Thanks for the great reviews! Jack fanfics don't always go over real well, but I was really happy with the response to this one. I also want to send out a special "Thank you" to AlmeidaFluff. She read chapter one a couple of weeks ago as a favor to me and encouraged me to post it when I wasn't sure it was worth it! Thanks Fluff!
Chapter 2
Jack stood stock still, his breath caught in his throat. Of course he had always known that this moment could come, but it still was a shock when it happened. How it happened was even more of a shock. He had imagined that he would be approached by a Canadian official, accompanied by an American agent, who would flash a badge and matter-of-factly tell him that the game was over. The other possibility that had crossed his mind was that President Logan would have Secret Service track him down and kill him. If that happened, they wouldn't take the time to announce themselves; they would just put two bullets in the back of his head.
His first thought was to act as if he had no idea what Ted was talking about, but deep down he knew that was pointless. He let his eyes go closed for a moment. "How did you figure it out?" he asked no longer able to meet Ted's gaze.
"I didn't until just yesterday, but I knew from the moment I met you that I had seen you somewhere before. I just wasn't sure where. At some point I decided that I'd seen your picture in the newspaper. I was born in southern California and I lived there until I was almost 15 years old, so I'm still very attached to the region. I've been reading the Los Angeles Times on line as long as it had been available. It eventually dawned on me that I had seen your picture in the Times and that it had been several years back when David Palmer was running for President and was nearly assassinated in LA. I went back to the archives and looked for the stories related to that day and, sure enough, I found your picture. It was a little grainy and you were a little younger, but I knew it was you. Then I started searching under your name and found an obituary from last year. It said that you were killed in the line of duty. Obviously someone was mistaken because from what I can tell, Jack, you are very much alive."
Jack heard what Ted was saying but he wasn't really paying attention; his mind was reeling. "Have you alerted the authorities yet?" By asking that, Jack was not only considering his own future, but those of Tony, Michelle and Chloe as well. They were all accessories in his escape and if he was turned in, they would be implicated, too. He had to warn them so they, too, had a chance to escape.
"No and I don't intend to," Ted told him.
"What?" Jack looked at Ted unable to believe what he was hearing.
"For whatever reason, you want the world to think Jack Bauer is dead. Now I can guess at those reasons all day, but the truth is, it's none of my business. What's more important to me right now is that you are the best damn ranch manager a man could want. I'd be a fool to turn you in and lose you."
Jack finally met Ted's gaze again. He exhaled softly and closed his eyes against the memory of all that had happened that day. He knew that he didn't need to explain; Ted wasn't going to ask any questions, but he felt that he needed to. "We were tracking a terrorist and we had information on someone who could lead us to him. I got orders from the White House for a covert mission to grab the informant. One of my men was recognized and he eventually was either threatened or tortured and he gave my name as the mission leader. The mission was illegal. I knew that when I took the order. The White House had to deny any knowledge of it."
"They were going to hung you out to dry," Ted said filling in what Jack was unwilling to say.
Jack nodded. "I could almost accept that but then I was warned that the government wanted me dead so I couldn't give up any information on the mission. I decided that I wasn't going to give them that chance. I staged my own death and took off."
"You didn't do it alone, did you? You had to have help."
"Some very good friends helped me. I'm not worried about myself, but I don't ever want them to have to pay for helping me," Jack told him. "I appreciate you keeping this quiet. Not so much for my sake, but for theirs."
Ted smiled. "I told you, I'd be a fool to turn you in. You run this place like you've done it all your life. On top of that," Ted added in a milder, more sentimental tone, "you're giving me a second chance. You see, I wanted my own sons to love ranching. I wanted them to stay here and love the horses and the cattle and the clear air and the blue sky as much as I do. What I didn't realize is that you either love those things or you don't and no one can force you to love them. Ted, Jr. and Andy are more like their mother. Mary tolerated living out here and playing second fiddle to a bunch of cows, but she never really loved it. I thought by making the boys work hard and see what the land could produce that they would eventually learn to love it, but what I really did was push them away. You, Jeff, you're different. You love this place just like I do, just like Molly does. Molly might live and work in town, but her heart is right here on this ranch. I could never turn you in, you've become too much like a son to me. And if I did," Ted said with his eyebrows slightly raised, "Molly would never forgive me."
"Molly?" Jack asked raising his eyes a bit.
"Oh come now, Jeff. I'm old but I'm not senile. I see the way she looks at you and I've seen how you look at her. What's wrong with you two? Admit that you care for each other. I know her problem. That damn ex-husband of hers broke her heart. Now she's afraid to let anyone have a piece of her heart. So what's your excuse?"
Jack looked down and smiled. "Molly is so special to me, Ted. That's why I won't let myself get close to her. Women who are close to me have a way of getting hurt. I don't want that to happen to Molly."
Ted's tone was soft and gentle. "You're talking about your wife? I read about her murder in the Times. I'm sorry. That must have been terrible for you and your daughter."
"Teri died because of who I was and what I did for a living. A few years after she was killed, I let myself fall in love again, twice, in fact, both times to wonderful women. And both times I ended up hurting them. Somehow, my job, who I was, got in the way. I don't want to do that to Molly. She's been hurt enough."
"Your life is different now. You're a different person. You're thousands of miles away from LA and from Washington. That's the beauty of this place; it's forgiving. It let's guys like you, and like me, start over."
Jack nodded but wasn't convinced. "I'd rather you didn't tell Molly about my past. If you want her to know, I'll tell her."
"I have no intention of telling her. If you ever feel that she has to know, you can tell her. As far as I'm concerned, you and I are the only ones who ever have to know."
"Thanks, Ted. I appreciate this. If you ever decide that it's too much of a risk for me to stay here, just say the word and I'll disappear." He reached out and shook Ted's hand. "You know, it's almost a relief that someone knows. If someone had to figure it out, I'm glad that it was you."
Jack turned and walked silently into the barn and up to his apartment. His mind was racing and he needed to take some time and think. He dropped the envelope that Ted had given him on the kitchen counter and continued on to his bedroom. He dropped onto the bed as if too exhausted to stand up any more.
Ted's revelation had stunned Jack. He wasn't sure what to do next. He trusted Ted not to tell anyone, but at the same time, he wondered if he should stay. If Ted figured it out, someone else could, too and they might not be as willing to ignore Jack's past as Ted was. Of course, Ted's ties to southern California were what led him to the discovery. Not many other people in the area had similar reason to look into his background. Jack knew that the right thing for him to do right now was to leave. Intellectually he knew that for his own safety, for Tony's and Michelle's and Chloe's safety, he should leave. He should move on, maybe to some place even more rural than this where he was less likely to run into someone who would discover his identity. Or maybe he should go to a city where he could melt into the background and not be noticed.
While Jack knew that was what he should do, he also knew that he couldn't leave. He had only been on the ranch for two months, but Ted was right, he loved it. He loved the hard, physical work out of doors where he could enjoy the sun and the wind and where he could spend much of his day on the back of a horse. At night he would collapse into his thick, soft bed, spent from the day's work, but feeling fulfilled and happy. He also loved his relationship with Ted. Jack and his father had never seen eye to eye. Oh, he loved the Old Man, but they didn't get along all that well. He and Ted had so much more in common. Ted was right; they had very much a father-son relationship that Jack had never had with his own father. Yes, he loved the ranch and his relationship with Ted, but most of all he loved Molly.
He finally admitted it to himself: he loved Molly. He tried hard to hide it, but obviously Ted had noticed. Jack and Molly had become good friends and he wanted it to stay that way. They rode horses together and watched hockey games in Ted's family room. Molly, having grown up with two brothers and a father in the house, was a student of the game. They would have a couple of beers and argue over strategy and love every minute of it. Jack was sure that Ted was wrong about Molly's feelings for him. She had never given him any indication that she cared for him as anything more than a friend. They never went out on a date, unless, of course, you counted stopping at the coffee shop when they made a trip to the feed and grain store. No, Ted was wrong, Jack decided. The man knew horses and he had figured out who Jack was, but he didn't know his daughter as well as he thought he did.
Jack's decision was made. He couldn't leave. He had really never been as happy as he was right now. Just a few weeks earlier as he was falling asleep one night, it dawned on him that he no longer had the heart-wrenching thoughts of Teri that had haunted him for years. When he thought of her, it was of happy times, of her smile or her laugh. It didn't hurt so much any more. As for Molly, he would just have to continue to love her at a distance. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was what was best for her. He knew his heart would be shattered into a million pieces if she fell in love with someone else but it was a chance he had to take. Better that he was hurt than that he hurt her.
The solstice came and brought with it a beautiful Canadian summer. It wasn't the blazing hot, disgustingly humid summers that Jack was used to in LA and in Washington. No, the temperatures were mild, with the evenings cool enough to require a light blanket on the bed. Daylight hours were long and there was a lot of work to do. Jack was busy from sun up to sundown and he was enjoying every minute of it. His hair was bleached pale blond from the sun and his skin had a soft, golden tan. Hours of physical work every day had honed his already well-muscled body to an even greater degree. He was in better shape than he had ever been and had never felt better.
If he had one lament, it was that all of the work and the end of the hockey season had cut into his time with Molly. She stopped by the ranch a couple of times a week to see her father and tend to her horse, and she did go riding with Jack occasionally, but he missed spending time with her. The two weeks she was gone on vacation with some college friends were interminable for Jack. But over all, the summer was too busy for Jack to think much about his relationship with Molly.
Summer came to a close and brought with it cooler temperatures but, early on, no let up in the workload. Jack watched the changing leaves sure in the notion that he had never seen a prettier sight. By late October the snowflakes were already flying and they were making preparations for winter. Dylan and Kurt, the two seasonal ranch hands, were let go for the winter so Jack was the lone inhabitant in the barn loft. He liked the peacefulness. It was so quiet that he could hear a horse whinny in the barn below and know by the voice exactly which horse it was.
Hockey season restarted and Jack's ritual of watching the games with Ted resumed. Molly came over regularly to watch and they once again found their comfort zone. The friendly but distant relationship they had started months earlier that had waned just a bit over the summer, picked up where it left off. They had good natured arguments over the decisions of the coaches and the referees and placed friendly bets on the outcomes of games. When Jack lost the bet over the final score of a Vancouver-New York game, be had to change the oil in Molly's SUV. A few days later Molly lost a bet that resulted in her having to saddle soap all of the tack for Jack's horse. Ted looked on with amusement, wondering how long this could go on without one of them confessing their feelings.
A thick snow blanketed the region in early November and temperatures dropped well below freezing. Ted, remembering his injuries from the winter past and not wanting to repeat them, spent less time outside and let Jack maintain the animals and the property. Again, Jack found the work to his liking. Up until his "death" he had always managed people and his success had been dependent not solely on himself, but on the work of others. He now found himself in the opposite position. He held his own destiny in his hands. It was a liberating feeling for him. He rarely thought of or missed his old life. He missed Kim and wondered how she was doing, but otherwise, he didn't miss any of it. No bullets had whizzed past his head now in over a year and the last time he fired a gun, it was into the air to scare off a bear that had wandered out of the woods and onto Ted's property.
It was late one bitterly cold afternoon when Jack, as had become his routine, stopped by the ranch house to drop off Ted's mail and see if he needed anything. Long shadows preceded him up the steps to the porch. He knocked lightly and entered via the kitchen door.
"Hey, Miss Lila," he called.
"Hey yourself, Jeff," she answered.
"Smells good in here," he told her. The kitchen was filled with the aroma of fresh baked bread. Steam rose from a pot on the stove.
"Beef barley soup and my seven grain bread," she said.
"Lila's the best cook in these parts," Ted said coming into the kitchen. "Why don't you stay for dinner? There's a hockey game tonight; Edmonton Oilers but I forget who they're playing. Stay for dinner and we'll watch the game."
"Thanks, Ted, but I think I'll pass. I still have some work to do in the barn and when I'm finished I think I'll just stay inside. It's too cold to make any more trips outside."
"Stay here tonight, Jeff. That old barn is too drafty on a night like this," Ted offered.
"Actually, with the wood stove, my apartment stays nice and warm. Thanks for the offer, but I think I might just watch some of the game and then turn in early."
"Let me at least send some dinner with you, Jeff," Lila said. "You need something warm on a night like this." Lila bustled about the kitchen putting a generous helping of soup in a container and wrapping up half a loaf of bread for Jack to take with him.
Jack walked briskly back to the barn and started into his work. The sun was just setting and the sky was filled with steely gray clouds banked high into the heavens. More snow on the way, Jack thought. He watched the clouds for a moment when headlights coming up the drive caught his attention. It was Molly's SUV. He waved and she turned left toward the barn, instead of going toward the house.
"Hey, Jeff," Molly called through her open window. "It's freezing out here. I hope you're almost finished."
"Couple more minutes and then I'm going upstairs for the night," Jack told her.
"Aren't you coming over to watch the hockey game with Dad?"
"Not tonight, it's too cold. I think I'm going to stay in."
"I understand," she nodded. "I'm not staying either. I told Dad that I'd come for dinner but afterward I'm going to head home." Molly had an apartment in town near the hospital. "Maybe we can catch a game this weekend. I need to win back a couple of bets from you."
"That's right," Jack laughed. "As I recall, you still owe me a batch of chocolate chip cookies."
Molly laughed, too. Jack couldn't help but notice how her eyes lit up when she laughed. "Oh, I was hoping that you'd forget that!" Molly said. "Guess I better go before you remember more bets that I haven't paid up." Molly put her SUV in gear and pulled it toward the house.
Jack watched her go and then made his way back into the barn. He finished his work and headed up to his apartment. He stoked the fire in the wood stove, ate dinner and finally stretched out on the couch to watch the hockey game. It was just a few minutes before game time when he heard Molly downstairs in the barn.
"Jeff," she called.
"Yeah," he called back walking from his apartment and leaning against the railing that surrounded the barn loft. "What have you got there?"
"I brought you some extra blankets. Dad is concerned that you're going to be cold out here tonight," she said as she started up the stairs to him.
"Thanks," he said taking the blankets from her. "I'll be fine," he assured her. "I was just going to sit down and watch the game. Want to stay for a little while? It's your favorite team, the Oilers. I was going to make some Irish coffee."
"Now that's an offer I can't pass up," Molly said following him into the apartment.
"Sit down, I'll get the coffee started," Jack told Molly.
Molly casually sat down and flipped the television on with the remote control as if it was something that she did every day. Inside, she was a nervous wreck and she could barely keep her hands from shaking. Jack had never invited her into his apartment before. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, she thought. She had convinced herself that he saw her as "one of the guys" and that he had no interest in her as a woman. Molly decided to break the awkward silence. "The Oilers should win this game," she said. "New Jersey isn't playing that well this season."
"Neither are the Oilers," Jack retorted knowing that Molly would immediately defend her favorite team. "That new goalie for New Jersey has had some great saves in the last few games." Jack poured two cups of coffee, added a shot of whiskey and topped them off with whipped cream.
"Ooh, looks good. Thank you," Molly said taking the cup from him.
The two settled back and watched the game. The Oilers scored two goals in the first period and Molly was feeling pretty smug. "New Jersey's goalie looks great, Jeff. He's just stopping goals right and left!"
"Oh you just wait! New Jersey's going to come back and win this game."
"I suppose you want to bet on this," Molly said.
"As a matter of fact, I would like to place a little bet." Jack took a drink of his Irish coffee. He had made it a little stronger than he had intended and was beginning to feel the effects of the whiskey. He could tell by the way Molly was laughing that she was feeling it, too.
"Okay," Molly said. "If the Oilers win, I don't have to make you that batch of cookies."
"No, no, no," Jack teased. "We agreed last season, you can never make a bet that wipes out a bet that hasn't been paid."
"Alright," Molly agreed. "Cleo needs new shoes. If the Oilers win, you take her to get shod."
"Deal," Jack said.
"What happens if New Jersey wins?" Molly asked. He was sitting closer to her than he usually did and she felt a little flushed. She told herself that the apartment was just hot from the wood stove, but she knew that wasn't the case.
"Well, let's see," Jack said pondering the possibilities and enjoying the buzz he felt from the drink. "If New Jersey wins," he said moving closer to her, "I get to kiss you." He couldn't believe that he had just said that. He had been thinking it for months, but had never even considered saying it.
Molly's heart was pounding in her throat but she pretended to be nonplussed. "Jeff, if you want to kiss me, maybe you should just do it and not worry about the outcome of the game."
"And what would happen if I did that?" he asked in a hushed voice, his face moving closer to hers.
"You'll have to take your chances," Molly returned coyly.
Jack hesitated for a moment before leaning forward toward Molly. He closed his eyes and allowed his lips to find hers. He could taste the mix of coffee and whiskey on her mouth and relished the warmth of her closeness. He withdrew slightly and slowly opened his eyes fearing that Molly might not have enjoyed the kiss as much as he had. But she had. She gazed at him; her lips slightly parted and then leaned into him for another kiss. This kiss was far more passionate than the first. Jack teased Molly's lips further apart with his tongue. Their arms encircled each other's body while quiet groans escaped from their mouths. The hockey game continued unnoticed while they kissed. Jack gently pushed Molly back onto a pillow on the arm of the sofa. He was excited to feel her pulling him down on top of her.
It was all moving so fast and Jack knew that he should stop them, but he couldn't. He had wanted Molly for so long that he had stopped thinking rationally. All he could think about was how good it felt to hold her, how good it felt to touch her, how good it felt to kiss her lips and have those kisses returned so fervently. He slid his hands down her back and was able to slip them under her sweater. She shuddered as he ran his hands along her bare back and she pushed her body up against his fueling his excitement. Spurred on by her reaction, Jack brought his hands around to her stomach to caress the soft skin. Molly reached under the sweater and covered his hands with her own and then directed them carefully to her breasts.
"Molly, we shouldn't be doing this," Jack whispered, all the while hoping that she could give him a good reason to continue.
"Why not?" Molly asked. "Jeff, I've wanted you almost since the moment I first met you," she said breathlessly. "I never thought you noticed me. You've always treated me like one of the guys. I wasn't sure that you realized that I was a woman."
"Believe me," he said with a soft smile. "I noticed. I've wanted you, too, but …"
"No 'buts', Jeff. We're not children. We're consenting adults who care about each other, who need each other. We both know what's at stake here and I'm willing to take that chance. Are you?"
Jack stared at her for a moment and then launched into another flurry of kisses. Whether due to alcohol or hormones, his inhibitions had disappeared. He reached around to Molly's back and opened her bra and pushed his hands underneath it cupping each breast in one of his hands. Molly groaned his name. She reached for the bottom of the sweater and pulled it up so that her breasts were exposed.
"Beautiful," Jack whispered almost imperceptibly as he dropped his head and began to kiss and suck each one in turn and then eased the sweater off over her head. He sat up so that he could look at Molly's half naked body. "You're just as beautiful as I imagined.
Molly smiled and reached up to begin unbuttoning Jack's shirt. He found her style exciting. She didn't act the shy, unassuming virgin when they both knew that she wasn't, but by the same token, she wasn't being overly aggressive either. He fondled her breasts as she unbuttoned his shirt and helped him take it off.
"How am I supposed to keep my mind on getting you undressed if you keep doing that?" she asked teasingly.
"You want me to stop?" Jack asked in return smiling softly.
Molly liked his smile. It was one of the few times she had seen him look really at ease. He had let his guard down completely; he wasn't hiding anything. His mind was fully focused on her and on his own pleasure. For whatever reason he had built a twelve-foot-high wall around himself, but right now he allowed it to cave in and it gave Molly a full view of his soul. She liked what she was seeing.
Molly laughed and sat up. She pressed her palms on Jack's shoulders and pushed him playfully onto his back. The move took him by surprise, but he recovered quickly enough to grab her waist and pull her down on top of him. A new flurry of kisses started but this time Molly was in control. They kissed for a long time before she began to move down to his neck and chest. Slowly she made her way across his stomach. Her hand drifted easily to his belt buckle and she opened it. His jeans were next. Molly unsnapped and unzipped them and Jack groaned in anticipation of whatever it was she had in mind.
Soon his pants and boxer shorts were pushed part way down and Molly had him in her mouth. Jack alternately tensed and relaxed his stomach muscles gently thrusting against her. The sensation was unbelievable. It had been well over a year since he had been with a woman. And although he thought about sex as often as any other health male, he seemed to have forgotten how really good it could feel. He closed his eyes and reveled in the feeling, the warm wetness of Molly's mouth, the sensation of her tongue against him, the slight pressure of her sucking. He was close to climaxing, but he didn't want it to happen yet. Not here, not on the sofa.
Jack caressed Molly's face and lifted her head away from him. "Stop, Baby," he whispered. "Let's move to the bedroom. It'll be more comfortable."
Molly didn't need to be coaxed. She stood up and as she did, Jack started taking her pants off. Finally completely undressed, the two found their way into the bedroom and onto the bed where they sunk into the thick, down comforter. Neither hesitated and there was no shyness as they became one, bodies and souls united. They panted and gasped and cried out in pleasure. Their love complete, they drifted off to sleep peacefully wrapped in each other's arms.