24: SACRIFICE

SUMMARY: Will CTU Intelligence Agent Katrina McGuire sacrifice everything for George Mason even though he's acting so strangely? Will he risk starting something with Katrina despite knowing his fate? Please R&R. Set before season two and during season two.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the 24 characters.

PROLOGUE

Jack Bauer entered the hospital room to find it empty. He put down the two coffee cups and went to the bathroom. He knocked once but no one answered so he opened it and peered inside.

" Oh my God," he said as he knelt down by her, " Katrina, what have you done?". He asked the still Katrina. Blood had sprayed the walls of the small bathroom as it flowed steadily from Katrina McGuire's wrists. He noticed a small pocketknife nearby, his pocketknife.

His mind went briefly back to the hug she had given him and he realised she must have taken the knife from his back pocket. He cursed himself as he grabbed a two towels to wrap around her wrists.

They were immediately soaked through as he pressed the nurses emergency button near the door. When nobody came, he ran from the room and shouted ,

" I need help in here! Now!"

Katrina opened her eyes and found herself back in her bed. Her wrists were bandaged and throbbed with pain. She turned to see Jack sitting next to the bed.

" What happened?" she asked even though she knew.

" You tried to kill yourself," he said, a little more harshly than he intended, " Katrina, I know you've been through a lot but"

" Jack, you have no idea what I've been through," Katrina interrupted, her dark brown eyes filling with anguished tears, " I lost the man I loved and I lost his baby a few hours later. I've lost everything…I'm alone now."

" No you aren't," Jack replied, " You've still got me,"

Katrina managed a small smile but turned her head away. Jack nursed his coffee which was now stone cold as he thought about what happened the last few hours-and the last words George Mason ever said to him.

Jack turned around in his seat and pointed his gun at George Mason, who had managed to stowaway on his plane without him or anyone else noticing.

" Hey, hey, service is bad enough on this flight, you don't have to shoot me," George joked as Jack lowered his gun.

" George, what the hell are you doing here?" Jack demanded.

" Felt like taking a ride," George replied. He handed something to Jack, " Got something for you." It was a parachute.

They argued a little bit but Jack knew George was right. The man was dying and Jack still had a life.

" Are you sure you want to do this?" Jack asked as they swapped seats.

" I'm meant to do this," George told him as Jack gave him the instructions.

" Jack, do me favour?"

" Sure. Anything."

" Take care of Katrina for me. She's gonna be a mess once she knows I'm gone," George said. He knew Jack and Katrina were becoming good friends.

" Sure," Jack agreed.

" She's having my baby you know," George informed him and Jack nodded.

" Yeah she told me just before I left," Jack said. George looked wistful and Jack felt sorry for the man who's never going to know his child.

" It's time," George said and a few minutes later Jack ejected the plane. George took the plane into a dive and images of Katrina flashed in his mind-kissing her in his office back in CTU, making love in her apartment, then a week later finding out his fate. Another image flashed in his mind, one of her telling him she was pregnant with his kid.

I'm sorry Kat, he thought.

Katrina woke with a start to find Jack dozing in the chair next to her. She glanced at the window and saw it was the following morning. He hadn't been kicked out of her room yet. She smiled sadly, he'd been a good friend to her.

Jack woke up himself, " Sorry," he said, " I must have dozed off."

" You don't have to stay here you know," she told him, " I promise I won't do anything stupid."

" I could do with some food," Jack said sitting up, " How about you?"

" I could do with some potato chips," she said and he nodded.

" I'll be back in about twenty minutes, there's a café down the street." Jack said and left. The phone on her bedside table rang and she ignored it at first. But it kept ringing so she grabbed it.

" Hello?"

There was static and a long pause.

" Hello?" she tried again. She could hear someone breathing on the other end.

" Katrina?"

" Yes, who's this?"

" It's me, George."

" That's ridiculous. George Mason died last night," she snapped, wondering if she was still asleep and this was all a bad dream.

" Well, it turns out I didn't. It's really me Katrina," the voice replied. He sounded far away.

" Well, it must be a prank," she decided.

" It isn't-look, you've got to come and meet me but don't tell anyone," the man instructed.

" Meet you-where?"

" At your place," George said, " Come quickly but come alone," then he hung up.

Katrina stared down at her phone in shock. It couldn't have been George! Jack saw the plane go down, nobody could have survived that bomb.

It has to be a prank, she told herself, climbing out of bed and hurrying to the bathroom to get changed. She didn't have long before Jack returned with the food. He wouldn't leave her alone for too long.

She caught a taxi back to her apartment as her car was still at CTU. She wondered if George still had the keys to her apartment as she hurried up to elevator and headed for the third floor.

She was about to unlock her door when it swung open and a man appeared. She gasped and stared, not quite believing what she was seeing.

" It…can't be," she moaned just before everything went black.

Jack looked around at the empty room as he felt a sense of déjà vu. He checked the bathroom but she wasn't there. He checked her drawers but they were empty. He noticed her bag and phone were gone also.

He hurried to the nurses station, " Where's the patient in room 202?" he demanded.

The nurse looked up at him, " Patient?" she repeated. " She should still be in there."

" Well she isn't," Jack barked, " Where is she?"

The nurse checked the computer, " Well apparently she discharged herself not more than twenty minutes ago."

" That can't be right. She's very unwell," Jack said.

" I'm sorry but-"

" That's okay, I'll look for her myself." Jack sighed. He should have never left her alone. " Dammit!"