Jack walked into the apartment.

"Chloe? Chloe?" He asked, surprised that she wasn't on the couch waiting for him to come home like she normally did.

He stopped, having heard a muffled sob. He walked towards it, finding it coming from the bathroom. The door was slightly open, but Jack didn't have to see what was going on inside to know what happened. He opened the door, only to find Chloe pulled into the fetal position on the white title of the bathroom floor. Instantly, he fell to his knees beside her.

"Chloe? Chloe? Baby? What happened?" He said, as he saw the blood around her mouth, and the cut just above her cheek.

"Found where I lived... Told her to leave...started yelling...slapped me..." Chloe said, her words interrupted by sobs and gasps for air.

Jack sat down next to Chloe on the floor and drew her into his arms.

"Shhhhh, shhhhh, its okay, it's all going to be okay. Whatever she said it doesn't matter, it all going to be okay" he said soothingly, as he ran a hand up and down her back, doing everything in his power to help ease her pain.

Chloe looked up at him "she said... that I would kill someone with my stupidity, and I did. I killed Edgar. It's my fault that he's dead and..."

Jack cut her off "NO! The terrorist killed Edgar, not you" he said sternly. He continued, his voice taking on a softer tone. "Chloe that wasn't your fault, you know that. No body blames you... ok?"

"Said that she wishes that I was never born, that Jakey should have lived, not me..."

"No, Chloe, no, what happened, but no. If you weren't born..." He paused. "Chloe I need you, and if you hadn't been born, I would be probably be dead." He knew about her little brother, and how, some how, she felt guilty for his death. He pulled her tighter to him, hoping that if he held her close enough, he could protect her from the world.

"Said that I was ungrateful, that I was disgusting, that I didn't deserve to live. That I'll only do anybody any good if I was dead..."

"It's not true Chloe; it's all not true, ok? You have to know that. Even if she thinks it's true, it's not."

Chloe looked up at Jack, pain filling her eyes. "She said... she said that no one could ever love me"

"Chloe, I love you, and I will always love you. I will never stop loving you."

Those words made Chloe start to cry again. She cried into jack's shoulder, unable to stop the sobs from tearing through her anymore. Jack just sat with her in his arms, laying his head against hers, rocking her in his arms, whispering in her ear that he loved her, and that everything was going to be okay.

Chloe felt her stomach lurch, and an acidy taste in the back of her mouth. She jumped out of Jack's arms, and to the toilet. As her stomach convulsed. Jack stayed by her side, rubbing a soothing hand up and down her back as she vomited into the toilet bowl.

When she was done, Jack took her back into his arms so that she was sitting in between his legs, facing away from him. Her still breathing heavily from her ordeal. "God, Jack, I'm so sorry, you didn't need to see that, I'm so sorry..."

"Baby, don't be sorry. You never have to be sorry, okay? Crying isn't a bad thing, it's human. We all do it, don't be feel bad."

"It's just, I couldn't prepare my self for her coming here, and I thought this was the one place that I would be safe. And there she was, right outside the door. And when she started yelling at me, I felt like I did when I was a kid. And her being there, yelling at me like that, doing what she did, it just brought it all back."

Jack kissed the back of Chloe's neck. "I love you so much"

"I love you too" she said, turning around so that she was facing him.

"Let me take a look at your cut ok?"

"Ya, ok"

"Go sit on the bed, okay baby"

"Sure"

Chloe got up off of the bed, and walked to the bed, having to limp slightly. Jack brought out a bag that was filled with first Aid kit like supplies. He poured some disinfectant on a rag and gently started to clean out the cut. The sting of the cleaner made Chloe inhale sharply.

"Sorry"

"It's ok, it just stung a little"

Jack then looked over the cut, trying to figure out how deep it was. He looked at Chloe. "This may hurt" he said, not wanting to hurt her, but need to see how bad it was. He gently pulled the cut skin apart a few millimeters, and the sighed. "Okay, well I think you won't need stitches, but I'm just going to put a few butterfly stitches on anyway." Jack stuck his hand back in to the first aid bag, and moved everything around until he grabbed the stick on stitches. He then pushed the skin closed, and stuck 4 of the butterfly stitches on, each half an inch apart. Her stepped back and admired his handy-work, while also looking for any other injuries, which he saw none of. Jack looked down at his watch. It read 11:34, he yawned.

"Did you eat already?" Chloe asked.

"Ya, Tony brought me back some food"

"Ok, good"

"You wanna go to sleep, or watch some TV?"

"Sleep" Chloe said. "Sleep would be good"

Chloe waited for Jack to turn around to go to the closet to change his clothes before she limped to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She didn't want him to know about what her mother had done to her. She was ashamed. It was simply that. Ashamed that it happened. That she had let it happen. That it was her own mother that had done it to her. When she had finished her teeth, she climbed into the left side of the bed, wincing in pain as she tried to lie on her back. A few minutes later Jack got into the right side of the bed, wearing a pair of lose plaid boxer shorts and an old black cotton Ramones t-shirt. As soon as he got under the covers he shut of the light. Chloe rolled on to her left side, so that her injured cheek was facing up, and Jack cuddled close to her, draping a protective arm over her side, and splaying it over her stomach. Chloe winced as he touched what she knew would be a very big bruise. Jack trying to get comfortable, moved in such a way that one of his arms hit her back. Chloe had to muffle a whimper into her pillow.

"Chloe is everything ok?" he said, having heard her make a noise when he hit her back.

"Ya, ya, jack, I'm fine"

"Chloe..." he said in a very concerned tone

"Really Jack, I'm fine, I'm just tired, so let's just go to sleep."

"Chloe..." he repeated

"Listen jack, it's nothing, ok? So let's just go to sleep." she said, in that special tone of hers for when she had already told you something.

"So it is something then?" he said, getting more concerned by the minute.

"No, Jack, it's not"

Jack, who knew she was with holding something, started to slowly lift up the back of her shirt. When Chloe felt what he was doing, she turned quickly on to her back, only to mentally smack her self, as she cried out in pain, and quickly shot up so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Jack turned on the light.

"Chloe, did she do more then slap you?" he asked, but having a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Ya... she did."

"What?"

"After she slapped me, I fell, that's how got the cut, and, um. Well, I told her to go to hell, and then she just started kicking me..." she said, tears starting to fill her eyes again.

"Oh, god, Chloe" he said, at a loss for word.

"Ya" she said, a desolate tone to her voice.

"Listen, you have to let me look at it, ok? See if you got really hurt, ok?"

"Ya, okay"

"Why didn't you tell me before" he asked as he sat up.

"I don't know, I guess... I was ashamed, that I let her do that to me. I mean, I never fought back when I was a kid, cause she was all I had, as bad as it was, I had everything to lose, but now, I guess, I was ashamed that she still had that hold on me." tears were welling up in the corners on her eyes again. Jack sensing that she was getting upset carefully ran a hand up and down her arm. She put her hand over his and held it there for a minute, almost if she was taking the strength she needed from him.

"I'm gonna look at your back. Alright?"

He scooted forward on the bed so that he was sitting right behind her. He slowly picked up her shirt by the hem at her back, and moved it up so that it was just above her shoulders. He was at a loss for words when he saw all of the red welts that would become bruises and small abrasions on her backs that were caused by the shoe.

"Oh god...baby..." was all he could manage to say.

Chloe hung her head.

Jack continued to look over her back, using the knowledge about injuries he had learned in the army. Having a feeling that her back wasn't the only place she had been hurt, he asked: "was it only your back?"

"No, my stomach too"

Jack got off the bed on his knees in front of Chloe, and repeated the same process that he had on her back, carefully looking over the area, and checking for any signs or indications of anything that could be dangerous. Finally he decided that it didn't look like anything major had been damaged, but still he was going to take her to get checked out by one of the CTU doctors. He pulled down her shirt.

"Chloe, I think tomorrow you should have one of the CTU doctors look this over, ok?"

"Uh-huh"

"Chloe..."

He moved to the edge of the bed so that he was sitting next to her, and turned to face her, her head still hanging.

"Chloe..."

When she still didn't look at him, he took his right hand and put it on the left side of her face. She leaned into the touch. He gently pulled up on her chin so that she could look at her.

"Hey...Chloe... this isn't your fault, you know that right?"

"Isn't it? I just laid there, I didn't do anything, I just let her keep kicking me. I didn't try to stop it, I just let it happen."

"Hey, hey, baby, listen none of this is your fault, ok? You can't think that, 'cause it's not true." Jack wrapped an arm around the blonde that was sitting next to him. She laid her head down on his shoulder. "I love you Chloe. You can tell me anything. I'm never going to judge you ok? Never." He pressed a kiss into her hair. "I'm always going to love you, no matter what." The two just sat there for a while. Chloe, feeling as safe as possible with Jack, and Jack, only wanting to keep Chloe safe. Finally, he was the one to break the silence. "Let's try to get some sleep ok baby?"

"Uh-huh" she mumbled into his shoulder. Jack smiled at her.

"Why don't you come on my side so you can lay on my shoulder like you like to"

"Okay" Chloe mumbled, her eye lids now feeling like they weighed 2 tons.

She crawled on to his side of the bed, loving how it smelled of him, and then laid down so that he injured cheek was face up, her head was on Jack's shoulder, and her right hand was on his belly. She arranged herself so that her body was directly next to his. She sighed and started to fall asleep. Jack brought his hand up to his stomach and took her hand, intertwining their fingers. Soon Chloe was sound asleep.

Jack laid there, starring at the ceiling. He just couldn't swallow what Chloe's mother had done to her. He glanced over at Chloe and smiled. He loved her so much, and some one treating her like that got him mad. He promised his self that he would never let anyone very hurt her like that again, ever. He promised himself that he would protect her. Soon, Jack's eye lids started to become heavy. He closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of Chloe's hair as he drifted off to sleep.