short new three shot. my beta, Artistia, posted a sister story of sorts called "Citius, Altius, Fortius" so be sure to check it out!
Emma Swan is based off Katie Ledecky because that girl is spectacular! Times and other events have been changed to fit the story and respect the athlete. Supergirl characters and some other Disney characters are in here as well.
I do not own any of the characters in this story. The plot is my own.
SQSQSQ
Emma allowed herself to drop back onto the mats. She had been stretching out and doing a short workout with some of her teammates early this morning. Her fellow swimming mate, Tiana Romain, chuckled and tossed a water bottle at her. The sprinter and the distance swimmer were an unlikely pair, but Emma had found a fast friend in the girl last Olympics. She was a hell of a training partner too, much better than her roommate who was undoubtedly still asleep or off at the water watching her latest 'true love' crush prepare for his day of rowing.
"Don't look now but your favourite stalker is here."
"Shut up!" Emma immediately blushed and jabbed an elbow at her friend before surreptitiously glancing in the direction Tiana had just been looking. Sure enough, there was the petite brunette that had been scoping her out during practices and workouts.
Tiana just rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of her positively smitten friend. "Why don't you just go talk to her? The amount of times you turn into a tomato and make a fool of yourself when she's around says you like her. The worst that can happen is she says no, which I doubt since the woman's practically drooling over you every time she sees you."
"Swan! You have thirty minutes to get changed and ready to head over to 1500 qualifiers. Move it. Now!"
"Duty calls." Emma had never been more grateful for her coach's sudden appearance barking out demands that had earned her the nickname Ursula the sea witch. It had stuck so well most people didn't know or remember the woman's given name.
The most gruelling race she was doing, the 1500 meter freestyle almost wasn't an event this time around, but equality demanded it be included so it had been forcibly squeezed in with qualifiers before the opening ceremonies and the finals jam packed between events in day one.
"This is just qualifiers. No need to tire yourself out. I expect you to win gold in all your events." Ursula grabbed onto the teen's shoulders, forcing green eyes to meet dark brown. "Pace yourself, kid."
Emma nodded, not surprised her coach had cornered her the second she emerged from the locker room. Plugging in her headphones, Emma quickly sunk into race mode. Seeing a good majority of the US Swim Team in the stands ready to cheer her on made her thrilled. There were only two heats for these qualifiers and she was thankfully in the first heat, able to get it done and not have to sit and wait for it.
"To the starting block."
Emma dropped her iPod, warm ups, and towel into the bin before climbing up into position. The sound of the buzzer and she was off. She knew Ursula would kill her for not going slower, but slow had never really been Emma's speed in the pool. She only had two modes, go and stop. Unsurprisingly, Emma made finals.
"I told you to pace yourself! You need to have energy for the finals and your relays tomorrow!"
"Urs-"
The coach shook her head no, swiftly ending any potential rebuttal. "You have a very demanding schedule and I expect you to be in top performance for all of it. Go shower and get some food. I expect you to retire for the rest of the night. That means sleep!"
"But the ceremony-"
"Will go on without you because you need rest. I don't want to find out you disobeyed me either!"
With a sigh, Emma headed off towards the locker room for a shower. Her teammate, Kara Danvers, was waiting for her after she got changed. They'd had to hold an interview together where most the questions were about them being orphans, their pasts, and how it felt to be role models to other kids like them. Emma thought she'd done a good job of keeping the answers focused on swimming while getting to know the seventeen year old pretty well.
Kara wrapped Emma up in a hug, bouncing excitedly at her friend's advancement in one of the longest distance races in swimming. "You did so good, Em! Wanna go get some lunch?"
"Sure, Supergirl. I could use some pasta." Emma couldn't help but chuckle as she looped her arm around her new friend's shoulders.
Together they caught a bus back to the cafeteria and immediately began loading up on food. The Brazilian food called to them both, but Emma knew better than to introduce new foods into her diet until after important races were over. She stuck to pasta, chicken, turkey, familiar fish, fruits and vegetables.
"Drink up, kid. It's too easy to forget during events like these and you'll wind up passing out. I've seen it happen." Emma pushed the largest bottle of water the vendor had at the younger blonde.
Kara gave a slight pout, not intending to get water logged or bloated. "Why do you keep pushing drinks on me? I have drunk more water and Gatorade since training camp than I ever have."
Emma just shrugged and speared a melon ball. "Because no one looked out for me or my best interests back in London. I was alone and clueless. I don't want that to happen to you. You're stuck with me making sure you're taken care of so deal with it."
They smiled at each other before tucking into their meal in silence. Emma just laughed and shook her head when only halfway through her pasta primavera and smoked salmon Kara jumped up and headed off for seconds. It was rare Emma found someone who could eat as much as her. Kara not only could eat as much, she could eat more. It was amusing and oddly impressed Emma, made her feel a sense of pride that the younger girl definitely at least wouldn't go hungry while in Rio.
"Miss Swan."
Startled, Emma's attention snapped up to find an imposing auburn haired woman in a designer suit and visitor badge standing just to the side of her table. The older woman seemed familiar though Emma couldn't place her. Trying to ignore assessing brown eyes, Emma struggled to swallow her mouthful of pasta before speaking.
"Uh, yeah. I'm Emma. Do I know you?"
"Senator Cora Mills, D.C." The woman stuck out her hand and smirked when the blonde girl scrambled to wipe her hands off before nearly crushing her hand in a firm grip. Despite the brute strength, Cora knew this girl was merely an overgrown puppy. "I've heard a lot about you, dear. My daughter has dragged me to enough of your races to know you are very talented."
Blushing profusely, Emma glanced around nervously hoping Kara was on her way back so she'd have some reprieve. "Thanks. Um, I, uh, what can I do for you?"
"No need to be frightened, Miss Swan." Cora studied the bench seat before sitting down across from Emma, pleased to find while the proportions of food inhumanly large, they were relatively healthy. "My daughter is a huge fan, your posters still hang in her childhood bedroom."
Emma couldn't help but blush harder. She still wasn't used to this level of notoriety. "That's…"
The girl's unease made Cora chuckle. Regina wouldn't have such a difficult time talking to her crush at all if this was how the girl reacted to a simple conversation. "My dear Regina is far too nervous to approach you. I know you're incredibly busy, but I expect you to find time to meet her. She's on the eighth floor, room 801."
"She's, um, here?" With all the crazy things fans had been pulling back home on their idols, Emma was suddenly incredibly apprehensive about meeting this woman's daughter. "What event is she in?"
"Fencing, the women's foil on Wednesday. I do not wish to seek you out again for breaking my daughter's heart by not meeting her. Are we clear, Miss Swan?"
It amazed Emma how quickly the woman's pride at her daughter quickly morphed into threatening anger. She quickly nodded, nearly sighing in relief when Kara sank back down next to her with her second heaping plateful of pasta.
"Hi! I'm Kara Danvers. Are you a friend of Emma's?"
Cora smiled at the younger blonde. "I believe we will become closely acquainted, yes. Cora Mills. Pleasure to meet you, dear, but I must be off." The senator turned to Emma, raising an eyebrow. "I shall see you later, Miss Swan."
Emma stared wide eyed at the retreating woman while Kara's brows furrowed as she looked at the older blonde, puzzled at what just happened. "Who was that?"
"I, uh, I'm not sure. You really gonna eat all that? You're gonna be too stuffed to swim tomorrow." Emma shook her head and chuckled as the girl grinned before stuffing another forkful of pasta into her mouth.
Kara nudged Emma with her shoulder before snatching a strawberry from the older blonde's bowl. "Are you excited for opening ceremonies tonight? I can't believe I'll be walking in them instead of watching it on TV."
Rolling her eyes, Emma smiled, remembering the excitement of her first olympics. "I can't. Ursula banned me to my room for overdoing it in qualifiers today. She should know by now I only have one setting in the pool and it's go. Slow isn't in my vocabulary. You should go tonight though, have fun with the team."
"You could go anyways."
"No way! You don't know my coach. If she caught me I'd be lucky if I got to swim my races. She'd definitely punish me when I return to practice back home." Emma shook her head. "My best bet is to just chill in my room or watch TV in the common room and rest up. Tomorrow is gonna kill me."
Kara nodded sympathetically. "You're sort of crazy for swimming thirty four laps tomorrow. That's over a mile!"
Emma dropped her head down on her arms and groaned. "I know. Don't remind me. The heats for the relay will warm me up for the 1500 but the finals for the relay, if we make it, will kill me."
"You're one of the best swimmers on the team. There's three others in the relay. It won't just be on you."
"If Ariel puts in an effort, maybe. I know Tiana will crush it. Sprints are her thing. I don't know Schneider well, but knowing most the other teams, we've got our work cut out." Emma picked up her empty dishes and stood up. "I'm gonna go explore the village a bit before heading to my room."
Without waiting for an invitation, Kara jumped up and shoveled the last of the food in her mouth before dashing after Emma. Knowing how busy her days would be, Emma decided to get her shopping out of the way first. A few shirts for herself, a few for her parents, some small gifts and a few shirts for her brothers who were staying behind back in Maryland. Grabbing a smoothie, arms full of bags, Emma returned to her room, laughing when Kara flopped down on her bed.
"Do you want a belly rub too?"
Kara rolled her eyes at Emma's teasing and tossed a pillow at her. "Whatever, Swan. I've got to go get ready. You sure you don't want me to stay with you?"
Emma gave her a small smile, shaking her head. "I'll be fine. Those last hours, and knowing me I'll be happier with the sleep anyways. Since I'm swimming over a mile and all." She laughed as the younger girl rolled her eyes.
"Okay, but if you change your mind it'd be cool too. Maybe I'll manage to see my sister there. She'd been so busy already with soccer."
"I don't doubt it. Soccer matches take ages. I bet you could get your little girlfriend to sit with you though if you don't want to be alone."
Blushing, Kara threw the pillow at Emma's head before rolling her eyes. When Emma caught the pillow she shrieked and shot off the bed, racing for the door. Even long down the hall she could hear Emma's laughter. She really did feel bad that Emma couldn't go, but she was so excited to be able to experience everything for the first time and she wasn't about to miss anything if she could help it.
SQSQSQSQ
Emma groaned and was about to walk across the room to turn her alarm clock off when her roommate, Ariel Fisher, jumped across her causing her to try and double over from the pain of 160 pounds crushing her stomach.
"You ready for today?"
"I was until your fat ass made my spleen burst." Grunting, Emma shoved Ariel to the floor. "Get off. Don't you have a fisherman to flirt with or something?"
Ariel glared from the floor. "Shut up! Eric is a rower, not a fisherman."
Ignoring the redhead, Emma sprinted to the bathroom and locked the door, knowing Ariel took hours to get ready even if it was just to throw a latex cap and goggles on to jump in the pool. She was still chuckling as she boarded the bus about the incessant pounding on the door and the threats to destroy all her things if she didn't get out.
"You seem happy today. Ready to swim that mile?" Kara dropped suddenly into the seat next to her.
"Ugh, Danvers, why'd you gotta remind me? Are you always so cheery?" Emma groaned and sunk further down in her seat as the younger blonde plopped down next to her.
Kara held out a bowl of oatmeal topped with fresh berries and a bottle of orange juice. "I didn't see you in the cafeteria this morning, and I figured there's a reason you're always texting me about hydration and food so I brought you some."
Oatmeal wasn't her favourite thing, but the monstrous rumbling her stomach just gave caused her to blush at all the following stares, quickly setting to work on appeasing her hunger. Good thing they didn't have to swim for a while yet.
The aquatic centre was already buzzing with activity by the time Emma and Kara walked through the doors. Kara set off for the locker rooms to go warm up while Emma just glanced around, finally having a few moments to really inspect the pool and the stands.
"Your favorite little fan is here." Tiana busted out laughing as she elbowed Emma in the ribs.
"Again?" Emma rolled her eyes and made up her mind. She was going to assuage her fears before having to swim today so she wouldn't have to worry about this the entire week of competition. "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes send security after me."
Tiana laughed harder as she watched Emma jog over to the dividing fence for the stands and scale it before marching over to the petite brunette who suddenly looked positively petrified.
Emma eyed the woman before her. The brunette couldn't be much older than her, ebony hair and cinnamon colored eyes, the most flawless olive colored skin Emma had ever seen. Everything she had intended to say suddenly flew out of her brain.
"Hello again, Miss Swan." Cora watched the two just stare at each other for a minute before barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes and deciding to step in before one or both had a coronary.
"Uh, h-hi, Senator Mills."
Regina frowned as her crush addressed her mother. How did Emma know Cora? Catching Cora's smirk before she excused herself, Regina groaned, knowing her mother had done something to completely embarrass her.
"I, um, I'm Emma Swan." Emma nervously ran a hand through her hair and gave a small smile, confused why this stranger was affecting her so much.
"Regina Mills. I'm sorry for whatever my mother did or said. She's… well she's Cora." Regina shrugged and offered Emma her hand. "You've got a crazy day ahead of you. I wish you luck."
Emma laughed and shook the woman's hand. "So everyone keeps telling me. I've seen you around a lot. Your mother, uh, she mentioned you… foil? No… fence with foil… I'm not sure. I'm sorry."
It was Regina's turn to laugh and turn Emma's insides to jelly. "I fence and the name of my weapon is called the foil. It's very fast paced. I enjoy it. I've been known to use a sabre occasionally too, but foil is my weapon of choice."
"That's cool. I've never seen a fencing competition. Maybe I can, uh, catch your match or something?" Emma shrugged, suddenly completely shy for the first time in her life. Blushing, she raised her gaze to meet the beautiful brown eyes again. "If you wanted or I don't know…"
Regina beamed and relished in the blonde's adorable awkwardness. It settled her own nerves to know her crush was just as ridiculous as her right now. "I'd like that. Perhaps we could talk after you're done here tonight? The cafeteria is always open."
Emma shrugged and glanced down to check what other swimmers were entering the pool deck. "You don't wanna see me eat. I'll probably embarrass myself. Room 801, right?"
"How?" Regina's eyes widened and she was suddenly incredibly suspicious how Emma Swan of all people knew what room she was in.
"Your mom told me to go to your room and talk to you at some point or she'd hunt me down." Emma laughed as horror flooded into the brunette's face before it disappeared behind delicate, manicured hands. "Hey, it's no big deal. I'll find you afterwards, okay?"
Regina realized the angry shouting of Emma's name was coming from the black woman she recognized as Emma's coach. Nodding, she reluctantly let Emma go, kicking herself after Emma had already disappeared into the locker room that she hadn't exchanged numbers or gotten Emma's room number. Oh well, ball was now in her crush's hands and she had to live with that. It's not like there weren't six more days to see Emma swim if they didn't catch each other tonight.
Doing her best not to focus on the fact that the most gorgeous woman she'd ever met was in the stands watching her, Emma stretched out before doing a few laps in the warmup pool before the relay. She'd never been more thankful for securing the anchor spot because she needed that time to get her head in the game. Her usual pre-race hype playlist wasn't doing the job right now.
"How's your girl doing? Has her event started yet?"
"She's not my girl." Regina rolled her eyes, hoping one day that statement might be wrong. She'd love to have any sort of relationship with Emma, though it'd admittedly kill her to have such a strong attraction and just be friends. Right now she knew she had to focus on developing their friendship first before she could even consider or hope for more with Emma.
Zelena laughed, fully enjoying the blush that crept through her sister's face. There weren't many things she was able to rile Regina over, but Emma Swan was an easy topic to wind her up.
"Girls, you're going to miss the relay heats if you keep bickering." Cora smirked as she squeezed Regina's hand. "You know how Regina would hate to miss watching Emma dart through the water, Zelena. At least wait until after the girl has finished swimming for the night before starting."
"Mother!" Regina felt her face heat further and promptly set about directing her focus on the pool and blocking out her family. Sometimes they really were too much. She'd give anything to have her father here, but his doctor had refused to clear him for travel, citing his heart too weak. He had promised to watch her matches on television and call her every day so that at least was something, but she sorely missed him. Times like this he was the only buffer she truly had between her mother and sister.
Watching Kara breeze through her butterfly and medley heats, Emma finally felt in her zone and treated her own leg of the 4x100 meter freestyle relay as a true warmup. She knew she did far slower than she normally would, but Ursula seemed pleased with her that she'd paced herself and not gone all out. There was a slight reprieve in action as she watched Kara get through her butterfly semifinals.
"Way to go, Supergirl. Trying to show me up and it's only day one." Emma nudged her friend as the younger blonde popped up next to her. She hugged the girl before they both settled into chairs to watch the men's 400 free.
Kara just shook her head. "I can't believe you're about to swim the 1500 final. Half the women who qualified are more than three full minutes slower than you. The last two to qualify are over five minutes slower."
Emma shrugged, eyes focused on the pool. "Don't count anyone out. Every race is a new chance to prove yourself. Just because someone has slow times one race doesn't mean they won't whoop you the next."
"Yeah, but-"
"No." Emma shook her head as she turned her focus on the younger girl. "That kind of arrogance is what will get you beat day in and day out. You just go into each race focusing on you and giving it your all. The only one you can control is you, so if you swam your best that's what matters."
Kara nodded, knowing Emma was right. You could personally swim lousy and still wind up winning, but even losing felt better if you knew you had done your best instead of phoning it in. "Ready for your finals? You're almost up."
Taking a deep breath Emma nodded and stood up, receiving a crushing hug from her friend before heading over towards her coach to receive her pep talk. While everyone thought she was crazy for enjoying the 1500, Emma personally enjoyed the longer races while the sprints were something she had yet to find her comfort in.
"Oh god. I can't watch. I'm going to be sick. Tell me when it's over." Regina buried her face in her hands as her stomach rolled. The announcer had just called all the 1500 meter freestyle swimmers to their blocks. Emma had looked so calm that her nerves more than easily balanced the blonde's out.
Zelena just rolled her eyes and glanced at her mother. "And you call me a drama queen." Deciding to have some fun, she teased her sister enough to have the brunette constantly spread her fingers and peek out at Emma swimming in the pool.
Emma could hear the muffled voices of the announcers as she darted through the water, back and forth from one end to the other repeatedly. Less than halfway through and she could only see two other swimmers' hands near her feet. Ursula was surely going to kill her for bulleting instead of pacing, but this one was too important to Emma to risk losing.
"Oh look, someone cracked their head on the wall."
Regina immediately felt her stomach drop, snapping her attention to the pool as Emma smoothly made it into her 20th lap, flipping under and shooting back almost to the middle of the lane. She slapped her sister in the stomach. "That's not funny, Z! There are lifeguards here for a reason! Oh god. Does she look like she's getting tired? She'll be so upset if she doesn't do well."
Zelena grimaced and glared, clutching her stomach. "Lifeguards are the most useless thing I've ever seen. They're professional swimmers. That's like taking an animal control officer to an adoption event. Completely useless buggers. Look, even they're bored out of their minds. Is this over soon?"
"Shut up! She's almost done." Regina watched on anxiously as Emma swam the last few laps. She didn't know why she was nervous though. Emma was literally swimming against herself.
Emma felt her fingers hit the wall and immediately popped up to check her time, wanting to laugh when the next closest swimmer was a full seven seconds behind her.
"Emma Swan of the United States in lane five not only winning gold but beating her own world record for a new time of 15:26:02. Her first gold medal of the competition so far in these Rio games."
Pulling herself out of the pool, Emma knew she barely had any recovery time between cooling down, the medal ceremony, and the relay finals. Ursula ran over and clapped her on the back just as she secured her towel around herself.
"Hell of a time, kid, but you're going to suffer in the relay."
Emma nodded. "I know, but three other people are racing with me. I've some time to recover."
Ursula rolled her eyes and handed her star swimmer a water bottle. "Go rinse off and head over to the medals area. I'll be waiting for you."
Once she was ready and in a chair near the area where medals were being handed out, Emma pulled out her phone and texted her parents. They were both busy with work but would be there in a few days. She couldn't wait to see them again!
"Go Emma!" Regina knew she had cheered loudest in the entire aquatic center when Emma blushed and flashed her a smile before returning her focus to the cameras in her face. Her own face blushed crimson as mother began laughing at them.
"Shall I begin planning the wedding? I want at least three grandchildren. Do you think Miss Swan would wear a suit or a dress?"
Regina's mortification grew as she sister joined in. "Swan seems like a stud but Reggie here is pursuing her so I say dress and Regina in the suit."
A brunette wearing all blue leaned over, barely containing her laughter. "Emma has had her ideal wedding planned since she was twelve and it involves very little clothing."
"Ooh, how very scandalous. Do tell more." Zelena delighted when Regina groaned.
Not wanting to hear anymore, Regina got up and moved closer to the front of the stands to watch the relay finals. She could already tell from how stiff Emma was standing that the blonde was tired.
Doing her best to relax and loosen up, Emma watched her teammates do their laps. Tiana was naturally the fastest, being the best freestyle sprinter on their team. Kelly was a bit slow from racing the butterfly with Kara, but she surprised Emma. Ariel… Emma sighed as the slight lead they had drastically decreased and nearly took them out of medal contention. There was no excuse since she hadn't even had another event today. Emma tried her hardest, wanting to push through her fatigue and knowing Ursula would eat her alive if they didn't win gold.
"Silver! Yay, Emma!" Regina was thrilled for the team placing second after nearly not medaling at all but Emma's body language spoke volumes of her disappointment. She stuck around to watch them get their medals and for Emma to cool down in the warm up pool. As an hour past ticked by, Regina was sure the blonde had somehow left so she decided to return to her room as well.
"Hey, I heard you up there. Did you enjoy the races?"
Regina nearly jumped out of her skin, not having realized Emma had shown up next to her in line for the bus out of thin air. "Don't do that! Do you have some weird magic or something that makes your approach silent?"
Emma shrugged, sheepishly offering a small smile. "My adoptive mom is, um, sort of an expert at that kind of thing. Sorry… so, the races?"
"You did amazing! Everyone did. Two medals and it's only the first day!"
"Eh, we let Tiana down not swimming our best. Silver is amazing… it just wasn't the best we could do." Emma scuffed the toe of her shoe into the sidewalk, berating herself again for letting everyone down.
Without thinking, Regina grabbed Emma's face and immediately pressed full red lips to the blonde swimmer's. She hated seeing Emma so upset. She placed second in the world in a team event after literally just finishing the longest distance race in swimming with a new world record. The blonde should be immensely proud of herself right now. Emma squeaked in surprise, knowing her face would be beet red if anyone bothered to look. A few seconds of initial shock and Emma was even more shocked to find herself kissing back. She didn't have much experience kissing anyone, and never a stranger. This felt right somehow though.
"Bloody hell, Regina. Let the poor girl breathe! She just swam all day long. The last thing she needs is you sucking her face off."
Emma blushed harder and hid her face behind a curtain of hair once she remembered they were in public. Regina equally wished the sidewalk would swallow her whole in that moment. She'd just made out with her crush in public, and to make it worse, her family caught her. Before she could say anything, she realized with the air squeaking that the bus was pulling away, and with it, Emma Swan. "Damn it!"