Disclaimer: I own nothing that is recognizable from the show.
Also, a great big thank to cheliosfan, SailorJP, Huck05, JaS2g, and Fanpire101 for your reviews and thank you to everyone still reading this.
I love it, honey, Jack signed, slowly lowering himself into a more comfortable position in the bed. He turned the cardboard box over in his hand to read the information on the back.
"It comes with two," Sue answered with a small and tired smile, stifling a delicate yawn as she pulled her sweater off of her head, leaving only the form-fitting dark red camisole beneath. "One for the office, and one for your personal computer. I think it'll make a perfect pair with the whistle that Demetrius and Donna got for you."
Who think of thing like this? Jack asked, pulling his eyes away as Sue reached into her bag for a pair of light purple pajama bottoms, but knowing that she was watching him as he adverted his eyes decently.
"I'm deaf, Jack," Sue answered, pulling her pants on as she watched him finger the corner of the box again as his eyes roamed the writing on the back. "There are a lot of things out there to aide in non-hearing...and non-speaking...people living normal lives. Some computers come with a feature similiar to it, but our computers at work don't and most newer laptops don't."
Jack nodded in understanding as he looked back up to her, watching her as she pulled back the privacy curtain. He heard her bid Bobby a good night and Bobby looked up from the cartoon watch that he appeared to be trying to set the time on to wish her the same.
Me sit up bit first, Jack signed, adjusting his position again, his body feeling completely restless.
He held his neck fastly stiff as he used his arms to pull himself up farther in the bed and Sue pulled an extra pillow from behind him. This had become such a nightly routine for them; he could hear Bobby snort from his side of the room and see him glance at them from the corner of his eye.
"Better?" Sue asked with another sleepy smile as he used the remote on the handrail to elevate the head of the bed.
Yes, Jack answered, pulling down the covers for her and wrapping his arms around her as she slid in beside him. You rest now. Now I take care you.
Sue lifted her head from its customary place on his chest and intwined her fingers with his on her stomach to stop them. Slowly, she pressed her lips to his, lingering for several seconds in sweet position.
"I love you," she whispered, tracing the line of his jaw with her thumb until it drifted down to the newly changed bandage on his neck.
Her warm soft lips pressed against the area of his neck directly beside it. Without another word, Sue lowered her head back to his chest and Jack pulled the sheet and blanket up to her chin as she snuggled closer to him. He smiled gently when he felt her leg slip between his, tangling themselves with his own; he loved the innocence desire for closeness that she always seemed to have just before she drifted off into the world of sleep, the sheer want to be as close to him as possible...mostly because he felt exactly the same.
I love you too, Jack signed in her fingers, also making the I love you sign with his other hand as he pulled her closer into him.
He could feel the exhaustion in her as her body relaxed beneath his grip and any tension within her relented into the vulnerable state of unconsciousness. She was asleep in a matter of moments, one last kiss lingering on small space of exposed chest just below his collarbone.
You plan on wear that? Jack signed, waving his hand to catch Bobby's attention, then pointing to the watch in his hand.
"Sorry, mate," Bobby answered, his brows furrowing slightly as he tried to concentrate on Jack's hands, the dimmed lights on his friend's side of the hospital room not making it any simpler. "I...didn't catch that. Still a bit slow...maybe if you fingerspell it really slowly."
Jack rolled his eyes at his own forgetfullness and smiled briefly to Bobby. Reaching awkwardly to the table just beside him, unwilling to wake Sue, he clasped his hand around the notepad and pen that Myles had given him.
I asked if you planned on wearing that, Jack wrote. He closed the notebook back up, pulling the convenient elastic band around the cover to keep it from opening, and tossed it across the room.
"Eh, sure...why not, I say?" Bobby answered after reading Jack's message; he tossed the notebook back gently, trying to be careful not to hit Sue with it. "Who says that you can't sport a few blue pigmy-type-thingy-es?"
You would, Jack wrote with a breath of air that should have been a laugh. He secured the pad and tossed it back.
"Should I be offended?" Bobby asked jokingly, closing the notepad back up. "What was it that Sue got you? Must have been something good for her to wait until everyone left to give it to you. Don't tell me that she got you a blackberry like hers!"
What good would that do me? Jack wrote in reply, catching the tablet before it disturbed the woman sleeping on his chest. It's computer software that uses the computer's speakers to say whatever is typed into the program. How do you even think of something like that?
"Well, like she said, mate," Bobby answered, fingering the pages as he read them. "She is deaf. I had never even heard of a phone like hers until I saw her using it one day. I guess if they can translate voices into words on a screen, they can makes words on a screen into vocal words outloud. I suppose that since she's always lived having to use things like that, she would naturally think of it rather quickly. You know...you're really lucky, mate."
I know, Jack signed, catching the notepad again, but he knew that Bobby knew that phrase. Jack found his eyes glancing back down to the face on his chest and the familiar tingling that he would never really get totally used to ran throughout his body again. I love her, Bobby. I really do. I can't explain it, but she's just...I can't even explain it.
"She's amazing, it's as simple as that," Bobby clarified for him, struggling to sit up in his pillows, wincing only slightly. He closed the notepad up again. "That's simple for me to say...but I know how you feel, mate. I've felt the same way before; it's kind of like every cell in your body is aware of her on the slightest prompting. It is hard to explain."
Well, you did a pretty good job. Jack replied.
"Yeah, but I think it's different for everyone," Bobby said, his voice growing strangely sober. "I think every girl makes you feel different. Maybe that's why it's so confusing."
We're getting married in April. I wanted to ask you when we told everybody, but things didn't really turn out that way, did they? Will you be my best man? I was kind of hoping that you could be my best man and Demetrius and Myles grooms' men. Jack clicked the pen in again as he finished; he really had not had the opportunity to speak with anyone about this and Bobby was the first one that he felt he could relay his real thoughts to. Bobby may poke fun sometimes, but so did he. Bobby was the brother that would be understanding with something like this; he would know what Jack was talking about...or, at least, let him just vent.
"I...I'd love to, Jack," Bobby answered after a moment. "It would be an honor, mate. Thank you. But...can I ask you something?"
What? Jack answered, signing You're welcome and thank you, as well.
"Can...can you ever forgive me?" Bobby asked, taking a deep breath and getting his worries off of his chest, finally. He needed to talk about this; he needed to know what his best friend was thinking. He needed Jack's forgiveness for causing him to lose something so priceless. "It should be me. It should be me without a voice anymore! I'm so sorry, Jack...I'm...damn it, I'm so stupid!"
The thoughts and emotions of self-hatred that had been eating him alive, even since Tara's talk, poured forth in any uncontrollable rampage against himself. Bobby looked at Jack pleadingly, at times, and closed his eyes tightly in pain or sorrow, at others. If Jack was at all surprised by his outburst, he did an excellent job of hiding it.
"I can't stand this!" Bobby said, barely able to keep his voice at a normal level. "What the hell kind of friend am I? F-, Jack! I'm so sorry, mate! I'm so such an effing drongo for blowing a simple stake-out like that!"
Jack sat in silence as Bobby went on, knowing that the best way to calm him was to let him get it out of his system. It was completely rediculous, the thought that any of this was Bobby's fault; but he needed to let it out. He pulled Sue securely into his arms when she let out a small moan in her sleep and he absentmindedly smoothed her hair with his fingers. Paying rapt attention to his friend, he simply waited.
When silence finally began to return between them, Jack slowly lifted a hand from Sue's shoulder and moved his four fingers in a give-it-here motion. Bobby tossed him the book obediantly.
Let's get one thing straight, right now, Bobby. I never want to hear you say that again. Jack wrote, forcing Bobby to have patience; it took more time to right out a conversation than it did to say it. This was an accident; it's nobody's fault. This kind of stuff happens; it sucks, but it happens. You've always been a good friend to me. More of a brother than my real brothers are. You don't need my forgiveness, because you've done nothing wrong. If it makes you feel better to have it, then consider yourself forgiven a million times over, but that maks no difference to me. It's not your fault, Bobby. It just happened.
Bobby read the note quickly, struggling as his anger and other raging emotions made him want to cry. Looking back up to argue, Jack's face silenced him in his tracks. His best friend's face was firm and resolved, but not unkind. Even in the dimmer lights of the hospital room, he could see that Jack, too, was trying not to lose it.
This sucked, but he would do as Jack wanted. If that's what Jack thought, then he would let him be.
Good night, Jack signed, leaving Bobby in silence.
Several moments later, Bobby turned slightly to look across the room again when a small sound came from the area. Jack's back was turned to him, but he could see the slight quake of his shoulders and hear the raggid breath that he drew.
"Shhh," he heard Sue's soft voice assuage him in a hush and watched as her hand pulled his friend's dark head closer to her chest. "It's alright, Jack. I love you. It's alright...just come here."
Bobby rolled over with some effort to try and sleep, putting everything else in his bed on his side table.
A/N: Ok, may have been a bit cheesy, but Jack and Bobby needed to have their talk. Please let me know what you think. I've been really stumped with writers' block, so I hope that this one went as I meant it to. I never shy away from constructive criticism...please, it helps me.