Sharon puttered around the next morning, getting her coffee and baking breakfast for herself and Rusty. It wasn't often that she had the opportunity to flip through cookbooks and try something new. As the raspberry Dutch Baby baked on her stove, she turned on her computer and called her daughter.
"Hey Mom," Melissa said.
"You look comfortable." Sharon smiled at her daughter, who's hair was sloppily pulled up in a high ponytail, and she was walking around the chalet in nothing but a tank top and sleep shorts.
"It's vacation, Mom. I've got a few days to pretend I'm relaxing before the post-Christmas shows begin.
"When do you fly back?"
"I'm heading out tomorrow night."
"It's too bad you can't spend longer with your grandparents," Sharon said, wishing she was there to have this conversation in person.
Melissa shrugged, "It's what we do. Between your job and Rick's and mine, it's a miracle we get time to talk together let alone spend Christmas in one place."
"Mmm," Sharon agreed, "when does your brother arrive?"
"Well, baring an emergency, he should be here by dinnertime tonight."
"Okay, then I'll call this evening to see all of you."
"What are your plans, Mom?"
"Mine? Well Rusty and I are spending most of the day here, and then we'll be going over to Nicole's for a little while before dinner. I'm still curious about the size of that present."
Melissa just shrugged and smiled.
"So, are you the only one up?"
"Yeah, I'm still on New York time, but Nana and Gramps are Mountain."
"Well tell them I love them and will talk to them this evening."
"Call after the boys open their present. I want to hear if they liked it."
"I will Sweetheart, Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Mom. Love you."
Sharon blew a kiss into the screen and then went to check on breakfast.
"That looks interesting," Rusty came around the corner and looked at the lump in the skillet.
"You're up early," she said, pushing a mug of coffee towards him. Rusty just shrugged.
Later that afternoon it was Rusty's turn again to sit and shrug as Sharon tried on a few outfits before choosing what to wear. "Hey, is pink the theme or something?" he asked, as she flitted from pink silk blouse to pink sweater and continued through her wardrobe. "We're just going to drop off presents, right? Why all the fuss?"
Sharon came out adjusting her earrings, having finally made her choice. "Well, it would be rude not to stay a little bit after being invited. So, how do I look?"
"Great, as always," Rusty said noncommittally, earning a slight scowl.
They were almost at Nicole's when the phone rang. Sharon looked at her consul display and saw Nicole's name, so she pushed the button to talk. "Hi Nicole, Merry Christmas."
"Oh Sharon," the anguished voice greeted her. "Mom just showed up and Dad is ready to leave, and I can't make it stop."
Sharon felt her foot step heavier on the gas peddle. "I'm almost there, tell your father to stay put."
"Okay."
She could hear the yelling in the background and for a moment she considered putting on her sirens to get there faster, but realized that was overkill.
A few minutes later they arrived at Nicole's house, and rang the doorbell. Josh answered, looking stressed, but Sharon greeting him with a bright "Merry Christmas!" She breezed into the living room with the gifts in her arms, and placed them under the tree. Matthew and Tyler were obviously uncomfortable with the disturbance that had now worked it's way into a screaming match, but she winked at them to tell them it was alright.
"Andy," she stepped into his personal space and he automatically put his arm around her waist. "Go sit down and let me handle this. Please. Don't let her ruin tonight."
Andy looked down into Sharon's eyes for a moment, pain palpable. "Yeah, okay..." he acquiesced, and moved away from the fight.
"Little puppet on a string," Andy's ex-wife sneered and tried to follow him, but Sharon stood in the way.
"You're not supposed to be here, Joan, or did you not read the memo?" Sharon lowered her voice and looked at the obsessed woman, then she looked down at the bag Joan was carrying. Noticing it was wine bottles, Sharon quickly pulled one out and headed to the kitchen. Joan sputtered and followed Sharon, yelling at her to mind her business. Nicole went after them, not sure what to expect.
In the kitchen, Sharon found a wine glass and twisted the top off the bottle, then poured herself a glass and took a sip. Through the entire act Sharon ignored Joan, until finally she said, "Chardonnay...I've had better."
"Who do you think you are, parading around my daughter's house like you own the place."
"I've been invited to be here Joan, which is more than I can say for you."
Joan crossed her arms and smirked as Sharon took a long look at the woman. Years ago she might have been quite attractive, but time had not been kind, and Joan's bitterness was evident in every look and gesture. "You think you can just walk into my daughter's life, throw your snobby attitude around, and everyone will do your bidding like Andy?"
"Oh," Sharon said lightly, "No... that's not my style.
"You are just the fraud girlfriend, the work partner he had to bring along because no one would have him."
Gottcha, Sharon thought to herself, then smiled. Standing as tall as she could, Sharon's eyes bore into Joan. "Mmm... well I'm not the partner, I'm the person in charge and I spend all day looking at people's motives. And you know what I've discovered after decades in law enforcement? It's that every crime can be boiled down to one word: love. Love of money, love of power, love of the victim, or even love of the life that used to be. When did you realize you had thrown away the best thing you ever had, Joan? Mmm? When did you realize you were still in love with Andy, but you had pushed him so far away he wasn't coming back?"
"Love... Andy?" Joan sputtered.
"You are so jealous you can't even see how much damage you're doing."
Joan sneered, "Jealous, of you?"
"Mmm... Me, and whomever Andy's dated in the past. So when was it, Joan? Was it the first night you kicked him out and he didn't try to come home? Or was it when you filed papers for divorce and ignored that voice in the back of your head that said you were making a mistake? Or maybe, it was the Christmas Nicole was thirteen, and Andy had finally given up drinking and was serious about AA and changing his life. You made that Christmas miserable for him with all the games you played."
"You don't know anything," Joan yelled at Sharon, starting to loose control.
"Don't I? I know you can't stand to see him happy. You can't stand the fact that he's in a room with you and he's not the least bit interested. You can't stand the fact that he's moved on and you still haven't. And for the record, Joan... he's moved on," Sharon made a point of emphasizing the last words.
Joan was so angry she didn't even realize tears running down her face. "You BITCH, you hateful bitch, you want him so bad, you can have him!"
Sharon leaned towards the other woman and smiled sweetly, "I already do."
Joan raised her had to strike at Sharon, but a voice yelling across the room stopped her. She turned to see the face of her husband, who was not happy. "We're leaving," he announced, giving no room for argument. He picked Joan's purse up from the counter, then turned to Nicole. "You have a good evening, and we'll see you tomorrow, Nicky."
Nicole silently nodded as she watched her mother glare at Sharon, then turn to follow her step-father out of the house.
"Buh bye," Sharon said, picking up her wine glass and toasting Joan before she took another drink.
When the silence reached the point of deafening, Sharon put the glass down and went over to touch Nicole's arm.
"I never knew..." the younger woman looked up at her, "I never realized she was still in love with Dad. She always treated him like he was the worst person on the planet."
Sharon shrugged, "People do a lot of strange and destructive things when emotions are involved. Your father and I deal with that every single day." She rubbed Nicole's back then gave her a half hug. "Come on... we've got five men in the next room waiting for us to celebrate Christmas. Why don't we do that and forget about all of this for tonight."
Nicole looked at her and nodded, then the two moved towards the living room. "Smiles on," Sharon leaned in to whisper just before they rejoined the others. Nicole went immediately to Josh for a hug, and Sharon went to Andy.
Rubbing his back slightly, Sharon leaned in and whispered, "I took care of it."
"Where's Grandma-Joan?" Tyler asked.
"She left, Honey. She was just here to deliver a few things. You'll see her tomorrow," Nicole answered, shifting a quick look at Sharon.
Matthew had been sitting under the tree, eyeing the box Sharon brought. "Can we open this now?"
Andy chuckled, "Sure Kid."
Matthew was about to dig in when Sharon stopped him. "Matthew, bring that hear first please."
"Okay..." he said, and walked over to her.
"What does the card say?" Sharon asked him when he got closer.
"Um..." Matthew turned the gift around to read it, "For Tyler and Matthew, open me first". He shrugged and put the box on the floor, then tore the card off and opened it. Tyler came to look over his shoulder. "A DVD?" Matthew looked surprised, then turned to Sharon.
Sharon was confused and looked at Andy. This wasn't what she expected.
"It says 'play me first'," Matthew looked at his father. "Should I put it on."
"Sure," Josh said, turning on the TV and DVD player, then putting in the disk.
It started to play and suddenly Melissa's face was smiling into a hand-held camera. "Hey Tyler and Matthew, my name is Melissa Raydor, and this is your Christmas present from my Mom and your Grandpa-Andy. Welcome to the American Ballet Theatre."
The camera turned from Melissa and did a panoramic of the front and back stage of the theatre, showing the pulley system, the props hanging from the ceiling ready to be lowered, the dancers moving behind the backdrop, those stretching onstage, and out into the audience seats before returning to Melissa.
"We're putting on The Nutcracker this evening, just like we do every Christmas. Right now we're practicing and getting ready. Come with me and I'll show you around." They all watched Melissa wave into the camera to follow her.
Sharon had been sitting on the arm of the chair Andy occupied, and was watching in stunned silence. This was more than she imagined. Andy reached his arm around her hip and hugged her to him, keeping his hand on her thigh. Everyone was glued to the TV, and the boys' grins were huge.
"Okay, this is our main stage," Melissa continued. "See the marks on the floor?" She held the camera down so they became visible, "That's to help us know where we're supposed to be. Here's a little secret, it's neon tape so we can see it when we're on stage, but the audience can't see a thing. With this many people dancing and twirling, we all want to make sure we're in the right place. Traffic jams are bad."
The boys giggled.
"Here is our choreographer," Melissa continued, the camera approaching a middle aged man in ballet slippers. "We call him Count Vlad," she whispered into the camera. "I heard that!" he shouted to her, and the other dancers laughed.
"And this is the orchestra pit. They're practicing now to make sure everything is perfect this evening." Melissa panned the entire orchestra pit then said "Everyone, say Merry Christmas to Matthew and Tyler."
"Merry Christmas, Matthew and Tyler," the orchestra mimicked back, waving at the camera.
Then Melissa held the camera so it was straight down. "See that? From the stage it's twenty-five feet down to the floor of the Orchestra pit. I know in movies they sometimes have characters falling in there for fun, but if you did that in real life you could break your neck."
The camera continued to move along with Melissa's commentary. "Here's Steve. Say hello Steve."
"Hello, Steve," he waved at the camera with a cheeky smile.
"Steve is the principle male dancer tonight. He plays the Nutcracker Prince."
"I do," Steve confirmed, putting the mask on his head and dancing part of his routine. When he was finished, he came back to talk to the camera. "Hi Matthew and Tyler, I heard you were in your own production of The Nutcracker this year. Good job! That's where most of us start out. If you love it, keep practicing and studying hard. Ballet is a lot more work than most people know. Most of what we're paid to do is make really hard steps look easy."
"Don't hog the camera," someone pushed Steve out of the way, and Melissa turned the camera accordingly. "Hi boys, my name is Geoff, and I play the Mouse King. That's the most important role in the entire ballet."
"Yeah, in your dreams," Steve replied off camera.
"Seriously, it is. Without the villain, there's never a story. But besides this, look what I have to do." Geoff showed them the headpiece he had to wear on stage. "This thing is about ten pounds, and I have to wear it the whole time as well as dance and take part in a sword fight. I mean, look at those eye holes. I can hardly see," he exclaimed, taking the camera from Melissa and pushing it into the mask.
"Hey dude, I wear a mask, too," the unmistakable voice of Steve could be heard off camera once more.
"Yeah, yeah..." Geoff waved him off. "Melissa tells me you really love the ballet. What else do you like to do? I love sports, all kinds of sports. In the winter I play hockey when I'm not performing, and in the summer I play baseball."
"Hey!" Andy raised his arms in an open gesture, smiling at the TV. Sharon, Nicole and Josh laughed.
"Okay, moving on," Melissa said, "I want you to meet the rest of the men in our troupe. Back there is David and Michael, and over here is Sasha practicing with Lena."
"Hi boys," Sasha and Lena waved into the camera. "Have you boys started to learn lifting techniques yet?" Sasha asked. "One of the things most people ask me is how I can lift the ballerinas so easily. Here's the trick. First I have to have my feet braced on the floor, like this." Melissa aimed the camera at Sasha's feet. "And then, Lena does a quick push off the floor like this." Lena complied and everyone watched as her feet pushed her upwards. "Now, you have to learn to time this perfectly because if I'm ready to lift and she's not ready to jump, then it won't work. But when it does work, it looks like this." Melissa backed the camera up so they could fully see Sasha lift Lena into the air and hold her aloft with one hand, then he walked away with her still high in the air.
Melissa turned the camera back on herself. "I've got to tell you boys, the first time I was held up like that, I nearly screamed it was so scary. The girls have to trust you, so don't forget that. If you drop them at all, they won't trust you again. So make sure you learn to do it properly."
"Melissa, you're up," a voice sounded from off camera.
"Right," she said, and quickly passed the camera to someone else so they could tape Melissa dance. "This year I'm one of the Marzipan."
They all watched as Melissa and her fellow dancers practiced their routine. At the end they held position while 'Count Vlad' walked around with his long stick, pushing arms and chin's higher, and knocking feet back to their markers. He also grabbed Melissa around the waist and pulled her back slightly, "Straighter back", they heard him say.
When it was all over, Melissa came back to get the camera. "I have to go now, boys, but there's one more thing to show you." She walked them back stage to a wall where all the performers names were written. "See, that's me," she pointed to a name. "I dance under the name Melissa Fitzpatrick. Most of us change our last names so no one can find us outside of work. That's become a tradition in ballet. I hope you enjoyed your tour of our show. We travel a lot, and starting in January we will be in Japan. I don't know when we will be back in LA, but I'll make sure you have tickets. And if you ever get to New York and we're in town, then I'll get you tickets here. Have a Merry Christmas, enjoy the rest of the stuff in the box, and don't forget to thank Mom and Grandpa-Andy for your Christmas presents. Bye!"
Matthew turned to the box first and started ripping it open. Tyler didn't wait for an invitation, and quickly got in there himself. Out of the box came two Nutcracker t-shirts with ABT written on the bottom, as well as a practice shirt and shorts for each boy, again with ABT across the hem. At the very bottom were a number of stage pictures and head shots, including all of the people they had seen on screen. Each headshot was addressed to the boys. "There's Melissa's," Tyler said, turning to Sharon and Andy.
"This is an amazing gift," Josh said, watching the bounty that laid before them. "I think it's the best gift they'll receive this year. Thank you."
"I'm just the guy who knew about it, this was Sharon's doing," Andy said.
"Don't look at me," Sharon quickly shook her head. "I asked for the pictures. Everything else is Melissa."
"Thank you," Matthew threw himself on Andy, and gave him a big hug. "Melissa said it was from you."