Leanne sighed peacefully in her sleep and burrowed her nose deeper into the fabric of the pillow. Rand smiled at the sight of his wife, she had an odd way of sleeping, lying on her belly with her face and pillow nestled in the crook of her arms. Their daughter was curled under the covers next to her, with only a flash of cyan hair not hidden. Nema had trouble falling asleep that night, complaining of nightmares about her mother, so Rand brought her with him to keep vigil on Leanne. The sight would have been comforting if not for the fact that his wife's head was heavily bandaged and they were in a room of Snowpoint's hospital.

Rand yawned and leaned back into plastic chair he was sitting on. The alarm clock on the nightstand read 2:43 am in bright red numbers, causing his headache to worsen. He wished Leanne would wake up already, he longed to hear her voice and watching her still body made her seem more dead than alive. Moister prickled at the edge of his eyes and he subconsciously rubbed it away with rough palm of his hand, he was not one to cry. But the thought of loosing Leanne, the person who had changed his life and who he loved wholeheartedly and unwaveringly, was growing.

Goddamit why wouldn't she just wake up?

More tears threatened to spill, so he cupped his forehead with his right hand. His other traveled aimlessly to his wife, resting on the brunt of her neck with his thumb curling against the hollow were her jaw and neck met. Rand's body shuttered slightly with a repressed sob, he would not cry, he couldn't. Crying would mean that he was mourning over his wife and that she'd be dead. Leanne was breathing and functioning, she was just asleep not dead.

As if sensing her husband's distress, one of Leanne's slide from underneath the pillow and next to his forearm, her fingers curling around the crook of his elbow. Rand stiffened at the trill of icy fingers along his skin and looked at his wife. He could see the fierce blue of her irises under half-lidded eyes, her gaze fogged with the affect of the painkillers.

"Rand?" Leanne asked, her voice thick and heavy, her fingers fumbling up his arm, seeking his hand. Rand heart gave a quick beat of joy as he clasped his hand around hers, unable to speak.

"Rand?" Leanne asked again, this time her voice sounding much deeper and different than her own, much to Rand's confusion.

"RAND, WAKE UP!" The voice said again followed by a rough shove to his shoulder. Rand bolted upwards and opened his eyes to Ben standing above him wearing a worried expression.

He was lying on the floor of his hotel room in Snowpoint city.

It was a dream.

"Rand, are you okay?" Ben ask while kneeling beside the man as he struggled up into sitting position. Rand only nodded and clutched his forehead in his hands.

"Did you find him?" Came an other voice and a young woman appeared from the door, switching on the light Rand could see it was Summer.

"Yeah he's here." Ben called over his shoulder to his partner before turning back to the older ranger. "I'm sorry for barging into your room but we just got here and we couldn't find you. Nema was down in the lobby and she said told us your room number."

Rand gave an impatient shrug. "It's fine," he said curtly before trying to stand up, using the dresser for support. He feel slightly forward and Ben instinctively lent forward to steady him but was waved off.

Summer walked towards the two with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, a look Ben knew all too well. "Rand, when was the last time you slept?"

"You just saw." The senior ranger growled, clearly not in the mood to argue with her. Summer just snorted.

"Leanne wouldn't want you to push yourself this hard."

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE'D WANT!" Rand shouted, going absolutely ballistic at the mention of his wife's name. The anger instantly faded from his face and crushing sadness took it's place on his countenance. He looked years older than what he was, his raven hair askew and his beard overgrown and in desperate need of a shave, he looked absolutly broken. "I'm sorry."

Summer just shook her head and wrapped her arms around the man's shoulder, her hands resting at the nape of his neck . "We'll find her Rand, I swear we will," she muttered. Rand stiffened under her touch, he wasn't use to being embrace by any other than his wife, but he hesitantly pressed his hand to her back before pulling away and nodding to her. Summer smiled softly and grabbed above his wrist in a purely platonic way. "Lets go check around town and see if we can find anything, Ben go check out Leanne's room again, okay?"

Ben opened his mouth to argue that there would be no point in going back to Leanne's room, the police had already search for evidence and found none, but Summer clenched her jaw and shook her head. As she guided Rand out of the room, her lips hovered over Ben's ear making a slight flush creep up his neck at the heat of her breath.

"Just do it, I want to keep an eye on Rand and staying here will make things worse." She whispered while tugging Rand, who didn't even acknowledge that fact she had stopped and just stared blankly into space.

"I will." Ben promised to his partner as she left.

An hour later~ Nema's POV

Nema sat on the wooden banister of the hotel's porch, swinging her legs against the railing. Snow had begun to fall in small fluffy flurries, coating the pavement and walkways in white. Nema had never seen snow before in the tropic climate of Oblivia, but it just seemed to make the town a dreary puddle of grey and white. Her mother had told her that it started snowing like this on the day she met Papa, Nema knew the story by heart like the legends Mom use to tell her at night.

It all started years ago on a day like today her mother would begin, Papa had just graduated from Ranger school and was assinged at the base near Snowpoint city, Mom had lived there all her life and was sitting outside her house as the young ranger did his first patrol. Mom said she had barely notice him that day, mistaking him for one of the older rangers but according to Papa he had noticed her quite a lot. He said that he was attracted to Mom not because of how pretty she was (which he latered testified to be too as well) but the way she smiled and held herself. For six months Papa had he fell in love with the way she read books at the library, the way she forrowed her brown when she was confused, the way she yelled at him when she was annoyed and it was hard for him because Mom didn't believe him, that she didn't believe love existed. But like ever story they had a happy ending, until now.

Nema bit back a sob, she wanted her mom back.

"Are you alright?" Asked a voice from behind her. Turning around she saw an older boy with with blonde hair leaning against the wall of the hotel. Nema nodded, normally she would be wary of strangers but greif clouded her judgement.

"I'm fine," she said and brushed off some snow from the fabric of her jeans. "I just miss my mom."

The stranger nodded, something like sympathy flashing in his odd red eyes. "You look a lot like her, you know?"

This caused alarm to grown in Nema's stomach, how did he know what her mom looked like? "Did you know my mom?" The boy shook his head."

"I've met her but I'm a friend of Summer." He said, pushing his bangs from his face as he looked at Nema.

"I didn't know Summer had friend other than Ben."

"She does, in fact I'd like you to take something to her." The stranger answered, pulling out a folded sheet of paper and handed it to Nema. Nema looked up at the bizzare man and opened her mouth to ask why but he stood up and stepped down the stairs, she was lost for words. He stopped in front of the sidewalk before looking back to her. "I'm trusting you Nema Talga, its very important," and with that, he left.

Sorry if this chapter was weird, I was trying to give Nema a younger voice than the others and I think it came out odd. Oh well, review!