Ultimatum

By aubreysmom

Rated: T

Warnings: none

Chapter 1: Heart Failure

Monday morning, 8 am

Jack Hudson walked into the Bullpen Monday morning with a smile on his face. He'd had a whole weekend off for the first time in six months, and had spent Saturday at the ice rink near the Smithsonian playing hockey with some friends. Sunday had been completely free, and he felt refreshed and more energized than he had in what seemed like forever. Nothing, nothing could go wrong today; he didn't care what Garrett had to throw at them, it wasn't going to shake him.

His smile got broader as he watched Sue and Lucy signing animatedly at the coffee station. Whatever the topic of conversation was, it seemed to have them as happy as he felt. He watched Sue fondly for a moment; she had become a bright spot in his life in ways he wasn't even admitting to himself yet.

"Good morning, Sparky!" Bobby Manning's voice buoyed him further, and Jack turned to exchange a high-five with the tall Aussie. "My, my, you're in a chipper mood today."

"You're right, Crash. I am. I had a full day of slapping a puck around, another day to recover from it and finally get my apartment cleaned up, and I feel ready to take on the world."

Tara had joined Sue and Lucy, and now there was whispered conversation along with the signing; Tara was learning, but she still wasn't quite to the level where she could follow all the signing. Jack watched them chat for a minute, then sat down at his desk and started going through the files in his basket.

Suddenly, he heard something that froze his heart and made every pleasant moment of his weekend plunge off a cliff.

Tara whispered excitedly, and undoubtedly a little louder than she'd intended, "David asked you to marry him?"

Jack's head snapped up just in time to see Sue nod. Since her back was to him, he couldn't see her face. He saw Bobby in the corner of his eye, watching him intently. He turned to face the Aussie. Did you know about this? he mouthed silently.

His friend nodded, and held up a handwritten note on his legal pad. They've been talking about it since they came in this morning. Want to go get some real coffee across the street? We can talk.

Jack thought for a moment, and then realized his brain wasn't functioning even on that level, so he simply nodded. Unfortunately, at that moment Dimitrius walked briskly into the room, with Myles right behind him. Their expressions put an instant hold on both conversation and coffee plans.

As the ladies turned to hear what they had to say, Sue noticed Jack coming around his desk toward the board. How long has he been here? she thought. Her answer came in the fact that he didn't even glance at her as he settled himself against his desk to listen. Bobby came over next to him, and the Aussie shot Sue both a glance and a slight nod in the same motion. Oh, great. That's not how I wanted him to find out. But she didn't have time to straighten things out now.

"Early this morning a church building over in Arlington was bombed," D was saying. "The building was pretty damaged, but fortunately no one was inside."

"The interesting twist," Myles added, "is that three other churches had bomb scares at the same time. A tip, a suspicious-looking box, but no explosives inside. And whoever this is isn't picky about his religion. The four churches were, respectively, Presbyterian, Baptist, a Jewish synagogue and a mosque."

"We need to go talk to the clergy at all four; see if we're dealing with one suspect or a major coincidence." D managed a grin. "And we all know how likely that is. So, Jack, Sue—"

Bobby piped up even before Jack could raise his head. "Aww, how come I never get to hang out with Sparky anymore? It's not fair." He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

Sue looked over at the Aussie, startled; then, she realized what he was trying to do. "Go on, then. Far be it from me to break up the 'Dynamic Duo.' He's all yours."

Myles looked from one to the other, clearly having no idea what was transpiring. He could see Jack was preoccupied about something, but he hadn't been in the Bullpen earlier and hadn't heard Sue's news. "Could we do 'study hall' later? This is a fairly major case we're talking about here."

Dimitrius nodded, shooting the trio a strange glance of his own. "I agree. Jack and Bobby, then; go talk to Reverend Dean Adams at First Presbyterian in Arlington. His is the church that actually got damaged. Sue, you and Myles go check with Pastor Scott Conners at Grace Baptist. Tara, you and I are going global; we'll talk to Rabbi Ian Daniels at Temple Beth Chai, and Saiid Baaghil, administrator at Mosque Emmanuel."

Myles turned to Lucy. "Luce, can you pull together a list of all the churches in the area, just in case our bomber or bombers aren't quite finished?"

She nodded as they all headed out the door. She had turned to start putting the list together when she heard a voice behind her.

"Oh, Luce? Thanks."

He was gone before she even could turn around, but she completed the movement anyway. That couldn't have been who I thought it was. Unless a month with Randy actually made him appreciate the rest of us. She thought about that for a minute. Nah.

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Monday, 9am

"I don't want to talk about it."

Bobby sighed in exasperation as he maneuvered the car through traffic. "Will you just listen for a minute, mate? She didn't say 'yes' to him— not yet, anyway."

Jack finally turned to face him. "She didn't?"

"No." The Aussie slowed as the light ahead turned yellow. "From what I overheard, he kind of blindsided her with it, out of the blue. She told him she needed a little time to think about it. Sounded like he took that okay..."

"But she didn't say 'no.'" Jack turned back towards the window with a sigh.

Bobby shook his head as traffic started moving again. "You know what? I hate to say this, but Myles was right— study hall is an appropriate metaphor for the two of you. Why don't you just tell the sheila how you feel about her and get it over with?"

"I can't. The dating policy at work—"

"—is simply an obstacle, Sparky. And an excuse." They pulled into the parking lot at First Presbyterian Church. Bobby stopped the car and leaned one arm on the steering wheel, looking at his friend. "Jack, my gut tells me that you are the reason David popped the question to Sue the way he did. He's more or less giving her an ultimatum because he can't figure out where he stands with her. And, honestly, neither can the rest of us."

Jack's head snapped around at that, and Bobby continued, "You have a decision to make, mate."

"I do?"

"Can you stand working with her every day, knowing she's married to someone else? Or, can you handle one of you transferring to another unit so you can see if there's a chance for something between the two of you? Either way, I think you owe her the truth about your feelings for her."

Jack let that sink in for a moment. It didn't solve his problem, but it was enough that he could file it away for later and focus. "You're right, Crash. I guess I do owe her at least that." He looked up for the first time and got a good look at the church building. One entire wall had been blown out.

"Wow."

"Yep," Bobby replied. "Guess we'd best go find Reverend Adams."

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Monday, 10 am

Myles shifted the box he was carrying, as they walked out of Grace Baptist Church, so he could open the back door of his car. "Come on, wonder dog. Hop in."

Sue absently unhooked the leash, and the big Golden Retriever jumped into the car with a bark. Myles placed the pseudo-explosive on the seat and jumped back slightly as a wet tongue licked his face.

"Ok, ok." The tall agent closed the back door, opened Sue's door for her and moved around to the driver's side. He paused, looking at her over the roof of the car. "You okay?" He had to wave to get her attention.

She looked up. "Hmm?"

"All right, that's it. In the car." When they were both seated, he turned to face her. "You barely said three words in there, and I'm willing to bet you couldn't tell me what Pastor Conners had to say. What's going on, and what was that nonsensical scene in the Bullpen this morning?"

Sue sighed. "David asked me to marry him. Last night."

A pair of blond eyebrows went up. "Oh." He glanced at her hands. "I don't see a ring. I'm assuming then that 'congratulations' aren't in order. So why isn't Jack jumping for joy?"

"Because I didn't tell David 'no,' either." She sighed again, and it all came out in a rush. "He blindsided me, Myles…I didn't know what to say. I really hadn't thought about marriage. David is so wonderful; I really do love him—"

Her colleague's voice softened a little. "But you can't deny that you have some strong feelings for our illustrious unit-leader."

Her blonde hair covered her face as her head dropped. "No."

Myles looked out over the church parking lot for a moment. "My word, 'study hall' was an understatement," he said under his breath. He took a deep breath and turned back to her, touching her arm to get her attention. "Then I suggest you have a talk with Jack. I take it he doesn't know that you're still considering what to do?"

"I think Bobby has probably filled him in by now. But, how can I talk to him? It's not like it's going to make a difference. The policy about dating—"

"—has been a wonderfully convenient excuse for the both of you." He shook his head. "I can't believe I'm actually going to involve myself in this, but, for crying out loud, talk to the man. Figure it out; at least if there's really something there you both want to pursue. If I were David, I probably wouldn't have waited this long to ask where I stood with you. You're not being fair to him, or Jack, or yourself, for that matter, by going around in circles over this. And, incidentally, I'd prefer to have the entire team sharp for this case, if you don't mind." He gave her a stern look, mingled with a touch of understanding.

Sue nodded. "You're right."

He started the car. "Of course I'm right," he said with a bit of a grin.

Just before they pulled out into traffic, Sue turned to him again. "I think that month-long stint with Randy did something to you. Since when are you the analyst?"

Myles gave her a sideways glance. "I have no idea what you're talking about." At her yeah-right expression, he laughed softly. "All right, all right. Thirty days with that…let's just say I couldn't be happier to be back with the team, and it's leaking out a little. I'm hoping it will wear off eventually."

She laughed in return. "Why? Although, I'm not sure the team could handle the long-term loss of our favorite cynic."

"Thank you." He grinned fully this time. "I think."

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Monday, 5pm

Back at the Bullpen late that afternoon, things seemed a lot less tense, at least as far as the incidentals were concerned. The case, however…

"'How many more to die in the name of somebody's God?' The same note, left at each church, tacked to the front door." Dimitrius crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against his desk. "Looks like our bomber has an axe to grind with the 'Man Upstairs.'"

"And, not having direct access," Myles added, "decides to take it out on the believing down here. So, what have we got?"

They tossed details back and forth, painting a picture without an artist: the pseudo-bombs were identical, a handful of wires strewn around, connected to a timer and what had appeared to be C-4, but was determined later to be simply modeling clay. The fourth, the one that blew out the wall at First Presbyterian, had been destroyed, obviously, but the information they had from the Bomb Squad indicated it had likely been similar, except that the C-4 had been real.

The notes were all printed, likely done on a home computer. There were no fingerprints on any of the boxes, and none of the clergy or their staff had seen anyone suspicious.

"What a mess," Lucy commented as they finished up. "Makes me ill just thinking about it— even a church isn't safe anymore. And I don't think there's any way we're going to be able to watch all the churches in DC and Arlington. There's just too many."

"Unfortunately, I agree," Dimitrius said. "But we're gonna have SOG watching a dozen random picks, including the three that got scares this morning. Maybe we'll get lucky. Until then, we may as well call it an evening. If SOG comes up with anything, I'll call you. Myles and I are going to go over a map of the area and see if there was anything that might have attracted our bomber to these four spots as a first target."

The rest of the team gathered up their belongings. Jack leaned over to Bobby and said, "You want to go grab some dinner?"

"Sorry, mate," the Aussie replied. "Darcy's making dinner for us tonight. Besides, don't you have something to take care of?" He nodded over to where Sue was discussing something with Myles.

"Oh…yeah." He looked at his friend, a bit of hesitancy in his eyes.

"For Pete's sake, get it over with, Sparky. You're gonna go off the edge if you don't." Bobby waved to the room at large and headed out.

Myles was pointing a stern finger at Sue. "Remember what I said earlier, Miss Thomas. It's not fair to any of you to drag it out," he said softly, as he caught Jack in the corner of his eye, heading toward them. He straightened and raised his voice slightly. "Okay, so there's that angle covered. Hopefully we can get this nut before he decides to manifest any more of his 'Amazing Grace.'" He walked away, heading for D's desk.

"Hey," Jack said, leaning into Sue's sight line.

"Oh! Hi," she replied.

"Um…you hungry? Want to grab a bite to eat? Or do you have plans?"

She smiled at him, a little hesitantly. "Actually, David's out of town for a few days. A big grower's convention, possibilities for some contacts he could use. And Lucy's going over to her grandmother's tonight, so I thought I'd just do Chinese takeout at home."

"You want some company? I'll even spring for the takeout."

She almost chickened out; then she saw Myles in her peripheral vision. He raised an eyebrow at her in a meaningful expression. Get it over with already.

Sue sighed softly, and then smiled at Jack. "You've got a deal."

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