A/N: Hi, friends! Especially to the new guest friend! I just hope you went through Adopted to get to where we are now. And I love love love you! So, should we get back to what we love love love and let my floof lump sleep by my door…I just turned around and Mika's clocked out on her spot on my rug. I love her. And I love all of you. And I love that we're here. And you love me for loving you and I love you for loving me. And we love each other. And that's because none of us got enough love in our childhoods. And that's showbiz…Kid…

Um…Ms. Olivier…You're quoting Chicago out of nowhere again, ma'am.

Shut up, hypothetical assistant. I'm done. You read. I'll shut up. K, bye.

How was it that I could lazily skate around for hours and hammer out a high energy routine with no problem, but after running half a block, I'm exhausted? I didn't think I was that out of shape. Maybe I should consider joining a gym. A twenty-four hour one, so I won't have the grocery store incident again. Doyle Wallace from Skate Weekly Magazine, may the heat of a thousand roaring fires and a million suns burn simultaneously the next time you piss. Because this is all your fault.

After I managed to shake my barrage of paparazzi, I jumped in a cab and headed home. You did say your comeback would be huge, Violet. I never expected to be painted as a trainwreck, though. I'm just having a little fun. Is that such a crime? For the first time in a very long time, I'm free to come and go as I please without a husband and kids to worry about. That being said, if I want to go to a sex club and get wasted out of my mind, I can and I will. It's not me going through a mental breakdown. It's just good, old-fashioned fun.

Although, I had some other kind of fun in mind for tonight. Ever since we made the move from St. Petersburg and got back to the grind, I feel like I hardly see my boys anymore. I know Yuri is always fawned over and doted on. Victor never hesitates and Yurio growls at Chris any time he gets too close. That's mostly why I told him to come over. Yurio and I were a lot alike in that respect.

Even though I knew Victor loved me, he loved someone else more. Our marriage was how he could have his cake and eat it, too. I just didn't realize how that was going to affect me. In a way, Yuri was Yurio's version of Chris. But that's what he had me for. And tonight would be proof of that fact never changing. Speak of the devil, just as a finished putting the groceries away, a knock ticked at the door.

"Hi, bab…" I opened the door to find a large man on the other side towering over me, "You are not who I thought you were? Can I help you? And may I ask what you're doing here?"

"Are you Violet Plisetsky?" his voice thundered, matching the rest of him.

"Maybe…" I quivered.

"It's alright," he assured, smiling a sheepish little grin, "Celestino sent me. My name is Gene. I'll be your bodyguard. He tells me you had some reporters on you."

"Yeah," I relaxed. Damn, Celestino. You work quick, "Couldn't go to the grocery store without getting swarmed. At least I don't remember Cosmos. Come in. Make yourself comfortable."

"Thanks," Gene followed me in, taking a seat on my couch, "So, Ms. Plisetsky…"

"Violet, please," I cringed, "Just Violet."

"Violet," he corrected himself, "Where are we going tonight? The bars? The clubs? Rooftop party downtown?"

"Actually," I admitted, "I'm staying in tonight. My coach is already pissed at me. I should probably behave myself for a while. Besides, my son should be here any minute now."

"You have a kid?" Gene gasped, "How?"

"I adopted him with my ex-husband when he was four," I explained, doing a turn in front of him, "Look at this body. Does it look like it's ever been through that?"

"Not necessarily," he clarified, "My wife and I have three kids and she still has a spectacular body."

"Good for her," I praised, "Do you want anything while I'm up?"

"No, thank you," Gene shot me down, "In all technicality, I'm not even supposed to be further than your door. At least that's what Celestino said."

"What all did Celestino say?" I wondered.

"That you were kind of in a delicate place right now," he told me, "And you needed a little extra protection. Because the media are, as he put it, stronzi."

"They are stronzi," I agreed, "But did he really say I was delicate?"

"Not you in particular," Gene tried to cover for Celestino, "Just the way that everything is for you right now."

"Because I'm a little stronger than he gives me credit for," I rolled my eyes, "I hate that Celestino has me on such a high pedestal. They all do! Celestino, Victor…What did I ever do to make them think so highly of me?"

"I'm just your bodyguard, sweetheart," he pointed out, "Maybe this is something you should talk about with your therapist."

"I DON'T NEED ONE!" I snapped. Water. I needed some water. Anything to make me calm down, "Look, I'm sorry to yell. I'm a little bitchy these days."

"I'm sorry," Gene apologized, "I didn't realize how sensitive of a subject something like that was with you. After hearing what Celestino told me, I figured you'd have one."

"No," I shook my head, downing the rest of a half full bottle of water, "I got a number for one the other day, but I doubt I'll use it. I got a different kind of therapist. His name is Dr. Goose."

"Dr. Goose?" he gave me a look as I stood on my toes, reaching up for my favorite therapist.

"Dr. Grey Goose," I showed him the big bottle of vodka I kept on hand, "And for the nights that get really bad, I have a bottle I still have straight from Russia. A local brewer in St. Petersburg gave it to me as a housewarming present and I've never opened it. He gave me a couple shots of it before I left his brewery and I had to call my ex-husband to pick me up. It's some pretty strong shit."

"I'm more of a rum guy myself," Gene shrugged.

"To each their own."

Knock, knock.

"I got it," he kept me in the kitchen.

"Whoever it is," I begged, "Please be nice. Like I said, I'm expecting my son tonight and he's excitable. And scrappy."

"What's his name?" Gene got up from the couch.

"Yurio."

"Got it!" he cracked the door open, "Who are you?"

"Uh…" Yep. Baby's here, "Who are you?"

"You got any cameras on you?" Gene gave him the rundown, "Any weapons? Drugs?"

"Uh…" Yurio got nervous, "Mama?"

"He's fine, Gene," I giggled, "Don't scare him."

"I wasn't scared!" Yurio put on a brave face, "Kto etot paren' (Who's this guy)?"

Yeah. He's not scared. Yurio only slips back to Russian when he's either trying to get away with something or he's nervous around new people, "Rasslab'sya, detka (Relax, baby). He's ok. This is Gene. He's my new bodyguard."

"Zachem nam nuzhen telokhranitel (Why do we need a bodyguard)?" he wondered, still not sure what to make of him.

"Potomu kak (Because)," I settled him, "Celestino bespokoitsya obo mne (Celestino worries about me)."

"I'm sorry," Gene stepped in, "But I don't speak Russian."

"It's alright, Yuri," I promised, "I got swarmed by some aggressive reporters at the grocery store, so Celestino gave me a bodyguard. From what I've seen, though, Gene's a sweetheart."

"Aww," Gene melted, "Violet! Flattered."

Still mistrusting, Yurio switched glances between Gene and me, "Is he going to be here long?"

Alright. He's speaking English again, "Not very long. He'll do anything I tell him to, won't you, Gene?"

"Not anything," Gene corrected me, "Anything that doesn't involve bananas. Made that mistake once."

"Should I ask?" I covered Yurio's ears, "What happened with the banana? College incident?"

"No," he explained, "Nothing like that. I accidentally ate one when I was a kid and found out I was allergic. Throat swelled up. Went to the hospital. Emergency removal of my tonsils. Fun times."

"Yikes," I cringed, moving my hands from his ears to his shoulders.

"What was that all about?" Yurio looked up at me.

"I'll tell you when you're older," I kissed the top of his head, "Hey, Gene, I hate to treat you like a PA, but could you do me a huge favor?"

"Sure, Violet," Gene agreed, "What do you need?"

"I ordered dinner a little while ago from the Chinese place on the corner," I filled him in, "Can you go get it for me?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "That's no problem."

"Thank you," I got some money out of my purse for him, "Really, Gene. I appreciate it."

"Oh, hush," Gene stopped me, "What else am I getting paid for?"

"To keep me free from harm."

"I think you'll be ok," he figured, "At least until I get back, right?"

"Probably," I giggled. This is the beginning of a very beautiful friendship.

"I won't be gone long!" And just like that, Gene took off and left Yurio and me to our devices.

"Mama," Yurio asked, "Is he going to be around the whole weekend?"

"I don't think so," I grabbed him a juice box out of the fridge, "But you will, right?"

"Absolutely!" he perked back up, "What are we playing?"

"Well," I thought it over, "I was thinking about some of the classics, since you proved to be so good at Space Invaders in Tokyo last year."

"I would've gotten a high score, too," Yurio pouted, "But you killed my last life."

"No, I didn't," I jabbed, "But then, I thought of some of my older favorites that came out before you were born, but not too far before you were born. When the golden age of 3D games came to play. And I do have quite the assortment of them, too. But even better, why not show you how you got your name?"

"Yurio?"

"No, sweetheart," I wrapped my arms around him, "What do I call you? What's the one name that gets you more fired up than anything?"

"Dovahkiin!"

"So," I sat him down on the couch and got my PlayStation set up, "How about a little Skyrim? Some beautiful open world for us to run around in. Sound like a plan?"

"Yes please!" Yurio had the biggest grin on his face. I've never seen him more ready outside of a competition.

"Alright then," I gave him the controller, "You start setting your character up, ok?"

"Ok," he scrolled through the menus for a minute or two, "Hey, Mama?"

"Yeah, baby?" I got up to get something for Mama to drink. One would think I would've gotten something while I got Yurio's juice box, but dumbass me forgot.

"Why is Celestino so angry these days?" Yurio wondered, "When we were at practice this morning, he was a lot harder on me than he usually was."

"That's probably because of me," I didn't think I was going to have that talk with my son today, but out of the mouths of babes, I guess, "Look, Yuri, Celestino's had to do a lot of crowd control because Mama made a few bad decisions with Uncle Chris and now, he's got to clean up the mess. Naturally, he's not going to be too happy with me and by the sounds of it, he's taking it out on you. Just don't worry about it, ok?"

"Alright," he curled into my hip as soon as I sat down. This was what I was looking for. This was what I needed.

"By the way," I smiled down at him, "This is one of those games that are very binge worthy. Chances are, we won't be getting up for a while."

"How long can I stay up, Mama?"

"As long as we want to."

"Awesome!" Yurio squeaked, "Victor and Uncle Chris never let me stay up anymore. They say it's bad for me."

"But we're not going to practice this weekend," I assured, "Unless you want to kill some time at the rink tomorrow."

"I'll think about it."

And thus began our night. I promised this kid a game binge and what better than a little bit of Skyrim? Granted, it's not exactly appropriate for someone his age to be playing, but I'm still here. I think he'll be able to handle it. It's not video games making kids violent. People that say that are dumb. Once Gene brought dinner, he left Yurio and me to play Skyrim until the wee hours of the morning.

At least that's what the plan was. Until the little lightweight clocked out at 10:30. Bless him. What an amateur. Yurio had all intentions of staying up past midnight and I caught him snoozing at 10:30. It's ok, baby. There's always tomorrow. You did make some damn fine progress, though. I'll give you that. Color me impressed. I scooped the little angel up in my arms and tucked him into bed. Sleep didn't sound like a half bad idea. One last look at my phone…

Everything ok?

-VN

Oh, Victor. You do worry about him.

Just tucked Yurio into bed. About to turn in for the night.

-VP

Beep!

Good night, Violet.

Love you. xox

-VN

Love you, too. x

-VP

Even though sometimes you stick your nose where it doesn't belong, but I know why you do it.

A/N: And so, Violet tucks little Yurio into bed, gets her goodnight kisses from Victor, and goes sleepy by. Hey! I just noticed something! In real time, it's Yurio's birthday tomorrow! Look at my little boy growing up. I remember when he was just a smol, angry, Russian kitten. Now, he's just an angry, Russian kitten. Happy early birthday, Yurio. Mama loves you. Just like I love all of you. I'm not sure if I'm going to do what I did last year and write something for my bb's birthday. Tomorrow's going to be a bit of a day for me. I might. I might not. Don't hold your breath. See you next chapter! xx