"No Buts"

[failegaidin]

            Chloe was having trouble remembering how this had all begun. She knew that Morris had cornered her in the hallway and that he was unbelievably drunk. Before she'd even had time to yell at him, his right hand had grabbed her throat and begun to squeeze. His grip wasn't tight enough to kill her, but breathing and talking had become difficult. Chloe clawed at Morris' hand, trying to dislodge it, but his grip remained firm.

            "Morris…" she managed to choke out.

            "How could you?" he spat out at her, his face barely an inch away from hers. "How could you ask me to help him at the risk of my own skin? How could you ask me to save the man that you love? When our lives would be so much easier if he would just die!" Chloe struggled to speak again, but Morris cut her off. "No. I'm sorry, love. But I cannot and will not continue with this any longer. You have a decision to make. Either you leave here with me right now, and forget all about Jack Bauer, or you don't leave here at all."

            Chloe narrowed her eyes in confusion. She couldn’t believe that Morris was actually threatening to kill her if she didn't come with him. She couldn't believe that the day had turned out so horribly wrong when it had started like any other. As though to emphasize his ultimatum, Morris began to tighten his vise-like grip and Chloe's coherent thoughts rushed out of her. She was going to die because she loved Jack Bauer. She'd always known that that might be the end of her. That she would either get killed or thrown in jail because she was doing something to help Jack. But she never thought she'd be choked to death by her ex-husband for it.

            She noticed that Morris was crying. His grip hadn't relaxed at all, but tears were streaming down his face. She found that odd. That he would be remorseful and yet continue to squeeze the life out of her.

            "Please, love," he begged. "Don't make me do this. Just leave with me. Forget Jack. We could be happy…"

            Chloe saw a blur of blue shirt go by as she suddenly found herself on the ground, gasping in the air that she so desperately needed. She looked up to see Jack pinning Morris to the wall, his right hand wrapped around the man's throat. Chloe kept expecting him to speak, but he just kept squeezing Morris' throat, watching as the other man's face turned red and then purple.

            "Jack," she croaked.

            He turned his head to look at her. She was still on the ground, still trying to regain her breath and strength. She looked at him, pleading with him to stop. Turning back to Morris, Jack relaxed his grip enough for the man to start breathing again.

            "If you ever touch her again, I will kill you."

            "Please Jack," Morris begged, looking the man straight in the eyes, tears once again streaming down his face. "You don't love her. Let her go."

            Shock registered on Jack's face as he heard Morris' words. He had expected the man to beg for his life, or tell him to stay out of it, or to fight back. He hadn't expected the desperation in voice, the plea to let Chloe go.

            That last thought shook him to his core. Just the thought of Chloe not being there made him hurt physically. To walk into CTU knowing that she wouldn't be there to glower at him or frown at him or…be there to catch him. Jack's stomach lurched at what Morris was asking of him. His thoughts swam as he tried to come up with some kind of response. But it was like the world was suddenly devoid of air.

            As Morris watched Jack's face, his eyes widened in shock. "My God," he whispered. "You do love her."

            Jack just stared back at him, tears now flowing freely, his bottom lip trembling. He wanted to deny it, to tell Morris that it wasn't true, that he was wrong. But the words wouldn't come. They wouldn't let him lie anymore.

            Morris looked behind Jack. Chloe was still on the floor, but she had pushed herself into a sitting position and was leaning against the wall. One hand was laid gently on her throat, a purple bruise already beginning to form where his hand had been. She stared at the two of them in disbelief, her gaze sliding from one to the other.

            Morris turned his attention back to Jack. The man was now staring at the wall behind Morris' head, lost in his own thoughts. Morris gently removed Jack's hand from his throat and then moved away from the wall slowly.

            With one last look at Chloe, he whispered, "Take care of her." Then he walked away from the both of them.

            For a few moments, Chloe just sat where she was, trying to digest everything that had happened. Jack stared at the wall in front of him, refusing to face her. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself, and then she pushed herself up so that she was standing. She walked over to him slowly, unsure of what she would do when she reached him. She stopped inches from him, just staring at his back.

            Jack could feel her behind him. He could feel her uncertainty, her nervousness. He wanted to turn around and wrap his arms around her, to just soak her in, but he wasn't sure how she felt or what she wanted. He continued to stare at the wall.

            Chloe began fidgeting. The shock of what had happened was wearing away and now she was just uncomfortable. She tried to think of a tactful way to begin the conversation, but she had never been good with the subtle thing. After fidgeting some more, she just blurted it out.

            "Do you love me, Jack?"

            Jack's lips turned up into a slight smile. Chloe's bluntness was something he could always count on – just like every other part of her. But he still couldn’t turn to face her. He was afraid of what he would find in her eyes. Confusion, anger, rejection…

            She interrupted his thoughts. "Jack," she whispered. She put her hand on his back tentatively. "I need to hear you say it – either way."

            Jack slowly turned to face her. She kept her hand on him, letting it slide around his arm as he turned, and then let it rest on his chest. Now it was she who refused to look at him, instead focusing on her hand and the blue shirt beneath it. Jack reached up and used both hands to tuck her hair behind her ears and then to cup her face. He gently forced her chin up until her eyes met his.

            "I love you," he whispered.

            Chloe just stood there for a moment, taking in his words.

            "That's it?" she asked suddenly.

            Jack did a double-take at her question. "What do you mean?"

            Chloe sighed and began to look around the hallway again before bringing her eyes back to Jack's face. "There's not a 'but'?"

            Jack looked at her in confusion for a moment before realizing what she was asking. He tightened his grip on her and brought his face even closer.

            "No buts."

            Chloe's lips twitched with the urge to smile. She tried to stem it, not wanting him to see how much his words meant to her. But she lost that battle and was soon beaming at him. He smiled back at her, rubbing his thumbs across her cheeks.

            Not able to wait any longer, Chloe leaned in and kissed him. It was gentle, despite the fact that she could have jumped him right then and there. Instead she just kept planting soft kisses on his lips, taking his face in her hands as his drifted down to her waist.

            Chloe suddenly pulled back. "Oh!" she exclaimed.

            Jack looked at her in concern, worried that something was going to ruin this for them. "What?" he asked warily.

            She looked at him with a serious expression. "I love you. I forgot to say it before."

            Jack smiled. "That's it? No buts?"

            Chloe smiled back and leaned in to kiss him again. "No buts," she whispered.