It took several minutes but eventually Chloe got her emotions in check. By this time Jack had moved away and wandered to the other side of the room and was now standing with his back to her, peeking outside through a crack in the window blind. Chloe wondered what was going on, realising that for Jack to do what he'd done, he must've had good reason.
Jack on the other hand stood by the window trying to buy some time. How the hell was he going to explain this to her, he'd scared the life out of her and for what? He knew she would have helped him willingly; he hadn't really needed to go to these lengths. Except that he had – it had been the only way he could think of to keep her safe. If they thought she was helping willingly it would have made her a target and that was the last thing he wanted.
"Jack?"
He turned slowly at the sound of her voice and instantly saw the look of confusion on her face. "What's going on Jack? How did you get here? I thought the Chinese had you."
Jack sighed, considering his response and deciding to answer the easiest question first. "I was in China for about a year Chloe. I left there three months ago and arrived back here last week. It's been a long journey".
"What do you mean a long journey? It's only like a 12 hour flight!"
He had to laugh at that, if only it had been that simple. "Chloe, it is so good to see you" he said with a smile.
"Well I should think so if you've spent over a year in China Jack, but I don't understand what's going on."
"Chloe there are some things it's better for you not to know. I don't want to put you in any more danger than is necessary. Please ….. I just need you to t……hmmph"
She cut him off mid sentence with a timely blow to his solar plexus. "Don't you dare Jack, don't you dare ask me just to trust you. You know I trust you but you've put me through hell today, I thought I was going to die and do you know what? The only comfort I found when coming up here was the thought that I was finally going to be able to prove to you that sometimes other people have to make sacrifices. It doesn't only have to be you. But how could I really prove it to you when I didn't know where you were? And what do I find? Yet again the person behind all of this is none other than Jack Bauer himself." She stopped only to take a breath.
"You cannot expect me to go along with this without telling me where you've been, what happened to you. I have spent the past 15 months looking for you, tying myself in knots thinking that if only I hadn't called you that day none of this would have happened. I've had to put up with everyone else assuming that you just went underground again, thinking that my extreme reaction to their ambivalence was because I was upset that you didn't trust me enough to let me help you. But I knew Jack, I knew you were in trouble yet there was no way I could help you so please, don't talk to me about trust".
As Chloe ran out of breath again, Jack was just recovering his from the blow she had dealt him moments before. "Chloe, I'm sorry. I know I scared you and I know this is difficult but if I tell you everything it will put you at risk and I'm not prepared to do that. None of this is your fault, if you hadn't called me that day I would still have been brought into it eventually and I would have wanted to make sure you were Ok anyway."
How did he manage it she thought to herself? Just as she was getting into full swing with her anger he managed to diffuse it. But not this time she thought. She was damned if she was just going to go along with him on this.
"Jack, if you don't tell me what's going on then I'm just going to walk out of here. I'll find a way to divert them long enough for you to get away if that's what you want but I'm not going to play along this time."
"That's not a good idea Chloe" Jack said, a hint of controlled anger in his voice.
"What are you going to do to stop me? Shoot me?" she asked.
In response to his blank expression she frowned in concentration, trying to figure out what to do next, this wasn't getting her anywhere. She didn't really want to go, but equally she didn't want to only know half the story. She wanted him to trust her completely, to understand that any danger she put herself in was her decision, that it wasn't his responsibility to protect her, that it wasn't always up to him to control the world around him. She decided then and there that there was only one thing she could do.
She turned and walked away. She crossed the room towards the door, feeling exasperated but also feeling a little nervous about what he would do next. All of a sudden she knew. The click of the safety alerted her to the fact that his gun was trained on her back, just as she reached for the door handle. She stopped.
"Make another move Chloe and I will shoot you, make no mistake about it."
