Jack picked up the phone and dialled Carols private work line. It rang a few times before he heard her answer in what he called her 'telephone voice.'
"Hello, Carol Bauer speaking,' she answered chirpily.
"Hello Carol Bauer this is Jack Bauer," he said in a posh voice trying not to laugh.
"Who?" Carol said confused.
"Jack, your brother!" He said laughing at her dazed voice on the other end of the line.
"Oh Jack, I didn't hear you properly," she laughed, "you don't normally call me at work.'
"I know, I just thought I'd try catch you here first. If you're too busy I can call back later."
"No no its fine, I just wasn't expecting you."
"Okay. I was just um, looking at some stuff and I noticed its moms anniversary in 12 days and I wondered if you wanted to do something," his voice was quiet now, their mother was always a hard subject for both of them, even though they had dealt with it and moved on.
"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't noticed the date approaching," she sighed, "we should do something you're right."
"Yeah," he breathed down the phone.
"Listen I'll have a think about it and give you a ring when I can talk, okay?"
"Yeah that would be good," his voice brightening up, "bye."
He ended the call and closed the computer down, he decided there were other things he could do today after all. He swirled around in his office chair as he thought about what to do, before realising the action was making him dizzy. He stood up chuckling to himself slightly before locking the room behind himself as he always did. Not to keep it private, Kim had a key to the room as an act of trust, he just wasn't comfortable with the thought of others being able to get inside it without him knowing. He laughed again as he dropped the key into his pocket - nobody even came into the house other than himself and Kim; he was paranoid.
Jack went into his room and got changed into something smarter, a pair of black jeans and a cream shirt, the sweats he had thrown on earlier were old and faded. He grabbed his keys and decided he would call in to see Casey, she got Fridays off college so she would be at home. He'd watch a little TV with her then maybe check in with Tony if they had any breakthroughs in the investigation.
He crossed the house and entered the kitchen checking they had enough milk, otherwise he'd grab some while he was out. He noticed a note Kim had pinned to the fridge door before she had left, he frowned slightly, why hadn't she just come and told him whatever it was she had written down?
He read the scribbled note and frowned even more.
"Dad, just in case you forget - Dr. Henry arranged to see you at 3. 30. And you know you can't cancel it or you'll be in trouble at work! I'll be checking with Henry that you turned up!" The note ended with a few smiley faces and her name. He frowned even more as he pulled it from the fridge and crumpled it up, he had completely forgotten about his appointment.
Although he had been cleared from danger and declared recovered he still had to see his doctor every three weeks for a check up and sometimes a physical, depending on the results of the check up. It could last up to an hour and always made Jack uncomfortable. What if something was wrong or they made him stand down from field work again? Still, the reports were forwarded to the CTU clinic and so he had to go; his contract had required repeated checkups for the first 21 months after his injuries were occurred. As he had obtained them in the line of duty the CTU clinic had to be involved. He had refused to see the doctor there and employed his own who kept in contact and updated Kevin in the clinic. It made him feel as though he had some control over the situation. He knew the rule was only there for his own well being, but it didn't mean he had to like it.
He drove to the hospital and sat down in the neat little waiting room until his name was called on the intercom. It did and he was surprised to see the doctor was only 10 minutes behind schedule, it was normally a lot longer. Jack quickly stripped down to his shorts once inside the examination room and co-operated with the doctors requests as he performed his tests.
After thirty five minutes he was free to dress again and asked multiple questions about his health and what not - the same questions he was asked every visit. Dr. Henry seemed pleased with the results but warned him about over-exercising so soon. So soon, Jack thought, it had been over five months. Still he stayed quiet. The doctor announced that he would no longer need the prescription for the anointment for the burns any more, the scars had healed over.
He also made a point to comment about how well the scars had healed over, they were smooth and discreet - he told Jack they could have been much worse, especially the burns. Jack nodded absentmindedly, he didn't really care; a scar was a scar. Still he appreciated the doctors efforts and smiled gratefully, before leaving early. He still had to carry around the tablets for his heart in the case of chest pain, but other than that all medication had been stopped.
The heart treatment itself had been stopped after eight weeks, and it was a relief. He had feared being dependant on tubs of tablets and a roater, carrying one small bottle of pills around seemed like nothing compared to what could have happened. Not to mention the fact that it wasn't life threatening if he forgot them, as he had today; they were there 'in case' he needed them, not 'when,' which was also better than he had expected.
He drove away from the hospital smiling slightly, no more of the horrid smelling anointment to use every three days. He had decided one night that the smell of the cream was almost as bad as the smell of his own flesh burning when he had become fed up with the ritual. It wasn't true of course, but he couldn't help but be angry with the pink marks which had refused to heal. Finally they had given in and he had defeated them.
He pulled up at Carols and rang the bell, if Carol was at work she couldn't shout at him for not coming right in. Mark opened the door and Jack was slightly off balance, he hadn't been expecting to see him and it was no secret the two disliked each other.
"Hey Jack come on in," Mark said slimily.
"Thanks, I just called by to see if Casey was in, I haven't seen her in a while."
"Yeah she's been watching the TV all day you know what she's like."
Jack nodded but said nothing more, he didn't like how he sometimes spoke about his niece but it was none of his business. He said his thanks before going off to find her himself, he didn't want to stay around Mark any longer than necessary, he made him uncomfortable.
He found Casey sat at her desk with a book in her hands, he silently watched as she read intently, not noticing him until she turned the page.
"Hey Jack," she said throwing down the book and getting up the greet him. She wanted to hug him but always felt too shy to do so. Jack had picked up on this a while ago and moved over to give her a quick hug which she returned gratefully.
"What's up moms at work."
"I know," he said plonking down on her bed. "I just thought I'd come by and see you for a while."
"Yeah?" She said, her eyes beaming at him.
"Yep."
"Cool," she said enthusiastically.
"You fancy going somewhere?"
"Sure I'm not doing anything," she said hurrying to grab her coat, he smiled as she did so before getting up and making his way downstairs. He waited by the door and looked at her tellingly when he realised she didn't intend to tell Mark she was going somewhere.
"Don't you need to say goodbye to Mark? He'll wonder where you are," he started.
"No he wont," she said coldly before opening the door and waiting for him to unlock the car. Shrugging his shoulders he followed her without out saying anything to Mark either, it wasn't his problem.
"Where you wanna go?" Casey asked as she fiddled with the radio changing the station but keeping the volume low.
"I'm not sure," he thought out loud, "maybe we can go see your granddad's grave, then go pick Kim up from college?"
"Sure, I need to see Kim anyway, I want her to download me this C.D." she said, thinking aloud.
"Isn't that illegal?" Asked Jack, turning to look at her as he slowed for a red light.
"Depends on your definition of legal," she smirked at him as the sped off again.