Eight months after Day Three

Five months later

Kim and Chase's house, Los Angeles

Chase slammed the door behind him on his way out of the house, only for Kim to immediately pull it back open. A massive argument had erupted between the two but neither of them had any idea of what had caused it. As he got into his car, she yelled at him from the door until he had sped off out of her view. She began crying where she stood, wondering why everything had gone so wrong. The argument wasn't their first and it wasn't their worse, but there had been no obvious spark to set it all off. It was as if the argument had descended upon them like a black raincloud from the sky. Walking back inside, slamming the door behind her, she tried her best to calm herself down. That was proving to be difficult.

Alex and Nina's car, Chicago

For their stay in the city, the Myers siblings had rented a house in a quiet suburban neighbourhood. They had, to their own great amusement, adopted the surname Bauer. Until Schulze contacted them with a job, they planned to stay there and lie low.

The past five months had been uneventful for them. They had not seen any more of the mystery man and both assumed that he was still in Germany. Their stay in Chicago would come to a dramatic end, even if they couldn't foresee it as they drove down a quiet street. Alex had been speeding a little and had so far not managed to catch the attention of the police. Instead, they had run over something on the road, causing one of their tyres to burst. The car became uncontrollable and they swerved all over the place before crashing.

"Dammit! Nina, are you okay?" Alex asked as he tried to force his door open. He looked over and saw that she was busy trying to do the same with hers.

"I am, yeah, we need to get out of here," she replied as her door swung open. Climbing out, she immediately began scanning the area and saw few other people. As Alex managed to do the same, she began running towards an alleyway with him soon following. Once they felt that they were far enough from the crash site, they examined their injuries. Nina had only minor cuts and bruises, but both of them looked with concern at Alex's arm.

"We need to get you to a doctor," Nina spoke before mentally working out where they could go. Hospitals were an obvious no-go, and she didn't have any appropriate contacts nearby. The nearest one could help them get out of the city, though, so they would still be of use.

"There's a free clinic not too far from here, that's our only option," she concluded. They knew that they had to be quick, the police would soon know of the crash.

CTU Los Angeles, Los Angeles

Erin looked around as the workmen filed out, smiling as she inspected the building. CTU LA had joined much of the populace of the city and had indulged in some plastic surgery. The dull, dark interior was now replaced with plenty of light. There was little resemblance to its former self. The renovation itself was a sad indicator that the terrorism business had grown.

"Chloe, can you check that all systems are up and running?" She spoke as she passed Chloe's workstation. Another large project being undertaken involved the network CTU used. Chloe had scoured the system for any more nasty surprises like Nina's worm as well as beefing up security.

Maplewood Park Free Clinic, Chicago

As they entered, the siblings were thankful that there seemed to be nobody waiting. They had to assume that the police had already found the car and would be looking for the occupants. That meant that they needed this to be quick. Moments later, they found themselves in a doctor's office.

"Mr Bauer, this looks pretty bad. You should go to a hospital," the doctor stated. He was a middle-aged white man, bald with bright blue eyes made more intense by his lack of hair. As he examined the wound, he tried to think of what could have caused it. After all, the police had already told him about a nearby car crash.

"I can't afford that," Alex replied. He glanced over at the clock and saw that it had been twenty-five minutes since the crash. Time was not on their side.

"Well, I'll do the best that I can," the doctor spoke. He worked on the wound, doing what was possible to at least make things more comfortable for Alex. That was until he noticed the gun underneath Alex's shirt. Whilst it wasn't illegal to carry a concealed gun in Illinois, it only ramped up his suspicions. He returned his attention to the wound and hoped that they hadn't noticed him seeing the weapon. Nina had, and now she was debating whether to pull out her own gun. Then she saw a police car pulling up outside. Making her way over to the window, she closed the blinds before taking out her gun. Cocking it, she aimed it at the doctor's head.

"Hey, there's no need for that!" The doctor stammered.

"Finish the job, doctor. We were never here, understood?" Nina snarled before he nodded. He began working as fast as he could.

"Is there another way out?" She demanded, and the doctor nodded before pointing to a nearby door.

"Yes, that door leads to the staff parking lot," he replied. Nodding, Nina noticed some car keys on his desk. As she grabbed them, the doctor was about to protest before realising that it would be useless.

"It's the green Honda Civic near the door," he confirmed.

Moments later, Alex and Nina were driving off in the doctor's car and hoping that he wouldn't be talking. Alex examined his arm. The doctor had done much in a short space of time, but he was still going to keep a close eye on the wound.

As Nina drove, she felt relief that she had at least done what Schulze had asked before they left the city. It was a simple enough task and one that Alex didn't need to know about. The boss had asked her to locate someone within the area and report back. He would take care of the rest.

Kim and Chase's house, Los Angeles

She had been sleeping for a while when the noise at the front door woke her up. Mumbling under her breath, she sat up as Chase walked into the room.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry about that," he spoke before sitting down next to her. He had been driving around without aim, thinking about the argument.

"I'm sorry, too. We should talk to someone about this, we can't go on like this," she replied. Something had to change otherwise they would have to end it, and she wasn't willing to even consider that. At least, not yet.

"If it helps keep us together, then I'm willing to try anything," Chase told her. Not only did he love her, but she was great with Angela and he wanted them to be a family together. If things improved, they could even have a child together. That, he knew, would be far off into the future.

Tony's cell, Federal Correctional Institute Mojave Desert, California

Tony laid on his bed, staring at the picture of Michelle he had taped to the wall. Two more months and he would once more be a free man. Yet he couldn't help but wonder if Michelle would be there to greet him, not after the last couple of months. At first, she had visited as much as she could but those dwindled. Then she stopped answering the phone whenever he got a chance to ring her, and he could only wonder why. He didn't notice anything wrong in any of the visits or phone calls, nothing that could give him a clue. Deciding that it was useless to dwell on it, he reminded himself that he would be out of there soon enough.

Car, Chicago

Nina had driven them south out of the city. She intended to visit her nearest contact and get out of the States as soon as possible. Alex had drifted into a light sleep, and she glanced over at him every few minutes. It reminded her of their escape from Los Angeles, with him driving and her injured and exhausted. Her suspicions about that had long since died down, he had proven himself to be on her side after all. Of course, she knew that he was much safer being with her than going off on his own and so that played a big part. She also knew that he wanted to be close to her, so it wasn't only for security that he stayed with her. Sometimes, she had regrets about getting him transferred to Los Angeles. She had never intended for him to get caught up in everything he had been through since her arrest. Then again, without him being there to help her escape, she would likely have died that night. Kim wouldn't have shot her, but Jack would have. Especially if he had seen her aiming a gun at his daughter.

Alex woke up with a start as someone blasted their horn down the street. Taking a glance at his arm as if expecting to see any difference, he wondered where they would be going. They wouldn't be staying in the US, that was for sure. Deciding to forget about that for now, he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Michelle's apartment, Los Angeles

Despite the almost daily urge she had to quit the job, Michelle was getting ready for work. For now, she was on part-time hours until she felt she could go back full time. The main problem she had was that CTU reminded her of Tony, as did many other things. Whilst she loved him, she couldn't stand to think of him languishing in prison for protecting her. It was why she had stopped the visits and stopped answering the calls. In two more months, he would be free once more and she hoped he would not be angry at the lack of contact. She didn't think everything would continue as it was, but they had to make it work. Their love for each other was too strong for this to break it.