milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Jack's down in the bar, sitting at a booth with a cup of coffee to hand. He doesn't seem to be drinking it much, though; instead he's staring at the Observation window, his face blank. Nor does he seem to notice much of what else is going on in the bar.

Try not to startle him too badly.

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Kim comes downstairs with a book, 1984, and sits down across from him.

"Hi Dad," she says.

He turns his head quickly, a little startled. "Hey, Kim. What are you reading?" he says, trying to sound natural.

"Nineteen Eighty-Four. I think I read it before, but it's an interesting novel." She turns her head to look out the window. "It's hard to look away, sometimes."

"Yeah, it is," he says, though he hadn't really been watching the show outside the window. "Not exactly bedtime reading," he says, trying to focus on the book as memories from the night before start to crowd in. There's no way he can ever tell Kim about that.

"It doesn't really scare me," she shrugs. "There are a lot scarier stories."

He nods. "True. Though it's not exactly uplifitng either."

"No, it's not, but what I read doesn't affect how I really feel that much. How are you?"

"I'm okay," he says, moving his lips into a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm --," she starts, but something in his eyes stops her.

"Dad, are you positive you're okay?"

There's a moment before he nods in which he tries to think of a way he can answer so that she'll stop asking, and without telling her the whole truth. Though God, he hates himself for using the same tools he used back at CTU on her.

"It was just a rough night, last night. A number of us went up against the Other that was cursing people here in the bar. I didn't sleep well, either. I'll be okay, though, and I'm not hurt."

"You told me about the Other. But...if you didn't get hurt and I'm guessing you were successful, why aren't you..."

He sighs, closing his eyes for a moment, trying not to think about it, not wanting to break the numbness that he couldn't dispel. "We were successful. It was...it was just a rough night."

She puts down her book. Kim's seen her dad go through a lot and she can count the number of times she's seen this kind of reaction on one hand.

"Dad, what happened?" she asks softly.

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Nita's in a really good mood.

And though she doesn't know it, it's at least partly thanks to Jack.

She pauses as she passes by his booth, and gives him a concerned look. "Jack?"

He jumps slightly, startled by her voice.

"Hey, Nita. How're you?" he asks, trying to just sound polite.

"A lot better than you look. What happened?"

"Well, I guess you know about the Other. I went with the strike team. It was just...draining," he says, the description true enough. It does feel like something's been sucked out of him, that he can't seem to get emotional--happy or sad--about anything.

"The Other. . ." She frowns. "Isn't that. . . Wasn't that the person responsible for Tim dying, earlier in the year?"

Somehow, she's managed to see a curse firsthand and not know who caused it.

"Yeah, it was also the one cursing people for the past week or so."

Her focus sharpens abruptly.

"I see."

"So yeah, rough night," he says, flatly.

"Sounds like it." She leans against the booth. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Not really. Not now. What have you been up to?" he asks, trying to move the conversation to something else.

"Taking care of one of the people who got cursed. I assume it's the same set of curses, anyway."

Her eyes darken a little. "So if you helped stop that, thank you."

"Probably. I don't want to think that there might be more than one person cursing people in the bar," he says, though he can't feel anything near the same dread he usually would have at the thought.

"And you're welcome," he adds, after a moment. He forces a smile, hoping it passes muster.