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knitwitficsFandom: 24, Young Wizards, Milliways
Characters: Jack Bauer, Nita Callahan
Rating: PG
Summary: Jack and Nita in a sticky situation.
Challenges: Written for the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
millirific42 challenge, prompt #10 - Doom.
Originally written: March 4, 2006
Characters: Jack Bauer, Nita Callahan
Rating: PG
Summary: Jack and Nita in a sticky situation.
Challenges: Written for the
millirific42 challenge, prompt #10 - Doom.Originally written: March 4, 2006
Nita dashes into the small room, Jack seconds behind her. With a shove, he pushes the door closed behind him as projectiles ping against the metal. Nita isn't sure just what their pursuers are firing at them, but from the sounds they make ricocheting off the door, she doesn't want to see what kind of damage they can do to fragile human flesh.
"Shit." The whispered curse makes her turn as she ducks behind a large metal crate, and she follows Jack's gaze to a wide, deep cut on his upper arm. It's bleeding freely, and Jack cuts a strip off the bottom of his shirt, tying it tightly around the wound, though his expression is more pissed off than pained.
"Here, let me fix that," she says, reaching out to put her hands over the wound, but he waves her off.
"Save it for the important stuff. Any ideas how we can get out of here?" he says, glancing around them. The only exit is the door they came through to begin with, and from the banging coming from the other side of the door, escaping in that direction isn't an option.
"I could try and manipulate the air in here, create a bubble around us and lower the oxygen content in the room so that when they come in they'll pass out, then do a transit spell, but..." But I'm not sure if I can hold the two spells at the same time, and I'm not entirely sure the transit spell will work with so much magical interference around here, and if I fail...
Jack gives her a serious look. She knows that he can't be unaware that this is a risky proposition, even if he doesn't know the specifics of what those risks are. He trusts her to do her best, and she's not sure that isn't more of a burden than a comfort.
"Nita, is there the slightest chance this will work?" he asks, matter-of-factly.
After a moment, she nods.
"Then that's better than no chance at all." He pops the clip out of his gun, looking at it for a moment before sliding it back in with the ease of routine. Reaching in his pants pocket, he pulls out another clip. "I've got a clip and a half; how long will this take you?"
"Five minutes, a little less? But Jack, once I start speaking--"
"Don't worry," he says, racking a bullet into the chamber of his gun before turning to look at her. "I've got your back."
The look of determination in his eyes is so fierce that she knows that he means it; that he'll fight Death Itself for as long as it takes for her to complete the spellwork. Suddenly her greatest fear isn't that they won't get back to CTU. It's that if they do, it'll be her returning with a corpse. How on earth would she ever explain that to Kim?
Impulsively, she leaps forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly, tears stinging her eyes. Please God, he's always been there for me, he's family, please help me, I can't let him down... After a moment, she can feel his arms wrap around her so tightly she can hardly breathe, can feel the cold metal of his gun through the thin material of her t-shirt.
She pulls back, staring him in the eye and speaking in the Speech. "I love you."
For a moment, she can see fear and sadness in his eyes and she knows what's going through his head because it's the same fear she's trying to hold at bay. Fear that he won't be able to protect her, sadness that he might not get to see her or any of those he loves again.
"I love you too," he says, softly, as the door begins to rattle ominously. Then the mask slips back on,that steely determination filling his eyes once more, and he takes a deep breath. "Now let's do this."
She nods, taking a deep breath of her own as she opens her manual with strangely steady hands. Beside her, Jack's lifting himself to his knees, aiming at the door over the top of the crate. The bangs are getting louder, the door shaking on its hinges.
Her voice steady, she begins speaking in the liquid syllables of the Speech, the spell closing in around them, as somewhere, a million miles away it seems, the door flies off its hinges and hits the floor with a bang.
"Shit." The whispered curse makes her turn as she ducks behind a large metal crate, and she follows Jack's gaze to a wide, deep cut on his upper arm. It's bleeding freely, and Jack cuts a strip off the bottom of his shirt, tying it tightly around the wound, though his expression is more pissed off than pained.
"Here, let me fix that," she says, reaching out to put her hands over the wound, but he waves her off.
"Save it for the important stuff. Any ideas how we can get out of here?" he says, glancing around them. The only exit is the door they came through to begin with, and from the banging coming from the other side of the door, escaping in that direction isn't an option.
"I could try and manipulate the air in here, create a bubble around us and lower the oxygen content in the room so that when they come in they'll pass out, then do a transit spell, but..." But I'm not sure if I can hold the two spells at the same time, and I'm not entirely sure the transit spell will work with so much magical interference around here, and if I fail...
Jack gives her a serious look. She knows that he can't be unaware that this is a risky proposition, even if he doesn't know the specifics of what those risks are. He trusts her to do her best, and she's not sure that isn't more of a burden than a comfort.
"Nita, is there the slightest chance this will work?" he asks, matter-of-factly.
After a moment, she nods.
"Then that's better than no chance at all." He pops the clip out of his gun, looking at it for a moment before sliding it back in with the ease of routine. Reaching in his pants pocket, he pulls out another clip. "I've got a clip and a half; how long will this take you?"
"Five minutes, a little less? But Jack, once I start speaking--"
"Don't worry," he says, racking a bullet into the chamber of his gun before turning to look at her. "I've got your back."
The look of determination in his eyes is so fierce that she knows that he means it; that he'll fight Death Itself for as long as it takes for her to complete the spellwork. Suddenly her greatest fear isn't that they won't get back to CTU. It's that if they do, it'll be her returning with a corpse. How on earth would she ever explain that to Kim?
Impulsively, she leaps forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly, tears stinging her eyes. Please God, he's always been there for me, he's family, please help me, I can't let him down... After a moment, she can feel his arms wrap around her so tightly she can hardly breathe, can feel the cold metal of his gun through the thin material of her t-shirt.
She pulls back, staring him in the eye and speaking in the Speech. "I love you."
For a moment, she can see fear and sadness in his eyes and she knows what's going through his head because it's the same fear she's trying to hold at bay. Fear that he won't be able to protect her, sadness that he might not get to see her or any of those he loves again.
"I love you too," he says, softly, as the door begins to rattle ominously. Then the mask slips back on,that steely determination filling his eyes once more, and he takes a deep breath. "Now let's do this."
She nods, taking a deep breath of her own as she opens her manual with strangely steady hands. Beside her, Jack's lifting himself to his knees, aiming at the door over the top of the crate. The bangs are getting louder, the door shaking on its hinges.
Her voice steady, she begins speaking in the liquid syllables of the Speech, the spell closing in around them, as somewhere, a million miles away it seems, the door flies off its hinges and hits the floor with a bang.
