"Lucas, are you sure you know where we are going?" Gail asked, annoyed.  She knew she shouldn't have agreed to let Lucas drive her to the convention in Wilmington, but she had let Loris borrow her car and she was stuck; she needed to be there.

" I've been to Wilmington a thousand times, darlin'.  I know what I'm doing.  Now, if you would just be quiet and stop bothering me, I will be able to get you there in no time, ok?" Lucas said, agitated.  He had been down this road a thousand times, yes, but there hadn't been this much snow on the roads before.  It was hard to tell where anything was.

"Look, we've been driving for 3 hours. Lucas.  Why don't you just admit that we're lost, and turn back while there's still time?"  Gail couldn't believe how stubborn he was.  How hard is it to admit you're lost?

"Gail!, look, I know a short cut.  We'll turn onto this road; it'll get us there faster"

"Fine!" Gail said, giving up for now.  She was tired; she wanted to take a little nap.

"You go to sleep, darlin''" Lucas said, reading her mind, "I'll wake you up when we get there.

Gail was immediately awakened from her dream.

"What the hell?" Gail shouted, confused.  She looked around the car.  The coldness hit her straight away, and she could feel the goose bumps on her flesh. Gail crossed her arms to give herself a little bit of heat.  It wasn't much but, it'd do.

"Damn!" Lucas said as he turned to Gail, "Are you ok, darlin'?"

"What happened?" Gail suddenly realized they were not moving.  "Why have we stopped, Lucas?" she asked in dismay.

"We hit a rock, and I think the tire has gone flat.  Either that, or the engine has frozen over.  I'll be back in a minute; you wait here," Lucas said, as he buttoned his coat up and ventured through the snow to the side of the car.  The snow was already about 2 feet off the ground.

"Well, this is fun," Lucas said to himself as he checked the tires.  When he saw they were okay, he opened the hood of the engine.  Lifting it up, he saw that the engine was clogged with snow.  "Aw, hell!" Lucas cursed as he walked back to his door.

"Well?" Gail asked anxiously.

"Looks like were stuck, darlin'."

"Stuck? Stuck!" Gail shouted, "How in God's name can we be stuck? I told you earlier we should've stopped in the café until the storm passed, but no! Mister all-powerful here thought we should press on...!"

"Calm down," Lucas said as he reached to caress her face.  He could make this situation work for him if he played his cards right.

"Calm down? Don't tell me to calm down. I could've been sitting at home, nice and warm with a book on my lap, but you insisted on taking me.  For Christ sake, Lucas, can't you feel how cold it is?  The snow's rising, too.  We are stuck!!" Gail wrapped her arms tightly around her body. She had left her coat at home; she didn't expect it to be this cold.

Lucas took off his jacket and handed it to Gail, "Here you go, darlin''" He could see the panic slowly rising inside her.  "You know, shouting isn't gonna help the situation.  It's not my fault the weather turned out like this. We'll be okay; we just need to stick together" Lucas pulled Gail to him so her head was leaning against his shoulders, "Go back to sleep.  The snow will probably have cleared by the time you wake up."

Gail hated Lucas, but at times like these she was happy that he was around, even if she would never admit it to him, or anyone else. for that matter. She was feeling a bit warmer so she decided to try and go to sleep again.  Lucas was probably right--the snow would clear up soon…

"You think I'm oblivious to that fact, darlin'?" Gail noticed Lucas' lips had turned blue. "There's nothing we can do but sit this out.  I was hoping you'd sleep through it."

Gail turned herself into a ball on her seat, she couldn't stop shivering.  Lucas had decided to do the same; even he was at a loss in this situation. He had been trying to come up with a plan to get out them out of this. If he decided to hike to the nearest gas station, he'd probably freeze to death within an hour, and then Gail would be alone in the car to freeze to death herself. There was nothing to do but wait.

"Ok, I'm gonna try the ignition to see if it works," Lucas decided.

"What good would that do? If it didn't work three hours ago, why would it work now that the temperature's dropped?" Gail said, huddled in her ball, shivering.

"Fine, let's hear the reporter's ideas then!" Lucas said.  It was taking up his last nerve not to shout at her. Sometimes she could be so irritating.

"Don't you start shouting at me.  You're the one who got us into this mess!" Gail shouted as she turned her attention to the window.  She wasn't going to show him how upset he had made her. Then she thought, "My cell phone!"

"Huh?"

"I've got my cell phone, we can call for help!" Gail said reaching for her phone.  "Damn, the signal's shot. Keep it on the dashboard by the window, and the signal should get better soon…

"Lucas, I'm cold. What if we freeze out here?" Gail was now pale, with blue lips and fingernails.

"We wont, don't worry…".  With that, Lucas gently caressed Gail's face.  Gail moved her head toward his hand, trying to salvage the little bit of heat it gave. Lucas, satisfied that Gail didn't pull away, leaned further into her, moving his hand down her neck and gently over her breast.  Although Gail had a sweater on, she could feel the heat from Lucas' touch.  Slowly looking up, Gail moved her head closer to Lucas as he moved in for a tender kiss. Gail clung to Lucas tightly as the kiss became more and more forceful.

Lucas moved his hand underneath Gail's sweater; Gail shivered with anticipation as his hand touched her aching, cold flesh.

"Do you want me to stop?" Lucas whispered in her ear.

Gail looked up into his eyes longingly. Lucas smiled and pulled her underneath him and unbuttoned her jeans. Gail started to rub her hands all over Lucas' body.  She knew she shouldn't be doing this, but it felt so right…and she was so cold.

Lucas unbuttoned his pants and Gail moaned as he put himself inside her, her body filling up with tremendous heat. The air in the car began to heat up and steam the windows.  When Gail yelled out in ecstasy, she could feel the heat explode inside her.

Laying together in their sweat-filled aftermath, Gail fell asleep, oblivious to the sound of her phone ringing...

"Morning, darlin'," Lucas said stroking Gail's face and kissing her forehead gently.

"Where are we? What happened?"

"Well, darlin', when you fell asleep, Caleb phoned your mobile.  I told him we were stuck and he got Ben to come and get us.  I brought you home to my house; its warmer here," Lucas said, continuously stroking Gail's hair.

Gail closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep while Lucas put his arms around her and held her close.

The End