AN: Bonus points to anyone who can recognize the made-for-TV movie with Enuka Okuma (Lucy) to which I paid homage by borrowing much of Lucy and Tara's conversation therefrom. What are these bonus points for? I have absolutely no idea. But I'm super curious if anyone else will recognize it or if I'm the only person out here obsessively watching that movie yearly despite its being incredibly hokey and dated. Or at least anyone else who knows it.

Meanwhile, enjoy both the squeeable highs and the groanable lows of today's chapter!

"Hey, you okay?" Lucy asked.

Tara shook herself from her zoning and smiled up at her coworker and friend. "Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

Lucy cocked her head. "I'm not sure why you wouldn't be, that's what I'm trying to find out. But I am sure that I've never seen you stare at a computer screen without typing for that long ever."

"Oh, no, I just have an analysis running." She looked back to her computer and her face registered her surprise at the same time Lucy leaned over to look pointedly at the screen, eyebrows raised.

"Of your screen saver?"

"When did it switch to that?" Tara asked, wiggling her mouse. "Oh! Um, looks the analysis is done now, good."

Lucy was still looking over her shoulder. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but does that say the analysis took two minutes?"

"Um . . . yeah, I guess it does," Tara said casually.

"Because I happen to know you've been staring blankly for at least 10 minutes."

"Have I?" she asked innocently.

"Alright, come on," Lucy ordered, grabbing Tara's hand.

"What? Where are we going?" Tara asked, stretching her arm back to lock down her computer and grab her coat and purse, before allowing herself to be pulled away.

"Lunch. Sue and Jack are out doing their suburban life thing, the other guys are investigating leads. You and I are going to have a good old-fashioned ladies lunch out, and you are gonna spill whatever it is that's got your brow all wrinkled."

Once they had chosen a restaurant and ordered their food, Lucy looked at Tara and said, "So? Spill!"

Eyes downcast and hands playing with her napkin, Tara took a deep breath before she began: "Lucy . . . I cheated on Stanley."

Lucy's eyes grew wide, clearly not having expected anything like that. "What?" she asked in breathless incredulity.

"Remember the other night when Bobby and I went to the benefit where Mojo Gogo was playing?"

"Yeah . . . ?" The caution in her voice at least indicated that she was reserving any judgment.

"Well, he was feeling down about the end of his relationship with Darcy, and was asking if there was something wrong with him, so I told him no, and that he's smart and kind and handsome and any woman would be lucky to have him. And then he sort of responded in kind to me but then the valet guy brought the car so he was driving me home and we just got talking about the concert and laughing and joking about all sorts of things and . . . ." She sighed. "It was just so much fun. More than I remember having in a really long time."

Lucy smiled indulgently. "Well, that doesn't sound like cheating."

"And then when he walked me to the door . . . we kissed."

Lucy deserved major props for managing to keep her gasp as quiet as she did, but it was definitely still audible. Still, she said nothing and Tara continued.

"And it was . . . almost nothing, just the fastest kiss, barely more than a peck really, but . . . I don't know, it was like . . . time stood still . . . ."

Lucy gasped again. "You're falling for Bobby!"

"I . . . I don't know." Tara shifted uncomfortably, clearly deflecting a bit rather than owning up to what she herself already knew. "I mean, he's Bobby. I've always been a bit attracted to him, but I never thought there could be anything there for real, and then he just . . . surprised me. And," she added as though making a great confession, "the worst part was, it felt great." Her shoulders sagged in defeat even as the corners of her mouth turned up a little wistfully at the memory.

"Honey, you got that wrong," Lucy said with a smile. "That's the best part."

Tara smiled a little more genuinely too, and then they paused the conversation while the waitress brought their food. Once everything was settled and they were alone again, Lucy leaned forward and said, "Wait, you said you've always been attracted to him?!" Tara shrugged a little sheepishly. "How did I miss that?! Well, do you know how he feels about you?"

"It doesn't matter!" Tara answered. "There's still Stanley. I mean . . . I think there's still Stanley . . . ."

"You think?"

"I just . . . he's gone so much, and sometimes I wonder if I really even like him or just the idea of him, of having him to reference if someone asks where my boyfriend is instead of being alone, you know?"

Lucy took a deep breath and contemplated for a moment. "Okay, take Bobby out of the equation entirely for a moment. Just think about you and Stanley. What does he mean to you?"

"He's . . . sweet. And I care about him a lot."

"And . . . ?"

"I don't know . . . I don't . . . I don't think I'm in love with him, if that's what you're asking."

"Do you think you might fall in love with him?"

". . . Maybe? I don't know. He would probably have to be around a lot more for that to happen . . . ."

Lucy nodded and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully as she contemplated her friend's situation. After a moment, Tara said, "But there was this other thing . . . when Bobby and I talked about it later . . . ."

"Oh my gosh, you've talked about it? What did he say?!"

"Well . . . first we spent a lot of yesterday avoiding each other."

"I noticed that, I thought he must've said something jerky or something but then you were fine later so I didn't think about it again."

"Well, that probably would've been after we went for a walk and talked things through. And . . . I really thought that he was going to say that kissing me was a mistake and we should pretend it never happened."

"But he didn't?"

"No. No, he said . . . that he had started noticing all sorts of things about me, and that he thought there really could be something between us . . . except that he had no interest in stealing another man's girlfriend."

"Whoa."

"I know. And that's not all."

"There's more?!"

"Remember when I canceled the date with Adam Kinsey because Stanley was so sweet about how he knew he didn't stand much of a chance but he would fight for me?"

"Yeah, that was really sweet."

"It was. But somehow, Bobby managed to be even sweeter by saying he wouldn't fight for me."

"Wouldn't?" Lucy looked absolutely incredulous that this could be considered sweet.

"Right?! But he said . . . he said that I'm a strong and smart and capable woman and he wouldn't presume to tell me who is best for me, and that if Stanley hurt me he would fight him to defend me, but when it comes to making up my mind he isn't going to fight to persuade me because he trusts me, and he just wants me to be happy."

Lucy clapped both hands over her heart. "Oh. My. Gosh. That boy has it bad for you."

"I guess," Tara said, but the corners of her lips were twitching again in a way that seemed to indicate she already knew this, and was not unaffected by it.

"Tara . . . tell me honestly, or if not me, at least tell yourself honestly: do you actually want to be with Stanley? I mean, taking Bobby out of the picture, just thinking of Stanley himself. Do you even want to be with him?"

Tara hesitated, then slowly shook her head.

"Giiiiiiirrrrrrl," Lucy groaned.

"I know! I know, I know." She took a deep breath again. "I can't break up with him over the phone though. Stanley gets back in tomorrow night. We're supposed to meet for breakfast Friday morning. I'll . . . I'll talk to him about it then."

"Talk to him about it?"

"I mean I'll break up with him! I just . . . it sounds so mean to say it that way."

Lucy gave a sympathetic look. "I think it would be a lot meaner to string him along."

"Yeah."

"And what about Bobby?"

"What about him?"

"Wellll, after you and Stanley are no longer an item . . . ?"

"I . . . gahh, stop looking at me like that!" Tara buried her face in her hands so her next words came out muffled. "I don't know!" Scrubbing at her face and then going back to pushing food around her plate, she continued. "I don't want him to think I broke up with Stanley just for him. I mean . . . but I sort of am. But not really. But I also . . . I don't want to lose the team for the sake of a maybe, but I also don't want to lose Bobby for the sake of being afraid of changing the team. You know?"

Lucy nodded. "Do you want my suggestion?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think you should decide this on your own. I think you and Bobby need to talk about it, in light of Stanley no longer being an obstacle, and decide where you both want things to go from there."

"Yeah. You're right."

The evening with the Vanderwylens coming for coffee and dessert didn't go exactly according to plan, but with teamwork, good improvisational skills, and Myles sacrificing his Bureau-issue car to the cause of a small accident that slowed Joseph's arrival back home, they ultimately were able to get the spyware planted on the Vanderwylens' computer.

That evening, as they were preparing to get into bed, Sue and Jack discussed how the day had gone.

"So, the fender bender Joseph was talking about was Myles? On purpose?"

"Yup. Thankfully, he didn't seem to have injured himself in it, so he shouldn't have something to add onto the stepping-off-the-curb injury to add to it."

"Speaking of injuries, how's your toe doing?"

"It's fine."

She fixed him with a disbelieving stare. "You said that when you weren't admitting it was broken, too."

"Hey, I've been icing it and putting my foot up as instructed! My lovely wife has made sure of it!"

"That's right, mister!" She threw a pillow at him. "And you'd better appreciate it!"

"I do, I do!" he said, laughing as he threw up his hands to block the fluffy assault.

She laughed along with him. "Good. I still wish I could check it though, but I don't really want to mess with the splint."

"Why do you want to check it? Are you a doctor?" he teased.

"No," she shot back, "but I have to make sure my husband can still bring home the bacon."

"With my toe?"

"This little piggy, and all that . . . ?"

"Ew."

Still laughing, they both climbed into bed. Natural as anything, they each said, "Night, honey," leaned over to give each other a quick peck on the lips, then turned and clicked their lamps off.

It was only after the lights were off that they both realized what they had just done. And also that they hadn't put the pillow wall in place before getting into bed tonight. They were each far over on their own sides, but with no barrier in between if they were to roll. And neither moved to change that, either.

After several moments lying there in the dark with their backs to one another, Sue took advantage of not being able to see Jack's response to softly whisper, "This is nice." In the unlikely event that he brought it up tomorrow, she could always deny it.

Jack wouldn't bring it up, though. Not any more than he would bring up that he took advantage of Sue not being able to see him to say to her, "Good night, Sue. I love you."

Thursday morning dawned to a grey and dreary day. Sue's alarm went off at 6, as usual. Jack was just starting to stir at the sound, when Levi jumped up to wake Sue.

And that is how Sue and Jack, at approximately the same time, woke up to find that Jack was lying on his back in the middle of the bed, with his arm wrapped around Sue, whose head and left hand laid across his chest.

For a moment, they both stiffened, but although their first instinct in most cases would have been to pull away, neither of them were entirely willing to do that. Instead, they each slowly tipped their heads to look into one another's eyes. And slowly exchanged tentative smiles. And slowly, Jack dared to tilt his head a tiny bit further and place a soft kiss on Sue's forehead.

"If it means waking up like this," he said, still smiling at her, "I could definitely get used to waking up early."

"Not without a ring on my finger, mister," she responded with a small but pleased smile, still not showing any signs of intending to withdraw from their current position.

"You do have a ring on your finger."

She swatted lightly at his chest, which reminded her just how very bare his chest was. "A little more officially than that, I mean!" She froze for a moment, realizing what she'd practically just asked of him, then cleared her throat. "Uh, we'd better get up."

"Do we have to?"

She smiled at the sentiment. "Trust me, there's nowhere else I'd rather be right now either . . . but for both our sakes, not to mention our careers—in more than one way—we'd better get . . . um, out of this present situation."

He sighed. "I suppose. But, first, um . . . ." Before he could lose his nerve, he tipped his head further than before and gave her lips a quick peck, only scarcely more contact than the kiss before bed last night, but far more deliberate and joyful. "Good morning."

They each turned their own direction and got out of bed (Sue finally turning off the alarm that she only then realized must have been blaring in Jack's ears throughout that conversation) but each sported a goofy, enamored smile on their faces.

Those smiles and smirks, punctuated with occasional unnecessary brushes of hands or shoulders, continued as they moved about getting ready for the day. They continued as they headed for the car. They continued on the drive to work.

But when they actually arrived at the Hoover Building, they seemed by mutual understanding to switch modes, acting like nothing had happened, nothing had changed. And nothing had changed, had it? Not officially, anyway.

Not even their coworkers' teasing as they got on Jack and Sue's case for dressing similarly in blue button-ups, which neither of them had even noticed until Myles pointed it out. But thankfully, the reality that Joseph Vanderwylen couldn't possibly be Joseph Vanderwylen, and had in fact assumed the name of a dead man, was enough distraction to get their coworkers off their case and back to the real one.

Unfortunately, the discovery that Joseph had been responsible for purchases of aircraft that didn't require licenses, to be delivered to the Four Freshmen's address, sped things up in that real case, far too much and far too simply.

"So what do we do with the Vanderwylens?" Sue had asked Jack.

"We'll bring them in at the same time," Jack had responded, touching her arm to guide her out of the bullpen and back to the car.

And just like that, their fantasy world was over. They were on their way to bring in both of the neighbors they had been surveilling. The cover was done.

There would be no more domestic scenes moving around one another as they did basic daily tasks.

No more excuses to hold hands or dance in the rain.

No more sleeping in the same bed.