So here we are! Haven't worked on the FanFic in awhile so I thought I'd get to it. This particular story may end up with many chapters, but hey, more the merrier! (Eh heh…)

"Ugh, what's with these blizzards? Stupid blizzards, catching me by surprise…" Dirk said, shielding his face from the wind.

It was getting dark, and the storm wasn't letting up. He'd be home late again because of the weather.

Because snow was a mailman worst enemy.

Suddenly he saw something up ahead, it looked like a scarf. He ran up to the branch it was hanging off of to investigate. It was a woman's red, satin shawl. Dirk thought it was odd, he didn't know why anyone would be walking out here…

Dirk's super mailman senses were tingling and he knew something was horribly wrong, and he ran up the mountain path looking for… well he wasn't exactly sure, until he saw her up ahead.

It was Laney, looking pretty darn dead in the snow at the top of the mountain. He raced toward her and quickly checked her pulse. It was there, but slow, but it was still there yet.

He didn't know Laney very well. He sometimes saw her when he delivered mail to the café, but other than that Dirk could count on one hand how many times he had talked to Laney. When he met her, she just seemed like the cute, bubbly café girl. Nothing more.

Dirk ripped his mailbag off and threw off his coat. He picked up Laney and gently, yet hastily wrapped her in the too-big jacket. Dirk was thoroughly horrified at how her red dress and splayed blonde hair contrasted with her blue skin. But despite her blue skin, he could see that she was incredibaly beautiful, with her fair hair framing her pale, heart shaped face. And her full lips were red with lipstick, but they were probably blue underneath…

Geez, what was he doing? Just pondering away while Laney froze to death? No one was going to die on his watch.

He picked Laney up princess style, her head lolling against his chest. Dirk blushed for some reason when this happened, but he shook his head and carefully made the descent down the mountain as to not slip on the ice.

She moaned, but Dirk kept walking, his mind was in panic mode. He just set his mind on the goal though: Get down the mountain, get to the clinic, and help Laney. Help Laney. Help Laney. Help Laney.

"W-where a-are you t-t-taking m-me?" Laney asked, her voice sounded raw, like she'd been crying, and her teeth were chattering so much he could barely make out what she was saying.

Dirk leaned in close to her so she could hear over the wind. "Konohana." He said, determined.

He could see Laney trying to open her eyes, but she could only open them a crack. She gave up with that, and Dirk let her snuggle up against him while he trudged through the snow.

-LATER-

Hiro almost fainted when he saw Dirk come in, but then he got all serious and doctor-like like he usually did. If you call emergencies usual maybe.

Dirk traded the limp girl off to Hiro, who passed her off to Ayame like Laney was a runner's baton. He tried to follow Hiro and doctor Ayame, but Hiro stopped him and said, "Dirk, just stay here while we work on Laney. Leave it to us."

With that he turned and went to the back of the room, leaving Dirk with his thoughts. What was Laney doing out there, and in that outfit? Was she going to live? He hoped he wasn't too late, she had looked really blue when he'd found her….

Hiro came back not ten minutes later with a blanket and a steaming cup of tea for Dirk. Dirk stood up quickly, every minute he didn't know Laney's condition was another step towards hysteria, and he was really worried.

Dirk graciously took the blanket, forgetting that he walked through a blizzard without and jacket and, consequently, he was cold.

"So, is she alright Hiro?" Dirk asked, not caring that he burnt his tongue on the bitter tea.

Hiro smiled, "You saved her life Dirk, she was going through the extreme stages of hypothermia. Ten more minutes out there and she would've been dead." He said the last part very seriously, and asked, "Dirk, can you tell me what happened? We were awfully surprised when you stomped in here holding a half-dead girl in an evening gown."

Dirk chuckled and took off his hat to scratch his head. "I actually don't know anything, I was coming back from Bluebell on my route and I just found her like that. Scared me to death."

"Well it was very heroic of you Dirk, I'm sure Laney will thank you when she wakes up." Hiro said, and then he quickly left when Ayame called him over.

Dirk fell asleep on the warm sofa.

When he woke up it was quiet, Dirk took this moment as his chance to see Laney. He grabbed his blanket and cap and tiptoed to her bedside.

She was laying on the hospital bed, buried in three quilts and a heating blanket. He felt her forehead, sighed, and draped his blanket over her.

Dirk sat at the chair next to Laney's bed, and his stomach rumbled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten. But he didn't leave, he couldn't. For some reason he felt a special bond with her, like he was responsible for her now, and had to keep her safe.

"I will not leave this chair until she wakes up." He muttered.

"Well good, we need someone to watch her." Ayame said, suddenly appearing behind him. She always did that…

Dirk was startled, but said, "Doctor Ayame, has she woken up yet?"

Ayame's face fell slightly, into a more professional look that told Dirk she was about to go into doctor-mode. "No, unfortunately, she hasn't woke up yet. Her body got to extremely low temperatures and is still trying to warm itself up again. But she should wake up in another few hours, maybe. And she's going to have one heck of a fever when she does wake up…" Ayame trailed off.

Dirk nodded, and Ayame left the room. Dirk found nothing to do but find a comfortable spot on the couch and stare at Laney. Watching her chest rise and fall in shallow breathes, as if just staring at her could will her to wake up.

His curiosity burned inside him, what could have happened? Dirk was lost in thought as Hiro silently entered the room; he stuck a thermometer in Laney's mouth and cleared his throat, jarring Dirk from his thoughts.

"Oh, Hiro, didn't see you there…" Dirk said, stretching his limbs. "So how is she Doc?"

Hiro smiled, obviously enjoying being called "Doc". "Not much longer now Dirk, her body temperature has been steadily increasing." He took the thermometer out of her mouth. "35.5 degrees Celsius, she's almost at normal body temp. Now she just needs rest."

At that moment, Rutger and Ina barged in and Dirk and Hiro jumped.

"Mayors! What brings you here today?" Hiro said, rushing over to them.

"Doctor Ayame contacted us; she said Laney was hurt and that we should see her before we allowed the villagers to." Ina said, her normally hard edged face was softened with worry.

"Do you know what happened to her boy?" Rutger asked, sounding incredibly anxious.

"N-no sir, but she is in the back with Dirk, he can't tell you much more, but he's the one who saved her. I'll go find Doctor Ayame." And with that, Hiro scurried up the stairs, leaving Dirk with Ina and Rutger, who asked him many questions. A lot of them he just answered with: I don't know, really, I have no clue.

They left, and Dirk was surprised that they didn't argue, not even a little. He guessed that fear really does bring people together.

An hour later, Laney finally opened her eyes. She turned her head and squinted at him. "…Dirk…? What happened?" She looked horribly frail, nothing like the sweet café girl he thought she was.

"Shh. You're in the Konohana clinic. You almost died from hypothermia. You've been in recovery here for the past day. And Laney, everyone wants to know what happened to you. Do you remember?"

Laney's eyes started to water, and she let out a sudden sob. Dirk jumped from his chair to comfort the crying girl, though he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to do that.

Through her tears, she told him everything. How the young adults on the mountain got together and played a game. How Lillian rigged the game so she got paired up with Cam. How Cam was horribly mean to her. And how she ran up the mountain and twisted her ankle.

"Why didn't you try to get up?" Dirk asked her seriously. He had been listening with fierce concentration to everything Laney said, but he got mad when she got to the end of the Cam part, because Laney started crying uncontrollably.

"Dirk… will you sit with me…?" Laney said, sniffling. Dirk nodded and sat next to her on the bed.

"Dirk, I'm so sorry I put you through all that trouble. You should have just left me on that mountain. Then you wouldn't have to be here, trying to comfort some horribly wretched, crying, girl…"

Dirk was quiet for a moment, before he put his arms around Laney protectively. "Laney, your death would be the saddest thing that could happen on this mountain. And frankly, I don't care how much you cry. In fact, you may cry on my shoulder anytime you want, and I'll be here to hold you."

Green eyes met green eyes as Laney looked up at Dirk, her eyes were brimming with tears, but not of sadness, joy. Absolute joy.

She buried her face in Dirk's shoulder and cried. And cried and cried until there were no more tears to shed. Then she started to tell him things, rather hesitantly at first, but then the words rushed out.

And he learned about her. He realized that Laney was a lot like him. And it was a great feeling to realize that you're not the only one suffering. You can suffer with others. And even if that does sound bad, it is actually a very good feeling.

Laney feel asleep on Dirk's chest, and Dirk dozed off with his head leaning on Laney's.

Later on, almost everyone from Konohana and Bluebell came onto the clinic, which held everyone with ample space. But it was the tiny room in the back where Laney and Dirk were that was small.

And actually, the only person missing was Cam, who claimed he was too swamped with work to go to Konohana. But by now the word had spread, and both of the two towns knew what had happened, and knew why Cam didn't want to see Laney.

As the crowd filled the entire room, people tried to find a way to stand comfortably, this was made even harder by the fact that Howard was taking up half the room with a dozen Get Well Mylar balloons for his daughter. It was an understatement to say he was worried about Laney, so no one said anything to him accept comforting things.

The room was also very hushed, and scandalous whispered traveled through it, because they didn't expect to find Dirk and Laney all huddled up and sleeping on the hospital bed. But everyone knew Dirk had saved her, so they just let them be. Although Howard stepped up and gave Laney a kiss on the forehead and patted Dirk on the head. Lillian, who was bursting with emotion, told everyone to leave so Laney and Dirk could sleep.

This was not my best chapter, putting things in the perspective of Dirk after I had written so much with Laney was exhausting. And by the way, when Hiro was taking Laney's temperature, 35.5 degrees Celsius is equivalent to 95.9 degrees Fahrenheit (98.6 F is normal). So yeah, this chapter is short, but the next one is good trust me on this. (Or not) Oh yes, and please review!