Los Angeles, California
Two Days Later
"The truth is that things aren't as easy as they've been made out to be." I sat straight-backed in the conference room, delivering my final debriefing on the London mission to Jack with Mason lurking in the corner. "You sent an untested agent to captain a field team on the most dangerous of missions, the stakes were high and frequently unpredictable, and the outcome is half luck and half skill at that." I knew he was watching me interestingly. "But we did what we had to do."
"I know," Jack said. "It's all in your report. The one you and Tony co-authored, that you both signed and verified, remember?"
I nodded. "Not everything's in the report, Jack."
Then I began to fill in the blanks, thinking back as if it were yesterday – because it was that close:
****
*I could say that's the way it goes
And I could pretend and you won't know
That I was lying*
"… for us, it's the unknown."
I was supposed to be reading my new Division manual, but I laughed out loud nonetheless. Jack Davenport just has this way of delivering perfectly. Since I'd met him I'd only realized more how on target it was.
There was a knock at the door. I checked my watch. 2:08 A.M. I'd only been in the new Agency bankrolled apartment a day now, so I was trying to keep weird things from happening. Making sure Leticia hadn't been disturbed, I went to answer the door and found Weiss standing there.
"Any reason why you're here at 2 A.M.?" I inquired.
"You didn't call me? About a spider?" he asked me.
"Um, no."
"Okay." He exhaled. "Why would I have a dream that you phoned about a spider?"
"Wouldn't know."
We exchanged a 'whatever' glance, then he said, "While I'm here … there's this Agency thing next week, and I need a date …"
"…And you want me to ask Leticia for you."
"Actually, she has a date. She's going with Vaughn. I wanted to know if you'd go with me."
I hesitated, thinking I was on an acid trip. "Does this involve formal wear and finger food?"
"No."
"Okay, then I'm in." I smiled. "Go home and get your head checked."
I shut the door, then looked at my television screen where Jack was still going on about remotes and spare batteries and whatever. We shared a smile, or I pretended we did. "You're right, Jack," I said, "the unknown can be a very crazy place."
****
*Not a word was said
And I saw you walk across the road
For maybe the last time, I don't know*
Leticia and I were still kind of in awe of the apartment. No, once our desire had been known, Jack and the team wouldn't settle for just some tiny place in San Marcos. They had to do it right, and right they had done. We sat on the couch my mother had given me eating dinner and watching some movie with Will Patton in it, don't ask me which one.
"How are you holding up?" she asked me, poking at once-frozen lasagna.
"I'm all right," I said, able now to say this confidently. "It was hard, but … it's okay now."
Pause.
"Are you staying on?" I asked her. "With the Agency?"
"Are you staying with CTU?"
"Yeah." I exhaled. "I'm not ready, but I will be."
"Then so am I." As I turned to look at the clock, she was looking at me. "Where'd you get that bruise?"
I looked. "Probably London," I said, then excused myself to check it out in the bathroom light. She was right. There was a decent bruise on my shoulder. And it was from London. But I remembered from where. It wasn't from Nina, not as she and everyone else would've probably supposed. Michael had accidentally given it to me. He'd hauled me off so hard that I had hit a table, and now this.
Standing there looking myself in the mirror, I closed my eyes for a moment and let the emotions pass through me.
*Feeling humble
I'll walk away and you won't know
That I'll be crying*
****
*'Cause I can't stop loving you
No, I can't stop loving you
No, I won't stop loving you
Why should I?*
Lex and I sat back at our workstations again, taking care of business that had accrued for us while we were gone. Okay, he was watching me replace the one photo of Jack Davenport with the autographed picture of me and Jack Davenport that Leticia had taken at the Coupling taping. There were others of me and the other members of the cast, like somewhere there was one with me, Leticia, Jack and Sarah Alexander, but as you know, this was the one that mattered.
"Really worth it, huh?" he joked.
"Oh, yeah." I swiveled in my chair, grinning. "You bet it was."
"Speaking of guys named Jack, so what did you tell Jack in your report?" he asked me, switching gears abruptly. "You said you were going to like, make some recommendations, didn't you? On the plane, I mean."
I nodded. "I recommended that I undergo full Agency training before being considered for more missions. I'm asking to see an anger management counselor, I know we've got one. I'm also asking for a different schedule. I'm thinking Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I'll take on full shifts. Ten in the morning to say, seven at night. Something like that."
"So I have to put up with you more?" he quipped, but he was smirking. "It'll be good to have you around."
"Glad to hear you think that way."
He just laughed. "You want to go get some coffee?"
The two of us got up and headed for the break room. He held open the break room door for me, saying, "You know I'll always be here, right?" As partners go, there's nobody else in CTU I'd want at my side on a daily basis than Lex Richards. And that includes Jack Davenport. We'll be partners until they drag our corpses out of the building.
*I'll always be here by your side
I never wanted to say goodbye
I'll always be here if you change
Change your mind*
****
*I could say everything's all right
And I could pretend and say goodbye
But that would be lying*
Beggars Banquet was just as engrossing as all the other Ian Rankin novels before it. Given that it was Ian Rankin, I was not surprised, rather my usual blend of thrilled and delighted. I had plucked it out of my suitcase straight off and taken it into my new bedroom to read to the sound of Tony Head's CD and hadn't put it down since. But then the phone rang, so I dropped the book and grabbed the handset.
"I'm guessing you made it home all right," said a familiar voice.
"Michael!" I exclaimed, unable to hide the surge of positive feelings in my heart.
He chuckled, then paused. "I've been waiting a long time to talk to you again."
"It hasn't been that long."
"It feels like it has," he said. "I wanted to give you time … but something got the better of me."
And as I listened to his voice, I wondered if he knew what I was feeling. I knew, that moment, we must have felt the exact same thing. Something neither of us had ever felt before.
*'Cause I can't stop loving you
No, I can't stop loving you
No, I won't stop loving you
Why should I?*
****
Everything said and done, I circled the table on my way out the door. No reason to let it go on.
Jack Bauer extended his hand to me as we intersected, and I took it. There was a smile full of pride and faith and everything I had worked for on his face. "You're getting that promotion I promised you," he said. "Welcome home."
I just smiled back. "I'm earning it," I told him firmly, then turned and headed out, pushing the door open out into a bullpen already busy with the next day's activity, always moving forward, always pushing for a better outcome than the one before.
I caught the door with my hand as it came backward at me, then shut it gently and walked on, back to Lex, back to work, on to whatever the world might have me do next.
Okay, maybe there was a reason to go on a little longer. And I was willing to bet I would learn of reasons I didn't know yet. That's how life goes.
End.
****
Acknowledgements:
First I have to thank the people who created these universes and the characters I borrowed from them: Joel Surnow & Robert Cochran, J.J. Abrams, Michael Frost Beckner, Joe Aherne and John Sacret Young. Without them, of course, there's no story. The musicians who made great music I used herein (see below) too. But I really have to thank the actors, who gave these great characters soul that endeared them to me and made me want to use them. Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer), Carlos Bernard (Tony Almeida), Sarah Clarke (Nina Myers), Michael Vartan (Michael Vaughn), Greg Grunberg (Eric Weiss), Richard Speight Jr. (Lex), Anthony Head (Oliver Sampson), Idris Elba (Vaughan Rice), and of course my personal hero, Jack Davenport (Michael Colefield). This work is as much theirs as it is mine. And of course, Tisha – no explanation necessary.
Music List:
Part 3: "Goodbye To You" by Michelle Branch.
Part 6: "Taking Over Me" by Evanescence.
Part 7: "When It All Falls Down" by The Calling.
Part 8: "Count On Me (Somebody)" by Tonic (implied).
Part 9: "No Man's Woman" by Sinead O'Connor.
Part 10: "Going Under" by Evanescence.
Part 11: "Broken" by 12 Stones.
Part 12: "Honest" by Kendall Payne.
Part 13: "Touched" by VAST.
Part 14: "It's Over, It's Under" by Dollshead; "Moments Like This" by Allison Krauss.
Part 15: "Can't Stop Loving You" by Phil Collins.