Longest chapter of my life, lol. I don't know how good this is. I'm not really used to writing scenes like this. No worries though, I am totally on the Bill/Karen bandwagon!

The room was silent as Jack looked between Bill and Karen. Shaking his head he sighed wordlessly and sat back in the chair. Karen gave Bill a nervous glance and bit her lower lip. He placed a reassuring hand on her knee before turning to Jack. "And that's how it happened," he said.

"All this happened because of a breakfast invitation?" He asked incredulously. Bill grinned and laughed. "Yeah, it did." Jack studied Bill's face and despite everything that had happened in the past couple of hours he seemed happy. Happier than he was that morning when he picked up at the air field. Jack guessed that had something to do with the fact that Karen was in L.A and no longer in Washington.

"Well I'm happy for you," he finally smiled, quickly adding "For both of you." Bill and Karen thanked him before being interrupted by a knock at the door. Chloe popped her head in after Bill motioned her in.

"Sorry to interrupt but we have a lead on where we can find Gredenko." Bill thanked her before she exited. He stood and walked over to his desk.

"We've had so many possibly leads on this man in the past day and all of them had led to nothing. We can't afford to risk anymore time."

"Bill, why don't I go and see what they've got downstairs? If it looks solid I'll let you know. Besides I would like to re-familiarize myself with the system and check in with everyone." Bill looked over to Karen and remembered their earlier conversation. He wanted to talk about it before too much time passed and it was forgotten. He knew that his focus should be work but after 20 months of work coming first it was Karen's time to be his number one priority.

"That would help a lot, thank you" Jack nodded and got up to head to the main floor. Bill walked over to the couch and sat down. He immediately reached out for Karen's hand and held it in his own as he rubbed the back of it with his thumb.

"When I came in you said you wanted to tell me something." He shifted closer to her and Karen leaned her body into his. "What was it that you wanted to say?" Karen knew the moment had come when she would have to tell Bill the truth yet as she looked into his eyes she panicked. And there was only one distraction she could think of.

Slowly she snaked her arms around his neck and stretched her body against his. Their faces were inches a part as she whispered in his ear. "I was thinking of not talking at all." Karen began to place soft kisses along his jaw line. Bill closed his eyes and revelled in her touch but was quickly pulled back to reality. She isn't getting away with this, he thought. Bill gently untangled himself from Karen and looked her directly in the eye. They both knew what was going on and yet it scared Bill as to what his wife might be hiding.

Karen looked up at Bill and bit her lower lip. She let out a huge sigh and rubbed her forehead. "Do you remember a year ago when we had Fayed in custody and we let him go?"

Bill blinked a few times. "Had Karen. We had to let him go."

"Right," Karen said immediately. "I know." She got off the couch and began to pace the room. "I don't know how to say this, especially to you. Tom Lennox is the reason I left Washington. He is the reason I resigned. Tom knew that with me there he would never get Palmer to sign off on his proposal. He needed me gone in order to push his own agenda."

Karen never took her eyes of Bill as she talked. He was still sitting on the couch and while his facial expression didn't change she noticed the flash of anger in his eyes at the mere mention of Tom's name. "He approached me earlier this afternoon with documents of CTU's release of Fayed—signed by you. Then he went on to say that I covered it up at Homeland Security and proceeded to give me a list of people who were willing to testify."

Thinking back to that moment made Karen angry. She defiantly turned to Bill but his expression made her stop. He looked angry, very angry. "So let me get this straight. Tom Lennox came across a piece of legal and valid information and you backed down?"

Karen was startled by his tone and anger towards her. She never thought that he would be upset with her, after all what had she done? But after months of being away, the current crisis, and hours battling Tom Lennox, Karen was just as angry.

"What?" She bit back. Bill looked up from the couch and saw the fury in her eyes and knew they were in for a fight. He got off the couch and began to walk the room.

"I can't believe this," he said shaking his head. He looked up Karen with anger and hurt. "I can't believe you didn't back me up and instead you gave in." Karen took a step back.

"I did defend you!"

"No you didn't. If you really believed in my decision regarding Fayed, if you really believed it was the right thing to do you would have challenged Tom Lennox and you would never have left Washington! You let him win!"

"Bill, he had a list of people willing to testify against you! Against me!"

"Karen my decision to let Fayed go was supported by reason and the law! Any court would have seen that, apparently my wife can't!" He spat.

"I understand that it was the right thing to do! But an investigation would have to have been launched, removing both of us from our positions in order to do a proper search. It would last for months if not years and despite the fact that a verdict would have come back in our favour that is still a very career-damaging trial!"

At this point they were both yelling so loud they barely heard the knock on the door. Jack opened the door slowly cautious of interrupting the feuding couple.

"Bill, I just wanted to let you know that the lead is very solid. We are just putting a team together now."

"Thanks Jack. I'll be down in a minute to take a look at the plans." With that Jack left the office closing the door behind him.

Bill turned to look at Karen staring at him with both hands on her hips. "We'll have to finish this later," he said, adding firmly "When I get home."

Karen raised her eyebrow. "I'm not going home, Bill. You're already short-staffed as it is and I can be of use here."

"Fine, go talk to Milo or Nadia and see where they need you. I'm going to go check on Jack." Karen left the office in a huff and Bill sat down at his desk. As the office door slammed shut he looked at the cup of tea sitting on the table. He thought back to earlier when the two had been reunited. Not even together an hour and they were already fighting, he thought. That can't be good.