August 2004

It was early, way too early for most people to be awake, but Jack had wanted to fit a run in before work one morning, also with the idea of getting to see a little bit more of Paris. It was their second day in Paris for work and he had only seen the insides of cars and office buildings. He headed to the hotel elevator and was surprised when the door opened to reveal Audrey. She was wearing exercise apparel, tight fitting black leggings, and a lilac tank top, sneakers, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail.

"Looks like we both had the same idea this morning," Jack said, stepping into the elevator.

Audrey smiled at him. "Running?"

"Yep," Jack agreed. "And, I just wanted to see Paris a little more."

Audrey nodded. "It's really beautiful this time of morning. Peaceful."

"Any recommendations of where to run?"

"Well, I'd say you should get the full Paris experience over the next week. If it's your first time, I'd say to go to the Eiffel Tour, Trocadero Gardens, along the Seine River, and to the Arc de Triomphe."

Jack chuckled. "Right."

"You don't know where any of that is, do you?" Audrey asked. Jack shook his head no and they both laughed. "So you were going to leave this hotel and just run in any direction? You didn't consult a map at all?"

"I guess I didn't fully plan this out," Jack admitted.

"Well, if you want, I could take you," Audrey offered. "Feel free to say no. I don't want to slow you down. I'm sure you're faster than me."

"I'd like that," Jack agreed as they got out of the elevator. Jack let Audrey out of the elevator first, following behind her while his eyes looked over the backside of her body, thinking how amazing her legs and bottom looked in her skin tight leggings.

When they got outside, they began running together. Jack found that Audrey wasn't much slower than himself, but he did have to slow down just slightly from his normal pace. This was a comfortable pace though, especially for looking around at their surroundings.

Audrey was an excellent tour guide, pointing out details to him that he might not have noticed and he wondered how many times she had been to Paris in her life.

"You must come here a lot?" Jack asked her when they had crossed the bridge, with the Eiffel Tower behind them as they headed to a garden with several fountains.

"Quite a few times," Audrey admitted. "My husband has family in a suburb right outside Paris so we used to visit them a lot. They were never particularly fond of me so I would take any opportunity I could to come explore."

"Why didn't they like you?"

Jack watched as Audrey pursed her lips as if deciding whether to open up to him. They rarely ever spoke of her husband and it would be easy enough for her to just say 'I don't know' and change the subject. Instead, she answered him honestly.

"They just had very antiquated ideas of what a wife's role in a marriage was supposed to be," Audrey explained. "They didn't understand why I wanted to work and make a name for myself when Paul made plenty of money to support us and I could be at home popping out a baby every year and being a stay-at-home-mom."

"Yeah, I don't really see you as a stay-at-home anything," Jack told her. He knew that Audrey actually really enjoyed working. She was one of those people that would probably never fully retire, always having some project going on. He could, however, imagine her being a mother, thinking she would be very caring and would do anything for them. "But, you don't want kids?"

"I do, or did - I don't know," Audrey stammered. She felt that she was probably past the point in her life to have kids, knowing that pregnancy risks increased with age. She was still in her mid thirties, but wasn't sure she'd have that opportunity now with being separated from Paul.

Jack dropped the subject, sensing that this was a thought that she struggled with and, not wanting to press her, they continued their run. They ran alongside the Seine River and then turned, heading to the Arc de Triomphe. When they made it there, Audrey suggested they take a quick coffee break.

"Just so you know, in France, the coffee is more like an espresso," Audrey informed him.

"That sounds good," Jack said.

"I can order for us," Audrey told him. "Do you want milk in yours?"

"Yes, please," Jack answered.

Audrey approached the coffee bar. "Bonjour. Je voudrais deux cafés noisettes, s'il vous plaît."

Jack smiled to himself, liking the sound of her voice in French. When she reached for her card which was hidden in a small pocket of her leggings, Jack put a hand on her arm to stop her and handed his card to the waitress instead.

"Thank you," Audrey said with a smile.

"Vous êtes américains?" the waitress asked Audrey with a smile, picking up on the fact that Jack did not speak French.

"Oui," Audrey nodded, confirming that they were American.

"Votre petit ami est très mignon," the waitress said with a smile. She handed them their drinks. "Vous êtes une femme chanceuse."

Audrey smiled at the comment, blushing slightly at the fact she had called Jack her boyfriend. She had to agree that Jack was indeed very cute. Especially right now as he eyed her in hopes of her translating what the waitress had said. "Merci beaucoup."

Audrey and Jack sat and took a sip of their coffees.

"What did she say?" Jack asked Audrey, sensing that it was about him based on the way the waitress looked over at him.

Audrey shrugged and smiled to herself. "Nothing. Do you speak any other languages?"

"Many, but not French," Jack told her. "Spanish, Russian, German, Arabic, and some Serbian."

Audrey raised her eyebrows at him, thoroughly impressed. Jack and Audrey discussed the importance of Jack knowing these languages when in the field, having needed to sometimes establish covers or speak to terrorists who spoke these languages.

After finishing their coffees, they set off back to the hotel, running again, both agreeing that it had been a very fun and productive morning.

By the end of their trip, four days later, Jack knew he would miss this. Running with Audrey in the morning had become a routine for them in Paris. She had shown him so many beautiful places and, despite being ready to return home, he truly wished he could continue spending this type of quality time with her.

Over the course of the week, Jack had concluded that Audrey did like him as more than a friend. Prior to this trip, he had taken every moment that seemed like she might be interested and convinced himself that he was seeing what he wanted to see. That he was letting himself become hopeful for no reason.

However, over the last week, Jack couldn't deny that he had caught Audrey looking at him during their meetings in the same way that he looked at her. He found her blushing slightly at times when she would talk to him, smiling more when they were together, and touching him on the shoulder or forearm occasionally in such a soft, loving way.

Jack certainly wasn't complaining about the newfound attention she was giving him. However, the problem was that Audrey liking him only made Jack's imagination run wild, thinking maybe there was a way that they could be together. He could imagine taking her on a romantic date, holding her hand as they walked through Washington. He could imagine her taking him on a tour of the city, teasingly chastising him for never having seen some of the monuments that were so famous even though he had now lived there for months. He could imagine kissing her, wrapping his arms around her lovingly. He wanted that life with her, but would then remember that Audrey liking him made no difference in their situation.

They were still coworkers, leading to a possibly awkward career if things didn't work out. There was the fact that he greatly respected James Heller and never wanted to do anything that he might disapprove of. There was her husband who, although Audrey seemed happily separated from, might not be completely out of the picture. Jack knew that separations didn't always end in divorce from his own experience with Teri. For all he knew, Audrey and Paul would get back together. Not only did he not want to be a point of contention in their marriage if this happened, but he also didn't want to build a close connection with her just to be hurt by her going back to Paul.

For those reasons, Jack decided that there was still nothing to be done on his end. He wouldn't make a move. However, he had decided that if Audrey ever did that he would be open to it, thinking that if she had analyzed these facts too and still wanted to enter into a relationship with him that he might be more okay with it. He didn't necessarily see that happening though.

As their plane left Paris behind, Jack looked at Audrey in the seat beside him, wondering how any business trip could possibly top this one.

It was the end of August and Kim had decided to come visit, wanting to make sure her father had settled into his new life in Washington and was enjoying it. She missed having him around, but hoped that he was happy here. She had taken Friday and Monday off to have a long weekend there and Jack had followed suit. Chase hadn't been able to take time off work, so she had come alone and was looking forward to quality time with her dad. They walked down the hallway of his apartment building and Kim questioned him as they walked.

"Did I find a good place for you? From what I saw on the drive from the airport, it looks like the town is really nice."

"It's perfect," Jack assured her, pulling out his keys as they reached his apartment door. He opened the door and brought Kim inside. Kim looked around and had already promised herself that she wouldn't give her father a hard time if he still hadn't unpacked his boxes or hadn't personalized it in any way, knowing that he was not the type to decorate. She was instead surprised that he seemed to have unpacked all of his things. There were no boxes lying around and everything seemed to have a place, showing that he obviously intended on staying for a while. She had been right that the apartment was a little bare, with its blank white walls with no decoration, but she had to do a double-take when she saw that he actually had throw pillows on his couch.

"It looks great, Dad!" Kim told him after she had looked around the whole place.

Jack took Kim out to eat for lunch and they talked about what Kim had been up to recently and how Chase and Angela were doing. Jack listened carefully as she talked, not wanting to miss a single thing that was going on in her life. He could tell that she seemed really happy, which he was thankful for. He had to admit that it would be hard to be here in Washington if Kim wasn't happy.

They then went to explore some of the monuments of DC. Kim had never been to Washington before and was very excited. She asked about her father's business trips and listened as he talked about Chicago, Miami, and Paris.

"Do you like Secretary Heller?" Kim asked.

"Yes," Jack confirmed. He explained how he respected Heller and felt he was a good, honest, and fair man.

"You must spend a decent amount of time with him," Kim commented. "What about other people you work with? Does anyone else spend as much time at his side as you do?"

"Audrey," Jack answered, trying to keep his face neutral so Kim couldn't read any of the feelings he had about her. "Senior policy analyst and his daughter. She spends more time with him than I do."

"No offense, I think we'd drive each other crazy if we worked together that much," Kim admitted.

"I think you're right," Jack agreed with a smile.

Jack and Kim enjoyed their few days together, ending with a game of chess on Sunday night. Kim sat on the couch while they played, while Jack sat in a chair on the other side of the coffee table. It was his move and he stared at the board thinking carefully.

Kim leaned back against one of the throw pillows. It was soft and felt high quality, and Kim thought it was odd that her father had no decorations in his place besides these. It almost seemed like something she would have done if she had gotten here and seen the place empty. She would have brought him to the store and picked out some decor for him and set it up before she left to make it more homey for him. It was like a woman's touch to a very masculine apartment.

She glared at her father suspiciously, wondering if he was keeping something from her. A girlfriend. She hoped so. She really wanted to see him happy again.

Jack made his move in chess and Kim made hers relatively quickly, making it Jack's turn again.

"So, these pillows are nice," Kim said, wanting to pry a little.

"Don't try to distract me," Jack replied, thinking she was just trying to distract him from the game.

"Who gave them to you?"

"Audrey," Jack answered, keeping his face neutral again.

"Audrey from work?" Kim asked with a grin that Jack didn't like. Jack could tell that she thought something was going on between them.

"Yes," Jack agreed.

"Why?"

"It was a house-warming gift," Jack answered simply.

"From a coworker?" Kim asked skeptically.

"She's a friend too," Jack told her.

"Just a friend?"

"There's nothing going on between us," Jack insisted, knowing that was what Kim was implying by her line of questioning. "We're just friends."

"I just think it's odd. You just don't usually have friends and now you have a friend who happens to be a woman," Kim pointed out.

"I have friends, Kim," Jack said, annoyed.

"Like who?"

"Well, Brian and Logan," Jack answered. The three of them had actually been hanging out occasionally outside of their usual Friday night plans. "And, Jen and Megan."

"Mhm," Kim said with a nod. "And, how did you meet them?"

"Through Audrey," Jack answered. "It's your turn."

Kim rolled her eyes, knowing that he was trying to avoid the subject. "So, just to be clear, you are not dating Audrey or anyone else?"

"Correct," Jack confirmed.

"I just think it'd be good for you to date again," Kim told him, making her move on the chess board. "Check mate."

Jack looked at the board and saw that Kim had indeed put him in check mate. "Good game."

Kim dropped the subject of dating, knowing that her father felt obviously uncomfortable by the conversation. But, she had said what she wanted to say, that he should start dating again. She wanted him to be happy. To fall in love again and have a second chance at a family.