geeky_agent | OOM: Visiting Family

Current Mood: worried

OOM: Visiting Family

She almost wishes Caiti would be there.

It would mean more questions and more problems, yes. They'd still have to explain Caiti having met Jack already in Morocco two years prior and she just knew that wouldn't go over well.

Still, she can't help but wonder if maybe it would be better to get everything out in the open now. (Not everything.) Caiti had always been good at dealing with problems between her sister and brother and it sounded like she and Jack had gotten along pretty well and she hadn't seen her in months...

This had probably been a bad idea but it was too late to back out now.

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"I don't think she wanted to keep it from you," Jack says, quietly, "This just... isn't the kind of thing you want to talk about over the phone."

"There's worse news to hear over a phone." He answers in the same quiet way. "So she's really doing better?"

"Sometimes, when you're not sure how people are going to react, though, you want to be able to say it in person," Jack says, looking over at Ryan again. "And yeah, she is. It hasn't been an easy few months, but things are getting better."

"How bad were things?" He can't believe he's asking his sister's boyfriend about her mental state.

Jack lets out a quiet sigh after a moment to try and think of how to phrase things. "There's a lot of stuff I can't tell you about either, Ryan, but it did get pretty bad. One thing I can tell you is that a friend of ours--not working at CTU--died a couple months ago. Chris was the one who kept it together for everyone else, though she had it rough herself. She's doing better."

It's likely not much comfort, but he can't downplay what happened; with how much Ryan and Jeannie had been worried--with all the reasons Chris had given them to worry--trying to make things sound like less of a crisis than they had been wouldn't have worked anyway. Ryan wouldn't have believed him, and would just have been more worried; or more frustrated, more suspicious, for that matter.

But neither could Jack tell him exactly what had happened, and he didn't want to worry them any more than they already were. His explanation just had to lie somewhere in the middle, just had to be vague, though he knows Ryan isn't going to like it.

Ryan's silent, trying to react without giving away how he feels. He's not good at opening up in general and especially not with someone he's only known for a very short period of time.

"She didn't tell us about any of that, thank you for letting me know," he takes a breath. Chris, why couldn't you let me be there for you?

"You're welcome," Jack says, nodding, hoping he hasn't said too much.

(Turn page)

Chris doesn't answer right away, looking around at the scenery and relaxing as she remembers the area. They only have a few more miles to go.

"What? Oh. Um... he likes teaching obviously. The law. Arguing," she adds with a smirk. "And that counts as work. Right. He likes sports! He's pretty athletic - jogging, playing softball. Stuff like that. He reads a lot, mostly nonfiction like me but he's not as into science. More politics and military stuff. And philosophy, sometimes."

There's a pause as Chris thinks this over, then adds in a thoughtful voice, "He and my dad have similar tastes in books, actually."

He looks out the window, "And eight AM on a Sunday is a good reason?"

She shrugs. "I was up. You're up. And I doubt Tori will be asleep for much longer."

"I'm surprised Jack isn't up. I thought he'd be outside doing laps," he says casually.

"Well, it's early and we're on vacation." She's not entirely sure what her brother's getting at or if she's just being paranoid for reading subtext into that question. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Yeah," he grabs a mug for her and himself. "So he usually works out when you're home? I might go running later, think he'd join me?"

"Yeah," he does, she says with a nod, her back turned as she places the bacon on a plate. "I think he would. I was thinking I might take Tori out swimming if she brought her floaties with her."

"Really? He looks like a lightweight," Ryan comments, pouring coffee. "That would be good. She's perfected floating on her back."

Chris turns around to look at him. "You're kidding right?"

It's not that she went around thinking, "my boyfriend's awesome and he could totally kick your ass" like some dopey cheerleader but Jack and "lightweight" did not go together.

"Chrissy, he seems like a nice guy, but he's got this Mr. Rogers quality and I'm surprised you're dating someone that passive," Ryan shrugs.

Later, Chris will marvel at the self-control she had not to laugh in Ryan's face.

And then realize it was only because she was too shocked to do so.

"Ok. I mean. He is a nice guy, you're right. But he also has done field work and was in Special Forces. He's not quite ready for the cardigan and the sing-a-longs yet."

Chris couldn't wait to tell Jack about this.

"He was in Special Forces?" Ryan takes a sip of coffee. "Those guys always seemed tougher."

In a tone more serious than before, she tell him, "He is tough."

"It's nothing against him, but he's a man with a daughter that's Caiti's age, and he talks like an Army therapist," Ryan grabs a piece of toast from a plate.

"You had such a bright future, Chris."

Pausing from whipping the pancake batter, Chris looks up at her brother. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He doesn't want to argue, but his words raced ahead of his brain. "You were going places when you were in New York. Now you're across the country and shut us out of your life. If you were worried about how we'd react to Jack - we're your family, if we didn't like him there would be a damn good reason, and you should know us better than to think we'd judge him based on his age or past relationships alone. If something's going on in your life, no matter what it is, I want to know about it."

He pauses. "Dad said his job was safe. You tell me you work on computers and then go AWOL. Now you're living with a man who is either a pushover or a very good actor."

"It's not an either-or question. Why would Jack be anything but nice to you? This isn't exactly the same thing as being out in the field." And she was about to say something about how Dad's job was safe but just sidesteps that issues completely. Chris doesn't want to think about that, let alone argue about it. Turning back towards the stove, she pours the pancake batter into a pan.

"It wasn't that I thought you wouldn't like him." Not completely. "There's just been a lot going on. You know that if I told you I'd been seeing someone for months and that he was older than me and had been married before and had a daughter only several years younger than and everything, you would have formed an entirely different opinion of Jack before you met him."

He folds his arms over his chest and listens. "And you know what he's like out in the field?" The smell of pancakes seems at odds with their conversation.

"Is that your excuse for not telling us anything when it started?"

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OOM: Visiting Family

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