She'd sat in a CTU holding cell for more than two hours. Plenty of time for some self reflection; they obviously thought she was too trusting of him, too wrapped up in her supposed hero worship. They told her they were holding her for her own safety and because they couldn't trust her not to work with him if he contacted her. She felt powerless. Oh, she had tried to convince them, tried to remind them of the man he is, the man of honour, the man of courage who would never betray his country. But they weren't having any of it. Oh why were they so blinkered, they would only see the obvious answers, wouldn't see beyond the simple solutions.

Eventually Curtis had come to tell her she was being transferred to Division. They wanted a more objective debrief than she would have at CTU; Chloe read that as they didn't trust her to stay here even if she was locked up. She sighed heavily, her frustration clear to everyone.

She was travelling in the car with Agent Smith and another guy she didn't know when they were hit side on by a white van, Chloe was stunned – what else was going to happen today? Smith left the vehicle to check on the status of the other driver when suddenly four men in balaclavas jumped out shooting him and the other agent. Chloe tried to scramble out the other side of the car when she was pulled back by her hair, she yelled out in pain kicking and hitting the guy who had hold of her.

"Stop Ms O'brian" said one man, holding a gun to her face. She could make out his dark eyes and they held a glint in them that told her he would dearly love to use the gun on her. She calmed down, at least externally. They bundled her into the back of the van and sped away. They had been driving for only about 10 minutes when they pulled off the road. When the van stopped she was dragged out and into a building on what looked to be a deserted construction site.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, her heart rate refusing to be slowed. No-one spoke, they just dragged her upstairs and threw her into an almost empty room, locking the door behind them. She looked around her, noting the mattress on the floor, a bucket to its side. Oh god, she could guess what that was for but didn't really want to think about it. She moved over to the small window and, despite the bars on it could just make out the road at the back of the building. Not that it would make much difference as it seemed pretty deserted and no-one would see her from where she stood.

She sat on the mattress, feeling vulnerable – a feeling that didn't sit comfortably with her, an experience she'd had many times in her earlier life, one that she had gone to great lengths to overcome. She jumped as the door opened suddenly, standing up so as not to give them the advantage of height (although that seemed irrelevant as the man approaching her was over six foot).

He walked toward her slowly and she backed up against the wall feeling afraid as he reached out to touch her face. His hand was gentle but she was not deceived, detecting the restrained anger in his whole being. "So, this is Bauer's right hand woman is it? Not much to look at are you?"

"Well stop looking then" she snapped back, she always hated it when people measured others on looks alone.

"Fiery though, I like that in a woman" he said running his hand up and down her arm provocatively.

"If you think you're going to intimidate me like that then you're wrong, now get your hand off me you jerk" she said pushing at him and turning to her right to move away from him. She didn't get far though; he pulled her back, slapping her hard across the face so her head bounced against the wall behind.

Chloe wiped a hand across her face feeling the warm stickiness of blood oozing from her nose; she refused to give in though. She'd spent many years refusing to give in to the intimidation inflicted by others so why would she start now when she needed to stay strong?

"You obviously don't like us that fiery" she said staring him square in the face. "What do you want with me?"

He smiled coldly "we don't want anything from you, you're our insurance policy"

"Insurance for what?"

"To use as leverage for Jack Bauer if he refuses to comply with out demands"

"Where is Jack?"

"On his way here"

A smile flickered across her face, so automatically that she couldn't suppress it.

"Oh you can smile Ms O'brian but he can't help you now"

Want to bet? She thought to herself. If he thought that then he didn't know Jack!

She heard a car pull up just then and noticed the change in the man immediately. He was wired for action, as though he couldn't wait for what was about to unfold. "I'll be back for you" he said before leaving the room and locking it behind him.

Chloe stood by the door, straining to hear what was being said. She heard voices but couldn't make out who they belonged to – they were too far away. Several minutes passed when she heard footsteps outside the door, it swung open to reveal a shorter, stockier man that the one before. He grabbed her roughly, dragging her out of the room and down the stairs.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs she heard him. Relief merged with fear at the thought of what might happen next. She heard the other man's voice clearly now, he was telling Jack that they had an insurance policy to make him do what they wanted although he didn't state what that was.

She heard Jack asking what he meant by an insurance policy, he was angry – she could tell in the controlled way he asked the question. Just then she was pulled out from where she stood and pushed next to the tall man who was standing in front of Jack.

She saw him flinch, saw the pained expression in his eyes at the sight of her, not just the sight of her being there but being there with blood still oozing from her nose and the clear definition of a bruise appearing on the side of her face. "I'm Ok Jack" she said, "don't do ….." she was cut off by the man next to her grabbing her by the neck and pulling her in front of him.

Jack stepped forward but was stopped by the two goons now standing on either side of him. "Just leave her out of this" he said angrily "I'll do it, just leave her alone".

"Oh we know you'll do it" the tall man said "you don't really have a choice if you want your friend to live." Jack seemed to cave in at that point, his shoulders slumped. At that, the tall man released his grip on her neck, believing Jack to be giving in to his demands.

Chloe knew differently though, she knew he was trying to lull them into a more relaxed state so they wouldn't see what was coming. Chloe stared at him intently waiting for the look that was sure to come.

Within seconds there it was, a flick of his eyes to the right and Chloe thrust her elbow into the man's ribs falling to her left in a dead weight to throw him off balance even more. At the same time Jack took out the guys either side of him in three easy moves. He grabbed both their guns, throwing one to Chloe whilst shooting the tall man right in the middle of his chest. He fell to the floor just as Chloe pulled the trigger of the gun in her hand, shooting the man still standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Chloe" Jack said, falling to his knees beside her "are you Ok?"

"I'm fine Jack!"

Jack pulled her up from the floor, dragging her to his side as they ran out of the building and into the car he had arrived in. Jack sped away whilst Chloe sat next to him, trembling slightly mostly with relief rather than a reaction to her captivity.

Several minutes and several back streets later Jack pulled into a parking lot behind a busy store. He stopped the car, looking at her with concern. He then turned and stared out the front of the car, groaning to himself then resting his head against the stearing wheel.

Without looking up he spoke quietly "Oh god, Chloe. I am so sorry for getting you involved in this. I had no idea they would use you. I haven't been that scared since….well, since Kim and Teri. I am so sorry"

He was looking at her now, begging for her forgiveness. He reached out to stroke the side of her face gently the pleading look not leaving his face. Chloe frowned in confusion, she never could understand why he always blamed himself, why he always asked for forgiveness for things that were out of his control. Oh, she understood his honour, his sense of responsibility, but what she couldn't understand was that he didn't see what she could see – a man who was just trying to do his best, what was wrong with that?

"Jack, it's Ok, I'm Ok" she said urgently. At the reassurance in her voice he reached across the car practically dragging her across to his side. Holding her close he looked into her eyes and asked "Did they hurt you Chlo?"

She knew what he was asking but felt the need to lighten the mood "What? You mean apart from the broken nose and cheekbone and the fact that my best feature i.e. my face may be permanently disfigured?"

He smiled at that but still looked at her with concern.

"No Jack, they didn't hurt me, not really"

Jack rested his head against her chest, muttering "Whilst I don't have a problem with your face Chloe, I have to disagree with you there. Your best feature by far is your heart."

Chloe felt that particular feature melt at his words; words that made her both love and hate him at the same time. She loved that he cared for her but hated that he would never act on it, at least not in the way she wanted him to.