A/N- there may/may not be an epilogue, set post Day 5. If ya'll want it, I'll write it, otherwise this is the final chaper. Thanks for the reviews!
This time Chloe made sure she got to the café early.
She had waited two days to call Chase back and give him the number for Kim's aunt; she couldn't take talking to him so soon after her conversation with Jack. If she was going to be lying to everyone under the sun, she figured she ought to ease into it. After all, it wasn't really her strong suit. Awkward and inappropriate honesty, yes. Deceitful scheming, no. The last thing she wanted was to end up hysterical at Michelle's and Tony's house again. It was embarrassing. So she buried herself in work, not hard after just walking out for an entire afternoon, and then she called him.
Chase hadn't even blinked at Chloe's feeble excuse for the delay; he just took down the number and thanked Chloe for her help. Days passed and she heard nothing. Chloe assumed Chase had called Carol right away and worked something out, but part of her had wondered if, just maybe, Chase had second thoughts. Maybe he hadn't gone through with it. Maybe they were working something out. After a week had passed, Chloe thought she might be right and she pushed it out of her mind. But just when she was getting back to her routine, she got the e-mail. It was short, it was to the point, and it was from Kim.
Chloe, I need to see you. Are you free tomorrow?
So here she was, sitting at the same café she had met Chase at, and she was waiting.
And worrying. Kim hadn't specified what she wanted to meet about when Chloe replied to her e-mail, and Kim didn't pick up the phone when Chloe called. And Chloe didn't dare call Chase and find out, she wasn't sure he needed to know Kim had contacted her. Chloe idly wondered if this was how children of divorced parents felt, not sure who to tell what about whom. She wasn't sure how far into this she could afford to get pulled before she was in over her head. Better to just find out from Kim.
At least this way I can tell Jack I saw her without having to lie. I might have to gloss over what we talk about, but I can say I saw her. It made Chloe uneasy at how much easier it was getting to think about lying to Jack, and how much easier it was to hedge the truth. She thought she should feel worse, and she didn't. She stopped herself short of wondering if it wasn't because she was getting better at lying to herself.
"What the hell gives you the right, O'Brien?" The anger filled voice came from right behind her, slicing through Chloe's wandering thoughts.
"Kim, I'm sorry, I-" But Kim didn't let Chloe finish as she came around the table and sat opposite, slamming her purse down on the table hard enough to make the silverware jump.
This is not going to go well.
"You gave Chase my Aunt's phone number, Chloe. My Aunt, my fiancée, my business- not yours!" Kim hissed. "What the hell were you thinking!"
Chloe looked around the crowded tables, where a few of the patrons were giving nervous glances in their direction. Chloe hurriedly motioned to Kim to keep it down, "Kim, he called me, he wanted to see me, he was worried about you."
"No kidding, but it would have been nice for him to talk to me about it instead letting you make him feel good about walking out on me."
"I- He- I'm sorry?" Chloe stammered.
"You didn't even bother to find out, did you? You didn't even consider looking at my side, or calling me so maybe I could do something about my relationship, you just covered for him, like you used to at CTU, didn't you? Let him go about doing whatever he damn well pleases like it's OK."
Chloe had to admit Kim had a point. Chloe didn't really know her that well, they hadn't worked together for very long, and it's not like Chloe was all that great at getting to know people anyway. And this was Jack's daughter; Chloe wondered if she hadn't made a huge mistake in just assuming Kim would fall apart, she had been through a lot in her life and had come out more or less intact. Chloe really hadn't wanted to get in the middle of everything, but if she had just pushed Chase back a little…
She couldn't deny it, when Chase called she had just jumped into action. She had just taken Chase's word for everything, like she always had, and she realized that that maybe wasn't the best course of action. Chase wasn't perfect, and he did tend to make rash decisions. After all, Chase had been pretty shoddy at relationships before Kim and Chloe could remember how a few of those had ended. Arguments, accusations, and finally… Chloe thought that having a family had settled him.
Did I make a mistake? Is Chase over-reacting?
Kim was looking Chloe right in the eye and Chloe couldn't help but see the rage behind them. So much like her father. Chloe thought, and realized that she was in dangerous territory. Taking a deep breath and praying there wouldn't be a scene, Chloe held Kim's gaze. "I'm not covering for him, you make it sound like I- like I'm taking sides. I'm not; it was just a phone number. Besides, he could have just waited for your Aunt to get back from her trip anyway, so I figured it wouldn't matter."
Kim shook her head, "No- it would have mattered, Chloe. In another week, Chase would have calmed down more and even if he had still called, Aunt Carol would have been much calmer. Instead she was interrupted during a business meeting for a 'family emergency' and she comes raging back here thinking I'm suicidal! She set up camp in my house for three days while Chase moved his and Angela's stuff out. I couldn't even talk to him! And if Chase had waited, or told me what he was thinking, I could have explained about that night. But no. He just off and jumped to conclusions and issued ultimatums." She looked down. "Not that it would have mattered; he hasn't been really listening to me for months now. He has no idea…"
Chloe was stunned and struggled with what to say next. "Kim, I don't want to, I mean I'm not good at… Chase said you were passed out next to an empty bottle and you had a gun. That's not good."
"You believe...?" Kim rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Why am I even surprised? Chloe, Angie had been sick almost all week, Chase and I were arguing so I hadn't slept in almost four days. And there are other… So I had a drink to calm my nerves. It went right to my head and I fell asleep. Hard."
"He said you'd been drinking for a few weeks…"
"No more than he has. Did he tell you that? We're not raging alcoholics here, we're under a lot of stress and neither of us is dealing with it all that well."
"No, but Kim…" Chloe felt like she was rapidly losing ground. "Chase said he found you with a gun…"
"Fine. Let's just do the whole damn thing." Kim began to tick points off her fingers, "One, there was only one drink left in the bottle. Two, I would never give up like that, I would never just leave like…" Kim trailed off before shaking herself back, "And three, the gun wasn't for me, it was for whoever's been driving by my house for the last few months." Kim snapped, and Chloe's heart jumped into her throat. "He drove by as I was having my drink, and I was afraid he'd stop. I wanted to be able to protect Angela."
Looking down at her hands again, Kim continued oblivious to the shock and surprise on Chloe's face. "So I sat on the couch, where I could see the door and the street outside the living room windows, and I waited." Her eyes rose and locked with Chloe's again, begging her to understand. "I fell asleep, Chloe, and I was so exhausted I didn't hear Chase when he came in. When I woke up I was in bed, and I assumed I'd gotten up at some point and moved there. Chase never said anything until it was, 'Get help or I'm gone.' He wouldn't even let me try to explain. I'd never put Angela at risk, it was an accident I fell asleep like that."
"There's someone driving by your place?" Shit, the Chinese!
"Yeah," Kim shuddered, "on and off since Dad died. Chase thought it was friends of my Dad's at first, checking up on us, but now he doesn't even believe me; he thinks I'm paranoid and delusional. But he was working so many hours at his old job, lots of nights, the occasional weekend, he never saw the guy. And it's not always the same guy, but it's always the same car.
'It's why I wanted Chase to change jobs; I thought if he was home more he'd see it, too. And frankly, I was scared to be alone, especially with Angie, I was afraid I couldn't protect her if the guy did more than just drive by. And I sure as hell didn't feel like going out into the open with her. I was afraid I'd be followed if I left home."
Kim's voice dropped almost to a whisper, "I was afraid they were maybe after Chase and using me like…" Kim shook her head as if to clear the memories, "But when Chase changed jobs, the guy went away; he only started coming back a few weeks ago."
Oh, God. Chloe tried not to let her shock show on her face. Her mind raced, and she realized, too late, that Chase had changed jobs at about the same time Chloe had discovered the taps on everyone's phones. Of course they stopped driving by; they knew we were on to them. And we never told Kim and Chase, we just fixed it all behind their backs, so…Oh, God.
Glaring at Chloe, Kim mistook the woman's shock for accusation. "You don't believe me, either, do you?"
"No, I…" Damnit, damnit, damnit! "I believe you, but why didn't you say anything. You should have called someone. Called Tony or someone at CTU..?"
The rueful laugh that came from the young woman across from her broke Chloe's heart. "Because I started to believe Chase, Chloe. He was making sense and I was still so upset about Dad..." Tears began to form in her eyes. "I mean, who would be driving past my house? You guys, old friends of my Dad's, they would stop by, and check on me in person. Or call. And no one ever drove by when Chase was there, and he wasn't followed at work, so it couldn't be him…" Kim began speaking faster, anger and frustration evident in her eyes. "It didn't make sense, it doesn't make sense. And I began to think I had imagined it, especially when it stopped. But it started again, and by that time Chase had made up his mind and that was that. I mean, my Dad is dead. Who the hell would care about me?"
Only the Chinese, the Secret Service, anyone who might suspect he's not dead…
Kim's anger faded a bit and she continued, fanning out her hands on the table and speaking matter-of-factly. "So there it is. Chase doesn't see it, and even if he did… He doesn't really like his new job, it doesn't pay as much, and the people aren't as nice. And honestly, I don't think he was ever really OK with leaving CTU in the first place. He wants to move back to DC, but I don't. So it's all my fault. I didn't want him at CTU, I asked him to be around more, I'm having problems, I'm having trouble talking about my problems- it's my fault. Whether it really is or not. It's just… it was bad, but I was hoping it would get better after the vacation. We would have had time to talk, just the two of us and no distractions. Angela was going to stay with his sister, now they're both there. And I'm alone."
Chloe paused, unsure what to say. Finally, she asked, "Vacation?"
"The one we would be on right now if you hadn't given him Aunt Carol's phone number so damn fast."
The accusation lay between the two for several minutes as Chloe tried to come to grips with what Kim was saying. She couldn't. Chloe's rational mind threatened to check out and she wanted to disappear. She felt like she was in quicksand up to her neck and was sinking ever so slowly.
Chase said Kim was unstable, but to Chloe, she seemed fine. Tired, angry, and hurt, but not flying off the hook, and she certainly didn't seem like she would put Angela at risk. And Chloe had no problems believing Kim about the surveillance, she just had no way to prove it to Chase. And even if she did… Chloe didn't know what to believe, who to believe, or most importantly, what to do about any of this. All Chloe wanted to do was sort it all out, make it go away. She wanted to call Chase, and talk to Kim more, anything to make it all make sense in her mind.
She wanted to call Tony and Michelle for advice, too. All of the anger, guilt, doubts and pain she had felt the previous week returned with a vengeance. Chloe tried to see it from all sides and a feeling of dread fell upon her as it dawned upon her exactly what it would take to sort out this mess. She would have to tell the truth. She couldn't believe she was right back where she had been a week ago. Telling the truth was the only way Chase would believe Kim about the watcher, and it was the only way Kim could understand why she was being watched in the first place. Chloe felt lost because she knew, once again, that she couldn't do any of that. She couldn't tell the truth, and she couldn't burden Tony and Michelle with something they couldn't do anything about. She couldn't fix it.
Chloe heard Tony's words again… Sometimes really does hurt less to just walk away. Chloe wondered if it could really be that simple, to just leave her friends to sink or swim on their own. To let them hurt each other and themselves. To finally just let it all go and concentrate on what she could fix and what she could manage.
It was Kim who finally broke the silence, "I'll admit, I've been a mess, and I've pushed Chase away, and maybe I do need help. But that's my business. Not yours. Not anymore. So stay away, Chloe. Far away. Make sure you tell that to Tony and Michelle, too."
She stood and looked down at Chloe, anger beginning to register on her face again. "I think you can all go to hell. Just don't ask me along for the ride anymore." Kim was fighting back tears as she gathered up her purse. "Chase is gone, and I'm not even sure I want to get him back. I don't think I can take anymore of anything even remotely related to CTU anymore. So whatever you all promised my Dad you'd do if anything happened, whatever you think you owe him… just forget about it. Consider your obligations fulfilled."
Kim began to leave and Chloe stopped her with a hand on her arm, "What about the guy who's watching you? I need to have someone stop-"
"Don't. If someone wants to follow me, drive past my place, wherever that ends up being, just let 'em. I'm done, Chloe. I'm not doing this anymore. Someone really wants Chase they'll go after Angela anyway. And I can't think of any reason why they'd want me. Not like I know anything useful anymore."
"Kim," Chloe began again, but Kim stopped her.
"Listen, if you have some protocol you have to follow, or need to do something so you can sleep at night… Whatever- I don't care. Just don't involve me, and don't expect a thank you." Kim looked at Chloe's hand on her arm, and Chloe dropped it.
As she turned to leave, Kim spoke one last time, not even looking at Chloe. "If you really want to help me, just leave me alone. Let me forget I ever met you. Just let me walk away."
And in the end, that's exactly what Chloe did.