Chapter 8
Trouble in Paradise
The alarm blared to life rousing Stiles from a particularly good dream. He had to quickly pull himself away from Lydia or she'd feel exactly how good the dream was. She fumbled for the phone half asleep and dismissed the alarm. He leaned down and kissed her neck daringly. "You can stay and rest and I'll go get a load of wood." She moaned in appreciation at either the kiss or being allowed to stay in the warmth of their little cocoon. He didn't care, either way she was beautiful as she laid there. He could get used to waking up with her in the morning.
Stiles pulled on his extra pair of socks and boots both still warm from the fire. He didn't dare pull off his sock to check his toe it was still oddly numb so he figured that was foreboding enough. He pulled on an extra sweatshirt and coat, his hat and gloves before stepping out of the shed. The view was stunning. If their situation hadn't been so unexpected and dire he would have loved it. The sun was just breaking the horizon causing the snow to glisten and shimmer in the cold. There was nothing around him as far as he could see except pristine untouched wilderness.
Judging by the approaching greyness though the sun wouldn't be around for long so Stiles set about widening his circles from the previous night and tried gathering some wood. His prints from the night before had long been obscured in the night from the snow and wind. Everything looked different when he could see more than the narrow beam of the flashlight so he started a little closer to the shed hoping to see wood he missed the previous night. He gathered an arm load and carried it back to the shed and tossed them in. Lydia was sitting cross legged by the fire brushing her hair and startled when he poked his head in.
"Looks like there is a small break in the storm but some serious clouds are rolling in quick. I think I'm just going to collect as much wood as I can before it hits."
"Okay, be careful Stilinski!" She warned as she stood to take a few pieces of the wood he had deposited to add them to the pitiful embers that remained. He smirked at her before ducking back out. Stiles continued to circle the shed getting further from it with each pass. There wasn't a lot of downed wood small enough for him to use so it was slow going. The grey clouds had quickly overcome the sun and were growing heavier with each passing circle. The snow would fly before long.
He tried to keep the shed in his line of site so that he wouldn't get lost or could see the shed should something happen. But it was getting further away. As the time ticked on he grew more and more tired. They were nearly out of food and the few pieces of jerky he'd eaten wasn't enough to sustain him. The hike back with each armload felt like it took hours instead of minutes. The wind had started to pick up as Stiles made another trek out. He'd rather have enough wood to wait out this next blast of the storm rather than be traipsing out in the dark with coyotes and lord knows what else about.
He had strayed farther from the shed this time hoping to find a little more tinder when he saw the creek. Parts of it were frozen over but parts were still bubbling. Stiles carefully slid down the bank to get a closer look. He hoped he'd find some fish to catch to smoke up for dinner. He walked along carefully until he found a shallow pool and sure enough there were some swimming shadows in the deep water. He smiled to himself. He could grab some tinder from the creek bed and grab some fishing line and lure and see if he could catch some dinner before the storm got too bad. He hoped Lydia liked fish but even she probably wouldn't be too picky what with their slim pickings in the food department.
He clambered back out of the bank scrambling a bit and getting snowy in the process, but he didn't care. He'd found the creek and it had fish. He grabbed a big arm load of wood as it was more plentiful by the water and headed back retracing his steps carefully to the shed. When he opened the door his chin nearly hit the floor. Lydia had her back to him and she was naked from the waste up.
"Stiles shut the door! Oh my God its cold!" She admonished as she put a hand over her breasts to hide them from him.
"I- uh. Sorry." His face had to be as red as his favorite hoodie by now. He busied himself piling his arm load of wood on his stack he had accumulated.
"It's fine. Really I should have changed under the blankets but I just needed something… clean." She said as she deftly slipped a shirt over her head. "It's okay you can turn around now." He turned around and her face too seemed to be redder than usually though she had her lips pursed like she dared him to make a comment.
"So I found the creek. And good news, there's a pool with fish in it. I hope you like fish, that is if I can catch any fish." Stiles nervously rambled.
Lydia smiled as she stood and walked over to him. "Stiles, fish would be great. Do you have enough time before the snow?"
"If I hurry. I just need to get some fishing line and hooks." Lydia nodded and made her way over to the tackle box. She quickly pulled out some line and tied a hook to one end. She pulled out two extra and handed them to him.
"Just in case, you never know if you break the line, you'd lose the hook." Stiles quirked an eyebrow at her in shock.
"What? It's common sense Stiles! It's not like fishing is rocket science." He smiled at her, because even if it had been rocket science she probably would have figured it out then too.
"I'll be back soon." He leaned in and kissed her. He meant it to be quick and started to pull back but she stopped him by putting her arms around him and deepening the kiss.
"Please be careful and hurry back." She said. She moved from him and gave him the last of the jerky bag. "I had my piece this is yours, you need to eat."
He smiled shyly at her and took the bag and made his way back out into the cold. He popped one piece of jerky in his mouth and slowly started chewing trying to savor what little he had. He kept the last piece in case the fish needed bait.
He found his path from the previous trek and carefully made his way to the shallow pool of fish. Just as he pulled the line from his pocket the first snowflakes began falling. He dropped the line in the pool and held his breath and waited. He waited as still as he could, but for him it was hard. He slowly counted to 500 hundred in his head before he decided to pull it out and try it with a piece of the jerky.
He slipped his gloves off in the numbing cold and hooked a piece of the jerky on before sliding his glove back on and slipping it into the partially frozen water. He was nearing three hundred and giving up hope when he felt a tug on the line. He smiled to himself as he gently pulled up on the string.
Out came a small ugly fish but to him it was beautiful. He grabbed it with his gloved hand and pulled the hook from his mouth. He searched around and found a rock to club it on its head and put it out of its misery. He reasoned he'd try for a couple more before he worried about gutting and cleaning them.
He managed to get three more before the snow was coming down so hard he had a hard time seeing. He gathered his four fish and tied them into a group and hung them over his shoulder. He could always gut them when he got to the shed. He didn't want Lydia to worry about him being out this long.
It took him longer than it should have, the sky seemed to be dark earlier than it should have with the dark ominous clouds overhead. He finally found the path back and caught a glimpse of the shed, a dark shape in the falling snow. He made his way back and as he got closer he saw Lydia bundled in her coat and boots returning to the cabin. Perhaps she had to go the bathroom, or she was looking for him. She stopped in her tracks, must be she'd caught sight of him.
Stiles tried to quicken his pace but he was frozen and bone tired. When he saw Lydia take a worried step backwards away from the shed he knew something was wrong.
"Lydia?" He shouted as he tried to hurry faster. "Lydia what's wrong."
It wasn't until he rounded the corner that he saw the coyotes. They were snarling and snapping at her and they were standing between her and the shed.
A/N: Sorry for the cliffy… okay not really. Hoping you enjoyed this chapter, the next will be rolled out soon… it's already written…. Leave some love if you feel so inclined!
