Snowed In

by angellwings

They should have gone back last night. The case was solved and all they had left to handle was the wrap up. They could've come back for that. They, by no means, needed to stay in town over night. But they'd been bloody and beaten and exhausted and the idea of trekking back to the building where Jenkins had parked the Back Door was not appealing. Plus, Cassandra had seemed weaker and more scattered than usual. Out of worry, Jake had voiced the idea to get rooms for each of them at the local bed and breakfast.

Now they were stuck, and it was his fault. He'd gotten up earlier than the others and found a blizzard going strong outside with snow already piled up against the bed and breakfast. Sure, he could have shoveled it but the windchill was far below freezing and the wind would bury whatever path he tried to make. There was no point. They'd have to wait it out.

They'd had a case in tiny town in the middle of no where in upstate Massachusetts. ("So, basically, Canada," Jones had said with a scoff just after they stepped through the back door yesterday.) The Librarians and their guardian were the only guests in the Bed and Breakfast aside from the owners, who Jake could hear shuffling around the kitchen. The lights flickered and Jake sighed. There was a branch somewhere out there leaning on a power line. Great, that was the last thing they needed.

He heard footsteps on the stairs and turned from the front parlor window to see Cassandra padding down them in her socks and warm winter outfit from the day before. He'd been surprised to see her actually dress for the weather the day before. Yet, she put her own distinct Cassandra twist on it. Her navy sweater was covered in tiny heart shaped polka dots and her corduroy pants were skinny and bright red. The look was completed by a peach blouse with a Peter Pan collar peaking out from the sweater and knee high light gray socks trimmed in cream colored lace. He assumed her navy quilted rain boots (that were, unsurprisingly, covered in a floral and paisley pattern) were up in her room. Her red waves were rumpled and her eyes were half lidded with sleep. She smiled softly and then yawned as she approached him. The warmth and affection that filled him at the sight of her was overwhelming and far more intense than he'd anticipated.

"Hey," she said softly. "Can you see out of these windows down here? I can't see three feet out of mine with all the wind and snow."

"Yeah, you can see the street. It's buried. We're not getting out of here anytime soon," He said with a shake of his head. "We should have gone back last night."

Cassandra shrugged. "It's okay. I'm not sure I could have made the walk back anyway." She hugged her arms to herself and then instinctively pressed one hand to her temple. "I was math-ed out."

He nodded. "Yeah, I could tell. You were barely managing to walk on your own." He paused and then gave her a concerned glance. "Are you feeling any better now?"

She nodded and smiled warmly at him. "I am, thank you. I just needed to rest, which thanks to you I was able to do."

"You're welcome, but I'm not sure anyone else is going to thank me once they see this," he said as he motioned to the window.

"I think it'll be okay, Jake," she told him with a grin. "It's actually a good thing if you think about it. It'll give us a chance to bond, you know, like a camping trip. Just inside, with lights, and plumbing. Which is actually far superior to an actual camping trip."

He chuckled at her. "Not a fan of camping?"

"Let's see, sleeping on the cold hard ground in a flimsy tent zipped up in a sleeping bag like a bug in a cocoon or sleeping indoors on a plushy cozy bed with a million blankets and pillows and a mug of hot chocolate? Hmmm," she said as she pretended to think about her decision and tapped her chin. "Which to choose, which to choose," she said sarcastically before she turned and smirked at him. "Yeah, I'm gonna go with the plushy cozy indoor bed."

"And the hot chocolate," Jake reminded her with a smile.

"Can't forget the hot chocolate," she said with a nod.

One of the owners stepped out of the kitchen and she smiled pleasantly at her guests. "We'll be serving breakfast in a few minutes. Do you think your friends will want to be woken up?"

"Baird will," Cassandra answered. "Can you call her room or something?"

The woman nodded. "Of course. I'll go do that now. Feel free to have a seat in the dining room while you wait."

They sat down next to each other at the table and were surprised to find Ezekiel already seated.

Jake did a double take. "When did you come down the stairs? We were standing right there."

"Hello," he said with a smirk as he pointed to himself. "Thief. Sneaky is in my job description. Besides, I don't need to sneak around the two of you," he told them with a chuckle. "Together, you're oblivious," he paused and then muttered something else under his breath. To Jake's ears it sounded like he said, "In more ways than one."

Cassandra's brow furrowed. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Ezekiel said as he smirked at his friends. "So, somebody gonna go get Baird?"

"They're calling her room now," Cassandra told him. "I'm surprised you're even up this early."

"The wind was rattling the window in my room," he told them. "I couldn't sleep. Did you know there's a passageway from the kitchen to the old study in the back of the house? I will definitely be exploring this place later. Where ever there's one secret passageway there's bound to be another."

"What the hell is going on?" Eve asked as she entered the room and sat down next to Jones. "It's like the apocalypse out there."

Cassie grinned at her. "The snowpocalypse. Am I right?"

Jake and Ezekiel gave Cassie a flat look and shook their heads at her.

"Jokes aren't your strength, darlin'," Jake said with a smirk.

"A for effort though, right?" She asked him.

He chuckled and nodded. "Sure, A for effort."

"Clearly, we aren't going anywhere," Eve said with a sigh. "What am I going to do with the three of you all day?"

"Hey!" Ezekiel exclaimed. "I resent the implication that I have to be babysat. I am an adult."

Jake scoffed. "Barely."

"Maybe there are some board games or something around here," Cassandra suggested with a smile. "That could be fun! Like Sequence or Pyramix or Risk!"

Ezekiel blinked at her. "Or non-genius board games like Trouble, Sorry, or Twister."

"Twister?" Cassandra asked as she scrunched up her nose and gave Jones a confused look. "What kind of a game is that?"

Jake gave her a startled look. "You've never heard of Twister?"

"I was only allowed to play board games that involved some form of math or critical thinking," she explained. "I'd moved beyond Trouble and Sorry by the time I was four. Is it a board game?"

Ezekiel and Baird shared a look and mutually decided to let Stone explain this one.

"Um, sort of, I guess," he answered hesitantly. "There's a mat with different color dots on it that you lay out on the floor. And there's spinner that tells you a color and a, um, body part," he paused awkwardly and cleared his throat. "You have to place the body part of the dot that matches the color. The first person who can't do it or falls trying to do it, loses."

"That doesn't sound so hard," Cassandra said thoughtfully.

"It is when you play it drunk," Eve said with a smirk. The three Librarians gave her a shocked look and she shrugged. "What? Before you three I did actually manage to live, you know."

"It's not that it's difficult," Jake said as he tried to ignore Baird's statement and return to the topic at hand. "It's more that the contact between the players can be a little…awkward."

"Oh," she said simply before her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed slightly. "Oh. Well, that's um, that sounds like an interesting game."

"It…can be," Jake agreed as he tried not to think about Cassandra playing Twister. Too late. Yeah, they should probably avoid this game at all cost.

Finally, breakfast was brought out to them and they were all pleased to find a wide variety of breakfast foods that seem to satisfy all of them. After they were done they headed to the main living room and Cassandra immediately crashed on the couch and spread out.

She sighed contentedly and placed a hand on her stomach. "I'm full. That was beyond delicious."

"You ate an impossible amount of pancakes," Ezekiel said in an almost fearful tone.

"Pancakes are my favorite," she told him. "Especially chocolate chip pancakes."

Jake laughed softly at her. "You would. Eating chocolate chip pancakes drenched in syrup is like eating cake covered in candy. Far too sweet."

"Pancakes are meant to be sweet," she told him in a playfully defensive tone before she stuck her tongue out at him. "So there."

While the others had been talking Ezekiel had been walking around the room gathering cushions and pillows and finally he stopped in front of the couch Cassandra had collapsed on.

"Up," he told her.

Jake quirked a brow at him and then at the pile of cushions and pillows on the floor. "What are you doing?"

"Making a pillow fort," he said plainly.

"Why?" Cassandra asked slowly as she stood up.

"Because these cushions are perfect for it. If I had some blankets I'd turn this fort into a tent," he said with a grin.

A pile of blankets landed on Ezekiel's head and covered his face. He let out a muffled, "Thank you" as Jake and Cassandra turned to see Eve smiling at them.

"I love pillow-blanket forts. Have at it, kids," Eve said with a grin.

Cassandra's face lit up and she pulled two of the blankets off of Ezekiel's head. "I've never built a fort before! Do you think the owner's will mind?"

"You've never heard of Twister, you've never made a pillow fort, and you weren't allowed to believe in Santa," Ezekiel said as he pulled the remaining blanket off of his face. "Did you even have a childhood?"

"That would depend on your definition of childhood," Cassandra stated as she sorted the pillows and cushions into large and small. "Technically, yes, because there was a period of time in my life where I was the age of a child, but if you mean the childhood that comes with playful nostalgia or imaginary friends then I suppose not. But that doesn't mean I didn't have fun! I like math. Math is fun for me."

"Not as much fun as pillow forts and Sorry," Ezekiel argued teasingly.

"Doubtful," Cassandra said as she playfully shoved his shoulder.

"I guess you won't know until you do both, will you?" Jake asked her with a challenging grin.

"Are you suggesting we build the fort and then play a board game in it…like children?" Cassandra asked with an eager smile.

"That's what snow days are for, aren't they?" Jake asked her with a smile. "To act like children?"

Eve smiled in amusement as she watched her three charges buzz around and work together to angle the pillows and the blankets just so. No one really seemed to know who the leader was, but it was cute watching each Librarian try and fail to take charge. Eventually they had a vaguely fort like shape of cushions and blankets and pillows set up across the living room furniture and the three of them stood back to observe their work.

Eve grinned at them as looks of pride crossed their faces. These three people were just too adorable for their own good. She would never say it out loud but she had grown to love these people for each of their individual quirks. The ease with which they worked together, even while bickering, never ceased to amaze her. While they'd been working she'd tracked down the owner and pulled out a selection of games for them to choose from. Even though, they were stuck here she had to admit she was partially glad for it. They needed an opportunity to be together. Sometimes she felt like they never took advantage of that. For a while now her three new Librarians had been off working on cases alone. Every now and then they would pair off or all three work on something together, but for the most part they all worked alone. They'd come back to Library to finish wrap up or bring back an artifact or research their next case, but once inside the Library they rarely talked. It wasn't intentional, she knew. It was a side effect of the work they did. She'd missed having to reign them in and she'd missed working with them without Flynn. She enjoyed working with Flynn but it had been her and the L.I.T.s for so long that it was almost instinctual to want to follow them on their cases or to want to make sure they were taking care of themselves. They all had things they let fall to the wayside when they were working.

So, this snow day, though slightly inconvenient, was a blessing in disguise. It was a chance for these people to reconnect and realize something Eve had known since the Loom.

They were a family now. A strange little found family that faced high stakes every day and relied on each other for the strength to continue.

"Alright," Eve said finally as they turned around to face her. "What are we playing first? I've got Sorry, Trouble, Uno, and Monopoly."

Cassandra gasped and bounced excitedly. "Oh! Monopoly! I've never played Monopoly! I hear people talk about it all the time!"

Jake gave her a strange look. "Monopoly involves math and critical thinking. Why wouldn't you parents let you play it?"

She shrugged before she answered. "They said it would take too long."

"They weren't wrong," Ezekiel said with a huff.

"Yeah," Jake said with a nod before he grinned at Cassie. "But it's not as if we're going anywhere any time soon, are we?"

"Are you serious?" Ezekiel asked with a whine. "We're really going to play Monopoly?"

"Yes," Eve said decisively. "We are." She paused and the smiled, more to herself than to them, before she spoke again. This was a sentence she hadn't said in decades. "Into the pillow fort!"

Cassandra clapped excitedly and was the first one in. Jake and Ezekiel exchanged amused glances before Ezekiel motioned for Jake to go first.

"After you, mate. Trust me, I don't want to get in the middle of," he stopped and then motioned to Jake and then where Cassandra had disappeared into the fort. "That."

Jake rolled his eyes but muttered his thanks and followed Cassandra into the fort.

Ezekiel gave Baird a mischievously look and chuckled. "Hey, he didn't deny it this time. Progress."

Baired rolled her eyes at the thief and shoved him toward the fort. "Just go, and leave them alone, Jones."

"No way," he said with a smirk. "I think we all know I'm the younger brother in this little family and pestering is what younger brothers do best. Right?"

She feigned a frustrated sigh. "Get in the fort, kid."

"Sure thing, Mama Bear," Ezekiel said with a wink as he finally crawled into the fort.

Eve chuckled and smiled affectionately after him. A few months ago she would have hated being called that. But now…

Now she didn't mind so much. She had people she cared about and a life she loved. She'd protect that with all she had in her, no questions asked.