agirllost | Lunch with Dad

She's a little tense waiting for his response and smiles slightly when he doesn't try to talk her out of it.

"Sort of the same thing I did before, except part time, which means I'll get to spend more time with Angie." She reaches out and touches his hand. "It won't be dangerous."

"Any more dangers than working at CTU usually is, you mean," he says, seriously. "I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a little worried, but if it's what you really want to do, then you should do it."

Kim sighs, unable to stop herself. "Dad, I'm sort of in danger anyway most of the time." If he knew the identity of Behrooz's attacker he'd probably understand the statement more.

But his next words make her want to hug him, even if she only just smiles. "Thank you, that...really means a lot to me."

"Yeah," he says, softly. He isn't thinking of what happened to Behrooz though; she's in danger simply because she's related to him.

"Well the last time we worked together...it kind of became clear that I had to let you do what you thought was right."

She holds his hand for a moment. "And I appreciate that, but it's going to be okay, I promise. You know that I have special skills and I'm a lot tougher than I look." Since they're out in public she's not going to spell things out.

"Yeah, I do," he says, squeezing her hand.

Of course there's danger from another source that she doesn't even know about yet, and he sighs, softly, knowing that there isn't going to be a good time to tell her about it. "While we're on the subject...there's something I should tell you. Nina's in the bar. A different one."

Her hand goes limp in his and she pushes her food away, feeling her stomach drop.

"A different Nina? Is she from another...is she less..." she tries to find words and fails.

"I don't know, I haven't talked with her. Ryan did and he said she was obviously from after...the day of the presidential primary, but he couldn't be sure how long after."

Nina was someone she thought was far in the past. But just hearing her name makes her worried for her family.

She looks away, trying to process the news, but fear's making it difficult to think.

"Does she know about Chris? Oh God, does she know about Angie?" Her mind's racing as scenario after scenario creep into her thoughts.

"No, I don't think she knows about either. I don't think anyone we know is about to tell her." He knows it's just a matter of time, though.

"If she tries anything - " her eyes are determined and she just keeps hersef from embracing saidar.

"I - I won't let her hurt anyone I love ever again."

"You'd have to wait until I was finished with her first," Jack says, darkly.

She remembers her dad's hand on Ramon's throat and how she couldn't let him finish it.

Even though he's far away, she distantly feels Behrooz's discomfort with the idea.

"You shouldn't go anywhere near her," she says finally.

"I don't intend to go looking for a fight," he says, a little tersely, "but considering the size of the bar, if she's Bound, I'm probably going to bump into her at some point. I'm not going to get myself thrown in the cells."

Considering the slightly nauseous feeling he gets just thinking about it, that's one promise he intends to keep, too.

"Yes, but you can walk away, you don't have to talk to her. I don't care about the bar rules, Dad. This is about - " she stops abruptly, realizing she can't finish that sentence.

At one time not long ago, she had to choose between revenge and acceptance.

"She's in our past."

"And if I just walk away there's nothing to discourage her from not trying to pester me or anyone else again, and again. I'm not going to do anything to her--" well, not without provocation--"but I'm not sure I can just walk away every time, either."

She pushes the food further away and folds her arms over her chest.

"Just...promise me that no matter what she says, you won't let it get to you."

"I can promise that no matter what she says, I won't lose my temper." There are a number of ways her words could 'get to him' so he can't exactly make any promises there.

She relaxes her arms and looks at him seriously. "Whatever she says, it's not the truth, it's what she wants you to believe." She says softy, hoping he'll understand.

"I kind of learned that the first time around," he says, though without much force behind his words. He pushes the nub of his hotdog and the last of his fries away; he doesn't have much of an appetite for the rest of it.

She glances away, focusing on the beach and the smelll of the sea.

"I wish you wouldn't give her the chance to hurt you."

"Yeah, well I'm not sure I can avoid it. Might as well just get it all over with once."

Arguing would be pointless and only get them both upset. In this situation her dad will never listen to reason. He doesn't believe in avoiding confrontation.

But if Nina pushes him back into that dark place they all tried to pull him out of, she'll wrap her in flows of air and squeeze until she breaks.

"I understand," she says after a few moments. "Sometimes things have to be done."

"Like it or not, we're probably going to have to get used to the fact that she's there," he says, rubbing his forehead. God, he wishes this would just end already.

She's not telling him who else has been near the bar lately.

"Yeah," she sights and looks up at him. "But she's not here now."

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