As many of you might have realized already, I'm stuck in the Jack-Kate 'ship of 24verse and here is yet another story for that 'ship. This is set within hours of the end of day/season 3.

For those of you who haven't watched the season(s) as recently as I have, this story follows the premise that Jack and Kate had just recently split up after being together for the time between season 2 & 3 (roughly 3 years). For timing, I am assuming that Jack had been undercover for about 6 months and then returned from that undercover operation with Ramon Salazar in prison for somewhere around 3 – 4 months. I am following the premise that Jack didn't split up with Kate before he left for Mexico (the first time) – it wouldn't make sense for her to call him with a found jacket nearly a year after he left – but rather that he went undercover while they were still together and then he tried to resume their relationship after he returned. But with all of his addiction issues (and I would hope guilt over the affair with Claudia) things in their relationship were not going as smoothly as before. Then, he cooked up his plan with Tony to resume his cover and rather than put Kate through it all over again, he ended things with her. Assuming that Tony, Jack & Gaelle had worked pretty quickly to put their plan in motion, I would place Jack & Kate's break up about 6 weeks before day/season 3.

Now, here we are and hopefully I have given you more than enough background to bring your memories back to that time after season 3 ended. Since I believe in the Jack-Kate 'ship, this how I imagine that Jack would find his back to her after all of the drama of season 3.

Stylistically, I decided to switch between their individual POV and have separated the change in viewpoint with ~~~~~ although I hope it is clear whose POV you are reading when it changes.

All the usual disclaimers apply (no harm intended, yada-yada-yada). Jack, Kate and rated PG (T) to be safe since we are dealing with serious, adult circumstances. I hope you enjoy my little foray back into 24verse. If you do, please drop a note to let me know. SS.

Finding His Way Back Home

He stood, exhausted, staring at the red door and wondering why he was there. He shouldn't be, he knew. Hell, he wasn't even sure she was home. He knew he should just leave her alone as he had promised he would after he had left the second time. But here he was. Powerless against the pull of her light to the darkness in his heart.

He knew he should go home and go to bed; he had been awake for more than thirty hours now. Still, he couldn't force himself to turn around and walk back to his truck. Deep inside, he knew that if he left her house, he wouldn't end up at home in his bed. He needed her or he would once again give himself over to the demon inside. He was using her and it was wrong in so many ways, but even as he told himself this fact, he still couldn't force his feet to move away from the haven her home offered. Finally, giving in to the urge that had been pulling on him, he reached up and knocked lightly on the door.

#####

Kate had noticed the black SUV as it had pulled up in front of her house. She had seen him walk to the door. She told herself that she wouldn't let him in this time. She told herself that she wouldn't open the door – to him, to the hurt. She told herself all of this even as she walked from her office to the foyer and stood behind the front door, waiting. She felt as though she had been waiting for an hour before she heard the slight tapping of his knuckles on the wood. What felt like an hour because a lifetime of thoughts and emotions raced through her mind as she stood for what was realistically little more than five minutes. The sound of his knocking chased those thoughts away and she told herself she wouldn't unlock the door even as she turned the handle and opened it.

#####

"Kate, you're home," he said simply, feeling a slight warming inside just from being in her presence.

"Jack, why are you here? I thought you said you were going to send someone over."

He was confused for a moment until he remembered their conversation earlier that day – the day before actually – about a jacket she had found. He had long forgotten about the jacket. He shouldn't be here.

"I'm sorry, Kate. I shouldn't have come. I'll go."

He started to turn to leave but she reached out and placed a firm, but gentle hand on his forearm. The warmth of her touch reminded him of what had led him to her doorstep in the first place. He looked up and saw a matching warmth in her bright eyes. He was turning to follow her before his mind had made the conscious decision to stay.

She led him into the living room and gestured to the couch. He took the offered seat, but she remained standing.

"You look tired, Jack," she said, a slight crease between her eyebrows as evident of her concern. "Do you want me to make you some coffee? Tea? I don't have much else here other than water and apple juice."

"Apple Juice?" he asked, hearing the slight laughter in his own voice and it sounded a little foreign to him, like he hadn't made the sound in a while.

"Yeah, it's a long story," she said simply and he waited for her to say more, but she didn't elaborate. He studied her face for moment, noticing a slight softness to it that hadn't been there the last time he had seen her. He wondered how she could have seemed to have changed in a little more than six weeks. Maybe he had instead and it was just his perception of her. He shook himself internally. Maybe he was just much more tired than he realized.

"Were you a part of what happened yesterday?" she asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. He must have looked a little surprised by her question because she added: "The quarantine and everything?" She shook her head then and smiled slightly. "Of course, you were. I was worried that you were but then I hoped it didn't have anything to do with CTU."

She stepped closer to him and brushed the backs of her fingers along his temple before running them through his hair. The feel of her fingertips as they traced through the short hair at the side of his head brought welcome shivers along the back of his neck and he closed his eyes with the sensation. Suddenly, her lips brushed against his temple and his eyes flew open as she was straightening away from him, breaking their contact.

"I'll make you some tea," she said softly. "It will help you get some sleep."

#####

Kate quickly filled the kettle and set it atop the stove and then gathered the rest of the items she would need for their tea. Her mind brought up the image of the man in her living room and decided to make some toast as well. It was getting near to dinner time and she knew from the past that sometimes he forgot to eat when he got caught up in his work. He probably needed something more substantial than toast but her own stomach couldn't handle much more than that these days and she also didn't have much more to offer.

He looked too tired to eat but she decided she would order something for him if it seemed like he wanted a real dinner. He looked as though he had lost weight again – weight that he couldn't really spare especially after the weight he had lost during his undercover assignment in Mexico. She thought about his behaviour before and after that assignment and how that had been the driving factor in her accepting his decision that they should end their relationship. It had been the reason why she was still wrestling with the decision about what to do about her own predicament.

Predicament. Problem. Issue. Decision.

These were the words that she used when she thought about her current circumstances, her situation.

Pregnant. Baby.

She almost never thought about these words to describe what she was facing.

Motherhood.

She still had a week and a half before the decision would be taken away from her. The OB-GYN had told her that waiting any longer would lead to complications.

Complications? It already was complicated.

She had been so careful when she and Jack had been together. They hadn't spoken of the possibility or what either one of them wanted but she had read between the lines. She knew that Teri had been pregnant when she had been killed. She knew that Jack had a fully grown daughter and a job that took him all over the world and even managed to take him away when his work was in LA. She had been part of one of those times when his family needed him desperately and he just simply couldn't be there for them. She could handle that for herself, but she wasn't sure if she could handle it for a child of her own. She had been sure that he wouldn't want to be faced with those choices with another child all over again.

So she had been diligent while they had been together. Then he had left for his undercover assignment and as the time passed, she had become less and less consistent with her regular pills. First, there had been a few mornings when she had forgotten to take the small pink pill and she would remember at the end of the day as she brushed her teeth for bed. Then, there had been a couple of particularly hectic weeks at work when a few days would pass before she would remember. There had also been that week in London when she had forgotten to pack them altogether.

Still, she did her best to get back on track, but clearly it had not been enough or there had just been too many slip-ups too close to when he had returned. They had only been together for about two months and things had definitely been different between them, but obviously, it had been enough.

Here she was, single, alone, pregnant and just ten minutes earlier, not even sure if she was going to open her door to the father of her child. But she had and he was here and despite her best resolve, she found herself immediately reminded that she loved him. Unfortunately, this could no longer solely be about her feelings for him.

The kettle whistled as the toaster popped and she quickly set about preparing the tea and toast. Realizing that she couldn't possibly carry it all into the living room, she went to ask Jack to either come and sit in the kitchen or help her bring everything out. She found him sitting on the couch hunched over, his arms wrapped around his stomach, clearly in a lot of pain.

"Jack, are you okay?" she asked after having rushed over to his side. He didn't look up right away and she placed a hand on his shoulder, leaning against him slightly in offer of support. "Jack?"

"I shouldn't be here."

His words were soft and his voice surprisingly clear despite the pain evident on his features. She watched as he took a deep breath and straightened slightly. The creases at the corners of his eyes seemed to have deepened in the few minutes that she had been in the kitchen.

"You're not going anywhere," she answered, firmly so that he would know that she wouldn't be convinced otherwise.

"You don't understand, Kate," he countered, his voice tinged with anger. "You don't need this, any part of this. I don't even know why I came here, but I should go."

He moved to get up but her hand was still on his shoulder and she pushed against it firmly. He almost instantly stopped his efforts to leave and she knew that if he really felt as if he wanted or needed to leave, he could have easily, even in his exhausted state.

"Jack, I'm not letting you leave until I know you've had some sleep and I know you're well enough to be on your own. Then, if you want to leave, I'll let you go."

She heard the unintended double meaning in her words but chose not to clarify or correct them. They were true in both senses. She wasn't going to let him leave her house until she was certain he could do so safely. Once he could, she would let him go freely and if that meant he was leaving her life for good then that would be his choice to do so. She would never want him to stay with her otherwise. Especially not out of some sense of obligation – an obligation she still wasn't sure she wanted for herself - never mind for him.

He looked over and their eyes met but instead of finding some sort of resolved acceptance of her declaration, she found traces of fear and doubt. These were not emotions she associated with Jack Bauer and she questioned her own interpretation of what she was seeing.

"Kate, you don't understand," he began but just trailed off instead of saying anything further.

"Why don't you try talking to me? You're right, I don't understand. I don't know what is happening. I don't know what happened?" She took a deep breath and grabbed both of his hands tightly with hers. "Talk to me, Jack. Maybe I can help you. I'm sure it won't make anything worse."

She said the last with a slight smile and was rewarded with a half-smile of his own offered in return.

"I don't even know where to begin," he admitted quietly.

"Well, why don't we just go into the kitchen and drink our slightly warm tea and eat our cold toast and see what happens from there?"

She stood and pulled slightly on one of the hands she still held until he stood up beside her. The warmth of his presence seemed to penetrate through to her center despite the sweater she wore and she knew that if he decided that he wanted to stay, she would never be able to ask him to leave. She wasn't strong enough to force him to go even if it wasn't always in her best interest to have him stay. Even these past weeks, she had had a hard time imagining a life without him in it.

Suddenly, a thought struck her and she had to give voice to it even if he wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

"Is Kim… is Kim alright?"

She found tears threatening suddenly as she waited for his answer. He gave it almost immediately but it still as felt as though a thousand heartbeats had passed before he had.

"Yeah, she's fine."

"Good. You would tell me, Jack, right? If something happened… to her or Michelle or Tony or… anyone. If someone… died…" She heard her voice break and she swallowed quickly, willing the tears threatening to spill over back behind her eyelids.

Here it is, the first chapter. I expect that there will be about 4 or 5 chapters in total (give or take an epilogue :). I know that at first the POV switched very quickly, but I wanted to get both of their initial thoughts shared. The remainder of the story should be more consistent in POV with changes happening less frequently. Thank you for reading and if you feel compelled, please let me know your thoughts so far. SS.