Chapter Text
Annie Wells felt like celebrating. She’d just managed to complete her first week at the bureau, and she hadn’t screwed up, gotten fired, or yelled at. The jitters were finally receding enough that she was confident that she was not dreaming the fact she was really, truly here at her dream job.
She really enjoyed the unit she’d been placed with too, which was a relief. She appreciated the easy camaraderie that permeated the whole group, and the ease with which they welcomed her. And she believed with all her heart that, in time, she would consider the other two women of the group to be some of her dearest friends.
“Oh, there you are!”
Turning, she was met with the grinning faces of Jane and Helen. It seemed as if, by merely thinking of them, they materialized.
“We wanted to celebrate you completing your first week, we’re taking you out for drinks!” Jane exclaimed while dancing in circles around Annie. Meanwhile, Helen had managed to acquire an entire box worth of colorful confetti, and was generously throwing heaps of it over all three of them.
“All right, All right!, only if you quit that ridiculous dancing!”
“Just be glad it’s only dancing and confetti, Brad offered earlier to lend his trombone to the festivities.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep, anyhow, you ready to head out?”
“I think maybe we should clean up this confetti first.”
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“Soooo, meet any cute guys since you’ve settled in?” Helen asked. Both Helen and Jane leaned in over the bar table, chins in their hands, mirthfully teasing their new team member.
“Well, actually, there is one guy I’ve been crushing on...”
“Oooh, tell us!” Chorused the two, leaning further in.
“I haven’t had a chance to properly meet him yet, but I’ve seen him around the bureau, his name’s Jack Hudson, do you guys know him?
Helen nearly fell off her chair.
“Oh, uh...yeah” Jane trailed off.
“Aww phooey, is he already taken?”
“Not...exactly.” Helen floundered, trying to explain.
“Everyone at the bureau considers him taken, but he’s not...um...literally spoken for.” Jane trailed off again, at a loss for how to explain Jack and Sue to someone who had never seen them.
“What?”
“It’s kinda hard to explain without seeing it for yourself. I take it you haven’t met Sue Thomas yet?” Helen interjected, hazarding a guess.
“I don’t think so?”
“You’d know if you met her. Oh! I know how to clear this up. I have a report I need to turn in to Jack on Monday morning, if you come along, I’m sure you’ll understand what we mean.” Helen smirked at the thought of introducing Annie to the FBI’s most infamously, haplessly, most blindly besotted pair of agents.
“Ugh, I think I already hate her.” Annie growled. Who was this Sue person? What was she doing that was putting Jack in this odd position? If she didn’t want him, why not let someone else have him?
“See, here’s the thing actually, you won’t hate her. I promise this will all make sense when you meet them” Helen replied, interrupting Annie’s internal ranting about the mysterious Sue.
“Well, if you insist, Monday morning it is, then.”
++++++++++
Monday morning found the trio headed up to Jack’s bullpen. Jane and Helen gigglingly eager to introduce Annie to the clueless couple. Helen had come prepared with the report that provided their excuse to travel out of their own office into this mysterious realm. They found Jack with no trouble, but it appeared that Sue had not yet arrived.
Introductions were made all around, and Annie found Jack to be pleasantly friendly, in a distant sort of way. He exuded strength that leant a seriousness to his bearing, and air of experience that she could only hope to one day to achieve. He also seemed somewhat distracted, as if he was waiting for something.
Annie heard footsteps behind her, and witnessed something incredible. Her previous assessment of seriousness in Jack melted off of his face and was replaced by a gentle glowing smile, and his eyes took on a joyous sparkle. Turning, she found the object of his attention, along with...a dog?
“Annie, this is Sue Thomas, and her dog, Levi” Jack introduced her to the smiling blonde woman, coming around to stand beside Sue. Annie had never in her life had call to describe a person as gazing at another, but that was the only way she could describe the expression on his face.
“Glad to meet you Annie, and welcome to the FBI, I heard you just completed your first week, congratulations! You haven’t had any problems settling in have you? If anybody bothers you, you just tell me, and I’ll set Levi on ‘em.”
As Sue spoke, Annie noticed an oddly thick lilt to her voice. It sounded as if her tongue was slightly too large for her mouth, and had to work around it to get the words out. She also wondered about the dog, why was he here? She knew about seeing eye dogs, but Sue was clearly not blind, so that wasn’t it. She tried to ask Sue about Levi, but she didn’t seem to hear. It all became clear when Levi, seeing Annie was trying to get Sue’s attention, stood up and pushed on her leg.
“Oh! I’m sorry, were you asking me something? I wasn’t facing you, so I didn’t see. See, I’m deaf, and Levi is my hearing dog. I read lips, but if I’m facing away from you, he gets my attention so I know something’s going on.” Sue gently explained.
Annie was blindsided by the warmth this woman exuded, offering her friendship so easily, having barely known her even five minutes. Her gentle sweetness wrapped around everyone like a blanket, and Annie’s envy washed away as she watched her, ashamed that she’d jumped to such a harsh opinion of her.
She also noticed how Sue had a special teasing smile just for Jack, and seemed to spend just as much time gazing back at him. They seemed to gravitate toward one another, heads bent close, bodies leaning gently. As Sue excused herself and went past them to settle at her desk, Jack’s eyes followed after her, and distractedly followed in her footsteps to his own desk.
Taking that as their cue to leave, the three women shuffled hurriedly back out to the hall.
“Wow”
“I know, right?”
“And you say the two of them aren’t together? If they were any more into each other, something might explode! How long has this been going on?”
Helen laughed “It’s been around three years now, they’ve been in love practically since the minute she walked through the door, but they don’t seem to realize that the feelings are mutual.”
“Again, wow.”
“Tell me about it” Jane snorted “The entire bureau can see it, and most of D.C. for that matter. We’re all waiting on baited breath for when they finally figure it out.”
“So...do you want in on the betting pool?”