A NEW SEASON (Chapter 113)

Sophia and Warren, plus Ellen and Betsy, got onto a plane to head to Cup of Russia.

"Lessee," Warren said after they had arrived, "Boston to New York. New York to Paris. Paris to Moscow. And with a three month old. We must be nuts."

"We already knew that, dear," Sophia teased him.

"I’m just glad your Mom is here," Warren smiled at Sophia and Ellen.

"Hey, I always wanted to be a world traveler. Russia and Japan in two weeks, I love it," Ellen said.

"Yeah, but did you always want to be a Nanny?" Warren teased.

"For my first-born granddaughter? You betcha!"

One of their biggest problems was trying to schedule Betsy’s feeding time around practices. Sophia could pump, and have Ellen feed Betsy, but, as Sophia said, "That doesn’t do anything for me feeling full, and feeling full in the boobs is not conducive to good ice dancing."

Their second practice there, they had a problem. They had managed to finish the run-through of their long program, but were still on the ice, working on some moves, when they heard the screaming.

"Is that ours?" Sophia asked Warren down on the ice.

"I do think so," Warren said. Sophia got off the ice, yanked off her skates, and ran into the stands. Ellen and a clearly hungry Betsy met them.

"I’ll take her. Snugglebear, got my skates?" Sophia asked Warren, who had come up behind her. He lifted up the skates. "Good, I’m going to take her into the locker room and see if I can find a quiet corner."

She went down to the locker room, and settled on a bench out of the way. Unbuttoning the front of her practice dress, she opened her breastfeeding bra and Betsy latched on.

She sat, for a few minutes, but someone must have heard Betsy’s suckling, because a small blonde, about sixteen, peered around the corner.

"OH! Sorry, I did not know….."

"That’s all right," Sophia laughed. "We’re all girls here. I figured somebody would spot me."

The young blonde looked at her. "You Sophia Daniels, yes?"

Sophia smiled at the halting English and clear accent. "Yes, I am."

"I am Yelena. Yelena Kuznetsova."

"Ah, yes, the new Russian team. You guys won Junior Worlds last year, right?"

"Da. We love you, your skating. We big fans."

"Thank you. That’s always nice to hear." Betsy had stopped suckling. "Ah, I think somebody’s done." Sophia pulled her away and refastened her bra and buttoned her dress. She chuckled to herself at seeing Yelena turn away.

"Done. You need a burp, sweetie," Sophia said, holding Betsy’s stomach with her hand and gently patting her back.

Yelena had turned back. "That….that your baby?"

"Yeah. Betsy." Betsy let out a large burp. "That’s a girl. Let’s change you while we’re at it."

Yelena looked at the baby. "She very beautiful. Betsy?"

"Betsy. It’s short for Elizabeth. Elizabeth Olga Kelleher."

"Olga?" Yelena asked. "Baby has Russian name?"

"Yeah, a Russian middle name. She’s named after Olga Bradochkina. Her first name is after Liz Cushman, the singles skater."

Yelena’s eyes boggled. "You name baby after Bradochkina?"

"Olga’s a dear friend of ours."

"You like Bradochkina?" Sophia nodded. "Wow. I never meet, but I hear she is….I don’t know English….I hear she is suka."

"Suka? Yeah, I know what that means. In English, it’s bitch. Warren speaks Russian," Sophia giggled. "No, actually, Olga is not a suka. That’s all an image. She’s really very sweet. I’ll show you something." She rummaged in Betsy’s bag. "When Olga found out I was pregnant, she sent us a whole bunch of stuff." She pulled out the rattle with St Basil’s Cathedral on it—Betsy’s favorite. "Y’see, I’ve got a Russian rattle, and"…she kept rummaging…" this!" She pulled out the baby-sized fur hat.

"Wow a baby Russian hat!" Yelena exclaimed. She sat next to Sophia as Sophia placed the hat on Betsy’s head. "Olga send this? It’s so cute!"

"It’s still a little big for her," Sophia chuckled, "but by next winter, it will fit perfectly." Betsy was swatting at the hat which was covering her eyes. "Keeps her warm in this cold Moscow weather, though."

Yelena laughed. The two chatted for a while, then Sophia went to join Warren.

"I just met Yelena Kuznetsova," Sophia told him. "She’s a nice kid."

The competition at Cup of Russia was decent for Sophia and Warren. They finished second, behind the defending World Champs Yatserova and Vaglach, which was fine with them. They weren’t completely at full speed yet. Kuznetsova and Vasilyevskiy beat out Evan and Shawna for third.

"They’re good, but beating Evan and Shawna was a gift," Warren commented.

"Of course. They’re Russian," Sophia agreed cynically.

They flew right from Moscow to Sapporo, Japan, for the NHK trophy. Having done their programs in front of an audience had helped, and they were better at NHK, winning the event. A big surprise at that event was the Italians defeating the French for second place.

Sophia and Warren pocketed their prize money, and prepared for the Grand Prix Finals, which their results in Russia and Japan had qualified them for. It would be held two weeks after the NHK, in Salt Lake City.

The ISU, in their infinite lack of wisdom, had come up with a new format for the Grand Prix finals this year. There would be no compulsories. There would be an original dance, and two free dances. Most of the skaters thought it was ludicrous, but such was the ISU. The idea was so that the fans wouldn’t get bored watching the same free dance all season. Of course, everybody used a free dance or long program from a previous year, so they were old programs anyway.

Most used last year’s programs, but Sophia and Warren decided to go further back than that—they pulled the Glenn Miller program out of mothballs. "We did that our first year at Worlds, we’ve never done it on a true world stage," Sophia reasoned. They spent most of the two weeks between NHK and the finals polishing it up. They felt they had Riverdance down, they felt they had their OD down, and they expected to win this competition.

It didn’t get off to a glittering start. They did their OD on a Friday morning. Three judges did put them in first—but the other six put them in fourth, behind Yatserova/Vaglach, the French Borisina/Dravouche, and Kuznetsova/Vasilyevskiy. Those six judges were from Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, and Hungary. It looked like the usual suspects working together again. The Brits, Brenneman and Watts, whose OD had been getting raves all year, were down in sixth. The crowd heartily booed the results.

"It’s ridiculous. If it were Brenneman and Watts, I could see it. Even if we were second to Yatserova and Vaglach, although I wouldn’t agree with it. But the French sucked and the other Russians are not up to our level," Warren told June, their coach, and Sophia.

Things changed that night, however, in the first free dance. Sophia and Warren were livid, and went out and did the Glenn Miller program in a fury. They were clearly the class of the field, and the German and Hungarian judges must have decided they couldn’t in good conscience mess with the standings. They joined the American, British, and Canadian judges in placing Warren and Sophia first.

The same thing happened the next day, in the second free dance, with even the Italian judge joining in. Warren and Sophia won, with Brenneman and Watts second, Kuznetsova and Vasilyevskiy third. Yatserova and Vaglach, the world champions, could do no better than fourth.

"Did you see the Russian judge afterwards? He looked like he was going to bust a blood vessel," Sophia giggled to Warren after it was all over.

"Yup. Oh, and I heard something interesting. Evidently he was seen afterwards screaming at the German and Italian judges. And I also heard the ISU is investigating that," Warren told her.

"Hmmm."

They had been home for about a week, getting ready for Christmas—Betsy’s first. Warren had gone out to do some shopping. When he got home, Sophia was waiting for him.

"I got an interesting phone call while you were out."

"More ISU shenanigans?"

"Nope," she giggled. "This goes in the realm of publicity. I got a call from Maxim magazine. They want to do an interview and a photo spread on me. They even want me to do the cover. That’s a men’s magazine, right?"

"Yeah," Warren told her.

"I told them I wasn’t sure, because they only want me, but they told me they were a men’s magazine and that’s why they only wanted me. I’m still not sure."

"Why, because it’s only you?"

"Yeah," Sophia admitted.

"Well, you shouldn’t turn it down because of that, but, have you ever read Maxim?"

"No, have you?"

"Yeah. If they are going to do a pictorial of you, it’s going to be very revealing. They don’t do full nudity, but they get awfully close. You’d be showing a whole lot of skin."

"Hmmm. What do you think?" she asked him.

"Honestly? I love the idea." Sophia laughed at him. "Really. You all over a magazine? Love to see it."

"So, this mag is kind of risque, huh?"

"Yeah. Think of Playboy, only hipper, and without the full nudity. But guys read it, and, if it can get more guys to watch skating, hey."

"That’s kind of what the guy on the phone said—they want to do it as a ‘hey, you guys that think skating’s a chick sport, you don’t know what you’re missing’ kind of thing."

"Right," Warren laughed. "What are they missing? Sophia’s left one, and Sophia’s right one. And, if you go to a skating show in your neighborhood, you too can get a look at this cleavage!"

Sophia doubled over with laughter. "Has any skater done anything like this?"

"Not anyone in the peak of their career, or still eligible. The only one I know of is Katarina Witt, and she did it on the downside of her career. Of course, she was in Playboy, and bared it all."

"So, if I do this, the Powers That Be in skating are going to have a snit, aren’t they?" Sophia asked.

"I’d put money on it. You’d be corrupting their pristine little sport."

"You don’t mind?"

"Nope. Like I said, it’s great. Let the men of America drool over your cleavage, I’m the only one that gets to fondle."

Sophia laughed again. "I’m gonna do it!"

(End of chapter)