Chapter 12:

By late afternoon Jack decided he needed to say something. Since he knew he would get nowhere talking to Sue, he decided to head down the hallways of the bureau, stopping in front of their supervisor's office. After watching her work on and off all day, going over in his head the previous conversations they had had, Jack overwhelming concern got the better of him.

"Jack," D said amiably, "What can I help you with?" As he entered, Jack closed the door and took a seat in front of his friend, and now his boss.

"I want Sue pulled off this case." Dimitrius looked at him, frowning for a second.

"What's going on? She seemed fine this morning. I mean she still looks tired, but not as bad as she had been before…" Jack spilled everything,

"Sue and I were talking about the case last night. She had asked me to fill her in on the case. I did. She seems, obsessed with catching this guy. It wasn't like her." Jack explained, Dimitrius noticing how concerned he was about this.

"Maybe she's upset about what happened. I mean, a case like this, I think it's hard on everyone, especially when children are involved…" Jack quickly jumped in.

"It's more than just that. I couldn't help but ask her afterwards where she had been. She seems to think we can all forget that she disappeared for two days without telling anyone, came back and then practically collapsed in the office the next day."

"What happened when you said this?" Dimitrius asked his friend.

"She closed down. I've never seen her act like that before. She wouldn't even answer me. She was cold, and just said she was going to bed and completely shut me out." Dimitrius contemplated what Jack was saying, before answering him as honestly as he could,

"Jack, I think pulling her off this case wouldn't help." Jack stared at his friend and boss, wondering why no one seemed to see what he was seeing. Dimitrius could tell Jack wasn't happy so he quickly recovered, "Just hold on one minute. I can see what you're saying. But if we pull her off, if what you're saying is true, she's only going to get worse. Since observing your obvious 'closeness'," Jack glared at him, "I'm sure that what you're saying is what's really happening. I think we need to find out what happened. We're an investigative office. Now I can't push aside this serial killer, but perhaps if we start doing a bit of digging on the side, without Sue's knowledge, maybe we can find out how we can help her. We'll keep her low key on the serial case, we keep it priority, but I will talk to the rest of the team privately and see what they can dig up. We already know Myles has started…"

"Thanks D. I really appreciate it." Jack responded in gratitude. Dimitrius took the opportunity to speak to Jack about something he had been meaning to for awhile. Jack moved to get up, so he spoke up quickly before he left,

"Jack – hold on. There's something else I think we should talk about." Jack sat back down curiously, waiting for what his friend wanted to tell him.

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Sue's eyes hurt from staring at the computer all day. She wished she could just rest them, but she knew at the first sign of weakness someone would make her go home. She was sure that Jack had talked to everyone else, since they all seemed to be watching her more keenly than normal. She hated the awkwardness that had grown between her and Jack, and her heart broke ever time they caught each other's eyes, and she had to look away. She could see the hurt in his eyes, and she knew she was the cause of it, and that tore her up inside.

She noticed she had a new email, and she quickly opened it, relieved when it turned out to be the one she was waiting for. And she knew that no one would have any objections to her leaving early to 'go home and rest'.

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"What is it?" Jack asked.

"I want to talk to you as a friend. It's about you and Sue and the obvious mutual attraction between you two." Jack didn't answer, but knew that with Dimitrius, he could be truthful, and the fact was, he needed to talk to someone before he broke down himself.

"Well, I don't know how true that is anymore." He admitted, feeling defeated having had said it out loud.

"Anyone who has seen you two together during the last 3 years has noticed. We've just all been too nice to say anything besides bugging you both with subtle hints. Maybe she's going through a tough time right now, but I wouldn't doubt that she cares about you, just like you do about her." Dimitrius explained.

"I've been thinking a lot about it lately. Before all of this happened, especially when the whole New York thing happened. I thought maybe, just maybe I would say something. The promotion really woke me up, but I was still too chicken to do anything about it. Then this happened, and she disappeared. I'd never been so worried about her in my life." Dimitrius nodded.

"Jack – I'm married. Trust me when I say that what you and Sue have is special. We've worked a long time together, and I know how you light up when she walks in, how every time there's a chance of her leaving, or something happening to her, you freeze up. Answer me this – do you want to live the rest of your life without her, because as sad as it is, we all won't be together forever." Jack took what Dimitrius was saying to heart, and it was different hearing it come from someone else, in the open. It made him think.

"No I don't." He answered simply.

"Then you know what you have to do."

"I wish it was that simple. What if she doesn't feel the same way? Look how she's pushing me away, maybe she's trying to tell me something." Jack replied back. Dimitrius sighed.

"Let's re-cap for a second, since Sue came to work here. Rhonda. Allie. Jessica. Did you ever notice how Sue reacted when any of them showed up into your life again?" Jack frowned and shook his head no. He had never really thought of it before.

"Every time someone showed interest in you, Sue took it harder than you realized. We all noticed, Lucy most of all."

"But David?" Jack started.

"Do you even know why they broke up?" Jack hadn't really thought about it. Now that he thought back, one moment David had been in her life, and then gradually, he had been out of the picture. He liked David, he was a nice guy, but the green monster of jealous had always invaded him when he saw them together. D continued, "She broke up with him, and from what we had heard from Lucy from when you two were not around, it seemed pretty obvious it was because of you. It was right after your undercover at Callahan and Merced." Jack paused for a second, before blurting out the question that had been tormenting him for years.

"What should I do? Do you think now is the right time for me to tell her…" D raised his eyebrows, waiting for Jack to continue what he knew he was having so much trouble saying, "…that she means more to me than as just a friend?" D contemplated. It was a tough call.

"Be there for her. Be supportive, but try not to push. Let's find out what's wrong. When the time is right, you'll know when to tell her."

"Thanks D." Jack said quietly, getting up to leave.

"No problem Jack."