Chapter 1 – December 10, 2005
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"Please Mom? Uncle Jace? Please?"
"Suzie, honey, it's up to your mom. If she says yes, you can go with us."
Emily still wasn't sure if she wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. It was cold outside, and it had snowed the night before. There was only a couple of inches of snow on the ground, but it wasn't enough to ground High Flyer's Skydiving in nearby Manassas, Virginia. If Susan went with her and Jason, she'd have an easier time backing out. This was on Jason's bucket list, not hers.
She nodded uneasily. "Fine, Sweetheart. You can come with us. But make sure to bundle up. It's cold outside and even colder that high up in the air."
"Thank you Mama." Excited, Susan ran upstairs to throw on a warmer coat and get her gloves.
Jason chuckled. "It'll be fun, Em. By taking Suzie along, I won't be able to chicken out."
"She adores you, you know."
"Yeah. I know. I'm pretty fond of her, too. And you." Being around Emily, the widow of his friend Phillip Spencer, smiling was easier. And he needed to smile more; in his line of work, happiness was needed to balance the grim realities he faced nearly every day. And every day, it was getting harder to find something to smile about.
"Let me get my coat and gloves too. Give me a minute?" As Emily went to her room, Susan came running down the stairs.
"Okay, I'm ready. Where's Mom?"
"She went to get her things. Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. I'm sure. Lizette would never want to do this with me and I doubt I'd ever do this on my own. Thank you!" She hugged him.
"How's school going? Are you on winter break?"
"At the end of the week, then we're heading up to Wheeler Ranch for skiing and horseback riding, until Christmas. But it's going well."
"Your mom says you're on track to graduate in May with degrees in Psychology…and Dance?"
"Yes, but my main focus is Psychology. My Dance degree is mainly so that I can teach my own classes at the center. And I'm working hard to have my PhD in Clinical Psych by the time I'm 18. I've already applied for an internship with a group that provides emergency trauma intervention."
Jason smiled brightly. "I'm real proud of you, Honey. I know your dad would be, too."
"Thanks Uncle Jace. See any interesting birds lately?"
Emily came back into the foyer, talking with her mother, Mary. "We'll be back later, Mom. Maybe three hours?"
"I'll make some chocolate quente when you get back. Até logo. Esteja a salvo."
"We'll be safe, Grandma," Susan said. "See you in a while. And yes, hot chocolate sounds de-lish! Amo você!"
Jason smiled as he put his hand over his heart. "Mary, I promise to bring them back safe and sound."
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At the airfield, another group went up first, for solo dives, while Jason, Emily and Susan sat in a classroom for the pre-flight instruction. Afterward, they were paired up with their instructors for the tandem jump. As they were getting suited up and strapped into the harnesses, Tucker, Susan's dive instructor, looked over at Emily. He leaned over to her instructor, Broder Finley, talking low.
"Hey, Bro, your tandem buddy is looking kinda green. You sure she's good to go?" At 6'3", Tucker Ellis towered over Susan. Broder was nearly as tall, at 6'2.
Jason's tandem instructor, also named Jason, was nearly half his age and a few inches taller. They were by the door, talking about twitching. Broder heard their conversation about birds as he looked over at Emily, standing next to the two Jasons. "Ah, she'll be fine. I'll be with her."
"Twenty says she backs out at 11 thou, Bro."
"You're on Tucknroll. And you're gonna have a 15-year-old strapped to your chest. You gonna be okay? She's probably gonna cry, pass out or blow chunks on the way down. Maybe all three."
"Nope. She's a tough cookie, I can tell. Reminds me of my kid sister."
"Good luck then. I see Jason has the older guy. I'd give 50 to 1 odds of him finking out first."
"We'll see, bud. Ready?"
As they climbed into the plane, Tucker reminded the three first-timers, "Remember from class, start running before you land. Land straight legged and you could seriously hurt yourself. It's all about the landing." On the flight up to eleven thousand feet, the instructors were cinching themselves to their jumpers. Finally, it was time for the skydivers to bail out.
Jason and Jason went first. Susan and Tucker were up next, checking the cinched connections, while sitting down, getting ready to go.
Emily sat on the bench, shaking her head, looking pale; her hands clenched on the edge. "I can't do it. Suzie, my head hurts and…"
Broder reassured her, said he wasn't going to force her, if she didn't want to jump. He even offered to stay in the plane with her on the flight back to the airfield.
Tucker scooted over to the open door, with Susan sitting on his legs and strapped to his chest, he grinned at Broder, flashing five fingers, then closed his hand and repeated it another three times. Then he asked Susan, in a voice loud enough for her to hear over the din. "You ready, Kid?"
Susan adjusted her clear flight goggles, smiled and gave him a thumbs up…
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A/N I had this idea a couple of years ago but wasn't sure how to fit it in until after I wrote the first Criminal Minds Flashback (Feb14, 2005). I thought this would make a good Prologue to the episode Blood Hungry (Season 1, Episode 11) Since the team is presented with the case on a Monday, I assumed Gideon's skydiving accident happened a day or two before that. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. I'm actually having a lot of fun writing these and will no doubt continue, while simultaneously working on my prequel, Lizette and Andy. So much to do, so little time.
Let me know what you think. THANK YOU for taking the time to read this!
G-Girl
