Key:-
"Words" = Speaking
'Words' = Signing (Sign Language)
Words = Thought's / Thinking
'Words' = The message behind a certain look
*Words* = Text messages
- Words - = Added emphasis
While Sue was in her bedroom, Jack took the opportunity to reply to Bobby's text…
*Hey Crash, the fire department guys never caught up with me… I guess I must have burnt out on my own, as for the overalls they're not too badly damaged so they may be salvageable… but Aardvark can't have them back yet… I need to change out of them first. I just got to Sue's, I'll let you guys know how she is when I get the chance to ask her, she let me in then went to change, I believe she said something about making herself more presentable*
Jack laughed it wasn't exactly the truth (well not the whole truth anyway) but it was better than telling Bobby (who would tell the whole team) that Sue had, had to get out of the shower to answer the door to him, and that he had practically seen her naked… that thought took his breath away once again as he started to daydream about what it would be like to see Sue actually naked… see her in the shower, or to join her in the shower, kissing her in said shower… he was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Sue's bedroom door opening, and moments later she and Levi joined him in the front room. Sue was now wearing sweatpants and a low cut vest, and her damp hair was now pinned up the way she usually had it.
How does she do it, how does she manage to look so breath taking in sweatpants? Then again she could wear a garbage sack and still look stunning to me he thought,
"Jack? Are you okay?" Sue's voice asked, interrupting his thoughts,
"What? …Oh yeah… sorry I'm fine, were you saying something?" he apologised,
"I was just saying you said something about lunch… what did you bring?" she laughed,
"Oh… burger, fries and 'shakes from Slappy's" he replied,
"Wow" she said, surprised, "how did you know, that all I have wanted since I woke up this morning, is Slappy's? And not just any Slappy's… but a burger and fries with a milkshake?"
"Great minds think alike? …and obviously because I know you better than you know yourself" he replied with a cheeky smile,
"So what flavour milkshake did you get? …see if you really know me that well" she challenged with a laugh,
"Strawberry" Jack replied,
"O…k-a-a-a-ay… I have got to stop spending so much time with you… you really do know me that well, strawberry's my favourite" Sue told him and they both laughed as he passed her, her meal and drink.
When they had finished eating, Jack passed her the aspirin he'd picked up,
"Thanks for lunch and for these Jack… I ran out earlier and was planning on taking a walk to the nearest pharmacy, but you've saved me the job" she told him with a grateful smile,
"That's okay" he told her, "so what happened last night?"
"Oh" she blushed, "I had a minor – small car accident" she replied,
"I know that, we got that much from Lucy, she also said that you had been distracted while you were driving… what had you so distracted Sue?" the worry evident in his facial expression,
"I was driving home from work and I was – pre-occupied… with my thoughts, and then I saw a ball bounce across the street in front of me, and then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little boy… he couldn't have been more than five or six years old… come running out of a garden, chasing the ball, I knew I couldn't stop… I couldn't have slowed down in time, so I did the only logical thing I braked and swerved to avoid hitting him… I swerved right across to the other side of the street and hit a street lamp" she finished, blushing even more,
"Ouch! But you… are… okay, right?" he asked worriedly,
"Yes" she replied, "as you can see" she laughed, it was Jack's turn to blush now,
"Oh yeah… but you haven't answered my previous question, you told me what caused the accident, but you didn't say why you were distracted or in your words pre-occupied" he stated,
"Oh… um… well…" she stuttered, her face turning scarlet now, she turned away from him to carry on the explanation,
"I was thinking about what I had been trying to tell you earlier on in the day… what I hadn't managed to say because we were interrupted by D. coming in and saying that an informant had come forward with information about the case…" she trailed off as Jack touched her face and turned her to face him,
"You were thinking about me? That's why you were distracted?" he asked her,
"Yes… sort of" she answered,
"So it was my fault you crashed?" he asked as a flash of horror past over his face at the thought that he was the cause of the danger that she had been in and the pain she had experienced and was still experiencing,
"Oh… no! No that's not what I meant at all" she told him, as she tried to comfort him,
"So… what did you mean? What are you trying to say Sue?" he asked, he was really worried now,
"I'm sorry" she told him "I don't think I can do this right now" he could see the tears shimmering in her eyes,
"What is it Sue?" he asked again as he moved closer to her, he was shocked when she physically shrank away from him,
What did I do? Does she blame me for the accident? She said she doesn't… but is she just saying that? …No pull yourself together Hudson! She's not like that and you know it! He thought to himself,
Sue saw the effect of what she had done by shrinking away from him, and it hurt her that she had caused the pain she could see in his eyes, and she realised that she had to tell him, she had to tell him what she had been trying to tell him the day before… the same reason why she had shrunk away from him just now.
"Jack?" she started, "I'm so sorry, maybe… maybe…" she stuttered, "maybe… I should tell you what's going on" he looked at her in confusion; he didn't say anything just nodded for her to continue,
"I… I… don't know where to start" she stuttered aloud… more to herself than to Jack, she was facing away from him again, so he touched her shoulder to regain her attention,
"The beginning is usually the best place to start, so why not try starting there?" he suggested,
"O…kay… well as I told you yesterday, I have thought long and hard about this… and I know that I have to tell you… I know this will ruin our friendship, which is why I have already written my transfer / resignation letter for D. and I'll make sure Lucy takes it to him for me tomorrow, since I'm… confessing to you today" she babbled, "I don't… I don't know how to say it" Jack cut her off gaining her attention again,
"Sue just tell me what's wrong, I don't understand" he told her once she was looking at him,
"I have been hiding it for so long… now that I'm trying to tell you the truth, it's just too hard… but I have to tell you, because I can't keep living like this… I can't keep hiding it" she could feel the lump forming in her throat and the tears pricking the back of her eyes, she'd started her confession, she had to finish it, so she swallowed down the lump in her throat and willed the tears to go away, she took a deep breath and continued,
"When I decided to stay in D.C. I told myself it was because I couldn't leave everyone here behind, they had become my family, and D.C. is my home… although those things are true… they weren't the real reason that I chose to stay. The real reason I decided to stay… was you Jack, I tried to convince myself that how I feel about you wasn't real… but I knew when I was making my decision about New York that those feelings were real… are real, because when I thought about leaving you… it broke my heart, Jack I'm… in love with you, I tried to stop feeling this way… but I can't" now that her confession was over she started to cry, she just couldn't hold the tears back anymore.
