A/N: For day 2 of the 12 Days of Holiday Shipping challenge on Tumblr: Ice Skating. Set before Lightning in the Forest - Helen and Nikola are both still human.
"If you freeze to death, Nikola, it will be on your own head."
Nikola shrugged, grinning. "But this is my favorite part of ice skating with you, my dear."
Helen's lips twitched. "We are not even on the ice yet."
"I know." Kneeling in the snow before the bench she was seated on, Nikola finished strapping one skate to her foot before tenderly picking up the other. He would be frozen to the bone when he was done, but every second spent caressing Helen was, in his opinion, very well spent.
"And it is highly inappropriate of you."
His grin widened. "I know."
"You are impossible," she informed him, though she was smiling.
"Would you prefer that I stopped?"
She raised an eyebrow. "I see no reason why you should. Apart from the inevitability of your catching a chill."
"Then I shall die a happy man." He finished with the other skate and rose with her to his feet, taking both her hands in his and pressing a quick kiss to each one.
It was already late afternoon, and the shadows were beginning to lengthen on the ground. Most people preferred to go out earlier, at the warmest part of the day, but both Helen and Nikola liked the relative privacy. Only a handful of fellow skaters were present when they emerged from the small cluster of trees that had been sheltering them.
"No, you will only be miserable and bedridden for a few weeks," Helen said as they glided out onto the ice, hand in hand.
"Then I will need a doctor, will I not?"
She snorted, leading them smoothly along the outer edge of the lake. "You may look elsewhere, Nikola," she told him with a teasing grin. "Remember, you were my patient until very recently."
"And a remarkable one I was, I'm sure." Nikola matched his steps to hers until their skates were striking the ice in near-perfect unison.
"Remarkable is certainly one way to describe you," she said sarcastically.
"Oh, is that so, my dear?" he murmured.
"Remarkably frustrating is perhaps nearer the mark."
"You wound me, Helen. For my part, I found your tender care most… satisfying."
"No doubt you did," she said, in a tone that was half amusement and half something that made Nikola wish they were not in quite such a public place. Then it faded into a softer pitch. "But for mine, I am only glad you are recovered now, my dear."
Their pace had slowed as they diverted their course towards the center of the lake, looping around it in lazy spirals. Helen's hand closed around Nikola's and squeezed it tight, and he squeezed back, smiling at her and content to soak in the moment.
"Though not so recovered that you ought to be diving into snow banks headfirst," she added with dry humor.
"But for such a noble cause, my dear," he said, lifting her hand and kissing it again.
The fading sunlight caught in the glittering emerald eye of the silver serpent ring she wore: her mother's, lighter and more ornate than had been the style at the time, but it suited her well now. Gregory might not have altogether approved of Nikola, but he had insisted Helen have her mother's ring; he knew how much it meant to her.
Nikola had heard somewhere that it was a symbol for eternal love. "Eternal" seemed overzealous to Nikola, cynic that he was; after all, no one lived forever, and it seemed even unlikelier that anyone could love each other for that long. But when he looked at Helen, her eyes shining at him, and his heart seemed as though it should burst for loving her so much...
Abruptly, they hit a patch of rough ice and slipped, instinctively gripping their hands tighter and turning into each other. They came to a halt in the center of the lake, pressed against each other and teetering rather precariously.
Nikola's breath caught. Helen had not been this close to him for quite some time. He could feel warmth radiating from her despite her many layers, and his cheeks started to grow quite hot.
He whispered her name, his eyes half-closing as he leaned in, forgetting all else except Helen with her arms wrapped around him.
"Nikola…" Helen's head tilted to meet his, inching closer until he could feel her breath on his lips, before she stopped at the sound of another group of skaters approaching.
"Later," she told him, her lips quirking.
"Yes," was all he could think to say, his voice gone a bit hoarse as he nodded.
"Now," she said, shifting her hand to his arm and carefully rearranging herself. "Shall we continue?"
Nikola covered her hand with his. "After you, my dear."