For most people, the Friday after Thanksgiving consisted of braving the overcrowded stores looking for the holiday sales and the perfect presents for their loved ones. For Payson Keeler it was just another day. Although officially, the Rock was closed, she wasn't about to take another day off and she certainly wasn't about to spend the day with her family, not after the disaster that Thanksgiving at the Keeler house proved to be. It was the worst kept secret in their family that Aunt Cathy felt inferior to her sister. So when the Keelers moved to Colorado five years ago to pursue Payson's dream of becoming an Olympic gymnast, Cathy pounced. She constantly questioned the decision, insinuating that they were delusional, and setting Payson up for a failure she'd never recover from. It had all come to a head the night before, when Sasha of all people had defended her in front of her entire family, most of who had learned to simply ignore Cathy's ramblings for what they were, the biting words of a woman unhappy with her own lot in life. Payson hadn't cared, not really, but hearing Sasha describe her and her accomplishments, using the harshest tone he possessed had sent the butterflies in her stomach into frenzy.

She touched her mother's hand lightly as she rose from the table, silently communicating that she would follow Sasha. He'd taken the route through the kitchen, so she knew he hadn't left, had simply removed himself from the awkward situation after his outburst.

"He looked angry," Becca said as she made her way into the kitchen. "What happened?" she asked.

Payson eyed her younger cousins and shook her head at Becca, "He just needed some air," she said and Becca nodded. She left the house, not thinking about how chilly the late November air would be. She spotted him near one of the large trees in their backyard, breaking apart a small twig, tossing the pieces away.

"Hey," she said, wrapping her arms around herself, rubbing her hands against her skin, trying to stay warm.

Wordlessly he removed his suit jacket and with a flick of his wrists placed it over her shoulders, pulling the lapels together tightly. He waited for her to replace his hands with hers before he took a step away, the close proximity already affecting them both. "I'm sorry. It was unconscionably rude of me to say that to your Aunt. I should go back and apologize."

Payson smiled up at him, "Don't be sorry," she said, "you said what I've wanted to for years now. She excels at belittling what I do without actually coming right out and saying it. We mostly just ignore it now, but thank you just the same."

"I should probably go then," he said, a frown marring his handsome face. "I think I've caused enough trouble for one night."

She smiled, "I'm glad you came tonight," she said. "It was nice to have you here with my family, almost like…" she trailed off.

"Almost like we'd told them everything and we were just a normal family celebrating a holiday together?" he finished for her, a sad smile replacing the serious expression he'd worn since she came outside.

"Yes," she said, looking up into his eyes. For a moment, one terrible and wonderful moment, she thought he would throw aside their agreement and kiss her. She could feel the magnetism that always seemed to flow between them pulling them closer. Her eyes darted to his lips, her own tongue peeking out and wetting her lips in anticipation. She looked up into his eyes and the eye contact broke the moment. They couldn't do this.

"I should go. Tell your parents thank you for a lovely evening," he said and she nodded, taking off his suit jacket, but not before inhaling his scent deeply. It had long since faded from her bed sheets and the thought of spraying his cologne onto her pillow had seemed borderline pathetic. Her eyes drifted closed as a small shock of pleasure ran through her, her body reacting instinctively to what it associated his scent with: mind numbingly wonderful sensations.

"I will. Thank you for coming," she said, looking up at him, their eyes meeting again.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Payson," he said and before she could react he leaned in and brushed a soft kiss on her cheek. Then he was gone, striding purposefully to the side gate and out into the front. She put her hand up to her cheek and let her eyes drift closed, trying to memorize the feeling of his lips again. It had been so long. She heard the distinctive sound of his engine turning over and his truck pulling away before she opened her eyes and made her way back into the house.

Her mother was standing in the kitchen, a curious expression on her face. She relayed Sasha's message and they both returned to the dining room, her mother looking at her with that same odd expression. It lasted all through the remainder of the awful dinner and then while they were cleaning up.

Finally, as they were putting away the last of the dishes, Payson looked up at her mother, "What? Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Kim shook her head and grimaced, "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" she asked and Payson sighed.

"Mom, if this is about Austin again, I don't know how many times I can say it."

She shook her head, "No, it's not about Austin. You know that don't you? Anything at all."

Payson knew that there'd been a rift forming between her and her parents since Worlds. It was just too hard to be around them, though she loved them very much. It was still nice to know that her mom was there for her, at least in theory. "I know that, Mom."

"And you wouldn't keep anything big from me right?"

Her smile faded and she sighed, putting down the dish towel and looking at her mother seriously, "Mom, there are just some things that you're better off not knowing." It was the only answer she could give without lying to her face. The truth was she had kept something big from her mother and would continue to do so without hesitation. She knew it was semantics at this point, the lies of omission were enough to ensure a complete break in their relationship once the truth came out, but Payson couldn't bring herself to actually utter the words.

Kim frowned, but remained silent on the subject, redirecting her attention towards the leftovers that had to be put away.

Payson sighed as she finished her warm-up circuits, Sasha standing off to the side watching her. It hadn't been brought up again, butthe tension remained. She knew they'd have to address it eventually, but since Payson had no idea where it came from, she didn't know what she could do about it.

She went to the water cooler and took a quick drink before moving towards the uneven bars.

"Have they gone home yet?" Sasha asked, his first words to her since they said good morning when she arrived.

"Tomorrow morning," she said, rolling her eyes. "I won't be going over there again til they leave. You should have stayed. Maureen was so angry with her mother for scaring you away," she teased lightly, trying to make him smile. It worked as the side of his mouth quirked upwards in a small, lopsided grin. "Thank you, by the way, for what you said."

He shrugged, "It was the truth," he said. She nodded and moved off to the bars to begin her set. "Payson," he said, and she stopped in her tracks, looking back towards him curiously. "They're not invited."

She wrinkled her brow in confusion. "Not invited?"

"To the wedding."

She didn't know what possessed him to say that, but as soon as the words flowed from his lips, she knew they'd been the right ones. They needed a reminder, something more tangible than the memories they made over the last year. She'd taken his words at face value, though suddenly it had little to do with an invitation and was more about the general idea. They would get married one day. The word itself sunk in for both of them and a lovely smile spread across Payson's face, one he mirrored before they both nodded and looked away. She moved towards the bar s again and taking a slow, deep breath pushed aside her emotions and focused on her new bars routine, one that she had to begin landing consistently for there to be any hope of her sweeping the golds at the Olympics.

She came home from training that day feeling bruised from head to toe. The shower at the gym hadn't done the job and the one thing she wanted more than anything was a long, hot soak in her bathtub. It was a thing of beauty, her tub. It could easily fit two people, something she and Sasha had discovered relatively quickly and it was a Jacuzzi tub, with powerful jets that would ease the ache in her body. The uneven bars routine was coming along nicely, but she'd eaten mat more times than she could count today working on her release combinations.

She threw her gym bag on her bed, turned on the hot water and lit some candles placed strategically around the bathroom. The soothing smell of lavender invaded her senses as she stripped off her clothing, clipped her hair at the top of her head and then, as the bath filled quickly added some bubble bath to the steaming hot water. She slowly lowered herself into the water, her muscles almost instantly relaxing as she settled her head against the side of the tub and closed her eyes. She let herself drift away, memories washing over her as she remembered leaning up against Sasha's strong chest, his hands running along her body as they washed away the grime and stress of their days away, his lips against her neck and shoulders. She sighed as she conjured up imagines burned into her memory. Her hand dropped into the water, disappearing below the surface –

"Payson!" a panicked male voice called out. Her eyes shot open and Austin Tucker was standing in the doorway to her bathroom, looking like someone had been strangling him.

She didn't even have the energy to yell at him, her head simply fell back against the tub. "Austin, what are you doing here?" she asked, tiredly.

"I, uh, I," he stuttered. She'd never seen him so flustered. "You weren't answering your cell and then you didn't answer the door. I got worried. You looked like maybe you were asleep and then you moved your hand and I realized that you definitely weren't asleep. Sorry, I just wanted to see what you were doing for dinner."

She sighed, "There are Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge," she said. "I was going to warm them up later, but I'll do it now."

He shook his head, "No, you, uh, you stay in there. I'll warm them up," he said. "Sorry, I interrupted." He fled the room quickly enough and she laughed lightly to herself.

A half hour later, she'd thrown on pajama shorts and a tank top and made her way downstairs, following the smell of food into her kitchen. Austin was at the table, a virtual smorgasbord of food surrounding him.

"Want some?" he asked, his mouth full of what looked like mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.

She shook her head, "I brought most of that back for you anyway. You know I can't have that crap."

He nodded, unconcerned and dug back into the food. There was a knock at her front door and she went to answer it. She was shocked to see her mother on the other side.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" she asked, opening the door to let her mother in from the freezing cold.

"I did some Christmas shopping for Becca and your father today and I was wondering if I could hide the presents here. Your father is such a snoop and Becca's not much better." She lifted the shopping bags she had in her hands.

Payson smiled, "Sure," she said, leading her mom into the house.

"Did you warm up the leftovers?" Kim asked as they approached the kitchen, obviously able to smell them.

"What, uh," she began, but wasn't able to finish as Austin came out of the kitchen, looking perplexed, holding a Tupperware full of apple pie in his hands.

"Hey, Pay, how do you open this thing?" he asked, not looking up.

Kim Keeler stopped and took in the scene and Payson sighed. She knew what her mother was thinking. She looked down at herself. She was practically in her pajamas, barefoot, her hair was wet and Austin was looking very much at home.

She was about to open her mouth again, when her mother looked at her sharply.

"C'mon, I'll put them in my closet," she said, taking some of her mother's bags and leading her upstairs. Austin didn't need to hear the lecture she was about to get, especially since he hadn't really done anything to earn it.

As soon as they entered her bedroom her mother started, "What's up, Pay?" she asked, her tone clear.

She sighed, "Nothing, Mom. I know you don't believe it, but nothing." She knew how it looked and she knew her mother's trust in her had been waning, especially since the incident at Worlds. Pictures and video were tough to deny, despite that she was actually telling the truth when it came to her relationship with Austin.

"See, I'm finding that hard to believe. I just don't understand what's going on with you, Payson." She paced the floor a bit and then turned, catching sight of the bathroom, the candles lit around the tub, the lights were dimmed and the bubble bath hadn't completely drained. "Is this…were you two…" her mother obviously couldn't even voice the thoughts bouncing around in her head.

Payson sighed and shook her head, "I took a bath when I got home from training, alone."

Kim sat down on her bed and looked at her, concern replacing the outrage of a moment before. "I know you think I won't understand, but I think I do."

She shook her head, "Mom, I doubt that very much."

Kim shook her head and sighed, "I know it can be confusing, especially if you have feelings for someone you can't have. Sometimes you jump into something else or you go back to someone you can have because it's easier. You have to know, Payson, that's not fair to you or to that other person. You'd just be hurting him."

Payson furrowed her brow at her mother in utter confusion, "Mom, I really have no idea what you're talking about. Are we talking about Austin? I don't have feelings like that for Austin and he doesn't feel that way about me. I don't…"

Her mother cut her off, "I saw you and Sasha in the backyard yesterday," she said.

Payson still wasn't sure what her mother was alluding to, nothing happened in the yard after dinner, they'd talked and he'd left. "Okay, I don't understand," she said.

"You really don't do you?" Kim said, shaking her head. "I saw him kiss your cheek Payson and I saw the way you looked at him as he left. It nearly broke my heart to see you like that. I just wanted to let you know, it's okay to have those feelings. Sasha's a good man, the kind of man you should have feelings for someday, but he's your coach, sweetie and so much older than you. I'm sure you realize that. It must be so hard for you to train with him. Would you feel more comfortable training with someone else? We'll figure something out."

Payson stopped her, holding up her hand and shaking her head firmly, "Mom, you don't need to say anything else. I do not want to talk about this at all. Sasha is my coach and what you're saying, it's just, you don't know what you're talking about. So please, leave it alone." She chose her words carefully, trying not to lie outright, though what was the point of that really?

"Payson, I'm just trying to help. It can't be easy for you. Did you realize it in Istanbul? Is that why you've been so sad lately, honey?"

She closed her eyes, trying to hide the pain. Her mother had hit far too close to home and the dull ache she felt inside of her when she woke up alone each morning until she steadfastly buried it came roaring to life. She hadn't realized just how much she wanted to share what she was going through with her mom. They'd always been so close. A girl should be able to talk to her mother about the man she fell in love with, especially when he was a man like Sasha, who was, like her mother just said, a good man, the kind of man she wanted for her. There was just no ways she could tell her, not now and when it did come out, she doubted very much her mother would understand..

"Mom, please, just don't," she said, looking her in the eye. "Sasha is my coach and Austin is my friend. You don't know what you're talking about." She had no idea what else to say.

Kim nodded, biting her lip and Payson felt the guilt wrench tightly in her stomach. "Okay. I just don't want to see you make a mistake and do something you'll eventually come to regret. "

She stood up and took a few steps, wrapping her arms around herself. "Mom, please."

"I can't drop it. You seemed so happy for a while there, Pay and I hate to see you upset. You can't deny you've been down lately."

"I've been focused. There's a difference, I've got just under ten months until the Olympics. I've been training harder than I ever have before."

"You're different than before, Payson and whatever was responsible for that change, I can't say I'm a fan of it. And it's not your training. I've seen you focused before, Pay and this is different. You're different."

Payson scoffed lightly. "Mom, I'm going to ask you again, please drop this." She met her mother's eyes, pleading with her. She had no desire to escalate the conversation into a full scale battle, but she would if she had to.

Kim raised her hands in defeat, "Fine, but just, be careful, Payson. Don't get yourself into something that you can't handle. It'll only hurt you in the end."

A few minutes later her mother left, obviously unsatisfied with their conversation, but there wasn't much Payson could do about then. Austin cleared out just a little bit later, taking most of the leftovers with him.

She sighed, sitting down on her bed, physically and emotionally exhausted. She set her alarm to go off at four in the morning, though she knew her body would probably wake up without the aid of a blaring cell phone insisting it was time to wake up. She looked at her phone and studied it for a moment before she made a decision. Just the press of a few buttons and it was ringing and then connected.

"Hello?" his voice rasped into the receiver, full of sleep.

"Hey," she said, her voice sounding small even to her.

"Payson," he mumbled, sounding slightly more alert. "What's the matter?" he asked, and she sighed, suddenly feeling very silly and not a little childish.

"I know we said we wouldn't do this, but I need to hear your voice," she said.

"You okay, love?" he asked, his concern palpable even through the phone line.

"Yeah, my mom stopped by. She thinks I'm in love with you and sleeping with Austin to try and get over you."

She knew the words would wake him up fully, "Well she's half right," he said and they both laughed lightly. She proceeded to tell him the full story, exactly as her mother had relayed it to her. "There's nothing we can do about this, Pay. She doesn't really know anything. She only suspects your feelings. We'll just have to continue to be careful."

Payson began to feel better, "There was one thing she said, I thought you might like to know."

"What's that?" he asked.

"She said you were the kind of man I should love."

"She said that, did she?"

Payson could hear the smile in his voice. "She did, although there was something about your advanced age and position as my coach thrown in there too."

He sighed, "I bet." They were silent for a moment, "Go to sleep, Payson. Try to imagine I'm there with you, wrapping my arms around you, tucking your head into the crook of my neck. You could even put your icy cold feet against my calves, I wouldn't complain tonight."

"I love you," she said, trying to imagine it was just as he said.

"I love you too."