Lost

A little drabble. Sorry, Jess. I went with something different than what we talked about. Prompt was "ears."

            Chloe cursed as she came to a stop. Corn stalks rustled around her, the wind whispering through them. She shivered slightly, turning around in a circle as she tried to determine in which direction their suspect had run. But everywhere she looked, all she could see was more and more corn. For a brief moment, she contemplated running again, but at the very thought, the stitch in her side flare anew, and she decided that running aimlessly through a cornfield was a very silly thing to do.

            Still breathing heavily, Chloe reached for the cell phone she had clipped to the waistband of her jeans. Her heart sank as she realized that it wasn't there. Frantically, she checked all around her, retracing her steps for a little while, but only succeeding in getting herself more lost. She opened her mouth to call out for help, but then shut it promptly – she didn't want the suspect to know her location and the fact that she was alone.

            Panic started to rise in her chest as she floundered for what she should do next. She had no idea where she was, and no idea in which direction their car lay. Alone, she did the only thing she could think of. When she had been little, her mother always told her that if she ever got lost, she should just stay where she was. Fighting back tears, Chloe pulled out her gun and sat down.

 

***

 

            Jack sighed as realized that their search was futile. The suspects were probably long gone, and there was no way to find them in this maze. Forcing himself to stop, he leaned his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. When his chest didn't hurt as much, he straightened back up and reached for his phone, dialing Chloe's number.

            She didn't answer. An ache was slowly growing in his chest, and it had nothing to do with being winded. Moving forward slowly, he hit the redial button again and again, the pain in his chest spreading.

 

***

 

            Ten minutes later, he found her phone. His only problem was, it wasn't with Chloe. He knew that it had been clipped to her jeans, and he suddenly couldn't rid himself of the image of her being dragged through the field, dislodging the phone. Shaking his head, he studied the ground around him, looking for any traces of her. He noticed that an ear of corn had been dislodged, and the stalk it had been on was broken. Sending up a small prayer, he moved in that direction.

 

***

 

            The sun was setting, and Chloe was shaking. Tears were falling down her cheeks as she struggled to keep her anxiety down. But her body refused to comply as her mind raced through images of what would happen to her out here. She didn't know what kind of animals lived in the Midwest, but she was sure that they wouldn't be too friendly to a lost human in the dark.

            A sound up ahead caused her head to jerk up, and her right hand to raise automatically, aiming the gun forward. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as a figure walked out of the corn stalks and moved toward her.

            "Chloe?"

            "Jack?" She cringed at how her voice broke as she lowered the gun.

            He walked to her quickly, helping her up and dragging her against his chest. She managed to keep from sobbing, but she wrapped her arms around his waist and clung to him, using his presence to steady her breathing.

            "I was so worried," Jack whispered, tightening his hold on her. "I thought maybe one of them had taken you…"

            "I'm okay," Chloe assured him, pulling back slightly so that she could look at him.

            He studied her face, bringing up one hand to brush away the tears that were still on her cheeks.

            "Really?"

            She shrugged. "I don't like being lost."

            He smiled at her in the growing twilight. "Let's get you out of here then."

            "Do you know which way is out?"

            Jack pulled something out of his pocket. "I have a compass."

            "It's getting dark."

            "It glows."

            "Are you sure it works?"

            He laughed. "Chloe, I promise that I will get you home. And then I'm going to cook you a nice dinner to thank you for coming out in the field with me even though you hate it."

            "And then what?"

            Nearly choking at her question, Jack searched for an answer. "And then, Chloe…I'm going to have a beer and work up the courage to kiss you."

            "You need a beer to do that?" she asked, thankful that the spreading darkness covered the shock on her face at his response.

            "Helps loosen the nerves," he said quietly.

            "You're nervous about kissing me?"

            "A little…maybe a little more than a little." He took a deep breath. "Chloe-"

            She cut him off by pressing her lips against his, her hands on either side of his face. Jack's eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly recovered and leaned into her. All too soon, she had pulled back again.

            "You don't have to be nervous about that," she muttered.

            Jack smiled. "Good."

            Reaching over, he took her hand in his, the compass held out in front of him. "You ready to get out of here?"

            "You have no idea."

           

Elizabeth

Another drabble. The prompt for this one was "Name" and I did it all by myself (smiles proudly).

            His legs refused to hold him up any longer, and Jack sank into the nearest chair. Nurses and doctors moved around him, all oblivious to the fact that his entire world had just shattered at his feet. He was vaguely aware of a woman standing nearby, watching him, but he couldn't draw in enough breath to ask her what she wanted it. His eyes stayed glued to the floor, his hands shaking and his head pounding. Memories danced through his mind, teasingly, and he struggled to grasp them. But the woman was speaking now, and her voice pushed the memories farther away.

            "Mr. Bauer?"

            He lifted his eyes to her, trying to focus, and she recoiled slightly from the pain she saw there.

            "My name is Melinda Busch. I'm with Child Protective Services."

            Jack looked at her in confusion, vaguely wondering if the woman was lost. He struggled for some kind of appropriate response, but he couldn't remember what you were supposed to say when someone was lost.

            "Sir, do you remember what the doctor told you? About Mr. and Mrs. O'Brian?"

            The mention of Chloe's name sent pain rippling through his chest. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't seem to pull in enough oxygen. "Dead," he croaked.

            Her eyes softened as she saw just how badly he was affected by all of this. "Yes. But do you remember what else? Do you remember him talking about the baby?"

            The words echoed around in his head, and slowly he did remember the doctor saying…something. But it was lost, and he was too tired to dig around for it. Melinda saw this and repeated the doctor's words for him.

            "Mrs. O'Brian was pregnant…the baby survived the crash and the doctor's got her out of the womb soon enough that there was no brain damage."

            "The baby…the baby's alive?" He looked around wildly. "Who…who's going to take care of it?"

            She smiled at him gently. "That's why I'm talking to you, Mr. Bauer. Mr. and Mrs. O'Brian wrote in their wills specifically that if anything happened to them, they wanted you to take custody of their child."

            Jack's eyes widened as the implications of her words began to sink in. "But…but…Morris hated me. He never would have wanted…"

            "Sir, I already had the department's lawyer's look over the document. Everything is legitimate. There is no one else to take this baby. Mr. O'Brian's brother has already said he'll stand by the wills."

            He was no longer having trouble breathing, but he couldn't pin a single thought in his head down long enough to actually look at it. He had swung from abject grief to…wherever he was now…so quickly, that the rest of him was still trying to catch up.

            "Sir?"

            His head snapped up as another woman came up to them. She was holding a bundle of blankets in her arms.

            "Sir? Would you like to hold her?"

            He nodded dumbly, automatically stretching out his arms to take the baby. He stared down at her perfect face as she slept, blissfully unaware of everything that had been taken from her that day.

            "We need a name for the birth certificate, sir."

            He looked at the nurse for a moment, not comprehending. "They…Chloe hadn't picked out a name yet?"

            "Not that we know of."

            His eyes once again traveled to the little girl in his arms. "Elizabeth," he rasped.

            "Excuse me sir?"

            "Elizabeth Jean…Jean was her mother's name. And Elizabeth…Elizabeth was Chloe's middle name," he choked out.

            "O'Brian or Bauer?"

            His head snapped up. "O'Brian," he said fiercely.

            The nurse nodded and walked away, leaving Jack with Elizabeth and Melinda. The older woman watched him as he stared at his new ward.

            "There will be papers to sign," she said gently. "But they can wait. We'll call you in a couple days."

            Jack nodded and she moved away. When they were by themselves, he slowly sank back into the chair.

            "Elizabeth," he whispered.