#human!12

Excitement fluttered in her chest.  “Yes, a few times – why?  How?  Where?”

Ian sat back on his heels and she sat up as well, putting her hands on his sides beneath his sleep shirt.  Getting to touch him was still a novelty, and she took full advantage of it whenever they were alone.

“Fuck, your hands are cold.  So, when we were kids, as a surprise once it was consistently cold enough, our grandfather would have an ice rink built – they did one in town as well, open to the public, but he’d have one made just for us out on the patio.  It’s been easily twenty-five years since the last one, so we weren’t sure it would go as well, but they’ve been working on it all week and it’s now sufficiently frozen!”

His enthusiasm was contagious, and she beamed back at him.  “Does this rink have an age limit?”

“No, but it does have a seniority minimum,” he joked.  “Senior royals only.  Not sure you make the cut, but you may be able to bribe your way in.”

“Well, whoever I have to do,” Rose teased back, sliding her hands around to his stomach and toying with his waistband.

“I think you mean whatever you have to do.”

She fell back against the mattress, and he didn’t hesitate to cover her, stealing kisses she gave willingly.  “No, I’m pretty sure I said it right.”

-

“Oh, wow.”  Rose stepped outside first, and was immediately blown away by the scale of the project.  “When you said rink I thought, you know, a few feet by a few feet, but this…”

About two meters from the door out and along the side of the patio was still flagstones with rubber runners, while benches lining the wall.  Otherwise, the rink sprawled out in every direction.

“This looks Olympic-sized.”

“It is.”  Ian was positively giddy, bouncing on his toes and leading her towards the first set of benches.  “Here, sit, sit.”  The wall of the rink was a meter high, and along it were cubbyholes containing at least two dozen pairs of skates, some white, some black.  He returned quickly with a few pairs, all but one white.  “D’you know your size?”

She told him, then watched in amazement as he removed her boots and slid the skates on for her, tightening them along the way.  His fingers were deft and sure, making quick work of the job.

“Right, stand up.”

It took a few attempts and a lot of giggles, plus a few kisses, to get her balanced on the skates and able to stand upright on her own.

“Good?”

“Good,” she agreed, sitting back down while he got his own skates on.  “Why’re yours different?”

“They’re hockey skates, yours are figure skates.  Yours have a leather boot instead of plastic, so it’s more flexible, and a toe pick.  Mine are designed for more speed and agility.  You can try hockey skates next time if you want, but I know Donna and Sarah prefer the figure skates.  They allow for more graceful movement.”

Satisfied with his laces he stood, helping Rose up before guiding her to the opening in the wall.  “Ready?”

“No,” she said, but stepped out anyway, unsure of her footing.  “I should mention, it’s been a long time since I’ve been skating.”

“Me too.  That’s why we’re out here now; the twins will see it tomorrow, and I don’t want them to show me up.”  Despite his modesty he immediately took off, and it was all Rose could do to cling to the wall and wobble along, watching in jealousy as he flew around the ice, pivoting on a dime.  He made it look effortless, and sexy, and when he skidded to a stop in front of her, shaving the ice with a cocky smile, she wanted to jump him.

“D’you trust me?”

“Why?”  She put her hands in his anyway, then shrieked as he started skating backwards, towing her along with him.  “Oh, God!”

“I got you,” Ian promised, “you’re doing so well.”

The fun of it was slow to overtake the fear.  “This is fine, I’m fine.”

He just laughed at her, and they must have made a dozen laps around before she started to relax, eventually putting some effort in instead of just being pulled.  “That’s it!”

“You’re much better than I expected,” she said, once they transitioned to gliding next to each other around the perimeter at her speed.  “You’re actually really good.”

“I bet you say that to all the boys,” Ian smirked, bumping her hip and almost making her fall over; the bastard had the audacity to laugh as she windmilled her arms, trying to stay upright.  “Words every man wants to hear from his wife: ‘actually, you’re okay’.  Warms my heart, I tell you.”

Regaining her balance Rose pouted, dramatically sticking out her lower lip.  “Maybe you don’t take your vows to me seriously, but I’d think you’d respect the one that says ‘do no harm’!”

He dropped back abruptly, and she couldn’t turn fast enough without falling over to see what he was doing before he was right behind her, his feet between hers.  “Be a good wife and keep your knees apart,” he murmured in her ear, hands firm on her waist as he skated faster, pushing her along.  “Let me do all the work for a bit.”

She relaxed back into him, letting him push her around for a bit, enjoying his chest at her back and his arms around her waist, holding her up and against him.  It’s almost unfair, how easily he gets me hot and bothered!

“Your Majesties,” Sarah Jane called from the rink side.  “Sorry to disturb, but you’ve got appointments to keep!”

“D’you want to do this again later?” he asked as he brought them to the exit and helped her off the rink.  “In all seriousness, did you like?”

Rose stepped carefully towards the bench and sat down before smiling at him, as he knelt to untie her skates.  “I loved it, and yes, we can do it again later.  I’m gonna need a lot of practice if I’m going show up cool Uncle Ian.”

“Ha!  I’d love to see you try.”

-

Taking advantage of having a few minutes alone on the ice, Rose practiced skating away from the wall; it didn’t feel as jerky as it had the day before with Ian, a little more natural, and she was confident that by the time winter was over and the rink would melt she’d be skating like a pro.  Or at least not completely embarrassing myself.  Then again, it was pretty nice to have Ian so close.

Shrieking startled her so badly she almost lost her balance, but with minimal windmilling managed to keep her feet under her.  A glance towards the door showed that the children had seen the surprise, and she was just in time to see Sophia throw herself at Ian.  Smiling at the scene Rose made her way across the ice to them, climbing off just as the twins starting pulling on their skates, with Ian and Lee’s help.

“So what do you think of the rink?” she asked them, and three faces (the twins and Ian’s) shot around to beam at her.

“Hi Auntie Rose!” Sophia said brightly.  “Isn’t this cool?”

“It really is!  It’s so cold,” Rose deliberately misunderstood, pretending to shiver.  “Are you going to be warm enough?”

The girl burst into giggles.  “No, isn’t it neat?”

“I dunno, Soph, Uncle Ian’s really been practicing hard out here to impress you, there’s skate marks everywhere!  We’d need a Zamboni to make it neat again.”

This time both kids laughed, and only laughed harder at Ian’s indignant, “Hey!”

Rose crouched down next to Sebastian, who was looking at the ice with far more trepidation than his sister.  “What d’you think, Seb?  Will this be fun?”

He looked at his father, who finished tying his laces and gave him a reassuring pat, looked at the ice, then back to Rose, answering with an unconvincing “uh huh.”

“You know, I was pretty scared of it when Uncle Ian took me out there yesterday,” she confided, “but he didn’t let anything happen to me and we ended up having a lot of fun.  Maybe he’ll pull you around if you want.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded, reluctantly smiling.  “Were you really scared?”

“So scared!  But if you can be brave and have some fun out there, so can I.  What’d’ya say?”

With a little more confidence, Sebastian bobbed his head.  “I’ll hold your hand if you get too scared, Aunt Rose.”

They watched together as, skates on, Sophia took off for the ice, Ian right behind her.

“G-go have f-fun, bud,” Lee said, standing back and helping him to his feet.  “You’ll enj-joy it.”

“I can be brave,” Sebastian said, almost to himself.  “Come on Aunt Rose, I’ll help you.”

Rose accepted his hand, letting him lead her to the ice; despite his trepidation he only wobbled for a minute, sticking to the side, before a desire to join the fun his sister and uncle were having in the middle as they chased each other outweighed his nervousness, and he skated over to join the game.

Rose stayed at the gate, watching with fondness as they played.  Lee was putting on his own skates, and when Donna joined her at the edge, said, “He’s so good with them.”

“He really is,” her sister-in-law agreed fondly.  “It’s why I never listened to his protests about being a bachelor.  He’ll be a great dad.”

“Someday,” Rose added, turning and giving her a look.  “Not in the near future.”

“You two are killing me.  Doesn’t watching that make you broody?”

They’d started a new game which mostly seemed to be chase Ian, and it wasn’t clear who was enjoying it more – the chasers, or the chasee.  “Good things come to those who wait, Donna.  You’ll get your fun as aunt and uncle soon enough – we’re happy enjoying that ourselves for now.”

Sophia turned then, and spotting them by the gate, put her hands on her little hips.  “Oi!  Quit gabbing and come have fun!” she ordered, and Rose had to laugh at how she was a carbon copy of the woman next to her.

“Besides,” she pushed off, speaking over her shoulder, “I’m not sure anyone’s ready for another me or Ian just yet, if Soph’s anything to go by!”

Joining her family in the middle, she listened intently as the twins spoke over each other, each eager to be the one to share the nonsensical rules of the game.  Meeting Ian’s eye they shared a bright smile before he returned to listening intently to the children, and her heart warmed.

He will be such a good dad.  Someday!