Well, here's the beginning of my summer project! Although, in my planning, it's getting kind of long, so it could take me longer than the summer to write it all out. Anyway, I digress. This is going to be my take on the beginning of Bill's and Karen's relationship. As I said, I'm not sure how long it's going to go, but the more reviews I get, the more willing I'll be to continue it. So, as always, please review when you're done reading and enjoy!

Rating: T for later chapters

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from 24, which belongs to FOX and the creators of the show. Any original characters that appear or are mentioned are mine, though. I haven't based this on anyone else's work- it all came from my mind.

Chapter 1

"What a day," Bill Buchanan muttered to himself as he sat down behind his desk. What a day it had been. From a hostage situation at Ontario Airport to bringing down the President of the United States, the day had been full of surprises. Heck, before today, Bill had thought that Jack Bauer was dead. That seemed like years ago, when in reality, it was only hours ago. That just goes to show how much can happen in a day, Bill thought.

In only one day, CTU had lost some of its best people, and Bill had lost some of his closest friends and colleagues. Edgar Stiles, Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler- all of these people had been casualties of the past 24 hours. As sad as Bill was about these deaths, he couldn't help but feel like he had also gained something from the past 24 hours. Someone, more specifically, by the name of Karen Hayes.

Bill wasn't quite sure how he felt about Karen Hayes. Twelve hours ago, when she had come to CTU to take his job, he had wanted nothing more than to hate her and the rest of her team from Homeland Security. He really did. However, as much as he was able to hate her team, there was just something about that hard, determined bureaucrat that he couldn't hate, no matter how hard he tried. Then, as the day continued, he quickly learned to trust her, and even to like her. Now, he felt as if he had known her for much longer than 12 hours.

His desk phone interrupted Bill's thoughts.

"Buchanan," he answered in a relaxed voice. Maybe it was Karen saying that her meeting had been cancelled and she could go out to breakfast after all…

"Bill, he's gone," said the anxious voice of Audrey Raines. It took Bill a second to process what he was hearing.

"Audrey?" he asked uncertainly. "Wait- what are you talking about? Who's gone?"

"Jack." He could hear Audrey crying on the other end of the line. Suddenly, the reality of what she was saying hit him like a ton of bricks. Jack was gone? Why? Where would he go?

"Oh my God, Audrey," was all that Bill could manage. He didn't know what else he could say. "Why don't you come back here to CTU and you can tell me what happened, okay?"

"All right, I'll be there in a few minutes," Audrey managed through tears. Bill hung up the phone and sat down behind his desk. This day had just gotten much longer.

Audrey arrived at CTU, and soon the story of Jack's disappearance began to unfold. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that Bill could do. They checked to see if there had been a satellite in the area at the time, but to no avail. There was no trace of Jack at the scene, and Bill didn't know what else to do. Finally after a few hours of searching, Bill was too tired to continue. Audrey said that she was going to stay, despite Bill's suggestion that she try to get some rest, and she promised to call him if she learned anything new. Before he left, however, Bill had one more phone call to make. He went up to his office and looked up Karen Hayes's cell phone number.

"Hayes," she answered sounding tired.

"Hi Karen, it's Bill Buchanan from CTU," he said somewhat awkwardly. "Are you still at Division?"

"Yes, I just got out of a meeting, why?" Karen was surprised to hear from Bill, but it was not an unwelcome surprise. Over the past day, she had grown to be very fond of CTU's director.

"I was hoping you could pass on a message to Hammond. Jack has gone missing," Bill informed her.

"What? When? How did this happen?" Karen asked all of these at once, and she still had a dozen more floating through her mind. She hadn't known Jack for very long, and frankly, half of the time she didn't trust his judgment. However, she did know that he was an incredibly strong man who did not just disappear within hours without some sort of reason as to why. She also knew that things were looking up for Jack Bauer at the end of the day, and he would not be one to give that up willingly.

"It happened about three hours ago," Bill answered, bringing her out of her thoughts. "We don't know where he is or why. Audrey and I have spent the past hours trying to pick up a trial on him and connect the dots, but nothing has worked."

"How's Audrey doing?" Karen asked, her voice softening. Poor Audrey; Karen could only imagine what she must be going through right now.

"She's doing as well as can be expected. I don't think it's quite sunk in that Jack is gone," Bill replied, his voice also growing quieter. He looked through the glass walls of his office down to where Audrey sat at a station, completely focused on the screen. "Right now, she's determined to find Jack."

"I hope she can," Karen said. "If anyone deserves happiness, it's her and Jack." There was a slight pause on both ends before Karen continued. "Thanks for telling me, Bill. I'll pass the message on to Hammond." Karen almost asked why Bill hadn't called Hammond directly, but thought better of it.

"Thanks."

"One more thing," Karen said before Bill could hang up. "I talked with Vice President Gardner about reversing the CTU chain of command back from Homeland Security to DOD. He agreed that it should be the eventual course of action, but he wants to let things settle for a little while before disrupting things again. Unfortunately, that means that you're going to have to put up with me over at CTU for a while longer," she said slightly jokingly. Bill couldn't help but smile. Now that's one order from the White House that I think I can live with, he thought happily.

"That's not going to be a problem," he said to Karen. "Do you still want me here during that time? You're still the director of CTU, so it's your call."

"Of course. I haven't talked to the Vice President about your reinstatement yet, but even until it becomes official, I need you there. I proved last night that I have no idea how to manage CTU, and you're the one who does know how to."

"Well I'm glad you feel that way. I wasn't quite ready to give up my desk chair yet," Bill joked. "You'd be surprised how attached a person can get to his desk chair. It's more comfortable than you'd think, and it rolls around on those little wheels. It's really a quality piece of furniture, and I'd hate to have to give it up."

Karen couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I'll do everything in my power to make sure that you get to keep it," she replied, still laughing a little. "I'll see you tomorrow, Bill, and if you hear anything else about Jack, please let me know."

"I will," Bill assured her, the seriousness returning to his voice. "I'll see you tomorrow." He hung up and looked at his closed cell phone for a second. Yes, there was definitely something about Karen Hayes that intrigued him, but he still couldn't quite place a finger on it.

TBC...