Jack slowly woke he felt someone on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw Nina. All the conflicting emotions came rushing. He thought to himself, Bauer she killed your wife how could you be with her. Bauer she saved you from the world you were. Bauer you dog you. She was always one great piece of ars and even more.
He tried to gently move himself away from her, but instead caused himself enough pain that he cried out in pain.
Nina sat up quickly noticing she had fallen asleep. When she heard him cry in pain she thought she had been the one to cause it. "I'm sorry." She looked at him worried. She was surprised by being worried. Everything was getting complicated. She wasn't supposed to feel for him like this, she was suppose to act like she did, but not actually. It was happening all over again, like when she was undercover at CTU. Everything was confusing nothing made sense, and she knew in the end she couldn't have him, not him. Not the Jack she had liked before, he was gone and replaced with the new Jack she helped make slowly. She didn't start right when she captured him no, she started the day she killed Teri.
"It wasn't your fault." He said moving himself further away this time not crying out in pain even though his nerves erupted shooting out messages of pain that quickly rain to the neurons in his brain screaming at him to stop moving, but as always he ignored them and kept moving till he was far enough away that he could climb out of the bed.
"Where are you going?"
"Bathroom." Jack answered slowly walking out of the room.
Nina could tell he was uncomfortable being that close to her and understood his feelings.
As he walked to the bathroom thinking about all he was doing. Could he really be good again. After what the supposed side of "good" did to him. They left him in that place to die or break, and when he did they later punished him for it and than proceeded to break him again. How many times can a man be broken and re-fixed again? Jack thought to himself, At least two times. But he felt no allegiance to anyone, not even himself. Nina killed his wife, and betray him. CTU betray him and aided in the death of his daughter. He betray himself, killed his wife and daughter, and countless other people. So who was he to listen to?
Nina walked into the bathroom where Jack was splashing cold water on his face. She studied him for a second he had not noticed she had walked in yet. She walked up and gently touched his shoulder, "Jack I'm sorry."
"I already said it wasn't your fault." He said irritated by her being there in this moment when he was trying to figure out who or what he was.
She opened her mouth to continue but closed it quickly what was she doing. She left the room quickly and went to the deck of the boat to get away from him. She was loosing her mind slowly. She couldn't care for Jack Bauer nor could he care for her it was to messed up even for the weird world they were caught in now. With that she decided to figure out something. She took out her phone and called her contact.
"hello?"
"It's me. Can you find out something for me even it is pretty classified?"
"Depends." The voice answered back.
"You've heard the rumor about the place they take people to be interrogated right?"
"Of course. I'm sure it exists it's just a matter of finding it."
"If it exists could you see if someone happened to be a visitor recently?"
"I might be able to let me check around I'll get back to you."
"Before you do that check to see how long Jack Bauer was at the county jail in L.A. and who would have been guarding him."
"That's easy. I'll email the information to you in an hour."
The phone line went dead and Nina put the cell phone in her pocket looking out into the ocean.
Jack came above deck a second later walking over to Nina, "Do you have any music or anything? I need to hear anything."
Nina knew Jack's love of music and his habit of having music on whenever he was not at work or working. "All I have are the Blues Travelers." She remembered their weekend in Santa Barbara ended with Jack taking her to a concert where the Blues Travelers were the headliners. She remembered the night so well, it was the first time she actually had felt something for him more than just the information she and trust she could get from him. He was the first person to do something that nice for her in a long time. She rewarded him well that last night she smiled as she remembered it.
Jack frowned at the memory. It brought back the feeling of betrayal and hatred he had for her. Hatred because even after she killed Teri a part of him still yearned for her. And he hated her for doing that to him, and hated himself for having anything but hatred for her. "Someone else must have something else." HE said with a frown on his face.
"I'll ask one of he guys. I'm sure James has something he would love you to hear." She said sarcastically knowing the young man looked up to Jack.
Nina went bellow finding James who was delighted to give her a CD . She knew she could blast the music throughout the boat, but it was finding the right switches to turn on and off. She found them after several attempts and went back above deck. She noticed Jack slightly shacking and said, "I'll go get you a blanket. James gave me a CD he said you might like this song. Be nice."
Send
away for a priceless gift
One not subtle, one not on the list
Send
away for a perfect world
One not simply, so absurd
In these
times of doing what you're told
You keep these feelings, no one
knows
What ever happened to the young man's heart
Swallowed by
pain, as he slowly fell apart.
Nina listened to the lyrics and instantly thought of Jack. She had watched the slow evolution of Jack over the years. She could barely remember the Jack she knew that was happy before that day. Than there was the angry man that replaced him who was fueled purely by hatred of himself and her. His anger and pain consumed him and out of that was born the junkie Jack Bauer, and now the evil Jack Bauer. She wondered how many more times he could change before he went completely berserk.
When
she returned back to the deck she noticed him sitting on the bench.
She put the blanket around him and sat next to him both silently
thinking.
And
I'm staring down the barrel of a 45,
Swimming through the ashes of
another life
No real reason to accept the way things have
changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45
Jack thought about the lyrics himself. It reminded him almost of the night he sat at his house staring at the picture of his dead wife, and dead daughter with him. He didn't recognize the man. He was a complete stranger Jack had let himself change that much and loose himself that much. He had stared down the barrel of his gun many of times since he lost Teri and thought about pulling the trigger and letting the bullet escape.
Send a message to the unborn childKeep your eyes open for a while
In a box high up on the shelf, left for you, no one else
There's a piece of a puzzle known as life
Wrapped in guilt, sealed up tight
What ever happened to the young man's heart
Swallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart
Nina
started to slightly shake herself the cold sea air blowing on them.
Jack noticed this and thought about offering her some of the blanket.
He looked at her and felt it all over again the loving her and
hating her that just tore at his heart. "Come here." He said
pulling her in with his good arm. They sat on the bench together
watching the sunrise.
Everyone's
pointing their fingers
Always condemning me
And nobody knows
what I believe
I believe
There cozy time together was interrupted when Nina's cell phone rang. She got up and walked away assuming it was her contact.
Jack noticed this movement and felt worried. She had not done this before if they had been in a room together and she got a phone call she always answered it there. He got up and went bellow deck. As he was walking back to the room James was walking past not paying attention and accidentally bumped into Jack, who grunted in pain as he closed his eyes.
"I'm so sorry Jack. Are you ok?"
"Yeah it's fine kid." Jack said patting him on the back with his good arm hiding the obvious pain he felt.
"Did you like the CD?"
"It was good Kid. Nice music taste you have there."
"You want me to burn you a copy?"
"Sure Kid." Jack said. "Wake me when he get to Mexico ok."
"Yes sir." James said excited that he had pleased Jack forgetting about his stupid incident in the hallway.
Jack went back to the room and lay on the bed to rest a little all the moving getting to his sore body. He closed his eyes and tried to shut off the ever present debate in his mind. He heard someone walking down the hallway, but he didn't feel like sitting up. He heard the door open and felt her eyes on him. He knew it was her, but he still did not want to open his eyes.
Nina knew he was awake she called to him, "Jack."
"Yeah." He answered still not opening his eyes.
"Just wanted to make sure you were ok." She said leaving the room to let him rest.
Jack opened his eyes after she left. He was tired still, even after all the sleep he had. He decided to take a shower. He went to find Nina he didn't have any clothes. He found her talking to Steven. Jack listened quietly.
"He wasn't at the jail. Someone wanted to make it look that way. My source said he was brought in about twenty minutes before he escaped." Nina whispered to Steven.
"Yes but how did he get so messed up than? He wouldn't do that to himself, and there is no way he would have helped you get into CTU and take a shot like he did just to stay undercover. You know him best do you think he would go this far?"
"Not this far. Shooting yes, but willing to give us files at CTU like that no. And they would have had to set up a complete different network to give us false files. I don't know what's going on, but I don't trust him."
"So what do you want me to do?" Steven asked.
"Just watch him. See if you see anything different going on." Nina said knowing something was wrong she just couldn't put her finger on it.
