Chapter 5 - Collateral

It was just a few days before Christmas when Nolan caught up with Elin in the barn. With the high numbers of kids around, she'd made it a point to cover the chores for her mother and was reading in her spare time in the loft of the barn where no one would bother her. He was grinning when he showed up and pulled out one of the blankets that he knew Elin's mother kept tucked away in the barn and took a seat next to her, covering both of them up before he automatically pulled her closer.

"So, I'm getting ready to head out," he said. "And I wanted to make sure you got your gift before Christmas day, so …" He reached into his jacket pocket and simply handed her a box, about the size of his palm, that was neatly wrapped.

"You really didn't have to do that," Elin said, smirking crookedly. "Yours is under the tree."

"Yeah, well. I wanted to," Nolan said before he stole a kiss that definitely went on longer than she was expecting. He grinned wider as he gestured for her to go ahead, though he kept one hand on her knee as he stuck tight to her.

Elin raised an eyebrow at him but shook her head and unwrapped it, only to freeze when she saw that it was a velvet box - and then she hesitated a moment longer before she opened it to find a ring, of all things. "What ….."

"It's a promise ring," Nolan told her, still grinning. "Like a step before an engagement."

She went pale and quickly snapped the box shut. "I can't take it."

"Why not?" he asked, looking positively confused.

"Because … no," she said, shaking her head as she pushed it back into his hands. He continued to stare at her, his expression shifting from confused to angry. "I can't accept it, Nolan. I'm nowhere near … no." She pushed away from him and got to her feet. "You can't just spring something like that …." She shook her head and started out of the loft, her cheeks bright red against her still-pale complexion. And she didn't wait for him to respond, either, truly not too concerned on if he got mad and just … stopped seeing her at that point.

There was no reason, in her mind, to think that something that serious was coming from him. No matter how he tried to frame it … just a baby step before something more serious … it flat out made her uncomfortable, and she was going to try to follow those instincts when they popped up instead of ignoring them like she had been. Of course, she wasn't entirely sure what Rachel would have to say about it when she talked to her, but … there it was anyhow.

When she got inside, Charlie and Chance were hanging out together with some hot cocoa and chatting. Charlie got hit with all of the emotions coming off of Elin and quickly got to her feet to run to where Elin was. "What happened? You're a mess; come sit down."

"Nothing important," Elin grumbled, though she let Charlie pull her over.

"You're shocked and shaken and upset," Charlie pointed out as she sat down. "What scared you that bad?"

"It doesn't really matter now," Elin said, taking a moment to close her eyes and work on her breathing. "Just … a very unwanted gift."

"So, who do I need to hit?" Chance offered.

Elin glanced up at him as if she had just realized he was there. "No one. It … isn't really a hittable offense."

Kade had somehow slipped into the room and grinned when he saw Elin, rushing over to her as fast as he could. "I saw it. I saw what your boyfriend got for you before he wrapped it, and I call being the ringbearer," he declared happily, grinning up at her and wrapping his arms around her legs in a hug.

"What the hell?" Chance blurted out, looking like Kade had knocked all the breath out of him.

Elin looked completely miserable and was pale all over again. "No - Kade … it was not an engagement ring - and I refused it, okay? Oh my God."

"But I want to be the ringbearer!" Kade insisted with his lower lip pushed out.

"Kade, it's not happening," Chance said with a little more sharpness to his tone than he'd meant to use.

"I'm only fifteen anyhow," Elin said, still sounding like the wind was out of her sails. "No."

Kade let out a long breath of obvious disappointment before he finally shrugged. "Okay. Maybe when you're bigger," he decided before he grinned, hopped up on the couch to kiss her cheek, and then rushed off, cackling to himself.

Chance was glaring a bit after Kade, but Charlie looked honestly relieved as she leaned over to hug Elin. "I'm glad you didn't take it," she whispered to Elin. "I know you don't want that. I'm glad you didn't let him push you - and that you're not stringing him along."

"He got mad, too," Elin said as she hugged her back. "I thought I might have to kick the crap out of him for a second, but that would probably have been a harsh 'no', wouldn't it?"

"Not really," Chance muttered.

"It was my fault," Elin said, letting all her breath out at once.

"No way," Chance said quickly.

"It really kind of was, Chance," Elin told him.

"Unless you asked him to buy you a ring for Christmas… no."

She gave him a little smile and shook her head. "Such faith," Elin said quietly.

"Hey, if I can't believe in my best friend, I'm the one with a problem," Chance said.

"I've been horrible at sticking to my boundaries," Elin admitted. "And I've let him push me. So, yes. It is my fault."

Chance blinked at her for a moment, but his sister was the one to rescue him. "But you set this boundary," Charlie said. "And you won't let him cross it."

"No way in hell," Elin agreed.

"I'm really glad to hear it," Charlie said with a smile. "Stand up for yourself."

"I hope Rachel has the same take on it," Elin said, leaning into Charlie.

"I can twist her arm if she gives you flack," Charlie said. "But I doubt she'll give you a hard time for finally setting him back."

"Yeah, well … pretty sure I screwed this one up pretty good either way," Elin said. "Which … is fine. Whatever."

"Hey, if you want a girls night…" Charlie smiled. "I don't have an idiot boy, so I'm pretty free."

"I don't know. I was almost thinking about asking Mom and Dad to take us out for the holiday," she admitted. "Probably give a few people fits though if we disappear this close."

"Why don't we go riding," Chance suggested. "That way, we don't have to separate your sister and Krissy's brother from giving everyone fits and kisses under the mistletoe."

"So she hasn't started wearing the hat yet, huh?" Elin said with one eyebrow raised.

Chance grinned her way. "That sounds like she's saving it for Christmas Eve."

"I may or may not have helped her make it," Elin admitted.

He grinned even wider. "Course you did," he said before he got to his feet and offered her a hand up. "Come on. There's not too much snow that we can't go for a ride."

She nodded slowly. "Alright then," she agreed. "No saddles though, alright?"

"Fine by me," he said as they headed out.

After the holidays were over, it was time to get back to the semester, though while Charlie and Cody had gone right to Muir Island, Chance and Krissy had decided to take a quick detour the weekend before classes started and spend a day skiing.

They took the Shanghai out to the slopes, and Chance even let her fly for a while just so he could lean his chin on her shoulder and 'help'.

But when it came to actually skiing, Krissy had a leg up. The tail was great for balance - and she ended up using it more often to mess with Chance when they got close enough than anything else.

But eventually, they did get cold and grabbed some coffee and cinnamon rolls, warming up by the fireplace at the main lodge.

"Kade hasn't stopped mourning his missed opportunity to be a ringbearer," Krissy said with a smirk.

"Your brother is ridiculous," Chance said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, but it's kind of nice to know she didn't agree to anything stupid, you know?"

Chance let out all his breath at once. "He's still ridiculous."

"Uh, yeah. Obviously. Mom keeps threatening to play the 'learn how to control yourself' lecture while he sleeps so he learns by, like, osmosis or whatever."

"Think it would work?"

"Ugh. Don't tell me you're on the same side as my mother."

"Hey, I just asked a simple question."

"Don't even look at me right now," Krissy said, waving her hand at him.

Chance shook his head at her with a smile before he leaned over and kissed her. "Can't stop, sorry."

Krissy grinned at him and kissed him too, but she had to pause and shake her head at him. "It's still weird getting used to the blonde."

"Hey, it was the only way I could get permission for this," Chance pointed out.

"Oh, I know; it's just weird. It feels like I'm kissing someone else," Krissy said, shaking her head.

Chance grinned at her. "Don't worry. I won't tell me that you're cheating on me."

"Oh my gosh, Chance."

"You're the one that brought it up."

"And I regret it so much."

He grinned a little wider at her and kissed her again before they finally decided to get back to the slopes and started pulling on their gloves and hats again. They'd hardly made it outside, though, before the two of them were surprised by several large men closing around them.

Chance lashed out at the first guy who made a grab for him, but he was surprised when, instead of the expected bamf of Krissy getting them out of the circle, he glanced over to see that she was simply… limp.

"Krissy!" He had to knock one of the guys over when he got in between Chance and Krissy as the group of men started to carry her off. He managed to get to another one of them to pull him back, but it seemed like there were more of them than he'd realized as more and more skiers turned out to be in on it.

One of them managed to get a hand on the back of Chance's jacket and simply yanked him backward. The next thing he knew, he had been tossed aside, skidding in the snow. He stayed down, and when the guys didn't come to finish him off or drag him off too, he knew the attack had to have been targeted to Krissy.

And the flash of red that he saw on one of the guys that he'd managed to get a solid hit on told him just who it was.

Thankfully, these creeps were more focused on running off with Krissy than they were on making sure the kid they'd just tossed aside stayed down, so he managed to follow them down the mountain, expecting to have to drop his tracer on a car or jet or something and call it in. Instead, the group of them were moving around to the other side of the mountain, far from the slopes, to where the ridges were more treacherous and there were even a few caves.

He waited until he knew which cave the creeps had disappeared to before he finally reached down and hit his panic button - and followed it up with a call to Kurt's cell phone, since he deserved to know what was up.

"Those cultists are back, and they ran off with Krissy," Chance explained, a bit more out of breath than he had realized. "I found the hideout but I … there's too many of them."

"Send your coordinates," Kurt replied.

"I already hit the panic button, so just… follow that," Chance replied, edging a little closer to try and peer into the cave, though he'd barely gotten the words out before there was a muted bamf, and Kurt and K appeared beside him. He tipped his head toward the cave. "There were a couple dozen on the slopes, but I don't know how many are in there," he admitted.

"Only one matters," K said, already heading for the mouth of the cave.

Once they were inside, none of them were entirely surprised by the setup. It was fairly similar to the one they had found in the library in Salem Center, though obviously with the glaring exception of a wide-eyed Krissy tied up and looking petrified in the center of the red-robed circle.

Once they'd seen Krissy, they didn't really need to know anything else, and both Kurt and K burst forward to simply cut through the cultists. Chance figured there had to be some kind of dampener in play or Krissy would have teleported, so he just darted forward once there was an opening in the circle and grabbed Krissy to get her out of there, trusting Kurt and K to deal with the cultists while he cut her loose.

"You hurt?" he asked her once he'd cut the ropes, and she shook her head but buried her face in his shoulder - so he figured he'd just carry her out while the adults did their thing.

They didn't have to wait too long, either, since, like K had said, the only thing that mattered was getting Krissy out - and an instant later, Kurt had destroyed whatever was holding back their powers and teleported them both outside the cave. He paused just long enough to check that Krissy was alright - and then all four of them were in Westchester.

"What happened?" Kurt asked, his eyes narrowed and his tail twitching as he was still clearly irritated with the fact that someone had tried to grab his little girl.

Chance glanced down at Krissy, who was still more or less hooked with her arms around his shoulders, and let out a breath. "We got ambushed," he said. "They knocked her out before she could 'port us out."

"You'll need to tell your father about this; I'll take care of her," Kurt swore before he took over on Krissy and K took Chance's arm to head to where Scott was watching in the War Room.

Chance quickly relayed to Scott what he'd told Kurt and then bit his lip, turning to K. "What were they doing, anyway?" he asked.

"They were doing what Azazel had tried to do - restore his power," she said, looking up at Scott. "You remember when Kari lost her color?"

Scott raised an eyebrow but nodded. "So, how bad was it? Are we dealing with another blue elf?"

"No," K said, shaking her head. "He could do it because he was drawing his stored powers into himself. These idiots … Let me go back and see if they have any survivors."

"It would be better if you brought Wiccan with you," Scott said. "In case there aren't - he could tell you what any of the ramifications could be."

"Yes, good. We need to get coffee afterward anyhow," K agreed. "Though I was hoping there was one … so I can track the little slimeball back to whatever hole he came out of."

"Priority's information on the spell. I want to know if we can counter it to keep Krissy safe," Scott said. "And Kade - all things considered."

"Sure. Billy for the spell, me for the dirty work."

"Try not to scar Wiccan, please," Scott said dryly.

"He's Magneto's grandson. He's going to be hard to scar."

Scott met her gaze for a moment and then couldn't help but smirk. "K. Try not to scar Wiccan, please."

"I'll buy him coffee," she defended, which just had Scott shaking his head before she headed off to go meet up with Billy.

Wiccan, of course, was less than amused when he heard what had happened. "That's not going to help them," he said in an exasperated tone, though he was already forming his cape with a wordless spell so they could head out. "It's specific to him - they can't extract any power from those kids!"

"Sweetheart, we know," K said, sure to sound just as exasperated as he did. "We are trying to stop the stupid and make sure that the girl is okay. She is drugged, alright? But you and I - we have things to do."

"We certainly do," Billy agreed. "Where were they?"

She grinned at him for just a moment. "Sverige."

An instant later, Billy had transported the two of them to where the cultists had taken Krissy, and he looked around at the various inscriptions and runes with a look of distaste. "Oh, now they're mixing in Celtic? That has nothing to do with … it won't help!"

K shook her head at him but focused instead on her own appointed task of sussing out whether or not anyone had escaped her or Kurt while they were getting Krissy out, leaving Billy to his growing frustration with the cult.

"Space pants, you're hovering," K said when she returned from her tracking efforts with fresh blood half frozen to her fingertips.

Billy let out a little noise and made a dismissive motion with his hand. "They are so close to real power here, but they're so impatient they're mangling it," he said. "If they ever move on from Azazel, they could be a real threat."

She nodded. "The guy I found was already more or less dead, but he had a tattoo of Azazel's mark on his chest. I think they're committed."

"Yes, I don't see them being a threat beyond this level of irritation," Billy said, shaking his head. "But I got rid of the demon king for a reason - so Kate's kids could be safe. This is just…." He let out another noise of frustration as he gestured at the whole cave before he finally had to shake his head. "It just annoys me when I clean up a mess and people try to undo my good work, that's all. This was the first thing I did after becoming the Demiurge in another world."

She patted his arm and nodded her head. "Right. We'll just have to keep trashing their hopes and dreams."

"I've mentioned how much I love the lack of crazy future visions since you decided to do… whatever it is you're not doing, right?"

"I'm not doing anything," she replied with a smile. "But you may have mentioned it once or twice." She tipped her head toward the mouth of the cave. "Come on now; I promised Scott that I'd take you to fika."

Chance had gotten a little bamf assistance to go get the Shanghai where they'd left it - and still beat Krissy back to Muir Island. He wasn't entirely surprised, since she had been out of it when they picked her up, but that just had him more worried about Krissy.

So when she showed up that night looking more or less back to normal, he crossed the room in a few strides to wrap her up in a warm hug. "You doing okay?"

She nodded lightly. "Hank gave me something to counteract whatever they gave me," she explained.

"Yeah, but - are you doing okay?" Chance asked without stepping back from her, tipping his head down a bit to catch her gaze. "Really."

"More angry than anything else," she admitted. "We didn't get to finish our ski trip - and it sounds like they're not going to stop being stupid anytime soon."

"Yeah, but if it makes you feel any better, Wiccan went all offended demigod and went on and on about how they're not going to make it work."

"Yeah, I heard," Krissy assured him. "I'm not … really worried about Azazel coming back. I just… hate everything related to him."

"Well, that's a given," Chance said, nodding along seriously. He leaned over and kissed her again. "I'm glad you're okay, though."

"I'm glad you are too," Krissy said.

"They weren't after me," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but the last time Azazel-related crap came up, my best friend got dropped in an ocean, so I think I'm allowed to worry about the people I love, okay?" Krissy shot back.

Chance grinned and kissed her. "Hey, I'm used to being collateral."

At that, though, Krissy made a frustrated noise and poked him in the chest. "You are so not-"

"Yeah, but it got you all huffy," he said, breaking in before she could start reading him the riot act.

"It's really not funny," she insisted.

Chance shook his head and couldn't help but kiss her. "Good to see you feeling better."