Disclaimer: Well, I still don't own 24... still wishingI did...

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long- this is the last one, so please review and tell me what you thought about this chapter and the story overall!

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Chapter 13

Tomas jumped as Maria practically dove in front of him to get to the sink after breakfast.

"What's the rush?" he asked as she started scrapping all the extra food into the trashcan at top speed.

"Theresa and me are having a contest- who can do the dishes fastest- loser has to do the dishes for three days in a row- she's timing me now- I time her tomorrow- now give me your plate!" Maria said this very quickly and all in one breath. Jack chuckled and handed Maria his plate right away- Tomas laughed and did the same.

Tomas watched as Jack walked out to get to work, smiling. Life had gone back to normal. It had been three weeks since Jack had been shot. He was working practically up to what he usually did. Tomas still wouldn't allow him to do the heavy lifting, but he had the feeling if he did, Jack would be ok (or at least not tell him if he was having any pain).

Tomas' son, Jose, had stopped by for a week in between his summer session and the regular fall session of his college. Jose had always been a cheerful person and had heard all about Jack from letters between him and the girls and Tomas. Jack had gradually relaxed around him and by the end of the week, Jack had accepted Jose.

Tomas was brought back to the present as the telephone rang.

"You get it!" Maria cried as she dropped a handful of spoons.

"You're so gonna lose!" Theresa said, looking at the stopwatch and grinning.

"Demand… rematch," Maria said, frantically trying to put a plate in the dishwasher with one hand, empty a glass with the other, pull out the top part of the dishwasher with her elbow and pick up a spoon with her feet.

Tomas carefully walked around Maria and grabbed the phone, still laughing.

"Hello?" he said. He walked into the living room so he could hear over Maria's screams of dismay.

"Hello," said the voice on the other line. "Is this Tomas Verdugo?"

"Yes," Tomas said. "Look, I don't want to buy anything."

"No," the man on the other line said quickly. "No, I just need to talk to Jack."

Tomas froze. Had he heard wrong?

"Sorry- who?"

"Jack," the voice said. "Jack Hunt- he does still work for you right?" The slight panic in the man's voice did nothing to ease Tomas' worries.

"Umm…" Tomas said. "Yes, he does, but…" he trailed off. Jack had told him no one would likely call. Tomas didn't even know he had given the number out to anyone.

"Who's this?" he asked, trying to hide the worry in his voice.

"This is Tony," the man said. "Look, it's pretty important I talk to Jack right away. Could you just tell him Tony's on the phone? He'll know who I am."

"Ok," Tomas said slowly. He wasn't sure about all this. "Hold on a second, he's outside."

"Ok, thanks," Tony said. Tomas put the phone down slowly. What was going on? He walked outside to where Jack was flexing his injured arm.

"Jack!" Tomas called. Jack stopped playing with his arm, looking guilty.

"Yes?" he called back.

"There's a Tony on the phone for you." Tomas watched as the look of relaxation and happiness on Jack's face faded into what Tomas could only describe as panic.

"Tony?" Jack asked, already practically running to the house.

"Yeah," Tomas said. "Said you'd know who he was." Jack flew through the door and dived for the phone. Tomas thought he looked more scared than he had when the robbers came. Who was this Tony?

"Tony?" Jack asked, forgetting that Tomas was listening in his haste. He was fairly panicked. Why would Tony call unless something awful had happened? "What's wrong? Is it Kim? Chase?"

"Jack!" Tony said. "No, they're fine! But I got some bad news.

"What? What's wrong?" Jack said, slightly less panicked now that he knew Kim was safe.

"Look Jack- I'm sorry- but- it's the Chinese- they know you're alive."

Jack sat down on the couch as the news hit him like a ton of bricks. How could this happen?

"How- How good's your information?" he asked quietly. Inside he begged for it to be false.

"Very," Tony assured. "Look I can't tell you everything over the phone. The point is you gotta get back over the border."

"What? Why? Isn't that more risky?"

"No, don't worry- we got it planned out. But we need you to get over the border- get to Bonita, a small inn called 'The Dolphin'- we got it all planned out from there."

"But- I," Jack started, than stopped. What was he going to say- he didn't want to leave?

"Look, Jack- they've already started to search for you- you should leave by tonight- as soon as you can. The sooner you get back- the better."

Jack gulped- he knew it was too good to last, staying down here.

"Ok, Tony- I will," he said quietly.

"Jack," Tony said. "I'm sorry about all this. But don't worry- we got it covered. Just get back up here, okay? See you soon- I got to go."

"Ok, bye Tony." Tony hung up and Jack was left with a phone in his hand, feeling empty. He had to leave. He had to leave this great place- he had to be on the run again.

"Who's Kim and Chase?" Tomas interrupted his thoughts. "Who's Tony? What's going on!"

Silently Jack cursed himself for mentioning Kim and Chase in front of Tomas. Feeling slightly sick, he said the first lie he came up with.

"Kim is Tony's daughter. Chase is her husband. Tony's my best friend." Jack's heart gave a little twist- couldn't even call his daughter his own. His thoughts didn't stay on that for long- instead they jumped to the next biggest problem- the Chinese knew he was alive. They were looking for him. He looked up at Tomas and glanced to the kitchen where the girls were still goofing around.

What if the Chinese found him here? Dammit! He had put this whole family in danger by staying this long! He glanced toward the kitchen where Maria was yelling at the dishes rapidly in Spanish. Theresa was laughing in between counting slowly out loud. It was his fault if they got hurt.

"Look, uh," he said, tearing his eyes away from the kitchen door. "Tony needs some help- so I have to go."

Tomas looked at him and Jack was painfully aware that Tomas didn't believe him. Jack cringed waiting for the inevitable flow of questions. Tomas looked at him for a second longer and took a deep breath.

"You're coming back, right?" he asked quietly. Jack looked up at him, surprised. At first he thought an instant 'no.' Coming back would put this family at even more risk. But, if he was alive to come back at all- then maybe the Chinese would have cleared him

"I'll try," he said, and meant it. "I don't know how long I'll be gone, though."

"There'll always be a spot open," Tomas said warmly and Jack felt himself smile.

"Thanks," he said. "I've got to go pack." For some reason he felt better about the whole situation, knowing that he would always be welcome here. He closed his eyes and dared to hope that he would be able to come back.

---

Tomas' smile didn't disappear, but it turned sadder. Jack was leaving, and Tomas knew somehow that he was leaving to go into danger yet again. Would he be hurt? Was he going to come back? Was he going to live? As he turned to tell the girl's the bad news- the smile was gone completely.

He walked slowly into the kitchen and the girls caught on right away that something was wrong.

"Dad?" Theresa said.

"Jack has to leave," Tomas said. Seeing Maria temper roar up- he quickly continued. "That was his friend on the phone- his friend needs him for a while."

"Oh, no," Theresa said, sadly. "I wonder what's wrong."

"When will he be back?" Maria asked, absentmindedly turning off the running water.

"I don't know- he wasn't sure," Tomas said.

"When is he leaving?" Theresa asked.

"I think right now," Tomas said.

"Well- he can't! We haven't even had a goodbye feast!" Theresa said.

"We'll just have another welcome one for when he gets back," Maria said.

"Actually- I don't know if he is going to be able to-" Tomas started but Maria cut him off.

"We'll have a welcome one for when he gets back," Maria said, her tone daring him to disagree. Tomas gulped and nodded.

"Of course we will," Theresa said, indicating that she never meant that he wouldn't be coming back. Just then Jack walked in- holding the same worn duffel bag he had arrived with. Though, Tomas was happy to note, it was a bit more stuffed than before.

"Sorry I have to leave so suddenly," Jack said.

"Well, that's ok," Theresa said. "But we had hoped to give you a goodbye dinner or something." She frowned a little.

"But, since we can't," Maria cut in. "We'll give you an extra big welcome back party." Tomas grinned as Jack opened his mouth and closed it- deciding not to argue.

"Well, I have to be going," Jack said. Tomas and the girl's followed him to the porch.

"Bye, Jack," Theresa said, hugging him. "Be careful!"

"Bye," Maria said, also hugging an embarrassed Jack. "For now." She added in her 'disagree-and-die' tone.

"Thanks for everything," Jack said, turning to Tomas.

"You're a good man, Jack," Tomas said, shaking Jack's hand. "We'll be waiting for you." Jack smiled and after another hug from both girls, started to walk down the road.

The girls yelled after him- Theresa "Be carefuls!" and Maria threats to hunt him down. He turned back every few steps to wave until finally he was too far away to see very well. The girls went back inside, but Tomas stayed out, staring at where he could barely see Jack.

Faintly he heard Maria yells of triumph since Theresa had forgotten to stop the stopwatch, but he couldn't bring himself of laugh at it. He continued watching the spot where Jack had walked away. A horrible sadness came over him. He didn't share Maria's conviction that Jack would be back.

Sighing, he whispered something to the empty road in front of him,

"You better come back, Jack."

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Author's Note: Please excuse any spelling errors due to author's severe case of S.S. (Spelling Stupidity)

Author's Other Note: Well, thank you everyone who reviewed and I really liked writing this story so I hope you enjoyed it- please leave a final review! Also, I'm hoping to write a Season 5 based off this fic, but we've had some minor (ok majoy- i lost all my notes) drawbacks so I hope it will come- contiune checking around for a new story from me:)

Thank you all very much!