"When you're done with your shower, don't get dressed.? I have a surprise for you."? Riley grinned wickedly, allowing him to think that their skating practise would be postponed for other more...intimate reasons.

"Naked surprise, huh?? I like the sound of that."? His back was turned, so he missed the wicked grin, but he could hear it in her voice.? His own mouth curved in a grin as he went into the bathroom to get that shower.

She chuckled softly then went into her closet - about the only place in the house where she could hide things from him and trust that he wouldn't get too curious - and dragged out some boxes.? Artfully arranging them on the bed, she sat down next to them and waited for David to come out of the bathroom.

He finished the shower quickly, as was his usual.? No long minutes standing under the spray for him, generally.? Ten minutes after getting in, he was out and drying off as he walked into the bedroom.? His eyebrows rose when he saw the selection of boxes sitting on the bed with a smug-looking Jaguar next to them.? "What's all this?"

She grinned and said, "Happy early Christmas.? Open them!"

"Presents, eh?"? He grinned back at her and reached for the first box, a roughly head-sized one.? He tore the top open and reached inside, pulling out a hockey goalie's helmet, and laughed.? "You didn't waste any time, did you?"

"Do you know how thrilled I am at finding out that not only is there a league in this craphole city, but that you want to play, too?"

"Pretty thrilled, I'd say," he answered, gesturing to the rest of the boxes.? He grabbed the next one and opened it.? In short order, an entire goalie kit sat on the bed in front of him, complete with stick and skates.? "Wow.? You went all out.? This looks like a real jersey, too."

She smiled.? "It's a Bruins jersey.? They're the second best team in the league if you ask my dad.? So, get dressed and I'll help you with the pads and stuff and then you can see how it feels with all that crap on, okay?"

"Who's the first?"? He asked as he started pulling the clothes on.?

"The Detroit Red Wings, though I still think he should be drawn and quartered for saying that," she answered as she got dressed - athletic bra, thick socks, leggings, turtleneck, and her red BU hockey sweatshirt.

He chuckled, then finished getting dressed.? The clothes felt good.? He looked the pads over, wondering how much they were going to mess with his movement.

"Grab your skates.? It's easier to put this stuff on while you're already on the ice."? She grabbed her own skates, making sure the blade guards were on the bottom of both of their pairs and headed out to the pond in their back garden, carrying some of his pads as well.

"Okay," he said, nodding and scooping up the rest of the stuff.? He followed her out to the pond and sat down to put his skates on. After they were both on the ice, she started handing him pads, pointing to where they went, adjusting the fit and generally making sure he was comfortable...or at least as comfortable as one could expect to be when completely covered from head to toe in protective gear.? When he was finished, she stepped back and grinned.? He looked a little like someone had wrapped him in bubble wrap.? "How's it feel?"

"Like I'm completely covered in bubble wrap."

She arched a brow and then giggled; apparently along with all his other weird new super hero powers, he'd picked up mind reading, too.? "Okay, go ahead and take a couple of laps in all of that, then we'll get down to the nuts and bolts of goal defending."

He took a few steps, moving with exaggerated care.? The last thing he needed to do was pop a buckle or split one of the ties and come bursting out of his gear like the Incredible Hulk in a hockey mask.

"Oh, c'mon.? You're gonna have to figure out a balance, David.? You can't act like a candy-ass when the players are taking slap shots at your head."

"Give me a couple seconds, for Christ's sake.? It's not like this stuff is made with people who can flip cars in mind. Don't want me tearing this brand new gear up, you know?"

She muttered uncomplimentary things under her breath and followed him as he skated in circles on the pond.? "It'll be fine,? she said after about five minutes. Her excitement had grown to unmanageable proportions. ?You wanna try to stop some shots or are you still getting used to it?"

He flexed his arms, tried a couple of back-and-forth slides on the ice, and nodded.? "I think I got it.? It's not really too far from the riot gear we used to have to train in."? He skated down to the end of the pond where they'd set up the net, slid to a halt in front of it.

She grinned and grabbed the bucket of pucks.? "You wanna try some coast to coasts?"

"That's the back and forth thing, right?"

"Yep, exactly.? Ready?"? She dumped the pucks out onto the ice, lined them up in a row and started shooting them at him, first slow and easy, then with increasing quickness and velocity as he became better able to deflect them.

"Ready."? He dropped to one knee and slid back and forth to deflect the pucks, switching from knee to the other as he moved.? It wasn't the most natural of movements, and he had to remember? not to rise to his feet as he moved.? Still, actually stopping the puck was relatively simple, even as the speed of her shots increased.? After dodging bullets, even a hard shot seemed slow.

Seeing that he really was getting a good handle on things, she grinned and picked up the pace now, not shooting the pucks in order, but choosing different, random ones so he'd get more of a feeling of the randomness of an actual game. It required him to concentrate a little more to stop those, but? once she began to swing, he had plenty of time to get in the way of the speeding puck.? "If we're going to be playing with, uh, regular people, we're going to need some kind of handicap," he said as he deflected shots, barely breathing hard.

She paused for a second and leaned against her stick.? "I could put lead weights in your pads."

He snorted.? "Lead's too light."

"Lots of lead weights?"

That got a laugh, and he rose to his skates, mirroring her leaning-on-the-stick pose.? "Dork.? Seriously, though..." Without warning, she sent a puck bulleting towards the left side of the net. He snapped out his stick and slapped the shot aside with a resounding crack that sent the puck rocketing off into the distance.? "Crap," he muttered, watching it sail away.

She whistled long and low as she watched it fly past her out into the river that lay just beyond the rear wall of their garden.? She shook her head slowly in amazement.? "Yeah, I think you're gonna be just fine.? Did you crack your stick?"

"Sh*t, I hope not," he said, lifting his stick to examine the length of it.? It looked okay.? "I think it survived."

"Wanna keep going or call it a day?? I need to talk to you about some stuff."