Here's a little different offering from me. It should be three or four relatively short chapters. I'm not sure how much interest this will generate (or even how good it is) but it was just burning to be written. It was inspired by the look on Jack's face when Bill tells him that Audrey is debriefing Diane. The look was priceless and it made me wonder what all three parties might be thinking. (If this sounds a little like "The Look" by Angel's babe, I'm sorry, it is coincidental. I read that story after I had already outlined this fic and written the first chapter.)

BTW – none of these characters are mine, as you know. Sadly, they all belong to Fox.

So here it is…I hope you'll read it and, if you do, please review. It only takes a second and it will make me very happy. I have no real life and I live for 24 and fanfiction reviews. Anyone that pathetic deserves a review, don't you think?

The Debriefing

Day 5: 11:22am

Part I: Audrey

Audrey Raines stood next to Bill Buchanan in the CTU conference room. They were reviewing the latest report from the department of defense when Edgar Styles entered the room.

"Mr. Buchanan, I just spoke with Curtis. He said that Jack Bauer is on the way over. He should be here in about a half hour," he said in his thick Brooklyn accent. "He's also sending over a woman by the name of Diane Huxley and her son Derek."

"Who are they?" Bill asked.

"Derek is the boy that the terrorists were threatening to kill. Apparently Jack has some kind of relationship with Ms. Huxley. They need to be debriefed."

"What kind of relationship?" Edgar was more than competent, but Bill hated his habit of not giving him all of the information at once, thus forcing him to dig for the essential facts.

"Curtis wasn't sure, but he said that Jack asked him personally to take care of her." Edgar opened a file to show it to Buchanan. "So far this is what we've got. Jack was apparently living under the alias 'Frank Flynn'. He was working in the oil fields in Mojave and the address he gave the company was the same address as Diane Huxley."

"What do we know about Ms. Huxley?" Bill asked. "Does she have ties to any terrorist groups?"

"None that we know of. She's divorced and has one son. She's an assistant manager for a retailer in Mojave. She doesn't have any police record. Nothing here points to her being any part of a conspiracy. It just looks like she's Jack's girlfriend."

Audrey swallowed hard and she saw Bill's eyes flit to her face and then back to the file. Bill grimaced internally hoping that the look didn't show on his face. Anyone other than Edgar would have found some euphemism other than "girlfriend" to describe the woman with Audrey present. They would have referred to her as his "friend" or "acquaintance". Unfortunately, Edgar, like Chloe, wasn't overloaded with social graces. Bill had grown used to it but couldn't make himself like it.

"What's her ETA?"

"About ten minutes. Should I have somebody set up an interrogation room?"

"I don't think that's necessary. Let me talk to McGill as see what he thinks. I think it's reasonable to debrief her and her son in one of the small conference rooms. Set it up while I talk to Lynn. If he wants something different I'll let you know," Buchanan said.

Audrey listened to the exchange in silence. None of this was any of her business. She was here to be liaison to the DOD and she needed to make sure the lines were clearly drawn.

"Audrey, I'm sorry," Bill offered kindly. "I can't imagine how hard all of this is for you." He squeezed her arm gently, comfortingly.

"I'll be okay, Bill," Audrey answered professionally. She was dying inside but allowed Bill only to see a mask of calm.

For the last 18 months she had lived with the "fact" that Jack Bauer was dead. She had grieved for him. She had cried herself to sleep more times than she cared to count. She had hated herself for what she had said to him just before he was "killed." Now she was finding out that it was all a hoax. Part of her was thrilled that he was alive, that she could apologize to him, that she could tell him that she still loved him. The other part of her was angry that for the last 18 months she had been in such pain, sometimes barely existing, and that Jack was alive and well the whole time. Now, to know that he had been living with some woman and that he had moved on with his life while she had not been able to, that was possibly the most painful part of all.

Bill looked at his watch. "If you need me, I'll be in the situation room getting hourlys from my department heads."

"Thanks," she whispered.

They exited the room together and Bill turned right while Audrey continued on to the workstation that had been set up for her. She was lost in her own thoughts when she ran into Lynn McGill.

Lynn was a self-important little bureaucrat as far as Audrey was concerned. She had seen hundreds of his type in her years with the DOD and she loathed them. They were forever standing in the way of progress. She hated McGill from the moment she met him and it became obvious to her that he had Jack as good as charged, convicted and executed for the assassination of David Palmer and he hadn't even heard Jack's side of the story. She had to give Lynn some credit, though. If he hadn't figured out that Jack was using an old duress code, he and the assault team would be dead now. That was the only reason that she could think of to give Lynn more than the time of day as he approached her in the hallway.

Their discussion was brief. Lynn "asked" (which since he was currently in charge, was a nice way to say "ordered") her to interview Diane Huxley. Never mind that Audrey was not trained in the art of interrogation. Never mind that making her talk to the woman who Jack was now living with would cut her to the quick. Never mind that all she wanted to do was run away from this place, this nightmare and try and figure out what was happening to her. She tried to get out of it, but McGill had no intention of letting her do that. So in the end she agreed to talk to the woman who was in the process of clearing security.

Lynn walked away leaving Audrey with the file folder which held meager information on Diane Huxley. Audrey sighed, gathered her wits about her and walked toward Huxley who, along with her son was being escorted into the bullpen.

Audrey took a good long look at Diane as she approached her. She could see what Jack was attracted to. Diane Huxley was a good looking woman: pretty face, good figure, nice skin. Her hair needed to be updated but otherwise she was attractive. The jeans she was wearing were faded but she filled them out nicely. Diane's figure was curvier than her own and she suspected that Jack liked that. He had told her more than once that she was too thin. She noted that Diane's arm was protectively wrapped around her son. Jack always liked a family atmosphere. Audrey could easily see him slipping into the role of surrogate father to the boy.

Audrey tried to act normal as she introduced herself to Diane and asked the CTU guard to take Derek to medical to be checked out. She directed Diane to an upstairs office. Diane looked around CTU which was, at the moment, a beehive of activity, and casually asked if Audrey knew Jack before he disappeared.

Audrey nearly choked on the words. "Yes, I knew him." Like in the biblical sense, Audrey thought as she watched Diane climb the stairs. She closed her eyes for a second to try and get a hold of her emotions then followed Diane.

Audrey sat at the desk and looked at the file folder. "You said that you and Jack lived together for six months, is that correct?" Audrey asked.

She found her mind wandering as she tried to concentrate on the interview. Were their nights filled with the same kind of passion that she and Jack had shared? Did they watch movies in bed and then playfully act out the love scenes? Did Jack sneak in the bathroom while she was in the shower and step in with her?

"He rented a room from me?" Diane explained.

"Did you and Jack have a personal relationship?"

"I'm not sure that's any of your business," Diane retorted. Her voice had just the slightest edge to it.

Audrey tried to explain why she was asking, but at the same time felt relief wash over her. Maybe Diane wasn't his girlfriend; maybe she was just his landlady. Maybe they weren't lovers. She would hold onto that thought, focus on that thought. Yes, Diane was simply Jack's landlady. No, Diane was not Jack's lover.

The rest of the questions she asked were basic. Did anyone come to the house to see Jack? Did he confide in you? No, Diane assured her. Nothing about the man she knew as Frank Flynn aroused any suspicions in her.

"Jack's a private person," Diane said. "I knew he was keeping something from me, but I didn't press him. I figured he'd tell me if he wanted to."

That answer floored Audrey. She nearly staggered under its weight. Diane trusted Jack so completely, that she didn't care who he really was. She loved what she saw and what he let her see and that was enough for her. Audrey, on the other hand, could only love Jack if he was who she wanted him to be. When he was a suit behind a desk in Washington, he was all she could ever want. When he traded in the suit for a leather CTU jacket and a bullet proof vest, he no longer fit the image of a man she could love.

Audrey was suddenly nauseous. She felt cheap and judgmental and ashamed of her behavior. She remembered breaking up with Jack. They stood in the hallway; she didn't even have the decency to talk to him in a private place. Then she told a man who had just saved an entire city, millions of lives, that she couldn't love him. The bile rose in her throat as she looked at Diane and understood what it meant to love unconditionally. Diane gave that love to Jack but she hadn't; her love came with strings attached.

Audrey's thoughts were interrupted when she saw a movement in the hallway. She didn't have to see him to know who it was. She knew it was Jack. She looked up and caught sight of his face, his handsome face. He looked thinner and older as though the last 18 months had aged him far more than the calendar would have let on. Jack looked at the two women in the office for a long moment and then started to walk away.

Now Audrey knew what it was like to see a ghost. "Would you excuse me for a moment," she stammered as Jack turned his back and walked down the hallway. She walked out of the room and called after him. Her feet felt like lead and the heat suddenly seemed oppressive.

They stood in the empty hallway, much like they had done the last time they saw one another, when Audrey had broken up with him. They stared at each other for what was probably no more than a few seconds, but it felt like hours. Jack spoke first, "I don't even know where to begin. You have to believe me that I couldn't tell you I was alive. It was for your own safety."

Audrey wanted more than anything to touch him. She wanted to make sure that he really was alive, that this wasn't just a weird dream. She wanted to touch him but was afraid. After the way she had treated him, she feared that he would push her away and that was a rejection that she didn't think she could cope with. So she kept her hands to herself as they talked. The conversation was surreal and all too soon Jack was being summonsed to meet with McGill.

Audrey had so much more that she wanted to say to Jack. Why couldn't the world just wait while they had some time alone, while they reconciled, while they took some time to sort out their feelings? Why did something always have to take Jack away from her?

Audrey did her best to compose herself knowing that she had to finish debriefing Diane. She went back toward the office where Diane sat. She was grateful that her reunion with Jack had taken place away from the office and that Diane had not been able to see them. Audrey wondered what Diane thought. She wondered if it had been obvious that she had not merely known Jack in the past.

Professional mask back on, Audrey entered the office and sat down at the desk. She opened the file folder and looked at the information in front of her. Her eyes darted to the notes she had made on a yellow legal pad. None of it was making any sense at the moment. Her brain simply couldn't process all of it, or frankly, any of it. She spent well over a minute trying to figure out what to say next, finally looking up nonchalantly at Diane.

"Well, I think that will be all for now. If any other questions come up, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I'll take you down to the medical unit to be with your son."

"Thank you," Diane said quietly.

She watched as Audrey nervously pushed a strand of hair behind her eye and then opened the office door. The two walked in silence to the medical unit.

"Here you go," Audrey said as she opened the door to the medical unit. "Just tell the agent at the desk that you're Derek's mother and she'll take you to him. Thanks for your cooperation. I know you would have preferred to be in here with your son."

Diane thanked her again and then disappeared into the medical unit. Audrey waited until Diane was safely out of sight before stepping back into the hallway and leaning heavily against the door. Her strength seemed to disintegrate and she wasn't sure what was keeping her from collapsing into a heap on the floor.

It was all too much to take in at once. Audrey's phone rang and she pulled it from her pocket. "Audrey Raines," she said as calmly as possible.

"Ms. Raines, I have Phil Evans from the DOD on the line."

Audrey drew a deep breath. "Thank you. Put him through," she said stoically. She was suddenly reminded that she had a job to do, that there were terrorists to apprehend. For at least the moment, her memories of a past and wishes for a possible future with Jack had to be put on hold.