24: The Playground (1/1)
Jun. 3rd, 2007 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
knitwitficsFandom: 24
Characters: Kim Bauer, Jack Bauer
Rating: PG
Summary: Kim gets a surprise visitor a few weeks after the end of Season 4. Written for a challenge given by <lj user="catch22girl">.
Originally written: August 10, 2005
Characters: Kim Bauer, Jack Bauer
Rating: PG
Summary: Kim gets a surprise visitor a few weeks after the end of Season 4. Written for a challenge given by <lj user="catch22girl">.
Originally written: August 10, 2005
Kim plunks herself on the bench, waving to Angela as the little girl tears off on her chubby little legs toward the toddlers’ playset at the park. She pulls her denim jacket a little tighter around herself; she hasn’t been able to get warm for a month and half now. Not since that morning Tony showed up on her doorstep, naked dread on his face. She cried that morning, and hasn’t cried since.
At the very least, Chase will be proud of her for getting out of the house, for getting up and having a shower and getting dressed and actually styling her hair somewhat. It was more than she’d be able to manage a week ago, twice as much as she’d managed the week before that.
She’d always secretly known she’d never have to worry about seeing her father getting older, finding him a retirement home, hearing that he had arthritis, or cancer, or Alzheimer’s. She’d always known that the job would kill him long before time ever could. The job he was supposed to have left; but then that was her father, never able to stand back and let other people do the work. There were times when she was so proud of him for that, that drive to help, and there were just as many times in the last few weeks where she wanted him back just so she could scream at him, punch him. Were all those people he’d never met really more important than being there for her?
She’s about to go get Angela and take her back home when a soft voice speaks up from the other end of the bench. “Don’t turn around. Just keep watching Angela.”
For a moment she wonders if she’s lost it. No one has a voice like that, no one except-- She glances to the side, and she can make out the familiar features, despite the baseball cap pulled low on his head. In an instant she’s filled with the urge to either hug him fiercely or hit him, she’s not sure which. Maybe she’d do both if she could move right now.
“Dad? Why--?”
“I don’t have much time to explain. I didn’t have a choice, sweetheart.”
“But--but Tony said-- The funeral--”
“It was the only way to keep you safe,” he says, and she can hear so much hurt behind his words he’s finding it hard to be angry with him. “I just...I love you. I’ll talk to you soon. Wait here for another five minutes before you go. You need to get some fresh air, anyway.”
She follows his dark coat with her peripheral vision as he leaves the park. She wants to run after him, but she forces herself to sit there for a full five minutes before she calls Angela. Angela doesn’t come, not surprisingly. Well into the terrible twos, Angela enjoyed pushing boundaries as much as her grandfather had.
Kim stands to physically drag Angie off the playground equipment, when she notices the package next to her on the bench, wrapped in plain, brown paper. She grabs it, then hurries over to Angela, carrying the screaming toddler back to the car.
It’s only when Angela has finally stopped her temper tantrum and is down for a nap that she opens the parcel. Tucked in the folds of paper are two books: Goodnight Moon and Where the Sidewalk Ends. A slip of paper is place between the two books, a phone number and address written on it.
She tucks the paper inside one of the books, hugs the books to her chest and lets herself cry.
At the very least, Chase will be proud of her for getting out of the house, for getting up and having a shower and getting dressed and actually styling her hair somewhat. It was more than she’d be able to manage a week ago, twice as much as she’d managed the week before that.
She’d always secretly known she’d never have to worry about seeing her father getting older, finding him a retirement home, hearing that he had arthritis, or cancer, or Alzheimer’s. She’d always known that the job would kill him long before time ever could. The job he was supposed to have left; but then that was her father, never able to stand back and let other people do the work. There were times when she was so proud of him for that, that drive to help, and there were just as many times in the last few weeks where she wanted him back just so she could scream at him, punch him. Were all those people he’d never met really more important than being there for her?
She’s about to go get Angela and take her back home when a soft voice speaks up from the other end of the bench. “Don’t turn around. Just keep watching Angela.”
For a moment she wonders if she’s lost it. No one has a voice like that, no one except-- She glances to the side, and she can make out the familiar features, despite the baseball cap pulled low on his head. In an instant she’s filled with the urge to either hug him fiercely or hit him, she’s not sure which. Maybe she’d do both if she could move right now.
“Dad? Why--?”
“I don’t have much time to explain. I didn’t have a choice, sweetheart.”
“But--but Tony said-- The funeral--”
“It was the only way to keep you safe,” he says, and she can hear so much hurt behind his words he’s finding it hard to be angry with him. “I just...I love you. I’ll talk to you soon. Wait here for another five minutes before you go. You need to get some fresh air, anyway.”
She follows his dark coat with her peripheral vision as he leaves the park. She wants to run after him, but she forces herself to sit there for a full five minutes before she calls Angela. Angela doesn’t come, not surprisingly. Well into the terrible twos, Angela enjoyed pushing boundaries as much as her grandfather had.
Kim stands to physically drag Angie off the playground equipment, when she notices the package next to her on the bench, wrapped in plain, brown paper. She grabs it, then hurries over to Angela, carrying the screaming toddler back to the car.
It’s only when Angela has finally stopped her temper tantrum and is down for a nap that she opens the parcel. Tucked in the folds of paper are two books: Goodnight Moon and Where the Sidewalk Ends. A slip of paper is place between the two books, a phone number and address written on it.
She tucks the paper inside one of the books, hugs the books to her chest and lets herself cry.
