A/N: Haha, sorry, I know I did take way too long to post. Here's another chapter.


Chapter 28: Once In A Lifetime

"Hey," Jack greeted smiling.

"Hey yourself," replied Sue.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he apologized, his voice raspy and weak.

"Just don't do that ever again."

"It's on my list of 'things never to do again' already."

Jack winced slightly as he said that but managed to keep the smile on his face.

"You have to take it easy there."

"I know," he said closing his eyes for a minute. "Is my mom okay?"

"She's worried, like any mother would be," she said tentatively. "Jack?"

"Yeah."

"Next time if you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you."

He moved his hand and signed 'thank you' while mouthing it. Sue smiled at him softly but started to play with her hands.

"Is something bothering you?" asked Jack, noticing how uncomfortable she looked.

"No."

"You're a pretty bad liar."

"My mom always told me that. That's the disadvantage of not being able to hear your own voice," she said sighing.

"So what's wrong?"

"Almost losing you twice in one day isn't exactly what I planned for today."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"I just wanted to say that," Sue stopped to take in a deep breath. "I-I really care about you."

She rushed the last part of her sentence that Jack looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"What I mean is…"

"I heard what you said," Jack interrupted, trying to sit up in his bed. "I really care about you too."

"You do?"

"You sound surprised."

"I just thought you and Cayleigh…"

"Oh."

Now it was Jack's turn to look somewhat uncomfortable.

"You two are yelling at each other one minute and then friendly the next," Sue explained. "And then Tara said that she came back to D.C. because she loved you."

"I do love her," Jack stated plainly.

The sparkle in Sue's eyes seemed to disappear as Jack squeezed her hand gently.

"But my relationship with Cayleigh is different, there's another woman who has my heart."


"Darce, what are you doing here?" Bobby asked wrapping his arm around her.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Um, about us."

The smile on Bobby's face slowly faded away as she led him outside into the hospital parking lot.

"I don't understand," he said, looking at her suspiciously.

"We haven't been spending a lot of time together," she started.

"I've been really busy lately."

"I know Bobby, just let me finish. I miss you."

"Darling, I miss you too. Believe me I'd rather be with you every night than working on a case."

"Good."

"But you know I can't," he replied exasperatedly.

"I know."

"This isn't the real reason why you're here, Darce. Spill."

"Can we go someplace else? I hate hospitals," she replied nervously.

"Sure."

Darcy reached over and held onto Bobby's arm as they crossed the street to a small coffee house. As they walked in, they noticed almost all of the tables were completely empty except for a man watching the television.

"Damn it, c'mon score already!" the man yelled.

"What are you watching?" asked Bobby.

"The hockey game, the offence is terrible," he replied, shaking his head. "Ah, well that's it, just perfect. We were this close to."

The man cursed to himself and dropped a couple of bills on his table before heading out the door.

"I can't believe the Capitals lost," Bobby said to Darcy.

"What? Oh yea, it's such a shame," she said dejectedly.

"Now are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"Stop yelling at me," she said rather frazzled.

"I wasn't yelling."

"Sorry, I'm really sorry. It's been a long day at work."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No… Yes, I guess I have to," she rambled before composing herself. "I, uh, I got a promotion."

"You did? That's great news!" he exclaimed. "Why aren't you excited about this?"

"I'm an official foreign correspondent, now."

"Oh, where are you going?" he asked apprehensively.

"Tel Aviv," replied Darcy focusing on the cappuccino sitting in front of her. "My flight leaves tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? That's short noticed."

"I've known for about a week."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because I spent all week trying to find the right time to tell you."

There was a brief pause as Bobby tried to process everything Darcy had just told him.

"You should go," Bobby simply said.

"I should?"

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," he said, forcing the words out. "You've always wanted to travel."

"What about us?"

"I don't know, what about us?"

"I love you Bobby. I don't want to lose you because of this."

"You have to go," he blurted out. "If things don't work out between us and you stayed, you'll regret not going."

She finally looked up trying to fight back the tears in her eyes.

"I guess I have to start packing," she said finally. "Goodbye, Special Agent Manning."

Getting out of her seat, Darcy kissed Bobby softly on the cheek and walked out the door. Bobby sat in silence for of couple of minutes before pulling a black velveteen box out of his pocket. He opened the box and stared at the pink diamond ring sparkling brightly even in the dim lighting.


TBC