A/N: Thanks everyone! Glad to be writing this story again.

Chapter 7

Jack dropped his son off at daycare so he could go into CTU to meet with Katrina and take his drug test. He walked into CTU wearing a suit and stopped by Chloe's station.

"Hi Jack," she said. "Is it true you're going to be the new boss?"

Jack smiled. "It looks promising."

"That's awesome," Chloe congratulated.

Jack sighed. "Well at least someone thinks so."

"Audrey's not taking it well?"

"No. She didn't say more than five words to me this morning," Jack told her.

"I think she's just worried about you," Chloe defended.

"I know."

"Mr. Bauer," a voice said from behind. Jack turned to find a tall brunette who looked to be around his age. She looked professional and serious. "I'm Katrina Wolff."

Jack shook her extended hand. "Jack Bauer."

She led him to the conference room that she had been using as an office.

"Well, Mr. Bauer, we were really impressed by your file," she told him.

"Please, you can call me Jack," Jack insisted. Hearing someone call him "Mr. Bauer" made him immediately think of Cheng.

"Alright, Jack," Katrina said. "I was thinking today, I could give you some reading material to take home."

She handed him two large binders filled with papers. These are CTU's policies and procedures. You'll need to know these inside and out so I suggest you start reading them while we finish up the hiring process. I know they may seem pretty daunting. But, they are pretty straightforward."

Jack took the binders and pulled them towards him. "I'll start reading them today."

"Good," she said. She motioned towards the door and Jack saw a lab technician come in. "This is Pete. He will take you for your drug test."

Jack thanked her and followed Pete. He gave him a urine sample and then returned to Katrina who had a few more things to tell Jack before releasing him for the day.

Jack had his psych eval the next day with Dr. Michael Trost. They talked about what Jack had been up to the past few weeks.

"You've had a lot of changes in your life since coming back from China," Dr. Trost stated.

Jack nodded. "All things I never thought I'd have another chance at."

"So, your relationship with your daughter," Trost started. "How has that been?"

"Well, better than when I last saw her. I see her frequently now. I think our relationship has been pretty strong since I got back."

"And, what about with your son? How are things going with him?"

"Tough at first," Jack admitted. He knew how these psych evals worked. You couldn't pretend like everything was smooth sailing or the therapist would know something was wrong. "I had a hard time adjusting. It's been a long time since I took care of a child and honestly my wife did a lot of the work with Kim. But, he's an easy kid to love. Really energetic. I'm happy I stuck around."

"And, the mother of your son?"

"Audrey," Jack told him. He smiled. "She's amazing."

"Are you two back in a relationship?"

"Well, I mean, yeah. We kind of just fell back into it. We both still love each other."

"Do you go on dates?"

"Uh, not really. We have a one year old," Jack said, making Dr. Trost laugh.

"And, what about sex?"

"Same," Jack said, not going into detail about how he didn't feel comfortable showing Audrey his scars. Hell, Assad, a man who had done unspeakable things to American citizens, had cringed at his scars. He could only imagine how Audrey would respond.

"How does she feel about you taking the job at CTU?" he asked.

"She's supportive," Jack lied.

Dr. Trost nodded. "Any trouble sleeping?"

"No," Jack lied.

"Must be nice sleeping in a bed after being in a Chinese prison," Trost probed.

"For sure," Jack agreed.

"What was your cell like? Was there a bed? A cot?" he asked.

"The floor," Jack answered coldly. Dr. Trost could see Jack tense.

"Did you share the cell with someone else?"

"No," Jack answered, giving no extra information anymore. He wanted this interview to be over.

"Was Cheng Zhi the primary abuser?"

"He never got his hands dirty," Jack told him. "But, he gave all the orders."

"What kind of things did he have his men do to you?"

"Beat me," Jack answered shortly.

"Did you ever fight back?" he asked.

"For a while," Jack said. "Then I was just too tired."

"Too tired? Or, unsure if surviving was worth the effort?"

"Tired," Jack said sternly.

Dr. Trost transitioned back to the now. "So, what makes you want to be the CTU Director?"

"I want to help people. I feel like I owe it to my country," Jack told him. "Also to help provide for my family."

Trost nodded. "And, do you believe that you are ready for that role?"

"Yes," Jack said confidently.

Dr. Trost let Jack leave. Jack went home feeling exhausted. He felt like he had done well with the evaluation but talking about China for that long had made him tired.

Jack laid on the couch with Jack Jr. sitting on his stomach. He started dozing off as his son rolled his toy cars across his chest. Audrey came home shortly after and smiled at the adorable sight of her two boys.

"Mama!" the baby yelled, waking Jack up. Audrey took her son into her own arms.

"Hey," Jack said, sitting up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's okay," she assured him. She gave him a kiss and sat with him on the couch.

"How was it today?" Audrey asked, rubbing his back with one hand.

"I think I did fine," Jack told her.

Audrey smiled. He clearly didn't understand the point. "Jack, the point is to make sure you are fine. Not to simply pass a test."

"If I pass the test though, it must mean I'm fine," Jack said with a smirk.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "So then let me rephrase my question. How were you today during the appointment?"

Jack swallowed a lump in his throat. "It was harder than I thought it would be. He asked a lot about China."

"I think that's his job," Audrey told him.

"I know. I just didn't think it would bother me so much," Jack admitted.

"Did you tell him much about it?" Audrey asked. She hoped the answer was yes but knew it wouldn't be.

Jack shrugged. "More than I wanted to."

"And, telling him about it didn't make you feel any better?" Audrey asked. "Even if it was just a little?"

"No," Jack told her. "Because spending my time thinking about it isn't going to change anything. I just want to put it behind me."

"And, I think you could put it behind you if you stop pretending like it didn't happen."

"I'm not pretending like it didn't happen. I just don't need to relive every detail."

Audrey took his hand and brought it to her lips. "Okay. But, I am always here for you if you need to talk about it."

Jack kissed her to thank her.

Jack sat with Jack Jr. as he ate his breakfast while Audrey got dressed for work. He listened as his son babbled away, putting one cheerio in his mouth every few minutes. Jack's phone rang and he answered it. It was Katrina calling.

"Hi Jack," Katrina said. "Alright, so Dr. Trost did approve of you starting work."

"That's great news," Jack said.

"There is a condition," she added. "His recommendation was that you are fit to work so long as you are continuing to visit with a psychiatrist on a regular basis."

Jack held the phone away from his ear so she couldn't hear him sigh. "For how long?"

"Until the psychiatrist tells us that you no longer require their assistance," she explained. "Division is still interested in giving you the job, so long as you agree to therapy once a week. And, it does not have to be with Dr. Trost if you'd prefer to look elsewhere."

Audrey came into the room and saw that Jack looked unhappy with his phone call. She sat down next to him and helped Jack Jr. speed up his eating.

"I can sense some hesitation," Katrina said. "Take the day to think it over and get back to me."

"Thank you. I will," Jack told her. They hung up.

"What was that about?"

"I guess I didn't do as great at the eval as I thought," Jack told her.

"So, what does that mean?" Audrey asked.

"They still want me to do the job, with the requirement that I go to therapy once a week," Jack told her.

"Okay," Audrey said, trying to seem indifferent. She was happy that the psychiatrist saw through his bluff. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I don't want to go to therapy."

"But, you want the job," Audrey reminded him.

"Yeah, I really do," Jack admitted.

Audrey shrugged. "Then, I think you have your answer."

Audrey stood and leaned over to kiss Jack and then said goodbye to her son before going off to work.