geeky_agent | (no subject)

Current Mood: confused

(no subject)

C is for Chris.

C is also for Confused, which Chris is.

She's finished House Findings at CTU, though she breezed through it and would probably need to read it again, and is now onto Veto Power.

Chris isn't sure what's more unsettling. The complete and utter animosity her father and Jack seem to have for each other or the fact that Jack is such an arrogant brute and her father such a snide jerk.

They're almost unrecognizable as the two men she knows.

[OOC: Karen! I thought I should put up an OOM since these two need to talk. She's in Jack's room, probably curled up on the couch.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I imagine he didn't own up to who was responsible," he says, sounding a little disappointed.

"No, he got a little annoyed when I asked and then the conversation shifted."

He snorts. "Really? Ramon, annoyed? Now that's a surprise," he says. Yes, he's being sarcastic. "How did you start talking to him anyway?"

"I was staring at his hair and he threw paper at me," she says with a small wave of her hand.

Yes, she does realize this makes her sound like they're in grade school.

"I told him if he apologized then maybe whoever did that would change it back and then he just started running his mouth."

"Yeah, he has a tendency to do that. I often had to wonder how he'd gotten so far in his business when there were times that he just wouldn't shut up," he says, tilting his head back and closing his eyes as he idly rubs the ball of her left foot.

Which feels pretty nice. Chris leans into the couch a little more and gives a contended little sigh.

"Did you know Gorlim let Ramon babysit his daughter?"

Jack snaps his heard around to look at her. "He what? Is he nu--no, wait, Gorlim is a little nuts. Still."

"Yeah," she sighs.

"I told him, with a good amount of detail the kind of person Ramon was but..." she shakes her head, "I don't know. I don't think he cared much about what I had to say."

"What did you say?" he asks, still massaging the bottom of her foot.

"Told him about some of the things Ramon had done. When he said Ramon was different I said I'd believe that when he apologized to you and Kim," she says with a sardonic grin.

They both knew that was never going to happen.

"Yeah, I think when that happens I'll have other things to worry about, like hell freezing over."

Chris smirks at that, then her expression turns more serious. "It's frustrating."

"Yeah, which is why I generally don't bother myself with it," he says wryly. It isn't entirely the truth--he's still concerned with Ramon's being in the bar and his actions and threats in the last few weeks--but most of the time he puts it out of his mind.

"Maybe that's the smarter route." She doesn't sound entirely convinced when she says this but she knows there's nothing they could do at the moment.

Chris unceremoniously sccops Coco off her lap and places her on the floor before moving closer to Jack. Any closer and she would be entirely on his lap.

"How's Angela?"

He puts an arm around her shoulders as she moves closer, Coco hopping into his lap.

"Better, I think. She doesn't seem quite as depressed at least."

Chris moves closer and rests her head on his shoulders. "It's hard being that age. I don't think I'd go back to being 15 for anything."

Jack lets out a small laugh, absentmindedly stroking her hair. "Me either," he says, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

Chris is quiet for a few moments, trying to relax despite all the things on her mind.

"I mentioned to my dad what Angela said. About the future."

He winces. Yeah, he's sure Ryan took that well. "What did he say?"

"He took it pretty well, actually." From the tone in her voice, it's obvious she's still surprised by this.

"I can usually tell when it's a cover and ... it didn't seem like he was upset or anything."

"Really?" To say he's surprised is a vast understatement. "It's not definite though, so maybe...I don't know. Maybe he's not worried about it because we know so little."

"Maybe," she sighs. She was a little annoyed with Jack's apparent refusal to accept that this might be the future. But pushing it may sound like she's pushing for a commitment and she's not ready for that.

And it looked like Jack wasn't either.

"Might be an alternate universe at this point. If we know this much about it. Any more ideas on what happened to Chloe?"

"It might be. And no, not really, other than talking to people to find out who might have spoken to her last."

He's quiet for a moment, thinking. He'd noticed that flash of annoyance on her face and he's pretty sure what she's thinking but if he takes a mis-step here, it could be pretty embarassing.

"Sweetheart, about what Angela said...I have been thinking about it. And it's not that I don't...like the thought. I just think if it's going to happen, it shouldn't be because we think that's how it's going to be in the future, anyway."

"I know."

Chris doesn't say anything for a bit, she almost doesn't want to. She's not sure what she wants to say here or if she wants to go out on a limb with her feelings.

But, she realizes she's being unfair and keeping quiet hadn't made her any happier. "Jack it's not that and I don't want you to think that I'm trying to push for a commitment here, because I'm not. It's just...it's been almost three weeks and we haven't talked about it and you haven't mentioned it. I didn't want to be reassured, I just wanted to know what you thought."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just...I didn't know how to bring up the subject either without making it seem like I was pushing for a commitment, or like I was going to the other extreme and was determined that it wasn't going to happen."