Jack pulled up in front of the house and shut off the engine. It had only been a week since he'd been here last, but it felt like a lifetime ago. So much had happened. He stepped out of the car, and started to make his way to the front door. Just as he was about to knock, Derek walked around the side of the house. Derek peered at him for a moment, unsure who it was, and then his eyebrows lifted.

"Jack!" he said, taking a few hurried steps toward him, and then slowing down to a walk the rest of the way. "What are you doing here?"

Jack smiled. "Hey, Derek. I came to see you and your mom." Derek offered his hand, which Jack shook.

"I'm glad you're here."

Jack nearly smiled again. What a difference from their first meeting. And all it took was saving him from a hostage crisis. If only he'd known sooner, he thought ruefully.

"Me too."

Derek hesitated for a minute before asking, "Jack…all that stuff with President Logan. Was that…was that you?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I–" He was about to say more when the door opened, and Diane stepped out. She stared at him.

"Jack."

He stepped forward, unsure.

"Hi."

Derek looked from one to the other, and then said, "Mom, I'm going to, um, finish up out back. Jack," he asked, backing away from the two of them, "How long are you staying?"

Jack shook his head as he turned his eyes away from Diane and focused on Derek. "I don't know. But I'll come find you before I go."

Derek nodded and then disappeared back around the side of the house. Jack turned his attention back to Diane who still hadn't moved from just outside the door.

"Can I come in?" he asked at last. She shrugged.

"Sure." She turned and stepped back into the house, leaving Jack to catch the door before it slammed and follow her inside.

He found her in the kitchen with her arms crossed, leaning against the counter.

"Why are you here?" she asked immediately. "I thought you weren't coming back." It never failed to surprise him how direct she was. It had a way of leaving him feeling off balance.

"Diane," he began, "Before you left CTU the other day, we really didn't get a chance to talk. There were some things I wanted to say."

"Like what?"

Clearly, she wasn't going to make this easy on him.

"First, I wanted to apologize. I know I said this before, but I never wanted to put you or Derek in any danger. Neither one of you should have ever been a part of that."

Diane's expression became a little less guarded.

"I know that. I know you wouldn't have purposely hurt either one of us. And I'm glad you're okay. Everything that happened with the president – I'm assuming you had something to do with that? I heard on the news something about CTU."

Jack nodded. "Yeah."

An awkward silence filled the room. Jack tried to speak.

"Diane, I–"

"Frank–" Diane interrupted. She shook her head. "Jack," she amended, "Let me save you the trouble. I know you came here to smooth things out, to close this chapter in your life, I suppose. You're off the hook. For whatever it is you think you did."

Jack shook his head. "No, stop. That's not why I'm here. Well, not entirely. I mean, I wasn't happy with the way we left things, but I also came here to thank you."

"Thank me? Why? Didn't you already do that at CTU?"

Jack stepped closer to her, determined to get this out no matter how difficult Diane chose to be.

"You have to understand that before I came here, I didn't have anywhere to call home. I was constantly moving around, not staying in one place for more than a week or two. And when I first came here, I was only passing through. Six months certainly wasn't in my plan.

"But, Diane, you're the reason I stayed. You were kind to me at a time when most people wanted nothing to do with me. I was a man without a past, and people don't trust that. But I felt welcome here. It's important to me that you know that. It meant everything to me." Jack paused, unsure of Diane's reaction to his words as she had dropped her eyes to the floor. But he decided to continue.

"So, yes, I know I told you this back at CTU, and it's not really adequate for everything you did, but…thank you. You gave me hope during a difficult time."

Jack finished, and Diane at last met his eyes. It was clear why she had stopped looking at him as he could now see her eyes had filled with tears.

"What is it?" he asked. Diane shook her head, trying to wipe the tears away.

"Nothing. I…" she took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. "When I saw you out on the front porch a few minutes ago, I wanted to be angry at you. When Derek and I came home last week, it felt so empty here. And I knew you weren't coming back, at least not the way I wanted you to. It was easy to blame you since you weren't around to defend yourself."

"You have every right to be angry with me, Diane. I lied to you and I misled you."

"I know. But the thing is, Jack, I'm not mad at you. It's not in me. I realize you did what you did to protect yourself and the people you care about. I don't pretend to understand your world, but I think I understand you, whether your name is Frank or Jack. You're a good person, and you try to do what's right. That's all I have to know." Diane moved toward him and touched his face with her right hand. "I just wish circumstances had been different. I guess the timing wasn't right."

For the second time, Jack found himself at a loss for words. So instead he leaned forward, and kissed her cheek. He pulled back, and she smiled sadly.

"I just hope Audrey knows how lucky she is," she said.

Jack looked at her, surprised. "How did you know?"

"Jack," Diane said, "it doesn't take working at CTU to figure out certain things. You look more relaxed than I've ever seen you. And at least now I know she makes you happy. That makes it a little easier to let you go."

Jack spent a couple more hours in Mojave. He joined Derek in the backyard, where he was attempting to mend the same fence Jack had offered to fix. He gave Derek a few tips on what to do, and helped him get started. Derek, in turn, had a lot of questions about what Jack did and what had happened that day. Jack answered as much as he could.

He finally left in the early afternoon. He hugged Diane goodbye, and told Derek he could contact him if he ever needed to. And though he accomplished what he set out to do that morning, to find some closure for Frank, he also felt a sense of sadness, and maybe even loss, as he drove away.

When Jack opened the door to the hotel room, he was greeted with silence.

"Audrey?" he called out.

"In here!"

Jack moved down the short hallway into the living area to find Audrey sitting on the floor with her back against the couch, papers spread in front of her on the coffee table. Even with her glasses, looking tired and slightly disheveled, she was still beautiful. He smiled.

"Hi."

She looked up. "Hi."

Jack walked across the room, and sat down on the couch behind her so his knees were on either side of her. He kissed the top of her head and then began to gently massage her shoulders.

"How's you dad?" he asked.

"He's okay," she answered, taking off her glasses and rolling her neck to work out the kinks. "He's still pretty banged up, a lot of cuts and bruises. But he's going to be fine. He was certainly in good spirits when I saw him. His doctors are amazed at how well he's doing."

"I'm glad to hear that. And I would like to see him soon."

"Jack–"

"I know, not yet."

"No, what I was going to say was, Dad and I had a good talk, and I think he'd like to see you too."

"I'm not sure how I should take that," he said dryly.

"It's a step, Jack."

"Yeah, I know. What's with all these papers?"

"Just some work I'm catching up on. Mmm…that feels good," she said as he kneaded out a particularly stubborn knot in her neck. Audrey fell silent for a moment then asked, "How was your trip?"

She said it in a mild tone, but Jack felt her tense under his hands as she asked.

"It was fine," he answered. "Audrey, I know you weren't comfortable with my going to see Diane. But I needed to get some closure for that part of my life. And I did."

Audrey relaxed again. "Okay, she nodded, "I understand."

Jack leaned forward. "C'mere," he murmured in her ear. She turned halfway around, tilting her face up to him, and he slid his hand along her cheek, lowering his mouth to hers, kissing her slowly and thoroughly. When he pulled back, she smiled.

"I missed you today."

He met her eyes. "Me too."

Jack tugged her up gently from the floor to join him on the couch, and then he pulled her with him as he moved to lie down. He wrapped his arms around her and heard her sigh.

He knew that later that night they would make love, just as they had every night since his return. But for now he was content to simply hold her, enjoy the feel of her pressed along his side, her head tucked against his shoulder, her hand lying softly on his chest, her right leg thrown over his. She was reassuringly solid against him, not some dream from which he would wake. He wasn't going to lose her like he feared – her every look and touch told him she wasn't going anywhere.

Jack was glad he went to see Diane and Derek, and he suspected a little part of him would always regret not knowing what life would have been like with them. How simple it could have been.

But simplicity had never really been a factor in Jack's life.

He still wasn't entirely sure who Jack Bauer was now, or in what direction he was going. And he knew in some ways he had little control over it. But as he held Audrey and closed his left hand over her right, he also knew all he needed to know right now – he was the man who loved this woman.