Title: Avalanche
Summary: Pre-Twilight. Tony and Kate get stuck out in the snow. Tate!
Disclaimer: They are not mine.
Author's Note: I know, not a very original title, but whatever. I don't know anything about skiing. At all. Even though I live in New Hampshire, and skiing's the favorite pastime of almost everybody around here, I've never been. Feel free to correct me on terms or anything like that.
Author's Note 2: I tried to look up the world's longest chairlift for the sake of posterity, and it said the maximum height was around 15,000 feet. However, I think they meant it goes 15,000 feet above sea level, and actual length or distance up a mountain was not discussed. I don't know how long they usually are, or if my story is even feasible… but it's my story so ha! I do know that New Hampshire does not have one of the world's longest chairlifts, but it does in my world! I will be open to correction on any other factual errors.
This is another weird story of mine, and something like it's probably been done to death, but I hope you can have fun with it anyway. Please enjoy and please review!
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Kate stomped her feet, and hugged herself a little tighter.
"Jesus it's cold!"
She, Tony, Gibbs, and Ducky were in New Hampshire, somewhere in the White Mountains. Kate had lost track of exactly where after the fourteenth or fifteenth "quaint little town" they had driven through. You can only look at so many maple trees before they all blend together. They had flown in and landed at the nearest airport, which still left about eighty miles to the alleged crime scene. A marine had been found in his room, in a towel, at the ski resort he was staying in.
Tony waggled his eyebrows. "There are ways we could warm up, Kate."
Too cold to play the game, Kate ignored him.
"Gibbs, can we please go inside now? He was found in his room, not outside!"
Gibbs didn't respond, but continued to look around, taking in the log cabin style building and the surrounding wilderness. After a lengthy pause, he nodded in the direction of the building and began trudging through the snow towards it.
"Finally!" Kate said, as they entered the building. She shrugged off her jacket and brushed some of the snow off it. She pulled off her hat and shook her head to rid herself of hat-hair.
Tony watched and said, "You know, Kate, you look good with your hair mussed."
"Shove it, Tony."
They arrived in Lieutenant Richard Stevenson's, room, and found Ducky there waiting for them. "Ah, there you are Jethro. This is lovely countryside. You know, it reminds me of a cabin I once shared with a rather fetching young woman…"
"Duck, not now."
"Alright, Jethro, but you can't complain that I didn't offer to tell the story. It was… an intriguing three days…"
The three team members looked at each other and quickly got to work. Gibbs said, "Kate, pictures. Tony, you help."
Their work progressed rapidly, and soon the entire room was processed. Gibbs approached Tony and Kate. "Alright, apparently the Lieutenant comes here every year, right around the same time. He's an avid skier, and the last person to see him was the lift attendant at the top of the mountain. I want you two to go up there and interview him."
"Gibbs you can't be serious. It's like twenty degrees out there and it's going to get dark in a few hours! This is one of the longest chairlifts in the world, it goes like two miles!"
Tony stepped between them, "It's okay, I'll be here to protect you." Kate looked at Tony, who was grinning widely, and then at Gibbs. She held his gaze until it became clear he wasn't going to give in.
"Great," she said, and sighed, "I'll get my coat."
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It was early in the season, and getting late, so the ski lift had been shut down, and no more skiers were being allowed up. The slope was completely deserted except for the last few stragglers coming down and the ski lift operator at the bottom. Kate stood, radiating misery, next to Tony as they waited for the operator to start the lift for them.
Tony got an idea for his own amusement, and his eyes lit up. "Hey Kate, umm… what's that guys name?"
Kate looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You know, that guy, the last one you dated?"
"Do you mean Roger?"
"Nope, that wasn't it."
"Well, he was the 'last one I dated.'"
"No…You know the one with the brown hair and snake tattoo, kinda dopey looking?"
Kate sighed, ignoring the gibe. "Yes, what about him?"
"That's not the one I was talking about."
"Then why did you describe him to me?"
While this conversation progressed, the ski lift began humming along, and they both walked, not really paying attention, to stand in front of one of the lift chairs.
"Tony, you have got to be the most childish man I've…" Kate, exasperated with Tony, was caught unawares by the chairlift. It almost knocked her over, and she had interrupted her own sentence with a small squeak of alarm.
She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the impact with the cold, wet snow that she had been irritated to feel creeping into her shoes, but she didn't meet the snow. Instead, her momentum had suddenly shifted backwards, and she had thumped lightly into a broad, solid chest. She opened her eyes.
Tony, breathing hard from the adrenaline, had his arms around her, and they were both seated securely in the ski lift.
"You should uh… be more careful," he said, looking down at her.
"Right… thanks." She removed herself from his arms and they rode in awkward silence up the side of the mountain.
About half way up, there was a loud grinding noise. Tony and Kate looked at each other, and then simultaneously up at the cable. The noise came again, only louder, and the lift jerked and screeched to a halt, throwing the two of them forward into the safety bar.
The silence was broken only by the soft creaking of the lift as it swung gently back and forth. Kate winced as she placed a hand over her now bruised stomach. She turned to Tony.
"Well… what do we do now?"
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Hmm… What do you think? Please review!