FALL 1984

Deputy John Biebe heard the sound of approaching skates biting long clean strides in the black ice behind him as he knelt to tighten the lace on his left skate. The shoelace in question had been broken and retied so many times it was starting to fray and it was hard to keep it as tight as he liked it. Glancing over his shoulder he saw a large dark form approaching faster than any living thing that size seemed to have a right to. He couldn't help smiling as the human freight train approached. Tree.

"Johnnie! Hey, Johnnie, did you hear?" Adam "Tree" Lane was closer now and Biebe pushed to his feet to greet him, nuzzling a little into the muffler wrapped around his neck for warmth. Tree was a big guy, six foot six or seven if he was an inch, the kind of big you wanted to be on your feet to greet.

Shhhhhhuushh! Tree's skates edged into the ice and he pulled up to a graceful halt at Biebe's side. John's sharp eyes softened into a smile.

They'd been teammates in the Saturday game for a year now and Tree had been one of the first friends he'd made when he'd moved to town fourteen months ago despite the large gap in their ages. Little things like a few years didn't make a hell of a lot of difference in a town as small as Mystery.

"You skating the river, Johnnie? Can I come?"

"Sure, Tree, c'mon." John rubbed his gloved hands together for warmth and then dug his blades in, moving off at an easy pace, warming up. They skated silently together for a while, watching the sunrise over the frozen peaks of the distant mountain range. As the sky lightened and began to turn pink and golden orange Biebe glanced over at the yeti-like teenager skating beside him. "Were you gonna say something, Tree?"

"What?" Small puffs of breath froze on the air before them with each word, hanging there for a moment as though they were cartoons from the Sunday funnies.

"When you came up?" John grinned over at his friend, panting a little now at the effort of keeping up with Tree's long strides. "You asked if I'd heard something?"

"Oh! Oh shit!" Tree slapped himself on the forehead with a huge mittened hand. He had good news, really good news. News that would make his friend happy, and that made him happy. He liked Johnnie, had from the moment the new Deputy had caught him with a six-pack and instead of writing him up had only laughed and given him a light lecture and ride home. He'd kept the beer, but Tree had figured that was all right. It kinda worked out like a welcome to town gift. "I almost forgot, Godsakes! And this is really important."

"Yeah?" Biebe was working harder now, feeling the muscles in his legs sing out and his sweatshirt stick to his back. His eyes focused gratefully on the river bend up ahead that marked the half-way point, glad to see it coming, thinking about how good a hot shower would feel when he got back to the tiny apartment he rented over Lucky's, the town's one and only bar. His eyes flashed up to the younger man's face. "So?"

"Charlie Danner."

"What about him?" John growled and tucked his chin, concentrating on the river bend again, willing his heart not to sink into his guts.

Charlie Danner was not high on his list of favorite people. Danner thought a lot of himself and spent too much time trying to convince other people that they should, too. Worst of all, one of the people ol' Chuck had been able to convince was Donna Clancy, who as far as John Biebe was concerned was both the prettiest and the nicest girl in Mystery. Just the kind of girl he'd want for himself.

Although she and Danner had broken up just before Donna had graduated last June, they were still seen together often enough that Biebe kept putting off asking her out. In truth, he harbored a secret fear that Danner or someone very much like him would one day lure her off to Nome or maybe somewhere even farther away. Far from Mystery. Far from him.

"Well, he's leaving." The young man was nodding at his own words. "Yep, he's off to New York City. He got himself a scholarship to some big school or somethin'."

"What?" Biebe dug his skates into the ice so hard that he lost his balance, arms pin-wheeling in a useless effort to stay upright. He landed on his ass on the ice, sliding a few feet before coming to a stop. "Shit!" He tore off his knit cap, releasing a shock of unruly chestnut hair that immediately fell into his eyes. "SHIT!" He threw his hat and it skidded across the ice, coming to rest near the base of a snowbank.

"You okay, Johnnie?" Tree's dark eyes looked worried as he skated a nervous arc around his fallen teammate.

"No." Biebe stared at his skates. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to lay back and howl at the sky, but he was twenty-three now - a grown man - much too old for such childish expressions of rage and loss. He would take this like a man. He would go on about his day as though nothing was wrong. And then, like any good man, as soon as his shift at the station was over he was going to get good and properly shit-faced.

"She's not goin', Johnnie."

"What?" Biebe's head came up with a snap.

"Donna." Tree was hunkered down beside him on the ice now. "She's not goin' with Charlie."

"Where'd you hear that?" John's blue eyes narrowed slightly, wondering what Tree knew and who he'd heard it from. In a town this small, word got around faster by talk than by telephone, but still...

"Well... Donna told Mary Jane, and Mary Jane? She told Missy..." Tree was counting these names off on his mittened fingers like numbers. "And Missy, she was telling- "

Biebe held up a hand to stop him. "Okay, okay, I got it. You heard it around town." He held out his arm and the younger man helped him back to his feet. "So what's this got to do with me?" He skated over to his hat, swooped down gracefully to pick it up and yanked it back down over his ears.

The big kid laughed. It was a soft chuffing sound, but it seemed to ring out over the early morning silence. "Oh, c'mon, Johnnie..." Tree's dark eyes were twinkling with suppressed laughter. "Everybody knows how much you like Donna." His grin spread wider. "Maybe even Donna."

That stopped John in his tracks again, but this time he didn't go down. He banked a curve and started skating back towards town, tossing a glance back at Tree, who followed. "Really?"

"Yeah, Johnnie."

"Who'd you hear that from? Missy?" 

"Yeah." Missy Rogers was Tree's girl, older by a year and half his size but just as sweet.

Biebe skated a few more yards, letting this new piece of information sink in. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about this. He'd spent the last year or so thinking that his crush on Donna was a well-kept secret. He was skating slowly, lost in thought, letting his mind examine the situation from all angles, working it like a puzzle. That was the thing that people didn't always get about John on first glance - he was smart. Just as smart as Charlie Danner, only not nearly so quick to open his mouth about it.

Tree's hands were in his jacket pockets now and his posture was one of impatience, but he knew Johnnie was working things over in his head and he didn't really mind slow skating for a bit if that's what his friend needed. "You gonna ask her out now?" he asked finally.

The smaller man's gaze cut to him and a quick grin splashed across his face, making his eyes light up and sparkle. He laughed, and Tree couldn't stop from grinning and laughing right along with him. "You know what, Tree? I'm gonna. That's just exactly what I'm gonna do!" John clapped his friend on the side of his oak-like arm.

"Cool." Tree laughed again and lengthened his stride, knowing that Biebe had to take almost two for every one of his, but knowing too, that there was no real point in skating the river if you were gonna take it slow. The river was for building speed, just like skating the glacier was for building stamina. Godsakes, everybody knew that. "Hey, race ya back to town, eh?"

"You're on!" John whooped with a grin and took off, feet flying over the ice. Tree gave him a five second lead, just to be sporting, then dug his skates in and took off after him, feeling happy, like he'd done his good deed for the day.

Donna Clancy looked up from her paperwork and glanced out the plate glass window by the front door. Snow, snow and more snow, great snowy plains and snow covered mountains. Snow piled in drifts against the roofs and sides of the scattered handful of buildings that made up town. Snow like marshmallow frosting spread across rooftops. Snow falling gently in big sticky flakes from the sky. Snow soft and heavy like a quieting blanket laid over the world as far as she could see.

Charlie had been gone almost a month and it was starting to look like it was going to be a long winter. She sighed and wondered again if she was crazy not to have gone with him.

He had invited her to come visit in his last letter. A standing invitation, he said. 'You'd love it here, Donna," he wrote. "There are museums and galleries I'd love to show you. Department stores bigger than all of 'down town' Mystery." She had imagined him smirking as he wrote that. "The women here wear skirts and high heels and go to the Met to hear the symphony. The men are judged by the power of their intellect and who they are - not by how well or how fast they can skate. The city is vibrant and alive and when I lie in bed at night, I'd swear sometimes I can feel it pulse like a real living thing."

She had to admit the thought of living somewhere like that, a place where a woman could wear a skirt and high heels and not freeze to death ten months out of the year was pretty tempting. But, as tempting as all that sounded, she couldn't help wondering if there was enough sunshine and high fashion in all of New York to make her forget that she wasn't in love with Charlie Danner. And while the temptations of the big city may not be enough to lure her there, she was beginning to wonder just what it was that held her in Mystery.

'What have I got to look forward to here?' she asked herself for the umpteenth time in under a month. A long, cold life married to a miner who would present all the intellectual challenge of a polar bear? Slaving away at some thankless job to help put food on the table for the six kids they'd undoubtedly have, seeing as how there was so little to do through the long winter nights when the satellite cut out? That was no sort of life at all!

A glum frown pulled at the corners of her lips as she considered her limited options for what seemed to be a joyless future.

"Hey, Donna, did you get those flex bandages unpacked yet?" Ken Wiley called from his small office behind the druggist counter.

"Yesss!" With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Donna scooped up the invoices she'd been checking and carried them back to the office. She dropped them unceremoniously on Ken's desk. "Yes, I unpacked the bandages, and yes, I set aside the box for the team, and yes it's snowing again, and yes, I heard from Charlie and yes, he's having a great time in New York..." Suddenly she was seeing double and blinking back tears of frustration.

Ken looked up at her with an expression of uncomfortable surprise. His wide face pulled into a slight frown as two big tears rolled out of his assistant's eyes and slid down her cheeks. His mouth opened and then shut again as the bell over the front door jingled. "Customer."

Donna swiped at the tears and pulled herself together with a sniffle. "Okay." She pasted a brave if somewhat unconvincing smile across her face. "I'm okay."

"Okay." Ken nodded slowly. He watched her pull up her shoulders and turn to go back out front. "And take a Midol while you're out there, Godsakes."

"Go to Hell, Ken," Donna sniffled again over a chuckle, shot him the finger and went out to attend to her customer.

"Afternoon, Donna." Mirabelle Houle was standing patiently at the counter with a box of Polident, waiting to be rung up.

"Hi, Mira," the girl smiled and kept her eyes on the task before her, hoping the woman wouldn't notice she'd been crying as her fingers punched in the register keys. Mira Houle had been old for a long as Donna had been young and she seemed to feel that her many years of life experience gave her license to speak her mind to anyone, anytime.

No such luck. Mira was staring at her as if she knew every thought in Donna's pretty little nineteen-year-old head. "You okay, Donna?" the old woman chirped innocently. "You look a little- "The ding of the register cut her off.

"I'm fine, Miss Houle." Donna said firmly, taking the woman's money and promptly counting back her change.

"You hear anything from Charlie?" Again that same innocent bright old lady chirp countered by her keen wise gaze. Very little got by Mira.

"Uh huh. His classes are going really well and he loves New York." And why wouldn't he? Donna thought to herself. Her mind filled again with images invoked by his letter: museums, galleries, theaters, acres of stores and a million anonymous people. And only maybe three months of snow a year.

"I went to New York once," Mira informed her as she placed her change into a coin purse and snapped it closed again smartly before dropping it into her bag. "Saw a guy get mugged on the subway."

"Really." Donna feigned polite interest. She was already beginning to think that life in New York with Charlie wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe she should reconsider his offer.

"Yes, really," the old woman repeated firmly. "And no one did a damn thing about it." She reached out suddenly and patted the girl's hand. "I know this town is a hard place for a woman, especially a young pretty one. But, you listen to me, Donna Clancy..." She leaned closer across the counter and her bright bird-like eyes took on an intense glint. "Charlie Danner isn't the man for you and New York is no better than anywhere else if you go for the wrong reasons." She backed off, smiling pleasantly as she patted the girl's hand again. "Remember that."

"Y-yes, Miss Houle," Donna nodded as she swallowed her shock.

"And you call me just as soon as my arthritis medicine comes in." Mira was already toddling to the door, pulling on her mittens as she went. "This wet weather makes my joints ache like a mother-fucker." She gave the girl a back handed wave as she stepped out into the swirling snow.

Donna's lips curled into a grin and she giggled as she watched the old woman leave. If there was one thing Mystery had plenty of, it was character.

An hour later found Donna leaning her elbows on the counter and watching the snow drift languidly past the windows while she lingered over the cup of cocoa Ken had brought her back from lunch.

Her eyes were drawn to movement on the City Hall steps and she watched as a dark figure made its way across the square, heading her way. As the man got closer, she recognized John Biebe, and her hands flew up unconsciously to smooth her auburn hair into place.The bell jingled merrily as he came in and paused to wipe his boots on the mat just inside the door, pulling off his hat at the same time. His hair fell loose and, tucking his cap under his elbow, he pawed it back into place as he walked to the counter.

"Donna," he nodded a greeting and there was a hint of a smile in his eyes.

"Hi John," she smiled, wondering why her pulse was racing. "How's it going?"

"Great... really great." He made a big show of examining the racks of candy in front of the counter even though the selection hadn't changed once during the year he'd been in town. She couldn't help but notice that he kept stealing little smiling glances her way.

"That was a great game last Saturday," Donna said, watching him deliberate over the packs of gum and rolls of mints. She saw his lips curl slightly at her words and went on. "Three goals, wow! And that assist? Nice play, John, really. Nice." She stood up at little straighter as he placed a pack of gum on the counter.

Deputy John Biebe was a very popular guy in this town; in fact, to say that he was well liked would be something of an understatement. It was common knowledge that upon graduation, he'd listed Mystery as his first choice of assignments and arrived with his skates and stick in plain view. He'd joined in a few pick-up shinny games and his eager prowess and playing skills got Benny Lake sent down a month later. Not only that, but he was a damn nice guy, easy going, dedicated, quick with a smile... and his rugged good looks hadn't been lost on the town's women, either.

There was hardly a single girl in town between the ages of sixteen and thirty who hadn't competed for one of his warm smiles or a chance to see herself reflected in his crystal clear blue eyes at some point. Donna herself had even gone through what the girls called a Johnnie Biebe Stage just after she and Charlie had broken up, but he'd never asked her out and she wasn't the type to throw herself at him, so nothing had ever come of it.

All the same, it was hard not to blush as those twinkling blue eyes focused on her now and a slow smile spread across his face. "Yeah, I noticed you'd been coming out to the games more. It's nice to see you out there."

"Yeah, well..." She let her gaze slide down to his pack of gum and his hand resting lightly on the counter beside it. It was a big hand with long, thick fingers and she noticed idly that his ring finger was nearly equal in length to the middle one. With a blink she realized that he was waiting for her to ring up his purchase and Donna felt a warm blush crawl up her cheeks as she turned to the register.

"It's a hockey town," she shrugged, fixing her gaze to the punch keys before her. "Not much else to do."

"Well, there's always the Halloween Dance Friday night." Biebe took the change she handed him, feeling a small thrill as her hand brushed against his.

"Oh, yeah, the dance..." Donna rolled her eyes and blew up at a lock of hair that was threatening to fall across her face.

"You going?" Biebe's gaze fixed on her now, taking in her long lashes over dark expressive eyes, straight nose and wide mouth that was quick to curl up with a smile, all set in a face framed by soft gingerbread colored hair.

"I thought I might." She smiled now and dimples appeared in the creases of her cheeks. "Not much -"

"...else to do, yeah, I know," he finished for her, shaking his head in amusement. Then his eyes flashed back to hers with a shy grin. "You want to go with me?"

"Um... wow..." Donna giggled, and now it was her turn to look away. 

"I mean, you know, sure you're going anyway, the whole town probably is..." John mumbled on, wishing he could stop the words from falling from his lips but completely powerless to do so. He'd waited too long to do this and now his nervousness was ruining everything. He swallowed and his eyes curled into a helpless little grin as he heard himself beat the already dead joke a foot deeper into the grave. "You know, there not being much else to do...?"

"I'd love to." Donna's words were soft, hardly more than a whisper, and seemed to come as of much of a surprise to her as they were to him.

"Pick you up at eight then?" He didn't stop to question either her logic or his good fortune, but his heart was pounding so fast, he felt like he'd just skated the river in record time.

"Eight sounds good," she nodded, feeling her heart gallop in her chest as her smile grew in response to his. God, but he really did have a great smile.

Bing-bong!

The Clancy's doorbell rang promptly at eight o'clock on the dot. Donna could hear the soft clump of boots on the front porch as she went for the door. When she opened it, there was John Biebe, smiling almost shyly as he held out a bouquet of flowers.

"Hi, John. Come on in." She stepped back, holding the door open for him to pass.

"Hi, Donna." His eyes took in the unfamiliar room with quick professional flickers then came to rest on her. He smiled again. "Wow, you look..." His smile broadened, forcing dimples into the crooks of his cheek. "You look really great."

"This old thing?" she laughed, making a vague sweeping gesture at the costume she wore. 

In truth, she'd spent the last two nights modifying the old white nightgown into a passably angelic robe and all of this afternoon making a halo and wings. She'd even set her hair so that it fell in soft, ribbon-like curls around her face and shoulders and taken extra time with her make-up. The look on his face made her feel like every minute of effort had been time well spent.

 Her glance fell pointedly to the flowers Biebe still clutched in his hand. "Are those for me?"

"Oh... yeah." John held out the flowers, trying not to wince at his own stupidity. What was it about Donna Clancy that made him feel like he'd just swallowed his own tongue? He watched as she took the flowers and buried her nose in the blossoms.                  

"They're hothouse," he apologized automatically. "So they don't smell like much."

"Well, they're pretty all the same," Donna smiled with an easy shrug. "Come on into the kitchen and I'll put them in water." She led the way and John came after, being careful not to step on her dress as he followed her.

"Did your family already go over to the Hall?" His eyes moved appreciatively over her lithe body as she stretched for a vase on the top shelf of the cabinet over the sink. He started to casually lean back against the counter but caught himself just as Donna looked his way.

"Yeah, Mom's on the committee and Jeannie and Dad are helping with the church haunted house..."She tried again for the vase, then shot him a glance. "John, could you -?"

"Sure." John stepped forward quickly, glad to have something to do. He couldn't help noticing how good she smelled as he reached past her to grab the vase. He didn't ever remember her smelling that good before, a mixture of vanilla and powder and flowers and something else he couldn't quite put a name to as it sent his senses reeling.

Donna, too, was keenly aware of his closeness in the small kitchen. She took in the easy confident way he moved and didn't step away as he turned to hand her the vase. She could have, but didn't. His fingers brushed hers and their eyes locked for a moment. Donna looked into the clear depths of John Biebe's startlingly blue-green eyes and knew that he would kiss her before the night was over. It was simply a matter of when.

She turned away to fill the vase, breaking both the gaze and the spell that it seemed to have held over them. John wandered a foot or so away and made a great show of examining the collection of notes and pictures held up with cutesy magnets on the refrigerator door. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as she pulled the plastic from the bouquet and made an attempt to arrange the flowers artfully in the vase.

"Is that you?" A giggle bubbled out of John's chest as he pointed to a faded snapshot of a toddler on Santa's knee. The baby had hair the color of a new penny and was crying.

She glanced over, squinting a little to see what he was laughing at. "Yeah, that's me." She turned to set the flowers on the kitchen table. "See that candy cane? A second later it was stuck in Santa's beard." She chuckled a little at the memory. "The poor guy had to take break while they tried to find him a new one." When she turned back, John's eyes were light and sparkly on her. "What?" she demanded playfully, hands on hips.

"Nothing," he demurred with a smiling shake of the head. "C'mon, we'd better get going."

"Yeah, okay." She let him lead the way out, reaching back to pull off her wings so that she'd be able to put on her coat. She was just grabbing her down jacket from the hook by the door when something occurred to her and she stopped, turning to give him a quizzical smile. "John? Where's your costume?"

"I'm wearing it." John felt his heart drop into his stomach as she gave him a slow once over. 

Donna's eyes moved from his heavy boots, up his jeans and over the dark turtleneck and quilted flannel shirt beneath his winter coat. Aside from not being in either of the two uniforms she had grown used to seeing him in, he was dressed pretty much like, well, like John Biebe. "You're wearing it," she repeated, arching an eyebrow his way.

"Oh, shit, wait." He reached down and tucked in his over-shirt, exposing a thick brown belt that held a knife and a small leather pouch. He looked at her and she shook her head. "Well, I have a wolf pelt I got from one of the guys, but it's in the truck," he explained. "And a hat."

"I don't get it. What are you supposed to be?"

"A fur trapper?" he winced.

She curled her lips, working very, very hard not to laugh at the earnest hopeful expression on his face. Well, at least he hadn't come dressed like a hockey player, she had to give him that much. Donna waited until she felt she could safely open her mouth without giggling. "It needs... something."

Without pausing to think about it, she took his hand and led him upstairs to the bathroom she shared with her sister. John followed, not entirely sure his feet were touching the ground, aware only of the feel of her warm soft fingers gripping his hand.

"Sit." She pointed to the lid on the toilet and he did as she instructed. He stole small glances around the tiny room, taking in the pale pink walls, the counter littered with brushes and bottles and cosmetics and cotton balls, and a variety of other tools necessary for all manner of secret feminine rituals.

Donna hunted through a drawer and finally found what she was looking for. "Ah hah!" she exclaimed, holding up a brown eyebrow pencil.

"Donna, I don't know what you're thinking, but-"

"Oh, hush," she admonished, grinning as she caught his dimpled chin in her hand. "Hush up and hold still."

John closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate. Whatever she had in mind, it would be a small price to pay for the moments he spent enjoying her soft touch and gentle attentions.

He sat as still as he could and a moment later her felt the pencil passing over the lower half of his face with light strokes. He tried to think only about the feel of her fingers on his skin as she rubbed briskly at his jaw, and the flowery smell of her soft, sweet perfume as she stood close working over him. After what seemed like both a very long time and no time at all, she told him to open his eyes and have a look.

He opened his eyes and turned to peer at the wall mirror over the sink. Donna had managed to create the illusion of a scruffy beard on his handsome face. He had to admit it looked pretty good. She stepped up behind him, leaning against his shoulder a little as she admired her own handiwork and then all John could see was how beautiful she was and how good they looked together.

"You like?" she asked, reaching past him to wash the makeup from her hands.

"Yeah," he nodded, stepping back to give her room. He noticed that small glittery shreds of tinsel had fallen from her makeshift halo to sparkle in her russet hair. The effect was magical.

"I like it, too." She caught his eye in the glass as she reached for a towel and dried her hands. She smiled. "Actually, I like it a lot. You look..." her head tilted thoughtfully as she searched for just the right word. "You look sort of..." Finally she rolled her eyes and laughed. "You look really good."

The warm admiring light in her eyes was not lost on John and he vowed silently to throw his razor away the very next day. 

Donna hadn't been wrong. Most of the younger guys on the Mystery team had come as hockey players, though some wore famous player's jerseys in place of their own. Tree was one of the few exceptions, obviously dressed by Missy in a billowy shirt and a gold painted cardboard crown, an embarrassed looking Prince Charming to go with Missy's own beaming Cinderella.

John and Donna quickly became aware that their arrival together started a small wave of nudges and whispers, but after an initial blushing grin, John only held his head high, clearly happy to be with her and Donna's smile soon matched his own. Midway through the party Donna even managed to drag him out onto the dance floor. He protested and laughed the whole way and when she saw his moves she knew why. For a guy who flew so gracefully on ice, on solid ground he was hopeless.

Her outgoing friendliness quickly overcame his initial shyness, and they soon found out that they plenty in common. She asked him about growing up in Alberta and his more recent time spent going to school in Toronto. She watched his expressive eyes light up and twinkle as he got excited and his large, strong hands illustrate places and people in the air. She was pleasantly surprised to find that, once he got going and opened up, he was as smart as Charlie, maybe even smarter. He seemed tuned in to people and events in a way that her intellectually snobbish ex was not.

Best of all, he made her laugh. A lot. And he had a way of looking at her that made her feel like she was the only woman who existed in a room full of people. Not a girl, but a woman. She stood a little taller by his side, head held a little higher, eyes bright and sparkling, her cheeks nearly in pain from laughing and smiling so much over the course of the evening. For the first time in months she felt pretty and smart and, well... special. She realized that she liked the way she reflected in this man's eyes. It was like he saw the secret Donna that she thought no one else could see, and instead of finding that strange or scary, it felt warm and cozy, like coming home.

By the time he drove her back to her house where his heavy boots sounded their arrival on her porch steps, she was nearly aching for him to kiss her.

He handed her her wings and she let the hook dangle from her fingers as his hands shoved into his pockets and he shuffled his feet. "I had a great time tonight," John murmured as he ducked his chin and looked up at her from under impossibly lush dark lashes.

"So did I." Donna's voice was soft and low as she gave the next line in what they both seemed to understand was the standard courtship ritual goodnight. His eyes slid away to the snowbank at the end of the porch as he tried to lick back a grin identical to the one that she was attempting to hide.

His eyes came back to hers, caught the way they were laughing at him, at both of them, and he giggled. She did too, hiding it behind her mitten, but it was too late, he'd heard it and even if he hadn't, her glittering eyes gave it away.

"I'd like to see you again, Donna." The shy smile was back. "Do you think, you know, maybe...?"

"There's only three thousand people in this town, John," she couldn't help teasing him just a little. "So, yeah, I'd say your chances of seeing me again are pretty good."

Biebe rolled his eyes and bit back a grin. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Yeah," Donna admitted with a soft giggle. "You're right." She took a step closer and now they were only a breath apart. She let her eyes move from his broad chest up to his perfectly bowed lips and from there up to his beautiful, expressive eyes. It was there that she found the courage for the words that came next. "So... um, ...are you going to kiss me or - ?"

As if they had only been awaiting this final confirmation, his lips brushed softly against hers before settling firmly on her still grinning mouth. Her smile faded into something both softer and deeper. His jaw rocked and his tongue touched her lips seeking entry. Her lips parted and her tongue snuck out to greet his, welcoming him in as if this was the place he was always meant to be.

His arms wrapped around her and she slipped hers up around his neck, pulling their bodies into soft contact as his mouth moved over her bottom lip with an eagerness made bold by a hunger that had only been hinted at over the course of the evening. He moved to her top lip and she gasped into his mouth as his soft warm lips pulled her in by tender mouthfuls, his tongue sliding soft caresses against her own.  She was quickly losing the ability to think as the kiss sent her mind reeling.

"Donna?" A girlish giggle sounded from behind her and her arms fell from around John's shoulders, her startled fingers dropping her wings in the process.

"What?!" she demanded, cheeks growing hot despite the cold night air as she turned to face Jeannie's oh, you're so busted grin. She heard movement behind her and knew that John was picking up her fallen wings.

"Hi, Deputy Biebe." The girl sing-songed brightly as she wrapped her fuzzy pink robe a little tighter around her shoulders and smirked at the couple. At fourteen years old she seemed to have an inherent understanding that her mission in life was to embarrass her pretty older sister whenever possible.

"Hello again, Jeannie," John chuckled and handed Donna her wings.

"Mom says you have to come in now," Jeannie turned her attention back to her pink-cheeked sibling. Her fuzzy bunny slippers made a soft scraping sound on the planks of the porch as she moved to step back into the doorway. The look on her face and the snicker in her eyes made it clear, however, that she was not going to leave them alone. "Now." She repeated as if the demand was her own.

"Sorry," Donna turned back to John with a helpless grin in her shining eyes. Even the brat's worst antics weren't going to still the rapid beating of her heart or take away from the magic of this night. "She's fourteen." This last was offered as an explanation with a roll of the eyes that made it clear that she loved the girl but was certain to torture her mercilessly for the interruption later.

"Yeah, I know." John moved his grin from the younger sister to the still beaming face of the woman before him. His eyes were soft with understanding and still a little dazed from the intensity of the kiss. "Maybe one day she'll grow up to be as pretty as you."

"If I let her live that long," Donna snickered. She saw him start to lean in again and placed her hand gently on his chest. "I'd better go in," she shook her head with a smile.

He hesitated a moment, then his smile returned. He nodded and took a step back. "I'll see you soon," he promised quietly.

"Good night, John." Her eyes twinkled like Christmas at his promise. "See you soon."

Donna forced herself to turn away and pushed Jeannie inside, closing the door behind them. She wanted to stay there and listen to the sound of John's boots crunch away over the packed snow, wanted to savor the low rumble of his beat up truck as it pulled away... But Jeannie was already skipping around the room singing in the obnoxious way that only a young girl could manage. "Donna's in looo-oove! She's got a boooyfriend! She's gonna kiiiiisss him and have his baaabies..."

"Shut up, shut up, you little brat!" Donna threw down her wings, tore off her halo and hiked up her gown as she chased the girl all the way upstairs to the bedroom they shared where they both fell giggling onto her bed. Her heart was still racing from the sweet perfection of the kiss, and she knew it would be hours before she slept.

John was very aware of Donna's arrival in the stands the next morning. He caught her eye and smiled as he resettled the chin-strap of his helmet, then shoved his hand back into the thickly padded glove it had come out of. She smiled brightly and waved back, her bright red mitten clear as a valentine across the ice.

He forced his mind back on the game, determined to play better than he ever had before just to impress the girl in the stands.

Hockey. He loved it just about more than anything. He loved watching the pros play, but he loved playing a good game of pond rules even more. There was nothing like the feel of flying across the ice chasing the puck, knowing that any second the guy coming up fast behind you would be breathing down your neck.

He'd played on ponds like this one since he was a kid, hoping to one day follow in the footsteps of the likes of Gordie Howell or Bobby Orr or even the great Gretzky, all of whom had graduated from ponds to the majors. The day he'd been scouted had been a proud and shining moment. The day he'd found out he'd been turned down had led to a long night of drunken misery followed by weeks of feeling like he'd been robbed of his purpose in life.

He'd transferred to the university in Toronto the following fall, majored in police science and found a local weekend league to play in. In his second year he applied to the police academy and was pleased to be accepted. Four weeks before graduation John was coming out of the locker room shower after a game and had overheard one of his team mates talking about this little frontier town over in Alaska where he'd been visiting his sister. Pond rules, the guy had said. Played hard and fast, and the team was better than good, they were amazing.

He had confounded his advisors at the police academy with his request for an application to what they considered a podunk town in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere. With his high marks and their letters of recommendation, he was a sure bet to get an assignment almost anywhere. "Why Mystery Alaska?" they asked and all he could do was smile. One look at the goofy grin pasted across Biebe's round beaming face and the advisors had decided that it must be love. Nothing else made sense.

He'd heard back from the town fathers of Mystery a month before graduating from the Academy. Sure, they'd love to have him... oh, and by the way, did he like hockey?

Coming to Mystery was like coming home and he had never found a feeling that matched that... until last night in Donna's arms. When he'd kissed her it was like the final piece he'd been missing had fallen into place, like a coin dropped in a jukebox to play your favorite song.

Donna's eyes flew with John as he moved over the ice. For the first time in what seemed like ages the outcome of the Saturday game suddenly meant something to her. It didn't take long for her to find herself jumping to her feet to cheer right along with everyone else.

Charlie had been no fan of hockey. Mostly, Donna suspected, because he was no good at it. In a town where more people skated than walked, a lack of talent for the game was considered just short of criminal.

They'd dated for two months before she'd given up trying to get him out to the stands on Saturday mornings. At first he had tried to insist that she go ahead without him, but after a while his sad puppy-dog-eyed smile had made it easier to stay with him than go, and soon enough game mornings became the one time each week when they were completely alone together.

Charlie had been her first, and within two days of figuring out what was going on during the Saturday morning game, Donna's mother had marched her daughter to Doc Savage's office and had her put on the pill.

"Hey, Donna."  The girl looked up as Sophie Holt squeezed into the empty space beside her.

"Hey, Sophie." Donna shot her a quick smile then let her eyes return to where

John was battling Scott Pitcher for possession of the puck. "Go, go, GO!" she urged as he caught it on his stick and started pushing long strides towards the goal, trying to keep control of it as he closed the distance.

Sophie followed the other girl's eyes to the action on the ice. She watched John Biebe pass the puck to Tree and the big kid slammed it into the net. "Whoo hoo!" Donna jumped up with everyone else, mittened fist triumphant in the air, a wide proud grin splitting her pretty face. "Yes!"

"Nice play," the blonde commented as the other girl settled in beside her again.

"He's good." Donna shrugged. A long silence fell between the girls as they watched the two young men slap gloves and exchange grins as they skated back to the center of the pond.

"We dated last year," Sophie finally blurted out with a deep wince as if she thought she might be in trouble. "I mean, we weren't in love or anything, godsakes, we only just-"

"I know." Donna reached over and patted the other girl's knee. "Relax, Sophie. Take a breath, pour yourself some cocoa. It's okay."

"Okay." The blonde nodded quickly, glad to have that little confession out of the way. It wasn't like she and Donna were best friends or anything, but in a town this small, she didn't need bad blood with anybody. She watched as Johnnie skated past and flipped Donna a little smile. She pulled to her feet and began to move off. "I'm just glad you're not the jealous type."

"Me?" Donna looked up with a grin. "Never." She waved the girl off and let her eyes drift back to the players on the ice. She didn't have a jealous bone in her body... so why was her blood rising like the river after a deep thaw?

                                                            *

Donna waited in her car for John to come out of the player's shed after the game, feeling vaguely ridiculous like a stage-door fan. But the way his face lit up when she insisted on buying him a victory lunch at Harper's Diner made her forget all of that. He smiled and it was like everything else ceased to exist for her.

They joked and laughed through lunch, easily picking up where they'd left off the night before. She asked him if he'd lost his razor and he grinned shyly as he rubbed his palm over the stubble on his face. "Winter's coming."

"So?" She arched an eyebrow high and stole a french fry from his plate.

"So, I, you know, thought maybe I'd better start growing in my winter coat." His grin was sly and infectious and Donna fought hard not to giggle.

"For when you go fur trapping," she agreed with a wisely sparkling nod.

"Right, exactly." His words trailed off as he got lost in the depths of her hazel eyes. Deep inside their depths, the iris was flecked with what appeared to be gold dust. The effect was hypnotic... A moment later he blinked hard several times and shook his head with a laugh. "Let's take a walk."

He held her hand as they walked, not really going anywhere, that wasn't the point. The point was being together, and they both knew it. He slipped her mittened hand into the pocket of his coat, keeping it warm with his own and holding it there as if she might try to escape if he didn't.

Donna had no intention of trying to escape this man, not now, not ever. Being with him as their conversation ranged easily from topic to topic, from music, to hockey, to her family and his, to the places they'd always dreamed of going felt just about as right as drawing a breath, and twice as natural. They walked and talked until she lost all track of time and when she finally looked up and became aware of their surroundings again, he was pulling her under the snow-heavy boughs of a tall Douglas Fir. She caught the smile in his eye as his lips angled for hers.

His mouth was warm and soft and tender and sweet, just like she remembered from the night before. The taste of passion was on his lips, too, stronger than she remembered it, and her breath caught a little as she wound her arms around his broad strong shoulders, wondering if he could taste her desire as well. She felt his lips smile and pull at hers with renewed hunger. A moment later he pulled away with a soft chuckle and a shy grin in his eyes.

"I should take you back to your car," John said, reaching for her hand again. His eyes caught the tiny frown of disappointment that she was unable to hide. "I've gotta work tonight," he explained with a helpless chuckle, and Donna knew she couldn't argue with that.

"Well, I'll sure sleep better in my bed tonight knowing that you're protecting me," Donna said, licking back a grin, and he stopped her and kissed her again.

"We might both sleep better if I was in your bed," he countered softly.

"My, my, my..." She teased him. "We're getting bold now." Her giggle rolled out

over the snow covered street they were descending as they made their way down from the park hill. John rewarded her with a small giggle of his own which he tried to hide behind the act of rubbing his nose, and she knew in that moment that when they made love it would be both tender and playful.

As they paused by her parked car he kissed her again, taking his time, kissing her long and slow and deep, his lips making promises that she couldn't wait to for him to keep. He turned her loose and her heart was fluttering so fast in her chest that she had to reach out to steady herself against the roof of the car.

"I'll see you soon," he said softly, taking a slow, reluctant step back.

"Okay," she nodded, feeling the empty space around her where his warm body had just been. She watched him take a step and then another. By the time he reached the stairs of the small wooden cabin that served as the Sheriff's Office, she was watching him from inside her car. She rubbed a hand over the fog her breath created on the window to keep him in sight until the moment he turned and waved, then stepped inside.

Donna's heart leapt wildly in her chest every time the phone rang. She caught herself staring in the direction of the Sheriff's building with her lips curled into a faint smile when she should be stocking the shelves. She smiled a little more readily, her eyes sparked with excitement... in short, she had it for John Biebe and she had it bad. It had been a while since she'd felt this way, but it was easy to recognize the delicious feeling of falling, well, if not in love, then in very, very heavy like.

On their second official date John took Donna to a movie and afterwards, they skated the pond. He swooped in circles around her and she turned round and round until she got dizzy and fell onto the ice, giggling like a little girl. John helped her up, took her hand and they lazily circled the pond hand in hand, talking and making each other laugh as the Northern Lights painted wide dazzling swathes of blues and greens and purples in the night sky overhead making the evening seem almost magical.

When he drove her home that night, their goodnight kiss in the cab of his pickup lasted nearly half an hour, and Donna's lips were bruised raw in the nicest way when she finally waved goodbye to him from her front porch before going in.

"You and Donna sure have been seeing a lot of each other, Johnnie," Tree commented as they got ready for the Saturday game. "I guess that's really working out good for you, eh?"

"Yeah, Tree, you could say that," John laughed softly as he took the mason jar of seal skin oil his team mate passed his way. He dipped into the viscous yellow goo and began rubbing it into the skin of both arms.

"So tell me, Johnnie," Skank Marden straddled the bench beside him, handsome young face smirking an eager grin. "Are you two doing the deed?"

"Fuck off, Skank," Biebe replied through a gritted smile. The last thing he wanted to do was cheapen what he'd found with Donna by engaging in locker room talk.

"Oh, come on," Skank whined pleasantly. "I'd tell you if I'd had her."

This brought a chorus of chuckles from a few of their team mates scattered around the hut. Skank was notorious for scoring or at least trying to score with every halfway decent looking girl in Mystery who was legally available and it was rumored that he'd even bagged a few who weren't.

"Have you?" Biebe arched a curious brow his way. His tone was low, so it wasn't really surprising that Skank missed the dangerous undertone.

"Sure," the younger man snickered. "I've had her six, maybe seven -" His words cut off as Biebe's fist came up and connected squarely with the underside of his jaw. He was so surprised that he toppled off the bench and knocked down a cluster of sticks that was leaning in the corner. "What the fuck?!" he rubbed his jaw and leapt to his feet, ready to counter-attack.

Just then the door opened, letting in a rush of cold wind and a flurry of loose snow as an imposing figure stepped inside. "Hey!" He barked angrily as he saw the fray by the lockers, and everyone stopped and looked, including Skank and Johnnie.

Judge Walter Burns stepped into the shack, his practiced eye moving over the ten men who were his team. His level stare made several of them squirm and Tinker dropped the tape he was holding and it rolled under the bench. Their coach was now on site, and he did not look happy. "Gentlemen." His sharp blue eyes moved from face to face. "Would one of you be so kind as to tell me what, precisely, is going on in here?"

"Uh oh," Tree breathed it out on a sigh as his eyes moved from the Judge to Johnnie and Skank. Both of his angry teammates shot him hard looks and he dropped his eyes on the pretext of taping on his shin guard.

The Judge strolled over to where the two young men had been just about to start pounding each other prior to his arrival. His wise eyes quickly took in their body language and Skank's bruised jaw as he assessed the situation. "Was this over hockey?" he asked. Both men shook their heads. "A woman?" John opened his mouth to explain and Skank opened his to protest his innocence, but Judge Burns held up a gloved hand to silence them both. "Who started it?"

Biebe looked up and met his coach's steely gaze. "I did."

Burns gave him a long considering look then nodded. "Thank you for your honesty, John." Before Biebe could draw a relieved breath the Judge added, "You are excused from playing this week."

"But, Coach, I - "John couldn't believe his ears.

"The rest of you," Burns raised his voice to be heard over the young man's protests, "suit up and get your asses out there. The town's waiting."

John stood there, dumbfounded as his team mates silently finished prepping for the game. Many sent sympathetic glances his way, but these were lost on him as he angrily ripped off his pads and the rest of his gear and slammed his locker shut.

Donna watched the team skate down onto the pond, one hand held flat over her eyes to shield them from the sun's reflection dazzling off the snow and ice. When John failed to appear she glanced back at the hut and saw the side door close behind a dark bundled form heading for the parking lot. She recognized John's walk and gathered up her things, running to catch up with him.

Running through the shin deep snow up the hill was like trying to move through marshmallows, or one of those terrible dreams where you run and run and end up getting nowhere fast. By the time she reached the parking lot, John was already in his truck, warming up the engine while he stared straight ahead out the windshield.

"John?" Donna rapped on the driver's side window to get his attention and when his face swung around his eyes were dark and angry like she had never seen them before. He blinked hard and finally brought her into focus.

"What happened?" Her breath froze on the air between them as he cranked down the window. "Why aren't you out there playing?" Her tone was both confused and concerned.

"Coach Burns benched me." He said the words like they left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

"Wow." Donna's eyes went wide with surprise. "You're kidding." Benching a player even for one game was a big deal, not to be taken lightly. It was a strong punishment only meted out for a small handful of what were considered to be serious offenses, none of which Donna could picture John doing. The look on his face said that he was angry, hurt and stunned all at once, so she let the subject drop for the moment. "So, um..." she rubbed her mittens together and then blew into them as she bounced from foot to foot beside the cab of his pickup. Her eyes stayed on his face. "Where are you headed?"

"I don't know." John ran his hand over his jaw as he pondered this. His beard was starting to fill in nicely and stroking the coarse fur when he was thinking was already becoming something of a habit. He dropped his hand and looked over at her, realizing for the first time that she was worried about him and also that she looked a little cold. He pulled himself up out of the depths of his self-pity to smile at her with real warmth. "You want to come with me?"

"Yes!" Donna's worry passed into a big bright grin.

"Well, come on and get in, then," he offered, leaning across the cracked and duct tape patched bench seat to push open the passenger door for her. He watched as she ran around the front of the truck, russet hair bouncing in the late autumn light, an oversized thermos cradled in her arms. A moment later she was clambering onto the wide seat beside him and setting the thermos on the floor.

"Okay!" She strapped herself in and turned to him with the same smile as before, wide and game to be taken wherever he wanted to go.

John drove for a long while, choosing roads at random. Donna let him have his silence for a bit, stealing occasional glances at him as he drove, content to just be with him. She watched out the side window trying to peer past the thick copse of trees that lined the road and managed to catch glimpses of snow covered fields cupped in the valley of the majestic mountains that surrounded them. Five minutes passed, then ten and then finally she began making easy small talk, slowly but surely drawing him out of his funk over missing the game.

He finally pulled down one of the old mining roads and parked where they could see a wide open expanse of thick whiteness blanketing the land like sugar covered cotton. He ran the engine on and off to keep them warm, and after a while Donna uncorked her thermos and they shared some cocoa in the little blue plastic lid that served as a cup, passing it back and forth as they talked about everything and nothing.

An hour easily slipped by this way, then a second and then time got away from them entirely. The sun sat high in the sky and they both knew but neither mentioned that back in town folks would be packing up and heading home to their hot lunches and cold beers as they recapped the morning's game.

As if by unspoken agreement, neither John nor Donna mentioned the game. Instead their conversation ranged wide, moving easily from topic to topic, each question delving a little deeper into what the other was really all about, each answer making them feel a little more sure of each other.

 Donna passed the cocoa around again, and John mumbled something about needing to find a tree and slipped from the cab of the truck, letting in a blast of frigid air even though he shut the door as quickly as he could.

Her eyes stayed on the back of his dark jacket as he tramped over the snow to a tree several yards away. She watched his chestnut curls bounce under the rim of his knit hat as he moved. God, she loved those curls. All she wanted to do was run her fingers into his mink soft hair, gaze up into his amazingly blue eyes and...

... And what?  She asked herself. 

Watching the snow steam at his feet she was, for an instant, all too aware of what he was doing, of what he was holding in his hand as he peeked shyly back over his shoulder as if making sure that she wasn't looking his way.

Her eyes caught on his through the glass and something passed between them in the instant before she looked away. "Oh, shit," she giggled, cheeks warming red as she slouched down in her seat and pulled her cap lower over her eyes. She was soooo busted.

As quietly as she could, Donna slipped out of the truck on the driver's side and picked up a handful of snow, backing up silently, taking little glances behind her to make sure she didn't step on a buried twig and give  herself away. John was just looking around for her with his hand on the door handle, when she stepped out from her hiding place behind a pine.

"Hey, Deputy Biebe!" was all the warning she gave him. It was just enough to make him turn so that the loose snowball caught him across the neck before it exploded like a starburst against his dark coat.

"Hey!" He shouted, jumping in surprise as his gloved hands tried to brush at the icy crystals. "No fair!" Even as he reached to scoop a handful of his own, packing it as he came up, she let loose with another. This time he saw it coming and ducked. "Why... you... little...vixen !" He laughed as he let fly, winging her on the move.

In no time flat they were embroiled in an all out snow battle, running and chasing and laughing as their boots crunched over the snow. Her giggles seemed to echo across the snow plain, rolling and soaring like a bird through the valley and his laughter was never far behind.

He caught her across the ear with a loosely packed snowball and she sputtered as the stinging cold hit her. "I can't believe you did that! You... you... jerk!" she laughed breathlessly. "Picking on a poor defenseless girl!"

John looked around as if searching for the defenseless girl in question and while he wasn't paying attention, Donna launched herself at him, catching him off guard with enough force to send them both over in the knee deep snow. They fell in a laughing, tangled heap and lay there for a moment, catching their breath until panting giggles quieted and gave way to them simply staring silently at each other.

The snow crunched under John's bulk as he pulled off his glove and turned to Donna to brush a cinnamon colored strand of hair back from her flushed cheek. He leaned over to kiss her and his heart cranked back up to beat high speed in his throat. Soft lips moved over hers with slow heat as his body rolled closer. Her snow encrusted mittens came up to cup his face as his lips continued to feed on hers.

Donna sighed softly into his mouth as his tongue swept over then curled around hers. He was creating a heat deep inside her that was quickly radiating out over her already flushed skin to her extremities like flames consuming fuel. Despite the fact that she was laying in snow, had snow down the back of her jacket and in her hair, all she could feel was the passing of heat between them.

John pulled away for a breath and his eyes traveled over her face as if trying to read her expression. His bare fingers reached to stroke her soft skin and found it clammy beneath the rose of warm color that blossomed high on her round cheekbones.

"I should get you home," he whispered softly, only it came out more of a gravely croak than anything.

"Okay," she nodded back with a smile, and John scrambled to his feet and pulled her up beside him to brush at the snow that clung to her in cold wet patches.

"You want to stop at my place for a hot drink on the way back?" John offered, struggling to keep his tone light and even, his crystal blue eyes cutting to her as they walked back to his truck. "Maybe give you a chance to get warm and dry first?"

"Sure," Donna agreed, matching his tone, but her heart sped up like an overly caffeinated hummingbird as they tramped back over the snow hand in hand. They both knew that if they stopped back at his place, she wouldn't be going home anytime soon.

"So... this is my place." John gestured broadly around the tiny apartment.

There was a small front room with a threadbare rug over a hardwood floor and a TV propped up on the end of an old crate. A VCR was balanced on top and there was a stack of videos on top of that, mostly tapes of NHL games, no big surprise. A short hall gave way to a tiny kitchen with worn linoleum but cheerful curtains. A small square Formica topped table, two chairs, and a fridge with rounded corners that came up to her chin that had probably left the showroom sometime around the time Roosevelt was in office were the main furnishings. There was also a two burner stove and oven, sink - all the necessities, none of it new but all of it fairly clean by bachelor standards.

Donna sat in one of the chairs and watched as he put on the kettle and poured instant cocoa powder into two mugs, adding a splash of milk to make it taste "more real." He offered her marshmallows, which she declined with a grin that only deepened as he added a small handful to his own cup.

When the cocoa was ready, they took their mugs into the little living room and sat on the couch. John put on a CD, nothing too obvious, just a little soft music to add to the cozy good vibes that were already washing over, around and inside of them.

Donna let her eyes wander over the walls as she sipped. There was a framed photo of a hockey team with John beaming a smile from the back row that she could see even from across the room. There were a couple of posters, one from the movie "Slap Shot" and one showing the Toronto skyline at night that looked like he had put up just because he thought he should. "Do you miss it?" she asked with a nod towards the latter poster.

He was so busy staring at her and trying to think of a way to kiss her again that she had to repeat the question a second time before he heard her and answered. "No." A chuckle bubbled up from his chest. "But I don't miss the crack in the wall, either." Donna snickered into her cocoa at that, and he watched as the lips he was longing to taste slurped lightly at the frothy brown liquid.

"It's a nice place, John," she turned to assure him and found her small hand caught in his big paw. His eyes remained on hers as he lifted her fingers to his lips and brushed a soft tickly kiss across her knuckles. Her smile became a soft gasp as he turned her hand over, kissed her palm and then brushed light nuzzly kisses across the tender inside of her wrist.

When he looked up at her from under his fringe of thick lashes, his bright glacier colored eyes clear and intent on hers, Donna realized that she could taste her want for him at the back of her throat. As he released her hand, she turned, set her half empty mug on the floor and moved over to straddle his lap.

A smile quickly replaced the surprise in his eyes and desire for her replaced that a moment later as his hands moved to rest on her thighs. She placed her hands on his shoulders as his hands began to slide over her hips and up her sides. When he reached her chin, his hands cupped her face to draw her mouth down to his own.

John paused a moment, his mouth just barely touching hers as he breathed excitement past her gently parted lips. Donna thought she heard him sigh and then his mouth was moving over hers, enveloping her, pulling her in deeper and deeper.

This was not the slow, tender, deliberate kiss that she had grown used to. This was a new kiss, and as their tongues met and swept and chased, she tasted his hunger. Her fingers wound into the soft chestnut curls at the back of his neck as his lips pulled away from hers, leaving a soft wet trail of kisses across her jaw and down her throat.

"Oh God, yessss..." she panted softly as he found the sweet spot where her shoulder met her neck and began feeding on her skin. He hit that spot so sweet, so right, with just the perfect amount of bite and kiss that she felt her neck croon to grant him better access as her hips arched.

John's breath caught at the back of this throat briefly as Donna's arching hips caused her to grind against his lap. All the blood that normally ran his brain seemed intent on rushing south to throb between his legs. He moved a hand to her hip, moaning softly against her shoulder as he pressed up against the warm roundness of her ass.

Donna gasped again as she felt him growing hard under her, then wove her fingers deeper into his hair as she felt his mouth begin to move against her flesh. His lips were leaving a wet trail up her throat, heading to meet hers. "Oh, god, yes, John..." she panted as his scruff brushed over her sensitive skin.

"Want you, Donna..." he panted between kisses as his hands combed through her soft auburn locks, "... so bad.... so long...."

"God, yes, "she breathed in reply. "I want you, too."

That seemed to be all the encouragement John needed, and a moment later he was easing her off his lap, finding his feet and pulling her up beside him. Her nimble fingers were already moving to peel up his sweater as he maneuvered them towards the hallway. Their shoes were off and lay like discarded toys on the worn rug, marking the way they had gone.

Donna's eyes darkened to the color of deeply polished maple-wood as he laid her back on the bed. Her hands continued to pull at his clothes until she got what she wanted - bare skin - his chest exposed and damn if he wasn't a glorious specimen of man, well built with a soft sprinkling of light golden brown fur across his chest. Her fingers wound into the tiny curls and she used them to draw him down to her as her eager mouth reached for more of the kisses that were driving her wild.

Her body arched to help him release her from her thermal top and then he was undoing her bra, his hands warm as they moved over her body, touching, kneading ... exploring. "Oooh," her breath caught in her throat as his mouth began to move on her breasts, kissing and suckling, drawing her small tan nipples into taut hard buds that reached out greedily to his lips for more.

John felt Donna's legs wrap around his own to pull their bodies into tighter contact. Her soft husky sighs were driving him wild and the way she was pulling at him had an urgency that fueled his own. But he had waited a long time for this moment, and he wanted to take his time, savor every inch of her velvety skin, taste her all over. He began kissing his way down her soft flat belly while his fingers moved to the zipper of her jeans. Her hands paused him long enough to undo his belt and then he moved on, swirling his tongue into the dimple of her navel before continuing, drawing her jeans away as he went.

Donna's back arched as she felt him begin to pull her bikinis away. She mentally thanked whatever god was responsible for her decision to not put on the thermal long-johns that went with the top. Her lips parted to pant softly as she forced herself to look up at the man who stood over her now.

John's eyes went dark with desire as he took a moment to take in Donna splayed like an erotic painting on his bed. His bed. She was lying there, looking up at him, her silky ginger hair spread on his pillow, her supple body hungry and eager for his and she was every bit as lush and beautiful as he'd always known she would be. Her eyes were smiling beneath the hunger and he could've sworn that there was a light in them that said Hurry.

Her eyes rolled shut as his big hands slid up her legs, parting her gently as he went. She tried and failed to stifle a sharp gasp as she felt his hot breath on her swollen lips. His mouth moved to kiss her mound and she groaned as he tasted her.

"John.... Oh my god...!" she gasped as his wide thick tongue dipped deep and then moved up to flick at the bundle of nerves at her center. She wasn't even aware of her fingers clawing into his dark curls as her body arched under his attentions. She only knew that he was licking and sucking and rolling her against his tongue and making her mind skate away even as her body burned under him. ''Oh, god, yesssss..." she moaned as his thick finger slipped deep inside and stroked her from within, the fur of his beard adding pleasant friction.

John's eyes moved up to take in her beautiful body writhing above him, her full breasts, the creamy smoothness of her flesh, the arch of her back as she instinctively pressed herself against his mouth and his own breath quickened. He moaned softly against her as her hips raised and her cries began to sound of need. His tongue took this as a sign to lap and flick faster and in response her heels dug into his shoulders.

"Oh god, oh John, oh yes, baby yes...!" Her words ran together in a single breath as her free hand tangled in a fistful of coverlet. She began to buck and moan under him and John's eager tongue moved in time to his stroking finger until he felt her stop fighting him as her shudders began to subside.

"Ohh..." Donna's panting was still interspersed with little hitches of aftershock as he climbed up her body and lay down beside her with a proud little glint in his eyes. She rolled over, pressing her body to his, fingers combing into his hair as her lips took his gratefully but with a desire that remained yet unquenched.

Donna could taste herself on his lips as her tongue rolled against his, trying to draw him into her own mouth. She captured his tongue and nursed lightly as her hands slid down his body, flattening against his abdomen, feeling his muscles tighten under her fingertips. His mouth moved to her ear, puffing hot breaths as her hand flattened to follow the downy trail down into his open jeans and sneak under the elastic of his briefs.

"Hoooohh..." John sighed low and husky as her hand bumped his head and her palm spread the drop of wetness that had formed there. Her hand slipped lower and curled around his shaft, fingertips brushing the soft nest of curls and making his hips jump. "Mmmm, Donna..." He caught his breath only long enough to lose it again in a deeply searching kiss.

Without breaking the contact of the kiss, Donna moved over him and was able to better investigate the feel of his hard on. Her fingers and palm explored his length, the size and shape of him, the softness of his warm velvety skin and the thick hardness of the muscles beneath. "Oh, god, John..." she panted against his lips. "I want... to feel you... inside me."

That was all he needed to hear. 

John's hands began to push his jeans away as he rolled her over onto her back, trying to kick the denim off and only managing to entangle his legs in the fabric . It took Donna a moment to understand why his struggles had turned desperate and his soft "Shit!" against the side of her neck confirmed his dilemma. He was struggling like a bear in a trap and she couldn't help giggling as she pushed him over onto his back.

"Here. Let me help you." 

John heard the grin in her voice even before he opened his eyes to meet hers, deep brown and sparkling as she moved to free him from the fabric tangled around his ankles. It only took her a second to get the jeans off and then she reached up to remove his tented jockeys and his cock sprang proudly into view making her eyes widen and her heart speed up to double time as she drew a breath.

"Wow," she said as she eyed him and John's head fell back against the pillow with a soft snicker. She paused to place a light kiss against the hot deeply colored head as she crawled up his body. His gasp made her consider for a moment taking him into her mouth, but the spreading heat and the empty ache between her legs urged her on. Later. There would be plenty of time for that later.

His arms encircled her and drew her in to him as he rolled them over again, pressing their warm bodies close. His fingers stroked soft designs on her skin as his eyes moved to meet hers. "God, Donna, I've wanted -"

"Me, too -"

"Do we need - ?"

"No, I'm on the pill."

This got her another kiss. His fingers began to stroke lower.

"Mmm..." Her legs parted as he moved over her. She reached up to stroke the fur on his jaw, eyes on his as he rubbed himself between her slick nether lips. Her breath caught in her throat expectantly and she let out a soft gasp as she felt him begin to press inside her.

John paused, waiting for the feel of her tight muscle's acceptance on him. She was warm and wet and tight and slowly opening to him as he reached back to raise her leg a little higher on his hip. His eyes flicked up to meet hers the moment before he slid the rest of his hard length up into her, sighing out a low purr of pleasure as she arched beneath him to take him into the sweetest embrace he had ever known.

Donna sighed out a low gasping moan as John filled her. He felt so good, buried so deep that her fingers curled to pull at his skin marking the intensity of her pleasure. He paused again, nuzzling soft biting kisses against the side of her throat and then he began to take long smooth strokes, one hand cradling her ass to guide him.

She murmured soft half uttered words and phrases of encouragement as she felt him stroking deep inside, filling her again and again, his hips rocking against hers and bringing her still sensitive clit into contact with his base and making her gasp.

He began to stroke more urgently now, mining for his own pleasure within the hot depths of her body. He could feel her still fluttering muscles moving on him like a warm friendly hand, stroking him, reaching for him, trying to entice out his orgasm.

"Yes, John, yesss..." Donna urged, her legs and arms wrapping tighter around him as his low sighs and moans became urgent gravel-throated growls. "Come on, baby..." she cooed as his groans quickened and became more insistent.

"Oh! God! Donna! I'm -" John arched hard, his face tightened into a grimace of deep pleasure and then Donna felt his warm, wet seed pulse inside her.

She wove her fingers into his damp hair as his shudders subsided to become soft panting hitches at the back of his throat. She stroked back the floppy curls around his face as his eyes focused and came back to her, trailing a soft smile of contentment in their wake. His dark lashes hung heavy over his lust dazed eyes as his lips angled to hers for a deeply tender soul curling kiss.

"Mmmmm," he sighed happily, his smile a fuzzy tickle against her shoulder as he settled in against her. His fingers found hers and raised them to his lips for little kisses until she laughed and made him stop.

Donna let her fingertips trace lightly over the angles and plains of his strong handsome face. His chin was propped against his palm now, and his eyes searched hers, trying to read beyond the gold-flecked darkness. His aqua-blues were mellow and smiling as she tugged on his beard to make his lips curl into a grin to match the one in his eyes.

"You look happy," she noted aloud.

"I am happy," he agreed and was rewarded by the appearance of deep dimples on either side of her smile.

"Me, too."

He smiled deeper at that, then his eyes danced away on a thought. His chin tucked to look up at her from beneath his brow, his tone warm and thoughtful. "Y'know, I could get used to this."

Her lips curled a little more as her thumb smoothed over his brows and the little bump between. "I'd like that, too."

"It's settled then," John chuckled softly, though both of them knew that this fact had ceased being a question from the moment he'd first kissed her.

They crawled under the covers and he gathered her into his big strong arms and cuddled her close as his eyes grew heavy and his blinks became slower and longer as he fought the pull of sleep.

"Your folks gonna kill me for this?" he mumbled a soft chuckle into the hair behind her ear.

"Not if you marry me," she teased.

"Okay," he sighed, and she felt his chest fill against her back to form a deeply contented exhale as he drifted off.

While his breath warmed the back of her neck, Donna allowed herself a little indulgence. She closed her eyes and pictured what being married to this man might be like. There would be kids, at least two, and a cozy little house in the shadow of the mountains. On the weekends, there would be the Saturday game, and at night there would be the sweetness of their lovemaking and his warmth around her as she slept.

Donna paused for a moment, listening to the sound of John's soft snores behind her. His arm curled heavy across her middle and his breath puffed warm against the skin on the back of her neck. His knees were tucked to the backs of hers, the soft hairs on his thighs tickling her skin. She could feel him nestled soft and cozy against her ass.

Yes, Donna could easily imagine him coming home to her every night because being in his arms felt like just that... Coming home.

She closed her eyes and let the pull of sleep shade and deepen the colors of her fantasy until, finally, her mind simply unraveled like a ball of yarn and wound her into a dream.

CHRISTMAS 1984/SPRING 1985

John and Donna had officially been an item for four months. It was known that she would be parked out in the stands every Saturday to watch him play, just like it was known that his battered old pickup would pull up to the Clancy house every Sunday afternoon to bring her home. Most weeks, if he wasn't working, he'd stay for Sunday dinner with her family, all of whom had taken to the young deputy with a love for him akin to Donna's own. Biebe was, after all, a good man, big hearted and kind. Quick with a smile or an easy laugh. Best of all, if and when he and Donna ever made things permanent, they were virtually assured that she would remain in Mystery and raise their grandchildren in her own hometown.

It wasn't unusual for folks who stopped into the pharmacy to spend a few minutes bending Donna's ear about the previous Saturday's game, and her heart swelled with pride at every compliment to John's playing.

He was a natural born leader, they said. Wouldn't be surprised to see him made team captain when Scotty Pitcher stepped down to run for town mayor next year, they said. He was a fair man, they said, capable of ending the occasional late night altercations at Lucky's with a handshake more often than not. He hadn't even lived in town two years, but his sense of fair play on and off the ice was quickly earning him the local's respect. In short, they too had taken him into their hearts as one of their own.

But no one held John Biebe more deeply in their heart than Donna herself did. Sure, they had their arguments just like any couple would. She was a handful and he could be as stubborn as a mule, but somehow they always seemed to find their way back to some sort of common ground, even if it was only to agree to disagree. And besides, the old saying was right... kissing and making up was the best part of any argument. That much at least they could agree on wholeheartedly.

Christmas had more or less brought them to the two month mark and they had spent Christmas Eve at John's apartment, curled up like puppies on his couch drinking cocoa and watching "It's A Wonderful Life". He turned to her during a commercial break and said "Violet" and she had giggled, catching the teasing light in his eye.

"No child of mine will ever be named Violet!" she replied and a new game was born. Two months later, and they'd already been through a list of names that ranged from the obvious (Michael, which was John's middle name) to the ridiculous ("No son of mine is going to be called Forrest!" he'd snickered.) Somewhere in there, beyond the smiles of the game, Donna knew that they were both planning for a future that couldn't be denied. She knew it just as surely as she had known he was going to kiss her that first night. She had seen it in his eyes. One thing she had learned to trust as a simple truth; No matter what words came out of the man's mouth, John Biebe's eyes never lied.

Valentine's Day fell on a Thursday, and Donna couldn't help but be touched that John seemed truly disappointed when his request for the night off was denied.

"It's okay, really, John, we'll just celebrate over the weekend," Donna assured him. It was Saturday night, and they were nestled together in his bed over Lucky's, the same as they were nearly every Saturday night.

"Yeah, I know," John sighed lightly as he began to kiss his way down her neck, making a wet trail down towards the sprinkling of nutmeg freckles on her chest. "I just... wanted it to be... special."

"It will be." She paused to gasp as he drew her nipple tight in the wet warmth of his hungry mouth. Her hands moved down to weave into his dark curls and she felt herself getting wet for him all over again, though they had made love before dinner just a few hours before. It never failed to amaze her how quickly and fully her body responded to John's attentions. Her toes curled in pleasure as his beard tickled her skin when he moved to do the same with her other breast. "Oh god, John," she couldn't help panting, all thoughts of any other moment than this lost to her.

"Mmmm..." John rubbed his face over her skin, lavishing her with attention as his hands massaged her breasts, rolling her nipples between his thick strong fingers. He paused to look up at her, his eyes taking in the pleasure etched deeply across her face. "I love you, Donna."

Her lips curled to smile. 

Of all the gifts they had exchanged over the holidays, those words had been the best gift of all. He'd spoken them to her not in the heat of passion, but clearly and carefully, his eyes on hers, making sure she would hear him and understand how much he meant it. During the months they had been together, Donna had learned that the one thing John struggled with was finding the words to express his deeper emotions, so the care that he took in speaking those words made them mean that much more. Now she couldn't get enough of hearing him say them.

"I love you, too, John." She caught his face in her hands and pulled him up to her for a kiss. She held him there a moment longer, just looking into his eyes. "I don't need a special day to tell you that."

A smile as sweet as sugar pressed deep dimples into his furry face as his lips reached to hers. "I know," he whispered. And then his mouth was on her, warm and full, taking her lips by turn as he poured all the emotions he struggled to find words for into a kiss that said it all.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16TH

John was a white-shirt today, easy enough to spot as he chased after Scott Pitcher, who currently had the puck. He was playing like shit, and Coach Burns kept yelling at him from the sidelines to get his head back in the game. Like he didn't know he was playing like shit. Like yelling at him was going to help.

Tree moved in and managed to block the shot when Scott took it, and John looked up to Donna in the stands as he skated back to center. She waved and gave him a sympathetic shrug. He smiled a pained smile back to her and failed to understand why she was pointing at him until it was too late and Tinker skated into him and knocked him flat on the ice.

"Biebe! Get your sorry ass over here!" Coach Burns shouted, calling a time out as Tree helped John to his feet.

"Uh oh, Johnnie, looks like he's really mad," the big kid frowned.

John heaved a sigh and skated over to the sidelines where Burns was waiting. He pulled off his glove and then his helmet as he reached the coach, head hanging as he braced himself for the ass-chewing he knew he was about to get and rightfully deserved.

"Oh, poor John," Donna fretted as she watched from the stands. She glanced over at her parents, sitting beside her. Of all the games for them to come see, why did it have to be this one? "I don't know what's wrong with him today," she explained for their benefit. "He's usually really on top of things."

"Maybe he's thinking about your date tonight," her mother patted her hand reassuringly. "I just hope the Judge doesn't tear into him too badly, godsakes."

"He's a big boy, Carolyn," her father pointed out gruffly. "If he couldn't take it, he wouldn't be out there, would he?"

Donna barely heard them. Her eyes were on John, wincing and shuffling on his skates as the Judge gave him an earful. She had never seen Judge Burns chew out a player in public before. Her heart went out to John as she watched him take the scolding like a kicked puppy.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, John Biebe?" Burns asked finally, looking very imposing and judicial in his long black topcoat.

"Yessir," John nodded.

"Well?" The judge gestured broadly as if inviting everyone in the stands to listen in to this great explanation.

John's head came up and his eyes went straight to Donna's, finding her effortlessly there in the third row. Suddenly and without warning, he fell to his knee there on the ice. "Donna Clancy... will you marry me?"

Donna's eyes grew wide and she blinked hard, trying to make sense of his words. "What?" she whispered, then repeated it again more loudly. "What?"

John was still half kneeling on the ice. He tucked his glove under his arm and pulled his bare hand free. He nodded to Judge Burns and the man pulled a small box out of the recesses of his topcoat and handed it to Biebe. John's eyes sparkled to hide a grin as he repeated his request. "Donna Clancy, I am in love with you..." He opened the little box on his palm and something inside caught the rays of the cold sun and sparkled. "Will you marry me?"

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Donna's mittens flew up to cover her mouth as his words sunk in. Her eyes dashed frantically to her parents who were nodding and smiling as if they had somehow been expecting this. "What do I say?" she managed to choke out as her eyes flew back to the man on the ice.

"Say Yes so that we can get back to the damn game, godsakes!" someone shouted, and there was laughter in the stands.

Donna stood up on weak legs supported on knees that felt like jello and began to make her way down the benches to the ice. She nearly fell twice, but finally managed to make it to where John was still kneeling.

"Yes," she whispered as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Yes, John Biebe, I will marry you." She knelt beside him on the ice and pulled him in for a stunned but loving kiss.

"What did she say?" Mira Houle grumped from her seat in the second row. "I can't hear a god damned thing!"

"She said 'Yes'," Judge Burns announced, and everyone, including the players gathered on the ice, began to applaud.

All John could hear was Donna's overcome sniffling giggle as he took the engagement ring from its box and, with trembling hands, pulled off her left mitten and slid it onto her equally trembling finger. "It isn't much, I know, but -"

"It's enough, oh John, it's more than enough." Donna took one amazed glance and then kissed him again. She pulled away only long enough to look at the ring again, as if making sure it were real, and then buried her face in his neck as her arms struggled to hold him under all the padding. "I love you, John, I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Donna." John found himself sniffling, too, and was almost surprised to taste cold salty tears on his own lips. "And I promise I will make you never regret staying here with me."

Even as his arms tightened around her, the rest of the world began to fade in again, and he looked up to see Judge Burns smiling patiently down at them. "If you two kids are through making a public scene here..." his typically gruff tone was almost, but not quite lost in his grin, "Do you think we could finish up this game before the whole town freezes to death?"

"Sorry, Judge Burns," Donna giggled as she wiped her eyes and pulled to her feet. She took the little velvet box from John and then helped him on with his glove again. She bit back the smile that refused to fade from her lips as she stepped back off the ice with a little wave. "Go play," she grinned, and waved him away.

SPRING 1996

Donna hung up the receiver with a look that creased her pretty brow. The voice on the phone had been like a ghost from the past, and she couldn't quite shake the memories it brought up.

"Hi, honey." John stomped into the kitchen with a boy under each arm, making Michael and Joey giggle and wriggle as he carried them like sacks of flour. He paused to kiss her and then set the boys down when he saw the look on her face. "Y'okay?" he asked as the boys dropped their jackets on the floor and raced off to play.

"Yeah," Donna nodded as she bent automatically to pick up the jackets her two eldest sons had discarded. "Yeah, I'm fine only..." She shook her head as if to clear it. "Charlie just called."

"Charlie?" John echoed. "Charlie Danner?" He took the parkas from her and went to hang them on the pegs by the door along with his own. "What in the hell did he want after all this time?" He pawed back his unruly hair as he sat down to pull off his boots.

"He said he's coming to town." Donna moved to the doorway as she heard the baby begin to cry, signaling that nap-time was over.

"Here?" John chuckled. "Charlie Danner is coming back here? To Mystery?" He set his boots side by side and gave his hair another pass of the hand as he pulled to his feet with a disbelieving chuckle. "What for?"

"He said... that he's coming to write an article on the team." She paused to give her husband a bemused shrug. "I know it sounds unlike him, but... he says he thinks he can sell it to Sports Illustrated." She nodded towards the bedroom. "David is up, will you keep an eye on dinner while I get him?"

"Yeah, sure." John moved to the stove with an agreeable nod as he waved her off. He picked up a spoon to stir the pasta that was about to bubble over then paused to run a thoughtful hand over the thick beard on his chin as his eyes hooked a dream in the air. "Sports Illustrated. Huh. Now wouldn't that be something...?"