Tuesday, December 12, 2006
When Fiction Meets Reality - Pt. 15
Day Four.
Jack woke up to a cold and wet nose nuzzling his cheek and he jumped up at once realizing it was Molly. She took off the moment she saw him move and darted into the hall and straight to Kiefer's room with Jack hot on her heels. Kiefer had gotten entangled in his sheets and was trying to tear free from them in his sleep and Jack ran up to the bed, placing his hands flat on Kiefer's shoulders, talking to him. He struggled a little longer, but Jack's voice finally broke through and he relaxed again, falling back to the mattress with a heavy sigh, followed by a soft moan when his injured head touched the pillow. Jack kept his hands on him for a moment longer, talking him down, until he was certain Kiefer was okay again.
He moved his hands, one to Kiefer's forehead to check his temperature, the other to his wrist to check his pulse.
His heart was beating fast, which was normal considering the stress, but the pulse was steady and strong. He was warm though, warmer than he should be and Jack went into the bathroom, looked through a few cabinets and drawers before he found what he was looking for and retrieved a washcloth, ran the cold water and soaked the cloth, then folded it, squeezing it a little to keep it from dripping and went back to the bed, placing the cold cloth on Kiefer's forehead. Molly jumped on the bed on the other side of Kiefer and put her head on his chest, resulting in a reflex from him, bringing his hand up and resting it on her side. It made Jack smile to see the dog was getting reactions out of Kiefer in his sleep and he leaned over to pet her, telling her she was a good girl for coming to get him. He stayed with them for a while, and refreshed the cloth once. He had found a thermometer in the bathroom and when he checked Kiefer's temperature nearly half an hour later, it was back to normal.
He took the cloth back, squeezed it as much as possible and hung it on the edge of the sink to let it dry, went back to the bed and brought the sheets up a little higher, petted Molly again and left. The display on Kiefer's bedside alarm clock told him it was just after three in the morning, he had a few more hours of sleep ahead of him.
They went by without another problem and Jack woke up to nature's call slightly after nine. He tended to his business and checked on Kiefer who was still sleeping soundly, Molly curled up in his arm. She lifted her head when Jack showed up in the door, but didn't move otherwise and Jack went into the living room, finding Tony slowly waking up.
"Morning." Tony yawned when he saw Jack walk in.
"How is he?"
"Still asleep. Did you get any?"
"I slept like a rock. That couch is pretty comfy." Tony joked.
"Bathroom?"
"First door on the left."
Tony stumbled down the hall and disappeared into the bathroom while Jack went into the kitchen to prepare some coffee. It being Saturday, he supposed Polly wouldn't come around to walk Molly today, so there was no coffee ready to be made. He found what he was looking for and switched the machine on. He retrieved two cups to start with, since he had no idea if Kiefer would be awake any time soon and set them on the table. Tony joined him moments later and sat down.
"Smells good."
"Don't shoot me if it doesn't taste that, I'm not used to making coffee."
"You can't do much wrong with coffee."
"Could be too strong or not strong enough."
"Right, but that won't kill you." Tony joked.
He was obviously not the cranky kind of guy in the morning.
"What's gonna happen today?"
"I don't know, I have no idea if he'll feel up for the trip."
"And even if he does, he might call it off to keep from worrying her."
"How would calling it off keep his daughter from worrying?"
"I'm sure he could come up with a good enough excuse. I'm not sure he wants her to know about what happened yesterday."
"What did?"
Jack came to the table with the steaming pot of coffee and filled the two cups, then returned the pot to the machine to keep it warm. Tony pulled one of the cups towards him, a grin on his face upon seeing it was a Cubs one and he took a careful sip of the coffee Jack had made. It was hot and strong, just the way he liked it.
Jack sat down opposite him and proceeded to explain what happened at the studios, about how he had gotten an instantaneous bad feeling and it had turned out to be right. The attack, Kiefer's life saving reflex, the flying trip to the hospital, he went over it again with Tony and he finally came to the conclusion he had done the right thing throughout the situation. His follow-up had been precise and accurate, his orders clear and specific, teams had been dispatched, suspects taken into custody and questioned, loose ends tied up.
He checked the time and called CTU. Much to his surprise he found Nina there.
She had no new information at the moment, but Princeton had been awake at some point during the night and an agent had been sent over to question him. Nothing much had come back from that because the agent was still at the hospital, waiting for Princeton to wake again so he could continue the interrogation.
Jamey had narrowed down the search to a five-block area and she had been working on it until three that morning. She had set her computer so it would send her a message if it encountered a problem or found what it was looking for and had gone home to get some sleep.
There was no new information on Bonney and nothing had come from the composite photos until that time.
Jack thanked her and ended the conversation, putting his phone down on the table.
It started to buzz almost at once and he picked it up again.
"Bauer."
"Who is this?" a young female voice asked.
"This is agent Jack Bauer." Jack replied, "Who am I speaking with?"
"I'm Sarah Sutherland, my dad called me from this number yesterday."
"Oh, hi." Jack said, realizing who he was talking to, "Yes, he had left his cellphone in his dressing room so I let him use mine."
"Who are you?"
"I'm protecting your father."
"Oh okay. Is he there?"
"He's still in bed."
"He is? I've been trying to reach him for the past hour or so, he said he wanted to spend some time with me today and you said it would be okay."
"That's right, but he worked pretty late last night and I didn't want to wake him up, he's had a tiring week."
"Yeah I know he's been pulling long hours lately."
"That's right, look, why don't I ask him to call you as soon as he's up?"
"That would be nice, thank you."
"No problem."
"It's agent Bauer right?" Sarah asked.
"That's right."
"Thank you … for protecting him." she said softly.
"You're welcome."
She hung up and Jack punched in another number, getting up from the table and moving into the living room.
"Hey dad." Kim answered on the second ring.
"Hey pumpkin." Jack said, feeling his heart leap at the sound of her voice.
"Where are you dad?"
"Working sweetie, Chapelle assigned me to protect someone."
"You mean like a bodyguard?" Kim interrupted him.
"That's right, like a bodyguard."
"That's awesome. Who is it?"
"I can't tell you sweetie." Jack replied, biting his lip.
She would die if he told her. She'd beg him to come pick her up and introduce her or bring him around to the house.
"Oh dad!."
"I'm sorry sweetie, I can't."
"When are you done?"
"As soon as I find who's after him and stop them."
"Could that be long?"
"It could be, but I've got everybody working on this, so it might not be."
"Why? Do you miss me?"
"What?" Kim exclaimed, "What was that? Do I miss you?"
"Dad, I can't believe you're asking. Off course I miss you."
"I miss you too sweetie. I promise I'll try to be home as soon as possible."
"Then why are you wasting time talking to me? Go catch those bad guys."
It cracked him up and when she heard him laugh, it set her off as well. It felt good to hear her laughter. He couldn't believe he hadn't called her in two days and he hadn't been home at all.
"Is your mom there?"
"No, she went out early this morning, she said she had a presentation."
"Could you give her a kiss from me and tell her I love her."
"Can I keep the kiss for myself and just tell her you love her?" Kim asked.
It felt so good to hear her react like this instead of rebelling against him.
"You can have a big kiss of your own sweetie … I love you."
"I love you too dad. See you soon."
She hung up and Jack let out a shallow sigh, fighting the urge to run downstairs, jump in his car and drive home to go give her that big kiss in person.
It took him a moment to get his feelings under control but when he turned to go back into the kitchen, his eyes caught movement down the hall and he spotted Kiefer coming out of his room. He pocketed his cell and met him halfway, offering his support which Kiefer took without hesitation. He was unsteady on his feet and preferred to be safe rather than sorry. If he was leaning on Jack, the chances of him breaking his face were brought down, to a minimum.
"How are you feeling?" Jack asked softly.
"I'm a little dizzy and I feel like I could faint any moment."
"Do you think it's a good idea to be up?"
"Probably not, but I hate being stuck in bed. I'm sure I'll feel better in a while."
They reached the kitchen and Kiefer took the chair Tony offered him.
"Besides, Sarah's waiting for me."
"What time is it anyway?"
"It's almost ten." Tony replied.
"Dammit."
"Don't worry, she called a short while ago." Jack said.
"She had been trying to reach you on your cell, but I suppose it's still in your dressing room at the studios and she ended up calling my number."
"Where did she-" Kiefer started, then stopped when he realized she got the number when he called her with Jack's phone the day before.
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her you had a late night and were still asleep. Considering you had a pretty hard week, I let you sleep in."
"Good man."
"I didn't think telling her you were in bed with a concussion and a dozen stitches in your head was such a good idea." Jack replied jokingly.
"Not really. Is there any coffee left?"
"Sure, how do you want it?" Tony said, pushing up.
"Black, with a couple of aspirins to go along."
"Where did you put those?" Jack asked, knowing the doctor had given him a strip.
"The breast pocket of my shirt."
Jack went into his bedroom and retrieved the strip of painkillers, taking it back to the kitchen. Molly tagged along with him, dancing around his feet.
He handed the painkillers to Kiefer, who popped two into his mouth and washed them down with some coffee.
"There's a healthy start of the day, aspirin and coffee." he sighed.
"How's your head?"
"It's still attached."
"Is your vision blurred?" Jack asked.
"No."
"Bright or dark spots flying across it?"
"No."
"Are your eyes painful?"
"No."
"Can you roll your head?"
He did.
"Can you follow my finger with your eyes?"
He did.
"Are you still feeling dizzy?"
"No."
"Feeling nauseous?"
"No."
"Do you remember what happened?"
"Not everything." Kiefer replied with a sigh.
"I was on the set, we were rolling and all of a sudden something hit me on the back of my head, I fell forward and rolled. I remember hearing a shot and I suppose that was you, you were yelling at someone, then there was another shot. The next thing I remember is you shaking me and I heard someone tell you to take me to hospital. You took me there by car and I think Jon was there as well, but I'm not sure. What happened at the hospital is a blur, a lot of voices, some tugging on my head, I suppose that's when they stitched the wound up. And the next time I woke up, you and Jon were there and you got a doctor to clear me because I wanted to come home."
He paused for a moment.
"How many stitches did you say?"
"Twelve." Jack replied quietly.
"But I think the guy put in a few extra to make sure it would hold, I didn't think the wound was that big."
"That's not a comfort."
"Okay in that case, I'm sure he spaced them out, he didn't seem too eager to waste too much time on you. I think it should've taken 20."
"Now that is a comfort." Kiefer chuckled.
"What are you planning on doing today? Do you still want to go see your daughter?"
"Yes." Kiefer replied without hesitation.
"Then I think you should give her a call, I promised you'd call as soon as you were up." Jack said, putting his phone down next to Kiefer's hand.
"I suppose nobody's coming to take Molly out."
"No, not when I'm not working. I'll have to take her in a minute."
"You call your daughter, I'll take care of Molly."
"Tony will stay here with you to make sure you're okay."
"Where's her leash and collar?"
"Molly, go get your leash." Kiefer said and she shot away at once.
Jack followed and found the leash hanging near the stairs, but to the side of it, a little hidden. He put her collar on and she shot down the stairs, eager to get out, and Jack followed her.
"Tony, you're on your own."
"Got it boss." Tony called back from the kitchen.
Jack woke up to a cold and wet nose nuzzling his cheek and he jumped up at once realizing it was Molly. She took off the moment she saw him move and darted into the hall and straight to Kiefer's room with Jack hot on her heels. Kiefer had gotten entangled in his sheets and was trying to tear free from them in his sleep and Jack ran up to the bed, placing his hands flat on Kiefer's shoulders, talking to him. He struggled a little longer, but Jack's voice finally broke through and he relaxed again, falling back to the mattress with a heavy sigh, followed by a soft moan when his injured head touched the pillow. Jack kept his hands on him for a moment longer, talking him down, until he was certain Kiefer was okay again.
He moved his hands, one to Kiefer's forehead to check his temperature, the other to his wrist to check his pulse.
His heart was beating fast, which was normal considering the stress, but the pulse was steady and strong. He was warm though, warmer than he should be and Jack went into the bathroom, looked through a few cabinets and drawers before he found what he was looking for and retrieved a washcloth, ran the cold water and soaked the cloth, then folded it, squeezing it a little to keep it from dripping and went back to the bed, placing the cold cloth on Kiefer's forehead. Molly jumped on the bed on the other side of Kiefer and put her head on his chest, resulting in a reflex from him, bringing his hand up and resting it on her side. It made Jack smile to see the dog was getting reactions out of Kiefer in his sleep and he leaned over to pet her, telling her she was a good girl for coming to get him. He stayed with them for a while, and refreshed the cloth once. He had found a thermometer in the bathroom and when he checked Kiefer's temperature nearly half an hour later, it was back to normal.
He took the cloth back, squeezed it as much as possible and hung it on the edge of the sink to let it dry, went back to the bed and brought the sheets up a little higher, petted Molly again and left. The display on Kiefer's bedside alarm clock told him it was just after three in the morning, he had a few more hours of sleep ahead of him.
They went by without another problem and Jack woke up to nature's call slightly after nine. He tended to his business and checked on Kiefer who was still sleeping soundly, Molly curled up in his arm. She lifted her head when Jack showed up in the door, but didn't move otherwise and Jack went into the living room, finding Tony slowly waking up.
"Morning." Tony yawned when he saw Jack walk in.
"How is he?"
"Still asleep. Did you get any?"
"I slept like a rock. That couch is pretty comfy." Tony joked.
"Bathroom?"
"First door on the left."
Tony stumbled down the hall and disappeared into the bathroom while Jack went into the kitchen to prepare some coffee. It being Saturday, he supposed Polly wouldn't come around to walk Molly today, so there was no coffee ready to be made. He found what he was looking for and switched the machine on. He retrieved two cups to start with, since he had no idea if Kiefer would be awake any time soon and set them on the table. Tony joined him moments later and sat down.
"Smells good."
"Don't shoot me if it doesn't taste that, I'm not used to making coffee."
"You can't do much wrong with coffee."
"Could be too strong or not strong enough."
"Right, but that won't kill you." Tony joked.
He was obviously not the cranky kind of guy in the morning.
"What's gonna happen today?"
"I don't know, I have no idea if he'll feel up for the trip."
"And even if he does, he might call it off to keep from worrying her."
"How would calling it off keep his daughter from worrying?"
"I'm sure he could come up with a good enough excuse. I'm not sure he wants her to know about what happened yesterday."
"What did?"
Jack came to the table with the steaming pot of coffee and filled the two cups, then returned the pot to the machine to keep it warm. Tony pulled one of the cups towards him, a grin on his face upon seeing it was a Cubs one and he took a careful sip of the coffee Jack had made. It was hot and strong, just the way he liked it.
Jack sat down opposite him and proceeded to explain what happened at the studios, about how he had gotten an instantaneous bad feeling and it had turned out to be right. The attack, Kiefer's life saving reflex, the flying trip to the hospital, he went over it again with Tony and he finally came to the conclusion he had done the right thing throughout the situation. His follow-up had been precise and accurate, his orders clear and specific, teams had been dispatched, suspects taken into custody and questioned, loose ends tied up.
He checked the time and called CTU. Much to his surprise he found Nina there.
She had no new information at the moment, but Princeton had been awake at some point during the night and an agent had been sent over to question him. Nothing much had come back from that because the agent was still at the hospital, waiting for Princeton to wake again so he could continue the interrogation.
Jamey had narrowed down the search to a five-block area and she had been working on it until three that morning. She had set her computer so it would send her a message if it encountered a problem or found what it was looking for and had gone home to get some sleep.
There was no new information on Bonney and nothing had come from the composite photos until that time.
Jack thanked her and ended the conversation, putting his phone down on the table.
It started to buzz almost at once and he picked it up again.
"Bauer."
"Who is this?" a young female voice asked.
"This is agent Jack Bauer." Jack replied, "Who am I speaking with?"
"I'm Sarah Sutherland, my dad called me from this number yesterday."
"Oh, hi." Jack said, realizing who he was talking to, "Yes, he had left his cellphone in his dressing room so I let him use mine."
"Who are you?"
"I'm protecting your father."
"Oh okay. Is he there?"
"He's still in bed."
"He is? I've been trying to reach him for the past hour or so, he said he wanted to spend some time with me today and you said it would be okay."
"That's right, but he worked pretty late last night and I didn't want to wake him up, he's had a tiring week."
"Yeah I know he's been pulling long hours lately."
"That's right, look, why don't I ask him to call you as soon as he's up?"
"That would be nice, thank you."
"No problem."
"It's agent Bauer right?" Sarah asked.
"That's right."
"Thank you … for protecting him." she said softly.
"You're welcome."
She hung up and Jack punched in another number, getting up from the table and moving into the living room.
"Hey dad." Kim answered on the second ring.
"Hey pumpkin." Jack said, feeling his heart leap at the sound of her voice.
"Where are you dad?"
"Working sweetie, Chapelle assigned me to protect someone."
"You mean like a bodyguard?" Kim interrupted him.
"That's right, like a bodyguard."
"That's awesome. Who is it?"
"I can't tell you sweetie." Jack replied, biting his lip.
She would die if he told her. She'd beg him to come pick her up and introduce her or bring him around to the house.
"Oh dad!."
"I'm sorry sweetie, I can't."
"When are you done?"
"As soon as I find who's after him and stop them."
"Could that be long?"
"It could be, but I've got everybody working on this, so it might not be."
"Why? Do you miss me?"
"What?" Kim exclaimed, "What was that? Do I miss you?"
"Dad, I can't believe you're asking. Off course I miss you."
"I miss you too sweetie. I promise I'll try to be home as soon as possible."
"Then why are you wasting time talking to me? Go catch those bad guys."
It cracked him up and when she heard him laugh, it set her off as well. It felt good to hear her laughter. He couldn't believe he hadn't called her in two days and he hadn't been home at all.
"Is your mom there?"
"No, she went out early this morning, she said she had a presentation."
"Could you give her a kiss from me and tell her I love her."
"Can I keep the kiss for myself and just tell her you love her?" Kim asked.
It felt so good to hear her react like this instead of rebelling against him.
"You can have a big kiss of your own sweetie … I love you."
"I love you too dad. See you soon."
She hung up and Jack let out a shallow sigh, fighting the urge to run downstairs, jump in his car and drive home to go give her that big kiss in person.
It took him a moment to get his feelings under control but when he turned to go back into the kitchen, his eyes caught movement down the hall and he spotted Kiefer coming out of his room. He pocketed his cell and met him halfway, offering his support which Kiefer took without hesitation. He was unsteady on his feet and preferred to be safe rather than sorry. If he was leaning on Jack, the chances of him breaking his face were brought down, to a minimum.
"How are you feeling?" Jack asked softly.
"I'm a little dizzy and I feel like I could faint any moment."
"Do you think it's a good idea to be up?"
"Probably not, but I hate being stuck in bed. I'm sure I'll feel better in a while."
They reached the kitchen and Kiefer took the chair Tony offered him.
"Besides, Sarah's waiting for me."
"What time is it anyway?"
"It's almost ten." Tony replied.
"Dammit."
"Don't worry, she called a short while ago." Jack said.
"She had been trying to reach you on your cell, but I suppose it's still in your dressing room at the studios and she ended up calling my number."
"Where did she-" Kiefer started, then stopped when he realized she got the number when he called her with Jack's phone the day before.
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her you had a late night and were still asleep. Considering you had a pretty hard week, I let you sleep in."
"Good man."
"I didn't think telling her you were in bed with a concussion and a dozen stitches in your head was such a good idea." Jack replied jokingly.
"Not really. Is there any coffee left?"
"Sure, how do you want it?" Tony said, pushing up.
"Black, with a couple of aspirins to go along."
"Where did you put those?" Jack asked, knowing the doctor had given him a strip.
"The breast pocket of my shirt."
Jack went into his bedroom and retrieved the strip of painkillers, taking it back to the kitchen. Molly tagged along with him, dancing around his feet.
He handed the painkillers to Kiefer, who popped two into his mouth and washed them down with some coffee.
"There's a healthy start of the day, aspirin and coffee." he sighed.
"How's your head?"
"It's still attached."
"Is your vision blurred?" Jack asked.
"No."
"Bright or dark spots flying across it?"
"No."
"Are your eyes painful?"
"No."
"Can you roll your head?"
He did.
"Can you follow my finger with your eyes?"
He did.
"Are you still feeling dizzy?"
"No."
"Feeling nauseous?"
"No."
"Do you remember what happened?"
"Not everything." Kiefer replied with a sigh.
"I was on the set, we were rolling and all of a sudden something hit me on the back of my head, I fell forward and rolled. I remember hearing a shot and I suppose that was you, you were yelling at someone, then there was another shot. The next thing I remember is you shaking me and I heard someone tell you to take me to hospital. You took me there by car and I think Jon was there as well, but I'm not sure. What happened at the hospital is a blur, a lot of voices, some tugging on my head, I suppose that's when they stitched the wound up. And the next time I woke up, you and Jon were there and you got a doctor to clear me because I wanted to come home."
He paused for a moment.
"How many stitches did you say?"
"Twelve." Jack replied quietly.
"But I think the guy put in a few extra to make sure it would hold, I didn't think the wound was that big."
"That's not a comfort."
"Okay in that case, I'm sure he spaced them out, he didn't seem too eager to waste too much time on you. I think it should've taken 20."
"Now that is a comfort." Kiefer chuckled.
"What are you planning on doing today? Do you still want to go see your daughter?"
"Yes." Kiefer replied without hesitation.
"Then I think you should give her a call, I promised you'd call as soon as you were up." Jack said, putting his phone down next to Kiefer's hand.
"I suppose nobody's coming to take Molly out."
"No, not when I'm not working. I'll have to take her in a minute."
"You call your daughter, I'll take care of Molly."
"Tony will stay here with you to make sure you're okay."
"Where's her leash and collar?"
"Molly, go get your leash." Kiefer said and she shot away at once.
Jack followed and found the leash hanging near the stairs, but to the side of it, a little hidden. He put her collar on and she shot down the stairs, eager to get out, and Jack followed her.
"Tony, you're on your own."
"Got it boss." Tony called back from the kitchen.
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