Summary: After her stunning victory in London, Kaylie has to decide her next step in the gymnastics world while trying not to think about a certain 2008 Olympic Champion. But how can she do either when she doesn't know what her heart wants? Austin/Kaylie/Nicky.
Kaylie took a deep breath as she pushed open the door to the gym, breathing in the special, indescribable scent of the Rock. After a month hiatus following the London Games, she was ready to get back to training and do the sport she loved.
The brunette gymnast let the door slam shut behind her and walked toward Sasha's office. As she began her ascent, she saw Lauren and Payson at the top of the stairs. The trio squealed and hugged each other once more; even though they'd kept in contact after the Games, they had ended up traveling to different places and were seeing each other for the first time in a month.
She knocked softly on Sasha's open the door, and he looked up from his desk; a few moments later, his face twisted into a huge grin.
"Kaylie! It's wonderful to see you back."
Sasha motioned for her to sit down in the chair in front of him. Kaylie dropped her bag near the door and tentatively took a seat.
"Let's get to the point here. What are your plans for your gymnastics career?"
In all honesty, she had no idea. The thrill from winning the individual all-around had been intoxicating; it had all she had ever dreamed of since she first started. What could she do now?
Lauren, having not recovered in time from her heart surgery for London, was hoping for a shot at 2016 in Rio. Although she would be considered an older gymnast, she already had the experience and knowledge she needed. Payson, who had won the gold on floor, was hoping to become the National Champion in 2013 before deciding her next move.
But Kaylie had done all that. She was the National, World, and now Olympic champion. She had established herself as the best well-rounded gymnast in the world. Retirement was not an option – she loved gymnastics too much. Should she keep training without clear goal? Or for the miniscule chance in 2016 that could end in failure, like Austin had done?
Austin. She didn't even want to think about him now.
At Kaylie's silence, Sasha merely said, "We can talk about this later."
She nodded and picked up her bag. As she turned to leave, Sasha stopped her.
"I am so, so proud of you, Kaylie." Then he grinned again. "And remember, The Rock is still your gym."
After wearing red, white and blue leos for a while, it felt good to be back in her signature pink. The gym at the Olympic Training Center had been great, but there was still something at the Rock that set it apart. Kaylie ran her hand along the beam, smiling at its familiarity.
It was good to be back.
She joined Payson and Lauren, who were stretching on the mats and talking in quiet tones. At Kaylie's arrival, they stopped talking.
"Okay, what's up?" Kaylie asked teasingly.
"Oh, I was just pointing out to Payson that Lonely Boy is back in Boulder." Lauren sent a meaningful look at Kaylie, who rolled her eyes.
"Lo, you've been watching way too much Gossip Girl. I doubt Dan Humphrey is here. Now, who exactly do you mean by Lonely Boy?"
"She means Nicky Russo," Payson answered, while sending a glare at Lauren. "And I was telling her that there was, and is, nothing going on between us. Rigo is perfect, and he even moved to Colorado so that we could be closer."
"I'm just saying," Lauren countered, "that there has to be a reason why Nicky Russo came back to the Rock. Maybe in the form of a person." She glanced quickly over Kaylie's shoulder before saying loudly, "And that, girls, is why I think Sasha is way better than Coach McIntire."
Kaylie was about to voice her confusion, when Payson shot her a look that screamed, just go with it. So she did. "You have to admit, Coach McIntire was good at pushing us. We improved a lot under him, and without it we wouldn't have won the team all-around."
"Hey, girls," said a deep voice from behind her. Kaylie turned around to face an older, and maybe even more attractive, Nicky Russo.
"Nicky!" Lauren exclaimed, giving him one of her sugary-sweet smiles. "We didn't even know you were here!"
He shrugged. "I just wanted to offer my congrats to all of you. You looked good in London."
"What brings you back to the Rock?" asked Payson. Kaylie couldn't help but thinking there was a knowing look in her eye, but shook the idea off quickly.
"After moving to Denver, I fell off the radar. You might have noticed I wasn't at Worlds or the OTC. So I decided, to get back to where I was, I needed to get back to where I trained. Hence, my return."
"We're glad to have you back," said Lauren. "Especially after we lost a few guys, like Max and Austin…"
Kaylie couldn't help but flinch at hearing the name. Payson shot another glare at Lauren for going too far.
Kaylie recovered and smiled at Nicky. "We should all go to lunch, catch up."
He nodded. "Sounds good. I'll meet you guys outside the locker rooms." He walked back to the parallel bars, Kaylie watching him with a contemplating look on her face, while Payson and Lauren grinned at each other.
Kaylie and Leo were eating salad (not pizza – too greasy for a professional athlete) on the couch during a break in their fight for the remote control. Kaylie really didn't understand the point of basketball – all they did was shoot balls through hoops! There was no striving for perfection like gymnastics. Leo knew a million NBA stats off the top of his head, but Kaylie had only been able to sit through a full game once, and that had been Austin's birthday.
Austin.
Kaylie felt the urge to throw up the salad she'd just eaten, but resisted. She needed to eat. Rather than that, she flung her arm out and grabbed the remote from next to Leo, switching it to a new episode of Dance Moms instead.
Usually, at this point, Leo would groan and wrestle the remote out of her grasp, and the war for control of the television would continue.
It was just the two of them. Ronnie had moved to France for an opportunity in the fashion world, and Alex had moved to LA. Now that Kaylie was on top of the world, she didn't really need a guardian, but Leo was moving back to work in Boulder anyway. Kaylie was actually glad that she was living with Leo again – it felt nice to have someone still care for you. When her parents had been fighting and when she had started training in Colorado Springs, she'd become mostly independent.
Life with Leo was great. Kaylie no longer dreading coming home from a practice and hearing hours and hours on end up her parents' arguments. Her brother was very understanding of her, gave her space when she needed it, but also let her come to him for anything that she needed (except to drive his car. Kaylie would never understand the affection guys had for their cars… nononono. Austin – no.).
But today, Leo remained silent and made no attempt to get the remote control back from Kaylie, even though Kaylie knew her brother hated Dance Moms with a passion. After two minutes with her guard up, Kaylie turned her brother and asked what was wrong.
Leo sighed, reached over, and pressed the mute button on the remote control.
"Kaylie, I got a call today."
Kaylie looked relieved. "Yes, brother, that's usually what happens when you have a telephone in the house and a cell phone."
"It was an important phone call. To your phone, actually."
She'd left her phone at home today because she'd forgotten to charge it last night after texting Payson.
Kaylie tensed up. "What was it about? Is mom okay? Did dad get into accident? Did something happen to Kelly or Jordan?"
"Kaylie… it was Austin Tucker."
So guys…. Can you believe it? MIOBI is having its last episode on Monday. Honestly, I was mad at the writers for making Austin do that to Kaylie. I shipped them so hard, it wasn't even funny. Now we'll never see if they make the Olympics, and the aftermath. So here I am, making up my own aftermath, haha.
I usually write HP so this is quite out of the blue. I still haven't decided if Kaylie will end up with Austin or Nicky, but as of this moment, I'm leaning more towards Austin, just because he was perfect UNTIL SEASON 3 EPISODE 6. I'd love your input though! Do you guys have a preference? Leave it in a review! And what do you think Payson and Lauren are up to?
Chapter 2 Spoiler:
"Kaylie, I'm not telling you if you should give him a chance or not. I'm just saying that… he sounded really, really, drunk when he called. I have no idea why he was drunk during the day. He was apologizing over and over… and then the line went dead."