Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Chapter 29

"Aunt Chloe!"

Chloe barely had time to react as she opened the door, only to be greeted by an enthusiastic hug from her nephew.

"It's good to see you too, Tommy" Chloe said, looking past him at his mother. Tyler was shaking her head. "All right, Tom. You can let go of your Aunt Chloe now."

"Awww. All right" he grumbled, reluctantly letting go of Chloe.

"How's my favorite nephew doing?"

"I'm your only nephew" the boy pointed out.

"So far" she replied, giving Tyler a devilish look. Tyler merely gazed back at her impassively. "Tom, why don't you go find your cousins and play? Your Aunt Chloe and I need to talk."

"But Mom-"

"It's all right, Tommy. Go on. They're out in the backyard."

He scampered off and Tyler sat down. "Sorry about that, Chlo."

"It's okay, Ty. He's just a kid."

"And he should be careful."

"Tommy's not going to get hurt."

"Tom's not the one I was worried about."

Chloe scoffed. "After all I've been through, you think a child is going to hurt me?"

Tyler glared. "Fine. I won't say another word." She softened a bit. "How are you doing?"

Chloe shrugged. "Okay, I guess." She sighed. "It's just been hard, Tyler, with everything that been going on. We're taking David to yet another specialist tomorrow."

"Again? How many does this make?"

"Ten. The rest of them were no help. Nine different specialists, nine different theories."

Tyler frowned. "You took him to nine different specialists, and still don't have the answer?"

"I know, it makes no sense."

"You think maybe there really is nothing wrong with him?"

Chloe glared. "No, I know there's something wrong. I'm just afraid of what it might be."

"What do you mean?"

"I think David might be like... me."

"You mean he might have what you have?"

"Yeah." Chloe rubbed her forehead.

"Have you told Jack?"

"I brought it up, and he's not so sure. He thinks I'm jumping to conclusions."

Tyler sat back. "You'll figure it out, Chloe." She put her hand on her sister's arm. "Have you heard from Connor lately?"

Chloe shook her head. "Not since the day I wired him the money from his house selling. He wouldn't tell me anything, except that he was safe. That was 4 months ago. Haven't heard a word since. I worry about him, but I know I have to give him his space, let him find what he's looking for."

"Look, Chloe, Connor can take care of himself. And he'll be back."

"What if he doesn't come back? I had to give him up once before, Tyler. I don't want to lose him again."

"You won't" Tyler replied forcefully.

"I hope you're right." Chloe smiled. "Where's Claudia? I wanted to see her."

"Chase took her to the zoo. Their first father-daughter trip." She smiled back. "He's crazy about those kids. I don't think he could love them any more than if they weren't adopted."

"Do they know?"

"No. And I'm not going to tell them until they're older." Tyler turned away from Chloe, staring at the wall. "The moment I saw those kids, I fell in love with them. I can't really explain it, but I knew at that moment I was going to adopt them. Chase felt the same way. And I owe Stuart so much for helping us cut through the red tape so we could adopt them without too much trouble." Tyler instantly shut up. Oh, dammit. No one was supposed to know.

"Stuart? Tyler, you never told me he helped you out with this."

"He didn't want anyone to find out."

"Why not?"

"Chloe, I have no idea." She looked down. "I still don't know what to make of Stuart, to be honest with you. I mean, he seems like a good man. And he did help with the adoption. But... the way he talks about our father, like he was this great guy... I just don't know. It goes against everything we remember about him."

"I know. But Stuart has helped me out in the past, for no other reason than helping me. He never once demanded payment, or anything like that. And he knew things about us that aren't in any personnel files. Things that only someone who knew us personally could know." Chloe sighed. "I trust him. He hasn't given me a reason not to."

"If you say so." Tyler stood up. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Watch Tom for a few hours. I promised Angela we'd spend some time together, just the two of us."

"Sure" Chloe replied. "Go on."

2424242424

"Chloe, relax. Everything's going to be fine." Jack grabbed his wife's hand, rubbing it reassuringly.

"How can you be so calm?" she asked.

"How can I not be? Getting worked up over this is not going to help."

"We're talking about our son, Jack. What if I'm wrong? What if there's something seriously wrong with him? Something that could make his life hell?"

"Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. Trust me."

"I hate it when you say that" she grumbled. "Something bad always happens when you do."

"Not this time." Feeling the tension in Chloe's hands, Jack pulled her close to him. "Chloe, it's going to be all right."

"I really hope you're right."

"Excuse me." Chloe jumped at the voice behind her. "Dr. Chapman's ready for you now."

"Thanks. Come on, Jack. Let's get this over with." Chloe followed Jack down the hall and into the doctor's office, parking her chair in front of her desk. Jack sat down next to her.

"Mr. Bauer. Ms. O'Brian." Dr. Chapman greeted them cordially. "I apologize for the short notice, but this is the only time I could see you in person."

"It's no problem" Jack replied. "You said you had David's test results back?"

"Well, they're not really test results, Mr. Bauer, but... based on the observations of my colleagues, as well as my own personal observations of David- his lack of eye contact, acute sensitivity to stimuli, limited motor skills, fixation on one subject, among many other symptoms- we've come to the conclusion that David has a form of autism known as Asperger Syndrome."

Chloe looked down at her feet, Dr. Chapman's words playing in her mind. I was right. He's just like me. Why couldn't I be wrong for once?

"So... what does this mean?" Jack asked quietly.

"I can't really say for sure, Mr. Bauer. It's too soon to definitively say this is in fact what David has, but all signs point to it."

"What do we do about it? Is he going to be able to have a normal life?"

"It's not that simple" she replied, laying some information in front of Jack. "People who possess Asperger Syndrome often times have difficulties with social interaction. They lack the ability to read body language. Combine that with a tendency to fixate on one subject... But these skills can be taught. That information I gave you should be helpful. Besides, don't look on what David has as a disability, something that has to be fixed. Give him your support, and he'll be fine. I want to see him once a month for a while, just to make sure of this."

"Of course." Jack stood up, glancing at Chloe. She continued to stare at the floor. "Chloe, what's wrong?"

Chloe shook her head. "Nothing. Thank you, Dr. Chapman."

"You're welcome. If either of you have any questions, don't hesitate to call."

"Just one thing" Jack said. "What do we tell David?"

"I wouldn't tell him anything, until he's old enough to deal with it. But that's entirely up to you. Do you have any more questions?"

Yeah, I have a few. "No."

"All right, then. We're done for today."

Jack shook her hand, then led Chloe out of the building and into the car. The drive back to Visalia was a long one, but Chloe never looked up the entire time. Jack stopped the car an hour later outside the house, letting Chloe go inside alone. Chloe was right. She knew all along, and I didn't listen. But how did she know? Well, I'm going to find out. He got out of the car, passing Tyler on the way in. "Thanks for watching the kids, Tyler."

"No problem. What did the doctor say? Chloe wouldn't tell me."

"She said that... that David is autistic. A- a form of it called Asperger Syndrome."

"You think that's a bad thing?"

"I don't know. To tell you the truth, I know almost nothing about this. But Chloe knew. Somehow she knew." Jack stared at his sister-in-law seriously. "How did she know?"

Tyler scratched her chin. "Not my place to say, Jack. You need to talk to Chloe. I'm going to go home. Claudia and Tom have probably got Chase tied up somewhere."

"All right. I'll see you later." Jack walked past her into the house.

"Dad! You're home!" Jack was attacked by an excited Edgar.

"Hey, little man. Were you well behaved for your Aunt Tyler?"

"Yeah. She made us clean up our rooms, though."

"Good. Listen, why don't you go outside for a few minutes? I'll be out soon."

"Okay." Edgar scampered off and Jack glanced over at Chloe. "Chloe, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"You know about what. You knew. How?"

"What?" Chloe looked confused.

"How did you know David had Asperger Syndrome?"

Oh, dammit. "I need to show you something, Jack. Come on." Chloe led him into her study, opening up her safe and pulling out a large file. She set it on her desk, turning through it quickly, until she was 1/3 of the way through. Chloe pulled out some papers. "This is my medical file. The complete version, not the truncated one I had in my CTU files. Look on the 3rd page."

Jack scanned through the documents, until he read what Chloe had pointed out to him. "You?"

"Yeah. I was diagnosed when I was 17. It's why I'm so good at my job. When David began showing some of the same symptoms I did, I had reason to believe he had it as well, but I couldn't really be sure. I'm a programmer, Jack, not a doctor. That's why I was so adamant about having him checked out. I didn't want him to be miserable like I was, knowing he was different, but not knowing how or why."

"Why didn't you ever tell me? Why would you leave this out of your files?"

"Would you have trusted me if you knew? I didn't want anyone to know. The only one at CTU who ever found out was Bill, and I made him swear to keep it a secret. I didn't want you to think I was some kind of freak."

Jack saw that Chloe was starting to get upset, and he hugged her. "Yes, I still would have trusted you. I love you, no matter what. And I wouldn't change a thing about you or your personality. It's part of what makes you so special."

"Really?"

"Really. Now come on. The kids are waiting."