Disclaimer: Not mine. Not making any money.
Author's Notes: I noticed that although everybody seemed to like Elizabeth as a potential love interest for Jack there's not a whole lot of fic featuring her. I decided, shortly after the ep. aired that I would write a story about their relationship. I started this fic during the 5th season hiatus and have been working on it off and on since then.
I've really struggled with the storyline because of the awful way Season 5 played out. So I finally came to the conclusion that I should use as much or as little of the last few eps. as made sense. You see some familiar circumstances happening to the gang at APO, but by no means does this fic follow cannon (I would NEVER kill our SpyDaddy!).
I did however use the exact dialogue from Bob in several scenes so credit must be given to Monica Breen and Alison Schapker. Although I did tweak some of it to fit my purposes.
I'm also going with Jack being recruited at 17, which means he would have graduated from High School a year early. All flashbacks are in italics. If you have questions about my timeline let me know and I can PM you with the exact dates I came up with.
Chapter 1Jack stood in the drawing room, idly tapping the piano keys. He tried to stay focused on the mission at hand, but it was difficult with the hints of memories assailing him. He hadn't seen Elizabeth in over 15 years; he had stayed in contact, but they hadn't been in the same room together since that awful night.
He looked up at the sound of her voice, "Do you still play?"
Jack quickly schooled his features to a picture of nonchalance before answering, "No, gave it up years ago." He pulled off his glasses.
"You shouldn't have approached me here."
"I take it Joseph still doesn't know what you do for a living." It was more of a statement than a question.
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "How would it look for the British Ambassador to France to have a spook as his lover? Besides, this is where I get my best intelligence."
"I already talked to the Minister of Finance. He's a dimwit."
"What's this about, Jack?"
He got right to the point. "We believe someone operating within MI-6 is attempting to acquire a micropulse bomb."
"Well, that's outrageous. MI-6 would never sanction it," Elizabeth was shocked.
"I agree. More likely whoever it is represents some corrupt element."
"Are you suggestion we have a double agent?"
"Yes, but it goes much deeper than that. Have you ever heard of Prophet Five?" When she shook her head, Jack explained. "They appear to have infiltrated multiple intelligence agencies, not just MI-6."
"And you think that following this weapon will give us the key to finding out more? You want me to investigate my agency from the inside?" Elizabeth was skeptical, to say the least.
"I wouldn't be coming to you if it didn't also involve Sydney."
"Sydney? Is she all right?"
"She's fine; in fact you just met her."
Elizabeth nodded her head, finally realizing why the young woman had been vaguely familiar. She smiled and said, "Oh my goodness. It has been a long time. And unless that's a very convincing disguise . . ."
"I'm going to be a grandfather. A very young grandfather," he added, a little defensively.
"Jack . . . she's lovely." She paused before adding, "She looks like you."
Jack raised his eyebrows but made no comment. "The agent I told you about, Michael Vaughn, he was her fiancé."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. But, what you're asking me to do, to investigate my own agency – that's treason!"
"What's a little treason between old friends?" he asked, flippantly.
On the flight trip back, Jack was distracted. Distracted enough so that Sydney actually commented on it. "Dad, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"You just seemed a million miles away. What were you thinking about?"
Jack hesitated before answering, "I was thinking about strategies to prevent the MPB from falling into the mole's hands."
Sydney frowned, "Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Elizabeth seems nice." Sydney switched subjects after a brief pause. When Jack didn't answer, she pressed him. "So how do you know her?"
There was a long silence, so long that she assumed her father wasn't going to answer. Then quietly, he said. "We first worked together when we were young recruits. Before I met your mother."
"And?" Sydney pushed a little more. She was eager to hear about her father and his life before her mother broke him.
"And what? We met on a joint task force between the CIA and MI-6."
"Care to give me some details? It's a long flight and I don't think I'll be getting to sleep any time soon with the little guy doing backflips!"
Jack's face softened at the mention of his grandchild. Sydney's baby was due in a couple of months and very active. He sighed and began relaying his history with Elizabeth Powell.
"I'd only been with the CIA for about 18 months when I was asked to be on a JTF that was coordinating with MI-6. I was going to college full time while working part-time for the CIA.
"They wanted me for my background in Game Theory; I was something of a prodigy. Intel had indicated that East Germany and Russia were allying in order to circumvent western interests.
"From what we could tell, they were trying to create the next generation of nuclear weapons. And since there was little to no communication between communist and western countries, we had no way of knowing if these were rogue agents or not."
'You worked with Elizabeth on the task force?" interjected Sydney.
Jack nodded. "She was a language expert and also had an interest in Game Theory. Our superiors tasked us to translate the chatter then create end games and counter measures. It took eight months for the team to come up with a scenario that Langley would approve."
1966
"Devlin, you take Bristow, Powell, and Sanderson to the East entrance. We'll be converging on the group from all sides. Take them in or take them down." Thomas Thornton was the task force leader and an uncompromising one.
The compound was rather small considering what The Commune was planning. As Jack and the rest of the team headed up the East corridor, gunfire broke out ahead of them. They rushed forward, intent on helping their colleagues.
In the midst of the gunfight, Jack saw several agents go down. The CIA had underestimated the size of the contingent based on the size of the compound. Jack had tried to warn them, explaining that the small size would be perfect for an ambush of this sort.
When all was said and done, 10 of the 16-member task force had been killed. Devlin was the only team leader, with three other senior agents to survive. Jack and Elizabeth were low-level officers and of little consequence to The Commune.
They were place in the same cell after they'd each been interrogated for several hours. They were under minimal guard, which gave the two young agents to opportunity to plan an escape.
Ignoring the cuts and bruises that resulted from their questioning, they attacked the guards as they were attempting to transfer them to a new holding area. With the element of surprise on their side, they were able to easily take down the two guards.
Grabbing the guns, they took off, skirting guards as they tried to find their comrades.
"Jack," Elizabeth hissed, "this is insane! We'll never find them! We need to get out and contact Langley."
"By that time they could be taken somewhere else or worse, they could be dead! These guys do not fuck around!"
At that moment a door opened to reveal a guard hauling Ben Devlin out of his cell. Jack quickly took aim; the guard looked surprised as the bulled pierce his brain.
Elizabeth rushed to Devlin's side as he collapsed from pain and hunger. "Sir, can you walk?"
Jack knew they didn't have a lot of time before someone realized what was happening. "Sir, do you know where the others are? We don't have much time."
"They killed Andrews and Callahan this morning," Devlin said, tiredly. "I think Foster is a few cells down."
The trio made their way down the corridor, checking cells as fast as they could. When they found Foster, he was in as bad a shape as Devlin. The two more able-bodied agents assisted their senior officers out of the building without incident. It was when they attempted to hotwire a car that they had a problem.
As Jack tried to reconfigure the wires, several guards opened fire. He threw his gun to Elizabeth hoping he could hold them off until the jeep started. As she finished her clip, the engine roared to life.
"Both Elizabeth and I received commendations from the State Department for meritorious services to the U.S. The task force continued to work toward finding and bringing the members of The Commune to justice. Which we did in just under a year," Jack finished.
"So you and Elizabeth became friends?"
"Elizabeth has been a wonderful friend over the years," he said softly.
Sydney sensed that there was something more to her father's relationship with Elizabeth Powell. However, she didn't pry any further. She mentally started to put the pieces together, calculating when her father met her mother and smiled to herself.