Saturday morning
Jack stood on his balcony, his hands stretched on the rails as he kept staring ahead at the rising sun. It was one week ago since the incident in Santa Barbara. This past week has been uneventful at CTU, and that made matters worse for him since hardly a day went by that he didn't think of Rachel. He had called and wanted to see her after that day to find out how she was, but she had to leave town for a few days.
If Richard Walsh had been alive today, he wondered what he would have thought about him dating his daughter. Would he approve? Maybe not, the last thing a father wants for his daughter is another agent like him. He remembered how Walsh used to talk about her. They rarely saw each other because of her job in Geneva, but they were close. Her mother died of cancer when she was young. He remembered meeting Rachel the first time during the funeral; Walsh's funeral came 2 days after Teri's. Those days have been most difficult; he was swollen with grief, anger and loneliness.
He went back inside and looked for the note where he scribbled her number, then he grabbed his cell phone on the table. He pressed some keys and was about to hit the green button (to call), but he turned it off instead.
He was almost content living alone. But he wasn't certain if he could find himself again in a relationship especially after Kate. It had been hard for Kate to accept that he hadn't quite gotten over Teri. She had wanted something much more than he could give. Time. Commitment. He was hardly fulfilling the first one; he wasn't ready for the latter.
Then, the days before he went undercover for Mexico had been extremely difficult; it was hard to keep it all from her. How could he promise what she had wanted to hear when he himself didn't know if he would make it out alive or not? The absence of an explanation for his incomprehensible behavior drove them farther apart; there was no one to blame but himself. What had she said to him? He recalled ...
"Jack, you have to let me know what's going on. I feel that there's somebody else in this house. I've waited, Jack, but I don't know what's happening. You never wanted to tell me. Your heart, your mind seems to be stuck somewhere else."
He couldn't lie, it was so true. He eventually broke it off; he thought it was best for both of them. She had called him just a month ago to tell him that she was getting married. He felt happy for her. No longer haunted by the 'ghosts' from his past, somehow, he felt much more at peace now.
Thoughts of leaving his job, had crossed his mind many times. How many more lives would he dare ruin because of this job? He felt that when the right time comes, he could be content with a desk job at CTU or some place else ... but now is not that time yet. Some days, he couldn't deny that he longed for company, someone to laugh with, someone who'd eagerly wait for him, someone to wake up to. He felt empty ... detached from everyone. Isn't this what he wanted?
Just then, the phone rang interrupting his thoughts. He walked over to where the phone was, and picked it up.
"This is Bauer." his automatic response came. "Uh... Hello." he quickly added.
"Jack? It's Rachel."
"Oh hi, how are you? So you're back." he replied, hoping that it didn't sound too eager.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to call you sooner. I have been busy these past few days. I still owe you, remember?"
"No, you don't owe me anything." Jack replied.
"Yeah, right." She chuckled softly. "Listen, I'm on way out to my Aunt's bookshop in town. I'll be free sometime lunch today. Do you have any plans?" Rachel asked.
"Well, no, I can certainly meet you for lunch today." he said, smiling.
"That's great. Can we meet at JW Burton Books around 12:00 noon? It's on George St." she said, relief in her voice.
"Yeah, I know where that is."
"All right, see you later then." she said, then hung up.
Jack hung up the phone, with a grin on his face. He felt excited, like a teenager on his first date with the most popular girl in school. Leaning back against the couch, he grabbed the morning paper and started to read aimlessly.
After a brief moment, he checked the time, it was 11:00. He decided to take a shower and go early. If she's busy, he can hang out at the book shop and wait.
He slid the doors of his closet, and looked for something to wear. He grabbed his favorite pair of jeans, and a gray shirt. When he looked himself at the mirror, he thought, no, this is kind of dull-looking. He quickly took it off and grabbed a white shirt. Checking himself again, he thought it was much better.
Moments later, he was on George Street looking for JW Burton Books. It was a few feet away, so he scanned the street for a parking spot. There was a red sedan that just pulled away, so he drove closer and parked on the same spot.
It had a green awning and from outside he could see that there was a sitting area by the windows. He pulled the door open and stepped inside the bookshop. A woman in her 50's was at the register who greeted him, "Good morning!"
"Good morning." He greeted back. "I'm looking for Rachel, is she here?" He asked a bit shyly.
She smiled and replied. "Rachel? She'll be in the back, where the children section is, that will be towards the right side." she paused. "But she's busy reading to the kids right now. It will be a few more minutes before she's through. You can wait over there if you want." She said as she pointed to the sitting area.
"Thank you." He replied as he looked at the sitting area where a lone man was reading a book. He decided to check out where Rachel was reading instead.
What he saw next amazed him; Rachel was reading to the kids. They were a bunch of 4-5 year old kids. He felt a tug at his heart because he realized his unborn child would have been about this age if Teri hadn't died.
Rachel closed the book and spoke to the kids, "Okay now, we'll take a little break. Janet here will sing our song with you, then, we'll read one final story."
She looked up and saw Jack standing by one of the bookshelves, looking so handsome. She smiled and waved at him, feeling a little weak all of a sudden; like there were butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't remember how long it's been since she felt this way before towards a man. Oh God! Stop it, Rach! She scolded herself. He's already taken. She's one lucky woman, whoever she is. What was her name? She tried to remember that phone call he had made that 'day', how he called her 'honey' … Kim, yes, that was her name. She stood up and walked over to Jack.
"Hi Jack." She said as Jack gave her a hug.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you" Jack apologized.
"Oh no, we always take a little break, sing a song, then read another book." She paused as she looked at them singing. "Our theme today is about lions." She looked at him, and saw an excited glint in his blue eyes.
"Hey, do you want to read the last one?" she asked.
"Really? I haven't done this before, but I'd love to." He gushed, feeling like he was thrown in a different world. He'd never been in the company of kids this many. All of a sudden, he felt ashamed for being so detached from this world.
Rachel walked in front of the kids with Jack behind her as she introduced him. The kids were all sitting on the floor along with their moms, dads or grandparents.
Jack sat down, opened the book and started reading. The kids giggled when he read the first lion growl, he thought it was way too meek for a lion. So when the next growl came, he made it louder to the kids' delight. When it was all over, one young boy approached him.
"That was fun, Mister. Miss Rachel doesn't growl like that. Are you going to read to us again next time?" the little boy asked.
He chuckled and said, "Well, I don't know. We'll have to ask Miss Rachel about that, okay."
"Oh, please, pretty, pretty please?" the boy pleaded.
Rachel approached them and overheard what was going on. "Chad, I'd love to have him over too, but we'll see, okay?" she said as she placed her hand on his shoulders. He nodded disappointingly. "Your mom's calling you now. See you next week, Chad." She kissed him on the cheeks and ruffled his hair as he ran to his mother.
"That's my friend's son." She turned to Jack and caught him gazing at her. She quickly turned her gaze and continued, "So, let's get going then."
He blushed and felt embarassed for staring staring at her.
She led him towards the counter where the registers were. "I'd like you to meet someone."
"Josie, I'd like you to meet Jack. Jack Bauer. Jack, this is my aunt, my Dad's sister."
"It's nice to meet you Jack." Josie peered through her glasses. Richard had told her about him before, but she never had a face to that name till today. She was surprised that he was an attractive man.
"Nice to meet you too, Josie."
"We'll just grab some lunch at Ferrelli's and be back later." Rachel said, turning to leave.
"Oh, get me some of those …" Josie paused and looked at Jack who was already at the door. "Never mind, I'll just ask Janet to get it for me." She said as she winked at Rachel.
Rachel could only guess what's going on in her Aunt's mind. Aunt Josie found it hard to believe that her beautiful niece was still without a boyfriend. It has been two and a half years already since her husband died; she had wanted her to move on so badly.