- RSL
*****
Red Umbrella
(Sung by Faith Hill)
Sometimes life can get a little dark
I'm sure I've got bruises on my heart
Here come the black clouds full of pain
Yeah, you can break away without the chains
With a heavy heart and tears rolling down her cheeks Special Investigative Analyst Sue Thomas wandered along the park path, her faithful canine companion Levi at her side. The day was as bleak as her mood as big raindrops started falling around her. She had been in such a hurry to flee the confines of the small waiting room that she hadn’t even thought to bring an umbrella with her, completely forgetting about the ominous clouds that had been hovering over D.C. all day. It served her right though. Why should she be safe and protected when one of their own was lying fighting for his life on an operating table?
How could she have let this happen? How could she have missed the obvious and not warned the others sooner of what was about to happen? If he should die it will be all her fault. He had trusted her to keep him safe and she had let him down. She had let them all down – the Bureau, the team, her friends…Jack. He must really hate her now. How could he not? After all she was the one responsible for all the terror and heartache that everyone was suffering right now.
You can wear your sorrow like an old raincoat
You can save your tears in a bottle made of gold
But the glitter on the sidewalk always shines
Yeah, even God needs to cry sometimes
Sue shivered from the cold rain and pulled her wet coat closer around her as she continued to walk. Why didn’t she just go to New York? If she had have moved last month when she had the chance then things would be different now. The team wouldn’t be huddled together in a small hospital waiting room anxiously waiting for news about their fallen friend. Lucy and Tara wouldn’t be sitting together with faces as pale as ghosts and eyes red from crying while three anxious men paced the tight quarters like caged beasts who looked ready to devour anything in their paths. That’s why Sue had fled. She couldn’t stand to see the people she loved the most in such a state, especially not knowing that it was her fault that they were all there. Why? Why did this have to happen? How could she have been so stupid?
Her tears began to flow so much as her mind replayed the events of earlier that day that she had to stop walking. The meeting which had started out so promising had suddenly gone sour causing the thug they were dealing with to pull out his gun and push it right into their comrade’s stomach. Sue was sure she screamed at the sight of their friend falling to the ground. It was a sight that would be burned into her memory for the rest of her life she was sure of it. Why hadn’t she noticed sooner that the meeting had gone bad? Why hadn’t she seen the change? Why hadn’t she warned the others?
Sue suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder but before she could register who it belonged to she was being pulled into a tight one-armed embrace. At first she resisted then a familiar scent caught her attention causing her to relax and cling to its owner. Burying her face into her consoler’s neck she sobbed out her grief until all of her tears were spent. When her sobs finally settled down she felt her companion gently ease back from her just enough so that she could see their face.
Bloodshot hazel eyes met deeply troubled dark-brown ones as a hand came up to wipe the remaining tears from her face. Sue searched those eyes and saw a mixture of emotions swirling in them.
“I’m so sorry, Jack.” She said to him in a choked voice.
“Sue, it is not your fault.” Special Agent Jack Hudson told her with a serious look on his face.
“He trusted me…” Sue began, but tears filled her eyes again as a lump came up into her throat. Swallowing the lump as best she could she continued. “He trusted me to keep him safe, to alert the rest of you if there was trouble. He wasn’t wearing a wire, Jack. I’m the only one who could have known that he was in trouble.”
“And did the suspect give you any hint that he knew it was a set up?” Jack asked pointedly. “Did he say anything that would have let you know?”
Sue lowered her eyes and shook her head. “No, he didn’t. Everything seemed to be fine one second and then the next he pulled out his gun and buried it in Bobby’s stomach. My first hint was when he went for his gun.”
“And that was our first hint too.” Jack told her after lifting her chin to get her attention. “Sue, just because you can read lips it doesn’t mean you can read minds. You can only tell if there is a problem if the suspect or the agent lets you know something isn’t right. You did everything you could to keep Bobby safe. And I know that once this is over he will agree with me.”
Sue’s eyes filled with tears again. “What if he doesn’t make it, Jack? What then? I don’t know if I could live with that. I don’t think I could live with the thought that I cost the team a very important member…that I cost you your best friend.”
“Sue, you didn’t cost me anything.” Jack assured her seriously. “If by some sad chance Bobby doesn’t make it, it will be the suspect and not you that cost us a very important member of the team. And we will do everything in our power to make sure that that suspect never sees the light of day again. But you have to forgive yourself, Sue. You have to tell yourself that you did everything that was humanly possible to protect Bobby.”
“How do you know?” She asked, her chin quivering slightly.
“Because I know you.” He told her earnestly. “And I know that you are not capable of giving anything but your best, especially when someone else’s life is on the line. You are the best at what you do, Sue. And I have the utmost confidence in you and in your abilities. They had served this team well for the last three years. Remember that. I am so proud of you Sue. And I feel so incredibly privileged to know you, and to work with you and to have you in my life. And in six months time I will feel very blessed to have you as my wife.”
Sue looked into Jack’s eyes and took great comfort in the love that she saw shinning there.
Your love is like a red umbrella
Always there to make me better
When my broken dreams
Are fallin' from the sky
“Why don’t we head back and see if there’s any news.” Jack suggested as he put his arm around Sue’s shoulders and directed her back towards the hospital across the street. Sue leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked, noticing for the first time the red umbrella that Jack was holding over their heads to protect them from the rain.
So let it rain
It's pourin' all around
Let it fall
No it ain't gonna drown me
After all
I'm gonna be okay
So let it rain
Let it wash my tears away
Tomorrow's another day
The End
Word Count: 1291
so sad yet beautiful 
Tere 
