Jack handed Sloane the folder and said, "I think the Alliance will be please with what we've accomplished in Brazil."

Sloane nodded, not really paying attention to the file in his hand.  Jack turned to leave.  "Jack.  Have a seat."

Jack sank into the chair across from Sloane, making sure to keep his face carefully schooled.  "Is something the matter, Arvin?"

"I don't know," Sloane said, waving his fingers across the edge of his desk.  "You tell me."

Jack knew he looked confused.  "I don't understand."

"According to personnel, you've submitted a request to take a week off, Jack.  I can't tell you the last time you voluntarily took any time off," Sloane said, carefully examining Jack.

"I was invited to visit friends out of town," he answered.

"Where?"  Sloane asked.

Jack managed not to grit his teeth.  Much.  "Francie invited me to spend the Christmas holiday with her family."

Sloane leaned forward.  "You're going home to meet her parents?"

"Not exactly."  Sloane lifted an eyebrow, asking Jack to finish the thought.  "I already know her parents."

****

Francie hung her shirts up in her old closet.  As usual, her mother had put her in her old room, and Jack was down the hall in Bobby's old room.  She hadn't expected her parents to put them in the same room, but her mother had at least made the offer half-heartedly when Charlie had first appeared on the scene.

"How's Bobby doing?"  She hadn't spoken to her brother on the phone since he'd gotten his last transfer.

"Good," her mother answered from where she stood over by the door.  Her arms were crossed and a frown creased her face.  Francie knew it wasn't her oldest child that she was upset about.  "He's happy in Germany; he's enjoying the chance to explore Europe."

"Good," she said as she pushed her suitcase up onto the top shelf.

"Francie--"

"Mom, let's not fight about this right now."

Angela walked deeper into the room.  "I don't want to fight about it, Francie."

She turned to look at her mother.  Running a shaking hand through her hair, she said, "Really?  That's funny because ever since I told you and Dad, it seems like I'm getting a phone call every day wanting to debate the issue with me."

"I just worry--"

Francie wrapped her arms around her mother's shoulders.  "I know.  But you'd worry no matter who he was.  He makes me happy, Mom.  I just wish you'd give me a chance to show you how happy I am with him, and how good he treats me."

****

Chris Calfo handed him a glass of wine, but he didn't look happy to do it.  "It's been a long time, Jack."

"Yes, it has.  I believe it was the girls' graduation from college."

Francie's father looked as if he wanted to hit him.  "Yes, it was."

Jack took a sip of the wine and wished it was something stronger.  He wasn't sure why he was here.  He knew it would be an uncomfortable Christmas, especially for Francie, with him here.  So why was he here?

Had it been Irina's sudden interest in his plans for Christmas that caused him to make this decision?  He'd thought the last year had helped him get past the old anger, but he wasn't sure.  No, he was sure.  Irina's taunting about him spending Christmas alone had nothing to do with why he was here.  He'd used it as an excuse to himself.

He was here because Francie wanted him here.  Even though he knew it would make the holiday worse for her, he hadn't been able to say no to her.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Jack," Chris said, taking off all pretense of civility.  "I don't like you dating my daughter.  I don't like you.  I saw how you treated Sydney--how distant you were--"

Jack thought of all the times he'd told people his concern for Sydney was none of their business.  He believed that was true, but he doubted Chris Calfo would appreciate the concept.  "Chris, until you've walked in my shoes, experienced what I've experienced, perhaps you shouldn't be so quick to judge me."

Francie's father looked surprised by his words.  But then Jack had never been open with him; they'd only exchanged a few hellos, permissions for sleepovers and the like. He took another fortifying sip of wine before saying, "I know I was not a good father, Chris.  I've never claimed to be.  Sydney raised herself to be the great woman she is; I don't take any credit for it."

"I can't believe you, Dad.  I thought you would at least let Jack rest from the drive first," Francie said from the doorway.  Jack almost winced from the anger in her voice.  He kept interfering with her relationships; first with Sydney and now with her parents.  He didn't want to, and he knew it would be best to end it so she could be happy.

But he was too weak.

Jack spoke before Chris had a chance.  "Francie, why don't you go visit with your mother for a little while?"

Francie focused her fury on him.  "Sending the kid away, Jack, so the adults can have a serious conversation?"

He walked over to her, leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I don't think of you as a child, so don't act like one."  Pulling away, he looked down at her.  "I'm a father, too, Francie.  Fathers have the right to worry about their daughters."

She looked at her father and shook her head.  "You had no intentions of giving him a chance, did you?  Neither you nor Mom intended to.  This invitation was just going to be your chance to have it out with him and to force me to listen to all the reasons this relationship is a bad idea since I wouldn't be able to hang up on you if I was here."

"Francie," her father said, unfortunately sounding like a man talking to his teenage daughter.  Jack knew it was the wrong approach; he had learned a lot in the last two years of working with Sydney.

"Don't, Dad.  I don't want to hear it.  You lied to get us here.  'We want the chance to get to know him better.'  It was bullshit," she said.  Jack saw the hint of tears in her eyes and guilt tore at him.  "The sad thing is that I really think you'd like him if you gave him a chance.  He treats me like gold, Daddy."

Chris looked guilty.  "I'm sorry, Francie, but I don't think--"

"He's one of the good ones?"  Her tone was mocking and sad at the same time.  "Like Charlie was?"

Jack felt the verbal slap as if she'd given it to him.  Chris looked devastated by the line, and Jack understood.  Like he told Francie, he was a father, too.  He knew how devastating it was to fail to protect your daughter from people who used and abused her.

"I'm going to go pack," she said.  "We'll spend the night in a motel somewhere on the way back home."

Jack followed her out into the hallway.  He put his hand on her arm, and she stopped walking.  When she turned to look at him finally, he saw her angry tears.  He pulled her into his arms and held her.

"Francie, don't try to rush this."

"Rush this," she snarled into his shirt.  "They never even--"

"It wasn't easy for you to forgive the past either when I first started showing back up in Sydney's life," he reminded her.  "You can't expect them to suddenly welcome me like the prodigal son."

She pulled away and took a few steps down the hallway.  "I know.  It's just--" She sighed and ran her hand through her hair.  "I don't know.  I expected it to be like before, I guess, and that doesn't make any sense."

He knew what before she was talking about.  She'd told him that she'd brought Charlie home to meet her family before he'd proposed, when she'd thought that relationship would be "the one."  Her family had treated him like one of their own.  "They know they failed you the first time.  They don't want to do it again."

Francie's shoulders slumped.  "They didn't fail me.  I'm the one who didn't see the signs of what a first-class jerk he was.  And it's not just about protecting me from my choices; they don't like you, Jack."

"For good reasons," he told her.

"You know, you never interrogated Danny and--"

"No, but I had him investigated," Jack said.

Her jaw dropped open.  "What?"

"I had him investigated."

"You mean like by a private eye?"

Jack thought of the thorough report Security Section had handed him.  "Yes, by a private investigator."

It amazed him how hard it was to lie to her.  Sydney thought he often lied to Francie, but he didn't.  If he had to go to London, he didn't tell her Boston.  He told her oversees.  He always tried to tell her the truth or at least as close as he could get.

"Francie, I'm going to go back into the living room and talk to your father.  You told me to butt out of your relationship with Sydney, and I'm now asking you to return the favor.  Butt out.  Let us work our relationship out; don't let our relationship interfere with your relationship with them.  Please."

Francie shook her head and then smiled.  "Okay.  Fair enough."  She walked up and kissed him.  "But don't be surprised if I need you to take me to go get stitches."

"Stitches?"

"Yeah, from biting my tongue!" she answered over her shoulder as she strolled away.

He enjoyed the view until she turned around the corner.  Then, gathering the courage that let him face down bombs and guns, he turned to face one of the scariest people on the planet--an angry father.