Chapter 2: Dance your Heart out

A/N: a lovely review by I LOVE JACK ATALS inspired me to write this~ though I can't dance myself, I can make Carly dance again! So this is dedicated to I LOVE JACK ATLAS.

Carly was nervous. She was so nervous! But she was excited, though. Jack had been an angel and paid for her to get the best physical therapy New Domino had to offer. In a month, she was dancing again like she had never stopped. One of the companies that had fought over her back in the day heard if her miraculous recovery and asked her to join. She agreed immediately and here she was, backstage of the Nutcracker, waiting to go on.

Carly had gotten the Sugar Plum Fairy, as she expected. She had on her tutu and tiara and felt beautiful, again. She also had on very sparkly make up, which made her heart flutter. She loved looking beautiful, especially when it meant that she would be dancing. The makeup artist had even been able to cover her Dark Signer marks, so the black triangle under her eye and the Mark of the Hummingbird were gone. She was standing back stage, doing small warm up exercises in her pointe shoes that she didn't even realize she was doing.

"Keep doing that and you'll wear yourself out."

Carly jumped and whipped around, only to see Jack standing there with an impish smile on his face. Carly pouted and turned her back to him. She wanted to be mad at him for scaring her, but she couldn't. Jack gave Carly her life back.

"Come on, I'm sorry," Jack said with a chuckle, hugging Carly from behind.

"Hey! Be careful, Jack, you'll crush my tutu," Carly chuckled, trying to get out of Jack's grip.

"Alright, alright," Jack said, letting her go and placing a sweet kiss on her cheek. "Break a leg, darling."

"Thanks," Carly said with a chuckle.

"Hey! You!" one of the dancers screamed, pointing at Jack. "Get out of here!"

Carly giggled as the other girls started to beat Jack out the door. She wanted to do something, but it was just too funny seeing Jack flustered like that…

Jack sat down in the audience and groaned. He made a note to himself to never go back stage again! He heard Yusei giggle next to him and half-glared at him.

"Not. A. Bloody. Word," Jack hissed, making Yusei giggle harder.

"I didn't say anything," Yusei said, biting his lip. "I'm not going to say anything about how a bunch of girls in tutus beat you up."

"They did not beat me up," Jack hissed. "They were forcefully shoving me out the door."

"They beat you up," Yusei said calmly. Before Jack could respond, Yusei changed the subject. "So, how's Carly?"

"Nervous," Jack said simply.

"I hope she does alright," Yusei said, watching the stage as the lights dimmed.

"She'll be great," Jack said, wrapping an arm around Yusei's shoulder as the curtain went up.

And great Carly was. As soon as she came on stage, every eye was on her. It didn't matter is she was just off to the side doing nothing. Everyone watched her. And when she danced, the entire house erupted into applause. Carly was so grateful that she had made it through the show that during bows, she started crying. She saw Jack and Yusei give her thumbs up from the audience as well.

It was such a thrilling sensation being back on stage. The heat from the lights, the pulse from the music, the weight of the costume, and the feel of flying across the stage in a jump were things that Carly only dreamed about after her accident. She felt so free being on stage. And knowing that she did such a good job after so long an absence was amazing.

Carly had friends that told her that she would never amount to anything. She would never be able to dance with a professional company. She would never make a life for herself. She would never even have a date. But she did. She had her life as a dancer, she was with a professional company, and she had a boyfriend that made it all possible.

After the show, the other dancers all jumped on Carly. They were congratulating her in all the best ways, hugging her, kissing her, and one even gave her flowers. Even though many of them were upset that Carly had gotten the best role so quickly, the anger was gone the second she took the stage. Watching this girl dance was breathtaking.

"Carly!"

Carly jumped when she saw Angela waving to her from the door. Carly excused herself from her fellow dancers and walked over to her former friend. Angela had been the main person who was degrading Carly during High school. Now, Carly couldn't wait to rub it in Angela's face.

"Hi, Angela," Carly said with a smile.

"Carly, can I get an exclusive interview for the news paper?" Angela asked, pulling out a pad and pencil. "I want to do an entire article on your miraculous recovery!"

"Hmmm, I'll need to think about that," Carly said with a smile. "I don't know if I can. See, I need to change for the opening night party tonight, and then there's the show tomorrow…"

"Then next week, after the show," Angela pressed.

"I can't, sorry," Carly sneered happily. "My boyfriend is taking me and his boyfriend to a beach house next week to celebrate."

"Your what?" Angela asked, his face falling. Did Carly say she had a boyfriend?

"Looks like you can't get your interview," Carly said with a fake pout. "So sorry."

Carly walked away, a smirk plastered on her face. She was happy with herself. She wasn't sorry. She had been waiting for the perfect chance to destroy Angela. Carly would never have had the nerve to do what she just did if she hadn't been a Dark Signer. In a way, Carly was glad that she had gone to the Dark Side. They have cool capes after all.

i had to.

i just had to.

also, i know a couple of bisexual ppl who have both a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and all three are okay with that. so i could see Carly being okay with Jack also being with Yusei...

anyway...

yeah! that's all that i'm going to do for this story line, i SWEAR!

but i MAY have a Ballerina!Carly come up in fics from now on...