One Night, Chapter Three

It took a moment for the sound to register itself in Jack's brain. Chloe looked at him pointedly.

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

"What? Oh…"He slipped his hand into his jacket pocket and retrieved his cell phone, checking the caller ID before flipping it open.

Chloe watched him walk towards the doorway leading to the lounge. Obviously it was a private call. She busied herself with clearing up their coffee mugs, clanging them together noisily in her haste. She cast a guilty look in Jack's direction, but he didn't even turn around.

"Yes, that's right. I did," she heard him say, his voice receding further into the room.

In the kitchen, Chloe placed the dirty dishes quietly into the already overflowing sink, willing the tower of plates to stay still. It wobbled dangerously, but held.

"I really should wash up," she muttered. Grabbing a sponge and turning on the tap, Chloe got to work, not wanting to be caught listening in on Jack's conversation. Which, she couldn't help but muse, was taking him rather a long time.

It's probably her, she thought, scrubbing a plate with unnecessary force. It slipped out of her hands and crashed into the sink, but remained intact. No wonder he doesn't want me listening. Not that I would want to listen to that, she added as an afterthought. In a minute, he'll come waltzing back in here, announce he's leaving, and this time he won't come back-

"There you are."

His voice inches behind her shocked her out of her daydream, causing yet another plate to escape her grasp. This one wasn't so lucky, slicing cleanly into two halves and taking another plate with it.

"Shit. Don't do that," Chloe muttered, reaching in the sink to pick out the broken china. His hand on her arm stopped her.

"Let me."

Chloe sidestepped out of Jack's way and watched as he pulled out two pieces of white china. "Don't want you cutting yourself," he said, his voice low. He placed the broken crockery on the side, then set to work retrieving the rest of the mess. Chloe watched him as he painstakingly gathered a handful of shards, coming to her senses when she realised he would need a bag to put them in.

"I'll just get a newspaper, I'll wrap it up and bin it," she found herself babbling, disconcerted by how normal it felt to see him stood at her kitchen sink.

"Thanks," he smiled, throwing her further into her reverie.

Somehow, Chloe stumbled back into the lounge and grabbed the first newspaper she could find, returning to see Jack running the water to clear the last of the china out of the sink.

"Think I got all of it," he told her, frowning.

"Thanks, Jack. I could have done it though."

"I know you could. I wanted to. I need to make myself feel useful if I'm going to be spending the night here."

Chloe felt her heart constrict at his words. Spending the night…

"Chloe? You alright?"

Aware that her face must be a peculiar shade of red, Chloe nodded and walked over to the kitchen table, where Jack had placed the ruins of her dinner set.

"That was the garage, on the phone," Jack told her, reaching for a sheet of newspaper. She batted his hand away.

"Good news?" She didn't look up from her task, but he continued regardless, pulling up a chair and settling down across from her, watching her work.

"I gave them my cell phone number earlier. They said there's been a change of plans; they can get someone to me within the hour."

"Oh." She couldn't hide the disappointment. Her hands paused, hovering over the newspaper as though suddenly unsure of what she was doing.

"I told them not to bother."

"Oh."

Chloe looked up at him. "Why?"

Jack shrugged. "I told the guy I would be okay until the morning."

It wasn't the answer Chloe had been expecting, sending the last threads of her daydream floating out of her mind, to be replaced by the harsh reality that Jack Bauer would be spending the night at her house and she had nowhere for him to sleep.

"Yes, well, I don't expect he would want to be messing about in this weather anyway," she muttered, throwing the last of the newspaper into the bin. Wiping away absent crumbs from the wooden table top, she searched her mind frantically for something they could do for the next few hours.

"I could really use a shower, if that's okay," Jack spoke up suddenly. She noticed his face coloured slightly, as though he was embarrassed to be asking such a thing.

"That's fine. The bathroom is on the right as you get to the top of the stairs, clean towels are in the cupboard under the washbasin," Chloe rattled off, relieved that she could have at least ten minutes to figure out this mess she had gotten herself into.

"Great. See you in five."

Make that five minutes, she corrected herself, watching with a sinking heart as Jack headed for the stairs.

The dishes forgotten, Chloe sat down heavily on the chair Jack had vacated, listening to his footsteps on the floor above. She couldn't believe how easily he had accepted the whole thing with Dark Eagle, although knowing Jack, he would probably want to know more but didn't think now was the right time to push it.

A clap of thunder shook the house. Chloe heard the water shut off upstairs, Jack most likely having come to the same conclusion she had regarding the electricity.

She retreated to the lounge, not wanting him to see her still as he'd left her, as though awaiting his return. Pushing aside some cushions, Chloe settled on the sofa and flicked mindlessly through a magazine. She tucked her feet up under her, losing the pink slippers as she did so.

After a few minutes, she became aware of a presence to her left. Turning her head, Chloe saw Jack stood awkwardly in the entrance to the lounge, as though seeking her permission to enter.

He smiled as their eyes met, finally stepping into the room and sitting down on the opposite end of the sofa. Chloe cursed herself for not having purchased the matching half price armchair. The salesman had given her a funny look when she had told him that the sofa on its own would be fine, apparently shocked that someone should turn down the offer. On hindsight, Chloe realised that he had probably questioned her decision for the exact same reason she now was.

"There's nothing on the TV, plus I think it will probably give out in a while anyway," she informed him, swinging her feet back to the ground and placing them once again inside her slippers. She realised then that he was wearing the same clothes that he had arrived in. "Do you, uh, want me to see if I can find something of Morris's lying around? I mean, those clothes are damp," Chloe stammered.

"I'm alright," Jack replied. "They aren't too bad."

The conversation came to an abrupt halt, Chloe believing herself to have knocked it on the head by mentioning her ex-husband. They sat in silence, Chloe's magazine and a barricade of cushions separating them.

Jack couldn't help but feel that it shouldn't be this uneasy between them. They were friends, after all, and managed to work together every day without the slightest hesitation. Sometimes he felt as though he'd known her his whole life, other times he realised just how little he did know about her. Now, he decided, sitting back slowly on the sofa, was one of those times.

"I'm sorry," she said suddenly.

"What for?"

Chloe sighed, and gestured around the room. "For this. I don't normally… I mean, I'm not being a very good hostess, am I? I haven't even asked you if you want something to eat… do you want something to eat?"

"You already asked me that."

"I did? Oh." She sank back into the sofa, apparently at a loss.

"Chloe, you're a great hostess. Really," he added, watching as she rolled her eyes. "You didn't have to put me up, but you did. You've done a lot for me."

"You mean, make you a coffee and let you use my phone?" Chloe scowled. "Anyone could have done that."

"You know what I mean," he replied, voice low and his eyes burning into hers.

"Yes."

"Why did you do it? Dark Eagle?" Jack turned on the couch so that he was facing her, knocking a few cushions to the floor.

"Because Mr Buchanan asked me to." Chloe felt uncomfortable under his stare. Although she had known he would bring the subject up, she could have used a little more time to prepare herself. "And because… because I wanted to."

"It was risk," Jack said quietly. "If anyone had found out you were working on it… Division didn't even know. Bill went against their orders to get me in there. He knew how much we needed the intel and how important it was. They didn't want to know." Jack sounded bitter, despite many years' experience of working under Division's radar. "Everyone else was supposed to think I had gone dark."

"That's what they did think," Chloe responded finally, relieved to be on common ground. "The organisation was well known, and Bill wanted to get the intel. He even had Curtis work up some profiles. But when he went to Division and they said no, everyone dropped it. We all assumed that you had gone dark."

"Did you think that's what happened?" It was barely a question; as though he already knew the answer.

Chloe shook her head. "No. But so much was going on at the time. There was the threat from Asia to deal with, which turned out to be nothing. Then the big guns turned up one day, questioning people about your whereabouts." She looked away. "Mr Buchanan told them he didn't know where you were, although a few people started gossiping and thought that there was a wild chance you had gone undercover. That's when Bill approached me.

"He asked me to work up an alias for you, that said you had gone back to D.C and hadn't had any contact with CTU for the seven months you were gone. That's when I knew I had been right. He never questioned why I did it, why I helped him. I think he knew that I had worked it out." She smiled ruefully. "And then you came back…" Jack heard the sharp intake of breath as she no doubt recalled the image of him hooked up to machines in medical.

"And you looked after the data, to make sure no-one else ever found out," he finished, when it was clear that she couldn't continue.

Chloe nodded, the image of Jack fighting for his life as fresh in her memory as it had been all those months ago. She bit her lip and closed her eyes.

"Thank you." The words, spoken now, seemed inadequate to convey the full meaning of what she had done for him.

"I told you, it won't work," she replied, regaining her composure, although she smiled as he once again reached out and placed a hand on her now bare arm.

"Can you believe that rain?" Jack asked after a few minutes. He hadn't moved his hand, and Chloe was in no rush to break their contact. They listened in silence as the wind picked up, howling through the gap under the front door. Reluctantly, Chloe stood. "I better put something under it, otherwise it will be cold in here later."

Jack watched as she left the room. He absently picked up the fallen cushions and placed them next to him, already feeling the chill creeping in from the draught under the door.

It was a while before Chloe returned, holding a tray in her arms. Jack stood to help her, noticing the two tumblers of water and a bowl of salad, with a large packet of potato chips nestled between the glasses.

"I was hungry," she said indignantly, placing the tray on the coffee table and closing the door.

"I can see that."

"It might get cold in here; I rolled the rug right up under the door but it's pretty bad out there." Chloe settled back on the sofa and reached for the chips. "I guess you can share," she told him, offering Jack the packet.

Jack laughed as he took a handful of chips. "Thanks."

As they ate, he noticed that Chloe's eyes were focussed intently at a spot on the carpeted floor, her shoulders shaking.

"Hey." Jack took the tray from her lap and set it down on the floor. "What's the matter?" He moved across the sofa until they were next to each other, Chloe's eyes still pointing downwards. "Don't cry."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are." He hesitantly tilted her chin so that her eyes met his. The pain he saw reflected in them took his breath away.

She pulled back. "I said it's fine, Jack. I'm just a little tired. It's been stressful lately, and it catches up with me from time to time. Really." Chloe managed a small smile. "Now, if you'll give me back my food. Hunger just makes me grouchy."

Jack replaced the tray on her knees. "If you're sure," he conceded, although he didn't buy it. She was keeping something locked up, and it worried him.

"Sure I'm sure."

Unwillingly, Jack let it drop. "I hope Bill's not still at the office," he muttered. "He had a mountain of paperwork to do when I left."

"Karen's home," Chloe informed him through a mouthful of salad. "Isn't that great? He's so much easier to work for when she's around, she makes him happy."

"He told me she was back," Jack replied. "For the week, I think."

"Yeah. But that won't stop him from coming into work. Some people are addicted to that place. You and me included," she added quickly.

"Yeah, I know."

"Wouldn't have it any other way though, would we?" Chloe continued, missing the note of regret in his voice.

"Wouldn't we?"

"Well… I guess there are other things in life." She rolled her eyes. "Sometimes it feels like all I do is work, sleep, work, sleep. And half the time I don't. Sleep, I mean."

"Are you happy, Chloe?"

His question threw her off guard. Chloe contemplated her answer, feeling her defence mechanism kicking in, the barriers raising themselves to create a wall between them.

She returned with a query of her own.

"Are you?"