(no subject)

[action_antihero]

July 18, 2012
4:34pm

Jack only briefly opens his eyes before closing them tightly again, his eyes hurting at the bright light. Even with the blinds closed it's too bright in the room for him, and he moves to roll over onto his back, let himself wake up and his eyes adjust to the light.

As soon as he starts to move, pain streaks through his ribcage, his shoulder, his head; every muscle feels stiff and sore. He makes it onto his back with a groan. Fuck, he's getting too old for this kind of thing.

He opens his eyes again, acclimating them to the light before looking around for a clock. There's one on the bedside table to his right, and he squints at the digital readout. 4:37. For a moment his sleep-fogged brain wonders why the streetlight outside is so bright and where Chris is, until it kicks in that that's 4:37 in the afternoon, not in the morning. Christ, he's slept for about 18 hours straight. No wonder his muscles have stiffened up.

Lying in bed isn't going to help that any, and so he moves to the edge of the bed, sitting up slowly. The pounding in his head only gets worse with the change in blood pressure, but it provides something of an incentive to get to his feet and head for the bathroom. Painkillers definitely sound like a welcome idea at the moment.

Jack feels a little more human after a long shower, the hot water easing some of the knots that had formed in his muscles as he'd slept, but as he walks downstairs, he's still feeling rather stiff and sore. He spots Caiti in the living room as soon as he reaches the foot of the stairs, and part of him wants to put this discussion off one more day but he knows it'll be better to get it over with. He's not sure how long Caiti will be staying, and it'll be all too easy to keep putting it off.

Grabbing a cup of coffee from the kitchen, he walks into the living room, taking a seat in an overstuffed armchair, his movements a little stiff and slow.

"Hi, Caiti. How're you doing?" he asks, taking a sip of his coffee. He's doing his best not to seem nervous.

Comments

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"At the time, yeah," he says, adding with a slight, wry smile, "She was my link with home." It wasn't that much of a lie, really.

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

"All right." She's not entirely sure if she believes that but, at the moment, she's not sure what she believes about anything.

Caiti opens her mouth to say something more, maybe 'Thank you' but she doesn't. She's not sure why but she keeps her silence, looking down at her hands instead.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

There's another moment of silence between them as it looks like she's about to say something and then stops herself.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," Jack says, finally, "I wasn't sure you'd remember and there's...a lot of stuff around that time I'm not allowed to talk about." Part of that is a blatant cop-out of course, though he's not sure there's any way he could explain some of it in a way anyone not familiar with Milliways would understand. The rest of it--the embassy raid, his faked death, most of what Henderson and Logan had been involved in--were classified.

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

"It's ok," she answers automatically. His explanation made as much sense as anything else in this situation. On some level, she understood that his job required a lot of secrecy and there was a lot they couldn't say. Chrissy's job was like that, her dad's job had been like that, it wasn't entirely beyond her scope.

"In Morocco... you mentioned my dad?" She looks over at him, not even sure what she's asking.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Jack nods. "Yeah, we worked together for years. I couldn't believe you were really who I thought you might be until I asked about your family. I wanted to know, but I couldn't really come out and ask if you were Caiti Chappelle."

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

Caiti doesn't say anything at that, just gives a slight nod. She remembers now that he had mentioned a daughter about her age and both Ryan and Chris had told her something similar. That, at least, had been the truth.

"Thank you," she glances at him, "for what you did."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Jack gives a slight shake of his head. "The only alternatives were unacceptable. I'm just sorry you got hurt. What did the doctors say about your arm, by the way?"

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

"I have to go in tomorrow. See how it's healing, if further surgery is necessary. Stuff like that," she says with a shrug. "I don't think it's that serious."

Now, anyway.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Jack nods. "Any idea what you're going to do now?"

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

"Once I know about my arm, I'm going to go back to DC." Caiti nearly adds that Chris doesn't think it's a good idea but doesn't, her sister had probably already said that much anyway.

"I might visit Ryan in New York. I don't know yet." Might in this case meant "wouldn't". Not that she didn't want to see him but she knew if she went right now he'd want to talk her into moving closer to him or staying longer and she really just wanted to go back home. "It depends on how soon I can start working."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Were you thinking of working on another campaign, or were you going to look for something different?" he asks, sipping his coffee. The caffeine's starting to kick in, thank God.

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

"No, not a campaign. I heard the IAA is looking for more people with the detention centers still being built and everything." She tries, and fails, to say that last bit as mildly as possible.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"They're still building them?" Jack asks, a little surprised, but not much. He'd hoped that with the crisis over and Logan gone they'd be dismantled, though he knows how fast bureaucracy moves. "Have they said anything on the news about why they haven't started letting people go, even though the crisis has passed?"

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

"Even though most of the cell is dead they still have to worry about any affiliates or potential copycats," she recites from memory, an edge in her voice. "But they're processing people as quickly as possible."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"And without Palmer, there probably isn't anyone with the right amount of power and presence to light a fire under their asses," Jack says with a sigh.

Palmer hadn't been perfect, but he had stood up for what he thought was right, even when it wasn't a popular opinion. It's still hard to imagine that Palmer isn't going to be at the next debate, speaking before the next primary.

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

"Pretty much," she answers dully, looking back at the television screen.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Jack's trying to think of something else to say when his stomach rumbles loudly. He can't remember the last time he had anything to eat; or the last time he'd taken his medication, for that matter.

He pushes himself out of the chair slowly, feeling the muscles in his legs and back stretch painfully as he moves. "I'm going to see what we've got to eat--do you want anything?"

[caiti-c.livejournal.com]

"No. Thank you," she responds with a shake of her head. Turning the television off, she stands as well. "I'm going to go upstairs and finish my book."

Or sleep. It didn't matter as long as she could be alone with her thoughts.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Jack nods. "All right. I'll see you later," he says, then turns toward the kitchen, his stomach still grumbling.