A/N: Story based on real life events - my own dad was one of the angels on snowmobiles that rescued an elderly couple that were stranded in weather no higher than -15 degrees celcius . My dad, when I was maybe nine years old had gone out with friends to go extreme snowmobiling when they took an alternate route coming back and had happened upon a vehicle that got stuck in the mud and snow. The husband according to my dad was diabetic and had been without his insulin for 48 hours. I don't know if he was hallucinating when he saw my dad and his friends or what but he'd told the newspaper reporter from his hospital bed that my dad and his friends had wings, thus the name "Angels on Snowmobiles". My dad and his friends raced against the impending darkness to get them medical attention. Both survived thank goodness.

Alan inhaled the frigid Montana air deeply. He could smell the weather changing, making a bet with one of his buddies from college that they'd have fresh powder to play in by morning. He and his four friends had been itching to leave relative civilization and get out to the mountains. Big Sky country as they'd heard locals refer to the Montana wilderness. Alan knew it to be true too. Since he'd turned seventeen, this cabin had been a place he'd gone to every year. Hard to believe that it'd only been two years since he'd stumbled on these stomping grounds.

Maybe stumbling wasn't the right word for it. More like dragged kicking and screaming by his best friend.

Everett hadn't wanted to go with his family on the annual family skiing trip without someone he could talk on level playing ground. Being the youngest and a boy out of seven older sisters, Everett had practically threatened life and limb if Alan didn't come along. And as it turned out, it'd been for the best. Alan was turned onto the Montana wilderness and the freedom that city life didn't cut. Yeah, living on an island in the middle of nowhere was reclusive, but somehow this felt like a reclusiveness of another nature.

The locals around Montana, at least the ones that Alan interacted with had been welcoming, offering hospitality without batting an eye. But most of the locals valued their privacy. Having decided to vacation in a small town, without a stop light for miles around. Alan took it upon himself to explore. He stepped out of the small cabin, nestled in the back woods of someone's property and enjoyed the view. At nineteen, there were still things his eyes hadn't seen. One of which was the night sky during winter.

Lifting his gaze towards the heavens, Alan wrapped his arms around himself for warmth, but he was taken captive by the view. He could see the milky way and from his island home, sure he could see it there…but it just seemed different here.

Alan faintly heard the swish sound of his snow pants rub together as he walked out towards the fence that separated the property from rental to owned. Once at the fence, Alan pulled himself up onto the fence and simply sat in the dark, eyes locked on the stars. He didn't hear Everett come out and despite being taken by surprise, he didn't jump.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Everett asked softly.

"Yeah, it's like we have to whisper." Alan replied, voice equally as soft as Everett's. "I still can't believe you didn't want to spend two weeks out here with your family that time two years ago, I'd give my eye teeth for views like this."

"Yeah well if you had to be holed up in a cabin with seven girls for two weeks I think you'd feel your masculinity run and hide." Everett said with an eye roll.

"I have four older brothers. Isn't that bad enough?" Alan asked with an amused chuckle. "Your mom is a girl, so technically you spent two weeks with eight girls."

"I have seven…older…sisters! Seven. And no my mom is my mom, she doesn't count as a girl, she's a woman that is twenty nine years older than me." Everett argued.

"You know if you say that a little louder perhaps your mom will come out with her wooden spoon." Alan warned. The house that was owned just on the other side of the fence belonged to Everett's parents and Everett convinced his parents to let him and his friends that he'd invited this year to use the cabin in the back of the property instead of having sixteen people in the house. Four of Everett's sisters brought their husbands along and that was a little much on his parent's hospitality.

Everett curled his lip at the thought but didn't say anything further.

"So, we're heading out at first light to catch some powder?" Alan asked with raised eyebrows. He was hoping to get out there and get some fresh snow before it got flattened by other snowboarders.

"After breakfast, we will. Mom is kind of insisting to feed us all before we go." Everett said with a shrug. "Aren't you cold?"

"No, should I be?" Alan asked. He was sitting outside with no coat of any kind. He was wearing his thermal shirt under his t-shirt and he felt fine.

"It's freezing out here! Get inside before you get sick!" Everett chastised before ushering his friend in.

"Yes, mom!" Alan teasingly called over his shoulder as he listened to Everett and was made to go back in where it was warm.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

The following morning, Alan and Everett set out together on one snow mobile while the others followed. Brenden was on a four-wheeler, hauling all their gear that they couldn't fit on the back of their snow mobiles. Quinn and Carl rode another snow mobile. It was barely sun up. The boys had set out with full stomachs after a five am wake up call to get breakfast while it was hot.

Alan propped his chin on Everett's shoulder, trying his absolute best to annoy Everett so he could drive. Everett proved to have the patience of a saint, either that or he legitimately didn't feel Alan intentionally trying to dig his chin into his shoulder. But by the time they stopped for a pit stop, Alan didn't give a flying leap whether he drove or not. He was awestruck at the sheer beauty of the Montana wilderness.

A few minutes of walking around to stretch their legs, the boys resumed their adventure. They hadn't been traveling any more than twenty minutes when Alan felt a niggling thought and he prodded Everett in the ribs to get him to slow down.

"What is it?" Everett asked after lifting the visor of his helmet after slowing to a crawl so he could hear his friend. "You shouldn't have to go again!"

"No, just…humor me." Alan replied after lifting his own visor and telling Everett to go off the trail they were following and go up an old logging road that looked like it hadn't gotten any use since the snow fell. Everett shook his head, but followed Alan's direction. Their friends seemed to detect the change in plan and they stayed close to the lead snow craft. Alan convinced Everett to stay on course even when his friend wanted to turn around and go back the way they'd intended. They drove on, traveling up the logging road, following each switchback diligently. They continued until the sun started to drop behind the clouds and it started getting dark.

"We need to go back! We've been at this for hours and we've just wasted a bunch of fuel!" Everett yelled over the roar of the snow mobile. Alan shook his head no at Everett when his friend looked back but kept going higher.

It was another few minutes of travel before they came upon a four-wheel drive jeep. It appeared to be stuck in the snow. Alan tapped Everett on the shoulder signaling for him to stop and when his friend had, Alan was the first to disembark the snow mobile.

"Hey! Alan, what are you doing?" Everett asked as he raised his visor and a puff of steam followed his exclamation.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Alan asked without lifting the visor of his helmet. He walked through the snow, approaching the vehicle slowly.

Once he'd made it to the vehicle, Alan could see that the vehicle wasn't stuck in the snow, it got mired into the mud beneath the snow and was buried almost to its axel in mud. Using his gloved hand, Alan raised the visor of his helmet and peered into the vehicle. In it was an older man and his wife. They weren't dressed for the extreme drop in the temperature and it became obvious to Alan within the span of three seconds that something was seriously wrong. Alan was hesitant to open the jeep door, fearing what he'd find. But his instincts screamed at him to check them.

Reaching out, Alan lifted the handle and opened the door. It was partially frozen shut and Alan had to give it a good hard yank before it opened. Once the door was opened, Alan pulled off one of his gloves and proceeded to check the man's pulse. He counted in his head and after he'd checked he concluded the man was hypothermic. He tried to rouse than man, but the guy slurred before leaning away from Alan. Alan reached across the man and shook the woman's arm and she came awake slowly.

"Ma'am are you okay?" Alan asked as he looked at her eyes. She too appeared sluggish and the shivering told Alan she too was hypothermic. "Are you okay?"

"Cold…cold." The woman mumbled, making Alan jump into action.

The nineteen-year-old turned to his friends and called for them to come closer. Once gathered, Alan insisted they try to help.

"Carl, I need you and Quinn to try to dig this jeep out. Brenden I need you to try to make something warm for them to drink, dig out our Sterno cans and make some hot chocolate or coffee. Everett, help me try to wake them up!" With their orders given, each boy did their job assigned to them. Alan and Everett both focused on trying to wake the couple, helping them from sit up in the jeep after rousing them and making sure they were awake and not hurt. The man was a lot more difficult to rouse and his wife mumbled something about diabetes. Then it occurred to Alan that the man needed some serious medical attention. He asked the woman about her husband's diabetes, trying to keep her talking and learned that she and her husband had gone for a drive only to be gone a few hours and had been out there for almost 48 hours. Her husband's medicines were at home. With that knowledge, Alan wracked his brain for foods they had that would do good to raise the husband's blood sugars enough to keep him from going into shock but not so sugary that it'd make his sugars soar through the roof. He tried to remember what Everett's mom packed for their lunch and recalled that eggs were full of protein and that Everett's mom hard boiled 6 eggs for them. He had raisins in his bag though they were mixed with almonds and cranberries. Looking back towards the bag that Brenden was digging in, told Alan where they'd stored their food and he ran back and started digging for their lunch bag.

Once he had their food bag in hand, Alan sprinted back as fast as he could through thigh deep snow. He came back to the jeep and patted none too gently on the husband's chest, providing enough irritant to rouse him. Alan had already peeled the egg by this time and held it to the husband's mouth after getting a mumbled confirmation from the wife that he loved boiled eggs. The husband was resistive for a few moments, but he finally took a bite of the egg and chewed slowly. Alan one by one gave the husband another egg until the man came back down to earth, aware enough to know they were there to help them.

Brenden came over with a thermos, heated coffee steaming in the cold air. He poured the couple: George and Betty small cups of coffee and made sure they drank it all. Alan and Everett fed them, making sure to keep them talking while Carl and Quinn focused on trying to dig the jeep out. After a few long minutes, Carl broke the news that the jeep was stuck until the spring thaw when the mud loosened.

"So how are we going to get them out?" Everett asked as he pondered rescuing the couple.

"They're going to have to ride with us." Alan said with a no nonsense tone. "We can't leave them here. They'll freeze before anyone can get up here."

"But…" Everett began to argue before Alan cut him off.

"George will ride with us, he can ride behind you but I'll sit behind him. Our body heat should offer some warmth and we'll see if we can get down the mountain quickly but safely. Betty can ride between Quinn and Carl." Alan said even as he dug into one of their packs and grabbed the first aid kit and retrieved the space blankets. It was a Mylar space blanket, but it'd do good to reflect the body heat back at George and Betty. "Let's go before it gets much darker."

Alan took off his helmet and offered it to George, grabbing his snowboarding helmet and goggles and putting it on in place of the snow mobile helmet. Carl did the same for Betty and before long they were on their way down the mountain.

They rode down with two extra passengers and when they got to the house where Everett's family lived, they ushered the older couple up the steps and into the warm interior. An ambulance was called and after checking the couple for hypothermia, and checking George's blood sugar they were whisked away to the hospital. Alan and his friends were rewarded with a hot meal by Everett's family and a word of a job well done. The following morning, Alan was woken up by a text message from Scott.

Scott: Looks like you and your friends made the morning paper Al!

Alan tapped the link that was attached by Scott and he started to read the newspaper article titled "Angels on Snowmobiles"

A Montana couple is owing their rescue from one of the local mountain ranges to a group of snowmobile riders that happened upon them. George and Betty Sandich of Great Falls told us that they'd gone on an afternoon drive with the intent to go sightseeing and be back a few hours later. They'd gone up a mountain range that hadn't had a lot of snow on it and after following the trail a distance, got stuck in the mud. Having been forced to stay the night, they soon discovered it'd snowed overnight. George, a diabetic cannot be without his medicine or food for long lest that have ramifications against his blood sugar. Betty had a couple of sugar free candies in her purse but it wasn't enough to sustain George. Having spent around 48 hours in the wilderness, without heat or a way to come off the mountain range, the couple new they were in trouble.

Enter the five friends that were heading to the neighboring range for some snowboarding. Alan Tracy (19), convinced the driver of the snowmobile they were on to change course and head up the range where George and Betty would later be found. Everett Versailles (20), was the driver of that snow mobile that followed his friend's request. With them was Brenden Wiles (19), Carl Nesbitt (20) and Quinn Parks (19). They sped up the roadway until discovering the Sandich's stuck vehicle. Per Everett, Alan went to inspect the vehicle and was the one that discovered the couple half frozen and he'd rounded up the supplies necessary to aid them.

George Sandich said he'd fallen asleep which he knew was bad. He's had diabetes since he was a young man and so he knows how serious his care is. He was awoken by an angel wearing a snow mobile helmet and given food and drink to warm up and raise his lowered blood sugar levels, he and his wife were later rescued by the same angel and his group and brought down the mountainside where they were retrieved by an ambulance and taken to the hospital for treatment.

George and Betty Sandich wish to extend their most heartfelt thanks to the Angels on Snowmobiles.

Alan blushed as he read and re-read the article. He wasn't any angel, far from it in fact. He was a Thunderbird and whether he was in uniform or not, saving lives was his thing and he'd do it again. Until the Thunderbirds disbanded or he breathed his last breath, he'd always be out there saving the lives of others.

2nd A/N: Hope ya'll enjoyed the story, it was written on a whim and I also wanted to let ya'l know that i'm currently working on an update for both Rising From The Ashes and Never Look Back - Belonging. I apologize for how long it's taking to get an update on those.

Reviews are appreciated and keep in mind I will delete flames or insulting reviews to my writing. Please keep reviews to constructive criticism if you have to offer a criticism

Any likenesses to people, places or things are unintended and as this is unbeta'd all mistakes are mine.