A/N: I'm not too happy with the chapter, but I'm determined to stick to my deadlines, so here it is. Thank you for the reviews on the previous chapter and enjoy!
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Chapter Twenty-Nine – Ordinary Crimes
"Bond."
James turned around to see Tanner. The man looked the slightest bit panicked, but had kept his voice level. "Tanner." He wasn't willing to forgo their useless greetings.
"Do you know any brilliant restaurants that might still have tables for tomorrow or Sunday?" his voice dropped even lower when he confessed he didn't eat out that much and had gotten himself into trouble.
"There might be a few places. What for?"
Tanner glance dup and down the hall to make sure no one heard him, "Eve insists we do something outside of work every weekend and apparently a night in won't do on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And now it's my turn to choose what we do."
"Date night," Bond smirked at the term he'd heard in a movie, "You should really be a bit more ambitious than dinner, Tanner."
"Well what should I do then? I can hardly plan a weekend getaway anymore." He was not about to confess having remembered the whole thing an hour ago in a meeting.
"Doesn't have to be that grand, or expensive for that matter. If you aren't restricted to it being just the two of you, you can come to the ice-skating rink tomorrow with me and Louella." At Tanner's confused look he grimaced, "The nanny says it's important to socialize and the park won't do any longer."
"No rules as far as I'm aware of. So, ice-skating it is."
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Eve glanced out of the car window and wondered where they were going. All she had been told was to dress warm and be ready at ten am. It was odd, since Tanner wasn't a morning person or too much of an outdoor person either. But she had followed his orders and not asked questions. That didn't stop her from going mad with curiosity.
"-too far away."
She snapped out of her zone, "Huh?"
"I said I'm guessing we can navigate through the parking lot. It's not too far away."
"Oh," she paid proper attention to her surroundings for the first time that day, "Oh. We're at the ice-skating rink." Her face lit up as she climbed out of the car and met Tanner's eyes over the roof of his car. "To be honest I thought you would have just planned a dinner date. But you continue to surprise me in all the best ways.
He felt a blush creep up under his scarf, "Uh, I'm glad you like it. I also kind of- Bond's here too with his daughter. Does that matter?"
She reached for his hand over cold metal, "Of course not, Bill. You made an effort and that's all that matters."
They both smirked when an Aston Martin curved past them and into a parking spot two cars to the left. Eve pulled her hat further over her ears and stalked towards the vehicle while Tanner got a hold of their food.
"James!"
He looked as sleek as ever, except that he wore casual clothes, as he climbed out of the car and waved to her. His head ducked down again. Louella's own face glowed next to his when he came back up again. "Eve!"
"Well, hello little lady. Ready to go skating?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!" She wriggled around impatiently, "Daddy let go. Please."
James shot Eve a meaningful look. She grabbed the little girls hand as soon as Louella was on the ground. It wouldn't do if she ran into a car. But Louella was happy to swing her little hand back and forth in time with Eve's.
The four of them made their way to rent skates and deposit all of their belongings in lockers. Because it was a Sunday the ice was crowded with kids and teenagers out on a family day with their parents. Eve was the first to touch blade to ice.
"Come on now," she urged Tanner along. He glid over the surface in a stiff posture, holding on to his girlfriend for dear life. He wasn't much of a sports person and even less so when his feet weren't connected to the ground. Ice and thin blades just seemed like a terrible idea. He was not the worst.
James was as much at home on the ice as Eve, both of them used to jump into new environments on a whim. Louella had never done anything on the slippery surface other than slip and fall. He set her down and held her upright. Her body tried to understand how weight was distributed on the double blades strapped to her shoes. As soon as he let go her feet slipped from under her.
Louella stared up at her father with wide eyes, "What happened?" Her world had flipped in a fraction a second.
"You slipped."
"Oh."
"Need a hand?" Eve hovered behind her with a bright smile. Tanner moved somewhere to the side.
Louella grabbed the offered hands and wobbled on her feet even as Eve held onto both of them. James saw the panic flash in them for one moment at a time whenever she was about to lose her balance.
Eve passed Louella's hands over to James. "Don't worry. You'll get the hang of it. He did too." She pointed to Tanner.
"Alright, Lou. Don't let go of my hands and move your feet one at a time." James instructed.
She looked up at him and tried to walk on the ice. For the most part she just hung in his arms.
He tried not to laugh, "Not like that. You don't walk on ice. Don't lift your feet high from the ice. You slide them out and then lift them back to the middle. Like this." He demonstrated the movement and Louella turned her head from one side to the other when his legs glided past her.
With her face scrunched up in concentration Louella slid her right foot forward and pulled the left after it. She repeated the motion once she was at a full stop, but not without wobbling the entire time. It was nowhere close to what she was supposed to do, but James couldn't bring himself to tell her so. She tried and he guessed her co-ordination might not be good enough for the sport yet. Regardless of the slow progress Louella seemed to enjoy herself, so James crawled along the rim of the icefield until his back ached from the horrible position.
"Eve!" he called the next time she passed them, "Help me a bit?"
She nodded and grasped Louella's left hand. "Keep your feet on the ice, darling," she instructed the toddler. Her and James started to skate with Louella between them. She squealed at the faster pace and giggled before they upped the tempo again. Soon enough they had caught up with Tanner and James handed him Louella's right hand. "Hold on to her. My back's killing me. Need to skate a few rounds."
Tanner didn't have time to protest before James dashed off. He huffed, "Why would he leave someone who can't skate with a bigger someone who can't skate?"
The laughter that bubbled from Eve's mouth was enough to make him smile and Louella giggle. He didn't care it everyone around them looked at them like they were crazy. He didn't even care if the three of them would fall flat on their arses. At least they were having a good time.
He stumbled and as a reaction to it Louella did too, but he and Eve caught he revery time. She dangled in the air for a moment or two, but her feet touched back on the ice every single time. It was a glee. The lights roamed over white power ice and somehow it was slippery all over. Louella didn't understand. She enjoyed instead.
After another bout of almost falling Tanner had to ask, "How can she be so happy about nearly getting injured?"
"I think when you can't sense danger with your brain you have the capacity to delve into joy with your heart. No point in worrying about falling when all you really do is stumble. And what's the worst that can happen anyway? A bruise?"
"A bruise is no joke. Do you know how painful that is when you have to sit through meetings all day long."
"You poor baby. At least you won't have to feel it with each step because of a pencil skirt."
He flinched at the mere thought of fabric pressing into bruised skin during even the simplest tasks, "Okay. You win."
James slid up behind them. "What's making you all smiley?"
"Is happiness a crime these days?" Eve asked.
"Actually it is. And my daugther will not be subjected to such madness." He scooped Louella up and skated away from them with a grin and a wink, "Have some lovey dovey couple time."
"Sap!" Eve yelled after him, but grabbed Tanner's hand. They slid off to the cafeteria for some hot chocolate.
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A/N: Please leave a review; they're like happiness bottled into a few words :) Thanks for reading!
