I don't own Law & Order.

Jack had thought of spending the day he took off of work finding a new place to live, or maybe finding the people who were trying to kill Claire- despite her warning not to underestimate them, and the subsequent proof of that in the explosion of his house, despite the fact that Claire had spent ten years running from them, he still believed that he could find them, throw them in jail for anything he could, from murder to unpaid parking tickets, find a way to keep them there, and live happily ever after. Logically, he knew how unlikely it was that he could do so, but in his heart, he expected this not only to end, and soon, but with a happy ending. And he'd said Claire had been an idealist.

His plans hadn't changed, but he hadn't gotten anything done that day. He was with Claire for the first time in years, alone, in a hotel room…

It was about five-thirty when the phone rang. Jack got up and answered it. It was Jackie. She told him that someone had tried to kidnap her, but she was fine and at the police station. To his surprise, she was with the detectives he worked with. He agreed to come get her.

He told Claire what Jackie had said, and they agreed that it would be a very bad idea for her to show up at the precinct, so he went to get his daughter.

"I'm here to get Jackie Clark," Jack told the detectives when he arrived. "I'm a friend of her family."

The detectives looked surprised, but Lieutenant Van Buren's expression was something other than surprise. "Counselor, can I talk to you in private?" she asked, but from her tone, it was not really optional. They went into her office.

"What the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"That little girl. Who is she?"

"Her mother's a friend of mine," Jack told her, refusing to be intimidated by her stare, which seemed to look right into him.

She said nothing for a few seconds, just looked at him. Finally she repeated, "A friend." Her tone made it clear that she didn't believe it. She waited for another few seconds, then said, "Jack, I knew Claire too."

Jack didn't say anything, and the silence dragged on. So she had noticed the resemblance. He wasn't really surprised, he'd wondered whether she would. And he wondered how much she knew. Claire hadn't been able to talk to him after the execution, but she had talked to Anita Van Buren. He wondered if Claire had said anything then, or if Anita now knew anything beyond that a little girl who looked like Claire had almost been kidnapped.

"Knew," he said finally.

"What?" she asked.

"You said you knew Claire. Knew, or know?"

She looked at him, shocked by the question. "Jack, Claire's dead."

He said nothing.

"Claire's dead," Anita repeated. "Isn't she?"

Jack did not reply, just pushed open the door of her office, took his daughter, and left.

TBC

Please review. I'm working on the next chapter and will probably post it today or tommorow.