Genre: Romance/Drama

Characters: Nina M.

Tag to: 1x01, 1x03, 1x04

Sweet Serenity of the Mind

At three fifteen in the morning, a woman in her early thirties should be sound asleep. She should feel peaceful, not rushed. Everything in her world that is stressing her out should be erased from her mind, however temporarily. Her job, dating, social life, and family aren't present in her mind. Her world isn't crashing down around her while the only thing she can do is watch like a deer caught in the headlights.

Sadly, Nina Myers is not your typical 31-year-old. She's worked for the Counter Terrorist Unit in Los Angeles ever since she earned her master's degree seven years ago. She's had a good career as the deputy director of said unit for a couple of years now, and she really enjoys the fact that she can make a difference and save so many lives with her line of work.

Still, sometimes her job drives her crazy. Oh, sure, she's worked plenty of double shifts before, and she's also had the pleasant experience of working the occasional triple-shift. That doesn't mean, however, that she'd expected to be called back into work three hours ago after a set of two searing double shifts.

Even with that, though, Nina would have been perfectly fine with working. After all, there will be a major attempt on David Palmer's life sometime today. He's the first African-American to come so close to the Oval Office, and it would be traumatic for her country if he were to be taken down. She's a valuable asset, and she plans on helping as much as possible, especially where her most direct boss is concerned. She's Jack Bauer's right hand man, and to be honest, she relishes the fact that he's one of the only people she can trust. Sure, she's with Tony, and Jack's started to resolve things with his wife (who she happens to hate), but Nina knows that when a crisis is around, none of it matters. He needs her, and she's more than happy to oblige.

All of this love for her job (and Jack) is thrown out the window once Division gets involved. Thanks to her jealous boyfriend, George Mason has stepped into the ring, and he plans on raising hell…especially where the director is concerned. Okay, so Jack accused her of treason not half an hour ago…and he was at the shootout where a Division agent and Richard Walsh, their district boss, where killed… but he wasn't involved. He couldn't have been. All of his actions in the past few hours have been completely justified in her eyes. Still, the problem isn't convincing herself; it's convincing Mason, and she's sure that the personal vendettas present in this office are going to get in the way. Because of her close relationship with Jack, she's sure Mason's out for her blood as well.

So as she steps into the conference room with Mason right behind her, she knows that for however long this goddamn lockdown is in effect, all her personal feelings will be on display, as well as her accomplishments. In short? George Mason will butcher her in an attempt to bring down the one man she can't stand to see get hurt.

What if George knows? What if he somehow knows that at one time, Jack wasn't just her boss, sometimes partner, and close friend? What if he's managed to gather information on the weekend that she and Jack spent in Santa Barbara together last January? What if this whole meeting isn't to bring down Jack, but to expose and humiliate her instead? The office, as well as Jack and herself, would never recover. She would never get everything done that she needed to do in order to succeed. Nina shudders; she can't stand the idea of being demoted… or worse, Mason firing her ass.

Trying to keep her cool, Nina walks forward and slowly sits down in the metal chair in front of her. She resists the urge to wipe the sweat from her brow and instead commands her hands to stop their shaking. She stares out at the bullpen, doing her best to look calm, cool, collected… and absolutely innocent.

George steps closer to her, tall and forbidding. At six feet, he towers over her 5'4" frame, and considering that Jack is a full three inches shorter than him and usually talks to her at her eye level, his stature is quite intimidating.

"Now, let's begin," he says, with a smirk on this face. "Tell me where Jack is."

Nina stares at him vacantly, trying her damnedest not to show any feeling, any emotion at all. "I don't know," she says calmly.

In response, Mason begins to pace the room with a cocky spring in his step. "The sooner you tell me where he is, Nina," he says patronizingly, "the sooner this will be over, and the sooner you can go back to work."

She fires back slowly, "There's an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate's life. It's happening sometime today. George, I need to do my job."

"And you will," he replies. "Once you tell me where Jack is. You know, Nina, this true love is very… touching."

Nina resists the urge to let a bloodcurdling scream rip out of her throat. Instead, she gives him a pointed look, keeping her panic deep inside her.

How the hell does Mason know? He can't know. He just can't, she thinks to herself. I've been so careful at hiding everything; my feelings, the affair…

"I know about the affair," Mason says, almost as if he's been reading her mind. "Jack talks about it all the time."

Normally, that statement would upset someone and force them into a tearful confession. Instead, Nina calms down a little. It's a little something to laugh about. She can't imagine Jack and George talking about her over a beer, much less in the office. Jack may be brazen with his actions, but not with his words; he tries to keep his secrets close to him.

"Yeah," she replies sarcastically. "I'm sure he did."

George shakes his head, and the two sit in silence for a minute.

"How long have you been with the agency, Nina?" he asks out of nowhere.

"Seven years," she replies, confused as to why he wants her employee history now.

He clucks his tongue, attempting to employ some form of pre-processed sympathy that's as blatantly fake as Tony Almeida's camaraderie with Jack.

"Your career could have been so much better," Mason taunts her.

She can't help it; he's finally put her on the defensive. "It's been fine," she retorts.

"You ever wonder why you haven't moved up so far? To Division, maybe even District?" Mason says, continuing to pull at her ambitions. "It's because where I'm from, people know you as Jack's flunky."

Jack's flunky. Jack's flunky. The words continue to echo around her brain, which is turning to mush because of the state of madness it's currently in. Jack saw her as more than a friend; he treats her as an equal. He didn't use her. Did he? Does he still? Is this the reason that he's the boss and I'm the subordinate? How much more do I deserve than I'm getting already?

"Just tell me where he is, Nina," Mason says impatiently. "Bauer's going down for this. You can help me and save yourself, or you can allow him to pull you down. Your choice."

Nina's choice is already made. It has been from the moment she stepped into the otherwise empty conference room.

"I don't know where he is, George, I already told you that!" she says, frustrated. "And if you don't believe me, I might have to show Chappelle that unauthorized, off-shore account of yours. I'm sure he'd love to know that it's the same amount that went missing three months ago."

George sighs and rests his arm against the wall. "Fine," he grunts. "You're free to go."

"Thank you," Nina replies coldly.

"But…"

Of course, Nina thinks to herself. There's always a condition with Mason.

"You will be monitored closely," he continues. "I find out about anything I don't like, and you can say hello to a prison cell."

Nina shoves down the bile trying to make its way into her mouth and simply nods. Then, she walks out of the conference room. As she passes by Tony's desk on the way to her own so that she can work with Jamey on covertly decoding the rest of the key card, she's thankful that Jack's safe… but at the same time, she as a feeling that whatever Mason's planning with the two of them is far from over. Still, she knows that if she had to do it all over again, she'd make the same decision. After all, this is no jerk; this is a guy who turned in three of his own people who took bribes. He does things because they're right and necessary, and Mason shouldn't be breathing down his back like this.

She will continue to protect Jack Bauer; to what end, however, is still unclear.