Chapter 5: Ready?
Tony locked himself in his room as soon as Mason had left and refused to talk to anybody. He knew his family was worried sick about him but he couldn't force himself to talk. He knew he needed their help to pull himself together and he wanted it but he didn't want them to suffer. In his opinion, they had suffered enough already. He put them through hell once and had no intention to do it again.
He hurt them badly after Dean's death. He was hurting badly and didn't care at all about how they felt seeing him in that situation. He felt a cold shiver go through his body when he remembered Dean. He promised himself after what happened with Dean that he would never lose anybody again. He broke his promise; he lost Teri. He brought her to her death just like he brought Dean to his.
Bob dropped onto a chair in Tony's living room, He was frustrated. He had met Jamey before and he knew how much his brother cared about her. Jamey's betrayal stinged but her death left Tony unstable; she was his friend after all. All that with Teri's death and Nina's betrayal knocked Tony over. It was too much to handle, even to somebody as strong as Tony.
Bob tried to figure out a way to make Tony open up to them; he knew it'll help but he failed. They had literally pulled all the stops. He sighed heavily as he stared at the bedroom's door .He knew his brother so damn well; he won't come out until next morning.
The day passed quickly – much to Tony's dismay – and before he knew it, it was 8 a.m and he had to get up. He wanted to go to the funeral house early to be with Jack. God, he hated that, he didn't even know if he could do it. After what happened, he simply lost confidence in himself. He got dressed and left to meet Bob who was waiting for him. Bob knew Jack; they met when CTU and the Navy were working on a case together.
30 minutes later, they arrived at the funeral house. Tony felt Bob's hand squeeze his and heard him say: "Ready?". Tony nodded silently and they headed inside. Tony saw Mason, Chappelle and Hammond but didn't bother to greet them. His only goal was to find Jack; He spotted him sitting with his head in his hands.
He approached him and shook his shoulder gently. Jack stood up slowly and Tony felt his mouth go dry. The pain in Jack's eyes was deeper than the last time Tony had seen him. It was tormenting to look in Jack's eyes. The strong confident man Tony knew was replaced by a destroyed one.
Tony looked at him sympathetically and nearly whispered: "how are you holding up?", Jack looked away: "I still can't believe what happened". Tony understood him perfectly, his shock was nothing compared to Jack's and he was still struggling to get to grips with what happened.
Jack tried to say something but stopped as his tears threatened to fall. He looked out of time and place. He suddenly said: "I'm going for a walk, would you like to come with me?". Tony nodded absently and followed him outside.
Michelle entered Division slowly. She sat down and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She had a long day ahead from her; she – along with everybody else at Division – was working hard to check CTU systems so that it can start functioning with 100 capacity. They spent the day before doing the same thing but they had some help from the people at CTU.
It was so much worse today; most of the CTU crew along with the Division's top agents would be at Teri Bauer's funeral. Not just that but every body was depressed and tired. The work load was too heavy.
Michelle felt life draining away from her the second she entered. She turned her computer on and started her work with a sigh. She had one of the heaviest work loads – thanks to Carrie of course – and she wanted to finish early to visit Danny.
A while later, Elle Woods stopped by her desk. Michelle didn't like Elle. She was Division's gossip queen; she loved to interfere in people's lives and talk about their most private moments.
Michelle looked at Elle with a raised brow. Elle sat next to her and started doing her favorite hobby: "I heard some strange news. Nina Myers was dating one of her co- workers"
Michelle shook her head in disbelief: "No way, Hammond and Chappelle would have had his head by now, they would have squeezed him to death and we would have known"
Elle smiled: "trust me; I know what I'm talking about. I've a friend in CTU; she told me that he was one of the key players in the day. He's the third in command and CTU can't afford to lose another agent specially this one. The guy has a big amount of dignity and self-esteem. He stood against his superiors enormous times and he was right in most of them. If Hammond and Chappelle even dared to treat him like a criminal, he would resign on the spot. My friend doesn't believe he knew about Nina, nobody in CTU does"
Michelle got tired of the conversation. She had work to do and didn't like to talk about something like that. She felt she was invading the guy's privacy. Elle had no right to talk about him like that. She didn't even know the guy. Fortunately, Tedd approached her so Elle excused herself and left.
Michelle smiled at Tedd: "you're a life saver. I hate when she do that", he returned her smile: "what was it this time? Why did Alberta fight with Carrie? Or where did Chappelle spend his last weekend?"
Michelle sighed: 'you wish. She was telling me some crap about Nina Myers, she claims that Nina was dating her third in command", Tedd's smile vanished: "She's right, that's what George Mason was talking with Chappelle about yesterday"
Michelle put her hand on her head: "Are you telling me that maybe we're talking about 3 moles instead of 2?", Tedd shrugged; "I don't know but Mason doesn't think so. He was defending the guy, that's why he was arguing with Chappelle.I don't think so too. It's so obvious but who knows?"
Michelle nodded then she saw Carrie so she said: "we better get back to work. I'm not giving her the chance to yell at me. I'm not in the mood to fight", Tedd smiled showing his understanding then left.
I know that Michelle's storyline sucks and the dialogue is too much but my muse decided to go on vacation and refuses to come back. I can't blame her, it's too hot here.