M.O.C.M. TF2 chapter 9

The sound of gusting wind woke the German up that morning. He could recognize that sound really easily. He walked over to the window to look outside, and sure enough, it was a snowstorm. Gusts of snow were piled on the ground, as a flurry of new snow was making it's way down. He groaned knowing today would be exceptionally freezing.

Suddenly he heard a groaning coming from the couch. Startled he turned around surprised to see a lump sleeping on his couch, with half her body covered by a sleeping bag. her face was squinted tight, as she held the bag up to her face. He had almost forgot she was in his room last night! She looked pretty cold though. He yanked the sleeping bag away from her, despite her strong grip on it. It was her only heat protection, and now he took it. Thinking of a better idea, he grabbed the comforter off the bed, and spread it over her body. Suddenly clutched the front holding it up to her face, as she stayed asleep. he smirked at her childlike attempt to stay warm. Closing the curtains to stay warm, he noticed the fireplace had gone out overnight. No wonder last night was freezing cold.

He slipped on a bathrobe, and walked over to his bathroom hoping the girl didn't need to wake up to go to the bathroom in that time. The comforter would probably keep her asleep for a half hour longer at least. As he disrobed in the bathroom he wondered about how long the snow storm would last, and was worried the power would go out. He hated that about storms. When power went out, the fireplace was your best friend.

Grace woke up stretching her arms upwards to get her blood flowing. She slept great last night. Probably because she slept on something much softer than an examination table. She heard the water running in the bathroom, and figured that the doctor was taking a shower. She looked around a little more through the things she didn't get to last night. Opening the drawers to his desk,she found just regular things that could be found in any man's office. Some papers, a stack of medicine books, a typewriter in one, and a magnifying glass, probably for small print documents, and a bottle of old brass polish.

She proceeded to the closet, and found something which peaked her interest greatly! There on the floor laid an old time phonograph! Not exactly as advanced as a record player, but it could probably play one nonetheless. The wood was in perfect shape and very ornamental and decorative! It must have been at least from the 1900's! The horn had dents all over it, and was dull, it's brassy appearance worn away, and it had pidgeon doo on certain spots. Grace never knew Alexander collected antiques. The inside gears probably didn't work, but she could probably find a way to fix it had she had enough time. Perhaps Alexander could run it into town to fix it. One thing about being stuck in a room all by yourself was that you had plenty of free time to take care of things. She grabbed the box, and horn, and put it on the desk carefully. She looked at it, to see if it was even able to play music. When she cranked it, it didn't even start up. It was indeed broken.

"Vhat are you ding vizh my phonograph?" Alexander asked behind her. He came out of the bathroom, the warm moist air warming the room.

Grace looked at it. "You know it's broken." She said looking at the machine that once played records.

He nodded "Oh, ja. It's extremely old! You didn't expect it to be in mint condition, did you?"

The young girl shrugged "I don't know. I can keep things in pretty good shape." She said to her German friend. "Maybe it could be repaired." She smiled to him. "Surely your Engineer knows how to fix something like this."

He tilted his head. "I'll see what he can do." As he lifted the pieces of the broken phonograph, he turned to her. "Make sure to keep your noise down during zhe day." He said sharply. "Zhis area has zhicker valls, but you can never be too careful." As he made his way out, she couldn't help but be incredibly bored. Things were a lot more interesting when he was around, so what was there to really do?

As Alexander made his way through the base, he couldn't help but actually want to return to the room. Still he had a few things that he had to do. One of which meant having to have Engineer look at an old phonograph and having to go through the check up today. Why did they have to be today of all days. Of course they would be during the snowstorm.

Knocking on the door of the Texan's room. He called for him. "Engineer, are you in here?" He asked pushing the door open. Inside the sound of welding could be heard better, as the Engineer was welding pieces of metal together. Probably making another machine for his collection. Upon seeing the German in the doorway, he pushed up his mask stopping the blowtorch.

"Hey, pard! Aint heard from you in the longest time!" he said smirking. "Ya been cooped up in your medical ward a lot lately." He said putting his tools down to the equipment table.

"Ja, vell..." He said rubbing the back of his head. "I hope to be able to get out of zhere more often." He then lifted the music producing machine. "Listen. I have zhis phonograph, zhat needs to be repaired." Putting on the table, the Southerner looked at it rubbing his chin. "I know zhat if anybody in zhis base could fix a phonograph... it's you."

He picked up the box part and closely eyed it up and down. He then grabbed the horn, and looked along the edges. "Wow, doc,this here's a high quality piece right here. Made by hand!" He said nodding. "I think I might be able to bring this old music box back to life." The shorter man patted the box. "It will be a bit of a challenge,  but I'll see what I can do."  As he moved the machine he was currently working on to the side, he got to work on the box, opening up the bottom. Inside were gears and spinning pieces.

"Danke, danke!" he said holding his hands together. He then left the Texan to his new job. Hopefully he would not disappoint. Then through the door leading outside, a snow covered tall human walked through the door. There was snow piled on top of his hat, and the Australian was shivering harshly.

"Me camper's battery died. It's frozen over." He said rubbing his large hands together. "I'm gonna have ta stay in me old room." he smirked watching the older man shiver as he made his way into the old unused room.

Grace dialed Saphira's room number a she laid on the bed, after she made it when the Medic left it a mess. Other than making the bed, picking up his dirty clothes, cleaning the ashes in the fireplace, and cleaning the bathroom, the medic didn't really make that much of a mess. All she really had to do was... everything.

As the phone rang in the medical ward, the BLU German doctor, was packing up Sebastians feeding trays, and grooming kit, the huntress had been helping him at the time.

"Could you get zhat Saphira? Mein hands are a bit full at zhe moment."

She nodded and walked over to the phone, picking it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Saphira." She smiled "How is Teufort treating ya?" She asked wishing secretly to be at the warmer area.

"Oh! Things have been good on my end. We've just gotten a message from the administrator, apparently the whole team is getting transferred to Sawmill! I'm helping Felix with packing his things right now."

She laughed. "Heh! Good he probably needed help with the peacock. So you're getting a new area transfer! That's better than here. " She said rolling around on the bed. "Really big snowstorm. Hardly anybody can leave." She looked up towards the window. "Well, good news is I got out of that medbay."

"Where are you now?"

She looked down a little taking off her bandana she was wearing while cleaning. "His room. Today was their monthly check ups, so I had to be moved to safer spot."

"Ohh~ How interesting~" she snickered a bit.

"What's so funny?! " She said defensively as she rearranged all the doctors coats in his closet.

"Nothing~ So. Tell me what he's like, I wanna know."

Huffing loudly she really couldn't explain it in words. "Uhhh... he is a very clumsy sort of man. He has a sort of timid air about him." She snickered. "He is in his early forties so, he's a bit older than Felix, and he keeps doves... a lot of them."

"Sounds like the stereotypical Medic to me... tell me more."

Admitting it sounded a bit average, she tried to get more in depth. "Uhh, he likes poetry, he keeps a scrapbook, so I know he has secrets. Also if I saw correctly I think he has a tattoo on his left arm, on the bottom.Also he owns a violin." the next words were something that she knew would be mind blowing. "I...kissed him."

She couldn't help but smile at the last part.

"Well... it was just on the cheek." She admitted. "I just wanted to see what you would say."

"Gracey? Do you think that you might... I dunno... like him?"

Her stomach sank low. "ARE YOU-" Suddenly she held her hand over her mouth as not to yell. "Are you kidding me!? He's practically old enough to be my father!'

"Age is only a number Grace. Do not deny your feelings, I mean Felix is older than me by 6 years and I don't care."

She stressed her voice. "That's alright, but God Saphira, there's a limit." She choked out. "He  talks in his sleep! Only old guys do that!" She said her voice thick with the embarrassing concept of liking her protector. "I know it sounds super romantic for the damsel in distress to like the hero, but he is more like the heroes dad!" She hated to admit that she did care for the man, and she was sure Saphira could feel it through the phone. The one girl on this Earth she couldn't fool.

"Like I said Grace, age is only a number. Besides, Zane talks in his sleep and he's only 32!"

She ran her hand through her hair. It had been a while since she had truly liked  a guy, and for the longest time hadn't been as affectionate as she would like to be, but what if Saphira knew her better than she knew herself. What if she could spot it in Grace, when Grace couldn't spot it in herself. "Well when I start seeing him do romantic things, that's when I'll decide on whether or not I have feelings for him."

The tension over the phone was one sided. While one tried to defend her self pride, the other thought it hilarious. "Even if it was the case would point would that serve?" She said getting flustered. "Even if I did have feelings for this... Medic, why would he honestly like me back?"

"..." The huntress had went silent, that had been the current thought running through her mind at the moment. "...I honestly don't know... but he had saved you, and he has taken care of you for this long right?"

"I guess so." She said feeling a lot of discomfort on the topic. "I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Augh I can't believe I'm laying on this!" She said getting up off of the comforter. "I swear I don't know why he got this rabbit pelt comforter! Wool works just as easily!"

"...did you say... rabbit comforter?"

That was the biggest slip up of the day. "Errr... yes." She groaned. "He has this bed set, and rug made of rabbit pelt." She sighed. "Please don't hate him for it." Then out of nowhere a loud pop erupted from the phone, and it went out! The lamp as well. It was exactly as she feared. A power outage! Well, at least she got to talk to the person she wanted to talk to.

She curled up next to the fire as she waited for Alexander's check ups to be completed. She wrapped Saphira's most hated item in the room around her body to stay warm. The wind whistled near the window. Finally he came through the door, holding something feathery in his hand. It was one of his doves. It looked a little messed up.

"Oh, no. What is that doing here!" She scolded. "I hate those, and you know that."

He darted a glance her way. "Jerard had a bit of an accident. Zhe Spy vas not vatching vhere he vas valking, and accidentally stepped on Jerard's ving." He said grabbing a large cage from the closet. "His ving is broken." He said his voice a whisper. Suddenly she felt rotten for what she said. His pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, Grace, mein dear..." He sighed. "I know you don't like zhem, but at least try to be nice to him." He groaned. "He cannot fly, so don't vorry about him trying to attack you." She looked at the bird, that had the broken wing. It was wrapped, and set properly. He was apparently a pretty good vet.

"I promise." She said looking back at the fire. She was thinking back on what Saphira had said before the power went out. "Hey, uhh... Alex?" He put Jerard in the cage, restricting him from harming himself further. He then turned to her. "Do you want to... join me near the fire?" She asked, fearing the answer.

His heart slimed down to the lowest part of his torso, as he glanced at her. He hurried to put food and water in the cage, and then turned back to her. "I vould love to." As he made his way over, he sat on the other side of the rug. What he had not expected was to see her move over to his side to wrap him up in the other end of the blanket. His cheeks darkened to the point where he almost didn't need to sit by the fire!

Grinning on the inside he pulled her body close to her, and let her lean up against him. Then came that dreaded moral dilemma. Was this really a proper thing to do? Sure they weren't doing anything wrong. They were just friends right? Still did he have feelings for somebody half his age? He decided not to think about it. He was thinking way too much about things. Sitting in front of the fire seemed better than thinking about things right now. Besides she was the one that invited him to her.

His skin was so warm for somebody like him. She did enjoy his presence. She wanted to test her luck. Looking up she looked at the lock of hair that hung over his forehead, and proceeded to play with it. It made her laugh, the way it bounced around on his forehead. He looked up after a while in which she pulled away her hand. "Vhat vere you doing to mein hair?"

She looked towards the fire, in which she knew she would have to clean the ashes out in the morning again. "I just saw something in your hair, and was trying to get it out." he laughed a few times and pulled her close to where his chin rested on her head.

"You are an awful liar." Suddenly his brain kicked into overdrive as he felt a warm hand rest on his chest.

"I'm really glad I have you to watch me." She said reaching up to kiss the underside of his chin. Okay there was NO way that was his imagination. That was for real. The same small peck he got two nights ago. It was like being slapped in the face by heaven! It was quick and wonderful, but at the same time knocked the air right out of your lungs. It took every inch of his being not to slam his lips down against hers, and make out with her right here in front of the injured bird. But he managed to keep himself calm.

"Vhat vas zhat for?" He dared to ask.

She smiled up at him. "For putting up with a mess like me." She said burying her face in his chest. Then a random thought whizzed past her brain, and she couldn't help but ask a question she never asked anybody before. "Alexander, if my mom met me today, do you think she would like me?"

"Oh!" he said pulling her into his frame. "Ja! Yes... yes I do." He said keeping his grip on her. He wanted to do something for her. To cheer her up for the storm that was supposedly going to last for weeks, but what? What was it that she would like. It had to something very special. He had a great idea! But it would take an extremely long time to do so. He would need time to work on getting his present done. He then smiled. "You need to go to sleep Grace...Grace?" When he looked down, she was already sleeping soundly against his chest. He chuckled picking her up carefully and laying her easily on the couch.

Unfortunately he could not read his books since the power was out, but the phone lines would hopefully recover in the morning. Suddenly he saw shaking out of the corner of his eye. She was freezing on the couch, and he didn't blame her considering it was right up against the window. Knowing he would be a bit chilled throughout the night, he surrendered his rabbit comforter, and threw a few more logs on the fire.