This is the first time I post a FanFic of 24 on a website. I can tell you, that I'm quite nervous about posting it and also a little worried that you may not like it. However, I'd like to hear your comment on it either way.

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Title: Tortured In China
Author: AudreyBauer
Language: English
Rating: R
Spoilers: It contains spoilers for those who haven't seen season five, and maybe a very little for season four too.
Couples: Jack and Audrey
Category: Mainly Drama
Warning: You may find grammar errors in this fanfic, because English isn't my native language. I'm sorry about the errors. If you feel like correcting my errors, feel free to do so.
Summary: This story takes place right after season five.
Feedback: Of course! I'd love it! Both negative and positive comments are welcome! Only, when being negative, please let me know what you dislike so I can improve it.
Disclaimer: I do not own 24, nor the characters in it. They belong to FOX. I only use their names and write a story with it.

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Chapter 1

Audrey will never forget about the day where she first learned that Jack was still alive, after she'd been thinking he was dead for nearly two years. When she saw a photo of Jack on a computer screen, she almost forgot to breathe. She couldn't believe it was really Jack. She didn't believe the people who were accusing him of something she thought he couldn't do. It was tough for Audrey, to interrogate Jack's new love interest, Diane Huxley. She didn't blame Diane, she couldn't know. She didn't blame Jack either, because he had to go on with his life, but that didn't change the fact that this was going to be a hard task for her, interrogating the new girlfriend of Jack. She had to keep her emotions under control and act as straight as possible towards Diane. However, she found herself asking questions such as 'did he live with you for the past six months?' and 'was your relationship personal?'. She wanted to know those answers and made up some excuse that it was important for them to know this to know if Jack confided in her. She hoped, of course, that Diane would say that there was no relationship between the two of them. Suddenly, she saw Jack standing on the other side of the glass. Their eyes met and Audrey was standing there, stunned and completely forgot about Diane, who noticed the way they looked at each other. Audrey went after Jack, when she noticed he walked away. Audrey didn't know what to say, when she was facing Jack in the hallway, there was only one, maybe two inch of distance between them. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but she didn't know where to begin. After a brief conversation, which seemed like a second to Audrey, she lightly brushed his shirt with her hands and then walked away. She was both happy and afraid at the same moment. She didn't know if he would go on with Diane or not, but she was happy to see him again, to know he's alive. This is definitely a day she will never forget. Jack coming back from the death, saving his country and then also saving Audrey several times that day.

It was a tough day but luckily for the two of them, they got a moment together after all of this seemed to be over. Audrey was so happy to see him again and for the first time that day, she realized that Jack was still alive. She knew he was still alive, but she never really realized until then. They shared a passionate kiss but their time was interrupted by a man telling Jack that his daughter was on the line, calling him. He just had to enter a building, where he could speak with his daughter. He told Audrey to wait outside and he assured her that he would be back soon. However, after a few minutes, Jack still hadn't returned. Audrey decided that she'd waited long enough for Jack and went into the building, just to check on Jack. She entered the room where Jack's supposed to be, but learned it was empty. The phone was hanging off the receiver beeping loudly. Audrey realized that Jack was gone and whispered 'Oh my god' and then quickly left the room, yelling at the nearest Secret Service Agent that Jack was missing. The agent got on the radio and began searching for Jack. Audrey felt her heart beat faster and began to breathe faster too. She ran her hands through her hair and looked around, hoping that this was just a joke, that Jack was around there somewhere and that she would see him. Sadly, she didn't. She grabbed a nearby pillar on the street and got herself down, and she began to cry. 'This can't happen, this cannot be true. Not again!' She was thinking. Her body was shaking as she was still crying. When she noticed that an agent walked up to her, she quickly wiped her tears away and pretended to be sort of fine. She hoped that he had some good news for her but soon learned that he was only there to tell her that he got orders to take her back to CTU.

Bill was waiting outside CTU for Audrey to return. He noticed, when she stepped out of the car, the she'd been crying because her eyes were red. It reminded him of 18 months ago, when he told her, in not the exact words, that Jack was dead. He felt very sorry for Audrey that again, something ruined their happiness and time together. He walked over to Audrey and looked into her eyes. "I'm so sorry for you." Bill said as he watched her response to this. She quickly blinked her eyes a few times so tears wouldn't drop down her face.

"I can't believe this is happening, Bill." She managed to say, in a shaking tone. Her voice sounded as if she could burst into tears any moment, which was probably the case.

"Neither can I." Bill replied as they started to walk inside the building.

Bill took Audrey to a private room, where the CTU employees weren't able to look at, so Audrey could have a moment to pull herself together. Bill told her to wait and said he would be right back. Of course, this sentence was horrible because it was right the same thing Jack told her too, not so long ago and yet he's gone. However, she tried to avoid her tears that wanted to go out. Bill walked over to Chloe and told her where he headed, so that at least someone knew where he was and so that no one would start to panic. When Bill was back into the room, he found Audrey sitting on a chair with her hands in front of her face. She took them away and faced Bill, who handed her a glass of water he got from the small kitchen they have inside that room. Audrey was the one who broke the silence. "I didn't know Jack was still alive until this morning. It was so weird to see him again after 18 months, but I was also so happy. It's a feeling that is almost impossible to describe, Bill." She told him in the most calm voice and she could manage at that moment. However, the tears she was trying to hold back, started to drop now anyway. She wiped each of them away, not willing to cry in front of Bill.

Bill took a seat next to her and listened to what she had to say. He wanted to comfort her but wasn't sure how he could do that. He carefully placed his hand on hers. This was his way to comfort her, but he didn't want to make her think that it was for other reasons, however, Audrey understood his attempt at comforting her and appreciated it. "I don't know what you go through right now, but I can assure you that we'll do everything we can to get Jack back. Everything!" He said in a serious, soft tone. His eyes were locked with hers when he said this.

Audrey managed to let out a small smile, showing her appreciation. "I know you will." She then said.

After this a moment of silence fell. All you fould hear in the room was a clock that was ticking when suddenly, Chloe walked in. Chloe was unsure of how to respond or what to think. She saw Bill's hand placed onto Audrey's and she also noticed that Audrey had been crying. "Oh, I... I just..." Chloe said in a nervous tone, willing to turn around and quickly leave the room.

"It's alright, Chloe. What's up?" Bill asked her, letting out a small smile to her to comfort her a little.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm going home, assuming that the crisis is over." Chloe said, still nervous as she kept looking at Bill holding Audrey's hand. At that moment, Chloe was still unaware of the fact that Jack was missing.

Bill turned his head to Audrey and then back to Chloe. "Chloe, Jack's missing." Bill said in a sad tone to Chloe.

Chloe hadn't expected to hear this but did now realize why Bill was holding Audrey's hand and why Audrey had been crying. Chloe didn't know what to say and only stared at Audrey with her mouth a little open. Audrey however, did not look at Chloe. "So, I guess I get myself some coffee then and start looking for him?" Chloe said, a little bit dissapointed that she couldn't go home but worried at the same time that something bad was going on with Jack.

"Go home, it's fine." Bill began. This made Audrey look up to him. She didn't understand why he was saying this but waited for some further explanation. "It's been a long day and we need some fresh minds on this. Be here tomorrow at 8." Bill then said as he watched Audrey's expression change into an understanding one. After all, she wanted them to find Jack and help him, not to make mistakes and fail.

Chloe however first looked at Audrey, wanting her to agree with this. Audrey faced Chloe and then nodded and forced herself a little smile to Chloe. Chloe turned around and reached with her hand for the doorknop to leave, but was then stopped by Bill Buchanan. "Chloe," He began to get her attention. When Chloe looked into his eyes, he went on. "You've done an amazing job today. Thanks." He said and let out a smile towards her. She blushed lightly and smiled back and then quickly left the room to go home. Bill then turned himself back to Audrey and looked at her for a few seconds before he began to speak. "I suggest you go home too, Audrey." He said in a soft tone. "Do you want me to ask someone to bring you home?" Bill asked, hoping that she would say yes. He wouldn't want to see her hurt more than she already was at that moment.

Audrey looked at her emptied glass and twisted it for a while, thinking of what to do. She was thinking about Jack and absorbing Bill's question, however, everything went so slow. She did hear Bill ask her something, but she had sinked too deep into her thoughts to answer immediately to a simple question like that one. Suddenly Audrey thought of her father, who was in intensive care because he drove off a cliff with his car, but survived the crash. "I have to go and see my dad." She said and stood up immediately after saying this.

Bill watched her stand up and then stood up after her, gently grabbing both of her arms to stop her from leaving. "Are you sure you are going to be okay? I can ask someone to bring you to the hospital if you want me to?" He said, once again, still hoping she wouldn't go out alone. However, Audrey could be pretty stubborn at moments. If she was thinking a particular thing, you could hardly make her think otherwise. Same was for making choices and doing things.

"Thanks Bill, but I'll be fine." She said, forcing herself another little smile.

Bill was afraid she would say this but respected her choice. However, he wanted to be sure that she was going to be fine. "Are you absolutely sure?" He asked, one last time. Audrey didn't say anything, she simply nodded at him. "Alright then, but if you need anything-" Bill began.

"Then I'll call you." Audrey finished. "Again, thanks Bill." She smiled and then really left the room, on her way to the hospital.

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After some time Audrey managed to get safe to the hospital. As fast as she could, she walked over to woman behind the desk. On her way there she realized that she was almost running. "Hello, do you know where I can find Mr. Heller?" Audrey asked in between gasps to catch her breath.

"And you are?" The woman behind the desk asked a bit irritated, as if Audrey wasn't the first one who asked her about Heller.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Audrey said, realizing she forgot to give the woman her name. "I'm his daughter, Audrey Louise Heller." She told the woman. Audrey heard herself saying Heller, and thought it might would be a problem since she still carried Paul's last name, Raines. "My married name is Raines. R-A-I-N-E-S." She then added.

The woman quickly checked James Heller's file and noticed that Heller has indeed a daughter named Audrey Louise Heller. There was picture included in the file of Audrey from only a few years ago, so it soon became clear to the woman that Audrey was telling the truth. When she pointed her eyes back to Audrey she let out a quick smile. "Alright then, wait here I'll let someone come in who will bring you to your father." She told Audrey, in a tone as if she spoke to a child. However, Audrey decided not to care about that right now, there were more important things for Audrey to care about.

Audrey simply nodded and waited for someone to come and pick her up, like the woman explained. The few seconds she was waiting for someone, seemed like days to Audrey. It were, in real, only fifty seconds. Within these fifty seconds she was able to think of what had happened to her during the last twenty-four hours. After those fifty seconds, a tall dark-haired man with glasses in a white doctors coat walked up to Audrey. They shook hands. "I'm doctor Randley. I suppose you are Mr. Heller's daughter?" He asked, staring at her beautiful, tiny body. For a moment, he was out of words and was only able to look at her. His thoughts were interrupted by Audrey who was answering his question.

"Yes, that's correct. How's my father doing?" She asked in a concerned tone. Suddenly Audrey realized that this docter was staring at her. It was almost like the way Jack stared at her the first time they met. Only she felt the same way about Jack too, and this doctor was, in her opinion, nothing more than a probably good doctor. She didn't think he was pretty, but it did remind her of one of her better days.

The doctor wasn't immediately answering her question. 'Her voice is beautiful.' He was thinking. Then finally, after a short while, he managed to look into her deep green female-like eyes while trying to remember what she'd just been asking him. Both of them were heading towards James Heller's room, as the doctor finally began to speak. "Well, Mr. Heller is still on the intensive care but his condition seems to be stabilized." The doctor explained. "It's been a tough situation he was in and it had almost killed him." He went on. Audrey tried to absorb the information and didn't even realize that the doctor knew in what situation Heller had been. All she did was nodding to the doctor as she sank into deep thoughts. She was thinking about what she'd been through and nevertheless, she was thinking about Jack. The doctor kept talking to her but she didn't hear half of what he was telling her. "Mrs. Heller?" He then said, noticing that she was not paying attention to what he had to say.

"Uh, yeah... I think that's a good idea." She said, without knowing on what she was answering.

"Are you alright?" The doctor asked concerned. Maybe he was even hoping that at some point, she wasn't alright, so he could spend a little more time with her.

"Yes, I'm fine." She answered as they finally reached James Heller's bed.

"We gave him something to sleep, so he gets some rest." The doctor explained. He once again studied Audrey's body as he finally left the room to give her some privacy.

Audrey grabbed one of her father's hands and placed it between her two hands and stared at her father for a while. "We've been through so much the last couple of years, most people wouldn't come out of this so strong as we did." She began to speak. Then there was a moment of silence. "Jack is missing dad and I feel so horrible." She whispered crying. "I know you may not hear me but I want you to know that I love you dad." She said whispering and rested her head on his chest, letting her tears go.

To Be Continued...

Good afternoon everyone,
Sorry that it has taken me longer to post this chapter than expected. I was somewhere in chapter 6 with this fanfic, but after I started to re-write it, things didn't match anymore and I had to and have to, re-write every chapter again. Also, now that I'm posting them online, I want to make them at least better than what they were before. I will, however, post the upcoming chapters in two, maybe three parts, depending on the length, so that there will be more regular updates. At least that's what I'm going to try and do. But I still want to have the story look somewhat good and I want to have them end with as much cliffhangers as possible. But now that school has begun, it may take me a few days in between chapters or parts of chapters. Also, I've been looking across the internet for the torture methodes in China and have found a few very shocking ones. Right now I'm working on my vocabular part, so that I can try and make the upcoming chapters look good.

Skinhunter: LOL I'm sure you will like the upcoming chapters in this story, because the hero will get hurt. Also, I hope to be able to change your mind about Audrey, she's a good woman, you know. And thanks for taking your time to read this story and feedback.
Jannih: Yeah, my nickname, LOL. I actually thought that someone else here would've picked the name already, but I guess I was lucky that it was still available for me to choose. LOL also, I haven't done anything really with the doctor in this chapter 2... but... you may see him return in further chapters! Also, thanks for your feedback!
Callisto: Same to you, I haven't thought of anything yet with the doctor, but I might have him return in my fanfic later on... if I can figure out a way to fit him in again. Thank you for your feedback.

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Chapter 2

Bill Buchanan had offered Audrey a few days off, until she was ready to get back to work. She thanked him for the offer, but refused to take it and went back to work a day after all that had happened to her. She entered CTU and took a seat behind her desk, pretending to be fine, assuring everyone she was ready to get back to work. Most people didn't know how to behave towards her and were avoiding her. The few people she was in contact with most, were asked by Buchanan to behave as usual as possible towards her. She would declare it when she needed to talk about Jack, or anything else.

Eightteen months ago, Audrey thought Jack died. It took her about a year to get her own life back on the rails again. She slowly started to give it a place, even though she wasn't ready for dating other men yet. There was not a day she didn't think about Jack, not one, but she began to realize he really died and was never coming back to her. She slowly started to see that she was still living on earth and had to get best out of her current life. She wanted to believe that she would be reunioned with Jack again in the hereafter. But then suddenly Jack came back. In her life. It's been a strange experience for her, which didn't last longer than twenty-four hours. Within these twenty-four hours, they didn't even see each other that often. And when she finally thought that the whole crisis was over and that she could finally be back together with Jack again, she learned that her crisis had just begun.

This time it felt different to Audrey, everything did. Now she knew that Jack didn't die, he suddenly dissapeared. She already thought that he may dissapeared again, without telling her, for her own safety, but also realized that he wouldn't tell her that he would be right back, if it was a lie. He never lied to her, not even when she wanted him to lie about Paul's health. She wanted him to assure her that he would survive, but he didn't. He tried the hardest to comfort her, but did not tell her the lie. That was probably one of the things she really liked about Jack. Paul always told her he was ready to work on their marriage, or that everything would be better, but none of his statements ever turned out to be real. When Jack told her something, or gave her his word, it always turned out exactly the way he had told her. So leaving her behind again, wouldn't make any sense.

The first few days after Jack's dissapearance were very hectic for Audrey. Not only she had to work, she also had a father who needed her to take care of him. Heller didn't like the hospital food and asked his daughter to bring him something he liked. Heller also had a few things he needed to finish for his work and asked Audrey if she wanted to take care of it. Of course she helped him, because she knew how important work for her father was. As a child, she'd been in the hospital once after she broke her leg while playing on the playground, so she knows how dirty the hospital food tastes. So her days existed of getting up early in the morning to do her daily running, something she wanted to keep doing, getting back home to take a shower and get dressed for work, leaving to CTU, racing back home to cook dinner for her father, bringing that to the hospital, going back home to work on whatever her father wanted her to do, then spending the rest of her free time she had on trying to find Jack. She usually forgot to eat and only slept for about four hours a day. Luckily for her, Heller was able to take care of himself and his own work again, after a week of being in the hospital.

Audrey was slowly introducing herself to a new lifestyle, which was getting clearly visible on the outside. She lost well over a twenty pounds within a week, because she often forgot to eat and faced a lot of stressful days. Bags underneath her eyes were also there and her skin was getting dry. Apart from the visible changes, she also changed inside. She cared less about her appearance, and had to deal with daily headaches.

A day after Heller was released from hospital, Audrey decided to invite him and tell him about Jack. He needed to know what was going on and she needed his help. Him being the Secretary Of Defense gave him plenty of options to use to try and help his daughter, and CTU, with finding Jack. Audrey was sitting on the couch in the living room, while holding her cell phone, thinking about the relationship Jack and her father had. Heller knew how much Jack meant to Audrey, but she also realized that Heller didn't like Jack as the boyfriend of his daughter. As a person to work with, Jack was great, but after she told him about their relationship, his view of Jack completely changed. He no longer liked Jack as much as he did before, and started to become more critic about the things Jack did. After Audrey came back to reality, she began to dial her father's number. The phone rang a few times before it was picked up. "Hello?" Heller picked up, never mentioning his name when someone called him on his private home number.

"Dad, it's me." Audrey began in a tone she usually used when she called him for work.

"Audrey, is something wrong? Why are you calling me so late?" Heller asked concerned, because his daughter isn't the type of person who calls her dad late at night if it's not very important.

"I was wondering if you could come over, there's something I need to tell you." Audrey said as she placed her fingers in between her eyes while closing her eyes. She knew what was about to come. Her father never just did what he was asked to do, he always needed reasons and further explanations first.

"What do you want to tell me?" Heller asked his daughter but went on before she could even answer his question. "Look, Audrey, it's been a long day for me. Can't this wait until tomorrow?" He added, hoping she would say yes.

Audrey didn't believe what he just said, but couldn't really blame him either. She could delay this for another day, but what if her father would tell her the same thing tomorrow night? And besides that, the sooner she finds Jack, the better. She made a decision. "No, dad, this can't wait. I don't want to talk about it over the phone, but it's really important. Could you just please come over?" She was now nearly begging her father to do what she asked him to.

Audrey was able to hear her father sigh, and didn't receive an immediate response. "Fine," He eventually said. "I'll be there soon." He added.

"Thanks dad." Audrey was slightly relieved that she didn't had to wait any longer.

"This better be really serious, Audrey." He said in a serious tone and then hung up his phone.

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It didn't take Heller all that long to get to his daughter. He rang her doorbell and waited for her to open the door. When she did, he was shocked of what he saw. Even though he saw his daughter every day in the hospital, he hadn't really noticed her big weight loss before. Audrey noticed her father looking at her and hoped he wouldn't suggest things that were not there. "Come in." She said while forcing herself a little smile, as she took a step backwards to let her father step into her house. Heller stopped when he was standing next to his daughter and locked his eyes with hers. He then shook his head in dissapointment. Audrey, however, didn't understand why he did that, but assumed it had something to do with the way she looked. "I made us some tea but I need to get it out of the kitchen, I'll be right back." Audrey said as she began to walk to the kitchen, while her father took a seat on his favorite spot, the couch.

"Where's Jack?" Heller asked in a curious tone.

Audrey stopped herself from moving when she heard her father ask where Jack is. She rolled her eyes while taking a deep breath. I don't know. She thought. She sighed as she picked up the tea cups and walked back to the living room, without replying to Heller's question. She carefully placed the tea cups on the table as she took a seat besides her father, on the couch. She stared at her father for a little while and didn't know how to begin the conversation.

It was Heller, who eventually broke the silence. "So, what is it you couldn't tell me over the phone?" Heller asked in a serious tone.

Audrey took another deep breath before she began to talk. "It's about Jack." She began and swallowed. "Dad, Jack's missing." She said as her voice trailed off. Her eyes started to pool and she quickly blinked her eyes a few times. She knew that the Jack subject was very sensitive for her to talk about. While being around at CTU, she often tried to talk about Jack in a professional way. As soon as people started to ask her personal questions, she began to avoid it and started talking about something else.

Heller absorbed the information he just received from his daughter. He was shocked to hear this and took it harder than Audrey had expected. "Since when?" Heller asked his daughter in a questionable tone.

"He's missing for a week now. He dissapeared soon after I received a phone call that you survived your crash." Audrey explained. Heller looked away from his daughter and faced the ground. "Dad, I need your help." Audrey said in a sad tone, after a silence fell. "You have enough sources to help CTU and me find Jack." She added, desperately hoping that her father would help her.

Heller sighed. "I don't know if I-" Heller was interrupted by Audrey.

"Dad, please!" She begged her father while tears slowly began to drop.

Heller looked at his now crying daughter and realized that she really wanted his help with this. He may not like Jack all that much, but she really does and she wants to have him in her life. Heller began to realize that he needed to help her and support her as much as he could as a father, but also as a friend. He couldn't reject his daughter's question. She's been there before, after Jack staged his death and he did not want his daughter to feel the same way again. Heller gave Audrey an understandable look and slightly nodded his head. "Fine, I'll see what I can do." He then said in a voice just above a whisper.

Audrey was relieved after she heard her father say he would help her. She moved herself closer to her father and began to hug him, holding him tight. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me." She whispered while she wiped her dropping tears away as she was still hugging her father.

Heller held his daughter more tight after she said that. He realized that Jack really meant the world to her, and wished he didn't. He didn't really know how to respond to his daughter and just decided to stay quiet and hold her as long as she wanted to be held. After a while Audrey let go of her father and returned to drink her tea. Her father did the same and together, they stared at their own tea cups while drinking their tea, in complete silence. Neither of them knew what to say. After what Audrey had told her father, it wasn't the right time to begin a conversation about the weather, but talking about Jack and what he might go through at the time they are sitting there on the couch, wasn't something he wanted to start about either. At least not until Audrey began about Jack herself.

Audrey had finished her tea but was still holding her tea cup. With her finger she made circles on the tea cup, while she was in deep thoughts about what had happened before Jack dissapeared. After a full week of trying whatever they could, CTU still hadn't found any lead that could help them find Jack. Something wasn't right, they were missing something and Audrey was sure to find out what. Heller turned to his daughter and said something to her, but she didn't respond. At some point it seemed like Audrey didn't even hear her father speak. She did, but she was so far away, away into her own world, that she couldn't answer her father. Her eyes remained staring at one specific point on her tea cup. Suddenly Audrey 'woke up'. Her tea cup fell as she literally jumped off the couch saying "Oh my god. No!" over and over. She placed her hands in her hair as she was trying to think clear. Tears began to drop as she suddenly realized something she hadn't been thinking about the entire week. Not once!

To Be Continued...

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but I guess that this cliffhanger isn't really much of a cliffhanger. But just wanted to say that it can take a little while before I go on with Audrey in the story, because the upcoming (two) chapter(s) will be about Jack, because I think it's time for him to join my story, lol.

In case anyone joined this topic and saw Chapter 3 double posted, I'm sorry for that. I accidentally hit my enter button while I was still editing a few parts and while it was still not ready to be up... it will be within minutes of time from now, but I just wanted to say that I am sorry for having a double post.

Good evening everyone,
Again, sorry to those who thought I uploaded this fanfic a few minutes ago, when something went wrong because of me hitting my enter button, accidentally. Anyway, this chapter is about Jack and contains a flashback, which is the part you can read in italic letters. You can, if you are not interested in reading that part, skip it, because it's not necessarily relevant for the rest of the story, but it was just a small piece to fill in the empty space. Enjoy and feel free to leave a message... I like the feedback and appreciate it!

Skinhunter: You will find out soon, what happened to Jack and I already have an entire plan for Audrey too. LOL. If you still don't like Audrey after reading this fic, we have to sit down sometime and talk about it, LOL!

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Chapter 3

Jack was dragged into a dark room by two men, each holding one arm. Jack tried to struggle before, but lost the battle. He was beaten up badly and was barely conscious. His face was covered in blood and there wasn't much of his shirt left either. Inside the room, Jack was dropped on the floor, as he pulled himself to his side. The men then took off their masks and revealed that they were Chinese. This rang a bell by Jack as he suddenly understood what was going on. Then, Cheng stepped forward and watched Jack being in a lot of pain. Soon the men picked Jack back up and made him face Cheng, who began to speak. "Surely, you must be aware, Mr. Bauer, that China has a long memory. 18 months ago you invaded our territory and killed our consul." He said and then bended down to get on almost the same eye level as Jack, as he continued to talk. "Did you really think that we would forget?" Jack was catching his breath and mumbled that he knew how this worked and that all he needed, was to make one phone call. He wanted to phone Audrey and tell her he loves her. He wanted to let her know that she should continue living her life and that he wants her to be happy. Cheng didn't respond to Jack's question, but made sure he would realize that his request was being rejected. Jack then spitted in Cheng's direction, which caused the two Chinese men to drop him back on the floor, causing him to be in more pain as he rolled over the floor. Then Jack's request to Cheng was to get himself killed. He had an idea of what he was about to face and knew that those days, weeks, months and maybe even years, weren't going to be the best of his life. Cheng faced Jack and began to talk. "You are too valuable to kill, Mr. Bauer." He informed Jack. At this moment Jack was determined not to give them any information they wanted him to give them. Not even if it meant more pain and torture.

Cheng signalled to his men to step away from Jack and come over to Cheng. They immediately stood up and walked over to their boss, a man they really seemed to admire a lot. Jack however, was still laying down on the ground, moaning from the pain. His eye was swollen and hurted, his chest hurted, his face was covered in blood and the men pulled him hard on his arms, which also seemed to hurt a lot. Audrey had been right the whole time. She had warned him before that his actions were dangerous, that he could be exposed and that there was a change he would be captured by those he staged his death for eightteen months ago. Jack pretended to understand the seriousness of this and he thought he really did, but he never expected they would capture him so soon. Jack carefully lifted his upper body a little, willing to find out what Cheng was doing. Cheng was talking with his two men, but they were too far away from him to hear what they were saying. But he also assumed that if he could hear them, he still wouldn't understand them because of them talking in Chinese. Jack tried to discover the room he was in, but couldn't see too much, because of the great darkness inside the room. Jack wanted to get to his feet, beat the Chinese men up and escape from wherever he was, but he couldn't find the strength. He already failed when trying to sit up, let along get to his feet and beat three guys up. What had they done to him? He didn't know. He knew he was in a lot of pain, but didn't exactly remember all the things they did to him. He didn't understand how he got his torned shirt, but did know why his eye was hurting. Jack rested his head back on the cold floor, as he began to feel the coldness coming from the floor, through his entire body. Jack began to tremble and pressed his hands together placing them in between his thigh bones. He then began to rock his body, willing to warm himself up a little.

Cheng knew all about Jack's history and knew he was capible of escaping from literally anywhere. Therefore, he made sure he could see all the movements Jack made from the corner of the eye. Cheng looked up at Jack when he became suspicious of Jack's movements. He watched Jack rocking his own body and soon learned Jack wasn't able to get to his feet, or otherwise, attack Cheng and his men. After a short while, Cheng returned his attention to his men. "You must know when to stop torturing him." Cheng said in Chinese and a serious tone to his men. "He can feel the pain, but he cannot die." Cheng explained. "Not yet." He then muttered in inaudible Chinese. Both men nodded to their boss to let him know they understood what he was saying. They realized that they were not allowed to make any mistakes in this case. Their boss had told them all about Jack. If they did make a fatal mistake, they would go through torture themselves, and they wouldn't make it out alive. They were both very much aware of this, which drived them to do their jobs perfectly. Cheng motioned in Jack's direction as he began to speak to his men. "Go and see what he wants." He ordered them, in Chinese. Both men nodded and hurried to Jack.

Jack was still rocking his cold body, wishing for a blanket or something else that could help him warm up. Jack had his eyes closed, but opened them immediately when he heard footsteps moving into his direction. He didn't look up to see who it was, it were multiple footsteps so it would be either both of his captors alone, or both of them together with Cheng. Jack's body tensed as he could still hear the sound of the footsteps getting louder and louder. Finally the sound of footsteps stopped as his captors were now hovering over him and he tried to look at them through his one, not swollen eye. One of the captors bended down a little bit and began to yell something to Jack in Chinese. Jack didn't understand one word of what the Chinese man yelled at him, but did understand that he was waiting for Jack to answer his asked question. Jack felt his eardrums hurt after the Chinese man yelled and before he knew what was happening, he was picked up by the men, both holding one arm, dragging him over to another side of the room, where he was dropped onto the floor again. Jack had to lay still, because of the pain that shrieked through his body. This was only just the beginning of Jack's long journey in China, he knew that. But there was a bit of Jack that wanted to believe that all of this was a dream. That he would wake up, laying down in a bed with Audrey in his arms. Suddenly Jack heard footsteps again, only now the sound was getting softer and softer. After the sound of footsteps fully dissapeared, Jack carefully, slowly shifted himself from his awkward position, into a somewhat more comfortable one. Jack managed to see piled up crates next to him, and in the distance, he could see three figures, but more he did not see. Then Jack felt a fierce jolt. He quickly tried to hold on to the crates next to him, as he felt another jolt. This big movement reminded him of a long time ago, when he, Teri and Kim went on a cruise ship after he and Teri got married. The sea had high waves which caused the ship to move fiercely to the left and the right over and over. He remembered how afraid Kim was as she was crying onto her father and holding him as much tight as she could. She even hurt her father at some point, but he didn't mind. He tried to comfort her as much as possible, telling her it would be all right. Jack was now thinking he could be on a ship, but soon felt another jolt as the few on top, heavy, big crates fell onto Jack's head. He became unconscious.

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Jack was sitting on the couch, with almost every light in his house turned off. He was zapping through the TV channels, hoping that something good would be on, but most of what was on, were tv call games or tell sell programs. Jack lifted his right arm with the remote control in his hand, willing to turn off his TV as he suddenly smelled a familiar fragrance. It was a fragrance he knew all too well, the one he smelled every day, the one of Audrey's parfume. Jack smiled as he turned off his TV, while thinking about Audrey. They were dating now for three months and he had to confess that there was more he felt for her. At first he tried to push his feelings for her aside, but he caught himself many times of thinking of Audrey when she wasn't even around. This lonely moment was one of those on which he all of sudden thought of Audrey, and thought he could smell her, while she was not there. When thinking back, there was hardly ever a moment he did not think of Audrey. She'd became an important person for him in his life. Then suddenly the doorbell rang which caused Jack to jump. Quickly Jack walked over to the door and opened it, and to his surprise, he saw it was Audrey standing in front of his door. Jack couldn't help but laugh when he looked at her. "Hi." He said as he tried hard not to laugh.

Audrey raised her eyebrow as she tried to read Jack's face in the hopes to discover what he was laughing about. "Why are you laughing? Does my hair look funny?" She asked him in a concerned tone.

Jack literally pulled her inside his house, closing the door behind her as he pulled her into a hug, kissing her neck. "You look beautiful, Audrey. It's just that I thought I could smell your parfume only seconds before you rang the doorbell." He explained as he smelled the fragrance of her parfume while he was kissing her neck. "So," Jack began in a curious tone as he studied Audrey's face, trying to read her face. "What brings you here?" He asked curiously.

Audrey smiled and leaned in for a kiss before replying to his question. "Your birthday." She said softly as she smiled widely. "It's Febuary 18, remember?" She uttered.

Jack stood there stunned, not realizing she would have remembered his birthday. No one remembered, not even his daughter. At some point he doubted whether that day was his real birthday or not, but Audrey remembered. Jack couldn't help but smile to the woman. He gently lifted her head and brought his lips to hers, pressing them hard together. After a while they had to break apart to catch their breaths. Both of them couldn't help but laugh. "Don't you want to know what I have bought for you?" Audrey teased.

Jack's eyes grew with curiousity as he, of course, wanted to know what she had bought him. "Will I like it?" Jack asked in excitement as he led her to the living room. Jack's heart beated faster as his nervousity was growing. Even though he had been dating her before, each time he saw her again he got nervous. He never had this with Kate or Claudia, but he did had this with Teri, which made him think he might really started to fall in love with Audrey. He felt so different when being with her. He hadn't felt this way with any other woman other than Teri, and now Audrey. When Jack payed attention to Audrey's body language, he learned that she seemed quite nervous herself too. At some point it made the situation a bit more easy for him, knowing that they were both feeling nervous, at the other hand, he wanted her to feel very comfortable with not even a tiny bit of nervousity when being around him.

Audrey locked her eyes with his and gently grabbed one of his hands, as both of their hearts began to beat rapidly. "Yes," she began after smiling softly. "I think you will like this little present." She assured him while squeezing his hand. She then handed him the bag with the present.

Jack felt his hands becoming sweaty and his breath started to quicken. 'What can this be?' He was thinking while he slowly, carefully opened the bag to find a small blue package in it. He got it out and saw it was a small square blue box with a gold ribbon over it. His curiousity won over his nervous feeling as he slowly started to unpack the box, willing to know what present it was. The ribbon was off of it and he was now first staring into Audrey's nervous eyes before he was going to open it. "Open it." Audrey said in a nervous tone. Slowly Jack opened the box as Audrey was holding her breath when he did. Inside the small box he found a ring, a golden ring with a small diamond in it. Jack opened his mouth as tears starting to form a queue to get out. He took a closer look to the beautiful ring and noticed his name written on the inside of the ring. Before Jack returned his attention to Audrey, he first slided the ring over his ringfinger. It suited his finger perfectly. He then looked up and faced Audrey.

"It's been of my grandfather. He gave it to me before he died and wanted me to keep it with me until I found a man I wanted to give it to. Someone special, someone who's worth it." Audrey explained. "I brought it to the jeweller, let him polish the ring and add your name in it." She continued. "And, do you like it?" She then asked in both a curious and nervous tone. Her hands were pressed together as she was forming circles with her thumb in her other hand palm.

Jack tried to find a reason for her to give him this ring. The way she explained it, seemed like it is a very important ring, meant for someone very important to her. Was he really that much important for Audrey? "Audrey, it's beautiful. It's wonderful." Jack said as his voice trailed off. "But I'm not sure I can take it." He then added.

Audrey looked surprised by his last sentence. "Why?" She asked in a questionable tone.

"Because your grandfather wanted you to give the ring to an important person for you. Don't get me wrong, I really like the ring and this idea but I just think th-" Jack was interrupted by a finger of Audrey placed on his lips.

"Shhh, don't say anything." She added as she removed her finger and replaced her lips on the spot, kissing him passionately. With the seconds passing, the kiss became more heated. After a while they broke apart in need of air. "I'm glad you like it." She said as she widely smiled to Jack.

Jack gently pulled her into a comfortable position, with both of her legs on both sides as he carefully dragged her to his bedroom, carefully throwing her on his bed. They began to kiss and undo each others clothes. Audrey rolled on top of Jack as they went on where they stopped only seconds ago. For some reason, Jack seemed to be a little distracted and Audrey wanted to know why. Maybe he wasn't ready for this, but they had done it before. "Jack," She softly began. "Jack?" She said in an asking tone. "Jack!" She said out loud.

----

Jack slowly started to gain consciousness as he heard his name being called by someone multiple times, but he couldn't really place the voice he heard. Jack carefully shifted his head and moaned from the sudden pain attacking his head. He carefully tried to open up his eyes, but closed them sooner than he got them open as he saw a sharp bright light shining into his eyes. By now Jack's waves of pain folloed the rhytym of his heart. Jack again heard voices, this time in a language he did not speak, Chinese. Slowly it all came back to Jack as he began to recognise the language and voices. He was captured by Cheng and his men and stuck on a ship. It took Jack a few more seconds before he realized that the floor under his body was covered with a layer of water. Had he wet his pants? He thought, almost getting embarrassed when thinking of this idea. But as he began to move the rest of his body, he felt the cold water everywhere. It finally seemed like he got fully conscious as he became aware of the fact that there was a sound of water entering the ship. There must have been a crash, or a leak, Jack thought. We are sinking! Was what went through his mind.

Cheng was gathering some of his stuff together, making himself ready to leave the ship when one of the of his men began to talk to him. "He's awake, sir. What should we do now?" He asked, in Chinese. The young captor tried to keep his nervous voice under control but failed, because Cheng was able to hear his fear in his voice.

Cheng briefly looked up to his men and Jack and assessed Jack's condition. "Make him aware of what we are going to do and knock him out when we are leaving." He ordered his men, who both nodded, returning their attention to Jack.

Jack's heart began to beat rapidly and he forced himself to keep his eyes open long enough to have a clear visual of the space around him. The idea that he could drown made him shrink. It's almost as worse as burning and not capible of doing anything, he thought. He mind raced with thoughts of what he thought was going to happen within the next few minutes, maybe an hour when suddenly one of Cheng's men interrupted his thoughts as he began to speak. "Ship... drown... you... not die." One of the Chinese men tried to explain with the few words of English he knew. It was clearly visible to them that Jack was trying to discover the meaning of that sentence. Jack looked troubled when suddenly Cheng walked up from behind. "What he tried to tell you, Mr. Bauer, is that you will not die, despite the ship will sink. Aren't we nice?" Cheng spoke the last words in a sarcastic tone as he turned his attention to his men. "We must go, you know what this means." Cheng went on in Chinese. Jack's eyes wided as he tried to understand what they were going to do with him. Suddenly one man grabbed him by the shoulders and got him off the ground when the other hit him in the face. It caused Jack's noise to bleed as he lost consciousness again. "Come on, lets go." Cheng said as he watched his men grab Jack, following Cheng towards the deck, where a chopper was waiting for them to pick them up. It was a big green army chopper with enough space for both of Cheng's men, Cheng himself, Jack and the pilots. When looking down onto the ship, Cheng saw it had already partly sank.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Also, I hope the present Audrey gave Jack in the flashback part is okay? I really wanted to make the part look nice, but I was doubting whether that is a present a female can give a male or not... Anyway, they can either way.

Good afternoon everyone,
I'm terribly sorry for not updating this fic for so long. I know I said I would post them in parts to have more regular updates, but I've been stuck with this fanfic for a long time and also, there wasn't too much time I had to write, because my school is already giving me plenty of homework to make. Anyway, I hope that you will like this chapter!
Oh, yeah, one more thing though... I've been thinking and thinking and then laughed really hard at myself when I discovered what kind of present Audrey should have given Jack in chapter 3. LOL.
SiriBauer: The ship sank by accident. It was an old, cheap ship, LOL. Thank you for reading and reviewing!
Skinhunter: You! I almost dropped a few tears from laughing when I read your comment! What do you mean bring you bring your loaded weapon with you? In case you don't know, Audrey's my friend... and her friend is Jack Bauer! So I'm safe! ........ Uh oh, shoot, you are going to reach me before they do, in Holland. So, well uhm... of course you are right, good and uhm... friends? Hahaha, but thanks for reading and reviewing!
Callisto: Thank you for reading and reviewing! "You don't have to hide now, it's over!"

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Chapter 4

Hours had passed while Jack remained unconscious. Not only because he was knocked out before, but also because Cheng ordered his men to drug him, so he would stay asleep. Cheng's main reason for this was to prevent them from any kind of unnecessary trouble. Cheng knew his men. Before someone was allowed to work for him, he first had an entire background check on that person before he considered to hire the person. Cheng was someone who would test his men to find out if they really are made for the job, without them even realizing that they're being tested. The two, quite young captors Cheng brought with him to America, were very new to this hard world, the world of torture. He had taken them with him to America, to capture Jack, a quite hard task for a newbie. This was to see if they were really made for the job or not. They were, but they still had to learn a lot. Cheng was determined to learn them do their jobs perfectly well, but sometime later. Now, it would be too dangerous to have Jack around them, awake. This was a serious case for Cheng, not just practise. He needed it to go well, no mistakes were allowed. Especially not with Jack Bauer. He knew Jack, he had read his file. Jack always managed to get out of any kind of situation and he would certainly make it out of this one, if he hadn't been kept asleep. They were newbies, but Jack is a professional. However, Cheng was determined to be the first one to break 'hero' Jack Bauer.

Jack tried to open his eyes, which felt swollen and thick as if he had been crying all night, as he smelled the fragrance of rotten eggs. He was wondering where the fragrance was coming from, but he was still trying to get his eyes open first. He carefully placed his harsh finger tops on his eyelids and rubbed them softly, while he learned that his eyelids were indeed swollen. He'd had it before, mostly when he had slept deeply at night after coming home extremely tired from work. The bad fragrance caused Jack some trouble with breathing as he tried to hold his breath and only refilled his lungs capacity with half of the needed air. Jack was laying down on his stomach on the cold, grey tiles on the floor, gently shifting his body so he was laying on his side, to release the pressure on his stomach. A shiver ran down Jack's spine as his eyes studied the details visible in his small sized cell. He seemed to realize where he was. His feet were touching a small bed covered with a layer of rust and a thin mattress on it, swamped with yellow dirty spots with small cracks everywhere. His head was laying close to the dirty toilet inside his cell. Jack then learned where the terrible fragrance was coming from. The toilet looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a very long time. This made Jack think of things from the past. He used to tell Kim all kinds of scary stories about prisons when she was younger. He told his daughter that she would get bread with spiders on it, a bed without a blanket, no visits from her parents and dirty, used toilets. This was to prevent her from choosing the wrong path, but this was also a situation he was now facing himself. Jack placed his jaws firmly on each other as he carefully lifted his upper body from the ground, to sit up. His body was stiff and his neck hurt, so he placed both of his hands on his neck and he gently squeezed it, trying to get rid of the stiff feeling, which would be a little more comfortable for him. The sound of each small movement Jack made was echoed back to him. Besides the sounds coming from himself, the room was entirely quiet. Jack placed his hands on the cold tiles and carefully moved himself so he was on the ground with one foot and one knee. In this position, he tried to get himself off of the ground. His heart beat slightly raised as his body strained. When he almost fully stood, he turned his attention to the thick, grey steely door, where he heard a knock on the thick layer of metal. At first his eyes studied the small window inside the door, but the shutter remained close, so his eyes turned to the doorknob, which began to lower, while making an incredible annoying creaking sound.

Jack waited in complete silence for someone to step into his cell, while he felt his heart starting to beat rapidly. A tall, wide muscular figure entered his cell, walking over to Jack in slow speed. The man didn't seem to be in a hurry as he took his time to near Jack. After he finally reached Jack, which seemed like hours to him, the man stopped in front of him, crossing his arms and giving Jack an angry look. Jack wasn't impressed of the way the tall guy was standing in front of him. The corners of his mouth went down as he raised his eyebrows while looking up into the man's eyes, reflecting his angry look. Jack had an idea of what he was about to go through, but was determined to hide his true feelings, in front of the Chinese men, about the entire situation he was in. When Jack started to think that nothing else was going to happen, the man finally grabbed Jack's arms and pulled him out of his cell. Jack tried to protest and slightly struggled, but lost the small battle as the guard simply tightened the grip on his arms, which was enough. Deeply inside Jack was aware of the fact that he would probably lose any kind of battle he wanted to take, but thought it was at least worth the try. He always told Kim that no matter how hard something is, or no matter what anyone thinks, never give up hope and trying. Now he had to listen to the lesson he always teached his daughter. On his way to whatever location the man was steering him to, Jack passed a lot of other thick steely doors. The hallway he walked through, was almost as worse as his own cell. It had the same grey, cold colors as his cell and looked as dirty as his cell did. Jack watched the elevators in the big elevator and stairs hall, and noticed the number plate just above the elevator. It read 1 to 30, meaning that there are 30 floors. Right when Jack began to think they were going to take the elevator, he was steered into the stairs way. Why did he even think that they were going to make his stay in that prison slightly comfortable? However, Jack found himself dealing with the stairs more easily than expected, as they were taking their way downstairs instead of upstairs. It took them a few minutes before they finally reached the basement, which was quite a lot of stairs below the first floor. The air was cold and chilly as Jack smelled the fragrance of dead meat. It was very dark, which caused Jack to feel unsure about the steps he took. The man who was pushing Jack forward seemed to know the way very well, as he walked in high speed without any trouble, through a dark hallway. Finally, they reached a door which they entered. Still, Jack had no idea of their heading location when they went through another door and another. Then suddenly the man stopped and said something in Chinese out loud. Only seconds after he spoke, lights were turned on as Jack immediately learned where he'd been taken to.

Jack's eyes scanned the small, dirty room and realized that this was going to be very unpleasant to go through. In front of him a deep hole in the ground filled with filthy water was visible, and a small cage was standing next to the hole of water, probably to lock him up into it. Despite the fear Jack felt deeply inside, he held up his cover and kept looking with the same angry expression on his face as he had before. However, Jack tried to carefully look into the water, trying to find out what's inside of it, but didn't manage to get a visual of what's inside the extremely filthy water. Jack's eyes widened when he finally noticed Cheng inside the room, sarcastically smiling into Jack's direction, motioning to his men to start with their work. Jack's shirt was already ripped of his body, he only had his jeans left, which they began to take off right after Cheng motioned to his men. Jack didn't try to struggle as they began to pull him out of his jeans. He did feel slightly embarrassed of standing there half naked, but realized that he would probably go through this more often, if he would even survive this filthy water. Suddenly Jack was being pushed towards the cage. On his way towards the cage, Jack kept looking right into Cheng's eyes, with an even more angry expression on his face then he had before. He was almost on fire. Then the man threw Jack into the cage, one holding Jack still, and the other two men both cuffing one hand above his head, on top of the cage. After they finished working on his hands, they began to tie his feet up against the lower parts of the cage, so Jack was unable to clearly move himself. Then finally they locked the cage and were called back by Cheng, who walked over the cage so he was standing in front of the angry looking Jack.

Both kept looking at one another. "So, Mr. Bauer," Cheng finally began in a voice full of sarcasm. "I assume that you know why you are here?" Cheng asked. Jack was boiling with rage and tried to keep his breath under control. He didn't move his lips to answer the sarcastic meant question of Cheng. Jack made fists with his hands. "Good," Cheng went on, assuming Jack knew why he had been captured. "China is a great country for people who stick to the rules, Mr. Bauer. But you are not one of those good people." Cheng said moving his head no as if he was talking to a little child. "But I've said enough to you, for now." Cheng stepped away from the cage and motioned to one of his men to dip the lights. "Start to work." He ordered his men in Chinese, who all began to do their jobs.

One man walked over to the small machine standing next to the water, as the other one walked over to the cage in which he'd locked up Jack, attaching the cage to a hook. The other man then pushed a few buttons on the machine when Jack's cage was lifted from the ground, moving towards the water. Hanging just above the water, almost touching the water with his feet, the lights were fully turned off, leaving Jack there in total darkness. Then after a few seconds of hanging there still, the cage began to lower after the Chinese man pushed a button. Jack felt the extremely cold water touching his feet. The water under his feet, now touching his knees, felt like the cold sea water he dived into once with his friends after a party, when all of them were drunk. That was many years ago, even before he had his daughter, but he remembered it clearly now. Jack went down into the water deeper and deeper and soon learned that he wasn't alone, in the water. He got some company of dead rats and other garbage in the water. The fragrance was horrible and the tempreture was very cold. When Jack's chin touched the water, he began to think they were going to drown him, but suddenly the cage stopped lowering. Jack didn't feel ground under his feet and realized that they had stopped the cage themselves, on purpose and not accidentally when suddenly his cage began to move when one of the Chinese men helped the cage get rid of the hook he was still attached to. Jack's cage now floated in the water when he suddenly felt wind from a ventilator coming over him, causing multiple shivers to run down his spine. Jack tried to move his head from side to side, trying to see something, but it was really too dark for him to see anything. However, he was still able to hear voices and sounds and he heard a door opening and closing again, so he assumed that he was now left alone inside the cold, dirty smelling room.

His body slowly began to get used to the low temperature of the water, but he kept feeling extremely cold and he kept shivering, because of the ventilator that was turned on and pointed into his direction. Jack was aware that this could cause pneumonia and eventually kill him, but then again he was reminded to the words Cheng said to him before: "You are too valuable to kill, Mr. Bauer.". He wondered how long they would leave him in this dirty water. Jack began to retch because of the dirty fragrance the water had, but nothing came out of his system, because he hadn't been eating for more than two days. Jack wasn't able to look down because of his face touching the water, and couldn't look up for too long either, because he would get trouble when swallowing. Basically, all Jack could do was keep his head straight forward, and hoping that this would end soon. However, Jack wasn't stupid and knew he was going to pay for what he had done. Staying into this uncomfortable position Jack began to wonder why he had taken such a dangerous job at CTU. All it did was hurting him somehow. He saved his country multiple times, but each time he did so, he lost something as well. He had lost his wife, his daughter didn't want to see him anymore, Tony, Michelle and Palmer died because of what they knew, Chloe almost died and last but not least, he lost Audrey, again. Jack liked the feeling of being appreciated a lot, but wished he could be seen as normal human being sometimes as well. Not just a person who saves his country so much that people see him as the newest version of a Terminator. The only one he felt like he could be himself with, was Audrey. She didn't mind the mistakes he had made in the past and understood him, or at least tried to do so. She was always there whenever he didn't feel all too well. She valued him for who he was, and not for the status he had. Jack hoped that Audrey would be all right.

Suddenly Jack's thoughts were interrupted by something touching his mouth. It felt hairy, and quite soft, and it smelled like dead meat. Jack shifted heavily, and shook his head, trying to get rid of the dead animal in front of his face. However, the movements caused the cage to move around the water faster, when Jack suddenly felt a spike pinching in his side. "Ahh!" He screamed, because of the spike that drilled into his side. At the same time his mouth slightly opened, the animal moved half in his mouth. Jack pushed the animal out with his tongue and spitted in the water, because of the extremely dirty taste he had. He retched again and let out a big burp. The spike was still in his side and there was nothing he could to do get rid of it. He couldn't move his legs or arms and the way he was able to move, caused him a lot more pain, without getting rid of the spike. Jack bit his lips and tried not to focus on the pain he felt. There was something he had to do if he wanted to get the spike out of his side, but moving hurted him too much. Then he learned that the longer he would be in this cold water with the cold wind on him, he would feel less of his body and the pain would eventually dissapear. He didn't know how long it would take for his body to get temporary paralized, but he was probably going to find that out sometime soon.

Jack carefully moved his head to the left, widening his eyes in the hopes to get a visual of something that caused a sound he heard. Maybe he was not alone after all? He thought everyone had left, but maybe he was wrong. Jack couldn't see anything but did hear a soft couch. "Nice place here, isn't it?" Cheng said calmly to Jack, who recognized his voice almost right after Cheng had let his first word out.

"You son of a bitch!" Jack whispered in an angry tone, but loud enough for Cheng to hear the words.

Cheng let out a brief, fake laugh. "I understand that this place wasn't exactly what you were dreaming of, Mr. Bauer, but it's the best place I can possibly give you." Cheng said sarcastically. "You shouldn't be so ungrateful." Cheng said in a fake angry tone.

Jack was filled with anger and close to exploding. "I will kill you!" He warned Cheng.

"Uh oh!" Cheng pretended to be shocked. "I didn't know you were that angry with me for not arranging a better suite for you, Mr. Bauer." Cheng sighed. "You really have to learn how to value the things you are offered." Cheng said. "I will help you with that, Mr. Bauer. Don't worry, you do not have to do this alone." He finished.

Jack rolled his eyes and breathed rapidly, not willing to share any more words with Cheng. He wasn't worth it. "Ahh, damn it!" He muttered to himself because of the worse pain he was still feeling in his right side. It burned and would probably get infected, because of the dirty water against and inside his wound. Jack didn't know what to do and decided to move wildly in the hopes he could get rid of the spike inside his body. He felt a terrible pain but couldn't think of an other option.

"Moving around like a crazy one won't help, Mr. Bauer." Cheng said.

Soon after Cheng said that, Jack learned why, when another spike drilled in his side and one in his leg. "Ahh!" He screamed in pain.

"I told you." Cheng said in a sarcastic tone. "You better stop moving, if you do not want the cage to flip and the spikes drilling into your lungs." Cheng said. "I think I must go now." Cheng said while getting himself out of the wooden chair he was sitting in. He walked over to the door and left the room, leaving Jack behind in the extreme cold, dark room while he was in terrible pain. Jack's heart raised and beated extremely fast. Again, Jack tried not to focus on the pain he felt and tried to think of someone he would really want to have around him at moments like this. The one he'd wanted to spend the rest of his life with: "Audrey Raines.". Just whispering her name softly made him already relax a little bit more. Slowly Jack sank into deep thoughts and went into another world, a world he had wished to be in right now. Jack's heart calmed down. It was as if Audrey was stroking his heart. The wind made him feel like Audrey was whispering something into his ears, while Jack's eyes started to close. At some point he even felt his body tingle. It was as if he lived on clouds, together with Audrey.

Suddenly Jack's thoughts and good feelings were abrubtly interrupted by Cheng and his men who entered the room again. Within a second, Jack twisted his head while his eyes were rolling fast, trying to discover who had entered the room and what they were planning to do to him. At the same time Jack wondered for how long he had been away from reality. It could have been seconds or minutes, but hours were also a possibility. All of his memories he had only minutes ago, were now slowly fading away as he kept his attention with the men inside the room. All of a sudden the lights were switched on as Jack saw who had entered the room. Cheng was talking to his men in Chinese, what Jack didn't understand at all. One of the men was standing right in front of Jack, to attach the cage to the hook again, while Jack began to realize that he couldn't feel his legs, nor the pain inside his legs. For how long have I been inside this water? He wondered, thinking that it was longer than he had thought it would be. Right when the cage began to move, Jack dropped his mouth slightly open, which brought a big amount of water into his mouth, causing him to couch. To Jack's surprise, they were lifting the cage out of the water, bringing it back to the place it was when he first entered the room. The ventilator was still on which caused Jack to shiver. His body was used to the temperature in the cold filthy water, and somehow he had gotten used to the wind too, but now that he was out of the water again, he thought that the ventilator's wind would freeze him. Jack carefully moved his head down, slowly pointing his eyes at his deep wounds isnide his right leg and side. Two men began to free Jack from the cuffs and ropes around his wrists and ankles. Right after his arms and legs were free, he fell down on the ground. At first he didn't notice what happened, because it went too fast, but then he learned it was because he was paralized. He knew this was probably of temporary time so he didn't panic. Jack automatically stroked his arms rapidly, trying to warm himself up a little, while Cheng took his time to walk over to the just opened cage. "Give me a minute, guys, I can handle him myself. I'll call you when I'm finished here." Cheng told his men in Chinese. They nodded inwardly and walked away, giving Cheng the space and time he wanted. Cheng raised an eyebrow and looked down on Jack, while he kept standing up. Jack moved his head from the point where he could only see Cheng's feet, up until he met his gaze. "Hopefully you have had two good days in here, Mr. Bauer." Cheng said in a sarcastine tone with a fake, oblique smile on his face. Two days?! Jack thought. Has it been so long, how can that be? Jack was confused by the time Cheng said he had been in there. He must have lost consciousness after more spikes drilled into his body. At some point the big amount of pain must have been unbearable.

"I... w-will kill y-you! Soon you w-will b-b-be a thing of the p-past!" Jack managed to say in a shaking tone, because of the coldness he still felt.

Cheng looked at the angry Jack and then smiled. "Is that so, Mr. Bauer? First try to get up." And with that, Cheng walked away from Jack. "Get him back to his cell." Cheng ordered his men, in Chinese.

Jack watched Cheng walking away as his eyes spitted fire. "Damn it!" He muttered to himself. Two men walked over to Jack as both of them grabbed one arm, dragging him out of the room. He didn't manage to walk by himself, but the Chinese hadn't planned to bring him back to his cell nicely, as they planed his knees over the hard, grey floor. Right now Jack didn't feel any of it, but he would later, and that's why they did it. Jack's body had weakened a lot as he wasn't even able to make fists of his hands. He hadn't been eating for over four days now and he needed to get something into his system, to gain some power again. After a while, he was literally thrown back into his cell, as they left him all alone, locking the door behind him. Jack's arms hurt because of the painful way they dragged him all the way back to his cell. At first Jack layed down on the cold grey tiles on the floor, but then he tried to shift himself over to his dirty, thin mattress. With his hands Jack grabbed his legs, one by one, and placed them on the mattress. Then he carefully twisted his body so his stomach was pointed at the floor. With his arms he pushed the rest of his body up until he was safe on the mattress. Jack was lucky to have such strong, trained arms because now they were of good use. Jack tried to find a comfortable position on the uncomfortable mattress and began to rock his body in the hopes to gain his temperature. In the meantime Jack carefully closed his eyes, willing to catch as much sleep as he could get because he didn't know what would be up next for him. It took him some time before he managed to fall asleep, but once his mind took over, he did. But for how long would he be able to sleep?

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So, hopefully this chapter has been a little good? I find myself in trouble when I try to write very descriptive things in English. I still miss a vocabular part, but will try as hard as I can do have that more included in the following chapters. Also, next chapter will be Audrey in America again.