Chapter Fourteen

Luke didn't want to make them too late for dinner or be stuck outside as it got colder and darker, but he had one more thing in mind: ice skating in Millennium Park. It was a big outdoors skating rink, with a fantastic view of the downtown skyline; it was a must-do activity in Chicago over the festive period. The crowds and movement would help keep them a little warmer as well.

"Ice skating again?" Becca asked a little confused; she hadn't thought he'd had that much fun or become that much more confident after last time.

"I figured I owe it after making you go up the Sky Deck," Luke responded with a shrug. He had felt a bit easier about the idea towards the end of last time in any case anyway.

"Fair point," she nodded with a chuckle.

They didn't skate for as long as they did last time, but that didn't matter too much as they were able to start at a faster pace than they had been able to before. He was still a little nervous and made sure to hold on to her hand, but he was skating more by himself tonight. Becca took a few more pictures as they skated, of him and of where they were.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" she asked when they were getting ready to get the bus back to his to have dinner. After all, she only had one more full day before she was due to fly back on the twenty-second.

"I'm not entirely sure. I think mom might want to go to the Christkindlmarket, but that's probably not until later in the day," Luke answered, pulling her in when he noticed she was shivering a little. She gave him a grateful smile as she felt a little warmer already. It did worry her how quickly she felt cold these days, as Milwaukee was only going to be colder than it was here, and she wouldn't have Luke with her. Though she would still have some old coats and snow boots at home that she could resort to if necessary.

As they talked over dinner, it turned out that Luke had been right: Mrs. Shelton wanted them to go to the Christkindlmarket, as they had always done so previously. It was mostly food and Christmassy knickknacks, ornaments and clocks, but it was a lot of fun. So, Becca was definitely up for going.

To make sure they weren't too full before they went there, Mrs. Shelton limited the amount of baking and food they had during that day. Luke took Becca to the woods nearby their house during the day, as promised on their car journey from the airport. He figured it would also set them up and offset some of the food they were bound to be eating that evening.

Becca got some terrific photos of the market and the four of them, so she was really happy with that day until she realized that it had started snowing lightly. The snowflakes did lend a certain beauty to the pictures and made it feel a little more romantic, and a lot more like Christmas. But snow, when travelling to or from Chicago or Milwaukee was never a good sign. And Becca couldn't help but worry about it as she huddled closer into her coat.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Mrs. Shelton said optimistically. Recent winters in Chicago hadn't seen much problematic snow until well into January, so she wasn't overly concerned.

"Yeah, it'll be fine," Luke echoed his mother's sentiments, gently brushing some of the snowflakes from his pretend girlfriend's scarf and hair.

"So much for being fine," Becca said annoyed when, as they checked the news the next morning, the newsreader announced that some flights were being cancelled out of Chicago's O'Hare airport. It had continued snowing lightly during the night.

"It might not be your flight," Leanne offered carefully, as her brother went onto the airport's website to look up the exact details. The news story of course was only being vague in warning passengers to check their flight before leaving for the airport.

"It's all flights to Milwaukee, as they had a lot more snow during the night than we did," Luke broke the bad news, seeing the brunette's disappointment. "They're not expecting too much more after tonight though until Christmas Day, so they are rescheduling today's flights for the twenty-fourth," he added as he continued reading, hoping it would cheer her up a little bit; all things going well, she should still be able to make it home on time for Christmas itself.

"Yeah, great," Becca said moodily. "I'm sorry," she aimed at all three Sheltons before she headed up the stairs to her room; she needed to be alone to process her disappointment.

"Leave her for a minute," Mrs. Shelton said, placing her hand on her son's shoulder when she noticed he was about to get up and follow her. He didn't look entirely convinced but he stayed put for now.

"I'm sorry about your flight," Luke said as he gave a knock on the bedroom door half an hour later, seeing Becca curled up on the window sill. She was watching the light snow settle in the garden. It was hard to imagine that little dusting was causing travel problems, even if she knew it was the heavier snow in Milwaukee that was the problem. He moved further into the room, holding a mug of hot chocolate out to her as a peace offering.

"It's not your fault," Becca smiled, taking the drink from him gratefully. "Thanks," she said, closing both hands around the warm mug. He sat down at the opposite side of her ledge, following her glance outside initially but glancing back to take her in. He was about to say something when there was another knock on the door.

"Becca, honey, you okay?" Mrs. Shelton asked, to which her guest nodded with a small smile. "I know it stinks not being able to go back home until the twenty-fourth, but why not make the most of it? I'm sure there's lots you haven't seen yet, Luke can show you around," she continued, volunteering her son. She knew he wouldn't mind, not really.

"Yeah sure. Or if you still need to do some present shopping," Luke suggested, making his mother hide a smile; he would never have volunteered to go shopping unless he cared about her.

"Yeah, I suppose. Let's go discover Chicago some more tomorrow," Becca said, giving him a smile.

"That's settled then," Mrs. Shelton nodded. "Come down when you're ready, Leanne and I were getting ready to play Rummikub and we need some more players," she added before leaving the room again.

"You don't have to go down there," Luke offered her an out straight away, making her chuckle.

"It's okay, it'll be more fun than just sitting up here feeling sorry for myself," she said realistically, sitting up a bit more. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and sat back down. "After I finish this though, this is so good," she said with a content look, making him chuckle this time.

Derek took a deep breath as he walked over to his colleague's secretary. After the party, he'd been allowed to move to one of the bigger offices as junior partner, which luckily meant that his secretary, and girlfriend, couldn't see the office he was headed towards. He wanted some time in Luke's office to do some digging, find out how serious he and Becca were. He'd missed talking to her every day and spending time with her. And, of course, he knew it was his own fault for cheating on her with Gina but being with Gina full-time was different than he'd expected. Seeing Becca at the party in that dress had really brought that home to him.

"Can I help you, Derek?" Tris asked when he'd made it over to her desk but hadn't started talking yet.

"Oh yeah, sorry," he snapped out of it. "Is Luke okay? I haven't seen him in yet this week," he thought on his feet.

"He's in Chicago with Becca," the blonde answered, wondering what he was up to.

"Oh, that was this week, of course," Derek bluffed now, pretending to know that they were actually on holiday together but had just forgotten when that was. "Well, maybe you can help me then," he gave her a charming smile. "Luke borrowed one of my law books and I need it for my upcoming case. Would you mind letting me in, so I can have a quick look for it?" He could see her hesitate a little, obviously knowing that the two lawyers had never been on the best of terms to start with and definitely weren't now that Luke and Becca were pretending to be together. "Please? I promise I won't be long and I won't touch anything else," he said, holding up his hand in scout's honor.

"I guess that couldn't hurt," Tris said slowly, getting another charming smile in response.

"Tris, you're a life saver," Derek said gratefully when she got up with the keys for her lawyer's office. He followed her in. "Where do you think it could be?" he asked, knowing she'd know Luke's working habits.

"If it's a book, most likely on those shelves or on his desk," she pointed out now, looking over her shoulder when she heard her phone ring.

"You go get that, I'll be done in no time," Derek assured her. She hesitated for one more ring before heading back to her desk to answer the phone. He made sure she saw him head over to the shelves she'd pointed out and look between the books displayed, before throwing his arms up a little before heading towards the desk. One ear on her conversation, he quickly sat down behind Luke's desk to quickly search his drawers. He had no idea what he was looking for, but there had to be something of interest to him here. He found an extra print out of their flights in his colleague's top drawer, and it intrigued him to see that Becca would be flying to Milwaukee alone. He took a quick picture of the itinerary before quickly putting it back in the drawer. He continued looking, taking a few more pictures of things he came across while Tris was still on the phone; he figured if there was nothing interesting on the picture, he could delete it from his phone. Derek quickly finished going through the drawers and made sure that everything on the desk was back in the correct place. "All done," he said as he breezed past the secretary's desk too fast for her to be able to comment on the lack of a book in his hands.