Part XI

Chapter 1

He was wobbly as he walked into his townhouse although he insisted to Kim and Chase that he was all right, and the doctor had given the okay for him to live alone. He'd been discharged from the hospital that morning after his long stay, and he would have to adjust to several things: his new feelings about himself, and his life-long need for medication and therapy. Neither would be easy.

Discharging Jack from the hospital, letting him live on his own was a calculated risk, but it was necessary in the doctor's view for Jack to feel that he belonged in society, that he wasn't a killer but a worthwhile human being. As a feeling of well-being slowly returned and he became more comfortable with himself and confident in his survival,that he indeed deserved to survive, the doctor hoped that he would come to grips with his past actions, not only the things that he had done, but in the good that they had meant to so many.

Jack understood and was coming to accept that he was clinically depressed and always would need treatment for it, and while a part of him resisted the diagnosis that he had a mental illness, for such a thing was anathema to him, his intellect told him that resistance was absurd. He knew that he had experienced the worst of it and he never wanted to return to the point that drastic treatment might be necessary, so he accepted the need for medication and therapy. His reluctance was natural, Dr. Logan told him; there would have been something seriously wrong if he liked the idea. He stuck to his medication regimen with his usual discipline and went to his therapy sessions with the same resolve, and he felt that he was making progress. That made the whole thing easier to accept.

That didn't mean that the issues he wrestled with were any easier. He still couldn't justify many of his actions, although to the 'real world' they never would be. But in the world he lived in, that rarified world, they couldn't be condemned, not really.

He had spent exhausting days before his discharge from the hospital reliving horrors with Dr. Logan, and he continued to confront these once he went home: the deaths of Nina, Chappelle, a myriad of others, how he would have put Jane Saunders in the hotel, how he had been capable of it, how he hated himself for it, yet it was that which had made Stephen crumble, and while millions had been saved because of it he was a stone-cold murderer for it; only because Saunders had a vulnerability had Jack been saved from that particular horror. Had the situation been reversed, he knew, he could not have sacrificed Kim, so he knew it was not that he was stronger, he was just luckier. That did not make him a better man, it just meant that he had been acting on the side of the angels that day. That day. Perhaps not another day. There but for the Grace of God.

But when he shot Nina? He hadn't had to kill her. Yes, she was going for her gun, but he could have kicked it away from her, or at least disabled her, shot her in the arm, or the stomach, the leg, the chest. He didn't have to kill her. He hated her, she deserved to die, but it hadn't been his right to kill her. Not as judge, jury and executioner. Only a born killer could think, act that way, and that was precisely what he had done, so he was a born killer. Ipso facto. There was no other way to look at it, or him. He was convinced of it, and Dr. Logan couldn't get him to let go of that feeling.

As awful as these things were they had paled in comparison to his murder of Craigen, at least according to his subconscious, so that was what triggered his breakdown, and dealing with that, albeit by the necessity of shock treatments, had loosed his introspection and thus his ability to confront these things with his psychiatrist. They couldn't be tackled at once, of course, there were too many, and they were too complex; the medications and frequent sessions (they had been increased to three a week) were keeping him from back-sliding into the depression that had almost meant the end of his life as a functioning, reacting, real human being. Without help, Jack was still a man on the edge, but he was getting the help he needed, without protest, for instead of enemies fighting to destroy his country, he was fighting the enemies within.

Chapter 2

Most difficult, of course, most incomprehensible, was the death of Chappelle. Was it murder? No one could answer that, for no one else had ever faced such a thing. Chappelle had been an innocent, yet he had submitted to his death, in the line of duty. Palmer had sanctioned it, but he had put the burden of it on Jack by telling him to do it, but not only that, more horrific, he had told Jack to do it if Jack couldn't think of another way, putting the horrible onus on Jack. A terrible, unbearable, unforgivable burden, a coward's way out, yet Jack had done his duty as a lesser man could not, and it was Jack who suffered for it. Palmer had passed the unspeakable to Jack.

Even Dr. Logan couldn't help Jack to make peace with it, for Logan himself could not. No one familiar with the files of CTU agents, as the doctor was, had ever seen a situation like it, where such a nightmare was put upon an agent, and Logan picked up on how Palmer had 'passed the buck,' had 'chickened out,' had ducked his ultimate responsibility as President of the United States. But Jack came to recognize that the man he idealized, respected, esteemed so highly, had betrayed him. It was a punch in the gut to him.

With the help of the doctor Jack came to accept a basic truth about himself: for all his extraordinary accomplishments, for all he had done to serve his country, to save it, he had failures, of the kind that would always haunt him and torment him, but he was overcoming them, and he deserved to, for he was a human being, a man, nor a superman, and he all his adult life he had made super-human demands on himself. Not just because others did; he hadn't had to accept them, he had borne them willingly, perhaps gratefully, and they had almost destroyed him.

This was a flaw he had to continue to examine, and he came to believe that, of all things, it might represent a lack of self-confidence, a need to prove himself to himself. It was an entirely new concept for him, something that threw him, but he was able to handle it for he was developing a mental health that had eluded him, and a self-confidence that he had lacked. The irony did not escape him, and he resolved to focus on it, for he believed it was key to understanding why he had acted as he had, why he had undertaken his assigned missions, accepted the failures and gone on to tackle more, realizing that he always had to prove himself, mostly, overwhelmingly, to prove himself. Not to others. To him. To Jack Bauer.

His greatest pain was his personal failure, his loss of Teri and their child, and nothing would ever make that go away. He would always consider it a failure, despite saving Palmer that day, and nothing could change that. What he could do, and he saw this for the first time, was to learn to live with it. That was his goal, and he began to believe it was attainable.

So as the days went by he was increasingly able to function on his own, despite Kim's misgivings, and the doctor had thought it vital to Jack's recovery, for it helped his feeling that he could be a man fit to live in society instead of a killer who belonged in a prison, locked up and kept from other people, which the hospital began to represent to him.

As he went about the daily events of living, the chores and tasks, laundry and trips to the supermarket, cleaning and fixing a leaky faucet, eventually going for walks and then to the gym Jack began to feel stronger, his physical health returning, and then his feeling of mental strength and well-being. He started to feel that he belonged with people, that he was no longer a threat to them, and he slowly healed.

He saw Kim and Chase frequently, first with quiet lunches with Kim, then going to their house for barbecues and swims in their pool, enjoying again his grandchildren and great-grandchild, and ultimately feeling restored to life. As Dr. Logan had told him his medications were occasionally adjusted, sometimes some substituted for others, more likely a dosage kicked slightly up or down so that he maintained an even keel, the depression kept mostly at bay, and with the frequent sessions he continued to unburden himself and come to grips with his past, his need for self-validation, his need to come to grips with his failures, the loss of Teri and their unborn child. He was clearly on the way to health, better than he'd ever been since he was a kid, before he'd opted for the life of a man devoted to his country.

Chapter 3

For the first time since his breakdown he didn't dream of the horrors of war and guilt and death. With medication and therapy he was able to return to his past, not the part that caused so much pain, but the part that had also given him the only pleasure he'd ever known. Returning to mental health and being with Kim meant that Teri again returned to his mind. His dreams brought him back to when he'd really, truly fallen in love.

The first night without thrashing and waking up bathed in sweat he dreamed of another time, when he'd been young and innocent, on the cusp of adulthood, when the life that lay ahead was devoid of horror and pain. As embarrassed as he'd been at the time, it was a wonderful dream.

He'd gotten a toothbrush the morning after that incident with the buttered popcorn, and he realized that he had never before thought that something so simple could bring him such pleasure. He contentedly brushed and brushed, finally feeling that he had cleaned his mouth to the degree he liked. He called Teri after that and apologized fervently. She told him that there was no problem, that she understood, that she was glad he was feeling better. He asked if they could try again that night, but she declined, explaining that she had a presentation the following day, but she asked if they could meet for coffee that afternoon. His relief was palpable, and she heard it in his voice.

"That'd be great," he said. "I'll meet you at the Union." The student union was where they usually met, and when it was possible they would spend hours talking, their earlier reticence long past. "I'll see you at two."

She sounded pleased as they said good-bye, and Jack realized that, miraculously, she seemed as interested in him as he was in her. He let himself hope that they had a future together. He'd never known he could want something so much.

Chapter 4

On their next date, after the debacle of the toothbrush, which he never told her about even after they were married, Jack kissed her, far more deeply and passionately than he had ever imagined for a 'first' kiss. Teri had responded as eagerly, pleased that he had finally made the move, still wondering why he had waited so long, even more pleased with how fervent the kiss was.

Finally disentangling themselves from their tight embrace Jack held Teri, her head on his shoulder, and he spoke to her in a low voice, telling her how important she was to him, how much he wanted and needed to be with her, how he hoped they had a future together. His words surprised him. He hadn't expected to say them to her then, that soon, although he had thought them for a long time. She, too, felt that way, although she hadn't expected him to open up like this, at least not yet.

She was caught off guard. As they sat in silence, Jack waited anxiously to hear Teri respond, while Teri tried to frame her own words. Finally, she spoke. "Jack, I've never felt this way before, but I've always hoped to feel like this. When I first saw you I...I..." Her voice trailed off, and she seemed to gather her thoughts. She began again. "That night, I thought you looked very sweet. Embarrassed, like a little boy." She felt, saw, Jack stiffen in the dim light. "I'm not trying to insult you. I thought you looked very much like someone I'd like to get to know. Sensitive, understanding. Not like the others. You looked like you didn't want to be there. You didn't want me to see you like that. You looked like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I thought it was so sweet. I liked you for that very much."

Jack let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The idea that she thought he was a little boy – oh, God, he wanted her to think he was a man, a grown, sexy man. He didn't want a mother, he wanted a girlfriend, a lover – he wanted her. She'd just kissed him like a lover.

Teri felt his hand loosen on her shoulder, and she recognized that she had hurt him deeply. She desperately wanted to take back her words. She didn't know how to make it right.

"Jack, I...please don't misunderstand. When I said that you looked like a boy...I...I meant that you looked adorable. That you seemed so sweet. Not that you seemed childish, that's not what I meant. Believe me, I think you're one of the most attractive boys I've ever seen."

Again, he thought. A boy. Not a man. She can't call me a man. He'd never been so hurt, so disappointed, so devastated. They clearly had no future together. He'd made a fool of himself when he'd spoken to her earlier. She was laughing at him.

"That all right, Teri," he said, not wanting to let the hurt show in his voice. "I understand." He reached for the door handle, until she put a hand on his arm.

"Jack, please, let me try to explain. I've hurt you, and that's the last thing I want. I love you."

Chapter 5

He still couldn't get past the hurt, the 'little boy.' He knew that she was only trying to salve his wounds. She didn't love him the way he needed her to. His first feeling was right. They didn't have a future.

After another moment had passed he got out. He silently opened her door and walked her to her dorm. He kissed her on the cheek and said a soft 'good night' before he walked back to the car. He didn't bother to wipe the tears from his eyes as he drove away.

So she thought he was sensitive, he remembered as he lay in his bed afterward. What difference did it make? Sweet. Like a little boy who eats brownies with milk. He couldn't stop the tears, he didn't even try.

Chapter 6

He didn't want to take Teri's call the next day, but he couldn't stop himself when his roommate told him who was on the phone. He tried to keep his voice neutral, not to let the hurt come through, for he realized that he would sound like the little boy she had accused him of being. His thoughts during the sleepless night had shown him that much, at least. He dreaded the call he so desperately wanted, yet was so terribly convinced would come. When it did, he wanted nothing more than for it to be over.

"Jack," she said tentatively, "can you meet me at the Union? Can we meet for coffee? I need to see you. I want to talk to you. I can't believe what I said last night. Please? Will you meet me there?"

He hesitated, because he really didn't think he had the strength to put himself through this. "Okay," he said, unwillingly reluctant, meaning to sound stoic. He didn't want to sound at all emotional. He didn't even want to see her at all.

"An hour?" she asked. "Can you meet me in an hour?"

"Okay," he answered, again sounding reluctant, and it came through to her loud and clear. He couldn't say any more.

"Good," she said, trying not to let her relief come through. She knew this would be difficult, and for some reason she didn't want Jack to know what she was going to say until she saw him. She was more confused than she'd ever been, and scared. She didn't want to lose him.

Chapter 7

Jack didn't feel it when he cut his chin as he shaved, and only the drops of blood on his shirt made him realize it. "Dammit!" he said as he pulled the shirt off and put a piece of toilet paper on his face to stop the bleeding before he put on another shirt, this one with buttons. "Great, just great," he muttered to himself.

He pulled on his old jeans and slipped his feet into loafers without socks and headed for the door before he remembered to pull the paper off his chin. As he reached for his keys he decided he'd rather walk across campus. Instead of driving to the Union he'd have time to think.

He knew what Teri would say. She'd apologize for hurting his feelings, as gently as she could, he was sure of it. She was 'sensitive,' too, she hadn't intended to make him feel miserable, he knew that. She just wasn't like that, she'd never deliberately hurt anyone, especially a child, and that's what she thought he was. He was totally devastated, and it was more than ego. He was in love with her, and he'd hoped for a life with her. He'd opened up to her, told her how he felt, and she'd called him a little boy.

Jack paused before he got to the Union. He didn't want to go inside. He couldn't face the conversation he knew was coming. It wouldn't be a conversation, really, it would be an apology by Teri, an expression of remorse that she had hurt him, that she hadn't meant to, that she had enjoyed their dates, but that she just didn't feel 'that way' about him. He knew that was what she would say because she was a good person; she would never want to hurt anyone, would never have deliberately hurt him.

As he walked down the stairs to the basement café Jack tried to tell himself that it didn't matter, that this was a 'first love,' that there was another woman out there for him. He stopped on the steps when he realized that he always thought of Teri as a woman. She's a woman, he thought. I've always thought of her as a woman, I'd never think of her as a girl. She's a mature woman. Why does she call me a boy? I don't understand it, he puzzled to himself as he started to move again. I think she's 'sweet,' but I don't picture her with pigtails or playing in a sandbox. I think she's a smart, sexy woman. But she doesn't see me as a man, in any sense. Not just a boy, she thinks I'm a fool.

He hesitated before he opened the door to the coffee house. He wondered if Teri would be sitting at their usual table, in a quiet part of the café where they'd found privacy and a good place to talk, or if she'd chosen one in a more central part of the room where they'd both be sure to keep their talk more impersonal, briefer, a polite good-bye. He thought it would be the latter.

So he was mildly surprised to see Teri in their customary corner, looking down into her coffee cup, seemingly lost in thought. He thought at first it was a pose, and he realized he was bitter. How had his feelings changed so suddenly, so abruptly? He loved this woman. How could he now feel so detached from her?

She looked up as he approached her, and the seriousness on her face was matched by the look on his own. He was determined not to look grim, but he couldn't keep his voice flat, as he had hoped.

"Hi, Teri," he said, trying to sound casual, and knowing he had failed. There was no way he could be unemotional with this woman. No way.

"Hi, Jack," she responded, trying to put a small smile on her face, but that was impossible. She saw the straightness of Jack's lips and the pain in his eyes, which she knew she had caused. "Can we talk?"

"I don't know what there is to talk about, Teri," he said stiffly, standing over her. He didn't bother getting coffee, or even sitting down. This was up to her. He had nothing to say.

"Jack, I'm so sorry about last night. All the things I said...they all came out wrong. I didn't mean that you're a little boy...you're not a boy...you're a man...a wonderful man. A man I've fallen in love with. Oh, Jack, I love you so much. The last thing on earth I want to do is hurt you." Tears were pouring down her cheeks.

"Teri..." he began. The words just came out. "I want to be the man in your life. I love you." He swallowed hard. He couldn't believe how he'd opened himself to her again, how he'd made himself so vulnerable again. But he didn't seem to be able to help it. That was the effect she had on him.

"I love you, too. Oh, Jack, I want to be with you. I want to be the woman in your life, I don't want to be with anyone else. You have wonderful qualities, boyish qualities that make you so tender, so...such a joy to be with, but they don't mean you're not a man. They make you more of a man, because you're not afraid of them. You don't have to go around wearing your testosterone like a badge, waving your virility. You're the sexiest man I've ever known, Jack, and I want you. I want to be with you. I want to love you, and I want you to love me, to make love to me. Please, Jack, be the man in my life, and let me be the woman in yours." Teri was crying now, and Jack was, too.

Without thinking Jack had protectively crossed his arms in front of him and now he unfolded them and gently put his hands under Teri's elbows so he could lift her from her chair. He pulled her to him, holding her tightly against his chest. "I love you, too," he murmured into her hair as he kissed her gently on her head. "I love you so very much. So much, Teri."

They stood that way for a long time, Teri's tears soaking Jack's shirt while Jack's tears wet her hair. Finally they pulled away and smiled at each other. "Let's go," he said. "Let's just go."

Chapter 8

Their sexual relationship progressed swiftly once they started. Either at his dorm room or hers, depending on whose roommate was out, they went from passionate kisses to touching, to removing each other's clothes with increasing confidence. They had reached this place before, but Jack had always held back, although he'd known Teri had wanted more. It wasn't that he was teasing her, he just didn't want to push her, he needed to know that this was what she really wanted, for she'd never had a man before, and he didn't want her to regret it, although he finally knew that she loved him. But this time they reached the ultimate excitement, and Teri told Jack with her head thrown back as he explored her that she was ready.

He felt her tense, heard her moan, and he knew that she wanted this, she wanted him. The pressure of his thumb made her gasp, and she held his hand there, not wanting him to stop, but wanting him, him, inside her.

Jack moaned with frustration, realizing that he hadn't brought a condom, the old feeling that somehow it would be disrespectful having continued with each girl after Sandra. "All the drugstores are closed," he groaned. "And the first time isn't really safe, is it?" He was hoping what her answer would be, but he knew the truth. Even for a virgin there was a chance of pregnancy, and it was something they both knew they couldn't face.

"No, it's not," Teri moaned, just as frustrated as Jack. She couldn't believe he wasn't prepared. "Oh, God, Jack, there must be someplace else." She squirmed, maneuvering to move his fingers in deeper, thrusting against them, wanting him, inside instead, imagining what it would feel like. She needed him, and it surprised her. She masturbated after their times together, and she'd come, but she knew it would be different with him moving inside her. And she wanted it so much.

Jack's mind was too fevered to think clearly, but it finally penetrated that there was a convenience store only a mile or so from the dorm. He struggled to sit up and started to pull on his jeans. He didn't even bother with his underwear. He had trouble closing his pants, though, his protuberance making them tighter than usual, and he winced when the zipper caught the hairs around it. "Dammit!" he said, but Teri didn't notice. She just hoped Jack would hurry. She had seen how big he was, and she only wanted him in her, to fill her, to stay in her.

"I'll be right back," he said, kissing her head. "Don't move."

He was gone only a few seconds before he returned, sheepishly grabbing his keys from the floor. He left without a word and Teri huddled under the blanket. She didn't want to lose the mood, although she doubted she could. Jack had gotten her so aroused that she knew that if they didn't go ahead, if they didn't finally do this, she'd go crazy. The feeling continued until Jack opened the door mere minutes later.

"I'm back, Babe," he said unnecessarily, getting tangled in the jeans he tried to strip off before he kicked off his sneakers. When he extricated himself he slipped under the covers, hoping that the several condoms he'd bought wasn't being presumptuous at the same time he hoped they wouldn't be enough.

He touched her again, seeing that she was still ready for him, and her moan just spurred him on. He fumbled with the wrapper despite his prior experience with the things, and he hoped Teri wouldn't change her mind. If she does, he thought, I'll die.

But she didn't. As he rolled on the condom she guided him to her. He slid inside gently and she gasped and gave a little cry as entered her, but soon her sounds matched his. Gently Jack lifted her hips and guided her into a rhythm so they moved together, she welcoming, he going deeper, deeper, but afraid of going too deep the first time, not wanting to hurt her, knowing she was unused to this. But the joy of being with her, in her, took over him, and he was thrusting into the woman he loved, reveling in her love for him. After a short time he came, his back arching, tears filling his eyes, but he knew she hadn't come. As he pulled out he put his hand on her, gently asking if he'd hurt her.

So he touched her again, until she cried out again, but this time with joy, and feeling she'd never been able to bring herself to. She knew another man, a different man, could never have pleased her like this, and she was glad she had waited. She also knew she wanted it again and again.

He felt her relax in his arms, she began to doze. "Oh, Jack," she told him sleepily. "We have the rest of our lives."

Chapter 9

Jack was pleased that the condoms he had bought had not been enough for the week-end. They had learned so much about each other in that time that they had barely come up for air. On Sunday afternoon Jack made another run to the convenience store, confident that Teri would still be there when he got back. He left to get more, and he was eager to use as many of them as possible.

His stomach dropped when he got back to the dorm hallway and found that the sock was no longer on Teri's doorknob. He felt physically ill as he realized that her roommate was back. Sht! he thought. Sht! Sht! Sht!

Decorum required him to knock on the door, and when Gail, Teri's roommate, opened it she gave him a knowing smile. "Teri's in the shower," she said, sounding gleeful, for she knew what she had interrupted. "You can wait here if you want, Jack. I have a feeling she won't be long."

Jack sat on the tangled sheets on Teri's bed, imagining that he could still feel the heat they had so recently generated, and he was running his hand along the pillow when Teri came back in, wearing a robe, a towel covering her wet hair. "Sorry, Jack," she said softly as she sat next to him. "I didn't think she'd be back until tonight."

Jack couldn't think of anything to say. They were both disappointed and they both knew it. Jack's roommate was also in the dorm, studying for a test, so his room wasn't an option. Reluctantly Jack stood up. "C'mere, Babe," he said, pulling her to him. With their arms around each other he whispered, "Do you know if she'll be out at all this week? Cliff has a paper due Thursday, so I doubt he'll be going anywhere."

"I think she'll be here, too," Teri whispered back, the disappointment evident in her soft voice. "But I don't want to wait."

"Neither do I, Baby, believe me. I don't think I can. But I don't know what else we can do."

"Sorry to interrupt," Gail said, not sounding in the least sorry. "But I have a lot of studying to do and an early class tomorrow, and I didn't get much sleep this week-end. Couldn't be in my own bed, you know? So I have to break this up."

"C'mon, Jack, I'll walk you out," Teri said. His arm around her, Jack and Teri left the room.

Chapter 10

When Jack was thinking straight, no longer driven by his hormones, he remembered what Teri had said: that they might have the rest of their lives together. He recalled their weekend with amazement and delight, not only because of the physical experience they'd had, but even more importantly for the growing emotional bond they both felt. He knew, despite his youth, that it could never be stronger with anyone else. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and he was certain now that she felt the same way. But he also knew, instinctively, that they were too young to make a permanent commitment. Besides, neither of them wanted that yet. He knew where he wanted to go with Teri, but he still wanted the experience of getting to know her better, so he'd know how to please her, not just sexually but emotionally. That was the most important thing in his life.

They saw each other whenever they could, for early breakfasts, coffee between classes, in either dorm room when it was available, for sex but also just to enjoy the growing feeling between them. Both were certain that the other was the soulmate for whom they'd always yearned. That brought more wonder and delight than they'd ever dreamed of.

As time passed, their feeling grew that they wanted to commit to each other. Their emotional bond had matured and their need for each other became certain. Jack proudly brought Teri to his parents' home, and they were delighted to see how happy she made their son. Mark and Linda Bauer genuinely liked Teri. They were impressed with her presence, her sense of humor, her wit, the way she held herself, and most importantly the way she reacted to Jack. They knew that she was good for him, and while they were concerned that Teri and Jack were very young, too young, perhaps, to be planning a life together, they believed that Jack was mature enough, and wise enough to make his own decisions, and to know his own heart.

Chapter 11

Teri's parents weren't so welcoming. Teri's father, Bill Wilkerson, barely acknowledged him when Teri introduced Jack. Her mother, Gloria, was only slightly more welcoming. Jack tried his best to make conversation with Bill, but the man barely responded. Teri looked dismayed and excused herself, saying she would help her mother in the kitchen.

"Mom," she asked her mother, "what's going on? Why is Dad treating Jack like this? He sounds like he's mad at him. Why? Why is he mad at him?"

"He's not mad at Jack, Teri," her mother answered. "He just doesn't think this Jack is good enough for you, and frankly, neither do I. He's a literature major, for God's sake. What kind of future does he have? Where do you find boys like this? Why can't you find an engineer like your father? Or a doctor, like your brothers want to be? Like I am? What's Jack going to be? You said he doesn't even want to be a teacher. What kind of life can he give you?"

"Mom, that's ridiculous. Jack is a good man, and we'll have a great life together. I love him! Doesn't that matter to you and Dad? Don't you care about that?"

"Of course we care, Teri! That's why we're so disappointed. We want you to have a good life, Sweetheart. You're our baby. That's why we care so much. Find someone else, Teri. Someone who can take care of you, provide for you. Not this Jack. Find someone else."

Teri couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her parents had never seemed materialistic to her. Why couldn't they see Jack for who he was, a good, wonderful, caring, responsible man, who loved her? Who she loved? Why did all these unimportant things seem to matter to them?

"I can't believe what I'm hearing. You can't mean this, Mom. You and Dad...you've never said this before. You don't even know Jack. He makes me so happy. We're in love. Don't you care about that? Doesn't that matter to you?" She was crying.

"Teri, of course we care about that. All we want is for you to be happy, Darling. We'll have dinner now, and we'll talk about it later. Stay here tonight, and we'll talk, after Jack leaves. Bring in the salad now, please." She walked into the dining room.

Jack stood as he saw Teri walk in from the kitchen. It was obvious that she had been crying. "Teri..." he started.

"Let's eat," Dr. Wilkerson said. "Jack, Bill, please sit down."

Jack silently took his seat across from Teri, while her parents sat at the ends of the table. Teri looked abjectly miserable and Jack knew he was the cause. He could only imagine what her mother had said to her.

The meal passed in silence and Jack felt increasingly uncomfortable. Mr. Wilkerson did everything he could to ignore Jack, going so far as to ask Teri to pass him food that was in front of Jack, and that required her to reach across the table to get it when it would have been easier to simply ask Jack to give it to him. It reached the point of absurdity when Dr. Wilkerson poured coffee and gave a cup to Jack to give to Teri's father, who refused to take it from him and instead insisted that his cup be given to Teri to be passed to him from her side of the table.

Teri pushed back her chair so hard it toppled and she ran from the dining room in tears, and with a glare from Jack at Wilkerson he followed her to the front porch and took her in his arms, trying to console her, to control her heaving sobs.

"It's okay, Baby," he soothed softly. "They'll come around. You'll see. I think they're just upset because no one's good enough for their little girl. A lot of father's – parents – feel that way. Don't cry. It's kind of funny, in a way," Jack told her, although the last thing he wanted to do was laugh. He was hurt to the quick. He'd never been so insulted, but he didn't want to add to Teri's pain. "They'll come around. Don't cry, Sweetheart. Come back inside. I don't want them to think I've upset you. That won't help things." Jack knew that he wasn't the one who'd upset Teri, but he knew the Wilkersons would blame him. No matter what Jack did, Teri's parents would blame him, but he didn't want to give them more ammunition. That would only make things harder for Teri, and he'd face them, no matter what. Jack loved her, and nothing her father or mother did or said could change that. Nothing. But she shook her head adamantly and clung to him, sobbing her heart out.

After a while Jack went inside to tell her parents that he was going to take her back to her dorm. Mr. Wilkerson exploded. "You're not taking her anywhere. She's staying here, where she belongs. This is her home. You're the one who's leaving, and you're leaving now. If you ever go near her again I'm calling the police. I mean it, Bauer. Stay away from my daughter!"

Jack was stunned and after a moment started to protest, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. He was sure Teri would say that she wanted to go back to her dorm, but he also knew that her father was adamant and determined to keep her home, and Jack didn't know if Teri was strong enough to fight him. They might have to just meet at the Union for coffee, and Jack knew that it wouldn't be enough for either of them. They were way past that in their relationship. They were committed to each other. And while Jack was sure of Teri's love, he wasn't sure of her strength.

Chapter 12

Days went by and Jack couldn't get in touch with Teri. Her roommate, Gail, said Teri hadn't returned to the dorm, and Jack knew he couldn't call her house. Those were the days before cellphones and beepers, and Jack didn't know when Dr. or Mr. Wilkerson would be at home. Jack tried to go to the Student Union when he knew Teri didn't have class, when they usually met for coffee, but still he didn't see Teri. He was frantic. Was she ill? Had her parents made her drop out of school? Transfer somewhere else? He had to reach her somehow.

Gail agreed to call Teri that Wednesday. Teri told her, in a soft voice, that her parents wouldn't let her live on campus, but would let her return to class the following Monday after insisting that she skip school that week, and only after extracting a promise that she'd never see or even speak to Jack again. She asked Gail, in a very soft voice, to tell Jack that she would meet him at their usual place and time for coffee at the Student Union on Monday. She sounded worried when she said it, Gail told Jack, almost afraid. Gail didn't know if Teri would be able to keep their 'date.'

Jack spent the rest of the week worrying. Was Teri that afraid of her father? Was he threatening her? Jack couldn't imagine Wilkerson hurting her. If he was, Jack would kill him. He didn't even have to think about it. He just knew it. He'd never let anyone hurt Teri.

The week was occupied with classes, and although Jack was somewhat distracted by lectures and his job, even that hadn't completely taken his mind off Teri. But after his homework assignments were out of the way, all he had was time to worry. What if she didn't have the strength to stand up to her parents? What if he lost her?

His fraternity brothers knew he was a basket case, although they didn't know the details, and on the weekend they insisted he go out drinking with them. A few beers in his harried state made him drunker than they ordinarily would have been, and by Sunday night he was totally sick to his stomach, more from fear than from alcohol. Monday morning the headache almost incapacitated him. Tomato juice and four aspirin made getting out of bed barely doable. But he wouldn't miss his meeting, his date with Teri for the world.

He realized he couldn't skip his classes, for he wouldn't be able to just wait with nothing to do, but he absorbed absolutely nothing from his lectures, and he almost blew up the chemistry lab through his inattention. By 2 p.m., when he headed for the Union, he could barely put one foot ahead of the other, but he made it somehow. His fear that she wouldn't be there was paralyzing, but he had to see. He had never been so afraid, but he had never needed anything so badly.

There she was, pale, thinner, sitting over a Coke instead of her usual coffee, early, obviously having skipped her last class, staring at the door, waiting for him.

She was in his arms before either of them knew it, oblivious to everyone else there, and she was sobbing, almost hysterical as he held her more tightly than he ever had and started to cry himself. "Teri, Teri," he said into her hair, "Baby, we'll work it out. I'll never give you up. You're my life, my future. I love you more than anything. To hell with them, Baby. Marry me. I'll always take care of you, I swear. Marry me."

She pulled away and looked at him, and he tenderly wiped her tear-stained face. "Oh, Jack, I want to marry you, but we can't. Not yet. We can't live like this. I hate it, but they're right. We can't live like this, we don't have the money unless we drop out of school and we both know that'd be wrong. Oh, Jack, what'll we do?" Her voice was only a whisper, and the most heartbreaking sound Jack had ever heard. He knew she was right, but it sounded like the death knell of their future. If they didn't commit to each other now, make a permanent commitment, the wedge her parents were trying to drive between them would widen until Jack and Teri couldn't bridge it, he was sure of it. He didn't know why, he knew Teri loved him as much as he loved her, but he was filled with fear.

Chapter 13

Teri surreptitiously dropped her Thursday evening course and Gail helped them out, giving them time to themselves in their dorm room. Jack and Teri spent most of the time in her narrow bed, desperate for each other, knowing their time together was limited, precious. But when they were sated, exhausted, sure they had pleased each other, they held together tightly and talked quietly, fearful that her parents would somehow learn of the deception and force her to transfer to an out-of-state school or otherwise come up with something to make sure they were apart.

Things changed abruptly when Teri walked into the Union one Monday, very pale and obviously tearful. Jack stood and went to her as she approached their table, grasping her hands. "What's wrong, Baby? Tell me."

"Oh, Jack," she said, going into his arms. "I'm late. I'm two weeks late, Jack."

Jack drew in his breath sharply, his thoughts racing. "It's okay, Baby. In fact, it's more than okay." He was murmuring into her hair, kissing the top of her head, scared and overjoyed at the same time. They would be together. Teri's parents would be furious, but there was nothing they could do. If Teri was pregnant they could be married. They would have their life, their future together. It would be rough, it would be tough, but they would manage. It wasn't how Jack had hoped it would work out, but if this was how it was meant to be, then so be it.

"Did you take a test, Baby? Is it too soon?"

She almost collapsed in his arms.

"Teri, what's wrong?"

"I thought...I thought you'd be mad. I thought you'd be...I thought...I don't know what I thought."

"I don't understand," Jack said. "You thought what? Why would I be mad?"

"I thought," she began again. "I thought that you'd..." She wasn't making sense and she knew it, so she stopped talking.

Jack got her into a chair and looked at her closely. "Teri, tell me what you're thinking. Why would I be mad?" He was clearly upset.

She was silent. Then she spoke haltingly. "I thought you'd question it. Why wasn't I more careful. How could I let this happen. That you wouldn't want this. That you'd..." Her voice trailed off.

"Teri, what?" He had to know what she was thinking.

"That you'd...that you wouldn't want anything to do with me. That you'd be overwhelmed, would realize that this is impossible. We can't do this, Jack. We're too young. We can't have a baby now, not without giving up everything we want, everything we want to do with our lives. I thought...I thought you'd feel that way, too."

He was stunned. It had never occurred to him, would never have occurred to him. That he wouldn't stand by her, wouldn't be there for her?

"Teri, I..." He swallowed hard. "Is this what you think? That I wouldn't be here for you? With you? I can't believe it. I love you. You know I love you. What are you saying?"

"Oh, Jack, I don't know what I'm saying. I'm...I'm...I don't know what I'm saying. I'm afraid, Jack. I'm just afraid."

"This is crazy. Don't be afraid, Teri. Don't ever be. Of course I'm always going to be with you, here for you, no matter what. Teri, I can't believe this, I can't believe you're thinking this. I love you, and I always will, no matter what. We'll work this out. You're pregnant, you may be pregnant, and we're talking about something idiotic. What's important is that you're having a baby, we're having a baby, and we're going to get married. The most important thing is that we love each other."

"I'll always be here, Sweetheart. I'd never leave you, I'll never leave you. We're going to be together forever. That's what we want, isn't it? To be together? Isn't that what we've been saying? So why are we talking about something stupid? Let's talk about something real. We're having a baby, Teri." He broke into the biggest smile of his life. He was terrified, but happier than he'd ever been. They'd always be together. He'd always be with the woman he loved. There wasn't a damn thing her parents could do about it.

"Teri, do your folks know?" he asked, sure of the answer. He knew she wouldn't be there, sitting with him, if they knew. His father would have shot him by now if she'd told him. He'd have to lie low as it was, at least until after they were married. Surely he wouldn't want to make his only daughter a widow.

"Of course not, Jack. My father'd kill me. Or you. Probably you, and they'd send me away, and make me give the baby up for adoption." He knew Teri's parents didn't believe in abortion. But they couldn't control things once he and Teri were married.

"The important thing is to set the date, Sweetheart. I want to let my folks know. I'd like them to be there, I'm sure they'll be happy for us, supportive. Is that okay? Will that upset you, if your parents aren't there? 'Cause if it will, my folks will understand. They're like that. But we have to get married soon. Before your parents can find out."

Teri broke into wails. Jack said, "Teri, what is it? Did I say something? Is it your parents? Teri, talk to me. What is it?"

She couldn't talk right away. After deep gulps of air she finally managed to get words out. "It's because we have to get married, Jack. We have to. Not because we want to, not yet, not because we've decided to now, but because we have to. My God, how could this have happened? How could I have let this happen?"

Her sobs were wracking her body, and Jack could barely hold her in his arms. "Teri," he said softly, "it wasn't something you let happen. We always used protection, but obviously it failed. It wasn't your fault, it wasn't my fault. We didn't plan this, it just happened. The only thing that matters is that we love each other. Teri, we talked about getting married, we decided to get married and have kids. It's just earlier than we planned. We'll work it out, Sweetheart. Lots of couples go through school with kids. We'll be able to do it, too. We'll do it together, Baby. Together we can do this."

His voice and his words soothed her a little, but she was still visibly upset. "But how will we live, Jack? You can't drop out of school. What will we live on?"

"I'll get another job, Ter. I have enough free time. Besides, we won't have to take time for coffee during the day, and I can work on Thursday nights now." He said this with a smile.

Despite herself Teri smiled. "If you're sure..." she said, her voice drifting off. "And of course I think your parents should be there. They're wonderful. I just wish my parents were like that." Her voice was so wistful, so hurt, that Jack's heart hurt for her.

Chapter 14

Jack awoke with a start, and as he headed for the door he slowly realized that the knocking must have been going on for some time. He looked out the peephole and saw a strange woman standing there, and his thoughts immediately turned to Laura Gaines. This woman appeared to be about the same age.

He called to the woman that he'd just be a minute and retrieved his gun from the drawer in the nearby desk before he checked the chain on the door and opened the door slightly. "May I help you?" he asked politely, but he was holding the gun in the hand she couldn't see.

"Mr. Bauer?" she asked. "I'm Lucy Gannett. I'm a friend of Kim's. May I come in?"

Jack had never heard the name, but he immediately saw that Lori Gannett and Laura Gaines shared the same initials.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Gannett. Kim never mentioned you. What is this about?" He didn't open the door any wider.

"Kim asked me to check on you. She told me you haven't been feeling well."

Jack knew something was up. Not only hadn't he heard of Lucy Gannett, but he knew that Kim would never ask anyone to 'check' on him. No, something was wrong here. He'd already removed the safety on his weapon; now he surreptitiously and he hoped quietly loaded one in the 'pipe.'

"Ms. Gannett, thanks but no thanks. I'm fine, and I don't need 'checking up on.' I'm busy, and I'll tell Kim you stopped by. I'm sorry you made the trip for nothing, but if you'll excuse me now I have work to do."

He started to close the door, but before he could a man Jack hadn't seen forced his way into the house and punched Jack in the face. Unconsciousness followed.

Chapter 15

When he came to he was trussed up on the cold concrete floor, his head splitting, his new heart pounding, sweat pouring down his face. His first thought was, 'Sh!t, I'm too old for this.'

Again, there was a woman standing over him, and again, it was Laura Gaines. "My, my, Mr. Bauer," she said sarcastically. "You do insist on making this difficult."

"What the hell do you want, Ms. Gaines? I don't know anything about money. I told you that." As angry as he was, he was even more weary. Deja vu was not his favorite feeling.

"I don't believe you, Jack. Just tell me where the money is and this'll all be over, and I won't bother you again. So make it easy on yourself and give it up. That's all I want. Unless you enjoy pain. And I'm running out of patience."

"How much more plainly can I say this? I don't know anything about the damn money. Whatever financial dealings your father had, I was only involved with the assassination attempt on Palmer, not what your father was being paid to arrange it. I'm not the person to ask."

Another woman walked in. Lucy Gannett. Laura said, "This is my sister, Jack, Lucy. Gaines, of course, not Gannett, but I think you figured that out. My twin. And she wants the money as badly as I do. So cut the crap and we'll let you go."

Jack lost it. "What the fck will it take to convince you? If you look at the way I'm living, how I've lived all these years, does it look like I've got money stashed away? I'm living on a pension, for God's sake. Does my house look like a mansion?"

"You're a very careful man, Jack. You wouldn't spend the money openly, a lot at a time. You may have squirreled it away to leave for your daughter. We sent you a cashmere sweater, with a toxin on it to knock you out so we wouldn't have to grab you in the open, but you had it dry-cleaned before you wore it. That meant we had to send men to kidnap you. You're very cautious. You hid the money, and we want it. It's as simple as that."

Jack was taken aback. His instincts had been right; there had been a problem with the sweater, but he had disregarded his gut feeling, hadn't taken the sweater to CTU for testing, for analysis. Had he found out about the toxin they'd have given him protection, maybe prevented everything that had happened to him, maybe even found Laura Gaines and her sister.

Jack cursed silently. To Laura he said, "What do I have to do to convince you I don't have any of this fcking money?

Chapter 16

They left him then, still tied up, and his old joints protested continuously. His body had been through so much that even a new heart couldn't heal all of the wounds and insults it had taken over the years. But he forced his mind to focus on the problem beyond the immediate one of escape, which currently seemed impossible: trying to figure out whether Ira Gaines had, in fact, secreted money that his daughters were now so intent on getting. There was another question after that one to answer, too: why would they think that he knew where the money was?

Instead of solving the problems, though, fatigue took over and he fell asleep, his age and weakened physical condition making him unable to fight off the exhaustion his physical circumstances were costing him. He fought to stay awake, not wanting to miss any chance to get away, but it was a losing battle. Age won out, and as his sleep deepened Jack began again to dream.

Chapter 17

While Jack's parents weren't exactly overjoyed by the news, not that Jack expected them to be, for he realized that he and Teri were young, younger than he'd wanted to undertake parenthood, Janet and Mark Bauer supported their son completely. This was something that Jack had known they would do.

The test confirmed Teri's pregnancy, and the visit to the doctor reassured all the Bauers that things were fine. The baby was due in 7-1/2 months, more than enough time to get ready, and fortuitously would be born right after finals. They would have the entire summer to adjust, and UCLA had childcare for babies two months and older available for students, so Teri and Jack would be able to continue in school.

Jack got a job in construction, hard, outside work that started at 7 in the morning and ended at 3 p.m. so he was able to register for fall semester classes beginning in September that started at 4 in the afternoon with the rest of his credits in the evening. The pay was good, and would be enough to support his family. Teri worried that he wouldn't be able to do both, work and school, but Jack assured her that he would manage. With his determination, he was confident that he could.

Jack's parents offered to help them, but Jack with typical stubbornness and growing maturity declined. He could do this, he would do this, and without their assistance. Not that he resented their offer, not by any means: he was determined to take care of his family, although both he and Teri were immensely grateful that they had the love and support of Colonel and Mrs. Bauer, especially in case anything went wrong.

They were all concerned about Teri's parents. They had done everything to keep Jack and Teri apart, and none of the Bauers believed that the Wilkersons had given up, even without them having an inkling about the baby. Teri and Jack moved in with the Bauers at Janet and Mark's insistence, and although they were all uncomfortable with the feeling that they were somehow deceiving her parents it was deemed necessary for her well-being. Teri couldn't be subjected to her parents' – especially her father's – verbal onslaughts and intimidation. And under the circumstances, she and Jack needed to be together.

In deference to Jack's parents he and Teri offered to sleep in separate rooms, something that bemused Colonel and Mrs. Bauer who apreciated the gesture, imagining Jack creeping around the hallway at night, and being sure to be back in his own bed before dawn. They told them with a smile that, under the circumstances, the young couple could stay together.

Jack and Teri found a small two-bedroom apartment not far from campus, near a bus stop so Jack could get to work and Teri could drive to campus and drop the baby at day care before going to class, and then meet Jack at home so he could go to school. With his dad's help Jack painted the place, doing the nursery in pale yellows, Teri telling him that they could add splashes of blue or pink accents after the baby was born.

The other bright spot was planning the wedding. But it wasn't unremitting joy.

Chapter 18

Teri had refused to communicate with her parents, even, especially, to tell them she was going to have a baby, so they knew nothing of the upcoming nuptials. She cried a lot, partly because of hormonal changes brought on by the pregnancy, but mostly because of her parents' unbelievable attitude. Teri, who truly knew and understood her parents' personalities but who had nevertheless been shocked by their values, refused to have anything to do with them. For their part, Dr. and Mr. Wilkerson harassed Teri's roommate Gail for information about Teri's whereabouts. They went so far as to call the police, but because Teri was an adult, over 18, they refused to get involved.

When the Wilkersons showed up at the Bauers' house Jack opened the door. "Where is she, Bauer?" Mr. Wilkerson demanded, trying to shove him away so he could enter. "Where's Teri?"

Colonel Bauer appeared behind his son. "Who are you?" he asked angrily, although of course he knew who the belligerent man was.

"I'm William Wilkerson," he angrily answered. "Teri's father. The girl your son raped and kidnapped."

Mark Bauer clenched his fist. "Get out of here, Wilkerson. And say anything like that about Jack again and you'll regret it."

"Yeah?" Wilkerson replied. "I want my daughter, or I'm calling the police. And pressing charges against you, too. You're harboring a criminal."

"Get out!" Mark ordered, sounding like the Colonel he was. "Now! Or I'm calling the police myself."

"Bill, this isn't accomplishing anything," Gloria Wilkerson told her husband, tugging on his arm, which he sharply pulled away. Instead, he tried to shove his way past Jack and Mark.

Teri stepped forward. "Dad, stop it. I want you to leave. You and Mom. No one's hurt me, no one's kidnapped me. I'm here because I want to be. The Bauers are wonderful. They're treating me like their daughter, the way you should be. I don't ever want to see you again. So leave, just leave."

Gloria Wilkerson started to go to her daughter, but Jack stepped in front of her. He spoke softly, his voice surprisingly calm. "Please, Dr. Wilkerson, listen to Teri. She's very upset. Give her time. I promise to talk to her. When things calm down maybe she'll change her mind. But you have to give her time. My parents are happy to have her here, she's happy here, and she's welcome to stay as long as she wants. So please, just give her some time."

Instead of placating them this just made Bill Wilkerson madder. He lunged for Jack, and before Mark could react he punched Jack and knocked him to the floor. Instantly, he was on top of him, landing punch after punch. Jack tried to protect himself, but he didn't want to hit Teri's father, so he fought his instinct to fight back. After a few of Wilkerson's blows landed Colonel Bauer was able to pull him off.

"If you don't get out now, I'll have you charged with assault," Mark said. "So unless you want to go to prison you'll leave now." His voice was low and menacing.

Teri was sobbing and Janet Bauer was holding her, trying to calm her. Gloria Wilkerson understood what this was doing to her daughter and she pulled on her husband's arm, telling him that this was hurting Teri, making things worse, that they had to go. Finally, Bill Wilkerson shook off her hand and stood there, glaring at Jack and Mark.

"This isn't over, Bauer. I want my daughter out of here."

He spoke directly to Teri. "You're coming home, Teri. Now."

"No, Dad, I'm not. Look at the way you've acted, what you did to Jack. I never want to see you or Mom again." She was still crying, tears running down her face, inconsolable in Janet's arms, her voice and body shaking.

Bill Wilkerson stood there, still in a rage, but he didn't know what else to do. Even violence hadn't worked. He was at a loss.

"This isn't over," he repeated, and the Bauers and Teri knew he meant it. But he and

Gloria Wilkerson left.

Chapter 19

Teri was inconsolable, and Jack and his parents feared for her as well as the baby. That the Wilkersons could act like that, be so foreign, so alien, to everything she knew was a total shock to her; it was as though she had grown up with strangers, and her identity was shaken. It wasn't changes brought about by the pregnancy, it was a total loss of faith in who she was.

She couldn't go to classes at first, and although Jack wanted to stay home with her she insisted he go. He did stay with her for the first few days despite what she said, his stubbornness kicking in, although Janet was there, too; finally he relented and went back to school, but his concentration was gone. It was her realization that Jack's course work was suffering that helped Teri get her wits about her. She loved him too much to see his future disappear.

"Jack, I'm feeling better," she told him one afternoon when he returned from classes. "I really am. I think I'll go back tomorrow."

He looked at her closely. She was still pale and drawn, and obviously shaky. He correctly perceived why she was telling him this.

"Sweetheart, I think maybe you should give it a few more days. Gail gave you your assignments, and you have your computer programs to keep up with your design work, so why don't you just concentrate on that? I think it'll do you good. You need more rest." She hadn't been sleeping well, which was no surprise.

She dug in her heels. It wouldn't be the first time. She and Jack were well-matched when it came to stubbornness.

"Jack, listen to me. I'm a grown woman who's about to become a mother, and I think I can decide if I can go to school. I'm going back to class tomorrow, so that's it. Your mother's made dinner, and after that I have some assignments to finish, and I'm sure you do, too. So please stop arguing with me, and let's go eat."

Jack knew when to throw in the towel; he was clearly not going to win this one. With an inward sigh he headed for the dining room.

Chapter 20

Jack awoke on the concrete floor but the restraints had been removed, and the only sound seemed to come from the painful stretching of his joints. He was alone, wherever he was. And he seemed free to go.

Nevertheless he was quiet as he carefully pushed himself up on all-fours, finally managing to stand, holding onto the wall for support, and he silently made his way to the door, which to his surprise was unlocked. He looked around carefully at the empty house he had been brought to and made his way towards the front door, peering out the window before he opened the door. To his surprise his car stood at the curb, and when he got into the SUV he saw that the keys were in the ignition. As he pulled the seat belt around him he realized he was wearing the gray sweater.

Chapter 21

Jack wasn't even sure if he should call Tony when he got home, he wasn't sure if he had imagined the whole thing, but the cuts on his wrists from the ropes he'd been tied with told him it had been real. Tony was at the townhouse in minutes together with a protection team from CTU, and with the agents in place Tony took the sweater back with him for analysis. But neither he nor Jack thought it would show anything. It was too late for that.

None of it made sense the men agreed, surely the women hadn't been convinced by anything Jack had said that he had no knowledge of money. Then why had they let him go? They had clearly gone to a lot of effort, taken a lot of risk to abduct him not once but twice, to merely abandon their plan; people had died because of their determination to recover what they were sure was their father's fortune. Letting Jack go just didn't add up. Clearly he was still in danger.

Tony was mad at himself. He had removed Jack's protective detail too early after the first abduction, yet how long could he keep agents in place? His budget was tight, it was always tight, and he had to justify his actions not only financially but in terms of reducing the manpower available for other activities, field operations, essential missions. Jack was his friend, had saved his life more than once and Tony wanted to protect him, but he couldn't keep agents to guard Jack indefinitely. Yet there was no way to know when the danger to Jack had passed, or even if it had.

Jack had refused to call Kim for he knew he would scare the hell out of his daughter if she knew what had happened and there was nothing she could possibly do about it, but he had no qualms about calling Dr. Logan. He went to see him the next day, after spending a restless night. He was clearly agitated, upset, and he was very tired when he drove to Logan's office.

Logan, in turn, was shaken by Jack's experience. He knew it would re-activate the PTSD that Jack was working so hard to deal with, and Dr. Logan wasn't at all certain of the consequences of Jack's struggle to regain his mental health. This might tip the balance against him. The brightest spot was that Jack had immediately called him. The downside, a huge one, was that he hadn't told him on the phone what had happened; if he had, Logan would have insisted on seeing him immediately, might have suggested hospitalization, certainly sedation. He definitely wouldn't have wanted Jack to spend the night alone.

He told all this to Jack; he'd never pulled punches with him. "Jack, why didn't you tell me yesterday what happened? Why did you just ask for an appointment?" The doctor was not only genuinely puzzled; he wanted Jack to seriously consider the answer. It would be significant, for it would say a lot about where Jack's head was.

"I'm...I'm not sure," Jack allowed, answering slowly as he thought it through. "The whole thing seemed so unreal, I wasn't even sure whether it happened until I saw the rope burns. That's when I knew I had to call Tony, 'cause I realized the danger I was in. But I guess I was only thinking of physical danger, not mental. Not until afterwards, and then I don't think I thought that was immediate. I know I'm upset about it, but I don't think I'm in any danger. Not the way you mean, anyway."

The doctor wasn't pleased by Jack's response, for he wanted his patient's mental health to be one of his paramount concerns. He knew it couldn't be his only worry, for he really was in physical danger, and Dr. Logan hadn't realized the imminence of it before, although he knew of the prior abduction, of course; he just thought it was over, a thing of the past. He thought Jack had thought so, too, and he was right.

"Jack, we really have to talk about this, the consequences to you emotionally. You know PTSD is still a factor, a big risk, in fact, and it always will be, it'll never fully go away. Things like this can certainly trigger it. We discussed that even everyday things can cause it to surface, and we weren't even considering something traumatic like being kidnapped. It's important that you tell me how you're feeling."

"I...I'm not sure," Jack admitted. "I know I'm scared, mostly because of the way they let me go. It doesn't make sense, their just giving up like that. I'm sure they didn't just give up. They're sure I know something, but I don't. I don't know anything about Ira Gaines' money. I was never involved in tracing money, 'cause it wasn't a factor, and I don't think anyone at CTU went after it. We knew that the Drazens were behind Teri and Kim's kidnapping because they wanted revenge, and they hired Gaines to grab them. We didn't care how much he was paid, because it just didn't matter, so we never pursued it. We just assumed it was the Drazens."

He paused. "Obviously Gaines' daughters don't believe that, or they wouldn't think that I know something. But even if Drazen was behind the payments – why would they think I had the money, or even knew something about it? It just doen't make sense," he said, shaking his head, finding that it hurt. It must have been because of the way they grabbed me, he thought. It didn't occur to him that they might have aggravated the areas that had been affected by the electro-shock therapy, and he didn't think to mention it to Dr. Logan.

What he said, though, did make some sense to him in a way, and Jack realized what he had to do. If he was to get himself out of this, take himself out of danger, he would have to follow the money. He would have to find out what had happened to it. Only then would he be safe from Laura and Lucy Gaines.

Chapter 22

He didn't remember when he had felt so drained, and after he let himself into the house he grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and headed straight for his recliner. After a deep drink he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, wondering how much more of this he could take. His head was pounding and his body hurt and he was spent, his energy gone. Emotionally he was out of it, he wanted and needed to be out of it, all the mysteries and missions and physical challenges, and he knew he didn't have the strength for more. But they wouldn't leave him alone. They just wouldn't let him be.

As he drank more water he tried to will himself to sleep, to dream of Teri, of the past when things had been good, or at least had turned out that way when he was young, when they were innocent, hopeful, didn't yet know how life could turn on them. But this time sleep wouldn't come. He sat in the fading daylight and wondered how he could face re-opening an investigation that had been closed so many years before, re-open the case that had been the most painful time of his life.

Chapter 23

Tony wasn't entirely surprised by Jack's call the next morning. He'd been thinking along the same lines, that they had to trace the money that Gaines had been paid if they were ever going to eliminate the danger Jack was in. So a visitor's badge was waiting for Jack when he got to CTU.

It had been quite awhile since he'd been there, more than just a few years, so all the faces were new to him, but everyone at CTU knew Jack. Knew of him, more precisely, for Jack was legion, not only among the younger agents but to the entire American people for all that he had done, at least the missions that had been made public, and those had stunned and amazed everyone. Most of the field operatives at CTU idolized him. A few, a very few privately doubted whether all of the reports of his derring-do could possibly be true; had they known that not only were they all real but that there were still others, some even more amazing, of which they'd never heard, they'd have been even more awe-struck than the already true believers.

Jack, of course, had never thought himself to be anyone special; to the contrary, as he was beginning to understand with the help of Dr. Logan, he had always felt he had to prove himself. Anyone else learning of this would have thought it was an incredibly bad joke.

CTU itself had gone through another make-over since Jack had last been there but the general lay-out was still the same, so Jack had no trouble making his way to Tony's office. He was pleased that the place seemed so comfortable and familiar to him; it would always be a constancy in his life, and that was right. It had been his life for so very long.

Jack paused for a moment in the doorway to Tony's office before he said, "Hi, Tony."

Tony looked up from his computer and waved his friend in. "'Morning, Jack. Want some coffee?"

"Sure," Jack replied. "Decaf, though, Tony. Doctor's orders."

"Me, too," Tony replied with a smile. "Doc says I can't have stimulants. Like CTU is a calm and soothing place to work."

The two men laughed as they sat companionably at Tony's conference table, where Tony indicated several large file boxes. "I have the tech people making print-outs of whatever data still exists, but there're gonna be a lot of holes, Jack. I don't have to tell you how long it's been."

"I know, Tony. But there's no place else to start."

"Yeah," Tony replied. "But I was really junior then, so I wasn't in on much of it. I'm sure you remember that?" There was a faint hint of sarcasm, a gentle jab.

"Yeah, I remember," Jack said. "You were under Nina." When he realized what he had said a soft 'sh!t' followed.

Both men laughed softly. They turned to the boxes. There was little talk for the next few hours.

Chapter 24

"It can't be, Jack, it just can't be!" Tony said, his posture belying his weariness. He was sitting up so straight he might have been a raw recruit at Parris Island.

"What else could it be, Tony?" Jack asked, although he was equally stunned. "I don't believe it, either, but it fits."

"But why, Jack? Why would he have done this? Taken a chance like this? For what?"

"I don't know," Jack replied, his own exhaustion evident. He felt, and looked, like he'd been hit by a truck, and it wasn't just from working. It was from betrayal.

"Why would Palmer pay Gaines? I mean, Gaines was working for Drazen, right? And Drazen wanted you to kill Palmer. So why would Palmer pay Gaines to help Drazen kill him?"

"I don't know, Tony," Jack repeated, "but that's what all this shows. It doesn't make any sense, it's one of the weirdest and wildest things I've ever seen, but it's there. Why nobody saw it before is beyond me, but I guess it's because nobody looked." He paused and looked at Tony. "Why would anyone?"

Tony stood and stretched. "There's gotta be something else, Jack. Either we've missed it, or we don't have it. This documentation is too spotty. We're missing years of records. I'm gonna have the tech people go through everything again. There's gotta be stuff we're missing."

Jack stood, too and headed for the coffee machine, which was empty for the second time that day. He was glad there was none left. His stomach was roiling, and his head was throbbing.

He had an idea. "Tony, who's your best forensic accountant? We need a pro to follow the money trail. Maybe it's a red herring, something thrown together to make it look like Palmer was bankrolling Gaines. I mean, we know the Drazens had millions, hundreds of millions, and maybe they cooked the books to make it look like Palmer was paying Gaines."

He paused, his mind racing. "Maybe that's why Gaines' daughters think he had money. Ryan was the best there was at tracing money, but that Ted Cofell was a pro at it, maybe he did it. But even that doesn't make sense," he added thoughtfully. "Why go to the bother? With Drazen having Palmer killed, who would have followed a money trail from Palmer to Gaines? No one would have suspected Palmer. What difference would it make who paid Gaines? It just doesn't make any sense." His voice trailed off.

Tony had no answers, he was too tired to even come up with more questions. The men were beyond exhaustion. It was time for them to go home, time to rest their bodies and their minds. They knew they were both having 'brain sprains.'

"Jack, let's pick this up tomorrow," Tony suggested wearily. "C'mon, I'll have O'Reilly drive you home." O'Reilly was one of the agents assigned to protect Jack.

"I have my car here, Tony, thanks. I'll drive myself."

"Jack, don't be stubborn. You're tired. O'Reilly can take you home, and whoever's on in the morning'll drive you back. You can take your car home tomorrow night."

Jack acknowledged to himself that it made sense; he knew he would more than likely fall asleep behind the wheel, he was that tired. As he headed for the door he turned. "Thanks, Tony. For everything. I know this is biting into your time, but this thing has me scared."

Tony was taken aback. He'd never before heard Jack say he was afraid of anything, and he'd never thought he would.

Chapter 25

His faith in everything he had known was shaken. He had trusted Palmer, had grown to love him as a brother, and his discoveries that day felt like the ultimate betrayal, not just of his trust, but of all his instincts, his faith in himself, what made Jack Jack. He tried to sleep, but it just wouldn't come. He tossed and turned, hoping to doze off, to shake the feeling of loss that had come over him, coupled with resignation, no, more than that, despair that the emotional progress he had made was a shadow that he could no sooner grasp than a cloud. And a cloud it was, dark, ominous, portending a storm of trouble, a potential whirlwind with a vortex that would suck him in to a deep place from which he could never fight his way. He knew his strength was gone, both mental and physical, and his desperate need for release from his past was beyond his reach. Even sleep, he knew, wouldn't set him free.

He gave up with the thought that just giving up had always been alien to him and he grabbed a beer, a crutch he knew, but something he needed to try to calm himself and bring on a state of nothingness, something to set him free from his emptiness. Drugs weren't an option, hadn't been since he'd gotten clean so many years before, he didn't even crave them anymore, and that had been an immense source of pride, but now nothing seemed to be. He couldn't shake his past, and the existence of the PTSD now hit him harder than ever. His past would always be with him to haunt him, even when there was nothing he could do about it, and he was powerless against it, as the danger posed by Gaines' daughters showed.

Despair settled over him like a blanket, a burial shroud, and he relinquished himself, his will, the ultimate surrender. He no longer cared, for he felt there was nothing to care about. He lacked the strength to call the doctor, he felt unworthy of asking for help. He couldn't even cry.

Chapter 26

The daylight woke him, the dim light of an overcast day, the lack of sunshine matching his mood, but it was still better than the utter despair that had enveloped him in the darkness of the night before. With a will that matched any he'd ever called on before he managed to reach for the phone and call Dr. Logan. The physician was at his house within minutes.

He was shocked at Jack's appearance. "Jack, what happened? When I saw you Tuesday, just two days ago, you weren't like this. Tell me what happened."

"I – It's useless," Jack replied, sounding more dejected than the doctor had ever heard.

"What's useless, Jack?"

"Everything. No matter what I do, it's always there."

The generalities were new to the doctor. Jack had never before had difficulty getting down to the meat of something, honing in on an issue; this was a different Jack than he'd dealt with. Something serious was going on.

"Jack, what is it? Has something happened since we last spoke? I mean, has there been another attack on you, another attempt?"

"No," Jack allowed. "No one's tried to grab me again, if that's what you mean. It's just –" His voice trailed off.

"What did you do yesterday? Anything special?"

"I went to CTU. I met with Tony Almeida, and we went over some old files. We're trying to trace through the Gaines thing, to find out whether there's a money trail."

It clicked. Logan said gently, "That's the file for the day when Teri died, isn't it? That same day?"

Jack looked at his feet. Finally he whispered, "Yes. It was that day."

"Jack, it's triggering the PTSD. Just when you thought you were dealing with everything, coming to grips with Teri's death, it bit you from another angle. Gaines, and the money. You were sorting everything out, Drazen and the attack, Teri and Kim's kidnapping, and now you find out that there's another element. I think that's why you're feeling like this now."

Jack was silent again. Then he spoke, still in a whisper. "No, there's more than that. It's Palmer. We found out that – we – the file shows that David Palmer paid Gaines to kidnap Teri and Kim. He was behind the whole thing, even the attempt on his own life. It doesn't make sense, none of it does. And I trusted him! I did everything I could to save him, and that's when Teri died! It was because of Palmer, and Teri died! That bstard!"

Jack started to cry, and all Logan could do was look on in shock.

Chapter 27

The pills Logan insisted Jack take kicked in, and he fell into what the doctor hoped would be deep and dreamless sleep. Instead, Jack's subconscious took over, and he was back in another, terribly stressful time of his life.

They wouldn't give up, and when the Wilkersons descended on the Bauers' house it was worse than the first time. Mark and Janet were expecting friends for dinner so when he opened the door to see Bill and Gloria standing there Mark was totally surprised.

"Um, Mr. Wilkerson, what do you want?" he asked warily, hoping there wouldn't be another scene.

Wilkerson pushed past him. "Where is she? Where's my daughter?"

"She's not here," Mark replied, anger setting in. "Now get out of my house, Mr. Wilkerson. You're not welcome. Please, Dr. Wilkerson," he said, turning to her, saying more politely, "I have to ask you and your husband to leave. I don't want any more trouble."

Janet walked into the room, thinking her guests had arrived. She, too, was shocked to see Teri's parents.

"Oh," she said. "What's going on?"

"We want our daughter. Where is she?" Wilkerson demanded.

"She's at school," Janet responded. "She has classes all day."

"And where's your kidnapper son?" Wilkerson asked with a sneer. "I want to talk to him."

"Jack's not a kidnapper, and he's not here," Mark snapped. "I demand that you leave now, or I will call the police. I mean it."

"Go ahead, call the damn cops, I don't care. When they hear you're involved in a kidnapping you'll be the ones they arrest. In fact, I'll call them myself." He took out his cell phone and called '911' just as Jack walked in.

"Dr. Wilkerson. Mr. Wilkerson," he said with surprise as he came through the door. "Why are you here? Has something happened to Teri?" He was suddenly fearful.

"You're what happened to Teri, you little bstard!" Wilkerson yelled. "Where's my daughter? What have you done to her?"

"I haven't done anything to her," Jack said furiously. "She's fine. She just doesn't want to see you. She's happy here, and she's staying here. She's a grown woman, an adult, and she can decide where she lives. So why don't you just leave her alone? All you're doing is hurting her. Can't you see that?"

"You're the one who's hurting her, you little sh!t. I'm taking her home, and if you try to stop me it's the last thing you'll do. So you tell me where she is right now, or I'll have the cops throw you in jail.,"

They were all glaring at each other, fists clenched, ready to go at each other when the police walked in, followed by Teri. She had recognized her mother's car outside, and as she ran in she was crying.

"What's going on here, folks?" asked one of the officers. "What's the problem?"

"This bstard kidnapped my daughter, and his parents are keeping her here against her will," Wilkerson said with fury. "I demand that you arrest them!"

"No one kidnapped me, and I'm staying here because I want to," Teri said, sounding both hysterical and angry, going to stand with Jack who put his arm around her protectively. "I'm 19, and my parents are trying to control me. They can't do that, can they, Officer? I mean, I'm an adult, and they can't tell me where to live anymore. Can they?"

"No, Miss, they can't, not so long as you're over 17. Is she, Ma'am?" he asked Teri's mother.

"Yes," Gloria Wilkerson confirmed. "She's 19."

"Then there's nothing we can do here, Sir," he told Wilkerson. "So you folks'd better leave. No crime's been committed here, and if these people don't want you here you have no right to stay. We'll walk you to your car," the cop said, trying to move the Wilkersons toward the door, "and I think it's a good idea if you leave them alone. If this is where your daughter wants to live, that's her decision. There's nothing you can do about it."

Bill Wilkerson looked as pugnacious as ever, but he knew he couldn't win. Not this time, at least.

Chapter 28

Round 3 took place a scant 3 days later, after Dr. Wilkerson was making rounds seeing her patients at the hospital and she saw Teri and Jack leaving the obstetrician's office there. The shock on Gloria's face told them that what had happened before was a picnic compared to the reaction they would get once Bill Wilkerson heard the news.

They were right. Scant hours later Wilkerson literally broke the Bauers' door down with his shoulder, bursting into the living room, his face so red he looked like he'd have a stroke on the spot. "You fcking bstard!" he said, running at Jack, who was sitting with his father at the chessboard. Instantly he had his hands around Jack's throat, choking him until Jack brought his knee up and caught Teri's father smack in the crotch. Bill went down hard.

"Oh, my God!" Teri screamed, running in from the dining room where'd she'd been working on her laptop. "Daddy! Jack!"

Mark was tending to Jack, whose neck was bruising fast, and who was gasping for breath from the pressure of Wilkerson's hands on his throat. Janet ran to the kitchen to get ice to try to keep down the swelling.

When Mark saw that Jack was breathing all right he turned his attention to Bill, who was writhing in pain. Gloria was kneeling next to him.

"How dare you!" she turned to yell at Jack. "You son of a b!tch!" She yelled at Janet, "Get ice for him!"

"You come in here like this and assault my son and you call my son a son of a b!tch?" Janet yelled back at her. "Get out! Get out!"

"Don't you dare yell at my wife! Your bstard son raped my daughter! He raped her!" He was yelling at Janet. "Maybe the cops won't do anything about the kidnapping, but they'll sure as hell arrest a rapist." He turned to Jack. "You're lucky I don't choke the sh!t of you, you little fck. I'll let the cops handle it. You raped my Baby, you little sh!t!" The agony was evident in his voice, but it made it no less menacing. "I ought to kill you!"

Wilkerson tried to get up to lunge for Jack, but Mark easily forced him down with a well-placed foot to his groin. It wasn't a hard kick, it was just enough to an already very sore area of his anatomy to do the job.

There was the sound of people on the steps outside and Janet headed for the broken door, wondering how she was going to explain the scene to her dinner guests. Instead, it was the police.

"We got a report of a disturbance," one of the cops said, peering over her shoulder. "It looks like they were right." Visible beyond Janet were Bill on the floor, writhing in pain, and Jack just beyond him, ice pressed to his throat.

"What's going on?" the other cop asked as they walked past Janet. "Who lives here?"

"We do," Mark answered, indicating Jack, Teri and Janet as well as himself. "These," he said, pointing to Gloria and Bill, "are the young lady's parents."

"Looks like there was quite a fight here," the first officer said. "Who started it?"

"He did!" Wilkerson yelped from the floor, pointing shakily to Jack. "He jumped me! After he raped my daughter!"

"Whoa there!" said the second cop. "He raped her? When?"

"Six or seven weeks ago! She's pregnant!"

"She just told you she was raped?" the cop asked.

"No. I mean yes. I mean – no. We just found out she's pregnant. So of course she was raped. The bstard wouldn't let her tell us 'til now."

"How'd he stop her? I don't understand."

"He kidnapped her. He's been keeping her here so she couldn't tell us, and these people – these people have been helping him."

"Who are you?" the cop asked Mark.

"My name is Mark Bauer, and this is my wife, Janet. This is our house. This is my son, Jack, and this is his fiancé, Teri, the Wilkersons' daughter. She wasn't kidnapped, and she wasn't raped. She's been living with us because her parents wouldn't let her out of their house, they tried to stop her from going to school. She's 19, Officer, and a student at UCLA. She can make her own choices. And Wilkerson, here, broke into my house and attacked my son. He just broke down the door and started choking Jack. He's the one who should be arrested."

"Miss, Teri, is it?" the cop said to her. "Is all this true? Are you living here voluntarily?"

"Yes," Teri answered, trying to control herself, for she had been crying throughout. "I'm living here because my parents were basically holding me prisoner. And of course I wasn't raped. Jack would never hurt me. We're - We're -" She was sobbing so hard she had trouble getting the words out. "We're getting married, and we're living here with his parents until we do. All I want is for my parents to leave us alone." Jack had managed to stand and was holding her tightly.

"Miss, Teri," the first cop said, "did this boy, er, this man, force you to have intimate relations against your will?"

Teri looked away from her parents as she answered, "No, of course not."

He asked another question. "Is he forcing you to stay here?"

"No," she responded through her tears. "I'm living here because my parents are trying to make me stay with them at home."

"Mister," the cop said wearily to Wilkerson. "Your daughter is of age. There's been no rape, no abduction, no imprisonment, no crime. Period." He paused. "Wait. There was a crime. You're trying to imprison your daughter who's an adult, you broke in here, and you assaulted this kid. You're under arrest. Hands behind your back, please."

"No!" Teri wailed. No! Jack!"

Chapter 29

Teri went to stand with her mother as her father was led from the house in handcuffs, grasping her mother's hand tightly, and then she started to leave with Gloria to follow the police car to the station house. Jack tried to go with her, but Teri turned her back on him and walked out of the house with Dr. Wilkerson. Jack was shocked, and hurt. He didn't know what to do.

"Jack," Mark started after the police had left with Bill Wilkerson and Teri and Gloria had followed, and Jack stood frozen, watching Teri walk away from him, "she's upset. This whole evening has been a nightmare for all of us. Give her time to calm down, Son. And Jack, you didn't do anything wrong. You were right to defend yourself. I really think that idiot would have killed you."

"Dad's right, Jack. That man's a maniac. He would have choked you to death if you hadn't defended yourself. Teri'll see that, Sweetheart. She's upset," Janet continued, repeating what her husband had said. "Let her go with her mother."

Jack was confused. He wanted, needed, to be with Teri, and he didn't understand why she had walked out on him. He truly believed that he had done the right thing, the only thing, when he had defended himself, he knew his father was right, Wilkerson would have killed him if Jack hadn't kneed him. But Teri didn't see it that way. Teri had turned away from him, she'd gone back to her parents. My God, what could he do?

Chapter 30

He decided in an instant. "Mom, Dad, I'm going to the police station. I have to talk to Teri."

"I'm going with you, Jack," Mark said. "Janet, you'll have to talk to the Clarks, explain what happened."

"All right," Janet said. "For once, I'm glad they're late. They missed all this. I'll try to get them on the phone and then I'll meet you there."

Jack and Mark headed for the garage. The drive to the station house was silent, Jack thinking that Teri had abandoned him, blaming himself, not thinking that Teri could possibly be wrong, wondering how he could make it up to her, cursing himself for not simply having let her father choke him, or forcing him to release him some other way. There must have been something else I could have done, he thought. I didn't have to kick him in the crotch. I could have gotten him to stop by doing something else. Jack was abjectly miserable. He was desperately afraid he'd lost Teri.

Mark was deep in his own thoughts. He'd taught his son well, perhaps too well: he was never the aggressor, he knew how to defend himself, and he had a conscience. But when it came to Teri, to her father, well, that would be different, at least to Jack. Mark knew what Jack was thinking, and he knew that Jack was wrong, he'd done the right thing. But Mark knew that this was not the time to try to convince his son of it.

Gloria and Teri were sitting on a bench near the Sergeant's desk, crying, when Jack and Mark walked in. Gloria gave them a look of pure hatred when she saw them, and Teri wouldn't look at them. With tears streaming down her cheeks she stared at her hand curled in her lap, the other clenching her mother's.

"Teri," Jack crouched next to her. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry. This'll all get straightened out, you'll see. We're not going to press charges, so your Dad will be released. We'll do everything we can to get him out now."

"Thank you," she said, her voice muffled by the tears, but Jack heard a stiffness to her tone. It scared him. She'd never spoken like that to him.

"Ter," he tried again, "Baby, I love you. I'm sorry this happened, Baby I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt him, but he was choking me. I didn't know what else to do. It was like – like reflex. I'll apologize to him, I'll do whatever you want. But please don't shut me out, Ter. Please. Please, Baby." Jack was close to tears himself.

Teri didn't respond. She just squeezed her mother's hand tighter.

Chapter 31

As they'd promised Mark and Jack refused to press charges, so the police had no choice but to release Wilkerson. He walked out of lock-up within a half hour, as soon as the police processed the paperwork, although they were in no hurry to do it. They had two reasons to take their time. One, they hoped Wilkerson would calm down while he cooled his heels in the cell, and two, they disliked the man from the little time they'd spent with him. He'd been thoroughly obnoxious, ranting and raving, berating and cursing them, lying that Jack had been the aggressor although from their experience and perception they'd correctly deduced that Bill had started the melee. Nevertheless, after holding him as long as they could he was finally set free.

The police had told the Bauers to leave before they released Wilkerson, knowing that their presence there would only re-ignite the disorder, but Jack was adamant about not leaving Teri. She, however, still refused to speak to him, she wouldn't even look at him. She sat next to her mother, staring at her hands, tears streaming down her face, and Jack had never seen her look unhappier. He was terrified of what it meant.

Bill Wilkerson walked out of the holding area shortly after, rubbing his wrists and loaded for bear. Because of his surroundings and the proximity of the many cops for once he held his tongue and his temper and contented himself with a glare at the Bauers and a show of embracing his wife, and Teri. She let herself be enveloped in a hug with her mother and father, and then silently walked through the door with them, leaving Jack stunned.

Chapter 32

She wasn't at her dorm after that, of course, Jack hadn't expected her to be, and he wasn't surprised that she wasn't attending her classes, either. He knew that her parents would never let her take a call from him, and he was getting frantic. She was clearly under their control, their spell again; he was completely shut out. One thought terrified him: would they force Teri to have an abortion?

Chapter 33

Jack, Mark and Janet tried to reason it out, and Mark suggested they speak to their family lawyer. Ralph Perkins was sympathetic, but he could offer Jack no hope.

"Jack, Teri doesn't need your consent for an abortion. It's early enough in the pregnancy for her to do that if she wants to, and there's nothing you can do. I'm sorry.

Jack closed his eyes, but the pain overwhelmed him. He and Teri had discussed the Supreme Court decision, and Teri had been forceful in her approval of the Court's affirmation of a woman's right to choose what happened to her body. Jack had no doubt that she was susceptible to pressure from her parents, and if they told her to do this, she would have no moral qualms against submitting to the procedure to terminate her pregnancy. While he agreed with the idea of legalized abortion in principle, he was sick to his stomach at the thought of Teri terminating her pregnancy, and ran from the room.

The door barely muffled the sound of his retching, and his parents and their lawyer could only look helplessly at each other until he returned, his face puffy, his eyes red-rimmed.

After sipping the water that was offered to him Jack managed to say, "Mr. Perkins, what if she doesn't have an abortion? What if she has the baby and puts it up for adoption?"

"That's another story, Jack," the lawyer replied. "The baby can't be adopted without your consent. Teri can surrender her parental rights, but not yours. In order for an adoption to be legal, both parents must consent. If Teri gives up the baby but you don't, you can take custody. We'll go into court to find out where Teri is, so we can notify the authorities there that you won't agree to an adoption. But if Teri doesn't want to see you or talk to you we can't make her. Refusing consent for the adoption is all you can do."

They were all crestfallen, but it was a far better alternative than abortion. Janet and Mark could see how devastated their son was, for they knew how deeply he loved Teri, but their fear that he might lose his child and they their grandchild was alleviated, at least somewhat. That seemed to brighten Jack's mood, if only a little.

Jack signed the papers necessary for Ralph to get the court order and returned with his parents to their home. The ride from Ralph's office was very quiet.

Chapter 34

It turned out that Teri was living with an aunt and uncle in Oregon, the court had notified Ralph, and she was seeing an obstetrician there. To Jack's indescribable relief it seemed that Teri was not going to have an abortion; she was going to have the baby, and apparently give the baby up after it was born. The doctor had been notified that Jack was the baby's father, and that he would not consent to an adoption. In turn, Jack was told that Teri didn't want to see or hear from him, and he was miserable, seeing his whole life, his entire future, vanishing.

With strong prodding from his parents he continued in school, working hard to get his grades, which had slipped badly, up to their prior level, but he dropped out of his fraternity, for he now found it childish. He had no more interest in sophomoric antics and activities; he'd grown up a lot, and he found that he no longer had anything in common with boys – they weren't yet men – whose only interests seemed to be getting drunk and getting laid, not necessarily in that order. So he pretty much stuck to himself, working hard, saving his money, counting the days until the baby would be born, hoping that Teri would change her mind, that he would at least see her when she gave birth and that she would realize that they had something wonderful, miraculous in common to bring them back together.

He couldn't get that thought out of his mind, though: Teri surrendering the baby for adoption. Her baby. Their baby. The idea was so foreign to him, so alien, that he couldn't get his mind around it. She'd been so happy, so thrilled. How could she even consider giving up such a part of herself? Surely her parents couldn't have brainwashed her so. She was so independent, she was stubborn as hell – Jack knew that from personal experience. Bill Wilkerson was a moron, an as, an idiot. How could Teri be so influenced by him? And Gloria. Sure, she appeared more reasonable, but she'd obviously rushed to tell Bill that Teri was pregnant. She must have known how he'd react, what he'd do, so what did that say about her? She was as bad as her husband. And they were the ones who were controlling Teri.

Jack was living in hell. He'd never known he could love so much, he'd never dreamed that love could make you hurt physically, but he was in pain from it, he felt the pain and pressure in his chest whenever he thought of life without Teri, without their baby. And he felt hopeless, utterly, completely hopeless.

Chapter 35

As the days and months passed by Jack grew more fearful, only receiving periodic confirmation from the lawyer that Teri was still in Oregon, for he knew nothing of the progress of the pregnancy, and despite himself it was finally sinking in that they would never be together, would never have the future they'd planned. Yet with his innate determination he continued in school, telling himself that if he and Teri were ever to have the life they had wanted he would need to provide for her and their baby, and that meant doing well in his studies, and saving the money he earned from his job.

His parents provided all of the emotional support they could, and that helped to keep him leveled. But as Teri's due date approached his apprehension grew to the point that he had trouble concentrating, and it was only through the sheer force of his tremendous will that he made it through finals. Then it was time for the baby to be born. He was paralyzed with fear, waiting for 'the call.'

But it didn't come. The date when the original obstetrician had told them the baby was due came and went, and Janet and Mark tried to reassure Jack that babies, especially first babies, were often late, but Jack was beside himself. Ralph verified through the court that Teri hadn't yet delivered, but that only made Jack more fearful that something had gone wrong. Only Mark could stop Jack from getting on a plane, but he finally made him see that he couldn't just go to Oregon; he didn't know for sure where in the state Teri was. He could only wait, and Jack wasn't a patient man. He never was, and never would be.

Finally, finally Ralph called. "It's a girl, Jack. A healthy, beautiful girl, and Teri's fine. The baby is 7 pounds, 6 ounces, 20 inches long, in perfect health. Her Apgar scores were fine. There were no complications."

Jack started to cry, from relief and joy. A feeling of disbelief also overwhelmed him. He was a father. He had a baby. But he didn't have a wife.

"Can I see the baby? Can I see Teri?" He was pleading, and his voice was shaking.

"You can see the baby, Jack, but Teri doesn't have to see you if she doesn't want to. Go to Salem, she's at the Willamette Valley Medical Center."

"Is Teri...has she surrendered the baby, Ralph? Is she putting the baby up for adoption?" This scared Jack most of all.

"I asked, Jack, but she hasn't signed any papers. Not yet, at least." He paused. "That not to say she won't, of course. She can change her mind at any time."

Ralph had explained to the Bauers that it would be worse for them if Teri kept the baby than if she surrender her for adoption. If she decided to keep the baby there would be a custody fight, and Jack would probably lose, for the courts overwhelmingly favored giving custody to the mother. The court would give him visitation rights but those would be limited, so Jack would hardly ever see his daughter. Despite everything, though, Jack couldn't believe, and didn't want to believe, that Teri could ever give up their baby to strangers. If she did, it meant that he had never really known her at all.

"I'll get there as soon as I can get a flight," Jack told his lawyer. "I'm sure my parents will, too." He smiled despite his fears. "We can't wait to see the baby."

"I'm sure you can't, Jack," Ralph replied, "but remember, you probably won't be able to see Teri. From what I understand, she doesn't want to see you, and her parents are there. I'm sure they'll try to keep you from her. And you can't make a scene, Jack. If you do it'll hurt you badly if you try to get custody."

Jack said he understood, that he wouldn't make trouble, and Ralph was sure he wouldn't. He knew that Bill Wilkerson had started the fight, and he secretly hoped that for Jack's sake Wilkerson would start something at the hospital. If Jack wanted custody showing that Teri's parents, who would be an important part of the baby's child care, were violent would help Jack's case.

Janet was on her cell phone making plane reservations, and she was pleased to tell Jack that she had gotten a flight for them later that morning. They all rushed to pack, and for once the plane was on time. Jack fidgeted all the way to Oregon, and he was nervous throughout the ride to the hospital. Once they got there he practically ran to the nursery, but the baby wasn't there.

"The babies are with their mothers now," the nurse told him. "It's feeding time."

Chapter 36

Jack had no right to enter Teri's room, and worse, Wilkerson was standing outside the door. When he saw Jack it was evident that there was still no love lost.

"Do you know what you put her through, you bstard? The pain? The agony?" Bill shouted at him. "Because you just had to have your 'fun,' you little pr!ck? And now she's got a bstard of her own. What'd you do to her future, huh? She's a kid with her own kid now. You pr!ck, you fcking, miserable, son of a b!tch! You get out of here before I kill you!"

Wilkerson lunged for Jack, and the hospital security guards, whom Mark had alerted, rushed to pull him away. Standing to the side, Ralph Perkins took pictures with his video camera. He had expected this.

Jack was shaking with anger. "I just want to see her. The baby, I mean. My daughter. You can't stop me from seeing her, I'm her father, damn you. And I want to see Teri, too, if she'll let me. And that's up to her, not you. She's a grown woman, she's a mother now for God's sake, and you can't control her, not forever. You can't control everything she says or does, or who she sees. And you certainly can't keep me from seeing my baby." Jack stood his ground as the hospital guards continued to restrain Wilkerson. No one, nothing was moving Jack from that spot.

Mark came to stand with Jack. "Son, we'll just have to wait. I'm sure that as soon as Teri is finished feeding the baby you'll be able to see her. It won't be much longer. Just try to be patient."

"That's what you think," Wilkerson sneered as he tried to pull loose from the guards, who had dragged him to the other side of the hallway. "Teri's keeping the baby in the room with her. You'll never be able to see them, Teri or the baby. And when they leave the hospital you'll never know where they've gone."

"You can't do tha—" Jack started to go towards Wilkerson, but Mark and Perkins held him back.

"No, Jack, they can't," Jack's lawyer interceded. "You have a right to see the baby, and I'll make sure you do. Teri can't just take off with her. Don't worry about that. I promise you'll see her today. Very soon, in fact. If I have to get a judge to order it, I'll do it. So please, stop worrying. Just try to stay calm."

Mark put his arm around his son's shoulder, trying to relax him, keep him under control, while Janet stood there helplessly, feeling her son's anxiety, anxious and eager herself to see her granddaughter. Ralph headed for the pay phones.

After a while Gloria Wilkerson came out of the room, and when she saw the Bauers her expression turned grim. "How is she?" Jack eagerly asked her, but she ignored him. Instead she walked to where her husband was being restrained.

"Get your hands off him!" she ordered the hospital guards. "How dare you!"

"Ma'am, he was starting to attack that young man. We were about to call the police when that other gentleman asked us not to." He indicated Mark with a tilt of his head. "Your husband won't stop fighting us. If he would, we'd release him, but we can't take a chance, not here in the hospital. He's got to control himself, we can't let him endanger the patients, the babies. If he doesn't start to behave we'll have to call the cops."

Gloria turned to her husband and said, "Bill, please, stop this. Our lawyer told you that Jack has legal rights. The judge said he has to be allowed to see the baby. The courts are making us let him, so we might as well keep this civil. It'll only hurt Teri more. Please, Bill, just let him see Kim. Please."

Kim. That's her name. Kim. That's what Teri named our baby. The thought hit Jack hard that he had had no part in naming his child. He and Teri had never had time to choose names for their baby, never laughed at names the way couples did when they went through books, giggling over meanings and combinations, how they would go with last names, groaning over names of aunts and uncles and cousins who their family members would want honored and remembered, all the things that couples considered when were choosing a name for their baby. He hadn't been a part of that. He'd never be a part of that. A whole part of his baby's life had already been taken from him. It hit him even harder than missing her birth, for that part had seemed so unreal, something he had no experience with, so like a dream. But a name – that was something he could connect with, would always relate to. And that was gone, for good.

A part of him crumbled. The Wilkersons had won, had taken his baby from him. He realized that Teri was gone from him, too, they would never let her back into his life, he had lost the love he had wanted, needed to spend his life with. Teri, and his baby girl, Kim. They were gone.

Chapter 37

Ralph came back with the court order, and Jack and his parents were taken to a private room, where they soon heard the faint rumble of a bassinet being wheeled down the corridor. As the nurse entered Jack tensed, eager and anxious to see his daughter.

He peered at the tiny baby as the nurse lifted her, seeing his little girl for the first time, her dark hair so like Teri's, giving no hint of the lightness it would turn into. But the blue eyes were like his, and he felt a thrill he'd never believed possible. He was fearful as he took her, afraid he'd drop Kim, afraid he'd hurt her, feeling so strange, not associating the name with this miracle, but it was the name Teri had chosen, so it had to be right. He only knew that he would agree to whatever Teri wanted, even if it meant she didn't want him.

Mark and Janet peered at their granddaughter, wanting so much to hold her, but they'd never take her from Jack, he needed so to be with his tiny baby, to cradle her, and he carefully sat in the rocker as the nurse handed him a bottle and he looked anxiously for the nurse to show him how to feed Kim. He had no idea how to hold her, how to hold the bottle, and he wanted nothing more than to get it right. He was desperately afraid that he'd hurt his little girl, choke her, drown her, and he'd never known such fear, for he was sure she'd break, she was so tiny, so fragile. He didn't even notice when the door opened and Teri entered the room. Janet and Mark saw her and quietly left. Teri stood silently, watching Jack and their daughter.

Chapter 38

Kim fell asleep before she had finished her bottle, and the nurse showed Jack how to gently lift her onto his shoulder and rub her back to bring up a burp. It was then that Jack saw Teri, tears filling her eyes as she watched the two people she loved most in the world, in the most intimate of moments. As he saw her he felt overwhelmed, both by holding his baby and seeing the love of his life crying, and he wasn't sure why. Was it anger at him? Or was it pain from the birth she'd so recently experienced? It didn't occur to him that it was because of her separation from him; that seemed so much what she wanted.

She couldn't speak, couldn't tell him that she was sorry, for she too was overwhelmed, and she didn't know how to start, to tell him that she had made the mistake of a lifetime.

Jack didn't know what to say, either. The tears that rolled down his cheeks finally broke her silence, for Teri saw the pain that she had caused, and she knew she had to at least try to make things right, although in her heart she believed that she had let things go too far. She couldn't believe that he could ever forgive her for all that she had put him through. She didn't fully comprehend the bottomless depth of his love, for her, and for Kim.

"Jack," she started, "Kim, Kimberley – she's perfect, isn't she?"

Kimberley. That was her name. Not Kim. It took a moment for it to penetrate. He hadn't even gotten used to Kim yet. Another name he hadn't participated in. More pain went through him.

"She's beautiful, Teri," he said. "Perfect," not knowing what else to say, but meaning it. "She's wonderful." A smile spread across his face as he held the miracle that was his daughter. Their daughter.

"You look wonderful holding her," Teri continued. "She won't break, you know. You can relax."

"I guess it'll happen," Jack said, trying to keep the bitterness from his voice. "But only seeing her a few times a week – it'll take time."

"Who said – I mean – why a few times a week? You can see her whenever you want."

"That's not what I was told," Jack said softly, fighting not to cry, recognizing his tremendous vulnerability, knowing he would break. "The lawyer told me that the court order says I can see her twice a week. I won't be able to get used to feeding her or holding her very fast that way."

"Oh, Jack," Teri said, crumbling. "My God, what have I done! You're her father. You have to see her more often. Whenever you want to."

"How can that happen, Teri?" he asked stiffly, trying to control his emotions, not wanting to show his hurt, or his anger, then not caring if he did. "When your father wants to kill me? He went after me in the corridor before. Did you know that? The guards had to grab him before he could try to choke me again," he added bitterly, his feelings breaking through, he wasn't sure of what she knew, what she tolerated, what she even wanted.

"Oh, God, that isn't what I want. I want to be with you, I want us to be together. Oh, my God, what have I done? My parents, they – I can't believe this, I can't believe any of this is happening, and it's all my fault. I let them do this, I let them make me leave you. I can't believe I let them. It's not their fault, it's mine. It's all my fault. My God, Jack, I'm so sorry. I'm so very sorry."

For once Jack didn't melt. He was so incredibly hurt by what she'd done that he didn't, couldn't just go to her and tell her that everything was all right, that he forgave her. He couldn't just take her in his arms as he had before and tell her everything was going to be all right. He couldn't just believe her. It was beyond that. It just wasn't that easy.

Chapter 39

Bill Wilkerson had struggled when he saw the baby being taken from Teri's room; he knew it was so that Jack could see her. The security guards took him to their office to calm down, so he had no idea that Teri had gone to find Jack. Had he known, of course, he would have made a scene to end all scenes, and things might have actually gone better. But Jack was right. It wasn't that easy.

Gloria had reluctantly accepted that the baby was being taken to her daddy, and she decided to decided to take a break and went for coffee, believing that Teri was resting in her room. She, too, didn't know that Teri had gone in search of Jack.

The guards had released Bill when he swore he'd behave and he and Gloria had both headed back to Teri's room, so the Wilkersons were surprised to see Teri in the hallway, and they surmised where she had been when they saw that she was crying.

"What did that bstard do, Teri?" Bill demanded. "What did he do? Did he hurt you?" Although the guards had let Bill go they weren't about to let him out of their sight, and they had stayed close by. They were ready to grab him if he didn't settle down.

"Dad, enough!" Teri finally snapped. "Leave him alone! Please! Can't you see what you've done? What I've done? I love Jack, and I want to be with him. He's Kim's father, for God's sake, and now I'm a single mother, and she doesn't have a father. We were going to get married, she would have had two parents, and I let you separate us, you and Mom. I wouldn't stand up to you, I let you control me, and I'm a grown-up. I have a baby, for God's sake! I'm not going to let you tell me how to live my life. I'd go back to Jack if I could, if he'd have me, but he doesn't, and I can't blame him. So now just leave me alone! I don't want you here!"

"Baby, what are you saying, you can't go back to him, you need us!" Gloria protested. "You can't raise the baby alone!"

"I wouldn't have to be alone if I hadn't listened to you and Dad, don't you get it? I let you talk me into leaving him. And it's not your fault, it's mine! I'm a grown woman, I should never have listened to you. I shouldn't have listened, I should have made my own decisions. The whole damn thing is my fault, and I've hurt Jack unbelievably. He doesn't want to have anything to do with me now, and I can't even blame him. Not after all I've done, all the pain I've caused him. So it's my fault that Kim won't have a father in her life, not every day at least, but we'll be all right. Jack will never abandon us, I know that, he's a good man, he's the best man, even though you and Dad don't believe it. You've never been more wrong about anything, and I've made the worst mistake of my life. I'll never make a worse one, not ever. But now I'm going to take care of my baby. Myself. And I don't ever want to see you again!"

Jack, Mark and Janet stood quietly at the end of the corridor after having returned the baby to the nursery, taking all this in. The tears streaming down Jack's face said more than any words. He walked to Teri with a purposeful stride and took her in his arms, holding her so that her face was pressed against his shoulder, cutting off any further words, stifling the sobs that were tearing at her.

Bill broke from the guards' grasp and ran at Jack, grabbing Teri from him. He hit Teri across the face, and she crumpled to the floor

"You son of a b!tch!" Jack yelled as he went at Bill. He launched himself at the man and punched him squarely in the jaw, sending Bill sprawling. The guards, instead of going for Jack surrounded Bill, grabbing his arms and holding him down. Although Jack was tensed for a fight, he didn't throw any more punches. Instead, he bent over Teri.

"Teri! My God, are you all right? Let me see your face! Mom, get the nurse! Do you think anything's broken? Is her nose broken?"

"I'm okay, Jack, nothing's broken," Teri said, although she didn't sound or look like it. She was dazed, and there was blood on her face.

Gloria was rooted to the floor, her disbelief evident. The nurse hurried over, followed by Janet, Mark, and a doctor.

"Call the police!" the doctor yelled to the nurse. "Take this man to the security office, and keep him there," he ordered the guards." To Teri he said, "Let's get you back to your room so I can examine you."

Jack picked up Teri, concerned about the blood that was pouring onto her chin. She seemed weak as he lay her on the bed.

The doctor shone a light into her eyes and gingerly touched her face. "I think we'd better get an x-ray. There might be a fracture."

Gloria was standing at the side of the bed. She still hadn't said a word, and she watched in silence as her daughter was moved onto a stretcher and taken for x-rays. Jack held Teri's hand as she was wheeled out.

Janet and Mark remained in the room with Gloria, and the silence was increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, Gloria softly spoke.

"This isn't what we wanted, Bill or I. We only wanted what's best for Teri. We were upset – we thought – we just thought it wasn't good for her – that getting married – "

"You thought Jack wasn't good enough for her," Janet interrupted heatedly. "You thought that she could do better, so you'd rather she have a baby out-of-wedlock and give it up for adoption than marry for love. There's something awfully sick about your values, Dr. Wilkerson. Your's, and your husband's. Thank goodness your daughter isn't like you. Mark and I think the world of Teri. She's a smart, level-headed, lovely girl, who has the right values, the right priorities. The only question I have is how you could be her parents." With that, Janet left the room. A moment later, Mark left, too.

Chapter 40

Bill was carted off to jail while Teri was taken for an extensive examination and tests. The tension of the others didn't abate as they waited for the results of the x-rays. Their venomous thoughts were predictable, and while Janet's, Mark's and even Gloria's were of a kind, Jack's were different. He wasn't focused on anger. He wanted to know only how he could reconcile with Teri.

Seeing her hurt, seeing her attacked by her father had cut through his rage. He knew it would take a long time to heal, that he and Teri would have a lot of work to do to fix their relationship, but he knew in his gut that they were both mature enough to know that this wasn't just something that you could kiss and say 'all better.' They were both past the juvenile stage of what psychologists call 'magical thinking,' a child's thoughts that wishing makes something happen. In the grown-up world it takes long, hard work to make a maintain a relationship, much more to fix a broken one, and theirs had been on the brink, perhaps over the edge. It would take devotion, dedication, determination and more than a few tears to make sure that they got this right, but Jack knew from the way Teri had sounded when she spoke to her parents that she had grown up immensely. She, too, was in tremendous emotional pain, and it had showed with every word she had said to them. She knew, she felt, the agony of what she had done to Jack, how she had pierced him to his core, but all that mattered now was that she knew that it might taken even more than she had to try to reach him to make things right. But he knew she would try, she would keep trying, she always would try, and that was why he had fallen in love with her, and would never, ever fall out.

Mark and Janet saw that their son was in an unreachable place, and they both recalled their early days together, when it had seemed so much easier, so much fairer than the times Jack was experiencing with Teri. Neither could understand why he had to contend with such pain, why he couldn't be starting out on the golden life they believed was his due. As with all loving parents they felt his anguish more keenly than if it had been their own. But Jack was oblivious to their thoughts.

Gloria was on a different plane. She was angry at all of them, including Teri. Bill was prominent on the list, but not necessarily at the top. Jack was right up there with him, and Teri was not far behind. Gloria was furious that Teri had spoken to her parents as she had, and while Gloria was mad that Bill had hit her, she was just as angry that Jack had hit Bill back. Now Bill was under arrest, and Jack wasn't. She knew that Teri would probably go back to Jack with her illegitimate child and marry the son-of-a-b!tch anyway, who wasn't good enough for her in the first place, which was what had caused this whole sorry mess. Bill would wind up in jail, and it was all because that damn daughter of theirs had slept around. And to top it off, that Bauer woman had the nerve to tell her off! The more she thought about it, the madder Gloria got. Soon she was shaking with rage.

No one had spoken in the room for nearly a half hour, and the silence was only broken when the doctor entered to tell them the results of his examination. Four separate reveries were sharply broken when the door opened.

"She's going to be all right," the doctor started as soon as he walked in. "There are a fractures but they're minor, and she won't need surgery. There won't be any permanent damage, but she'll have to stay in the hospital a few days longer."

"Thank God," breathed Jack softly, tears forming in his eyes. "Can I see her, Doctor?"

"Right now, Son. She wants to see you."

"I'm her mother, Doctor. I want to see her now," Gloria demanded.

"Dr. Wilkerson, she specifically said she doesn't want to see you, or her father. I'm sorry," the doctor responded.

"That's unacceptable, Doctor. You know..."

"That doesn't matter," the doctor cut her off. "Ms. Wilkerson is of age, Dr. Wilkerson. She's not a minor. She can make her own decisions, and she's made this one. You know the law, Doctor." Turning to Jack he said, "Come with me, Mr. Bauer."

Janet and Mark smiled as their son followed the doctor out of the room. Their smiles broadened as they saw a red-faced Gloria stalk out in the other direction.

Chapter 41

Jack didn't hesitate before he entered Teri's room although he felt unsure, the right words not yet clearly formed in his head.

"Teri?" he whispered. "Teri?"

She looked pale even against the pillow, the whiteness of her skin contrasting starkly against the darkening bruises inflicted by her father. The fractures of her cheekbone and nose had caused tremendous swelling, and the disfigurement of the features that Jack so cherished brought tears of pain to him that added more anguish what he already felt, the pain of fear and separation and love.

She weakly turned her head toward him and gave a slight smile. The hurt it caused was unmistakable. "Jack," she whispered back, and held out her hand, "you're here."

"Of course I'm here, Sweetheart. Of course I'm here," he said, taking her hand in both of his. "I'll always be here." He raised her hand to his lips and held it there, and then he started to cry.