Carol slammed the phone down in a haze, troubled by Kim's words. Jack was upset with her, she had said, but why? She had been honest with Jack, so why was he sulking now, she wondered? Pulling her dressing gown around her she tiptoed through the house, finding Mark asleep on the couch downstairs.
In the darkness she could see the swelling and blood on his face, in a panic she turned the light on and went in search of the first aid kit. When she returned Mark was sitting up grumpily rubbing at his eyes. He reeked of alcohol.
"What the hell are you doing?" He snapped, before spying the kit tucked under her arm as she back off slightly, "oh sorry."
"What happened to you?" She asked, still hesitant to get near him.
"Your idiot brother searched all of the bars until he found me."
"What?" Carol gasped, "Jack promised me he would stay out of this."
"Yeah, that's right. He jumped me Carol, him and some buddy of his, which is surprising as I didn't think he had any friends."
"Jack would never do that," Carol said, believing her words, but when she saw the anger in Marks eyes she knew she was supposed to believe him.
"How in the hell did I end up like this?" He roared, waking Casey upstairs.
"I don't know," Carol quivered, "I'm sorry. Let me take a look at the cuts then we can go to bed," she said, waiting for permission before opening the kit.
"Thank you," he said, almost indignantly, before closing his eyes as Carol started working on his face.
She didn't believe that her brother would ever fight unfairly, she knew it was a lie, but had Jack roughed him up like this? She just didn't know, Jacks anger was almost as bad as Marks when he was out of control, she wouldn't put beating Mark up past him, out of some sort of loyalty to herself.
Casey climbed out of bed, she was confused for a moment when she saw she was fully dressed, before she remembered going to bed that way. Sitting against the door she opened it a peep as she strained to here the rest of the argument. She flinched when she herd Jacks name, why did they always bring him into it? She closed the door again when the sound died down and grabbed her cell. Spying Jacks message on her pad she looked stunned for a moment, before she realised that this meant he had come to see her, only she had been asleep. The thought was comforting.
Grabbing her phone she dialled Jack cell. She needed to speak to him now. For all she knew Mark was making up with her mum, and her mum, as she knew from previous experiences, would pretend the entire incident had never happened. But Casey couldn't let that happen, she was certain Jack would help.
"Bauer," he croaked after a few rings.
"Casey its Jack," she whispered.
"What is it Case, I'm half asleep."
"I need to talk to you."
"Are you okay," he asked, coming round a little.
"No. Well yeah I am, but I just need to talk to you."
"Case, I've got to stay out of this. You're mum asked me to. She doesn't want me interfering with this."
He could almost hear her heart break in her sigh. "Fine. Goodbye," she snapped, ending the call.
Now sat up in bed Jack wondered if he had made the right decision. But Carol didn't want him getting involved, that much she had told him herself, and Mark had made the rest crystal clear. Casey would have to find a way to deal with this just as he would.