AN: First of all, thanks to all of the readers for your patience in between updates. I know I've been saying that I'm aiming for two weekly updates, but as you can tell it's a struggle for me to even post once per week right now. Hopefully I'll eventually get back on course, but in the meantime it's going to have to be once per week. Sorry! I DO try to keep my chapter over 3000 words in length, which I hope makes up for the infrequency of the updates, at least in part.

So here it is, as a special post-valentine's day/winter olympics treat for all of you: Leah and Rideau's skating adventure! I hope you enjoy it… it was so much fun to write these two feeling their way through a not-quite-date!

Thanks to all of the reviewers… sorry it took me so long to respond to your wonderful comments! I really do appreciate every review I get, and I'd love to hear from each and every person who's reading this story. And I do respond personally to all of my reviewers. I guess my point is, you should review!

Thanks, as always, for reading! Enjoy!

~Crit.

Chapter 32: Pairs Skate

Rideau was shocked to discover that Leah had a car in the city. "Nobody drives here," he said by way of explanation as thy headed towards the parking garage. "Generally speaking, it's a bit too frustrating dealing with the traffic, and New Yorkers have short fuses to begin with. But if you think you can tough it out, why not?"

"I'm pretty sure I can handle it," Leah replied breezily, hitting the power locks. The convertible's lights flashed, and Rideau raised an eyebrow.

"Nice car. Volkswagons are the way to go. I had a Toureg when I lived up north… good on the icy roads." He climbed into the passenger side as Leah got behind the wheel.

"You should have seen Jake's old car," she said, smiling as she remembered. "He had this Rabbit that he restored as a teenager. It was a classic."

"Was?"

"Well… Seth and I sort of totaled it." She gave him a sideways look. Rideau had an amused expression on his face.

"Should I be worried about being in the car with you behind the wheel?"

Leah shrugged. "My driving hasn't killed anyone… yet."

Rideau laughed, clearly not taking her seriously. Leah turned on the car, and, remembering with a jolt that she was in the company of a man with normal human physiology, cranked the heat. Big mistake; the resulting blast of air from the vents hit Rideau's skin and filled the air with his scent. Leah quickly turned her face towards the driver's side window, under the guise of checking her mirrors, so that he wouldn't catch sight of the stricken expression on her face. There was a single, unbearable moment when she wasn't sure if she'd be able to stand it, but she managed to reign herself in and arrange her face into a neutral expression before turning forward again. She would simply have to breathe as little as possible throughout the drive.

They managed to make it to the center of the city with a minimum of road-rage induced swearing on Leah's part. The few times that she did succumb to the urge to curse the other drivers, she was hugely embarrassed. But Rideau seemed to simply find it amusing. "This is why people take subways," he said, gesturing to the gridlock in front of them.

"Point taken, smartass," she ground out as she tried to ignore the loud honking from the cabbie who'd just sideswiped her. Rideau just chuckled and leaned back in his seat.

"I'm just going to go ahead and get comfortable… this could take a while."

Finally, after what felt like several hours of tense driving, but was only in reality about thirty minutes, they found a lot that actually had spaces, parked, and strolled over to the rink. It was full of people in colorful coats, swirling around on the ice.

"See? Isn't it great?" Rideau had a huge grin on his face. Leah had to laugh.

"You Canadians really love your winter sports," she said, shaking her head. Rideau shrugged.

"We'll make a convert of you yet. C'mon… let's go." Leah took a deep breath and looked at him doubtfully.

"I don't know about this," she said, making a face. He just shook his head and pulled her towards the skate rental window.

"You have to pull the laces really tight," Rideau told her as they sat down to change into their rented skates. "Let me know if you have trouble… sometimes it can be hard to get them tight enough, especially if the leather's cold." Leah rolled her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle it," she said. It was kind of cute that he assumed he was stronger than her. In a totally ignorant way. As it turned out, her problem wasn't being able to get the laces tight enough, but accidentally pulling them too tight; she actually had to backtrack and loosen them a bit when she realized she was about to lose circulation to her foot.

In her skates, Leah was easily over six feet tall. She stood carefully and focused hard on not letting her ankles turn as she made a feeble attempt to walk forward. The rink was only a few feet away… she might actually be able to make it there without falling over. She was mid-lurch when she suddenly felt a steadying grip on her shoulders. She turned her head in shock to find Rideau standing behind her, a tiny grin on his face.

"Don't be a hero," he said, linking his arm through hers. Leah dumbly went along with him, in shock over his very close proximity to her. "Let's save the falling over for when we get you on the ice."

"Ha ha," she said sarcastically, trying her best to sound as though she wasn't about to faint. Rideau didn't seem to have any trouble walking on his skates, and it actually was easier to move with something to hold onto. They made it to the ice, and Leah placed a hand on the boards. Rideau unhooked his arm from hers; she managed not to look too disappointed at the loss of contact.

"Okay," he said, "This is how you do it," and then he leapt onto the ice. He took a couple long strides forward, then did a half turn so that he was facing her again, surged forward and came to a stop a few feet in front of where she stood, spraying the boards with snow from where his blades scraped the ice. Leah gaped at him. She hadn't expected that under his mild, bookish exterior lay such athletic prowess.

He glided over to her and leaned his elbows on the boards. "Come on," he said, "Let's go."

"You didn't mention you were such a pro," she said accusingly.

"I'm not. Ten years of house league Hockey does not a pro make." When she responded with a frown, he looked over his shoulder and pointed at a small child who was zipping past. "That kid is, what, five? Six?" he turned back to look at her. "You don't want to get your butt kicked by a six year old, do you?"

Leah scowled and walked over to the opening in the boards. "This is unfair coercion," she muttered. Rideau gave her a pointed look, and she sighed. "Fine… here goes."

She stepped onto the ice; Rideau grabbed her arm as she put her foot down to help steady her. It was way more slippery than she'd anticipated, and she wobbled for a bit before she was able to stand straight and still. When she'd regained some semblance of dignity, Leah stopped to take a look around the rink. There were some pretty unsteady looking patrons, but mostly the ice was occupied by smooth-gliding people who didn't seem to be having any trouble at all moving around. So it couldn't be that hard.

You are a supernatural being, she told herself firmly. You have unmatched physical instincts, and you're used to controlling a body that's much more ungainly than this one. Use your instincts. She looked over at Rideau. "Okay," she said, "Show me again, slowly this time." After a doubtful moment, he let go of her arm and turned around.

"Watch me," He called over his shoulder, before pushing off and taking a few smooth strides. She narrowed her eyes and watched the way his body worked, examining the angle at which his knees bent, the way his weight was distributed, and the way his blades connected with and lifted away from the surface of the rink. She looked down at her own skates. The blades were a bit longer, so she'd have to correct for that, and they had those pointy things on the front, but other than that it would be the same.

"Just physics," she muttered to herself under her breath as she lifted one foot.

Rideau did a quick half turn and began to skate backwards. "Okay, so you just— " He stopped dead, his mouth hanging open, as she glided past him. A grin spread over Leah's face, but she didn't dare look back to gloat. As it turned out, she didn't have to: it took Rideau all of three seconds to catch up, whip around in front of her and turn so that he was skating backwards again. His shocked expression was hilarious, and Leah smirked back at him.

"I think I've got the hang of it," she said, deadpan. Rideau narrowed his eyes.

"You've done this before!" He said, pointing a finger at her feet for emphasis.

"Nope," she replied, "But I'm a fast learner."

"I don't believe you," Rideau said, shaking his head. Leah shrugged.

"You don't have to," she replied, "But you may want to watch where you're going."

"What—" Rideau slammed into the boards behind him. They had reached the end of the rink. Leah swerved slightly to the side, managing to put out her hands to absorb the impact, effectively stopping herself against the wall. It wasn't exactly comfortable, ramming herself into a solid surface like that, but it worked well enough in terms of stopping. She straightened up, caught her breath, and then grinned at him.

"Well, you win… this is fun." Rideau just stared at her, bewildered.

"How did you do that?"

"I told you, I'm a fast learner. Besides, as you pointed out before, a six-year-old can do it. It's not exactly tough." She toed the ice beneath her with the spiky thing on the front of one of her blades. "But if it'll make you feel better about your own skills, I could pretend to fall down a couple times."

"Oh, very funny." Rideau zig-zagged backwards a few feet, then zoomed back towards her and skidded to a halt, spraying her with snow. Leah cried out and leapt backwards, forgetting for a split second that she was on the ice at all. A split second was all it took: her feet slipped out from under her, and she went down.

At least, she almost went down… instead of the hard impact she had braced herself for, she found herself cushioned in the soft yet strong sling of Rideau's arms. Leah hadn't thought average humans could possess such quick reflexes, yet there she was, saved from a particularly nasty wipe-out, and Rideau's arms were around her back. Their faces were inches apart; she could feel his warm breath on her cheeks as he gave a soft laugh at her shocked expression. Slowly, he eased her back into a standing position, grinning the entire time, and then let her go with a pat on the back.

"Easy there… remember, you're still a beginner. Best not to attempt the big jumps just yet." Leah's head was swirling dangerously, and not just from the adrenaline rush of her near-fall. Their faces had been so close, their bodies pressed together… how could he seem so completely unaffected by it, when she felt like her legs might give out completely? She needed to get a grip, fast.

She pulled herself together for what seemed like the thousandth time that afternoon, deciding to play off her shock as a result of the almost-wipeout. "Will you teach me to stop like that?" She asked, smoothing down her coat. Rideau eyed her suspiciously.

"Not if it's so that you can get back at me," He said, sliding backwards a bit.

Leah pushed off carefully and followed him. "Fine," she replied. "I'll just figure it out on my own." She glided forward a bit further and realized that it really was quite simple now that she understood how to distribute her weight over top of her feet. She skated easily by Rideau, who laughed and pulled up alongside her.

"Has anybody ever told you you're sort of stubborn?" Leah looked at him for a moment before turning back to watch where she was going.

"Never," she replied sarcastically. "You're the very first person to ever make that observation."

He laughed again, and Leah could feel his eyes on her. She didn't dare look over at him, not trusting her feet or her nerves to behave if she broke her concentration.

"How fast can you go?" She asked, although she suddenly didn't care about skating in the slightest.

"Very," Rideau replied, "Why? You're not intending to race me, are you?"

"Maybe in a couple minutes," Leah said with a grin. "I might need another few laps of the rink before I'm up to your level." Now she did risk a look at him; he wore an expression of mock-irritation, which barely concealed his amusement.

"You think so, huh?" He looked down at her skates with a sly, knowing smile. "Tell me, Leah… how're your feet doing?"

There was a sudden baffled moment where Leah didn't get what he was talking about, and then she realized that a normal human would probably be experiencing some discomfort by now, what with the extremely chilly air and lack of circulation. Even with her super-human physiology, she was starting to feel pins and needles in her toes, probably a by-product of pulling her laces too tight. She winced, trying her best to make it look convincing.

"Um… they don't feel the greatest," she said, deciding that wasn't as bad as an outright lie. Rideau just nodded knowingly.

"Uh huh. I'd be willing to bet that by the time you do get a few more laps under your belt, your feet will be so sore that you won't be racing anybody."

Leah rolled her eyes. "You're taking advantage of my status as a novice."

They did a few more rounds of the rink, talking about all manner of different things as they went, before Rideau started to genuinely worry that she was pushing her feet too much. Leah wasn't exactly concerned; there was no damage she could do to her feet that wouldn't heal in a couple minutes, and she didn't want to stop even though she could feel blisters starting to form on her heels from the cold leather. But for appearances' sake she agreed to quit for the day, after he assured her that they could go back anytime she wanted. Admittedly, once they sat down and pulled of their skates, Leah was more than ready to put her feet back into her comfortable boots. They grabbed watery hot chocolate from a rinkside vendor before heading back to the car.

Leah offered to drop Rideau at his building, even though it was out of the way and meant navigating more New York traffic. She was happy for any interference that prolonged their time together. While they drove, they talked about their families. Leah learned that Rideau was the middle child of three, and that he had grown up with hyper-intellectual biologist parents who had always assumed he'd pursue a career in science, as both his brother and sister had done.

"I was raised on a genius farm," he said with a hint of self-deprecation. "My brother went to school for Engineering, and now he works for NASA. My little sister is a first-year surgical resident, her specialty is Neurosurgery. So basically, there's the Rocket Scientist, the Brain Surgeon, and me, the perpetual student." He shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure they've ever once understood when I try to explain what it is I study."

"What's so difficult about it?" Leah looked over at him briefly before turning her eyes back to the traffic. "I mean, if you can build a spaceship, you should have the brain capacity to recognize the importance of studying culture and society." She swallowed back the building rant and added, "One would assume."

"Of course they know it's important. They just don't understand why I would want to study, write and teach when I could be making such good money in the sciences. My parents are better about it than my brother and sister; they're environmental biologists, so they're really well-versed in the world around them and how we impact it. But if it's not related directly to the environment, they sort of… tune it out."

"My brother's like that," Leah replied with a small smile, "If you replace 'The Environment' with 'Video Games and Food'."

Rideau laughed at that. "Come on," he said, "I met the guy… he seems pretty cool."

"Cool is a relative term," Leah said. "When you've lived with it for… as long as I have…. It gets a bit old." She couldn't believe she'd almost slipped and given Seth's age. It would have brought up all sorts of questions, considering they all looked about a decade younger than they actually were. Of course, Seth acted it, too. "Anyway, he's okay. He can even be fun to have around, when he's not actively trying to drive you nuts."

"That I can understand," Rideau said. "Sometimes I think my sister Margaret isn't half the know-it-all she makes herself out to be, and she just plays it up because she knows it irritates me."

"She must really work at it… you don't seem like a particularly irritable person to me. I mean, I've been bugging you all day, and you haven't snapped at me once." Leah wished she could stop her mouth from working against her. Making fun of her own prickly personality was a coping mechanism, and a bad habit. She didn't want to point out every one of her flaws to Rideau, but it was a reflex. She'd always felt it was better to acknowledge her downfalls then to have them announced by somebody else. Now, she wished she could just knock it off.

"You don't get on my nerves nearly as much as you try to, with all your teasing and sarcasm," Rideau replied. Leah turned to look at him; he was grinning back at her. "But it's cute how you keep trying. Oh, pull over here… this is my building."

Leah was sure she was gawking as she brought the car to a stop at the curb. Cute? She'd been called a lot of things in her lifetime, but cute was not one of them. She swallowed around the lump in her throat and said, "Well, that being the case, I guess I'll just have to try harder." Rideau chuckled softly and shrugged.

"You can try if you want to." The car was stopped now, but he wasn't getting out. "But in all honesty, I'm pretty unflappable, so it might take a few attempts."

Leah wasn't sure how long she could keep up this routine without either passing out or attacking the poor boy, but she was damn well going to keep at it. "Well, I'm around all next week, if you feel like testing the limits of your patience."

"Sounds excruciating," he said, and his eyes locked on hers. "I'll give you a call tomorrow." There was a moment of loaded silence before he cleared his throat and looked away. Leah notice how he fumbled with his seatbelt, and then with the zipper on his jacket, looking everywhere but at her, and she wished she could think of something clever to say to keep him there a bit longer. But she couldn't. "Well, uh… I should get going before you get nailed for idling your car." He undid his seatbelt and turned to open the door. "Thanks for the ride home."

"No problem… thanks for convincing me to go skating. It was actually really fun… and you're not a terrible teacher." He laughed at that. She felt a small but acute ache building in her chest at the thought of him leaving. There was a rush of his scent as he turned and opened the door, and her eyes fluttered closed momentarily as her senses were flooded with it. She rearranged her face quickly as he turned around again and ducked his head into the car to say goodbye.

"Any time," he said, sounding casual. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Yeah," she said, unable to think of anything more intelligent. There was a moment's pause before Rideau straightened up to his full height and moved away from the car. If she hadn't fully convinced herself otherwise, she would have labeled his movements as 'Reluctant'.

"Bye, Leah," he said, and then he closed the door. She raised her hand in a little wave before he turned and walked away. She watched the back of his head as he walked towards the building; that is, until he turned as he reached the front door and looked back at her. Again, their eyes locked, and a small smile appeared on Rideau's face before he retreated through the doorway and disappeared from view. Leah sat in her car for another minute or so, glued in place, before pulling away from the curb and merging into traffic.

She cursed creatively at the other drivers the whole way back to the loft.

From the next chapter:

A friendship with no secrets. It was something she wanted, more than anything. She couldn't have that with Clara, or with Rideau, or any human being she might meet. Her family was too close, and they all held her up as something perfect and pure. Jacob loved her too much. Seth and Embry would always see her as a kid. There was only Leah left.