This chapter turned out to be slightly different than what I had expected it to be... blame it all on the snow (can't stand it anymore!). However, I hope you still like it.

The snow was still lingering. Not only for the next week, but also for the following two. After day seventeen of cold and ice, even Jack and Sean declared their wish for winter to end – probably also because of the four times Erin and Nicky had beaten them and Danny in snowball fights.

Nobody had lost a word about Sydney – though Erin had secretly planned to do so. She knew her baby brother and his big heart. He would forgive his former fiancée, and even if they wouldn't get together again, he would ask himself if he had made the right decision. If it had been his fault that Sydney had left. And Erin wouldn't have that.

Jamie's mind, however, was already clouded and got darker with every day of the ice. Sometimes the biggest danger didn't come from terror, not even from corrupt cops. Sometimes it came from nature.

"Okay, that was No. 4 for this morning. Let's…" Renzulli stopped midsentence as his breakfast tried to make its way back into his throat. He had seen a lot in his twenty-six years of duty, and ice-frozen corpses normally were easy to handle. They had no bowels hanging out, they didn't stink, they just looked at you with extinct eyes, covered by a thin layer of ice. Skin as white as ice, lips grey, fingertips violet. Frozen to death while they were alive, feeling their body to die off…

He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. "You know, Harvard, there's always some twenty-odd ice deads in winter. And most of them die here in Central Park." He took a deep breath and held it till the taste of bile had gone away. "But this year, it's just…""There are too many", Jamie said quietly.

Renzulli stared at him, but didn't argue in the point of who had to have the last word – which was saying a lot. "Yes. Far too many."

Jamie nodded as he bent down and examine the girl on the ground. She couldn't have been older than twelve. How did you get to be so alone in the world?

"Should we carry her to the others?" He had learnt to keep his voice even in the past few years. Renzulli raised his eyebrows in gruff admiration. "You seem to cope well."

"I don't." Gently, Jamie touched the girl's face. "I just think she's been lying here long enough." The sergeant managed a dry laughter. "No need to get extra sentimental now, Reagan. If you can, keep professional. You keep professional, you stay alive. And yes, let's carry her to the others. The coroners must be here by now."

Iced bodies were much heavier than they looked like, depending on the amount of frozen water that covered it. The girl, however, was so small that Jamie could carry her alone. He held her close, memories washing over him. He remembered carrying Nicky like that to Erin's car after dinner. She had fallen asleep and had not woken up as he took her into his arms. It had never occurred to Jamie then that one day she would fall asleep and never wake up again. Like Joe had. And his mother. The rookie cop felt his eyes fill with tears at the thought of the graves that were covered with loads of snow as well. And now, there would be another one…

His phone rang, vibrating through the jacket at the girl's skin. Renzulli turned around as he heard the noise. For a moment, both officers stared aghast at the corpse as the vibrating caused her body to shiver. She seemed almost alive again, only to lose her battle against death.

"Get the call, Harvard", Renzulli eventually said, his voice hoarsely. Jamie couldn't turn away from the girl's eyes. "Damn it, Jamie, get the call!"

The ringing stopped. "It's over", Jamie stated lamely. "Now, really?" Renzulli's voice dripped with sarcasm. He couldn't avoid a relieved sigh, though, and as he looked at his young partner, there was more sympathy than usual. "Call back, I'll take her", he offered, but Jamie shook his head. "I got her, Searge." "Sure?" Jamie nodded.

Nicky would never end like that. First of all, Erin was alive and well and she would do anything for her daughter. Second - and as much as he hated the thought, Jamie had seen enough to know he must be prepared for it – even if anything happened to Erin, Nicky would never be alone. She would always have him and Danny and Linda and her grandpa and her great-grandpa. She had a family.

It was only at lunchtime (where neither Renzulli nor Jamie really had appetite) that Jamie realized he hadn't thought about Jack in his calculation. Nicky's dad was all but erased out of the family. As was Joe's girlfriend – well, she had moved back to Portland to her family.

And Sydney.

"Hey, Harvard! Still thinking about the girl?" Jamie winced. How could Renzulli know? "Not really", he answered eventually, "I think I'm over her." Renzulli nodded. "Good. Because you'll have to get over another ten, minimum, till winter's gone. If it ever ends", he grumbled to grey sky. Jamie shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Wha- you don't think so? Reagan, have you ever watched TV this week? We're stuck with snow, get used to it."

"I wasn't talking about the snow"; Jamie murmured, "I'm talking about the girls. I don't think I get over ten. I don't even think I'll get over one. I mean, I wanted to start a family with her. I was ready to spend my whole life with her, and she just dumped me! And I can't even blame her, actually, since I've done nothing to hold her back. Now she's gone and nobody knows if she ever comes back. And even if she does", his voice had become sadder with each word, "I don't know if she even tells me."

Renzulli, whose face had momentary been a mask of confusion, nodded slowly. "You're talking 'bout your ex-fiancée…" "Sydney. She said she had a job in London for six months, and now there are only four and a half weeks left… I'm just curious what she's up to now."

"Curious?" Renzulli smirked. "There are other words for that, Harvard." He shook his head. "Curious, you young people say. Now I'm getting old." He looked at Jamie expectantly, but the rookie didn't say a word so the sergeant just continued, "in my old days, we called this feeling "being in love", or when the talk came upon marriage, we simply called it "love". So you may not have fought for her when she left you, and you may be happy as you are, but you're not over her."

"I don't love her anymore!", Jamie protested, but it was obvious that Renzulli didn't believe him, so he added, "not the way I loved her then. I thought we were strong enough together, but… weren't."

"Now you got it." Renzulli stood up before Jamie so he had to look into his sergeant's eyes. "You were not strong enough. Both of you. And what does that mean? That means you have a problem, Reagan. A big problem. And you got not much time to find out how you're gonna deal with it. Oh…", he checked his watch, "and we got not much time left of our break. You better call back whoever rang in the morning", he said, taking their half-full plates back to the counter.

Jamie closed his eyes. The dead girl, his family, Joe's grave, the betrothal ring and Sydney as she gave it to him whirled around in his brain. He shouldn't talk about this with his boss. He shouldn't talk about this with anybody, he shouldn't even think about it! It was over.

With a sigh, Jamie stood up to follow Renzulli. He pulled out his cell phone as he walked.

One missing call:

08:14 a.m. Sydney

Yeah…so as the phone call didn't happen to get answered here, there'll be at least one more chapter. Actually, I think there'll be two more, but I don't know right now.