Author's Note: Since there's a pretty fair description of the lodge in Snowbunnies, I'm not going to bother going into too much detail on the tour that Andrew is giving Ian, just so you all know. Sorry about the wait on this, too, I think I'm trying to catch a cold or something cause I've been dragging all week.

OOOOOOOOO

The upstairs of the lodge was reserved mostly for bedrooms, and Ian had a peek into each of them – once he'd been assured that none of the rooms upstairs were living quarters for any of the people in Andrew's family.

"Everyone lives downstairs," Andrew told him, showing him the room that Jaffer had been born in. On the wall of this room was a large photo of Jack stretched out on the bed wearing a pair of sweats, lying next to a lab Ian assumed was Shadow who had a litter of buff colored puppies at her side. Among the yellow puppies were two black ones, and Ian smiled, wondering which one was Jaffer.

"Grandma put that there," Andrew said. "She sent Jack a copy of it – it's on his Wall."

Ian nodded. He'd seen it there, but the one hanging on Jack's Wall was much smaller, and there wasn't so much detail as there was in this one. You could even see the arrowhead necklace that was one of Jack's most prized possessions – although he never wore it anymore since it was getting worn and he was always afraid of losing it.

"That's awesome."

Andrew nodded.

He gave Ian a few more minutes to look at the picture, and then led him out the door and back downstairs, where he showed him all the other rooms, including the supply room that held all the skiing, inner tubing and sledding equipment. There were enough extra jackets and hats and gloves here in this room to supply Ian's entire platoon at the academy, he decided.

"If you were a good skier, we'd take a couple passes down the mountain," Andrew said, eyeing the skis and poles wistfully. It was obvious he wanted to ski, but Ian had no intention of breaking their promise to Andrew's mom. Besides, he wasn't stupid, and he had a very good imagination. He was well aware that there was every chance he'd break every bone in his body if he crashed into a tree going out of control 40 miles an hour down a mountain.

"I'm not," he replied, shaking his head. "And there's no way in hell we're going to risk it. Especially after your mom made sure to remind you she didn't want you skiing."

Andrew made a face, but he didn't argue. It had just been a thought, anyways, and he knew Ian didn't ski – so he really knew better than to even mention it. He'd just been hoping Ian might have said something like 'oh, I forgot to mention, I'm a great skier', or something like that. A slim hope.

He shrugged.

"Come on, I'll show you around the outside."

They walked out into the bright sunshine – although it was already nearly 3PM and Andrew knew they weren't going to want to stick around much longer if they didn't want to drive home in the dark. Despite the fact that the days were getting longer, it still got dark fairly early in the mountains, and the lodge was no exception. Of course, there wasn't all that much to see outside, really. Unless you were a tree and snow lover, because that was pretty much all there was just then.

"This is the ski area," Andrew said, taking Ian out to the cleared area that ran about 80 feet wide and more than halfway up the mountain – although part of it was rocky enough that Ian was sure no one actually skied that far up.

"This is where that avalanche caught you?" Ian asked with interest, looking at the towrope that was designed to keep people from being forced to hike up the mountain in order to ski down it.

Andrew nodded, gesturing further down the slope.

"It caught us here somewhere, but we ended up way down the slope. We should have all been killed…"

Ian had heard the story from Jack – who understandably didn't remember all that much of it, since he'd been badly injured and had ended up delirious with a head injury and the pain of the others all coming to bear on him.

"Sounds like it…"

Andrew nodded again, and just as he was about to say something else there was a loud booming noise that echoed through out the mountains around them. A moment later there was a loud rumbling.

Andrew blanched, looking around, startled.

"What was that?" Ian asked, feeling just a little nervous as well – especially with all the talk of avalanches.

"They must be doing avalanche control," Andrew said, feeling stupid for flinching, although Ian didn't look like he was about to make fun of him for it.

"Avalanche control?"

Andrew nodded.

"When the snow starts to melt the DOT – department of transportation – comes out into the mountains and sets off a series of avalanches – to keep there from being a big one."

Ian frowned. Avalanche control wasn't something he'd ever heard of, and it sounded like a crock of shit.

"They set off avalanches?"

Andrew grinned.

"It's better to have the little ones come down where you want it to and ease all the pressure on the snow pack than to have a huge one come crashing down out of nowhere and maybe kill someone."

Huh. Yeah, okay… that was a good point.

"That makes sense."

"Yeah." Andrew looked up at the mountains around them, though, still feeling a little nervous out in the open like he was. He always would, he knew. Especially with that rumbling going on so close by – even though he knew they weren't coming from above them where it would be a danger.

"We should probably head back, Ian," he said, finally. "It's going to be dark pretty soon and I-"

"I don't want to drive in the dark if I can avoid it," Ian said, accepting that reason for leaving, although he was pretty sure there was more to it than that. Not that he could blame Andrew for being a bit gunshy as far as avalanches were concerned. He'd never been in one, so he didn't know how bad it was – but Andrew had every right to want to go. "Let's get going."

They went back inside and Andrew turned the heat back down, but told Ian to just hang on to the jacket he was wearing until they made it back to town. No sense freezing on the way home, after all. Ian nodded, and stood on the porch while Andrew locked the front door of the lodge, and then the two of them headed for the car.

"We still have a few hours of light, right?" Ian asked as he started it up. Not that he didn't want to drive in the dark, but he didn't want to drive on the shitty little barely plowed road that led to the lodge in the dark. The interstate was fine; it wasn't slick. The little road was slicker than snot, and he'd just as soon navigate it in the light.

Andrew nodded.

"Good."

He turned the car towards the road, and they headed out.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Well… shit."

Less than three miles down the road, Ian and Andrew found that things had definitely changed since they'd come up to the lodge. The main thing being that where there had once been a slight turn in the road, there was now a huge wall of snow.

"Son of a bitch…"

Ian looked over at Andrew. It was actually the first time he'd heard him swear, but he did it fairly well. Of course, he'd probably spent time with Jack, and Jack was pretty good at it when he wanted to be.

"Avalanche control?" He asked, wondering what the fuck they were going to do.

"They don't normally block the roads without sending a letter warning the people on the road that they're going to do it," Andrew said, annoyed. "But they're good enough at setting them off that they know where they're going to go…"

"Tell me we don't have to wait for spring for them to clear the road…"

Andrew shook his head.

"They'll clear it soon… but not soon enough…"

"Meaning…?"

"We'd better get back to the lodge and call my mom."

Great.