Disclaimer: I do not own The Secret Circle or any of its characters.

Author's Note: I'm really enjoying the show so far and I like a few different ships (including Diana and Faye) so I thought I would try to write a short one-shot before I start on my assignment. I apologise for any spelling or grammar mistakes and if anyone is too out-of-character. Oh, and there isn't really a plot to this.

Winter Interlude

Four teenagers were huddled together on the empty shore. One of the girls was tapping her foot impatiently as she tightened the scarf around her neck before wrapping her arms around herself. She could feel the icy bite of the wind against her exposed skin.

"This was her idea and she's late," Faye muttered irritably. Diana turned to face her with a slightly exasperated but mostly amused smile. It had taken a lot of pleading on her part before Faye would agree to today's activities. ("Come on, Faye. It'll be fun. We haven't spent any time together lately. Do this for me. Please?") She ignored her complaints and reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind Faye's ear. Her expression softened for a second but was quickly replaced with a scowl. "There are so many other things I could be doing right now, Diana."

Diana sighed and dropped her hand to rest on Faye's arm. "I know you don't want to be here," she murmured softly. "But I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to just be together. I don't want us to have to sneak around all the time and neither do you. When we're with the rest of the circle though..."

"We can act like a real couple," Faye finished bitterly.

"We are a real couple," corrected Diana. Her tone was firm but Faye was attuned to the other girl's emotions. Their parents' complicated relationship and the arrival of Diana's grandmother had forced them to distance themselves. There were days where they would not see each other at all and on those days, if Faye could bring herself to answer her phone, she would hear the sadness and hurt in Diana's voice. "Please, Faye? I've really missed you."

"I'm really sorry I'm late!" The four of them turned towards the owner of the voice and watched her walk as quickly as she could through the sand. "I'm really sorry," she apologised again when she reached the group. "I was halfway here when I realised I had forgotten my skates." Cassie gestured to the aforementioned objects in her hands and then dropped them onto the sand along with her bag.

"Let's just do this," grumbled Faye, stomping to the edge of the water. "Freeze this water, give me ice. Freeze this water, give me ice." The rest of the circle joined in and repeated the words until they took effect. They could hear the crackle of water turning to ice harmonising with the whipping of the wind.

As they stood back to observe their handiwork (from what they could see, the water had completely frozen over), Melissa shot her friends a worried look. "Did we overdo it?"

Cassie and Adam both shook their heads in reply but Diana was the one who spoke up. "No, no, it's better this way," she insisted although Faye could detect a trace of hesitation. "It would look more suspicious if the water was only partially frozen." In a brighter tone, she added, "Well, shall we?"

With the exception of Faye, everyone else cheered excitedly and rushed to pull on their skates. She could hear metal blades meeting ice before she had even reached for her own skates. As she slowly did up the laces, she waited for the sounds to grow distant and then reluctantly stood to join them. To her surprise, Diana had not only stayed behind but was holding out her hands, palms facing upwards, with a gentle smile. Faye disguised her own bashful smile with a roll of her eyes as she allowed Diana to lead her onto the ice.

Diana glided backwards gracefully at a steady pace, not wanting to catch up to the others just yet. Every time she made eye contact with Faye, the other girl would smile shyly and look away until she eventually tugged on Diana's hands and slowed them to a stop. "You need to stop that," Faye scolded lightly, ducking her head and staring at the ice.

"Stop what?" Diana teased. "Making my girlfriend blush?" Her eyes twinkled at the reason behind the reddening of Faye's cheeks (originally tinted pink by the cold). "This would have been a lot of fun if you were at the dinner last week."

A frown almost immediately made its way onto Faye's lips at the mention of the dinner. "Oh yeah, I was truly devastated that I couldn't make it. I would have had the time of my life spending the whole night pretending to be just another one of your friends, or even better, we could have acted like we were –"

"Faye, don't," Diana whispered firmly. "Please don't say the s word." Faye took a deep breath and averted her gaze to the side but let Diana pull her close. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought up the dinner in the first place. I get it, Faye. I understand why you didn't want to be there but there was a part of me that wanted you there." She paused, trying to choose her next words carefully before settling on, "Let's just forget it, okay? We've already argued about this too much."

"No, Diana, it's not okay. Tell me," Faye insisted.

She ran her fingers across the collar of Faye's leather jacket and sighed. "I wanted my grandmother to meet you." Diana acknowledged the obvious before the other girl could point it out. "I know the two of you have already met." Slumping forward in defeat, she rested her head on Faye's shoulder and mumbled, "This is going to sound stupid."

"I'm used to it," shrugged Faye, laughing when Diana playfully slapped her on the arm. "Come on, Diana, you have to help me out here. I'm still learning how to be in a relationship and times like these are when I need you to spell it out for me."

"I wanted her to meet my girlfriend Faye and I know she wouldn't have known that but we know. Every time my grandmother praised you as beautiful or smart during dinner, I felt so proud of you and I kept wishing you were there with me. There were so many times throughout the night where I just wanted to say, 'yeah, that's my girlfriend'." Diana had a suspicion that Faye's face was now a very dark shade of red but they were brought out of their own world as the sounds of laughter reminded them of their friends' presence.

Adam reached them first while Cassie and Melissa continued dancing (as best as they could on skates) along to the music playing on their phones. "Hey Faye, you don't mind if I steal your girlfriend away for a dance, do you?" Adam asked, shooting her an innocent grin.

Wrapping her arm around Diana's waist, Faye responded with a scowl in Adam's direction although it lacked its usual venom. Cassie joined the three of them, shaking her head with feigned exasperation and a mischievous smile on her face. "Oh Adam, that was a poor choice of words." They had been enjoying teasing Faye (good-naturedly) about her jealous side and after being reassured several times by Diana and Adam that they were just friends, she began to see the humour in the banter.

"Faye, let them dance," laughed Melissa, gliding to a stop beside her best friend and hooking her arm with the other girl's. "And you can join me and Cassie." Without giving Faye a chance to respond, Melissa led her a short distance away and Cassie followed as she chose a new song. They shared amused looks when they noticed Faye scrutinising the placement of Adam's hand on Diana's back. "What do you think, Cassie? Are they standing an acceptable distance apart?"

Turning her attention to her best friend, Faye rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Don't you start." Her gaze flickered back towards the former couple. "Do you ever get jealous?" she asked, glancing briefly at Cassie out of the corner of her eye.

"I don't have any reason to be. He's not my boyfriend." Faye scoffed in response to this and even Melissa raised an eyebrow at her answer, looking unconvinced. "After the death of my mom and finding out I'm a witch and almost getting killed by witch hunters, I would just like one thing in my life to be somewhat normal. Unfortunately, having a relationship that is written in the stars and destined to be doesn't really help so we're ignoring all that and taking it slow." Cassie tried to suppress a smile as she added, "Which means Adam is technically still single."

Faye's retort was lost in her throat when she saw Diana blushing at something Adam had said. She propelled herself forward with more force than was necessary and smiled a little too sweetly at Adam as she cut in between them. "I think it's time I steal my girlfriend back now, don't you?"

Sensing that a joke would not go over too well with Faye, he nodded and skated away with a wave. Diana draped her arms over Faye's shoulders and leaned in to place a gentle kiss to her lips. As she pulled away, there was a blissful smile on her girlfriend's face which was quickly replaced by a frown. "So... what did you and Adam talk about?"

("You're gushing," smirked Adam.

Diana blushed. "Sorry, I just..." She bit her bottom lip softly but there was no containing her happiness as a huge smile spread across her face. Her eyes were sparkling. "I really think I'm falling in love with her."

"I think she's falling in love with you too.")

"How much I love you," confessed Diana, the words spilling out in almost one breath. The prolonged silence and stunned expression on Faye's face was beginning to make Diana nervous. Not wanting the moment to become awkward, she lightened her tone and said, "I take it the teasing went too far?"

Faye shook herself out of her stupor and tried to look nonchalant even though her heart was beating thunderously against her chest. "I don't actually mind it," she admitted. "I like that our relationship is being acknowledged. It almost makes up for all those other times when we have to hide it."

"I'm sorry." Diana's voice was barely above a whisper. Their parents were the biggest obstacle standing in their way. If they revealed their relationship to them, there was a chance that it could cause their parents to break up and while Faye was in favour of this outcome, Diana did not want to see her dad sacrifice his own happiness for her.

"It's not your fault," insisted Faye. She shifted her hands from Diana's hips to her back, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist. "I used to think about running away." There was a mixture of shock, fear and sadness in Diana's eyes but she stayed silent and waited for Faye to elaborate on her spur-of-the-moment confession. "The idea of just waking up one morning and leaving seemed so simple. I never felt like I had a reason for me to stay yet I always did. When I found out I was a witch, I realised that must have been what was keeping me here."

She shuffled closer and buried her face in Faye's neck. It was irrational but she was almost afraid that her girlfriend would disappear on the spot. "Do you still think about it?" Diana asked quietly.

"Lately I have." Diana took a shuddering breath and tightened her grip on Faye's leather jacket. "I've been thinking about us running away. It doesn't seem as easy now. There are so many things that we have to consider. We have to think about the circle and we have no idea what the consequences of us leaving would be." She paused and breathed in the familiar aroma of Diana's fruit-scented shampoo. "It's nice to think about it being just the two of us though with no parents and no responsibilities. And we would still be able to do magic together."

"I should have guessed our powers would be the most important thing on your list," joked Diana. Faye smirked at her girlfriend's comment; it had actually been one of the first things she considered. Sighing contentedly, Diana murmured, "I wish we could run away."

The next words out of Faye's mouth were going to be 'Let's do it' but she bit her tongue and shifted away slightly to get her girlfriend's attention. As Diana lifted her head off of her shoulder, Faye leaned in and kissed her tenderly. She took one of Diana's hands into her own and started skating backwards, twirling the other girl before pulling her in close again. "And for the record... I love you too."

Finished