Lauren watched as other people skated expertly around the rink while she held onto the guardrail on the line that marked the threshold between safety and the hard, slippery smoothness of the ice. She threw another skeptical glance over at her girlfriend but for Tamsin's part, she just smiled genially and skated backwards in effortless circles trying to entice the doctor to push herself out onto the ice but it wasn't working.
"What if I break an ankle?" Lauren tried, shuffling a bit closer to the edge of the rink.
Tamsin smiled easily, stopping in front of the doctor and putting her hands on her hips. "C'mon doc," she coerced. "I'm not gonna let you break anything."
Lauren nodded though her expression was still skeptical and her gaze was trained on how dangerously close the toe of one of her ice skates was to crossing that line of safety. She wasn't coordinated enough for ice-skating, she had been perfectly contented watching Tamsin skate around, why had she even agreed to do this in the first place? She looked up from glaring at the ice and found the reason she'd agreed to this smiling winsomely and holding out her arms encouragingly.
"You can do this." Tamsin urged as if reading her mind. "It's easier than brain surgery anyways."
"I can't even walk and eat at the same time." Lauren scoffed but Tamsin only laughed and wiggled her fingers.
"Come on," she drawled. "I promise I'll catch you." She skated a bit closer to the opening and put a hand on Lauren's wrist but didn't pry her up from the death grip she had on the rail. "Don't you trust me?"
Lauren scowled at her girlfriend. How dare she pull that out on her? She was just about to whine about that but the look on Tamsin's face was sincere and hopeful so she sighed and lurched out onto the ice, wobbling immediately but the Valkyrie's arms were around her before she canted too dangerously to one side.
"See?" Tamsin murmured mirthfully next to the doctor's ear. "Told ya I'd catch you."
Lauren sucked in an unsteady breath when Tamsin nuzzled the side of her neck, her breath hot on her skin as she pressed her lips to the side of her neck before moving a bit further away to be in a better position to support both of their weights. "If I break my ankle…" Lauren warned, gripping Tamsin's hands as they very slowly started to drift away from the safety of the side of the rink.
"Then I'll carry you home." She finished, moving one hand to the doctor's hip to steady her, grinning when Lauren turned her head to glare at her but immediately returned her eyes to her feet when she wobbled again.
"If you let go of me," Lauren continued. "You're sleeping on the couch for a week."
"C'mon, doc. We both know that's not gonna happen."
"You dropping me or you sleeping on the couch?" Lauren didn't turn her head to see the smirk she could hear in Tamsin's voice and instead gripped the hand she was holding harder. She held her breath when she felt her legs try and flounder from underneath her but Tamsin steadied her again.
"Either." Tamsin said close to her ear again. "Both." The Valkyrie nipped the earlobe next to her mouth lightly causing Lauren to dig her nails into Tamsin's hand, scolding her for taking her attention of the deadly ice slipping under their feet.
"Don't distract me, you're going to make me fall."
"You're doing fine. Better than fine, even."
This time Lauren did turn her head to look at her girlfriend but it was only to throw a dubious look at her but the mirth on Tamsin's face was genuine so Lauren let it go without comment. They skated gently around the rink with Tamsin holding her up until Lauren felt like she was very nearly getting the hang of this horrible activity. That didn't stop her from purposely leaning to one side every once in a while to make Tamsin wrap her arms around her and pull her close though. She whipped her gaze to the Valkyrie's face when she felt the arm around her waist let go.
"What are you doing?" Lauren demanded, completely unsure of her newfound ability to stay upright on her own.
"C'mon, doc." Tamsin replied, smirking. "I wasn't born yesterday, I know you're just messing around now, you can do it on your own." She gave Lauren a little shove away from her but didn't let go of her hand.
Lauren wanted to protest but found that all her concentration was needed to keep from falling over which made speaking impossible. After a few minutes, when it was clear she wasn't going to fall, she was so overcome with excitement over her new skating abilities that she forgot she was angry.
"I can do this." Lauren said excitedly.
"I told you so." Tamsin chided playfully from next to her.
Lauren opened her mouth to send a retort when a group of children whizzed by them, one of them clipping Lauren gently but enough to throw off her center of balance causing her to list to one side far enough to where she started to topple over, unable to do anything but squeeze the hand in hers hard as she went down. Tamsin was quick though and by the time Lauren squeezed her eyes shut in preparation for hitting the hard ice, Tamsin had already pulled her up to a standing position, her arms around the doctor's waist. The Valkyrie led them back to the safety of the side of the rink and sat them down on a bench off the ice.
"I guess you don't have to sleep on the couch." Lauren said, bumping her shoulder against Tamsin's.
"You'd never follow through on that anyways." Tamsin pointed out with a grin.
Lauren shook her head, closing the distance between them to press their lips together if only to get that knowing smile off the Valkyrie's face.