Work Text:
All Right
by Fae M.
faemovana@yahoo.com
They had been flying lower than they normally did when the blast hit them, and that's probably what saved them, Emma realized as she struggled through the snow. That and for all it's high tech features the VTOL had been constructed for collisions of much forces greater than the one they'd had. Emma still wasn't sure where the blast had come from, or who would have even known they were there, Shalimar had said the VTOL was flying low enough they shouldn't have been detected by any Canadian government radar devices, yet they had been struck down.
"We were lucky though, weren't we, Shal?" She asked, her breath leaving her in hard gasps as she stumbled across the snow, the weight of the ropes digging deep with each step. Behind her, unmoving and unresponsive, Shalimar lay on the makeshift sled Emma had made.
Step, breath, step, breath, ignore the pain, step, breath, ignore the pain, step, breath, until finally she had to stop. Had to or neither of them would have any luck.
Forcing her nearly frozen fingers to move she slipped the ropes off her slender shoulders, her brown eyes wincing at the pain and relief that brought. Stumbling a bit, she made her way to Shalimar's side. Practically falling, she kneeled down, and gave a silent prayer when she saw the faint puffs of air that meant the other woman still lived. Bending she softly kissed the faintly blue tinged lips.
"I mean we could have landed in that lake we passed over. Then there would we be?" She asked, sitting up, as if actually expecting the unconscious woman to answer. Kneeling there, stroking Shal's cheek, she could almost hear Shalimar teasingly respond, "At the bottom of the lake." A twinkle of mischief would show in those caramel colored eyes as her mouth curved into the cute quirky smile that only Shalimar had. Picturing her beloved teasing her almost brought a smile to Emma's face, almost.
"Now all we have to do is get to that cabin just ahead and we'll be ok. Even if it's an old run down shack it'll be some protection for you against this cold. Don't worry Shal, I'll get you in the cabin and all patched up. Everything will all right. Just wait and see."
Silence was her only response. Taking another painful breath, she stood up, slipped on the ropes, adjusted them, then set off again. She wished briefly that her comm was working, she thought the cold might have caused it to short out, or that they had had time to send off an emergency single back to Sanctuary, but everything had happened so fast. Realizing thinking about the crash was not helping her get closer to the cabin in front of her, she stopped thinking and concentrated on taking one step at a time.
Step, breath, ignore the pain. Step, breath, ignore the pain. The cabin getting closer and closer with each painful step. Until what that had seemed so far was only a few steps away.
Emma cried with relief then, the tears freezing to her face. Opening the door, she saw not only a fireplace, but some dry bits of wood as well. Forcing her aching, frozen, muscles to move she brought Shalimar in and started a fire.
"Emma? Em?" Shalimar groggily called out for her lover, eyes closed and head hurting too much to let her think about moving just yet, but the heat...the heat was so much better than the cold that had existed before...and it called to her.
"Shhh, Shal I'm here." The sweet scent that belonged to Emma alone surrounded Shalimar, easing the tension that had been growing and making her forget about heat and cold.
"Em, what happened?" Shal asked, fuzzily wondering why she cared as she felt Emma lay down and wrap around her.
"Nothing. Or at least nothing you need to worry about now. I've taken care of it. You rest now ok? Everything's all right just like I told you."
the end
faemovana@yahoo.com