A/N: Hi, friends! I missed you! Because I've already said this twice and I'm not sure how many of you are multifandom here that read Monday and Tuesday updates, but I'm going to keep the vacation recap short and sweet. Everything went swimmingly. Everything was much better than the last time with the exception of a couple moments. And I'm glad to be home. Now, because you don't care about my alleged exciting life, how about we get to the chapter for this week, yeah? I promise this one will be much longer than the last one. Let's get into it, shall we?

There's something to be said for early mornings in Moscow. The slight chill I the air, the feeling of the seasons changing, the smell of the river in the air. Then, there's my personal favorite. The mixture of business professionals heading to work and riff raff on their way home from a long night of parties and poor life choices. I loved it. Sometimes, it's nice to come to my second home. I couldn't help but swoon. Especially that sunrise. I loved my New York sunrises, but Moscow…My heart belongs here.

"Violet," Celestino gave me a nudge, "Were you listening?"

"I'm sorry, Coach," I shook myself out of my daydream headspace, "Could you run that by me again?"

"I asked you what song you're doing tonight," he let out a heavy, exasperated sigh, "Honestly, Violet. Where is your head?"

"On my shoulders," I snapped back, "I just got caught up in a little bit of nostalgia. That's all."

"How long has it been since you were last in Moscow?" Celestino asked.

"Not since Victor and I adopted the boys," I thought back, "And to think, we lived just down the road."

"If you count the four-hour train ride just down the road," he teased, "Then, yes. It's just down the road."

"Dobro pozhalovat' domoy, Violet," Victor came up behind me with the boys following closely behind.

"You, too," I wiggled out from under him, "Where to, Coach?"

"Aren't you full of synthetic energy?" Celestino pointed out, "You and I are going to the hotel to get some rest. Yurio, you, too. You both have a big competition tonight."

"Good," Yurio grumbled. He needed the sleep. That boy was running on fumes and he's been a trooper through this. I had to commend him for that as a skater. As his mother, it worried the hell out of me.

The six of us got three hotel rooms next to each other for some ungodly reason. Victor, Chris, and the babies got the first, Celestino got the middle, and mine was at the end of the hall. However, there was no way I would get any sleep. I slept on the plane from London to Moscow. It wasn't synthetic energy I was full of. It was my own. When I knew for a fact that Celestino was out like a light, I snuck out of my room to blow off some steam. Not letting me out of his sight, my ass. Let's see. What did Celestino say? Four hours there. Four hours back. It's not too much to take the train. And where better to blow off some steam?

I jumped on the next train and took off. Homeward bound. Coach said he wanted me to rest up, but I was way too wired to sleep and I felt too good to let this go to waste. Even though train rides had a thing about making me sleepy, I couldn't wait for the train to stop. I had one rink in the entire world that I skated the best at. And if I was this close to home, I'm not saying no to the opportunity.

Damn, I missed being in St. Petersburg. They really mean it when they say there's no place like home. Something about being here felt strange. Not strange. Different. I haven't been back to St. Petersburg since Victor and I got divorced. Was that what it was? Now that I'm here without him, I don't deserve to call this home? No. Don't think like that, Violet. You should know better. When you moved to St. Petersburg all those years ago, it welcomed you with open arms and you know that. Now, let's get to the rink and skate this out. Nowhere on Earth centered me like this rink did.

Luckily for me, the owner still remembered my face. He started rambling excited notions in Russian. Granted, I was pretty fluent, but some of what he said still didn't make any sense. He was just happy to see me again. It put an uneasy feeling in my stomach when he called me Mrs. Nikiforov, though. News of our divorce must not have gotten here yet. I'm just glad they're not burning me at the stake for it. Victor's revered as a god around here. Regardless, I just want to skate for a while and lose my head.

Now, what to skate to…I already knew what I was skating to tonight. Bad Romance would be on the evening's roster. But for now…I scrolled aimlessly through my phone's music and I found a song that hit me in the strangest place. I haven't listened to Pearl Jam in ages. Not since I was in high school. But today would prove to be different. The opening riff of Black rang in my ears. I liked this. I could skate to this. If memory serves, this was kind of a slow song. It'd be nice to glide around the rink to this.

Black always was one of my favorites. It told a tale of lost love from a time long past. When I listened to it, I always thought that the couple met when they were young and the whole world was in front of them. But a new world was about to open up to them and they could've dived in head first together. However, things changed. And their worlds forked from there.

Someday, you'll have a beautiful life. I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky…Why can't it be mine?

Those final lines punched a hole in my heart I wasn't expecting today. I didn't need that. Instead of melting down on the ice, my phone decided to ring. To whoever would be on the other end, thank you. You have no idea what you just did for me, but know that I shall be forever grateful. Today was not a good day for tears.

"Hello?"

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Oh, shit. He's awake.

"Getting in some last-minute practice," I settled him, "Relax, Celestino. Everything's fine."

"WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THAT PRACTICE IN?!" Celestino's tirade continued, "BECAUSE YOU SURE AS HELL AREN'T HERE!"

"I'm at a different rink," I bit my lip, holding back tears. I've already been forcing that back. Celestino's yelling wasn't helping, "I'll be back before competition, Coach. Don't worry about it."

"YOU BETTER BE!" One little snivel from me was all it took. Celestino began to calm down, "Look…We drew last. If you're a little late, it won't kill you. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, actually," I pulled myself together, "I'll be on my way back shortly, ok?"

"Alright," he took a much gentler tone, "Ti amo, bambina. See you soon."

"Ti amo anch io, allenatore," I smiled, throwing my bag over my shoulder.

I headed back to the train station for that four-hour ride back to Moscow. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a delay and it'd be about fifteen minutes before everything was squared away. Dammit. It's only fifteen minutes. Celestino did say it'd be ok if I was a little late. I guess it's because everyone was headed to Moscow for this. When the prodigal son comes home, people's lives shut down for that. All I could do was keep my head down and hope to God I don't get recognized.

"Violet…?" Shit…I don't want to deal with fans right now. But that wasn't just any fan, "VIOLET! MOY LUCHSHIY DRUG (MY BEST FRIEND!)!"

"NATALIA!" I threw my arms around the one person that would keep me grounded right now.

"What are you doing back here?" she squealed, happy as hell to see me, "I thought you moved to New York."

"I did move to New York," I confirmed, "We're here for competition. Have you not been following?"

"I didn't think you were following Victor around," Natalia assumed.

And another punch to the balls while I'm down, "Try again. I've been skating on my own. This has been my comeback season."

"You're shitting me!" she gave me a pop to the shoulder, "It's about damn time you get back in the game! Serves me right for only watching the men's skating. Because Victor's been doing so well this year. But should we really be that surprised?"

"Nope," I bit my tongue, doing my best not to explode on her, "You must not have heard."

"Heard what?"

And now, to break the news to Nat, "Victor and I got divorced at the beginning of the year. He and Chris got married the next day."

"Well," Natalia winced, "Congratulations to them. Have you seen anyone since?"

"We don't talk about that," I cringed, shaking that memory off, "So, are you headed to Moscow?"

"No, unfortunately," she pouted, "I'm going to see my mother this weekend."

"Well," I got up from my spot on the bench, "Wish me luck. Celestino's about to have my ass and he'd kill me if he knew I was in St. Petersburg."

"Good luck, Vi," Nat hugged me one last time, "I miss you. I love you. Kick some ass."

"I always do."

Damn, it was good to be home. And seeing Natalia on top of that was the icing on the cake. Now, I needed to get back into the mindset. Bad Romance. Bad Romance. The way I'm telling it is from the perspective of a one-sided love victim. The jilted lover. But from the way I see it…Maybe I knew a place where I could draw from the jilted lover. Was I really the jilted? I don't know. And the vodka on the train wasn't knocking anything loose. I'm sure I'll figure something out on the ice. My strength always was in winging it.

I got back to the rink in Moscow where the arena was already filling quickly. Yikes. During competition, I never got nervous. The lights were always so bright that I couldn't even see the crowd, but I'd always cheat to them anyway. Seeing them now was a bit intimidating. Right now, I couldn't think about that. I had to get ready. I looked like a hot ass mess after skating my heart out back home. Not to mention, the mini emotional roller coaster Black took me on didn't do me any favors. But it was nice to vent.

"There you are, Violet!" Celestino threw his arms around me, "You had me worried, tesoro. Where were you?"

"Just at a different rink," I brushed him off, "This one had too many people. I needed to get my head on straight."

"Well," he got his head back in the game, "Get to the locker room and get ready, ok? You're up next."

"Yes, sir," I kissed his cheek and started walking back toward the locker room. Although, Victor grabbed my arm on the way through, "Uh…What the hell?"

"I know where you were, Violet," Victor smiled, "You were gone for quite some time. And when you told Celestino you were just leaving…"

"How'd you…?"

"He came to our room looking for you," he went on, "It took you a few hours to get here. And I mean this in the least creepy way…"

He picked up a lock of my hair and…sniffed it. Immediately, I jumped back, "Victor, what the hell?!"

"Just as I thought," Victor settled me, "You were in St. Petersburg, weren't you?"

Damn his nose from hell. But see, I'm pretty sure he knew his hometown better than I did, "Yeah. Now, do you mind? I have to get ready, so I can go skate. Is that alright with you?"

"Be my guest…"

A/N: I really do recommend playing Pearl Jam's Black during this chapter. It's truly a beautiful song. And it reminds me of these two crazy kids a lot. Violet…She just needs to get her head on straight. And I think she needs a hug. But don't you worry, my lovelies. These next couple chapters are going to be a bit…Well…You'll see. See you next chapter! xx