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At the top of the biggest, steepest hill in Destiny City Park there stood a pair of figures. One was tall, and the other was less tall. Both of them were covered from head to toe in all of those (unfortunately bulky) winter essentials for keeping warm, and had doubled in their usual width. Two sets of eyes, one golden and the other a very rich dark chocolate, blinked out at the world over brightly coloured scarves.

"But, Vanessa, there's not enough room for both of us in there!" John Jr pointed at the inflatable tube that rested by his feet. It was very dark, and looked about as conspicuous against the snow as a lonely black dot on a bright white piece of paper.

"There is to," the girl scoffed at her little brother, and bent to climb into the middle of the giant plastic doughnut. "You can sit on my lap."

"…Okay."

"Wait a second!" Vanessa held up a hand to keep John Jr at bay, crawled out of the tube, and dragged it to the edge of the hill. It teetered dangerously, but Vanessa, who'd done this more times than she could even begin to remember, was confident that they would not slip down the hill before John Jr could scramble onto it. She bit her lip and flopped cautiously into the centre. If flopping could ever be cautious.

Smiling behind his scarf, John Jr pulled his toque down more firmly over his ears, and clambered in after her. One of his elbows connected accidentally with Vanessa's ribs, and she exhaled softly when he settled, mumbling an apology, onto her knees.

"You weigh a ton," Vanessa was exaggerating. But it was true that John Jr was heavier than the last time that they'd done this. "What've you been eating?"

"Whatever you feed me," he laughed, and peered down the hill. "Hey, Vanessa, there's somebody in the wa-

"HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!" Vanessa, who could not see the girl that lay in the snow at the bottom of the hill, bellowed as loudly as she could, and then pushed off with her hands. Together, compelled by the magic of gravity, brother and sister soared down the hill at something that Vanessa would have called 'extreme warp speed!'

John Jr, brown eyes shining with something not unlike horror, held on to the handles for dear life, leaned backwards so that he wouldn't nosedive into the snow, and shouted at the body in their danger path; "LOOKOUT BELOW!"

John Jr held his breath and watched through wide eyes as he waited for Piper to get the hell out of the way, all the while trying to ignore the joyous peels of laughter that issued from someplace over his shoulder. The hill they zoomed down was very steep, and he found little comfort in the arms that Vanessa had wrapped around his waist.

He appreciated the protective sentiment, but understood that, if they were to crash like this, Vanessa would probably end up squashing him.

She, it was very obvious, wasn't at all worried about this. Vanessa thrilled to the icy bite of the artificial wind against her cheeks, and to the way it whistled a warning passed her ears. The brilliant smile on her face was half-hidden behind her scarf, which billowed everywhere and whipped her several times in the eye.

It wasn't until after they very thoroughly murdered the poor snow angel and eased to a stop, several feet away, that Vanessa noticed Piper. And then she gasped, pointedly excitedly with her hand, and said a whole bunch of things that didn't make sense.

"Yes, I know," John Jr could, apparently, understand, "that's Piper- OH MY GOSH! Piper!"

Together, brother and sister scrambled up, out of their inflatable tube, and raced towards the blue haired girl.

"Piper!" Vanessa whipped off her toque to reveal her curly hair, and wrapped her old friend in an enthusiastic hug, "You're alive!"

When Piper laughed, Vanessa laughed. It was a free, contagious sort of sound and rang true with more than a thousand childhood memories. Piper was Vanessa's first and oldest friend. As young children and next-door neighbours they had giggled and played and gotten into all sorts of trouble together.

But that was before John Jr came into the world. Before the death of her mother. Before Mr. Rae slipped into his heartsick depression.

Piper had been there, through it all, and let Vanessa weep on her shoulder. Young. They were both so very young, back then, but Piper had helped Vanessa deal with her rage and her pain simply by being there. For that, Vanessa would remember Piper for always.

"I was so worried about you! When you went missing-- I looked everywhere!"

It was true.

She pulled away enough to stare into Piper's eyes, and gripped her friend's shoulders gently in her hands. Vanessa was a little hurt, truth be told, that nobody had even phoned to tell her Piper was okay.

After all this time!

"Organ ring?" Vanessa cocked an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"It was in the news, Vanessa," John Jr said softly, and smiled up at Piper when she ruffled his hair. There was something like concern in those big brown eyes of his. "Awhile ago-- a black market trafficking ring. For organs."

Vanessa blinked and then, gasping, turned back to Piper. Words failed her.

There was shock, and there was horror. A thousand images of contaminated instruments and vulnerable, screaming faces flashed through her mind almost at once. Vanessa paled visibly and looked Piper up and down in careful earnest, as though she wasn't convinced that all of her bits and pieces really were there. It repulsed Vanessa, who considered the health and safety of her loved ones a personal crusade, to know the truth of what had happened to her poor, defenceless Piper.

For a long time it was all she could do to stare, and wonder. She longed to say something, and erase whatever terrors lingered still, if they did, behind Piper's big blue eyes.

"I'm glad you're back," Vanessa found her voice at last, and smiled fondly down at her oldest friend, "and that the police busted those guys."

Probably they were in jail now. Super Van made a mental note to find out. Somehow.

The half-hearted smile on her face brightened into something braver when Piper twirled a little on the spot. It had been so long since they'd seen each other, but Piper seemed the same as ever. She might as well have gone on a weekend vacation, for all that had changed between them.

"Hot chocolate sounds great," she consented with a nod, tugging absently on the mittens she wore. "We could go back to my place, and make some?"

Their home wasn't very far. And they would be more comfortable there than in a coffee shop.

John Jr went to collect their tube sled, calling out; "wait for me!"

Theirs was the sort of friendship that could not be strained by difference or conquered by distance. Shared memories and reciprocated affection tied them together like a pair of matching buoys floating side by side in a storm-tortured sea. Vanessa was comfortable with Piper. She suspected that, no matter how little they saw of each other, that would never change.

"Dad's at work," Vanessa informed Piper softly, eyes crinkling at the corners when she smiled, "He'll be sorry that he missed you, but I'll let him know you're okay and in one piece. And then you'll totally have to come over more often. He'll want to say 'hello.'"

Mr. Rae, like his children, couldn't help but be fond of Piper. She had a way of making him laugh.

Vanessa waited for John Jr as patiently as Vanessa ever waited, and then spun on her heel in a mostly graceful way when he caught up to them. His cheeks were already red from the cold, but they darkened enough to be noticeable at Piper's offered hand. John Jr was was very obviously blushing.

His sister had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing. John Jr hesitated for only a moment, and then took Piper's hand gently with his own.

"Alright, let's go," Vanessa piped up, and led the way out of the park, "I'm going to fill my cup with a bunch of those little marshmallows. If we have some. If we don't, I will settle for big ones."

"Thank you," John Jr was absolutely sincere, but could also not help the slightly awkward note in his voice. It came out a little bit muffled behind the scarf that she'd so graciously shared with him.

He blushed some more as Piper tugged him along, and readjusted the inflatable tube under his free arm. Girls, especially pretty ones, had always been a particular weakness of his. Piper might not have really changed since the last time they'd met, but John Jr was growing up.

He, it seemed, had a fondness for blue hair.

"A baby sister!" Vanessa exclaimed and beamed at Piper. There could be no mistaking her enthusiastic sincerity for anything other than what it was. "Oh my gosh! That's so exciting. Wait-- does that mean Trinity's going to have a baby?"

While the unconventional ways of the Haswell family had often confused Vanessa, and fascinated her as much as anything else, she understood enough about them to wonder which of Piper's mothers would be bringing another child into the world. Echo, she suspected, was possibly too old.

Vanessa was no expert when it came to biology, but she knew that much.

"Oh," Vanessa shrugged and readjusted her mittens so that they were sitting properly on her hands. "I just figured Echo was probably too old to have a baby. It's not… It gets harder, I hear, once you've reached a certain age."

Sometimes, like in the case of her own mother, age didn't matter.

But Vanessa was trying not to think about that. Trinity would be fine. The new baby would be healthy. Everything was going to be a-okay.

John Jr laughed along with Piper, brown eyes crinkling at the corners, and told her, "Oh, don't worry. It didn't hurt," when she apologized for yanking on his arm.

Probably, Piper could have pushed him to the ground and kicked snow in his face without inciting any real anger. Fortunately, John Jr didn't have to worry about that, because Piper was much too pretty to ever be that mean.