It takes a lot to piss him off. I mean people try to kill him and pretty much everyone he loves on a daily fucking basis. If he got insanely upset about all of it he'd never been able to concentrate enough to do his job.
But there were times that it became too much, when there was nothing but red in front of his eyes and his only thoughts were to kill whatever was hurting the person he loved.
One of those times, one of the worst, was listening on the phone to the men threatening his wife and child when they had been kidnapped. When he was trapped hiding under a car and there was not a single thing he could do in that moment to help them. The rage was like a fire running through his veins.
There were other moments like these—few and far between.
And apparently today was going to be a bad one. Because today he walks into CTU and sees Chloe sitting alone in a room with a bruise covering almost the entire right side of her face.
"Where is he?" He asks Curtis as they stand outside watching her trying to work.
"He's in jail. The LAPD picked him up this morning." Neither of them needs to speak the man's name. "He was drunk off his ass. Milo fired him yesterday."
Jack nods and turns to head out the door, "Jack you can't go after him now."
"I'm not going to go after him. I'm going to kill him…very slowly."
"Jack, she doesn't need this right now."
"He's not going to get away with it. You know what happens to a one time offender. He'll get probation and community service and be out in 24 hours."
"He's going to pay Jack. We're going to make him pay. But not now, not like this. We need to wait for the right time. Right now, what you need to do is go in there," he points to the office, "And take care of her."
He looks over and watches her hands shake as she tries to input information…and nods, "You're right, Curtis. Thanks….just…..I want to know the minute he's out."
"You'll know," he promises and walks away.
He takes a breath, pushes his anger as far down as he can and walks into the room. "Chloe," he calls and curses internally when she jumps.
"Oh, Jack, hi. I'm just finishing some work up. Do you….do you need something or?"
He moves closer and sits in the chair next to her. He raises his hand to her bruised face and she leans into his touch, "He was drunk," she says as an explanation.
"That's no fucking excuse," Jack says before he can stop himself, his rage seeping through the words. He takes a breath and says, with more control, "It's not an excuse, Chloe. He hurt you and he's going to pay for it."
"Jack, don't…" she starts to cry a little, "You're not going to kill him, right?"
"Chloe," he says and shakes his head.
"Please don't. You'll get in trouble. I don't want you to get in trouble because of me. I don't want to lose you," she's sobbing now and he curses out loud and pulls her close.
"Shhh! Shhh, baby," he pulls her into his lap, "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"
"Promise," she can barely get the word out.
"I promise. Shhh, calm down, sweetheart, you're going to make yourself sick. I'm not going anywhere, baby, just breathe, breathe."
Finally she stops sobbing, but he continues to rock her in his arms, whispering in her ear.
&&&&&&
Hours later he's holding her in his bed, "I have to go home," she whispers.
"Curtis is going to bring you some stuff later. You're going to stay here for a few days. Until we get this thing straightened out and I know you're safe."
"You promised…"
"Not to hurt Morris and I won't. That doesn't mean he's not going to pay Chloe, because he is. He's also not getting anywhere near you again anytime soon."
"What are you going to do?" she whispers, burrowing closer to her.
He tightened his arms around her, "Well, Curtis is going to come stay with you a little later and I'm going to go take care of a couple of things. Once I take care of them, you and I are going to go away for a while. I'm thinking a couple days somewhere warm. How does that sound?"
"Good….that sounds good, but Jack, you don't have to do that. We have work and you must."
"Chloe, my only job right now is taking care of you, okay?"
She pulls him even closer, "Okay…..but I'm not wearing a bikini."
&&&&&&
"I don't know why you're glaring at me. I didn't make you wear a bikini."
"This isn't much better," she says gesturing to the bright red one-piece that still exposed tons of her white skin.
"I have to argue with you on that, Chloe. You look amazing."
A blush colors her cheeks as she shakes her head, but he speaks before she can voice her denial, "But you have a lot of skin exposed to the sun, so I need to put lotion on it."
He helps her sit up on her towel and slowly begins rubbing the lotion on her legs, up her stomach and along the tops of her breasts. She's already breathing hard but she stops breathing when he reaches her back.
It takes a moment but he soon sees why, there is a bruise on her back. It stretches from her neck down to her mid back. He knows she got it when Morris shoved her against a wall…right before he hit her so hard she fell and bruised her knee. Jack grits his teeth and wished he'd beaten him for longer.
Instead of putting on more lotion he grips her arms lightly and bends to press kisses along the bruise. She stiffens at first, but then relaxes, "Jack. I'm sorry."
He finally pulls back and finishes rubbing in the lotion, "You have nothing to be sorry for Chloe. Don't worry about that now. Just enjoy the sun, okay. Just let yourself relax."
"Are people looking? Because of my face?"
"You mean are people jealous because I'm here with the most gorgeous woman on the beach. Absolutely."
"Jack," she laughs, "I look hideous."
"That is crazy. I would never lie to you. And I am telling you that you are beautiful."
"But the bruise…"
"Will fade." He brushes his hand over it now, "It's already much better."
"I'm sorry. I'm being silly."
"No, you've been through something terrible, but you're safe now. He's not ever going to get near you again."
"You never told me what you did to him."
"I didn't kill him. I only made him understand that it would be in his best interest to find somewhere else to live besides the United States. Last I checked he was on his way to China. If he's smart, he'll stay there. If he tries to come back, I'll deal with it. But either way there is no reason for you to worry. He'll never get near you again."
"Jack, this is nice of you, so nice, but it's not your job to protect me."
"And it's not yours to protect me, but you do it all the time. Why do you do it?"
"Because I lo---because it's the right thing to do."
Jack smiles and rubs his finger over her lips, "I don't really think that's why. It's certainly not why I'm here. Do you know why I'm here with you Chloe? Why I sent Morris away? Why I haven't left your side in days?"
"You feel responsible for me," she said in a rush, barely breathing, "You're grateful and you feel like you have to take care of me, but you don't. I don't…."
"I don't have to do anything Chloe. I've never done anything that I haven't wanted to do. I want to be here. I want to take care of you. I love you Chloe. I'm in love with you."
"You…what? You can't be."
Jack laughs, "That's not a very good argument. Especially from a genius like you. I love you Chloe. I've know for months, but you were trying to work things out with Morris so I didn't tell you. I can't do that anymore. I want you with me. I need you with me."
Chloe had no idea what to say, she just stared at him, "You mean it, don't you? You're really in love with me."
"Yes, I really love you, Chloe."
"I love you too."
Jack kisses her the moment the words are passed her lips, "I'm so glad baby. I promise you won't be sorry."
"You better not be sorry. I got you know, I'm not letting go."
"You're not getting rid of me," he tells her and kisses her again.
"Okay," she says and gets up, "We're done with the beach."
"What?"
"We're going back to the bungalow to have sex until neither of us can move."
"Uhh…."
Chloe stops walking and smiles at him, "I hope you do better than that because I have extremely high expectations."
Jack growled and swept her into his arms, "Oh, baby, you're expectations are about to get blown away."