This is my entry for the Night Owl Challenge at Writers Anonymous. Rated T for some sexual scenes. I wanted to try something a little unexpected for Dorcas and Benjamin's chapter of the "Thaw" series – I hope you'll let me know if you think it worked!

The chapters of the "Thaw" series have been slightly rearranged so that they're now in the order that they occur. This means that all chapters from 11 onwards are in chronological order! Even though this story is a one-shot series, and I try to write the chapters so that they can be read in any order, this will make it easier for me to plan future chapters (and I hope to write several more).

It hadn't been easy for Dorcas to find any time alone with her man on a farm crowded with twelve other people, especially when one of those people was as sharp-eyed as Millie. But now that Millie's baby was due soon, her supervision was growing laxer. Tonight, one of the rare nights when it wasn't snowing, Dorcas had arranged for a secret meeting between herself and Benjamin. She'd managed to get a word with him privately that day when he brought the milking buckets to the house, and tonight, they were going to meet in an old storage shed that was empty except for hay.

In their bedroom that evening, Dorcas told the other girls that she was going to sleep downstairs with Millie tonight, "you know, just in case she needs anythin'." Millie was now so pregnant that she couldn't climb up or down the stairs easily, and so the girls had made her a comfortable settle bed in the kitchen, which was always the warmest room.

"That's a right good idea, Dorcas," Alice said, nodding approvingly, and nobody suspected a thing.

Downstairs that night, Dorcas laid down on a makeshift pallet on the kitchen floor, cheerfully said goodnight to Millie, and pretended to fall asleep. But secretly, she lay awake, listening in the dark. She heard Millie toss and turn in her bed for a moment. When the other woman began to whisper softly, Dorcas was confused for a moment, and then she realized that Millie was talking to the baby growing inside her.

"Can ya hear me in there, little one? How 'bout I sing you a lullaby?"

Ordinarily, Dorcas would've found this sweet, but tonight, she was so impatient that she had to force herself not to groan aloud. As the endless minutes ticked by, she grew anxious. Was Benjamin already in the shed outside, waiting for? Did he think that she'd changed her mind about meeting him tonight?

Finally, Dorcas heard Millie yawn and grow quiet, and then her breathing evened out. Dorcas practically jumped up from her pallet, wrapped her blanket around her nightgown, and slipped outside. Shivering more from excitement than from cold, she hurried across the farmyard to the old shed behind the chicken coop. The sweet-smelling hay rustled underfoot as she stepped inside, and though it was too dark to really see Benjamin, she could sense that he was there, waiting for her in the dark. The familiar, sweaty smell of him blended marvelously against the hay. This'll do quite nicely, she thought to herself, smiling. This is it now, Dorcas. And she tossed her blanket to the floor.

Dorcas didn't know what excuse Benjamin had given his brothers to sneak away tonight, and honestly, she didn't care. "Weren't sure you'd come," he told her softly. "Night turned out so cold."

The weather today had been almost mild, so close to spring that Dorcas could practically taste the sweet promise of it, but then the temperatures had dropped suddenly after sunset, and it was now colder than Dorcas had expected when she'd planned for this night. But she didn't care about that, either. No, tonight, she only cared about one thing. She'd been waiting almost all winter for this night.

"Mighty cold," she agreed, grinning. "Guess we'll have to warm ourselves up." And with that, she put one hand on Benjamin's chest and kissed him.

They had kissed before, of course. In fact, they had kissed whenever they could, in any breathless, private moment that they could steal behind the house or out by the woodpile. They had discovered together that this farm had a number of surprisingly cozy little nooks and crannies to kiss in. But they had never kissed like this. It was longer, deeper, and more passionate. Their bodies twined together, and Benjamin moved one hand through her silky dark hair. Dorcas pressed her breasts against his chest, which made his kisses grow so urgent that he forced her mouth open with his own. She let him, and then, slowly, she reached one hand down towards the hard, growing bulge in his pants.

But when she touched him there, that was the moment when it all went wrong. Benjamin broke off their kiss so suddenly that Dorcas was left gasping. He pulled back from her as if he'd just been scalded.

"W-what's wrong?" Dorcas blurted, unable to hide her surprise.

She couldn't make out Benjamin's face in the dark, but his heavy breathing was plain to hear. "I-I can't – I mean, I think we better not – " he began, his voice thick, but Dorcas cut him off.

"Oh, it's all right, Ben," she said, smiling, her voice as smooth and sweet as honey. "I trust you. I want us to be together."

She assumed that he'd only pulled away for her sake and that once she reassured him, he would have at her and ravish her. She waited, but still, he didn't move.

"I want to be with you, and I'm ready," she added softly, in case she hadn't made herself clear enough. She stepped towards him and tilted her head up to kiss him again, but before their lips could meet, Benjamin put a firm hand on her shoulder and stopped her.

Dorcas felt confused. She could tell that Benjamin was hungry for her, just as she was for him. Why was he fighting it?

"Dorcas, w-we can't," he said in a low voice, still breathing hard. His voice grew tight and uncomfortable as he went on, "It ain't... well, ya know... it ain't right for folks outside of bein' married."

Dorcas's mouth actually fell open in shock at this. Benjamin was refusing her? Benjamin was too moral to be intimate outside of wedlock? Dorcas had imagined this scene dozens of times during the long, lonely winter nights, and she'd worried over plenty of things. What if once they got started, she realized that she wasn't truly ready for it and wanted to stop? What if it was painful for her? What if they made too much noise and were overheard? What if Millie or one of his brothers found them together? But never, not once, had she ever imagined that Benjamin wouldn't want to be intimate with her. When had Benjamin Pontipee gotten so high-and-mighty?

Dorcas was certainly plenty warm now. She was grateful that it was too dark for him to see her blushing as she fisted her hands, almost shaking with anger and embarrassment. "Oh, really? Well, I reckon you got plenty of room to go talkin' to me to me 'bout right and wrong, Benjamin Pontipee," she hissed at him, and only fear of being overheard kept her from screaming the words. "After you kidnapped me right outta my own bed in the middle of the night, right in front of my little sister, now you suddenly care so much 'bout right and wrong!"

Benjamin had moved further away from her, almost to the other side of the narrow shed. "No, I ain't sayin' that was right of me. Kidnappin' you was wrong, mighty wrong, but I been tryin' to be a better man since then. I been tryin' real hard, Dorcas, an'... well, doin' this with you now, that'd be wrong, too. An' my ma always said two wrongs don't make a right."

Dorcas almost threw her arms up in frustration at this. Now he was actually quoting his late mother! This night wasn't going the way she'd planned at all.

"Oh, yeah? Well, do you know what Sarah told me?" Dorcas hesitated for a moment – Sarah had sworn her to secrecy about this – but it was too late now. And besides, it had been Sarah who'd suggested to her that they use this storage shed. "Do you know what she told me she an' Frank already done?"

She didn't say exactly what Sarah and Frank had done, but she didn't need to. Though if Benjamin were surprised by this news, he didn't show it. "I reckon whatever they done is their business," he answered, his voice calm. "I ain't judgin' 'em for it. I ain't got room to go judgin' nobody. But I ain't Frank."

Dorcas blew out a long breath. She still couldn't believe it: Benjamin didn't want to be intimate with her, and she could tell from his tone that she wasn't going to convince him otherwise. She had never felt so embarrassed. The romantic mood had been ruined enough that she knew she wouldn't be able to fix it.

"Y-You ain't mad at me, are ya, Dorcas?" Benjamin asked, after a long moment of silence. "Please don't be mad. I'm real sorry. I love you, Dorcas, you know I do, but I just can't—"

"Oh, stop it! Just stop it!" Dorcas burst out, and without another word, she turned around and left the shed. She was so upset that she didn't even realize that Benjamin had just said to her, out loud, for the first time since they'd met, the words I love you.

As Dorcas crossed the farmyard, she remembered all the compliments and attention that she used to get from the boys back in town, where women were so scarce. Maybe their flattery had preened her ego and made her expect that she would never be rejected.

Dorcas crept back inside the house and felt rather guilty as she checked to make sure that Millie was still sleeping soundly. The night had gone all wrong, but as she settled down on her pallet to sleep, she tried to convince herself that she would feel better in the morning. She wouldn't admit it, but she missed her little sister right now. Back at home, Dorcas and Jenny had always shared a bed, and she still missed her familiar smell and warmth. Even in the big bedroom upstairs with the five other girls, it had been hard for Dorcas to get used to sleeping alone, especially in those terrible early days after the kidnapping.

Dorcas tried, but she had trouble falling asleep that night. She didn't know exactly what would happen when the spring thaw came and the mountain pass opened. Most days, she and the other girls simply tried not to think about it. But she knew that whatever happened, even under the best circumstances, she and Benjamin would probably be separated – maybe forever. That was why she'd wanted to be with him tonight, while they still had time. But now that Benjamin had turned her down, maybe they would never get the chance.

I hope you enjoyed the update! This chapter was probably as "hot" as things will ever get in this story.