CHRISTMAS AU: Home for the Holidays Prompt WHO: Koen, Teagan, and OPEN WHEN: December 23 WHERE: It begins on an isolated road...who knows where it will take us? WHAT: Koen is desperate to get home to his family for Christmas...but Fate has other plans. WARNING: Well...probably someone's gonna die. :D
Koen Boulstridge was not having a good day. He'd landed back in the States from his commission in Italy, a suitcase laden with presents in tow, only to be told they were in the grips of the worst storm in 100 years. All of the flights were being canceled, incoming flights were being rerouted, no one had any idea when the storm would let up or flights would be resumed.
But you don't understand, he'd said. I haven't seen my girls in three months.
The person at the counter had been nothing if not sympathetic, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't control the weather, after all, and she was just the ticket-woman, not the CEO. She couldn't tell the planes to fly.
Okay, then. If he couldn't fly, he would drive. Koen squared his shoulders and headed to the rental counters--there was a line a mile long, but luckily his work travels had made him a preferred member at Budget. It meant he got to jump the long line for the shorter one of businessmen and wealthy. Ordinarily, he felt guilty about using this service...but Ariana and the girls were waiting. His girls, his little miracles. He'd thought he couldn't have children, but with the scientific progress of the world and money, Ariana had given birth to beautiful twin daughters a year before he'd been relocated to California. Elise and Mary, after their respective grandmothers...he couldn't not make it home to them.
He supposed he shouldn't be surprised that there was weather in Denver. It was Denver, after all. But California would be warm and beautiful, and if he could just get to...oh, Utah or somewhere, he could turn in his car and hop a flight back and still be home in time. They gave him a big SUV, a good winter car.
That had been eight hours ago.
Koen had taken a turnoff, somewhere. Now he was driving on a practically-abandoned stretch of road through a looming forest, snow so thick he couldn't see. His GPS wasn't working because there didn't seem to be any reception whatsoever, and he'd only seen two or three small cottages, tucked away in the trees.
SUV or no, there was no protecting him from the sudden patch of black ice on the road; Koen spun out dramatically, car hitting a tree with a thud. He was lucky he'd been going slow...but a spinning of tires proved the vehicle to be well and truly stuck, and he hadn't had the forethought to buy a shovel while in Denver.
"Damn it!" Koen was not the type to swear, but this situation seemed to warrant it. He had no service, he couldn't just sit in the car! Hadn't there been a house, maybe half a mile back...? Maybe they'd have a phone. He knew you weren't supposed to leave your vehicle, were just supposed to stay put and wait for help. But he hadn't seen another damn soul on this road. No one was out in this weather.
Ponderously climbing out of the SUV, Koen buttoned his coat up tighter and tucked his phone and wallet into his pocket, along with the car keys. Pulling on gloves, he shivered convulsively; he'd never done well with the cold. Well, nothing for it...his shoes weren't exactly designed for walking, but he had to try.
And so Koen Boulstridge, businessman, began slowly slogging his way back through the snow, hoping he was right about the distance, hoping there was someone at the house. Otherwise, he might just keel over.