This got a little long, but hey. Bold quotes are speaking and signing.
Jack woke to his alarm blaring, blindly reaching over and slapping at it until it shut off. Sue stirred at his movement and snuggled closer to him. "Good morning love." She said sleepily, content to rest her head on his chest and curl in his arms.
He pulled her closer and ran his fingers through her hair as he did most every morning. They often spent a few minutes snuggling before the day began, but today Jack was miles away, the events of the day to come dragging him forcefully into wakefulness as his mind ran through scenarios that may come. Sue felt him tense and propped herself up on an elbow, staring down at him. He didn't seem to register her movements, staring blankly into space. She leaned down and kissed him, feeling him return to the present and return the kiss.
"Relax darling. Everything will be alright. D's got two teams that will be waiting in the wings and the surveillance van. You can't plan for everything right now." She said, drawing patterns on his chest, trying to keep him from entering fully into secret agent man just yet. Sure she was scared, but they just had to do their job.
He nodded slowly. "I just have the same feeling that I had last year." It hadn't escaped his mind that it had been a year ago almost to the day that he had almost been killed. "That there's something that I'm missing."
They had been working on taking down a weapons trafficker outfit providing arms to Hezbollah and Iran, and they had gotten Myles and Jack set up as a supplier. The final "deal" was going down today, and it seemed like the entire SOG was going to be supporting them. Yet Jack couldn't help but feel like something was off. When he noted it to Myles, he had received a strange look and an admission that Myles thought so too, but they couldn't find anything; only a feeling.
"I'll have your back." Sue said. Against Jack's private wishes, she was going to be in the van with Tara to read lips and keep an extra pair of eyes on all of the feedback they were going to be getting in.
Jack nodded slowly again, locking eyes with her. "I know..." Then he kissed her gently and rolled out of bed. When he turned back, Sue wasn't pleased at the fact that he had taken all of his emotions and had tried to hide them away, even if he was looking at her with a cheeky grin. "It will probably be faster if we shower separately today. Do you want first shower?"
Sue raised an eyebrow as she collected her towel. "I'll take first shower, I suppose..." When he didn't make a move to join her, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "I love you, Jack."
"And I love you, dearest Sue." He said, kissing her forehead and letting her go.
After he heard the shower door shut, he gathered a few items, but checked the location of the others. A copy of his will was set in an envelope addressed with to Sue with a note that he had written for her two nights ago. Bobby looked scared when Jack had pulled him aside and had given him the same instructions that he had a year ago.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Bobby asked.
Jack gave a cocky laugh, but Bobby could see that something was eating at him. "I gotta do my job, Bobby, and this is part of it." A shudder ran down Bobby's spine as he remembered those same words used shortly before they almost lost him.
But this time, it was different for Jack. He had so much to live for now; his wife, his baby. He had to support and protect them, and he couldn't do that if he were dead. That's why he had (almost belligerently) insisted on the big bucks getting shelled out for the new concealable body armor that had been developed for he and Myles to wear under their suits. Dragonscale. It even sounded bad-ass. He put the envelope away and moved to start making breakfast for Sue and himself.
"Ready to go meet Crack and Pow?" Myles drawled as he shrugged into his vest.
Jack couldn't help but chuckle at the names they had assigned to their two contacts. It had been a pun filled case, with more pistol, rifle, and explosive puns than he had heard for a long time. "Oh, I do think it will be a thrilling encounter." He responded, buttoning his shirt over top of his own vest.
The briefing had been simple. They had located the head honcho and figured any deal was going to have to be okay'd by him. They would get a fair number of top leadership in the ring in this take-down; they could have picked up each of them and had a better than even chance at putting them behind bars, but this would give absolute proof that would be a quick and easy trial. The moment that the "deal" was okay'd, they'd take them all. SOG had a team ready to go at each location, and Jack and Myles would bring in Crack and Pow with SOG backup.
Jack looked over Myles, practiced eyes just managing to find the concealed armor and only by knowing exactly where and how to look did he see the camera and mic. "Looking sharp, Myles. You ought to take to wearing that all the time. Makes you look buffer."
"I am an amazing physical specimen." Myles said with false pomposity. He looked over Jack's setup. "Good. Nothing sticks out." He rolled his head, trying to mask the nerves that were starting. "Jack, a favor?"
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
Myles stopped for a second, then started again. "Anything happens to me, look in my glove-box. Whatever you find there, give to Christine."
Jack nodded slowly. "Absolutely. You've still got a bad feeling about this too?"
Myles nodded. "Yes. I don't know why. But stay on your toes, Jack. We may have to do the take down earlier than we anticipate. First sign something is going on, we take them down."
"Damn straight. I told them we had enough, but nooo..." Jack said. He shook his head. It was a month since he had found out that he was a father, and he and Sue still hadn't told the group that they were expecting. Not even Bobby knew, even with Jack tasking him to find a good man for Sue if he bought the farm. It was weighing heavily on his mind at that moment as to the necessity of his survival. The bad guys got on the wrong side; if they had to buy it, that was life. He tapped the sub-compact 9mm in his jacket pocket to verify it was there, checked to make sure there was one in the chamber and the safety was off, then walked with Myles out to the car waiting for them.
"Sam 33 and Sam 36 are in position." Tara said from her seat inside of the van. Sue was watching two different screens at once; one where they had planted a camera looking into the head-man's (Boom) office and one on Jack and Myles. As she sat there watching, she noticed that both Jack and Myles were a little more tense than normal. She thought back to how they had both had a bad feeling about what was going on, and watched as the two men dubbed Crack and Pow arrived.
Things seemed to be progressing well, until she saw someone hurry into Boom's office and begin talking animatedly. Sue could only catch bits and pieces, but one she did get was "FBI".
"Tara, I think they may know." Sue said, grabbing her friend's arm. Her heart plummeted as Boom picked up his phone.
"All units, stand to! We may have been compromised!" Tara called, turning to Sue. "Crack got a call, what's Boom saying?!"
Sue gasped and blurted out, "They're FBI, kill them!" and turning she bolted for the door of the van. In doing so she missed Tara giving the call to execute, or how the video on Boom's window cut out as it disintegrated as the flash-bangs went off signaling SOG's entrance. None of this came to her attention until later as she threw open the door and ran towards Jack. "Davis!" She bellowed, using the first non-Jack name that came to mind.
Jack could tell something was off based on how Crack's face changed as he reached for the small of his back. Yes his heart stopped as he heard a voice scream "Davis!". He knew that voice. And it drew the attention of both Crack and Pow, who drew their sidearms, Pow understanding where this was going and looking at Myles, but Crack turning towards Sue and raising his hand.
Jack exploded into action, his shoulder driving into the man's sternum, hands clasped around his wrist dragging his aim away from his wife. They slammed to the ground, and Jack wrenched on the man's arm. A sickening pop followed by an agonized scream notified Jack that he had at least dislocated the shoulder and forced the man to drop his gun. Scooping it up, Jack turned ready to assist Myles, but found that Myles had his man pressed face first into the ground and had the man's gun pressed into the back of his head. He looked quickly over at Jack to make sure he was alright, then turned his attention back to his prisoner on the ground.
Jack then swung his attention over to Sue, terrified. He had felt the gun go off right as he had contacted Crack. Fearing the worse, he took in the sight before him; she was pale, swaying slightly, but appeared fine. Fingers that trembled almost too much form any sign stumbled out, You ok?
When she nodded, his brain started catching up with everything that had happened and he turned back to the fool that was still mewling in pain, anger flooding in to war with the fear that still clutched his heart. He held it together until the man was cuffed by SOG, handed the weapon over to them, then slowly turned back to Sue. She hadn't moved and was just staring at him.
"Just what the hell were you thinking?!" Jack ground out, striving to keep from yelling but failing miserably. "You could have been killed!"
"They knew who you were." Sue said defensively, reading the anger on his face, but also the fear in his eyes. She knew this was going to be ugly. But at least he was alive to have this discussion with her. "They were going to shoot you!"
"So you jump out of a perfectly safe van to draw their fire?! Oh, that's bloody brilliant!" Jack barked sarcastically.
"You didn't know-" Sue began, but it only served to throw fuel on the fire.
"I knew damn well something went wrong and that we were going to have to take them down when their call came in!" Jack yelled. "I'm trained for this for a reason, you know!"
"I didn't want you killed!" Sue fired back.
"So you get yourself killed?! I'm also wearing body armor for a reason!" Jack returned, thumping his chest. "You?! You wear a shirt! Oh, hell of a lot that's gonna do for you! You'd have gotten yourself and our baby killed! You can't just think about yourself anymore in pulling these dumbass stunts!" Jack yelled, his voice breaking, and through her tears Sue could see that he some running down his face. "You almost died!"
Eyebrows on the team, who were gathering on the outskirts and trying very hard not to draw attention, shot up at these words. Baby? D determined things needed to move somewhere else as passers-by started gathering; at least, that was his excuse for dragging Jack away and giving him some time to cool down. He walked over to Jack and grabbed his arm. Jack jerked back and D stepped back quickly, cursing as he realized how stupid that move was with a keyed up agent with reactions primed to take someone down. Jack looked D in the eyes, anger blazing that he was trying to curtail. "What?"
"We're getting an audience, and I don't want videos of my agents being taken and posted anywhere. Pack up and head back to Hoover. We'll debrief there." D said, and walked back to the waiting cars.
Jack turned back to Sue, who was just standing there crying. It was been the first time that he had ever sworn at her and her heart was breaking. That stacked with the fact that she may have gotten their child killed was weighing heavily on her. Tears were always his downfall; his anger, though still present, was being tempered with the relief that she and the baby were, in fact, alright.
He strode over quickly to her and took her into his arms, heart breaking as she tensed but then melting as she clung to him. He pulled back from her and tilted her chin up. "Three things: I love you, we'll talk later, and D want's us all back at Hoover." He nodded over to Tara. "Tara's your ride back. I need to run since I was directly involved in the take-down." He kissed her quickly, and signed I love you one more time before taking off after D and Myles."
"We need to talk, Jack." D said after they walked into Hoover. It was the first words spoken by the trio since they climbed into the vehicle. D was trying to think of how to keep his group together with the actions of Sue and the very public and personal outburst by Jack. Jack was trying to curtail the anger he still felt at Sue and begin handling the guilt that was coming at being so cuttingly sarcastic with the love of his life. Myles was just trying to stay out of the way and not draw the ire of either.
Myles took the very unsubtle hint and turned. "I'll go see what's in the cafeteria." He said lamely.
D watched him go as Jack's eyes never left D. Once Myles was gone from sight, D turned back. "Professionally, you were out of line to yell at another agent like that. Tell them off for a stupid move, sure. But you were getting personal. And if I hadn't stepped in, it would have gotten more personal than it had already. You know already that I'm grooming you for management; you have to keep your cool. I know she's your wife, but we also had an agreement that it wouldn't impact work. It has now."
Jack's heart dropped as he heard D talking. On the ride back he knew that he would probably get his wrist slapped for his behavior. He felt bad that he had said it as harshly as he had, but he wasn't sorry he told her off for pulling such a stupid move. But now it sounded like someone was going to get transferred. Determined to be the consummate professional that he strove to be, he stood straight and locked eyes with D. "Whatever your decision is, Sue and I will abide by it."
D let himself grin a little at the statement. "Good, since I'm still your boss. Consider this your warning. I don't want a repeat. Am I clear, Jack?" Jack nodded, but before he could answer, D continued. "As for Sue...she deliberately disobeyed an order from above. I can't let her off with just a warning...I can, however, soften it as much as possible. We can't have another instance of this happening again, or at best she'd be transferred. At worse, fired. Due to the heroism seen in action, blah blah blah, yada yada yada, I can have it set so that she is only restricted to her desk; meaning no more time in the van."
He had to laugh at the look on Jack's face; absolute relief. "Thank you, D. You've done it again."
D shrugged. He'd do most anything for his people. "One more thing, Jack. A personal level. She did it because she loves you. Consider yourself lucky that she loves you enough to lay down her own life for you. Yeah, you can gnaw on her bit for making the move when you were more protected than she, but she wanted to save you. Don't let your pride get in the way of letting her know how much you appreciate it. You know what's written."
Jack's expression was serious. "Who can find a woman of worth? Far beyond jewels is her value." He gave a small smile. "Sue's a wonderful woman. I am blessed beyond all wealth in what I have in her. I need to talk to her."
D nodded towards the elevators. "Go home. Prepare something nice for her when she gets back. I need to have a discussion with her, then I'll send her home to you. Probably send her with Lucy." Then a broad smile broke over his features. "By the way, Jack, congratulations. First kid's always the most interesting."
Jack blushed. "I suppose I did let that one out of the bag. Not how we wanted to inform you all, but yes. Sue's 3 months along."
D laughed. "Honeymoon baby."
Jack nodded, grinning. "Yup!"
"Well, congratulations again. Now go prepare for your lovely wife." D directed him.
"With pleasure!" Jack said, hurrying over to the elevators.
Sue walked up to the door to their apartment with no little anxiety. Was he going to yell at her again? She knew that the move itself, though praiseworthy in intent, was stupid in practice especially since she was pregnant. She got that. D had informed her of her pending punishment of being tied to desk duty, which worked out well considering her pregnancy. But when she found out that D had sent him home to decompress from the stress, she was a little ashamed to feel happy at the fact that they could put off the confrontation for another few hours.
Her heart sunk as she thought of having to rehash what had happened. She already knew that what she did was dumb, but she still couldn't see how if she didn't that Jack and Myles very well could have died. A tear of frustration slid down her cheek as she wrestled with the lock on his door, as she did every night. Oh, it's not too hard, he says. It's just a little finicky, and needs a bit of persuasion, he says. Sue thought angrily as she finally shoved the door open and releasing Levi to sniff around their home. When she looked up, she froze and gave a little gasp, taking in the scene before her in the darkened apartment.
Jack was waiting by their kitchen table, which was set with their china, four candles were lit on the table around a vase holding a bouquet of flowers. He slowly walked over to her as she looked like she was trying not to cry. Stopping in front of her, he waited for her to meet his gaze, but when she didn't he gently lifted her chin. Releasing a breath, he said "I love you".
That was when her already frazzled emotions gave way and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing into his chest as her hands skated around on him, verifying that he was truly alright. The moment she felt like she was finally getting herself under control, she burst out crying again. He gently eased her over to the couch and sat with her, holding her until she could get herself pulled together and taking the time to control a couple of his own tears of relief that she and the baby were alright too.
It took Sue several minutes until she could finally start babbling to him. "I'm sorry, Jack. Well, I'm sorry for putting myself and the baby at risk. I didn't even think...I didn't even...I'm sorry, I just wanted to save you, to keep you safe. When I saw the order to kill you my heart stopped and I had to do something! I-"
Jack finally eased back enough to place his lips over hers to stop the stream of words. She struggled for a split-second, wanting to continue talking, but let it go and simply kissed him back, soothing her troubled heart with the love that he had for her. He drew back enough to be able to sign for her. "I know. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shouted like I did, and I most definitely shouldn't have used the words that I did." He brushed her hair from her face. "I was so scared I had lost you and the baby, and I reacted badly. I want you to know that I didn't miss the fact that you were willing to sacrifice to try to save me."
His eyes got uncertain as he continued to speak. "However, I'm not sorry that I made it known that I was very displeased with how you tried. I don't ever want to have to see the sight of a gun drawn on you and our child again. I also don't like the fact that you didn't trust Myles and I with our training. We knew something was going down and we were getting ready to move when you screamed."
He shifted uncomfortably on the couch as Sue's eyes dropped. He touched her chin and she looked up at him with pain in her eyes. "Please promise me that you won't put yourself in danger like that again."
Sue shook her head slowly. "I can't promise that. I can while I'm pregnant, but I can't just sit by and see you in danger and not do something. I love you, damn it!" The tears started again, but her voice was steady. "Our child needs you alive, Jack. And when we have more, it will only be more imperative that you are able to be a father to them. You know the statistics as well as I, and as good as I can try to be, they need their father along with their mother." She sighed, thinking, and we both know you will be able to find another good woman to be their mother easier than I would be able to find a good man. But there was no way she would say that out loud to Jack; it would only make him upset and try to deny it.
Jack sighed himself, running his hand through his hair. "I'm already looking into management to get myself out of these situations. I've spoken with D. It probably won't come through for another year and a bit, but I'm in the system."
Sue snuggled into him, burrowing as close to him as she could and tucking her head under his chin. "Thank you." She whispered. "I didn't even consider this. The group is going to start splitting."
She felt Jack laugh and saw his hands begin to sign in front of her. True, but Bobby and I have already discussed this. Groups normally don't stick together as long as we already have been. Bobby's thinking about teaching at Quantico, and Myles is looking at bouncing to management once he get's married and has kids. So it's just going to be another change.
She nodded slowly, and they sat for a few minutes as Jack traced patterns on her stomach before she felt Jack stir and tilt her back up. Looking up at him, she saw the standard smirk and cheery glint to his eye. Dinner?
She laughed. You've already paid, so sure.
He stuck his tongue out at her teasingly and grabbed her hand as they walked over to the table.
I tell you what, I've almost killed Jack twice. I need to take better care of him ;). Hope you enjoyed.