There weren't many things that made Lauren Tanner jealous. Kaylie's relationship with Carter Anderson had been one, Emily's amazingly annoying and close connection to her mother was another, but Payson Keeler's townhouse that overlooked the lake, that might top the list, especially since things between her and Carter had fizzled out months ago and after getting to know Chloe Kmetko, she was more than happy to let Emily have her. So really, it was down to Payson's house. She'd asked, rather begged her father for one, but he hadn't budged.

"Daddy, please. I promise, I'll be super responsible with it," she'd asked over dinner, one of the few they'd had lately without both Kmetko's present.

"It's out of the question, Lauren. You're seventeen years old and you are not nearly responsible enough for something like that."

"Mark and Kim Keeler let Payson do it. She's only a few months older than I am."

Her father had eyed her knowingly, "You really want to get into a responsibility comparison between you and Payson? Besides, Mark and Kim had no choice in the matter when it came down to it. Payson's eighteen and she used her own money to buy that house. And you, my darling daughter, have no money of your own, at least not enough to buy a townhouse by the lake."

"Only because you won't let me hire MJ to represent me," Lauren stuck out her bottom lip and opened her eyes wide. It was her fall-back expression, the one he very rarely said no to, maybe if she couldn't get one of the townhouses, he'd come around on hiring an agent.

"Maybe we'll reconsider representation soon, but I have to know I can trust you, Lauren and from what I've seen this year, that's just not on the table right now."

"Why do we have to go on lockdown again?" she whined, lying across Payson's bed. "Why can't we just stay here with you? You're like a coach, Payson, all serious and focused all the time. It would be just like lockdown here. No boys, no fun." Lauren knew it was cruel, but she was frustrated and Payson was the perfect target. Their team captain rarely let talk get to her, in fact Lauren was pretty sure she barely listened to her half the time.

"At least we don't have to sleep on the mats this time," Payson called from her closet, before emerging with an arm full of gym apparel. "I was terrified I was going to get ring worm."

"It's only for three days," Emily said. "Boris just wants to be sure of his choices before he submits his Worlds' roster." Lauren raised her eyebrows at Emily and smirked. Emily rolled her eyes, but she knew her message went through loud and clear.

Kaylie looked up from the book she was flipping through. "It's going to be hellish. Three days trapped in the Rock with Boris Beloff, Sasha, Marty, all the other club coaches." She tossed the book onto the bed and Lauren picked it up. She began flipping through the pages, huge words, highlighted neatly in yellow like plasma catecholamine, popped off the page at her and she shut the book quickly.

"Don't forget Kelly Parker," she added, examining the title. "The American Journal of Applied Physiology? Really, Payson?" Lauren rolled her eyes. "Is this thing even written in English?"

"It's for one of the courses I'm taking at UC Boulder," Payson said, grabbing it from her. "Actually, thanks for reminding me. I have to bring it with me."

"College courses, you're insane. As if your workload isn't enough already, you had to sign up for classes. You really make us look bad sometimes, Pay." Lauren said.

Payson looked into her bag and frowned. "I'm missing something." Lauren leaned over and examined the contents.

"Your toiletry bag," she said, bouncing off the bed and waltzing into Payson's bathroom where the bag was sitting on the counter. She examined the bathroom carefully, quietly peaking into the medicine cabinet. It was something she did, even though she knew it was a total invasion of privacy. You just never knew what you'd find there. Payson's was pretty standard however, nothing of note, not even an embarrassing prescription.

"Lauren, did you go to find my toiletry bag in Guam?" Payson called.

Lauren jumped at the sound of her voice and spun around, knocking the bag off the counter. "Just admiring your bathroom. Your shower is huge," she called back, bending to pick up the bag. It was then she saw it, calling to her like a beacon, the only contents of Payson's garbage pail, a used condom. Lauren's mind reeled. Payson "I'm not having sex until I have an Olympic medal and maybe not even then" Keeler was having sex. She looked around the bathroom again and suddenly everything looked different. There was not one, but two toothbrushes in the holder built into the wall. She looked into the medicine cabinet again and examined its contents more carefully. There were two perfume bottles on the bottom shelf and she smirked when she realized that one wasn't perfume, it was Lacoste Essentials, a men's cologne, an expensive men's cologne. It was definitely a guy with good taste, or money, probably both. A toothbrush and cologne, if he had his things here, well then, he'd practically moved in as far as Lauren was concerned. So much for little Miss Responsibility. She's not just having sex; she's shacking up with some guy.

That conclusion formed, she moved on. Who was she shacking up with? It had to be Austin Tucker. There was no one else, even though Payson insisted that she and Austin weren't seeing each other. But he was always around, they were so affectionate and Austin had pretty much stopped speaking to Kaylie all together, which was total boy-speak for, "See, honey, that other girl I was interested in, I don't pay attention to her anymore." Of course, Austin was photographed with MJ in L.A. and Payson hadn't even flinched. She'd almost seemed amused by it. An open relationship? No, that wasn't Payson's style, even if it might be Austin's. Then again, Lauren had never pegged Payson for having a guy secretly living with her. Lauren's mind worked overdrive trying to figure it out. Guess I'll have to drop a few hints this weekend and see how she reacts.

She picked up the bag and returned to the bedroom, handing it over to Payson who secured it in her duffle bag. "All done," she said and Lauren stared at her as she lifted the bag over her shoulder. "Are you okay, Lauren?" Payson asked her, and Lauren nodded, though not shifting her gaze, as if staring at her would somehow produce the name of the guy across Payson's forehead. "What?"

"Nothing," Lauren said, shaking her head and looking at Payson's king sized bed. Suddenly, everything was making sense, especially the ridiculous size of the bed. "Are we ready to go?"

They arrived at the Rock to find the other National Team members milling around. Lauren and the rest of the Rock girls moved away from the group towards the room in the back where they'd helped set up rollaway beds the day before.

"Just like one big slumber party," Kelly Parker said, though her sarcasm was less biting than usual as she moved into the room behind them, her face the picture of resignation.

"You know what they say, Parker, don't be the first to go to sleep, you never know what might happen," Lauren shot back.

Payson stepped between them, "None of this. It's three whole days together, in a small enclosed space, can we keep the bickering and trash talk to a minimum. This is going to be hard enough."

"Aye, aye, captain," Kelly said, nodding to Payson before brushing past Lauren, bumping her shoulder as she did so. That was something Lauren didn't understand either. Payson and Kelly Parker had come to some sort of "We're awesome and we know it" truce the last few times the National Team had been together. Lauren glared at her friend. What was wrong with her?

"Wow, Pay, way to stand up for your teammate," she shot at the blonde World Champion.

"You're both my teammates," Payson said, with a steady, hard look at Lauren. "We can't operate as a club anymore, Lauren. We have to operate as a National Team. This entire year, it's about Worlds and the Olympics, and beating the Chinese, not who can get a leg up on each other, Denver Elite or the Rock. Grow up."

Lauren pursed her lips, "Whatever."

The training was intense. Boris was driving them hard, really hard. Emily had been right, he obviously was trying to make sure that he'd made the right decisions about who would compete at the World Championships and so far, they'd mostly proven him wrong. Payson frowned as Emily stepped out on her tumbling pass for the third straight time. She looked over at Boris who was frowning in the general direction of the floor. She was standing next to Sasha and she turned to him, concerned. "Is Emily blowing it?" she asked, under her breath as she chalked her hands.

"I'm more concerned about Kaylie," he said, as they watched the former National Champion run towards the vault and land shakily. It wasn't exactly confidence inspiring. Sasha sighed and put a hand on Payson's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, do a bars set and then stretch out your knee fully for the vault. I'll be over to help you in a minute," he said, moving towards his father.

Payson sighed and then stepped up to the bars, working through her routine flawlessly. "Excellent, Payson," she heard Boris's voice echo from the floor. Sasha was working with Emily on the tumbling pass giving her trouble. Payson smiled at the older Beloff before moving away from the bars to stretch out her knee. She made sure she faced the floor as she watched Emily run through the tumbling pass again and something caught her eye. A slight hesitation just before the double layout was causing the step out. Emily's foot landed past the white line again.

Payson stood, shaking out her knee and moved towards Sasha with purpose. He kept his eyes trained on Emily as she spoke, "It's the double layout. She's hesitating just a split second, but it's forcing her momentum forward." Just as she said it, Emily did it again. He nodded and moved away from her towards Emily and Payson smiled in satisfaction.

She went back to stretching as Lauren joined her. "Did Kaylie tell you that Nicky isn't speaking to her?" Lauren asked, rather bluntly.

Payson nodded, "Yeah, she mentioned it, that they hit a rough patch."

Lauren smirked, "Did you she tell you why."

Payson sighed. She supposed it was best to play dumb, "No, she didn't. It's not really my business."

Lauren shrugged, "I think it's a classic Nicky Russo move, the Robot needs to focus before World Championships if he has any hope of beating Austin." She placed an odd emphasis on Austin's name that made Payson look up at her.

"I guess so. Austin's looked pretty good lately, but anything can happen."

Lauren smirked, "Austin has looked pretty good lately, more than good, dead sexy is more like it."

Payson wrinkled her nose, "He's a good looking guy, but I don't really think about him like that. He's just Austin."

"Oh come on, like you haven't thought about it. He's easily the most attractive guy at the Rock and everyone is always linking you guys together. Don't tell me there isn't at least some truth to it."

Payson laughed, "Is that why you've been acting so weird all day, Lauren? You think Austin and I are hiding a relationship?" Lauren frowned at her and Payson shook her head and laughed harder.

"What's so funny that you're laughing when you should be stretching?" Sasha asked as he approached from behind them. "Well?" he asked when they both lapsed into silence, though Payson's eyes still twinkled in amusement. "Lauren, you're up on vault," he said, nodding towards where his father was standing, waiting none to patiently for Lauren to start her run. "Payson, let's take care of that knee of yours."

Lauren stood and jogged away from them. Lauren ran down towards the horse before launching herself into her vault, landing with just a small hop and then raising her arms over her head. "Good, Lauren. Work harder for that stick," she heard Boris call from the other side of the gym. "Every tenth is needed."

She nodded towards him and moved back towards where Sasha was still helping Payson stretch out. She raised her eyebrows at the interesting picture they presented, Sasha kneeling between Payson's spread legs, Payson's eyes closed tightly, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as Sasha pushed against her knee. Ha, from this angle it kind of looked like they're…now that would really make headlines. The World Champion and her Coach. Too bad there's no way in hell that would happen. That would just be classic. She walked towards the water cooler to grab a drink before she began beam work. Payson denied being with Austin flat out. So maybe it wasn't someone from the gym? Maybe it was a guy from her neighborhood or something. Lauren smiled to herself. It was killing her, not knowing. Hopefully she wouldn't have to deal with it for long.

"What was that about?" Sasha muttered, as Payson extended her leg toward him.

"She thinks I'm dating Austin Tucker," she told him with a roll of her eyes.

"You mean she doesn't know about that whole mess with…" he trailed off as Andrea Conway walked past them towards the bars.

"Nope," Payson said with a smile, "She's a little out of the loop and that's not a bad thing."

Sasha nodded in agreement before pressing forward using his weight to stretch out her knee. Payson let out an involuntary groan. It was an unnatural position, but it was the only one that helped limber up the joint. "So listen, I know I slipped out early this morning," he said quietly, thankful that there was no one around them. "I had some last minute things to take care of here."

"I got your note," she said, her voice no more than a whisper. "It was sweet. And you were right, you know, last night. I suppose I didn't thank you for stopping when you did."

He shook his head, "Don't thank me. I've been castigating myself ever since for stopping. You have no idea how hard that was."

She smirked up at him, "Oh, I think I have some idea. As I recall, it was very hard."

"Was that a dirty joke?" he asked, the side of his mouth quirking up in a small grin before he applied a little more pressure to her knee.

"Ouch, yes," she said, before sliding out from under him and standing up. "I think that's good." She shook her knee out and nodded.

Boris approached her and walked with her towards the end of the run. "How is your knee?" he asked, his expression both concerned and calculating.

"Fine, there's no damage, it just twinges from time to time," she said.

"And my son, how is he?" he asked, breaking eye contact from her, staring blindly towards the rest of the gym. For the first time since she met Boris Beloff, his voice was quiet and restrained.

Payson did not let her expression change, but inwardly she smiled. "He's doing well. He's excited for Worlds. It was all he could talk about the other night, something about a soccer team and Istanbul," she said vaguely, though she knew Boris would understand.

"Yes, Istanbul," Boris said. "We went to a soccer match years ago together in Istanbul, just after he left Romania, but before he went to California."

She nodded, "I know, he told me about how you two went together." In reality, Sasha had a DVD of the match, which apparently needed watching, complete with pauses for his own commentary and lengthy explanations of why the red team from England was far superior to the white team from Italy, which Payson had thought dubious at first, as the white team went ahead by three goals very quickly. He'd had little to say about his father, except to say they attended the match together, but there was no need to inform the older man of that however. Payson followed Boris's gaze as it landed directly on Sasha, now working with Kaylie on the floor.

"And you are doing well, together?" he asked, his voice much quieter now than even before. She found his voice was rather pleasant when he wasn't shouting at the top of his lungs.

She smiled. "We fought last night," she said, though she had no idea she was about to confess it until the words were out of her mouth.

He looked down at her, his mouth set in a firm line, "Fought? About what?"

She shrugged, "Nothing important, it was actually very stupid," she said, a frown appearing across her face.

"Rebecca and I fought often about very stupid things and about some very important things. My words to you, noră, do not go to bed angry. You will not find sleep and neither person will want to…" he trailed off, seemingly searching for the right word.

"Apologize?" she offered, wondering what it was he called her. Noră, it was something Sasha had never called her before. She'd ask him about it later.

"Yes, apologize," he agreed with a firm nod. "Neither will want to apologize because they are angry and have no sleep."

"We didn't," she said, though she could feel her face flushing, she felt the need to reassure him that her relationship with his son was strong. "We didn't go to bed angry."

He put a hand upon her shoulder and squeezed gently, "He apologized?" he asked.

"We both did," she said and that caused a smile to appear across Boris's face.

"Perhaps then you are not quite as much like my Rebecca as I thought," he said and smiled down at her brightly.

Payson didn't know what to make of it, but she smiled back at him shakily. "Thank you?" she said, though it was definitely a question.

"It is good, you fight and you both, as you said, apologized. You are good for my son, Payson. I am very glad he has found you."

She sighed and for a moment had to fight tears from gathering in her eyes. She knew that despite everything, the tension and the cold distance between them, still very much wanted his father's love and respect and therefore she wanted it as well, for the both of them. The words of approval clenched at her heart and she looked away, hoping to compose herself quickly. "Thank you," she said as she felt his large hand squeeze her shoulder again.

"Good," he said, as if their chat was something he'd crossed off his check list for today's practice, She wished she could sneak a peek at his clipboard, not that she could understand the Romanian chicken scratch he'd used to write out his plan for the day. "Good, vault,m now. I wish to see your Produnova.."

Payson shook her head, a grin appearing, like father, like son.