Snow Day

I'd known for a few days that snow was in the weather forecast, but whenever people talked about how much was expected, the numbers varied from half an inch to three feet. So, when I woke up on Saturday morning and looked out my window to find the parking lot covered in snow and the cars transformed into white blobs, I was frustrated but not too surprised. I estimated we'd been hit with about ten inches.

What I hadn't expected to see was Joe Morelli, my on again off again cop boyfriend, wading through the snow with a shovel and digging out my car.

He was covered from head to toe and looking more bulky than usual, but I knew it was him because who else would bother making their way to my apartment at 7 AM on a Saturday morning.

Seeing him work sent warm fuzzy feelings through me. It wasn't exactly unexpected for Morelli to do nice things for me—he frequently brought me groceries and always paid when we went out or ordered food in—but it was still a pleasant surprise. Most guys would probably still be asleep at this hour. Heck, I still would have been asleep had nature not been calling. Loudly.

Once I took care of that, I headed towards my kitchen to do a quick inventory on supplies. The snow wouldn't be enough to close stores, not with it being double coupon day, but I wanted to have the basics on hand. Pop tarts, coffee, cereal, milk, and ice cream. Also, sugar for the coffee.

I had enough of the basics to get me through the next few days, but I noticed that I had just enough coffee left for one pot. If that. Well, Morelli needed the caffeine more than I did, and I figured it would be a nice surprise for him to see me carrying him a giant mug as he worked on my car. I'd just have to brave the crowds later and buy more. I just hoped that my credit card would go through. I wasn't sure if I'd reached my limit yet. Fortunately, I had a few dollars in cash. Not much in the bank, since I'd just paid my rent. I had a few FTAs that would bring in food money, but I wasn't about to go chasing them on a day like today.

Once the coffee was ready, I pulled on a bathrobe, a heavy winter jacket, and a pair of dark brown boots that were hideously ugly and I only wore when the snow was deep enough to destroy any other shoes I owned.

The air was so cold that my breath turned into frost whenever I took a breath. I felt a twinge of guilt that Morelli was digging out my car in this weather, followed by a feeling of gratitude that he was digging out my car. Glad that I hadn't succumbed to temptation and drank the last cup of coffee, I made my way towards him.

The snow was deep and thick and hard to walk in. Twice, I almost lost my balance and spilled some of the coffee on the snow. When Joe saw me, he waved and adjusted the red scarf around his neck so he could talk.

"Good morning, Cupcake." He glanced at the coffee. "Any of that for me?"

I handed him the cup. "It's all yours. Thanks for cleaning out my car. I didn't expect you to."

He took a long swallow of the liquid before answering. "Well, I didn't want you stuck at your apartment. It's going to get worse later, I wanted to get this done while it was still manageable."

I stepped close to Joe, who wrapped the arm not holding the coffee around me. Even in this freezing weather, he still felt warm.

"You're freezing, Steph. Why don't you go inside while I finish up?"

"Sure I can't help?" I asked. "I could do the top of my car, at least."

Joe considered. "You have an extra shovel?"

"I think so." I removed the keys from my jacket and opened the trunk. A shower of snow sprayed us as the back opened, and I huddled next to Morelli for warmth. A small shovel sat in the back, and I grabbed at it triumphantly. "Ah hah!"

Morelli did an eye roll. "Okay, Cupcake."

I could tell that he was pleased that I wanted to stay outside. Still, I didn't want to be there any longer than necessary, so I got to work. You'd think that clearing off the top of the car would be easy compared to digging it out, but the snow must have had some ice in it, because my arms were starting to hurt before I was half done.

Well, it had to count as exercise, at least.

We worked in silence for about a half an hour, and then Morelli had me start the car so he could clear away any remaining snow in my parking spot. I stayed in the car, heat on full blast, and it was another ten minutes before he joined me in the Buick.

"That feels good," he said, placing his face next to the vent and the coffee cup in the cup holder.

I did an eye roll and turned off the car. "You want to go inside? Have breakfast?"

"Definitely."

Once we were in above zero temperatures, and out of our winter jackets, Morelli pulled me into a long hug.

"Thanks for the coffee."

I rested my face against his chest, not saying anything, just enjoying being so close to him. It hadn't been all that long since we'd spent the night together, but times like this made me wonder why we didn't just decide to live together. Then, I remembered the luxury of having my own bathroom, and the usual hesitation of moving out of my apartment hit me.

Besides, while it was fun to spend the night at Morelli's, I liked the freedom of having my own place.

I could tell that today wasn't going to be one of those days, but that was fine with me.

We ate the cheerios on companionable silence for awhile, taking each other's presence for granted as we focused most of our attention on the food. The sounds of chewing and swallowing, accompanied by the squeaky sounds of Rex running around on his wheel in his cage, took up most of the space. When our plates were cleared, we took them to the sink and Morelli did the dishes.

"Why don't you get dressed and then we can pick up some food?" he asked me, over the sound of running water.

"Okay, but I have to shower first."

He gave me a look that suggested he could see why. My hair was always a mess when I first woke up, and no amount of brushing ever tamed it in that state.

"Want some help?"

I rolled my eyes at Joe. "Too early."

That, and I was still sleepy from lack of caffeine.

I could see that he was debating in his head whether or not he could convince me otherwise, but my mind was made up. I didn't want to be a pile of mush until later in the day. After I'd finished the necessary shopping. Then, we'd have a lot of fun together.

I was looking forward to that.

I emerged from the shower and dressed in my favorite flannel shirt and extra comfortable jeans. One annoying thing about winter was that the clothing options for dressing sexy were practically nonexistent. You couldn't really show skin without feeling like you were going to freeze to death. Still, I made an effort with my hair and a pair of topaz earrings Morelli had bought me for one occasion or another, and I thought I didn't look too bad. A few swipes of mascara and a warm sweater, and I was ready to go.

I saw Morelli watching TV when I came into my living room. The news was on, and the weather forecaster was talking about more snow. This time, they were calling for at least eight inches. Fortunately, it wouldn't start until after dark.

Morelli gave me an appreciative smile and stood up. "Sexy."

"Thanks."

"Do you think you could spend the next couple of days at my house?" he asked, reaching for his jacket. "I'd hate to think of you losing power with all of this snow. Besides, Bob misses you."

I chewed on my lip, giving the plan some consideration. More snow later meant either Morelli or I would have to dig out my car again, and staying at his house would take care of that problem. My Buick would easily fit in his two car garage. Also, staying at his place meant that buying food wouldn't be as necessary.

As though reading my mind, Morelli added, "We'd still need to go grocery shopping. I'm kind of low on supplies."

Morelli wasn't someone who kept several months' worth of food on hand in the event of a global disaster, but his idea of "low on supplies" was closer to what my apartment looked like after I went shopping. I suspected that he'd suspected something when I didn't have coffee with my cereal, and was trying to find a way to help without inferring that my bank account was almost empty.

He could be easy to read, but he was also sweet when he wanted to be.

I nodded. "Let me grab some things to pack, and then I'll be right there."

"We can do that after we get back," Morelli told me, handing me my jacket. "Come on, it's double coupon day and you know the store will be packed with the senior citizens."

No sooner had we gotten to my parking spot then we were bombarded by half of the older residents of my building.

"Was that you?" one man who I didn't recognize asked. "You cleared out her car?"

Morelli nodded, a little hesitantly.

"Well, it's real cold out, and we were wondering if you could clear our spaces," another woman explained.

"Well, we're kind of in a hurry," Morelli began, but a third person cut him off.

"Oh, we'll pay you, of course." A series of heads nodded up and down.

"Thirty bucks a spot."

"No, you idiot, it was twenty-nine dollars and eighty-eight cents!" someone shouted.

"You pay him that, I don't have change on me. It's still cheaper than missing out at the store."

I could see the light going on in Morelli's head as he put everything together. The senior citizens in my building mostly lived on social security and pension checks, which meant they tried to stretch every dollar until it bought at least five dollars' worth of something. Few of them were in the best physical shape, so if they wanted to get somewhere, they'd either have to spend a couple of hours on the task of clearing out their spot, or wait until the sun to melt it. Doing the first meant they'd be too late to get the really good deals—two for one cans of tuna fish, fiber pills, and all kinds of stuff that would have sold high on the senior citizens black market if there ever was a shortage. Paying someone to do a task you could do on your own was virtually unheard of…except when it was double coupon day.

They'd probably all figured out, to the penny, how much they could afford to pay Morelli and still save money on their groceries. It was logical enough in their minds.

Morelli must have come to the same conclusion, because I could practically hear him debating the options in his head. Each space would take at least a half an hour to clear, and it would probably be afternoon by the time we got to the store. On the other hand, they were offering to pay him, and who could say no to thirty dollars (or twenty-nine dollars and eighty-eight cents) per parking space? Besides, you didn't make enemies with the seniors in the burg, or right outside of the burg.

"All right," he agreed. "For twenty-nine eighty-eight each. If you don't have the exact money, you can round up, or I can see if I have change when we're done. Payment's half now, half later."

There were some grumblings at the idea of paying for a job that hadn't been done yet, but Morelli stood his ground. A few seniors walked away, but most of them had wads of one's and five's ready for the taking.

"I'll do the tops of the cars," I offered.

It would get the job done faster, and I wouldn't feel guilty about Morelli having to do this for me.

Not that either of us really had a choice in the matter.

At least I'd sort of be earning the money we'd be spending on my/our groceries.

I expected the next few hours to be torture, and they certainly weren't fun. But a few parking spaces in, Morelli decided that it would be fun to throw snowballs at the back of my head. I wasn't about to let that go unchallenged, and before long, we were in an all-out snowball fight. I used the snow I shoveled off of the cars, and he used the snow that had been sitting on the ground, so it probably only slowed things down by a half an hour or so. Some of the seniors who were waiting for us decided that it wasn't fair for Morelli to get away with throwing snowballs at me (the burg never got past the 50's in many social aspects), and he found himself getting pounded with more snowballs in a few seconds than I could have thrown in a minute. Finally, grinning, he announced himself to be defeated.

We finished up the work around noon, and by then, I was ready for another hot shower and a long nap. I couldn't imagine how tired Joe must have felt, since my job had been the easier of the two. Once everyone paid the rest of their bill (some even tipped Joe by giving him the full thirty and telling him to keep the change), we headed into my car and I closed my eyes as soon as I'd seated myself down and buckled the seatbelt.

"Tired?" he asked.

"Kind of," I admitted. "You?"

"A little." I felt him reach over and plant a kiss on my forehead. "Still up for dealing with the crowds?"

"Yeah," I groaned, stretching out my arms. "Might as well get it over with. Then, we can have fun."

"I'm all for fun," he told me, starting the car.

The market wasn't super crowded in the areas we stopped at to pick up food, and we were out of there in less than an hour, despite having purchased enough to feed a small village. Or at least an average sized family in the burg. Morelli paid, which didn't surprise me, but what did surprise me came after we returned to my apartment we'd put away my share of the food, I'd gathered up some clothes in a duffle bag for my visit to his house.

He'd counted the money, and there was a rather thick looking pile of twenty's and ten's on the dining room table.

"That's your share. I took mine in the five's and one's. I need to go to the bank next week anyway."

"You don't have to do that," I told Morelli, face turning red.

"You did half the work, Cupcake. You should get half the pay."

"You had the harder job," I protested, but I pocketed the bills. "How much did we make, anyway?"

"Total came to just over seven hundred dollars. Not bad for a morning's work."

More than I usually made in a week, unless there was a high risk FTA involved.

Of course, part of the reason we'd made anything was because the snowstorm happened to hit when there was a major sale. Major sales happened maybe once every two months, so the next one wasn't scheduled until March. The odds of there being another major snowstorm that way were slim.

Anyway, this meant I'd have food money for the next few weeks. More, if I was careful. I put my money in my sock drawer for safe keeping, and picked up Rex's cage.

"Thank you," I told him.

Morelli just smiled. "They're your crazy neighbors. Maybe I should be thanking you."

I rolled my eyes. "You'd face the same thing on your street."

"We have garages," he reminded me, handing me my jacket. "You got everything?"

I nodded, and we headed off to his house.

As soon as we opened the door, Bob practically crushed me as he leapt on top of me. Morelli reached out from behind to catch me before I toppled onto the floor.

"Down, Bob," he said, sounding exasperated. "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

This was true, since I was used to Bob's attack hugs.

"Why don't you get settled and I'll handle the groceries? Then, maybe we can make a fire."

"An actual fire or the other kind?" I queried.

"Both," he laughed, "but I was talking about the kind with wood. I have some logs in the garage. I'll get them after I do the food. You hungry?"

I was, remembering that all I'd had that day was a bowl of cereal. Morelli pulled me into a long hug and gave me a kiss on the lips that almost made me forget my stomach.

"I'll get right on that," he promised.

Ten minutes later, Rex and I were both settled in, and Morelli was adjusting the logs in the fireplace. I'd never paid much attention to it before, since we mostly used that room for watching TV, but the fire made the whole room feel cozy. Peanut butter and olive sandwich in hand, I stretched out on the couch and watched the flames dance. Morelli joined me and placed an arm around my shoulder. I nestled against him and breathed a contented sigh.

"You smell good," I commented as I inhaled his scent. A mix of his aftershave and smoke from the fire filled my lungs.

He didn't answer, just held me more closely and let his head fall back against one of the couch cushions. I adjusted myself so that I was partly sitting in his lap, my head positioned against his chest. I finished the rest of my sandwich, and then closed my eyes. I could hear Morelli's breathing become slow and even, much like it did right before he fell asleep. Speaking of which, I could use a nap myself. It had been a fun morning and afternoon, but knowing Morelli, the night would be even better. Might as well rest up for it.

Morelli must have been thinking along the same lines, because just before sleep took over, I could hear him start to snore.

A/N: I'd like to thank Julie for reading this over and providing feedback. Also, for her overall encouragement with my writing!

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