Chloe took a deep sigh of relief. Over an hour ingot the party and she had basically managed to avoid embarrassing herself. They had walked in, she had not tripped and she had actually managed to mingle really well….pretty well….okay so she had barely said a word, but she hadn't said the wrong words either, so it was a win-win situation.

In fact, other than Bill Buchanan's louder than necessary exclamation of, "Chloe, is that you?" when he had recognized her everything had been going perfectly. They had finished dinner and she was sitting at the table as Jack made the rounds, talking to a few people.

Just as she relaxed her stance she felt someone sit beside her. Since she was looking at Jack across the room, she had a pretty good idea who it was.

"Chloe," oozed out of the man beside her, "I didn't expect to find you here."

She turned around to face him, "Well, I didn't expect to see you either, Spencer. Wait, no, I hoped that I wouldn't see you."

He chuckled, "Now is that anyway to talk to a former lover."

She felt her face flush red at his words. There were at least 5 other wives at the table, all of their gazes firmly fixed on her.

"What do you want Spencer?"

"I just wanted to come over and tell you how spectacular you look tonight." She remembered how amazing it felt when Jack called her exquisite. In comparison Spencer's comment made her uncomfortable.

Spencer brought his hand up to her bare shoulder, stroking it lightly, "And I thought maybe we could dance."

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Come on, Chloe, people are starting to stare. And I can get a lot louder. It's just a dance, after all."

She looked across the room frantically, but Jack was deep in conversation. This time she was going to have to rescue herself.

"Fine," she said, "One dance." She got up from her chair and hurried to the floor. He wasted no time in pulling her close. Too close. His body was pressed up against her, his arms around her waist, leaving her no choice but to put hers around his neck.

He smiled at her, spinning her around and dipping her slightly. As he brought her back up his mouth came dangerously close to hers.

"Watch yourself, Spencer," she demanded, angrily, still trying to stay under the party's radar.

"Come on Chlo, we were so good together. We could be great together." He brushed his lips against her shoulder and she pulled as far back as his arms would allow.

"You were lying to me and using me. Just because the President and CTU felt you weren't guilty does not mean that I would ever let you near me again."

"I'm near you known. Come on, it's not like you have a hoard of men waiting to date you."

"If this is your seduction line, it needs some serious work."

"It worked last time. But that was before Jack came back. Now, you're hopelessly devoted to being his lap dog."

She glared at him, "You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Oh no? I know that he came with you to get away from Audrey. I know that you agreed to go, even though you hate parties, because he asked so nicely. Don't you get sick of being his lap dog?"

This time her push was more firm and he had to let go of her. "You don't know anything about me and you certainly don't know anything about Jack."

"I know he's not at all interested in getting in your pants, Chloe. Even though you've made it clear you'd let him in without any fuss." At this point he grabbed her arm and hauled her close. "Face it Chloe, you don't have any other options, especially now that Edgar kicked the bucket."

She saw nothing but red and felt her arm lunge out, but she never connected. Jack seemed to appear out of nowhere, his hand stopping her arm gently. She tried to control the anger and took several deep breaths.

"If you don't mind" she heard Jack say, "I'd like to dance with my date now." She watched Spencer nod and skulk away. Before she knew it she was swept into Jack's arms.

"I thought you didn't dance?" he asked, clearly trying to calm her.

"I don't, but I didn't have much choice if I wanted to avoid a scene."

She saw and heard Jack's sigh, "I shouldn't have left you for that long."

She moved to quickly reassure him, "its fine. He was just being a jerk. I'm used to it."

"What did he say that upset you so much? When I got here you were about to hit him."

She considered, unsure what exactly to reveal, "He suggested I give him another chance, since I didn't have a lot of other options. And then he mentioned Edgar and I….I kind of lost it."

His eyes were kind as they caught hers, "Well, did you tell him that you had a date tonight? And plenty of options?"

"I didn't really have a chance, plus he was saying things…" She rushed to stop the flow of words.

"What kind of things?"

She considered making something up, but the look in his eyes told her he was not budging," About you...and me and our...relationship. He kind of compared me to a lap dog."

She saw the anger flare in Jack's eyes as he scanned the room. Luckily for her ex, he had already left the room. As Jack looked back down at her, he gave her his most compassionate look. All she could pray for was that he didn't try to make her feel better. "Chloe, you are way to strong to be anyone's lap dog, least of all mine. That's not the way I think of us at all."

Us! She reminded herself that jumping up and down in place would be childish and ruin her attempts to knock his socks off.

"Us?" she asked instead, calmly and rationally.

"Yeah. I mean you're my best friend. I trust you more than anyone else. And lately, I've been thinking./"

"Yes," she whispered as he dipped his head lower, toward her mouth.

"I've been thinking about the two of us…."

"JACK!" the screech could be heard across the room, where a very drunk Audrey Raines, was making a beeline for Jack.