Zane swallowed hard and adjusted his tie for what must have been the hundredth time in the last half-hour. He looked nervously around at all of the nicely dressed couples sitting around him in the theater, wondering if any of them felt as anxious as he did. His eyes landed on Jo sitting next to him, and he smiled. She was beautiful, eyes shining excitedly as she thumbed through the program she held in her hands. A single red rose with a pink ribbon tied around its stem sat in her lap. She turned to look at him, grinning, before reaching for his hand.

He exhaled slowly. This would be good.

She had been marking the days off on the calendar, counting down to the oversized letters spelling BALLET! in red ink. Despite her love of it, she had never actually seen The Nutcracker live before, and she was terribly excited when he'd given her the tickets.

For his part, he was terribly nervous, though he knew he shouldn't be. They'd attended many ballets before, but this was the first professional performance. This was the San Francisco ballet. This was a big deal. What if he didn't like it? He couldn't imagine that would be true, but he'd feel terribly guilty if he felt anything less than joy. Or what if Jo was somehow disappointed? He looked at her again and shook his head slightly. She'd love it. They both would. He took a deep breath and adjusted his tie once more as the lights dimmed.

The curtains rose and the story began. The dancers were all very graceful, making Christmas Eve come alive on the stage. He relaxed slightly, it was a very good production. He watched, smiling, as Clara awoke from her sleep and found herself surrounded by mice. The Christmas tree grew, as if by magic, and the music rose to a crescendo. And as the title character came to life, fending off the Mouse King with both grace and strength, Zane felt his breath catch.

He leaned over to the older woman sitting on his other side."That's my son," he whispered proudly, before turning to plant a kiss on his wife's cheek.

Ahh…this made me very happy to write, though it was difficult setting the scene without giving away the end, so sorry if some of it doesn't quite make sense. It was fun to imagine Jo and Zane having a child whose gifts lie in the arts, rather than the hard sciences. And then I decided to make the child a boy, just because I think there's nothing sweeter than a man who's so proud of his son doing ballet. (And I watched Billy Elliot too many times, lol).

I'd like to think they went to many recitals, and then small town productions, but this was their son's first performance with a professional company (hence the nervousness felt by Zane). Also, turns out The San Francisco ballet was the first company to bring The Nutcracker to America (according to their website), but I only picked it because it's one of the top companies in the US and is located on the West Coast. I have not seen them perform, so any discrepancy between my story and their performances is strictly accidental. Their website has a lovely video preview of their Nutcracker performance. I'd check it out!