The next day, Kathryn Janeway stood outside of Holodeck One dressed in three layers of hiking gear that she'd replicated that morning. A small backpack filled with picnic basics was slung over her back, holocamera tucked inside as an afterthought. Excitement and anxiety competed for space in her mind. We're just going for a walk, she tried to remind herself. A really long walk.

She reached out to the access panel, took a deep breath, and punched in the code he'd given her.

The doors opened on a large chalet nestled in a valley surrounded by small mountains. Had he taken her to Switzerland? Her eyes swept the horizon as she took in the view of grass-covered rolling hills, snow-capped peaks and a beautiful lake that reflected the pale midday sun.

"Hello."

Kathryn spun around to see Justin Tighe as she'd never seen him: relaxed, excited and dare she say…happy? She had thought the uniform fit him like a glove; she had been wrong. Wearing a fitted dark blue t-shirt that matched his eyes, shorts and hiking boots, he seemed not just formidable but also downright edible. The man was clearly in his element.

"Hi," she managed, trying not to gawk. "This is stunning. Where are we?"

"Northern Montana. Glacier Park. Ever heard of it?"

"Of course," she answered. She wanted to explain how she knew about the park but full sentences now seemed impossible to put together. The wind was ruffling Justin's hair, taking him from downright edible to outright delectable and she thought she was going to go out of her mind. Kathryn found herself feeling suddenly weak in the knees and tingly in the fingers. Words, Kathryn, she thought. Use your words. And your brain. Preferably not in that order.

Instead, she looked around, trying to give herself an excuse to take her eyes off him and calm down. She knew that this park was home to some of the most famous hiking trails in North America although the teal blue glacial lakes that had made the park famous no longer existed. This being the holodeck, though, anything was possible. "Is this before or after climate change destroyed the glaciers?" she asked.

This comment made him smile though she had no idea why. "Long before," he answered. "It's from around 1920, right after it was made a park but before it was overwhelmed by tourists."

So there would be glaciers, which explained the layers of clothing he'd suggested she pack. "What's the hike?" she asked, still curious.

"We have some choices, but I figured, if you're up for it…" he paused, and was that hope she saw on his face? "My favorite is fifteen and a half kilometers round-trip. It's a 388-meter elevation gain." She noticed his pack, twice the size of hers, had two sets of hiking poles strapped to the underside. He was ready for a challenging climb and had come prepared for both of them.

Only a Starfleet Ranger would genuinely consider 15 kilometers straight up a mountain a 'relaxing' hike, she thought. "Do we have a particular destination?" she asked.

"A little place called Iceberg lake."

Kathryn raised an eyebrow. "There are actually icebergs?" she asked.

He shrugged. "More like big chunks of ice floating in a small swimming hole." Now it was her turn to shrug. The whole thing sounded fascinating. She'd never shied away from physical exertion before and now seemed a silly time to start. Her decision was made.

"Iceberg Lake it is," she confirmed. "Shall we?"

He extended his hand. "Please."

The first leg of their journey took them up gentle hills that reminded her of meadows. Wildflowers of all kinds and colors blossomed on the trail's edge. A pleasant breeze tickled Kathryn's legs and bare arms, one hand steadied by a hiking pole, the other by Justin's hand. She was glad he'd picked a hike. It gave her something to look at, something to focus on, other than just the overwhelming awareness of his body next to hers and her hand in his.

Their pace was easy. More than three hours out to the lake would give them plenty of time to talk. How he'd snagged the holodeck for the whole day, she had no idea. Had Admiral Paris had some role in that, too? Did it even matter anymore?

No, she realized, it didn't. She had time now, and opportunity, to get to know someone who in reality was still a complete stranger to her. Where to start? "You told me you grew up on Klatus Prime," she began, leading with the question that seemed most obvious to her in the moment. "How did you get so familiar with Glacier Park?"

"My first year roommate at the Academy was a distant relative of a United States Park Serviceman and had a life goal to visit all of the parks. There were almost 500 of them at one point, so he had his work cut out for him. During our Fall break he invited me along to this one. It became one of my favorite places on Earth, even without the glaciers."

"And this program?" she asked vaguely, looking around.

"Came from the Park's historical collections."

She looked around again, appreciating the level of detail. "It's spectacular."

He nodded in agreement. "Absolutely. It's a shame humans didn't realize the damage we were doing to this planet sooner, we might have been able to save the glaciers. The lake we'll see today hasn't existed this way in 300 years."

"Did you visit any of the other parks with your roommate?" she asked.

Justin shook his head. "By midway through the year our schedules had gotten too busy to sync up. And…" He looked away from her, up at the sky and his surroundings before meeting her eyes again. "Group hikes weren't my thing. I liked being alone." His hand seemed heavy in hers.

"Thank you for bringing me, then," she said, quietly.

Justin smiled. "My pleasure." She knew his response was genuine. A beat passed before he continued. "I did go through part of my roommate's list, though, but on my own. Before I graduated from the Academy I had hiked Yellowstone, Zion, Badlands, Yosemite, Shennandoah, Acadia, Grand Teton. I celebrated my graduation by hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim."

"All on your own?" she asked, trying to keep too much shock from showing on her face.

He nodded, and the look on his face said, Yeah, why not? Kathryn was taken aback. For someone who was truly such a loner, she felt the need to apologize for intruding on a deeply private and personal experience. Instead she asked, "Which was your favorite?"

He responded instantly. "Grand Canyon. The silence was deafening. I've never heard anything like it. And the canyons reminded me of the mines back home, but warmer. Not just the temperatures, but the colors, too. I found it comforting."

In an instant Kathryn was taken back in her mind to being nine years old and hiking the North Rim with her father. She recalled it being dusty, too dusty for her Midwestern tastes, and never returned. Justin was starting to make her reconsider that decision.

Now, walking along side him, seeing him smile and laugh and finding herself doing the same, she was realizing one thing: he was making her rethink a lot of decisions.

Grassy hillsides gave way to lush forests as they walked. Around the second hour, the trail flattened above a set of waterfalls and they stopped to recharge and refuel. They shared food and wine and quiet conversation as they sat on a rocky precipice. Legs dangling over the edge as water cascaded below them, Kathryn silently noticed their booted feet. With six kilometers under their belts on an increasingly rocky trail, her ankles were beginning to feel the strain that even the stiff boots couldn't compensate for. She smelled the damp earth and took in the trees all around her.

Suddenly her mind flashed back to a mere forty-eight hours earlier, falling over the body of the man next to her on Urtea II, his ankle broken when he'd caught it on a tree root. Images flooded into her memory in their own waterfall-like cascade: his desperate pleas for her to flee, the Gul punching her in the head, smashing the Toskanar dog in the skull with the branch, hearing Admiral Paris's screams, Justin's broken ankle—

"Kathryn."

She looked up from her feet to see Justin sitting next to her, blue eyes seemingly glowing within his pale face, dark hair floppy on his head. "Are you okay?" he asked, a look of concern etched within his handsome features.

"Huh? Oh, nothing," she lied. "How's your ankle?"

His concerned look changed to one of skepticism but he answered her anyways. "The doctor regenerated the bone and muscle completely. No problems." Ever since the tissue regenerator had been developed and perfected even compound fractures could be restored to virtually pre-injury conditions in minutes. But Kathryn knew that didn't mean everything was okay.

"Yes," she countered, "but I broke my arm playing tennis a decade ago and I can still use this appendage to predict the weather." She held up her right arm and pointed to it. He laughed.

"Tennis?" he asked. It seemed like he'd never heard of the old-fashioned sport but at that moment his curiosity was a distraction.

"Stop dodging the question, Justin. Does your ankle feel okay?"

His lips flattened into a straight line. "I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine."

Kathryn instantly recognized his euphemistic use of the word 'fine,' having used the word that way herself more times than she could count. What she wasn't sure about was whether to nudge him gently or confront him more directly about any discomfort. She looked at him, took in his set jaw and noted the steely blue that his eyes had turned. She opted for a soft tone.

"I'm sure it's 'fine,' but maybe I genuinely want to know how you're doing? It was a horrible break, Justin."

"No kidding," he admitted. "But it's really fine. I wouldn't have suggested we go hiking if it weren't." There was that word again. Kathryn put her hands on her hips, letting him know that she wasn't going anywhere until he stopped sugar coating the truth. He frowned in response. "Alright, it's a little tender. That's all."

She narrowed her eyes skeptically. "Really?"

"Really," he replied, and this time she believed him. "And besides, if I needed to I could ice it down right up there." He pointed up the hill, and she followed his arm, leaning, now seeing what he was looking at. Around the bend, the brown of the forested trail opened up into an open field—of snow.

Kathryn looked back at him, not sure whether to glare or laugh. She decided on the second. He smiled.

"And now, you're going to tell me what you were flashing back to."

The smile vanished from her face. "I'm fine," she replied tartly. There was that word again.

His response was quick and firm but compassionate. "No dodging. I know damn well you're not fine. I've been there, remember? What were you remembering?"

She stared out at the waterfalls, watching the water crash over the brink. The sound was suddenly deafening in her ears.

"Everything," she whispered, so quietly she wasn't sure he heard her. In a hollow voice she rattled off the list.

He nodded, staring off into the distance as well. "What were you looking at when it started? That seemed a strange question to her but she answered him anyways.

"Your ankle. And then…the dirt, the trees in the distance." She turned to him, and he to her. "I went through nothing like you did, Justin," she said desperately. "It's not even right that this is bothering me."

He turned to her and took her face in his hands. "That's exactly what they want you to think. Listen to me. It wasn't what they did to you that was the problem. It's what you knew they could've done to you. As long as you're living in fear, they've won. The only way to get past this is to know that you don't have anything to be afraid of anymore." He dropped his hands, but one hand stayed to stroke her hair.

She hung her head. "We haven't been recalled from our mission, Justin," she choked, tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. She blinked them away but continued to look at the rock they sat on. "We'll be on the edge of Cardassian space for six more months. And if we go to war—"

"That's a lot of ifs," he countered. "And typically in these situations they do recall everyone involved."

Her head snapped up at these words. "They're probably working on it now," he soothed, his tone making her think he was speaking from prior experience. "It takes a few days for the orders to come through, especially if they have to conceal a covert operation like this was."

"They typically recall everyone involved? Just typically?" She asked. "And if they don't?"

He reached an index finger up to the corner of her eye and swept away the moisture that had collected there. She turned her head away, ashamed. "Then we keep going," he said matter-of-factly, as if this were a simple thing to do.

Kathryn whipped her head back around and looked at him desperately. "How? You've faced them twice. Nearly died at their hands, twice," she said. "I don't know how you keep going back in. I don't know how you volunteered for this mission in the first place, Justin."

He sighed. "It's difficult, I can't pretend it's not. I have to remind myself that what happened to me had nothing to do with who I am. The Cardassians didn't want me. They never will. They didn't want you, either. Or Admiral Paris."

Kathryn klein, ging allein, in die weite Welt hinein…Kathryn could hear the words of the lullaby again, the one she'd sung at the top of her lungs, fingers in her ears as she lay curled up on the cold, damp floor of the Cardassian cell, desperate to block out Admiral Paris's screams, knowing that his torturers didn't care about the information he had, or who he was, and that they were only inflicting pain on him because they could.

"Kathryn?"

"Huh?" She looked around at the waterfalls and the forest, having forgotten where she was, and realized she'd spaced out again.

"You left me for a minute there," he said matter-of-factly.

"I guess I did," she admitted.

"I'm assuming it wasn't a fun mental vacation?"

"No," she grumbled.

He gestured to the thermos she had brought with her, thoughtfully filled that morning with her favorite wine. He uncapped it, poured it into the cups they had with them and handed her one. He took a slow, contemplative drink for himself, staring at the cup as if it held answers to questions they both had. After a swallow, he looked up at her and spoke again. "They're going to compel you to do therapy when you get back to headquarters. Much as I hate to admit it, it actually works. Even though the therapists are completely full of it."

This made her laugh, though the idea of mandatory therapy didn't. He took another sip. She finally began to drink the cool liquid. "What were you thinking of just now?" he asked.

"Nothing," she retorted.

"Stop it, Kathryn. You dissociated. I'm the one person you can't fool."

"Lose the psychobabble, Tighe."

"Get used to it, Janeway. Now talk."

She tipped her chin up defiantly. He inclined his head and rested his cup on his knee. "If you think I'm being difficult," he said patiently, "wait until you're stuck with a Betazoid counselor who won't let you have your job back until you open up."

"I'll take my chances," she bit back.

He drummed his fingers on the side of the cup he held, as if deciding his next move. A moment passed before he continued. "Kathryn, I believe you've heard these words before: 'I genuinely want to know how you're doing.' Please talk to me."

She stayed silent. It seemed deeply ironic to her that a man who mostly lived in his own head was imploring her to open up to him. She could laugh. And cry.

"Fine," he said, and sat his cup down on the rock. He took hers from her hand and sat it down as well. Gently, he took her face in his hands again and before she realized what was happening he had kissed her. And then he kissed her again. And then again. Gone were thoughts of Cardassian torture, replaced with wonderment at how incredibly good he was at kissing. That and the fact that she was glad she'd filled her spare bottle with the good Chablis and shared it when they'd stopped to snack. He really did taste downright edible.

He pulled away and looked her right in the eyes. "They didn't give a damn about you, Kathryn Janeway. But I do. Don't forget that." He downed the rest of his wine, closed the thermos, and tucked everything back in her backpack. Then he shifted on the precipice and made to stand up.

Kathryn suddenly heard herself singing. "Kathryn klein, ging allein, in die weite Welt hinein…" Justin paused halfway to his feet, confused.

She looked up at him and explained. "I sang it, at the top of my lungs, fingers in my ears, trying to keep from hearing the Admiral's screams. By then I'd figured out that they didn't care what we were going to tell them. It was all a bloody power trip and they were only trying to break him. And that when it was my turn it would be the same with me."

He sat back down.

A moment passed as he looked back out over the waterfall. "How much did Admiral Paris tell you about what happened to me two years ago?"

"Just that you were tortured constantly for three days." The thought made her feel physically ill.

"What do you think that means?" he asked, still staring out at the water.

"I'm assuming you and the Admiral had the same device implanted in you."

He snorted. "No," he corrected forcefully. "Admiral Paris gave me too much credit letting you think that, and he shouldn't have. The device hadn't been invented yet. That only came along last year." A long pause, and she could see him contemplating how much to he wanted to tell her. "What they did to me was nothing more and nothing less than pain for pain's sake, injury for injury's sake. The Cardassians don't care if kill you but they sure want to make you feel dead. It's the cruelest power trip in the universe. That, we all endured."

He turned to her. "You asked me how I could go back in? The Cardassians who do this are evil, Kathryn, pure and simple. How can I turn down a responsibility to protect us from evil? That's a calling, Kathryn. That makes me feel alive. Find the things that make you feel alive and the Cardassians will never be able to hold you captive again."

He leaned over and kissed her again, so light on her lips he almost wasn't touching her. Then he stood and offered her his hand. "Let's go," he encouraged. "We're almost there." Kathryn belatedly realized she wasn't sure if he was referring to their recovery or the hike. She took his hand gently, as if receiving the peculiar gift of words which she had been given, knowing it would be a long time until she could unwrap their meaning.

Kathryn had thought she was in good shape. She was pleased to realize that at least physically, she was right.

The hiking poles Justin brought had proven a necessity for both of them. Crossing a glacier was something she'd never done before and it was work. She found it a challenging combination that required navigating sections of alternating loose powder and slippery ice. Their destination must be quite special, she figured, to be worth this trek.

They hadn't talked much during the final stretch. As they both focused more on their footing, Kathryn was glad for the lack of time to think. She did note with some envy that while she was beginning to break a sweat, Justin wasn't even breathing hard. A field of ice and snow unfolded ahead of them, and then behind them, and then they began to crest a bright white hill.

Then, she finally saw it: a wall of rock, perhaps 100 meters high, shaped like a half-moon, rising from the ground. With each step she could finally see a little more of what they had climbed all this way to visit.

The lake.

Hunks of white ice, some almost a half meter across, some just the size of ice cubes, bobbed peacefully in an enormous stone bowl of teal water. One could easily compare it to a crater-made lake, but she knew better. The silence was overwhelmingly peaceful. It was the kind of quiet that one only finds around snow and it took her breath away.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Justin whispered. She'd almost forgotten he was next to her.

"It's beautiful. I've never seen anything like it," she said. She took his hand and held it in hers. Her blue eyes found his. "Thank you. For bringing me here. Sharing this with me." She edged up on to her tiptoes and touched her forehead to his, letting her eyes drift closed. Their lips were drawn to each other like magnets. Slow, easy kisses became faster, more heated. Hands wandered.

Suddenly he pulled himself away, gasping for breath, still holding on to her hand.

"Not here," he protested, his breathing rough and ragged. "Don't get me wrong, the answer would be yes, but not right now. Not right here. Not on our first date." His eyes were wide and feral and his chest rose and fell visibly. She had to work to control her own breathing, to dam up the tidal wave of chemicals that suddenly coarsed through her veins. Goddamn it, she wanted him.

Instead she swallowed hard and nodded. Again, he was right. It was impossible in this moment not to think back to Cheb, and all of the simulations he'd felt the need to recreate as a backdrop for what could have been called anything but lovemaking. He'd bullied her into everything and she'd never stopped regretting it. "You're right. The holodeck is for teenagers," she commented absentmindedly.

"You deserve better, Kathryn," he said. What was that she saw in his eyes?

Oh, right. Respect.

Maybe I debased myself before, she thought with determination, but now's my chance to get it right. She could wait. She straightened up and tilted her head up to kiss him again, a chaste kiss that was nothing more than a promise. "Later," she whispered.

"Thank you," he breathed, and kissed her hand. The moment of tension broken, he shrugged off his backpack, opened it and removed two thermal blankets.

Kathryn was intrigued. "Another picnic?" she asked.

"No," he said to her, and then called out a command to the ship. "Computer, disengage safety protocols."

Suddenly worried, she asked, "What are you doing?"

His expression and his words were calm. "Mind if I go for a swim?"

There was no way to hide the shock on her face and she choked on the words in her reply. "A swim?"

"Just a quick dip. Very quick. Thirty seconds. Would that bother you?"

Kathryn thought back to her second-year roommate at the Academy, a tall, athletic woman from Sweden named Ritva, who commented frequently about missing the ice baths that were famous in her home town, claiming that they improved her mood and energized her. With her busy schedule, Kathryn had been disappointed that she'd never had the chance to take Ritva up on her invitation to visit the baths.

Now seeing a lake of ice water in person, she wasn't sure what the appeal for Ritva had been, and was caught between her own curiosity about the experience and downright squalid terror about jumping into a lake that was barely above freezing. "I'm not particularly feeling like reenacting the sinking of the Titanic, today, thanks. I'll stay out here where it's warm…er. Don't let me stop you."

"What's the Titanic?" he asked as he unfolded the two blankets.

She shook her head, laughing dismissively. "Nevermind." She watched as he put his hands on his hips and stared out at the water, clearly preparing himself for the leap of faith. "Do you do this every time you come here?" she asked.

He looked back at her and shook his head. "Not every time. Sometimes I'm in the mood for it. I always come prepared though." He came prepared with two sets of hiking poles, she thought. Why didn't he warn me about this part?

"What mood do you need to be in?" she asked.

He paused, as if trying to decide whether or not to tell her. "I need to feel alive."

Oh.

In spite of all of his bravado, his appearance of having mastered the path back to normal life, everything that had happened on Urtea II was still bothering him, too. Why hadn't that been obvious? Kathryn thought.

Justin sat down and removed his hiking boots, socks, then detached the length of the legs from his pants, leaving him in the shorts he'd worn at the beginning of the hike. He stood up and peeled off his shirt.

Kathryn felt faint. The man could be a perfect anatomist's model. He was skin, muscle, bone, and, she thought, pure perfection. Strong arms, strong chest, strong everything-

"It's not polite to stare," he commented with amusement in his voice and a smile on his face.

She averted her eyes, embarrassed, feeling a flush creep across her pale cheeks, and bit her lip. If this was how she was handling seeing him shirtless, she felt certain she would die when she finally saw him wearing nothing. She was just fine with that.

"Just get in the water, Justin, before I lose my mind." He grinned. She loved seeing him smile. She loved seeing him happy.

He called out another command to the ship. "Computer, disengage holodeck audio warnings for 60 seconds."

The computer verified his command, clear voice stating, "Warnings disengaged."

His eyebrows danced up in anticipation. "Back in a minute." He pivoted, and so did her desires.

"Wait," she said, and started shrugging off layers, then sitting down and yanking off her boots.

He looked at her, confused. "What are you doing?"

A boot dropped on the ground. "What does it look like? I've decided to join you." He looked taken aback. She reached down and zipped off her pant legs, leaving her in shorts.

He eyed her warily. "You're sure?"

Kathryn paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain her thinking. "You told me the only way past these damn flashbacks is to stop living in fear. Well, I'm damned afraid of jumping into a lake that's 3 degrees. But I want to, so I'll try."

The comment sank in. For a moment he didn't say anything, expression unreadable.

She took a deep breath then nodded. His blue eyes shone, holding her gaze. She wasn't an expert yet at reading all of the new emotions she was seeing on his face, but this one looked a lot like pride. It pleased her.

She took one look at the water and stripped down to her standard-issue workout bra.

"Kathryn…" he muttered.

"Consider it revenge," she smirked. "And don't blame me for this, blame whoever designed our uniforms." He rolled his eyes and laughed.

She'd begun to shiver as she took a deep breath and looked at the icy water in front of her toes. There was nothing left to do but stare her fear in the face.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied. They jumped hand-in-hand into the water.

It hit her like fire. She broke through the surface and could barely draw in a gasp. Fire wasn't right; it was more like getting stabbed by a million pins and needles all at once. Or maybe a million knives. Or laser scalpels. Either way, it was horrible. Horrible and thrilling all at once.

Kathryn forced her suddenly immobile limbs to move and began treading water before swinging her head around to look at Justin, her hair spraying water everywhere.

"Holy Mother of God this is cold!" she yelled.

Justin laughed. "Hurts like hell, right?" She tried to nod and could barely. He laughed. "Give it a few seconds, it'll start to feel hot." She exhaled sharply and could see her breath on the water. A tennis ball-sized chunk of ice floated between them. Justin extended an index finger and poked at it, sending it bobbing on its way farther into the lake, laughing with what Kathryn realized was an almost childlike mirth. He looked back at her, that mirth still evident. The hand that had just dispatched a miniature iceberg re-emerged from the water, and slowly, up to her face. Gently he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Feeling warm yet?"

Suddenly remembering to listen to her body, she realized that she was indeed feeling warm. "Y-y-yes," she said, teeth chattering. This just made him grin more broadly.

"Out we go, then." He put his hand between her shoulder blades and encouraged her forward. While she was still feeling for purchase on the edge of the rocks, he practically leapt out of the water and extended both hands to her. Grasping them, he hauled her out. He bent down and grabbed a thermal blanket and draped it over her before grabbing one for himself.

"That was wonderful," she said, smiling around chattering teeth.

He looked at her hopefully. "You enjoyed it?"

"I d-d-did." Another small laugh escaped his lips and he pulled her close to him, wrapping his blanket around them both. They stayed like that, neither feeling the need to say anything. Kathryn breathed a sigh of relief and rested her head on his chest as they stood, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

"Why aren't you shivering?" she asked.

"I grew up in a cold place," he said simply. "I'm used to it. You, on the other hand, don't look too comfortable."

She noticed she was still shivering. She'd forgotten to think about her own body, still being wrapped in his. "It's my hair," she muttered, reaching up to touch the soaked mass on her head. "I'm always cold until this dries, which takes a lifetime."

Justin's expression changed from one of amusement to the emotionless mask she was used to seeing him wear. "You can't hike out like this."

"So turn the safeties back on," she argued. "And yes, I can. I'll be fine."

"That's only going to keep you from getting hypothermia, Kathryn. You're still shivering."

"As long as I don't get hypothermia, I don't really care if I'm shivering. I have three layers of clothes I can put back on. I'll warm up on the hike back."

He looked at her and saw a fundamental shift in his demeanor. "I'm not going to have you shivering cold for three hours." He looked up and spoke a command. "Computer, begin scene 2."

Kathryn felt bewildered as the glacier vanished around her.

The scene changed to the lobby of a beautiful hotel overlooking an enormous glacial lake. Evening sunset burned in reds, oranges, pinks and yellows through windows five meters high, a stunning reflection on the calm water. A sunken lounge held a small restaurant of perhaps two dozen tables, all of which were elegantly set but empty.

"Where are we now?" she asked.

"Alberta, Canada, at the Prince of Wales Hotel. Still in Glacier Park." He turned away and walked the few paces over towards a bank of cozy chairs and couches in front of a roaring fireplace and indicated one of the couches closest to the fire. "First, sit down. Let's get you warmed up before dinner."

"What about the hike?" she asked.

"We're skipping the rest of it. Now sit," he ordered.

Kathryn stared at him, unmoving, realization coalescing into a sickening knot in her stomach. She could see that it didn't matter what they had admitted to each other over the last two days. Nothing had changed between them.

The question was, could it ever?