A/N: Thank you for your kind replies. They brighten my days, especially today that I feel quite miserable thanks to the flu.


A knock on her door startled her from her thoughts. She had the TV on but for the life of her couldn't tell what had been on for the last hour. Her mind was totally absorbed by images of a tall Australian whose dimpled smile made her weak at the knees every single time. Like only some hours before when he had left the office to go pick Jack up at the airport, his face full of joy because his best friend was finally returning to the fold. She got up from the couch with a smile on her own face. Man, but she had it bad! Looking thorugh the peephole she recognized immediately the bent head and opened the door with an even wider smile. Until she saw his face.

"What happened?" She asked, grabbing one of his hands and leading him inside her apartment.

"He kicked me out." He replied in a bewildered voice. Then, after quickly roaming the room with his eyes, he threw a kick to his carryall, "He kicked me out!" He snarled.

She had not expected this outburst and let out a gasp of surprise that froze the tall man.

"I'm sorry. I didn't… I don't…" He was stammering and his face was a mask of guilt.

She shushed him with a finger on his lips, ignoring her shock at seeing so many different emotions play out on his handsome face in such a short span of time. She led him to her couch and sat down, hoping he would follow her example. He did and she very deliberately took his face between her hands and kissed him slowly on the lips until she felt him melting in the kiss.

"Now," She said, licking her lips "Tell me what happened."

"I was taking a shower." He began.

"That explains the still damp hair." She commented, ruffling them lightly.

He took her errant hand and kissed it on the knuckles then he caged it between his bigger hands, a soft, sad smile on his face. Right at that moment, breathless as she was, she had half an intention to go slap some sense into Jack. How could he hurt Bobby this way? She smiled back instead and invited him silently to continue. She had to understand why the kindest man she'd ever met was suffering at the hand of his best friend.

"So… I was taking a shower and my phone must have started ringing, I guess. I don't know because I couldn't hear it under the water and in another room. I had just shut off the water when I heard a sound from what I thought was Jack's room. I put the towel around my waist and I went checking, thinking that Jack had woken up and that maybe he needed help. Oh, he had woken up alright. When I started opening the door I heard the sound of the cock of a revolver being pulled back. I told Jack that it was just me and entered. I thought I saw relief in his eyes but then he started yelling at me because I hadn't answered the phone and the next thing I know he's telling me he wants me out of his house and of his sight forever."

He lowered his eyes at the end. Tara suspected that he did it both to hide his emotions – and at this Tara had to mentally snort because his whole frame was pouring misery, the eyes would have just been overkill – and to hide something else, something she thought was the true reason for Bobby's pain.

She leaned towards him and cupping his face with her free hand she kissed him on the forehead, then on the tip of his nose and finally she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Now, tell me the rest." She ordered softly, stroking his cheek with a thumb. He sighed.

"He told me it was my fault he was on the wheelchair and that the least I could do was to disappear from his sight." His voice was hoarse, the emotion clear in it.

Tara sighed. Jack had made a mess. He had hit exactly where he knew it would have hurt the most. This was the downside of friendship: your friends knew exactly how to comfort you but also how to give you the most lethal wounds.

"And you believed him." She commented, resigned.

"He didn't left any doubt about meaning what he said." He replied sullenly.

"I know he hurt you, Bobby, and you have every right to be angry but, please, do not take his words at heart. We both know he didn't mean them, regardless of what he assured you. He's scared and hurt. I guess he feels overwhelmed. I know I would feel this way if I were in his shoes. You're the closest person he has and the easiest target for his frustration. Give it a couple of days, let him settle back in his life. Let him have his space. He's been with someone, friend, family or medical personnel, since the shoot-out, weeks ago. You'd go stir crazy too in his place. In two-three days call him, let him know that you're still there if he needs you. You'll be there, right?" She asked, seeing the doubt in his eyes. "Please, don't give up on him. You'll regret it for the rest of your life." She pleaded.

She saw he was thinking on her words, probably asking himself what Jack would do if the roles were reversed. And she saw the moment he took his decision.

"Ok. I'll give him a couple of days then I'll chew him out but good!" He announced with a small smile at his last words.

"You do that." She agreed, smiling back. Now, on to the last shadow lurking in his eyes. "You know he was wrong, don't you?" She asked.

"About?"

"About it being your fault." She clarified patiently, even if she was pretty sure he had understood what she was talking about the first time around. Still, the doubt lingered, she could see it clearly. She was sorely tempted to slap some sense into him, too! Man, but they could be frustrating! Two peas in a pond, that's what they were.

"If it had been me at your place, would you have thought it was my fault?" She asked, already knowing his answer.

"I know what you're doing." He commented.

"Then you know you'd better answer me truthfully." She retorted.

He stayed silent for so long that she was starting to think he would never answer.

"No."

"Then why should it be your fault?" She argued. "Do you think you're a better agent than me?"

"What? No! Why are you saying this?"

"Because clearly you think that you should have done more whereas I couldn't have done anything more. I can't think of another reason fo this difference apart form you being better than me." She concluded, leving him speechless and maybe a little confused. What an adorable expression! "You couldn't have done anything different." She said, encasing his face between her hands and dipping her head to catch his eyes. "Believe me. I've reviewed the tapes of that night over and over again. You couldn't see the weapons. Neither could we. The only one who could see them before they started firing was Jack and he acted accordingly. He did exactly what you would have done had the roles been reversed. It's. Not. Your. Fault." She let her words sink in for a few moments then smiled. "Now that's settled, once and for all, I'd like to spend the evening more pleasantly…" She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, bringing a smile to the handsome face before her eyes, then leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the lips. The moment she felt his arms starting to close around her she slipped form his loose grasp and got up.

"Hey!" He protested, finding himself hugging air. "I thought you said you wanted to do something better."

"And I do. I was talking about eating." She replied with a mischievious smile. She turned her back to his crestfallen expression. "Oh, and I'll choose the movie!" She giggled at Bobby's loud groan. She didn't feel a bit guilty. She had deserved a good meal and a good chick flick – and here she had to giggle again imagining Bobby's reaction to her choice - and some serious cuddling. She was pretty sure he wouldn't mind so much in the end.

###

The next day, Bobby's presence at the office was soon noticed, they were FBI after all, and questioned.

"Jack needed a couple of days by himself." The Australian replied, daring Myles with a pointed glare to question him further. The Bostonian kept quiet. Again, FBI agent and all…

All eyes turned to him, though, when Sue entered the bullpen and announced that Jack had left her a message on her blackberry the evening before stating that he was going home for some time, that they didn't have to worry and that they shouldn't try to contact him.

"We had a fight." He explained finally when he couldn't stand the stares anymore. "Or rather he started yelling at me. I still am not clear on the reason for his fit. He never told me he wanted to go back home, though." He tried to talk in a neutral tone but judging from the sympathetic expressions on his friends' faces he doubted he had been successful.

"Probably it's for the best. Maybe staying with his family is exactly what he needs right now." Lucy commented but it was clear she was fighting her own emotions.

Maybe she was feeling betrayed, like Bobby was. Maybe they were all feeling betrayed. It was probably an unjustified feeling but Jack had not even given them the chance to help him and now was cutting them out of his life. Maybe they were all feeling guilty like he was because perhaps they could have done something more to help Jack, to make him stay, to make him feel better. Maybe they were all feeling as helpless as he was feeling. The truth was, though, that Bobby didn't care because knowing they were all on the same boat wasn't making him feel any better. A burden shared is a burden halved was just a stupid, nonsense saying. He felt as miserable as if he were alone in the room and in the situation. And he was tired of feeling miserable.

Spotting Jack's beloved model car he grabbed it and threw it against the nearest wall. It shattered, littering the floor with small and not so small fragments of plastic and metal, and Bobby stormed out of the bullpen leaving behind a group as bewildered by his action as himself. No one followed him. They probably were feeling like staying alone themselves.

Several hours later he found himself in front of Jack's house, his eyes fixed on the closed shutters. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't be the only FBI agent observing those windows that evening.