"Jack?" She'd dreaded his reaction when she turned around, but fortunately he looked more relieved than angry. "Are you all right?"

"I believe so." He flinched a little as he wiggled out of his seat, but he didn't seem to be in actual pain. Good. "You?"

"Oh, I'm fine." Climbing out of the plane, she glared up at the cloudy sky. "For a given value of 'fine'."

Jack actually smiled at that, but his face quickly turned serious again. "So, what do we do now? Wait until the storm has passed and then fly back?"

"I'm afraid it's a teensy bit more complicated." Phryne turned up the collar of her coat against the rain. "Let me show you."

When Jack saw what was left of the propeller, he turned pale. "Dear God, Phryne. We could have-"

"It looks worse than it is." Phryne sighed. "Those old wooden props are quite fragile. I should have brought a spare. But I hadn't really planned for an emergency landing."

"Really?" Jack raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "And here I was thinking that you had prepared a special surprise for me."

"Jack, please." She directed her glare at him. "Let's stay focussed. We need to find a telegraph station."

"Out here?" Jack shook his head. "Forgive me if I'm not overly optimistic."

Phryne bit back an irritated response. He did have a reason to be mad at her, much as she hated to admit it. "You may be surprised to hear it, but almost every village has a telegraph out here, for good reasons. As soon as we find the next little town, we ought to be all set."

Jack nodded reluctantly. "I'll take your word for it. Of course, that still leaves us with the problem of finding the next little town."

"It does," Phryne admitted. Much as she appreciated Jack's astuteness, there were moments when she wished he wasn't quite as quick to find the weak spots in her theories. "Let me see… We ought to follow the river. People usually settle near waterways. Come on. We'll be fine." And she set off toward the shore at what she hoped was a confident pace.

There was a sort of path along the river, a dog team trail maybe, though it was hard to tell at this time of the year. It wasn't much, but in the absence of a better choice, they kept walking quietly, focussing all their energy on the march. After a while the rain let up a little, and Phryne breathed a sigh of relief.

She was about to turn a corner, when she heard a cracking noise ahead and froze in her tracks.

"What is it?" Jack was close behind her, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek as he whispered in her ear.

"No idea?" Phryne realized she was trembling a little. Probably a delayed reaction to the emergency landing. "A moose maybe?"

"Or a bear." Jack swallowed. "The hotel owner mentioned bears. And wolves." His hand tightened on her shoulder. "Phryne, I-"

"Shhh." She leaned back against him, grateful for his solid warmth as they waited with bated breath. "I think it's gone."

"Good." Jack's grip loosened, turning into a brief caress. "I guess I'm not really cut out for adventures in the wilderness."

Phryne didn't reply, but secretly she agreed. She didn't fancy meeting more of the local fauna either. The mosquitoes were quite enough of a pain. Carefully, they moved on. It was already getting dark by the time they spotted a thin column of smoke above the trees.

"There! Jack!" Phryne didn't quite succeed in hiding her relief. "A town. I knew it."

Two hours later, they had made themselves as comfortable as possible in a tiny log cabin, whose owner made some extra money by renting it out to the rare passing travellers. The good people of Two Rivers had greeted them with a fair amount of curiosity, but they had been friendly and helpful. When Phryne had introduced herself as "Miss Fisher, lady detective", there had been a collective murmur of amusement, but she had quickly managed to assert her authority. She had telegraphed Lily, but by the time they'd got it all sorted out, it had already been too dark to mount a rescue mission.

And now here they were. It was almost cozy, in a way, with a log fire burning in the fireplace and the wind howling outside.

"Jack." Phryne appeared in the doorway leading to the bedroom. "Are you still mad at me?"

She looked pale and tired with her make-up washed off, and she had traded her soaked clothes for an old, over-sized man's flannel shirt. She looked much younger like this, and more vulnerable, and his remaining anger didn't stand a chance.

Walking over to her, he pulled her into his arms. "No. Provided…" He raised an admonishing finger. "Provided you stick to the plan next time. No more bears and wolves. And no more surprise landings."

"I'll do my best." Leaning her head against his chest, she hummed happily. "Though, really, I don't mind being here with you. It's much nicer than our hotel room. And it won't be for long. Lily will be here with the replacement prop tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" He placed a tender kiss on her hair. "If the storm doesn't let up, we may be stuck here for days." Knowing Phryne, she would get bored soon enough.

"Aw, come on, Jack." He couldn't see her face, but her smile was audible. "At least it's not winter. You should hear the tales they tell about the early bush pilots. They were fearless and fierce, and they could land anywhere. And if they were forced down in winter, they sometimes had to wait weeks until a dog team arrived with any spare parts they needed. Imagine being stuck here forever." She sighed, shivering all over. "You know, I have rather fond memories of the last time we were snowed in. Remember, Jack? So romantic."

Of course he remembered. He wasn't likely to forget Phryne's Christmas in July trip and all that had ensued.

"I don't know, Miss Fisher." He ran his hand teasingly down her back. "If I recall correctly, we ended up with five or six dead bodies last time. Not my idea of a romantic interlude."

"Well, no one here has died yet." Phryne tilted her head back for a kiss. "Apart from our furry friend over there."

There was a big bearskin rug on the floor near the fireplace – something Jack hadn't been sure existed outside of American movies. It did look real enough, though, and actually rather inviting.

Phryne must have thought along the same lines. Freeing herself from his embrace, she took several steps backward until she sank down gracefully on the rug and started to unbutton her shirt. "See? Romantic."

Jack swallowed hard. "That's not the first word that comes to my mind."

Phryne just smiled, baring yet another inch of smooth white skin to his eyes. "You know, you really should take off those damp clothes. You might catch a cold."

"As you wish, Miss Fisher." Shrugging off his shirt, he hurried to comply, enjoying the way her gaze lingered on his bare chest. "You didn't happen to bring your… device?" It was probably too much to hope, he knew, and of course there were other things they could do, but-

"Well, as a matter of fact I inserted it before leaving." Phryne was fiddling with the last button now. "I was anticipating some kind of celebration after the event, you see. And now my foresight is about to pay off, I believe."

All the hugs and thanks to my wonderful beta suilven.