Time for an update everyone :) Thank you for the reviews and feedback. The last chapter now matches my first chapter for the most number of reviews, which is awesome. As a writer who's putting stuff out there, it's always nice when people take the time to say something. Now, let's keep this show moving!

Rachel was sweating like it was going out of fashion. 'And Fabray isn't even here yet' she thought, lifting the medicine ball high above her head before tossing it back to Shelby, who was on the other side of the net. Rachel quickly side skipped to the deuce court, caught the ball again, and continued with the exercise.

Shelby had insisted on getting to the court at 6:45, wanting her charge to have a proper stretch and some strength training before Sue arrived with her own charge. As Shelby had reiterated to Rachel over dinner the previous night, it was imperative that they improve the young player's fitness, agility and power if she was to win consistently on the professional tour. The subject was something she had broached with the Berry's when they first began discussing the possibility of her agreeing to become Rachel's fulltime coach. Shelby had drilled in the importance of Rachel improving the physicality of her game to match, and hopefully even better, the levels of fitness displayed by her soon-to-be fellow elite athletes.

When Shelby signed the contract, one of the first things she did was go over Rachel's diet plan and her gym schedule. By the time pre-season training began, Rachel's eating habits had been drastically modified and she was sweating it out in gym under the watchful eye of a Strength and Conditioning Coordinator who had spent a large chunk of the last decade working for the Yankees. Shelby took over for Sheldon Beiste when Rachel was on the road, and probably worked her young charge even harder than the well-known trainer. Rachel wasn't complaining, in fact, she was happy to fall asleep exhausted night after night in exchange for the muscle definition she had begun to develop.

Shelby was going to make the most of the unexpected chance to train with the World No. 1. Starting with teaching Rachel that she would need to learn how to tap into energy reserves she didn't even know she had to succeed in professional women's tennis.

So far there had been no lucky loser spots up for grabs, and it didn't look like there would be any withdrawals before the first round matches had been completed either. Everyone who had automatically qualified for the Miami Open seemed to be in fine form, except for Santana Lopez, who had withdrawn from her third round match at Indian Wells and immediately announced that she was also skipping Miami to nurse a thigh strain. Last night at dinner Shelby had asked Rachel if she wanted to make the most of their current situation by combining a physically grueling week of training with a real test of her match play against Quinn Fabray. Rachel had said yes without a moment's hesitation, and Shelby had immediately rung Sue to discuss the possibility of their charge's playing a competitive set or two on days that Quinn didn't have matches. The other coach was happy to oblige, so all systems were officially a go.

Shelby checked her watch, "Ok, Fabray should be here in five minutes. Let's take a break."

Rachel walked to her chair, feeling surprisingly energized despite having spent the last thirty minutes going full throttle. She was just finishing off a banana when Sue appeared at the little gate on the side of the court, followed by Quinn Fabray and a dark-haired man that Rachel didn't recognize.

'How many tracksuits does the woman own?' Rachel wondered, as Sue nodded at the brunette before walking up to exchange pleasantries with Shelby. Behind the tall blonde Quinn raised her hand to half-wave at Rachel as she made her way to the other chair on court.

The man placed the large bag he was carrying down beside the net before turning to Rachel with an outstretched hand, "Elliot Gilbert".

Rachel shook his hand, "Rachel Berry."

"Nice to meet you" Elliot smiled, before bending down and unzipping the bag. He pulled out a skipping rope, some light weights, resistance bands and an exercise ball, placed them all on the ground near the bag and stood back up. "Ready Quinn?" he asked, walking over to the blonde.

Rachel watched them start on some basic stretches while taking a large sip of water. A shadow fell across her chair, and she looked up to see Sue and Shelby both staring down at her.

"I need to warm up. Wanna have a quick hit?" Sue asked, and Rachel bounced up from her chair.

"Yes!" the brunette grinned, rising from her chair in a flash. Never in her wildest imagination had she ever thought that she'd get to be on the receiving end of a ball coming off the racket of Sue Sylvester. THE Sue Sylvester. Wait till her dad's heard about this! She could hear Shelby chuckle as she hurried to her side of the court.

Rachel turned around to seed that Quinn and Elliot had moved away from the actual playing area to make room for Sue. They continued with their stretching as the coach questioned, "Start at the service line?" Rachel nodded, taking a few steps closer the net. "Don't use too much backswing yet", Sue instructed.

Sue sent the first ball her way, and the two started an easy back and forth hit. The young player hid her surprise when Sue started to apply wristy topspin on some shots, and even threw in some cleverly disguised spins of her own.

A few minutes in Sue asked Rachel to take three steps back, and did the same on her side of the court. They were now midway between the baseline and the service line, so Sue instructed, "Use a little bit of backswing. Try to land your returns on the service line."

They started to hit again, Rachel doing a happy dance inside her head every time she managed to land a return squarely on the service line. This time Sue and Rachel were even throwing in some backspin, and the young player was relishing the challenge. She marveled at Sue's fine touch, which seemed to be on song despite her having retired just over a decade-and-a-half ago.

Sue caught the ball in her hand, "Alright, baseline. Try not to make the poor old lady run."

Rachel walked backwards, and noticed Quinn grinning at her coach in her peripheral vision. The top ranked star shook her head and turned her attention back to Elliot as Sue sent a ball Rachel's way. Neither player was using a lot of force, but Rachel noticed that Sue was slowly starting to move her around the court. The young player did her best to send every ball back to an area that Sue could reach in one step.

A minute or so later Rachel realized that Sue was gradually hitting the ball harder, and as a result Rachel had less time to react and get back into a dominant position on court. Despite the non-stop pace, she couldn't help but admire the variety of shots coming off Sue's racket. The much-celebrated former player might not have the legs and stamina to compete on tour anymore, but Rachel reckoned she would give any current player a run for their money if tennis was won on the quality of shots alone.

Rachel's legs were beginning to burn when Sue caught the ball in her free hand and turned to Quinn, "Now, why can't you do what Berry just did?"

Quinn laughed, "Because someone has to keep you on your toes Sue."

"I'm too good to you Fabray" Sue deadpanned, gesturing to Rachel to come closer as she approached the net. "Not bad Berry. Take a break. We'll pick up where we left off when Quinn's done stretching", she said, heading towards Shelby, who had been leaning against the fence and quietly observing her charge hit with her contemporary.

Rachel was used to Shelby discussing her strengths and weaknesses with her during these breaks, so she wasn't quite sure what to do as she sat down sipping from her drink bottle. That was until she heard the other chair being dragged closer to her own, and saw Quinn sit down in it.

"We haven't really met. I'm Quinn", the blonde said.

"I know who you are. I'm Rachel", the brunette smiled back.

"I know who you are too. I mean, we did play each other just this month! It's still polite to properly introduce yourself" Quinn said, still smiling as she sipped her drink. "Thanks for doing this, by the way. My regular hitting partner has a disgusting stomach bug, and we weren't sure if we'd be able to find a replacement for Mike this week."

"No, thank you for inviting me out for the hit. It's a great opportunity for me, getting to hit with you and Sue. As for, Mike, was it?" Rachel waited for Quinn's nod of confirmation, "I hope he feels better soon."

Quinn waved away the brunette's concern, rolling her eyes, "It's Mike. He's of Asian descent, and thinks his stomach is made of iron. The guy hadn't even been to the Far East till he started touring with me, and is more American than Obama. But hey, who's going to listen to the two blondes?" she finished, shaking her head.

Rachel laughed, causing the corners of Quinn's lips to lift as well. The blonde took another sip before continuing, "It's true. A couple of year's ago I was playing at the Thailand Open, and Mike decided to order a tom yum soup on our first night there. The waiter tried to warn him about the Thai chili jam in there, but Mike said he ate a lot of authentic Thai food in Cincinnati". Rachel's eyes were sparkling with amusement, and even Quinn was grinning now, "Needless to say, he learned very, very quickly that the tom yum soup in Ohio isn't that authentic. For the next forty-eight hours Mike looked for a restro-".

"Alright, that's enough chitchat" Sue's voice boomed out from her spot near the fence. "Less talking, more tennis."

"I can well imagine how that story ends" Rachel cringed, grabbing her racket and standing up. Quinn chuckled before picking up her own racket and heading to one side of the court. The brunette took a deep breath as she watched her walk away, the moment really sinking in for the first time. She was about to have her first practice session with the woman who was arguably the best player in the world right now, and a retired legend, two retired legends, of the game would be watching and mentoring. 'The God's really are kind sometimes' she thought, taking off towards the baseline.