Chris

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.

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

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

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"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."

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

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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."

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"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."

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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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"Even if I could tell you anything about my relationship when it started, I'm not obligated to tell you anything about my personal life. I'm an adult and you're not my father, you're my younger brother."

Fighting with Ryan wasn't how she wanted to spend this morning or the rest of the trip but he really needed to learn when to back off.

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"Obligated." He repeats and looks disgusted. "It's fine if you want to keep secrets, but I made a decision to put our family first and you've made it clear where your allegiances lie."

He looks like he might say something more, but instead takes another sip of coffee and slams it down more than just placing it on the counter. "Fuck it, I'm going for a run."

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Chris doesn't look up at him, watching the pancake batter bubble and pop on the frying. "You're literally running away from this conversation but you're going to blame me for not talking. That's cute, Ry. Real cute."

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"No, I blame you for not wanting to tell me a damn thing about your life. Jack told me a friend of yours died and that you were dealing with it. I can't remember the last time you talked about your friends. You were the first person to know I was going to be a father, the first person after Jeannie I confided in when I wanted to leave law -- " his voice is getting louder.

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Jack's sleeping when raised voices start filtering into his dreams, voices of the guards at the prison in China, yelling questions at him. He jolts awake, taking a moment to remember where he is, and he quickly realizes that though he's awake, the voices haven't stopped.

Sitting up, he can hear Chris' voice, angry, though it's hard to make out the words, and judgeing by the tone of the voice answering her, she's arguing with Ryan. He gets to his feet, wiping the sleep from his eyes and trying to push the remnants of the dream out of his head as he opens the door, making his way down the stairs.

"Chris?" he says a little sleepily, once he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

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"It happened two months ago, Ryan! What did you want me to do?" She has more to say but the creaking stairs catches her attention and she just hopes it's not Tori.

Hastily flipping the pancakes onto a plate, she's almost out of the kitchen when she hears her name. "Jack. Morning."

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"I wanted you to make an effort to be part of our lives. I don't know why I bother." He interrupts her and notices the noise at almost the same time. If it's Jeannie, she'll demand an explanation. By the time Jack gets downstairs, it's obvious Ryan's attempting to pretend that they weren't just arguing. He doesn't like to lose control and especially not in semi-public.

"Chris made coffee."

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Jack shoots Chris a curious look, but doesn't say anything about the argument, for the moment at least. "Great, I think I could use some. What are you two doing up so early?"

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"I'm making breakfast," she says with a glance towards Jack, when she speaks again her voice is dripping with sarcasm, "Ryan's keeping me company."

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Ryan shoots her a glare and gets another mug from the cabinet. "Here," he puts down the mug in front of Jack, his movements tense and he uses a slight bit more force than necessary when he puts the coffee pot near him.

"Jack can keep you company, now, my dear elder sister."

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Great, he's obviously come down in the middle of quite the fight. He pours himself a cup of coffee as he tries to think of anything he can do to keep the peace; all that crisis negotiation training and he's not sure how to keep his significant other talking to her brother.

"You're not staying for pancakes?" he asks, mildly.

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Pointing and telling Chris that's just the behavior he meant when he talked about Jack acting like a therapist would be immature.

"I'm not obligated to have breakfast this early."

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Jack refrains from mentioning that that's a fairly fancy way of expressing an attitude that's more appropriate to a belligerent teenager. "I just thought you might want to spend time with your sister," he says, unable to keep a slight edge out of his voice.

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Not even pausing from dishing out the food, Chris rolls her eyes at him and mutters, "Whatever. You do what you want."

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"Why not, you always do," Ryan answers her, not meaning to ignore Jack, but reacting like he didn't hear him.

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This time she does turn to look at him, if only to set the rest of the food on the counter. "I am so sorry for not keeping you up-to-date with everything that goes on in my life especially since you're being so understanding now."

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