Disclaimer: 24 doesn't belong to me. No permission, no profit, no lawyers.

Author's Note: My first reaction to the season finale's end? Pretty much a loud 
shriek of "Son of a bitch!" that scared my roommate. God, was I ever furious. Not 
just because it seemed to make the last 24 hours all for nothing, but because damn 
it, I really liked Teri. I've gotten over it by now, and I really hope Leslie Hope 
gets more work soon, but I had to channel that initial anger somewhere. So I'm 
using Kim to do it, and tossing plausibility aside (mainly, how she found out so 
quickly and how she got within 20 feet of Nina) to air out a little rage. It's 
late, there's a lot of stream-of-consciousness, forgive me for being more rambling 
than usual.

Oh, yeah, and there's some language, too.

Hell Hath No Fury
by Mandi Ohlin


"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Yeah, right.

Whoever said that didn't know what the hell they were talking about.

I knew it when I saw him. I didn't want to believe it. I mean, anyone could've 
been on the gurney. But Dad looked at me, and my guts turned to stone. 

Mom's dead. 

For real. 

This isn't a fake-out, like in the movies when they think the lead's been killed 
in an explosion and then they pop up out of nowhere. It's been an hour and Mom 
hasn't done that. She's gone. No more nagging me about boys. No more Saturday 
morning pancake experiments. She's not going to hug me any more, or criticize 
what I'm wearing, or sing along with the radio to get on my nerves in the car. 
I'm not gonna have a little brother or sister. 

Because of her. 

I'm fifteen, not stupid. I know who did this. I know how to pick up gossip 
anywhere, and all I needed was one name.

Nina.

We were supposed to be safe. We were supposed to be able to trust her. 

Just get out of the hospital because there's some creep hanging around. You'll be 
safer at the safe house, just as soon as I call the bad guys and tell them where 
it is so they can come after you.

Right? That was how it was, wasn't it?

I should've seen it then. With that bullshit debriefing or whatever it was. Kept 
on pushing me about Rick, acting like I was hiding him, like I was one of the bad 
guys. Standing there in that tailored suit, pretending to be Miss Perfect 
interrogating the juvenile delinquent who snuck out of the house and paid for it 
in spades.

God, if I could do it over again - I wouldn't have left. I wouldn't have let Dad 
leave, and I wouldn't have gotten kidnapped, and Mom would be okay, and Janet 
would be okay, and we'd all be at home -

Never thought I'd envy the guy in "Groundhog Day" til now.



[Like I said, the rage fizzled out, and unfortunately, so did my inspiration. I was
going to have Kim get the chance to shriek at Nina and have to have Tony drag her 
away, but I just couldn't write this anymore. --Mandi]