Tony watched Chloe from across the room, working up the nerve to actually pull this off. He wanted to wait until Jack was within earshot before he asked her. Finally Jack walked over to the tech area. Tony waited a bit, then followed.

"Hey Chloe, I'm sorry I snapped at you before." Tony said.

"Yeah, fine." she grumbled, not looking up at him.

Tony shot a glance at Jack who was temporarily working at the desk behind Chloe's. Jack didn't seem to be doing anything. He wasn't typing, just looking at the computer screen.

"Chloe, what are you doing after work?" Tony asked.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jack's head jerk up. He knew Jack was glaring at him. Perfect.

"I...um...nothing, I guess." Chloe responded, unsure why he was asking her.

"Well, I was thinking we could grab some dinner, maybe a movie?"

Chloe shot him a confused look.

Jack was boiling inside. What the hell did Tony think he was doing, asking Chloe out? Where was this coming from?

"Huh?" she said.

"Look, I've been kind of a jerk to you today and I want to make it up to you." he explained.

"Um, ok?" Chloe said

"Great. I'll drive. Meet me at my car after work. Or better yet, we'll walk out together."

"Ok." she replied. Tony walked away as Chloe slumped in her chair looking completely baffled.

"Chloe!" Jack called from behind her in a loud whisper.

"What?"

"Did Tony just ask you out?"

"I...I think so. I don't know."

Jack got up from the desk and stood next to her. "And you said yes?"

"Um, yeah, I guess so. He kind of took me by surprise."

"Why would he do that?" Jack asked, an angry tone to his voice.

"I don't know, Jack." she said, her tone matching his. "What's it to you anyway?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony and Chloe had met up by her desk after work. Jack was watching them the whole time, just as Tony suspected he would.

"See ya tomorrow, Jack." Tony had given a friendly nod in Jack's direction as he placed his hand on the small of Chloe's back and two of them walked out of the building.

Jack had said nothing.

Tony took Chloe to a pizza place near his house.

"I'm really confused, Tony."

He laughed. "I know. This has got to seem really odd. I can't believe you even agreed to it."

"Me neither. I mean, I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but..."

"No, don't be sorry. I just really felt bad about how I acted before." The truth was, Tony had faked his little outburst to set up the whole asking her out scene. "Really Chloe, please don't feel uncomfortable. This is just a friendly dinner. Just thought we could hang out as friends. Nothing more."

"No, that's fine. I'm actually relieved. Now I can relax a little."

"Good." he said. "So tell me, are you happy at CTU?"

"Happy?"

"Yeah, do you like working there?"

"It's my whole life pretty much. But it's like that for all of us, right?"

Tony smiled. "Yes, yes it is. But we all need to make sure we leave time for other things. Important things."

"Well, I garden..."

"No, Chloe," he laughed, "I mean relationships."

"Oh. Yeah right. Who has time for that?"

He tried to bait her. "I kind of thought you and Jack had something going." he said, raising his eyebrow.

"Jack and me? Ha! Why would you think that?"

"So there's nothing going on?"

Chloe sighed. She couldn't believe she was about to pour her heart out to Tony. But she had been holding it in for so long, it was starting to hurt. "I wish." she said. " I'm crazy about Jack. But I'm not his type...obviously. I'm not a Barbie."

"You should really give Jack a little more credit than that."

"I don't see any reason to. I've given him everything...my heart, my soul, my trust. And he still always sees me as "annoying little Chloe". He's always yelling at me. Half the time I'm scared of him."

"He's not like that all the time Chloe. He's very high strung. You have to be like that in his position. But of all the people at CTU, I think you mean the most to him, believe it or not."

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know, Tony. I don't think you're right."

Tony smiled softly at her and they finished eating in silence.

Having such a heart-felt conversation, Chloe felt closer to Tony than she ever thought she would. She was thankful that he had asked her to spend this time together. She was happy to have a new friend to talk to. When Tony suggested they rent a movie and pick up some beers, Chloe agreed. They went back to Tony's house since it was close to the restaurant and Chloe had left her car at CTU.

Chloe fell asleep on his couch right as the movie ended. Beer always did that to her. Tony decided to let her sleep, and covered her in a blanket before going off to bed himself. This was going to work out better than he had planned. He was a sneaky bastard, he thought, laughing to himself. Hopefully, Jack won't blow a gasket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack pulled into the parking lot the next morning and saw Chloe's car still sitting in the same spot. A flood of anger swept over him.

Tony and Chloe pulled up right after he did, and parked a few spots away. Poor Chloe, still in the same clothes as yesterday, was going to have to make the walk of shame through CTU. Nothing had happened of course, but would anyone believe that?

Jack stepped out of his truck. He walked over to the car, opened the door and grabbed Chloe by the wrist, pulling her out.

"Jack, you're hurting me!"

"Chloe, get out of here. I want to talk to Tony alone."

"Jack?"

"Move it, Chloe."

She walked away quickly, rubbing her wrist. Jack waited until Chloe was out of sight.

"Have a nice night, Tony?" Jack inquired sarcastically.

"Yes, Jack, we had a nice night."

Jack punched Tony square in the jaw.

Tony leaned on his car, wincing in pain. "I guess I deserve that." he said.

Jack clenched his fists. "Dammit. I'm sorry, Tony. I don't know what came over me."

"I do." Tony said simply.

"What?"

"You're jealous."

"You're making me want to punch you again, Tony." Jack threatened.

"Admit it, Jack. You have a thing for her."

"I'm not the one who slept with her."

"I didn't sleep with her. She fell asleep on my couch."

"Why Tony? Why did you ask her out? I didn't even know you were interested in her."

"I asked her out as friends and she knows that. Neither one of us is interested in the other." Tony paused a moment, then continued, "Have you thought about why this whole thing has made you so angry?"

"I'm protective of her, I guess."

"Really? It's not like she hasn't been out with other guys from CTU. Why were you so mad when I asked her out?"

"Those other guys were a joke. I wasn't worried about them. You on the other hand..."

"You're one of my closest friends. Did you really think I would make a move on Chloe? I know how you feel about her, Jack. It shows in your actions."

"Then why did you ask her out?"

"To get you to open your eyes, Jack."

"You mean you did this on purpose? You went to this length to prove a point to me?"

"Pretty much." Tony said, rubbing his now throbbing jaw. "As amusing as the sexual tension between you two is to watch, CTU is not a soap opera and I thought I could push things along with my little charade. Quit dragging your feet, man. These windows of opportunity only stay open for so long. Go get her, Jack."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe was sitting at her desk feeling embarrassed. No one had seemed to notice she was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, thankfully. No one except for Jack. Why was he so angry with Tony? she wondered. Probably because he was so used to her fawning all over him, hanging on his every word, always seeking his approval. And now, as far as he knew, she had just spent the night with Tony. She guessed she could understand why he would be upset. She was his, whether he wanted her or not. And he didn't seem to. But still, he didn't want to share her.

"Chloe?" Jack was standing over her.

She stood up and met him eye to eye. She was going to have to put him in his place. "Jack, you don't own me. You had no right to act like you did in the parking lot. Whatever goes on between me and Tony, or me and anyone else, is none of your concern. So back off." She sat back down and tried to resume working.

"Chloe, can we go talk somewhere?"

"No, Jack. Let it go. We're at work now. Be professional."

Jack sighed. She was not going to make this easy for him at all, was she? "Fine, Chloe. After work then?

Chloe's new found backbone was making it hard for her to comply with him. "We'll see." she muttered.

Jack stood there for a moment longer than he probably should have, finally walking away when she shot a "What are you still doing here?" look in his direction.

He approached Tony. "That went real well. What did you do to her?"

Tony laughed. "I tried to tell her you weren't the big bad wolf you sometimes appear to be. I told her you cared about her. She wasn't buying it, Jack. You have a lot of work to do."

"Are you sure she even wants this? I mean, did she say..."

"Yes, she said she was crazy about you. It doesn't get any clearer than that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe was packing up her things. She looked around for Jack. He probably had already forgotten about her. She wasn't surprised. All day long she had been thinking about how snippy she had acted towards him. Why would he even want to talk to her after that? She decided to just move on and let things get back to normal.

"Chloe, you said you'd talk to me now...maybe?" Jack had somehow sneaked up behind her.

"Ok, where?" was all she said.

"Let's go in the interrogation room."

Jack didn't know what he was going to say to her, despite having all day to think about it.

She walked towards the room and he followed her. Tony glanced up at the both of them, breathing a heavy sigh, and hoping for the best.

She stepped in the room and Jack closed the door behind them. He smiled at her and she melted inside. She hoped he couldn't tell.

He took her hand and she gave it to him willingly. He brought the inside of her wrist up to his lips and kissed it softly. The wrist that he had grabbed earlier in the day when he pulled her out of Tony's car. The sensation sent chills up her spine. Who knew a wrist could do that?

"I'm sorry I hurt you." he whispered.

She nodded. Her heart was pounding now.

"Tony and I had a talk. He told me some things you said, and they kind of upset me."

She turned around, unable to face him. How could Tony have done that? She trusted him.

She felt him move in closer behind her. His slid his arms around her waist, pulling her against him in a seductive embrace. She felt his hot breath against her ear.

"You're scared of me?"

She swallowed hard. "Sometimes."

"You think I don't care about you?"

She stared at the wall in front of her, feeling like her body was going to liquefy against his.

He kissed along her neck. Soft, supple kisses. "Does this feel like I don't care about you?"

They were both dizzy with desire. Any defenses she had left were weakening quickly.

He loosened his grip around her waist and turned her around to face him, his hands resting on her hips.

"Talk to me, Chloe. Tell me what I want to hear."

Looking in his eyes, she finally saw the same yearning she had been feeling for him for the longest time.

"I'm in love with you, Jack."

Sighing contently, he brought his hands up and cradled her face. He leaned in and kissed her lips tenderly.

"Chloe, I am so in love with you."