Snow, Twister, and '80s Teen Idol References
by Emily

Summary: The Manning-Sammlers plus one are spending the February vacation in a ski cabin in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (set there, because I've been there). They've rented a cabin with a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom downstairs, and a loft upstairs, in which the four girls sleep. Our story opens the morning after they arrive in New Hampshire.
Rating: PG-13, for implied sex
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even these ideas technically, because I'm feeding off Nicki's challenge.
Author's Notes: Man, this took me forever…Not sure why, except for maybe the fact that it's summer, and this is a winter story, and I, uh, have trouble writing out-of-season stories. Stupid muses, changing with the seasons…Anyway, Marie, there is an insanely obvious shout-out to you and a not-so-obvious shout-out to you in this one (I remembered you posting something about something I included in this story long ago). If you can't find the not-so-obvious one (or if I just hallucinated you posting something about it), I won't count it and put another shout-out in another story. ;)

**********

"Morning, sleepy-head," Grace greeted her as she sat up.

"Morning," Katie yawned cheerfully in reply, tumbling out of her bed in the cabin loft. "Where're Jess and Zoe?" she inquired, picking herself up off the floor.

"Zoe's been up for hours, and Jessie's downstairs having breakfast."

"What time is it?" Katie asked, mostly rhetorically, as she turned towards the clock, stretching her arms above her head.

Katie's pajama top was a little too short (as most of her tops seemed to be), and as she stretched, it rode up, revealing what looked to Grace to be lettering on her back, just above the waistband of her pajama pants. "Hey, Katie, what's on your back?" the girl queried curiously, innocently enough.

Immediately, Katie dropped her arms, and her hands furiously tugged her shirt down as she turned to face Grace. "It's nothing," she insisted.

"Come on; I'm not stupid. What is it? A tattoo? Lemme see." She reached for Katie's shirt, but the other girl pulled away.

"It's nothing, Grace."

"Fine," Grace pouted. "Is it a tattoo?"

"Yes," Katie sighed, hoping that would be enough to satisfy the girl's annoyingly inquisitive nature.

"What's it say?" Grace asked eagerly. "JES forever?" she teased.

Katie rolled her eyes. This girl was never gonna give up. "Grace, please."

"Come on, Katie. What's it say?"

"All right, fine," Katie sighed, knowing that Grace wouldn't stop pestering her until she came out with it. "You tell anyone about this, Manning, and you're dead."

"Swear," Grace said solemnly.

Reluctantly, Katie turned around, lifting up her shirt for Grace to see what was permanently inked on her back. "`jessie's girl'?" Grace read incredulously, as Katie dropped her shirt, turning back to face the other girl.

"I like the song, okay?" Katie deadpanned, looking Grace right in the eye.

"Yeah, right," Grace scoffed. "You expect me to believe that that is a tribute to your undying love for Rick Springfield and not for my stepsister?"

"Fine, you caught me," Katie said, putting her hands up.

"Does Jessie know you have that?"

Katie shook her head. "And if you tell her, I'll kill you."

"I understand."

"Katie, you up yet?" came the voice of Katie's girlfriend from the bottom of the stairs. "I come bearing food."

Katie snapped away from Grace and sat down on her bed. "Oh, good, you are up," Jessie discovered happily, setting a tray on the bed in front of Katie.

"Aw, thanks, Jess," Katie said, touched at the thoughtfulness of her girlfriend.

"It's just cereal, but I know you love Lucky Charms, so…"

"It's great," Katie said, pulling Jessie to sit by her on the bed. "Thank you." She dropped a kiss on the top of Jessie's head and began to eat her breakfast.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone," Grace said, closing her journal and getting up.

"See ya, Grace," Jessie called after her. "So, sleepy-head, you ready to teach me how to snowboard?" She grinned adoringly at the girl beside her, and Katie's heart melted.

"Yeah, sure," Katie said. "I do get to finish breakfast, though, don't I?"

"Well, I suppose," Jessie said, pretending to consider whether or not that was a realistic request. "And while you do, I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Aw, without me?" Katie teased.

Jessie just laughed and kissed Katie's forehead as she stood up. "I think I'll be showering solo for quite some time, especially with my family around."

"Party pooper," Katie pouted, and Jessie grinned.

"Finish that cereal before it gets soggy," she advised, heading down the stairs.

"Whatever you say," Katie returned, turning back to her breakfast.

**********

"Well, that was a bust," Eli commented, on the drive back to the cabin.

"I wouldn't call it a bust, E," Rick said mildly. "We did get a few runs in."

"Daddy, can we rent movies if we're gonna hafta be stuck in the cabin for the rest of the day?" Jessie asked sweetly.

"Sure, honey," Rick replied, taking the next turn into a small plaza containing a grocery store, real estate office, and local video shop.

"Man, what a bogus selection," Eli whined.

"Hey, how about this?" Katie suggested, holding up Jennifer Lopez's Enough.

"Serious?" Jessie questioned.

"What? It's not like there's anything else. And besides, I hear J. Lo gets her ass kicked."

"Whoa, you have some kind of beef with J. Lo?" Eli asked, surprised at the enthusiasm in the girl's voice.

"She was kidding, Eli," Jessie said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I mean, the chick's obnoxious, but I'm not, you know, sadistic. I hear she does some ass-kicking of her own, anyway," Katie added.

"What the hell?" Eli shrugged. "J. Lo's hot enough."

"You ready, kids?" Rick asked.

"Sure, Dad," Jessie said, handing him the video.

Rick paid for the video, and the three kids followed him back out into the blinding snowstorm raging through the mountains of New Hampshire. "You sure you can drive, Daddy?" Jessie worried, trying to peer through the window.

"I'll be fine, sweetie," Rick assured her.

"Okay," Jessie said uncertainly, glancing over at Katie, who gave her what she hoped was a reassuring look.

Fortunately, they arrived back at the cabin all in one piece, to find the Manning women waiting anxiously for them. Lily made a big fuss over everybody, saying how she worried that they had gotten caught in the storm at the mountain—blah, blah, blah. The kids let Rick deal with that and retired into the living room with the video.

"What did you rent?" Grace asked, sitting on the couch with Eli as Jessie put the video in the VCR.

"Enough, you know that J. Lo movie?" Eli said. "It was, like, the only video there."

"Oh, well, better than nothing," Grace said.

"Can I watch?" Zoe piped up.

"Sure, squirt," Eli said, as his younger step-sister took a seat at his feet.

Jessie and Katie settled onto the other couch as the movie started.

"Hey, you know, that Billy Campbell guy is kinda…cute," Katie remarked, during some point of the movie.

"Really?" Grace and Jessie asked at the same time, Jessie throwing her girlfriend a "what the hell" glance.

"Well, I mean, for an old guy."

"I was just gonna say he looks like Rick," Grace continued, and Eli laughed.

"Oh, he does not," Katie argued, and Jessie smiled slyly.

"You think my dad is hot!" she crowed.

"Oh, please," Katie said, rolling her eyes, while the other kids busted up laughing. "If I don't think Billy Campbell looks like your dad, then I can't think you're dad is hot."

"Insane troll logic," Zoe muttered, and four heads turned to look in her direction. [I heart Nicholas Brendon. Plus, this story needed a Buffy shout-out.]

"What?" Grace said, quirking an eyebrow at her sister.

Zoe shook her head. "Nothing."

"Besides," Katie continued, "it's not like I'm interested. He's just…good-looking, you know, for an older guy."

"Yeah, I thought he didn't seem like your type," Eli commented casually.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jessie demanded of her brother, getting somewhat defensive. Eli had been saying ambiguous things like that all weekend, and Jessie was beginning to get suspicious that he knew something about her and Katie—or at least Katie, anyway.

"Geez, Jess, what's the matter?" Katie asked, shooting her girlfriend a look that said, `Chill! He didn't mean anything by it.'

"I just…" Jessie stammered.

"Well, anyway, that's all that I meant. I mean, a guy like this Billy Campbell doesn't seem like Katie's type," Eli shrugged.

"Oh," Jessie said, settling down.

"Why? What did you think I meant?" Eli asked mischievously.

"I didn't know. That's why I asked," Jessie returned curtly, and Eli dropped it.

"Ugh, this kinda sucks," Grace mentioned, a while later.

"Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking," Katie said, shaking her head.

"So we done with this?" Eli asked, picking up the remote for the VCR.

"Clearly," Jessie decided.

"So how'd the snowboarding go?" Grace asked lamely, attempting to make conversation, as they all sat around the tv.

Katie laughed. "It was interesting," she said, grinning at the girl beside her.

"I've never snowboarded before!" Jessie reminded her defensively.

"She was on her ass more than her feet," Eli teased.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "We only got to go for an hour. And somehow, in that hour we were there, you managed to get some chick's phone number."

"I saw you checkin' her out too," Katie whispered into Jessie's ear, causing the younger girl to blush furiously and push Katie away.

"You got a phone number?" Grace demanded, sounding slightly jealous.

"Mm-hmm," Eli said, showing her his left palm, upon which had been scrawled `Marie 293-3354.'

"Well," was all Grace could manage.

"She was pretty," Katie offered, "not at all like the skanks he usually tries to chat up."

"Hey!" Eli said, clearly taking offense to that statement, while his sisters collapsed into giggling.

"Come on, Eli; I've seen you hitting on girls at Booklover's," Katie teased. "This girl, though, was a nice departure from that."

"Fine, whatever," Eli huffed, deciding it was not worth it to continue this conversation, and wondering when his sister's best friend had turned into his fourth sister, and thus coming to the realization that he was horribly outnumbered and hating that fact.

"Maybe we could play a game?" Zoe suggested, after more sitting and staring.

"Sure, squirt," Eli said, and Zoe scampered off to look in the chest of board games.

The devious mind of the youngest member of the Manning-Sammler clan decided Twister would be a fun game for her siblings and Katie to play. She had known for a while about Grace's barely-concealed crush on their stepbrother, and she had also figured that Katie and Jessie were probably more than just best friends. It would be interesting at least to watch them pretend not to be embarrassed by such compromising positions as playing Twister can entail.

"Twister?" Grace said, pulling a disgusted face, when her sister returned to the living room.

"It was the only game," Zoe lied innocently enough. It was time for some action in this boring house. (And not "action" as in the sex sense—Zoe's a kid. "Action" as in the something actually happening sense.)

"I'm in," Katie said, up for anything as always.

As Katie goes, so goes Jessie's nation, so she mumbled her assent to play. Eli rolled his eyes but agreed to join in, leaving only Grace. "I'll spin the thing," she offered.

"No way. I get to spin the thing. You get to play," Zoe insisted, spreading the game on the floor.

"Come on, Grace, what's the big deal?" Katie said encouragingly. "It's something to do besides sit around and stare at each other."

"Fine, whatever," Grace acquiesced.

"Excellent," Zoe grinned.

**********

Twister had started out pretty tame, no big deal, just right foot red, left hand green, no suggestive positions for anyone, and then suddenly, the game took this devious turn, as Grace somehow found herself leaning across Eli's crotch to place her right hand on a yellow circle. She closed her eyes and tried her hardest not to think of how awkward this was, waiting for what seemed like a lifetime for Zoe to call something else.

"Left foot blue," Zoe announced, and Grace realized her leg was tangled up with Katie's, whose arm was in between Jessie's legs.

"Jess, your face is red. Are you okay?" Eli asked suspiciously.

"Yes, fine!" Jessie squeaked.

"Right foot green," Zoe declared.

"Hey, Katie, what's that on your back?" Eli inquired, looking over as Katie's shirt rode up, while she bent over across Jessie and part of Grace's leg.

"Nothing!" Katie insisted, losing her balance and tumbling to the floor, in the meantime trying desperately to tug her shirt down.

Of course, Katie wiping out caused everyone else to fall; Jessie with her face ending up in Katie's lap, and Eli's hands carelessly placed on Grace's chest. "Ew, Eli," Jessie said, picking herself up and realizing that he was practically feeling up their stepsister, "you perv."

Grace blushed practically fuchsia, and Eli quickly and awkwardly removed his hands, sitting up straight and looking away from the girls. "I think that's enough Twister," Jessie decided, getting up.

"Who's up for cards?" Katie suggested, while Grace and Eli continued to refuse to look at anyone.

"I'll go look for some," Zoe offered, realizing that her great idea had kind of ended up a mess.

When Zoe returned, she somehow got the embarrassed stepsiblings to join in the game, taking it upon herself to deal out the cards.

"So what is on your back?" Jessie asked curiously.

"Nothing," Katie insisted, shooting a look at Grace that begged the other girl to keep her mouth shut.

Grace returned a look assuring Katie she would, knowing that Katie would be less than understanding should she happen to open her big mouth.

"But—" Jessie began to protest.

"Katie, your turn," Zoe insisted.

"Okay, squirt," Katie said, looking over her hand, "got any sevens?"

"Go fish," Zoe replied, satisfied.

**********

Grace and Zoe had fallen asleep downstairs, Grace on the big couch in the living room and Zoe on the other bed in Eli's room. Thus, Jessie and Katie ended up having the whole loft to themselves for the night, and as they got ready for bed, both were silently pondering whether to take full advantage of this fortunate happenstance [oh my god. I just used the word `happenstance'], but neither was quite sure how to suggest it to the other.

"You look cute," Katie blurted randomly, as Jessie sat on her bed in her light blue ice cream cone pajamas, brushing her hair out.

"You're just trying to flatter me to get into my pants," Jessie teased.

Katie blushed. "Well? Is it working?" she asked, a mischievous smile spreading across her face as she sat across from Jessie on the bed.

Jessie just laughed, setting the brush down, and leaned forward to kiss her girlfriend. Katie responded enthusiastically, her arms snaking around Jessie's waist to pull her closer. Hands began roaming freely, and Jessie ended up on her back, Katie above her, kissing her way down Jessie's neck as slender fingers began to fumble with the buttons to Jessie's pajama top. "Is this okay?" Katie asked tentatively, suddenly becoming aware of what she was doing.

With the most trusting look Katie had ever seen in anyone's eyes, Jessie nodded.

"I want…to make love to you," Katie confessed haltingly, dropping her head shyly.

Jessie lifted her girlfriend's head and looked directly into her eyes. "I want you to make love to me," Jessie said softly. "Just…go slow, okay?"

"Of course," Katie said lovingly, as she returned to carefully undressing the beautiful girl in front of her.

Once Katie had gotten Jessie's shirt off, Jessie reached up to take Katie's own shirt off, the older girl complying only too willingly.

"You're beautiful," Katie murmured reverently, bending to place a kiss on each of Jessie's breasts. "I love you."

"I love you too," Jessie returned, pulling Katie to slide on top of her.

Both girls gasped at the first contact of bare skin on bare skin, as their lips found each other again. As Katie began to kiss her way down Jessie's jaw line to her neck, Jessie looked over the other girl's shoulder, hoping to see what it was on her back that Katie so desperately hid during Twister.

"Katie," Jessie said, pulling away suddenly, "why is my name tattooed on your back?"

Katie sighed. It was time to come clean. "You remember that week you were in Washington?" When Jessie nodded, she continued, "Well, I was all bummed and mopey without you, and one night, Tad had a party, and I ended up getting really trashed. I somehow found myself at a tattoo parlor with Russell, and in my drunken wisdom, decided to get it permanently stamped on my ass that I belong to you, so you wouldn't ever leave me again." Katie stared at the bedspread, beginning to fidget nervously. "I'm sorry if it freaks you out; I know we're probably both too young for this, but well… I was drunk and really miserable without you, but aside from that I truly believe that my heart will always belong to you. … Are you freaked?"

"No," Jessie replied sincerely, deeply touched by Katie's rambling speech. "It's sweet, really. And here I just thought it was because you love Rick Springfield," she ribbed, smiling adorably.

Katie grinned and kissed her. "Now where was I?" she murmured.

That night, alone in the loft of a New Hampshire ski cabin, Katie and Jessie tenderly made love to each other. It wasn't perfect, and it was slightly awkward at times, as both of them were new to this, but as an experience, it was beautiful and amazing, because they were deeply in love with each other. And as they lay, wound together in each other's arms, both girls knew that there were absolutely no regrets on either side.