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Jack slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. He instantly recognised he was in a hospital when he saw the sterile white colour everywhere. He continued to search the room slowly when he came across Tony, stood leaning against the wall caught up in the SPORTS newspaper. He peered over the edge of his paper glancing at Jack to see if he'd woke yet and his eyes lit up when he saw he was indeed awake.
"Jack." Said Tony, obviously pleased to see him awake.
It took Jack a few minutes to respond, his head working slowly to complete the requests his brain was ordering. "Hey." He replied slowly.
"How are you feeling?"
"...All right.... how longs ...long... how long have I been in.... been here." He finally managed to get out, he couldn't understand why his words were so slurred and hard to find.
"Well we arrived here Thursday afternoon, and it now 10.30 Saturday. You went straight into surgery, and you have been out so long because they found some internal bleeding through your shoulder, but it's all under control now. Your probably feeling weird 'cos they have pumped a hell of a lot of drugs into you." He said breaking off into a laugh.
Jack managed to muster a smile and said, "So.... I ....is ... Kim here? She's..... is she okay?"
" She's fine she came here in the ambulance with you, I made her go home last night with Michelle as she was exhausted, but she will probably be by later this afternoon."
"Right .....so... I mean ....its.... .shit....." he broke off frustrated that he couldn't get his words out.
"Calm down Jack, your not supposed to be awake yet, just take your time."
Jack took a deep breath, clearly thinking of his words before he said them, "What's happening with CTU, TEARBACK.....the.... I mean.... uh.... Chappelle and... and all that... I'm guess- guessing that I'm under arrest... or or something like... that?"
Tony took a more serious expression and sat down besides him. He didn't know if Jack knew about the president or not, and he knew they were both close, he also knew he had to bring up Kate soon too, he just hoped he didn't anger him too much.
"Well, this is going to be hard Jack okay..?" He waited for Jack's nod before he continued. "All of TEARBACK is dead or under arrest, Marie Warner cracked and gave us Harry Dean's location, last night he revealed all his plans under interrogation, so that organisation is officially destroyed."
"So..." Jack asked, that was the good news, he knew there was worse to come.
"At the house, the house where I found you and Kim, I also found David Palmer. He killed himself Jack....." He watched Jack's expression as he herd the news, trying to read him. He closed his eyes for a second then opened them again, no emotion.
"Are you ... sure it was... a.... a suicide?"
"Yes I was there a few seconds after he shot himself. He had left a letter to you, explaining everything." He stopped briefly to pull out the letter and placed it on the bedside table. "Sorry but I had to give it to Chappelle because he tried to pin it on you. The letter explained everything Jack, suicide was the only option he had, he was knee deep in it, he claimed to be responsible for Kate Warner's death.
Jack spoke, more to himself than Tony, "He was the one.... who ordered the.... my release, that's what.... why he didn't want me after them."
"Um yeah, but everything Chappelle blamed on us two was blown away by this letter put it that way."
"Good." Was all Jack said.
"Um, there's more. Milo was, he was working for TEARBACK."
"What? Milo.... Milo Pressman??" He asked eagerly.
"Yeah, he didn't give us nothing through interrogation so we transferred him over to Guntanamo, he still hasn't broke."
He waited for Jack's response but got none.
"So, everything is cleared up, except I'm suspended for impeding an internal investigation and he is pressing charges against you for assault.
"Ass hole." He said.
"You got that right, but its just petty, I doubt he will gain anything out of it."
Trying to change the subject Jack said, "So how long is ...am... I stuck here for?"
"Um, at least a week, there's your shoulder and they were real worried about your head its bruised badly and swollen more than it should be. It will probably be around 10 days, if you are lucky."
"Great," he replied with a hint of sarcasm.
After a few minutes the two men were clearly bored out of their heads. Jack sighed, "Ten ...days here I think.... I'm going to go ....mad."
"Yep."
The conversation died down and 30 minutes later Tony had read the paper 3 times through and Jack was counting the wall tiles.
"Jack, I think I'm gonna shoot off I'll call Kim to let her know your out and about and I'll probably call in tomorrow or something."
"OK .....see you.. later."
Before leaving Tony turned round smiling knowing Jack was itching to know the results, "You want me to leave you the sports section?" He asked innocently.
Jack began to grin to stop himself from laughing, "Tony ....I though you'd never ask!"
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FINISHED! Please review to tell me what you thought of this, please!