Winter Fun
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Paramount owns two of the characters, the rest are mine
as well as the story. I'm doing this for fun not profit.
Winter Fun
It was January on Earth and the Riker family was taking a winter
vacation in Alaska along with Will's sister and her family. It was a
beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the 30's. Knowing they
only had about 6 or 7 hours of daylight, the family was determined to
take advantage of the day.
Will was attempting to teach his 3-year old son, Andy to ski. Deanna
thought Andy was too young, but she knew her argument was falling on
deaf ears especially since he had taught Liz to ski when she was 3.
"Don't worry, Deanna. You know Will won't let Andy get hurt." Carol
said. Carol and Deanna were standing near the bottom of the small
hill where Will was teaching Andy. Both were dressed warmly in
hooded parkas, scarves, mittens, earmuffs, and boots.
"I know. He taught Liz to ski when she was only 3, but that was in a
holosuite with the safeties on."
"True, but she was skiing here when she was 4."
"I know."
Carol smiled. "And the way Will talked, he learned to ski at 3 also
on that very hill." She pointed to the hill where Will was teaching
Andy to ski.
Deanna nodded and started to respond when she was hit in the back
with a snowball. She turned to see where the snowball came from and
spotted 8-year old Liz poking her head out from behind a tree
giggling. She grinned evilly. In the 10 years she and Will had been
married, she had become quite adept in snowball fights. She picked
up a snowball and threw it directly at Liz who barely escaped being
hit in the face with the snowball. Almost immediately, 14-year old
Chloe threw a snowball at her mother. Carol avoided it and threw a
snowball at Chloe hitting her in the shoulder causing Chloe to
squeal. This lead to a very uneven 4 on 2 snowball battle with
Carol's husband, Brad and son, Kenny, Chloe and Liz against Deanna
and Carol.
At the top of the hill, Andy and Will heard the squeals; and when
Andy spotted the snowball fight, he wanted to join in. "Snowball
fight! Can we fight Daddy?"
Will smiled and said. "Sure, I think we should attempt to even up
the sides. We'll go help your mother and Aunt Carol." He picked
Andy up and skied down to where Deanna and Carol were. As soon as he
had his and Andy's skis off, they joined in the fight. Chloe, upon
seeing her father involved in the fight, immediately defected to the
other side.
"Get the defector!" Kenny shouted and Chloe, Kenny, and Brad
immediately started throwing snowballs at Liz who fell in the snow
shortly before she reached the trees where her parents were. Will
ran out to rescue her under cover of snowballs being thrown by Carol
and Deanna. When they made it to safety, Andy threw a snowball at
his sister.
"Hey, I'm on your side now. I defected." She said to her giggling
little brother.
"Hey you guys!" Brad called. "You've got 5, we've only got 3
people. Two of you should sit out"
"I say Uncle Will and Aunt Deanna." Kenny called.
"Like that's fair." Carol called. "We've got a 3-year old and
an 8-
year old. You've got two adults and a 14-year old."
"Kenny, if you want to be a Starfleet officer, you have to learn how
to win when you're outnumbered." Will called. Kenny was in his
first year at Starfleet Academy and had a weekend pass to join his
family.
"Perhaps we should meet under a flag of truce to discuss the rules of
engagement." Brad suggested.
"Agreed." Will called.
"How about Uncle Will and I?" Kenny called.
Will looked at Deanna who smiled. "They're bluffing. They have no
intention of just talking." She said. "They probably think that
Kenny can take you down more easily than Brad or Chloe can."
"I agree. Andy and Liz, start building a pile of snowballs for your
mother and Aunt Carol. When I reach Kenny, I'll yell `now' and all
of you start throwing snowballs at Kenny. When he goes down, we'll
all start toward the other side and nail them."
"Sounds like a plan." Carol said.
As Will and Deanna figured, Kenny, Chloe, and Brad were planning to
attack Will when he reached Kenny. Their plan was to capture Will
and leave the others without their best fighter. They, too, were
building a stockpile of snowballs.
Will and Kenny started walking to the middle of the "battlefield".
When both reached the middle, they both yelled "Now!" Their armies
started throwing snowballs at the enemy. Kenny and Will both
retreated to their side.
Will pulled his "army" behind a larger clump of trees. "I've
got an
idea. I'm going to go around behind them and attempt to take them
down from behind. Deanna, when I say so, you four start across
throwing snowballs as you go. Hopefully, they'll be so concerned
about me that they'll forget about you."
"OK."
"Can I go with you?" Liz asked.
"No, we need them to believe that we have 3 people throwing
snowballs."
"They may suspect something is up. You're our best fighter." Carol
pointed out.
"That's possible, but I know these woods much better than they do and
they won't know which way I'm going."
"So, you think that when they realize that you're not here, they'll
either send someone out or at least keep an eye out for you and
forget about us?" Carol said.
"Exactly." He smiled. "You know, this is fun."
"Yes it is." Carol said. "I'm glad I'm on a team with two Starfleet
officers instead of an Academy cadet."
"First year no less." Deanna added.
"OK, let's get this battle won!" Will said. They all moved out to
their previous position and started throwing the snowballs that Andy
and Liz had stockpiled. "Andy, you keep making snowballs for the
others."
"Aye sir." Andy said with a salute causing the others to laugh.
The battle was on again with both sides taking hits. Will started
his move to the other side. <<Do they realize something is happening?
>> Will asked Deanna.
<<No. They're still firing at us.>>
<<Good.>>
When he reached the other side, he decided to take Kenny out. He
crept up behind Kenny and tackled him. Kenny was able to alert Chloe
and Brad who immediately started pelting Will with snowballs. <<Now!
>> Will called to his team who immediately started running toward
them.
"They're coming!" Chloe yelled turning around to start firing
snowballs at Deanna, Carol, Liz, and Andy.
Brad had just joined back in the battle when he was tackled by Carol
and Liz. Deanna tackled Chloe while Andy ran to help his father with
Kenny.
"We surrender!" Kenny sputtered, his face being pushed into the snow
by Andy.
"Do you all surrender?" Will asked. Chloe and Brad nodded. "Are
they bluffing?" Will asked Deanna.
"Not this time."
Will released Kenny who rolled over breathing heavily. He glared at
Andy who was giggling at Kenny whose face was covered with snow.
Kenny reached up and pulled Andy on to his chest and tickling
him. "They buffing!" Andy yelled.
"No, I'm not!" Kenny said. "Haven't you ever heard the Klingon
proverb `Revenge is a dish best served cold!' I'm getting even with
you for trying to smother me in the snow." Kenny was laughing too.
"You know something Uncle Will?" Chloe said as she watched her
brother and cousin wrestling. "I feel sorry for any ship that
battles the Titan with you in command."
"I agree, but it doesn't seem fair that you had two Starfleet
officers and we had an Academy cadet." Brad said with a smile. "And
as for Deanna's empathic abilities, I'm sure that gave you an
advantage."
"Not to mention the fact that you two can communicate
telepathically." Chloe added.
"You just don't want to admit that we beat you fair and square."
Carol said. "I say we all go in and get some dry clothes on and have
something hot to drink." She got nods all around. When they got
inside the cabin, they wall went to their respective rooms to change
into dry clothes. After they were dry, Will made a fire in the
fireplace while Deanna and Carol made hot chocolate for everyone. As
they sat drinking their hot chocolate and enjoying the warmth of the
fire, all of them realized that nothing was better than the warmth of
family on a cold January day.