D.C.
Sue was at her desk when Lucy approached her and asked if she was going to Bobby's birthday party.
"Oh, no, I've got a lot of work to do," she answered. She didn't feel like she'd be very welcome there anyway.
"Oh come on! It can wait," Lucy urged.
"I don't think so," Sue shook her head. Lucy scrunched her nose.
"Does this have something to do with what happened in New York?" she asked. "I heard Jack got a little upset with you in front of everybody."
"He had a right to," Sue said.
"One thing you should know about Jack is, he says what he means but then it's over. It's never personal. Of course with you, maybe it's a little different," Lucy smiled.
"What does that mean?" Sue asked, feeling nervous suddenly.
"I've seen the chemistry you two have. Maybe with you it could get personal."
"I don't know where you get that," Sue said, blushing and looking away. Lucy tapped her arm to make her look back.
"True friends, complete honesty," she signed. "I had to deal with it, now it's your turn."
"He's not interested in me," Sue said. Lucy scoffed.
"Just like you're not interested in him?" she asked. "Come on! He's as cute as they come, and he's a great person, why shouldn't you be interested in him?"
"I've only had a handful of dates in my whole life, it's not something I'm comfortable with," Sue said, shrugging.
"Not a problem," Lucy said while signing. "You're teaching me sign language, I'll teach you dating language." Sue felt her face grow hot. Did Lucy have access to her brain or something?
"Come on," Lucy laughed, seeing Sue blushing. "We're going to Bobby's party."
Levi
We walked around a crowded room at this party. I wanted the food. It all smelled so good!
"It's kind of dark," Sue said to Lucy. I concurred. Sue said something about not doing too well in these kinds of settings. I disagreed. I loved people. They gave me food.
"You'll probably do better than me I can't hear anything either," Lucy said. "If you want to leave, we can leave." Then I noticed Jack, and he had noticed Sue. I knew nobody was going anywhere now. Lucy made an excuse when Jack approached them, and Sue stood there frozen. I wanted to help. I didn't know what to do for her, though. Eventually, Jack asked if she wanted to go outside. My ears were starting to hurt too. I didn't know how people could listen to that loud of music. Once on the street, Jack apologized for the way he handled things the day before. He was off to a good start in my books.
"I won't ever do it again," Sue promised.
"No, I know," Jack said. "I just, I didn't have to be such a jerk about it." They smiled at each other, and then I realized Jack didn't know what to do next, so he bent down to pet me.
"Hey, knucklehead," he said, rubbing my head. I didn't really appreciate the term, but I knew he was trying. Then we started walking. Sue told Jack she couldn't believe she was here doing what she was doing and said it was because of him. I was silently cheering her on. I knew what she was trying to do.
"No, no," Jack said, stopping her. I didn't realize it, and the collar pulled into my neck, making me stop. "It's because of you. You seem to be having a tough time believing that."
"Yea," Sue said softly. "Maybe." Big, big sweaty smell coming off Jack now. I watched him look at Sue's lips, and I knew he wanted to lick faces. I was tempted to push on his back legs and help him do it when a voice called out.
"There you are!" A woman came up to them and planted one right on Jack's lips.
"Hi," he said nervously.
"Hi," she gushed. Wait, what?! I was confused. He was into my Sue, and he's licking faces with this chick? What the heck?! I didn't like her. She smelled flashy.
"You're early," Jack said.
"Yea, I took the early flight," she laughed. So he had been expecting her. Interesting. When was he gonna tell my girl this?
"Um, Rhonda, Sue Thomas. Sue, Rhonda Walter," Jack said. "Um, Sue's been working with us on a few cases." I huffed. He forgot to mention that he was falling madly for Sue on top of it. Humans were weird sometimes.
"Oh that's great," Rhonda gushed again.
"I was about to head home," Sue said. "Levi hasn't eaten yet." I perked my ears. I hadn't. Suddenly, I was starving. I also knew I had to get her out of there.
"She's cute," I heard Rhonda say as we walked away. Lucy was standing there looking shocked.
"Did you know about her?" Sue asked.
"No, I didn't. I can assure you, though, she is not the real deal. I saw the way he was looking at you," Lucy reassured her. Sue didn't answer, and we were off. We walked around the city, and I did my best to comfort her. At one point she said she loved me and asked if I had a girlfriend hidden away somewhere. I thumped my tail. I did not. I wish I could tell her that. I just had my boy who I know missed me and I him. I think Sue would like him. He would probably be a bit older than her, but he was nice. Too bad they wouldn't get to meet.
Jack
He felt so stupid. How could he have forgotten about Rhonda? Sue's face had looked so hurt. He felt like a huge jerk, again. Rhonda made some little comments about Sue a few more times after, and Jack felt annoyed.
"She's just a coworker," he said after the third time. "That's all."
"Touchy," Rhonda said, smiling. "Do you have a little crush on her?"
"No! Rhonda, just stop," Jack said.
"Hey, mates," Bobby said. He was a little tipsy, Jack could tell. "Having fun?"
"Loads," Jack answered. Bobby laughed and moved away to talk to someone else. Rhonda went to talk to Tara. Jack stood there wishing he hadn't made Sue feel bad. He hoped he could get a chance to talk to her and clear things up.
The Next Day-Sue
Everyone was sitting around and watching a screen and Jack talking. Sue felt puzzled. She bent down to Bobby.
"Am I late?" she asked.
"No, no," he answered. "Everyone was called in early." Sue felt like she was missing something. Then suddenly, Jack was talking about Alexander Ranko, and Sue immediately recognized him.
"I've seen him before," she said to Bobby. "He tried to buy my friend's gas station." Bobby tried to explain about Russians and gasoline before Jack cut him off.
"We know that there is a meeting tonight between Ranko, Slovanovich, and Drechsler to finalize their diamond deal, but the only problem is we don't know where. If we could find any of them, it would help, but no such luck," Jack finished. Aldridge said something about turning over every rock to find him, and the others got up to go.
"What can I do to help?" Sue asked Jack.
"You did your job," he answered. "Now we do ours."
"But I can help," Sue urged. Jack looked pained suddenly.
"Aldridge doesn't want you involved," he finally said. "And this is for agents only. I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do." She looked down and over at Aldridge, who was asking Jack to meet him in his office.
"Come on, Levi," she said, tugging at the leash.
"Sue!" Jack called, but she didn't hear him.
Levi
I could smell her disappointment so strong it almost made me cough. I could smell Jack's disappointment too. Those crazy kids needed to communicate with each other! Sniff each other's butts and get it over with like I would have done days ago. Jeepers. Anyway, Lucy attacked Sue in the hallway and basically told her that Jack was unsure about his relationship with Rhonda and that there would be no problem, and Sue told her there was nothing between her and Jack and never would be. I wasn't so sure about that. The smells coming off that man in there said otherwise. We went to see Charlie, and I could smell his sadness too. Sue offered him a microwave cookbook, which he declined, saying he wouldn't be needing it.
"I sold the station today," he said.
"You said it would kill you to sell this place," Sue noted.
"I had no choice. They were squeezing me out," Charlie said. "They won. Ranko is over there right now, gloating."
"I gotta follow him," Sue said suddenly. "Maybe they haven't won yet, Charlie." A search and find! I was excited. We all piled into Sue's car and hit the road. Charlie's directions were horrible, and we almost got into a few accidents. I cowered in the backseat. I was not having a good time. In fact, I felt like I was going to throw up. Sue got Charlie to call Lucy, and they lost signal. Then suddenly, we were pulling over. We got out and left Charlie in the car. I had a bad feeling suddenly. We walked a little ways, trying to get a phone signal when we turned around and came back. Charlie was gone. I was very worried now. It smelled all wrong. Sue started looking for him, and I wanted to make her stop.
Jack
The older man came in asking for him, and Jack immediately knew something was wrong. When he said Sue was out there looking for a phone signal, Jack felt his heart drop.
"I knew she shouldn't have been involved. She's going to blow this whole thing," Myles said snarkily.
"Hey!" the older man said loudly. "She found the guy she knew you were looking for. If you had kept her in the loop, she would have known you were gonna be here."
"Bobby, do you see anyone out there?" Jack asked.
"Nope, not a thing," Bobby replied. Jack took off his headset.
"Tara, give me an earpiece," he said.
"Jack," Myles said loudly.
"I'm not leaving her out there," Jack said. He already felt horrible for keeping her in the dark and for Rhonda last night. It was the least he could do.
"Let me know as soon as someone spots her," Jack told Tara, who nodded. He went out to find her. Not too long into it, he had to duck and hide from two men coming out of the building.
"Showtime," Tara said in his ear.
"Bobby, Jack, he's coming in."
Jack looked up as the helicopter came down. He felt very worried as to where Sue was right now.
"We're ready to move," Bobby said.
"Jack," Myles said.
"Okay, on my count," Jack said, cocking his gun.
"Lock and load, boys and girls," Myles said. Then Jack saw Sue being led into view by one of the men. His heart sank.
"Let's go," Bobby said.
"Wait, wait, wait, don't move," Jack ordered. He saw as Sue tried to sign and indicate she was Deaf. Then he heard chilling words.
"Let's go. Get rid of her!"
He was not going to let that happen.
"Jack, what's going on?" Bobby asked.
"Okay, nobody move. Dimitrius, you coordinate the others," Jack instructed. "I'm going in after Sue. If you lose contact with me, do not come in after me. I repeat, do not come in after me. Wait for them to come out." And then he charged in.
"FBI! Drop it!" he shouted.
"Shoot him!"
Jack ducked as shots rang out, but he was too late. The bullet struck him hard and he fell.
"JACK!" Sue screamed. She raced towards him.
"Sue!" Jack shouted. "NO!"
Levi
It all happened so fast. I saw Sue running to Jack, and I knew they were going to shoot her. This wasn't my first rodeo or time getting shot, so I knew what I had to do. I chased after her, and I jumped, pushing her down on the ground as the man fired his gun. The bullet ripped through me, and I wondered if this was going to be the end, if my purpose was over already. I hoped that maybe Sue would realize that Jack cared for her. He came to save her after all.
"Oh no," Sue whimpered, seeing me hurt. "God. Please." She started to cry.
"Tara," Jack's voice said. "We need an ambulance." It started to go blurry, and I knew this was the end. I would wake up as another dog in another life. I was really going to miss my girl.
Sue
"Whoa, whoa, you can't bring a dog in here," a male nurse said angrily.
"It's okay, he's FBI," Sue said.
"No," the nurse started.
"He's got friends in high places," Jack said, showing his badge. "If he dies, you're responsible. I don't think you want that." Sue watched as the nurse caved, and they took Levi away. Jack was led away by a different nurse to work on his shoulder. Sue paced and paced until they came and told her Levi was in recovery. She went to be by his side. He looked so small lying on the bed.
"Don't leave me," she cried. "Hang in there, Levi. I know you can hear me. You can beat this. You and I are cut from the same cloth. We have to be tougher than the other guy, but that makes us good at beating the odds." She sniffed and wiped her tears.
"You know, I told you everything about me, but I never told you how I found you."
Flashback
"One of these dogs will be yours," the lady was saying. "We'll train them to be the ears you never had." Sue noticed a golden retriever lying in the grass.
"What about him?" she asked.
"I wouldn't recommend him," the lady answered.
"I like him," Sue said firmly.
"I'm afraid he's been too badly abused. It's unlikely he'd even be trainable. Another dog would be much better."
Sue looked at the dog before her, and she felt a connection. She knew she had to have this dog and no other.
"I know how it feels when nobody wants you," she said to the dog. She looked up at the lady. "I'll take him."
Present
Jack
"God, just please let him get through this," Sue was whispering. She looked up to see Jack standing in the doorway.
"How's he doing?" he asked.
"I don't know," she answered. "He's in a coma. The vet doesn't know if he'll come out of it." Jack came in and sat down, looking concerned.
"He's tough," Jack assured her. She gave a weak smile.
"How are you doing?" she asked. He made a face.
"I'm tough too," he smiled. "I'll be all right."
"I'm sorry," she said. "This is all my fault."
"No, don't say that," Jack said. "You saved my life tonight."
"Levi saved your life," Sue corrected. "And because of me, he might lose his. I put you both in jeopardy. None of this would have happened if it weren't for me."
"None of this would have happened if I hadn't recruited you to come work with us," Jack pointed out. "And if I could have played hockey, none of this would have happened cos I wouldn't have even been in the FBI."
"That's not the same, and you know it," Sue said, shaking her head.
"Yes, Sue, it is the same," Jack argued. "If I had just let you in on what we were doing, then you wouldn't have had to follow Ranko. I hate to burst your bubble, but you are not personally responsible for every little thing that happens in this world, good or bad." Sue looked away from him, and he knew he needed to pursue this conversation. He got up and went over to her, kneeling in front of her and taking her hands in his.
"I know you've had to prove yourself over and over again, but you know what? You've done it. It's time for you to accept that you are a warm, funny, caring, beautiful person. Every time you touch someone's life, you make it better." He wanted her to see that so badly. She had made his life better. He decided to just say it.
"Including mine," he said quietly, never breaking eye contact with her. If the situation wasn't so sad, he'd lean in and kiss her, but then Sue looked up to see Lucy and Charlie in the door.
"And mine," Lucy added.
"And mine," Charlie said, placing his hand over his heart.
"Ever think it wasn't an accident that you walked into my office that day?" Jack asked Sue.
"Or that your car broke down?" Charlie added.
"Or that you almost flattened me?" Lucy said, smiling widely. Sue finally smiled and gave a small laugh. Jack felt victory.
"All my life I've felt like an outsider," Sue said. "Like I was standing outside a candy store with my nose against the glass looking in, but you," she said, looking at Jack. "You've made me realize something. That we're all inside the candy store together each with our own problems. Somebody doesn't get to eat the jelly beans, another, the jube jubes. We're all the same but different."
"We're all a part of your life now," Lucy said. "So get used to it. Cos no matter what happens, we're here for you." Sue got up and hugged each of them, and when she hugged Jack, he felt like he was home. He didn't miss Lucy's little grin either. He knew she knew.
Levi
I opened my eyes, and I saw my girl sitting right there with her hand just within reach. I couldn't believe it! I had come back! Perhaps my purpose wasn't over just yet. I greedily licked her hand, trying to wake her up. She was going to have a very sore neck after that nap I could tell.
"Levi," she breathed, seeing me. "He's awake! Everyone, he's awake!"
"Nurse! Doctor!" Jack called, going out of the room. Sue petted me fiercely. Then a white coat guy came along (I didn't like them very much. They liked to stick me with sharp things that hurt). I heard him say I was through the worst of it. Then, a phone started ringing, and I had to alert Sue about it.
"Easy there," White Coat said, pushing me down.
"By any chance, is there a phone ringing?" Sue asked.
"Yea," Jack answered, looking puzzled.
"Someone better answer it or he will keep trying to tell me about it," Sue said. Darn right I would. It was my job.
"I wanna give him something to keep him still," White Coat said. "If you wanna go home, now is the time."
"I don't want to go home," Sue said. "But there is somewhere I want to go." I knew it! She was going to skate. I could tell. She had that look in her eye, and I knew she was ready to move on. I was quite content to lie here anyway. I'd catch up with her later. Ow! Did that White Coat just stick me?
Sue
"Well," Jack said. "I don't know if it's what you had in mind, but it's the best we could do at six a.m. in August with half an hour's notice."
"There's just some things even the FBI can't pull off," Lucy joked.
"Just pretend it's ice," Jack suggested. Sue smiled at him. She knew he was going to be special to her, whether they were just friends or not.
"It's perfect," she smiled, getting up and rolling on her rollerblades. It felt incredible. She couldn't believe how easy it was to fall back into it. She watched as Jack cheered her on. Yes, things were beginning to look up.