Sorry I missed posting this chapter last weekend. My husband took the week off work and we were decorating. I just didn't have the time for editing. Anyway. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 15.

Irish Dance.

Biting anxiously on his bottom lip, Yugi watched Anzu as she and Pegasus walked away from him along the corridor for her interview. Pegasus opened a door and gestured Anzu to enter. She turned back, gave Yugi a tentative little wave as she went through the doorway and disappeared from view.

He let out a long sigh, wandered into the bar and ordered a coca cola. Anzu would be fine, he knew she would. She had her phone with her and could call him if she felt anxious about anything.

He found a seat and sat down with his drink.

Placing his phone on the table next to his drink, he drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair and looked at it as if it might suddenly explode. The phone vibrated, making him startle slightly. His hand darted towards it and he picked it up.

It was only Jonouchi, sending him a link to a funny meme someone had made about Blue Eyes White Dragon protecting Kaiba's virginity. He snorted – Kaiba would sue if he found out.

He closed the link to the meme, put his phone down and went back to fidgeting and worrying. He was so uptight. Anzu was in safe hands, it was just him being neurotic.

He almost jumped when Pegasus suddenly appeared beside him. "Pegasus! What are you doing here?"

"Oh! Such a worry wart, Yugi. Anzu is just fine. I introduced her to Joshua, and left her in his safe hands. She was all smiles. And said to tell you to stop fussing like an old woman."

"She did, did she?" Yugi scowled, feeling unfairly judged.

"Well, she didn't actually say you were fussing like an old woman; I added that part," Pegasus teased, before sitting down in the chair opposite. "Why are you so nervous? It's just an interview, and she's almost certain to be offered work."

Yugi shrugged. "Because she has had so much bad luck and I don't want her to get another knock-back." It was a plausible reason. He could not tell him the real truth about why he was anxious for her.

"Ah...You care so much! That's nice." Pegasus rubbed his hands together and, much to Yugi's relief, changed the subject. "Would you care to join me for afternoon tea? Such a fine tradition."

"Thanks. but I'm okay with this," Yugi mumbled tersely. Pegasus nodded and waved at the bar tender for service. A waitress quickly appeared and took Pegasus' order for a cream tea.

"What's a cream tea?" Yugi wondered out loud.

"Oh! Have you never had tea, with scones, jam and cream? We import the clotted cream all the way from Cornwall – simply delicious." When Yugi shook his head in confusion, Pegasus explained about the English tea time treat of fresh, lightly baked scones, home-made strawberry jam, and how it was best served with clotted cream from Devon or Cornwall."

Yugi smiled as he listened with interest –perhaps he and Anzu could treat themselves when she returned.

::::::::::::

Anzu was shown into a small but nicely decorated office. Joshua was very nice, quickly putting her at ease. But so had Tony, so she should not let her guard down.

"Would you like tea? Coffee?" Joshua asked. When Anzu shook her head he offered water, which she accepted. "We're just waiting for Miss Daisy to join us." He explained, "she's my head choreographer, and is in charge of ensuring the dancers are all well rehearsed. She also allocates the dancers to their roles according to their abilities and experience." There was a pause. "I don't know how much Pegasus has already told you?"

"A little, but not much," Anzu replied. "He just said you employed dancers, and that your dancers worked all over the world!"

Joshua laughed. "Trust Max, er.. Mister Pegasus, to exaggerate." He rolled his eyes, and Anzu found herself suppressing a giggle as she smiled.

Joshua continued, "Perhaps I should tell you about about the business: we put on a variety of shows here at the Hotel. We also have people working on two cruise ships that are owned by a company run by Pegasus' family. I don't know if he has told you this, but his mother was a well known dancer and actress in her time. She and I started this agency nearly twenty years ago."

Anzu raised an eyebrow, "No! I didn't know."

"Yes. Pegasus' wife, Cecelia, bless her soul, loved ballet and was a rising young star when she was so cruelly struck down by a sudden illness. I think that's why Pegasus is so keen to help you in your career."

After some of the things Pegasus had said on the flight here, Anzu had thought that too.

A knock on the door interrupted them, and a cheery face appeared around the door as it was pushed open. "Sorry I'm late." A lithe, middle aged woman with deeply tanned skin, dark hair streaked with blonde and tied back into a pony tail, bounded in. "Problems with the cast of River Dance I'm afraid. Cassie broke her... Do you know River Dance my dear? Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Miss Daisy by the way. You must be...?" She offered Anzu a hand shake.

The woman had so much energy that Anzu already felt exhausted. But she smiled anyway and stood to greet her. Bowing, she accepted the handshake. "Nice to meet you. I'm Anzu Mazaki."

"Yeah, knew that already sweetie," she winked. Her demeanour reminded Anzu a little of Mai; brash and scary upon first meeting, but friendly once you got to know her.

Daisy turned back to Joshua. "As I was saying when I barged in; Cassie has broken her ankle. Tripped on the stage curtain pulls that were left lying around. Didn't I say yesterday they were a hazard?"

"Yes, you did," Joshua acknowledged, with a sigh. "I asked Derek to get them moved. He should have done it."

"Yeah. Well, he didn't and now I'm down a dancer for tomorrow night's performance. Dunno where I'm gonna get a replacement at such short notice."

Daisy sounded like she was under immense pressure so Anzu sheepishly raised her hand. "River Dance, did you say? I've always loved River Dance. We performed it at uni. It's so vibrant and exciting."

They both looked at her in surprise. Joshua said, "But I thought you were a ballerina?"

Anzu nodded. "I am. It was what I studied for my main degree. But my minor was in contemporary modern, which also included a lot of tap and Jazz."

"Do you think you can do it?" Daisy asked.

"I would love to!" Anzu said, excitedly. And then she remembered she was supposed to be back at work in the coffee shop the day after tomorrow. She had already swapped her shift so she could take tomorrow off and would never get back in time. "Tomorrow evening, you say?"

"That's right. It's actually coming to the end of it's six week run this weekend. The final shows are on Friday and Saturday."

Anzu chewed her finger in thought. She absolutely loved River Dance. It was an opportunity too good to miss. Yugi would be supportive. But could she let her co-workers at the cafe down? They would understand, she was sure. "Okay! I will do it!"

Daisy laughed, while Joshua smiled, appreciating her confidence.

"Woah!" Daisy responded, "You will have to audition first."

Anzu looked between them and Joshua nodded. "Go for it. If you impress Daisy then you're in." They were that desperate, having already lost their reserve members of the cast to various injuries and ailments.

Smiling, Anzu followed Daisy into the studio where the other dancers were rehearsing. The last time she had performed River Dance was three years ago, but she was certain she could remember it. The strangest thing was that she did not even feel nervous! Probably because she had not had time to think about it and work herself up into a tizzy.

After quick introductions with the other dancers, and a little instruction, she was dancing with them. It had all happened so quickly and she was absolutely on fire, loving every moment. This was what she trained for; to dance with people, and for people, who appreciated real art. Not to gyrate provocatively in a back street club, while taking off her clothes in-front of leering drunken perverts.

::::::::::::

"I wonder what's taking so long?" Yugi frowned, fidgeting in his chair. He checked his watch again and groaned. "I hope she's okay."

"Relax Yugi. Be patient. It's only been an hour," Pegasus chided.

"Only!" He had always been an impatient person, but right now he was more anxious than impatient.

"You shouldn't drink so much coca cola Yugi," Pegasus observed, as Yugi drained the rest of his second glass. "All that sugar and caffeine makes you jittery. And it will rot your teeth too," he teased.

Yugi scowled. Hadn't Pegasus put two sugars in his tea, and eaten a mountain of jam and cream on his scone?

"Anyway," Pegasus checked his own watch. "If you will excuse me? I promised my sister I would pick my nephew and niece, Oliver and Lydia, up from school for her." He patted Yugi's shoulder as he stood. "And stop worrying about Anzu. If things were not going very well she would be back by now. I will catch up with you both over dinner this evening. Must fly." And with that, he breezed out.

Yugi scowled as he watched him leave. Pegasus had no idea why he was worrying about Anzu. But Pegasus was probably right –she would have been back by now if it was going badly.

With Pegasus gone, Yugi decided to send Anzu a message, just to check how she was getting on. When she did not reply after two minutes, he groaned. Not only was he worried about her, he was now getting very bored.

The hotel had a casino and amusement arcade, so he decided to go and check it out. Usually the sounds made by the various one armed bandits and games would make his heart beat faster with anticipation, but not today. He was not in the mood.

After checking his phone for the umpteenth time and finding Anzu had still not replied, he decided to go back up to the room and have a lie down, or maybe play a video game if he could put his mind to it.

On the way to the elevator he spotted that the hotel had a gymnasium, spa and a really nice outdoor pool. After not having any exercise for several days, he suddenly fancied a swim. There was only one problem, he had not brought any swimming trunks with him.

Luckily, the hotel had a shop where he was able to buy swimming goggles and a pair of trunks.

He was informed that the pool and spa would provide him with a towel and a robe, so at least he did not need to buy a towel as well.

The pool was a decent size. The water sparkled in the afternoon sunshine, and Yugi found himself thinking about the drab grey weather they had left behind in New York.

Surprisingly, it was not that busy around the pool and he had a choice of sun loungers. He chose one that enabled him to glance easily at the entrance door to the pool so that he could spot Anzu if she arrived.

He spread out his towel, plonked his bag containing his phone and wallet on top of it and then jumped into the pool. Having learned to swim when he was very young, he a reasonably good simmer. Keen to burn off some of the calories he had consumed over the last couple of days, and also ease his anxiety, he started swimming lengths of the pool.

::::::::::::

Anzu was buzzing with excitement. It had gone so well that they had accepted her onto the cast of River Dance, and as she hurried to find Yugi she was on cloud nine –somewhere she had not been for a long time.

He was not waiting in the bar where he said he would be. That was when she noticed the time and realised just how long she had been gone! Three hours without updating him on what was happening was a bit unfair on him, but she was not expecting to be gone for that long and had lost track of time.

Remembering she had switched her phone to aeroplane mode for the interview, she turned it back to normal mode. As soon as she did it beeped, informing her that she had two messages from him. She read his messages and was relieved to see that he had found something to do.

If only she had brought her swimming costume with her!

Rather than go back up to the room to wait, she went straight to the pool where she was offered a robe and a towel. "It's okay. I'm not swimming," she informed the attendant. "I'm actually looking for my boyfriend, Yugi Muto. He is about my height, maybe a bit taller, and has very spiky hair."

The attendant smiled a broad grin. "Yeah, Miss, I definitely remember a guy with spiky hair. He's still here if you wanna go on through." He kindly gave her a towel anyway, and showed her how to get through to the pool.

Mainly thanks to his hair, she spotted Yugi immediately. He had now finished swimming and was relaxing on a sun longer underneath a sunshade, wearing one of the white robes supplied by the hotel.

He had his eyes closed and looked like he was asleep.

She crept up to where he was laying and crouched over him, smiling at how he cuddly he looked in his robe.

She thought about surprising him by tickling his bare legs and feet.

But that would be too mean after she had already caused him enough stress by being gone for so long. She decided to surprise him by tickling the end of his nose instead. But just as she crouched down and was about to reach over him, he opened his eyes and grinned at her. "Doh!" She grinned back. "So much for the element of surprise!"

He chuckled. "You need to be a bit more stealthy if you want to surprise me. Anyway! How'd it go?" His heart sunk when she sat down on the edge of his sun lounger with a long face. "Well..." she sighed, pretending to be disappointed.

He sat up and rubbed her upper arm sympathetically, "Hey! What happ..." However, he paused when her face puckered up and she started snickering.

He was perturbed. "You're winding me up! You got the job, didn't you?" He really hoped she that was the case.

She nodded frantically, her face breaking out into the biggest simile ever. "Yes! I got the job." She rubbed his thigh through the material of his robe. "Sorry... It was mean of me to try and make a joke of it."

"Very mean," he pouted, pretending to be irked. But almost immediately he winked and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Anyway. That's awesome news. Did you accept?"

She grinned toothily at him and nodded. "Yep! I accepted. They offered me a part in River Dance. Have I ever told you I really love River Dance?"

He shook his head. "River Dance?" He had heard of it. "Isn't it some kind of Irish dance?"

"That's right," she nodded. "I couldn't believe it when they asked me. One of the dancers broke her ankle and … I feel really sorry for her, but it's so lucky for me! When they asked me if I would like to audition I jumped at it. We performed River Dance when I was at Juilliard. It was a while ago but I still remember most of it! I'm really excited Yugi. This is finally the chance I've been waiting for."

Smiling warmly he hugged her. "I knew you'd do it. I'm so proud of you. When do you start?"

"Ah..." She released herself from the hug. "That's something I need to talk to you about."

His expression turned to one of perplexity. "Is there a problem?"

She quickly shook her head. "No! Not a problem, exactly... More of an inconvenience. You see, they want me to dance tomorrow evening."

Yugi's eyes went wide. "Tomm... But!" He spluttered. "Don't you need to rehearse first?!"

"Probably," she chuckled. "I'm not too worried about the dancing as I'm confident I can do it. But I am concerned about the inconvenience I'm causing by being so impulsive and accepting it without thinking. I mean, we're flying back to New York tomorrow lunch time and it will cost money to re-book."

Yugi shrugged it off. "Don't worry about the flight. I'll sort that out. It's you that I'm concerned about. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"I'm sure." She put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him. "Thank you for being so supportive, Yugi." The travel arrangements had been the one of the things worrying her, but if Yugi was not worried about cancelling their flight, then she was not worried either. "We should do something to celebrate," she suddenly decided.

"We still have that champagne in the room?" He suggested. "Or did you want to swim first?"

She shrugged. "I don't have a swimming costume with me. The champagne sounds nice."

"It does," he agreed. Anzu stood up while he gathered up his stuff. "I just need to get changed first," he told her.

Nodding, she replied, "I'll wait for you in the sports bar."

"I won't be long." Giving her a quick kiss, he dashed off to the male changing room. Anzu watched him go and then went through to the bar area to wait.

Yugi didn't bother to shower –he could do that back at the room. He quickly changed into his clothes and hurried out to find Anzu. She was at the bar buying a big bag of potato chips.

"I haven't eaten much, and I doubt you have either," she said. "So I thought I would get something to munch while we have the champagne."

"Good thinking," he replied. "Here, I'll pay." He pulled out his wallet, not giving her a chance to object.

Back in the room, they discovered that as expected the ice in the bucket had melted and the champagne was not as chilled as it should be.

Yugi wiped off the excess water from the bottle where it had been sat in the bucket. "I'll go down to the bar and swap it for a cold one," he decided.

Anzu shrugged. "I don't mind it as it is," she replied, indecisively.

Yugi rolled his eyes and made yuk face. "I doubt warm champagne is very nice. I'm sure they won't mind changing it. I'll be quick!" He tipped the melt water from the ice bucket into the bathroom sink and took the bucket with the champagne down to the bar.

Anzu put the TV on, sat down in an armchair and started munching on the crisps while she waited. She scrolled through channels until she found a nature documentary about bears in Alaska – it looked vaguely interesting.

She did not have to wait very long for Yugi to return, carrying a bucket full of fresh ice containing a nice cold bottle of champagne. He was all smiles.

"Ta da!" He said, brandishing the bottle. "Told you they wouldn't mind changing it."

"I never said they wouldn't," she laughed, watching him struggle to open it. "Perhaps I should...?" She reached out her hand to take the bottle, but he pouted at her and twisted away so that she could not get to the bottle.

"I know what I'm doing, okay?" Truth was, he had never opened a bottle of champagne before. But how difficult could it be? He had opened plenty of beer bottles, and the odd bottle of wine. "There! Got it!" He smirked as the cork flew with a big pop, rebounding off the ceiling.

Anzu whooped at the noise it made when it popped, and grabbed the champagne flutes, holding them out for him to fill. "Quick! Before it froths up and spills over."

"It's fine," he said, keeping a close eye on the fizz rising up the neck of the bottle. He poured it carefully, tilting each wine flute to pour on an angle as he did – he knew that much from pouring out some of the lively beers Jonouchi carried in his backpack when he cycled over for games night, shaking them up en-route.

Yugi smiled as he handed her one of the dainty champagne flutes he had just filled. "Congratulations on your new career!"

"To us!" She said, holding up her glass.

He gently touched his glass to hers. "And our future!" He added. Their eyes met briefly and something deep and meaningful passed silently between them. But almost immediately it was gone when Anzu looked away again, taking a sip of her champagne. However, Yugi did notice that she had a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks.

Her blush under control and composure regained, Anzu said, "I've been thinking. It doesn't seem worth going back to New York at all this week if I'm dancing tomorrow and again on Friday and Saturday. But I feel like I'm making decisions without asking you first..." she trailed off guiltily. He was paying for their flight back to New York and would be out of pocket. And if they stayed here another week he would probably end up paying for that too!

"Hey!" He said, touching her arm gently with his fingertips. "I don't mind. You decide what you want to do and I will go along with it."

"But you will end up paying for it all and I feel bad because I don't have any money." She twisted in her seat, and he did not fail to notice how her knees were now pressed against his leg. She continued, "You always put yourself out for me and I don't know how I will ever be able to repay you."

"You don't have to repay me," he said sincerely. "I'm here because I want to be with you. Besides, I'm not paying for the room since Pegasus said we can stay here for free."

"I guess. But I wasn't expecting to get offered a job immediately. I didn't even pack enough clothes and I can't ask you to buy me more," she said, looking over at her holdall. "What about you? Do you have enough clothes?"

He laughed at the question. "I've already run out of clean things to wear. I'm hoping I can get them washed."

Pretending to be disgusted Anzu wrinkled her nose. "Euww! Yugi!"

"Hey! It's not my fault! I was meant to fly home to Japan yesterday!" He said in his defence.

"I guess it's my fault then," she pouted. "I'm kind of making everyone change their plans for me."

"No, you're not," he chuckled, "Everything will work out fine, I just know it will."

She smiled apprehensively. "I hope you're right. I still feel guilty about the inconvenience I'm causing. I just hope I can get someone to cover my shift in the cafe tomorrow, too." She sighed, "Maybe I should have said I can't dance tomorrow night."

"Hey! You can't back out now! I'm sure someone at the cafe will cover for you." He knew from experience that employees were usually keen to jump at the chance to earn extra money.

"I dunno what I would do without you here Yugi. You're so calm and rational about everything."

He knocked back the rest of his champagne – it was a small flute anyway – and placed it on the table. And then he leaned across and kissed her lips gently. "Rational is my middle name." She would not have thought him calm if she had seen him earlier while she was at her interview!

He pulled back, looking at her intently, a slight smirk on his face.

Her heart skipped a beat. His eyes were dark and hooded, and had that same longing look in them that she had seen the other night. Butterflies immediately started dancing inside her tummy at the thought of intimacy with him. It had been a long time since the last time she and Yugi had last made love, and she was afraid. But she could not let her fears continue to rule over her, ruining her chance of happiness with the man she loved so deeply and who she knew would do anything to make her happy.

Her mind was made up!

Drinking the rest of her champagne, she placed her glass down and turned to Yugi. Deftly, she took his hand and entwined her fingers with his. "What are you thinking about Yugi?" She said, teasingly. She was pretty sure she knew exactly what was on his mind.

He blushed, squirming in his seat. He had been rumbled. "I'm sorry. I can't help it. You look so beautiful."

An awkward moment of silence filled the room as he waited anxiously for her response. She would either welcome him, or call him a pervert and reject him. He held his breath, heart thumping.

He almost let out a sigh of relief when she leaned across the chair and kissed him tentatively. He returned the kiss, gently touching her cheek with his hand. She responded by parting her lips, kissing him with more passion.

He was almost out of his chair as he leaned over the armrests to put his arms around her. But kissing each other like this from the confines of armchairs was uncomfortable and they were forced to part again.

"Do.. you want to move to the bed?" She asked nervously. As anxious as she was feeling she wanted him as much as he wanted her. But could she force away her awful memories of what happened with Tony.

They stood up and Yugi took her hand. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

She nodded, confirming that she was, but then contradicted herself by saying, "I.. I think so.. If I do panic and push you away, will you promise you won't get angry?" She did not want that to happen, but if it did she was worried how much damage it would cause to their relationship.

It hurt him to think that she thought he might be forceful, or get angry with her. "I would never be angry at you for saying 'no'," he reassured. "We'll take it slowly and you're in control. If at any time you want to stop, just say so and I promise I will."

She nodded feebly. "O..okay..."

Giving her a reassuring smile, he lowered her onto the bed and leaned on one elbow looking down at her. She smiled up at him and put her arms around his neck. He stroked her face gently and then kissed her softly. "I love you," he whispered, kissing her again.

Next chapter is probably the last, unless I start adding more content. At the moment it is still T rated, but there is the option of adding adult content of an intimate nature, rather than glossing it over and cutting straight to the last part of the story. If I write a 'bonus scene' it might stretch to two more chapters.

It all depends on the reviews I receive.