A/N: Hi, friends! Honestly, I didn't think this chapter was going to be out this late. But when I got to working on a skirt for my niece and doing some shopping and then, idiot me wanted to make curry. Regardless, I'm going to shut up now and let you read, ok?

Mmm...I feel so warm. I felt around for my quilt and found a body instead. Wait...I felt around once more. Let's see. Thick muscles, soft skin. Ok. This is fine. This is perfectly ok. I'm sure his husband understands. I totally forgot Victor stayed with me last night. Not that I'm complaining. Although, in my blind feeling, something tells me that if I grabbed his ass, Chris and I would be having words. Instead, I rolled in Victor's chest, nuzzling my face in his ribs.

"Posmortri na eto (Look at this)," he smiled, looking down at me, "Good morning, dorogoy."

"Morning, Victor," i rubbed my eyes, "Do you know what time it is?"

"It's..." Victor got his phone off the nightstand, "Seven-thirty."

"You're shitting me," I groaned, "Wait...Were you here all night?"

"I think so..."

I hugged my best friend a little harder, "Thank you. I really thought you would've left after I fell asleep."

"No, no, no, sweetheart," Victor cradled me, "Of course I'm not leaving you. Especially not in the state you were in last night. How are you feeling?"

"Actually," I did a quick check of everything, "I think I'm good now."

"By the looks of it," he put his hand to my cheek, "Your fever's broken. All you needed was a little food and a little rest and a little love."

"And you managed to force all three on me," I teased.

"You're welcome," Victor kissed the top of my head, "Now, get up and go get ready, ok? You still have to go to practice, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Go on," he insisted, "Or I'm going to get you ready. And we all know how much you love when I do it."

"Fine." Even when threats come out of Victor's mouth, they always manage to still sound so sweet. I knew it was coming from a place of love, "I need to see my costumer today, too."

"Not designing your own?" Victor wondered as I went through my closet, "The dark blue dress, Vi."

"Thank you!" Honestly, I was kind of stumped on what to wear today, "And as much as I'd love to, I don't have that kind of time. I need a good burlesque outfit and I need one now."

"Your qualifier's this weekend, isn't it?" he thought.

"Yep!"

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Victor assured, "You never lost the muscle. And you're still one of the best skaters I've ever known."

"Thanks, baby," I pulled a dark blue dress off its hanger. But then, I stopped in mid-reach, "Wait...I can't wear this."

"Why not?" he whined, "I like that dress on you."

"I still have practice," I reminded him, settling on a pair of dark blue leggings instead. That should be enough to pacify him. I paired them with a long sleeved gray shirt and headed into my bathroom.

"So?" Victor followed, "There's always after practice."

"When I have all intentions of meeting with my costumer and then, coming straight home?" I figured, getting into the shower, "No, thank you. Maybe after a nap and a shower if I get the ambition to go out again."

"You could finally meet Morgan!" Victor suggested, getting a little more excited than necessary.

"I'll be working my ass off today, Victor," I pointed out, "I have a qualifier in a couple days. If I don't have Lady Marmalade perfected by then, I'm boned. There goes my shot at another Grand Prix. Bye, Violet! Better luck making a comeback next year!"

"Violet," he settled me, "You know this qualifier is just a formality for you. If you don't make it through, it's an error in paperwork. You should know better than that. What has you doubting yourself?"

"I don't know," I sighed out, "I've been through hell for the last few months and I'm a little bit of a mess, Victor. In case you haven't noticed."

"You're fine," Victor promised, "Violet, you make music when you get on that ice. You tell a beautiful story. Tales of woe, tragedy, and romance. You've interpreted your old burlesque routines into a figure skating routine with the greatest of ease. And that was just off the cuff."

"I do make the ice my bitch..." I admitted, "Thanks, Victor. I needed that."

"That's what I'm here for."

I turned my shower off and grabbed my robe off the hook. Then, I threw my arms around him, "Please don't ever go away."

"I don't plan on it," Victor's embrace tightened, "That's for damn sure."

"Good," I grabbed my clothes and started getting dressed, "You wouldn't want to come hang around my practice, would you?"

"I'd love to," he bit his lip, "But I have Yuri to take care of. Rain check?"

"I can do that," I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek, "I need to get going, though. If I don't, either Madame or Celestino will have my ass on a silver platter and quite frankly, I don't feel like dealing with that."

"I get it," Victor has seen the wrath of Celestino firsthand. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't wish that on me. Again, "Go on. I'll see you later, ok?"

"Will you?" I gave him a look, "Is there something you know that I don't?"

"Are you not coming over today?"

"Fine." At the very least, I'd get Victor's cooking again. That sounded like a plan.

Victor and I parted ways and I headed to the Red Room. As per usual, the tables were moved, the chairs were flipped, and hot damn, no Ernie! It's going to be a good day. Now, if I were the Madame in a seedy burlesque club, where would I be? In the old days, she'd be having a cigarette in the back, but she had to quit smoking years ago to keep herself alive. Those were a rough couple months...

"Hi, baby!" Madame came in through the back door, "Traveling alone, are we?"

"Gene's got the day off," I told her, missing my bodyguard.

"Aww," she frowned, "So how you doing, Vi?"

"Much better than yesterday," I reported, fully ready for this.

"That's good," she beamed, "What happened yesterday after you left? Did you man friend take it like a man?"

"Oh, god, no," I rolled my eyes, "He didn't like that I had a friendship with Victor and made me pick between them. I thought it was bullshit and dropped my collar at his feet. Felt like a power move. I'm very proud."

"That's my girl," Madame praised, "I'm proud of you, Vi. You don't deserve someone that doesn't trust you around your married ex-husband."

"Thanks, Madame," I sat at the edge of the stage, "But Victor did stay with me last night. If Mike would've seen that, he would've had a goddamn heart attack right then and there."

"It's a good thing you don't have to worry about that anymore," she pointed out, "Now, come on. We got work to do. Other than the fact that you've pretty much got your routines down. We'll just call this pick-up."

"I'm ready," I nodded, "Let's do this!"

And so, Madame put on the playlist with all my routines on it and we ran it through. Until my feet started to throb and I wanted to throw myself into traffic. My god. I don't know if it was because qualifiers were rapidly approaching, but this was ridiculous. The only other teacher I've ever had that worked me this hard was Natalia and if Madame was yelling at me, I'd see no difference. But on the plus side, I kicked ass and took names. Good for me.

"Alright, sweetheart," Madame allowed, "Go ahead. Take a knee for the rest of the day. Until you have to go play with Celestino. Your qualifier's coming up, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I panted, doubling over a table. I miss Nat, "Saturday."

"Any idea what you're doing?"

"I'm not sure," I pulled up a chair, "What should I do?"

"You know," Madame thought, "I've seen your Lady Marmalade video. If I were you, I'd go with that."

"It is one of my favorite routines," I admitted, "Victor got me to do it. I wasn't going to do it, but he managed to talk me into it."

"Because that boy could sell life insurance to a ghost," she chuckled.

"I did it with the little ones watching me," I winced, "They were asking me to teach them the routine. There's no way in hell my babies are dancing burlesque. And I told Victor I wasn't going to because of that. But he talked me into it. Didn't like it, but I did it anyway. Now, I'll do it for the sake of my own enjoyment."

"See?" Madame gave me a nudge, "Listen to him once in a while. He knows what he's talking about. I always liked Victor. So pretty...So well-cut..."

"Not his type, Madame," I scolded, "And he's married."

"Looking, not touching," she defended, "That's the golden rule around here, is it not?"

"Unless Ernie says it's ok," I grumbled under my breath, gagging a bit.

"You're not doing that anymore, baby," Madame took my hand, "Now, why don't you go skate your little heart out? Make me proud."

"That's the plan," I pulled myself together, "Nothing a little flat white will cure."

"That's my girl," she helped me up, "Give Celestino my love."

"Always do!"

I limped out of the Red Room with an ache in my joints. Maybe I should go see my old physical therapist. I'm sure he'd be a lamb and put things back into place. Or yell at me and give me a list of random exercises that get things to go back to where they belong. Possibly even give me painkillers, but that'd be the only plus side. Those painkillers made me all tingly for a little while and then, I'd go to sleep easier.

"Violet!" Shit.

"Violet!"

Awesome. Just what I wanted to deal with today. Gene just had to have a day off. Thanks, OSHA. No...He can have some time off once in a while, too. I don't have a problem with that. But I really didn't have the energy and the intestinal fortitude to deal with asshole press today. I wish I had Victor's hoody, but unfortunately, things don't work out that way.

"Violet!"

"Over here!"

"Violet!"

"Where's your new boyfriend?"

"I don't have one," I pushed my way through the crowd.

"And what about you going to Cosmos?"

"Are you going back?"

"Can we get a statement?"

"How do you feel about Victor Nikiforov returning to the ice this season?"

"Are you single?"

"What's your next move?"

Wait a second...What was that?

Victor's doing what?!

No. Settle down, Violet. It's totally hearsay. Because there's no way Victor would be thinking about a comeback now. Not when I'm about to do the same. Don't trust the press. You know better than that. Victor's your best friend. If he was going to come back to the skating world, he'd definitely tell me…Right?

A/N: We know. We know Victor's been thinking about it. Whether or not it's actually been done is still up in the air. Damn press, swarming like vultures on poor, little Violet when she's without her bodyguard for the day. First, can we talk about how cute Victor is? Victor's a precious individual. I love how he takes care of Violet. It's always been that way, though. And he's my baby. I love him and I want to keep him in my pocket. I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, but I'm going to go over here and rest my already fried brain. Good night and I'll see you next chapter! xx