No matter how much Aaron had wanted to skip practice the evening before, he couldn't bring himself to do it. If he had he would have pushed himself harder and longer for weeks to make up for it.

Thankfully Coach hadn't said a single word about Elise joining him during his morning practices. In fact, he hadn't said a single word about Elise the entire time. The whole session had actually gone really well.

Come the next morning, Aaron walked into the rink with a coffee in his hand, only slightly later than normal. It had been difficult to drag himself out of bed, especially after the dreams that had haunted him. Everywhere he turned he was on the ice and Elise was there grinning and teasing him, just out of reach.

As unsettling as his dreams had been, he supposed they made a bit of sense. She had just shown up after years of being away. Even though he wouldn't admit it to her, he truly had missed being in the same training sessions. Just as long as it didn't include his morning skates, he would be fine.

Aaron came up short when he saw someone in his normal spot on one of the rink side benches. His good mood soured when he recognized the golden waves of hair even before Elise turned to look at him. Of course she was there. She just couldn't give him any peace now that she knew exactly where to find him.

Without saying a word to her, he stubbornly went to the next bench, looking only at the ice. If he ignored her completely, maybe she would just go away.

"I know you saw me Aaron," Elise pointed out primly from his spot. "If you hadn't, you would have sat on me."

Aaron leaned back against the wall, taking a long drink of his coffee. Letting out a long sigh, he stretched his long legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. Give him a pair of sunglasses and he would look like anyone just relaxing on a park bench.

"Now you're just being silly as well as late. I'm not taking your time this morning, I just wanted to talk. About why you're so angry at me."

"By talking to me, you are taking my time Elise," Aaron said, breaking his silence but still refusing to look at her. "And you are interrupting my routine for the morning, again. It's like you want me to start falling on my face."

"I would never want that," Elise blurted. "I like you too much for that!"

If he didn't know better, he would say that she sounded worried. But that couldn't be it, she had started this by turning his world upside down. It wasn't like her to let it settle down right away.

And then Elise was right in front of him, concern showing on her fair features. "Aaron, I have only ever wanted you to do well. I cheered for you at every competitions, just like I did when we trained here together," she insisted when she had his full attention. She dropped heavily on the bench too close to his side for his comfort. "From what I've heard, you've gotten so focused on completing the same routine every single day instead of having any fun. What happened to listening to what Gerald said was the best advice he had ever gotten? That it's good to take a break and change things up now and then?"

He shrugged, looking away from her as he set down his cup of coffee to roughly open his bag to get out his skates. Aaron couldn't help but sigh as he started to straighten out his laces while making sure the skates were in good condition. "Are you going to be here every morning then? Where are your skates?"

"Not every morning," Elise answered with a sigh. "Not yet at least. I'll be here every other day. I'm here to tell you that. And because I'd like to watch for a bit, if you'll let me. I'll be quiet, I promise. I'd even look after your coffee."

Aaron snorted, pulling off his first shoe to start getting ready to take the ice. "Fine, you can stay and watch," he said simply, going back to not looking at her. It was so much easier to stay upset with her if he wasn't looking at that kicked puppy look she had on her face. "One word between me getting on that ice and when I step off, and I might change my mind."

A high pitched sound of excitement left Elise as she threw her arms around his shoulder. Just as fast as the embrace started, she had let him go, moving to save the cup of coffee from spilling all over the floor. "Sorry! I forgot it was there!"

Aaron couldn't help but laugh, finally looking at her willingly. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

She grinned before taking a drink of his coffee just like he had hers the day before. After no more than a taste, she coughed, nose wrinkling with distaste. "You weren't kidding when you said you take your coffee black. How do you stand it?"

"I could ask you the same thing about that sugary drink you had yesterday," he pointed out, smiling a little as he turned his attention back to his skates. Maybe this wasn't going to be as utterly terrible as he had thought. Not that he would confess that right now. "Want to be the first one to see the choreography I'm working on? I'm doing my own programs this year."

Elise's face lit up with the brightest smile Aaron had ever seen. "I'd really like that. Thank you."

He nodded, falling silent as he finished working on his skates. Before too long, he stood and after leaving his blade protectors on the boards, stepped out onto the ice.