When Chloe woke the space beside her in the bed was empty but still warm, she could hear Jack moving around in the kitchen and she just lay there for a while enjoying waking up in a comfortable bed for the first time in weeks. Eventually she got up and quickly showered and dressed.

By the time she emerged from the bedroom Jack was nowhere in sight. Guessing he was looking around outside, checking that there was no evidence of anyone watching them she stepped through the kitchen door onto a path that led down toward a wooded area. Chloe couldn't see Jack so she just wandered down the path, enjoying the freshness of the day and revelling in the feeling of freedom she had from being outdoors with no prison guards watching over her.

Jack emerged from the area to the right of her just as she was contemplating going back inside to get a sweater, the coolness of the morning making her shiver.

"Hey, I thought you would sleep in a little longer this morning" he said as he reached her.

"Yeah? Well, you know how I hate to be predictable" she said with a scowl.

"Don't I just. Breakfast?" he asked as he fell into step beside her.

They prepared breakfast together, settling down at the kitchen table in companionable silence. After several minutes of Chloe frowning at a mark on the table top, Jack decided to help her out;

"Chloe, just say it. You don't need to worry about filtering stuff out with me, not while it's just the two of us. You've obviously got something on your mind so just spit it out and we can deal with it."

Chloe looked at him, wondering when he had learnt to read her so well. "I'm just wondering why you're here Jack. I get that you want to help me but there must have been another way; A way to do this without you having to be on the run again."

Jack leaned back in his seat and sighed. He'd been wondering when they were going to have to deal with this and had secretly hoped he wouldn't have to explain himself this quickly.

"Chloe, I couldn't just leave you there. We didn't know how long it would be before you got out and I couldn't just walk away and get on with my life while knowing you were stuck in jail paying for my mistakes."

"Mistakes? When did you ever make a mistake?" she asked incredulously.

Jack laughed. "I make them all the time Chloe; you just refuse to see them."

Chloe gave him one of her meanest looks "No I don't. I see them; I just don't think you've made any mistakes that I've had to pay for. Not everything that goes wrong is your fault Jack. Oh, I know plenty of people blame you but it's just because they feel inadequate. They are inadequate! They are so wrapped up in rules and regulations and their own image that they can't see what's in front of them." She stopped, but only to take a breath then forgot what she was going to say at the incredulous expression on his face.

"What have I said now?" she asked; concerned she had gone too far.

Jack blinked quickly as though trying to clear the myriad of thoughts running through his mind.

"Nothing,…everything. Chloe, you have no idea how good it is to have someone support me the way you do. I've gotten so used to doing things on my own; and that's exactly why I'm here now. You are the only person who has backed me one hundred percent and I couldn't turn my back on that".

"I didn't do it blindly Jack; I knew what I was doing." She said sharply, too sharply she thought as she saw him shift in his chair under her gaze.

Jack was silent for a moment so Chloe took advantage and asked the question that had been playing on her mind since yesterday.

"What about Audrey?"

Jack's head snapped up at the question, it wasn't that it was unexpected, he just hadn't expected her to be so blunt about it; stupid really, Chloe was always blunt –that was part of her charm. He smiled to himself while trying to figure out how to answer her.

He sighed then looked directly at her "we tried to work things out but we couldn't. She couldn't deal with my job; not surprising really, but that was the way it was. I had to make a choice."

Chloe frowned thinking there was more to it than he was telling her. "Why did you choose your job Jack? I thought you loved Audrey".

"So did I" he said obviously not prepared to expand on his answer.

Chloe knew she was missing something but couldn't yet put her finger on it. "Jack, how is sitting here babysitting me doing your job? Ok, I get that you wanted me out of jail but why did you have to come with me? You could have easily found me somewhere to go particularly with Curtis and Bill in on it."

Jack got up and started pacing the kitchen, obviously uncomfortable with her line of questioning. "I didn't trust anyone else Chloe and I wanted you to be safe."

Realisation slowly dawned on Chloe; realisation that Jack had sacrificed his chance of happiness. Not because of his job but because of her. That was why he was being so cagey – he knew she would hate to think that he'd done that for her.

Chloe felt tears sting her eyes; she wanted to be angry. Angry that he'd done something so stupid, but she just felt sad that he was yet again giving up the chance of a normal life. But this time, instead of saving the world, he'd done it to save her.

The tears were slowly falling down her cheeks as she sat just staring out of the kitchen window; she didn't hear Jack walk towards her. The first she knew that he was kneeling next to her was when his hand began gently stroking her back.

"Hey Chloe its ok. Please don't…..its ok."

Chloe took a shuddering breath before turning to him "No Jack, it is most definitely not ok…its…" her words stuck in her throat and she closed her eyes in an attempt to stop the flow of tears. Before she opened them again she felt herself being pulled up from the chair and despite her trying to break away he just held her.

It was several minutes before Chloe could compose herself. She pulled away from Jack and he reluctantly let her go. She walked to the other side of the kitchen and when she turned back towards him she gave him a steely look before going into the bedroom.

Jack knew better than to follow her. He could see that she needed some time alone but also realised they needed to resolve this situation. He understood that Chloe would feel he had made sacrifices to protect her and that she would hate that. He understood she would feel he was doing this out of a sense of responsibility and whilst that was true to a certain extent, it wasn't nearly enough of an explanation for why he was here.

Jack shook himself out of his thoughts and walked into the living room just in time to see Chloe emerge from the bedroom with a small bag in tow. She saw him but didn't stop, just carried on walking until she reached the front door and stepped outside. Jack stared at her retreating back then groaned when he realised what she was doing.

He caught up with her in seconds and, knowing it would be pointless to try and talk to her when she was in this kind of mood he put his hands on her shoulders, quickly turning her towards him. Her snarl although fierce was not enough to put him off, he put his hands round her waist, leant forward and threw her over his shoulder. He retreated back to the house with Chloe pummelling his back with her fists, demanding that he let her go. Once inside he dropped her onto the couch then sat next to her, blocking her in with his body. She was glaring furiously at him and breathing hard with the effort it took to fight him.

"Damnit Jack, why can't you see that this is stupid? You can't do this, just let me go. I can look after myself; they won't find me. I managed to keep you safe for a year and a half when you were on the run, what makes you think I can't do the same for myself? If you really want to help me then do it from CTU; please don't do it like this…I can't bear it." She looked him straight in the eye, imploring him to listen to her, to see that all this was unnecessary.

Jack just sat staring at her, gently stroking her hair in an attempt to calm her. He had known she would find this difficult but he had to make her see that this was the only way, not just for her but for both of them.

"Chloe, I'm not doing this out of duty or because I'm grateful for what you've done for me. I'm doing it because I can't bear to think of you being unsafe; you're my friend, my only friend now and believe me everything I've done since yesterday has been for my own selfish reasons. I didn't want to live my life going from one crazy situation to another and hurting the people I care about the most. For me, this is the perfect solution; I get to walk away and I get to do it with someone I care about".

Chloe pulled back a little so she could look at him properly "ok, let's say I believe you when you say it's over between you and Audrey. But what about Kim? Particularly now that you two have found each other again".

Jack sighed and she could see the emotion in his face when thinking about his daughter. "Chloe, Kim has her own life. Yes we've worked things out but we can't go back to the way things were before. Kim knows that I love her and once things have settled down we'll find a way that she can visit. It's not going to be easy but Chase will help."

"Chase? What do you mean?"

Jack smiled "They got back together a few weeks ago. I've never seen her so happy, that's why I feel able to do this."

"What happened to Barry? Did you and Chase run him out of town?"

Jack laughed "Nope, Kim realised that he wasn't what she needed and ran him out of town all by herself".

Chloe felt a sense of admiration; she hadn't thought Kim had it in her. Jack saw the look of satisfaction on her face, saying "you didn't have much time for Barry did you?"

Chloe rolled her eyes "neither did you. Anyway, I've never really trusted anyone with 'psycho' as part of their title."

Jack laughed and pulled her closer to him. Chloe settled into his side, relaxing slightly. "Jack, are you sure about this?" she asked after a few minutes.

"Chloe I've never been so sure about anything. This is the right thing for both of us. Now, come on let's go for a walk before we start going stir crazy." He got up and pulled her with him.

Chloe stopped to pick up her jacket then turned to meet Jack at the door, she stopped short at the look he was giving her. "What?" she asked, scowling.

Jack just smiled and said "nothing" holding the door open for her.

Just as she was walking through the door he stopped her with his hand on her shoulder and leant down, taking her face in his hands and kissing her full on the lips; the kiss was brief but had the effect of making Chloe flustered.

"Why do you keep doing that?" she asked genuine confusion in her eyes.

"I don't really know; I just can't help it" he said with a small smile as he walked out the house.

"Oh" she said. They left for their walk, Chloe with a thousand questions on her mind; Jack feeling lighter than he had in a long time.