DG loved winter. She loved the way her hot breath would turn to white fog as it met the cold air. She loved the way she could bundle up in long-sleeved shirts and sweaters and jackets, with scarves and hats and gloves. She loved the way her boots crunched over crisp new snow. She loved warm blankets and cozy fires and big cups of steaming tea. She loved curling up on the couch with her sketchpad in sweats and slippers when the blizzards raged outside.
Ironically, DG hated the being cold. She hated the way it seeped in through her socks and gloves to numb her feet and hands. She hated the way it made her body shiver and her teeth chatter. Being cold made her irritable and grumpy and sometimes more than a little whiney. Which led to her current predicament.
The storm was one of those freak winter storms that arrived too early, out of season, surprising everyone in the Outer Zone. And of course, it was just DG's luck that she happened to be out in the county side, miles from anywhere, when the storm hit. And of course, all she was wearing were her jeans and baby blue t-shirt. And, of course, to top off this fun excursion into misery, she was with Wyatt Cain.
The wind picked up, whipping Cain's trench coat around his knees and legs. He walked a few steps in front of DG, seemingly oblivious to the stinging cold. A stinging cold that DG felt pricking at her skin and gnawing at her bones. She wrapped thin arms around her frame as she walked directly behind the Tin Man, hoping to use him as a windbreak. Her plan worked, his body momentarily blocking the harsh wind from slamming against her smaller physique until he changed directions, forcing her to turn. The wind slammed against her exposed arm and shoulder, causing goose bumps to run up and down the skin. She shivered and rubbed her arms with opposite hands, but it did little to warm her.
"Do you even know where you're going?" she called to her companion, "Because I don't think this is the way back home."
His reply was lost on the wind.
"What?" DG asked, leaning forward to better hear. Cain turned his head, catching his hat in one hand before it flew off as he replied, "I said there's a cave not too far from here where we can shelter in while this thing blows over."
DG hurried to stand in front of Cain, stopping him from taking another step forward. She couldn't control the shiver that ran from her spine to her toes, the wind's cold more pronounced now that she was standing still. She continued to rub at her arms as she stared up into cerulean eyes.
"No, no. We should go back. To the castle. That has a fireplace. This is just a little wind. I think we can walk back to the castle through a little wind."
He smirked, the corner of his mouth turning up ever so slightly, as he stared back at her. "Trust me, Princess. This is going to get a lot worst than a little wind." His eyes darted from hers to the darkening clouds above them. "We'd better keep moving."
He stepped around her, ignoring the plea in her eyes and the groan that escaped from between chattering teeth. DG glanced over her shoulder to watch him walk away for a moment. She returned her eyes to the path in front of her, following the trail back the way they came to the castle, although the large structure no longer visible through the foliage. She glanced back to Cain. His back was to her as he moved farther away.
"Well, I'm just going to start back then," she called after him. She shrugged when he didn't reply and took a few steps forward, back they way they'd come. She was three steps down the path when the temperature suddenly seemed to drop ten degrees and the first snowflakes whipped across her face before they fell to the ground. DG slumped her shoulders, defeated, as she stared up at the gray clouds as they sprinkled their frozen wonder to the ground.
"You'll freeze if you keep standing there." DG jumped and jerked her head around to peer over her left shoulder. She hadn't heard him walk up behind her, and was startled anew when she almost collided with him. Cain steadied her without a second of hesitation as he looked around at the falling snow.
"We need to hurry." DG nodded, and with one last look in the direction of the comfortable, and probably warm, castle, she followed Cain through the woods.
At first she followed him briskly through the trees, easily matching his long strides. And the walking actually warmed her, although not as must as that longed for fire would have. The snow continued to fall around them, dusting the ground with a fine powder. DG continued behind Cain, thrusting her almost numb hands under her forearms in a vain attempt to keep them warm. She shivered uncontrollably. She clenched her jaw shut to keep her teeth from rattling in her head.
The colder she got, the harder it was to put one foot in front of the other. Cain kept his pace, as if the driving wind and freezing snow had no effect on him at all. DG glared at his back as he walked in front of her. He must have felt her stare and glanced over his shoulder.
"You okay?"
"No, I'm cold," she snapped back more harshly than she intended. "We could have been back to the castle by now." Cain stopped and studied her for a moment, his eyes running down her trembling body and paler than usual skin, before continuing on.
"Not without freezing to death first," he replied. "It's a longer walk back than you think, Princess, and this storm isn't over yet. Come on, the cave's not that much farther. We can at least build a fire once we're out of this snow." The thought of a fire was enough to motivate DG to pick up her sneaker-clad feet a little quicker.
She could barely feel her hands when they finally arrived at said cave. Her arms and legs were numb from the blowing wind, and her feet where damp from where the snow had melted against the warmer material of her shoes. Cain led her to the back of the cavern where a few large logs were set up around a stone-lined fire pit. DG looked around before dropping to one of the logs and curling her legs to her chest in a failed attempt to stay warm.
"What the heck is this place?" she asked, her eyes straying over the fire pit and dead coals that rested in the center. She craned her neck around to watch as Cain went to one side and pulled a few branches from a pile of wood she had not noticed when they first entered the area.
"Old resistance hideout," he explained. He brought the branches to the fire pit and set them up in a teepee-like structure before dropping a small bundle below it. A matchbook appeared in his hand, disappearing again after he struck a match to life and placed the flame in the bundle. He returned to the stash of wood as the fire sprung to life.
"You could help," he called out as he picked out a few larger branches to throw on the fire.
"I'm too freezing to get up again," DG replied instead. Cain tossed a branch onto the growing flames and stacked the rest within easy reach when he returned to the logs and fire pit. DG rocked back and forth on the log, her legs to her chest, her frame quaking with cold. They sat on the opposite ends of the same log as the fire crackled around the dried wood, watching as the snow fell harder on to the ground at the mouth of the cave.
"Looks like we made it just in time," Cain commented absently as he tossed more wood into the fire pit. DG glanced at him before tentatively removing her hands from her legs and holding them before the warm flames. They tingled as they warmed, and soon ached as the blood flow returned. She bent and unbent her fingers a few times to work the kinks out before returned them to a resting position on her bent knees.
"There's not a blanket or anything in here, is there?" she asked as she stared into the dancing fire. She heard Cain sigh next to her and picked her head up to watch him. His back was resting against the log, his legs stretched to the side of the fire, his hat resting next to him in the dirt.
"Please, Cain. I'm really cold," she said, crinkling her nose up as she gave him the biggest puppy-dog eyes she could. She only felt a little guilty when her whining worked and he stood. The guilt just about doubled when he stripped off his coat and placed it over her shoulders before returning to his place on the ground next to the fire. He replaced his hat and tipped it down over his eyes.
DG could only stare at his prone figure as she pulled the coat tighter around her body, the lingering warmth of his body soaking into her skin. It warmed her and made her stomach do flips.
"Um, thanks," she replied. He shrugged in response, his blue and white striped shirt riding up his chest as he did.
"No problem. You should sleep, Princess. Storm should blow over by morning and we can head back to the castle."
DG just nodded as she pushed her arms through the sleeves of his coat. She slid down the log to mirror his position: her head resting against the log, her feet to the side of the fire, her arms crossed over her chest. It quickly became uncomfortable and she shifted so that she lay on her side, facing Cain. He hadn't moved. She watched as his chest rose and fell with each breath, the tingly feeling returning to her stomach. She tried to brush it off as an effect of the cold with little success.
"Cain?"
"What?" he replied gruffly. DG pushed herself up on to her elbow and stared down at him until he shifted his hand to move his hat up an inch or two.
"What?" he repeated, looking her in the eye.
"Aren't you cold without your jacket?" she asked. He pulled his hat back down over his eyes.
"Go to sleep, Princess," he replied, not answering her question. DG watched him for a second more before lowering herself back to the ground. She shifted the trench coat more securely around her body before she closed her eyes and allowed herself to sleep.
It was the cold that woke her later, her body shivering as it leached through the jacket and her clothes from the freezing air and hard, cold ground. Reluctantly, DG opened her eyes to stare into the semi-dark. Briefly, she panicked when she took in the rock wall before her before she remembered the storm raging outside. With a sigh, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, hugging her knees to her chest as she looked around. The fire was still burning, although not as hotly as earlier, and sent a soft light into the cave.
She rubbed her shins through her jeans as her eyes traveled over the cave. Cain was on the other side of her, lying in the same position she had last seen him in. She watched him for a moment.
"Aren't you freezing?" she whispered, not really expecting an answer. "It's so cold in here." She heaved a great sigh when he didn't move. Her eyes scanned for the woodpile she knew Cain set nearby. She was temped to just leave it and go back to sleep, but the shiver that ran through her body suggested otherwise. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep again if she was cold. She spotted the pile on the other side of Cain.
Rubbing her hands together, DG slowly stood and carefully worked her way toward the wood. She glared down at the Tin Man as she grabbed a piece and used it to stir the coals around before settling the new fuel on top. After a few seconds, she added a second branch and than a third. When the fire was burning hot, she sat down on the log next to Cain's prone figure, holding her hands out for warmth.
"I'm never going to be warm again," she complained as she wrapped her arms around herself again. "Why a blizzard? Why couldn't it have been a tropical storm?"
"People are going to think you're crazy if you keep talking to yourself," her companion said suddenly, causing DG to start and turn her head. He hadn't moved from his position, and his hat still covered his eyes.
"What people?" she asked as she glared at him. "There's no one else here. How long have you been awake?"
"Long enough," was the cryptic response. There was silence for a long moment, and DG wondered if Cain had fallen back to sleep. She shifted, lowering herself to the ground with the intent of going back to sleep as well. She curled into a ball between the log and the fire, Cain not too far from her head. Despite the warming heat of the fire, she shivered.
"I'm still cold," she mumbled into the collar of the coat. She craned her neck around to look at Cain, who still appeared to be sleeping. She studied him, her eyebrows narrowing as she did. She couldn't tell if he was really sleeping or just pretending. His chest moved slowly up and down as he breathed steadily in and out.
DG would forever blame her next action on the fact the he looked so warm lying on the ground while she was freezing her ass off.
Slowly, DG pushed herself up and slide over to Cain. She curled up into his side, her head resting on his shoulder, her hand slipping over his chest, her top leg sliding over his thigh, her eyelids falling closed over the blue orbs. He was as warm as he looked and she cuddled closer against him, completely ignoring the way his body tensed next to hers.
"Hey, Princess," he started. DG just nestled herself even closer so that the front of her body was flush with his side. One of Cain's hands pushed against her, trying to move her away.
"Kiddo," he said, his voice harsher than before. DG balled the fabric of his shirt into her hand as she let out a content sigh.
"DG, what the hell are you doing?" he finally asked.
"Sharing body warmth," she mumbled into his shirt.
"Sharing body warmth," he repeated slowly, more a question than a statement.
"Yes," she replied. "The process where two people sleep in close proximity-"
"I understand the process," he snapped back.
"Good, than be quiet. I'm finally warm enough to sleep. And since you're going to force me on a death walk through this frozen hell in the morning, I want as much sleep as possible. Why did I let you talk me into this?"
"As I recall, Princess, it was the other way around," he muttered. Louder, he added, "You can sleep just fine on the other side of the fire. Heck, you can even sleep next to me if you want, but not like this. This, well, you being who you are and me being who I am, this just isn't…you just can't…this just isn't right."
"Okay," DG said, her eyes still closed, her cheek still resting against his shoulder, "Well, I'm Dorothy Gale and you're Wyatt Cain, and I didn't understand anything else that you just said."
"You know exactly what I mean, Princess-" there was a long pause. "Dorothy Gale?"
"Yes, Cain, that's what DG stands for. I thought you knew that."
"Of course I did. I just never really thought about it before, Princess Dor-" Her hand slapped lightly against his chest to stop him.
"Hey, only four people have ever called me 'Dorothy' in my entire life, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"Four?"
"My parents when they are super pissed at me, like when they caught me sneaking out my Junior year. My ex-boyfriend, right before he broke up with me. And Bobby Menson in the 8th grade. I punched him in the mouth."
"You what?' The tension that had slowly been easing out of Cain's body returned.
"He had it coming. I warned him when he said it the first time that if he did it again, I would punch him in the mouth. He said it again, so…"
"You punched him," Cain repeated. His body relaxed a little again. Slowly, his arm moved around DG's back and his hand rested on her shoulder. DG smiled against the fabric of his shirt as he continued, "Guess I won't be calling you 'Dorothy' any time soon."
"Good, 'cause don't think that I wouldn't hit you," she replied, her voice heavy with sleep. She sighed against him before breathing in deeply, inhaling the scent of gunpowder, dirt, and something that was uniquely Wyatt Cain. She honestly couldn't think of a better smell, or of a better way to be lured to sleep.
She was just between waking and sleeping when she felt Cain's chest rumble and heard muttered words. She allowed herself a grin when she caught the words "fine" and "special hell" before his second hand joined his first on her shoulder, cocooning her in his warmth. DG sighed in his embrace. When sleep finally claimed her again, she was warm and content.
Maybe the cold really wasn't that bad after all.
A/N: So, this story was inspired by the fact that while I love winter, I hate being cold. No, really. I love snow and skiing and snowboarding and fog and white breath and the whole nine yards. But the second I'm cold, I'm cranky and just want to go inside and sit by a fireplace and drink hot coco. Also, this story took on a mind of it's own. I had a plan…this isn't the result of that plan.
"special hell" is from a Firefly episode.
On a completely unrelated side-note, I watched X2 the other day and realized how much I really love Alan Cummings (Nightcrawler, Glitch/Ambrose). He's such a talented actor, and pretty cute to top it off.
Anywho…thanks for reading. Please leave a review.