She put down the phone slowly. "How could I’ve ever believed this might work?" she chided herself, while she stared at the tiny silvery cell-phone she held in her hands. She had been so excited about this little chance when she found his jacket in the far corner of her walk-in closet yesterday. Finally, a reason she could use to show up and try to get him to talk. Suddenly the phone rang and she almost jumped back in surprise. It was Susan, her secretary, reminding her of the client meeting in fifteen minutes. "Thank you, Susan." she sighed into the phone. Lunch break was long over and she needed to go back to the office at her father’s company. She was almost glad her schedule was packed with meetings this afternoon. She wouldn’t have much time to think about Jack.

~*~*~

Later in the evening she sat on her sofa in the living room, clutching Jack’s leather jacket tightly. Nobody had come by to pick it up so far, even that Jack had promised to send someone over. She thought about the past and what to do next. She didn’t want to be one of those annoying women who didn’t know when to stop, after being dumped by their boyfriend. And she would have given up weeks ago, if she could believe him. He thought their relationship couldn’t work, but she disagreed.

They had ups and downs over the course of the three years that their relationship had lasted. But it never went beyond the occasional fight, that happens in every relationship. Then, almost a year ago, he suddenly started to draw back. When she’d tried to find out what was wrong, he said it was nothing, the upcoming new assignment was keeping him busy. In February, he left for about six months. She didn’t ask any questions since she knew it was his work for CTU and that it was confidential. They had done it before. And despite the fact that she always worried for him, she had started to get used to it.

During those six months she successfully made herself believe that everything would get better, as soon as Jack was back home. But she was wrong. It was worse, much worse. She didn’t know what had happened to him when he was away. Jack refused to talk about it and sometimes he seemed like he had totally changed. He seemed to try to avoid her at any cost. Coming home from work late, leaving early. Sometimes she didn’t even see him for days. When she asked Kim about it, she just said she hadn’t noticed anything. Her father seemed a little bit edgy sometimes, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. On the rare occasions she had the pleasure of his company it often ended in him being harsh, withdrawn or they had arguments about tiny things, which turned into unnecessary fights. Then, four weeks ago, she had enough of it. She asked him directly what was wrong and that she needed to know what was bothering him. She didn’t get any answer. It turned into their biggest fight ever and it ended with Jack leaving the house with the words: "I don’t want to hurt you. You deserve so much more than this. Having a relationship and doing this job… you know, maybe I can’t do this anymore." "Oh, Jack..." she started, but he interrupted her: "Maybe we should end this relationship. It would be better for both of us." He didn’t come back home that night. And when she returned from work the next day, his stuff was gone. He had moved out.

It was already getting dark outside, but she still sat on the sofa with the jacket, lost in thoughts. He still loved her. She had heard it in his voice on the phone. He’d left because something must have happened that he wanted to protect her from. But what? That was so typical of him. Trying to protect her. When would he ever learn that she didn’t want to be protected? She was used to be the protective one herself. She knew from the beginning what she would get herself into, when they had started their relationship. She had experienced it herself, how dangerous his job can be. And she had accepted it. It had worked for two years. What had changed? What wasn’t Jack telling her?

‘You deserve so much more than this.’ Maybe Jack really believed that. She had to talk to him. Their relationship was all she wanted. She had to convince him that he was wrong. She had to convince him that there was no need for him to run away.

Kate looked over to the phone, contemplating the possibility of calling him again. Was he home already? She wasn’t in the mood to call him at CTU and to hear the pitiful voice of his assistant Chloe O’Brien. Maybe she should wait another day or two before calling him again. She didn’t want to drive him even further away.

~*~*~

The next morning she had made up her mind. She would skip calling him, right after work she would drive to his apartment and wait for him.

But when she turned on the TV like every morning, she wasn’t so sure anymore if today was such a good day for her plans. What had happened? KTLA was buzzing with news. Most importantly, the president had raised threat level to red and airports had been closed down - nationwide. No one knew any details. Besides that the news reported about several huge explosions in the city a few hours ago and that a hotel on Wilshire Boulevard was set under quarantine because National Health Services feared some people there got infected by a dangerous tropical disease. On top of that there was a constant news ticker on the screen, reminding the residents of Moorpark Street and the surrounding neighborhood, to not leave their houses so to not disturb the search of the police for some people connected to what happened at the hotel.

A shooting at the University in Santa Barbara didn’t even make it to the headline news today.

All hell had seemed to have broken loose. And Kate knew there must be more to the truth than the reporters were able to tell. Especially since she had spotted some CTU uniforms among the people at the hotel. And - without a doubt - Jack was right in the middle of all this trouble. She just knew it.

Without a second thought she decided to stay at home today. She lived in Hancock Park which wasn’t that far away from Moorpark Street after all. She called her office, canceled all her meetings and went back to the TV, trying to stay as calm as possible, waiting for the things to come. She prayed for Jack to be safe.

A few hours full of worry later the chaos of the morning seemed to have calmed down. The president held a press conference. The alert level was lowered again to orange. It was one of those speeches that told you nothing, but tried to give you a feeling of security.

But Kate didn’t feel secure. She needed to know how Jack was doing. If he’d come out of this unharmed. Fear had held her heart in a fist for hours and she couldn’t sit around and do nothing any longer. But what to do? She shouldn't call CTU, at a time of crisis that was the most inappropriate thing she could think of.

Since she didn’t know what else to do, she decided to set her plans from this morning into motion. She grabbed the keys and took the car down to Jack’s apartment. She knew he wouldn’t be there at the moment. But waiting there would be better than waiting at home, no matter how long it took. After she spent two hours sitting in the car she got restless. What if she fell asleep and missed him? Better get out and go up the stairs to the arcade and wait right in front of his apartment door. She wouldn’t miss him this way.

So there she sat. Waiting. The jacket laying on her knees.

The weather was beautiful today.

After a while she dozed off in the warm sunlight. She didn’t know how much time had passed when she sensed someone standing before her and she felt a shadow falling over her body. She opened her eyes and looked up. There he was. From his fatigued look and the dark rings under his eyes she could easily tell that he hadn’t had any sleep last night. His shoulders were bent as if something heavy lay on them. He was barely able to stand.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with a cracked voice.

"I was waiting for you." She wasn’t sure what else to say, so she held the jacket up. "Would you let me come in?" she probed.

"I’m not in the mood to talk" he said after a while with a soft voice.

"We don’t have to."

He lowered his eyes and she wondered what he was thinking.

"Okay." It was barely a whisper.

When he fumbled with the keys she saw his hands shaking. Carefully she took the keys and unlocked the door. Whatever had happened, she knew this wasn’t the day for an all clearing talk. She would be whatever he needed her to be. Even if it was just silent company. And with this thought, she closed the door behind her softly.

End.