Daydreams and Disasters

Starlight Swims in Winter Lakes

Starlight Swims in Winter Lakes

He slips.

It's such a simple action, yet the consequences mean that Ben skids off the path and onto the ice of the lake, his feet loosing traction on the slickness. Nancy shifts her weight, skidding her board in mid air, and sending it hurtling towards him.

In his defense, Ben is smart enough to drop the bag of loot he'd smuggled out of the Capital Center for Antiquities, right under the noses of Flavius Arcturius and Akhenaten who had been too busy geeking out over some new display when Nancy responded to the tripped alarm. Jeweled tiaras skid across the snowy landscape and she perceives them as sharp flashes of color in the scattered halos of golden lamplight, rapidly receding as the young man she'd known since he was 8 slides out into the middle of the ice.

Blond hair turned silver by the light of a weak winter moon flutters in the dimness and Ben throws his arms out for balance, seeming to have stopped breathing in the moment. It's almost beautiful, Frost like, this starlight of a man frozen in a tableau with the shimmering snow the only true source of light in the dark stillness of the lake.

The thunderous crack of thin ice shatters the silence and Nancy begs whatever deity will listen to ensure that this evening doesn't end in death. She cannot help his spirit cross over, not now that she's had him back for so little.

He disappears beneath the waves with a shout and she dives for the extended hand, not entirely prepared for the wrenching feeling that shocks her entire shoulder. Nancy grits her teeth against the stabbing ache and pulls harder, not stopping until Ben surfaces, gasping and spitting out frigid water. He is lucid enough to try to grasp her board and too chilled to accomplish it, so she prays that her muscles won't give out as she slings them back around to the closer shore.

Thank God for Jamie and her insistence on Arm Day.

They crash into a snow bank, the cold embrace just soft enough to blunt the impact and Nancy rolls with it, landing on her back. The stars glimmer distantly and for a moment the air in her lungs is replaced with nothing but the strong longing to be back among the stars instead of in this stupid predicament. But nostalgia and wanderlust won't save the man whose teeth are chattering alarmingly loud next to her and Nancy pushes herself up to get a better look at him.

Ben's lips have turned a pale shade of blue that wouldn't have been out of place on a Starfleet uniform, his whole body wracked with shivers and Nancy doesn't even hesitate before snapping loose her cape and wrapping him in it. Her winter costume trades the sensibility of her normal one for full body coverage and while it means more energy expended, she appreciates it when she has to give away her cape in moments like these.

"Thaaannnkk yyou." Ben's teeth clack and she rolls her eyes before shoving him towards her waiting hoverboard. Her latest programming updates have taught the thing to avoid trees, billboards, and buildings when she's not on it. She's still working out the kinks on the civilian awareness programming, but Buster's not complaining so she can't either.

(Even if the robotic test doggo has been drive-by hoverboarded a few times too many.)

"If you weren't such an idiot, you wouldn't be in this predicament. Now I have to make sure you don't die. Like a good hero." She can't say that she's worried about him, not now when she's refused to marry him and they're somewhere between friends and lovers that leaves her both frustrated and relieved that her heart won't bear the burden of loss so acutely.

(She has never been good at recognizing the lies she tells herself.)

Ben shivers, sliding his goggles up so that he can face her. "We can go to my place. No need to invade your home." He looks woebegone, standing in the snow and shaking like a leaf, his bright hair plastered darkly to his head. Nancy knows that giving in to to a pair of gorgeous sky blue eyes and a sad look makes her the worst kind of whipped but she finds herself saying it anyways.

"The Library is closer. Let's not make a habit of this. The next time I catch you out in the cold I'm not offering to take you to my place again. We can't keep doing this." She ignores the soft heat that skitters down her back at the memory of last month, when Ben had patiently stitched her up. His gentle hands and even gentler smile did things to her that were far more criminal than anything he'd ever stolen.

(She knows that she will always take him home. She could never leave him out in the cold like this. She wonders if he knows too.)

His weak smile shouldn't be so convincing. "Thank you. I'll return it all, I swear." She scoops up the tiaras before he can reach for them.

"I'll hold you to it tomorrow. Onto the hoverboard."

XXX

She cranks up the heat with a frown as Kane snickers at her and Mina smiles knowingly.

Nancy brandishes a finger at them and shakes it as she fiddles with the finicky heat. "Not a single word. I'm not making a habit of it. I just couldn't leave him in the cold, freezing wet to die. Which he would have if I hadn't taken him back here." Kane's snickers turn into snorts and he pats her on the shoulder, hand sliding harmlessly through her.

"Say what you like, I'm not the one bringing home freezing men to warm up." Nancy flushed at the implications and growled in annoyance. The lights flickered around her and she took a deep breath. The last thing she needed was to poltergeist it up in her own house.

"Kane." She forced herself to relax. "I did not bring him here to do those sort of things to him. I wanted to make sure he didn't die. I owe him that at least. Ben's saved my life on multiple occasions and I'm trying to even the ledger. He just needs to warm up."

Mina's muttered, "There are plenty of ways to warm up a man" had Nancy screaming in frustration and Kane roaring with laughter. "Come on, Love." Mina grinned, "We all know how you feel about the boy. We've seen how you look at him. He once gave you a kiss on the cheek and you knocked over a lamp!"

"I overbalanced!"

"And blushed for fifteen minutes."

"It was warm. You know I run cold and I have to heat the place more for him." Her hissed remark was underscored by the blankets she was gathering from the closet. Several fleece ones mingled with softly crocheted things she'd made as a much needed break.

"You know that to everyone else you'd look insane." Nancy whirled, trailing blankets, finding Ben in the doorway to her living room. He was wearing one of the oversized jumpsuits she'd bought for work in her lab that was a few sizes to large on her. On Ben it was still slightly too tight and he'd opted to tie it at the waist, providing her with an uninterrupted view of his chest.

It wasn't the first time Nancy had seen him shirtless, but for some reason the sight of him straight out of her shower, hair sticking up in soft tufts and smirking as he leaned against her doorway had her mouth suddenly dry.

(It was too hot in her house. She was definitely turning down the thermostat. Ben would live.)

"You've never been everyone else." She recovered, before shoving the pile of blankets into his arms. His knowing look had her wanting to pull some tricks of her own. Leaning in, she muttered in his ear, careful to let her hands brush his as she deposited the blankets, "It's what I've always liked about you." She pulled back, watching the soft blush that faintly spread across Ben's fair skin.

"Now, I'm going to bed. I sleep just fine when you sleep with me, but you're welcome to the couch." She shrugged. "Up to you." Before breezing past him and reclaiming her shower.

Only Kane and Mina saw Ben gently press a hand to his ear and stare, starstruck after her.

"What nerds. Oh my god!" Kane's admonition went unheard. "Mina, is there a word for a poltergeist who gets people together??!"

Mina snorted. "I think It's called Cupid. Come on Eros, we have work to do."