Hey guys. Sorry its been so long since an update. School's been killing me. Damn HSA's.

Love and War

Chapter Six (Seatbelts and Sacrifices)

Sydney was at last stirred from her sleep by a woman's voice that was far too cheery for having spent the last couple of hours on a plane. Something about landing in about ten minutes and needing to put seatbelts back on.

Sydney remembered plane trips as a kid, and she always put up a fight when that cheery voice, not to mention all the flight attendants and fellow flyers, told her to put on the seatbelt. What was the point? It wasn't as if, when the plane was crashing into the sea and filling rapidly with water, you wanted to be strapped to the plane as it crashed. Sometimes Syd felt like that in real life too. People told her constantly all the 'right' and 'safe' things to do, but she couldn't help but feel that she was just strapping herself in, going down with the plane.

"Syd?"

"Vaughn." She replied, suddenly aware of the warm body she was pressed up against. "Yeah. I'm awake." She said, sitting up in her seat. Yawning, she looked over at Vaughn, who was busy buckling his seatbelt. Sydney smiled and fastened her own. There wasn't anyone she'd rather crash with.

Up in front, things were a different matter.

"Put on the damn seatbelt!" Jack growled at Irina, who had her arms crossed stubbornly across her chest.

"No." She said calmly. Not only was it fun to aggravate Jack, she knew from, er, research, that the plane seatbelts didn't do any good anyways. "If we don't land properly I want to be able to get out of the plane as soon as possible."

Jack studied her for a minute.

"That's why you never buckled your seatbelt in the car. When you were my wife." Jack said, setting his jaw. "So that if you had to escape. So that when you crashed into that river all those years ago, you could survive."

Irina didn't grace him with an answer.

Jack finally reached over and buckled her seatbelt for her. She wouldn't get away twice. She was in this for the long haul now, whether she liked it or not.

Sydney stepped out into the warm Hawaiian air and smiled. She saw her mother doing the same. She couldn't imagine how elated Irina must be to finally breathe fresh, warm air after being cooped up for so long. She sympathized with her in that minute, knowing how she felt, wanting something so bad, having it right there in front of her, ready for the taking, but always something holding her back. She wondered if the wait made it even better. She doubted it.

Jack and Vaughn joined them moments later. Sydney immediately gravitated to Vaughn, taking his arm pointedly. She knew that establishing their cover stories was of utmost importance now that the operation had begun. If anyone, from enemy agents to the cab driver, had doubts as to their identity, they risked the mission, and their lives.

Something in her body posture shifted, and suddenly, Sydney stopped being Sydney and turned into Ella Ducat. Acting to her was like a big, vague mathematic formula. You take into account all the little things that make your character who they are, plug it in, add your own twist, and you can find out what your character would do in any circumstance.

So now, like any woman would do when on vacation with her fiancé, Sydney got as close as possible to Vaughn without crossing the line from 'that cute couple' to 'those sex-crazed maniacs'.

Jack glared at them, and his scowl deepened when Vaughn hailed two cabs, claiming that they had too much baggage for one. While this was true, they all knew the real reason he had done it was to be able to spend some time with Sydney without Jack breathing down his neck.

Although, upon reflection of the events on the plane, Vaughn had come to realize just how dangerous it had been for him to confess to her like that. As much as he wanted to be with her, there were too many problems. He couldn't say he loved her if he willingly put her at risk like that for his own selfish reasons. Besides, Sydney had enough burdens as it was. The last thing she needed to deal with was the fact that her CIA handler had a crush on her.

Well, maybe more than a crush.

The point was, if he really loved her, he wouldn't tell her so.

¼

Once Jack and Irina had loaded their bags into their cab, Jack held the door for his "wife" with a painfully forced smile. Being on orders to play husband and wife with Irina was harder than he at first imagined. He had thought it would be simple acting- keeping his anger and bitterness in check and putting on a loving façade, but now he was having different troubles. The anger was not a problem. His fiery rage had subsided in the last twenty years, leaving only a wary resentment. Acting like husband and wife, though, that was a different story. How can it be done without past feelings of love resurfacing? Everything seemed so startlingly real, it was as if someone had set the clock back, and they were Jack and Laura again. Reality and this fantasy were blurring together, and it was going to be a fight to untangle them when the mission was over.

"Sweetheart?" Irina's voice cut through his thoughts, and his wandering mind returned to find his body still standing outside the cab, one hand on the open door. He got in the cab, and gave the driver their destination.

They kept up their appearance of a happily married older couple for the cab driver, a very talkative Hawaiian man. While carrying on the conversation, Irina slid her hand into Jacks under the guise of a loving gesture, but she soon began to tap out a message in morse code with her finger.

Jack, why this ring?

Please review, because I'd like to see who's still reading this fic! You guys are the best, and again, I'm sorry for the wait!