Day 13. Spooky. Back to feelings, but these are happy feelings. Today's enemy was the dreaded entity: homework. But I have emerged victorious yet again! Today's chapter summary: Peter and El finally get a date: ice skating in Central Park. Alex and Neal also decided it's time for a date. Neither of them know the other is there.

It was a Saturday in mid-January, bright, sunny, and cold. There were worse days to spend outside. The weather was fine, no snow to be seen (except for blanketing the grass outside). It was a beautiful day and many couples had decided to spend the day on a date outside. Among them: an alleged art thief-slash-convicted forger and an alleged art thief-slash-fence.

Alex had been ready for at least ten minutes by the time Neal was finished lacing up his skates. She was ready for this. She hadn't had a chance to go ice skating in years-too much heat on her face-and she hadn't had the chance with Neal for longer. And, through some form of miracle, she still had her old skates. Alex stood, blade covers on her skates, content to watch Neal struggle with the laces rather than help.

Eventually, he forced the laces to work and looked up. He met Alex's eyes. Her eyes were alight with excitement and playfulness and he knew his were too. She held out a hand. Neal took it. Alex pulled him up and they finally made their way on to the ice. Using Neal as a support, Alex pulled the blade covers off and slipped them into her purse before stepping on to the ice. Neal quickly joined her, still holding tight to her hand.

Alex took to the ice like a fish to water. She felt like she'd never left and could immediately go back. Her balance was immediately there and she started twisting her legs and ankles, trying to warm up. Neal, meanwhile, was not as confident on the ice. He knew how to ice skate, sure. Was confident in his abilities, even. But...it had still been literal years since he was on the ice. He was starting basics, swizzles and glides and trying to remember how to balance and fall. Alex dropped his hand and took off, skating across the ice like it was the easiest thing in the world. Although, Alex had a way of making everything she did look like the easiest thing in the world. One of the things Neal loved about her.

Neal sighed. "Alex!" he yelled after her. She didn't respond.

Neal took a few more seconds to remember how to balance and skate before chasing after her. He wasn't as graceful as Alex, but he was moving at a decent pace and didn't look like a baby deer on roller skates. So that was a good thing. He dodged people, trying to keep Alex firmly in his line of sight. She was smiling and laughing, liking the childish game of tag they'd created. She looked over her shoulder and flipped to skating backwards, just to watch Neal fumble in his pursuit. Alex stuck out her tongue before going back to skating forwards. Neal laughed and kept weaving through people. He caught up to her and grabbed her elbow. He laughed a little when she jumped.

"Caught you!"

"Yeah," Alex admitted with a laugh. She spun in place, lifting Neal's arm above her head and keeping her posture perfectly. "You did." She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "But you're slow."

Neal gave a playful punch to her arm. "Not everyone can learn figure skating in Sweden."

Alex only shrugged. "I guess not."

In the instant of teasing that they'd established, Alex had caught sight of something shiny. Or, rather, a wallet that looked promising. And she wanted it. In the split second Neal had lost focus, she skated forward, 'accidentally' bumping into the man. She picked his pocket almost before he'd even noticed he'd been hit. And then Neal saw. He saw Alex slip the wallet out of the man's pocket. He saw Alex put the same wallet into her own purse. He sighed and glid after her.

"Alex," he said in a tone not dissimilar to how a kindergarten teacher tells their children to stop eating the crayons. He held out his hand.

Alex rolled her eyes before giving the wallet back to Neal. She scowled. It was adorable. That was another thing Neal loved about Alex: everything she did was attractive. Even if that was scowling. Neal skated forward a bit and 'accidentally' bumped into the same man, slipping the wallet back into his jacket pocket.

"Sorry, man," he said, selling the apology. "It's been a few years since I've been skating."

The man just waved him off with a 'no problem,' before avoiding this unbelievably clumsy couple. Alex giggled and started their race again. She sprinted away while Neal was distracted. He looked back over to where Alex should have been. She wasn't there. Oh no. Neal looked up, across the ice. Oh, that's better. He could see her scarlet coat tracing its way across the ice, almost half a lap ahead of Neal. He called out before tracing her path, weaving through people.

Alex laughed. This chase game was fun. But...oh. Neal wanted to be with her. He wanted to be close to her. He wanted to be with her. She slowed down enough for him to catch up. Plus, she couldn't tease him if she couldn't see him. Neal skated behind her with a scrape, spraying her ankles with ice shavings. He grabbed her elbow again before sliding his hand down her forearm. He entangled his fingers with hers. She took his hand as well.

Neal panted. "Alex," he gasped.

"Wow," she teased. "You're tired. What happened to your stamina?" She pushed off, pulling Neal along with her. He moved enough to stay upright.

"I...I haven't been skating...in more than five years," he panted out. He took a deep breath. "I'm...I'm not used to it."

Alex laughed at him and Neal responded very maturely. He stuck his tongue out at her. She laughed again. "I'm still having fun though," she remarked.

Neal nodded. He'd gotten his breath back, mostly. He looked over, staring into her chocolate eyes. "You always have fun teasing me."

She shook her head insistently. "No," Alex explained. "I'm having fun because I'm with you. It feels almost like old times!"

"But with fewer museums."

"Yeah. And I'm racing with you, not racing against you."

Neal was forced to give her that one. They spent a good amount of time racing against each other for better scores. For a few months, they had a point system, but that was forgotten after Neal scored the Mona Lisa. And then, much to Alex's dismay, returned it. He had won the game and lost it in the same week. "But you always got the better scores," he complimented.

"And never got caught." She flashed a smile.

Neal also had to give her that one. He had most definitely been caught. "You've got me there." And Neal's energy was back. "Come on, let's have some fun that doesn't end in me panting like a dog."

Alex laughed before grabbing Neal's hands in hers, putting them face to face. She started skating backwards as elegantly as forwards, pulling Neal along with her. He followed, finally getting used to skating in a straight line again. The two chased each other around and around the ice, avoiding everyone else and stealing glances and trading barbs about who'd make a good mark.

Meanwhile, there were also more established couples there for a date. There were plenty of first dates, but this particular couple had a 'first date in a while' planned. Peter and Elizabeth finished lacing up their skates around the same time and took their first unsteady steps onto the ice hand in hand. Both immediately lost their balance and started sliding. El started laughing and it wasn't long before Peter joined her. And then, El hit the ice. Her legs slid out from under her and she fell flat on her back.

Peter, the wonderful husband that he was, went over to the wall and made sure he wouldn't fall helping her up. He held out his hand. Elizabeth took it gratefully and let Peter pull her back to her feet. She joined him in clinging on to the wall until they found their balance.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked. "That seemed like a painful fall."

El took a mental inventory of her body. Nothing broken, nothing serious. "I'm okay," she reported. She pulled her ponytail a little tighter. "Proof that I haven't been skating in a while, I guess."

Peter smiled at her. He loved his wife. She was gorgeous, the way she glowed when she was excited about something. The way she was always ready with a witty comment or something to cheer someone up. Even her temper was something Peter loved. Her hair was glowing where the January sun hit it, almost forming a halo around her head. Her eyes sparkled.

"I guess," he answered. "You ready to get going?"

El nodded. "Slowly?"

"Slowly," Peter agreed. "I haven't ever gone skating."

El looked over at her husband. "No?" She pushed off the wall gently, starting to glide across the ice. She kept her hand in Peter's, tugging him along with her as they found their legs again. "We used to go all the time when I was little."

"Really?" Peter wasn't sure if it had been brought up before. He wasn't sure if it mattered. El was happy talking about it and he liked making her happy.

She nodded. "It was our New Year's tradition. Ice skating on January 1st. Maybe in a rink, maybe on the lake. It didn't matter, we just had to be outside on the ice."

Peter smiled. "That sounds interesting. Maybe we need a few new traditions like that."

El smiled and she looked radiant. Her hair was pulled back, a few strands escaping to frame her face. Her eyes were sparkling. Her cheeks were red from the cold and only added to the glow. Her coat was fitted around the waist and she managed to look elegant even floundering across the ice.

"Maybe," she agreed.

She let go of Peter's hand for a moment before letting herself glide across the ice. There we go. She'd managed to remember how to skate. One leg, then the other. One leg, then the other. El turned back, taking Peter's hand again and pulling him with her. He skated alongside the more trained of the two, watching what she was doing and doing his best to copy it.

"Any reason you wanted to go today?" El asked, almost abruptly. "If you've never gone before, I mean."

"Well, we both had today off..." Peter answered with a laugh.

El had to give that one to him. This was a small miracle. A Saturday where someone didn't want to have some sort of party or event or a disaster had occurred that Peter was urgently needed at. It was the first weekend in a long time that either of them could remember sharing with their spouse. Strange. El had thought the missing weekends would end with Neal joining the FBI. Instead, they seemed to become more frequent. Peter had thought something very similar and usually blamed Neal for the lack of weekends. Once they'd landed on the same thought, a whirling dervish in scarlet and black flew past them, long brown hair flowing behind her and a laugh on her lips. Peter thought she looked familiar and then realized that almost all of Manhattan looked familiar to him at this point. El laughed.

"Alex!" a young man's voice called from behind them. It was half-scolding and half-teasing. Definitely a new, young couple. Peter didn't think too much about who it was. This was a day for him and his wife and absolutely no one else.

"Remember when we were like that?" El asked, a wistful smile on her lips.

"We were like that?" Peter didn't remember doing anything as ridiculous as what they'd just witnessed.

She nodded eagerly. "The times when we couldn't bear to be apart, but still teased each other?" Her face lit up when she remembered a story. "Like the time we were on the beach and I swam away from you so you had to catch me?"

Peter remembered that moment well. But, El stopped before the best part. "And then I threw you in the water! Yes!"

El laughed. "You nearly drowned me!" She wasn't angry, just too happy to restrain her voice.

"But you didn't drown."

"Because you saved me."

The two pulled each other close.

"I love you," Peter confessed.

"I love you too," Elizabeth echoed.

They shared a brief kiss. Nothing scandalous, just pressing their lips together. They hadn't done something like this in too long. Go on an affectionate date and just love each other. It was nice. They kept skating, still holding hands. It was much easier now that El had her skating legs back and Peter was well on his way to figuring it out. El smiled before flipping around and skating backwards, tugging Peter along with her.

"How do you do this so easily?" he asked.

"I guess it's just something I'm good at," she admitted with a shrug. "And I had a lot of practice when I was younger. There's definitely something you're good at that I can't do."

"Yeah," Peter said, emotionlessly. "Accounting."

"Something fun," El clarified.

"Um..." Peter tried to think of something. There were a lot of things he was good at. Most of them El was okay at. She wasn't the best at sports, definitely not the best, but she enjoyed watching them. There was exactly one thing he could think of. "I can sing."

"See?" El said with a giggle. "We should go to karaoke sometime. Sounds like you'd have fun."

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "You know, I was in drama club in high school."

El raised an eyebrow and flipped back to skating parallel to Peter. She kept one hand in Peter's, but freed her other. "Drama club? Not Mathletes?"

"I did both."

El shook her head. "And you still got drafted for baseball." Peter gave a look of mock offense. El suddenly burst out laughing before pressing a kiss against Peter's cheek. "And that's why I love you."

Alex and Neal gradually slowed down to a pace that a reasonable person would think was normal. Alex was fine. She was glowing, basking in enjoyment and exertion. Her cheeks were red, but that was the only sign that she was anything close to tired. Neal, however, was panting and almost bent in half.

"I can't believe you, Alex," he gasped. "I was with you and I'm tired."

Alex smiled and laughed. "You know, you're really cute when you get all mad like this."

Neal rolled his eyes. "Alex," he scolded in a tone that signified that he was too tired to deal with this.

Alex rolled her eyes and mocked his tone. "Neal."

And that made Neal recover. "I love you, you know."

The tone he said it with was so casual that Alex almost missed what he said. She covered for the mistake by tossing her hair over her shoulder. She stopped pulling him and skated next to him. "What kind of love?"

Neal smiled and kissed her cheekbone lightly. "Not enough to marry you," he teased.

"Good," Alex said before sprinting off across the ice again.

"Alex!"

She didn't stop. But, this time, instead of sprinting around the circle of people, she went into the middle of the rink. There were only a few people, mostly figure skaters using the open rink for a short warm-up before going to the rink they rented. Alex did a few spins and turns, including what looked like a triple axel. A few people stared and some murmured approvingly. Neal stared at her as he kept moving with the flow of people. Alex was enjoying herself and she looked ravishing. She saw his expression and a wide smile cracked across her face. She skated over to Neal and playfully punched his shoulder.

"Lighten up, Neal." She planted a small kiss on his jaw, enjoying the way the stubble felt on her lips.

This was the perfect moment, Neal decided, to pull the con he'd been setting up all day. Neal wasn't inept at skating. He was out of practice, but not as useless as he'd led Alex to believe. As soon as Alex slowed down next to him, he took his chance to sprint across the ice, leaving Alex staring after him. Alex stopped propelling herself and glid to a stop. Neal did know how to figure skate. He was with her when she did. She needed him for that plan to work. And Neal got her to believe that he could forget how to ice skate. She started laughing before speeding up to chase after Neal.

Neal artfully dodged both the people around him and all of Alex's attempts to grab him with turns, glides, spread-eagles, Ina Bauers, and all other manner of figure skating moves he hadn't done in years. It was fun, being the one evading a chase. Gave Neal a thrill he hadn't realized he'd been missing. He laughed, and got the glow of excitement he'd admired on Alex just minutes earlier. Alex finally caught up (or Neal let her catch him) and grabbed his hands.

Neal spun her straight into the center of the ice. There were only two other skaters in the center, leaving him free to do what he planned. He pushed off, right leg in arabesque position, left leg pointed straight forward, and glid straight into the center of the ice, pushing Alex in front of him. He released her hands and started a straight line, building up speed for a spin. Alex watched for a few seconds before she realized what he was doing. Our old routine. She joined him, loosely grabbing his hands as they started an ice dance. Spin, lift, split apart, come back together. Flip, twist, hold on, keep spinning. They didn't need to talk or count or listen to their music to keep their routine going. Alex laughed out loud. This was fun. She hadn't had fun like this in years. Neal joined her. He had some fun, but nothing with someone.

"You remember that time-" Alex started.

Neal cut her off, knowing exactly where she was going. "You had me pretend to be a professional ice dancer?"

"I was with you!"

"You were."

Alex pretended to pout, like she was upset by Neal's word. "And you teased me about learning figure skating in Sweden. You did too."

"I did not," Neal said in his version of an imperious tone. "I learned ice dance in Russia." Alex laughed at him and Neal stuck out his tongue. "Who were we?" he asked. "Aleksandra and..."

"Mikhail," Alex supplied.

Neal nodded. "Right, right. Aleksandra Okhotnik and Mikhail Ryabkin." Something popped into Neal's mind. "You had to do all the talking!"

"Because you didn't speak Russian, right!" she almost shouted. Then she broke into a fit of giggles.

It had been forever since they'd done this. It was so much fun. It was years since they had a chance to be seen without having to worry about getting arrested. Their luck, one was always suspected of something. Just because Alex was never caught didn't mean it was safe to see her on television. Neal, meanwhile, hadn't had the chance for a good number of years. Alex held on to Neal's hand as he started slowly spinning, Alex whirling around him.

"I'd do a death spiral, but I think you'd hit someone," Neal whispered.

"And we're both out of practice," Alex added.

"You know, that wasn't fair," Neal commented, pretending to be offended. "You got to keep your name. Be Alexandra Hunter in Russian and English."

"It's not my fault both your names are Irish," Alex teased back in the same tone.

"It's not mine either!"

They finished their routine and just kept freestyle ice dancing together. It was good. It was a release from the tension and worry and difficult emotions they didn't know how to word. The spinning and jumping and freestyle movement got their blood pumping, giving them the same kind of thrill that heists and cons gave them. It would never be the exact same kind of thrill. But, they were still young. Who was to say they couldn't go competitive again, under their real names. Or, better yet, they could live in the now instead of the future. They lost their momentum for dancing and gradually faded back into the crowd, skating around and around in laps.

"I didn't know we still knew that," Neal commented, once he thought he could speak again.

"I didn't either," she answered. Then, she did something reckless. She kissed Neal, for longer than she ever had. "I love you."

"I love you too." And Neal pressed his lips to hers and neither of them complained.

And if Alex and Neal saw an FBI agent and his wife on a date, they didn't mention anything. And if Peter Burke saw Neal Caffrey with a known fence around town, laughing and talking, he kept well enough alone. Neal was young. He deserved these moments.

I hope you liked this one. I am trying to keep them comedic, but sometimes the angst gets away from me. If you liked this one especially, feel free to leave a review. NaNoWriMo writers, you're almost halfway!