Catherine could see from about a hundred yards that Sean was very far from happy. She made her way back towards her home and within it, the man that her neighbour sought so desperately; perhaps as desperately as she had done, without even realising it. It had been seventeen minutes since she left Jack alone and her heart raced with each step she grew closer to him again.
It felt a little crazy to be so eagerly anticipating what in actual fact probably wouldn't be a very nice situation at all. The man she wanted so much; for no rationally understandable reason, was lying half dead on her couch. This was one hell of a strange situation to find herself in. Once the adrenaline buzz began to ebb away, she began to wonder what the hell she was meant to do next.
'Fix him.'
It sounded childish in her ears, as though the embodiment of her conscience was a very assertive seven year old, chastising her with its omniscience. It might have seemed silly to hear her conscience as the voice of a child, though she quieted her doubt by reminding herself that sometimes the greatest wisdom can come from the mouth of babes. Then for the first time since this madness began Catherine thought of her son and what he was going to think of her irrational and impulsive behaviour.
Ben was very mature and sensible, for a boy of only four years old. Many thought losing his father so tragically had brought about a sad loss of innocence; which in turn gave him a more reflective and adult nature. The truth was that Ben Colloni had probably come out of the womb as a miniature adult! He wasn't biologically mature, in the sense that he had to be induced at forty-two weeks, from his bloated and weary mother. Ben was in fact three weeks premature and his mother was fortunate enough in her pregnancy, to hardly ever look bloated and weary. Ben was mentally astute; and even when he spent almost a fortnight in an incubator, he seemed desperate to learn about the new world around him.
Ben was never one to shy away from something new; even if his over-protective father discouraged almost every remotely dangerous activity, that Ben entertained thoughts of proceeding with. Joe Colloni loved his son and his wife more than anything in the world, but the ways he chose to show this love, always seemed a little excessive. A fact that did not go unnoticed by the inquisitive four year old.
Joe was a businessman. What he did for a living, Catherine was yet to find out. He provided lavishly for his family and gave generously of his world weary heart; which was enough for Ben's happiness and adequate for Catherine's comfort. He was a good man, a kind man, but he was never really the man that Catherine saw herself with. He was the man she settled for, when her heart was lonely; the man she stayed with when she fell pregnant with his son. He was a good father, but he wasn't her sweetheart. Joe was everything that a woman would like in a husband… any woman but Catherine.
What Catherine wanted from a husband went deeper than a provider and a devoted, compassionate lover. She wanted a friend, a confidante when things were hardest; someone she could be interested in and desire to understand the intricacies of. As far as she was aware, the only intricacies that Joe had were the ones he used to padlock the garage and burglar-proof the conservatory. Things were never hard with Joe. Everything she needed or wanted would be given to her, everything that was, but for the one thing she wanted more than anything else… passion.
She wanted things to be crazy sometimes, she wanted to be tested and driven to extremes. To feel life as it really was; gritty, messy and troubled. She wanted to have to suffer for her happiness. After all, as Joe always said; in business, the best rewards are those that you worked hardest to achieve. As Sean O'Malley approached her from across the street, she was very harshly reminded of the hard work that now lay ahead of her. When Sean was no more than a few feet away, her last considered thought was about whether or not she could have her just rewards.
"Hi Mrs Colloni, how are you this fine day?" His smug grin hid what she knew he wanted to do to her; what he wanted to do to almost every woman on their drive. Sean O'Malley was as much of an interloper in Beverly Hills as she thought she was. How she ever ended up living in such luxury was beyond her reckoning. She and Sean had come from modest backgrounds and education; but here they both stood, in one of the most sought after zip codes in Los Angeles shooting the breeze as if it was the most normal thing in the world for them and had always been on the cards.
It was time for Catherine's poker face to be tested now and she ran the back of a somewhat pale hand across her sweaty brow, before shaking it loosely to her side as though she were exhausted. She hid her proud smile as she remembered the acting classes she'd took over the summer she was pregnant. Joe had told her to quit when she started showing, but it was an invaluable lesson to have learnt now that she had to act for the life of another.
"I would have been fine, only I had to post in an article for tomorrow and stupidly thought it better to walk on such a nice day." Sean gave her a satisfied grin and nodded, slowly as though his head might topple off if he shook it too hard.
"I know what you mean, Mrs Colloni. Warm beer in the back yard seems to have gone to my head…" He paused and watched her looking away towards his house and then her own. She caught his glance and bit her lip in vexation. It was stupid of her to look so obviously guilty; she cursed herself silently for not being more considered in her body language and behaviour. Even three weeks of acting lessons should have taught her to hide her guilt better than that.
Fortunately for her, the alcohol and torturous merriment had dulled Sean's senses and all he was thinking with, was his little man. Since Joe died, over a year ago, Sean had been only too happy to mow the lawn and tend the car for her. Only Catherine didn't trust Sean anywhere near her brake cables and declined his offer graciously. He had never bargained his way into her house before and this was not going to be the day to start.
"Yes I think I'll get indoors and take a shower before I have to go and collect my son from kindergarten. Don't get too much sun now." She made to walk away and felt Sean take her elbow in his firm grip. Feeling a chill sweep down her spine she turned around looking a little aggrieved.
"I'm sorry… I just…" He let go of her arm and gazed down at his shoes rather innocently. "I seem to have misplaced a friend of mine; we were having a bit of a laugh together. You know, few beers, joking around and wrestling. I think he may have left the party early. I don't suppose you noticed him on your travels?"
Catherine shook her head slowly as if she were considering his question. All she was really considering was how she could get away with beating the shit out of this peace of living excrement for making light of what he had just done to Jack.
"I don't remember seeing any men, not on the way to the post office or back along the footpath. It's all young mothers with strollers and kids cutting school at this time of the afternoon." Sean smirked and nodded with slight amusement at Catherine's candour.
"Well to be honest, Mrs Colloni, he is a bit of a trouble maker; if you do see him, make sure to let me know; he's not a guy to mess with, if you know what I mean." Catherine huffed a little and couldn't hide her dislike for what Sean did for a 'living'. She glanced around her and shrugged.
"Well if you think he is dangerous or something, shouldn't I call the police department?" It wasn't a hard question to deliver; whether she believed Sean or not, his kind of handling things was not what she'd like to see happen to anyone, least of all someone as seemingly gentle as Jack.
"I wouldn't bother, they couldn't do a thing. He's above the law you see Mrs Colloni, he's a trained assassin and good buddies with President Palmer too. You might have heard of him actually. I'm sure your Joe would have known who he was…"
Up to this point Catherine had managed to hide her real feelings and bury the truth deep enough for Sean not to notice that she was telling him outright lies with an almost flirtatious look on her face. Now that she was being offered what sounded like real information about the man she had lying half naked on her couch, she couldn't hide the yearning in her voice.
"Why would Joe know someone like that?" She wanted it to sound surprised or perhaps a little offended; it came out as desperation and longing. Something Sean had a history of ignoring in his wife' Averill's case and would take for granted in his neighbour too.
"Well Joe was always very security conscious wasn't he?" Sean didn't wait for an answer and smiled around the cigar now placed over his fat lower lip. "This guy I'm talking about. He was the guy who flew the nuke out to the desert last year, surely Joe mentioned that… Jack Bauer?"
Catherine knew he looked familiar, but it hadn't been the reason for all this. She wasn't trying to save one of America's most heroic men for any kind of public gratitude. As she was offered a sensible reason for her actions, she found clarity in knowing that they were beside the point. She hadn't done this to show off, or to test her limits the way she had longed to when Joe was alive. She was doing this because something inside her was telling her to. It wasn't desire for recognition that spurred her into action one hot summer day. It was simply desire for him… for Jack.
"Well I'll keep an eye out, but wouldn't he have just gone home if he wasn't having fun anymore? I don't see why he'd hang around the neighbourhood, I'd have got a cab and…" Her idea awoke a new line of questioning in Sean's mind and he decided to follow up her suggestion and go and look for his missing van.
"Well I'll let you get inside and clean up, let me know if you do see anything odd won't you?" Catherine nodded gravely and took her leave of her neighbour to get inside and on with the job.
"You have a good day, Mrs Colloni… say 'hi' to little Ben for me. He's a good boy that one. I hope I'll have a son as handsome and intelligent as him, one day myself." Catherine smiled and closed her little iron gate; for once glad that Joe had been so paranoid about creeps like Sean getting onto their property.
"I hope you get over your sun stroke and this little problem of yours, now if you'll excuse me, things to do and people to see and all that."
It felt a little crazy to be so eagerly anticipating what in actual fact probably wouldn't be a very nice situation at all. The man she wanted so much; for no rationally understandable reason, was lying half dead on her couch. This was one hell of a strange situation to find herself in. Once the adrenaline buzz began to ebb away, she began to wonder what the hell she was meant to do next.
'Fix him.'
It sounded childish in her ears, as though the embodiment of her conscience was a very assertive seven year old, chastising her with its omniscience. It might have seemed silly to hear her conscience as the voice of a child, though she quieted her doubt by reminding herself that sometimes the greatest wisdom can come from the mouth of babes. Then for the first time since this madness began Catherine thought of her son and what he was going to think of her irrational and impulsive behaviour.
Ben was very mature and sensible, for a boy of only four years old. Many thought losing his father so tragically had brought about a sad loss of innocence; which in turn gave him a more reflective and adult nature. The truth was that Ben Colloni had probably come out of the womb as a miniature adult! He wasn't biologically mature, in the sense that he had to be induced at forty-two weeks, from his bloated and weary mother. Ben was in fact three weeks premature and his mother was fortunate enough in her pregnancy, to hardly ever look bloated and weary. Ben was mentally astute; and even when he spent almost a fortnight in an incubator, he seemed desperate to learn about the new world around him.
Ben was never one to shy away from something new; even if his over-protective father discouraged almost every remotely dangerous activity, that Ben entertained thoughts of proceeding with. Joe Colloni loved his son and his wife more than anything in the world, but the ways he chose to show this love, always seemed a little excessive. A fact that did not go unnoticed by the inquisitive four year old.
Joe was a businessman. What he did for a living, Catherine was yet to find out. He provided lavishly for his family and gave generously of his world weary heart; which was enough for Ben's happiness and adequate for Catherine's comfort. He was a good man, a kind man, but he was never really the man that Catherine saw herself with. He was the man she settled for, when her heart was lonely; the man she stayed with when she fell pregnant with his son. He was a good father, but he wasn't her sweetheart. Joe was everything that a woman would like in a husband… any woman but Catherine.
What Catherine wanted from a husband went deeper than a provider and a devoted, compassionate lover. She wanted a friend, a confidante when things were hardest; someone she could be interested in and desire to understand the intricacies of. As far as she was aware, the only intricacies that Joe had were the ones he used to padlock the garage and burglar-proof the conservatory. Things were never hard with Joe. Everything she needed or wanted would be given to her, everything that was, but for the one thing she wanted more than anything else… passion.
She wanted things to be crazy sometimes, she wanted to be tested and driven to extremes. To feel life as it really was; gritty, messy and troubled. She wanted to have to suffer for her happiness. After all, as Joe always said; in business, the best rewards are those that you worked hardest to achieve. As Sean O'Malley approached her from across the street, she was very harshly reminded of the hard work that now lay ahead of her. When Sean was no more than a few feet away, her last considered thought was about whether or not she could have her just rewards.
"Hi Mrs Colloni, how are you this fine day?" His smug grin hid what she knew he wanted to do to her; what he wanted to do to almost every woman on their drive. Sean O'Malley was as much of an interloper in Beverly Hills as she thought she was. How she ever ended up living in such luxury was beyond her reckoning. She and Sean had come from modest backgrounds and education; but here they both stood, in one of the most sought after zip codes in Los Angeles shooting the breeze as if it was the most normal thing in the world for them and had always been on the cards.
It was time for Catherine's poker face to be tested now and she ran the back of a somewhat pale hand across her sweaty brow, before shaking it loosely to her side as though she were exhausted. She hid her proud smile as she remembered the acting classes she'd took over the summer she was pregnant. Joe had told her to quit when she started showing, but it was an invaluable lesson to have learnt now that she had to act for the life of another.
"I would have been fine, only I had to post in an article for tomorrow and stupidly thought it better to walk on such a nice day." Sean gave her a satisfied grin and nodded, slowly as though his head might topple off if he shook it too hard.
"I know what you mean, Mrs Colloni. Warm beer in the back yard seems to have gone to my head…" He paused and watched her looking away towards his house and then her own. She caught his glance and bit her lip in vexation. It was stupid of her to look so obviously guilty; she cursed herself silently for not being more considered in her body language and behaviour. Even three weeks of acting lessons should have taught her to hide her guilt better than that.
Fortunately for her, the alcohol and torturous merriment had dulled Sean's senses and all he was thinking with, was his little man. Since Joe died, over a year ago, Sean had been only too happy to mow the lawn and tend the car for her. Only Catherine didn't trust Sean anywhere near her brake cables and declined his offer graciously. He had never bargained his way into her house before and this was not going to be the day to start.
"Yes I think I'll get indoors and take a shower before I have to go and collect my son from kindergarten. Don't get too much sun now." She made to walk away and felt Sean take her elbow in his firm grip. Feeling a chill sweep down her spine she turned around looking a little aggrieved.
"I'm sorry… I just…" He let go of her arm and gazed down at his shoes rather innocently. "I seem to have misplaced a friend of mine; we were having a bit of a laugh together. You know, few beers, joking around and wrestling. I think he may have left the party early. I don't suppose you noticed him on your travels?"
Catherine shook her head slowly as if she were considering his question. All she was really considering was how she could get away with beating the shit out of this peace of living excrement for making light of what he had just done to Jack.
"I don't remember seeing any men, not on the way to the post office or back along the footpath. It's all young mothers with strollers and kids cutting school at this time of the afternoon." Sean smirked and nodded with slight amusement at Catherine's candour.
"Well to be honest, Mrs Colloni, he is a bit of a trouble maker; if you do see him, make sure to let me know; he's not a guy to mess with, if you know what I mean." Catherine huffed a little and couldn't hide her dislike for what Sean did for a 'living'. She glanced around her and shrugged.
"Well if you think he is dangerous or something, shouldn't I call the police department?" It wasn't a hard question to deliver; whether she believed Sean or not, his kind of handling things was not what she'd like to see happen to anyone, least of all someone as seemingly gentle as Jack.
"I wouldn't bother, they couldn't do a thing. He's above the law you see Mrs Colloni, he's a trained assassin and good buddies with President Palmer too. You might have heard of him actually. I'm sure your Joe would have known who he was…"
Up to this point Catherine had managed to hide her real feelings and bury the truth deep enough for Sean not to notice that she was telling him outright lies with an almost flirtatious look on her face. Now that she was being offered what sounded like real information about the man she had lying half naked on her couch, she couldn't hide the yearning in her voice.
"Why would Joe know someone like that?" She wanted it to sound surprised or perhaps a little offended; it came out as desperation and longing. Something Sean had a history of ignoring in his wife' Averill's case and would take for granted in his neighbour too.
"Well Joe was always very security conscious wasn't he?" Sean didn't wait for an answer and smiled around the cigar now placed over his fat lower lip. "This guy I'm talking about. He was the guy who flew the nuke out to the desert last year, surely Joe mentioned that… Jack Bauer?"
Catherine knew he looked familiar, but it hadn't been the reason for all this. She wasn't trying to save one of America's most heroic men for any kind of public gratitude. As she was offered a sensible reason for her actions, she found clarity in knowing that they were beside the point. She hadn't done this to show off, or to test her limits the way she had longed to when Joe was alive. She was doing this because something inside her was telling her to. It wasn't desire for recognition that spurred her into action one hot summer day. It was simply desire for him… for Jack.
"Well I'll keep an eye out, but wouldn't he have just gone home if he wasn't having fun anymore? I don't see why he'd hang around the neighbourhood, I'd have got a cab and…" Her idea awoke a new line of questioning in Sean's mind and he decided to follow up her suggestion and go and look for his missing van.
"Well I'll let you get inside and clean up, let me know if you do see anything odd won't you?" Catherine nodded gravely and took her leave of her neighbour to get inside and on with the job.
"You have a good day, Mrs Colloni… say 'hi' to little Ben for me. He's a good boy that one. I hope I'll have a son as handsome and intelligent as him, one day myself." Catherine smiled and closed her little iron gate; for once glad that Joe had been so paranoid about creeps like Sean getting onto their property.
"I hope you get over your sun stroke and this little problem of yours, now if you'll excuse me, things to do and people to see and all that."