Chapter 1

One wouldn't immediately notice anything unusual about former FBI Renee Walker. She generally appeared like a normal 37-year-old woman to anyone else, yet there lingered much more within her than was visible at first sight.

She had been between life and death barely one year earlier, wandering around in a deep comatose condition, of which no one could have really guessed she would awaken and that unharmed.

She had, though. She had woken up nine days later with some serious consequences. She hadn't really been able to communicate at once or to obey easy commands as raising her finger. Renee hadn't even been able to recognize anything either… or anyone. Everything of what her life had been before falling into the coma had gone entirely overshadowed into her head… without any chance of reaching for it. She had had quite some issues with her balance in addition, had been discovered later on.

She had regained domination over her speech and maneuvers fairly fast taken everything in consideration. Of course she didn't have to really learn these things anymore because she already had, but there, however, had been the issue of getting them into her might again and putting them to use… and that surely had required some aid.

Slowly, pieces had fallen together like a puzzle in her memory, too. First she had learned to recognize Jack again. Some memories had become less obscured in her head again at sudden intervals, and Renee willingly had been able to locate them with him by her side. Sometimes she would only barely recall a detail of this or that, but whenever Jack could assist her by giving a context, he had. And with his undeniable but welcome aid, by telling her everything that he knew in Renee's pace, she had gotten to reconstruct part of her life; part of whom she actually had been before the coma. The more she regained, the more she recalled, and the less cloudy everything became. Initially there had been mere flashes, and as time had passed, she had gotten to remember even entire shreds of her past without Jack's assistance. He of course hadn't been there Renee's whole life, and therefore she unfortunately had been forced to depend on herself for most. That had almost immediately made both of them realize that actually, Jack and Renee in fact had only known each other for a very short time. Jack's assistance and presence had been very essential for Renee's recovery, though.

No one could say if she had or hadn't regained everything of her past memory-wise or not, because the one who could only really say that, was of course Renee herself. Doctors, however, assumed that she must have regained at least 75% of her memory by the end of her revalidation, set one year after she had woken up.

Renee had been forced to relearn reading and writing in addition, but that had gone fairly easy, too. The blue-eyed, reddish brunette had been quite adept in both before the coma, and that surely had made things easier for her. Oh, how had she been into reading late at night as a child, while curled up onto the couch or in bed.

With some more intense care, she too had retrieved most of her balance as well. She could do now almost anything anyone else could again barely one year later. However, she couldn't for instance walk that famous straight line because of some lasting balance issues. That, together with occasional lapsusses, and not being able to do tongue twisters as well anymore – whereas she actually had been terrific at that since her childhood. Lapsusses didn't only happen to those having been in a coma, though. And their occurrence already had become much less numerous. Renee's doctors believed that in time, there was a good enough chance of them even never occurring anymore. Jack and she could both live with that, though. She had come quite a way already.

Jack and Renee's relationship had remained purely platonic in the year after the coma, while she had lived in the hospital. There, however, had been lots of encouraging and loving hugs, and as time passed she slowly had allowed him that occasional little kiss as well. Further than that them both hadn't gone, though. That – the patience of his side and undeniable but encouraging presence – had made their relationship, their bond, maybe even more solid than it already had been.

Renee sighed, looking up, while discontinuing to trace the muscles on Jack's sweaty, bare chest with her fingertips. She looked into her lover's ocean colored eyes and smiled. He almost immediately copied that before reaching down to touch lips. She happily allowed it before securely wrapping herself more around him and lying her head down on his chest.

"You tired?" Jack questioned, stroking his lover's spine with one hand, while the other solely remained motionless on her hip.

She merely nodded against his chest before letting her eyes fall shut. Making love had been new to her in one way as well. This had felt like a very first time once more, while again learning to recognize the very particular sensations that washed over her at this or that, again learning to recognize the feeling of satisfaction after a year of having felt nothing like that. Renee sighed, settling better against his chest.

She was utterly exhausted, as happened so often lately. She got unbelievably tired by the least… way more easily than before. Even though that had gotten quite a lot better in the last year, and she would very slowly continue to recuperate, she really hated it at times.

Suddenly, Renee's eyes opened again, and she quietly rolled onto her side beside her lover. He looked at her sideways with an almost unnoticeable smile. The sound of her tummy rumbling brought them both to laughing. "I still have something edible lying around here somewhere," Jack announced, looking at her questioningly.

She smiled. "Sure." That was something else really odd that had altered since the coma: Renee's eating habits. She hadn't particularly liked bananas before, and ever since that day she had woken up, she didn't have any issues with them anymore. At the same time, she didn't fancy other things like strawberries as much anymore.

She carefully watched her lover's figure rise and ease on his pair of boxers before making his way to the kitchen. "I wouldn't have minded," Renee whispered, just loud enough for him to hear this upon reaching the doorway.

He suddenly came to a halt and turned his head. "I'm aware," he replied, slightly smiling, while shaking his head, before continuing his way to the kitchen to go get something edible for them indeed.

Renee's face then lit up, leaning over the edge of the bed to reach for his shirt and easing it on herself, before letting her feet slide from under the sheet, and touch the carpet and slowly getting up. Renee consciously left the shirt unbuttoned while walking after him into the kitchen. "Everything's so… untouched here," Renee whispered, watching him rummage through the oaken kitchen cupboards – mainly filled with tons of chip bags.

Jack intuitively turned his head to her and noticed the lack of fabric covering her, unconsciously swallowing. "Yeah…" Jack hadn't really taken the effort to get another accommodation since Renee had gotten shot, even though every time he had returned there, a stitch of guilt and pain had come across his chest. Thank goodness he hadn't been there often, and had usually been with his lover at the hospital.

However; when her doctors slowly began talking about Renee's discharge, he had finally determined to take that leap and find something else, though. He didn't need her to be reminded of what had happened at his former little residence and therefore, he now owned another, little flat a couple of streets further. He hadn't really taken the time to unpack his things yet, but at least everything had been moved already.

He quietly returned to the half filled kitchen cupboard and reached for the bag of crackers that he had been looking for, before shutting the cupboards again with his other, left hand. Renee's arms flung around his waist, as she carefully pulled herself nearer, flush against his back, wanting to feel the heat that radiated off his bare, scarred skin and allowing the scent of purely Jack in her nostrils. Jack slowly turned around to face her and lovingly tilted her head up to let their lips meet, his finger tucked under Renee's chin. He easily lifted her up onto the counter before him.

She giggled at Jack with a rather naughty smile around her lips, then suddenly became serious again. "What if we moved somewhere else, far away?" She wondered, lightly running her fingers through his hair, while looking into his eyes.

"Where?" He questioned, naturally.

"No idea. I just… I wanna begin… over with you and…"

"And you feel like you can't truly over here?" He questioned once again, with that hitting the nail on the head. He sighed, thoughtfully trailing her thighs for an instant, as she too remained quiet. "L.A.," he whispered, more to himself than anyone else, thinking about his daughter and granddaughter; thinking about his earlier intention to retreat from his old kind of life and just be a grandfather to Teri… and a good father to Kim. He had returned to it, though. And that soon had lead to him finding Renee… and her ending up shot and comatose.

Renee quietly raised her lover's head to hers this time, eyes meeting. "Would you like to go there, to L.A.?" She asked, doing her best to find an answer in his ocean colored eyes.

He sighed. "No idea. Do you?"