Bruised

A/N: So sorry for the delay in this chapter…it really wasn't supposed to take this long but life got in the way somehow. Thanks as always to everyone who reviewed. I hope you guys like this!

Also note…I swapped around two of the titles so this is what chapter 4 used to be called and chapter 4 is now something else entirely. Hope this doesn't confuse anyone!

Chapter Eight – We Are Broken

'Cause we are broken

What must we do to restore

Our innocence

And all the promise we adore

Give us life again

'Cause we just wanna be whole

- We Are Broken by Paramore

SANGALA, AFRICA

Alex leaned back on her hands on the porch steps, closing her eyes and feeling the sun warm her face. Muscles she didn't even know she had still ached with every movement she made, but that was a pain she had learned to ignore by now. The only source of discomfort at the moment was the fact that, despite the sweltering heat, she still felt chilled to the bone.

Tony hadn't heard from Rick or Jack yet and to say she wasn't thinking about it constantly would have been a gross understatement. Every time someone approached her she kept wondering if they were going to say they had news. News could be bad though, so maybe it was better they hadn't heard anything. The only news she thought she could stand at the moment was the news telling her they were both safe and unscathed and were on their way to meet up with the rest of them. That was the only thing she wanted to hear.

The sound of the side door opening caused Alex to start and spin around. Her brow creased when she came face to face with Carl. She still wasn't sure how she felt about the guy; he seemed nice and the kids at the school were sweet and well-behaved but…he knew her. Somehow he knew her, (or at least of her), and that made Alex uneasy.

"I'm sorry if I upset you yesterday," Carl began gently. He indicated to the patch of porch beside her, obviously asking to sit. Alex bit her lip, but nodded. This was Jack's friend. Jack would've only sent them here if it was a person he knew he could have trusted, and with one glaring exception, Jack's judgment of people was always spot on.

Besides, the 20 or so screaming boys darting around the field in front of them with a soccer ball made it unlikely this guy was up to no good. Alex was still wary though. She'd be wary for the rest of her life.

"They're good boys," Carl explained in his soft accent, seeing where her gaze was directed. Alex smiled a little.

"Orphans or abandoned, all of them. I was always fond of the idea of rehabilitating people. Giving them a second chance."

Alex continued to watch the boys run around the field, a slight knot forming in her chest she wasn't sure what to attribute to. They looked happy…they looked rehabilitated but would they ever be? Would they ever function like a normal kid who had a normal life or would they just seem that way to everyone else. Would they just get better at hiding everything?

"They love having visitors," he added with a small laugh. "Especially women. They don't meet a lot of women unless they go into town and then it's only in passing…and they are still boys," he smiled knowingly.

Alex licked her chapped lips, wondering where Michelle was at the moment. Michelle was the only person she wasn't wary of right now. She was the only person Alex could say anything or do anything in front of and not have to worry about what implications she might draw from it.

"Willie told me you look like an angel…"

At this Alex laughed hollowly. It was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever described her as, even if it was far from the truth. She looked anything but angelic covered in scrapes and bruises and in tattered jeans that were too big…she was anything but angelic.

"…But I think you look like your mother."

She froze as soon as he said it, a shiver running down her spine. Slowly she angled her head to face him, her jaw tight.

"What?"

"Your mother. You're the spitting image of her. But I'm sure you get that all the - "

"She's dead." Alex blurted out callously, wanting her explanation and wanting it now. "She died when I was sixteen."

Carl nodded softly, turning to meet her fiercely blue eyes.

"I knew her…your mother. Jack did too."

Alex's mouth dropped slightly.

"H…what? How?"

Carl's hand dipped into his pocket and Alex's muscles tensed in anticipation. She relaxed a little when he revealed a folded piece of paper. He handed it to her and her eyes welled with tears before she could contain them. She pressed her fingers to her lips and swallowed the bile in the back of her throat.

Carl glanced around them quickly to make sure they were still alone.

"Years ago…Jack and I were on an operation in Serbia with a small group of men. That's where I met him."

He paused for effect.

"Your father was one of them."

A puff of air escaped her throat and she squinted her eyes shut tightly.

"How long ago?"

She heard Carl sigh beside her.

"It'll have been about 20 years now."

Her eyes stung, even though she'd been expecting the response. That was it. That had been the mission her dad had disappeared on. The one that had made him...

The picture Carl had handed her showed eight men, all dressed in black and Kevlar. She saw Jack first looking easily twenty years younger, standing next to Carl. Behind them stood the tallest man in the group. His dark hair was cropped short and his face was serious but somehow he looked different in a way she couldn't remember having ever seen him look.

"Jack didn't tell me."

Carl nodded. "I know. He wasn't certain of it the first time he met you and then he disappeared again. And when you disappeared with him…" Carl inclined his head solemnly. "I don't think he wanted to burden you with anything else."

There was a pause.

"Alex, listen…I know this is a lot to take in but if there's anything you want to know… "

Alex breath caught in her throat. She didn't know what to say.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do." Carl patted her on the back before disappearing back inside the house.


WASHINGTON D.C.

"And you have no idea who this person is?" Bill's worried voice resonated in her ear. Karen ran her tongue over the front of her teeth as her heels clipped purposefully against the stairs leading out of the White House.

"No. But that's not uncommon. He needs to retain is anonymity. Everyone else has been disappearing Bill. It took me forever just to get someone to give me this person to contact."

"What I'm worried about is you disappearing, Karen. I wish you'd take someone else with you."

"I can't risk them getting spooked. We have to be careful. I have to make sure I'm not followed or…"

Bill inhaled sharply.

"God, Karen. Be careful."

"I will. I'll call you as soon as it's done."


GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

Jack Bauer knew something was wrong when he stepped outside onto the main road in front of the small bed and breakfast. He felt eyes bearing down on him and could tell he was being watched…and that they'd been found out.

He took a few minutes, trying to gauge where their tail was likely hiding. They couldn't keep doing this much longer – sending Alex away under the cloak of night while they worked to divert whoever was after them. Jack was certain these people were being sent by Hammond or Warrington. It was the only logical explanation. If it were Cheng he would want Alex back alive, not dead. And sending her on the mission had been a strategic move on Hammond's part. It got her out of the way. Throwing her in a prison cell would've meant she could still talk and between Karen and Bill and her father Alex had enough influence in Washington to get people to listen to her. Warrington couldn't take the chance of his political enemies seizing the opportunity to take him down. He needed Alex gone, not imprisoned.

Shifting his gaze subtly Jack tried to gauge the proximity of whoever was on them. Casually shooting another glance around the street he took a step to the right and dipped into the alleyway between the two buildings nearest him. Staying pressed up against the wall he moved towards the fire escape, pulling a handgun from behind his back a split second before he stepped up on one stair and yanked a man down to the ground, eyes glaring menacingly and weapon pointed.

"You and I are gonna have a little talk," Jack growled, grabbing the man by his collar and shoving him further into the dark.


LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

"Here, hold him, will you…" Chloe deposited the six-month-old infant in Claire's lap. Claire looked a little bewildered but rebounded, pulling Chloe's son into the cradle of her arms and repositioning his bottle. Morris was out grabbing something to eat and Chloe was back at the computer. The encryption was advanced and even though she'd done some work on it while Claire went back to CTU she hadn't made much progress. Now it was late afternoon and they were at it again. Bill's flight had landed at LAX that morning and Nadia had given Claire the rest of the day off after she went to go pick him up. There were no active protocols and Claire had a suspicion Nadia knew something was up. Actually, she had a suspicion everyone knew something was up: Wiley had come down from Field Ops to ask Nadia if she'd heard from Rick, and on the way out of Tech 2 he'd cornered Claire too. Eva had probed Claire again to ask if she'd heard anything from Bill about when Rick would be back. She'd also mentioned something about setting Claire up with one of the new guys they'd just hired for IT, insisting how cute of a couple they would make. Right before Eva had suggested they double Claire had disappeared, cheeks flaming.

And now she cradled a baby in her arms while Chloe's face contorted unpleasantly as her fingers danced across the keys.

"You're nothing like your sister." Chloe declared abruptly, her eyes lifting long enough to see Claire tilt the bottle slightly to finish it off.

"Why? Because I let you boss me around?" Claire retorted, lifting the baby against her chest and rubbing his back.

Chloe ran her eyes over in observation, sighing exasperatedly.

"No. You're just…whatever, I get she's your sister. She just doesn't strike me as the type to offer to feed someone else's baby or something."

Claire pursed her lips, listening to the baby's soft burp, and considering what Chloe had said.

"Never mind…look, the decryption finished. Come see this."

Smiling at the little boy, Claire placed him back in his playpen and crossed the room towards Chloe as she scrolled through the decrypted file.

"Is it the autopsy report?"

Chloe's mouth dropped and she didn't say anything.

"Chloe?"

"Just…just read it yourself..." she ordered testily.

Claire came to lean over Chloe's shoulder, eyes narrowing as she read what was on the screen. She inhaled sharply and her fingers shook as she scrolled down further on the screen.

"Do we know who filed it?" She managed to keep her voice steady. Chloe nodded.

"Looks like it was Hammond…"

"And um…" Claire gulped. "Is there anything else?"

"Maybe. It's still decrypting." Chloe turned her head to study the young girl.

"You're okay, right?"

Claire cleared her throat, but nodded.

"I have to call Rick."


GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

Rick snatched his phone up from the bedside table, figuring it had to be Jack. After grabbing a quick bite to eat Jack had declared he was getting some air. That had been almost an hour ago and while Rick was pretty sure Jack could take care of himself, this wasn't the time for either of them to be up and disappearing without a word.

Glancing at the caller ID his pulse increased slightly when he realized who it was.

"Claire…" he breathed.

"We found something!" she declared immediately. "It's…I mean it can't be what I think it is because…it just doesn't make any sense…" she sounded panicked.

"What'd you find?"

"Um…okay well there was this archived file that was decrypting so it finished and apparently it's some report filed by Hammond but…" she hesitated. "It can't be what I think it is. You should probably just look at it yourself. Can I fax it to you or - "

"Um…" Rick rubbed his cheek. "Yeah the front desk should have one. Hang on - "

"Rick…" Jack's suddenly appeared in the doorway looking sweaty and his breathing slightly ragged. "Get your things; we're moving."

"What?" He tilted the phone away from his mouth. "Why? What the hell - ?"

"I'll explain in the car, but we have to go now."

Sensing the urgency Rick nodded and spoke into the phone again.

"Something came up. I'll call you as soon as I can."

He snapped the phone shut and immediately went for the small amount of belongings he had, watching Jack do the same and waiting for him to explain. When Jack said nothing Rick resided himself to getting the hell out of there before probing any further.

"Can you at least tell me where we're going now?" Rick groused as he swung his bag over his shoulder and followed Jack into the hallway.

"Sangala. That's where Tony took them. I just got some new information and we need to regroup."

"What kind of new information?"

"I talked to the tail they sent after us."

"You know who sent the tail?"

"No. But whoever it was knows she's not with us and they'll be checking travel logs, airport security cameras; anything to get a lead. That's why this guy didn't try to make a move on us when he realized we were alone; he wanted to see if we would give up her location. We have to get down there and try and figure this whole thing out."

Rick for one second didn't buy what Jack was telling him about not knowing who had sent Mandy, but he didn't care at this point. At this point all he wanted was to be wherever she was. Having thousands of miles between them in this situation hadn't sat well with him since the moment the group parted, and if nothing else at least he could be there to protect her from whatever they had to deal with now…

And Claire still had information for him. Disturbing information from the sounds of it. First chance he got he'd find a fax machine and get Claire to send him whatever it was she had. Then maybe everyone would start talking to him about what was really going on and Tony could explain what the hell he was doing signing off on a status report that had Ben Evans coming off as a victim.

Rick would get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing he did; he'd just have to be patient a little while longer.


WASHINGTON, D.C.

The parking garage was empty and Karen glanced around cautiously, wondering if she should've listened to Bill and brought someone along with her instead of opting to shove a small pistol in the waistband of her skirt. She hadn't been to a firing range in forever and hadn't been in the field in even longer. She didn't know how much she'd trust herself if she had to use a weapon.

Karen scanned what she could see of the surrounding area. There was no one in sight but that didn't mean anything. Her heels clipped purposefully against the concrete as she made her way to the elevator of the parking garage and pressed the button for the upper level. Her palms were clammy, her heart was pounding and she felt nauseous. This wasn't her forte, to say the least. Arguing with politicians – with the President himself sometimes – and spewing out facts to support her position was her forte, but not this. As the elevator doors opened and Karen stared into the blackness she found herself wondering what Alex was doing right now and recalling how sick with worry Bill had been over the last year. She remembered the look on Claire's face and her desire to spend numerous nights with them instead of alone in her apartment. These thoughts served to strengthen her resolve.

In the middle of her reverie Karen heard footsteps behind her and spun around, finding nothing. Her hand went to her skirt, feeling the cool metal of the pistol against her hot palms. She twitched, fighting the urge to run and hide behind the nearest pillar.

And then suddenly a hand wrapped around her mouth from behind, muting her yelp for them to unhand her. She struggled against them and they struggled back, pulling her to the back corner of the garage and away from the entrances.

"Karen…damnit! Ow!" he grunted when her elbow hit him in the ribs.

"Karen stop, it's me! It's Tom... I'll let you go if you promise not to - "

Karen ripped his hand away from her mouth and spun around in disbelief, staring at Tom Lennox. He looked apologetic and scuffed his feet on the ground.

"What the hell are you doing here, Tom? I'm supposed to be - "

"I know. I'm sorry if I hurt you."

Karen scoffed, straightening the lapels of her suit.

"Tom a troop of Girl Scouts has a stronger grip than you. I'm fine. Why the hell did you follow me?"

"I didn't," Tom grumbled, looking mildly offended again. "I'm your contact."

"What?" Karen's eyes widened. "You?"

"Yes, Karen. How do you think I knew what you were doing? How do you think I got the message to you about this meeting?"

She frowned, remembering the small envelope placed on her keyboard that morning. It was a good point; the White House wasn't exactly a place for just anyone to walk in.

"And you've waited until now to tell me this?"

"You were being watched like a hawk. I wanted to make sure I had something solid before I brought you in on it. It's too risky when we don't know who's watching us."

"And do you?" she glared at him. "Do you have something concrete?"

He lifted his head quickly to observe what was around them before digging into his pocket and clasping her hand. She felt the small object placed inside and identified it as a USB before shoving it in her own pocket.

"There's documents on there that talk about some of the…less than legal activities Warrington's been engaged in over the past twenty months. There's nothing that directly ties him to what happened to your niece though. Or any under the table dealings with Brad Hammond."

Karen frowned, biting her lip.

"Warrington's harmful to the President, Karen. I've been trying to get rid of him for years and when I heard what happened with…"

"But what's on here won't help Alex, will it Tom?"

"Not directly, no. Had she not signed the confession maybe, but as far as the United States Government is concerned she committed that murder, regardless of who she was reporting to at the time or what the circumstances were."

Karen nodded slowly, considering this.

"Listen…" Tom leaned in, lowering his voice. "There's an old outpost for Homeland outside of San Francisco and it was suggested to me there might be some more information there. I don't know what exactly or if it will be what you're looking for but…I figured it was worth a shot."

"Tom, why are you doing this?"

He shrugged a little, a smirk forming on his lips.

"You and I may not always agree but I want Warrington implicated in this almost as much as you do. If he did what you said he did…he deserves jail and it doesn't seem right to put him there until we wrap this whole thing up."

The sound of a car on one of the lower levels made them both jump.

"We should get out of here…" Tom touched her arm. "Whatever you do, be careful. I think Warrington's more dangerous than anybody realizes."

Karen barely had time to whisper her quiet thanks before he was gone.


SANGALA, AFRICA

Michelle smiled a little to herself when she felt the tiny mattress shift and a chilled body snuggle up to her side, blond head resting against her shoulder and arm slinging across her waist. It was the end of their third day in Sangala and she still felt drained. The only time she could relax a little bit was at night beside Tony's warmth. He eased her addled nerves better than anything.

"Hey…" she smoothed back some hair.

Alex sighed and closed her eyes. "Is this over yet?" she mumbled rhetorically. For a minute there was no sound except for their slow breathing, and then Alex's fingers brushed against Michelle's lower abdomen. Her blue eyes lifted expectantly to meet Michelle's dark, solemn ones.

"So why don't we have a mini-Almeida running around with untamable hair and a cheerful disposition?"

Michelle grinned "Which one am I?"

"Both. I'm praying to every higher power there is your genes are the dominant ones."

Michelle laughed lightly and nudged Alex a little.

"We tried," she explained quietly. "Nothing happened. There were a few days there where I thought I might be but…"

Alex's hand covered hers and she rubbed gently.

"Have you thought about…y'know…doctors and stuff?"

Michelle bit her lip. "We're…considering. I'm trying to decide if it's worth the time and the money and the hormones. I don't know if I want to go through that just to be disappointed."

Alex listened thoughtfully, not saying anything. Michelle shrugged.

"I'm just worried I waited too long…and maybe this is karma or something."

Alex shifted again.

"You don't have to worry about money. You know that."

"That's yours. You're getting that when you come back."

"Christ Michelle, what the hell am I gonna do with that money?"

"Whatever you want… buy a house; go back to school – "

"And even if I hadn't disappeared, had you told me the same thing you're telling me now…"

She trailed off when she saw Michelle's face.

"I know," Michelle insisted softly. "Maybe I…" she shrugged a little. "I don't know, maybe I just wasn't meant to do the mom-thing."

"Bullshit. If anyone was meant to do anything I wouldn't have sat in an abortion clinic for two hours watching a bunch of teenage girls go into a little back room scared out of their mind. If you want a baby you make it happen. And you'll be a great mom."

Michelle sighed a little. "I don't know about that…" she sounded uneasy. "That's the other thing…what if I'm…y'know…bad at it?"

Alex snorted. "You're not bad at anything."

Michelle rolled her eyes. "Have you tasted my cooking?"

Alex snickered, pulled away slightly and propped herself up on an arm.

"Alright, when you suggested I might be…that day at the gym…the first thing that crossed my mind was how annoying it would be not to be able to run a mile in under seven minutes; the second was how I couldn't stand giving up caffeine for the next x-number of months and the third…" she swallowed the thickness in her throat. "And the third was that it was my damn body and I didn't want something else invading it and telling me what I could or couldn't do. And that, yet again, if I were a guy this wouldn't be happening. If I got some girl pregnant I could still chase down bad guys and go out for a beer with the rest of them after work and be a field agent…not some pregnant person. People get pregnant all the time who don't deserve to be or would make a shitty mother and you are not one of them. The fact that you even care enough to worry about that says you won't be one of them."

Alex finished her tirade, cheeks burning. Michelle pondered her words thoughtfully, sensing the change in the young woman's demeanor instantly.

"What's up?"

Alex shrugged a little and Michelle nudged her.

"Jack went on a mission with my dad apparently," she gulped. "It was the same mission he…when he came back he started…I'm just freaked out and it just kinda put me on edge I guess."

Michelle said nothing, so Alex continued.

"What if that's me?" she bit her lip. "What if I'm the person everybody thinks can handle it and can't…I mean everyone wants to believe they'll be able to push past this kind of thing…but what if I can't?"

"You can."

"You don't know that," Alex breathed. "Maybe I'm wired to…to crash and burn..."

"You're not."

"You can't know that, Michelle. I mean look at what happened in the hotel…"

"I was fine - "

"Because I barely had the strength to stand up and Tony was ten feet away. A few days of rest and I could've snapped your neck before you even knew anything was wrong."

Michelle rolled onto her side and her frown deepened.

"You're still planning to disappear with Jack…"

"I don't see any other options here - "

"Come home." Michelle told her emphatically. "That's an option."

"Not if Palmer doesn't come through."

"He will. And when he does you have to come home. We will work through this how ever you want to work through this but you need to come home. I did it and you can too."

"I'm not like you - "

"You can work through this. I know you can."

Alex sniffled a little but Michelle saw no tears on her face. Slowly she nodded, not sure if she was doing so to placate her friend or not. If Palmer didn't exonerate or pardon her or something she wouldn't have to worry about any of it.

The commotion outside startled both of them upright and Tony poked his head in, the corners of his lips twitching slightly at the sight before him.

"Hey uh…can your girlie stuff wait?" he teased gently. Alex flipped him off with a feigned-scowl.

"What's up?"

"We got company."

Alex stared. "Really?"

"Yeah…just got here. With no permanent damage from the looks of it."

Alex leapt off the mattress, and darted towards the roadway, with Tony and Michelle right behind her.


She skidded to a halt when she found Carl at the trunk of an old, beat up sedan with Jack and Rick beside him. Rick lifted his eyes to meet hers but she couldn't quite place the look on his face. Alex frowned a little. He didn't look upset but he looked…off. Something was wrong.

"You guys are okay?" she asked noncommittally.

"Yeah..." Rick stepped behind her, touching a hand to her hip. He still hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Claire, but that was the first thing on his list now that he saw Alex was in one piece. He'd have to ask their host, Carl, what he used to keep up with all the funding forms he must get for the school every year. He had to have a fax machine somewhere.

"Are you?"

"Yeah…" she bit her lip as his hand brushed against her jean-clad leg. She'd missed having him this close. Abruptly, he pulled away as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

"I'm throwing this inside." He declared, moving towards the sleeping quarters. He paused to see both Tony and Michelle on his way. Michelle got a warm hug, but Tony's greeting was a little...lacking, Alex noted. There was no indication of the gentle ribbing between the two brothers she was used to seeing, and that unnerved her.

The gentle clearing of a throat reminded Alex of who she was left standing with and she turned around.

"I need to talk to you," she informed Jack with a growl. With Rick gone her mind fixated on why she had the right to be angry. Jack inclined his head, indicating that he was listening and followed her towards the house.


"Hey…uh…" Rick caught up to Carl just as he ran up the stairs to the schoolhouse a second time. Tony and Michelle had gone inside and Chase had ducked his head out to say hey before disappearing back to bed. Jack and Alex were nowhere to be seen and now was as good a time as any to get back in touch with Claire. Between the connecting flights and trying to find a mode of ground transportation he hadn't had an opportunity before now. Rick chewed his lip. The sooner he found out what was really going on the better.

"Listen uh…" He'd been introduced to the older man only minutes before when he had first stepped out of the car, but Carl listened with interest. "My office is supposed to be faxing over some paperwork to me. One of the guys I report to has been asking questions…you don't have a fax machine around here, do you?"

Carl observed him for a moment, but nodded.

"I do actually…" he shrugged casually, indicating for Rick to follow him. It was less than ten minutes before he was watching the paper slide through the tray of a fax machine and snatching it up to stare at the signatures he knew only two well at the bottom. As his eyes scanned over the blurred type white hot rage coursed through him and without a second thought he stormed off towards the inside of the residence without another word, the stark white pieces of paper still clenched tightly in his hand.


"What the hell is this!?" Rick roared, feeling more than hearing the blood pounding in his ears. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. What he had read. When Claire had told him she found something…not even in his worse nightmare could he have expected this…He couldn't have imagined Tony was capable of doing something like this to him. To her.

Tony tensed, turning to face his brother and trying to see what he was holding. Behind him Michelle observed the scene, her eyes flooding with worry. Before Tony could answer the door to the building swung open and Alex and Jack stepped inside. Chase came through the other room and poked his head in. Rick stormed across the room towards his brother, the fury apparent in every step he took.

"What the hell is this, Tony - !?"

"Rick…" Alex's voice stayed level but there was a distinct quiver to it. She took a stepped forward but Tony held out a hand to stop her. His jaw shifted to one side and he reached for the paper.

"Lemme see it…" he demanded, clawing at his opposite cheek with his left hand and observing the document with his right. He sighed when he realized the jig was up.

"It's a statement - "

"It's a confession!" Rick blasted, his hand shaking a little. Tony rubbed his brow and nodded slightly.

"Yeah…"

"Who's the witness?" Rick snarled, taking a step closer. Tony flinched, but said nothing.

"Rick, calm down…" It was Jack this time.

"Who's the witness Tony!?"

Tony's eyes lifted briefly in Alex's direction before turning to Rick's. The hand holding the paper dropped to his side in defeat.

"I am - "

The last thing Tony felt before slumping back against a bookshelf was his little brother's fist slamming into his jaw.