If You Wait

He rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm taking off my dripping wet clothes before I get hypothermic. You'd do well to do the same. You're worse off than I am. And as making a fire is illegal, and we're trapped up here until the rain stops and the water drains into the collection tanks, we're going to have to stick together for warmth. Don't worry, I promise to mind my hands." He gave her a wink.

Nearly rising to the bait, she opened her mouth to argue, but stopped at the flicker of worry in his eyes and turned to look out. With a deep sigh, she admitted to herself that he was right. They had little choice. Dark was fast approaching, the water was still too high, and soon they wouldn't be able to find their way. For the first time, she regretted the lack of tech. No comms to call for help and definitely no lights in the middle of the woods. Resigned, she turned back to him, saying, "Fine. But just you remember one thing: I am not as helpless as this costume makes me look. I can and will lay you flat if I even think you're trying anything."

"Please do," he laughed, but at least he'd left his underthings on. She definitely planned on doing the same. Shooting him daggers with her eyes, she faced away from him, her body already wracked with shivers, and glancing over her shoulder reluctantly asked for his help with the row of tiny buttons down her back. With a twinkle in his dark eyes, he took a step nearer and replied, "Your servant, mistress," with an inclination of his head. She spent a few minutes wringing rain from her skirts and avoiding the inevitable before succumbing to the cold and nervously standing directly before her companion.

He picked up his coat, which looked fairly dry, saying, "It's waterproof. Mostly. Come here." He pulled her back to rest against his chest and guided them gently to the ground, laying the coat over and around her, wrapping his arms around the outside to hold it in place.

They sat in silence, listening to the storm, and after a little while she noticed that while she was warm, his arms were still covered in goosebumps.

"Bring your arms underneath the coat. You're freezing."

"I'm fine," he told her stubbornly.

"Don't be an idiot." She lifted the coat and brought his arms underneath and around her herself. "There. That's not so bad, is it? I promise not to bite if you don't pinch," she managed with humor.

"No pinching," he swore. "Can't promise I won't bite you, though. I missed dinner."

"Oh, shut up."

After awhile, "What do you do when you aren't here?" he asked her.

"Mine ore," she answered.

"I've seen miners. They don't look like you...beautiful, rain-soaked fiesty women. Large, rough, sweaty men are miners."

Trying to cover the quickening of her heartbeats at the compliment, she sought to distract him. "You've met my brother, then?" she teased.

"You have brothers and sisters?"

"Just the one brother. We lost our parents in a tunnel collapse ten years ago. He's pretty much raised me on his own. He wanted me to go away to study, and I could have... But we're all we have left, and he's only zoned to mine, so I stayed and mined with him. I'm damn good at it, too."

"I believe it."

"What about you?"

"I live here. I actually grew up here. I mostly handle the tourists, and sometimes I pitch in with the crews doing maintenance on the domes. It's just my dad and I. My mom died having me."

"That still happens?" she asked. "But--"

"No extraneous tech, remember?" he said a little bitterly. But because of my mom, we at least have decent emergency care now. Bad publicity.Tourists don't like death, you know. Spoils their holidays."