April 12th, 1899

Dear Nina,

Did I tell you of the year I spent in France when I was sixteen? My parents wanted me to travel a bit, so they sent me to my aunt who lived in Paris and told me to behave myself. I didn't, of course. I met your father there.

I also met a beautiful lady by the name of Carmen Fuentes. We wrote to each other for many years, until her untimely death. Six years ago today. I miss her dearly. She was the liveliest woman, all laughter and modesty. She was born to a wealthy Spanish family who vacationed in Paris in the summer and she and I became fast friends that summer. She loved your father's best friend…he was from London, in Paris studying architecture and his name was Charles Rennalls.

I haven't written or said that name aloud in almost seventeen years…

The simple task of writing to you has made me tired. I will write to you again, soon. I love you, my solnishko. Keep dancing.

Love Always,

Mama


"You would be attracted to the rudest man in the room. It's a gift of yours." Natalia told Nina as they stepped onto the elevator to go up to their suite. Natalia told the bellhop what floor and then turned back to look knowingly at Nina. She was, of course, talking about David. As soon as the two friends had stepped into the grand lobby of the Benjamin Hotel and were blessed by the sight of three out of four front desk men being young and attractive, they had promptly picked their favorites.

It was a running game they played, usually at after parties. They'd circle the room, come back to each other, and tell them which man was off limits to the other one. They rarely picked the same man. Natalia's taste ran more towards blonde and rich. Which was why she had gone straight for the only blonde at the counter, who's nametag declared him as Thomas. Nina, however, was great for finding the tallest man who usually also happened to be an asshole.

Two out of two for David, Nina thought to herself as she replied to Natalia, "He looked like he'd be different from my usual asshole." And he had. At least at first. While the other brunette man was cute, his name tag crooked on his coat and reading the name Alex, he couldn't possibly have held a candle to the tall, brooding man that was David Jacobs. The owner of the hotel. The youngest hotelier ever. He had been striking, with his dark hair and blue eyes, and formidable, as he had scowled down at Natalia when she asked where to check in.

A flash of those wintry blue eyes appeared in her mind, how they had seemed to thaw just a little bit when she had told him her name and he had looked at her fully for the first time. There had been a startling glimpse of interest, of heat, of a connection that could lead…She groaned, telling Natalia, "Keep me away from him for the remainder of this tour."

"He's all but a hermit, I hear. I don't think you'll be seeing much of him." Natalia replied, and then her mouth fell open as the door to their suite opened and they took in the initial opulence of the room.

"I'm no stranger to nice things," Natalia murmured, gazing around in awe as they walked around the hotel room, "but, damn. This is one classy place."

A knock at the door a few minutes later brought Nina out of one of the bedrooms and she opened it up as their luggage was wheeled in by a familiar face from the front desk, "Thank you, Alex." She told him in English, smiling in gratitude as he pulled her luggage off first. Natalia was shrieking from the bathroom, something about a flush toilet, and Nina found herself giving Alex a sheepish grin.

"Ya welcome, Miss. Which room did you want this in?" He asked her, smiling brightly and ignoring Natalia's other exclamations. He had an easy-going air about him that immediately relaxed those around him.

"You really shouldn't have a strange man in your room, Nina." The Russian words stopped her before she could answer and they both looked to see Sergei in the doorway, leaning casually against the frame. He was tall and muscular from his years of ballet, but his attitude left something lacking in his otherwise good looks. His hair was an ash brown, his eyes a light green, and he appeared every bit the epitome of a Russian Male.

Nina despised him. She scowled at her ballet partner, "He works for the hotel. But, I'd trust him over you any day." She told him in Russian so Alex wouldn't understand, then ignored Sergei to speak to Alex in English, "The room on the right." Alex cast a look between the two, his gaze less friendly when he looked at Sergei, but said nothing as he carried her trunk to her room. She turned back to the insufferable man and waved a hand at him, "Please leave." She didn't bother speaking in Russian this time.

Sergei was not the type of man who enjoyed being waved away and he straightened and gave her a dark look, "One of these days, Nina, you will learn to respect me."

Quirking an eyebrow, she replied haughtily, "That'll be a cold day in hell."

Glaring, he turned and left without another word and Alex came out of her room, looking towards the front door with his eyes narrowed, "Miss, if you have any problems, don't hesitate to let any of the hotel staff know. Hotel policy is that ouah guests should always feel safe." He said it politely, as if it were something every person on staff had been trained to say, but she knew it was directly pointed towards Sergei.

Smiling gently, she nodded, "Thank you. That's good to know."

Natalia stepped out of her room and smiled as she took in Alex picking up her luggage from the cart, "You can just put that right in here." She said, waving towards her room to the left. Alex nodded and hefted her larger, much heavier suitcase, his muscles bulging even through his suit jacket, and Natalia and Nina shared a look of appreciation as he carried it to her room.

Grinning, her blonde best friend wagged her eyebrows, "Hellloooo, Alex." She murmured to Nina.

Nina rolled her eyes, "He's not blonde." She pointed out. Although, he was tall. Maybe she should have chosen him over David.

"With muscles like those, who needs blonde hair?" Natalia waved it away, and then put on her most flirtatious smile as he exited her room and grabbed the luggage cart.

"Anything else I can do foah ya ladies?" He asked, all politeness.

Natalia smiled and slid a hand along his arm, "Know of any great restaurants, Alex?" She all but purred, and Nina sighed at her friends' insatiable hunger. For both men and food. Natalia was any other Ballerina's worst nightmare, the way she could put away food and still be the tiny, graceful dancer that she was.

Alex looked a tad uncomfortable when her hand stopped at his elbow and didn't move. "Uh, my wife says the hotel restaurant has the best chocolate mousse she's ever tasted. And she makes chocolate foah a livin'."

Unfazed by the drop of information that he was married, Natalia smiled unabashedly at him, "It's a shame I never liked chocolate mousse." She dropped her hand from his arm and sauntered away to her room, no longer interested in him.

Nina couldn't stop the chuckle, "I apologize for her."

He flashed a smile as he opened the door and maneuvered the luggage cart through it, pausing in the hallway to reply "It's awright, miss. But, I meant what I said earlier about feelin' safe. David makes it a top priority, if you have any troubles just let any of us know. He'd probably handle it personally."

The ballerina felt a wry grin pull up the corners of her mouth, "Probably not for me, seems I rub Mr. Jacobs the wrong way." She answered him before she could stop herself and then she gently closed the door so he didn't ask her about it.

Sighing, she moved towards her room and began to unpack her clothes from the trunk he had placed on the settee at the end of the bed. She let the inane task soothe her thoughts from the journey, Jack, Race, David, Alex, and this strange new world she had stumbled into.

The very last thing she unpacked was a wooden, rectangular lacquer box, and she lovingly brushed her fingers across the smooth image on top. Though it was a bit aged, it had been her mothers, it was a typical Russian lacquer box that portrayed a scene from a Russian fairytale. Her box depicted the scene from the fairytale 'Tsarevich Ivan, the Firebird, and the Gray Wolf' where Ivan Tsarevich rode on the back of the gray wolf, Helen the Beautiful clasped in his arms. Though she loved the fairytale, it was the contents inside that were more precious to her than all the gold in the world.

Opening it up, she gently picked up the bundle of twelve unopened letters. Nina found herself, like always, turning it over in her hands, hefting the weight of them, and wondering at the last words her mother had ever written to her.

A years' worth of letters, written in the last year of her mother's life. Unread.

Guilt, sorrow, and despair clawed at her heart and she quickly replaced the letters and shut the box. Not yet, she told herself. She wasn't ready to face the words, yet. Wasn't ready to watch her mother's health decline through the writing, wasn't ready to read that familiar handwriting and miss her mother even more than she already did.

She wasn't ready to read her mother's forgiveness of her childish behavior, because she could not forgive herself for it. What had she been thinking, ignoring those letters? Until the thirteenth one came, written in her father's handwriting. She had opened that one immediately, because as much as she loved her father, he wasn't the biggest on communication.

Except it had been the heartbreaking news that her mother had died. The pain had been too fresh then, to go back and read them. Now, she had waited this long and it still felt like too much to handle. One time, a year ago on the anniversary of her mother's death, she had thought about reading it one letter at a time, one letter a month, but the moment she had begun to open the first letter she felt a wave of…wrongness.

She had avoided the box since then, but being in America, a place of freedom and hope, brought back all the stories her mother had told her of this country and she felt as though maybe, given some time here, she could finally open them.

Just not today.


Due to the fact that they only had two weeks to practice till opening night, the company did not get a break to enjoy the new city. First thing the next morning, all of the dancers had to be at the theater, in costume, practicing. Their first show, Les million d'Arlequin, was set to open on Halloween and would run until Thanksgiving. The lack of time made for a long, rigorous practice that left them exhausted and all but dragging their bruised, bleeding feet back to the hotel around dinner time. Natalia asked the front desk to send room service up, but Nina didn't feel like spending her free time in the room.

"I'm going down to eat. At least it will get me out of the room." She informed her friend as she opened the for the waiter with the cart full of food.

"Bring me some chocolate mousse." Natalia called, coming out of her room looking clean and refreshed.

Nina couldn't prevent the snort, "I thought you never liked chocolate mousse?"

Natalia grinned as she braided her wet hair, "Oh, please, who doesn't like chocolate mousse? I just said that to let him know I wasn't interested. Plus, I put my room service in with him and I couldn't very well let him know I actually like it."

Nina rolled her eyes, "You only weren't interested after he told you he was married."

"Tomato, to-mah-to." Natalia replied, waving her hand dismissively, "Bring me that damn chocolate mousse."

Laughing, Nina left the room. She had seen maps of New York City in the lobby and she had a nice plan in her mind of mapping out everywhere she wanted to visit while stuffing her face with delicious food.

It was a quiet, Monday night so the restaurant was all but empty. Nina asked for a table out of the way, and the host showed her to a small table for two that was in the corner of the restaurant and slightly hidden by a support pillar. Thanking the young man, she took the seat that put her back to the wall and gave her a good look at any guests that might come in and opened the menu up.

Her waiter slunk out of a door on the other side of the restaurant and Nina got a glimpse of the kitchens for a split second before they were gone. He didn't hurry over, more meandered than walked, and when he stopped in front of her he pulled out a tablet form his apron and a fountain pen from behind his ear, "Evenin', miss. My name is Skit-" he paused a split second, then continued, "Albert. I'll be ya waitah tonight. What can I get foah ya?" He had the same rough accent that Jack, Alex, and Race had and even though he didn't seem exactly thrilled to be there, she felt a tiny bit at ease.

After ordering, she handed him her menu and he strolled leisurely away. She noticed the back of his shirt was untucked and his hair was matted in the back like he had slept on it all night. A grin fought its way to her lips as she thought about David in his perfectly pressed uniform, his hair brushed and looking completely put together. Since she had a front row seat to it just a day ago, she could picture just how angry he would be if he saw his wait staff tonight.

That brought a chuckle out of her and she unfolded the map of New York on her table and began to look it over, using a fountain pen she had taken from her hotel room to mark where she was, the theater, and then all the places she wanted to go.

Talking, laughter, and what sounded like a herd of people brought her from her map and she looked up to see a group of people come in and sit down at a table without being seated. She was surprised to recognize Race and Alex, but the four women and one man with them were strangers to her. She watched curiously as Race pulled out a chair for a pretty, petite red-haired woman as Alex did the same for a blonde woman who looked to be pregnant, presumably the wife he spoke of.

The other couple consisted of another blonde woman and a man with the swarthy skin tone of a Spaniard. The last woman, a tall brunette, headed towards the kitchens instead of sitting down.

Race was talking as they sat down, something along the lines of a man named Scott and a lady he insulted, "…she dumped her drink right in his lap!" Everyone laughed, clearly aware of who Scott was and amused by the tale.

Nina felt a stab of something like envy, wishing she had a group of close friends. Natalia was the only real friend she had because she was the only one Nina could trust not to stab her in the back. The rest of the girls were climbers that would do just about anything short of murder to be Prima and, unfortunately, Nina was the one in their way, leaving very little room for the growth of friendship.

Her waiter, Skit-Albert, came out with her food and she watched as he once again weaved around the tables with all the speed and purpose of a tortoise. She bit back a smile as he finally set her food down and asked, in a bored tone, "Is there anything else, miss?"

"I'm going to need a box of chocolate mousse to take up to my room, otherwise no. Thank you." She smiled brightly at him and was pleased when he couldn't suppress an answering grin.

"I'll bring that out with ya check, miss. Enjoy." He said, and then strolled away to greet the newcomers.

She all but groaned in pleasure when she bit into the chicken marsala she had ordered. She had been surprised to see it on the menu since everyone knew Chef Bernard was a world renown French chef. David must have gone to great lengths to secure him here at his hotel, and it was partly because of him that so many people came to the Benjamin.

While enjoying her food, she watched the group of friends. Evidently, her waiter was familiar with them and he chatted with Race and Alex with much more energy than she had previously seen. The other man who had been working, the blonde that Natalia had been flirting with when they checked in, came out of the door of the kitchens, holding hands with the brunette from earlier and gazing at her as if she were center of his universe. Nina let out a wistful sigh at the sight, her hunger diminishing as she realized just how lonely she was. How pathetic.

Taking her gaze from the friends, she looked down at the map of New York and thought of how much more exciting it would be to share it with someone special.

"Skittery." The irritated voice pushed through her thoughts and she raised her head to see David entering the restaurant, his uniform jacket unbuttoned for once, his tie loosened.

Skittery, the waiter she guessed from the way he jumped at his name, nodded towards David, "How's it rollin', Dave?" He asked, and she watched as Race shook his head at Skittery.

"Can I talk to you?" David asked, nodding his head to a private corner.

The corner Nina sat in. She shrank in her seat as the two moved a little closer to her, but not near enough to notice. She didn't miss the way Race handed money to the red-head, as if they had a bet on something, but she was then distracted by David as he pulled a hairbrush out of his back pocket and then took off his suspenders as he reprimanded Skittery, "I know you're new here and all, but this isn't Emilio's. I'm gonna need you to come in looking halfway decent. Tuck your shirt in and brush your hair."

Skittery sighed as he began tucking in the shirt, "Ya think all these people are gonna care how I look?" He asked, sarcastically as he motioned to the dead restaurant.

"I care how you look." David said, handing him the brush, "And it's going to be real embarrassing for you if I have to dress you every time you come in here." He added as he moved around to clip the suspenders on the back of Skittery's pants and tossed the two straps over his shoulders.

"Hey, hey, I got it, I got it." Skittery muttered, swatting David away and glancing towards Nina. She grinned when he caught her watching and turned bright red, "I'll get cleaned up in the kitchen." He added, walking away, suspenders hanging down near his legs as David watched his departure for a second looking half irritated and half amused.

As though he felt her eyes on him, he turned his head and met her gaze, a surprised look on his face. They maintain eye contact for a split second before she turned back to her map and took a sip of her water.

She almost choked on it when he came over, "Are you enjoying your meal?" He asked her, looking just the slightest bit nervous.

"Yes, it's excellent. Thank you." She told him, voice a tad colder than she really meant it to be.

"Good." He stepped away, then paused, "Look, I'm…I'm sorry for how rude I was to you yesterday. I wasn't angry at you."

Nina nodded, thought a moment, and then replied, "After some reflection, I realized that. I accept your apology, and I'm sorry for getting into your business."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but thought better of it, "Have a good evening." He murmured and left before she could respond. She pushed her food around on her plate for a few minutes and then sighed. David Jacobs had apologized, which was a point in his favor in her book because it was more than what the previous assholes had done.

Laughter from that table brought her eyes back up and she looked around at the interesting group of people. They all looked relax and happy, chatting excitedly and dancing from topic to topic. David even looked happy as he took a sip of his drink and half grinned at a story the blonde, pregnant woman was telling.

As she was folding her map up, Skittery came back out looking more put together and he took their orders before coming over to her with her box of chocolate mousse and a message, "David said your meal's on the house." He informed her, and she thanked him.

David was watching them and she gave him a half wave and a nod in thanks, before standing up and collecting her map, box, and her sweater that she had hung on the back of her chair. She felt slightly self-conscious as she walked passed the table, but no one paid her any attention and she let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey!" A voice behind her startled her, and she turned to see the tall, Spanish man coming out of the restaurant, her map of the city in his hands, "You dropped this."

"Oh, thank you." She told him, taking it from him and meeting his eyes, which were blue instead of the expectant brown. She paused, catching something familiar in his face but unable to name what it was, "You have one of those faces." She told him, unthinkingly.

He cocked his head, eyes astute as he took her in, "One of those faces?" He asked.

"Yes. That's vaguely familiar, but you know you've never met them before." Nina felt silly the moment the words were out of her mouth but his expression was one of interest.

He flashed a smile that was equal parts congenial and dangerous, his teeth even and white, "I know exactly what you mean. Nina Teleshova, right?"

"Yes, how did you know?" She asked, surprised someone would recognize her before the opening night.

"It's my job to know these things." He told her smoothly, "It was wonderful to meet you." He gave her a slight, gentlemanly bow before going back towards the restaurant.

"You, too." She called back, then added under her breath, "I think."

A/N: Me oh my, guys. Couldn't quite stop writing this particular chapter. It's like Nina poured out of me. She's very vocal when she wants to be. I'm super excited, though. I hope you all enjoy my lengthy chapter! Thank you to my Guest reviewer, whoever you may be ;) and to the lovely Pixielou who lets me rant to her on facebook about my characters! :D Please drop me a review if you have the time!

Truly,

Joker is Poker with a J~