"Where's Anton?" Kam asked the moment he walked into the practice room. He'd arrived late that morning, an appointment with his bookkeeper – what a lovely thing that had been – keeping him from his usual promptness. He didn't ask with concern, so much as annoyance. Little blither probably thought he could get away with being lazy. Not on Kam's watch.

"He has food poisoning, said he was up half the night throwing up. I doubt he'll make it today," Mina said absently, walking through their waltz pattern on her own.

"And you showed up?" Kam frowned thoughtfully, he thought for sure she would be the first to take a day off if given the chance.

She stopped and turned to face him, brows knitted and nose wrinkled. "Of course, I wouldn't miss practice," she said and returned to working out the footwork.

"Good on you." Kam nodded and sat down his things, he'd spent most of the night before working on a new Quickstep routine for them. "I guess I'll have to step in for Anton. What would you like to work on?"

"What about the tango? It's always been my favourite." She whirled around, her long ponytail arcing with the movement and settling on her shoulder, beaming at Kam.

"Very well."

"Good!" She clapped happily and moved to the CD player, pressing play. A slow, enthralling beat started playing and Kam snorted, it was like she'd had it planned.

"Argentine tango? You know that's not competition."

"Oh, we can have a bit of fun, can't we?" Mina pouted slightly. "After all I was a very good girl, and still managed to show up to practice on time. Even though no one was here."

"Then how do I know you were on time?" He crossed his arms, eyebrow arched.

"I swear I was here on time." She smiled widely and crossed her heart, batting her eyes. "Besides, I heard you're very good at Argentine style. Your grandparents studied there for many years, didn't they?"

"You've done your research."

"I have."

Kam regarded her for a moment, all big pleading eyes and pouty lips. She clasped her hands under her chin for full effect, and he nearly laughed. "Fine," he acquiesced with a shake of his head.

Mina grinned, her left cheek dimpling, and met him in the middle of the room. A new song was starting, slow and sensual. Mina took Kam's hands and placed herself in front of him, slightly off center, looking up at him from the corner of her eye.

Just as the song hit a certain beat, she dropped down, left leg outstretched. Everything about the movement spoke of sensuality, and he was sure it was a trick that earned her lots of admiration from others. However, Kam looked at her coolly as she rose slowly, her hands held in his.

The tempo picked up, feverish and intense, their feet moving in quick kicks and flicks as she leaned into him. Then they moved across the floor, gazes locked, her wrists held in one of his hands. They stopped, never taking their eyes off each other, Kam still had her wrists in his grip, loose, but enough he could still feel her pulse under his thumb – erratic and quick, like the thrumming bass of the song. The door creaked and they broke apart.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Anton smirked from the doorway.

"No, we were just practicing." Mina moved to the table in the corner, shutting off the music.

"I thought you were ill?" Kam asked.

"I was." Anton did look rather pale, Kam hoped it wasn't more than food poisoning and voiced his concern.

"No, I assure you it was just some bad curry." Anton cast a wary glance toward Mina.

"I didn't know the place was, what do you say? Dodgy?" She smiled serenely.

Kam frowned and turned to Anton, "Well, if you feel you're up to it..?"

"I believe so, at least for a short while."

"Very good. Why don't we start with the waltz?" Kam nodded once and moved to the side of the room.

###

Early mornings had quickly become Jaden's favourite time of day, for the sole reason that it meant Ramona wasn't accompanied by her usual fanfare. They would all start arriving at various times throughout the afternoon, until it felt like they were already on the circuit with a panel judging them. In the mornings though, for a couple of hours, it was just them and her coach, and he was able to actually concentrate.

They were working on their samba routine and Jaden took Ramona's hand, lifting their joined hands over their heads as they moved through samba rolls. Half way through the set he stopped suddenly, swearing under his breath as he pulled back.

"What the hell is that?" He gestured to her hand.

"What?" She glanced down, frowning. "My engagement ring?"

"Yeah, is it new?"

She threw back her shoulders, standing a little straighter. "No, Martino and I have been engaged for months."

"Okay, so you haven't been wearing it, why are you now?"

Ramona sighed, hands on her hips. "He insisted I wear it."

"Good for him," Jaden snapped. "But it's tearing up my hand, so could you lose it for a while?"

"Don't be a baby!" She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not being a damned baby." He held out his palm, feeling vindicated when it proved red, though a little shocked to actually see blood. "I believe that's a cut there. Take it off."

Ramona made a face, whether annoyance or concern, Jaden wasn't really sure, but she did take the ring off her finger – it seemed to slip off like it was a bit too large. She inspected it and frowned. "A prong is loose," she muttered and marched to her bags in the corner of the room, stuffing it into one of the pockets.

Turning back she held up her hands, wiggling her fingers to show they were bare. "Happy now?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Good, now come here and let me fix up the cut." She waved her hand impatiently.

"It's fine."

"No, it's not. Come here." Her coach started saying something in Spanish, but Ramona waved him off.

Jaden reluctantly obeyed her orders, letting her sit him down in a chair while she pulled a small first-aid kit from her bag. She crouched in front of him, the kit balanced on her thighs while she looked through it. Finally, she pulled a small square from the kit, tearing it open with her teeth. She took out a small bit of gauze from the wrapping and held it above his palm.

"This will sting," she warned before placing it on his skin. And it did, but he found himself too caught up in staring at her face to really care.

"I am sorry about the ring. I shouldn't have worn it, I know better." She kept her attention on what she was doing, and he kept his attention on her. "But I fought with Martino over breakfast this morning, and I thought I would appease him."

"It's fine," Jaden murmured.

"No, it's not, but that's all right." She spoke absently, digging through the kit again for a band-aid, and Jaden wasn't sure if she meant his hand or Martino.

"Ramona…?"

"Hmm?" She finished placing the band-aid on the cut then looked up at him, and suddenly he couldn't remember his own name.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, thank you. For bandaging me up, I mean."

She looked at him for a moment, eyes darting around his face, as if searching for something. Then she smiled softly and glanced away, ducking her head. "You're welcome," she whispered while she cleaned up and put things away.

The coach greeted someone just arriving, and Jaden looked up to see Martino walking through the door.

"What happened?" He rushed toward them.

"Nothing serious, but my ring cut his hand." Ramona went about returning the first-aid kit to her bag, not bothering to look up at him.

"Oh," Martino breathed.

Ramona finished her task and stood slowly, finally looking Martino in the face. "Now do you understand?"

"Yes, I see."

"Good." She whipped around and held out her hand to Jaden. "Shall we continue?"

"Um, sure." Jaden cast a sidelong glance toward Martino, then placed his hand in Ramona's, letting her yank him up to standing. He shrugged as he moved past Martino, but couldn't help a satisfied little smirk at the other man's sour face.

A nice Argentine tango for reference: watch?v=9ck-xJOz8Sw