A week later she still wasn't used to the cold, still swore every morning when she had to get up and the temperature was somewhere around minus twenty-two. The wind was even worse. Every inch of her skin that wasn't hidden or covered with clothes, scarf or anything thick – and in the best case woolen – felt like somebody stuck needles in her skin. Fine thin needles, again and again, spreading the pain all over her face. Her eyes started to burn, the tears she cried because of the cold became ice on her face (or felt like it at least), her nose was constantly running, her lips were more blue than red and the skin was dry and the temperature less than half of it was supposed to be.

Her new home, a little apartment made of wood was amazingly warm. The heater made her feel comfortable, the electric blanket heated up her bed every evening before she slipped in, the candles she preferred over the electric light when she talked to Greg on the internet or lay on her bed and watched the sky before she closed the curtains. Astonishing. Deep dark blue sky, bright and shiny stars, so far away and at the same time so clear like they were just above the hut. It wasn't classy, it wasn't fancy, it wasn't modern, the whole place couldn't be more different to Las Vegas and that was exactly the reason why she loved it.

Despite the cold, the feeling of nothing having toes anymore, the skin – especially on her hands – covered in tiny wounds, making them hurt, sometimes there was even some blood and the fact when she opened her window too long to get some fresh air inside and having her coffee ice cold or frozen when she didn't pay attention, she loved this place.

One week and she knew everybody by their name. All in all there were only fifty people living here, thirty of them were her colleagues, the rest were their family, the shop owner who also run the only take away, the hair dresser who was the florist too, the butcher (not that Sara needed him) who was also in charge of keeping the whole place clean, a vet, a GP, a teacher, six house wives and five kids. So, not many people.

On the other hand were the animals. Over one hundred Huskies, a few chicken and a rooster in a barn, half a dozen cows and pigs, twenty sheep, a dozen Iceland horses, a few cats (most times inside because there was no reason for them to get out) and one tropical aquarium. A place with more animals than human was exactly what she was after. Plus she hadn't met anybody who wasn't friendly and helpful.

On her first night in her new hut people came along to welcome her, all brought little gifts that were very useful. One woman, knowing Sara would come, hat knitted her a scarf that was two yards long and half a yard wide. Wearing this scarf Sara could hide her whole head and feel warm. Somebody else made her a kidney belt of angora wool, so far Sara's favorite piece of clothes. It kept her amazingly warm and she wished she could dress her body in angora, leaving only a little slot for her eyes, covered them up with one of the skiing glasses.

And her first lesson driving a dog's sled. She had failed to get the dogs to wherever she wanted to go. They took her everywhere. After the second or third try she got better was certain pretty soon she was able to drive the sled just as good as a car.

"Yo Vegas!"

Sara ignored the voice coming from four tables away. Ryan, a twenty – two years young man from Minneapolis preferred to call her Vegas than by her name. After she told him two or three times patiently this wasn't her name, she made the decision to ignore him when he didn't call her Sara.

"Vegas!"
"Why don't you try it with her real name, Sucker?" Anna answered for Sara. She was in her late forties and most of the time annoyed by the young man, who seemed to have a nickname for everybody.

"Can't remember I called you, Brainy."

"At least I've got a brain." Like Sara, Anna had been to Harvard and Berkley, became a doctor and worked since four years here.

"I've got two hot lips that might kiss some life into Vegas."

"You come close to her and she'll castrate you." Anna laughed. Her husband, Barnie, worked for them as well. He was one of the men who spend most of the day outside, checking on animals.

"She would never take herself the chance away to spend an unforgettable night with me."

"Castrating you can be an unforgettable night – and a release for all women around. Why don't you put in your application for San Diego, plenty of women down there and you might get lucky."

"I like challenges. Sara?"

"Yes." She turned, trying not to grin or look to satisfied he called her by her real name finally.

"Can you call Evi? She should be back with the newest results."

"Sure…how am I supposed to do that?"

He pushed his chair next to hers. "Go into Skype, add a new contact: Evangeline007UK." His fingers flew over her keyboard. "I sent her a message you're the new woman of the team so she knows who you are. Give her a call, her computer is on the whole day. She'll answer when she's around. Tell her White Paw is fine."

"White Paw?"

"Two weeks ago we got a polar bear in who got shot by a hunter. Fortunately Evi was around, she could stop the guy from killing White Paw, seduced him, called in the vet, we took the bear in and released it today. Good as new and the asshole who shot it will face court. It's a pity that we just can't shoot him and leave him out in the ice. If he's lucky too somebody might help him otherwise he'll die the animals have a problem less."

"You're not supposed to be that fundamental." Sara teased him, knowing she shared parts of his view. Maybe not the shooting and leaving the man out to die but she agreed on the consequences weren't hard enough.

"Ryan, you need a shave." The voice of a woman came out of the speaker. Automatically Sara searched for a picture and couldn't find one. Why did the voice know Ryan needed a shave? He was way past a five o'clock shade.

"Evi, I shave as soon as you ask me out for a date."

"You'll join ZZTop in this case. Who's the one next to you?"

"Our new member of the team. Vegas."

"And for real?"

"Sara. Get your cam started, we wanna see you as well."

"Not today, I use it to record the area in front of my hut. If I wasn't mistaken there were some traces of polar bears this morning. First time ever they came this close. It's more important to see if they're really around than how I look."

"She's gorgeous." Ryan explained to Sara with having her asked. "Imagine an angel with short black hair, dark brown eyes and a smile that makes the ice melt. The only downside is this annoying poshy British accent. When will you lose that, Babe?"

"When you grow up and act like an adult. Pleasure to talk to you Sara."

"Likewise. Even if Ryan does the talking after he told me to call you."

"Because you need the information. A bunch of numbers and strange names, I'm too stupid to understand them." He grinned and vanished with his chair back to his desk.

"Sure." Sara knew Ryan was a smart man and could get the results himself. She was supposed to do it today because she had to learn it. From calling the British woman to entering the results in the right system.

"Evangeline, I'm supposed to tell you White Paw is fine and free again while the asshole who shot him will face court."

"It's Evi and I'm pleased to hear the innocent one is free and healthy while the arsehole has to pay. Shall we start?"

"Yes." Time to do something new.

The air felt colder and colder, stuck its little needles in her face before a hot rush made them disappear. Something was wrong, something wasn't like it was supposed to be. Sara wasn't aware of the mistake only that she made a mistake. A big one. Hit the wrong jackpot. Slowly she realized how the world stopped shaking and she started to feel light. Like she was a feather. Then everything that looked straight and normal to her changed into a strange angle. The two huts on her right looked wrong, like in a comic. Her view changed. From looking over the backs and heads of eight Huskies to her brown sled, legs and bellies of the Huskies into white, just white and…then the world became black because she crushed into the hard snow, face first and stopped on her chin. So much for she was able to drive a sled. A little bit of uneven surface and she was down.

Feeling the pain of the fall, cursing herself for being this stupid and waiting for the pain to set in, telling her she hadn't broken anything important, she stayed on the ground, her head buried in the snow.

"Sara!"

Her ears had to be all right, she could hear. Who called out for her wasn't clear, it was a male voice, everything else was a secret. Jeez, the snow started to be really cold on her face, maybe she should try to get up or at least turn and face the gray white sky instead of the ice cold white snow.

"Sara!" Hands grabbed and turned her. Two very worried gray eyes appeared. "Sara, are you all right?"

"I think I broke my ego." She managed to say with a little smile.

Immediately the worried face of Ryan changed into relief and a little smile. "Better the ego than anything else." He kept her in his arms, carefully stroke some snow out of her face. "Are you in pain?"

"I'm not sure."

"Okay, I get you back home." Like she weighted nothing he lifted her up, carried her to the sled a few yards away, kicked it upright with one leg and placed Sara onto it.

"I'm not…"

"You stay there, I give you a ride home. One fall on head per day is enough." He placed the woolen blanket over her and gave the dogs the sign to run. Fast and smooth the sled glided over the rough surface.

So much for her trip with the sledge. She didn't make it around the little village, she lost control half way. How was she supposed to work outside, go to other places, when she couldn't get her dogs and herself around the village? Snuggling deeper into the blanket to escape the cold wind she closed her eyes. She didn't have any problems with her work in the lab, the change of the climate, tracing the DNA of animals to see from where they come and who is related to whom, no problem. Figuring out how much ice melted every year, an easy and scary job but when it came to the dog sled…she was fine on the snowy streets, absolute no problem there. When she left the streets and had to get into the area nobody had been before – or at least nobody left an even surface – she was a hopeless case.

"Home sweet home." Ryan stopped the sled in front of her hut. Not letting her get up herself he lifted her up and carried her to the door.

"I can walk."

"Probably. But I won't let you walk. You're lucky I don't take you straight to the doctor, which I will if you have a headache or feel sick. For now I will carry you inside, you will lay down while I take care of the dogs and when you don't feel better in half an hour we call the doctor."

"I don't need a babysitter."

"Who said you have one? Keys."

"This is my hut."

"That's why I tell you to open the door with the keys, otherwise I might kick the door in."

Cursing quietly she got the keys out of her pocket and opened the door; while she was still in Ryan's arms.

When the door opened he grinned. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. Kissing the bride would get me into agony so I'll carry you into the room without a kiss and give my love and affection to the dogs."

"Wise decision."

"I'm a smart man." He put her on her bed. "Do us both a favor and stay in bed, please."

"Don't you think I can take care of myself."

"Of course you can. Do you think it's wrong to have some help sometimes?"

"No." She sighed.

"See. I'll be back soon. You're allowed to undress." He grinned widely. "I like that part."

"Get lost!"

"Be right back."

When he closed the door behind himself she sighed and kicked off her boots. In some ways Ryan reminded her of Greg, the reason why she let him carry her and allowed him to come back into her hut. What she had to get into his head was, that he better stopped the flirting or he got himself into trouble.

Slowly she sat up, realized the world spun a bit and closed her eyes. Right. She fell on her head, the worst possibility was a concussion, the best case was just a headache. When she started to feel sick it was the worse case and she had to call the doctor. Carefully she took off her coat, the scarf and gloves. Deciding it was warm in her hut she put off her pants and pullover, wearing only her thermo pants and a long sleeve. Time for a coffee. She started the coffee machine and smiled when she looked at the bag of coffee beans. A present from Greg. He said when his coffee was with her, it couldn't take much time before he was here too. Only to visit her because Alaska was way too cold for him. Hopefully he wanted to see his coffee soon – and her.

"How do you feel?" Ryan was back, took off his boats, coat, gloves and scarf. He took the dogs to a shed where all of the dogs stayed. It was reasonably warm in there, they were safe in case a polar bear might fancied a trip to the little village and everybody had to key to get a sled and the dogs when needed. Sara referred to it one day as a huge garage for natural vehicles.

"I've a little headache."

"Mhm." He stepped closer to her, checked on her eyes. "Why don't you sit down and I take care of the coffee?"

"Thanks. There are some cookies in the cupboard. Left hand side. The cups are on the right."

"Sounds perfect."

Sara lay down on her bed. In her little hut wasn't a couch, only a bed, a table with two chairs and was all when it came to place to sit down. She didn't feel like sitting on a chair, like she never felt watching the news from the chairs. She either was in bed or walking around, preparing something to eat. Not that she had become a housewife and cooked special meals for herself but she cooked small things.

"Do you have some milk and sugar?"

"Of course. Left down."

"Thanks." He prepared their coffees, put some cookies on a plate and carried it to her bed. For himself he got a chair. "You have a scratch there." He got with his finger over his forehead. "Not deep, it's not bleeding."

"Guess I landed on my head."

"You did. Any other wounds?"

"No, not that I've noticed them so far. And no, I don't want you to check."

"What a pity." She smiled softly. "Anything else I can do for you?"

"Stop calling me Vegas and stop flirting. I'm not interested, Ryan."

"That's a lot to ask and a shame."

"I'm almost twice your age."

"Nobody would care if it was the other way around."

"Just stop it. Please."

"Okay. For now. Can't promise I'll never flirt with you again. I like it too much."

"I don't like it."

"Because it's me?"

"No." She sighed.

"Sorry, not my business."

"When I left Vegas and went to South America, I was engaged. Somehow I hoped he'd come with me, that I was more important than his job. Wrong thoughts. He stayed, I broke the engagement off, stayed another half a year, went to Peru before I came here. We had been together for over two years, he was the reason why I came to Vegas, I waited for him for six years…maybe we would be still together if I hadn't left…we'll never know about that…but I couldn't stay there anymore…it wasn't good for me…and I've no idea why I tell you all these things."

Ryan smiled and took her hand. "When was the last time you talked to somebody about yourself? About personal things? Eye to eye and not only on the phone to your mother."

She never talked on the phone to her mother. If she saw her mother in…in the place she stayed in, they talked about anything but Sara's relationship.

"It's been a while." Since the day she got suspended and Grissom came over to have a look for her. A long while. Why did she never talk to Greg about it? Probably mostly because her relationship to Grissom was a secret.

"If you feel like talking to somebody you're always free to come around. I might seem to be a guy who makes a lot of jokes and doesn't take anybody or anything serious but I might surprise you by being exactly who you need. Plus I do have a couple of beers in my hut."

Sara chuckled. "Beer sounds good."

"Just to warn you, I flirt when I had a few beer."

"You flirt all the time."

"Most times. And only with people I like."

"In that case you must like a lot of people."

"I like my colleagues." He sipped on his coffee. "Are you happy here?"

"Most times." She paused, realizing she was back to very short answers when it came to personal questions. Without any reason. So she continued: "I don't really cope with the cold, it's very new for me and I think I'm more a person for warm areas. Experiencing these extreme cold weather is new, it's fascinating and scary at the same time. Besides work there isn't much to do, well, I'm busy with the dogs and the sled. A real challenge. How long did it take you to handle them?"

"A few weeks. You're not too bad."

"The head wound and the fact you carried me into my hut tell me different."

"Nah, you fell, we all fell at one point and the carrying…I had to show off a bit. Show you why I work out and that I have built up some muscles. I used you to make myself look strong, like Superman. Sorry for that."

"I forgive you. This time." She laughed. "Since when are you here?"

"Four years. I went here straight from college. I always knew I want to do something with animals, something that might make a difference one day. My parents think I wasted my talent, apparently I was a bright kid and teenager and could have make more out of my life than being here. I think I made exactly out of my life what I wanted.

This won't be the place where I'll stay until I die, there are a lot of other places I want to go. I want to be on a Greenpeace boat one day. Do something against the senseless killing of whales, make people aware of the fact fish in the ocean is limited and if you don't treat the ocean and the sea right they won't get you any fish anymore. There's a limit and we're about to get way past this limit." He stopped. "Do you think I'm fanatic?"

"I think you've got goals and we're willing to fight for them. Good goals that will make this planet a better planet."

"That's not a no."

"You're all right, Ryan." She took his hand. "In fact, you remind me a lot of my best friend in Las Vegas. Greg. I miss him."

"Did he flirt with you as well?"

"Yes." Sara laughed. "He even asked a colleague if she believed I'd go out with him."

"What did she say?"

"Only if he doesn't tell me it's a date. And yes, I went out with him a couple of times, as friends. Without him a lot of things would have been more complicated, a lot of joy had been missing."

"Sounds like you miss him a lot. But he wasn't the one you were engaged with?"

"No. Like I said, we were friends. He promised to come here and visit me soon."

"Here? Where's he supposed to sleep? As far as I know we don't have guest rooms around. The closest ones should be like half an hour by car – if the road is free which is unlikely this time of the year."

"There's a reason why I've got a king size bed."

"Lucky man….sorry, I wasn't supposed to flirt anymore."

"He knows how to behave, I don't have to worry. By then I want to be able to drive a dog sled without ending up with the head first in ice and snow."

"The dogs are patient."

"Lucky me."

"If you want I can give you another lesson tomorrow – if your head is all right."

"That would be great, thanks. I feel better…which could be the coffee or the fact I lie down. By tomorrow my head should be as good as new."

"I like the old one, keep it."

"All right."

"Tell you what: why don't you have a little sleep while I make some dinner and come over later? We can have dinner together, talk a little bit more and if your head is fine, I bring a beer with me."

"Are we on a date?" She cocked her head a bit.

"No, we are on a dinner appointment, like you have them with colleagues and friends sometimes."

"Deal. What time are you back?"

"Two hours?"

"Okay. That should be more than enough for a little sleep."

He rose. "See you later, my flying Las Vegas friend." Sending her a wide smile he went to put on his coat, glove, scarf and boat before he left her.