When Chloe awoke, her brain was screaming two messages, very loud and very clear. The first was: Bathroom! Now! And the second: Coffee!

Blinking, she tried to roll out of bed, but found she couldn't. It took her sleep addled mind a moment to work out that in addition to the arm he had wrapped around her, Jack had thrown his leg over hers as they slept. If she hadn't had to go so badly, she might have taken a moment to enjoy the comfortable, warm sensation that realization brought.

Gently, she rolled Jack off of her and smiled when he tugged the blankets back up over his head, making a funny little snuffling noise.

After finishing her business, she made her way out into the kitchen in search of much needed caffeine. Carefully measuring out the water and coffee, she turned on the percolator. As she was putting the bag of coffee back into it's jar, she had a grim thought.

Was coffee bad for pregnant women?

She was fairly sure she'd heard something about limiting caffeine intake during pregnancy. God damn it. Coffee was one of her main food groups.

Still scowling into the open cabinet, she was startled when someone knocked on her door. Not wanting to wake Jack, she hurried to the door and looked out through the peep hole.

What the hell? She thought as she pulled the door open, staring at the motley crew gathered on her doorstep. If her neighbors were looking out their windows, they'd probably be wondering what was going on. The only visitor she ever really had was Morris, and he'd stopped coming when they'd broken up.

So the arrival of Bill Buchanan, Nadia Yasir, with a heavily bandaged Mike Doyle leaning on her shoulder, and Marilyn and Josh Bauer came as a bit of a shock.

"Mr. Buchanan?" she asked, confused and suddenly aware that she was standing there in cloud print pajama pants and a tank top. "What's going on?"

Buchanan offered her a brief smile. "I'm sorry to bother you, Chloe…" he began, but was interrupted by Marilyn.

"They said you might be able to help find Jack," Marilyn said without preamble.

"No ones heard from him since he jumped in the water," Josh added. "We're kinda worried."

"We know." From Nadia's tone, Chloe could surmise that Marilyn and Josh had been rather vocal in their requests and worries. And Chloe had heard Marilyn scream often enough to know she could get grating.

"He's fine," Chloe began, but she too was interrupted.

"God, that's all you people say!" Marilyn said sharply. "How can you know that? After all that happened, then he jump into the ocean… he could be hurt or dead on a beach somewhere!"

Chloe grimaced, noting similar expressions on Bill and Nadia's faces, while Doyle seemed to be wishing the booby trapped component had fried his ears instead of his eyes.

"Actually," Chloe drawled, "I know because he's here. Sleeping."

"What?!"

"Why didn't you call in?"

"Is he all right?"

"You weren't answering your phones…."

"Shhhh!" Chloe hissed at all of them, torn between inviting them in or stepping out. "I think we should let Jack sleep…and my cell phone died. Sorry"

Josh seemed relieved to discover his uncle was not, in fact, dead on a beach somewhere, while Doyle just looked ready to fall over. Nadia seemed torn between worrying over him and giving Chloe a raised brow look. Bill seemed both worried and relieved, as did Marilyn, but while Bill simply nodded, she said, "Is he okay? Should I check on him? See if he needs anything…."

"I think sleep is what he really needs," Chloe repeated, edging forwards in order to close the door a bit more. She didn't want to give Marilyn a clear path to try to bolt in. The woman was looking put out, and Chloe was certain Marilyn was used to getting her own way, at least from people who were not her greedy, jealous husband or his father.

Marilyn's eyes ticked from the closing door to Chloe's face. "Don't you think he'd be better recovering with family?"

That kind of stung. Sure, Jack wasn't technically her family, but he was her friend. One of her closest friends. In their line of work, when you found someone you trusted and worked well with, the bonds you forged tended to be extremely strong and theirs was deeper than most.

"No," Chloe said flatly. "I'll tell Jack you were here and asking after him, but he came here and he can stay as long as he wants."

Nadia actually looked a bit gleeful at the sight of someone standing up to Marilyn, who was visibly pissed.

Intervening, Bill said, "All right, Chloe, that's fine. Just charge your phone, so we can get in touch if we need to. When Jack's feeling up to it, have him call in and of course, give…Mrs. Bauer a call. A lot of people are concerned about him."

"Tell Jack I'm sorry about the whole psycho father thing," Doyle piped up, speaking for the first time since they had arrived.

His blunt comment made Josh flinch, Marilyn glare, Bill sigh and Nadia hiss, "A little tact would be nice."

"Not really my thing."

At least that prompted a smile from Josh, who said, "Can you tell Uncle Jack I'm glad he's okay?"

While the boy was annoying in that typical, useless teen-ager way, he didn't seem like a bad kid. "I will," Chloe assured him with a small, tight smile.

As Bill and Nadia wrangled Marilyn, leading her back towards the SUV they had come in, Josh gave Chloe a smile in return before helping Doyle along.

No, not a bad kid and she did feel sorry for him, what with the aforementioned psycho evil grandpa and dead evil dad. Hopefully, the kid had inherited the same Bauer genes as Jack…or at least similar enough to cancel out the crazy evil. The world wasn't ready for two Jack Bauer's running around.

Ducking back into the house, Chloe shut the door with a sigh. Dealing with all of that before her first cup of coffee was not her idea of a nice way to start the day.

"Thank you."

Jack startled her as he appeared from the hall that led to the bedroom. She wondered how much he had heard.

"I thought you were still asleep," she said, glancing back at the door. "I could call…"

"No, no, that's okay," he said hurriedly and Chloe got the impression that he simply wasn't ready to deal with…well, anyone really.

Which was totally understandable. Once again, Jack had done the impossible, saved the day, this time while suffering from the effects of long term torture and abuse. The guy needed some time without people making demands of him and even those who meant well, family, friends, co-workers…Frankly, they could be way more taxing than strangers.

"Want some coffee?" She offered, wandering back to the kitchen. "I put it on, but I couldn't remember if I'm not supposed to have caffeine…with the baby."

Jack followed her, rubbing a hand through his short blond hair, making tufts of it stand up on end. "I think too much is bad…but Kim was born before all the no caffeine stuff and Teri drank a lot of coffee…"

Yeah, avoid caffeine. "Here," she handed him a mug. "I'll stick to juice."

He nodded, added some sugar to the coffee and took a sip. His eyes closed and he sighed happily. "That's good," he said, then opened his eyes to meet her grin. He shrugged. "It's been a long time."

She couldn't imagine going years without coffee. Hell, she knew she'd be white knuckling it to last till the end of her pregnancy. "So, we can have eggs or oatmeal for breakfast, but I should warn you, my culinary skills are…somewhat lacking."

Pulling his nose out of the coffee, Jack offered, "I used to be able to fry an egg…but I'm out of practice. I'm sure we'll be able to manage."

Giving him a nod, Chloe mentally grimaced. They'd manage. Yeah, maybe she'd be more optimistic if she, like Jack, was unaware of what she referred to as the Ham Incident of '03. Of course, since she'd threatened Chase with digital death, he'd never brought it up and she wasn't about to.

Like he said, they'd manage.

Though it was clear neither of them was particularly gifted in the kitchen, their pooled skills had produced an edible breakfast of fried eggs, toast, yogurt and juice. Jack had also downed about a half gallon of milk, another thing he hadn't had in years. His body was probably screaming for calcium and any number of other vitamins and minerals.

She'd really have to talk to him about allowing a doctor to take a look at him, run some blood work and such. But, for now she'd have to content herself with feeding him.

After breakfast, they made their way into the living room and flipped on the TV. Of course, the news was still running constantly. A freakin nuke had gone off in LA. That would be making headlines for a while.

The talking head on the TV was making noises about the wind blowing the fallout around and freaking out over rain.

An hour or so of that gloom, Jack stood up. "I'm going to sit outside for a while," he said, before wandering off to get dressed.

That made sense. Jack seemed to enjoy the outdoors. He had been a surfer and his personnel file noted he enjoyed hiking and camping. She wondered if he'd gotten much, if any, fresh air while imprisoned. He was a bit paler than usual, but his skin had a natural, permanent light tan, unlike her own lily white skin.

He emerged a short time later, in jeans, a long sleeved T-shirt, loose and a bit snug, respectively. He moved quietly toward the back door , glancing back at her before he slipped out.

After ten minutes, she decided she'd waited long enough and hurried off to dress. It wasn't that she thought Jack might take off…actually, she was pretty sure he wouldn't, but she just wasn't ready to believe he was really back unless she could see him. Not having to go to work, jeans and a T-shirt were a quick and serviceable option.

She stepped out onto the tiny back porch and glanced at the bench, finding it empty. Jack had instead chosen to sit on the short flight of stairs and was either staring off into the distance or watching Mrs. Nomberto's grandchildren and other neighborhood kids chase each other in circles.

The air was still and the neighborhood quiet, but for the occasional shouts of the children. Mrs. Nomberto and a few other adults were gathered on her porch, visibly worried, even from a distance.

With a sigh, Chloe took a seat on the top step beside Jack and stretched out her legs, bare toes cool where they touched the lower stair. It was an odd juxtaposition, her small, pink painted toes (sue her, she liked toenail polish) resting near his heavy, black boots.

"They're scared," Jack said finally, causing Chloe to follow his gaze.

At first glance, she'd dismissed the children as playing, completely unaware of the aura of tragedy and stress that still hung in the air. They were running, playing, shouting, but their little faces were tense. The oldest boy kept shooting his grandmother concerned looks and the younger ones never strayed too far from him.

Chloe sighed. "I guess a mushroom cloud is tough to miss, even if you're a kid," she said, then pressed a hand to her belly. "Oh God, my baby is gonna be born in a world where a nuclear bomb has been detonated in our city. It doesn't seem right."

"None of it's right," Jack murmured, placing a hand on her back and rubbing small circles. "And we'll deal, like we always do."

Somewhat intrigued by his use of 'we' in that sentence, Chloe nodded, then gave a half hearted wave when Mrs. Nomberto raised a hand in greeting. To her surprise, the older woman indicated they should come over. "What the heck?" Chloe muttered. "She barely knows me."

As they rose, Jack said, "People tend to band together in the wake of disasters, Chloe. It's instinct. Safety in numbers."

"Mmmpf. I don't think I have that instinct."

"Me neither," Jack chuckled as they approached the cluster of Chloe's neighbors. In addition to Mrs. Nomberto, there were three couples and one young blond man with two small children strapped to him in baby carriers. It was clear that the older woman was holding court and she smiled at Chloe.

"How are you holding up,…Chloe, isn't it?" Mrs. Nomberto said kindly.

Chloe returned the expression a bit hesitantly. "Fine, ma'am, and yourself?"

"Oh, as well as anyone I suppose," she replied, then motioned to the others. "Have you met…No? All right, this is Charles and Jane Richards, Lee and Sofia Kennedy, Ryan and Ilsa Shaw and Danny Lombardi. Everyone, this is Chloe O'Brien and…I'm sorry, dear, I don't know you."

Chloe hid a smile as Jack replied. "Jack Bauer, ma'am."

The older woman nodded and smiled. "Polite. Good. I'm Eileen Nomberto."

Greetings and other pleasantries were exchanged and Jane Richards asked, "Have you heard anything about the radiation. The news mentioned rain in the forecast and I'm a bit worried."

"We're all worried, Jane," Lee Kennedy offered comfortingly, his cultured, British accent a bit of a surprise. "I'm sure the authorities are doing everything they can."

"They can't control the weather," Ilsa Shaw said sadly. "It's gonna be like uber-acid rain."

On that cherry note, Chloe felt the need to speak up. "Actually, this are has been upwind of the cloud the whole time and the current weather maps predict the majority of the radiation will be out to sea before the rain starts."

Jack picked up the train of her thoughts. Calm and reassure the civilians. "Avoiding being caught in the rain is a good idea, but it should drop the residual radiation out of the atmosphere. But with the majority over the water, populated areas outside the initial blast radius shouldn't become hot zones. And fortunately, marine life has proven pretty resistant to the effects of fallout."

There was quiet, until Danny said, "You guys science teachers or something?"

Jack and Chloe exchanged a look. CTU agents weren't prohibited from telling people the truth about their occupations, only from sharing classified information. It was their choice if they told people what they did or lied. And, honestly, Jack wasn't technically a CTU employee at the moment.

With a shrug, Jack indicated he didn't care, so Chloe said, "Uh, no. We work for…a federal agency."

There was a moment of silence, then an immediate barrage of questions. Chloe stepped back, even as the playing children approached, attention captured but the adults freaking out.

It was Jack who barked, "Stop! Look, we can't go into details. What we do is classified. All I can say is, yes, the people responsible for these attacks are either dead or in custody, as are any potential weapons."

"And, like we said, as far as radiation goes, here is as safe as anywhere," Chloe finished, secretly pleased that Jack had spoken up. He had been so quiet since arriving at her house. Short, soft sentences, and while she enjoyed the timber of his voice (as would any heterosexual woman…), she was used to Action Jack, loud, confidant and in control.

Again, there was silence. Really, this was why neither she or Jack was the person picked to do PR. They kinda sucked at interacting with people. Chloe was a computer person and Jack….well, the powers that be tended to frown upon using extreme intimidation as a way to communicate with the public.

As her neighbors stared at them in shock, she considered her last thought and realized that was probably one of the reasons neither of them had many friends outside their professional circles. Or, you know, people who didn't think they were completely insane.

TBC

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