Chapter 11

The following takes place between 10:04am and 10:35am PST, 6 months after the assassination of Omar Hassan.

Jack's head was pounding. Artificial yellow flooded into his vision, causing his eyes to sting. Slowly, he blinked. Each blink felt like sandpaper was rubbing against his he was, there sure seemed to be a lot of light. It pained him, as if his muscles were out of practice. His body felt heavy. His hearing, foggy. He could hear faint beeping. Muffled chatter. Eventually, he began to comprehend the objects in his field of vision. A television set mounted on the wall. An IV drip. A window. An empty chair. A chair with a person in it. A person. Female. Blonde. Familiar features. Scratch that. Definitely familiar features. Crying. She was crying. But her mouth was curled like a smile. She held one of his hands in both of hers.

"Daddy…" She whispered, sounding relieved, kissing his hand.

Things came back to his mind faster now. He started remembering certain details. His name. The name of his daughter, who he figured out was the woman in front of him. His other family members. His friends. He wondered where they were.

"Kim…" He weakly formed the shape of her name with his mouth. Jack's throat was dry.

"You did it…you woke up…they've been trying for days, but you kept passing out again." Kim spoke, her voice full of gratitude.

He tried to move, to sit up, but his entire body felt like an unresponsive sacks of potatoes.

Worriedly, Kim rested a hand on his stomach. "No, no…don't try to move yet."

Jack didn't like this. He didn't like having such little authority over his body. After China, the right to his body was something he vowed to never take for granted again.

"Let me try to explain...I'll catch you up on everything." She sighed, still overcome with emotion.

Weakly, he nodded.

"You've been in a coma for six months. When…when you got shot…in New York, the bullet had gone into your back. They were worried it would damage your spine. And they were worried if they tried to remove it then, your body wouldn't respond well to the treatment. With everything you went through in China…" She sniffled. "They thought your body would spasm and reject the treatment, and make it worse. So they airlifted you to Cedars…and decided if they worked slowly over a longer period of time, your body would have a better chance of healing."

Again, memories flashed into Jack's mind. He remembered a dim apartment. A dark sky illuminated only by the lights of NYC. A dead man covered in blood. An important man. Someone who was supposed to be protected. A woman was with him. Red hair. Green eyes. His heart grew warm at the thought of this woman. He wondered where she was right now. When he tried to think beyond that point, things went hazy.

She gave him time to process, bit by bit. Kim didn't know how much he remembered, how long it would take for his mind to comprehend what she was saying. "The good thing is…it was a success. Your muscles are weakened, you'll need to get used to being on your feet again…but all the nerve damage is gone, they got the bullet out without your body reacting badly. They even fixed some of the injuries you've probably had since China."

A small smile formed across his face. Although he certainly didn't feel like the optimal figure of health right now, he knew that soon enough, he would be.

"So I guess the next thing is for me to tell you about what everyone's been doing. The doctors didn't want you too surrounded, they insisted immediate family only." Despite still regaining his consciousness, he could tell Kim was hesitating. As if something she was going to say next wouldn't be as pleasant. "Starting with me I guess…I'm fine, Stephen's fine, he actually works here, so that meant I could see you whenever I wanted." Kim laughed softly. "I took Teri a few times, I just told her you were asleep. Started calling you 'grandpa sleepyhead'." Pursing her lips, she attempted to recall all the key events that had happened within the past six months. "Oh!" She took one of his hands and moved it to her stomach. "And I'm pregnant again. A boy this time."

The smile across Jack's face widened as he felt the warmth of her expanded abdomen.

"I'm glad you won't be missing this one." She grinned, blocking out her guilt over pushing him away, such that he wasn't around for Teri's birth. "Who's next, uh…"

Again, Jack could detect something reluctant in her facial expressions. Her body language. Her voice. As if she were trying to avoid sharing a certain piece of information. A piece of information that would be upsetting. The likelihood that everything Kim had to say would be all sunshine and rainbows was small, he realised, pessimism aside. After all, Jack knew better than anyone that a lot of things could happen in a day, let alone six months.

"Tony and Michelle are good…Christina will be at school soon. The business is going well. They'll probably be here tomorrow to see you."

Faint images came into his head. But again, at hearing their names, Jack felt a pang of benevolence. As though the people associated with those names were also incredibly important to him. People he loved and cared for very much. Still, the woman with red hair hadn't left his mind. His memory of her had increased its clarity. The pattern of freckles on her face. Her smile. Her laugh. Her voice…

"R-Renee." He choked out in realisation. As air made contact with his throat, the dry sensation intensified, causing him to cough a little.

Kim's mouth formed a thin line. This was it. This was the bad news she didn't want to tell him. Again, she held his left hand in hers, although he suspected this time it was to brace him, not to reassure him. "I'm so sorry…" She wiped a tear from her eyes, before quickly moving to keep her grip on him. "After….after you went to the hospital…Renee went after the man that shot you. He was sent by a guy from that Russian gang she was undercover with. The guy was in association with people from the Russian government. When she found out…she…she was so upset." Kim paused, her heart breaking as Jack's expression, despite the muscles in his face being limited, still managed to convey so much despair. "Renee got into the residence of one of them, Chloe helped her. Y-you have to understand, things didn't look that good for you at the time." Now a woman with straight, dark hair popped into his mind. Again, someone he vaguely recalled to be important to him. "She had a gun…she killed the guys from the Russian mob, she killed the guys with him, she just kept shooting. But this guy…obviously the connections he had were important." Jack knew how the story was going to end. But that didn't make it any easier when the words fell out of her mouth with a cry. "The president of Russia was there…his bodyguards took her out. T-they killed her."

A tear rolled down Jack's cheek. He still had so many questions. But now his heart felt heavy. Sombre. He wished there had been some way for him to tell Renee at the time that he was going to pull through. That she didn't have to go that far. That revenge wasn't necessary.

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm sorry Dad, I know you loved her."

Jack still saw her expression waver, as if she wasn't finished with the bad news. He hated to think he could feel any worse than he did at this moment.

"And…Chloe was arrested after that, she's…she's in prison, Dad." This shocked Jack more than anything. While all the details about Chloe as a person hadn't come back to him yet, something about hearing the dichotomy of those two words, 'Chloe', and 'prison' shook him. Like 'day' and 'night'. Or 'right' and 'wrong'. "Th-they're going to appeal though. We've all been working with her attorney. There's evidence that President Taylor was involved. We think that's another part of why she stepped down."

His expression became even more surprised.

"Oh yeah…she's not president anymore. Hayworth's taken over."

He exhaled gently. He wasn't sure how much more news he could take.

"But other than that?" Even if there was more to say, she didn't think her father was in the right frame of mind to process it. "I-I'm just glad you're okay. I love you so much."

While he returned her adoration with a smile, the sadness in his eyes didn't fade.

—

The following takes place between 11:32am and 11:58am PST, 6 months, 4 days after the assassination of Omar Hassan.

Papers and legal books were strewn everywhere. The faint aroma of coffee wafted from the kitchen. Fingers on keyboards clicked away. Pens scribbled against paper. There was work to be done. Chloe O'Brian's appeal, the only hope she would possibly have of not spending the rest of her life in prison was in a matter of days. Jack sat at one end of Michelle and Tony's kitchen table, still in his wheelchair, but stubbornly trying to accustom to standing for long periods of time again. At the other end sat Theodora Gamble, one of NYC's best attorneys who'd accumulated a humiliating quantity of frequent flyer points travelling between NYC and LA over the past half-year. Former CIA herself, she had decided to pursue her legal career after having to testify as a character witness to justify so many of her colleague's actions. The perfect attorney for a (former) CTU agent arrested for being an accessory to assassination. But even though Renee's main intention was to kill Vladimir, the timing of her presence with Suvarov's made that story seem much less plausible. It also didn't help that Renee was dead and unable to testify on her behalf.

"How could she have gotten arrested so fast, I mean, one day after it all happened?" Jack was still learning the facts of the case, more and more shocked by the depth of conspiracy between the American, Kamistanian, and Russian governments. It gave him a chilling sense of déjà vu. Even after so many staff changes, he was disgusted at the small amount of time it took for corruption to build up once again.

Tony sighed. "I think they just wanted someone to blame quickly. There was enough media attention going around CTU with Hassan's death as it was. And without you or Renee in the picture, it was easy to just pin it all on the colleague of the two crazy agents."

"And nobody came to testify? Even if they didn't see anything, as a character witness?"

Michelle bit her lip. "Of course we tried to get down there, but all the flights to NYC were blocked at the time." Jack noted this was likely due to the nuclear rods. "She'd only been working in New York for a couple of months, so I don't think anybody would have had enough leverage to make an impact, and as sad as it seems, I don't think anybody wanted to. I mean, Chloe's never been one for water-cooler chit-chat."

"Even Cole?" Jack had developed a certain level of respect for the young agent over the course of the day.

Theodora tilted her head. "As in Ortiz? He was arrested for double homicide that day."

He was taken aback. "What?"

The attorney shrugged. "Guy insists he was set up by Dana Walsh, but there was no evidence to the fact."

"Look, we're getting sidetracked. The point is, Chloe had no one to vouch for her, and the court just assigned a fresh-out-of-law-school attorney with barely any experience in petty theft let alone assassination charges." Tony raised an eyebrow. "Of course, she wasn't exactly the most cooperative client either. So yeah, you can see how it all unfolded so quickly. Although the good thing was that she exercised her Fifth Amendment right, so she didn't say anything to further incriminate herself."

Jack tutted. "It's blatant injustice."

Tony sighed again. "I know."

Jack turned his attention to Theodora. "So you guys have been working on this for months and still don't have a solid theory on how to get her acquitted?"

She met his piercing gaze with her own. Theodora knew full well that Jack was still trying to judge her character. But she also knew full well who this man was and what he stood for. Her grey eyes did not break contact with him as she spoke. "Initially the appeal was supposed to be two months later. We postponed it because we knew you'd testify when you woke up. We were waiting for you, Jack. You know more about what happened that day than anybody else ."

He shook his head. "All I can tell you is about the rods and Red Square. But even if we connect the murdered officials to the rods, by then they'd already been secured, we can't justify her actions by making it part of that."

"Look…Jack." Michelle's voice was sympathetic. "I know you don't want to paint Renee as some kind of crazed lover, but you have to admit what she did was wrong. And we may have to use that so we can get Chloe off the hook."

"I'm not saying it wasn't." Jack's voice became gruff. "But she was an FBI agent, she devoted her life to her job, even after the Blackwater conspiracy, she doesn't deserve to have her legacy tarnished."

Theodora's voice softened. "We'll try to avoid bringing it up, I mean that's the whole point of our argument, Chloe's on trial here, not Renee."

Jack gave a slight nod. "Tell me more about Taylor. Surely there's something there we can use."

"Well, right as she was about to sign the peace treaty, she suddenly stepped away and admitted there had been conspiracy involved. A little impeachment and admission later, apparently the Russians weren't going to sign because they didn't believe Dalia Hassan was a suitable replacement for Omar. So she contacted Charles Logan, since he was on good terms with their cabinet, which I should mention is only due to his ex-wife…" Her trailing was cut off by Jack choking on his water.

"You're telling me Logan was involved? Why don't we get him to testify? Buy him a yacht for all I care, if he can say something that'll get Chloe acquitted…what?" His voice escalated before realising everybody had taken a sudden interest in the hardwood floor beneath them.

"Charles Logan is dead." said Tony.

The lines on Jack's forehead became prominent.

"Well. Brain-dead."

"He tried to kill himself when Taylor found out the way he brought the Russians back to the table was by blackmailing them." Theodora elaborated. "Turns out they were also involved in Hassan's assassination. But the good thing is, since the impeachment's over, Ethan Kanin and Tim Woods are willing to come forward, that'll definitely help improve Chloe's character profile."

Jack indicated his approval whilst mulling over the new information. "Why don't we say Renee had some kind of hunch that the Russians were involved, and didn't want to say anything to CTU in case they had been compromised via the government? That way we can say she only tried to confront them, but then shot at them in self-defence. Think about it, how many times have we saved my ass by emphasising that my hunch was right?"

"Yeah Jack, because your hunches never put anybody else's ass on the line." Tony deadpanned.

His friend squinted at him, before promptly ditching a pen at his face. Michelle rolled her eyes.

"Okay, but that's not actually a bad theory. If we go with the idea that Renee, who had been put on the temporary roster for the day and therefore counts as a law enforcement employee, believed CTU had been infiltrated, then that would explain why she didn't tell Chloe any details, and we can bring the charges down to entrapment. If that's all she gets charged with, I can easily make sure she doesn't get jail time." Theodora bit the inside of her lip. "Although she might be barred from any future government work."

Collectively, they saw eye to eye. It wasn't arguing that Chloe had done no wrong, such that Theodora just looked like another scumbag attorney. It also didn't completely sell out Renee, since although she was going to get revenge on Jack, these particular Russians had been just as culpable in the terrorist attacks that had happened earlier. It was honest. Or at least honest enough.

And for the first time in those six months, they felt like Chloe O'Brian had a fighting chance.