Stephanie, Kyle, and George chatted for the better part of an hour, talking about the shop, classical music, and experiences Kyle had while on tour. Kyle hadn't spoken this long and this casually with people for a long time, and he found it surprisingly fun. He always enjoyed spending time with his uncle, but the fact that Stephanie seemed to be enjoying hanging out with them here pleased him for some reason. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted Stephanie to like his uncle just as much as he did.

Stephanie was currently talking about how long she had been playing violin, and George seemed very interested in her instrument, which was clearly her pride and joy.

"Miss Ryan, do you think I could see your violin?" George now asked, smiling eagerly at the prospect of examining an expertly-crafted musical instrument.

"Of course," Stephanie smiled, moving to open her violin case. "But please, I insist you call me Stephanie."

"Alright, Stephanie. Feel free to call me George."

George Lancaster

Kyle knew his uncle was extremely knowledgeable about violins (he was a luthier, after all) and Stephanie seemed flattered that he took such an avid interest in her instrument. She gently lifted her violin out of its case and handed it to George, who delicately took it from her.

"Ah, a Holstein," he said, his eyes lighting up as he recognized it. He turned it in his hands as he examined the neck and fingerboard. "Made in the 1800s, I believe?"

"1895," Stephanie confirmed, and Kyle couldn't help but smile slightly hearing the pride in her voice. "My parents bought it for me when I was sixteen. It's my most treasured possession."

"I can very well believe it," George smiled, continuing to examine the instrument. "Expertly crafted... fine maple wood finish... hand-carved bridge..." his eyes roved over the face of the violin before stopping at the tailpiece. He raised his eyebrows. "Four fine tuners?"

Stephanie's face fell, and Kyle felt his stomach drop slightly. He had forgotten she had four fine tuners on her violin, and it seemed that Stephanie had forgotten about them too.

"Oh, um... yeah," she said awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck.

"You've always had these?" he asked, still examining the violin. Stephanie looked visibly uncomfortable, and Kyle felt his heart go out to her.

"I've been meaning to get one of them taken out," she said, almost defensively. "I just... never did."

"I'd be more than happy to take one of them out for you tonight," George offered kindly. "I'm already rehairing your bow, it would be no problem."

"No, that's okay," Stephanie said quickly. "I wouldn't want to trouble you."

"It would be no trouble -" George insisted.

"She doesn't want you to do it, Uncle George," Kyle said firmly before Stephanie could say anything. "It's fine, just leave it."

"You know, I should really be going," Stephanie said, taking the violin from George's hands and gently putting it back in its case. "Lydia's going to be wondering where I am. Thank you for rehairing my bow, George, I really do appreciate it."

"Yes of course," George said kindly, though the concern in his eyes was evident. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, when you pick up your bow."

"Yep, tomorrow," Stephanie agreed, and she picked up her violin case before making her way to the door, moving rather quickly. Kyle watched her leave, and at the last moment decided to follow her out.

She was several yards ahead of him on the sidewalk, and Kyle hurried to catch up with her. "Stephanie!"

Stephanie stopped and turned around to look at him. "What?" she asked, looking surprised and perhaps a bit annoyed that he followed her outside.

Kyle stopped about a yard in front of her, and he realized he wasn't quite sure what to say. "Are you alright?"

She blinked, giving him a scrupulous look. "Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?"

Kyle stared at her, wishing he knew what to say. "It's just..." he hesitated. "My uncle didn't mean to cause offense. He was just trying to be helpful."

"I know that," Stephanie said immediately. "I'm not offended. Honestly, Kyle, I'm fine."

"Are you?" he asked seriously. He wasn't entirely sure why he was saying this right now, but he hated seeing the look that was in her eyes right now. As if she were ashamed of herself. "You ran out of the shop rather quickly."

"Why do you care?" Stephanie asked, the look in her eyes quickly shifting to anger. She took a step toward him. "Why do you or your uncle care about how many fine tuners I have on my violin? Why should anyone care? It's my life, and this is my instrument - I can do whatever I want with it."

"I know that," Kyle said quickly, careful not to raise his voice. "It's your business how many fine tuners you have on your violin. But I just think you're more than capable of getting at least one of them removed - I doubt anyone who's heard you play could deny how talented you are. There's almost no chance the quality of your music would diminish... all you'd have to do is trust yourself."

Stephanie clearly didn't know what to say to that, though her anger seemed to dissipate slightly as she stared at him. "I know that I can play," she said after a moment, her voice shaking slightly. "But I'm not a musician, Kyle. I haven't dedicated my life to music like your or Lydia or Chloe Alistair have. It doesn't matter whether or not I remove one of my fine tuners. I can play with four fine tuners for the rest of my life and it wouldn't matter."

Kyle felt taken aback by her statement. Her problem was that she wasn't a musician by trade? She was still incredibly talented, and she worked harder at her craft than half the musicians he knew. Did she really think so little of herself?

Before Kyle could say anything, however, they heard a rumble from the gray sky above, and a moment later rain began to fall.

"Oh shit," Stephanie frowned, looking up as the rain began to fall a bit harder. She quickly opened the light jacket she was wearing and shoved her violin case inside, shielding it from the downpour. "Shit shit shit!"

"Here," Kyle immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out his collapsible umbrella: he had grabbed it this morning knowing it would likely rain today, as it often did here in London. He quickly opened the umbrella and held it over Stephanie's head, stopping her and her violin from getting wet.

"Thank you," Stephanie said gratefully, glancing up at the umbrella above them.

"Take it," Kyle insisted, pushing the handle of his umbrella into her hand that wasn't holding the violin case.

"What? No, I couldn't -" Stephanie said, trying to hand it back to him. Kyle shook his head and took a step back away from her.

"I'll stay at the music shop until all this clears up," he said, glancing up and squinting at the rain falling from the sky. "I'll see you later, Stephanie."

"Wait!" she called, but he had already turned around and was hurrying back into his uncle's music shop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rain was still coming down pretty heavily throughout the afternoon, but Stephanie was now safe and dry inside her room at Lydia's apartment. She sat at her window facing the street, gazing out at all the cars driving by, their wipers slicing back and forth across their windshields as their tires splashed through puddles. Leopold the cat lay curled up on the little bench Stephanie sat on, his orange and white tail swishing slightly as he napped.

Stephanie glanced over her shoulder toward her violin, which sat in its case on top of her bed. She had hurried back to Lydia's apartment in the rain, clutching Kyle's umbrella over her head and her violin case tucked inside her coat. Thankfully, neither her violin case nor her violin got even a little bit wet from the downpour, and Stephanie felt a huge amount of relief that she hadn't inadvertently damaged her precious instrument. Now that she was indoors, she wished she could get some more practice in this afternoon since rainy days were perfect for that. However, her bow was still back at the music shop, and Lydia had made it clear to her she couldn't practice in the apartment since the neighbors would complain.

It's not like I'm a musician, though.

The words Stephanie had said to Kyle earlier came back to her, and she couldn't help but frown to herself. She didn't know why she had gotten so upset and defensive about the four fine tuners on her violin, but she couldn't deny the shame in her gut whenever she thought of them. Any non-musician wouldn't have cared at all, but a violinist who took pride in their craft would never be caught dead with all four fine tuners on their instrument. Four fine tuners meant riding with training wheels on, playing Nerf Ball, not taking any risks...

Could you even be a musician if you didn't take any risks?

Stephanie didn't think so, and that had been the whole catalyst as to why she came to London. She had left her crappy HR job and her asshole ex-boyfriend Leon behind in Boston so she could pursue music in a beautiful and exciting new city. She wanted to take that risk, and she did it.

She had done all of those things, and yet she still struggled to take this leap to get one of her fine tuners taken out.

Stephanie got to her feet and walked over to the bed where her violin case sat. She opened the lid before gently taking the instrument out of its velvet-lined casing, her eyes immediately landing on the four fine tuners sitting on the tailpiece. She idly reached up to finger one of them.

Could I take the risk?

There would be no going back if she did, and that was probably what scared her the most. If these fine tuners were the only reason she could play the violin well, she didn't know if she could handle the truth if it turned out she couldn't play at all.

She looked back toward the window, where the rain was still pouring down, and in her heart she made the decision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night had fallen, and Lancaster's had closed up for the day.

The rain had thankfully stopped about an hour ago, but George hadn't seen much foot traffic here since Kyle had left a few hours ago. That was pretty normal, however - Lancaster's wasn't exactly a hub of activity on a normal day, and it was even less so when the weather was bad.

George currently bustled around the empty shop, closing out the register and tidying up the front counter. He was just about to go to the back room and begin rehairing Stephanie's violin when he heard a light knock on the front door.

George looked out the door, which had been locked up for the night, and smiled as he recognized Stephanie's red hair through the glass. She waved at him , giving him a hesitant smile, and George smiled back. He walked over to the door and unlocked it.

"Stephanie," he said, opening the door with a warm smile. "Good evening."

"Hi," she said, sounding breathless. George wondered if she had run all the way here. "Sorry to come here so late when you're obviously closed."

"Oh, please. Don't worry about it" George said kindly. "Was there something you needed? I was just about to start rehairing your bow."

"Oh great," Stephanie smiled brightly. "I'm glad to hear that. But I was actually hoping you'd do something else for me... in addition to rehairing my bow, that is."

"Of course," George said immediately. "What is it you need done?"

Stephanie gestured to her violin case, which George realized she had brought along with her. "I'm sorry I didn't ask earlier, but... when you're done rehairing my bow, do you think you could remove one of my fine tuners as well?"

George stared at her for a moment before giving her a wide smile. "I would be more than happy to, Stephanie."