"Where's Miss Emily?" Ethan asked Alex, climbing on a chair to see what his mother was baking...and sneak some of the cookie dough while she wasn't looking. "I can't find her anywhere."

"What do you need Emily for?" Alex asked.

He shook his head firmly. "It's a secret," he said evasively.

"Maybe she's outside helping Derek?" Alex suggested. "Have you looked there?"

He shrugged, reached for another dollop of cookie dough.

She swatted his hand away. "How many times do I have to tell you not to eat raw dough?" she asked him with a raised brow, but a smile as well. "You're going to get salmonella."

Instead of answering, he hopped off the chair and scampered off to find Emily.

"Put on your coat before you go outside!" Alex called after him. "And mittens!"

Emily skated around the little frozen pond on the edge of the property, the far off memory of her father teaching her how to skate on this very pond hitting her square in the chest with a pang of bittersweetness. She always used to love skating with her father (her mother never joined in, of course) because it was one of the rare moments she had him all to herself.

Over the years, her memories of skating had changed from happy moments with her father to remembering being screamed at in Russian to get her axels higher which was decidedly less enjoyable. The figure skating had been her mother's idea, of course. And it didn't matter whether Emily wanted to do it or not, all it mattered was that she was good. Because being a figure skater was something her mother could brag about to all her important diplomatic friends.

That was a long time ago, though. And even though she'd hated it at the time, she sometimes missed skating. At least, the feeling she got when she sailed through the air in a perfect triple axel.

With a steadying breath, Emily picked up speed, then launched herself into the jump, sticking a perfect landing.

When her blades hit the ice, the sound of furious clapping sounded from behind her. She whipped her head around to find Ethan standing there watching her with a look of awe on his face. "Wow!" he said breathlessly. "Where'd you learn to do that!?"

Emily laughed softly, skating over to the edge of the pond where he stood. "I used to train to be a figure skater when I lived in Russia," she explained.

"You lived in Russia and Germany?" he asked as if it were the most unbelievable thing he'd ever heard.

"And Spain and Italy and France. And a little while in Qatar," she listed, ticking the countries off on her fingers.

His eyes went wide. "Wow! That's so many places!"

She shrugged. "My Mother had to travel all over the world for her job. It was fun, I guess, but..."

"Can you teach me?" Ethan interrupted, changing the subject.

"Teach you what?"

He pointed to the rink. "How to jump like that..."

She shrugged again. "I suppose. As long as you're not scared..."

"I'm not scared!" he insisted, hands on his hips. "I'm not scared of anything!"

"Okay, first thing we have to practice is the 'bunny hop'," Emily explained. "Let's see you lift up your right knee." He watched her demonstrate, then duplicated her movement. "Great. Okay, now when you lift your knee, you're going to kick your foot forward and hop."

With his tongue stuck out slightly in concentration, Ethan did his best to copy her movements, but he wobbled a little on the landing and fell.

"That's okay," Emily assured him, grabbing his hand and helping him up. "We'll keep practising until we get it right. Because practice makes perfect."

As they worked on the 'bunny hop', they didn't notice that, at the top of the hill, they were being watched...at least, not until Ethan finally stuck the landing and applause sounded. "Bravo!" Alex cheered, approaching the ice. "You're practically Olympics material already."

"Did you see, Mom?" Ethan asked. "Emily's teaching me to do the 'bunny hop' so I can do an axel like her. Did you know she used to be a figure skater? She lived in Russia and a whole bunch of other places and..."

"Amazing," Alex declared with a playful little wink at Emily. "But I think it's time for you to go inside and warm up before you turn into a popsicle." She could see Ethan was about to complain, so she added, "I have hot chocolate waiting. And some cookies."

Ethan cheered, eagerly changing into his boots and sprinting up the hill.

By the time Emily and Alex hard arrived back at the house, Ethan had already divested himself of all his winter gear and was a split second away from attacking the plate of cookies when Alex clicked her tongue. "Wash up first, please."

With an aggravated sigh, he trudged to the bathroom, leaving the adults alone.

Emily grinned, opened her mouth to say something, but didn't have the chance to get the words out before Alex had her lips on hers. "What... What was that for?" she asked.

Alex just smiled, shook her head. "That is for being you."

"Being me?" she echoed, brow raised.

She nodded. "You didn't have to teach Ethan how to skate, but you did anyway."

Emily shrugged. "Well, yeah..." she said as if it were what anyone would do. It was clear, though, based on Alex's expression, that it was a really big deal. "I think it's what my dad would have wanted, what he would have done."

"Your father would be really proud of you, you know?" Alex murmured. "He was always proud of you, but seeing you with the kids would have made him absolutely beam with happiness." She reached up to cup Emily's cheek, thumb brushing along her skin.

At the sound of Ethan's approaching footsteps, though, they quickly pulled apart before he could see something they couldn't explain.