Season of Hope (Sue Thomas FBEye)

Season of Hope - Chapter One

Thursday Dec 2, 2004

When Sue got back from her early morning walk with Levi, she was surprised to find Lucy already in the kitchen making coffee.

"Luce, it's only 6:30. What are you doing up?"

Sue's hope of evading Lucy's question just evaporated when she noticed the gleam in her roommate's eyes.

"That must have been one huge pizza. You were still not back when I went to bed at 11:30. I want every detail. To start with, have you come home at all last night?"

Sue blushed at the allusion. She had come home quite late... actually quite early this morning.

"It's not what you think, Luce." She did her best to seem offended, but Lucy didn't buy it. "Okay, it's..."

"What I think," Lucy finished with a triumphant grin on her feature.

"NO! I didn't spend the night with Jack." They both giggled at the thought. "But he invited me to spend the week-end with him in Milwaukee."

Lucy gawked.

"Remember my and Jack's undercover role at Callahan and Merced?"

Lucy nodded. Neither her roommate nor the team had stopped teasing them over the undercover kiss.

"Well, his lawyer friend, James Buchanan, the one Jack switched identity with, he phoned Jack yesterday."

"The lawyer friend was the secret phone call?"

"Yes, and James and his wife invited us for the weekend. Apparently James' wife ran into a friend of Janice Clark ..."

"Who's Janice Clark?"

"Janice was the secretary who caught us in Hillary's office... you know..." At the memory of her and Jack making out in the office, Sue blushed slightly. "Anyway, apparently his wife is curious to meet the woman her husband is supposedly having an affair with."

"And? Are you going?"

"Jack didn't give me a choice. He said he would drag me there screaming if he had to. James insisted. He and his wife are not going out much since the birth of their first child and they would really appreciate the company."

"They have a brand new baby?"

"Yes, a month old, and he's Jack's godson. So I couldn't say no." Not that I'd wanted to say no... not after the evening they'd spent.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. We'll be back Monday or Tuesday."

"I'm so excited for you, Sue. You'll have a great time I'm sure. So? Are you going to tell me what happened after pizza?"

"We went for a walk, then to his apartment. We had coffee. We booked our flights, phoned his friend, and then he drove me home."

Jack had hooked up her blackberry to the phone so she could follow the conversation between him and James. They were sitting side by side on his couch. As the conversation lengthened, his arm came to rest around her shoulders, and by the time they hung up laughing, she'd snuggled against him. He'd taken both the phone and the blackberry and placed them on the table before wrapping both arms around her. She had closed her eyes, her head resting on his chest. She remembered him stroking her hair and kissing her forehead. When she woke up hours later, they were lying on the couch, his arms still holding her securely. She had lifted her head and met big brown eyes sparkling at her. None of them had said anything. Words had not been necessary. They'd just gotten up, taken their coats and driven into the night. He'd walked her to the apartment and placed a goodnight kiss on her cheek before leaving.