Disclaimer: I don't own 24, I just play with the characters for a while when the folks at Fox, aren't using them. I do however own the plot, and the occasional player you don't recognize.

Summary: See Chapter #1

Author's notes: 1. "" Dialogue, '' thoughts

2. C.O.S: Change of Scenery

3. 888 is used when I switch points-of-view.

4. Italics is used for a phone conversation, Bold print is used for flashbacks

5.Sarah is not meant to resemble any other character in the 24-fic universe; I have read one story where there is a Sarah, and she's a waitress.

Warning: There is swearing in the chapter below.

Spoilers: Season #5

Reviews: Oh, yes please.

Rebirth: Chapter #2

Marine Sgt. Blaine Phillips entered the guardhouse, to begin his regular shift as overnight commander of the guard at the American Embassy in Shanghai. This assignment had been extremely uneventful since he'd started a month before, with nothing but the occasional Chinese dissident attempting to claim asylum on its grounds. He put his feet up on the desk and flipped through the binder of faces- some of them were suspected terrorists, while others were missing American tourists- that too hadn't changed since before he'd gotten there. He stopped at one page, one photo with a bio below that caught his eye; Jack Bauer the intelligence agent responsible for bringing down President. Logan 6 months prior- the bust had made the headlines worldwide, making him famous as the agent that brought down the most powerful man in the world. Adding to the fame, was the fact that he was kidnapped the next morning- and hadn't been seen or heard from since. A priority flag was put on the file, which meant that if the man was found it was to be reported straight to Vice President Heller. He heard the sound of bushes rustling by the entrance, and put the binder down, and left to check the spot. It was nothing, but he made his way across to the soldier standing on the other side of the gate to confirm, which the soldier did.

"I'm going to make a visual check of the others, use your hand-held radio to inform me of any changes." Sgt. Phillips ordered, the soldier responded with the customary: Yes sir, and a crisp salute.

Sgt. Phillips made his way around the other groups patrolling the grounds, and all reported in clear. As he neared the final group at the eastern point of the compound, his radio crackled to life, and he stepped away from the group.

"Sgt. You'd better come take a look at this." The soldier told him; the urgency in his tone was enough to make Phillips take off at a fast job back to the front of the compound.

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In the months since his capture, and imprisonment in a Chinese prison Jack Bauer had been brought to the brink of death countless times. It began with daily questionings, and when he wouldn't tell them anything they would beat him, then throw him back in his cell. When they finally realized if they continued it would result in his death, they switched and started attacking him weekly giving him some time to heal in between. He was quite unprepared when, just earlier that evening his scheduled questioning was taking place, and an unfamiliar officer stepped in, and ordered that he be released. They threw him back out onto the streets, where for the last several hours he wandered aimlessly in what he thought was the general direction of the American Embassy. Finally achieving his goal of making it there his next idea was to hide somewhere near the grounds, and enter the next day to speak with the ambassador. Unfortunately, his injuries forced him to re-consider, and make himself known before then; and that's what he was attempting to do when the marine stepped out of the shadows his gun pointed directly at Jack and shouted:

"Get down on your knees and put your hands on your head!" Jack fell forward onto his knees, not having the strength to resist, even if he wanted to. The marine pulling the strap over one shoulder, and making the customary check to make sure there were no hidden weapons. Jack winced as the marine touched a sore rib, and sucked in his breath.

"What's your name?" The marine asked Jack as he finished the check.

"Bauer… CTU." Jack replied his breath coming in gasps. The marine stepped away, leaving Jack alone and he could hear him speak into a handset. He made out, a man jogging towards him, and just as he neared, Jack collapsed. The last thing he recalled before passing out, was the man standing over him:

"Welcome back to America Agent Bauer." Sgt. Phillips greeted him. Phillips turned to the marine and requested that he locate the doctor, and medical staff required. He left the medical team to do their jobs, and went into the building housing the military offices, to locate a phone with a secure line.


C.O.S.: Washington

James Heller leaned back in his chair and yawned. He'd been trying to curtail his late nights, to only two a week, but so far it hadn't worked; and this was his third late one this week. He sighed; this was the last task of the day- he had to read through the list of potential commendations, and choose 5 of the most deserving candidates from each. The names were listed in order by department, beginning with the intelligence services. Names listed under CTU included Bill Buchanan, Chole O'Brian and Jack Bauer. All three were to be awarded commendation medals for their work pertaining to the Logan case; Jack's awarded posthumously to be accepted by his daughter Kim.

Heller had given Jack up for dead a month after he had disappeared; there'd been no sign of him, no demand for ransom, no clue as to who the kidnappers were. It was a cold case, and had to be given up for one. He had, as a favour to Audrey, circulated a photo to all embassies, treating him as a missing tourist with one difference: he'd flagged his file, and let it be known to embassy officials, that if he is seen, Heller was to be contacted. Bauer had saved his, and Audrey's lives; it was the least he could do. He chose several more names, and then set it aside in his briefcase for the night. He rose from the chair and grabbed his coat from the coat rack, he had his hand on the door handle when the phone rang; he pressed the speaker:

"Heller." The White House switchboard operator's voice came on:

"Mr. Vice President, we have a call on the line from an embassy security official in Shanghai; a Marine Sergeant Blaine Phillips. He says he has knowledge regarding, a missing Intelligence officer."

"Put him through." Heller ordered, as he picked up the handset and sunk back into his desk chair.

"Good evening Mr. Vice President,"

"Good evening Sgt. Phillips. I'm told you have some information for me." Heller got to the point.

"Yes sir, I do. Agent Jack Bauer has been found; he came into our embassy tonight. He is alive, but appears to have extensive injuries, which, we believe have come from regular beatings."

"What kind of injuries?"

"At least two broken ribs, a bruised left orbital bone, numerous cuts and bruises, a twisted ankle and a possible concussion. On top of all of his injuries, he also suffers from malnutrition."

"How long until he can be moved?" Heller asked.

"The medical staff here, tell me a week at the very least." Heller considered the last answer for a moment, before deciding how to proceed.

"Keep him there for the week, and I'll arrange for military transport to bring him back stateside."

"Yes Sir, Mr. Vice President. Is there any message you would like me to give to Agent Bauer?"

"Yes, have him call me when he's able to. And let him know that Audrey misses him," Heller replied.

"Yes Sir, will do."

"Have a good evening Sgt."

"Thank you sir, you as well Mr. Vice President." Heller heard the phone click, and hung up his end. 'Jack Bauer; you S.O.B.; you've managed to cheat death yet again.' He thought, as he smiled to himself.


C.O.S.: New York

Audrey Raines critically surveyed herself in the mirror. She'd finished applying her makeup, but noticed that she was unable to hide the dark circles under her eyes any longer. She wondered why she even bothered anymore; it's not like she had anyone to look nice for. She bothered because, to show people the circles, would be to show weakness; and as a political operative, and the daughter of the Vice President- she had an image to maintain, and if she showed weakness, that image would shatter. The circles showed were the only physical sign of the fatigue she felt inside which, had been growing ever since that day.

She remembered all of it like it was yesterday. The emotional day, beginning with Jack walking back into CTU alive, and ending with the takedown of a President. The abject fear that she thought she lost both him, and her dad- indeed; she could have lost Jack many times over- but somehow he always came through it. She remembered thinking that it was fate bringing him through it all alive, that they were meant to be together. Most clearly, she remembered the next morning, after the dust had settled. It was a sunny morning, as she waited outside a warehouse. She vividly recalled how happy she was; she could see the man of her dreams, longed to be alone with him.

"I can't believe you're really here, you're back." Audrey exclaimed, the happiness evident in her voice. She'd touched his face; they were close to kissing only to be interrupted by a police officer:

"Agent Bauer, there's a phone call for you from your daughter. You can take it in the warehouse." Jack hopped off the back of the ambulance, and walked into the warehouse.

She remembered what happened afterwards; she'd waited nervously for him for an hour, before going in to check on him. What she found shook her to her core; there was no sign he'd ever been there, no sign anybody had ever been there. She frantically left the building and requested the police do a perimeter check; but they found nothing. She'd then called CTU, and alerted them. Buchanan gave her whatever support she needed. She searched everywhere, questioned everyone who'd been in contact with him at the warehouse, but they all reported seeing nothing.

She was angry that out of all the people coming and going from that site, and nobody saw anything; she became discouraged. When a month rolled by, she realized that if she did find something; it would most likely be a dead body- and she didn't know if she could deal with that yet. So she left; there were too many memories of him there, too many emotions.

She took some time off, to refresh herself, and knew that she needed to get past him, if only for the sake of her sanity. So she took the job as Chief-of –staff for the Ambassador to the United Nations. That had been five months ago; and although she'd been busy adjusting to her new job, her new location, memories of him still haunted her. Nightly, she'd been accosted by dreams of that morning, and self-doubt; if only she'd gone in sooner she might have seen something- might have stopped whatever was going on, even though she knew that there was also the possibility that she'd have gone missing too. In one dream she had gone in to check on him, and found him lying dead on the floor. It was that one that made her afraid to go to sleep at night, her fear being that if she went to sleep, she might wake up to the real news that Jack Bauer was dead.

And so the months went by, and she held onto the sliver of hope that he was still alive- and the circles under her eyes continued to deepen. She sighed; the makeup job would have to do, she was going to be late for work if she stayed any longer.

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Chloe O'Brian glanced around her bedroom. 'Phew' she thought, no sign of the night before. Even as she thought it, she heard soft humming, and smelled the coffee brewing in the kitchen. She silently cursed herself; she'd done it again- fallen for his charm, and quick wit. He'd caught her while she was weakest; at the end of the day, she'd just lost a good friend, and two colleagues to terrorist attacks and he'd come upon her sitting at her desk, crying. She cursed herself again for showing weakness in the workplace; he asked her if she wanted to get breakfast, and talk about it. She responded that she would, and thus began her relationship with her ex-husband, Morris O'Brian.

He'd been really sweet to her, the friendly shoulder to cry on in the days and weeks that followed. And when it slowly dawned on her, that her job at CTU wasn't what she wanted anymore; he was the one that encouraged her to begin looking for another job. When Audrey called, with a job offer for her as the advisor on cyber-terrorism to the Ambassador to the U.N. she accepted, because she still wanted to help people, and she liked Audrey. After accepting the post, she moved immediately to New York and set up her apartment. She quickly settled into her new job, and apartment forgetting about Morris. One day the previous week, she came home from work, to find him sitting on the front steps of the apartment building.

"Go away Morris, I don't want you here." Chloe stated. Surprisingly, he did as she told him, and went away. The same routine, had been repeating itself daily for the last week.

Finally, the previous night she asked him what he wanted from her; he replied nothing, just her.

"It wouldn't work between us- it didn't work between us; you cheated on me." She replied.

"I know, and I was wrong to do that, and I'm sorry." Morris apologized.

"You still flirt." She insisted.

"I know, I always will, it's part of my charm really. But, I will never mean any of it anymore" He declared. Chloe took a deep breath; she still wasn't giving up the fight:

"Our marriage was a mistake, you cheated on me. I packed up my stuff, and moved out of the apartment. Most guys would take that as pretty good indication that they weren't wanted anymore. Nearly 2 years later, Jack suggested, I call you in to help us out on the Logan operation so I had to work with you. You were a friend to me, after he went missing, and Edgar died; and I needed it. But it would…" Morris cut her off mid-sentence with a kiss. Chloe was completely lost in what happened next, remembering only snippets; falling onto the bed, in a frenzy of kissing, and at some point coming up for air.

Chloe cursed herself a second time, as she prepared for work, wishing that he'd be gone by the time she got out to the kitchen. Of course he wasn't, she got out there, and found a single red rose, and a place completely set with a plateful of scrambled eggs, and a glass of orange juice. She nearly smiled despite herself.

"Did you have a good sleep sweetheart?" He asked.

She cringed inwardly, he never caught onto the fact she hated the little endearments he called her. She grit her teeth and smiled:

"Yes thank you. Now can you please leave?"

His attempt to answer was interrupted by the phone ringing; Chloe reached past him and grabbed the hand-held set and left the room.

"Yeah, they probably couldn't do it without me, but I was just doing my job; I'm not looking for any glory." Chloe said, in a matter-of-fact way.

"CTU couldn't you're right about that. That's why we want to reward you for your distinguished service." Heller answered

"Well, if you insist Mr. Vice President." Chloe nonchalantly responded.

"I do insist." Heller confirmed.

"I'll see you Saturday then."Chloe replied.

"Yeah, bye Chloe."

"Good-bye Mr. Vice President." Chloe pressed end and went out into the kitchen.


C.O.S.: Vancouver

Sarah Vincent glanced at the single man sitting at the corner of the bar, then up at the clock, 35 minutes until closing. Every night this week, his routine was the same; he'd come in around 8, and stay right until closing at 2 am. Sometimes, he'd order a drink or two; other times he'd just sit there and watch the crowds around him. She often looked at him, and wondered what he did, who he was, if he had a girlfriend or a wife. He never said anything to her- never told her his name, where he was from, what brought him to the city. He kept his face expressionless, but every once and a while, if Sarah was careful, when she'd look over at him, there'd be a look of longing, or sadness in his eyes.

"Last call," she stated. The statement caused a second man, sitting at a table to rise, and pay his bill then leave. The other man looked at his watch, and realizing he had a half hour left, stayed seated. She grabbed a tray and headed to a dishwasher the other side of the bar, filling it up with clean glasses and began to put them back up on the shelves.

"Penny for your thoughts." Sarah prompted the man as she worked. She let the statement hang, and continued; grabbing more dirty dishes to take around and loaded the dishwasher. She grabbed a damp cloth, and made her way back to the side where the lone customer waited:

"It's a little chilly out tonight, hope you grabbed a sweater." He commented. She smiled wryly:

"I did. I don't live far from here, just a five minute walk."

"My name's Jason Almont, I work down at the docks." He responded. She continued smiling; this was the most he'd said to her all week.

"Sarah Vincent, and I am a bartender… which, is painfully obvious," she replied to his introduction in kind. It caused him to smile; he had a nice smile, she thought to herself. She continued to clean, and he was silent.

"How long have you worked here?" He asked to make conversation.

"About two years." She answered.

"You must hear some crazy stories." He continued.

She chuckled: "You have no idea." She stood on tiptoes to reach the racks above the bar; noticing her trouble reaching, he rose from his stool and came behind the bar.

"I'll do it." He said, and she stepped aside and let him.

"Thanks. It's the only part of the job I have trouble with." He chuckled in response. She grabbed a broom, to do all that was left to do of the cleaning; sweep.

"What kinds of stories do you hear?" He kept the conversation alive.

"Adultery, divorce, relationship troubles, work-related problems. If it effects someone else in a negative way, I've heard it."

Sarah moved over and began counting the cash, and he was quiet again. She looked up at the sound of footsteps, as Andrew peeked around the corner, he took a look at Jason and remarked:

"We're closed."

"It's alright Drew, we were just talking, and he was helping me close up."

"Alright, Sarah, take care walking home, it's chilly, and there are some interesting people out there." Drew responded.

"I always am, but thanks anyway." She replied, and he left, with a look at Jason.

"He's not happy about my being here." Jason stated.

"Yeah, it's just the whole; you're a customer in a bar after last call. But he trusts me, and I'm a pretty decent judge of character, and you seem like a good guy. So he lives with occasional straggler." She explained. He nodded at her assessment. They were silent, as she finished counting the till, and putting a deposit in the safe below the bar. She grabbed her coat smiling:

"Now, comes the best time of the evening; home-time." They were quiet as Sarah grabbed her bag, and led the way towards the exit. The pair stood for a moment, as Sarah burrowed deeper into her coat.

"I'd better start walking before I really start to feel the chill."

"Do you mind if I walk with you?" Jason tentatively asked her.

"Yeah, okay." Her smile reappeared. It would be nice to have someone with her for company.

8888888

As he walked beside Sarah, Tony considered the events of the past few months. He'd adopted his new identity as Jason, a day labourer, and gradually moved northwards, working a week here, two there. He'd managed to keep to himself mostly; never staying one place long enough to make any friends, never really wanting any. The fact was; Michelle, and their children, had never left his thoughts- they were the first thing he thought of everyday, and the last thing every night. His separation from his children, continued to break his heart; but it couldn't be helped, there was still a threat out there, albeit a reduced one since Logan was in jail. Henderson, however, was still at large.

He'd decided on Vancouver as his final stop, because it was enough like home that he wouldn't be very homesick, and far enough away that he wouldn't be recognized; that was four months ago. He'd begun going to Sarah's bar the beginning of the week, mostly so that he'd have somewhere to go; the constant moving around had caught up with him. He knew he needed company, but also knew he had to be careful, what he told people; in this way, he had struck a happy medium- going to a bar where there were people, and yet not get close enough to them to mean anything. If he just observed; he thought to himself, then he wouldn't have to feel much.

"I cut up this alley; my building's just over there." Sarah informed him, pointing to a building with patterned lights. He stopped beside her.

"Thanks for the company." She told him.

"Don't mention it." He responded. He watched and briefly noted the lighting through the passageway as she made her way through it. He'd turned around and had begun walking the other way when he heard:

"Give me back my damn purse you asshole."

Tony turned and ran into the alley, to find Sarah fighting off one of two assailants. The second stood off to the side, and was combing through the contents of the purse; counting the money, making sure there were credit cards. The second assailant turned around in time to see Tony coming towards him, used the purse as a weapon, slugging him in the face with it. He cringed in pain, and the distraction was enough for the second assailant to run back out the alleyway the same way Tony had been walking when he heard Sarah scream. He ran after him, catching up with him after only a few feet. In the struggle that followed, he was quickly able to get the upper hand on the guy, and pinned him up against a brick wall of an adjacent building:

"Give me the purse." He growled. The assailant squirmed, and Tony applied more pressure to his neck; he dropped it and ran. Tony barely had time to move, when the second assailant ran past him. He picked up the purse and made his way back towards where Sarah was, collapsed on the pavement against the wall, breathless. She looked up at him,

"Wow, is that going to be some shiner when the swelling goes down." She commented.

"You're quite the little fighter," He replied.

"Thank you, my boss makes us take the occasional self-defense class. He always says that you never know when it'll come in handy," she explained. He handed her the purse, and they began walking towards the building.

"Are you pressing charges?" He asked.

"No, I don't think so. What will I say; that two men dressed completely in black tried to rob me on my home from work. I didn't get a good enough description, so without an eyewitness they'll have nothing to go on. Besides, they'll be likely to press charges against us for assault." She replied.

"I can't be involved in something like this." Tony said, keeping his tone neutral. She immediately noticed his facial expression become shuttered, a complete 180 from just moments before. She looked up as they reached her destination,

"Well this is me," She said, and rummaged around in her purse for her keys. Finding them, she turned to Tony:

"Would you like to come in; I can get you some ice to help reduce the swelling in your eye." He gave her a small smile,

"No, I think I'd better get going home." He backed out.

"I insist. It's the least I can do for my knight in shinning armor." She returned, chuckling a little. She turned and unlocked the door, and when she turned back to get him to follow her, he was gone. She shook her head; a mystery to figure out- and there was nothing she liked more than a mystery.

Tony examined his eye under his bathroom light; it certainly was going to be a shiner; he touched it; it was painful, but he'd been through worse- he'd been shot in the neck, and managed to go back to work after all. He made his way to the kitchen and wrapping some ice in a towel, sunk down in his easy chair. He flicked on the TV and watched what appeared to be a very old Canucks-Oilers game. He didn't remember when, but after sometime, he fell asleep, and his last thoughts as always were of his Michelle.


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Thanks for reading

-A.B.