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Beverly Howard rolled over in bed and wrapped the down-filled duvet tighter as she shivered when her body came in contact with the cold half of the bed. She frowned and wondered what had happened to her boyfriend, and then she remembered the bleary-eyed kiss she had given him at four in the morning when he and their other friend, Walker Keel, left to get to the top of the mountain to ski in the fresh snow before the track was marked by amateurs. Walker’s words, not Jack’s. It wasn’t as if Walker was particularly good at skiing, but he was decidedly better than she was. Beverly hadn’t relished the idea of waking up at the crack of dawn on her vacation and planned on having breakfast with them when they returned from their early morning trip, followed by a more leisurely day of skiing, and an evening soaking in the hot tub out back, with or without Jack. She wasn’t fussed. She grumbled as she got out of the bed and her feet struck the cold wooden floor. Why Jack’s parent’s had chosen hardwood flooring in their ski chalet, Beverly had no idea. She quickly found her slippers and wrapped the duvet around herself as she made her way towards the old fashioned radiator in the corner.
Jack’s parents had bought the rustic cabin when he was small, and Jack had grown up visiting the ski resort throughout the Winter months. Beverly had spent her early years in the climate controlled colony on Luna, then Arvada III, before settling with her nana on Caldos – a colony not only settled by her Scottish ancestors, but a place that echoed the Highlands of Scotland, down to the bitterly cold and snowy winters. Beverly had only lived there a short time before she left for the academy, but she had hated the cold weather. The only reason she agreed to the trip was because Jack had begged her to go, and her two best friends Walker Keel and Jean-Luc Picard were joining them and she hadn’t seen either of them in months.
Beverly stared at the radiator. She thought she knew how to work them...the cabin didn’t have a computer to control the heating, but the cabin was fed via a common steam-powered industrial boiler shared between the dozen or so cabins. The heating was installed sometime in the twentieth century, and no one had bothered to modernise it, citing it too expensive to bring modern heat halfway up the mountain to power the small amount of cabins that weren’t used for the majority of the year. She saw a small knob down by the floor and leaned over to give it a turn. She felt the knob give way under her fingers and she carefully dialled it from the measly ‘2’ Jack had left it on up to ‘4’, but she didn’t hear the tell-tale sounds of the hissing steam. She gingerly placed her hand against the radiator – stone cold.
Beverly gathered her duvet around herself once more and exited the bedroom she shared with Jack in search of someplace warmer to sleep. She glanced out in the living room, but the fireplace had gone cold, and no doubt would be more trouble than it was currently worth to get going again, not to mention it wouldn’t exactly warm the room right away. She frowned again but her frown soon turned to a grin as she headed back down the corridor towards the bedrooms. She slowly inched open the door to Jean-Luc’s room and found her friend fast asleep in bed, obviously not bothered by the cold. His room was warm, so the radiator problem must have only been in her room. She dumped her duvet on the floor with her slippers and slid into the bed next to her best friend and gave a little sigh. Not only was the room warm, but the bed was nice and toasty, no doubt being kept warm by the well-muscled man occupying it. Jack wouldn’t mind. He trusted her.
Beverly rolled onto her side and wrapped an arm around Jean-Luc, resting her head against his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled at her before tugging her closer and then yelping when her frozen toes made contact with his leg.
“Jeez, Bev!” Beverly sheepishly smiled at her best friend and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
“Sorry.”
“You’re not.” He gave her a shove, but wrapped his arm back around her after. “I take it you’re cold?”
“Extremely. The heater in my room seems to be broken. I woke up cold.” Jean-Luc chuckled.
“Want me to go take a look at it? I mean, Walker is the engineer, but I might be able to get it to turn back on for you. Some of the outbuildings on the vineyard still had radiators for heating.” Beverly shook her head and snuggled into his arms.
“No, it’ll take too long to warm up. I’ll just stay here if it’s alright with you.” Jean-Luc rolled his eyes.
“It is, but let me go grab a shirt.” Beverly admired her friend’s back as he slipped out from under the covers and he laughed when he saw her duvet on the floor. “Brought your duvet, too?”
“I told you, I was cold!” Jean-Luc soon rejoined Beverly in the bed and she rested her head on his chest. “Mm, you were warmer without the shirt. Take it off.”
“Demanding too. First you put your cold feet on my legs, and now you probably want to put your cold hands on my chest.”
“Yes.” She grinned. Jean-Luc’s eyes rolled once more, but he removed his shirt and tried not to squirm when Beverly’s ice block hands touched his chest.
“You know, it’s not good for a doctor to have cold hands. I mean, what if you’re giving an exam and your patient jerks away from them being cold?” Beverly shrugged.
“I’ll just have to warm up my hands in my pockets first.”
“Starfleet uniforms don’t have pockets.”
“Mm, but a labcoat does!”
“I’m getting you gloves later.”
###
Jean-Luc woke up when he was sprinkled with melting snow as Jack looked down on the sleeping pair with laughter.
“Agh! Jack, what the hell?” Jean-Luc sat up in the bed, dislodging Beverly.
“You stealing my girl?”
“Yep. Got a problem with it?”
“Nah, I guess I can share.” Beverly rolled her eyes.
“Do I get a say in this?” Jean-Luc tightened his hold on her and kissed the top of her head.
“Nope.”
“Whatever. Is there hot water in our bathroom, Jack?” Jack shrugged.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Well, the heating wasn’t working in the bedroom and I came in here for warmth after someone left me this morning.” Beverly detangled herself from Jean-Luc and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for being my hot water bottle. Same time tomorrow morning?” Jean-Luc’s response was to merely roll his eyes.
Beverly picked up the duvet and headed out of the bedroom. Jack sat down on the bed next to Jean-Luc and leered at him.
“Did you kiss her?”
“Who?”
“Bev.”
“No, why would I kiss her? Jack, she’s your girlfriend.” Jack shrugged and peeled off his gloves, tossing them in the corner of Jean-Luc’s room.
“I know, but I thought maybe you might have....”
“Might have what Jack?”
“I wouldn’t mind if you do, Johnny.” Jean-Luc shoved his friend off his bed.
“Go. Your girlfriend is in the shower, and I’m sure she’d enjoy someone to wash her back.” Jack grinned back at his friend and picked up his discarded gloves.
“I mean, I don’t think she’d say no if you wanted to join her, Johnny....” Jean-Luc threw a pillow at his friend.
“Go.”
“I mean, it’s not like we haven’t slept with the same girl before.”
“Just leave. I’m not discussing this right now.” Jean-Luc got out of his bed and made his way towards his own ensuite bathroom.
“Want me to tell Bev to come join you?”
“Cheeky.”