Chapter 23: In the Wee Small Hours

As she walked to Jack's room very early in the morning, Sue was surprised at how rested she felt, despite having her sleep so interrupted. She knew it was probably because she no longer had to worry about keeping up pretences. Their undercover assignment was over with, and she couldn't be happier. That alone was a huge relief, in addition to the fact that Jack was doing wonderfully, showing no signs of a serious head injury.

She froze in her steps when she saw him. He was twisting and turning on the bed, his face a mask of anger, then fear. Looking at his lips, she was sure he must be yelling something, but she couldn't tell what it was. Sitting down beside him, she grasped his hands in hers and said his name in a soothing tone, telling him to wake up. He calmed down almost immediately, and after a few moments he slowly opened his eyes. "That must have been some dream," she told him, still holding his hands. She tried to smile, but her eyes were worried as she looked down at him.

"Yeah, it was," Jack agreed. "We were back in the basement with Dr. Lee, only things suddenly went wrong, and…" his voice trailed off and he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Tell me," Sue said softly. "It'll make you feel better," she assured him.

"But it'll make you feel worse," Jack warned her.

"I'm a big girl," she assured him. "I'm sure I can handle it."

Jack looked at her doubtfully, but he was pretty sure she wouldn't leave him alone unless he told her. "I made a wrong move, and the gun went off. You got shot." His voice choked up with the last sentence, and he was glad, for once, that she couldn't hear it. "It was my fault," he said.

"It was just a dream, Jack," Sue reminded him. "You saved me, remember?"

"It may have just been a dream, but what if it was also some kind of warning?" Jack said. Sue shook her head in confusion, not understanding how he could read so much into a dream.

"You've been through a trauma. I'm not a doctor, but I'm sure that it's perfectly normal to--"

"This isn't the first time," Jack said, cutting her off. He carefully sat up, propping up his pillow so that he could lean against the headboard. She looked at him curiously, waiting for him to go on. "The other night, when I was waiting for you to come home from your evening with Lucy, I had a strange dream," he told her.

"Go on," Sue prompted him. "What was it about?"

"Well, the beginning of it was very pleasant," Jack told her, his eyes twinkling. "I was with you in the car, and we were…" He stopped and just looked at her, grinning softly at her embarrassed expression as she realized what he was referring to. "It was a nice dream, to say the least. But then, it changed. Suddenly we were in the middle of a busy road, and I was driving the car in the wrong lane of traffic. Another car was just about to come crashing into us when I woke up."

"Wow," Sue said, not knowing how to respond at first. He was clearly distressed by both dreams. "You must have been more worried about the case than you would admit," she told him.

"I don't think that's what it meant," Jack told her.

"What do you think it meant then?" Sue asked.

"As much as I want to be with you, I'm afraid that I'm only going to end up hurting you in the end," Jack told her, sorrow in his eyes.

Sue shook her head in disbelief. "How could you think that?"

"It's the way I feel," he answered honestly. "I guess I'm just afraid that I'm going to mess this up somehow. I can't stand the thought of hurting you, Sue."

"There's no guarantee that one of us won't get hurt, but we can't worry about that," Sue told him gently. "I know that you would never purposely do anything to put me in danger, so please don't worry about the dreams, okay?"

"I'll try not to," Jack promised. "And don't think that I don't want to be with you, because I do," he assured her.

"Good," Sue told him, taking one of his hands in hers. "What we have…Jack, I've never felt this way before," she admitted.

"Neither have I," Jack agreed, "and this might sound like a cliché, but I can't seem to get you out of my head these days," he confessed.

Sue raised an eyebrow, surprised by his admission. "Really?" she asked, feeling overwhelmed by what she saw in his eyes.

"That's pretty much been the case since the day I first laid eyes on you," he admitted with a laugh. "And the more I've gotten to know you, the more I've cared about you. But since this case has started, and we've allowed ourselves to let go of our uh, inhibitions," he said with a grin, "I've really figured out how much you mean to me," he finished, feeling a wave of relief when he saw the smile of happiness on Sue's face.

"I know what you're saying," she told him. "And I don't want to ignore what I'm feeling either. I just…I want to make sure that we don't let ourselves get carried away. Things have been so intense while we've been working on this case, plus we've been living together under one roof, making it impossible to breathe, or to really even think about our feelings." Jack listened intently, somehow anticipating that he wasn't going to like what she had to say next. "I just think that now that this case is over, maybe we need to take a step back. We don't know what's going to happen when we get back to our ordinary lives, and I think we need to give it some time," she finished, looking at him hesitantly.

"If that's what you want, then that's what we'll do," Jack told her, not even trying to hide his disappointment. "I know that my feelings for you aren't going to fade, though. For me, there's no going back."

"That's good, because I don't want to go back," Sue assured him, her heart fluttering at his words. "I like what's developed between us here," she said with a smile. "I'm just concerned that we're getting so wrapped up in these new feelings that we're not considering how it will effect our lives once we leave this house."

"You're right, but I think I would be unhappy if it didn't affect our lives," Jack said. "Seeing you at work every day isn't enough for me. I want to see more of you. A lot more," he added with a cheeky grin. Her eyes widened at the possible implications of his comments, but she decided to let it slide for now.

"Do you think they'll still let us work together if we start dating?" Sue asked uncertainly.

"Well, the no-dating policy is basically in effect to prevent agents in the same unit from dating. You and I do investigative work together, but a lot of your work is behind the scenes. I really think that if we talk to Garrett he'll okay it, so long as we agree to keep things professional at work," Jack told her. "Of course, he'll have to assign you a different training agent," he added.

"Of course," Sue agreed. "Hopefully we can convince him." Jack was holding her hand in both of his, gently massaging each of her fingers and sending tingles throughout the rest of her body. "So we'll just take things slow, then, and see what develops," she said, smiling at him.

"I can live with that," Jack told her. He studied her for a few moments, looking as though he had something else to say.

"Jack, what is it?" Sue asked.

"I'm definitely going to miss this," he replied. He didn't have to elaborate; she knew what he meant.

"So am I," Sue said quietly. His expressive eyes looked a little sad, and she reached over, giving him a hug. Jack's arms moved to her waist, bringing her even closer. Sue became well aware of the fact that she was now sitting in his lap, but didn't pull away. Instead, she shut her eyes and just enjoyed the closeness---being held by him was an amazing feeling.

Jack buried his face in her hair, inhaling the pleasant scent of her shampoo. He gently brushed it aside with his fingers, placing feather-light kisses on her neck. Sue shivered in response, and Jack smiled when she didn't protest. He continued to softly kiss her neck, moving slowly upwards until his lips found hers. She responded to his kiss, and he quickly felt the now familiar passion begin to overtake them.

Sue broke the kiss and looked at him playfully. "If this is taking it slow, I'm afraid to know what it would be like if we started moving too fast," she joked. Leaning forward, she gave him a quick kiss on the end of his nose before pulling out of his arms. Putting a safe distance between them, she smiled at him reproachfully. "I guess this means that you're feeling better."

"I'm actually feeling really good at the moment," Jack told her with a guilty smile. "I've got a dull headache, but you were sure making me forget about that just now," he said mischievously.

"I'll bet," Sue said with a laugh, narrowing her eyes at him. "Just the same, I'm going to go and let you--"

"Don't go," he said, pleading with his eyes.

"Jack…" Sue said softly, shaking her head as she continued to smile at him. "I think I need to leave now."

"Please stay---I just want to hold you," Jack insisted. Sue's heart lurched in her chest. She ached to take him up on his offer, but she didn't want to put either of them into a situation that could turn awkward. "We both need to get some sleep, and since you're going to be coming back in to wake me in a few hours anyhow, why not just stay?" Gazing at his sincere expression, Sue could see that he was determined not to take no for an answer.

"I've got my alarm set already; I should just go back to my room," she protested weakly.

"I've got an alarm clock, too. If I don't hear it for some reason, then Levi will come in and wake you up," Jack said rationally. Turning to the bedside table, he set the time on his alarm and turned back to her, looking somewhat smug. "I'm feeling fine, but I'd feel a lot better if you would come back over here," he told her.

Somewhat surprised, Sue's mouth dropped open at the boldness of his statement. "Oh really?" she asked him, chuckling.

Jack gave her his most charming smile and softly said, "Please come here." Sue finally obliged, as Jack moved over and lifted up the covers so she could slide in beside him.

"Sleep well," she told him, eyeing him with a suspicious smile.

You, too, Jack signed, grinning impishly as he put an arm around her. Sue smiled knowingly, and his grin began to fade, his expression growing more serious. He reached over to gently run his fingers through her hair, then put his hand in the air again. I love you, he signed, his eyes brimming with emotion.

"I love you too, Jack." Sue leaned forward to kiss him softly before turning in his arms, laying her head on the pillow. She felt him snuggle up behind her, spooning her body with his own. He put his arm around her, resting his hand lightly against her stomach, and Sue felt heat radiate from the places where Jack's body touched hers. True to his word though, Jack simply held her, and Sue felt her heartbeat slowly return to normal as she relaxed in his arms. Overwhelmed by feelings of love for him as well as from him, Sue suddenly felt enormously blessed to have Jack in her life. She had no idea what the future would bring, but she hoped that she would face it with this man by her side.

That's a wrap…

Author's Note: Thanks for all of the feedback that has been left--it's always appreciated! For anyone who is interested, I have written a sequel to this story called From the Ashes. It can be found in its entirety at http: stfbeyefanfic. com in the forums.