A/N: A new chapter for you at last! Sorry for the delay but my rotten year just keeps rolling. :-( Enjoy!

o-xxx-o

Uncertain whether the response she'd received had been positive or negative, Tara poked her head cautiously around the Supervisor's door, grinning when she saw the reason for the unintelligible reply - Jack was sitting at his desk with a mug of coffee and a mouth full of blueberry muffin. Using his free hand he motioned her forward.

"I could come back."

"That's okay," he covered his mouth as he spoke, hastily swallowing and taking a gulp of his drink. "Sorry about that."

"Mid-morning munchies..?" She smiled and sat down opposite him.

"I didn't have time for breakfast."

"So you thought you'd go for the less healthy alternative."

"As I recall Ms Williams, you had some pretty unhealthy addictions yourself. Do you still eat those weird, sugary, snake-like things?"

"That was the old Tara. The new Mrs Abbott promised her hubby she'd kick the habit."

"And how's that working out for you?"

"It's not." She rummaged around in her pocket and pulled out a paper bag. "I won't tell if you don't."

"Deal," screwing up the empty wrapper he tossed it in the bin and took another sip of coffee.

"Better?"

"Much, thank you. You have something for me?"

"Conference Room 3"

Grabbing his mug, a notepad and pen, Jack followed her along the corridor.

o-xxx-o

"What do you have?"

"We executed the warrant first thing this morning and I have…" She opened one of the envelopes she was carrying. "…a few more images to decorate your board."

Jack moved his chair so he could see.

"There were a total of five other profiles apart from the one we knew about, Sabrina and Carina… Sabrina and Carina, don't you just love the way that slips off the tongue? Sabrina and Carina, Sab…"

"Tara!"

"Sorry… Meet Sarah Chissim from West Virginia, Perdita Cordoba, Arizona, Marie Godin, Indiana and Jenny May Caine, Florida…" She pinned them up one at a time. "As far as I can figure, I'd say he used them for his undercover work, made each of them public depending on what case he was working on. You should get Myles and Raul to check his case files again."

"And they're all real people?"

"Living and breathing."

He was loath to ask the next question. "Any more kids involved?"

"Not with these but just because they're the only ones on Facebook, doesn't mean…"

"There aren't others," he finished for her feeling almost physically sick. "At least this opens up a few more avenues of inquiry. Any luck with the rest of the drive?"

"Not so far. There's one partition that's so well locked down, even I haven't managed to crack it, but I'm not ready to give in just yet."

"That's the Tara we all know and love," he studied the board for a few minutes. "Wait, didn't you say there were five profiles? I only count four."

"I know." She'd been forced to give him bad news once before, when she'd had to break it to him that his ex-girlfriend, Kristen Wolfe, had died, but somehow what she had to say next seemed a whole lot worse.

"Tara?"

"I erm…" Taking a breath she tried again. "The fifth one… It says she's his wife and they have a child together but it could be a story he's invented or maybe it's a mistake…"

Now he understood what she was trying so hard not to tell him. "It's okay Tara, I know."

"You know what?" She asked cagily.

"I know about Sue and Laura."

"Thank the Lord," she heaved a sigh of relief and sank down onto the nearest chair. "I hate being the bad news bearing girl. How do you know?"

"She's the one who gave us the drive in the first place."

"Us..? Who, us..?"

"Bobby and I"

"And you didn't tell me?"

"No-one else knows, apart from Pinter that is."

"Not even Myles?"

"No, I thought it would be safer for her that way." He quickly brought her up to speed. "Now you know absolutely everything."

"Thanks, for trusting me."

"I always have."

"Can I see her?"

"I don't think…"

She interrupted him. "She may be able to help."

He still looked doubtful and she decided to come clean.

"There's some stuff on here, personal stuff. Photographs, she wouldn't want her mother to see, if you catch my drift."

"What?"

"They're pretty risqué and I don't think she knew they were being taken."

He declined the offer of the copies she'd made. "Can you delete them without leaving any traces?" She gave him an old-fashioned look. "Of course you can, what was I thinking? I'll need to make a couple of calls."

"Okay. Does O.P.R. have her in a safe house?"

"Not exactly…" he pulled out his cell. "Crash, CR3 and ask the others to join us in 30." Hanging up, he punched in another number. "Rob? Jack, I need another favour…"

"Rob from S.O.G? You're really playing it safe, aren't you?"

"I only trust the people I know…" The call-back interrupted them. "Okay thanks, I owe you one buddy." He returned his attention to his fellow Agent. "He'll meet you outside Starbucks and take you where you need to go and Tara…"

"Don't worry, if anyone asks I went for a coffee and then on to meet a snitch, which technically isn't a lie."

"You'll need this…" he scribbled something onto a scrap of paper and handed it to her. "The key code for the front door… You'll understand when you get there."

"How do I get back?"

"I'll pick you up when I'm done here."

o-xxx-o

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

"I'm sure," Rob grinned at the woman in the passenger seat. "You were expecting something else?"

"I guess not." Tara quickly collected up her things.

"Do you have the code?"

"Yep," she confirmed, digging around in her pocket and coming out with a crumpled piece of paper.

"Then I'll head back. Can you make sure you shred it or something, wouldn't want it ending up in the wrong hands."

"I could eat it, like in the movies."

"I don't think Hudson could afford the hospital bills," he laughed, giving her a wave as he pulled away.

Frowning she shook her head, she'd been to lots of 'safe' houses in her time but this set up was completely different. After tapping in the numbers she pushed the door open and was greeted by a small, very pretty, blonde girl.

"Hi, you must be Laura. Can you get your Mommy for me?"

She disappeared through the nearest doorway only to return a few seconds later with her Mom in tow. The two ex-colleagues greeted each other reservedly and Sue led her into the living room.

"Wow, this is some place, O.P.R. really pulled out all the stops, beats those seedy hotel rooms hands-down."

"It's not a 'safe' house," Sue corrected her. "It's Jack's home."

"Well that explains all the cloak and dagger stuff," she hesitated for a moment. "It's good to see you, Sue."

"You too," Sue agreed relaxing visible.

"Really, I wasn't sure if..? I mean, when you didn't stay in touch, I thought…"

Signing her apology the taller woman held out her arms and Tara met her halfway, giving her a hug.

"Jack said you needed to talk to me about what you found on the drive?"

"I did, do but…" she looked a little guilty. "I guess I could have done it on the phone. It was really an excuse to see you. I've missed our girlie chats."

"Me too," she indicated the couch with the sweep of her hand. "Would you like to sit down? Laura, honey, Mommy needs you to play quietly while she talks to Tara, okay?"

"Can I watch the 'effalumps again, pweese?"

"Alright, but in my room" she turned to her guest who was looking bewildered.

"E-F-F-A-L-U-M-P-S?"

"H-E-F-F-A-L-U-M-P-S. DVD," Sue explained. "Coffee..?"

"Please."

"Be right back."

"Business or pleasure, first..?" Her visitor queried once they were settled.

"I think business."

"Okay."

They talked for over an hour about the various profiles she'd uncovered but Sue hadn't been able to help, not recognising any of the faces, and then Tara knew she had to move on to the more sensitive topic. "Sue, there were other images…"

"Want me to take a look?" She was surprised by her friend's reaction. "Tara..?"

"I… er…" she swallowed hard. "They're photographs of you and… here…" She handed her an envelope. "Sorry."

Sue took it and flicked through the contents, her face turning scarlet with embarrassment. "How could he do that?"

"You didn't know he'd taken them?" There were pictures of her both in the shower, taken through a steamy glass door, and in bed asleep with the sheet down around her waist.

"No, I…" Tears of humiliation filled her eyes. "Please tell me he didn't put them out on the internet."

Tara took her hand and held onto it. "As far as I can tell they were kept under wraps, he never made them public."

"Thank God." Another horrifying thought struck her and she gasped. "Did you… Has Jack seen them?"

"Uh-huh," she shook her head. "He knows about them, not the actual details but that they exist. He didn't want to see them, just asked me if they could be deleted without leaving a trace."

"And..?"

"Already done... These are the only remaining copies that I know of, unless Tony had them printed up for himself. I just thought you ought to know. You want me to put them through the shredder at work?"

"No, I'd rather burn them, if that's okay with you?"

"Probably the best..."

"Did any of the other profiles have anything like this in them?"

"Only Sabrina's and it looks as though they were taken with her consent… definitely posed, and highly graphic."

Sue shuddered.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why, Tony? I mean after what happened before with Jack and the case and the things Lucy told you, I thought…"

Not really wanting to re-open old wounds, Sue closed her eyes for a moment but she knew her friend deserved some kind of explanation. "I was lonely and he was there. I hated it in New York. The work was boring and most of the people in my department resented my being there. They didn't think I was qualified enough for the job but that I'd got it out of some misguided attempt by the bureau to be politically correct and put a 'handicapped' person in a position of authority."

"Ouch, but Hackford head-hunted you because he knew you'd be perfect for the job."

"He moved on after about two months, transferred to Arizona and his replacement, well…" she shrugged.

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. I had no friends to speak of and everything moved so quickly, people were always in a hurry and it was kind-of scary living there on my own and then one day Tony showed up at my apartment. He said he'd been working in the area and thought he'd look me up because he wanted to clear the air. He had an explanation for everything and it all seemed so believable.

"I hadn't intended for it to get serious but then Levi got sick and he supported me all the way through it, even took a leave of absence so he could be with me when…" The tears were streaming down her face and her friend pulled her into a hug.

"Mommy…"

She moved back so she could sign to her that Laura was in the room and Sue quickly dried her eyes.

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

"It finished and I'm thirsty."

"Okay, I'll get you a drink and then it's time for your nap."

"Not tired," the little girl protested, rubbing her eyes.

"What if I let you sleep in my bed?"

"Pigwit too..?"

"Pigwit too"

"Okay."

When she came back into the room she was calm again and Tara gave her a perplexed stare. "Okay, I give up, what's a pigwit?"

Sue grinned finger-spelling and speaking at the same time. "P-I-G-L-E-T. You know… from 'Winnie the Pooh'."

The other woman smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand and shook her head. "Of course… I was more of an Eeyore kinda gal."

"Tigger for me, every time, I loved all the bouncing but never had any idea what was going on... couldn't read their lips."

Laughing, Tara looked around, a cheeky grin on her face. "So, what's it like living with Jack?"

Sue rolled her eyes as she sat down again. "I'm not 'living' with him I'm just staying in his spare room."

"But you eat your meals and spend your evenings together," she teased.

"Eat, yes, but he spends most evenings in the den."

"Oh," her voice held a tinge of disappointment. "How does he get on with Laura?"

"Fine and Jilly's almost like an older sister to her."

"Jilly?"

"Jilly, Jack's daughter…" she prompted.

"Jack has a daughter?"

"I thought you knew."

"Uh-uh but I haven't been in D.C. for… Hold on, did you say older sister?"

Sue stared at her in confusion. "That's right, Laura's three-and-a-half and Jilly's four-and-three-quarters."

"I had no idea. When I left a couple of years ago, there was no mention of… Do tell..?" She begged, unconsciously making herself more comfortable.

"I don't know much, just her name, age and that her mother's name is Lisa and Jack's known her since they were kids in Wisconsin."

"Have you met her?"

"No, I think they're separated or maybe divorced."

"Does Bobby know about this?"

"Yes."

"But Lucy and I didn't. How could he...?" Opening up her laptop she typed furiously on the keyboard for a few seconds and then hit the return key. "Well that's no help."

"What?"

"I just accessed the personnel records…"

"You didn't!"

"…Discreetly of course, and Jack is listed as having a child but there's nothing about a Mrs Hudson, divorced or otherwise."

"I don't understand."

"It says he's single." Tara thought for a moment. "How old did you say she was?"

"Four years and about eight months"

"…Which means, she must have been conceived five years and five months ago, around June." A look of sadness and disbelief crossed her face. "Oh wow, that would be about the time…"

"Tara, what is it?"

"Jack's father died suddenly in April of that year. He was just getting back on his feet physically and emotionally after the accident and the call came out of the blue. He went to pieces." There were tears in her eyes. "D ordered compulsory leave and he flew back to be with his Mom. We hoped she'd be able to put things right but it got worse. He started drinking, heavily, hanging out in the local bars and, come to think of it, there was talk of a woman, although her name was never mentioned. We thought it might have been Allie but maybe it was this Lisa. Bobby went to Wisconsin to see if he could get him back on track but nothing he did seemed to help and then suddenly one Monday morning he walked in through the office door and it was as though those few months had never happened. He didn't talk about it with anyone except Bobby and we didn't ask."

"Wow," Sue sighed. "But I wonder why, after all that time, he'd decide to fight for custody? It doesn't sound as though he…" She broke off when Tara put up her hand.

"That's odd."

"What?"

"I just ran the same check on Capono. He's definitely listed as having been married for…" she hesitated. "… and he's been flagged by the Bureau as a possible security risk."

"Why would that be odd?"

"It wouldn't but so has Jack."

"You said he was down as single…" She stated feeling a little lost.

"He is." Tara turned the screen so Sue could see and pointed to a specific entry. "But he's been flagged as well."

"By O.P.R...?"

"I guess so."

"He did say he thought Pinter was trying to get rid of him."

"Apparently, he's right. Why would..?" She stopped abruptly.

"Tara?"

"J-A-C-K" she signed and pointed in the general direction of the front door before quickly shutting down her laptop and slipping it into her bag.

o-xxx-o