Sorry it took so long... not been allowed to upload stuff for a bit... :(

Jack watched as Claudia left until she was out of sight completely. He then turned and set off back through the woods in the opposite direction, towards his home. After 10 minutes he was almost their and was covered in sweat from the hot sun that shone down on him. He passed the borrowed car and secretly dreaded its return, although he tried to convince himself it would be fine, somehow he knew it wouldn't.

He entered through the door that was still open from last night and left it like it was, he didn't have the energy to fix it just now, he'd do it later. He walked through to the bedroom and flopped down onto the single, lumpy mattress, briefly closing his eyes to gather his thoughts. Before he knew it he was asleep, his exhaustion worse than he had realised.

While he slept he dreamt of Claudia, and then Kate. After a while the two mingled together to create a disturbingly ugly person. Kate's pale skin and piercing blue eyes contrasted with Claudia's dark skin and plump lips made this new person look like a gorilla. Jack watched as this mingled person approached him as he slowly backed away from this monstrous woman. Even subconsciously he realised what was happening, he couldn't have them both, only one. As soon as he thought of this, much to his surprise and pleasure the two separated, leaving Claudia and Kate back to normal. He realised here that no matter what he told himself, he still did have feelings for Kate. He decided to talk to Kate, but as he tried to do so, the two transformed again, their was no longer Kate, or Claudia, but Nina.

Confusion, fear and anger kicked in all at once as he backed again once again, until he bumped into someone. Turning around he saw it was Hector holding a gun on him. Jack now had nowhere to go and didn't know what to do.

"Claudia is mine, you thief." Hector spat. Jack was too stunned to respond, thoughts running frantically around his head, how does Hector know? He no longer had to worry about Hector, as Ramon appeared at his side out of nowhere.

"Got us a thief here have we? My my Jack, first my car, then my brothers fiancee." He spoke as he headed towards Jack, gun pointed in his direction.

"Ramon.. Hector... is this some kind of joke?" He laughed as he spoke, trying to ease the tension and hide his fear.

"No Jack. No joke." With that he fired four times, each shot hitting him squarely in the chest, leaving holes in his body as the dark red substance known as blood began to pour from him.

Jack jolted awake and quickly looked down to his chest, checking it was in fact a dream, not some twisted reality. Taking a moment to compose himself he cursed himself for falling asleep unintentionally. He pulled himself up from the bed and headed towards the bathroom, where he had a quick, cold shower, to wake him up. Once finished Jack turned the shower off and padded across the dark room, wearing only a towel. He dried off and quickly dressed in some black trousers and a simple white T-shirt. He noticed that, despite all his efforts, he had got the pot wet in the process of showering. He sighed as the itching sensation grew worse and worse from inside the cast. He ignored this as he pulled on his shoes and grabbed the car keys. Before he left he glanced in the mirror and noticed that his left eye was slightly purple and the stitches on the side of his head had turned a deep red colour from the scab that was forming. He tried, but couldn't see the gash on the back of his head, so he ignored it and headed towards Ramon's car.

He set off driving slowly, so he could plan what to say to Ramon. He thought it would be better to take a direct approach and just hope for the best. As he drove thoughts about his earlier dream crept into his mind so he tried to push them away. He thought that maybe, once finished with Ramon he'd go see Claudia, after all, Hector would be home tomorrow, they didn't have much time left together, and he didn't know what would happen once Hector was home.

It only took a few minutes to get to the house as he slowed the car to a stop besides the barn that contained all of the vehicles. As he got out he noticed a Range Rover that didn't belong to anyone living on the site. He began to get suspicious, wondering who had come here, and for what purpose. And most importantly, had they put Ramon in a foul mood by coming to cause trouble?

Jack walked over to the house and entered through the door leading to the posh hallway of the mansion. He walked through here and entered the exquisitely decorated entrance hall. He passed through here and went through the doors leading to the spacious cellar, where the business takes place. It was quite a contrast, comparing the cellar to the rest of the grand house. It was cold, damp and dull, despite the outside heat, only containing of a central sitting area, with 3 rooms leading off to different places, one of them being Ramon's office.

He reached the bottom of the staircase when he saw the Ramon's office door open, and Hector walked out. Jack felt his body tense immediately, he struggled to appear relaxed, like he usually was around Hector, but allowed him to register surprise on his face.

"Home early?" He asked, innocently.

"Yes, a surprise for Claudia." He replied smiling. He headed over to where Jack stood rooted on the spot, and pulled him into an embrace. He looked Jack up and down with a concerned look drew across his face.

"What happened to you Jack, stitched on your face, and a busted arm?"

Jack tried to brush off his concern, but then realised that the whole car thing would be okay seen as Hector was here, as he would vouch for Jack, his good, good friend, and prevent Ramon from hurting him further.

"Oh its nothing, I'm fine. Was late the other day so Ramon had some people come see me." He shrugged as he explained what happened.

"He did this?" Hector asked angrily. Jack saw his opportunity and decided to turn it into his advantage.

"Well this is the least of my concerns."

"What do you mean?" Enquired Hector.

"Well I borrowed a car from Ramon last night without telling him, and I doubt he will be pleased when I return the keys."

Hector thought for a moment then responded, "Give me the keys, I'll fix it for you, don't worry about it, relax." He patted Jack on the back as he said this, he had obviously missed Jack while he was away.

"Thanks" Said Jack, handing him the keys.

"Tell him what?" Asked Ramon, standing in the doorway whilst wiping some blood from his hand onto his trousers. Hector came forward and handed his brother the keys.

"Jack borrowed a car yesterday to go to the hospital." He held out the keys fearlessly.

Ramon ignored his younger brothers words, his mind seemingly somewhere else. He eyed Jack arm and asked;

"I did that to you?"

"Yeah." Jack replied evenly.

"Will this effect your work?"

"I doubt it."

"Good. Tell you what. Iv got a test for you, target practise, with your broken arm. You do okay and I'll forget about all of this." Jack wondered if this was a trick. He looked to Hector who nodded to him.

"Sure."

"Good, come with me." Ramon instructed.

Jack followed him through to his office where a man sat in a chair with a broken nose. A trickle of blood ran from it down his chin. Lais was sat opposite him, pointing a gun at him.

"Get up." Ramon instructed. Immediately the man complied.

Jack noticed he had tears in his eyes, he was scared out of his mind. Ramon walked over to the back exit and opened the door, it revealed miles of barren land the Salazars had not yet built on. It reminded Jack of the desert. The man looked confused as did Lais, but Jack was pretty sure of what was going to happen.

Ramon turned to Jack and asked, "Are you armed?"

"No." He replied.

"Lais give him your gun." Lais complied and Jack took the piece from him, cocking it and taking off the safety, he knew what he would have to do.

"So this is what's going to happen, Seth. In a few minutes I will allow you to go free. Just go out of that door and run like your life depends on it. Because it does." He broke off to laugh at this remark. "Jack, I need proof that you can still aim and shoot with that cast. You got one shot, to kill Seth here.

You know what will happen if you miss." Jack nodded, he knew.

He then turned all of his attention to Seth; "He misses and you live. He hits, and well, you die. So I'd advise you to get the hell out of here."

With that Seth began running as fast as his legs would carry him. Jack moved over to the doorway, Ramon and Lais at either side of him. He steadied his breathing down to a steady rhythm and watched as the figure moved further away. He raised his cast arm clutching the gun tightly, resting atop this other arm for support. He held his breath in, lined up his target, pulled the trigger.

The next few seconds seemed like the longest of Jack's life, until the figure fell to the floor, apparently dead. Jack put the gun down and smiled with relief.

"Good work Jack." Congratulated Ramon.

"Sure. Was that his drive, the Range Rover by the barn?"

"Yes it was..... and incase you fancy taking another road trip... here." He laughed as he tossed Jack what looked like the keys to the dead mans ride.

"Thanks."

"Don't worry about it Jack, Ill have Dante get some fake plates for it."

"Great." Jack replied, thinking about how much easier it would be to contact CTU, he could just drive somewhere and find a phone.

"Well, your not working today so go home and rest. Take it easy."

"Sure." Jack replied, again whilst heading towards the door, happy that he and Ramon were back to normal again. As he left the room he saw Hector waiting for him.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, fine. You wanna go get a drink?"

"Can't, I'm taking Claudia out for dinner later, don't want to be drunk and ruin it, want it to be a nice surprise for her."

"Oh, right." He paused a moment, before replying, "Well I'm gonna get some more sleep. Do me a favour, tell Claudia thanks, for last night, she fixed me up some." He explained.

"Ill tell her." Replied Hector.

Jack began walking back to his home smiling to himself, he had straightened everything out, and Claudia would now know that Jack knew Hector was home, so she wouldn't worry. Also, it proved his theory that Hector, the fool, trusted Jack with his fiancee.

Review! Hope to write more soon..... I'll try to at least!