Author's note: Huge thanks to all of you who are reviewing this story and also thanks for reading it! We're happy to see you're enjoying our fic! Special thanks go toSMacked Hard, Divinia Serit, csi-ncis, DNAisUnique, Forest Angel, afrozenheart412, Andorian Ice Princess-AIP, Hannah554, silkylion10 and DREdwards!

Chapter 10: Danger in the snow

The formerly bright and sunny day in spring had changed and now the once blue sky was covered with thick, dark grey clouds that promised nothing good. A strong, cold wind was blowing, howling like a hungry animal, bending the trees dangerously. Still Danny and Lindsay were walking up and down the large forecourt of the farm, making sure Ranger wouldn't get the opportunity to lie down.

Even though he had felt unsure and nervous around the tall animal at first, Danny's main attention was resting on something else. He was watching Lindsay closely; seeing how her hands were tightly wrapped around the reins. With a stiff bearing, she was walking, not stopping for a single moment to take a breath. Her slim figure was wrapped into the coat he had brought for her. She was so petite; usually that was something he didn't notice. He had seen many women before, and many of them he had been close to in some ways. None of those women had been anything comparable to her though. She had those sparks in her eyes, revealing the free, strong mind she owned. She had this adorable, warm smile that always caused a comfortable feeling to rise inside him whenever he got the chance to see it. Her friendly attitude could brighten up his darkest mood. It was a gift of hers and he was amazed by the strength and eagerness of the young woman who had been brave enough to head into the big world for an adventure, not knowing what was awaiting her but willing to share her abilities with everyone she got to meet.

Danny was amazed by her. Lindsay had caught his interest as he had seen her arrive at the farm, on the back of her horse Ranger with an excitement and curiosity he had never seen in any woman's eyes before. The more it pained him to see her so small, so vulnerable now as worry was seeming to tear her apart. During the hours they had been walking across the forecourt she had shared all those stories about her horse with him. Every spoken word had revealed to him how much the animal meant to her and he had reached a point at which he himself was praying to the powers above that the horse would be alright; due to their help or to that of Dr Hammerback who they hoped would arrive soon. Together with the Taylors. Before a blizzard broke loose and caused serious danger for them all.

"You're freezing," he stated after a while. The first few snowflakes had started to fall, the wind had increased, slowly turning into a storm as the clouds were preventing any sunlight from reaching the farmland. "Would you like me to bring you another coat or offer you mine?"

"No, thank you," Lindsay answered politely, offering him a smile. She couldn't keep her teeth from chattering. Tighter she wrapped her coat around herself, not able to protect herself against the cold that was creeping under her clothes. For just another moment he watched her shivering before all doubts and hesitation were pushed aside. He inched closer to her, allowing her to back off if she felt like doing so. When she didn't he rested an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close against his side. Relief flooded through him as he felt her giving in to his closeness and snuggling against his side for comfort.

"I'm so concerned," she whispered then. "Ranger seems to be slowly recovering from his colic even though I reckon he still needs the help of Dr Hammerback. But as he, Mac and Stella haven't arrived here yet and are still out there with the blizzard coming up, I'm frightened they might not be in time before it starts."

"Don't you worry, they will arrive here in time, you know the Taylors," Danny reassured her gently, squeezing her shoulders in a comforting gesture. "They will arrive and then Dr Hammerback will cure Ranger here. Then we'll head inside the house and while the land will be covered in snow, we'll be sitting at the fireplace, enjoying some warm coffee and being glad that the cold of the blizzard can't reach us."

"It would be a wonderful moment to share with you and them," she agreed and as he glanced down at her, he found her smiling softly.

They continued their rounds around the yard for another while, watching the snow and storm increase with concern. It was when they could barely walk anymore and the ice cold wind was burning on their faces that they decided they could no longer stay outside and headed back into the barn. With relief they found Ranger no longer growling and urging to lie down; at least for the moment he seemed to be in a much better condition.

"They're still not here," Lindsay said with her eyes constantly focused on the entrance of the barn from where they had a good view across the yard. "They might have gotten caught right in the middle of the storm, what if they don't find a shelter? Many people got lost in blizzards before and didn't find their way home again."

Concern was radiating from her so clearly that it caused his heart to ache. Just like Lindsay, Danny felt a close connection to the couple on whose farm they were living and working. Imagining them out there in the middle of an ice cold storm was a thought he rather wanted to ban out of his mind. As his eyes met hers though, another instinct pushed its way through all the fears.

"They will be fine," he told her softly. "If Dr Hammerback and the Taylors left the town again, they might have found a shelter already. Maybe they also stayed in town. And if neither of those are right, I'm still fairly certain they'll arrive here soon." He had walked over to her as she was standing near the entrance now. Lindsay turned around, gazing up at Danny as she was so close to him he could feel the warmth of her breath on his face.

He expected her to reply. But no word left her lips as she made a step forwards. Not needing an explanation, he understood the silent gesture and closed his arms around her in a comforting, tight embrace. He was holding her close against his chest as her arms wrapped around his waist in response. Such a sudden reaction of the young woman he hadn't expected. She was searching for support, hoping to find it in his arms. To his own surprise he realised he had the same wish regarding her. He couldn't explain it but something was uniting them that was stronger than he had imagined so far. Both had to pass a long way to reach their goal that was supposed to define their future; the Taylors' farm. Alone they had been, hoping to find what they hadn't been able to get where they had come from. And the more time he spent replaying those thoughts in his mind the more he understood that the farm held more for them than work and friends.

"We should maybe help Ranger to walk again a bit," Lindsay said then as she peeked over his shoulder after what seemed to be hours of holding each other. The storm had increased and the wind was howling around the barn dangerously now. The yard was covered in a layer of snow already. "We can try to lead him up and down the barn."

Gently Danny released her from his tight embrace. He couldn't deny the feeling of missing something as cold was hitting him where her warm body had been before. He wouldn't have minded to hold her for the rest of the day, together fighting the sudden cold. But Lindsay was right. Ranger still needed their help before the pain got worse again and he would make another attempt at lying down.

Just as they had turned around to head back to the horse, a noise coming from outside the barn caught their attention. They exchanged a quick look. While Lindsay took the reins and led Ranger away from his current location, Danny headed back to the entrance. Narrowing his eyes, he stared into the dark, trying to see through the mass of snowflakes. It was then that he realised what he was hearing.

"Those are horses," he said, new hope rising inside him.

"Can you see anything?" Lindsay asked as she appeared behind him, peeking over his shoulder. Together they stared into the direction the sound of hooves was coming from. Endlessly long minutes seemed to pass until three shadows were to be seen. Three shadows of riders and their horses.

"Those have to be the Taylors and Dr Hammerback!" Lindsay exclaimed in excitement as she grabbed Danny's hand, holding it tightly.

"I knew they would find their way back to the farm," Danny replied with a smile.

Holding each other's hands tightly, Danny and Lindsay remained standing in the entrance of the barn, Ranger next to them as they waited for the arrivals. They had prayed they would make their way back. Now all their hope was focused on them being fine as well.

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Sid was more relieved than he could say when the dark shapes of what appeared to be farm buildings emerged out of the yellow twilight of the blizzard. He was still riding behind Mrs Taylor, who was in turn behind her husband, and it was him whom Sid was most concerned about. Being in front meant he was suffering the brunt of the storm and the fact that he had removed his coat was, in his opinion, a gesture of foolish chivalry. However, he could not criticise the man, and perhaps it was not foolish at all if it meant that his wife was given some more protection against the elements. Both of them were huddled in their saddles, coated with a thick layer of snow, as he was himself. At least he had dressed himself more warmly, so he did not have to worry about himself, and neither did the Taylors. A sudden guilt struck him though; he should have offered them coats himself...

"Hammerback, you fool," he growled to himself. "What were you thinking?"

But it was easy to be critical with hindsight and it was too late to do anything about it; the weather as they had left the town had seemed fine, and they had been in a hurry to get back to the farm, so there had been no question of remaining in town, or stopping to consider how they were dressed.
With a heavy sigh, and a shake of his head to attempt to remove some of the snow, he shifted in the saddle and focused on the buildings that were coming closer and closer. His spectacles were needing to be constantly wiped clear of the fat flakes of snow that whirled down in a near-blinding dance. At that point, Mrs Taylor turned to him, her hair sparkling white with snow and her face pinched and frozen, and managed to call out between her shivers that they had almost reached their destination. Relief spread through him, warming him a little as he called his thanks back to her. Mr Taylor, he noted with anxiety, had said nothing for some time, and he caught the look of desperate worry his wife threw at him as they pressed on.
The horses were also starting to flag now, having been ridden as hard as they could be. His poor mare's eyelashes were encrusted with snow and she was snorting and blowing flakes off her nose in some discomfort. He bent down and spoke softly into her ear, promising her hot bran mash and a good rub down as soon as he was able to. In return she gave him a soft whinny and picked her hooves up.

A few more minutes passed in a frozen silence and Sid was alarmed to see how Mr Taylor was slumped further in the saddle; his head was dropped almost onto his chest, and he had a horrible feeling that the only reason his hands were still holding the reins was because they had frozen to them. Mrs Taylor looked a little better but he was very anxious about both of them and the sooner they were safe in the warmth the better he decided. Then at long last they turned down what Sid knew had to be the path to the farm, only visible as such though by the small humps of snow, regularly spaced on either side that had to be the tops of fence posts. The snow had blown into drifts leaving a dip in the middle that they could pass along, though with some difficulty. As they rode into the farm yard, the sight of two bundled-up figures and a horse greeted them. One remained holding the horse whilst the other waded through the snow towards them as they all stopped.

Sid jumped off his horse first, landing softly in a deep pile of snow that creaked as he sank into it almost up to his knees. "I think Mr Taylor needs some assistance," he gasped, and the man who had rushed over to them, Daniel Messer he remembered his name to be, nodded and jerked his thumb over to the restless horse.

"Me and Lindsay have been walking Ranger round the yard, seems to have helped him, but Lindsay's still fretting about him." He turned an anxious face to him, cheeks red with cold and eyes blinking behind snow-spattered spectacles, much like his own.

"I shall go and see to him forthwith, young sir," he said, and then paused as he saw Mrs Taylor beginning to dismount her horse. "But perhaps we ought to get Mr and Mrs Taylor inside first?" Mr Messer nodded, and Sid stepped over as quickly as he could and took Mrs Taylor's arm as she landed awkwardly, her legs clearly rigid with cold.

"Th-thank you," she stuttered, wiping her face free from snow stiffly before pulling away and moving over to her husband's horse where he was still sitting having not moved from his position. Mr Messer followed her. "Mac!" she called, shaking him. "Mac, we need to get you inside!"
Slowly and jerkily, he turned his head, and Sid was shocked to see the look of blue cold in his face; his eyebrows were hoary with snow, his lips and cheeks were silver-grey and it appeared he was almost frozen solid. His gallant gesture of giving his coat to his wife had come, it seemed, at the price of his health. Mrs Taylor gasped and a frightened cry broke from her as she clutched at his leg. "Oh, Mac! Mac!"

Mr Messer pushed her gently aside and Sid moved round to the other side of Mr Taylor and between them, pushing and pulling him, they got him down from the horse where he collapsed on the ground, unable to speak and shuddering convulsively. Sid got his arm round his neck and with Mr Messer's help, heaved him up and supported him indoors, with Mrs Taylor hurrying behind them as fast as she could through the snow.

Once inside, she directed them to a rocking chair in front of the range where they eased her husband down. His limbs were heavy and limp, his eyes were half-closed and his head flopped to one side. Sid shivered himself, not least because of the melting snow trickling down his neck. The white flakes that had settled on all of them were transforming quickly into streams of frigid water.

"I can manage here," Mrs Taylor insisted through her shivers as she stoked up the fire in the range before wrapping a blanket round Mr Taylor's poor icy body and catching up another one which had also lain over the couch. With that one she began to wipe the wet snow off him and rub his arms and chest. "Go make sure Lindsay and Ranger are all right."

"Are you sure, Stella?" Mr Messer asked. "Pardon me for saying so, but you look frozen yourself."

"Least I had a coat!" she snapped. "Seeing as Mac saw fit to go giving me his own with no regard for his own safety..."
Sid saw a sudden glitter of tears in her eyes, which she dashed away with the back of her hand before turning to him. "Please, go and see what you can do to help Ranger, seeing as you came out all this way for him. Soon as you're able to, bring yourselves back indoors and I'll have something hot for you to eat and drink."

Sid exchanged a look with Mr Messer who gave him a small shrug and then moved away towards the door. He placed a hesitant hand on Mrs Taylor's shoulder. "As soon as he's warmed up, I'm sure he will be all right, my dear," he said gently and she gave him a trembling smile before whispering, "Thank you."

With a nod and a further smile, he turned and made his way to the door, turning back as he reached the threshold to see her wrap her arms round her husband and press her head against his with a muffled sob. His smile faded and he left the house with worry in his heart for the couple who had risked so much to help their young friend.

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