Disclaimer: I do not own make It or Break it. I did not write the series or star in it. Seriously I'm just a bored Canadian...
Warnings: AU, language, evil plots, bunnies and whatever else I feel like throwing in.
Chapter Two
Payson walked into Denver Elite and sighed. Even after one day, the gym was starting to feel comfortable. It was bigger than The Rock, less intimate and warm, but it held a feeling of determination and pain and pleasure- the ache of pushing one's self hard, the sting of failing, the gratification of getting back up again, and the pain and pleasure of sore muscles stretching out. It was something Payson could appreciate- especially since that feeling was overshadowed at The Rock by all the drama that liked to fester.
"Morning Payson." Marty called from his office.
Payson turned and smiled at her coach. "Morning." She replied.
"Come here Payson, I have some things for you."
Payson nodded, and quickly entered the office. She kept her surprise at seeing Kelly Parker already there, well hidden. Payson noticed that Kelly was lying on the couch, her ankle up and iced. Payson gave her rival a cordial nod, before she took a seat in the squishy chair from before. "What's up Marty?"
Marty smiled at her and reached under his desk, he slowly brought out a white plastic bag and placed it on the desk. "Open it." He prompted.
Payson eyed him suspiciously before she reached in and pulled out the contents. Payson was surprised to see a Denver blue leo, and a Denver tracksuit. Checking the tags she only smiled when she saw they were all her size. "Really Marty? That was quick..."
Marty smiled, "I am nothing if not an optimist. I knew you would come back to me." Marty winked at her.
"Uh huh... and what would have happened if I didn't come?" Payson asked.
"He would have moped like a scolded puppy and driven us all mad." Kelly spoke up.
Payson coughed to cover her laugh.
"Thank you for that Kelly..."The only man in the room muttered.
"Anytime coach. Now stop all this lovey dovey bullshit so I can rest properly." Kelly threw back.
"How's that ankle Parker?" Payson asked to steer the conversation in a new direction.
"Great Keeler. Feels like I could do 20 vaults and still dance around. How's the back?" The brunette said without emotion or sarcasm.
"Like I could go 20 vaults, and still dance around." Payson threw back, smiling slightly.
"Are... are you two getting along?" Marty interrupted.
"No." The two gymnasts replied together.
"Right, thought not." Marty said with a smirk. "Now Payson, I made up a new training schedule for you. Your floor is fine for now, so we will focus more on your other apparatuses. I want your DOD higher on the beam, and then I know you can improve that 2 ½ twist dismount on bars. It was a little shaky, and I want that landing smooth. The vault, is fine, but I have a feeling you have something hidden up your sleeve."
Payson gave him a look. It was a little challenging, a little mocking, and a bit of mirth, at the man's assumption. "Do you now."
"Erg! Keeler! We all know that you had a Produnova before your accident, and with your work ethic and aspirations, you were probably attempting to turn the double into a triple, and say 'Fuck you' to Produnova, and make a Keeler. You probably landed it too, since there were rumours of you having a new vault that would be named after you. It's not rocket science. A three year old could figure it out." Kelly quickly snapped out as she picked up a magazine and casually flipped through it.
"I..." Payson was stuck for something to say.
"Kelly has a point. But I will not let you attempt a Produnova in this gym. Not until I am 100% reassured that your back can handle that." The man said in a serious tone.
"I understand. Nothing risky until you say so. Can I start training now?" Payson asked.
"Kelly how is the ankle?"
"If it were a man it would be grunting mating noises, and frantically cheering it's favourite sports team." Was the sarcastic reply.
"Well in that case, I want to see you both on the floor in 10 minutes ready to train. You will train together from now on, since no one else can push you like the other." Payson nodded, and quickly gathered her new training gear and left.
o.O.o
Sasha sighed before he started lightly banging his head off his desk. This could not get any worse for him, it really couldn't. He honestly had a moment the night before where he had asked himself if it was right for him to come back. Maybe he should have stayed in Romania... There wasn't pregnant girls, bitchy blondes, and frustratingly amazing gymnasts driving him up the wall. Well there was probably pregnant girls and bitchy blonde's, but he doubted Snagov had Payson Keeler.
Pregnancy. He had encountered this once before, but the girl had quickly aborted the baby, took two days off, and was back in the gym training again. He had been careful with her the first few days, but after that, he was all about focus and getting her to the top. But Emily... Emily was just so headstrong he wasn't sure what to do. He knew what he would like her to do, but he couldn't influence a decision that big. When he saw how Emily was slowly throwing away her talent because she was ignoring the situation, Sasha had grabbed a beer, and downed it quickly.
Lauren. That was just a giant ball of chaos that he did not want to touch. The girl was so troubled. He wanted to help, but Lauren was so closed off. He saw that she was opening up to Summer, and he had taken that as a good sign. He had hoped that with Summer and her virtuous ways, Lauren would turn over a new leaf. But he just didn't see it. Her mischievous little eyes were still present and her scheming ways tainted the atmosphere. He really needed to sort her out. That thought had cost him two beers.
And then there was Payson. She was amazing on and off the mat. He would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted in the least to drag her closer when she kissed him. She was a beautiful girl with so much talent, and determination, that it was intoxicating. But then he screwed it up, and left her. He ran away, she came chasing after him, and even then he managed to screw it up even more by driving her to Denver. Sasha had eyed the rest of his six-pack, but he couldn't bring himself to drink. He needed to straighten things out with her.
"Well if that isn't the look of a defeated man than I don't know what is." Austin Tuckers deep voice filtered through the office.
"Austin... my gym is really fucked up right now." Sasha admitted.
"So... this isn't the time to tell you that Kaylie is on the floor insisting on speaking with you?" Austin asked.
Sasha lifted his head and stared the gold medalist in the eye. "No." That said the Romanian dropped his head back to his desk and tried to ignore the younger man.
"Right. I'll tell her you're busy killing brain cells." Austin replied as he walked away. Sasha grunted but that is as much effort as he put into responding. Sasha was slowly gathering the energy to go see the National Champ, and see how she doing, but it was a tough process.
Groaning and generally acting like a reluctant child while in private, Sasha stood up and stepped around the desk. He was just inside the office doorway when he heard his phone ringing. Sasha quickly pounced on the distraction from facing another major issue, but was disappointed when he saw the 'Chloe Kmetko' flashing across the screen. It just wasn't his day.
Giving one more petulant groan, Sasha manned up and answered the phone. "Sasha Belov."
"Sasha..." Chloe sounded as if she was crying. "Emily...Emily ran away!" The woman wailed through the phone.
Sasha retreated to his desk chair and eyed his mini fridge that he knew was home to nice bottle of scotch. Not the cheap stuff either, but a bottle he had shelled out a few hundred for in Scotland. "What happened?" he asked. Sasha listened intently as Chloe explained how Emily decided to keep her baby and ran away to Vegas.
Looking out his window towards the floor, Sasha spotted Austin talking to Kaylie with a gym bag at her feet. "I'm sorry Chloe, I wished I could have done more for her."
o.O.o
Payson was watching Kelly intently from her spotters position. She took in everything the World champ did, and memorized it. This was her biggest competition, and she needed to be able to form a proper strategy to beat Kelly. She could admit that Kelly had really upped her game on the uneven bars, and that was worrying Payson.
"No matter how hard you think you won't beat me Keeler." Kelly taunted while she held a handstand.
"Oh I don't need to think about how I will beat you, I already know I will. I was just trying to figuring out by how much." Payson threw back.
"You are more optimistic than Marty." Kelly dropped her handstand and started swinging around for her next move.
"Nope, just a realist!" Payson stated happily. Kelly snorted from the bars, but she didn't say anything else, too concentrated on nailing her upcoming dismount.
As Kelly landed, Payson stepped towards the chalk bucket but was head off by Marty. The coach smiled lightly at the pair before he spoke. "That was a good morning practice. Why don't you two break for lunch?"
"Sounds good to me." Kelly piped up immediately. "There's a new vegetarian restaurant that opened down the road, I've been wanting to try it out."
Payson rolled her eyes at the girl's comment. "Well I hope you enjoy it. I'm going to eat quickly. Marty do you mind spotting me on my bars routine after I eat?"
Marty shook his head. "Why don't you two go try out that restaurant together? A little bonding can go a long way." He was met with two flat stares. "Well you two enjoy lunch, I hope to hear all about the new restaurant." Marty left quickly after that.
"Well... you have fun, just tell me a dish off the menu and I can pretend it was good."The blonde half of the pair said.
Kelly let out another snort. "Knowing Marty he will call the restaurant. Come on Keeler, I'll drive and pay, but don't expect this often."
"But..." Payson knew there was a catch.
Kelly smirked. "Not just yet Keeler, I will tell you soon. Now let's go."
Payson hesitated, but looking towards Marty's office she saw the gold medalist watching them intently. Feeling like a mouse in a maze, under his intense scrutinizing, Payson simply nodded and walked away. Well Marty would get his wish, they would eat together, but neither girl was going to be happy about it. In fact, Payson smiled as she thought of a nice little bit of revenge. "Hey Parker, do you know Marty's favourite dish or dessert?"
Kelly looked back at her with a bemused expression, before her trademark evil grin appeared. "Oh I know it... Keeler, you're starting to speak my language." Payson gave Kelly her own little devil may care smile. Maybe this could start a friendship, and the only casualty from this mini apocalypse would be Marty.
o.O.o
Marty was second guessing his idea to get Payson and Kelly to be on more amicable terms. He thought forcing them to have lunch together would take the bite off their animosity for one another, but they went above and beyond his expectations, and formed some evil little alliance. When they bounced through the gym door, both smiling, and Kelly carrying a take away container he was curious.
So he went down.
When he was a few feet from them, he smelled it. It was a like a beacon of delicious smell that was coming from that take away container. The fresh fruit was alluring, the sweet scent of whipping cream was enticing, the delicious aroma of puff pastry- the combination they created was like a sugar made siren.
"W-what do you girls have there?" Marty asked.
"Oh nothing... just a strawberry napoleon we planned on eating later." Payson answered sweetly.
"We figured that a new friendship should be cemented with some celebratory dessert after practice." Kelly piped up.
Marty didn't remove his eyes from the container. "I think that breaks your diet restrictions. I may need to confiscate it." Marty told them seriously, plans of sneaking away to his office, and devouring the dessert already half formed.
"Don't worry Marty; we'll just come in early for some extra conditioning tomorrow." Payson told him in a reassuring tone.
"Yup, now we should get back to training." Kelly quickly steered Payson away, taking the confectionary vixen with her.
Marty watched them go, mourning the loss of his favourite pastry, and he could swear he saw two little devil tails flicking back and forth in satisfaction as his gymnasts walked away. He might have made a mistake in pushing them together.
o.O.o
The day that the World team practice rolled around, Kelly and Payson walked into The Rock together. To the World Team members it was a strange sight, but to the Rock girls, it was another wall between themselves and their former captain. But Sasha was not watching the two females enter the gym. He was too busy looking at the smug expression on Marty's face as he walked in two steps behind the girls. His eyes didn't leave the other man as he swaggered towards him.
"Sasha..." Marty said with a grin.
"You're entirely too smug. Get out of my gym." Sasha said.
"Now now...that's no way to treat a guest." Marty tried to reprimand.
"I don't care. You stole my best gymnast." The statement seemed to pull a shiver from the American coach. "Oh... that looks like something interesting." Sasha perked up a little at the potential of something fascinating.
"I rather not talk about it." Marty mumbled.
"Oh, but I would love to hear." Sasha followed Marty's eyes to where Payson and Kelly were silently stretching out of the way of the other World Team members. Sasha grinned. "Are the two best gymnasts in the United States giving you migraines?"
Marty sighed. "I thought they would because of their constant bickering, but...instead I seemed to have encouraged them in a little alliance of sadism."
Sasha coughed as he tried to cover up his laughter. The only problem was he couldn't hide the mirth in his eyes. "What have they been doing to you?" He tried to enquire casually.
"I rather not talk about it." Marty shifted uncomfortably.
"Of course you wouldn't, but maybe I could ask them." Sasha cast a look over to the two Denver Elite's.
"I wouldn't. I don't think that Payson has forgiven you. They might put a target on your back like they have mine."
"So they are getting along...?" Sasha asked slowly.
"In their own way. They still fight, but I think it's more to push each other now, than actual dislike."
Sasha watched Payson and Kelly interact with each other for a few more moments. They seemed comfortable around each other, and they didn't throw hostile words or looks, it was surreal after witnessing their past interactions.
"How are you doing with the whole Emily situation?" Marty asked.
Sasha ran a hand through his hair as a nervous gesture. "Emily has left so she can keep the baby."
"Oh..." It was the only sound Marty seemed to be able to make.
"Yeah."
"Well..."
Sasha gave a small chuckle. "I would love to get a drink with you."
"Good. It must be hard going from four to one."
"Two. I have two." Sasha explained.
"Kaylie?" Marty asked in a surprised tone.
"Yes. She has been cleared to start training again. I have kept her to conditioning, but I know she's itching to get back into the thick of things." Sasha pointed out the recovering girl to the Denver man. Kaylie was stretching on the beam with Lauren, both shooting weird looks towards the Denver duo.
"Well I should probably go to the viewing area, let the new national team coach work his magic." Marty broke the silence that had fallen over them.
"Maybe you should stick around on the floor. I may need another mediator." Sasha said as he pointed out the two girls approaching Marty's gymnasts.
"Oh, this should be fun." Marty drawled sarcastically as he watched Lauren open her mouth to address Payson and Kelly. Together the two retired Olympic gymnasts scrambled to break up the impending fight.
"Devil Horns and the Traitor, how nice to see you both." Lauren said with mock sincerity.
"Lauren." Payson nodded her head diplomatically before turning towards Kaylie, "It's good to see you back, Kaylie."
"Ah, Miss Tramp Tanner, how are you on this lovely day?" Kelly asked with a sickly sweet mocking smile, ignoring the other girl for now.
"I'm just great. How are you? Putting that year supply of hemorrhoid cream to good use?"
"Well at least I get free products. What do you get Lauren? Another notch on your bedpost?"
"Cute." Lauren sneered.
"And Miss National Champ...how is that ACL injury doing?" Kelly smirked.
"Don't Kelly. I'm not in the mood." Kaylie responded. "Payson, how are you doing?"
"Goo-" Payson started, but Kelly instantly cut in.
"Keeler's doing great. She's really fitting in at Denver, and Marty's really helped her up her game." Kelly bragged.
"Parker I can answer for myself." Payson pointed out.
"Oh I know Keeler, but I just like the satisfaction of seeing their faces when I deliver the wonderful news." Kelly stared straight into Lauren's eyes as she spoke next. "Keeler is now a Denver Elite, and won't be returning to you or The Rock. We've become really close lately, I'm amazed you guys never realized how great you had it with her around, but oh well. Your loss is Denver's gain. You guys really should have treated Keeler better, maybe you could have kept her."
Payson was oddly touched by Kelly's words. She knew the girl was mainly saying everything to taunt and torment Lauren and Kaylie, but she could hear the underlying earnestness. It was kind of nice to hear that she was actually appreciated at a gym, and wasn't forced to act like a mediator or chaperone to the others. "Um..." she wasn't sure how she was supposed to follow that up.
"Well, it's for the best. The Rock was always Kaylie's and mine, and Payson sauntered in and took over. It's only right that this gym returns to us. We are the top gymnasts here, and that's how it was always meant to be. Payson was an interloper and we're glad she's gone." Lauren threw back spitefully.
"Lauren!" Kaylie snapped harshly.
"What? It's true. Weren't you saying yesterday that it would be nice to finally train and not have Payson around to be constantly compared to?" Lauren asked innocently.
"Lauren...I... that was..." Kaylie fumbled her words.
"I think that is enough chit chat ladies. Finish your warm ups, I will be starting soon." Sasha snapped. Four sets of eyes snapped to him, but only one seemed happy he was there- Kelly's. But that might have been due to Marty's intimidating presence behind the Romanian.
"Payson..." Kaylie tried, but Payson held up a hand.
"Coach Belov is right, we need to finish warming up. Parker, why don't we go work out near the uneven bars." Payson decided to ignore the issue at hand and focus on gymnastics.
"Sure..." Kelly said, as he stood up. "Well I look forward to working with you Coach Belov." Kelly said happily as she followed Payson.
Sasha looked at his own gymnasts who were just standing around. "Well?" he prompted.
"Right, off we go." Lauren spoke up, dragging Kaylie away.
Sasha stood in place, watching as Payson adopted her old Robot Payson expression, and Kelly stayed silent. Lauren was off happily chatting away to Kaylie who would occasionally throw a word in. The other girls were leaving both pairs a wide berth, and Marty... well, Marty was standing beside him snickering.
"Oh just say it." Sasha lightly snapped at the man.
"I'm glad I'm not the National coach anymore." And with that Marty took his leave to go sauntering off to the viewing area, clipboard ready to take notes on his own gymnasts. Sasha sort of wanted to punch him again.
o.O.o
As practice wound down, Sasha finally saw his opening to talk to Payson. He had been subtly looking for an opportunity all day, but whenever he saw the girl free, he would try to approach but be thwarted by Kelly or Marty. He figured they had plotted this somehow, thinking that Sasha would try to bribe Payson back. He was tempted but after seeing Lauren and Kaylie interact with Payson, he knew it would never work out. Payson left to give Sasha more time to spend with the other girls, and the girls now resented Payson for leaving them like Sasha did. Overall, no one would be happy.
But now that Payson was the last to leave the change room, Sasha stepped up. "Payson, could I have a word with you?" He asked.
Payson looked up at him with her wide blue eyes, and he saw apprehension in them. "Sure..."
"In my office if you please?"
Payson nodded and then led the way up the stairs. Once they were both inside, Sasha closed the door, just to give them a bit more privacy. "Payson, how are you doing in Denver? Truthfully."
"What does it matter to you? You are no longer my coach so my health and welfare shouldn't be your concern." Payson stated bluntly.
"I know, but I still care about you and want to know that you're happy." The man said softly.
"You no longer have that right Sasha! When you left me to go to Romania on some sort of twisted logic you lost that right. You didn't care then, so why should you care now?" The blonde female snapped.
"I did care and I do care. I was hurting you." Sasha tried to explain.
"You hurt me more by leaving! You promised to always be with me. To take me to the Olympics! But the first time things looked a little difficult for you with all four girls you fled, with nothing but a stupid letter to say goodbye. Well you got your wish, a permanent goodbye with me." Payson's eyes started getting watery and she turned to leave, but Sasha's arm shot out and caught her wrist.
"Payson, please don't." He pleaded. "I know I shouldn't have left you. I know it was a giant mistake, and I regret it every day I walk into this gym and I remember that you won't be training on the beam or floor or bars. I beat myself up constantly over my choices, but I can't change them. I can only try to make you forgive me."
"What if I don't want to forgive you?" Payson asked bitterly. "What if I want to hate you? What if I want to use that hate and fuel my gymnastics? You did it and won gold."
Sasha faltered. "I did. But after I won I felt empty. I had kept hold of that spite for so long, I wasn't sure what to do after I had the gold. I didn't feel better. I felt like I had a tainted medal. I don't want that for you. Payson, please. I will do anything to make you forgive me."
Payson stayed quiet for a few moments. "Sasha, it hurts." She stated simply. "It hurts knowing that you left me, but it hurts even more knowing that you only came back after I said I would leave The Rock."
Sasha tugged on the wrist in his grasp and brought the smaller gymnast close to his chest. He raised his other arm and wrapped it around her, happy when she didn't protest as he drew her in closer. "Payson, I didn't return because you were leaving. I returned for you. You told me to come back and train Emily, Lauren and Kaylie and I did. For you. I agreed to national team coach so I could coach you, even if it's only for a few days a month. I came back so I could start working towards your forgiveness."
"Words, 'I'm Sorry', 'I won't do it again'. Well you're on probation. And if you screw up even just a little bit..." Payson mumbled into his chest, throwing his own words back at him from all those months ago. Sasha smiled at that.
"Have you memorized all my speeches?" He teased.
"It's one thing to say you're sorry, but I want you to really feel it." Payson continued, but her tone was a little lighter and held a joking edge.
"Oh? And are you going to make me run conditioning drills?" Sasha laughed.
Payson looked up and into his eyes. "No...but I will think of something."
Sasha smiled. "Well how about a ride home for starters?"
Payson stepped back and out of his arms, as she nodded. "Okay. I will draw up a ten step forgiveness guide for you, and driving me around town will be the first." Payson said in a no nonsense business tone.
"Only ten steps? I made you work a lot harder on those condition drills." Sasha pointed out.
"I know, but I never said the steps would be easy. Along with driving me home the first step will include you telling me everything I want to know while in your truck. You will answer all my questions truthfully. The first conversation will be about why Emily was not at practice today. Let's go Belov, I need to get home sometime." With that, Payson picked up her gym back and left, not letting the man get a word in edgewise and he floundered a bit over her conditions.
Oh she was a sly one that Payson Keeler. But Sasha wouldn't have her any other way.
