It was cold and the wind howled around the Blazer. Maggie shivered and then she started to cry. Her head hurt and so did her leg. The back of the front seat was a lot closer than it should have been. She touched her cheek, which felt wet. It must be the snow. She shivered again. "Daddy?"

There was no answer. She tried to see him through the darkness, but all she could make out was an undefined shape against the white snow beyond the car. She couldn't hear any movement. "Daddy?" she said a little louder. Everything was so still. "Daddy, I'm cold...and my leg and my head hurts."

She reached down to the seat buckle and pushed the button, releasing herself from her booster seat. Moving her leg carefully, she climbed over the seat back into the front seat and crawled to her unconscious father."Daddy?" she sobbed, patting his cheek.

Wanting to warm herself, she opened his coat and curled into his side. She cried herself to sleep.

Bobby groaned and opened his eyes. He remained still for a moment, waiting for the pain in his body to settle. He shivered and raised a hand to his throbbing head. It came away bloody, and his mind was slow to clear. He looked at the time. Almost four. It had been more than three hours since he'd gone off the road. He shifted in his seat and fire settled onto his right side, particularly in his hip and his knee. His arm throbbed, but didn't seem any worse than it had been. Damn.

He shifted his position and the pain flared in his hip and knee. He stopped again, waiting for it to pass. His mind cleared a little more, and he realized something was pressing into his side, beneath his coat. Maggie...

He shifted again, ignoring the pain as he gathered the little girl into his arms, holding her against his chest. "Maggie?"

She whimpered and pressed as close to him as she could get. "Daddy?" she sobbed and began crying again.

"Shhh," he whispered, cradling her. "Shhh. I have you. Are you hurt, baby?"

"M-My head hurts, and my l-leg."

He pressed his lips against the side of her head. Her hair was warm and wet, and he knew she was bleeding. He needed room to examine her more closely. Ignoring the screaming protest of his hip, he leaned over and opened the glovebox, feeling around for the flashlight he knew was in there somewhere. There was a Maglight under the passenger seat, but he'd never get to it.

Finding the light, he gave the inside of the vehicle a cursory examination. The front passenger side of the Blazer was caved in. Accidents were funny things. He'd seen a woman killed in a 35-mile-an-hour crash. Six months later, a man had walked away from a 70-mile-an-hour roll over with a bruised knee. Several things had combined to save his life and Maggie's: the seat belt he wore, the booster seat she'd been in, the air bag that had deployed on impact, and the fact that he had not hit the tree head-on. They had been very lucky.

Opening his door, he climbed out of the wrecked SUV into the snow, but when he took a step, his hip and knee gave out and he went down. He rolled onto his back, letting the snow fall onto his face, and he shivered again. Waiting for the pain to subside, he concentrated on his breathing. His chest burned where his mother had injured him, but the air bag seemed to have prevented further injury to that area. At least he was still able to breathe. Maggie crawled through the snow to his side. "Daddy!"

"I'm okay, baby," he managed, pulling her into his coat. She wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shirt.

He sat up slowly, gritting his teeth against the pain in his hip. When he rolled onto his side, the joint popped and he doubled over. When his awareness once more extended beyond the pain, the first thing he heard was Maggie's crying. Quietly, he comforted her again.

When both Maggie and the screaming pain in his hip settled, he turned his full attention to Maggie, examining her quickly, but thoroughly, from head to toe. Aside from bumps and bruises, her head and her right leg were her major injuries. A two-inch laceration on her head didn't look too serious, but he knew she needed to have a CT-scan at a minimum to make sure there was no underlying injury that was more serious. Her leg was painful to the touch and he was afraid it was fractured.

He tried to stand again. It hurt like hell, but he was able to stay on his feet this time. He lifted Maggie in his arms and, limping painfully, he carried her to the Blazer. Opening the back, he set her on the tailgate and rummaged around for the first aid box that he knew was back there. Pulling it toward him, he opened it and took out two boards that were meant to splint an adult arm. Maggie held the flashlight while he splinted her lower right leg, wrapping it securely with an ace bandage.

"That's a big band-aid, Daddy."

He looked at her, and she smiled. Her face was bloody, but her eyes were bright and clear. He took a bottle of saline from the box and poured it on a four-by-four square of gauze. Gently, he cleaned her face. After that, he took a blanket and wrapped it around her. He kissed her nose. Lifting her from the tailgate, he held her high and she scrambled onto his shoulders, wrapping her arms around his chin and resting her head on his. Somehow, she held onto the blanket. She was warm against his head.

Remembering the overturned vehicle on the road, he took the discarded flashlight from the tailgate and limped slowly back toward the road. Halfway there, he realized he had to call in the accident, but he couldn't find his phone. Swearing silently to himself, he continued toward the road.

It took an effort to climb the embankment, especially with Maggie on his shoulders, and his hip and knee protested painfully, but he pressed on until he reached the deserted highway, where he sank to the ground beside a guard rail he had somehow managed to miss when he went spinning off the road. Maggie climbed down and snuggled against him, inside his coat again. "Can I call Mommy now?"

"I..I don't know where my phone is."

"Did it get broke in the car?"

"Maybe. Are you feeling any better?"

She shook her head. "I'm still cold and my leg still hurts."

"Your head?"

"It feels better. Are you okay, too, Daddy?"

"Don't worry about me, baby. I need to go over to that car there and see if there's anyone inside."

"I'll go with you."

He opened his mouth to protest, but then it struck him. Where would he leave her? Alone by the side of the road? Fat chance. He nodded and forced himself back to his feet, lifting Maggie back up to his shoulders.

As he walked toward the overturned vehicle, he studied the tracks in the road. No one had come by since he'd gone off the road, which wasn't much of a surprise on a night like this. His tracks were almost completely covered and there was no damage to the guardrail. It would have been spring before he was found if he'd been badly injured. Of course that was probably a preferable scenario to his wife finding out what he'd done. It was one thing to get his own stupid ass wrapped around a tree, but he had Maggie with him, and that was unforgivable.

He eased Maggie off his shoulders and slipped off his coat. Wrapping her in it to keep warm, he set her on the ground beside the overturned Jeep and dropped to his stomach beside the driver's window, shining the light inside. The driver was a man of about thirty. Reaching in, he felt for a pulse, but he couldn't find one. Then he heard a noise from the back seat. Turning the light's beam to the back seat, he found two children, both in car seats. A small boy a little younger than Maggie stared at him, upside-down, with wide, terrified eyes, shivering. Beside him, was an infant, small enough to be in a rear-facing seat. He heard soft sobbing coming from the baby.

"Hi," he said to the little boy, who continued to stare at him. He crawled to the back window and pushed the gathered snow away. Every window in the Jeep had been smashed out. "What's your name?"

"I-I don' kn-now you," the boy replied through chattering teeth. They had been there for awhile and the winter coat he wore was no longer keeping him warm.

"It's all right. My name is Bobby. I'm a police officer. I'm going to get you and the baby out of here."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his switchblade. "What's your name?" he asked the boy again.

"W-Wally."

"Okay, Wally. Do you hurt anywhere?"

"N-no. I-I'm j-just c-c-cold."

There was barely enough room for him as he wormed his way into the vehicle on his back. He checked over the little boy and found no injuries. "Okay, Wally, I'm going to cut you loose. I want you to hold very still. Let me see both of your hands."

When Wally held up his hands, Goren placed a hand on the boy's chest and sliced through the straps holding him into his car seat. Retracting the blade, he gently drew Wally to his chest. Trembling from the cold and from fear, the little boy grabbed onto him and held tight.

Reaching over to the other car seat, Goren sliced through the seatbelt and turned the baby's seat around to lower it to the inside roof of the Jeep.

"Okay, Wally. Let's get you guys out of the car."

"Wh-what about D-Daddy?"

"Let's take care of you and the baby first. What's the baby's name?"

"K-Krissy."

"Okay. Let's get you and Krissy out of here."

Slowly, he slid out of the Jeep, letting Wally remain on his chest and pulling the baby's car seat with him. Once free of the vehicle, he set Wally inside his coat beside Maggie. "Wally, this is Maggie. She'll help you get warm."

Maggie smiled at the little boy. He was a little bigger than Tommy was. "Hi, Wally. Our car crashed, too."

Wally studied her uncertainly for a moment before he moved closer and snuggled against her, still shivering. Maggie pulled the blanket from around her and covered them, then she pulled her daddy's coat more tightly around them.

Bobby checked over the baby, who was also cold but unharmed, and took her from the car seat. Gently, he set her in Maggie's lap beneath the blanket, once again tucking his coat around the children. Maggie talked softly to the baby and Wally got as close to her as he could.

Bobby looked around and decided he had to get the kids off the road, in case another car came by. He leaned against the side of the Jeep. "I need to bring you guys over to the side of the road. Do you think you can hang onto me, Wally?"

Wide-eyed, Wally nodded. Bobby took the baby and set her in her brother's lap, then lifted Maggie onto his shoulders with the blanket. She held on. Then he lifted Wally and the baby and grabbed his coat. The added weight had his knee and hip screaming, but he walked slowly across the road, opposite the side where he left the road. Dropping his coat, he set Wally down and then lowered Maggie from his shoulders. He was having trouble concentrating, though he had no idea if it was his head injury or hypothermia. He'd stopped shivering. He arranged his coat and set Maggie on it, coaxing Wally to sit beside her. He placed Krissy on Maggie's lap and again covered them with the blanket and wrapped his coat around the kids.

Wally studied him. "Is you hurt?"

"I'm all right. Do you feel warmer?"

"Yes. Is you really a policeman?"

"Yes, I am."

He pulled his badge from his pocket and handed it to the boy. The baby snuggled closer to Maggie, and so did Wally. Bobby leaned against the guard rail and took a few moments to gather his strength before starting back toward the car. "Daddy?"

He stopped and looked back to Maggie. "Are you cold without your coat? We gots the blanket."

She jiggled the edge of the blanket. He shook his head. "I'm all right. Keep my coat so Wally and the baby can get warm." He hesitated. "I...I have to go back to our car, Maggie. I'll be right back."

She looked worried, but remained quiet. Her arms tightened around the baby in her arms and she gripped Wally's hand tighter.

As quickly as he could, Bobby returned to his car and got the flare kit from the back of it. He also search for his cell phone until he found it. As he started back to the road, he called in the accident. His battery failed before he could complete the call, but he'd given the dispatcher enough information for the local officers to find the wreck. When he got back to the road, he set up the flares.

Just to be certain he checked the driver again, but the man was beyond help. No matter how many times he checked, he wouldn't have a pulse. He played no role in the young father's death. His heart went out to Wally and his sister, now fatherless. He returned to the children and leaned against the guard rail near them. The children were warmer and seemed all right. Wally and Krissy were uninjured, and he made sure Maggie was not in shock. She watched him with worried eyes, holding the sleeping baby against her with one arm and wrapping her other arm around Wally. They reminded her of her own brother and sister, and she felt compelled to take care of them. Bobby checked on the three of them every few minutes, to reassure himself as well as to give himself something to do. He let Wally hang onto his badge and gave Maggie the flashlight.

His hip and his knee were throbbing mercilessly but he did his best to ignore them. Wally and Maggie both watched him when he began to pace in the roadway. His pacing made the pain in his knee and hip worse, but it kept him awake. His mind was getting more sluggish but he was still not shivering any more.

He tried to keep his mind busy. "Where is your mommy, Wally?"

"Daddy was taking us home to her."

"Your mom and dad don't live together?"

"No. We live with Daddy on weekends and we live with Mommy the other days."

"Do you know what happened when the car turned over?"

"I seen a deer and then we was upside down and Daddy didn' talk to me no more. Krissy cried and he didn' talk to her, too."

He heard the sirens and watched as two patrol cars approached with caution. "Stay here," he said to the children.

He ruffled Wally's hair as he retrieved his badge and then lightly touched Maggie's cheek. He limped toward the first patrol car as the officer got out and shined his light at him. He held out his badge, then clipped it to his belt as the second officer joined them. He explained what had happened. One patrolman went to check on the children, putting them in his warm patrol car while they waited for the ambulance. Maggie knelt on the seat and watched her father talk to the other patrol officer.

The officer carefully watched Bobby as he talked. He examined the laceration on Bobby's head and noticed how cool his skin was. "You should sit in the patrol car where it's warm until the rig gets here. They're having a little trouble with the snow, but they'll be here in ten or fifteen minutes."

"The driver of the Jeep," he said, ignoring the officer's suggestion because he had to keep moving. "He's DOA. We need to find out how to contact the two little ones' mother."

The officer watched him lean back against the upside down vehicle. "Two?"

Bobby nodded. "Maggie...she's mine."

The officer looked toward the car where the children were and saw Maggie watching them. He looked past the car. "Where is your vehicle?"

He pointed. "About fifty yards off the road. Hit a tree. I, uhm, I splinted Maggie's leg." He rubbed the back of his neck. "My wife is going to kill me."

"Have you called her?"

He shook his head. "Battery died in my phone."

The officer pulled out his cell phone and held it out to him. Bobby looked at it for a moment. There was no sense postponing it. He took the phone and dialed.

Alex answered on the second ring. Hello?

"Hey. It's me."

Oh, my God, Goren, where the hell are you?

"Upstate, just outside Syracuse." She didn't respond. "Alex?"

Syracuse? What the... She drew in a steadying breath. Is Maggie okay?

"Yes."

Her voice was cool. When do you expect to get home?

"Uh, well...I...there's been an accident. The Blazer's totaled."

He could hear the tremor in her voice. Was Maggie hurt?

"I think her leg is broken. We're taking her to the hospital to get checked."

We?

"The local police are here."

Where are they taking her?

He looked at the officer. "She needs directions to the hospital."

He handed the phone to the officer and walked away. It was worse than he expected. She was focusing on Maggie because if she tried to deal with him she would lose her temper. She was going to save that for when she saw him.

The officer approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder, holding out the phone to him. Reluctantly, Bobby took it. "Yes."

Stay put before you do any more damage. I'll get Mike to come with me and we'll be there as soon as we can get there.

"Be careful."

The line went dead. He sighed and handed the phone back to its owner, who said, "I assured her your little girl is fine."

It figured she wouldn't believe him. "Thanks."

"Why don't you come and sit down?"

Bobby waved a hand and walked away from him, pacing between the overturned Jeep and the two patrol cars until the ambulance arrived. The entire time Maggie watched him, wishing he would come and sit with her. She could make him feel better; she always could.

The ambulance arrived fifteen minutes later and after checking the three children, the EMTs loaded them into the ambulance. One of them approached Bobby after talking to the police officers. "Ready to go, detective?"

Bobby looked at him, confused and uneasy. The EMT grasped his arm and urged him toward the ambulance. Bobby climbed in carefully and sat on the stretcher. Maggie leaned toward him from the bench seat across from the stretcher and he caught her in his arms, pulling her against him. She sobbed in his ear. "Are you okay, Daddy?"

"I'll be fine, mouse."

The EMT adjusted the stretcher so it was semi-reclining. "Ease back, detective."

Bobby leaned back and Maggie snuggled against him. Wally undid his seatbelt and scrambled over to his lap as well, settling in beside Maggie. She reached out and took the little boy's hand. Both children settled against Bobby's chest and he held them close. An EMT sat in the chair at the head of the stretcher, holding the baby. He turned the heat in the compartment on full as his crew chief climbed into the compartment to sit on the bench the children had abandoned. The third crew member closed the back doors, spoke briefly to the two officers and climbed into the driver's seat.

Maggie gripped her father's shirt in a fist and held tight. He brushed his lips across her temple. "How do you feel, Maggie?"

She yawned. "My leg hurts." She rubbed her hand over the cast on his right arm. "Is your arm okay?"

"Yes."

She felt his body shiver. "Are you still cold?"

"A little. Are you?"

"Not any more. It's warm in here."

The crew chief leaned in and said, "We examined the kids, but we haven't had a chance to look at you."

Bobby looked at the two kids. "Let them be," he said. "I can wait."

The EMT hesitated, then reluctantly nodded. He wrote on his clipboard. "Patient refuses examination at scene but consented to transport."

Silently, he observed the big cop and the little children in his lap as the ambulance made its way through the storm toward the hospital as quickly as road conditions would allow.