Title: End To A Long Day. Chapter 2.
Author: thecrystalkey
Summary: Jack/Chloe friendship
Spoilers: Season 3 of 24
Disclaimer: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here or any of the Day 3 plot lines mentioned. Even the background I created for Chloe came from hints dropped on the show. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.
Author's note: This had no second chapter when I wrote it, but someone requested one (I speak of you, Iboneki) and another comment (TobinAlbers) had me thinking that the first chapter didn't quite encompass boss/subordinate to friend/friend relationship change that occurs between Day 3 and Day 4 for Jack and Chloe. It was as a compliment and taken as such, but it gave me an Idea. Dangerous things, those. Thanks to everybody else who reviewed the first chapter and especially those that then went on to read and review my other 24 fics.
Speaking of… In case anyone's interested, I've posted a 24/Buffy crossover, featuring Chloe, over at Twisting the Hellmouth. No Jack, sorry. It's a short little thing and not at all serious. You kinda need to have watched Buffy to get a lot of the references, hence it not being posted here.
Chloe O'Brian glanced at the man in her passenger seat. He'd fallen asleep. Not that that wasn't understandable after the day he'd had, but it wasn't like him. Jack Bauer wasn't the most trusting man in the universe, it had never given him any reason to be; and the deep sleep he seemed to have fallen into showed a level of trust in her that Chloe wasn't sure she was comfortable with.
It made her worry a little, because he must have been a lot more exhausted than he'd looked; and he'd looked like hell. It wasn't exactly a surprise though. He'd been awake for almost two days straight; shot at, beaten, knocked unconscious, and generally put through the ringer. His best friend was in jail for treason; his partner, Chase, was in the hospital getting his hand sewn back on. He'd only found out earlier that afternoon that his daughter, his only child, had been dating Chase for three months. And that was just the personal stuff. Basically, Jack had just had the worst day ever.
She'd offered to drive him home because, while he'd looked functional (he'd woken her up from where she'd fallen asleep on her desk), she'd just known he wasn't. Maybe it had been his unguarded admission that he wasn't fine over the phone earlier that afternoon. Or the way that every time he blinked, it took a second or two longer than it should have for his eyelids to rise again. But mostly it was based on the fact that he'd been through a lot more than her, physically and emotionally, on less sleep and no food. If she felt barely functional, he probably couldn't see straight.
Not that Jack would ever have admitted it, but he'd accepted the ride.
If she'd been asked why she was so worried about a man who could more than take care of himself, the only answer she might have admitted to was that he'd saved Chase's life. The truth was that she liked him and respected him. He made decisions no else had the guts to make, regardless of the cost to himself. He would do whatever was necessary to stop anyone who threatened the US or the lives of its citizens.
People called him a hard man, and he could be; but to Chloe he would always be the Jack Bauer she'd first gotten to know. The one who'd hired her in the middle of the night to hack in to his own office's computer systems, to see if it could be done. The one who'd offered her a job on the spot when she'd succeeded, after she'd had some unflattering things to say about his current IT people. He'd called once a week thereafter, and she was sure he'd encouraged Chase's continual 'come work for CTU' campaign. Her friend had made a pitch about working for Jack every time she'd seen him for three months.
After she'd finally given in, Jack had protected her from the petty harassment of the analysts like Adam who thought they should have gotten her job. She'd gotten the job because she was better than them and had proven it. But that wasn't how the government usually worked and there had been a lot of resentment. She still wasn't completely sure how Jack had managed to cut through all the usual red tape to hire her. His nearly firing her yesterday afternoon, notwithstanding, he was the best boss she'd ever had.
Driving him home after a hellish two days was the least she could do. Looking over at him, fast asleep in the passenger seat of her car, she started to feel…protective towards him. She knew he could take care of himself, and preferred to; so it was probably stupid, but she couldn't help it. Even if you were exhausted it took a lot of trust to fall asleep in the presence of another person. At least, for someone like Jack, and for someone like her.
She smiled a little. For the hour it would take to drive the rest of the way to his house, she hoped he stayed asleep. Not just because he needed it but because, stupid as it sounded even in her head, it made her feel like she was doing something to help him.
--
He didn't wake up when she pulled up to the curb. She put the car in park and turned off the ignition. She knew she'd have to wake him, but didn't want to. She'd hoped he'd wake up himself when she turned the car off. No such luck. She reached out and touched his shoulder. And found herself pinned to the driver's side door with his hand around her throat.
"Where am I?" he demanded. "Who are you?"
She was immobilized but he wasn't squeezing her throat and she made herself stay calm. His eyes were open but he wasn't even really awake and to be honest she'd sort of expected this. The man was Special Forces and recently back from a year long undercover stint. Not only that, he'd spent the last two days reliving all kinds of memories from that undercover operation. He was bound to have some PTSD.
"Jack," she said calmly. "You have to wake up all the way. It's Chloe. I drove you home from CTU. We're outside your house."
He blinked, and this time when he looked at her she could see the recognition in his eyes. "Chloe?"
"Yeah, Jack. You're home."
He let her go and sagged into the passenger seat looking almost…defeated. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry. That shouldn't have happened."
"You have nothing to be sorry for. No harm done. And, to be honest, I was expecting some kind of reaction. It's been a rough couple of days and you were really out of it. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he said, avoiding her eyes. His hand was trembling as he reached for the door handle.
She knew it would be easier to let it go. She hated this emotional stuff, never having been able to tell the difference between someone who said they were fine because they wanted to be left alone, or because they thought it was what they were supposed to say, even though they really wanted to talk. Personally, she usually wanted to be left alone, but other people didn't seem to work that way. If Chase had been around, she would have let it go, and called him to go check on Jack. But Chase was in the hospital.
"You're not fine," she contradicted him.
He looked up at her, startled. She looked pointedly down at his hand and back up to his eyes. He looked away again.
"It's nothing. I haven't slept in two days, that's all."
He was definitely lying, but it was also clear he'd rather be left alone to deal with his problems. That was fine with her, but she still felt like she should say something else.
"Listen, I know we're not exactly friends or anything, but if you--if you need anything. To, talk or s-something…" she stuttered to a halt at the look in his eyes. She dropped her eyes to the steering wheel. "Or not. I'm sorry. It's none of my business."
She expected him to open the door and get out, then. Escape her presence as gratefully as everybody else always did, when she said something completely inept. Instead, his hand covered hers where it gripped the steering wheel. Startled at the unexpected contact, she went completely still but kept her eyes on the wheel.
"Chloe, look at me." His voice was gentle but his tone made it clear that was an order, not a request. She looked up.
He held her eyes for a moment. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For offering. You were right. I'm not fine, but I will be. I just, need some time. I'll see you tomorrow?"
She nodded. "Of course."
"Good." His hand left hers and opened the passenger side door. "Sleep well," he said as he got out.
"You, too."
He gave her a half-smile that said he didn't think it was likely, but appreciated the thought.
She took a deep breath and released it when he closed the door. That had been…different. At least she didn't seem to have totally embarrassed herself in front of her boss. She started the car again but waited until he was closing the front door before pulling away and heading home.
As she drove away, she couldn't shake the feeling that her relationship with Jack Bauer had somehow changed just now. Exactly how, she wasn't sure, but something was different.
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