Disclaimer: still not mine, although am now planning to steal it, bit by bit. Starting with Jack.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this.

To answer SpyMaster's question, this is set before the end of series two. Jack and Maria are still together.

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"There doesn't appear to be any sign of a struggle or any blood or anything. She probably just abandoned the car," Danny said.

Viv was confused. "What the hell is going on? First she leaves the kids alone in a motel and then she dumps her car. We gotta talk to Jack. Ask him if he knows why she was checking into a motel."

"Jack knows how things work. If he knew anything that we needed to know, he would tell us. Right?"

"We've been putting off talking to Jack because he's our friend. But remember what Van Doren said. For the moment, Jack is not an FBI agent. He's just another guy whose wife has gone missing. And she also said that if personal feelings get in the way, we're off the case. We can't do that to Jack."

"So we gotta question him."

"Yeah."

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Viv and Danny had made their way back to the office, where Samantha and Martin were waiting for them.

Viv glanced over to Jack's office where he stood looking out of the window. He didn't appear to be looking at anything, just sort of staring. It broke Viv's heart. She and Jack had been friends for a long time. She hated seeing him so lost.

"You find out anything at Jack's building?" she asked Samantha.

"Yeah. A couple of the neighbours reported hearing Jack and Maria arguing last night. They heard yelling and shouting and screaming but none of them could make out what they were saying. One of them also said that Maria was in the building just after 8 this morning. She ran out yelling 'Get back here Jack' and various profanities. She got outside, jumped into her car and drove off at speed."

"Why the hell didn't he tell us? Danny go and get him out here."

Danny went and got Jack. When Jack reached them, they could all tell that he had been crying, but they ignored it. In their heads, they all reminded themselves that they had to remain objective.

"Jack, sit down."

Jack sat down at the table and Viv took the seat opposite him.

"What is it? Have you found something?"

"Samantha talked to your neighbours. Some of them reported that they heard you and Maria arguing last night. We need you to tell us what about."

"It was nothing. Marital stuff."

"Jack, you gotta tell us."

"I said it was nothing."

"You can't keep anything back. If that argument had anything to do with Maria's disappearance, then you have to tell us."

"It was nothing."

"If you don't tell us, then we have to report to Van Doren and tell her that you aren't being straight forward with us and the investigation is reassigned. I know you don't want that, so why don't you forget that we are your friends and tell us what the hell you were arguing about!"

Jack was silent for a moment. She was right. If they had to be objective then so did he. He had to tell them.

"I told her that I had had an affair, that I had been unfaithful. I had a relationship with another woman and I fell in love with her. It's over now and I was committed to Maria. But that wasn't good enough for her so she left. She took the girls and she left me."

"Did you try to stop her?"

"Of course I did."

"Did you hit her?"

"What?"

"She had a black eye when she checked into the motel. Did you do it?"
"Of course not. How can you even ask me that?"

"I've seen you lose your temper before. I saw you throwing stuff at the guy from OPR. Your wife leaving with your kids is gonna make you pretty pissed off."

"I would never hit her."

"Why didn't you tell us that she came back this morning?"

"Because she didn't."

"Someone saw her leave your apartment a little after 8, shouting after you."

"I haven't seen her since she left last night. Whoever said I have is mistaken. Any more questions or can I go back to my office?"

"Did you tell her who the other woman was?"

"Yes."

"We need to know. Maria may have gone to have it out with her."

"She hasn't. I would know if she had."

"Jack."

"I said she hasn't. I'll tell you if I need to, but right now, I don't think it's important that you know."

Jack stood up and left the table, storming back to his office. The other agents stood shocked.

"Jack had an affair?" Martin said.

"Apparently so," said Danny.

"And Maria knows," said Sam. "Viv, do you really think he hit her?"

"I don't know," said Viv. "We need to know who the other woman was. The most likely thing at the moment is that Maria has gone to confront her."

"How do we get it out of him though?" asked Danny.

"I've got no idea. It's pretty obvious that he doesn't want us all to know. He doesn't want us to think any less of him. Maybe we could get him to call her and tell her to go somewhere safe until we…"

She was cut off by the sound of glass smashing behind them. They turned around to see what had happened. The usually cool and collected Jack, the boss they turned to, to keep his head in a crisis, had thrown a chair through his glass office door and was now sitting on the floor crying.

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A/N I actually started work on this before the end of series two was shown over here in sunny old England, so I didn't know that Jack and Maria split up and that Martin found out about Jack and Sam and Viv knew already knew about it. However in this, nobody knows. Well, now they do, but you know what I mean!