After a long stop-start journey through the towns traffic Jack arrived at the cathedral where Walsh's funeral was taking place. He had ventured the long way around to get here so he would miss the procession, he didn't want to sit through the ceremony inside, it felt too ironic to be there, and he wanted to be alone too, he didn't fancy greeting angry glares today. He parked on the opposite side of the cobbled road and could see people milling back inside the church for the final prayers. The bells were creating a saddened noise, and he was upset by the fact that he instantly recognised it as funeral bells, he decided their and then that he had visited too many graves and it had to stop after this. He waited as more people filled back into the church slowly, all slouched over or crying, all saddened by what they were witnessing, none thought that a man as good as Richard deserved this, and Jack certainly didn't.

Once certain he was alone he slowly climbed out of the car and walked over the empty road. He paused briefly as he passed the towering building to squint through the suns glare up at the hundreds of years worth of architecture sculptured into the brick work. He then headed towards the graves over the freshly trimmed grass. Walsh's was relatively easy to spot seen as it was the only one with a brand new headstone and an open grave, they had yet to close it up with dirt.

Jack stood in front of it for a while, hands in his pockets, trying to stop his eyes from watering. He quickly read the sparse headstone over and felt another pang of guilt. He was slightly angered by the words on the stone, how they had summed up his entire life in 2 bare sentences, their was so much more he did, Jack thought, and he had deserved so much more.

He shook his head slowly as he herd himself speaking quietly, he hadn't even realised what he was doing until he herd his own hoarse words.

"I'm sorry... it should have ended differently for you Richard, and I .... I just wish you didn't go..."

He closed his eyes as the tears silently dripped down his face and his Adams apple bobbed furiously in his throat. He almost jumped when he herd a soothing voice behind him, but his reactions were slow today.

"Your Jack Bauer aren't you?" A female voice asked quietly.

Jack nodded his head hesitantly without turning to face the voice behind him, he knew it would be someone to tell him to leave, that he shouldn't be here.

"I'm Rachel, his... his daughter." She said, clearly having a hard time getting out her words.

Jack quickly wiped away the tears before slowly turned around to face her and instantly saw the resemblance between them. She shared his strong blue eyes and his tanned skin, yet she had long dark curly hair and full lips, which was where she differed from him. He noticed that she was about his age, and her eyes were slightly red with bloodshot. He was overcome with guilt as he thought about what Walsh had left behind, and how he had probably turned this young woman's life upside down.

Jack didn't know what to say and it took his a few minutes to speak, he offered her the usual, "I'm very sorry for your loss."

He knew it was a useless thing to say and meant nothing in reality. Yet she surprised him when she replied by saying, "And I'm sorry for your loss, I understand you were close with my father?" Her voice was shaky but her words still sounded strong, just like her father, he though reminiscently.

Jack just nodded, speaking with her was getting too much for him, and the guilt was becoming unbearable. To make matters worse the voice in the back of his head was thinking about Kim now, what would she be doing if this was his funeral instead of Walsh's, she was a lot younger than Rachel, surely she wouldn't be able to cope as well as she seemed to be in front of him. He shook the thoughts of Kim from his mind, this wasn't the time to think about how much of a bad father he had been, he was supposed to mourn for his friend not feel sorry for himself.

He finally drew his thoughts back to Rachel as he watched her take a step towards him, closing the space between them. She rested her hand on his shoulder softly.

"I know what happened, one of my fathers contacts had the decency to show me the reports of what happened... it wasn't your fault, so please, don't blame yourself." She spoke softly, she wanted this man to understand it wasn't his fault, she knew what it was like to blame yourself for something, but in the end it is all down to fate.

Jack wondered if his guilt was that obvious, or if she was simply trying to make him feel better. Still, he was grateful for her reassurance and couldn't pretend that it didn't make him feel slightly better.

"Thank you." Jack whispered, scared his voice would crack if he spoke any louder.

He then watched silently as she removed her hand and smiled sadly at him, before turning and heading back towards the building. He watched as she disappeared inside and turned to face the grave one more time, letting the tears fall freely now he was alone.

"I guess I'll see you on the other side Richard."

Silently he turned and waked away towards his car, back to the world where he would have to pretend that everything was okay for the sake of his family; back to the world of deception, he thought bitterly.