A/N: It may not seem much like a happy Jack and Audrey story right now. But it will be. i promise. Review please and thanks.
Chapter 1
Jack walked slowly out of Audrey's room, feeling as if his heart had been ripped out. He hated this. He didn't want to leave her. But, it was the only way to protect her. He wasn't sure what he was going to do now. If anything. Without Audrey, he had nothing to live for.
Audrey tried to wake up. She tried to respond. She couldn't. She listened to Jack's goodbye and couldn't convince him not to leave. Now he was gone and she was alone.
Jack was now standing outside the house and looked out at the ocean. It would be too easy to jump. He didn't deserve a quick death. He believed his death should be long and painful for all the pain he had put Audrey through. Jack walked towards the street not knowing where he was going to go. He had nowhere to go. He had nobody to go to. His phone rang as he walked aimlessly around the streets being sure not to stray too far from Audrey just yet.
"Bauer," he said answering his cell phone normally.
"Jack, it's Chloe." The voice on the other line said. Jack didn't respond. He didn't know what to say. Chloe took advantage of the silence to speak. "Jack, where are you?"
"It doesn't matter, Chloe." Jack said.
"Yeah it does. Morris and I are worried about you. Where are you?" Chloe said. She had always considered Jack a good friend and knew that he probably wasn't in the best condition. She knew that he had no place to go. Jack didn't respond. "Jack, I can track your phone or you can tell me where you are."
"I'm on the streets near Heller's beach house." Jack said, giving up.
"Stay there. Morris and I are going to pick you up." Chloe said. They hung up and Jack did as he was told. At CTU, Chloe got directions to Heller's beach house, and left with Morris.
"Where are we going?" Morris asked when Chloe turned in the opposite direction of their homes.
"We're going to get Jack." Chloe said. "He's going to stay at my apartment and I'm going to stay with you. At least until he can find somewhere to stay."
"Chloe, you realize that you do way too much for him, right?" Morris said.
"Look, Morris, Jack is my friend. He's been through a hell of a lot these past couple years and I'm not going to let him live on the streets. He's done so much for this country and deserves better than what he's got."
They arrived outside Heller's beach house and drove around looking for Jack. They finally found him sitting a little way down the road. They could tell he was upset and Chloe warned Morris not to ask about or even mention Audrey. Chloe pulled over next to where Jack was sitting. She got out and sat next to him while Morris waited in the car.
"Hey, Jack." Chloe said.
"Hi." Jack said.
"Jack, I was wondering if you wanted to stay in my apartment for a while. And, I'll be staying with Morris."
Jack looked at her. "Chloe, you don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do." Chloe replied. "Jack, you need a place to stay. Not to mention, I need to start getting used to Morris again. So, are you coming or what?"
Jack stared in the direction of the beach house where Audrey is. He sighed and Chloe stared at him in anticipation. He still didn't say anything.
"Jack, it really isn't up for debate." Chloe said standing up and grabbing Jack's arm to help him stand up. Jack stood hesitantly. He walked towards the car and got into the back seat. Morris greeted him. The ride to Chloe's apartment was spent in silence. In the rearview mirror Chloe could see Jack's head turned slightly back in the direction of the beach house. She knew how important Audrey had been to him. She wished she knew what had happened at the beach house to make Jack seem so depressed.
When they arrived they walked into Chloe's apartment. Chloe grabbed a suitcase and started packing some of her things in it. She didn't pack too much so that she could have an excuse to come back to check on Jack. She didn't exactly trust him by himself.
"Make yourself at home, Jack. We'll be back at around noon to make sure you eat something." Chloe insisted before she and Morris left.
Jack sat down on the bed. He hadn't had a real bed in so long. In China, he slept on the cold concrete floor of his prison cell. He wondered how Audrey felt being in a bed. He wondered whether she also had slept on the hard floor in China. He pushed the thought away. He couldn't stand thinking that Audrey had been put through the same thing as he had in the past two years. He sighed and laid down on the bed. He pulled his shirt off and then his jeans leaving him only in his boxers. He fell asleep almost instantly.
He woke up almost as quickly as he had fallen asleep. The nightmares of China were going to be hard to overcome. Especially the ones with Audrey in them. It was nine in the morning and he had only fallen asleep at 7:30. He was tired, but not tired enough to fall back asleep and hear Audrey's screams. He put his jeans and shirt back on and went into the kitchen. He felt like an intruder. He and Chloe were friends, but they weren't that close. They only seemed to talk at work and when Chloe used to give him information on Kim while he was pretending to be dead.
He was happy to see that Chloe had a coffee maker. He made himself a cup of coffee and sat at the small table in the kitchen. There was an old newspaper on it and Jack read it just to pass the time. When he was done with both the newspaper and his coffee, it was only 10:30. Despite not wanting to see anybody, he desperately couldn't wait for noon to see Chloe and Morris. At least seeing them would pass the time.
Jack looked around Chloe's apartment. He found various newspaper clippings cut out in a little box. He picked them up and read them to see why Chloe had kept them. Some of them were about the things she had helped stopped. The nerve gas, the meltdown of the nuclear power plants and other things like that. He didn't know why she had kept them. The other ones were things involving China. She wrote on the backs "show to Audrey". He realized that Chloe must have been trying to help Audrey get him out of China. The last article was the same one he had read earlier. It had a picture of Audrey and had a short blurb on her death. Jack held back tears like he had tried to do earlier. He was happy that Audrey was alive. But, he was sad because they couldn't be together. Somehow that was worse.
Jack put the box away and sat on the couch. He should be snooping through Chloe's things. At noon, Chloe and Morris knocked on the door. Jack answered it. He wondered why Chloe hadn't just used her key to get in. It was, after all, her apartment.
"How are you settling, Jack?" Morris asked.
"Fine. Thank you." Jack replied, remembering he hadn't said 'thank you' yet.
"Did you get any sleep?" Chloe asked.
"A little." Jack replied.
"Did you eat anything?" Morris asked. He felt like he was being interrogated.
"I had coffee." Jack said.
"We're going out to lunch. Do you want to come?" Morris asked.
"Look, I already feel like I'm intruding. Maybe, I should leave." Jack said.
"Not a chance, Jack." Chloe said, blocking the door. "You have no place to go. You're staying here. And, you're not intruding."
Jack stared at her in disbelief. This was not the Chloe he knew. He looked at Morris who gave him a look telling him not to make Chloe angry.
"Fine, Chloe. I'll come to lunch with you guys." He said.