Over the past season, I have come to love Bill Buchanan. I wasn't sure about him in season 4. It was only at the end when he broke the news of Jack's "death" to Audrey that I decided that I might actually like him. Then season 5 started and Bill started working with Jack and I decided that I really liked him. Almost no one has written a story about him so I thought that I'd try. I'm not sure how much interest this will generate, but I'm having fun writing it. Hope some of you will read it. If you do take the time to read it, please review. I'd like to get a sense of how many readers have an interest in the topic.
Chapter 1: The Past
CTU – Los Angeles
Day 5, 4:10pm
Bill Buchanan looked at his watch and then stood up and began to pace the room. It was just after 4 o'clock and, thanks to Lynn McGill, paranoid little bureaucrat that he was, Bill was stuck in a holding cell while his department was trying to chase down terrorists who were in possession of enough nerve gas to kill a significant population of Los Angeles. Bill was confident that Jack was on the right track and that, regardless of who was in charge of CTU, he or McGill, that Jack and Curtis would move heaven and earth to stop the terrorists. In the meantime, he was going stir crazy in an eight-by-eight holding cell. Worse than that, he needed to make a phone call and his phone had been confiscated when he was taken into custody.
The phone call was important. He made one every day at this time. No matter how busy he was, he found a couple of minutes to get to his office or some other quiet place and make the call. If he didn't, he knew that she would worry and the last thing he wanted her to do was worry, especially today after all that had happened in Los Angeles.
Not sure what else to do, Bill used the intercom to call the officer standing guard. He knew the young man well having hired him shortly after taking over the helm at CTU eighteen months earlier.
"Yes, sir," the young man answered.
"Jason, could I see you for a moment? I have something I need to talk to you about."
"Yes, sir. I'll be right in, sir," he answered.
Bill heard him putting in the code on the keypad outside of the door. The door unlocked and Jason Mills stepped into the room.
"You needed to see me, sir?" Mills asked formally as if Buchanan was still his boss.
"Jason, I'm not in any position to ask for a favor, but I'm going to do it anyway. I need to make a phone call. It's important. It's a personal call. You can check the phone logs; I call my sister's house every day at this time to make sure that she got home safely from work." It was only a partial lie. He did, in fact, call his sister's house every day after four but it wasn't his sister, Jane, that he was checking on. "If I don't call, she's going to worry and I don't want her to do that. Could you possibly get me a phone so I can check in with her?"
Jason wasn't quite sure what to do. He had been given strict orders that Buchanan was to talk to no one and, to tell the truth, he was terrified of Lynn McGill. Look what the guy had done to Buchanan. He certainly wouldn't hesitate to arrest a nobody as low on the food chain as a security officer with less than two years experience.
"Look, Mr. Buchanan, I'd like to help, I really would. It's just that I have my orders and I can't afford to screw up and lose this job. My wife just had a baby a few weeks ago and…"
"I remember," Bill said kindly. "I also remember that I gave you some extra time off and didn't charge it against your vacation time when your wife was having some problems with the pregnancy," Bill reminded him.
"I know you did, sir, and believe me I appreciate it. It's just that…"
"I understand," Bill assured him. "Jason, I don't want to get you in any trouble, but I really need to make that phone call. You can get the number off of my phone log and dial it yourself so you know I don't try to call anyone else. Call Chloe O'Brien. She can look up the record for you and verify that the phone number is a land line into my sister's house. I'm not doing anything to subvert McGill's authority."
Jason looked torn and scared. He liked his boss, he really did, but at the moment he was more afraid of McGill than he was the terrorists. "Mr. McGill is crazy, sir," Jason blurted out.
"I know that, Jason. He's so paranoid right now that, if it continues, he's just going to self destruct and be relieved of his command. I don't really think McGill is going to be a problem much longer."
Jason nodded. "I hope you're right, sir." He took out his phone and handed it to Buchanan. "I'll give you five minutes, sir."
"Thanks, Jason," Bill said and the officer left the cell.
Bill smiled as he dialed the number and, as always, it was answered on the first ring.
"Hi, Dad," said the singsong voice on the other end.
"Hi, Sweetie. How was school today?" Bill could almost see her standing there talking on the phone. She was a beautiful girl with deep chestnut colored hair, straight as an arrow, cut neatly just above her shoulders. She stood tall and slender and had his bright blue eyes. She would be wearing the maroon and gray plaid skirt and the maroon blazer of St. James' Academy. At 12 years of age, she had already started to leave the little girl stage behind and was growing into a woman, a thought that was enough to scare a single father out of his wits.
"It was weird. First we heard about President Palmer being assassinated and then there was that hostage situation at Ontario airport. Everybody was really freaked out," Elise Buchanan explained to her father.
"Were you freaked out by all of that?"
"Kind of, I guess," she said sounding uncharacteristically unsure of herself. "I mean, I felt really bad about President Palmer. Why would somebody do that? It's not like he was still president or anything. It's just so sad."
"I know it is, sweetheart. I feel the same way," Bill said trying to validate his daughter's feelings. It was moments like this when he wished that she was a boy. He knew what it felt like to be a 12 year old boy, but being a 12 year old girl was a concept that was foreign to him. It was also at moments like these, when he felt terribly inadequate as a father and silently cursed Elise's mother for walking out 12 years ago without a moment's concern for her infant daughter.
Elise spoke again brining her father back to reality. "Is CTU trying to track down the killer?"
"Of course we are. We'll find him, Ellie," Bill said confidently.
"That won't bring David Palmer back," she reminded him.
"I know, baby."
"Will you be working late?"
Bill looked around the holding cell not sure how to explain his present situation. At the moment, lying seemed the best way to handle it. "Yeah, it looks like it. I don't know when I'll be home. You should plan to stay with Aunt Jane tonight."
"Okay," Elise said shortly. She never complained when he worked late; she knew that he avoided it if he could, but evenings with Bill's youngest sister generally consisted of helping her grade and organize assignments for her high school English classes. In short, Aunt Jane was sweet, but boring.
"Honey, if you need anything from home, Aunt Jane can take you over after work. But after that, I'd rather you two stayed in this evening. There's a lot going on in LA today and I think it'll be better if you stay off the streets. I know you wanted to go dress shopping for the dance next Saturday, but why don't you wait a couple of days and do that later in the week."
"I don't need a dress," Elise informed her father. "I'm not going to the dance."
"Why not? Aren't all of your friends going?" Bill asked. He had heard Elise and four of her friends discussing the dance weeks earlier after a soccer game. Come to think about it, the other girls had done the talking. Elise had been largely silent.
"It's a mother-daughter dance, Dad. In case you haven't noticed, I'm only half of that combination."
"I thought you wanted Aunt Jane to go with you?"
"No, Dad, you wanted Aunt Jane to take me. I wanted to stay home," Elise corrected him.
"All the other girls will be there. Don't you want to be with your friends?"
"All the other girls have mothers," Elise snapped.
Bill closed his eyes. He hated it when this issue reared its ugly head. It didn't come up often, but every time it did, it broke Bill's heart. He had spent the last 12 years trying to be both mother and father to Elise, but it didn't always work. His sister filled in the gaps when she could and both Bill and Elise were grateful for that, but sometimes it wasn't enough.
"Last week you said you were going to go to the dance. What changed your mind?" Bill asked knowing that it didn't take much to alter the decision of a 12 year old girl.
"I don't know," Elise shrugged. "I just decided that I didn't want to go."
"Did someone say something to you?"
Elise hesitated. "Maddy O'Neill and Heather Arrington said that only girls with real mothers should be allowed to go," she admitted, suddenly ashamed of herself for letting the other girls influence her decision.
"Are you the only girl in the class whose real mother isn't going to the dance?"
"No, Helen Adams has a step mother but that's only because her mother died. Sarah Cohen's mom lives in New York, so she's not going. Amy Winters is bringing her grandmother."
"So there will be other girls there without their mothers."
"Yeah, I guess, but I'm not going to be one of them," Elise said firmly.
Bill sighed. "Sweetheart, it's your decision. If you don't want to go, that's fine. If you want to talk about it some more, we'll talk tomorrow," Bill said.
"What's there to talk about? My mother didn't want me and she left. Period."
"It was never that simple, Elise. She was young. She wasn't ready to settle down at that point." They had been through this all before and Bill wasn't in the mood to go through it again at this moment.
"So what's her excuse now? She's had 12 years to grow up and to come and find me and I haven't had so much as a birthday card from her in all that time. Don't try and tell me that she doesn't know where we live. People aren't that hard to track down using the internet. Any mediocre private detective can do it and so can most internet geeks."
If Elise had ripped Bill's heart out and stepped on it, it wouldn't have hurt as much as what she had just said. She was still a child and yet her very grown up assessment of her mother was 100 percent correct. Ava didn't want her infant daughter. And Bill's hope that she would eventually come to her senses and come back to him and Elise had finally begun to fade.
Bill heard the door open behind him. "Your five minutes is up, Mr. Buchanan," Jason said nervously.
Bill looked at his watch. He had at least another minute, but he wasn't going to argue. He nodded his understanding to Jason and started to wrap up the conversation as Jason stepped back out of the room. "Your right, Elise. And I'm sorry, but I can't change that. I just don't like to hear you sounding so bitter. Try and forget I even brought it up. I'll be home as soon as I can."
"Okay," Elise said sullenly. "I love you, Dad."
"I love you, too, Ellie. I'll see you soon."
Bill returned the phone to Jason and then sat back down in the straight-back chair to brood. Part of him regretted his relationship with Ava Stroebel and part of him would never be sorry. The romance netted him a beautiful daughter whom he loved with all of his heart. He was only sorry that Ava's absence hurt Elise the way it did.
The whole affair, for want of a better word, started fifteen years earlier when Bill was assigned to the CIA office in Germany. He had been with the CIA for five years and this was his first chance at an overseas assignment. He had just turned 35 and was rising quickly through the ranks. If he did well in Germany, it would catapult him past others of similar seniority without the overseas experience.
The position in Germany was a chance of a lifetime and Bill was making the most of it. He had only been there for a few weeks when he and two other up-and-coming agents were assigned to attend a formal dinner at the American embassy. Looking back, he couldn't remember why they wanted a CIA presence at the dinner, but it didn't matter, it was there that he met Ava Stroebel.
Ava was young, barely twenty years old, and fifteen years Bill's junior. She worked as a secretary at the embassy but was a conservatory trained singer and pianist. That particular evening, the American ambassador had hired her to entertain during the cocktail hour. Bill remembered how beautiful she was. She wore a black gown and sat confidently at the polished ebony baby grand piano. He couldn't stop looking at her. He would never forget the first thing he heard her play: it was the Beethoven piece Für Elise. It was haunting. He had never heard it played with such feeling. It was as if she were a siren, singing her song and drawing him ever nearer and into a danger zone. He seemed to have lost all control.
The evening progressed and Bill, with a couple of drinks under his belt, decided to talk to the German beauty during her break. Looking back he realized how easily he fell under her spell and, once he did, how easily she manipulated him. He was lost in love by the end of the evening. Before the party ended the two had exchanged phone numbers. Bill didn't want to look too anxious so he waited two days to call her.
It wasn't long before they were dating regularly and had become lovers. Even then Bill had a sense that he should slow down. He regularly reminded himself that she was much younger than he and at a different stage in her life. He was ready to settle down and Ava was still in the wild years that Bill had left behind. And politically they were miles apart. Ava's father had been a high ranking member of the communist party in East Germany before the wall came down. She still had strongly communist views and loyalties. Somehow Bill was able to ignore all of it. No matter how he tried to reason with himself, it didn't work. He was too enchanted by her.
Bill and Ava had been dating well over a year when Bill was offered a promotion and a position with the CIA in Moscow. It was the kind of position that he had been dreaming of. He told Ava the news that night over dinner knowing that she would want to go with him. The Soviet Union may have dissolved, but there were still plenty of pockets of communism there and Ava was convinced that the communist party would be able to regain control of the country again within five years.
Ava was able to get a visa and the two moved to Moscow. At first, their new life there was exciting if a little lonely. Neither spoke much Russian, so it was difficult to make friends among the Muscovites. There were a few Americans and Germans in the area who worked for the CIA and German intelligence, but Bill preferred to keep a low profile among them. He knew that his relationship with a communist sympathizer would not meet the approval of his superiors so he did everything that he could to keep his work and personal lives separate. Ava had kept her views largely quiet while she was working at the American embassy, but once in Russia she felt more at ease letting others know her beliefs.
Over time, Ava began to get involved with radical communist groups and little by little Bill could feel them drifting apart. Ava had become so distant that Bill started to suspect that she had taken a lover. He came home early one day after she had acted particularly suspicious that morning. As he walked into the tiny apartment, Ava was talking on the phone in a combination of German and broken Russian. Bill was fluent in German and his Russian was passable so he understood the conversation easily. Without Ava realizing that he was there, Bill took in the whole conversation. He felt his knees weaken as he clung to the kitchen counter for support.
Ava ended the conversation, hung up the phone and turned around. She gasped as she realized that Bill was standing behind her. "How dare you sneak up on me!" she exclaimed. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough. Why didn't you tell me that you were pregnant?"
"Because I don't intend to be pregnant much longer."
"I gathered that from the conversation," Bill told her. "Can I assume that the baby is mine or does it belong to one of your communist hold outs?"
"It's yours. I don't have sex with any of them. My relationship with them is purely political."
"If the baby is mine, don't I get a say in what happens to it?"
"I'm the one carrying it. If you were so worried about a baby, maybe you should have thought about it before you stuck that thing inside of me," she said crassly.
"You told me you were using birth control pills," Bill said both confused and hurt.
"I ran out and this is like a third world country, I couldn't get any more."
"So you just took your chances? Why didn't you tell me?" Bill asked incredulously.
"It's not a big deal. I've done this before. I get pregnant and I don't want it so I get rid of it," Ava told him casually.
"It's not a big deal? You're kidding me. It's called an abortion, Ava. It's a very big deal in my opinion. And what do you mean you've done it before. Have you done this to me? Have you aborted other babies that we've conceived?" Bill was beside himself. This was almost beyond his comprehension.
"Don't act so self-righteous! You're not the one who's pregnant. And, to answer your question, no, I haven't done this to you before. It was before I ever met you." Ava stalked away angry that Bill was questioning her this way.
Bill tried to gather his wits about him. He got control of his emotions and followed his girlfriend. "Look, Ava, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow up at you. This just took me by surprise, that's all. But having an abortion isn't necessary. I'd love to be a father. Let's get married. We'll have the baby together," Bill said sincerely.
"You're a fool," Ava told him. "Do you think having a baby and getting married is going to solve all of our problems? We're barely speaking half of the time. You're out of your mind."
"Ava, please, think about it. Have the baby. If you still feel the same way, then I'll take the baby and you can move on."
Ava laughed. "What are you going to do with a baby?"
"I'll raise the baby myself if I have to, but I don't want you to kill it." Bill was sure if he could convince Ava to have the baby that she would fall in love the child as soon as he or she was born. "Please. Ava, I'm begging you. This baby is half mine. At least think about it."
It took a couple more days of convincing, but Ava eventually gave in and agreed to have the baby. For Bill it was a moral victory. He was sure that the three of them were well on their way to becoming a family.
The next six months was a test of wills for both Ava and Bill. Ava had agreed to carry their child, but she hadn't agreed to like it or to do so without complaining. She and Bill were constantly at odds over something and their apartment had become like a battle ground. Bill was grateful when Ava woke him up at 3 o'clock one morning to say that she was in labor. Once again he was full of hope that seeing the baby would suddenly create motherly love in this woman who demonstrated nothing but disdain for her unborn child.
Eight hours later Bill heaved a sigh of relief as the doctor delivered a healthy baby girl. She was amazing. She had a head full of black hair and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. Her skin was pink and her face reddened even further as she screamed heartily. Bill watched as the nurses cleaned her up and weighed and measured her. When they finished, the little girl was diapered and wrapped in a blanket. The nurse carried the baby proudly to her mother's bedside.
"Congratulations," she said as she held the baby out for Ava to hold.
Ava glared at her. "It's his baby. Give it to him."
Bill instinctively reached out for the baby. "Come here, Sweetie," he cooed. "Daddy's got you." He held her out to show Ava. "Honey, look at her. She's beautiful. What did you want to name her?"
"You don't get it, do you, Bill? I don't want her. I never did. You said that you'd raise her if I had her, so I met you half way. I had her. Now, you get to keep up your end of the bargain. She's yours. You had months to pick out a name. You should have done that already," Ava said coldly.
Bill was crestfallen. He had never dreamed that this would happen. How could Ava not love their little daughter? She was already lighting up his world and he had only been holding her for a minute or two. How could Ava be so cruel? he wondered. And how could he have loved her. When Ava was discharged from the hospital a day later, she left with friends from the communist party. Bill thought his heart would break as he held their child and watched Ava go.
The next few weeks were chaotic. Bill hired the woman from the apartment below his to take care of the baby while he worked, but for the rest of the day, little Elise, whom he had named for that haunting melody that Ava played so beautifully, was his. He learned quickly how to care for a newborn and soon the bond between father and daughter was rock solid.
Elise was a perfect angel, but caring for her full time and working full time was wearing Bill down. It was beginning to hurt his performance at work and some of his co-workers were taking notice. Bill had kept the baby's birth a secret, as he had his affair with Ava, because he knew that it would be highly frowned upon within the agency. The only person with whom he dared share the news was his immediate supervisor.
Nick Granger had known Bill for years and had arranged for his transfer to Russia. Nick came to Bill's rescue keeping the news of his daughter's birth to himself and helping cover Bill's work when he could. Even with Nick's help the situation was quickly spiraling out of control. Bill knew that for his own good, as well as his daughter's, he would have to move back to the States. A position had opened up in New York in the newly created Counter Terrorist Unit. Up until now Bill had been on the fast track and this position was a step down. None of that mattered now. Bill's family, who would help him care for Elise, lived in Connecticut just outside of New York City which suddenly made the job perfect for him. He applied for the job, and being by far the most qualified candidate, was notified just a few days later that the position was his. Bill finally boarded a plane leaving Moscow. Before he left he tried repeatedly to contact Ava to tell her that he was leaving and to try and get her to come with him, but she never returned his calls.
Bill bought a small house in Connecticut not far from his parents. Elise grew and thrived there under the watchful eyes of her adoring father and doting grandparents. She was almost six and ready to start school when Bill accepted a transfer to Seattle. He hated to move so far away from his parents, but decided that the couple, who were both retired and considering a move to Arizona, needed some space after spending the last five-plus years helping to raise their granddaughter.
Seattle turned out to be a good move. Bill started out as an intelligence analyst at Division and was later promoted to Senior Agent at CTU – Seattle. It was there that he first met Michelle Dessler. Like most men, Bill was rendered close to speechless when Michelle walked into a room. She got his attention like no other woman before or since Ava, but she was off limits. Everyone in the office knew Michelle's history. She was married and wholly devoted to the man who had committed treason to save her life and who now sat in a federal prison in California. She worked tirelessly to secure a pardon for him. Bill admired her strength and her loyalty and hoped that Tony Almeida realized what an incredible wife he had.
Elise was nine years old now and, for the first time, beginning to ask questions about her mother. Bill knew that day would come and he dreaded it. How could he tell her that her mother never wanted her? How do you soften a blow like that? Bill struggled with the answers but decided early on that he would never paint Ava in a bad light. He would simply explain to his daughter that every woman isn't meant to be a mother. Ava was such a person. Then he stressed the idea that Ava had truly done what was best for Elise. Instead of staying with him and not being a good mother, she had left Elise with Bill who she knew loved her and would be a good father to her. In short, by the time Bill was done with the story, Ava was a saint who had given Elise life and then had left before her lack of parenting skills could corrupt the little mite. That seemed to satisfy Elise for a while. She understood why her mother wasn't there on a daily basis, but soon was asking why her mother never saw her or talked to her or even sent her a card or an email. It seemed that if she was as caring as Bill had described her that she should at least want to know how her daughter was doing from time to time. Bill found that question harder to answer.
It was around that same time when Bill made the decision to accept another transfer. This one was to Los Angeles. Although Bill liked Seattle, the move to LA was right for him at the time. For one, it was a career move. The position at Division as Assistant Special Agent in Charge was a step up for him. More importantly, his younger sister, Jane, who had recently been divorced, lived in LA. Bill was hoping that some female influence in Elise's life would satisfy what he had come to realize was an acute need for a mother.
One other added benefit to the move to LA was that it allowed Bill to once again work with Michelle. Rumor, which traveled all the way to Seattle, was that although Tony Almeida had been pardoned by President Palmer, the Dessler – Almeida marriage was on the rocks. The rumor was confirmed when Bill arrived in LA to find that Michelle and Tony were separated and that she had filed for divorce.
He hadn't been in LA long when Bill decided to ask Michelle out. He had rarely dated in the years since Elise was born. For the most part, he hadn't had time, but in truth, he had always harbored a secret hope that one day Ava would come back. The rational side of him knew how stupid that was. Michelle was the first woman in a long time who had made him forget Ava.
Elise was thrilled when she found out that her father was going out on a real date. She asked a million questions about the woman: Was she pretty? What kind of job did she have? Did she have any children of her own? Was she the kind of woman who wanted to be a mother? The questions were endless. Bill explained over and over that this was just a date and that he wasn't planning a future with Michelle, just an evening. Elise was undaunted. She was still awake when Bill arrived home after midnight and she peppered him with even more questions.
Bill didn't have the heart to tell his daughter that Michelle didn't even know of her existence. Almost no one that Bill worked with knew about Elise. He wasn't exactly hiding her, he was merely protecting her. His work and personal lives didn't need to cross. He liked it that way. But when their first date was successful, at least in his mind, and he asked Michelle out again, he decided to come clean and tell her that he was a single father. That was always a tricky proposition. Although he hadn't dated much in the past, he had dated occasionally. Unfortunately, what he found was that most women, no matter how well the date went, found excuses not to see him again once they found out that he had a child. He feared the same would happen with Michelle, but was pleasantly surprised when it didn't. Michelle seemed impressed that Bill had so lovingly raised his daughter for all of those years and she was genuinely interested in meeting Elise.
Elise couldn't have been more excited to meet Michelle. Bill planned a Saturday outing at the zoo complete with picnic lunch. He was pretty sure that Elise didn't sleep more than two or three hours the night before. To the motherless ten year old, this was more exciting than Christmas!
The day went off without a hitch. The weather was beautiful, the animals seemed to be particularly interested in being viewed and Michelle and Elise hit it off wonderfully. The only problem as Bill could see it was that Michelle and Elise were forming more of a bond than he and Michelle were. He didn't take it personally. He was pretty sure that she cared for him; it was just that she was still in love with Tony Almeida and it was pretty hard to compete with a guy who had gone to prison rather than let her die.
Bill and Michelle had one more date before calling it quits. He wasn't quite sure how to explain this all to Elise, but she was unusually mature for her age and he simply told her the truth. The little girl, who had pinned her hopes for a mother on this beautiful, auburn haired angel that had stepped into her life, was distraught. No matter what her father told her, she was sure that it was she who had scared Michelle away. She was convinced that she would never have a mother to love her.
He remembered with more than a little guilt eighteen months earlier when CTU thought that Tony had been killed in an explosion with one of the terrorists. He remembered holding Michelle as she collapsed in his arms. His first thought at the time was that with Tony dead he might be able to get Michelle back into his life. He was horrified with himself that he could think that way when Michelle was so obviously grief stricken. His emotions were mixed later when Jack called to say that Tony was alive and wanted to talk to Michelle. He knew instantly that he and Elise had lost Michelle once again.
Bill's thoughts of Michelle brought him back to the present and made his heart ache. He wondered if he should tell Elise that Michelle was dead. He remembered the horrific pictures that police took at the scene. He would never forget the pictures of Michelle lying on the ground like a rag doll among the debris. It hurt too much to think about it. He decided not to tell Elise. It didn't serve any purpose. It had taken her months to forget Michelle and to stop blaming herself for Michelle's break up with Bill. Telling her about Michelle's death could only reopen wounds that he wasn't sure had ever fully healed.
Bill was jolted back to reality when the door opened behind him.
"Mr. Buchanan," Jason said, "Agent Manning called. He said that you've been reinstated and they need you back out on the floor right away, sir. He said something about a possible attack on the Russian president's motorcade."
"Call him and tell him I'll be right there," Bill instructed him as he made his way out of the door.
For the moment, Bill Buchanan, father who was concerned about his daughter, was replaced by Bill Buchanan, CTU director who had, what the world would consider, more pressing issues. Bill switched regularly between those two people without letting them become one. Whichever role he was in got his full attention at the time, however, he had no internal conflict over which of those roles and which of those people was the more important. That had been decided by forces outside of his control 12 years ago when he first held his daughter in his arms and fell more deeply in love than he could have ever imagined he could be. And he had never looked back. Never.
Thanks for reading this far. Please review and let me know what you think. The next chapter, entitled The Present, should be up soon. It's pretty well outlined but sometimes even when I outline I have trouble writing the chapter. Hope you'll come back for the next chapter.