Irene shuffled against Jackson's chest, her eyes opening into his awaiting ones. She wasn't used to this, waking up to someone holding her yet it felt nice. He smiled at her wishing her good morning. Her eyes meeting his, as she returned it with a tight smile. She moved to get up, with him pulling her back down less than a second later. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, his eyes closing as he held her close. "Jack..." she breathed. His eyes remained closed, his arms falling away moments later as she looked back up at him. "I think we need to talk irene. I think this is the time where we should get everything out, everything we wanted to say to each other let's say it now." "We talked yesterday." He looked at her. "We did, but we didn't talk about us, we should address what's happened, we need to make peace with the past to accept what will come in the future." Irene looked at him, "Jack-" "That's if you want a future together." Irene looked at him, her words falling short. She didn't know anymore. She didn't know if she wanted a future with Jackson, yes she liked him but she wasn't sure if that was enough anymore.

Irene sighed. "I was angry for awhile." She begun, her eyes casting back down as she fiddled with her hands. "I was angry at the fact that I got dragged into a mess that I wasn't part of in the first place, when you told me after the wedding, that you had someone else it hurt but above that I was angry. Angry at you for doing that to me, for stringing me along for a good three months before just ditching me like I was nothing. You made me feel so insignificant and I just didn't know what to do. I thought of leaving you but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I thought of your family..our family and I just couldn't. I promised myself that night that I would try fighting for us, that I would stick by the vows that we made regardless of whether or not you lived by them. I argued with myself that I didn't need to, but my heart wanted to. I think you had made an impression on me from the minute we met, I liked you, I liked us. The banter, the ease, I don't know when it started to become more but with you gone for months on end I found myself thinking of you more. I spent a lot of time resenting you for the way that you were treating me, I hated knowing that you were with someone else. I wanted that, but you weren't mine to have. With you not there it became easier eventually to make my peace with it. I wasn't angry with you, I was angry at myself for giving into the very same emotions that I've been set on running from for years." She sighed, sneaking a glance into his patient eyes. "You really hurt me Jackson. You played with a heart you had no intention of holding and that's fine, maybe I shouldn't have given it to you in the first place, but the first few months were cruel." She turned away from him. "I'm sorry Irene. I-" he stopped looking down. "I'm sorry for being such an asshole. I know it was the wrong decision to make and as fucked up as it sounds I thought I was doing the right thing, selfishly by my own self. Hurting you will always be my biggest regret and I'm sorry. My intentions caused you nothing but pain and I'm sorry. That's all I can begin to do. I can apologise everyday to you irene but will it be enough for your heart? Can you look at me and think you could love me? Because I wouldn't love myself." Irene's watery gaze met his. "But that's just it Jack. I do. I have for awhile and I'm tried of the pain, the constant hurting and yearning. I just want to be yours." He looked at her. "I don't deserve you." He repeated again, the words he had seemingly said every single time they edged closer to each other. "I don't want to hurt you again Irene." "Then heal me." She whispered.

They stared at each other. Their lips meeting the next moment, a kiss that she initiated seeing the hesitance on his part. He broke away. "I'm just as broken as you Rene. I might end up cutting you further with my pieces. But I want this. I want you as my wife through not just titles but mind, heart and soul. I'll fix this for us." He finished his forehead now resting against hers as she closed her eyes. "I love you Rene." He spoke into existence, watching as she made a cute face at his words. Before she could utter them back he stopped her. "No. Don't say it back until I'm worth it." She smiled up at him. "Ok." She whispered as he kissed her forehead again.

They heard a knock and clearing of a throat, simultaneously turning away from each other to meet Mark and Jinyoung who had their eyes covered. "Are you two love birds done?" They questioned with a small laugh. They walked further in as the boys handed a box to Irene who rummaged through taking out numerous different files and hard drives and handing it to the boys who looked at her astonished. "That's everything I collected on Suho. It contains all his previous plans and other stuff like his personal history. I'd start by working on finding some similarities in what jin was buying compared to Suho's plans, from what I briefly looked at yesterday it seems like another reenactment of what happened a couple of years ago." The boys nodded as Irene looked down at a picture, a picture of her and Suho once when they were happy. A rare occasion but this picture was proof that they hadn't always been so toxic. She looked down at the picture, her hand clenching into a fist as Jackson took it in his hand, unclenching her fist. She tossed the picture carelessly back into the box. "Let me know if you can't get into anything. It was all heavily password encrypted so be careful with what you access especially police records because that will set of a notification to the police and that's the last thing you want to be dealing with right now." The guys nodded as Irene dusted her hands. "I'll see you guys later, I need to sort some stuff out." She looked towards her husband. "I'll send Wendy to come and check up on you okay." He nodded as she smiled waving to the boys before disappearing.

Jackson leaned over, mark and Jinyoung passing each other a look that basically spelt out what the fuck. He looked at them. "Will one of you be a dear and pass me the box." Jinyoung rolled his eyes passing it over to Jackson who picked up the picture she had thrown in. It was of her with him. They looked happy. A genuine smile on her face that he knew was hard to come by with her. He smiled at her not bothering to look at the man on the other side. A man who was responsible for hurting her, for making her cry. A man like him. His mind taunted. He looked down at the picture throwing it back in and turning to the boys as they collectively searched through the files, the others joining them and crowding the space that Jackson had been confided to. He dished around orders as the boys brought in the make shift board they were using to connect the dots. He sighed standing back for a moment. It became clear reasonably quick that jin was trying to accomplish what Suho had failed to do. He was essentially planning to wipe the army bases out but the problem they now faced was the who and then when. Jackson turned to Youngjae. "How's the hacking?" The other man sighed. "It's heavily protected. I'm through the first half of it. I should have it cracked open by tomorrow morning." Jackson nodded as the boys continued to dive deeper. Mark shook his head as he read a file throwing it back in as Jackson caught it. "What?" He asked Mark who turned to him. "Suho was charged with rape three years before he began to associate himself with Rene. He paid his way out of it, and continued to do it for years and Irene wasn't even the fifth victim she was the tenth." Jackson eyes widened, this man becoming the source of his resentment further. How could he even be human? How could he even live with himself knowing how many lives he had seemingly destroyed? Jackson shook his head the boys lowering their heads as they continued.

Hours went by the boys leaving to get some rest before going straight back at it. His eyes turned to the shuffling of feet, Irene coming back to sit in the seat that bambam had just occupied. "Hey how's the pain?" She asked leaning over to check the monitors and flicking through his chart, he watched the satisfied look on her face as she placed it back looking at him. "Seems like you got your answers from the chart." She laughed. "Sorry force of habit." He smiled at her. "Where did you go?" He asked watching her tense. "The same place I went that night after our date." Jackson's eyes widened as he shot up from his position. "Rene." He said lowly. "He was there that night." She continued watching as she caught the entirety of his attention. "He knows I'm back. Whatever he's planning it's a call out for me,not you or anybody else for the matter, he wants to finish things the way they started, just me and him." Jackson tensed watching her. "I need to go." She said softly. He grabbed her hand. "Jackson you need to let me go." He shook his head. "Rene.." "Jack please." "I'm not letting you go. If he's calling you out fine but we will do that together, your not walking straight into a trap Rene." She wrenched her hand out of his grip. "I'M DANGEROUS FOR YOU WHY CANT YOU SEE THAT." She shouted.

Jackson swung his legs of the bed, standing up and ignoring the sudden rush he felt to his head. "I don't care irene. You could be the one holding the gun and I still wouldn't care. Your not doing this alone and that's an order." "I'm not one of your soldiers." "No your more and that's why I'm trying to keep you safe. Don't run into a battle zone without preparing yourself. You know it's stupid but your scared and you want to face it alone. Well I can tell you it's not happening, I'll hold your hand through it all. Forcefully if I have to." He pulled her closer. "I'm not letting you go. So forget it." She looked up. He was right. She was being irrational. She needed to calm down and take this one step at a time. It couldn't be rushed otherwise she may end up losing more than she had signed up to give.

TBC

Authors note:
Hey guys hope you enjoy this one. Let me know what you think in the comment section below. I look forward to hearing back. Stay tuned for more, and stay safe xx lots of love.