Chapter 3: Raiding the Freezer
Flashback
Eleven year old Christine was in Colorado learning how to snowboard with her entire family, who were having a big family reunion. Everybody was having a good time, when all of a sudden they heard a rumbling sound and the ground started to vibrate. They all looked up the mountain and saw a cloud of white starting to rush down towards them. Christine heard someone scream, "Avalanche!" and everybody starting skiing down the mountain to the closest avalanche shelter.
Christine being inexperienced hit a mogul with her board and fell. A blond woman saw this happen and she broke off from her fleeing family to help her up. They both looked at each other knowing that they didn't have enough time to get to one of the avalanche shelters. They both hugged each other and Christine looked up at the woman with a tear streaked face and said "Thank you." Then she was consumed by darkness.
End Flashback
Christine gasped as she shot straight up from her bed. She started to shake and noticed she was covered in a sheen of sweat. She settled back down in her bed to try and go back to sleep, but after 15 minutes she knew it wasn't going to happen. So, she got up, put on her USAF sweatshirt over her pj's and tip-toed downstairs into the kitchen to raid the freezer for some ice cream.
When she got there she noticed a figure sitting in the kitchen already digging into a pint of Hagen Daaz cherry cheesecake ice cream. The figure looked up "Couldn't sleep?"
"No, I see you couldn't too, Mr. Tracy", replied Christine with a smile. She grabbed a spoon and a pint of Hagen Daaz Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, sat down across the table from him and started digging in.
"So, what's your reason for talking a midnight dip into the freezer?" asked Jeff with a wink.
"Had the same bad dream again, and yourself?" said Christine.
"Ditto" replied Jeff.
Flashback
Jeff and Lucille Tracy were vacationing in Colorado with their boys. This was the first trip in awhile since he and Lucille have been busy with work. They were having a great time teaching their boys how to ski. When they heard someone scream "Avalanche!" they started for the nearest avalanche shelter.
Jeff got the boys to the shelter and noticed that Lucille wasn't with them. He looked outside and saw that she was helping a little girl up and that they were still some distance away. He yelled "Lucille!" and started to leave the shelter. One of the other occupants grabbed him and said "It's too late, they'll never make it" but Jeff refused to give up he grabbed for the door and then the avalanche hit.
Search and Rescue was out there in no time trying to find survivors. Jeff volunteered to help, but they refused and said that he should take the boys to the lodge to wait for any news of their mother. He reluctantly agreed and they waited in the lodge holding onto each other and praying that everything would be alright.
Some time later they heard yelling and they saw Lucille and the little girl being wheeled into the lodge and outside to the waiting ambulances. Jeff grabbed the boys and piled them into their car to follow the ambulance to the hospital.
Jeff was waiting in the ER when the doctor came in. The doctor had a solemn look on his face and took Jeff to the side away from earshot of the boys. "I'm sorry Mr. Tracy, but Mrs. Tracy has severe internal bleeding and we can't stop it. If she got here just a little bit sooner we might have been able to help her."
Jeff just sat there in shock not knowing what to say. "Can…can we see her?" he finally stammered out.
"Of course you can" replied the doctor.
Jeff got the boys and entered the room. There laying on a hospital bed was Lucille, she didn't look like she was in any pain at all and there beside her in another bed was the little girl. Lucille looked up at Jeff with a sad smile and no words needed to be said. Lucille looked at the boys and gave each one a hug and kiss said she loved them and that she will be very proud of them no matter what they do. The boys looked at her and smiled sadly. Jeff then asked a 14 year old Scott to take his brothers out for a couple of minutes so he can talk to their mother.
Before Jeff could say anything Lucille said "I want you to do me a favour, Jeff."
"Anything for you" he said.
"Look at that little girl over there" they looked at the girl lying peacefully in the next bed with a broken arm and a tear streaked face. "Her name is Christine and I want you to take care of her. The doctors said that her entire family was killed in the avalanche. It was so strong that it destroyed the avalanche shelter her family was in. She doesn't have anybody to take care of her now and she's only 11 years old."
Seeing the look of shock and sympathy on his face Lucille knew that Jeff had already fallen in love with the girl and that he would. "I promise" he said.
"Thank you so much" she said and a single tear fell down from her face. "Tell the boys again that I love them and that I will miss them."
"We love you too mom, so very much and we'll miss you too" said a 10 year old Virgil just as the boys entered the room. Everybody smiled and then Lucille Tracy closed her eyes and gave her last breath. When that happened everybody just sat holding each other in silence while tears ran down their faces.
End Flashback
Jeff shivered at that memory again and looked up at Christine. Even though he lost his wife, he gained a special woman that he liked to call his daughter, even though she wasn't adopted.
"Do you miss her?" asked Christine.
"Yes, I do. You probably miss your family too, don't you?" said Jeff.
"I do, but I can't remember them that much. I have you guys though and you have been the best family I have ever had and ever will have" smiled Christine. Even through her smile Jeff could see the pain still in her eyes after all of these years.
To lighten the mood Jeff smiled back "I knew I liked you the best" and they both started to laugh.
After a little bit more talking Christine started to get tired "Well I'm going to go to bed, don't stay up too late" Which made Jeff laugh, she always seemed to act like a mother to everyone. She got up to leave smiling and waved goodnight.
While walking to her room Christine went check on everyone to see if they were alright, which was an old habit she couldn't shake off. She checked Alan's room first and saw that he was snuggled under the covers cuddling up against the teddy bear she bought for him when he was 5. When Christine gave him the bear she told him that it was his guardian angel to help his mother look after him. So, for a couple of years he carried that bear with him everywhere so he would always have his mother with him.
Christine went on to Gordon's room and saw that he was sleeping the wrong way on his bed, with his feet sitting on his pillow and his head at the foot board. He was also laying on top of the covers from tossing in his sleep. Christine remembered before she left for the Air Force, a 14 year old Gordon tossing so much in his bed that his feet were on the bed and the rest of him was on the floor in the morning. She couldn't help but smile at the memory.
Christine then ventured to Virgil's room. She saw that his bed was empty and that he was sleeping at his desk where there were sheets of music everywhere. In the middle of the night Virgil would always get ideas on how to fix a song he was composing and fall asleep at his desk. She went over to wake him up and then helped him into his bed so he would get a good rest and not wake up in the morning with a sore neck.
She then went to check on John. John was sprawled all over the bed and tangled in his covers. She always wondered how he got into that mess and how he ever got out in the morning. He had his arm over his face to cover his eyes, like he was hiding from the world. That always worried her so she moved his arm away from his face and continued onward.
She hesitated when she reached the door for Scott's room, but her habit got the best of her and she looked in. He was laying on his bed tossing and turning in his sleep mumbling something she couldn't understand. Christine rushed over and saw that he was having a very bad nightmare. He was covered in sweat and she saw tears running down his face. Her heart broke seeing him in this state.
Ever since Scott's mother died he would occasionally have horrible nightmares. He never talked about them with anyone, but one night when they were younger Christine heard him and confronted him the next morning about the dreams. After her persistent pestering he gave in and opened up to her about them and that was something they kept secret.
Scott's mumbling broke her out of her reverie; he seemed to be getting worse. She started to talk quietly to him and stroked his hair to soothe him from his dream. After what seemed like forever he calmed down to a deep sleep and Christine felt confident enough to leave the room. When she shut the door she turned around to Jeff standing in the hallway.
"You have to be the only person to calm him down that fast" smiled Jeff.
"Why? How did…? How long have you been in there for to try to calm him down before?" she asked surprised.
"It would range to several hours to most of the night. You only took an hour" he grinned. "How long have you known about the dreams?"
"Since I was 12, I made him talk about them so he didn't have to bottle it all up, something we both know he's very good at doing" she said.
Jeff chuckled "You're right we need to work on him being more open with everyone"
"Same goes for John" said Christine "He's too quiet. I'll work on getting him to be more outgoing first"
Jeff chuckled "We conspire way too much. Well, we'll talk about this later it's getting late"
"You're right, well I'll see you in the morning, bright and early" and walked to her room to get some sleep for the remainder of the night.
Jeff walked back to his room and realization dawned on him. Christine reminds him of Lucille. Christine had the same sense of humour, patience, temper, and most of all heart. He crawled into bed thinking how lucky he was to have such a good and caring woman back with the family…and part of International Rescue.
(TBC)