A/N: This story is set in the UK, so when football is mentioned, they are talking about the game played with the round black and white ball, not the oblong brown one.
Theo's idea for a easy Sunday together get turn on their head when ice skating doesn't go as planned? Can he a Daphne survive without ending up in Emergency?
Music: Believe by Peter Hollins and One Voice Children's Choir
Daphne: I'm going to kill him
Luna: Murder is not allowed on Sundays
Hermione: Where are you?
Ginny: What are you doing there?
Daphne: I am in love with a lunatic
Luna: Where is she?
Hermione: Gin, how do you know where she is?
Ginny: Look on the app
Daphne: Thank you for stalking me
Luna: What app?
Hermione: The stalking app that we found to help Harry keep track of Gin
Ginny: That is not why we got the app
Daphne: Really?
Hermione: Think again. We got tired of him texting us to find out where you were
Luna: Oh, that app. The one that had me in Tempest and Nev in the parking lot when he was standing beside me in the shop
Daphne: That would be the one
Hermione: It cannot be right. I says you are at
Luna: The skating rink in the park?
Ginny: There have to be a million people there with their kids today
Daphne: He wants to...
Hermione: Watch the people fall on their arse?
Ginny: Visit Emergency later today?
Luna: Get you cold so he can warm you up?
Daphne: Gotta go
Ginny: We need...
Hermione: Pictures!
Luna: Have fun!
Daphne tucked her mobile into her coat pocket. Theo had lost his mind. Ice skating...in the park...at an outdoor rink...with children. She was going to die. She was not the most athletic of people and he was asking her to risk her life on a pair of thin blades. He was going to pay for this.
She hadn't thought much about ice skating on a Sunday. Ice skating happened inside. Ice skating was not popular and families did stuff together, at home. She had not planned on today being International Children's Day and the outdoor rink running a special. Theo, for all his wonderful attributes, did not think about things like this. "Let's go ice skating." was as far as he got in the planning of the event.
"Theo, I am going to die if you make me go out there." Daphne was clinging to the edge of the rink. "I know a toddler with more coordination and grace than I will have out on that ice."
Theo glided to the edge of the rink where she was hanging on for dear life. "Come on, Brown Eyes. I've got you." Theo held out his hands for her to grab. "I will skate in front of you and keep the evil little ones away."
Daphne watched the little children zoom around the rink like they were running in the park. "Not all of us grew up playing hockey," she grumbled as she let him pull her onto the ice. "You can explain my absence from work tomorrow to the AP. I hope you like visiting Emergency."
"I am not going to let you fall. Trust me." Theo grinned and pulled Daphne away from the wall. "One trip around the rink at the time. You'll be an expert before you know it."
"If I die, it will all be your fault, Chess Man." Daphne grumbled as she concentrated on not falling. "Who ever thought is was a good idea to strap two thin strips of metal to the bottom of their feet and intentionally step on ice was insane. I cannot believe I let you talk me into this. Don't you dare let me go, Theodore."
"I'm not going anywhere, Brown Eyes," Theo whispered as he began to glide backwards. "Just hold my hands and let me pull you until you get a feel for the ice. Then, we will worry about moving your feet. One trip around the rink done."
Daphne looked up from her feet into Theo's twinkling eyes. "You think you are so smart, distracting me with your sweet talk and sexy grin. I still cannot believe you talked me into this… What are you doing? THEO!"
Daphne fought catch her breath as Theo pulled her into his arms and began to spin. "A Physics experiment. Centrifugal force and the like. All that math and science stuff."
Theo laughed as he stopped their spin and set her back on the ice. "See, not so bad, Brown Eyes. Now that you have braved the ice and survived, want some hot chocolate?"
"Yes! How do you propose to get me off the ice now that we are in the middle of it?" Daphne gestured to the people skating past them. "I have seen baby horses walk better than I can skate and we are now in no man's land. We have a minefield to cross to get to the goal."
"The same way we got here." Theo tipped her chin up so Daphne was looking him in the eyes. "Keep your eyes on me and let it happen. You are doing a better job that you think. I'll make a hockey player out of you yet."
Daphne didn't even notice their movement at first. Theo had started to glide backwards as he was talking. They were skating along. They might make it to that little door that would get her off this sheet of glass.
"MR. NOTTTTT!"
Harry: What is that?
Ron: Who is that?
Neville: Are you at Emergency?
Theo: A cast. Me. Ice skating
Harry: How did a lifelong hockey player
Ron: End up at Emergency
Neville: In a cast?
Theo: A student who was learning how to skate
Harry: I need more information
Ron: I need oxygen
Neville: I can hear you laughing from here, Weasley
Theo: This is not funny
Harry: I told you not to go today. All of Lindon is taking their kids for the free skating today
Ron: Where was Daphne when this happened?
Neville: Is she okay?
Theo: I was skating backwards so I could lead her off the ice
Harry: This does not sound good
Neville: Let the man tell the story
Ron: Continue, please
Theo: When I heard people shouting behind me
Harry: Don't say it
Ron: Did you trip or get run over?
Neville: My bet is on run away child
Theo: Nev wins, sort of. One of my football players was trying to impress his girl
Ron: Please tell me it was not the midfielder that is trying to pass
Neville: That kid can't catch a break
Harry: But he can cause one
Theo: He has no luck
Harry: That is never good
Neville: And he wasn't looking where he was going
Ron: And he checked you harder than those guys at University
Theo: That's just about it. Another student tried to warn me, but by the time I heard and wrapped up Daphne
Neville: You were in a tangled mess on the ice
Ron: How did you break your arm?
Harry: I'm guessing you were worried more about protecting her than yourself
Theo: I'm not sure how it happened but at least it is not the side I write with
Harry: That is a plus
Ron: Is Daphne okay?
Neville: Don't you have to work tomorrow?
Theo: Daphne is fine. Shaken up a bit and swearing never to set foot on the ice again
Harry: Don't blame her
Ron: She may have a point
Neville: Looks like you are off the ice and your bike for a while
Theo: Gotta go. The doc is here with discharge papers
Daphne smoothed the hair back from Theo's forehead as she watched him sleep. Time had stopped when she realized that there was a human hurtling toward them on the ice and Theo could not see him. A shout from one of their students had given him time to wrap her up and start to turn before one of the school's star midfielders tackled them. The boy was horrified as they began to untangle the mess they had become on the ice. He turned pale when he realized that Theo could not move his left arm. They had ended the day in Emergency waiting for a doctor to evaluate his shoulder and arm.
She had finally been able to bring him home after his lower arm had been put in a cast and it was determined that his shoulder was not dislocated, just badly bruised. Now all she had to do was make him stay home for a few days and rest before he went back to work. She had waited until the pain medicine had helped him drift off before she called in a sick day for both of them tomorrow. Their administrator had chuckled at the thought of her keeping Theo from coming in to work in the morning. "I have known that boy since he was in Secondary," he had sighed as they talked. "He tried to come to school the day after he got a concussion in a hockey playoff game. He was out cold on the ice for five minutes and expected me to let him into my class the next day. You tell him I am not letting him back in the building until Wednesday."
Keeping him quiet tomorrow was going to be a task. He was not still at the best of times. She had already had to settle him twice tonight because he had rolled onto his injured side. Maybe she could see if the guys could come by and play chess or something during the day. Right now she needed sleep. Daphne decided to send off a quick message before she settled into his good side and tried to sleep.
Daphne: Heading to bed. He is asleep for now. Tomorrow is going to be a long day
Hermione: Can anybody go and check on them tomorrow?
Neville: We can go after work, but I have Christmas orders to get finished and delivered all day
Ginny: I can bring James by at with lunch. I am only working a half day tomorrow
Harry: Daphne has her hands full
Ron: He has never liked to be still or hurt
Luna: He is going to be a bear tomorrow
Hermione: So who is going to rescue her 30 minutes after his alarm goes off and he realizes that she has called out for both of them?
Harry: Not I
Ron: Not I
Luna: Not me
Ginny: Not me … I have to wrestle the octopus in the morning because Harry offered to work third shift for Draco tonight
Neville: Are we going to abandon her to the bear?
Hermione: No, but I am not going near their place until I have had tea and donuts
Ron: I'll go by and bring breakfast before I head for the shop.
Hermione: Then it is settled
Harry: We drop by as we can and pray that he uses common sense
Ginny: A former hockey player who teaches Maths and rides a motorcycle
Hermione: And takes his terribly clumsy girlfriend ice skating
Luna: Has common sense?
Harry: Well…
Ron: He can dream
Neville: And we can pray