End

Mike rubbed his eyes, blinking as the blinding light faded. 'Somebody's got a powerful camera," he thought to himself. Slowly, his vision began to clear again.

"What the-?" he heard Peter exclaim just before his eyesight returned to normal.

Mike looked around. He noticed that his feet were a bit cold. He looked down and saw precisely the reason why. He and Peter were standing in a deep snowdrift in the middle of the woods.

"What on earth was that?" Micky heard a voice exclaim. Everyone was talking at once so he couldn't be certain of who it was that said it.

"'Old on a moment," Davy said, trying to calm and quiet everyone down.

"It was this flash of light," Micky heard Jenny respond, and it was then that he realized it must have been Lou who had asked the original question.

"Uncle Micky, Uncle Davy, you're home!" he heard a little girl's voice shout. Before he could react, Joanne had slammed into him.

"I know, and then suddenly they were gone," Sarah was saying.

"Uncle Micky, you're back, you're back," Joanne was cheering.

"Yep, finally," he replied, hugging her back.

"Where could they have gone?" Jenny asked.

"Just 'old on everyone, try to stay calm," Davy pleaded.

"How could this have happened?" Nicole was asking.

"Quite an interesting phenomenon," Lou was commenting.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am, I'm Jenny."

"QUIET!!!" The Englishman's scream pierced the air and everyone became silent. "Thank you," he said.

Then, he realized, he was supposed to say something at that point, and he didn't know what to say. "Um, I , uh," he stuttered.

"How about we start moving our stuff into the Pad and then we figure out what to do?" Micky suggested, and everyone agreed.

Everyone except Nicole (because she was quite pregnant) went to work moving the instruments, amplifiers, and other equipment and luggage that was now filling the front lawn. Nicole went into the kitchen and began to make some tea, coffee, or hot chocolate for everyone.

Before long, all of the front lawn was moved into the living room. Nicole entered with a tray of steaming cups and served them around. It was then that Davy and Micky noticed she was pregnant. Neither had noticed before, being to preoccupied with either moving or worrying about Mike and Peter. Neither said anything at first. Davy's eyes grew larger and larger by the second, and Micky just stared.

"How far along are you now, Mrs. Tork?" Jenny asked politely.

"Oh, just call me Nicole," she told her. "I'm about seven months along now." she noted Davy and Micky's expressions and smiled.

"Don't worry, you weren't left out," she told them both. "Peter doesn't know either."

"She's keeping him a secret," Joanne informed the crowed.

"Him? It's a him?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, I have no idea," Nicole replied. "She just likes to think it is."

"My congratulations," Lou interrupted. "Shall we move on to the main topic?" The others agreed.

Peter looked at Mike. "Am I dreaming this or hallucinating?" he asked. Mike shook his head.

"If you're dreamin', man, then I'm dreamin' the same thing with ya," he replied. "How on earth did we get here?"

"I think what we should do is look for shelter," Peter decided. "We're not exactly dressed for this weather." Mike had to agree.

Though the weather had not been that warm in California (it was mid-September by now) both were without jackets. Mike wore a pair of thin pants and his comfortable red button-down shirt. While long sleeved, it was unsuitable for cold weather. Peter was even less well equipped, wearing similar pants and a brightly colored t-shirt.

"Okay, maybe there's a cave around here somewhere," Mike suggested. He pulled a coin out of his pocket. "Heads we go that way, tails that a way," he decided, pointing. "You call it."

Mike tossed the coin in the air. "Heads," Peter called. The coin landed in the snow at Mike's feet. He picked it up.

"Tails," he reported. "Let's get moving if we don't wanna freeze."

Peter agreed, and the two headed off in the aforementioned direction.

Peter felt as though his arms were going to fall off. His legs were not that tired, but a slight wind had begun to pick up and his bare arms were nearly frozen. He and Mike had been walking for about 3 hours now, and he was tired.

"Hey Mike, can we stop for a bit," he called. Mike, who was walking in front of him, turned and stopped.

"Pete, we're gonna freeze to death if we stop now," he told him.

"Yeah, but I'm so tired," Peter complained.

"I know, so am I, man, but we gotta keep goin'," Mike replied pragmatically.

Peter heaved a sigh and they continued on. The woods were all blurring into one endless blob of snow. All the trees looked the same, the deer tracks and rabbit tracks were all the same. His eyes began to hurt.

"Hey Pete," Mike said suddenly, slowing down to walk next to him. "Do these woods look familiar to you at all?"

Peter stared at him as if he'd lost his mind. "You've got to be kidding," he told him.

"No, I'm serious," he told him. "I keep feelin' like I've been here before."

Peter just sighed. "Mike, all the woods look the same," he informed him. "All the trees look the same, all the snow looks the same, all the animals look the same. You could go into a forest in Siberia and you'd swear on the Bible you were in Alaska because it ..all...looks...the....same." He coughed a few times. "I'm freezing and I want to go home!" he whined.

"I know Pete, so do I," Mike told him. He wrapped an arm around him and they trudged off together.

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