Winter in Sweden was cold. Very, very cold. But when Christine was out playing with Raoul, it didn't matter so much, especially if he gave her his coat. He said he wasn't cold without it, but she could tell he was, but he gave it to her when he saw her shivering anyway. It was one of those days, dressed in as many layers as possible with his coat hanging loosely on her and her trademark red scarf wrapped around her neck, that he decided it was the perfect day to go ice skating.

On the first snow day – their day – he had gotten her brand-new ice skates. She had absolutely no idea how to skate, and so was terrified. What if she fell through the ice? Raoul had chuckled.

"Don't you fret, I would never let anything happen to you." he told her, and she had felt marginally better. They got to the large, frozen pond, and he told her how to lace them up correctly. She stood, grasping his arm for dear life, but found that it was surprisingly easy to walk around in them. . .at least off of the ice.

"Oh, this isn't so bad." she told him happily, doing a little jump and checking she still had her balance. He grinned.

"See? What did I tell you. Now, just hold my arm as we step onto the ice." he held out his arm and stepped onto the ice, sliding backwards so she could stand in front of him. It looked so easy! He wasn't having any harder of a time on the ice than she was off it, so it must be about the same, right?

Wrong. She took one step out and sipped forward, colliding into him immediately. This sent him backwards, too, and they both slid to the edge of the pond against a snow bank. He began laughing again and she frowned, discouraged. "Come on, let's try that again. You're no worse than I was my first time! I had no help, and, well, it was a mess."

She giggled, imagining him looking forlorn on the ice as a young child, and stood up with some help. An hour later, she certainly was no master – Raoul was being a show-off and skating backwards and spinning – but she could manage slowly. She practiced, and learned that her small skill with dancing could help quite a bit.

Over the next week, she joined then surpassed Raoul in skill, and was soon skating circles around him. . .literally. Her joyous laughter almost made up for his hurt pride, though.


A/N: I'm no R/C writer, but them as kids just keeps popping up in my brain and being adorable.

And, whoops, I think there might be Erik and angst in abundance next chapter.