Blood and Snow

Chapter Thirty-Nine

'I'm outside.' she took a deep breath, enjoying the cold air, 'I never thought that I'd see the daylight again. The snow and the ice... it's so beautiful!'

Belle wanted to spin around in circles like the other two were doing, but decided that she'd rather not fall flat on her butt. Happy and Bradley spun like a pair of helicopters before falling into the snow. Well, falling on ice, more like it. The entire place was covered in a layer of ice. Bradley happily got up and threw himself on ice patch after ice patch, smashing it all to bits. "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!" He screamed. Happy made an unintelligible noise of agreement. Belle laughed lightly at their excitement. They really were like children— well, Bradley was a child, after all.

"Hey, Belle! Wanna break some ice with us?" Happy called to her from about twenty feet away. Belle shook her head, "No thanks, I'm good."

"Your loss!" Happy grinned. "More for us!" Bradley added. The sweet little boy then tackled Happy, and their combined weight smashed a larger hole into the ice.

They ended up being outside all day, only returning when it got dark. "We should head inside, guys." Belle called to her comrades from the side of the warehouse, having been leaning against it for hours. "AWWWWWWW!" came the synchronized whine of response. "Come on, Belle! Just a little bit longer!" Happy called back from right in front of the trees. Belle shivered and rubbed her arms together, thinking about it. "I know you love breaking the ice, but we've been out here all day. It's dark now; we should go back inside and ask Sierra to make hot chocolate or something." she told them apologetically. Happy and Bradley looked at eachother as if having a telepathic debate on whether or not to listen to her. "Can we come back out tomorrow?" Bradley asked Belle. Belle nodded, "Yes, if Mason says we can."

Happy and Bradley nodded at each other, then trudged over to Belle. "Holy hotdogs, Belle! You look like you're freezing to death!" Happy told her. "I probably am." Belle said half-jokingly. Happy giggled. Bradley opened the door for them, and the ladies followed him inside. Belle stomped her boots on the concrete to get off the extra snow and pulled her coat tighter around herself. "So what now?" Happy asked Bradley. "Oh oh!" the boy instantly bounced with excitement, "We can play with my dinosaurs and make them go on adventures and stuff!"

"Heck yeah, let's do it!" Happy pumped her first in the air. Bradley didn't wait and went barreling through the hallway, probably to set up his toys. Happy smiled in the boy's direction, then looked over at Belle and gave her a concerned frown. "You should probably go to bed." the greenette told the blueberry, putting a hand on her shoulder. Belle nodded in agreement. "A warm bed sounds good." she muttered. Happy patted the shoulder, "You might want to talk to Tyreke, in case you got frost bite or something."

"I'll be okay." Belle assured her friend. Happy's frown deepened, but she nodded slowly. "Okay, but don't make me go mama mode on you." she threatened playfully. Belle pretended to be scared. "Oh, no! Anything but that!" she indulged the greenette. Happy gave her finger guns and backed up towards the hallway. "See ya' tomorrow, Belle! Get some good sleep, aight?"

"Alright."

Happy did a satisfied nod and disappeared like Bradley did. Belle stood still for a moment, thinking. 'I wonder if Baron will be waiting for me.' she blinked, maybe a little anxious. 'Is he going to be mad at me for staying outside forever?'

Knowing the big bear man, he was probably enjoying his time away from her. 'He's probably talking to someone or drinking more coffee... He could be sleeping, though.'

"Doubtful." she muttered to herself, beginning her slow walk through the warehouse. The blueberry took her mittens off, stuffed them in her coat pocket, and pulled down the earmuffs. She rubbed her hands together quickly, then breathed on them in an attempt to warm them. Then she wrapped them up in the scarf after realizing it was futile. 'My hands feel like they're burning... Maybe I should go see Tyreke.' she hummed an old lullaby to herself.