failegaidin | Three Drabbles

Sex
Chloe tried to convince herself that it was just sex. They never went out on dates. No one else knew that they were sleeping together. But after work some days she would go to his place and he'd cook her dinner. As soon as the dishes were done (and sometimes as they were being washed), Jack would move behind her and start kissing her neck. They didn't always make it to the bedroom. The kitchen floor, the couch and even the stairs worked just fine.

But it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the way her stomach fluttered whenever he touched her. Just a glance from him would have her biting her lip in an attempt to quash her smile. It was getting more difficult to go back to her apartment, and she found herself showing up at his place almost every night.

Instead of going home one night, Jack stopped at her station, watching her with an intense gaze.

"What?"

"Are you almost done?"

"Yeah. Why?"

He shrugged. "I thought we could go get dinner."

Her eyes widened and he though he saw a twinge of fear.

"Dinner?"

"Yeah."
"You always cook."

"Might be nice to go out."

"Like a date?"

"Maybe."

She bit her bottom lip.

"I thought this was just sex."

He tried to keep his face impassive.

"Do you want it to be?"

She could hear the fear in his voice.

"No."

He smiled. "So you'll have dinner with me?"

Chloe stood up and gave him a quick kiss.

"Yes."

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Touch

He sat on the couch, his head in his hands. Almost everyone else had gone home, and he let his mind sink into the silence. Flashes came to him, taunting him, scolding him. Audrey, Marilyn, Teri – they all had something to blame him for. His head was filled with their voices, and they were soon joined by others – Heller, Kim, Tony, Cheng…the sounds grew louder, leaving his head and filling the room, echoing against the walls. He moved his hands to his ears, trying desperately to block them out.

A whisper of fingertips against his skin made everything stop. He lifted his eyes to see Chloe standing between his knees. With a soft look, she moved her fingers across his forehead and through his short hair. He closed his eyes at the feel of her, suddenly wishing that she would touch him forever.

And then she was sitting next to him, dragging him down until he rested his head in her lap. He took a deep breath as he let her lead him, wrapping an arm around her knees.

He slept then, breathing her in and reveling in her touch.

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Weakness

Jack Bauer didn't like to admit that he had weaknesses, but he knew that it was the truth. He would do anything to protect his daughter. Teri was a soft spot, even after all these years. He still felt guilty about Audrey, and he knew that a lot of his actions towards her had been borne out of that guilt.

But as he watched Chloe from across the floor, he realized that she wasn't just another weakness to add to the list. She was his strength, the only thing that kept him going some days. And he hadn't known how much he depended on her until he had almost lost her. When he heard the gunshots coming through the radio, his vision narrowed and his knees turned to jelly; his chest constricted and he began to shake.

Even from a distance, he could see where she had been thrown to the ground and hit her head. But there she was, back at her station, doing her job. She didn't realize it, but he knew that she was stronger than him. And he knew that none of his weaknesses mattered as long as he had her.

Three Drabbles

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