One Night-Chapter 2

He had caught only a brief glimpse of the contents of the screen before Chloe had hastily slammed it closed, but it was enough for the words to burn themselves onto the forefront of his mind.

Operation Dark Eagle.

Even with his eyes closed, Jack could still see the white text shimmering hazily in his field of vision, conjuring up memories he'd hoped were long forgotten.

Chloe blinked but wouldn't meet his gaze, choosing instead her preferred tactic of staring at the floor, wishing it would open up and swallow her. He was walking slowly into the room, and she found herself backing away, leaving the laptop fully at his mercy. However, he bypassed the machine and followed her as she took step after agonising step away from him, her hands feeling behind her to save her from falling in the darkened room. It wasn't until she touched the rough texture of the wallpaper did she stop and face him.

He stood mere inches away from her, a confused expression on his face, his eyes a mixture of concern and… was it anger?

"Chloe, what was that?"

He didn't shout; he didn't need to. His voice wasn't even harsh but the words cut none the less.

Chloe struggled to find a response, a sense of shame creeping over her. She couldn't help but feel as though she had let him down in some way, keeping the files stored on a flash drive which she had then left carelessly lying around CTU for anyone to look at, instead of destroying them like she should have done all those months ago.

She was saved by the hiss of the electricity returning. The light revealed to her that Jack was much closer than she had originally believed, and Chloe struggled to control her breathing. Jack backed away slightly, as though he himself had miscalculated his proximity to her.

Chloe took full advantage of the distraction, moving away from him and back to the laptop, fussing around with the drive until she was sure she hadn't lost any data.

"It was just something Mr Buchanan had me working on," she told him, hoping he couldn't see through her lie. Well, half lie. Bill had asked her to work on it, but he had also asked her to destroy the drive as soon as she possibly could. It was her own fault it had dragged out so long.

"Oh, right." Jack relaxed somewhat.

"I didn't mean to overreact," she continued, wishing he would stop looking at her.

"It's fine."

Chloe finally moved away from the computer, the drive still plugged into the back of it. She didn't think any information was lost, but considering the circumstances she couldn't help but feel that it wouldn't matter if it was.

"I'm going to… take a shower," she told him, recalling her earlier plans for the evening. Had it really only been an hour ago that she had gotten in from work? "Do you… uh, want anything to eat? I don't keep much but you might find something in the cupboards," she called as she walked down the hallway and into the small kitchen.

Jack followed her, casting a final glance at the laptop which was now sat innocently in the centre of the desk.

When he didn't answer, Chloe stopped rummaging in the cupboard and turned to look at him.

"You are still staying, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

"If you'll still have me," he smiled.

Deciding it would probably be safer for both of them if she didn't answer that, Chloe nodded and continued her sweep of the kitchen.

"So, coffee is in this one…" she pulled out a large jar and set it down heavily on the worktop. "… and mugs are in here… oh, and there's the fridge…"

Jack laughed. "I'm sure I'll be fine, Chloe. Why don't you go take that shower?"

It was probably glaringly obvious to him that she rarely entertained, let alone brought men home from work. Scowling, she set a mug next to the coffee and reached for the kettle. She was at least going to make him a coffee, show him that she wasn't totally incapable.

"This is a nice place you've got here," Jack mused, glancing casually around, taking in the simple décor and warm furnishings. He had always imagined Chloe living somewhere like this, somewhere she could hide away from the world, certain of not being disturbed. He'd had no problem retrieving her address from her file, but finding the house itself had been another matter.

As the kettle boiled he realised how rude it must have seemed, not to mention presumptuous, his turning up there. Being Chloe, of course, she hadn't said a word.

"Thanks. It's not much but it's okay I guess. Here," she added, handing him a steaming mug.

He took it, his hand brushing hers lightly. Chloe felt her heartbeat react, and willed herself to calm down.

"Chloe, I'm sorry to have intruded."

"It's fine, Jack. Really, I don't mind. I worked out how you got my address," she told him, causing him to smile and look away briefly.

"Yeah, I thought you might."

Chloe couldn't help but smile back. "I'll, uh, be upstairs then. If you need me."

She almost hit her head against the wall. Why had she said that? If you need me. Why would he need her? Deciding that she had better leave before causing any more damage, she slipped quickly past him and up the stairs, not catching the amused look playing across Jack's face.

…

Jack waited until he heard the sound of the water running, before leaving the kitchen and walking back into the study.

The laptop whirred loudly as he started it up, surely out of spite that he dared questioned its mistress's actions.

He felt a twinge of guilt at snooping around behind Chloe's back. He did believe her, and he trusted her more than he thought possible…

Then why am I doing this?

The flash drive kicked in almost instantly. Jack had limited knowledge of technology, but knew enough to decipher the list that began populating, indicating the size of each file and the code that had been used to encrypt it. He skimmed quickly through it, searching for a file that had already been decrypted.

There. A fairly small file, highlighted in red, caught his attention. Setting down his coffee, Jack clicked on the text and waited.

…

It took a while for Chloe to relax under the hot needles of water, the thought of Jack Bauer downstairs in her kitchen doing little to calm her frayed nerves.

Despite the power of the water, she could still hear the rain crashing down outside. Mindful that the electricity could cut out again at any second, she switched off the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, the twin of which she had given to Jack and was still resting on the hall chair.

Back in her bedroom, Chloe reached for her scruffy pyjamas, still lying in a heap from where she had thrown them that morning. She ran a brush through her unruly dark hair, slipped on her pink fuzzy slippers and headed back downstairs.

Finding the kitchen empty, Chloe allowed herself a small smile before following the smell of coffee down the hall. Images of Jack sat on the sofa, her sofa, watching TV, flitted through her head, rendering her totally unprepared when she found him collapsed in her desk chair, his head in his hands.

One look at the laptop told Chloe all she needed to know.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

His tone brought tears to her eyes, but she swallowed them back, determined not to break down in front of him when it was clearly the last thing he needed. "Mr Buchanan told me it was highly classified, no one else was to know," she replied quietly. "It wasn't meant to take me this long."

He lifted his head and she gasped at the tears running silently down his cheeks. "So, you were never going to tell me?"

"It wasn't like that, Jack. I didn't… I didn't…"

"You didn't what?"

"I didn't want you to get… I wanted to protect you from it," she stammered finally, blushing furiously.

"You can't protect me from myself, Chloe."

She couldn't think of any words to say to that.

"Maybe I should go," Jack announced suddenly, standing up and wiping his eyes. "This probably isn't such a good idea."

Chloe noticed how he didn't move, staying by the chair, gripping onto it as though he feared his legs may buckle beneath him.

"Okay, Jack."

The desk was between them, meaning he needed to walk past her as he left the room. Chloe plastered a scowl on her face, an attempt to convey her indifference towards the situation.

His jacket was almost dry as he slipped it back on. Within minutes he had opened the front door and walked out of her house.

Chloe leaned against the wall, listening to the rain beating down steadily against the sidewalk. She found herself back in the lounge, aimlessly pulling back the curtains, the tears now obscuring the already compromised view.

She hardly dared to believe it as she saw him running back up the road.

…

They stood side by side in the study, the towel still draped around his shoulders, another cup of coffee in his hands. She had been reluctant, but he had persuaded her to show him, needing to know what she had been trying to protect him from.

He watched as her hands flew across the keyboard, setting the remaining decryption processes in motion.

"Thankyou," he told her, placing a hand on her arm.

Chloe didn't look up, but he felt her tense under his touch.

"There it is," she said finally, after a long silence. "Operation Dark Eagle."

Pulling up the desk chair, Jack began flicking through the files. Chloe paced the room, chewing once more on her nails.

Operation Dark Eagle, March 2006

He took his mind back ten months, forcing himself to recall the undercover operation that had almost cost him his life. The files before him went into detail about the intel he had gathered on a group of terrorists operating out of San Fransisco, but he didn't need to read it. He remembered.

"We don't have to do this, Jack," Chloe interjected, watching as his expression became distant.

The last file was of a picture, showing him laid out on a stretcher in CTU medical with tubes all over his body. Bill Buchanan looked on by his bedside, the only other person who had known about the mission.

Or so Jack had thought.

He knew the mission would be kept out of his agency file, but had believed that Bill would have been responsible for the destruction of the data. In no way at all did he ever think Chloe would be brought into it, risking so much in the process.

Jack shut down the last of the files and stood up, crossing the room to where she stood.

"You did this for me."

"Mr Buchanan-"

"Forget Bill. This is what you did."

She shrugged. "I didn't really do anything. I mean, I left the damn drive sitting on my desk, anyone could have seen it."

"They didn't, though."

"But they could have!"

Jack smiled. "What do I have to do to convince you that I'm trying to thank you, Chloe O'Brian?"

"You'll never convince me," she muttered. "I did what I did."

He shook his head as she closed down the laptop, this time for good.

"Then I'll just have to say it. Thank you."

"You're welcome." It was their usual exchange; he would go out into the field, she would bring him back, he would thank her and she would say "you're welcome", before they went their separate ways, him usually to the opposite end of the country while she remained behind, ever loyal in case one day he should return.

Except now, inside the relative comfort of her house with a storm raging outside, they had nowhere else to go.

As if on cue, Jack's cell phone, previously forgotten in his jacket pocket, started to ring.