She had always loved the snow. Even when she was a child, she had loved to sit and watch the flakes fall. Some of her earliest memories had been of twirling around outside, letting snowflakes drop onto her tongue. Sitting outside tonight, she shuddered slightly. The air was cold, but she didn't mind. Somehow nights like this made her life seem more bearable. Taking a deep breath, she leaned back against the bench.

Kelly had shown up at Rodi's hoping to find John there, but she'd had no luck. He was probably in his room, somewhere warmer, like most normal people on a night like tonight. Standing up and rubbing her arms for a short burst of warmth, she sighed and walked towards the car. As she touched the doorknob, her face fell. Locked? How could the door be locked? She quickly ran around to the other side, checking each door furiously. All locked. Peering inside the car, she spotted her keys, which were lying right beside her phone—on the passenger seat of her locked car.

"Great," she mumbled and made her way back to the bench. As the snow continued to fall, she looked around. "Surely someone will come by before long," she said, before turning up her collar and hunkering down.

Kelly glanced down at her watch. It had been nearly two hours. Her face ached with the cold wind and the snow had now turned her once warm coat into a damp, cold blanket against her skin. Her fingers and toes had long since lost their warmth and she was really beginning to worry. Looking around the area, she saw no one. Everyone had shut down early on account of the storm, and she was sure most people were home at this hour, warm in their beds with their families. As she hugged her arms around her waist, she realized that no longer prevented the shivering as it had moments ago.

She stood and took a few steps back and forth, attempting to build some form of heat, but she was so tired—far too tired to do anything more. As she sat back down, she laid her head back against the bench and closed her eyes. She'd just wait a few more minutes and then she'd try again.

Joey slowed to a near stop and used his glove to wipe the windshield in front of him. He felt like a fool driving in weather like this, but after everything that was going on with his sister, he felt he had to check on his mother. As he slowed to a stop at the sign, he looked around, amazed by the amount of snow that had accumulated in the last few hours. Squinting slightly, he saw something on a bench in the distance.

"Is that," he mumbled, pulling off onto the snow covered shoulder of the road. "Nobody would be that stupid," he said, as he struggled to keep his footing in the sludge. He approached the bench, still somewhat amazed by the fact that there was indeed a person there.

"Hey," he said, touching the shoulder, lightly, "Can I give you a ride somewhere?" Joey waited for a moment. He carefully pulled at the collar of the coat. "Kelly," he breathed.

One look at her told him all he needed to know about her condition. He glanced back towards the car. With the condition of the roads, getting to the hospital could take a lot of time—time she might now have. He touched his hand to her face which felt as cold as ice. "Alright, come on," he said, carefully lifting her. "We're just gonna go inside here."

As he carried her towards Rodis, he continued to talk to her, desperate for some sign that she was still with him. Taking off his scarf, he wrapped it around his hand, then grimacing; he shoved his hand through the glass door, reaching through the shards to turn the handle. Lifting her again, he carried her inside.

The warmth of the room surrounded him, and he had her on the floor next to the nearest vent in seconds. He carefully removed her coat, and laid it on the counter, shaking his head at the absurdity of the situation. Her clothes were soaked through. Without a moment's hesitation, Joey started to unbutton his own shirt before removing Kelly's.

As he carefully wrapped his shirt around her, she stirred slightly. "Hey," he said softly, "Kelly. I need you to talk to me sweetie." He continued to remove the wet clothes as he shook the glass shards from his scarf and wrapped it around her neck. Pulling her close to him, he sighed, "Come on, Kel, talk to me…" He sighed as he pressed his lips to her forehead. "Please God," he said, glancing upwards.

The sound of Kelly's soft sigh made Joey open his eyes, "You came," she whispered, her voice slurred, her eyes still closed.

Joey straightened and shook her slightly, "Yeah, Kel. I'm here. I'm right here. It's Joey. I'm gonna help you. You're gonna be ok."

"You're here now," she whispered, a small smile creeping on her lips. "Sleepy," she said, her head bobbing again.

"No…..you can't sleep right now," Joey said the desperation evident in his voice. "I need you talk to me ok beautiful. Can you show me your eyes? I need to see those pretty eyes right now."

Kelly struggled and barely managed to open her eyelids.

"There you go," Joey said with a smile. "There they are. Just keep looking at me, ok?"

"I love you, Joey," she said, her voice still weak and choppy. "You love me?"

Joey held her close to him. His mind was reeling. As he lay here, holding her, he couldn't pretend not to care, not feel something. He remembered—more than he ever realized what it was like to hold her, to kiss her, to be with her. "I'm here," he whispered, kissing her again.

"No..No..No," Kelly stammered, still incoherent, "you love me, right? You love me, Joey?"

Joey smiled and blinked back tears. "You know I do," he whispered. "We're Kelly and Joey, remember."

Her small smile was reward enough. He continued to hold her tightly as he prayed for someone—anyone to come.

The sound of the wind whipping through the door woke him. He stirred and looked at Kelly, who was curled up next to him. As he carefully touched her face, he smiled. She was warmer and she looked healthy. He moved to stand and watched as he eyes opened to half mast.

"Ummm…" Kelly rolled her eyes around to reorient herself with her surroundings. Glancing over at Joey who lay there bare-chested, she clutched the shirt she wore, "What?" she said, alarmed and sitting up quickly.

"This isn't what it looks like," Joey said with a smile.

Kelly brought her hand to her head. It throbbed and ached as if she'd drank enough to smash an entire army. "What happened here?" There was broken glass and clothes everywhere. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"You don't remember any of it?" he asked.

"I remember the bench. I was sitting on the bench watching the snow." She paused for a minute…trying to clear her thoughts. "And the car…I locked my keys in my car and I couldn't get it opened."

Joey nodded. "I found you out there—who knows how long you'd been sitting there. You were passed out, totally out of it- Close to freezing to death." He looked at her face, realizing perhaps for the first time how very close he'd been to losing her. Carefully, he reached out and touched her face.

"You…You found me?" she asked more than stated.

"I did. I brought you in here. The door was locked, so I had to use other methods," he smiled.

"I see that," Kelly responded, using her shoe to brush away some of the larger shards of glass.

"You said, I was out of it…I didn't say anything stupid, did I?" she asked, looking at Joey.

As he sat there, he looked into her eyes, the same eyes he'd looked into the night before. The eyes he would give anything to look into for the rest of his life—"No," he said, turning away from her, and swallowing hard, "Nothing exciting."

"Good," she laughed, "Nothing worth repeating anyway, right?"

Joey grimaced, "Right".

The End