A/N – Well, I'm glad to hear you guys like it, and of course I will continue and go on with my plans for a second part. I always appreciate all your comments! I am going away next Saturday, so I'm hoping to have Part 1 done before I leave for 10 days to go home. Fingers crossed!

Chapter 23:

"I thought you wanted to stay off this case?" Jack said, the moment he had closed the door.

"Jack – I do. But this isn't about me. This is about families who are being killed. I'm not asking to get involved. Just let me read the lips for this. Let me help." Her eyes pleaded.

"I don't like this idea," he said finally, sitting down in the chair next to her.

"I know you don't, and I know you have good reason not to. But this could mean the difference of us catching this guy or not. It's a big risk, if Howie's going in alone. You can come with me, put Bobby on the undercover for the second meeting, instead of you, and I'll stay out of this until it's over and I'm back at work again." Sue suggested. They watched each other for a few moments, until Jack finally agreed.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" He asked her quietly. When she didn't answer, he reached for her hand. "Sue?" He said concernedly. She took a deep breath.

"I'm sure." Jack just raised his eyebrows, but knew that she was right. It was just, as much as he wanted to help these families, he didn't want to lose her in the process.

-----

Sue and Jack both walked back into the bullpen together, in silence. Everyone watched them as Sue grabbed her things.

"I should be heading back home. I'll see you all later?" Tara came over and gave her a hug and they all said their goodbyes. She turned to Jack,

"See you in a bit?" Her look was almost apologetic. He knew she felt bad for putting him in this position, but he also knew how she would do anything to help other people; something he had grown to love about her. He nodded.

"Bye." She called to Levi, and grabbed her things before heading out the door. Once she was gone, Jack sat down at his desk, as Bobby and Myles came over. Tara excused herself quickly to go talk to Ted.

"What happened?" Myles asked. Jack knew immediately what he was talking about.

"She wants to read lips tomorrow." He said simply, defeated.

"No way," Bobby immediately protested. "She was supposed to stay off this case, and there is no way she should be working anyways!"

"I agree with Bobby. We still don't know what's going on." Myles added in.

"I know, but she's adamant. She promises she just wants to be there tomorrow and otherwise she's going to be hands off." Dimitrius walked back into the bullpen, only seconds later.

"Where's Sue?"

"She just went home." Bobby answered. Jack sat deep in thought, as Bobby continued. "Sue wants to read lips tomorrow." Dimitrius looked at Jack.

"Howie's going to be back in the morning, we're still a go. What did you tell her?"

"She promised me that she wasn't going to get anymore involved. She wants to go to the restaurant tomorrow, with me. Then have Bobby go to the second meeting, and then after tomorrow she will be completely hands off. As much as I don't like it, I think we all know we could really use her, especially with Howie on his own." Bobby gave him a small grin.

"You really can't say no to her, can you?" Jack looked at him, but gave him a small, sad smile back.

-----

"He wants to know why Howie wants in on his business." Sue said casually to Jack, as she took a sip of her pop. She had a brilliant idea of wearing sunglasses, and pretending like she was blind, so that Ben French wouldn't be able to tell she was watching him. Plus, Levi also easily passed as a Seeing Eye dog, but it also meant pretending like she wasn't deaf.

"Is Howie following the script?" Jack asked. She nodded.

"He's doing fine. Now he's asking about Howie's friend, and whether he's safe. You should tell Myles to call Howie now; it's a good time." Jack nodded and said quietly into his wire,

"Call up Howie, Myles." On cue, Jack heard a cell phone go off. Sue watched Howie's lips intently.

"What's up bro?" Ben French's eyes narrowed. "I'm kind of busy. In a meeting! I told you not to call unless it's an emergency. Well tell her to get her own medication; I took enough of her crap when I was living at home. Don't yell at me – deal with it." He slammed his phone shut. "Sorry about that Ben. My brother. Stupid family of mine." Jack hoped that French would react to their little set up. It was a way in to get him to confess. He was silent for a few moments, as Sue took the opportunity to give Jack a worried glance. He reached over and covered her hand with his.

"He'll bite." She nodded, turning back to the conversation.

"You don't need to tell me about families." Ben started, as Sue quietly repeated what he was saying to Jack. Suddenly, she felt like there was no one else in the room, except her, Ben French and the words that tortured her soul. "I want nothing to do with my family, or any other family for that matter. All these families always come off as being perfect, but its never really true. I hate it when people pretend to be happy – and I make it my goal to destroy all that phoniness. So far, I think I'm doing pretty well."

Sue could feel her heart beating fast with anger and hurt. Jack watched her, also shocked at what French had just said, but more concerned with how this was affecting Sue. Sue watched Howie, who hid his disgust very well, continuing on with what he was supposed to say.

"Well, I completely agree with you there, Benny." French glared at him. "I mean Ben. Mr. French, sir. My family is nothing but rotten."

Sue could feel her hands shaking. As she noticed Jack looking at her, she quickly moved her hand from his, knocking over her glass in the process, watching it smash to the floor. Everyone turned to look at them, including Howie and Ben. A waitress hurried over and quickly cleaned up the mess, as everyone, except Jack's attention diverted from Sue, who looked flustered. Ben moved to get up,

"Tell your friend we can meet up on Thursday. I'll call you with the details tomorrow." Howie nodded, and waited for the man to leave, before making his way out to the surveillance van just outside, glancing at Sue and Jack as he went, grinning with his progress. But Jack wasn't happy.

"I'm sorry Jack. I just got clumsy." He could tell she was distressed, and her hands were still shaking. He looked her straight in the eye,

"What's wrong?" She shook her head.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Jack looked at her, just staring. Sue felt uncomfortable under his gaze. "We should go." Jack got up, and went to her side, helping her out of the booth, as if she was really blind. They didn't want to break their cover, especially since everyone in the restaurant assumed she couldn't see when she knocked over the glass. Anyways, Jack knew you never knew who might be lurking around, and he just wanted to get her out of there.