Title: Because You Loved Me 3 - The Honeymoon's Over.
Author: Dana-Maru
Summary: Jack and Sue return to DC with quite an unexpected surprise ...
Disclaimer: Jack, Sue and anyone else you may recognize are not mine. But thanks Pax for letting us borrow them from time to time...
Author's Note: Please don't kill me for the ending!! Besides, those of you who know me know that I often can't help it with the angst stuff!
When they got back home from Paris, Sue was still vomiting morning, noon and night. Jack insisted that he take his wife to a doctor. After a week of not being able to keep anything down, Sue was only too happy to find out what was causing it. She knew Jack was worried, and she was too. So now, the two of them sat across from Doctor Alvarez, during their lunch hour, waiting to hear the results from her blood tests. Sue fidgeted anxiously with the sleeve of her jacket and Jack squeezed her hand. She smiled nervously and resumed staring at the doctor's face, waiting for her to speak.
"Mrs. Hudson, I have here the results of the blood test I took earlier this morning."
"And, what's wrong with me?"
"Nothing is technically wrong with you, Mrs. Hudson. You're not ill - you're pregnant."
Sue gasped, she hadn't noticed that she'd missed any periods, but then they hadn't really been regular in the first place. Now that she thought of it though, she had put on a bit of weight recently. Her eyes welled up with happy tears that went unshed and she squeezed Jack's hand, smiling.
"Now, you said you don't know when your last period was due, so I'm going to book you in for an ultrasound to estimate how far along you are. We can fit you in at 10 am tomorrow if you don't have anything else planned?"
Sue looked at Jack, the question in her eyes, and his eyes answering, before telling the doctor that 10am would be perfect.
They left the doctor's to get some lunch before going back to work. Sue, afraid that she'd be reacquainted with anything she ate, left half of her bagel untouched. They sat in silence while Jack ate his lunch, both taking in the information. Jack remembered the day he'd told D that he'd give anything to have what D had and now, that dream was about to come true.
At 10am the next morning, they were back in the waiting room at the doctor's, anxiously anticipating the ultrasound scan.
"I thought my life was perfect before, but to know I'm going to become a father, I think it's safe to say I'm the happiest man alive." Jack signed to Sue, unable to keep the grin off his face.
"I know; it's amazing to think I have our child growing inside me." She signed back.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hudson."
A nurse called on them, and they stood, letting her lead them to the scan room. Sue lay on the bed, glancing nervously at Jack who held her hand, as the nurse applied a cold gel to her abdomen. The nurse placed the scanning instrument on Sue's stomach, staring at the screen that would create the image of Jack and Sue's child. She put the instrument back in its place and left the room quickly, without a word.
"What's wrong Jack?"
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, honey." Jack mouthed, not quite believing it himself, and she knew it.
The nurse returned with a doctor, who again placed the scanner on Sue's abdomen and watched the screen intently.
"Ah, it appears that when you were ovulating, Mrs. Hudson, that your ovaries released two eggs instead of one and one of them split creating a third fetus."
"Did you say third?" Sue asked, incredulous, "you mean there's three babies?"
"That's right Mrs. Hudson, you are carrying triplets, I'd estimate that you're about ten weeks along - would you like to know the sexes?"
Sue glanced at Jack with questioning eyes, he nodded and they both said 'yes'.
"Okay," he said simply, watching the screen again as he slid the scanner across her stomach, "well, the identical fetuses are female and the other is male."
Sue and Jack stared intently at the screen, both with tears in their eyes. They would never have imagined that in such a short time their family would be complete. It wasn't planned but neither of them would trade this moment for the world.
"Mrs. Hudson, I know that in your line of work this may be difficult, but with multiple pregnancies, the risks of miscarriage are higher so I suggest you get as much rest as you can in the next few months.
As Sue approached her thirty-second week of pregnancy, the doctors - as well as Jack - had ordered her to rest. Complete bed-rest. And she was getting increasingly impatient with staying almost completely immobile day after day, after day. For two weeks, she'd been absent from the bullpen and, to put it politely, it was pissing her off. So, she argued with Jack that she should at least be allowed in the bullpen, even if she couldn't work the cases. Finally, Jack relented and she was back in the bullpen to be greeted enthusiastically by the team. That particular day, the team were investigating a group of drug dealers. Bobby and Myles, with the help of Howie, had managed to infiltrate the group that were issuing heroin in the streets of DC. And, later that day, the team planned to bust the gang. As the team gathered their coats on the way out of the bullpen, Sue took hers too but was stopped by Jack.
"Sue, I don't want you on this raid." He told her, matter-of-factly.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want you to put your life on the line. You have the babies to think of too."
"I am NOT an invalid, Jack Hudson! And I'll only be in the damn surveillance van!" She yelled at him.
The two weeks of frustration at being cooped up in bed finally released a little and she glared at her husband.
"Fine..." He relented, "but promise me you will stay in the van?"
"I promise!" She kissed him on the cheek, and followed him out of the building.
Sue, Lucy and Tara sat in the surveillance van, they still had a half hour before they actually had to start watching for any of their suspects, so they passed the time by talking excitedly about Sue's pregnancy.
"So have you thought about what you're going to call them?"
"Well, for the girls I was thinking of Celine - after the singer since one of her songs played at our wedding."
"Cool, wow it doesn't seem like it's been almost a year since you guys got married! Okay, the other two names?"
"Cherilyn. And Jackson for our son."
"Cherilyn? That's unusual, really nice though..."
"Yeah, I wanted something unusual; there are so many kids with the same names."
"I know what you mean, I think I've met five women named 'Tara' just in the past week!" Tara exclaimed
"I can see why. What about middle names..." Lucy asked, not so subtle in hoping that one of the babies would be named after her.
"Well, I had thought about that but I'm not sure the two I want would sound right..."
"And what have you thought of?"
"Lucy and Tara..." She said nonchalantly.
The women in question beamed.
"Cherilyn Tara Hudson... has a nice ring to it - don't you think?"
"Sure does Tara! I like the sound of Celine Lucy Hudson, too!"
"Poor Jackson though, his name's gonna be long if he's named after the team as well!"
"I'm letting Jack decide on that one!"
"Smart girl" Tara told her with a wink, "then you don't have to deal with Myles being an ass!"
The three of them giggled, and resumed their conversation about baby names and clothes and toys until Tara looked at the time on her watch and told her two friends that it was time to get some work done.
Tara informed Jack that the leader of the gang had just entered the warehouse with a briefcase, followed by his henchmen with rifles on their backs. Then, they watched as the team approached the warehouse entrance with caution. Tara tried to cover the screen when she heard the gunshot, for fear of Sue seeing Jack being shot. But she moved a split second too late and Sue watched in terror as Jack went down. Sue made a move to leave the van, so she could go to Jack, unaware that her waters had broken. Lucy pulled her back.
"Sue, it's too dangerous. Besides, I think you might also be in need of an ambulance."
"What?" Sue asked, glancing downward to the puddle of water and doubling over when the first contraction ripped across her abdomen.
"Tara, we're going to need two ambulances."
Tara nodded and called 911 then went back to staring at the small monitor.
"We got them!" Tara exclaimed
And before Tara or Lucy had the chance to stop her, Sue was out of the van. Running as fast as she could toward Jack, she stopped half way, falling to her knees when another contraction left her feeling like her stomach had been torn open. As soon as it subsided, she ran again, and collapsed at Jack's side, out of breath. She held his hands and sobbed, panicking and begging him not to leave her alone to raise their children. She was reluctant to leave his side when the paramedics tried to usher her into a separate ambulance, until Tara promised she'd stay with him while Lucy and Sue went in the other ambulance.
When they got to the hospital, Sue was wheeled straight to a delivery room, with Lucy still at her side. Two hours of pushing and Cherilyn Tara Hudson was brought into the world, followed after another hour by Celine Lucy Hudson. After that, the baby heart monitors went haywire.
"Baby in distress - prepare for emergency cesarean section NOW!"
Sue was injected with anesthetic before she had the chance to ask questions and soon she was asleep. Lucy prayed. She prayed for Jack, she prayed for Sue and she prayed that Jackson would be okay.
Hours passed, Jack was in the same room as Sue, upon his insistence after they removed the bullet from his shoulder. He was still pretty much out of it, as was Sue. The team had gone home to rest, after spending most of the night awake by Jack and Sue's beds. All of them, except Lucy who sat beside Sue, holding her hand and trying to figure out the best way to break the news. It would break her heart. Lucy's own heart filled with dread as Sue began to stir, and eventually opened her eyes.
"Hey... how's Jack?"
"He's doing fine, the doctors say he can go home as soon as he's awake and they check him over again."
"That's good," she smiles, "and my babies?"
"Cherilyn and Celine both weighed in at a healthy six pounds, eight ounces. They're doing great..."
"What about Jackson? Is he okay?"
"Sue... the umbilical cord wrapped round his neck when you were in labor." She began, trying to hold back her tears. "He... didn't... He didn't make it. I'm so sorry Sue!"
The tears she'd been trying to stop from falling were released when Sue started sobbing, and Lucy held her best friend tight until she stopped. With a few stray tears still falling silently, Sue leaned back and opened the baby book that had 'Jackson Hudson Jnr' printed on the front cover. She opened the book to the first page where the hospital staff had printed Jackson's tiny hand and footprints. The girls' books would be filled with photos of them growing up, but Jackson's would remain forever empty.
THE END
A/N: What's that I hear? You want another sequel? Click on that little purple button then lol