Missing scene for 1.4 "A Snitch in Time," taking place after work on the day Howie tried to give Sue the necklace, in which Sue confronts Jack about why he had gotten so upset about Howie trying to give her a gift that she didn't even accept.

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At the end of the day, as everyone was clearing out, Sue lingered just a bit hoping to catch Jack alone. Thankfully, everyone else seemed either eager to depart or caught up in other things, so when Jack was ready to go she was able to head out at the same time and say casually, "Hey, uh, walk you out? I wanted to ask you about something."

"Sure," he said, gesturing for her to precede him through the doorway. Once in the hallway, he said, "So, what's up?"

"I just wondered . . . you seemed really upset earlier and I'm not sure I entirely understand why."

He nodded, apparently immediately knowing what she was referencing. "You mean about Howie stalking you and trying to give you gifts?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know it's not okay, but I was very firm with him that it's absolutely inappropriate and that he shouldn't ever follow me either. And I refused it. So I'm not sure why you were so angry."

"Because the last thing we need is him deciding that he has rights to you somehow. Whichever way that may play out in his mind. I've seen some snitches turn against their agents when they got too close and then the agent wasn't who the snitch thought they'd be." They'd arrived at the elevator and he hit the button.

"Are you sure that's it?"

"Yeah, of course, why?"

"Well . . . I can't help but think, if I were a man you were training you wouldn't have reacted like that." The doors slid open and they walked inside, carrying on their conversation as they headed down to the lobby.

"Well, that's not because I think you're less capable of defending yourself, it's because I know men are statistically more likely to physically harm women than the other way around. Not that women can't harm men, just . . . statistically . . . ."

She sighed. "And you're sure that's the only reason?"

The doors opened again and they stepped out into the lobby as he huffed in frustration and asked, "Sue, what do you want from me? You seem to think there's another reason, why don't you tell me what you think it is?"

She glanced away. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be frustrating. You're right, I'm just making something out of nothing."

As soon as she said that he knew that whatever was getting to her, she was not making something out of nothing, and he determined that he needed to figure it out. Touching her arm to bring her eyes back to him, he said, "No, I'm sorry. You have genuine questions and I'm not frustrated because I think there's something wrong with asking, I'm just struggling to understand what you want to know." He took a deep breath. "Look, do you want to go for a walk?"

She glanced outside, then nodded. "We could head toward the park, the lights there are easier to read lips by at night."

He smiled his understanding and they walked in companionable silence until they got there, Levi trotting between them.

Once they were seated on a bench under a lamp in the park, Jack said, "Now, what is it you're trying to ask me?"

"I just—Jack, if this were Tara's first snitch, do you think you'd have reacted quite the same way with her?"

He flushed slightly. "I don't . . . I don't know, honestly. I still would have been upset, certainly. As would Bobby, we were both upset and set him straight, with good reason."

"Sure, but Bobby was . . . concerned. You looked ready to murder him."

"Well . . . ." Jack wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Just tell me . . . Jack, do you think I'm less capable of taking care of myself because I'm deaf?"

Whatever he'd been expecting her to say, that was not it. In hindsight, perhaps he should have thought that, but he'd been so focused on not letting her know the real reason he was more protective of her, that he hadn't even considered that it might possibly look like that to her. "What?! No! Sue, no! You are a lot of things but 'less capable' is not one of them!"

She didn't look convinced. "I mean, I'm used to it, my whole life people have assumed that not being able to hear means also needing other accommodations as well, or that it means I'm less able to understand things or—"

"No, Sue, I promise—"

"—or that I can't perform basic life skills, and I know you know that's not true, but—"

"Sue I would never—"

"—sometimes it just feels like in some ways it's still—"

"I love you."

He had not meant to blurt that out. He just couldn't stand the idea of her thinking so poorly, either of herself, or of his opinion of her. At any rate, it did the trick—she stopped talking and gaped.

He could feel his face flushing and wondered whether it was obvious under the park lights or whether the darkness around them obscured it. "I—I mean—" There was no way to retract that without making things worse instead of better. He had to forge ahead. "No, that's . . . that is what I mean. I love you. I . . . didn't . . . we're not supposed to date when we're on the same team or anything . . . but Sue, you are the strongest, most capable, most beautiful, most amazing woman I've ever known. I'm only protective of you because I can't handle the idea of anything happening to you."

And still she stared at him, wide-eyed, mouth slightly open, but silent.

"Sue? Please say something because right now I—"

She did not say something.

She did find a more effective way to shut him up though.

When she pulled back to gauge his reaction to her kiss, he stared at her in wonder, and she softly told him, "I love you too."

He responded much how she had moments ago—by kissing her.

Several minutes later, foreheads resting together, she whispered, "So what are we going to do about this?"

He lifted his head so she could see his mouth. "Tomorrow, I'm going to go talk to Eldridge. Tonight? I was hoping to take the woman I love out to dinner."

She grinned. "Sounds fabulous."

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AN: I don't really think that Jack and Sue would actually be confessing love to each other this soon—interest, sure, but I don't think either of them would be ready to call their feelings love yet. It just worked better for the conversation here so I went with it. :P