Chapter Text
La’an trudged forward. She was bent nearly double against the frigid wind slicing into her. She had her arms folded against her chest, but it didn’t seem to be helping. She shivered and took another step. The snow came up to her mid shin and her boots were definitely NOT waterproof.
La’an shuddered and made a mental note to IMMEDIATELY report to starfleet command about that. Proper footwear could mean the difference between life and death when on away missions. Who was the absolute moron who had signed off on not waterproofing their boots? Seriously! Had they never been on an away mission? Didn’t they know the plethora of unpleasant and dangerous things officers were required to walk through when off ship. What idiot thought this was a good idea?
“How you doing there, la’an?” unas annoyingly chipper voice broke into her thoughts.
La’an startled slightly then she gave her friend a sarcastic smile. “Just grand. Who doesn’t love a little fresh air. A little freezing, snow filled, ice laden air…” she trailed off in a grumble.
Unas laughter tinkled through the gusts buffeting them. “Im glad one of us is enjoying this.” She ignored la’ans eye roll. “I cant believe you forgot your coat, though.” She stopped, and out of habit, la’an stopped as well. “Here, take mine,” una instructed, reaching for her zipper.
La’an frowned and placed her hand quickly over unas. “No.” Her eyes narrowed. “You need it. We are in the middle of a snowstorm. You cant take off your coat.”
Una raised her eyebrows. “I could say the same to you. You need it more than I do.”
La’an scoffed. She turned and started trekking again. She still hugged her arms against her chest but she forced herself to stand up tall and stop huddling like a sniveling child. “I am fine, una,” she assured her friend firmly. “You know I love the cold.”
Una just followed after her reluctantly. “Uh huh,” una said, agreeing without actually agreeing. “I know you tell yourself you like the cold because it makes you feel safe.” From the gorn, she didn’t add.
La’an flashed her eyes to unas but kept moving. She lifted her chin defiantly.
“I also know that you actually get cold very easily,” una continued, unperturbed. “So, you should just take my coat and say thank you instead of arguing.”
La’an huffed feeling irritated. She did NOT get cold easily. Just because she liked to wear layers and always insisted on wearing socks, even with sandals, didn’t mean she got cold easily. She wasn’t some weak willed person who needed coddling. She could-and had-handled any deprivation required in order to survive. Who did una think she was, saying that la’an couldn’t take a little cold? Didn’t she spend months surviving on that planet, in the elements, relishing the cold, learning how to stretch a crumb into an entire meal. Hadnt she-but la’an didn’t want to think about that right now.
“La’an,” una said somewhat sharply.
La’an returned her eyes to una as they lumbered forward. She opened her mouth to argue about something…then closed it when she couldn’t remember what. She watched as wind blew and swirled snowflakes into unas hair and land on unas standard issue coat.
La’ans eyes widened then narrowed in quick succession. Her lips thinned as she glared at una. “And I didn’t ‘forget’ my coat. As you well know. It was literally on fire during the shuttle crash and I had to take it off so I didn’t die.”
Una just smiled, unconcerned with her friends apparent ire. “Ah, yes. That’s right,” she said lightly.
“So maybe instead of blaming ME for my lack of coat. I should be blaming YOU for crashing the shuttle,” la’an argued.
Una grimaced slightly then nodded. “That’s a fair point. Although, shooting down that asteroid was your responsibility at tactical.”
La’ans mouth gaped open in outrage. “You were the one flying the shuttle. You said you could avoid it! You didn’t want the particles to rain down on the village and hurt any innocent civilians.”
Una smiled ruefully at la’ans words. “That’s true. You know, now that you say that, I think you are right. I did tell you not to shoot it down.”
La’an grumbled, somewhat mollified, “Because you know I would have clobbered it. I never miss.”
Una gave a genuine smile. She tried to shield her friend from the wind but it whipped in from every direction. “I know la’an. You are the best. Especially when it comes to security and shooting things.”
“Exactly,” la’an nodded.
“Still. I could order you to take my coat.”
La’an huffed out a breath. “You cant order me to take your coat.”
Una tilted her head with a raised eyebrow. “Um. I don’t know if you realize this, Lt. But I. Outrank. You.”
La’an scowled. “You cant order me to take it. I am in a standard issued uniform. You cant order any changes in my attire unless it goes against regulations, per starfleet code 978.2”
Una rolled her eyes. “La’an please. You are freezing.” She stopped. “Just put it own.”
La’an shook her head and continued sliding forward determinedly. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself faster. It would keep her warmer and mean less time to listen to her friend, and her know it all attitude. La’an loved una, she really did. But sometimes, una was just such a smug, insufferable know it all. So confident. So cocky. So convinced that she always knew exactly what la’an was thinking or feeling. So self-assured that she always knew what was best for her. Always telling la’an what to do. Calling her out when la’an tried to get away with something. Like not wanting to wear her familys remembrance pin. Or go to therapy…
La’an shoved her ice cold hands further into her armpits. She couldn’t feel her feet at all. And her legs had moved past the intense burning to unpleasantly numb. La’an gasped out a breath as she pulled her foot from a particularly deep snow drift. Just because una had been right about la’an every time before this…Didn’t mean she was right THIS time. la’an was NOT going to take unas coat and then have her friend catch a deadly cold. Or wind up with frost bite all over. Or drop over DEAD from hypothermia.
No. La’an was fine. And una was going to stay warm and in her damn coat. Thank you VERY much.
“Lt,” una said and clearly not for the first time.
La’an blinked and looked over at her friend. “What?” she asked. She tried to huddle smaller to avoid the merciless wind.
“How are you doing, Lt?”
La’an scowled but it came out as more of a grimace. “Just peachy, commander.”
Una rolled her eyes but the tightness didn’t leave her face. “We have five more kilometers before we reach the settlement.”
La’an nodded. She hugged herself tighter. “Brilliant.” She focused on the icy path in front of them, trying (and mostly succeeding) not to slip. Five kilometers? She could do five kilometers. Easy. She could do anything to survive. This was nothing.
Except cold. It was cold. She would admit that. Since it was hard to breathe, the air was so frozen. And the wind stung and bit anywhere it hit her. And she was pretty sure her eyes (and probably her nose too) were watering from the frigid subzero temps. Not that she could feel anything on her face.
“La’an,” una called again.
La’an blinked. It took her a moment to locate her friends voice. “W-what?” she asked again. She stopped since una was stopped.
“You will take my coat and put it on, Lt,” una ordered, her voice leaving no room for argument.
La’an grit her teeth and shook her head. She turned and half ran for several steps before she had to slow back to painful trudging. It wasn’t that bad. Really. Everything was numb so la’an barely felt it anymore. Other than the gusts that took her breath away. But still. They were almost there. They had to be.
La’an blinked as she swayed and refocused on the wavering path in front of her. She could feel una at her elbow and la’an surged forward. Una knew she liked to be first, especially when in unfamiliar territory. If there were any security threats, it was la’ans JOB to deal with them. Una was a great commander, but she wasn’t security. La’an WAS. And it was her job to keep una safe. SAFE.
La’an blinked as una matched her pace. She scowled and marched faster. They had talked about this. Why was una not letting la’an do her job?
She stumbled, throwing her hands out to steady herself. Una caught her arm and pulled her to a stop. She turned la’an so she had no choice but to meet unas piercing blue eyes. The way they reflected the swirling and twirling snow was…mesmerizing.
La’an shook her head and looked around wondering where they were.
“La’an!”
La’an looked back at her friend and blinked. “W-what?” Had she asked that already? She couldn’t remember. She felt like she was missing something.
Una searched her face with a worried expression. She quickly unzipped her coat and tugged her arms out of her sleeves. She lifted it and brought it around la’ans shoulders.
It took a moment for la’an to understand what was happening. When she did, she protested. “Una no. What are you d-doing? You need that!”
Una shook her head as she found la’ans hand and shoved it through one of the sleeves. “You need it more, la’an.”
La’an shook her head and tried to pull away but una had her other arm and quickly stuffed it through the remaining sleeve of the coat. She raised her other hand but couldn’t fend off unas sure grip. “Una. W-we are in the middle of a b-blizzard. You cant take your coat off.”
Una just ignored la’an grimly. She easily rebuffed her friends attempted struggles. She zipped up the coat and turned up the collar so it covered more of la’ans neck. “Im not taking it off,” una argued. “Youre putting it on.”
La’an shook her head, trying to pull away. But una still had her by the front of her coat. She stared down fiercely at her friend. “I am NOT letting you freeze to death, la’an.”
La’an tried to find the zipper with her numb fingers but unas hands were in the way. So, she shrugged her shoulders as if she could shed the garment by sheer force of will. “Im n-not cold,” she tried, slightly confused and surprised that the coat wasn’t coming off.
“Fine,” una agreed emphatically. “But youre keeping the coat on.” She didn’t give la’an time to argue. She just jammed la’ans frozen hands into the pockets then linked her elbow with la’ans. She started off and la’an had no choice but to start walking. Una tugged her along, as unrelenting as a collapsing star.
La’an huddled into the coat and tried to bury her nose in the collar. It did provide a comforting layer against the brutal, endless wind. She supposed una was right about that.
Not that la’an was about to tell her. Not right now anyways. She was too focused on how tightly una held onto her. She was always surprised at how strong her friend was, and how safe she made la’an feel...
She couldn’t help but lean into una. Her friend easily accepted her weight. And la’an felt unusually exhausted all of the sudden. Plus, it was hard to move. The snow was deeper here and unas longer stride meant they were always slightly out of sync. La’an shuddered and tried to take larger steps. Why did una have to be so tall? But then again, la’an loved that una was so tall. She loved everything about una…
La’an staggered awkwardly then blinked and shook her head. Then she looked down to make sure her feet were still moving. They were. But she couldn’t feel them at all. Or her legs. Or her hands. Or her face. Or her neck. Her ears had been the first things to go. All she could feel was the wind warping its way inside unas coat. Invading from the gap at her collar and spinning up under the lower hem. Stealing what little warmth she had left.
La’an stumbled again. There must be rocks and things hidden under the snow for as much as la’an kept tripping. She pulled further onto unas arm and leaned even harder against her friends side, grateful that for once her friend was quiet.
“La’an,” unas voice called out.
La’an felt like laughing. Of course, she had jinked it. Even though spock would argue against there being such a thing as jinxes. It all had to do with causality and statistical chance, and other ridiculous words he always blabbed on about. Nothing mythical that could be influenced by superstition. But Una believed in them. So maybe they were real? She wasn’t sure. But it didn’t really matter. La’an didn’t care either way.
“La’an, look at me,” unas urgent voice snapped through la’an.
La’an blinked and looked up at una. They had stopped and her friend held onto her as la’an half stood, half collapsed into una. “W-what?”
Una relaxed slightly but her eyes remained worried. “I was just saying how Lt sam kirk was thinking about switching to security and he had requested you, personally, as a mentor.”
La’ans eyebrows scrunched. Una had been talking? But then the words slowly filtered into her brain. “W-what? No. Absolutely n-not.”
Una chuckled. She carefully shifted and slid her hands under la’ans knees and shoulders, lifting her up. She carried la’an easily against her chest and started forward. Her face tightened with worry at her friends complete lack of protest or reaction to her new position.
“So, what shall I tell Lt kirk?” una asked la’an insistently.
La’an harrumphed and turned her face into the shelter blocking the wind. “Stupid…mustache…” she muttered.
La’an felt like she was floating. The pain was mostly gone. It was still cold. But it was almost as if it was at a great distance. She stared up towards the angry grey storm clouds, but her vision snagged on una instead. Her friend towered above her. Why was una above her? A part of her registered that unas mouth was moving.
La’an blinked then, with great effort, forced herself to hear unas words.
“La’an! Keep your eyes open. Don’t you DARE fall asleep on me,” una commanded, with an edge to her voice la’an wasn’t familiar with. If she didn’t know better, she would have said that chief was scared. But una never got scared. She always knew what to do. It was la’an who was usually scared. Even when she told herself she wasn’t.
“La’an! Talk to me!” Unas eyes were wide and full of fear.
La’an frowned. She tried to see what was making chief so upset. If there was a threat she needed to help. She needed to-but la’an couldn’t move. She tried to move her head but just got dizzy from the slashing snow pelting them. She sighed and looked back towards una.
Her friends mouth was moving but la’an couldn’t hear her. She knew that should worry her. But she just didn’t care. She was so exhausted. She just needed to think for a moment. Just close her eyes and remember what she was doing. Just…