Jake and Lauren for some reason were always my favourite pairing on the show and it always devastated me that I never got to see how they got together. So here is my take on that. A one shot.
I also want to apoligise for any mistakes I might have made regarding the actual wrestling aspect of the story, it's not a sport i follow by any means.
enjoy xxx
Only gold medallists can kiss this.
Lauren sat anxiously in the arena waiting for the men's 74kg freestyle wrestling finals to start. She had sat through 4 others finals before this, and it was the first wrestling competition she'd ever sat and watched through completely. The gymnastics competitions had finished up 2 days prior and she'd found out that Jake had been at every single one of them, not only supporting her but also her team mates.
The only time she spotted him was during the beam event finals, she was the only USA girl to make the finals. Standing on that beam just before her dismount she felt her fingers begin to tingle, something that after the Olympic trials, hadn't needed monitoring. But just like at the trials, she looked up into the crowed and instantly spotted him and instantly knew to take a deep breath in. After that the routine ended fine and she stuck her dismount.
Turns out that he wasn't just at her beam finals, but he was there during qualification, the team finals and during the other event finals because her team members had qualified to them.
So that had driven her to attend this match, to grab a last minute seat at the back of the arena where she could still see everything.
The crowed suddenly erupted into applause when Jake and his opponent walked into the dome with their coaches by their sides.
"Jeez, why am I so nervous?" she thought to herself. It was that kind of warmth that she felt when she watched her teammates compete, that willingness for them to do well. It was a bit for than that this time and she knew it.
He stepped on the side of the ring and his opponent on to the other and then the commentator proceeded with the introductions. To Lauren all of this was a little odd, it was so much more informal than any other gymnastics competition. In gymnastics when you were introduced before an event it was so you would be introduced to the judging panel. Here there was none of that; it was all about getting the crowed revved up and ready to enjoy the final.
Then it was time to start the event. The referee counted them in and off they went. Lauren sat there and tried to participate as the rest of the crowed "oooh'd" and "aaah'd" at every move the two men made. She knew it was exciting and recognised it was intense, but she still had no idea what was going on.
She really wanted to make an effort to research the sport before coming to London, but after missing two weeks of training due to the surgery all her effort was required to get her back into Olympic level shape and she never had the chance. She was here though so that's all that mattered.
"C'mon Jake!" she heard people around her shout.
"You can do this, man!" he really had this audience behind him now. He must be winning she thought.
"Go on, Jake" she shouted amongst the crowed and all of a sudden he turned to look in her direction, obviously recognising her voice. But he hadn't let himself be distracted by any of the other encouragement he had received.
Surprisingly the distraction had not really affected his focus, she locked eyes with Lauren straight on and it felt like a much longer moment than it actually was. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lauren expression change from some adoration to fear and that is how he knew his opponent was about to make a move on him.
Instead of letting himself be overpowered, Jake turned made his own move.
Lauren watched on as the two men finally made contact and actually started wrestling eachother, he still didn't understand what was going on or who was dominating the encounter but she would just cheer for Jake anyway.
1 hour later.
Lauren stood up in the crowed and followed along as the United States' national anthem played throughout the arena. She felt so proud; she knew exactly what it felt like to have you countries flag be raised in front of your own eyes after a performance that you had given.
As the anthem ended and the medal winners made their way out of the arena she felt something wet drip down her face. She brought her hand up to wipe her cheek and realised she had been crying.
Unsure of the actual reason why Lauren was quite surprised at herself, she had never really felt this way about a boy before. That was an overwhelming sense of pride and respect, love? And the best part was she really thought the feeling could be mutual this time around.
Lauren felt her phone buzz in her pocket, pulling it out she saw it was a text message from Kaylie.
Just heard the good news! Another gold medal for team USA! Make sure you congratulate him properly for us now.
Wow, she thought to herself. The good news had sure travelled past to the athlete's village.
Another Hour
Lauren was now dead nervous. After leaving the arena she had made herself comfortable on a bench near the athlete's village where she knew Jake would see her on his way back. She had seen him run past here most mornings.
She turned and looked over her shoulder to see a large group of people walking a long, cheering and celebrating. It must have been Jake and with his coaches and team mates.
She could see Jake within the crowed of people so she stood up from the bench she had been seated on hoping he would notice her, and he did. He smiled in her direction, "I'll catch up with you guys a little later" he told the group of people, without taking his eyes off of Lauren.
His friends all looked over to where he had been staring and smiled, understanding what he needed and wanted to do.
"No worries man" one of his mates told him "we'll all see you soon anyway for the celebrations".
"Hi there Barbie" he told her, walking closer to her.
She giggled at that. From the beginning she had hated that nickname, but if she honest it had definitely grown on her, just like her feelings for him had.
"Back at the Olympic training centre you would have punched me after I called you that" he told her smiling, he was right.
"I think London has had a positive effect on me then" she responded.
He smiled at her, but his next sentence was stained with a more serious tone. "I didn't even know you were planning on coming to the final".
"You came to mine" she told him with a smile, "I thought it was only fair that I returned the favour".
"If I telling the truth I wanted to come, I wanted to be there to support you" she told him before she realised what she was saying.
He smile on his face grew tenfold. It was really the first time that her emotions got relatively serious with him, or that she actually admitted it to him and herself.
"Well I am glad you came, but you didn't have to shout at me like that!" he told her, lightening the mood a little. "You completely distracted me you know!".
"I am so sorry about that" she told him, really not knowing if he was joking or was slightly annoyed "I was trying to get involved with the crowed, they were all cheering you along I thought I should just join in and once I did you turned and looked right at me. You didn't do that when anyone else was shouting at you".
He smiled at her noticing the worried look on her face. "Well like I said, I didn't know you were going to be there so I had to make sure I wasn't hearing things".
"You could have been seriously hurt, if I ever let myself get distracted while on the beam I would be on the floor in a flash".
"That's where the two sports differ just a little" he told her sarcastically. "You should know that you're actually the reason I won".
Lauren looked at Jake with an expression on her face that said 'what are you talking about?'.
"When I saw you looking at me you turned your head, I took that to mean the opponent was right there, you were the reason I made my move when I did".
The tone was serious again. All Lauren wanted to do now was kiss him, finally kiss him. Gold medal or no gold medal she knew she wanted this to happen.
"Jake" she began, tears now welling up in her eyes. "I really am so proud of you".
Jake was surprised, he wasn't really expecting this from Lauren but it was nice to have a real raw moment with her. To be with her was something that he wanted to happen for months and the pride and happiness that he felt for her was overwhelming. Never had he let himself become so emotionally involved with someone and he wanted her to also know how they felt the same way about her.
"The feeling is absolutely mutual, baby". He told her, taking her hands into his.
Lauren sobbed audibly at the contact; this whole situation was starting to become emotionally overpowering for her.
Jake stepped back suddenly and went to pull a box out of his pocket. Lauren recognised the container instantly; it was the box the athletes were given with the medal to store it in.
Jake pulled the lid up and took the medal out, he walked back towards Lauren and placed the medal around her neck.
"Do you know what that is?" he asked her while fixing her hair so it flowed over the band.
"Are you being sarcastic?" she asked him laughing.
"Just answer the question, girl" he told her, placing his hands once again onto her waist.
"This" she said, picking up the gold medallion in her hand before continuing "is your gold medal".
"Do you remember what you said I could only do after I won myself one of those?".
Lauren's face grew a smirk and she tilted her head to the side "I remember very clearly, why don't you show me if you do?" she flirted.
Jake pulled Lauren in closer, finally getting permission from her to do what he'd first tried months ago.
Pulling her body into his he wasn't wasting any time. Lauren instantly moaned aloud as their lips made contact for the first time. Her heart fluttered hard as his arms pulled her in closer. Moving her lips against his she brought her arms around his neck, one of her hands moving to hold his head in place so she could deepen the kiss.
"mm" he sounded, moving his head away from hers but being careful to still hold Lauren close "best first kiss ever".
Lauren smiled at him, bringing her hand from behind his head to wipe her lip gloss from his face.
"Was it worth a gold medal?" she flirted again.
"Worth a million" he told her.
Lauren felt so awe struck at that moment, she had no need to be nervous earlier because nothing in her life had ever felt this natural. Not ever standing on top on that beam.
Before she could pull Jake in for another kiss, he stopped her. "Lauren, I just need you to know something" he began.
By the sound of the change in his tone she knew this was something quite serious, she felt the nerves creeping back in again, preparing herself for whatever he might tell her.
"no need to look so scared" he joked with her, realising her change in demeanour.
"I want you to know what this just wasn't about the chase for me, it wasn't about the medals or the kiss … well a little bit the kiss", he told her laughing, before becoming serious again "I really like you and I hope you know I really care about you and that I really am so proud of you".
"Lauren I want to make a go at this" he said, gesturing between them "I want to be with you".
She felt the tears in her eyes return, knowing that she couldn't hide her emotions any longer she looked directly into his eyes so he could for sure see how humbled she was. She leaned her head against his, sighed audibly and stayed there still for a moment.
She was silently thanking him for everything he had just told her. He had just calmed every fear she had about what this relationship could potentially become. She finally had someone who wanted to be with her. She finally had someone that had chosen her, and not because they were a relative, or her coach or because they shared a lifelong dream of going to the Olympics like her. Jake had chosen her just for being her, and that meant everything to Lauren.
"I want to be with you too" she told him, barley above a whisper.
The end
Please R/R
But that's all he needed to hear before pulling her into another long deserved, passionate kiss. After all, only gold medallists got to kiss this.