Author's Note: To be on the safe side, I repeat I don't own Jack, Chloe, DoD girl, or anything else 24. Fauve is mine ( and Jass's). Jass (aka graywords-girl) is my wonderful co-author who wrote themajority of this chapter.
Bright LA sunshine splashed through the windows of the CTU lobby. Bill Buchanan, face flushed in annoyance, doggedly pursued his senior IT tech. "Chloe," he bellowed, "Hey, you let her go! Chloe, what the hell is going on?" His roared demands only made his face redder.
Fauve still had a tight, unnecessary grip on Chloe's waist, as though concerned her friend might back out at anytime-not that she would let her. She ignored Chloe's irrate supervisor in favor of talking to Chloe about how best to get to the airport. "Well, Tijera is always congested this time of day, so I'm thinking west on 96." A bland nod of agreement was the only response she got.
Chloe, while ultimately pleased with her decision, was having doubts. Things never went this smoothly; there was no way Buchanan, or that idiot Homeland supervisor for that matter, would let her just walk out the door without an explanation, despite Fauve. In fact, Chloe was pretty certain that by the time she and Fauve returned, she would be out of a job.
"Chloe!" she winced when Fauve yanked her forward, and then glanced over her shoulder at the fast approaching form of one Bill Buchanan.
"Keep walking." Fauve commanded. Chloe resisted.
"Fauve, if I want to keep my job, I really should at least talk to him-" she broke off when they both crashed into something, landing hard on the tile. She looked up, and nearly groaned when she came face to face with Jack Bauer. Audrey, of course, was plastered onto his arm.
"Chloe?" he questioned. Buchanan had caught up with them. Jack gave his crimson faced boss an odd look. Shaking his head he looked at Fauve, who had hung onto Chloe's hand despite being knocked onto her rump by the significantly larger man. "Chloe, what's going on?" he demanded. Chloe gave him a blank stare.
Buchanan glanced up and nodded at the 'happy couple', "Hi Jack. Audrey."
Inwardly, Chloe winced. 'No, please Mr. Buchanan, don't...' she thought.
Fauve practically levitated to her feet. "YOU!" she snarled, earning a confused look from Jack and a startled look from Audrey. "You!" Fauve's eyes narrowed dangerously. "So you're him," she purred. It was never a good sign when the Hawaiian's voice went deep and silky. That tone usually meant a great deal of suffering for whoever was unfortunate enough to have it directed at them. And Chloe did not like the devious gleam in the dark eyes fixed on Jack.
"Oh no..." Chloe muttered, standing up and brushing herself off. Fauve was nearly nose to nose with Jack now, circling him like a shark about to go in for the kill. Audrey appeared unnerved by Fauve's actions and was holding into Jack's arm so tightly, Chloe was surprised there was no blood. Desperate for an ally or even just a distraction, she glanced around. Nothing stood out as a wise route to take, especially with Fauve plotting Jack's downfall. Okay, Plan C.
"We've got to go," Chloe told Jack, "our plane leaves in twenty minutes." Neither Chloe nor Fauve were very large women. Both were considered petite, however, Fauve was even smaller and lighter than Chloe. People, including Fauve herself, tended to forget that. Using it to her advantage, Chloe wrapped both arms around Fauve's midriff and proceeded to drag her away from Jack before things escalated.