------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another 28 hours had passed since Jack was officially placed under house arrest. He was still sat in interrogation 2, after answering the same mind numbing questions over and over again to different people who represented the different government branches who's feathers had been ruffled at some point during the day as a result of his actions.
He was now past caring about his future, his family were all that mattered. They had been sent directly to a safe house after being checked out at a nearby clinic, and everything was fine. After the 24 hour cautionary period had passed Nina Myers had happily escorted them home. It appeared their was no threat present - and their debriefs were completed after Poulson took over. They had been told nothing of Jack, other than that he was being debriefed at C.T.U.
It was Terri and Kim he thought of as he gently slept during a 15 minute break before he had to sign off on his statement. Just 5 minutes into the break and sleep deprivation of over 50 hours won over, despite the gallons of coffee he had drank throughout his interrogation. He knew they would wake him when they needed him - they had earlier, when the same thing had happened.
Tony Almeida walked into the building with a spring in his step. After all, today had to be better than yesterday was. As he sat at his grey computer station in his black office type chair he looked at his phone and saw he had a message, as the small red light was blinking furiously for his attention. As he held the phone to his ear he saw that the voice mail was left just over four hours after he had left work yesterday.
The message played and it was Nina, kindly asking him to tell Jack that their was no threat to Terri nor Kim, and they were now both home safe and sound. After some waffling about Jack which he ignored, she informed him that she was going home, and seen as she had Wednesday off, she wouldn't be returning until Thursday.
Tony deleted the message, slightly concerned that Nina had seemed so worried about Jack - they couldn't be keeping him here for so long surely? Although interested he wasn't too happy about going to see Jack and although he knew it was the last thing on Jack's priority list, he didn't want to get too pally with him by helping him out. Still he knew how much his family meant to the man from his actions yesterday, and he thought that he should at least know they were okay.
Somewhat reluctantly he headed towards the grey interrogation area after crossing over the huge C.T.U logo printed across the floor. As he approached the room he saw that their were two bulky guards outside it, and he began to wonder if Jack had been kept inside this room the entire time since he was arrested. It was unusual but Jack's case was unusual too, and they probably wanted to keep him confined and isolated, until everything was in order.
Both of the guards recognised Tony even though he had no idea who they were. Neither of them protested as he swiped his green access card through the mechanism on the door, before entering the room. He knew that if the guards had caused a fuss or questioned him he would have probably left it, it wasn't as if he owed Jack anything.
As he pushed through the heavy door Tony first locked his eyes on the tape recording equipment set up on a rickety looking trolley next to the shiny metal table. The next thing he took note of was Jack's left wrist, which was handcuffed to the table. 'Real nice,' he thought. 'Isn't having the room guarded enough?' Tony realised that he was starting to pity Jack and he didn't want to. He had already given his statement on the actions he witnessed, and had been fairly defendant of Jack as he believed he didn't have a choice, because of the situation he was put in with his family. He didn't think anything of it he was just telling the truth, but now he didn't want to find himself sympathising with the man.
Ignoring his thoughts he continued observing the room, and he saw that Jack was slumped over the table slightly, but not far enough to block his face from view, as he could clearly make out the tired lines drawn across his face, from what he assumed was lack of sleep. He was still wearing the navy blue shirt he had on when they brought him in the day before. It was obvious that he hadn't slept in over two days, so he chose not to wake him with the news about his family.
Instead he pulled out a pad of post it notes from his pocket and scribbled the news down in blue ink before peeling the yellow square off. He stuck it on the table next to Jack's hand facing him, and quietly left. As he closed the door behind himself he could see George heading his way towards the room with a folder bulging with documents. 'So much for letting him sleep,' Tony though slightly amused.
George greeted with Tony with a pat on the arm and Tony couldn't help but ask why George was dealing with Jack. Not Hammond or Chappelle, or anyone else.
"Well we've all been going at him for a while now, and it seems that he is most co-operative with me for some reason, he wont give Ryan nor Brad an inch. Maybe he thinks that if he's nice he will get my assault charged knocked off the long list of charges against him." He laughed hard, before turning away and going into the room.
"Funny guy," Tony muttered under his breath before he sat back down on his comfy chair. He glanced at his computer screen and quickly focused on the work he needed to do; Jack had already left his mind. Their were other matters he had to concentrate on, and he was not one of them.
George Mason had entered the holding room, and after waking up a disorientated Jack, he left him with over 50 documents to sign. He left the room quickly and headed straight over to the large conference room where all of the 'heads' were waiting. All of the suits were sat around the dark mahogany table waiting patiently whilst brewing coffee. Once Jack had signed off on it all stage one was complete. Then they would review all of the staggering evidence against him, the witness reports and accounts of broken protocall, everything, and come to some sort of conclusion. They had decided earlier that the matter would be decided 'in house,' they didn't want to involve outside authorities, it was all supposed to be kept hush hush, they didn't want to embarrass the agency.
After that the suits had decided was an appropriate amount of time George went back in to see Jack one last time. He had finished signing the documents as the folder was closed and the pen sat neatly on top of it, it was clear he was bored and wanted to leave the room as soon as possible.
As George entered the room he couldn't help but sense some sort of atmosphere change, it was no longer tense, he seemed... relieved. He didn't know why he sensed this, after all he should know that he was far from safe, and as far as George was concerned he was stood at the top of a slippery slope, and the only way was down. He didn't, however, know about the note slipped to Jack from Tony, which was the reason Jack no longer seemed so pressured to hurry things along.
George walked over and sat on the edge of the metal table, one leg resting atop it, the other, which Jack assumed was the one which had housed the tranquilliser dart earlier, dangled in the air before barely touching the floor with the toe of his leather soles.
"I've signed everything in the appropriate places." Jack spoke, too tired to care about how vulnerable he looked. He went to rub the bridge of his nose, a habit of his, but his restrained hand didn't get that far. He looked down at the metal handcuff fastened around it, and then let it drop back down to the table, whilst letting out a small chuckle, he could not adjust to the restraints no matter how long he wore them.
George watched the display feeling a twinge of guilt for Jack and the position he was in. In all truth, he hadn't actively broken protocall, he had no choice with the difficult situation he had been thrown into. There had been no alternative choice for his actions, and he did what he had to do. He cleared his voice before speaking, and he suddenly began to feel uncomfortable.
"Er... thanks, I ... I guess you want to know where we go from here?" He asked, trying to help.
"Yeah that would be good." Jack's voice cold, it held no emotions.
"Well, an agent will take you home. Because of the motives for your actions we have evaluated that you are not a flight risk, so you can go home. Whilst the board reviews your case you are required to continue your work here on a daily basis, on a low level assignment. You will not have a security clearance for this duration, and you will work directly under, and report to Alberta Green, who is Acting Director of C.T.U., until further notice."
As he listened, Jack tried not to sigh - working under Alberta was going to be difficult. George decided that he should explain the unusual procedure which was occurring here, as he was sure Jack would be as confused as he was when he was first informed.
"This is strictly our strategy to keep a fix on you, and is the alternative to an ongoing suspension. Were this case handled by the outside authorities you would spend this period of time in a holding cell whilst some fat deputy sits on his desk slobbering over a box of doughnuts whilst keeping an eye on you... so its not a bad alternative really, at least you can be with your family." He didn't know why he was trying to make his predicament sound appealing; he was stuck with it whether he liked it or not.
"How long will this last?" Jack asked, ignoring his weak attempt of humour.
"For the duration of the review. It could take one week, could take three, we've no idea. It will be ongoing, until the matter is resolved."
"Okay..." Jack broke off to word his next question carefully. "What are the possible outcomes?"
George took a deep breath, he wasn't enjoying the conversation at all. "It will range from a simple suspension or demotion, to jail time where you could be prosecuted as a traitor to your country."
Jack hung his head as he battled with his emotions inside. He knew that the last thing in the world he could be was a traitor. He was a patriot for Christ's sake, couldn't they see that?
George sensed his struggle and tried to change the subject off of the outcome of his case.
"Your car will be tracked at all times, a simple precaution."
"Fine." Jack interrupted, having a hard time controlling his temper, which was growing shorter by the minute.
"You will be expected to come back to C.T.U first thing Monday morning, so I suggest you use the next few days to get some rest."
"Thanks for the tip George." He said bluntly.
"Yeah... anyway, we've got a rookie down in the parking garage ready to take you home, your car will be dropped off later." He then moved over and undid the cuff attaching his wrist to the table, after taking a moment to fish the key from his deep pocket.
"So that's it?" Jack asked, his brain making sure his hand didn't massage his wrist. He wanted to, it was itching after having a metal bar wrapped round it almost 30 hours, but he didn't want to give George the satisfaction of seeing him do so.
"For now yes. See you Monday." He nodded as Jack stepped through the door he had opened for him. He headed straight towards the parking lot, his exhaustion making itself clear to him and his body as he struggled to stay standing up.
He climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. The young man had been informed of Jack's temperament and wisely chose not to make conversation with him. As the car started moving he closed his eyes, happy to he heading home to his family, forgetting about the dark rain cloud which hovered over his future.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So that was the first chapter, please review, please!! Im open to ANY suggestions!!!