Title: What the hell?, Prompt 80: Why?, Jack Bauer/Chase Edmunds, 24, FRM
Title: What the hell?
Fandom: 24
Characters: Jack Bauer/Chase Edmunds
Prompt 80: Why?
Word Count: 596
Rating: FRM
Warning: This fic contains bad language.
Disclaimer: Not making any money here, just playing around with ideas.
Author's Notes: Never piss off Jack Bauer.
“Fuck!”
Jack’s fist connected solidly with Chase Edmund’s jaw, sending the younger man staggering back against the wall.
One word, that was all he’d said. One fucking word and Jack had gone postal. It wasn’t exactly the kind of response Chase had been expecting, but it was better than no response at all.
No response was even more dangerous.
He just couldn’t decide whether it would be a wise idea to try and defend himself if Jack wanted to hit him again, so he stood back at what he hoped was a reasonable distance from Jack’s fists, and ground his teeth as he rubbed his bruised jaw.
“You sonofabitch!” Jack growled. “This is my daughter we’re talking about here!”
“Like I don’t know that…” Chase grumbled, pretty sure he shouldn’t tell Jack about the bruises Kim had inflicted the night before when he told her the truth.
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Self preservation.”
“What the hell?”
“It was self preservation Jack.”
The older man glared at him. “Explain.”
That was the very last thing Chase wanted to do. When he explained it to Kim she went ballistic too, and he wasn’t sure his ribs could take another assault any time soon.
“Explain!” Jack snarled, “And do it fast before I fire your ass!”
Chase swallowed, his throat dry. “I can’t.”
“What?”
“I’d rather live through today if that’s all the same with you.”
“Being a smart mouth doesn’t suit you Chase.”
The young man eyed his partner suspiciously, half expecting to find himself suddenly transferred to the frontlines in Iraq. “I can’t tell you Jack. It’s a personal thing. Its me and Kim, and its over. That’s it.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “She said you’d found someone else.”
“No Jack…SHE found someone else.”
“My daughter’s not a liar.”
“Your daughter is a self-absorbed, selfish little brat who didn’t get what she wanted out of me and turned to someone else when she found out I had a daughter of my own!”
The moment he spoke Chase knew he might just as well pull out his own gun and shoot himself squarely in the head.
He braced himself against the wall, but didn’t apologise for what he’d said.
“Kim was on the phone in tears last night. If someone’s stupid enough to hurt her, I hurt them. You’re gonna feel that same way when Angela grows up.”
Chase didn’t doubt that for a second. “She found someone else Jack. I told her some things about me and she told me the truth about Adam…and its over. Its nobody’s business but ours.”
“Adam? She’s dating Adam now?”
“Smile Jack…he’s a computer geek. He’s a safer bet than I am, remember? You can’t do this job and have a normal life too, right?”
“And that’s it??” Jack wasn’t used to having his own advice quoted back at him.
“Yeah…kinda…”
“Kinda?”
When Jack stepped into his comfort zone, Chase did his best to stare him down, but he was painfully aware that Jack had the capacity to look him straight in the eye and see a whole lot more than words could express.
“You wanna hit me again? Go right ahead if it makes you feel better, but I know how to hit back and I’m not going have you beating on me ‘cos you’re actually pissed at Kim. We could do the whole ‘who said what to who and why’ thing here but life’s too damn short for that shit.”
Chase squared off to Jack.
“When did you start talking like Yoda?”
Chase smirked. “It’s a defence mechanism…”
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