I saw the actress that played Renee Walker on another TV show the other day and remembered how much I loved her character on 24. She was perfect. The female Jack Bauer. I always wondered if she had family and wondered what they thought about her downward spiral after season 7. If she did have family I hope they were given some answers about her. I'd hate them going to their graves thinking she was just some screw up who ruined her life. So in true fanfic fashion I fixed it for them. All you Renee fans out there enjoy!
Mary Walker didn't understand the crowd. Her daughter was a former FBI Agent. Not just a former agent, that was putting it nicely, but a former agent who had been fired from the FBI assumingly in disgrace. The last two years had been a string of blown job opportunities and meaningless paychecks. Renee had spent the final days of her life drowning in a bottle after a failed suicide attempt. She was lost, her suicide note said so. Knowing all this Mary didn't understand why so many people had turned out for Renee's funeral.
There were over a hundred of them. Men and women in suits, in uniforms. Police officers, soldiers, FBI agents. She was even introduced to a US Senator and a couple of congressmen. She had even been introduced to a woman she'd seen several times on TV. Chloe O'Brian, head of the CTU New York Field Office. Mrs. O'Brian had personally come over to introduce herself and despite Renee's terrible reputation Chloe had given her glowing praise. Renee had never mentioned knowing Chloe O'Brian but Chloe made it sound as if they were friends. Mary didn't know her daughter had so many powerful friends.
None of it made any sense. Mary's son Kevin, Renee's older brother, didn't understand it either. Growing up they had always been close. Kevin was the brainy older brother and Renee had been the golden girl. Ms. Law and order. To completely fall apart wasn't at all like her. Renee had been sharp and strong willed her whole life. She handled things in stride and for as long as Mary could remember the girl didn't freeze. She was unflappable.
Two years ago things had changed. Something had happened that had cost her her job, her sanity, and her will to continue living. Kevin had pried on several occasions but Renee never spoke about it. It was always the elephant in the room when the family saw her. The dark cloud hanging over their head. None of them knew what happened and Renee wasn't telling. She carried her weight alone, letting alcohol and loneliness comfort her.
Another thing that didn't make sense was her death. Shot by a sniper? Why? Who shoots an unemployed former FBI agent with a sniper rifle. There were no answers given, no further information offered except that the shooter was brought to justice. Kevin's wife Lynda had been the only one to ask questions. She wanted to know what was going on, they all did actually, but Lynda was the only one with enough guts to ask. The FBI had stonewalled her however. They weren't talking. Lynda had been told the information was Classified for National Security purposes.
And as if the day couldn't get any weirder or more awkward the motorcade showed up. Mary Walker was a proud American so when President Allison Taylor stepped out of her bullet proof limousine with a team of secret service agents her heart began to pound.
Kevin rushed into the main room of the house pushing absentmindedly passed a room full of visitors. "Mom, the President's here." Was all he said. His voice was so full of doubt and confusion that had Mary not been looking out the window at the Commander in Chief she'd had doubted he was telling the truth.
The room went silent as the middle aged woman stepped into the room. She looked tired, exhausted actually, but there wasn't a hair out of place. Her suit was pressed to perfection and her shoes looked brand new shining on a set of unusually small feet. A team of agents spread out around the room all wearing dark shades and ear pieces.
The sight of the most powerful person in the world standing in her living room threw Mary out of whack. Okay she figured, somebody had to explain what was going on. The President of the United States was standing in her already crowded living room. Who in the hell was Renee? What had she done to merit such attention? She couldn't have been the screw up they all suspected her to be, not with all these big shots here.
President Taylor scanned the room before locking eyes with Mary and offering a soft polite smile. Mary's mind began to race. What the heck was going on? The President, at her daughter's wake? It didn't make sense. Was this normal?
Mary rose to her feet along with everyone else in the room. President Taylor extended a hand and when Mary shook it she could feel the woman guiding her back down to her chair. She didn't fight it, she took her seat.
"Mrs. Walker please sit down."
Mary was dumbstruck. "Madam President." Was all she could manage to say.
Out of the corner of her eye Mary saw Lynda step into the room. Her face relaying the shock Mary herself felt. Lynda and Renee had never been close. They were cordial, spoke and embraced when they saw one another but they'd never really attempted to become friends. Lynda thought Renee was an obsessive career woman and Lynda was herself a housewife. After her firing at the FBI her daughter in law was baffled. If Renee wasn't focused on work what would she do with herself Lynda asked.
"Mrs. Walker I'm sorry I had to show up unannounced like this. It's just with the press corps and the regular media I have to be careful. My showing up here is kind of a touchy subject. Still I thought it important I pay my respects personally."
"Why?" It was Lynda who asked. Kevin shot her a tense glare but didn't speak. He was curious too she imagined.
President Taylor looked over her shoulder and nodded to a man in an Army uniform. Suddenly everyone was being ushered out of the room and outside. Mary watched in awe as her house, a moment ago filled with mourners, emptied out.
When the crowd was gone all that remained were a few agents, her, Kevin, Lynda and the President.
"Mrs. Walker I've been made aware your daughter didn't inform you about her activities with CTU." The President nodded evenly. "I understand why she'd want to keep things to herself. A lot of things will be said about your daughter publicly that will be hard to hear. But I want you all to hear from me personally that your daughter was a credit to this nation. Two years ago she was responsible for averting a major terrorist attack on American soil. She was part of the team that helped regain control of our White House. She personally saved my life."
Kevin finally spoke up. "But she got fired." He swallowed hard. "And tried to kill herself."
The President nodded. "I know. That unfortunately is a little harder to explain." President Taylor looked Mary in the eyes. "Ma'am do you want to know the truth. I promise you it will be extremely hard to hear."
Mary didn't think. She needed to make sense of all this. "I want to know the truth about my daughter. I want to know why she was in so much pain before she died."
The President nodded. "Okay. Understand that what I tell you cannot be repeated. To do so would be considered treason against the United States and could very well send us to war. I tell you this out of respect to Renee. It's important that you understand who she was and what she had done for her country."
The words scared Mary. Treason? War? What had Renee done?
"You've all heard of the Terrorist Alan Wilson?"
They all nodded. Alan Wilson was one of the most notorious terrorists in this country's history. He was being kept in a Super Max prison until his execution. His face had been plastered all over the TV when he'd been captured.
"Renee was involved in his capture. When he was brought in he was insisting that he was innocent. This insistence would have undoubtedly kept him out of prison. Although we knew he was guilty as sin we didn't really have anything on him. He would have surely walked away from this whole thing scot-free and when he did this country would have suffered another terrorist attack. Renee was able to obtain a confession."
The words hung in the air like a thick mist. Renee was able to obtain a confession? What had she done?
"How?" Kevin asked. Mary noticed a familiar look on his face. Understanding. Whatever the President was alluding too Kevin knew what it was.
"She tortured him. Almost to death." President Taylor spoke the words with cold distance. "She was able to get him to reveal his co-conspirators and we were able to bring the whole cell of terrorists down. She saved hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives."
"She tortured somebody?" Lynda asked. "Actually tortured him, like water boarded him?"
President Taylor shook her head. "Trust me you don't want to know the specifics. Needless to say doing something like that carries a huge emotional weight. She was fired from the FBI because of it. But still she had friends, she did a terrible thing but everyone understood why she had to do it. She was set up with a job in the private sector. Unfortunately as you know she struggled with the decisions she had to make. The weight was a heavy one."
Mary couldn't seem to catch her breath. Her Renee, her little red headed firecracker, had saved the country from a terrorist attack. By torturing somebody? Surely this couldn't be true. Surely Renee couldn't do such a thing, intentionally inflict pain on somebody for information. But it was true. The President was here. She said so. It had to be true, and not only that it made sense. It explained the last two years of Renee's tortured existence.
"Is this why she was killed. Did the terrorists find out and come after her?" Kevin asked.
The President took a deep breath. "Actually yes and no. Yes she was killed by terrorists, no they weren't the same terrorists. All this stuff that's been in the news the past few days with President Hassan. She was involved with that. I was actually glad she was there because I needed people involved that I could trust implicitly. There are only two people in the field I know who will do whatever it takes to protect this country at all costs. Renee was one of those people. Jack Bauer is the other one."
Lynda spoke up again. "Jack Bauer? The man who killed all those Russian agents. He's who you trust? He's a fugitive and a cold blooded killer." Her voice held a tone of superiority and scorn.
"Lynda." Kevin scolded her.
The President however didn't back down and turned to look Lynda in the eyes. "Yes, that Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer has saved this country from destruction on more than one occasion. He's risked his life and endured hardships I couldn't possibly explain for his country." She turned her attention back to Mary. "What you don't know, what nobody knows is that the reason Jack killed those men is because of Renee. It was his apartment she was in when she was shot. They were a couple. They were going to retire and start a life together. Earlier that day however Renee recognized a terrorist in this country planning an attack and she was killed to ensure her silence. Jack rushed her to the hospital but it was too late. They couldn't save her. So Jack tracked down every man involved with your daughters murder and eliminated them all. That's what all that is about. Revenge for Renee."
"He killed all those men for Renee?" Mary said. "She wouldn't have wanted that."
President Taylor nodded. "We got him to understand that. He knows she wouldn't have approved of his actions. Still a man like Jack Bauer deals with things in his own way. You have to understand that a men like Jack shut their feelings down to protect themselves and people they love from heartache and pain. He opened his heart up to Renee, he let her in and allowed himself to start looking towards a future. To have that snatched away flipped some switch inside him. I did everything I could to protect him from himself but there was no stopping him. Jack probably felt he was doing us all a favor anyway."
"So he got the guy who shot her?" Kevin asked. "The guy with the sniper rifle."
"Yes. A man named Pavel Tokarev. Jack took exception to him. He was made to suffer."
Lynda nodded agreeably. "Good."
"So is he in some kind of safe house?" Kevin asked.
"Unfortunately some of the men Jack killed are extremely high ranking Russian officials. We can't be seen to be assisting him evade justice. We can't offer him any assistance. Still his daughter and grand daughter are in Witness Protection and Jack can take care of himself."
Mary began to shake her head. "I don't believe it."
"Mrs. Walker don't listen to what anybody says about your daughter. She did what she did for the welfare of the United States of America and for that I am eternally grateful. I loved your daughter like she was my own daughter. And through it all she carried the guilt and shame of what she had to do with her everyday. She even tried to kill herself because of that guilt. She was a good person and she deserved her happy ending."
"Madam President I don't know what to say." Mary said shaking her head, tears beginning to fall.
"You don't have to say anything." President Taylor said softly. "I'm just sorry I couldn't say publicly what I wanted to tell you privately. Your daughter was a patriot who gave her life in the service of her country." She looked over her shoulder and extended her hand. One of the agents handed her a small box.
President Taylor opened the box and looked inside then shifted her gaze to Mary. "On behalf of a grateful nation I would like to honor your daughter, Renee Walker, with this. The Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded posthumously for her service in the protection of the United States of America. For actions above and beyond the call of duty."
Mary took the medal from her President and stared at it. "Thank you very much Madam President."
"No, thank you, and please accept my condolences for your loss. The world is a less safe place without Renee in it." President Taylor said.
"What about Jack Bauer? If they find him will he be in a lot of trouble."
President Taylor nodded. "Yes. He will be."
Mary just shook her head. "I hope he lives a long life. I've had many love affairs but I've never had a man love me that much."
President Taylor simply nodded. "Me either. Your daughter was a lucky woman."
Mary smiled. "It sounds like it. I'm happy to know that at the end she had some joy in her life. It's good to know she was smiling again."