I don't know what it is, but I seem to be obsessed with cooking . . . not that I've been doing much of it here lately, but I seem to enjoy the idea of JACK cooking . . . IN THE KITCHEN, people . . . I know how you all are . . . 
We're making an about face from the seriousness of the last chapter, and we're bringing the team back in! Hope you enjoy, and thanks SO MUCH for reading, and for commenting!! You're wonderful!
Regina Chapter 18“Jack, when did you become a decent cook? Last time I looked in your refrigerator, all that was in there was molded cheese, a half a container of spoiled milk, and some seriously expired mayonnaise,” Bobby said, putting his last forkful of lasagna in his mouth and rolling his eyes in enjoyment.
"Did you hear that?" Jack asked, turning to Sue. "He doubts me! I get no respect . . ."
"I didn't hear a thing," Sue returned, batting her eyelashes at him laughingly.
“Well . . . I had a good coach,” Jack said, shaking his head and smiling over at Sue. Completely bored with sitting on the couch all day after over two weeks of confinement, she finally convinced him to help her onto a barstool, propping her bad leg on another stool, where she proceeded to “talk” him through the mysteries of making lasagna for the team.
“And I had a good student,” Sue said, winking at Jack as he stood to take plates from her and from those who were finished. “I have to say, though, it was worth it to learn that whole brownie-cutting thing. Next time I need Martha Stewart tips from Jack Hudson, I’ll just have to mess up a knee again.”
Jack groaned and rolled his eyes as he fielded another volley of laughter from his team. She HAD to bring up the brownie thing. “That’s OK. I’ll be ready to start eating YOUR cooking very soon. But, you know, making lasagna isn’t as hard as I always figured it would be. I thought there was some big mystery to it,” Jack said, shrugging his shoulders. He was just a little proud of his success, but wouldn’t admit it for the world. Play it cool, Hudson. If Bobby knew how much fun he was having playing “Mr. Mom,” he would never let him live it down – like he’d never let the brownie thing die, he was sure.
Bobby just sat across the room shaking his head and laughing at the expression on Jack's face. He could read his best mate like a book, and these days it was interesting reading.
“Well, easy or hard, I still say I could get used to this on a regular basis,” Lucy said. “Are you sure you don’t want to just camp here permanently?” Lucy had a wicked glint in her eye as she said it, and arched an eyebrow gracefully as she looked at Jack and Sue sitting so comfortably next to one another. Sue dipped her eyes down, looking anywhere except toward Lucy or Jack.
Jack just looked at Lucy with a smug grin and a wink that told her that her day would come, and it just might not be pretty. As he pointed his finger at her, Lucy just laughed.
“OK, team, if everyone’s finished, let’s get down to work,” D said, seeing the glances that Lucy was throwing toward Jack and Sue, and reading between the lines better than they ever thought he could.
They had let SOG have the remainder of the previous week to do their surveillance, giving Jack and Sue a break on watching security footage, and Sue a chance to get used to maneuvering around the apartment. She was still hesitant about using the crutches, but she was getting better at it, much to Jack’s dismay. The better she got at independent movement, the fewer chances he had to carry her, have her lean on him for support, and basically keep her close to him. He had grown to enjoy that part of her convalescence, and he was going to have to think of other ways to finagle keeping her close by when they returned to work.
“Good idea,” Myles began. “But let me be among the first to say that I think this trend of combining socialization with bullpen meetings could be the start of a new trend in FBI work. Maybe we should start having potluck meals? Maybe we could convince Randy that it would increase productivity!” The sarcastic tone of his voice made the rest of the team laugh, all of them adding to the “new” traditions they could start.
“How about a ‘snap-cup?” Tara asked, giggling and snapping her fingers as Lucy and Sue began to laugh.
“What in the world is THAT?” Jack asked, with a puzzled expression. It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t remember why.
“
Legally Blonde,” Lucy said, looking at Jack knowingly.
Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, realization dawned on Jack as he remembered being forced to watch the “chick-flick” with Sue and Lucy one evening. Actually, it wasn’t a bad movie, he thought as he shrugged and tilted his head. Chick-flicks weren't such a hardship when you get to watch them with the "chick" of your choice, he thought with a smile.
“Yeah, remember? They started their sorority meetings with everyone putting a positive comment in a ceremonial cup and then reading them aloud?” Tara said, arching an eyebrow and blushing at Bobby, who was shaking his head, laughing at her.
“That’s all we need . . . to start integrating sorority traditions into our meetings,” Myles said with mock weariness.
“Hey, you started it,” Sue said, laughing. As good as it was to have Jack all to herself during the day, having the team there was good, too. It built her confidence just being with them, seeing the respect and love they all had for one another. She was beginning to notice other things, too. Like Bobby and Tara. What about Lucy and Myles? Was being in love, herself, causing her to look at everyone through the eyes of coupledom?
Jack was watching Sue, noticing when she got quiet, and noting the serene smile on her face, and then the glint of speculation. “
WHAT’S UP?” he signed, narrowing his eyes at her a bit.
“
MATCHMAKING,” she signed back, laughing at his rolling eyes.
Jack smiled and shook his head as he settled in beside her, his arm around her shoulders. His hand reached out to pluck at a lock of long, blonde hair, stroking it, tugging at it, and weaving it between his fingers, for a moment letting his imagination take flight. He thought about the afternoon at the park, her hair spread across his chest as they relaxed in the shade of the tree. He thought about the way she looked the evening of the gala she cut short to help with the sniper case. She’d worn her hair down, at his request, even though David was her date. He thought about . . .
“Jack,” Sue whispered, “D’s trying to get your attention. Where were you?” She was looking closely at him, her hazel eyes luminous as she tried to delve into his deep brown eyes.
He smiled at her, and simply said, “I was with you,” enjoying watching the blush rising on her face as she smiled before turning his attention to his supervisor.
“Now that we’ve gone around the world, how’s about we focus on the case at hand? Tara? An update?” D said, motioning to the lady sitting behind the laptop.
“We’ve had SOG follow up on Kristi and Randall Peters, and Jane Harwell. It seems that Kristi and Randall Peters are having marital problems, as indicated by two visits to a counselor this past week,” Tara shared.
“That could explain why I never knew she was married. Maybe they’ve been separated?” Sue asked.
“They aren’t now, but according to our checks, they have been, off and on, for the last couple of years,” Lucy added.
“Poor Janie,” Sue said, her heart going out to the little girl who couldn’t hear, and who probably felt guilty every time her home turned upside down. Kids just do that, sometimes.
“Yeah. It’s always the kids who suffer, isn’t it?” Tara said, glancing over at Bobby, who kept his head down, deep in thought. Tara wondered why she said that, knowing that Bobby still had some unresolved issues surrounding his own parents’ separation and subsequent desertion by his father.
“Anyway,” D continued, determined to get his team back on track, “we’ve set up a meeting with Jane Harwell at the Hoover Building, and we were wondering if you would be able to come if we set up a meeting with Kristi Peters?”
“Jack?” Sue asked. “After all, you’re the one getting me down the stairs!”
“You’ve got a doctor’s appointment day after tomorrow, downtown,” he said, calculating in his head. “Could we make it for that day, D, before her appointment? It would be easier on Sue if she didn’t have to get out another time.”
“We’ll set it up. What time’s the appointment?” D asked.
“Two,” Jack said, looking at Sue, who was nodding in agreement, a look of excitement on her face.
"A field trip! It'll be good to get out of the apartment for a little while, won't it, Levi?" Sue said, reaching down to scratch the dog's ears.
“Sounds good. Lucy, would you set it up, please?” D said, even as Lucy nodded and made a note on her steno pad.
“How much are we going to tell these two ladies?” Myles asked, distrust of the general public never far below the surface.
“As little as possible. I’m hoping we can just tell them that we’re investigating some curious incidences involving helping dogs and bugging devices, and hopefully they will come forward with more information as we go,” D said. He looked at his team, knowing that it was people like THEM whose lives were on the line here. “These are intelligent women, or they would not be in the positions they are in. I don’t have to tell you that.” D paused and smiled at them, lifting an eyebrow humorously and deciding to lighten up the mood a bit. “Now, if you’d rather, I could always call up the Pentagon, Hart, and the White House and see about looking at all their footage? Your choice?”
Jack raised his hand. “As a Special Agent recently turned temporary Analyst . . .,” Jack began.
"And manservant!" Sue interjected to the delight of the team.
"Yeah . . .," Jack continued, “. . . I say we go with these ladies unless we find we can’t use them. Another couple of days of reviewing footage, and I think I’ll go bonkers . . . not that the company isn’t good,” he said, smiling at the beautiful lady in the crook of his arm.
“Short attention span,” Sue quipped, shrugging her shoulders as the team laughed with her.
“Yeah . . . well,” D said, smiling quietly at the couple.
I wonder what could possibly be pulling his attention away from the footage... 
Re-g-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-n-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a! Now that you've let Jack embarrass Sue like that, she'll never consent to the bullpen AND conference room seductionS!! 
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