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om_mainDuring winter break Benton Fraser helps the police track a young runaway. They get trapped in the snow, sharing warmth and secrets as they fight to stay awake and survive. (Victoria socked by Katey)
Fraser was his father's former partner, still close family friend, Buck Frobisher when he received the message regarding the missing girl. After her recent release from juvenile detention Victoria Metcalf had barely settled back at home before getting involved in a break-in with some older teens, all now in custody. While Victoria had gotten away from the police, she'd taken off into the woods, and with the temperature dropping there was no way she would survive in the wild for the night. When Buck returned to town to lead the search party Fraser packed up some supplies. He might be minor as well, but he knew these woods. He stood just as good of a chance as anyone of bringing her home before dark.
While Fraser never relied on abilities, it was possible that he'd found her trail before anyone else because he saw what they didn't. As he approached he slowed, considering the dropping temperature. Would they make it back in time? He hoped she realized how far out they were, and how dangerous it would be to run any farther. When he caught sight of her he prayed she wouldn't bolt and then called ahead, "Victoria? I'm Benton Fraser. I'm here to take you back to safety."
A shiver threatened to take her then, but she gripped herself in a tight hug and glared as if she knew how to hurt him... whoever he was. Her gaze raked up and down him, this pretty-boy who knew her name, who was obviously part of their search party. Like hell she'd go back to them. Back to that.
Her brow furrowed as she suppressed another shiver. "Who sent you?"
"I wasn't sent, so much as I thought I'd help search. A storm's coming." He carefully took a few steps closer. "Please--you'll freeze if you stay out here. If we head back now I think we can find shelter before it gets too bad."
She wrapped her arms around herself tighter, but didn't move away. He didn't look dangerous, somehow. Unexpected, since most people struck Victoria as at least vaguely dangerous, but there was something guileless about him that said even if he was here to drag her back... he wasn't prepared to actually, physically drag her.
It went a long way, in her mind, to settle her.
So she just gave him that look, the one that said she wasn't entirely sure about him, and shook her head. "I'm not going back. I'd rather freeze."
"Well," Fraser said carefully. "That's an option. A bit extreme, so I would highly recommend reconsidering. Are you hungry?" he asked. "From what I gleamed you've been gone for hours. I thought you might need something." He shrugged his bag down and reached inside for a thermos, which he held out for her. "Tea? It might help."
In fact, she was starving... and if he had warm tea...
Victoria looked at him, this magically appearing handsome prince charming who obviously wanted her to trust him, with increasing suspicion. "What's in it? You're not going to knock me out or something, are you?"
He looked vaguely alarmed by the notion, then schooled his expression. "I think we're too many kilometers from safety to rely on carrying you." He untwisted the cap, poured a small amount into the lid, and took a sip. He refilled the lid and passed it to her.
She accepted and sipped, at last... and wow, that was heavenly. Victoria closed her eyes and breathed in deep, wrapping her inadequately gloved hands around the mug-lid. "Oh. Damn, that's good."
He wrestled a strip of jerky out of his bag while she drank and offered it over.
She accepted, but looked at it with her brow furrowed. "What is it?"
"Caribou jerky."
Victoria laughed, a low sound, almost musical. Then held out her hand for the jerky. "First time for everything.
"So, Benton Fraser, you just... heard there was a girl missing out here and brought your tea and your caribou jerky and came looking for her? Really?"
"Is that so hard to believe?" Fraser asked.
"Yeah," she said, tearing off a piece of the jerky and... actually it wasn't bad, but anything would taste good, at that point. "That's not a thing that, you know. Normal people do. What's your angle?"
"My angle is a storm is coming, and there's no reason for someone to freeze to death out here if there's help. Will you let me help you? Please?"
Though she was looking hard for something, anything that would tell her there was some kind of game involved here, Victoria nodded and took another bite, silent for a moment. He was... unreal. Handsome and earnest and if there was a drop of guile in him, she wasn't getting it. She was pretty good at that, these days.
Eventually she said, "Well. Okay, so. I guess I don't really want to freeze to death. But I'm not going back to them."
While Fraser didn't see that as an option he didn't voice the sentiment. "Civilization is this way," he said, gesturing back into the wilderness. That was of course when the snow began to fall.
She looked up, standing there with jerky in one hand and still-barely-steaming mug in the other. "I really should've thought this through better."
"There is something to be said for preparation," Fraser said wryly. "Come on. We can try to beat it home."
After letting him screw the cap back on his tea, she started along with him, looking suspiciously up at the sky. "When you say home, you mean not home. But civilization. Somewhere I can hide out."
"My grandparents are closest." He gave her a small, reassuring smile. "Let's worry about getting that far."
Unwilling to make the same mistake twice, Victoria nodded. She could make a break for it once civilization appeared again. "What's your story, Benton Fraser? Why are middle-of-nowhere rescues part of your holiday fun?"
"I heard that someone was out here and I thought I could find you faster," Fraser said. "My grandparents settled nearby a couple of years ago. I know these woods. I spend my breaks out here. Usually I'm tracking wild life, but... This is a nice change of pace?"
She'd just finished the jerky and figured that explained its origins. In spite of herself, though she found she was actually interested in him. "That's your idea of a school vacation, huh?" But she didn't sound remotely judgmental, just... interested.
He gave a shrug, knowing that people often found his interests strange. He wasn't usually this flustered discussing these things, but he found it difficult to push down a flutter of nerves. Must be the weather and concern for their safety. "I like the wilderness," he explained, lamely. "How about you? Why did you choose to come all this way?"
"Because it was far from them," she said with a snort. She moved a little closer, tugging her hood up so it'd keep the snow out of her curly hair. "I guess if I liked the wilderness more, I would've known that I needed a better plan sooner. But you don't make a terrible back up plan..." She smirked a little.
He could feel a flush color his cheeks despite the bite of cold. "I wish I'd found you faster."
"I'm starting to. Maybe." She leaned in a little more and took his arm. The snow was coming down harder and harder, now. "How far is it, exactly...?"
Fraser looked at the sky, studying the rate of the snowfall before taking a deep breath. "I'm afraid not close enough." He considered before saying, "We can make a shelter. At this rate we'll only tire ourselves out short of shelter. Better to avoid exposure."
Victoria considered this. Considered him. And then said, "Okay. What do you need me to do?"
With Victoria's help Fraser put together an impromptu shelter, working quickly as the snow fell harder and the wind picked up at a dangerous pace. There hadn't been enough time to grab everything that might be needed in this situation. They'd have to make due with a structure of branches to fight the wind, covered only with a thin blanket and the length of Fraser's coat.
"I'm sorry for this," Fraser said softly when they'd settled inside. The world around them was already white and they were effectively trapped as soon as they'd committed to stopping.
"Don't be." Victoria frowned and leaned into Fraser. "I'm the idiot who's apparently trying to get us both killed."
Carefully he wrapped his arms around her, body rigid due to the proximity, but knowing that was the only way to conserve their warmth. "We'll get through this," he promised.
She was still cold, but not so cold. She leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder. He smelled... good.
What the hell was wrong with him? Why would he come out here after some girl he'd never met? Why would he be so... nice to her?
"I'll do whatever it takes," she said quietly. "I'm sorry."
He rested his cheek against her hair, shutting his eyes as he realized how close they were. There was no way around it, or they'd freeze. Still, it was a bit alarming. She fit so perfectly in his arms. He'd never... well, he'd never nearly frozen to death with another person before. "We'll wait out the storm. Don't apologize. Unless you control the weather, in which case, you can apologize if you like."
She chuckled and burrowed into his side even closer. "You're cute, resourceful, and funny. Wow."
"Well, I've been accused of being resourceful," he agreed, hiding a blush against her hair.
"But never cute or funny?" Victoria smirked. Yes, it was a lot warmer in here, with Fraser. Which, admittedly, wasn't saying a lot. But she... didn't mind. "I find that hard to believe."
"I can't say it's a common occurrence," he murmured softly.
"Then you must not go to school with very observant people," Victoria observed mildly. Normally she might've said it with more ire--she hated to admit it, maybe, but she was being rescued.
(Or getting them both killed, but she didn't want to think about that, just now. It wasn't going to warm anyone up if she did.)
She nudged his jaw with her forehead gently. "But I am. So thank you, Benton Fraser."
"I was home-schooled most of my life," Fraser said softly, sharing information as a distraction from the attention and to fill time. "So my classmates haven't had much opportunity to get to know me yet."
"Their loss," Victoria said. She suppressed a shiver, not wanting to seem weak, and burrowed into his side tighter. "So, we got all night. How about I get to know you? What's to know, Benton?"
He wrapped his arms closer around her. "I'm afraid you're asking for a long, but potentially boring story," he said, a wry note in his tone. "Will you share your story next, if I do?"
"We got a long night ahead of us," Victoria said, even as she turned her face into his neck, trying to avoid the reality of the situation outside their little makeshift shelter. She had a feeling that falling asleep would be... bad, just then. Or all night, even. "I can definitely do that, to pass the time. After you."
He started from the very beginning. The sound of snowfall grew muffled above them, trapping them in this pocket of space. He told her about his family, and he asked about hers. He explained what had happened when his father died. His stories might sound outrageous, but they were all true.
It was inevitable in the cold that they would wrap tighter around each other, and the only logical thing to do was to strip away layers in the darkness, wrapping the material around them as they pressed skin to skin. They shared whispered secrets, slowing as the night grew longer. In the dark Victoria wouldn't be able to see the flush that tried to color Fraser's cheeks as his hands moved over her back, stroking her skin, sharing the heat from his palms. Her own hands were pressed against his chest and her fingers felt like ice. Fraser shut his eyes and then reached to take one of her hands. When he sucked her fingers into his mouth it was to keep her warm, keep her alive. He couldn't see her face, but he could picture her expression from the sound of her voice.
She knew she was cold, but he felt so warm. This funny, sweet boy who'd risked himself to save her... no one had ever risked anything for Victoria. She told him that, told him everything, her own voice sounding distant in her head. But eventually she trailed off, because the warmest thing in the world--ever in the world--was his mouth. She leaned forward to find it with her own.
He shouldn't be doing this. The thought was fleeting as he pressed into that kiss, a soft, desperate sound building in his throat. She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever met, in strength and in spirit. Fraser's fingers slid into her hair, and his lips moved over hers.
She wrapped both arms around him as best she could, twisting to press into him more closely, still. As if she could.
It was so easy to get lost. Fraser didn't know what he was doing, but this somehow came easily. His hands moved over her skin, and he kissed her as if this was the only thing in the world. Everything outside of this space no longer mattered.
Part of it was that she wanted to be warm and forget, yes, but most of it was him, and Victoria was too tired to deny it even to herself. No one had ever made her feel protected or cared for, that she could remember. No one sincere.
And hell, it was warmer like this. Even if she was getting more and more tired...
Despite the intimacy their situation Fraser tried to keep his hands in respectful places. That still allowed him to move his palms over the length of her back or slide them along her sides, stopping short of anything indecent. His lips eventually found their way to her throat, exploring down and across her collarbone. He wasn't sure how long it would take for this storm to break, but he knew there was time to move slowly and cherish each second.
Victoria was not so patient--but for the first time in her life, possibly, she was aware of a need not to push the person she was with. It was always her being pushed and pulled, one way or another. Now, she wanted to be careful with him. Not like people had been with her. She nipped at his bottom lip gently before diving in for a deeper kiss, one hand sliding up his thigh, but slowly.
He made a sound, low and startled. He didn't... He wasn't sure... This was all very new.
Her eyes... wouldn't open now. They felt so heavy, and she did feel warm, very warm, she was sure of it. And he was so warm. So her hand kept slipping upward and then...
Fraser caught her hand, bringing it up to press a kiss to her palm. "We should stay hydrated," he interjected. "Before you sleep. If you sleep. We need to be careful."
"Hydrated..." Victoria repeated, managing to pry her eyes open. She wanted to touch him more, but she was also just... so tired. "We should?"
"Yes," he insisted.
"Okay. But--I'd rather just kiss you some more."
He smiled and stroked his thumb along the curve of her cheek. "I... I'd very much like that, but your safety comes first. Trust me."
Victoria snorted out a small laugh, still clinging to him. "You know, Benton Fraser... normally I would never. But with you, I do."
***
Somehow they made it through, and when the storm broke Fraser dug them free of the snow. With an arm still wrapped around her, both supporting her and reaffirming that she was alive, Fraser led Victoria through wilderness and to his grandparents' cabin.
It wasn't until the cabin was in sight that he dared breathe a sigh of relief.
"Welcome to our home," he said softly.
He opened the door and led her inside. There, sitting in an armchair adjacent to Fraser's grandparents, was Sergeant Buck Frobisher in full uniform, holding a cup of tea.
Victoria paused in the doorway. The uniform... shit. She turned a look on Fraser, a look bordering on absolute betrayal. "... you said..."
Fraser hadn't expected Buck to be there, but logically it made sense for him to be. "I didn't realize," he said immediately. "I didn't think--"
He was interrupted by the 3 worried adults who'd each reacted upon seeing the half-frozen teens. Fraser's grandmother was already on her feet, coming to them with a blanket in hand. She looked Fraser over in concern and appraisal, but the blanket went around Victoria first as his grandmother ordered his grandfather to grab clothing for them. She also cast a sharp glance at Buck to stop him from saying anything before she could make sure that the pair was okay.
Victoria shook her head, but there was nowhere to run, nothing she could do when the older woman wrapped her up and ushered her in. She just shot a look over her shoulder at Fraser, injured and accusing, and said, "I'm not going back. I'm not."
Fraser his mouth to apologize, glancing in Buck's direction as he did so. "Victoria," he tried softly, but he realized it was too late.
"No one's going anywhere right now," Fraser's grandmother said. "Except maybe a hospital. Come on."
She shook her head at him and turned away.
She wanted to think she'd been wrong about him. That it had all meant nothing. She wanted to hate him.
She couldn't, but she tried hard, anyhow.
Fraser was his father's former partner, still close family friend, Buck Frobisher when he received the message regarding the missing girl. After her recent release from juvenile detention Victoria Metcalf had barely settled back at home before getting involved in a break-in with some older teens, all now in custody. While Victoria had gotten away from the police, she'd taken off into the woods, and with the temperature dropping there was no way she would survive in the wild for the night. When Buck returned to town to lead the search party Fraser packed up some supplies. He might be minor as well, but he knew these woods. He stood just as good of a chance as anyone of bringing her home before dark.
While Fraser never relied on abilities, it was possible that he'd found her trail before anyone else because he saw what they didn't. As he approached he slowed, considering the dropping temperature. Would they make it back in time? He hoped she realized how far out they were, and how dangerous it would be to run any farther. When he caught sight of her he prayed she wouldn't bolt and then called ahead, "Victoria? I'm Benton Fraser. I'm here to take you back to safety."
A shiver threatened to take her then, but she gripped herself in a tight hug and glared as if she knew how to hurt him... whoever he was. Her gaze raked up and down him, this pretty-boy who knew her name, who was obviously part of their search party. Like hell she'd go back to them. Back to that.
Her brow furrowed as she suppressed another shiver. "Who sent you?"
"I wasn't sent, so much as I thought I'd help search. A storm's coming." He carefully took a few steps closer. "Please--you'll freeze if you stay out here. If we head back now I think we can find shelter before it gets too bad."
She wrapped her arms around herself tighter, but didn't move away. He didn't look dangerous, somehow. Unexpected, since most people struck Victoria as at least vaguely dangerous, but there was something guileless about him that said even if he was here to drag her back... he wasn't prepared to actually, physically drag her.
It went a long way, in her mind, to settle her.
So she just gave him that look, the one that said she wasn't entirely sure about him, and shook her head. "I'm not going back. I'd rather freeze."
"Well," Fraser said carefully. "That's an option. A bit extreme, so I would highly recommend reconsidering. Are you hungry?" he asked. "From what I gleamed you've been gone for hours. I thought you might need something." He shrugged his bag down and reached inside for a thermos, which he held out for her. "Tea? It might help."
In fact, she was starving... and if he had warm tea...
Victoria looked at him, this magically appearing handsome prince charming who obviously wanted her to trust him, with increasing suspicion. "What's in it? You're not going to knock me out or something, are you?"
He looked vaguely alarmed by the notion, then schooled his expression. "I think we're too many kilometers from safety to rely on carrying you." He untwisted the cap, poured a small amount into the lid, and took a sip. He refilled the lid and passed it to her.
She accepted and sipped, at last... and wow, that was heavenly. Victoria closed her eyes and breathed in deep, wrapping her inadequately gloved hands around the mug-lid. "Oh. Damn, that's good."
He wrestled a strip of jerky out of his bag while she drank and offered it over.
She accepted, but looked at it with her brow furrowed. "What is it?"
"Caribou jerky."
Victoria laughed, a low sound, almost musical. Then held out her hand for the jerky. "First time for everything.
"So, Benton Fraser, you just... heard there was a girl missing out here and brought your tea and your caribou jerky and came looking for her? Really?"
"Is that so hard to believe?" Fraser asked.
"Yeah," she said, tearing off a piece of the jerky and... actually it wasn't bad, but anything would taste good, at that point. "That's not a thing that, you know. Normal people do. What's your angle?"
"My angle is a storm is coming, and there's no reason for someone to freeze to death out here if there's help. Will you let me help you? Please?"
Though she was looking hard for something, anything that would tell her there was some kind of game involved here, Victoria nodded and took another bite, silent for a moment. He was... unreal. Handsome and earnest and if there was a drop of guile in him, she wasn't getting it. She was pretty good at that, these days.
Eventually she said, "Well. Okay, so. I guess I don't really want to freeze to death. But I'm not going back to them."
While Fraser didn't see that as an option he didn't voice the sentiment. "Civilization is this way," he said, gesturing back into the wilderness. That was of course when the snow began to fall.
She looked up, standing there with jerky in one hand and still-barely-steaming mug in the other. "I really should've thought this through better."
"There is something to be said for preparation," Fraser said wryly. "Come on. We can try to beat it home."
After letting him screw the cap back on his tea, she started along with him, looking suspiciously up at the sky. "When you say home, you mean not home. But civilization. Somewhere I can hide out."
"My grandparents are closest." He gave her a small, reassuring smile. "Let's worry about getting that far."
Unwilling to make the same mistake twice, Victoria nodded. She could make a break for it once civilization appeared again. "What's your story, Benton Fraser? Why are middle-of-nowhere rescues part of your holiday fun?"
"I heard that someone was out here and I thought I could find you faster," Fraser said. "My grandparents settled nearby a couple of years ago. I know these woods. I spend my breaks out here. Usually I'm tracking wild life, but... This is a nice change of pace?"
She'd just finished the jerky and figured that explained its origins. In spite of herself, though she found she was actually interested in him. "That's your idea of a school vacation, huh?" But she didn't sound remotely judgmental, just... interested.
He gave a shrug, knowing that people often found his interests strange. He wasn't usually this flustered discussing these things, but he found it difficult to push down a flutter of nerves. Must be the weather and concern for their safety. "I like the wilderness," he explained, lamely. "How about you? Why did you choose to come all this way?"
"Because it was far from them," she said with a snort. She moved a little closer, tugging her hood up so it'd keep the snow out of her curly hair. "I guess if I liked the wilderness more, I would've known that I needed a better plan sooner. But you don't make a terrible back up plan..." She smirked a little.
He could feel a flush color his cheeks despite the bite of cold. "I wish I'd found you faster."
"I'm starting to. Maybe." She leaned in a little more and took his arm. The snow was coming down harder and harder, now. "How far is it, exactly...?"
Fraser looked at the sky, studying the rate of the snowfall before taking a deep breath. "I'm afraid not close enough." He considered before saying, "We can make a shelter. At this rate we'll only tire ourselves out short of shelter. Better to avoid exposure."
Victoria considered this. Considered him. And then said, "Okay. What do you need me to do?"
With Victoria's help Fraser put together an impromptu shelter, working quickly as the snow fell harder and the wind picked up at a dangerous pace. There hadn't been enough time to grab everything that might be needed in this situation. They'd have to make due with a structure of branches to fight the wind, covered only with a thin blanket and the length of Fraser's coat.
"I'm sorry for this," Fraser said softly when they'd settled inside. The world around them was already white and they were effectively trapped as soon as they'd committed to stopping.
"Don't be." Victoria frowned and leaned into Fraser. "I'm the idiot who's apparently trying to get us both killed."
Carefully he wrapped his arms around her, body rigid due to the proximity, but knowing that was the only way to conserve their warmth. "We'll get through this," he promised.
She was still cold, but not so cold. She leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder. He smelled... good.
What the hell was wrong with him? Why would he come out here after some girl he'd never met? Why would he be so... nice to her?
"I'll do whatever it takes," she said quietly. "I'm sorry."
He rested his cheek against her hair, shutting his eyes as he realized how close they were. There was no way around it, or they'd freeze. Still, it was a bit alarming. She fit so perfectly in his arms. He'd never... well, he'd never nearly frozen to death with another person before. "We'll wait out the storm. Don't apologize. Unless you control the weather, in which case, you can apologize if you like."
She chuckled and burrowed into his side even closer. "You're cute, resourceful, and funny. Wow."
"Well, I've been accused of being resourceful," he agreed, hiding a blush against her hair.
"But never cute or funny?" Victoria smirked. Yes, it was a lot warmer in here, with Fraser. Which, admittedly, wasn't saying a lot. But she... didn't mind. "I find that hard to believe."
"I can't say it's a common occurrence," he murmured softly.
"Then you must not go to school with very observant people," Victoria observed mildly. Normally she might've said it with more ire--she hated to admit it, maybe, but she was being rescued.
(Or getting them both killed, but she didn't want to think about that, just now. It wasn't going to warm anyone up if she did.)
She nudged his jaw with her forehead gently. "But I am. So thank you, Benton Fraser."
"I was home-schooled most of my life," Fraser said softly, sharing information as a distraction from the attention and to fill time. "So my classmates haven't had much opportunity to get to know me yet."
"Their loss," Victoria said. She suppressed a shiver, not wanting to seem weak, and burrowed into his side tighter. "So, we got all night. How about I get to know you? What's to know, Benton?"
He wrapped his arms closer around her. "I'm afraid you're asking for a long, but potentially boring story," he said, a wry note in his tone. "Will you share your story next, if I do?"
"We got a long night ahead of us," Victoria said, even as she turned her face into his neck, trying to avoid the reality of the situation outside their little makeshift shelter. She had a feeling that falling asleep would be... bad, just then. Or all night, even. "I can definitely do that, to pass the time. After you."
He started from the very beginning. The sound of snowfall grew muffled above them, trapping them in this pocket of space. He told her about his family, and he asked about hers. He explained what had happened when his father died. His stories might sound outrageous, but they were all true.
It was inevitable in the cold that they would wrap tighter around each other, and the only logical thing to do was to strip away layers in the darkness, wrapping the material around them as they pressed skin to skin. They shared whispered secrets, slowing as the night grew longer. In the dark Victoria wouldn't be able to see the flush that tried to color Fraser's cheeks as his hands moved over her back, stroking her skin, sharing the heat from his palms. Her own hands were pressed against his chest and her fingers felt like ice. Fraser shut his eyes and then reached to take one of her hands. When he sucked her fingers into his mouth it was to keep her warm, keep her alive. He couldn't see her face, but he could picture her expression from the sound of her voice.
She knew she was cold, but he felt so warm. This funny, sweet boy who'd risked himself to save her... no one had ever risked anything for Victoria. She told him that, told him everything, her own voice sounding distant in her head. But eventually she trailed off, because the warmest thing in the world--ever in the world--was his mouth. She leaned forward to find it with her own.
He shouldn't be doing this. The thought was fleeting as he pressed into that kiss, a soft, desperate sound building in his throat. She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever met, in strength and in spirit. Fraser's fingers slid into her hair, and his lips moved over hers.
She wrapped both arms around him as best she could, twisting to press into him more closely, still. As if she could.
It was so easy to get lost. Fraser didn't know what he was doing, but this somehow came easily. His hands moved over her skin, and he kissed her as if this was the only thing in the world. Everything outside of this space no longer mattered.
Part of it was that she wanted to be warm and forget, yes, but most of it was him, and Victoria was too tired to deny it even to herself. No one had ever made her feel protected or cared for, that she could remember. No one sincere.
And hell, it was warmer like this. Even if she was getting more and more tired...
Despite the intimacy their situation Fraser tried to keep his hands in respectful places. That still allowed him to move his palms over the length of her back or slide them along her sides, stopping short of anything indecent. His lips eventually found their way to her throat, exploring down and across her collarbone. He wasn't sure how long it would take for this storm to break, but he knew there was time to move slowly and cherish each second.
Victoria was not so patient--but for the first time in her life, possibly, she was aware of a need not to push the person she was with. It was always her being pushed and pulled, one way or another. Now, she wanted to be careful with him. Not like people had been with her. She nipped at his bottom lip gently before diving in for a deeper kiss, one hand sliding up his thigh, but slowly.
He made a sound, low and startled. He didn't... He wasn't sure... This was all very new.
Her eyes... wouldn't open now. They felt so heavy, and she did feel warm, very warm, she was sure of it. And he was so warm. So her hand kept slipping upward and then...
Fraser caught her hand, bringing it up to press a kiss to her palm. "We should stay hydrated," he interjected. "Before you sleep. If you sleep. We need to be careful."
"Hydrated..." Victoria repeated, managing to pry her eyes open. She wanted to touch him more, but she was also just... so tired. "We should?"
"Yes," he insisted.
"Okay. But--I'd rather just kiss you some more."
He smiled and stroked his thumb along the curve of her cheek. "I... I'd very much like that, but your safety comes first. Trust me."
Victoria snorted out a small laugh, still clinging to him. "You know, Benton Fraser... normally I would never. But with you, I do."
Somehow they made it through, and when the storm broke Fraser dug them free of the snow. With an arm still wrapped around her, both supporting her and reaffirming that she was alive, Fraser led Victoria through wilderness and to his grandparents' cabin.
It wasn't until the cabin was in sight that he dared breathe a sigh of relief.
"Welcome to our home," he said softly.
He opened the door and led her inside. There, sitting in an armchair adjacent to Fraser's grandparents, was Sergeant Buck Frobisher in full uniform, holding a cup of tea.
Victoria paused in the doorway. The uniform... shit. She turned a look on Fraser, a look bordering on absolute betrayal. "... you said..."
Fraser hadn't expected Buck to be there, but logically it made sense for him to be. "I didn't realize," he said immediately. "I didn't think--"
He was interrupted by the 3 worried adults who'd each reacted upon seeing the half-frozen teens. Fraser's grandmother was already on her feet, coming to them with a blanket in hand. She looked Fraser over in concern and appraisal, but the blanket went around Victoria first as his grandmother ordered his grandfather to grab clothing for them. She also cast a sharp glance at Buck to stop him from saying anything before she could make sure that the pair was okay.
Victoria shook her head, but there was nowhere to run, nothing she could do when the older woman wrapped her up and ushered her in. She just shot a look over her shoulder at Fraser, injured and accusing, and said, "I'm not going back. I'm not."
Fraser his mouth to apologize, glancing in Buck's direction as he did so. "Victoria," he tried softly, but he realized it was too late.
"No one's going anywhere right now," Fraser's grandmother said. "Except maybe a hospital. Come on."
She shook her head at him and turned away.
She wanted to think she'd been wrong about him. That it had all meant nothing. She wanted to hate him.
She couldn't, but she tried hard, anyhow.
