Chapter 8 (part 1): The Library Comes to You

Sue was getting bored when Lucy, Bobby, and Tara came for lunch. They brought some Chinese take out and a big stack of books and magazines.

"We figured you might be getting bored." Tara told her, "So we brought you a library."

"How are you holding up?" Lucy asked gently.

"I'm ok." Sue told her. "Jack's doing better." Bobby looked over at the monitors and saw that she was right. He was doing better, but not a lot better. Only a little better. He tried to hide his feelings, but he could tell that Sue knew he knew the same thing that she did. There were no guarantees that he would continue to get better. He could still slip farther into a coma very easily. Once he was there, he could die just as easily as he could come out of it.

"Don't worry, shiela." Bobby told her. "He'll get through this. Jack never backs down from a challenge." Even if it's a long shot for him to win. Bobby thought. There was no way he was going to say that and risk upsetting Sue. She was already pretty upset. Come to think of it, everyone was upset. The atmosphere at the office was so strained with worry, it was a relief to be here.

"What's happening at the office?" Sue asked.

"Paperwork." Bobby answered without enthusiasm. He made a face and Sue managed a little bit of a smile. "That's more like it. You can't let yourself get down."

"And we caught Jameson's wheelman. What Bobby's not telling you, though, is that the tension's worse at the office, mostly because of him." Tara told her, ignoring the dirty look she received from Bobby. Lucy nodded her agreement shortly and to the point, smirking at Bobby when he glared at her. Before they could tease each other any more, Jack's pastor entered the room.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"You're not interrupting." Sue told him, beckoning for him to come closer.

"What happened?" He asked. "I only got a few details and they were pretty sketchy."

"Bank shooting." Bobby said quietly, his voice cracking slightly. "We tried to stop the guy, and he got shot." The pastor nodded slightly.

"Would you like to pray together?" He asked them.

"Can't hurt." Tara said, and they all nodded their agreement. Joining hands, the others closed their eyes as they started to pray.

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