Circus Lullabies

Ms. Pomeroy's face was clear she was as serious as a heart attack. She showed no signs of giving up. "It's the principle of the thing. So what do you say Louis? Is this really something you're willing to risk?"

Charles look over at his mother, then at Mr. Louis, then back at his mother, and his hand couldn't help but to tighten in Violet's grasp.

Mr. Louis stared at Ms. Pomeroy for a moment, then over at Charlie, his eyes narrowed. For Charlie, the passing few seconds felt like hours, but soon enough Mr. Louis took a few steps towards Charlie and looked down upon him, ''Don't you dare mess up again like you did last time, you hear me? if you want to be in the show tonight you better go and talk to the other contortionists or fire dancers so you can practice and get it right in the next few hours.''

Charlie's face lit up and he jumped in his spot like a little boy, his face filled with a grin, ''O-oh my gosh t-thank you so much Mr. Louis - I'm a fast learner, I-I swear I can get it down stat!''

Ms. Pomeroy looked back at Mr. Louis with a smug, satisfied expression. "I knew you would make the right choice." She placed a hand on Charlie's shoulder. "C'mon, let's get you all caught up for tonight hm?"

Mr. Louis only mumbled something under his breath as he then walked away, while Charlie let out a happy noise and followed his mother, tagging Violet along happily, ''Oh my gosh thank you so much mom! L-like, oh my gosh you actually did it!'' He let out a happy laugh and hugged his mother from behind.

She hugged her son back tightly with a tight squeeze. "Ohhhh you're welcome Charl. I know how much this meant to you." Violet grinned and kissed her boyfriend's cheek tenderly,

"I'll let you practice okay? And I'll come by to see you in the show of course."

Charlie smiled over at Violet and kissed her cheek back, ''Alrighty! I'll see you in the crowd!''

Over by the group of contortionists, where Ms. Pomeroy then departed to find Mr. Louis again to talk about her sword swallowing, everybody's face lift up and they stopped practicing to go and hug him, showering him with greetings and love, and even, perhaps, a new act.

''Mr. Louis wants me to do this one solo with the hula hoop, but we all know that you're the best of it! Do you mind doing it?'' One of the contortionist asked with an raised eyebrow. He knew that Charlie was a fast learner, and that he always personally loved using the hula hoop in his acts, but Mr. Louis never really gave him the chance to do so.

Charlie's face lit up and he nodded, ''O-oh man, of course! Just give me the script if there is any and I'll start practicing now!'' Charlie said in an excited tone. Oh man, tonight's show was going to be great! He could have his very own and new solo for his comeback!

That night, after Charlie had caught up with his new solo and Ms. Pomeroy worked out that she would temporarily take a break from sword-swallowing until she found out a way to practice without future mistakes such as last time, the crowd again gather in the big tent. Everyone was whispering eagerly about Charlie coming back once more and how they thought it would go. Violet was of course there, sitting in her usual spot and waiting for the show to start. She would have greeted Charlie backstage, but she knew how busy he was and didn't want to distract him.

Soon enough, the show started, and surprisingly, Charlie did not come out when the rest of the contortionists did like he usually did at the beginning of the shows, but instead, a half hour into the show, he snuck out while the ring master was speaking, in one of the corners of the tent and hula hooping, in which the ring master found him,

''Trifle! What on Earth are you doing?'' The ring master said. the mute boy turned around to face the master and pointed at himself with an raised eyebrow, ''Yes you, boy! Come here!'' The Hushed Trifle complied and walked over to the ring master, continuing his hula hooping while.

''Why are you hula hooping? Aren't you supposed to be in the back? And when did you ever learn how to hula hoop?'' said the ring master, in which the boy with the plastic hair just shrugged with a smile.

''Well, stop it this instant, this isn't part of the act!''

Charlie shook his head and only gave another smile, in which the ring master then tried reaching out for the hula hoop, but the boy only moved away swiftly, soon chasing the master around the main circle, until Charlie pulled out a Vortex move, it whizzing around his whole body and in the air, and catching the ring master in his hoop, pulling him close and making kissy faces after snickering cockily, in which the ring master let out a noise of disgust and backed away from the hoop, ''Fine,'' he began, crossing his arms over his chest, ''If you're so good at this, then show me what you got, Trifle''

The Hushed Trifle smiled at that being said, finally stopping his hula hoop and letting out a deep bow, the ring master backed away to give Charlie the whole ring, and soon, music started to loudly blast through the speakers and it was Charlie's turn to shine as he started to hula hoop as quick as he could, pulling all of these different and incredible moves that worked with the beat of the song, and he even contorted a bit, sometimes even letting the hoop swing around in circles on his legs whenever he was on his hands. It was incredible, and to have Charlie be able to hear the applaud again just for him, gosh, it was a feeling that he could never get over and it made a smile never leave his face.

Violet sat there watching him go with an amount of pride, relief, and glee. It was true, Charlie was back and better. How wonderful it was for her to see the happiness this would bring him. In fact, she could hardly wait until after the show to speak to him. She had a feeling his mood would be bright.

After the rest of the show, Violet snuck backstage before everyone else did and found Charlie still in his make-up and costume. "You did so great!"

Charlie's face lit up as soon as he saw Violet and he shoveled her into a tight hug, ''Thanks! Oh my gosh it felt so amazing to be back out there!'' He said happily, bouncing in his step a bit like a little kid.

She took his hands in hers and squeezed them lovingly."I just knew you would show Mr. Louis. And it looked like your mother was doing perfectly fine out there too for her first time back since the accident."

''She did! Oh man, I'm so happy that everything is back to normal now! And the end of this week, we'll be packing things up to start our tour - can you believe it?!'' Charlie informed, squeezing her hands back. Man, everything was suddenly passing so fast now that everything was back to normal, and Charlie couldn't be happier.

She had almost forgot how soon the tour was coming up. Yet the idea of leaving still seemed so scary for her, even though this was her dream. It was finally happening. Something seemed wrong though. She hadn't made up with her mother quite yet. Violet had been meaning to talk to gher for a long time, but the last time she had seen her mother was when she went back to the house to get a more steady supply of thing for back at Charlie's. And they had barely glanced at each other.

Charles noticed her quietness and he frowned, "I-is something wrong? Did your mother say something?"

Violet shook her head and tried to show a weak smile, but failed. Finally, she let out a sad sigh. "It's just..... I-I'm happy to go with you and your mother, I really really am...... but something seems wrong leaving without making up with my mother. A-and I've tried, believe me, I've tried. But It hasn't worked out at all."

He frowned, then hugged her close after slipping his wig off, "W-well, are you going to try again? I'll always come with you if you need help." He said with a tiny smilie.

She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, frowning over his shoulder. "Y-yeah, I think so. A-and I think I want you there. It'll make me feel stronger."

Charlie nodded and frowned over Violet's shoulder too. He couldn't even begin to think how terrible it would be if Violet didn't go on tour with them, not being able to see her for a year? That sounded crazy.

"No matter what though, I'm still coming with you. Because you know what? You and your mom are kind of like family now. I can't not see you for a whole year, I just can't." She murmured into his ear.

Charlie's lips cracked into a smile and he giggled softly, kissing her ear, ''That's good, I don't know how I would be if all of the sudden you couldn't go.'' He said with another laugh, kissing her ear only again.

Violet giggled and moved back as to give Charlie a tender kiss on the lips. "I couldn't have you let for a year. I love you, there' no way I could stand being parted that long."

Charlie kissed her back lovingly and soon rubbed his nose against hers gingerly, giggling softly once he saw that the make-up on the tip of his nose had transferred to hers. ''Well, I'm glad to hear that I have a side kick.'' He said with another laugh, grabbing her hand again and lacing his fingers together with hers.

She smirked,wiping off the makeup on her nose and interlocked her hand in his own, giving his fingers a very gentle squeeze. "Heh, of course. I do believe you're quite stuck with me yet."

He giggled and nodded, ''I believe that too.'' He said, kissing her sweetly again, ''Come on, we should get back to the trailer, eh?'' He asked with another smile.

Violet smiled and clasped his arm in hers, allowing them to walk back to the trailer. It was assumed Ms. Pomeroy would join them at sometime soon. Right now she was talking to some of the other performers. So they walked back by themselves, Violet resting her head loving against Charlie as they walked.