Chris

"Have you considered that some of the other things she hasn't told you about might be connected to her job and have something to do with national security? That there isn't much of a separation between personal life and work?" he asks, his expression hardening, though he's trying not to let Ryan's tone get to him. "Do you really want things to turn out like your father and his brother?"

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"What the fuck do you know about my father and his relationship with Uncle Sean?" Ryan's voice drops slightly. "Chrissy's been telling you family secrets and she barely talks to us."

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"No, your father told me. He said that he had a brother he hadn't talked to in years, and he sounded like he regretted it quite a bit." It had been enough of a separation that Ryan hadn't called him to say goodbye when he'd had the chance. Then again, Ryan hadn't called his kids either.

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Ryan narrows his eyes at him, "When did he tell you that? And if you were that close, how could you have missed his funeral?"

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"We weren't that close; it was a brief, offhand comment he made maybe a couple weeks before his death, one of the very few times he ever let something slip about his personal life and he changed the subject right after," Jack says, sternly. "And even though we weren't close, I would have been at the funeral except we were still dealing with the outbreak of a deadly virus, and I was the only department head left at CTU. Meanwhile, my second in command, the second in command of comm and two of our lead computer analysts were also out of commission. CTU was decimated that day."

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In that moment, Ryan reaiizes he was wrong about Jack's passiveness; the man in front of him seems to change as he talks, and he can see the Special Forces side now. He wasn't only at CTU, he was a department head, and a field operative. He doesn't look away, but it takes effort to maintain eye contact. "I can understand those circumstances." He carries the cups over to the table. "I can't talk about my cases, but my cases don't follow me home."

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"And they don't always follow you home from CTU, either. This one did. It's the price of the business and you learn to deal with it," Jack says flatly.

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"Have cases followed you home?"

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"A couple. Depends on your definition." If it was not being able to forget work when you got home then it was a hell of a lot more than a couple.

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He nods, any other comment would be too revealing, and all he can think is that it doesn't matter to him the details of his sister's life, he just wants her to know that she might push her family away, but they'll be there if she needs them, there's no other choice.

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"Something smells good," Jeannie says, holding onto Tori's hand as they enter the kitchen. She gives Ryan a curious look but her expression remains calm and pleasant.

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Chris follows after her sister-in-law, not saying a word to anyone. At the moment, she felt too stressed and tired to bother being pleasant to anyone who isn't Tori.

Taking a seat across from her niece, she pours herself a glass of juice but doesn't grab any of the food.

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"Chris felt inspired," Ryan kisses Jeannie's cheek and the top of Tori's head. He walks around and stands next to Chris, looking toward her. "I need your opinion on something before breakfast." He can't think of a good excuse to talk to her alone again and he has the feeling that she'll refuse his request. Some of what Jack said was too close to the truth and losing her seems a very real possibility.

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She was expecting this but thought they'd at least get through breakfast. Maybe it was better this way, since another tense meal wasn't something she really wanted to go through again.

Taking a drink of her orange juice, she nods. "All right."

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Jack briefly places his hand on her back reassuringly as he walks around the table to take the seaet next to her. "I'll keep some warm for you. So who wants pancakes?" he asks, addressing Jeannie and Tori.

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"Thanks." With a small smile to Jack, she follows her brother out to the deck.

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"We'll be back soon," he promises his wife and slips on a pair of convienently placed flip flops. Ryan steps outside the house, leans against the railing, and looks out at the lake. "All these years and this place hasn't changed."

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"No, it hasn't." She always expected it to look different, always imagined it would. Aside from a few new pieces of furniture, it still looks like the same cabin in those pictures.

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"We've had a lot of good days here," he says, not looking at her, but focusing his attention on the view. "You, Caiti, Jeannie and Tori mean the world to me, and even if you don't feel the same," he takes a breath. "If you ever need me, I won't hang up on you."

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At first she doesn't say anything, doesn't even look at him - eyes still fixed on the lake. She's still angry but also regretful and more than anything there's that feeling of guilt she can't ever seem to shake.

"I'm sorry I've been so distant."

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He doesn't do well with showing his emotions and feels something loosen inside of him when she speaks.

"I'm sorry too," he admits. "I wouldn't care about the details of your life if the effects weren't so obvious."

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"Obvious how?" There's no defensiveness in her tone, more curiosity and worry.

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"We always used to fight, but never like that, and you used to be the only person in the family that wasn't obsessed with keeping everything a secret." He pauses and turns to look at her. "Chrissy, yesterday you talked about Dad as if he was still alive. And maybe we were all so concerned with Caiti that I missed seeing how much his death hurt you too."

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Chris folds her arms, whether it's out of defensiveness or to fight off the cold that came over her when he said that, she's not sure.

"I didn't realize... I had said that." It wasn't the whole truth. Her therapist had mentioned something similar in one of their first sessions.

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