The airport’s PA system chimed. Nancy’s abdominal muscles clenched in anticipation.
“Due to worsening conditions, all flights have now been canceled. Service will resume—”
The communal groan of frustration and anger rose over the polite mechanical voice, and Nancy brushed a stray lock of reddish-gold hair from her flushed cheek as she glanced over at Ned. The travelers around them were sounding even angrier now. Some were marching away, dragging wheeled luggage behind them, and already a furious crowd was growing at the gate, surrounding an already harried-looking attendant.
Ned stood, phone still to his ear, and covered the other ear as he moved away from the din. He didn’t say anything, and then after a few words, his face fell. He ended the call quickly and walked over to Nancy, who was edging away from the fuming crowd. A medley of elevator-music carols had resumed over the PA, and the nearby trash can, appropriately, was wrapped in faux holly and trimmed in a red velvet bow.
The perfect metaphor, Nancy mused, before returning Ned’s weak smile. “No,” she preempted him.
“Yeah,” he released as a sigh. “That’s honestly everyone I can find online. I know she said voucher, but at this point that probably means sleeping twenty to a floor at the airport hotel.”
Nancy shook her head as she slid her phone out of her pocket. “Well. Time to call in the big guns.”
They kept walking as Ned chuckled. "Trying to make me jealous, huh."
"Ew." She wrinkled her nose at him. "Baby, your gun is perfect."
"Somehow that doesn't sound as—"
Nancy held up a finger as the call connected. "Hi. Dad?"
After she had explained their predicament and left it in her father's hands, she turned to Ned with her eyebrows up, inviting him to finish what he had been saying.
"Let's just never refer to my dick as a weapon again."
"Agreed." Nancy tugged at her coat, adjusting it over her shoulders. "All right, he'll call me back as soon as he's found something. And now I really, really wish I hadn't turned our rental in."
"Yeah." Ned sighed. "All right. Let's see if we can sneak into one of the restaurants before they're swamped."
"That's some impressive optimism."
"Hey. What can I say? Christmas." Ned did a slow spin as he walked by her side, arms up. "'Tis the season."
Nancy couldn't help it; she laughed. "I don't know, honey. Our luck hasn't been great so far today."
"We're together." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. "Wearing dry clothes, conscious, upright, not handcuffed. There's a lot to celebrate."
They ended up waiting thirty minutes at the restaurant with the smallest crowd outside, and then they were shown to a small table near the bar. Almost everyone around them was doing exactly what Ned had done: calling every single hotel, motel, inn, and bed-and-breakfast within a reasonable radius of the airport. Nancy's phone was out on the table, but the screen remained dim; her father's miracle-working was apparently taking a while.
Ned had just scooped up his second bite of nachos when Nancy's phone lit up, and she snatched it up before it could even start vibrating. "Hello?"
"So… I'm still checking. I called a few people who are apparently traveling for the holiday, who got out before the storm hit. I've left a few messages. How are you two holding up?"
"Having dinner. It's not the end of the world if you can't find something," she said, as Ned raised one eyebrow ridiculously high. "I'd almost say that, with how hard it's coming down out there, maybe we should just sleep here tonight."
Ned crunched down on a chip disapprovingly, brow knitted.
"And if it's that bad, it might be a few days," her father pointed out. "I've seen the weather reports. Anyway. I'll check back in as soon as I find out anything."
"Thanks."
Ned was shaking his head when Nancy hung up. "Hell no, babe. No one wants to sleep on the carpet here."
She shrugged and stole a chip. "As though we haven't been in much, much worse circumstances."
"Involuntarily," he retorted, scooping up some sour cream.
After they had nearly finished their entrées, a massive platter of chimichangas with beans and rice for Ned and a combination platter of chicken and beef enchiladas with rice for Nancy, her phone lit up again. She snatched it up eagerly.
“All right, I called in a favor. All I can promise is it’s a bed. I’m sorry.”
“That’s perfect,” she told him. “I owe you big time.”
Carson laughed. “Let’s just hope you make it home in time to celebrate and we’ll call it even. Love you. Call me when you’re settled in. Someone should be contacting you soon to pick you up.”
“Someone?” Nancy repeated.
“Yep. My friend is older, and I think his granddaughter might be the one he sends.”
“Ah. Okay. So I’ll look for a text, then.”
After twenty more minutes, Ned had just dug his wallet out when Nancy's phone lit up.
Hey stranger. How many people am I picking up?
Nancy smiled. Two.
How many beds/whatev?
One.
OK. 1 hour?
That's fine. Thanks!
I'll text you when I'm on the way.
"We've got about an hour to kill," Nancy told Ned, sliding her phone into her pocket. "Let's shop."
Ned sighed. "You know the rules."
She smiled. "I do."
The storm was still howling around the airport, smashing a clattering of hail against the plate-glass windows one minute, sending a white wall of flakes cascading down the next, drifting through the orange pools of light under the streetlamps. Nancy shivered under her coat as she glanced in that direction, and Ned wrapped his arm around her.
"All right. Worst possible scenario."
Ned drew a deep breath, considering. "Old fishing cabin. 'Bed' is a stack of unwashed flannel shirts on the floor. I'll put my foot through a rotted floorboard and we'll discover that we're over frozen water."
"Oooh. Nice."
"Top it." He gave her arm a squeeze.
Nancy considered as she steered them toward a slightly bigger store displaying sweatshirts and tchotchkes. "Haunted. Like, really haunted. Bed is a pull-out sofa and no matter how we lay on it, we'll have steel beams digging into us in at least two places. The mattress will be a half-inch thick. No working outlets and no cell service."
Ned sucked in a swift breath through his teeth. "Whew. My turn?"
"Go for it."
Ned busied himself with a recent copy of Sports Illustrated while Nancy browsed the store, considering. She smirked as she lifted one hanger and sashayed over to Ned.
"Oh yes," he enthused, with a snort. "Santa came early. Just what I've always wanted."
A black velour track suit with contrast piping. "I know. You've always wanted to look faintly mobbed up. Now your dreams can finally come true."
She found a warm outfit for each of them—for all she knew, their destination really was a decrepit fishing cabin—and some toiletries, then a couple of small boxes of chocolates. Ned raised his eyebrow when he saw those.
"Hmm. Isn't there a place selling fudge…?"
Nancy laughed. "I don't know how you can even think about food right now."
"It's a talent."
When Nancy returned to their gate, as Ned debated the myriad choices in the fudge shop, the crowd had mostly dispersed. Some stymied travelers were still angrily remonstrating with whoever was unlucky enough to be on the other end of their phone calls. One especially irate man shouted in anger and stomped away from the counter, shaking his head rapidly and muttering to himself.
Nancy recognized the weary, brittle expression that the attendant tried to mask. "How may I help you?"
She handed over a box of chocolates. "Merry Christmas."
The woman's expression softened. "Thanks," she murmured.
Conditions were nightmarish on the sidewalk just outside the airport. Other travelers were jockeying for position in the line for cabs, trying to talk their way onto buses, haranguing the staff at the rental car desks. Nancy saw a lot of slow head-shaking. No, nothing was available. Nothing would be.
Nancy looked over at Ned, who hiked the strap of his duffel bag a little higher on his shoulder, then tugged his knit cap down an inch. She snickered.
"While I'd love to play some game involving warming each other up, once we get there," he said, "I'd prefer it to only be a game."
"True." When her phone vibrated with a new notification and she saw that their ride had arrived, she sighed, shoved it back into her pocket, and tugged her warm gloves on. "All right. Let's do this."
A large black pickup truck growled to a stop in front of them, and a slender girl swung down from the driver's seat. "Nancy and Ned?" she called, her voice muffled by the chunky-knit scarf looped around the lower half of her face. Above the fabric Nancy saw dancing eyes, a hint of dark hair, and an eyebrow piercing.
"That's us," Ned said with a wave.
They stowed their luggage, and Nancy graciously allowed Ned the front seat so he could stretch his legs. Once they were inside, Nancy leaned forward, extending her freezing hands toward the heater.
"B-r-r-r," Ned murmured, teeth chattering. "Damn."
"Yeah," the girl agreed, as she buckled her seat belt. "It's nasty tonight. It's about a thirty-minute drive. Do we need to stop anywhere?"
Nancy and Ned exchanged a glance. "Nah," Ned replied. "Not that I know of."
The girl smiled. "Oh. And I'm Bree. Sorry it took me so long to get everything set up, but it was a little bare in there."
"In the haunted fishing cabin?"
Bree glanced back at Nancy and snorted. "Oh, no. Dad rents out an apartment and it's empty right now, so I had to find the key, and there were no sheets on the bed, blah blah. Had a fun Target run."
By the time they had reached the apartment, Nancy was finally warmed through again, and they were laughing their way through an accounting of the night's misadventures. Bree directed them to the third floor and handed Nancy the key.
"Okay. I'll be around, and either me or my brother can take you to the airport once they have your flight figured out, or whatever."
Nancy smiled. "Great. Thanks for everything."
"And there's plenty of takeout. All right. Text me if you need anything."
"You're being surprisingly nice about all this," Ned commented. "Sorry for this massive inconvenience."
Bree laughed, her hand on the doorknob. "Oh, believe me, Dad's paying me for this. Don't feel bad."
Bree had been ridiculously thorough. A comforter set complete with twelve hundred thread count sheets was on the bed, with two massive fluffy pillows. She had even set up a little white tree wrapped in twinkling lights on the desk. The paper grocery bags on the small kitchen counter were stocked with microwave popcorn, peanut butter and butter crackers, a few cans of soup, apples, graham crackers and chocolate bars and marshmallows, trail mix, tuna salad packets, M&Ms. She had set out a few large candles and a lighter. A case of bottled water was chilling in the fridge.
"Okay, we definitely have to transfer her some cash for this."
Nancy laughed. "She would just keep it. And that's fair. No wonder it took her a while to do all this. And it looks like she might be planning for the power to go out…"
"I don't blame her. It sounds like it's worse."
Nancy opted for a shower before bed, thanks to the whiplash shift between the furnace-hot airport and burning-cold outdoors leaving her skin faintly tacky from sweat. She left Ned unpacking the sheets, making him promise to do hospital corners and agreeing to scream a summons if any ghosts or bank robbers startled her.
The shower curtain was completely transparent, but at least no one would be sneaking up on her, Nancy reflected as she unzipped her boots and peeled off her sweat-damp sweater. The water only hit a few degrees above lukewarm, but it was better than nothing.
She had only been in the shower a few minutes when she heard something and stood still, straining to hear anything else. When the sound wasn't repeated, she shook her head and went back to lathering up her hair.
She didn't hear the door open, so when she glanced over and saw Ned, she sucked in a breath so quickly that she almost squeaked.
"Want some company?"
She released the tension as a nervous laugh. "Sure. Hop in. I guess if we're gonna fool around, it should be in here, anyway."
Ned snickered. "Yeah, because that went so well last time," he called over the din of the water as he stripped off his jeans.
"Well, I enjoyed it."
"And I met my insurance deductible."
Nancy shook her head, moving to give Ned some room as he stepped into the tub. "I am sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I am."
"Yeah, I remember you saying that a lot during the ambulance ride." He moved toward her, feigning wrath, but his dark eyes were dancing as she gazed up into them. "Why don't you prove it."
The swirl of cool air that had snuck into the bathroom at his arrival, the shock of bare flesh against hers—she slid her arms up over his shoulders and returned his kiss, gasping when he backed her against the wall. When he pulled back she was breathless and a little weak in the knees.
"How…" she murmured.
Ned smiled. "Let me wash off this airport sweat and we'll figure something out."
She finished up before he did and towel-dried her hair, and when she stepped out of the bathroom to find something to sleep in, fully aware Ned would likely strip it off her within a few minutes, she stopped and snickered.
In the middle of the bed sat a large cellophane-wrapped gift basket in red and white stripes, topped with a green satin bow.
"Oh, Ned, you shouldn't have."
Ned stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, drying his hair with another. "Found that on the shelf over there. Like you said, in the event of a power outage, at least we'll have a few options for entertainment."
"Are you sure it's for us?"
"Pretty damn sure. Everything she bought for us has been pretty obvious."
Nancy picked up the tag as Ned dug his toothbrush out of his luggage and returned to the bathroom. She scoffed.
"Did you read this?"
"Keep going," Ned called back, and then she heard his toothbrush buzzing.
She fought with herself for a few seconds, then untied the ribbon. The tag, which read Perfect GAG Gift, she dropped into the wastebasket. Hot chocolate-themed edible body paint, a green vibrator that was wrapped in flashing dots of light like a mock Christmas tree with a festive rabbit attachment, tinsel-wrapped fake handcuffs…
"Uh…" She picked up a bag of assorted holiday-themed condoms and plucked one out at random.
"Hmm. That one?" Ned asked, coming up behind her.
Candy cane flavored condom. FOR ORAL SEX USE ONLY.
ESPECIALLY YOU, BRENDA.
Nancy raised an eyebrow. "Poor Brenda. Mint plus vagina definitely doesn't sound fun."
"You mean it won't make you taste like candy cane when I'm going down on you after?"
She turned to him with a little smirk. "That's a mystery we are definitely going to leave unsolved."
"Oooh. I know of some other mysteries we could work on."
Nancy raised both eyebrows as Ned gave the towel a quick jerk. "You're in the mood to taste like gingerbread, huh."
Ned laughed. "Ginger also doesn't sound all that… smart."
She shuffled through the options. "Sugar cookie. Who doesn't love a raging yeast infection?"
"This is definitely sounding like I'm gonna have your mouth directly on my cock." He snapped his fingers in mock disappointment.
"I'm also not a fan of having a Christmas tree shoved up in there."
Ned paused. "Yeah. Not the most appealing mental image, huh."
She wrapped her arms around him, and he tugged the damp towel off, leaving her naked, just before he embraced her too. The wind was howling again, driving hail against the windows, and she shivered.
"I get to warm you up, huh," he murmured, and tipped his head down to give her a kiss. When her knees buckled, he lowered her to the bed, and she accidentally knocked the gift basket onto the floor.
The angry buzz of a vibrator started almost immediately.
Ned groaned, but he was grinning. "Are we in the sexiest Twilight Zone episode?"
"Oh God, I hope not. If anything starts talking, we need to set fire to it."
"Deal."
He slid over and reached for the toy, and Nancy caressed his hip. Ned groaned again.
"Baby, if you want me to do this…"
"This?" She licked the tip of his erection.
Ned growled, and Nancy laughed as she rolled with him. He made a desperate lunge for the vibrator as she kept teasing him, and when he finally managed to close his fingers around it, he waved it at her.
"That is definitely not what I had in mind," she told him with a meaningful glance, then caressed his cock again.
They were between the freshly made sheets, and Nancy was just lowering herself onto him, when they heard a loud crack outside. Two heartbeats later, the power flickered.
They looked into each other's eyes.
"Candles," they said at the same time, and then Nancy dissolved into laughter. She swung off him and disappeared for a moment, returning with some of the candles Bree had left in the kitchen. Ned was looking speculatively at one of the condoms that had spilled from the wrecked gift basket.
"In the mood for second dessert, huh."
"I would say that hot chocolate stuff, but that also sounds like a total nightmare to get off the sheets."
"Ugh." She shivered. "Where were we…"
"Exactly. Get back over here so I can warm you up."
When she pulled back the sheets to join him, she dissolved into laughter again.
"Oh, look at that," Ned said, in feigned surprise. "I guess Santa delivered your present early."
She touched the bow he had stuck on his cock. "Just what I always wanted," she said, and then glanced up into his eyes.
In a breath, the lights went out. She blinked, but their gazes were still locked.
"You know," he said quietly, "this is. All I've wanted."
She plucked the bow off and swung over him again, and he reached up, stroking her cheek. Then she stuck the bow just below her belly button.
Ned smiled.
"Merry Christmas, baby," she said, leaning down as he stroked her sides. "You're all I've ever wanted too."
"And you have all of me."
"Not yet," she pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
Ned laughed. "Then let me give you my all, baby."
"Deal."