**SPOILERS IN STORY ALL THE WAY TO SEASON 8**

Title: The Remains

Summary: Post Season 8. Chloe is starting to rebuild her life after Jack left and after she almost got sent to prison.

TV Show: 24

Genre For Chapter: Friendship/Drama

Pairing: Jack/Chloe

Setting/Timing: Post Season 8

Note: I don't know how this is going. I feel pretty good about it but I'm still a little nervous. It was harder writing a Jack & Chloe (Chlack) fanfic than I thought. This is how I wish the series had gone on to Season 9… *sigh* so sad it's over...

Chapter 1: Afterwards Surprise

Chloe sighed as she came by a nearby Starbucks. She had to admit to herself that she was getting sick of the same place. But she liked the smell of coffee and it was very cozy.

Every morning she would stop by and sit in the same seat. If someone else was in her favorite spot, though, she would sit close to them and glare at the person in her seat. She actually started thinking she was going a little crazy. Well she would have an excuse after what she had been through in the past year.

Flashback…

She said 'Shut it down' signaling Arlo to turn off the live video feed from the satellite, which was showing where Jack was leaving off to. The last thing she saw through her blurred eyes from crying was his face disappearing pixel after pixel until his face was totally gone.

She knew that she would also have to go into hiding. She had to get out of there as fast as she could. She knew they would come after her wanting to ask questions.

Chloe had told Morris that they needed to leave the country to New England. Even though Morris understood Chloe's objective to save Jack and keep him safe he didn't think it was enough to move form their home. Chloe practically choked as Morris said to give Jack up so they could live as a happy family.

She had continually told him that she could never be happy knowing that she would have betrayed Jack and given away where she had last seen him. She even told him that she would go to jail anyways because she had helped him escape.

Morris argued that they would probably drop all charges if she just told them the last place she saw Jack. After that the fight went down hill from there. They were in a huge screaming fight and she had completely forgotten about leaving.

A hard knock at the door put a pause on their fight. Chloe looked over to the door and back at Morris with a scowl on her face. When the authorities had come out they began to ask her questions like: Did you let Jack Bauer escape? Do you know where he is? Where did you last see him? All the questions she suspected the officer would ask.

Chloe told them that she wasn't going to speak until she got to talk with her lawyer. Then they moved in on her arresting her in hand cuffs and dragging her out, making her leave behind Morris and her son, Prescott.

When she had been held in custody she had a long time to think and none of those thoughts even considered betraying Jack. No matter what, she would never tell them anything to let them get anywhere close to Jack.

She was surprised to see the officer come into to her room and releasing her from her hand cuffs and said, "You are free to go."

Chloe rubbed at where the cuffs had been a little too tight and looked at him with a confused/nervous expression. The officer had sighed and explained, "President Taylor was notified that you were in custody and told us to release you immediately."

Immediately understanding, she had walked out of the facility to make her way home. On her way she saw the CTU building. Finding a corner on the street she slowly slid down in a sitting position with her knees to her chest and her crying soundly to herself. All of the things that had previously happened that day came crashing back into her like a tremor from an earthquake.

Present…

Chloe wiped a few stray tears form her eye as she remembered the last sentence Jack had spoken to her.

"When you first came to CTU… I never thought it was going to be you that was going to cover my back all those years… And I know that everything that you did today, was to try and protect me. I know that….. Thank you."

She scolded herself for still being so weak after so long. She should be moving on with her life. But there was something missing in her life. Jack had put her through some pretty rough times but she still missed the adrenaline she felt while being on a mission with him. She had gotten an e-mail not too long ago asking her if she would take the job as Director of CTU, recommendation from the President of the United States. Even though bad memories were there, it still was a part of her life and she just couldn't let go of it yet. People needed her and she wasn't going to let anything stop her from protecting her country.

During the past year she had lost her husband and her best friend. Morris and Jack. The two constant men in her life were gone. Morris had left with their son but he wasn't a cruel man. He talked it over on the phone. He said that she was dealing with too much stress so he would agree if he could have Prescott on weekends and holidays. Chloe, although not happy with the outcome, really didn't want to put Prescott through all the stress over it so she agreed. After they had gone to court she had been given the paperwork.

It was that very reason why she was at Starbucks earlier than usual. She was filling out the divorce papers and the agreement with Prescott.

As she was signing she thought she should have been depressed but she was calm about it. She loved Morris and always would but it apparently wasn't working between them. On Monday Prescott would be back with her and she could spend her time only with him.

After signing the last sheet she sighed and made her journey home, dumping her coffee out and throwing the coffee into the trash can.

When she got home she nearly jumped as she heard a low, gravelly voice say, "Hey, Chloe."

She didn't let herself believe it. When she turned, thinking she was crazier than she thought, she saw him. Him in the flesh. And she couldn't help but start a few tears.

Jack Bauer was in her apartment living room like none of it had ever happened and it was just a normal day.