FBI Headquarters

24 hours missing

"I told you already I don't know where he is," Tom Douglas claimed. Sam arched her eyebrow in disbelief while Danny paced round Tom Douglas, fixing him with a steely eyed stare.

"If you don't know where he is why were you running and why did you pretend you had a bomb?" Sam asked as Danny moved over to her side of the table, leaning over it so his face was inches away from Tom Douglas's.

"Because if your innocent, where's the logic in that?" Danny questioned, Tom Douglas shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his eyes flickering from one agent to the other.

"I want a lawyer," Tom Douglas gulped. Sam and Danny exchanged a glance.

"Oh you want a lawyer now do you? He wants a lawyer." Danny turned back to Sam "It's nine PM Tom. Have you got a lawyer on retainer?"

"It's not a difficult question Mr Douglas. You answer it now maybe we can cut a deal. You make us wait, you'll be lucky if you ever see the light of day again. Now where is Alec Parker?" Sam slammed her hands flat onto the table and stared unmercifully at Tom Douglas. He closed his eyes in defeat.

"He's in a warehouse I own in the Bronx."

"Thanks," Danny thanked him verbally, his eyes telling him in no uncertain terms that he didn't mean it.

W Van Buren Street
24 hours missing

Nervously Jack knocked on the door of what would have been his new house. All day long he'd been dreading this moment, the moment he'd have to face up to reality and the fact that he was out of his daughter's lives. Sure Maria said that they still needed a father, but how when they lived in two different cities miles apart. He had to try and do something though; he'd been thinking about it all day. He hadn't been thinking clearly at three in the morning when he'd asked for an appointment with Van Doren. He hadn't been thinking clearly when he had asked to remain in New York and work missing persons again. He hadn't been thinking clearly about the situation. Maria's shock announcement the night before and sent him reeling because it was so unexpected. He'd tried so hard; he'd thought it had been working. Why did she want to call it a day now, rather than a year ago when things were so much worse? It just didn't make any sense. Maria opening the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Jack," she greeted her tone virtually unreadable. That one word though sounded to Jack so angry and bitter, like she was forcing herself to be civil.

"Hey," he replied stepping into the house and looking round. Maria had found the house during a visit out here. They had been going to stay in one of her firm's apartments until they found something. He'd not seen the house, not being that interested where they would live. He'd not even seen a realtor's brochure. The house was very nice, he could tell that even though boxes and mess were everywhere. "House looks good, you always did have great taste," Jack commented, following Maria into the living room.

"One of us had to Jack," Maria retorted meeting Jack's eyes for the first time. 'They were sad eyes', Jack thought, 'and they showed a lot of pain, pain that undoubtedly he'd caused.' He felt so bad about it all. He'd let her down. He'd broken his marriage vows, and he regretted it. That had been over with two years ago though. He'd made his apologies and reparations. He'd thought that she'd forgiven him for that. Was this what this was about? What was this about?

"How are the girls?" Jack asked, postponing the moment and the inevitable confrontation that asking why would bring.

"They're ok, they're a little confused as to why you didn't come with us," Maria told him. "I told them that you had to finish your case. I thought it would be best if we told them the truth together." Jack nodded, part of him could see the sense in that, the other part raged at the fact that it would now make him look like the bad guy. He'd been expecting this though. He'd known that was what she would do.

"What are we going to tell them? That we're getting a divorce?" Jack queried. Maria remained silent. Jack took that as an invitation to continue. "Are we getting a divorce? I don't understand why this is happening now. I thought things were working between us. I'll do anything Maria, anything. I just want to keep this family together." Jack hadn't planned on saying that, on begging her to take him back. If she said yes then he was screwed, the FBI did not appreciate being messed about, he'd lose his job. However, that wasn't the only thing he'd lose, he'd lose Sam. He could tell by her reaction to his return that she still cared, he was messing with her emotions too and that wasn't fair. Deep down he knew it wasn't fair on him, the love had gone out of his marriage a long time ago. Now he no longer loved Maria as his wife but as the mother of his children. Intellectually he knew that he should be pleased that Maria had called an end to the farce, he just didn't know if he could cope with the loss of his daughters.

"Don't try and put this on me, Jack. You say you'll do anything, that you want this family to stay together. You don't Jack because if you did it wouldn't have come to this," Maria told him, her tone slightly angry. She couldn't believe Jack's audacity. How could he claim not to understand?

"I do want that," Jack stated his voice getting louder in anger. "I've done everything I possibly could to keep this working. I even said I'd move here. It's you who didn't want that." Maria stood up, her eyes flashing with anger.

"How dare you! You were the one who had an affair, not me. You were never there and . ."

"Stop it! Stop it!" Hanna yelled, standing in the doorway. "I hate it when you argue." Jack looked at Hanna and suddenly it all became clear to him. He'd thought that he was doing the best for his daughters, he thought that they needed both parents. They did need both parents, just not ones that argued all the time.

"Hanna, sweetheart." Jack stepped forward, he needed to explain. He needed to make her understand. Hanna glared at him and ran away. Jack could hear her running footsteps up the stairs and then the slam of her bedroom door.

"Now look what you did," Maria accused walking towards the door. Jack felt the anger surge inside him, what he did! Jack reached out and grabbed Maria's arm, firmly enough to prevent her from leaving but not hard enough to hurt.

"No I'll go to her," Jack said firmly, moving in front of her and over to the door. Maria opened her mouth to object but decided that it was useless, once Jack had made up his mind about something there was normally no stopping him. Carefully Jack made his way up the stairs, he looked at the four doors off the landing. They were all identical. Jack opened the one closest to him, it was the guest room. He then tried the next door, it opened and Jack could see a crying, tear-stained Kate sitting on her bed. "Kate honey." Jack moved over and sat down next to her. He put his arm around her and a moment later Kate was sitting on his lap crying on his shoulder. Jack wasn't sure how long he sat there holding Kate for, murmuring reassurances but after a while he heard a door open on the landing and Hanna came into the room. She too had been crying as her face was tear-stained. However, she was still wearing a defiant, angry expression. "Hanna . . ."Jack began, he didn't know what to say but he had to say something.

"You had an affair." Hanna cut him off now looking at him in disgust, "You know, mom's right about you. You really are a bastard. I hate you!" Before Jack could work out a reply Hanna stormed out of the room again leaving him speechless. Kate squirmed on his lap until she could look up at him. Jack glanced down at his youngest daughter, before pulling her closer to him. As he heard her earnest words, a breath caught in his throat. She laid her head back on his chest.

"I don't hate you, dad," she whispered softly.

A/N: I just want to thank Cynically Optimistic for being a source of inspiration for this Maria part, it was hell to write. I also want to thank her for betaing and helping me rejig the last sentance so that it worked better. Half this chapter is down to her help. Cheers. Anyway hope you enjoyed, only one more chapter left of this one.