Told you I'd update soon! Warning: If you don't like reading mild romance expressed physically, I suggest you skip the middle section of this chapter. It's not crude or explicit but, hey. I think I might change the rating too. Can never be too careful.

White.

The pain was white. The cold was white. Her mind was white.

Nelya opened her eyes and saw nothing. A white nothing.

She felt her fingers twitch. She felt alive, at least.

No, not at least. Blake.

Gritting her teeth, she made herself move. Whichever way didn't matter, so long as she did something. Get up. Get up. Get up. The snow covering her face fell away and she saw the grey sky.

"Blake." She croaked, slowly moving her frozen bones into a sitting position.

Looking about, her vision began to blur, mixing the cold horizon with the unforgiving sky. How much time had passed since they crashed? Minutes? Hours?

"Blake..." Louder, this time.

Nelya stood, scanning the area. She began to panic. No reply. No movement. She stumbled across the expanse of icy ground. A couple of metres away was the overturned truck, their recently acquired supplies strewn all over the place. He must be there.

In her hurry, however, she tripped over deadweight, landing next to it.

"Please, no." She whispered.

It was him, lying on his stomach and buried in the snow.

"Blake!" Nelya repeated over and over, turning him over. His cheeks were pallid, very little colour to them, his lips cracked and almost blue. She checked his pulse and began rubbing his chest just over his heart frantically. "Not like this." She muttered. "We've been through too much. It can't end like this!"

He shuddered violently and she removed the jacket she had put on to wrap around him, keeping to rubbing heat into his chest. Laying him once more on the ground, she started to resuscitate him, pushing with all her strength.

With another shudder, he opened his eyes and sat up quickly, drawing a deep breath before choking on a series of body-wracking coughs.

He fell back against her. "You know," he said hoarsely, "you were this close to coming out with a touching, heartfelt speech about how great I was and how much you'd remember me."

Too tired to reply, she simply let her head drop to rest against his, breathing out a relieved, slightly hysterical, laugh.

They wasted no time in gathering their wits and what they could save from the wreck. Albeit slowly, they climbed back up the hill they fell from and shuffled with growing aches in stiff bodies along the road.

Finally, they found shelter a mile away in the form of an abandoned shack. Hidden by trees that thickened as they walked further, it was sturdy and dry and right now, a lifesaver.

Not even needing to break in, they entered and soon enough, a fire was built.

"We need to get out of these clothes." She mumbled. "Or else they'll become damp when the ice melts."

"And change into what?" He asked from where he lay stacks of bundled hay and some of the rolled up blankets.

She paused. The clothes they had put on most of the clothes they had on the truck and now they were soaked through after the crash. "We can wrap the blankets around us." Nelya suggested.

Blake eyed a couple of blankets left and conceded. "No peaking." He teased, picking one up and moving to a corner by the fire. She did the same but on the other side of the room.

When he looked up at her, he saw something he wished he hadn't, "Nel...Are those scars?"

She followed his line of sight to her shoulder and she nodded, but biting her lip, her face crumbled in on itself and a tear made its way down the side of her face. He rushed to her, holding her shoulders and pulling her to him, "Who?"

"Zirnitra," was all she sniffed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I've never seen..."

"A little make-up does wonders." She chuckled dryly.

Eyeing one particular scar, long and dark from years of healing, that disappeared below the edge of the blanket. Catching him, she sighed and pulled it down a little, showing it all to him, "How?" he asked.

"Fighting, fighting and more fighting." She pressed her face against his chest, "I'm sick of it."

He sighed. They were both tired of this underground war, but he understood Nelya's feelings as being far greater than his own. She was born into this war, shaped by it.

"It's over now. It's over." Blake whispered, tilting her chin up to look into her eyes. "No more tears."

She swallowed, and tiptoed slightly, angling her lips to hover just under his. "No...more...tears."

They kissed. A kiss they had never dreamed they would share. Blake lifted her, keeping sure her blanket stayed wrapped about her body. Moving backwards, he found the layers of sheets and pillows they had made earlier, and carefully sat upon it.

Nelya, who straddled him, broke the kiss. "Blake, I'm not, that is, I don't..."

The corner of his mouth kicked up, "The Nelya Clyne, speechless? I don't believe it."

"You're not making this any easier."

He softened but soon grew fixed on her, "Seriously, Nel, if you want me to stop at any time, you just have to tell me. I don't want your first time to be another bad memory to add to that massive list of yours."

Looking up at him, she bit at her lip, "You want the truth?"

A nod.

"This is more nerve-wracking than any of the times we were kidnapped put together." She admitted, hoping he would understand.

He chuckled and she relaxed slightly at the sound, his chest rumbling beneath her, "I don't blame you." He blushed, "I was so nervous my first time I broke three condoms just trying to put them on." He trailed a hand up her arm and shook his head, suddenly confused, "Did I really just say that?"

Her laugh brought tears to her eyes and wiping them away, she looked up to find him staring intensely at her. A toothy grin spread on his face and he leaned in, centimeters away from her face, "You should laugh more often, you know."

"I do laugh." Came her retort.

His palms climbed from her waist to her shoulder blades, pulling her in closer, "Not like that. Before it seemed you kept stopping yourself, as if you had something to lose if you did." The thick blanket wrapped around her was still not enough to keep her from feeling the heat rolling off his body.

"I don't have anything to lose now." She mumbled, their closeness reflected in the red of her cheeks.

"Then let me in." He whispered, holding her slim torso to his, their lips just within reach of each other. Letting go of the lip she hadn't realised she was still biting, she leant into him, hesitantly giving him the kiss he had patiently waited for. Just as they touched, he captured her lower lip and tilted his head slightly to deepen the kiss, suddenly wanting more.

All previous embarrassment ebbed away as her fingers found his neck and she cupped his jaw, showing her need by pressing her chest into his and not realising that her blanket had fallen about her waist. When their skin found each other, she jumped but refused to break their kiss, instead reveling in the sensation and hugging him even closer. A growl emanated from the back of his throat, a sound, she realised, she quite enjoyed.

Hands moved of their own accord, tangling in each others hair and passing over more and more expanses of skin. Both their covers were flung aside and they grew heady under the other's gaze, exploring what once had remained unseen. He sprinkled kisses down her body, relaxing her and allowing him to take charge. Ministrations continued until neither could hold back anymore and he lifted her, shifting their position so that he hovered above her. There was a determined glint in her eyes that had grown so familiar to him and he responded with a grin.

She wasn't going to lie, it hurt. When she had previously thought about it, she was sure that it wouldn't be as bad as the physical pain she experienced during her life. Somehow, though, Blake made it better. Using the traditional phrase, they made love, slowly drawing out every aspect of it, taking their time crossing the blissful line ahead of them. And when they did cross it, she cried out his name, Robin, and he had never felt happier.

Gathering her into his lap, he drew the blankets over them both and sat beaming stupidly as he rubbed gentle circles into her thigh, "You said my name."

"Mmm..." She sighed, nuzzling the crook of his neck.

"You never call me that."

Nelya lazily straightened and propped herself up against his shoulders, "Want me to?" She mumbled.

He thought for a moment, "If you did, I'd always remember tonight and that would be pretty compromising."

She blushed, "So?"

"So," he repeated, "to keep my dignity intact, could you only say my name when we're alone?"

"Alone?" She leaned in, "Or alone alone?"

Closing the distance, he caught her lower lip between his own and murmured, "Guess."

With a contented sigh, she whispered, "You shouldn't have told me that incredibly incriminating piece of information. Oh yes," she cut in when he opened his mouth to protest, "And I will use it."

"Remind me never to piss you off. Ever."

"A lesson well learnt, then."