slashing_lorne | Fan Fic-Rest Stop Christmas (Lorne/Kavanagh)

Author:

eviljr
Title: Rest Stop Christmas
Pairing: Lorne/Kavanagh
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 2706
Spoilers: None
Summary: A blizzard leaves Will Kavanagh and Evan Lorne stranded in a less then idea place for Christmas.
Author's note: This fic was a gift to

fififolle for Secret Santa 2008 @

kavtolanon. For this fic I used the name's Will/Evan instead of Calvin/Nick.

*Thank you to

mlevins for graciously beta'ing!

Will Kavanagh’s feet kicked out as he adjusted himself in the passenger side seat. He sighed heavily, his eyes fluttering open to take in the surroundings as he knocked at his glasses. He pulled himself up straightening the frames as he did. He then tucked the wild curls of his hair behind his ears in one swift motion.

“Hey, sleepy head.”

Will shifted his attention to the driver. “Hey,” he replied hoarsely. “Where are we?”

Evan Lorne stretched his leg slightly his eyes visually checking the GPS monitor on the dash board.

“Still a couple of hours out,” he replied.

“It’s not looking good.” Will said a long arm indicating the mess outside.

Evan nodded. “It’s been coming down for hours. The roads are getting really nasty.”

Will frowned. “I should call. The parental units will be worried.” He slipped the rubber band from his wrist and restrained his long curls.

Lorne suppressed a chuckled as he maneuvered the SUV along the treacherous highway. The pair had set out from their hideaway cabin to reunite with the scientist’s family for Christmas.

It had been the best three days ever. The pair of them nestled in a one bedroom cabin owned by Will’s family. He reached back to retrieve his backpack and pulled free his cell. He flipped it open but quickly groaned. “No signal.”

Evan nodded. “Not surprising considering we're in the middle of nowhere.”

Will shook his head. “We’re further than the middle of nowhere. “ He returned to looking again out his side window. “The snow drifts are huge,” he said his voice slightly tinged with worry.

The airman shrugged. “They were huge when we came through three days ago. The last few hours just added to it.”

The SUV rounded a blind curb as the tired begged for traction. Evan held tight keeping the vehicle on course when suddenly Will cried: “Watch out!”

It was seconds too late as Evan’s focus caught the abandoned car that was taking up half the lane. He wrenched the wheel to the left taking over the empty lane and the SUV gave way to a skid careening to the side of the road where it met an abrupt stop with a thud.

“Shit,” Will gasped as be lurched forward his seat belt catching.

Evan breathed heavily next to him then groaned slightly. “You ok?” he asked the scientist.

Will nodded. “You?”

“I’m fine.”

What did we hit?” The taller man asked unbuckling to lean forward.

Evan tried to lift himself up to peer over the hood. “Tree.”

Will pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “This is not good.”

“No doomsday talk,” he chided. “Stay put. I’m going to check it out.” Evan unbuckled and yanked the door handle. He put a foot out tentatively checking the snow bank stability. He rose quickly, gaining foot. He moved to the front of the SUV rubbing a gloved hand through his clipped hair frowning.

“Well?” the scientist asked through a half rolled down window.

“It’s not bad, but I don’t know how we’ll get out of this snow bank,” he replied. He turned to face the road, hoping to spot a rescuer en route.

The road was eerily empty. The airman sighed and stepped toward his door again, his boot slipping forward as his body was in motion quicker than his mind set. Instantly his arms wind-milled trying to catch himself, but he went down with a yelp.

Will was out of the car and at Evan’s side in a blink of the eye. “Now you’ve done it,” the scientist admonished with a worried look. “Are you ok?” he asked wrapping his arms around the downed man to haul him back to his feet.

“Ice patch,” Evan replied. He winced as he attempted to put weight on his right side.

“What is it?” Will asked supporting him.

“My right ankle. I think I twisted it.”

“More drama,” Kavanagh said but the words held fear. “What do we do now?”

Evan leaned against the scientist a moment surveying the area. “We can’t stay in this weather.” he paused a moment as something caught his eye. “There,” he indicated. “Do you see that?”

Will’s stare drove through the snow to catch sight of a building. “I see it. A structure of some kind.”

Lorne nodded. “That is our best bet,” he said letting go of Will to balance himself against the SUV. “Grab your pack. We’ll need the phone and whatever you can grab.”

Will watched Evan a moment to ensure the airman was steady before turning to the driver’s side door. He crawled inside switching the SUV off and sticking the keys into his pocket. He leaned over into the back seat snatching his backpack along with Evan’s and the sleeping bag that was lying on the floor. He situated the bags on each shoulder and slipped his arm into the strap of the sleeping bag before cautiously walking back to the vehicle to join Evan.

“You look a little weighted down,” Evan commented. “I’ll take a pack.”

Will shook his head. “No, you’re injured and you’re going to need all your strength making it to the building. Whatever it is.”

The airman smirked and pulled himself upright balancing on his good leg. Will took Evan’s arm and the stranded pair made their way through the driving snow to shelter.

The building was eerily empty, but not abandoned. Will clomped his boots against the brick siding to shake loose the packed snow. “It’s a rest stop.” he replied peering through the double panel glass entrance. “Not very big though,” he commented.

Evan pulled on the door but it was locked. “We need to get inside.” he said looking around.

Kavanagh sighed. “I forgot my lock picking set in my other jeans,” he replied.

“Wait,” Lorne said his eyes brightening. He reached into his back pocket, bounced some on his heels as he worked out the contents and brought up a shiny object. “Never leave the Pegasus galaxy without it,” he said with a grin clicking the Leatherman open he chose the proper utensil and stuck it into the aged lock.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Will asked, skeptical.

“Didn’t I tell you about my dark teen years as the juvenile delinquent,” he winked.

The scientist chortled but watched with interest as Lorne slipped the lock and pushed the crossbar, the door giving way. “Ta-da!” he said with a flourish then tilted to the side. The scientist caught him, steadying him once again.

“Let’s get inside, magic man.” Will said adjusting the load on his shoulders before escorting the injured man inside.

The duo entered into a blast of warmth, their skin instantly soaking up the heat gratefully. “Heat,” Lorne commented. “They must keep it on to prevent the pipes from freezing.” His eyes fought to focus in on their surroundings in the murky darkness.

The rest stop was a throwback to the 70's, and had never been remodeled. The cracked linoleum sported a high gloss, and years of wax build up. Directly across from door was a circular shaped information desk backed against the wall. A foot high pre-decorated Christmas Tree was sitting on the counter top.

A door marked in silver and black lettering advised it was for employees only. Flanking them on both sides were entrances for male and female restrooms. A cluster of lighted vending and soda machines marred one wall and the opposite contained an assortment of plastic holders tacked up to display brochures.

Will pointedly let go of Evan’s arm, pausing to ensure the man was steady before feeling against the wall. “Aha,” he said with a satisfied smile as a florescent overhead light flickered on. “Not much of an improvement with the lights on,” he commented with a wry look.

Evan pointed to the desk. “Let’s see if there’s a working phone.”

Kavanagh nodded, dumping his cargo to the side so he could help the hopping airman to the desk.

Evan leaned against it gratefully as Will walked to the waist high swinging partition and moved to the other side. He studied the pristine work area. “Not much here period. A few pens, and Post-Its. A phone directory,” he paused. “Wait,” he leaned over looked under the lip of the counter and his hand reached out to snag a cord and he pulled it forward. “Look at this.”

“It’s a phone cord,” Lorne said perplexed. “Where’s the phone?”

Will rolled his eyes, a look that said, ‘how should I know’ and turned to the “employees only” door. “Shall we see what’s behind door number one?”

Evan shrugged as the scientist turned the cold, metal handle and pushed. Surprisingly it wasn’t locked and it gave way to a smaller room. Will repeated his light switch scan with his hand along the wall and the room became visible in a pale yellow glow.

His eyes did a panoramic overview of the room. A cot, with a small square pillow and an OD green Army blanket was pushed against the wall. Next to it was a mini fridge, with a battered microwave on top. The microwave held a one cup coffee maker, and an assortment of condiments. An ancient wooden desk was pushed up against the fridge stacked high with papers, junk and a vinyl rolling chair pushed underneath.

Against the far wall were boxes, and more boxes. One flap was opened and Will could see brochures inside. He sighed, and turned back to Evan. “Not much in here either but who ever runs this place spends a fair amount of time here.”

“No phone?”

“None, that I can see,” the scientist replied. He walked to the fridge, opened it and quickly blanched, slamming it closed. He moved backwards from the room and closed the door. The scientist put his back to the door and surveyed the rest stop. He bent down suddenly and pushed the twin of the chair in the back room out of his way and retrieved a box from the shelf underneath. “This will be handy,” he said waving the white box with the red cross on it.

“First aid kit.” Lorne said. “See if there’s a wrap.” He hopped around to the partition. He nudged it with his leg and hobbled through collapsing into the chair.

Will took stock of the contents. Pulling out a fresh wrap he wiggled it in the airman’s face. “What should we bandage?” he asked with a wicked smile.

Evan shook his head as he bent over to unlace his boot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hours quickly rolled into late night and the pair made camp in the center of the polished floor. The sleeping bag made a Spartan bed, with the stolen Army blanket from the cot in the back room. They slept in a cocooned huddle on the floor finally emerging late in the morning. The scrounged together a breakfast of over-caffeinated sugary drinks from the vending machines, and breakfast bars from their packs.

A few meaningless hours were wasted lying side by side bare-footed reading the hundred brochures hanging on the wall. A fine layer of the glossy leaflets were spread in a semi circle around them like debris from papers shredders at war.

In the late afternoon, Will made the decision to venture out into the still-falling snow. “It has to be below zero out there,” Evan protested standing next to the scientist as they looked out into the blizzard outside. “We can’t even make out the parking lot, much less where the SUV is.”

Will shrugged. He was bundled once more in his coat, boats tied and gloves in place. “I’m going to see if I can find a pay phone. There has to be one outside this building.”

Evan frowned. “I don’t want you to go out there alone.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m not carrying you, and you’ll only slow me down. You’re just pissy because I’m going into the action and you’re not.”

The airman chuckled. “This isn’t exactly a firefight on a Wraith infested planet, Will.”

Will shrugged. “I’m going. You stay here, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Evan nodded, hopping back a step to let the taller man open the door. The scientist slipped out into the driving snow, and disappeared.

Evan returned to their nest at the center in front of the information desk and eyed the vending machines, pondering what would serve as Christmas dinner.

Twenty minutes passed before the door was flung open and Will dashed inside. “Good news and bad news,” he reported, shaking his hair free from the powered substance. “I found a pay phone.”

“And the bad news?” Evan asked.

“It doesn’t work, no dial tone and the head set was missing.”

Evan sighed. “It could be worse.”

The scientist scoffed. “I can’t imagine how,” he replied.

“We could be out of gas,” the airman replied with a straight face.

The taller man eyed him for a second, his head tilting back to let loose a full on laugh. “What’s for dinner?” he asked kicking off his boots.

“Cheddar crackers, power bars, and microwave popcorn,” Evan replied.

“My favorite,” Will replied coming to his side as he plopped down on the sleeping bag.

“I was thinking we should have Christmas here,” Evan suggested.

The scientist laughed over a mouth full of cracker. “How?”

“We have a tree.” Evan replied pointing to the counter top.

Will smirked. Pulling his back pack closer he reached in side. “I have something to put under it.”

Evan rolled to his side removing a small package from under a corner of the makeshift bag.

Will nodded with a grin, “They both go under the tree till morning.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Evan replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A sharp pain shot up through Evan’s leg and he groaned. “Wakey, wakey,” a voice said.

Evan frowned shielding his eyes. “Five more minutes, mom,” he joked.

“I’m not your mother, boy, but you’re in big trouble,” the voice replied.

Evan bolted upright, Will next to him was rising as well. “What’s going on?” the scientist asked shaking the sleep from his face.

Before them stood a roughly built man, with a snowy beard that rested on his chest. His face was red and he wore dark coveralls. He stood over them with an uncertain stance. “You’re trespassing,” he advised.

Evan gathered his wits quickly. “We’re with the Air Force, on holiday. We wrecked just down the road. Our SUV’s stuck, and I’m injured. We needed shelter from the storm.”

“Do you work here?” Will asked standing.

The man nodded. “For the last 20 years, I cleared out before the storm hit. Name’s Mack Wright.”

“Why is there no phone?” Will asked attempting to keep the annoyance from his phone. “We could have called for help hours ago.”

The man shrugged. “I take it with me. We some had kids break in and make long distance calls in the summer. That lock ain’t worth the paint on my truck,” he rasped. “You’re with the Air Force, you say?” he asked peering at Will with disbelief.

Evan nodded. “Yes, and we can get some verification if we could use your phone and a tow would be great, Mr. Wright, is it?”

Mack Wright pulled on his beard thoughtfully. “Alright then, I’ll get the phone from my truck. You two sit tight.” He turned waddling back through the glass door.

Will collapsed back against the sleeping bag. “I thought we caught St. Nick in the act,” he said.

Evan laughed. “He does look the part. Speaking of, it is Christmas morning you know,” he hooked his thumb to the tree. “Shall we?”

Will grinned jumping up he retrieved the two wrapped items from under the tree. He held one out to Evan leaning over to kiss the man before adding in a whisper. “Merry Christmas.”

Evan returned the gesture. “Merry Christmas,” he said. “At the same time?” he offered.

Will gripped a corner of the wrapping, a mischievous look crossing his face. “At the count of three?”

“One, two-” and the paper went flying all around them, twisting into the air in a frenzy and landing amongst the scattered brochures.

The End.