"WE need your help Jack." Chase started.

"No. I'm in the Army now and I'm working for them. I can't just up a leave I have a group of recruits to train."

"Jack we already got the Army's permission to use you. As a matter of fact everyone we are using is Army. Your orders came to your office today, but you weren't there." Alberta said.

Jack knew he couldn't refused if the Army ordered it he would have to do it. He didn't think about that when he took the job again. "What is it?" He said in defeat.

Dan and Zoe where in the car when finally one of them spoke, "How much do you know about Jack and his past?" Zoe asked Dan.

"Not a hole lot. He was in Delta while in the Army. A captain I think than he left to work for a government agency. He left the agency after so many years and came back here. Anything else you know?"

"Well I heard from a friend in records he's a widower and he lost his daughter not to long ago. He worked for CTU which was a part of the CIA and has done some pretty heroic things. I found an old article in the news paper when I was researching terrorism for one of my class's I guess he saved David Palmers life during the primaries."

"Really!" Dan said scratching his head thinking about that news. "Sad that Palmer had such a tragic fall at the end of his career."

"Yeah. He really was a good president." Zoe said. "Who do you think those people are?"

"Some people Jack use to work with. I got the sense that he didn't really like Alberta nor was he found of the other dude."

"Chase. Yeah. He wasn't happy to see them. Did you see him turn white when he saw them pull up?"

"Yeah. I thought that was weird." Zoe said getting out of the car and going into the supermarket. They were in the liquor area and she said, "What do you think was with the tequila? He didn't seem to happy after that memory?"

"I haven't a clue. Do you think he'll like some southern?"

"Better grab two bottle of that after the way he looked when those people came he'll probably need it." She said walking to the check out lane.

When they returned the people where gone. They knocked on the door and waited for Jack to answer. The door was cracked so they just walked in. Dan yelled, "Jack you here?"

Jack was sitting on the couch staring at the wall. He didn't hear them come in. Zoe noticed the state he was in and she walked over to him and touched him gently on the shoulder.

Jack jumped when he felt someone touch him. He saw them and put a smile on quickly. "Took you guys long enough. I was almost ready to fall asleep." Jack lied.

Dan and Zoe knew he was lying but let it past. "Sorry boss." Zoe said setting the bottle of southern down in front of him.

"Now you are speaking my language" Jack said going to grab another cup.

Zoe watched as he filled the large cup to the top with southern and drank a huge gulp without flinching afterwards, he had some practice at this stuff.

"Sir I don't want to speak out of turn."

Jack knew he was in trouble she was referring to him as sir, formal. "What is it Zoe?"

"Maybe you should slow down some." She said watching him drink the rest of the glass down.

"This is nothing." Jack said pouring another glass.

"Maybe sir." She said not wanting to argue to much. "May I ask what that was all about?"

Jack laughed, "They want me to go back to Kosovo for another mission." He drank the glass down again quickly. Already having about a fourth of the bottle finished to by himself.

"Why is that bad?" Dan asked not knowing any of Jack's history.

Jack drank more of the alcohol why was it bad he almost laughed. That place had screwed his life up so much once going back again wasn't going to help much either.

Zoe looked at Jack worried, the normal confident kind man was gone. Replaced by a scared angry man, she wasn't sure how to deal with this new side. "Sir what happened last time?"

"You remember a few years back when David Palmer was almost killed during the primaries?"

"Yes." She said knowing what Jack had done.

"The man trying to kill him was Victor Drazen. Palmer had ordered a Delta team over to Kosovo to take care of Drazen. He set them up to fail, to make it look like Drazen was dead, and than the team would be killed in the process making it a world new event so everyone would believe Drazen was killed. He wasn't of course and not all of the team was killed. Two people lived. One was kept in Kosovo for a few years and the other came back to the States and found another job." Jack said dryly as he finished off another glass.

Zoe was shocked knowing which one Jack was. She couldn't believe it, he had lost an entire team almost. "What happened to the other man?"

"He was behind the virus attack a few years ago. He's dead now." Jack said.

Zoe wasn't sure what to say. She looked at Jack and saw there was a lot more to the story. "You don't have to do it do you?"

"Yes I do. They went to the Army first." Jack said finishing off another glass. He felt the alcohol overtake his body.

Dan's phone rang it was his wife, "I got to go the woman is calling. You going to be ok Jack?"

"yeah I'm fine. I'll walk Zoe home." Jack said.

"See you Monday." Dan said leaving.

Zoe looked at Jack and said, "I probably should go too." She didn't want to leave.

Jack stood up and stumbled a little falling back to the couch. "Would you please stay for awhile?" Jack said he didn't want to be alone right now as the demons of the past haunted him again.

"Sure." She said smiling at him. She knew how wrong it was to be attracted to him. "How about we watch that Kiefer film after all. And I take this away." She said taking the southern bottle away from the table. Jack didn't protest. He watched her as she worked with DVD player and than the TV so the DVD would show. They watched it together joking through the movie. Half way through Jack looked over to see her asleep. He stood up slowly putting his hand on the couch to steady his drunken self. He walked down the hall to his bedroom where he found a blanket. He didn't want to wake her and he knew there was no way he could walk her home in his state. He raised her feet onto the couch where he had been sitting earlier and than covered her up. He went to his room and passed out on the bed.

The next morning Zoe woke up on the couch. She looked around not knowing where she was at first and when she found out where it hit her like a brick. What had she done last night? Did she embarrass herself? Did she sleep with him, that wouldn't have been to bad he was a great guy, and God really did break the mold when he made Jack, but he was her superior officer. She was dressed so she must not have slept with him, or so she hoped. She got up and looked around there was no sign of him. She called out thinking maybe he was somewhere in the house, "Jack?"

She almost jumped when the front door came open and he walked in with a wife beater on and a pair of running shorts. She couldn't help but stare at him she had not seen him dressed like that before. She quickly adverted he eyes and said, "What happened last night?"

"You fell asleep on the couch." He said walking inside clearly tired from the run. "If you wait I can cook you breakfast after I get out of the shower." Jack said trying to be nice.

"No that's ok. I better get out of here or people might talk. You know what small bases are like with the gossip." She said smiling trying not to show she was uncomfortable.

"Ok thanks for coming over last night." Jack said as if everything were peachy again. She remembered how he was last night and wondered what the sudden change of mood was for.

As she walked out of the house the man from the night before were at the front door and let themselves in after she walked out.

Jack thought maybe she had changed her mind but when he saw who it was his face went stone cold again. "What do you want Chase?" Jack said.

"I was suppose to come get you for a briefing." Chase said looking at him noticing the hostility coming off him. Chase didn't blame him he had been given a raw deal one to many times and he knew what the place meant for Jack.

"Let me take a shower." Jack said walking away to the bathroom. He knew it was a military briefing so he pulled out his dress greens (the green uniform Army folks wear.) He checked the ribbons on his service coat, his name tag, and his rank to make sure it was all perfect. He looked at his shoes that were so shiny you could see your reflection in them, and they weren't the permanent shine kind. He shined them himself almost everyday. He took his shower and walked back into the room naked letting the air dry his wet body. He looked over the uniform one more time and started dressing.

Once he was fully dressed and made sure everything was perfect he marched out of the room. Major Jack Bauer coming into play as the uniform dictated it should. Chase noticed this and looked away as if he didn't know the man walking down the hall, and he didn't know him. He wasn't the same Jack Bauer that worked at CTU and had a daughter.

"Ready to go?" Jack said finally breaking the silence.

"Come on." Chase said walking out to the car noticing some looks that they got from the neighbors. Chase was a stranger and clearly was not military which made him even more suspicious.

Jack got into the passenger side taking his officers cap off. No matter how hard Chase tried to start a conversation up Jack ignored him or answered with a simple yes or no. Jack was not in the mood to talk nor did he want to be there, but he had been ordered to so he would do it.

When they reached the main building Chase parked his car. They both got out and walked into the building. Chase watched as people walked by and saluted Jack who returned the salute, and even as Jack walked in the guards snapping to attention and saluting. Jack returning the salute again and carrying on his way. He watched as Jack snapped to attention and saluted a general walking by, and was again taken back to the days of being in the Army and all the protocols he did not miss.

They walked into the room and Jack snapped to attention once they were inside. The joint chief's of staff sat in the room. Jack knew the shit must have hit the fan if they were all there to talk to him.

"At ease son." The highest ranking one, an Air Force General and the head of the joint chief's of staff said.

Jack stood at ease, his legs square with is shoulders, and his hands behind his back as if he were at parade rest. His eyes following the man who had commanded it.

"Take a seat Jack." Alberta said when she walked in.

Jack looked for a command from the Air Force General who ordered, "Take a seat son."

Jack grabbed a chair and sat down next to Chase. He waited for the briefing to begin.

"Good afternoon Major Bauer." The Air Force General finally said once the door was closed and Alberta Green took her seat.

"Good afternoon sir." Jack answered.

"I know you are wondering why you are here and I'll make this brief as it is your day off." The General said looking at the man wondering if he had gone through half the stuff that was in his file, but he came highly recommended and he knew the area.

Alberta stood up and addressed Jack, "WE received some intelligence recently that there are some fractions from Viktor Drazen's regime still around, and they are starting to organize again. We were contacted by someone inside the new regime and they have given us a lot of valuable information."

"May I speak freely sir?" Jack asked looking at the highest ranking man there.

"Go ahead Major."

"With all due respect, what do you want me to do?" Jack said trying to get her to get to the point, he had no choice as to whether he would do it or not but he could at least enjoy the rest of his Saturday afternoon.

"What we need you to do is take a delta team over, unofficially and train an group that is wiling to fight against the uprising, unofficially." The General said cutting to the chase he didn't want to be there as much as Jack did.

"Excuse me I have one question sir." Jack said wondering why the big guns came in for this.

"Go ahead son." The General said knowing what the question would be he could tell the man wasn't stupid.

"Why is this so important sir?" Jack asked trying to remain respectful, but at the same time letting them know he knew they were hiding something from him.

"That's classified and on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know Jack." Alberta said enjoying the ability to command him around.

Jack looked at the General who just shook his head, "I'm sorry I can't tell you Major."

"When do I have to leave and who's my team sir?" Jack finally asked after a moment of thought.

"You leave next week after this cadet class graduates and your team is whoever you want it to be Major." The general answered.

Jack felt the memories coming back with a cold sweat. The last time he was there, and his last mission where he could have whoever he wanted all hitting him hard.

"You have till Wednesday to inform us of who you want with you. You will have a three man team that's all we can get in under the radar. As far as our government knows your on vacation and nothing more. If you get caught you are own your own major." The General cautioned.

"I understand sir."

"You will get more information from the young man next to you. If you don't have any more questions your dismissed."

Jack stood up and waited for the all the generals to stand and than he saluted them. They returned his salute and walked out of the room. Once they were gone Jack went back to a normal stance and walked out of the room.

"Hold on Jack we aren't finished yet." Alberta called.

"It's Saturday it's my day off." Jack said walking out of the room not caring that Alberta and Chase came following behind.

Jack crisply put his officers cap on right before he walked outside he saluted the guards outside the building and continued walking. He heard the footsteps behind him and said, "Don't you two have something better to do than follow me on a Saturday?"

Alberta ran up to him, "Jack you can't walk away from this you were ordered."

Jack stopped abruptly and Alberta almost ran into him because of it. He looked at her and said, "I'm not running. I'm going to enjoy my Saturday afternoon. I will deal with it Monday after PT training in the morning." Jack started to walk again.

Chase stopped and walked back to the car no really looking to walk the distance from the building to Jack's house. He pulled up beside Jack who was walking and said, "Get in I'll give you a ride home."

"I can walk" Jack said even though he was getting tired of returning salutes. Whenever possible he tried to stay out of his uniform or anything that marked him as an officer on the weekend.

"Alberta?" Chase called.

Alberta walked over to the passenger side and got into the car. She was angry at what Jack was doing, and she had no way of making him listen. "Let's go." She said angrily.

Jack continued to walk to his house until Zoey pulled up behind him walking.

She called out, "OH look at that a man in uniform."

Jack turned around and smiled at her, "Hey Zoey."

"I think it should be Sgt after all you are in full uniform sir. Need a ride home?"

"Please." Jack said getting into the jeep. He didn't want to walk the distance to his house, but he didn't want to ride with Chase either.

"What's it all about? Word has circled base three times and the newest gossip is that you are really a felon and they came to collect you again, that's among the recruits left behind though." She joked.

"They want me to go on a mission again." Jack said, "Back to Kosovo."

"Well isn't that great?"

"NO." Jack said not wanting to get into, "Last time I was on a Delta mission my last one was in Kosovo and it didn't end up good."

Zoey had heard rumors about the mission. Word was that he had sold out his men and they all died and he escaped. She didn't know how much to believe, she knew if it happened there was no way he sold out his men. "Who's going with you?"

'They left it up to me."

Zoey saw her chance to prove herself in a mans army. She smiled at him.

"NO." He said knowing what she wanted.

"Why not?"

"Because you've never seen action before." Jack told part of what he was thinking.

"And I'm a woman. Come on Jack I'm the best person you ever worked with you have to admit that. I know the job and can do it. Remember that time I carred Dan's heavy sorry ass all the way back to base during that training mission?"

"Yeah but it's not the same Zoey." Jack said when she pulled up in front of his house.

"Jack come on. At least think about it."

"I have. NO" He said, "Thanks for the ride."

"You are a sexist pig like the rest of them. I thought you were different, but I was wrong you are just like everyone else on the base, just better at hiding it." She said knowing she hit a nerve and not caring. "I'll see you tomorrow SIR." She stressed the sir speeding away before he could say anything.