Blue and White - Levi Fanfiction

Ch. 77 - As the Snow Falls

There were few things in life I liked watching more than the snow fall in the dead of night.

Winter surprised us this season, with the temperature dropping rapidly and a sudden snowstorm sweeping through. The snow didn't stick during that storm, melting soon after it landed on the ground because we hadn't even had the first frost of the season before it decided to snow.

Still, it shocked us enough to kick our asses into gear preparing for the season. We thought we'd had a few more weeks to get things ready, but we were wrong. Very wrong.

Regardless, we'd sorted everything out, and just in time too, because three weeks after that initial snow, the rest of the season caught up. And now, winter was in full force.

With the heavy snowfall confining us to the house – except for the mornings when we shoveled out pathways to care for the horses and make sure we could still get to the road – I found myself always by a window to look out at the glistening landscape, a warm cup of tea in hand.

On some afternoons, to help curb Emi's growing level of energy and need for only one nap a day, we'd taken to bringing her outside to play in the snow. She loved it, even when weighed down with three coats, an excessively long scarf, a cute little pair of boots, several pairs of socks and mittens, and a hat. If Levi were left to dress her, she'd typically be dressed in much, much more than that - somehow.

She loved to make roughly round snowballs and stack them. Sometimes, if I asked nicely, she'd let me throw them at Levi as she made them. Because even when we played outside together, Levi would stand off to the side, arms crossed, because he did not enjoy being out in it. Maybe it was because I always made it a point to throw the snowballs at him, or maybe it was because his preferred method of "enjoying" the snow was to watch it from inside, away from the bitter chill.

I always found it funny how he'd always call me childish for playing outside with Emi, but he'd stand still like a cranky child throwing a tantrum. Sometimes though, we'd build a snowman, and then Levi would join us, if only to just help us heft up each segment of the body.

As much fun as it was to play outside in the snow, which admittedly was something I didn't think I'd ever get tired of, I found that my favorite part of the day was cozying up on the couch next to Levi as Emi played on the floor. Occasionally we'd read our own books, sometimes alternate reading to each other, while at other points we'd sign off on important documentation.

And Emi would sit on the rug in front of the fire, playing with her toys next to the cat. Oh, that's right, because we adopted a cat. Well... it was probably better to say that the cat had adopted us.

I'd stepped outside one morning to sweep the fresh snow off the front steps only to see a small black cat curled up next to the door. The poor thing had been shivering and had looked up at me with such pleading eyes, I couldn't say no to it. The porch steps had remained un-swept, and the cat was scooped up into my arms and brought inside.

Thankfully, Levi had been shoveling in the backyard, so it hadn't been a problem to sneak it inside. I'd warmed the cat up carefully, then given it a bath in the sink. By the time Levi had come back inside, I'd finished, and had been drying the cat.

Sitting in front of the fire as I was, the cat happily getting pampered in my lap as I towel dried it, Levi couldn't see what was in my arms when he stepped out of his boots and beat them together to get the snow off. But when he entered the living room, stepping around me to reach the small rack by the fire where wet, cold clothes hung to dry, he noticed me holding a bundle of something.

And just as he unwound his scarf and asked what I was holding, the cat popped its head out of the towel and looked up at him with those pretty blue eyes. Well, that had sparked an argument, but not a long one, because Emi had run over from where she was playing and immediately fell in love with that cat.