A/N: Here it is - the last chapter. Thanks lavashchips for the review!
April 2005
"Audie, what's the schedule looking like for our trip to Los Angeles in a couple weeks? Any availability?" Heller asked as Audrey sat down next to Jack for their meeting.
Audrey consulted the schedule. It was going to be a heck of a day. Back to back meetings from morning to night. "Completely booked. Why?"
"I need you to find me some availability. 15 minutes maybe," Heller insisted. "To talk to Richard."
"Why? What did he do?" Audrey questioned. She was sure that Richard wasn't asking them to come visit, as he and Heller did not have a good relationship.
"He's apparently signed up to speak at a protest at Lockheed later this month," Heller explained.
Audrey rolled her eyes and shook her head, looking back at the schedule to see what she could come up with.
"Is that a problem?" Jack asked, trying to understand.
"It doesn't look good for the Secretary of Defense's son to be speaking out against everything we're doing," Audrey explained. "Richard doesn't actually understand the politics behind any of it."
"Oh," Jack said, seeing how that could create bad press for Heller.
"Well, for the schedule," Audrey started. "The only thing I can see is the budget grievance with Erin Driscoll at CTU in the morning. Maybe you could go to Richard's and I can take the budget meeting with CTU."
Audrey suggested herself to go to CTU not wanting Jack to have to go back there and meet with the woman who fired him.
"Yeah, but we have a phone call meeting in the car on the way to Vandenberg that I'd like you to be on," Heller said, thinking of a solution as he looked at the schedule Audrey had pulled up.
"Well, why don't I go to CTU and do the budget meeting. You two go to Richard's and do the phone call and we'll all meet at Vandenberg," Jack suggested. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of meeting with Driscoll but did think it might be fun to tell her that she wouldn't be getting any additional funding.
Heller agreed that this was the best plan they could come up with.
Jack looked over at Audrey in the passenger seat and smiled. She was looking out the window with so much curiosity, wondering where they would end up. She had said she wanted to take a quiet, scenic walk to relax before their hectic day tomorrow. They had landed in Los Angeles that afternoon and were restless from having to sit on a plane so long and then sit through a long, tedious meeting once they landed.
"Where are we going?" Audrey asked, placing her hand on top of Jack's which was resting on her thigh as he drove.
"A park," Jack told her. "I think you'll like it. Hopefully it still looks the same."
Audrey was not disappointed when they arrived. The park entrance was a bit conspicuous and they were one of the only cars there. It was quiet except for the sound of a stream and chirping birds. But what was particularly exciting was the wide array of flowers that seemed to go along the trail.
They walked and Audrey obsessed over the beautiful flowers, Jack taking note of her favorites.
"How did you ever find this place?" Audrey asked Jack.
"I used to live right down the street," Jack answered. "We used to go for walks here when Kim was little."
"Sounds nice," Audrey said, surprised that for once he didn't look sad while reminiscing about Teri.
"It was. Kim used to pick one of each type of flower and hand them to Teri."
"That's so sweet."
"Yeah, except Teri would then have to carry them for the entire walk. Kim would get mad if she tried to put any back or tried having me carry them instead."
Audrey laughed. They continued their walk telling stories and enjoying their peaceful walk hand in hand.
"I want to see more of your life," she told Jack as they got into the car. "Where else can you take me?"
Jack thought for a moment and then pulled back onto the road. They arrived at their next destination, the beach. This stretch of beach was well lit but away from the hustle and bustle of the nearest boardwalk. Mostly it was couples watching the sunset.
Jack and Audrey took off their shoes and walked up to the water, walking so that the waves just barely hit their ankles when they crashed on the shore.
"I've been to this beach before," Audrey said, looking up at the houses on the ledge above the beach. All the houses were beautiful, expensive beach houses with staircases that led down to the beach. Audrey pointed. "See that one there? That's our beach house."
"Really?" Jack asked, surprised.
"Yeah, we used to vacation here in the summer," Audrey said. "Wait, how do you know this beach?"
Jack pointed way further in the distance to a white, almost mansion-like house at the end of the line of houses. "I grew up in that house down there. But, I used to come to this side of the beach to surf."
"Wow," Audrey said. "It's crazy to think we might have crossed paths back then. Jack nodded in agreement. She nudged him and smirked. "You were a surfer?"
"Yeah," Jack admitted. "Why?"
"You just continue to surprise me," Audrey told him, thinking that she never would have guessed that he knew how to surf but now hearing it, it made perfect sense. "So, why surf down this far from home when you had beachfront at your house?"
"To get away from my father," Jack explained. "He would have seen surfing as a waste of time. A distraction."
Audrey shook her head, disappointed that Jack's father had been so awful. "I can understand why you don't speak to him anymore. Do you speak to your brother at all?"
Jack shook his head. "I probably should have stopped talking to both of them the minute I turned 18, but I felt obligated because they were family. We didn't talk often, but occasionally I'd hear from them. I stopped speaking to both of them after Teri's funeral."
"Why?" Audrey asked.
"They always felt like Teri was the reason I didn't join the family business," Jack explained. "They never hid the fact they hated her. So, when they showed up, claiming that it was a terrible loss, I was pissed. But, it was when they started saying that now I was free to come back and join them like I should have from the start, I completely lost it. I yelled at them to leave and my father and brother essentially told me that marrying Teri was the biggest mistake of my life."
"Wow," Audrey sighed. "I'm so sorry, Jack."
Jack put his arm around Audrey's shoulder as they kept walking and pulled her into him to kiss her head, putting the conversation to rest.
When they returned to the hotel, Audrey noticed she had a couple missed calls from the office. Audrey sent Jack up to the room first, knowing that they would head up to the room separately anyway in case they ran into her father and returned a phone call from her father's secretary before heading up to the room.
When she got to the room, it was dark and quiet. Had Jack went back to his own room instead? She called out to him and didn't get an immediate answer until she felt an arm wrap around her waist from behind. She was startled for only a moment before realizing that it was Jack. When she turned in his arms, he kissed her passionately and led her to the bedroom. As they laid on the bed together, their lips parted momentarily and Audrey could feel it. Based solely on the intensity of how he looked at her. Jack loved her too. Well, maybe he'd still be hesitant but she was confident that hearing those words wouldn't cause him to pull away. As he kissed her again she decided. She would tell him tomorrow and it would be the beginning of a happy and eternal love.
A/N: I have wanted to write a preseason 4 fic for sooooo long (and it took a long time too) but I could never get it to be very realistic or interesting. I feel pretty happy with how it turned out. I believe it set a strong foundation for Jack and Audrey but still left room for Audrey to be shocked by Jack's actions on Day 4. Thanks again to everyone who read this story!
