Hi! Thanks for hitting on this post. I hope you won't be sorry. Despite the fact that we are in the throes of season 6 here in the US, I like to pretend that season 5 never happened! This story is my idea of what happens after season 4. (In my AU world, Tony and Michelle are alive and well and living safely distant from Los Angeles. They won't have a huge role in this story, but will be part of it.)
As always, any character that I mention that also appears on the show belongs to Fox and not me. I have invented some of my own characters for the sake of the story. They're mine and are simply a product of my otherwise underused imagination. If you have access to the Season 4 DVD, watch the prequel to Season 5. This story will incorporate that into the story line. If you haven't seen it and don't have access to it, don't worry about it. I'll make sure that you will still understand what is happening.
Now on with the story.
CLOSURE
It was nearly 7 o'clock on a Friday evening when Jim Heller strode, unsmiling, into his daughter's office. It was raining in Washington and he had his Burberry raincoat draped over his arm to indicate to his daughter that it late and time to go home. His manner was brusque as he opened a large leather brief case and pulled out a bound report. He looked at it for a long moment before tossing it on her desk; in a move deliberately made to show his disapproval.
"I don't know what you think you're going to gain from this, Audrey," he said as he glared at her. "You know what happened. Why do you need to torture yourself by reading it in detail?"
"It's called closure, Dad," Audrey said just as coolly. They had been arguing over this subject for weeks and neither would back down. "I need to read the report. I need to know exactly how the committee came to its conclusions. And, frankly, I don't understand your attitude. You loved Jack like a son. How can you rest not knowing if his death was an accident or if he was murdered by that Secret Service agent?"
"Yes, Audrey, I did love Jack like a son. And I am grieving for him just like a family member, just like you. The difference is that I'm willing to let him rest. I commissioned an inquiry into his death and the committee concluded that his death was an accident. An accident, Audrey. Period. No one conspired to kill Jack. Why aren't you willing to believe that?"
Audrey looked down at the report lying askew where her father had dropped it. "I don't know. I just have too many unanswered questions right now. That's why I need to read the report. I need to have those questions answered so that I can know for sure that Jack's death was an accident. Maybe then I can move on with my life.
"Look, Audrey, I understand how you feel," Jim Heller said in a gentler, more fatherly voice. "I guess at first I wanted someone to pay for Jack's death, too. That desire for revenge can be overwhelming. I felt that if someone were criminally responsible for Jack's death and if I could just see them go to prison, I'd be happy. But you know what the truth is, Audrey, no matter what happens, Jack isn't coming back. If the committee had decided that the Secret Service agent was criminally responsible, then I would have supported pressing charges, but I don't see any point in going out on a witch hunt in an attempt to make me, or you for that matter, feel better. That's not closure, Audrey," he added as he turned toward the door. "You do what you want, but I don't think reading that report is going to do anything but give you nightmares."
Audrey picked up the report and placed it in her own briefcase. "I already have nightmares, Dad. This report isn't going to make them any worse," she told him quietly. "Thank you for getting it for me."
As he reached the door, Jim turned back toward his daughter. "If you need to talk later tonight, feel free to call me. I doubt that I'm going to sleep very well." With that he was gone and Audrey was left alone with her thoughts.
She quickly blinked back tears that had formed and were threatening to fall, all the while trying to tell herself that her father's opinion didn't matter to her. Reading the report would either bring her closure or it would further convince her that Jack had been murdered and, if that was the case, she intended to pursue justice with every ounce of her strength. Jack deserved that. He deserved her loyalty. She hadn't shown him any at CTU and but she intended to make up for it.
Audrey made her way home through the Washington traffic that never seemed to let up. It was just over an hour later when she pulled into the driveway of her suburban Virginia home. Using the remote control, she opened the garage door and pulled the car in out of the rain. She shivered as she left the warm confines of the car and stepped out into the garage. It was a good night to take a long hot bath, snuggle up in a robe and read. She would have liked to read a novel or maybe a biography or anything lighter than the 300 page report that loomed in front of her, but she had been waiting for the report for weeks while her father used every stall tactic in the book to keep it from her. Now that she had it in hand, she intended to read it, every word of it.
Once inside, Audrey made her way into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Then it was off to her bedroom to find some comfortable clothes. By 8:30 she was sitting at the desk in her study with an enormous mug of coffee and the report opened to the table of contents. The report was divided into several sections but the two longest were the transcripts of the committee's interviews with Tony and the Secret Service agent, Dale Spaulding. Audrey sighed quietly as she sipped the coffee and began reading Tony's testimony.
Six hours and a pot-and-a-half of coffee later, Audrey closed the report. She had read it from cover to cover. She was mentally exhausted and knew that she needed to sleep but she was wired to the hilt from all of the caffeine and knew that sleep wasn't going to come easily. It didn't matter; she was so tired that she was dizzy so she headed off to bed hoping to catch at least a couple of hours sleep before the sun rose.
As she expected, sleep eluded her. Her mind was just too active and restless and the words of the report seemed to swirl around and around in her overly tired brain. After nearly an hour, Audrey drifted off into a fitful sleep punctuated by one dream after another, snippets in time that put together made no sense. She woke repeatedly, each dream leaving her more spent than the last. Finally, as the first light came through the window, Audrey's sleep deepened and she found some rest.
It was another dream that woke her. She dreamed of Jack and a playful evening they had spent together just weeks before he was killed. Once awake, Audrey smiled remembering the evening. They had eaten dinner, take out Chinese food, if she remembered correctly, and were sitting on the sofa trying to decide which of the four movies that she had rented that they wanted to watch. Jack reached for the movie in Audrey's hand so that he could read the information on the back. As he did, she teasingly pulled it away from him. A little wrestling match ensued that resulted in both of them tumbling to the floor laughing. The game went on for several minutes until Jack gently pinned Audrey on her back and smothered her face with kisses. Thinking the game was over, Jack rolled over to take some of his weight off of her. Audrey, still keen to continue what they had started, rolled quickly to her right to escape and, hopefully, encourage Jack to pursue her. She got away before he realized what was happening, but he had been baited and knew that the pursuit was on. Within seconds he had her engulfed in his arms again both laughing at their own silliness.
It was such a light moment; one that Audrey cherished. She lay in bed thinking about it for a long time before she remembered the conversation they had later that same night while curled in bed together. She thought nothing of it at the time. It was playful banter between lovers. But now it seemed significant and Audrey played the conversation in her head several times. She remembered rolling onto her side against him, her arm resting on his chest. "Gee," she said, "you're lucky you caught me when I tried to escape or you might have ended up sleeping alone tonight."
"That wasn't luck, honey," Jack corrected her. "That was skill."
"Yeah, right," Audrey retorted. "You got lucky. There was no skill involved."
Jack laughed. "Wrong! If I learned anything in all of my years of field work, it was how to get the suspect when he was trying to escape. You didn't have a chance!"
"I still say it was luck. You only got me because I couldn't stand up fast enough. It was easy to catch me while I was still on the ground. What would Agent Bauer do if his suspect was up and running?"
"I'd draw my weapon."
"And you'd shoot?" Audrey asked. The conversation was beginning to take on a more serious tone.
"If I had to. It would depend on the situation. I remember at least a couple of time when I needed information from the suspect. In that case, if you shoot someone who's running and your aim isn't perfect, you run the risk of hitting a vital organ or major artery and then they can't provide any information. Then they're no good to you."
"So what do you do then?"
"If I could get close enough, I'd hit them from behind and knock them down or even knock them out if I had to."
"If you knocked them out, wouldn't that prevent them from giving you information?"
"No, even with a well placed hit, they'd usually only be unconscious for 2-3 minutes and you could usually bring them around with smelling salts. Once they woke up they were groggy for the next 10 minutes or so, but after that they were fine."
"They were groggy for 10 minutes or so…" Audrey heard that sentence again and again in her head and she found that something didn't make sense.
She stepped out of bed and hurried into her study. The report sat on the desk next to a cold cup of coffee. Audrey sat down and began paging through the first few pages of the transcript to find Tony's testimony.
She stabbed her finger at a paragraph. "Here it is," she said aloud although there was no one there to hear. Audrey read slowly through the transcript of the interview between the committee chairman, Harris Newton and Tony.
CHAIRMAN: Mr. Almeida, describe to us in detail what happened from the time you learned that Mr. Bauer was to be turned over to the Chinese.
ALMEIDA: I was in the locker room at CTU. I had just taken a shower and was getting dressed when one of the agents came in and told me that Jack was being handed over to the Chinese as a result of the operation at the embassy earlier that night. An operation which, by the way, resulted in the capture of Habib Marwan and allowed Jack to stop the annihilation of most of Los Angeles.
CHAIRMAN: We don't need you to editorialize, Mr. Almeida. Please continue without unnecessary commentary.
ALMEIDA: Yes, sir. As I said, I was in the locker room. Jack came in about two minutes later. I told him that I thought handing him over to the Chinese was unfair, that he shouldn't be made to take the fall.
CHAIRMAN: How did he respond to that, Mr. Almeida?
ALMEIDA: He said that no one was making him do anything.
CHAIRMAN: Did Mr. Bauer seem angry or upset. I mean, he was about to be handed over to a hostile government. What was his demeanor?
ALMEIDA: Jack was a tough guy to read. He didn't seem angry or upset. He seemed a little sad, I guess. He appeared resigned to his fate.
CHAIRMAN: What happened next, Mr. Almeida?
ALMEIDA: Jack got a phone call.
CHAIRMAN: Who called him?
ALMEIDA: I don't know, sir. He didn't mention the caller's name before he stepped out in the hallway to continue the conversation privately.
CHAIRMAN: Did you get the impression that the caller was someone who Mr. Bauer knew?
ALMEIDA: I can't answer that, sir.
CHAIRMAN: What happened next?
ALMEIDA: The next thing I knew I woke up on the floor of the locker room and I had a terrible headache.
CHAIRMAN: Who found you there?
ALMEIDA: No one. I woke up and got up on my own.
CHAIRMAN: Without help?
ALMEIDA: That's correct, sir.
CHAIRMAN: Speculate how you ended up unconscious on the floor of the CTU locker room, Mr. Almeida.
ALMEIDA: Jack hit me with the butt of his gun when my back was turned.
CHAIRMAN: Did you hear Mr. Bauer come in behind you?
ALMEIDA: No, sir, I didn't, but my back was to the door.
CHAIRMAN: Why did Mr. Bauer find the need to render you unconscious? He was outside of the locker room. If he decided that he wanted to escape, why didn't he just go? You just testified that your back was turned.
ALMEIDA: I was supposed to debrief Jack. I was going to go looking for him as soon as I was dressed. I guess he didn't feel that he could take the chance that I'd come out into the hallway looking for him. He needed the time that I would be unconscious to make his getaway.
CHAIRMAN: Do you have any idea how long you were unconscious?
ALMEIDA: Probably just a few minutes. I don't know for sure.
CHAIRMAN: What did you do when you woke up?
ALMEIDA: I looked for Jack in the locker room and in the hallway. When I realized that he was gone, I called in the lock down.
CHAIRMAN: Let me get this straight. You woke up on the floor and had the presence of mind to go looking for Mr. Bauer. When you couldn't find him you just assumed that he was trying to escape?
ALMEIDA: That's correct.
CHAIRMAN: That seems a bit of a leap of faith to me, Mr. Almeida. Why would your first thought be that this person, who you yourself described as "resigned to his fate," would have tried to escape?
ALMEIDA: With all due respect, sir, I can't speculate on what went on in Jack's mind.
CHAIRMAN: I understand that. Let's move on. So, you called in the lock down. What did you do next?
ALMEIDA: I called Bill Buchanan. He was the ranking agent at CTU at the time.
CHAIRMAN: What did you tell Mr. Buchanan?
ALMEIDA: I told him exactly what I told you. I said that Jack hit me over the head and knocked me out and that while I was unconscious, he escaped.
CHAIRMAN: I have a statement here from Mr. Buchanan corroborating that. It will be part of the final report.
Audrey stopped reading for a moment and paged quickly looking for Bill's statement. She found it several pages later. As Chairman Newton indicated, Bill's statement did corroborate Tony's testimony.
Audrey sat back in the chair and closed her eyes for a moment thinking about what she had just read and compared it to Jack's pillow talk all those months ago that when he knocked someone out that they were groggy for 10 minutes afterward. In everything she read from both Tony's testimony and Bill's statement, it seemed clear that Tony was in no way groggy or unable to think clearly. It appeared that he called in the lock down almost immediately after regaining consciousness.
Audrey paged further into the report and found a copy of Tony's medical report. Tony had been seen in the medical unit of CTU later that same morning, after Jack was killed. (The examination would have been required before Tony was allowed to leave CTU that day. After being held by a hostile CTU would have wanted both a physical and emotional evaluation to ensure that Tony was, in fact, well enough to go home.) The physician on duty noted that among other injuries, Tony had a contusion on the back of his head consistent with being struck with a blunt object. The doctor also noted that Tony had a mild concussion.
That's interesting, Audrey thought. Tony certainly did sustain some kind of blunt force trauma to his head. And, it was hard enough to cause a concussion. Everyone presumed that the injury occurred when Jack hit Tony, but Audrey wondered if the injury could have occurred earlier, while Tony was being held hostage.
The report suddenly presented more questions than answers. From the beginning she believed that the Secret Service was trying to cover up Jack's death. Dale Spaulding, the agent who fired the shot that killed Jack, had a history of being a loose cannon. He had discharged his weapon more than once in his career and on one occasion had received a reprimand for doing so unnecessarily. Now, as she read the testimony, she began to wonder if somehow Tony was involved.
That didn't make any sense. Audrey's head was swimming with too much caffeine and too little sleep but she forced herself to focus. Why would Tony be involved? Why would Tony want Jack dead? Tony had been willing to risk everything to save Jack's and Audrey's lives when they were under siege. He credited Jack with convincing President Palmer to pardon him. He had no reason to want Jack dead but based on what she knew, she was sure that Tony was lying. A new idea crossed her mind. Maybe the answer was that Tony didn't want Jack dead. Maybe Tony was trying to help him escape. That sounded more like it, Audrey told herself. Tony was trying to help Jack escape and when the escape plan went wrong and Jack was killed, Tony needed to cover his own ass. If he told the truth, he would have faced charges. He had been that route before and Audrey was sure that he didn't want to walk the same road again, especially since David Palmer was no longer in office to protect him.
Audrey sat back now believing that she understood. Tony and Jack had concocted an escape plan. It failed when the Secret Service showed up earlier than expected to take Jack into custody. But if that was the case, why didn't Jack just give himself up? Tony still had a cover story so he wouldn't have been charged and Jack would have been handed over to the Chinese as planned. So why try and escape from a locked down building? Jack had to know that he had little chance of escaping.
Now Audrey was really confused. She felt like she was trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with a blindfold on. She had groped in the darkness long enough to get most of the pieces to fit, but the last few just wouldn't go together to give her a clear picture of what had happened. She needed help. She needed to talk to Tony; he had the answers. Tony was the only person she knew who could fit those final pieces into the puzzle. The problem was that she doubted that he would tell her anything voluntarily. She was going to have to convince him that it was safe to talk to her.
Audrey pulled the desk chair close to her computer and began tapping on the keys. Within a few seconds she was in a government database that gave her access to addresses and phone numbers of current and former federal employees. She typed in Tony's name and the computer brought up the address where he had been living after his divorce from Michelle. The address was listed as "last known", but no current address was available. When Tony cut his ties with the federal government, he made sure that he completely severed them. Audrey needed to find a way to get in touch with Tony. She knew that it was possible to track someone down using the internet, but after trying a couple of quick searches, she came up empty. Tony wasn't interested in being found.
Audrey sat back and thought for a moment and quickly formulated a plan. Shortly after Jack's death, Audrey had packed up his personal affects and shipped them back to his daughter. A few days later, she realized that she had a pair of his cuff links in her jewelry box. The cuff links had been his favorites. They were the pair that Tony had given Jack as a gift for being the best man at his wedding. Audrey knew that she should return the cuff links to Kim, but she wanted them as a keepsake. So instead of returning them, she decided to keep them and that Kim would never notice that they were missing. Those cuff links were about to come in handy. Audrey picked up her phone and dialed Kim's California number.
"Kim?" Audrey said as the phone was answered. "It's Audrey. How are you?"
Audrey suspected that Kim was surprised by her call. The two had never been close. Audrey didn't dislike Kim; they just had never spent enough time together to really warm up to each other. They made awkward small talk for a few minutes before Audrey got to the purpose of her call.
"Kim, I came across something of your father's when I was digging through my jewelry box the other day. It's a pair of cuff links that Tony gave him. I know that I should return them to you, but I was wondering how you would feel about giving them back to Tony. I thought he might appreciate the gesture."
"That's fine with me, Audrey," Kim agreed. "I was looking for something of Dad's to give Tony but I couldn't decide what he would like."
"That's great," Audrey told her. "I'll take care of sending these to him. Do you have an address for Tony?"
"Actually, I don't. He and Michelle got remarried and moved away from LA. They were planning to start a business, but I've been so caught up in my own little world that I haven't kept in touch with them."
"Do you know who would have their address?" Audrey asked.
"I would try Chloe. Even if she doesn't keep in touch with them, she can track anybody on the internet. She can probably tell you what groceries they bought last week. I'd call her."
"Thanks, Kim. I'll do that," Audrey told her.
After exchanging goodbyes and hanging up, Audrey went back to the government database and found a cell phone number for Chloe O'Brian. Audrey dialed the number and was rewarded on the second ring.
"Hello."
"Chloe? This is Audrey Raines."
"Ah, Hi, Audrey. Did you need something?" Chloe asked getting right to the point.
"Actually, I did. I was trying to track down Tony Almeida and I can't find a phone number or address for him. I was hoping that you would have them."
"Track him down? It sounds like you want to serve him with a subpoena. Why are you looking for Tony?" Chloe asked. "Is he in some kind of trouble?"
"Oh, no, of course not. I have a pair of cuff links that he gave to Jack that I want to give back to him."
"Shouldn't the cuff links go to Kim? I mean, all of Jack's property technically belongs to Kim. I know you and Jack were close but Kim is his next of kin and the executor of his estate. Legally, you need to talk to Kim before giving any of Jack's possessions away."
"I already spoke to Kim and we agreed to send them to Tony," Audrey told her. Chloe could be a strange bird, but this seemed a little over the top even for Chloe. Audrey was getting the distinct impression that Chloe was trying to stonewall her. "I just need an address or even a phone number would be fine."
"I don't know how to say this, Audrey, but Tony and Michelle moved away from LA to try and start over. They don't keep in touch with me or anybody at CTU. They wanted to forget the past and what happened to Jack. I'm not sure that having you call them is exactly what they're looking for."
"I don't want to dredge up any unhappiness for either of them; I just want to send Tony these cuff links. I hardly think that would be an intrusion in their new lives," Audrey said. Her voice was hinting of irritation. "Is there some reason that you don't want me to talk to Tony, Chloe?"
"No, no, of course not. I'm just looking out for Tony and Michelle. Like I said, they want to start over."
"I understand that, but if you'll just give me their phone number, I'll call them and make sure it's okay to send the cuff links and I promise that if they say no, that I won't bother them further. Please, Chloe, just give me their phone number so I can take care of this."
Chloe seemed to run out of excuses as to why Audrey shouldn't have Tony's phone number and finally relented. She gave Audrey a North Carolina phone number and disconnected abruptly. Chloe's reluctance to give Audrey the number made her wonder if Chloe had some inside information on Tony's role in Jack's death. She dialed Tony's number quickly fearing that Chloe was also trying to call him to warn him of Audrey's impending call.
Audrey listened as the phone rang several times before it was answered by Michelle. The length of time it took for Michelle to answer made her suspect that Michelle had been on with another call and Audrey was picked up through call waiting. Now she was sure that her concerns of moments earlier were correct. Chloe had called Tony to warn him that she was calling. Audrey knew she had to play it cool or the Almeidas were going to shut her down. She had to act like she knew nothing.
"Hi, Michelle. How are you? This is Audrey Raines."
"Audrey, what a surprise," Michelle said in return. "How have you been?"
"I'm doing okay, Michelle. Thanks for asking. Look, I know you're probably busy and I won't keep you. It's just that I was going through some of my things and I discovered a pair of cuff links that Tony had given Jack when you two got married. Kim and I thought that Tony might like to have them back as a keepsake."
"How wonderful of you to think of Tony," Michelle said warmly. "Tony would treasure them."
"Great. If you'll just give me your address, I'll get them in the mail this afternoon."
"Sure," Michelle replied. "Do you have a pencil? It's 4371 Milford Street, Durham, North Carolina."
Audrey knew that she wasn't a very good liar, but she had to pull this off. She wanted to talk to Tony in person and this was her only chance to do it without arousing his suspicion. "You're kidding!" Audrey said acting surprised. She looked at the map of North Carolina that she had pulled up on the internet. "You live in Durham? I'm going to be in Raleigh on Tuesday negotiating with one of our defense contractors. I don't want to intrude, but could I stop by and bring the cuff links?"
Michelle seemed at a loss for words. Audrey knew that Michelle had bought the lie and that she was taken by surprise. "Audrey, I don't want you to come out of your way. It would be easier for you just to mail the cuff links."
"Durham is hardly out of my way when I'm in Raleigh. Besides, I'd love to see you. I know how much you two meant to Jack. He would have been so happy to know that you got back together. He loved you both," Audrey said doing her best to turn on the charm and garner some sympathy. "And, of course, I owe Tony my life. I can never repay him for that. The least I can do is stop by and drop off the cuff links in person."
Audrey hadn't left much room for Michelle to wriggle out of her self imposed invitation. "We'd love to see you, too, Audrey," Michelle said with what Audrey could tell was something less than enthusiasm. "What time should we expect you?"
Final arrangements for the visit were made before Audrey hung up the phone. Her heart was pounding. She knew that she was on the right track. Whatever was going on, both Tony and Michelle were part of it and Audrey intended to find out what was going on.
Once off the phone, Audrey quickly pulled up flight schedules to Raleigh. She booked a flight for late on Monday and a hotel room and a rental car. She could have easily flown into Raleigh/Durham on Tuesday afternoon, but if Tony and Michelle suspected that she was up to something, they might do some detective work and look for evidence that she was really coming to North Carolina on business. The Monday flight and hotel would make that seem more realistic.
Next she had to explain to her father that she wouldn't be at work on Tuesday. She picked up her phone and dialed his number.
"Hi, Dad," she said as he answered the phone.
"Hi, honey," he responded. He paused for a moment before continuing. "Have you read the report?"
"I was up most of last night."
"So, what's your conclusion?"
Audrey decided that it was best for the moment that she lie. "I guess for the moment that I have to agree with the conclusion of the committee. Jack's death was most likely an accident, but I think Agent Spaulding should have gotten more than a reprimand for his actions."
"Maybe he should have, honey, but remember he has to live with Jack's death for the rest of his life. That's a pretty heavy sentence to bear."
"I suppose you're right. Anyway, I decided that since I was looking for some closure, that it was time for me to part with some of Jack's things that I still have. I talked to his daughter this morning and we agreed that a pair of his cufflinks that I had should go to Tony Almeida."
"That's a nice gesture," Jim Heller agreed. "I'm sure Tony would appreciate it."
"I called Tony to get an address so I could send them. After talking to him, sending the cufflinks seemed so impersonal that I decided to take them to him. He lives in Durham, so I'm going to take Tuesday off and fly down there."
"Do you really think that's a good idea, Audrey? Don't you think spending time with Tony and Michelle is just going to bring back a lot of bad memories?"
"No, not really. I feel better since I read the report and I think that seeing the Almeidas will just add to that feeling of closure that I'm looking for. So, do you mind if I take Tuesday off?"
Jim sighed. "No, not at all. Maybe you should take a few more days off and relax at the beach in North Carolina."
"Thanks, Dad, but I think the one day is enough for now. I have a lot of work to do and if I take any more time off I'll just get behind. Thanks for being so understanding. I love you, Dad."
"I love you, too, Audrey," Jim returned. "I'll see you on Monday."
Audrey hung up and looked at the picture of Jack that she kept on her desk. She took it one evening on her balcony. The colors of the setting sun seemed to set off the gold in Jack's hair. He was smiling and squinting a bit against the glare. He looked so happy and so alive. She wished that she could step back into that moment in time. They had just finished dinner and Jack had stepped out onto the balcony to smoke a cigar. After Audrey took the picture, they stood watching the setting sun together. Neither said a word; they just watched until the sun dipped below the horizon. The memory hung about her like a cloud. She could almost smell the aroma of the fine tobacco and it once again made her long for Jack's presence.
"I'll get to the bottom of this, Jack," she said to the empty air. "I promise, sweetheart. I'll find out why you died and I promise that I'll make it right."