Restless, JV gave up trying to sleep. She didn't want to disturb her hosts, not again. She quietly slipped on some clothes and tip-toed outside, planning on shifting and going for a run, as she'd done every night since she'd arrived. She gently closed the door behind her and padded barefoot down the length of the porch, the cold wood freezing her toes. 

Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she thought she should have grabbed a jacket and socks as she looked out into the woods not fifteen feet from the edge of the porch. 

"Please don't. I’d like to get at least a little sleep tonight and I don't want to have to go looking for you again," Steve's quiet voice startled her and she jumped. 

Spinning around, she saw him standing at the bottom of the stairs on the other end of the porch. "What are you doing out here?" she whispered, still trying not to wake Nick and Rebecca. She knew he could hear her even at a whisper.

"I could ask you the same thing." 

"I couldn't sleep." 

He lifted his brows, "I've noticed." 

"I was going to shift," she looked back out toward the trees. She could see their outlines in the darkness, but not much else. 

"I suspected as much when you came out. I've been watching you every night, waiting for you to return before going in."

She looked back toward him. "I can't settle," she admitted, "I sleep for an hour or two then I wake up and can't go back to sleep." 

Steve sighed, he seemed caught in an internal battle, "Come on, we can watch a movie or something." 

She padded toward him, planning to follow him to his place but let out a startled squeal when Steve swept her off her feet and started toward his cabin.

"Fool woman. Were you planning on walking on this freezing ground barefoot?" he grumbled. 

"I was planning to shift, so of course I would have been barefoot, but when I decided not to shift I couldn't go in just for shoes. I might wake someone." 

Steve growled and carried her the rest of the way in silence. He didn’t let her down once they reached his porch, instead, he waited until he'd opened the door and set her down on a soft, warm rug. 

"You need to start keeping a pair of shoes next to the door. It's too cold up here to wander around barefooted."

She nodded, distracted as she saw the inside of his home for the first time. It was a mix of styles, not decorated but comfortable and lived in. Somehow, it worked. She found it a bit masculine, but not overwhelming. 

Steve stepped in behind her and closed the door, "It's cold out there." He shook all over and pulled his coat off. "I can't believe you were out there without a coat or even socks." 

JV tried to stop shivering. She didn't want him to see it, but he noticed anyway. He moved close and rubbed his warm hands up and down her arms trying to help her warm up. The unexpected contact sent sparks of heat through her body. 

"Movies are on that shelf,” he pointed, “there, pick one. You want some hot chocolate? I'd offer coffee, but that’s not gonna help you sleep."

"Cocoa would be great." She went to the bookshelf where she found a large selection of DVD's neatly lining several shelves. "You watch a lot of movies?" 

"Sometimes, the snow gets pretty deep in the winter; it can knock out the satellite for days sometimes. I keep enough movies around that I can generally find something I'll listen to." He spoke from the other room. She heard him moving around and making their drinks. 

"What do you want to watch?" she asked.

"Whatever you want is fine. If it’s there, I'll watch it." 

She looked through the titles, recognizing most of them. There were a few dramas, but more comedies, and a lot of action films. "You don't have a single romance here." She wasn't surprised but was curious how he would react.

He came back in the room carrying a pair of steaming mugs, "Yeah, oddly enough, I'm not really into chick flicks." 

She couldn’t stop her laugh before it tumbled out. She pulled a movie off the shelf and gave it to him, trading him the disk for her cup of cocoa. 

He looked at the cover, "That's an old one,"

"But a good one," she took a sip, "I've seen it at least a hundred times. I'm not sure it's possible to see that one too much." 

He chuckled and got the disk ready to watch. He turned back and picked up the remote off the coffee table. "Sit, make yourself at home. You're not gonna stand for the whole movie, are you?" He sat on one end of the sofa, moving so smoothly his cocoa didn't even slosh.

JV didn't want to sit on the other end of the long piece of furniture, it felt like she was putting distance between them, plus, she would only get colder over there. Instead she sat in the middle. This way she wasn't smashed up against him, but still not too far away. 

Once she settled in, Steve started the movie. She sipped the chocolate and it warmed her, but she still shivered occasionally. Before the previews ended Steve got up and disappeared into another room. 

"Is something wrong?" she called after him.

"No," he appeared in the doorway, "I thought you could use this." He lifted a thick quilt and began unfolding it. "You're still cold."

"Thank you," she took the blanket and pulled it over her legs, "I'm chilled."

"You'd be a lot more than chilled if you'd been out there much longer. There may not be snow yet, but that's only because we haven't had a storm come in yet. It's plenty cold enough."

"Snow, this early?" She was surprised.

"Not early here, it's about average."

"Wow. I haven't seen snow in years." She looked toward the TV while he sat back down beside her. "I'd love to see snow." 

"Don't worry, you stick around long enough and you'll see some. If you're still around in the spring, you'll be sick of it." 

"Yet, you stay," she said, knowing he might be right about the snow, but it wasn't enough to make him move home, or anywhere else that didn't get as much of the stuff. 

"Yeah, I stay." The movie had stopped on the menu while they'd been talking. He hit play and the movie started, preventing him from having to continue the conversation. 

There wasn't much to see on the TV yet, the picture was filled with fog while a child's voice sang about a pirate's life. The fog began to clear and the bow of a ship became visible. JV sat enthralled, holding her mug in both hands as she drank. She set the empty mug on the coffee table in front of her when she was finished, then curled in the blanket enjoying the movie and the company.