Disclaimer: I do not own MIOBI

Beta: Barrel of Monkeys

Summary: What happens after Worlds? Will Sasha and Payson be able to hide their feelings for each other, or will everything be revealed? And, will they be able to face all the consequences that come with it?

CHAPTER 10

The trip back home is a lot more comfortable. All the girls are happily chatting away and even the juniors aren't afraid to speak up. Payson is watching Becca, who's sitting a few rows in front of her, next to Kelly. She doesn't know how it happened, but along the way Becca and Kelly formed a bond.

"Why are you frowning?" Sasha whispers in her ear. They're able to sit next to each other on this flight, but only because Kelly abandoned Payson for her younger sister.

"Because I'm pretty sure Kelly is corrupting my little sister." She narrows her eyes at the scene in front of her. Kelly is whispering to Becca, clearly trying to make a point about something Payson can't hear. "And I'm pretty sure I don't like it."

He takes her hand into his and squeezes it lightly. "There's nothing you can do about it draga. When Kelly gets her hands on something -or someone for that matter- she won't let go until she's satisfied. And I believe your sister to be an all to willing student. I see a future Kelly in her, same attitude, same determination in getting what she wants…"

"Sasha this isn't funny." Payson whispers at him, interrupting him.

"Only you think that. I find it rather funny to watch."

"Just wait until she starts behaving like Kelly at the gym, than you will change your mind." She warns him.

"I won't let that happen." He states truthfully. She just laughs.

"Don't delude yourself; if Kelly gets to her you can't stop either of them." He smiles and gives in. He loves these moments. The easy chats, the mindless caresses because nobody will see them. The girls are all to busy to pay attention and Austin only has eyes for a certain brunette. Beals has been knocked out ever since they set foot on the plane and he's pretty sure she took a sleeping pill to avoid her still present headache.

He smiles again and pulls Payson a bit closer. "It's almost your birthday. Still not going to help me with a present?"

"Nope, not a chance."

"Not even a hint? Not even a tiny one?"

"No, it's all up to you Belov. Be resourceful, original."

"Fine, but if you don't like it, you have only yourself to blame."

"I'm sure I'll love it. It's a present from you." She tells him, the tone of her voice acknowledging her fullest belief in him. He quickly presses a kiss to her hand, still joined with his. He will have to come up with something good. It's not that he doesn't know what she likes, but he has always been bad at giving gifts. He sighs and closes his eyes for the remainder of the flight, never letting go of her hand.

"Hey sleepyhead, we're going to land soon." He hears Payson softly tell him. He opens his eyes and sees the usual busyness happening whenever a plane is about to reach the airport.

"Thanks. You could have made me stay awake." He says, noticing how he's still holding her hand. "Me sleeping must have been really boring for you."

"Nah, it was fine. We needed the rest before we're back in hysterical boot camp." She nudges him gently. Her entire body just inches away from his, closer than needed in a plane, but never close enough in his opinion.

"Hey, don't mock my idea. It worked just fine, see what hardware we're bringing home?" He protests. He wants to pull her closer still, but suddenly his hand feels empty and Payson's sitting as far away from him as possible.

When he hears Austin calling his name he understands. "Yeah Austin, straight to the bus. No lingering, no talking to the media." Then he searches for Lauren before adding. "And no shopping." He can immediately see the disappointment in her eyes, but he doesn't care. They've been away long enough, everyone needs to get as much sleep as possible and Monday morning everything will be back to normal. Well as normal as can be he thinks when he looks beside him.

The minute they get off the plane Sasha regrets telling Summer when they would arrive. Everywhere he looks he spots media, snapping pictures of them and asking question after question. He puts Payson in front of him while Austin takes the lead, maybe it wasn't so bad having him around a bit more. It certainly makes his job a lot easier. "Don't talk to the media, girls. Walk straight for the exit and to the bus, you know the drill."

Thankfully, he sees some familiar faces in the crowd. Mark and Kim are waiting for them. He lowers his head to Payson's ear. "Look to your right." He whispers, squeezing her shoulder lightly. She smiles up to him, placing her hand on his for a brief second before finding Becca. With their help, they make it safely to the bus.

"Sasha." Payson calls to him. She's standing next to her parent's car with Becca. He motions her to come to him.

"You're going back with your parents." It isn't a question, but she nods anyway. "Get a full 10 hours of sleep, and be at the Rock Monday at six am.

Kim is watching the two, talking quietly together. They really don't know what personal space is. She smiles to herself, both are so delusional. Even Mark can see how close they are. He comes to stand next to her. "Do you think they know how obvious they are?"

"Not a chance." She takes Mark's hand into hers. She remembers the day Mark came home furiously after having spent the day at the Rock. He had seen how Sasha and Payson reacted around each other, how close they were, the way he touched his daughter. She had been able to calm him down, explain how much both of them were lying to themselves. Not acknowledging what they really feel for each other. In the end she had him convinced that Sasha would be the best man for Payson, he would challenge her, he would keep her safe, and he would be the only one Payson would ever want. Mark had wanted to believe the kiss was just a silly crush, but Kim had known better. She had her suspicions for a while now. She realized the true feelings Payson had for her coach soon after Sasha left, she didn't shine anymore, didn't really love gymnastics anymore. She had never thought it possible for that to happen, but it had, and it broke her heart to see her daughter break down like this. That's why she hadn't been mad when the girls went after Sasha, and that's why she started watching him more closely after he came back without much of a fight. She soon saw that Sasha treated Payson differently. It wasn't in words or gestures, but they just seemed to be on another level. Respecting each other as equals. And then there was of course the way he looked at her. She was sure he would do anything to keep Payson safe, and he had- by leaving. She couldn't really be mad at him, not even if she tried. The look in Payson's eyes said it all, and eventually she made sure Mark couldn't disagree anymore. He still didn't like it, but at least Sasha's a good man. "Ooh there they come."

"Kim, Mark."

"Sasha, I'm bet you're proud." Mark winks at his daughter.

"Yes they all performed perfectly." Both Kim and Mark don't miss the way Sasha looks at Payson, and the way she looks back. That is new.

"Well, let's get home, you all must be exhausted." Kim says quickly. "Sasha, do you want to come over for dinner, they're plenty of food." That would give them the opportunity to talk to the both of them, finding out what is really happening.

"Oh Kim thanks, but – "

"Not taking no for an answer."

He smiles. "Okay Kim, I'll be there as soon as I'm done at the Rock."

#

"Are you absolutely sure?" She asks him for the tenth time. They are standing in the backyard and she's been freaking out for the last couple of minutes. "I mean, let's wait till the games are over. Then nobody will be able to do anything about it."

He smiles at her, it's tempting, but not how it should be. "Payson, do you want to lie to your parents every day for the next five months? And it's not like they don't suspect something, they've been hinting at it all night." He adds, remembering all the questions about his history, not directed at him, but at Payson, and she could answer them all.

"No, of course I don't want to lie to them, but I don't want to tell them either. Remember how they reacted when I kissed you? My father wanted to punch you and my mother didn't look at you until she was sure you hadn't forced yourself on me. I don't want to know what they'll do if we tell them." She says while her eyes are wet with unshed tears. "How did they find out, we're in the gym all the time."

He looks her in the eyes while capturing her hands between his in an attempt to calm her down. "Yes we are, but so is your mother. I see her everyday; she talks to you when you have lunch. I cannot watch my every action around you just because we are afraid of telling her what's going on. I know we still have to be careful because of the other gymnasts, but your mother sees things better than Lauren, Kaylie or even Kelly. I know you're scared. Hell, I'm scared, but if we do this we know it's for real. We don't have to sneak around like what we're doing is wrong when it feels so right." He hopes he has talked some sense into her. Although he wishes things are different as well, he can't change the reality, he can't change his age, or hers and he doesn't want to. They are who they are and everybody else should just leave it at that. He smiles bitterly, knowing it won't be that easy. Nobody will accept them, at least not at first. Even if they wait until after the Olympics everybody will question their relationship, and most of all they will question his intentions. He doesn't care much about that though, he has always been the bad boy, but he worries about Payson, how she will handle all of the negative attention. Everybody knows she's strong, and she really is, inside gymnastics that is, outside that world she isn't the same girl. He knows her well enough to know that she'll keep a brave face, but when the doors are closed he doesn't know how she'll react. He's determined to do everything to keep that from happening.

"I know, I don't want to hide this, but I'm still afraid of what they will say, how they'll react." She says with a heavy sigh. "You know what; if we don't do it now I'll never be able to tell them. Let's get it over with. We have each other to rely on, that's the most important thing. And my parents love me, they want me to be happy, you make me happy, so it's should be alright." She reasons with herself. Sasha hopes it'll turn out that way, but he sincerely doubts it. Knowing better than to voice his thought he just kisses her forehead and pulls her into a tight embrace.

'We'll be alright, draga. You can count on that, no matter what happens." He murmurs before taking her by the hand. It's now or never.

His heart is pounding in his throat but he has to keep it together for Payson. He can see she's calmed down enough to do this, but all the colour has disappeared from her face. He reassuringly squeezes her hand, but doesn't trust his voice enough to voice some calming words. He never lets go of her, not when they walk to the door, not when they enter the room and not when they sit down across from Mark. Kim comes out of the kitchen, sensing what is about to happen. She doesn't say a word, eyeing their joined hands. She carefully takes a seat next to her husband and takes his hand into hers. She silently smiles at the picture the four of them are portraying. Both couples holding on to each other for support, both not knowing what to say. This is how they stay for a very long time, just watching each other.

"So, I guess you two have to tell us something." She says with a reassuring smile. Payson looks at her, and sighs deeply. She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it again. Mark on the same time tenses, preparing himself for what is about to be told.

"I guess we do." Sasha starts, realizing soon that Payson won't be able to tell her parents and when he sees the look on Marks face he can understand why. He has always liked Payson's father, but now he looks a lot more intimidating, and he has every reason to. "Mark, when you asked me all those months ago why Payson thought I had feelings for her I told you I didn't know. That I believed it to be a silly crush. At that time, I didn't allow myself to think further, to rethink all my actions and to find out why she kissed me. I was so determined not to lose her as my gymnast that I turned my back on my feelings and hers. She worked so hard and that kiss could have ruined everything, and it nearly did ruin everything. Payson deserves so much more than that and I want her to have it all and I'm going to be there help her achieve it."

He feels her squeeze his hand and he returns the gesture. "I never met anyone like Payson before. At first, she scared the hell out of me, she was so determined and passionate. She looked a lot like me when I was her age, but Payson has something more. She has the heart for this sport, and she unknowingly taught me how to love the sport how it's supposed to be loved. It's not a secret I was fuelled by hatred and resentment when I won my medals, but your daughter made me fall in love with this sport again, and along the way she made me fall in love with her. I cannot tell you when I realized it. Maybe after she broke her back, maybe when I went away. It may even have happened when she went to Romania to shout at me. All I know for sure now is that I love your daughter. I tried to ignore it, to hide my feelings, but I can't anymore. I cannot talk for Payson, but we wanted to come to you and tell you the truth." He ends his speech with a deep sigh, relieved he could tell his story without being interrupted. He's kind of surprised he wasn't interrupted. Looking up at Mark and Kim, he is even more surprised to see no angry faces.

"Payson?" Mark asks.

She squeezes his hand once more, more for herself than anything he's sure. "I don't really know what to say. You all have known, for a long time I think, how I feel about Sasha. I said it was just a stupid crush, but that was a lie and I don't want to lie to you. So we came here tonight. My feelings are how they are, I can't change them, but I don't want to hide them either." She softly smiles up at him. "This hasn't been going on for long, maybe a few weeks. And for those weeks we have been surrounded by a lot of people, so we wanted to know for sure what this is before we came to you." She looks at her father. He nods once and stands up, walking towards the fireplace. Clearly he isn't going to say anything. Kim on the other hand needs to voice her thoughts.

"We have suspected it for a while now. I watched you for the last few weeks whenever I was at the Rock and you treat her differently Sasha." Kim says. "I think you know how we feel, suspecting is one thing, but knowing it is something else entirely and I'm sure you understand our reservations. You are her coach, and there is such a big age difference. What if this comes out. You both could get into some serious trouble." She has to tell them what their worries are. "We have always done everything to keep Payson happy and safe. We know you make her happy, but your presence doesn't keep her safe. That kiss nearly destroyed everything, as you said yourself. What would happen if the media got a hold of this?"

"We both thought of it, and we don't have an answer for it. We've been extremely careful, but there's always a risk." Sasha answers her.

"And what about her gymnastics?" Mark suddenly asks. "You can't be objective anymore. You will always be worried about her, just like we are when she's flying through the air."

"That's all you worried about, how I'll treat her in the Gym?" Sasha asks puzzled. He doesn't understand it, why isn't he mad at him for being in love with his daughter? Why isn't Mark trying to put his fist in his face?

"Sasha, we know you can't choose what you feel for somebody and we appreciate it that you two came to us before anything really happened, but we have to think about the consequences of your feelings. We will not keep Payson away from you, that won't help either of you, but things need to be discussed." Kim answers him. With those words, Sasha can feel Payson relax. Slowly she lets go of his hand and walks to her parents to hug them. Sasha stays put, he is too bewildered to relax. Kim goes to sit next to him. "Sasha, we have always seen you as a part of the family, especially after all you have done for Payson. We aren't mad and we do understand both your feelings. I know you expected us to be angry with you, accuse you of taking advantage of her, but we know you, you are an honourable man. Loving Payson doesn't change that fact. We have known for a while, so we could get used to the idea." He smiles hesitantly. "We have this whole weekend to talk things through; just calm down a bit and everything will work out in the end." She reassures him.

He still doesn't know what to do so he nods his understanding.

"Kim, why don't we take Phoebe out for a nice long walk, and I'm sure Becca won't mind to coming either." Mark suggests to his wife.

Within minutes, Payson and Sasha are alone in the livingroom. "Well that didn't go as I expected." Payson says quietly. Sasha smiles and crosses the room to reach her. He takes her into his arms and presses a kiss to her forehead. Her arms go around his waist and she pulls him in closer. "Thank you for doing this with me." She murmurs into his chest.

"Always dragă, I'll do anything for you."

Mark and Kim didn't go out immediately. Standing in the hallway, they watch their daughter carefully. "He really loves our daughter, doesn't he?" Mark asks her.

Kim smiles and nods. "Yes, he really does. I don't think he ever stood a chance against her. We both know Payson always gets what she wants. Why would Sasha be any different?" They both smile at that, collecting Becca and Phoebe they go out the backdoor.

#

"You'll come back tomorrow then?" Payson asks him while they are sitting in the garden loveseat on the back porch. She is nestled against him while his arm goes around her shoulder. They have been sitting there ever since the rest of the family left. They talked about nothing in particular, just enjoying each other's company, no heavy burden on their shoulders anymore.

"Of course I'll be here tomorrow. We have a lot to discuss." He whispers in her ear. He feels her shiver and smiles. He doubts he will ever get tired of making her feel this way. He cups her cheek, and as always she leans into his touch. He closes the distance for a kiss, forgetting where he is for a moment. She responds immediately and turns in his arms. Deepening the kiss, she moves on top of him, straddling his legs. His hands move up and down her back before he lets them rest on her hips. She moans softly into his mouth and he pulls her even closer. Her arms go around his neck and he feels her fingers go through his hair. He knows she does it on purpose, causing him to shiver. When she pulls back to catch a breath he descends towards her neck. She lets him find the sensitive spot below her ear and moans a bit louder when he works his magic. He chuckles, but stops his actions. "Payson, shh..." He whispers. She looks him in the eyes and smiles the smile only he gets to see. She is about to go in for another consuming kiss when they hear some footsteps. Before he realizes what is happening Payson has already climbed off him and sits in the other chair.

"Payson, are you back here?" Becca asks and opens the backdoor. "Oh, hey Sasha, I thought you already left. I thought the weekend off meant freedom from gymnastics..." She looks at the both of them cautiously. "Never mind, I forgot for a second who I was talking to. You two never stop do you?" She says laughing and takes a seat in the only chair left. "So what are you changing now? I saw you on beam, it looked really good."

"Yeah we were just finishing up some loose ends." Payson tells her sister. She eyes Sasha, both knowing what loose ends she means. "But that isn't interesting, did you decide what you want as your new vault? I heard Sasha is letting you up your difficulty." She knows asking this will make Becca talk for ages. Even though she isn't as dedicated as Payson, she still loves the sport and upping you difficulty is always a lot of fun.

Sasha watches both sisters. Who would have ever thought he would get a new family. Only when Kim comes outside to tell Becca to go to bed he decides it's time for him to leave. Payson walks him to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He kisses her softly on the lips, not deepening it this time. "And I think we need to tell your sister as well. Something we need to discuss tomorrow also." Payson smiles at him, he always puts others first. Everybody always told her Sasha Belov was selfish, but she has never seen anything to prove that. He always wants best for the people close to him.

"We will, now go. We both could use a good night rest."

#

Sunday goes by a lot faster than Sasha likes. He went back to the Keelers early in the morning to talk things through and although Kim and Mark had accepted how Payson and he feel about each other, they are concerned about what'll happen next, and he can't agree more. It isn't just them, they aren't a normal couple who have only themselves to think about. This can hurt the other girls as well and they can lose a coach. After everything that has happened lately, he doesn't want to add another problem. Kaylie's has enough to deal with now the whole world knows about her ED. Lauren still has to face the consequences of her schemes. Only Kelly and Payson didn't have any trouble. He hadn't mentioned the loss of Emily when they sat on the couch discussing what was the best thing to do, but he had a feeling Payson's mind had drifted to Emily as well by the look on her face.

"You two have to be very careful. Not only for yourselves, but for the entire team. This could ruin both you careers as well as those of Kaylie, Lauren and the other National Team members." Mark said again. He had been very cool about everything, much to Sasha's surprise. But he was glad for it, he hadn't been looking forward to an angry Mark. There were not many men Sasha was scared of, but Mark Keeler scared the living daylights out of him whenever it came to his daughters.

"We know, we are going to be very careful so nobody finds out. We know there's a lot a stake here. If this comes out the whole team could fall apart and we won't let that happen. We worked too hard for everything these past few years, we will not throw that away.' Payson had answered calmly, trying to convince her parents with this adult approach. It seemed to be working.

"We have been very professional when other people are around. Only Kelly knows and she won't tell." Sasha had added.

"Kelly knows? Kelly Parker?" Her father seemed alarmed by the new information.

"Yes dad, she knows. But she's already helping us to keep it a secret. She won't tell. She is as loyal as a friend can be."

"Well if you trust her, but be careful."

"We will."

"And you're confident both of you can handle this until the Games are over? You will be working together every single day. What if you slip?" Kim asked. Sasha had smiled at that.

"Kim, even if we decided not to go through with this there would have been a chance of us slipping. We cannot control our feelings completely, and it may happen that I say something that I should keep to myself, but in the end I cannot change that. We can however acknowledge our feelings so we won't have to keep walking on edge. And with the boot camp I very much doubt we will even have an opportunity to slip. There's simply no time." He reassured. They all had seen logic in that, if they were careful, everything could work out fine.

"Then there is just one last thing for you to do." Mark said. Both of them looked at him confusedly. "You have to tell Becca."

Payson tried to smile. They had talked about that the night before already, and all she could think of while lying in her bed was what she would say to her sister. Becca was never one to judge, but this was something else entirely, what if she couldn't deal with it. "We know dad, we will." She answered her father. Sasha squeezed her hand reassuringly, he knew this wasn't something they could just drop in the younger Keelers lap.

"We'll go get her and talk to her, she has a right to know. If we left her out of this, I don't think she would easily forgive us. That is if I know Becca the way I thought I did." Sasha confirmed. Both Mark and Kim seemed to be pleased with the way things had turned out and visibly relaxed.

Sasha and Payson had left the room not very much later to go and pick up Becca from the movies. They'd both agreed dealing with this on neutral ground might be the best approach so they would go to the park. Phoebe was already seated in the backseat and ready for her extra walk.

"Hey, I thought mom was picking me up. Hey Sasha..." Becca says when she reaches them. She seemed quite confused. She looked at her sister, but her face gave nothing away.

"Hey Becca, what do you say if we went for a walk with Phoebe?" Sasha tried to say as natural as he could, but just like her sister Becca wasn't easily fooled.

"Sure, as long as you two are going to tell me what's going on." She looked at them both with a stern look on her face. Payson nodded and motioned for her to get in the car.

Telling Becca proved a lot more easy then they both could have thought, but they were happy for it none the less. Apparently, Becca had had her suspicions for a while now also. Sasha laughed at himself, the Keelers were a remarkable observant family. Why would he think Becca wasn't either.

"How did you guess?" Payson had asked her, a stunned expression gracing her face.

"Well of course there was the kiss." She started with a cheeky grin, but after seeing her sisters face she rapidly continued. "After that I started watching you two more closely. You know, just to see if it really was just one kiss and how you would deal with it. You've been my perfect sister since like forever and I wanted to see how you would handle that situation, but I didn't see what I expected. I've seen enough romantic movies that I could sense something more. And most of all, you act differently around each other. Before Sasha came here you wanted to be the best in a sport you loved. When Sasha started working with you that changed, you still wanted to be the best and you've always loved the sport, but the day Sasha came to the Rock you seemed happy, really happy. But then Sasha left. That's when I really knew there was something more going on. Obviously I was right, because you went after him to bring him back. Still think you're awesome because of that by the way." She added while nudging her sister playfully. "And well, after that everything went really fast, with the invitational and Worlds and all. But I could just see it, and everybody who gives himself the time to look twice at the two of you would see it also. So I think you need to be very careful at the Rock." She finished like it was no big deal at all.

"Ooh." Was the best remark they could have thought of at that time. Becca had laughed at their identical facial expressions and with that all the tension, well on Payson and Sasha's side at least, had disappeared.

A sigh escapes his mouth. Things had gone good, really good. Once again, he's glad Payson has such a normal family. They don't act to be any more then they are, and he loves them all for it. At least form now on it'll be easier at the gym for Payson. She can focus solemnly on her gymnastics, channel all her energy and emotions into the sport. His feelings on the other hand will be a lot more difficult to control. He knows himself, he has always been very physical in every relationship he's had, but he wants this relationship to be different. It is different. From the beginning it has been. Luckily, for now he only has to worry about how this week will go. He's looking out of his office window onto the floor. Kelly and Lauren are still on other sides of the gym and refuse to work together, which has him more worried then he would like to admit, and then there's of course the NGO who wants to know everything. He has to report back later that week, but already he's dreading the immense paperwork. Thankfully he has a whole day of coaching to distract him.

A/N This chapter didn't go as I plotted, I wasn't even going to let the talk happen for at least 5 chapters, but it snuck in… the Becca/Kelly bonding is not entirely my own idea, Barrel of Monkeys had something to do with it as well, this is only the beginning of an interesting relationship!

I really like to know what you think because this wasn't in the last version.. as I said before, from now on this has nothing to do with Someone Like You anymore… also I have an idea which involves a waterfight or paintball, but I'm undecided yet as to which of the two... give me you opinion :) and you know the drill.. please review thanks a bunch!