Title: Snowthunder Author: Vickie Moseley Summary: Snow and lightning can make for plenty of thunder. Rating: E for everyone Category: Fluff (just like the white stuff that came from the sky) Written for the Virtual Season 13 "Lights in the Sky" special Archive: two week exclusive on VS 13, then anywhere Disclaimer: Scientific disclaimer: During the Blizzard of '06, I don't know that there was lightning during the snowstorm. However, it is documented that some parts of Nebraska got over 20 inches of snow in less than 24 hours. So I figure it had to have been coming down pretty hard some of that time. If there wasn't any lightning, there probably should have been. Fan fiction disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. Comments: vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com Snowthunder By Vickie Moseley I-80, Eastbound 100 miles out of Lincoln, NE March 20, 2006 8:14 pm "Have you noticed we're the only car on this road, Mulder," Scully ventured to speak after half an hour of silent foreboding. All around them was white. Not for the first time since they'd started out that day was she wondering how her partner managed to keep the car on the road -- it all looked like a blanket of marshmallow fluff to her. "What time does our plane leave?" he asked, ignoring her comment. She looked over at him and noticed his fingers were in a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel. She felt some relief; at least he wasn't oblivious to their precarious situation. But at the same time, it angered her that he seemed to be pushing on when reason and common sense would have had them holed up in some high school gymnasium by now. Only in the Midwest would there be a blizzard on the first day of spring! "Scully? Departure time?" he repeated in a low growl. "Nine forty-five," she said through clenched teeth. She glanced at the speedometer. They were crawling along at just over forty miles an hour, as fast as they dared to go in the slick and deep snow. "I don't think we're going to make our flight," she said quietly. "No, right now I'm just hoping to make Lincoln," he admitted. "Maybe we should stop," she suggested. He took his eyes off the windshield long enough to give her a dubious look. "Have you seen an exit sign lately?" he asked derisively. "Because if you have -- " She was about to answer, and not very politely, when Mulder let out a gasp and steering wheel seemed to take on a life of its own. Mulder fought for purchase against wheels that were intent upon blazing a new trail, one not in the visions of the civil engineers who designed the interstate system. The car spun helplessly, leaving the two occupants slightly seasick. There was a terrifying second when the world seemed to up- end and then just as quickly, the car stopped, windshield now pointing at a 45-degree angle to the horizon. The only good thing about spinning out and sliding into a ditch in a blizzard was the fact that it tended to include a soft landing. Since both agents were wearing their seatbelts, and the car's front end was pointing upwards, thus avoiding any airbag deployment, injuries were of a more emotional nature. It took Scully a few moments to calm her pounding heart and work the kink out of her neck enough to look over at her partner. He was staring straight out the windshield, his panic look firmly in place. "Mulder?" she ventured, but one look and she knew it was not the time to speak. They sat in strained silence for a few minutes and then Mulder seemed to gather his inner resources and look over at her. "Cell phone?" he asked. She dug through her purse, pulling the phone out and clicking the on button. She chewed on her lip. "No Service," she said sheepishly. "A hundred miles out of Lincoln and they don't have cell towers," he stormed, then just as suddenly, he took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Sorry. I know that's not your fault." "Mulder, I'm sure they have trucks out. Someone is bound to find us," she offered. "Scully," he said, licking his lips. "While you were asleep a little while ago -- " She frowned at him. Then, she realized something. The radio was off. Mulder's constant companion on any long car ride -- any oldies station he could find. When she'd fallen asleep after the last fill-up, the radio had been on. Now, the car was silent. "Mulder, why did you turn off the radio?" " -- and you know how these state troopers are, always closing this or that with the first snowflake -- " "Mulder, what was on the radio that caused you to turn it off?" she demanded, fear now gripping her chest tightly. "They closed the interstate," he blurted out. "About two hours ago." She looked at him with confusion. "How could they -- " "They said the storm is right over the I-80 corridor. It's stalled. But see, I knew we were only about 150 miles from Lincoln and I figured that we could make 150 miles easy and if it got bad we could pull over in some little town along the way -- " "They closed the interstate and you kept going?" she clarified, her voice taking on a particularly shrill tone. "I didn't think -- " "Well, that's sure as hell painfully obvious," she shot back. Suddenly the sky was lit in all directions and almost immediately a clap of thunder shook the car and rolled for several seconds. "Scully -- " "We're in big trouble," she answered. "Doesn't that mean -- " "Very heavy snowfall. Yes. Sometimes as much as 3 or more inches an hour," she finished his sentence. "Mulder, we'll be buried." The next flash seemed to surround the car and the thunder roared and rolled even louder. "It's right over head," she said. "Really? I was sort of hoping it was going to be one of those times when we 'lose nine minutes'," he tried to joke. She wasn't buying it. "OK, serious conditions here." "Turn off the car," Scully said suddenly. "Scully, we need the heat -- " "Carbon monoxide, Mulder. The exhaust pipe is surely clogged with snow at this point. We can't risk it." He nodded reluctantly and in a second the engine stopped but the car lights stayed on, running off the car battery. "What provisions do we have?" he asked. She unbuckled her seatbelt and crawled into the back seat. In a few minutes, she'd pulled down one section of the backseat to reveal the interior of the trunk. It took some pulling and one nail was lost to the cause, but before long she had both their suitcases and briefcases lying out in the back. She zipped open first Mulder's case and started handing him articles of clothing. "Layers, lots of layers." "Of all times to forget my sleeping bag," he pouted, but did as she ordered. It wasn't easy for him to get his sweatpants on while sitting at the steering wheel, but soon they were both layered to the point it was difficult to move. "Scully, not to be a worry wart, but how much air do you think we have in here?" Mulder asked, noting that the windows were now covered with snow. "We should have enough for a while. Snow doesn't pack down that hard. If it gets stuffy, we can make a hole with the ice scraper out the window," she suggested. She crawled back into the front seat and started to rummage around the floorboards, smiling triumphantly when her search was successful. "Hungry?" she asked. In her hand were a bag of sunflower seeds and a 32 oz. bottle of water. "So that's what you were doing inside while I was pumping the gas," he said with an answering smile. He took the seeds and tore open the package with his teeth. After pouring out a handful he handed the bag back to her. "So, I guess this means you really do love me, huh?" She smiled at him and shook her head. "Guess so," she agreed. The lightning flashed around them, the thunder seemed to shake the car for hours, even though it was only a couple of seconds. Mulder reached over and took Scully's hand, noting how cool it was. To his dismay he also found it was trembling. Drastic times called for drastic action. "Hey, we might not have sleeping bags, but nothing says we have to stay in the front seat," he suggested with wiggling eyebrows. "C'mon." He dropped her hand and climbed between the bucket seats. When he was settled the back, he patted his lap. "Hey, good lookin' -- wanna neck?" She couldn't help herself, she burst out in giggles. "'Neck', Mulder?" "Yeah, well, we live together, we share a bed, but when was the last time we necked in the backseat of a car, Scully?" he asked playfully. "Mulder, we're stuck in a ditch in the middle of a blizzard on a closed road that no one is going to travel down for days -- and for your information we have NEVER 'necked' in the backseat of a car!" she exclaimed, but before he could apologize, she was sitting in his lap. "Hi there," she said coyly. "Hi," he replied back, giving her the shy smile she found so endearing. "So, how do we go about this 'necking' stuff," she asked, batting her eyes for effect. He chuckled and leaned forward. "Well, if I remember correctly -- what I've read, mind you -- you kinda start like this . . . " The lightning had moved on from overhead, but every once in a while the car still shook with the sound of thunder. The car was shaking for other reasons, as well and the two people in the car need not have worried about keeping warm. The windows were fogged and sweating. It was just starting to get interesting, from Mulder's point of view, while he tired to figure out the best way to remove the three layers of sweatpants and dress pants he was encased in, when Scully froze. After a minute, he noticed she wasn't returning his favors and started to get worried. "What? What is it?" "Isn't it awfully bright in here?" she asked. She barely had the words out of her mouth when the car started to shake violently, sending her sliding off Mulder's lap to land on the back of the seat. It was bright, very bright and the shaking had turned into movement. He grabbed for her to keep her from tumbling any farther because the car was slowly being dragged up the side of the ditch. Without warning, it stopped. They looked at each other in terrified silence until there was a pounding on the driver's side window. Muffled by the wind, Mulder thought he heard someone yelling. He scrambled to get into the driver's seat and unlock the door. Shoving against the now frozen lock, he finally got the door open and was greeted by a wide-eyed young state trooper. "Thank God," the trooper said, shaking his head. "Are you alone?" A beam of light was flashed around the car, finally landing on Scully, still in the back seat. "Um, no," Mulder said, although he realized it was a moot point. "My partner -- ah, we're with the FBI, we were trying to get to Lincoln -- " "Well, this car will never make it there under these conditions. C'mon, I think there's room in the truck cab. We'll take you to the nearest town and you can pick up your car when the weather breaks." Kearney, NE 10:45 pm It had been a long and near silent ride to the neighboring city of Kearney. Mulder couldn't help but notice the grins that were exchanged between the trooper and the state highway department truck driver, but both men were polite enough not to laugh out loud in the agents' presence. He just hoped they weren't the type to write letters to their Congressman. Scully's face still burned bright red in the light of the dash. Whether from the wind beating it had taken while they moved from stranded vehicle to state truck, or from the rather compromising position they'd been found in -- Mulder would not even venture to guess. But he was pretty sure she wasn't speaking to him. For that matter, he was just a little afraid they might live their lives with her never speaking to him again. It certainly didn't help matters that she had to sit in her partner's lap for the ride, since room was indeed limited. When they arrived in Kearney, they were taken to the high school where the Red Cross had set up a shelter in the gym. Cots were assigned, along with blankets and pillows. Coffee, hot chocolate, tea and snack foods were in plentiful supply. After the initial rush, they were able to make their way back to their cots and settle in for the night. The silent treatment was killing him. As Scully took off her shoes and prepared to lie down with her back toward him, Mulder couldn't take it anymore. "OK, I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry," he blurted out, probably a little too loudly. She rolled over and eyed him critically. He did his best to look contrite. In fact, he looked pretty darned miserable. She sat up on her cot and rested her arms on her drawn up knees. "Do you even know why you're apologizing?" she asked with one raised eyebrow. "For not stopping when the road was closed, for not pulling over when it got really hard to see, for making us miss our plane, for trying to seduce you in the middle of a blizzard -- " At her harsh look he lowered his voice. "Well, for _almost_ seducing you in the middle of a blizzard." She sighed and shook her head. "I'm not mad at you, Mulder." It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. "You sure could have fooled me," he shot back. She looked at him again, this time with a bland expression. "Mulder, in all the time we've been together, how do I usually express my disgruntlement with you?" "You yell at me. You slam things. You get this little wrinkle right in the middle of your forehead and you give me the death glare that never fails to turn my bowels liquid." She snorted. "Nice image, thank you," she said dryly. "Mulder, have I done any of those things tonight?" He thought for a moment and then slowly shook his head. "No. You haven't. Which is what has me so scared," he admitted. "I'm afraid I've really screwed things up this time." Her soft chuckle should have given him some comfort, but it only confused him more. "OK, then why have you been giving me the cold shoulder since we were rescued?" She leaned over and grabbed his shirt collar, since he'd long since dispensed with his tie. She pulled him over so that he was only inches from her face. "I've been trying to figure out how the hell we're going to find someplace dark, quiet and _deserted_ in this school full of refugees so that I can finish having my way with you." She smiled at him and gave him a small shove so that he landed on his own cot. His grin was first delight and then deviousness. He looked around, carefully surveying their surroundings. "There has to be a janitor's closet around here somewhere." Outside, the thunder boomed. the end.