Silent Partners
What is so important to you that without it, life is not worth living? Why?
It's been two days since they beat the odds and won the battle they weren't supposed to win, but two days later, Jimmy McCarron sits in the LAPD Robbery Homicide Squadroom at his desk and he is as concerned for the woman he loves as he was when they were out in the field and she had a gun to her head. Maybe even more so, because he knew what she'd do with the gun. He doesn't know what she'll do now.
He considers the evidence, like he always does, pretending it's not personal, though it obviously is. He knows her husband - her soulmate, the man she has pinned her identity to, his recent friend and confidante in the face of everything that had once been between them - didn't get on that plane coming home. He knows she locked herself in the back of the plane and wasn't heard from again until it landed. She hasn't said what happened there, but he didn't go back after her. Some might call it callous; he calls it letting her deal. He knows that she knows he is always behind her. It never has to be said or even shown; it just is what it is. They're different.
Still it concerns him. He knows how losing Michael crippled her once and how she swore - they both swore - it wouldn't happen again. He remembers wanting to kill the man for walking back into her life and turning it upside down again when he should have gotten it right the first time. He understands now the past there, but that doesn't make him accepting of it. This is too fragile a situation, this is too wrong a time for him to leave her like this. If McCarron had known what he was planning, he would have stopped it cold. But he didn't, and now Michael is gone and it could all go to hell. McCarron doesn't plan to simply lie in wait.
He's colluding with Frank Smith now, his old enemy, her old lover. It's his best move. He asked Frank to go over to CTU and see what the situation was. If he himself had gone, she would know why he had come. With Frank, it's just a friendly visit. Frank came back and reported that everything seemed to be okay, if she was a little busy. That's encouraging, but Jimmy McCarron is a born skeptic. She's too important to him for her to lose herself and for him to lose her. Like it or not, without her around, his world would be a shadow of itself and he realizes that now, with only a trace of the bitterness that once accompanied the thought.
He still loves her. He has never stopped loving her. All he did was put it aside because that's what's best for them. With Michael gone, he knows the opening is there, but he won't take it. He won't make a move as a temporary solution, won't let himself be used, won't use her like that. If he is ever to love her, it will be a lifelong thing. Not like this. But the feelings haven't died. They're just now used for other purposes. Right now, all he's concerned with is her and nothing else. He does his job, he lives his life, but she is always on his mind. Namely, what will happen to her if Michael Colefield fails her for the third time.
The old familiar urge to kill is in his veins again -- surging, crackling, sparking, burning.
And the man he once was is back with a vengeance.
It's been two days since they beat the odds and won the battle they weren't supposed to win, but two days later, Jimmy McCarron sits in the LAPD Robbery Homicide Squadroom at his desk and he is as concerned for the woman he loves as he was when they were out in the field and she had a gun to her head. Maybe even more so, because he knew what she'd do with the gun. He doesn't know what she'll do now.
He considers the evidence, like he always does, pretending it's not personal, though it obviously is. He knows her husband - her soulmate, the man she has pinned her identity to, his recent friend and confidante in the face of everything that had once been between them - didn't get on that plane coming home. He knows she locked herself in the back of the plane and wasn't heard from again until it landed. She hasn't said what happened there, but he didn't go back after her. Some might call it callous; he calls it letting her deal. He knows that she knows he is always behind her. It never has to be said or even shown; it just is what it is. They're different.
Still it concerns him. He knows how losing Michael crippled her once and how she swore - they both swore - it wouldn't happen again. He remembers wanting to kill the man for walking back into her life and turning it upside down again when he should have gotten it right the first time. He understands now the past there, but that doesn't make him accepting of it. This is too fragile a situation, this is too wrong a time for him to leave her like this. If McCarron had known what he was planning, he would have stopped it cold. But he didn't, and now Michael is gone and it could all go to hell. McCarron doesn't plan to simply lie in wait.
He's colluding with Frank Smith now, his old enemy, her old lover. It's his best move. He asked Frank to go over to CTU and see what the situation was. If he himself had gone, she would know why he had come. With Frank, it's just a friendly visit. Frank came back and reported that everything seemed to be okay, if she was a little busy. That's encouraging, but Jimmy McCarron is a born skeptic. She's too important to him for her to lose herself and for him to lose her. Like it or not, without her around, his world would be a shadow of itself and he realizes that now, with only a trace of the bitterness that once accompanied the thought.
He still loves her. He has never stopped loving her. All he did was put it aside because that's what's best for them. With Michael gone, he knows the opening is there, but he won't take it. He won't make a move as a temporary solution, won't let himself be used, won't use her like that. If he is ever to love her, it will be a lifelong thing. Not like this. But the feelings haven't died. They're just now used for other purposes. Right now, all he's concerned with is her and nothing else. He does his job, he lives his life, but she is always on his mind. Namely, what will happen to her if Michael Colefield fails her for the third time.
The old familiar urge to kill is in his veins again -- surging, crackling, sparking, burning.
And the man he once was is back with a vengeance.