Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with 24.

Summary: see Chapter #1

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

2. Italics is used for a phone conversation

3. Bold is used for a flashback

4. 8888 is used to change a character's point of view

5. Change of Scenery: C.O.S.

Spoilers: The Spoiler alert now includes all of season #6, as well as 5.

Rebirth Chapter: #11

It was a warm, starlit evening as Jack and Audrey exited the restaurant. He raised a hand as if to hail a cab, and she stopped him by taking it saying: "Let's walk." They turned, and began walking away from the restaurant in comfortable silence.

"We've never done this before." Audrey remarked.

"What walked places together?" Jack teasingly responded.

"Enjoyed the smaller moments like this. We fell for each other so fast, and the environment was so intense that we never got the chance to just be a couple." Audrey replied. His face grew serious:

"We took it for granted we had time to do that." In an instant she realized where he was going with it, and cut him off:

"We didn't know Jack. You have got to stop holding yourself responsible for what happened, it's not healthy. You didn't know you would be taken prisoner, and forced into hiding. We had no control over the events happening around us; they were bigger than us. In order for us to move forward, it's important to leave the past in the past. We've found our way back to each other, and as far as I'm concerned, that means something."

They stopped moving, and were facing each other. She reached a hand up in a familiar gesture and stroked the side of his face. He caught it in both of his gazing intensely into her eyes moving his other hand to the other side of her face. She knew what came next, and closed her eyes awaiting the feeling of his lips on hers. She wasn't disappointed, and instead of turning away like a tiny voice inside her told her to, she deepened the kiss. The voice inside her grew more insistent and after a few blissful moments she broke the kiss, and looked up: They had made their way back to her apartment building.

"Did you want to come up?" She asked, after taking a moment to catch her breath.

"No, I should be getting home. Work in the morning, the boss likes it best when I'm wide awake." He joked.

"Yeah. I have that meeting with the Chinese delegation. Would you sit in?" She asked, immediately aware of his likely answer. She noticed him taking a deep breath to consider it.

"Okay." Jack replied. She observed him grow noticeably tense.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She responded. He leaned in and kissed her a second time.

"Keep it up, and I may not give you a choice about coming up to my apartment next time."

"Always leave them wanting more." Jack replied, and chuckled. She started towards the front door, and he stood waiting to make sure she entered safely. She walked through the door and turned to him waving, with a beatific smile on her face.

On the way to the elevator she looked at her watch, which, read 11 pm. She sighed: time always stood still when she was with Jack.

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A meeting with the Chinese: Jack still wasn't sure how he felt about that. He kept turning it over in his head as he walked to work; on the one hand, it would be good to get it over with- he knew if he stayed in this business he would eventually have to meet with the Chinese it would be better to have it over with sooner rather than later. On the other hand though, he wasn't sure he was ready for this. He would have to meet with h is captors, the ones that beat him daily, the people that starved him. The thought of meeting with them now; when memories of his imprisonment so fresh in his mind filled him with anger. But he would do it, because he told her he would. And Jack Bauer never went back on a promise.

He opened the door to his office putting the lights on before entering. Immediately he noticed a manila-covered folder, clearly labeled: briefing notes. He sits down at the desk and stares at it. He knows he's not ready to look at it, to pay the attention due a briefing package of this magnitude, but he will. Taking a deep breath Jack opened the folder. On the first page was a list of personnel attending the meeting listed in order of importance from the Ambassador on down.

The third name on the list caught his eye: Lee Cheng. Jack glanced at the picture, and was suddenly transported back to that cargo ship; he involuntarily shuddered at the painful memory as he relived each punch to his stomach, and kick to his legs. Oddly, he found he wasn't angry, he just felt nothing towards him- straight neutrality. He continued with the notes, scanning the list of issues to be discussed- nothing unusual there. Items included a planned meeting between the Chinese, and American Delegations when they came to the general assembly later in the month, and a few other housekeeping issues; nothing too out of the ordinary. He flipped back to the list of attending personnel, again looking at the picture of Cheng. There was one burning question he wanted to ask Cheng: Why?

"Come in," he absently called in response to the knock. He looked up to see Audrey standing before him with a concerned look on her face.

"I see you got the briefing package." She stated.

"Yes, I was just looking through it now." He responded.

"Look Jack, it was wrong of me to even ask you to this meeting today. If you want to back out of it…"

He cut her off:

"If I'm to stay in this line of work, I would eventually have to meet with the Chinese anyway, and it's better to have it done now, than later." Her look told him she was unconvinced:

He reassuringly smiled: "I'll be fine. Really."

"We'll be meeting with them in the conference room on the 3rd floor. I'll come get you on our way down."

"Okay, see you later." He smiled at her and watched as she left the room.

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Audrey went back to her office and quietly sat down at her desk, where she glanced through her briefing package, still uneasy about Jack's reaction. On the one hand, he was right, it was best to get that first awkward meeting over. On the other hand there was still something… uncertain about him. He was fine, his injuries nearly completely healed. It was his mood swings that made him uncertain; she remembered the night before when she first asked him about meeting the Chinese; he readily agreed to it and was comfortable with it. But she also noticed him physically tense up, and that made her wonder if he wasn't ready. She saw the determined look in his eyes and had no doubt that now he had said yes; he would carry through on everything he said. That determination did nothing to erase the uneasiness she felt.

She rose from her desk, and strode the length of her office and opened a cabinet. Then, she tugged out a lockbox, and took it back to her desk; she reached for the key in a compartment of her drawer and opened it, taking out the cell phone and placing it on her desk. She stared at it; she knew she shouldn't even consider calling him. It wouldn't be safe for him, or for his kids. But she was starting to feel as if she didn't have a choice; her instincts told her there was something wrong with Jack, and he might be the only way to find out what it was. Audrey pressed the contacts button, and brought up the only entry listed: Tony Almedia. Audrey paused staring at the send button she would call it, but only as a last resort. The remainder of the morning, and early afternoon went according to routine, with Jack never far from her mind.

She left her office at 2:45, knocking on Jack's door, and awaiting the rest of the group. He opened the door, and joined her in the hall still looking visibly tense.

"Jack, if you don't want…" her tone was understanding.

"No Audrey, I have to do this.." he stopped taken aback at the sharpness of his own voice.

"I need to do this." He finished, his tone turning desperate. She nodded:

"If at any time you feel you need to leave, do so." He nodded in response.

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They walked into the room, taking their seats ahead of the Chinese. Audrey took a place beside Jack, and gave him what she hoped was a look of encouragement.

"It won't be more than an hour, two at the most. It's just routine business," she reassured him.

"I need to do this Audrey," he replied, his voice sharp. She nodded reaching for his hand, which, he pulled away, staring straight ahead.

"I need to do this," Jack quietly repeated to himself.

Audrey sat back in her seat, silent watching him in profile his lips silently moving. His uncertainty resurfaced, and in that instant she realized how wrong it was of her to even ask him to do this; he wasn't ready- she knew he wasn't, and on some level he must have known it too. She should have insisted he back out of the meeting, ordered him to back out. But it just came so naturally to ask him to take a meeting like this, he'd done it before when her father was Secretary of Defense.

The door to the conference room opened and they stood in expectation of their guests. The Chinese delegation entered, and exchanged pleasantries with the Americans. Cheng before taking his seat across from Audrey made it a point to seek Jack out:

"Mr. Bauer, I hear you've had a recent experience with my country, I do hope it was a pleasant one."

Jack saw no point in lying: "It wasn't. I was a guest in Shanghai prison for 6 months, and only recently released." Cheng nodded, and continued:

"You worked for CTU at one point did you not?" Jack nodded confirmation. Cheng narrowed his eyes in concentration:

"When we first arrived, you seem very familiar to me, Mr. Bauer and now I know why. I was in the consulate that night you led the assault on it. You paid a small price for that in your visit to the prison in Shanghai, but it was not high enough. You see, Mr. Bauer I, like a lot of my people have a very long memory."

Audrey was watching the whole exchange between Cheng, and Jack. She noticed his expression change from resolute calm to intense anger, and now it was totally shuttered from her. Jack stood up:

"I think I'd better leave. I'll see you later." He addressed Audrey, and left the room.

C.O.S- Washington

Curtis exited the interrogation room, greeted by expectant looks from his superiors. He made eye contact with both of them, and began:

"He's told us everything he knows. There's no reason to believe he's not telling the truth." Bill looked skeptically at his subordinate and glanced at Logan still seated at the table. He noted the defeated posture- Logan was slouched, his hands meekly folded on the table, and a trapped look in his eyes.

"At this point, I'm inclined to believe you. He's lost everything, the First Lady, the Presidency, his livelihood. He's a prisoner in his own home. A man in his position has no reason not to tell the truth." Bill yawned, before continuing: "Take him back to the Ranch." Curtis nodded, and left the room to prepare to carry out his orders.

"I don't like how this feels Bill. He gave up Bauer too easily, and there was something desperate about him. He may be playing us."

Bill took a deep breath, making direct eye contact with her:

"Curtis is right, he has nothing to lose. You saw him, as well as I did. He was weak, beaten- a shell of his former self. Admittedly, I am a cynical man, but when he spoke about redemption, about wanting to redeem himself I believed him. Redemption is something we all want in this business, and credit should be given to those brave enough to seek it."

Karen was silent, at this point she didn't want to admit he had a point about redemption, and Logan had conviction. Redemption was something she wanted, she'd given many orders she was sure led to people's death, so to know that she was forgiven, to have those deaths lifted from her conscience would be the most liberating thing for her. Instead of giving voice to these thoughts she favoured Bill with a weak smile:

"Suppose you're right, what do we do now?"

"We bring Phillip in." Bill answered.

C.O.S- flight back to Logan's Ranch

Chase Edumnds sat back, eyeing Charles Logan. What had gone through the man's mind, he wondered as Logan plotted with the others; what was the reason for what he did? Was it greed? Was it for his country? Was it for glory or power? Ultimately Chase was smart enough to realize people will never truly know Logan's motivations. And the likelihood was they wouldn't want to.

"It was legacy. I wanted to be remembered for something other than being weak-willed. I wanted my story told. That was why. And now I regret it." Logan answered the unspoken question, and then spoke again:

"Everyone wants to be remembered for something Agent Edmunds, there's nothing more human than that." Chase nodded his response.

"We're landing in 10 minutes." Curtis informed them. Logan mutely nodded, and was silent until they arrived at the ranch, when as they were leaving he made direct eye contact:

"Tell Jack I'm sorry." Curtis knowingly nodded.

That ends this update. Read and review, I look forward to hearing what you think.

I'm going to be slow in updating for a while, because I'm busy with school.

-A.B.