Five years, seven months, sixteen days later, Jack was wondering what possessed him to drag Joe to Demetrius Gans celebration of retiring from his long service to the FBI. One reason forefront in his mind was that his own retirement wasn't that long away either. True on one hand he could retire tomorrow if he wanted, but he didn't. He wanted to work for the FBI until they told him he couldn't and even that was fast approaching, life was slipping by. Some well dressed woman in her fifties, his age to be precise, gave him the eye and he did all the only thing that he could think of, he smiled before casting his eyes to the ground to show that he wasn't interested in her the way she was in him.

He wandered about looking for Joe. Joe was a teenager, sometimes that was hard to believe that his little boy was growing up and so fast. He found him with a crowd of people his own age, trying to chat up a blond girl who looked very shy. That's when he noticed an older blonde male teenager regarding his son and the girl closely, one look was all he needed to know that this boy was related to the shy girl. Jack prayed that Joe wouldn't overstep the mark, not that he thought he would but this guy was overprotective of what was surely his baby sister.

Jack smiled at some people who greeted him, stopping to make small talk and reacquaint himself with past colleagues from the DC bureau . That done he wandered off again before being enveloped in a crushing hug from Bobby, he looked older Jack mused, but then so did he . Every morning shaving in front of the mirror told him that, inside he was the same man he'd always been but on the outside…well he wasn't as youthful as he had been twenty years ago and let's face it who was?

Bobby dragged him to a small group of people, these he remembered well, Lucy, Tara, Myles they were all there, apart from Sue that was. He wondered where she was, and had a fleeting memory that she didn't feel particularly comfortable at parties like this, where it was on the dark side and everybody seemed to be talking at once. He smiled, wondering, how now still after all this time she still monopolised his thoughts.

Bobby as if reading his mind gained his attention and pointed to the furthest corner of the room and said "She's over there mate"

Jack looked to where Bobby had indicated and yes, there in the corner was a woman, whom he recognised immediately even from this distance and she looked as though she had aged much slower than him, she looked at least ten years younger than her true age.

Jack looked around wondering where her husband might be, he couldn't see him, but if Jack was honest he couldn't remember what he looked like. It was like a magnetic force as his legs had a mind of their own and walked up to the one person who was still in his heart, his mind, his soul, still after all this time. She looked up as a shadow fell over her, recognising him and did the only thing she could, she smiled. A smile which he returned and meant from the bottom of his heart.

"Jack" he heard her say as he sat beside her at a table that was in fact more brightly lit than the other side of the room, she had taken it upon herself to adorn the table with two extra candles, something he hadn't noticed before. Close up she still looked young, younger than he looked and younger than he felt, sometimes he felt about eighty, although he was a long way from that.

"Umm…" he muttered looking this way and that for a glimpse of her husband

"I'm divorced" she told him, her voice penetrating into his befuddled mind "I'm sorry about Sherry. I know it was a while ago"

"It's over six years Sue…..I'm okay with it…now"

"I'm sorry I didn't email I made the excuse that I didn't know how to contact you, but I could have sent a message through work"

"It's okay, truly….I'm sorry about you and ….."

"I was at the time but it was over five years ago and I know I've moved past that now….I just feel sad for the kids they hardly ever see him and when they do he's far more interested in his new family"

"His new family?"

"He got remarried three months after the divorce he and his young wife have three children"

"Wow!…Sue I'm so sorry" he told her honestly, earnestly covering her hand with his own and squeezing gently, neither missing the familiar but strange sensations, which fluttered to the surface, feelings that neither expected to ever feel again.

They were interrupted when the blond girl Jack saw earlier being chatted to by Joe approached she went off into a tirade of sign which Sue replied to and Jack was lost, managing to pick up maybe one word or two. Then Sue spoke and he revelled in her voice as she introduced him to Kate her daughter, he was touched, honoured as Sue described him as an old but very good friend, despite wanting to be more he wasn't, he hadn't been. And friend was so more endearing than just colleague or training agent, no she had used the word 'friend', Jack smiled.

Twenty minutes and thirty five seconds later they had given each other a brief description of their lives since they had last met and this time, this time he wasn't going to let a chance to be with her go, they fell into their old relationship as though they had seen each other just yesterday.

Thirty seven minutes and fifty nine seconds later, he had met Dan and introduced Sue to Joe too and the five of them sat round the table eating from the buffet that had been provided.

Joe smiled he had seen something in his Dad's eyes when he looked at this Sue lady, this Sue lady who happened to be the Mom of the girl he liked, but still there were plenty other girls out there, especially if this Sue made his Dad happy. Someone had to make his Dad happy, he had been sad for a long time and even though Joe missed his Mom, he wanted his Dad to be happy, if that meant a new woman in his Dad's life, a Step Mom, then so be it and all the better if Kate was part of that. Of course his teenage brain wrestled, this was early days, but still be as young as he was he could see something was definitely there.

Kate was quite relived to discover that Joe's Dad seemed interested in her Mom, she wasn't quite ready for dating guys, as she was so terribly shy, she was used to being around boys, since she had an older brother but that was all. This man, Jack he had introduced himself as was making her Mom smile and that in turn made her smile too.

Dan thought it was good that, his Mom was smiling, it had been too long. He was a bit concerned that this Jack fellow might hurt her like Dad had but at the same time he could see something in the way he looked at her, something that had never been there when Dad had looked at Mom, something tender, something that said 'you're very special' and Dan knew that his Mom was just that, and so he too smiled.

Exactly forty five minutes later Jack had persuaded Sue to dance with him, he held her close breathing in her perfume and scent that made her unique and more than that, it drew her to him, in a way he had almost forgotten and in a way he did not want to forget. A way that had him wanting to spend the rest of his life, making a life with her, to live with the three children they had between them, to make them into a new family unit, a new life, a new beginning. Since Sherry died he realised how precious, and fragile life really was, he smiled knowing that she would have wanted him to move on with his life and be happy.

Sue felt so good in his arms, so right, he caught her eye to tell her how beautiful she looked and she ran her fingers through the greying hair at his temple and felt him shiver in response. Perhaps she thought, this is what I have been waiting for all my life, perhaps we were meant to wait to be together, perhaps all those years ago wasn't the right time. He closed the gap then, needing to feel her lips upon his and kissed her with the utmost tenderness feeling her body mould against his and he knew his heart was home, pulling away he looked deep into her eyes and smiled.

Six months, two weeks, fourteen days later the chapel was full of close friends and family. Jack smiled from his heart, as he slipped the wedding band onto her finger and saw the heated response in her eyes, the response that reflected the love that they had for each other that whatever happened would not die, that whatever had happened had lived on, despite everything. He brought her close to him, signing his love for her, kissing her with a passion and a promise of so much more. A cheer erupted and this time everybody smiled.

The End