Chapter 2

---
Chloe was once again the second last person working. She had made a habit of working late most nights to avoid run-ins with her new neighbor, who seemed to enjoy picking her life apart and being annoying.

She didn't mind staying late, really. She would probably still be working or at least thinking about working when she got home anyway, and this way she got the odd moment alone with Jack.

Not that she had planned on anything happening, it just felt comfortable to work with him. Even when they just focused on work, she didn't have to dub herself down or play around with social niceties that everyone else was so focused on-she just felt normal for once.

---

The previous night had been different though. They were both forced to stay there and figure out what was wrong. They had been working for hours in his office-stressed out of their minds when they finally cracked it.

They had a drink to celebrate finishing before Jack offered to give her a ride home.

"How will I get back to work if you drive me?" she asked, feeling the tiredness starting to take a hold.

"We'll take your car and I'll take a cab back to my place."

"What about coming into work tomorrow? I can't ask you to take a cab twice, just to give me a ride. Thanks anyway though." she smiled.

"I could stay over." he offered.

Confused, she looked up "Huh?"

"Well, I don't don't want you to drive home in your tired state and that way, we can drive in together in the morning..."

"Um... okay, I guess." she said, handing him her keys.

---

She pretty much slept the whole drive, which wasn't very long. She only lived about half an hour away from CTU, but there were a few side streets on the way to it.

By the time they got to her apartment, her neighbor was standing outside the door, just waiting to say something about Chloe, she knew it.

Low and behold, as soon as they stepped up, Mrs. Leone was there to comment on the less than normal presence of both Chloe and Jack.

---

By the time they finished, Chloe was no longer tired, just pissed. She hated her neighbor, who also apparently hated her. She asked Jack if he wanted a drink while she made herself one to "settle down".

She didn't usually drink, but after today, she felt she deserved it. He agreed and they both had a whiskey and split a can of coke.

---

While they finished their drinks, they begun talking. No subject in particular, just normal chatter for a while, then into family, friends, work... still normal, but more detailed.

After a few more drinks, they started really talking to each other, more personal and more real than either of them were used to talking about to anyone.

---

To lighten the not-so-dim mood, Jack walked over and turned up the radio that was lightly playing in the background.

Chloe gave him a questioning look as she watched him do a little jig over to his seat.

"What?" he asked, stopping in front of her.

"Nothing, just never seen you dance before."

He smiled "Never seen you dance either..."

Her face went blank "I don't dance."

"Oh come on" he said, winking at her.

She shook her head "I'm not nearly drunk enough, Jack-o" she joked

He rolled his eyes and turned up the station when "You're so vain" came on

"Oh you have to! This is our song!" he said smiling.

Chloe looked at him again "We have a song?"

He smiled "We do now... come on, Chlo'!"

She rolled her eyes and got up "Fine, but you're not telling anyone. Got it?"

He raised his arms "Cross thy heart, Ma'am."

---

As they started dancing, Jack pulled Chloe closer to him, taking them both off guard. Chloe froze at first, but then relaxed into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

She was quite tired, or quite drunk-maybe both, but she was sure that she wasn't thinking 100%, or she would be having a panic attack, for sure. Instead, she was calm, relaxed and dancing with JACK BAUER! Her boss...her friend, who was also her boss. Who was incredibly sexy and...

She was about to go into over-examining panic-mode, when Jack started running his fingers thought her hair as they continued dancing slowly and very closely, erasing all previous thoughts from her mind.

He wasn't completely sure what he was doing either, but it felt too right to want to stop. He didn't let himself over think too much about what was going to happen, tonight or otherwise.

The way he figured, he would never get another chance to tell her how he felt with out getting slapped or losing his nerve.

---

With that thought, he held her tighter and lightly rubbed the side of his face against hers and smiled warmly as she looked up. Blushing slightly, Chloe looked away as she returned the smile.

Taking a deep breath, he moved a strand of her hair behind her ear and moved in with a kiss before quickly pulling back, realizing he had actually kissed her. Panicking, he brushed down his shirt before looking at her.

"I'm sorry." he said awkwardly, "I was..I , just...-" he was cut off by Chloe's lips.

Before he could get a thought passed, Chloe noticed his hesitation and moved in closer to him, deepening the kiss. He smiled and kissed her back, slowly leading them to the couch.

He pulled away for a second as Chloe's hand lightly grazed his thigh, "Chloe?" he said as more of a confirmation than a question.

"Shut up, Jack." she answered before kissing him again.

She still wasn't convinced that this was actually happening, but real or not, she didn't want it to stop.

---

As the pace continued to increase, Jack pulled away for a second and signaled down the hall. Getting up, they proceeded to make out as they somewhat slowly made it to the bedroom.

It didn't take long for them to undress after they entered the room, both in a lot of stress and desperation.

Wasting no time, they quickly began feeling each other, before being lost in the moment of sex and desire, that neither of them had faced in so long.

---

And that was that, she woke up and he was gone. Just like that, she felt suddenly like her life was over. Yet again, she had screwed up something that was going good for her. Though it usually didn't involve sex, she had a habit of getting on the wrong side of people, mainly bosses who would then fire her on-in her own opinion, false pretenses.

Yeah, they were technically true, but anyone else would have gotten away with the smallest mistake, but her? No! They just look for a reason to fire her... and now she had done it again. Or so she though...

---

It turned out that he had just gone home to shower and change his clothes, but took longer than he thought and didn't make it back in time, making him not only seem like he was avoiding her, but also late for work.

Now all there was to think about was where do they go from there? It seemed as though he didn't want it to end, whatever "it" was.

---

He seemed sincere, and he had never lied to her before, but stable, work-related relationships were neither of their forte. Not to mention the whole "boss-employee" relationship -though not forbidden, tends to be frown upon by peers, especially when both people have a rather short fuse no matter how well they work together.

---

She thought about going up to his office to talk about it, but he looked busy and she was too tired to have such a conversation that could potentially lead to another night with little sleep, less than she was already doomed to have tonight. Instead, she walked into his office on her way out.

"I'm on my way out, just thought I'd say bye." she said softly.

He smiled "Bye Chloe, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Don't stay too late."

He laughed "I'll try not to... I'll probably be leaving in an hour or so though. Thanks"

"No problem. Take care of yourself, Jack. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

He smiled again "Yep, Night Chlo'"

"Good night." she said, leaving the room.

---

As she walked to her car, she measured out the chances of him actually leaving in an hour, and him actually getting a good nights sleep-both were slim to none.

She knew him well enough to know when he means to want to do something and means to actually do it. Usually happened when it involved himself and taking care of himself, unfortunately.

She shrugged and got into her car and drove home, successfully avoiding her neighbor, Mrs. Leone- who she really could have seen herself punching if she gave her trouble on a day like today.