Disclaimer: I don't own "Make It or Break It", "NCIS", or any other references. Any references that I do own will be noted.
A/N: Ok, so since I think Chapter 1 was pretty decent, here's Chapter 2! The NCIS team arrives in Boulder and meets the MIOBI cast! Please see the bottom of the page for a list of things from both "worlds" that I have changed for this chapter. Read, enjoy, and review! =)
"Why did we let Gibbs drive?" Tony DiNozzio asked his co-workers desperately. "What did we do to deserve this type of punishment?"
"I do not know," Ziva David replied, "but I feel that I perhaps should have driven."
"NO!" Tony and McGee both shouted in alarm. Seeing Ziva's hurt reaction, Tony quickly added, "Gibbs has a personal attachment to this case, it's natural he's going to want to get started on the investigation as fast as possible. Apparently, that means almost getting killed in the process!" He shouted as the silver Nissan Altima they had rented veered into the right lane, narrowly missing a large black Hummer streaking up the road.
Gibbs was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the conversation his agents were having in the back seat. His thoughts were on the two girls that he hadn't seen in years, his two nieces that he hadn't seen since his sister had moved with her family to Boulder. It seemed like only yesterday to him that he had held his sister's firstborn as a baby, and now his goddaughter was on her way to becoming an Olympic champion. He was so lost in his memories that he almost missed the turn into the parking lot of the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Center, but realized his error at the last minute and made such a tight turn that his agents went flying across the backseat.
Ziva went flying into Tony with such force that she ended up sprawled across his lap. The two stayed like that for a moment until Tony broke the silence with his typical immature humor. "Comfortable there, David?" he asked with his customary smirk. His Israeli counterpart shot him a sharp look and quickly returned to her initial position in the middle of the backseat.
"Are we there yet, boss?" McGee asked in order to break the awkward silence that had rapidly descended in the car's rather cramped interior.
"No, McGee," his boss responded with blatant sarcasm in his tone, "I made the sharpest turn imaginable just to see if you three were sleeping. Yes, we are here." He parked the car at the back of the lot and watched his agents' faces as they gazed up at the training center. This modern, concrete and glass structure was one of the most elite gyms in the nation according to the research they had done, and was home to four gymnasts representing the United States on the Women's National Team as well as one on the Men's National Team. The impressive building they were gazing at now also was home to one of the premier coaches in the sport, as well as the National Team head coach, Sasha Beloff.
It was Mr. Beloff that they were here to investigate, or rather to protect: he had been receiving death threats recently in boatloads, and not all of them were as easily dismissible as the National Team Committee would have liked them to be. The committee had contacted NCIS on the grounds that one of the people suspected of sending these threats was an ex-Marine, Staff Sergeant Andrew Meyer.
As Gibbs and his team exited their vehicle, they saw two blonde girls running across the parking lot towards them. The taller one reached them first, throwing her arms around Gibbs like he was a long-lost uncle. The shorter one arrived slightly after the first, also wrapping Gibbs into a hug. Ziva, Tony, and McGee stood to the side in confusion, when suddenly Ziva gasped in understanding. "Those must be Gibbs' nieces!" Her two co-workers adopted looks of comprehension and uttered a quiet "Oh!"
The slightly smaller girl wrapped around Gibbs spoke first. "We're so happy you came to visit us, Uncle Jethro!" she said with a large grin on her face. "We didn't think you'd ever come visit us after we moved!"
The girl's older sister jabbed her on the arm and said, "Hush, Becca! Uncle Jethro is busy, just like we are. He can't just take time off when he could be assigned a case at any moment." She then turned to her uncle and asked, "Uncle Gibbs? How did you get time off to come visit us? And who are those people with you?" She motioned to Tony, McGee, and Ziva, who were still standing against the car observing the scene.
"They work with me, Payson," Gibbs replied to his elder niece's inquiry. "Payson, Becca, I'd like to introduce you to my field agents." He motioned for the girls to follow him over to the car and motioned to each agent in turn as he said, "These are Special Agents Ziva David, Anthony DiNozzio, and Timothy McGee. Tim, Tony, Ziva, these are my nieces, Payson and Becca Keeler."
"Nice to meet you," the girls replied politely. Payson looked weary, however. "Uncle Gibbs, why did your team come with you to visit us?"
Gibbs, not wanting to reveal anything about the investigation to Payson before any of the other girls received the same information, quickly diverted the topic. "Shouldn't you girls be inside training? Our reigning National Champion can hardly afford to take time off to talk to her uncle, can she?" he teased with a smile that his agents had rarely seen him show.
Payson's face lit up. "You heard that I won?" she asked with delight in her tone.
"Watched every minute of it," her uncle replied with a twinkle in his eye. The joy in his niece's tone was enough to put him in an almost-as-euphoric mood. "Couldn't miss a chance to watch my goddaughter mop the floor with her competition, could I?"
Payson beamed. "I probably should get back inside," she said reluctantly, "but you should all come in and watch some of the new stuff we're working on! We're all coming up with our new routines for an international meet in London soon, so it may be a little sloppy, but it's better than standing in the parking lot all day!"
Payson led the way into the gym with Becca attached to Gibbs' waist and the three NCIS agents bringing up the rear. As the front doors opened, the agents couldn't believe their eyes. There were gymnasts everywhere doing any move imaginable on every apparatus in the gym! They walked past a short blonde girl doing an incredibly complex routine on the beam, on past a tanned and fiery brunette tumbling her way across the floor, and paused in front of a lanky raven-haired gymnast flipping from the low bar up to the high bar.
As the girl grabbed onto the bar, she caught sight of Payson and paused. "What's up, Pay?" she asked with a smile. "Think that's a high enough degree of difficulty switch move?"
"Looks great, Emily," Payson replied, "but maybe you should talk to Sasha about it. I think he wants us to concentrate more on our releases and re-grabs than on our switches, but I'd definitely ask him about it. You've got it down really well though!"
"Thanks!" Emily's face brightened as she dropped from her hanging position on the high bar. She walked back over to the low bar, and began her routine again. As the group resumed walking (with Ziva pulling Tony away from watching Emily's bar routine), Payson stated, "That was Emily Kmetko. Number eight-ranked gymnast in the country, and the newest gymnast at The Rock. I don't know if she'll medal at the Olympics, but she's got talent and heart."
Tony gazed off back in the direction of the door. "Who are those two girls over there? The ones that we passed before?"
Payson followed his gaze and replied, "The one on the beam is Lauren Tanner. Ranked fourth in the country, she's got a pretty decent shot at medaling if she gets her bar difficulty higher. The one on the floor is Kaylie Cruz. She's third in the nation, won bronze at Nationals. She was pretty emotionally charged at Nationals, and I don't know if she'll be able to carry that over to our other meets or not. Congratulations, you've just picked out the four top female gymnasts at The Rock. Someone's done his research," she added with a look of surprise.
"Yeah, well, I like to be prepared," Tony commented. Ignoring the look of indignancy on Ziva's face for taking credit for her research, he added, "Be prepared, just like the Boy Scouts say!"
Payson looked amused as she retorted, "Why do I have a hard time believing you were ever a Boy Scout?" She turned and led the group past the pommel horse, where a muscular boy with spiky dark hair was practicing. They paused as he dismounted and landed on the mat. As he looked up, he noticed Payson standing there and smiled. "Hey, champ," he said with a grin.
"Hi, Nicky," Payson replied. The group thought they saw a hint of a blush on her face, but she recovered from it quickly enough to put doubt into their minds about it.
"How'd my dismount look?" Nicky asked Payson. "I think it was the cleanest I've gotten it all day, but I don't know if it's clean enough to be ready for London."
Payson blushed noticeably this time, but Nicky seemed not to realize it. "It looked pretty good," she responded, "your feet looked like they hit evenly and your weight seemed to be distributed well. Just keep practicing it, I guess."
Nicky nodded. "Thanks, Pay. I think that's a good idea. Guess I'll get back to work!" He smiled at Payson once more and jogged back over to the horse to begin his routine again.
Visibly flustered, Payson turned to the group and said, "That was Nicky Russo. He's the men's national silver medalist and a member of the men's National team. We're the top two gymnasts at The Rock, me for the women and him for the men." She began walking again, pausing before a small room where parents were watching their children practice on the floor. "I should probably get back to work, London isn't too far away and Sasha will drive me crazy if I don't medal there," Payson commented. "You're welcome to watch from the parents' viewing room if you want. Mom's in there," she said to Gibbs with a tone of warning.
Gibbs nodded. "Go back to practicing, Pay," he replied, "I'll go visit your mother. You should go practice too, Becca. You never know, maybe one day you'll be challenging your sister for the top spot!" He winked at his oldest niece while giving the younger a pat on the shoulder. "I'll see you girls after your training is over for the day." As he watched Payson jog over toward the vault and Becca walk to the edge of the floor, he motioned for his team to follow him into the parents' lounge. He caught sight of his sister at once, standing in the back talking animatedly with a tan brunette woman. Gibbs, motioning to the team to hang back, walked up behind his sister and whispered in her ear, "Long time, no see, huh Kim?"
A/N: I know Chapter 1 was pretty short, but Chapter 2 is long! I wanted to make an introduction to most of the MIOBI cast members without having it really awkward or brief, since they will be important characters in this story. Anyone catch the Emily quote reference in this chapter? Hint: Payson says it in much the same way Emily did. =) The one major thing I changed: Payson DIDN'T fall at Nationals and won like she should have! I also altered the places for the other girls to reflect how I feel they should have done and how Payson's win would have changed them. One more change was Sasha as National Team coach, because if Payson didn't fall, there's no reason for him not to be the coach. I really can't describe gymnastics very well at all, so please bear with me when that happens. Thanks for reading, and please review!
