So here's another chapter for you! Just a short one, but more is coming in a couple of days. And I would be so grateful to get some reviews! Thank you.

Payson felt blood rushing to her cheeks as she desperately tried to figure out what to say. Lie? She was a terrible liar, besides this was her dad! She never lied to her mom and dad! She did once about the cortisone and a couple of times in childhood about silly little things, but she felt such remorse afterwards… Besides, even if she could force herself to lie, she needed a plausible story in the matter of seconds. No, she couldn't lie. Tell the truth? No way. She cringed inwardly at what her dad would have said and done had he learned the truth. A half lie? She read somewhere that the best way to lie was to tell 90% truth and 10% lie…

Mark watched his daughter with a growing fear. His Payson was a composed, responsible girl. He couldn't imagine what on earth could make her forget about her friends like that and not even call. And now she was going red like she'd done something embarrassing. Mark's eyes narrowed. They had never had any trouble with Payson – not as s kid, nor as a teenager – what was going on?

Finally, Payson spoke. "Dad, remember when, ummm … that incident with Sasha happened you were really mad at him? And then when we talked, I tried to explain what Sasha was to me? How I needed him to coach me to get back on top? "

"Where is this going, Payson? What have you done?" – fear was taking Mark over.

"Nothing bad, daddy, calm down! It's just when I went to catch the bus to get to the guys, I suddenly saw another bus going in the direction of Sasha's home… He went to Minessota when he left Boulder… His dad told me a while ago…" – it sounded lame. Very lame. Payson hoped her face was not showing everything she felt. Sasha said they won't raise the subject of their feelings for each other at least till after the Olympics. But how was she to live with this till the Olympics? Hide it from everyone, her parents most of all? Payson was never too emotional and never had to lie about something big constantly, and she was sure everything would just be written all over her face the next time she saw Sasha. Must be written all over her face now…

"And you just hopped on that bus and forgot to tell everyone you changed your plans for the evening?" – Mark asked incredulously. And then it hit him. "Did you come here to see Sasha?"

This was it, Payson thought. She was too slow and let her dad guess too much. She had to be convincing now. 90% truth and 10% lie. That's how criminals must feel when caught by the police. Panicky, desperate and with a sinking feeling in the stomach.

"No! At least I didn't plan it!" – horrible, how could she do it again, ever? Lie to her dad's face? – "I decided to go on the spur of the moment! I don't know what came over me!"

"Do you still have a crush on him?" – Mark's was horrified and confused.

Dad is getting too close again. Come on, Payson, say something, quick! – she thought desperately. And it had better be good!

"Of course not, dad! I explained to you already about that! It was just a childish thing, I mistook my respect for Sasha and my admiration for him as an athlete and coach for something else! That is all in the past! And now I'm just afraid. Sasha put me back together, created that amazing floor routine with me – it's because of him that I even have a future in gymnastics! And a great future – if he continues to coach me and help me…" – the last part was the truth and dad must have felt it, Payson thought.

"You thought if you talked to him he might come back?" – Mark was finally helping her.

"Yes! But it didn't quite work… I'm sorry, daddy, I honestly don't know what come over me today. t must be the stress of that last month without Sasha, with a new coach… It just feels like everything I've worked for for the past years, my whole life is falling apart, like after the injury! I need Sasha to come back! Dmitri Beloff is a great coach, but Sasha's the right one for me. He inspires me! I don't know what will happen if he never comes back. I'm doing ok, I did fine at the last invitational, but "fine" will not win me the Olympics!"

Something was wrong. Mark felt it but couldn't quite put his finger on it. He and Payson spent so much time apart these days he didn't feel like he knew her every thought anymore, like he had before, when they were all living together and Payson confided in him. Mark just wished Kim were there for this talk. Or that he could pop out right at that moment to call her and ask her advice. But Payson was troubled, sad and obviously needed his support – the call would have to wait. He had to cope on his own.

"Honey, come here!" – Mark took Payson's hand and led her to the sofa in the living room. – "I know it's been a hard few months for you, but you have to be strong and not lose it. I know how important Sasha is to you, but he had reasons to go and you can't chase him around the country trying to convince him to come back! You're an amazing athlete, you've worked so hard for it – you need to find it in yourself to go on without him!"

Payson was on the brink of tears. She had never cried so much in one day before. But she couldn't help it. Though Sasha did promise to call and visit, it just wasn't enough. And now here her dad was, telling her she had to go on without him.

"You don't understand!" – she cried. She tried to say something else, but broke off into sobbing.

"Oh, sweetie!" – Mark held his daughter close and stroked her hair. – "We'll figure it out. If Sasha is here – I'll talk to him myself. Whatever his reasons for leaving were, they should be nothing if you suffer so much."

Mark put Payson to bed like he did when she was a little girl, and then went back down to pace in the living room. He called Kim and talked to her for an hour. Together they agreed gymnastics was everything for Payson and the teenage crush must have worn off by then. She had suffered so much, Kim said, she shouldn't be deprived of the one coach she trusted in so implicitly! She was ok for the past month without Sasha, but not quite her former self. If only Sasha could come back, Kim continued sadly…

Mark didn't hear Payson come out of her room and sit at the top of the stairs listening to their conversation with her head bent down guiltily. If her father saw her, she just couldn't face him. Continuing to keep her secret, knowing her parents wished to bring back the man they would have wanted to kill, if they knew the truth, was literally killing her.

Finally, Mark hung up with a firm determination to talk to Sasha first thing in the morning. And do whatever it took to convince him to come back.