Chloe was bored… it was Saturday and it was raining. The cold, wet, miserable type of rain that made her want to stay curled up in the bed in her pajamas since it was her day off. She grumbled and rolled over in the bed grabbing her phone to check for any messages or missed calls, finding none she pulled the covers back over her head. She missed Jay, which was crazy… they were friends, and she’d just seen him two nights ago when they’d watched a couple movies at his place. There was something about Jay though, that had her desperately wanting something more than friendship. There was chemistry there, but unfortunately acting on it would be against regulations.

Instead of lying in bed all day trying to figure out why the universe hated her so she decided to throw on her workout clothes and a hoodie and go for a run in the rain. Maybe she’d stop by the gym and workout a bit there, at least it would keep her mind off of things. As she tied up her tennis shoes and stuffed her phone in the front pocket of the hoodie she grabbed a bottle of water and stepped out into the drizzle.

By the time Chloe had made it to the gym what had started out as a drizzle had turned into a downpour. She walked through the front doors feeling very much like a drowned rat. Pulling her wet hoodie off over her head she shivered just a bit as the cool air hit her skin. She glanced around before hurrying into the locker room. She dialed the combination into her locker and shoved her hoodie in and pulled out a towel dabbing at her hair so that the cold drops would stop falling out of it. Looking in the mirror she shrugged, wasn’t much that could be done to fix the wet hair… she wasn’t really here to impress anyone anyway.

As she walked out of the locker room she didn’t pay much attention to anyone else in the workout area and was getting ready to pop in her earbuds and get on the treadmill when she spotted Jay in the opposite corner, she had an idea… and it was going to be way more fun than any treadmill. She walked up to him and smiled, “Hey you… wanna spar with me? I just realized I haven’t had the chance to beat you up yet.” She laughed, “And you better not go easy on me either… I can do it fair and square all on my own.”


Sgt. Jay Halstead

Jay was winding down from the workout he had just done on the treadmill and his pace was more leisurely than anything else. However, he was still hyped up and wanting to do....something he had no idea. But he was still raring to go as crazy as it sounded. Maybe I should call someone up for a sparring session, he thought to himself. But who?

His musing was cut off as footsteps approached and he looked up at Chloe who greeted him, asking if he felt like sparring, saying that she had just realized that she hadn't gotten a chance to beat him up yet, and that he had better not go easy on her as she could hold her own.
"Oh, I know you can. I've seen you spar," he responded. She's pretty hot when she's going at it, he thought to himself. Not that he would say this out loud. "You'll be gentle, right?"

Chloe smirked when Jay admitted to having seen her spar before, “So what are you, some kind of creepy stalker that’s been watching me?” She laughed as she joked, “It’s ok… I knew you were watching, and it didn’t bother me… at all.” She blushed a bit when she spoke, Chloe knew this was a dangerous game she was playing but at this point she was beyond caring. She knew he’d been watching her and it had made her feel special that she had been able to attract his attention at all.

Chloe had never been very good with men or relationships so when she’d found a good friend in Jay it had been nice, but then she’d started to develop feelings for him. Feelings that she’d tried to ignore for the simple fact that it was against regulations, but when she’d noticed the way he looked at her she was powerless to prevent herself from wanting more. She’d been flirting more and the two of them regularly toed the line between what was appropriate and what could get them both into some serious trouble. Thus far neither of them had been willing to be the first to cross that line and Chloe was beginning to get frustrated so she decided that she was going to have to make the first move.

“Gentle? Me?... Where’s the fun in that?” Leaning in close she whispered, “If I don’t hurt you just a little… what’s my excuse for wanting to kiss you and make it better?” Ok, so maybe she was flirting a lot… but that’s what they seemed to do best. She started to panic thinking that maybe she had pushed him too hard and he would turn around and run. To be completely honest that was the only reason she hadn’t pushed harder before now.

Leaning back and studying his face when she didn’t see any signs that he was about to run she smiled and crooked her finger at him and smiled, “So are we doing this, or not?”

Jay quirked a brow at Chloe when she laughingly asked if he was some sort of creepy stalker who was watching him, adding that it was okay, that she knew he had been watching, and it didn't bother her at all.
"Good. Glad it didn't bother you," he said. The last thing he wanted to do was bug her. Thankfully, it appeared that he hadn't. He wasn't sure what he would've done if he had ended up creeping her out.

He then grinned as she asked what the fun in being gentle was, asking what her excuse for kissing him and making him better would be if she didn't hurt him a bit.
"Hmm...that's true," he agreed, his grin turning into a smirk. Holy crap, am I actually flirting with her? he thought to himself. He had to put a stop to this right now. But a part of him didn't want to. He liked their banter. Was it inappropriate? Probably. He'd guess it was about a yellow. But she hadn't red lighted him yet, so he figured he was safe.

When she asked whether or not they were going to spar, he nodded and followed her. This is going to hurt, I just know it, he thought to himself. Honestly didn't care though. He was pretty anxious to see what it was like to spar with her.

Chloe saw his grin and watched it turn into a smirk when he seemed to consider her statement, she wondered if he had any clue how hot he was when he smirked at her like that. Was he actually flirting back? This could definitely make for an interesting afternoon. Chloe wasn’t a fool, she’d seen him watching her and noticed the way he looked at her… she had a fairly good idea that the attraction wasn’t one sided, what they both needed to decide was how far they were willing to take things.

If Jay was waiting for her to put a stop to their flirtations it certainly wasn’t going to happen, she’d never agreed with the whole mess the military could make of things at times. In her opinion the fact she was a nurse made her no better or more qualified to be a leader than anyone else, people should lead by their actions. So was she Jay’s superior officer… technically yes, but she would never be his direct supervisor and would never feel comfortable giving him or anyone with his experience orders. She felt they knew their jobs better than she did. So there was no way she was going to put a stop to something with a guy that she really liked over a rule that she felt was silly and outdated, she felt like the military controlled every other part of her life she should be able to decide who she wanted to date on her own.

As he followed her into the gym she grinned and put a little extra pep in her step, she knew he was watching her she could almost feel it. She knelt down to grab some gear and playfully tossed him some of his own. “No face hits, I don’t have my mouth guard with me... I wasn’t really planning on sparring today until I saw you.” Once she was set and ready to go Chloe stood at the ready in the middle of the mat waiting for Jay to make the first move. She smiled and tilted her head to the side “I’m waiting....”

When she tossed him some gear, he grabbed it and smiled as she told him no face hits as she hadn't brought a mouth guard since she hadn't been planning to spar until she had seen him.
"Deal," he agreed. Not that he had been planning on any face hits anyways, but he knew that he did tend to get carried away while sparring, so it was a fair request. Okay, this will be fun, he thought to himself, hiding the smile as he went to join her and started circling, contemplating the first move he should make. Already know I'm gonna be sore after this. Just gotta figure out if I want to start off fast or slow, he thought to himself.

When she said that she was waiting, he quickly made a decision and went for a leg sweep. Yeah, it was a stupid first move, but hey, at least it was something. And besides, it would be interesting to see what she came up with. The plan after the leg sweep was to roll back and jump up to prepare for a retaliation move from her, but he'd have to see how it went first.

Chloe laughed and sidestepped him when he came at her with the leg sweep, "I thought you said you had seen me spar before... gonna have to try harder than that." She started circling but kept her eyes on his, a lot of people gave away their moves with their eyes. Truthfully she'd seen him spar before too and knew that he was better than most, so why he chose the leg sweep first she had no idea. Maybe he was distracted, distraction could be a good thing and might work in her favor.However distraction was a two way street watching him move was distracting her as well, so she was having to work really hard to keep her focus on trying to take him down.

They exchanged a few blows, but nothing too bad she knew he was capable of more. He was obviously taking it easy on her and it made her mad, she went in with several blows in rapid succession getting close to him and did a leg sweep of her own. She went down with him and ended up on top of him straddling his hips, she leaned forward looking him in the eye and managed to say "I told you not to take it easy on me." before she realized the position they were in, and the fact that it was doing all kinds of funny things to her. Her eyes gave away her distraction for a moment before she looked away at something... anything else.

She was getting hot and it was hard to breathe, she needed to put some distance between them or she was going to end up doing something stupid like kissing him right there in the gym. Maybe this hadn't actually been her brightest idea ever, the idea had been to distract Jay but she seemed to be the one ending up distracted. She managed a smile before she went to roll off of him.

When she side-stepped the leg sleep, he quickly jumped up as she scolded him, saying that she had thought that he had said that he had seen her spar before and that he was going to have to try harder than that.
"Maybe it's all part of my master plan to get you off your game," he teased. The truth was, he couldn't bring himself to start off with his usual first move, which consisted of him rushing at an opponent, tackling them, and knocking them to the ground while he rolled forward. There was no way to control the momentum in that move and he would've really hurt her. Hell, he had stopped doing it with everyone else because he kept bruising his opponents when he executed it. Everyone already got enough injuries from their enemies and they didn't need him adding to them.

As they exchanged a few punches and kicks, he held back. I could hurt her, he thought. Hell, he didn't really spar with the others to tell the truth. At least...not when he was in the head space that he had been in ever since the ambush. There was just too much room for error. Too much of a chance that he could flashback and hurt someone. So why was he taking the risk with the Lieutenant? The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back with the woman straddling him as she scolded him, saying that she had told him not to take it easy on her.
"Didn't," he responded, smirking at her. Okay, he was lying a little, but she probably didn't know that. And he wasn't ever going to tell her. Damn, does she have any idea what she's doing to me? he wondered. Probably not. Aw, screw it, he thought to himself and went to pull her closer, intending to kiss her.

“MmHmm I hope you know that it’s gonna take a lot more than that to get me off my game.” She smiled. If she really wanted to be honest the truth was, he already had her off her game. She’d been off her game when it came to Jay Halstead since the first time she met him. There was something about the man that had intrigued her from the first time they had spoken. He hadn’t actually said much that first day but she had found him interesting and she had thoroughly enjoyed the time she’d spent trying to get closer to him, it hadn’t been easy but she had just recently started to feel like she was making some headway towards getting him to trust her enough to let her in.

When Jay pulled her closer and went to kiss her, she didn’t resist, considering they were in a public place she knew that probably should have but she couldn’t find it in herself to care at that particular moment. Chloe got lost in the kiss for a moment before regaining some sense, reluctantly she pulled away placing one more kiss on his lips before she mumbled, “Not here.”

She rolled off of him and laid flat on the gym floor next to him and tried to catch her breath. It took her a few moments to gather her thoughts before she spoke again, “Congratulations, I’m officially off my game.” She laughed as she swatted at him playfully. “Was that a part of the master plan too?”

When she had regained some composure she sat up and put her elbows on her knees studying Jay for a moment trying to decide what to say next, "For now, I'd really like to keep sparring with you... I was hoping to learn a few things from you. And later... if you'd like to continue where we left off... we can take it somewhere more private."

Jay smirked as Chloe said that she hoped that he knew it would take a lot more than what he was doing to get her off of her game.
"Is that so?" he teased as he went to throw a kick. Yeah, maybe he was goofing around too much, but he didn't really care. Their banter was kind of fun and he wanted to see if she'd continue it. Not that he'd blame her if she put a stop to it, but he was sort of hoping that she wouldn't. Yeah, he was an idiot: he was well aware of this fact.

When she reminded him that they couldn't do anything in the gym, he nodded and went to stand back up.
"Right," he said. What was I thinking? She's my superior, he thought to himself. Had he gone nuts? Probably. It was just hard to think when he was around her. She was amazing. Great. It figured. The first woman he liked in a long time and she was off-limits. Terrific.

He then smirked as she congratulated him, saying that she was officially off of her game, asking if the kiss had been part of the master plan as well.
"No," he answered. Happy accident, he thought to himself. "It was nice though," he told her. Hey, why not put himself out there? The worst that could happen was that he got slapped. And that was at least an answer. And answers were good.

The smirk turned into a smile as she said that she'd like to continue sparring with him and to learn things from him, adding that if he wanted to continue where they had left off later, they could do so in private.
"Sounds good to me," he agreed. "Your move Lieutenant," he responded. Was that a bad idea? Probably, given the fact that he had seen how she fought, but it would be interesting. And hopefully, it'd help him relieve some of the frustration he had gotten from her putting a stop to things.

Chloe laughed when he teased her and answered his kick with one of her own, they were goofing around too much for what they were doing to actually be considered sparring but she was having fun so she wasn’t going to complain. Their flirty banter was one of her favorite things about Jay, she never quite knew what to expect and she tried to keep him on his toes as well.

She hated the fact that she had to stop him, but there were too many people around and they could both get into some serious trouble. She sighed when he went to get up and something about the way he said right made her think he was second guessing kissing her in the first place. “Jay…” She had said his name before she realized that there really wasn’t much she could say at that point.

Chloe couldn’t hide her smile when he admitted that the kiss had been nice, she thought for a moment before responding, “It was… hopefully it won’t be the last.” Had she said that out loud? She meant it, but thinking it and saying it out loud were two different things. She shrugged her shoulders before reaching a hand up to him, “You gonna help me up or leave me down here?”

Chloe cocked her head to the side after he told her it was her move and walked up close to him, “Just to clarify things… Was it the sparring or continuing where we left off later that sounded good?” She smiled up at him innocently before she swept his legs out from underneath him again. She laughed as they landed in a heap on the floor again, “Focus… I think you’re distracted.” Yeah, so apparently nothing resembling any true form of sparring was going to happen but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this happy or had this much fun. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to tell a woman that it’s her move?” She rolled them so that he was on top and quirked a brow teasingly as if to say ‘what now?’

She knew she was teasing him and it was highly unprofessional but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to care at the moment. At least what was going on resembled sparring so unless anyone was really paying attention they wouldn’t notice the flirting.

Jay's eyes flickered as she said his name before falling silent, as if realizing that there was nothing she could say and then grinned as she agreed that the kiss had been nice, saying that she hoped that it wouldn't be the last one they shared, going on to ask if he was going to help her up or leave her on the floor.
"Right. Sorry," he apologized, offering her a hand, intending to grab hers and pull her up.

When she walked up to him and asked him to clarify whether it was sparring or continuing where they had left off later was a good idea, he grinned.
"Both," he told her. Though I don't know how I can continue sparring with this feeling, he thought to himself. And yes, he was extremely attracted to her and he was afraid that she had sensed it. He then laughed as he was swept off of his feet and she scolded him, telling him to focus, saying that she thought he was distracted. "But it's a beautiful one," he responded. And she was. No reason to deny that. He was just hoping that she didn't call him out for being inappropriate.

He then laughed as she asked if he knew that it was dangerous to tell a woman that it was her move.
"Maybe some things are worth the risk," he shot back. You are, he thought to himself. Whoa. What was he doing? He was flirting with a superior! Damn, he was going to get his ass kicked!

Chloe sat in the floor and looked up at Jay as she waited for him to help her up. She took the hand he offered and let him pull her up slowly, she smiled as he apologized. Looking at him she bit her lip and fought the urge to kiss him again. She had no idea why he was affecting her this way, granted she’d been attracted to him since the first time she saw him but there was just something different… something that made it almost impossible to do what she knew was right and resist this constant urge she had to be around him. There was something that kept drawing her to him even though she knew it would probably be far safer for everyone involved if she were to stay away.

She knew she was probably playing with fire when she asked him to clarify which of her ideas had sounded good and when he grinned she did quirk a brow and tilt her head to the side, and only allowed herself a real smile when he’d said both. Chloe was having too much fun with this, even though it probably wasn’t one of her smartest ideas ever. When they landed in a heap on the floor and he laughed she couldn’t help but collapse against him and laugh too. She looked up at him when she assumed he was calling her beautiful and leaned in to kiss him again.

She had intended to make it a quick kiss, but got distracted the moment her lips touched his. Talk about being inappropriate, she knew she shouldn’t couldn’t be doing this here she reluctantly pulled away. When he told her that some things were worth the risk she smiled, “Yes… yes they are.” You would be, she mused. She knew the risks she would be taking, and for the right person they would be well worth it. She was lost in thought thinking about the kisses that they had shared and how good it felt to be this close to him, when she realized that she was a fine one to be talking about distractions.

Jay smirked as Chloe agreed with statement that somethings were worth taking a risk for.
"Oh definitely," he stated. And you're one of them, he added to himself. Of course, he didn't say it out load, even though he wanted to. It was inappropriate. Oh hell, this whole thing was inappropriate. They were to be sparring and yet...he gave himself a mental shake. "Sorry. Drifted,' he apologized, his voice low. Was it stuffy in here? It grown warmer. Maybe it was the heat from the session they had just had. Yeah, and he had oceanfront property in Arizona he could sell. And now he sounded like George Strait. Wonderful. I need to stop listening to country songs apparently, he thought to himself.

He gave himself a mental shake and smiled at her.
"Sorry about that. Drifted," he apologized. Great. Make her feel like she's not worth your time. Smooth, he berated himself. He sucked with the opposite sex, his relationship with Allie notwithstanding. That had only fallen apart because of something out of his control. After that, he hadn't been able to do other relationships. But with Chloe, he was willing to take the plunge. "This is new to me...being in a relationship. My last one fell apart...." He bit his lip. What was he doing? He wasn't supposed to mention his past relationship, he was pretty sure. But he was nervous. He didn't want to screw up...

Chloe smiled as she saw his smirk, and when he went on to say oh definitely she bit her lip and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “You… you’d be worth taking a risk for.” She leaned back and tried to play it cool but she could feel herself blushing. Great Chloe… real smooth, you’re supposed to be confident and you can’t even let him know you’re interested without blushing like a school girl besides there’s always the chance that he’s not really interested, and he knows the risks… maybe he’s not ready to take them.

She pulled away a bit, it had become incredibly hot in the gym over the past few minutes and she wasn’t even going to waste her time pretending that it was because they’d been sparring so hard. No it had everything to do with her proximity to Jay and the things that being close to him did to her. She’d had relationships before, but not a single one of them had ever managed to make her feel the way Jay did, and now that he’d kissed her those feelings had gone into overdrive.

Chloe had been staring at the floor trying to gather her thoughts and control her emotions and feelings when Jay spoke again startling her. She nodded when he apologized saying that he had drifted, “Yeah… me too. So look, I’m sorry… I really shouldn’t be coming on this strong and pressuring you into anything. I guess… it’s just… I mean I’ve never felt this way before and I don’t know what to do about it, but I promise I’ll back off and give you some space.” She looked away again before speaking, “And now… I’m rambling so that’s probably my sign that it’s time to go.”

Hearing Jay speak about things being new to him she turned to face him and quirked a brow, “So, uhm… you’re not turning me down?” Smiling she scooted closer again and leaned in to kiss him, before speaking softly “I’ve been in relationships, and honestly none of them have ever made me feel anything close to what kissing you does.” She briefly wondered if she should have said that out loud, but realized that she didn’t care. Jay didn’t seem like the type to use her thoughts and feelings against her.

Smiling she leaned against him, “I wish I could say that I was sorry that your last relationship fell apart, but I can’t… and I’d love to be your next relationship if that’s something you’d be interested in… “ She swallowed and grew silent giving him time to digest what she had just said. Chloe could tell he was nervous… and that made her even more nervous if that was possible. She had just laid it all out there and waiting for him to respond was killing her.