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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"It must have been a pretty slow evolution, over a whole year," she says, still able to sound nonchalant when what she's really wondering is why Chris never mentioned him in all that time. "When did things get serious between you two?"

"Well, he was on assignment. That took priority, a lot of the time," she says with a casual shrug of her shoulders. "Not that long a go. Maybe a few months? He, uh... he and I are living together now."

That gets her attention, and she looks up at Chris, her hand frozen in the act of reaching for another crayon. "Living together?" It was such a large step for her, and considering they hadn't heard anything about Jack's existence before this...

"So you must know each other really well, then," Jeannie says, going back to picking up the crayons, her forehead furrowed in thought.

Her voice is stronger when she says, "Yeah, we do. We have some of the same friends. From work. And I've met his family already."

"Oh?" she says, wondering how long ago Chris had met them. Then again, his family could be in L.A., too, in which case it wouldn't be fair. "How did you get along with them? What kind of family does he have?"

"We get along pretty well, actually," she looks at Jeannie with a smile. "It's really just his daughter, her fiance and his young daughter. They live in the L.A. area and also work at CTU. So, I see them every day."

Well she can't be that young if she's working at CTU.

"He was married before?" Jeannie asks, a little uneasily.

"Yeah. She died, several years ago. They married pretty young," Chris adds, as a way of explaining Kim's age.

This isn't entirely comforting--that's a lot of past baggage to bring to a relationship--but then if Chris seems to be all right with it, then there's not much she can say.

"So you, Jack, his daughter and his daughter's fiance all work at CTU? I didn't realize it was a family business," Jeannie says, her smile a little forced. She's had to hear Ryan's thoughts on Chris working at CTU again, and while she doesn't quite feel as strongly as him about it, it does worry her. Hearing that the man Chris...cared about also worked there as well as his family doesn't really help, either; she doesn't want to see Chris get hurt.

"Jack doesn't work at CTU anymore. He left a few months ago." For a second, Chris almost says that he left after his assignment was over but decides not to add any more details unless necessary. "He's working for a private security firm with a friend of ours."

"Why isn't he working at CTU?" she asks, curiously. It seems odd for him to leave when a number of people he knows work there.

They didn't go over this.

"He has a, uh, medical condition. Heart problem." It's the truth, which helps, but Chris wonders what if anything Jack told Ryan.

"Jack used to do field work. But after his last assignment, his doctor said he should find a less stressful line of work."

Jeannie looks up at her, concerned. "A heart condition? Is he all right? Is it serious?" she asks.

"Yeah," she says somewhat lamely, wondering if she should have been more vague. "He's fine but it's just required some lifestyle changes. Like his diet. And his job."

"Do you have the same kind of stress in your work at CTU?" Jeannie asks, wondering if maybe it was the pressure getting to her that had made Chris so withdrawn. Then again maybe it was the secret boyfriend as well; wihtout Chris saying anything, it was hard to tell.

"Not exactly." Even though saying yes would help explain a lot of her past behavior, Chris didn't want them to worry about her anymore than they already did. "He was in field work. That's more demanding. Especially the last assignment."

"What was he doing?" Jeannie asks, not paying full attention to what she's saying, not realizing that Chris might not be able to answer that, as she's listening for Tori. She's been in the bathroom for a while, and she can hear the sound of water splashing.

"Tori, come on out, and there better not be a mess in there," Jeannie calls, and a moment later she hears the tap turn off.

"I'm not, Momma!" Comes a voice from the bathroom. A few minutes later, Tori wanders out, damps spots on the front of her shirt and the cuffs of her sleeves were wet as well. "I'm done."

Chris looks over at Jeannie with a small smile.

Jeannie gives Chris a long-suffering but amused look and sighs as she pulls out a pair of light pyjamas. "Come on, my little mermaid, let's get you into your jammies."

Tori pouts, but obediently pulls off her t-shirt and jeans, and then dons the pyjamas as her mother folds the wet clothes over the back of a chair. Tori jumps into bed, bouncing on the mattress once before Jeannie's stern expression puts a stop to it. Jeannie wraps her daughter in a hug, kissing Tori's cheek. For all her preschooler rambunctiousness, Jeannie wouldn't trade Tori for the world.

"Night-night, sweetheart, I love you. Do you want me or your Auntie Chris to tuck you in?"

"Auntie Chris!" Tori squeals.

Jeannie looks over at Chris with a wry smile. "I guess I didn't even need to ask."

Chris looks down with a grin, ignoring the twinge of sadness and guilt that comes when she realizes how long it will be till she sees Tori after this trip.

"All right, Tori, c'mon," she says, pulling back the covers for her to lay down.

Tori obediently curls up, resting her head on the pillow and grinning sleepily up at her aunt. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, and we can play more?" she asks eagerly.

Jeannie tries to hide a grin. Looks like someone's going to be trying to hog Chris all weekend.

"Yes, I promise.," she says, pulling the covers up around Tori and tucking her in. "And in the morning we can go swimming just like I said we would."

Tori smiles at that, too tired to come up with more than, "Ok."

"Ok," Chris echoes, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you. Good night, Tori."

"Good night."

Jeannie turns out the light as they leave, closing the door behind her. Out in the hallway she can hear the murmur of voices from the living room, even if she can't make out what they're saying.

"I'm glad you and Jack came out to see us; Tori's missed you. We've all missed you," she says, softly. Then after a moment, she adds, "Why didn't you tell us about him before this?"

The question catches her off-guard and not wanting to look like she was thinking of a lie, Chris goes with the first thing that comes to mind. "It just ... didn't seem like the time."

She reminds herself that the hardest part of this weekend was almost over and hopes that Jack did better in his chat with Ryan.

And that they didn't contradict each other.

"I mean, work has been keeping me really busy and there's been a lot going on for both of us. I wasn't sure when he'd be able to come up here and I knew after I'd mentioned him that you guys would want to meet him. It just seemed easier."

Somehow, Jeannie doesn't quite buy it, but she's not sure how to ask without sounding accusing, and she doesn't want to argue with Chris this weekend. "Have you mentioned him to Caiti?"

OOM: Visiting Family

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