Hello hello hello! Another update for you all. I am slightly struggling with this fic but I will get there I promise. You know me. I never quit. Big thanks to SweetKid45, Guest, PinkLady, Bovary, Lazytwon2000 and Vbbneigbor for the reviews and everyone sticking with me.

Lots of Love,

LM xxxx

A New Family, a New Future-Part 23:

Louisa was awake early the next morning, unable to sleep because of the nerves. She had managed to find her new book and was sat out on the hotel balcony reading it with a fantastic view. She still had no idea about Disney and that was the way everyone wanted to keep it because then Louisa would be able to concentrate on her routines and then have the surprise of her life when Jane and Maura showed up after her Free Skate.

"Louisa Vance…I clearly need to think of better hiding places than the bottom of my as yet still packed case," came Hope's voice causing the teenager to jump before she turned around.

"Please don't tell Angela. I couldn't sleep so I found the book and came out here to read it," Louisa quickly explained, "I can't be expected to think about the competition all the time can I? I know it's my senior debut but there's only so much I can do and think before I start being driven insane by all the thoughts going on in my head right?"

Hope thought before sitting down next to the teenager and nodded,

"Yes there is only so much you can do before you start being driven insane. You know these routines back to front and have practiced them so many times but there is nothing that can help you once you're out on the ice with everyone cheering and screaming for you every time you land a jump," she said looking at Louisa before grabbing the book from her hands as she heard noises behind them.

Angela and Frankie walked into the room and Angela's eyes fell on Hope and the book,

"Why has she got that book?"

"Because I let her have a look at it," Hope replied, "she was nervous and couldn't sleep and needed a distraction so I let her read a couple of chapters. There's only so much that she can cope with before she will lose her mind."

"Go and shower Louisa," Angela said before feeling Hope squeeze her arm so she headed off for a shower and then joined the rest of the group for breakfast. She barely ate a thing but the mothers would make sure that she ate throughout the day so she wouldn't suffer too much.

Eventually the time came for them to head to the rink and Donna had met up with them by that point and they arrived and saw the TV cameras everywhere and the nerves were beginning to show as Donna led Louisa off to get ready. The coach was protective of her skater and all the other girls looked around and saw Louisa. Of course everyone knew who she was. It would have been a miracle if nobody knew who she was.

Louisa just began to get into her little bubble and put her music on. That was her way of drowning out all the noises. It had always been her way and Donna had decided to keep it that way so she wouldn't affect the teenager. She had also placed Louisa in a place where she couldn't really see any of her other skaters. She had wanted to hear Jane and Maura's voices, Cailin's too but it was impossible.

The teenager was completely unaware as the short programmer started and she was so lost in her music that she couldn't see who was coming and going. It wasn't too long before she felt a tap on her shoulder and she handed her iPod over to Donna before heading out onto the ice when she was told.

"Our final skater in this short programme, making her long awaited senior debut, from Boston, Massachusetts Louisa Vance!" the rink announcer said before Louisa took a breath and skated out into the center of the rink and got into her starting position. What's she didn't know was Jane, Maura and Cailin were watching through FaceTime.

It was the weaker of her two programmed but it was the best she'd skated the routine and the moment her blades touched the ice after her last jump combination Louisa knew she'd nailed her routine. Not only did she nail it but she was also in the lead.

She was getting changed and had just finished changing when Hope and Angela came in waving their phones. Once the screens had stopped moving Louisa squealed as she realised who were on the screens.

"We're so proud of you!" Maura said, "you did so amazing!"

"You really did Lou," Jane smiled.

"You all were watching my routine…?" Louisa asked before seeing three nods and smiled softly before speaking to everyone for a few more minutes before the calls ended and the group headed off to get something to eat.

It was a relaxing evening but Louisa had decided to head back to the rink and practice her free skate. She enjoyed this routine more and smiled softly as she skated around and was unaware of some of the other skaters watching her as she had her iPod on and her headphones in.

After the practice the group went to bed and Hope found herself with her arms around Louisa the next morning. It was like she was holding a small Cailin again. Frankie, Angela and Hope discussed it whilst Louisa was getting her fruit and muesli and agreed that it was because Hope knew Sadie well and Louisa felt like she was with her mother when she was with Hope.

Donna had sent a text to say she was running late so Louisa made her way into the same area as the previous day but caught what the other skaters were taking about.

"There's the orphan. Like she thins she can actually win this. She doesn't stand a chance," one said.

"The judges are only giving her the sympathy marks. It's soooooooo obvious. She's only been skating again two years."

Louisa quickly put her headphones in but the damage had been done and she prepared as best as she could, those words echoing in her mind as her name was called once again. She saw Donna shooting her a sorry for being late before she skated out onto the ice.

She focused on her routine and had got to a new combination jump/spin in her free skate when one of the skaters' words struck her and she missed her connecting edge and fell onto the ice. She appeared to stay there for an eternity but she rose back up and carried on with her routine and tried to make up some of the marks she'd lost.

She left the ice and could see the smug looks of the skaters and didn't even wait to hear her marks as she headed to the changing rooms, just wanting to be alone.

Donna burst in a while later and screamed that she'd still placed 3rd and needed to get back out onto the ice for the medals. Louisa was shocked and stunned but she went back onto the ice and was determined to keep what had happened a secret because she didn't want anyone else to know about it. It was her problem and hers alone.