(Untitled)

[action_antihero]

July 18, 2012
4:34pmJack 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

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[caiti_c]

"I'm all right." There's a quick glance in Jack's direction before she looks back at the television, flipping around for something to watch. Caiti had been watching the news, or trying to, but she knew Chris didn't like watching it after hearing about it all day. Jack probably felt the same way. Besides, if she kept watching she'd start tearing up again and she didn't want to cry in front of some random person.

"How are you?" she asks, still clicking around before settling on a Harry Potter movie. It was the last one and she'd seen it about a hundred times by now but it made for good background noise. Something to focus on instead of thinking or talking.

[action_antihero]

"Okay. Getting some sleep helped," his eyes flicking to the TV screen briefly before going back to her. There's a moment of silence as he cradles his mug in his hands, before he asks, softly "Did Chris tell you about Henderson?"

[caiti_c]

Out of the corner of her eye, she looks at him and wonders what exactly he means. She takes a guess. "That he... died? Yeah. She did."

[action_antihero]

Jack nods. "Did she say why he took you?" He pauses for a moment, then adds, "Do you want to know?"

[caiti_c]

"I don't..." she thinks a moment, then shakes her head. "No. He didn't. He just told me that he knew you before. And my father."

[action_antihero]

Jack's a little surprised at that, though not much. It would make sense for Henderson to try and gain her trust by telling her that he knew her and Chappelle, to get her guard down. Of course somehow he doubts that Henderson told her the truth. "What did he say?"

[caiti_c]

"I don't really remember." That annoyed her. If she didn't remember she couldn't figure out why she trusted him in the first place. "He said something about you being fired from CTU and that you blamed him for it. Or something."

Caiti looks back at the television, watching the action onscreen for a minute or two before adding, "He told me he saved my life. From the bomb."

[action_antihero]

Jack lets out a snort. "He probably did, though I don't think that was his intention in getting you out of there. And he said I blamed him for my getting fired?"

He sighs, rubbing his forehead. "It was the other way around. I participated in an investigation into allegations that Henderson was selling government secrets to defense companies. This was about ten years ago now."

[caiti_c]

Maybe that should have explained everything but it didn't, only raised more questions. Caiti looks at him. "Why me? If he was mad at you... why would he..." Another pause as she tries to figure out exactly what she's trying to say, annoyed with her own inability to get the words out. "What did he want?"

[action_antihero]

"He wanted Chris and I to get a memory stick with recordings that proved he was involved with the terrorist attacks as well as...other things," Jack says, glancing down at his cooling coffee. "That opportunity to get to Chris--and through her get to me--was probably just an added bonus. Those recordings were his insurance with the people he was working with."

[caiti_c]

She notices the pause and considers letting it go. She doesn't want to, not when she might not have a chance like this in the future. "What other things?"

[action_antihero]

"He was behind a few things that happened to me a few months ago," he says, though he could probably come up with a passable reason for being sent to China that didn't involve telling her anything classified. "He was also responsible for putting nuclear bombs into terrorists' hands, and the assassination of David Palmer. He even tried to have me framed for Palmer's death, not that it worked," he says, a little sadly.

Even now, it's hard to believe that even though they hadn't talked in ten years, Henderson really hated him that much. Enough to have him tortured in China, to frame him for the murder of someone that Jack looked up to.

[caiti_c]

"I didn't know about the Palmer thing I..." she answers quietly, stopping because her throat is suddenly tight and it hurts to try and continue.

Instead she looks away, wiping away a few tears and letting the silence hover over them. It would be easier to leave the room, let the conversation drop and Caiti was just about ready to do that when another question comes to mind. "I met you before... didn't I? In Morocco?"

[action_antihero]

He's been waiting for that question since she came to stay with them and he'd decided that if she didn't ask it he was going to tell her today. He's not sure whether he's relieved that she was the first one to broach the subject or not.

"Yeah, you did. We played chess in a little restaurant in Fez. I was living under the name 'Frank Flynn' at the time."

[caiti_c]

Nodding along to his response, "That's what I thought."

This all seemed so weird to her that she almost has a hard time believing that it happened. It did. She knew that. But she couldn't make sense of any of it or understand how it could happen to her. "Why would you do that?"

[action_antihero]

"I was on an undercover assignment in Northern Africa. The last person I expected to meet was the sister of my contact at CTU," he says, taking a sip of his coffee.