CHAPTER 3

Once at the office, they settled in checking messages and emails. Sue noticed one from Lucy that read: Randy has a ringer for a partner. He just hired a temp as his assistant… Randi Newcomb.

"Randi Newcomb!" Sue exclaimed, a bit louder than she'd planned. "How is THAT possible?"

"She's a temp, therefore, a 'legal' substitute for his original partner Laura. Who, by the way, suddenly remembered she can't stand on skates!" Lucy said.

"Who's Randi Newcomb?" Bobby asked.

"She was a semi pro skater about 10 years ago. She tore her ACL before she could go pro, but she was good, and won a lot. She's really good." Sue said nervously. "That means we're going to have to up our game Sparky." Sue said making Jack smile.

"I've heard of her" Myles added. "Didn't she skate with one of the travel shows on ice for a while?" Sue shook her head. "Tough competition there buddy."

"You guys can't let Randy win! Whatever it takes, you have to do it." Tara begged. "Randy can't have the upper hand on us." She continued.

"Oh, please tell me you guys weren't bragging and put some kind of wager on this…" Sue said.

"We started out just bragging a bit about how good you are Sue" Bobby started.

"And it kind of got out of hand." Myles added.

"Well, in our defense, Randy was being more obnoxious than usual. He was poking at us with a big stick. He kept going on and on about how great it was going to be with his team holding the trophy and raising the most money." Tara defended.

"And you guys just got sucked in…" Jack shook his head with a "tisk, tisk" added for effect.

"So, what's the wager?" Sue asked.

"We don't want to know… Let's go!" Jack exclaimed as he took Sue by the arm and led her out of the office quickly.

"Why did you do that?" Sue asked, a bit miffed.

"If we know about it, we become a part of it. Right now, we don't know anything about it, therefore, we don't OWE the debt. Get it?" He laughed as he pushed the button to the elevator.

Sue laughed with understanding. "But you do know you just threw our friends under the bus, so to speak"

"Not me! They did that to themselves by letting Randy get the better of them." Jack signed "Sorry" but Sue knew he really didn't mean it.

"Where to?" Sue asked as they got into the car.

"Coffee? Then, I thought you could tell me what you were thinking for this contest." He offered. Sue nodded and they headed to Jack's place.

Jack went into the kitchen to put some fresh coffee on, and Sue took out a note book she'd taken from the office and a pencil. She roughly sketched an oval and arrows. Jack came in carrying the coffee and sat next to her. He sat a little closer than usual and their arms rested against each others. As soon as skin was on skin, Sue could feel the electricity rush through her, making little goose bumps appear all the way to her hair line. She tried to be casual about rubbing them away from her neck, but Jack noticed the pink shade that now graced her cheeks.

Smiling curiously at her, he decided to tuck that away for another time. "So, what's this?"

"Did you ever play football or basketball?" Sue asked.

"MMMM, yeah?" he answered.

"Good, then you might be able to follow the "play book" for our ice dance." She suddenly stopped, and looked up at him. "Oh, you said you can't dance?" She asked. "Oh my gosh, I never even thought to ask you that before!"

"Does it really matter?" He answered hesitantly.

"Yes!" Sue cringed at what his answer might be.

"… I can learn, and we'll be on skates, so it won't look so bad." He added hopefully.

"OK, for 'Cowboy' I want to use Myles and Bobby as props. Bobby can be the big movie star, all decked out in a tux maybe? And Myles can be the guy who thinks he's hot, but is too fake- the "Ray ban, fake tan, never mind…" guy. I'll start in the middle, skate this way into a double axel, then into a salchow. I'll do some dancing maybe a spin to make it look good. On the down beat, I'll skate up to Bobby, scraping ice onto him. Flirt with him, then dance over to Myles, do the same there." Sue explained. "I'll wave bye to Bobby as I skate to Myles, maybe flip his tie"

"And in the mean time, what am I doing? Jack asked nervously.

"Nothing. Well, sort of nothing." Sue answered. "You'll be on the ice, in the center, just right of where I started out. You'll have your Wranglers and Stetson on, pulled low. You'll just tap your foot to the music until I get over to you. Don't suppose you can rope?" She asked.

"Cowboy rope?" Jacked scoffed. "No, couldn't catch anything with it if I had to." He answered. He looked apologetic.

"OK, then we'll use a rolled up rope. You can hold it on your shoulder. When we take off, you can toss them toward the end boards, we'll have someone grab them." Sue blew her bangs up while trying to quickly sketch and jot down ideas on the pad in front of her. She's excited and it shows through her eyes. She's so beautiful. Wait, did I just say that? Please say I didn't say it out loud, Jack thought. He was watching her intently, staring almost. Sue snuck a peek at Jack to see him staring at her… again.

"Jack? Something wrong? Did I draw something you don't like, or understand?" Sue asked.

"Umm, no, sorry… Honestly, I don't understand most of the words you're using, but I figure you'll show me how to do them, and I'll practice." Jack stumbled.

"So, why were you staring at me? Again?" She asked with a bit of playfulness on her face.

"Uhhh… Sorry. I just noticed how excited you are about this whole thing, and how it shows in your face, your eyes." He admitted.

"Oh… well, I AM excited. It's been a long time since I've skated in a competition… I guess I'm just feeling the thrill of it all again." Sue explained.

"Well, it looks good on you." Sue blushed, he cheeks staining a light pink. Jack stared deep into her eyes. Those beautiful hazel eyes that just tore into his soul. It was so slow, his movement, he barely realized he was leaning towards her. All sound faded to nothing, his heart began to pound in his chest, his mouth went dry. Only when he lifted his hand to tuck a stray strand of hair from her face, did he realize what he was about to do. Their faces were a mere couple of inches away from each other. He could feel her breath on his face, smell the sweetness of dessert as she exhaled. Oh, how he wanted to taste her lips, to press his to hers and take her in his arms and never let her go. Her eyes fell from his, nervously, causing him to break out of his tunnel vision. He continued to lean toward her, kissing her on the cheek. He knew she knew full well, where that moment was going. He was trying to erase the awkwardness before it started. "You're absolutely glowing" He smiled, and pulled himself to a safer distance from her.

As Sue sketched, Jack began to pull furniture to the edges of the room. He set up his speakers so they faced the floor in a big square. He tweaked the bass so it was heavier than usual. He popped in the CD and waited. Sue explained that she would take off from the center left, skate counter clockwise toward Bobby. She would start in the corner with a double axel, right into a salchow. She's continue dancing to Bobby, flirt with him, head to Myles skating backwards and do a double spin. Flirt with Myles, and blow him off. "At the down beat, I'll head over to you, flirt, take your hat. You take my hand, skate w/me counter clockwise. We'll do a double camel together. In the corner, you will lift me over your head, and carry me around the corner. Then you'll take my hands, and let me down while skating faster into the end. You can open your legs, and let me slide through, with OUT letting my hands go. As we go into the next turn, you turn and skate backwards while holding me out back of you. Pull me up, and we go right into a throw. I'll do a double toe loop, land and you take my hands again. Spin me, pull me toward you, then maybe into another lift. We can dance more, flirting with the judges. Oh, you NEED to make those flirty eyes at the women judges; they'll fall for it for sure. We can do a nice, slower move so we can catch our breath, something close to ballroom dancing. We'll end it by doing a lot of spins, and you pull me up, and to you at the very end. Hopefully I can still stand at that point!" She explained excitedly.

"Wow, is that all?" Jack exclaimed. "Sue, that's a LOT… how am I going to remember all of that, never mind learn it? And how are you going to be able to physically do it? That is a TON of skating and tricks for you to do!"

"We'll do it… or we'll tone it down if we have to" Sue said, finally caving to Jack's concerns. "We'll practice the moves on the mats I borrowed from my friend from church. We'll have to nearly run to simulate the timing. I'll teach you the moves first, and then the dance, then we'll put it together, and then try it on the ice." Sue explained.

"So, why the mats?" Jack asked curiously.

"So when you DO drop me on my head, it doesn't hurt. And, hopefully you'll NOT drop me when get DO get on the ice" She said, lifting her eyebrow.

"Oh, ye of little faith" he said sarcastically.

"We'll see…" she answered. "Once we're at a point for the throws, we can use the gymnastics place a couple blocks down. Another friend works there, she might be able to talk her boss into letting us use the foam pits to practice. If he knows it will help sick kids, he'll do it." Sue said.

The pair began to practice their moves, and lifts and spins. After a couple hours, both collapsed onto the couch sipping bottles of water. "We're getting it. I felt good about that last round. The dance steps are coming together with the lifts and spins. We'll have to put it on the ice on Thursday when we head back to the rink.

"How about dinner? I think I've had it for today." Jack confessed.

"What were you thinking?" Sue asked.

"Shower" sniffing his pits and pulling his shirt from his chest. "Then we can go out and get something… pizza?" Jack offered.

"Showers, for sure…" Sue began. "How about we get delivery and relax? I'm wiped."

"Sounds good. Pizza or Chinese?" He asked.

"Hmmm… Chinese. I'll take a… B" they said at the same time. "How well you know me. Can you ask for extra bread?" Sue asked.

Sue showered first while Jack ordered food. He sat on the couch checking the news. He could hear the water running and his mind started to drift to behind the closed doors. Her long blonde hair getting heavy with water, as she closes her eyes to let it flow over her face. He followed the water as gravity took it down the curves and crevices of her body. Her skin, starting to fade of last summer's tan, glistened as soapy water washed away the day's events. Suddenly Jack was shook from his illicit thoughts by the ringing of the door bell. "Snap out of it Hudson, that could have been really bad." He said as he got up to answer the door. Just as Jack put the food on the counter, Sue appeared. She was wearing a pair of Jack's sweatpants and a t-shirt of his.

"Looking good Thomas" Jack said, trying to hide the last of the passing thoughts he'd had. "Can you dish up everything while I jump in quick?" He asked.

"Sure." Sue began dishing up the food. She smiled. Her mind drifted back to the near miss kiss earlier. She closed her eyes remembering how close their lips were to each others, how she wanted him. She wanted him to kiss her, to feel his body against hers. She wanted him, in every way possible. As her eyes opened, she saw the light in the hall change, she knew he was coming. She quickly grabbed a couple forks and put them on the plates.

'HUNGRY?' Jack signed. Sue shook her head yes. He took the food; she grabbed the drinks, like they had a hundred times before and headed to the couch. The TV was on the complete other side of the room, so they decided to just chat while they ate. The conversation had started about the dance and skating, but quickly lead itself to Sue skating when she was young. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she recalled her days of glory on the ice.

"I wish I'd known you back then." Jack innocently said.

"Me too." Sue said sadly.

"Why's that?" Jack asked.

"I would have at least have had a friend growing up." As soon as the words came from her lips, she realized what it held, what she meant by it. She silently held her breath, hoping he would let it go.

"A friend" He asked, not sure what she meant by that.

"Never mind." She tried to brush it off.

"No, not 'never mind'." Jack waited, but she kept her eyes down, playing with her fried rice. Slowly he took the plate from her hands, and lifted her chin. A lone stray tear made its way down her cheek. She quickly lifted her hand to brush it away.

"OK, now I think I'm headed home, I must be over tired." She said, trying to escape.

"Sue… Don't go." Jack asked. "Talk to me." He reached for her hand, taking it in his. He walked in front of her so she could read him. "Sue, please, talk to me. Did I say something wrong?" He asked.

"No. It's not you. Thinking about growing up is something I don't really like to do. The first person to treat me like any other kid, to make sure I could read her lips was "JUDY" She was the only real friend I ever had growing up. There haven't been too many people who were willing to give me a second look once they found out I was deaf. High school was awful. Sometimes I think high school was worse than elementary, they should have known better." She sat back down and took her food again as she talked about growing up. She explained most people didn't know how to deal with her. Most of them treated her the same way Myles had when she first came on board. They didn't think she was worth their time and effort to get to know. Except you. I had some friends in college, but until I came to the FBI and met the team, there wasn't anyone willing to bother." She finished with a sniffle. Jack gave her half a smile, and rubbed her shoulder. "Wow, I didn't realize how much all this was dragging up. Who would have thought, ice skating is great therapy!" She tried to smile, and took another bite of her food.

"I've never been so glad someone was in the wrong place and told me off! That was some kind of fate stepping in there." Jack said, trying to change the subject, just a bit to lighten the mood.

"So… I think we should talk to D about what sort of time we can actually have off to practice. I know he said whatever we needed, but… did he REALLY mean that?" Sue said.

"Hope he meant that! We need the practice. I'm just getting a feel for the song, the dance part." Jack said.

"I hope so too. I want to go to the gym and start on the throws. It won't kill my ankles so much if I'm falling into a sponge pit!" Sue joked.

"Not to mention, it won't be so bad when I drop you on your head." Jack sarcastically suggested. "I'm really nervous about the lifts and throws." Jack said, his worry showing through on his face. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I trust you." Was all Sue said, as she got up and walked to the door. "It's late, and if we're going to practice, we need some rest. Today was pretty successful as far as learning moves and dancing. Good job." Sue said putting on her coat.

"Thanks. You too." Jack helped her with her coat and walked her to her car. He waved from the curb. "This is NOT going to be easy." He whispered to himself as she drove away.

"How am I supposed to do this?" Sue thought as she drove away.