A/N: I'm not sure how this chapter turned out. Don't know what works and what doesn't yet. If you have time to spare, please tell me your favourite line and what you felt when you read it. Thank you for reading!

.oOo.

The last of the fruits near their main pod has already been foraged. But the forest beyond their radius was still untouched.

It seemed strange to be carrying back all these supplies but not eating them. They were to eat what they can here, in this part of the forest where they could still forage something, and leave the ration packs untouched.

Amanda proposed they stay there until they could forage all the food. Then just head back to their main pod when they had already swept it bare, just like what they did in the nearby area of their camp. There was no point in going back to their previous pod when the small, but adequate escape pod here was more than capable enough to keep them warm.

The ration packs wouldn't last all winter. In here, they can extend their lives for a few more days. And perhaps outrun it. Back in the old pod meant starvation after ration packs run out.

But there was the issue of the storms. The last time the snowstorms raged on and buried them deep, they were well inside the big pod with oxygen supplies until the snow melted and blew enough for them to get out of the hatch.

It would be different now with a small pod. The oxygen supply inside could only last for twenty days. Ten because there's two of them. What if they were buried for fifteen? The bigger escape pod had oxygen supply of 40 days before the biofilters need to process more air again.

So to remedy this, they stuck a small metal at the hatch to let natural air fill instead of turning on life-support. Those would only be reserved for an emergency blizzard. It was dreadfully cold. But they could not close the hatch's tiny little outlet because then, there wouldn't be any air.

Sarek agreed. And things started to brighten up. A little. They ate what they could forage: frozen berries crystalized it looked like rubies and emeralds, frozen nuts, and barks; a lot of barks. The rations were not to be touched when there was still an abundance of things to forage in this part of the forest. They split up to cover more area. Some days she would come back with nothing but hope that when she arrived at the camp, Sarek would be luckier, or be more probabilistic as he would put it, and have some food in his hand.

When she found something to eat, she would gather it and return to the pod in relatively high spirits. She would show it to Sarek. When at times, both of them came back empty-handed, they'd open one ration and share it quietly for their dinner. Amanda was already conditioned against touching the ration. For her, opening the box meant starvation albeit later. It was a paradox. When what she wanted was to not be hungry, she felt more hungry while eating, knowing that there wouldn't be anything to eat tomorrow. Like a sort of inverted conditioning in her brain. Then she'd be afraid to eat because she'd go hungry. Opening the ration packs only happened rarely, and mostly in the morning, where they would need more calories to burn when they were looking for food. If there was a piece of fruit no matter how small, no ration packs would be opened. The piece of fruit would do well to ward off their hunger for the night.

One day, the thing which they have been dreading finally came. The wind started to blow softly. A little while later it became a whiz. It was the tell-tale signs of another blizzard. It was fortunate that they were both near the pod when the storm came close enough to be identified.

"Amanda, get inside!" Sarek shouted across. For the first time, Sarek was dismayed that Amanda was holding on to a bunch of frozen fruits. From his viewpoint, her strides looked dragging and barely moving, but in reality, she was already running as fast as her legs and her hands holding on to the fruits could carry. Sarek mentally calculated her distance, and the storm's speed, along with the probabilities before he sprinted to her direction.

She grabbed her hand and dragged her back to their little pod.

Sarek timed it perfectly. His eyes never left the tricorder, and his hands held on to the opening. They were taking a risk being buried in this snow with only ten days of life-support. Finally, when the wind was already too strong it might blow off the top hatch, he closed the latch. The automatic life support came to life the moment it locked with the lid. The timer for the oxygen supply started its countdown. Their vigil had begun.

He turned the oxygen supply at 80%. The timer for the oxygen time climbed higher to 12.5 days. They were to sleep if they can since they would use less oxygen when sleeping. They were to avoid talking or moving too much. Amanda scooted beside Sarek to keep herself warm. Then she lay the thick blanket atop them.

A human could not expect to hold such a position without causing mischief. At exactly 35 hours and 24.67 minutes, she finally cracked and started singing. Softly at first, it was almost as if whispering to herself. Until it grew when she thought a louder singing noise was no longer awkward. Sarek swerved his head to look at her.

And still, the blizzard blew. The blizzard blew. They could hear its blowing sound. Amanda would gaze out of the window. It was almost beautiful. If it weren't trying to kill them.

The next day, the snow piled up and up to the window. In a few more hours, Amanda would no longer be able to see the outside whirlwind swirl. And it was causing her distress.

"Sarek, the blizzard. It's going to burry us to death."

"No, it will not."

But it didn't make her any less uneasy.

Amanda was quite surprised when an arm draped around her shoulders.

"What are you doing?"

"Endeavoring to increase your serotonin hormone for you to have a higher sense of security." He did not tell her how it was a calculated risk. For it worked both ways. Touching her would also increase his serotonin levels and set the gears of the hormones further connecting Amanda with increased serotonin production. And the cycle would spiral and repeat itself until the thought pattern of an attraction that he was reluctant to form is already too strong to cut. A bond would form. Like a small brook slowly making into an unstoppable crashing river. No matter. If he watches it most carefully, he would prevent it from going deeper and wider. That way there would not be any adverse psychological strains.

But just like any other drugs and enchantments, the more that Sarek does not notice its production, the more potent it has become. Until there would come a time he can no longer live without those chemicals. He would be well beyond saving.

"Thank you."

"It would not be beneficial to have you mentally breakdown from under our current circumstances," he rationalized. It was borne out of need.

"I see," she said quietly. "Helping me was only logical. Like when I held the rope to you instead of going to the shelter alone."

"No, it was not. You should have gone ahead." The words formed on his mouth on its own accord. Part of his brain must have noticed how illogical it was. For to not save himself would also mean Amanda would die. This alone would have served as a red flag for Sarek to cease and desist. It was a red flag to tell him his brain had gone on auto-pilot. On emotions. Amanda must live. Even at the cost of his life. But he was far too gone in the rabbit hole to notice. Falling. Falling. And so he denied its existence.

"Sarek, you could have died!"

"So could you."

She would have argued more but the snow rose higher and she shivered anew.

"Do not worry. Being buried in the snow will be the same as being in space. The pod will keep us safe."

The snow rose steadily up until she could no longer see anything from the window but white. They were now officially buried. She tried to console herself that it made no difference because even if they weren't she would not have been able to go out anyway. But only Vulcans could logic away phobia. Her mind refused to calm down despite all her explanations that it was relatively safe.

Her concerns may have something to do with the fact that Sarek only turns on the heater once in a while. When he turns it on, the energy from the deuterium goes one degree lower. Amanda watched the battery levels blink.

Sarek sensed her distress. In efforts to keep her mind staring at the window, Sarek told her stories from Vulcan. There was this girl, T'Maleth wanted to go to the stars. She was in love with T'Leva. T'Leva did not want to see the stars. But T'Maleth promised she would come back when his time came.

But T'Maleth's ship was stranded in the one Centauri Alpha quadrant. When T'Leva's time came, he would have no other mate, so he died. It was said that up until now, T'Maleth was still trying to get home to T'Leva. And that one day, they would meet among the stars.

"What a romantic Romeo and Juliet story," Amanda exclaimed.

"The story was told to warn Vulcan children to value the logistics of survival in choosing a mate instead of putting more value and weight to emotional factors."

"And humans may argue it would be better to live only a day with a loved one than a thousand elsewhere."

He turned the heater off. The room's temperature started dropping off again. She drew her body closer to him and wrapped the blanket more tightly to both of them. Sarek dutifully noticed it took her focus out of being buried alive. So to keep the morales of the ship, he was logic-bound to tell more.

"Have you ever watched the movie Lost in Space?"

"Another Terran fiction?"

"Yes, it's very informative and entertaining."

"If I had wanted to be informed, I would peruse the journals published in that area of research. There is no need to watch a film which only has bits of information scattered about the story."

"Not everyone can crunch numbers like you."

"Pardon, I do not comprehend how a number which is an abstract representation could be crunched. Does not crunch imply grinding or pulverizing a solid matter into smaller particles?"

Amanda wiped her face from exasperation.

All the time they were talking, Amanda could still hear the tell-tale signs that the blizzard was still going strong on the surface.

Outside their pod, the snow was already frozen. It was as if they had been buried by an avalanche. Day after day, Amanda looked for signs that that snow would finally thaw but there was no sign that it was ever going to relent.

Finally, Sarek concluded they would have to use the thrusters to propel themselves upward to the surface.

Amanda held her breath. If it doesn't work, they would be stuck inside with still no oxygen. The thrusters were turned on, the machine started making the sounds. The snow stood solid and unrelenting. Sarek gave pulse power to the thrusters in bursts. Until finally, the ice on top of them relented, and they were slowly heading upward. It was a slow and steady process, but they were making progress until finally, they were out in the open.

When they got out of the pod, Amanda smelled the cold air of winter and plopped herself to the ground. It was a pale beauty of death that stared at her when they got out. Everything glinted in the faint sun like it was coated with diamonds from the frost.

Sarek merely looked out of the window on what she was up to, then proceeded to pack the bags for another journey.

Sarek cut some thin wood to make a sort of sleigh, so they were able to strip the pod of the additional supplies they might need and carry it back by just dragging it behind them. Two ropes were tied to the plank (Amanda used the typical square knot), then tied to their waist. Both of them were expected to pull their weight. The snow was so deep they did not have a problem dragging it smoothly behind.

They packed the remaining rations to their makeshift sleigh and decided to head for the cave where they once sought shelter from the storm. It was warm enough, and the surroundings would still be teaming with things they could forage.

The ground was flat but now and then they would run into some branches shooting upwards. Amanda assumed they were the top of the trees. The climate here was unforgiving.

They ran into trouble when the sleigh bumped into one of the big lumps of snow. The snow shook off to reveal dried grass, mud and sticks clumped up to make a small hill. When Amanda looked inside the small hole that their sleigh accidentally created, she saw a pile of rikki-tikkis all curled up in a ball sleeping closely together. They did their best to cover the opening. Sarek was in the middle of closing it up when he head Amanda gasp.

"Sarek, look!"

Right in front of them, were more small hill holes for the rikki-tikkis. Avoiding the holes made their progress slow. Sometimes they had to lead the sleigh by their hand to avoid it from hitting anything.

During the nights, they would camp out. Amanda would simply tie a rope from two trees then run their thermal blanket on top of it. Then she would secure the ends to the ground to make it look like a tent. They would sleep in turns to guard the food and from potential predators.

.oOo.

"Home sweet home," said Amanda when they arrived at the cave where they stayed in earlier during the winter storm. She put her bag in the corner like it was her bedside.

"What's for dinner?"

"We have some of the tree bark carvings," replied Sarek.

Amanda chose a comfortable nook to lay their blankets in. She laid out only one since they have never slept apart ever since that debacle in the snow. Sarek glanced at it and made no further inquiry. It was a sleeping arrangement borne out of mutual convenience. When winter is past, they could properly go back to sleeping separately.

At the far side near the cave's entrance was their kitchen. There was a convenient bump on the rocks. They took advantage of this to make a makeshift stove, they only need to lay three rocks to prop up their bowl properly.

When they come back from foraging, Amanda or Sarek would be sure to carry some firewood for it to keep ample supplies.

"Forgive me. I am quite fatigued. I will retire for the night," said Sarek at last. Nobody said anything after that. The pod where they were last staying was not big enough to properly separate. But they had to sit and Sarek had to hold her to stop Amanda from being scared of being buried alive.

Sarek laid on his back with one of his hands on his eyes, presumably to cover it from the light of the fire.

When she was setting up the bed a little while earlier, she didn't think much about it, but it was just naturally assumed that it had to be their sleeping arrangement. There was no question about it. But now that they were doing it, the bed loomed bigger, like an elephant in the room.

She sat there for a while, trying to contemplate what to do next. Very soon the firewood was all burnt up, and it would be illogical to use more if they were to preserve all resources. Illogical. Since when did she start using that word? In any case, there was no need to burn more firewood than necessary. She stomped the fire clean.

Amanda shivered just after a while of stamping on the fire. The cave was dark, now that there was no longer any fire to fill it with light. She found her way to the nook where their bed was located and underneath the thermal blanket, facing away, she laid down in Sarek's arm. She head fit perfectly well in the nook of his arm. When she settled herself, he faced sideways towards her and draped his other arm to draw her close to him. He laid his hand close to her shoulder so that his whole arm seems to cover her body. Amanda tugged the blanket more securely to cover them.

"Goodnight, Amanda."

"Goodnight, Sarek."