Chloe looked in the mirror and scowled at her reflection, bile rising in her throat at the sight of Bill Buchanan's blood smearing her face. She looked down at her hands and ran the hot tap to clear the remnants of his life flow from her skin. She used to be squeamish but not anymore; working at CTU had seen to that.
She closed her eyes briefly as she recalled the moment when she thought she would die. The terrorist had her pinned to the floor, his gun at her head when Buchanan had appeared. The man had swung round and taken his shot, allowing Chloe to move swiftly and kick his legs from under him. She'd ended up killing him but not before his bullet had caught Buchanan in the chest.
Chloe had screamed for help at the same time as she'd used all her body weight to stem the flow of blood. Buchanan had lost consciousness in front of her but not before he'd attempted to reassure her, seeing the tears falling unnoticed from her eyes. If will alone could have saved him then Chloe's will would have succeeded. As it was, the combination of her will, his desire for survival and the quick actions of the medical team had managed to stabilise him and he was now recovering.
Chloe had been distraught, refusing to leave; she felt like she owed him, he'd been good to her and if it wasn't for the stupid actions of her ex-husband Morris then the terrorist would never have infiltrated CTU. Eventually Karen; herself distraught, had persuaded Chloe to go home. And now here she was attempting to clean up before walking into the bright daylight that would fail to hide the evidence of carnage that had been part of her day. If she'd known that a career in computer science would ensure she'd leave work on a regular basis having lost those close to her then she might have re-thought her career choice.
She watched the red flow of water turn to pink; almost blind to her own actions as her thoughts drifted to how again her world had shifted in the space of twenty four hours. This morning she'd had a boyfriend who adored her, colleagues who supported her and the joy of learning that Jack was returning from China. But all that had gone, the only ray of hope being that Jack was still alive and he had a chance of getting his life back.
Audrey had eventually turned up and had gone to meet him, leaving Chloe tempering her disappointment at not having even seen him with her pleasure that he finally had a chance at happiness. That was the one bright spot on a day of darkness. But what did she have left? It felt like very little. She sighed as she thought of her lonely apartment.
The sound of the bathroom door opening snapped her out of her thoughts and she turned to see who had entered the room. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the familiarity of the man standing in front of her. He looked pale and drawn but he was alive and that was more than she'd hoped for earlier in the day.
She wiped her hands on her skirt and stood, wavering a little, not knowing what to say to him. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She tried to keep her emotions in check but she failed.
Tears sprang to her eyes and began to flow freely down her cheeks. She tried to bite back the sob that came to her throat but the softening in his expression was her undoing.
She moved quickly, head bent and unable to look at him. But still she was drawn to him, colliding with his hard chest in a couple of strides. She hardly even registered what she was doing, her actions driven by a need stronger than her mind could process.
She felt his arms engulf her and was momentarily shocked at how thin he was, but his strength was unmistakable. She heard him whisper her name, his own emotions tumbling out unheeded.
She didn't question why he was there, why he hadn't gone with Audrey. There would be time for questions later, for now she would be grateful, for now she would relax into him and draw strength from him. More, she would share her strength with him; that was what they did, they held each other up and they took from each other what no-one else could give.