What she knows pt 5
Jack:
Breathing heavily he collapses against the dumpster. Looking around the side of it, he sees the train tracks. The sky pitch black without even a star showing, he clicks the button on his watch to light the dial. He figures he has about an hour before the sun comes back up.
"Another day" he thinks.
Sitting back, he concentrates on taking shallow breaths. The pain in his shoulder and ribs stealing the well needed oxygen from his body. He'd been running for hours now. His throat is dry, his lips chapped and he feels every ache, pain, wound and bruise on his body.
Gripping the hem of his shirt he slowly raises it to inspect his injuries. The mottled dark purple skin on his side confirming his thought of at least one broken rib. With trembling fingers, he gently probes the purple skin. Hissing through clenched teeth he amends that thought, "Okay, so make that 3 broken".
Looking at his watch again, his eyes fall to his scarred hand. Absently rubbing the skin with his thumb he hopes he remembers. “Please Dinozzo, remember” he thinks. Using his thumb to trace the scars, he feels for the small disc he knows is there. Finding it between the bones of his hand he presses down hard. A gasp escaping his lips he feels the click as the disc presses against the bone.
Holding his hand up to his face, he can faintly make out the red glow coming through the skin. Closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the dumpster he thinks again, “Please remember”
June 2007
Jack sits up in bed with an anguished cry. Instantly he feels hands on his face. His own hands reach out and grip the wrists tightly as his mind tries to remember where he is. The soothing voice he hears brings him back to himself. “Chloe…?”
“It’s me Jack. You’re fine. You’re with me. We’re in Stillwater. You’re safe” She says.
He falls back to the bed. Letting go of Chloe’s wrists he chokes out “Did I hurt you?”
“No Jack, I’m fine.” She says
“Don’t worry Captain, that girl’s made of steel” He hears a strong voice say from the doorway.
Opening his eyes he sees Tony backlit by the hallway light. “Dinozzo....” he breathes out.
The man walks over to the other side of the bed. Sitting down on the edge, he places his hand on Jack’s chest. “I’m here brother. I’m here.” He whispers.
Exhaling, Jack places his hand over Tony’s. “Thank you..” He says. His voice rough from the scream that woke him, he looks down at their hands, he studies Tony’s long fingers under his own scarred hand.
Tony catches his eye and winks. “Just one more scar, Jack. Just one more” he whispers. Tony turns his hand over and clasps Jack’s hand strongly in his own. He leans in inches from Jack’s face. His green eyes stern as he jerks the hand in his to make sure Jack is looking at him. Squeezing his hand tightly he says through clenched teeth “We…. Will… Not… Ever… Let. ..This… Happen… To… You... Again.”
Jack watches Tony’s face as the man’s eyes close and he takes a deep breath before opening them again and continues “We put a tracker there the first night. Under the scar tissue…. If anything… I mean ANYTHING Jack, ever happens like this again, you are to activate it. Do I make myself clear?”
Jack stares incredulously into Tony’s eyes. “You didn’t..”
Sitting back up Tony says “I did. We did. Chloe did.” Releasing Jack’s hand, he runs his fingers through the other man’s sweaty blonde hair. Sighing he leans back in. His angry green eyes turning troubled as he whispers, “We will always come for you brother. Always.”
Jack closes his eyes and nods. “I’m sorry I woke you”.
With that the tension in the air dissipates and Tony chuckles, “You didn’t. I was letting Gibbs beat me at Chess”
“Let?? Let? Dinozzo??” A gruff voice says from the hallway. Gibbs walks in carrying a mug of coffee.
Jack can smell it as soon as he enters the room. He watches Gibbs cock his head to the side and without a word Chloe and Tony stand and exit the room. Firmly shutting the door Gibbs comes to stand beside him.
With a sigh and a shake of his head, Gibbs sits down and says “Jack….”
“I’m okay Jethro.” Jack sits up in the bed and props the pillows behind his back. In the 2 weeks he has been here, the Marine and he became fast friends. They shared the same pain radiating behind their matching blue eyes. As soon as Tony introduced him to Leroy Jethro Gibbs he knew he found a kindred soul.
Reaching for Gibbs’ coffee, he brings it to his lips and smirks as soon as the hot liquid hits his tongue.
“That’s not just coffee..”
Chuckling Gibbs says “nope”
With his own small laugh, Jack drains the cup.
“I figured you’d need more than the coffee”
With a nod, Jack gives his approval. He looks into the older man’s face and studies the lines he sees around his eyes.
“You look like shit Jethro”
Letting one of his rare full bodied laughs out, Gibbs shakes his head. “This coming from you?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Jack hands him back the mug.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Gibbs inquires
“No” Jack shakes his head. “They still come, but they’re getting better”
Gibbs nods and looks away. Placing the mug on the nightstand, he reaches over and cuffs Jack on the back of the head. “Go back to sleep Jack. In the morning, we have some things to talk about”
“Can you send Chloe back in?” Jack asks
Standing up, Gibbs gives Jack a look. “You know Jack, I always knew you had balls of steel, but to be in love with Dinozzo’s sister?” Gibbs shakes his head “Now that son, that right there is a death wish not even the Chinese can beat out of ya”
Surprising himself with a laugh, Jack nods his head “Tell me about it.” Sobering he looks back at Gibbs. “She’s saved my life so many times…”
Snorting, Gibbs opens the door and says as he walks out “Seems to be a Dinozzo family trait”
Opening his eyes, Jack stares into the darkness. He pinches the bridge of his nose as he pulls his knees to his chest. Resting his head on his knees he sighs as he remembers that summer in Stillwater.
His three best friends hovering around him like planets and he was the sun. After walking out on his debrief by Agent Ramirez, Jack had walked out onto the street and stood in the rain. His eyes closed and face pointing to the sky he felt his entire body aching to let the pain out. The pain in his chest from leaving Audrey at the Heller’s and the ache of seeing Curtis laying on the ground bloodied from his own bullet. The next feeling he had was of a small warm hand sliding into his. Looking down he saw Chloe. She didn’t say a word, just led him to her car. Buckling him in, she slid behind the wheel and started driving.
Relaxing in her presence his eyes drifted shut once again and the weight of the day leaked from his muscles. When he woke up the sun was just starting to peek out over the horizon. He heard Chloe’s voice as she whispered into her phone. He could only catch a few words “…… just entered Pennsylvania… 2 hours…”
Chloe glanced over to Jack, seeing he was awake, she gave him a small scowl before continuing. “He’s awake. We’ll be there soon. Thanks Tony”
Jack looked at her. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going home”
Looking out the window, Jack hesitated. In his mind he tried to decide if he should question this or go along with it. If he was honest with himself, he was too tired to fight it. He knew he would go anywhere she took him.
“Pennsylvania?” He said
“Yes.”
“Who’s Tony?”
“He’s my brother.”
“You have a brother?” He sat up straighter. “When did this happen?” he thought to himself.
“Yes, I have a brother. Well, a half- brother.” She looked at him warily.
“huh. I don’t remember that being in your file.”
Smirking, she looked at him. “You really think that I am not the one who wrote my file?”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “What’s his name?”
Looking at him again, she replied “Tony..”
“You said that already. What’s his full name?”
Biting her bottom lip she looked over at him quickly before looking at the road again. “Well, he’ll know soon anyway” she thought. She took a deep breath and said “Anthony Dinozzo Jr”
Blinking, Jack just looked at her. His eyes narrowed as he took in her nervousness. “Tony Dinozzo?” He said.
“Yes” she muttered
“First Lieutenant Anthony Dinozzo?”
“Yes!” She said louder
Shaking his head he tried to make sense of the connection in his head. “Anthony Dinozzo.. MY Anthony Dinozzo is your brother?”
“Well technically, he was MY Anthony Dinozzo first” she grumbled
Laughing, he raked his hand through his hair. “What a small world” he said as he looked back out the window.
“Not exactly” She whispered
Jack’s head whipped back around to her and studied her face. Her bottom lip was firmly between her teeth as she worriedly chewed on it. “Explain Chloe” He said in a low, dangerous voice.
Quickly glancing over at him she shook her head and turned her eyes back to the road. She gasped when his hand gripped her wrist and he said again “Explain Chloe”.
Hesitating, she looked back over at him. She saw confusion and anger in his blue eyes. She nodded quickly and started “Okay..”
Jack let go of her wrist and turned completely to watch her as she talked. “go on” he said.
“Tony’s father had an affair with my mom when he was young. We didn’t find out about each other until he was already a teenager. By then he was in military school and Daddy Dinozzo had already cut him off. Tony knew about me and sought me out.” She took a breath and quickly glanced at Jack. He was studying her curiously so she went on.
“I was a few years younger and Dinozzo didn’t recognize me as his kid either. I really didn’t care since I had heard about him from Mom already. She had married and my Dad accepted me as his without question. When Tony and I got closer, Mom and Dad accepted him too. When he came out of the Army and started the police academy, I stayed with him when I started college. Once he started undercover work, we thought it would be a good idea for us to keep the secret that we were related. I transferred to UC Davis, and eventually Tony started working for NCIS. Over the years we just thought considering our jobs and enemies, it was safer for each of us to keep our relationship just between us.”
Jack watched her as her story clicked into place. It made sense to him except for one part. “You knew Tony and I were in Delta together didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And you decided to still keep it a secret?” He asked.
“Yes. I knew most of that was classified. Tony has that part of his file sealed. I think only a few people know he was in the military.”
“That’s not why you kept it a secret is it Chloe?”
“No…”
Exasperated he growled, “Chloe…” This woman could be so maddening.
Sighing, she said “Once I graduated, Tony came out to California and helped me start my job hunt. I was really interested in the government side and was adamant that I go into the private sector.” She shrugged…. “But I’m stubborn.”
She looked at him with a smile. “I started going on interviews, and then Tony called me one day and said he had the perfect place for me to work. He said if I was still insisting on not working for a private company, then he wanted me to work somewhere he knew I would be …..” Chloe hesitantly looked over at Jack “…safe….”
“So, he told me about you, but said we should still keep our relationship a secret. He asked me to keep an eye on you. He didn’t want you to know because he didn’t want you to feel the need to protect me. And I wanted the job. I really wanted the job”
Shaking his head, Jack said “No matter who you are Chloe O’Brian, I will always protect you”. Thinking about Tony he thought “And Tony already knew that about me”.
Smirking she reached over and touched his hand. “As will I, Jack Bauer”
Squeezing her hand, Jack turned and looked back out the window. Watching as the sign for Stillwater passed by he heard her say “We’re here”
Lifting his head from the memory, he reaches up and wiping the sweat from his brow, he starts to stand. On shaky legs, his head swims, instantly bringing bile to his throat. Falling down to his knees he empties the meager contents of his stomach onto the dirt. His fists clenching, he feels himself losing his grip on consciousness. Just as his vision starts to go black, he feels strong hands grip him suddenly under his arms. A voice he hasn't heard in what feels like a lifetime hits his ears as he loses the battle to stay awake.
"..Jack!"
Breathing heavily he collapses against the dumpster. Looking around the side of it, he sees the train tracks. The sky pitch black without even a star showing, he clicks the button on his watch to light the dial. He figures he has about an hour before the sun comes back up.
"Another day" he thinks.
Sitting back, he concentrates on taking shallow breaths. The pain in his shoulder and ribs stealing the well needed oxygen from his body. He'd been running for hours now. His throat is dry, his lips chapped and he feels every ache, pain, wound and bruise on his body.
Gripping the hem of his shirt he slowly raises it to inspect his injuries. The mottled dark purple skin on his side confirming his thought of at least one broken rib. With trembling fingers, he gently probes the purple skin. Hissing through clenched teeth he amends that thought, "Okay, so make that 3 broken".
Looking at his watch again, his eyes fall to his scarred hand. Absently rubbing the skin with his thumb he hopes he remembers. “Please Dinozzo, remember” he thinks. Using his thumb to trace the scars, he feels for the small disc he knows is there. Finding it between the bones of his hand he presses down hard. A gasp escaping his lips he feels the click as the disc presses against the bone.
Holding his hand up to his face, he can faintly make out the red glow coming through the skin. Closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the dumpster he thinks again, “Please remember”
June 2007
Jack sits up in bed with an anguished cry. Instantly he feels hands on his face. His own hands reach out and grip the wrists tightly as his mind tries to remember where he is. The soothing voice he hears brings him back to himself. “Chloe…?”
“It’s me Jack. You’re fine. You’re with me. We’re in Stillwater. You’re safe” She says.
He falls back to the bed. Letting go of Chloe’s wrists he chokes out “Did I hurt you?”
“No Jack, I’m fine.” She says
“Don’t worry Captain, that girl’s made of steel” He hears a strong voice say from the doorway.
Opening his eyes he sees Tony backlit by the hallway light. “Dinozzo....” he breathes out.
The man walks over to the other side of the bed. Sitting down on the edge, he places his hand on Jack’s chest. “I’m here brother. I’m here.” He whispers.
Exhaling, Jack places his hand over Tony’s. “Thank you..” He says. His voice rough from the scream that woke him, he looks down at their hands, he studies Tony’s long fingers under his own scarred hand.
Tony catches his eye and winks. “Just one more scar, Jack. Just one more” he whispers. Tony turns his hand over and clasps Jack’s hand strongly in his own. He leans in inches from Jack’s face. His green eyes stern as he jerks the hand in his to make sure Jack is looking at him. Squeezing his hand tightly he says through clenched teeth “We…. Will… Not… Ever… Let. ..This… Happen… To… You... Again.”
Jack watches Tony’s face as the man’s eyes close and he takes a deep breath before opening them again and continues “We put a tracker there the first night. Under the scar tissue…. If anything… I mean ANYTHING Jack, ever happens like this again, you are to activate it. Do I make myself clear?”
Jack stares incredulously into Tony’s eyes. “You didn’t..”
Sitting back up Tony says “I did. We did. Chloe did.” Releasing Jack’s hand, he runs his fingers through the other man’s sweaty blonde hair. Sighing he leans back in. His angry green eyes turning troubled as he whispers, “We will always come for you brother. Always.”
Jack closes his eyes and nods. “I’m sorry I woke you”.
With that the tension in the air dissipates and Tony chuckles, “You didn’t. I was letting Gibbs beat me at Chess”
“Let?? Let? Dinozzo??” A gruff voice says from the hallway. Gibbs walks in carrying a mug of coffee.
Jack can smell it as soon as he enters the room. He watches Gibbs cock his head to the side and without a word Chloe and Tony stand and exit the room. Firmly shutting the door Gibbs comes to stand beside him.
With a sigh and a shake of his head, Gibbs sits down and says “Jack….”
“I’m okay Jethro.” Jack sits up in the bed and props the pillows behind his back. In the 2 weeks he has been here, the Marine and he became fast friends. They shared the same pain radiating behind their matching blue eyes. As soon as Tony introduced him to Leroy Jethro Gibbs he knew he found a kindred soul.
Reaching for Gibbs’ coffee, he brings it to his lips and smirks as soon as the hot liquid hits his tongue.
“That’s not just coffee..”
Chuckling Gibbs says “nope”
With his own small laugh, Jack drains the cup.
“I figured you’d need more than the coffee”
With a nod, Jack gives his approval. He looks into the older man’s face and studies the lines he sees around his eyes.
“You look like shit Jethro”
Letting one of his rare full bodied laughs out, Gibbs shakes his head. “This coming from you?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Jack hands him back the mug.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Gibbs inquires
“No” Jack shakes his head. “They still come, but they’re getting better”
Gibbs nods and looks away. Placing the mug on the nightstand, he reaches over and cuffs Jack on the back of the head. “Go back to sleep Jack. In the morning, we have some things to talk about”
“Can you send Chloe back in?” Jack asks
Standing up, Gibbs gives Jack a look. “You know Jack, I always knew you had balls of steel, but to be in love with Dinozzo’s sister?” Gibbs shakes his head “Now that son, that right there is a death wish not even the Chinese can beat out of ya”
Surprising himself with a laugh, Jack nods his head “Tell me about it.” Sobering he looks back at Gibbs. “She’s saved my life so many times…”
Snorting, Gibbs opens the door and says as he walks out “Seems to be a Dinozzo family trait”
Opening his eyes, Jack stares into the darkness. He pinches the bridge of his nose as he pulls his knees to his chest. Resting his head on his knees he sighs as he remembers that summer in Stillwater.
His three best friends hovering around him like planets and he was the sun. After walking out on his debrief by Agent Ramirez, Jack had walked out onto the street and stood in the rain. His eyes closed and face pointing to the sky he felt his entire body aching to let the pain out. The pain in his chest from leaving Audrey at the Heller’s and the ache of seeing Curtis laying on the ground bloodied from his own bullet. The next feeling he had was of a small warm hand sliding into his. Looking down he saw Chloe. She didn’t say a word, just led him to her car. Buckling him in, she slid behind the wheel and started driving.
Relaxing in her presence his eyes drifted shut once again and the weight of the day leaked from his muscles. When he woke up the sun was just starting to peek out over the horizon. He heard Chloe’s voice as she whispered into her phone. He could only catch a few words “…… just entered Pennsylvania… 2 hours…”
Chloe glanced over to Jack, seeing he was awake, she gave him a small scowl before continuing. “He’s awake. We’ll be there soon. Thanks Tony”
Jack looked at her. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going home”
Looking out the window, Jack hesitated. In his mind he tried to decide if he should question this or go along with it. If he was honest with himself, he was too tired to fight it. He knew he would go anywhere she took him.
“Pennsylvania?” He said
“Yes.”
“Who’s Tony?”
“He’s my brother.”
“You have a brother?” He sat up straighter. “When did this happen?” he thought to himself.
“Yes, I have a brother. Well, a half- brother.” She looked at him warily.
“huh. I don’t remember that being in your file.”
Smirking, she looked at him. “You really think that I am not the one who wrote my file?”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “What’s his name?”
Looking at him again, she replied “Tony..”
“You said that already. What’s his full name?”
Biting her bottom lip she looked over at him quickly before looking at the road again. “Well, he’ll know soon anyway” she thought. She took a deep breath and said “Anthony Dinozzo Jr”
Blinking, Jack just looked at her. His eyes narrowed as he took in her nervousness. “Tony Dinozzo?” He said.
“Yes” she muttered
“First Lieutenant Anthony Dinozzo?”
“Yes!” She said louder
Shaking his head he tried to make sense of the connection in his head. “Anthony Dinozzo.. MY Anthony Dinozzo is your brother?”
“Well technically, he was MY Anthony Dinozzo first” she grumbled
Laughing, he raked his hand through his hair. “What a small world” he said as he looked back out the window.
“Not exactly” She whispered
Jack’s head whipped back around to her and studied her face. Her bottom lip was firmly between her teeth as she worriedly chewed on it. “Explain Chloe” He said in a low, dangerous voice.
Quickly glancing over at him she shook her head and turned her eyes back to the road. She gasped when his hand gripped her wrist and he said again “Explain Chloe”.
Hesitating, she looked back over at him. She saw confusion and anger in his blue eyes. She nodded quickly and started “Okay..”
Jack let go of her wrist and turned completely to watch her as she talked. “go on” he said.
“Tony’s father had an affair with my mom when he was young. We didn’t find out about each other until he was already a teenager. By then he was in military school and Daddy Dinozzo had already cut him off. Tony knew about me and sought me out.” She took a breath and quickly glanced at Jack. He was studying her curiously so she went on.
“I was a few years younger and Dinozzo didn’t recognize me as his kid either. I really didn’t care since I had heard about him from Mom already. She had married and my Dad accepted me as his without question. When Tony and I got closer, Mom and Dad accepted him too. When he came out of the Army and started the police academy, I stayed with him when I started college. Once he started undercover work, we thought it would be a good idea for us to keep the secret that we were related. I transferred to UC Davis, and eventually Tony started working for NCIS. Over the years we just thought considering our jobs and enemies, it was safer for each of us to keep our relationship just between us.”
Jack watched her as her story clicked into place. It made sense to him except for one part. “You knew Tony and I were in Delta together didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And you decided to still keep it a secret?” He asked.
“Yes. I knew most of that was classified. Tony has that part of his file sealed. I think only a few people know he was in the military.”
“That’s not why you kept it a secret is it Chloe?”
“No…”
Exasperated he growled, “Chloe…” This woman could be so maddening.
Sighing, she said “Once I graduated, Tony came out to California and helped me start my job hunt. I was really interested in the government side and was adamant that I go into the private sector.” She shrugged…. “But I’m stubborn.”
She looked at him with a smile. “I started going on interviews, and then Tony called me one day and said he had the perfect place for me to work. He said if I was still insisting on not working for a private company, then he wanted me to work somewhere he knew I would be …..” Chloe hesitantly looked over at Jack “…safe….”
“So, he told me about you, but said we should still keep our relationship a secret. He asked me to keep an eye on you. He didn’t want you to know because he didn’t want you to feel the need to protect me. And I wanted the job. I really wanted the job”
Shaking his head, Jack said “No matter who you are Chloe O’Brian, I will always protect you”. Thinking about Tony he thought “And Tony already knew that about me”.
Smirking she reached over and touched his hand. “As will I, Jack Bauer”
Squeezing her hand, Jack turned and looked back out the window. Watching as the sign for Stillwater passed by he heard her say “We’re here”
Lifting his head from the memory, he reaches up and wiping the sweat from his brow, he starts to stand. On shaky legs, his head swims, instantly bringing bile to his throat. Falling down to his knees he empties the meager contents of his stomach onto the dirt. His fists clenching, he feels himself losing his grip on consciousness. Just as his vision starts to go black, he feels strong hands grip him suddenly under his arms. A voice he hasn't heard in what feels like a lifetime hits his ears as he loses the battle to stay awake.
"..Jack!"