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Notes Chapter two of our story; Sid and a little Christmas fluff :D Please review, we love to hear from you! Thank you for all reviews, alerts and favourites :D Please continue! We hope you enjoy this second chapter.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Two Turtle Doves

With the unwatched television in the background, providing a lulling drone to the after dinner ease, Sid sat with his wife in a companionable silence, both half-dozing in the sitting room, until something stirred him awake, and he found himself gazing at her. The house, with their two daughters both at a friend and boyfriend's respectively, was theirs alone. After a dinner prepared between them, with his wife slicing vegetables with the accomplished flourish he loved to watch, and himself adding his alchemy of herbs and spices, they had sunk onto the couch and closed their eyes, just for a moment.

But, as he glanced at the hypnotically ticking clock above the television, that had been two hours ago, and here they still were. As he reminded himself, however, he was not working today, and there was no guilt he was going to allow himself to feel for a few hours of simple pleasure in the company of his wife; the woman he loved. They sat together, turned towards one another; a man and the woman he had loved for more years than he cared to admit to, and she would certainly not admit to. She was in fact, although he never publicised the fact, two years older than he was, but easily passed for ten years younger with the make up she swept lightly over her cheeks and her feather-cut hairstyle of dark blonde. Her beauty never aged in his view.

There was no vanity in Sid himself, and little concern over his appearance; something his wife had sighed over for many years before accepting he was not going to change, and would certainly never accompany her clothes shopping. It was difficult enough to persuade him along to the barbers regularly, and it often turned out that he found himself pushed down onto a stool in the kitchen whilst she brandished a pair of scissors over his head. The grey unruly thatch of hair he could never quite manage to tame had remained unchanged for years, and the clothes he wore out of work were bought for him by his wife on the basis of practicality and fit. He was happiest in his blue scrubs. Fashionable was not a word that was even whispered near Sid Hammerback; he left that to his wife, and always took a quiet pride in her appearance, and had even been known to compliment her on what she wore and how she styled her hair. The response he got on those occasions - a delighted widening of her eyes and mouth in a glowing smile - never failed to delight him in turn. It was that flash of hazel eyes in a laughing face that had captured his heart all those years ago, and they had never let go since.

After teenage years of flirting; early twenties spent experimenting in the stranger side of relationships, where numbers and practices were liberal; and a first marriage that had ended in a welcome divorce, he had met the woman now beside him at a friend's party. Sid remembered exactly the heat that had risen to his cheeks and the words that seemed to stammer out of his mouth when he found himself bumping up against her amidst a press of bodies in a yellow and brown kitchen reeking of beer and cheap wine. It did not take long for the party to be left behind them, and an offer of coffee ran into the late night and early morning, and was followed by a whirl of dates and dances, an unexpected second marriage, and a partner he could not imagine life without.

My wife, he thought; and the smile he kept on the inside to light him through the darkest days of death in his work, burned brighter than the late afternoon sun flaring between the tree tops he could see through the window. A sudden movement in the top of the winter-thinned branches caught his eye, and he sat up with care, to avoid disturbing his wife whose legs were swung over his own. Two birds sat in the highermost branch, two doves; ruffled grey feathers and huddled shapes, together. As he watched them, perched above and looking down on the world below, it sent his mind into wonderings. Mated for life, so legend would have it, and so he liked to believe. The trees and everything surrounding were rimed with frost, but the two doves seemed to be weathering the cold together and he admired their spirit.

His eyes moved to take in their surroundings; the room decked with green garlands and sparkle, and a tree filled with ornaments, many of them the ones his daughters had made in kindergarten, kept as the most precious trinkets. The only incongruous item in the room was an object that sat in a the shade at the bottom of the tree; a mottled brown stuffed tarantula with a rather doleful expression in all its eight beaded eyes.

Only Danny, Sid thought, remembering the moment he had strolled into the morgue and handed over the present, wrapped in a piece of paper that had been cut too small, with the gaps covered over by thick layers of sellotape; Danny had insisted on him opening it there and then, and had watched with a grin, rocking on the balls of his feet as he tugged and tore at the tape, finally slicing it open with a scalpel. When the gift was revealed, the grin had almost split Danny's face as he pointed out exactly how the legs bent with inner wires, and how the eyes would swivel… The timely arrival of Stella had saved Sid from further forced enthusiastic murmurings.

The memory took his thoughts to his colleagues; to Danny and Lindsay foremost as he wondered what they were doing, and if it was even 'they' this holiday; he hoped it was. He saw them at the weathering of a storm that he hoped they were strong enough to survive.

Stella he also hoped would not be spending a lonely time, but he remembered how, as he had left the lab the day before, he had seen her in Mac's office, and he smiled at the memory of laughter between friends as he passed unseen. Partners who he knew had weathered the storms of friendship tested, with loyalty undiminished and with the unshakeable foundations of true companions.

The others in the lab were not left out of his musings as the afternoon sky changed to its evening hues; Hawkes he knew was spending a brief holiday with friends; Adam similarly; Flack he could not say about with absolute certainty, but there was talk of Detective Angell sharing time beyond work with him, and Sid saw in them the beginnings of delight in each other; the first excitement and heady rush of someone you saw the possibilities of life in.

He wished happiness to all of them.

The two doves became silhouettes against the glow of the sky as Sid watched and his mind drifted back to his present setting. His wife had still not stirred, and a thought occurred to him as he watched her nose wrinkle and her eyelids fluttering in a doze. He sighed and laid a gentle hand on her knee and smiled as her eyes blinked and opened, and she gave him her own sleepy smile.

"Everything okay? We been here long?" The smile creased to a frown, "Please don't tell me you have to go into work…"

Sid hastened to reassure her, "No, no, not at all. Today I am determined not to see the inside of the morgue."

"I'm glad to hear it!"

She leaned back against the couch, stretching her arms above her head and wiggling her toes out in front of her; Sid let his eyes wander unashamedly over her and his hand travelled up her leg where he let it rest above her knee, one thumb stroking her skin. Her head turned to him, with a gleam in her eyes.

"I don't have you to myself often enough."

He regarded her thoughtfully, "Do I tell you often enough that I love you?"

His wife arched a delicately pencilled eyebrow, but her eyes were soft as candlelight as she curled herself round to face him, and cupped his cheek with her hand, "Sid, honey, you tell me every day. But it's something a girl never gets tired of hearing, so never feel you've said it too often. And you know something else?"

"Tell me, my dear." He took her hand in his, and raised it to his lips, the contact sending a thrill through him he never grew tired of feeling; the soft skin of her hands, and the airy scent of lilies that surrounded her always entranced him anew.

"I love you too, Mr Hammerback." She murmured, drew her hand gently away and met his lips with her own.

Lily possibly has a crush on Sid XD Please review and tell us what you thought of this chapter, we'd really appreciate it! Next one up tomorrow. In the meantime you might want to read our current stories: 'Eye Spied' from Blue; and 'Once upon a time in the Old West' and 'Sunset' by Lily. Thanks, Lily and Blue x