Jack had been putting in a lot of hours in the past few weeks, as their cases had been pretty much back-to-back; subsequently, the District Attorney's office had been under the gun as of late due to the fact that they had lost the last three of those cases- and they were ones that Jack himself was now being scrutinized for not winning, when it seemed he'd had all the evidence he'd needed. Now, they were facing one of the biggest cases they'd had in awhile, causing Jack to feel more and more like a bug under a microscope- a feeling he hated with a passion. No, he wouldn't lose this case- not even if his very life depended upon it; he just couldn't seem, at the moment, to let go of the three losses, the questions forming in his mind seemingly ganging up on his conscience.

"Jack…don't you think you can just take a break from all this for one night? Nothing's gonna change between tonight and tomorrow morning at eight o'clock …I know you could really use the sleep…" Abbie pleaded, herself on her way out for the evening; although she had also been putting in extra hours due to the sudden influx in cases, she still made it a point to go home every night, and leave work behind until the next morning. "Jack, did you hear me?"

"What? Oh…yeah…I'll be fine- don't worry- I'll find a stopping point here soon. Go on home, Abbie," he reassured her, delving right back into his reading the second the last syllable left his tongue. "Do we still have that statement from Delano's brother-in-law? I need to look at that again- there's gotta be something we missed….maybe we can revisit those financials, too, while we're at it…"

"Yeah, we have them…c'mon, Jack, let's get out of here-- we'll go over them again tomorrow…look, you're letting all this get to you way too much…" To this, Jack started shaking his head.

"They're watching me, Abbie…I can't afford to lose this case…"

"Does this have to do with Adam coming down on you today? Jack, he's getting flak from his boss, and he's taking it out on you…he's done it before. You know better than to take it that seriously."

"No matter…we shouldn't have lost those last few cases…"

"Jack, there's nothing you can do about a hung jury…and in the second one, Judge Mooney just didn't see things our way, which didn't help matters much…but what good is it gonna do you to stay up all hours of the night just rehashing everything over and over again?"

"Maybe those last few cases were just bad luck…but I have absolutely no intention of letting history of that sort repeat itself this time around…we have more than we need, and I'm getting a conviction….I'm gonna go out of this one on a good note." Hearing this, Abbie sighed.

"Good night, Jack."

All throughout the trial, Jack couldn't shake the feeling that he was being closely watched- expected, with utmost certainty, to win this case no matter what. Although the trial itself was nearly over- closing arguments would commence after lunch- fatigue and stress hung in an obvious air around the senior prosecutor.

"Jack, are you sure you're alright? You look a little pale…maybe you should go lie down awhile," Abbie began, eyeing Jack with a look of terrible unease; hearing her concern, Jack blew out a huge breath.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm okay, it's just….I'll be alright…" he muttered hesitantly.

"I don't believe you-- you say that, but how do you expect me to believe it if you sound like you don't believe it yourself?"

"Abbie, I said I'm--" Jack began; at that moment, his defense was preempted by a rush of nausea that made his head spin, causing him to stop abruptly in his tracks, a dazed expression playing on his pallid features.

"Jack, what's wrong?" Abbie asked him immediately, as he shook his head to try and resolve the dizziness.

"Nothing….just a little sick to my stomach all of a sudden--- maybe it was that salmon I ate…" he replied, swallowing hard.

"Jack, look-- just go back to the office, and rest for awhile---I'll head back to the courthouse, and give the closing argument for our side- I'm sure Judge Rivera doesn't care which one of us does it…"

"Sounds like a good idea," Jack said, now rubbing his chest. "Damn- it feels like everything I ate is just sitting there, and not going down like it's supposed to…"

"Well, maybe a nap will help you feel better-- I know you've been sick the past few days-- you should have been at home resting, instead of pushing yourself in that damn courtroom…"

"I told you- I can't afford that…besides, I think it's a good possibility the jury's on our side this time-- which would mean that all that hard work I've been putting in has been worth it….."

"Y'know, this may come across as a bit harsh, but you can be really hardheaded sometimes, Jack…"

"Yeah, well, nine times out of ten, it pays off…..God, I feel sick-- I think I'm gonna take you up on that advice…but do me a favor-- I want to know what the verdict is as soon as it comes in-- I don't care what…if I'm asleep, wake me up…"

"Are you sure?"

"Abbie, I wanna know what happens….please-- I'm in no mood to argue….you've only got ten minutes-- get going," he replied, before turning, and walking away.

"Fine," she sighed, shaking her head as she started towards the courthouse steps.

Once the verdict came down, Abbie got back to the office as fast as possible- of all people, she wanted Jack to know what had happened. She first poked her head into Adam's office, only to find it empty. No matter- she'd fill him in later. As she then entered Jack's office, she saw that he was lying on the brown leather sofa, curled into somewhat of a ball, eyes closed, the wastebasket silently seated on the floor by his head, and his maroon tie lying next to it, having apparently been hastily discarded. On one hand, she didn't want to wake him, as she knew he was ill, and that he needed the rest…but he had specifically asked to be informed of the verdict as soon as she had returned.

"Great news, Jack- they found Conroy guilty on all counts-- it only took the jury an hour to deliberate," she explained. "That means now you can go home, and rest…" Despite what she was saying, Jack never stirred, not even the slightest bit. 'Poor thing- he really is tired,' Abbie thought to herself, as she carefully sat next to him on the edge of the sofa. Peering into the wastebasket, she noticed that he had apparently lost his lunch, along with whatever he had eaten for breakfast that morning. "Ugh…y'know what, I'm gonna just go in, and tell Adam that I'm taking you home…you really need to be in bed…" she began; just then, she reached over, and placed a hand to his forehead, wondering if he was running a temperature- what she felt caused her to nearly sprint into Adam's office, tears of worry stinging her eyes.

"So what are we doing for lunch?" Anita asked her two lead detectives.

"I was thinking maybe Murphy's," Ed replied with a half-shrug.

"Sounds good to me…Lennie?"

"Works for me…we all getting our usual, I take it?"

"Yeah- usual for me," Ed replied; Anita simply nodded.

"By the way- tell them I want an extra pickle this time…"

"Sure thing, Lieu…be right back," Lennie replied with a grin, as he went to call in the order; no sooner had he left, than Anita's phone rang.

"Van Buren…." she answered; in the span of roughly three seconds, Ed Green saw a transformation on his boss' face that sent a curious concern racing through him. "Are you sure about that? …….Okay, thank you for the information…" she replied to the caller in what had quickly become a tone of utter disbelief.

"Something wrong, Lieu?" Ed asked.

"That was Adam Schiff….they just found Jack McCoy dead in his office…"

"What? How? What happened?"

"They don't know for sure, but he said they think he suffered a heart attack…"

"Damn…" Ed breathed, sitting back down slowly. Just then, they were both startled as the door opened.

"Okay, we're in luck- they said it'd only be about fifteen to twenty minutes- apparently, their lunch crowd hasn't come in yet…." Lennie began; he then fell silent as he noticed the solemn expressions on the faces of the other two people in the room. "Hey, look- I told them about the pickle…what?"

"Lennie….you'd better sit down for this…." Anita began in a flat tone.

"What- did something happen while I was out? I was only gone, like, two minutes…" Lennie began, an expression playing on his countenance that begged to know what was going on regardless of the fact that he'd just asked.

"As soon as you stepped out, I got a phone call from Adam Schiff…."

"Okay, what- do they need me to testify or something?"

"Lennie…Jack McCoy is dead…."

"What?" Lennie quickly asked, hoping he hadn't heard right.

"Schiff said McCoy was found dead in his office about twenty minutes ago…"

"What happened? Who found him?"
"They're not sure, but he said it may have been a heart attack…Abbie Carmichael's the one who found him."

"Son of a bitch," Lennie mused, his voice barely above a whisper, as his eyes fell from Van Buren to the floor. "I just spoke to him on the phone this morning- he sounded okay to me…"

"Did he mention anything about how he was feeling?"

"No- just…wait a second-- now that you mention it, I asked him how he was doing, 'cause he sounded pretty ragged….he said that, because of their caseload, and that big trial that just got over with, he'd been puttin' in a lot of hours lately…that, and that he wasn't really feeling all that great, but he figured it was the stress getting to him…"