DISCLAIMER: The characters herein are used without permission. No infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To ariadni.mou[at]gmail.com
SERIES: Follows Winter Solstice.
Winter Wonderland
By Athena
Chapter 1 – Snow
HG Wells pushed her hands deeper into her pockets to keep warm. She had woken up early and noticed the beautiful heavy snowfall outside. The sky had dumped a foot or more of snow overnight and the landscape looked like it was covered with a white blanked. Helena had always liked snow. As a child she had cherished the time spent at her relatives' chalet in Switzerland. London never got a lot of snow. Not even at her father's estate in the country side had they rarely experienced more than a couple of inches.
Her walk had taken her around the inn and down to the stream. Once away from the buildings everything was quiet. She heard a bird chirp somewhere, but aside from that the only sound she could hear was her own breathing and the crunching under her feet. She grinned and turned her face up at the morning sky. She felt free and for the first time in a very long time she was truly happy. She held out her hands, palms turned up and made a little twirl suddenly overcome by this feeling of joy. She laughed and twirled around, her dark hair like a fan behind her. She took off her hat and shook her hair free. She looked at the offending garment in her hand and had another flashback from her childhood. She had always detested hats. They made her too warm, and they itched. She ran her hand through her hair, a gesture so well practiced she was totally unaware of doing it.
Finally feeling the chill set in she headed back to the inn in a slow pace, somewhat reluctant to leave the calmness of the snowy landscape. Maybe she could talk Myka into taking a walk with her later? Or perhaps they could go for a horseback ride? She grinned at the thought. Riding in snow was always fun. Helena was so deep in thought that she didn't notice that she wasn't alone anymore. She yelped when something hard hit her back. She whipped around and something hit her again, this time in the chest. She looked down and saw snow falling off her wool coat. Her eyes narrowed as she looked for the culprit.
Claudia grinned at Helena, very pleased with herself. "Gotcha good old lady," she teased. She quickly sent off the snowball in her hand. Helena held up her hand as she turned away. The snow hit her between the shoulder blades clinging to her dark hair. She gasped and her eyes narrowed again. She leaned down and quickly scooped up some snow before running towards Claudia.
Claudia's eyes widened as she saw Helena charge her. Realizing her mistake of choosing Helena as her target she set off too. Her shorter legs made her no challenge for Helena and soon Claudia felt a hard shove in the back. Shrieking she fell down. Rolling over she found herself pinned under Helena. She covered her face as she saw the snow in Helena's hand.
"You should not have done that darling," Helena said slowly in a dark voice.
"I'm sorry," Claudia squeaked behind her mittens.
Helena laughed and grabbed her hand pulling it away from her face. She rubbed the snow against Claudia's face and then jumped off her. She picked up some more snow as she looked down at her.
Claudia brushed snow off her face and spit out some. She made a face at Helena. "You cheat."
Helena laughed. "You picked the wrong target Claudia. I'd like you to know that most of my playmates as a child were boys. I have quite a lot of experience with this particular game."
Claudia glared at her. "Well how the heck could I've known that? You're like a hundred and fifty years old and should be all ladylike and stuff."
Helena tilted her head and laughed. "Lady like?"
"Yeah, you know shrieking and begging for mercy and stuff."
Helena smirked and leaned down. "Begging?" she said huskily and an eyebrow arched dangerously.
Claudia jumped up and brushed snow off her backside. "Well, maybe not begging. Can't see you do that actually come to think of it," she muttered.
Helena yelped again as she was hit from behind. She twirled around and saw Pete grinning at her like a maniac. She sent off her snowball with beautiful precision. It hit him on the shoulder. She chuckled at his surprised look.
"Come on Claudia," she said and grinned evilly. "I think we just found ourselves a common target."
"Oh HG, now you're talking," Claudia said with an evil little cackle. "Come," she said and grabbed Helena's sleeve. They ran towards a couple of large flower urns and took cover behind them. "I'll make 'em and you throw them. Okay?" Claudia said quickly.
Helena grinned and nodded at the fabulous idea. Soon they were pelting Pete with snowballs. He had advanced on them but soon had to pull back. He managed to get one more good hit on Helena and grinned when he saw her shake the snow off her hair. Noticing Myka out of the corner of his eye he yelled at her.
"Mykes, I need you. Get over here."
Myka shoved her hands in her pockets, the morning paper tucked securely under her arm, and looked at the scene in front of her. "Why should I? You look like you've got it under contr…" she was cut off by a snowball hitting her in the chest. She glared at Helena's grinning face that appeared for a second over the large flowerpot. "That's it," she shouted and threw the paper on the porch. "This is war! Come on Pete, stop throwing sissy ones. We're gonna get them," Myka growled.
The friendly fight went on for a good fifteen minutes before Helena decided that they needed another tactic. She turned to Claudia and the mountain of snowballs next to her.
"Give me as many as you can," she said and held her arm across her chest. She grabbed one in her right hand as she balanced the others on her arm. "Now fill my hat with the rest and follow me. Time for some offence darling," she said and grinned.
Myka gaped and started running when she saw Helena and Claudia come after her. She felt one snowball after the other hit her back.
Helena grinned as she followed Myka's beautiful behind. Sending a well aimed snowball off it hit Myka right in the butt. She stopped for a second and brushed off the snow glaring at Helena over her shoulder only to blush furiously when she saw the look on Helena's face.
"HG!" Claudia screamed.
Helena whipped around watching Pete drag Claudia away and dump her in a pile of snow. "Get him Claudia," she shouted. "I know you can take him. He's a big softie."
Myka grinned and slowly advanced on Helena. She grabbed her and dumped some snow inside her collar. She laughed out loud when Helena screamed and dropped the remaining snowballs as she frantically tried to get rid of the snow. Myka bit her lip as she watched her. When Helena finally looked at her she took a couple of steps back holding her hands up in front of her.
"No, wait. Helena," she said as her lover slowly advanced on her with a dangerous look on her face. "You don't want to hurt me. Right?" Myka tried to convince her.
Helena chuckled and pounced on Myka. They landed in the deep snow. Helena pinning Myka's hands above her head. "Oh I'm not going to hurt you darling. Just make you beg."
Myka laughed a little nervously only to quiet as Helena leaned down further. She could feel her breath against her face. She shivered when Helena traced her lower lip with her tongue. She pushed up, but Helena moved away. She whimpered. When Helena's lips crashed against hers she pulled at her hands for her to free her so she could pull her closer, but Helena's grip was too tight. She had her completely trapped below her. Myka had no choice but follow her lead.
Helena took her time kissing Myka, cherishing every little noise it brought from her. She planted little kisses on Myka's cold cheeks and down her neck as far as she could go. Myka's breath was like a cloud around them and she felt her push up against her. She nipped gently at her neck and heard Myka whimper. She grinned.
"Do you surrender?" Helena whispered.
"Huh?" Myka asked confused.
"Do you surrender? As in Helena is the best snowball fighter in the universe and I bow to her amazing unmatched talent," Helena teased.
Myka laughed out loud. "Oh that. Nah, I don't know." She shrieked when Helena rolled her over and pushed her face in the snow. She spit out some snow and glared at her. "Okay, you win."
"And?" Helena drawled, her eyebrows arched teasingly.
"And Helena is the best snowball fighter in the universe," Myka muttered and rolled her eyes.
Helena laughed and jumped up. She held out a hand to Myka to help her up only to find herself pinned under Myka.
"Well, this is more like it," Myka mumbled. She had Helena between her legs, her arms held in place under her knees. She looked down at her. "So where were we?" she said to herself as she picked up some snow and slowly made a beautiful snowball.
"Darling, I don't think..," Helena said nervously as she eyed the shaping of the snowball.
Myka smiled at her. "Don't worry honey. You won't be hurt."
"Please," Helena whispered.
Myka grinned. "Did I just hear the invincible HG Wells beg? Nah, must have been in my imagination."
Helena ground her teeth. "I don't want to hurt you darling," she said softly.
Myka raised an eyebrow. "You think you can take me? I don't think so." A second later she screamed as Helena's legs wrapped around her chest twisting her around until Helena had rolled them over and was now straddling Myka.
"See darling, I have a lot of experience with hand-to-hand combat," she murmured.
Myka nodded. "That was impressive."
"Thank you. Shall we call it a truce dear?"
Myka nodded.
"I would settle for a kiss as s peace offering," Helena said and smiled at her.
Myka sat up and wrapped her arms around Helena keeping her on her lap. She slowly leaned in and kissed her. She pulled off her gloves so she could bury her hands in Helena's hair brining her closer to her lips. Helena's cold lips soon warmed up and she felt her tremble in her arms, clearly not from the cold.
"You guys, we're heading inside to warm up with some Donovan Cocoa Supreme. Guess you don't need that," Pete yelled and laughed.
Myka tore her lips away from Helena and blushed furiously. She had totally forgotten about Pete and Claudia. She hid her face against Helena's chest and groaned.
Helena chuckled and waived at him. "We'll be in in a just a moment. Don't eat all the marshmallows."
He made a face at her. "I'm trying to set a record. Kid at the gas station can fit 28 marshmallows in his mouth. I'm so gonna beat that."
She laughed and shook her head. She hugged Myka closer to her and kissed her head.
"Do you want to go inside darling?" she asked. She reached for Myka's hat which had fallen off during the struggle.
"I guess. I kind of like rolling around with you in the snow, but I'm starting to get a little cold."
"Want me to warm your bum darling?" Helena teased and kissed her. "I have some delightful ideas on how to do that."
"Inside it is," Myka said quickly and pushed Helena off her lap.
Helena laughed and took Myka's offered hand.