Dancing on Ice Fanfiction

Karen watched Jayne & Chris skate their routine together with a wistful look on her face. She was a million miles away and in a trance, imagining what it would be like to have a relationship like theirs was on the ice. She had been married for 21 years and she loved Stephen with all her heart but recently things had started to go downhill… they never spoke anymore and in the evenings it was just awkward silences. They had nothing to tell each other as they spent all day training together, and nothing was special in their relationship anymore. It was more like a brother and sister relationship rather than a husband and wife - there was just no romance. 

‘Karen? Karen? Anyone there?’

Chris broke her trail of thoughts by skating over to her, they had finished their routine and wanted Karen’s opinion.  She was totally mesmerised and just nodded with a smile that spread from ear to ear. Chris and Jayne took this as a good sign and got into their starting positions to do their routine again. It was getting late and Karen had no need to be there other than she wanted to watch them skate over and over, it was just beautiful. By this time Stephen had come to see what they were doing - he had come to get Karen so they could go home. Karen decided it was best to go and waved goodbye, but the expression on her face drastically changed to a glum look, she wanted to watch Chris skate all evening, but didn’t want Stephen to get suspicious so she followed him out to the car.

Neither of them said a word the whole journey home, and when they got in Stephen did the dinner while Karen watched television. While eating Karen had been plucking up the courage to bring up the subject of their relationship; she wanted to explain to Stephen how she felt and see if he felt the same way, but she didn’t know how to say it without hurting him. She ate half her dinner and suddenly lost her appetite, which wasn’t like her.

‘Karen what’s wrong? You’ve been acting weirdly ever since you left the rink, and now you’ve not eaten any dinner… is there something bothering you?’

Karen didn’t answer for a moment, she just stared at the food on her plate.

‘Okay, if it’s not that important don’t tell me. I guess it’s nothing.’

‘Don’t be like that, why are you snapping at me? I just don’t want to tell you yet.’

‘Well you never tell me anything these days! I don’t know what has gotten into you, we used to tell each other everything…’

At this she stormed out the room, she knew what her husband was saying was true, but didn’t want to admit what she felt. Karen knew she couldn’t tell him that night. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, and didn’t even know how she felt. She always knew what he was thinking, she could read him easily. Chris was like this with Karen, he always could tell when she was upset, and knew how to cheer her up. Even though he was going through a hard time, sorting out his second divorce, he didn’t seem to let it bother him. Ever since Chris announced he was separating from his wife, Karen had become closer to him than ever, and she was starting to see him very differently… she didn’t know what to do about these feelings but she knew she couldn’t just leave it, she needed to sort out her marriage, maybe come to an agreement with Stephen. She knew it would be impossible to carry on how they were. 

The next day she woke early and made extra effort to work it out with Stephen. She was taking extra care to make him happy but it just wasn’t working. It was like there was no trust between them anymore, and it didn’t feel good. It made Karen upset, she just gave in and the journey to the rink was again in total silence. She needed support and decided to talk to Jayne, but she wasn’t there when her and Stephen got to the rink. She was always late, and Chris was waiting in the middle of the rink for her, going through more choreography with a cup of tea in his hand. Karen just stood and watched him, and found herself flushing in the cheeks, and she didn’t know why. Then Chris noticed her standing there and waved. They started talking about how all the celebrities were doing, and Karen just stared into Chris’s eyes the whole time, watched the movement of his lips. 

Jayne finally arrived and her and Chris skated through their routine again, Karen and Stephen watched from the side, Stephen not paying much attention but Karen was totally drawn in again. Once they had done it a few times through Karen skated over to Jayne and pulled her to the side, and then dragged her into the dressing room. This surprised Jayne as she had no idea what was going on, but Karen just simply said she needed to talk to her and it was very important. They got to the dressing room and Karen ushered Jayne in and shut the door behind them and locked it so no one would come in.

‘Jayne… I don’t know what to do… my marriage is falling apart and I think I’m in love with another man’

After getting this out her system Karen just burst into tears and Jayne held her arms out, hugging Karen tight and patting her head, but she was still confused at what Karen was saying. As far as she knew Karen and Stephen were very happy together and always had been. 

‘Shush… shush… it’s going to be okay.’ Jayne looked straight into Karen’s eyes. ‘Now start from the beginning because you’re confusing me. Tell me everything.’

This is why Karen felt so lucky to have a friend like Jayne, they told each other everything and she was always there for her, and always helped her with anything she needed.

‘I’ve noticed lately that our marriage just doesn’t make sense, we never tell each other anything and its just become so awkward between us, I don’t know what to do…’ she trailed off at the end and more tears spilled over down her cheeks.

‘Have you tried telling him how you feel?’

‘I don’t know how to Jayne, I don’t know how. I’ve thought about bringing it up but I just don’t know how, I’m scared of how he will react, he might get mad.’

‘True, but what’s really the worst that can happen? You need to share your feelings, he might feel the same way. Or he might not realise he is making you feel like this, and when you tell him that will make a change.’ 

There was a small silence as Karen nodded and wiped her tears before Jayne continued. 

‘Now what’s this about loving someone else?’

‘Well, have you ever looked at someone who was already really close to you and a fantastic friend, and just seen them in a different way?’

‘Ummm no, I can’t say I have… Who is it though honey?’

Karen looked down into her lap and whispered, ‘It’s Chris.’

Jayne looked shocked for a minute, but didn’t show this to Karen, who didn’t see anyway because she was still looking down, welling up with tears again. 

‘Oh Karen… I don’t know what to say… how long has it been?’

‘A few months now. He is just such a lovely man whenever I’m feeling down he knows exactly how to cheer me up and always knows when I’m not feeling myself… unlike Stephen, he never knows what to say to me and has no idea how to cheer me up, we just don’t connect anymore.’

‘Have you told Chris this?’

‘No! No of course not! It’s probably just a crush, and all these feelings will go away soon… except that’s what I keep telling myself.’

‘I think you need to talk to both of them, tell them how you feel. I can only listen to what you have to say, I can’t change anything for you. But I’ll always be here if you need someone to talk to in between, don’t you forget that.’

‘Thank you Jayne, you mean so much to me, you always know exactly what to say… and you are always here for me.’ 

Both of them are now welling up, and have a big long hug, before Karen breaks it off with a sudden look of worry on her face. 

‘I really have to sort things out don’t I? I think I’ll ask Stephen if we can go home for lunch, and come back later, at least then I’ll know what to say to Chris…’

She rushed out and went over to Stephen and Chris who were getting worried wondering what they were doing in the dressing room. Chris noticed right away that something wasn’t right but he didn’t like to say anything. Karen pulled Stephen away and said she needed to talk to him and it was very important. Jayne skated over to Chris and told him Karen was having marriage problems, but of course she never brought up the bit about him. Karen and Stephen went home while Jayne and Chris went through the group routine with the rest of the pros. Since what Jayne had said all Chris could think about was Karen. He had been thinking about her a little more than normal but thought nothing of it. 

When Karen and Stephen got home Karen told Stephen to sit down while she boiled the kettle. He sensed a spot of urgency in her voice and was now wondering what was going on… they had a long heart to heart conversation which involved Karen getting quite emotional and she found it very hard to tell him, but eventually she got it all out. Everything. Even her feelings for Chris, she just found herself telling him everything she felt, and once it was all out she just felt like everything was out in the open and she could breathe again. But she hadn’t noticed Stephen’s face getting redder and redder as she told him all this. It was all brand new to him and he felt horrible knowing that all this had been going on and he hadn’t noticed a thing. However when she told him about Chris he started shouting at her and stormed out the house, drove back to the rink. 

He stormed in making a big entrance, and Jayne and Chris looked at each other concerned and Stephen just walked right in and sat in the spectators area. Jayne went out and rang Karen’s mobile, who answered tearfully, and Jayne asked if she needed anything, she replied nothing, she just needed to clear her head and think about things. She went upstairs and had a lay down, and ended up sleeping for an hour or so. She had no idea what to do, she had done what Jayne said and told Stephen how she felt, and it had not gone well at all. When she woke up it was about 5, Stephen was supposed to be back at 4, but there was still no sign. She had a text from Jayne: hope you’re okay hun, judging by the way Stephen came in I’m guessing it didn’t go well. If you need anything just ring me x 

Karen smiled as she read it, and decided to ring Jayne later. At 9pm Stephen was still not back, but Karen hadn’t even noticed, it was lovely without him, she didn’t have to think about how she acted, she just had a long deep bath and then went to bed, he had probably just gone out to think about what she had said, and when she woke he would be there laying next to her. 

But he wasn’t. A wave of worry swept over her, so she text him, not letting him know how much she was worrying. He definitely had not taken the news well. It was a Friday and she didn’t have to get to the ITV studios until 10, so she decided to get Chris over and tell him everything… he rang him and just said she needed him and quickly. He had no idea what it could possibly be about but he hurried over as she sounded urgent. 15 minutes later there was a knock on the door and Karen let him in and boiled the kettle. They were both sipping their coffee and Karen decided to just come out with it - she had to get it over with. 

They were talking for ages and Karen told him exactly how she felt, she told him she had seen him differently lately, and that her marriage had been going downhill, and Stephen wasn’t doing anything for her except making her feel bad and so on… Chris sat and listened to every word while he stared into her eyes, he realised how beautiful she really was. He was shocked by some of the things she was telling him, and realised the relationship with Stephen she was describing was exactly the same as what he had experienced very recently.

When she was finished talking, she trailed off looking into his eyes and at the same time they both leaned in for a very passionate kiss… it lasted about 10 minutes but their budding romance was soon broken by Stephen bursting in the front door to see Karen and Chris lying on the sofa kissing. He was raging, so mad you could see steam coming out of his ears… 

‘How dare you?! How very dare you?! You told me last night you had feelings for another man… and I guess I didn’t take it very well but then I come back to see you two like this?! You told me you had feelings for Chris, you never said you were together already… I think I have the right to be mad at you Karen!!’

Chris butted in, ‘Oh… oh no its not like that… this is the first time we… and we’re not exactly together! And Karen started it, honest…’ 

Karen looked at Stephen, then Chris, and burst into tears. She couldn’t believe it. She was in such a mess and didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know what she had got herself into and it was all just too much..  She burst out of the room and upstairs, and threw herself on the bed. Chris left, still in shock of what had happened and Stephen just sat in the living room with his head in his hands, he was also finding it difficult to believe it. 

None of them had gone to rehearsal and for once Jayne was the first there, she knew something was wrong when she found not one of them was there. She had a feeling it would be to do with what her and Karen had talked about, but couldn’t be sure. She decided not to bother any of them for a while and just see what happened. But an hour later they had still not arrived, so she decided to ring Chris. His absence was most concerning as every other week he had got there an hour before everyone else, so she knew something must have happened. Chris never answered his phone the first, or second, or third time Jayne rang so she knew for sure something was wrong. She then rang Karen and got the same response, and when she rang Stephen he picked up after a few rings.

‘Stephen, what’s wrong?! Do you know where Karen and Chris are too? It surprises me none of you are when I am!’

‘Oh Jayne.. I don’t really want to talk about it but I can tell you that I came home to a image I did not want in my head. Karen and Chris are… together.’

‘I know… well I don’t know they were together I just know that Karen was upset about your marriage, and she had feelings for Chris, but them together… are you sure? Since when?’

‘Well I walked in this morning and they were on the sofa getting very close… I can’t believe Karen told you all this before she even told me! I guess we really do have problems… I have no idea what to do Jayne… please help?’

‘Why don’t you get yourself down here and we can have a chat and I will see what I can do’

Stephen hung up the phone and drove down to the studios, he knew Jayne could help. When he found her he told her everything, how bad he felt about what Karen had said and then what he had seen that morning. Jayne told her she knew nothing more than he did, but she comforted him and called Karen who finally answered and got her to come up there also so they could all chat and sort things out. 

When Karen arrived she sat next to Stephen and Jayne, still in tears. After a while Jayne left them both to sort things out, they both knew their marriage had to end, neither of them felt it was right anymore. They decided to go to a councillor and sort things out properly and until then nothing more would be said. 

A little later Karen went to talk to Chris, she said she didn’t think anything should happen between them until things were sorted with her marriage, and Chris apologised for how he had acted earlier. He assured her he was going to be there for her whenever she needed. 

Karen decided it would be better to stay away from Stephen for a while just while they both had a think about what was going to happen, so she stayed the weekend at Jayne’s, and tried her very hardest to have a good time, even though all she could think about was what was happening, it was all very emotional and stressful and she was still worried about what was going to happen. All through the Dancing on Ice shows on the Sunday evening Karen was looking Chris’s way and occasionally he would turn and look at her back.

A week later Karen and Stephen attended their concelling session, they were both nervous but it had to be done, they had to make an agreement. They agreed to separate on trial, but no divorce yet, just to see how things go. She moved in with Jayne and went no further with Chris, but the mutual feelings were still there, and both of them knew it. After a few weeks of living like this and a few concelling sessions they knew it wasn’t going to work out between them, and the separation began. Stephen was very unfair about the situation, mainly because he still couldn’t believe it and was still in shock and angry, but Karen was left with very little, but she moved in with Chris for a while to see how things were going…