A/N: Thank you, thank you for your wonderful reviews, they're so much appreciated and I hope you enjoy this chapter and the new characters, I know I definitely did. Day 27 will be posted in 2 chapters, so part two comes next week ;-). Enjoy.

Day 27

Tony turned off the ignition and just sat in the car for a moment, breathing in deeply and then letting that breath out really slowly. He repeated the process. He glanced towards the entrance, but his hand wouldn't reach for the door latch. The building in front of him was 50 stories high and towered above the parking lot, hiding the morning sun from view. Mountain. Tony thought, looking out of the car window and at the shape of the long shadow on the pavement that engulfed his SUV. Inside the mountain waited his new workplace, new duties, new people. How bout that, Almeida? he thought to himself. There is a world for pardoned traitors outside CTU after all.

Suddenly he felt goose bumps on his neck and let go of the steering wheel. He rubbed his palms together a few times, the friction causing them to warm up a bit. It's freezing. Like in prison. he thought. He was always cold and never satiated in the small, confined space that had been his home mere six months ago, bland concrete walls caging his spirit for the next 20 years. Somewhat regular meals - as pathetic as they were - and hope to be allowed to spend the nights in the tiny, hard cot were the only thing he dared to wish for.

"How miserable", he said to the wall of his cell. "To actually wish for this thing." But countless nights in the solitary, brought about by guards' wrath or simple sadism, had taught him to value even that.

He remembered his thoughts as Hammond had thrown him in the cell at Division. "Please let me die. Just let me die." After everything, he lacked strength to even hope to survive.

And yet, he was here now, in his SUV, safely locked in another small space, not daring to leave it although the world he had almost stopped believing in seemed ready to accept him again. Never thought I'd even get this far...

A dog barked somewhere close by and Tony moved his head towards the sound. As if awakened, he grabbed the keys from the ignition and opening the car door. Well, here goes. Stepping out of the car, he slipped the keys into the pocket of his black slacks, pulled down at his dark blue shirt, adjusted the lapels of the jacket that matched the slacks and put on his coat. Then he walked towards the building and finally through the revolving doors. It took him five large steps to the reception desk where he addressed the security guard, showing him his ID. "Morning. I'm starting work here today. Michael Cook is my contact."

"Yeah, we did get a notification that he had a visitor coming." the guard replied.

Tony stood calmly by the reception desk, although his eyes vigilantly scanned the reception area while the other man checked the ID against the data he'd been given.

"All right, just wait over there and I'll call him to let him know you're here." the guard finally said after a few moments, handing the card back to Tony and giving a small nod towards the few chairs in the lobby.

"Thank you."

Tony put the ID back to his wallet and slipped it into the inner pocket of his jacket. He walked over to the chairs, but didn't sit down. He rather looked around, at the finely polished granite walls in the lobby and the light reflecting down from the tall windows. It was so unlike CTU where Tony'd spent so many years that he almost thought of CTU's dim, concrete, bunker-like spaces as the norm - not this. In the meantime, the security guard picked up the phone and had a brief conversation.

A minute or two later, a six foot tall man with black hair and skin the color of finest milk chocolate stepped out of the elevator, approaching Tony. He wore a small moustache, and a dark blue suit but no tie. Michael and Jack shared a part of history, but the lines on his face weren't as deeply carved into his skin, the half-moons under his eyes were nowhere near as deep and dark as on Jack's face, and the look in his eyes wasn't life-threatening. Even if he hadn't left the Army decades ago, he still would have looked years younger than his former comrade.

Coming through the double glass doors, extending his hand, Michael smiled, and spoke in a professional, friendly voice. "Welcome, Mr. Almeida."

Tony returned the greeting with a firm handshake. "Thank you. I really appreciate your patience on this."

The smile stayed on. "No problem. We appreciate the help."

"Thank you, Dave." Michael called to the guard, as he began to walk back inside and Tony followed him.

"So, are you fully recovered now?" he then asked Tony while stepping into the elevator, pushing the button for the 23rd floor.

More or less, Tony thought. His healing ribs still caused minor aches and pains, especially if he made a wrong move, but the discomfort was lessening and Tony felt able to work, physically in any case. Emotionally, it was not as clear cut. Though things with Michelle were okay just now, ghosts and demons inside him still surfaced, mostly at night, and that scared him. But he looked at Michael and replied: "Yeah, I am."

"Good." the younger man replied.

The elevator rocketed up, and within seconds, the doors opened. The two men stepped out and into an open-plan office, not unlike any other. It even bore some similarity to CTU because for some reason, an elevated area accessible by about 5 steps held Michael's own office; its upper half was completely out of glass, whereas the lower half was of some grey, non see-through material, allowing him some privacy. Big Brother is watching, Tony thought.

Also unlike CTU, the lights on the floor were white and much brighter, there were windows allowing natural light in, and the desks were separated from each other by more distance than the bullpen at CTU had allowed for. The dominant colors were brown and grey with black chairs by the desks. Michael had decided against using cubicles to separate the desks, so that people could actually see each other while working, feel more like a team, and to promote cooperation, so the space felt open. The floors were carpeted and not bare concrete like at CTU, and some effort had been put in to make the place look relatively friendly and not cold and dry. But despite the occasional plant and color paintings on the wall, it remained an office. No family pictures on the desks. Tony noticed, Private life - banned.

As they made their way across the room, some of the employees looked up from their screens or conversation partners, eyeing the new addition to the team. Tony pretended not to feel their stares on him and instead walked next to Michael with his back straight and his footsteps firm, not seeking eye contact with anyone in particular, but not averting his eyes first if he did meet someone's gaze. Michael led Tony to a terminal somewhere in the middle of the room. The computer screen faced the office, and whoever sat at the desk would have a nice view of the city below.

"Well, this will be your workstation." Michael said briefly, then looked around. "Uhm... Esther." he called out to a woman sitting just two desks over. Her waist-long, hay-colored hair shone a light on the dark purple costume she wore, and all the make up her fine features needed was a slight touch of mascara. She had the waist and legs of Esther Williams in her best days, and the nickname Swim Queen that stuck with her since the day she won the first of many swim competitions in her childhood. As Michael called her name, she turned to the voice, and, spotting Tony, fixed her ocean-blue eyes on his, before smiling and gliding across the floor towards them.

"Hi. Esther Wagner." she pronounced her name in German while shaking Tony's hand, easily matching the firmness of his handshake with her own.

"Tony Almeida. Nice to meet you." he replied with a smile touching his lips.

The sound of Tony's voice touched seemed to carry her away for a second, almost making her heart skip a beat, but she didn't get a chance to say anything further, because Michael did.

"Mr. Almeida is starting here today. I hope you two will work well together." he said to Esther, who just nodded in response, then turned to Tony again. "There's a staff meeting at 10. I can't be there, but Esther will show you around and introduce you to the team. She'll also help you make yourself familiar with our systems. You have appropriate security clearance and you should be getting your keycard in a couple of hours. It's being delivered today for security reasons."

Security reasons? Tony thought with a small shred of doubt. Why? But he decided not to ask out loud. "All right. That sounds good. I take it your system administrators have created all the necessary accounts?"

"Yes, it's all been taken care of. You should be set to go." Michael responded, checked his watch, then added. "Well, I'll let the two of you get to work. I'll be in my office if you do need anything. Oh, and Mr. Almeida, I'd like to talk to you in the afternoon, in any case, if you don't mind."

"Yes, sir."

"Have a good start." With those words, Michael went up to his office.

Tony's scar itched and he scratched his neck while he watched Michael leave. Esther remained at his workstation, waiting, unostentaneous by nature, until Tony looked at her again.

"I'm Esther, by the way." she then offered.

Tony gave a small smile. "Thanks, most people call me Tony."

"Hi Tony." Esther smiled, then glanced at the floor to her right for no apparent reason; Tony wasn't sure if she blushed. But her eyes quickly returned to Tony. Finally, she gestured for him to sit down and pulled another chair to his desk for herself.

"Please, take a seat."

He did, and Esther logged in to the computer at his desk. "First thing we need to do is log you in so you can change your initial passwords, then we can start to work."

"Yeah." Tony replied.

"Don't worry, I won't look." she added, but the attempt at a small joke went unnoticed by Tony because, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a keg walk over to them. The newcomer wasn't taller than two chairs stacked on top of each other, shuffling his feet on the floor slightly as he approached Tony's desk. His skin was no less pale than mozzarella cheese: his own sister always called him Paleface. Now, in his late thirties, his grey hair was thinning remarkably, while his ears seemed to pull a Dumbo and the thick black rim of the plastic eye glasses on his nose shouted loudly for help.

"Hey. Is that the new guy?" Dumbo asked casually as he stopped by Tony's desk, his hands in his pockets.

"Yes. This is Tony Almeida. That's Nathan Connor." Her eyes lingered on Tony while she added, "Nathan is our IS Security Manager."

"Hey." Tony smiled, offering his hand.

Nathan took it briefly, but his handshake had the firmness of jelly, so Tony was glad to let go soon.

"So, you're the Systems Analyst." Nathan stated to Tony, pushing his right palm into his pocket again.

"Yeah. I guess I am." Tony said, slightly turning with the chair, his elbow on the armrest, left hand on his chin. And you're the guy who's here to put me in my place, he thought. Don't worry, I'm not after your turf. Having dealt with the Nathans of this world often enough, Tony read them like a book. Short, ugly, bald, all they had were their ranks and positions and guys like Tony were simply a threat to the nathankind. Tony chuckled inwardly as the image of late Ryan Chapelle entered his mind.

But this Nathan remained standing, tapping his foot against the floor a few times while his eyes remained on Tony, unmoving. Esther shifted in the chair, and Tony held Nathan's stare for a few seconds, but then crossed his arms. What the hell else do you want?

Nathan took a quick breath, glanced away for a second. "Yeah, well, have a good start. I won't keep you. Need something, come to me." he added in what Tony considered to be shorthand for 'And if you find that you're not as smart as you think you are, and get stuck in my network, I'll be more than happy to show you where you screwed up.'

"Sure, thanks." Tony smiled professionally, and Nathan turned away and walked back to where he'd come from.

"Don't mind him. He sometimes thinks he's running the place." Esther told Tony, shaking her head slightly at Nathan's attitude.

"Yeah." Tony scratched his face. Been there before.

Esther then seemed to change her mind and locked the terminal. "Look, why don't we go introduce you to everyone, so we can get this theater over with. What do you say?" she offered, watching Nathan walk back to a group of three at the other end of the room.

Just as well. "Yeah, all right. Sounds fine to me."

"Okay, let's go."

The two of them stood and Tony gave a small sigh as they walked to one end of the room to play the introduction game.

At the other end of the office, Nathan was being questioned by his three colleagues. "Almeida, you say?" asked Andy, an almost 30 year old programmer in jeans and an iron-free checked flannel shirt that was so perfect for cleaning his damn glasses that always got so smudged. He took them off his nose to wipe the glasses clean while waiting for Nathan's answer.

"Yeah. Tony Almeida." Nathan confirmed.

Cory, another programmer, a recent college grad, was next to Andy. He wore his lion's mane red and wild (underneath the baseball cap which he wore the wrong way out of principle) and his acne with pride. Baggy khaki pants almost falling off his bony hips, blue Hawaii shirt, sneakers stained with the dust from last night's practice session on the halfpipe, his streetstyle was certainly not what got him the position at the company. He glanced up from his cell phone keyboard for a second to question, "Did he say where he worked before?"

"No. But I didn't ask."

Andy interjected, still busy with his glasses. "How did he seem? Nervous?"

"Nah. He's no beginner, you know."

Finally, Felix, usually called "Fix" by everyone in the loop (for his fast and competent solutions to every IT problem), decided to say something, too. "He has to be proficient enough, or Michael wouldn't have hired him."

Of the four men, Felix was dressed the best. Black slacks, dark yellow long-sleeved button-down shirt, no tie, but that was hanging in his locker, ready just in case. In his mid-40s, he was something like the Go To person for most of the younger staff; a true troubleshooter, in charge of support to internal and external customers.

"Yeah, but as Systems Analyst? Man, you'd think a guy his age should be higher on the food chain." Cory's cell phone produced a vibrating sound confirming sending of the message and he slipped it back into his pocket.

Felix rolled his eyes slightly at the latest comment. "Oh, shut up, Skaterboy. Maybe he doesn't want to be higher on the food chain. Not everyone's as ambitious as you." little worm, he added in his mind.

"Yeah, whatever." Cory looked past Nathan and said nothing further.

"Sorry to interrupt your little gossip club." It was Esther's voice and the four men, all smiles, turned towards her and Tony. "I'd like to introduce you to Tony Almeida. This is Cory, Felix, and Andy." she continued, gesturing towards each of them as she spoke. "And you've already met Nathan..."

...The Turf Defender, Tony added inwardly. "Yeah. Hey guys."

"Hey yourself, man." Cory felt for his cell phone that vibrated in his left pocket but shook Tony's hand very briefly with his right at the same time.

Andy nodded towards Tony during an irresolute handshake. "Hey."

"Welcome. Have a good start." Felix looked Tony in the eye and gripped his hand firmly for a second before letting go.

"Thanks. Well, I'll see you guys around."

When Esther and Tony moved on, Felix broke up the congregation. "All right, y'all, go do some work." The practiced smiles disappeared as the group obediently swarmed out and sat behind their desks.

After the staff meeting Tony worked closely with Esther to get acquiainted with all things systems security and the network, and learned in more detail what his exact duties would be.

His keycard was delivered during the morning as promised, and as he picked it up he couldn't help but ask Dave the security guard, "Uhm, I'd like to know if this is standard procedure around here."

"Yeah it is." Dave said, to Tony's relief. "See, Mr. Cook prefers being overtly cautious than doing less than necessary and then ending up in a mess. Keycards are ordered well in advance but only delivered on the day the new employee actually starts work. If the person doesn't show up, neither does the keycard."

"I see." Tony said and handed Dave the signed form, getting his keycard in exchange.

"So, this way there are no unused keycards lying around and Mr. Cook feels safer."

"Yeah, I get it. Thanks." Tony said and simultaneously felt the shred of doubt in his mind disappear.

The afternoon was spent getting more information from Esther and around 4pm, Michael called Tony to his office. Tony knocked and after a "Come in." from Michael, entered.

"Mr. Almeida. Take a seat." Michael immediately offered.

Tony did. "Thanks."

"So, Mr. Almeida, how was your first day?" Michael asked, casually leaned back in his tall leather chair.

"It was good." Tony replied from the chair opposite Michael's. "I got to know most people. Ms Wagner was very helpful, and I think I got acquainted with the basics of the system pretty well already."

"That's good." Michael smiled. "I don't doubt you'll do a good job, Mr. Almeida. Not with your experience."

"Thank you, sir."

"Do you feel comfortable working with Ms Wagner?"

"Yes, I do. She seems very competent and she's very friendly."

Michael nodded. "She is. She speaks some Spanish, by the way, I think she likes to practice it when she can."

Tony gave a slight grin, for a moment imagining the professional Esther Wagner in a fiery red dress and a sombrero, sipping Tequilla and dancing on a table. "Oh, she didn't tell me that. Good to know."

Michael was right. Esther loved Spanish. She loved Spain. "When I left Fred," her boyfriend of five years, "I actually made arrangements to move to Madrid instead." she told him over lunch one day. "I wanted the sun and the rhythm, you know? But then I figured, bad luck in love, good luck in game, and decided to try for a Green Card, even though my family could not come along."

"And now you're here."

"Yeah. When I won it, America seemed like an opportunity I couldn't pass up on."

Michael looked down at the office floor, seeing Esther at her desk. As if she felt his gaze on her, she glanced up for a moment before turning her eyes back to her computer screen. Finally, he gave Tony his full attention again.

"Well, I won't keep you any longer. You probably want to wrap things up. No need to do overtime on your first day."

"Thank you, sir."

Michael stood first, and when Tony followed, they shook hands. "And thank you again for the chance."

"Don't worry about it. You deserve one."

Tony left Michael's office and as he descended the stairs, let his eyes view the office from end to end. Well, that went pretty well. He seems to have faith in me. Let's just hope I can live up to the expectations. he thought. He wasn't afraid the job would be too much to handle, he knew he could do it. But something seemed to hang in the air, something he couldn't quite put his finger to. Taking the last steps towards his desk, he turned his head to the side. This office... Something is missing. he thought. To his right, a woman with thick brown hair in a bun stood with her back to him, and he understood: Michelle.

What was missing, was Michelle.