A/N: Hi, guys! Day four. Second to the last chapter. And uh…I'm sorry. Because this chapter gets kind of heavy. *preemptive hugs* But we'll be ok. Consider this your end of episode 11.

Nothing better after a long, exhausting day of being on my feet and further injuring however many stress fractures in my legs than kicking my feet up in the hotel. Victor and Chris tucked the babies in for me and let me soak in our hot tub on our balcony. But they weren't too far behind. I'm just glad Chris wasn't naked. The last thing I wanted to do while we were here was bail Chris out of jail for indecent exposure.

"A beautiful night, is it not?" I stared up into the night sky, getting lost in the void hanging overhead.

"Absolutely," Chris pulled a bottle of champagne out of an ice bucket, "Violet, do you want any of this while I'm pouring?"

"No, thank you," I declined, "I shouldn't drink before a competition. Especially when it's Junior Finals."

"Vitya?" he offered, "Don't make me drink alone tonight."

"Sorry, Chris," Victor shot him down, "Looks like you're drinking alone."

"You two are no fun," Chris poured himself a glass of champagne, "More for me then."

"Tomorrow night," I sighed out, slipping under the water a little more, "All of the training for the past year. All of the grief we've been through. Yurio getting sick. It all comes down to tomorrow night."

"You're not nervous," Victor teased, "Are you, Vi?"

"Not at all," I smiled, "I have your fear keeping me pretty calm."

"Again," he corrected me, "I'm not afraid."

"But I'm a threat," I reminded him, "You said so yourself."

"Everything's a threat," Victor said, "That doesn't mean I'm scared."

"Whatever you say," I let him go, "If you're so sure, would you care to place a little friendly wager?"

"Are you really going to be on our children?" he gasped.

"No," I covered, "We're betting on our skills as coaches, not Yuri and Yurio's as skaters."

"Because that would be immoral," Chris took a drink from his champagne.

"What did you have in mind?" Victor asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

"If I win..." I thought on it for a moment or two, "If I win and Yurio beats Yuri, you have to do one of my old burlesque routines."

"Deal," he agreed, "I can do that."

"Let me finish," I grinned darkly, "I'll make a call to my old club and you'll do an entire set. Corset and garters, too. You'll live through my hell."

"That sounds like fun," Victor chirped, "And what if I win?"

"If you win," I knew what Victor wanted. I knew exactly what he wanted. And it came in the form of the beautiful Swiss man swilling champagne in this hot tub with us, "If you win, I want us to get a divorce."

In that moment, I saw Victor's fragile heart shatter to pieces, "What...?"

"If you win," I reiterated, "I want us to get a divorce."

"Chris..." a lone tear trickled out of Victor's eye, "Can you give us a minute?"

"Sure," Chris got out of the hot tub and left the two of us alone.

"Violet..." Victor's voice broke, "Why?"

"Let me..."

"Do you not love me anymore?" he shook.

"No," I wrapped my arms around him, "No, no, no. Quite the contrary. And again, you didn't let me finish. Why did we get married in the first place?"

"Because I wanted a family," Victor wept, "And the adoption agency in St. Petersburg would've been more likely to adopt to a couple."

"And?" I knew he knew, "Why else?"

"Because," he laid his head on my shoulder, "There's no way in hell they would've adopted to Chris and me."

"So," I finished for him, "You found your best girl friend in the whole world in a little corner of Brooklyn and showed her something better. Victor, I love you and that's not going to stop. But correct me if I'm wrong, but there's something missing in our relationship, isn't there?"

"No!" Victor held me tighter.

"Victor," I saw right through him, "Every time Chris is over, you couldn't be any happier. When he leaves, you spiral into a miserable depression. Every. Single. Time. Now, I'm going to ask you again. There's something missing in our relationship, isn't there?"

The realization finally came to him, "Yeah. I'm sorry, Violet. I never meant for that to happen."

"You're human, baby," I settled him, "I understand. To be honest, I saw this coming a mile away. The way that you and Chris are together is enough to put someone into a diabetic coma. When you don't think I see it, I do. And I don't want to be the wedge between you two anymore. To clarify, I still love you. Very much. Just because I want us to get a divorce doesn't mean I want to leave you. I still want you to be in my life. I want us to get divorced and for you and Chris to get married."

"What?" Victor was having a hard time following me.

"Simple terms," I dumbed it down, "I love you. You love Chris. Chris loves you the same way whether he wants to admit it or not. What you two have is much more than a mere friendship."

"If you're wanting Chris and me to get married," he wondered, "How do you figure we'll do this?"

"Well," I bit my lip, "I thought that since the boys have been loving New York since we got here, maybe we could move here. And you and Chris could get married here."

"Violet," Victor winced, "I don't know..."

"No," I stopped him, "You've always told me that you'd never be able to repay me for what I've done for you two. Consider this my repayment. I want you to be happy, Victor. That's all I want for you."

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me," I took his face between my hands, "I've had the best six years of my life with a man I love and raised two wonderful boys with. I'm not leaving any of you. We're just breaking a contract. That's all this is. We started this at the courthouse in Barcelona and we can end it in the courthouse in New York."

"But..." Victor thought it over, "This is all hinged on whether or not we beat you and Yurio tomorrow night?"

"Precisely," I nodded, "And I don't want you throwing it either."

"I won't," he squeezed me tight, "I love you, Violet Nikiforov. Thank you."

"I love you, too," I kissed his cheek, "If I didn't, I'd stay married to you."

"Victor? Violet?" Chris came back onto the balcony, "Can I come back out? Are you two done fixing your marital problems?"

"The jury's still out," Victor joked, "But yes. A minor misunderstanding."

"So, what's going on?" Chris wondered, "If you don't mind me asking."

"Nothing to worry about," I brushed him off, "Not yet anyway."

"Does the bet still stand?" he got back into the hot tub, "If you lose, Violet, your divorce happens. If Vitya loses, he's doing one of your burlesque routines?"

"It stands," I nodded, "And now we have a witness. You're not backing out of it, Victor."

"No, I'm not," Victor smiled again, returning the universe to perfect balance, "And you're not throwing it either, are you?"

"I won't," I kept my fingers crossed behind my back. I knew that there'd be no way I could get Yurio to throw it. He's too stubborn and competitive.

"Which makes me wonder," Chris chimed in, "If you two do get divorced, how are you going to explain that to the boys?"

"Cross that bridge when we come to it," Victor took my hand. I didn't even want to give that a thought. Then, we'd have a whole lot more than just our divorce to explain. I'm sure they'd automatically think I was leaving, too. But I made Yurio a promise that I'd never leave him. And I'll be damned if I go back on that.

I got out of the hot tub to give Chris and Victor some time alone and went to bed. The boys weren't the only ones that had a big day tomorrow. These competitions could be just as hard on the coaches as they are on the skaters. When I got up the next morning, I slipped out of our room and sought out words of wisdom from the best coach I know. Celestino and I had already made arrangements for coffee down on the corner at a cafe that I used to go to regularly while I still lived here.

However, when I got to the lobby, I bumped into someone I was really hoping not to see. Why? Why did he have to be here? Not surprised, though. From what Victor's told me, he hasn't missed a final in the past fifteen years. Why should this time around be any different?

"Violet," Yakov grumbled, "What are you doing here?"

"This is my home turf," I reminded him, "And both our boys are in the final."

"Congratulations," he said, "I hope you're prepared to lose tonight."

"I'm hoping so," I sighed out.

"What?"

That wasn't supposed to come out, "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"You know," Yakov thought, "I really wasn't expecting to see you here. Victor, yes, but you? Not in the least bit."

"Thanks, Yakov," I pouted, "You know how to give a hell of a pep talk."

"I'm glad you proved me wrong," he clarified, "Yuri is a very gifted skater. He's a natural talent. Davai."

"Thanks," I was skeptical, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"You looked like you could've used a scrap of human decency," Yakov shrugged, "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "I'm supposed to be meeting with my old coach soon. But Yakov, can I confide something in you first?"

"Me?" he gave me a look, "Why?"

"Because," I knew this was going to sucker punch him in the gut and distract him for tonight. Was it a low move? Yes. Did I care? Hell no, "I want you to be the first to know officially. I'm announcing my return tonight. After Yurio wins tonight, of course."

And on that note, I had a little more bounce in my step. Especially after seeing Yakov's jaw drop half way to China. If not for my own self-fulfillment, that look of pure stun on Yakov's face made it entirely worth it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling a little smug. Both Victor and Yakov should know better than to underestimate me. Crouching tiger, hidden dragon style.

"Violet!" Celestino flagged me down once I got to the café.

"Hey, Coach," I sat with him, "Did you order yet?"

"I ordered for you," he said, "Chai tea and a chocolate scone?"

"You know me all too well," I praised, "Yes. It's funny. It's been three years since I was at a Grand Prix event and you still remember my breakfast order."

"Like I can forget," Celestino nudged me under the table, "You're a very simple creature, bambina. You've never been the overly elaborate coffee order type."

"No," I sighed out, "That's Victor. He's always been the high maintenance one in our relationship. And that's an understatement."

"What's the matter, Violet?" he worried, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," I beamed, "I bumped into Yakov in the lobby of our hotel."

"And you're fine?" Celestino questioned my sanity, taking my hand, looking it over, "No bumps? No bruises? No need to get the police involved?"

"It's not like when I found out about him telling Yurio to lose weight," I promised, "He and I were rather civil. And I told him about my return. I thought he was going to have a heart attack right then and there."

"Don't get me wrong," he assured, "I can do some serious PR miracles, but I don't think even I could cover something like that up."

"I wonder what he'd say," I thought it over, "if I told him Victor was thinking about a comeback, too…"

"Is he?"

"I don't think so," I giggled, "But he could. Chris wants him to in the worst way."

"What about you?" Celestino asked, "Today's the big day, tesoro. Are you ready to announce your comeback?"

"I think Victor's going to do that for me," I figured, "Hold on."

"What are you doing?"

"Texting Victor," I pulled out my phone, asking him for the video I knew damn well he took of me from the sound booth, "I have something to show you."

"What is it?" Celestino stacked his empty creamer cups by his coffee.

"I have a new routine," I blushed, "It's a little sexier than what I've done before. I don't think anyone would expect it to come from me."

"You know, Violet," he suggested, "When you make your comeback, you could completely rebrand yourself. Then, you were the innocent, graceful little angel on the ice. Now, you could be a little devil with a naughty side."

Beep!

"And would you look at that?" I grinned, showing Celestino my phone, "Do I know him or do I know him?"

"He's your husband," Celestino pointed out, "I'd hope you know him."

That was a blow to the gut that I didn't need today. No. It was your idea, Violet. You're ok with it. Just because you're getting divorced doesn't mean he'll be out of your life. You'll still have Victor. Just not married. And that's ok. Because you know he's going to be a million times happier. It'll hurt like hell, but it's entirely worth it.

A/N: So, Victor and Violet are on the rocks. All with good intentions. Or are they? Maybe they won't get divorced. Maybe Victor and Yuri won't win. Maybe Violet and Yurio will. We don't know that. Well…I do. I know exactly what's going to happen. But you won't find out until tomorrow. Hang in there, kids. You'll be alright. See you next chapter! xx