3 comments/ 21835 views/ 3 favorites The End of the Ice Age By: Icingsugar Author's note: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who gave feedback and votes for my first story here on Literotica. All the encouragement gave me the inspiration to write another one. So please rate this one too, and send me a note if you have something to say, or just to say hi. /Icingsugar Lori opened her eyes. ---------- She had called it the Ice Age. It was a name that she had chosen to reassure herself. Yes, it was cold. And yes, it was lonely. And yes yes yes it went on and on and on. But an ice age, however cold, barren, sterile and seemingly eternal, would one day be over. Ages ended, right? ---------- She opened her eyes. The ceiling was white, not grey. What? Wait, woah, shit! Hold on, back up, rewind. What the hell just happened? She had opened her eyes. Her EYES! No, nonono! This couldn't be for real, this could NOT be true! Lori's mind spun as the impact of what had happened to her slowly became clear. For any normal person, opening your eyes after a night's sleep was not something that sent you into a state of confusion bordering on cataclysmic chock. But Lori was not a normal person. Not by a long shot. Lori hadn't opened her eyes in a very long time. Last time it happened was so incredibly long ago that she could not remember what the movement of eyelids felt like. It had been over fifty years. Yes, fifty insanely long years. Not that she had counted. How could she? There was a very simple explanation to all this. And there was also a very complicated one. The simple explanation was this: The last fifty years she couldn't open her eyes, because they were already open. The complicated explanation would answer why. But now she had woken up. She...had...just...woke...up. Oh my god! Ok, don't panic! Calm down, calm down. Breathe Lori, breathe. Breathe? Yes. She breathed. She took real breaths, tasted real air. Her lungs sucked in the light, dry sensation, and her chest heaved, straining against the sheets above her. And her lids blinked. And her lips parted, her tongue moved against the back of her teeth, her eyes danced around in their sockets. Thousands of such little things happening to her, around her, inside of her, all at the same time. And there was something else. She was no longer cold. Warmth, comfort, softness, air, heartbeats, eyelids. And more? Carefully, as if trying to remember the right set of instructions, she moved her fingers. Will. Motion. Freedom. Ohmygod. Dearsweetjesusholyshitfuck! It worked! She shot up into a sitting position, held up her hand and marvelled at the sight of her wriggling fingers. It wasn't until after a few seconds that she realised that she had moved so much more than just her fingers in the process. It was too much for her. Just too much. She couldn't keep anything in now. Tears welled up in her eyes and butterflies danced in her heart. She giggled hysterically, cried like a child and her face was a three-way tug-of-war between confusion, terror and utter untainted joy. She was back. She was free. She WAS. And it scared the shit out of her. She stayed in bed, fearing to stand up, not knowing if there was anyone around her to help her if she fell. Instead she studied the sparse room. Four neutral white walls, her sturdy, comfortable bed and a pair of chairs by the foot. There was a window too, but it was covered by shades. Later she'd pull them open, look out, and see sky. Yes. She was sure of it. It would be the bluest of blue. Just like her eyes. ---------- The Ice Age had begun on the 19:th of April 1999, and from that day, she hadn't closed her eyes. It was perfectly normal, she had been told, when she was guided through the surreal room full of sterile looking pods of steel and glass. Many Sleepers had their eyes open, it meant nothing. Only that they had looked that way when they were put to sleep. Lori had silently decided that when she went, she'd keep her eyes opened. The ones with their lids shut looked dead. She'd have none of that. ---------- A rush of weariness washed over her and she felt her balance slip. Damn. She knew it. She was in a hospital, she assumed, and should be resting. She knew better than to sit up. With that thought still nagging in her head, her gaze went blank, her body limp and she slumped back into the welcoming pillows. After flickering dreams of a big, clear blue sky and a cold, grey concrete ceiling, she woke up again. She realised that she loved waking up. It was the strangest thing. A paradigm shift of the consciousness from one universe to the other in a heartbeat. She immediately wished she could fall asleep again. But then she noticed something different about the room. There was something new in it, just outside her frame of vision. Lori raised her head from the pillow, and the something new stirred and turned to her. It was a Person. Apart from the Boy, this was the first human being she'd seen since the beginning of the Ice Age. "Hello there." said the Person. The Person was an old woman. Well, maybe not ancient, but Lori wasn't used to look at people. Only the Boy. Now what did he say his name was? How could she not remember?! The woman went to pick up a chair in the corner and brought it to the side of the bed. She sat down, and looked at Lori with warm eyes and a friendly smile. She looked like someone's grandmother. She probably was, Lori concluded. "Hi." said Lori. It was hard to speak. It surprised her that she still remembered how to form words like that at all. "How are you feeling, dear?" She thought about it for a while. What did you reply to something like that? Real? Euphoric? Like a kid in a candy store? "Wonderful." she concluded. "Alive. I can wriggle my toes." "So... Lorelei, are you aware of what has happened to you?" -------- She had woken up, and everything had been wrong. She was staring out into the inside of a sleeping pod. Stainless steel and glass and wires and a grey concrete ceiling outside the glass window over her. Pain shot up at her from every nerve end on her body. It was cold. So incredibly cold. She panicked, shut her eyes and tensed her body to shield off the onslaught. No. She tried, but she didn't. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't close her eyes. She looked out at the world with tranquil, frozen eyes. She looked so peaceful, so content in her cryogenic state. But inside, her mind was screaming. ------ Was she aware? Lori nodded. She knew. At least she thought she knew. The years were gnawing on her childhood. Life before the Ice Age was mostly a blur. "I was sick. Some really bad cancer." "You were diagnosed with a very malign case of bone cancer. You weren't going to last more than a couple of months. So your father contacted us, and you entered our cryo-stasis program. We put you in what is called suspended animation, where you were to wait out the advances in medicine until you could be properly cured." The old woman smiled warmly at her. "Well, that would be now. I can inform you that you have already begun your medical treatment, and that you're regenerating as we speak. But my, where are my manners?" The lady extended a hand, Lori took it. "My name is Dr Cathryn Albright. I'm a psychiatrist, your counsellor. You can call me Cate." "Cate." Lori tasted the word, the first name she'd heard in an eternity. Except the Boy's name. The name, the name...damn it! Dr Albright looked into the girl's eyes and said "Lorelei, dear, there is no easy way of saying this, but it has to be said: You were suspended - frozen - for fifty two years and tree months." Lori knew it had been long. But not how long. For all she knew, she had walked into the Ice Age just a short while before the Boy came along. Time before him had seen eternal, or like nothing. A week. Or a million years. "Fif..fifty years? Wow...that's long." "Yes," Dr Albright said "yes it is. So I have to warn you, coming to terms with your new life can be quite a dramatic experience." "So, your job is to make sure that I don't freak?" Lori asked with a tired little smile. Dr Albright raised a curious eyebrow. "Now, that's a novel way of putting it. But yes, to stop you from freaking will be my full time job the next day or two. You have all the right to be confused, and to grief." she said softly. "Many of those you left behind are probably not with us anymore, you know." She'd thought of that. But it was not something that she enjoyed dwelling on. It might as well hit her, Lori thought, and looked up into the doctor's eyes. "Who? Who are gone?" Lori whispered. "Please don't sugar coat it. Just tell me." "Ok." Dr Albright said. "Dear, your mother and father are dead. And your grandparents, naturally. And your brother Richard passed away in an accident two years ago." Lori just nodded, feeling a little lump in her chest grow colder with each person counted. No family. A few friends maybe? They'd all be due for retirement by now. But the real pain never arrived. It had already passed. ---------- She had grieved, ages ago. She had screamed silently into the cold, dry air, wept tears she didn't have and drowned herself in the loss of everything she knew. For a long time she had grieved, gone under, gone insane. For a very long, cold time. But also a very long time ago. ---------- "Yes," she said. "but it happened way back then, it's hard to even remember. She wanted to ask the counselor about the Boy with the dark hair. But she didn't know where to start. "It may feel that way, dear. But I'll have to warn you, the pain might come back to you when you least expect it. It have only really been one long night's sleep, even if you try to tell yourself otherwise." "But...I didn't." Lori protested. "Didn't do what, dear?" "I didn't sleep." Dr Albright took her hand and stroked it gently with her thumb. She spoke in a patient, explaining voice, as if talking to a child. "I see. It may seem that way to you, that you just took an instant jump in time. You probably had no sense of self, no consciousness, not even on a sub-level. Only a select few of the sleepers seems to dream, and they often have the most problem adjusting to a regular life after waking up. Ignorance is bliss, I guess." "No, you don't understand." Lori insisted. "I didn't sleep. I was there." "Where is that, Lorelei?" Dr Albright said. "Right here! Down there. In the cellar, or wherever it was you kept me." Dr Albright looked down at her with her kind eyes and smiled a motherly smile. "If you have memories, it seems your subconscious was still ticking in there. Don't worry, dear. To have dreams is perfectly normal." She didn't believe. The doctor didn't believe her. And frankly, Lori was not altogether sure of what she had been experiencing. It had seemed so cold, so quiet, for so very very long. Could it had been just a slow, stale dream? Had she been asleep? Was there no dark haired boy? No golden voice? Was she that very alone? Alone... No! With a desperate need to know, Lori began pulling bits and pieces of what she remembered the boy reading to her from newspapers of recent years. The past was all a haze, and most of the time she could not recollect what had happened in what order. So she just threw random data at the lady beside her bed to see if anything stuck. "There was...there was a big war in Indonesia. And another one all over central Africa. Lots of people died, millions. And there was a solar flare...thing that fried computers and a president called Mason and a nuke that went off in China by mistake and no more AIDS and a Mars expedition and, and...and people are still seeing Elvis!" It was just random babble, but did it stick. It stuck like glue. Dr Albright had dropped her pen, dropped her jaw and dropped her self control. She looked sharply at the girl. "Who? Who told you this?" she asked. "I can't remember. A man, a boy, a...something. He read me things. Is it true, did any of that happen?" Lori demanded. But the doctor's mind was somewhere else. "But, you just woke up. Have anyone been in here before me? Who did you talk to?" Then, seeing the girl's question burning in her eyes, "Yes...yes, those are all things that have happened in the last decade or so." She took something out of her pocket. It looked like a pen, but she held it up and spoke into it. "Corgan?" "Yes ma'am?" came the prompt reply in a deep, booming voice from the tip of the pen. Some kind if intercom, Lori guessed, absently impressed by the sound quality of the little speaker. "Has anyone been in to see Lorelei here before me?" "No ma'am, you told me not to let anyone in." "None of the others? Dr Kaminsky perhaps?" "I carried her here, I tucked her in and I closed the door. Nobody has passed since, ma'am. Besides, Dr Kaminsky is in Canada." "Are you sure nobody slipped past you?" Lori heard the man sigh. Then the door opened and a 20-something man of enormous proportions peeked in. He wore green nurse clothes over his dark brown skin and had a name tag in a thin chain around his neck. He looked like an NBA player, with long, muscular arms hanging out from a short-sleeved shirt and a bald, shiny head. He looked at the doctor with an indignated but also slightly amused smirk. "Ma'am, please. I adore you, we all do. But don't insult me, I'm a professional. Not a soul passed through." He looked at Lori with a big smile. "Hello, pretty. Good to see you're awake, feeling ok?" "I think so. I'm a bit tired, I guess." "No wonder. You've been a popsicle for fifty years." he said, and she couldn't help but to laugh a bit. "Name's Andy, Andy Corgan. I'm a caretaker, which means I look after the newcomers and keep unwanted intruders out. It you need anything I am the one to call. You have a com there by the bed." He nodded in her direction, and she saw a pen similar to Dr Albright's on her bedside table. "Unwanted intruders?" she asked. "Germs, actually. It will take a while to get your immune system back on track. Meanwhile I'll bounce anyone who hasn't been properly checked. And reporters. Newcomers are kind of big news, but you need to rest, pretty." He turned to Dr Albright once again. "So what's the matter, Doctor? What's going on?" The grey-haired woman looked awestruck into Lori's old, old eyes. "Something extraordinary." That was all Lori needed to hear. She knew now. She had been awake, she was not insane, and there was a boy who had kept her company for almost ten years. A big wave of relief rushed over the her. She was not alone. Dr Albright was visibly shaken now. "Oh, dear. Oh, god. You didn't sleep? Conscious...all the time? What happened?" she asked. "I don't know. I just didn't sleep. I could see and hear stuff. And I felt the cold, too. It was really bad and hurt like hell at first. But I got used to it. After some time I didn't feel the pain anymore. And then the panic, and worries and weirdness went away too. After that I just felt alone. Just really bored." "Then what? Did you just lie there, all by yourself? For all those...years... Jesus, I can't even begin to comprehend what that must have been be like. Lorelei, I know there are no words...but I'm really sorry." "There was... There was this boy. He started showing up, turning up the light and sat beside me. He talked to me, read stuff. Books, newspapers, he had a really nice voice. Sometimes he played music. And he kissed me goodnight when he left. He kissed the glass on the pod. That's when I saw his face. Dark hair...kinda cute. He told me his name once. But i forgot." "Ah, the basement loonies." Andy said. "That's what we use to call them. They're a group of volunteers. They visit the Sleepers to keep them company. They're harmless, so we let them have their fun. The official explanation have always been that they are just plain nuts. I guess the official explanation can go screw itself, huh?" "Yeah... Hey, do you think he is still down there?" Lori asked. "After a while I started counting the kisses. Four thousand. Almost four thousand kisses. What's that? He must have been there with me for more than ten years, right?" She looked up at the doctor and the big man with determination in her face. "Can I see him? I wanna see him. I need to, I must see him!" ---------- The Boy had come. And nothing would ever be the same. Before him, all Lori had had as a frame of reference, except for random visits of engineers in lab coats, or doctors touring another would-be Sleeper, was her own thoughts. One Mississippi, two Mississippi... No, that was no good. She could not possibly keep track of the passing hours, days, years. Her own biological rhythm had also shut down completely. Not only did she not Sleep, she didn't sleep at night. She had almost accepted that there was no time in the Ice Age. But there was. The Boy showed her. He kissed her goodnight. He gave her Days. ---------- Andy the caretaker nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I'll bet you want to. I'll ask around and see if I can pinpoint who it was that visited you." "But for now," Dr Albright said. "you need to rest. Sleep away a day or two, and you'll be stronger. Goodnight, dear." She stood up and gave Lori a kiss in the forehead. It felt nice. Lori wished it was the Boy. Andy dimmed the lights down and he and Dr Albright left the room. Soon enough, weariness overcame the girl, and she once again drifted away into the land of dreams. Her last conscious thought was how lovely it would feel to wake up again later. She dreamed of The Boy. Still, she couldn't remember his name. Or maybe...wait! Her eyes popped open, and she sat straight up in bed. Frantically, she grabbed the pen-like com from the bedside table, fumbled with it for a while until she found a small button on the side. A green light came on. Did that mean it worked? "Jonathan!" she shouted into the tip of the pen. Outside her door she heard a thump and some rumbling, before Andy's voice answered back. "Jesus, girl! Don't scare me like that. I had that thing behind my ear. You made me fell off my chair out here." "Sorry. It's just... I remembered something. His name. He said his name was Jonathan." "Jonathan, huh? Well, it's not too common a name. That should narrow down the search a bit. I'll get the word out." "Thank you." "Anything for you, pretty. Now please, get back to sleep." "I will. Goodnight. And thanks again." This time nothing disturbed her sleep. When she woke up, something was different. She shades on the window were pulled open, and Lori could see a little patch of blue sky outside. It looked wonderful, just as blue as her eyes. But she didn't see much of it. Somebody was standing by the window blocking the view. Somebody in the shape of a man, looking out at the sunny day. As he heard her sit up in the bed Somebody turned to face her. All thought and reason evaporated from Lori's mind. It was Jonathan. It was The Boy. He was real, and finally, after ten years of loving and longing, within reach. Lori was beyond self control. Beyond wit. Beyond words. "You..." she tried. "Jon... I... Uh..." Nothing comprehensible came out. But that didn't matter. Jonathan was looking at her, and he was smiling. A shy little smile, but a smile. She just gaped at him with tears welling up in her eyes, and held out her arms to him, like a baby wanting to be carried by her mother. A bit embarrassed by Lori's over-emotional welcoming, he slowly approached her. But not fast enough. For the first time in fifty-two years, Lori stood up. She threw herself out of the bed, and half a second or three steps later she clung to the surprised man as if her life depended on it. When Jonathan, after a few seconds of hesitation, returned the embrace her speechless spell finally broke. She knew exactly what to say. She had waited ten years to say it. The End of the Ice Age "Thankyouthankyouthankyou," she whispered into Jonathan's neck, her face pressed against his shoulder. "I love you. Oh god, I love you! You saved my life, you saved...Thank you, thank you! I love you. I love you so much." She knew that she sounded like a babbling fool, like a hysteric teenager backstage at a boy-band concert. She didn't care. She meant every word, and then some. He had been everything to her. He had cared when noone else had. And he had opened his heart, bared his soul to the frozen girl. She knew this man better than she knew herself. How could she not love him? He had been her world for ten years. She wanted to be his world forever. Jonathan took the girls head in his hands, looked into her eyes and smiled a warm smile. "Hello there. Nice to meet you too." Lori laughed, the tears of her emotional overdose still rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I freaked, didn't I?" "Don't worry, you can freak all you want to, I don't mind. I'm just so glad to finally be able to hear your voice. You got a really nice one." "You should hear it when I'm not crying. Right now I sound like a raven with a sore throat." "Then I adore sore-throated ravens." he said. He took a pause just looking at her face before continuing. "I was so nervous coming here today. When they told me that you had been listening, I wasn't sure how to react. I mean, a part of me always hoped that you could hear. But now that I know you did, I kind of freaked too. I couldn't decide, should I be happy or should I be scared senseless?" "Scared? Why?" "Because...you know me. Talking to you were like therapy to me. You became my own secret diary. You know all of me, Lorelei. My opinions, my ideas, my thoughts..." "...your dark secrets, your wildest fantasies, your sexual kinks?" she said, making Jonathan blush a little. "Yes I know them all, and I love you for it. But it's not fair, is it? I know everything about you, but you know virtually nothing about me. Uh...oh shit..." Again, Lori's world tilted slightly as she felt her fatigued body catch up with her too high ambitions. Still her heart was weak, and her head was slowly being drained of oxygen. She knew she needed to lie down. Jonathan felt her slump in his arms. "What's the matter?" "Tired. Lie down. Help me." He carried her limp frame to the bed. As soon as Lori was in a horizontal position she could feel the blood return to her head. She looked up at Jonathan, who had sat down beside her. "Sorry." she said. "Too weak." "It's the medicine. The big guy outside said that the cancer treatment includes some heavy duty chemicals that drains you of energy. He thought you'd be back on your feet in a day or two." "Jonathan?" "Yes?" "You're not gonna go away, are you? It's for real this time, right? I don't want you to go." "Lorelei..." "Lori." she interrupted. "Lorelei was my grandmother. I'm Lori." "Ok. Lori, the only way I'm leaving this room before you do is if someone puts a gun to my head. I'm not going anywhere." "Good." They just waited in silence for a minute. Neither of them quite sure of what to say. Lori was the first to speak up. "Come here. Lie down with me for a while. I want to look at you for real this time." "For real?" "I couldn't move my eyes you know. I couldn't focus. It was only when you were in exactly the right place that I could see what you really looked like. And that happened, like, once maybe?" Jonathan laid himself down beside her, trying awkwardly to keep a respectful distance in the narrow bed. "So well behaved," Lori chided as she edged herself closer to him. "such a waste of good upbringing. Don't you get it? Come here, hold me, snuggle up. I'm yours Johnny boy, you can do whatever you want to with me." "Uh...I can?" said Jonathan. She smiled. What a lovely boy. "Well, stuff that includes heavy work-out will just have to wait. I'm way too tired. But don't you worry. Pretty soon I'll be yours to screw silly, and I'll be really disappointed if you don't. I haven't gotten laid in fifty years, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. And you are the man I want to catch up with." She realised what she'd just said, and hesitated for a second. Talking like that was really not how she usually behaved, she was just in such a funny mood for some reason. "Look," she continued, more serious now. "I know that this is all really weird, and that you don't really know me. So you probably don't know what to feel, am I right?" He just nodded. "Thought so." Lori continued. "I've given this a lot of thought. You know, what I would tell you if i ever got out. And here I am. So first of all, this is all too different from normal life to go through all the standard trite. Dating, movies, blah blah blah... No, I love you Jonathan, in all kind of ways, as simple as that. Could you possibly love me? Or maybe just fuck me a little?" Fuck me a little? Did I say that? Yup. Shit. Please don't laugh, Jonathan. Jonathan didn't. He struggled for words. "I...really want to. Love you, I mean. And well, the rest too I guess. But I don't know you. Not yet." "That's all I ask for. So lets fix that, ok? Put your damn arms around me, and ask. What do you want to know?" For two hours they lay there, close together. Talking, murmuring, laughing, whispering. Lori ravelled in the sensation of being held, being listened to, being able to keep someone company. And being desired. That was a fantastic feeling. But even fantastic things have to end, and this time it did when the drugs took their toll on Lori's body once again. "Damn." she whispered with a tired frown. "I'm gonna fall asleep again. And I was having such a nice time." "Me too, Lori." Jonathan replied. "Will you be here when I wake up?" "If not, I won't be far away, or I'll be back real soon. You're not getting rid of me. I promise." He leaned over and looked down into her eyes. "Good night, sleeping beauty." he said and planted a kiss on her forehead. Then he moved further down, and kissed her softly on the lips. Lori's world faded away with their mouths still joined and the tip of her tongue touching his. She slept, and dreamed no longer of long, cold years and grey concrete ceilings. She dreamed of kisses, and arms around her waist, a body against her. And of other things, things that she vaguely remembered, too primitive for names. ---------- The Boy, Jonathan, had been very young when he first had appeared. How young she had not known, but after a little over hundred kisses he had one day announced that it was his seventeenth birthday. Soon he started telling her about girls he fantasized about, and eventually about girls he dated. Four hundred kisses after that birthday he told her, in detail, about how he lost his virginity to some pretty college girl. She had felt happy for him, but also a bit jealous. Jealous of him, who got to have sex when she couldn't, but mostly of her, that anonymous beauty, who had gotten him. That particular romance didn't last more than a few more goodnight kisses, and then she broke his heart. His tears had rolled and stuck frozen to the glass window of her pod. There were other girls too, some short flirts, some longer relationships. Lori had envied every one of them. ---------- Lori woke up to an empty room. It was daylight outside, and the shades had been opened to let the sunshine in. But Jonathan wasn't there. A short sting of disappointment came and went. He was probably just out for a while. Lori immediately picked up the com-pen and flicked on the switch. "Hello? Excuse me? Is Jonathan out there?" "Oh, hi!" answered a cheerful female voice. "No, he had to leave. He asked me to tell you that he'd be back tonight." "Thanks. Hey, you're not Andy." "Nopes." the bubbly voice said. "I'm Carrie. It's my shift now. How are ya feeling?" "Good." Lori said, and she was. "Better than ever, in fact. I'm not at all tired anymore." "No surprise, they took you off medication and nourishment IV some ten hours ago. Girl, you must be really hungry by now." True. Lori's stomach was howling profanities at her. Just eat something you stupid girl, eat! "I could eat this bed." Lori said. The door opened and the woman called Carrie popped her head inside. She was the ying to Andy Corgan's yang. A petite reddish blond, blue-eyed girl with a cute, mouse-like face and an infectious smile. If the big, black, serene giant Andy could be thought of as a rhino, Carrie was a squirrel. "Then come out here. We'll go freshen you up, get you some nicer clothes and hit the diner, ok? It'll be good for you to see a little bit of real life again." Diner? She was going to eat. Eat. Another one of those things. How did food taste again? How the hell did one chew? "But, what about the unwanted in...uuh, germs I mean?" "Oh, don't worry. Your quarantine ended at midnight. There are some allergy pills you'll need to take, prolly for the rest of your life. Otherwise, you're all set!" A long, hot shower later, she sat on her bed towelling her hair when Carrie came to her room with a shopping bag. The printing on the side told Lori nothing, but the content revealed it to be from a 2051 version of GAP. Carrie emptied out assorted clothing. Socks, a pair of pants, shirts, panties and a bra. "I wasn't sure what you like, so I went with the grey, dull look. I hope it's ok, but I took some liberties with your fund to get it here this fast." "Fund?" "The trust fund that your dad set up to pay for the stasis and cancer treatment. After the hospital and the program have taken their fees, you'll still be a girl with a hundred grand in the bank. Not that you'd need it. A book deal and a Time-interview is probably waiting around the corner. Anyway, I had to tap off that money to get you some clothes. I hope you don't mind." "Not at all. This is great." "Here, is this your size?" she held up a plain white bra. "I had only Andy's estimate to go after, and that is a guy with big hands." As Lori stared at her, she laughed and continued, "Hey, I'm just kidding!" The bra fit just fine. And so did the rest of the clothes. Beige cotton pants and a black, short sleeved, tight shirt in a material that Lori couldn't pinpoint, but that stretched easily and showed off her curves nicely. "So," Lori said, turning around. "how do I look?" "Spiffy. I'd do ya." Carrie answered with a grin. "If there was even the tiniest bit of gay in me, that is. Come on, let's go eat." "Oh yes, please! I'm starving." The walk through the winding corridors of the hospital was a bizarre experience. Just walking normally was a chore at first, but her spine got the hang of the basics pretty fast. She saw lots of unfamiliar things, small devices and computer terminals straight out of some SF movie. But that didn't interest her all that much, she was too busy looking at people. So far, she had only encountered one or two at the same time, but now they were everywhere. Doctors, patients, nurses, visitors, janitors, all milling around like a bustling hospital-blue ant hill. She also noticed how some men stole a quick glance at her breasts as they met her in the corridor, as if she wouldn't notice. Yeah, she remembered that. Guys were still the same after half a century. Silently she enjoyed their wandering eyes. It had been a while since she had felt sexy. They took the elevator down to the diner, more like a glorified cafeteria, ordered at the counter and sat down at an empty table. Minutes later, two steaming omelettes and two big glasses of orange juice were served. Lori's worries were justified, the whole eating and tasting process had to be approached slowly. So while she carefully ate, drank, chewed and swallowed, she and Carrie had plenty of time to chat. Lori asked question after question about the world as it looked today. Everyday routines, culture, new technical gadgets, fashion, and the world situation. Middle east? They're still bitching since 9/11. What's 9/11? That's right, you weren't there. Any flying cars yet? Nope. The environment? Doing pretty ok. Global warming? A little, no disasters. What happened to Britney Spears? Who's that? Oh, never mind. Then Lori asked. She asked what she had been pondering in her head ever since she woke up. She had to ask someone, so why not? "Carrie," Lori said between mouthfuls. "can I ask you something? Or I don't know if you can answer, maybe I should ask some doctor instead." "Shoot! I'm only weeks away from a PhD myself. And I know more about you Sleepers than most doctors anyway." "Ok. Well, I guess you have heard all about my non-sleep by now." "Yeah. Scary shit." Lori couldn't had said it better in a million years. "You have no idea. Anyway, I haven't been really up and about since the 20th century. So I don't know what my body can take. Will I get wasted if I walk stairs and stuff? I'm not sure how much physical activity I should engage in." "I see. You wanna get laid, right?" Lori turned lobster in a second. "No I don't! Well I mean, I wouldn't mind, but that's not what I... Geez. Is it that obvious?" "Girl, you have a big, blinking 'I Need Sex'-sign in capital letters on your forehead. And yes, go ahead and do it 'til you pass out! You actually should. Your body needs the exercise, and your heart needs to get the pulse racing now and then." She leaned over the table with a wicked smile. "So tell me, is it him? That Jonathan guy?" Lori nodded, still blushing. "Wow. Good choice. Let me tell ya, if you don't jump his bones, I will. That man is so sexy. Get him! I'll guard the door." Carrie said with a wink. That was it. Lori finished her first in a long row of lunches, and they headed back to her room. Discovering the world could wait until some other day. She had a whole different world to rediscover. When Jonathan came back later that night, she was prepared. Carrie had taken her to the hospital's Scope terminals. Scope, it tuned out, was a virtual reality interface to an ocean of online services, like games, advanced chatrooms, cybersex, and online malls. They logged in to shop for some nicer clothes and ended up spending hours figuring out Lori's own approach to the current fashion, which Lori concluded with a surprise was a rather tasteful mix of two rather untasteful components; 1980's neon colors and japanese kitch. They ordered enough clothes to fill a minor closet and asked for express delivery. An hour later the packages arrived, and Lori picked out a silky white dress that showed off all of her assets in a remarkable way. Other than that she only wore a pair of skimpy white panties. And no bra. Lori had always taken pride in her breasts, and the fact that they could "hold their own" as she put it. The Ice Age hadn't changed that. It was all a bit too revealing for her to be really comfortable with, but this was for Jonathan. For him she would had dressed like the biggest slut in history, if she had thought that was his cup of tea. "Damn, what a waste of money." Carrie said as she eyed the scantily clad girl. "When Jonathan sees you in that, he's gonna rip it off in a second." "He will? Great!" "Nasty you. Well, I'll be outside if you need anything. Have a...nice evening." With a wink and a laugh, she left the room. Another twenty minutes of nervous waiting later, Carries voice on the com woke her from her daydreaming. "He's baa-aack!" Shit! Already? She rumbled about the small room, straightened up the bed, straightened out her dress, took one last look at her hair and took what she thought to be a sexy but not too obvious pose by the window. The door opened and Jonathan entered, he closed the door behind him, turned back and froze, as he took in the stunning sight before him. The sunlight shone in on the back of the white dress, making it almost transparent. "Wow!" he said. Lori giggled. "Is that all?" "Yeah, I think that pretty much sums it up. You're so beautiful." "Hot? Sexy? Fuckable?" "Are you kidding, in that, you're the textbook example of hotness." "Then come," Lori said. "do it now. Make love to me Jonathan." Still he paused, now with a slightly pained expression on his face. "Lori, please. Don't tempt me like that. You don't have to do this." "Oh, will you cut it out?" she snapped. "Don't be such a fucking angel! I'm not standing here like this because I'm trying to be nice to you. This is not a sacrifice, not your damn reward! I want this. I need it so bad. I feel like a goddamn junkie who haven't gotten a fix in weeks." "Oh, come on, it can't be that bad." She wasn't gonna take it no longer. The need was calling like a siren, aching like a cramp inside of her. And that stupid man was just standing there, trying to be polite about it? That wonderful, wonderful boy. But that was it, no more pleading. She had been locked in a steel pod for ages while he was out there fucking girls left and right for years. If he cared at all about her, he owe her this. The world owe her this. "Jonathan!" she shouted at him. "Shut the hell up and fuck me! Now!!" Their eyes locked, Lori's burning like stars, Jonathan's slowly clearing as the seriousness of her voice, and how sincere her request was finally dawned on him. For almost a minute they stood there, barely daring to breathe. "Ok." Jonathan finally said. "I'll do it." Lori's heart skipped a beat. "Y-you will? Now?" He nodded. "Isn't that what you want?" "Oh god, yes!" "Then come here." he said and held out a hand. She walked a few trembling steps and took his hand. Jonathan stroked her palm with his thumb for a few seconds before letting go, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him. She gasped when her belly and breasts were pressed up against his torso and he pushed her further against him with his hands on her back. He put one hand firmly on her ass, forcing her crotch up against his. Her longing pussy grinding up against him felt so good, so incredibly satisfying. Jonathan let the hand around her back roam up to her hair, her neck and around up to her chin and cheeks. She couldn't believe the sensation of hands caressing her bare skin, fingers tracing her lips, the line of her nose, around her eye and back to the mouth again. This time in between her lips, brushing the tip of her tongue, the row of her teeth, and further in, until reflexes took over, and she eagerly sucked his index finger down to the second knuckle. Pulling it out, he let it trace a wet line of saliva over her lower lip, her chin and further down her throat as she instinctively tilted her head back. He let the finger turn into a whole caressing palm as it travelled further down into her cleavage. With her throat exposed, Jonathan grabbed the opportunity and placed his parted lips at the base of her throat. Lori gasped as the wetness and softness lightly caressed that sensitive spot. But not for long. Jonathan's wet tongue shot out and licked her throat all the way up to her chin. At the same time, his roaming hand went down inside her dress, two fingers swiftly flickering a nipple before cupping one breast and gently squeezing it. Lori yelped out, as that familiar wave of sensations rushed over her, weakening her knees and heating up her pelvic area until it was almost unbearable. Then, suddenly, Jonathan broke off, let go of her and took a step back. Lori gasped and gaped at the sudden change. She felt her body scream for more attention. She couldn't think straight. Had she done something wrong? Was that all she was gonna get? Jonathan? "Still wanna do this?" Jonathan asked. Oh, no. Was it gonna be this kind of pleasure? This kind of torture. "Yes! Please, don't stop like that!" she pleaded through watering eyes. The End of the Ice Age "My lovely sleeping beauty." Jonathan murmured. "Let me see you then. Take it off." Her hands rushed to the shoulder straps. "No, wait!" Jonathan said. "Let me." Lori let her hands fall again. He wanted to undress her? That sounded like a really great idea. She decided that she could endure a bit more of this exquisite waiting for that. Jonathan stepped forward, took her face between her hands, and kissed her lightly on the lips. The hands then started moving downwards to her neck and out to her shoulders, over them and down her arms, pulling the thin straps of her dress with them. He placed small kisses on her shoulder, her upper chest and arms as he slowly slid the dress off her. As her breasts were freed, he let his lips and tongue taste the skin on her firm mounds, blowing warm air onto her nipples, but never touching them. The dress still clung to her hips, so he dropped to his knees to pull it further down, off her belly, down to her waist and over her hips. After that it fell easily to the ground, lying like a silky white cloud around Lori's feet. And from her feet his hands once again travelled her skin, this time up the backside of her legs, from her heels and all the way up to her ass. He tugged at the waistbands of her panties and slowly slid then down her legs. She was naked, totally exposed, her pussy only inches from his prying eyes. But it didn't feel the least bit weird. No shame. This was the Boy. The Boy stood up, took her hands and led her to the bed, where she laid down on her back, looking up at him. Jonathan's eyes took in her body for a while, and then turned his gaze up to her eyes with a serious face. "You are so beautiful." he said. And then... ...and then. "I love you, Lori." The words clung to her heart, her heart clung to the words. Love. He loved her. "I love you too. You know that." Just like the night before, he leaned over her and their lips met. This time without any kind of false modesty. This time they sucked each other in, probed their tongues deep and kissed with the passion that can only come from true love. And once again, Jonathan's hands was all over her welcoming body. The feeling of his palms and fingertips on her bared skin was almost overwhelming. Wherever they roamed, her legs, her feet, her waist, belly, chest, arms, neck, the sensation of intimate touch screamed at her unaccustomed mind. It tingled, burned and soothed her at the same time, and every stroke across a nipple sent a jolt through her entire body. His exploring hands, his lips fused to hers and the lovemaking of tongues between them sent Lori into a whole dimension of her own, where all that mattered was pleasure and everything else faded away. "How does it feel?" Jonathan whispered as he broke the kiss. She smiled. She even laughed. "Incredible. Just...so...incredible. It was never like this before. Never ever no way. Jesus, this is too much, an orgasm would fucking kill me! Then so be it, I wanna cum, I wanna die!" "You're not gonna die, Lori. I won't let you. Cause if you did, you wouldn't be able to keep your promise." "Promise? What promise?" "I don't think I'd want to screw you silly if you're dead." "Oh. That." Lori panted. "You know, you are a bit too dressed for that." He laughed and stood up, removing his own clothes. Shirt first, and then, just as quickly, his khakis and boxers. She barely noticed the erection springing out to point at her. She was too mesmerized by the sight of all that skin, all that body. The pale complexion of someone who kept his shirt on, his hairless chest with well defined muscles, his stomach with the hint of a six-pack. A long scar on his left shoulder, a birthmark pinpointing the location of his heart. As if there was any doubt. He sat down beside her again. And without further ado, continued where he'd left off. "Nnnngh!" she went, as Jonathan sucked one of her nipples into his mouth, massaged the other one and slid a finger along the length of her slit. Lori bit her lip and shut her eyes as the finger parted her pussy lips and slowly entered her. It slid in easily, and Jonathan started to move it in and out of her. With each movement, a small high-pitched moan escaped Lori's lips. It was really happening. For the first time since a long and cold Ice Age, she had a man inside of her. And it was Him. And it felt every bit as wonderful as she had thought it would feel. ---------- In the Ice Age she had tried to remember. Tried to remember the twitching, tugging flow of blood and hormones that the right touch and the right words could bring. The shivers, the jolts, the wonderful cramp-like state where she could not would not dared not slow down wind down let go, where there is only one thing to do to feel to reach. To reach. She had tried to remember the rush, the explosion and the storm. The complete shutdown of conscious thought, the flash of lightning and the brief taste of another, much more real dimension. But she forgot. She could not remember the heat. And with the lack of warmth, everything else followed. ---------- Now the need to once again find that heaven was burning inside of her. She wanted to cum, wanted to remember what it was all about. "Are you ready, Lori?" Jonathan suddenly whispered in her ear. "Oh yes! Do it!" she panted, eyes closed, mouth open. "Do what Lori?" "No, please don't tease me like that...just...uuh!" she groaned in disappointment as his finger pulled out of her. "Just do it...inside...now. Fuck...is that the magic word? Fuck me, please fuck me, fuck me, fuck me, fuck me..." Her legs were already spread wide and she was slippery wet from the slow fingering. And suddenly Lori felt something pushing, parting, stretching, sinking in. Her eyes shot open, discovering Jonathan hovering above her, resting on stretched arms on each side of her head. She had not even noticed him move. Loris gaze went down between her legs, where she could see how she literally was getting more and more impaled, ever so slowly. But that was nothing compared to the sensations screaming up from her stretching vaginal walls. "Oh fuck, it's too much! You're so big!" "Thanks, but I'm really quite average." he replied with a whisper. "You're just not used to this. It's been a while, remember?" Remember? How could she ever forget? Pretty soon she was filled up with everything he had, and Jonathan slumped down on his elbows, lying on top of her. His chest pressed down on her breasts, his legs spread hers wide and his face was right above hers. "Are you ok?" he asked. Lori just nodded. She tentatively tried contracting herself around the hard, warm rod inside of her. Felling it stir sent small tingling waves in all directions. Jonathan stoked her cheek, kissed her briefly, before raising himself up on his arms again. Se smiled an impish smile down at her. "Hold on to something." "What do you...ooh, fuck!" Lori didn't get to finish what she was saying before Jonathan showed her exactly what he meant. He began pulling out, much faster than he had been pushing in. The tight slippery sensation of friction between his hardness and her softness was just incredible. He pulled out so that only the head, and maybe another inch was left inside her. Then he stopped, just long enough for Lori to realise that it was much nicer with him inside of her than like this. Letting out a short gasp of his own, he pushed himself into her, before pulling out, even faster this time. It was the most intense thing that Lori thought was possible. Every push in was a heatwave all through her body. Every pull out a was different sensation, but mostly a wait for the next thrust. As the fucking intensified, she began to clench her buttocks to meet his thrusts. "You like this?" Jonathan asked her. Wasn't that obvious? She was...fucking. She was being fucked. Fucked! For real! "Yes! I love it. I love you. Don't stop. Don't ever stop!" "Want more?" More? Was there more?! "Oh, god yes. More, anything! Harder...fuck me harder!" And he did. Lori clung to his arms as the pistoning continued. She was driven down into the mattress again and again, harder and harder, faster and faster, closer and closer to that burning climax. And finally she felt it. The rush. How the world shrunk back, took a breath, and waited. How a tiny dot of heat grew bigger and brighter into a full blown sun. How she left her mind behind and shot like an arrow out into the stars to taste that moment of Everything, that other world, so much more intense, more Real. How she dove back into the nerve storm and orgasmic fireworks of her own body. She let out a scream, just as another warmth filled her. A very real warmth this time. The warmth of Jonathan, grinding himself as deep in as possible, drawing her close and pressing her body against his. And greedily kissing her, plunging his tongue deep into her mouth he came, shooting hot, white fluid even further into her womb than anyone could ever reach. He fell down with his full weight on top of her, and they clung to each other, trembling, spasming, grinding, moaning, locked by legs, arms, lips and more. Maybe a minute later, when Lori finally was able to think straight again, there was only one thought in her mind. Cling. Never ever let go. And she didn't. The next hour they lay there, kissing deep, him still deep within her, eyes looking deep into the other pair. Smiles, caressing, the occasional tear. They fell asleep like that. Sweaty skin, sweaty sheets sweaty hair and sweaty air. But it was warm, and she was with Jonathan, so everything was going to be just great. The next morning she woke up, and Jonathan was there, holding her in his arms, stroking her still sweaty hair. "Jonathan?" "Yes?" "Do you think it is ok if I leave the hospital soon? I want to see the world outside. I want you to show me." "I think so. That russian doctor, Kaminsky, he said that you were to be signed out with a society guide today. It's an easy job. Teaching Newcomers how new shit works, new laws and stuff. I've done that before for other Sleepers. I'll talk to them." "Thank you. I love you." She like felt she would never grow tired of saying that. "Love you too." She moved into Jonathan's apartment that afternoon. There was a new life waiting for her, and that seemed like the perfect place to start it. There were still nights more often than not, when she would have that dream. That dream. Cold, eternal, grey, lonely. She would find herself immobile, frozen, staring up into a grey concrete ceiling through the glass window of her sleeping pod, screaming silently in despair, as she realised that the awakening had been nothing but a daydream, a figment of her foolish imagination. She was forever cold. She'd wake up screaming her lungs out, shaking in utter terror. And Jonathan would hold her close, hold her down and talk to her in that warm, golden voice. "It's ok. Lori, I'm here. I love you, and I'm here. It was just a dream. It is over." "Remind me." And he would take her again, night after night spreading his heat inside of her. To comfort her, to remind her. The Ice Age was over.