A/N: So this is my first fic, please go easy on me. :) I would love to hear constructive feedback, positive or negative. This is set right after the sermon Jack gives, calling people to action, but before Anna initiates the Red Sky.

Quickly walking the familiar dusty halls in the old but beautiful church, Jack is contemplating the mix of emotions swirling through his head at the moment. Excitement because he held fast to his convictions, against possible persecution, to preach the truth in the pulpit, and that there were some ready to hear and accept it. Disappointment in the fact that so few were ready to hear and receive that truth. Relief that his friends have completed their respective missions safely. Curiosity as to where Ryan was.

He wanted nothing more than to shower and change clothes, and get back to his friends to find out what had happened on the ship. Gathering some clean clothing, he prepares to make his way to the shower when he hears a knock on his door. I bet I know who this "visitor" is. Although he had know Father Travis for years, he also knew that Ryan had been here for years undercover. With Father Travis' unwavering support for the Vs, Jack was beginning to wonder if his support had less to do with the church's position on the Vs, and more to do with the possibility that he might be a V.

Opening the door, Jack is met with an icy glaze from his friend and mentor for many years, Father Travis. "I need to speak with you." the elderly priest hisses while glaring at the younger. Taken aback, Jack is momentarily speechless. In all his years with the priest, he had never seen him so aggressive, so seemingly full of hate. He quickly recovered to find his voice though.

"I'm sorry, I have somewhere I need to be. Can we do this later?" Jack retorted in a patient but firm voice, maintaining solid eye contact. The older man narrowed his eyes, obviously suspicious of the excuse and request to delay the meeting.

"All right. Tomorrow morning I would like you to stop by my office at 8:30 am. We have some things we need to discuss." And with that, he turned sharply and marched back towards his quarters.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jack closed the door and made his way back to the shower. Quickly cleaning up and changing clothes, he hurried to find his friends that had been waiting around outside the church.

"Hey," he hears a familiar female voice, and immediately a smile springs to his lips. He turns and sees Erica and Hobbes over by a lamp post. She is still wearing that blue shirt, that shirt that matches the blue in her eyes, those eyes that he could get lost in if he let himself. His heart skips a beat.

"Hi," he breathes out, almost as a sigh of relief. "Thank you both for coming to my sermon." he says as he's looking at Hobbes, and giving him a firm pat on the shoulder. Turning to Erica, he gives her hand a little squeeze, "It means so much to me for you to be there."

"Well don't make too much of it, Padre." Hobbes jokes. "You haven't convinced me to give up my life of indulgences just yet. You're going to have to work a little harder than that." He says this with a little twinkle in his eye.

Barking out a laugh, Jack shoots back, "I can tell I have my work cut out for me." Turning back to Erica, he notices a slight blush on her perfectly angled cheeks, but it quickly retreats. "Have either of you eaten? I'm starving. I would love to get caught up on what happened with your missions while we eat."

"Actually, I have eaten already, and I'm beat. I'll catch up with you both tomorrow. Bye." Hobbes turned and walked off briskly. Well that was abrupt. I wonder what that was about.

Jack turned back to Erica, locking eyes with her. "What about you?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, that would be good. We were supposed to eat with Anna and Lisa, but there was an interruption, so I only had a few bites." she said while starting to walk to their favorite diner.

Once seated, they tell the waitress they don't need menus and order their favorites. She wants a Cobb Salad hold the ham, and an iced tea...wait, no make that a coffee. He'll have the grilled chicken and a baked potato with sour cream and chives, with a water.

As the waitress retreats, he gently takes her hands in his. "I'm so glad you are safe. I was worried about you all evening. How did the mission go?"

Squeezing his hands and then letting go, she runs a hand through her hair, brushing it back from her face. She tells him about them taking her purse, and about Lisa helping her out, and destroying the eggs. Then her face drops and she tells him about Joshua, speaking quietly and with great sadness.

Again taking her hand, he squeezes it and lifts her chin up so she must look at him in the eye. "Hey, it's not your fault. If Anna's as bad as we think, you probably saved him a whole world of pain and torture. You also saved all of our lives, as the information she would have got from him would have led her straight to us. And you got Lisa to help us, so that's good. I know it's hard to accept loss, but it sounds like he was willing to give his life for our cause."

Eyes watering, she squeezes his hand back. "I know Jack. I guess I just feel like there should have been something I could have done to save him. But the reality of the situation was that it had probably already gone past that point. Sorry for getting all girly on you. I'm not usually like this." she smiles and rolls her eyes at herself.

"It's okay, I kind of like your girly side," he jokes and winks, "you're more than welcome to show it to me at any time." Then he realizes what he just said and his face turns bright red. "I... uh... well you know what I meant."

She laughs and wipes her eyes and takes a drink from her coffee. "Thanks Jack, I needed that. It's so easy to talk to you, to trust you. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you in my life."

Suddenly, their food is there, and Jack breathes a sigh of relief. "I feel the same way Erica."

Once finished, they slowly walk back to Erica's car. "Jack, what was that other priest saying to you after your sermon tonight? He looked pretty angry."

"Oh, that's Father Travis. He does not want me to preach against the Vs. He read that sermon earlier today and told me not to preach it. I knew in my heart that I had to though, that it was the right thing to do." Jack looked her in the eye. "I've finally accepted that this is a war, and that I need to stand up for what is right, or I'm no better than the people who remained silent during the time of Hitler. I'm committed to our cause Erica. To you and the Fifth Column." With that, he pulled her into a tight hug. "I want to help out in whatever ways I can, and to support you and help keep you safe."

Erica pulled back to make eye contact with Jack. She smiled warmly and said quietly, almost a whisper, "Thank you Jack. We definitely need you on our side. I need you." With that she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and released him. Getting into her car, she rolled down the window and smiled. "We're going to meet at Hobbes tomorrow after work. We need to figure out our next step. I need to find Ryan and see how Val and the baby are. I'll see you there?"

"Of course," he smiled back. "I need talk to Chad Decker, I saw him listening to my sermon tonight. Maybe he has finally 'seen the light', so to speak. Don't worry, I'm done giving out information for him to pass on to Anna. Goodnight, Erica."

"Goodnight, Jack." And with that, she drove off into the night.

What a day, Jack thought laying in his bed. He felt a sense of accomplishment that so many of their objectives for the day had been met, but he couldn't help but notice there was a little sinking feeling that something was wrong. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Jack quickly got ready and had a bowl of oatmeal before his meeting with Father Travis. I probably don't want to do this on an empty stomach, remembering the look on the priests face from the prior evening. Well, here goes nothing... He knocks on Father Travis' door, and comes face to face with his elder.

"Jack, I'm glad to see you show up. I have a few guests here." Father Travis led him into the living quarters, where two figures Jack immediately recognized were sitting with cups of coffee and staring at him with stony expressions. Uh oh, this cannot be good...

TBC...