First things first: THANK YOU for reviewing! I am delighted at receiving feedback - it is so energizing and keeps me moving forward.
I will continue updating regularly until this story is finished. I started with a pretty good idea of what I wanted to accomplish, and I have found that fleshing it out involves asking and answering more questions on plot, etc. (Can't just go from A to D without visiting B and C first.) I expect that many of you have experienced this as well. In short, this story really has taken on a life of its own, and I'm having a lot of fun with it!
-So here's a chapter with a little fluff ...
_
Lisbon laughed, a high-pitched "hunh" of disbelief. She reached for her phone. "I don't believe this. I can't believe this." she muttered, almost keeping the cold tremor out of her voice.
Jane had his own phone open, and was using it as a flashlight. He circled a wide berth around the dead guy, and started looking for another way out. Lisbon looked over and saw him stepping sideways between two frozen carcasses, examining the wall behind them.
"Can you get a signal?" she asked hopefully.
"Not yet," he said. As her vision became acclimated to the dark, Lisbon checked behind Jane and his phone-flashlight. She held her own at eye-level, praying for even a weak signal. Just one little bar... She would send out a text if nothing else.
"Hmm," Jane said.
"Hmm?" she echoed.
"I wonder who that is over there." He turned abruptly toward the door, and Lisbon ran right into him.
"Oh -!" she nearly dropped her phone. "What?"
"The dead man. I was just wondering who he was." he shivered. "And how did I not see him coming in here?"
"You were facing the other direction... so was I. You don't think it's the proprietor? the one we were coming to meet?"
"I don't know. It could be."
"Well, who else would it be?"
"I have no idea."
"Well, I plan to find out as soon as we get out of here. This is so embarrassing - and cold! Look - we can't even stand still!" she laughed without smiling, and he knew she was nervous. He laid a hand on her back as they examined the ceiling next, the light from their phones barely traveling that far. They could just make out the air vents over the center of the room.
"The fan is pretty loud," she said. "Does it feel like it's getting colder in here to you?" The air was circulating clockwise above their heads.
"It probably is," he admitted. "I'm sure the temperature is pre-set, and we've just thrown it off by holding the door open and then trapping ourselves inside and radiating body heat." Lisbon hugged herself tighter at the mention of warmth. "Not to mention the talking. All that hot air moving out," he finished. "It's adjusting itself to maintain the original settings."
Suddenly they had the same idea. Her face lit with hope. "I didn't see a thermostat when we were outside."
"Maybe it's on one of these walls." Jane volunteered, gesturing behind them at the other half of the room. With a burst of adrenaline, they sprinted toward the metal shelf that had triggered the loss of the doorstop.
Lisbon got there first by half a second, but Jane's cellphone light was much brighter than hers.
"Do you want the bad news or the good news, Lisbon?"
"There's no way to get this place above freezing," she croaked.
"But it's several degrees below that right now; we can at least turn it up to freezing," he said thoughtfully, punching the digital arrow up to 0 degrees Celsius. Lisbon transferred her phone to her left hand and shoved her right one into her pocket. She quickly glanced into the shadows at the corpse behind her. She could almost make out its shape.
"Plenty of time for that, Lisbon," Jane pulled her around the rest of the room, searching in vain for a cellphone tower signal. Then they searched the whole place again, for good measure, the cold starting to take hold of them. When they were back again to where they'd started, they simply stood in the dark, facing the door.
"I can't believe this," she said again. "This is ridiculous. I'm never gonna live this down," she complained, pulling her hands into her sleeves and tucking them under her chin. Especially if it kills me, she thought. To Jane, she looked like a turtle, hunching her shoulders and trying to disappear into her jacket collar.
"We'll be discovered soon," his voice was reassuring as he accurately read her thoughts. He wanted to believe that, and so did she.
"Jane, -"
He pulled her into a hug and shuddered when her cold hands hit him in the center of his chest. To his credit, he didn't comment on it. She let him hold her for a moment. It was comforting to both of them. He had surprised her by it, but her reaction time had slowed. Her rail-thin body was already rigid with cold. Greater body mass and his signature vest had him faring slightly better than she, but he was not immune to the temperature. He hoped they would feel the change in the thermostat soon, but he wasn't sure if it would make enough of a difference. Freezing was still freezing. Maybe all they'd done was prolong the inevitable.
"I was only going to say," her voice was muffled as she spoke into his shirt, then turned her head when she saw her breath was making it damp, "that we've got to keep our minds occupied." He nodded, his chin resting over her head. "We need to stay awake and focused," she continued. "And we need to keep moving around."
"I think we'll retain more heat if we maintain physical contact," he said, totally serious.
"I agree."
"Body heat is lost faster through the extremeties," he mused aloud, and crammed his fingers inside his own sleeves.
When did Jane become a Boy Scout? Lisbon wondered. But she also knew he was right; the department trained all rookies in inclement weather safety. Lisbon stepped just outside of his embrace, literally shaking from head to toe, and pulled a handkerchief from his jacket pocket. "Put this on your head," she ordered, struggling to pry the edges apart. He took it from her and laughed, and she stepped forward again, this time wrapping her arms around him and sliding her hands under his jacket for warmth. He stiffened again at her cold fingers, but knew they would stand less chance of frostbite where they were. She suggested he do the same, but not before he followed her previous instructions and draped the cloth over his head. It actually did help to ward off some of the chill.
Lisbon peered up at him and giggled. "Do I look as silly as you?" He felt her laughter before he heard it. "Definitely not," his smile was friendly, kind. She regarded him rather seriously for a moment, and suddenly he felt very nervous. He knew she had read it in his face, so he rearranged it and changed the subject.
"I'm sorry, Lisbon," he sighed.
"For what? - ow!" she inhaled sharply as she felt his own freezing hands slip beneath her jacket.
"Well, not for that. I am sorry for that, it is my fault," he stalled. Pulling her closer, he tucked her head under his chin again. She could already feel their fingers warming up.
"What else?" she prodded, her body relaxing just slightly as she stole heat from him. "I'm just trying to keep the conversation going."
He wasn't fooled by her innocent tone. "Don't make me say it, Lisbon. You know what I mean." Getting you lost on the way out here, pushing your crankiness to the limit, breaking into a building and trapping you inside a meat locker. With me. In possibly the last place you'll ever be alive. Which is just ridiculous.
"Shut up." She could almost hear his thoughts. She would've punched him if she wasn't so afraid that breaking contact again would turn her into a human popsicle - like the dead guy over there.
Actually, if she was being honest with herself (and why shouldn't she be, if her life was in danger?), she enjoyed being close to Jane like this. He smelled good, really good. Like... worn leather and expensive aftershave. She felt very human, to be grounded by those things at that moment.
"Keep talking to me," he told her. "I need to know what you're thinking about. I need to know what I'm thinking about."
"But it's so hard to think about anything other than how freaking cold it is in here!" she lied, nearly shouting to pull it off.
"Which is exactly why we need to converse."
Lisbon sighed, thought a moment.
"Hypothermia occurs when a body loses heat faster than it can produce it," she recited.
"Elementary, my dear," he nodded barely. "So where do you think it's the warmest?"
She blinked. "I don't understand the question."
"In here. Apart from what we're already doing, can we get as far away as possible from the carcasses that have been freezing in this room for days at super-low temperatures?"
She nodded deliberately. "Okay. The other end of the wall with the shelf."
They sort of waltzed over to the corner, and then kept shifting from foot to foot to keep the circulation going. Blood flow equalled heat.
"Can you still feel your fingers and toes?" he asked.
"Can you still feel your ears and nose?" she rhymed, feeling slightly punch-drunk.
They chuckled. It was gallows humor, but they'd take what they could get.