Two months passed, with things fairly quiet for Jack and Reno both, living on opposite coasts. Reno had taken a few cases, one of them having to do a custody case, the guy turned out to be a total nut, which he'd figured out quickly enough when the guy pulled a gun on him. He finally managed to get to a safe place, behind a dumpster, breathing hard and sweating. "What the Hell? I never get this out of breath." He checked his camera, sighing in relief when he noted it was undamaged, and got to his car.
It was when he went to open it that his vision went black and he passed out next to the driver's side of the car. He didn't hear the people scrambling to his aid when they'd seen him go down, nor the wail of the siren as the ambulance that had been called raced down the street.
It was 20 minutes later when those pale blue green eyes fluttered open again, to see a doctor standing in the doorway. "Welcome back to the world of the waking, Mr. Kiribani." He smiled. "I'm glad to see you've recovered from your small mishap. You are. . .not the norm, I had to have your records faxed from Doctor Maynard's office to be certain what I was dealing with. "
"Doc, don't fuck with me, ok? I wanna know why I passed out so I can get on with my day." Reno's face, the skin that pearl pale tone it always was, with the two crescent shaped marks under his eyes that stood out in relief against the aggressive cheekbones, held an annoyed expression, he hated people playing with him. He really did.
"Well, I'm not certain how to put this gently, so I will say it straight out. Mr. Kiribani, you passed out due to a drop a blood pressure that is very common for someone in your delicate condition." The kindly dark eyes met his. "You are pregnant. Around eight weeks, by my estimate."
Reno's eyes went wide, and his face sheet white, he wasn't even sure what to say to that. "Oh. . oh fuck me, he's going to fucking kill me. He's going to fly out to New York and put a bullet in my God Damn head, and right now I can't say I fucking blame him." Reno knew enough about Jack Bauer to know the man wasn't someone who wanted any more kids, even if that wasn't much. He shook his head, and looked over at the doctor in question. "Thanks. Just give me whatever I need to sign so I can get out of here, I need to break the news to the father, and he's not going to be very happy about the fact at all."
He was given the paperwork, which he signed, then a box of vitamins that he was told he should take one every day, and told he could go home. He paced as he got back to his apartment, debating on how to say it. Jack wasn't going to take this well, he could tell that already, he had to break it in a way that wouldn't have him flipping out. "I need to just say it to him, just tell him. If I just say it real fast, I'll have it over and can calm him down after." Finally he just picks up his phone, and the card that he'd found in his pocket before, and dialed the number on it.
"Hello?" Jack sounded sleepy when he answered the phone. He'd just managed to get to sleep after a rough day of investigating some strange happenings in Los Angeles when the phone had rung. He had no idea who it was, the number wasn't one he recognized, but he'd risked answering it because it wasn't work and it wasn't his daughter.
"Jack. . .we got a small problem." Reno's voice was nervous, he was still trying to work up the courage to actually say it, he knew the reaction would be unpleasant.
"We've got a problem? You told me not to call you again, so I'd like to know what problem you think we have." Jack's voice held a sleepy tone, though a no nonsense edge laced it. He wasn't in the mood to take a bunch of bullshit.
Reno took one deep breath, and it came out in that one blurting exhale. "I'm pregnant, Jack, and you're the father." The words came out in a rush, almost blending together to the point of being unrecognizable, but not quite. It had been the only way he could actually say it.
The response was several moments of dead silence, and a clatter that indicated the phone had been dropped to the floor, followed by a round of cursing that Reno could dimly hear from the other end. Finally, it was picked back up. "Pregnant, you mean, with a baby?"
"Of course I mean with a baby, what did you think I meant pregnant with an alien or something?" Reno was exasperated, on the verge of ripping his hair out. "It's yours, it's gotta be, yo, no one else touches me there, like I said, ever." He started pacing, but Jack wouldn't be able to hear that.
"You. . .planning on keeping it?" Jack didn't want to say that, not in the way it came out, because if there was one thing he remembered from Terri when she was pregnant with Kim, pregnant people were extremely uncertain of temper, and setting off someone like Reno whose temper was not all that stable anyway was not something he wanted to do, he had a headache and didn't want to deal with the yelling.
"No, I hadn't planned on keeping it, but not a whole fucklot I can do now, I'm too far along for them to safely abort." His voice was sharp, but it was mostly due to the fact that though he wasn't saying it aloud, he was terrified, both of raising a kid and the process in and of itself. He heard another curse and a sharp intake of breath, which triggered him to close his eyes, frustration mounting. "Look, I'm sorry if I fucked up your life or something, but I didn't fucking plan this either! But it happened, and all we can do is deal with it."
"Why did you well. . .take a test or something like that?" Jack snapped back at him. "I mean for God's sake the damn sticks are cheap, buy one, piss on it! It's pretty damn simple."
"I had no fucking symptoms until I passed out this morning chasing down some idiot cheating on his wife, and I didn't think it was possible! I haven't been sick, I haven't had any weird, fucked up cravings, everything has been utterly fucking normal up to now!" Reno had begun shouting almost over the phone, he was irritated, frightened, and just all around unsure of what to do about it. "Listen, I'm not gonna force you to be in the kid's life if you don't want to, but it was only right that you knew. I just. . .have no idea what the fuck I'm gonna do, or even any idea of how to take care of myself while. . like this. . .or how to take care of a kid. Hell, my houseplant died!"
"Look, we'll figure this out, somehow." Jack tried to reassure him but in truth he was freaking out more than a little himself. "Ask anyone who knows me, I'm a man of my word, if I say we'll find a way to figure this out, we will."
"We better." The words came out a growl. "Fuck, I gotta go, I was supposed to have these photos back to my client 3 hours ago and would have if this hadn't decided to happen at the worst fucking time. I'll call you later." The phone hung up with a decisive click.