Jack lay facing Sam and intertwined his fingers with hers with one hand and reached over to stroke her hair with the other. Sam looked him in the eyes and smiled at him. He smiled back, but then averted his eyes. He wasn't ready to explore these feelings bouncing around inside him and just wanted to lay here with her. He was pretty sure they were going on some kind of record for being in the same room together and not arguing.

Sam studied his face and the worried expression that came over it. He must be thinking about Salazar and the events of the past couple of days. Which reminded her that she was supposed to be pissed that he didn't include her in his entire plan. She grasped his hand and pulled herself up and straddled his chest, taking his other hand and pinning them both up behind his head on the bed. "Don't think that this gets you out of my being mad at you, Bauer."

Jack laughed. "I wondered how long it would take you to bring that up."

She brought her face close to his, "How could you leave me out? You almost got both of us killed."

He lifted his head up and kissed her, trying to distract her. He tried to lift his arms to put them around her, but she resisted and pushed them down even harder into the bed, using all her strength. "No way. You're not getting out of it that easy. Now, why did you exclude me?"

Jack relented and stopped squirming. "Truth?"

Sam nodded, "Truth."

"I wasn't sure if I could trust you. I didn't know if you were involved somehow." He didn't look her in the eyes. He wasn't ashamed for being cautious, but he knew it would hurt her that he didn't trust her.

Sam was angry, "But you trusted Temple? Temple, for god sakes?"

"He was too scared to be involved, I could read him. You, on the other hand..." He let the sentence fade.

Sam insisted, "Me, what?"

He turned his head away as if embarrassed, "I was attracted to you. I couldn't let my emotions cloud my judgment." He sighed and looked at her intensely, "It's happened before and I swore I wouldn't let it happen again."

She knew he was referring to Nina, she knew their history. Defeated, Sam let go of his arms and climbed off of him, grabbing her clothes off the ground. She turned to go into the bathroom, but he grabbed her arm. "Sam, I'm sorry. But this is the way I am. I've been through too much not to be cautious."

Sam looked at the ground, "But you still can't trust me after...?"

Jack let go of her arm and lay back and stared at the ceiling, "I just don't know."

Sam swallowed the lump in her throat and put on a false smile, "I'm going to go heat up the chili. Are you hungry yet?" She didn't wait for an answer and walked to the bathroom and threw her clothes on. She took a moment to catch her breath, then put a smile on her face like nothing happened and opened the door. She didn't even look in the direction of the bedroom as she passed, but went straight to the kitchen and turned on the burner.

She stood at the stove and replayed their conversation in her head. Well, if he couldn't trust her, then she would just treat him like she would any other agent. She would finish the job with Salazar, then she would never have to see him again. Serves her right for giving in to her hormones, they always got her into trouble. This just reiterated the fact that she should not get involved with anyone, ever.

She was mindlessly stirring the chili when Jack's arms encircled her waist. He whispered softly into her ear, "I'm sorry."

Despite the chills that ran down her arm, she pretended that it didn't matter to her. She said in a terse voice, "Don't worry about it. Doesn't matter." She dipped her finger in the chili to taste it, but before she could reach her mouth with it, Jack took her hand and guided it to his mouth. He sucked the chili off her finger, sending shivers through Sam's body.

He let go of her hand, and his eyes widened, "Son of a bitch!" He looked around for a glass and after he had opened a couple of cabinets and came up empty, he went over to the sink and turned the water on. He put his face under the faucet and drank directly from it.

Sam laughed out loud. "Too spicy for you?" She took the spoon and took a taste, "It tastes fine to me, just like mom's." She laughed as he kept drinking and went over to the fridge and grabbed a beer. She opened it and handed it to him. "You better drink this."

He thanked her and took a long swallow of beer. "Jesus, Sam. Are you trying to torture me?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I'm from Texas, we like everything spicy." Then she gave him a pointed look and a smile that said she was enjoying his pain. "All right, you big baby, I put some aside before I added the pepper sauce and chili powder. I figured it would be too much for you to handle." She turned back to the stove and said in a lower voice, "Wimp."

"No, I'll eat it, I just need a couple more beers handy." He went to the fridge and took out the rest of the six-pack and took them over to the small table and sat down. Sam dished out two bowls of chili and sat down opposite him from the table.

Jack took a bite of the chili and then followed it with several swigs of beer. Sam almost laughed out loud when his forehead broke out into a sweat. She was used to the spice and it didn't really bother her, the spicier the better. But it was clearly affecting Jack and he had already finished another beer. If she weren't still mad at him, she would have found his willingness to endure the spicy chili endearing, macho, but endearing nonetheless. But she had to keep reminding herself that she couldn't fall in love with him, she had no doubt now that she would get hurt. She feared that it just might be too late.