Five minutes, ten… she had no idea how long she had been crying on Jack's chest but she raised her head as she heard the distinct sound of a chopper. She rushed to her feet and ran out of the cabin with the blanket. On the doorstep she started waving the blanket like a flag, trying to signal the chopper to land.

The light from the chopper blinded her for a moment and was directed just in front of the feet and descended as if the pilot had found something he had been looking for.

When the chopper was safely on the ground she ran over to it and for the first time saw that the chopper belonged to CTU.

"Thank you, Tony" she said softly because she knew it was him who had sent her that chopper, who else knew?

"What's going on?" asked the pilot.

"There's an agent down, I need your help" she told him and tried to keep a calm, steady voice but no matter how much effort she put into it her fear of loosing Jack shone through.

"What's his condition?" asked another man coming out of the chopper with a medical bag.

"Unconscius, his hearbeat is faint and his breathing shallow. I have tried to give him adrenaline but there is no response. I even injected it directly into his heart." She sounded professional but she felt as far from it as possible. A professional would have been able to help Jack.

"Ok, stay back, we'll take care of it."

It turned out that there had been four men in the chopper; two agents and two medical personel. They even had a crash cart with them. Tony had seriously taken repercussions… or had he known that something like this would happen?

It pained Teri to be placed on the sideline but she was forced to stay out of their way as they tried to revive him so she was left outside the cabin with another agent. She leaned up against the wall and looked up at the sky.

"It's going to be ok" said the agent as fumbly as a baby taking its first steps. It was clear that the man hadn't been in this type of situation before.

She smiled at him but it wasn't the confident, almost arrogant smile she gave suspects and terrorists nor was a compassionate smile. It was the type of smile a widow offered the condolences at her husband's funeral.

But Jack wasn't her husband… but her feelings for him were still strong. She was completely dependant on him. She, who had trusted and relied on no one but herself was depending on someone so strong as she was depending on Jack. The mere thought would have sounded absurd to her a year ago.

As she sat down on the hood of Jack's car she thought back on the time they had spent together and no matter how much she twisted and turned her mind she could not understand when and how he had gotten this strange power over her.

First she had been captivated by the air of confidence he had displayed, he had been almost fearless and even though his life had been threatened in so many ways on that assignment he had never shown any sign of fear or doubt and he had done his job thouroughly and flawlessly.

A month later she had been transferred to CTU and had been partnered up with him, something he hadn't been all too happy with but somewhere down the line they had grown to respect and care about each other.

Was the feelings they had for each other of sexual nature? She couldn't respond to that because she had never really thought about it. Of course it was fun to image certain things but the question hadn't really come up since their first case together. Until now.

Standing out in the cold with nothing else to do than send silent prayers that he would make it and think about what her true feelings really were for him.

She loved him, she really did. If he died she was sure she would quit her job because she wouldn't loose another friend.

No, Jack wasn't a friend. He wasn't just a friend, he was a friend, he was someone who understood her and came through for her no matter what the odds or the consequence, he was someone she could turn to with any given problem. He was her life so he couldn't die, he just couldn't. If he died she would have no life anymore, she would just exist.

It seemed like a lifetime before they finally put him into the chopper and with a little whimper she made to follow but was pushed back.

"I'm sorry, agent Lancaster, there's no room in the chopper."

Now she was getting desperate. "You can't shut me out." She pressed her palms to her forehead. "You can't." She started crying in despair. "He needs me, I can't turn my back on him."

"There's nothing more you can do for him now" the agent said.

She stared at him with pleading eyes. "Then please tell me how he's doing."

The agent chewed the inside of his cheek. He wasn't sure if he should tell her anything because she looked like she could fall apart any minute. But he also knew that she needed the information. "It's critical (a gasp escaped her as he said this) but he's stabile. If we can get him to a hospital in time he might have a chance but we have to go now."

She ran over to the car as the chopper took off.

"Yeah, got it" said Tony into the phone before he hung up.

"What is it?" asked Michelle when she saw Tony's exasperated expression.

Tony cast a glance at Kim, he didn't want her to hear this, before he lowered his voice to his wife. "Jack's taken an overdose, they're flying him to Mercy hospital as we speak."

She stared at him. "You're joking."

"I wish I were. I knew we shouldn't have taken his addiction likely. I just knew it!" He slammed the desk with his flat hand.

Several pairs of eyes fell on him.

"Back to work" he muttered to them.

Most people returned to their own thoughts and cases after Tony's tiny anger tantrum but there were still a pair of eyes that watched him like a Doberman Pincher, ready to sniff out any kind of trouble and perhaps report it to Crawford.

"Jack's condition is stabile but critical. But the medical personel said that because of the cold up there the process had been slowed down, there's a slight chance they'll actually manage to keep him alive but they need to get his body temperature up in order to manage that."

"Cloe's staring" warned Michelle.

"Let her stare. We can't look through the fingers at this anymore, I'm afraid he'll loose his job after this." He released a deep sigh because he didn't want to make troubles for Jack, not after all the effort the man had put into keeping him out of jail after what happened with Saunders and the Cordilla virus.

"Just do the right thing" whispered Michelle. "It's not my place to rat him out, I'm not the one handling this. Do what you think is right, whatever that may be."

"You don't think I should, do you?"

"It's not my call. All I am saying is that if he pulls through and you decide to sing out about his problem CTU will loose a good agent. Perhaps two."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it; if Jack is fired someone else will walk in protest and I think you know who I mean."

"Teri."

"Perhaps you should think about all the options. Personally I would probably have suggested that he would be forced to retire long ago, for his own good but now I don't think that's a good idea because Teri will leave as well. I know her, she gets what she wants no matter what's in her way."