Disclaimer: 24, alongside every other T.V. show, is not mine and unfortunately never will be.
Spoilers: Up to and including Hour 6 of Day 8.
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"Where is Renee?" he walked into the warehouse, his head held high; the gun in his right hand held at hip level, ready to be used when necessary.
"First we talk business then you can see her"
"NO" Careful, Jack, "I really don't think you're in any kind of bargaining position. I want to see her and then we talk" With all of his will power, Jack resisted throwing the guy out of his way in order to find Renee himself. But he knew, or could guess having seen the files, what Renee had already been through and he was reluctant to provide any other opportunities for that...beast...to hurt her. She'd already seen and been through enough. He wasn't going to let Vladimir anywhere near her again, if he could help it.
"Either bring her to me or take me to where she is. Either way, I'm seeing Renee before anything else gets discussed" Jack attempted to maintain his composure, all the while his hands shook.
"You seem to be very close to her, no?" Vladimir's face came closer to Jack, attempting to read Jack's eyes which were marginally obscured by the thick-framed lenses of his glasses.
"We're business partners. I want to speak to her before the deal goes any further" He gave away nothing, it didn't take a lot to lie to him; he'd lied to people that he cared about a lot more.
"Aleksey, take Meir to see his...business partner" He sneered. "She's in the office"
As Jack walked past Vladimir, he held his arms by his sides, determined not to show his anger. He had to keep in control; any motion that would be deemed out of sync with his alter-ego would be detrimental to Renee who he still hadn't seen was okay.
Walking through the door to the back-room office, he caught his first glimpse of her; her mask of indifference firmly in place.
"Leave us"
"Vladimir..."
"GET OUT! Tell your man that this is more than what he should be giving me for trying to have me killed. If he wants to see more than the 5 million already in his account then he gives me 5 minutes in here...uninterrupted. If not, the deal's off" Jack's tone left no room for compromise and with one last look at the gun that sat firmly at Jack's side, Aleksey left the room, closing the door behind him.
Shaking his head, sighing in release, he slowly turned, finally taking the opportunity to look at Renee, her hair partially covering her face; he didn't want to guess why she wouldn't catch his eye.
"Hey" his voice reflecting the change in his mood.
She said nothing, instead moving to sit on the couch that sat a couple of feet away from where Jack stood. Lowering her head to her hands, she took a shaky breath.
"Renee..." he said softly as he lowered himself to his knees, placing himself directly in front of her line of vision, hoping beyond hope that she would look up and see his concern. "It's over, okay? I'm here now."
He reached his hand towards her, merely wanting to assure her of his presence. She flinched away from his touch almost subconsciously, in turn demonstrating to Jack what these last couple of hours had done to her.
"Hey...it's me. I'm not him. I'm not going to do anything to you." Part of him blanched at his words, knowing that a large part of her breakdown had been due to his recklessness, his insistence on doing everything his way. Now was not the time for self-deprecation though; he needed to get her back to the relative safety of CTU to ensure that her day was no further destroyed by her re-submergence into this world of violence.
She finally raised her eyes to his, allowing him to see the darkness of their depths; he was sure that no small part of that darkness was seeing Vladimir again.
"I know, Jack. I know you're not him. I just need a minute, okay?"
"Okay. I'm here if you need me" holding her chin in his hand, he brushed his thumb along the soft skin below her bottom lip. Taking the seat next to her on the couch, he knew what it meant to need a few minutes to think and...feel. He allowed her the time.
"I can't believe I'm back here" she had said it so quietly that Jack momentarily wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him. It took him a minute to process her words.
"I know. I didn't want you to get sucked back in. I'm sorry about that. It's enough that I'm here, I didn't want this for you."
"It's not your fault" he marvelled that she was attempting to make him feel better even as her hands shook.
"Renee, we've got a way out for you. As soon as we start the dealings, I'm getting you out. We'll make something up to get past Vladimir"
"No, Jack. You know that won't work. This deal works with me or it doesn't happen at all. You know that, I know that. I'll be fine. I've done this before, I can get through it until we've got what we want" he couldn't believe she was still fighting his attempts at helping: she was either the stupidest person he had ever met or...and he thought that this was more likely, maybe she was the one who was just as strong as him.
"Renee..."
"No, Jack. Let's stop trying to find a way out for me and just figure out how we're going to get this deal sorted, okay? We both know how this works, we'll get it done and then we can both go back to...to...doing whatever it was we were doing before" she rose from the couch, crossing to the other side of the office, her arms instinctively covering her chest; protective.
He respected her resilience, knew that nothing short of dragging her physically out of the warehouse was going to make her change her mind. And he had been on the receiving end of one her slaps and knew that even that option wouldn't be easy. Rising to stand behind her, he placed his hand on her shoulder. This time, she didn't flinch.
"Okay, we'll do it your way. But, as soon as we can, you're getting out of here. As soon as we get the information, we'll do it my way" rubbing gentle circles on her shoulder, he was taken aback when she turned and threw her arms around his neck, partially blowing the air out of his lungs. It took him a minute to get his bearings to then reciprocate the gesture.
"Hey...it's going to be okay. No matter what, I'm here now. I've got you" he gently whispered in her ear. Placing a kiss below her ear, he felt her body relax considerably and for the first time, in a long time, he let himself feel the weight of someone else's body against his own. He had forgotten what it felt like to breathe in the scent of a woman, to feel a heart beat in steady rhythm with his own. Reluctant to remove himself from the embrace, he knew they were short on time. Holding her head close to his, placing one last kiss on her neck, he slowly released his hold on her.
Taking her head in his, her hands coming to rest on his forearms, he placed a tender kiss on her forehead.
"We'll be okay. I've got you"
Nodding, she moved to stand a few feet away from him, anticipating the return of Vladimir or his men.
Her eyes never left his.
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