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knitwitfics) wrote2007-06-03 09:37 pm
knitwitfics) wrote2007-06-03 09:37 pm
Entry tags:
24, Milliways: One Small Step (1/1)
Fandom: 24, Milliways
Characters: Jack Bauer, Christine Chappelle, Nita Callahan
Pairings: Jack/Chris
Rating: PG
Summary: A belated birthday present.
Challenges: Written as a birthday fic forbirdseyeview.
Originally written: September 18, 2005
Characters: Jack Bauer, Christine Chappelle, Nita Callahan
Pairings: Jack/Chris
Rating: PG
Summary: A belated birthday present.
Challenges: Written as a birthday fic for
birdseyeview.Originally written: September 18, 2005
Chris sits at the bar, picking at her salad. She hadn't asked for it, she'd only asked for a milkshake. Bar had given it to her anyway, though. She really shouldn't be surprised; Bar is well-known for trying to take care of the patrons, and Chris hasn't been eating much. Not for the last couple of days. Not since...
Not since her father left.
She swallows, trying to push down the feelings of loss, sorrow and guilt that inevitably come up when she thinks about it. Her Dad wouldn't want her to feel this way--he'd always seen guilt and regret as a waste of time. Though telling herself that didn't really help much.
She jumps as there's a soft touch on her back, a familiar voice just behind her shoulder speaking her name just before she turns. She finds the face she expected: Jack, looking tired and worn out. She hadn't seen him for a few days--for a while, actually. Since before her birthday, not surprisingly. She had the feeling he'd been holding back on purpose, and she's been a little grateful for that, even if she'd been a little hurt that he hadn't sent any word to her on her birthday. He certainly knew when it was.
"Sorry I startled you. Are you in the middle of eating?" he asks, softly.
"No, not really. What is it?" she says, pushing her plate away from her.
"I wanted to show you something," he says, holding out his hand.
"Okay." She takes his hand a little tentatively, and he leads her over to where the door is. Nita's standing there, holding her manual and watching them approach. Chris looks between her and Jack a little curiously. What exactly does he have planned?
Jack gives her a tiny smile. "I needed Nita's help for this. Everything ready?" he says, turning to Nita.
"Almost, I just need to get some information after we step through. Hey, Chris."
"Hi, Nita. Are you going to tell me what's going on? And I thought you'd gone home for a while?"
Nita grins. "I could, but Jack would probably find some way to get back at me. And I did, but I've been hopping in and out for the last couple days, and Jack said he needed my help with this so..." She shrugs. "Anyway, like I said, it's almost set up. Just follow me."
Chris blinks as Nita reaches out for the door that Chris can't see--or that she doesn't see, at least before the blink. Somehow in that split second, the door appears, and Nita's hand is on the handle. Nita opens the door, and Jack pulls Chris through, into what looks like the porch of an ordinary suburban house, looking out on the backyard. It doesn't seem like that much of a surprise. Actually, the only thing that seems odd is the temperature--it's a lot hotter here than it is back at Milliways.
"Is this your house?" she asks Nita, who's opening her manual and walking down the steps into the yard.
"Yeah, and no, this isn't what Jack wanted you to see. What's your full name?" Nita asks, walking toward where a circle of light is faintly glowing on the grass. Around the circle are graceful, swirling lines, similar-looking to Arabic, but not the same.
It's only the first of a barrage of questions, none of which seem to make a lot of sense. They certainly don't hint as to what the big surprise is.
After a couple minutes of scribbling and mumbling to herself, Nita pulls something out of the air, another glowing set of curving lines, adding those to the existing ones in the circle and looking up. "Okay, could both of you come over here and stand next to me?"
Chris looks up at Jack as they move, but he only smiles gently at her. If this is some practical joke, I'm going to kill him, she thinks.
Once they're arranged, Nita starts speaking, glancing occasionally at her manual. There's something about the way Nita's speaking that sounds different, like English but...not quite. But it's pleasing to listen to and Chris gradually has the feeling that everything around them is quieting so it can listen as well.
She doesn't have long to muse on the sound of it, however, before Jack leans closer to her, whispering in her ear. "Close your eyes." Chris looks at him in confusion, and he just smiles. Again. "Just trust me."
She sighs, closing her eyes, and she's even more aware of kind of a growing pressure around them, a low, white noise taht grows and grows. It grows almost deafening, but she can still hear Nita speaking.
Louder, louder, until there's a sound like a thunderclap and she grabs Jack's hand more tightly, not sure she wants to open her eyes, and finally...
Silence. Complete and utter silence unlike anything she's ever heard, as her feet hit...something. It doesn't feel like solid ground, but it's more solid than the nothingness that it replaces. Her body feels different too, lighter, though she's not sure if that's normal or some weird aftereffect of the spell.
"Keep your eyes closed for a minute. And you might want to try swallowing, the jump can upset your stomach, I've heard." She can feel Jack's hands on her shoulders, turning her a little to her right. "Okay, now open them."
She opens her eyes, blinking at the light for a moment before the realization of what she's seeing comes to her.
She's looking out at a grey landscape, grey mountains visible in the distance, though this area is relatively flat. In front of her is a large, leggy, spider-like thing, covered in sparkling, bronze-coloured metal.
The base of a Lunar Excursion Module.
"Welcome to Mare Tranquillitatis," Jack says softly from behind her, and she can hear the smile in his voice.
"Tranquillity Base," she whispers, stunned. She can see the Hasselblad camera that beamed footage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin back to earth, see the American flag on a long pole lying on the lunar surface, where it had been knocked over when the second stage of the LEM had taken off to head back to the rest of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. In her mind's eye she can see the familiar, grainy, black-and-white footage from that first broadcast from the Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin hopping around in their spacesu--
She whirls around, looking at Nita in confusion. "How can we breathe here?"
Nita grins. "I put an air bubble around us that also filters out the harmful wavelengths of the sun's radiation and keeps ambient temperature in the bubble at a comfortable level. Well, keeps it that way for about ten minutes. You might also want notice right now that you're not walking on the actual surface, but on a thin layer of air above it. We're in the Lunar Heritage Area, and we don't want to leave any footprints."
"They'd be kind of hard for future historians to explain," Jack says with a smirk.
Nita rolls her eyes. "Yeah, and knowing how much trouble Kit is in for scratching graffiti on moon rocks elsewhere, I don't want to risk getting in trouble for a few footprints." She glances at her manual for a second, then at her watch. "Almost time, Jack."
"Time for what?" Chris asks, but Jack just grins at her. "What, there's more?"
He points to the left of the base of the LEM. "Just watch over there. Should be any second now."
She looks along his arm, waiting for a moment. She's about to ask what she's watching for when she sees something slowly creeping above the lunar horizon.
Earthrise. A large half-circle, vibrant blue oceans mottled by streaks of white cloud; a large, fragile marble hanging in the darkness of space. She can see a curve of brown continent where the light gradually fades to black, the rest of the ball only dimly visible. She knows that all along that ridge of black, people are finishing their day, watching the sun set, getting ready for bed, the last routine in their routine day, just like any other. But somehow, to her, this day, every sunrise and sunset to come seems so much more special.
Her vision goes blurry, the blue-white ball distorting as tears fill her eyes, though she's smiling so hard it feels as though her face is going to crack.
"It's beautiful," she whispers.
"It's home," Jack says quietly, wrapping his arms around her from behind, and she can hear a kind of longing in his voice.
She turns around, briefly noticing that he has tears in his eyes before she wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you just doesn't cover it," she says, sniffling.
"I just...no matter what happens between us, I just wanted to give you a reason to smile."
Chris looks up at him, grinning. "Well you certainly did that." She glances over his shoulder and she can see Nita standing not far away, half-turned away from them. It's obvious that she's purposely not looking in their direction, as she has a mischevous grin on her face.
Chris turns back to Jack, kissing him lightly on the lips. "Thank you."
He grins, and kisses her back before turning her around and wrapping his arms around her from behind again so they can both watch the Earth rise higher above the horizon.
"Happy belated birthday, Chris."
[Photo of earthrise is from this page, taken by astronaut Jim Lovell on the Apollo 8 mission. A *really* interesting one is this image of earthrise taken from beside the LEM at Tranquillity Base, on the Apollo 11 mission. And because I don't have enough links here, check out page 2 of the Apollo 11 pics at the Project Apollo Image Gallery. (Sorry, everyone, my geek is showing)
Not since her father left.
She swallows, trying to push down the feelings of loss, sorrow and guilt that inevitably come up when she thinks about it. Her Dad wouldn't want her to feel this way--he'd always seen guilt and regret as a waste of time. Though telling herself that didn't really help much.
She jumps as there's a soft touch on her back, a familiar voice just behind her shoulder speaking her name just before she turns. She finds the face she expected: Jack, looking tired and worn out. She hadn't seen him for a few days--for a while, actually. Since before her birthday, not surprisingly. She had the feeling he'd been holding back on purpose, and she's been a little grateful for that, even if she'd been a little hurt that he hadn't sent any word to her on her birthday. He certainly knew when it was.
"Sorry I startled you. Are you in the middle of eating?" he asks, softly.
"No, not really. What is it?" she says, pushing her plate away from her.
"I wanted to show you something," he says, holding out his hand.
"Okay." She takes his hand a little tentatively, and he leads her over to where the door is. Nita's standing there, holding her manual and watching them approach. Chris looks between her and Jack a little curiously. What exactly does he have planned?
Jack gives her a tiny smile. "I needed Nita's help for this. Everything ready?" he says, turning to Nita.
"Almost, I just need to get some information after we step through. Hey, Chris."
"Hi, Nita. Are you going to tell me what's going on? And I thought you'd gone home for a while?"
Nita grins. "I could, but Jack would probably find some way to get back at me. And I did, but I've been hopping in and out for the last couple days, and Jack said he needed my help with this so..." She shrugs. "Anyway, like I said, it's almost set up. Just follow me."
Chris blinks as Nita reaches out for the door that Chris can't see--or that she doesn't see, at least before the blink. Somehow in that split second, the door appears, and Nita's hand is on the handle. Nita opens the door, and Jack pulls Chris through, into what looks like the porch of an ordinary suburban house, looking out on the backyard. It doesn't seem like that much of a surprise. Actually, the only thing that seems odd is the temperature--it's a lot hotter here than it is back at Milliways.
"Is this your house?" she asks Nita, who's opening her manual and walking down the steps into the yard.
"Yeah, and no, this isn't what Jack wanted you to see. What's your full name?" Nita asks, walking toward where a circle of light is faintly glowing on the grass. Around the circle are graceful, swirling lines, similar-looking to Arabic, but not the same.
It's only the first of a barrage of questions, none of which seem to make a lot of sense. They certainly don't hint as to what the big surprise is.
After a couple minutes of scribbling and mumbling to herself, Nita pulls something out of the air, another glowing set of curving lines, adding those to the existing ones in the circle and looking up. "Okay, could both of you come over here and stand next to me?"
Chris looks up at Jack as they move, but he only smiles gently at her. If this is some practical joke, I'm going to kill him, she thinks.
Once they're arranged, Nita starts speaking, glancing occasionally at her manual. There's something about the way Nita's speaking that sounds different, like English but...not quite. But it's pleasing to listen to and Chris gradually has the feeling that everything around them is quieting so it can listen as well.
She doesn't have long to muse on the sound of it, however, before Jack leans closer to her, whispering in her ear. "Close your eyes." Chris looks at him in confusion, and he just smiles. Again. "Just trust me."
She sighs, closing her eyes, and she's even more aware of kind of a growing pressure around them, a low, white noise taht grows and grows. It grows almost deafening, but she can still hear Nita speaking.
Louder, louder, until there's a sound like a thunderclap and she grabs Jack's hand more tightly, not sure she wants to open her eyes, and finally...
Silence. Complete and utter silence unlike anything she's ever heard, as her feet hit...something. It doesn't feel like solid ground, but it's more solid than the nothingness that it replaces. Her body feels different too, lighter, though she's not sure if that's normal or some weird aftereffect of the spell.
"Keep your eyes closed for a minute. And you might want to try swallowing, the jump can upset your stomach, I've heard." She can feel Jack's hands on her shoulders, turning her a little to her right. "Okay, now open them."
She opens her eyes, blinking at the light for a moment before the realization of what she's seeing comes to her.
She's looking out at a grey landscape, grey mountains visible in the distance, though this area is relatively flat. In front of her is a large, leggy, spider-like thing, covered in sparkling, bronze-coloured metal.
The base of a Lunar Excursion Module.
"Welcome to Mare Tranquillitatis," Jack says softly from behind her, and she can hear the smile in his voice.
"Tranquillity Base," she whispers, stunned. She can see the Hasselblad camera that beamed footage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin back to earth, see the American flag on a long pole lying on the lunar surface, where it had been knocked over when the second stage of the LEM had taken off to head back to the rest of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. In her mind's eye she can see the familiar, grainy, black-and-white footage from that first broadcast from the Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin hopping around in their spacesu--
She whirls around, looking at Nita in confusion. "How can we breathe here?"
Nita grins. "I put an air bubble around us that also filters out the harmful wavelengths of the sun's radiation and keeps ambient temperature in the bubble at a comfortable level. Well, keeps it that way for about ten minutes. You might also want notice right now that you're not walking on the actual surface, but on a thin layer of air above it. We're in the Lunar Heritage Area, and we don't want to leave any footprints."
"They'd be kind of hard for future historians to explain," Jack says with a smirk.
Nita rolls her eyes. "Yeah, and knowing how much trouble Kit is in for scratching graffiti on moon rocks elsewhere, I don't want to risk getting in trouble for a few footprints." She glances at her manual for a second, then at her watch. "Almost time, Jack."
"Time for what?" Chris asks, but Jack just grins at her. "What, there's more?"
He points to the left of the base of the LEM. "Just watch over there. Should be any second now."
She looks along his arm, waiting for a moment. She's about to ask what she's watching for when she sees something slowly creeping above the lunar horizon.
Earthrise. A large half-circle, vibrant blue oceans mottled by streaks of white cloud; a large, fragile marble hanging in the darkness of space. She can see a curve of brown continent where the light gradually fades to black, the rest of the ball only dimly visible. She knows that all along that ridge of black, people are finishing their day, watching the sun set, getting ready for bed, the last routine in their routine day, just like any other. But somehow, to her, this day, every sunrise and sunset to come seems so much more special.
Her vision goes blurry, the blue-white ball distorting as tears fill her eyes, though she's smiling so hard it feels as though her face is going to crack.
"It's beautiful," she whispers.
"It's home," Jack says quietly, wrapping his arms around her from behind, and she can hear a kind of longing in his voice.
She turns around, briefly noticing that he has tears in his eyes before she wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you just doesn't cover it," she says, sniffling.
"I just...no matter what happens between us, I just wanted to give you a reason to smile."
Chris looks up at him, grinning. "Well you certainly did that." She glances over his shoulder and she can see Nita standing not far away, half-turned away from them. It's obvious that she's purposely not looking in their direction, as she has a mischevous grin on her face.
Chris turns back to Jack, kissing him lightly on the lips. "Thank you."
He grins, and kisses her back before turning her around and wrapping his arms around her from behind again so they can both watch the Earth rise higher above the horizon.
"Happy belated birthday, Chris."
[Photo of earthrise is from this page, taken by astronaut Jim Lovell on the Apollo 8 mission. A *really* interesting one is this image of earthrise taken from beside the LEM at Tranquillity Base, on the Apollo 11 mission. And because I don't have enough links here, check out page 2 of the Apollo 11 pics at the Project Apollo Image Gallery. (Sorry, everyone, my geek is showing)