Title: The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Author: Dana-Maru1
Summary: The team investigate a series of murders in the twelve days till Christmas...
Disclaimer: Sue, Jack and anyone else you may recognize are not mine. But thanks Pax for letting us borrow them from time to time...
The early morning sun cast a harsh glow on the white snow that had fallen overnight. Snow on the sidewalks lay untouched by pedestrians at such an early hour. The streets were almost completely empty, save for a few birds chirping and the occasional car. It was Sunday so most people were still in bed at that time. Except for the petite blonde woman who lay in the snow, partially concealed by some trees and hedges on the outskirts of the park.
Sue, who had to walk Levi, was one of the very few people in the proximity that had bothered to get out of bed before 7am. On the way to the park where she let Levi off the leash, she bumped into Jack. She smiled to herself, he'd met her on her Sunday morning walks quite a few times lately and always casually told her that he couldn't sleep or he was just on his way to the store, even if there were stores closer to his own apartment.
"Good morning." He greeted, giving her a shy smile
"You too. What are you doing up so early?" She asked for the umpteenth time
"Couldn't sleep." He answered as though it was nothing.
In truth, Jack wasn't a morning person at all and he had gotten out of bed early just to see Sue without the rest of the team. And she knew it, even if she didn't tell him so. She didn't mind, she was grateful for the company.
They found a bench in the park and sat down; Sue unclipped Levi's leash and threw a tennis ball for him to catch. He barked once and scampered off after it. A minute later, Levi returned and dropped the ball at Jack's feet. He picked it up and threw it, watching the Retriever sprint for it. The ball rolled under a row of hedges but Levi didn't bring it back to Sue or Jack. Instead, he started barking. Jack, thinking the dog couldn't get the ball out, got up to retrieve it himself. What he saw made his stomach churn.
"Levi, get Sue!" He instructed, and the dog ran back to his owner.
Jack walked slowly around the hedges to get a better view of the woman lying in the snow. Her peroxide blonde hair fell over her face, and she was half covered in snow that had settled after her death. Her purse lay next to her, open and empty and Jack wondered why the killer hadn't taken the rings on her fingers when he had evidently ripped earrings from her ears.
"What's up?" Sue's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Jack silently gestured to the woman's body, calling D on his cell while Sue took a look. She quickly turned away from the sight; stomach churning and Jack gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as he dialed Bobby's number. Putting his phone back in his coat pocket, Jack turned to Sue.
"We've all agreed that we might as well still wait until tomorrow. Then we'll see if we can finally figure something out. D's on the phone to forensics just now so we'll have the report in the morning."
"Okay..." Sue said, looking shaken still,
"You hungry?" Jack asked, and seeing her nod went on. "What do you say I take you to breakfast?"
"You buying?" She flirted
"No, Levi is." Jack joked.