Payson watched the meet in China with reverence. Despite the strong start America, they fell behind China quickly. She almost called Lauren after the beam scores were revealed. She stopped when Ali reminded her Sam would freak. Lauren managed to place, but barely. Her nervousness shined through and hurt her score hugely. If not for the fact that Payson had seen Lauren do the routine a thousand times before, she would have thought she was there by mistake. Kaylee mentioned Lauren feeling sick before leaving. Perhaps she should have mentioned it to Sasha.
Suddenly, Payson's phone rang, knocking Payson out of her thoughts. She answered it to find Kaylee on the other end.
"Hey Payson, I managed to get a free minute from training. Are you watching the meet in China?" Kaylie's voice came through the phone.
"Yeah, U.S. is drowning. Lauren placed, but barely. No way will they win." Payson answered, happy to share the news. This was going to lead China to the Rock for sure.
"Great, I better go tell the others. By the way, when are you coming back?" Kaylee asked.
Payson sighed, the thing was, she wasn't sure she wanted to go back to the Rock, at least not yet. "I don't know for sure just yet. I will be back to see the meet though."
"All right, when you're ready, we'll be waiting." Kaylie said before they exchanged goodbyes.
"So, that was one of your friends from before?" Ali asked, not taking her eyes off the television as Kelley Parker did her uneven bars routine, landing with a slight tremble. It was noticeable enough, though, that the judges would deduct points.
"Yeah, that was Kaylee, she's the National Champion." Payson informed Ali.
"I still don't get the politics behind gymnastics. I mean, she won gold before, shouldn't she be there?" Ali, while cynical, was sometimes naïve, possibly from living an odd childhood. She was bullied as a child and did not understand how people thought the way they did. Probably why she was so interested in becoming a neuropsychologist.
"Simple, she pissed them off, she wasn't chosen." Payson had been influenced by Ali and occasionally said something she normally wouldn't, such as the crude way she phrased things just now.
"Sounds like a bummer, and the Rock is having a meet with China to prove their gymnasts should have been chosen? Okay, I understand now." Ali smiled, happy to have it click in her mind, probably referring it to something she read about in some article.
Payson returned the smile and returned to the competition.
After the competition ended, Payson ran to the mountain and decided to do same work in the gym. On her way down, she bumped into Jonas Quinn. She met him shortly after the surgery and clicked with him. He tutored her in Spanish, which was one of her worse subjects. He was pretty good with languages and was teaching her Ancient and Goa'uld. Understanding Ancient also helped her Spanish because it was derived from Latin, which was derived from Ancient.
"Sorry Pay, wasn't paying attention." Jonas apologized.
"It's all right, where you headed?"
"Office, I've got some translating I need to do. SG-5 brought back some tablets in an obscure dialect of Goa'uld that is gonna take some time to translate."
"See you later." Payson then left in the direction of the gym. Once she got there, she went to the bars, more determined than before to get past her fear. She remembered what Sasha told her when she visited. 'Fear can be crippling to a gymnast more than anything.'
Of course, he was asking her to help Emily, but it could still be applied to her. Fear was stopping her. She took a deep breath and grabbed the bar, doing a simple routine. After she ended it, she felt a rush of pride. It felt like she could take on the world. She then grabbed the bars again and did a slightly more complicated routine. After that ended, she did another routine and another and another and another, each getting more complicated as time passed.
By the time she was exhausted, she just lied on the mat, smiling so big, the smile started to hurt, but she couldn't stop. While she was nowhere near her old level, she conquered her biggest fear and did it beautifully and with no problems. She let out a huge laugh that matched her smile. She couldn't stop, she was swimming in a wave of happiness, relief, and adrenaline coursing through her veins.
She eventually stopped, got up, and began her walk home.
Sam waited until Payson left the room before leaving her spot behind the bleachers. She came in to see if Payson was interested in going out for dinner, but quickly saw the girl was wrapped up in her practice. After she finished practicing, Payson had lied down, smiled, and laughed a full-belly laugh. Sam understood then what had happened. When Sam's mother died, she refused to get in a car, afraid of being hit. Eventually, Mark had forced her into driving. Sam had reacted the same way as Payson after she got out of the car.
She waited a little longer until Payson left, then she felt the need to surprise Payson with a reward for doing what she did. She went up, clocked out, and went to the mall to get a gift for Payson.
That night, Payson ate dinner with Sam, a simple stir-fry, and they watched a sci-fi movie together, laughing at the absurdity of it plot and 'aliens'. After it was over, Sam went to the kitchen, calling in Payson shortly after. She had a gift-wrapped package in her hands. Payson looked up questioningly before opening the gift. It was a simple gold chain with a 'P' that dipped to the breastbone with a curve. It was exquisite.
"Wow, it's beautiful. What's the occasion?" Payson was curious, she hadn't any idea what she did to deserve something like the necklace.
"I saw you earlier, at the mountain. You faced your fear today. I went through something similar before. It's never easy, but you did it on your own. I couldn't have done that myself." Sam explained.
Payson just put the necklace on and hugged her aunt as tightly as she could, with a small tear running down her cheek.