hard not to show them.

Irina focused in on Jack's eyes, pondering his latest statement. He stared straight back at her, forcing himself to keep steady eye contact with her. The moment he looked away, she knew she had it in the bag.

"You're worried she'll end up like you." She said, then watched, envisioning the crack forming in Jack's defenses. She was about to speak again, to deliver the silver bullet she knew would shatter his façade and allow her to see him unprotected and vulnerable, when the first iron gate began to slide open.

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