Welcome to my three day, Christmas in Ju-August, special. Brought to you by DeviantArt artista Dendracia, whose image 'Dead of Winter' provides our cover art today and by our very own Idiosylph whose much beloved story 'The Big Brotherhood Program' remains one of the most lamented incomplete status in the fandom. Thank you, Dendracia, Idiosylph, for the inspiration you so graciously provided. Now... on to the snow- show!

Update: Thanks to Sonar for bringing the unacceptable level of errors in this chapter to my attention. I, in complete seriousness, lift this person up as an example we should all follow. They didn't say a single 'positive' thing. They didn't take a lot of time to write out a 'big' critique. But they did review. Just a single, one line, four word, review that allowed me to make this story a lot better. This is proof that reviewing doesn't have to take up a lot of your time. So please consider doing it more for the stories you read, if you don't already =)

The stack of bills stares him down like an angry bull… or an angry Wolverine. Inevitable, unavoidable, and with a high probability of being very deadly.

Pietro doesn't think this is exaggerating. They're halfway through December, Mystique and Wanda haven't been seen since November, no one in all of Bayville would even consider hiring any of them, and falling softly outside is a foot of snow and counting.

"Yo Pietro. Turn up the heat will you? It's freezing in here, yo!"

Pietro turns. Lance and Todd are home already? He'd been sitting there staring at those bills from hell for a full ten minutes without moving? Yikes. "Can't do that. We have whatever's left in the tank and no way of getting new fuel. The power companies are shutting us off tomorrow."

Lance pulls off his hat and leans around the speedster to snatch the statements from the table. His eyes flick over their contents and he throws them back with an angry huff. "We'll conserve it for as long as we can but I can't see this lasting more than a day, maybe two, even if we don't use anything but the heat."

For once Pietro doesn't object to the rockhead telling them what to do as if Lance were the leader and not him. He's not likely to be too affected; his speed tends to keep him more than warm enough. But like it or not their little band of misfits have become like brothers to him and he has no idea how to keep them safe.

"Well, don't expect me to take these off yo. I don't care if they are wet they're warmer than nothing."

Pietro looks up and takes a second to consider Toad's shivering frame, sopping wet from the walk home through the snow. Without a another second's thought he dashes upstairs and exchanges Todd's damp overcoat with his own dry one before the younger mutant can take another step into the room. No sense in getting the furniture wet.

"Hey! Oh. Thanks yo!"

OoO

Lance smiles at Pietro's rare show of concern for someone other than himself, but pulls him aside as they watch their youngest member bury himself a blanket. "That's not going to be enough Piet, and you know it. He was getting sluggish just on the way home from school. What's going to happen when he falls asleep?"

Pietro yanks his arm away, obviously irritated at being caught out in his good deed. "Don't worry about. I'll snag a bunch of those hand warmers. They kept him active enough that one time he went after Wanda, member?"

Lance looks at him with a calculating eye, trying to figure out the logistics on the go. There's more than just the cold that they'll have to beat if they want to survive this winter as a team. "Ok. Get some more blankets as well. But not from Bayville. I don't want the police blaming us just because we have a bad rep."

"Even though this time it is us?" Pietro laughs.

"Especially because this time it is us. We need their stuff more than the stores need our nonexistant cash."

"No argument here. Be back in thirty. Bye."

He's gone before Lance can do more than blink; half blink anyway. Shaking his head he pokes his head into the kitchen.

"Hey Freddy. What's the situation in here?"

Freddy turns with a small stack of freezer meal boxes in his arms. "Not good."

Lance frowns. "Is that all we have?"

"Plus Toad's bugs."

Lance wrinkles his nose at the mention of Todd's basement aquarium filled with compost and a self propagating supply of miscellaneous crawlies. "Well at least we can take what we need on this front. Feel like dumpster diving or babysitting? I don't think it's a good idea to let Toad-boy stay here by himself."

"I will go."

"K. Remember to check out the groceries first for expired boxes and cans. I want to avoid eating actual garbage for as long as possible."

Freddy frowns. "Why not just take what we need from the shelves?"

Lance shakes his head. "If the cops come down on us they'll find out Mystique isn't here. I can't let us get separated. Who knows what'd happen to us?"

Freddy doesn't say another word, just pulls on his tattered slicker over his sweater and wraps a large scarf around his neck as a replacement for his lack of a real coat.

Lance stands at the window to watch him bulldoze through the drifts towards town, and then turns back to the remaining brotherhood.

Todd has a cartoon on, South Park, but Lance can tell he's only half watching it. His eyes are partially closed and the remote dangles limply in his grasp as if the amphibious mutant is about to dive into slumberland at any moment. This had been happening more and more often as they'd decreased the heat, or rather, simply hadn't increased it despite the colder weather, in order to conserve energy. Lance collapses on the couch and throws an arm around the kid. Todd unconsciously leans into the warmth, blinking lazily.

Lance doesn't move when a gust of freezing air announces Pietro's return. He doesn't so much as shift from Todd's side until the speedster returns from a tour of their bedrooms to drop off the blankets and drops a pile of handwarmers on the table.

"Sorry I took so long-"

Lance glances at his watch. It's been twenty-five minutes.

"I went all the way to Port Washington and it wasn't frozen enough, believe it or not, to cut across the bay. Here."

A dozen opened and ready warmers are shoved into his hands. He tucks them around the sleepy Todd and gets up, stretching. "You see Freddy on your way back?"

"Uh-uh. What's he doing?"

"Getting us some supplies of the edible nature."

"Right. See ya for dinner."

And he's gone again. Whatever. Not to say that either of them are exactly easygoing to be around but the remaining Maximoff is at least tolerable when there's trouble to keep him focused. Wanda now; Lance snorts. Wherever she'd taken off to, just before Mystique left to track her down- Well let's just say she is going to be getting some words from him if she returns, hex bolts or no hex bolts.

"Yo Lance? Pietro? Freddy?"

Todd. Good! He's alert again. Lance returns to the living room.

"Hey Toad. You wanna get us dinner going?"

"Sure, Yo."

Todd throws off the blanket and wastes no time in tucking the assorted handwarmers into every available pocket and sticking place before hopping into the kitchen. Lance ignores the banging and clanging in favor of fetching his copy of the school blueprints from his room. After tonight it would be better if Toad simply doesn't leave the school. It'll be warmer there than here and there's still a week till break. Hopefully their missing sister or leader will be back by then. Either will do. Wanda can probably hex the heater into working and Mystique, the *#$*h, can actually pay the bills.

After dinner none of the boys feel much like staying up so soon the house is both dark and silent. Outside, the snow finally stops but the temperature plunges. Around midnight a shrill wine goes unnoticed by the sleeping occupants. The heater jugs on empty for a moment and dies. By morning the frost is creeping over the inside windows.

Hmmm... How are they going to get out of this one? And is anyone in the northern hemisphere jealous? (of the snow not the lack of heat)