Chapter 24

Cody and Alex had gone down to South Lake Tahoe. Alex was going to stay with Matt and Robin for a bit so he could continue to play basketball. With Freddy and Commander Wilson out of commission, the rangers are a little shorthanded. Cody went down to work as a ranger for a week or so. Cody wanted Jen and Hailey to come down with him, but Jen insisted they would be fine at the cabin. Cody hated to leave them. Cody left Bosco behind as he is a good watch dog. He will look after Hailey and Jen. Cody also made sure that Jen knew how to use one of his guns. Cody was going to check up on them once a day. He told Jen to stay close to the cabin. If they ventured out to take Bosco, the gun, and the portable radio in case they run into any trouble.

While Hailey was busy doing her homework, Jen pulled out the pile of grant forms she received from Matt. She looked thru them and determined if the grant would cover things the rangers needed or if they would qualify. She had no luck, so she decided to do some research online. She found grant for a remote ranger station that sounded interesting.

Hailey had temporary moved up to the room Cody was sleeping in while he was gone. She was in bed sleeping. Bosco suddenly moved to the door and started to bark. Jen heard the noise as well. She got nervous so she grabbed the gun. Jen had not heard from Cody yet, which was unusual. He could easily be on emergency call, or the weather was blocking the radio reception. It had been snowing hard outside. Jen looked out the window and looked like there was someone in the barn. She opened the door and saw a man who looked half frozen coming out of the barn. She noticed the man was wearing a High Mountain Ranger uniform.

"Cody? Cody?" Jen shouted. She went running over to him. Cody was stumbling a bit. She quickly helped him into the cabin. She got him to the fire and she quickly got his coat, boots and snow pants off.

"What were you doing in that weather?" Jen asked.

"I missed you," Cody said.

"I missed you too," Jen said. "You could have frozen to death getting back here."

"I thought I could beat the storm but did not quite make it," Cody smiled.

"I will heat you up some soup," Jen offered. "Why don't you take a long hot shower and see if that helps warm you up."

Jen gave Cody the soup after the shower. The shower and soup helped for a bit, but Cody was still shaking. Jen had Cody lying on the coach in front of the fire in hopes that would help him get warm. He was still shaking, so Jen helped Cody into the bed where she had been sleeping. Jen went over to Cody and helped him take his shirt and sweat pants off leaving his boxers on. "Jen what are you doing?" Cody asked.

Jen said, "Shhh… I am going to try to warm you up. Just lay down." Jen went to the opposite side of the bed and then took her clothes off. She climbed into bed with Cody and cozied up to him.

Sometime during the night Cody turned over in bed and moved onto his back. Jen moved and laid on his chest. "Good morning beautiful," Cody said as he stroked and playing with her hair.

"Good morning handsome," Jen said with a smile. "Glad to see your teeth are not chattering anymore."

Cody responded, "Thank you for warming me up last night. I hope it did not make you feel too uncomfortable." Jen just kept looking up at him. Cody moved his hands around her.

"Cody you were so cold, we tried several things, and it did not work. It was the only thing I could think of that might help," Jen responded. "Cody, I feel safe with you. You have done so much for us."

Cody said, "I wish we could just stay this way."

Jen said, "If we stay this way, we will have a ten-year-old invading us soon. Then we will have to do some explaining, I don't think either one of us want to do." Jen carefully rolled off Cody, trying not to expose herself to him. She grabbed one of Cody's flannel shirts she kept and put it on while she got out of bed. Cody just watched her as she put the shirt on.

"I will be up in a minute," Cody said. Cody moved back upstairs the next night.

The three of them stayed at the cabin together until they headed down to South Lake Tahoe for Christmas. Hailey and Cody would spend time together outside in the barn and Jen helped Hailey with schoolwork.

In the evenings Cody was helping Jen with the grant proposal. Jen had told Cody about the unpaid back taxes and that the property would be auctioned in the spring. She could not afford to pay the taxes before then. She did not want to see just anyone own the property. She hoped with the grant the rangers could take over the property and use it as a substation and it would help them with rescues. The rangers would respect the land. Even though Aaron did not always like the rangers, she thought he prefer it over a commercial development. They got the grant proposal written and ready to take to Matt. They put lot of supporting documentation together. Matt also had an opening for an Office Administrator that Jen was interested in. But they figured the rangers would require a background check, but if there was any way around it. Jen and Cody felt they had to give it a try.

Cody, Jen, and Hailey headed down to South Lake Tahoe. They brought Cody's horse and Bosco with them. They were able to close the cabin for a bit. They would not return until after the new year depending on the weather. Cody will work some more during this time. Jen did not know, but Cody was paying her hospital bill. He generally only worked for the rangers on limited basis. But he was taking the opportunity to work for them more.

It is the night of the Winter Fling, since Alex did not have his license yet, Cody had to drive him. Robin convinced Cody and Jen to go out to dinner. She used the excuse that Christy might be more comfortable with Jen there, since she did not know Cody and only met Alex a few times in person. Robin picked out a supper club with some dancing for them to go to. Jen insisted she had nothing to wear, but Robin figured Jen would say that. They went thru Robin's closet and found Jen something to wear. Robin said she wanted to spend some time with Hailey. They were going to do some baking together. Robin insisted they deserved a night out and to have some fun.

Alex went to the door to pick up Christy. When he brought her back to the car, "Christy I would like to introduce you to my father, Cody Hawkes, and Jen Montgomery who is a friend of the family."

"It is nice to meet you Mr. Hawkes and Ms. Montgomery," Christy said. Cody and Jen said it was nice to meet her as well. They dropped the kids off at the school dance.

Cody and Jen had a nice candle light dinner at the supper club. They enjoyed each other's company. They did not talk about their pasts but reflected on their time they spent together at the cabin, the grant proposal they had been working on. and their hopes for the future. Cody held back a bit as he hoped for a future that had Jen and Hailey in it. When the dance portion of the night started. Cody escorted Jen to the dance floor. They were very comfortable in each other's arms. Jen just laid her head on his chest as they slowly danced.

When the evening was almost over. Cody said nervously, "Jen, I was wondering if it was okay if I kissed you?"

Jen responded, "I would like that."

Cody bent down a bit and kissed her on the lips. He was controlling himself and trying to take it slow.

It was time to pick Alex and Christy up from the dance. Cody helped Jen into the truck, and he got in the driver side.

Jen said, "Cody, I want to thank you for this evening, I had a wonderful time with you."

Cody responded, "I had a wonderful time as well. Would it be okay if we did this again sometime?"

Jen responded, "I would like that very much." Jen leaned across the truck console and Cody leaned in for a kiss. This time they kissed with a bit of tung. When they broke away from the kiss, both Cody and Jen were breathing harder and had a smile on their faces.

They went and picked Alex and Christy up from the dance. When they arrived at Christy's house, Alex walked Christy up to the door. They talked for a bit, and he gave her a kiss on the cheek. Cody held Jen's hand while they waited.

When Alex got back into the car, Jen asked, "Did you have a good time?"

Alex said, "Yes, but I was so nervous."

Cody responded back, "I am not surprised, I was too."