"…in what officials are calling the worst blizzard in over twenty years to hit the New York State area. Record snowfalls of over 40 inches have been reported and the snow is still falling, with no end in sight. A state of emergency has been declared and state police and other officials are telling everyone to stay indoors. Road crews are doing their best to keep the main road open for emergency crews only. If you are indoors, stay indoors, do no attempt to go anywhere…"

Nine year old Siku barely listened to the radio as she drew a circle in the condensation on the window. Her brows furrowed briefly as she added two dots for eyes, then another for a nose. Outside, the snow fell rapidly in such large flakes that it almost looked like a sheer sheet of white. Half the window she drew on was covered on the outside with drifts. She wondered if it would snow enough to cover the whole house.

She looked at the face she had started and added a frown. "I am so bored," she announced.

"Would you like to play Scrabble?" Hank asked. Most of the mansion residents were sitting in the living room, where a fire crackled brightly in the fireplace.

"No, I’m bored with Scrabble." The girl sighed, thinking of the gross unfairness of all of this. It was night time, the end of the second day of being snow bound. Much too long in her opinion. I wish I could teleport. I’d be out of here, doing something interesting in a flash.

"Maybe we can set up the danger room for a basketball court?" Cameron suggested. He was sitting on the couch; spinning a basketball on his finger, and making it look easy.

"Nah, we did that all morning," Siku complained.

Logan’s eyes narrowed for a moment, as he looked at his niece. For a moment, he looked as if he was about to say something, then closed his mouth and leaned his head towards the window, as if listening to something.

"Si-Ku’s bored!" Two-year-old Rachel Summers announced from the corner, where she and her parents were previously engrossed in coloring.

"And Rachel has a gift for stating the obvious," Siku snapped.

The moment the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. It wasn’t like her to pick on her cousin. Rachel immediately made a big show of being upset. "Siku’s mad at me!" she declared, her lower lip sticking out and trembling.

"It’s all right, sweetheart," Scott gathered his daughter into his arms, never able to resist when she pouted. "I’m sure Siku didn’t mean to hurt your feelings…" He looked over in Siku’s direction, and although his eyes were covered, Siku still knew he wasn’t too happy with her now. "Don’t cry, Sweetheart, Daddy’s here."

"I’m sorry!" Siku said quickly. "I didn’t mean t’yell at you, Ray."

"Siku doesn’t love me anymore!" Rachel pouted, burying her face in her father’s shoulder. There was nothing like a few tears from his daughter to reduce Scott Summers into a basket case, and young as she was, Rachel knew it.

Hank knew that while normally, this wouldn’t be much of an incident, and the current weather conditions were grating on everyone. "Siku, I need to speak to you, in the kitchen." The best thing would be to get Siku out of the room and speak to her, before this became bigger than it should be.

Siku hesitated briefly, then followed her father out of the room.

Once they were in the kitchen, Hank looked at her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Sunshine, I know you’re bored, but you shouldn’t loose your temper with Rachel. She’s just a toddler."

"I know," Siku’s head hung in shame. "I’m sorry, Daddy, it’s just that… I wanna go out. I wanna run, I wanna go over and visit Cierra. The phone lines went down last night, so I can’t even call her. I wouldn’t even mind going out and building a snowman, but I can’t even do that."

"The danger room can be-"

"Programmed for anything," Siku finished for him. "I know that, Dad. But it’s not the same. It doesn’t sound right, it doesn’t smell right." She sighed. "And it’s worse than it should be."

"What do you mean?" Hank asked, puzzled.

"I dunno," Siku admitted. "But up until a couple hours ago, I was handling this snowbound thing pretty well. Then," she paused, trying to sum her feelings into words. "I can’t explain it, Dad, I just – well, my ears started to ring and I got this feeling like something was wrong. Something I can’t put my finger on."

Hank frowned. "Why didn’t you say something earlier about this?" he asked. "Especially the ringing in your ears. You might have an infection."

Siku shook her head. "It comes and goes. And it’s not bad, it’s more –" Again she paused, her brows furrowing. "Sad. If we weren’t snowbound like this, I would take a walk, do some thinking. But I can’t. And it’s making me crazy."

Hank rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It was already known that Siku’s hearing was above average, although not in Logan’s category. Who knows what this storm could be doing that affected her ears and not everyone else’s. Come to think of it, Logan had been acting more restless the last two hours or so himself.

Although Sikudhani might look more like Hank than most people in the world, they had differences, not only hearing. Although he wouldn’t say she was telepathic, there were times when she picked up on things most people wouldn’t, in particular, emotions. There were times when he wondered if when she hit puberty, other mutant abilities would manifest themselves, although he was not sure. "Is it possible that you’re feeling a combination of everyone’s’ restlessness?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, I don’t think so."

"It’s probably nothing but cabin fever," he said, "but just to be on the safe side, I’d like to bring you down to the medical lab and run a few tests."

Siku rolled her eyes, but managed to smile. "I won’t even try t’talk you out of it, Dad. But I’m sure you’re wasting your time."

"Well, time is what we both seem to have plenty of, this moment," Hank reminded her.

Out in the living room, the only noises that could be heard were the fire crackling, Scott Summers babbling nonsense to his daughter softly, trying to cheer her up, and Cameron Drake occasionally slapping the basketball to keep it spinning on his finger. Logan’s gaze circled the room, looking at one person after another, finally stopping on Cameron. "Must you do that?" he asked his voice a half growl.

"I don’t see the harm in it," Cameron retorted. Logan answered the retort with a low growl. Cameron stopped the ball and put it in his lap. "Okay, if it’s bugging you that much…"

An uneasy silence fell across the room, no one quite sure what to say. Logan tipped his head toward the window, his brows furrowed in concentration. Suddenly, he stood up. "I’m going out," he announced.

"Are you sure that’s wise?" Jean asked, concerned.

"No," Logan said slowly. "It’s not wise. It’s stupid. But I ain’t askin’ for advice or permission. I’m stating facts, I’m goin’ out." As he spoke he walked over to the hall closet and took out his jacket and hat. "Somethin’ I gotta do. See all of you later." Before anyone could say anything else, he opened the front door, letting in a blast of snow and icy wind and walked outside.

"Only a fool’d go out in weather like dis," Remy commented. Although everyone agreed with him, no one said anything.

Outside the snow had changed from fluffy flakes to a mixture of sleet, snow, and hail. By the time he had reached the bottom of the front steps, Logan felt like his sheepskin lined suede jacket might as well have been made from tissue paper. I must be out o’ my mind, he thought, as he headed towards the woods. But if I don’t do something about it, that infernal noise, and guilt’ll keep me up all night.

The snow was falling so fast and heavy it was almost as if a someone was pouring buckets of slush on him. It was less than a minute before his hat was completely drenched. The sections of hair not covered by the hat were instantly soaked and began freezing. His breath came out as short bursts of white that the snow beat into nothingness almost instantly. While his night vision was excellent, there were no stars out tonight. Good thing I know this area like the back o’ my hand. And good thing I got the noise t’guide me t’the right spot.

Down in the basement of the mansion, Hank finished examining his daughter. As he suspected, nothing was wrong with her, at least not physically. "You’re in perfect shape," he informed her.

"I could have told you that, myself," Siku said.

"That may be, but this exam at least gave your poor old father some peace of mind. That in itself made it worth our time, don’t you think?"

"I suppose."

"Are your ears ringing?" he asked her.

She thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No. Not anymore."

Hank nodded, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Perhaps she is sensitive to the changing pressure in the atmosphere brought on by this storm. The basement is less affected by these sorts of things, so that might explain why the ringing doesn’t seem to be bothering her down here. "I’m glad to hear that." He finally said, as he sat down on a stool. "Siku, would you like to see what those skin samples I took from your throat look like under a microscope?"

"Sure." She came over and sat in the stool next to his. Looking at things under her father’s microscope was something Siku had enjoyed ever since she was small enough to stand on the table and look down into the instrument. To her, it was like getting a peek into an entirely different world, a world that existed, but couldn’t be seen by the naked eye. She wondered if there were beings out there that were so big that they would need to see her with some sort of microscope.

As dark as it was walking across the lawn, it was a piece of cake compared to the woods. By now, Logan's pants were soaking wet and the creases were beginning to freeze. Every time he looked forward, instead of down, his eyes watered in the stinging wind. Bits of ice were attempting to cling to his lashes. He wiped them away with his hands as best he could.

This is not a fit night for man or beast, he thought, as he tried to use his other senses to guide him along the path. But the snow even interfered with his sense of smell. The noise he was using to guide him wasn’t getting much louder, which told him what was making it was getting weaker. Hang on, I’m coming. Don’t do anything stupid before the rescue squad gets there.

He followed the path best he could to a river embankment. The noise was louder now, but weaker. He started down the embankment, then lost his footing in the ice that had accumulated about half way, sliding down to the bottom. He managed to stop himself just before his feet hit the water by grabbing onto a branch from a small tree. The river fed into the lake, and although parts of it were beginning to ice over, it was not strong enough to hold much weight.

He stood up, regaining his balance and looked around. "Where are ya?" He half spoke, half growled. Bringing his hand up to his brow, he looked over the water. He finally saw what he was looking for. "Aw, shit."

Huddled on a rock in the stream was a puppy, shaking with the cold. He turned his head in Logan’s direction and whined pitifully. "You just hang in there, mutt," Logan called out, above the sounds of the river and the winds. "I’m coming t’getcha."

He sized up the situation, trying to figure out what his options were. Obviously the pup had been trying to cross the stream, using the rocks, but hadn’t quite realized that the rocks only went about half way. He’d leaped up on the rock where it stood now, a fair distance, then was stuck, knowing if he’d tried to leap back to the rock he’d left, he might slip and fall in to the river. And going forward was impossible, there were no rocks.

The nearest bridge was about half a mile away. Logan debated if he should try to go to it, but changed his mind. I shoulda come earlier, he thought. When I first heard him. I need t’get him t’someplace warm and dry as soon as possible. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself and walked into the river.

The water was just about liquid ice. The first two steps made his whole body feel like Bobby had just given him one of his "ice down" specials. By the fifth step, his legs were numb. By the time he got to where the dog was, his hands were numb and his lips were blue.

The puppy rose, shaky on his feet, when Logan was near, and tried weakly to wag his tail. "It’s okay fella," Logan said, "It’s gonna be okay. Let’s get you home." He scooped the animal off the rocks. This was not a big puppy and he hardly weighed anything. Logan unbuttoned just enough of his jacket to slip the puppy in. The cold, wet, furry body immediately soaked his shirt, making Logan feel like someone had just applied an icepack to his chest. He winced, but kept one arm around the dog as he buttoned up his jacket.

The walk out of the stream wasn’t quite as bad as the walk in, only because his whole body was numb by now. The walk home, however was harder. His pants were soaked up to the waist from the stream and his shirt was soaked from the puppy. But, he could feel the beginning of body heat radiating from the little animal, and that made it a little easier for him. "There’s a little girl where we’re goin’ who loves animals," he said, not caring if the dog understood him or not. "She’s gonna be thrilled t’death t’see you."

Maybe the puppy did not understand the words, but he knew the voice that spoke them wanted to help, already had helped. He managed to wag his tail under the jacket.

"Daddy, can we make popcorn?" Siku asked, as they walked up the stairs from the basement and made their way into the living room.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Hank agreed, enthusiastically. "Perhaps we should make enough for everyone though?" He looked around the room.

The suggestion was greeted with a general round of approval. "Let’s put mounds of butter on it!" Bobby suggested.

"Mmmm…" Kelsey agreed, looking at Hank and Siku. "That sounds real good. And if you’re volunteering to make the popcorn, I’ll make hot chocolate for everyone. How does that sound?"

"Wonderful!" Hank nodded to emphasize his words. "It will be a perfect end for a snow bound day. Popcorn and hot chocolate."

The three of them were heading into the kitchen when the front door opened and Logan came in.

"Logan, were you really outside in this weather?" Hank exclaimed.

Siku’s eyes widened as she looked at her uncle. His jacket, hat, and pants were covered with ice and the front of his coat bulged strangely. "Unca Logan, are you all right?" she asked.

He walked over to her, unbuttoning his jacket. "I’ll be fine," he assured her. "But I have someone here who needs some help." He reached into his jacket and brought out the puppy, handing him to her. "For you, kiddo."

"Oh!" Siku’s eyes became two round saucers of blue as she accepted the animal. "A-a puppy!"

"You might wanna wrap him in a blanket and put him by the fire, he’s had a rough night," Logan suggested. "And when he’s warmed up, heat up a little somethin’ for him t’eat. He hasn’t eaten very well lately."

"Logan!" Hank objected. "Bringing home a puppy for Siku? You should have discussed this with me!"

"Jesus H. Christ on a stick, do ya think I just walked t’the pet store an’ bought him in this weather?" Logan asked. "He was stuck on one o’the rocks in the river. I rescued him. If I hadn’t brought him home, he woulda died."

"I understand that, but…" Hank paused, trying to sort this out in his head and make his argument. "…giving it to Siku, what if someone owns it?"

"Him," Logan corrected. "He’s a him. An’ no one owns him. He’s too hungry an’ thin t’be a pet."

"Ohhh!" Siku brought the animal close to her chest, cuddling him. He wasn’t much to see, an obvious mutt with brown fur and eyes, but to her he was the most beautiful dog she had ever seen. "I-I’m going t’go get a blanket t’wrap him up in!" she informed everyone.

"I’ll go get the blanket," Jean said softly. "Why don’t you go sit by the fire and start getting him warm?"

"So he’s a stray," Beast continued, not willing to let it drop. "What if he’s sick or diseased.

"He doesn't seem t’be, an’ I got a sense about these things," Logan answered, pealing off his almost frozen jacket. The heat from the living room was already working on the snow and ice that covered him, melting into gooey puddles all over the carpeting. "Sides, if you’re that worried ‘bout it, when he’s warmed up an’ has a little food in his gut, you can check him out fer yourself an’ see that all he needs is some consistent grub an’ a warm place t’sleep. I’m sure you can figure out how t’make that fancy equipment in your lab check out one dog."

"But, but-" Hank sputtered.

"But nothin," Logan interrupted. "The kid loves animals. This dog needs a good home. Works for me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go take a long, hot shower an’ have a few good, stiff, drinks." With that, he turned on his heel and left the room.

Jean returned with the blanket and helped Siku wrap up the puppy. Cameron and Bobby moved nearer to the fireplace to get a closer look. "That’s a really neat dog," Cameron said.

"I know," Siku agreed. "I never thought I’d have a dog of my very own." She looked over at her father. "I-I can keep him, Daddy, can’t I?"

Hank opened his mouth to protest one final time, but at that moment, the puppy, wrapped in a blanket and held by his daughter, stuck out his tiny pink tongue and licked her face, making her whole face light up and her eyes to sparkle. "I-If it turns out he’s not sick."

"So, Kiddo, how’s the mutt settling in?"

Siku looked up from her bed, where the puppy slept, his body warmed, his belly full. "He’s sleeping now, Unca Logan," she informed him. "Daddy checked him out and agreed with you, but he still says we have t’take him to a vet as soon as the weather clears up, just to be sure and to make sure he gets all his shots."

Logan came over and sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping animal. "That’s probably a smart idea."

Siku looked at Logan, her eyes still sparkling with the wonderment of having her very own dog. "How did you know he was out there?" she asked.

"I could hear his cryin.’" Logan told her. "High pitched whine. Made my ears ring."

Siku’s eyes widened. "My ears were ringing too, earlier! Do you think I could have heard him?" She gently stroked the dog’s back, to comfort, but not wake him.

"It wouldn’t surprise me," Logan said. "You’ve got good ears, yourself, kiddo."

Siku smiled, then her brow furrowed. "E-early this evening… I felt this.. sadness…. Like something was wrong… Do… do you suppose I … was feeling what he was feeling?"

"He was a lot more than just sad," Logan reminded her. "But maybe you did pick up on some o’ that. You got a way with animals. Just like your Uncle Logan."

"I like animals," Siku admitted. "They don’t judge you, they just accept you."

Logan nodded. "And I have a feelin’ that this little fellow is going t’think the sun rises and sets on you. Which reminds me, have you thought of a name for him yet?"

She looked up and grinned. "Yeah. His name is Blizzard."

The End.

Author's notes:
Since I first created Sikudhani, I wanted to give her a dog. However, I could never think of the right story to do it with. This story actually came to me when I was trying to write another story. With the exception of Dreams of Blue, and Shades of Christmas, it's probably the fastest X-S story I ever wrote. I hope you enjoyed it.