Chapter 5: Tell Her

"So, how's married life treatin' you this time around, mate?" Bobby asked in between bites of his incredibly messy Slappy's burger. Jack was slow to answer, finishing a bite of his own burger. While he'd been hoping to avoid talk of his "marriage," he knew that it was bound to come up at some point.

"Married life is pretty good. I'm certainly eating a lot better than normal," he replied, patting his stomach and trying to keep the subject light.

"Yeah, it's nice when you can take a break from the frozen dinners. They're kind of unavoidable when you're single," Bobby said with a grin. "I like it when Darce and I are on the same schedule and can actually cook dinner together; seems to happen pretty rarely these days," he said somewhat wistfully.

"Well, Sue's been doing most of the cooking when it comes to dinner," Jack admitted. "She's a great cook and seems to enjoy it too. I'm trying not to stick her with all the cooking though, this morning I even made her breakfast."

"How domestic of you," Bobby said with a grin. "Breakfast in bed?"

"Funny," Jack said, as Bobby chuckled. "My point is, I'm not about to take advantage of her culinary skills. I wouldn't do that if we really were married, and I'm not about to do it now."

"Aww, that's sweet. What a good husband you are. I guess this is sort of like a dress rehearsal so that you're prepared for the real thing," Bobby pointed out, a serious expression on his face.

"I guess that's one way of looking at it," Jack agreed, looking suspiciously at his friend. Bobby was no doubt leading up to something here and Jack wasn't so sure he wanted to know what it was.

"When you finally get the nerve to tell her, that is," He said, smirking before taking another bite of his burger.

"Tell her what? Tell who?" Jack asked him with a frown. He finished off his own burger and washed it down with a swig of pop. While he waited for Bobby to finish chewing he realized his stomach was feeling a little queasy. He wasn't sure if it was nerves or the lunch he'd just inhaled. He decided on the former, since his stomach had been in knots since the night before. Not that lunch at Slappy's was likely to help matters any...

What with the tension between Sue and him, along with the turn this conversation seemed to be taking, it seemed his nerves weren't going to be given a break anytime soon.

"I'm not blind Jack; none of use are. You've had it bad for Sue since the day you recruited her for the team, maybe even before then. Obviously the two of you have feelings for each other, and it's just a matter of time before something happens...unless that something has already happened," Bobby said, looking at his friend curiously.

"Why would you say that?" Jack asked with equal curiosity.

"Well, when you weren't drinking her in with your eyes this morning, she was the one gazing over at you. You're both pretty transparent," Bobby replied, grinning.

"So I guess everyone's busy gossiping about us instead of doing their work," Jack commented, sounding irritated. "I bet the American public would really take comfort in that fact." Bobby raised his eyebrows at his friend's defensive tone.

"Easy Sparky. It's only obvious to those of us who know you well. You've both been acting strangely all morning. At first I figured maybe you'd just had a spat. It didn't exactly seem like a fight either, though. And now I know something is up."

"It's not a fight," Jack confirmed.

"Care to talk about it, mate?" Jack looked at his friend for a moment before answering. He knew he could trust Bobby, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to tell anyone about what had happened. Saying the words out loud might give them a life of their own. In a way, since only he and Sue knew about it, he could almost pretend that the kiss had never happened. Then again, was that something he even wanted?

"I kissed her. I mean, we kissed each other," Jack blurted out. Bobby's look of shock was quickly replaced by a wide smile.

"Way to go Sparky!" he said, reaching over to give Jack a good-natured punch on the shoulder.

"It wasn't what you think, though. It was for the case," Jack insisted, feeling his ears turn red with embarrassment.

"How do you always manage to score these sweet undercover assignments anyhow?" Bobby asked, ignoring Jack's comment.

"Well for one, I don't have a girlfriend who might get upset at the thought of me living with another woman," Jack replied.

"Good point. So you kissed, huh? How was it?" Bobby asked, grinning slyly and obviously getting a kick out of watching his friend squirm.

"It was an undercover kiss, I already told you that," Jack said, shaking his head.

"Out with it, Jack. I know you've always wanted to kiss her, and now you've finally done it. You can't make me believe that it had no effect on you at all," Bobby told his friend.

"It was work," Jack insisted, knowing it was futile trying to convince the Aussie.

"You may have intended to keep it professional but I can tell it didn't work. Everything makes sense now--the way you've both been acting. You'd better thank your lucky stars that Lucy wasn't in the office this morning, she would have picked up on it right away," Bobby informed him.

"I know. Maybe I can manage to avoid Sue until it's time to leave--anything to avoid being the subject of office gossip," Jack said.

Bobby's mouth opened in surprise for a moment, and he looked at Jack with amusement, as he realized what his friend hadn't been telling him. "You haven't talked about it, have you?"

"What?" Jack asked, feigning confusion.

Bobby saw right through him. "Come on! Tell her how you feel, she's probably feeling the same way but doesn't want to be the one to bring it up. Be a man, talk to her!"

"Gee, thanks for the moral support," Jack mumbled.

"Seriously Jack, you've got to talk to her. After all, you're still husband and wife for the foreseeable future. You may as well enjoy it since it's pretty much impossible for you to avoid her," Bobby said.

"I know. And I'll talk to her. I just don't know what's going to happen when I do," Jack replied doubtfully.

"I'm sure you'll do the right thing. Good luck," Bobby told him, no hint of playfulness in his tone now. He knew that his friend had serious feelings for this woman and that it really wasn't a game to either Jack or Sue.

"Thanks. I think I'm going to need it," Jack replied. "I'll talk to her tonight," he promised. He was glad he'd talked to Bobby because he'd needed that extra push--and he knew that his friend wouldn't leave him alone either. "I need to ask you to keep this to yourself though, okay? I know you said that everyone knows something is up but no one knows the specifics yet, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"It's a deal, mate," Bobby agreed. "Should we head out?" he asked, dumping the garbage from their table into the trash.

"Sure, let's go." The two of them left Slappy's, each lost in his own thoughts. Bobby was wondering if Tara's lunch with Sue had been as successful as his with Jack, while Jack was both eagerly anticipating as well as dreading being back in the bullpen with Sue.

He felt very conflicted to say the least and realized that talking about it was the only solution. He'd known that all along, but being in denial was just easier than facing up to his feelings. Hopefully Sue would agree, and they could get things out into the open.