Response: resolutions
Very loosely based around the challenge, actually. Here we go.
This new year, Irina Derevko resolves to stop overestimating the people she loves.
---
She let a grinning Elena find her, tucked between a fur coat and two pairs of sneakers in the wardrobe. Wordless, she allowed her older sister to pull her out of her hiding place.
“Hand them here.”
With only slight hesitation, Irina poured the candy into Elena’s outstretched plastic bag. “Don’t tell pa.”
“What am I, stupid?” Elena tucked the bag into an inner coat pocket. “Good job, squirt. Let’s find Katya.”
She turned to follow. Stopped. “Wait. Can I have one of those toffee things?”
“No, I like those.” Her older sister was snappier than Irina would have preferred.
“All right. What about the marshmallows?”
“I like those, too.”
It became apparent her older sister was not one for sharing.“I thought you would have the decency to share.” The words sounded hollow coming from a six-year-old, even to her own ears.
“The decency to share,” Elena mocked, and snorted. “You overestimate me.”
---
She let Sydney find her in the sitting room, talking loudly to Jack about how the vase didn’t matter anyway.
“Sydney,” Laura called to a daughter obviously trying to become invisible and sneak upstairs. “Do you know who knocked that vase over?”
Big brown eyes stared at the scattered shards of china. “I - uh, well, it wasn’t me, mommy. Maybe it was the cat!”
Her parents exchanged looks. “We don’t have a cat, dear,” Jack said gently.
“A stray cat, then. All I know is that I didn’t do it!”
Another look was exchanged. “Run along upstairs, honey. I’ll tuck you in in a few minutes.”
Sydney obliged, looking relieved to be out of the room. Jack noticed the look on his wife’s face and, wordlessly, pulled her into his embrace.
“Little kids lie, Laura,” he said softly.
“Sydney doesn’t,” she replied. “Or at least, she didn’t.”
“It doesn’t make her a bad person,” Jack said, stroking her hair in a subconscious effort to comfort. “In fact, it makes her normal.”
“I know. I’m just...” She got up and began cleaning up the remains of her favourite vase.
“Nobody’s perfect, Laura,” Jack said quietly. “You need to stop overestimating people.”
---
She let him find her, like she always does.
He’d never quite deluded himself into thinking that he was the one finding her. Rather, he took comfort in the fact that he was one of the few allowed to find her, which he supposed was as good as it got with Irina Derevko.
So there they were; her faith in him and his faith in her faith, until faith faded away to reveal a mirage of mistrust. So there they were, with his gun aimed at her head, locked in Fate’s own twisted game of déjà vu.
Irina searched his face, not sure what kind of sign she was hoping for. “Jack...”
“This is the part,” he said coldly, “where you offer some sort of explanation that would stop the past from repeating.”
His stare was cold, vengeful, and on the deepest level she was grateful. This was the Jack she knew; it was the mutual love for their daughter that made him Jack and her Irina. “Jack, I know this seems impossible right now, but -“
He flicked off the safety.
“-you will understand in due time. I promise.”
Jack’s one moment of slight hesitation - something a lesser agent might have missed - was more than enough. Before either of them quite knew what was happening, she had whipped out her gun and was pointing it at Jack’s head.
His gun didn’t waver. “One wrong move, and you still die.”
“Yes, but so do you.”
“I’m beyond that now, Irina.”
“Are you? And are you also beyond human emotion?” Her bitter laugh rang through the cold, gliding over rooftops until it became a hoarse cry. “Are you beyond the simple notion of faith? That for some insane reason or another, a mother could unconditionally love her daughter, to the point of doing something that doesn’t make sense, but for the purest of intentions? Are you beyond that, Jack?”
“You were right, Jack. I overestimated you.”
A gunshot echoes into the night.
This new year, Irina Derevko resolves to stop overestimating the people she loves.
---
She let a grinning Elena find her, tucked between a fur coat and two pairs of sneakers in the wardrobe. Wordless, she allowed her older sister to pull her out of her hiding place.
“Hand them here.”
With only slight hesitation, Irina poured the candy into Elena’s outstretched plastic bag. “Don’t tell pa.”
“What am I, stupid?” Elena tucked the bag into an inner coat pocket. “Good job, squirt. Let’s find Katya.”
She turned to follow. Stopped. “Wait. Can I have one of those toffee things?”
“No, I like those.” Her older sister was snappier than Irina would have preferred.
“All right. What about the marshmallows?”
“I like those, too.”
It became apparent her older sister was not one for sharing.“I thought you would have the decency to share.” The words sounded hollow coming from a six-year-old, even to her own ears.
“The decency to share,” Elena mocked, and snorted. “You overestimate me.”
---
She let Sydney find her in the sitting room, talking loudly to Jack about how the vase didn’t matter anyway.
“Sydney,” Laura called to a daughter obviously trying to become invisible and sneak upstairs. “Do you know who knocked that vase over?”
Big brown eyes stared at the scattered shards of china. “I - uh, well, it wasn’t me, mommy. Maybe it was the cat!”
Her parents exchanged looks. “We don’t have a cat, dear,” Jack said gently.
“A stray cat, then. All I know is that I didn’t do it!”
Another look was exchanged. “Run along upstairs, honey. I’ll tuck you in in a few minutes.”
Sydney obliged, looking relieved to be out of the room. Jack noticed the look on his wife’s face and, wordlessly, pulled her into his embrace.
“Little kids lie, Laura,” he said softly.
“Sydney doesn’t,” she replied. “Or at least, she didn’t.”
“It doesn’t make her a bad person,” Jack said, stroking her hair in a subconscious effort to comfort. “In fact, it makes her normal.”
“I know. I’m just...” She got up and began cleaning up the remains of her favourite vase.
“Nobody’s perfect, Laura,” Jack said quietly. “You need to stop overestimating people.”
---
She let him find her, like she always does.
He’d never quite deluded himself into thinking that he was the one finding her. Rather, he took comfort in the fact that he was one of the few allowed to find her, which he supposed was as good as it got with Irina Derevko.
So there they were; her faith in him and his faith in her faith, until faith faded away to reveal a mirage of mistrust. So there they were, with his gun aimed at her head, locked in Fate’s own twisted game of déjà vu.
Irina searched his face, not sure what kind of sign she was hoping for. “Jack...”
“This is the part,” he said coldly, “where you offer some sort of explanation that would stop the past from repeating.”
His stare was cold, vengeful, and on the deepest level she was grateful. This was the Jack she knew; it was the mutual love for their daughter that made him Jack and her Irina. “Jack, I know this seems impossible right now, but -“
He flicked off the safety.
“-you will understand in due time. I promise.”
Jack’s one moment of slight hesitation - something a lesser agent might have missed - was more than enough. Before either of them quite knew what was happening, she had whipped out her gun and was pointing it at Jack’s head.
His gun didn’t waver. “One wrong move, and you still die.”
“Yes, but so do you.”
“I’m beyond that now, Irina.”
“Are you? And are you also beyond human emotion?” Her bitter laugh rang through the cold, gliding over rooftops until it became a hoarse cry. “Are you beyond the simple notion of faith? That for some insane reason or another, a mother could unconditionally love her daughter, to the point of doing something that doesn’t make sense, but for the purest of intentions? Are you beyond that, Jack?”
“You were right, Jack. I overestimated you.”
A gunshot echoes into the night.