Chapter 2

Sue woke an hour early to make sure she was ready when Jack arrived. She didn't want to answer the door wearing her robe again. She was showered, dressed with Levi walked all by 8. Sue's phone vibrated, it was Jack.

"Hi Jack." She answered.

"Hi. Have you eaten?" He asked.

"No, not yet. Why?" She asked.

"I'm starving. Do you want stop for some breakfast?" He asked.

"I just put some muffins in the oven, they'll be done by the time you get here, and I have fresh coffee on. Interested?" She asked.

"Yummm... I'll be there in ten minutes." He said.

Eight minutes later, Jack knocked on the door.

"Hi." Sue said.

"Morning." Jack said back. He couldn't help but notice how cute she looked in her dress jeans and sweater. "Took advantage of the 'dress down' day?" He asked.

Sue looked down at her jeans and shrugged.

"Don't think i should?" Sue asked suddenly feeling self conscious.

"No. You look great. It's just that you don't wear them to work." Jack said, feeling bad that she'd taken it the wrong way. "Muffins smell good." Jack said.

"Thanks come in. They're on the table, and coffee's ready." Sue said. The two ate quickly and left for work. When Sue walked out of the apartment building, she looked up at the sky.

"It's going to be here before they said." Sue said getting into the car.

"What is?" Jack asked, looking up through the windshield.

"The snow. The clouds are thick and white, but already have the grey coming into them. It won't be long." Sue said smiling.

"What are you a weather girl too?" Jack teased.

"You watch. I bet it starts snowing around 11, not 3 like they said." Sue challenged.

"Really? What do you want to bet?" He asked laughing.

"If I'm right, you make me dinner." Sue said.

"And if you're wrong?" Jack asked.

"I won't be." Sue said laughing. Jack looked at her as if to tell her to be serious, she could be wrong. "OK, IF I'm wrong, I will make you dinner." She said.

"OK." Jack laughed in agreement.

The pair drove to work, talking casually about the case they needed to pursue today, and the impending snow storm. Sue joked about how Levi loved the snow; he always met pretty girl dogs in the snow.

Once at the office Myles began to help follow up on the leads that Bobby and Tara had gotten the day before, while Jack and Sue followed up on their leads. The hours passed and the pairs braved the cold or worked feverishly to piece together what tidbits they did have. Levi pawed at Sue's lap, getting her attention. She looked around for who wanted her, but no one was waiting for her to look at them. Levi walked to the window, putting his nose on the window pane.

"What is it boy?" Sue asked. The closer she got to the window, the more noticeable the flakes were becoming. "Hey Jack?" She called.

"Yeah?" He answered, not really looking away from his computer screen. "Just wondering, what are you making me for dinner?" She asked with a giggle.

"Wh-" He started.

"It's snowing." Sue said pointing out the window. Jack looked at his watch and smiled.

"Chili?" Jack answered making a face. Sue looked surprised, but pleased with his choice.

"Is that going to be ready for tonight? She asked laughing.

"Could be, I suppose." Jack answered.

They all got back to work. An hour later, Bobby came back covered in snow, complaining about how bad the roads were already. Sue looked up nervously. Tara walked to the window looking out.

"How much snow do you think we have out there?" She asked.

"At least 2 inches. It's nuts out there. I'm telling D I'm leaving for the day, it's too bad to keep going out chasing down small leads." Bobby said, brushing off his jacket from the pile of snow that had bunched on his shoulders.

Bobby gave both Tara and Myles a ride home. D said he was headed out soon, but had to wait for the higher ups to OK his leaving.

The wind began to blow, making Sue more nervous. She had driven in snow before, Ohio was no stranger to its fair share of winter storms, but she didn't like blizzards.

It was nearly 3:30 before Jack decided he was leaving too. He was going to stay longer, but D insisted he leave, and take Sue home. Sue seemed nervous about the snow and the fact that it was white out conditions.

As they left the parking building, it was instantaneous knowledge as to just how bad the conditions really were. Jack saw Sue pull her seatbelt a bit tighter. When they pulled up to the first stop light, Jack reached across and took her hand in his. He had just enough time to give her a little squeeze before the light turned green again, and Sue pulled her hand away from him like he had the plague. Jack noticed, but didn't want to bring it up. He didn't say a word until he got to her apartment, nearly an hour later. It had been a very slow go. By that time, there were at least five inches of snow on the ground, being blown around with the wind gusting up to over forty miles per hour- so the meteorologist said.

Jack pulled up to the front of Sue's apartment, and parked in the last spot just down from the door.

"Are you sure my car will be OK there?" Jack asked. "Is there, maybe a garage I could pay to put it in for the night?" He asked.

Sue shook her head no. "The only garage close by is two blocks away, and by this time, over filled. On days like this, they'll block in cars to get them off the street. It'll be OK here; we'll just have to dig you out." Sue said laughing.

Jack walked Sue to the door and began to say his goodbyes, when Sue interrupted him.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" She asked, sounding like a mother catching a child sneaking out after being punished.

"Sue, I should go, now, before it gets really bad." Jack argued.

"No!" Sue nearly shouted. "Jack, you can't. I swear I got fifteen grey hairs just coming home today. You can't- can't- get back in that car." She argued with him.

"Sue..." He said, knowing she would win this argument.

"Jack, please. If something happened to you..." Sue begged.

"Ok..." Jack gave in.

"Besides, you owe me dinner..." Sue giggled, trying to hide her fright of him going back out into the snow.

The pair walked up the stairs with Levi. As soon as they were all in the apartment, Sue locked the door, and let an audible sigh of relief slip from her lips.

"You OK?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. I just get nervous when the weather is this bad, that's all." She explained.

"Do you want some coffee?" She asked. Jack agreed it was a good idea.

"Sooo… since your excuse to keep me here was that I owed you dinner, what did you have in mind?" Jack asked.

"You promised me chili." Sue said smiling flirtatiously at him.

"Ahh, so I did. Would you happen to have anything to make chili with?" He asked. "See, there was this nasty snow storm that kept me from stopping at the store to buy the things I need to actually make the chili." Jack teased back. She smiled.

"It's ok, I'll let you off the hook this time." Sue said sipping her coffee.

"I take that as a 'no'?" Jack asked.

"I doubt it." She admitted. "You can look though if you want."

She started toward the freezer, as did Jack. There was a package of hamburger, and some chicken.

"Not much in here to eat." Jack said.

"No point. We haven't gone shopping, and Lucy won't be here this weekend. I'll probably go on Monday or Tuesday." Sue explained.

"Well, I can see what I can do with this." Jack offered. "Any peppers, onions?" He asked.

"Tell you what? How about I make you dinner tonight, and you can owe me the chili?" Sue offered. Sue took out the chicken and put it into a pot of cold water with some seasonings. She turned the stove on and went back into the living room with Jack. It's going to take a while; do you want a snack or something?" Jack said no and offered to help. Sue let him chop up some celery while she peeled carrots. After an hour, she pulled out the chicken breasts, skimmed the top of the pan and added the veggies. She chopped up the chicken into chunks and added it back into the simmering water. An hour later, she tested the carrots- done. She added the noodles and stirred. Another ten minutes passed, and she was serving soup and warm bread from the oven.

"This is delicious." Jack said, asking for another bowl. Sue started to get up for it, but he stopped her, claiming he was capable of getting his own, and offered to get her a little more. She declined his offer, but sat with him sipping another cup of coffee.

"Do you like the snow?" Jack asked.

"I love the snow- most of the time." Sue admitted. "I think I loved it more when I was a kid, but Levi reminds me of how much fun it can be." She said, giggling.

"What did you do when you were a kid? What was your favorite thing about the snow?" Jack asked, popping another piece of bread in his mouth.

"The usual, snowball fights, fort building, snowmen, snow angels…" she started. "But… my favorite thing was snowman building. My brothers and I would work together to get it done. It was always the biggest one in the neighborhood." Sue said, smiling fondly on the memory. "You?" She asked.

"Snow baseball." He said seriously.

"Did you say, snow baseball?" She asked. He nodded. "I've never heard of that." She said.

"I'll show you if the snow is right for it that is…" He said laughing. The two fell into a comfortable chat about their fond memories of when they were kids playing in the snow. "Ok, what was the stupidest thing you did- snow related- when you were a kid?" He asked.

"Uhh… no-no-" She stuttered.

"Oh, come on…" Jack prompted. Neither noticed that night had overtaken the day and it was black outside the window.

"OK… but you have to promise, promise you will never tell my mother this story. She'll have a heart attack!"Jack shook his head, agreeing to keep her secret. "There was this one really big storm. I was about 10. We ended up with over thirty inches of snow, and it drifted against the houses. We had six foot drifts. Billy and I put a bucket against the oil tank, climbed on top of it, crawled across the roof, and jumped into one of the drifts." Sue said giggling like crazy at the memory.

"Do you know how dangerous that was?!" Jack scolded.

"Why do you think I made you promise not to tell my mother?!" She defended. "But I was a kid, and didn't think anything would happen to me. AND… my older brother was doing it!" She laughed loud.

"What about you?" She asked. "What's the worst thing you ever did as a kid?"

"Probably… went walking across the river on the snow. It had snowed a lot, and the river was covered completely. I decided to see how far I could get." Jack admitted.

"Wow! You have some nerve scolding me for my stupid thing… yours was much worse." Sue said.

They both laughed hard at themselves. Jack heard a scratch at the door.

"Levi has to go out." Jack said.

"I'll take him." Sue said getting off the couch.

"No, let me take him." Jack insisted. "I'll shovel him a spot so he's not doing his business on the sidewalk for others to walk through."

"Thanks." Sue said.

A little while later, Jack and Levi both ran back up the stairs. Jack shivered, and Levi shook. Sue handed Jack a cup of hot chocolate.

"Thanks." Jack said, taking a sip. "What is that I smell?" He asked taking another deep breath.

"Dinner. I was getting a little bit hungry." She said.

"You made soup." Jack said.

"And I had a bowl. I'll have more tomorrow. I just wanted some comfort food." She said.

"And what 'comfort food' did you make?" He asked.

"My mother used to call it 'poor man's lasagna'. My father would get so upset with her for saying that too!" Sue explained.

"What exactly is 'poor man's lasagna'?" Jack asked.

"Pasta with sauce and some cheese mixed in, and baked just long enough to melt the cheese." She answered.

She dished up two plates and they sat on the couch eating it. Jack got up and pours himself a glass of wine, and one for Sue.

They began talking about childhood memories once more as they munched on dinner. When they were done, Jack took the plates into the kitchen, putting the leftovers from the plates on the floor for Levi.

Jack poured each of them another glass of wine. Sue sipped it and started asking him a question when Jack proposed a toast.

"To being snowed in." He said. She giggled and toasted the mounds of snow.

"What's the stupidest thing you've ever done… not necessarily snow related. You know that thing you look back on now, and wonder what you were thinking." Sue prompted.

"Skinny fishing." Jack answered without hesitation.

"What?" She asked.

"Skinny fishing." He paused. "You know, skinny dipping and fishing with just a net…" He admitted, his face turning red. Sue covered her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, and you never went skinny dipping?" Jack teased.

"No. I never did." She admitted.

"Never? Really? You never snuck off to that lake you were talking about with a bunch of friends and jumped in?" Jack pushed, teasing her some.

"Of course I did that, just never naked!" She insisted.

"What's the worst thing you ever did then…" Jack teased.

"I think the snow thing was probably it." She suddenly withdrew. "My childhood was pretty protected. My mother rarely let me out of her sight. She was always so afraid something bad would happen to me that I was on a very short leash. If I was with my brother's I had more room to move, but that didn't happen often." Sue said with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"So, you never went skinny dipping?" Jack teased.

"No!" Sue said.

"Would you tell me if you did?" Jack teased.

"Ok… how old were you when you had your first kiss?" She asked him.

"Eight." He answered, not hesitating.

"Come on, eight? I mean your first real kiss." She teased. "The kind that makes your palms sweat, and your heart beat so fast it nearly pounds out of your chest." She started.

"Thirteen." Jack answered. There was a long pause. "And you?" Jack began. "How old were you?" He asked, realizing after he asked that might be a bad question to ask her.

"Did you ever go ice fishing when you lived at home?" She asked, totally ignoring his question, and changing the subject.

"Oh, no you don't!" Jack said, nearly stomping his foot. "You're not getting out of it that easily. You have to answer that question." He teased.

"Jack…" She hesitated, blushing some. "You don't ask a lady those types of questions." She argued.

"Then the lady shouldn't have asked the question to begin with. Now..." He prompted. "I know you've had a first kiss… I've seen dog boy- dog park boy, kiss you." Jack said.

"His name is David." Sue said. "I was 16- and it was…" She hesitated.

"It was what?" Jack asked.

"Not a real kiss." She said.

"What do you mean?" He paused with a chuckle in his voice. "In my book, if your lips touched, it's a real kiss." Jack teased.

"So by that definition we've shared a real kiss." Sue said with a playful smirk on her lips.

Jack looked up quickly and began to stutter. Sue raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well-uh..." He stumbled. He cleared his throat. "Why do I feel like there are only wrong answers here?"

"So?" Sue asked, still waiting for him to answer the question.

"Well, I guess technically we did- ya know- kiss, but..." he began.

"But, what?" Sue interrupted.

"It wasn't a..." He began again, wincing from the pain of trying too hard to explain what he meant and still save face by not admitting it wasn't a 'real' kiss.

"A what?" Sue teased.

"A... romantic kiss- that's it!" He said, slapping his hands together "Romantic..."

"Felt pretty romantic to me..." Sue continued to tease, but instantly regretted saying it.

"It did?" Jack asked surprised. Sue blushed.

"Well... you know... it was dark, and it felt like we were sneaking around, you know hiding from Janice." Sue said desperately hoping he would believe her. Jack smiled sweetly at her. She had revealed a little bit and had quickly made an excuse for what she'd said- but he'd seen something in her eyes.

"Oh..." Jack said, desperately trying to find words. "Well... if you think there's more to a real kiss... when was yours?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood once again.

"Do you mind if we change the subject?" Sue asked quietly.

Jack could see tears form in her eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, reaching for her cheek to wipe the one tear she couldn't keep at bay. "Sue, I'm sorry." He said. "I'm so sorry. Sue, what is it? Talk to me." He said desperately trying to get her to talk to him.

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for." Sue said. "My teen years were harder than for most. I didn't have a lot of real friends." She took a cleansing breath. "Most boys didn't want to talk to me, never mind be my boyfriend. I was different, the freak I'm handicapped, and that scared people, especially kids." Sue said matter-of-factly.

"Don't let them off the hook that easily Sue." Jack said. "Just because you can't hear doesn't make you a freak. You weren't contagious, they had no reason to treat you like you were." Jack said, more angry than he'd intended. "David wasn't your first... was he?" Jack asked.

"First?" Sue asked, nervous about his question, and obviously so.

"Kiss...First kiss." He clarified.

"No." She sighed, "Uggh! If you must know...I went to this party, and they were playing spin the bottle. My friend Sally 'made me' play. I didn't have to kiss anyone for the first ten minutes that I played, thought I got off lucky." Jack looked at her curiously. "I kept landing on either the girls or in between people. Then, the co captain of the football team spun and landed on me. We had to go on the stairs to make out." She explained. Jack blushed a bit as he tried to visualize her making out with someone. "I had never kissed anyone before, never mind made out… I didn't know what I was doing." She started. "He leaned forward and put his lips on mine. It was a nice first kiss- at first. Then came the make out part… I think he was checking to see if I still had my tonsils! He wasn't very good either… messy if you know what I mean." Sue made a face. "I broke the kiss and decided it was not a good first time around…" She started.

"Then…" Jack pushed.

"Then he looked at me and said he didn't really want to be the one to kiss the freak, but his friends dared him to do it." She said.

"I hope you punched that jerk right in the face for that comment! I would have if I'd been there." Jack offered.

"Yeah, I slapped him. That didn't help the rep though." She said. "I was still the freak in class."

"Sue, I'm so sorry. Kids can be so cruel." He said. "I guess I don't have to tell you that though." Jack looked down upset by what she'd just told him. "Damn fools." He muttered, barely audible, but Sue was able to read his lips.

"More wine?" Sue asked, pouring herself another glass. Jack nodded, she poured him one too. Jack thought it was funny that she poured it, but didn't drink any- not even a sip.

Jack took a sip of the wine and sat on the floor against the couch. He began to pat Levi while he tried to think of something else to ask her about.

"Who did you always want to go out with and didn't." She asked. 'You!' Instantly came to mind, but Jack bit his tongue and pretended to think about his answer.

"Gretchen Darrow." He stated, smiling at the old fond memory.

"Why was she so special?" Sue asked, totally expecting her to be head cheerleader with a good time reputation.

"She was sweet, pretty... smart." Jack answered. Sue looked surprised. "What?" He asked.

"I was just expecting a shallow answer, that's all." Sue said.

"Really? You expected me to say she was some blonde airhead with a great body who knew her way around, didn't you?" Jack chastised. Sue looked guilty as she nodded her head yes.

Sue got up to stretch her legs and look out the window at the snow as it built up. She noticed the wind had died down some. "Come on Levi, let's go out." Sue said, grabbing his leash. Levi jumped up and trotted toward the door. Jack decided he would join them. "I'll take him Jack, you stay here where it's warm." She said hooking Levi's leash to his collar. "I'm only taking him just outside the door." She insisted.

"Then let me take him, you stay where it's warm." Jack retorted. Sue gave him a look and buttoned her jacket up.

"I'll be right back." She said walking out the door. Jack followed right behind.

"I didn't want you to come out here alone." Jack explained. After only a few minutes, the trio came back in, stomping snow from their feet. Levi shook and went right to his 'bed' that Sue had set up for him with a towel and blanket. She took the plates and Jack grabbed the wine glasses into the kitchen. He offered her the glass full, but she declined.

"I'll take care of these." she insisted, but he continued to help.

"I'll help. You cooked, I should be cleaning up, not you." He said smiling at her. "So... where were we with our game of 200 questions?" Jack joked. "Ahh, yes... You asked me about my fantasy date... what about you, Ms. Thomas? Was there a special someone you would have liked to have gone on a date with?" Jack inquired.

"Ummm... there was one boy, in my freshman gym class..." Sue smiled rolling her eyes back as if to say he was 'it'. "My friend Candace and I both took soccer, and he was one of the seniors. He was..." She began but realized this was Jack she was talking to, not Lucy or Tara. She couldn't 'girl' talk with him.

"He was...?" Jack asked.

"Cute, really cute. He had the perfect hair. It was fully of curls and this wonderful beigey brown color." She admitted.

"Did Mr. Right have a name?" Jack asked.

"We called him Brown Sugar." Sue said giggling.

"Brown sugar?" Jack asked not sure he wanted to hear the explanation for that.

"His hair, it was the color of brown sugar. And he was all tanned from being a life guard over the summer, and well... we thought he was probably as sweet as sugar to kiss." Sue admitted, turning a dark red.

"Ooo... really? And you thought I was going to have the shallow answer..." Jack teased. Once finished cleaning up, they went back into the living room. Jack sat back on the floor where he had before. When Sue came in, he held out his hand for her to sit with him.

"Did you ever steal anything?" Jack asked.

"No! Never!" Sue said. "You?" She asked suddenly thinking she didn't know him at all.

"When I was 7. I stole a toy car." He answered. "What? Don't look at me like that. I wanted it, and my mother told me no, she didn't have the money. I guess I figured she could pay for it the next time we came, I don't remember. All I know is we got about half way home, and she heard me taking it out of the packaging. She asked what it was, I told her. She turned the car around, went right back to the store, asked for the store manager. When he came over, she explained to him what happened. She then paid for the car, and gave it to the manager to give to some other child who really wanted one. She made me apologize and promise never to do it ever again. Once we got home, she beat the hell out of me." Jack said laughing at the memory.

"Jack! And you think that's funny?" Sue asked. " Well, it wasn't when it happened, but nearly 30 years later, yeah, it's funny!" Jack said, laughing.

"How old are you?" Sue blurted out.

"What?" He asked, surprised by the question.

"How old are you?" Sue asked again.

"Where'd that come from?" Jack asked.

"You just said nearly 30 years later, and you said you were 7 at the time..." Sue began. "Just how old are you?" She asked.

"34 last month." Jack answered. "OK, so I probably should have said 25 years..." He admitted. "How old are you?" He asked figuring turn about was fair play.

"Jack Hudson! Don't you know you never ask a lady her real age?" She scolded.

"I could just look it up you know, I do have access to those records at the bureau." He joked.

"I'll be 31 in May." She finally admitted.

"Hmm, I thought you were younger than that, you look it." He said suddenly causing an awkward silence between them.

"What did you mean earlier when you said 'damn fools'? Sue asked tenderly.

"Oh... Uhh..." He said, tripping over his words. He wanted desperately to answer her honestly, but was afraid of the repercussions. "The boys in your class, they're damned fools for not seeing you for who you are." Jack paused before he looked deep into her eyes. "You are a beautiful, smart, funny, sweet woman who they missed out on knowing." Jack said again. Sue blushed immensely. "They don't know who they missed out on knowing."

"That's sweet of you to say Jack." Sue said smiling sweetly at him. Jack reached his hand across to her cheek and pressed his thumb on her cheek, caressing it with his fingers.

"I have a confession to make." Jack said... "I didn't answer one of your questions totally honest." Sue looked at him confused. "Gretchen Darrow was the one girl in high school that I wanted to date, and she would probably qualify as the girl I wanted to do all the other things that a raging hormoned boy wants, but... for an all time person..." Jack smiled while his cheeks began to blush. "You." Jack finally said, softly.

"Me?" Sue asked. Jack shook his head yes.