A/N: This story was going to be a one shot but I got to the end of the other chapter and thought no, I am going to make this a multi chaptered or at least a two chaptered one.

The day was coming to a close and the rescuers were exhausted, they had been searching for survivors of the avalanche that had torn down the mountain and through the valley the previous day and all hope for finding any more survivors were quickly fading.

In the hotel down below, where the mountain rescue command post was to be found an indignant and tired Jeff Tracy was pacing, his beloved Lucy and baby son were still amongst the missing and he was not going to give up on finding them.

"Mr Tracy, please, there is nothing more that can be done tonight!"

A tired and exhausted rescue worker told him, he understood what the man was going through, maybe not entirely as he had not married and therefore never had to worry about losing his wife to a force of nature but he understood what it was like to lose a loved one.

"Don't tell me nothing can be done, my wife and child are somewhere out there waiting to be rescued and you want to give up."

Jeff stood over the smaller man and glared at him, as he tried to control the emotional pain and hopelessness that he felt, that time was running out and they would never find Lucy and Alan.

"Daddy, please!"

Jeff turned to find his eldest Scott, standing behind him, his young face looking as though it had aged a decade, in the twenty-four hours since the avalanche that had stolen his mother and baby brother away from them.

"Scott, go back to your brothers. They need you to look after them."

"They need you daddy...and so do I."

"SCOTT!"

Jeff grasped the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes shut for a second or two, he needed Scott to do as he was told and take care of his brothers, while he searched for his mother and brother.

The rescue worker stepped forward at the distraction from the young boy, taking a deep breath as he addressed the distraught man in front of him.

"Listen to your son, Mr Tracy, there is nothing more we can do at the moment. It is starting to get dark and soon it will be unsafe to be out there, I cannot risk my men. We will continue the search for your wife and son in the morning when it is light again."

XxX

Outside the wind was picking up and the rescue crews were getting ready to settle down for the night, none of them were happy to be giving up for the night, knowing that a woman and young child was still missing but they all knew that with the coming of the dark that there was nothing more they could do.

At the side of the building an old rescue dog was settling down to sleep, he had not been out with the other dogs when they had gone out to search for the missing, he was too old now, too arthritic, to be of any use to the missing but the rescue team kept him around.

He was like an old mascot to them, a guide in a way, to the younger dogs that now went out with the rescue teams and although he could no longer go out, he still longed to even though he knew, that he probably was more of a hindrance than a help nowadays.

His old eyes closed and he was about to sleep when he felt something touch him, his eyes flew open and he peered into the dusk of the closing day but he could see nothing but there was something out there, he was sure. Something was calling to him, he could not understand what it was but he knew he had to follow it, whatever it was.

XxX

Jake looked up from where he was settling the other dogs to see the old timer getting to his feet, his ears alert and moving forward at a hurried pace.

"Hey boy, where you going?"

He called after the old dog that was moving away from the hotel at quite a pace, for a dog of his age, in fact faster than he had seen him move in many a day.

He whistled at the dog but the dog ignored him and carried on with his movement away from the hotel, towards a patch of woodland a little ways away from the hotel.

'Daft dog.' He thought, 'I'd better go after him before he gets lost, if it isn't enough that we have missing folk the last thing we need is a missing dog.'

XxX

The feeling whatever it was, was getting stronger the further the dog moved away from the safety of the hotel, it was getting darker and colder but still the dog followed the feeling and it seemed, a sound though he could not quite make out what it was, it seemed like someone was calling him, but he could not hear any sound of calling, in the normal sense of the word but, he could not understand it but he knew he had to follow it, whatever it was.

He was a good distance from the hotel now, past the trees he had seen from his spot at the side of the building and still he followed whatever it was he was following, but he knew somehow that what he was following was going to end soon. His paws were beginning to feel cold but he carried on until something made him stop, he peered around him in the falling light, there was nothing there but he knew that this was where was meant to be.

All of a sudden he felt a strong urge to dig and he did, his front paws clawing at the hardened snow, shovelling the white stuff back as he dug with almost an unholy fury.

XxX

Jake was peering into the distance trying to see where the old fool dog was, he was half a mind to return to the hotel, the dog would return when he got cold enough. Blowing on his hands, trying to warm them he made to turn but something caught his eye and he turned towards it. Not far from where he was standing he spotted the old mascot, digging furiously in the snow.

'Silly old sod,' he thought, 'Probably found himself a raccoon or some at."

He dragged himself over to where the dog was still digging, reaching down to pull him back.

A/N: Sorry another chapter coming!