Aaron had no idea where he was, but he was so comfortable he didn't care. He knew he'd been asleep, and gradually became aware of a warm presence next to him. His next realization was that he was not lying down but sitting up, and with that his eyes popped open; he now knew he was still at the Presidential retreat and that the woman next to him was Martha Logan.

What time is it? was his first thought. The room had only one small window, which made it difficult to tell. He carefully pried himself off the couch, not wanting to disturb Martha, and moved stiffly over to the window. It looked to be bright daylight outside, probably early afternoon. As his memory of the morning's events returned to him, he realized that he needed to go to the bathroom, he needed to change clothes, and he needed to find Mike Novick to plan their trip back to Washington. He moved quietly across to the door, glancing back at the couch, and was just about to ease the door open when the handle turned and Mike bumped into him.

"Aah!" Mike erupted, despite Aaron's effort to shush him. They both looked over to see Martha stirring awake. Mike quickly turned on the room light, causing her to flinch and cover her eyes. "Sorry," he apologized, and turned it off again, but not before Aaron had noted a bruise on her cheekbone. He hadn't seen it this morning, but then he hadn't been in shape to notice much. He felt energized by his few hours of sleep, and said, "Mike, I'd like to talk to you about the security detail for the funeral. The lying in state is going to need some careful planning."

"That's fine. I need to talk to you as well; there've been some developments at CTU. Mrs. Logan, do you think you could be ready to fly to Washington this evening? Air Force One is ready. I thought we could leave around eight."

"Of course, Mike." She stood. "Did you get any sleep at all?"

"A catnap. I'm fine. I'll get some rest on the plane." He glanced between the two of them and said, "I checked on you a few hours ago. You looked wiped out." His tone was neutral, but Aaron flushed nonetheless. A moment later he realized that Mike looked too preoccupied to have implied any other meaning to what he'd said. "Is this urgent, Mike?"

"Yes, it is." He glanced at Martha. "Will you excuse us for a minute?"

"I'll start packing. Call me when you need me." She headed for her suite, still looking slightly disoriented from her nap. Novick closed the door behind her.

"What is it, Mike?"

"Two things. First, about Agent Adams. You realize we left our fingerprints all over that plastic? As soon as the police find him – and they will – we'll be identified. I think we should take the initiative and talk to the Attorney General, tell him what happened."

Aaron frowned. "You think that will work?"

"I'm sure of it. He was killed on federal property, that lets the local police out of it. If we explain the facts to the Attorney General, that it was self-defense and he was trying to kill you, he won't ask a lot of questions. He's so preoccupied with that confession Mrs. Logan was able to get from the President, I think he'll accept what we say pretty much at face value. And your record with the Service and David Palmer will speak for you."

Aaron thought fast. Martha had been wearing gloves; there was no chance her fingerprints would be on Adams' gun, and she was the only one who knew he'd been handcuffed at the time Adams had tried to kill him. On the other hand, having taken the gun after she left, his would be all over it. It was clear that Mike didn't know it was Martha who'd shot Adams, and Aaron wasn't about to tell him.

"You may have a point, Mike. Mrs. Logan was able to distract Adams long enough for me to catch him off-balance and grab the gun. We struggled for it, and it went off. It hit him in the chest, and that was it."

Mike nodded. "That's what I thought must have happened."

"I'll do it. Just one thing: Do you think this will make it impossible for me to be at the lying in state or the funeral? It would mean a lot to me to be there."

Mike looked indignant. "Absolutely not! If I have to pull every string I've got, I'll do it. I know you need to be there just as much as I do. I'll vouch for you personally." He put his hand on Aaron's shoulder to emphasize the point.

Aaron drew a deep breath. "Thank you, Mike, I appreciate it." A further thought occurred to him. "Did you say there had been developments at CTU?"

Mike looked worried. "Yes, and they're not good. Jack Bauer has disappeared."

Martha's first action on reaching her suite had been to strip her clothes off and take a shower as fast as possible. She wanted to wash herself free of every trace of her last intimate encounter with Charles. She quickly realized that she did not have the luxury to spend an eternity in the shower, so she cut herself off after ten minutes – reluctantly – and picked out a travel outfit, then dried her hair, dressed and started packing. She was reminded sharply of Evelyn, whose job this would normally have been.

Why didn't she tell me? she wondered, then realized that her actions of yesterday would not have convinced anyone of her ability to keep a secret. And not just yesterday. Ever since she'd returned from Vermont her reputation had preceded her, and she'd only added to it with her occasional acting out at state dinners and public appearances. She'd come to rely on the pills far too heavily, and wine had become her new best friend. Looking back now at the last eighteen months, she felt ashamed, but with a new sense of perspective she wondered how much Charles might be responsible for her unhappiness and insecurity. Subconsciously she must have sensed something was wrong, and he might well have exaggerated her instability to Walt Cummings and the rest of the staff. They would have been only too willing to believe whatever the President said – even Mike. Only Aaron had seen past the smokescreen, had believed her when she told him David Palmer had tried to warn her, and had trusted her with his life. He'd known she was far more reliable than anyone else had ever believed. If not for Aaron's faith in her, Mike would never have believed she was capable of getting a confession from Charles, she realized.

Martha sat down on the bed for a moment, overwhelmed; when they had arrived in California a few days ago everything had been fine, or as fine as it ever was. She'd been in love with Charles; he'd been excited about the Suvarov summit and had told her repeatedly how much he was looking forward to her participation; everything had been organized and taken care of. Now her life was in disarray, marriage over, husband under arrest and in disgrace. She was, to put it bluntly, out of a job. She had no idea what she was going to do with the rest of her life. Even reminding herself that she was lucky to be alive didn't help much. She glanced over to the door to the suite and saw the silhouette of Agent Williams patiently standing guard, and with a pang realized that she'd thought it was Aaron for a moment. She shook her head impatiently and reminded herself that Aaron had his hands full with Mike. It wasn't fair to demand that he dance attendance on her constantly.

Thinking about Aaron made her feel better for the moment. She'd realized this morning that since the events of yesterday their relationship had changed. She knew in a sense that they regarded each other as equals, but now she felt that she was almost walking on eggshells in an attempt not to say the wrong thing, overstep the bounds of their professional relationship or offend him in any way. When she'd tried to order him into the dining room for breakfast she'd known instantly that that approach would not work with him, and she respected him for it. They were slipping back into their roles of Agent Pierce and First Lady as the crises of the last twelve hours became past instead of present, and she regretted it but could see no way to stop it. The next several days would be busy ones for both of them; she probably wouldn't even get to see him. With that thought she jumped up and headed for the door, determined to have at least one more chance to get him to herself, just to reassure herself that he was all right, just to be able to talk to him, even though she had no idea what she was going to say.

She opened the door and was confronted with Agent Williams: "I was going to see if Mr. Novick and Agent Pierce are still in conference. Do you know where they are?"

"Agent Pierce isn't here, Mrs. Logan. He went back to the Service dorm to pack and get some clean clothes. Mr. Novick sent Agent Mitchell with him."

Mike sat, or rather slumped, at the desk in the Presidential study. He was contemplating another nap – he'd only caught half an hour of sleep between phone calls. He felt a weary sense of vindication thinking about what he'd been able to get done today: I knew I could handle things better than that idiot Cummings. He felt a quick stab of guilt for this thought, remembering how Walt had come apart at the seams under questioning and how masterfully Logan had manipulated him. No, both of them. Nevertheless, he could not rid himself of a sense of satisfaction, particularly with regard to his conversation with the Attorney General. The AG's response had been just what he had predicted; the death of a Secret Service agent mattered little compared to the revelations of Logan's confession to his wife.Mike was sure Aaron would have nothing to worry about.

The surprising part had come next, when the AG had played the recording back They'd been discussing the likelihood of getting Logan to plea bargain when Mike glanced up and froze, seeing the expression on Aaron's face:

"Mike? Are you there?"

"Yes, sir. Yes, I was distracted for a second. Sorry."

"Well, we can go into this later. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Again, thank Mrs. Logan for all her help."

"I will, sir, thank you. We all owe her a debt of gratitude." He punched the speaker button, ending the conversation, then waited for Aaron to collect himself.

"He hit her." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"How – Why did you –"

"Aaron, it was our last option. Jack Bauer tried to get a confession out of Logan at gunpoint and it didn't work. We had no choice. And I didn't force her into this, nobody did. She volunteered. I will say, I don't think anyone else could have done it."

"If I'd known –"

"– What? What would you have done differently, Aaron?"

"I don't know, Mike. Maybe nothing. But hearing this… and now that Jack's missing, we don't have anything else, do we? Everything is going to depend on her. I hate to think of her having so much to deal with."

"So do I. But, you know, after seeing her this morning I think she can handle it. I know this isn't going to sound good, but there's a lot more to her than I ever thought there was. I was wrong," he added hastily as Aaron looked at him.

Looking back on this conversation and the events of the last day and a half, Mike thought to himself that there had to be something going on between Aaron and Martha, but he wasn't sure what it was. As he slid into a doze, it didn't seem important.

Agent Mitchell escorted Aaron to the door, then handed him off to Williams in a ceremonial manner that almost made Aaron smile. He thanked them both, then knocked lightly.

"Who is it?"

"It's Agent Pierce, ma'am," he answered for Williams' benefit.

"Please come in."

Aaron was surprised at how neat the suite looked. A couple of suitcases stood near the door, and the room was tidied: Martha had taken out her nervous energy on putting away everything that could possibly be stored, folded or otherwise disposed of.

"Are we ready to leave?" she asked. "I wanted to talk to Mike for a minute, but I can do that on the plane."

"I don't think so. I just got back myself, I had to change clothes and get my things together. I wanted to talk to you for a minute, if that's all right." He looked preoccupied.

"Of course it is." She waited a moment, then when he said nothing said: "Please sit down, Aaron." She took the initiative by sitting down on the couch herself.

He sat down, then said, "I have to tell you that Mike and I talked to the Attorney General today about the death of Agent Adams."

Martha shuddered. "Nobody's asked me any questions."

"Not yet, they haven't. That's why I'm here. I wanted to tell you that everyone thinks I shot Adams. That's what I told Mike and the Attorney General."

Martha jumped up: "No! No. This is wrong, Aaron." He opened his mouth to try to convince her, but she overrode him: "I will not let you do this."

"You don't have a choice." His voice was firm. "Mike believed me, and so did the AG. I've already given a formal statement." He waited a moment; she calmed after making eye contact with him and returned to her seat, though with a rebellious look. "I know you don't like this, but it's the best way of explaining what happened and I can tell you why if you'll listen." He explained the fingerprint evidence and the Attorney General's focus on the Logan recording. "If it comes out that you shot a Secret Service agent, you'll be dealing with this the rest of your life. If I take responsibility, it'll be forgotten in five minutes. Mike told me he'd vouch for me, and I believe him."

"But what if you lose your job?"

He shrugged slightly: "Then I do. I've been thinking of resigning anyway. I'm not going to do it yet, but after what's happened I don't feel what I do is all that important anymore. I used to hope my son would follow me into the Service after he gets out of the Navy, but at this point I think I'd have to tell him otherwise."

"I can give you two good reasons why you should stay, if you want to hear them."

"What are they?"

"Agents Mitchell and Williams." She smiled. "I talked to Agent Williams for a while this afternoon, I didn't have anything else to do. He told me a lot of stories about working with you. Those boys worship you, Aaron. They're in for a hard time once the news breaks about Charles, and they need you. I told you the country was lucky to have men like you, and I meant it. You could do a lot of good by staying with the Service."

Aaron took this in silence, but he was clearly affected by what Martha had said. After a few moments he looked up and nodded. "Thank you." After a moment he added, "Will you help me? I need you to verify that I'm the one who shot Adams. The Attorney General will want to talk with you tomorrow."

Martha stood up and moved about the room for a moment. In a gesture that reminded him oddly of her husband, she stood staring out the window while she thought it over. Unlike Logan, however, Martha was capable of quick decisions and she made one now. "If you think this is the right thing to do, then I'll do it. It just seems to me that you've been through enough already without adding this to it."

"And you haven't?" He was now standing with her by the window. He reached out and ran his fingers over her cheekbone; she flinched. "I know how you got this, Martha. I heard the recording, I know what he did to you and you should never have had to go through that."

With that gesture, the emotions she'd been fighting all afternoon overwhelmed her. Martha threw her arms around Aaron and cried into his shoulder; he was startled for a second, but then held her and let her weep. After a few minutes, she calmed down enough to say, "I'm sorry…"

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Believe me, you don't."

"I don't have anyone else to talk to about this, Aaron. No one I'd even want to discuss this with." She pulled herself up from his shoulder, facing him. "I know this is a lot to ask, and you're going to be busy when we get back to Washington, but if you could make time to talk to me every couple of days I'd really appreciate it. You might even keep me from cracking up once and for all," she added, trying to make a joke of it.

He knew the truth underlying what she'd just said, and he knew the ordeal she was going to face tomorrow. "Of course I will. You'll either see me or I'll call you. Every day." They stood together, reluctant to pull away, until the phone rang. Martha answered it, spoke briefly, then hung up and came back to Aaron. "It's Mike. He says everything's ready."

"Then let's go." He hesitated. "I'll send Williams with you; I need to brief the agents for a few minutes."

She put her hand on his arm. "That's fine. You'll be on the plane, right?"

"Absolutely."

"As long as I know you're there, I'll be fine." She smiled.

"Mike told me today that he was impressed with how strong you've been. I've known it all along." He covered her hand with his for a moment, then stepped forward and opened the door. "Williams, Mrs. Logan is ready to go. Take her to the study with Mr. Novick, if you would."

Martha sat with Mike in the limo, headed to the airfield. "Mike, Aaron mentioned that you'd talked to the Attorney General today about the shooting of Agent Adams."

"Yes, it's been taken care of."

"And Aaron won't be in any serious trouble?"

"In a case of self-defense? I hardly think so. There won't be any repercussions about this." He spoke absently.

Martha was relieved. Now that Mike had confirmed what Aaron had told her earlier, she had one more question. "Mike, do you know any good divorce lawyers in Washington?"

He didn't blink an eye. "I know six."

"I only need one."

They traded glances as the car stopped next to the jet; Mike raised an eyebrow. "All right, Martha, let's get on the plane first and I'll give you my recommendations."

"Thank you, Mike. Thanks for everything you've done today. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been here."

"It was a pleasure, Martha. More than that, it's my last chance. Once Hal Gardner gets sworn in, I have a feeling it's going to be time for me to look for another job."

"You seem awfully calm about it."

"I could use a break, and I don't think it will be too difficult to find something else to do. There's a couple of think tanks where I know most of the people on the Board."

Martha chuckled to herself, knowing she should never have worried about Mike; he would always land on his feet. They were now in the passenger section of the plane, and as she turned to put her handbag down she looked around and saw Aaron standing at the back of the cabin. Knowing he was there to reassure her, she smiled at him; he smiled back, then disappeared into the back of the plane before Mike saw him.

"Now, Mike, about those attorneys you mentioned…"