Snips and Snails and Rattlesnake Tails
 

Cold. So cold. Biting, searing cold, cutting straight through flesh and blood to bone and engulfing everything. It was impossible to move, and the plane was just wreckage now, sinking into the darkness just beyond the ice shelf. Ice and icy water ripped away body heat and numbed everything, forcing bodily functions to shut down--

Hillary gasped and sat up, clutching her electric blanket tighter around her. When she realized where she was, she relaxed slightly. That was the third nightmare this week, and she had no idea where they were coming from.

Lizzy was still awake in the main room of their apartment, tinkering with the fridge to get it to cool down further. Their food was fine, so far, but the fridge needed to be colder.

Besides which, she wanted to make sure Hillary was okay. Lizzy had had nightmares her whole life, things she'd never seen or experienced, but Hillary wasn't used to the odd sensations, and Lizzy was maybe a bit protective.

After a few moments of just huddling under the self-warming blanket, Hillary slipped out of bed and padded out into the main room. Her thin tank and shorts did nothing to hide the copper-colored scales across her shoulders and down her hips.

"Hey," she said as she passed Lizzy. She headed for the stove; it seemed like some hot sleepy tea was in order.

"Rough night?" Lizzy asked, glancing over at her before going back to poking at the innards of the fridge. She muttered a little to herself as she worked.

"Yeah," Hillary said as she waited for the water to boil. "Another nightmare. Freezing to death."

"Yikes." Lizzy shivered a bit. "That sounds so less than pleasant I don't even want to think about it." She kicked the fridge and grinned when it groaned a little and then settled into making the inside colder. "Another round won."

"Beat it into submission again?" Hillary asked, grinning a bit. She got down a mug and plunked some tea leaves into it.

"Yup, should start working better now." Lizzy grinned smugly. "For a while, anyway. Until the next battle."

"The never-ending war," Hillary teased. She sat down near the stove, basking a bit in the heat from the kettle and burner.

Lizzy chuckled and set the fridge back to rights before getting some water.

"So, planning to go back to sleep or are you going to try and stay up the rest of the night?"

"I'm not sure," Hillary said as she watched the kettle. "I'm hoping the sleepy tea will knock me out until morning. I can sleep in tomorrow, I'm not working until two."

"Nice." Lizzy shrugged. "Well, I'll be up for a little bit. I don't have work for the next few days, so I'm just trying to make sure everything is still working."

"Alright," Hillary said. She stretched a bit and absently rubbed some of the scales on her thigh. It was getting close to shedding time again, and she was starting to get a bit tight and itchy.

Lizzy pulled over her iPod to flip through her music and see if she needed to update it again yet, glancing at the kettle when it started to whistle. She was starting to debate some sleepy tea for herself.

Hillary pulled the kettle off the stove when it started to whistle, turned off the burner, and poured the hot water into her mug. There was still plenty left in the kettle, and she put it back onto a cool burner.

Lizzy shrugged and grabbed the vanilla mint. Not quite sleepy tea, but still relaxing tea. And she figured she might as well.

"So, you work at two tomorrow. Grab coffee on the way and I'll walk you there and then go see if there's anything promising to salvage?"

"Sounds like a plan," Hillary said, nodding. She grinned. "The fall collection is finally coming in, so I have an excuse to wear longer sleeves again without looking like a lunatic."

Lizzy snorted. "Yeah, that'll be nice for you. Less weird looks is always a good thing."

"No kidding," Hillary said. She stretched a bit and scratched at her scales again. "Couple more days, and I'm going to need to start soaking in the big tub again. Almost time to shed."

"I'll double check to make sure it's still good to go," Lizzy said, adding that to her list. "Anything else you need me to do or get or anything?"

"Not that I can think of right now," Hillary replied. "I'll let you know if something comes up." Finally, she strained her tea and took a sip. She sighed softly as the warmth seeped into her.

"Alright." Lizzy sipped at her own tea, not even bothering to wait for it to cool. She didn't have to worry about burns, anyway.

The tea did its job and Hillary relaxed as she was warmed through from the inside. She yawned widely, her jaw opening a little wider than a normal person's.

"Sleepy tea is working," she said, finishing the tea and putting her mug in the sink. "I'm going to head back to bed and try to get some more sleep."

"Okay," Lizzy said. "See you in the morning."

The next day, Natasha decided to do a bit of shopping. And she took Steve with her as arm candy and packmule in one. Because of course she was going to not just one spot, that would be boring.

Steve just sighed and put up with it.

Hillary had just finished refolding a stack of shirts when she heard the bell on the door go off. She did a double-take when she saw who walked in, because since when did Natasha Romanov shop there? With Steve Rodgers, no less? Everyone knew who the Avengers were by now, after everything hit the internet, but it was one thing to know and another thing to see them in person. But Hillary managed to mostly get a hold of herself and plastered on her 'work smile.'

"Hello," she greeted, trying to stay as professional as she could.