A/N: I hope that everyone likes this chapter.
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Kim wiped her forehead before walking over to the CD player. Hitting pause, she thought about how she would rework her floor routine. She loved the music that they had picked out and it would be perfect to open up Worlds. She had enough time to get a new routine down path.
Turning around, she saw Kaylie working on her bar routine. She had started coming in earlier to nail a few moves on bars while Whitney was working on vault. The girls really wanted to beat the Chinese National Team. If they did that then they were almost guaranteed a spot on the Worlds Team.
"No Tommy today?" Karen asked walking in with her gym bag at her side.
"No, he had to grade some tests but I can practice without him watching." Kim said with a smile. "You know I have done it before." She said with a brighter smile.
Laughing Karen walked away to get changed for the day. Kim walked up to her office to get a little work done before the rest of the girls got in. She could watch Kaylie and Whitney from her office windows.
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Kaylie took off running and blasted through one of her passes on floor. Flipping through the air, she landed and tried to whip-back but ended up on her back instead. She had been at the gym for five hours now and she was getting a little tired.
"Smooth." Whitney said walking over to help her up.
"I just can't seem to get enough power to do the whip-back." Kaylie said standing up beside Whitney.
"Why are you wanting to do the whip-back on that pass? Why not the try it on the next?" She asked.
"I'm ending it with a double arabian so it won't work there." She said as Whitney nodded.
"Don't worry you will get it before Worlds." Whitney said with a smile.
"I want to nail it before China." She said falling in step beside Whitney to the edge of the mat.
"That doesn't get you too much time; you may want to rethink that." She replied. "I mean you cannot afford to be injured before Worlds."
"I know but this is China. They have the top two girls in the World on their team. I need to be doing harder stunts." She said lining up at the edge of the mat. Whitney stepped back and watched as Kaylie took off running again. This time just like last; Kaylie fell back trying to push into the whip-back.
Kim turned and watched Kaylie land on her back once more. The whip-back just wasn't working. Walking over to Kaylie, she could feel the pressure that Kaylie was putting on herself to nail the move. "Kaylie, that move is not going to work there." She said helping Kaylie to stand once more.
"It doesn't seem like I can get enough height to do it." She said as Kim nodded, that was exactly the problem. "I could lose some weight and that would get me light enough to do it." She said thinking out loud.
"No and you are not to lose any weight." Kim said as she calmed the inner demon inside of her. She did not want her girls to think that if they lost a little weight that it would make a difference. She had gotten herself in trouble like that.
"I want everyone to gather around." Kim yelled as all the girls and assistants walked over to Kim and Kaylie. "Girls please sit." She said as the assistant coaches backed away to let Kim talk to the girls alone.
Sighing Kim looked over the girls and knew that it was time to make sure that they understood her stance on diets and weight. "Okay ladies, first off no diets unless they are approved by me and I mean that. Your bodies are toned to almost perfection and any loss of nutrients would harm the muscle. No move is worth the risk." She said as everyone nodded. "I know that you think that if you lost that little bit of weight, the move will be easier but it won't stop there. You will want to lose a little more then a little bit more until you are too weak to even compete." She said.
"What if we only stopped at a little weight?" One of the girls asked.
"Trust me it won't end up being a little weight and most of you don't need to lose anything more." She replied.
"You don't know what its like to ever be less than perfect." Another girl said as Kim sighed. It was time to reveal a little of her past to the girls. Scarlett already knew but now the others deserved to know.
"Actually I do, since I have an eating disorder." She said sitting down in front of the girls.
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Tommy walked in and saw that Kim was sitting down on the mat in front of the girls. He wondered what they were talking about; whatever it was though was serious. He knew that look on Kim's face.
"Hey, I asked Kim where you were this morning." Karen said from beside him. He didn't even know that she could walk that quietly.
"I do work sometimes." He said as she laughed.
"I know but it is summer so I thought that you would be off." She said as Tommy laughed.
"Actually school ends in a week so I was preparing finals for my classes. Was Kim pushing herself too hard this morning?" He asked.
"Well she was done when I came in but I don't think that she is pushing any harder than she normally does." She commented as he sighed.
"Yea that's what's bothering me." He muttered as she smiled.
"Don't worry, Tommy. Kim is in great condition since she trains the girls and shows them the moves." Karen said as Tommy nodded.
"Yeah I know that but I do still worry about her practicing on the beam every day." He said leaning back against the wall.
"Why? The beam is her best event." She pointed out.
Tommy crossed his arms over his chest before answering Karen. "She was in the hospital because of a fall from the beam so I have bad memories with the beam." He muttered as Karen nodded. She understood his worry over Kimberly but Kim was great on the beam. They watched Kim finish talking with the girls before she walked up to them.
"Well that looked serious, what's going on?" Karen asked.
"Oh nothing important but the girls have a new focus for China and World trials." Kim said as Karen nodded and walked away to help a few of the girls on the bars. The other assistant coaches took their places so that they could watch over the other girls.
Tommy watched as everyone got back to their routines before looking down at Kimberly. "So what was that talk about? I know you and that talk was important." He said as Kim nodded. Tommy knew her too well to know that the talk with the girls was just another talk.
"Well Kaylie is trying to add a move on her floor but can't get it just right and her solution was to lose weight." Kim said looking back at Kaylie working on her floor routine again.
"What? She can't lose any weight or she will be skin and bones." He said straightening up.
"Calm down, I explained to the girls about what happened to me." She said quietly as he stared at her.
"You told them that you have an eating disorder? Why would you expose your past like that?" He asked taking her hands in his. He knew that her past was difficult for her to talk about even with him.
"They deserved to know and I think that this will help them fight the urge to diet to lose any weight." She said with a sigh.
The past twenty minutes with the girls had been hard but it had lifted a weight off her shoulders. She didn't have to hide her gymnastics past from the girls any longer.
"I'm proud of you." He said pulling her into his arms.
Laughing, Kim leaned up and kissed his cheek before pulling back. "Thanks now please go and wait in the parent's section like everyone else." She said before walking away.
Tommy just shook his head but making his way to the parent's section. It was a good thing that he loved that woman.
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"So tell me about the whip-back." Tommy said pulling out of the gym parking lot with Kaylie beside him. Kim was coming over to his house with take-out a little later so he didn't have to worry about stopping to get something.
"I can't land it." She stated looking out the passenger window.
"I got that but why are you trying it?" He asked glancing over at her.
"I need higher values to beat China." She said not really answering his real question. He didn't know how to ask her about why she thought she needed to lose weight to add that move.
Gripping the steering wheel, he just dove right in "Kaylie, why do you think that you need to lose weight to nail that move?" He asked.
"Did Kim tell you?" She asked looking back at him.
"Yeah why?" He asked wondering why that mattered.
"Because that's a gym thing and not part of your relationship with my coach and why do you care anyway? She asked as Tommy pulled over into a bank parking lot.
"Okay what was that about? Of course I care about you and your gymnastics and Kim told me because I'm sure that she was worried about you. Dieting is not the answer to your problem." He said turning to face her.
"Yeah well then what is the answer because I cannot get that move? I have tried everything but losing weight." She said as he saw the shine of tears in her eyes. He knew that this was hard for her because every move that she had tried up to this point, she had nailed with ease.
"Maybe this is just going to be something that you cannot do in that part of your routine." He said trying to reason with her.
"But I need to improve my values before China. They have the top two girls in the world right now." She cried as he released his seat belt so that he could wrap his arms around her.
"Its going to be alright. I have seen your floor routine and its good but if you don't beat them on floor, you will on beam." He said into her hair. Pulling back from her, he wiped her tears away and smiled at her. "I have faith that you will beat them." He stated as she smiled and nodded.
"Thanks, Uncle Tommy. You are the best." She said hugging him again. Releasing him, she leaned back in the seat while he refastened his seat belt and drove them home.
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A few Weeks Later
Kim stepped off of the plane and saw the sign welcoming them to China. She couldn't wait to see how her girls performed over the next few days. It would give them good practice before Worlds and they really needed all the practice they could get at the national level. Walking forward, the girls followed her through the airport and into their waiting bus.
Karen was at her side which made her miss Tommy. He had told her he was sorry but that he couldn't really get away at the moment. She wondered what he was doing since school was out for the summer but she didn't question him. It really wasn't her place to question him since he was a grown man.
They finally made it out of the airport and saw their bus waiting at the curb.
"Welcome to China." The Chinese National Coach said before shaking Kim's hand.
He was an older man and she had faced his team when she had competed a few years ago. He was tough and his team showed it. They were young but then they were always young. He didn't like anyone older than 15 on his team which wasn't a problem until the Olympics since you had to be 15 or about to turn 15 before the Olympics.
"Thank you for having us." Kim said with a smile and a bow. She remembered all the ethic classes that Bela had taught her. It was always polite to show your respect for the host country.
"If you will follow me, we will get you and your team settled into the hotel for the night." He said motioning for her to climb into the bus.
"Thank you once again." She said before getting on the bus.
The girls and Karen followed with the Chinese coach getting on last. The girls looked out the windows as Kim smiled. She remembered her first time here. It was right after she had visited Angel Grove with Jason.
Who would have thought that she would have been captured during a simple trip home? China had seemed so tame after that adventure and looking out the windows now made her realized that everything was tame when compared with being a Power Ranger.
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"So you didn't go to China so that you could get me to help you move your basement to Billy's?" Jason asked taping up another box.
"Yeah basically plus I really don't care to see China that much." Tommy said packing away the computer equipment that he had used while the Dinos had been active.
It was a little bittersweet to pack up his Command Center but at least it would be set back up at Billy's. Hayley had volunteered to help him and Billy set everything up since she built some of it.
"You know that it would have been more about you glued to Kim's side than seeing the country." Jason mentioned as Tommy laughed.
"Quit complaining, your wife also wanted you out of the house today so that she could clean." He said.
"And how would you know that?" He asked grabbing another packed box to tape up.
"She called me." He said grabbing another box. They worked for the rest of the morning but they finally got everything packed up. Now all they had to do was transport it.
"You know we could try to teleport it to Billy's." Jason suggested.
"Won't work since Billy's house is not on the morphing grid and besides the fact that we can't teleport anymore." Tommy said.
"Crap, so we have to carry this upstairs?" He asked as Tommy shook his head. "Well how do you propose we get it to Billy's?" He asked.
"We still have to load it into your truck but we don't have to haul it upstairs since I have a bay door." Tommy said before hitting a button. They stood there while the garage-like door opened to reveal the woods at the back of Tommy's house. Jason smiled before running upstairs to move his truck around so that they could get to loading it.
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Kaylie took a breath before smiling to the judges. They were in their final day of competition and she wanted to power through this routine. She was the last one up and they needed at least a 9.6 to secure Gold. As the music started, she waited a beat before taking off running across the mat for her first pass.
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Kim watched as Kaylie hit her spots right on cue. She held her breath as Kaylie took off running for her second past. She had told Kaylie to go for it on the whip-back. Kaylie needed to leave it all on the mat and not regret anything even if she fell. Counting the flips, she watched as Kaylie exploded into the whip-back with a grace that had Kim smiling. The crowd erupted as Kaylie competed the rest of her routine. Kim was smiling ear to ear as the music ended with Kaylie in the center mat with her hands raised high.
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"Awesome!" Tommy yelled as Kaylie powered into her whip-back. She was on fire and if the judges scored her performance well, the US National Team would beat China, a feat that had not been done in years.
"Man she was great on that routine." Kat said as Karen nodded. Tommy had joined them at the gym to watch Kim and the girls.
"Tommy, you better buy that girl a really big ice cream when she gets back." Karen said as Kat nodded. They both knew that Kaylie loved ice cream more than anything. It was rare that she got to eat it since she was on a strict diet to maintain her body weight with all the practice.
"Don't worry; I will buy the entire ice cream section when she gets back." He said pacing the room. They were waiting for Kaylie's scores.
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Kim held Kaylie's hand while the judges posted her scores.
"A 9.8! Kaylie you won GOLD!" Whitney screamed as she grabbed Kaylie from behind. The other girls circled around Kaylie and Kim screaming.
"We won! We Won!" Alex screamed jumping up and down. The girls had worked hard over the past two days and it had paid off today.
"Okay girls go take your place." Kim said as the girls put their jackets on and walked over to the judges' podium.
The girls watched as Kaylie took her place and the Gold Medal around her neck. They each cried with Kaylie as the American flag was lowered and the National Anthem was played.
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"Oh, Kim's crying too." Kat said. "She is totally living in the moment."
"They both deserve a big ice cream." Karen said wiping away a tear. They watched as Kaylie was once again engulfed by her teammates and coach. It was such a great sight.
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So what did everyone think? Please let me know.
