Waiting Room
Title: Waiting Room
Author: Cybertooth Tiger
Rating: G
Summary: Jack waits for someone. Possible spoilers for S9.4.
Characters: Jack and the someone.
A/N: I don’t own anything from 24.
The quiet of the room was getting to him. Jack could hear the occasional murmur of the Secret Service agent stationed outside the door, and the soft swish of people walking down the hotel corridor. There were traffic noises from the street, of course. But inside the room, it was quiet.
Just him and his stomach.
His stomach was gurgling. Not from hunger, although he didn’t remember how long it was since he last ate. The squat hadn’t exactly been up to the British standard for bed and breakfast. Didn’t matter. He couldn’t have eaten now, anyway.
He was waiting for her. Audrey.
Unconsciously, he massaged the hand that Cheng had burned. The scars had faded, at least on the outside.
Audrey. Cheng. Audrey.
Now it was his throat that was acting up. He sniffed, swallowed. Looked unseeing at the ceiling for a minute.
“I love you with my whole heart.” That’s the last thing he’d said to her. He had meant it at the time, but now he wondered if it was true. Cheng had taken away her life, and he hadn’t sought vengeance.
He hadn’t done anything - just kissed her and walked away. The fact that he couldn’t even find himself when he got back from China was no excuse. He should have looked for the people responsible, should have done something, anything, to make it right. He owed her so much, and all she had received in return was pain.
At least she was alive. Walking away had accomplished that much.
He knew, now, that vengeance wouldn’t have changed anything anyway. All it did was hurt the few remaining people who cared about him.
The last thing, the very last thing he wanted was for her to be drawn back into the sucking vortex of his life. But here he was, and any minute she would walk through that door.
His stomach clenched, and he waited.
Author: Cybertooth Tiger
Rating: G
Summary: Jack waits for someone. Possible spoilers for S9.4.
Characters: Jack and the someone.
A/N: I don’t own anything from 24.
The quiet of the room was getting to him. Jack could hear the occasional murmur of the Secret Service agent stationed outside the door, and the soft swish of people walking down the hotel corridor. There were traffic noises from the street, of course. But inside the room, it was quiet.
Just him and his stomach.
His stomach was gurgling. Not from hunger, although he didn’t remember how long it was since he last ate. The squat hadn’t exactly been up to the British standard for bed and breakfast. Didn’t matter. He couldn’t have eaten now, anyway.
He was waiting for her. Audrey.
Unconsciously, he massaged the hand that Cheng had burned. The scars had faded, at least on the outside.
Audrey. Cheng. Audrey.
Now it was his throat that was acting up. He sniffed, swallowed. Looked unseeing at the ceiling for a minute.
“I love you with my whole heart.” That’s the last thing he’d said to her. He had meant it at the time, but now he wondered if it was true. Cheng had taken away her life, and he hadn’t sought vengeance.
He hadn’t done anything - just kissed her and walked away. The fact that he couldn’t even find himself when he got back from China was no excuse. He should have looked for the people responsible, should have done something, anything, to make it right. He owed her so much, and all she had received in return was pain.
At least she was alive. Walking away had accomplished that much.
He knew, now, that vengeance wouldn’t have changed anything anyway. All it did was hurt the few remaining people who cared about him.
The last thing, the very last thing he wanted was for her to be drawn back into the sucking vortex of his life. But here he was, and any minute she would walk through that door.
His stomach clenched, and he waited.