Chapter 122: Touring Again

Two weeks after Worlds, Sophia and Warren were on tour.

Ellen came with them, to help with Betsy, but could only stay for a couple weeks. She urged them to let her bring Betsy back with her. Sophia and Warren resisted that-because they didn't want to be separated from Betsy for that long, and because Sophia didn't want to stop breastfeeding quite yet. With the rehearsals done at the beginning, while Ellen was there, they'd really only have to worry about Betsy for the few minutes they were on the ice every night. That turned out to not be a problem-they had a gaggle of willing babysitters. The skaters took turns watching Betsy while Warren and Sophia skated. Liz Cushman and Olga Bradochkina fought over her half the time!

Right before the tour started, the guy who ran it, Ted Kantor, pulled Sophia and Warren aside. "Listen, guys," he told them, "I'm begging you. Do True Colors. That's such an amazing program. I wish I could let you do it nude, but I can't, not in this country. You'd be arrested in half the cities we visit," he laughed. "But I really want you to do it, even if you have to do it clothed."

"Minimal clothing, Ted. We're not going to cover up entirely, not for that program," Sophia told him.

"Fine. As long as the naughty bits are covered."

They had two spots in the show. The first one, they were doing "Pink". They decided to do "True Colors" for the second one. Sophia got a rainbow-colored bikini, and Warren got rainbow shorts. They did the program every night like that, to rapturous applause.

Shortly after the tour started, Liz came up to them with some dispiriting news.

"There's a rumor that the USFSA is going to try to have you suspended for a year."

"For what?" Warren said incredulously.

"A very loose interpretation of the 'morals' clause in the USFSA bylaws," Liz said.

"Damn. Who's the athlete's rep on the USFSA board?" Sophia asked.

"Used to be Jack Garrison until he went pro," Liz said.

"It's Evan," Warren grinned.

The three of them quickly went to Evan and told him of the rumor. "I just heard that myself," he told them. In his capacity as the athlete's rep on the USFSA board, he called a meeting of all of the USFSA-eligible American skaters on the tour's New York stop-which meant all three medallists in all four disciplines, plus Christine Arsenault, who, though she hadn't competed at Nationals this year, hadn't technically given up her eligibility yet.

"This is the deal. I'm going to be attending a USFSA board meeting in two weeks," Evan told the group. "There's a movement afoot to suspend Sophia and Warren for a year, due to the nude dance they did at Worlds. Since I'm you guys rep on the board, I need to know what you think about it."

"It's ridiculous!" Liz said.

"I agree," Andrea agreed. "And they're shooting themselves in the foot. Warren and Sophia are choreographing our long program this year, they've already started on it in our off time."

"They're doing mine, again, too," Liz added.

"They're going to do mine as well, after the tour," Tom Bellamy said.

"That's what I'd heard," Andrea said. "So those idiots not only want to suspend the only American dance team to ever win a Worlds-but the choreographers for every defending National Champion? It's insane."

"Hear, hear," Victoria Blanchard, the young US silver medallist in Ladies, agreed. "Plus that program at Worlds rocked. It was beautiful."

"They should be suspended," Courtney Rogers spoke up.

"You would say that, you annoying little snot," the ever-blunt Christine Arsenault spoke up.

"Ladies, ladies," Evan grinned. "Anyhow, this is the deal. I've got a petition here. It tells the board that the undersigned do not think that Warren and Sophia should be suspended. If you agree with that, sign it. If you don't, don't."

Every single skater in the room signed it except Courtney Rogers, who stormed out of the room. Even Ryan Killen, her partner, signed it after Courtney had left, whispering to Evan and Warren, "Don't tell Court I signed this, OK?"

A couple weeks after that, the tour stormed into Chicago. Crash had gotten tickets, and had invited Jessie to drive down from Milwaukee and join him. She gladly did so.

They enjoyed the show, then met Warren and Sophia afterwards. Jessie and Sophia went up to Warren and Sophie's hotel room, while Crash asked Warren to go get a cup of coffee with him.

"Nice program," Crash grinned over the table in the coffee shop, "but I think I liked it better in the nude."

"You would," Warren grinned. "Now, what's up with you and Jess."

"Nothing, really. We're friends. We occasionally visit. We've had sex a couple of times."

"Scuse me?" Warren almost choked on his coffee.

"It started out, the first time, as a discussion over what broke us up. I knew she was dissatisfied with our sex life, but she never told me during, you know, and I pointed that out to her."