"Watch, they'll probably get me on their next go round," Angel countered as he cautiously eyed the pair of little speed demons on skates, who had already nearly cleared the rink.
All it took was a little squeeze of Buffy's hand, and the threat was quickly forgotten, along with pretty much everyone else. "You don't have to thank me for anything," which, for the truth, sounded way more sappy than it needed to be, and so he padded it out with a silly sort of grin. "I mean, all I did was drive." It was much easier to be suave when he talked less.
"If we can find what hours this place isn't so crowded, we can definitely make it a regular thing. Or I can just go back to bribing the zamboni driver to let us in after hours," and now it was apparently his turn to awkwardly ramble on, and further damage whatever air of mystery he might have left with her. He ended up giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "But I'd love to see more of you, on the ice, and off." He didn't think it was the first time he'd said that, but that didn't make it any less true.
Before he could supplement that with examples, like bringing up the fact Buffy owed him a lesson on baking, he saw someone fall to the ice, and glanced over, wincing when he saw it was Xander sprawled out on the ice. "That looked like it hurt," he added quietly. Seeing as how the fall had finally earned him the hand of a pretty girl, Angel wasn't too worried for the guy, though.
Buffy matched his grin with a smile of her own, "Hey, driving is important and impresses a girl like me," she said with a light laugh, "And it's a skill I have yet to master. I picked Willow and Tara up from the airport last week and they tried not to show it, but they clearly feared for their lives."
Her eyes lit up when he seemed to be totally okay with them making this a more regular thing and seeing her more. She was glad the chill of the ice was making the end of her nose and cheeks redden, or that blush would have been way too obvious. "Good, we should definitely make this a regular thing. The us spending time together thing," she said. Boy, they were masters at beating around the bush.
Her brows crinkled when she saw Xander topple onto the ice, "Maybe they're demons," she suggested, realizing how very possible it could be in their world. She was ready to help her best friend when she spotted Cordelia pulling him back up. "Now I feel like you hired those little kids to knock yourself and Xander over just to get us girls to help you up," she narrowed her eyes at him teasingly.
"I'm onto you, Angel," she grinned and continued to circle the rink, hand-in-hand with him. "So, about this spending more time together thing," she started, "I bought some very specific ingredients last time I was at the grocery store and they could use our baking skills. Or my sort of baking skills and your skills in letting me make you bake cookies with me," Buffy said, eyeing him hopefully, hand squeezing his to emphasize her point, "What do you say?"
Xander lay there a moment, letting the sharp pain of his ass subside a bit. Boy, this ice was cold. He looked up at the ceiling which was suddenly filled with Cordelia's exasperated face. "Hi, there..."
When she offered her hand, Xander stared at it a moment then took it and used it and the wall to get to his feet. "Whoa... whoa..." His legs began to wobble below him and his feet were beginning to slide on the ice. He fell forward and found his hands on Cordelia's shoulders, his face an inch from hers. He stared at her then regained his balance, pulling himself away from her at arm's length.
"Well, THAT was bracing," he said, trying not to sound or look embarrassed.
Life was seriously not funny sometimes. *Seriously* not. And then Xander Harris fell on his ass and there was a funny again. Of course Cordelia made sure not to laugh. They were already giving her a look as if she'd completely changed since Sunnydale of whatever.
Like she was some Polyana sweetie now. Yeah right. And when they were done here she and Buffy were gonna go home and braid each others hair! Ugh. Those looks really shouldn't bother her, but fuck they did. And that there was the whole change she'd gone through. Cause in High-school? She would have *aimed* for those looks. Revelled in it.
Cordelia started at Xander when he was close by and mentally took a deep breath. "Yeah," she shrugged at his Xanderish whoa. Guy really couldn't hold his balance. Kinda like Wesley. No wonder they always fell on their asses.
"Yup," She shrugged, putting her hands in the pockets of her body-warmer. Pink and fashionable and totally matching her skates of course. Duh. "Really bracing," Cordelia repeated him in a neutral tone and after giving him a small smile she moved on to her next round. Might as well keep moving till they were gonna go home again. If it were up to Impossible Love over there it was gonna be a while. Ugh.
Angel's brows arched higher, as he wondered if Buffy's driving skills were really as bad as she was making them out to be. He didn't think it was very easy to scare the local lesbian witch power couple. "Maybe you just need some more practice," he offered. "That's the only way you'll get any better."
"I should insist you drive us all home even," he squeezed her hand as he glanced from Xander who was definitely still getting used to life on ice, to Cordelia, who looked very happy to show of her perfect technique as she danced about the ice. "Maybe when it's just you and me in the car. I'm pretty much the world's most effective crash test dummy."
Angel nodded down at Buffy, definitely in agreement about the need to spend more time together. "Maybe we should just start going out on patrol together," he said, glancing ahead as they continued to make another round about the rink. "You know, like...like we used to." Things were simpler then. Would it really be so bad to try to go back to that? Why it wasn't always wise to mix work with pleasure, he didn't see how it could hurt. And hey, it'd certainly make it easier to find an excuse to invite her out.
"Hmn, ice goblins," he suggested, his voice going cool as he revealed the details of his sinister plot. "Who take their payment in the form of hot cocoa." By the time he had caught her eyes again, his attempt to look the sinister mastermind failed, and he had to shake his head as he quietly laughed.
He was totally unprepared when the topic shifted back to spending time together, specifically, in front of an hot oven, baking cookies. The look of shock was quickly melting into one of expectation, but before he could tell her how much he would love that, to help her get those cookies baked, the speed goblins zoomed past him in a way that caused him to let go of Buffy's hand, and tottering down onto the ice. His vampire reflexes hadn't been able to save him this time.
Buffy laughed, "I don't think any amount of practice will help me," she said, "But, in my defense, I was driving on super slippery snowy roads and that doesn't help at all."
Her eyes widened at Angel's driving suggestion, looking very much like a deer that would most likely be caught in her headlights, "If Cordelia wasn't in the car, I'd be all for it. But, I don't really need a nagging backseat driver, who will undoubtedly make fun of everything I do," she said, then joked, "It's too bad she and Xander aren't back to their endless sucking face because then she could be distracted."
Her brows rose in surprise at his patrolling together suggestion. Now that was something she could get on board with. She smiled to herself, several far away memories coming back to her, "I would really like that," she said squeezing his hand, "I've been kind of avoidy solo girl when it comes to patrolling--unless you and Spike suddenly pop up of course--so, having some company, your company, would be nice."
As she registered his reaction to her cookie metaphor, she felt her heart ready to burst out of her chest. She had been on pins and needles waiting for the look of shock to come with words because she had no idea if that was good or bad shock. Of course, all was interrupted when his grasp was ripped from hers and he tumbled to the ice. Woops, she distracted him from the ice goblins a little too well.
She bent down to him, a smile hinting on her face, "Are you okay?" She took his hands in hers to help pull him back to his feet, or skates rather. She glanced back to see the kids being scolded by some parental figure for knocking both Xander and now Angel off their feet. Served them right! "I don't think they'll be bothering us anymore."
Xander watched Cordelia skate by him so easily. It wasn't his fault he and Willow didn't do much by way of ice skating. It wasn't a 'thing' in Sunnydale. Now, his eye sight was slightly hindered because of one eyeball missing, which would make anyone just a little shaky with blades on solid ice!
But boy, oh, boy, was Cordelia really pretty in that outfit of hers. No matter what she wore, she always seemed to look like she came out of a magazine.
He heard another scrape of skates, indicating a loss of balance and turned to see Angel hit the ice. He grinned to himself. Even superheroes fall on the same ice normal Joes fall, he thought.
In seeing that, it gave Xander a little more confidence and he let go of the wall and began to slowly skate around the rink. When Cordelia passed by again, he took the bold route and grabbed onto her arm. "So...are you gonna teach me to skate or what?"
All it took was a little squeeze of Buffy's hand, and the threat was quickly forgotten, along with pretty much everyone else. "You don't have to thank me for anything," which, for the truth, sounded way more sappy than it needed to be, and so he padded it out with a silly sort of grin. "I mean, all I did was drive." It was much easier to be suave when he talked less.
"If we can find what hours this place isn't so crowded, we can definitely make it a regular thing. Or I can just go back to bribing the zamboni driver to let us in after hours," and now it was apparently his turn to awkwardly ramble on, and further damage whatever air of mystery he might have left with her. He ended up giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "But I'd love to see more of you, on the ice, and off." He didn't think it was the first time he'd said that, but that didn't make it any less true.
Before he could supplement that with examples, like bringing up the fact Buffy owed him a lesson on baking, he saw someone fall to the ice, and glanced over, wincing when he saw it was Xander sprawled out on the ice. "That looked like it hurt," he added quietly. Seeing as how the fall had finally earned him the hand of a pretty girl, Angel wasn't too worried for the guy, though.
"I knew those kids were trouble."
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Her eyes lit up when he seemed to be totally okay with them making this a more regular thing and seeing her more. She was glad the chill of the ice was making the end of her nose and cheeks redden, or that blush would have been way too obvious. "Good, we should definitely make this a regular thing. The us spending time together thing," she said. Boy, they were masters at beating around the bush.
Her brows crinkled when she saw Xander topple onto the ice, "Maybe they're demons," she suggested, realizing how very possible it could be in their world. She was ready to help her best friend when she spotted Cordelia pulling him back up. "Now I feel like you hired those little kids to knock yourself and Xander over just to get us girls to help you up," she narrowed her eyes at him teasingly.
"I'm onto you, Angel," she grinned and continued to circle the rink, hand-in-hand with him. "So, about this spending more time together thing," she started, "I bought some very specific ingredients last time I was at the grocery store and they could use our baking skills. Or my sort of baking skills and your skills in letting me make you bake cookies with me," Buffy said, eyeing him hopefully, hand squeezing his to emphasize her point, "What do you say?"
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When she offered her hand, Xander stared at it a moment then took it and used it and the wall to get to his feet. "Whoa... whoa..." His legs began to wobble below him and his feet were beginning to slide on the ice. He fell forward and found his hands on Cordelia's shoulders, his face an inch from hers. He stared at her then regained his balance, pulling himself away from her at arm's length.
"Well, THAT was bracing," he said, trying not to sound or look embarrassed.
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Like she was some Polyana sweetie now. Yeah right. And when they were done here she and Buffy were gonna go home and braid each others hair! Ugh. Those looks really shouldn't bother her, but fuck they did. And that there was the whole change she'd gone through. Cause in High-school? She would have *aimed* for those looks. Revelled in it.
Cordelia started at Xander when he was close by and mentally took a deep breath. "Yeah," she shrugged at his Xanderish whoa. Guy really couldn't hold his balance. Kinda like Wesley. No wonder they always fell on their asses.
"Yup," She shrugged, putting her hands in the pockets of her body-warmer. Pink and fashionable and totally matching her skates of course. Duh. "Really bracing," Cordelia repeated him in a neutral tone and after giving him a small smile she moved on to her next round. Might as well keep moving till they were gonna go home again. If it were up to Impossible Love over there it was gonna be a while. Ugh.
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"I should insist you drive us all home even," he squeezed her hand as he glanced from Xander who was definitely still getting used to life on ice, to Cordelia, who looked very happy to show of her perfect technique as she danced about the ice. "Maybe when it's just you and me in the car. I'm pretty much the world's most effective crash test dummy."
Angel nodded down at Buffy, definitely in agreement about the need to spend more time together. "Maybe we should just start going out on patrol together," he said, glancing ahead as they continued to make another round about the rink. "You know, like...like we used to." Things were simpler then. Would it really be so bad to try to go back to that? Why it wasn't always wise to mix work with pleasure, he didn't see how it could hurt. And hey, it'd certainly make it easier to find an excuse to invite her out.
"Hmn, ice goblins," he suggested, his voice going cool as he revealed the details of his sinister plot. "Who take their payment in the form of hot cocoa." By the time he had caught her eyes again, his attempt to look the sinister mastermind failed, and he had to shake his head as he quietly laughed.
He was totally unprepared when the topic shifted back to spending time together, specifically, in front of an hot oven, baking cookies. The look of shock was quickly melting into one of expectation, but before he could tell her how much he would love that, to help her get those cookies baked, the speed goblins zoomed past him in a way that caused him to let go of Buffy's hand, and tottering down onto the ice. His vampire reflexes hadn't been able to save him this time.
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Her eyes widened at Angel's driving suggestion, looking very much like a deer that would most likely be caught in her headlights, "If Cordelia wasn't in the car, I'd be all for it. But, I don't really need a nagging backseat driver, who will undoubtedly make fun of everything I do," she said, then joked, "It's too bad she and Xander aren't back to their endless sucking face because then she could be distracted."
Her brows rose in surprise at his patrolling together suggestion. Now that was something she could get on board with. She smiled to herself, several far away memories coming back to her, "I would really like that," she said squeezing his hand, "I've been kind of avoidy solo girl when it comes to patrolling--unless you and Spike suddenly pop up of course--so, having some company, your company, would be nice."
As she registered his reaction to her cookie metaphor, she felt her heart ready to burst out of her chest. She had been on pins and needles waiting for the look of shock to come with words because she had no idea if that was good or bad shock. Of course, all was interrupted when his grasp was ripped from hers and he tumbled to the ice. Woops, she distracted him from the ice goblins a little too well.
She bent down to him, a smile hinting on her face, "Are you okay?" She took his hands in hers to help pull him back to his feet, or skates rather. She glanced back to see the kids being scolded by some parental figure for knocking both Xander and now Angel off their feet. Served them right! "I don't think they'll be bothering us anymore."
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But boy, oh, boy, was Cordelia really pretty in that outfit of hers. No matter what she wore, she always seemed to look like she came out of a magazine.
He heard another scrape of skates, indicating a loss of balance and turned to see Angel hit the ice. He grinned to himself. Even superheroes fall on the same ice normal Joes fall, he thought.
In seeing that, it gave Xander a little more confidence and he let go of the wall and began to slowly skate around the rink. When Cordelia passed by again, he took the bold route and grabbed onto her arm. "So...are you gonna teach me to skate or what?"
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