Disclaimer: The characters are from the wonderful creators of "24" and Fox and are not my own; other references to real things, such as names of cars etc, also do not belong to me, but to the relevant people and companies. Other characters that I mention are fictitious and are not based on anyone to my knowledge.

The story is set a good few years after Season 4 of "24", and Season 5 will not occur in my story.

Evening…

The dusky sky made the Jeep Cherokee's silver paintwork look dull and inexpensive. Ever since he bought it last month, Tony had kept the outside polished. He showed off his car with pride. He was sat in the passenger seat and looked into the side mirror and gazed at the body shape as his wife swerved into the car park of CTU. She found a space and screeched the cars breaks to a standstill; Tony winced when he heard the sound.

Smiling, Michelle turned to Tony and began to lean towards him to kiss him. She was to leave him there as he started his shift as Director of CTU Los Angeles; she was to then continue driving another thirty minutes to the Divisional Headquarters where she ranked a higher role in the workplace. Just as she placed a smooth kiss on his left cheek, her mobile phone rang.

"Hi Michelle, it's Bill," her boss. "I want you over at CTU tonight."

"I've just arrived with Tony. Why?"

"Well there's a representative from London visiting tonight. I want you, and only you to speak to her tonight. Don't mention this to anyone, Michelle!"

She snapped open her seatbelt, "I'm working from here tonight."

He smiled back at her, though deep inside he felt uncomfortable with the situation. He had always loved working alongside his wife when they had a moderately equal amount of authority until he had to make a close call several years ago where he put the welfare and safety of his wife above a positive outcome for an investigation. His secondary problem was that he knew that there must be some reason why the big bosses wanted her over here. Usually it meant that there was suddenly a diminished amount of trust between the two offices.

In the Red and Black restaurant, Jack sat down at his table. He was a little early for his first date in a while, but his nerves were jumping and his blood racing. He needed to calm down, drink some water, and above all, make sure he looked at least semi-decent. He looked at his reflection in the back of the silver soup spoon, ran fingers through gelled hair and straightened his tie. He lifted the menu to try and decide what he might want to eat, though, perusing it was not as easy as he first thought. He was tired, and his eyes were not focussing easily on the black print, after a twelve-hour shift of car chases, fights and paperwork.

While Tony was busy creating a network access for Michelle in the ITS room, she sat down at a chair in the Conference Suite and waited for the rep. to join her. Escorted by two security guards, the rep. entered the room and introduced herself as Lucy Cole. Michelle felt she might have seen this face before, maybe in a photograph; but she couldn't be certain.

Lucy explained she had just arrived in L.A. from London as the main culprits in a case she had been investigating had some connections in Los Angeles, and she had intelligence to believe that the main actions of the case had moved here.

"I believe my brother is in danger." Lucy said. "I need to warn him."

"Who is your brother?"

Lucy did not answer the question directly, "I thought I would be speaking to him tonight instead of… instead of you!"

"So your brother works here? We don't have any agents going by the name of Cole. Tell me who he is and I can let him know you are here!"

Lucy's head turned to look out the glass window to see only women sat at desks, then, a man walked out of a dark room and walked toward his desk. "Don't worry, he is here."

Michelle looked down at the notes she had been taking, then back up at Lucy. She then followed her gaze to view what Lucy was looking at. It was Tony.

"You're not really Lucy Cole."

Lucy shook her head. "Lucy Almeida."

Michelle sat back in her chair and sighed.

Jack looked at his watch. His date was late. He lifted a hand and a waiter appeared. He checked the time, though his watch was right and hadn't speeded up.

"It is usual for a lady to be a little late, especially at a high quality restaurant like this. Can I get you anything while you wait, Sir?"

Jack grunted. "Well, I'd like a glass of water, thanks." His throat was dry, but his voice was naturally husky.

Somewhere in an outer suburb of Los Angeles a small child pranced around her babysitter, refusing to go to bed until she talked to her mother. The babysitter was only a teenager herself and was looking after a friend-of-the-family's child while the parents worked to raise money before going to college next year. She hoped to be studying for a Film Studies degree. The babysitter's family did not approve of her new boyfriend, Neil, as he was several years older than her and resembled more of a bad-boy appearance that was not welcome in this neighbourhood. The girl assumed that the parents of the child she was babysitting for would not appreciate him being near their precious daughter. Once the parents had left the house, she usually called Neil to let him know it was safe for him to join her. Tonight, she had not yet found her mobile phone to call him, she had revision to do for her final exam tomorrow. The girl needed all the marks she could get into her first choice university.

The babysitter was in the middle of pleading with the child, Luisa, to go to bed, when she heard a voice behind her.

"Give in to her once in a while!" The babysitter turned around to see Neil's sly smile.