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They had gone up to the lodge for skiing. There was the little cottage off to one side that they had decided would be the perfect place to stay. They had rented it for the week; hoping to get enough snow for a few times down the mountain. It went well until the night of the second day when the snow had come. It wasn't just a small storm but the mountain valley had received another four-foot fall nearly overnight and the snow was still falling. It was obvious that it would be a near-blizzard, too bad to get out and do any real adventuring.

The first day went well enough as they had homemade chili and cards. It had been quite a while since they had been with one another. He decided that it would be simpler to be friends than be lovers. He was away too long at times and she grew restless waiting for him to return. When he returned, he thought she was too demanding...wanting to spend too much time with him. She thought that he assumed too much, thinking that she would just wait for him without guarantee of what was happening between them.

They both loved skiing and they still had made their plans to go up to the mountains for their skiing trip, understanding that they were friends. By the forth day the little cottage was too little and they both desired to get out for a while.

"We can go walking." He suggested. "We won't go far."

"Do you think it's safe?" she asked, looking out the window.

He joined her at the window looking out and pointing up to a blue spot in the clouds. "The storm is breaking. It is warmer outside."

Putting on their hats, coats and gloves they went out in the snow. They knew where the trail was to town so they decided to go there and to return to the cottage after a good meal.

They had been walking for about an hour when suddenly the wind picked up blowing the snow around them. He looked up and noticed that the blue was gone from the sky and the clouds were building. The sky was getting grayer.

Large flakes of snow begin to fall from the sky as they increased their speed.

"Should we go back?" she asked.

"No, I think that we are closer to town now." He replied as the wind increased cutting off his winds in the cold. She pulled up the hood of her coat, walking beside him as he pulled her close.

Suddenly, the world went white as the wind whipped the snow into a white out, cutting off any bearing that they had around them. He continued forward, stepping into a snowbank realizing that they had left the path to town. He took her arm in his, moving his mouth to her ear.

"We need to stay together. We can get lost in this."

She nodded to him, knowing that they were already lost as they struggled through the snow that came to her mid thighs. The wind continued to whip the loose snow into the air as they moved along trying to find shelter in the cold.

Hunching against the cold and blowing snow he was quite upset for taking the risk and bringing her with him. Looking back it did not make sense to him that he should have set out so quickly from the cabin before the weather cleared. He knew why he did it, as things were not working out for him with this "friendship" decision that they had agreed on...that he had insisted on.

Perhaps it wasn't so bad to have someone waiting for you when you returned from every mission, fussing and demanding attentions. It seemed much more preferable than the near empty apartment that he hated going back too. He thought this trip would show him the freedom that he actually had. On the second day that world fell apart.

She had been watching herself around him, trying not to fuss or demand any attentions from him. She had been sitting on the couch watching the old movie, sniffing as silent tears ran down her cheeks. He was reading a book but looked up to see her crying. He went to her asking if something was wrong and she blushed, brushing away the tears on the old terry cloth robe that she loved.

"Oh, it's just the movie." She replied, smiling at him. "Sad movies make me cry."

"Turn it off!" He suggested.

"Oh, no. It's too good."

He returned to his book and she went back to watching the movie, pulling her legs up on the couch. Hugging them against her body, he watched at the tears started flooding again as the little girl ran through the hospital crying out for her father. By the movies end, he was secretly watching both...the movie and her reaction to it. As old movies all do, it did have a happy ending and the little girl found her father. The lady on the couch watched the reunion, tears slipping over her eyes, as she tried to wipe them away on the sleeves. She hurried to the bedroom, closing the door and he did not see her until the next morning.

vvvvv

Entering the kitchen the next morning her was surprised to find her at the table with a mug of coffee, reading a magazine.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Smiling, as the color brightened her face, she nodded. "You must think that I was being foolish."

"No."

She returned to her magazine, saying nothing to him but refused to go out that day so he went out skiing alone. When he returned to the cottage, she announced to him that she would be leaving the next morning. It was that night that the storm hit with winds howling around the cottage. The phone was out and the generator had kicked on sometime in the night. They were stuck on the mountain until someone from the lodge would come out or they hiked back.

Mentally, he agreed that this wasn't such a good idea...it was a stupid idea.

She nearly fell, as he reached to help her up from the snow.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded to him, staying by his side as they struggled on. Time has ceased to have meaning as he walked through the snow wondering how they were going to get out of this situation. He was so lost in thought that he almost did not feel her tugging on his arm. She pointed off into the woods to their right. He squinted into the snow nearly blind from the glare of the surface of the snow. He could barely make out the shape that she pulled him toward it.

As they got closer, he could finally see the old shack. It looked neglected with time, the colors fading into a muddy gray of the weathered wood.

Bracing his shoulder against the door, he pushed as rusty hinges permitted them into the tiny room. The main room was hardly 12-foot square with two tiny rooms off to each side. One was a privy, not much more than an inside outhouse and the other much have been a kitchen as it held an old iron stove and wood stacked to the side. The main room contained a small table and a couple chairs, a cot and a fireplace. A cupboard to one side held a few tin dishes and cups. The drawers below contained old quilts that he pulled out.

"Here." He said, giving her several of them. "Get out of the wet clothes while I get a fire going."

She took the quilts from him and walked into the old privy, pulling the few remaining rags that hung across the door. The old wood was dry...some of it nearly rotten and paper light as he picked through it to get a fire going. By the time that she had stepped out, wrapped in the quilts, he had a fire going in the fireplace. She spread her things over the back of one of the chairs, drawing it closer to the fire as she sat down in front of the flames. He stepped into the privy, stripping of his clothes before returning to the fire.

She had tucked the quilts around her, sitting on several that she had spread out on the floor. Her hair hung, long and limp down her back as she stared into the flames. He sat beside her, watching the flames flickering in the fireplace. She had said nothing to him since they had started out walking. It seemed that he was the only one doing the talking, it wasn't like her to be so silent.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

She turned to him, looking down at the quilts. "No. I want to go home." She replied softly.

"What's really wrong?" he asked again,

She had turned back to the flames, resting her chin on her knees as she hugged her legs up to her body. She made no effort to respond to him.

He called her name softly.

She raised her head, looking at him. "You don't really know, do you?"

"Know what?"

She sighed as she continued to look into the flames; "I can't live in your world."

"The snow is appropriate for it...so cold. You want everything but it has to be on your terms. If it isn't, you shut it out and then it still has to be shut out on your terms." She paused looking into the flames, "Some day you will find that there is so much more out there than your submarine but it will probably be too late for you."

He looked at her but she did not meet his eyes. She would not break her glaze away from the fire.

He looked into the fire, watching the dancing flames. It was several long minutes before he spoke to her; "I know that." He admitted. "It is easier that trying to understand how people are when it's a bit of a problem to figure them out. When you come from a world like I do you might see what I'm saying. I'm used to everything being mostly by the book, even people."

"And?" she prompted him.

"And..." he continued, "You are not by the book and it scares me trying to figure you out."

She laughed, tears spilling out of her eyes. "You want your world tidy. I can't do that." She admitted.

He pulled her to him, holding her against him as she cried. He rocked her gently like a small child, cupping her face in his hands. "I'm sorry." He said, feeling his throat tighten as he pulled her in his lap.

She lay her head, against him snuggling close in his arms.

vvvvv

It was two days later that the Lodge sent searchers out. They heard the snowmobiles coming over the snow before the searchers got there. They had put on their coats and hats, waiting for them to come to the old shack. Walking out on the porch, he forced the door shuts as she walked to one of the snowmobiles. Hearing something fall, he picked up a small wooded sign that had been carved, "Love lives here." He stuck it in his pocket.