Vicki glanced at Jon; getting training for the orphanages was easily done.

"What kind of songs do you like to sing?" he asked further, giving a slight nod to Vicki, as though he was able to read her mind. They'd be talking about the orphans later, no doubt. He dipped a fry in his ketchup and took a bite, as he awaited her answer.

"I like happy songs, but I like the big songs too, you know?" Bea said, her mouth full, but attempting to talk around it without showing too much predigested food in the process. "Like ....I like the teapot's song in Beauty and the Beast, and I know all the words!"

"Oh, you mean the theme song," Jon said. He knew Beauty and the Beast well, if only because it was one of Emily's favorites - both the animated and live action versions, not to mention the stage.

Bea nodded enthusiastically. "Tale as old as time," she confirmed. "I'm not very good."

Vicki raised a brow. "You're not the best judge," she pointed out to the little girl. "Everyone's voice sounds different to them than it does to everyone else."

"Maybe you can sing it for us later," Jon suggested. "It's one of Emily's favorites, too. You could do a duet," he said, though he wasn't sure if she knew what that meant.

"Really?" Whether by luck or design, they seemed to have stumbled on the one thing Bea absolutely loved to do. "I have a CD of the musical from Earth, and I know it all off by heart," she intimated. "I pretend it's me singing."

"You don't sing along?" Jon asked, a little confused. Did she mean that she just pretended to sing or that she sang along, pretending to play the part' "We're doing Beauty and the Beast in a few weeks, you know."

"I do both," Bea informed him. "Only 'cos sometimes singing isn't allowed, like at night when I can't sleep and stuff."

Vicki gently tucked the little girl's hair back behind her ear, feeling a faint pang for a child who had learned to amuse herself when she woke with nightmares.

Jon frowned, feeling a tug of sympathy for the little girl, too. In his heart, he'd already decided that she should become part of their family, but it wasn't only up to him. "How would you like a backstage tour of the musical" I promised Emily I'd take her, and I'm sure she'd love it if you came along."

"Oh, can I?" Unlike when this had been offered before, Bea was more comfortable with Jon and Vicki and their family now, lighting up with hopeful excitement. "That would be amazing!"

"I don't see why not," Jon replied. They were planning on taking both girls to the musical anyway, and getting them both backstage wouldn't be a problem for him.

"Oh, yes please! Please, please, Mr. Jon!"

Vicki chuckled at the overexcited response, gently rubbing the little girl's back. "Well, if he says no, I'll take you," she said, knowing perfectly well that Jon wouldn't even consider denying Bea this.

Jon chuckled at her excited response. "I said I'd take you, little Bea! And I'm not one to go back on my promises," Jon said, drawing an imaginary X across his heart. "Cross my heart and ....well, cross my heart anyway."

"Cross your heart and mud in your eye, terrapins tickle you if you lie," Vicki provided from over Bea's head, grinning as the little girl giggled happily. The more they were themselves, the more she relaxed with them ....and the more right it felt to have her there with them.

Jon laughed. "Well, that's an improvement, anyway!" he said, poking Bea's tummy to tickle her and make her giggle again. He smiled over at Vicki, hoping she was thinking what he was thinking - that Bea was becoming more and more comfortable with them as they got to know each other better.

Squealing with laughter, Bea squirmed into Vicki's side to escape the tickles, not even thinking twice about the contact with either of them for possibly the first time.

"Oh! Mr. Jon, the poster for the auditions said about STARS," she said suddenly, remembering what she'd wanted to ask about. "D'you think Miss Mataya would let me join?"

Jon looked to Vicki again. Was it too soon to ask Bea if she'd like to join their family' No, that was something he needed to ask Vicki and their children about before he voiced that thought and risked disappointing Bea. But joining STARS was another matter. "I think Miss Mataya would be thrilled to have you join, and maybe some of your friends, too," he replied, having discussed with Vicki some sort of sponsorship program for any orphans who wanted to join.

"Really?" Bea blinked, hope warring with the expectation of being disappointed again. "But it's 'spensive."

Vicki shook her head. "You don't need to worry about that," she promised the little girl. "Mataya didn't know that some people couldn't be a part of STARS because of the cost, but now she does, she has set up a sponsorship program so that anyone will be able to join STARS."

"Yeah," Jon confirmed. "We talked about it, so if you want to join STARS, you can. And you don't have to worry about how to get there either, because I can pick you up," he added. He had to be there to teach anyway, so it wasn't really a big deal.

Bea was speechless with utter delight. "I can really really go?" she asked again, her head swinging back and forth between them with undisguised amazement.

"Yes, you can really really go!" Jon confirmed, laying a hand against his heart to show he was sincere. "Promise!" It did his heart good to see her happy, to help make her happy, and he was starting to understand just how much these kids needed some hope.

"And a little bird tells me that STARS are going to do their own, shorter, version of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the end of this semester coming, too," Vicki added with a wink at the little girl.

Bea was beside herself with excitement. "I can be in Joseph?"

"That's a mouthful," Jon remarked with a chuckle. "Well, if you join STARS you can!" he told her. "No one gets left out. We make sure everyone gets a part." Especially in that musical, where a children's chorus was required. There were plenty of parts to go around.

"I think it sounds wonderful," Vicki said. "And your lunch is getting cold."

Reminded of her meal, Bea applied herself to it with enthusiasm, unaware that the redhead was smiling at Jon over her head. They had one more outing prepared with Bea - taking her to the aquarium, along with Daisy, and their own children - after which, a conversation had to happen with Emily and Ben. At that point, it really was in the multiverse's hands.

Jon smiled back at Vicki, pleased at how things were going, but it was ultimately going to be up to Bea, as well as Emily and Ben as to whether or not she became part of their family. He might have asked her more questions, but she was applying herself so enthusiastically to her meal that he didn't want to interrupt her. Instead, he waved over at Carina and Aran and beckoned them over to meet the little girl.

The two of them were just preparing to go back to the theater for the afternoon round of auditions, but there was always time to stop and chat to friends. With Aluviel perched on her hip, Carina smiled at her friends.

"Not auditioning this year, Jon?" she teased him cheerfully.

"No," Jon replied, chuckling. "I'm busy enough without having to memorize lines and juggle rehearsals. I assume you're auditioning for the theater again this year?" he asked, looking to each in turn, though he knew that for whatever reason, Aran had left the theater. Maybe to care for their daughter. Jon saw nothing wrong with role-swapping. He'd played the part of Mister Mom himself often enough.

"I am," Carina told him, glancing at Aran with a warm smile. "But I'll be going for a guest role this year. There are always so many people who want a go at the theater company."

Vicki snorted with laughter. "Not everyone has a pure soprano, Carina."

"Not everyone is raising a family either," Jon pointed out, understanding Carina's reasons for wanting to switch to a guest performer, rather than a regular. "You can always become a regular again in a few years when your daughter is older. You, too, Aran. We really miss you," he said.

"I miss it, too, but ..." Aran said, pausing a moment before going on with a glance at Carina. "Jonathan, what would you think about bringing a show to Anarven sometime?" he asked, on a whim.

Carina's smile warmed as Aran offered up his unexpected request, glancing down curiously as the little girl sitting between Vicki and Jon whispered something in Vicki's ear. Vicki grinned and whispered back to the child, who blushed, and stared up at Carina in awe.

"Bringing a show to Anarven?" Jon echoed, uncertainly. They'd never had a traveling version of the theater, but they had staged productions in miniature at hospitals and schools and orphanages on occasion. "I suppose that could be arranged. Let me talk to Mataya about it, and I'll let you know."

Aran smiled at his answer. "Thank you," he said, before turning a curious gaze to the little girl between them. His elven hearing had caught a little bit of what had been whispered between her and Vicki, but he pretended not to have heard. "And who are you? I don't believe we've met," he asked her.

"What is going on?" Jon mused quietly aloud, not really expecting an answer.

It wasn't as though Vicki could answer the question, perching Bea on her lap so the little girl could have a good view of what was going on above them on the stage. There were a good number of hopefuls sitting in the stalls, but every eye was on the stage, waiting for the performance to begin.

With Bea on Vicki's lap, Jon scooted closer, still curious about what was happening on stage. His question was answered as soon as the music started and it became apparent that the person on stage had gone to the trouble to costume himself for the part of Thenardier, the crooked innkeeper.

"Oh, good lord!" Jon muttered with a chuckle.

Vicki cackled into Bea's hair, forcing herself to be quieter than she would have liked to have been. Of all the auditions to walk in on ... Well, there was one blessing. Bea likely wouldn't have the first idea what half the implications of the lyrics meant!

Mataya looked like she was having a good time anyway, but Jon was still trying to figure out who was hiding under all that makeup - assuming it was someone he knew, though that wasn't a given. Whoever it was, he was getting the desired response. Even Ludo was laughing.

"Master of the house, doling out the charm. Ready with a handshake and an open palm ..."

"What's this from?" Bea whispered loudly, fascinated and enchanted by the sight of a pared down performance that was still just as enthralling as it would be with a full band and cast. But that was the point of auditions, wasn't it' If you could hold the auditorium on your own, you were onto a winner.

"Um ..." Jon muttered uncertainly. "It's not really a show for kids," he said, though that hardly answered her question.

On stage, the man playing Thenardier lifted his arms to encourage everyone there to sing along with the chorus, assuming they knew the words. "Master of the house, quick to catch your eye. Never wants a passerby to pass him by ..."

Of course, Jon's reluctance to answer the question was not helped by the fact that Vicki was swaying in time to the music with Bea, singing along in her best Alun Armstrong impression throughout the chorus. Only when the chorus ended did she rescue him. "It's from Les Miserables, Bea," she said quietly, laughing as Mataya joined in the staggering around on stage. "It's a very sad story, and the man who sings this song is a bad man."

Bea blinked. "But it's a good song!"

"Well, the character he's playing is a bad man anyway," Jon interjected, smirking at Bea's assessment of the song. "It is kind of catchy, isn't it' Those two characters are supposed to be kind of the comic relief," he explained, though he was probably at risk of confusing her further. Jon chuckled again to see Mataya having such a good time with it. "She's having a blast up there," he said, aside to Vicki.

"It's been a long time since she actually performed in a musical," Vicki pointed out in amusement. "Maybe you should mention to Ludo it's time to get the boss back on stage for a brief spell."

"Maybe I will," Jon murmured back, missing the stage a little himself, but too busy to return to it just yet. "Oh, no!" Jon exclaimed, chuckling again as he reached over to cover Bea's ears when Mataya got to the bawdy part of the song.

"....master of the house, isn't worth my spit; comforter, philosopher, and life-long sh-"

Vicki's hands joined Jon's over Bea's ears, and the little girl cackled with laughter, clapping her own hand over her mouth when some people looked around to see where the giggling was coming from.

Jon couldn't help but laugh, thoroughly enjoying the performance - especially Mataya's part in it. He let go of Bea's ears once she was past the bawdy part of the song and jumped to his feet to join in with Thenardier and everyone else on the chorus. "Master of the house ..."

Unfortunately, Jon seemed to have forgotten the best part of the song came right at the end. As their Master Thenardier declared, "Everybody raise your glass!" and the auditorium of auditionees cheered, it occurred to Vicki too late what the next line was.

There was nothing to prevent Bea from hearing Mataya belt out, "Raise it up the master's arse!", at which point Vicki collapsed in giggles of her own at the hysterical cackle that erupted from the little girl, and they both sat down hurriedly, clutching their stomachs.

"Oops!" Jon muttered, laughing as he dropped back into his chair. He'd forgotten about that part, but at least, Bea hadn't seem too shocked by it. "That is not to be repeated," he told her, gently tweaking her nose, a warm smile on his face. Meanwhile, the actor on stage was taking his bows, and gesturing for everyone to applaud Mataya's performance.

Giggling, Bea nodded obediently, her nose wrinkling as it was tweaked. "I like them, they're funny," she informed Jon and Vicki, clapping her hands enthusiastically as Mataya laughed and skipped back down off the stage to resume her seat beside Ludo.

Vicki grinned, handing Bea off to Jon. "I'll be right back," she promised. "Just want to check something." And off she went, moving in a sort of crabwise scuttle, to lean over the back of Mataya's seat and whisper in the woman's ear.

"Yes, they are!" Jon agreed with a grin. "A little naughty, though," he said, assuming she'd already figured that much out. He wasn't too sure who it was that had been auditioning, and whoever it was didn't bother to reveal himself, except to hand his application over.

"I wonder when Carina will be performing," he mused aloud, wondering if that was what Vicki was asking Mataya. He was pretty sure Carina's performance would be a little more family-friendly. It occurred to him that Aran and their daughter had to be somewhere in the theater, but he wasn't sure where, unless they were backstage.

"What happens in a audition?" Bea asked curiously. She had a vague idea that it was singing and dancing and acting, but only a shaky concept of how it actually worked.

Jon shrugged. "It depends on what you're auditioning for. These are theater auditions, so they're mostly musicals. They have to show they can dance and sing and act. They can pick their own song to sing, like the man playing the innkeeper did, like Carina will probably do. It looks easy, but it's not. It takes a lot of practice."

"So you has to be able to sing and dance and act to be in a musical?" Bea asked intently, apparently filing this away to be considered another time.

"Yes ....Well, usually. I mean, most of the parts require singing and a certain amount of acting, but not every musical has dancing," he explained.

"So I might not have to learn how to dance properly?" was Bea's next question. She glanced up as Vicki returned to them.

"Carina's the third one up from now," the redhead told them. "And that was Dorian, believe it or not."

Jon opened his mouth to reply, but Vicki's return interrupted whatever he might have said. "Dorian?" Jon echoed, chuckling. "I should have known. I bet he had fun with that," he said, moving to his feet and offering Bea a hand. "Want a better view?"

Bea nodded excitedly, not minding that her question hadn't been answered. She was going to have a proper look around a real theater with Mr. Jon and Mrs. Vicki - that was better than knowing all the answers in the world.

"Dorian started out with the Rep, you know," Jon remarked as they started toward the flies, speaking mostly to Vicki. "Before Mataya asked him to switch."

"What's the Rep?" Bea asked, pattering along between them as they left the auditorium to wend their way around behind the boxes and through the door that would take them backstage.

Vicki smiled. "The Repertory Company," she explained. "They do plays, not musicals. Jon directs them."

"Some are serious, some are silly, but no singing or dancing," Jon explained further. He thought she'd probably prefer seeing musicals to plays, but she was still young. "Have you ever heard of Romeo and Juliet?" he asked curiously.

The look Bea gave him was vaguely suspicious but mostly patient with an adult who had clearly lost his mind. "You and Miss Mataya did a show of it for us two weeks ago," she reminded him, oblivious to the spluttering sound that was Vicki trying not to laugh.

Jon chuckled. "Right, we did. Well, that was the play that bit me with the acting bug," he said, knowing that because he'd been told as much, but didn't remember it. He still didn't remember anything before he'd woken up in the hospital after the attempt on his life, but his family and friends had filled a lot of the holes in his life in for him.

"What do you like best about acting, Mr. Jon?" Bea asked him then, glancing up as the passageway behind the boxes narrowed enough that Vicki had to take the lead. This was where the public weren't usually allowed.

Embarrassed that she'd been caught, Bea ducked her head, half-turning toward Jon to hide her face as Carina left the stage. Vicki chuckled softly.

"Shall we go and explore the costumes and props?" she suggested.

Jon's arm automatically went around Bea, as if to protect her, though she hardly needed it. "It's okay, little Bea," he assured her. "I'm sure Carina is glad you enjoyed her performance," he told her.

"I forgot we were s'posed to be quiet," Bea mumbled, perking up a little at the unexpectedly warm way Jon addressed her, as well as the proposed trip into the proper backstage.

"Ready?" he asked, realizing he was going to have to take the lead back. He drew a deep breath and slowly turned to start back down the way they'd come.

"Easy, Jon." Vicki smiled gently, touching his back for a moment. "I'll go first. I know the dark back here better than you do." She looked down at Bea. "You look after him while we go down, okay' He doesn't really like heights very much."

Bea nodded obediently, sliding her hand into Jon's once again. "I'll look after you, Mr. Jon."

Jon nodded, his face turning a little pale again, his lips tight with nervousness. He drew a little comfort from Vicki's reassuring touch and even from the feel of the little girl's hand as she slipped hers into his. It didn't occur to him at that moment that she was promising to look after him instead of the other way around.

They took the spiral staircase carefully, and were soon back on solid ground - or at least, more solid than the swaying gantry above, at any rate. "Well done," Vicki praised Bea. "Thank you."

Bea preened happily, squeezing Jon's hand. "Are you all right now, Mr. Jon?"

Jon nodded again, breathing a sigh of relief now that his feet were back on solid ground and not on a wobbly catwalk high above the stage. "Yes, thank you. I'm not very fond of heights," he explained, though Vicki had already told her that much.

"I don't like the dark," Bea volunteered. It was an interesting thing to confess, here in the dark of backstage, but there was dark, and there was dark. Backstage was a living sort of darkness, without feeling oppressive or scary. But other darknesses were worse.

Jon arched a brow and exchanged glances with Vicki at the little girl's confession. It seemed each of them had their own fears to overcome, just as most people did. "We won't let anything happen to you, Bea. Will we, Vicki?" he asked, though he already knew her answer without asking.

"Nothing bad is going to happen while you're with us," Vicki agreed, careful not to make it sound too much like a forever promise. "C'mon, let's go down to the Green Room." Taking Bea's other hand, she lead the way through the door and out of immediate backstage, where the lights were dim but bright enough to see easily by.

"Are you hungry?" Jon asked. "There's usually snacks in the Green Room. And I can show you where my old dressing room was," he said, quickly changing the subject. He thought a short snack break might be just the thing a little girl needed.

"I'm sort of thirsty," Bea admitted as she pottered along beside him. "I really liked my lunch. Thank you."

"I think we can take care of that," he said, realizing it hadn't really been that long since they'd had lunch, though they hadn't stayed for dessert. They could always stop for ice cream later.

As the black door fell closed behind them, Vicki resumed a more normal tone of voice. "This is where a lot of the quick changes happen," she told Bea as they crossed the spartan space toward the stairs down to the Green Room. "When actors don't have the time to go all the way downstairs and get changed before they have to be back on the stage, they get changed here."

There was the sound of voices from somewhere nearby, but it was hard to tell who was there or from where exactly. It could have been anyone considering how people had been coming and going from auditions for hours.

"Are we going' down there?" Bea asked, pointing curiously to the stairs that lead downward to the Green Room and the murmur of voices.

Vicki glanced at Jon with a grin. "We absolutely are," she told the little girl. "I think the ballet are still doing their fittings."

The voices were definitely coming from somewhere downstairs - one male and one female by the sound of it. "It can seem like a labyrinth in here if you don't know where you're going," Jon remarked, Bea's little hand still in his.

"Well, in the back corridors and workshops, certainly," Vicki agreed, leading the way down the stairs and through the door into the Green Room. She paused, biting her lips to avoid laughing.

Jamie Willis was standing in the middle of the open space, bent double, looking at Miranda Granger through his own legs. "And you're sure you cannae see my dangler even at this angle?" he was asking.

"James Willis, you naughty boy! You know full well that your dangler is perfectly hidden inside your ..." Miranda's voice trailed off as she realized they were no longer alone. "Vicki! Thank God! Would you please tell the diva here that you cannot see his ....parts ....beneath his skirt," she asked with a glance toward the door.

Jamie straightened up with a shameless grin, smoothing down the skirt of his stylised loin-cloth. "Wotcha, Vicks," he greeted the redhead, turning back to Miranda. "So I'm decent, am I" But I'm still wearing a wee crop top here."

Bea peered around Vicki's back as Jon brought her in through the door. "Why is that man wearing a skirt?"

"You're wearing more than most of the other men, so quit your complaining," Miranda teased, giving him a playful swat before moving to adjust his top. She glanced over again at the sound of a child's voice and her face brightened. "And who have we here?" she asked the trio before Jon could answer Bea's question.

Bea's eyes widened, and she ducked back behind Vicki, tightening her grip on Jon's hand.

Jamie grinned, but didn't pass comment on the child. "I'm going to have to do crunches every night before I go on stage, woman," he accused Miranda fondly.

"Nonsense. You could use to gain a few pounds," Miranda chided, pinching Jamie's middle to make a point, as there wasn't much there to pinch.

"It's okay," Jon assured Bea gently, drawing her gently out from behind Vicki. "Miranda is our costume designer, and Jamie is a dancer with the ballet. Would you like to meet them?"

Jamie batted at Miranda's hands, laughing. "So familiar with me," he teased her. "I shall have to bring my husband next time."

Vicki rolled her eyes. "Jamie, if you were any more of an exhibitionist, you'd dance naked for free," she reminded the Scot, laughing as he considered this and shrugged in agreement.

Behind her, Bea was clinging to Jon's hand with both her own. "Is it normal for boys to wear skirts?"

"You love the attention and you know it!" Miranda scolded the dancer with a grin. "Now, hold still so I can make sure everything fits and then you can go," she told him.

"It's not a skirt," Jon pointed out, then shrugging as he realized it sort of was a skirt. "It's a costume. The ballet is going to be performing a show that takes place in Ancient Egypt. Do you know what that is?" he asked Bea.

Bea shook her head. "Is it in Rhy'Din?" she asked curiously, relaxing a little despite the strangers in the room. It was difficult to be scared when a man in a skirt was attempting to convince an older woman with a handful of pins that what he really needed to do to test the costume was lift her over his head and spin around.

But Miranda knew how to handle cheeky young men like Jamie, and at present, she was threatening to make him a pincushion if he so much as dared touch her. She was no ballerina and had no intentions of becoming one this late in life. "Has any costume I've made failed you yet?" she asked as she made the finishing adjustments.

Meanwhile, Jon was still answering Bea's questions, allowing her to warm up to the strangers slowly. "No, Egypt is on Earth, but they don't dress like that anymore. The ballet takes place a long time ago."

"Do the ladies wear trousies, then?" Bea asked, applying that peculiar logic of a child to the idea of men in skirts. She paused, tugging on Jon's hand to pull him down as she whispered, "What's the pin lady's name?"

"No," Jon replied with a chuckle. "The female dancers usually wear tutus." He crouched down beside her as she tugged on his hand and whispered back, "Her name is Miranda. She's my cousin. She lives at Maple Grove, too, and she has a little girl named Ro." He had already mentioned their names, but he figured she must not have heard him.

The little girl nodded gravely, and then raised her head. "Mrs. Miranda," she said thoughtfully. "Why did you put the dancing man in a boobie top?"

She nodded reluctantly, leaning against his side. "It is so hard not to hug her," she admitted in a low tone. "She's such a sweet girl, but she's missing so much in not having parents. She doesn't have anyone to run to when she's feeling uncertain. It's heartbreaking."

"We should talk to Emily soon," Jon said, feeling the same as Vicki where Bea was concerned. It was heartbreaking knowing she how much Bea wanted and needed a happy, loving home. He could only hope they could give that to her.

"Tonight," Vicki murmured, dropping her head onto his shoulder. "And when she says yes, we have to remember not to overcompensate for what Bea hasn't had. It'll be easier for all of them if she just slips into our lives like there was a space for her all along."

"Agreed," Jon replied. "No special treatment." It would be better for all for all of them if Bea's joining their family seemed natural and it would be easier for her to fit in that way, too.

"Apart from the usual outrageous spoiling that we do anyway," Vicki added with a grin. There would be bumps, and an odd period while they all adjusted to each other, but she was pretty confident that they could all do this.

"I just don't wanna break her heart, Vic," Jon confessed, though he was pretty sure Vicki felt the same way. "We need to talk to Emily and Ben and make a decision and not string her along."

"And we'll do that tonight," she said firmly. "But you need to wipe the frown off your face before she comes back. She's never going to relax around you if you're so worried about making it work that you forget how to smile."

"Yes, dear," Jon replied with a half-hearted smile. He felt hopeful that everything would work out in the end - it had to. Bea was just too sweet a child to abandon to the fate of the orphanage. Murmured voices were heard just on the other side of the door, warning of Miranda and Bea's imminent return.

"Don't talk to me like we're an elderly couple and I just told you off." Vicki laughed, nudging at him as she unhooked her legs and made to stand up.

"Didn't you?" he asked, smirking at last. It was hard for anyone to be moody when they were around Vicki. He wasn't sure what she was standing up for, but his head swung toward the door and the muffled voices behind it.

Bea, when she emerged, was a vision in feathers and sequins. She had apparently resisted the desire to actually change her clothes, but she was wearing a rainbow feather boa, a pirate's hat, and sparkly red shoes over her sneakers. She was also beaming, still clinging to Miranda's hand.

Jon whistled when he caught sight of Bea in her sparkly get-up, which he assumed was mostly Miranda's doing. "Vicki, who is that' It's not Bea, is it' She looks like a movie star!" he teased.

Bea giggled happily. "It is me!" she declared, opening up the boa as though that would make her face easier to recognize.

"Look at you, all hot to trot," Vicki added with a smile, flickering a grateful look to Miranda.

Miranda smiled back, glad to have made the little girl happy and hoping to see her again, though she didn't want to make any promises she couldn't keep. "Doesn't she look lovely?" she said, twirling Bea around in place to show her off.

"She looks amazing!" Vicki agreed. She desperately wanted to hug Bea, but she didn't dare - not yet, anyway.

As for Bea herself, she was fizzing like a firework. No one had spent so much time just on her in a very long time.

"I really think the pirate's hat is the perfect final touch, don't you?" Miranda asked with a grin. It was a silly costume, to be sure, but Bea was grinning from ear to ear, and that was all that mattered.

"Definitely!" Jon replied, mirroring Miranda's grin. "Is there anything else you want to see while we're here?"

"Can we see the practice rooms?" Bea asked hopefully. "The dancer man said he was going to the practice rooms, and he said that the -" She concentrated. " - the corry ogg rafter wouldn't mind."

Jon chuckled. "You mean chor-e-og-ra-pher," he said, enunciating the word slowly so that she could hear how it was pronounced. "That's the person who tells the dancers what to do. Sort of like a director, but for the ballet," he explained.

"The dancer man said he wouldn't mind," Bea repeated, hope writ large in her eyes. "He said they're practicing for the ballet starting on Monday."

"Okay, but we'll have to be very quiet, so we don't disrupt their practice, okay?" Jon asked, unsure how Irina and Janine would feel about their rehearsal being interrupted by a small curious child.

She nodded enthusiastically, reaching up to take his hand again.

Vicki's smile softened affectionately. "Okay, let's get going, then," she suggested. "It's a long walk all the way up there."

"Have fun, Bea! It was nice meeting you!" Miranda said, bending down to give the little girl a kiss on the cheek, leaving a faint pink lipstick print behind.

"Thank you, Mrs. Miranda, I had a really nice time," the little girl told her politely, already eager to be on to the next part of their unexpected little tour.

"I'll see you two later," Miranda said, giving Vicki a look that said she was expecting an explanation later. Jon waved back before leading the way back out of the Green Room on their way to the practice rooms on the top floor of the theater.

Miranda would get that explanation, but not until Vicki and Jon had made the decision that was looming. It would be a fascinating coffee conversation, no doubt. With a wink and a grin, Vicki headed after Jon and Bea, following the trail of glitter until she caught up to them in the auditorium again.

Jon led them through the auditorium, where rehearsals were still taking place, and out into the foyer to a wide curving staircase that led to the upper bar. He took the stairs slowly, hand in hand with Bea, so that she could easily keep up.

"We still have another set of stairs to go up before we get to the attic," he explained.

"Why are they up at the top and not underneath the stage?" Bea asked, huffing to blow her feather boa out of her face. It was a very silly object, but it was hers now.

"I'm not sure really," Jon replied with a thoughtful frown. "I suppose there's more room in the attic, and it's a bit quieter and away from the hustle and bustle of the theater."

"On Earth, over a hundred years ago," Vicki said as they walked upward, "the big theaters and opera houses used to have bedrooms in their attics for the members of the chorus and the corps de ballet, because they didn't pay them enough to have a home somewhere outside the theater."

"Of course, that's not the case anymore. But the attic comes in handy when you need a little more space!" Jon added, as they started the next climb to the top floor of the theater, where the ballet company was practicing for opening night.

The rooms up there was so well sound-proofed that there was little evidence of the groups filling the wide rehearsal rooms unless you looked in through the windows in the doors. A couple of the rooms held the principals, taking it in turns to run through their unique dances; a third held the corps de ballet. Bea pressed herself to that door, watching in fascination.

"Can you see okay?" Jon asked, not wanting to assume she needed a boost. She wasn't as little as Emily and could just barely reach the window to peek her nose in.

It must have looked a little odd for the ballet dancers inside - just a pirate's hat with a pair of eyes underneath it peeking in through the window. "I can, sort of," Bea said, up on her tiptoes. "Only my nose is making the glass all misty and now I can't see anything."

Jon frowned, not wanting to take any liberties without her permission. Should he pick her up or ..." "Wait, I have an idea!" he said. "I'll be right back!" And off he went down the hall, disappearing around a corner. He wasn't gone long, however, reappearing in the hallway with a chair in his arms.

Vicki chuckled, leaning against the wall as Bea stared after Jon. They weren't left in suspense very long, and Bea beamed at the sight of a chair she could stand on to watch the rehearsal in progress. As she made to scramble up, Jamie came into view from the stairway, tipping the trio a wink and a nod before disappearing into one of the other rooms to join the principals.

Jon nodded a greeting at Jamie before setting the chair down in front of the window so that Bea could take a better look. "You might want to take your ruby slippers off first though, so you don't fall," he suggested.

Halfway onto the chair, Bea hesitated, looking down at her feet. "We won't forget them, will we?" she asked, reluctant to part with one of her new acquisitions.

"No, sweetheart. I promise, we won't forget them," Jon said, patiently waiting for her to take the sparkly red shoes off before she could climb up onto the chair and take a peek. "Would you like to see a ballet sometime?" he asked curiously, hopeful there would be a sometime and that sometime would be with them.