That's what you've all been waiting for... Jack/Audrey reunion...
He hated to be lying here. Everything was cold, so cold. The only thought inside his head told him: it's so cold. Move. Otherwise you're gonna freeze to death.
That thought hadn't left him, ever since he'd jumped off that ship.
It had been a miracle that he managed to make them turn around. The plastic explosives had helped destroying the fuel injection of the ship's engine, making it slow to a crawl first. The three fires which he'd started were enough to distract most of the crew and even some of Cheng's men who feared to sink to the ocean's ground if they didn't fight the flames.
But finally, after three hours of drifting around in the channel, finally being towed to Port Angeles, they had closed in on him. They had started to search the ship, systematically.
He had pulled back to the stern, but he was sure that he'd not have any chance if they got too close. But the ship was still a mile away from the port. He had to jump, taking his chances.
Never in his whole life, he'd felt such coldness. The icy water was biting into his skin. It felt like a million cuts at the same time.
He didn't even know how he finally reached the shore. The two life vests that he had put on kept him from drowning, but that was it. He remembered that a boat had come… and the next thing was already waking up here. At first, he had already thought that worst fears had become true: the doctor who leant over him, when he opened up his eyes looked Chinese. He couldn't move his hands or legs, they were tied to the table that he was lying on. He almost panicked, thinking that they had him in their custody again.
When finally another doctor came in here, he was partly relieved. That was the guy who he had seen here before, the blond one, the one that had operated on him, ten days ago, the one whose ID he had taken, to get to the pier.
But that doctor didn't seem to care that much about him. He was rough, brusque and seemed to do only the most necessary things to keep him alive somehow. He was back in Seattle, he finally realized. But the fact that this doctor wore a hoster and gun at his belt, beneath the white coat, didn't really calm him down.
But that didn't make it better. Was he back in Heller's custody? Why had they cuffed his hands and legs to that table? As he looked, he saw that it weren't metal handcuffs, like the police used them. It were such leather buckles, like the ones they use in a mental institution.
He couldn't move an inch and it frightened him to the bone. Why was Dr. Hunt – he could remember his name now – wearing a gun? That couldn't have gone unnoticed, he guessed. Maybe even Heller had allowed this ex-soldier to carry a firearm around him. It all made sense somehow.
He didn't know what they had given him, but right now, he didn't even feel any pain, except for the coldness that still stung.
Drifting from being awake off to sleep again, into unconsciousness and back to being half-awake, he lay there, awaiting his destiny.
As the door opened and someone came in, he weakly turned his head to see who it was. The unfriendly Chinese doctor again?
He saw it from far, that this was Teddy. He saw her wearing that scrub cab, with birds on it… he remembered her talking about it. She directly ran over to him.
"Teddy…", he whispered, as she bowed down to him. He had a hard time keeping his eyes open. "Where's Audrey?", he managed to breathe, "Is she okay?"
Close to tears, she pulled her face mask down beneath her chin, hoping that he'd recognize her. She couldn't believe what she saw. He was in such a bad shape… she'd never seen anything like this. As she touched his face, and his shoulder, his skin felt ice-cold. "Jack…", she whispered his name.
She saw how he stirred, as he finally recognized her. The beeiping of the heart monitor speeded up in an instant.
"Audrey…", he stammered, seeing her face right next to his. "Are you okay?" It was all he wanted to know. As he had walked down the gangway, into the ship, he thought that he'd have seen for the last time in his whole life. But there she was, right here.
"I am.", she couldn't hold back her tears any longer, "but you're not." She didn even dare look at his body, covered with black and blue marks, the many lacerations and cuts, the many stitches. But even looking in his face wasn't that much better.
"doesn't matter." To him, it really didn't matter right now. She was safe, he had reached everything that he had wanted to reach.
"It does matter", she hurriedly said, looking back at the door over her shoulder. "Can you stand up?"
He didn't even know.
As she unfastened the buckles around his legs and arms, he started to move his limbs again, for the first time since being dragged out of the water. It worked. It hurt. Everything hurt, even breathing.
She took the oxygen mask off his face and helped him sit up. "You need to leave.", she told him, holding him by his upper arms, because she feared that he'd otherwise collapse to the table again. "They're gonna come looking for you. Dad'll hand you over again."
She only confirmed what he'd feared all the way. He had a hard time sitting there, while she grabbed two more white coats from a rack behind the door, handing them to him. When she helped him put them on, she saw the marks on his back for the first time. She almost lost ground.
As she was still searching the trolly next to the bed for an epinephrine injection, he clumsily leant over and took one of the scalpels that lay there. He hated being unarmed, and even more being unarmed and in a miserable state of health.
"Teddy told me to give that to you.", she said, showing him the injection that she had finally found. "She said it'd get you going for ten to fifteen minutes."
"My car is still parked in the back.", he remembered.
"I know." She pulled the keys out of her pocket. Teddy had told her where to find them. In the crew room, where she had spent yesterday night with him.
As he wanted to take the keys, he pulled her hand away. "I'll drive.", she remarked.
Worriedly, he looked up, into her eyes. "I won't let you ruin your life for me."
He obviously didn't know that it was way too late to say something like that. "I already made some decisions that I cannot make undone, Jack", she silently said, leaning over to him, grabbing his face with both her hands, "I will not let you ruin my life by just running away from me now."
Shocked to the bone, he stared at her. "Please, Audrey, go back….", he whispered. He didn't want her to run off with him. "You deserved a better life."
She didn't listen. Instead, she just gave him the epinephrine and almost tore him along with her, off the bed, hoping that he could walk, or even stand.
He stumbled from the bed over to the wall, holding on to it.
Audrey put the face mask back on and looked outside, the corridor was empty. It was like the people from hospital had brought all the men and women away from this ward, away from here, because they knew that a military operation could go down here any minute now.
She dragged Jack along with her, having grabbed one of his arms. He left some bloody handprints at the wall, as he was forcing himself to keep going, over to the emergency staircase, which would mean freedom.
As they heard a noise behind them, they tried to take cover behind a doorframe, but it was already too late.
Jack tore Audrey into the little recess, but Owen had already spotted them. It wasn't that hard to find them – after all, it seemed like they were the only three people in this ward, and a trace of bloody handprints on the wall could lead him always to them.
Jack grabbed the scalpel in his hand faster, as he saw Owen pull the gun out of its holster, aiming it at him. He wanted to shield Audrey from all this, but then again, he knew that they could only get out if they did the exact opposite thing.
"Do you trust me?", he whispered into her ear, lying his left arm around her body. He glanced at Owen, coming closer. The little recess in the wall was just enough to take some cover now, but the closer that man came, the more desperate their situation would become.
"What will you do?", she asked, and right now she didn't know who was trembling more, he, because of his body temperature or she because of fear.
"Trust me. I love you.", he whispered, tonelessly, and then he grabbed her rudely and tore her out of their cover.
"Put your gun down or she's dead!", he roared, holding the scalpel right to her throat.
She shrieked, but it was not a fake.
Owen stood there, not knowing what to do. He had him at gunpoint, but he had Teddy… They were about ten yards away from each other.
"Don't do anything stupid.", he remarked, but hesitated to put the gun down.
Jack started to yield backwards. Five more yards, and he'd reach the entrance to that staircase. If he could fool Teddy's friend for long enough, they could still make it. He just wasn't allowed to let him get any closer. From far, he wouldn't realize the difference between Audrey and Teddy. She was wearing Teddy's scrub cab, the one thing that Teddy would never give out of her hands… she was wearing a mask, covering the largest part of her face, rubber gloves… he couldn't know the difference.
"Put your gun down now!", he roard again. "Or she's dead."
He hoped Audrey would forgive him for this, one day. She couldn't know that this man over there was probably Teddy's best friend, who would never shoot at her.
Owen stopped coming closer. "What do you want to do? There are DoD agents around her, everywhere! You are surrounded!", he shouted.
"Why did the guards leave my door, then?", Jack shouted back, "You're putting me on a silver plate for the Chinese again!" He was sure that Dr. Hunt had cuffed his hands and legs, not out of medical necessity, but because of getting orders from Heller.
"I won't let them take me again!", he roared, feeling the adrenaline finally rush into his body. "I have nothing to lose, so put your gun down!"
Finally, Owen backed down. "Okay.", he said, showing the empty palm of his left hand. Slowly, he went to his knees, to lay the gun at the floor.
Jack watched him.
He saw how Owen looked past him, for a few moments. Hesitatingly, to find out if this wasn't a trick, Jack dared to look back, too. Through the windows at the doors to the station, he saw two black clothed men approach. "Chinese….", he tonelessly said, feeling his heart sink.
He tore Audrey with him, rushing forwards again, to hide behind a corner. Owen had seen the men, too. He grabbed his gun again and opened one of the doors to his right, to take cover.
Jack crouched down behind the corner. They were in a dead end corridor. Only two storage closets on both sides, and restrooms at the rear end. He was still holding Audrey in front of him, but right now, he would have actually just wanted to protect her somehow instead of using her as a fake hostage.
His eyes found Owen's. From time to time, they both dared to sneak a peek at these men. They were searching the rooms just outside the doors to this part of the ward. Meanwhile, they had their weapons drawn.
"These are not our men.", Jack said to Owen, how had also crouched down, just opposite the hallway. "They're not coming to help you."
"Shut up.", Owen hissed, having another look at them. Meanwhile, even he had realized that something around here was horribly wrong.
"Give me your gun.", Jack pleaded. "I can get us out of here."
"No way."
"Why is nobody else but us here, huh?", Jack feverishly tried to make him understand Heller's game, "I guess you got order to evacuate this part of the building. From on high."
That Owen didn't answer anything but an astonished look, already answered his question.
"Why are you here, then?", he asked him, seeing that the Chinese had yet come closer. Not long until they'd be in this section of the corridor.
Just for a moment, Owen looked at Teddy. Or at the woman who he believed to be Teddy. He knew very well that he was the only person in this part of the hospital, besides Jack and her. Heller had ordered to evacuate. "Let her go and I'll give you the gun."
Jack shook his head no. "The moment I let her go you're gonna shoot at me, trying to be the hero."
"I won't. I promise.", Owen spoke. But he wasn't so sure what he would do. One shot, and Teddy could be safe.
"And I give you my word that Teddy will be fine when this all is over.", Jack told him, having a last look at the Chinese. "I give you my word.", he repeated, intensely.
Then the swinging doors got pushed open, and the two men were now in their part of the corridor, still searching the adjacent rooms one after the other.
Jack slid a little bit away from the corner. Enemies closing in on all sides.
Owen dared to peek at them once more. He heard them now, they were talking Chinese. Right as he wanted to hide behind the wall again, the agent spotted him. He jumped back into the room, as a volley of shots dashed into the wall, right next to the place where he'd crouched before.
Owen yielded back into the room, feverishly looking around. That room had no windows, and nowhere to go. He was trapped.
Through the still open door he saw Jack and Teddy on the other side of the corridor, they were almost unarmed.
Jack saw that look in his eyes. Pure horror and shock. He wasn't used to situation like these.
As Owen laid the gun down on the floor, to slide it over to him, Jack finally let go of Audrey, telling her to hide in one of the storage rooms.
They still came closer. One guard was always keeping his gun aimed at the open door to the room where Owen was in.
Jack slowly stood up and took the scalpel again. They had to work together now, to survive this.
Owen hid in the shadows of the room, but he saw the man approach the corner behind which Jack was waiting for him. He seeemed to understand his signs, Owen realized, because he had straightened up and positioned himself to attack.
He had to do something to keep this man from looking into the corridor to his right.
"I won't shoot!", Owen finally shouted, pulling the agent's full attention on him. "I give you my gun, I am unarmed!", he kept calling, and gave the gun a push.
It slid out through the open door, so fast that it passed the agent and slid into the part of the corridor where Jack was hiding.
The agent didn't care that the gun slided past him. He was so fixed at Owen, who he believed to be the only target around here, that he kept on walking, his gun aimed at the open door.
He forgot about his cover, and went on, right before Jack, who dashed forward, covered his mouth with one strong grasp and slid his throat. He hurriedly caught the agent's gun, before it slippled out of his hand and would have made some noise. There even was a silencer on that gun.
The two seconds, in which the second agent hadn't yet realized that his partner was dead were enough to kill him, too.
Jack stood in the middle of the corridor, looking at the two dead bodies at his feet. He didn't know them. They hadn't been on the ship, but they were Chinese agents, for sure.
"Teddy?", he called, hoping that Audrey would follow along with his plan.
As she came out of hiding again, he slowly bent down, took a pair of handcuffs, which one of the agents had been wearing, and threw it over to Owen. "You cuff yourself.", he ordered.
Owen reluctantly caught the handcuffs. "You promised me to let Teddy go.", he remarked, but he didn't feel like arguing with the man holding a gun in his hands, who had just killed two others.
"I gave you my word that Teddy will be fine once this all is over.", Jack said to him, "Give me your phone and your pager."
Owen slid the two things across the floor, over to Jack. He didn't even care to pick them up. He just wanted to make sure that Owen couldn't contact anyone. "What parts of the building were evacuated?", he asked him.
"Just this ward.", Owen spat back at him, as he put on the handcuffs and cuffed himself to the radiator in the back of the room.
"I don't believe you." Jack rudely pulled Audrey closer and held the gun to her head. "How did they enter the building?", he asked again.
Owen just couldn't look at this. "They entered through the fire stairscase down the hall. There's an underground connection to the parking garage. Cameras are turned off on that route.", he hissed, "You're sick, man! Let her go!"
Jack finally lowered his gun. That man was no threat any more. He couldn't move and he couldn't contact anyone. "I gave you my word that I wouldn't harm her.", he silently said, walking a few steps over to him.
He could see so much hurt in Owen's eyes, when he looked at the woman who he believed to be Teddy and who he couldn't help any more, even though he believed her to be in life's danger. "I would never harm her", he silently added, hoping that this man would believe him.
After a few moments, Jack turned around and went off, taking her with him. He couldn't blow Audrey's cover. Not yet. Even though he felt sorry for the guy in there.
As he pulled the door closed behind him, he felt the effects of the epinephrine wear off. Tiredly he leant against the wall and put the gun away. His eyes met Audrey's. "I would never hurt you", he breathed, remembring how much she had trembled when he'd held the scalpel to her throat, "I'm so sorry."
She slowly came over to him, buring her face at his neck. She held him close for a few moments. "I trust you.", she whispered, lying her hands at his torso, feeling every breath he made.
He put his hands around her, pulling her closer. "I can't believe even believe you're here.", he breathed, holding her body just as tight as he could. She had been so far out of his reach, for years.
She affectionately ran her hand over his body. "I have to get you out of here", she whispered. "I won't give you away again." She finally straightened herself up again and helped him walk, tearing him away from the bloody mess of their past.
.
.
.