first of all... you are doing a totally amazing job and a wonderful job writing my two favoritist people in the whole wide Sue Thomas FBEye world!



secondly...

"Now why would a great looking sheila like you need to go looking for a date? The guys should be lining up for a chance with you." Bobby said, with a smile and a hint of defensiveness in his voice.

I could actually see Tara throwing back a joke about needing to meet the height requirement in order to even get in line...

Thirdly...

Yes, you can tell a lot about how a guy is by the way he treats his teddy bear... and I think Kav would agree with me that it is an obvious symbol of his slowness ... the fact that the bear is 'hidden' somewhere...



seems to me... Jack likes to keep his feelings towards Sue 'hidden' somewhere...

This was just too funny! What a picture!!!

There is nothing wrong with keeping a teddy bear around...I have several....





~laura michelle~

Thanks again for the comments everyone! I love reading feedback!

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"Ok, folks," D announced as he strode into the bull pen, "Let's pack it in and call it a night." He looked around at the team members who were starting to get visibly exhausted.

Jack agreed. "It's late. We've done all we can for tonight. Let's get some rest and see what responses to Tara's profile we've gotten by tomorrow. If we don't have contact from the three stooges by late afternoon, we'll try contacting them ourselves. See you tomorrow everyone," he said with a wave of his hand, indicating that they were all to go home now.

As everyone began to gather their things and head out, Jack took Sue by the arm to get her attention. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure." Sue nodded and looked over at Lucy, who was waiting for her.

Jack followed her gaze. "It's alright Luce, I'll take Sue home."

"Ok," Lucy answered, giving Sue a look that practically screamed 'tell me everything later'!

"Levi needs to be walked." Sue turned back towards Jack. "Can we walk and talk at the same time?" Levi looked up at Jack as if to say that he would not be impressed if he delayed the much needed walk.

Jack laughed, nodding. "I think I can manage that." He helped Sue to put her coat on and, placing his hand on the small of her back, he led them out of the bullpen.

----

In the park, Levi had taken care of business and was now happily chasing a squirrel. "So?" asked Sue as she and Jack walked side by side.

Jack stuffed his hands in his pocket and gave her a nervous smile and a shrug.

"Jack, you said we could walk and talk, but so far you've only shown me that you can walk," she teased, trying to lighten the tension caused by his silence.

He laughed and cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh, well, I was just wondering what you and Levi had planned on Saturday night."

"You mean Valentine's day?" Sue asked trying not to show the excitement she was feeling.

Jack nodded as he pleaded with his eyes for Sue to answer him.

"Oh, I don't know," she shrugged nonchalantly, enjoying his nervousness and flattered that she was the cause of it. "Levi hasn't made any plans yet. Why do you ask?"

Jack let out a nervous laugh. He could see that she was going to string him along as long as possible. Well, two could play at that game. "Well," he said, getting in on the fun, "I was hoping that Levi wouldn't have any plans for Saturday night and that he would like to join me. You could come too, if you want," he finished with a cheeky grin.

Sue had to admit, he was good at this game too. "Ok," she smiled, giving in. "We'd like that. What do you have in mind?"

"It'll be a surprise. Just trust me."

"Trust you Hudson? I don't know about that, but I will be looking forward to Saturday. I mean Levi and I will."

Jack sighed in relief that it was over. He had asked and she had said yes. This was promising to be a very good Valentine's day.

There was a noticeable lightness to their step as they put Levi on his leash and headed back to Jack's car. Sue smiled to herself as she imagined Lucy waiting at home, ready to probe her with questions.

Ah thats wonderful jacks finally ask sue out on valentines day
cant wait for more so more soon please pretty please Lin

That's wonderful

Hehe... Mr. Huggles....

A date... a date... a date.... That's all I can say for right now.

Wonderful posts, by the way.

Cindy, you may have not written much yet, but you're a natural!! I can see everything you're portraying, from the bantering, to the teasing, to Jack's bumbling and Myles' sarcastic wit!!!

Can't wait for you to continue!!!

Joy

I must that my dear Cindy, you are a wonderful writer! I can't wait for more!!

woohoo he's asked her

cath

cath!

It's a date!!!!!!

I love this story Cindy!!!!

Em

Im glad I found this story...now, time for some B/T fluff!!

please

Just caught up on this story.

WOOHOO! They're going on a date on Valentine's day!

Ornella

I am enjoying this story so much! you write the characters so well...looking forward to more!

Jack and Levi on a date? It could be interesting.

A big welcome to any new readers! And thank you to everyone for taking the time to read my story and for the supportive comments.....you guys are wonderful!

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The next morning, as the team entered the bullpen, they found a very chipper Randy exiting the room. "Good morning to all. Leland, your requisition form is on your desk. Nice try." He practically sang the words as he walked away.

Myles knew that Randy being in a good mood meant trouble for himself. He quickened his step to the desk where he found his most recent requisition form denied, for the second time. "That rotten, officious little smurf! Mark my words, he will not win this battle! Oooh, I could just......" Myles made a choking gesture with his hands when words failed to do the trick.

Bobby's laughter and his enjoyment of Myles' frustration only proved to make him even more agitated.

"If you choke a smurf, what color does it turn?" Tara asked with a serious tone, but a wink to Lucy and Sue.

"I don't know. Why don't we pay Randy a visit and find out!!" Myles practically yelled, slamming his denied requisition form on his desk. His response caused everyone to laugh.

No one on this earth could get under Myles' skin like Randy Pitts! Well, there was Webber, his next door neighbour, who was also bent on spending his life making Myles miserable. He really wasn't sure which was worse. Myles had practically convinced himself that Randy and Webber were twins separated at birth .... separated simply to cover more ground. This way they could annoy him both at work and at home!

"Maybe later Myles," Jack said taking control of his team. "Right now we've got work to do. Tara, how are we doing with responses to your profile?"

"Not bad actually," the petite agent answered with an embarrassed chuckle. She had been surprised by the number of responses she had received already.

"Way to go girl," Lucy said with a wide smile, giving Tara a pat on the back as she looked over her shoulder to the computer screen.

"Our little undercover project here got me curious last night," Bobby chimed in. "I did a little research of my own and ...did you know that thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married?" This was greeted by team members shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.

"Great," Tara said sarcastically.

"Coincidentally, did you know that more people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes?" Bobby continued as he walked toward his desk.

Looking rather stunned, Myles brought himself to ask the obvious question, "How is that coincidental?"

"I dunno. Both facts were on the same webpage," he answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

This was met by good-natured groans from everyone. Jack threw a ball of wadded paper at Bobby, who grinned and ducked.

"The good news," said Tara loudly, trying to get everyone focused again, "is that we do have contact from two of our three stooges, Camper and Hotstuff32, or Moe and Larry, if you will. I've read their email and they want to get to know me, or the me in the profile anyway," Tara corrected herself.

"Good." Jack stood up at his desk. "They're going to get their wish. Tara get back to them and see how quickly you can set up dates with them."

Tara nodded and returned to her screen.

tara be very careful please more soon Lin

Great job!! You had me laughing so hard at that one!!

Leave it to Bobby to bring humor into a situation!!!

The rest of it? - just plain scary!!!

Joy

Great post!

Myles... Bobby... They all made me

Em

love the story so far....

Poor Myles!

Great job, Cindy!

Ornella

hope bobby is going to be protecting tara when she meets the suspects

cath

hmmm....


What color DOES a Smurf turn if you choke them...?

See... I'm wondering that.... and if the donkey thing is true... it would honestly be funny if it was... gotta love useless facts that amke absolutely no sense!

You ladies take the words right out of my fingers.... I loved the smurf stuff Cindy...

my guess is a blueberry-shaped smurf!

You all are too funny! Thanks for commenting!

------


As the morning progressed, each team member, with the exception of Tara, found themselves busy with paperwork. Jack, Sue and Myles worked to finish up some final reports on their last case, while Bobby re-read the reports from the dating company looking for new possible leads.

With a grunt, Bobby raised himself out of his chair, stretching his 6'4" frame, and walked over to the coffee machine for his third cup that morning. Jack, who was already there, poured the dark liquid into Bobby's outstretched mug.

"Thanks."

"You don't seem to be in such a great mood this morning, Crash, what's up?"

"Nothing's up," but the somber look on his face told Jack otherwise.

"If I recall, your mood took a distinctive turn for the worse after you saw the number of online romeos who were interested in getting to know our whiz kid over there," Jack said in semi-whispered tones. He couldn't help but smile at the reaction on Bobby's face. Busted, he thought to himself. "Could it be that you're a little jealous?" Jack raised his eyebrow in a questioning look.

"Of course not," Bobby answered defensively, casting a glance over at Tara to make sure she couldn't hear their conversation. "Why would you even think that?"

"Come on Crash, I see you watching Tara when you think no one's looking. She's obviously peaked your interest in a way that the rest of us haven't," Jack teased.

Bobby gave him a glare.

"I'm just saying that you don't look at me and Myles like that," Jack laughed, raising his hands in submission as his buddy got more defensive.

"You're one to talk, mate. What about you and that pretty little sheila over there? You've been dancing around her for years. Talk about being obvious."

"Well, it just so happens," now it was Jack's turn to look around, checking that no one could overhear them, "that Miss Sue Thomas and I have a date for Valentine's evening," he finished with a grin.

"Woohoo!" Bobby ducked as Jack threw daggers at him with his eyes. Realizing he had gotten everyone's attention with his enthusiastic outburst, he gave everyone a sheepish smile and a wave of his coffee mug. "Coffee's fresh," he announced, trying to explain it all away.

Jack was glad that after a few confused looks and raised eyebrows, everyone turned their attention back to their work. "Smooth Crash."

"Well, congratulations Sparky. You finally asked her out on a real date, and for Valentine's Day, no less. I feel like I should be awarding you a trophy after all these years of dawdling," he said with a dimpled grin.

"Thanks anyway," Jack said, furrowing his brow. "Well, are you planning on dancing around Tara for a few more years?"

Bobby cleared his throat softly. "Hope not, mate. We'll see."

"We'll see ....that's the procrastinator's mantra, if I'm not mistaken." Jack shook his head and laughed as he turned to go back to his desk.

Bobby cast one last look at Tara, who was busily responding to the stooges, before settling back down at his own desk.

And Jack most definately would be the expert on that, wouldn't he? Bobby, I'd take his advice.

Well these two are sort of making progress!

I loved that part.. You have them all down perfectly!





Great job Cindy! This story gets better and better with each post!

hope jack and sue can make things workout for themselves
just hope bobby and tara can do the same more soon please Lin

I find it very amusing that Jack is trying to give tips to Bobby in the romance department!!!

Joy

This is great. You write the characters so well! Loved Bobby's cover and Jack giving Bobby pointers on romance...

yup i was chuckling at that too

cath

Ditto!

What can I say about Jack? The man finally makes a move and now he feels he's got romantic advice to offer the world.

This is kind of a short one. The next one is longer, I promise. The story's all written, just trying to space it out a little longer.

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"What have we got?" Jack asked the team gathered by Tara's desk.

"Well, we've made initial contact with our third stooge and I've communicated further with Larry and Moe. I've got a date with Moe on Friday night and Larry is available tonight," Tara announced matter-of-factly.

Myles smirked. "Wednesday. Hmm....busy guy."

"Nice work Tara. We'll have to set things up for tonight. Find out where Larry's planning on taking you. Make sure it's somewhere public and tell him you'll meet him there. We don't want you to have to be alone at anytime with this guy. In the meantime, see what you can arrange with Curly," Jack told Tara. Turning to the rest of the team, "We need to arrange surveillance."

"Right-o. You know if you can get a date with Curly for Thursday, we could have this all wrapped up by Saturday," Bobby said, tapping Tara's desk for emphasis.

"Do you have plans for Valentine's?" Tara asked cautiously. She assumed that was his reason for wanting to wrap things up by Saturday and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear his answer.

"I'm hoping to," he answered with a slight smile at her, and then turned back to Jack for their surveillance planning .

Tara nodded slightly, and returned her attention to the screen, but she couldn't focus her thoughts. What does he mean 'I'm hoping to'? She wondered if maybe Darcy was back in town.

It's you Tara.....Bobby and Tara are getting just as bad as Jack and Sue.....GGGGRRRR


~laura michelle~

Everything he said and did was so Bobby like! Great job!! And you wouldn't bring Darcy back in a B/T sory would you??

You stole my words again Laura! You do that a lot! Anyways...hello Darcy doesnt exist anymore...he likes Tara, he may even love wake up and smell the

Tara, Sweetie, think about what Bobby is saying to you!!!

Joy

Bobby and Jack are soooo adorable talking about 'love life' and 'love possibilities'.
--> so true

Bobby does have an excellent poker face, does he not?

shame on Jack for thinking he now has all the romantic answers...LOL


Oh... started trying to think about when the Smurfs were on... you know, Papa Smurf did try to choke someone every once in a while.... I think they turned a darker blue....

good grief tara, think about what he said and how he said it

cath

Thanks for continuing to read and comment everyone!




Tracy, is that a dare? Actually, that would be tempting as a twist to the story, but since it's already finished I won't make any major changes like that.

And, having read my Darcy Who? bit in 'Missing Scenes', I think you know how I feel about Darcy after she broke Bobby's heart.




He may Theatrenut86!




Mionebristow, I laughed so hard at this!

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This post isn't very exciting, but it's here to help move the story along.

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The team had agreed to meet back at the bullpen at 6 pm to make sure everyone was aware of the plans and their positions. Everything had been arranged. Tara had told Larry she would meet him at the restaurant he had chosen, Enrico's, at 7pm. Jack and Sue would be on surveillance from within the restaurant. They would be on one of their undercover dates and position themselves so that Sue could read lips. Bobby would also be in the restaurant, not having wanted to be too far from Tara in case she should need protection. Myles would be in the surveillance van outside the restaurant, and to everyone's surprise, Lucy had volunteered to accompany him, along with Levi.

Tara entered the bullpen a few minutes after the rest of the team, getting nervous when the room became silent. Her fears were quickly alleviated by the compliments bestowed upon her.

"You look gorgeous," Lucy exclaimed.

"Absolutely beautiful," agreed Sue.

"Very nice," added Jack, who himself was having a hard time keeping his eyes off of his undercover date, who he found stunning in a red v-neck top and flaring black skirt which ended just above the knee. He smiled to himself remembering what she had said when she had walked in, "Hair down, just like you like it, Sparky". She had given him that sideways smile and he felt as if his legs had turned to jello.

The only one who had not yet stirred from his seat on the side of Jack's desk was Bobby. Tara was so beautiful that he was at a loss for words.

"Do you think this will do?" dipping her head slightly as she asked.

Realizing that she was talking to him, Bobby forced himself to snap out of his daze. "Um, yes," he said shaking his head in disbelief. "That will more than do luv. You look amazing!"

"Thanks. It's just a little black dress....a staple in every girl's closet." Tara tried hide the blush that Bobby's compliment had brought. "So, are we ready?" she asked turning to the rest of the team.

"We think so," answered Jack, snapping his figures in front of Bobby in an attempt to get him focused on the planning rather than on Tara, where his gaze had remained.

"Just one more thing," Lucy brought over a flower that had been outfitted with a pin-hole camera that would send video and audio footage back to the surveillance van. As she pinned it onto Tara's dress, Jack once again went over their surveillance placements.

"What do we know about this guy?" Myles asked Tara.

"He didn't tell me much in his email. Says he's a dentist," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"The electric chair was invented by a dentist."

"Thanks Myles, I'm sure that'll be a big help tonight."

"Happy to do my part," Myles gave an exaggerated bow.

As the girls turned to leave the bullpen after the guys, Tara turned to Lucy and Sue and jokingly asked, "Is it very sad that I'm actually excited about going on a date with a possible serial killer?"

Lucy laughed. "It just means that you need to get out a little more Tara."

"Yeah," laughed Tara, with a wistful look at Bobby's retreating back as he, Myles, and Jack made their way further down the hall, deep in conversation.

Catching Tara's look, Sue said, " You know, Victor Hugo said that 'A compliment is like a kiss through a veil.' Maybe you shouldn't take Bobby's compliment so lightly."

"Well, I wish he'd just lift the veil already." Tara said it with a tone of impatience and sadness.

Wow...Tara really does like Bobby back and I think the guys are going to be very useful tonight

Great job, Cindy...little late to the party, but you have me intrigued...Can't wait for more...

Ornella

Well, Bobby would be an expert at it, wouldn't he? He's certainly had lots of practice.



Amen to that. He's turning into another one of those turtle-men, isn't he? Just what the girls of the team need. All turtles and no real men!