Phone Calls

Part 1: Illogical Logic

For Chloe O'Brien life was one big logic problem. In her own mind there was always a reasonable explanation for every move she made.

Siding with Jack against Erin Driscoll for one—a simple logic problem. Every time there was a problem Jack always had the answer--he always knew the right thing to do and yet the people in power always wanted to disagree with him. They'd arrest him and then later it would be, "Oh sorry about charging you with a crime and thanks a lot for saving the country again." Even though she lost her job it still added up to the right decision--at least in her mind.

And she had gone back to CTU when Michelle called for the same reason. If Jack got hurt then there would be no one around to save the world from destruction, so really she was only protecting her own best interest.

And when she helped cover up his "death" she knew instinctively that it was the best thing to do. There was no other way to protect him and he deserved to be safe after all he had gone through.

See--simple logic.

She had even stayed at CTU despite the fact that she told Michelle it was only for the day. With Michelle, Tony and Jack gone the place was in complete disorder. Edgar was pretty much useless on his own and she had no real reason to leave. Again a logical decision.

However, she was having some difficulty maintaining her logic centered brain in the wake of Jack's "death."

She found herself...missing him. She knew it wasn't grief, because she knew he was alive, but something was going on--something that vaguely felt like a kick to her stomach every time she'd go to tell him something only to realize that he wasn't there.

And then three months after Jack's fake death the phone calls began. Late-night phone calls--12 am, 1 am, sometimes later. Sometimes she was up, unable to sleep and pretending to watch television. Other times she'd be fast asleep, waking up grumpy and grunting into the phone.

After about two weeks of this she was fed up. At first she was afraid someone might be after her, but she realized that if someone was after her they probably wouldn't warn her.

She decided that it must be some idiot pranking her and she almost reported him, but something stopped her. She had no idea what that was until one night she picked up the phone at 3 am. She had been in a deep sleep and was extremely unhappy to be woken up and had practically screamed "What?" into the phone.

And then she had heard it...the caller chuckled. It was quiet and quick, but she heard it. It was Jack. All this time Jack had been calling her. She almost said his name; bit her lip to stop herself, knowing someone might be listening. Then there was only a dial tone.

She didn't know why it had taken her so long to see it. Late night calls only, the calls lasted less than a minute, no sound at all, not even someone breathing. Jack had called her. Why? He didn't need anything or he would have found a way to speak to her. He wasn't in trouble or he wouldn't have just laughed.

Could it be...that he called because he missed her. That maybe he was experiencing the same stomach dropping kick that she was.

No, of course not. It didn't add up. If Jack was going to call someone he would call his beautiful ex-girlfriend or his daughter, or even Tony, his best friend. But her, no way. It just wasn't logical.

But then missing Jack the way she had wasn't logical either. Or...maybe it was. Maybe it really was just a matter of math--two negatives canceling each other out. If she couldn't miss Jack and Jack couldn't miss her...then they really did miss each other.

And completely illogically she felt herself smile in glee.