A/N Thanks for the reviews, we'll be getting to some action in the next couple of chapters, it's just taking me longer to set things up than I thought it would. Keep the reviews coming!

5:32 pm PST

Liz rubbed her eyes in a vain attempt to bring the words on her screen into focus. It wasn't working. Her stomach growled and she pushed back from the desk in disgust. She vaguely remembered grabbing a sandwich from the break room after her meeting with the D.O.D. suits, but she couldn't remember when she had eaten before then.

"The airplane, they served something on the plane."

Liz startled herself. She hadn't realized she had spoken out loud until the echo of the words in the office startled her. She looked around wearily and her eyes lingered on the two boxes she had placed by the door. She hadn't been able to bear working at Jack's desk with all of his things surrounding her. The pictures, his mug, personal planner, all of it stood silently, accusing her. Telling her she could have done more, she should have fought back harder. If she had stayed, none of this would have happened. So she had grabbed a box and placed the desk items inside to shut the voices out.

But she hadn't stopped there. Before she knew it, she had packed up everything she knew belonged to Jack. His spare set of clothes, mirror, and shaving kit from the locker; a blanket she recognized from the small sofa in the corner, and a few more personal items from the desk drawers. When she was finished she realized that was it. By accident or design, she had packed Jack's entire life at C.T.U. into two file boxes. And she had closed them tight.

I wonder if he'll thank me.

"Who's going to thank you?"

Liz let out a gasp and sprang to her feet, her hand automatically reaching behind her back to where her holster usually rested.

Tony quickly put his hands up, a file folder held in one of them. "Jesus! I'm sorry! I didn't mean-"

"It's OK." Christ, if I had been armed… "I'm sorry; I guess I was almost asleep." Liz settled back in the chair and pulled herself back up to the desk. "I just got off a real miserable field assignment and I'm a bit… never mind. What can I do for you?" Liz motioned to the chair in front of her, hoping no one had seen her little show through the glass walls.

Last thing I need are more stories floating around this place.

Tony sat in the chair hesitantly, raising an eyebrow at her nervousness. He handed Liz the folder in her hand, "D.O.D. just sent that over. It's their analysis of the workstation that was used for the break-in here this morning."

Liz furrowed her brow, "You mean we're just getting it now?"

Tony nodded and Liz opened the folder. She read the brief summary page and her heart sank. She hadn't really expected much. Someone who was good enough to get into The Pentagon would hardly be foolish enough to leave a trail, but Liz had still hoped for a break. Instead, there were barely two full paragraphs of text and a list of people at the back. Liz looked up at Tony in resignation, "Almost three hours and all we get is this."

Liz propped her elbows up on the desk and put her head in her hands, her fingertips gently rubbing her temples. After three hours, the best the D.O.D. could do was issue a statement in which they confirmed that other than the break-in itself, there seemed to be no indication that the computer in question had been used for any other illegal purposes; nor was there any evidence of anyone other than its authorized user logging on in the last twenty-four hours. Which, Liz had to admit, was a neat feat as the authorized user was apparently in Italy on a vacation with his family.

Tony nodded again and added, "I don't think they're holding back, not after this morning, I really think this is all they have." There was a pause, "Liz, are you feeling OK?" He asked softly.

Her head still in her hands, Liz grumbled, "You know, Milo asked me that earlier, and I still don't have a real answer." Liz looked up and was startled at the concern in Tony's eyes. She hadn't pegged him as the kind of guy who went around the office checking on everyone's emotional temperature. She wondered what had triggered the response, but then she realized that if she looked half as bad as she felt, Tony was probably wondering if she was going to collapse right in front of him.

She gave him a weak smile and said, "I just haven't slept much in the last two weeks, and before you walked in, I was trying to remember the last meal I ate. It was rather difficult."

"I know the feeling." Tony paused for a moment as if to say something else and let it go, gesturing at the report instead, "What are you going to do about that?"

Shaking her head, she replied, "Nothing for now. D.O.D. may not be happy about it, but it looks like they're at least leaving the door open. Says here they're going to look into this list of the other people in that office, system admins, other users on the group, as well as anything or anyone who might have picked up the guy's password. So long as they're still working, I'm not going to complain too much." Liz leaned back, "In fact I might not complain at all, even if it does look like they're cutting me out."

"Why not? I thought the whole point of that meeting earlier was to browbeat them into helping you out."

"It was, in part. Mostly it was a staring contest, they wanted to see how tough I was, see if they could intimidate me."

Tony let out a small laugh and cocked her head to the side, "With your reputation, I don't see you being very intimidated by a bunch of suits. I think I heard Agent Baker mention something about a bar brawl downtown your first week in L.A…?" For the first time all day, Liz felt genuine amusement as she groaned and joined in Tony's laughter.

"Well, I think they got the message in any case, and now that they know I'm not going anywhere, I think I'll foist them off on Chapelle. He might even thank me, always did want me to be more of a team player."

"Somehow I doubt that's what he had in mind."

"Somehow I doubt this is what any of us had in mind when we got up… yesterday?" Tony shook his head, "Or the day before, last week, whenever…" Liz let the laughter die into silence.

She was glad to note that it wasn't an awkward silence, though. Liz had been afraid, after their rocky meeting that morning, that Tony might keep his distance, or actively try to avoid her. She was pleased to note that he wasn't withdrawn, or trying to hide anything, which would have been a very bad thing for all concerned. But she could still feel hesitaion; like there was something more he wanted to say. Liz was also fairly certain she knew what it was about, but she needed him to come to her about it. She didn't want to push him too far.

Tony caught her eye and held it a moment before he spoke. "We didn't finish this morning. My interview, I mean."

"No, we didn't." Liz admitted, and she leaned back in the chair.

He took a deep breath, "You need me to talk about Nina. The way I see it, I'm about the only one left here who can."

Liz said nothing, and kept her expression even, trying to hide her nerves. She had tried to leave Tony alone as much as she could during the day, to give him his space so he could process what had happened. They had both worked on other tasks, but Liz had looked down from the office on more than one occasion to see him staring at Nina's former desk. His expression had been hard to read, and Liz knew he had a lot to think about. She hoped he had come to some conclusions, she prayed he had come to the right ones.

Tony eventually realized that Liz wasn't going to comment, and so he took another deep breath and continued, "I was third in command here, and no one worked closer to Nina than I did."

Liz took a chance, "Except Jack."

She almost regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, as they caused a haunting expression to cross the man's face. Tony looked down at the floor for a moment, but when he raised his head, there was another look to his eyes and in the set of his jaw. It was anger. "Except Jack." He echoed. "And that's the point, isn't it?

'Nina was smart, and very good at her job. Her real job, I mean. She was friendly without having any real friends. She was trustworthy without really trusting any one else in return. We all knew her, but none of us really got to know her. But I think Jack may have gotten to her a little, I'd like to think that maybe I did, too, but I'm not sure that's something I want to think about right now. But I do know she sure as hell got to us."

Tony shook his head, continuing, "Jack's not going to be any help. Forget the thought of even trying to ask him for help after we all let him down, I'm just not sure he'd be up to it. You didn't see him when he found-"

"Actually I did." Tony looked at Liz sharply and she continued. "See Jack, I mean. I saw what happened when he found Teri. I know in the end it was you who had to convince him to let her body go."

"But how-?"

"The same way Jack saw Nina kill Jamey Farrell. The back-up security feed."

The realization dawned on Tony slowly. Nina had thought she had disabled the security system when she killed Jamey, but there was a back-up recording she didn't know about. Jack did, though, and when he caught Nina in her web of lies, he had used the back-up feed to convince everyone else she was a traitor. Nina also thought she had disabled the security system in the server room she hid in before trying to escape. She had been wrong then, too. And much to Liz's dismay, the video had told her everything she needed to know, and nothing she wanted to remember. Liz idly wondered how many other people had made the connection between Jamey's tape and Teri's murder.

She hoped Jack wasn't one of them.

"Liz," Tony appeared to be searching for the words he needed for the question he wanted to ask, "The tape- did it show…"

"Yeah." Liz bailed him out, allowing her own grief and anger to tint her tone, "Teri walked in on Nina while she was on the phone with someone, a contact or a partner presumably. They talked a bit, Nina pulled a gun, tied her up, and Nina shot her as she walked out the door."

"And when Jack got back he went looking and..."

"Pretty much."

Liz watched Tony stand and cross to the glass wall, looking out onto the floor. He appeared to be wrestling with something and it made Liz nervous, "Does it really matter to you?" She asked sharply.

"Excuse me?" Tony spun to face Liz and she could read the shock and agitation on his face.

Hoping she wasn't pushing Tony in the wrong direction, Liz stood, leaning over the desk and placing her hands flat on its surface. "I asked you if it really mattered to you. The video? Does knowing for sure what happened change how you feel about Nina? About what she did?"

"No, but-"

"Would it change your opinion if you knew that she hesitated before killing Teri, that she had to think it over before she pulled the trigger?"

There was a double take as Tony stammered, "She did?"

"I'm not saying she did or didn't, Tony." Liz crossed over to Tony from behind the desk and stood right in front of him, forcing him to look down to look her in the eyes. "I'm asking you, would you change your opinion if she did hesitate? If she showed that brief moment that would tell you that maybe she isn't the absolute monster everyone's saying she is. That maybe the woman you've been sharing your life with is still in there. If you went to the prison tonight and she showed remorse for what she's done, would it change the job you're doing now? Would you stand by her?"

"God, no! Liz, what the hell?"

Tony took a few steps back and turned away from Liz, sitting on the small couch and putting his head in his hands. Liz followed and sat next to him. "Tony, I'm not asking you to shut off your feelings; I know you need to sort them out. I can't even begin to imagine what this is doing to you. But I need you and I can't have you re-examining yourself every time you learn something new about what she's done. 'Cause I'm pretty sure we're just looking at the tip of the iceberg."

Liz took Tony's hand and he looked up in surprise. Taking another chance, Liz continued on, allowing her nerves and her fear to show. "I have no idea what's going on. I know Nina had help. I know there's someone at The Pentagon, and there are probably more. But what I don't have are references, places to start looking.

'You were right earlier, Tony, you are the only person I can talk to about Nina. You're also the only person I can talk to about Jack. About Palmer. About the Drazens, and Gaines and Jamey, and Kim and all of it. You're it for me.

'There were three people running the show here yesterday. One's in mourning, one's in jail, and the other one's sitting right here. Sure, I'm going to talk to Jack, and I'm going to talk to Nina, but I can't be sure what, if anything I'll get from them. You're my only through line. You're the only one with any authority who was involved from beginning to end. And you're the only one who's still here.

'You are still here, aren't you Tony?" Liz held her breath as she held Tony's eyes with her own. She tried to mentally will him back. To help him push aside what had happened and see how badly she needed him.

Over the course of the day, it had become increasingly obvious to Liz that Tony would have to be the one to tie everything together for her. Jack's notes on the day were, spotty, to say the least since he had been in and out of CTU so much. Liz also knew that while he would help her as much as he could, his focus would be elsewhere.

Nina's notes, while concise and more-or-less complete, were useless. Liz didn't want to take her word for anything that had happened. And forget the prison interviews; unless Nina got a deal, Liz knew she was going to keep silent.

Liz had spent most of the afternoon pouring over the notes from Alberta Green, George Mason, and Ryan Chapelle, but as they were all covering their asses to one degree or another, Liz knew she had to dismiss them.

And for all of Senator Palmer's support, he really didn't know much more than Liz did.

Tony, on the other hand, had nothing to lose. He had to know his job was already in jeopardy, Liz had told him herself that he would be a target of the investigation. He wasn't emotionally attached to any of the major players. Except Nina. And if he could just push past that…

After a few minutes had passed, Tony began speaking, "I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know if I can help. I don't know if I can just put this all behind me. But I'm here." He looked Liz in the eyes, "Until someone tells me to leave, I'm here."

Nodding, Liz smiled in relief and squeezed his hand before releasing it and walking over to the locker. Opening it, she started to grab her jacket and the carry-on bag she had brought with her that morning.

"Why don't we call it a day, Tony?" Liz called over her shoulder. "Night shift must be on its way, everyone has everyone's cell numbers in case of emergency, and I'm starving. Care to join me?"

"Sure, why not? Where you going?" He asked as he stood.

"Well, I don't have a car, so I suppose wherever you can drive me before dropping me off at a hotel."

The ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of Tony's mouth, "We have a motor pool, you know. We can get you a car."

Turning back to the desk, Liz countered, "I'd rather spend the time with you. We do still need to talk. About a lot, and even if we don't get to everything tonight, at the very least I need to make a plan for the next couple of days. I have to tell Chapelle what kind of resources I'm going to need in the AM, and I want to run a few things past you before I make any requests."

"Sounds fair." Tony stood up, "I'll go get my keys, meet you downstairs?"

Liz nodded in agreement. Tony opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped.

"Tony?"

He hesitated briefly, giving Liz the impression that he was going to drop what ever it was he wanted to say, but then he spoke, "You told the truth, didn't you? Last year when you were fired. It was Nina who lied, wasn't it?"

Nodding sadly, Liz answered, "Yes."

Tony turned and opened the door. As he began to exit, Liz stopped him. "Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"I knew she was a liar, but I would never have expected anything like this. I was as surprised as everyone else. She was a pro, no doubt. She got us all."

Tony turned and left. Liz watched him start down the stairs as she picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Chapelle."

"Ryan, it's Liz."

"Well?"

Liz looked out of the office and down at Tony as he was shutting down his system and getting ready to leave. "He's clean. I have no objections."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright, I'll call Mason now and set it up. Official announcement will be in the morning, but as of right now, Tony Almeida is the new head of tactical floor operations and second-in-command." Liz could almost hear Chapelle shaking his head. "I hope you know what you're doing, Genova."

"He can do it, Ryan. And if he can't, fire him when I'm gone, but for now he stays here."

"Your call- your head if you're wrong."

More like my funeral, Liz added silently as she hung up the phone. She shut down her computer, picked up her bag, and headed out the door.