Montana Sky

Chapter 1: Ice

A/N: So, I wanted to write something a little different and I've had this picture of Bradley as a sexy cowboy stuck in my head for a while now, hence this AU story was born. Life is kind of busy right now so I can't promise very regular updates, but hopefully it won't take ages between chapters. If anyone is from/living in Montana and my details are totally wrong, I apologize - I've done some research but a lot is out of my imagination too.

Hope you enjoy!

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I can see it in your eyes, you're as beautiful as the Montana Sky.
– J.L. Meraki –

The pale crescent moon rose above the vast plains, the inky blue early spring sky dotted here and there with stars; pristine white snowflakes were falling, dancing around in the frequent gusts of cold wind that were harsh enough to slightly rock the car moving along a mostly deserted road. The night was pitch black, only the headlights of the car and the one following it lighting up the landscape, along with the very occasional vehicle traveling to the opposite direction.

"How can it be so damn dark out here?" A black-haired woman on the passenger seat yawned widely, stretched her arms in a very tired fashion. "Seriously, you could get eaten by a bear and no one would find any of your remains until summer because they can't see anything."

"No kidding." The driver, a man around the same age as her, laughed a little and slowed down the car as they approached a steep bend; glancing into the rearview mirror, he smiled at the car's third occupant. "You doing okay back there, Stef?"

Stefani Germanotta nodded, making a face as she sat up slowly, wincing at the stiffness she felt all over her body; clearly falling asleep on the back seat even for a little while hadn't been the wisest thing to do and now she felt both terribly achy and exhausted. "Hanging in there, Bob. Where are we?"

"I would say somewhere north of the boondocks," Bobby replied, tossing a look at the navigator. "Almost at something called Big Timber; you slept for about an hour."

"Big Timber. Population 1641," Bo commented from the front seat after a quick search on her phone. "Wow. I'm surprised there's even any reception here."

Stefani smiled, turning her gaze to the landscape; it was midnight, very dark outside but in the distance, a single light reflected and she could just about see the very faint outlines of a large house. She stared at the light for a long moment, somehow unable to look away, wondering who was awake at this time and what they were doing; perhaps the house belonged to one of the cattle ranches this state was full of. Montana was utterly gorgeous, mountains, rivers and green fields stretching as far as the eye could see; the greenery was already dotted here and there with colourful flowers, some snow still on the ground and a little more falling currently but spring was starting to clearly break in. Every day for the past week, she had been completely fascinated by the beauty of this state, the peace of the surrounding nature.

Pain flashed through her and she groaned, shifting on her seat to get into a more comfortable position; Bo turned to glance at her, worry crossing her face.

"Are you all right? Should we stop so you can stretch, move around a bit?"

She finally turned her eyes forward as the house with its solitary light disappeared from view; still, she couldn't help glancing at it one more time through the back window until the bright lights from the car following them almost blinded her, forced her to look away. Her bodyguard Peter was in the other car, accompanied by her sister Natali and her assistant Ashley; for a moment she considered Bo's suggestion, not only for physical purposes but also so that she could maybe get her little sister into the car with her.

They had just spent an amazing week at a beautiful holiday house in Big Sky; the vacation week had included Natali's birthday celebrations along with plenty of lovely time spent just relaxing with both her family and her Haus and she kind of missed her sister already after hanging out with her a lot. Most definitely it had been one of the best breaks she'd ever had in her life; only a few weeks ago an acute fibromyalgia flareup had forced her to cancel the rest of her world tour and as awful as Stefani still felt, both physically and mentally, this week with so many of her loved ones had been exactly what she had needed. The only slightly negative thing had been the apologetic call from the pilot of her private plane just a couple of hours ago, informing her of a technical fault that would keep the plane grounded at Billings airport for days, so the six of them still remaining of the party had decided to rent cars and drive home to Los Angeles instead. She was, in fact, quite enjoying it, even though night had fallen long before they had even managed to depart Billings; still, it wasn't very often that she had time to see this much of her country and she couldn't wait for the new day to dawn.