Author's note: THANK YOU!I truly appreciate all the support this story is getting.
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Clarification: Just like in my other story, I put Kamistan where Belarus is located in real life. Minsk (Belarus's capital) is about six hours away from Moscow. Kamistan's capital is B'Dar.
Disclaimer: I don't own 24, and I don't own the characters. I'm just doing this for fun, I'm not making any money with it.
CHAPTER 03:
What now, my love?
January 1977
Mar del Plata, Argentina.
The sun was shining in the coast of Argentina. Its rays reverberated on the surface of the ocean. Darlene Bauer was on vacations with her two sons. She was resting blissfully over a towel, as the sun bathed her. Her sunglasses protected her pale green eyes. Jack was lying next to her, while Graem read a book, under a tent.
"Isn't this beach beautiful, boys?", Darlene asked, marveled by her surroundings.
"We have beaches at home", Graem said, indifferently. "I want dad"
"Dad is too busy doing business in Buenos Aires", Darlene reminded him. "Did you want to spend the entire trip to Argentina in a hotel room, waiting for him? I thought it'd be nice to spend the weekend in Mar del Plata, just the three of us".
"It's nice, mom", Jack assured her, with a grin. He then gave Graem an angry look. "Don't be such a party pooper, Gray"
Darlene giggled like a little girl.
"Was dad upset when you told him we'd be here?", Graem asked, with concern. His mother didn't say anything. Darlene just looked down, uncomfortably.
At that moment, Jack felt alarmed.
"Mom, dad knows we came to Mar del Plata for the weekend, right?", he inquired.
"Of course he knows", Darlene assured him, with a smile. "I left him a note. We'll meet him in Buenos Aires on Monday".
Jack was satisfied with the explanation. His younger brother was alarmed.
"You mean you didn't ask permission?", Graem asked.
"I don't need permission", Darlene said. "This is our special weekend. Let's enjoy it". She stood up, with excitement written on her face. "Boys, I'll race you to the ocean"
She ran towards the ocean. Jack followed suit, so did Graem. The sand was extremely hot, when they reached the water it was a huge relief. Jack got there first, he ran into the ocean. Graem walked into the water slowly, to get his body used to the cold water. Jack and Darlene began splashing water at each other, playfully. Graem joined them. The three of them laughed loudly.
After a while, Darlene got hungry.
"I have an idea, boys", she said. "What if we go and eat tons of dulce de leche ice-cream?"
"Yeah!", Jack cheered. He loved that sweet argentine treat very much.
"Ice-cream instead of lunch?", Graem asked, skeptical.
"Why not?", Darlene asked. "This is our special weekend".
She giggled like an excited little girl.
November 29th 2022
Somewhere outside Moscow, Russia
Jack managed to get four hours of sleep. The couch was comfortable. He had definitely slept in much worse places in the past. But he didn't sleep well because of the thoughts haunting his mind. What should be his next move now that he had to hide from the Russians? If they found out he was alive, they would kill all the people he cared about, including Renee. He wanted to be with her, but he couldn't. Keeping her safe was more important than his desires.
He was, eventually, trapped in a nightmare. In the horrible dream, Cheng was immortal, and he put his own head back in its place. Then, Audrey's spirit appeared and yelled at Jack for failing to protect her. "I was counting on you", she cried. "I thought of you as a hero. But you sent somebody else to rescue me, and that person screwed up! How could you abandon me?". After her, Teri appeared and screamed "You slept with Nina and she killed me! How could you not know she was evil? My second child was never born because of you". A crying baby appeared in Teri's arms. Finally, Michelle Dressler appeared, she was frowning and holding an infant. "I'm dead just because I knew you were alive. You were my friend, so I saved your life and that's why I died, with my baby inside me"
Jack woke up gasping for air. His skin was moistened by drops of sweat.
Still troubled by the dream, he headed to the bathroom and washed his face.
He had to get dress. But the only clothes he had belonged to the dead man who Belcheck killed to make him pose as Jack. It was creepy. Jack obviously needed new clothes.
When he went back to the living room, he noticed that Renee had left a new pair of jeans, a t-shirt with long sleeves and a pine green sweater. A tiny smile appeared on his lips. She had clearly thought about everything. He put the new clothes on. The clothes were a little big; since Renee didn't know when she bought them that he had lost a lot of weight. But they worked just fine.
There was a snowstorm raging outside. The wind was whistling loudly as snow fell from the sky. The Russian winter was cruel and long. But inside the cabin it wasn't cold, since it had central heating.
In the kitchen, Renee was making coffee. She was wearing jeans and a red sweater.
"Hey", Jack greeted her, softly.
"Hey", Renee replied, without looking at him. She felt embarrassed, because her attempt to sleep with her had failed. "Want coffee? We have coffee and bagels"
"Okay", Jack accepted, seeing the bagels and cream cheese over the kitchen table. He sat down by the table and watched her make coffee.
Once the beverage was done, Renee gave Jack a mug with coffee and took one for herself.
"We won't be able to leave today", she informed. "The roads are closed because of the storm. Belcheck will come pick us up tomorrow, if possible"
"Pick us up to go where?", Jack asked, putting some cheese on his bagel.
"He and I will take you to Kamistan. We are five hours away from B'Dar", Renee said. She took a sip of her coffee. "Once there, you can go wherever you want. I don't recommend staying in Kamistan. The Russians have many spies there"
"I know", Jack said.
They drank coffee and ate the bagels in silence. It was an awkward silence. Neither one of them knew how to act around the other.
"So, where do you live now?", he asked, to break the ice that separated them.
"In Santa Barbara", she answered, rather coldly. "The people from the Witness Protection Program put me there"
"I take it you are not supposed to be here", Jack said.
"No. I'm not", Renee confirmed. A couple of agents checked on her from time to time. She had disobeyed them.
"You shouldn't have come, Renee. It's not safe", he told her, with concern in his pale green eyes.
"I couldn't let you rot in that prison", she affirmed. Tentatively, she took his hand. "You didn't abandon me in New York". Her eyes moistened as images of that fateful day came to her mind. "You were wonderful to me"
Feeling uncomfortable, she stood up and started washing the coffee mugs. It was difficult for her to accept that Jack didn't want to be with her anymore.
"Renee, we have to talk about what happened last night", he said.
She straightened her back and turned around, to face him.
"Nothing happened last night", she reminded him, with sadness in her eyes. "I wanted to be with you, but you didn't want to be with me. That's okay. It's your choice"
"I need you to understand why we can't be together", Jack said. Renee grabbed a second cup of coffee and retook her seat by the table. "What we had in New York was beautiful. It meant a lot to me". He swallowed, feeling on the verge of tears. "But now I see that I have to be alone forever. I hurt those who are close to me. Everything I touch ends up dead"
Renee's heart ached for Jack. She could see the pain in his eyes. Her heart was aching for him.
"So, what now?", she asked, wiping a tear that fell from her eye. "You'll just disappear and spend the rest of your life alone?"
"I don't have a choice", he replied, almost whispering.
"You DO have a choice, Jack", Renee said, holding his hand. "We could disappear together. We could start a new life somewhere". She moved her chair closer to his. "We could try to have a normal life, together"
Jack caressed her cheek and stared into her pale blue eyes. He was seriously tempted.
"Renee, I want to be with you more than anything in this world", he admitted. He took her hand and kissed it. His voice began breaking. "But we would always be in danger. We'd have to live hiding from the Russians".
"I have to hide anyway, with or without you. I testified against very powerful people. They would kill me, if they knew I'm alive", Renee said, with resignation. She softly caressed the bruise on Jack's cheek. She sighed and rested her forehead on Jack's. "I'm lonely and scared". They were both in tears. "I don't want to face this cold and crazy world without you"
Tears came to Jack's eyes. He was profoundly moved. He couldn't fight his desires anymore.
"I'm here for you… with you", he whispered.
He slowly brushed his lips against hers. Soon, the kiss became more passionate.
He hoisted her up and carried her to the bedroom. They undressed each other as fast as they could. They were so hungry for each other. They had spent four long years apart. They didn't want to wait any longer.
The sound of the storm got mixed with their moans while their bodies joined with delight.
When the lovemaking was over, they lied in bed, face to face.
"You're so beautiful", he whispered. He put a lock of her hair behind her ear and looked at her face, marveled by how gorgeous she was. "I wanted to tell you that, the first time we were together. But I never had the chance. I spent the last four years feeling horrible because I didn't tell you how beautiful you are".
"Oh, Jack", she whispered, feeling moved. She kissed him eagerly. "There was so much I wanted to say to you"
"Now we have time", he said. He noticed she had a new tattoo. She had the Japanese symbols 七転び八起き tattooed under her belly bottom. He brushed the symbols with his lips. "What does this tattoo means?".
"Nanakorobi yaoki", Renee answered. "It means: Fall seven times, stand up eight"
"I like that idea", Jack said, caressing her cheek. "So, you have the symbols, the beautiful rose, anything else?"
She turned around and showed him a red heart, right above her butt. Jack was fascinated by it and kissed it.
"Love it", he whispered.
She rolled over and kissed his lips.
"You have some new tattoos as well", she pointed out, caressing a sword he had tattooed on his right shoulder. Then, she touched the barbed wired band on his left bicep. Finally, she saw the Icelandic Runes tattooed on the inside of his forearm. "What does this mean?"
"I trust you to kill me", he replied. "It's to remind me that people will always come after me. I can't avoid it. So, I may as well continue doing what I feel it's right".
"I like it", Renee said, with a small smile.
"After they told me you died, I left the US on a ship that went to Iceland. I stayed there a couple of days and got this tattoo", he told her.
Renee kissed him and pulled him closer to him. She giggled when her feet touched his and her skin brushed his socks.
"Why did you keep your socks on?", she asked.
Jack's features darkened. He moved away slightly.
"I don't know", he lied.
"Take them off", Renee said, trying to remove them herself.
"I can't", Jack affirmed, stopping her.
"What's the big deal?", Renee asked, with confusion.
Jack decided to tell her the truth. Or, at least, part of it.
"One of the Russian guards cut off two of my toes. I didn't want you to see it", he admitted, with deep sadness in his eyes. "It's not pretty".
Renee was horrified. She couldn't help but to feel indirectly responsible for Jack's pain.
"I'm so sorry", she said. Her eyes sparkled with tears. "You went through hell in that prison. You would have never ended up there if I hadn't gotten shot"
"Hey, don't blame yourself", he whispered, and kissed her forehead. "I told you yesterday, I chose to murder all those people because they made me miserable. It never occurred to me that killing them would ruin my life. I thought my life was already ruined"
He tightened their embrace. They were both in tears, thinking about the happiness that had been taken away from them.
"Now we can start a new life, together", Renee said hopefully, and kissed him. "Where do you want us to live?"
"There's a city I like in the coast of Argentina, called Mar del Plata. It's a few hours away from Buenos Aires", Jack said. "My mom took us there, when I was eleven years old. We had an amazing weekend, just me, my mom and my brother". His face lighted up when he remembered the weekend in Mar del Plata.
"Really?", she asked, with a smile. She was glad to see Jack's face lighting up.
"Yeah", Jack said, nodding. "Of course, now I know that we went to Argentina because my father did business with the dictators that ruled that country back then"
"Oh", Renee said, not really knowing what to say.
"Anyway, I was still quite innocent back then", he sighed melancholically, missing that innocence. "That weekend in Mar del Plata with my mom was truly perfect", he stated. "I'd love to live there".
"Okay", Renee accepted, with a mixture of excitement and fear. "I don't know much about that city, but we can find out".
"I don't know much either", Jack admitted, chuckling. It fell so crazy, going to a place they knew virtually nothing about. "I haven't been there in forty five years"
"Do you speak Spanish?", she asked.
"Yeah. You?"
"Pretty well", Renee answered. She had studied Spanish and Russian for several years. "What would we do there?", she asked, with some concern. "I want us to have normal jobs. We have to stay away from problems"
"I know", he agreed.
"Jack, I mean it", Renee affirmed with a warning tone. "I know that, in the last four years, you have been working undercover for criminal organizations, trying to bring them down. But that has to stop. It's too dangerous. The Russians could easily find you if you start calling people's attention. We have to fly below the radar"
"Don't worry. I want normalcy", he assured her. "I want to live peacefully, with you"
"Good", she said. Deep down, she was concerned. Jack wasn't the type of person who was happy living a normal life. But she pushed those concerns to the back of her mind. "So, what can we do?"
"I don't know", Jack admitted, with a soft chuckle. "What did you do in Santa Barbara?"
"I was a lifeguard and a swimming coach", she told him.
"I guess you could do the same in Mar del Plata", Jack said.
"We'll figure things out, together", she assured him.
TO BE CONTINUED…