Title: Snow
Author: Ardvari
Feedback address: ardvari@hotmail.com
Date in Calendar: 6 December 2007
Fandom: CSI
Pairing: Sara/Sofia
Rating: PG
Word Count: 863
Summary: Snow makes everything magical, even in Las Vegas.
Advertisement: Part of the FSAC:DW07

Disclaimer: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigators," the characters, and situations depicted are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Alliance Atlantis, and CBS Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. This site is in no way affiliated with "CSI: Crime Scene Investigators," CBS, or any representatives of Louise Lombard, Jorja Fox, or Marg Helgenberger.

The conference was almost over, just one more day in the stuffy lecture theater that gave her headaches. It wasn't a good conference, not one of those that made her want to stay longer and learn more because the speakers were generally ill prepared and boring.

Burying her hands in the pockets of her coat, walked outside and gasped a little at the falling snow. The ground was white and the sky a dark and stormy grey, thick flakes tumbling on the light breeze.

Sofia stood by the iron gates, huddled under a bright red umbrella that made Sara giggle as she walked closer. Snowflakes caught in her hair and on her eyelashes as she stopped in front of Sofia and smiled.

"You're the only one I know that uses an umbrella when it snows." she observed and watched a playful smile tug on Sofia's lips.

She didn't reply, instead reached out and pulled Sara towards her and under the umbrella. They stood close for a moment, not an inch of space between their coats, blue eyes burning into brown ones when Sofia entwined her gloved fingers with Sara's.

"Wanna go for a walk?" she asked and Sara nodded. She loved snow, the quiet peacefulness that came with it, the way it sounded when it rustled through tree branches and landed on frozen blades of grass.

A hush seemed to have fallen over the city, most people staying inside and wondering how much snow would fall, if it would warm up and rain later on, turning everything into a white sheet of ice.

With their hands clasped they walked around slippery street corners, across the street and stopped to get hot apple cider at the coffee shop before they walked up to the park. It was nearly empty, a couple of kids running down the hill, squealing and kicking up snow happily.

Sara dragged her feet through the snow, watched as it piled on her shoes, little hills of white fluffiness on the toes of her boots.

"I used to think snow must taste like icing sugar when I was little. I was a little disappointed when I found out it didn't really taste like anything." she mused, squeezed Sofia's hand gently and took a sip of her cider.

They wiped the snow off of one of the green park benches and sat down, listened to the snow fall onto the red umbrella. Sofia reached out her hand, collected a couple of snowflakes on her glove and studied the shapes. It was fascinating, really, the way no snowflake looked like the other, little stars and squares and round things with spikes.

Sara leaned over, watched the flakes melt and grinned. Finally she got up, ducked out from underneath the umbrella and tilted her head back, catching snow on her tongue, little cool pinpricks that melted quickly. She swallowed and smiled, eyes bright as she looked down at Sofia.

"I really miss snow in Vegas." she said, stretched her arms to her sides and took a deep breath, eyes fluttering shut.

"I can tell." Sofia took another sip of her cider, watched Sara as she unraveled in front of her, as all the stress and the worry tumbled off of her the way the snowflakes tumbled off the shoulders of her jacket.

Sofia stretched her feet, sighed contently and finally closed the umbrella, squinting at Sara through the falling snow. Her empty cup landed in the garbage can beside the bench and she got up, stood next to Sara and smiled at her before she, too tilted her head back and stuck out her tongue to collect snow on it.

They stood like that for long moments, the snow falling heavier around them, their breath billowing out on the soft breeze. Snow collected between their scarves and coats, in the creases of their pants and on their hair and they giggled carelessly, leaning into each other with their tongues sticking out and their heads tilted back.

Finally Sofia opened her eyes, wrapped her arms around Sara and kissed her lips, moist from the snow that had melted there and a bit cool, as if she had eaten ice cream.

For a while they didn't care that they were in public, that the occasional person stopped and stared, brow furrowed as the two women stood kissing in the middle of the park while the snow fell around them. They didn't care that their toes were cold despite the woolen socks and that the snow melted at the back of their necks and trickled into their collars.

When Sara finally broke the kiss, her eyes bright and deep and her cheeks flushed, they grinned at each other and shivered. The light was fading now, twilight settling over the city and they grabbed the umbrella off the bench, Sofia using it as a walking stick as they slowly wandered towards the hotel with their hands still locked together.

By the brightly lit entrance, they watched the streetlights come on and Sara wrapped an arm around Sofia, pulling her closer as they stood for a moment longer and memorized the snow and the feel of each other pressed together.