Title: A true knight is fuller of bravery in the midst, than in the beginning of danger.

Author: SageK (Kaitlia777 on LJ)

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, just taking them out for a spin.

Summary: Based on a prompt from jr jackgrl . "Jack takes Chloe out in the field with him on a mission. Chloe + Guns = Awesome."

" There has to be some other way."

"Not according to our intel."

"Which also says LeGuerre's got his whole compound heavily fortified. Can't Chloe talk me through accessing their systems?"

"It'd leave too much to chance."

"Damn." Jack Bauer was not a happy man, This was not an entirely unusual state for him, but today events had conspired to darken his already somber mood. As head of field ops for the New York branch of the newly re-established CTU, his life wasn't generally full of unicorns and rainbows, but when national, possibly global destruction was imminent, well, that was enough to sour anyone's mood.

But that was the job and no matter how many times he tried to retire or follow another career path, he always ended up back at the CTU. He did the jobs others couldn't.

Looking across the briefing table, he locked eyes with Chloe O'Brien, the best CTU analyst, hacker and comms director he'd ever known. She was also his confidant, best friend and the person he trusted most in the world.

She was looking back at him, hazel eyes wide with concern. He knew she thought he was pushing himself too hard, too soon. It was only a few months ago that he had been exposed to a lethal toxin that had nearly killed him. But, now he had a clean bill of health and a fresh new terrorist threat to deal with and he was back in the game.

Brian Hastings, the director of their CTU branch, was looking over the whole room, then nodded decisively. "All right, Walsh, you'll go with Jack, Cole and Jo…Chloe, you'll run…."

"I should be the one to go." Chloe wondered who had said that before she realized she had spoken.

Immediately, all eyes in the room were on her. Hastings looked surprised, as did Cole Ortiz. Jo Reese grinned and gave her a subtle thumbs up, while Dana Walsh, one of Chloe's subordinates, was glaring at her. Obviously, the blond thought she should be the one on the field team.

Jack's look was nearly inscrutable, but she knew those blue eyes better than anyone. He was proud of her, wanted her out there with him on the mission and, at the same time, wanted her to remain behind in the relative safety of the CTU. She smiled at him a bit, hoping she looked more confidant than she felt.

"Why should it be you?" Walsh was demanding. Chloe grimaced. Sometimes she wanted to smack the woman upside the head with a keyboard, or maybe go old school an use a phone book. She actually wanted to go out and face danger. Actually, Chloe mused, Dana was probably just being contrary. If Chloe had stayed quite, she'd probably be demanding to know why she was being the one sent out with the field team.

Bitch.

Glaring across the table, Chloe snapped, "What if LeGuerre's system is Linux based. Your Linux skills suck."

Dana sneered, "I can manage."

There had been hostility between them form day one. Apparently, Dana felt she should be running their department and was not happy to have to report to Chloe. Normally, Chloe wouldn't have cared less about how the other woman like their professional hierarchy, but she was so annoying! Really, sometimes she felt like Dana had less people skills than she did.

"In this situation," Hastings said with finality, "managing isn't good enough. O'Brien, field team. Go in 15 people."

Dismissed, Jack led the rush out of the briefing room, hand on Chloe's back to hurry her with him. He noted Cole being pulled aside by Dana, his fiancée, probably to complain about being excluded from the field op. He could understand why Chloe disliked her. She was…grating.

"You sure about this, Chloe?" he asked her quietly as they hurried down the halls toward the locker room to kit Chloe up. Reese, practical agent that she was, ran ahead of them to rustle up some gear in Chloe's sizes. Black pinstripe trousers, a soft green blouse and black ballerina flats, while pretty, were not good 'infiltration of an enemy stronghold and escape' wear.

"No," she said nervously. She really didn't like going out in the field. "But hey, we gotta do what we gotta do, right?"

He nodded. One of the many things he loved about her was that she understood what he did, got why he did it. Some people couldn't deal with the reality of a counter terrorist agent's life, but Chloe knew better. Most of the time, he had her voice in his ear, guiding him through ops and even when she wasn't, he knew she was only a call away.

"I'll be right there with you," he assured her. "We all will."

She nodded as they entered the locker room. The offices were still under construction and, thus far, only one locker room was open. Reese and the one other woman on the field team had co-opted one corner of the room, but neither had any real privacy issues. In their line of work, you showed professional respect for your team mates. It was the only way they could function as a unit.

Speaking of Jo, the young woman appeared from behind one of the lockers, a bundle of clothes in her arms. She offered Jack a brief nod, then hustled Chloe off to prepare.

Black cargo pants, long sleeved top and combat boots. Not her usual style, but she could make an exception, as she really preferred not being dead.

The Kevlar vest Reese was strapping her into was something very new though. The lightweight bulletproof vest was designed to provide maximum ballistic protection while being ergonomic, comfortable and flexible. They could even be concealed fairly effectively under a jacket for undercover work.

"Just a precaution," Jo assured Chloe, then asked, "Waist or thigh holster?"

The vest was long enough that it brushed her belt and she didn't want to chance having her weapon knocked loose, so she said, "Thigh."

With quick motions, the field agent outfitted her with a TAC Serpa CQC Holster, the Y-harness leg straps tightened to Chloe's comfort, then handed her a Glock.

All CTU agents, even techs like her, were required to qualify with a sidearm. After she'd had the dubious honor of successfully defending herself from an assassin with an automatic rifle, she'd taken the time to learn a bit more about that weapon as well. Jack had even taken her to an outdoor firing range and she got to shoot some really big guns. That had been fun.

At her own locker, Reese was adjusting her heavy duty TAC vest, which had additional flaps and pockets to store ammo, spare weapons and assorted munitions. She too had chosen a thigh holster, hers double sided and also seemed to hold sheathed knives.

Chloe liked her and today she was beginning to see why Jack had hand picked her for his team. For the most part, they had been allowed to assemble their own staffs, but for a few, political appointments. Dana was one of those appointments.

Offering up a smile, Chloe slipped the strap of her padded field tech kit over her shoulder and said, "Okay, ready as I'm gonna be."

"Ooh-Rah," Reese said with a grin and gave Chloe's armored shoulder a friendly thump. "Let's move out."

Standing by the doors of the locker room, Jack waited for Chloe to finish up. Jo was first out, tossing him a nod before jogging off towards the motor pool. Soon after, Chloe emerged, hands up, fixing an elastic around her long hair to hold it back. She looked resolved, ready… and really, really hot.

With a start, Jack asked himself where that thought had come from. He always thought Chloe was pretty, had a beautiful smile and lovely eyes, but the sight of Chloe…his Chloe kitted out in Kevlar, wearing a thigh holster was just….

Yeah, that train of thought would have to wait until after they'd saved the world.

Again.

"Jack?" Chloe asked, clutching her computer case against her side. "I'm ready."

He nodded and turned to head down the hall, his hand once again finding a place on her back. Where earlier he had felt a delicate blouse, warmed by her skin, he now encountered cool, hard Kevlar.

Hot, a voice in his head taunted. Our Chloe! In commando gear! Admit it, you've totally had this dream. It's no use lying to yourself.

Giving himself a brisk mental shake, Jack hoped this mission would go smoothly. He didn't want anything to happen to Chloe. Plus, he was pretty sure he had to give new and intense consideration to certain things….

TBC…………

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