Stormwatch A Date Which Will Live

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2025 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

This is an update to the 2022 version of Stormwatch - A Date Which Will Live. For comments, questions, or merchandise, please contact the author.

STORMWATCH Chapter 2

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

"Nica, Nica, wake up." Josh shook Veronica's shoulder gently. He kissed her perfectly smooth shoulder and gently kissed his way to her tiny ear, where he nibbled on her earlobe. His hand cupped her breast through the sheet covering her lithe body and he pushed his hips forward, pressing himself against her warm, round ass.

"Mmm what?" she mumbled. "Don't you ever get enough?" she groaned happily; they had just drifted off to a well-deserved sleep after some marvelous love making in their boss's office. There was something special for Veronica about sitting in Anthony's chair with her feet up, her delicate toes clutching the edge of his desk, and Josh kneeling between her legs, fucking the bejesus out of her. Her vagina has never had a workout like these past few days has provided for her and she relished the aches.

"Nica, listen," said Josh.

Veronica heard it, the sound of motors, trucks, by the sound of it. The growl of trucks accompanied by scraping sounds, like the sound of a snowplow scraping on frozen pavement. She jumped up and peeked out between the slats of the venetian blinds. "They're here!" she squealed. She fumbled for her cell phone, but it had slipped under the couch, and she couldn't find it.

Instead, she walked over to her boss's desk naked and sat in his big comfortable chair, which was still warm from their earlier lovemaking. She picked up his desk phone and called Anthony Friedman, founder and CEO of Andalon Data Systems. "Sir!" she said when "Ant" Friedman answered the phone. "The plows are finally here; we'll be able to open for business in a few hours." A flash of light told her that Josh had taken a picture of her seated at Anthony's desk using his phone, completely nude. But she was in the zone right now. She Launched into what Josh called MBA Mode, and she had work to do. She'll take care of Josh later. Another flash... she looked up and saw that he took the picture with her phone.

Up in North Tonawanda, miles away from the snowstorm that buried Josh Gravely and Veronica von Köster, Anthony looked at his watch. It was a little past midnight. What was his executive assistant doing awake at this hour? Never mind, he laughed to himself. When Veronica told him she was trapped in the building by the storm along with Josh, he was overjoyed for the two. Despite their outward differences, Josh and Veronica were considered a perfect match by Anthony and his wife, Marjorie. Despite outward appearances, they're both smart, driven, and geniuses in their field. 'Salt of the earth,' is how Marjorie described them. Both from working-class backgrounds who struggled up the ladders of success that they had chosen, or had thrust upon them, as in Josh's case. Their temperament is similar and they genuinely like each other, even though they were both too shy to admit their feelings toward each other.

"Calm down little one," said Anthony. Even though Veronica was nearly his same age and was easily six inches taller than him, Anthony always considered Veronica his daughter and would often call her 'little one,' which seemed to make her happy. "What does the weather report look like for the next twenty-four hours?"

"AccuWeather says that the worst of the storm is over, on and off flurries for the next few days," said Veronica as she tried to ignore Josh while he busied himself around Ant's office. Every time she looked to see what he was doing; he raised her phone for another picture. Instead of squealing and covering herself up, Veronica struck a pose. She even put on Anthony's reading glasses and gave Josh a look that said, "I asked you into my office today for a little fun and games."

Veronica was a fashion model for years. The work was arduous and boring, but it paid for her MBA. If there's one other thing that she's proud of, in all those years, no photographer ever got a nude photo of her. They begged and threatened, but she walked off several well-paying shoots and quickly gained a reputation for refusing to shoot nude. She rarely did see-through as well. It cost her a lot of jobs, but she had her standards and advertisers loved that and paid the exorbitant fees she charged. Even her lovers, who wined her and dined her and carried her all over the world on private jets, never got a nude photo of her. Which was odd for someone who, deep down inside, loved to have sex in places where they could be seen or caught. Josh has taken three nude photos of her and was standing in front of Anthony's desk reviewing the photos that he took. She didn't know whether to laugh or hit him. Instead of either, she grabbed his phone and took a photo of him with an erection as he looked at her phone.

Then she realized that Anthony was talking to her...

"Send out a text to all employees and contractors, let everyone know that we'll be starting up day shift ninety minutes late, and when those guys are done with the parking lot, you guys' head home."

"Ninety minutes, got it," she said as she opened her laptop and prepared to send the text to all company cell phones.

"Hey, thanks for holding down the fort," said Ant. "It really helped with you two there watching the farm for us."

"I really didn't do much of anything other than scrounging meals," said Veronica. "It was all Josh, he did a lot of work keeping the exits clear and working over in the data center."

"No, I read the reports you prepared for me on the upcoming installations," said Ant. "You were quite busy yourself." There were several new customers and there was a lot of paperwork and legal dealings to bring them online. Veronica spent a lot of her time these past couple of days preparing the documents needed. It was nice to be able to do all that work without a parade of interruptions, like in her normal day-to-day functions.

"Thank you for noticing. I think the next time we have a new customer to set up, I'm going to work from home with my phone shut off."

Anthony chuckled. He couldn't afford to lose her for a few days when there was a new installation, but there was a way to do the job without losing Veronica. "When you get back, walk over to the legal section and grab somebody, we'll make them your plow mule for new installs."

"Yes sir!" said Veronica joyfully. An assistant! She had an idea who she wanted.

After signing off, Veronica logged into their phone server and sent out the text message, telling all employees that the Andalon data center would reopen at ten thirty AM after being closed by the storm since midday on Monday. Actually, it never closed. With so many people working from home and she and Josh here in person running around the building doing all the needed hands-on work, the data center's service to their customers never flagged.

Closing her laptop, she looked around and saw that the futon couch that she and Josh had been sleeping on for the past four nights was folded back up, the blankets and pillows gone, and the only evidence of their past few days was her clothing neatly folded and waiting for her to wear. And sadly, there was no evidence of Josh other than her cell phone lying on Anthony's desk.

Veronica sadly dressed herself. It was nice having Josh there to help her dress; he was (mostly) a gentleman as she dressed, helping with pulling on her blouse and buttoning it. That kind of thing. He had a bad habit of hiding her bra, however. Once she was dressed, she went looking for Efraim Joshua Gravely. Since he was hired a year ago, she had a thing for Josh; he was so much nicer and more intelligent than he let on and she was able to see through the mask he wore at work. It was like he was playing a grouchy old man just to push people away. When the storm hit and they were trapped in the building, they dropped whatever shields or masks they held up and when their real identities were revealed, they became inseparable lovers. But now he was gone, busy somewhere in this large office complex.

She looked in the break room where they ate most of their meals and found it spotless. The fridge was restocked with bottled water and the trash cans were emptied and empty plastic bags were put in the trash cans. In the janitor's closet, she found that the sheets and pillow covers were in the washing machine and the cycle had started. She walked over to his work area and found that it was neat and clean, but he wasn't there. She peeked out the window and his Jeep was still parked out back. Heading back toward her office, she saw through a window that the snow was recently knocked off the dumpster lid showing that he took their trash outside.

She finally found him standing in the main entryway watching the plows race around the parking lot, scraping it clear of the three feet of snow accumulated in the storm. A huge front-end loader was building a mountain of snow in the northwest corner of the lot. Of course, the walk to the main entry was clear, and he moved her SUV close to the building so they could plow the parking spot it had been sitting in. All week Josh had made sure that all exits were clear in case there was a fire, and they could get out if they needed to.

The sidewalk leading to the main entrance was lined with a dozen snowmen that they made over the week. She noticed he looked very sad as the plows cleared the snow away from her Lincoln SUV. They guessed the crew would take two hours to clear the parking lot, but these guys were fast. They'll be done much sooner than that. Then she noticed Josh wasn't watching the plows as they raced through their job. He was looking at the snowmen that they built.

That evening they made the snowmen was such a joy! They created their army by the light of the parking lot lights.

"I thought you rolled a ball around to make a snowman," said Josh as he watched Veronica carve the base of a snowman out of the pile of snow left from Josh's shoveling.

"You can, but why waste this enormous pile of snow," Veronica replied. With a shovel, she chopped away a base for a snow man and she began to build another pile on top of that from the snow she chopped away.

Josh chopped away a snowman base across the sidewalk from her creation and soon he had a snowman. His snowman was tall and lanky compared to her pudgy snowman. Working together, they had twelve snowmen guarding the entrance of Andalon Data Systems by the end of the evening. "Ain't they gonna melt?" asked Josh. "We made them out of wet, slushy snow."

"There's a method to my madness," said Veronica. "First, it's going to get really cold tonight, down to zero, so these guys are going to freeze solid, and they'll be here all winter." She proudly looked at the army they created.

Josh hugged her from behind and said, "What's the second part of your plan?"

Veronica smiled in satisfaction. "They will think this was your idea."

"What do you mean?"

"They all think I'm some goody two-shoes. Nobody in that building except Mister Friedman would believe that I bait my own hooks, filet my own fish, and have no problem pooping in the forest."

"Why hell, that's my favorite kinda woman," rumbled Josh, letting his South Georgia accent have free rein.

That evening Veronica taught Josh about the difference in snow, from dry and sandy to wet and slushy. The snow falling from the clouds yesterday was cold; it was horrible for snowballs and snowmen but perfect for snow angels. Laughing and hugging, they added a dozen snow angels to their army. They worked together; they competed against each other; they sabotaged each other, and they helped each other. More than once, they ended up rolling in the snow, laughing and kissing and accidentally knocking over one of their "soldiers." In the end, they had two ranks of frozen figures and two ranks of angels guarding the entrance. An army of joy created just for the sheer delight of being silly together.

She leaned against Josh and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you so sad?"

Josh didn't notice that she was standing there. He was reminiscing over the events of the past few days and dreading what life would bring from now on. In a short time, he would go home to an empty apartment adorned with the picture of his cat Sphinx, who died while he was still working for XCom. He would water his houseplant, scratch his teddy bear in a batman costume behind the ears. And then what? Probably what he's done for years; stare at the walls. Alone. He suddenly realized that Veronica didn't have her coat on, so he took off his Air Force surplus parka and put it around her shoulders. Before he realized it, the words just came out, "I want to say that this has been the most wonderful time I've ever had. I'm... I'm just not happy about going back to being alone."

"I... uh..." Veronica felt that darkness settle down over her, too. She's never had so much fun with a man and never felt so loved. How do you say the same thing and not sound needy? They never really spoke about what was going to happen to them when the plows arrived. For the past four days, they lived for two things, working at Andalon Data Systems, and growing closer to each other. Veronica was beginning to think that their work at Andalon was just something to do while they recuperated from their last bout of making love. Anthony gave them until next Wednesday to figure out what direction their lives were going to run. An idea came to mind that will probably protect the pride of both of them. "I will need help clearing my driveway. Do you think you can help?"

Josh immediately brightened. "I'll probably have to swing by my place and get a change of clothes."

"Grab a couple of changes, you still owe me a toboggan ride and a fish fry."

Back on Monday, they had a long, rambling discussion about what a perfect date would be. She told him she wanted to have a picnic near a stream or a lake. He said that they could do that this summer, but for now he promised to take her tobogganing at Chestnut Ridge Park and a fish fry at the Ellicott Manor when they get freed. Now the snowplows were here, digging them out and setting them free. When she reminded him of his promise, a sense of profound relief washed over Josh. He was so terrified that this relationship was just a dream that ended here as the plows cleared the parking lot, but now he has a future for at least a few more days.

"You know, a toboggan ride and a fish fry just might do the trick... then maybe we could spend the night in my cabin and go snowmobiling in the morning."

Veronica looked at Josh in wonder. "You have a snowmobile?"

"Yeah, and I have fifty acres of forest to ride on."

Veronica's jaw dropped. They had discussed his land for an upcoming campout. Even Terri McCarthy had mentioned it, but he never mentioned that it was fifty acres. She had assumed four or five acres at best, but it suddenly became real. Fifty acres of forest with a snowmobile and a cabin? "Why aren't we there right now?"

"Why don't you head out and I'll catch up. I have to lock down the building and set the alarms and fold the laundry..."

"Come here," Veronica said and pulled Josh into her arms. They stood in the late-night darkness, clinging to each other. "I feel so right in your arms."

"I'll always have room in my arms for you," said Josh. He realized he needed to come clean with her before it gets any further. "Honey... I... I'm not..." The words wouldn't come properly.

"What dear, you can tell me," whispered Veronica between growls of the big front-end loader.

"I had a few bad missions. The last one put me out of the Air Force. It busted me and my crew up pretty bad and I..." Josh sighed, then said, "It keeps me up some nights. I lost a good friend and almost lost another."

"Oh!" whimpered Veronica, and she hugged Josh tighter. "Don't hold back on me," she said. "My dad is a Vietnam veteran and there's things he won't talk to me about either, but he has someone to talk to. Do you?"

"Sometimes I wake up and I don't know where I am. That's when I call Ellie, she was there, she understands."

Veronica held him tighter. "It's ok. You don't have to talk to me, but if you want to talk, I'll be here for you."

A sudden wave of relief washed over Josh. "You really don't know how good it makes me feel to hear that." He tipped her head up with a finger under her chin and looked into her glistening eyes. Their lips met, and they kissed long and deeply. When their lips parted, they rubbed foreheads, and he asked, "I ain't woke up screaming all week have I?"

"No," said Veronica. "You snuggle nicely. You purr sometimes."

"Purr, that's sweet," said Josh.

"You do, you snore very softly, it's like you're reminding me that you're close."

"That's where I want to be. Close." Josh looked around and said, "I'm going to go play tape monkey, then I can boogie. Why don't you..."

"Show me," said Veronica. "Show me how you tape monkey."

"Ok, come on." He led her to the server room and showed how each server was backed up to a remote data server or to a tape drive cassette that was about the same size as a video tape cassette for a home video camera from the early twenty-teens. He swapped out the cassette tapes and put the cassette tapes into a small ammo can. "We log the tapes into our master log, and we put them in our ammo can, then we put the ammo can in this safe," and he locked them up. "Later today, a fellow from Iron Mountain will bring us tapes they've had for two weeks and then take these and store them in a safe underground storage site for two weeks. Mister Katzman makes sure the tapes get transferred properly." Mister Katzman was the VP for legal at Andalon Data Systems and he insured the customers that their data was stored in a safe location daily.

"Iron Mountain puts the tapes in a gigantic cave or something?" asked Veronica as Josh filled out the paperwork.

"They own lots of caves for long term storage, but for short term storage like ours, they use retired missile silos."

"I've never been in here before," said Veronica over the sound of the screaming cooling fans. "It's freezing in here!"

"Good. If the air conditioning, went out for about thirty minutes the temperature in here would be over a hundred and fifty degrees and things would start to shut down. If it gets much warmer than that, things will start to melt down."

"Wow. What's this machine?" she pointed to a computer that was different than the others. It had spinning lights that changed colors.

"That's the game server."

"The what?"

"Folks come to this server over the internet and play Spacefall. It's kind of like dungeons and dragons but in outer space," said Josh. "Mateo and Sekani in programming wrote it. We're their beta testers."

"Does Mister Friedman know about this?" demanded Veronica.

"He built this server. If you log in at seven PM, you'll see him and a few of his kids playing, if they did their homework."

"I should have known," said Veronica, smiling. Her boss probably had the game server planned when he designed this company.

Josh chuckled. "Let's boogie."

"Boogie? You want to dance?"