Snowed In Anthology

Chapter 3-1

Chapter 3Ross checked in with headquarters while Ash went through whatever exercises he was doing in the kitchen. He didn’t follow Ash into the other room. He wanted to. Lord knew, he wanted to check up on Ash and see just how bad things were for him, physically. Maybe a little bit of massage therapy would help with the pain he was so clearly in.

Ross didn’t chase after Ash, even though his feelings were still so strong for his former lover. Maybe he didn’t chase after Ash because his feelings were still so strong for Ash. He’d thought about Ash often over the past few years, and he’d hoped Ash remembered the time they spent together with something like fondness.

Apparently, he didn’t. Apparently, what he remembered was resentment about their open relationship—something Ash had agreed to, whatever he said now—and anger about Ross’ pressure to come out. Ross didn’t regret either. Okay, he understood why Ash might be upset about being pressured to come out, and he understood it better now that he knew exactly what had happened when Ash had been outed.

But damn it, Ross had gone along for years being the bad guy in someone else’s drama. Ash had been just as much at fault as he was, if not more. After all, Ash had been the one who refused to acknowledge their relationship in public. He had his reasons, but Ross had his for insisting on full publicity. They were either together or they weren’t. Ash’s reasons were valid, but Ross’ need to be acknowledged in public was valid too. And there was nothing morally wrong with an open relationship if everyone involved was aware and willing.

If Ash hadn’t been willing, but said he was—Ross could hardly be expected to read his mind.

Ash took his time about coming back from the other room, over an hour. When he returned, he didn’t even look at Ross. He just walked over to his pile of things—the pile of things Ross had brought in—and started setting things up. He had some kind of digital camera with a tripod. That came with a microphone, both of which fed into his laptop. It all looked terribly complex to Ross, but Ash set it up one handed while Porthos looked on.

Finally, Ash sat back and Ross felt comfortable speaking. “What’s all that?”

Ash glanced over at him. His eyes were red-rimmed, but he looked otherwise about the same. “My boss wants me to film a small segment and send it, since we’ve got a signal. You can feel free to be in it or not, it’s up to you. Not everyone’s keen to be on TV.”

He adjusted the camera angle and then moved around to sit in front of the camera. He frowned at his laptop screen and typed something. Then he brightened up, smiled into the camera, and sat up straight. “Hi, welcome to WILL—13, Boston’s best resource for news and weather. This is Ash Machado coming at you live from…somewhere…under a heap of snow. I’m probably somewhere in Maynard. In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a little bit of snow out there. The governor has declared a state of emergency, all motorists are required to be off the roads, and if you’re out on the roads you’re going to have a real problem.

“Me, I didn’t know about the state of emergency until I was halfway to my destination. That’s when I skidded into a snowbank. WILL-13 Boston has created this handy guide to help you prepare for, and stay safe in, an emergency so you don’t end up having to be rescued by state troopers like I was.” He continued to smile into the camera for a second, and then he slumped into his familiar slouch to type.

A few seconds later, he nodded, typed something else, and signed off. Ross stared. “That’s it?”

“That’s all for now. They want me to do a few other spots for as long as we’re here.” Ash slumped back against the wall. He looked exhausted.

“Four years of college for that?” Ross couldn’t help but laugh. “Dude, you got cheated. I think they have robots doing that in Japan now.”

Ash glared up at him. “Actually, four years of college was for me to learn my craft so I could go out and report on what was happening all over the world, thanks. Recording that, as trivial as it might seem to you, was so I could be seen to have started my job yesterday as opposed to whenever we get out of here. That way I’m eligible for insurance coverage and not on the hook to cover everything myself when we have to get checked out at the hospital after we get pulled out of here. Whenever that might be.” He closed his eyes again. “The radar has shifted again. It might be another day after tomorrow.”

“Fuck.” Ross sat back down. He sat a little closer to Ash, but he tried not to crowd him.

“Yeah. Fortunately, we can just eat snow if we run out of water.” Ash made a face.

“The place still has running water,” Ross reminded him, and looked at the window. The window, solid white, didn’t help him. “Are things really that bad, that you’re concerned about health insurance?”

Ash blinked at him in surprise. “Everyone needs health insurance. And I got bounced from the national network because I couldn’t do the war correspondent thing anymore, so yeah. I have to worry about these things. They covered me while I was in the hospital, but now that I’m out I’m on my own. Thank God I had enough contacts to get me in here, right?” He grinned wryly. “I’m sure no one ever expected me to wind up back in Boston, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

“No.” Ross frowned. “Were you very badly hurt? I mean, I noticed you’re a little stiff, but I thought it might just be from sleeping wrong.”

“Oh, I’m messed up.” Ash stared straight ahead. “The whole right side took a lot of damage. I’ll live and everything, but I can’t do things like run for cover anymore. And some of the injuries are kind of ‘iffy’ when it comes to healing. Tendons and bones and stuff. So, I’m stuck stateside when most of the people I know are in the military or in the press corps, over there.” He grimaced, and then he plastered on a mask of bland acceptance. “But hey, at least I made it back, right? Still got most of my parts and everything.”

Ross did a double take. “Most?” What the hell was that supposed to mean, most?

“I might have left a kidney behind. But what the hell, I had one to spare, right? Gotta love that built in redundancy.” He shifted a little bit, and Porthos nudged him.

“So Porthos is a service dog.” Ross surmised.

“Porthos was a stray I found in Syria. He was just a puppy, and we’ve been together ever since.” Ash gave his dog a scratch. “It’s not a big deal, Ross. This stuff, it happens all the time. The kind of work I do—did—it’s dangerous. And we all know it when we take that contract. I lost seven colleagues over there. I made it back and I even got to bring the dog home too.” He stretched his legs out. “What’ve you been up to over the past few years?”

Ross huffed out a little laugh. “Well, nothing involving bombs or anything like that.” Christ, who’d have thought Ash would be out risking his life like that? He’d always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but he’d taken it to an extreme after college. “I went to the academy. Became a cop. I don’t care about moving out of patrol. I like the job I’m doing. It’s not out saving the world or anything, but it helps people around here, you know?”

Ash huffed out a little laugh. “Hey, you help people who get their car stuck in snowbanks.”

“That’s true. You’re not even the first person I’ve found like that, for the record. Um, I got to deliver a baby by the side of the Expressway last year, that was exciting.” Ross toyed with his hat.

Ash smiled. It was a genuine smile, not the guarded one he’d been giving, and seeing it gave Ross life. “Are you for real right now? I can’t even imagine helping to deliver a baby, much less stuck by the side of the road and trying to do that. How awful was it?”

Ross ducked his head and blushed. “You don’t even want to know. I mean it was kind of horrifying, and kind of a miracle at the same time. I mean, I’ve never paid much attention to the ‘babies’ thing, right? It’s just never going to be part of my world, so I never gave it much thought. Well, apparently, they don’t show up when you tell them to, especially after the first one. No, they kind of decide when and where they want to show up, and if they decide rush hour is the right time for them, then rush hour is when they put in their appearance. And, you know, there was a bad wreck further up, over by Columbia Road. Traffic was at a complete standstill, so they pulled over to the side of the road. And that was all she wrote.”

Ash held out his hand. “Well, congratulations. You said it wasn’t world-saving, but I bet the mother would say something else. And the baby, for that matter, once it’s old enough to have an opinion.”

Ross laughed. “Yeah, maybe. They did name the kid after me.” He could still remember the little baby, all red-faced and waving his little fist in the air. “Little Ross. I stop in to visit once in a while. It’s funny how that kind of thing affects you.”

“Well, in your job you don’t usually see people on their better days.” Ash looked away. “No one ever calls the police to say ‘Hey, my name’s Bob and I’m having an awesome day, I’d love for the boys in blue to just come on down and have a couple of beers to celebrate.’ Delivering a baby is—well, it’s probably about as good as you’re going to get, in terms of happy occasions.”

“Right?” Ross leaned against the wall. “It was absolutely something special.” He inched a little closer to Ash. “You’ve never covered anything like that?”

Ash considered, head tilted to the side. “Well, there was the time when we rescued Porthos here.” Porthos picked his head up. “Settle down, buddy. You’re not getting any treats right now.” Porthos put his head back down. “Such a chowhound. Seriously, though, for the most part you’re covering war, you know? People tuning in to see war coverage don’t want to see coverage of happy stories, and to be honest, there isn’t a lot of happiness to be found when you’re there. You might get to cover a soldier’s recovery from an injury, or there was that one time we helped a bunch of girls escape ISIS. I got to cover that.”

“That must have been pretty amazing.” Ross leaned a little closer.

“They’ve all got a lot of trauma to process and everything, but yes. When they realized they were freed, and safe, it was a beautiful sight to see.” Porthos rolled over, and Ash rubbed his belly as he spoke. “I’m glad I could be part of it, actually.”

“I am too.” Ross licked his lips. “And I’m glad you’re home.”

Ash snorted, but the little grin stayed on his face. “Yeah, okay. If I hadn’t wound up in that snow bank you’d never have known.”

Ross blushed again. “You’re probably right. But I do know now, and since I do—well, I’m happy.”

Ash turned his head away. “Ross….” He broke off.

Ross took a chance. He leaned in and touched his lips to Ash’s. Ash flinched, but he grabbed on and opened himself to the kiss, accepting Ross and everything they’d once been to each other.

It wasn’t the best kiss ever. The angle was all wrong, and Ross at least didn’t have the means to brush his teeth. Porthos shoved his nose between them after a moment, playing chaperone with his wagging tail. It wasn’t a kiss for the record books or that anyone would brag about, except for one thing.

Ross had kissed Ash, and Ash had let him. That was the only thing that mattered.

* * * *

Ash had no idea how to respond after Ross kissed him. The part of him that still resented getting dumped for not having the leeway to come out when Ross wanted him to, had a few ideas of what to do. They involved shouting, maybe a good hard shove. Ash didn’t listen to that part of him, because Porthos would probably get defensive of him and dogs that bit cops didn’t have happy endings.

There was another side of him, too. That side wanted to grab Ross, latch on, and make him finish what he’d started. Ross had always known how to heat Ash up, how to take him from zero to a hundred with the shortest time in between. That much hadn’t changed. If Ash were shipping out again when all of this was over, he might follow that instinct. He might well run his hands through Ross’ dark hair, lick into that talented mouth, and let nature take its course. He might even rub their bodies together, and show Ross just how hard he’d made him.