Jack was at his front door when he heard the car pull up out front. He looked back to see Chase and Alberta, "Do you two ever quit?" Jack said opening the door to his house.

"Jack we have to brief you." Chase said getting out of the car.

"And this can't wait till Monday. Training some people can't wait till Monday?" He said from inside the house not bothering to close the door as he knew they would just open it and walk in.

"No it can't." Alberta said walking inside.

She started to follow Jack down the hallway when Jack said, "Unless you want to see me strip Alberta I'd wait in the living room."

Jack undressed getting out of his uniform and hanging it back up again. He dressed in an grey Army t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He walked back out to the living room barefoot he asked, "Do you want anything to drink?"

Both Chase and Alberta said, "Water please." Jack got down three glass's he filled two of them with water and his with Scotch. He walked out handing them their water and Chase looked at him, "Isn't a little early for scotch?"

"No mommy." Jack said clearly annoyed. "Can we get this overwith so I can go enjoy the rest of the day."

"Do you know who you are taking yet? They just need to train people there shouldn't be any action."

"Probably MSgt Dan Richmond." Jack said knowing he could trust Dan and he was a good instructor.

"And?"

Jack thought about it Zoey was great at training people, and she was the best, they said there wouldn't' be any fighting so why not, "Sgt Zoey." Jack said sitting back drinking down his drink.

"Fine inform them and have them ready to go out to dinner tonight at seven for a briefing." Alberta said standing.

"Can't do. Dan has a wife and children and he will probably eat dinner with them since he eats dinner with the recruits every other night. Try lunch tomorrow at the officers club. That'll be a nice treat for them. Reserve a room." Jack said in a flat tone of voice.

"Fine. Tomorrow than." Alberta said setting the glass of water down and leaving. "It was nice to see you again Jack."

"I'm sure it's all one-sided." Jack said bitterly he didn't want to work with them or go to Kosovo again, but they had forced him too, and he would do it because it was his duty, but he didn't have to like it or even act like he did.

Jack waited until they were gone to get up and find Zoey. He searched all over and finally found her working out at pool. Jack hated going there because he had to deal with other people, other officers, and other people. "Zoey can I talk to you?" He asked when she stopped her incisive swimming.

"Not right now sir." She said starting to swim again.

He walked over to the edge and when she came up he said, "Please."

"Not right now sir." She wasn't going to give in.

"When would be a good time?"

"Never sir." Zoey said not starting to swim laps again she had already gotten away with disrespecting him once, she was sure she wouldn't get much more leeway with the other officers around.

"I put your name in to go." Jack said looking at her solemnly he was worried about taking her.

"Good." She said looking at him still not budging she was still angry at him she had believed in him and he ruined it.

"I'm sorry." Jack said standing up and walking away. He already could hear the rumors flying about them and prepared himself to answer all the questions that would arise.

Jack was alone in his house drinking a beer when he saw Zoey pull up outside. She ran up to the door and knocked on it opening it a second later knowing Jack was home. "Just because you decided to change your mind doesn't change anything." She sat down by him and asked, "What's it all about?"

"Training some people in Kosovo."

"What's so wrong with Kosovo?" She had the rumors, but she wanted to hear from him.

She had a right to know if he was going to lead her over there, "My last mission with delta." Jack went into the story of Operation Nightfall where he had lost his entire team and was the only one left to survive. He didn't stop there though he went on to how it effected his life afterwards all the way to his wives death, and than onto his drug addiction that led to the death of his daughter, than his time with Nina, and than where he was now. It took him an hour to lay out his entire life, and he was drunk enough not to care at the moment he was opening up, but all the memories were haunting him now that he was going back to where it all originated from, and he was scared. Physically scared to face the place again, it was the skeleton in his closet he didn't want to look at.

Finally he took a breath and looked at her, he never made eye contact through the entire story, "I'm sorry."

She was holding tears back she knew he harbored pain, but never that much. She collected herself quickly and said, "Don't be. Never be sorry."

Jack took a long drawl of his beer and looked at her, she was beautiful he wanted to kiss her so bad but he wasn't sure if it was the beer talking. He knew it wasn't and he knew he couldn't. If they were going to work together these feelings weren't acceptable, but he thought them still. He thought about her as he looked at her beautiful face. He wanted to cover it with gentle kiss's. He wanted her. He stood up and looked at the clock it was supper time, "You want to go grab a bite to eat?" He said needing to move and stop looking at her.

"Sure." She said, "People are already talking about it mind as well give them something more to talk about." She smiled at him, her smile was lovely.

He smiled back at her genuinely. "You choose where. We have a meeting lunch tomorrow at the officers club. I probably should stop by Dan's and let him know later."

"About the mission, who else is going?"

"No one yet that I can think of. We are only going to train these people nothing more." Jack said praying it would be the simple.

----------------------------

They ate dinner at some diner in town both laughing away. Zoey had driven because Jack had already had a few to drink. When they finished supper Jack insisted on paying and she drove him back to the house. Inside the car there was an uneasy silence they both wanted the other one, but they couldn't there was to much baggage between them. He was her boss, they worked closely by each other, and they were getting ready to go on a mission together, a relationship would just cause problems. Once she pulled up outside his house Jack thanked her for the ride and company and said, "I'll see you tomorrow for lunch."

"Yeah. Thanks for the food." She said as he got out closing the door. Jack walked up to the house turning back to watch her drive off. He opened the door and walked inside. He undressed taking his shirt and pants off leaving only his boxers on he lay on the couch and turned on the TV hoping sleep would come soon. Half way through a really bad sci fi movie he fell asleep on the couch. He didn't dream that night something unusual for him usually he was haunted by nightmares.

Jack awoke the next morning when there was a banging on the door and he heard it creak open and hit the wall. He sat up to see Chase and Alberta in the door way. Jack lay back down looking at his watch, "It's six in the morning. We said lunch remember." Jack growled tired.

"We need to talk." Alberta said walking into the room noticing Jack was only in his boxers quickly averting her eyes away from his bare chest covered in scares.

Jack sat up and said sarcastically , "Well come in than." Jack stood up and said, "Excuse me while I go throw some clothes on."

Alberta watched him walk down the hallway studying the different scars that covered his back. Chase looked at her noticing her studying him and smiled when she looked back at him embarrassed. "Hard night Jack?" Chase called back.

"You would know since you were following us." Jack called back he hadn't mentioned it to Zoey nor did he care because they were just having dinner as friends nothing else. "What time did I finally fall asleep?"

Chase laughed he thought he had been sneaky enough since Jack never confronted him. "I'd say around three."

"Thanks for the three hours of sleep than." Jack said walking out of the room with pants and a black wife beater on. "What is so important that you wake me up at six in the morning?" He said sitting down wanting coffee really bad but not willing to ask them he was not going to be hospitable at six in the morning especially to them.

"The people you were going to train have all been killed." Alberta said looking at him.

"Than the mission is off." Jack said trying not to smile he felt bad for the people but he didn't want to go back to Kosovo.

"No." Alberta said Jack went to protest when she stopped him, "You have a new mission. You and the woman are going over to Kosovo together."

"Zoey isn't going." Jack protested.

"Yes she is she received her orders this morning." Alberta said grinning she had won this fight, "You two are going to investigate without outright investigate who leaked the information to where they were. WE had them hidden, and someone had to tell people where they were at. You are going to find that out while being undercover as what you are now only as a part of a team."

Jack looked at her flushed with anger. "She can't she has no experience in that field."

"Yes she does Jack." Alberta smiled even bigger he had never known nor did he have a clue.

"What do you mean?" His suspicion rising.

"Not now. See you at lunch we'll discuss them further we've already contacted Dan to let him know not to bother coming."