Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Where are we going?” Ava asked, squirming under Beatrice’s gentle hands.

Beatrice’s hands were covering Ava’s eyes as they walked towards the ice skating rink, Beatrice guiding Ava from behind. They were outside an ice skating rink, around an hour away from town. It was more crowded here, but Beatrice knew how happy this would make Ava and she assumed that one slightly risky day out in a more populated area would be okay. Adriel’s followers had quietened down a little after the scary surge in them all across the world, and both Beatrice and Ava could do nothing but hope it was because Adriel was losing power and momentum, not because he was planning something.

After watching Love Actually four nights ago, Ava had been talking constantly about how desperately she wanted to experience a white Christmas. Beatrice knew that it likely wouldn’t be possible anytime soon, but she started doing her research on how she could best replicate it for Ava right now, in the middle of Summer; due in part to Beatrice’s fondness of Ava, and in part to needing a day out away from the town.

So Beatrice found this ice rink that had a fake snow machine. An hour away, it was a bit of a drive, but the views on the way were amazing and Ava loved driving. Beatrice promised they would find a way to teach Ava how to drive once they were done with everything, but for now, Ava was more than content to sit in the passenger seat and watch Beatrice drive. She was so excited when Beatrice told her she spoke to Hans and got them both the day off to go for a drive somewhere; she had dragged Beatrice with her to the corner store to buy snacks and a pack of water bottles and a picnic blanket and anything else she deemed necessary for their day out. Beatrice revelled in the feeling of Ava’s absolute trust in Beatrice, the way she agreed to whatever it was Beatrice had planned without actually knowing what it was they were doing.

And so they found themselves outside this ice rink at 12 pm on a Wednesday.

“We’re here,” Beatrice finally answered, pulling her hands away from Ava’s face and stepping to stand next to her.

Beatrice watched as Ava blinked to get used to the brightness from the sun, and then took in her surroundings as she realised what they were standing outside of.

“An ice rink?” Ava smiled, turning to look at Beatrice, who was already watching her.

Beatrice nodded. “You kept talking about how you wanted to have a white Christmas. We won’t be able to have that, not for a while, but… this place has a snow machine. It’ll imitate falling snow. I know it’s not the same, but I was hoping it would still be fun.”

Ava looked at Beatrice in awe.

“You’re not real,” Ava said, glancing quickly between the ice rink and Beatrice.

Beatrice frowned, confused. “I’m… not real?”

Ava laughed and turned to Beatrice again so that she could grab both her hands. “No, I just meant that this is like- you somehow found this place, and you found it because of some offhand thing I said, and… okay well it wasn’t really offhand because I was talking about it a lot but you still… I know how amazing you are, I don’t know how I couldn’t after staying with you for so long, but this is actually on another level, Bea.”

Beatrice’s smile progressively got bigger as Ava tried to articulate herself, smiling at both Ava’s words and the way she pulled away to gesture with her hands, perpetually trying to almost capture something within them.

“Would you like to go inside?” Beatrice asked, smiling happily as Ava beamed and nodded excitedly.

They made their way inside, shivering lightly at the shock of cold air to their skin after being outside under the warmth of the sun. Beatrice watched Ava try on multiple ice skates until she found the best size, and then walked her through the basics of how to skate as she helped her do up the laces on her shoes, made sure they weren’t too tight, and made sure her ankles were supported properly.

Ava laughed and wobbled when she first stood up, unaccustomed to the feeling of walking on the skates. Beatrice immediately reached out to steady her, and didn’t let go of her until they entered the rink.

“See?” Beatrice asked once she was on the ice, her hands up in the air to show Ava she wasn’t holding onto anything. “It is possible.”

“I’m still pretty sure you’re like… magic, or something,” Ava said as she also made her way onto the ice, albeit much more unsure and shakily than Beatrice was.

Beatrice laughed as she pushed herself over to Ava, took her hands and then coaxed her out further onto the ice rink with her.

“I’ll teach you,” Beatrice said kindly, smiling at Ava as she skated backwards, still holding onto Ava’s hands as she gently pulled her along.

“How are you doing that?!” Ava asked, her brain only just catching up to the fact that Beatrice was actually skating backwards.

Beatrice cleared her throat as a blush fought its way up from under her jacket to spread across her face. “I used to be a figure skater. I enjoyed skating quite a lot as a child.”

Ava gasped as her mouth dropped open in over exaggerated shock. “Wow, and here I thought we would be somewhat on the same level.”

Beatrice laughed again, and Ava felt a warmth spread within her chest despite the cold temperatures required to keep the rink in good condition.

“Come on,” Beatrice said, directing them back towards the edge of the rink so Ava could hold onto the wall if she wanted to. “I believe you could get the hang of this rather quickly.”

“Really?” Ava asked, genuinely wondering.

“Yes,” Beatrice smiled. “Or, you’ll be so horrendously bad at it you’ll never want to do it again.”

Ava’s jaw dropped open again, speechless for the first time in a long time.

“I’m only joking. I truly do think you’ll love it,” Beatrice smiled cheekily.

Ava looked at Beatrice skeptically, but continued to hold onto both her hand and the wall as they skated around the edge of the rink.

By the end of their third lap Ava was feeling pretty alright, so Beatrice proposed that Ava let go of the wall and Beatrice’s hand.

“Really?” Ava asked a little nervously.

“Yes,” Beatrice nodded, having absolute confidence in Ava. “Only if you’d like to, of course, but I think you’ll be okay.”

Ava took a deep breath and then nodded, letting go of the wall. She held onto Beatrice for a little bit longer before letting go of her hand too, and telling Beatrice to go do a lap or something. She knew that Beatrice was holding back so that Ava could learn how to skate, and she had seen her almost longingly watching the figure skaters training on the rink on the other side of the building. Beatrice was hesitant to leave Ava at first, but Ava assured her she would be okay, and said that she needed to figure it out on her own for a minute.

Ava watched as Beatrice skated around the rink, in the centre away from the walls. It looked like it took her a moment to get fully comfortable and in control of herself, and when she did, Ava was in awe. She had never seen anyone look so carefree and peaceful, let alone Beatrice, the most selfless person she’s ever met, which usually amounted to copious amounts of stress and frowning. Beatrice was skating in circles in the middle of the rink, spinning around in circles and tucking her arms into herself to spin faster, slowing down and then skating further out again, doing all these small things that Ava had no idea the name of or how hard they were, just knowing that it looked fucking cool. And that Beatrice looked great. And like she was having fun.

Ava forgot that she was meant to be learning how to skate on her own until Beatrice caught Ava watching her, and then blushed and waved at her briefly.

Ava, knowing that Beatrice was watching, attempted to skate over to her so she could join her in the middle of the rink. Unfortunately for Ava, her lack of practice in favour of watching Beatrice look all pretty and amazing doing her spins in the middle of the ice, meant that she absolutely stacked it pretty much as soon as she started to skate forward.

Ava’s feet flew out from under her due to her balance being off, and before she knew it, she was on her back in the middle of the ice rink, the cold starting to seep through her shirt and the top of her pants. She started to laugh once her mind caught up with her body, and didn’t even try to get herself back up yet.

“Ava!” Beatrice called out. Ava didn’t turn to watch, but she could hear skates getting closer and closer to her, presumably Beatrice.

It was Beatrice. She knelt down next to Ava quickly, her hands warm despite the cold around them. Her fingers fluttered around Ava as if they were unsure what to be doing, seemingly confused by Ava laughing despite the fact that she just landed on her back after falling on an ice rink.

“Are you alright, Ava?” Beatrice asked, concerned, as she brushed Ava’s hair off of her face and tucked it behind her ears, before standing and extending a hand so that Ava could pull herself up.

“I’m okay, Bea,” Ava laughed quietly, still shocked that she managed to fall that quickly. She reached up to use Beatrice’s hand to pull herself up, and quietly marvelled at Beatrice’s strength and balance in being able to hold them both upright despite Ava pulling down on her hand.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue,” Ava added cheekily as she fluttered her eyelashes at Beatrice.

Beatrice tilted her head adorably as she reached up to gently and efficiently kind of feel around Ava’s head. “You’re welcome. Your head feels okay? Vision is okay?”

Ava melted inside at Beatrice’s quiet concern. “Yes,” she said seriously, wanting Beatrice to know that she appreciated her concern and was taking it seriously. “Thank you for checking. I’ll tell you if anything changes, but I promise I’m okay.”

Beatrice smiled and nodded, satisfied, and then dropped her hands, one of them moving to hold onto Ava’s again.

“Maybe I’ll guide you for just a bit longer,” Beatrice said quietly.

Ava smiled and laughed, squeezing Beatrice’s hand in thanks. “I appreciate it. This is much more fun. I’m going much faster than I would’ve on my own.”

“Not too fast, right?” Beatrice double checked.

“No, no, this is great!” Ava reassured quickly, enjoying watching Beatrice’s skill and control and feeling like she was protected from falling by holding onto Beatrice’s hand.

“Are you having fun?” Beatrice asked a couple minutes later, after a comfortable silence.

“Yeah, I am,” Ava sighed, and even she noted how she almost sounded sappy when she said that.

“I’m glad,” Beatrice smiled, blushing a little before checking her watch. “The snow machine should turn on in around… fifteen minutes?”

“Sounds great, Bea,” Ava said happily as she took a slight risk and changed her grip so that she was holding onto Beatrice’s arm with both hands, her head resting on Beatrice’s shoulder.

Beatrice slowed down significantly to accommodate Ava’s new position, but enjoyed the contact nonetheless.

“Are you cold, Ava?” she asked. “I did tell you to bring a jacket.”

“You didn’t tell me where we were going!”

“I still told you to bring one! Here, I don’t need mine-”

“Bea, it’s okay,” Ava laughed quietly, stopping Beatrice from taking off her jacket. “I’m not cold, I was just teasing. I just want to be close to you.”

“Oh,” Beatrice says quietly. “Okay, yeah, okay.”

They continued moving around the rink at a much more leisurely pace, and were content to skate around in circles and talk quietly with each other until the fake snow machine turned on, pretty much the whole reason for why they came.

“Look, Bea,” Ava said a few minutes later, lifting her head off of Beatrice’s shoulder to point out a group of kindergarteners stumbling their way onto the ice rink. “They’re so small.”

“They are,” Beatrice replied fondly, looking over to where Ava was pointing.

“Do you like kids?” Ava asked all of a sudden, the question catching Beatrice off guard.

“I’m not sure,” Beatrice answered truthfully. “Truth be told, I haven’t spent a lot of time with them. Especially not kids that young.”

“Hmm,” Ava said as she let go of Beatrice’s arm to venture out a little on her own, just to teasingly look Beatrice up and down, as if she was scrutinising her. “I think they’d love you. And you’d be great with them.”

“Really?” Beatrice laughed as Ava moved to hold onto her hand again. “You can tell just from looking at me?”

“Yep,” Ava smiled. “Another secret superpower of mine.”

“Ooh, a secret one? What else are you hiding from me, Silva?” Beatrice teased, looking down and smirking at Ava.

“They’re called secrets for a reason, silly,” Ava giggled, not looking up at Beatrice in fear of revealing her blush.

“You are correct. Silly me, I seem to have forgotten what a secret is.”

Ava looked up at Beatrice when she smiled this time, and was taken off guard by Beatrice already smiling at her.

Beatrice looked like she was about to say something else, but all of a sudden they heard the sound of skates slipping on ice and a small thud, accompanied by a cry.

Beatrice turned her head quickly and saw that one of the little kids had fallen, close enough to them that Beatrice would feel bad if she did anything other than rush over and help the boy up.

“Hey, hey it’s okay, just a little fall,” Beatrice soothed as she skated over, already crouching down so she wouldn’t tower over the kid and possibly scare him.

Ava skated over, much slower than Beatrice did but not having fallen yet, so it was still a win in her book. She watched the boy look up at Beatrice with tear filled eyes, and how Beatrice rushed to soothe him again when his bottom lip started to quiver.

“Can I help you up?” Beatrice asked as she held out her two hands.

The boy nodded slowly, still not saying anything. Ava watched as Beatrice gently hoisted him up, how she held him in the air for just a quick moment before letting him find his balance on the skates again. Beatrice holding him up in the air was just enough for him to giggle and wiggle his legs around, cheering him up and distracting him from his fall. Ava couldn’t help the rush of adoration she felt for Beatrice; it was so overwhelming that she almost had to turn around so she didn’t watch anymore.

Though, of course she couldn’t do that. It was Beatrice and a very small boy. It was insanely cute. Beatrice skated with him back over to his group, to the teacher, and held his hand the whole time. She adjusted his beanie on the way over, it had half fallen off when he fell over, and the care and gentleness she took with such a quick fix made Ava feel warm for the first time since they walked into the building. The boy laughed at something Beatrice said once they had made it back to his teacher, and gave Beatrice a high five before she skated back over to Ava.

All of a sudden Ava heard the whirr of machinery, and then these little white things started to fall from the ceiling over the rink. The fake snow. Ava smiled and tilted her head back, taking her eyes off of Beatrice for the first time to instead look up, just as everyone else was on the rink, Beatrice included.

After stopping to look at the falling snow just as Ava did, Beatrice skated back quickly, her hands in her pockets and a small red blush across her cheeks as she made her way back to Ava.

“I’m sorry for rushing away,” Beatrice said softly once she stood beside Ava again.

“It’s okay, Bea,” Ava chuckled and shook her head. “That was a very nice thing to do. Very cute.”

Beatrice blushed. “Well, I couldn’t just leave him. And hey, look, they turned on the snow machines a little early.”

“I see! It’s so cheesy, I love it. Thank you for taking me here, Beatrice. And, it looks like I was right! You are good with kids.”

“That was such a small interaction, you can’t possibly have a comprehensive evaluation of what I’m like with kids from just that…”

“Mhmm, well, you’re pretty consistent in everything you do. Pretty sure you’d be consistent with this too,” Ava teased lightly. “Seriously though. You’re kind, Beatrice, and everyone I know that also knows you loves you. And! You got that kid to give you a big high five. Despite the fact that he fell over and he was about to cry. You made him… feel better. You do that a lot.”

Beatrice watched curiously as Ava seemed to get almost shy by the end of her sentence. “Do what a lot? Make people feel better?”

Ava nodded quickly before looking down at her feet, a steadily forming blush rushing up her neck. “Yeah.”

“Like who?” Beatrice decided to tease a little, a smirk forming as she spun around to stand in front of Ava.

“Like… me. And, Camila, I’m sure. Everyone else at Cat’s Cradle. Hans…” Ava scrambled for words, squeezing her eyes shut and missing Beatrice’s gleeful expression at Ava’s sudden, rare shyness.

“I’m pretty sure Hans is terrified of me,” Beatrice laughed.

Ava felt the air from Beatrice’s laugh hit her forehead. She must have been standing a lot closer than Ava realised.

“Well, even if it’s just me, which I know it’s not, you make me feel better enough that it’s made a considerable positive impact on my life. Like the world happiness scale for countries thingy. I went from Jordan to like… Finland. A considerable jump.”

“Why do you know that?” Beatrice laughed, completely surprised by the fact that Ava knows that.

Ava finally opened her eyes as she was getting ready to defend herself. “I used to be obsessed with- woah, you’re a lot closer than I thought.”

In Ava’s surprise and slight gay panic at just how close she and Beatrice were standing, she lost her balance, and, because of course she did, brought both herself and Beatrice tumbling down onto the ice.

“Oh my god,” Ava said quickly, embarrassed just a little that her gay panic brought both of them down onto the cold ice, especially considering Bea landed on top of her without enough time to put her hands down first, so they just collided. “Bea, I’m so sorry.”

To Ava’s surprise, Beatrice rolled off of her and just laughed. “I haven’t fallen in so long. It’s quite humbling, but it was almost fun.”

Ava started to laugh too. “Fun? Falling on our asses was fun?”

“Yes!” Beatrice giggled, turning to look at Ava. “Also, you tripped both of us, so I can tease you about it.”

Ava pouted jokingly. “Not my fault you were standing so close to me I could count each of your freckles. You scared me.”

“I scared you?” Beatrice asked incredulously, laughing even harder.

“Yes!” Ava reiterated. “I’m just a 20 year old girl, you can’t expect me to be able to handle your pretty face so close to mine.”

Beatrice immediately blushed at Ava’s words, and Ava worried for a brief moment that she had pushed it too far. Surprisingly, Beatrice instead smiled and then stuck her tongue out at Ava, making both of them laugh.

Ava took a moment to smile, and breathe, turning her head to look at Beatrice as they both continued to lay on their backs next to each other, both of their chests rising and falling significantly from laughing and falling over.

Beatrice was looking at Ava too, and she genuinely was so pretty. Ava watched as the fake snow continued to fall down onto her face, getting caught in her long eyelashes, on her eyebrows and in her hair, how she blew the little pieces of snow off of her nose with crossed eyes and a still visible grin. Some of her hair was falling down onto her face, she had taken it down when it was colder than she thought it would be and she didn’t bring her scarf to protect her neck from the cold. Ava knew how cliche it sounded, but her eyes sparkled and her lips were pressed together in a smile and all Ava wanted to do was kiss her.

Deciding to save herself while she still had impulse control, Ava sat up quickly.

“Come on,” she said, braving putting her bare hands on the ice to push herself up before holding her hands out to Beatrice. “I want to skate some more in the fake snow before it gets too cold.”

Beatrice smiled up at Ava, and looked at Ava’s hands with narrowed eyes. “In the nicest way possible, I don’t trust that you won’t make both of us fall onto the floor again if I take your hands to pull myself up,” she laughed.

Ava scoffed indignantly, and placed both her hands on her hips. “Fine. Glad to see how much you value my wonderful, extremely helpful help.”

Beatrice laughed as Ava started to skate away slowly, still not quite confident with skating on her own yet.

“Ava, wait!” Beatrice called out, still laughing as she tried to pull down her sleeves to protect her hands from the cold burn of the ice as she pushed herself up.

Beatrice’s attempts were unsuccessful, and after a minute she decided to just put her hands on the ice since everything else was starting to get cold too. She took a deep breath and then held it as she put her hands flat to the ground and then pushed herself up. She shivered when she stood up and quickly found her balance before catching up to Ava, who, admittedly, had not skated that far away.

“Ava,” Beatrice laughed once she was in range of the shorter woman.

“Beatrice,” Ava said, clearly overexaggerating her annoyance as she turned away from Beatrice.

“Hey,” Beatrice chuckled, increasing her speed a little so that she was in front of Ava again, skating backwards while she held onto her hands, just like they were at the start.

“Your hands are cold,” Ava instantly dropped the act when Beatrice took hold of her hands, shocked by the coldness she felt.

“Yes, well, that tends to happen when one doesn’t have a super cool metal ring in their back that also happens to act like a little space heater,” Beatrice whispered, ever conscious about talking about the Halo in public.

Ava smiled at Beatrice. “Let me pull you off of the rink. I think I’m pretty alright now.”

Beatrice smiled and allowed herself to be pulled around by Ava, who did one more lap of the rink before walking them both through the gate out of the ice rink.

“You’ve got snow in your hair,” Ava giggled quietly as they sat down on a bench together to take off their skates.

Beatrice’s eyes looked up immediately, as if she would be able to see the snow Ava was talking about. Ava gently put her hand on Beatrice’s arm when she reached up to try and get the fake snow out of her hair.

“Let me,” Ava said, Beatrice allowing her arm to be pushed down gently.

“I’ll take off your skates for you,” Beatrice mumbled quietly as Ava started running her fingers through Beatrice’s hair and brushing out the small pieces of snow.

Beatrice knelt down in front of Ava and started to unbuckle her shoes, trying not to get too distracted at the gentle feeling of Ava’s hands in her hair.

“There,” Ava said around a minute later, smoothing over Beatrice’s hair briefly.

“Good timing,” Beatrice said as she stood up with Ava’s skates in hand, both girls smiling at each other. “Hot chocolate?”

Ava nodded excitedly and jumped up from her seat, taking hold of Beatrice’s hand again as she dragged them towards the ice rink cafe.

—

“Did you have fun?” Beatrice asked Ava when she joined her back at the booth they found near a window.

“I did,” Ava said happily as she slid into the booth to sit next to Beatrice, putting down both of their hot chocolates and the pastry Ava bought for the two of them to share.

“I’m glad,” Beatrice said, a smile on her own lips as she watched Ava rip off a piece of the chocolate croissant as neatly as she could.

“Thank you for doing this for me, Beatrice. For finding this place. You didn’t have to,” Ava said sincerely as she turned in her seat so that her feet were up on the booth and she was facing Beatrice.

Beatrice blushed and shrugged, seemingly not knowing what to say. Ava decided to give her an out.

“Is that warming up your hands?” Ava asked, nodded her head towards the cup of hot chocolate Beatrice was cradling.

Beatrice laughed a little. “Not quickly enough.”

Ava pondered for a moment, before deciding to just do what she was thinking and use the Halo to warm Beatrice up. It was something she had taught herself how to do, and why know how to do it if she couldn’t ever use it?

Ava moved around so that her back was pressed to the back of the booth, and looked around them to make sure there wasn’t anyone too close to them before asking Beatrice to give her her hands.

Beatrice looked at her a little confusedly but did as Ava asked, putting down the hot chocolate and giving Ava both of her hands. Ava held them between her own, and focused on channelling the Halo’s energy to her hands, so that they would heat up and hopefully heat Beatrice’s hands up too.

She watched as Beatrice’s eyes widened upon realising what Ava was doing, but Ava shushed her comfortingly and only did it for a few more seconds so as not to worry Beatrice about exposing the Halo.

“There,” Ava said triumphantly once she stopped using the Halo. “Better right?”

Beatrice thought about chiding Ava for using the Halo in public, but she looked so happy and pleased with herself for being able to do that that she didn’t have the heart too. Plus, it did work.

“Yes, it did. Thank you, Ava,” Beatrice said softly, taking a small sip of her hot chocolate as they pulled their hands away from each other.

Ava beamed, and then took a big gulp of her own hot chocolate. Beatrice was too slow to warn her, and instead watched in shock as Ava caught up to the fact that their drinks were still slightly too hot to drink and that she had just burned her tongue.

“Are you alright?” Beatrice asked genuinely, her eyes wide as she watched Ava close her eyes slowly and put the hot chocolate down, not saying anything yet.

Ava nodded mutely, jutting her bottom lip out a little in favour of speaking.

“Ava,” Beatrice said lightly, leaning forward to squeeze her hand gently in an attempt to get her to open her eyes again.

“I’m fine,” Ava said, her voice only slightly higher pitched than usual.

“I’m sure,” Beatrice chuckled, smirking a little.

“It’s not as good as yours.”

“High praise. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

They sat side by side together, drinking their hot chocolates in a comfortable silence for at least another ten minutes before Ava turned to Beatrice again. She forgot what she was going to say when she saw Beatrice had a hot chocolate mustache she was seemingly unaware of.

“Bea,” Ava giggled, pointing at her own top lip. “You’ve got a little something…”

Beatrice quickly wiped at her top lip, blushing when she saw the foam that brushed off onto her hand.

“Thanks,” she said quietly, smiling at Ava briefly.

“Always,” Ava grinned.

—

“I know I keep saying it, but truly, thank you for everything today, Beatrice,” Ava said as they got into Hans’ borrowed car to start the journey home.

“It was my pleasure, Ava,” Beatrice replied, looking at Ava briefly as she started the car.

Ava sat curled up in the passenger seat, wearing Beatrice’s brown jacket like a blanket. She looked tired, and Beatrice was prepared to tell Ava that she could sleep on the way home if she wanted, but Ava beat her to it.

“Is it okay if I fall asleep?” Ava asked, again, some of that rare shyness coming out.

“Yeah, Ava,” Beatrice replied softly as she pulled out onto the street, already reaching to turn the radio down. “I’ll wake you up when we’re home.”

“I might not fall asleep! Just, a little tired,” Ava rebutted suddenly, despite already sounding half asleep. It was cute.

“Alright,” Beatrice grinned. “Either is okay, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Ugh,” Ava pouted overdramatically all of a sudden, turning away from Beatrice to look out the window.

“What?” Beatrice laughed, genuinely confused.

“You’re so… nice.”

Beatrice laughed. “Thank you, Ava. You are… very endearing when you’re half asleep.”

Ava preened at Beatrice’s words, turning back around to face her again.

“Is the radio too loud?” Beatrice asked a few minutes later, turning to look at Ava briefly.

To Beatrice’s amusement, Ava was already asleep, her head tilted to the side a little so she could rest against the back of the seat more comfortably. Beatrice smiled and reached her hand out to squeeze Ava’s gently, both because she would prefer to have two hands on the steering wheel and because she didn’t want to risk disturbing Ava. She turned down the radio anyway, the volume so quiet you could only hear the music when the road they drove on was quieter.

The drive back home took a little more than an hour this time, probably because of an increase in traffic considering the time of day and how most people would be heading home around then. When they reached the town and were stopped at a red light Beatrice reached across to squeeze Ava’s knee gently, hoping to wake her up gently.

“Ava?” Beatrice called out quietly, hearing her groan just as the light turned green.

“I’m awake,” Ava whined, stretching briefly before collapsing back into the seat again, her eyes still closed.

Beatrice smiled, hoping Ava would stay awake for the last five minutes or so of the drive. “We’re nearly home. How’d you sleep?”

“Good.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm.”

“I’m glad. Would you like to get dinner out? We can go to that diner you like?”

Ava gasped, and she was suddenly much more awake than she was seconds previously. “Yes please.”

Beatrice laughed quietly and turned down the street that would lead them to the diner in the town centre. “Alright. We’re nearly there.”

—

Beatrice sat on the edge of the bed as she waited for Ava to come out of the bathroom from brushing her teeth, not wanting to get under the covers yet as it would mean Ava would have to climb over her.

“Thanks for today.”

Beatrice looked up from her hands and stopped fiddling with her nails when she heard Ava’s voice as she came out of the bathroom. She looked really nice, really soft, leaning against the doorway to the bathroom with her arms crossed in the way she was. She had her pajamas on already, wearing the green pants with little cartoon designs on it that Ava kept telling Beatrice were from a game called Minecraft, something she was adamant Beatrice would love, and an old white tank top that Beatrice was pretty sure Ava borrowed from Mary at Cat’s Cradle.

Ava walked further into the room, turning off all the lights as she made her way to the bed where Beatrice was waiting.

“You’re welcome, Ava. I think we both needed the day off.”

“Damn right,” Ava laughed, placing her hands on Beatrice’s arms briefly as Beatrice stood up to let Ava under the covers.

Beatrice didn’t have the heart to scold Ava about her language. “Thank you for trusting me and just coming with me, even though you didn’t know where we were going.”

Ava waited for Beatrice to be under the covers too before replying. “Thank you for taking the time to plan all of that, and to find an ice skating rink with fake, falling snow.”

Beatrice smiled at Ava when she tucked some of Beatrice’s hair behind her ear.

“Goodnight, Ava. Sleep well.”

“Night, Bea.”

“Ava!” Beatrice whispered around ten minutes later.

“What?!” Ava whisper yelled back over her shoulder as she wiggled around to get more comfortable.

“Stop pulling the blanket! If you steal any more of it, I am going to put my cold feet on you.”