Melting On Ice

"Patrick!" He groaned quietly as I shook him awake, waving two plane tickets to Buffalo that I had found on his dresser in his face. "When were you planning on telling me about this?"

"Surprise?" He said it as more of a question, waiting for my reaction to see if that's what I wanted to hear.

I rolled my eyes but smiled. "These are for tonight. Did you think I was a super packer or something?"

"What makes you think that I was planning on bringing you?" He sat up and rubbed his hands over his tired eyes. I slapped him gently in the stomach, mostly hurting my hand on his six pack. "Besides, I'm not packed either so we can help each other."

"Is that your subtle way of asking me to pack for you?" I asked as I climbed out of his bed. He smiled sheepishly at me and I took that as a yes. I dragged his oversized duffle bag out of his closet and threw most of his clothes in there since I figured that we would be staying there most of the summer. We were going to his house and I knew that he had clothes there anyways. "You need to drop me off at my apartment so that I can pack my stuff too."

"Okay." He said as he started taking the clothes out of his drawer and throwing them into a messy pile on his bed. I walked over and started to fold them into the bag. It took about an hour, but we finally packed up almost Patrick's entire apartment before heading over to mine. I bolted into the door to find Miranda and Jon sleeping on the couch. I had slammed open the door, already making more noise then necessary, so I tip toed past them, trying to keep quiet.

"Em, where were you last night?" Jonathan asked me, sounding just like my father would, but he kept his eyes closed and his face stuck in a peaceful slumber so it sort of was creeping me out.

"Um," I hesitated for a second, thinking maybe he was sleep talking. "Patrick's."

"You slept over there?" He opened his eyes and raised his eyebrows at me.

"You slept over here." I snapped back as I made my way to the bedroom. I took down my suitcase and it made a loud thump as it crashed down to the floor.

"What are you doing?" Tazer asked as he rubbed his hands over his face and followed me into the room.

"Patrick and I are going to Buffalo and he didn't tell me until today." I let my voice sound slightly annoyed as I took down all of the hangers in my closet.

"When do you guys leave?" He asked as he started to help me.

"Tonight." I saw out of the corner of my eye that he paused momentarily.

"Tonight?"

"Tonight." I repeated. He shook his head as he walked over to my dresser and started to take some of the clothes out of there. "I know, that's what I was thinking." It was sort of funny that we could talk without talking. "I guess it was sort of sweet though. He just wanted to surprise me."

"Right." He dragged the word out and nodded to amuse me.

"Whatever." I threw my tee shirt at him as he walked by the bed so that he could put it in the bag for me. "It's not like you would ever do that."

"Actually." He kept his eyes deeply focused on my blouse as he folded it into the suitcase. "I already did."

I turned around to see his smirking face as he flashed two tickets to Winnipeg in my direction. "Nice. Taking her to meet the 'rents."

He laughed at me and glanced towards the living room to make sure that she wasn't listening. "Don't doubt my romantic abilities. I've see enough movies to know how this sorta thing works."

"Okay Romeo." He rolled his eyes when I turned around and smirked at him. "When do you guys leave?"

"Couple weeks." He struggled to zip my suitcase as I went to the bathroom to grab some necessities out of there. "And don't worry, I'll give her at least a weeks notice."

I smiled as he read my mind. "Good boy." I walked over to the bed and sat on the suitcase to help him zip it for me. When he was done I leaned over and hugged him. This seemed to catch him off guard because I felt his body go rigid under my arms. "Thank you." I whispered as he relaxed and hugged me back. "For everything."

He laughed slightly under his breath. "You talk as if I'm never going to see you again. If I would've known it was this easy to get rid of you, I would've made Kaner ask you out earlier." I made a face as I pulled back from him and we made our way out of the apartment. "You know I'm just kidding Em." He threw my suitcase in the back of Patrick's car as I opened the passenger's seat. He had a short conversation with Patrick before turning his attention back to me. "When do you guys come back?" I hesitated, not entirely sure of the answer to that question. "You are coming back aren't you?" He joked, smiling lopsidedly at me.

"Of course. I don't think that you guys could go on without me." He laughed as he pulled me into another hug, which was unusual for him. "But definitely before July 30th for the convention."

He smiled again as he let me go. "Until then."

I got into the passenger seat of Patrick's car and waved to him. "Until then."

* * *

"Emma!" Patrick's sisters ran up and hugged me as we exited the plane.

"I missed you guys too." Patrick said sarcastically as he set down our bags. Patrick's parents came up and hugged him and kissed him while we all greeted each other. He wrapped his arm around the oldest Kane sister, Erica, as we walked out of the airport.

"You did it Pat!" Jessica, the middle sister squealed excitedly as she hugged his waist. "You won the Cup!"He laughed as he leaned down and kissed her cheek, I had always liked how he was so nice to his sisters.

"How are you, Em?" Mr. Kane asked as he took my heavy suitcase from my hands and threw it into the trunk of their car.

"Good." I nodded as I slid in between Jacqueline, the youngest Kane, and Patrick in the very back of the car. "A little tired from all of the celebrating." Patrick intertwined his fingers in mine after I got buckled.

"How is that nice fellow we met doing?" I looked at Mrs. Kane questioningly as she looked at me in the review mirror. "You know, your boyfriend." I tensed up slightly as she said this. "What is his name again?"

"I think," I was grateful as Patrick took the bullet for me on that one. "That his name is Patrick Kane, right Em?" I could feel him smirk as he leaned his face into my hair.

"No way." Erica turned and narrowed her eyes at us. "You two?" She moved her finger, along with her eyes, between us. "No way," She repeated.

"Sure took you long enough, Patty." I felt my face go red as Jessica leaned back and slapped him gently in the arm.

"Can I be a bridesmaid?" Jacqueline perked up from next to me. I heard Mr. Kane stifle a laugh from his seat in front of the wheel.

"Woah, Jackie." Patrick leaned his arm on the seat behind both of us. "Slow it down a little there."

"It's only a matter of time." Jessica smirked at me and I looked down in embarrassment at the floor.

"No way," Erica said again and I was pretty sure that was all she was going to be able to say for awhile.

"All right girls, that's enough." Mrs. Kane gave them a stern look as she turned around to look at them but it wasn't long before she broke into a smile. "Both of you are so grounded for not telling me." She joked as she let her eyes flicker between Patrick and I.

"We wanted to surprise you." It seemed like this was endless entertainment for him judging by the way he couldn't stop smiling.

"Mission accomplished." Mr. Kane mumbled as he pulled into their driveway. It felt so strange being back here again. Being back home. Patrick walked around to the trunk and grabbed his own bag and my suitcase from the back. He kept his arm wrapped around my waist as we walked into the house, as if making sure that everyone got the message. Not that I was complaining. "Welcome home." Patrick sucked in a giant breath as he set our bags down, as if he wanted to make sure that he remembered everything, including the smell. I looked around the house. It looked almost exactly the same since the last time that I had seen it. A few furniture pieces were moved around here and there, but that was about it.

"Oh, Emma!" I turned as Mrs. Kane pulled slightly on my arm, taking me upstairs with her. "We have a surprise for you!" I looked back at Patrick, who had started following us, to see if he knew anything about this. By his facial reaction, I assumed the answer was no. She slowly opened the guest room door. "Surprise!" I wave of pain flooded through me as I realize the room was remodeled to resembled the room I had in my foster parents house. She was bringing back the place I had always wanted to avoid. "Isn't it wonderful?" Mrs. Kane gushed. I was grateful when Patrick wrapped his arm around me because I was pretty sure that I was going to pass out.

"Um, where did you get all of this stuff?" I tried to make my voice come off as politely as possible and I felt Patrick staring at me as I glanced around the room.

"Your foster parents were just going to throw it away." She said as she walked over and sat down on my bed. "So I told them I'd take it off there hands."

"Wow, um thank you." I was struggling to keep my voice steady as my eyes grazed the room once more.

"Come on hon," Mr. Kane told his wife. "We should let them get unpacked and settled. Patrick," He said as he turned his attention to his son. "I'll bring your bag down to your room since that is where you will be staying. Alone." A wave of embarrassment flooded through me as he added that.

He nodded as he parents exited the room. "I am so sorry Em." He whispered to me as he wrapped me in his arms, but I couldn't force my eyes away from the room. It looked exactly the same. "We can redo it tonight if you want."

I shook my head as I turned into his chest. "It's alright Patrick. It's just a room." I knew that he didn't believe me and he knew that I didn't believe it. "Your mom was just trying to be nice."

"You can stay with me." He suggested as he smiled into my hair.

I laughed under my breath into his chest. "I think your dad was pretty clear on his opinion of that." He smiled before leaning down and kissing me. I couldn't help but think how strange of a coincidence it was that he was kissing me in the very room that I had always dreamt it would happen.

"Patty!" Jessica ran into the room and interrupted us, breathless. Patrick reluctantly pulled his lips from mine and turned his attention to her."I completely forgot to tell you! Come on." She took one of each of our arms and pulled outside to the backyard. "Ta da!"

We were surprised to find that a large swimming pool filled up most of the Kane's backyard. "Of course they get a pool after I moved out." Patrick mumbled to himself as he pulled me closer to examine it. He sat down on the edge and dipped his feet in.

"Is the water nice?" I asked as I leaned my hand down on his shoulder.

"I don't know." He stood up and picked me up in his arms, catching me by surprise. "Why don't you see for yourself?"

"Don't you dare Patrick." But I spoke too late because I was already in the air. I squealed as the cold water met my fully clothed body. "Ugh, Patrick." I held my shorts up at my waist since the weight of the water was pulling them down. "Is this going to become a regular thing with you?" He gave me a confused look, so I clarified for him. "Throwing me into water, because I'd much rather you have some other annoying habit." He laughed and shrugged simultaneously. "Patrick you idiot." I sighed as I felt my phone in my pocket. I took it out and threw it to him. "My cell phone!"

"It's a good thing that you have a millionaire boyfriend who can buy you a new one then isn't it?" He walked over and offered his hand to help me up.

"Mhm." I nodded as he wrapped his hand in mine. "Hopefully he can afford to buy himself new clothes too." I said before pulling him into the pool beside me. I laughed as he came up from underwater and splashed me. I splashed him back and soon I was almost positive that there wasn't going to be enough water left since about half of it was escaping the pool in our splash fight. He finally showed me that he surrendered as he pulled my body close to his and started kissing me. It reminded me of the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet where they do the balcony scene in the swimming pool outside her house. The fact that it was dark out only added to the scene.

The only thing was that they didn't have overprotective parents watching their every move. "That's enough kids." Mr. Kane said from his seat on the deck. I was glad that it was dark enough for him not to see me blushing. Patrick sighed as he lifted me out of the pool, pulling himself up after. I laughed quietly to myself as our shoes squeaked when we walked, soaking wet through the house.

We both froze as Erica turned around the corner out of the the living room. She looked up and down at our dripping wet attire and slowly shook her head. "I'm not even gonna ask." Erica and I were always the closest of the Kane sisters because she was my age. But our relationship wasn't as close as mine with Patrick. It wasn't that I didn't like her, we just never clicked that well. She was always more in the popular crowd.

Patrick kissed me goodnight before letting me go take a shower and get changed back in my room. I took longer in the shower, letting the steaming water sink through my pores. I didn't realize how tired I was until the water pouring out of the shower head was massaging my back. I left the towel wrapped around my head as I changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed. I hesitantly slid under the covers that reeked of moth balls and I didn't even want to imagine how many bugs had probably been all over it. I shivered as I looked around the room, letting the horrible memories of my childhood come rushing back. I was fighting back tears as I started to slip into unconsciousness and was just about to fall asleep when I felt someone shake my arm gently.

"Em, are you awake?" Patrick's soothing voice relaxed me as I opened my eyes and his cool hand cradled my cheek. "Do you mind if I lay down?" I was sure that he could feel my face burning in his hand as I stared in his direction in the darkness when I nodded.

"What are you doing?" I mumbled against his lips as he laid down next to me without breaking the kiss.

"I missed you too much." I smiled as he said this and I wrapped my arms around him to pull him closer. "That and I was worried about you."

"Worried?" I tangled my hands in his hair as he leaned down and kissed my closed eyelids.

"Yeah," he rested his hand on my hip as he pulled back and ran his other hand along the side of my face. "Em, believe me. I can read you much better then you think I can." I half-smiled at him and he played with the ends of my hair. "Come on." He wrapped his arms around me as he stood up from the bed and picked me up, bridal style.

"Where are we going?" I whispered as I let the blanket drop from behind me back onto the bed.

He waited until we reached our destination, not willing to risk anyone hearing us in the hallway. "I'm not letting you sleep in there."

"Patrick, it's fine." I went against my own words as I wrapped his blanket around me when he set me down.

He laughed slightly under his breath as he walked around to the other side of the bed and slid under the covers next to me. "Goodnight Emma." He whispered as his hand stroked my cheek.

I leaned over and kissed him quickly before mumbling, already half- asleep. "Goodnight Patrick."