A/N – I should warn you all. I'm heading into midterm week, and it's going to be tough. I'm going to try really hard to get this part done by Friday, but no promises and my postings may be slightly erratic! If I don't finish before I go home, I'll finish it up once I'm there and start part 2 when I get back here… Anyways, here's the chapter you've all been waiting for!

Chapter 25:

"I got a phone call from my mom." Sue started, quietly. Jack was so relieved that she was finally getting things out. He knew it was going to be a tough evening, but Jack had come to a point where his world only mattered when Sue was in it, and he wanted to be there for her, not just then, but for the rest of their lives. He just wasn't ready to tell her yet, and he knew she wasn't ready to hear it, but what he could do was prove to her that he wasn't going anywhere. She continued,

"She was calling to give me some news, about someone we knew. She didn't go into much detail on the phone, but she told me that I needed to meet her right away."

"Where did she call from?" Jack asked gently, already knowing the answer from the bit of information they had scrounged.

"West Virginia, but I didn't go there. I knew when I left suddenly that someone would come looking for me eventually, but because I didn't know what was going on yet, I didn't want to let on that it was serious. So I left you the note in my apartment, before taking a cab to the bus station."

"You went home." She nodded. He was proud of her for making it so far without breaking down. She was strong and Jack knew she was going to make it though this. "I called your place and left a message." She nodded again.

"I'm so sorry Jack. I wanted to pick up the phone so badly but my parents had just left, to take care of some business, and I couldn't bring myself to even talk. I was so scared Jack; I've never felt so terrible in my entire life. You never think things are going to happen to you, until they do."

"What happened?" He encouraged her to go on.

"Someone I knew, someone I was very close to – him and his family were killed by the serial killer." She started to cry earnestly as Jacks fears had been confirmed. No wonder she had become so obsessed with catching the man. He let her cry for a few moments, trying to help take some of her grief.

"I'm so sorry Sue." He said to her quietly when she finally looked up and her sobs calmed down.

"I knew I had to come back home, and I knew that just staying there while everyone just walked around like zombies wouldn't help them. I just wanted to come home and just sleep in my own bed. See my friends. I wanted to tell you what had happened." Her cheeks reddened slightly, even in her despair. "I wanted you to help me get through this. Jack, I just wanted you to be there to hug me and tell me it was going to be alright." Jack squeezed her hand, his heart breaking for her.

"I knew that you guys would all be looking for me, and try to find out what had happened, so I took a cab from the bus station to the airport, before I called you. I knew it would throw you all off for a while. I had to go back to work; I just wanted it to distract me but I had no idea of the case we would get. On that first day I went back, seeing those pictures, knowing the facts; I couldn't think, and then the world just started spinning and I barely remember what happened after that."

"But you didn't want to give up on the case. You wanted to catch him more than ever." She nodded.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to work for a few days, after my dizzy spell, but I couldn't just sit at home and do nothing. I called up Howie and got him to try and find information, both here in Washington and in West Virginia." Sue explained.

"Troy came to see me after meeting you in the park. He was really worried – he hadn't known that it was Howie that you had met."

"He scared me, and even though I begged him not to tell anyone that he had met me, I was skeptical. I just told him I was going FBI work, but I knew he didn't believe me, especially since you weren't with me and it wasn't a very good part of town. I got home that evening and I felt really funny. I tried working on the case, and made a few phone calls but I could tell something was wrong. The room would occasionally swim in and out of focus, my head was pounding and once I had settled on the couch, I was so exhausted I couldn't even move. I decided to take half of a sleeping pill, just to make sure I stayed asleep. The last thing I remember was spilling my pill bottle, when reaching to turn off my TV but being too tired to pick them all up." Jack added in hesitantly,

"That's when I found you, unconscious. I thought you had overdosed." She looked at him.

"I wouldn't ever do something like that."

"I know – but I didn't know what to think. You had been so distant; you had pushed everyone away, especially me. Then I walked in and found you collapsed, surrounded by your pills."

"I'm so sorry Jack." She said again, the tears starting up again. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay honey." He moved his hand back and forth across her back, comfortingly. He quickly refreshed his memory and realized he had just called her honey. She hadn't reacted to it at all, and to him, it had felt completely natural. But he knew he needed to focus.

"I realized that I just couldn't handle the case anymore. I was too personally involved because of Ben and Grace and the kids. I trusted you all, and knew you wouldn't let me down. Everything was going okay. It still was a hard to realize I was never going to see them again. Instead, I talked a lot with my family, especially Mike. He knew that I was having a tough time with everything, so he decided to come down. I didn't want him to tell you because I wanted you to hear it from me." She took a deep breath,

"When I found out about Ben French, the thought of him getting away made me sick. Every time I heard his name, it made me think of Ben and Grace and what he had done to them. I knew that our best chance was if I read lips – I needed to put my grief aside, but that also meant I had to put off telling you, because I knew if you knew what had happened, you would've never let me go. I needed to make sure he paid for what he did, but when he started saying those things…" her voice choked up again.

"Which brings us to tonight." She looked deep into his eyes, her own swimming with tears.

"I thought I was going what was best, but I don't want the rest of the team to know. They need to focus on catching him. Once it becomes personal, everything changes." Jack only knew how true that phrase was.

"How did you know Ben and Grace?" He asked, gently, hoping that maybe by talking about it might help her heal. The tears started to freely flow.

"Ben was my older brother. Gracie was my sister in-law, and Miranda, Rochelle and Christopher were my nieces and nephew." Jack looked at her in shock. He had never considered that it was her family that had been victim to such a horrible crime. He pulled her quickly towards him, and held onto her, grieving with her, and wishing he could take away her pain.