				A TOUR VISIT (Chapter 108)


Warren walked into Sophia's house, grabbing the mail on the way in. It was a warm sunny day towards the end of June. He found Sophia and Ellen in the kitchen.

"Hi, folks. Here's your mail. Champions on Ice tickets came, Pookie."

"Good ol Ted," Sophia commented. Ted Kantor was a former show skater who ran the COI tour. "He came through."

"Yup," Warren agreed. "Six tickets for the Boston show next week."

"Who are you going to take?" Ellen asked them.

"Jessie and Crash, for sure," Sophia supplied.

"Yeah, we've turned them into quite the skating fans. Even Crash," Warren joked.

"I'm sure Kate would like to go," Sophia commented.

"Yeah," Warren agreed. Just then, Kate walked in the door.

"Hey, Kate! We got tickets for Champions on Ice. Next Thursday. You and Dave want to go?"

Kate gave Sophia a rueful look. "I'd love to go. However, there won't be any Dave."

"Huh?" Sophia asked.

"We broke up last night."

"WHAT?" Sophia was incredulous.

"Yeah," Kate said. "It just wasn't working. It wasn't going to work. We've both changed so much in the couple of years we've been going out, and we just don't want the same things anymore."

"That's rough. You OK?" Warren asked her.

"Yeah, I'm OK. It's for the best, it really is." She looked up with a sad little half-smile. "I'm just not looking forward to going through the summer lonely."

"Oh, Kate," Ellen sighed.

"No, really, Ellen. I'm OK. It had to end. Neither of us have been happy for some time." She brightened up, and looked at Sophia. "I'd still love to go to COI, though. Does that leave you with an uneven number of tickets?"

"Yeah," Sophia said. "We've got one left, if Jessie and Crash go."

"Can I make a suggestion, honey?" Ellen asked.

"Sure."

"Tara would love to go."

"Good idea," Sophia grinned. "She would. We're going back stage and everything. OK with you, Snugglebear?"

"Absolutely," Warren agreed.

"I'll go tell her." Sophia ran up to Tara's bedroom upstairs. A few minutes later, the folks downstairs heard a delighted scream.

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A week later, they were at the Fleet Center in Boston, trying to get back stage.

"Look, we have backstage passes, right here," Warren said.

"That's not good enough," the guard at the door said. "You have to be on the list. One of the skaters had to put you on the list. Which skaters are you friends with?"

" All of them!" Sophia shouted. "These tickets didn't come from a skater, they came from Ted Kantor."

"Who's he?" the guard asked.

"The guy who runs the tour! We know every skater in this show. We are skaters! We're the Olympic silver medallists in ice dance, and we'd be in this show if I wasn't pregnant!"

"That's a good story," said the guard.

"JESUS!" Sophia was really working herself into a snit.

"Hold on, Pookie." Warren picked up his cell phone. "I hope she has hers with her....it's ringing....Liz! It's Warren. Not only are we coming, we're here, but some dunderhead guard won't let us in. Yes, we have back stage passes, but, evidently, we were supposed to be on some kind of list, too. OK." He looked at Sophia and the guard. "Liz is on her way."  When she arrived a few minutes later, it was with Ted Kantor.

"What the hell is going on here? Why aren't you letting my guests in?"

"They're not on the list," the guard said stubbornly.

"Jesus, I sent them backstage passes. Now, let them in."

"Who are you?"

"I'm the boss. I'm Ted Kantor, I run the tour. Now let them in."

They finally got in, got wrapped in a hug by Liz. They thanked Ted, as he walked off to go back to organizing the show. 

"How are you doing?" Liz asked.

"Great," Sophia said. "You know these guys, right?"

"I've met Jessie and Crash, and your sister Kate....."

"Ah. You've never met my other sister, Tara."

"Cool! Hi, Tara!" Liz shook her hand. Tara was awestruck.

"Hey, Liz, we have something to tell you, but we need to tell you and Olga. Is she around?"

"Olga Bradochkina? Yeah, she's in the locker room." Liz led them to the door, and then went in and got Olga.

"Varren! Sophia! Darlings! How are you?" 

"Great, Olga, how are you?"

"Vunderful. Ve just get back to tour, ve took break."

"We know. You went back to Moscow. Thank you so much for the package, it was wonderful," Sophia told her.

"You are velcome. Baby is good, da?"

"Da," Warren smiled at her, "Listen, we wanted to show you two something." Sophia dug into her purse and took out an ultrasound picture.

"Cool!" exclaimed Liz. "Pictures before birth!"

"Well, we wanted you to see them," Sophia said with a huge grin, "because we wanted to give you an early introduction to Elizabeth Olga Kelleher." 

Liz and Olga looked at each other, dumbstruck, and then at Warren and Sophia. 

"You're kidding," Liz whispered.

"Nope," Warren said with a smile.

Olga reached over and wrapped them both in a bear hug. "You are too sweet. It is, how you say, an honor."

Liz still couldn't believe it. "I'm so touched. I think I'm going to cry."

Warren laughed. "Well, you should know we're going to call her Betsy, not Liz."

Liz smiled up at him. "My father calls me that occasionally. I'm still touched. You two are something else."

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The show was great, and the six of them joined the cast for the after-show get together backstage. Warren and Sophia were sitting with Liz and Andrea Wallach.

"You guys have a good time?" Liz asked.

"The best. And it's so cool to see everybody. I only wish Renee and Christian and Jennie and Denis were here." Sophia said.

"Yeah. They're cool people. They are all doing Canadian Stars on Ice right now, though." Liz said.

"Hey Pookie," Warren said, "have you noticed that Crash and Jack Garrison are getting on like a house afire?"

"Yeah, and Jessie's making fast friends with his wife."

"Did you see your sister? The little one, Tara?" Liz asked.

"Yeah. She's being thoroughly charmed by Olga."

"Where's Kate?" Warren asked.

"Over there, being hit on by Yuri Kadrachenko, the Ukranian pairs skater. I don't think she minds," Liz giggled.

Liz sighed. "I wish you guys were here."

"I second that," Andrea agreed.

"We do, too," Sophia said. "Ah, well. Next year."

"You should have skated anyway," Christine said. "You could have done 'Having My Baby,'" she added with a smirk.

"Or 'A Child Is Born' from Messiah," Liz added.

"At this point, the only thing I'd be qualified to skate to is 'Fat' by Weird Al," Sophia said with a laugh.

"When are you due?" Liz asked.

"Second week of September. Not too much longer."

"Good, because I wanted to ask you guys something," Liz said. "How would you two like to choreograph my long program for me? We can do it in August, I can fly out here."

"Us?" Sophia asked, surprised.

"Yeah, you. I need something different. I want you guys to pick the music, even. I'll pay you, standard fee for choreography, of course. You guys know my skating, but I need someone with a different approach. I want to do something different this year."

"I don't know, Liz," Warren said. "This would be very different for us, because we've only choreographed for ourselves, and you're not a dancer. We've never had to worry about jumps and spins." 

"Oh, I can help with that part," Liz said. "I can tell you what jumps and spins I want to do, and help you place them--it's the actual choreography that I want your ideas for. And the music--I'm in a musical rut."

"You know what? It could be fun. Even if I have to do my bit from the stands," Sophia said.

"You think so?" Warren asked. Sophia nodded, smiling. "OK, Liz, we'll do it."

"Great!" Liz enthused.

"Yeah, that is great," Andrea interrupted, "because Liz beat me to it."

Warren laughed. "You and Brett want us, too?"

"Yeah. For our short program. We want to do big band, but we don't know what, exactly, and you guys know big band like the back of your hand, and can choreograph it. Same deal as with Liz, we'll fly out here, and we can help with the tricks."

Sophia and Warren looked at one another. "What the hell--this could be a second career!" Sophia enthused.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Liz agreed. 

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Author's note: Yes, I have another story in mind for Kate. I'm probably going to do it as a separate short story instead of making it chapters within the novel. I'll let you know.
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