A/N: Ugh, I'm so sorry that it took a while to update. I had been sick lately (not with COVID) and I've been studying for finals and doing so much homework over spring break. I hope you enjoy this chapter and that it makes up for it!

Song in parenthesis by Frank Sinatra. Odd choice, even for me, but I thought it'd be funny.

Chapter 20- A Sequence of Malfunctions (Luck Be a Lady)

While yesterday was difficult despite Josée and Jacques' win, today was a new day. Don announced them as yesterday's winning team as they approached the Don box in Transylvania to receive their next travel tip.

"Take a donkey cart to Bucharest and fly to..." Josée paused, and broke into a huge smile along with Jacques. "...Hawaii!" Josée was so happy that she didn't even care that two teams would be riding with her and Jacques in the donkey cart. Josée and Jacques sat in the front as the latter held the reins of the donkey. The Sisters and the Reality TV Pros were in the back and became annoyingly chatty with a game of charades.

"Hi!" Kitty exclaimed. "Up in front!" Josée and Jacques blinked, realizing that she was talking to them. "I'm Kitty. That's my sister Emma. And..." she paused awkwardly, looking back and forth between Noah and Owen and faltered. "They're..." she trailed off.

"I'm Owen, and that's Noah." Josée and Jacques noticed that Noah's pupils were dilated in interest toward Emma, until he snapped out of it to give a wave, disinterested.

"Allo," Jacques said civilly, whilst Josée remained skeptical.

"We're about to play charades, do you want to join?" Kitty asked cheerfully.

Keep your distance.

Josée and Jacques eyed them with distaste, before Josée spoke up. "No thank you."

"Oh... okay."

"Oh oh oh! I'm good at this game!" cheered Owen, then hesitated as he saw Kitty's movements, "Um... uh... goal posts? No! Er... rectangle face? Erm... a box of candy!" Josée and Jacques watched from the corner of their eyes to see Kitty facepalm; neither ice dancer could blame her. and then exchanged an irritated look with each other.

That was when the producers stopped the carts for interviews.

"Playing is for children," Josée remarked, matter-of-factly to the camera. "We stay focused on our goals at all times."

"I'm so focused, I haven't washed my boxers since the race started," said Jacques.

Josée made a face of disgust. "That's not focused. That's gross."

Jacques scoffed. "Well," he began, crossing his arms. "Maybe some people think your lucky rabbit's foot is gross, eh?"

...Oh.

He did not just insult bun-bun.

Josée pouted only for a second before reaching into her skirt pocket. "Don't listen to him, bun-bun." And she kissed it.

When they got back to the carts, the Sisters and the Reality TV Pros - well, in this case Kitty and Owen - resumed their game. "Cheesecake?" Owen guessed.

"Click."

"Oh. Exploding chocolate cheesecake!"

Josée longed to bang her head onto something hard.

"Camera. It's camera," Emma finally blurted out. "She said 'click.' How did you not get that?" Josée peeked over to see Noah's eyes sparkled in an unusual way as Emma kept trying to get his attention; she wasn't very bright not to notice his obvious affection for him, Josée thought.

Suddenly the cart began to rattle, probably because the wheels of it had hit a few rocks. A funny feeling occurred in Josée's stomach, but she ignored it, at least for now.

Upon finding out that all the teams were on the same flight regardless of their placing was not a fun feeling. It was a long fifteen-hour flight to Hawaii and like Josée has said before, the contestants were far too chatty for her liking which made it difficult to get some sleep. It was especially difficult hearing the bickering between the Mother-Daughter duo that was arguing in front of them - their names being Kelly and Taylor respectively.

...It bothered Josée more than she liked to admit. That teenaged brat was getting on her nerves, and her mother was just... so annoyingly passive. Josée figured that teenagers like this were the reason why her own mother was so tough on her; this could've been the result for herself had her mother not disciplined her properly. Hearing them bicker made Josée think about her own mother, and she didn't want to when her mother would want her to be focusing on the competition.

By the time they arrived in Hawaii, they ran out in a hurry since the other teams got ahead. That was until that same funny feeling occurred in Josée's stomach again except in such an intensifying rate that she had no point but to suddenly halt her steps. "Something doesn't feel right." Jacques had returned to her side. When Josée moved, she didn't feel the usual dangle from the rabbit's foot she felt inside her skirt.

That's when comprehension slapped her across the face.

No, no, no, no, no...

She let out a horrified gasp and searched herself frantically. "Oh no! Bun-bun! Where's bun-bun?!"

"It's okay!" Jacques tried to reassure, "We don't need a rabbit's foot." He even tried to smile to make her feel better, that much Josée knew. "Like you said about my underpants, it's just a silly superstition." Except in this case, it was not going to make her feel better like he usually was able to do, especially since he brought up his underpants. Bun-bun was so important to her, and even though he made fun of her once in a while for it, he knew that bun-bun made her feel better when things got bad.

"Okay, take off your lucky gitch then," Josée ordered, knowing well he wasn't going to. She watched as Jacques' eyes went down and then looked directly at the camera...

...and then he booked it.

"That's what I thought!" Josée shouted after him, then ran to catch up as hit got to the Don box. Josée snatched the travel tip. "Botch or watch. Whoever didn't do gymnastics in Romania has to go diving for... wedding rings?" Josée blinked slowly, before continuing: "Botchers must dive into Hawaii's most popular wedding bay, and retrieve one of the rings from the bottom. Then swim to the beach at the tip of the bay to meet your partner." Jacques didn't wait; he dove into the water gracefully.

Instinctively, Josée reached into her skirt pocket - only to find nothing.

...It took everything not to cry.

As Jacques was underwater, Josée's thoughts sadly went over to bun-bun. Jacques didn't understand, as pathetic as it sounded, bun-bun was her security blanket. She didn't remember much of her very, very early childhood - but one of the first memories she ever had was with her pet rabbit, bun-bun. When her mother told her that bun-bun mysteriously died in the middle of the night after one of the worst skating days of her life, all she could remember was a churning feeling, and then crying hysterically until her mother gave her bun-bun's foot. A year later, Josée met Jacques - and she was happy, so bun-bun had meant something.

Josée never felt so naked without it.

Poor Bun-bun.

Bubbles emerged in the water, indicating that someone was rising to the surface. Josée peaked over, along with the other contestants, to see if their partner was rising up.

Luckily for her, it happened to be Jacques, who had found a wedding ring.

Suddenly there was a surge of confidence Josée didn't have before; it was like she forgot all about bun-bun. "Woo!" Josée cheered, "See you on the beach!" She ran past the contestants that were waiting and ran across the beach excitedly. "First place, even without bun-bun." Then, a startling thought: "Maybe Jacques' right, I don't need a good luck charm anymore!" Right at that very moment, however, she stopped in her tracks as something in the sand caught her attention.

A rock shaped as a trophy.

"What?" Josée placed her hand on it and gasped excitedly. "It's so light, and warm! The energy... it's beautiful!" She felt a sudden tug on her jacket, but didn't care. She brought the volcanic rock close to her face as she ran. "Come on, rock-rock! We've got a race to win!"

"Wait!" An old man's voice cried out. Josée turned to see where that tugging was from, the old man's fishing rod. "You can't take a lava rock as a souvenir." Josée considered her options in a matter of seconds. Rock-rock was no bun-bun, but it was the closest thing she was going to get! And the last thing she needed was some old man telling her what to do, she had been very upset without her good luck charm.

"You have a whole volcano of them!" Josée snapped, throwing the rod off coat. "Just chill out, grandpa!" Her eyes gleamed in interest at her new good luck charm; yes, it wasn't like bun-bun, but it would do for now.

Rock-rock.

As he swam closer to the beach, Jacques already spotted Josée at the Don box for the next challenge. They both kissed at the cameras momentarily in synchronization, before Josée turned to him - a lot more chipper than she was before, Jacques realized. "We're still in first place, and check it out!" Josée reached into her skirt pocket. "New good luck charm. It's a lava rock."

Jacques gave her a little smile for a second; he found it cute that she looked and sounded so proud over it, as well as enthusiastic. Jacques wasn't sure whether it was the way she said it, or the fact that she looked a lot happier after finding a replacement for bun-bun, or both. "Nothing can stop us now!"

Josée turned back around to slam the button on the Don box. "It's an All-in. In this Hawaiian wedding ritual, teams must walk on..."

"Fire!" Don finished for Josée, causing her to gasp. Jacques and Josée watched uncomfortable as Don explained the rest of the challenge, "Technically, coals. In this challenge, brides must wear a grass skirt and grooms wear a wreath of maile lei as they carry their brides across this path of hot coals." Don groaned, likely from the pain. "It's a test of strength and honor. And if any part of them catches on fire..." Coincidentally, both the skirt and wreath in Don's hands lit up. "...grass skirt included, it's back to the start!" Don let out a screech and ran to the beginning of the path of coals. Josée and Jacques watched uneasily as the skirt and wreath diminished to nothing.

"Once they reach the end untested," Don continued normally, "It's a race to the chill zone." He picked up his damaged foot. "Great, now I have to take foot modeling off my resume."

"So you can interrupt me but I can't interrupt you?" Josée asked, referring to Romania.

Don grinned. "Precisely."

Jacques lifted a curious eyebrow. Jacques hadn't really thought much of the actual host of the show, most of their problems relied with the producers, so he hadn't really been paying attention to what he thought of Don. He was friendly enough; he saw him a few times in whatever hotel they were staying at in the early mornings getting coffee and would greet Jacques by name. It was almost as if he was clueless at the drama going on behind the scenes. It seemed like he was new to Reality TV.

...Or that could be an act. Josée would probably think so.

"Will we get penalized for wearing both?" Jacques couldn't help but ask Don.

Don blinked a few times at the question, but shrugged. "You won't. Knock yourselves out, I guess."

When they got to the skirts and wreaths and put them on, Josée smiled fondly at her partner's excitement. "You're going to carry me, oui?"

"Of course, Josée." Then Jacques giggled when he put on the skirt. "Papa's going to complain up a storm."

Josée giggled as well. "Oh no question about it - whoah!" Josée suddenly found herself lifted up high in Jacques' arms and was suppressing a laugh, Jacques could tell. "I think you need to give me more of a warning next time."

"Oui. Sorry about that..." Jacques said, then looked nervously at the coals. "Um..."

"Go on, then," Josée ordered calmly. "It'll be fine." The moment Jacques stepped onto the coals, he felt a severe burning sensation on his feet, and he wanted to squeal and soak his feet into the cool water. But Josée kept trying to keep his mind off of it, "Jacques, keep your eyes closed. Think of something else." Jacques closed his eyes and thought of other things, like the funny image of his papa getting annoyed over a skirt. "That's it, Jacques, moving ahead. Just like the olympics, this is one ginormous mind game."

"This challenge is pretty easy," he remarked.

"That's right. You're just walking. There are no coals."

Jacques' eyes snapped open and suddenly his feet were on fire.

"I forgot about the coals!" Jacques shrieked and, just like the olympics, Jacques dropped Josée, ran off shrieking, and jumped into the water to cool off. When he was done, he got a new skirt and wreath. Josée stalked over to him and crossed her arms angrily. "Ah, Josée, I'm sorry - ah!" He was cut off by Josée suddenly holding him bridal-style.

"Since you can't seem to do this, I'll do it instead," Josée snapped. Jacques looked at her doubtfully; yes, she was very strong - but he wondered if she would be able to be strong enough to hold him up so he wasn't weighing her down on the coals. To his surprise, Josée grinned and sprinted across the coals - even passing Devin and Carrie on the way there.

Unfortunately, Jacques was right, as his skirt suddenly caught on fire. Thankfully, Josée carried him all the way back and threw him in the water. Jacques suspected that their polyester costumes also had something to do with it; it had the tendency to heat up quickly which could make the skirts catch on fire faster.

They went back to get yet another skirt.

"You were saying?" Jacques couldn't help but counter.

"Oh shut up." Then Josée bit her lower lip. "Je suis désolé... I just don't want to lose."

A surge of confidence rose in Jacques. When he replaced his skirt, he lifted up his partner. "Hold on to my neck tightly, Josée."

"What?"

"Just do it."

Josée blinked, most likely at his assertiveness, but did what he asked. Like Josée did earlier, Jacques sprinted across the coals. He saw Josée let out the faintest of smiles, and in that moment, Jacques felt like a superhero. They were getting closer and closer to see that Devin and Carrie were at the front, still in the way.

"Hey Best Friends!" Josée shouted, "Move it or lose it!" Devin and Carrie began to run. Despite Josée and Jacques no longer running on the coals, Jacques had yet to put Josée down on the ground; truthfully, he didn't want to. He felt strong, he felt powerful. "Believe in the lava rock, and we'll own the podium!" Jacques had stopped smiling for a brief moment, taking in how superstitious she was, before smiling again as they made past Devin and Carrie, and were now on their way to the chill zone.

But then the moment was ruined when Jacques tricked over something hard, and both he and Josée landed on the ground with a thud.

"Carrie, Devin. Congrats. You're in second place."

Second?

Only second?

That meant...

God...

"Jacques, Josée, you've come in... third."

Naturally, they were pulled over to the side by the producers.

"No! Not again!" Josée had cried. She crossed her arms bitterly. "Bronze. It's the worst medal. The road to shame is paved with bronze." Jacques had let out a guilty sob. Just a minute ago he had felt like a superhero, but he was clumsy enough to trip over a rock.

When they got back to the chill zone, many of the teams had already arrived. The second-to-last team consisting of Taylor and Kelly had shown up, the latter of the two that ended up looking less-than-pleased.

"Twelfth place," Don announced.

"Well honey," Kelly began, putting her daughter down. "It wasn't pretty, but-"

"You need to step up your game, mother! For serious."

"We're a team, Taylor."

Josée frowned deeply; it was something about their dynamic that seemed off - the way Taylor's mother talked, it was too weak - completely unfamiliar territory.

"I know you aren't used to winning, like me..." Taylor started. Josée blinked at the teenager's blunt attitude momentarily, she wondered how on earth she was able to get away with the way she talked to her - it was awfully foolish of her. "...but maybe you need to follow my example more because-"

"You've never won anything in your life Taylor! Never!" Kelly finally snapped at her daughter.

Oh.

There was the fire. Kelly went on furiously, "Not one race, not one medal, nothing!"

"Wait. What?" Taylor was appalled. "My room is full of trophies and medals!"

"Because your dad bought a trophy store! What kind of trophies come in the mail?" Jacques looked ready to interject, but Josée put her hand in front of him and shook her head that now wasn't the time; she was too fixated on this conversation. "And guess who paid your coaches to lie? Yep. Daddy."

"Beauty pageants! I won beauty pageants!" Taylor shouted desperately. "You can't fake those!"

"Oh honey, when you have enough cash, you can fake anything."

...Very true.

Taylor gasped in fright. Josée only felt slightly bad for the girl, but what she didn't understand was why her mother looked immensely guilty after shouting the truth at her daughter. She was just telling her the truth, her own mother did it all the time whether she wanted to hear it or not!

Another fifteen minutes pass, and it's revealed to the Daters that they were the last to arrive, but that it was a non-elimination round. Apparently the Daters were no longer dating and were incredibly sick of each other. At least they wouldn't be making-out half the time anymore.

Soon after, they all made it to their hotel for overnight. Before Josée did, she told Jacques she had to use the bathroom and that she would be back within a few minutes. Jacques said he would be waiting right outside, and Josée sighed - it was likely he was making sure that she wasn't going to make herself throw up after getting third.

Josée had washed her hands and was ready to leave, that was until Taylor stormed into the bathroom and locked herself in the stall. Seconds later, Kelly flew in and knocked on the stall desperately. "Taylor, sweetie please..."

"Mom, I don't want to hear it!" Taylor snapped, it sounded like she had been crying. "Just go away!"

"Taylor-"

"Go away!" Taylor screeched, making even Josée flinch.

Kelly let out a frustrated sigh. "You know I didn't mean all those things-"

"Why are you taking that back?" Josée interjected impulsively. "You meant what you said." Kelly's eyes averted from the stall to where Josée was. The ice dancer bit her lip and then strolled out of the bathroom, realizing that she shouldn't have said anything. She felt a tap on her shoulder. "Sorry. I know it's not-"

"It's because I love my daughter," Kelly said defensively, "And because I love my daughter, I wanted to protect her."

Josée blinked slowly at this logic. "I don't understand," she stated, frowning.

"You'll understand when you have children of your own," Kelly replied curtly, and then walked back to the bathroom.

Josée stood there for a few minutes, ignoring Jacques calling her name. Children of her own? What did that mean? She may not have children, but her mother had a child she raised all by herself! Her mother didn't spare her feelings; she told her the cold hard truth of any situation whether she liked it or not, which was why she had medals and trophies in her room and hard work. Kelly's way-of-thinking didn't click nor resonate with her at all; because look what happened to Taylor now and the consequences of lying and sparing her feelings; it ended up crashing down on her.

She loved her daughter, Kelly had said.

If she really loved her daughter, Josée thought, she would've been cold.

"Josée? Josée are you okay?" Josée shook out of her thoughts and nodded at Jacques, who was staring concernedly. "Let's get to our room, chouchou." Josée nodded again and looked back at the bathroom; Kelly's words echoing over and over in her head - you'll understand when you have children of your own.

When she woke up today, Josée yearned to go back to bed and almost forget about the competition altogether. She had barely slept last night from Kelly's words had replayed in her brain; it was like an earworm - and it made her uneasy. She had to drag herself downstairs to grab not one, not two, but three cups of coffee. Jacques knew Josée wasn't much of a coffee drinker, she preferred energy drinks - but too much caffeine for Josée even if she was exhausted was not a good thing.

Josée and Jacques were third to receive their first travel tip of the day. "We're going to Dubai," Josée stated. "Once there, teams must bus to Burl Al Arab, the world's only seven star hotel, to find the next Don box." Jacques and Josée ran, with the former whistling loudly to hopefully catch a taxi. A few more times, and they found one.

"No sleep..." Josée grumbled from the cab on the way to the airport.

Jacques looked at his companion worriedly, "Don't worry, Josée. You'll be able to sleep on the plane." It said in parenthesis on the travel tip that it was a seventeen hour flight, hopefully that would be plenty of time to get some shut eye. She couldn't fall asleep now though, they still had to race on foot to get on the first flight to Dubai. Josée grumbled some more and waited until the taxi pulled into the airport. Jacques noticed that his partner was still too irritated, so he picked her up and ran inside, along with a bunch of other teams eager for a seat on the first flight.

"Dubai, please!" Geoff called out.

The flight receptionist typed a few things on the computer. "Flight leaving now time... Twelve seat. Rest on next flight."

Everyone collectively cheered and got on the flight. What they learned was that the winners would be getting a hot-tub in first class. Geoff and Brody both did a cannon ball into the hot-tub which also had a plate of cookies waiting for them. "Cookie?"

Jacques perked up a bit. "Ah! Mais oui." However, before he could get one, the flight attendant shut the curtain, separating Jacques from first class leaving him in economy. He let out a frustrated groan. "That hot-tub should be ours! How did we place third?"

"As my mother always says, 'Bronze is the medal of failure!'" Josée answered coldly, then spat on the floor in disgust. "But, mama, our luck is about to change."

She had pulled out her lava rock, to which the producers asked Jacques about which he eagerly explained that Josée had lost her lucky rabbit's foot and replaced it with a pretty rock. He wasn't able to hold back the "aw" in the back of his throat. "Our luck is bound to improve!" Jacques finished confidently. At that second, one of the compartments from above flew open and dumped various objects on him, much to Jacques' complaining.

"Forged from lava, this stone embodies my fiery determination to win!" Josée proclaimed, and then she didn't laugh, no - she burst into a cackle.

Jacques watched her uncomfortably, while he was still on the ground. "You mean our determination to win," he corrected uneasily.

"Hm?" Josée hummed, and then added: "Oh yeah. Sure."

Jacques knitted his eyebrows together in confusion; he wanted to say it was the lack of sleep that made Josée have such a reaction, but he wasn't too sure. Another thing he found to be strange was that she easily brought up her mother on camera, to which he was curious about, because she had been insistent on not bringing up her mother for fear that the producers would find something to use against them. It was a little too late for that, anyhow - since the producers had overheard that conversation on the phone.

Josée put her lava rock away and helped Jacques to his feet. "We just need to bring our A-game."

"Can we talk?" Two voices interrupted several feet away from them. Josée and Jacques turned to see Devin and Carrie, looking slightly displeased. This struck Josée as odd, because when Carrie wasn't crying over her unrequited love, she was friendly; entirely too chatty.

"What?" Jacques snapped. "In case you haven't noticed, we are in a competition." Josée blinked at her partner's coldness, usually it was herself that was the cold one.

Devin crossed his arms. "This is about what happened in Hawaii."

"What happened in Hawaii?" Josée asked coolly.

Carrie frowned at Josée. "You yelled at us to move."

Beat.

"Are you serious?" Josée asked incredulously, raising her eyebrow at the blonde. She almost wanted to laugh in her face, hell, from the corner of her eye, it looked like Jacques was struggling not to laugh at the absurdity. "I know you aren't serious."

"We're serious," Devin stated.

"Well you should've moved quicker," Josée stated, then scoffed: "Stop being so soft."

Jacques agreed, nodding. "Our point still stands, this is a competition. We're trying to win."

Beat.

"You guys are kind of mean," Carrie remarked, a hurt tone in her voice. "It wouldn't hurt for you to be kinder."

"Nice doesn't get you anywhere," Josée shot back. "Nice gets you shit." She ignored the scathing looks she got from the producers, and went on: "Let this be a little life lesson to you that not everyone is going to care about your feelings. People will take advantage of your kindness and it will hurt you in the end." She shook her head. "All because I told you to move... I can't believe you." To Josée, it absolutely was absurd - all she would do was open her mouth and be honest and somehow she'd end up being the bad guy.

"What's with you guys?" Devin asked, shocked. "You guys were so much cooler when we met on the flight to Morocco-"

"That was Morocco," Jacques cut in. "But that was what... eight episodes ago? This isn't junior high. We haven't changed..." That was a bit debatable, but nonetheless: "The competition's changing. Don't take it as us being mean when in reality we are here for the same reason everyone else is, which is to win a million dollars."

Josée noticed that she had been perceived as the bad guy a lot lately; along with a few other habits she had picked up. But right now, sleep was calling her name, and she could use the shut-eye.

After seventeen painful hours - which included emergency air masks because Owen managed to stink up the plane - the first flight landed in Dubai. Shortly after, they took the shuttle bus to the Burj Al Arab and ran to the Don box nearby. "It's an Either-Or," started Josée, "Serve or squeegee? Teams could either return one serve each from the worlds toughest ball launcher; the Tennis Menace, or wash an entire column of windows from the top down." She looked at Jacques. "Serve?"

He nodded once. "Serve."

Josée and Jacques ran all the way to the roof of the hotel, where a few other teams were and the Tennis Menace was waiting. Since the Surfers and the Best Friends failed at their turns, it was Josée and Jacques' turns next. Just as Jacques was about to go, two horrible screams interrupted. Everyone by the tennis court looked down to see that Sisters were dangling off a window washing platform. Soon enough, many teams from flight two - presumably after seeing that - bolted to the roof to face the Tennis Menace.

Josée took out her lava rock for good luck and smiled, whilst Jacques smiled momentarily.

"Participate," the Tennis Menace stated robotically.

"Hey my nose isn't bleeding!" One of those twins exclaimed happily, unfortunately for him, the Tennis Menace must've had a mind of its own as it launched a tennis ball that hit him square in the face. As if that wasn't enough, the Tennis Menace fired out several more tennis balls, much to the fright of everyone else.

"We'll be switching to windows," Dwayne told his son that was impressed by the machine.

"Us too," added Kelly.

Taylor put her hands on her hips. "Ugh, mom. Why? I've won, like, a bagillion tennis trophies..." she trailed off when she saw her mother's guilty smile. Josée couldn't help but smirk a little at the interaction when Taylor let out a groan. "You have ruined my life!"

Jacques, however, was highly annoyed. "Ugh! Silence!" He shouted over all the other contestants talking, "I am trying to perform!"

"Yeah, pfft. Good luck," Devin said sarcastically. However, he was going to eat his words very soon. Jacques focused intensely on the Tennis Menace, awaiting the tennis ball that would launch - and when it did, Jacques hit it with ease - flying toward the sun. Devin's expression faltered significantly. "I'll... shut up now."

"Oh, oh! Excellent idea!" Jacques remarked, matching his tone from earlier. "Just watch, you might learn something." Josée smirked and stepped up to the tennis court in ready position. Right before the Tennis Menace started up, Josée took out her lava rock and kissed it - it wasn't like bun-bun, sure, but it was something for her to put her trust in.

The Tennis Menace started up again; and just as Josée was sure she was going to hit a tennis ball, a seagull landed on top of her head. Josée's smirk disappeared into a disgusted frown, using the tennis racket to get the seagull off of her - unfortunately that was when several tennis balls were hurled into her direction, and she couldn't hit any of them. She turned back to the producers. "What? Interference!"

Then everything briefly went to black.

"Ooh! Better luck next time!" Someone's voice - she recognized to be Devin's - taunted. She came to the realization that she must've lost the challenge for her and Jacques, and she failed in front of many people... and they were all probably laughing at her on the inside. Josée felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of her head, then she felt herself being gently lifted into someone's arms. She heard her partner's voice calling her name, realizing that those arms belonged to him. She rather liked it.

"...we'll never make podium waiting in line, let's switch to windows."

"Fine," Josée said firmly, still a little lightheaded. "But after we win, I am throwing a massive tantrum."

Unsurprisingly, the producers were curious about this. "Tantrums run in her family," Jacques explained to the camera in an interview, then said: "Once I was late picking up Josée from practice and her mama attacked me with a lamp!"

Josée didn't look at him, she didn't think that he was going to bring up her mother. And to be frank, she didn't like that he brought up a bad memory about her mother; even though it was him that forgot to pick her up - that had been five years ago, however. "I don't miss that lamp," she excused.

"Mm," Jacques agreed, then added: "Or your mom."

Beat.

"What the fuck Jacques?" Josée snapped at her partner coldly. She didn't care if this was on camera. "What is wrong with you!"

Jacques' eyes grew wide. "Je suis désolé, it slipped!"

"No, no, no!" Josée retorted, not having it. "That's... that's so messed up, when she's..." she trailed off, unable to complete that sentence, and settled with: "How dare you!"

"Josée..."

"You know what," Josée seethed, glaring at Jacques. "Forget it. We have a competition to win. Let's just get to the windows."

Despite her frustrations, she did allow Jacques to pick her up as they washed the windows together. When someone from inside the building complimented them with a scorecard, Josée temporarily forgot about Jacques' slip up and smiled at him. Their fans obviously would love it if they put more grace in such a boring task, and Jacques told the interviewers so.

"Just because our task is menial doesn't mean you skimp on artistic impression," Jacques remarked.

"The goal is to achieve greatness," added Josée. "Winning will then be thrust upon us." After the interview was over, they continued their window washing. Time had passed, and they were nearly finished. "Two windows left... the gold is ours!" An awful screeching noise cut through, which was the sound of Owen's body against the windows wiping them down clean in a matter of seconds. Josée and Jacques cringed, but then worked twice as fast to get those windows finished; anything less than first was not an option.

When they finished cleaning the windows, Josée and Jacques went to the next Don box and took the travel tip. "Find the chill zone in the Gold Souk." Josée gasped happily and beamed. "Gold!" Jacques smiled endearingly at her excitement; like it's been said, it definitely was better than Josée being upset with him. Maybe if they won first in a place full of gold, Josée would surely be much happier and would hopefully forget about his little slip up. "To the gold, now!"

Josée and Jacques managed to find one golden taxi. Jacques looked over at his partner to see her impatiently tapping her foot. "Josée..."

"I'm still pissed with you," Josée huffed angrily. "We better win this, or else I am going to lose it." Jacques knew not to call her bluff. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

"Welcome to the chill zone," Don announced as the ice dancers arrived, "You've come in third again." Josée and Jacques collectively gasped with fright. "Kidding! The twins got here way before you."

What?

What?!

"Me and Mickey took one of the non-gold cabs, they're a lot faster," the other twin explained.

"You mean... we're fourth?!" Jacques exclaimed, horrified. "We didn't make the podium at all!?"

Don lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "What podium? There is no podium."

"There is always a podium," Josée corrected, her right-eye twitching slightly.

"Well in that case," Don began professionally, "...you didn't make the podium, not even bronze." Jacques hesitantly looked over at his partner, who's breathing began to worsen by the second, along with that twitch in her eye that wouldn't go away. Even Don looked a little off by the behavior. He knew he said the wrong thing. "Um, is she..."

Josée let out an ear piercing scream before Don could answer, running back and forth within the room to throw various items made of gold and pushed them off their shelves.

"Watch the cameras!" Don snapped. He turned to Jacques, who was appalled by his friend's tantrum. "Can't you do something?!"

Jacques sprung into action, trying to chase his partner. "Josée, calm down!"

"I haven't gotten fourth in years!" Josée shouted furiously, knocking down yet another expensive item. "And we lose in a place that has gold!" But Jacques did notice that she was starting to tire herself out, her throwing became less frequent and died down to her just sitting on the floor miserably. Jacques tried to pick her up, but she swatted his hands away frustratedly. "I don't want to talk to you."

He tried not to let her words sting. "You're getting tired after your tantrum," Jacques said. "You don't want to fall asleep on the disgusting floor." Josée considered this for a moment, then suddenly, she stood up and slapped herself across the face. Jacques was appalled. "Josée!"

"There, now I'm awake," Josée replied curtly. "We'll talk more in the hotel room."

Eventually, almost all the teams made it to the chill zone - there were two teams that were left, which were the Best Friends and the Mother & Daughter duo. Jacques smirked to himself; Devin had laughed in their faces regarding the incident at the tennis court, so part of him hoped that they were eliminated next. Soon after Devin and Carrie showed up, leaving the Mother & Daughter in last place and therefore out of the race.

Josée didn't think that the duo wouldn't last long at all, yet this still shocked her. When Kelly was about to leave with her daughter, Josée could've sworn that Kelly tried to catch her eye, almost like she wanted her to remember what she said outside the bathroom. Believe me, Josée thought to herself. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Later when they got to the hotel - coincidentally, it was the seven star hotel from last challenge - the ice dancers found themselves behind Kitty and Owen, who were probably checking themselves in for their partners - who were off chatting in a corner. Josée and Jacques couldn't help but overhear Kitty and Owen's conversation;

If they thought Carrie was chatty, Kitty was a whole new level.

"As I was saying..." Kitty giggled to Owen, after looking at Noah and Emma chatting, "I just love when romance happens to other people! Back in high school, I'd always help play matchmaker for all my friends, because I really want to see all of them happy."

"That's so nice," Owen said, smiling. "But what about you?"

Kitty shook her head. "Nope. Romance isn't for me. I'm not attracted to anyone, and never have been, and I never will be." Then she smiled. "I just need awesome friends and my sister, and I want them to be happy, so when I see the sparks flying that scream 'romance', I just have to help somehow."

Josée took mental note of the word "spark" and instantly felt sick to her stomach. She loved that spark that she once had for someone, but then she remembered how it ended.

"How can you tell what a spark is if you haven't experienced it yourself?" Josée couldn't help but ask. Kitty and Owen turned around, and suddenly Josée felt like she was in a similar situation when she stuck her nose in Kelly and Taylor's business. "Sorry," she mumbled.

But Kitty didn't mind. In fact, she smiled. "Just because I don't experience it myself doesn't mean I can't identify it. I learned from watching movies, they tell you all the time how people are supposed to feel when you're in love... and I've watched my sister and her stupid ex Jake, too, and they were in love."

"So you're okay with not being with anyone?" Jacques asked, quirking a brow.

Kitty nodded happily. "Mhm. I just love having a lot of friends." This raised several questions that Josée had, but Kitty and Owen were given their hotel keys, and bwere ready to leave. Before they did, however, Kitty waved to the ice dancers. "See you around!"

It wasn't like Josée was never attracted to anyone, Claude was proof of that, but she was hoping if what Kitty said was somehow linked to why it took her two years to actually fall for Claude. Kitty said she had never been attracted to anyone, and that it was fine, but Josée wondered what she thought about people who take a while to fall for someone after forming a connection with them, and it wasn't just her being strange or abnormal. Maybe there was something in-between of what Kitty was and what others were...

"I've never met anyone like that," Josée remarked to Jacques quietly after they left. "Have you?"

Jacques shook his head. "Non." Then, he shrugged. After that exchange, both of them headed up to their hotel room. Just when Jacques thought he had gotten away with his comment regarding Josée's mother, she threw her shoes at him. "Ow, Josée! What was that for?"

"I just remembered I'm still mad at you," Josée spat.

"How do you..." Jacques was bewildered, "How do you forget that you're mad at someone, and then go back to getting mad!"

"Because you brought up maman!"

"It slipped, okay!"

Josée closed her eyes in distress. "Jacques," she started icily, "Don't bring up my mother up on camera again." Jacques longed to point out that Josée was able to do it, but he knew that she would explode on him. Josée went on, "And the fact that you made her seem like this villain! Stupid lamp's fault..."

"Your mother was the one who used the lamp as a weapon," Jacques couldn't help but retort. "Therefore it's her fault."

"No, no, no!" Josée snapped, shaking her head. She didn't want to hear it. "You're not going to insult my mother who's sick. That's an awful thing to do! She's a person, Jacques. She's my maman and I love her very much."

Jacques wouldn't lie; it broke his heart to hear her say that about that awful woman, even if she was going to die - not that Josée knew about that, after all. With each passing day, Jacques felt more guilt that he was keeping this from her. While it would be easier to tell Josée that her mother wasn't going to make it, that she didn't want any treatments, he knows it would tear her apart and make her unstable throughout the competition - something her mother definitely wouldn't want.

To Josée, this competition was seen as a path to redemption. But to Jacques, he saw this as Josée's distraction from the worst possible scenario that she wasn't aware of.

The worst part is she had no idea.

But for now - as Josée kissed her lava rock for good luck - he just wanted her to focus on the competition; somehow, it would hurt a lot less.