She was curled up at his side, lying on his shoulder. He could smell her hair, feel her hand on his stomach, feel her chest slowly rising as she slept. Someone might say he was in heaven, but he knew, that for him it was hell. The only reason she was here was because Jack was away, and she was lonely. He was out on some undercover mission, it wasn't deep cover, so he'd be back in a few weeks, but he was still gone. So here she was, curled up next to him, putting him through a new kind of torture. He wouldn't trade this for the world, don't get that wrong. It was just that he knew that she wasn't there for him. He knew it was because she needed a stand in.
Chase felt her snuggle closer to him, take her hand and wrap it more securely around his waist, holding him closer to her. He knew she didn't do it on purpose, make him feel like she really loved him or needed him. She didn't know how much he loved her. How much he couldn't stand seeing her with his partner. But he never let them know, never let it slip how he felt.
And here she was. Lying in his bed, curled up next to him. If he blocked out the reason she was here, he could almost pretend that this was for real, that she was here for him and only him. Almost. She buried her head into his shoulder again, and murmured a name. Not his name, but Jack's. It felt as though his heart was being torn apart. He tried to stop the tears that were forming in the corner of his eyes, and by some feat of god, he fended them off. He would have his emotional break down when she wasn't here.
Rain was pelting the window to his left, and lightning was lighting up the sky. He closed his eyes and just tried to concentrate on the fact that Chloe was in his bed, next to him, that her arm was holding him close to her, that, for now at least, she was here with him, and not Jack. He tried, god knows he tried, but he just couldn't stop his mind from repeating what she had said. It echoed in his brain, never relenting. So he did the one thing that he could for her. He couldn't love her the way he wanted to, he couldn't be the only man in her life, or the one who she ran to first, or the one that she would spend the rest of her life with, but he could, if only this, be her stand in.