OK guys, here is the third chapter. After this there will be one more, at least for now. Thank you for reviews, I hope you keep reading & reviewing!
Also, I have some other J/N fanfic lounging around in my computer, I'm considering posting some of them. They're very AU - well, I guess everything to do with Nina sort of is...Please let me know if you'd like me to post them - I'm still new at this and unsure if people like my writing...Thanks!
On with the story...
"So do you care to tell me who this guy is, Nina?"
Chris Myers turned from the window and looked at his sister, perched against the pillows on her hospital bed, staring intently at the opposite wall, as she always did when deep in thoughts.
"Nina?"
"Huh?" She turned her eyes to her brother and frowned. "Sorry, did you say something?"
Chris rolled his eyes. "I asked who Jack is."
"He's my boss at CTU."
"That's all?"
"Yes. That's all."
Chris walked to the bed and sat down on the end, as Nina moved her legs out of the way.
"Mum said he was your lover."
Nina's eyes flashed at his direction, angry, like always when somebody talked about her behind her back. "Did she now?"
"Is it true?"
She sighed. "What does it matter? I'm not a child, Chris; I can take care of myself."
"I know." His voice softened. "I just…we don't meet often and I…I don't know much about my sister's life."
Nina smiled briefly. "Well, same here."
"So, do you want to bring me up to date?"
"Fine." Nina shook her head a little. "If it will get you off my back. We were together, for a while, but he went back to his wife a few months ago. Right now we're just friends. I hope."
"And conveniently his wife is out of the picture now. As is your boyfriend."
Nina threw her brother a disgusted look and got up. "She was just murdered, for God's sake, by the said boyfriend! You can't honestly think he, or I, would…" She shook her head. "You're being ridiculous."
His eyes followed her walk to the window. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about it."
Nina was quiet; she didn't know what to say. The truth was that thought had crossed her mind but she had immediately pushed it out, angry at herself. Jack was absolutely devastated at Teri's death, she had seen it yesterday. For her to think about something like that was utterly disrespectful and stupid.
"I'm going to be there for Jack now, as much as he needs me and he will hopefully be there for me as well. That is all. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone."
Chris got up and walked to her. "I'm sorry, Nina. I didn't mean to upset you; it's completely normal if you thought about that. It's obvious he means a lot to you."
She rubbed her forehead. "Chris, please…"
"I'm going." He pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry."
"It's OK", she mumbled into his shoulder. "I'm just tired."
He pulled back to see her face. "You should go home."
"I can't, it's…" her words were interrupted by a knock on the door and Jack peeking in. "Sorry, I'll come back later."
"No, come in. I don't think you've met Chris, my brother. Chris, Jack Bauer."
The two men shook hands, Chris's expression still a bit vary and reserved. "Nice to meet you. I'll be back later, Nina."
She nodded; wrapping her arms around her body and watching him walk out of the room. Jack turned his attention to her.
"How are you?"
At a glance, she looked a little bit better than yesterday but still far away from the Nina he remembered. "I'm glad to see you're up."
A smile crossed her mouth. "I was just pissed at Chris for something. That drove me out of bed."
"Must have been serious." He watched her walk back to the bed and sit down. "Do you want to talk about it?"
She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. How are things with you and Kim?"
Jack shrugged. "Well, Teri's still dead, Kim's still not back to school or even out of bed really and I'm not sure what the hell I'm doing to be honest."
"What do you mean?" She shivered, not from cold but the look in his eyes.
"I don't really know what to do now", he laughed shortly. "I don't know if I should go back to work, if I should sell the house, or what."
"I don't think you're expected to know that yet", she sighed. "It's only been a few days."
He frowned. "It's been nearly two weeks."
"Has it?" She resumed staring at the wall. "I hadn't noticed."
Jack watched her, getting more and more worried. "I want to take you home. I heard Chris talking about it before I came in, he was right."
Nina shook her head. "I don't want to go."
"You hate hospitals, remember?" He smiled softly, recalling an incident a couple of years ago that had forced her to be admitted for a few stitches; it had been a nightmare for both her and the doctors and nurses. "I don't understand why you don't want to leave."
"The last couple of weeks…Tony stayed with me a lot", she said quietly. "Some of his stuff is there, and all the memories…I can't."
He could have hit himself on the head; of course she'd be reluctant. "I'm sorry, Nina, I didn't think."
She smiled softly. "I guess it's the same for you. Except that she's dead and he's not."
"He's as good as dead", he said, steel in his voice. "After what he did…I'd love to consider him to be dead but…"
Something in his voice drew her attention. "Jack?"
He shook his head and walked to the window.
"Please don't do anything stupid." Her voice was small and he turned back, taking a deep breath.
"He killed my wife, Nina. He took Kim's mother away at the age when she needs her most. I can't just forgive that."
"He'll be punished; he'll get life, if not capital punishment. It's not like he's going to walk away from this. I understand you want to revenge Teri's death bur it's…don't scoop to his level, Jack. Don't risk it. Kim needs you, I need you."
He looked at her. "Do you? Nina, who never needs anyone? Nina who would rather die than admit she needed someone?"
She cast her eyes down. "That was before."
"What's changed?" He walked to sit next to her. "Even when we were dating you never let me in; you never told me what you were thinking or feeling. I don't really know anything about you, expect for the facts I've learned from your family over the last couple of days."
"I know." She wrapped her arms around herself again. "What do you want to know?"
"It's not about wanting to know things, Nina; it's about you trusting me enough to be open about your life and your past. I don't really need to know how you feel about…cloning people or whatever, but I do want to know what's happened in your past to make you so closed about things. It can't be your parents, from what I've seen they're not been anything but nice."
"It's not them." She moved a bit further from him. "I don't want to talk about it now."
"OK." He sighed. "I still want to get you out of here, though, so I don't really see any other option. You'll have to come home with me."
Her eyes flashed at him. "Don't be stupid, Jack."
"Well, what else is there? You don't want to go back to your apartment, and there's not enough time to buy a new one right now. Nina, come on, it's the best option."
"Kim wouldn't like it", she defiantly said.
"It might do her good, actually. She's not talking to me, but your mother managed to get her to talk a little about how she's feeling; maybe your presence would help her."
"I'm not a psychiatrist…"
"She doesn't need psychiatrists!" Jack was getting annoyed now. "She just needs a friend and I can't be that right now because she blames me for letting her mother die."
Nina's mouth fell open. "What?"
He rubbed his face. "She feels like I should have been more protective of Teri and then this wouldn't have happened."
"You couldn't have been, Jack, you had to go after the Drazens. Doesn't she know that?"
"I don't think she really understands or even knows everything that went on that day. She went through so much with the kidnappings and now her mother's death…I really don't know how she'll pull through this. I don't know how I'll pull through this. We need each other's help now, Nina. Please."
She hesitated a little more.
"OK, but on two conditions. You make sure Kim is absolutely fine with it and I'll only stay until I find a new apartment."
He nodded. "That's fine."
"All right then." Nina sighed; she wasn't completely comfortable with this but had to admit it was the only solution.
"In the meantime, I spoke to your parents; they're staying at the Hilton; you should go with them tonight, while I'll talk to Kim. I don't want you to stay here any longer. Your doctor is bringing your discharge papers around in a minute, you're good to go."
"You planned everything beforehand, didn't you?" She shook her head. "What if I had said no?"
"I know you wouldn't. You're sensible enough."
"Thank you", she mockingly said, as the doctor walked into the room.
"Jack, if you wouldn't mind waiting outside: I want to check Nina one more time and talk about her aftercare, OK?"
"Sure." He got up. "I'll go find your parents."
Nina's parents were happy with the thought of her staying at Jack's temporarily, her brother wasn't, which she had known to expect. Chris had always been very protective of her and she had made the mistake of telling him how much her break-up with Jack had hurt her; Chris was convinced now nothing good would come out of the new living arrangement.
"It's the best solution for everyone, Chris", their mother pointed out as the rental car left the hospital parking lot and headed towards the Hilton, driven by Paul. "Nina and Jack will help each other and she can help Kim; another woman in the house will make it easier for her to talk about her loss."
"That's true", Paul agreed. "Besides, there's no way Nina could go back to her old apartment; we'll go and bring your things over and I already talked to a real estate agent about selling it, sweetheart."
"Thanks, Dad." She sighed; she had really liked that apartment, it was on a good area and had a lot of space. She had bought it six years ago, after getting a job at the division before CTU, but she wanted nothing to do with it any longer. She didn't care what they did with her things, even less what they did with Tony's; she didn't want anything except for her clothes.
Her father moved his luggage into Chris's room, leaving Nina share a room with her mother. She smiled at that; the last time she had been together with her whole family, away from home had been so many years ago, she had been around ten years old. She only wished the circumstances had been a little bit better for it now.
"Come on, sweetheart; let's take a walk on the beach." Christina dragged her reluctant daughter out of the hotel after the men had left to get her things from the apartment and she had made sure Nina wasn't hungry or thirsty or in pain. Her physical therapist had devised a program for her, including two weekly visits and a series of exercises for her to complete on her own. Her arm was a little bit stiff and moving it hurt, especially if it had been immobile for a longer time, but she was hoping it would be back to normal soon and at least it was her left arm.
"Are you going to start acting like a shrink now?" She quietly asked her mother, as they walked along the Santa Monica Pier, full with roller skaters and sun worshippers everywhere. Christina smiled.
"I'm not allowed to do that for my family, you know that. However, I'm willing to listen if you want to talk about anything."
Nina's mouth twitched. "I don't know what to talk about."
"All right, how about I ask you some questions? Is that OK?"
She shrugged. "I guess."
"Tell me about Jack."
Nina frowned. "What?"
"What happened with him?"
"What's that got to do with anything?" She was reluctant to talk about this; it still hurt.
Christina laughed a little. "I'm just curious. You love him, don't you?"
Nina shook her head. "No."
"Sweetheart, it's OK for you to admit that. It's not wrong to feel like it, even if he has just lost his wife. Feelings can't be just switched on and off; if you loved him before, you still do."
"It's not right, either. And nothing's going to happen. He loved her too much to be with anyone else."
"It's not possible for him now, I agree. But after some time has passed…"
"Mum, please. I'm not ready to talk about this."
Christina nodded. "It's OK. I understand. How about Tony?"
Nina took a deep breath and tried to keep herself from screaming or, even worse, running away in panic. "That even less."
"All right." They continued walking for a while, Nina with her arms around her body once again.
"Do you have anything you want to ask me?" Christina continued a moment later.
Nina hesitated for a moment. "Earlier today…Jack said something."
"What did he say?"
"That I never let him in; that I don't trust him enough to talk about things, that I don't need him or anyone."
"Nina, you've always been so independent, as has Chris. I don't know if it was something about the way we raised you or what, but you have to admit you're not exactly the easiest person to get close to."
"I know, but it's not that I don't trust him, I really do!"
"Have you told him that? He's not a mind reader, nobody is."
"He knows we can trust each other, at work it's…"
Her mother shook her head, smiling. "Sweetheart, trusting someone in professional settings is completely different from trusting them with personal issues. At CTU trust is the most important thing because of the job description, and especially after what happened on the primary day; it will be difficult to build it up again. But tell me something, outside work, how well do you and Jack actually know each other?"
The words hit Nina like a ton of bricks: her mother had a point. Had she and Jack actually ever talked about anything else than work, about his marriage and about their relationship?
"God." She shook her head. "And here I was, thinking I was his closest friend. How can I be when I don't really know anything about him?"
"That was Teri's role in his life, Nina. She was the one who knew everything about him personally, but I suspect Jack couldn't really tell her anything about his job or what happened in the office. For that he trusted you. And now with Teri gone, he'll need someone who he trusts enough to take her place, not in his heart but as his confidante and listener. It will automatically be you, Nina, simply because there is no one else at the moment."
"What about Kim?"
"Kim is right now too angry at her father to care how he's feeling. She's focused on her own losses and it will take a while before their relationship gets back to normal; it will probably never get back to what it was before her mother died. Which is another reason why your presence there will be good, Kim will try to take her anger out at Jack at some point and you'll be there as a mediator."
Nina sighed. "I wonder what will come out of that."
"It will be fine. You have a natural knack for knowing how people are feeling; Kim and Jack need somebody like that around."
Her family wined and dined her, catching up on everything that had happened in her life since they had last seen each other and Nina had to admit it was a wonderful evening, especially since they tried their best to avoid the subjects of Jack, Tony and CTU. Her brother retired to his room early, having to catch a morning flight back to Louisiana for a meeting and their mother soon did the same. Nina stayed behind with her dad, the waitress bringing them more coffee.
She had always been very close to both of her parents, but especially to her father; as she was his only daughter, he had always tried his best to make sure she and Chris felt equal without any traditional boy-girl roles. They sipped their coffee in silence; she didn't want to talk and he knew it.
"Are you tired?" Paul asked after paying the bill and walking her out of the restaurant. She shook her head; she had slept enough in the hospital and was not tired yet. She sort of wanted to go to her room nevertheless, because her father had a special gift of making her talk about things she didn't want to talk about, and she was afraid of breaking down completely.
"Come on. It's beautiful outside." He touched her elbow and they walked out of the hotel lobby and to the beach. He was right; the moon was shining, not completely full yet but still making a gorgeous bridge into the ocean and the night was warm.
"I see now why you want to live in Los Angeles", he sighed, leaning onto the railing of the beach sidewalk. "You don't see a sight like this in Hartford very often."
A smile crossed her mouth. "It has its good sides."
"Yeah." He glanced at his daughter, still worried about her. "I wish you'd talk to me, Nina. Like you always used to, remember? You would come home after some boy had teased you in school or after a failed date in college and we would talk about it. And in the end we always agreed it wasn't so bad after all."
"I remember." She could feel her eyes getting damp. "All those problems feel so small to me now. This is different."
"I know." He rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Jack told me what happened between you. Was it after that you went to Tony?"
"When Jack left me, I was devastated, I…I knew he was married but I thought that maybe I had finally found someone I could be happy with, who liked me with all my faults. I sort of always knew how it would end but still I allowed myself to get in too far. Way too far."
"Do you love him?"
Nina sighed.
"I know your mother already asked you this but she said you were in denial about it."
"Even if I did…it's hopeless. It will never happen, not anymore."
"You can't know that. Listen, Nina, I've only spoken to him a few times but I can see he's a great guy. Full of sorrow at the moment and very angry, but still it's obvious how much he cares and worries about you. You have a bond that's obvious, even if only one of you is in the room; it's obvious in the way you talk about each other. If he was the one you ended up with, I'd be a very happy father indeed."
His words made Nina smile. "I'm glad to hear you get along so well."
"We do. Well, I guess it's time to go to bed, little one. You have a long day ahead tomorrow, moving into his house."
"Yeah. I really appreciate you three being here, dad. It means a lot to me."
Paul hugged her. "Of course we are here, sweetheart. Hopefully from now on we can be a bigger part of your life. And Chris's. I know you both have created good careers and good lives for yourselves, but it would still be nice to hear more about you."
"I know. I promise I'll come home more often."
He kissed her cheek on the door to her room. "Good night. Remember, if you need to talk about anything, I'll always listen. Even if it's in the middle of the night."
Nina grinned, knowing how much her father loved sleeping. "I'll keep that in mind. Good night."
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