From that night on, circumstances changed dramatically. Jack was coming over regularly, not only to see Brian, but to spend time with Shiela as well. They would sometimes go out, as a family, and do things together, dinner, movies and such. Then, after their son was in bed, they'd sit on the couch and talk or sometimes just cuddle up together listening to music. Shiela would breathe in his scent when she was near him. It was a wonderful narcotic to her senses. Even something so simple made her weak in the knees, just like it used to. One night they were sitting there, Jack was leaned up against her chest as they were talking. She ran her fingers through his hair and had her other arm draped over his chest, his hand in hers. "Jack, where is this going?" "Where is what going?" "You know. I mean this...'us'." "Let's take it day by day and see what happens." "Sounds good to me." He sat up and took her face in his hands, gently pressing his lips to hers, tasting her like a sweet wine. He leaned back and held her to his chest. It took Shiela back to the memory of when they were together years ago. She used to lay her head on his chest after they made love and listened to his heartbeat. God, how she loved and missed that sound. She felt as if it was beating only for her. Back then, she wished it was.
Shiela had a rough week at SVU. Cases piled on top of one another. As if that wasn't bad enough, Captain Cragen had given her a bunch of cold case files to work on and she had to send either duo out, Benson and Stabler or Munch and Fin, to do the footwork, keeping just about everyone in the unit hopping. There must have been over a hundred and fifty files in the stack. She looked at the pile of work before her and muttered, "I'll get Don for this." Being a DCI was no picnic, but it seemed the job at SVU was ten times harder than she expected. All she did in Dallas was bust perps in the drug cartel. Made it seem like being a Texas Ranger before she switched jobs to DCI was a turn for the worst. Between all the faxes, phone calls, interviews and such, she was wearing down fast and it showed.
Shiela walked in the door when she got home to the sounds of music and laughter coming from the kitchen. Jack saw how tired she was when she walked into the kitchen. He put his arms around her and kissed her for the first time in front of their son. All Brian could respond with was, "Geez, do you guys mind?". They just laughed at his typical teenager attitude. Jack took it upon himself to help her put her things away and told her to get her feet up in the living room and relax. He insisted she rest awhile and he and Brian would take care of everything. He brought her a plate when dinner was ready, along with his own, and sat down with her on the sofa. Their son came in a minute later with his own and they sat down and talked as they ate.
After dinner, both men returned to the kitchen, doing the dishes and cleaning up. By the time they'd finished, Shiela was sound asleep. Jack told his son to be quiet and sent him off to bed. After getting a blanket from the hall closet, he covered her up for the night. He leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss. He had to stop and look at her for a minute and couldn't help but smile at her lying there so peacefully. He whispered, "I love you" before grabbing his coat and leaving for home.
