milliways_bar | (no subject)

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Rolling Stones - Time Is On My Side

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Jack has a tough choice.

He wants to read. Fine. Not a problem. He'd also like a drink. Also not a problem, as the bar is just downstairs.

Except he's not about to go wandering around the bar with a copy of Pride and Prejudice in his hand. Not only that, (and he's not quite sure how he knows this) he has a pretty good idea that the bar will know whether he's actually finished the book yet, and isn't likely to give him another until he does. And he's definitely not finished yet.

The drink wins out. Besides, he's in a good mood, and could use a little conversation tonight. Shoving the book under his bed, he walks down to the bar and takes a seat.

"A beer, please." And for once, she actually gives him exactly what he asked for. He's mindful of this, and thanks her, before taking a sip of his beer and glancing around the room.

[ooc: ~~Going to go watch Jon Stewart--be back in a half hour.~~ Back! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I am not feeling suicidal today. I am not feeling suicidal today. I’m just gonna go say hi to Jack and act normal.

Tony takes a deep breath and finishes off his orange juice. He walks up to the bar and takes a seat next to Jack. “Hello, Jack.”

Jack turns to see Tony sitting next to him. "Hey, Tony. How're you?"

“I’m fine, Jack. How’re you doing?” He looks down to the bar. “A…coke, please.” A glass of fizzy dark liquid appears.

"Fine. What have you been up to?"

You don’t wanna know.

“Not much. You?”

"Same. Reading, mostly."

“What book did the bar give you?” He searches for a piece of literature, and finds none. Alas.

"Goldfinger. Not sure that would ahve been my first choice..." Tony seems rather quiet, again, which is a bit odd when it's Tony who's been starting these conversations. "So who have you been talking to recently? Met anyone interesting?"

“Nobody new. Well, I did talk to a guy I’d never met before about forming a baseball team here, and one of my friends, Claire, had a baby, so I’ve met her son…other than that, just spending time with my other friends.”

Like Jack’s daughter.

Jack nods. "Yeah, I'd heard about the new addition to the bar; then again, if what I've heard is true, I doubt anyone would have missed it. By the way, have you talked to Kim today?"

Tony’s eyes go wide. He turns his head in the direction of his glass and starts to scratch his neck. “No. Why?”

Jack cathces Tony's sudden glance toward his drink--just a little too fast to be natural. Weird. "I was talking to her earlier and...well, I think I upset her. I just wanted to know if you'd seen her, if she seemed okay."

“No, Jack, I haven’t seen her today. But if you’d like I can check up on her when I see her next. Whenever I see her next.” Tony hand stays on his neck.

Jack's not sure if that's meant to be a pointed comment or not--it certainly sounds tense enough to be. "You don't need to check up on her. I'll just keep an eye out for her." He notices Tony keeps rubbing his neck, around that scar where he was shot. It's weird, and he's not entirely sure whether Tony realizes what he's doing. "Your neck bothering you?"

“What?” Tony looks up at Jack, his hand still clasped to his neck.

Jack looksat him with slight curiosity. "You're rubbing your neck. I was just wondering if it was hurting." He pauses a moment. "Is there something wrong, Tony?" he asks, concerned now.

Tony’s face contorts in something that may communicate an “oh noes” to the observant eye. “No,” he says quickly, rubbing his neck furiously before he puts his hand down next to the soda glass. “I just didn’t sleep well, that’s all.”

Jack looks at Tony carefully. Something is definitely up; he wouldn't have needed any of his experience in interrogations to know that. But as he can see it, he has two choices: pretend nothing is going on, or push the issue. If he pretends, there's no chance that Tony will let anything out, and there's a risk of a repeat of last week's episode. If he pushes, he runs the risk of Tony geting pissed off and clamming up, with the added possibility of the same results as option #1. Great.

He'd like to pretend that he can do this the same way he'd treat a suspect in an interrogation, but he doesn't have as much latitude as in that scenario.

"Any particular reason you didn't sleep well?" he asks, trying to sound understanding.

Actually, he slept just fine, Jack, although he was a little worried about your daughter and why she wouldn’t talk to him last night. Otherwise his sleep was uninterrupted, and he woke up feeling refreshed, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with his neck except for the scar he received as a souvenir for vascular surgery.

“Stayed up too late,” he says.

Okay, it's pretty obvious Tony's lying. In an interrogation, this is about the point where Jack would pull out his gun, if not to use it (though sometimes that's an option too), then for effect. Though of course Tony probably wouldn't be cowed if Jack did pull out a gun, and besides, the bar apparently won't let Jack have his. This is probably a good thing.

Push or ignore? Jack debates the question and decides to back off. "Yeah, time can really get away from you in this place."

Sweet quasi-relief. Jack isn’t pushing, but it’s fairly obvious he isn’t buying the story. Tony’s not sure what Jack suspects at this moment. As long as Jack’s suspicions don’t involve Kim, Tony can sleep well at night. “So how are you and Audrey doing?”

"Okay. She came by the other night, and we just had a normal talk." He's not sure about saying much more than that; it probably wouldn't be a good idea to start talking about romance to someone who hasn't been divorced all that long.

“She’s not bound to the bar, is she?”

"No, she can still come and go. Which makes me wonder why she can come here at all."

He shrugs. “Most people I’ve talked to say there’s some kind of function to this bar. Maybe the bar lets her in because of you?”

"Yeah, that's what I've been thinking. Though I'm not sure how happy I am with that idea."

“What’s the problem?”

Jack pauses for a moment, trying to think of how to put this in words. "I don't want her to feel obligated to come just because I'm stuck here."

“Well, Jack, she probably doesn’t feel obligated. She probably visits you because she knows you miss her.”

"I just don't want her to only be visiting because of that, though. I want her to come because she wants to." He's not having this conversation. Especially not with Tony of all people. This is a dream, really.

“Well, ah, I’ve seen Audrey come in here by herself sometimes and sit at the bar. She doesn’t look like a woman who doesn’t want to be here. And, anyway, maybe you’re part of the reason why she wants to come here so often.”

He nods, still not entirely believing that they're having this conversation. Jack could have counted the number of times Tony had talked to him about his relationship with Michelle on one hand. Then again, considering they had all worked together...

"Yeah, maybe."

He twitches the edges of his lips in a semi-grin. Jack looks disbelieving. Tony quickly realizes why: he hasn’t been very open talking about his own relationships. Why was he giving Jack some advice all of a sudden?

Could it possibly be that he was in a relationship with Jack’s daughter? Heavens, no! Who would think such an absurd thing?

Somebody who could add one and one and get two.

Jack wasn’t an idiot. He might be taken off guard, but eventually he’d catch on. He’d start drilling the question of why Tony was so talkative until he hit the core. By then he’d know too much, and if Tony hadn’t already escaped to the mountains by then he most certainly would be dead.

If only his relationship with Kim didn’t have such drastic consequences as death. It was almost-kind-of-sort-of-not-really not worth it. Definitely not worth it if being with Kim didn’t feel so good. But now he’s starting to question the validity of his brash claims of fearlessness in the face of Jack Bauer.

Tony’s eyes dart down for a second, and he lifts his fingers to his hand. One of them will be chewed. He picks his thumb. “You’re worrying too much, Jack.”

"Yeah, probably. So whatever happened to you and Claire? Have you seen her recently?" he asks, trying to shift attention back off himself--this isn't exactly something he wants to discuss at the moment. Particularly considreing the track record with relationships they both had.

Tony’s face returns to its shifty expression, and the hand returns to the neck. “I spoke with her today, actually. She had her son with her. Have you met him? His name is Seth.”

Jack notices that Tony's hand moves back to his neck once he mentions Claire; one of those unconscious nervous reactions that a good interrogator looks for. There's something going on, but Jack can't tell what it is yet. He needs to think about this.

"Yeah, briefly. He's a cute little guy."

Tony begins to rub his neck harder. He needs to leave. “Well, ah, I think I’m gonna head upstairs and go to sleep. Didn’t sleep well, you know.” Tony slides out of his chair and walks away without waving goodbye. Now both hands are pressed against his neck.

Jack watched Tony go wiht growing suspicion. Something is up. Something Tony definitely doesn't want to talk to Jack about.

Jack rubs his face with both hands, trying to clear his head, to think. But his brain is feeling fuzzy with lack of sleep, and there's something he's missing. Some piece that's not in place yet.

He shakes his head, sliding off his stool and heading up the stairs to his room. He'll try and get some sleep--when he's more alert, the answer will come more easily.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only