Chapter Seven

...

As Stiles blinked himself awake he slowly began to remember where he was. Rays of warm sun spilled through the window of the small cabin and yet somehow it still seemed to appear so very dark inside. Still in the haze of sleep, he watched as flecks of dust slowly but surely drifted further and further away from the creaking timber above and somewhere in the middle of his morning daze, Stiles became aware of the gentle weight pressed against the length of his body.

When a warm stream of air began to tickle his Adam's apple Stiles tilted his head to the right and his lips lightly grazed the soft skin of Lydia's forehead. Some way through the night the two sleeping teens had repositioned themselves so that Lydia was comfortably curled into Stiles' side; one of her legs had draped itself across the lower part of her friend's abdomen and her head was at present resting on his shoulder; her almost invisibly freckled nose tickled the skin at the crook of his neck.

"Lydia?" His voice was hoarse from hours without use.

"Mmm..." She grumbled still under the veil of sleep and as she did so her body constricted for a moment, curling in on itself. Lydia snuggled tighter into the warmth of the body that lay adjacent and her leg that was throw across him was dragged up his firm stomach before relaxing again. When her muscles slackened, Stiles could only bask in the small amount of euphoria he experience as her calf returned to where it once was...her cold toes traced one of the lines of the 'v' in his hips and made their way down to rest in between his knees, curling and stretching all the way. The brief stroke to his lap that Lydia had unknowingly given him combined with the feel of her breast upon his chest and the apex of her thighs pressed firmly against his hipbone was enough to coerce Stiles into shakily inhaling a mouthful of musky cabin air.

"Lydia?" He said again on an exhale.

"Lydia?" This time, with his arm that was not currently pinned down by the weight of Lydia's body, he tenderly rubbed the back of her hand that lay beautifully on his sternum.

"Mmm...I'm awake." She grumbled sleepily. Her hand removed itself from Stiles' grasp to remove some of the sleep residue at the corner of her eyes.

"Sorry...I've gotta piss." Stiles smiled down at the drowsy redhead. She looked stunning in the morning too apparently.

"Good morning to you to Stilinski..." She smiled, eyes still closed and Stiles chuckled as he began to unwillingly detangle himself from Lydia's clutches. "Mmm...no...it's cold." Lydia moaned.

"Well unless you want the warmth of my pee against you Martin you're gonna have to relent." Stiles mock threatened.

"Fine." She caved, unwinding her fingers from where she'd scrunched up the front of Stiles' worn out t-shirt and buried her head among the pillows.

...

After a few gentle nudges from Stiles, Lydia eventually stirred from her well needed rest.

After a good many hours of sleep the two teens felt rejuvenated. They did ache, but more in a good way rather than anything else.

In the few minutes that Lydia had dragged herself to the toilet and was wondering around freshening up, making the bed, Stiles had discovered why it was still so very dark inside the cabin.

"Ah, crap..." He sighed.

"Stiles?" Lydia questioned but his only reply was a half-arsed gesture toward the window that he was currently standing at...he whipped back the dust-ridden curtain to reveal a white canvas.

The snow had vigorously continued on throughout the night and thought there were a good few inches at the top of the window frames where the wintery world outside was still visible...there were, as predicted, complete snowed in.

"For fuck's sake...this weather is relentless!" Lydia screeched and stomped back to where she'd just been about to fold back in the sofa bed, taking her frustrations out on the undeserving futon.

"We're completely buried." Stiles said in shock. Neither of them imagined the snow would be this extreme. "Now what?" He said, looking back at Lydia who was now sitting on what appeared to be an ordinary couch.

"What can we do? There's no getting out of this until the snow melts."

They both mulled over their own thoughts in silence for a few moments, Lydia sat half defeated on the couch, Stiles, his hands on his hips, stared blankly out at the vast whiteness.

"Are you cold?" He said all of a sudden, turning back to the heart of the cabin. Lydia blinked a few times before nodding at Stiles. "I'll relight the fire."

"I'll see how much food we have. Start working out how we're gonna ration it." She stated solemnly.

...

With the fire now ablaze and the room much brighter, Stiles and Lydia stared regrettably down at their sad excuse for a food pile. Three vegetable stock cubes, two cans of tomato soup and a half opened pack of stale crackers sat in the centre of the faded coffee table mocking them both.

"That's all I could find..."

"You looked absolutely everywhere?" Stiles pressed.

"Trust me, Stiles, when I say I was certifiably thorough. I searched every scrap of that ratty old kitchen and this here, is every crumb. They're completely empty."

"And how long d'you reckon until all that snow out there turns to mush?" Stiles gestured towards the window, their eyes never leaving the miniscule piles of goods in front.

This question was a distraction Lydia was all too happy to indulge in.

"Well, I think it will melt around the cabin fairly quickly but there must be at least ten feet of snow out there. It could take a few days but more likely it'll be a few weeks before we see green again and god knows how far we'd have to walk to get to the road." Stiles exhaled loudly. "All considering it doesn't even snow again...we might catch a break if it rains...or if Alberta has a freak summer...or the Tooth Fairy comes and whizzes the both of us away! Either way...this food...it's not gonna last us half our time spent here with all of Scott McCall's god damn luck!" Lydia finally huffed.

No one spoke for a good few moments.

"Speaking of Scott, all the snow has probably cleared all trace of our hike through the woods. Even with my stink, Scott would have a hard time tracking us even if the snow were to melt." Lydia nodded in agreement...

But never ones to give up, Lydia and Stiles after a short while Lydia and Stiles snapped back to being focused. When in crisis...they always survive.

"Ok!" Stiles jumped up from his position on the couch and made for his back pack and started pulling out a notepad.

"We have to work out our options." Lydia voiced their shared thoughts aloud as Stiles took up residence in the space beside her once again.

"Number one...what's number one?" Stiles queried.

"Number one...we wait." Stiles wrote it down.

"Agreed. Either Scott finds us or the snow melts and we try and find him." Stiles stated.

"Number two...we could try and dig our way out?" Lydia suggested. "It could be better than waiting to starve to death but it could also be futile." Stiles made note of everything she was saying. "We might get ill. We'd burn more energy than food we have to fuel the digging and it might snow all over again any way."

"But it's better than doing nothing right?" Stiles asked.

"Not necessarily." Lydia said now looking at him. "I mean this would be a whole different scenario if we had no access to clean water and warmth but Stiles, we have both those things. Honestly, the only reason I can see for digging our way out would be if there was some way we could get more food but we're in the middle of nowhere and even if you had the Sherriff's gun, it's not like you could shoot any rabbit or game in this weather. Think about it."

"I think...that I'm flattered you'd think the reason I wouldn't be able to shoot anything is because of the bad weather and not my atrocious aim." Stiles smiled as did Lydia. They brainstormed for a further four minutes and twenty-seven seconds before sinking back into the cushion on the sofa, staring down and the now filled pages of Stiles' workbook.

"I hate to say it Stilinski but it looks as though you're gonna have to sit and do jackal for the first time in your life. How long d'you think before you're Ritalin filled ass is bouncing off the walls?" Lydia grinned despite everything.

"I guess you're just gonna have to entertain me." The sides of Stiles' smile twitched gamely.

"Out of all the people I could be stuck with in an abandoned cabin, with no food, in the middle of nowhere...I had to get the neurotic pessimist with ADD didn't I?" They laughed. "I'll tell you this Stiles, I could do much worse." Lydia smiled and lightened punched his bicep in jest.

"That's one of the nicest things you've ever said to me." He smiled; teeth and all. "Though I will apologise in advance...you know us Stilinski men, when hungry we tend to bite. Pun intended. It's gonna get ugly with no food."

"Don't worry about me...I know how to handle you when you PMS whether that's because one of your wonderfully mad plans has failed to work or because you're hungry." Lydia laughed as she leaned her head down on Stiles' shoulder.

"You think my mad plans are wonderful?" He asked with childlike awe.

"Of course...I help execute most of them and aid in the preparation of pretty much all of them and Lydia Martin, future Fields Medal winner, would never sully her good name by being involved in any crazy plan that is anything less than wonderfully mad. And you are Stiles...wonderfully mad but it's ok...so am I." Snuggled against him and as she finished her impromptu adoration of everything that is Stiles Stilinski, he felt a warmth envelope him that had nothing to do with the burning coals and timber in front and everything to do with, what Stiles believe, to be his faultless redheaded counterpart.

...

AN: Just to warn you all I might be going on a short hiatus because I've just started university and it's all very overwhelming and frantic but I'll do my best. I'm so glad this story is being received so well. Keep reviewing all the chapters my lovelies...tell me what you want to happen! x -A x