A/N: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Please keep them coming.
The house was silent as if socked in with sound proofing. The fire was burning low but still provided a bit of light for the room. The piercing ringing of a cell phone woke Natalie from her slumber. She disentangled herself from Jake and rolled over.
"Hello" she said sleepily.
"Natalie?" asked the voice. "It's Mark. Are you ok?"
"Yes, fine" said Natalie sitting up.
"Where are you right now?" asked Mark.
"Home" said Natalie.
"Do you have power?" asked Mark.
Natalie switched on the light next to her and got nothing but the click of the mechanism.
"Nope, no power" said Natalie.
"Shit" said Mark. "I was hoping you were one of the lucky ones."
"Who's power is back on?" asked Natalie.
"Mainly the metro area, some people who live near the hospital" said Mark.
"I live pretty far from that" said Natalie. "Do you need me to come in or something?
"Yeah, but honestly I don't know how safe it would be asking you to come far if all the lights are out and the roads haven't been cleared yet" said Mark. "But we are pretty short for the shifts today."
"Well if you need me, I'll get there as soon as I can" said Natalie.
"Check your roads and call me back" said Mark. "If you can get your car out of the garage try to make it in."
"Ok" said Natalie.
"Call me when you're leaving" said Mark. "I can get a bus to meet you somewhere if the roads are bad."
"I will" said Natalie. "See you later."
Natalie hung up the phone and set it on the nightstand before slipping into her robe. She leaned over the bed searching for her slippers, once she located them she put them on and got out of bed. Hurrying to the bathroom she was grateful the hot water still worked. Natalie splashed some water on her face and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. As she walked back through into the bedroom Jake was sitting up in bed.
"Hey are you ok?" he asked.
"Yes, I have to go to work" said Natalie.
"Work?" asked Jake, confused. "Where?"
"Well, I actually own a business" said Natalie. "But today I'm going to work at the Seattle Ambulance company."
"I thought you were going to come fishing with us" said Jake.
"I am" said Natalie. "But I wanted to get more emergency training before the trip. So I've been moonlighting as an EMT and taking some classes."
"Wow" said Jake.
Natalie grabbed some clothes and changed. Jake averted his eyes like a gentlemen. When she started to head downstairs Jake scrambled out of the bed.
"Wait, how are you going to get there?" he asked.
"Drive" replied Natalie. "If I can get the car out of the garage. I'm going out to check the damage."
"I'll help" said Jake.
"I don't need help looking if I can get the car out of the garage" said Natalie.
"Fine, I'll make you some tea" said Jake.
Natalie turned quietly to Jake and gave him a surprised smile.
"That would be lovely" said Natalie. "Use the kettle."
"Roger" said Jake.
Natalie slipped on her coat and boots and went out to check the snow pack.
The moment she stepped outside she knew the changes of getting out was nil. There were waist high drifts across her whole driveway and she couldn't even see where Jake's truck began or ended. Sighing she pulled out her cell and delivered the bad news to Mark. Deciding to see how deep the snow pack was Natalie took a step off her porch. The snow was almost up to her chest. Muttering a few choice expletives she dusted herself off and retreated into the relative warmth of her house.
Jake was practically glowing with pride when Natalie entered the kitchen. There were two cups of steaming tea sitting on the counter. Jake had set out the sugar and taken the milk out of the fridge. Natalie put on a serious face and inspected the tea thoroughly before taking a sip.
"Well?" prompted Jake.
"Delicious" said Natalie.
Jake smiled happily before clearing his throat.
"How's it look out there?" he asked.
"There is no way we are getting out of here anytime soon" said Natalie. "The whole place is shrouded in white. I couldn't even see the road."
"I guess I should call my mom and wish her a Merry Christmas" said Jake.
"Oh no, you're missing the day with your family" said Natalie sadly. "I'm so sorry."
"It's alright" said Jake, his voice wavering slightly.
"You should call her straight away" said Natalie. "I'll give you some privacy."
With that Natalie walked out of the room, leaving Jake to make his call.
Hours later Natalie and Jake sat across from each other at the dinning room table. Christmas crackers littered the table and both of them wore small paper crowns. They were both slightly dazed by the amount of food they'd consumed. The Christmas feast had gone on despite the lack of electricity. In fact the feast had become much larger as Natalie had insisted on cooking all the food in the fridge. There were four bottles of wine on the table, each one had been paired with a specific course.
"I've never eaten that much food at once" lamented Jake. "I think I'm going to be sick."
"You better not" said Natalie. "It's an insult to throw up a meal someone's made for you."
"It was all delicious" said Jake. "But I'm pretty sure I've eaten my weight in food today."
"Does that mean you don't want pudding?" asked Natalie.
"No, pudding sounds terrible right now" said Jake.
Natalie was suddenly sad.
"Lets just take a break, I'm sure you make a delicious pudding" said Jake. "What flavor is it?"
"What flavor is what?" asked Natalie.
"The pudding" said Jake. "What flavor pudding?"
"It's Christmas pudding" said Natalie.
"So, like red and green?" asked Jake.
"No, like lit on fire, brandy soaked Christmas pudding" said Natalie.
Jake looked confused and Natalie looked upset.
"Do you mind if I go out for a smoke?" asked Jake.
"No" said Natalie. "You don't have to go outside, just let me get an ashtray."
"I don't want to smoke in your house" said Jake.
"Yes, well I don't want you to freeze to death outside" said Natalie. "Besides I'd like to not freeze either."
She produced an ashtray and took a cigarette from Jake's pack. Pulling out his lighter Jake lit Natalie's before his own and they both sat back in their seats.
"When did you start smoking?" asked Jake.
"Just now" said Natalie.
Jake raised a questioning eyebrow but didn't bother to voice the implied question.
"My whole family smokes, well not really. Just my brother and father. I suppose I just pick it up when convenient" explained Natalie.
"You are a really interesting girl" said Jake.
"Thanks" said Natalie hesitantly. "I think."
"No, I mean it in the best way" said Jake.
The power returned just after sunset, but even with it's return the pair was unable to dig themselves out of the house. They settled in for another night together, vowing in the morning to work on the ton of snow trapping them in the house. Jake stood uneasily at the foot of Natalie's bed, he knew he shouldn't get in. Natalie was already under the covers wearing a pair of simple cotton pajamas. The heat was on in the house but pushing out 24 hours of cold was hard work for the laboring heater. The room was still cold, no where near the chill of the previous night but not comfortable either.
"Just get in" said Natalie.
"I really..." began Jake.
"I insist" said Natalie.
"Fine" said Jake blowing out a breath of air.
Jake climbed into bed and settled himself as far away from Natalie as possible. In response Natalie rolled onto her side, facing away from Jake's prone form. Jake didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved.
In the early moments of dawn Jake was woken by a persistent pounding. He blinked a few times trying to clear the pounding from his head. It took him a few minutes to realize that it wasn't in his mind. He sat up slightly in bed, trying to determine where the noise was coming from. Rolling over he shook Natalie slightly to wake her.
"Bug" he said. "Someone is knocking at your door."
"Impossible" mumbled Natalie. "No one comes to visit me."
"Yeah, maybe not but someone is knocking" said Jake.
Natalie pulled herself into a sitting position and cocked her head towards the sound. After a moment she sat up straighter.
"It does sound like knocking" she said more to herself than Jake.
"Do you want me to answer it?" offered Jake.
"No, just stay here" said Natalie.
She slowly got out of bed and pulled on her robe. Once she found her slippers she trudged slowly down the stairs. Jake sat in bed alternating between curiosity at wondering who was at the door and abject fear that he already knew. He climbed out of the bed and stood at the top of the stairs, he couldn't see the front door but he was confident he could here what was said when Natalie opened the door. The sound of Natalie opening the door seemed to echo inside Jake's head. The first words out of her mouth made his blood run cold.
"Bloody hell, what are you doing here?" said Natalie. "Well don't just stand there, come in."
Jake felt the breath leave his lungs and his head begin to spin. He backed slowly into the bedroom and collapsed on the bed, perfectly willing to accept his fate.