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Chapter 82; AwkwardThey'd been walking through the rain for close to an hour and a half. And for the first hour Fang had been OK. He hadn't felt that cold, and he was able to keep up with Max as she walked, despite that horrible pain in his back, taking long strides and searching for a cave or a cabin, or just someplace dry to spend the night.
But within the last half an hour something had happened. He'd done just what Max feared he would do and caught a chill. And now here he was huddled under an outcropping of rock, Max's wing draped over him shivering like a palsied old man.
"When you're warmer we'll go a little farther North. Does that sound good?"
He didn't answer. Max was making the decisions and as long as they meant he could stay still right now and get warm that's all he cared about. He didn't care about appearing weak, or frail, or not in control of his body and emotions. The only thing he cared about was getting warm.
Max dug in his bag and pulled out a flashlight. "I'm going to go look around, you stay here and keep this on, okay? So I'll know where you are."
He nodded and took the flashlight, trying to work the switch with numb fingers. He hadn't been this cold in a while. Not since he'd injured his wing. And realizing that brought back all the fear he'd felt that night. Fear that he'd never be warm again, fear that he'd die, and fear that he would never see Max again.
"Don't..." Was all he got out, but Max didn't hear him and she disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
He sat there. Clutching that flashlight and trying not to shiver so hard that he actually moved. His teeth made a near buzzing noise and he pressed his lips together to deaden the sound.
Fang wasn't entirely sure how long Max was gone, but he must have dozed because when he opened his eyes again she was shaking him, "Hey ... Wake up, no sleeping."
He tried to answer her but the sound didn't come out right.
"I found some place dry a ways to the West. Are you ready to walk?"
He shook his head. If he held still the cold wasn't so bad, but every time he moved the cold bit back into him and he could only take being bitten so many times before he learned not to anger this icy dog.
"Come on, you have to get up, you've got to move around."
"Fi' morminiss..."
A blatant worried expression settled over Max's face and she gave him a rather vicious shake, "No, we have to go now, so suck it up and stand!" She grabbed him by the shoulders and practically dragged him out from under his protective rock and back into the arctic rain. "I know it's cold, I'm cold too, but we have to move or we'll die of exposure, got it? Can you spell hypothermia?"
He tried to flip her the bird, but his fingers were imoble and instead she draped his arm over her shoulder. His mind had abandoned him, and the cold had leeched away not only his bodyheat, but all other thought, all previous notion of desire, or personality as well. And he was left alone in his head with nothing but the need to stay put, to stop moving and lie down left to him.
Why couldn't Max see that if he were only to lie down he would get warm? He didn't care if he was dry as long as he was warm!
"Fang, NO!" She growled and wedged her shoulder under him, trying to keep him upright when his knees decided to give out. "I swear I will never let you touch me again if you don't stop this and WALK!"
He straightened his legs and managed to stand on his own while Max rubbed his cheeks and asked him repeatedly if he was 'OK'. He nodded and she hooked her arm around his waist and let him drape his left arm around her shoulders again.
After the first five steps he fell into a kind of trance. Placing all his effort and strength into moving first his left leg and then his right watching the toes of his shoes drag through the mud. If he kept doing that Max wouldn't yell at him and she might even let him touch her again ...
Although at the moment he wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that.
"Okay, we've got some steps here, come on!" She gave him another little shake and he pried his eyes open staring up at the looming building before him.
"Wha..."
"For God's sake, Fang, don't argue now."
It was a small cabin. Not quite a house, but not a shack. It reminded him of the old mining cabin that had been close to their first home. THEIR cabin ... Only this one seemed to be a summer home because there was a small fishing boat under a tarp near the steps.
"I found some blankets and things inside."
His feet felt like chunks of ice in his shoes but he managed to get up the steps and inside. Feeling that it was a very large accomplishment, seeing as how bad he felt.
"Okay," Max stepped away from him to stack wood in the little potbellied stove in the corner. "Get your clothes off."
He let his pack fall to the floor and he shed his jacket watching the water drip from it as he held it at arms length. By the time he'd worked his shirt over his wings and thrown it down with his jacket Max had a fire going and had dragged a mattress out of the small adjoining bedroom and dropped it beside the stove.
"Come on! What's the matter with you! Get undressed, do you need my help or something?"
"No," He grumbled. "Don't look."
Max shook her head, "What is with this modesty? You sure weren't very modest last time," She came at him with a towel and started rubbing his back with it.
He scowled over his shoulder at her and finished undressing, feeling quite absurd standing there wearing nothing, letting Max rub him with a towel. It was very uncomfortable and brought back too many memories of the night they'd spent together.
Too many memories he'd been fighting to forget...
"Okay, lie down before you fall flat on your face!"
He took the towel from her and wrapped it tightly around his waist then sat gingerly on the sheet she'd spread over the mattress. He positioned himself as close to the fire as he dared and extended his wings to dry.
He heard Max undressing and sat stone still until she joined him, wearing a pair of silk boxers with little puffs of flames on them and a floppy T-shirt that had two slits in the back for her wings.
"When you're warmer you can get dressed too," She threw another blanket around his shoulders and he had to rearrange it so his wings stuck out into the air.
"You're going to get frost bite and all your feathers will fall out!" She scolded and scooted close to him.
He couldn't help but smile. "You're really funny, you know that?"
She grinned, "I try."
They were quiet for a few minutes and Fang sat there trying not to tremble.
"Max?"
"What?"
"Can we talk?"
She turned back to him, aprehension tying her stomach up, "About what?"
He hesitated, a pale, uneasy expression placing a wrinkle on the bridge of his nose. He swallowed hard and shook his head.
"Nevermind..."
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