Jack cursed the whole night as he drove back to CTU. Not only had he been working all day long but just as he'd got back home and was getting ready to go to sleep the phone rang. How typical of of this job! He just couldn't catch a break. At times like these he really thought about retiring early and heading for, he wasn't sure, Europe, for instance. There was nothing holding him back here. Kim had her own life with Chase and after Teri, Jack just hadn't been ready for a relationship. He still mourned over his lost wife. They had had something that wasn't replaceable and whenever he got involved with someone, he couldn't help comparing and feeling there was something missing. It felt impossible for him to enjoy and cherish a relationship as it was without looking back what he had had. But it was long gone, he realized that. CTU was his home, the people who worked there were his friends but he felt extremely bitter about the fact that the place had almost distroyed his marriage, ruined his relationship with his daughter and finally killed the woman he, no matter what, loved more than life. He'd learned how to breathe again, but every step in that building, seeing the walls that had seen and heard everything, it was something unbearable. He often needed to get away. But did he have the courage to leave once and for all?

He parked his car in the parking hall and entered the building he both loved and hated.

"So, I'm back. Again. What is it that was too urgent and damn important to be told over the phone?"

Jack sounded extremely fed up, but the ranking agent in field ops didn't take much notice on his mental state. "Agent Calvin and agent Brown have not responded to our attempts to locate them."

"Agent.. Who?" Jack tried to collect his thoughts. He could've seriously needed the sleep.

"The two men you sent to the area where had been some problems with the satellite imagery earlier today. We haven't been able to contact them in over half an hour. They were on to something right before we lost them."

"Maybe there's just no signal." Jack stated the obvious. He was trying not to think of the worst case scenario this time, although he acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.

"Very funny, Jack "

Jack sighed: "Half an hour ago? Did you ran an autotrace?"

"Yeah. The guys at IT got in hold of their last location just a while ago, that's the reason I needed you down here. We need a permission to send a team there to see what's going on."

"Yeah, you have my authorization, do whatever you need to find them." No sleep tonight either, he realized. "You called Chase in yet?"

"No. I contacted you first, but I think if we send another team out we need him here too for back-up."

Jack nodded. "I'll call him here. And I'd better contact Tony too, just in case."

He walked up to his office and grabbed the phone and dialed a very familiar number. The phone rang waking up Kim and Chase. "You get it honey." Kim mumbled without opening her eyes. Chase reached over to the phone: "Hello?" "Chase? It's Jack, did I wake you up?" Jack asked secretly enjoying for ruining other people's sleep as well. "Yeah, you kinda did." Chase switched the night lamp on. His pulse was slowly accelerating. Had someone found Chloe yet? He'd thought no one would miss her for at least 12 hours! Had he missed something, had he screwed this thing too? "So, what's the matter Jack? Is something wrong?"

Kim opened her eyes and started paying attention to the conversation: "It's my dad? Let me talk to him!"

Chase tried to shoo her away.

"We have a minor problem at CTU that could turn into a major one soon. We are sending a team out on the field and we need more personnel to back up the mission."

"Wait, I thought you went home?" What was Jack doing awake? He should have been sleeping completely unaware of everything that was going on! Chase got nervous, but tried to maintain a cool tone in his voice.

"What? He isn't home sleeping safe and sound? Hand me the phone, Chase, I need to talk to my father!"

"Kim, please.. I'm trying to talk to Jack!"

"Chase are you still there?" Jack asked smirking. He had heard his daughter's voice in the background. Kim was a handful, he admitted that. It had taken a long time to accept that someone else besides himself could take care of her. He'd been a little suspicious about Chase at first, but he'd put the thoughts aside for Kim. She's happy, that's all that counts, he thought.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. What were you saying again?"

"Um.. Well we're currently understaffed and could use some reinforcement. Tell Kim to get dressed right away otherwise it'll take hours before you two can leave. And tell her her hair's just fine, no matter what she thinks!"

"Ok, we'll be there in.. "Chase looked at Kim. "Well... As soon as we can. Oh, Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"What's this all about?"

"I'll tell you when you get here."

They hang up.

"Well?" Kim asked anxiously.

"I'm sorry, no sleep for us tonight. We have to head back to CTU, they need some extra help on something."

Kim looked herself from the bedroom mirror and tried to arrange her locks into place.

"Jack said they look fine" Chase smiled at her.

"Oh, what does he know about hair-dos?"

Tony sat in the backseat of a police car. He stared at the house quietly not knowing what to do or say. He couldn't believe this, this wasn't happening to him. It was someone else's house, someone else's wife, it wasn't his. Someone would soon be telling him that his house would indeed be intact, standing perfectly in it's place, somewhere else. Then he would go home and Michelle would wait for him and she'd still be a bit mad, but when she'd see the flowers they'd kiss and make up.

His bottom lip quivered and he tried to take a deep breath to hide the state he was in. He wasn't sure why he even cared anymore what other people thought. Neighbors had gathered around the place curiously trying to get a glimpse of what had happened. Policemen and firefighters were running and shouting orders. Tony did not see them though. He was looking for a particular face from the crowd. He was waiting for seeing those beautiful dark eyes and that smile you could just die for. But she wasn't there no matter how hard he tried to look for her.

His cell-phone rang and his heart nearly stopped beating.

"Yeah.." He answered.

"Tony? It's Jack, I tried to reach you from your home phone to catch you both, but I couldn't get through. Something wrong with the phone lines?"

Tony looked at the house that had collapsed into rubble and for some weird reason he felt like laughing. Yeah, there surely was something wrong with the phone lines.

"Well, I'm actually not in the house at the moment." The sudden urge to laugh changed as quickly as it had arrived. He tried to swallow the tears. He wanted to tell Jack what had happened. He wanted to tell what had happened to Michelle, but he couldn't. If he said it aloud it would be like admitting Michelle was really gone. But she couldn't be gone. She was waiting for him. She had to be waiting for him.

"Tony, are you ok? Where are you?"

"I'm just... "Tony tried to focus on breathing. "I'm fine, what's up?"

Jack could hear there was something wrong with Tony. "I'm not buying that. Look, we go way back, I know you. There's something wrong. I wanna know what it is!"

"No, seriously Jack, I'm just... Really tired, ok? Did you have something to tell me?"

Jack realized he wasn't getting anything out of Tony and the conversation wasn't going anywhere at the moment. "I need you and Michelle here, we're having some problems, it doesn't necessarily mean anything yet, but I'd like the staff to stand by."

"Yeah, sure." Tony didn't even bother to ask what it was all about. Jack put down the phone worried.