Title: Touchstone
Chapter: 3
Author: Evidence
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes: Thanks to D and the Maple Street crew.
The sound of his name being said from that man's mouth made Jack's stomach twist in a knot. He watched satisfied as restraints were put around the man's arms and legs. There was still an evil glint in his eye but now he looked even more mentally mad. The scars were faded that were once burned on his flesh. His scars were gone while Samantha's were still present: facial scars that plastic surgery had to fix, skin that was never the same on her arm- skin he couldn't bring himself to touch. That bastard had done that to her, had hurt her emotionally and physically. It was all Jack could do not to break down the door, enter the enclosure and kill Franklin Podena with his bare hands.
"Hey!" Danny's voice echoed out into the crowd and Sam turned to see him run over. He gave her a friendly hug and one to Thomas and Shauna as well. "Thank God you guys are alright. When I heard about the courthouse..."
"I know, it was very scary," Samantha replied with a shake of her head.
"The guy was infected with something- normal man don't blow themselves up," Thomas added.
"Maybe an alien disease," Danny replied with humor.
Thomas answered seriously, "It could have been."
"Tommy, can you take me home, please?" Shauna asked her skin white under smoke.
"Once the EMTS give you a clean bill of health."
"I'm fine really, I just want to lie down."
Thomas looked to Sam for guidance. "Um, Shauna have a doctor take a quick look. Okay?" Sam smiled.
Shauna sighed defeated by the Spades. "Okay."
"Here let me bring you over and move you to the front of the line," Danny said with a grin, "I'll just flash my badge." Danny put his arm gently around Shauna and walked her away to the EMT station.
"Are you okay?" Thomas asked the worry set in his face. Samantha had already been in an explosion once before thanks to Franklin Podena.
"I'm fine," Samantha shrugged but gently touched her left arm. She could still see the flash of red, yellow, orange light. She could still feel the pain when she closed her eyes. She could small the burnt flesh when she first woke in the morning. "I hope there aren't too many casualties."
Jack Malone was oblivious to the tragedy and chaos befalling the courthouse. He had been stunned to see Franklin Podena even though somewhere in the recesses of his mind he knew that Podena had been transferred to that facility. He was a mixture of emotions and worries since Hanna had swallowed all those pills. And like a child wanting it's teddy bear, all he wanted was to grasp on to Sam and cry on her shoulder. But for the time being they were once again apart.
Jack finished off his water and strode down the corridor to a meeting he was scheduled to have with Hanna's shrink. Maria was to be there too so he already had a hollow taste in his mouth.
"Ah, Mr., Malone, take a seat," Dr. Fisher, a man about Jack's age but with less hair, greeted him warmly.
"Thank you," Jack sat down next to Maria. "Hi."
"Hello."
"Okay let's begin shall we. Hanna is physically getting better but I'm not sure her emotionally level is on par yet," Dr. Fisher said.
"Jack needs to come home. Isn't that true doctor?" Maria asked giving Jack an icy glare making him wonder why she wanted him to return at all.
"Well…I don't think that would do any good."
Maria's head had turned so quickly Jack wondered if she had experienced whiplash. "What?"
"Hanna is in a delicate state but it's not all do to Jack's leaving. Hanna, we have discovered, has a chemical imbalance. She needs medication."
Should he have felt a weight lift off his shoulders? His actions did not necessary cause his daughter to induce death. But she had the same problem as his mother and Jack realized that this was a problem that would never go away. He tried to keep himself from crying. He wasn't sure he would be able to keep his daughter safe- safe from herself.
Jeffrey Gibbs had caused damage and some general chaos but nothing, nothing like he was going to cause. A smile crossed his lips. His master would be so proud of him. He saw his target, her black hair swaying slightly in the breeze as she left the EMT station. The dark haired man who was with her left her side and in that instant he acted. He quickly walked up and grabbed her elbow.
"I have a gun pointed at your spine. Scream and I'll shoot, got it?"
Shauna McClaine just shook her head. From inside she wished she could communicate as Meg and Charles Wallace had in the Wrinkle in Time Series. To be able to get inside Thomas's head and tell him what was happening. Instead she was pulled away, pulled away from the crowd, pulled away from the man she loved and the father of the baby growing inside her belly.
To be continued…
