Infos zur Timeline:

CTU has been disbanded.

Jack lives in LA.
Audrey felt good again. They decided to end up their relationship.
Audrey went back to D.C.

Bill and Karen are living in LA.

Chloe married Morris. They moved to San Francisco. Their son David is about a year old. In the meantime the couple divorced.
Chloe went back to LA.

The Buchanans have contact with Jack and Chloe.

Jack decided to let Chloe live her life after she went to San Francisco, so Jack and Chloe haven’t heard from each other since.

Nobody Can Save Him

Chloe was at home, as usual, working on her laptop when her cellphone rang.

“O’Brian”

“Hey Chloe, it’s Bill. How are you?”

“Hey Bill, I’m fine, thanks. And you? Why are you calling?”

“I’m fine, too, thanks for asking. Well, Karen and I wanted to invite you for dinner tomorrow evening. We haven’t seen each other for over a month. We thought it was time...”

“Oh, well, yeah, thank you for the invitation. But you know, I can’t find a babysitter in such short notice, and...”

“Chloe, you can bring David with you of course. How about half past seven at my house?”

“Yeah, sure. Half past seven. But don’t expect me to dress too nicely and all that stuff.”

Now she could literally hear Bill grinning at the other end of the line. “Of course not, Chloe. See you tomorrow!”

She hung up the phone and was smiling herself. It would be nice to see Bill and Karen again. It was hard after they were fired and CTU was disbanded. She was glad they managed to keep in touch with each other.


The next day, it was nearly half past seven; Jack Bauer hurried out of his apartment and to his car. Yesterday evening, Bill had called him and invited him for dinner at 8. After Bill was fired and CTU was closed, Jack and Bill had contact as colleagues and Jack had been invited for dinner often. He just never was as late as he would be tonight. These were his thoughts as he climbed into his SUV and pulled out of the parking lot. He would have to drive a little too fast, if he would be at Bill’s house in time.

Bill opened the door and invited Chloe and David into his living room. He was smiling and so was Chloe.

“Now we have to wait until he arrives, then we can start the dinner”, Bill said.

Curious, Chloe asked him, who was coming.

“I’ve invited Jack as well” was Bills answer.

Chloes smile disappeared immediately. “Why did you do that?” was all she was able to ask. For Gods sake, it wouldn’t have mattered to her, if Bill had invited his father, but why Jack? Of all the people that were living on this planet, why did he invite Jack Bauer?

Bill was still smiling as he tried to give is answer as innocently as possible. “I thought it would be nice to have you two together for dinner. Like it was sometimes at CTU.”

She looked down on herself and murmured something like Bill should have told her that and she would have dressed differently. But she hadn’t time to think about that long. Suddenly the door bell rang and she was taken out of her thoughts.
Bill opened the door and she heard his voice, after nearly two years she finally heard that gruff, but also friendly voice again as he greeted Bill with a simple “Hey Bill, how are you?”

Bill didn’t answer immediately and instead led the way to his living room, where Chloe still stood.

As soon as Jack saw her, his question to Bill was forgotten. He closed the distance between himself and Chloe with a few steps.

“Hey Chloe, how are you? How is David? And where is Morris?”

She rolled her eyes, a sign that she was nerved. “I’m fine and so is David. Morris and I are divorced.”

The smile on Jacks face disappeared instantly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know...”

“Of course you didn’t know” Chloe interrupted, “how should you know? You didn’t call for almost two years.”

Bill stood near them, this wasn’t what he had expected. He saw that Jack clearly didn’t know what so say. Luckily Karen had prepared the dinner and so Bill interrupted them by saying that dinner was ready and they left the living room and went to the kitchen.

The dinner was somewhat strange. They talked about Chloe’s work. She told Jack that she was working from her house. She started programming security software for companies and other persons.
Jack told Chloe about his job at the LAPD.
“Jack, how is Audrey?” Bill asked him after they fell all silent.

“She’s fine I guess”, he said, “the last time I called her she was meeting her new boyfriend. Some guy from the DOD.”

Soon after the dinner was over, Chloe said that she had to go to bring David to bed. But all of them knew that this was just an excuse. After she left Jack asked Bill about the divorce.

“Well, they are divorced for nearly a year now, but I think it would be best if you asked her about the why. Do you have her address or phone number?” Bill asked.

“No, I don’t”, Jack had to admit.

After Bill gave him Chloe’s phone number and address, Jack thanked Karen and Bill for the invitation and got home himself.


On the next afternoon Jack dialed Chloes number.

Chloe was busy trying to stop her son from crying and she had a lot of work to do as suddenly her phone rang.

She really didn’t need this right now, so she picked up the phone with a harsh “What?”

“Chloe, it’s Jack.”

“What do you want?”

“I’m sorry...”

“Jack, I don’t have time for this right now.”

“Chloe, please listen to me.”

“Jack, I already told you, I don’t have time for this right now. But I’ll call you back – before I die.”

With this rather sarcastic answer, she hung up her phone.

On the other end a speechless Jack didn’t know what to do. He didn’t expect to make things right with Chloe in just a few minutes. But his plan was to tell her that he was sorry and to explain his reasoning. But he really didn’t expect THIS. He sat on the sofa in his living room and was thinking what he did wrong this time. What was he supposed to do now? Why did this all go so terribly wrong? How could he have let something like this happen? Why did he ask her about Morris?
He wouldn’t have dreamed that his relationship with Chloe could go so terribly wrong. He was really sad about it and was determined to make things right with her.


In her house, Chloe had suceeded in bringing her son to bed and get some work done. After she worked for a few hours she decided it was time to clean the house a little. While doing the dusting she found a picture of her and the other employees at CTU. Edgar, Curtis, Bill, Tony, Michelle, Jack and she were on this picture. It was taken a few months before the events with President Logan.
She thought back at this time. They were her family then, all this people from CTU. They were great together at work, and they had fun working with each other. It was a really good time in her life and she missed all those people, who weren’t there anymore. On the picture she stood next to Jack and he smiled at her rather than to the photographer. She saw it today for the first time. But her thoughts went back to the dinner at Bills house. Why did Jack do that? Why did he ask about Morris? Of course he couldn’t know, but why didn’t he call her? Why didn’t he keep in touch with her? Sure she could use her phone now and ask him, but she really didn’t want to. So she just put the picture back on the shelf and busied herself with the other furniture in her house.


Jack sat on his couch for he didn’t know how long. His thoughts were about Chloe all the time. He decided to call Bill. That would be better as to get plastered.

“Buchanan”

“Bill, it’s Jack, I need to talk to you.”

Bill heard that something was wrong. He knew Jack too well to didn’t recognize the sad undertone in his voice.

“Jack what happened?”

Jack sighed and fell silent for a moment. “Well, I called Chloe. She was really pissed that I called her. She wouldn’t talk to me, and wouldn’t listen to me neither.”

“Oh Jack, you know her. Just wait a few days...”

“Bill, I’m sorry, please wait a moment, someone knocked on my door”, Jack interupted while opening his door.

All that Bill heard was a “What the h...” from Jack and then it sounded like something or someone fell to the floor. The next thing Bill heard was the voice of a male person he didn’t know, who shouted, “I’ve got him. Let’s get out of here.” Then a door was slammed shut. Bill assumed it was Jacks front door. He called a few times “Jack?” into his cellphone but didn’t get an answer. He hung up and dialed Chloes number before he even explained to Karen what had happened.

“O’Brian”

“Chloe, it’s Bill. Something happened to Jack...”

“Well, I guess he called you and told you that I wouldn’t listen to him. So please let this stupid idea to tell me something happened, when Jack is just troubled about our conversation.”

“No, Chloe. It’s real! Someone got Jack, I was on the phone with him when someone was knocking on his door. Then something or someone fell to the floor and a voice shouted “I’ve got him. Let’s get out of here.” That was all. I’m sure someone kidnapped him. Chloe I need your help. We have to help Jack.”

“So what do you think we can do about this?” Chloe asked. The urgency in Bills voice told her that Bill was not joking.

“I suggest we meet at his apartment and see if we can find some traces of who kidnapped him or what they were up to.”

“Fine. I’ll meet you there in 30 minutes.” Chloe hung up, put her jacket on and got David out of his bed. She wasn’t best friends with Jack right now, but she really didn’t hate him. So she worried about Jack. She hurried out of the house and drove to Jacks apartment. She knew where it was because she had visited him before she moved to San Francisco with Morris.


As Jack woke up, he sat in the backseat of a car. He didn’t know exactly what had happened. He was on the phone with Bill when someone knocked at his door. He opened the door and there stood three men, all of them were black. One of them had a baseball racket in his hands and before Jack could do something this guy had taken him out with a well-directed blow.

Jack looked around in the car. One guy sat on his right side and the other two in the front. They were arguing about something, but Jack didn’t listen to their conversation. Suddenly one of the guys looked at him and saw that he was awake. “Hey Rachid! Your “friend” woke up”, the guy told the driver. Rachid let out a sharp laughter and said “Well, Mr. Bauer, we’ll get to know each other pretty soon. But for now, it would be healthier for you to just keep quiet and wait.”

“But what the hell are you doing here? And who are you?” Jack enquired.

Instead of giving him an answer the guy next to him hit Jack with a gun and everything around him went black again.


30 minutes after her phonecall with Bill, Chloe arrived at Jacks apartment. Bill and Karen were already there, but the look on their faces was everything but happy.

“Did you find something?” Chloe asked, but both shook their heads in denial.

They started searching again, but came up with nothing. The only thing they found was Jacks still open cellphone and a stain of blood. That wasn’t what they had hoped for, it was worse. With no idea what else to do, all three of them went to the houses of the neighbours and asked if someone had seen something.

After 20 minutes they came back to Jacks apartment. Karen and Chloe didn’t find out anything. But Bill had news.

“What did you find out?” Chloe and Karen asked almost simultaneously.
“Well, one of the neigbours, a young, black man named Nixsan Ebhamane said that he saw three black men carrying something out of the house that looked like a human being. He saw them drive away in a black van.”

“In which direction did they drive?” Chloe asked, “I may be able to locate them with the traffic cams.”

“He told me they drove left onto the Franklin Avenue. But Chloe, you don’t have access to traffic cams anymore.” Bill told her.

“Oh, you didn’t really think I wouldn’t be able to hack into the traffic system, did you?” Chloe asked.

Despite the grave situation Bill had to smile. “Of course I didn’t”, he said.

Chloe went home to get her laptop and Karen and Bill drove home. They had agreed to meet in 45 minutes at Bills house.


As Jack regained consciousness, he found himself tied up to a chair. His hands were cuffed behind his back and his feet were constrained to the chair. He was in a room that reminded him of a living room. There were a couch, a table, a carpet and even a television. That was not like other times he had been captured. What the hell was going on here? No one was in the room, but Jack could hear male voices outside.

Suddenly the door opened and the driver from the black van entered.
Rachid was a little bit surprised to see Jack already conscious. It seemed like Nathan had hit him very hard with the gun. Rachid and Jack just stared at each other. Rachid had to admit, his brother was right when he talked about Jack Bauer. He would never have admitted it, but he was impressed about this man. His brother hadn’t liked the way Jack Bauer worked, but he always said that this man could get almost every job done. He was very effective. Rachid remembered that his brother told him, if he ever saw Jack Bauer he should look him in the eyes. “There is no one with such eyes like this guy”, his brother often said, “at some times this eyes have a fire inside them, you think Jack Bauer is capable of doing everything, no matter how bad. And then, some other times, he can look as if he was the nicest guy in the world.”
And now, Rachid looked in Bauers eyes as they stared at each other and he had to admit his brother was right, there was a fighting spirit in these eyes like he had never seen one before. Now Rachid could understand why his brother was so impressed by this man, but that didn’t justify what Jack Bauer had done to their family.

Jack on the other hand examined this black guy; his name was Rachid as far as Jack could remember. He had a feeling he should know who this Rachid was. His features looked like the ones of someone he knew, he just couldn’t remember who. It was unusual that a kidnapper looked on his victim the way this Rachid looked on Jack. But what conclusions could Jack draw about this? He simply would have to wait until this Rachid decided to talk.

He didn’t have to wait long. “Why did you kill my brother?” Rachid asked out of nowhere.

“Who was your brother?” Jack asked in the hope that he would know soon what this was about.

“Two years ago, you shot him! Curtis. Remember?”

That was not what Jack had expected. As soon as he heard Curtis’ name, something inside him, the will to fight back whatever was coming, went dead. This was the brother of Curtis? His fellow agent he killed during that fateful day with the nuke in Valencia. The memories flooded back into Jacks mind. He couldn’t give Rachid an answer, even if he would, how should he explain to this boy, that it was necessary? That Curtis had endangered the mission? That there was no other way than to shoot him? Jack knew that he had done what was necessary but that didn’t make it right. He had blamed himself ever since it happened for that one time he had pulled the trigger. Curtis had been his friend.

Rachid stood there and waited for an answer that didn’t come. He got angry and slapped Jack in the face. Only then he saw the change in Bauers face. The fighting spirit he saw in Bauers eyes earlier was gone, had disappeared completely. It seemed as if the soul of the man in front of him had changed. Rachid nearly felt pity for this man on the chair, but then he remembered his brother. Curtis didn’t have to die like this, it wasn’t fair. Jack Bauer didn’t have had the right to shoot him. His anger overwhelmed his sadness. Rachid stormed out of the room, he wouldn’t shoot Jack Bauer, not yet.


Back at the house of Karen and Bill, Chloe was busy trying to find this black van. David was sleeping in the living room and Karen sat beside him, after she had made coffee for everyone. Bill had just finished his phone call with the police, he had reported a missing Jack Bauer, as he heard a loud and disappointed “Damn it!” from his kitchen. ‘This was Jacks line until now’, Bill thought, but sure as hell didn’t say anything out loud in front of Chloe, at least not now. Instead he walked towards her and asked, “What’s up?”

“There’s no way on earth this black van drove on Franklin Avenue this afternoon!” Chloe stated furiously. “I’ve checked everything, every single traffic cam on this road. There was no black van there the whole day.”

“So I guess we have a problem.”

“You think?” Chloe pointed out ironically.

“So there are two possibilities. Either this Nixsan-boy didn’t tell us the truth about the sort of vehicle, or he didn’t tell us the truth about the direction they were driving. What street would they have hit when they drove right from Jacks house?”

“Hm, let me see. That would be Arlington Avenue.”

“Well, Chloe, I would say you look for a black van on this street. If you come up with nothing I’ll drive to Jacks house again and question this Nixsan again. Okay?”

“Sure” Chloe replied, while she already was hacking into the traffic cams for Arlington Avenue.


10 minutes later Chloe shouted triumphantly through Bills house “I’ve got them. I’ve got them. These three idiots drove away on Arlington Avenue. I could pick a shot of the licence plate. I’m running it through the database now. Bill we need to go!”

While Chloe was shouting, Bill ran towards her and with her last words, he already pulled on his jacket and got his car keys. “Karen, Chloe and I are going to get Jack back, please stay here and look after David. Um, I mean if that’s okay Chloe?”

“Sure it is, thank you Karen.” Chloe replied, without even listening if Karen had some complaints.

“Alright then”, was all Karen could say until Bill and Chloe had left the house.

Bill drove and Chloe sat beside him in his silver SUV, her laptop on her thighs.

“Well, you can drive straight on for a few kilometres” Chloe said.

Bill looked at her, considering if he should or shouldn’t say what he had in his mind. But since Chloe seemed to care about Jack he concluded that he should give it a try.

“Chloe, what happened between you and Jack a few days ago?”

Chloe hat to pull herself together to didn’t roll her eyes. “What should have happened?” she snapped at Bill, instantly regretting her tone. “I’m…, I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to….”

“Chloe” Bill interrupted her. “I see now that you care for him. I know you, and I know Jack, I care for both of you. I just wanted to ask a favour of you. Please try to solve your problems with him. I think it would be better for both of you.”

“Well, probably you’re right Bill. By the way, you have to turn left on the next possibility.” Chloe answered. “But don’t you think I can be angry that he didn’t call and didn’t let me know how he was doing over the last year?”

“I don’t know why he didn’t call, but I guess he had a reason. You know Jack, better than I do, in fact. He cares about you, that’s obvious, ask him why he didn’t call. I’m sure he can explain it.”

“Oh shit, turn right here, turn right here, I’m sorry, I nearly missed it, because we were talking.”

Bill turned right with squealing tires. He drove over a curbstone and one of the right tires burst. “Damn it!” Bill cursed and got out of his car.

“I’m sorry Bill, that’s all my fault” Chloe said.

“No, it’s not Chloe. We can change the tire and everything is okay. Just don’t loose this black van.”

“I won’t!” Chloe replied with all the seriousness she was feeling right now.


Meanwhile Jack was alone in this living room, still cuffed to the chair. He was so deep in his thoughts; he didn’t even notice that his wrists were numb from the handcuffs. He was thinking about that fateful day two years ago and about Curtis’ brother. ‘This horrible day almost two years ago was just another one of these days where he, Jack Bauer, wasn’t able to save the world. Perhaps for the majority, it seemed like he saved the people and the country, but there were always victims, the families of which had to live without them now, and all because he wasn’t able to solve the problems without killing people. His wife was dead because of him, Ryan Chapelle was dead, all the people that died in the explosion at CTU and a dozen more he couldn’t name. How many families including his own had he destroyed? Rachid was just one more person who had a death wish for him. Ironically no one succeeded until now to kill him. Why not? Would it be that bad? Even Cheng wasn’t able to kill him. What was wrong with this?’ Jack couldn’t believe that he deserved to live this long. He should have been killed a few times, why didn’t it happen? Are there still people who lived a happy live despite they knew him? Yeah, of course, there were Bill and Karen, fortunately nothing happened to these two. Jack was grateful for everyone who survived the experience of knowing him. Besides Karen and Bill there was Chloe. Yeah, what happened with Chloe’s family he didn’t know…?

That thought triggered something inside his mind. Chloe. His friend Chloe. He needed to know why she was angry with him. He needed to make things right with her. Whatever it takes, if it was the last thing he would do, he would make things right with Chloe. He couldn’t live with the thought of dying while his relationship to Chloe was destroyed.


Bill and Chloe were driving again after Bill had repaired his car. They hadn’t spoken a word since the incident with the tire. Suddenly Chloe gasped “Oh my God.”

Immediately Bill pulled over and stopped the car. “What is it?” he asked.

“Damn, you won’t like it. That’s not good” Chloe stammered.

“What is it, Chloe?” Bill enquired.

“I ran the licence plate of this black van through the database, I told you that earlier. Now something came up.”

“Chloe, the system came up with WHAT? It’s not gonna help if you don’t tell me.”

“Yeah, well, I know who the owner of this black van is. And if I remember correctly the way this black van drove leads to his appartment.”

“Tell me, who it is?” Bill asked impatiently.

“It’s Rachid Manning, he’s...”

“Damn it! I know pretty well who he is. Curtis’ brother. I saw him the last time at the funeral. You remember? We tried to dissuade Rachid from blaming Jack for Curtis murder. I thought we succeeded. Apparently I was wrong.”

“I saw him a few times after the funeral. He never mentioned the name Jack Bauer. I thought he was over it. Damn it, I should have seen it. I should have noticed something.”

“Chloe, it’s not your fault. We’ll be at his house in about 15 minutes. How shall we proceed when we arrive?”

Now the discussion started what the best course of action would be.


Jack was no longer alone in the living room and he could no longer think about Chloe. Rachid came back in with his two friends. Jack didn’t say anything, he just waited. Eventually Rachid started talking.

“Well, I’m not gonna shoot you Jack. At least not now. You didn’t answer my question earlier, but I know that you remember Curtis. He was my older brother and me and my family were very proud of him. He served his country and he was a good agent, a brave one. This was his home. We lived together till the day you shot him. You’re now sitting in his living room. I just wanted you to know where you are.”

Rachid stopped for a moment, wondering if Jack would say something about the infos he just gave him. But Bauers expression remained unchanged. He just looked at Rachid with a blank expression. One could see no sort of emotion, not one single thing on what Rachid could get an idea what he was thinking, what went through his mind.

“It seems like you have nothing to say to this. At least you’re not trying to whitewash your guiltiness on the death of my brother” Rachid continued after a while. “Perhaps you don’t know that, your former boss and another co-worker from CTU, Bill Buchanan and Chloe O’Brian tried to persuade me to believe it wasn’t your fault. Especially Chloe O’Brian tried her best to make it look like you were the hero. I guess I did a very good job at convincing her I didn’t blame you.”

Rachid stopped again. Bauers expression had changed as he mentioned the name Chloe O’Brian. But as soon as it was clear that Rachid hadn’t done anything to her, his expression went back to blank. But it was enough for Rachid, he had seen the change.

“Oh I see. You know Mrs. O’Brian well. At least it looked like you care for her. I have to admit, she is good looking. A little bit clumsy or awkward, but she looks nice.”

“Chloe is neither clumsy, nor awkward” Jack growled. His voice obviously was threatening.

“Well, our opinions are different, I think” Rachid said with a grin. “But that doesn’t matter anyway.”

Rachid started to blame Jack for ruining his family and taking the life of his brother. Jack fell silent again, his expression blank as before. He just stared at Rachid but didn’t make a move.


Suddenly the doorbell rang. Rachid looked somewhat troubled but decided to look for himself, who was interrupting. He told Nathan to stay with Bauer while he and Joe would go to the door.

His eyes were popping out of his head as he saw, who was standing outside.

“Chloe O’Brian?” he said while opening his door.

“Hello Rachid, I assume it’s okay if I call you that way?” Chloe said.

“Uhm, of course. What are you doing here? I thought you said you were moving to San Francisco?”

“Well, I lived in San Francisco but after my divorce I came back here to Los Angeles. I was on Curtis grave and then I thought I could come over and look how you’re doing. So how are you doing?”

“Uhm” Rachid started a bit dumbfounded, he hadn’t expected to see Chloe O’Brian again, “I’m over it. Everything’s okay.”

“Yeah? That’s great. Do you mind if I come in for a minute? Or are you too busy?”

“I’m busy to be honest.”

Chloe looked at him in dissappointment. “Don’t you have time for a few minutes?”

Rachid could no longer deny her the entrance. “Okay, come in, then” he replied.

Rachid led the way to the kitchen, Chloe was almost sure Jack was in the living room, but she couldn’t get there. As they arrived in the kitchen Chloe was grateful that Rachids friend closed the door. Bill would have better chances now.

Outside the house Bill came from the opposite site of the street as soon as he saw that Chloe entered the house. He opened the door real slow. Fortunately for him the house was pretty new and the door didn’t squeal. As soon as he was in the house he heard voices from the kitchen. He went in the other direction. The living room had no door and so Bill saw pretty soon that Jack was cuffed to a chair, and a black man stood a few metres in front of him.

Jack was looking around the room and suddenly he saw Bill Buchanan who was standing behind a wall.

Jack took the opportunity and started to speak to Nathan. “Hey you” Jack started. “what’s your name, by the way?”

“Why should I talk to you?” Nathan asked, curious why Bauer suddenly started to talk.

“I’d like to know who knocked me out in the van” Jack said with the ghost of a smile.

“That’s got nothing to do with you!” Nathan said rather harsh.

“Then what’s Rachids plan?” Jack enquired further.

“I assume he’s going to –“ Nathan couldn’t say more because Bill knocked him out with a precise hit with his gun.

“It’s good to see you Bill” Jack said while Bill uncuffed him. “How did you get in here without the others noticing?”

“Chloe is distracting them” Bill said with a grin.

“Chloe is doing what?!? She is helping you rescuing me?” Jack asked unbelieving.

“Sure she is” Bill said.

“We have to get her out of this situation” Jack said as he stood up from the chair. “Do you have a second gun?”

“I had one, but Chloe has it right now.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know which room it is, but I can show you the way.”

Jack cuffed Nathan to the chair and gagged him so he couldn’t alert the others, in case he regained consciousness before Jack, Bill and Chloe were out of there.

Bill and Jack made their way to the kitchen.

Rachid was determined to get rid of Chloe O’Brian as soon as possible as suddenly the door burst open and a grey-haired man and Jack Bauer stood in the kitchen.

“Come on Chloe, let’s get out of here” Jack shouted.

Rachid and Joe produced their guns, but Jack and Bill were faster. Joe went down with only one punch from Jack.

Bill had more trouble containing Rachid. Jack came to help him and punched Rachid in the stomach. Rachid started coughing and dropped his gun. The instant his gun hit the floor, Jack grabbed it and pointed it at Rachid. Bill and Chloe stood at the door. Chloe whispered “I hope Jack won’t use it.” Bill heard her and said to Jack “Come on Jack, let it be, we can go now.”
Jack closed the distance between himself and Rachid with a few steps. “If you ever see me again, you’d better start saying the Lords prayer, cause it’ll mean I’ve come to kill you” he growled at Rachid. Then he turned and headed out of the door and out of the house, closely followed by Bill and Chloe.

Soon they reached Bills car. Bill climped in the drivers seat, Jack in the passenger seat and Chloe took place in the back seat. They drove off without seeing Rachid or one of his friends again.

After they drove a few minutes in silence Jack looked at Bill and then at Chloe. “Thank you very much” he said. “You’re welcome” Bill replied.

Then Jack looked at Chloe. “Don’t ever pull such a stunt again, Chloe. You have a son to take care of” he said.

“Tzzz” was all Chloe said as she rolled her eyes, then looked out of the window. As soon as she was sure that Jack looked out of the windshield, Chloe looked straight ahead, with a big smile on her face, but neither Jack nor Bill saw it.


After they arrived at Bills house, Karen came out with David on her arm to greet them. “Hey you all, it’s good to have you back here. You want to come in to have some coffee?”

“No thanks, Chloe replied. I think I’ll go home with David now.”

Karen gave David to Chloe, and Chloe turned around to get to her car. She was only a few metres away from her car as Jack called her.

“What do you want?” she said while turning to face him.

“Thank you very much, again” Jack said to Bill, “I have something to take care of now.” Then he walked over to Chloe.

“Chloe, we have to talk, I guess” Jack started.

“I don’t want to talk. Not now. I have to get home to –“

“Chloe please, just let me explain” Jack tried again.

“I said not now!” With this, Chloe climbed in the passenger seat of her car and drove away.

A defeated Jack went back to Bill and Karen, who where still standing outside their house.

“I guess this is going to be difficult” Bill muttered to himself. Out loud he said “hey Jack, it’s going to be okay. Just try it again tomorrow.”

“Yeah, maybe I will” Jack said, but he didn’t sound very convinced. “Have a nice evening, and hopefully we’ll see each other soon” Jack said, went to his car and drove off himself.


Chloe was at home just a few minutes as her phone rang.

“I don’t want to talk to you. Is that so very difficult?” Chloe snapped at Jack, at least she thought it was him calling.

“Whoa, Chloe, calm down” she heard Bill saying.

“Oh, I’m sorry Bill, I thought Jack was calling.”

“No, it’s not Jack. But I’m calling because of him. Why do you treat him like that Chloe? It’s not fair. He just wants to make things right with you.”

“Well if he had called the last two years we won’t have *to make things right* now.”

“As I said in the car, I assume he had his reasons. You can’t avoid him for the rest of your life –“

“But I can try” Chloe interrupted.

“Is that what you really want?” Bill enquired.

Chloe said nothing. After a few seconds Bill said “you see, that’s what I thougt.”

“But, but –“ Choe tried again.

“No *buts* Chloe, just talk to him. If you don’t want to see him again after that, tell him, and he’ll understand it. But don’t let it end like this. Talk to him. Can you do me that favour?”

“Okay Bill, I will.”

“Do you promise me that?”

“Promised” Chloe said.

“Thank you Chloe!” With that Bill hung up the phone. He trusted Chloe. He knew that she would keep her promise.


The next day, Chloe was at home, as usual. Everything was normal, David was nice and not crying, and Chloe had some work to finish. But there was one significant thing that was unlike the other days. Chloe was nervous. She didn’t feel nervous often, but today, she felt nervous. She promised Bill to speak with Jack. Even if Bill hadn’t called her, she knew that she would have spoken to Jack eventually. She was angry at him yes, but she cared about him, and she knew that he cared about her. She wouldn’t let something like *no contact for two years* destroy their friendship. She just needed to show him, that he couldn’t do whatever he wanted, not with her. There are certain rules in friendship, she thought, and even Jack Bauer has to keep some of them.
So she was at home, working the whole morning. After she made lunch she kept working, her cellphone always on the table next to her laptop. Eventually she finished her work, it was 4:30 p.m. but he hadn’t called yet. Now she was prepared to talk to him, and now he didn’t seem to want to talk to her. What the hell was wrong with this guy? Or maybe, she thought, he thinks I really don’t want to talk to him, maybe I was too mean at Bills house. ‘Damn it, Chloe! Did you ruin it?’ she thought to herself. If he wouldn’t have called by 8:00 p.m. she would call him.


Jack was at home himself. He thought about his attempts to talk to Chloe over and over again. Until now she had blocked off every attempt of him. Why was she doing that? Well, probably he deserved to be treated like this, of course, he of all people deserved to be treated like this, but why Chloe? He always thought that their friendship was unique. That they would be friends forever. He had lost friends, too many of them, but he never thought he could loose Chloe, not until now. What was he supposed to do? Bill had told him to try it again, to call Chloe again, but Jack just didn’t know how to make her listen to him.

Suddenly his phone rang, he looked at the table where his cellphone was and then realised that it was past 8:00 p.m. already. He got on the phone.

“Bauer”

“Jack, it’s Chloe.”

For a second he thought his heart would stop. How often did he hear these words from her back at CTU when he was in the field. He cursed himself inwardly that he wasn’t able to answer a call like everybody else with a simple ‘hello’ instead of his ‘Bauer’ which mostly sounded angry, even if he wasn’t.

“Jack, are you there?” Chloe enquired, because she heard nothing at the other end of the line.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here Chloe. I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to call me.”

“I waited for a call from you during the day, but nothing came. So I figured I had to call you myself then. I was mean back at Bill’s house yesterday, I’m sorry for that. Do you still want to talk to me?”

“Of course Chloe. If you want to listen I would be very happy to try and explain myself.”

“So do you want to come over to my house? I guess Bill already told you my address?”

Luckily Jack was on the phone and not in the same room with Chloe, so she couldn’t see him blush.

“Yeah, he gave me your address. I’ll be there as soon as possible. And Chloe, thank you!”

“Yeah, see you soon.”

Chloe hung up the phone and was relieved. It had gone better than she had expected, but the biggest part was yet to come. She knew she would forgive him. But she was curious about his explanation. What the hell was he thinking that he hadn’t called for the last two years? Well she would find out soon enough.


Finally he was here, standing before Chloe O’Brians door. Jack had to brace himself, before he rang de doorbell. After only a few moments the door opened and he found himself in front of Chloe, who looked really good, he had to admit. She wore a black skirt and a dark blue blouse.

He was disturbed in his thoughts as she said “Hi Jack, want to come in?”

“Sure, thanks” he said and followed her into her living room.

“You have a nice house” he said, unsure of how to begin.

“Thank you.”

Both of them didn’t really know how they should start their conversation. The situation was really awkward. Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brian in the same room and it had nothing to do with CTU or with work. They hardly ever met when they weren’t working, so situations like this one were quite odd for both of them. Meanwhile Chloe was sitting on her armchair and Jack on the sofa.

Eventually Chloe blurted out “How do you want to explain yourself? What were you thinking? Why didn’t you call me for almost two years?”

She was too curious to get answers to wait longer.

He looked a bit unsure.

After a few seconds in which he said nothing Chloe stated “Oh come on Jack. I’m sure you want to tell me something. You wouldn’t have come if you had nothing to say. So don’t wait that long. Just tell me. I want to know your reasons. I need to know them.”

“It isn’t that easy to say. I’ve made a huge mistake, at least now I think it was one” Jack started his explanation. “After you and Morris were back together, after this terrible day with the nuke, the two of us hadn’t really a chance to talk to each other in private. I know Curtis was your friend, and I thought that you might be angry with me for killing him. I thought you moved to San Francisco because you wanted to get away from all the bad memories. I thought you wanted to start a new life. And I didn’t want to remind you of the past.”

“Jack, how could you say this? Well, yes, I wanted to start a new life, but I didn’t want to forget the time at CTU. And I never was angry at you for killing Curtis. I knew you had to. You didn’t have a choice Jack. Don’t blame yourself for it, it wasn’t your fault.”

“Chloe, it was my fault. I should have figured it out sooner that something was wrong. It didn’t have to end up like this. But I can’t change it now, I have to live with it and I don’t want to bother you with my personal problems, so –“

“Jack, you don’t bother me, I wanted that explanation, you give it to me, I want to understand your reasoning.”

“The second thing why I thought I shouldn’t call you anymore was Morris. He –“

“Did he say something to you? Did he threaten you? Did -”

“No, Chloe. Let me explain. Morris never liked my, and he wasn’t the only one, but that doesn’t matter right now. The point is, that I didn’t want to jeopardize your relationship with him. I thought if I called you he might get jealous and would do something stupid. I know he loves you, but I know how he gets when he is unhappy. I just didn’t want to ruin your life. At least I didn’t want to ruin it more than I already had.”

“Jack, you didn’t ruin anything in my life. Stop blaming yourself for all these things. You had a few impossible decisions to make, but you made the right ones. And I know what you mean with Morris. I think I understand now why you didn’t want to call. But you couldn’t know what would happen if you didn’t try it. Jack, we worked together for five years. You can’t just walk away and pretend we never knew each other.”

“I see now that I should have tried it. My reasoning was selfish at one point, too. I could think of you as someone I never betrayed. We never really had a row with each other, and I thought if I would never see you again, at least I could say we had a functioning friendship when we said our goodbyes.”

“But I wouldn’t say goodbye to you, I didn’t think I would never see you again. San Francisco is not that far away. I was not running away from my old life, I just tried to start a new one, but not with forgetting all that happened before.”

“I see that now, and I’m really, really sorry for everything.”

“It’s okay Jack. Really. I hope we can see each other more often now, that I’m living in Los Angeles. It would be nice to have dinner once in a while with the Buchanans. They are such great friends. Don’t you think so?”

“I would be very happy about it, about all you said. I’d like to see you more often. Chloe, I care about you a lot. I don’t want to see you harmed in any way, or unhappy in any way.”

“I know that Jack. And I’m really grateful for that. You know, not Morris left me. I left him. He started drinking again. The things that happened on this day with the nuke in Valencia and then a child, it was too much for him. I told him he had to stop drinking, but this time, I couldn’t persuade him to stop. So one day I decided I didn’t have a choice but to leave him, and I did. And I’m really feeling better now. Everythings ok. I’m happy with my life.”

“Oh okay, I didn’t know... But I’m really glad that you are happy with your life. And thank you Chloe, for everything!”

“You don’t have to thank me. Just be yourself again and try to enjoy life, will you do that for me?”

“I’d do almost everything for you Chloe” Jack said with a grin.

Chloe started grinning herself.

“Well if you don’t mind I’ll get home now, I have to work tomorrow” Jack said.

“Of course Jack” Chloe replied. “I’m really happy we talked about it and everything’s okay now.”

“Me too, Chloe, me too.” With that Jack stood up and they both walked to the door.

After Jack was gone, Chloe sat on the sofa and turned on the television. She wasn’t really interested in the programme, she just couldn’t sleep right now. Not after all that had happened this evening. She was so glad that everything worked out so perfectly. She could call Jack Bauer a friend of hers. She was really grateful for that. Now she had to help him to enjoy life, she knew that this would be hard, but she was sure they could accomplish it together. Over time, she became tired and went to bed. She fell asleep, still with a smile on her face.


It was 5 o’clock and Bill had had a really bad day at his office and was glad that he finally could go home. He was working for an attorney now and they had a special case at the moment. He steped out of his office and walked to his car. He remembered that Karen had told him this morning that he should buy some food at the way home. So he drove to the mall. On the way to it he thought about Chloe and Jack. Did they already talk together? He would call her after he got home.

He parked his car in the parking garage and made his way to the entrance.

“Hey Bill, nice to meet you here!”

Surprised, Bill turned and saw Chloe.
“Hi Chloe, what a surprise to see you here! What are you doing?”

“I’m supposed to meet Jack. He should be here in a few minutes.”

“Oh, you talked to him?”

“Yeah, he came to me yesterday evening and explained everything.”

“So, you mean, now’s everything okay between you and him?”
“Yeah, I guess. And I’m glad about it.”, Chloe pointed out smiling.

“Well, that’s great news”, Bill said, half to himself. He was relieved that his two best friends could settle their differences.
“Hey look, Jack’s coming.”

“Hey you two!”, Jack said as he finally reached them.
“Bill, what are you doing here?”

“I have to buy some food before I get home. Shall we go in?”

“Sure”, came the answer from both.

While they were walking into the mall, Jack enquired if something was wrong with Bill. He seemed so tense. Bill admitted that they had a difficult case at work and started to tell them about it. There was a man who was charged with murder. Bill had to defend him in court in the near future. The evidence spoke clearly against him but Bill was sure that he wasn’t guilty. Actually he liked this guy. For the next few seconds they fell silent ‘cause they thought about similar events that happened in their lifes. Jack asked if he saw any chances for an absolution but Bill’s answer was negative. Chloe and Jack assured him that they were there for him if he needed someone to talk. With that, Bill departed from them both and went shopping.


Jack and Chloe sat in a cafe and were drinking a cappuchino. They were talking about usual things like the work. Chloe told Jack that she had a lot of work and that David was ill and she gave him to her mother. Jack enquired if her work really was that urgent.

“You know” Chloe sighed “at the moment it seems like everyone wants something from me. I didn’t have this much work since a while and right now David got ill. That’s really not what I needed.”

“Yeah Chloe. You know better than most people that life’s not always that easy. But I’m sure you’ll make it through this. You’re a strong woman, Chloe. You can do that.”

For one second Chloe raised an eyebrow surprised about what he just said.
“But it seems very hard sometimes to raise a child without a father and have to work at the same time. But I really don’t have to tell you that of all people. You know what it feels like. You’ve been through the same. By the way how is Kim?”

“I don’t want to talk about it Chloe.” Jack suddenly seemed sad. But he quickly regained his composure. “So what do you think, when do you pick up David?”

“I don’t know. Maybe this evening or tomorrow. Besides, I think I should go home now to get some work done and I could really use some sleep, too.”

“Okay, good luck! And remember what I told you. You’ll make it through this. I believe in you!”

“Yeah, I’m sure I will”, Chloe said sarcastically and rolled her eyes. “Good luck to you too, Jack. See you soon.”

With that Chloe stood up and walked away.


A few days passed by normally. One day Jack was at home and had finished his dinner as his cellphone rang.

“Bauer”

“Jack, it’s Bill.”

Jack knew right away that something was wrong.
“Hello Bill. What is it?”

“Recently we talked about my work. Now, I really need someone to talk about it, because there happened something bad. Do you have time?”

“Of course I have. Do you want to come over or should I come to you?”

“I’d like to come over if it’s okay. I don’t want Karen to know anything about it.”

“Sure it is okay. I’m here.”

“Thank you very much Jack. I’ll come over to you now.”

35 minutes later Bill arrived at Jacks apartment. Jack was already waiting for him.

After Jack asked what was wrong, Bill started to tell him about his work. He told Jack, that the case with the man who was accused of murder was finally ended. The man had been found guilty and was waiting for his death sentence in the prison of Los Angeles. Bill told him that he was sure the man was innocent. Bill thought he hadn’t done enough for him. Jack tried to reassure Bill that he did everything in his power to safe this man. But this time it was too much for Bill. He started crying in Jack’s living room.

“I should have done something. He didn’t deserve this. I’m responsible that he’s going to pay with his life. There must have been a way to save him.”

Jack stood up from his armchair and sat next to Bill on the sofa. He laid his hand on Bill’s shoulder.

“There are things in this world that are just out of our control. Sometimes we like to blame ourselves for them. But there was nothing you could have done Bill. You know that. You did everything you could.” Jack knew in which situation Bill was. He felt sorry for him.

There were no noisesin the room until Jacks cellphone rang. They were jolted out of their thoughts.

Jack answered the phone.

“Bauer”

“Hello Mr. Bauer” Jack heard from the other end of the line. He nearly dropped his phone.

“What do you want?” he shouted angrily.

“Oh impressive, you remember me?” the voice asked mockingly.

“Of course I remember you, you son of a bitch. Now what do you want?”

“Oh I see, you’re angry about my call. So I’ll wait until you calmed down, then I call you again in 10 minutes.”

The line was disconnected.

Jack laid the phone back on the table. During this call he had turned really white. He sat down on his armchair, his head in his hands.

“Who the hell was that? And what the hell happened?” Bill asked curiously.

Jack didn’t give an answer, he just sat there and started sobbing, still with his head down.

“Jack, what the hell happened?”
Bill wondered when the last time was he saw Jack crying. Did he had ever seen Jack crying? Something terrible was going on so much was clear. Bill just didn’t know what it was. Bill waited but didn’t get an answer. Then Jacks cellphone rang again.

“Tell me what you want?” Jack said as he answered.

“Here is someone who wants to talk to you. Just one moment.”

“Jack, it’s me, don’t give him what he –“

“Okay, she don’t want to say something important, so it would be better if I told you what you need to know.”

“Cheng, what the hell do you want? And why do you have Chloe?” Jack shouted out loud.

With the mention of this two names Bill jumped to his feet in shock. Mesmerized he pursued the conversation.

“Miss O’Brian developed a security software for an arms factory here in Los Angeles”, Cheng started to explain. “She won’t tell me how to get around it, so I need you to bring me the records for this programme.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I can’t help you.”

“Oh Mr. Bauer. Don’t act so stupid. I know the records are in Ms. O’Brians house I just don’t know where exactly. That’s where you come in. I know you know her. And I know you care for her. So if you want to see her alive again you will bring me these records. And by the way, the records aren’t the only thing I want.”

“But how should I know where she keeps this stuff? I really don’t –“

“Mr. Bauer, you can ask her ex-husband or you can search her house. I’m sure you’ll find a way. I’ll call you again in one hour and I want an improvement until then.”

Cheng hung up the phone.


Jack laid his phone on the table again and then turned to face Bill. Bill was still standing in the middle of Jack’s living room and couldn’t really believe what was happening.

“You want to tell me now what’s this all about?”, he asked Jack. “Was that really Cheng Zhi on the phone? And what about Chloe?”

“It was Cheng Zhi”, Jack growled “and he has Chloe –“

“What the hell does he want from her?”

“He wants to hack into an arms factory for which Chloe made a security programme. Chloe isn’t going to tell him how he can get around it, so he needs me to bring him the records for the programme. And besides that, I assume he wants to kill me when he sees me anyway.”

“And how are you supposed to get these records?” Bill enquired.

“He said I could ask Morris or search Chloe’s house. Bill I really don’t know how to find these records. But I have to give it to Cheng, I’m sure he’s going to kill her if I don’t. I can’t let that happen.”

“Now we have to think of a plan to get rid off him once and for all. You know that we can’t give him these plans –“

“But we can’t let him kill Chloe. And why does this bastard is free and on American soil anyway?”

“He had help. He was transferred to China to go to prison there. But the Chinese government didn’t really had the greatest interest in him, so they put him in a low defence prison and his men broke him out. We heard it over a year ago, but everyone tried to keep it from you, so –“
“What the hell were you thinking? How could you do this?” Jack was on the verge of tears. He was very angry and felt betrayed.

“We were just trying to protect you” Bill tried to explain but Jack wasn’t willing to listen.
“It doesn’t matter now anyway. We have to get Chloe out there. We have to help her. We can’t let Cheng win.”

“We will Jack, we will. We just have to think about how we’ll do it.”

“I’m going to Chloe’s house to look if I can find something.” With that Jack put on his jacket, grabbed his cellphone and his car keys and was out of the door.
Bill stood alone in Jack’s living room. That was going to be a long day he thought before getting to his car and driving home. He had to explain everything to Karen. They really needed her help now.


Chloe sat handcuffed to a chair in what seemed an old abandoned warehouse.
She didn’t know exactly how she got here but she knew what happened before she woke up in the trunk of a car.

Fortunately she had brought David to her mother this morning, so that she could get some work done. She had worked a few hours when someone rang on her door. She opened it and there stood two Chinese man. One grabbed her and the other one pressed a cloth with chloroform to her mouth. She passed out after a few seconds and woke up in the trunk of a car. As the car stopped they dragged her into this room and bound her to the chair.

Her heart nearly missed a beat as Cheng Zhi stepped in front of her but she was able to keep a blank expression. He had asked her about the security programme she built for this arms factory but she didn’t say a word. Then Cheng threatened her but she remained silent.

Obviously Cheng knew that she wasn’t such a little bitch who started crying if someone frowned at her.

To her surprise Cheng didn’t touch her. She had thought he would hurt her when he realised that she wasn’t going to tell him anything. But he hadn’t. He tried to persuade her to talk for a few hours but eventually he gave up. He returned a bit later with a cellphone. At first Chloe thought that he was going to call Morris but as soon as she heard him say *hello Mr. Bauer* she knew what he was doing. He knew Jack very well and he knew that Jack was willing to do almost everything to protect the people he cared about. Chloe prayed that Jack was not complying but at the same time she knew he would. She knew that he would make any attempt that was possible to save her. She hated Cheng for putting her in this position. She hated Cheng for what he had done to Jack. She hated Cheng for coming into their lifes again.

After Cheng hung up the phone he came to her and told her that Jack was more cooperating than she was and that he would find the required records and would bring them to Cheng. He was smiling while he told her that. She told him that he was a bastard, a son of a bitch and other crude words but he just was smiling.

“I see you hate me Ms. O’Brian. Good! Because you hate me cause I hurt Mr. Bauer. That means you care about him and I’m pretty sure he cares about you very much so he will do what I say. You will be bound to the chair because I don’t want you to interfere with my work. I guess you would like to shoot me if you could.”

“With a big fucking smile on my face”, Chloe answered simply.

“Little bitch!” Cheng slapped her in the face and went out of the room.

Chloe sat there all alone again. She was thinking about Jack, about what he was willing to do to save her. What was he going to do? What would Bill say if he found out about this? Would they comply with Cheng? Would they have another plan? Would they got out of this alive?
‘Damn it, Chloe’, she thought, ‘don’t think about such things. Don’t bother yourself with questions you can’t answer. Just wait and think about other things, nicer episodes in your life. Just wait what will happen.’


Karen was still awake as Bill arrived at home. She asked him what happened as soon as he entered the living room. She could see in his face that something was terribly wrong. He explained to her that he was at Jack’s house, talking with Jack when his cellphone rang. Bill even told her Jack’s condition after the first phone call. Karen was curiously who had called and so Bill told the rest of the story. He told her that the caller was Cheng and that he had kidnapped Chloe O’Brian and now wanted Jack to get him some information about a security software Chloe had developed.

Karen was deeply shocked about this information but she was concerned at the same time. She was concerned about Chloe of course, but also Jack worried her. She had seen what he was willing to do to protect people he cared about. She wasn’t as sure as Bill seemed to be that Jack wouldn’t give Cheng the required information.

They discussed this long and eventually Bill convinced Karen that Jack wouldn’t risk something concerning national security. He told her that they would need her help with communication. She would have to do exactly what Chloe was doing usually. Karen was happy that she could help. And to herself she thought at least she would be able to have a little control over Jack Bauer when she was taking care of comm.

They agreed that Bill would drive to Chloe’s house and look what Jack had found and then they would make a plan from there on. Karen only had to wait for Bill’s call.

Bill got in his car once again this evening and pulled out of the parking lot. He hoped that Jack had found something that might help. Or at least he hoped that Jack had any idea what he wanted to do to rescue Chloe without getting himself killed.


Jack had arrived at Chloe’s house a while ago. At first he searched her house for folders or papers that concerned her work but he came up with nothing. He then looked for Chloe’s laptop but it wasn’t there. Jack assumed that Cheng took it with him. Without knowing it, Cheng had made things worse by taking the laptop with him. Chloe had a comparatively big house and it took him long to search. He hadn’t that much time before Cheng would call again. He needed something until then. He didn’t want to think about what Cheng would do if he could give him nothing. Jack refused to think about the possibility of failure. He couldn’t live with the thought that he wouldn’t be able to rescue Chloe.

After searching the whole house he saw only one option. He dialed Morris number, which he had found in Chloe’s home office.

“Morris O’Brian”, came the voice. He sounded astonishing sober, Jack thought.

“Hello Morris, it’s Jack Bauer”, Jack said. Hoping his voice sounded nice enough.

“Jack why are you calling? What happened? Is Chloe alright?”
Damn it, Jack thought, Morris came straight to the point. And he wasn’t going to like what he would hear next.

“I’m calling because of Chloe. Morris I need your help. Do you know where she keeps the records of the security programmes she developes?”

“Why do you need to know that? What happened to her?”

“I just need to know it Morris. Now do you know where she keeps that stuff?”

“I’m not going to tell you anything until I know why you need to know that.” Morris sounded rather determined.

“Okay, I’ll tell you. But don’t freak out Morris, I need you to think clearly to help me –“

“Whatever it is, just tell me.”

“Chloe has been taken hostage by Cheng Zhi, the man who held me –“

“Damn it, Jack! I know exactly who Cheng Zhi is. How could you have let that happen?”

“I didn’t let it happen. I didn’t even know he was out of prison.”

“Well I had hoped someting like that wouldn’t happen with her return to Los Angeles. Bloody hell, Jack, you get her out of there, do you hear me? You will get her out of there or I will make it my personal mission to hunt you down. I know, usually that is your sentence but believe me I will make you pay if you can’t get her out of there.”

“Morris I know that all of this is my fault. Believe me I know. I’ll do everything in my power to save her. But let me finish the explanation. Cheng didn’t lay a hand on her. He asked her about a security software she developed for an arms factory. She won’t tell him how to get around the security system, so he needs me to find the records for that programme and bring it to him. Now do you know where she keeps such stuff?”

“Damn, she never told me where she kept it. I assume probably on her computer most of the things but I have no idea if there are printouts and if yes, where they are.”

“Morris, that’s just not good enough. Cheng has Chloe’s laptop. I need something I can tell Cheng. He’s going to call me in a few minutes. I need something that might help.”

“For God’s sake I don’t know where you can search for these things. And don’t blame me for not knowing. This situation is not my fault Jack, it’s yours.”

“Morris I know. In case that something comes to mind call me back on this number. And please think about it. I need something.” Jack’s voice was begging and full of worry.

“I will! But whatever happens you’ll get her out of there alive do you hear me?”

“I will”, Jack said determined and then hung up the phone.

He had only a few minutes left until Cheng would call. What the hell was he supposed to say to Cheng? He had nothing but would Cheng believe him that?


Exactly one hour after his last call to Cheng Jack’s cellphone rang again.

“Bauer”, he picked up the phone.

“Hello Mr. Bauer”, came Chengs voice from the other end of the line. God, how Jack hated this.

“Now what do you have for me?” Cheng enquired.

“I wasn’t able to find anything until now –“

“Mr. Bauer that’s unfortunate. Now I see you are not even capable of accomplishing such a simple request –“

“She probably has the most information on her laptop and because you took the laptop with you and she is not going to tell you anything you will have a problem”, Jack said angrily.

“Yeah that might be. But I need that information. Think about something Mr. Bauer or Ms. O’Brian won’t live for much longer.”

“I could come to you and speak with her myself. I can convince her that she should show you how to hack into the system.”

“Do you honestly think I’m crazy Mr. Bauer? The first thing you would do when you enter the room is to shoot me.”

“I’ll come unarmed I promise. Just let me talk to her and your problem will be solved.”

In this moment Bill entered Chloe’s house. He found Jack on his cellphone. A warning from Jack told him to stay quiet until Jack had ended his conversation.

“Well I think I have to take this opportunity if I want to hack into this arms factory. But be advised Mr. Bauer if you have any kind of weapon on you or if I see anyone that enters with you I’ll shoot Ms. O’Brian and then I’ll shoot you.”

“As I told you I’ll come unarmed. And I’ll be alone. Where are you?”

“An old warehouse on Kensington Street.”

“I know where it is. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Mr. Bauer don’t disappoint me this time. My patience is wearing thin.”

“I won’t. I’ll be there shortly.” Jack hung up the phone and turned to face Bill.

He told Bill what happened and they decided to call the LAPD. Jack told his colleagues what was going on and that they should send a team to the old warehouse. They should meet up there with Bill. Jack would wear a tracking device and as soon as he would say the words “everything’s going to be fine, Chloe” they should come in. Karen was supposed to run communications and Bill had already called her. Fortunately for Bill and Jack they both had an agency package in their cars with a comm-unit. Jack put his comm-unit in, he would get the frequency later from Bill, and started his way to the warehouse.

Bill would follow him there as soon as Karen was prepared.


About half an hour later Jack arrived at the warehouse. He had to stall the whole situation so that Bill and his colleagues from LAPD would have time to prepare for the attack. As soon as he stood before the large closed doors he shouted that he was there and that he was unarmed and alone.
At first he heard nothing but after a few moments the large door started to open with a loud squeak. Before Jack could see inside the warehouse four arms grabbed him and pulled him rudely inside. As his eyes got used to the dim light inside he could see Chloe who was handcuffed to a chair. But at first he couldn’t see Cheng. He tried to break himself free to run to Chloe but the two men that were holding him guessed his intention and hold him even tighter.

“Well Mr. Bauer here you are”, he heard Chengs voice from a dark corner of the room. Cheng came forward, like he had almost four years ago in that wet and dirty room in the freighter to China. The memories flooded back in Jacks mind and he started to tremble. He was on the edge of a panic attack. Fortunately for him Chloe saw it and shouted that everything was okay and he was there with her. As soon as he heard Chloes voice Jack calmed down.

“Oh I see that you two are very close”, Cheng said sneering. And more to himself he added “that might be a big advantage for me.”

Jack didn’t say anything. He just stared at Cheng who stood in the middle of the room between himself and Chloe.

Cheng shouted something in Chinese and the two men that were holding Jack brought him to Chloe. Jack saw from a corner of his eye that one men stood guard on the not completely closed door. He hoped that Bill and his colleagues from LAPD would be careful enough.

The first thing Jack demanded was to get the handcuffs off of Chloe. Cheng had awaited something like that and was willing to give into this command. After they had released Chloe from the handcuffs she stood up from the chair and walked to Jack.

“What the hell are you thinking to come here? Don’t believe that I am going to tell you anything”, she said to Jack rather sulky. But Jack knew her better than that. He knew that she was relived to see him, even if she wouldn’t admit it.

“Come on, why don’t you tell him what he wants to know?” Jack started well aware that Chloe didn’t believe a word he was saying. “He won’t let you out of here if I can’t bring you to talk”, Jack kept talking.

“My God Jack, what are you thinking? I won’t say it to him even if he would shoot me.”

Cheng had stood near them with a curious expression. But he started to get angry. He wanted his answers as soon as possible and either they were playing games with him, or this Chloe O’Brian really wasn’t willing to talk. He stepped closer to them and shouted that he needed the information and he hadn’t much patience. Subtle, Jack bowed his head. Chloe saw it and reacted instantly. She seemed intimidated all of a sudden and asked to get her laptop so she could make the preparations with Jack. One of Chengs men brought the laptop and Chloe sat in one of the corners of the warehouse with Jack next to her. The Chinese men stood a fair way off. So Jack was able to whisper to Chloe that Bill should be here soon with a group of five police officers and they just needed to wait. He told Chloe that as soon as he said “everything’s going to be fine, Chloe” Bill and the police officers would attack the warehouse. They just needed to stall the whole situation a little longer. Jack had heard from Bill through his comm-unit that they were positioning and didn’t need much longer. Jack couldn’t tell Bill that there was a man standing on the door so he just hoped the man wouldn’t see something.

After a few minutes Cheng came and asked curiously what they were doing. Chloe told him some really strange things which Cheng didn’t understand in the hope that he would go away quickly. He was about to turn around as one of his men started shouting. “I see a police car and I see police men and another vehicle. They are here, they want to attack us.”

‘Damn it’, Jack thought to himself. He hadn’t got any kind of weapon and had to try to protect Chloe. Cheng started to shout commands in Chinese and four of his five men stood on the door to protect the entrance. The fifth men came to restrain Jack, but Jack struggled so that the man was only able to hold him, not to restrain him. In the meanwhile Cheng went to Chloe and slapped her in the face. His time was running out and he needed the information. He shouted at her that he would kill her if she wouldn’t give him the information. She didn’t respond and only rolled her eyes so he slapped her again.
Jack tried to get rid off his opponent but wasn’t able to break loose.

Then Cheng shouted outside that the police should stay where they were because he would kill the two hostages if they would make a move. But as soon as he said that Jack heard Bill ordering the attack.

As Cheng saw that strokes weren’t succesfull on Ms. O’Brian he grabbed his gun and pointed it at her. In this moment Jack could manage to break free from the Chinese men. He wasn’t able to get to Cheng in time, so he pushed Chloe out of the way in the same moment as Cheng pulled the trigger. Jack felt something hot and painful in his left upper arm. The bullet that was meant for Chloe had found his target in Jacks arm. But he didn’t have time to analyse it, he had to protect Chloe and get themselves out of there alive. He heard that outside both the police men and Cheng’s men were firing at each other. He heard a few screams but couldn’t care about that right now. Because he had no weapon of himself he punched Cheng in the stomach so that he lost his gun and went down on the floor. Chloe grabbed the gun. She knew how to use it, just in case. The man that had held Jack assailed Jack. Jack was able to land some hits in the mans face and chest before the Chinese man was able to knock Jack down to the ground. Jack came to his feet faster than the man had expected and with a quick movement stood behind the man and with another swift motion snapped the man’s neck.

Jack felt the pain in his upper arm but he hadn’t the time to care about that. The four men on the entrance were engaged in the firefight. Jack turned to face Cheng who was standing by now. Cheng went forward to punch Jack but with a step out of the way Jack was able to avoid it. He then kicked Cheng in his left side, but Cheng wasn’t that weak. They started to beat each other. The movements from both were so fast that Chloe didn’t have a clear shot on Cheng and wasn’t able to help Jack.
After what seemed an endless time Jack had the upper hand in the fight and knocked Cheng to the ground. Before Cheng could stand up Jack was above him and pressed his hands around Chengs neck. Cheng desperately tried to get rid off Jack. But Jack had so much hatred in him for Cheng that he didn’t stop to choke Cheng until his body lay lifeless on the ground. As soon as Jack noticed that Cheng was no longer living he shouted to Chloe that she should give him the gun. She did it and Jack started to shoot the remaining three men that were guarding the entrance.

As all Chinese men were neutralised Bill and three police officers rushed into the warehouse. Two police officers were shot during the firefight. Bill was relieved to see Jack and Chloe both alive and still standing. As the rush of adrenaline stopped Jack winced from the pain in his arm. Bill was standing beside him immediately and asked what was wrong. Jack told him he had been shot in the upper arm. Bill led Jack and Chloe outside of the warehouse and to his car. He was determined to bring Jack to a doctor as soon as possible but Jack refused to. He said everything was fine and he didn’t need someone. The bullet went right through his arm and he just would put on a bandage and it would heal on its own. Chloe was heartbroken. She blamed herself for Jacks condition. He told her that it wasn’t her fault and that she had done everything she could but Chloe started sobbing nevertheless. Jack hugged Chloe and she laid her head on Jacks well shoulder. He whispered that everything was okay and everything was fine until Chloe calmed down.

Bill made the proposal to go home and have some rest but Chloe asked Bill and Jack to come to her house and have dinner together. Both of them were hungry so they agreed. Bill drove with Jack and Chloe took Jack’s car.


On the way to Chloe’s house Jack was thinking about their time at CTU. He was smiling to himself. He looked forward to the dinner. He had never been invited for dinner by Chloe.

It didn’t take them long to arrive. Bill and Jack stood outside of Bill’s car and waited for Chloe who had fallen a little behind. As soon as she arrived she came out of the car and made her way to her entrance. She hadn’t reached her front door as she suddenly heard a loud familiar voice behind her.

“Oh God, darlin, thank God you’re alive. I was so worried about you I drove here to protect you.”

Chloe turned and saw Morris who was walking towards her unstable. Before she could do anything Morris hugged her and tried to kiss her. Angrily she shoved him away.

“Morris! You’re smelling like you took a bath in whiskey”, she scolded.

“I, I, I just had a little drink on my way here” Morris started to defend himself.

Chloe rolled her eyes and asked him what he was doing here. Why he had come. He explained to her that Jack had called him earlier and told him that she was in danger and that he needed information. Only then he seemed to realise that they weren’t alone. Jack and Bill had stood a fair way off to not bother them. Chloe was trying to explain to Morris that Bill and Jack had saved her but as soon as she spoke out Jack’s name Morris turned around and approached Jack.

“You son of a bitch”, he shouted, “how could you have let this happen? How could you endanger Chloe? What were you thinking? She nearly lost her life because of you! You’re a fucking looser and you pose a threat to anyone that is near you.”

He stood next to Jack and slapped him in the face. Jack didn’t fight back hard. He didn’t want to harm Morris. Bill was not that sensitive. He rudely shoved Morris away and jelled at him what the hell he was thinking. In an angry voice he told Morris that Jack was the one who had saved Chloe and who had taken out most of the enemies.

Morris didn’t seem very convinced and looked to Chloe.

Chloe also had an angry expression on her face as she approached Morris. She told him that indeed Jack was the one who saved her and that Morris didn’t have the right to speak to Jack like this. She even told Morris that he was not half the man Jack was and that he should go away and leave them alone. But Morris didn’t want to. As Chloe, Jack and Bill went into Chloe’s house Morris just followed.

Chloe told Bill and Jack to wait in the living room. She would take care of Morris. So Bill and Jack sat down on the sofa while Chloe and Morris were standing in her kitchen.

Chloe told Morris that she had left him and wasn’t willing to come back to him. That her life was better without him and that it was a shame for her that he had come drunk and made such a scene. First Morris tried to convince her that she had to love him and that their marriage was right and that they had a son together but Chloe wasn’t willing to give in. She got more and more angry and started to jell at Morris that he should walk away and never come back and that she was really pissed off by him.

Morris got angry himself and slapped Chloe. As soon as he had done that Jack was standing next to Chloe and told her to go to Bill and sit down in the living room. He told her he was going to take care of Morris.

She did as she was told and Morris and Jack remained in the kitchen.

Bill and Chloe were sitting anxiously in the living room. They could see Jack and Morris from their position and they really didn’t know what to expect.

“Oh well I see”, Morris said sneering “Chloe fell for you. The great Jack Bauer, hero of America –“

“Morris, you’re drunk”; Jack said quietly. “Just calm down and we can talk about everything. I already told you on the phone that I was sorry and that I was going to save her. Everything is okay now.”

“Oh yeah. Just because you saved everything and everyone once again everything is okay? I’ll tell you what! All people around you die sooner or later, you’re cursed Jack!”

“Morris”, Jack tried again, “calm down.”

Suddenly Morris grasped in a drawer and held a meat knife in his hand. Jack didn’t flinch.

Morris laughed. “Well now we’ll see if the great Jack Bauer is as curageous as elsewhere.”

“Morris, what the hell are you doing?” Chloe shouted.

“Nothing”, Morris said grinning. “Just turning the tables. In almost every situation Jack is the guy with the gun. Now he is unarmed and I want to know if he is also as snooty in this situation.”

“Morris, take it easy”, Jack said calmly. “Put the knife down and we can settle things.”

“I’ll put it down when I want to”, Morris replied angrily.

“Morris, please, just lay the knife on the table. Please!” Chloe was begging at him.

“I will, love, I will. But first I have to end my conversation with –“

Morris stopped suddenly. He had looked at Chloe while he was speaking to her. Jack hadn’t moved one step the whole time, but suddenly his arm ached and he flinched in pain. Morris misunderstood this and thought Jack was going to attack. This was the reason he stopped so suddenly with speaking. He wanted to make a swift movement but in his drunk condition he felt giddy all of a sudden and fell forward. He fell directly into Jack and they both landed on the ground. Dizzy he heard Chloe and Bill screaming but didn’t know why. Only then he realised that he had plunged the knife he had held directly in Jack’s chest. Jack was laying on the floor and blood was pouring out of the wound. The knife was plugged to the shaft into Jack’s chest.

Chloe was still screaming as Bill shoved Morris away from Jack and pulled the knife out of the wound. Jack winced in pain. Bill took a dishtowel he saw and pressed it to the wound. Then he carried Jack in his arms to the sofa and laid him down there.

Morris stood in the kitchen. Speechless and suddenly stone-cold sober.

Chloe calmed down and sat next to Jack. Bill took the dishtowel from the wound and saw that the bleeding had stopped. Bill knew what that meant. He looked Jack in the eyes and saw that Jack understood. He saw that the spirit to fight was in Jack’s eyes, like before but both of them knew that it wasn’t enough, not this time.

Bill turned away. He couldn’t bear to let Chloe see the tears that were forming in his eyes. He pulled himself together. He needed to be strong for Chloe and he needed to let Jack know that he was able to take care of Chloe. He turned again, stood on the back of the sofa and took one of Jack’s hands and squeezed it friendly. Grateful Jack looked Bill in the eyes and then turned his attention to Chloe who wasn’t sure what to do or to say. She didn’t know how bad it was.

Jack felt the blood rushing into his lungs. He wouldn’t have much more time left. Suddenly he wanted to say so many things to Chloe. He needed to tell her a lot of things; to explain her his behaviour. But he wouldn’t have time to do that, so he just tried to say what was the most important. “Chloe, there’s a letter I wrote for you in my living room”, he managed to press out. Every attempt he made to speak was agony but he needed to let her know. “Jack you can give me that letter yourself when you’re better. You don’t need to tell me where it is”, Chloe said. The thruth slowly dawned on her. She started to sob. Jack took her hand and held it firmly to reassure her.
“The, the letter is behind a picture of y-“, he started but couldn’t finish the sentence. He was drowning from the blood in his lungs.

“Noooooooooooooooo, Jack, nooooooooo!!!!!!” Chloe started screaming now fully realising what was happening. The tears started to spill out of her eyes. Jack felt her tears dripping on his face and t-shirt. “Jack, don’t leave me. Don’t leave me alone, I need you”, Chloe whispered sobbing. It broke his heart that he couldn’t fulfill her wish. It broke his heart that he had to let Chloe down of all people. With the last of his strength he squeezed Chloe’s hand and whispered “I’m sorry, Chloe!” Oh God he couldn’t even begin to say how sorry he really was. “Chloe, I love y-“, he had wished he could tell her that in person but his body denied it. He wasn’t able to end his sentence but his last thought was the hope that Chloe had understood him and would find his letter.
The hand that had squeezed hers slowly slided out of it. Shocked she looked in Jack’s face. He looked so calm and so happy. She thought she never saw him look that way. But his eyes were closed. And she realised that they were closed forever now. She wouldn’t be able to look into his beautiful blue eyes ever again.

“Noooooooooooooooooooo!”, her scream was heartbreaking. The tears flooded down her checks uncontrollable. His last sentence played back and forth in her mind. Even if he hadn’t been able to finish his sentence she knew exactly what he had wanted to say.
Bill tried to comfort her but he was nearly crying himself and Chloe didn’t make a move. He couldn’t got Chloe to go away from Jack’s body.


After what seemed an eternity Chloe’s tears subsided. Not that she wasn’t heavy-hearted anymore, she just was too exhausted to cry.

In the meantime Bill had called Karen. He had a hard time to tell her what happened without bursting into tears. He had lost his best friend through a tragic incident. Jack hadn’t been the easiest person to deal with but he certainly was a good man. In fact the most honourable man Bill had ever known. It wasn’t fair. After saving Chloe and killing Cheng Zhi Bill had hoped that Jack would feel free again after such a long time. He deserved to be happy. He deserved it more than many people Bill knew. And just as it seemed everything was working out an unfortunate series of events had led to the death of his best friend.
Karen was truly shocked to hear that and she wasn’t able to held her composure. She started to cry. Bill knew that also Karen had liked Jack.

Chloe stood up from Jack’s body as Bill finished his phone call. “I need to go to his apartment and find this letter”, Chloe said determined. “I need to know what’s in there.”

“Chloe, don’t you think you should rest?” Bill dared to ask.

“How can you ask this?” Chloe flared up but was instantly regretting her behaviour. “I’m sorry Bill, I didn’t mean to sound that mean. I just need to know what Jack wrote me. I need to know it, you understand? As soon as possible.”

Bill bowed his had in understanding. “I know Chloe. We can drive to him as soon as I called the police. We have to –“

“Please”, Morris interrupted. I didn’t mean to kill him –“

“But you did you bastard”, Chloe started screaming. Again her eyes filled with tears.

“Morris I know that”, Bill said calmly. “But we have to call the police and explain to them what happened. And they have to call the hearse.”

As he mentioned ‘the hearse’ Chloe was on the edge of a new breakdown. She sat on the floor and buried her face in her hands. This was too much for her. Beeing kidnapped by the Chinese was really bad but she had known that Jack and Bill were coming for her. She was sure to get out of there alive with Jack by her side. But now Jack was gone forever. She really didn’t know how she should go on without him.


After the police was there and Bill had cleared everything with them Chloe and he were about to leave as Morris came to Chloe. He wanted to apologise but Chloe wasn’t interested. Chloe couldn’t even look him in the eyes. She wasn’t sure she would be able to do that ever again.

Morris stepped aside as he realised that he was bothering Chloe. At first he wasn’t really sorry for Jack but as he saw how Chloe was suffering he felt very bad. He didn’t even felt that bad at the day with the nukes. Just before Jack had taken his last breath Morris understood that Chloe was everything for Jack. He heard it in his voice and it broke his heart that he was the one who ended Jack’s life even if it was unintentionally. It was not fair.

Chloe and Bill made their way to the cars. Bill wouldn’t leave Chloe now and he had to call Kim. So they climbed in Bill’s car and pulled out of the parking lot.


They arrived at Jack’s apartment about a half hour later. Chloe had a really hard time to fight the tears that were starting to build in her eyes. Everything she saw reminded her of Jack and that he wouldn’t be able to see his apartment again, to speak to Kim again or just to look at the sunset again.

She went shaky into his living room. Bill said he would wait outside. He had to call Kim and tell her that her father had died. Finally he was really dead with no coming back.

Chloe remembered what Jack had told her. That the letter was behind a picture. But he hadn’t been able to tell her which picture. There were a lot of pictures in his living room. Chloe saw pictures of Kim and even of Jack and his wife Teri. There were also pictures of Audrey and Jack. Chloe couldn’t understand why she hadn’t realised for this long how handsome a guy Jack was. ‘No’, she thought, ‘had been’ was the right tense. That thought send another tinge in her heart. As she looked on the pictures she started to remember episodes of their lifes. Some days at CTU when they ate lunch together. Sometimes when Jack was in a good mood he even ordered something and invited them for lunch. He had almost always been very kind to her. Now she realised that she always had liked him for how he treated her.
Suddenly she stopped. Right before her eyes was a picture of her. She had no idea where Jack got that picture from but it was in a really nice frame and she had to admit it was one of her best pictures. This time it felt like Jack was just standing behind her and looked at her as she was watching the photo. But he wasn’t there, he wouldn’t be there anymore. She wouldn’t see him anymore, wouldn’t hear his voice and wouldn’t look into his eyes. But she knew for sure that although Jack was gone she would have him in her heart forever. And she was sure Bill thought the same.

Chloe was about to move forward as she saw something behind the picture of her. She took the frame and behind it she found an envelope. Her heart started racing. This had to be Jack’s letter to her. This was what he wanted her to read, what he wanted her to know. For her to read his letter was his last hope before he died. Chloe took the letter and sat down on his sofa. She laid the picture gently next to her. Her hands were trembling. She almost was afraid to open the letter. But her curiosity prevailed over her fear and she opened the envelope.


Bill stood outside. He had finished the call to Kim. She was sad he could tell but she had taken the news rather composed. Bill really asked himself if she knew what a hero her father truely had been. He hoped she would know and have good memories of him. Jack deserved this. Jack deserved so much more than he had had during his life. Bill hadn’t always been on Jack’s side but now he had to admit that Jack was great at his job. And even if he hadn’t told Jack that, he hoped Jack knew nevertheless that he had a special place in Bill’s heart. Maybe it was just now that Bill realised how important Jack had been for him.
He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts as he heard Chloe crying inside Jack’s apartment. As he came in the living room she was sobbing and talking to herself. ‘Jack, why didn’t you told me earlier? Oh my God, I really liked to work with you, too.’ Then Chloe fell silent but in her mind she replayed a lot of situations she had had with him. ‘I still remember the first day at CTU.’ Was the first thought she had. ‘Almost everyone told me to keep distance from you and to avoid you as effectively as possible. But then you came to my workstation. I was really busy at that moment and you scared the hell out of me as you suddenly said “How are you doing? Did you start well here? Is everyone nice to you?” That’s when I first looked into your gorgeous blue eyes. Well I also knew instantly that you were someone special. You were almost always very friendly to me, except that one day when I found out about your herroin addiction. That morning you yelled at me with no reason. But later that day you apologised for that. I’ll never forget how gentle your voice sounded when you spoke to me. Now I can admit it, I loved your voice as much as I loved your eyes.
Then you disappeared and we found out that the Chinese had you. The thought of never seeing you again almost drove me crazy. But then two years ago you came back. I knew that you had experienced horrible things but I also knew you would come through it. And you did, of course.
I’m really sorry that you weren’t able to tell me all this in person but I’m even more sorry that I won’t be able to tell you my feelings. And of course I’m not angry with you. How could I?’ Then Chloe whispered again so that Bill heard her. ‘Jack I will miss you more than you can imagine.’
Chloe was no longer able to withheld the tears. They streamed down her cheeks and onto the sofa. She thought her heart would break. She never felt so lost in her whole life. But then she remembered what Jack had said in his letter. She knew that he wanted for her to have a happy life and to go on with her life. Still crying she said to herself ‘Jack you’re here in my heart and my heart will go on’.

“Chloe is everything alright?” Bill asked concerned because she seemed really not well. She nodded and handed him a piece of paper.
After he read Jack's letter to Chloe he could understand her condition. But he also knew that this letter would attend her for the rest of her life and she would draw strength from it when needed. He hadn't thought Jack was capable of writing such a letter but he was wrong. They both had lost their best friend today but at least with this letter Chloe would always remember him. He sat next to Chloe and they both read again Jack’s last message to Chloe:

Dear Chloe

I’m sitting here on my chair now and finally I have time to think about a lot of things…especially about you and me, about our friendship. And I think it’s time to make something clear.

But first of all, I want to thank you. Thank you for all the things you did for me, for helping me at CTU, for defending me and for taking on more than enough custodies. All of this because of me.

It was a great time to work with you there, Chloe! It was a blessing for CTU to have such a good analyst like you were! From the first time I saw you, I felt that you’re something special. You were different than the other people. And you were my best friend. You never disappointed me, just always stood behind me and my decisions. I really appreciated it!

Time passed by and a lot changed. Almost everything except the friendship with you. When I came back from China, everybody looked at me like I was a ghost. Everybody except you. When I talked to you it was a kind of *coming home again*. You could let my pain disappear for a while. You always were something special for me and also the most important woman. But I also cared about Audrey. I had compassion for her, I couldn’t leave her alone after she tried to take me back from China. Additionally I thought you were happy with Morris and I guessed it was better not to interfer in your relationship with him.

Shortly after the day with the nuke I realised that you meant a lot to me. Maybe more than Audrey ever had…I really missed you. There were days I couldn’t stop thinking about you. But I knew you married Morris and I decided to let you live your own life without bothering you with the feelings I had for you. Concurrent I was ashamed of myself. Why didn’t I reveal my feelings for you? I guess I didn’t want to take the risk you would turn your back on me. I couldn’t bear that. So I let it be and time was passing by…

I wrote this letter for you because it was important for me that you would know I love you, maybe for a longer time than I admitted. You’re a really valuable woman. And I don’t know if I’ll ever have the courage to say that to you…I know I’m not good enough for you. So I thought a letter was not the worst idea. In conlusion we all don’t know when our last day is to come… but I just wanted you to know this.

So…that’s all I wanted to say. I hope you won’t be angry at me when you’ll read this. And maybe I’ll find a way to say these words to you personally one day.


With all my love
Jack

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