"No way, I'm outta here," Josh said after one look at the crowded ice skating rink.

He turned to leave, but as soon as Sam grabbed his arm, he knew he was done for.

"You didn't even try yet!" Sam protested.

"Yeah, don't be such a little punk!" Beth said, already stepping out onto the ice.

For no good reason, the Washington siblings had never been ice skating before, so Sam had made it her personal mission to make sure they had the experience.

"Yeah, Josh, at least try it once before you give up," Hannah encouraged, though she looked a little unsure of herself as she followed Beth out onto the ice. Noticing this, Beth grabbed Hannah's hand, and they wobbled forward together.

"Come on, you big baby," Sam said, tugging on Josh's arm.

"I like when you call me baby," Josh said, raising his eyebrows.

Sam turned to shoot him a dirty look, but her expression settled into a wary glare as she noticed his grin.

"Get out there on that ice, or I'm gonna tell the guys how you were too afraid to do something that little girls in tutus can do," Sam threatened, pointing to a skating girl in a sparkly purple tutu who must have been about five years old.

"Wow, that's sexist and ageist!" Josh exclaimed. "I didn't think you were that kind of person, Sam."

"What? That doesn't even make sense."

"Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it doesn't make sense."

"I don't even know what you just said. If there's anything that doesn't make sense to me, it's you."

"Not surprising. I am one of the world's greatest and most treasured mysteries," Josh said proudly, looking off into the distance.

Sam rolled her eyes, which was lost on Josh.

"We did it! We made it all the way around!"

Sam and Josh looked back to the rink to see Hannah looking both surprised and impressed with herself.

"It's not even hard, Josh! You better hurry, or you'll never catch up. Twins: one, Josh: zero!" Beth called, dragging Hannah with her for another go-around.

Sam eyed Josh curiously when he didn't move a muscle to join his sisters. "What? Usually when someone tries to turn something into a competition, you spring into action. You're seriously scared, aren't you?"

"Look, I just don't think this is a good idea," Josh said, having an unusually strong feeling that he was going to injure himself. "I'm not a light little feather like you. If I go down, I'm going down hard."

"That's what she said."

Josh looked at Sam like she was crazy, and then she burst into laughter.

He was amused, but he wasn't about to let her know that. She was already too impressed with herself.

"Oh man," she said, successfully pulling him forward toward the rink now that he was distracted by her apparent insanity. "I've been spending too much time with you."

"Not really," he replied, but before she had time to comment, he was on the ice and already about to fall over.

"Josh! Just stand up straight like a normal person!"

"I'm not a normal person!" he exclaimed, grabbing onto the wall.

"That's for sure," Beth said, gliding by with her arm hooked around Hannah's.

Laughing, Hannah exclaimed, "Twins: two, Josh: zero!"

The twins dropped each other's arms to high-five, but they missed and toppled forward onto the ice.

Worried, Josh moved toward them as fast as he could without letting go of the wall, which ended up not being very fast at all.

"Calm down, Josh, they're fine," Sam said from beside him. "Look."

He looked up from his skates and saw his sisters laughing at each other.

"You just looked so dumb!"

"Not as dumb as you!"

Josh watched as they tried to help each other up, only to fall on top of each other and burst into another round of laughter.

"Dorks," Josh said, shaking his head.

"You're so protective of them," Sam said, having watched his expression calm as he realized his sisters were okay. "It's sweet."

Josh almost tripped forward. "Sweet isn't exactly the word I would use," he said, returning to staring down at his skates and pulling himself along the wall.

"Do you look at your shoes when you walk?" Sam asked.

"Yes, I do," Josh replied matter-of-factly. "That way if someone tries to steal them, I'll know."

"Ha ha," Sam said without a trace of actual laughter. "You have to look up when you skate so you know where you're going."

"Oh, I know exactly where I'm going. I'm going to drag myself around the edge of this rink precisely one time to appease the horribly mean women in my life who peer pressure me into dangerous situations, and then I'm going straight back to the counter where I got these bladed shoes of doom."

"Bladed shoes of doom?" Sam snorted. "Way to be a drama queen."

"Snorting isn't ladylike, Samantha!"

"Yeah, but the way you're acting sure is," Sam said, laughing before she even finished.

Josh stared at her, sincerely concerned for her poor sense of humor. "Well, you obviously haven't been hanging out with me too much, because if you were, your jokes would be better."

"You gonna marry that wall, Josh?" Beth asked as she effortlessly skated by, no longer holding onto Hannah.

"Yeah, way to go, Beth!" Sam yelled after her, impressed with how quickly she was picking up skating.

"Why couldn't I be the twin who's good at everything?" Hannah asked, slowly coming up behind Josh and grabbing his arm for stability. "How you doing there, brother?"

"I'm doing fantastic, sister!" Josh replied sarcastically.

Hannah frowned and took his hand. "Come on. If I can do it, you can do it."

"Hannah, I'm gonna fall," he warned, going pigeon-toed as she pulled him away from the wall.

"Okay," she said with a shrug. "You'll fall, and then you'll get up."

Sam smiled. "You guys mind if I catch up with Beth?" she asked.

"Godspeed, pilgrim," Josh said absently, trying to straighten his feet out.

"Thanks, fellow pilgrim," Sam said, saluting awkwardly before taking off.

Hannah and Josh watched in awe as she sped away gracefully, weaving around the other skaters. Within seconds, she was on the other side of the rink with Beth, skating in little circles around her.

"Showoff," Josh muttered.

"If she was a showoff, she would have left you to fend for yourself when we first got here," Hannah pointed out.

"Yeah… and she'd be doing a triple backflip right now or something," Josh said, laughing lightly.

"You think she can do that?" Hannah asked seriously. "Do ice skaters do backflips?"

"I don't know, but if they did that would be awesome."

By the time the two of them had made it halfway around the rink, Beth and Sam had already passed them twice, and Josh was growing impatient.

"I'm not getting any better at this," he complained to Hannah, feeling like it was taking every bit of his concentration just to stay upright.

"You're not on the wall anymore," Hannah said, trying her best to remain optimistic. "That's an improvement."

"That's because I'm using you as my wall."

Suddenly Hannah said, "I'm gonna let go of you."

"Wait!" Josh yelped, instantly falling backwards and dragging Hannah down with him. "Augh!"

Once she recovered from the initial shock of colliding with the ice, Hannah sat up to check on Josh. With one look at his pitiful, terrified face, she started cracking up.

"Josh!" Hannah laughed hard, holding her stomach. "I didn't even let you go yet! I was just warning you!"

"This is torture," Josh said, leaning lazily against Hannah. "I can't continue like this. Go on without me!"

"Are you throwing in the towel? Is this the end of the Great Joshua Washington? Oh, how the mighty have fallen!"

"My butt is cold," Josh said miserably, burying his face in Hannah's shoulder to hide his laughter.

"And it's gonna get colder if you don't get off of it," Beth said, skating behind Josh and picking him up from under his arms.

Sam helped Hannah up, and then Hannah not-so-subtly pushed Sam towards Josh.

Josh had just enough time to plant himself in place and catch Sam by her forearms.

"Come on, Josh, you're gonna make it all the way around this rink if it kills me," Sam said, taking both of his hands and skating backwards to pull him along.

"It's not healthy to have a death wish…" Josh started, but then he lost his train of thought, distracted by the soft feel of Sam's wool gloves against his fingers.

While he wasn't paying attention, Sam increased their speed to the fastest he had moved so far. As soon as he realized what was happening, Josh had to fight his body's apparent urge to throw itself against the ice at the first sign of danger.

"Whoa, Sam! We're going too fast!"

"Don't worry; I've got you," Sam said confidently. "You need to get out of your head."

"I don't know about you, Samantha, but as a thinking human being, I can't get out of my head!"

Sam glared persistently at him until he looked up into her eyes. "If that's a lead-in to one of your dumb blonde jokes, I swear I will let go of you and send you flying against the wall."

"Please don't," Josh quickly replied. "Blondes are super smart. And hot."

"Josh…" Sam warned, loosening her grip on Josh's hands.

"I'm sorry!" Josh cried, not liking the current power dynamic or how desperate-sounding his voice was coming out. "Blondes are super smart and not hot! Please slow down."

"Fine," she said, tightening her grip again and slowing them down.

"Thank you," Josh said with relief, turning his gaze back to his feet.

"Hey… do you wanna see something cool?"

"Besides the ice?"

Without any further warning, Sam let go of him and sped backwards, and then she launched herself into the air, spinning twice and then landing on one foot. Her landing was wobbly though, and she slipped sideways, falling hard on her side.

"Sam!" Josh shouted, skating forward fast to reach her.

She was beginning to push herself up off the ice when he remembered that he didn't know how to skate.

It happened in a blur; one moment his legs were beneath him, and in the next moment they weren't. He fell violently forward, and one of his ankles folded under his weight. A faint popping noise registered in his mind before he smashed into the ice, sliding forward against the cold, uneven surface before coming to a dead stop.

Lying there with his cheek against the ice, Josh didn't move, resigned to his fate.

"Josh!" Sam reached him first and knelt beside him. "What did you do?"

"Are you okay?" he asked, tilting his head to look up at her worried face.

"What… me? I'm fine! It was just a little fall! Are you okay?"

Relieved, he closed his eyes and said, "You did this to me, Samantha. I fell for you, and it's all your fault."

"Josh, this isn't funny!" Sam said, pushing his shoulder. "Are you hurt?"

"Josh!" Beth yelled, skating up to the two of them.

"Josh, are you okay?" Hannah asked, right behind Beth.

"I am not okay, dear sisters. This is the end. I'm dead," Josh droned. "Just know that I loved both of you very much. And you, Sam, you were a swell girl too."

"You're so morbid," Beth said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Come on, Josh, stop joking and get up," Sam said, impervious to his humor.

Josh slowly rolled onto his back, favoring his left ankle.

"It popped," he said vaguely.

"It popped? What do you mean? What popped?" Hannah asked nervously.

"My ankle. When I was falling, it made a popping noise," Josh said as Sam helped him sit up.

"Crap," she said. "We need to get you to a doctor."

"It's probably just a little sprain," Beth said, waving it off. "You just need to put some ice on it when we get home."

"It's already on ice," Josh remarked. "That's part of the problem."

"Ha. Cute," Sam said dryly. "Does it hurt?"

"Not really. It just feels numb," Josh said, wiggling his ankle a bit and not feeling much of anything.

"Oh, it'll hurt when the adrenaline dies down. Up and at 'em, skipper," Beth said as she and Sam carefully pulled Josh up off the ice.

Josh draped his arms around the two of them, and they managed to get him to the rink exit and onto a bench.

"Hey, I made it around once!" Josh said with forced enthusiasm as Hannah kneeled to remove his skates.

"Yeah! That's my big brother!" Beth laughed, giving him a high five.

Sam took a seat beside him on the bench and said, "I can't believe you actually injured yourself just like you thought you would."

He said playfully, "I hate to say I told you so, Sammy, but actually I love it, so: I told you so!"

"Don't fall so hard for me next time," she replied blankly, reaching down to untie her skates.

Josh just stared at her, momentarily speechless. He had a habit of reading too far into people's words, but with Sam, he could never tell if there was an actual reason to.

When he looked at his sisters, a couple of smug grins indicated that there was indeed something below the surface of Sam's words. He wasn't sure if it was good news or bad news for him though, so he kept quiet, and then the moment was gone.

"Ugh, my hip hurts," Sam complained as the pain really started to hit her. "I shouldn't have tried to do that jump after not skating for so long."

Josh frowned, but then he remembered what she had said right before she attempted the jump.

"Hey… do you wanna see something cool?"

She had been trying to impress him. He was almost certain.

He was about to tease her mercilessly about it, but then in a rare moment of thinking before speaking, he decided not to, keeping the thought to himself and saving it for later.

He winced as Hannah struggled to cautiously pull his skate off over his heel.

"Just rip it off like a Band-Aid!" Beth encouraged loudly, and Hannah wrenched the skate off of him in one motion.

Josh released a slew of curses while Hannah apologized profusely and Beth giggled quietly in the background.

"Now that that's over…" Beth said, slipping out of her own skates, "…let's go, Hannah. We'll pay for everyone and return the skates, and we'll be right back!"

"Uh, okay," Hannah agreed, letting Beth drag her away.

"Dorks," Josh said dully.

Sam seemed unfazed, still leaning forward and untying her skates. She had brought her own instead of renting, and she was very meticulous as she removed them and wiped them down.

She then set them on the ground, propping them up against the leg of the bench.

"They need to dry for a few minutes before I put them in my bag," she explained to Josh, aware of how intently he had been watching her.

Josh shook himself out of his trance, having been trying to focus on something besides the pain that was starting to creep up in his ankle.

Sam looked around, wondering what was taking Hannah and Beth so long, but they were nowhere in sight.

"I wish those two would hurry up," she said, glancing at Josh's ankle. "How does it feel now?"

"Lovely," Josh said, not wanting to outright complain about it now that it was just him and Sam.

"Well, that's just… lovely," Sam concluded awkwardly, not really sure what to say.

Josh chuckled.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Lovely…" he said, still chuckling lightly.

"You better watch out for that Sam, Joshua Washington," Beth warned loudly as she came up behind Sam and Josh and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders.

Hannah slapped her palm to her forehead, embarrassed on behalf of everyone.

Beth leaned toward Josh and whispered in his ear so Sam couldn't hear: "First she'll break your ankle, and then she'll break your heart."

"What did you just say, Beth?" Sam asked curiously as Josh's cheeks turned pink.

"Welp, gotta leave," Josh said, swiftly standing and hobbling away.

"Whoa, Josh, you're gonna hurt yourself!" Sam protested, lifting his arm and ducking under it so it could rest on her shoulders.

"You can't escape," Beth told Josh, mirroring Sam on his other side before he could injure himself yet again.

"You guys are really too much," Hannah sighed, tossing Sam's skates into her bag and pulling the bag onto her shoulder.

"Nah, I think we're just enough," Beth said, teasingly squeezing Josh around his middle.

Not about to have a sentimental moment with his sister in public, Josh pushed his face into Beth's hat and pretended he was blowing his nose into it.

"Ew! Josh!"

"Dorks," Sam said happily.

A/N: Look! They're all together and happy! :'D Today is February 2nd, the anniversary, and I just want them all to be TOGETHER and HAPPY. *cries aggressively* I picture Hannah and Josh's relationship as the sweetest thing ever, and I think Beth would constantly be teasing the crap out of Josh, especially when she realized he had a thing for Sam. And then Sam would be all cute and oblivious off in the corner, but maybe not that oblivious…

In other news, this story was partially inspired by my real life. Just writing this story made my ankle ache… Also, shout-out to Ice Princess, the movie where Hayden ice skates like a boss. And while we're here, shout-out to The Dust Factory, the straight-to-DVD Hayden movie that made my childhood, where she magically skates on a non-frozen lake. And shout-out to Hayden in general because she's everything.

Mini-epilogue: After a trip to the doc, the girls cart Josh home and plop him on the sectional in the living room. Hannah props his ankle on some pillows, and Sam fetches blankets for everyone. Josh needs to ice his ankle every so often, but since Beth is a horrible nurse, she brings him a trash bag full of ice (instead of something small and reasonable like a bag of frozen peas or an actual ice pack). The twins go off to find a DVD, and Sam jokingly throws a blanket over Josh's head. She takes advantage of the giant ice bag by settling part of it on her bruised hip, and Josh is self-conscious about having his gross swollen ankle/foot near her. Hannah settles next to Sam, sharing her blanket, and Beth pops in a movie. Halfway through the movie, Sam falls asleep on Hannah's shoulder. When Beth notices, she looks mockingly at Josh and says, "Jealous?" Josh pretends to fall asleep as soon as Beth gets distracted by the movie again so she'll stop teasing him, at least for a little bit while he recovers.