Okay, so wanted to try and get another chapter done before the weekend. Its a small one. And something I've noticed, you can really tell I'm taking my time with this story, because with the original out of place, I already had Jem and Winter together by this point, and we were starting the Remnant Arc of the original story.

But I like this better because we're getting more of a slow burn romance. And as weird as this sounds, I'm a sucker for love stories. That being said, last its important not to let fiction dictate your life.

That being said, I actually did go on a blind date with someone named Winter, it THREW ME THE FUCK OFF. But honestly, right now, not focusing on a relationship. Focusing on trying to get to Alaska. That takes priority over anything else.

"You know I still don't understand why Jem didn't go for Goodwitch? She's also tall." Alex's girlfriend said as he shrugged.

"Well as we said, we established he likes tomboys, but he doesn't seem to like the dominatrix type." He said as his girlfriend rubbed the back of her head.

"I don't know, I think it would depend if she was a mean domme or a soft domme." That made Alex freeze.

"Come again?" He said as he wasn't sure he heard it right.

"You know, theres a mean domme who will call you degrading shit and humiliate you, and then theres the soft bdsm where shes really gentle with you and whispers sweet nothings into your air while she punishes you." Alex was so confused.

"People are into that?"

"You would be surprised at how much of it is due to childhood trauma." His girlfriend worked in a therapists office.

It was amazing how many kinks could be related to either trauma or various other events that happened in life. She knew a guy who had trouble forming relationships with women because his mom and his sister reminded him of how useless he was if he couldn't be the absolute best in everything in life. Wanting your kids to strive for better things was normal, but forcing them to perform at levels nigh impossible was just unhealthy.

Needless to say, she honestly understood why some people like the soft domme types.

Alex however didn't see the appeal.

"Look, my point is we shouldn't establish a relationship based solely on kinks." Alex said as he wanted to get off the topic.

Any relationship focused solely on anything sex related never lasted. And right now they needed to focus on building a natural bond between Winter and Jem. If there was one thing Winter had over Elm, it was time spent in deep conversation with Jem. Which meant they obviously had a lot to talk about. What could Elm and Jem talk about?

"So you do two leg days a week?" Elm asked as Jem nodded.

"Ah shit." Alex didn't take into the 'gym bro' factor.

"Yeah, that way, your legs get used to the strain a lot faster, and you won't be as sore when your next leg day comes by. Plus I've built up a better physique by doing that along with having two upper body days where I focus on all the muscles in the upper body, rather than split it into seperate muscle groups per day." Jem said as Elm nodded.

"That makes sense...what about your abs? I mean yeah they're good, but they look a little underdeveloped compard to your other muscle groups." She said in a way to not be insulting.

"Well, to be honest for awhile I was completely focused on strength rather than aesthetics. So when I was in the army, while I still had abs, I was built more like a strongman vs someone who was more streamlined. Then of course, I decided to go more for aesthetics, but still maintain strength, and that was a bitch to do." He said as he had to adjust to a new training schedule, and it sucked.

"How about you? I mean you got great definition, and those delts are amazing." Jem said as she looked like she had been cut out of marble.

"Oh well, I do hit the gym and weights every now and then, but believe it or not, swinging my hammer around ends up giving me a full body workout for the most part." She said as she often ended up using her whole body.

"Really? Even the legs?"

"Well that, I'll usually prepare for if someone attacks me and I have to stand my ground, and the opposing force pushing back is usually enough to work my legs." She explained as Jem tried to wrap his head around it.

Alex watched this scene with contempt. The fact that Elm was actually managing to keep Jem's attention just by focusing on muscles was annoying him. And where the hell was Winter?

Actually now that he thought about it. He hadn't seen her in a bit. Where was she?

THACK!

Jem's ears perked up as he heard the sound of wood being split.

"What the?" He knew he wasn't doing the splitting so where was that coming from.

WHACK!

"Huh." He stood up and walked towards the sound of it.

Alex meanwhile was trying to see what had managed to get Jem's attention away from Elm. So he followed Jem's eyes.

And what he saw made him smirk.

And Jem froze in his place.

FWACK!

There was Winter, except she had her hair loose. But what really got to him was what she was doing. She was in a pair of tight jeans, a sports bra, and was splitting wood.

All in one chop.

She wasn't taking multiple swings. She was just straight up cleaving logs in two with no problem.

And Jem LOVED that.

"Whats this about?" He asked as he walked up as Winter wiped the sweat from her brow with a towel.

"Oh, well, I figured tonight we could all have a nice big bonfire, so I was splitting some wood." She said as Jem just looked over at her.

"Woah, has Winter always had abs that good?" He knew he shouldn't look, but damn it as hard not to.

Add onto the fact she had an axe in her hand, in a tight pair of jeans, work boots, and a sports bra. He would be lying if he said this wasn't extremelly attractive to him. A girl who could split wood, work hard and was in great shape? It was truly remarkable. But he shook his head of the thoughts, last thing Winter would want would be for her to be ogling him.

Meanwhile, Winter went back to splitting wood.

"You know what, I'll join you." Jem said as he grabbed an axe and took his shirt off.

Now it was Winter's turn to try and not get caught ogling him.

Since it was summer, Jem had been doing a proper cut this year. While it was true his abs were still not his best feature, they had gotten much better in the recent months since he had started cutting from his winter bulk. Something she never noticed was that Jem's skin was as pale if not paler than hers. Almost like ivory.

Course, Elm had something to say.

"Dang, that is pale!" Elm said as a joke as Jem twitched.

"Ouch, hey I like my pale skin!" He pouted a bit as she chuckled.

Alex however suddenly had happy alarms going off in his head.

"YES YES YES! SHE BROUGHT UP ONE OF JEMS INSECURITIES!" Alex laughed inside as he remembered something important about Jem's childhood.

He got bullied for having pale skin. And one day he snapped and broke and punched a kid who wouldn't stop making fun of him for it. Ended up giving the kid a bloody nose. It may have been a weird quirk he had, getting bullied for being pale, but then again, Alex remembered how ginger kids always got bullied no matter where you were in the country. And Jem was half ginger. So it would make sense.

But now Elm had inadvertently given Winter an advantage. Even though Jem didn't really care much, it would plant the seed in his head that little Jem would have been picked on by Elm as a kid!

...

Okay well he wasn't exactly sure if that was how the psychology would work, but it made sense in his weird ass shipper mind.

"Anyways, lets get to work." He said as he got to work splitting wood.

Winter had a smirk on her face as she noticed that she had won this round.

Alex however was keeping score like a schoolgirl.

"Hmmmm, lets see, Elm obviously got off on a good foot because Jem has a thing for tomboys, and she complimented his physique and shared gym tips with him. But she lost some points due to the pale skin remark possibly bringing back bad childhood memories in his subconscious. But now lets go for Winter, Winter got off on a bad foot by crashing his trailer, not to mention it took awhile for her to warm up to Jem...HOWEVER, they both are bonding slowly, and they've had more time to talk, on top of that, she probably just made an good impression with the axe splitting. Damn, shes really going on the offensive here!" Alex liked her strategy.

He pulled her aside really quick.

"Brilliant Winter! Brilliant!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, splitting wood while showing off your abs! Its perfect!

"...What do you mean? Its hot out here, and we really do need firewood."

"...Wait, you mean you didn't do that to get Jem's attention?"

"No, it just happened to be a welcome side affect."

"...Okay that works."