00:00, CTU Los Angeles
Alex was looking at the clock in the corner of his screen just as it turned midnight, and an unwanted memory from that day emerged. It was in the parking lot, after Nina had been arrested, and the guard had mentioned Teri's name. The news of her murder had hurt him as much as Nina being revealed as a mole had, and he had to force himself to stop the memory before he felt himself beginning to drown.
Tony, grimacing as he walked with a sprained ankle, walked into the bullpen and towards Alex, who for a moment looked like he was in his own little world. The look on his face suggested that it wasn't a very happy one.
"Alex, how much do you know about what Jack is up to?" Tony asked as he reached Alex's desk, leaning on it to relieve his ankle. Alex, just out of his bad daydream, shrugged.
"I don't know anything about what he's up to," Alex replied mostly truthfully, although it came pretty close to a lie. He knew about Jack's attempts to discredit the recording as a fake, but he had no idea what those attempts are. Tony looked at him sceptically.
"Are you sure? What were you talking to Michelle about earlier?" Tony asked. He was getting annoyed at his colleagues working against him. Whilst it was clear that Alex wasn't actively involved with what Michelle and Jack were doing, he was willing to help them out. Alex looked at Tony and wondered if he should lie or be truthful, he didn't want to lie to his friends but he also didn't want war and if he could help prevent it even in a tiny way, he knew he had to.
"Just work stuff, Tony, she didn't mention Jack at all," Alex lied and he felt a little sick. The look on Tony's face said that he didn't believe him, but Tony didn't seem willing to push it any further. Nodding, he limped away to his office. On the way, he thought about the lie Alex had just told and hoped that it would not be something he would have to get used to.
00:10, Firebombed shop, Los Angeles
The mob had dispersed much to his relief, and as Narinder Singh inspected his damaged store, he was even more relieved to see that the firebombs had been mostly confined to the floor, leaving valuable merchandise unscathed. His wife and children had been woken by the commotion but they had fallen back to sleep, leaving him to feel thankful that the damage was limited to burnt floor tiles and a smashed front door, the latter of which he locked then moved a cooler in front of to cover up the hole. This was not the first instance of mistaken identity or bigotry he had suffered since emigrating to the United States, but he never let the mob minority cloud his view of his adopted country. They wanted nothing but division, hate and violence and he was determined never to back down to them. A small amount of damage to his shop was nothing, because the most important parts of his life were fast asleep in the house.
00:20, CTU Los Angeles
As the man walked into the bullpen, he looked around for someone as if wanting to ask them something. Noticing Alex nearby, he went over and introduced himself.
"Hi, I'm Danny Dessler, Michelle's brother," he spoke. Alex wondered why Danny would be coming to CTU at this time.
"Hi, I'm Agent Alex Myers, are you looking for someone?" Alex asked, assuming that Danny wanted to talk to his sister. Michelle had not said much about her brother, or her family in general, so Alex had no idea whether it was a good idea to let him know where Michelle was or not.
"Yeah, I want to talk to my sister. Or Carrie Turner if she's around," Danny replied. Alex didn't know Carrie very well and as he knew the problems that were evident between the two, decided to call Michelle to let her know her brother was there. It was safer than letting him roam around the building.
"Hi Michelle? Your brother's here, he wants to talk to you," Alex spoke on the phone, Michelle replying that she would be there shortly. Alex could only assume that it was a family matter this late at night, and hoped that nothing bad had happened for Michelle's sake.
On the other end of the phone, Michelle sighed as she put the phone down. Danny being at CTU meant trouble, especially for Carrie, and she hoped that he just wanted to talk.
00:30, Carol O'Neill's house, San Jose
Kim sat up quickly in bed, sweaty and breathing hard. It took her a few moments to calm down and remember where she was, in the almost pitch black guest room of her aunt's house. Her mind had decided to replay the aftermath of the bomb at CTU and the car crash over and over, as if flicking between two channels on an old television set. She wondered about Meghan and hoped the little girl was going to be okay. She wondered about Miguel, making him a promise to help him cope with his new reality. She wondered about her dad, Alex and the rest of CTU, worried about them even after the nuke had been destroyed. She contemplated calling Alex, but decided against doing so.
Lying back down, she closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep, hoping that the nightmare had tired itself out. The day had been long and stressful, but at least it hadn't ended with one of her parents dying. Looking over at the clock, she thought back to the night her mother was murdered - it was one of the worst days of her life and she was still nowhere near over it, even after time and therapy had helped.
It had been difficult to see her dad earlier, when Carla Matheson was still alive and Kim was still looking after Meghan. She loved him dearly, but she couldn't bear to look at or hear him, because all she saw and heard were memories of that day. They both wanted nothing more than to get back to some degree of normality, but it would be a long road to travel.
"I miss you, Mom," she whispered as she fell back to sleep.
00:45, CTU Los Angeles
Michelle sighed quietly as she walked towards her brother. She loved him, of course, but he was prone to outbursts and that was the last thing she needed at that moment in time. As the pair greeted each other, Danny wasted no time in letting his sister know why he was there.
"Michelle, is there anything you can tell me about this bomb that went off in the desert? Are we in any danger?" Danny asked, and Michelle shook her head. She didn't want to just give him nothing and tell him to leave, but there was little she could give him regardless.
"Look, Danny, there's not much I can say, but the danger has passed and all you can do now is go home and get some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow," Michelle replied, hoping both that he would leave and that Carrie Turner wasn't about to appear.
"Siblings are meant to tell each other things, it's not like you can't trust me!" Danny argued, and Alex couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he worked quietly at his desk. He wished that his sister did tell him things, things that could help him understand why.
"Danny, I can't tell you anything more, I'm sorry," Michelle said firmly. She wasn't going to tell him anything no matter how much he pleaded and he looked resigned to being kept in the dark.
"Ok, that's fine, but if there is anything you can let me know, please call me like you said you would?" Danny spoke, to which Michelle nodded. She knew there wasn't likely to be anything she could tell him that he wouldn't get from the news, but if it kept him quiet and got him out of CTU, then it would do what she needed it to.
As Danny headed towards the exit, Michelle walked over to Alex, whose sibling definitely could not be trusted.
"How's Jack doing?" Alex asked her as she reached his desk. He had heard little about what Jack was doing. He kind of felt useless sitting at his desk, but there was little he could do in the field right now and it wasn't like he didn't have work to do.
"He is trying to get to someone who knows more about the recording, but I'm not sure how much time we have," Michelle replied. She knew the military and government were already preparing for an attack, but even if they got the proof, they still needed to get it to the President.
"Tony was asking me about Jack and then you a little while ago, I said I didn't much, but he knew I was lying," Alex told her. He wondered why Tony was so against Jack and Michelle trying to prove that the recording was a fake. Tony, and Carrie for that matter, didn't want war any more than he, Jack or Michelle did, so was it just that they were undermining his position of Director? Michelle nodded, she understood that Alex disliked lying to his friends and was appreciative of him doing so.
"It'll be worth it to stop a war, Alex," she replied. Alex could not agree more. He just hoped that he didn't have to make it a habit.
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