A/N: Intro and this chapter have been rewritten since it seems that Jack wasn't the only one suffering from amnesia - I forgot all about it too! Hope you enjoy.
o-xxx-o
Approximately Four Months Earlier:
Jack walked into the bullpen yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "This had better be good," he grumbled, practically falling into his chair.
"And a good morning to you too, Sparky" Bobby greeted him cheerfully receiving a growl in reply. "Definitely not a morning person are you, mate?"
"This isn't morning it's the middle of the night," He took the coffee that his colleague handed him. "Thanks." After sipping it, he hastily qualified his vote of appreciation with an "I think," grimacing at the taste.
"Heavily leaded… Just the thing to wake you up..."
"What's so important that you had to call me at 5am on a Saturday?" Lucy whined as she and Tara walked in through the door.
Jack threw his hands up in an 'I'm innocent' gesture. "Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger. He's the guy you want," he explained pointing in Manning's direction.
"I was in the middle of a great dream too," Tara complained.
"About what..?" The Aussie asked, grinning broadly when she blushed.
"I erm... He was... Never mind..."
"I hope the 'he' was Stan the Man."
"No, actually it wasn't."
"Really..? Tell me more Ms Williams."
"Good morning all," the tall blonde Agent entered the room unintentionally extricating her from an embarrassing situation but receiving only groans and hoots of derision in return for his greeting. "My, aren't we a cheery bunch?"
Last to arrive, the newly promoted Supervisor asked the question that they all needed an answer to. "What's up? And, it had better be good."
"That's what I said." Jack groused, trying hard not to fall asleep at his desk.
"My snitch made contact at 3am this morning."
"Couldn't he at least have waited until daylight? What is he, a vampire?"
D held up a hand for silence. "Easy Luce, I'm sure Agent Manning wouldn't have got us out of bed this early unless it was a matter of life and death." The expression on his face said he'd accept nothing less.
"Not if he wanted to keep breathing." Jack mumbled making everyone smile.
"Which informant..?" Dimitrius continued.
"Hassan. The one who infiltrated that new terrorist cell... He gave me a location, a disused warehouse down by the river and he reckons they're planning something big... and soon. I thought we should go take a look."
Now they were all wide-awake and D donned his Supervisor persona. "Good call... Tara, Lucy and I will co-ordinate from here. Bobby, your intel... your lead. Take Jack and Myles with you and I'll organise an S.O.G back up. Luce, call the Bomb Squad and get them to give the place the once over. If everything looks kosher we'll hit the place at..." he checked his watch. "...10:00 am. I hope no one had any plans for today."
"I was just going shopping," Lucy volunteered. "It'll keep."
"I was planning on spending most of the day in bed." Tara shrugged.
"Continuing that dream?" The Aussie teased, causing her to blush again.
"And I have call to make," Jack sighed miserably, mentally kissing goodbye to the money he'd spent on an airline ticket.
"...Something important?"
"Nah, not really..." he lied hoping that his friend wouldn't pick up on it but failing to convince even himself.
"Must have been something to make you this grumpy, Sparks... Come to think of it, you've been unavailable most weekends lately."
"Yeah I have, haven't I?" He took his cell out of his jacket pocket and walked from the room, leaving the rest of the team staring after him in stunned surprise.
"Do you think everything's okay with his family back in Wisconsin?" Tara asked. "He did say that his mom hadn't been well when we were talking the other day."
"He mentioned that to me too." D concurred. "I offered him some extra time off but he didn't take me up on it."
"First I've heard." The tall Aussie shrugged. "Maybe it's a woman?"
"If it is then he's done one hell of a job keeping it a secret. There's no way he could get something like that past me without using all of his undercover skills." Lucy added.
"And maybe, we should all stop speculating and concentrate on the task in hand." Myles interrupted. "I'm sure if he wanted us to know he would have told us."
o-xxx-o
"I thought you said your source was reliable," Jack complained as he followed behind his colleagues.
"He always has been before." Bobby replied defensively.
"Maybe he got the address wrong?" Myles offered as they made their way to the exit. "Personally, I'll just be glad to shed all this protective gear." The statement was met with murmurs of agreement from their S.O.G compatriots
"Haven't any of you ever had an informant feed you duff gen?"
"Not on a Saturday when I had plans." Jack bit back irritably, pinning his friend with an angry stare.
The taller man slapped him on the back almost knocking him over. "Well look at it this way Sparky, now you'll have the rest of the weekend free to do whatever it was you were going to do."
Jack looked at his watch, "It's too late now." He continued to scan the surrounding area as he walked.
"Sorry, mate."
"Yeah, I know." Jack stopped when something caught his eye. "You go on ahead… I just want to check something out."
"Okey dokey, and then you can buy me lunch to make up for being a pain in the butt all morning."
"In your dreams Crash, in your dreams..." He called over his shoulder. His fellow Agents started up a conversation about the reliability of informants until a loud explosion echoed through the empty building and they all hit the deck
"Sam-31 report..!" Tara's voice crackled through the radio. "Sam-31... Sam-33... Sam-36...report!"
"This is Sam-31."
"What happened? We heard a loud bang." D's calmer tone replaced Tara's frightened one.
"I don't know." He got to his knees looking around frantically. "There was some sort of explosion." Standing he reached down to help Myles to his feet. "You alright, Harvard...?"
"Sam-33... Sam-36... report!"
"This is Sam-33, Tara you don't have to shout."
"Sorry, Sam-36... report. Sam-36... Bobby, we can't raise Jack."
"Did anyone see which way he went?" The rest of the group started to fan out and after a few minutes one of the back-up team spotted him.
"Over there."
"Where... Dammit?"
"Here..." The man used his torch to signal through the slow-settling cloud of dust.
The two Agents exchanged worried glances as they realised they were heading towards the source of the explosion and the colour drained from Bobby's face when he saw his friend lying on the ground, his body twisted unnaturally. Kneeling beside him he touched his shoulder, shaking him gently
"Jack, Jack mate can you hear me?" He blew out a shaky breath when he saw his eyelids flutter. "That's the way. You hang in there, you hear. Help is on the way." He looked to the tall Bostonian for confirmation and received an affirmative nod. "They won't be long. You just hold on."
Jack suddenly grabbed hold of his arm, the strength of his grip making the big man wince. "Call the... Call..." His eyes closed again and he grimaced, sucking in air as the pain took hold and his body surrendered to it.
"Don't do this, don't you give up on me. You have to fight." He turned at the sound of running feet, sighing in relief when he saw the familiar uniforms of the paramedics heading over to them. "Help's here Sparky. You're gonna be okay." He moved to one side to allow the new arrivals access and watched with barely controlled panic as they worked to try to save his best friend; their efficiency and skill commanding his full attention.
"We need to get him out of here or we're going to lose him." The medic monitoring his vital signs warned. "His blood pressure's plummeting… Heartbeat's erratic."
Myles' voice joined the general mêlée. "He has a heart condition... an arrhythmia he takes medication for."
"He's arrested!" Another of the medical team quickly charged the defibrillator.
"We need to get his vest off. These things don't work through Kevlar."
Bobby tried to help but his trembling fingers were more of a hindrance so Myles got down beside him and removed it.
"Clear!" The Aussie watched in horror as they placed the paddles against his chest and his body jerked up from the floor and then fell back down unmoving.
"Nothing... Again..!"
"Clear."
His body jumped a second time.
"Nothing..."
"Come on Sparks, you do this for me and I'll cover your paperwork for a month." He felt a hand on his shoulder but couldn't bring himself to look away.
"Clear."
"I have a pulse but it's weak and thready."
The two colleagues whispered a silent prayer of thanks as they followed the stretcher out to the waiting ambulance and watched as he was loaded in.
"We're taking him to City. Anyone know his name?"
"Hudson, Special Agent Jackson Hudson. He's F.B.I" Myles answered for them.
"Thanks. We need to go... do you think you could..?" He indicated Bobby with a flick of his head and the blonde Agent immediately walked over to him.
"Bobby, they need to get him to the hospital. We'll go by the office and update D and the others. I'm sure they'll all want to be there when he wakes up."
o-xxx-o