At the sudden whispering in her ear, Ebony had jumped, and gently elbowed him in the ribs. "Mike! Geez! You scared me!" She'd held her hand over her heart in a mock heart-attack pose. "I thought you were just going to watch." She smiled up at him as she turned around.

He'd smiled down at her from his towering six foot height to her average five and a half foot height. Noticing the revealing rip in her tee-shirt exposing some fine-looking cleavage, his eyes had suddenly changed color on her. Then he'd spoken in a very husky voice: "I was watching…"

Mike chuckled softly at the memory as he mused a bit on the phenomenon of the interesting way in which Ebony used to respond to Mike’s eyes’ sudden color change. Her breathing would increase, her heart rate would go into warp; all of this meaning that the color change of Mike's eyes caused Ebony's libido to go a little nuts. He then mused how he had finally gotten Ebony to reveal a little bit of what she was feeling when he'd unintentionally caused her to burn herself. That woman still loved him after all of these years!

Ebony breathed deeply as she leaned against her bedroom door. Oh, my goodness! She thought frantically. I can't believe that's Mike down there! She quickly began to rummage around in her drawers for something to wear. After all these years, she and Mike were once again underneath the same ceiling. Had it really been six years? So many different emotions were vying for her attention. There was anger that he dared follow her around the world, but then again, that was silly. He'd had no idea that she was here. There was hatred for doing what he did to her so long ago, and then have the audacity to act as if nothing had happened. How could he even pretend to not even know why she was reacting the way that she was reacting? It was absolutely ridiculous. Then there was that other feeling that she had purposely buried way down deep inside of herself, but it was trying so desperately to claw its way through her defenses to the surface. She could not allow that to happen, nor was she going to put a name to that feeling. Exasperated with herself for even thinking about the past, she suddenly remembered that her clothes were in the bathroom. She wandered in there to dress and to do something about her hair.

She returned shortly to the kitchen to find Mike kneeling on the floor with a pained expression on his face. "What’s the matter?" she asked it in a tone that was meant to portray that she didn't really care one way or the other, but unfortunately, she was never a very good liar about her emotions, and some of the anxiety at him being in pain escaped into the tone.

Mike looked up at her when she spoke. He nearly smiled at her attempt to cover her anxiety, but he hid it. "I can’t seem to get up. Every muscle and every muscle fiber in my body seems to be frozen."

"Stiff muscles, eh?" A small smile tried to escape from Ebony’s lips, but she quickly suppressed it as she walked over to help him up. She took a hold of both of his hands, and then slowly pulled him into a standing position.

"Oh... thank you..." He walked very slowly over to the table and gingerly sat down in the chair he had vacated earlier, feeling for all the world like a feeble old man nearing his one-hundredth birthday.

She only stood in the spot where she had helped him up, not really looking at anything in particular. The moment their hands had met, she felt as if she'd been transported back in time to when they used to go on long walks, their hands locked together. She always felt so special when he took a hold of her hand with warm affection for her shining in his eyes. She shook her head, directing it at him so it didn't seem as though she'd been affected by the touch. "You see? That’s what happens when you behave like a suicidal maniac," she accused him softly, with a little bit more sharpness than necessary.

He looked up suddenly, hearing the sharpness in her voice. He breathed in deeply before he answered her, trying to lighten things up a bit. "Suicidal maniac? Moi? Surely you must be joking!" He smiled a charming smile at her, a smile that in time's past would disarm her defenses and leave her in the form of a puddle of bubbling chocolate.

"I’m not joking," she stated, totally ignoring his smile, or at least lying to herself into believing she was ignoring it. In actuality, it had caused her heart to flutter. After a pause and a failed attempt to stop the lopsided smile from escaping at the nonchalant way he was talking about his tendencies to do things without thinking about probable consequences, she muttered, "And don’t call me Shirley."

Mike grinned at her, his eyes sparkling. "Funny."

She looked at him for a short moment before softly saying, "Thanks." She walked over to the cabinet where the two mugs of hot chocolate were still resting. After testing the cocoa in her mug with her finger, she put them both into the microwave for a little bit to warm them up.

"What did you mean by that?" Mike asked as she brought the mugs to the table and sat one of them in front of him.

"By what?"

"That ‘suicidal maniac’ comment."

She sipped her drink thoughtfully before she decided to answer him. "Oh... that. Well, you have to admit that driving up here in a blizzard in this avalanche-prone area was a little maniacal and suicidal, don’t you think?"

"You know me!" He shrugged it off, as usual.

"Yes, I do," Ebony stated quietly. They both sipped their hot chocolate for a few, silent moments. Mike made a face as the hot concoction burned his tongue. He began to fan his tongue just before she continued speaking. "Listen... I’m sorry about that outburst before."

He shrugged it off as if it didn't even phase him. "Hey... that’s okay. I deserved it." He sipped his hot chocolate again before he continued. She, being in her own little world what with thinking about events in her past -- some including Mike and some not -- didn't hear when he asked, "So how’d you rescue me?"

"Hmm?" When she looked up at Mike, her eyes were not really focused on anything. She was unprepared to answer the question right away.

He looked at her with a look that could be read as: you weren't listening to me. How come? "I’m assuming that I was in an avalanche," he said, waving one hand in a motion that could be classified as imitating something falling from a great height. "So how did you rescue me?"

Ebony rubbed her eyes as if she were suddenly tired. So many emotions were vying for her attention, and with Mike there, she couldn’t allow even one of them to escape. It was very taxing. "Fate found you."

"Fate?" Now he was really confused. What did Fate have to do with anything?

She yawned and then looked at the confused Mike. "My wolf." The comical image of him standing on her couch suddenly made her smile... but only briefly before the tired look returned.

"That magnificent animal is yours?" He stared at her in disbelief.

"Well, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I own him. After all, he is a wild animal. But I do have pedigree papers and a license for him. He’s had all of his shots and whatnot. I let him come and go as he pleases. I found him the same way that I found you." The explanation was automatic. So many people had asked Ebony how she’d come to own a wolf. The answer was just second nature to her now.

Mike took a small, experimental sip of his cocoa so he wouldn’t burn his tongue again. "How’s that?"

"In an avalanche. He had been buried under snow just like you. And just like you, I warmed him up so he wouldn’t die from hypothermia. He’s been with me ever since," Ebony explained as she sipped on her hot drink.

"Interesting..." he half-muttered to himself.

Again, lost in her own little world, she’d almost missed his next comment, and that was why she asked, "What’s that?"

Mike looked up at her, locking eyes so that she could not look away, even if she wanted to. "It’s interesting that you found your wolf in an avalanche just like you found me. You named your wolf Fate and he found me." He continued to ponder on this for a few seconds before he dropped a small bomb. "So what you’re saying is that Fate brought us back together."

Ebony began to choke on the little bit of hot chocolate she had been drinking. It took her a moment before she could fully catch her breath. "What did you say?"

"Fate brought us back together. That’s kind of equivocal, isn’t it?" he chuckled softly while staring deeply into Ebony’s eyes.

"Uh... we aren’t back together, Mike," she stated quietly.

He only looked at her for a moment before he said a vague, "Mmm ..." Then he changed the subject by asking, "So how’d you get my body heat back to normal?"

Ebony gave him a pointed look, raising one eyebrow, before she responded. "What does it matter to you? You’re alive, aren’t you?" She raised her other eyebrow noncommittally.

"Yes. My muscles are really stiff though." He moved his head from side to side to loosen his neck muscles.

Then, before she could stop herself, Ebony heard herself saying, "I can fix that."

It was too late. She couldn’t possibly take the words back now. Mike was looking at her so expectantly. In times past, when he had been stressed out from studying or from work, she always gave him body massages, and he always enjoyed every minute of them. She had a unique way of making him relax that no other person had been able to copy. With a worried look on her face, Ebony began to wonder if he would read more into her actions than her trying to relieve a little stiffness from the muscles of man who had nearly died in an avalanche. She was almost positive that he wouldn’t read more into the activity than a friend giving another friend a little bit of relief ... she hoped. Hesitantly, Ebony got up from the table and walked into the living room. Mike slowly followed behind her.

She was once again stoking up the fire in the living room once he finally made his way there. She had also drawn the curtains so that it was dark except for the soft glow of the firelight and the afternoon light radiating from the kitchen. She then knelt down on the plush, crimson carpet that covered the entire living room floor and patted the spot next to her.

I wonder if she realizes that she is creating a very romantic situation here, Mike thought as he arched an eyebrow. Without saying a word, he grunted and groaned his way into the horizontal position next to Ebony.

I hope he doesn’t think that this situation is posing as something romantic, Ebony thought worriedly as she bit her lower lip.

"What are you going to do?" Mike asked once he had gotten himself situated comfortably on the soft, fuzzy rug. His robe had maneuvered its way up his thighs a little bit so that Ebony had a pretty good view of pale flesh from his muscular calves.

Quickly averting her eyes, Ebony answered breathlessly, "I’m going to give you a massage. Now just relax." Was she talking to Mike or herself?

When she saw that Mike had made himself even more comfortable on her rug by resting his head on his forearms, she began by placing her warm hands on Mike’s neck and shoulders. Rhythmically, she slid her hands over those areas, creating little, tiny trails of heat and comfort. Moving her way to Mike’s back, she began to slowly knead it like dough. She worked the tightly muscled flesh through her fingers and knuckles, becoming hypnotized by her own movements. Without even realizing it, Ebony had moved to Mike’s lower back and his love handles… which really weren't love handles at all, but rock-hard muscle.

"So..." Mike’s voice penetrated her thoughts like a mist over water. It seemed to come from very far away as Ebony tried to bring herself back from whatever world she had trapped herself in again.

"Hmm?"

"How did you get my body temperature back to normal?"

Ebony’s strong hands began to travel up and down Mike’s spinal column where the crease formed in his back, a very sensual zone for Mike. A tingling sensation began to work its way up and down his back, a sensation he wasn’t very used to, considering his deep, dark past of other peoples’ lies and betrayals, the past that she knew very little about, but more than most. What it meant for Mike was that Ebony was the only person he had truly ever loved, and that love was mending, had mended a part of his heart that had been dark and cold for so very long; and Ebony’s ministrations to his back were causing him to become very aroused.

"With an alternative source of heat," she mumbled, her only focus being Mike’s body and her hands moving over it. She still managed to give a very cryptic answer, however.

He tried again. "What kind?" The heat from his body began to travel through Ebony’s fingertips and into her soul, relaxing her beyond what any measure of massaging would be able to do for her.

"Well..." The word left her mouth like molasses being poured from a jar. "I stoked up the fire in the fireplace in my room..." Her words seemed to slur together.

"And?" he urged.

"And I turned up the heat..." she continued.

"And..."

"And I... I used the heat... from my own body." There, she’d finally said it.

"What do you mean?" He knew that she still had some feelings for him, physically and mentally, and he was going to try every means necessary to determine how to get his friend, companion, and lover to express these pent-up feelings again. He wanted her back, damn-it!

"I... I took off all of your clothes and got into bed with you. Then when I got cold, I warmed myself up so that I could warm you up some more."

"Did you have any clothes on?" he asked in a deep, seductive tone, the tone that always seemed to turn Ebony’s insides to mush in arousal.

In a quiet, mouse-like voice, Ebony replied, "No... no, I didn’t."

Her softly-spoken confession brought on a whole new wave of arousal for Mike, the likes of which he had never felt before. The confession had more of an affect on him than Ebony’s hands softly roaming over his body had. She slowly continued to massage him, the movements more intimate, it seemed, especially when she laid her hands on Mike’s naked shoulders.

"Ebony?" Mike’s voice penetrated the cozy haze in Ebony’s head once again as she continued to administer to Mike’s aching muscles.

"Yes, Mike?"

The question had suddenly popped into Mike’s mind as if the answer would explain so many things to him and help him deal with the situation that he and Ebony were currently a part of. He had no idea where the question had come from, but one minute he was ready to flip Ebony over and ravage her, and the next minute, he was more curious to know the answer to the question that he was about to utter.

"Do you believe in Christmas Miracles?"

There was a long pause in both words and in the motions of Ebony’s hands before she began quietly, "I believe in a great many things, Mike." She paused again before adding in punctuated words, "And for as long as I live and perhaps beyond that, I will never, ever believe in Christmas or its miracles again!" Then quite abruptly, she ceased with Mike’s massage, got up, and walked over to stand in front of the couch where she stood silently for a moment. The coziness that they had both been feeling evaporated as the sun of reality rose over the mountains in their romantic horizon.

Mike tried not to look disappointed as he watched her animated movements. Ebony walked over to the fireplace again to look at the pictures sitting on her mantle.

What the hell just happened here? He wondered. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not especially." Ebony absent-mindedly fingered the corner of the picture frame that housed a photo of her aunt and uncle before she stated, "Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some things I need to do." She left the living room and disappeared.

Okay... I must have hit a nerve with that one. Mike sat up and hugged his knees close to his body. Just what had happened to that woman to cause her to dislike Christmas the way that she appeared to? Standing, Mike shuffled upstairs to Ebony’s bedroom. He would be able to think a lot clearer once he was washed and dressed.

When he walked into Ebony’s bedroom, his eyes were immediately drawn to the rumpled sheets where both of them had recently slept. After six years, they had once again shared a bed... perhaps wrapped in one another’s arms? He shrugged. Mike really had missed Ebony and greatly regretted walking out of her life so long ago. But that force that had made him leave had been so strong! However, once he had left, the force was no longer there. Having a strong pride, he couldn’t bring himself to face Ebony again and beg for her forgiveness. After all, he had done everything he could think of to push her away, and it had worked. But now that they were together again, Mike wanted Ebony back... forever... and he wasn’t about to give up now. All he had to do was to get Ebony to admit that she still loved him. Easy, right?

Mike shuffled over to his bags to retrieve some clothing to wear for that day. Removing a maroon sweatshirt, a white T-shirt, and some black sweatpants, he placed them on the bed before he made his way to Ebony’s bathroom where he closed and locked the door. As soon as he had closed the door, he was brought back to the scene in the living room when Ebony had been so very close and almost intimate with him. Mike could smell her because she had been so close. It had not been the smell of cleanliness, but a smell that was so rich and so wonderfully intoxicating that his mind continued to whirl as the memory kept resurfacing.

Ebony’s scent was in everything in that bathroom. She was in the towels, the toilet tissue, and even the soap! Mike realized that he was going to have a hard time trying to keep his mind out of the sewer while he was staying so close yet not being able to touch her. As he turned on the shower to let it warm up, Mike began to think of ways to find out what had caused Ebony to hate Christmas, as well as to think of ways to get her to admit being in love with him still. Christmas was three days away, counting the present day. That should be plenty of time, right?