b Disclaimer: I own nothing and Joss owns all....for now ;) /b

When Spike awoke the next morning he found three things were terribly different. Firstly he was sitting on the ground. Secondly he was absolutely freezing cold and finally something small and shivery was curled up at his side.

Now this was defiantly not his nice, warm but lonely lodge room was it?

As he opened his eyes the memories of the day and night before flooded his mind and he let out a disappointed groan that it had all been a dream. The walk had been wonderful only to end in panic and danger. He looked at the girl by his side.

During the long, cold night Buffy had curled closer and closer until she was almost on his lap. Her right arm laid across his waist, holding him securely in her grasp and her head was pillowed in the junction between his neck and his shoulder. Her lips were slightly blue and she shivered slightly in her sleep, her body's natural way of trying to keep warm draining more strength from her. Her coat was soaked and almost iced over and her hair held a crusty resemblance to frozen gold.

Spike laid his cheek on the top of her head and tightened the hold he had with the arm around her shoulders to try and cease her shivering somewhat. It worked and she stopped shivering for a couple of seconds before trying to shuffle even closer to him and gain more heat from his skin. They were both freezing and pale and Spike realized that he had also started shuddering lightly.

i No good mate, you can't stay here and freeze to death. Have to keep your promise to the lady. /i

He moved his hand up and stroked the girl's face softly, frowning at how cold their skin was. Buffy's face shifted automatically and nuzzled his hand slightly, grateful for the unconscious comfort. He smiled and whispered into her ear.

"Buffy time to wake up pet, we have to move now. Come on luv, rise and shine."

He gave her a small shake and gave her a look of sympathy when he heard her groan and shiver harder.

"Where am I? Why is it so cold?"

i Great she doesn't remember. /i

He lifted her head from his shoulder and held it in his hands to see sleepy and slightly frightened eyes looking back at him. A look of recognition passed across her face and then a distant look as if she was straining to remember all that happened.

"I was really hoping it was all a dream but from our surroundings I'm guessing that hope is out."

She made an attempt to smile but her lips seemed stuck in a disappointed pout and for a moment, just for a moment, Spike couldn't help but smile himself and realize how cute she looked.

"Not to worry luv, we can't of gone so far from the lodge. There are four ranger's stations in this wilderness, each on a point of the compass. See this forest is a wildlife reserve of sorts. Shouldn't be too hard to find, the blizzards calmed down a bit by the sounds of the wind. Come on."

He gave her back an encouraging pat and then rolled onto his hands and knees and crawled out of the thicket he had found. Buffy was reluctant to leave but never the less, she followed him, praying there would be more shelter like this for them along the way.

When she came out of the entrance she was somewhat relived and disappointed at the same time. The snow was still coming down relatively fast but the wind had calmed down a great deal and it was possible to see a couple of meters in front of them now.

Trees, fallen logs, shrubs, branches, twigs and frozen leaves plastered the floor under and over the snow. There were no paths or trails to follow and she realized unfortunately they would have to climb over the logs and go around the shrugs, taking more time to get anywhere.

Buffy was trying desperately to keep up her cool and cheery nature but it was slowly dissolving with every glance around her she took. Tears clouded her eyes but she couldn't let them fall for fear they would freeze on her face!

Her mind whipped off of her stinging eyes however when she realized something cold and soft had taken her, rather numb, hand. She looked down at her hand to see another hand and a black sleeve attached to it. Her eyes lifted up to her left and there stood Spike, grasping her hand tightly and reassuringly with a small smile on his face. That smile did more for her in that moment than any good thoughts of warmth would and she was unable to stop the tiny smile that took over her lips.

He nodded at her and she nodded back, a mutual signal that they ere ready to go, and they began once again to trudge through the thick snow. The work was hard and made their already aching ankles hurt more. Their muscles seemed stiff and unresponsive and their skin was almost completely numbed. Both were soaked and pale and Spike knew that frostbite and hypothermia were defiantly a possible issue. But on they trudged. They couldn't stop now, not when they had just started again.

The walking warmed them slightly and their muscles protested slightly less, as if the icicles hanging from the ligaments had melted and left the tissue only chilled. Their walk was long and there were many fallen trees and slippery leaves to overcome but they went on, only talking when it was necessary to save their strength.

As they walked the heavy drifting snow became slightly lighter and after three hours only a few flakes were falling here and there. They had gone by many abandoned animal dens and Spike began wondering if there was perhaps anything in there they could salvage. Dry leaves and sticks and a place to burn them would be a Godsend for them and the Godsend looked to be in the shape of a badger den they came across three and a half hours into their hazardous journey.

"Over there Buffy. Do you see it? An old badger den, I bet he's left because of the stronger winds and heavy snow. Little bugger probably scampered into the opposite direction of the wind to hide deeper in brush. Come on we'll see what we can find."

He tugged buffy's hand gently and forced her to keep walking the distance to the den. He kneeled down on the dry patch before the den and reached inside, pulling out a dry clump of red and brown leaves. He grinned like a chesure cat and reached in to pull out some more.

A sudden roar emitted from his mouth and his eyes screwed shut in obvious pain. He jumped back quicker than Buffy could get out of the way and they both went sprawling into the snow and away from the den.

From her position, buried under Spike's back, she could just see out of the corner of her eye a very unhappy looking badger poke it's head out of the den and start scratching some of the leaves back inside.

Turning her attention to the back of Spike's head, which laid over her right shoulder, she tapped him on the shoulder and gasped out.

"Is everything ok? What happened?"

i Geez he's heavy...I wonder if he works out i

Spike, who had been laying on something very soft and reciting every curse word her knew, turned his head and realized he had landed on Buffy. He rolled over and off of her and sat up on his knees looking at her and tightly clutching his right hand.

Buffy let out a sigh and pulled in a lungful of damp, cold air not that her lungs were no longer being squashed and looked back at him.

"The bloody little bugger bit me!"

He clenched his jaw and reverted his eyes down to his clasped hands and slowly unclasped them. As soon as he did so, small rivulets of blood made their way out from the teeth mark's left in his skin. The large punctures were ripped open wider where the badger hand locked its jaw and Spike had tried to pull his hand away. The skin on the back of his hand and between his thumb and forefinger was completely shredded and the flesh was red and bloody. Extremely painful looking.

They both watches as the blood ran dawn his fingers and onto the snow, a striking contrast. Red on white. He scooped up some snow in his other hand and packed it onto the other hand, growling when the cold icy snow made contact with the wound. The cold method worked though, and soon the bleeding had slowed considerably.

Buffy watched with concerned eyes as his face contorted every now and then in a mask of pain, which he quickly tried to hide.

"I-is it ok? Does it need stitches?

"Probably, hard luck though, got nothing to stitch it with. Just have to wrap it up and move, we can't stay here."

Spike undid his coat and pulled the corner of his red button down shirt out and ripped off a long strip. He then proceeded to wrap it and tie it around his injured hand. Buffy could see he was struggling so she took the makeshift bandage with shaking fingers and carefully wrapped it tight around his shredded flesh. She tied it carefully but tightly and then placed a hesitant kiss on top of the 'bandage'.

"All better."

She attempted a smile through her chattering teeth and was rewarded by a pained but genuine smile back.

"Come on pet, can't stay here in this dingy spot all day can we now? Got a nice warm lodge to get back to."

He stood and helped Buffy up, this time unable to take her hand. He looked down at his injured hand and then at Buffy's pale, almost blue face, and then extended his arm to her. She slipped under it and put her own arm around him, comfortably holding each other up and retaining, as much warmth was they could.

On they trudged over logs and twigs. Several times they fell and forced their achy muscles to work and pull themselves back up. Spike licked his lips and realized they were becoming dry and cracked, he stopped and made her stop so he could tilt her head up to his and he could see that her lips were also cracked and blue. They had gone a long while without food or water and they would defiantly need both.

He smiled kindly to her face and looked around. Nothing but snow, they would have to make do with it. Spike knew that eating snow could cause fast hypothermia but it was that and fight it off or keep going and pass out from hunger and exhaustion and then get hypothermia.

He let go of Buffy's waste and went forward a few places then bend down and picked up a handful of snow and brought it back.

"We need to keep up our strength so this is the only option I can come up with at the moment. Maybe we can scare up another badger later and settle out hunger."

Buffy's eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she realized he might not be joking. Would they really have to resort to eating badgers? Buffy felt a wave of nausea pass over her as Spike put a lump of snow in her hands.

"Just wet your lips a bit luv, eh? It won't be too bad if we don't take too much. If we were in less of a hurry I'd wait 'till is melts but we can't afford to stop just yet."

He looked at the snow in his hands and slowly brought it up to his lips taking a tiny amount of the clean snow in and swallowing it. It felt wonderful to his throat but he knew it did nothing for their body temperature. He watched as Buffy did the same and they both dropped the excess snow that they could not afford to eat.

He wrapped his arms around her comfortingly and pressed a small tentative kiss to her forehead before pulling her along once again into the drift of snow.