"That's a relief," Sophia sighed. She gave Tim a small smile, then stood waiting for him to start walking again. But for a bit he seemed frozen in place. It was long enough for Sophia to notice the snowflakes clinging to his hair and jacket. If he stood there long enough she imagined that Tim would be covered in snow, just like in cartoons. The thought was kind of funny as she further imagined him dragging him back to one of their apartments and thawing him out with a hair dryer and then making him some warm tea. Then Tim moved and Sophia's thoughts went right out the window as she suddenly found her hand in Tim's.

Sophia's heart gave a sudden start and she felt it drop into her stomach and bounce back up in an instant. She couldn't tell if she was nervous or surprised that Tim had actually taken her hand.

[i]React,[/i] she told herself. [i]React or Tim might move away.[/i]

She thought about it without really thinking about it. Sophia simply wanted to hold Tim's hand and so she seized the opportunity and laced their fingers together, leaned against him for a moment. Her face was red, but with it being so cold it was hard to know if it was from shyness or the wind. After a while she managed, "We should... should probably get going. S'cold out here." But she still held Tim's hand a little tightly, unwilling to let him go for the rest of their walk.