The following morning...
Jack rubbed his eyes and sat up. It had been a rough and sleepless nights, and he had woken up may times, sweating. Nina was in his nightmares, and for the first time he was feeling nervous about the trial. He had been confident that no jury would convict him of her murder, but now he was beginning to see that, without the history and knowledge of his relationship with Nina, the jury would see not the necessary end of a terrorist, but the violent murder of a person. Hearing footsteps approach his cell, he looked in their direction in anticipation. Seconds later, a guard appeared with a small, thin black woman, who carried a briefcase. She was the first to approach his cell, and the first to speak.
"Hello Mr Bauer, I'm Janet Smith, and I'll be your lawyer for the trial," she spoke in a soft Calfiornian accent. The guard approached the door before unlocking it, then gesturing to Jack to come out.
Soon afterwards, Jack was in the same room he had been in yesterday, except this time he was given a drink and he had no handcuffs on his wrists. Janet sat at the other side of the table to him, her briefcase on the table. Jack wondered what she thought of his actions.
"It's obvious that you killed Nina Myers, Jack, but what we have to prove is that your actions were legitimate. Now, I hear you are claiming self-defence, but I've seen the tape and it appears that you were in no immediate danger from Ms Myers," Janet spoke, looking straight at Jack.
"She was going for her gun. I know she was injured and lying on the ground, but I knew Nina Myers, and I know that even then she was still a risk to other people," Jack replied. Janet nodded before contemplating his answer. She knew that she and Jack faced an uphill struggle, but she felt confident that she could get him acquitted.
"I've heard that you considered Ms Myers to be quite a threat. Preventing someone from potentially causing harm in the future could be a very strong defence, if we can show that Ms Myers was likely to do so," Janet spoke as she scribbled a note on a legal pad.
A hour passed before the conversation came to a close, and as Janet stood up to leave the room, Jack decided to ask her about Kim.
"Janet, is it possible for me to see my daughter, Kim?," Jack asked, and Janet nodded. She didn't want Jack to lose hope, and keeping him away from his daughter was obviously not going to be a good idea.
As Janet left the room, Jack thought about that night. He had turned the corner, and seen Nina and Kim pointing guns at each other. Not wanting to risk losing his daughter, he had shot Nina in the shoulder, so that she was incapacitated rather than killed. Even though he knew she was useless to CTU, he didn't want to kill her immediately. Convincing Kim to leave the room, he had gazed into Nina's panicked and weary eyes, and had asked her if she did indeed have any more information. The question itself could have been interpreted by either of them in a million ways, and was spoken in their own language, a language spoken only by them. As he shot bullet after bullet into her body, the anger left him and, when she laid there with eyes wide open, he felt bitter sadness.
"Dad?," Kim's voice could be heard as she entered the room. Her eyes were red and it was obvious that she had been crying. As they embraced each other, Jack wondered if fighting the charges was worth it. He knew that the trial was going to be long and stressful, and he didn't know if Kim would be able to stand it.
"I'm sorry for all of this, Dad. I should never have gone after her," Kim spoke as they sat down at the table. Jack shook his head as she spoke.
"It was going to happen whether you were involved or not, Kim," Jack spoke quietly, as if he felt guilty for what he was saying. He knew that whether Kim had gone after her or not, that his struggle with Nina had to end sometime, with one of them dead.
"I want to testify, Dad. It's important to me that I help defend you," Kim said with determination.
"That's fine Kim, but be careful. Lawyers love to trip people up," Jack replied.
Later that night, as Jack settled into bed for another night of broken sleep and bad dreams, he went through his defence. He looked at it from a neutral point of view, trying to see where the jurors might or might not be sympathetic to him. Determined to be acquitted of all charges, he wanted to make sure that his defence would be as strong as possible.