Written for callmesandy in the "Buffy Is the Hero, Damnit" ficathon, who requested: Buffy, Connor, post chosen/nfa, time travel and figure skaters in danger, banter, action and mean comments about Evan Lysacek.

"Watch out," Buffy shouted behind her, as Connor narrowly avoided an ice pick to the head, carried by the slender, possibly female, ice demon. Then, turning to face her own opponent she sighed and wondered if she had been wrong to try to teach the boy how to skate on this particular lake. Gunn said it was a nice area with few people; he'd never mentioned that though there were indeed few people, there were plenty of.. whatever these things called themselves.

When they planned this outing over a month ago, it had been for the sole purpose of getting away from work for one night. Just one night without demon fighting or vampires, beheading or wooden stakes. Just one night to finally get some time to do some of that good ol' fashioned normal family bonding Buffy had heard so much about in her psych classes at college. It would help them adjust. And there was so much to adjust to, from their new found co-worker environment to the fact that Buffy had reasserted herself in Angel's life. Connor was as close as she was going to get to having a stepson.

After destroying his own two ice demons, Connor made his way over towards Buffy. Only he was far less nimbler on skates than he was on his own two feet, which had been part of the reason for their journey out here. He had wanted to impress the new girl in his class. At the moment all he could accomplish on his skates was a lot of falling on his ass, though that didn't hurt him too much in battle. He tripped and slid across the ice, coming to a stop right below the last demon.

Thrusting his leg quickly upward, he slammed into it's clear, shiny body with the blade of his boot. As it exploded into dust, Connor laid back down on the ice, exhausted from the battle and annoyed at his own clumsiness. They'd never taught him skating in Quor'toth and it was a skill he doubted he would ever pick up now.

Buffy stood over him, a sympathetic smile gracing her lips. As she helped him to his wobbly feet, she offered some encouragement, "That was impressive." All her time with the slayers-in-training had taught her a thing or two about pep talks. Highlight the good things about their performance, downplay the bad ones and hope they didn't hurt themselves too much before they get good enough to send them out into the field. "I guess the nickname Destroyer fits."

Connor shuffled to the edge of the lake, falling onto the fresh, white snow as soon as he could. He frowned as he began untying the laces of his boots, eager to get these new found torture devices off his feet. "Sure I'm decent at fighting, but that's not gonna get me anywhere with Candice."

"This the girl from your class who's got the whole Evan Lysacekcrush happening?" Buffy asked as she plopped herself down beside him. Connor had mentioned her once or twice before. She was the reason he had asked Buffy to teach him how to skate, to impress this new girl. "Please," she scoffed, "He made it all the way to the Olympics just to place 10th and then he was coughing up blood at the World Figure Skating Championships in Calgary. I mean, how pretty is that? And let's not even talk about about his whole Grease phase."

Connor just starred at her, a wry smile coming over his lips. At least she'd gotten him to smile, score one for the slightly embarrassed Slayer.

"My figure skating geekery is showing, isn't it?"

He laughed with a short nod, "Oh, just a bit." Then the smile faded and it was replaced by a look of resignation and doubt. "Maybe I should just give up on her. She's just so.." he sighed and laid back down in the snow with a satisfied yet sad look on his face. "Perfect. She said she didn't see me 'that way' and yet I keep trying to prove something.. and falling on my ass in the process."

"She said what?" Buffy pointed out to him. "Come on, you've helped save the world from how many apocalypses now? You're a damn good fighter. You're quick on your feet, able to leap onto moving buses with a single leap. And you've got your father's good looks. Lots of girls would want to walk through the city with you, hand in hand and do all that lovely dovey stuff."

"You really think so?"

"Duh." Buffy answered as if this was all common knowledge. "Besides, I know a few other girls who have crushes on you already. So if they like you, then you can't possibly be as bad as you think, now can you?"

This was news to Connor, peeking his attention. "Really? Who?"

The Slayer took a moment to answer, wondering if it would be alright to betray her sister's confidence. "There is someone who's mentioned to me how 'hot you look when you're practicing your fighting stances without your shirt on', but that's all I'm saying." After slipping her shoes on, Buffy rose to her feet and started walking down the hill to the car.

Connor followed closely behind, suddenly infused with a new level of self-esteem hardly seen that day on the ice. "They said I looked hot without my shirt on? Come on, can't you just give me a hint to who it was?" Buffy remained silent, only driving on his curiosity more, as he called after her. He went through the whole list of possibilities out loud, "Was it.. Fred? Nah, she's like a sister to me. Someone from school? Not like you know anyone from my school.."

"I'm not telling," Buffy singsonged back to him, amused at his new eagerness and restrained by her vow of secrecy her sister made her keep. At least she appeared to have made his day, if not through skating than at least through a bit of a mystery, though she was surprised he hadn't figured it out already. Boys could be so dense when it came to matters of the heart. Like father, like son.

-End-