Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Character:
Language:
English
Collections:
Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
Stats:
Published:
2020-11-04
Words:
6,147
Chapters:
1/1
Kudos:
21
Hits:
1,757

A Blizzard In Cascade

Summary:

An unusual snow storm hits Cascade and of course Blair and Jim are out in the midst of it

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

A Blizzard In Cascade
By Dar Hutson Scally
(Chopecdar)

Blair Sandburg took another look out his office window. All he saw was white. The snow that had started feebly early that morning was now a windy raging storm that had quickly accumulated to over a foot of snow already and was showing no sign of letting up. He couldn't believe it. When he had left home to head to Rainier that morning he had assumed it would be another average snowfall for Cascade. The city of rain, as it's residents fondly called it, was not known for heavy snowfalls. What started out as white flakes falling gently on a gray city usually ended up as cold rain and heavy fog with an accumulation of more mud than snow.

He turned back to his desk where he had begun packing up his backpack for the trek home. He hoped his car was up to it and once again patted himself on the back for having had the heating system in it repaired just last week. He had almost put it off once again in favor of spending the money on a antique book he had come across at the used book store, but it had been a cold day and that reminded him how much he hated driving around with no heat, so he had reluctantly put aside his desire to have the book and checked his car into the shop instead.

He closed his backpack up and started bundling up for the walk to his car. First the two layers of gloves, knitted first, then leather, then the sweatshirt over his flannel shirt, followed by his leather jacket, and of course his warm furry hat with the flaps down over his ears. He wasn't going to win any fashion contests but hey, he was going to be warm.

He looked over his desk one last time, making sure he didn't forget anything. It might be a few days before he'd be coming back in, the way this weather looked.

Spying a chocolate bar on the desk, he picked it up and stuffed it in his pocket. It would go well with the cup of hot chocolate he was planning to have as soon as he got home. He wondered if Jim was headed home yet. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon but it seemed like everyone else around the school had scurried home hours ago at the first sign that this had turned into a real storm. He wondered if the detectives had closed up shop and gone home as well. He knew sometimes if there were a bad storm, the chief of police would order all personnel to remain on duty for the duration. He hoped Jim didn't get roped into that duty.

He was kind of looking forward to spending a couple of days homebound with his sentinel, maybe do a few tests, have a little male bonding, the kind of things he missed when they both got occupied with their separate lives like they had been doing lately, and didn't spend much time together.

He stepped out into the snow storm, the wind immediately taking his breath away. Huddling over with an arm across his face in an attempt to protect it from the frigid blustering flakes pounding into him, he made his way slowly to his car. By the time he pulled his key out of his pocket, his hands were shaking from the cold. He opened the car door and slid in, the freezing vinyl seat sending a shock through his body. He quickly closed the door and shoved the key into the ignition, sending a prayer up before turning it.

Sighing in relief as the engine started right up without protest, he cranked the heat up and waited to feel the car fill with warm air. Then he grabbed the scraper from the backseat floor and got out to clean the windows off, wishing the whole time that he had something with a longer handle. He remembered buying the little scraper, the two dollar model as opposed to the nice five dollar model with the extendable handle and the brush on one side, thinking there'd never be a need for something like that in rain country. He gave a thought to the demand next week at the local stores for snow removal equipment and wondered if they'd have anything in stock. After this storm, people around here were going to want to be more prepared in case it ever happened again. He wondered if Jim had a snow shovel. He'd probably need one to clear a parking space with when he got home.

'Okay, clear enough,' he thought as he opened the door and slid back onto the now much warmer car seat.

Throwing the scraper on the passenger side floor, he put the car in gear and started off. Ten minutes later, as he finally made his way off of the parking lot and onto the road, he started calculating how long it was likely to take him to make it all the way home if he could only continue at this rate and he wished he had left hours ago like everyone else.

Jim Ellison sat back down at his desk and resigned himself to the fact that he had waited too long to head home. Word from the chief of police had just come down. Anyone who was on duty right now would stay on duty; anyone who was off duty and could make it in was now officially called in to work. All city owned four-wheel drive vehicles were now busily working at transporting necessary police, fire, and hospital personnel to their jobs. The Mayor had just declared the city of Cascade to be in a state of emergency and the weather reporters on the local television stations were now reporting on the blizzard of 2000.

Picking up the phone he dialed home, picturing his partner sitting by the fire with a cup of something warm. Surely, he had had enough sense to head home the minute the weather started looking so ominous.

No answer there, he hung up and dialed the cell phone. It rang four times before it was answered.

"Hello."

"Blair, where are you?" Jim demanded.

"I'm in the car headed home." Blair said. "Where are you?"

"I'm still at work and I probably will be for awhile. The Mayor called a state of emergency which means all emergency personnel are now on duty and that includes all police up to the level of Major." Jim explained.

"Oh, I was hoping that wouldn't happen. So, I guess you're stuck there. Maybe I should head to the station instead of home." Blair suggested.

"You may as well go home. At least one of us can relax and be comfortable."

"Well, right now I'm not getting anywhere very fast."

"Where are you?"

"You know that road that heads out of campus, University Drive?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I just turned off of that onto Crosscampus Boulevard, and I left my office an hour and a half ago."

"God, Blair, at that rate you're going to be half the night getting home."

"yeah, kind of looks that way. I was hoping the road would be a little better once I got out of the university area onto a major highway."

"I wouldn't count on it. This city is totally unprepared for heavy snow removal. They only have eight snowplows running and they're spread too thin. Maybe you'd better head toward the station instead of home. The plows have gone over more of the roads around here to give police access in and out. Once you get through to Jefferson Street you should be clear all the way in to the station."

"Okay. I guess I'll see you in a while."

"Chief, be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry, Jim. I'm always careful."

Jim hung up the phone. "Yeah, Chief, that's what I'm worried about." He thought about all the scrapes and near tragedies that 'careful' Blair Sandburg had suffered in the years that he had known him. Sometimes, it seemed his partner and best friend attracted trouble like a lightning rod attracted lightning.

The wipers just weren't cutting it anymore. The windshield was almost covered with snow. Blair stopped the car and got out with the scraper again, scraping the snow buildup off the windshield and side windows. He hadn't seen another car out here yet. It was a bit spooky not to see another living being as far as you could see. Of course, that wasn't exactly very far considering the blustery snowfall all around him. He was lucky to be able to see where the road was supposed to be. Not that you could actually still see any road, under the thick snow covering. At least it wasn't ice and it really wasn't a very slippery snow so driving wouldn't have been all that bad if there just weren't so much of it.

He got back in the car and started off again, turning the car radio up to hear what the weather guy was saying. They kept talking about the blizzard and how unusual it was to get this kind of storm in Washington state and how totally unprepared Cascade was for this level of a storm.

Blair gave a brief thought to where his mother was right about now. She had gone to Hawaii to visit a friend for a couple of months, not planning to come back to the Cascade area until springtime. She definitely had the right idea. He wouldn't mind at all living in a warmer climate for a few months, but not at the expense of his sentinel of course.

All he could see was white all around him and he suddenly realized he wasn't even sure if he was going in the right direction. Then suddenly the car stopped with a thud. He put it in park and got out, walking around to the front of the car. There was a brick wall of snow in front of the car and he realized there was no way he was going to get past it, not with his car. Maybe if he were driving a tank or at least a big truck with a plow on the front of it he'd have a chance.

He looked around in all directions, but he was pretty much on his own here. He couldn't see anything farther away than a few feet. He wasn't even sure where he was. The last landmark he remembered seeing was the street sign where he turned from Crosscampus Boulevard onto Featherhawk Road. He thought he should have come to the entrance to the highway by now.

It was starting to get dark and the temperature was dropping even lower. The air was so cold it hurt his chest to take a breath of it. He got back into the car and dialed the cell phone. Jim answered on the first ring.

"Jim."

"Sandburg, where are you?" Jim asked, his voice full of blessed protector worry.

"Relax Jim. I'm okay. I'm just kind of stuck here. I don't think I'm going anywhere."

"Okay, where are you? Maybe I can get one of the four-wheel drive vehicles from the garage and pick you up."

"Well, that might be a bit tricky, Jim, cause I don't really know where I am."

"You don't know where you are? How is that being careful there, Blair?"

"I'm sorry, Jim, but it's like covered in white out here. I can't see a thing. Maybe if I had your vision, but right now all I see is snow in any direction. I turned onto Featherhawk Road a while ago, but I must have gotten turned around or something cause I never saw the highway ramp and I should have found it a long time ago. I must have passed right by it."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Chief. I didn't mean to imply you weren't being careful. I just didn't realize it was that bad out there and I was getting worried when you didn't show up. I'm going to get a four-wheel drive and head out to find you. Just stay in the car with the heat running and let me find you, okay?"

"Yeah, Jim. Where would I go?"

"Just don't decide to walk off, okay? You're safer staying in the car than trying to find your way to shelter, you got me?"

"Yeah, stay put. I got it." Blair said.

"Okay, I'm on my way. How's your phone battery?"

Blair looked at his cell phone. "It's got about half a charge left."

"Okay, I want you to turn it off for about 15 minutes, then turn it back on for five. Keep up with that pattern so the battery doesn't cut out too soon. It might take me a while to find you. If anything comes up, I'll have my phone with me. Don't hesitate to call if you need to, okay?"

"Okay. I'm hanging up now. Be careful, Jim."

"Okay, Chief." Jim hung up the phone and grabbed his jacket as he plowed out of the bullpen.

Simon Banks was just coming out of the elevator when Jim Ellison barreled in.

"Jim, Jim, what's the rush?"

"I have to go out and find Sandburg, Simon." Jim explained. "He's trapped out there somewhere between school and here."

"Hold up. I'll go with you." Simon said. He went to his office and grabbed his coat and gloves and joined Jim on the elevator.

"We can get one of those four-wheel drive Jeeps if there are any left. I'll drive so you can use your senses to try to find him. Could he give you anything to go on?"

"Just that the last place he was sure of where he was he had turned onto Featherhawk Road from Crosscampus Boulevard. He was headed for the highway, but he somehow missed it or got turned around or something cause he never found it. Now he's stuck in some kind of snow bank or something and can't see anything except snow."

"Jim, you know that little country road that goes off of Featherhawk, the one that goes out to the quarry?" Simon said.

"Yeah, he could have gotten turned down there. That's about as far away from any landmarks as you could get."

Jim pulled the gloves out of his coat pocket and slipped them on, turning the collar of his coat up around his neck, in preparation for braving the approaching night air.

Blair pulled open his backpack and took out a book and a water bottle. Then he took the chocolate bar that he had saved earlier from his coat pocket. He might as well relax and get something accomplished while he waited for Jim to find him. He had a lot of reading to do and there was no reason to worry since he knew his sentinel would find him. A little snowstorm wouldn't stop Jim.

Jim hung his head out the window trying to see through the thick falling snow. Simon drove the big old Suburban as fast as it would go with these road conditions, but it still seemed to Jim like they were crawling along.

There was no sign of anyone out here at this point. The sunlight had waned almost an hour ago and even with Jim's enhanced vision there wasn't much to see, just snow, snow and more snow. He listened but the only thing he could hear were the sounds of their own vehicle and the wind blowing by them.

The ringing of his cell phone brought Jim's head back inside the car. He answered it as he rolled up the window. He could see by the caller ID display that it was Blair calling.

"Blair, how're you doing?"

"Hi Jim. I'm okay. It's nice and warm in here and I just had a chocolate bar for dinner.

And I still have half a bottle of water, so I'm good."

"All right. Can you tell me any more about where you are? Look around you and see if you see anything."

"Okay, but I have to get out of the car to do that. The windows are completely covered now. I can't see a thing. I'm glad I got that map light fixed in the car. I've been reading.

Hold on a minute. I'll take a look around."

Jim heard the creak of the door opening and then a swish and a sudden thump.

"Sandburg, you okay?"

There was a pause. "I'm okay. I just slipped. Man, it's dark out here."

"Can you see anything?"

"I can see lights, like a line of street lights off to my right. They look to be about a

mile away, maybe more. How did I get out in the middle of nowhere?"

"We think you might have turned off on an old mining road. There are a few of them running off Featherhawk Road. We've checked down one of them and we're heading down another one now. If this isn't it, we'll check out the other one, but it'll take about another hour. It's really slow moving out here."

"Take your time, Jim. Be careful. It's not like I'm in any danger here or anything. I have the car to keep me warm."

"Okay. I want you to turn the phone off again for awhile and check in with me in about a half hour."

"Okay. Hey, what's that?"

"What?" Jim asked. He listened carefully and over the phone line he could hear a rumbling sound like a big truck would make.

"Jim, it's a snow plow. It's coming up behind my car. Maybe I can get a ride out of here. Hold on."

Blair walked toward the approaching truck and waved his arms, watching as the truck came to a stop right behind his car. The driver's side door opened and a big beefy guy jumped down and walked toward him.

The guy had a smile on his face as he stepped through the deep snow. He towered at least two feet over Blair and was at least twice as wide.

"Hi, maybe you can help me?" Blair said, taking a step toward the guy.

The guy laughed as he took another step, then swung his fist across Blair's face in a lazy swipe that knocked him several feet back to land flat on his back in the snow.

The cell phone flew out of his hand and landed several feet away, falling into the snow.

"What are you doing, man?" Blair yelled, coming to awareness to find himself lying in the cold depth of snow.

He put a hand up to his bleeding chin, feeling the jaw that was already swelling up.

Getting slowly up, he saw the man rooting through his car. His laptop was in there.

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than the guy turned away from the car with the laptop in his hands.

"No way, man. "Blair yelled. "You're not taking my computer. I need that."

He walked toward the guy as he spoke and watched as he sat the laptop down on the seat of the car.

Blair took another step closer before he realized he was making a mistake. The guy turned and picked him up, holding him up almost over his head like some kind of wrestler on tv. Then he turned with him and threw him.

The sky and snow went by in a blur and the roof of the car got closer and closer until suddenly he was landing on it face first and that was the last thing he knew.

Jim heard the commotion and Blair's scream as he was thrown through the air. It sounded distanced and he realized that the phone must have gotten dropped somewhere.

He kept calling out to Blair but got no answer. Then he heard the truck rumble away.

"Jim?" Simon began.

"He's hurt. He's got to be. It sounded like he got thrown against the car. I think he just got held up, but the hold up guy never said a word, just sort of laughed." Jim stuck his head back out the window, trying to listen over the wind.

"We'll find him, Jim." Simon sped the car up a bit and sent a little prayer up.

"Hey, Simon, the phone line is open. You think they could trace it?" Jim asked.

Simon smiled, reaching into his coat pocket for his own cell phone. "It's worth a try."

As they continued down the road Jim kept one ear to his phone and one ear out the window, both trying to hear anything out of Blair.

Blair opened groggy eyes and saw white. That's strange. Why were his sheets so cold?

He rolled over to get out of bed and turn the heat up. It was a long slip to the floor but why was there fluffy white stuff all over his floor. His head was throbbing and he reached up to touch his forehead, feeling a lump there. His jaw ached too and he felt the swelling around the left side of his mouth.

He turned over lying flat on his back and looked around. Well, this wasn't his bedroom. He could see the night sky peeking through the blustery snow that was falling all around him. His car was sitting next to him stuck in a drift, the door hanging open. There was slightly warm air seeping out but the engine must have died out and there was no light. He pulled himself up and sat on the car seat, looking out trying to see where he was.

Slowly he remembered having left school trying to get home. But after that he was a little confused. Why was he sleeping on top of his car and why did he feel like a big ice cube?

Well, however he had gotten here, it was obvious he couldn't stay here. It was too cold. He needed to find shelter. He needed to get warm. If he had gotten stuck somewhere on his way home, surely he couldn't be too far from help. Making his decision, he looked on the floor under the seat of his car and found his flashlight.

Turning it on, he stood up, grabbing onto the door until the dizziness passed, then started walking.

Jim heard the noises of movement coming over the phone line.

"Blair!" He yelled into the phone. No response. He wished for a moment that he could give Blair his enhanced hearing so maybe he'd hear him yelling over the phone.

Simon glanced over at Jim, who shook his head.

Simons's cell phone rang and he quickly answered. "Banks."

"Okay, thanks." Simon said, hanging up.

"They narrowed it down to the area around Featherhawk Road and Clairborne Avenue." Simon told Jim.

Jim looked out the window and pointed to their right. "That way."

Through the phone he heard the swishing noise of somebody trudging through the thick snow.

"Blair, come on Chief, stay put." He yelled over the phone.

The walking sound gradually faded as the footsteps got further away from the open cell phone.

Forty five minutes later, Jim spotted a big lump in the barely visible road that looked like it might be Blair's car. The driver's side door was hanging open. Simon pulled up behind it, the big old Suburban gliding into the tracks left by the snow plow.

Jim hopped out and looked inside the car. Blair's backpack was laying empty on the seat, it's contents spilled out across the floor. If his laptop had been inside it, which it usually was, it must have been taken. Simon stood beside the car looking around, hoping to spot Blair nearby.

Jim listened for the sound of an open line, walking over and digging the cell phone out of the snow. Just as he picked it up the battery went dead. He slipped it into his pocket.

Then he climbed up on top of the Suburban's hood and stood looking off into the distance.

"Anything?" Simon asked.

"Not yet. Listen Simon, I'm going to try something, but I need you to be ready to shake me in case I zone out, okay?"

Simon grimaced. "If it'll find the kid, go ahead." He stood ready by the side of the Suburban and watched as Jim concentrated.

Jim took a couple of deep breaths and focused his hearing and sight, trying to combine them like he had done before under Blair's direction. He had never tried this without his guide by his side. He hoped that the practice Blair had insisted on would keep him from zoning.

With his vision stretched out ahead of him, he tuned his hearing to stretch out with it, listening for any sounds of movement or breathing. When nothing came to him from that direction, he shifted a little to the right and tried again. There in the snow he could see the mild impressions of footsteps not yet completely covered over by the still falling snow.

He threw his hearing along the path of the footsteps and tracked the steps with his eyes. He heard it before he saw anything. The sounds of heavy breathing and mumbling. Then the sounds of water splashing. He followed the sounds with his vision and focused.

There was a lake in that direction. That was the lake at Cascade park. The lake was covered over with ice. He followed the ice until his eyes caught up with his ears and saw

Blair's head bobbing around at ground level and his arms flailing as he tried to grab on to the side of the ice. Next to him a flashlight beam caught Jim's eye and he was lost.

"Jim! Jim!" Simon called. He had stood there and watched as Jim had faded out. Now he stood like a silent sentinel statue, as immovable as bronze.

Simon climbed up onto the hood beside Jim, grabbing onto his arm and talking to him as he shook him.

"Jim, Come on. The kid's counting on you. Come back now."

The statue didn't move. Simon thought about what was different when Blair did this. Jim always seemed to come right back for his guide. Maybe it was the voice. Maybe he was tuned to that one voice. Well, he didn't have the voice, but maybe the scent would do it.

He hopped down off the hood and ran to Blair's car, grabbing the backpack off the seat. Then he climbed quickly back up and held the backpack up to Jim's face.

"Jim, come on. Take a sniff of this. Blair needs you to come back."

Jim suddenly came to life, grabbing at the backpack and hugging it to his face. Then awareness came back to him and he jumped down.

"Come on, he's in trouble. We need to get to him now!" Jim yelled, hopping into the Suburban, backpack still in his hand.

Simon got in and took off in the direction Jim pointed. Even with the pedal to the floor, it was slow moving through the thick snowfall.

Jim hung out the window trying to see ahead of them. He could still hear splashing sounds, but the visibility through the snow was keeping him from seeing that far ahead.

"Come on, hold on Chief." Jim chanted over and over in his head.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Blair cursed at himself again. This water was cold. He was barely able to feel his body any more. But falling through the ice into the cold lake had brought him back to awareness. He remembered now what had happened and knew he should have stayed with the car. Jim had been on his way to find him. If he had stayed at the car, Jim might have already found him by now.

He grabbed at the side of the ice again, but his numb fingers wouldn't hold on. Each time he tried to pull himself out he ended up slipping back and going under the water again. He was getting sleepy. It was getting really hard to keep moving. He looked out onto the ice where he had dropped his flashlight. The beam of light shone across the ice. In different circumstances he could have been fascinated by the glitter of the ice and the sparkle of the snowflakes as they settled on it. Pretty soon, the flashlight would be covered with snow.

He didn't think he'd be here to see it though. He gave a thought to Jim, wondering if he was tracking him down yet. If he could only feel his feet, he'd kick himself for walking away from the car. Couldn't anything in his life ever be easy?

He thought back to his experience at the fountain at Rainier. Maybe he was destined to die by drowning. Maybe this was how it was supposed to be. He remembered that feeling as his lungs sucked up water, the futility of it as he tried to hold his breath to keep from breathing in water. He really didn't want to go this way. If he'd had a gun with him at this moment, he thought he might just use it to prevent himself having to go through that torture again. He thought drowning or suffocating must be the worst ways to die. He'd take a quick gunshot thru the brain rather than drowning.

As he fought to stay above the water, he realized that he was losing the battle. He was totally numb and was having trouble even keeping his eyes open. He tried concentrating on the light from the flashlight and it seemed to help for a few minutes but then his eyes started feeling droopy and he knew he wasn't going to last much longer. If only he could climb out of the water. He didn't have the energy to go anywhere but at least he could just freeze to death that way instead of drowning.

"Jim, man, if you're out there, I really need you here." He mumbled. His mouth didn't seem to want to cooperate so his words came out slurred.

He made one last grab onto the ice and tried to pull himself up. The ice cracked and he toppled back down into the water, falling into its depths. As he sunk down he wondered at how the water that had felt so freezing cold to him now felt warm and soothing. It seemed to cradle him and he felt himself floating. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. Maybe it wouldn't hurt as bad if he didn't struggle.

"No!" Jim yelled. "Blair!"

He had just watched his guide fall under the water. It looked like he was giving up. He glanced over to Simon.

"Hurry, he just went under."

Simon tried to speed it up, but the Suburban was already giving all it could. At least the snowfall seemed to be letting up a little. Finally he pulled up alongside the lake. Jim was out the door before he stopped the car. He followed along, grabbing the rope from the floor of the Suburban.

Jim took off onto the ice without thought to its lack of stability. There was a big hole in the middle of the lake where he had just seen Blair only a few moments before.

As he got closer to the fragile ice around the hole, he layed down on the ice and inched closer. Extending his vision he searched around the edges of the ice.

There on one side, he saw Blair floating face up under the ice. His eyes were closed.

"Chief!" Jim called out. He wiped a tear from the side of his face. This was no time for tears. This was time for action. Tears could be allowed later, but not now.

Jim glanced back toward Simon, who was slowly inching his way up behind him, not wanting to put too much weight on the ice.

"Stay there, Simon. Just throw me one end of the rope. Then take the other end and tie it to the car." Jim yelled.

Turning back he looked through the ice at Blair again and was startled to see his eyes open. He was looking up at Jim through the ice, his gloved hands touching the ice as if reaching for Jim.

"Blair, can you hear me?" Jim called.

Blair managed to nod.

Jim tied the rope around his belt and knotted it, then slid closer to Blair.

"Chief, reach over this way. Let me grab your hands." Jim yelled.

Blair put his arms stiffly out over his head, trying to reach for the edge of the ice. Jim leaned over from the other side of the hole and grabbed for his hands in the icy water. He touched the gloves but couldn't get a good enough hold and his hands slipped off.

He reached over and tried again, this time grabbing onto one hand with both of his hands. Even though the fingers of the gloves pulled away from Blair's hands, the gloves stayed on and Jim was able to pull him by the glove fingertips out from under the ice.

He grabbed his shoulders as soon as he could reach them and pulled his head up out of the water.

Blair took a raspy breath and choked, his body trying to compensate for the lack of oxygen.

"That's it. Just breathe. You're okay. I've got you now. You're okay." Jim said, trying to reassure himself as much as Blair.

When Blair's breathing settled down, he smiled up at Jim.

"Man, I thought you weren't going to make it this time." Blair said, smiling. "What took you so long?"

"Hey, I had to do a little sightseeing on the way." Jim said, smiling in relief. "What do you say we get you out of here now?"

"Sounds good to me." Blair said, his voice quivering in the cold night air.

Jim grabbed tightly onto Blair's wrists, then turned his face back toward Simon who was waiting on the side of the lake.

"Simon, pull us out now." He yelled over to his Captain.

Simon ran up to the Suburban, climbing in and starting to back away from the lake. The rope, tied tightly to the front of the car slowly pulled Jim back on the ice and Blair out of the water. Simon kept backing up until both men were at the edge of the lake, safe from breaking ice. Then he put the vehicle in park and hopped out to help Jim with Blair.

"How's he doing here?" He asked as he helped Jim stand up and they each took a shoulder and lifted Blair up from the ice.

"He's breathing." Jim said, that being the most important thing to Jim at the moment. Anything else could be dealt with as long as Blair was alive.

Blair looked from Jim to Simon and back again. He was tired and cold but somewhere inside he felt a warmth spread through him. He knew it wasn't a physical warmth, but it warmed him just the same. At that moment, reading the relief in his friends faces, he felt the warmth of having a family, having someone to care about him, to worry about him, and to save him from the bad luck that had always seemed to stick with him since he was a child.

They layed him across the back seat and covered him with blankets. The heat was running full blast inside the big old Suburban. He couldn't really feel it, but that was okay. He watched at Jim examined his bumps and bruises and listened to his pulse and breathing. Jim pulled his gloves carefully off and smiled at him in relief.

"Looking good, Chief. Doesn't look like there's any frostbite here. You're going to be okay."

"I know." Blair said, smiling. "I knew it as soon as I saw you looking through the ice."

Jim smiled, tucking Blair's hands under the blanket.

Then he turned to Simon. "Let's get him to the hospital, sir."

Simon smiled. If Jim was back to calling him sir, he wasn't worried about the kid anymore. Blair was going to be okay.

He turned the car around and headed off in the direction of the Cascade General Hospital. Turning onto the road, he glanced back to see Jim sitting on one end of the seat, holding his bundle of Blair wrapped in blankets on his lap. He looked to their faces and saw that Jim had fallen asleep. Blair looked up at him and smiled.

"We're gonna be okay, Simon." He said.

"I know kid. I know." He turned back to the road and drove on.

 

The End

Notes:

This orphaned work was originally on Pejas WWOMB posted by author Dar Hutson Scally.
If this work is yours and you would like to reclaim ownership, you can click on the Technical Support and Feedback link at the bottom fo the page.