This was my first ever Sue Thomas story and I wrote it in 2005.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Sue Thomas F.B. Eye.

Chapter 1

Sue watched the snowflakes as they danced outside the window, swirling and shimmering against the velvety darkness of the night sky. She followed the snowflakes to the ground where their solitary dance ended as they met and melded with the settled snow.

People walked along the sidewalk oblivious to the beauty of the night and snow that surrounded them. She smiled as a young boy picked up a handful of snow and moulded it into a snow ball. He grinned as he launched the ball towards a couple, whom she assumed were his parents. The couple laughed and picked up snow to return fire to the child. The boy giggled with glee as he played with his family.

Family.

Sue's thoughts travelled back to her childhood, where her mother's determination for her to fit in within the hearing world, had sometimes made their relationship hard. Her childhood had been filled with challenges, learning to lip read, to talk, struggling to feel at home, at ease with herself. Her entire life she had had to fight to fit in, to belong. It had been a long journey, but now she had finally found a place where she did belong and in a way had made a family.

Her family wasn't a normal family; it was made up of friends, friends who would give their lives, hearts and souls for each other. A group of people who had readily accepted her for who she was and had welcomed her and now she knew she would find it difficult to live without.

Sue was brought out of her thoughts by Levi's paw. She turned towards him.

"What is it, Levi?" Sue asked, watching her hearing dog for an indication.

Levi trotted towards the door and sat looking at Sue, waiting.

Sue followed Levi to the door and looked through the peephole, on the other side of the door, in the corridor stood Jack, waiting patiently for her to answer.

Puzzled, Sue unlocked the door.

"Hey, Jack," She said as she opened the door and stood to one side so that he could enter.

"Hi, Sue. Sorry to disturb you, but I need your help with something."

"You're not disturbing me, I was just watching the snow," She pointed to the living area as she closed the door and walked to the chair which was opposite to Jack and sat down. "What do you need my help with?"

Jack fidgeted nervously on the couch, patting Levi's head, before finally making eye contact with Sue, "I sort of need a favour."

Sue's eyebrows rose for a moment. There was something odd about Jack's body language, usually he was so sure about everything, but tonight he seemed, nervous. Not like the Jack she knew well at all. "A favour?"

"Yeah," he fidgeted again, refusing to make eye contact with her, but glancing intently at the Christmas tree over her left shoulder. "The Christmas tree looks great; Lucy mentioned that you were going to decorate one."

Sue glanced at the tree, "Yes it did turn out okay, but the Christmas tree isn't why you're here."

A small nervous smile danced briefly over his lips, "No."

"Jack, we've been friends for a long time, you know I'll help you if I can."

"I know, but it's a really big favour."

"Well, you'll just have to owe me a really big favour in return."

Jack smiled, "My parents are in town," he began.

Sue smiled, "That's nice, you'll be able to spend some time together before Christmas."

"Yes, except that my Mom is expecting to meet my fiancé."

Sue tried to process what she thought she had just lip read, "I'm sorry; Jack did you just say fiancé?"

He nodded.

Sue's mind whirred, Jack had a fiancé! Had she missed something? In fact had she missed someone? Relationships usually couldn't be kept that secret at work, especially serious ones. The entire group had known about Tara and Stanley, and then there had been Lucy and Myles' little fiasco.

Jack watched as Sue's face clouded, she seemed deep in thought. "Sue?" he asked, hoping to bring her back to the conversation. She didn't respond, so he waited patiently and Levi whined.

Finally, Jack reached forward and touched her arm, her eyes instantly focusing on his face.

"Sue, are you okay?"

She smiled nervously, "Congratulations, Jack. Who's the lucky lady?"

"That's the problem."

"Problem?"

"Uh, huh. I don't actually have a fiancé."

Sue paused for a moment, aware of the relief flowing through her, she felt her muscles relax; unaware that she had been holding them tightly. "So, why do your parents think you have a fiancé?"

Jack shifted nervously, "That's sort of an interesting story, that you're going to want to hear, aren't you?"

She nodded.

"It sort of started as a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?"

"Yes. My mom was a bit, well very disappointed when Allie and I didn't work out. Allie on her last visit home mentioned that she and I were never going to happen because I had someone else. My mom assumed it must be serious because of Allie's reaction; one thing led to another and my mom now thinks that this someone else is now virtually a fiancé. Who she desperately has to meet and that's why she and dad have driven up here for a visit."

Sue shook her head, "Why don't you just tell your mom what's really going on? She's going to notice on her visit that there isn't a fiancé."

"Well that's where I was hoping you'd help me out a little."

"By pretending to be your fiancé?"

Jack nodded, "We've been married before."

"But that was work and we were not deceiving family or friends."

"I know," he replied, "But I was hoping that we could pretend that you and I were sort of dating, no need to confirm that you're my fiancé, and then we could say we broke up after their visit."

"I'm not sure, Jack. Wouldn't it be easier to explain to your parents the truth? You're only going to hurt your relationship with them if they find out you lied to them."

"The only thing is my mother doesn't let things lie easily, she knows I have a friend called Sue, who was at my hospital bedside when I had my heart attack. Allie provided that information for her. She's heard me talk about you and I think she's even spoken to Bobby to try and illicit information about us." A smile played over his lips briefly, "I learned my interrogation skills from her, when she's got an idea in her head, she doesn't give up easily."

"You've talked about me to your mom?" she asked a little surprised.

He nodded, "Yes, I told her about you and Levi, how you've changed us all, and I guess when Allie mentioned that she thought I had a girlfriend, my mom put two and two together and made five."

"But making five is a little different to getting married. How did she make that leap?"

"She spoke to Allie's mom, she mentioned that Allie was getting engaged to a banker in New York, not to be outdone, my mom mentioned that you and I were serious and that she was sure we would be getting married soon."

"So you never said we were engaged?"

"Not, exactly."

"Not, exactly, Jack!"

"I know, I know, I shouldn't have encouraged her line of thought, but you don't know my mom. She didn't want to be outdone, so when I last spoke to her on the phone, she said it was about time we took the next step and I sort of agreed that I guess I should think about it. She took that as a yes and in her eyes we're now engaged."

"Jack!" she exclaimed shaking her head.

"I know, I've made a mess, but I hoped she'd forget about her little idea and move on to another project, one in Wisconsin."

"She's your mom and she just wants you to be happy and I guess she wanted happiness too. Parents tend to get a lot of happiness through their children and she wants you to be happy, and I bet she thinks it's time you settled down, especially if she's anything like my mom, she's desperate for grand kids!"

"Will you help me?"

"I'm not going to lie. I will meet your parents, but not as your fiancé, or girlfriend, but as your friend. Will that be enough?"

"For my mom, probably not, but for me," he paused, "It's enough," for now he added silently.

"When do they arrive in town?"

"Tomorrow morning. Mom and Dad were hoping to get together for dinner tomorrow evening."

"Okay, dinner tomorrow evening. I can't wait to meet your mom, she sounds really interesting."

"Interesting is not the word. Be prepared to be interrogated, she'll want to know absolutely everything about you."

"Remember you owe me for this."

"You're not likely to let me forget, are you?"

"Nope. I've got a long memory and so has Levi."

Levi whined at the sound of his name.

"Thank you, Sue."

"Just remember, tomorrow we stick to the truth, whatever happens, okay?"

"Okay."