Chapter 21:

Sue walked back into her apartment, to see Jack with his eyes closed, stretched across her couch, assumingly fast asleep. She couldn't help but grin at the sight of him, obviously not having intended to take a nap. Not wanting to wake him, she tiptoed over, and carefully put a blanket on top of him, before heading into the kitchen and starting supper, attempting to make as little noise as possible.

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"Howie says he made contact!" Bobby announced excitedly as he strode into the bullpen, late Sunday evening. Everyone quickly gathered around.

"So when are we going to get to meet the illusive Ben French?" Myles asked. Bobby sighed.

"That's where our little glitch comes in, but only a small glitch. Ben French is very careful. He wants a meeting with just Howie first. Then he said, after the preliminary interview, Howie may or may not invite a friend to the next one, depending on how he does. Howie agreed; he's meeting up with Mr. French on Tuesday. Let's hope all goes well." Bobby explained.

"If Howie is meeting up with French, we're going to need to watch them. It's going to be way too risky with a wire. We've become so accustomed to having Sue…" D added.

"There's no way we can use Miss Thomas?" Agent Harper asked.

"No." Bobby said firmly. Agent Harper just shrugged.

"Well then, we have until Tuesday to figure out how this is going to work. Let's just go home, get some rest and start the day fresh tomorrow." Everyone happily agreed.

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Jack was surprised as he woke up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. He sat up quickly and looked around, noticing that he had sleep over two hours, as Sue walked into the living room.

"I'm beginning to think your worse than me." Jack grinned at her sheepishly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep…" he tried to explain. This time Sue interrupted him.

"Jack. I've been napping every day. It's not a big deal – I'm glad you got a good sleep."

"Well something smells good," he said, grinning. She smiled back.

"Dinner's ready in about 5 minutes. I'm going to go set the table." Sue went into the kitchen, while Jack turned around, folded up the blanket and placed it back on the couch. He couldn't help but think about how easily him and Sue always seemed to fit into the domestic life.

It was one thing to laugh when everyone joked about it at work, but it was another when he realized how seamlessly they worked together, how much he enjoyed their time together, how they seemed to know what the other was thinking. Well, at least Jack had felt like that before she had left. He would have given anything now to know what she was in her head, tormenting her thoughts.

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Jack was just about to leave for work, when he realized Sue wasn't up yet. He knew that she was normally a morning person, although, she did have an excuse to sleep in. Jack couldn't help but worry. He decided to take a peek inside her room, just to make sure she was in bed.

As he looked into the room, he saw her fast asleep, the blanket draping across the floor. Levi raised his head at the sound of Jack's footsteps. Jack quickly reached down to settle the dog, before going over and covering Sue up with her comforter.

"Jack?" She said sleepily, as he tried to creep out of the room. He turned back around and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"I'm just about to head to work. I'm just a phone call away if you need me, okay?" She nodded, and yawned.

"I'm coming to work today with Mike. I'll come later." Jack grinned at the Sue who was half asleep, and not quite coherent. It wasn't a side to her he had seen before, but he thought it was cute.

"Why don't you call me before, so I can make sure we're all there." Sue nodded and smiled.

"You smell good." Her eyes kept closing, tiredly. Jack couldn't help but laugh, but placed his hand on his cheek and quietly whispered,

"Go back to sleep, its okay, just sleep…" Her eyes never opened, and Jack knew within minutes she was sleeping deeply again. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, before grabbing his things and heading out the door to work.

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"So how are we going to work this tomorrow?" Bobby asked, once everyone had welcomed Jack and introduced him to Agent Harper.

"Is there anyone else with Miss. Thomas's talents here in the bureau that can help?" The agent asked. Dimitrius shook his head.

"No, Sue's all we've got. We can try placing mikes around the restaurant, but it might be difficult with the background noise. He picked a busy time, in a busy place, but otherwise that's all we've got. Bobby and Tara are going to go in too, at a table near by. Maybe they'll be able to hear something."

"Who's going to prep Howie?" Jack asked. Tara grinned, and looked at Bobby.

"Actually mate, that's why were so happy your back!"

"Oh no. You're not putting me on Howie duty." Jack said indignantly. Everyone laughed.

"Don't laugh Bobby." Dimitrius said, "You get to do it with him." Jack joined in, grinning.

"By the way – Sue and her brother Mike want to stop by sometime this afternoon. Mike's in town until tonight on business, and Sue promised him she would introduce everyone. She'll call before she comes."

"Wow," Tara said, her eyes sparkling, "meeting the family. Something you want to tell us Jack?" He looked at her completely confused. Dimitrius just shook his head, laughing to himself.

"She's wondering what you've told Sue yet. Did her brother give you any information as to what happened last week?" Jack sighed.

"Not exactly, Sue made him promise not to say anything, but I think it has something to do with this case." Myles frowned,

"But we found out about the case, after Sue had already come back from wherever she went." Jack nodded.

"I know. None of this makes any sense."