FBI Headquarters
18 hours missing

Jack stretched hearing, rather than feeling, his back crack - the perils of leaning over a table for too long. Standing up to loosen his stiff muscles, he looked over at Sam. Her focus was completely on the task at hand, in this instance on the files they were going through. Her hair was straying out of its ponytail and falling across her face. At that moment he wanted nothing more than just to reach across and tuck it behind her ear. Under other circumstances he might have done - maybe if this was a late night session with just the two of them, not when Danny was sitting across the table observing everything with that sharp mind of his. Jack really didn't know whether Danny knew about the relationship he and Sam had engaged in. He was sure however, that he didn't want him to find anything worthy of comment. Not when he was meeting with his lawyer tomorrow to draw up preliminary divorce papers. Tearing his eyes away from Sam he checked his watch.

"Anybody hungry?" Jack asked. "I'm going to make a trip to the machine." Danny looked up from the file he'd been staring at, wishing he'd suggested that himself, anything to get him away from these damn papers for five minutes. They needed Martin on this. All the numbers were driving him crazy.

"Sure Jack, sandwich would be good," he replied. Jack nodded turning to Sam who was yet to acknowledge that anybody had spoken. Sam could feel Jack's eyes boring into the top of her head, making it impossible to do what she'd intended and that was simply to finish the sentence she was on. It was hard enough to understand what these files meant anyway without uncomfortable interruptions.

"I'll have a sandwich and some coffee if you're going." She didn't look up. She didn't want to. It would mean meeting Danny's inquisitive glance and Jack's questioning eyes. If she did that she'd never get any work done today. Jack nodded again, even though he knew Sam couldn't see him, and fishing for the change in his pocket headed out to the machine. On his way he had to pass Martin who was still going over the footage from yesterday, even fast forwarding through parts wasn't making the job any easier. Worse still it didn't exactly captivate his mind, allowing him even more time to think about the only thing that had been on his mind recently, the only person. He needed to let it go. He needed to at least try and get over her. Wallowing in self pity, holding out for a day that would never come was no way to live. Jack knocked on the plate glass door jolting Martin from his thoughts.

"You want anything from the machine?" he asked, jingling the change in his hand.

"Yeah, I'll have whatever," Martin replied distractedly. Jack frowned, surely what Martin was watching couldn't be that interesting. Out of habit, he still thought of Martin as his rookie agent, Jack stepped further into the room. Looking over Martin's shoulder Jack looked at the TV screen, nothing interesting just their missing person walking down the corridor towards the elevator. Suddenly Jack's eyes narrowed as he saw the person who'd just come on screen, running after their guy. It was Colin Masters.

FBI Headquarters
18 hours missing

Vivian sat nervously outside Van Doren's office. She'd been sitting here for nearly an hour. Surely Van Doren knew that she couldn't afford to wait, that she had a case to work and a unit to run. She'd been going to help Jack, Sam and Danny go through the files but Van Doren had called her up here. As everybody knows when the boss calls you run. Vivian checked her watch again for what felt like the umpteenth time, she was not normally an impatient person but this waiting was getting to her. This had to be about that airplane incident. She should have known that there would have been an inquiry. When the people higher up had checked their reports and seen that it had been Samantha that had saved the day and not her, they would have wondered why. What was she going to tell Van Doren? At that moment, the senior agent walked into the waiting room outside her office, spotting Vivian instantly.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Agent Johnson, I was longer than expected," Van Doren apologised showing Vivian into her office. Vivian nodded. She wanted to say that the she didn't have the time to wait around whilst the boss finished eating lunch, but instead she remained silent. Van Doren motioned for Vivian to sit down in the chair across from her. Viv wanted to decline and say that she'd been sitting down for long enough, but down she sat.

"Now I'm sure you know what this is about," Van Doren began. She was sorry to have to be the one to break it to her, as much as she liked and respected Jack, Vivian was a much better unit head in the fact that she didn't go looking for trouble the way her predecessor did. However, her superiors must have their reasons and it wasn't for her to fathom quite what those reasons were. They'd been trying to years to get rid of Jack. This had been their chance and they'd given it away. Viv took a deep breath, ready to defend herself and her actions.

"I'm very sorry Agent Johnson, it's been decided that Agent Malone's job will be returned to him. Apparently the paperwork for your current promotion has yet to be processed, therefore the decision had not been finalised. However, it will be noted on your record that you led the unit in two cases, very capably I might add. I'm sure that there will be another position available very soon, in which case naturally you will be the first choice." Vivian felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. 'They're taking my job away from me,' she thought. She could feel the anger welling up inside her at the unfairness and unjustness of this. It wasn't her fault that Jack's wife had kicked him out, yet she was being punished for it. This had been her chance, her chance to stay doing what she loved, working missing persons and be a unit chief. Despite what Van Doren said she was never going to get another chance, not like this anyway. Gone were the thoughts that she wasn't up to the job, gone were the worries and insecurities. In its place was a flash of cold fury and bitterness, the strength of which she didn't know she'd had in her to feel. "Are you all right with this, Agent Johnson?" Van Doren checked. She'd just watched an immense variety of emotions cross Vivian's habitually impassive face, all had been expected but none exactly welcomed. Part of Van Doren pitied Jack for the storm that was about to fall on him, the other part of her felt glad that he was going to get part of what he deserved.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," Vivian managed to reply, choking down her anger for the moment. If she was going to yell at somebody, it was going to be someone that deserved it. That someone was going to be Jack.