Kudos to twin*muse and to Imaj Inaya for their great suggestions for Jack and Teri's baby! I've narrowed it down to three, but I'm not telling what they are. If you've got more great suggestions, stick them in your reviews (and let's have some new people review, shall we?).
Sorry I haven't written in FOREVER, but I was delayed thanks to my computer breaking down (twice!) and a serious case of writer's block. More chapters will come quicker, I swear on my collection of '24' DVD's (heh).
Summery: if you don't know it, go back and read the prologue.
Disclaimer: don't own them. It's a very painful reality.
------
Jack slammed down the phone with a slight sense of satisfaction. He glanced down from his office, and saw that Tony had recently come in. Alone, he noticed. Picking up the phone, he dialed Tony's cubicle.
"CTU, Almeida," was Tony's response as he answered.
"I think Division's going to have to be pretty desperate if they send Green over here anytime soon."
Tony grinned and nodded at Jack's office. "Thank God."
Jack considered asking him if Nina had come in with him, and then decided against it. He had become slightly better friends with Tony during the past 48 hours and he didn't feel like pushing it. They had pointless conversation for about 30 seconds, and then hung up. Jack began to walk away from the window when he saw Nina come in. She had a secretive smile on her face, and Jack didn't miss the way her eyes lit up when she saw Tony, who in turn grinned when he saw her. Jack shook his head with a smile, not very surprised, and headed to the mass amounts of paperwork on his desk.
------
A few hours later, Jack was interrupted when he heard his phone ring.
"Mason's here, and he's demanding to speak with you." Nina dryly told him.
Jack sighed. "Send him up."
A few moments later, George Mason was at the door. "Hey Jack," he said opening the door and shutting it quickly.
"You better have a good reason for being here. You scare my staff every time you show up now." Jack informed him. Mason showed no hint of emotion. Jack frowned. "What's going on?"
Mason sighed. "I could loose my job for telling you what I'm about to tell you."
Jack was very surprised; mostly that Mason would come there with the knowledge that he could loose his job. "What is it?"
"Well…Tony and Nina are seeing each other." Mason looked at Jack for a reaction.
Jack simply shrugged. "Tell me something I don't know."
"You're ok with it?"
"Yeah, there's no law against it."
"No, but the people at Division don't look too highly on those who fraternize with coworkers."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Why are you telling me this?"
Mason sighed again. "Someone from Division had Tony and Nina tailed last night."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Why were they tailed?"
"On the off chance that they're as stupid as they look!" Mason cried, exasperated. "But the point is that someone at Division knows about them, and while they can't fire them, they're going to make sure that one or both of them is transferred out of this office to somewhere where it doesn't matter what they hell they're doing."
Jack sighed and began to pace. "That's stupid. Someone at Division has a grudge against me, or them, or both. Who would do that?" Frowning, he realized something. "Green?" he asked Mason.
Mason shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't know."
"Can you find out?"
Mason raised an eyebrow at Jack. "I know it may not seem so right now, but I do like my job a little bit. If I look around for this person, someone's gonna find out and you'll lose your only ally. I can look, but I'll have to do it subtly and it'll take awhile."
Jack nodded in understanding. Then another thing crossed his mind. "Should I tell them?"
Mason paused. "I don't know; they don't work for me."
Jack nodded. "Thanks for coming by, George."
Mason nodded. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news," he replied, still in his slightly cold-hearted manner. You can't expect someone to change that drastically overnight, Jack thought dryly.
"George," Jack called as Mason reached the door. He walked over and stuck out his hand. "Thanks for the warning." Mason shook his hand, nodded, and he was gone. Jack walked over to the window and looked out, watching Tony and Nina work. Only someone who was looking for them could see the stolen glances at each other. Jack sighed, yet again, and went back over to his desk, and picked up the phone. "Tony, could you come up here please? I gotta talk to you."
A few moments later Tony appeared in his office. "Sit down," Jack indicated a chair. Tony merely raised an eyebrow. Jack nodded in understanding and perched on the edge of his desk. "Mason just came in here and told me you had been tailed last night." Jack watched as Tony struggled to contain his emotion at this new bit of information. "You and Nina," he clarified gently.
Tony struggled with this, his face contorting with emotion, until he finally managed to reply: "Who?"
"I don't know- Mason says he's gonna look into it but it will probably take awhile."
"What are we gonna do?"
Jack was startled at this question. "You tell me." Tony met Jack's eyes for the first time. "I'm not going to tell you to stop seeing each other, but I'm just going to warn you that this could quite possibly result in one of you being transferred, probably far away, and you aren't going to be looked highly upon."
"What about you?" Tony asked quietly.
Jack shrugged. "As far as everyone else goes, I don't know about it. Don't worry about me," he added when Tony opened his mouth to rebut that. "The question is: what are you going to do about it?"
Tony closed his eyes. "I honestly don't know." He opened them again. "I can't make this decision by myself."
Jack nodded; he didn't have to ask what Tony meant. "Do you want me to tell her?"
Tony shook his head. "No, I'll tell her."
"Are you sure?" Jack asked. "Because you'll have to do it somewhere private and-"
"I'm sure," Tony replied firmly; he was quite adamant about this decision. "I'll tell her tonight."
------
At the end of the day, the dim lights in CTU seemed even dimmer, as Tony got up and went over to the men's bathroom, which began his and Nina's process of preparing to leave together. He lifted the flap of his cell phone and dialed the number he knew by heart.
Nina heard the ring of her cell phone, and, seeing Tony not at his desk, didn't have to guess who it was. "Myers," was her traditional clipped answer.
"Let's drive home separately tonight," Tony quickly cut to the chase. "I'll come over about an hour later. I need to talk to you about something important."
Nina wanted to protest, but couldn't do so very well at her cubicle, so she got up and headed toward the coffee machine. "Well if it's important, let's talk now, or soon."
Tony shook his head vigorously. "No, we have to be extra careful tonight."
Nina raised her eyebrows, not liking the sound of this. "I hope this doesn't have anything to do with Jack."
Tony bit his lip, knowing she'd suspect something until he told her. "Not exactly."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"I can't tell you now," Tony replied. "You're really going to have to wait, and trust me on this one."
------
Nina had been trying to read for the past forty-five minutes, with little success. Tony had sounded tense on the phone, and it worried her. He generally never hesitated to tell her what was going on, or to share what he was thinking, to the point where it could be annoying. But the one time I actually wants him to, he stays silent, she thought ruefully. He'd promised to tell me, and he should be here pretty soon, Nina thought as she glanced up at the clock and curled back up on her armchair with her book.
Almost instantly, the doorbell rang. Nina sprang to the door, and opened it to reveal Tony standing on the other side. Before she could say anything, he bent down and kissed her gently, yet affirming she was there. After a few moments, he pulled away, and rested his forehead against hers. She kept her eyes closed, and her breath came in and out slowly, and slightly heavily.
"Aren't you going to ask me to come inside?" Tony asked, a small smile dancing on his face. "Or do we have to stay here?"
Nina grinned in reply, and moved out of the doorframe and into her apartment, stepping aside so he could come in. "What's all this about?"
Tony winched slightly, wishing that she hadn't reminded him. He was slightly grateful to himself for calling her earlier, otherwise he may have been tempted not to tell her at all, but to pass on the burden to someone else (specifically Jack). But he knew that she needed to hear it from him.
So he took her hand and led her over to the armchair, and she sat down in it, now visibly concerned. Tony began to pace in front of her. "Stop pacing," she ordered softly. "You'll wear out the floor." Tony made no indication that he had heard her. "Tony, tell me what's going on."
Tony sighed and stopped pacing. "I need to tell you something, and I need you not to say anything until I'm done." Biting his lip, he continued. "Last night, when we went home together, somebody at Division had us tailed. That's what Mason came and talked to Jack about today. He found out about it, but he doesn't know who it was. That's why Jack called me up to talk to me, and I told him I'd tell you." Why was it becoming so much more difficult than he thought it would be to tell her? "Jack says…he says he's not going to make us stop seeing each other, because he isn't even supposed to know about it, but he says that if it keeps up, one or both of us is probably going to be transferred." He stopped and looked at her, wondering what she was thinking, waiting for her reaction.
She was surprisingly calm, but slowly, her features began to twist into a frown, and she looked up at him. "What are we going to do?"
Tony was surprised. He was used to Nina being the strong, cool-headed one. The one who always thought things through and had the answer. He shook his head. "I don't know."
Nina sighed. "I think we should take the night and think about this." She didn't look at him.
Tony nodded in agreement. "Good idea." His first instinct was to bend down and kiss her before he left, then decided against it. Nina still wasn't looking at him.
He opened the door. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye," Nina whispered to his turned back as he left. Curling up in the armchair, she waited until the door had closer before she began to cry.
BWAHAHAH! I left you all a cliffhanger!!!!!! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys ROCK! And super thanks to those who sent me emails, they really helped my get off my writer's block and supported me when my computer was at the computer doctor.
-Crazileigh