I realized after I posted the first chapter that I forgot to put a disclaimer in it. So, as usual, none of the 24 characters are mine. I've borrowed them from FOX.

WARNING: Spoilers up to and including the 10pm to 11pm episode. If you haven't seen up to that point yet and don't want to know what happens, don't read this chapter

Thanks so much for your supportive reviews. I didn't know if this story would generate much interest, but it has gone over better than I expected. So, thanks to all who reviewed. Now, on with the story.

The Present

CTU – Los Angeles

Day 5, 8:12 pm

If it was possible, Bill's day had gone from bad to worse. The Vice President was sending two flunkies from Homeland Security to "assist" the operations at CTU. Bill wasn't stupid. He translated "assist" to "take over". This after they had numerous employees killed when a nerve gas canister was deployed in the building. And, as if that wasn't enough, Christopher Henderson escaped and killed Tony in the process. As badly as he felt about the nerve gas attack and the loss of life, Bill didn't feel responsible for it. That had been the result of Lynn McGill's pride and poor decisions. On the other hand, Henderson's escape and the murder of a former agent within the medical unit was fully his responsibility and he knew it. Losing Henderson was important. Henderson had plenty of information, but extracting it had proved problematic. He sincerely hoped that Henderson's escape didn't result in any further loss of life. He knew that it would be a black mark on his record, but at the moment that wasn't his biggest concern. If they didn't find the nerve gas he and much of the rest of LA could end up dead. He needed to stop that from happening.

He allowed his mind to wander for a moment back to home and Elise. He had considered calling his sister and suggesting that she take Elise and get out of LA, but he was torn. Was it right? Was it right to use information that ordinary citizens didn't have to keep his own family safe? There were millions of people in LA who had no idea the danger they were currently in. Those people weren't being warned. In fact, the President was about to announce that a curfew was going to be enforced in order to keep people off of the streets. The point was rapidly becoming moot. If Bill wanted Jane and Elise out of the city, he would have to tell them to get out now before the curfew was in place. He sighed. There wasn't a right answer. Bill didn't often feel this way, but at that moment he would have given anything for a very strong scotch and soda.

The intercom buzzed and Bill hit the button for speaker. "Mr. Buchanan," said his assistant.

"Yes."

"Chloe O'Brien has set up a briefing regarding some new intel in the conference room. She wanted you to know about it."

"Tell her I'll be right there, Chris. Thank you,"

"Yes, sir."

Bill shifted the gears in his brain, grabbed a file folder of paperwork that required his signature and made his way down the stairs to the main floor. He strode across the bullpen toward the conference room. He was the last one in the room, so he closed the door behind him and sat at the head of the table.

"What have you got, Chloe?" he asked. At the same time, he opened a file on the table in front of him to sign off on several protocols. He was only giving Chloe half of his attention.

Chloe started, "We've identified a German woman currently in Los Angeles who has had contact with our suspect, Vladimir Bierko. Jack and Curtis have taken a tac team to try and bring her in." Chloe stopped for a moment while she adjusted her computer and projected an image on the screen at the front of the room. Bill continued to look down at the forms in front of him.

Chloe continued. "The name she's using is Collette Stenger and she's basically an international intelligence broker. The German intelligence service has been hot on her tail for months. From what we can tell she has no real loyalties, although she tends to favor communist causes. But she'll pretty much sell anything to anybody if the price is right."

"What do we know about her?" Bill asked, again without looking up.

"Not a lot. Her real name is probably Birgit Miller, but she has several aliases. Interestingly about fifteen years ago she worked for the US embassy in Germany using the alias 'Ava Stroebel'."

Bill felt as if someone had slapped him. He looked up at the image of "Collette Stenger" on the screen and instantly recognized Ava. The picture was recent and she was twelve years older than when he last saw her, but there was no doubt in his mind that she was the same woman. He stared at the picture and, except for the eyes, Elise stared back at him. His heart was racing, the sound pounding in his ears, and he fought to control his respiratory rate. He could feel tiny beads of sweat appearing on his forehead and upper lip. "Do you have anything else?" he asked trying to sound normal. He felt as if everyone in the room was staring at him, like they knew something was wrong.

"Not really. Ava Stroebel disappeared and is believed to have moved to Russia. There was a rumor floating around that she was involved with an American CIA agent and that they might have had a child together, but that was never substantiated. In the last ten years or so she's made a small fortune selling intelligence, anything from state secrets to troop placements to blue prints and schematics. She's become the premier intelligence broker in the western hemisphere."

"What's the ETA on the tac team?" Bill asked as he tried to get his head back into the briefing.

"About five minutes," Chloe answered.

"Good, keep me posted. Let's hope that Jack and Curtis get this woman and maybe she can provide us with some answers. Then maybe your colleagues won't have died in vain. Let's get back to work," Bill said in his firm command voice. He exited the room before anyone else and headed back to his office.

Bill trotted up the stairs to his office and closed the door behind him. Once inside, he nearly collapsed into his desk chair. What he had just heard was beyond all comprehension. He knew from the start that Ava, or Collette or Birgit or whatever her name was, was a communist, but an international intelligence broker! He couldn't imagine. He suddenly felt so cheap and so used. Had she ever really loved him? or was she just using him for information to sell to her communist friends. He searched fifteen year old memory banks and tried to remember if he had ever shared any classified information with her. It wasn't likely. That wasn't his style; it never had been.

Bill composed himself quickly. He had to meet with the people from Homeland Security and this couldn't get in the way.

The next hour was filled with drama. Jack and Curtis found Collette Stenger and Jack brokered a deal with her. She would get immunity if she gave Jack her source. The only problem was that the source she named was Audrey Raines. That resulted in a fruitless interrogation of Audrey, who was innocent and had been set up. In the end, the immunity deal that Stenger had signed was null and void when Jack was able to prove that she was lying.

Then Bill watched as Jack and Curtis raced against the clock to find the nerve gas canisters and destroy them before they could cause more loss of life. He watched horrified as they identified the location of the nerve gas and he realized that the gas distribution center where they were set to go off serviced his home as well as his sister's. He fought back an unimaginable fear of losing them both at the same time, feeling impotent to help them as he stood his post at CTU. The fear was overwhelming and he hoped that he had kept his emotions well hidden in front of his subordinates as well as Karen Hayes and Miles Papazian from Homeland Security. Bill wasn't sure that he had ever prayed as hard as he had for that half hour when Elise's and Jane's safety had been so in question. Chloe's announcement that the levels of nerve gas released were well below toxic brought a relief so strong that it was almost palpable.

Between his fearful watch over the operation and then trying to fend off the hostile takeover by Homeland Security, Bill had momentarily forgotten that Ava Stroebel, a.k.a. Collette Stenger, was in the building. He had been too busy when she was brought into CTU and put into holding to oversee any of that process. He had taken a few seconds to look at her on the monitor that kept watch over the cell. She was as beautiful as ever, in fact maybe more so, or in a more grown up sort of way, since he last saw her. A sharp pang of hatred flooded him. He wasn't sure if he hated her for using him or for leaving him or for leaving Elise or, maybe most of all, for putting Elise in danger. But it was hate that filled him nonetheless.

Now, just shortly after 10 o'clock, Collette sat in a holding cell awaiting transfer to a federal facility. Bill walked toward holding wondering whether to go in and see her or not. He was carrying the papers that transferred her custody from CTU to the federal marshal. He could have turned those over to the security guard and let him explain the transfer to the prisoner, but after thinking it over he decided to do it himself.

"Hello, sir," said the guard standing watch over the holding cell. "Are those the transfer orders?"

"Yeah, Tom. The federal marshal should be here to get her in about a half hour," Bill told him.

"I can take them for you, sir. I'll review the transfer procedures with the prisoner."

"Thanks, Tom, but I think I'll do this myself, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, sir. I just thought I'd save you some time."

Bill lowered his voice a bit and moved closer to the guard. "Truth is, Tom," Bill said while lying through his teeth, "I think she knows more than she's giving us. I just want a few minutes alone with her. I need you to turn off the audio and the visual. In fact, if you'd like to take a fifteen minute break, feel free to do so."

As most employees, Tom trusted Bill. It crossed his mind that it was odd for Bill to extract information from a prisoner using force, but with all that had happened that day, extreme measures were necessary.

"Of course, Mr. Buchanan," Tom said. He turned off the monitors and the audio and video recording devices. "She's all yours."

"Thanks, Tom."

Ava sat with her head tilted back and rested it against the wall. She couldn't believe that she had finally been caught, and by the CIA no less. She had thought for the last couple of years that the German intelligence service or even Interpol might catch up with her, but not the CIA. She didn't do much business on US soil, so it had never been a big concern for her. Her thoughts were interrupted by some movement at the door. She heard someone punching the code into the keypad and watched as the door opened. Her surprise when Bill entered the room was obvious. She recognized him instantly. He was older, his hair now gray and receding, but he had the same handsome face with the strong jaw and clear blue eyes as when she knew him all those years ago.

"Hello, Ava or Collette. Or is it Birgit? No one seems to know for sure. Obviously I don't know. I thought I did, but I guess I was wrong."

"Bill," she said in a breathy whisper. It was all she could manage.

"So you remember. I'm impressed. Gee, it's been a long time since we've seen each other," Bill said sarcastically. "Now seems like a good time to catch up." Bill stalked the room like a tiger. Collette was suddenly afraid of him. His eyes blazed with anger. She couldn't imagine that she could ever be afraid of Bill Buchanan, but at that moment he was scaring her.

"While I've been working my ass off here and raising our daughter, you've been busy building a world class reputation as an intelligence broker, I see," he continued.

"Bill, stop, please," Collette begged. "I'm going to pay the price for all of this and I'm sure you're going to enjoy it."

"No, Ava," Bill said sincerely, "what I would have enjoyed was sharing my life with you, raising our daughter together. That's what I wanted. It will give me no pleasure to watch you go to prison."

"How is she?" Collette asked.

"How dare you ask! If you had kept in touch with me, if you had loved her like a mother should, you'd know how she is. Do you even know her name?" Bill shouted at her.

Collette started crying. "I left the hospital before you named her," she sobbed.

"Don't bother putting on a show for me. It won't work. I won't feel sorry for you. If you wanted to see your child you could have. I tried to contact you before I left Russia, Ava. I gave you every chance to see her and to be a part of her life. You chose to ignore me. You chose to ignore your own child. And for what? To make a fortune brokering information that results in the deaths of innocent people. My God, Ava! How could I have loved you?" Bill threw up his hands in exasperation. "You want to know something ironic? If that nerve gas had been released into gas lines as the terrorists planned, your daughter would be dead now."

Collette looked shocked and contrite at the same moment. "I had no idea. I didn't know, Bill, I swear it."

"That gas distribution center where Bierko tried to deploy the nerve gas services my sister's house where our daughter is staying at the moment since I'm stuck here dealing with a crises thanks to people like you. You have no idea how scared I was when I realized that she could die and there was no way for me to stop it. Thank God our tactical teams got there in time and were able to stop the nerve gas from getting into homes. Because if they hadn't," Bill said, his face now just inches from hers, "we wouldn't be talking right now. My hands would be around your throat and you would be gasping for breath and hoping for a quick death. So help me God, Ava, if I lost my baby tonight, you would have paid."

"I'm sorry," Collette whispered not knowing what else to say and not knowing what else to expect from her former lover.

Bill turned away to try and control his emotions. He knew that this was pointless but 12 years worth of anger and pain were suddenly bubbling to the surface and he knew that he had to express it. He simply couldn't continue to keep it bottled up.

It was Collette who spoke again. "I made a mistake, Bill."

"Getting caught?" he asked.

"No, I was talking about 12 years ago. I made a mistake. I should have stayed with you and the baby. I've regretted it ever since."

"Not enough to come and find us apparently," Bill returned smoothly.

"No, you're wrong. I've wanted to find you for years. I just didn't have the nerve. I knew that I was wanted by intelligence services all over the world. That last place I wanted to show up was in the home of a CIA agent."

"That's touching, Ava," Bill said, his voice oozing with sarcasm. "You didn't come to see us because you were afraid that I'd figure out who you were and turn you in. So you stayed away so you didn't get caught."

"No, Bill. I wasn't worried about me," she started.

"Well that would have been a first," he retorted.

"Let me finish. Of course I didn't want to get caught. That much is true. But the thing that really kept me away was that I was ashamed of who I was and what I did for a living and, most of all, how I abandoned my daughter. I'm not proud of any of that, Bill. I do what I do and I won't deny it, but I don't ever want my daughter to know."

"You don't have to worry about me telling her. As far as I'm concerned, I haven't seen you in 12 years."

Bill continued to pace the room although more slowly now. He seemed to be calmer and more in control. Collette watched him; her earlier fear of him now dissipating.

"You still haven't told me her name," she said quietly.

Bill closed his eyes for a second before he spoke. "Elise Catherine," he finally answered in an equally quiet voice.

"Elise?"

"Yes, you know that I always loved it when you played that song," Bill stopped for a moment as he collected his thoughts. "I didn't know what to name her. When I took her home from the hospital she still didn't have a name. That night she was fussy and I was walking her around that little apartment in the middle of the night. I started humming 'Für Elise' to her and she seemed to settle down and she went to sleep. That was when I named her."

"Did you spend a lot of sleepless nights walking her?" Collette asked.

"Why do you care?" Bill returned pointedly.

"Because I laid awake a lot of nights wondering if she was keeping you awake, wondering if she needed her mother," Collette told him as she stared off at some distant point.

"If you were so worried about her, why didn't you come over and rock her once in a while? And to answer your question, Ava, we did just fine without you."

She noticed that Bill said that without any bitterness. It was simply a statement of fact. Collette nodded knowing that Bill was telling the truth. He and Elise had done just fine without her. She thought for a moment before speaking, afraid to ask the next question.

"Does she hate me?"

"Some days she does," Bill shrugged slightly. "Other days she's indifferent. It depends on which way the wind is blowing and what her hormones are doing."

Collette smiled involuntarily remembering being an adolescent girl. "Has it been hard raising a daughter?"

"I told you before, we've done just fine. Elise is healthy and happy and well adjusted. She occasionally laments not having a mother, like today when she decided that she didn't want to go to the mother-daughter dance at school because some of the girls were making fun of her, but most of the time, she takes it in stride."

"You never married?"

"You were a hard act to follow," Bill said with a slight smile almost forgetting his earlier anger.

"I'm serious."

"It's hard to find a woman who's interested in raising someone else's child. Most women were scared off when they found out that I was the sole custodian of a child. The few that weren't scared off didn't work out for other reasons. I haven't really looked for a wife. I spend my days working and the evenings and weekends I devote to Elise."

"It sounds like a lonely life," Collette commented.

"No, not at all. On the contrary, I'd say you're the one who's had a lonely life. Elise is all I need. She keeps me busy and she keeps me company. We have a lot of fun together. She's bright and witty. She has a wonderful sense of humor. You gave me an incredible daughter, Ava. I really should thank you for that."

"What have you told her about me?"

"I've told her that some women aren't meant to be mothers and you're one of them. I've also told her that she owes you a debt of gratitude."

"A debt of gratitude? How could you possibly say that?"

"When Elise gets angry with you, I just remind her that you gave her life. She understands that it would have been easier for you to have an abortion, but you agreed to have her. Then you gave her to me and I've loved her enough for two parents. That usually makes her smile and diffuses the situation."

"It sounds like you've done a wonderful job, Bill."

"I hope I have. Elise is a wonderful girl. I've loved every minute I've spent with her." Bill looked at his watch for a moment. "I guess I should be going. The federal marshal is going to be here soon to take you to the federal building for processing."

Collette nodded. Bill could see tears in her eyes.

"I'm truly sorry that this is how we had to meet, Ava."

"Me, too," she whispered back, her voice cracking with emotion.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Bill turned and moved toward the door.

"Bill, wait," Collette said urgently.

Bill turned back to face her.

"Do you have a picture of Elise? I'd like to see it."

Bill hesitated for a moment but didn't speak.

"You don't have to say anything. You have a picture, but you don't want to show it to me. Am I right?"

"Yes, that's right. I'm not sure that you've earned the right to see her. You've had 12 years to see her and you haven't bothered. I'm sorry. She's mine now, Ava. You gave up any rights to her long ago." Bill turned and reached for the door handle. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I'm going to prison for a long time, Bill. When I get out, I'll be an old lady and I'll be deported back to Germany. I'm paying a steep price for my sins. What harm is there in letting me see my daughter's picture?" Collette asked.

Bill leaned heavily against the door suddenly very tired, the strain of the day beginning to show on his face. Collette watched as he reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened the wallet and pulled out two small pictures. He looked at them for a long time before handing them to Collette.

Collette held them carefully by their edges as if afraid to smudge photos that rode around all day inside a wallet and had slightly frayed edges already. The first was a close up shot of Elise in a soccer uniform. Her hair was pulled back and she grinned impishly. Collette felt tears fill her eyes as she memorized the girl's face. "She has your eyes," she said trying to smile.

"Yes, but everything else is yours," Bill pointed out.

"Is she a good soccer player?" Collette asked wanting to know everything that she could about this daughter who she had never met or even held as an infant.

"She's pretty good. She plays for her school."

"Where does she go to school?"

"St. James' Academy. It's a private girls' school. My sister teaches tenth and eleventh grade English there."

"Is she a good student?"

"Above average. She excels in English and history but she struggles a little bit in math and science."

Collette nodded and looked at the second picture. This was a more formal one. It had obviously been taken at a music recital. The young girl sat next to a piano in a black gown. She was holding a small bouquet of roses that Collette guessed Bill had given her. She looked very grown up. "So, she plays the piano," Collette said with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Yes, she's very good. Of course, her favorite piece is 'Für Elise', but she doesn't play it quite as well as you did."

Collette noticed that Bill couldn't hide the love or the pride in his voice when he spoke of Elise. "She'll learn," she said in a voice so low that it was barely audible. She continued to study the pictures of the beautiful smiling girl. "I hope you're wrong," she told Bill.

"Wrong? About what?" he asked.

"When I said Elise had your eyes, you said that everything else was mine. I hope that you're wrong. I hope that she has your heart," Collette said as she handed the pictures back to Bill. He smiled and looked down, embarrassed by the obvious compliment. It crossed her mind to ask him if she could keep the pictures, but she didn't bother. He was going to say "no", so why set herself up for failure. It was easier not to ask. "Thank you, Bill. You don't know how much this means to me."

"You're welcome," Bill answered robotically. "Good bye, Ava." He squeezed her shoulder gently and then turned to leave the room.

"Bill, for what it's worth, I really did love you. When I got into the relationship, my plan was to get as much information from you as possible, but you were always closed lipped. You never gave me any information that was worthwhile but it didn't matter because I had fallen in love with you. My superiors in the communist movement wanted me to dump you and find another agent who was more inclined to pillow talk, but I refused. I told them that I loved you and that I was staying with you. They started excluding me from things and I wasn't as involved as I'd been before we started dating. Then you got transferred to Russia. That was my ticket to prominence in the communist party. Once we went to Russia, everything was different. I got so much more involved and my role took on more importance. I wasn't getting information from you, but because I spoke both English and German, I was valuable to them. And I had so many more like-minded people to associate with that I didn't need you any more and I started to hate your capitalist beliefs. That was when things started going bad for us. I just wanted you to know. I wasn't using you. When we made love, I meant it."

Bill stared at Collette for a moment, unsure of what to say. He wanted to believe what she was telling him. At this point, she had nothing left and there was no reason to lie. Bill certainly was not in any position to help her. She had sealed her fate when she lied about Audrey being her source. "Thank you. It means a lot to me to hear you say that," Bill whispered before he turned and left the room.

Outside of the holding cell, Tom, the security officer, had returned to his post. "Did she give you any more information, sir?" he asked as Bill exited the room.

"No, not really," Bill said working hard to suppress his emotions. "I think she really is just a well paid courier. She delivers the information but she has no knowledge of the larger plan."

The officer turned the monitor back on so that he could observe the prisoner. She was leaned over the table with her head in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking as she sobbed. "Did you leave any marks, sir?" The officer asked nervously. He was responsible for the well being of the prisoner and if she was found to have been beaten, he would be in trouble. The woman had proven to be pretty stoic and he was surprised to see her crying. He wondered what his boss had done that would have made her cry so.

"That's not my style," Bill said mysteriously. "The only marks you would find on her are psychological and those can't be held against you."

"Thank you, sir," the officer said in return. "The federal marshal will be here to take her in about five minutes. He's clearing security now."

Bill nodded, saying nothing. He walked away, his heart heavy and full of emotions that he couldn't describe. He both loved and hated this woman. He felt sorry for her, while at the same time, believed that she deserved to spend the next twenty years in prison. He was sorry that he had talked to her but was also grateful that he had done so. None of it made any sense to him and there were so many more pressing issues at the time that he couldn't afford to expend any energy thinking about it.

So instead, Bill walked away from holding and back to the bullpen; away from his former life and former love and toward whatever had to be dealt with next. His past pushed back into the recesses of his brain, Bill was firmly entrenched in the present. Ava and Germany were past and Elise and Los Angeles were present. A re-examination of the past would be for later when he was at home, in his study, with a good bottle of scotch. The present was all that mattered now. Or rather, the present and the future were all that mattered. That was the one thing Bill was clear on and he pressed forward with the knowledge that the past was just that: past. It shaped him. It defined him. He had no need or desire to run from it, but rather he needed to embrace the good, forget the bad, and forgive those who hurt him. He knew at that moment that an important chapter in his life had closed and he was happy that it had. He was finally ready for a new chapter, one that would bring more happiness, more contentment and more love.

Just a warning, the next chapter, The Future, will contain spoilers from the season 5 finale. If you haven't seen the finale and have avoided spoilers up to this point, DON'T READ CHAPTER 3 UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN THE FINALE! Don't say I didn't warn you.