"Aubrey, Hey, get up."

I hummed, rubbing my face softly as I sat up and looked around. Kale was sitting next to me still, having not moved. I don't remember a time where I'd slept so often, or so comfortably.

"It's stopped snowing." Kale told me and pointed out the entrance, which by now, was half way closed. Sure enough, when I crawled over, the air was clear of snowflakes, and the layer of snow was crisp and clean on the ground. I couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Well, then we should get going. Before the snow starts up again." I told him and tugged on my gloves before pushing some snow away from our little hole.

My gloves sunk deep into the cold powder, but I'd expected that. I started scooping it out of the way before calling over my shoulder.

"If you didn't like the weather before, you're going to hate getting back to the cabin." I told him with a bit of a giggle.

The brunette groaned as he came over.
I crawled out into the open and looked around us. It was breath taking, the sun was shining brightly, even though it was clearly evening. My stomach growled softly as I hugged myself.

"Maybe we should hunt before heading back?" Kale suggested, his stomach also growled, louder than mine. I smile a little.

"If we spot some prey, we can hunt it, but I think we should try to head to the cabin, there's already food there." I pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't know what you have at your cabin, but it's not much." He told me, walking over and ruffling my hair.
I pouted.

"Well I don't normally have visitors, and I've lived a fairly healthy life." I told him while folding my arms. He just patted my head as I looked around.

"Sure thing."

I looked over at him with a pout, until spotting what looked like a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips. I bit down on my bottom lip to prevent me smiling like an idiot. I'd gotten him to smile. It may have only happened once or twice now, but I made him smile. This made me very happy indeed.

I took a deep breath in an attempt to catch our old scent trails. But all I could smell was Kale's very strong scent as he stood next to me.

"I can't trace our prints, the snow fall covered them." I hummed, Kale copied my actions and thought for a minute before nodding towards the hole we'd just come out of.

"We ran past here."

I blinked at him surprised as he started moving around the stump we'd inhabited during the snow fall.

"H-How can you tell?" I asked as he started away, and I followed after him quickly.

"Well for one, that's how we found this log in the first place. Second, It's faint, but I can still catch your scent." He said simply as we started into the forest.

"Are you sure it's mine? It could be someone else that happened by." I said, looking for any prints in the snow. I nearly bumped into him as he turned and sniffed me. I stiffened a little in reaction before he shook his head.

"No, it's yours. You have a very unique smell." He said as he started off again.

My cheeks turned a defined pink, was that his way of saying I stunk?

"Uh, thanks?" I said in a questioning tone, but he didn't respond, he just continued through the snow.

"Maybe it'd be better if we shifted." He grimaced as the snow came up above his knees.

I hummed with a smile at his freezing expression.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? It might be worse for you to have your torso in the snow."

I was teasing him, but it was a good point. So we simply continued walking for a little while on foot, until even I was starting to feel the cold as the snow drenched my pant legs.

It was here that I was able to catch the scent of my cabin in the distance. It was still a far ways off, but the smell was undeniable.

"Hey, I smell the cabin." I told the male and started towards it.

"We should be careful." He told me with a frown as he hesitantly strayed from the path he'd been following.

"Well obviously." I smiled back at him.

"No, I mean that there might be traps." He told me, at first I was puzzled. The werewolves of this area never set traps unless they were lazy hunters. Then it clicked in my head that he meant that there might be werewolf hunters, or just plain hunters out here.

"I don't know about you, but not a lot of people want to live in a place like this. Too cold, though there are a few settlements a ways south, where it's warmer." I admitted.

"Of course, the only time we're ever 'bothered' by humans is when it warms up." I shrugged. But even as I spoke, I was careful where I stepped. It wouldn't be good if while I was talking I stepped in a bear trap, that would make me look like a complete idiot.

Soon enough, we had the cabin in our sights and I found myself smiling brightly.

"Come on, we're almost there." I said, looking back.

"Just when I couldn't stand this cold anymore." Kale sighed relieved, although his words formed through gritted teeth. He was trying not to let his teeth chatter, but it was obvious he was freezing.

"Oh don't worry, once we're inside, I'll light the fire." I told him before shifting.
He shifted right after and we ran the rest of the way.

Kale made it to the door first, I was a bit surprised at his speed. When he'd been chasing me he hadn't passed me at all. But now, he'd ran clear to the door like it was nothing.

Once we both were inside. I shut the door behind me.

"Ugh, it's still cold." Kale muttered, folding his arms. I shook my head softly as I headed over to the fire place and built us a small fire.

"That's because it was vacant through the storm." I told him as the flames finally came to life.

"It was warmer in the hole." Kale told me, and I couldn't really argue, it was a bit cold. But still warmer than outside.

"Well you're welcome to try and go back." I giggled softly as I took off my coat.

"Are you crazy?" He asked, at first I thought he was referring to my comment, but then I saw that he was staring at me.

"What? I'll warm up faster if I don't have it on, you will too, take off your coat."

"No."

I looked over at him as he stubbornly hugged his coat close.

"Fine, stay cold." I shrugged and stood up, going to put my coat away.

It took him a few minutes before he finally took off the coat, but by that time, the fire was going strong and I handed him a blanket.

"I'm going to change out of these wet clothes." I told him as he sat in front of the fire.

Admittedly, I felt a little bad. He had to wait until his clothes dried since he didn't have a change of them, and I didn't have any spares. I hummed softly as I thought of what to do. I decided the best course of actions for that would be to have him take a shower and wash his clothes that way. Washing clothes took longer than a shower, but what else could I do?

I decided I'd let him choose whether or not he wanted that. After changing into some fuzzy pants and a tank top. I went back down stairs, seeing him still sitting in front of the fire.

"Hey Kale, do you want to take a shower? I could wash your clothes while you did." I offered.

He looked over at me puzzled.

"You have access to hot water?" He asked.

"Don't seem so surprised, I doubt I'd survive without hot water. It's a bill I pay faithfully." I told him while putting a hand to my heart.

He hummed, thinking about it before looking at the fire.

"Maybe in a little bit." He mumbled, pulling the blanket closer, I didn't argue and just went into the kitchen to make us something to eat.

After we ate some sandwiches, he decided to take advantage of my offer and go have a shower, and I was able to wash his clothes. He took a bit longer than I usually did but was still pretty fast.

When his clothes were done washing, I put them in the dryer.

Of course, I didn't want him to be stuck in the bathroom while his clothes dried, but I could only give him a blanket as a substitute.

I started up the stairs when I heard the door open.

"Hey, Aubrey?"

He said my name so casually it startled me, it was strange hearing it.

"Yeah?" I asked, currently holding the blanket in my arms neatly.

"Do you have a razor I could use?"

I looked over at him a bit hesitantly. He had the door open and he was wearing a towel thankfully, but the reason to his question was because he was gaining a bit of a stumble on his chin.
"I mean, I guess you could use mine, just clean up the hair after wards please." I told him and held out the blanket to him.

He looked at it puzzled and then at me.

"Your clothes are in the dryer, so this'll have to do until they're done." I shrugged.

He copied my shrug, and took the blanket before heading back into the bathroom.

As he turned, I caught a glimpse at the bruise on his side, it had continued to heal nicely and was now not so dark.

It made me happy to see him getting better, but also sad. I knew he was going to be leaving soon, I couldn't stop him. But that didn't mean I wouldn't be sad to see him go.

I headed back down the stairs and waited by the dryer until his clothes were done. This way, he could change into warm clothes.

When I came into the living room, I saw him standing in the middle looking at my fire place, or rather what was sitting atop it's small shelf.

I never really paid too much attention to the pictures on the mantel, it hurt to look at them fully. But when I saw him looking at them, I felt a sort of panic rise in my chest.

He turned having noticed me and opened his mouth, probably to ask about them.

Instead of letting him speak, I threw his clothes at him.

"Here, they're fresh from the dryer, you can change in the bathroom." I said quickly and went into the kitchen, not for any particular reason, it was simply a quick escape.

I waited until he made his way back up the stairs, most likely very confused at my attitude. But I didn't care at that moment.

Once he was out of sight, I walked over to the fire place with a frown. Staring at the picture of two little dark haired kids playing in the snow.