Secret Santa Story: Traces In The Snow Part 2/3
Title: Traces In The Snow Part 2
Author: TalliW
Pairings: Tom Ryan/James Lester/ Nick Cutter, Abby/Connor
Rating: M
Ryan didn't know what had awoken him in the middle of the night. He fumbled around with his lighter which he had placed on the bedside table ready to hand, and lit the two candles on the candlestick, cursing under his breath that the castle had no electric light.
He slipped into his trousers and jumper, grasped the candlestick and stepped out into the corridor. He was involuntarily drawn to Lester's room.
"I'm just checking briefly on him," Ryan told himself as he carefully opened the door.
Cutter wanted to run away from the cruel voice telling him he was an ungrateful prat.
"If you don't change your behaviour and reconcile with your friend something bad will happen and you will regret it bitterly," the voice of the white bearded man thundered in his ears.
Then blood-thirsty creatures closed in on Stephen, a shot rang through the air and everything faded to black.
Cutter still shivered in fright as he came to awareness.
Beside his bed kneeled Ryan, shaking him gently.
"Lester is ill. He has chills and fever. We have to get a doctor."
Cutter dressed hurriedly and followed Ryan to Lester's room. Both men were surprised as Nikolaus came towards them on the corridor, a steaming mug in his hand.
"Wha...?" Lester gasped out, trying to shake the cobwebs from his mind.
"You are ill," Nikolaus said softly.
"I'm not," Lester muttered indignantly and shivered.
But Nikolaus wasn't persuaded by Lester's answer. "Drink this!" he ordered.
Ryan knitted his brow. Lester needed a doctor and not tea. Yet Nikolaus' look silenced his protest before he could voice it. With the sudden secure feeling that the man knew what to do, and that he could trust him, Ryan let him continue.
Lester pressed his lips together. He had no intention of drinking the vile smelling contents of the mug. But now, compelled by some force, he opened his mouth as Nikolaus set the mug at his lips and obediantly swallowed the slightly bitter mixture.
"The herbal tea will help against the fever and the cold, but you have to keep him warm. The best way is to share body heat. With a little luck he will be all right again tomorrow."
"If you think so." Without giving it a second thought, Cutter prepared himself to get into bed next to Lester. He was dead tired and just wanted to drop off. Any halfway comfortable place would do right now. And Lester's big bed looked very comfortable.
"Naked. You have to be naked to make the heat exchange most effective," Nikolaus declared brisk.
Ryan's eyebrow nearly shot up to his hairline, Cutter stopped in mid-move.
Nikolaus smiled cheerfully. "I will leave you alone now. Have a good night."
After the caretaker had left the room Cutter mumbled. "Honestly! If I didn't know better I almost would assume it's a ploy to get us naked into his bed."
Ryan grinned and quickly discarded his clothes before he snuggled up against Lester.
"What are you doing in my bed?" Lester asked drowsily, his pupils dilated like he was drugged.
"Keeping you warm."
"How nice." With a goofy grin Lester inhaled the musky smell of Ryan and drifted into sleep.
Cutter hesitated briefly before he undressed and crawled into bed to warm Lester from the other side.
"Would you really mind, if it was just a ploy?" Ryan asked quietly before he closed his eyes.
Ryan's breath evened out some minutes later, but Cutter lay awake a while longer and pondered over Ryan's words. Feeling Lester's skin hot against his own was making sleep no longer seeming so important.
"Hello, Abby."
Abby turned around quickly, her mouth pinched and her eyes filled with rage.
"Where were you? Where were you when I needed you?" she yelled accusingly at the white-bearded man. "Everything went to shit after my real dad died."
"I can't bring back the dead, Abby," he said, softly.
Sobbing, Abby sank down onto the cold stone floor. "But that was my only wish for years," she wept.
"I know, but that was a wish I couldn't fulfill. Is that why you gave up on me when you were seven?"
"You weren't there when I needed you. No one was." Abby whispered sadly.
"But I'm here now, Abby. And this time I can do something for you."
Happiness spread through Abby’s body and a smile flitted across her face in sleep as Father Christmas took her on a trip through time, showing her what the future had in store for her if she was brave enough to open her heart again.
He was warm and comfortable, stretched out on his right side. It felt as though he was wrapped in the tight embrace of a lovely woman.
Lester realised he was lying naked under a thick duvet in a big four-poster bed with red and white chequered bedclothes. He could vaguely remember going to bed in that antiquated room last night.
It took some minutes longer before he noticed he wasn't alone in the bed and the warm body he’d felt previously wasn't his subconscious telling him how long it had been since he'd got laid, but a real person. A person who just had too many hard edges, too hairy legs and too flat a chest to be a lovely woman.
It had to say something about his current state of mind that he pushed back against that body until he felt more evidence for his assumption. No, definitely not a woman.
Apart from the off-chance he had been kidnapped by some crazy local who wanted him for his own perverse enjoyment, that only left a few men.
Lester hoped it wasn't Connor Temple in the bed with him. He was too young to die by the hand of an angry, kickboxing girl with bad dress sense.
A pleasantly hard cock nestled against Lester's buttocks as the man behind him moved closer and scraped a stubbly cheek over his shoulder. That eliminated the caretaker. The short stubble tickling his skin certainly didn’t match the full beard of their host.
The arm sneaking around his sternum and pulling him back to a broad, well-defined chest was strong, too strong to belong to a skinny twenty-something. So, Ryan or Cutter then.
"It's high time he finally woke up. I was really getting worried."
The Scottish accent was unmistakable. And the voice came from outside the bed. Mystery solved.
Lester was proud of how fast he had found out the truth. Ignoring the vague feeling that there might have been a faster way to find out the identity of the other men in bed with him, Lester snuggled deeper under the duvet and into the warmth Ryan's body provided.
"Scoot over, before I freeze my balls off."
That was definitely an unusual request. He already had a hottie in his bed. He didn't need another one, didn't he?
Lester tentatively cracked an eye open and was confronted with Cutter's lovehandles. Lester found this very surreal. What was Cutter doing naked beside his bed?
He opened the other eye as well and studied the triangular shape of hair below Cutter's bellybutton in fascination. Despite his slight paunch, Cutter still looked good enough to eat.
Flustered, Lester lowered his eyes and that made it even worse. He now was staring directly at Cutter's cock and balls. A nice average cock which just slowly started to raise under Lester's interested look. Just at the right high to...
Bloody hell, what had been in the stuff the caretaker had given him last night?
Cutter moved forward with his hips, the exposed head of his cock pointing right into Lester's face. Startled, Lester jerked back, nearly impaling himself on Ryan's cock.
Lester's eyes fluttered shut as the thick gland pushed between his buttocks before Ryan quickly rolled away.
With a sigh of relief, Cutter climbed into the bed and snuggled up to Lester's front.
Lester yelped when Cutter's cold skin touched him. Then Cutter started to rub his body against him in order to get warm again and Lester couldn't bite back a moan.
As Cutter's hard cock slid along his own erection, heat spread through Lester's body. Hungry for more contact he wrapped his left leg around Cutter's hip and shoved his pelvis forwards.
"Are you all right?" Concerned, Ryan checked Lester for fever.
"Never felt better," Lester answered languorously and sighed happily as Ryan gently caressed his forehead.
"Don't stop. I like it when you touch me," he whispered as Ryan removed his hand.
After a moment's hesitation, Ryan started to fondle Lester's hip and nibble at Lester's shoulder, attacking the tender skin beneath the bladebone with teeth and lips like a starving man.
Lester moaned ecstatically as Ryan's jaw tightened on the skin he had taken between his teeth. Soothing the irritated spot with soft kisses, Ryan marveled at the sight of his mark on Lester's delicate skin. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Lester lay in his arms, aroused and willing, begging for more.
Ryan lips brushed tentatively across the shell of Lester's ear, raising goosebumps on Lester's skin and making him whimper. Lester's soft noises were driving him slowly crazy.
Ryan wasn't sure he could take much more. He was already painfully hard, his balls full and heavy between his legs, ready for release. Sleeping naked in bed with Lester had been a sweet torture.
"I didn't think you were into men, Cutter." Lester panted as Cutter bucked against him.
"I could say the same about you." Cutter pushed his hard dick against Lester's groin, making a point of showing just how much he enjoyed the company of a man.
Unexpectedly, Ryan disentangled himself from Lester and fumbled for something beside the bed.
Triumphantly, he held a small tube in front of Lester's eyes which elicited a strangled groan from Cutter.
'Is that lube? Where did he get it?' Suddenly Lester was wide awake.
"Do you want to be fucked?" Ryan asked hotly against Lester's neck. "I can make it damned good for you."
Lester gulped audibly. He wasn't sure he had heard correctly. The wonderful feeling Cutter provoked as he rubbed himself against Lester's front, and Ryan's solid body against his back, was making thinking difficult.
Then Ryan whispered, "Or do you want to come in my mouth when I suck you off?"
Lester shivered at the picture these words conjured before his inner eye. This must be his lucky day.
With a throaty moan, Ryan shoved his groin against Lester's arse to make him aware how turned on he was, whilst Cutter sensually slid his cock along the underside of Lester's shaft to his perineum.
To his horror, Lester found himself calculating how he could manage to satisfy them both. He never had intended to partake in a threesome, with his employees of all people, but the thought that both men desired him was exhilarating.
"Want you in me. Both of you," he croaked, not sure how they would take his request.
"At once?" Cutter panted and pushed forward until the tip of his cock brushed Lester's anus.
That question addressed such a kinky desire, a flush of arousal raced through Lester's body. When he was younger he had been with a few big men, but two cocks in his arse might be pure heaven, or hell if it turned out it was more as he could take. But that didn't mean he wasn't willing to try. He probably would never have such a opportunity again. People like him didn't get offered sex on a plate by two attractive men every day.
And since his divorce was official he didn't have to feel guilty about finally pursuing that pleasure.
"I'm not sure I can accommodate you both at once. But I want to try," Lester confessed nervously.
"All right. If it really gets too much say ‚Stop!’ and I’ll pull out," Ryan reassured him before he opened the lid of the tube and slicked his fingers.
The first finger slid in easily. Lester had a dreamy smile on his face as another finger joined the first and began gently to rotate inside him. Ryan certainly knew how to do it right.
Cutter had taken Lester's cock in his fist and carefully smeared the pre-come over the tip with his thumb. Unconsciously, Lester started to move his hips, the friction on his cock and the fingers in his arse steadily driving him to the brink.
Heat pooled in his belly and pressure built in his balls. Lester was ready to explode as Cutter relaxed the grip on his shaft. He sobbed in frustration as the stimulation stopped completely, almost at the point of begging.
All at once the digits in his anus scissored and stretched him painfully. Only then did Lester notice that Ryan already had three fingers inside him.
The movement was repeated until Ryan thought Lester was loosened up enough. With a gentle jab against Lester's prostate, Ryan pulled out.
"You are as ready as I can get you this way," he said and started to slick his shaft up just like Cutter had already done.
Lester tried to relax as he grasped his left knee and pulled it to his chest, his body now offering access to both men.
He trembled as he felt Ryan line up behind him. Then Ryan pushed in, in a single long slide.
The burning subsided quickly and just left enough irritation at the verge of his consciousness to make him aware of the throbbing cock inside his arse.
Lester held his breath when Ryan stopped, his cock nearly buried to the hilt. Now it was Cutter's turn.
For a split second Lester was tempted to call it quits as Cutter shuffled closer. Every muscle in his body tightened and he bit his lips.
"Relax," someone ordered softly. Lester wasn't sure who had said it. The blood was rushing in his ears and his heart was beating in a wild staccato.
And then Cutter rammed forwards whilst Ryan withdraw at the same time.
Lester exhaled with relief as Ryan slid out before Cutter breached him. At a slow pace Cutter filled him, the angle just right to scrape against his prostate on the way inside.
Lester tensed as Ryan brushed against his hole again and prepared himself mentally for the double penetration. But also this time one drew back before the other pushed in.
In and out, out and in, Ryan and Cutter were fucking him in a steady rhythm.
Every thought of stopping had left Lester's brain by now. His bent leg started to get numb, still he lay relaxed and pliant on his side whilst both men thrust in his arse in turns from the front and from behind.
Ryan's hand caressed Lester's jaw, his breath hot against Lester's ear, mumbling filthy endearments whilst his shaft slid in until his balls were resting comfortable against Lester's arse.
This time, Ryan remained inside as Cutter pushed forward, trying to force his way into Lester's body.
Lester whimpered as searing pain raced through his arse. It was too much. He was split in half by the pulsing flesh and yet Cutter didn't stop. "Please," he sobbed, hoping that Ryan would understand and pull out. The pain only increased.
Lester floundered with his leg and tried to push Cutter away. But strong hands held him in place and he couldn't do a thing as Cutter pressed his cock head through his hole, stretching him to the limit.
Then something seem to give. The pain faded into the background as Cutter stilled, his cock pressed tightly against Lester's prostate, prompting Lester's body to thrum with pleasure.
Taking a deep breath, Lester got used to the feeling of being filled completely. Every beat of their pulses was reverberating in his guts, every tiny move made his nerves sing with pleasure and faint pain.
He could hear their panting and feel the tremor in their bodies as both men gave him time to adjust. It must cost them dearly not to thrust despite their desperate urge to seek friction.
After a while, Lester tentatively clenched his arse, eliciting a string of curses from Ryan and Cutter.
"You can move."
Lester's words had barely left his mouth when both men started to pound into him. Now it was Lester who began a stream of coarse words.
The exquisite pressure on his prostate, the spikes of pain, the exited noises of his lovers, Cutter twitching inside, hot liquid coating his walls, a hand stroking his cock; everything blended together into a maelstrom of pure bliss, forcing a scream from Lester's throat as he came convulsively.
He knew he should move, should do something. His arm still held his left leg in place, his limbs long gone dead.
Someone undid his cramped fingers and lowered his leg to the mattress. Pins and needles coursed through his body as the blood flow returned.
Lester saw Cutter bending down over him, wiping the sweat from his face whilst someone -Ryan? - cleaned his crevice. When had they pulled out?
Everything was a blur.
Lester closed his eyes in exhaustion and slipped into a state of haze, perceiving the touches and the soft voices through a thick fog until sleep claimed him.
He woke up in Ryan's arms, gently holding him to his chest. Cutter was nowhere to be seen.
Quietly, Lester slipped out of the bed and dressed, glad that Ryan hadn't even stirred as he'd removed himself from his arms.
When the door closed, Ryan folded his arms behind his head and sighed wistfully. At least he had had a peaceful night and a morning full of unbridled ecstasy to remember forever.
Abby was tucking a fir branch into the arch of the front door, while Connor held her on his shoulders. Cutter, whistling the tune of ‚Winter Wonderland’as he walked in, carried a whole armful of branches into the hall, his face flushed from the cold and his eyes radiant with joy.
He faltered for a moment in his steps as he spied Lester on the stairs then greeted him jovially.
"We have fetched some green stuff for Nikolaus. I hope you don't mind that we went without you. Thought you might need the rest."
He fixed Lester with a sly glance. "Do you know if Ryan is already up? We have found some unusual animal tracks in the woods we want to pursue."
Just at that moment, Ryan sauntered down the stairs.
"I'm up and ready, Professor."
Nikolaus emerged from the kitchen with a tray. "But first you must have breakfast," he said and handed everyone a thick cheese sandwich and an apple.
Sure enough, the tracks Cutter, Abby and Connor had found belonged to six young Parahippus who were wandering around the snowy landscape looking a little lost.
Fortunately, the prehistoric horses didn't shy away as Connor and Abby walked closer, enticing them with pieces of apple.
After Lester and Ryan had sacrificed their apples as well, the Parahippus followed Cutter eagerly back to the castle lured by the way he was waving his breakfast apple right in front of their noses.
Before Cutter could pass the entrance gate with his strange entourage, a roaring rang out over the land and scared the horses out of their wits. In wild abandon they raced around the corner.
Cutter looked indecisively after the fleeing animals, aware that he wasn’t carry any weapon to face a dangerous creature. But Connor and Abby were already running after them.
Around the rear of the castle, not far away from the black meteoric boulder a gigantic bear-like creature fought with a smaller spotted creature which had a long powerful jaw.
Abby and Connor stopped in their tracks and walked slowly backwards, hoping the creatures hadn't seen them yet.
"Don't move," Cutter whispered behind them. "Sarkastodons haven't got good eyesight. They mostly perceive moving objects."
"Damn. In case you have a gun hidden somewhere, now would be a good time to tell me," Ryan said quietly as he stopped beside Cutter.
"At least we know now where the anomaly is located," Abby mumbled as she spied the anomaly the moment the Sarkastodon ducked its enormous head.
"There has to be another anomaly. The Parahippus comes from another period than the Sarkastodon," Connor interposed, his eyes carefully observing the area without losing track of the fighting predators.
But the small Parahippus herd seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
"I'd be interested to know why the Hyaenodon hasn't taken flight yet. It's unusual for it to take on such a big opponent. Just look how it’s attacking time and time again, despite its injuries."
"I don't want to spoil your scientific excitement, Cutter, but right now we should be more worried about getting out of harm's way before one of us becomes the next victim once it has finished with that hyaena." Lester had arrived at last and was still panting heavily.
"Oh my God, it’s protecting its cub." Abby cried, shocked. The others had also now seen the young Hyaenodon next to the bear.
Apparently the bear had heard Abby's cry as well. Abby shivered as the small eyes glared viciously in her direction and the massive maw opened in a wild roar.
Just at that moment, the Hyaenodon shot forwards, using the Sarkastodon's distraction.
Its sharp teeth plunged deep into the bear's right side, ripping big junks of fur and skin from its flank and staining the white snow with red.
Crazed with pain and enraged anger, the Sarkastodon tried to shake off its assailant. Its big paw, with a set of sharp claws, only brushed the Hyaenodon's shoulder with the very tip, still it was enough to send the Hyaenodon flying through the air.
Notwithstanding that its flank was tinted with blood, the Hyaenodon instantly picked itself up and attacked again. It managed to tear anew into the bear's flesh and retreated before the deadly claws could reach it again.
Suddenly a snowball flew through the air and hit the bear on its rear.
"Are you crazy," Cutter yelled at Abby but the next snowball was already sailing in the bear's direction.
The bear spun around in confusion, searching for the second attacker and presenting the Hyaenodon with its backside.
Connor and Ryan had picked up snow as well and a hail of snowballs rained down on the bear's back and neck whilst the Hyaenodon dug its teeth into the bear's thick thigh.
The bear twirled around in blind rage as a well-aimed ice ball struck it directly between its eyes.
Lester smiled with satisfaction and snatched the ice ball Cutter had just formed out of his bare hands to target again.
All at once the unexpected happened. The Sarkastodon fled in panic.
An expression of utter amazement on his face, Cutter gazed at the retreating form of the mighty bear until it vanished into the glittering shards.
"Yay!" Connor high-fived Abby cheerfully whilst Cutter clapped Lester excitedly on the shoulder.
The Hyaenodon growled in their direction, grasped its young cautiously with its snout and limped slowly back into the anomaly.
After a short flicker of light, the anomaly closed behind it.
"Is there any chance we can call for back-up from the Germans?" Ryan asked hesitantly. He didn't like the thought of bringing foreign soldiers in but the safety of the team was more important.
Lester tore his eyes away from the black boulder which still fascinated him to answer Ryan's question. "Not without some serious diplomatic consequences. So I would only fall back on that as a last resort."
"So we are on our own?"
"It looks that way. Besides the animals have returned, the anomaly has closed. I dare to suggest the problem is solved." Lester turned to go.
"And if it opens again and something comes through that we can't put to flight with snowballs?"
Lester faltered briefly then walked purposefully away, past Connor's half-finished snowman from the precious day where Cutter, Connor and Abby were even now heaving the head up.
Ryan suspected that Lester was already regretting his impulsive decision to get involved with this project. He certainly already had enough on his plate with the anomalies in England.
His attention turned to his team mates, busy with putting the final touches to the snowman. Ryan snorted as he saw their work. With the red scarf folded like a tie, the snowman reminded a bit of Lester. The snow figure even wore the sour look Lester sported most of the time. Instead a smile, Connor had made a horizontal line out of a branchlet.
"It's the boulder," Cutter said with conviction, three hours later. During that time they had brought back three Hyperodapedons, beaked lizard-faced animals from the Late Triassic period, who wouldn’t do very well in the cold climate. They had also seen four anomalies open and fade away without any visitors.
Tired and chilly, they returned to the castle to warm up at the open fire in the parlour.
Nikolaus had finished decorating the castle. Fir branches were festooned on every entrance and window and a warming soup was simmering in the kitchen under Lester's supervision.
It seemed Nikolaus had given him the choice between helping with the decorating or peeling the turnips. It wasn't hard to guess what Lester had chosen.
Ryan bit back a smile at the sight of a domestic Lester. As he was spooning his soup, he thought he had never tasted anything so good as turnip soup made by Lester, except perhaps tasting Lester himself.
Ryan observed the field thoroughly. While the others had decided to take a nap, Lester had volunteered to watch the meteorite. Currently he was sitting on the black boulder and seemed to to be thinking gloomy thoughts.
Worried, Ryan marched over to him. "Isn't it too frosty to sit here? In this weather you easily can catch a cold. And it isn't safe either to be so close to the boulder. Cutter and Connor still haven't featured out what exactly triggers the anomalies. If a dangerous animals arrives you don't have much to defend yourself with. "
"In the time I've been sitting here two anomalies have opened and closed. No animals have come through. And no, it's not too cold to sit on the stone, mother."
"All right. I get it. Sir? Lest...?" Ryan didn't know how to address Lester properly for the question he had in mind. "Do you regret what happened? This morning in bed?"
Ryan was waiting anxiously for Lester's answer. It might provide the direction for his own future.
"You mean when you and Cutter were tearing me apart?"
As though he’d been struck by a low blow, Ryan gasped for breath. His eyes widened in horror, his mouth gaping, unable to form words.
"Shit. Are you hurt badly?" he managed finally to force out. Nervously running his hand through his hear, Ryan gave Lester a quick once-over as if his injuries would be visible from the outside.
"God, I had no idea. You seemed to be OK afterwards. And you didn't say the safe word. I'm sorry. If I... Damnit, Lester, why didn't you say ‚Stop’. I swear I would have done immediately."
"Ryan! Calm down. It's all right. That was just one of my sarcastic remarks."
But Lester could see that Ryan still wasn't convinced. It seemed his attempt at dry humour had failed thoroughly this time.
"Ryan! Listen to me! I enjoyed it greatly after the initial pain. It was something I had always dreamed of. And you have been fantastic."
Ryan took deep breaths. He still was hugely rattled by Lester's remark.
"Come, sit down with me for a while," Lester said softly. "You look as if you might keel over any moment."
Sighing, Ryan followed Lester's invitation.
The boulder was astonishingly warm for the cold environment, as if it was fed by the heat from the depth of the earth itself.
"It really was great, Ryan," Lester assured him again.
"OK." Ryan carefully scanned Lester's face, making sure Lester wasn't just placating him, before he turned his attention to the field. Lester still hadn't answered his initial question but he wasn't daring to broach the subject again.
Together they watched an anomaly come into existence, glittering like a myriad ice splinters and fade away after some minutes.
"I feel a little disconcerted," Lester confessed unexpectedly. "I still don't know what has compelled me to act on my desires. This morning I wasn't worrying about consequences. But what will happen now? I'm still your boss, after all."
Ryan reached out to Lester and squeezed his shoulder encouragingly.
"I swear, nothing that has happened will have an impact on our working relationship. We are just men who decided to have fun together. I will not respect you any less now. And Cutter... is just Cutter. Wouldn't surprise me if he has already pushed it to the back of his mind, now that he has another riddle on his hands to solve."
Lester exhaled with relief, thankful for Ryan's appreciation of his situation.
In companionable silence, they enjoyed the play of colours on the snow as the sun started setting. A few stray snowflakes floated to earth and melted where they landed on their bodies. And for a short while the outside world ceased to exist.
The pleasant silence at the boulder was broken by a horrible squawking sound. Scanning the area Ryan, discovered Connor and Cutter at the window of the tower with something that looked like ox horns in their hands.
Once more, they placed the drilled tip of the horns at their lips to blow a signal, the tune this time even more horrible than the first.
Looking at his watch, Lester mumbled. "It's probably time for dinner. Let’s return to the castle before we get a headache."
On the tower, Cutter and Connor were still enjoying themselves, charming the strangest sounds out of the blowing horns Nikolaus had given them whilst the evening sun drenched the castle in a bright orange-red.
After a restless night, Ryan blamed the fantastic fish soup with a concoction of peas they’d had for dinner, he climbed quickly out of bed. The fire in the fireplace had gone out and the room was uncomfortable cold. The linen nightshirt Nikolaus had provided, wasn't much protection against the cold air. And his clothes were nowhere to be seen.
Instead a long woollen tunic in blue plus some sort of gigantic boxershorts with a draw string lay on the chest where he had placed his clothes last night.
Cursing Nikolaus for his meddling, he dressed in the strange clothes and went downstairs.
Lester was sitting in the kitchen with Nikolaus, engrossed in a discussion about the cultivation of herb garden whilst he chopped scales from a redfinned perch.
He was also wearing a long tunic, albeit in green, and Ryan had to admit to himself that Lester looked great in it. He also seem to be in a good mood this morning.
"Oh, I see you have found the clothes. I've taken the liberty of washing your old ones before the Twelve Days of Christmas begin. Don't want to attract death, do we?"
Ryan looked in confusion at Nikolaus as an angry outcry rang through the castle. The next moment Abby raced, in a flurry of flowing red fabric, down the stairs into the courtyard.
Her bra in her hand and the rest of her clothes flung over her shoulder she returned, glared briefly at Ryan and ran back up the stairs.
And now, in the courtyards Ryan spied his own clothes, neatly strung up on a laundry line with some other garments, his briefs fluttering in the wind beside a pair of y-front briefs, a jockstrap and a pair of boxer shorts.
Abby and Connor giggled when they started their well-planned attack. Cutter was the first target. Abby hit him straight on the chest with the snowball as he walked through the front door in the yard. Connor at least managed to brush his left ear.
At the next attack, Cutter had ducked, laughing, and the flying snow balls had caught the man standing behind him.
Lester snarled as he removed the snow from his face and shoulder. Just in time, Ryan had taken cover behind the well and was now busy making his own munitions.
Soon the two man joined him and prepared the counter-attack.
Connor cursed at his own stupidity as the snow balls started flying. They had made themselves an easy target on the free area of the courtyard. Whilst Ryan seemed to throw deliberately above their heads and Cutter's snow balls seldom came close enough, Lester was damn good in his aim.
Connor, trying to protect Abby as well as possible and giving her the opportunity to fire back, was soon covered in snow. Already shivering terribly he finally pleaded for peace.
"A senior civil servant doesn't know any mercy, Connor," Lester called back and aimed his next snow ball at Connor's chest.
"Three against two, caught out in the open, is unfair," Abby yelled.
"OK. You can have Cutter."
"Hey! I'm not that bad."
"Ryan, you traitor," Lester called good-naturedly as Ryan changed sides together with Cutter.
"Sorry, sir, but my priority is the safety of the scientific team."
This time, Ryan took accurate aim and Cutter's snow balls were thrown better with a worthwhile target.
With Lester at the point of declaring defeat, having already taken his handkerchief out to use as a white flag, Nikolaus broke the fight up by calling them to lunch.
Laughing and puffing, they shook the snow from their clothes and hurried into the warm dinner hall.
In the afternoon, Ryan found Lester on the meteorite again. It seemed to have become his favourite place.
It had snowed the previous night and any remains of the bloody fight between the two predators had been covered by millions of new snow flakes. Once again, the landscape looked pristine-white and untouched.
"You all right?"
"Never been better. The snow ball fight was fun and lunch was great."
Ryan was delighted to see a real smile on Lester's face. Lester had finally started to enjoy himself.
When an anomaly emerged a few metres ahead, Ryan and Lester didn't take much notice of it. They didn't expect any trouble. Most of the anomalies had closed again after a few minutes, the time too short for an animal to come through. The two predators at once the day before had probably just been bad luck.
But this time some sort of donkey tripped through the shards, licked tentatively at the snow, sneezed, pissed and galloped back.
The next anomaly brought a lamb, who cried desperately for its mother until Ryan went over and pushed it back through the anomaly.
"I'm curious to see what comes next. The Easter Bunny?" Lester remarked dryly as Ryan returned to his side.
His eyes widened as a knee-high rabbit hopped out of a new formed anomaly to his right.
"Fantastic. If you now manage to conjure something big, like a tiger or an elephant, we can go on tour," Ryan quipped.
A creature similar to a snow leopard but a whole lot bigger jumped out of a new anomaly and grabbed the rabbit then ran back into the anomaly with its prey.
Lester and Ryan exchanged a very perplexed look.
"I think we should return before something even bigger appears," Lester said and got up from the meteorite boulder. Ryan, afraid to say something else and give the mysterious powers more ideas, just nodded silently and followed him.
They had only walked a few metres before the snow trembled and a shadow fell over them.
Lester turned around and eyed the unexpected visitor in annoyance.
"Oh no, Mister, you’ll be a good boy and go back through your anomaly like the others. There is no way I'm taking in another one of your sort. Our current guest in England already eats us out of house and home. The expenses for bananas are tremendous."
The wooly mammoth who was swaying its head back and fro whilst Lester spoke, suddenly grasped a load of snow with its trunk. It dumped it on Lester's head before it turned around and ran back down the hill. With a honk of triumph it vanished into an anomaly further down, leaving an irritated Lester and a laughing Ryan behind.
But Ryan's laugh was contagious and soon Lester's lips curved upwards too.
Their good mood held as they returned to the castle and found Cutter and Connor in the kitchen with Nikolaus, flour on their cheeks and noses, and fighting a lost battle against Nikolaus, as they were trying sneaking up to the baking plate full of lovely smelling cookies.
"That's for Christmas Day," Nikolaus grumped and shooed them out of the room.
In the last second, Lester dashed forwards and managed to grasp a handful of cookies, almost burning his hand on the still-hot plate. Under the twinkling eye of Nikolaus he ran out of the kitchen before the door closed behind him with a bang.
Contentedly, Lester stretched out in the parlour in front of the fire place after he had shared his booty with the others and munched a delicious cookie. Sometimes life was really good.
go to part 3
Author: TalliW
Pairings: Tom Ryan/James Lester/ Nick Cutter, Abby/Connor
Rating: M
Ryan didn't know what had awoken him in the middle of the night. He fumbled around with his lighter which he had placed on the bedside table ready to hand, and lit the two candles on the candlestick, cursing under his breath that the castle had no electric light.
He slipped into his trousers and jumper, grasped the candlestick and stepped out into the corridor. He was involuntarily drawn to Lester's room.
"I'm just checking briefly on him," Ryan told himself as he carefully opened the door.
Cutter wanted to run away from the cruel voice telling him he was an ungrateful prat.
"If you don't change your behaviour and reconcile with your friend something bad will happen and you will regret it bitterly," the voice of the white bearded man thundered in his ears.
Then blood-thirsty creatures closed in on Stephen, a shot rang through the air and everything faded to black.
Cutter still shivered in fright as he came to awareness.
Beside his bed kneeled Ryan, shaking him gently.
"Lester is ill. He has chills and fever. We have to get a doctor."
Cutter dressed hurriedly and followed Ryan to Lester's room. Both men were surprised as Nikolaus came towards them on the corridor, a steaming mug in his hand.
"Wha...?" Lester gasped out, trying to shake the cobwebs from his mind.
"You are ill," Nikolaus said softly.
"I'm not," Lester muttered indignantly and shivered.
But Nikolaus wasn't persuaded by Lester's answer. "Drink this!" he ordered.
Ryan knitted his brow. Lester needed a doctor and not tea. Yet Nikolaus' look silenced his protest before he could voice it. With the sudden secure feeling that the man knew what to do, and that he could trust him, Ryan let him continue.
Lester pressed his lips together. He had no intention of drinking the vile smelling contents of the mug. But now, compelled by some force, he opened his mouth as Nikolaus set the mug at his lips and obediantly swallowed the slightly bitter mixture.
"The herbal tea will help against the fever and the cold, but you have to keep him warm. The best way is to share body heat. With a little luck he will be all right again tomorrow."
"If you think so." Without giving it a second thought, Cutter prepared himself to get into bed next to Lester. He was dead tired and just wanted to drop off. Any halfway comfortable place would do right now. And Lester's big bed looked very comfortable.
"Naked. You have to be naked to make the heat exchange most effective," Nikolaus declared brisk.
Ryan's eyebrow nearly shot up to his hairline, Cutter stopped in mid-move.
Nikolaus smiled cheerfully. "I will leave you alone now. Have a good night."
After the caretaker had left the room Cutter mumbled. "Honestly! If I didn't know better I almost would assume it's a ploy to get us naked into his bed."
Ryan grinned and quickly discarded his clothes before he snuggled up against Lester.
"What are you doing in my bed?" Lester asked drowsily, his pupils dilated like he was drugged.
"Keeping you warm."
"How nice." With a goofy grin Lester inhaled the musky smell of Ryan and drifted into sleep.
Cutter hesitated briefly before he undressed and crawled into bed to warm Lester from the other side.
"Would you really mind, if it was just a ploy?" Ryan asked quietly before he closed his eyes.
Ryan's breath evened out some minutes later, but Cutter lay awake a while longer and pondered over Ryan's words. Feeling Lester's skin hot against his own was making sleep no longer seeming so important.
"Hello, Abby."
Abby turned around quickly, her mouth pinched and her eyes filled with rage.
"Where were you? Where were you when I needed you?" she yelled accusingly at the white-bearded man. "Everything went to shit after my real dad died."
"I can't bring back the dead, Abby," he said, softly.
Sobbing, Abby sank down onto the cold stone floor. "But that was my only wish for years," she wept.
"I know, but that was a wish I couldn't fulfill. Is that why you gave up on me when you were seven?"
"You weren't there when I needed you. No one was." Abby whispered sadly.
"But I'm here now, Abby. And this time I can do something for you."
Happiness spread through Abby’s body and a smile flitted across her face in sleep as Father Christmas took her on a trip through time, showing her what the future had in store for her if she was brave enough to open her heart again.
He was warm and comfortable, stretched out on his right side. It felt as though he was wrapped in the tight embrace of a lovely woman.
Lester realised he was lying naked under a thick duvet in a big four-poster bed with red and white chequered bedclothes. He could vaguely remember going to bed in that antiquated room last night.
It took some minutes longer before he noticed he wasn't alone in the bed and the warm body he’d felt previously wasn't his subconscious telling him how long it had been since he'd got laid, but a real person. A person who just had too many hard edges, too hairy legs and too flat a chest to be a lovely woman.
It had to say something about his current state of mind that he pushed back against that body until he felt more evidence for his assumption. No, definitely not a woman.
Apart from the off-chance he had been kidnapped by some crazy local who wanted him for his own perverse enjoyment, that only left a few men.
Lester hoped it wasn't Connor Temple in the bed with him. He was too young to die by the hand of an angry, kickboxing girl with bad dress sense.
A pleasantly hard cock nestled against Lester's buttocks as the man behind him moved closer and scraped a stubbly cheek over his shoulder. That eliminated the caretaker. The short stubble tickling his skin certainly didn’t match the full beard of their host.
The arm sneaking around his sternum and pulling him back to a broad, well-defined chest was strong, too strong to belong to a skinny twenty-something. So, Ryan or Cutter then.
"It's high time he finally woke up. I was really getting worried."
The Scottish accent was unmistakable. And the voice came from outside the bed. Mystery solved.
Lester was proud of how fast he had found out the truth. Ignoring the vague feeling that there might have been a faster way to find out the identity of the other men in bed with him, Lester snuggled deeper under the duvet and into the warmth Ryan's body provided.
"Scoot over, before I freeze my balls off."
That was definitely an unusual request. He already had a hottie in his bed. He didn't need another one, didn't he?
Lester tentatively cracked an eye open and was confronted with Cutter's lovehandles. Lester found this very surreal. What was Cutter doing naked beside his bed?
He opened the other eye as well and studied the triangular shape of hair below Cutter's bellybutton in fascination. Despite his slight paunch, Cutter still looked good enough to eat.
Flustered, Lester lowered his eyes and that made it even worse. He now was staring directly at Cutter's cock and balls. A nice average cock which just slowly started to raise under Lester's interested look. Just at the right high to...
Bloody hell, what had been in the stuff the caretaker had given him last night?
Cutter moved forward with his hips, the exposed head of his cock pointing right into Lester's face. Startled, Lester jerked back, nearly impaling himself on Ryan's cock.
Lester's eyes fluttered shut as the thick gland pushed between his buttocks before Ryan quickly rolled away.
With a sigh of relief, Cutter climbed into the bed and snuggled up to Lester's front.
Lester yelped when Cutter's cold skin touched him. Then Cutter started to rub his body against him in order to get warm again and Lester couldn't bite back a moan.
As Cutter's hard cock slid along his own erection, heat spread through Lester's body. Hungry for more contact he wrapped his left leg around Cutter's hip and shoved his pelvis forwards.
"Are you all right?" Concerned, Ryan checked Lester for fever.
"Never felt better," Lester answered languorously and sighed happily as Ryan gently caressed his forehead.
"Don't stop. I like it when you touch me," he whispered as Ryan removed his hand.
After a moment's hesitation, Ryan started to fondle Lester's hip and nibble at Lester's shoulder, attacking the tender skin beneath the bladebone with teeth and lips like a starving man.
Lester moaned ecstatically as Ryan's jaw tightened on the skin he had taken between his teeth. Soothing the irritated spot with soft kisses, Ryan marveled at the sight of his mark on Lester's delicate skin. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Lester lay in his arms, aroused and willing, begging for more.
Ryan lips brushed tentatively across the shell of Lester's ear, raising goosebumps on Lester's skin and making him whimper. Lester's soft noises were driving him slowly crazy.
Ryan wasn't sure he could take much more. He was already painfully hard, his balls full and heavy between his legs, ready for release. Sleeping naked in bed with Lester had been a sweet torture.
"I didn't think you were into men, Cutter." Lester panted as Cutter bucked against him.
"I could say the same about you." Cutter pushed his hard dick against Lester's groin, making a point of showing just how much he enjoyed the company of a man.
Unexpectedly, Ryan disentangled himself from Lester and fumbled for something beside the bed.
Triumphantly, he held a small tube in front of Lester's eyes which elicited a strangled groan from Cutter.
'Is that lube? Where did he get it?' Suddenly Lester was wide awake.
"Do you want to be fucked?" Ryan asked hotly against Lester's neck. "I can make it damned good for you."
Lester gulped audibly. He wasn't sure he had heard correctly. The wonderful feeling Cutter provoked as he rubbed himself against Lester's front, and Ryan's solid body against his back, was making thinking difficult.
Then Ryan whispered, "Or do you want to come in my mouth when I suck you off?"
Lester shivered at the picture these words conjured before his inner eye. This must be his lucky day.
With a throaty moan, Ryan shoved his groin against Lester's arse to make him aware how turned on he was, whilst Cutter sensually slid his cock along the underside of Lester's shaft to his perineum.
To his horror, Lester found himself calculating how he could manage to satisfy them both. He never had intended to partake in a threesome, with his employees of all people, but the thought that both men desired him was exhilarating.
"Want you in me. Both of you," he croaked, not sure how they would take his request.
"At once?" Cutter panted and pushed forward until the tip of his cock brushed Lester's anus.
That question addressed such a kinky desire, a flush of arousal raced through Lester's body. When he was younger he had been with a few big men, but two cocks in his arse might be pure heaven, or hell if it turned out it was more as he could take. But that didn't mean he wasn't willing to try. He probably would never have such a opportunity again. People like him didn't get offered sex on a plate by two attractive men every day.
And since his divorce was official he didn't have to feel guilty about finally pursuing that pleasure.
"I'm not sure I can accommodate you both at once. But I want to try," Lester confessed nervously.
"All right. If it really gets too much say ‚Stop!’ and I’ll pull out," Ryan reassured him before he opened the lid of the tube and slicked his fingers.
The first finger slid in easily. Lester had a dreamy smile on his face as another finger joined the first and began gently to rotate inside him. Ryan certainly knew how to do it right.
Cutter had taken Lester's cock in his fist and carefully smeared the pre-come over the tip with his thumb. Unconsciously, Lester started to move his hips, the friction on his cock and the fingers in his arse steadily driving him to the brink.
Heat pooled in his belly and pressure built in his balls. Lester was ready to explode as Cutter relaxed the grip on his shaft. He sobbed in frustration as the stimulation stopped completely, almost at the point of begging.
All at once the digits in his anus scissored and stretched him painfully. Only then did Lester notice that Ryan already had three fingers inside him.
The movement was repeated until Ryan thought Lester was loosened up enough. With a gentle jab against Lester's prostate, Ryan pulled out.
"You are as ready as I can get you this way," he said and started to slick his shaft up just like Cutter had already done.
Lester tried to relax as he grasped his left knee and pulled it to his chest, his body now offering access to both men.
He trembled as he felt Ryan line up behind him. Then Ryan pushed in, in a single long slide.
The burning subsided quickly and just left enough irritation at the verge of his consciousness to make him aware of the throbbing cock inside his arse.
Lester held his breath when Ryan stopped, his cock nearly buried to the hilt. Now it was Cutter's turn.
For a split second Lester was tempted to call it quits as Cutter shuffled closer. Every muscle in his body tightened and he bit his lips.
"Relax," someone ordered softly. Lester wasn't sure who had said it. The blood was rushing in his ears and his heart was beating in a wild staccato.
And then Cutter rammed forwards whilst Ryan withdraw at the same time.
Lester exhaled with relief as Ryan slid out before Cutter breached him. At a slow pace Cutter filled him, the angle just right to scrape against his prostate on the way inside.
Lester tensed as Ryan brushed against his hole again and prepared himself mentally for the double penetration. But also this time one drew back before the other pushed in.
In and out, out and in, Ryan and Cutter were fucking him in a steady rhythm.
Every thought of stopping had left Lester's brain by now. His bent leg started to get numb, still he lay relaxed and pliant on his side whilst both men thrust in his arse in turns from the front and from behind.
Ryan's hand caressed Lester's jaw, his breath hot against Lester's ear, mumbling filthy endearments whilst his shaft slid in until his balls were resting comfortable against Lester's arse.
This time, Ryan remained inside as Cutter pushed forward, trying to force his way into Lester's body.
Lester whimpered as searing pain raced through his arse. It was too much. He was split in half by the pulsing flesh and yet Cutter didn't stop. "Please," he sobbed, hoping that Ryan would understand and pull out. The pain only increased.
Lester floundered with his leg and tried to push Cutter away. But strong hands held him in place and he couldn't do a thing as Cutter pressed his cock head through his hole, stretching him to the limit.
Then something seem to give. The pain faded into the background as Cutter stilled, his cock pressed tightly against Lester's prostate, prompting Lester's body to thrum with pleasure.
Taking a deep breath, Lester got used to the feeling of being filled completely. Every beat of their pulses was reverberating in his guts, every tiny move made his nerves sing with pleasure and faint pain.
He could hear their panting and feel the tremor in their bodies as both men gave him time to adjust. It must cost them dearly not to thrust despite their desperate urge to seek friction.
After a while, Lester tentatively clenched his arse, eliciting a string of curses from Ryan and Cutter.
"You can move."
Lester's words had barely left his mouth when both men started to pound into him. Now it was Lester who began a stream of coarse words.
The exquisite pressure on his prostate, the spikes of pain, the exited noises of his lovers, Cutter twitching inside, hot liquid coating his walls, a hand stroking his cock; everything blended together into a maelstrom of pure bliss, forcing a scream from Lester's throat as he came convulsively.
He knew he should move, should do something. His arm still held his left leg in place, his limbs long gone dead.
Someone undid his cramped fingers and lowered his leg to the mattress. Pins and needles coursed through his body as the blood flow returned.
Lester saw Cutter bending down over him, wiping the sweat from his face whilst someone -Ryan? - cleaned his crevice. When had they pulled out?
Everything was a blur.
Lester closed his eyes in exhaustion and slipped into a state of haze, perceiving the touches and the soft voices through a thick fog until sleep claimed him.
He woke up in Ryan's arms, gently holding him to his chest. Cutter was nowhere to be seen.
Quietly, Lester slipped out of the bed and dressed, glad that Ryan hadn't even stirred as he'd removed himself from his arms.
When the door closed, Ryan folded his arms behind his head and sighed wistfully. At least he had had a peaceful night and a morning full of unbridled ecstasy to remember forever.
Abby was tucking a fir branch into the arch of the front door, while Connor held her on his shoulders. Cutter, whistling the tune of ‚Winter Wonderland’as he walked in, carried a whole armful of branches into the hall, his face flushed from the cold and his eyes radiant with joy.
He faltered for a moment in his steps as he spied Lester on the stairs then greeted him jovially.
"We have fetched some green stuff for Nikolaus. I hope you don't mind that we went without you. Thought you might need the rest."
He fixed Lester with a sly glance. "Do you know if Ryan is already up? We have found some unusual animal tracks in the woods we want to pursue."
Just at that moment, Ryan sauntered down the stairs.
"I'm up and ready, Professor."
Nikolaus emerged from the kitchen with a tray. "But first you must have breakfast," he said and handed everyone a thick cheese sandwich and an apple.
Sure enough, the tracks Cutter, Abby and Connor had found belonged to six young Parahippus who were wandering around the snowy landscape looking a little lost.
Fortunately, the prehistoric horses didn't shy away as Connor and Abby walked closer, enticing them with pieces of apple.
After Lester and Ryan had sacrificed their apples as well, the Parahippus followed Cutter eagerly back to the castle lured by the way he was waving his breakfast apple right in front of their noses.
Before Cutter could pass the entrance gate with his strange entourage, a roaring rang out over the land and scared the horses out of their wits. In wild abandon they raced around the corner.
Cutter looked indecisively after the fleeing animals, aware that he wasn’t carry any weapon to face a dangerous creature. But Connor and Abby were already running after them.
Around the rear of the castle, not far away from the black meteoric boulder a gigantic bear-like creature fought with a smaller spotted creature which had a long powerful jaw.
Abby and Connor stopped in their tracks and walked slowly backwards, hoping the creatures hadn't seen them yet.
"Don't move," Cutter whispered behind them. "Sarkastodons haven't got good eyesight. They mostly perceive moving objects."
"Damn. In case you have a gun hidden somewhere, now would be a good time to tell me," Ryan said quietly as he stopped beside Cutter.
"At least we know now where the anomaly is located," Abby mumbled as she spied the anomaly the moment the Sarkastodon ducked its enormous head.
"There has to be another anomaly. The Parahippus comes from another period than the Sarkastodon," Connor interposed, his eyes carefully observing the area without losing track of the fighting predators.
But the small Parahippus herd seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
"I'd be interested to know why the Hyaenodon hasn't taken flight yet. It's unusual for it to take on such a big opponent. Just look how it’s attacking time and time again, despite its injuries."
"I don't want to spoil your scientific excitement, Cutter, but right now we should be more worried about getting out of harm's way before one of us becomes the next victim once it has finished with that hyaena." Lester had arrived at last and was still panting heavily.
"Oh my God, it’s protecting its cub." Abby cried, shocked. The others had also now seen the young Hyaenodon next to the bear.
Apparently the bear had heard Abby's cry as well. Abby shivered as the small eyes glared viciously in her direction and the massive maw opened in a wild roar.
Just at that moment, the Hyaenodon shot forwards, using the Sarkastodon's distraction.
Its sharp teeth plunged deep into the bear's right side, ripping big junks of fur and skin from its flank and staining the white snow with red.
Crazed with pain and enraged anger, the Sarkastodon tried to shake off its assailant. Its big paw, with a set of sharp claws, only brushed the Hyaenodon's shoulder with the very tip, still it was enough to send the Hyaenodon flying through the air.
Notwithstanding that its flank was tinted with blood, the Hyaenodon instantly picked itself up and attacked again. It managed to tear anew into the bear's flesh and retreated before the deadly claws could reach it again.
Suddenly a snowball flew through the air and hit the bear on its rear.
"Are you crazy," Cutter yelled at Abby but the next snowball was already sailing in the bear's direction.
The bear spun around in confusion, searching for the second attacker and presenting the Hyaenodon with its backside.
Connor and Ryan had picked up snow as well and a hail of snowballs rained down on the bear's back and neck whilst the Hyaenodon dug its teeth into the bear's thick thigh.
The bear twirled around in blind rage as a well-aimed ice ball struck it directly between its eyes.
Lester smiled with satisfaction and snatched the ice ball Cutter had just formed out of his bare hands to target again.
All at once the unexpected happened. The Sarkastodon fled in panic.
An expression of utter amazement on his face, Cutter gazed at the retreating form of the mighty bear until it vanished into the glittering shards.
"Yay!" Connor high-fived Abby cheerfully whilst Cutter clapped Lester excitedly on the shoulder.
The Hyaenodon growled in their direction, grasped its young cautiously with its snout and limped slowly back into the anomaly.
After a short flicker of light, the anomaly closed behind it.
"Is there any chance we can call for back-up from the Germans?" Ryan asked hesitantly. He didn't like the thought of bringing foreign soldiers in but the safety of the team was more important.
Lester tore his eyes away from the black boulder which still fascinated him to answer Ryan's question. "Not without some serious diplomatic consequences. So I would only fall back on that as a last resort."
"So we are on our own?"
"It looks that way. Besides the animals have returned, the anomaly has closed. I dare to suggest the problem is solved." Lester turned to go.
"And if it opens again and something comes through that we can't put to flight with snowballs?"
Lester faltered briefly then walked purposefully away, past Connor's half-finished snowman from the precious day where Cutter, Connor and Abby were even now heaving the head up.
Ryan suspected that Lester was already regretting his impulsive decision to get involved with this project. He certainly already had enough on his plate with the anomalies in England.
His attention turned to his team mates, busy with putting the final touches to the snowman. Ryan snorted as he saw their work. With the red scarf folded like a tie, the snowman reminded a bit of Lester. The snow figure even wore the sour look Lester sported most of the time. Instead a smile, Connor had made a horizontal line out of a branchlet.
"It's the boulder," Cutter said with conviction, three hours later. During that time they had brought back three Hyperodapedons, beaked lizard-faced animals from the Late Triassic period, who wouldn’t do very well in the cold climate. They had also seen four anomalies open and fade away without any visitors.
Tired and chilly, they returned to the castle to warm up at the open fire in the parlour.
Nikolaus had finished decorating the castle. Fir branches were festooned on every entrance and window and a warming soup was simmering in the kitchen under Lester's supervision.
It seemed Nikolaus had given him the choice between helping with the decorating or peeling the turnips. It wasn't hard to guess what Lester had chosen.
Ryan bit back a smile at the sight of a domestic Lester. As he was spooning his soup, he thought he had never tasted anything so good as turnip soup made by Lester, except perhaps tasting Lester himself.
Ryan observed the field thoroughly. While the others had decided to take a nap, Lester had volunteered to watch the meteorite. Currently he was sitting on the black boulder and seemed to to be thinking gloomy thoughts.
Worried, Ryan marched over to him. "Isn't it too frosty to sit here? In this weather you easily can catch a cold. And it isn't safe either to be so close to the boulder. Cutter and Connor still haven't featured out what exactly triggers the anomalies. If a dangerous animals arrives you don't have much to defend yourself with. "
"In the time I've been sitting here two anomalies have opened and closed. No animals have come through. And no, it's not too cold to sit on the stone, mother."
"All right. I get it. Sir? Lest...?" Ryan didn't know how to address Lester properly for the question he had in mind. "Do you regret what happened? This morning in bed?"
Ryan was waiting anxiously for Lester's answer. It might provide the direction for his own future.
"You mean when you and Cutter were tearing me apart?"
As though he’d been struck by a low blow, Ryan gasped for breath. His eyes widened in horror, his mouth gaping, unable to form words.
"Shit. Are you hurt badly?" he managed finally to force out. Nervously running his hand through his hear, Ryan gave Lester a quick once-over as if his injuries would be visible from the outside.
"God, I had no idea. You seemed to be OK afterwards. And you didn't say the safe word. I'm sorry. If I... Damnit, Lester, why didn't you say ‚Stop’. I swear I would have done immediately."
"Ryan! Calm down. It's all right. That was just one of my sarcastic remarks."
But Lester could see that Ryan still wasn't convinced. It seemed his attempt at dry humour had failed thoroughly this time.
"Ryan! Listen to me! I enjoyed it greatly after the initial pain. It was something I had always dreamed of. And you have been fantastic."
Ryan took deep breaths. He still was hugely rattled by Lester's remark.
"Come, sit down with me for a while," Lester said softly. "You look as if you might keel over any moment."
Sighing, Ryan followed Lester's invitation.
The boulder was astonishingly warm for the cold environment, as if it was fed by the heat from the depth of the earth itself.
"It really was great, Ryan," Lester assured him again.
"OK." Ryan carefully scanned Lester's face, making sure Lester wasn't just placating him, before he turned his attention to the field. Lester still hadn't answered his initial question but he wasn't daring to broach the subject again.
Together they watched an anomaly come into existence, glittering like a myriad ice splinters and fade away after some minutes.
"I feel a little disconcerted," Lester confessed unexpectedly. "I still don't know what has compelled me to act on my desires. This morning I wasn't worrying about consequences. But what will happen now? I'm still your boss, after all."
Ryan reached out to Lester and squeezed his shoulder encouragingly.
"I swear, nothing that has happened will have an impact on our working relationship. We are just men who decided to have fun together. I will not respect you any less now. And Cutter... is just Cutter. Wouldn't surprise me if he has already pushed it to the back of his mind, now that he has another riddle on his hands to solve."
Lester exhaled with relief, thankful for Ryan's appreciation of his situation.
In companionable silence, they enjoyed the play of colours on the snow as the sun started setting. A few stray snowflakes floated to earth and melted where they landed on their bodies. And for a short while the outside world ceased to exist.
The pleasant silence at the boulder was broken by a horrible squawking sound. Scanning the area Ryan, discovered Connor and Cutter at the window of the tower with something that looked like ox horns in their hands.
Once more, they placed the drilled tip of the horns at their lips to blow a signal, the tune this time even more horrible than the first.
Looking at his watch, Lester mumbled. "It's probably time for dinner. Let’s return to the castle before we get a headache."
On the tower, Cutter and Connor were still enjoying themselves, charming the strangest sounds out of the blowing horns Nikolaus had given them whilst the evening sun drenched the castle in a bright orange-red.
After a restless night, Ryan blamed the fantastic fish soup with a concoction of peas they’d had for dinner, he climbed quickly out of bed. The fire in the fireplace had gone out and the room was uncomfortable cold. The linen nightshirt Nikolaus had provided, wasn't much protection against the cold air. And his clothes were nowhere to be seen.
Instead a long woollen tunic in blue plus some sort of gigantic boxershorts with a draw string lay on the chest where he had placed his clothes last night.
Cursing Nikolaus for his meddling, he dressed in the strange clothes and went downstairs.
Lester was sitting in the kitchen with Nikolaus, engrossed in a discussion about the cultivation of herb garden whilst he chopped scales from a redfinned perch.
He was also wearing a long tunic, albeit in green, and Ryan had to admit to himself that Lester looked great in it. He also seem to be in a good mood this morning.
"Oh, I see you have found the clothes. I've taken the liberty of washing your old ones before the Twelve Days of Christmas begin. Don't want to attract death, do we?"
Ryan looked in confusion at Nikolaus as an angry outcry rang through the castle. The next moment Abby raced, in a flurry of flowing red fabric, down the stairs into the courtyard.
Her bra in her hand and the rest of her clothes flung over her shoulder she returned, glared briefly at Ryan and ran back up the stairs.
And now, in the courtyards Ryan spied his own clothes, neatly strung up on a laundry line with some other garments, his briefs fluttering in the wind beside a pair of y-front briefs, a jockstrap and a pair of boxer shorts.
Abby and Connor giggled when they started their well-planned attack. Cutter was the first target. Abby hit him straight on the chest with the snowball as he walked through the front door in the yard. Connor at least managed to brush his left ear.
At the next attack, Cutter had ducked, laughing, and the flying snow balls had caught the man standing behind him.
Lester snarled as he removed the snow from his face and shoulder. Just in time, Ryan had taken cover behind the well and was now busy making his own munitions.
Soon the two man joined him and prepared the counter-attack.
Connor cursed at his own stupidity as the snow balls started flying. They had made themselves an easy target on the free area of the courtyard. Whilst Ryan seemed to throw deliberately above their heads and Cutter's snow balls seldom came close enough, Lester was damn good in his aim.
Connor, trying to protect Abby as well as possible and giving her the opportunity to fire back, was soon covered in snow. Already shivering terribly he finally pleaded for peace.
"A senior civil servant doesn't know any mercy, Connor," Lester called back and aimed his next snow ball at Connor's chest.
"Three against two, caught out in the open, is unfair," Abby yelled.
"OK. You can have Cutter."
"Hey! I'm not that bad."
"Ryan, you traitor," Lester called good-naturedly as Ryan changed sides together with Cutter.
"Sorry, sir, but my priority is the safety of the scientific team."
This time, Ryan took accurate aim and Cutter's snow balls were thrown better with a worthwhile target.
With Lester at the point of declaring defeat, having already taken his handkerchief out to use as a white flag, Nikolaus broke the fight up by calling them to lunch.
Laughing and puffing, they shook the snow from their clothes and hurried into the warm dinner hall.
In the afternoon, Ryan found Lester on the meteorite again. It seemed to have become his favourite place.
It had snowed the previous night and any remains of the bloody fight between the two predators had been covered by millions of new snow flakes. Once again, the landscape looked pristine-white and untouched.
"You all right?"
"Never been better. The snow ball fight was fun and lunch was great."
Ryan was delighted to see a real smile on Lester's face. Lester had finally started to enjoy himself.
When an anomaly emerged a few metres ahead, Ryan and Lester didn't take much notice of it. They didn't expect any trouble. Most of the anomalies had closed again after a few minutes, the time too short for an animal to come through. The two predators at once the day before had probably just been bad luck.
But this time some sort of donkey tripped through the shards, licked tentatively at the snow, sneezed, pissed and galloped back.
The next anomaly brought a lamb, who cried desperately for its mother until Ryan went over and pushed it back through the anomaly.
"I'm curious to see what comes next. The Easter Bunny?" Lester remarked dryly as Ryan returned to his side.
His eyes widened as a knee-high rabbit hopped out of a new formed anomaly to his right.
"Fantastic. If you now manage to conjure something big, like a tiger or an elephant, we can go on tour," Ryan quipped.
A creature similar to a snow leopard but a whole lot bigger jumped out of a new anomaly and grabbed the rabbit then ran back into the anomaly with its prey.
Lester and Ryan exchanged a very perplexed look.
"I think we should return before something even bigger appears," Lester said and got up from the meteorite boulder. Ryan, afraid to say something else and give the mysterious powers more ideas, just nodded silently and followed him.
They had only walked a few metres before the snow trembled and a shadow fell over them.
Lester turned around and eyed the unexpected visitor in annoyance.
"Oh no, Mister, you’ll be a good boy and go back through your anomaly like the others. There is no way I'm taking in another one of your sort. Our current guest in England already eats us out of house and home. The expenses for bananas are tremendous."
The wooly mammoth who was swaying its head back and fro whilst Lester spoke, suddenly grasped a load of snow with its trunk. It dumped it on Lester's head before it turned around and ran back down the hill. With a honk of triumph it vanished into an anomaly further down, leaving an irritated Lester and a laughing Ryan behind.
But Ryan's laugh was contagious and soon Lester's lips curved upwards too.
Their good mood held as they returned to the castle and found Cutter and Connor in the kitchen with Nikolaus, flour on their cheeks and noses, and fighting a lost battle against Nikolaus, as they were trying sneaking up to the baking plate full of lovely smelling cookies.
"That's for Christmas Day," Nikolaus grumped and shooed them out of the room.
In the last second, Lester dashed forwards and managed to grasp a handful of cookies, almost burning his hand on the still-hot plate. Under the twinkling eye of Nikolaus he ran out of the kitchen before the door closed behind him with a bang.
Contentedly, Lester stretched out in the parlour in front of the fire place after he had shared his booty with the others and munched a delicious cookie. Sometimes life was really good.
go to part 3