Chief it's Cold Outside

…

The bleeping of the alarm made John open his eyes, though in truth he had been well awake at least a minute, or perhaps even two, before the alarm had struck. His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, an ability very near to night vision allowing him to see the full confines of the room.

For most people the Master Bedroom would have been midsized at least, or even by some measurements even a tad small, especially when factoring in the large proportions of the man who occupied it.

Occupied, of course being a tentative word to use. Technically he had owned the house ever since his arrival back into UNSC space and his battle with the Didact, publically a gift from the UEG for services rendered in the defense of humanity, but mostly just served the purposes of ONI to give the Master Chief a permanent residency. An address that the news outlets could quote in order to give credence to the lie that Spartan 117 was, at his core, just a normal human like anyone else.

A sort of "living comfortably in such and such a region in such and such a neighborhood" type deal. It did help that the actually house itself was nestled deep in No Where Alaska. Not so far from civilization that obtaining supplies was any major inconvenience, but far enough away from the normal metropolitan Earth society that nobody from any major media outlet was going to bother to make the trip. Especially without ONI Section Two's expressed written permission.

Even so, John figured that this recent change in fortune, which had caused him to be unofficially exiled out into the hinterlands until UNSC HIGHCOM could figure out just what the hell to do with him and his "partner" as they now liked to call her.

Recalling his actions on Genesis and Meridian, the lengths he was willing to go to in order to get his "partner" back, he supposed he probably couldn't blame them for his unofficial exile. If it were anyone else he would probably have been arrested, or worse. From the look that Admiral Serin Osman gave him, John was sure that she wanted him to be arrested. She was only stopped by the protection of Lord Hood, the fact that declaring the Chief to be dead only to bring him back to life and then press criminal charges against him would be tantamount to political suicide for ONI, and the fact that John, Blue Team, and strangely enough Osiris, were all willing to do a considerable about of lying during the debriefing.

That last factor probably saved his "partner's" life, and already he could feel her stirring in the bed next to him. He felt her roll over. Soft, pale, and smooth arms reached out and encircled his left bicep in a tight embrace, a cheek resting gently on his shoulder as she sleepily scooted closer towards him.

"Shut that damn thing off," Cortana mumbled, referring to the alarm that was still loudly bleeping. He had begun to notice that Cortana was much more prone to cursing when she was sleepy.

John quickly shut off the alarm, and Cortana breathed a sigh of contentment next to him, her heart rate already slowing back down. With the beeping stopped, John could now hear the rattling of the window next to him as the outside wind buffeted violently against the glass. With a single finger he pulled back the curtain just to the right of the bed. It was still well before sunrise, but even in the dark Alaskan night he could still see a wall of white snow tumbling from the heavens.

"It's not still snowing is it?" Cortana mumbled.

"More like a blizzard now."

Cortana groaned deep into his arm, wiping the front of her face on his shirt sleeve. "Why did you have to pick a place to live that only has six hours of sunlight during winter?"

"I didn't exactly pick this place," John deadpanned. "And I was never supposed to live here."

John had not meant it, more than likely did not even realize it, but that last comment sent a wave of guilt over Cortana strong enough to ward off any residual sleep.

If not for her.

Without preamble or comment she untangled herself from John's arm and swung her feet in a slightly less than graceful manner off the bed and onto the floor. "I'll go make us some coffee."

John raised an eyebrow of suspicion. She never usually got up this early. "I can make my own…"

"No," she said hurriedly, standing up quickly as if to cement her decision, wobbling unsteadily on her legs for the first second or two. Balance was still something she was trying to get used to. She stretched her arms high into the air, hearing unappealing cracks in her joints.

Cortana had taken to wearing John's PT uniforms as night shirts to bed, the oversized shirt stretching down past Cortana's knees. The Spartan could not help but let his eyes wander as the black 117 lettering hugged tightly to Cortana's right breast as she stretched, or how her movements lifted the bottom of the shirt up to reveal more of her smooth bare legs.

Cortana noticed John looking and gave him a wink, giggling as an unmistakable rush of color filled his normally pale cheeks. "Let me buy you a coffee, John. My treat."

It was not like any argument against her would work, so he laid back down on the pillow and waited, the smell of coffee filling his nose within five minutes of Cortana departing. She came back with two steaming mugs, John muttering a small thanks as she handed him one and sat back down cross legged on the bed.

"Merry Christmas by the way," she said after taking a small sip.

"It's Christmas?" John asked.

Cortana huffed. "You really don't do holidays well do you?"

"I know the UNSC gives us real turkey roughly the same time every year," he said.

"Wrong holiday," Cortana said, frowning when John made a shrug of indifference. "Well it is Christmas. Any idea how you want to spend it?"

"A run for starters."

"A run?" Cortana said disbelievingly. "Going out for a run in a blizzard is a bit crazy even for you."

"I thought you liked crazy."

Cortana glared at him. "Context is everything." John pretended to ignore her as he took another sip.

"I run every morning. You know that."

"Yes, but Chief it's cold outside."

"Doesn't matter. I've got to go run."

Cortana frowned, staring down into the swirling blackness of her coffee mug.

Then she got an idea. An awful idea. A terrible, wonderful, awful idea.

She set the mug down on the nearest nightstand and slinked over to John, pressing her chest onto his back and wrapping her arms around his chest, moving her lips to within an inch of his ear. "But Chief, it's cold outside."

John recognized the tone, and certainly recognized the body language she was using. He was confident he could resist this new tactic Cortana was using to keep him in bed. Besides, there would be plenty of time for that once he came back from his run.

"I really can't stay."

Cortana pressed herself more firmly up against him. "But Chief, it's cold outside."

"This coffee has been…" he said, setting his mug down next to hers.

She kissed the side of his neck. "I was hoping you'd stay in."

That last move caused a jolt to run through John despite himself. Ever so slightly, he felt his resistance start to wane. "The coffee was very nice…"

Cortana rubbed her hands along his chest, down his arms, and then to his palms. "Just look at your hands, they're already cold as ice."

John gently shook her hands off, making a move to stand up. "You're starting to make me worry."

Cortana placed a gentle pressure on his shoulders, and that little persuasion was all it took to make the Spartan sit back down. The wall of resistance crumbled a bit more. "What exactly is your hurry?" she asked, the full scent of seduction now filling her tone.

"Can I at least but my feet on the floor?"

Cortana answered with another series of light kisses along his neck, bringing her full lips back up to his ear. "Just listen to that storm roar."

"Really it's more like flurries."

Cortana rolled her eyes. "Still, no reason to hurry."

John sighed and picked his coffee back up again. Perhaps he could get away with a compromise. "Maybe just half a mug more."

Cortana grinned in triumph. She bounced off the bed, making sure to sway her hips in an exaggerated fashion as she moved to the nearby dresser and picked up her data pad. John gave her a curious look as Cortana flicked her finger across the datapad's smooth surface. Well, at least he was almost done with his coffee anyway…

Cortana picked up her mug and tilted it over his. "Let me just put some music on," as she began to pour. His mug filled up to over half way again, a smooth mixture of classical music sharply contrasting the sour look he was giving her.

"Do you really think..." John started, but was interrupted as Cortana tilted the mug up to his lips with a single finger.

"You know how bad it is out there."

John grimaced as he took a full sip. "How much sugar did you put into this thing?"

Cortana grinned. She took the mug from him and placed it back down on the nightstand. The idea that he could win this contest of wills was quickly dashed as she straddled his hips, wrapping her arms around his strong neck, and pressing her forehead up against his. Cortana grabbed one of his large hands, and placed it just underneath her breast. She stared into his eyes, here electric blue irises twinkling like starlight.

"There's no reason to go out there," she whispered. John's hand lingered even after she removed hers.

"Cortana, can't you tell…" he started the sentence, but never bothered to finish it, the last barriers of resistance tumbling down with a loud clank.

Cortana pulled back and grinned mischievously. Her hands flew to his collar, and roughly began pulling his clothes off. "I'll just take your shirt." She finished pulling it over his head, laughing lightly at how the static electricity made John's reddish brown hair stand on end. "Your hair looks swell."

Cortana pressed her hands open palmed on his muscular chest, and began pushing him back down into the mattress.

"I ought to say no," he mumbled, even as he allowed her to push him back.

"Hmmm, mind if I move in closer?" she asked, crawling over top of him, her breasts just barely grazing his chest through the shirt as she moved.

Despite himself, John's hands moved to her hips. "At least I can say that I tried."

Cortana grinned as she tucked a strand of dark black hair behind her ear. She started kissing his chest, leaving a trail down to his stomach, hinting with her eyes where she wanted to go next. "Whatever you have to say to help your pride."

Pride.

That one trigger word and the competitive streak within John was revitalized. He didn't care if it meant having to wade chest high in massive snow drifts. There was no way in hell he was going to let Cortana win this little game.

Cortana suddenly found herself off of John and flipped over on her back. The brief thrill she got in thinking that John had decided to take charge of this little encounter quickly dissipated into exasperated disappointment as John left the bed and hurried over to the dresser, throwing on several layers of thermal shirts, coats, and at least three pairs of socks, quickly hiding the Spartan's muscular physique and turning him into some sort of massive rounded monstrosity.

"I simply must go," he said as he put on another layer.

Cortana huffed. "It's cold outside."

"The answer is no."

Cortana moved towards the window and pulled back the curtain. "Chief, it's cold outside."

"It won't be long before I'm back home," John offered, already planning for a much shorter run than usual. The actual time spent outside really didn't matter anymore. It was the principle of the thing.

Cortana watched as a white blanket of ice continued to pour out of the heavens. "Chief, you'll freeze out there."

"I'll grab an extra coat."

"It's up to your knees out there."

John pulled on the last jacket, and was still fiddling with the zipper as he turned around to face her. "Cortana, can't you see…"

John stopped what he was doing immediately.

Cortana sat back on the bed, slowly lifting up the night shirt, legs drifting apart, eyes smoldering with a fire hot enough to burn any ambition John might have had to go outside.

"See?" she asked, parting her legs just a bit wider, the night shirt now pulled well above her waist and hips. "See what you do to me?"

John coughed and cleared his throat, and Cortana bit her bottom lip. He glanced at the window quickly before returning his solid gaze back at Cortana. "Well, it is cold outside."

Cortana grinned impishly from ear to ear. She stretched backwards like a cat and motioned for John to come over with her index finger. As impressive as it had been to see how quickly John had managed to put all those clothes on, it was even more impressive to see just how quickly he took them off.

Of course, Cortana did have her biases.

She yelped as John pushed her back into the mattress, his hips sliding easily between her welcoming legs. Cortana grabbed the back of his neck roughly and pulled him into a fierce, warm kiss.

She broke it off and whispered into his ear.

"I win."

John smiled ever so slightly. "You win." he agreed. Then he whispered into her ear, "But I'm going to make you pay for this."

Cortana dug her nails in his back. "Give it your best shot."

And he did, even as the storm raged on outside, in their bedroom the fire roared.