Authors Note: Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, follows etc.
I promise I do read each and every review. Please continue to let me know what you think of the story so far.
This chapter has not been beta read so I'm sorry if there are any glaring errors. If you spot anything major please do let me know so I can correct it, especially as I have an extremely bad habit of thinking one word and typing out another. This has already happened in the previous chapter and it was kindly pointed out to me, which allowed me to edit the mistake.
#
#
#
Chapter four: First Things First.
#
#
#
Alaska:
Once they'd located the strong boxes and scrambled to get on some waterproof and warm clothing, all three dug out some torches, and before long Maura was the first to make a move. "We need to get a shelter of some kind sorted out, Barry, Jane please can you help me with the rest of my luggage."
Jane blinked in surprise and said. "Maura, we can't possibly take all that, it's just too much."
"It's only until we find a suitable place to build a camp," Maura reassured her. "And I've got some items in there that might help us, but we don't have time to debate this, we need to get a shelter of some kind set up before we all end up with severe hypothermia."
"Okay, okay," and although the rain, and then the following heavy snow, had stopped for the time being, the wind was still strong and the temperature had plummeted, Jane was getting too cold to even think about arguing. That alone told her that Maura had a very valid point. So slinging her backpack over her shoulders, and placing her carry on and laptop bag on top of two of the large suitcases that Maura pointed towards, she took them in her hands and nearly collapsed under the weight. These definitely hadn't been the two cases that she'd carried out to the limousine. "Jesus Christ on a crutch Maura, what have you got in here, gold frigging bars!"
"No," Maura struggled with two more suitcases. "But considering where we were going, I thought it likely that they wouldn't have the same standard of laboratory or CSU equipment that I'm used to having at my disposal. So I packed a lot of equipment that I thought we might need, both for in the morgue and out in the field."
Barry Frost had wordlessly collected the last two suitcases, and luckily like Jane he was using a backpack which he'd swung over his shoulders to carry.
"Please tell me you packed a nice large warm tent," Jane grunted as she staggered over towards the tree line that seemed most sheltered from the wind.
"No," Maura puffed out large billowing breaths of vapor in the freezing night air as she struggled to keep up with her friends' longer stride. "However I did bring a couple of large tarpaulins which we can use as the basis for a shelter, plus there is some bedding that we can use once they are set up."
"Bedding?" Barry queried. "Why did you bring bedding?"
"I don't like using other people's bed linens because of Cimex lectularius." At Frost's blank look Maura sighed and added. "Bed bugs Barry."*
"Oh right," he said, nearly tripping headlong over a tree root. They were well into the tree line now, and Maura seemed to be scouring the landscape for something in particular, suddenly she stopped and said. "Ah ha, over there, that will do nicely," and without waiting for a reply she turned sharply to her left and made her way over to a very large pine tree that had lost quite a few of its lower branches on one side, but was still well covered on the other. To the front of the tree sat a small round clearing, but the trees that surrounded the clearing had a very dense needle cover and that helped block out the wind. Setting her cases down Maura looked around the tree and said. "It appears the branches that have the most pine needles on will help shelter us from the prevailing wind," she then looked at the cases Barry was carrying and added. "We need the suitcase in your right hand opened first please Barry."
Plonking the case down less gently than Maura had done with hers, Frost swung it around until the ME could get at the locks.
"What about mine?" Jane asked. "Are you going to need these any time soon?"
"No," came the reply, and although Maura had her back turned to Jane, the taller woman could almost see the concentration radiating from the Doctor. The locks opened and without needing to dig too deeply Maura pulled out a folding saw.
"What on earth were you going to use that on?" Jane asked incredulously, visions of limb amputations of years gone by going through her mind. "That's not exactly standard morgue equipment."
Maura turned towards the Detective. "No, you're right, it isn't, but I thought it might come in handy when we went to the cabin." Handing Jane the saw she added. "Can you please cut some straight branches off the surrounding trees, about six foot in length, and as wide as you can manage. We need enough to make a slightly raised platform to sleep on," she also handed Jane some thin rope. "Here, use this to tie the limbs together. If you find any dead wood that's off the ground, please note where it is because that will make the best firewood, seasoned but not too wet from being in contact with the soil."
Taken by surprise Jane wordlessly took the implement and rope, and then nodded before shaking her head in disbelief that Maura knew all that, finally the detective turned to the task allotted her. Behind her she heard Maura saying to Frost. "Barry, can you please help me with these tarpaulins, if we can set them up around this tree like a tepee we should be able to get some kind of fire lit inside."
"You got it Doc," he replied, and set about working out the best way of securing the tarpaulins to the pine.
In the darkness it took close to an hour, and by the time they were finished they were all tired, extremely cold, hungry and thirsty. Finally satisfied that they had rigged things up as best they could for now, Maura and Jane went to get some wood cut for a fire, and Frost went around collecting small branches that had thick pine cover on them. Those branches would be used as an insulator on the majority of the floor in their shelter, as well for a mattress on the bed area. Frost also hunted around for some stones that would be suitable to contain a fire pit on the ground not covered by insulation. By the time he had finished, his partner and the ME had carried over several armfuls of logs, which Maura was sure would last them the remainder of the night and into the morning. Reaching into her purse she pulled out some waterproof matches and tore off a small amount of cotton from a tank top that she got from a suitcase. Maura then used the cotton as kindling to get a blaze going in the central part of the shelter. It wasn't a terribly impressive fire because things were so damp, but it was a flame, which was warming and it also served to light up the immediate area and for that they were all grateful.
The smoke rose gracefully out of the small hole left in the top of the shelter for that purpose, and it allowed them to pull a flap of tarpaulin over the entrance to help conserve their heat even more. Sinking down onto the makeshift bed area they all took a moment to catch their breath.
"Jane, do you have your pocketknife?" Maura finally asked.
Hunting in a side pocket of her backpack Jane said. "Yeah, I do," as she produced the pocketknife for Maura to see.
Maura visibly brightened. "Oh good, we can make some tea." She exclaimed happily.
Jane looked at Maura, and then looked at her pocketknife, looked at Maura once more with narrowed eyes before saying very carefully. "Maur, it's a pocketknife not a teakettle."
"Oh I know that silly, what I meant was we could use one of the strong boxes your guns were in to melt and heat some snow, and if you carve some rudimentary cups out of timber with the pocketknife we could make some tea using pine needles. I saw it on a TV documentary once, it is very high in vitamin C and the warmth will do us all the world of good, plus we need to keep up our fluid intake."
"You're serious," Jane said doubtfully. "Pine needles!"
Barry Frost shrugged his shoulders and said. "Hey, we know the Doc watches all those weird and wonderful documentaries, if they're gonna help us get through this mess I wouldn't care if it was donkey dung that made good tea. I say we go for it. I'll take my box, scoop up some fresh snow and while I'm out there I'll get some clean pine needles from another tree. Plus I've got some chips we can have with the tea for our meal tonight."
"Alright," Jane reached over and picked up what she hoped would be a suitable piece of wood to whittle down while Barry let himself out of the shelter.
#
#
#
When Barry returned he could see that Maura had also put the time to good use. What looked like a plastic mattress cover lay on the pine mattress, helping to protect them from any wetness left over in the boughs. And on top of that lay several king sized sheets and a thick comforter of the same size. Two small travel pillows that needed to be blown up completed the area, and given the circumstances it looked very inviting. It would be a tight fit, but there was room for all three of them to lie down together. He hoped Maura would take the middle spot. Not only would it be too weird sleeping next to his partner like that, he was protective of the ME and he was sure Jane felt the same way. The middle position would guarantee a higher chance of a warmer, and so hopefully, a better night's rest, and because Maura seemed to have the most knowledge about what to do, it made sense to protect her.
Smiling at him Maura reached over and placed the strong box on the fire, making sure she could easily get to the side of it - with a cloth from the tank top she had used earlier - to lift it for pouring when the water was hot enough. Jane looked pleased with herself and sitting down in the dancing firelight Barry could make out a couple of cup like shapes by her feet. There was a final piece in Jane's hand and she was frowning slightly in concentration as she finished it off.
'Now all we need to do is sort out some food,' he thought. 'And we might actually have a chance of surviving this God dammed Fubar.'
Handing over some the branches of fresh pine to the ME, Maura smiled at him, and began stripping the needles off the branch, allowing them to fall and steep in the rapidly melting snow. Taking his cue from Maura, Barry began to do the same on the branch he held in his hands. For a long while the only sounds were of the three of them breathing, the soft scrap of Jane's knife along the wood, the crackle and spitting of the fire and the soft plopping noise of pine needles hitting the surface of the water. Used to traffic and people in the ambient surroundings of Boston Barry found the silence unsettling at first, but once he got used to it, he quite enjoyed not having that constant barrage of noise all around him.
#
#
#
It had, they'd decided, not been a bad night overall. There had been a fresh fall of snow, and surprised at how warm the shelter had become they'd managed to sleep relatively well, taking it turns to stay awake to stoke the fire. Now they had daylight to work with they planned to supplement and strengthen their position. The weather was very similar to the evening before, windy and bitingly cold, but at least dry for the moment. Barry was going to take a walk around and see if he could find any food sources. Both he and Jane would carry their guns in case they got the chance to kill any wildlife, but with a limited number of bullets available to them, they were hoping there might be a lake or stream nearby that supported fishing. Starting the day off with the remainder of the previous night's chips, washed down with yet more pine needle tea, the three of them had agreed the tea could have tasted a lot worse. Admittedly it could have tasted better, but it was warm and provided them with a valuable vitamin and oddly a feeling of normality to begin the day.
Barry had belatedly remembered about an old pocketknife of his that was in the bottom of his backpack. So he dug that out to take with him. His Father may not have been a loving man, but growing up as a military brat meant Frost had been taught how to hunt, skin and gut animals of varying types from an early age. A deer would look really good right about now, but somehow Barry didn't think they'd be that lucky. Along with his gun and knife Maura had given him a compass from her equipment and that would allow him to scout out a different direction each day until he hopefully found a good hunting spot.
Jane and Maura were going to stay closer to the camp, and with the saw they planned to cut as much firewood as they could store along the floor, and outer edge of the shelter, and they also wanted to weigh down the bottom outer edge of the tarpaulin with thickly covered pine boughs to aid cutting out any drafty areas and insulation. The natural mattress had proven to be a bit thin, so they would also enhance that part of the shelter. Jane was going to look out for suitable pieces of wood for carving. If Frost managed to find food she wanted at least one large platter of some kind that they could use for eating. If she was really lucky there might even be a branch or two that could be easily shaped into eating utensils like forks and spoons.
Maura wanted to go through what supplies they had with them once they had finished the rest of the jobs on their list. She knew things like the thicker rope that she had packed might be invaluable in the days ahead, and given that there would be no rescue parties looking for them in this area, she had little doubt that they needed to try and think in the long term, days maybe even weeks of living off the land were likely. To that end she had spied a hazel tree last night when she was helping Jane, and although it was far too late in the season, she wanted to take a look just in case there were a few precious nuts left on the branches, or scattered along the ground. And generally, where there was one hazel tree, there were others very close by.
The three of them set out from camp at the same time wishing each other good luck. Subconsciously – as they moved through the forest - Jane and Maura ended up migrating closer to each other, Jane marking trees every so often with arrows so they could navigate their way back to camp safely. A comfortable silence settled around them, and Maura linked her hand under one of Jane's elbows and said almost reverently, as if she was afraid to break the spell. "Do you ever think of love Jane?"
"Sometimes," the taller woman answered honestly. "What has brought this on?"
"Oh I don't know," Maura sighed. "I think it's because we've been close to dying so many times over the last couple of years, and here we are again, fighting for survival. It's made me retrospective. Take Ian for example, I thought he was the love of my life and that he loved me, but if he truly loved me he would have made an effort to compromise and make a life together. Now I realize he was happy just having a relationship where we could use each other for sex and emotional comfort every so often. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't abusive in any way, just …" Maura trailed off for a moment while she organized her thoughts into words. "It was just convenient and safe for both of us," she finally finished.
"I kinda feel the same way about Casey," Jane admitted. "I think if things were slightly different we could have made it work and I like seeing him, but these days I'm not entirely sure how much I actually love him. For him the military will always come first, and I'm just not cut out for that type of life."
Arriving at a slight clearing in the forest they realized there was a partly downed tree that would yield a large amount of logs, patting Maura's hand as it rested on her arm Jane said. "But we can't really think about that now, we've got work to do."
Smiling sadly Maura withdrew her hand and immediately missed the warmth and comfort that the tactile touch with Jane had provided. "You're right," she agreed. "Let's get busy."
#
#
#
Agreeing to meet Barry Frost and Jane back at the campsite at lunchtime Maura had been delighted to find a good number of nuts left on the hazel trees she had spotted the night before. Not much in the way of nutrients, but more importantly it would keep food in their stomachs for the moment. Making a carrying sack out of a jumper she stripped the trees bare of their bounty and feeling very pleased with herself she strolled back into camp. To immediately be greeted by the sight of Barry skinning a snowshoe hare outside the shelter.
"Oh, you got something," she said in a pleased tone.
"Yeah, and I was lucky as well, didn't even need to use a bullet, I stumbled across the thing as it was leaving its nest, obviously not used to humans disturbing the peace. I managed to hit it over the head with a branch I was carrying at the time. Only dazed it to start with, but it was enough to get a swift kill blow in."
Jane appeared from around the back of the shelter with both strong boxes full of snow and said. "Frost, what gets me is how you can calmly skin and gut that thing, and yet you puke at the slightest spot of blood or gore when you're at a crime scene or in the morgue. I just don't get it."
"It's called the human element," the ME explained. "Barry reacts that way not because of the blood and gore, but because he feels a lot of compassion for the human race in general and it upsets him to see man's inhumanity to man."
Jane thought about it for a moment and then nodded, reaching down to place the boxes on the fire. "Okay so it's an emotional reaction not a visual one, that makes sense, so why choose to be a Homicide Detective?"
"Because I'm good at what I do, and those poor victims need a voice, and between them we give them that voice." Barry looked up at his partner while he was speaking. "I happen to believe we're about the best of the best, and if I have to endure the humiliation of puking my guts out in order to get a killer off the streets then it's all worthwhile."
"Wow Frost, that's actually a brave thing to do," and both Jane's face and voice conveyed her admiration for his actions. "I wish I'd thought to ask you about it sooner, I'm sorry I didn't."
Barry smiled. "No worries partner, it's enough that we're talking about it now." Finishing with the hare he picked up a branch that he'd obviously fashioned to use as a spit above the fire and attached the hare to it. "Who's ready for food?"
"Oh God, I am," Jane said just as her stomach rumbled loudly. "How long do you think it will take to cook that thing?"
"Not too sure," Barry admitted. "But treating it like chicken, I would think thirty to forty minutes should do it."
"Here Jane," Maura said to take her mind off it. "You can help me sort and clean these nuts ready for our meal tonight and breakfast in the morning. There should be plenty for us all to have a small handful now as a starter."
"Just show me what you want doing," the brunette agreed immediately. And despite the gravity of our situation the others laughed at her eagerness.
#
#
#
'It's amazing how the simplest of ingredients can taste so wonderful when you're that hungry.' Jane thought to herself. 'I think we sucked the entire carcass of its juices once we'd eaten the meat, just to continue filling our mouths with the taste.'
Barry looked pleased with himself, and rightly so, finding that hare had been a real boon. Even Maura looked like she was contemplating chewing a bone at one point but thought better of it. Finally Jane was starting to feel a little more hopefully about the situation. So long as they could keep finding food, she was sure that the Detectives they'd left behind in Boston would eventually work out that the pilots and the steward on the plane were lying. And once that happened she then had to hope that they could get those men to tell them which area of Alaska needed searching for their rescue.
Once they had cleared up from the meal Maura opened one suitcase and handed Frost three long coils of thin wire that could be adapted to make a fishing line and a snare or two for smaller animals. Frost then left camp to carry on with his investigations, and Jane gave Maura a hand to go through their supplies. To start with they went through what the ME had packed in her suitcases. The haul was quite impressive. The rope Maura had thought about earlier was the first item Jane came across, and then there was a small lantern that could be operated by a wind up handle, followed by a solar charger for their phones. And although the phones were of no use, Maura thought that being able to listen to music at times would help them emotionally. Maura also had a solar charger for her torch, and one for heating water in a gallon plastic bag that could be used as an emergency shower. The ME must have brought the latter item to use at the cabin Jane realized. Finding a small folding shovel Jane looked at Maura quizzically and asked. "Why did you pack this?"
"In case I needed to sieve through any dirt out at the cabin, but we need to think about an area for personal hygiene, and so I thought we could dig a hole in the area we choose so we can keep things as clean as possible. I have some tissues we can use up to start with, but we also need to think about rags than can be washed out for some parts of our hygiene, it's an idea I had from something the Romans used to do. I have some clothes that I'm prepared to sacrifice."
Jane thought about that for a moment, recognizing now was not the time to be squeamish about such things and nodded. "There's that slight dip just the other side of the cleaning opposite the shelter, it's close enough to be useful, but far enough away to be private. And thank you for giving up your clothes like that, I know how much they mean to you"
"A good place," Maura agreed. "And yes, it pains me, but our survival is the most important thing right now. Let's rig the rope up between here and there, and then we can use it as a guide line if we have a whiteout." Jane nodded at the ME fondly, grateful she was there because Jane knew she would not have thought of that until a white out happened, and in semi-silence they carried on taking stock of their items.
There were also the waterproof matches, and a flint striker, with those Maura had several large packets of dried fruit, but as she explained to Jane she didn't want to open those unless they absolutely had to, which made sense. Alongside that both Jane and Frost had several chocolate bars in their luggage, plus Frost had one more lot of chips which they added to the food pile. If they couldn't hunt for the majority of their food then those packets could become a lifeline. There were the sheets and comforter and plastic mattress cover. And while Maura hadn't got any kind of pocketknife, she did have a few scalpels with her that could be useful when preparing food for cooking. The compass Maura had already given to Barry, which left various small bits of laboratory equipment that might have uses later on, especially a couple of small carrying cases that could be used on the fire in the same manner as the strong boxes.
Unsurprisingly there was a small but well-equipped first aid kit, which they placed in a strategic position inside the shelter. Maura was very good about being practical, and sorted through her clothes ruthlessly, making sure the really warm stuff was locked away in one of her waterproof suitcases. Anything that could be used as extra bedding was laid out on the sleeping area. Looking at the four cases that were now empty the ME turned and said to Jane. "Can you think of any way of using those?"
Jane wrinkled her forehead in thought before finally saying. "I think a couple might make a good seat if we can find a way of raising them off the ground. And the other two could be placed on top of a pile of logs outside the shelter to protect them from getting too wet, and if the weather turns bad, we won't have to make too many trips to and from camp just to keep the fire stoked up."
The huge smile the ME gave Jane told the taller woman that she had come up with something workable, and so Jane didn't resist when Maura took hold of her one arm and lead her towards the edge of camp, close to the hazel trees.
"I saw some larger lumps of wood over here this morning," Maura explained.
"And you're just after me for my muscles," Jane joked when she saw the pieces of wood Maura was talking about.
Only to pause when she saw the way the Doctor raked her eyes over her arms and shoulders before she said in a low tone. "You know me so well Detective."
And there is was, that feeling Jane had been fighting for so long, the attraction towards the ME, and part of the reason why she would protect the smaller woman to her dying breath. Shaking the feeling off knowing now was not the time. Jane picked up one of the more promising pieces of timber and led the way back to camp.
By the time Barry Frost returned darkness was just starting to fall. When he entered the slight clearing Jane looked up from smoothing out the carving of the cups she had made the day before and said. "How did your afternoon go?"
He looked quite pleased. "Better than I hoped, there were a few paths that indicated areas where animals have been passing through on a regular basis, so I left three snares, and I found a small spring, I'm going to try and follow that tomorrow and see if it leads into anything larger."
While they had been talking Maura had put some water on to make some more tea and Jane handed the wooden cups over when Barry sat down. Looking grateful for the warming drink he relaxed and once they had all got a drink to hand Jane raised her cup and said. "Well, here's to our second night in paradise.
"To Paradise," the other two echoed.
#
#
#