Disclaimer: Nothing of 24 belongs to me. Just playing.

"No, Jack. You can't come over. I told you not to push me."

She sounded so tired. Jack wished he could talk to her in person, not like this over the phone.

"But it's Thanksgiving, Teri. And it's been almost three months. Maybe we could..."

Teri interrupted him. Her voice was muffled, like on the edge of crying. "No. I... I can't. Don't you understand? It's too hard. We've already tried so often." For a few seconds he only heard her breathing. With a steadier voice she continued, "I know it's Thanksgiving. I'm really sorry, I just don't want to see you at the moment."

"But..."

"Jack, you can't come back. Please. Don't call again," she cut him off and ended the connection.

Jack's grip on the phone tightened while he stared at the handset. He had been fooling himself. Why had he been so sure she would be ready by now? How could he have believed that a lousy excuse like a national holiday would be able to solve his problems? This wasn't going away, just because he wanted it to. With a disheartened sigh he put the handset back in its place. He closed his eyes and leaned back, trying to relax a little. It wasn't working.

A knock on the door tore him out of his thoughts. Jack reluctantly opened his eyes and saw Nina standing in front of his office, waiting. He sat up in a hurry and tried to compose himself. He wasn't in the mood to answer any curious questions.

"Come in."

"Hi, Jack. I've got the Hampton file you wanted," she said after she'd entered and handed him the disk.

Jack saw the concern in her eyes and avoided her questioning look. He already regretted telling her about his plans to call Teri.

"Thank you," he answered brusquely and took the disk. He inserted it into the drive and started opening files, trying to look busy. But Nina was still standing in front of his desk and he knew she wouldn't leave before he said something.

Finally he looked up. "Anything else?"

"What did she say?" No chit-chat. Nina came always straight to the point. That's what he liked so much about her. Usually.

"Who?" It was just stalling, Jack knew that. But he wasn't willing to give in so easily.

"Come on, Jack. I know you talked to Teri before I came in. Didn't you? What did she say? Is she ready to talk?"

"No."

Jack knew Nina only wanted to make sure he was all right, but he didn't have the energy to talk about this right now. It amazed him how much strength he had pulled from the hope he had put in this one phone call over the last few days. Now it almost felt like his life's essence had been drained from him.

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Jack. I really thought she would," her voice was full of sympathy.

"Look, Nina, I don't have time to talk about this now. I need to get back to work." Without another word he turned back to his monitor and continued scanning through the files. Ignoring her.

"Okay. If you don't want to talk about it, don't," she answered irritated. "I'm done for today. Everybody else is gone already and the guys at Division have taken over the holiday shift. I really hope you won't decide to stay here all night."

He just shook his head.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Jack."

When she realized he wouldn't say another word, she gave up and left the room.

---

'Damn. What the hell is happening?' Nina pondered while she walked down the stairs from Jack's office to her workstation. Every day Jack's behavior towards her became more and more frustrating.

While she began clearing up her desk, she tried to decide what to do.

Jack had started to slip out of her grasp since he separated from Teri and so far any action she had taken to prevent it had failed.

Her employers wouldn't be very happy about this turn of events. Her assignment was pretty much clear cut, why wasn't it as easy to carry out?

'Win Jack Bauer's complete trust.'

Nina had been working on this for over a year. Her employers had taken great interest in Jack from the first day he'd arrived at CTU to be the new Special Agent in Charge. She was his second in command, so it never had been difficult to keep a close eye on him. They made a very good team and he trusted her like nobody else at CTU. Over time they had eventually become friends.

She had to admit she enjoyed working alongside Jack. Maybe even more than she should.

Four weeks ago her assignment had been slightly altered. Since Nina worked only on a need-to-know basis, she never got enough information to know about the bigger picture. But her employers had hinted that Jack might not be working for CTU that much longer and she had a good chance to take over his position when the plan was put into effect.

Her share of work was to slowly distance him from his co-workers. Discredit his reputation. Become his only confidant. In a very discreet way, of course. She was allowed to take any actions necessary, she just had to be sure her cover stayed intact.

Which shouldn't be too hard to accomplish. Jack wasn't the easiest guy to get along with in the first place.

The fact that he had been promoted to be Special Agent in Charge of CTU Los Angeles, without ever having set one foot into this office before, had always been a disadvantage.

His...unorthodox ways of working, undoubtedly acquired during his time with Delta or SWAT, had clashed more than once with the much more by-the-bookish way of thinking from his superiors at Division or his subordinates here at CTU.

People like George Mason or Ryan Chappelle would never learn that fighting terrorism could not be done by the book. This was a new kind of war, which asked for new ideas and the ability to understand the enemy.

Maybe that was why they made such a good team. Jack was a lot like her.

'And maybe that's why I've always been so attracted to him... Damn, stop that!' she thought. Yes, she had fantasized how it would be with him, she couldn't deny it. But normally she managed to suppress those thoughts. She was a professional and part of her job was to stay in control. Being distracted by emotions wasn't usually her style.

She closed her eyes and rubbed them, trying to concentrate on the problem at hand.

Nina wondered when her latest move would pay off. Seeding suspicions about bribed agents had been easy. Jack had gone for the bait almost immediately. Being the gentleman that he is, he took the case out of her hands so she wouldn't get into any trouble.

In some ways he was so predictable.

Even though it was the right thing to do, exposing those agents, he would piss off more than just a few people from here all the way to Washington. 'Losing a few sources of information will be more than worth it,' she thought. They were easy to replace.

All of this didn't help her current problem though. What could she do to prevent him from retreating from her? First he had just been very quiet during their infrequent after-work drinks at the bar across the street. But for the last two or three weeks he'd constantly found excuses to avoid any sort of private talk or interaction at all. Telling her about calling Teri had been the only exception.

Nina looked back up to his office, while an idea was forming in her mind.

'Maybe I should invite him over for dinner?'

The concept felt odd to her. She had never invited him to her apartment before. It always had been the office, or the bar. Thinking about it left a tingling sensation in her stomach. Was that excitement? Maybe the idea wasn't so good after all.

'Yes it is. If you let him sit here like this all night you will make things worse.' She made up her mind and went back up the stairs.

After Jack had called her in, Nina stood in the doorway to his office, suddenly unsure what to do if he declined.

"Jack...," she hesitated. When she saw he wasn't avoiding her gaze this time, she continued, trying to let it sound as casual as possible. "Well, actually I don't have any plans for tonight. Would you like to join me for dinner? Don't worry, nothing fancy. Since I've been here all day, I obviously haven't had time to cook, but we could order something, maybe Chinese?"

She smiled a little bit uneasy and watched him contemplating the invitation. The seconds stretched like minutes.

"Okay."

Nina breathed out and her smile widened. "Great. 8 p.m."

---

Two hours later Jack sat in his car and looked up to the lighted windows of Nina's apartment, still wondering what had gotten into him to accept her invitation.

Originally he'd planned to get completely drunk in the filthiest bar he could find. Well, if he was fully honest with himself, waking up in his car after Thanksgiving like he usually did under those circumstances, wasn't a very appealing thought.

He'd always liked Nina's company. Not only at work. He was a very private person, but over the last year, they had developed a very nice friendship. She was a very confident, intelligent and good looking woman. He would be a liar if he'd said he wasn't attracted by her. But he was her boss and a married man, so of course he'd always kept a tactful distance. 'In another life, we would have been the perfect match,' he thought.

'Maybe it is time to start a new life.' An idea that had haunted him for a while. Even allowing this thought to enter his mind felt like giving up on what he was struggling to get back. He wasn't sure if he was ready to strike a new path already.

Jack glanced at his watch: 8:20 p.m. - time to go. He grabbed the bottle of wine he'd brought with him and left the car.

---

Dinner had been spent almost in silence. Nina had tried to open up a few conversations, but Jack had responded only sparsely while picking at his food. They had managed to talk a little bit about work, but nothing more. Now, sitting in the living room with a glass of wine, the silence started to get very uncomfortable.

"I don't understand why you want to burden yourself with my moody company. I'm sure you have better ways to spend Thanksgiving than this," Jack said apologetic.

"Mmh. Actually I don't. Thanksgiving should be celebrated with family or friends. And I consider you a good friend, so I think this invitation was most appropriate." she smiled. "Seriously, I think it would have been a mistake to let you go home alone tonight. I thought that maybe we could talk. Or not. As you like. But maybe it would help, to talk about what's on your mind."

"I would rather not."

She reached over to him and laid a hand on his arm. "I thought we were friends. It hurts to see you block me out like this, you know? Maybe talking about it would give you another perspective on things. I'm just worried, Jack."

He squeezed her hand and nodded. "I know," he gave her a reassuring smile. "but I believe that I should be able to handle this on my own." After a short silence he added. "I just don't know how."

He drained his glass of wine and Nina filled it up again.

"I think you are trying too hard." She carefully offered. "You scare her away. Maybe you should stop thinking of her for a while. Find some distraction. Either she changes her mind, or it's over. It's as simple as that. You just hurt yourself by drowning in reproaches and self-doubt. Maybe you should try to move on."

Jack looked at her skeptical, weighing in his mind what she'd just said. "I don't know. You're probably right. It's really scary to suddenly lose the one constant in life you ever had."

He shook his head.

"I can't believe I let this happen. Over the last few years it seems I obviously wasn't very good with dividing work from private life. I thought it would help, if I transferred to CTU. You have no idea how glad I was when Richard offered me this job. Working for CTU gave me the chance to be home more often and to spend more time with my family." He smiled bitterly. "And suddenly Teri and I realized how much we've grown apart."

Nina had always wondered what reasons Jack could have had to take such a desk job like he had at CTU. Being the Special Agent in Charge was about organizing and overseeing operations, not taking active part in them. In her opinion he was way too much the hands-on type of guy for such an assignment.

"Teri wanted me to open up to her and I couldn't make her understand that I can't tell her certain things about myself. She accused me to retreat and not even trying to work on our relationship. That I should stop for a minute and think about her and Kim, not always myself. How could she say that? That's all I ever did!"

Jack looked at Nina as if in search of affirmation. She just smiled and nodded to reassure him.

"I never wanted to burden her with my problems. I don't want her to know how dangerous it can be. I don't want her to worry about me the way she would..." He looked into his glass of wine and took another sip.

"It's not just that, Jack, isn't it?" Nina asked when he didn't continue talking.

For a few seconds he just stared at her.

"No," he sounded tired. "I'm afraid. I'm terrified the truth might scare her away. That she would look at me in disgust if she knew what I've done and what I've let happen. I want her to believe I have a secure and safe job, working for the government. I can't show her this part of me ever. She wouldn't understand."

He ran his fingers through his hair.

"I really don't know what to do. She told me that if I don't change we're through and I can't, I just can't. Maybe I'd been fooling myself all those years, thinking that I could have this kind of job and a happy family at the same time."

Jack looked at her again.

"You're probably right. Maybe it would be better if I just let her go."

---

Nina wasn't sure what to do. Jack had stopped talking a few minutes ago and just stared into his empty glass. She wondered what was going on in his mind at the moment. He looked like he tried to decide how to continue. Not with this conversation, but his life.

Maybe opening a new bottle was a good idea.

Making up her mind, she walked into the kitchen to get the other bottle of wine which stood on the fridge.

He took the separation from his wife much harder than she'd expected. Teri should be happy to have Jack as her husband. Nina envied her. She would give a lot to have someone who cared about her that much. Especially if that someone was Jack Bauer.

She wished Jack could finally accept that he and Teri had no real future. They were living in different worlds. If he'd just opened his eyes and looked around, he would realize how many better choices he had. Like her. Sometimes she wished she was the person she pretended to be. It would make things so much easier.

When she came back into the living room she found Jack still sitting on the sofa, his face now buried in his hands. Nina put the bottle on the table and sat down beside him. Carefully she put a hand on his back.

"Jack?" she whispered.

"I...it's just... I never thought I could feel so lost," he answered reluctant after a while.

"Oh, Jack. Don't do this to yourself. I thought talking about it would help. I had invited you over to cheer you up, not so you could work yourself into a depression."

"I know. And it does help. I'm sorry," he said with defeat in his voice.

Nina carefully pulled him out of his hunched position and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, trying to convey some comfort. She was a little surprised he wasn't shoving her away. Instead he leaned into her shoulder, obviously calming down.

She stroked his hair and felt his comforting hand on her knee. She closed her eyes, savouring the moment of closeness. They'd never been this close for this long. She could smell his cologne and feel his pulse beat against her. Her usually unwanted desire for him came back in a rush and her pulse began to speed up. Should she make the first move, or would it destroy everything she had accomplished?

She let her fingers slowly trail along his hairline, then she placed a soft kiss on the top of his head, which was still leaning against her shoulder.

After a while she felt some movement from him. At first she thought he was trying to find a more comfortable position, but then she realized what he was doing. He was carefully stroking her thigh. Had he noticed her little signals? A satisfied smile appeared on her face, knowing he wasn't able to see it. When he started to hesitate, obviously unsure about her reaction, she murmured into his ear: "Don't stop."

Encouraged by her words, his fingertips slid under her skirt, moving slowly upwards. When she sighed in pleasure he finally turned around and looked at her. She felt like she could lose herself forever in those blue eyes. She wanted to taste his lips.

As if reading her thoughts, Jack reached out and laid his hand on the back of her head, pulling her closer. He opened his mouth and his tongue touched her lips, begging for a way in. Once granted entry, Jack's kiss turned more demanding and explored hungrily every part of her mouth. A wave of hot desire washed over her and she returned his passionate kiss with the same ferocity.

She felt his hands move under her shirt, touching her. His fingers slipped under her bra, cupping her breasts, caressing them gently.

Jack let his hand slide down over her body and started to deepen the kiss again, even more greedily than before. She could feel his fingers gliding over her skin, tracing a line from between her breasts to her bellybutton and further down below.

Like in a haze she heard him whisper. "Do you like this?"

"Yes," her voice was nothing more than a soft hiss. "Bedroom. Now." she insisted with a fervent voice. This wasn‘t how she‘d expected the evening would turn out. She knew the risks, but in the heat of the moment, she didn‘t care.

--

Rays of light from the morning sun were streaking across Nina's bedroom. She was sitting on her bed looking out of the window, trying to bring order into her whirling thoughts.

'What the hell are you doing?' she had to ask herself. This was completely insane. 'You need to be in control of things if you want to keep your position at CTU.'

She was paid very well to keep a low profile and to fit in. To observe, to pass on information, without stirring any doubt or suspicion. 'Well, I certainly stirred something last night,' she snickered to herself and then sobered as she realized the enormity of what she'd done.

'Which means you can't sleep with your boss and risk a transfer if it doesn't work out, for gods sake!'

She closed her eyes and massaged her forehead.

So why did she feel like it was worth it? Nina couldn't bring herself to regret last night. She was a professional, yes. But she was also a woman. Things were still under control, she would be able to handle this. And she was willing to take the risk.

Keeping this a secret at the office would be only short term anyway. Nina wished she knew what her employers meant when they'd told her that Jack wouldn't be working for CTU much longer.

Nina turned her gaze to Jack who lay next to her, still sleeping. He looked so peaceful and relaxed. His lips slightly parted, as if begging her to possess them.

'I need you, Jack,' she thought when she reached out to tousle his hair. 'I want to feel your hands on me. I want you to make love to me. I want to see the need in your eyes, before you come.'

--

"Good morning, Jack," he heard a woman's soft voice while slowly waking up and felt the light touch of a kiss on his lips. Disoriented he wondered where he was. 'How did I get home last night? I'm so tired, can't Teri just let me --' he thought. Then, like in a flash, he remembered. Nina!

His eyes sprang open.

She leaned over him, her face only inches away. 'Too close', he thought and tried to turn away. 'Get up, grab your clothes and flee,' was all that he had on his mind. Things had spiralled way out of control.

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking," he muttered, while trying to sit up, but Nina held him down and silenced him with a kiss.

When he returned it only half-heartedly she tried to reassure him. "Please, don't be sorry. I'm not. If you really think it was a mistake, we can continue like nothing happened. Was it a mistake, Jack?"

He looked at her earnest and open expression, trying to figure out his feelings. The sun was reflecting in her dark, dishevelled hair, her body covered by nothing but the sheets that were tangled around her legs.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes," he whispered. He couldn't tear his eyes from her, memories from last night replaying in his mind. If he was honest with himself he had to admit he hadn't felt that good in months, maybe years. The night had been amazing. "Yes, I did."

"Good. Because I loved every single minute of it," she kissed him again and this time he returned it, letting their tongues brush against each other as she slid her hand down his chest.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a knowing smile on his face.

Her eyes sparkled. "Just relax."

She moved down his body, her mouth skimming over his skin. He anticipated her next move.

"Nina," he breathed as her lips touched his skin, sending shivers through his body. All rational thought and his doubts melted away in the intensive fire of pleasure.

End.