For rorylie
Going on long missions was something he rarely did anymore. Hell, going out in the field was something he rarely did anymore, but this had been a big one and he'd been gone two long months.
And he'd come back on February 14th.
And he didn't have a single thing planned for his wife.
Now, his wife was a wonderful and understanding woman. She understood that sometimes when he came home from missions and sat in the dark, or did nothing but sleep for days. She understood that sometimes when he snapped at her it was the stress and she forgave him.
She wasn't a person that valued material things. She'd rather him take her to a crappy movie and buy her a huge popcorn than for him to buy her diamonds.
But….she was still his wife and it was Valentine's Day and there was no way he could have nothing planned for her.
His first attempt to get out of CTU early was thwarted by Bill needing to de-brief him. Then Curtis needed to get him up to speed on what he missed. Then a thousand other small things kept him there until nearly 7 at night.
His only chance was to leave right now, go the store and try to get something he could cook in the hour before Chloe got home.
"Jack, are you ready?" Chloe said from the door of his office.
"What?"
She rolled her eyes, "To go home. I'm done."
"But…" he sputtered, he actually sputtered in shock, "I thought you were going to be here for another hour."
"Well, I finished up early. Come on, you must be exhausted," she smiled sympathetically at him.
He was in serious trouble. He had to think fast, just like he would on a mission.
"Actually, I need to finish a few things up, why don't I meet you home?"
"Jack, there is nothing here that cannot wait until tomorrow. Besides Mr. Buchanan said to take the next few days off to recuperate. Plus," she smiled, "We don't have much of Valentine's Day left, so hurry up. I'll head to the car, be there in 5 minutes. I'm not kidding." She mock glared at him, then smiled and hurried away.
Way to go on the stealthy escape. Valentine's Gift and not even a rose for his wife. He was seriously screwed.
&&&&&&
Walking to the front door he thought of all the explanations he could give and all the ways he could make it up to her.
All the words that were on the tip of his tongue dried up as he walked into the house and found that their dining room was full of candles and all of his favorite foods.
"What?" he stopped and shook his head, "How did you do all of this?"
She shrugged, "Called Chase about an hour before we left. He set it all up."
His face fell and so did hers, "What's wrong? You don't like it."
"No," he said quickly, "Chloe, I love it, of course I love it, it's just. I didn't get you anything. I tried to get out today but I had to de-brief and I know that's no excuse and you did all this."
"Jack!" she yelled to stop his rant, "You were gone for 2 months. I don't care that you didn't get me anything." She kissed him softly, "The only thing that matters is that you're home with us."
He smiled widely at her, "You are," he kissed her, "the best wife ever and I'm going to make it up to you, I…" he stopped and his brow furrowed for a moment, "What do you mean home with us?"
She smiled as she grabbed his hands and led them down to her stomach, "I mean….us."
