Teri looked at the GPS monitor and saw the little blip on the screen that told her exactly where her partner was at the moment, or rather where his car was parked. She smiled at her own cleverness and the fact that now she had him in sight.

Then another thought struck her; what if he knew that she had placed a bug in his car, what if he knew and had ditched the car and taken another one so that he couldn't be traced?

She had no other choice but to follow the one lead that she had and hope for the best.

Right now she had two great worries; one was that she had no idea where she was going because she had never been in these parts before, the second was that darkness was falling fast and she had a in-built fear of driving in the dark because the very same thing had claimed her mother's life when she was no more than nine years old. One unfocused moment was all it took.

Well, she had three counting Jack's position and condition.

For a while she just followed the blip on the screen blindly and ignored everything else but as she was slowly running out of gas and heading into unfamiliar territory she saw no other choice but to stop at a gas station for a refill and directions.

She stopped at what looked more like a condemned hut rather than a gas station, with two shabby looking guys by a pickup following her every move.

Teri was no fool, she was never scared of people but she had a almost scary knack of knowing what was going to happen before it did, she also knew what people were planning just by looking at them. It was only ice cold people who gave nothing away she couldn't predict the actions of, people like Jack Bauer.

She knew the two guys were up to no good and so she locked the car down. The equipment in the car was worth far more than she earned a whole year.

The manager looked up as she stepped into the gas station. "Good evening, ma'am" said the man.

"Good evening, sir" she replied in pure British. Why the hell she had decided to speak British only her subconscious could tell but she had started the game she might as well continue. "I'm afraid I'm a bit lost. I have to continue up that road" She pointed. "But I have no idea what's up there."

"Snow" replied the man dully.

She elevated an eyebrow. Snow in these parts? "Snow?"

"Snow, animals, mountain, nature, cabins."

She nodded. "I see." But why the hell would he have ran away to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and more importantly; what was he running from?

"That's a GMC, isn't it?"

She turned and looked out the filthy windows at her car. "Yes."

"Yukon XL, right?"

"Right."

"You should put some chains on those wheels."

"I think I'll be just fine." She turned her back on him and got the things she thought she might need before she returned and paid for that and the gas before she went back outside.

There she found the two men ogling her car. "May I help your gentlemen?"

"Quite a car you've got there" said one of them.

Jeez, hadn't these guys seen a car like that before or what? "Thank you" she replied as she silently thanked higher forces for black windows. If these guys had seen the state of the art computer in her car they would have stolen it before she had the ability to blink.

They stepped away from the car. "Have a nice drive, lady."

She just smiled in turn before she unlocked the car and got in. Now she knew what the two men wanted and it almost turned her stomach.

Teri was what one could call a petite woman and between jobs when she was herself she could seem as a easy target but looks could be deceiving. Thank God, she thought.

Apparently the two men thought that she was just another tourist who no one would miss, a small woman they could easily overpower and have their way with. Oh, how very wrong they were.

Teri was a professional and the fact that people thought her to be harmless only proved how well she did her job but she was a well trained CTU agent who could easily kill another person if she felt forced to do so, she could also easily immobilize others at close hand without using any type of weapon but her own body.

But the two men didn't know that.

She would let them be if they let her be. But judging by what she saw in their eyes, the unmistakable hunger, she knew that they would be back. Yeah, they would be back on a deserted road where there were no witnesses.

Of course she could have flashed her badge and told them to bugger off but that was never her style, she hardly ever brought her badge with her anyway. She could have flashed her gun and told them to leave her be but she saw that as a sign of weakness in a woman, to have to rely on a gun to make people leave her alone. Besides, her gun was in the car.

She got in and turned the key in the ignition. She was well away from the gas station before she turned the monitor back on.

Jack sat down on a gravestone but he couldn't feel himself doing so, something that oddly enough didn't surprise him. He had felt less and less over the years so that he couldn't feel the cold stone against his butt or the soft rain against his face didn't bother him.

"Tell me what you feel for her, Jack."

"What difference does it make?"

"All the difference in the world. Is it really that difficult to say that you care about her?"

Care about her? Care about her? It was so much deeper than care. "What if I do? What if I don't?"

"If you do, why haven't you shown her? If you don't, why have you taken advantage of her?"

"I'm not taking advantage of her" he muttered dully.

"You keep saying that but you have given little or no proof of your feelings for her."

He jumped to his feet. "You want proof? You want to know what I feel for her?" She had pushed him a bit too far. "I love her! yeah, you heard right; I love her! I can't go a day without seeing her face, looking into those green eyes. I feel frustrated if I have to go one day without her. I need her, I'm addicted to her, I'm fascinated by her. That's your God damn truth!"

"At least now you told the truth." She seemed indifferent and that pissed him off even more but kept a calm exterior. "Why do you love her?"

He wanted to tell her to drop dead but kept himself from it. "Why I love her?"

"Yes, you can't just say that you love someone without giving a reason."

"I love her because I have never seen anyone like her, she is so tough but yet so fragile, so emotional." He smiled as he thought about it. It was true what he said. "She is impulsive and… I love her because she's her, is that good enough? It will take too long to list all her qualities."

"You seem in love." She smiled. "I know about your feelings for Teri. I know everything that goes on. I just wanted to hear it from you. It started as a fascination and lead to pretty strong emotions. Why don't you tell her, I'm sure that she will welcome your feelings."

"I think so too, that's the problem."

She frowned. "How is that a problem?"

"Don't you understand? I need her, I can't loose her."

She shook her head and shrugged. "I fail to see the problem."

"If I tell her… she'll be left vulnerable because I love her."

"How?"

"If people find out they can use her to get to me, I can't put her through that."

"Jack…"

"I can't loose her like I lost you, I can't go through that again."

"Jack, living is about taking risks and standing by what you believe in. You can't be afraid of taking chances, if you do you have no idea what you might miss out on."

He shook his head. He couldn't risk her getting hurt, he cared too much about her to risk it. Happiness set aside, he had to look at the whole picture, all the possibilities.

"We're getting to the root of your problem, Jack. Just hang in there and a solution will present itself, you just have to find it."

"If I die, could you make someone tell her what I feel about her?"

"Why does it always take extreme situations to open your eyes? With a little effort you'll soon be able to tell her that yourself. She's on her way."

Teri yawned and blinked hard to stay awake. She had been wrong and the gas station manager had been right regarding the snow. But it wasn't enough with snow on the ground, it was slapping against the windshield like window washers in the Bronx. With the darkness and the snow it was hard for her to stay awake.

She turned on the radio for help to stay awake but only hard rock and some real loud crap screamed back at her so she switched it off and while she did so she took her eyes off the road for s split second. But a split second is often all it takes, as it did now.

Suddenly she slammed into something and the car spun out of control. With some effort she managed to regain control of the car, only to get stuck in the snow on the side of the road.