Hope you enjoy a flashback to 70's music! If you've never heard it, YouTube has several videos - one with Donny Osmond singing it (boy, now I'm REALLY dating myself . . . !).
Regina
Laughter In The Rain
(written and recorded by Neil Sedaka)
Strolling along country roads with my baby
It starts to rain, it begins to pour
Without an umbrella we're soaked to the skin
I feel a shiver run up my spine
When the car started sputtering, Jack knew they were in trouble. On a country road, about an hour out of DC, the bureau-issue car finally gave up the ghost and shuddered to a halt.
“Jack, tell me we didn’t just run out of gas,” Sue said, looking across at him from the passenger seat. The male-map-phobia gene had reared its ugly head once again. She had wanted to stop at the last gas station and get a bottle of water and ask for some directions, but Jack had assured her that it wouldn’t be necessary.
“We don’t need directions. We’ll be in Marshall before you know it,” Jack had said, showing more confidence in the situation than he felt. The idea of driving two-lane roads to view the early-spring rural Virginia scenery had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now he wasn’t so sure. He knew they were low on gas, but this wasn’t his usual car. Who knew the gas gauge was accurate to a fault?
“Do you want me to tell you that, or do you want the truth?” he asked, chagrined at the thought of having to admit that he was wr . . .wr . . .wrong.
She just looked at him, eyebrow cocked, an amused expression on her face at his boyish inability to admit to a mistake. Her expression changed to one of irritated desperation as she looked out the window as the sky began turning darker.
“OK Jack, now we’re stuck on a country road, no gas, no cell signal – we don’t have a signal here, do we?” she asked, receiving for her answer a shrug and half smile as he checked his phone. “. . . and it’s probably going to rain. Well, team leader, what’s the plan?”
He thought for a few minutes, and then turned and smiled at her. He took note of what Sue was wearing today. Since it was supposed to be a long drive with a short job at the end of it – which, by the way, they had already accomplished – they had both opted for more casual wear than the usual FBI dress code. She was wearing a cotton skirt and a soft t-shirt, and sandals on her feet. Not exactly rain gear, but could make for an interesting walk if it did indeed rain.
“As I see it, we have two options. First, we wait in the car until it looks less like it’s about to pour, and then start walking back to that little station a mile or so back. Second, we could always set out walking and hope for the best. At least it’s warm today. Your pick,” he said, allowing her to make the decision, his deep brown eyes gazing into her very soul.
Pausing to look out windows at clouds that were getting darker by the minute, she hesitated, chewing her bottom lip in thought. Sit in the car with Jack, for who knows how long, or start walking on a lonely country road. Her eyebrows went up at both thoughts. She tilted her head slightly as suddenly the surprising image of walking in the rain with Jack held all kinds of promise for her. Looking over at his mesmerizing eyes, the blush that she felt as she had a vision of both of them soaked in rainwater rose to her cheeks, causing Jack to blush, as well. ‘At least I know he’s thinking the same thing,’ she thought to herself, trying hard not to giggle as she gave him a shy smile, feeling a slight shiver run up her spine as she decided their course of action. “I’ve always liked walking in the rain, you know. Do we have an umbrella in this car, just in case?”
Jack started in surprise, feeling a complimentary shiver to hers. He never thought she would go for it, but his slow smile told her that he was glad she did. They started frantically looking under seats and in the glove compartment for an umbrella, with no luck . . .
They were about a quarter of a mile from the car when Jack heard a low rumble of thunder. As Sue looked up at him, having felt the rumble through her feet, they felt the first drops of rain. Within minutes, it was pouring . . . and they were truly soaked to the skin.
Jack looked down at her when he heard the giggle escape her lips. He smiled at her, loving the fact that she was having a good time. Oh, she could GIVE him a hard time, and did – often – but she would HAVE a good time doing whatever needed to be done – even if it included walking in the pouring rain.
I feel the warmth of her hand in mine
Reaching down and taking her hand, they continued their leisurely walk down the road. She didn’t seem to mind, and made no move to remove it. As for the rain, it wasn’t like they could keep from getting wet, now.
Jack looked down at their clasped hands, amazed at the feelings that were coursing through his veins. He knew that Sue was special to him. That was never in question. He knew that he felt feelings for her that he had never really felt before.
The day he found out about her proposed transfer to the New York office, he thought he was having another heart attack. It hurt him that much. He wasn’t, of course, but there was still, even after she changed her mind, that pain that came upon him every time he thought about her leaving him. That was how he saw it . . . that she actually thought about leaving him.
She saw the smile on his face as he looked down at their entwined hands, and then the shadow of sadness.
‘What is he thinking about?’ she wondered. She had seen that look cross his face more and more in the last few months. It suddenly dawned on her that it was since she almost left for New York. ‘Did he really care so much?’ She looked at him more closely, stopping on the road and squeezing his hand as she said, “Jack?”
He squeezed her hand back, smiling into her face, his other hand reaching up to caress her cheek. Realization dawned in his eyes as she looked deeply into them.
The smile she gave him was startling in its intensity. He wanted badly to stop and kiss her, but something held him back. Suddenly, he felt a freedom that he had never felt before. He loved her. He really, truly loved this woman who stood before him. The relief that he felt was expressed not in a kiss, but a loud, exuberant, laugh, which Sue shared.
Oo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Oo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
“What’s so funny?” Sue asked, happy to be there, at his side . . . happy to be the recipient of his caress . . . and hopeful that this meant that her love for him was reciprocated.
“We are,” Jack said, laughing softly as he tugged on her hand to propel her on their way. “I never thought I liked walking in the rain, but with you, it’s different.”
“I’ve always loved rainy days,” Sue said, smiling as she looked down, a little shyly. “Some people get depressed when it clouds up, but somehow, rainy days make me feel happy. Does that make sense?”
“Sure it does. You are the one person who can take what makes most people sad, and turn it into a positive experience. You’re a one-of-a-kind, you know,” Jack said, hoping that he was telling her with his eyes what his lips wanted to say.
“I’m sure a lot of people hope so,” she quipped, laughing up at him.
“If I could make everyone like you, I would,” he said, more seriously, but with a smile.
“Thank you, Jack,” she said, touched by the statement. “That was really sweet of you.”
Jack stopped and signed “You’re Welcome,” and then took her other hand in his. He looked up as he heard yet another clap of thunder, and the rain seemed to start coming down harder. “Let’s get under some shelter. The lightning isn’t close enough to be dangerous, so let’s check out that tree over there,” he said as he started pulling her by the hand to the shelter of the old maple tree.
After a while we run under a tree
I turn to her and she kisses me
They were both laughing like children when they made it to the tree, the rain gearing up in intensity as they fled the road to the shelter of the tree. Running up and hitting the tree trunk, Jack pulled Sue to him as they stopped, hoping to protect her from at least some of the rain that was pelting down. He had begun to notice her shiver with the cold, and wanted to help her maintain her warmth as much as possible.
Her hands were resting on his chest; his hands were chafing her arms and back, trying to restore warmth in them. As she looked up at him, he stopped. This time he was mesmerized by something in her eyes. She was breathing heavily after their run, and smiling slightly, she reached up and placed her lips on his.
When she pulled away, she looked as surprised as he. “I . . . I’m sorry,” she said, ducking her eyes in embarrassment.
He put his finger under her chin and brought her face up so that she could read his lips. She was caught not only by his arms, but by something in his eyes that drew her into him, as though she were merging completely with him.
“I’m not,” he said, smiling tenderly at her as he dipped his head to kiss her even more thoroughly, blocking out the world as they explored a world all their own.
There with the beat of the rain on the leaves
Softly she breathes and I close my eyes
Sharing our love under stormy skies
When they drew apart, Jack finally heard the sounds around him – the dripping of rain on the still-new leaves on the trees, and the sounds of their bodies reacting to the forced lack of oxygen as they recovered from their kiss.
Sue was noting all these things with her eyes, and with every nerve-ending in her body. She knew she was shivering, but this time it wasn’t from the cold. She was plenty warm from the inside out. This time, reaching up to touch his face, she was the one that laughed. It was a laugh of acknowledgement and a laugh of pure happiness.
“I love you, Sue,” Jack said, looking into her eyes, searching for her reaction, and finding it even as he waited for her to respond. Now that he had admitted his true feelings for her, there was no going back. He knew that, once and for all, he had found what he was looking for. He had found the one that God had been promising him all his life.
“I love you, too, Jack,” she said, total wonder appearing in her eyes as she admitted to him that precious thing that she had harbored and kept hidden all this time.
After taking a long moment to seal their love with a kiss, they looked up, noticing that the rain had slowed to a gentle shower. Looking at one another, they laughed, this time both on the same page, confident in their love for one another.
Oo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Oo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
I feel the warmth of her hand in mine
“I’ll never look at a rainy day the same way again,” Jack told her as they walked, hand in hand, up the lonely stretch of highway. “Happy?”
“As long as you are here, holding my hand, I’m happy,” she said.
Smiling at the woman he loved, he agreed. From then on, rainy days would be special to Jack and Sue . . .
*
Sue saw the light on her desk blink, alerting her to a message. “Sue – it’s raining outside. I love you. Jack.”
Jack’s computer made an audible ‘ding’ when he received a message. “Jack – race you to the elevator. I love you, too. Sue.”
Back in DC, their coworkers wondered why, every time a shower came up, Jack and Sue would look across the room at one another, blush, and make an excuse, any excuse, to go outside – with or without an umbrella.
*
“Sue – did you know that Seattle has the highest rainfall totals in the country? That’s interesting . . .,” Jack said. He had been watching the weather channel while Sue put the finishing touches on an impromptu dinner at his apartment. When he looked at Sue, he noticed that she was standing, stock still, in the act of stirring, and had a dreamy expression on her face.
About six-months later, a honeymoon was planned for Seattle, Washington, the city with the heaviest rainfall totals in the country. People thought it was so that they could stay indoors for other, ah, activities . . . but it wasn’t.
*
Another mealtime, another year. Jack was in the midst of cleaning up after the supper meal, because, of course, in the Hudson household, the cook never cleans. While he was standing at the dishwasher finishing up the chore, he looked into the family room at his children. Their twelve-year-old daughter was sitting, curled in a chair with her little brother and sister, reading to them – two blond-haired girls and a dark-haired boy. “This is contentment,” he thought, smiling to himself.
Suddenly, he felt arms slip around his waist from behind. “Jack,” a voice whispered, as she kissed the back of his neck, “it’s beginning to rain outside . . .”
In years to come, their children would wonder why Mom and Dad always wanted to go for a walk when it started raining, why they usually didn’t take them along, and why they always seemed to be red-faced and out of breath when they came back, smiling the rest of the evening, and into the next morning . . .
Oo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Oo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
Oo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Oo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
(repeat and fade)
The end . . .
2,528 words
that was short sweet and wonderful loved it love the song as well 
I loved it!!
