The Longest Night: A Meridian Society Christtmas (TheCorsair & Madame Mim)

Move closer. Yes, if course. It made perfect, logiczl sense. The closer they were, the warmer they would be. So, why did it seem so shocking? "I have no difficulty relinquishing the covers," he said, almost automatically, "so long as you do nit attempt to take all of them." As he spoke he wiggled closer, lifting the quilts a little to make movement easier.

And then, in the darkness, he felt pressure against his chest. And something smooth and slick and warm beneath his hand as it came down.

Anne Marie, her back hot against his chest and her satin-sheathed hip electric beneath his hand. He froze at the contact, unable and unwilling to withdraw. Suddenly, he was acutely aware of the erection he'd been steadfastly ignoring. "I..." he managed, tongue, uncertain what he should say. "That is... I mean, this... this is remarkably close..."

She hadn't realized that he'd been moving closer at the same time and they both froze, tense. His hand had come down on her hip, which felt nicer than she was entirely comfortable with, and there was the unmistakable pressure of an erection against the small of her back. Was it an accident? He probably hadn't shared a bed with a woman for so long. But he wasn't moving his hand either.

"Mais oui," she agreed, not entirely certain how else to respond to that. "But we did say the closer we were the warmer we would be, did we not? And you need it; your hands are freezing!" Indeed Anne Marie could feel the cold of his fingers through her night gown. Reaching down she took his hand gently, allowing his fingers to slide along her flank if he wanted, before bringing it up to her lips. She cupped her slender fingers around his and blew on them gently in an attempt to warm them.

"How is it you are somehow colder than me?" she asked, a smile in her voice in the dark and her lips brushing against his fingers. Carefully she flattened his hand against her chest, just above her breasts, and covered it with her own. Her heart still pounded against her chest--and now directly against his hand--but still she scooted back to press herself a little more firmly against him and left the ball in his court. She wasn't going to make the mistake of moving on him if she were misinterpreting his...body language, but she had a plan or two in the likely event that she understood perfectly.

Algernon knew what he should do. He bit back a sound of pleasure as Anne Marie slid his hand over her satin-covered side and brushed hier lips over his fingertips. Knew what he should do as she placed his palm on the smooth bare skin above her breasts, and pressed her back against him. He was a married man, after all! And yet... and yet... he certainly couldn't deny the attraction, the desire he felt for his protegee.

Even as his conscious mind warred with itself, he acted. One arm slid beneath her, wrapping around her and pulling her close. The other traced the skin ov her uppper chest, foollowing the line of silk that covered her. "Am I colder than you?" he whispered, breath hot on the back of her neck.

He shifted a little, letting her roll into the warm depression his body had made in the mattress, then leaned iver her. In the darkness of the enclosed bed he couldn't see her, but he could feel her against him. Her scent and her breathing filled his senses as he moved closer. There was just a moment of blind fumbling, then he found her lips with his. He'd intended the kiss to be gentle, but within seconds his tongue was filling her mouth and his hands tangled in her hair. He gasped when he broke for air.

"I... should I stop?" he asked, voice husky.

Anne Marie shivered when she felt his breath against the back of her neck. Her heartbeat quickened and her body thrilled when he pulled her against him. This was physically the closest they'd been in years, but this was so much more intimate than anything in memory. Algernon asked whether he was colder than her and she shook her head slightly.

"Some may think so," she murmured, "but I know better."

When he moved she allowed herself to roll onto her back into the warm depression in the mattress. In the darkness provided by the curtains she could only just make out his outline, but she could feel him leaning over her in the dark. Anne Marie's heart nearly stopped when finally he kissed her. All she could think to do was bury her fingers in his hair and press her body against his, grinding against his insistent erection and making a small noise of pleasure and want.

"Stop?" she frowned at his dark form leaning over her when Algie, ever the gentleman, ever oblivious, asked whether she wanted him to stop. "My love, never."

Leaning up she crushed another desperately hungry kiss to his lips while her hands worked that ridiculous nightshirt up then finally over his head. She tossed it to the end of the bed then pressed her thighs tightly against his hips and flipped them over. She still couldn't see him. That would never do. Quickly she leaned over to light a single candle on her night stand. It wasn't much, but it was much better.

"I need to see you," she murmured, grinding against him. Her slick, meticulously groomed lips slid along his shaft, making her bite her lip. "I need you to see me." Slowly Anne Marie peeled off her nightgown and tossed it to the side. "Touch me, Algie." She guided his hands from her hips up her body until they cupped her breasts.

Anne Marie had imagined several times how a night like this might go, but she still wasn't prepared. She wasn't prepared for the physical relief that washed over her at Algie's touch. She wasn't prepared for the overwhelming wave of emotion that blinded her when finally she lowered herself onto his cock, or the pure ecstacy as she slowly rode him. It was all a blur of relief and joy and fear and dear God she hadn't realized how painful keeping all of this inside had been. And somehow he was different. He felt different. She had had hundreds of partners and here was the only one who felt as though he was physically completing her.

"Algernon..." Anne Marie moaned, leaning forward slightly to drive him deeper inside of her. She had to force her eyes open against the pleasure to assure herself that this wasn't a dream. "Oh god Algie... My Algie..." She buried her fingers in his hair and crushed another desperate kiss to his lips.

He hadn't thought much about what this would be like. Hadn't let himself think much about what this would be like. Because he was married and she was his friend and protege, and it wouldn't have been proper to acknowledge such desires. And it was just as well, because nothing would have prepared him for the glorious reality of what was happening. "Touch me, Algie," she groaned, stroking her slick lips against his shaft as she brought his hands to her hips.

God, but the feel of her skin was food and drink to a starving man. He explored her body with hungry hands, eager to feel her as she guided him upwards over her hips and sides to cup her soft, heavy breasts. Then she shifted, lifting her hips, and the feel of her lips parting around him and her sex taking him deep was indescribable. "God," he moaned, lifting his hips to meet her. "Oh God, Anne Marie..."

She leaned into him, her bare body smooth and warm against his, and he met her kiss with a desperate hunger of his own. His hands roamed her back, pulling her tighter to him as he rocked his hips against hers, desperatly seeking to bury himself deeper in her. He broke the kiss with a gasp, chest heaving fir brewth, then tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her again.

"Anne Marie," he groaned, pushing a little and sitting up. He gripped the firm softness of her rear, helping her move on his shaft as he kissed her hungrily again. "Oh God, my Anne Marie..." He rained kisses on her throat and chest as she leaned back, then kissed her again. "I... oh, God, I'm close..."

The way he said her name was itself enough to push her to the edge, but with the exquisite feeling of him moving inside of her she had to work very hard not to tumble over too soon. And that was the only processing Anne Marie's brain could do, the rest of her mind giving itself over to ecstasy. Once she had become familiar with the ways of a lascivious world she had always been able to keep her wits about her, to calculate what would drive her partner mad, to make a person worship at the altar of her body. Tonight her faculties had fled, leaving her a being of carnal pleasure and raw emotion and nothing more.

"Algie!" she cried out when he sat up, driving himself deeper inside her. Her hands slid from his shoulders to his neck then cradled his head against her body as he left burning trails of kisses over her skin. His Anne Marie! His! Her sex quivered around his shaft and she leaned in to kiss him hard. "Cum for me," she begged breathlessly. "I...I want you to...to fill me...ah!...Please Algie...cum with me...Algernooo-aaah!" Anne Marie was unable to finish his name, the word falling into an indistinguishable cry as her back arched and her walls clenched and pulsed around him and her nails bit into the flesh of his shoulders.

To say it was an organic orgasm would be to discredit her work. Anne Marie never faked orgasms, though she would sometimes force them. It would be more accurate to say that she had never found sex particularly emotional, and orgasms a matter of stimulation and nothing more. But the raw emotion--the joy, the terror, the elation, the relief--made this quite possibly Anne Marie's first genuine orgasm, one created of that sacred bond between two souls, that she had ever experienced. She clung to her mentor, her lover, as he filled her and pulled her close then leaned, panting, against him. She leaned her forehead against his, cupping the back of his neck with both hands and allowing her thumbs to absently stroke his cheeks.

"Afraid I lost my head," she panted with a giddy, uncontrollable grin. Tears pricked her eyes but she ignored them. "A few minutes and you may do whatever you wish, for however long you wish." She chuckled breathlessly before capturing Algie's lips in a deep, tender kiss. "Oh Algernon..." she murmured, absently wiping a tear from her cheek. "My Algie..." She rolled her hips slowly, careful not to stimulate his tender shaft to the point of pain but eager to go again. She had wanted to blow his mind the first time, but it seemed that long-repressed emotion had only allowed for a certain kind of love-making. With those thoughts no longer brushed away as soon as they'd entered her mind Anne Marie had an endless number of plans for him.

Algernon's eyes went wide as Anne Marie explored his chest with hands and lips, begging for his orgasm. Just when he was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold back or give her the pleasure she craved, he heard her shout his name and felt her contracting around him, and his own pleasure erupted inti her. He cradeled her face in his hands, tasting her cries and holding her close as he poured himself out into her. Finally, gasping and sweating, he leaned his forehead against hers as she stroked him.

Her words were nonsense, adorable nonsense, and he silenced them with a kiss. "I'll need a few moments myself," he confessed, a trifke breathless. "I'm hardly the verile young man I was in my youth." It was mistly a joke, but he could feel the muscles in his back and kegs tremble from the ubexpected effort. Carefully, one arn wrapped around her bare back, he leaned back on the bed and guided her with him. Then he gripped the civers they'd tossed aside and pulled them over both of them. Grinning stupidly, he kissed her. Then he kissed her again.

"Whatever I wish, for as long as I wish?" His fingers explored the landscape of her back as he kissed her again. "I warn you, my dear, that I may hold you to that." He kissed her again, lingeringly. "But you may wish to offer suggestions." His lips traced her jaw, pushing her head up to bare his throat to his attentions. "It is possible that my enthusiasm will outstrip my stamina." Now one hand stroked a shaply thing as the other slowly scraped along her spine. "And a gentleman does nit leave a lady... unsatisfied."

Anne Marie found herself perfectly content with going wherever he might direct her. She laid against his chest with a satisfied sort of noise and smiled against the kisses she returned more than gladly. When Algie repeated her words she nodded before returning yet another kiss. She didn't think she could ever tire of such kisses!

"Mais oui," she confirmed. "Whatever you wish.

"I warn you, my dear, that I may hold you to that." He kissed her again, lingeringly. "But you may wish to offer suggestions." Anne Marie lifted her chin and curled locks of his short hair around her fingers as he peppered her throat with more kisses. "It is possible that my enthusiasm will outstrip my stamina."

"Well..." she replied slowly, thinking, "I would hardly call myself unsatisfied, but I do want you to have all of me. To see all of me. And I would say you have had a fair cursory view of my front. It wouldn't be fair to my poor neglected hindside to go unattended to before the candle burns down." She giggled uncharacteristically and leaned up to kiss him again. "And if your enthusiasm for my body outstrips your stamina then I would consider it a night well spent in any case. I've stamina for us both, chere." When she looked into his eyes--those dark hazel eyes in which she'd long searched for this sort of affection and admiration--she nearly succumbed to her tears. Instead she took a deep shuddering breath and pushed away that desire.

"Oh Algie I was so afraid," she admitted, voice cracking a little. She swallowed hard to start again. "I've been so afraid that you would never wish to see me this way, that you would think me...insufficient. For all our closeness there are so many things I couldn't divine from you." Among those things was his opinion of her work, and how it affected his opinion of her as a person.

Anne Marie took a deep breath and pushed a bit of hair out of her face. She was making this too complicated and she knew it, so she tried to erase her confession with a deep, lingering kiss and a strategic movement of her hips. "But enough talk for now, hm? You are happy, and I am deliriously happy. Enthusiasm and stamina are limited resources, and it wouldn't do to exhaust the former." It was her turn to nudge his chin up to bare his throat and she placed slow, warm kisses over his throat, then down to his shoulders. As Anne Marie kissed a line down Algernon's chest the covers slid off of her as she lifted her hips enticingly. There was a mischievous glint in her eye as her hands slid down to his hips but her lips, maddeningly, remained above his waist.

"I've a ribbon to tie my hair," she offered huskily with a wolfish grin, "if you would like something to hold onto."

"Insufficient?" Algernon laughed, kissing her again. "Hardly, my dear. Things merely seemed... complicated." And, no doubt, they would again. But he refused to think about that. Instead, he gasped as she began kissing her way down his body, her lips tracing a line of fire over his chest and down his belly. "And stamina may be a limited resource, but enthusiasm? Hardly." He bucked his hips as she gripped them, but she went no lower, hovering above him and watching him with a mischievous look.

"I've a ribbon to tie my hair," she offered huskily with a wolfish grin, "if you would like something to hold onto."

My dear Anne Marie," he husked back, "I need no ribbon to hold onto, whatever you are planning. I have you." Licking his lips, he watched her lovely eyes respond to his words. "And I fear that, should you give me a ribbon, I might use them to bind your wrists - which would be a shame, as you seem set upon a particular course of action."

His cock throbbed at the thought of that 'particular course', stiffening slightly as the blood flowed back into it. "But, I assure you that I shall keep the offer in mind. In future." He rocked his hips again, brushing the hardening length of his cock against her breasts, and he assumed an expression of pure innocence. "For now, though..? Perhaps you would demonstrate why I may need something to hold on to?"

I have you. An uncontrollable grin spread over Anne Marie's features at this. She hadn't realized until just now quite how long she'd been waiting to hear those words from him. There was a flicker of something else when he mentioned binding her wrists, but she said nothing. They would come to that when they came to it; she was willing to give him anything, even her control. Just...not quite yet. Later. She felt his shaft twitch and looked down as he pressed it between her generous breasts before looking up with a mockery of wide-eyed innocence. Wherever did that come from? she appeared to wonder before lowering her head. Her tongue ran up the length of shaft protruding between her breasts before she looked up.

"Why you may need something to hold onto?" she repeated, cocking her head curiously. "My darling Algie surely you must have ridden a horse. Although..." she paused to wrap her lips around his head and suck gently on it before looking back up as though nothing had happened. "Perhaps not bareback. You see, mon amour when one rides a horse bareback, one must grip the mane to maintain one's balance, nes pas?"

She moved again, kissing a line down his shaft before sitting up and sliding out of bed. She left the curtain open for Algernon to better watch her sidle over to her robe and bend over. Anne Marie took her time looking through the pockets of her robe, feet spread a hips-width apart that he might get a good view of her rear and her waiting sex. His seed and her need on her inner thighs glistened in the candlelight. Finally she straightened and used her hair ribbon to tie her hair up.

"And so I tie my mane for convenience sake. This is called a queue de chaval, a horse's tail, non?" she said, turning around. Her nipples were peaked and hard in the frosty air outside of the bed, but she otherwise gave no sign that she was cold. Anne Marie bathed in his gaze like a cat might bathe in a shaft of sunlight, glorying in the want, the need, the love in his expression. Slowly she sauntered back to the bed and closed the curtains before kneeling on the bed near Algie, but not over him. "I thought perhaps if I am to be your petite chaval you may want something to hold onto when you ride me bareback. You have no reigns, after all. Yet." She pulled her ponytail tighter before letting her hands slide from her neck, over her breasts, down her stomach, to come to rest at her hips. Her fingers were dangerously close to her aching center but she resisted the urge to touch herself as she waited for Algernon to catch on and take her from behind.

Algernon Swift was not a stupid man, and he quickly realized what Anne Marie was alluding to. But it was so pleasantly erotic to listen to her explanations that he played along, enjoying the sight of her body in the moonlight and candlelight. "A... horse's tail, you say?"

He rose up on his knees, hands caressing her back and cupping her breasts as he moved around behind her. "I've had little enough experience with riding bareback," he whispered, kissing the back of her neck, "but I have broken wild horses to the saddle. And I know that when they rear up, they need to be pulled back down before they can be mounted."

He gently bit her shoulder and then pushed, carefully forcing her forearms down onto the mattress. His nails scraped over her skin, tracing a meandering path over her shoulderblades, diwn the small of her back, and over the arched curves of the delicious rear that thrust into the air. "And I know that you have to be prepared to ride long and hard," he continued, wrapping one hand around his shaft and rubbing it against the slick folds of her sex. "Long and hard, until my petite cheval is exhausted, non?"

He gasped as he entered her, finding her slick with desire and their mingled pleasures. He reached forward, gripping her queue de cheval with one hand, twisting it round his fist. "Buck all you want," he said as he filled her completely. "You'll not throw me."

"And am I wild?" Anne Marie asked huskily with a small smile. She shivered at the feeling of his teeth pressed to her flesh and complied willingly when he pushed her forward. Goosebumps raised on her flesh with the feeling of his nails tracing paths and patterns over her back. When they reached her rear she pressed her hips up and back a little, invitingly. She groaned with want at the feeling of his shaft rubbing against her and pressed back again, begging wordlessly. "That will be some trick," she returned, "as I do not exhaust easily."

He finally slid inside her and a gasp transformed into a long, low moan of pleasure. When Algernon twisted her hair around his fist she breathed in sharply and let herself be tugged up a little straighter, her eyes facing the headboard straight on now. Her walls clenched once around him as he filled her and she gripped the sheets in her fists. This was going to be a long, decadent night.

"And what makes you think I would want to throw you?" she challenged before moving her hips back suddenly to take him all. "God I want you," she breathed. She moved forward before once again leaning back to take his entire throbbing cock inside her. She'd never felt so completed. "Fuck me, Algie. Make me scream and then beg for more." Algernon, she knew, was classier than most other men she'd been with and so she was unsure how dirty she could talk without his thinking her unattractively uncouth. This, she figured, was a safe place to start.

Algernon rolled his head back, glorying in the delicious feel of Anne Marie's walls gripping his length. "Any mare will tire," he assured her, running a hand over her smooth buttocks and back, "if she is ridden long and hard enough." Then he groaned in pleasure as she began to move, sliding herself along his length. He began moving as well, meeting her as she pushed herself into him and tightening his grip on her hair, then relaxing as she slid forward.

"Fuck me, Algie," she moaned. "Make me scream and then beg for more."

He hadn't let himself think very hard about what she would be like in bed, but a request like that certainly hadn't entered his mind. The words, however, seemed to inspire a certain primal desire. She couldn't see him, not the direction she was facing, but he smiled a wild feral smile. "I had planned to make love to you, my Anne Marie," he said softly, caressing her skin. Then, without warning, he gripped her hip and pulled her hair as he drove his cock deep into her. "But now?"

Algernon's hips began to buck hard, his belly slapping against her ass as his thick cock pounded into her depths. "Now," he said, voice emerging in explosive bursts timed with his deep thrusts, "now I'm... just going... to... have you... Anne Marie..." He closed his eyes fir a moment, uttering a long sound somewhere between a growl and a groan, revelling in the feel of her body. Then he leaned forward, gripping her shoukders for more leverage. "God, you feel good," he groaned. "So.... fucking good... on me..."

"I had planned to make love to you, my Anne Marie," Algernon said, making her chuckle.

"Lies do not become you, my darling," she purred. Whatever he said next was lost to her and she cried out when he suddenly and forcefully buried himself deep inside her. Animal noises rose from her throat and she tightened her fists in the sheets as he pounded her. She nearly lost his words beneath her own cries of pleasure.

"Then... Have me..." she demanded, words coming in bursts in time with his thrusts. "We can... Make love... When we tire." The headboard rapped rhythmically against the wall, punctuating each burst of language and each moan. Anne Marie cried out loudly when he leaned forward to grip her shoulder, driving himself deeper. "Algernon!" she cried, tossing her head back and finding it resting in the crook of his neck. His attentions threatened to take her breath away. She twisted her head at a weird but not unpleasant angle to capture his lips with a desperate, biting kiss. She was close... So close...

"You feel so good... Deep inside me..." she moaned breathlessly. "Fucking me... Like I always... Always dreamed you...would....Ah!" She tensed a little, feeling the end near but wishing she could last a little longer... Just a little longer... "Je t'aime," she gasped, knuckles turning white as she gripped the sheets impossibly tighter. "Je t'aime mon amour oh dieu Algernon! Algernon!" She hardly had the breath to scream when she came around him, milking his cock and begging for more, but she did. Anne Marie wasn't certain how thick the walls of the chateau were but at the moment she didn't care; let the village further down the mountain have their sleep disturbed by the cries of her beloved's name if that was how far her voice carried.

"God," Algernon groaned, feeling her clench around him. His free hand slid over her body, stroking her belly and cupping a soft handfull of breast as he pounded into her. Anne Marie twisted to kiss him then gripped the sheets, pushing back onto him as she praised and begged him, lapsing into her native French as she did. "God... Anne Marie... my Anne Marie... so.... so fucking... fucking good..."

He drove harder into her, inspired to vigor by her words and the delicious intensity of her bidy around his. "Dreamed... of this?" he grunted. "Dreamed of... of..." He gasped as he felt her cum, heard her scream his name. Moents later he followed her, losing himself in pleasure as he felt himself fill her once more. Finally, shaking and gasping for breath, he slumped forward and caught himself on his arms. All he could do was rest himself on her back, cheek against her neck. "Mine," he murmured. "My Anne Marie."

Reluctantly, he rolled to one side and pulled her with him. A free hand groped and pulled the covers over them both, and he snuggled up against her bare back. She smelled pleasantly of soap and perfume and sex, and he smiled against her hair as he kissed her. "This is warmer," he murmured.

"All yours," she panted. Her arms shook as he rested himself on her, not from his weight but from the intensity of their encounter and her emotion. Together they struggled for breath for a few long moments before he pulled her with him down to the mattress. She made a little noise of protest at being deprived of the total feeling of completion that Algie brought her when he made love to her, but eventually settled for snuggling. Snuggling was very nice indeed.

Algernon and Anne Marie didn't get the full night's sleep they'd originally expected. They would sleep for a few hours before waking and finding completion yet again in one another before collapsing into each other's arms and sleeping again. At one point Anne Marie joked that they were making up for lost time, but finally around four in the morning they seemed to finally exhaust their stamina if not their enthusiasm for one another. In the morning Algernon awoke to soft red lips wrapped around his cock and large brown eyes looking up at him in a mockery of innocence. But it wouldn't do for them to be late getting downstairs and make the others wonder, so after that it wasn't long before Anne Marie took a quick bath with the chilly water in the basin and slipped back into her nightgown and bathrobe. Being nearly as tall as he, she was able to pin Algie briefly against the wall for one last kiss right outside his door before making her appearance downstairs.

"Looks like the storm has abated," she commented, pouring herself some coffee from the pot heated over the fire Kieran had built and looking out the window.

"For now," Erik said, eyeing the clouds mistrustfully. "I would not be surprised in the least if it were snowing again by this afternoon."

Algernon gasped, slumping back against the mattress as Anne Marie smiled an innocent smile up at him, then kissed his softening penis gently on the tip. "My dear," he managed, "you are going to be the death of me. Le grande mort de le petit mort, most likely." Struggling to sit up, he kissed her gently and found her lips flavored with his pleasure. "But I can think of no finer way to go." She kissed him back and slipped from the bed, the gap in the curtains letting chill air into the bed they'd shared. He burrowed back under the covers, breathing deeply of her shared warmth and her scent, listening to water splash in the basin and Anne Marie's little gasps as cold water splashed her skin.

Finally, realizing that daylight was inevitable, he crawled out from the covers and stepped out of the bed. Anne Marie blew him a kiss from the doorway, which he returned before she left. He found himself staring at the door, smiling like a fool, and he drew a deep, content breath. Then as he turned to the basin, he froze. Because there, watching him from the wall, was the portrait of his wife. It smiled softly at him, lovingly, and he felt something crawl in the pit of his stomach. Hesitantly he approached the portrait, reaching out and touching it with shaking fingers. "Oh, Maggie," he whispered, agony in his voice. "What have I done?"

He knew what he'd done. That was the problem. He'd given in to urges and desires he'd kept locked away for the better part of two decades. But it was even more than that. It wasn't just the physical pleasures, something he'd denied himself for twenty years. It was the emotional connection, the willingness to admit to himself that he had fallen in love again. That his young student had grown to be his friend, and more than just his friend. And in doing so, in admitting that he loved Anne Marie...

Forcing himself to meet the eyes of the portrait, he drew a shuddering breath. "I... I will always love you, Maggie. But..." He couldn't finish the words, but his mind echoed them. But you are no longer a companion to me, and I am lonely. And... I love her, too. But he couldn't say it out loud, not yet. So he turned to the basin, glad for the shiver of the cold water and the scrape of the razor on a chilled face as he shaved.

---

Sam shivered, making a show of hunching over her coffee as she sipped it. To be honest, it wasn't as if she'd never been cold before - Tejas got chilly in the winter, even if she'd never seen this much snow at once, before. But playing up being cold usually got Erik to put an arm around her and snuggle her close, and that was a thing worth doing. Not that he was paying much attention right now, since he was busy watching the weather and talking to Anne Marie.

"For now," Erik said, eyeing the clouds mistrustfully. "I would not be surprised in the least if it were snowing again by this afternoon."

"Oh, Gawd," Sam complained. "More? Ain't it snowed enough fer one winter already?"

"I am afraid not, Samantha," the Professor said as he entered the kitchen. He'd cut himself shaving, she noticed, which was a thing that you'd expect if you shaved in cold water. Erik hadn't, because she'd talked him out of it by telling him that she thought stubble was far sexier than scabs. "The Alps are notorious for snow. Ah, is that coffee? Splendid!"

Colin was last to arrive, carrying a heavy bag of something. "I thought about what you suggested, Professor. Looking at the generator?"

The Professor added a lump of sugar to his coffee, and eyed the Captain curiously. "Yes?"

"We should do that, yes. But there isn't a hurry. The house stayed warm enough, after all, particularly with the stoves. So I propose we take the morning off and enjoy ourselves."

Sam bumped against Erik. "Ah thought that's what we did last night," she whispered wickedly into his ear.

Colin dumped the bag on the table. "And I found these in the cellar as well," he continued, pulling out a bladed boot. "Since there's a pond nearby, I propose we go ice skating. Plenty of time to attend to the generator after lunch."

Erik took his cue and wrapped an arm around Sam, pulling her close and kissing her temple. He knew she played it up sometimes, but that was okay. He enjoyed having an excuse to openly snugglle with her and be close to her. When Colin suggested ice skating, staying inside and cuddling by the fire sounded more appealing than ever.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Captain," Anne Marie said with a smile. Erik inwardly groaned.

"Sure. Why not?" Kieran put in with a shrug. "Haven't been in a while. Should be fun."

~*~

Out on the ice in the snow-quiet mountains, Anne Marie seemed just as at home on skates as she was on her own two feet. She swooped gracefully around the ice, facing forwards then backwards, doing turns and spins as easily as if she were dancing. Kieran privately thought she was being a show-off, and she was... But she was only looking to impress one of their number.

"Couple of limeys chased me round on the ice once when I was a kid," Kieran recalled after doing a very utilitarian lap around the pond. "I was better on skates than they were, but they managed to get some rocks under me blades. Unlucky for them I knew where the thin ice was and they didn't." He smirked before nudging Colin with his elbow. "Bet I'm still faster than any limey bastard on ice."

While Anne Marie showed off and the captains raced, Erik gripped Sam's arm tightly as he led her out across the pond on wobbly legs. "I admit, Schatze," he said while watching his feet on the ice, "I know the basics, but I never quite got the hang o--whoah!" He let go of her arm just in time to keep from bringing her down with him as he landed on his hip on the ice. "--of ice skating," he finished with a wince and a grunt. He winced some more as he carefully moved off of his hip, onto his knees, then wobbled to his feet.

"Ah've never been ice skatin'," Sam confessed, trying to maintain her balance as she tried to help Erik back up to his feet. Or, more accurately, back onto the narrow steel blades that you were somehow supposed to stand on. "Ah've been on ice, yeah. But always jes' wore boOOOO!" Now Sam went down, hard, right on her rear as her skates shot out from under her. She bounced once, wincing at the impact. "Boots, an' ow," she winced, rubbing her behind with gloved hands. Then she watched Anne Marie glide past, skating backwards with her hands behind her back. "How does she do that?"

Colin shot past, crouched low as his legs flew in silvery blurs as he pursued Kieran. Or was Kieran pursuing him? Both men had done enough laps of the pond that it was hard to tell, and she suspected neither cared any more. Although they'd no doubt argue long and loud about who had made more laps. "Hell, how does anyone do that?" she grumbled, trying not to pull Erik down as he helped her up. The idea of 'pulling him down' flashed through her mind briefly, but she discarded it quickly. Awkward frostbite wasn't sexy or fun.

Another scrape of steel on ice, and now Professor Swift was helping her up as well. "It is easier than it seems, Samantha," he said. "Although, like all skills, it takes practice. Start by not standing in such a stiff fashion, and keep your knees bent. And lean slightly forward." He shook his head. "No, no, like this," he demonstrated.

"Don' stiffen up?" Sam echoed, disbelievingly. "But how do Ah keep mah ankles in place?"

"By balancing," the Professor explained. "But try holding your arms out. Or..." He examined Erik's awkward stance. "Perhaps hold hands, and keep your free hands out? Let me demonstrate..." He shot out across the ice, catching Anne Marie's hand and leading her back, slowly and carefully, his own free hand out at shoulder height. "Do you see?"

Sam glanced them over, noting the way the two had laced their fingers together. "Ah reckon Ah do," she smiled, taking Erik's hand. "Y'all up fer another try, lover?"

Erik was quite grateful when Professor Swift came to the rescue. He'd been doing his level best to help Sam up, but was so wobbly on his skates that he was once again in danger of falling and this time on top of her. He tried to follow the Professor's advice, but as soon as he relaxed his stiff posture he went right back down again. With some effort he made his way back to his feet in time to see Professor Swift skating slowly towards them hand-in-hand with Madame LaMonte. It looked weird and a little silly, he thought, and he quietly sniggered at the idea. Not that either of them had any interest outside of their work anyway.

Anne Marie for her part was quite glad for the cold. Her cheeks were already pink, which hid the flush when Algie grabbed her hand out of the blue. At first she'd thought him to be making a bold statement when he laced his fingers with hers, then realized that he was demonstrating for the pair among them who apparently couldn't skate. After all he certainly wouldn't be going to the winter Olympics but he was better at skating than this slow, meticulous balancing. Catching on she also held her free arm out to help in the demonstration. The entire time her heart pounded in her chest. Certainly they were only holding hands with gloves on, but they were holding hands in a way that truly mattered for the first time. When she saw Sam looking them over as they approached she studiously avoided the Ranger's eye.

"Quite the risk," she murmured once the other two had wobbled off together, "what if the children had seen? But then, I do love a man of danger and action." She giggled quite uncharacteristically before skating off again, cupping their hands this time and pulling Algie in a slow, wide circle before twirling away.

At first Professor Swift's suggestion seemed to work. Erik and Sam managed to skate slowly in tandem, holding hands while balancing with their free arms. But then one of them stiffened up again--there was no way of telling who--and they faltered. Eventually they were stuck in the middle of the ice together, laughing with both shoulders bolstered against one another with their hips pushed out away from each other for balance. Carefully, very carefully, they slowly managed to side-skate their way to the edge of the pond and Erik sat down, pulling his boots towards himself.

"I don't know about you," he said, grunting as he pulled off a skate, "but I think I've had enough of foot-knife-balancing for one day. I do believe I'd much prefer a good walk. What do you say?" He looked up at Sam, hoping and praying she said yes. To a walk in the woods, anyway.

Kieran skidded to a stop, throwing slushy ice up as he did so, content in the knowledge that he had most definitely lapped Colin at least twice. He nudged the other captain with his elbow and gestured with his chin as he watched the couple walk off together toward the trees. "Old Rick's got some balls after all, eh?" he said, an amused half-smirk on his lips. "God speed, I say."

~*~

Erik fidgeted as they walked. The snow was thinner here beneath the thick canopy of pine, but he still watched the ground for stumps and particularly deep snowdrifts. Fortunately there was enough snow for them to be able to follow their own footprints back out again. He was quiet for a long while, one hand in Sam's and the other in his pocket, constantly fidgeting. He tried to start speaking several times but his heart leapt into his throat and stopped his voice. Finally he found the words.

"Samantha," he said slowly. He'd practiced this over and over again but now he'd forgotten it all entirely. "I um...I've been thinking a lot lately. About us I mean. I uh...well we've had wonderful times together, haven't we?" Erik turned his gaze from the ground briefly to her face to give her a weak smile. "And...a-and I love that. I love how we are together and how I am with you. But um...but I could be happier, y'know. And, and you deserve to be happier too." Oh God this was starting to sound terrible! He stopped and turned to face her, studying her face before taking a deep breath. That deep breath did absolutely nothing to calm him. "I mean I know this isn't really the proper way to do it, but what I'm saying is...Sam...Samantha...I mean...I think we'd be a lot happier if ah...I mean..."

Fuck it.

Erik fell to one knee and he was grateful for it. It was likely he would have fallen over soon if he hadn't braced himself against the ground. "Samantha Cavendish will you do me the absolute honor and eternal happiness of being my wife?" With his gloves he fumbled for a minute with the jewelry box but finally got it open. The ring he presented her with had been his great-great-grandmothers, then his grandmother's, and lucky that had been his father's mother since his mother was absolutely against the idea of his marrying some goy redneck and would have absolutely refused to let him have it. He knew it wasn't precisely Sam's style, but it was a family tradition if not a cultural one and he wouldn't have felt right, wouldn't have felt worthy presenting her with anything less. His tongue felt thick and sticky and his throat dry as he waited for an answer. Any answer. It seemed to take an eternity to come.

Sam plowed through the snow, too distracted to enjoy the walk. Erik was acting wierd again, really weird. All fidgety and hemming and hawing, and then he stopped and started babbling. Started talking about how they'd had good times and he'd been happy but he could be happier, and the words seemed to freeze something in her. What was he saying, he could be happier? Was... he wasn't leaving, was he..?

She felt like she was having trouble breathing, and it felt like all she could hear was her own pulse, and she didn't care that he'd fallen diwn, because she was gonna deck the son if f a bitch and then...

"Samantha Cavendish will you do me absolute honor and eternal happiness of being my wife?"

All the building fury drained away, and with it her ability to stand. Sam plopped down on her knees, eyes wide as she stared almost uncomprehendingly at the ring. And then at Erik. And then the ring, and then Erik again. Then she smiled, expression a little shaky as her eyes began to water. "Ah... Ah...that is, Ah..." Drawing a deep breath, she hurled herself into his arms. "YES!" she cried, feeling tears on her cheeks and hearing herself laugh at the same time. "Oh, Erik, yes!"

He had recognized her mounting temper--he was getting quite good at it--and the way it fell away when he proposed. But when Sam fell to her knees with him and looked from the ring then back to him again Erik started to worry because he couldn't divine what she could possibly be thinking or feeling. He felt the heat rising in his face and panic making his heart flutter. "Please say something?" he begged quietly, voice shaking.

"Ah...Ah...that is, Ah..." Her eyes were watering and he found his were, too. He couldn't tell whether that were a smile of happiness or of pity. "YES! Oh, Erik, yes!"

Erik fell onto his rear with a soft oof when Sam hurled herself into his arms. He laughed giddily and sniffed, wiping at his eyes as he sat there in the cold snow and held her close. He couldn't control his grin or his laughter while he held her tight, rocking side-to-side with his arms tightening around her. Relief washed over him and he kissed her temple before taking her hand in his. Carefully he pulled her glove off and slipped the ring onto her finger. That it was a perfect fit seemed to be a sign, even to such a man as he. Sniffing again he kissed her deeply and wondered how anyone could ever possibly feel happier than this.

"I love you Samantha," he choked out, still cradling her in his arms. "I love you so much."

The ring was a cold but warming presence on her finger, unfamiliar and new, and Sam stared at it as she snuggled into Erik. "It's gorgeous," she breathed. "An' Ah love you, Erik. An' Ah didn't need no ring ta say yes, but it's..." Words failed her, so she opted to kiss him instead. "God, Ah love you." Her cheeks felt cold and damp, and she realized she was crying, which seemed a damnfool thing to do when she was so happy. So she kissed him again.

It took some time to realize her knees were cold. Probably from kneeling in the snow. Which meant Erik's were probably even colder, God love him for the gesture. Grinning, she sniffed and kissed him again befire standing up. "C'mon," she grinned. "Ah ain't celebratin' our engagement by bundlin' y'all up an' nursin' you through a cold." When he stood she kissed him again, putting a great deal of enthusiasm inti the act. "Well, mebbe Ah'll still bundke y'all up..."

Then she grabbed his hand, heading back tiwards the pond. "Later, though. Fer now, Ah wanna go brag on mah man an' tell everyonevthe news!"

Erik sniffed, feeling his own tears of joy freeze on his cheeks. "I'm glad you like it," he said thickly. "It's a hundred and fifty years old. This ring belonged to my great-great-grandmother, and then to my grandmother. Now it's yours." He grinned before she launched herself onto him again. Eventually they made their way to their feet and headed back to the pond hand-in-hand. He liked to imagine that through both his thick gloves and hers he could feel the ring on her finger.

~*~

"'Bout bloody time," Kieran said, grabbing Sam's hand again and bringing it toward the firelight where it glittered. "Way you two get all moony I'm thoroughly shocked it didn't happen sooner."

"I wish I had cherries," Anne Marie fretted from the kitchen. A streak of flour smeared in her hair as she pushed it out of her face. "I would make a black forest cake. As it is I found some carrots in the cellar..." She'd insisted on making a cake to celebrate as her impromptu engagement gift. Of course she would get them a proper gift for their household once they were back to civilization, but she liked the idea of the first celebration being with their little makeshift family-of-sorts. "I don't suppose we have cream cheese do we Algernon?"

"Leave off, woman!" the pirate butt in, making a shooing motion toward the kitchen. "Anything's better'n nothin', eh?" He tapped Erik on the shoulder and gave him a roguish grin. "In all seriousness mate, congratulations," he added quietly, but sincerely.

"Thank you Kieran," Erik managed, a bit taken aback by the captain's uncharacteristic earnestness. Sensing his confusion, Kieran shrugged.

"Just nice to see someone in our line o' work find happiness, that's all," he said casually, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Y'all jes' watch them hands," Sam laughed playfully as Kieran examined her(!) ring. "Ah know what y'all do fer a livin'!" She beamed as he examined the stone closer and commented on how surprised be was it didn't happen sooner. "Well, it ain't like we've been busy or nuthin'," she protested, looking reproachfully at Professor Swift.

The Professor lifted an eyebrow in response. "That is hardly my doing, Samantha. We act when requested by one of the signatory nations of the Proclamation. However, in light of the current situation, I have no doubt I can arrange some leave for the both of you, once a date is set."

"Congratulations, old man!" Colin declared, shaking Erik's hand. "Congratulations to the both of you! And speaking of dates: have you set a date yet, or chosen a place?"

"Uhm, no," Sam replied. "It's only been an hour or so, so we ain't hardly talked 'bout that."

"Well, and don't feel you have to accept, but I could most likely persuade my parents to host the happy day." Colin smiled thoughtfully at that. "Although, to be honest, I don't know how convenient that would be for either of your families."