Ok, first things first...please don't kill me for this. (?) It's just an AU of how I would have wanted the ESC 2011 final to be, and obviously there are some changes made. Nobody will notice them unless you know our protagonist, Kati Wolf, the Hungarian representant at that year's ESC. All characters are real except one (you'll see, I guess), and even though the event is real, the situation is pretty much fictional. English is not my mother tongue, so excuse any fatal mistakes. Beware, it's quite long. Anyway, here it goes:
Düsseldorf, Germany. 14th May 2011, 20:00h. The Hungarian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest, together with the other 24 remaining delegations, is already at the Esprit Arena, where the final is going to take place in an hour. The bus ride went by in the middle of a tense atmosphere, and the preparations at the backstage are immersed in a silence that remains unbroken since the process started.
Kati is sitting in her dressing room, waiting for the hairdresser to come around and take care of her hairstyle for tonight. She's already wearing the bright blue dress that they chose for her to wear on the stage, but not the shoes. She'll have them on for a very long time already tonight anyway. She looks up at the mirror and through it she sees Csaba, sitting on a chair nearby, playing with 9-month-old Christian, who's blissfully unaware of the tension going on around him. He makes the boy giggle, and Kati smiles as wide as she can manage through the nerves. Csaba catches her staring through the mirror, and grins and winks an eye at her.
He turns his attention back to Chris. She looks down at her hands clasped on her lap, closes her eyes and sighs. And she can't help herself when she speaks up suddenly to say what she's been telling him all week. 'I can't do this.' Csaba looks up at her again, and when he notices she's down, he scoops Christian up against his shoulder and walks up to her. 'Of course you can. You were made for this, baby!', he says, as he kneels down beside her. She turns to look at him.
When he arrives by her side, Christian reaches out his arms at the sight of his mama for her to pick him up. Kati does so, and holds him close to her chest, and kisses the top of his head. Csaba keeps elaborating. 'You said the same on Tuesday, and you made it to the final! You said the same nine months ago, and here is our son.' He emphasizes his point by resting a hand on little Christian's back. 'You know it's not true. Please don't say it again.' 'But…I'm not just singing for myself today, like it was in the X Factor. I'm representing a whole country; my country. What if the performance goes wrong, or something happens, and I don't make them proud?', she argues. Then she shakes her head. 'I can't do this.'
Csaba closes his eyes and clenches his fists. 'Kati', he says through gritted teeth. 'I've tried to be patient and supportive all day, and all week really, but you're making it way too difficult.' Her chin trembles, and her eyes fill with tears, and she knows he'll blame himself for making it worse, but it's actually the opposite; he's the only one able to make her feel better. It's thanks to her husband and son that she's been able to remain sane these two weeks. So she throws herself, and Christian, since she's still holding him, to Csaba's arms. He catches her and chuckles softly, somehow surprised by her actions. 'I love you!', she cries against his neck. He kisses the top of her head, and then pulls apart to kiss her lips. 'I love you too. And you'll be great up there, ok?' She nods, only momentarily convinced, and leans in to kiss him again.
The hairdresser arrives just then, and Csaba gets Christian from her arms and stands up. 'I should probably go to the audience and sit there already…', he says, a bit worried. She would have loved to have him with her in the green room, but he couldn't bring Chris and someone had to take care of him throughout the show. But he promised he would jump to the stage first thing as soon as she was called back there as the winner, and she had laughed and agreed, because that would never happen anyway. She nods at him. 'Go', she simply says. 'Promise me you'll contact me in any way if you feel bad again.' 'No. Now go.' He shakes his head at her, bends over to kiss her one last time, and walks towards the door. 'I love you', he calls out to her again. 'I love you too', she replies, and then he leaves.
She watches them leave, and then sits upright again. The hairdresser must know it's not the best moment to try and make small talk, for she tackles her business in complete silence, which allows Kati to have more time to think. Which makes her nervous again. So she tries to take her mind off that by making a trip down memory lane to the other moment when she was this nervous before.
It was, in fact, a big moment for her. The second happiest day of her life after the birth of her son: her wedding with Csaba. Ever since getting engaged, they had started thinking about a date, but then decided to wait until Kati was back to work so they could choose a day in which they both were free. That's how they settled on the 1st of March.
They also looked for a place where they could host the wedding and the reception, since a religious wedding was out of the question, and they didn't really care about it much anyway. They found some places around Budapest, and finally the one that they liked the most, and that seemed to be available in their chosen date, was Buda Castle. They asked for permission, and they got it.
So in the date and the place chosen, the idea was to have a small, private ceremony; just their families and closest friends. Also, Csaba thought that since the two of them were way too famous, they'd better not make an official announcement or else the amount of people gathered at the entrance of the castle would be huge. She could only agree with him, so they kept it in the down-low.
When they arrived, separately, to the castle, there was no one in sight, and the calm outside was more than welcome by both of them because the nerves were all inside. And they were not because they wondered if they were doing the right thing. On the contrary, it was because they were so sure about this being right that they wanted everything to be perfect, and they couldn't wait to be officially married.
The ceremony took place, and since the reception was supposed to take place inside the castle as well, there was no need for them to go outside at all. But once they were proclaimed husband and wife and walked back down the aisle together, and before they could lead the way towards the area of the reception, Tamás ran to them. 'You should take a look outside', he said simply, and so they did. Somehow, word had reached the audience about the wedding, and there were thousands of people gathered there, despite it being a working day, to support them on this very special date. They looked at each other and decided they should go and thank them, because had it not been for Tamás they would have never known they were there, so peaceful and respectful the congregation had been.
Actually, and now that she's thinking about it…that week was precisely when the Eurovision adventure began, more or less. The moment when she received the call with the news of the offer to represent Hungary is one neither of the two will forget easily. Probably ever.
Even though Kati was against it, Csaba insisted they went on a honeymoon, a one week long trip at least, so they could relax and forget all obligations, and just enjoy each other, which they truly hadn't been able to do for a while with both of them working again. So finally she agreed, and they flew to Sardinia. It had all they were looking for: warm weather, nice beaches…and better hotels. Because the "enjoying each other" part was basically about them spending most of the time in bed.
Which was exactly what they were doing right then. They had gone for a walk, sat down on a bench facing the sea, and started making out. With them, it always got pretty hot in a matter of minutes, so they ran back to the hotel, climbed up the stairs to their room, opened it and stumbled inside, all that barely pulling apart.
They were far too gone already to be bothered with preliminary games, and they just took off the necessary clothes on their way to the bed. There, Csaba lied down while she climbed on top of him, and he rested his hands on her waist as she took him inside of her slowly, both of them moaning loudly already. But as she was about to start moving, her phone started ringing.
'Just ignore it', he said, but she reached out for it on the nightstand. 'It can be important', she argued. She had kept the phone on in case Csaba's parents, who were looking after Christian for the week, needed to contact them about the boy.
But when she looked at the screen, she frowned. 'It's Viktor', she said out loud, and missed Csaba's annoyed face when he heard the name. After observing the guy for the weeks he and Kati worked together, he had the nagging suspicion that he had a crush on her. And he didn't like it one bit. Especially that she took the phone to her ear to reply to the call. He started whining then, and she put a finger to her lips for him to remain silent.
'Hey there, Viktor.'
'Hi, Kati! I need to talk to you for a moment, uhm…are you busy?'
'No, no, it's ok.' But the last words came out as a moan, because Csaba decided to silently emphasize his point that she was off-limits by arching his hips up just so, since he was still inside of her. Kati made a face and reached out to smack him weakly over his stomach, and he had to hold himself from laughing.
On the other side, Viktor apparently caught that and doubted about her response now. 'Are you sure? I can still call later…'
'Really, it's ok. Tell me', she said into the phone sweetly, but meanwhile fixed Csaba with a cutting glare. Patented, at this point.
'Well, I got a call from MTV just today. You know how this year Hungary is returning to Eurovision…they thought about you and our song to represent the country.'
Kati covered her mouth with her free hand and sat upright, lifting herself a bit, and then sat back down over Csaba. But in the excitement of the moment, she forgot what position they were in, and she moaned into the phone again without meaning to. That made Viktor really uncomfortable, and he started stuttering, realizing he had in fact interrupted. 'And…well, just…think about it and, uhm…call me later when you're free?'
She closed her eyes, cursing inwardly. 'Will do. Thanks for the info, Viktor.'
'Of course. So…hope to hear from you later.'
They hung up and Kati looked down at Csaba with a still shocked expression. He looked at her eagerly, waiting for her to explain what had happened in the phone call. Finally, after a small silence, she spoke. 'They offered me to represent Hungary in the Eurovision', she said, the shock in her voice matching the one in her face.
'What?!', he asked, grinning and all excited now. 'Yes! Oh my God, I can't believe it. It's been my dream all my life, to go to Eurovision, and it's gonna come true!' Csaba sat up a bit then, and brought her close as some tears of joy fell down Kati's cheeks. 'If you confirm soon, that is. You don't want them contacting someone else and them being faster than you', he joked. But she took it seriously. 'You think I should call right now?', she said, pulling apart to look him in the eye. 'No way, baby! I'm sure they'll be waiting for you to confirm before asking anyone else. Right now, we're gonna celebrate that you got the offer.' And celebrate it they did.
Later, Kati called Viktor back telling him that of course she wanted to go, and she spent the evening on the phone confirming her participation and arranging the date of the official announcement, because she didn't want to cut their honeymoon short. Csaba found that amusing, since she hadn't wanted to go in the first place. The broadcaster agreed, either way, and they said they'd wait until the 9th, when they'd arrive back in Hungary, to reveal the news. Next thing she did was call her dad to tell him about it. He had been in Eurovision twice already, as a conductor, and was so proud to hear that his daughter would be there too.
What Kati didn't suspect was that the following two months were going to be hectic, with preparations, interviews, some promotion and, above all, rehearsals. And also, the search for the outfit for her and her backing singers, shoes, complements… Csaba actually did some research on who her opponents were, which songs they were taking, how the bets and the fan polls regarded everyone's chances…only to find out that according to most of them, she would be in the top 5, even with options to win. Not just that, she won the OGAE fan clubs voting beating the main candidate to win, France. Kati definitely didn't expect that.
She looks at herself in the mirror as she comes back down to reality. Her hairstyle is almost done; it's a bit less curly than it was in the semifinal, but it looks good anyway. She took care of the make-up herself, despite the insistence of the delegation that they could hire someone to do that. They ended up doing so, but just for the backing singers. She argued that she preferred something simple, and that she could do herself. In fact, and inspecting her look in the mirror once again, it's almost unnoticeable, but it does help. She did a good job.
Her backing singers appear in the dressing room just as the hairdresser finishes her job. Kati thanks her politely as she walks away, and the three girls look at her. 'You ready?', she asks them. 'Ready as can be', one of them replies.
Kati smiles at them weakly; the nerves are back full force. She is most definitely not ready. She starts playing mindlessly with her wedding ring, which she decided to keep on, because it'll remind her of her two boys watching and waiting for her in the audience. There will be so many faces down there that she won't be able to spot them while she's singing, and she won't have time to look for them anyway.
Viktor pokes his head around now too. 'We should probably get going out to the lobby', he suggests. 'The first performers are there already.' She looks up at him. 'But we have number 19?', she asks, wondering what they could possibly do in the lobby already when they still have a long wait ahead to perform. Viktor shrugs. 'Socialize, walk around…I don't know! But do something. I've been in your place before and you do not want to be idle for too long.' And Kati grimaces; no, she probably doesn't. So she slides her feet into the high heeled shoes, stands up, and walks through the door.
Outside, Gergő and her other two male backing singers are waiting for them. He looks at her and nods silently, as if wanting to let her know everything will be ok. She nods back, thanking him for that. When they're all together there, like they did in the semifinal, they gather in a circle, and Viktor speaks to all of them. 'Ok, guys. We still have a while to go up there, but might as well tell you now. Whatever happens tonight, I'm so proud of all of you for bringing our country this far, especially of our lady here.' There he signals Kati, resting a hand on her forearm. 'But of course, we're here to win. And I know you can make it', he finishes, smiling at her. She nods, but doesn't speak. I can't do this, she thinks for the last time today.
The dressing rooms are all located in a corridor which then leads to the lobby where the artists do the very last sound check before going on stage. Most of them are still in their rooms; others are roaming around the corridor like they are doing. And the ones who have the luck, Kati doesn't know if good or bad, of performing in the first positions, are already at the sound check post. They cross paths with Lena, who will appear in the opening act as the previous year's winner, and is also representing Germany for the second year in a row. 'Hey, Kati, good luck!', she calls out to her. 'Same!', Kati replies at her retreating back. She loves that everyone is so friendly around here.
They walk the way up to the lobby, and as they cross paths with more of the contestants, they wish each other good luck. Especially interesting was the meeting with Blue, the British boy band, who earlier in the week told them she was their favorite to win, and now seem to be all calm and collected as they tell her yet again she's taking the trophy to Hungary with her. Kati blushes lightly as she waves them off. And a bit up the road, they can see the youngest contestant, Getter Jaani from Estonia, looking about to faint and shaking all over. She's such a sweet kid; at the welcome party they chatted for a while and Getter told her she was going to win. Kati replied telling her she thought she was the one who was going to win. And she understands the poor thing so well right now that she walks up to her to give her a hug. 'You'll do great, and you have your dancers with you!', she tells her, trying to reassure her. And Getter nods and smiles thankfully. It really feels good to help someone in moments like these.
And as they walk past the Russian room, and Alexey comes out of it in that precise instant and nods at her politely, she remembers one of the highlights of the week. It happened at the Russian party; delegations throwing parties promoting their representatives is something typical in the Eurovision weeks. Kati and Csaba attended the party, because she was singing on it. They…well, she, ended up drinking a bit more than she intended. When she went on stage with Alexey to sing her song, they stood too close to each other, and he was overtly flirtatious most of the time, and she didn't do anything to wave him off. And the flirting actually continued later, when off the stage. She had lost Csaba somewhere, and Alexey stayed by her side, just talking at first, but coming closer as the conversation went on. Kati was hammered enough to still not quite notice he was already resting a hand on her forearm way too confidently.
Then was when she felt an arm snake around her waist, pulling her close and holding her protectively, eventually resting at the small of her back, and she could see Csaba standing by her side, all smiles. 'Hey, I was looking for you!', he said. She smiled at him too. 'I was just here chatting with Alexey for a while. He's the Russian representative', she explained merrily. 'Yeah, you can say this party was thrown for me', Alexey spoke now. 'Nice to meet you, by the way.' 'Oh, right, I didn't introduce myself, sorry about that. I'm Csaba, Kati's husband. Nice to meet you too', he announced casually, and had to hold back a smirk at Alexey's very uncomfortable expression at his words. He excused himself quickly and they didn't catch much of a glimpse of him for the rest of the night.
Later, at the welcome party that weekend, Alexey came to her with a polite smile and apologized. 'I kinda exceeded myself the other day. I mean, you're hot, and you know what a bit too much alcohol can do…and I honestly didn't know you were married', he said. 'It's ok, really. I wasn't offended by it', she replied. 'Either way', Alexey insisted. 'Please tell Csaba on my behalf that I'm sorry.' Kati nodded. 'I will', she said, and Alexey moved on, reassured. He left Kati thinking, though. He said she's hot? That's obviously because he doesn't know she had a child not even a year ago.
Back at the Esprit, the group is still wandering around the corridor, when Lena flies past them as she runs up to the sound check again. Then Kati looks at the clock and sees time has flown and there are only 10 minutes left, and she's more aware than ever of the fact that this is about to start. She starts tonight with number 19, which is supposed to be good strategically, but it also means she'll have to wait a bit over an hour to perform. And she doesn't know what she can possibly do all that time to avoid the nerves.
As if on cue, her phone, which she had kept with her at Csaba's request, goes off. She looks down at it, and it's a message from him. The text, a simple 'How r u?' She smiles to herself and replies. 'Trying not to freak out. How're things down there?' A few seconds later, another message from Csaba. 'The crowd is impatient. Lots of ppl with Hungarian flags; they'r rooting 4 u this year ;).' 'Good to know! And Chris?' 'Calm 4 now, let's see when the show starts…we'r with u, k? Front row, 2 ur left. Look there when u get on the stage, I'll wave at u.' Definitely, thank God she has him. 'I was wondering where you'd be sitting. Thanks for telling me! :)' 'I knew u'd wanna know. Bby, u should be alert over there…text me again if u get bored or nervous, k? Pls. Don't say no straight away. :P' Kati rolls her eyes at the message. 'Ok, ok, I will.' 'Good. Love u!' 'Love you too, honey!' By the time she sends her last text, the Eurovision anthem can be heard all around the arena. It's time for the show.
But instead of waiting for her to text, he's the one who keeps texting throughout the show, telling her how it's going and how the performances previous to hers were. Some of his comments were pretty hilarious. "Woah, the shirt of the Danish guy, what was that!", "Azerbaijan doesn't wanna win this year with that performance" or "The Swedes finally managed to break the glass. :P" But also: "Getter was awesome!" He knew she liked Getter and that her song was one of her favorites to win. And she was glad to hear she did well. "French guy screwed up big time at the beginning", he said of the main favorite, and she felt even more pressure on her live performance to be as close to perfect as possible if she really wanted to keep her options. Because if for some reason she screws up too, no way she's getting a good placing.
The hour goes by pretty quickly thanks to Csaba entertaining her, and to her conversing with everyone around the lobby. But as it's Germany's turn and Lena is performing her song, Viktor comes walking up the corridor. 'Start getting ready', he tells her simply as he passes her. 'Already?!', she asks, louder so he can hear her. He turns around to reply. 'The show is going pretty quick', he says, shrugging, and then continues walking.
Kati takes off towards the sound check too after a moment and texts Csaba meanwhile. 'I gotta start getting ready to go on stage… :/' Csaba replies thirty seconds later, though to Kati it feels like a lifetime. ':D U'r gonna be great, I told u! Go up there and make all of us proud, bby. 3 Btw, Lena is doing great too. ;)' She smiles; he's still trying to keep her mind off the nerves. She can be so thankful for him, definitely.
When she arrives there, the guys from Hotel FM, who are representing Romania, are already getting ready to walk on to the stage, while Nadine Beiler, the Austrian girl, is picking up her microphone surrounded by her backing singers. Only two countries ahead of her. A few seconds afterwards she notices Viktor is standing by her side. 'Ok, I'll have to get going to the green room shortly. Want me to take your phone with me?' She looks down at it for a little while. 'Let me say goodbye for now?', she asks, almost shyly. Viktor smiles and nods, and she starts texting Csaba back. 'Good, she deserves it! Honey, Viktor is taking my phone with him to the green room already, so I won't be able to text you until I go there…but please keep me informed, I'll read the messages later. Love you.' She presses the send button and sighs before silencing the phone and handing it to Viktor. Will she be able to hold onto sanity without her phone and therefore Csaba to help her?
She watches as Viktor walks away with Gergő, and when they disappear and she brings her attention back to the sound check, the Romanian guys are performing already and Nadine has taken their place at the stage entrance. Her backing singers are there already as well and the following contestant, Maja Keuc from Slovenia, has already arrived at the post and is waiting behind her. Kati advances to take the microphone and tries it. It works, awesome; no need for unexpected surprises tonight. Her backing singers do the same, while she walks up to Nadine, who's looking ahead at the entrance. She touches her arm lightly, and Nadine turns around and looks at her with a nervous smile. 'Good luck up there', she tells her, trying to showcase an encouraging smile. Nadine nods. 'Same.' A few seconds later, the Austrian crew is called onto the stage. More nerves for Kati; she's up next.
She looks behind her at Maja getting her turn at the microphone stand, and at the Icelandic group, Sjonni's friends, coming closer, all smiles and fun. She heard the story behind their song: the guy who was supposed to sing it died of a heart stroke just weeks before the Icelandic national competition, but his wife decided to keep the song in, sung by some of his friends. And here they are now. She waves at them and the six guys cheer for her. She has to laugh at their contagious enthusiasm. Once Maja has her mic, she looks up at her. 'Nervous, huh?', Kati asks her gently. 'Very', Maja replies. 'But at the same time I can't wait to go over there.' 'Neither can I', Kati admits. Though she won't stop being nervous after performing because the second moment of truth of the night will come with the voting. She turns the ring on her finger once again, and right then is when she's called on to the stage. And to the war cry of "Hajrá Magyarország!", the group walks up the platform to wait until Austria finish their participation and it is their turn to sing. Here goes nothing, Kati thinks, and surprises herself by not thinking she can't do it.
Nadine finishes and thanks the audience, and the camera turns to them. Kati draws two hearts in the air while her backing singers wave at the people watching at home. Then, they're shown a postcard as they walk up to the stage. Kati looks to her left and searches frantically, until she sees the light from the screen of a phone stand out from the darkness in the audience, and smiles when she realizes it's the sign she was looking for; that's where Csaba and Christian are sitting. She blows a kiss in that direction, hoping he will see her, though she can't see much through the darkness. All of a sudden, the light goes off in the whole arena. Then the music starts. It's her moment.
Kati will never quite remember the whole three minutes of her performance. She was moving as if on autopilot, which helped the performance somewhat because she barely registered the nerves either, and she could concentrate on singing. That's what she does best after all. But on the last What about my dreams?, more conscious of herself then than she's been in the whole performance, her voice was a bit shaky. The audience's reaction is rapturous. 'Köszönöm, danke schön!', she says, before she and her group go off the stage. It's over, and it's not in her hands anymore. The audience at home will decide.
Meanwhile, Csaba sits with Christian on his lap and observes Kati's every move on the stage. He knows how she was feeling, and he's a bit worried. He expects her start to be somewhat shaky and maybe if she fails a tone she won't be able to recover…but no. Her vocals are amazing; the nerves are not showing at all. The backing singers do their job of supporting her voice just as well. And he goes from a serious expression to a smile, to an ecstatic grin, and feels even more proud of his wife if that was even possible. The whole arena is on their feet and dancing madly, and enjoying the song and the performance, and before he notices he joins them, with Christian in his arms. When the performance ends, he texts her telling her his and the audience's reactions. It was a winning performance. She's going to make history tonight, he's completely sure.
When they walk into the green room, which is not really a room and is located behind the stage this year, there's a huge round of applause and cheers for her, and Kati blushes a bit. No way was it THAT good. Actually, the guys from Blue start chanting her name as she passes them on the way to their assigned cubicle, and she stops with them a moment and shakes her head. 'I'm not winning this', she says. And Duncan, the one who's been supporting her the most this week, looks at her in disbelief. 'Kati, you were perfect! And not just today, you nailed it in all the rehearsals!' His band mates nod their agreement. She pats his shoulder, mock pitying him for being delusional, and they all laugh. 'Just remember my words!', Duncan calls out to her as she finally walks to her cubicle. She just throws her hand up, acknowledging his statement.
Viktor and Gergő receive her with applauses, proud smiles and big hugs. She remains modest even though everyone is telling her what she did today was a winning performance. She sits down on the couch, trying to piece together those three minutes, now that it's over and she's calmer, and still saying that they're wrong.
She just sits there with her hands together and looking in front of her absently, when she suddenly realizes there's a figure standing there. She looks up slowly and sees Viktor there, smiling at her, and with his arm outstretched. He holds her phone out to her. 'Your husband kept texting, as you asked him to. You should read them messages now', he says, with a knowing smile. She gets the phone from him with an eyebrow raised, but proceeds to do so. But instead of starting from the older one, she starts from the last one Csaba sent. 'Bby, u were beyond amazing. The performance was flawless, and the victory is totally urs. I can't be any more proud of u than I am right now. We love you. 33' That brings tears to her eyes. Not because he told her she's going to win as well, but because she made him, them, proud. That's the biggest prize she could get tonight.
Since there are only six countries after her, the pressure of the live performance has disappeared, and she's having so much fun with Csaba's texts and the people around the green room, time flies again. They're already showing the first recap while they allow the people at home to vote for the last 20 minutes. She's always heard that the audience's reactions to each of the songs is supposed to indicate which are the countries with the most chances; if so, she's gonna win by a landslide. As soon as her thirty seconds of song appear on the screen, everyone down there starts shouting and cheering, to the point that in the green room it's almost impossible to hear anything else. Second recap, same story. Kati sinks a little bit further onto the couch. She's not sure she'd be ready to win this.
The lines close, and the interval act starts. In a few minutes, only a few minutes, the voting will take place. Each country will award their points, and the winner will be decided. And the nerves are back. 'Only a few minutes!', she types into the phone and texts Csaba. He takes a bit longer than she expected. 'I'm sure u'r gonna win, but listen, bby. I'm proud of u whatever the result is. This was ur dream and u made it here. Not only that, u made us and the whole country proud. Only good things lie ahead for u. So don't feel like u'r disappointing no one if u don't win. Which I insist I'm sure u'll do. :P' She shakes her head and starts replying. 'I'm not going to win, though. So good to know. Oh, and those things? They lie ahead for us, not just for me. I couldn't have survived today without you there for me.' His only reply is a smilie crying of joy, and she doesn't know what else to tell him, nor can she text back anyway because the moment of truth is about to start. Here goes nothing, for real this time.
The voting didn't start in an optimistic way, what with the first five countries not awarding Hungary any points. Ukraine's 4 points somewhat opened the can. The following country voting was Finland. When their first points were shown on screen, Kati believed they were going to be one more country not to give her any points, because well, Nordic countries always vote high for each other, right? Only, they didn't this time. 'And finally, our twelve points go to…Hungary!' And Kati and both Viktor and Gergő, sitting on either side of her, jumped to their feet and celebrated them. Kati thought their luck would end there.
But all Hungary did from that moment on in the scoreboard was going up; to those first 12 points followed another six: Spain, Austria, Sweden, Germany, Iceland and the United Kingdom also considered her the best of the night, and many more countries awarded her points, adding up to a total of 240. It was a tough battle against Estonia, though, but they managed to get a good distance at the very end, and the highest number of 12s of the night decided the victory on their behalf. Slovenia, with their powerful performance, scored an awesome third place, the best for the country in their Eurovision history; Italy surprised everyone by managing a fourth place in their return to the contest after 14 years, and Austria captivated the hearts of the audience and completed the top 5 of the year.
The moment when Kati climbed up at the first place, she opened her mouth in complete disbelief, and she would remain that way until the very end of the voting. But when it actually set in that she was the winner was when it was Hungary's turn to announce their votes. It came at the very end of the procedure, when it was pretty much impossible for her opponents to catch her already, and the victory was impending. The same spokeswoman as always appeared on the screen, but this time she had a message to deliver. 'So, before announcing our top 3 votes, I would like to tell Kati that she made us so proud tonight. On behalf of the whole country, thank you. We would have never won this contest had we not had such an amazing combination of song and artist. You deserve it.' She barely held back the tears, while Viktor and Gergő, who noticed, rubbed her back encouragingly.
Latvia closes the voting and, after they award their 12 points, the cameras all turn to the Hungarian delegation, first-time winners of the competition. Kati is now outright crying, while the two writers of her song hug her, and everyone in the green room cheers for them yet again. 'Please welcome to the stage the winners of the 56th Eurovision Song Contest, Hungary!', they hear Anke Engelke call from the stage. Kati grabs a Hungarian flag, wipes a bit her tears and walks elegantly, though shakily, down the stairs that lead back there, followed closely by the whole group, her backing singers and songwriters.
Lena had mysteriously disappeared at the very end of the voting and now she sees why; since she wasn't going to win again, she left to get ready to hand the trophy to her successor. Kati, in this case. So when she arrives to the stage, she sees the three hosts standing there, Lena with the trophy in hand…and in the not so far distance on the other side of it, she also spots a very familiar figure, who silently calls her by flicking a finger at her. Her smile grows impossibly wide. He fulfilled his promise! Without really thinking, she starts running in his direction, leaving everyone wondering what she's doing, until they see Csaba standing there, her literally jumping at his arms, him catching her and spinning her around. Kati really can't stop crying now. He leans down to kiss her, and it doesn't matter if hundreds of millions of people are watching. This is the third happiest moment of her whole life. Then they pull apart, and he rests his forehead against hers. 'I told you', he says softly. And all she can do in response to that is kiss him again briefly.
Csaba puts her down on her feet again, and is going to wait for her there while she collects the trophy, but she takes his hand and pulls him with her. 'Sorry about that', she tells Lena, actually flustered. But the younger girl smirks. 'I would have done the same in your place', she admits, and winks an eye, and Kati cracks another big smile. Then Lena offers her the trophy. 'Congratulations', she says, and Kati just nods as she takes it. She feels Csaba's arm around her waist now, pulling her closer. When she lifts it, the arena explodes in yet another rapturous ovation for her. They really wanted her to win.
The hosts come over to her now. 'Well, Kati, so how do you feel?', Stefan asks her. 'I…I really don't know!', she admits, laughing. 'I'm so so happy, but…it still has to sink in. It's just crazy. I honestly never thought I was going to win!' 'That's true. You can't imagine how many times she's told me that this last week', Csaba says by her side, nodding, which makes everyone laugh.
'So, to close the show, you'll have to sing again, so get ready…' The hosts start to say their goodbyes to the audience, while Kati does as she's told and gives Csaba the trophy. 'Where's Chris?', she asks him, a bit worried now that she's realized the little boy isn't there with him. 'He's in good hands, don't worry', he replies, putting a hand to her cheek gently. 'I'll go get him while you perform for the last time, and we'll join you for the press conference, ok?' She just nods, and he gives her another short kiss. 'I'm so proud of you, baby', he says, and finally leaves her to make the very last performance of the show. Kati gets the microphone from the sound tech who brought it to her and walks to the center of the stage, still not believing what just happened and unable to stop crying completely.
When the song ends, and the audience dedicates her one last big ovation as the live television broadcast finishes, she takes advantage of the fact that she has the microphone and talks to them. 'Everyone, thank you so much for tonight, and this week, and the last months, really. Thank you for your support and for believing in me, and…this is just so crazy. I still can't believe I won. I really did, didn't I?' She turns around to look at her backing singers, and then at the hosts, who nod. 'Oh my God.' They all laugh now. 'So, yeah, thank you all for making this happen…and see you next year in Budapest!' She bows before them a bit, and then walks off the stage with her group in direction to the press room for the winners' press conference.
She thought Csaba would be waiting for her with Christian already when they walked into the corridor, but she still can't see them anywhere, as much as she looks everywhere. Until, halfway down there, there's a group of people which she knows quite well. 'Oh my God', she exclaims again, and they all turn to face her.
Her parents and brothers are there. She had no idea they were coming. She runs over there, and the four of them hug her tight. Csaba, standing a bit to the side and holding the boy, is grinning, so she assumes he did know. Probably he left Christian with them as he climbed up on stage with her earlier. When the family pulls apart, she looks at all their faces, questioning silently, but then she turns to Csaba. 'Did you know they were coming?' He nods, but her dad replies instead. 'We asked him not to tell you. We wanted to surprise you by coming unannounced. And we're so glad we did.' 'So am I', she admits. Her mom hugs her again. 'We're so proud of you, sweetie. And we'd still be even if you hadn't won, though you really deserve this', she tells her, and Kati can't hold herself from crying any longer. 'I love you guys so much!' she cries, and the other three join the embrace.
They pull apart again. 'You should get going for the press conference. I know you're the winner, but don't make them wait for long', her dad jokes. 'We'll still be around later, we'll meet you at the hotel, ok?' She nods. 'Thanks again for coming', she tells them, and walks over to Csaba to continue her way down the corridor. She turns around and blows them a kiss at some point, and her family smiles at her and do the same. Then Csaba and her walk away hand in hand.
The rest of the delegation is waiting for her at the entrance of the press room. Attila, the head of delegation, receives her with yet another hug. She hasn't had enough of those yet, apparently. 'Ready?', he asks her. 'No, of course not. I still can't believe I'm here, so…' Attila laughs. 'Well, you are, and you deserve it. Don't be afraid, they're not gonna ask difficult questions. Just how you feel about winning, probably, and things like that.' 'That is a difficult question right now, though', she deadpans, and he laughs again.
But there's no point in delaying it anymore, so she takes her Hungarian flag again and enters the room with her five backing singers. All of a sudden, a thousand flashes go off at the same time, taking pictures of the radiant winner and her team. Csaba stays a bit to the side with Christian, who is quite scared at the sudden change of scenery and the amount of people gathered there, but the photographers call him so they can take pics of the family together, and he can't say no.
The moderator asks the photographers to finish so that the press conference can start already. The whole delegation walks to the table, and Csaba stays behind again, but Attila invites him to sit down with them too. 'You're also part of this; after all you're the one who makes the lady happy.' And the fact that it's so evident fills him with pride, and he takes the seat that he was offered, to Kati's right. She smiles wide and rests a hand on his knee, and he smiles back at her as he sits Chris on his lap.
Little Christian is the protagonist of the anecdote of the press conference. At some point, he starts crying, and though Csaba tries everything to quiet him, nothing seems to work. Kati reaches out for him, and turns out that he just wanted to be with his mama after so long without her, because his cries stop right as she holds him against her chest. So she sits him on her lap as the press conference continues, but Chris wants to play…with her microphone. So he tries to reach out for it, interrupting Kati's current reply, and she has to hold him back in order to finish speaking. All the journalists gathered there laugh at the cuteness of the moment, and they fall in love with their little family all over again.
On the bus back to the hotel, Kati is still trying to assimilate all that happened earlier that evening. 'It was real, right?', she asks, not realizing she said it out loud. Csaba takes her hand and squeezes it gently. 'It was. It happened', he reassures her. She looks directly at him now. 'And what do you think lies ahead now?' He smiles and leans forward to kiss her gently. 'Now is when your career outside of Hungary starts. And only good things are waiting for you.' And Kati is both excited and scared to find out which those things are. All she knows is that everything will be ok with Csaba by her side.