A/N: I'm posting because I only because I think this chapter is okay, it's not great but I'm just trying to get myself to a point where I can get things together, if that makes any sense.

I hope this chapter answers some of the questions you may have. It also might add some more. Sorry.

THANKS:

anothercasualty: I know. I don't know if that's such a good thing, but we'll see. YAY! I hope I can answer them as best as possible. That always makes me happy. Even if this story sucks, if it sheds some light on short track/speedskating, then I am happy. I love short track. LOL. Now you don't have to wait.

HopelessRomantic984: I hope so. LOL. Most people haven't, but at least you know who Apolo is! I love him too. LOL. Okay, I'm a big fan…whatever. He's just an amazing athlete (and a pretty good dancer). Anyway, I hope I can get this story going the way I'd like. Until then, I hope this chapter helps explain things you might be questioning.

Disclaimer:

R&R or R&L please.

THANKS MUCHO!

Where The Future Meets The Past

Chapter 1

"Coming Home to What If's"

He tossed his keys in a bowl on the hallway table before dropping his bags next to him and taking a look around. He had just spent an 8 hour flight getting back home.

Home was now a loft in downtown New York City that was fully furnished and paid for by G-Major as he was now a full-time employee.

He was producer to be exact.

He took in his surroundings, the furniture tattooing itself into his brain. The living room was simple but masculine.

Leather and metal. Black and white.

Whoever designed it knew his taste. Very well.

And then it hit him as he saw the entertainment center, the stacks of CDs calling out to him.

They were all alphabetized. But not just the normal, sane way. They were alphabetized his way.

Gender first, then genre, then artist.

Angie had done it.

He inwardly cringed as her name popped into his head.

It was one of the prices he had to pay coming home; meeting with his past.

A past he had tried to get over very hard. He had spent three years trying to get over it. But coming home and seeing that his past had never really left him made it almost unbearable.

Angie was now an employee of G-Major. As was someone else he refused to name. At least now anyway. Portia and EJ had taken her under their coifed wings and molded her into one of the hottest PR managers in the industry.

She had a gift; she knew how to sell a story. Her way.

Exactly the same thing she had done three years ago. When she spilled her little secret.

He shook his head angrily, trying not to think about that night three years ago.

All it caused him to do was think about her.

Not Angie. Jude.

He and Angie had spilled their guts to each other and ended up breaking up on the spot.

And although he didn't want to admit it, Angie had gotten to him that night. So when Jude anxiously waited for him at the music department's annual talent show, he hadn't been focused on her.

Not even when she poured her heart out to him in song.

A song he had only ever heard once, but had haunted him every day since.

He chose to leave that night, taking a red-eye to London to start his new full-fledged internship with G-Major, leaving everyone and everything he loved behind.

Jude didn't know until the next day when Kwest told her.

She had broken down, crying. Or so Kwest had told him a week later when Tommy was settled in London.

But it didn't matter.

Jude walked away from the music department and any other ventures in that area, focusing on her chosen major, public relations, like she had started to before he walked into her life.

Then abruptly, she dropped out of NYU and through the long musical grapevine, he heard she was training in Lake Placid with some skaters.

And that was it.

She was on a completely different life path now and he was just beginning his.

He jumped, as his phone knocked him out of his reverie, the loud rock guitar resounding off the freshly painted walls.

"Hello?" he answered hesitantly.

"So you're back."

He sighed in relief, the voice of his best friend calling him back to the city he loved. "Hey Kwest."

"Hey T. I was thinkin' since I'm almost done with this demo I'm working on, I was wonderin' if you wanted to stop and get a-"

"I'll be there in 15."

"Cool. See you then."

Tommy placed his phone back into his pocket and smiled as he walked out of loft and down the hallway to the elevator.

It was good to be home.

------

It had officially been two days since she earned a spot on the National team. And even though the thought itself was amazing to think about, she couldn't.

Because of him.

Tommy.

She went to the banquet after her conversation with her dad, trying to find sympathy in a high ball. But apparently the bartender was all out of that.

She spent the rest of the evening at her table, nursing her glass and a wounded heart.

Despite the fact that she tried to hide her emotions, she had forgotten one person who had gotten to know her very well in the last three years.

Apolo.

He sat by her side the entire night, continually asking her two questions. One, how much she had drank that night, and two, was she okay?

The first question was easy. After the fourth Jack and Coke, it became a bit harder.

The second question would never be easy. As long as Tommy was on the same continent as her.

She continually shook her head, but because he had gotten to know her well over the years, he never pressed it.

Half way into her fifth glass though, she abruptly stopped drinking. She hadn't realized what she doing until that moment and then knew she had to stop.

She never wanted to be that girl again.

That girl.

Another part of her past.

It was Apolo's idea to leave the banquet early, just as the guests were filled with liquor and beginning to dance.

They made it back to Jude's room without incidence.

He dropped her off, making sure she made it to bed without incident and stayed with her the entire night, sleeping in the bed next to her.

He knew without asking what the problem was. That guy, Tommy.

The one she cried over for months on end. Until he had shown up and asked her to go to practice with him before one of their World Cups.

She agreed and it was the moment in between her second and third cross over to the finish line that she decided to try short track out. For real.

And forget about Tommy Quincy.

Apolo told her to sleep on it, knowing the decision to join to the ranks of the elite and otherwise social monks was a heavy one. Something that shouldn't have been taken lightly.

She did, but it wasn't until a year later that she decided short track was what she wanted to do. She wanted to make a life out of it as Apolo had.

A life that was filled with sacrifices, triumphs, and disappointments. A lonely life with few highs and innumerable lows.

She closed up shop at NYU and decided to put school on hold for a bit, despite Bridie's incessant nagging. Bridie was finishing up her senior year then and she thought it would have been nice to have someone who knew what she was going through.

Jude moved up to Lake Placid and began training with Apolo's teammates, showing instant talent.

She was quickly invited to train with the National team for good. And then a year later, she had finally earned her won spot as an Elite member.

Apolo knew he couldn't have been prouder.

And neither could she.

She lay on her bed, her legs a little numb from her dryland workout minutes before, and closed her eyes.

His head floated behind her eyes, his smile wide, but his eyes were distant.

She knew that night three years ago that something was wrong. Really wrong.

But she never had time to ask. She was rushed backstage and performed seconds later, only to be drowned out by the sound of audience minutes after her performance.

Her song landed her an A in the class; Mrs. Thompson saying she was a natural, born for the stage. Something Jude liked to forget.

That girl – that Jude – was gone. She had been gone for awhile. And there was nothing anyone could do about it.

So when she tried to meet up with her excited fans, they were sans Tommy. And it was the high that she experienced from being on stage that caused her not to worry.

Only then did she come crashing back down to Earth the following day when Kwest, her sister Sadie's boyfriend, and Tom's best friend, spilled the news.

He had left early that morning to London because G-Major had offered him an internship there, where he was able to finish his degree and help produce fledging artists at the same time.

He couldn't pass it up.

Or wouldn't, Jude thought.

When her life was struggling a little, she always thought about that night. In her mind, it had made her stronger. Yes, she had cried the next day over him.

But she also knew that she had given her heart to him that night and when he didn't take it, she knew that he wasn't the guy she wanted to be with.

They had flirted around each other and the subject that entire year and she had finally done something about it.

She sang to him.

And he hadn't been willing to except what she was offering. That was her wake-up call.

But as she lay in her bed, her eyes closed tight, she couldn't help but wonder what if?

What if she hadn't decided to skate? What if she was still in New York City? What if she was still a student at NYU?

What if he had stayed?

She sat up, her back calling for a massage, and shook her head. No.

It didn't matter.

She was happy with her life. So it wasn't what she had planned. It was different.

But for the first time in a long time, she was happy.

A/N: Preview:

Chapter 2

"Meetings"

"Things at American Cup 1 weren't so organized, but I have been notified that several our team members will be making the trek out to the first World Cup as World Team members. The invitations weren't official, so I wasn't able to give you the good news. Here's the list."

"I'm going to Italy?!"

-----

"Tom, I remember some young kid who came into my studio a few years ago and did a pretty good job at handling things for this. I think you'll do a great job even now."

"What do you mean?"

"I would like you to work with Angie and throw together our annual Halloween party."

"But I'm a producer."

"I understand that, you'll get to work on the music side of things. Angie will handle everything else. But you'll need to work together."

"Fine."

-----

"Jude, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine. I'm over him – I mean it. I'm over it."

"Uh huh. Listen, maybe you should come down. G-Major's throwing-"

"I know. And I can't. That's why I'm calling."