The next morning, I woke up with the Spanish sun beating down on my face. My skin soaked up the rays like a sponge. And with me being as pale as what I am, I could stand a little bit of color. Oh, how I missed Barcelona. As happy as it makes me to see my boys skating competitively, it's really too bad we're not here on a pleasure trip. I could use the vacation. However, that wasn't the case. Hold on...A sweet smell lingered in the air. And my husband wasn't in our bed.
I got up and searched our suite. Celestino was off the couch, too. Where in the hell would those two run off to? Yuri and Yurio were still asleep, though. At least I knew where they were. After another few steps into the living room and I found their father. And my coach. In our kitchen. I really should know better than to leave Victor and Celestino without adult supervision.
"Vitya," I rubbed my eyes, still half asleep, "What the hell are you doing in the kitchen with my coach?"
"Good morning, beautiful," Victor pulled me into his chest, kissing my forehead.
"We're making breakfast," Celestino chimed in, "If that's alright with you, of course."
"A little late for me to say no." I knew it was coming from a place of love and concern. After my stint in the hospital, Celestino was always hellbent about me skipping meals. Even if it was the littlest thing. But for now, I needed coffee. And lots of it.
Then, I remembered the beautiful moment Victor and I had last night at the rink. Hopefully, the guy that scored the picture didn't hear my slight announcement of a possible return next season. That's the kind of thing I should probably talk over with Celestino first, if he'd even have be back. The last thing he needed to do right now was damage control for my career.
"By the way, Violet," Celestino's tone made me nervous as took a pan out of the oven. That's what was smelling so sweet. Looks like someone was busy. And Celestino made some of the best raspberry scones I've ever had in my life, "I was on my phone this morning. Do you know what I saw?"
"What?" I bit my tongue. Here we go...
"Actually, Victor showed it to me," he took his phone out of his pocket, showing me my worst nightmare, "Care to explain what my star skater was doing on the ice after she said she retired?"
"I can still skate for fun, can't I?" I defended, contemplating whether or not to kick Victor's pageant mom ass for showing it to Celestino in the first place, "It's not a crime."
"No," Celestino agreed with me, "But you know what pictures like this are going to do, Violet. All it's going to do is generate rumors. And going by the video, you really haven't lost your touch."
"What do you mean?" There was video, too? I thought the guy only got a picture! And the fact that I was skating with Victor means that's about to hit viral status. Yeah. I'm kicking Victor's ass later.
"You can't tease your fans like that," he pointed out, "That's just cruel."
"Yeah..."
Victor gave me a little nudge. Dammit. I see what he's doing. What he's trying to do. He's trying to get me to tell Celestino. The boys were still sleeping. I didn't want them waking up because my coach was about to go off like fireworks. Even worse, Celestino knew my tells. He had been my coach for quite some time. He's going to pick up on the little things I do that say I have something on my mind without saying a word.
"Violet," Celestino looked me over, "Are you alright, tesoro? You look like you're not feeling well."
"No," I shook my head, "I feel fine. Just tired."
Victor's elbow went into my ribs again. It's like he's wanting to piss me off this morning. I wasn't ready to tell Celestino about my comeback. I wasn't near the right level of awake to deal with Celestino's spastic fallout. The two of us exchanged silent glances, speaking volumes. I knew that's what he was trying to get at. Tell Celestino, Violet. He's going to know eventually. But he didn't need to know right this second. I was still a little iffy about wanting to do it. That's one of those things I tell him at the end of the season when either Yuri or Yurio come home with a medal.
Whoever gets in the top two this round secures a spot in the finals. And if my boys keep doing as well as what they've been doing, they're going to finals. That's what we've been working for after all. At least Yurio. I love Yuri to death, but if I'm comparing their skating skills, Yurio's been doing a lot better than Yuri. Then again, as Yurio's coach, I might be a little biased. Sure, it'd be great to win gold at Juniors my first time out of the gate as a coach, but I don't care which one of my boys win. As long as one of them wins. Their medals will hang nicely with ours.
"Violet," Victor threatened, "Say it."
"If this doesn't bring me back to the old days," Celestino giggled, "You two plotting behind my back. What's going on? And you can't tell me you got married again."
"No," I assured him, "We're not getting married again."
All of a sudden, Celestino froze and the life drained from his eyes. My once bright and vibrant coach turned pale as a ghost, "Violet...I need you to be honest with me."
"Of course," I worried, "What is it?"
"Are you..." Celestino kept shooting glances down at my stomach, "Are you pregnant?"
"No," I shook my head violently, "No, no, no, no, no."
I loved Celestino dearly, but even he didn't know the details of why Victor and I got married. That thought even made Victor a bit nervous. In a twisted way, it made me giggle. To be fair, though, he had it coming. That's what Victor gets for trying to push me. I'm going to push back and he should know that by now.
"Then, what's going on with you two?" Celestino squeaked, "Just tell me. I'm not going to get mad and I'm not going to blow up. I promise."
"Alright," I glared at my husband, who had a big ass smirk on his face. I loved him. I really did. I passed up the stockbroker for this, "About the pictures...and the video..."
"What...?" he worried.
"It's not me teasing the fans," I explained, "The guy caught us both off guard. We thought we were alone and Victor wanted to drown me in nostalgia for the good old days."
"You're welcome," Victor was more than happy to take credit for that.
"And it got me thinking," I went on, jumping up on the counter.
"Mama..." a soft little sleepy voice joined us, "Can I have some apple juice?"
"Well," I beamed, so very thankful for his timing, "Dobrye otro, kotenok. Sleep ok?"
"Yeah..." Yurio climbed up on a barstool, "Yuri's awake, too."
"Good," Victor chirped, "That way, I don't have to wake him and you both can hear Mama's news, too."
"What news?" Yurio looked over at me as I got his cup from one of the bags.
"You never know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?" If my eyes could shoot laser beams, Victor would look like Swiss cheese by now.
"Nope!" his face lit up as the pitter patter of the other pair of tiny feet in our lives shuffled across the floor, "Yuri!"
"Ohayo," Yuri grumbled with the same disdain for mornings as his little brother.
"Mama," Yurio wasn't going to let up on it. And Victor knew that, "What was your news?"
And now, he had Yuri intrigued, "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Celestino looked me over, "But I think your mama thought she was going to be able to get out of telling me. Go on, Violet. Victor's nostalgia trip got you thinking."
"Well," I slid Yurio his apple juice, "With the way things have been going lately, I thought about my own skating career. The crowds, the lights, the ice...That's home to me. I gave that all up, so the boys would at least have me home while Victor was on the road. When Yurio asked me to teach him, I hadn't been on the ice in a good, solid year. I forgot what it felt like being out there. And last night cemented that for me. I had a brief epiphany and I think I'm going to come back next season."
"Excuse me?" I thought Celestino was about to have a heart attack.
"But that doesn't leave this room," I demanded, "I've been thinking about a comeback for a while now, but last night..."
"I know," Victor wrapped his arms around me, "I was there."
"I miss it, Coach," I went on, "I miss it so much. And with the season about to come to an end, I'm probably going to take a couple weeks off and start training again."
"Well," Celestino hid a little grin from me, "You're going to need a coach, aren't you?"
"Yeah," I nodded, "Which is why I wanted to ask you something."
"I think you know the answer to that, Violet..."
"Good," I sighed out, "Because I wanted to know if I had your blessing to have Victor coach me next season."
"What?" Celestino gasped.
"What?" Victor shared his sentiment.
"Huh?" Yurio gave me a look.
"What?" Yuri squeaked, "You're taking my coach?"
"Of course not," I giggled, "I just wanted to see what you'd all say."
"Violet," Victor relaxed, "Don't scare me like that."
"You?" Celestino snapped.
"No, no, no," I wiggled my way into my coach's arms, "Like I'd pick someone else to be my coach. There's only room for one coach in my heart, Celestino. We're a team, you and I."
"Dio mio, Violet," Celestino scolded me, "I forgot what kind of stress you put on me."
"What can I say?" I laid my head in his shoulder, "I'm your favorite little headache."
"Yeah," he kissed my forehead, "That's true."
"Now," Victor checked the time, "I think wAe have a competition to be getting to shortly. Shall we?"
"Good call," I dug through the bags and grabbed Yurio's costume, "Which one are you wanting to do today, dovahkiin? Primadonna or Tale of the Dragonborn?"
"Dragonborn," Yurio finished his apple juice, "We'll save Primadonna for another day."
"Alright," I took out his armor and the five of us pulled ourselves together and headed down to the rink. Competition in Barcelona again. Oh, how I missed you so. Maybe I'll be able to go through here next year when I'm competing again. I mean, I had the honor of skating here last night, but when the cameras go off and they're not ours, that's a bit of a mood killer.
"Where did you draw, Vi?" Victor asked.
"We're first," I cringed, "The dreaded first slot."
"Set the bar," he gave me one little kiss and all of my nerves melted through my feet.
"We will," I smiled, taking Yurio by the hand. To be honest, I was horrified. My luck with the first spot was never good. Yurio and I went to the locker room to get ready and for whatever reason, Celestino decided to tag along.
"Violet?" he wondered, "Are you ok?"
"A little nervous," I bit my lip, "What about you, baby? You doing ok?"
"Fine," Yurio assured, "I've done this routine a million times over. I'm sure I know what I'm doing and I know I'm going to do better than Yuri."
"That's my boy," I hugged him a little tighter than usual. I don't understand why I was so jumpy. It's not like I was the one skating. Yet I could've come out of my skin.
"Yurio," Celestino ordered, "Go stretch. I need to talk to your mama for a minute."
"Ok," Yurio got up from the bench and left Celestino and me to ourselves.
"Violet," he sat next to me, "Talk to me. What's wrong?"
"I don't know," my knees shook, "It just got really overwhelming really fast."
"Relax," Celestino threw an arm around my shoulders, "Everything's fine. Yurio's ready. You should be, too. Is this about what happened in the kitchen this morning?"
"Maybe."
"Violet," he held me tight, "Mia bambina…Are you sure you're ready to come back?"
I wanted to. More than anything. While Victor was skating his last season, he called me every night with stories of how he was truly living like this season was his last. I envied him terribly. Not that I didn't love the quality time with Yuri and Yurio, but while I was taking care of Yuri when he got a really bad bout of stomach flu, only to give it to his brother a week later and peeling them apart when they'd get into it, Victor was jet setting around the world. A new city every week. A new country. Excitement. Adventure. But the more I talk about my own return, the more apprehensive I get about it.
Although, I needed that again. That spark in my eyes and the feeling in the pit of my stomach. One of the few things that made me feel like I was alive. There was a truly magical and mystical feeling about it. Like living in a fairytale. And I was the princess on that ice. I got almost the same feeling when I was doing burlesque shows, but this didn't make me need a very hot shower afterwards.
Like a switch, my anxiety turned to determination. And I got my game face back, "I'm sure. Let's do this."
"There you are, Violet," Celestino pulled me onto my feet again, "Make me proud, tesoro."
"Do I ever disappoint?" I grinned, "Come on, Yuri. Let's go."
"Yes, Mama," Yurio was ready. I was ready. It was time for us to do what we did best. Victor told us to set the bar. I just hope Yuri's prepared. He's going to need to set up a step ladder in order to come close to this bar.
A/N: Hi, guys! Now, before I forget, we're going to be on a little bit of a hiatus soon. But! We're going to be coming back on July 17th and you beautiful people are going to get an update every single day from the 17th to the 21st. I forgot about bomb week Monday and Tuesday and I just had to tell the others. But fear not, my children. Your time will come, too. But then, we'll be back on hiatus from the 22nd to the 31st. You may be wondering, Lumi, that's on a Monday. Why would we be back on a Monday? Our regular update day is Wednesday. Well, for that week, you're going to be switching days with the Kuroshitsuji fic. Why? Because it's going to be my 2 year anniversary of posting my first fic and that was a Kuroshitsuji fic. So, I have to do an anniversary special. Now, story! I'm not going to say much about this week's chapter, but I'm going to go on record and say that Celestino is my favorite human being. See you next chapter! xx