The sun shined through the glass on our balcony door right into my eyes. I see Victor didn't bother to shut the curtains when he got up. But I couldn't be too angry at him. The house was quiet and a note was left on the counter.

To my dearest Violet,

Yuri and I have gone to the rink.

Chris should be there early this

afternoon. I promise we won't

be too long. Just practicing a

couple jumps.

With love,

Victor x

Alright. I had some time to myself. Yurio was still in bed. Yuri was with Victor. What to do, what to do…Maybe a crossword? Some Sudoku? No. Puzzles didn't really do it for me. Maybe I could finally start on that novel I've been thinking about for years. I couldn't believe it. For the first time in ages, I was actually bored. It's not like I could do any housework. There was none to be done. With my teaching Yurio at night, Victor's taken on just about everything else, so I could get some sleep.

Then, it hit me! Yurio was getting good enough to where I could enter him in some competitions. He might even be good enough to qualify for juniors this year. I'm sure he could use a good costume. I grabbed a notebook out of the drawer in Victor's desk and got to work. I'm almost positive if I asked Yurio what routine he'd want to do, he'd say mine.

Somewhere in the back of the closet, I still had my old costume. But I wanted Yurio to be the warrior he is, not the dragon I was. So, how about some armor? Leather? I'm sure leather would be easier to skate in than metal armor. Brown leather. Maybe some scorch marks? Some charring from his dragon mother? Accidents happen. Or maybe from battle?

Knock, knock.

Gee. I wonder who that could possibly be. I got the door and on the other side was a tall, beautiful, Swiss man. So much for my quiet house and my quiet afternoon, "Violet! Mon chéri!"

"Chris!" I hugged him tight. I could be bitter and salty all I wanted to be. I did miss Chris. He and I met the same night I met Victor.

"It's so wonderful to see you again!" Chris sang.

"You, too," I settled him, "But could you keep it down? Yurio's still asleep."

"But it's two o'clock in the afternoon," he pointed out, "Why would little Yurio still be sleeping? Is it his naptime?"

"His bedtime," I corrected, sitting at the kitchen table, "Yurio's days and nights have been reversed lately."

"Oh?" Chris joined me, "Is there something wrong with him?"

"It's nothing bad," I explained, running my finger around the rim of my coffee cup, "I've been teaching him to skate. Yurio had a bad dream a few weeks ago and I brought him to the rink to settle down. He watched me do one of my old routines and wanted to give it a shot."

"Is he any good?"

"He's getting there," I praised, "Don't tell him, but Victor's been teaching Yuri, too. While Yurio's asleep, Yuri's at the rink."

"There's still tension with those two?" Chris winced, "After all this time, you'd think they'd be a little more civil."

"I don't get it either," I rested my head on the table top, "I just wish those two would get along and be brothers instead of rivals. Is that too much to ask?"

"One day," he promised, "Maybe one day, they'll get along. But for now, we wait it out."

"And it's not just Yuri that Yurio has a problem with," I went on, "It's Victor, too. He's making it too obvious that he plays favorites with the boys."

"Speaking of Victor," Chris scanned around our penthouse, "Where is he? It's been ages since I last seen him and I've been feeling it lately."

"He and Yuri should be back soon," I figured, "I'm guessing you're here for yours and Victor's regularly scheduled game of Twister?"

"Yep," he beamed, "Was I too obvious?"

"Mama…" the shuffling of little feet echoed through the hall, "Can I have some apple juice?"

"Sure, Yuri," I got up, "Duty calls."

"Yurio!" Chris squealed.

My poor baby froze in his tracks, "No…"

"Dear, sweet Yurio!" Chris scooped him up in his arms, holding Yurio tight. If I didn't know any better, I'd think Chris had actual hearts for eyes.

"Let me go!" Yurio screeched, doing his best to squirm out of the unwelcomed embrace, "When did Uncle Chris get here?"

"A little while ago," I took him back, sitting Yurio on my hip, "Chris, you really should go a little easier on him when he's just waking up."

"Apple juice?" Yurio snuggled into my shoulder.

"Of course, baby," I got into the fridge and grabbed the bottle while Yurio reached up for one of his sippy cups from the cabinet. The kid and I were a hell of a team.

"Where did Victor and Yuri go?" he looked around, "I didn't see them in Victor's office and they weren't in Yuri's room."

"They went out," I sat him on the counter, "They'll be back soon."

"Violet!" Speak of the devil. The door swung open and I could hear the heartbreaking sobs coming out of my other baby, "We're home! You wouldn't happen to know where the first aid kit is, would you?"

"Why?" Always a good way to start a conversation, Victor. But then, I saw why as Victor sat Yuri on the kitchen counter with blood gushing from his shins, "Yuri! Baby, what happened?"

"I fell," Yuri sobbed, "And it hurts, Mama…It hurts so bad."

"I know, honey. I know," I tried to get him to calm down a bit and grabbed the first aid kit from on top of the fridge. I dreaded the thought of cleaning his shins up, "Battle scars. We all have them. Daddy's got some on his shins, too. Mine are on my thigh."

"Victor…" Chris chimed in.

And I could see the light in my husband's eyes, "Christophe…"

"Boys," I refocused them, "Task at hand. Victor, will you get me some gauze pads?"

"Sure," Victor snapped out of his schoolgirl daydream haze.

"There's no way of churching this up, Yuri," I held his hand, "This is going to hurt, but only for a little bit, ok? Think you can tough it out for me?"

"I'll try," Yuri wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"That's my boy," I kissed his forehead.

"Is there anything I can do, Violet?" Chris wondered as Victor handed off the gauze pads to me.

"Take Yuri's hand," I braced myself, "Because this isn't going to be pretty. What did you fall on, Yuri? I don't see any gravel or any dirt."

"I fell on the ice," Yuri took Chris's hand, wincing tremendously.

"Ice…?" Yurio caught on, "But it's June. There is no ice."

"There is at the rink!" Yuri squealed while I put rubbing alcohol into his open wounds.

Without another word, Yurio bolted with an angry fire in his eyes. And if that didn't give it away enough, the slamming of his bedroom door would. I love my boys to death, but Yurio needed to control his hairline trigger temper better and Yuri needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut. Wonderful. Now, I had two babies to take care of.

"What just happened?" Victor asked, just as nervous as I was.

"Here," I threw him the roll of ace bandage, "You take care of Yuri. I'll go talk to Yurio."

"What if I go-"

"No," I stopped him, "Trust me. I'll go talk to him."

"Ok," Victor tended to Yuri's shins while I went to find my angry little kitten.

"Yuri," I knocked on his door.

"Go away!"

"Yuri," I sighed out, "Let me in."

"I don't want to!"

I'm sure he thought he locked the door, but I still opened it with ease, "Your door lock doesn't work, sweetheart."

"What do you want?" he pouted.

"Talk to me," I sat with him, "What's wrong?"

"Piggy can't let me have anything, can he?" Yurio growled, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"What do you mean?" I worried, pulling him closer.

"He took Victor from me," he snapped, "He took you away from me. And now, he's going to take skating from me, too! I can't have anything that's mine without Yuri trying to take it away!"

"What?" my heart shattered as my arms wrapped around him, "Yuri, you know better. He never took me from you. You always have me."

"Promise?" Yurio looked up at me with his eyes bloodshot.

"I promise," I squeezed him tight, "Why don't you go get your skates? We can go to the rink, too. Sound good?"

"Ok," he jumped down from his bed and ran to find his skates.

While Yurio was healthily distracted (because that boy never knew where he left his skates. I loved him to pieces, but he's lucky his head's attached.), I needed to have some words with his father. I walked back out to the living room and found Victor on the couch with Yuri on his hip. And Chris with Victor on his hip, "Victor…"

"Hey," he jumped up, "Is everything ok?"

"We need to talk," I bit my lip, "Come here."

"Chris," Victor asked, "Could you keep an eye on Yuri?"

"Of course," Chris brushed him off while Yuri resituated himself.

"Victor," I dragged him into the kitchen, "You need to spend more time with your son."

"My son?" Victor gave me a look, "I have been. Every day."

"Yurio, Victor!" I grumbled, "Yurio! You do have two of them! Before you and Chris have your Twister game, I want you to spend some long, quality time with Yurio."

"Ok," he nodded, "I can stand to do that."

"Is everything ok?" Chris joined us.

"We're going to have to hold off on Twister," Victor told him, "I love you, but the boys come first."

"That's fine," he let out a heavy sigh, "I've waited this long for Twister. I can wait a little longer."

"Good," I chirped, "Now, I'm going to take Yurio to the rink to get him to settle down. You two can manage to keep it together while I'm gone? You don't need adult supervision?"

"We are adult supervision," Victor promised, kissing my cheek, "Go ahead. We can catch up while you're gone."

"Ok," I leaned over the couch and found Yuri taking a nap. He's probably had a long practice and crying always took a lot out of him. My poor baby...

"I'm ready, Mama," Yurio came out with his skates on his shoulder.

"Let's go then."

A/N: I'm sorry. This wasn't intended to be up so late. I've been a little…let's just say off lately. And my dad, bless him, had me out of the house for a while today. Which was much needed, so I'm not even mad. I'm sure you guys could wait a bit, right? I mean, I've gotten the "Lumi, I'd drag my nuts through a mile of broken glass just to hear you fart through a walkie talkie" comments, so I'm guessing you'd be cool with that? Regardless, I must admit that in writing this particular chapter, I did get a little weepy when Yuri scraped his shins up. I'm just glad we weren't there to see it. Because cleaning them up and watching them happen would've rendered me in the fetal position. But on a positive note! We have Chris here! And next week's chapter is going to be from a different perspective. Violet did say that Victor and Yurio needed to spend some more quality time together, didn't she? And what better way of doing that than with a little story time with Victor and Uncle Chris to dear little Yurio? And it's going to make a lot of things make a lot more sense. So, I'll see you next chapter! xx