Disclaimer: I don't have a witty comment. Neither do I own Sue Thomas:FBEye.

AN: Sorry about the long wait. Life happened, and I got attacked by muses for other stories. So here you go. It's been suggested to me that I am holding the story hostage for more reviews. This is simply not true. That is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to fanfiction. People saying "Next chapter after 5 reviews" is not cool. So, no I am not holding the story hostage. On that note however, the purpose of places like are for people to get what they have written out there. Reviews are good motivation to keep the story going. Just saying. Either way, reviews or no reviews, chapter 7 will be along in a while.

To those of you who have reviewed, thank you, It honestly means a lot to me that you took the time to type that up. To those of you who haven't, thank you for reading this, and I hope that you enjoy it. ~RawPotato

Three more weeks had passed since Jack had returned, and they were slowly and surely getting nowhere on the case. The cocaine had been secured and sealed away, the guns and ammo they had recovered destroyed, and all of their suspects escaped. Sue knew that nothing at all had changed, but they had worked relentlessly, coming up with nothing. Sighing she pushed yet another folder of information away from her. She knew the facts of this case inside out, that she could recite them in her sleep. Closing her eyes, she ran her hands through her hair and sighed.

Things had been going all right for her and Jack since he had returned. It seemed to be that way for them. A rollercoaster of emotion, the constant up and down between them dizzying and confusing. They had been riding the crest of an up for a while now, and though she was happy with how they were getting along, she felt herself waiting and watching for the down turn in their relationship. She was afraid of that moment, and hoped that it wouldn't come on the wings of another major announcement. She knew that she hadn't handled that change well, and was afraid of reacting the same way again.

She liked Jack the way he was, and knowing that he had changed, had affected her greatly. Though she assumed that he was affected more by that change than she ever would be, she still liked him the way he was. The changed had grown on her though. A picture of Jack and Danny had been placed on his desk. They were at a hockey game, both wearing the same jersey with the same number. It was uncanny how much the young boy looked like Jack. The way he smiled sometimes when he talked to Danny on the phone, and the quiet way he spoke to him and tuned away from the rest of the team.

She had only seen them together that one time in his hospital room, and Sue was excited to see him interact with Danny face to face in a non-shocked way. Then she hadn't been able to understand what he was saying, she had felt like she was drowning and about to faint at any given second that she wasn't able to pay attention to what was happening.

However, now that she knew that she would be getting the chance to see them together, she was really excited. The thought of him as a father intrigued her, and she couldn't deny that it all made him that much more attractive to her. She'd always been fascinated by men and children together, they loving looks, the tender moments, how they suddenly became soft and the very gentle way they held them. She was excited to see that side of him. The picnic the team was taking on the weekend to meet Danny and Darlene, and get to know the boy that had captured Jacks heart the way no other had. She just wanted to spend time with Jack, and would trapeze about the park to get there.

Looking up she noticed that she was alone in the office. She knew that when she closed her eyes that they were all there, but now they were all gone, and she was a little worried about that. They had played tricks on her before, but this was just getting silly. Laughing to herself, she pulled a different file towards herself and started plotting her revenge.

It was a few seconds later that Levi nudged her thigh. Patting his head, she looked down at him and asked, "What is it boy?" His head turned and she looked into the doorway. There stood an officered guard and Danny. Shocked, and slightly confused, she stood quickly and greeted her visitors.

"Hello. Hi Danny, what are you doing here?" The young boy looked sheepishly down at his feet, and avoided all eye contact with her. Looking to the security guard, he smiled and started talking when their eyes connected.

"Hi Miss Thomas, you know this boy?" He kept his hand protectively on Danny's shoulder, and nodded down to him. Levi barked, and Danny surged ahead, but was held back by the hand. Levi trotted over to him and Sue nodded.

"Yes I do. He is Jack's son." She stepped around her desk and moved towards them, stopping just beside them. Levi and Danny were enthralled with each other, and the guard looked relieved.

"Okay, well can he stay here until Jack gets back? Only a parent can sign their child into the day care center."

Sue nodded and bade the guard goodbye, and knelt down to be on Danny's level.

"Hi Danny, my name is Sue. Do you remember me?" Finally, the dark eyes were dragged to her level, and the sheepish smile was still on his face. She couldn't help but smile in return, the impish joy on his face as Levi snuggled in close to him.

He nodded, and the smile on his face spread as Levi licked his face.

"Where is your mother?" She was wondering what he was doing here without his mother, and without Jack being in the room. She knew that he wouldn't have left if he knew that Danny was coming.

She saw his mouth open, but she couldn't see his lips. Tapping his shoulder, she regained his attention and looked back into his eyes. They reminded her of Jacks, but Danny's were more innocent and didn't hold the secret horrors that Jack's sometimes did.

"I can't hear you. I am deaf." She saw his eyes go wide, and he looked at her ears. It was what she loved about children. They were innocent in their curiosity, and held no qualms about wondering about anything. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, wonderment still in his eyes. "So if you want to say something to me, you have to look at me so I can read your lips. Or tug on my sleeve so I can look at you."

He nodded, and looked very concerned with looking at her. She could tell that he was speaking loudly, and trying very hard to enunciate his words.

"I will do that. Do you know where my Daddy is?" She smiled at his effort, and wondered what it would be like to hear his voice. Wondered if he sounded like Jack, spoke like him, and had the same mannerisms as him. Not that she had ever heard Jacks voice, but if Danny resembled him so much physically, how much would he sound like him.

"No actually I don't. But if you wanted to stay with me, you can play with Levi until he gets back."

He smiled widely and wrapped his arms around her neck. She barely had time to reciprocate the action when he pulled back. He placed both of his on her face and spoke in his loud, enunciated voice again. "Thank you, Sue."

She took his jacket off for him, and hung it on her chair. He and Levi were falling over each other, and she could see that Danny was laughing, and that Levi was barking. She knew that Danny was safe from harm, and that he would be fine, but still she kept an eye on him. Sitting at her desk, she leaned against it and rested her chin in her hands, just watching him.

She knew that he was just about to turn six, and that he was in kindergarten, and that he loved hockey just as much as Jack. She was enjoying watching him, seeing how he interacted with Levi, and played with him. Suddenly, both Levi and Danny rolled to sitting positions, and looking at the door. She followed their eye line and looked to the door where Jack was standing there a smile on his face. Looking quickly back to Danny she saw his face break into a radiating smile, and ran to Jack.

Jack caught his flying son with one arm and hugged him close and tight. A sudden yearning to be part of that circle gripped her heart, and she had to catch herself from moving to them. She wanted to desperately to be able to part of Jacks life, and seeing him with Danny only increased that yearning.

Jack too knelt down to be on eye level with the boy. Looking at them together at the same time warmed her heart, and also made it cold with an unreasonable pang of jealousy. She could tell that they were having a conversation, and she felt as if she were spying on them. Face reddening she turned back to her file and tried to stop herself from looking up. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up. Jacks smiling face was staring down at her, and suddenly her body warmed, and heat radiated from where his hand was touching her shoulder.

She looked quickly back to where Danny and Levi had been playing, and say that now they were both lying on the floor, snuggled together. Though it had been only minutes since she last looked at them, Danny and Levi were holding tight to each other, and by the way Danny was resting his head on Levi he was quickly falling asleep.

"Have they falling asleep?" She whispered, and wondered why she did so.

He smiled, and nodded again, the look on his face endearing as love filled his face. "Yeah, that boy can sleep with the best of them. I'm glad that Levi is allowing this." Sue looked to Levi, and saw that he too was falling asleep. He wasn't as young as he used to be, and playing with a young, energetic boy had to have worn him out.

"Yeah, when you wear it down to the bottom of everything, he is a big old teddy bear." She looked from the pair sleeping on the floor and back to Jack. He was watching them with a small smile on his face.

He turned and sat on her desk beside her and turned to watch his son. He looked good, healthier than he had a few months ago, and more fit than he normally did. Though his sling was gone, and his ribs had healed, he still wore a cast on his left wrist.

Still looking at him she felt warmed by his nearness, and the urge to reach out and touch him nearly unbearable as his was only a few inches away. "Why is Danny here?"

A worried frown crept onto his face, and he looked from his son and her dog to her, the worry he was showing evident in his eyes. "I don't know. I asked him, and he said she just dropped him off. He told the security guard that I was his dad, and here he is."

The confusion didn't ebb away at his words, and suddenly she was starting to feel suspicious as well. From what she knew of Darlene and that information was very limited, it didn't sound like something she would do.

He stood, and her eyes followed, his worried look emulating itself in her. "I'm going to take him down to the day care, and then I'll find out what is going on with Darlene."

Quickly she reached up and gripped his hand as he started to move away. She wasn't sure what she had hoped to gain from it, but the small second his face changed from worried to a smile, and he squeezed her hand, she knew what she had gained.

**

Jack let his hand remain in Sue's for a moment longer, then let it go. The touch was familiar and nice, and he liked the way it felt. Her hand was soft and warm in his, and he felt as if her hand belonged in his.

Moving to where Danny lay in a heap on the floor with Levi. Panic had welled up inside him when he walked into the room and say him playing there. He'd frantically ran through his mind trying to remember if he had planned to have Danny today. Nothing rang any bells in his head, and that confusion only intensified when he had talked to him. His simple words punctuated with giggles, and whines from Levi, stated that she had just dropped him off. It wasn't like Darlene to do something like that without calling, or giving him warning.

Scooping Danny into his arms, he cradled the small body against his chest, and instant love and caring welled within him. He had only been a father for two months, and already he loved the boy as if he had known him his whole life. Though he was afraid that picking Danny up would wake him, he just shuffled and adjusted himself to Jacks chest and went right back to sleep. Levi rolled over at his feet and moved to sit by Sue. Looking at her, the same overwhelming desire to love and protect welled inside him, and he couldn't help the smile that spread to his face.

Turning away he walked towards the elevators, Sues smiling face still in his mind. He knew that he was in love with her, had been for a long time. Now though, he faced a problem. The child in his arms, and the woman he had just turned away from both occupied his heart. However he no longer felt as if had much to offer her. Though he was still the same man, he had a child who would come to depend on him fully. His team, his family, didn't know that Darlene was sick, dying and had only a few months left, and when that happened he would have the full legal responsibility of Danny.

He was scared at that day, scared that he wouldn't be enough for Danny. He had called his dad when he learned of Danny, and had asked for his advice. They talked for a long while that night, and had many more conversations. He'd talked with all of his brothers, even had a few conversations with D and Bobby about it. But the opinion he wanted most, he was afraid to ask. He desperately wanted to know what Sue thought of this change in his life, but he was afraid to ask.

He wanted her opinion in his life. He wanted her in his life. But he didn't think he deserved her anymore. He hadn't thought he deserved her in the first place, but now he was a single father with a young son. He was at the bottom of the dating pool.

Signing Danny in, he placed him on one of the sleeping cots, and covered him with a blanket. Kneeling by the bed, he simply watched him sleep. It was fascinating to him how he could simply watch him and be satisfied. The laughter and squeals of delight flowed from the other room, and the sound warmed his heart. The first time he had heard Danny laughed he almost felt willing to cry at the sound, then he'd put all his energy into helping make that sound again.

Getting up he left Danny to be in the care of the trained professionals, and made his way back up to the office, fully intending to call Darlene, and finding out what was going on. Just outside the wall of elevators, he pulled out his cell phone and dialled her number. After a few rings it went to her voicemail, and the frustration and confusion welled inside him. She always answered her phone, and never dropped Danny off without telling him what was going on.

"Darlene, hi, it's Jack. Uh, Danny showed up here saying you dropped him off, and I was just calling to confirm that. Okay, bye." He closed his phone and sighed, wondering what on earth was going on. Though this was a first, it was worrisome, and he was concerned for Darlene. He could see that she was getting sicker and sicker, and wondered if that was what caused today.

He rode the elevator up in silence and walked into the bullpen. The flurry of activity was surprising and his adrenaline started pumping as walked into the room.

"What's going on?" Everyone stopped for a second and looked at him, then went right back to doing what they had been. Walking up to his desk he listened to what everyone was saying, finally it went silent when D walked back into the room.

"Okay guys, listen up." All heads turned to him, and Jack caught Sue's eye and offered her a small smile. Turning back to D when she returned his smile he gave his team leader his full attention.

"We've got a new lead on out case."

Jack stood up quickly and looked at D. Their case had been cold and dead for a long time, and any new lead was a good lead, even if it was small and nothing really. "What is it?"

The hesitation D showed, and the way he looked at Sue and Jack before talking had him worried. Nothing really got to D, and if he was hesitant to tell them what was going, it would have to be really bad.

"Metro PD is currently fighting a serious gun battle at the harbour." Again everyone went silent; the harbour is where they were last when Jack and Sue were kidnapped.

"That was two months ago, how do we know it's even related?" Jack didn't want to get his hopes up, or his fears. The warehouse where they were held overnight still haunted his sleep sometimes, and if it was connected going back would mean something in him had to change.

"It's the same warehouse."

Jack looked at Sue, and saw that her smile was gone. He didn't know how she was handling the fallout from that day, if she had sleepless nights like he had.

"We are going in as support. I want full SWAT gear, rifles and the works. If these are the same people, we need to take them down."

Everyone was up and moving, and Jack was headed out the door when he was stopped by a hand on his arm. Turning he looked up and saw D's concerned face looking at him.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." D patted his cast, but Jack knew that he wasn't talking about the arm. Jack would always play hurt, and D knew that. Jack was sure that he would go back, that he would be able to do his job effectively and he wouldn't back down.

"I know D. I know." D patted his shoulder, and moved out of the room and down to the gear room. The rest of the team was moving, and he was about to follow D when he heard Sue call his name.

Turning to her he could see that she hadn't moved from her desk. He face held a plethora of emotions, the biggest of which was fear. Moving to her, he stood beside her and this time took her hand in his. She didn't meet his eyes, and instead spoke into her shoes.

"Be safe Jack. Come back this time." Her voice was small, and it pulled at the strings of his heart. Reaching his other hand up, using just his fingers he placed them under her chin and lifted her head so that she was looking at him.

"I will Sue." Caught up in the moment, and knowing that he might not get another chance, he dipped his head and placed his lips on hers. His eyes fluttered closed, and his heart soared when she returned his kiss. The touch was soft and light, and all too soon it was over.

She pulled away from her, and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, holding her tight to him. He felt her arms snake around his waist and cling to him. He liked the feeling of holding her in his arms, her head cradled in the crook of his neck, her breath fanning on his chest.

He pulled back and ensured that she was looking at him when he said his next words, needing to make sure she heard them as much as he needed to say them.

"I promise Sue. I will come back to you. I promise."