Christmas Day:

Jack could sense someone moving around the room then the clatter of a glass on his bedside table brought him fully awake. He blinked several times and looked up to see Sue standing beside him.

"Sorry, did I make a noise? I didn't mean to."

"That's okay, what time is it?"

"8:30."

He winced. "Maybe it's not okay. Why so early?"

"This isn't early."

"That's a matter of opinion." He pushed himself up into an almost sitting position noticing that she was already dressed. "Why so early?" He asked again.

"I wanted to get a head-start on dinner so I wouldn't be late for church. There's orange juice beside you and fresh coffee, in the kitchen. I'll just go and get you some toast."

"Thank you."

"Welcome. You have breakfast and go back to sleep. We should only be gone for a couple of hours." She leaned down to kiss him.

"What time do you have to leave?"

"About 9:15. It will give Levi plenty of time to do his thing first."

"Okay," he took a sip of his juice. "That should give me enough time to shower and dress and I'll come with you."

"You don't have to do that."

He took her hand in his. "Sue, I want to. It seems to me I have an awful lot to be grateful for this year and what better way to say 'thank you'?"

"Okay," she smiled brightly. "We'll be in the kitchen."

Jack started to get out of bed but she stopped him. "Let me get you something to eat first."

o-xxx-o

After the service they decided to take the long way home, visiting a nearby park so Levi could have a run.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She whispered, slipping her arm through his.

Jack looked around at the brilliant white scene taking in the crisp covering on the ground and the trees, their boughs laden with snow and the odd icicle. "It's just how Christmas Day should be despite what Bobby says."

"What's that?"

"That Christmas Day should be spent on the beach with a barbie and lots of sunshine."

B-A-R-B-I-E

"Sorry, I meant barbecue not the doll, although in Crash's case..."

"I don't think I'd like that."

"I don't think he does either if he was being honest. In all the time I've known him, he's never gone to Australia for the holidays." They walked a little further along the path and then Jack stopped suddenly, turning towards a group of children who were playing on what would have been the grass were it visible. One of them waved to him...

"Hi, F.B.I Guy..."

"Hi... Merry Christmas"

Sue moved so she could see both his lips and the children. "Who are they?"

"Some of the local kids..."

As she watched they formed a huddle which meant she could only catch the odd word here and there...

"Wouldn't dare..." "Watch me..." "F.B.I... gun..." "So..?"

By the time she'd figured out what they were planning, it was too late to warn Jack who found himself being bombarded with snowballs. It took him a moment to react and then he went charging after them collecting loose snow on the way with Levi hot on his heels. Sue was so caught up that she didn't notice the young girl at her side until she felt a tug on her sleeve.

"Hello there."

"Hi. He isn't going to shoot my brother, is he?"

"No. He doesn't have his gun with him and its Christmas."

"That's good. Will he arrest him?"

"No, look." They both laughed when Jack joined in the fun

"My Daddy told me..."

Sue bent down to her level. "Sweetie, if you're going to speak to me you'll have to look at me too because I can't hear you."

"That's silly. I can hear you when I'm not looking at you."

"I know but I'm deaf, I can't hear anything."

"I don't understand."

"My ears don't work but if I look at your lips I can read the words as they come out of your mouth or most of them anyway."

"Oh, I said, my Daddy told us never to talk to F.B.I Guy or we'd be in trouble."

"What did you call him?"

"Daddy..."

"No, I meant him," she pointed to Jack.

"F.B.I Guy."

"Sorry, one more time."

The girl repeated it but she still couldn't get it. "Wait a minute, Levi get Jack."

"Who's Levi?"

"My dog..."

"And he knows what you said?"

"Yes, see."

The youngster stared fascinated as the Lab chased after him and nearly knocked him down. Bending to give him a quick scratch he jogged back to her.

"Something wrong..?"

"Communication problem... This little girl called you something but I can't get it."

Jack immediately crouched down to her level. "And what's your name?"

"Jenny."

"Hello Jenny, I'm Jack and this is Sue. Now, what was it you called me?"

"F.B.I Guy, it's what my Daddy always calls you when he sees you in the street."

Jack smiled and straightened up again. "This is J-E-N-N-Y."

"Jenny?"

"That's right and she called me F-B-I G-U-Y."

"What are you doing Jack?" The girl asked curiously.

"Talking to Sue and telling her what you said."

Sue smiled at her. "F-B-I G-U-Y" She finger-spelled and spoke at the same time.

"Wow! I've never met anyone who talks with their hands and hears with their eyes before."

"Well, now you have." Sue laughed.

"What about you F... Jack?"

"I'm like both of you. I hear with my ears and speak with my mouth but I can also speak with my hands and hear with my eyes."

"And, Levi..?"

"Oh he just barks a lot." Jack grinned and Sue smacked him which made Jenny giggle.

"He tells me when the phone is ringing or when there's someone at the door. And he gets my attention if someone's trying to talk to me and I don't see them."

"Wow," the little girl gasped again. "When I go back to school I'm going to put you in my 'What I Did at Christmas' story."

Before either of them could reply another barrage of snowballs was hurled in their direction. "Come on Jack, we're going to play snow soccer."

He looked at Sue hopefully.

"Alright, you can go and play for a while, we'll be alright here. You'd better send Levi back to me though."

"Thanks mom. Half-an-hour, that's all." He promised waggling his eyebrows. "If you get too cold, call me."

"Are you warm enough, Jenny?" Sue asked when he'd gone.

"Not really." She shivered involuntarily.

"Come here then." Sue dusted off a bench and sitting down she put her arms around the little girl. "Better?"

"How do you say 'thank you'?"

Sue showed her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They sat together and watched until Jenny tapped her on the arm. "What time is it, please?"

"Oh, my gosh… it's almost one o'clock."

The girl stood up. "Mummy said we had to be in by 1:15 or we'd be in trouble."

"Levi, get Jack."

When he reached them he smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't know it had gotten so late."

"That's okay but Jenny says they have to be home in fifteen minutes."

"You'd better get your brother. Need a hand?"

"Please."

Jack put two fingers in his mouth, letting out a shrill whistle which made Jenny wince.

"Something wrong..?" Sue asked with concern.

"You really didn't hear that?"

"No."

"You're lucky, it made my ears hurt."

The woman looked at Jack accusingly. "What did you do?"

"Whistled..."

"Oh," she shook her head. "I have no idea what a whistle sounds like."

"Loud." Jenny supplied by way of an explanation and they both laughed.

Jack turned to the approaching group. "Thanks for the game and Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," they chanted in unison and brought more snowballs out from behind their backs.

This time he was ready and dodged out of the way leaving Sue in the line of fire. She yelped as three of them hit her, narrowing her eyes and giving him an irate stare but he was too busy laughing to notice.

"Levi..." She pointed at Jack. "Down..!"

He looked up at her sulkily from the pile of snow he'd landed in and tried to stand but the dog refused to move off him. "No fair!"

"But it was fun." She signalled again and the Lab let him go but then made the age-old mistake of offering her hand to pull him up and found herself lying next to him. He propped himself up on one elbow and gazed into her eyes.

"You're not going to kiss her are you?" Jenny's brother asked grimacing. "…'cause if you are we'll need more ammunition."

"No, I'm not going to kiss her, she doesn't deserve it." The boys helped them to their feet and Jenny tugged Jack's sleeve. When he bent down she turned away and whispered in his ear. Unable to see what was going on Sue brushed the snow off her coat.

The little girl came over and stood in front of her, "Merry Christmas, S-U-E. Did I do it right?"

"Yes you did. Merry Christmas Sweetie, now run home all of you."

Jack reattached Levi's leash and smiled up at her noticing the strange look on her face. "What?"

"You know Jack Hudson... you're going to make a fantastic father one day."

His face positively glowed. "Promise..?"

"I promise." Slipping her arm around his waist she gave him a hug.

"All ready to go?"

She nodded. "You know it's a good thing I switched the oven on before we left, otherwise we'd be eating in the middle of the night."

o-xxx-o

Jack slumped down into the armchair, mainly because it was closer than the couch, sighed contentedly and patted his stomach. "That was absolutely delicious. You really are a wonderful cook, you know."

"Thank you."

"Although, I think I'm going to have to start jogging again very soon or I'm going to finish up looking like that guy in personnel."

"That's not nice. And you're not the only one, when I get back to..." She stopped when he pulled her down onto his lap and put a finger to her lips. "What?"

"No talking about leaving me until the New Year, I don't even want to think about it."

"Okay. Presents?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

She settled herself on the floor beside him and they took turns in opening them while Levi occupied himself with the wrapping paper and ribbon. Standing, she collected the gift she'd hidden in the kitchen. "For you," she smiled nervously "It's not very original I'm afraid but I didn't know what you wanted."

"If it's from you, I'll love it." He put it aside and stood up. "My turn... I'm afraid I couldn't wrap it though." He returned from the bedroom carrying the giant teddy bear.

"Wow!" Levi immediately came over to inspect it. "Sorry Buddy, this one's mine. No touching." She held it up to her face. "He smells of you."

"Long story," the sparkle faded from his eyes.

Sue frowned but decided not to push, if it made him that sad then it was better left unsaid. "I love it but I'm not sure how I'm going to get it back..." Realising she was about to say something he didn't want to hear, she fell silent and then apologised. "Sorry."

"That's okay. I'll mail it to you."

"Open yours." He started to unpick the tape carefully. "Have you been taking lessons from Myles?"

Jack laughed and ripped away the rest of the paper. "You bought me a box, just what I always wanted."

"Idiot..!"

"I'm hurt." He sulked.

"You will be."

"Okay, okay... I'll be good." He opened it and pulled out a chocolate-brown, cashmere sweater. "Whoa... Thank you Sweetheart." He leaned down and kissed her.

"Like I said, it's not very original but it matches your eyes."

"It's perfect. If you look again, I think you'll find you've missed one."

"No I didn't, I checked twice."

"It's not under the tree, it's on it."

"Oooh," jumping up she searched the branches until she found a small, beautifully-wrapped package hidden at the back. "For me..?" She asked her eyes shining.

"For, you..." Her excitement was infectious and he couldn't seem to wipe the grin off his face.

Sitting back down on the floor she slowly undid the bow.

"Now who's taking their time?"

"This is different." She peeled away the tissue to reveal a velvet jewellery box. "You shouldn't have."

"You don't know what it is yet."

Opening the lid she squealed in delight as she took out a gold chain with the figure of an ice-skater hanging from it. The blades were set with small diamonds and there was a ruby in her hair. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "It's beautiful... Thank you." Getting to her knees, she leaned in close to him. "I love you."

He kissed her tenderly. "I love you too, very, very much."

"Put it on for me?"

"Don't you think I'd look silly?"

"Excuse me? Oh... You know what I mean."

She turned and he put it round her neck and fastened the catch, but when he tried to hug her, she squirmed away and stood up.

"You know, you're getting really good at that." He sighed frustrated.

"What?"

"Wriggling out of my arms"

"Sorry but I want to see what it looks like. I'll be back and then you can cuddle me all you want."

"Five minutes and I come and find you."

D-E-A-L

When she returned they quickly cleaned up the mess they'd made and snuggled up to watch the television for a while. Feeling guilty that she'd made him sit through both 'Sleepless in Seattle' and 'An Affair to Remember', she handed him the remote. "Your turn..."

He flicked through the channels stopping on one of the Sports Networks which was showing a documentary on ice hockey. At the second commercial break she stood and stretched. Not having any idea about the rules of the game and the fact that it wasn't close captioned, left her without a clue as to what was going on.

"You okay?"

"Fine, I'm just not getting much of this."

"I'm sorry," he looked genuinely upset. "I'll find something else." He reached for the remote again but she stopped him.

"No, you watch your programme, I'm going to have a bath and get ready for bed."

"It's a bit early, isn't it?"

She just shrugged noncommittally.

"I'll be in at the end of this, okay? About thirty minutes."

"Sounds good" She leaned down and kissed the top of his head before leaving the room. "Levi, stay."

Stirring and stretching, he got up and switched off the TV before turning out all the lights and making his way to the bedroom. The sight before him had him leaning against the doorframe for support.

The room was illuminated with candles and she stood with her back to him, arms above her head accentuating her figure as she finished putting her hair up and when she turned to face him he could barely breathe. She was wearing a red lace nightgown which went all the way to her ankles, clinging to every curve. The neckline plunged low and he noticed she was still wearing the pendant. When she moved he saw that there was a side-slit up to her thigh.

"Jack, darling... You need to breathe, you're turning blue."

He exhaled in a rush but still couldn't find his voice.

"I bought this for you too," she whispered. "Jack..?"

"God, you're beautiful." She blushed, her cheeks almost the same colour as the material she was wearing. "Why did you put your hair up?"

"Because I thought you might want to take it down again."

A shiver of pure desire shot through him.

"Are you going to stand in the doorway all night?"

"No. just until I'm sure I won't fall on my face when I try to move."

She smiled happily and held out her hand.

o-xxx-o