p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She woke up alone, in her own bed, the steady beep of her cellphone alarm rattling her mind into a foggy consciousness. She supposed she'd get used to it eventually. She'd woken up alone every morning for the past two weeks and before she owned her house, almost every morning before that. She still found herself reaching for him in her sleep, jerking awake when her hands found only the cold sheets next to her. Mostly, she woke up clutching a pillow to her tightly, her instincts drawing her towards his side of the bed. The pillow still carried the scent of his soap and shampoo and his blasted cologne. She grabbed her phone, silenced its incessant beeping and checked the time. Four in the morning. She was wide awake, her body programed, knowing today was a training day. She sat up and stretched, no ache in her muscles, her body having adjusted over the last few days. She found that she missed it, the last small reminder of their relationship, the dull, pleasant pain in muscles she'd never used before, stretched to the limit to accommodate him within her./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She thought back to that night without regret. She had never felt so complete in her entire life. It had hurt, a lot, but she'd had worse pain before, much worse and then towards the end, the pain had mixed with a pleasure that she hadn't fully understood, but could recall upon simply closing her eyes. She had barely seen him since, the two weeks post-competition dedicated to media and appearances, even a few exhibition events, though she loathed appearing in those. Today would be her first day back at the Rock since bringing home team and all-around gold at Worlds, again, along with gold or silver in all the event finals. She smiled to herself, not only had she done well, but her teammates had too. Lauren and Emily came home with bronze medals on the beam and uneven bars respectively and Kelly Parker had taken bronze in the all-around and floor exercise. All in all it had been an extremely successful World Championships for the Women's National team. Training for the Olympics wasn't just a distant, vague idea now, it was hard and fast. The games were ten months away, with only the Pacific Rim championships, Nationals and World between. Three more competitions before the last and biggest meet of her career and she was going to make the most of the time she had./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"An idea had formed over the last few days, it was a little crazy and maybe even a little reckless, but it was something she needed to do and the only person who could get her there was the one person she didn't really want to ask. Maybe it would be good for him too, a distraction, despite the constant proximity it would place them in./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She pulled her car into the Rock, as usual, she was the first to arrive, but the door was already propped open and she frowned, before grabbing her gym bag and going inside. He was hanging from the high bar of the uneven bars, doing pull ups at a steady pace. She approached, watching the muscles in his biceps and forearms strain as he lifted and lowered himself slowly. He noticed her and did one more before dropping down to his feet./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey," he said, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his forearm. "How, uh, how are you?" he asked, his voice awkward and concern in his eyes./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled at him warmly, "I'm okay," she said. He looked relieved, though not totally convinced. She hadn't realized that he would be worried about her. "Really, I'm okay, with everything."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He cleared his throat roughly and nodded, "Good." He smiled at her slightly and she returned it. "What are you doing here so early?" he asked, almost hopefully./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She wondered what he was thinking, though she knew she couldn't ask him. "I wanted to talk to you about something, about my training," she said. He nodded, grabbing a towel hanging from one of the cables, prompting her to continue. "I've had some time to think about it, over the last couple of days."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His expression suddenly became panicked, "You're not leaving, are you?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her eyes grew wide, "What? No! I would never, I couldn't leave the Rock," she said and then her expression softened as her voice lowered to a whisper, "I couldn't leave you."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He smiled and she found herself smiling back, but she shook her head quickly before the eye contact became something else entirely, something they'd decided to put aside. "Right, so I was thinking, about my training."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His expression grew serious, "What about it?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You know how theoretically every gymnast on the Olympic track's goal is a gold medal?" she asked, though he knew it was a rhetoric question. "I've got something else in mind."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "You're goal isn't to win a gold medal?" he asked./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled at him, her eyes twinkling, "No, my goal is to win six."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He tilted his head at her and then slowly a smile spread across his handsome face, "You want to sweep?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She bit her lip, but she couldn't help the grin that was forming. "I want to blow everyone out of the water. I want to bury the competition and I want to start today." She pulled a packet of paper from her gym bag. On it she'd diagrammed her new routines, along with several elements she'd designed herself, created with the idea in mind of blending her artistic strengths and the power she maintained. She handed him the papers and he began to leaf through them, his smile growing wider every second./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""These are," he said, looking up at her, "these are incredible, Payson." He fixed his eyes back on the papers and then frowned, "You're going to have to..." he stopped himself, looking up at her./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Lose just about ten pounds," she finished for him, "I know. I'll still easily be in my target weight range." His face took on an oddly disappointed expression. She thought she knew what he was thinking, but when their eyes made contact again, she knew it for sure. "There will be plenty of time to fatten me up again after the Olympics," she said, rolling her eyes. Many times he'd commented on how much he loved her curves, how it was incredible she could do what she did as an athlete and still keep feminine lines. He'll get over it, she thought./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He grinned wickedly at her for a moment before he quickly caught himself, forcing his face into a neutral expression. "Great, let's get started," he said, his coaching facade firmly in place./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded and took off her sweatpants and pullover before moving towards the floor to start her warm-up circuits./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha watched her and nodded, mostly to himself. You two are going to be alright, Beloff. He'd been terrified after he left her that morning. What if he'd hurt her, really hurt her physically, but she was too afraid to say so? He'd calmed himself down. He knew enough about sex, more than enough, to know when a woman enjoyed herself and Payson had definitely enjoyed it, but it hadn't stopped the worry, especially after he'd returned to Colorado and she'd done two weeks worth of press and appearances from New York to California. Now she was back and he felt reassured, not just about their last night together, but that they'd somehow make it through this year. Her goal of a gold medal sweep was sheer insanity, but at worst, all it would do was make her a better gymnast and keep them both focused on something other than their relationship outside the gym./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He heard the door to the gym open and he turned to see Austin Tucker entering, a frown plastered across his face. He was sure Payson had talked to her friend about what happened between them, but still, the reigning National, World and Olympic champion looked less than pleased with him./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin had been looking forward to this for two weeks. To say he was upset with his coach was an understatement, but the violent tendencies had long since passed. He made eye contact with Sasha across the gym and pointed towards the office. Sasha nodded and shifted his gaze towards the floor. Austin saw Payson warming up and frowned. They were alone in the gym together, just like he'd found them every day for the past year. What exactly had changed? He took the steps two at a time and grabbed a seat at Kim Keeler's desk, waiting for Sasha./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His coach was only a few steps behind him. "Austin," he said distractedly, entering the office, staring at a pile of papers./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin's eye twitched in agitation over Sasha's obliviousness, "You wanna look up from your paperwork and talk to me?" he snapped./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha's head shot up, a steely glare in his eyes, "You have a problem, Tucker?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin smirked, "Yeah, I have a problem. I go out on a limb, lie for you, practically throw away the most amazing sex I've ever had, and how exactly do you repay me? You break my best friend's heart?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha shook his head, "You talked to Payson didn't you? It was a mutual decision. Her entire life was almost ruined because Lauren Tanner knows what my cologne smells like. I'm sorry it screwed up your, whatever it is you had with MJ, but believe me you're better off in the long run. I never did thank you, but excuse me if I wasn't exactly thrilled with the way you decided to go about it."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin wanted to leap over the desk and punch his coach's sorry lights out. "You fucked her and then left her," he ground out from between clenched teeth. There had been something different about Payson, the way she held herself, the way she walked and then when he found out that she and Sasha had put on the breaks, it had all clicked into place./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You slept with him, didn't you?" Austin said, frowning at her. He was disappointed in her and he let it show on his face. She didn't looked ashamed in the slightest./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's not any of your business," she said, "but what if I did? I love him, he loves me and we agreed to put things on hold for a year, Austin. A year is a long time. We wanted something to hold onto."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""There could be consequences," he said, eyeing her middle section. "Did you ever think of that?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks for the sex education lecture. We were careful and I haven't had my period since I started training again, if you want to get into the nitty-gritty details," she said, a smug smile appearing on her face when he winced./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I thought you wanted to wait," he said, shrugging. Honestly, she'd become his best friend, the person who understood him better than almost anyone. He couldn't help it, despite the initial attraction, it had morphed into a need to protect her and be there for her, no matter what. Even if that meant kissing her in front of nearly a hundred people, including the woman he'd been sleeping with, effectively killing that arrangement./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She sighed, "I did, but it was the right time. I don't regret it."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin knew he probably shouldn't go there, but he did anyway, "And he was - look I know a girl's first time can be painful. He didn't..." he trailed off./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Payson sighed, "Thanks for the concern, Austin, but you don't have to worry about that. It was..."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He cut her off before she could get too detailed, although there was a part of him that was curious, "I don't need details, but that's good because I saw Sasha beating the crap out of that punching bag in the fitness center and honestly, I think I'd have only gotten in one good punch before he leveled me."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He knew the exact moment when Sasha's patience wore out and it was as the word, 'fucked' crossed his lips. "Get the hell out of my office and start training."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin sighed, regret consuming him. He liked Sasha; he was a great coach and a good man. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "It's just - she was miserable, these last couple of weeks. She put on a good show, but I could tell. The media was ruthless and there wasn't anything we could do to stop it. She handled it pretty well; she just took what they threw at her and didn't let it rattle her. Honestly, though, I just don't get it. I don't get why you guys gave up."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Don't get what?" Sasha asked, tossing the papers onto his desk in frustration, "You don't get that her entire world would come crashing down around her ears if people found out and that we were one tantrum from Lauren Tanner away from that happening?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin shook his head, "No, that I get, but we were handling it," he said. "You two were just..."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What, Austin, we were what?" Sasha practically shouted at him. He could see the frustration in Sasha's eyes, his nostrils flared and his jaw twitched./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You were so in love. I thought - it doesn't matter," he said, shaking his head./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You thought what?" a female voice asked from behind him. He turned to see Payson standing in the doorway to the office. She didn't look upset, just concerned. "You thought what, Austin?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I thought that maybe someone could be happy, just once and if anyone would be, it's you two. You guys gave me, I don't know, hope, I guess."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha rubbed a hand across his face. He recognized the tone in Austin's voice. He'd heard himself use that same tone, though his voice had been three octaves lower at the time. His parents sat him down and told him they'd be getting a divorce. Well, this little family dynamic might be even more screwed up then your actual family, Beloff and that's saying something./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked out the window of the office into the gym and saw several of his elites filtering into the gym. With a sigh he looked back at Payson and Austin. "Look, as much as I'd love to relive the single most painful moment of my life so Austin can feel better, this is a gym, not a shrink's office. You two should get back to work," he said, turning again towards the window. "If anyone asks I was lecturing you about the severity and consequences of your actions," he said, trying to keep his voice cold, but knowing Payson would see through it. His eyes caught sight of Kim Keeler's brown hair as she began to climb the stairs. "Your mum is here," he said, turning around. "Go on," he said, nodding towards the door./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They both left the office, trying to look properly chastised. Second later, Kim Keeler walked into the office shaking her head. "Good morning," she said./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Morning," he responded, watching Austin and Payson walk off separately to begin their training regimen./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kim sighed and fell into her desk chair. "Well, I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What?" Sasha asked, turning towards her, confused./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I told you she was seeing Austin Tucker and she was." Kim did not look happy to be right, however. "How could she lie like that?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha swallowed harshly, hoping his face wasn't giving him away completely, "It seems like it was a lot more complicated than that, Kim."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She snorted, "Obviously. She still won't tell me the entire story. She told me to believe whatever I want, since that's what everyone else is doing. There's something else going on, I just wish I knew what it was. Mark was furious when he saw that video. You saw what it looked like. He kissed her and then they left that ballroom together to go do Lord knows what. I just, I don't know what she was thinking. She's always been so level headed."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha wanted to reassure her, wanted to tell her that he'd gone straight after them and that Payson had slept alone that night, but it would be a lie, so he hedged, "Sometimes, when you care about someone, level-headedness goes out the window. Payson's a world class athlete and the United States best hope for Olympic gold, six Olympic golds if she has her way. She's got her head on straight, Kim. You don't have to worry."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She snorted, "I can't help it. I'm a parent. I'm programmed to worry." He smiled. "You'll see, one day, your children become your life."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His smile widened as he pictured it. It was his house in Wimbledon, they were out in the garden behind the house, sitting on a bench, there was a small boy kicking a football around the yard and a little girl tugging on his left hand, a white gold band around his fourth finger, pulling him towards a small trampoline. "Bounce with me, daddy," she said, her eyes just like her mother's, lit up with excitement. He allowed himself to be pulled off the bench and looked back at Payson who smiled indulgently, her hand resting lightly on her swollen stomach; amusement and love clear in her eyes./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sasha?" Kim's voice cut into the small fantasy, one he'd been having repeatedly for the last year or so, in various forms and stages. Sometimes they were in New York, other times in Wimbledon, sometimes right here in Boulder, but they were always together. There were always children around them, and they were always happy. He knew he wanted that and sooner rather than later, though later was his only option and he was more than willing to wait./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry," he said shaking his head, clearing his thoughts./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled at him indulgently, "Do you want kids?" she asked, her eyes twinkling at him in the way her daughter's did on occasion, when she discovered something about him that she found interesting./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, I do, someday" he said. "Always thought it would be great to have kids. Two, maybe three."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded and studied him for a moment, "I think you'd be a great father."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked at her and wrinkled his brow. He hadn't ever really thought about the kind of father he'd be, hadn't wanted to, in case it was genetic. Now that's a frightening thought, Beloff. "You think so?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, you've definitely got the instincts," she said. "You've got a great capacity to love, Sasha. I know you're a man and men don't talk about things like that, but I see it in you. And really, when it comes down to it, what kids need is for their parents to love them."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He chuckled, "I think there might be a little more to it than that," he said, "but thanks just the same."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We just have to find you the right girl," she said with a wink./span/p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He shrugged, turning towards the floor again, watching his athletes mill around, some working hard, others wasting time. He caught sight of Payson on the tape next to the beam, her focus like a laser as she worked on one of the new elements she'd created, replicating the diagram and description that sat on his desk almost perfectly. "She'll come along," he said. "I'm not in any rush."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She thought back to that night without regret. She had never felt so complete in her entire life. It had hurt, a lot, but she'd had worse pain before, much worse and then towards the end, the pain had mixed with a pleasure that she hadn't fully understood, but could recall upon simply closing her eyes. She had barely seen him since, the two weeks post-competition dedicated to media and appearances, even a few exhibition events, though she loathed appearing in those. Today would be her first day back at the Rock since bringing home team and all-around gold at Worlds, again, along with gold or silver in all the event finals. She smiled to herself, not only had she done well, but her teammates had too. Lauren and Emily came home with bronze medals on the beam and uneven bars respectively and Kelly Parker had taken bronze in the all-around and floor exercise. All in all it had been an extremely successful World Championships for the Women's National team. Training for the Olympics wasn't just a distant, vague idea now, it was hard and fast. The games were ten months away, with only the Pacific Rim championships, Nationals and World between. Three more competitions before the last and biggest meet of her career and she was going to make the most of the time she had./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"An idea had formed over the last few days, it was a little crazy and maybe even a little reckless, but it was something she needed to do and the only person who could get her there was the one person she didn't really want to ask. Maybe it would be good for him too, a distraction, despite the constant proximity it would place them in./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She pulled her car into the Rock, as usual, she was the first to arrive, but the door was already propped open and she frowned, before grabbing her gym bag and going inside. He was hanging from the high bar of the uneven bars, doing pull ups at a steady pace. She approached, watching the muscles in his biceps and forearms strain as he lifted and lowered himself slowly. He noticed her and did one more before dropping down to his feet./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey," he said, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his forearm. "How, uh, how are you?" he asked, his voice awkward and concern in his eyes./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled at him warmly, "I'm okay," she said. He looked relieved, though not totally convinced. She hadn't realized that he would be worried about her. "Really, I'm okay, with everything."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He cleared his throat roughly and nodded, "Good." He smiled at her slightly and she returned it. "What are you doing here so early?" he asked, almost hopefully./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She wondered what he was thinking, though she knew she couldn't ask him. "I wanted to talk to you about something, about my training," she said. He nodded, grabbing a towel hanging from one of the cables, prompting her to continue. "I've had some time to think about it, over the last couple of days."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His expression suddenly became panicked, "You're not leaving, are you?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her eyes grew wide, "What? No! I would never, I couldn't leave the Rock," she said and then her expression softened as her voice lowered to a whisper, "I couldn't leave you."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He smiled and she found herself smiling back, but she shook her head quickly before the eye contact became something else entirely, something they'd decided to put aside. "Right, so I was thinking, about my training."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His expression grew serious, "What about it?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You know how theoretically every gymnast on the Olympic track's goal is a gold medal?" she asked, though he knew it was a rhetoric question. "I've got something else in mind."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "You're goal isn't to win a gold medal?" he asked./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled at him, her eyes twinkling, "No, my goal is to win six."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He tilted his head at her and then slowly a smile spread across his handsome face, "You want to sweep?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She bit her lip, but she couldn't help the grin that was forming. "I want to blow everyone out of the water. I want to bury the competition and I want to start today." She pulled a packet of paper from her gym bag. On it she'd diagrammed her new routines, along with several elements she'd designed herself, created with the idea in mind of blending her artistic strengths and the power she maintained. She handed him the papers and he began to leaf through them, his smile growing wider every second./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""These are," he said, looking up at her, "these are incredible, Payson." He fixed his eyes back on the papers and then frowned, "You're going to have to..." he stopped himself, looking up at her./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Lose just about ten pounds," she finished for him, "I know. I'll still easily be in my target weight range." His face took on an oddly disappointed expression. She thought she knew what he was thinking, but when their eyes made contact again, she knew it for sure. "There will be plenty of time to fatten me up again after the Olympics," she said, rolling her eyes. Many times he'd commented on how much he loved her curves, how it was incredible she could do what she did as an athlete and still keep feminine lines. He'll get over it, she thought./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He grinned wickedly at her for a moment before he quickly caught himself, forcing his face into a neutral expression. "Great, let's get started," he said, his coaching facade firmly in place./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded and took off her sweatpants and pullover before moving towards the floor to start her warm-up circuits./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha watched her and nodded, mostly to himself. You two are going to be alright, Beloff. He'd been terrified after he left her that morning. What if he'd hurt her, really hurt her physically, but she was too afraid to say so? He'd calmed himself down. He knew enough about sex, more than enough, to know when a woman enjoyed herself and Payson had definitely enjoyed it, but it hadn't stopped the worry, especially after he'd returned to Colorado and she'd done two weeks worth of press and appearances from New York to California. Now she was back and he felt reassured, not just about their last night together, but that they'd somehow make it through this year. Her goal of a gold medal sweep was sheer insanity, but at worst, all it would do was make her a better gymnast and keep them both focused on something other than their relationship outside the gym./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He heard the door to the gym open and he turned to see Austin Tucker entering, a frown plastered across his face. He was sure Payson had talked to her friend about what happened between them, but still, the reigning National, World and Olympic champion looked less than pleased with him./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin had been looking forward to this for two weeks. To say he was upset with his coach was an understatement, but the violent tendencies had long since passed. He made eye contact with Sasha across the gym and pointed towards the office. Sasha nodded and shifted his gaze towards the floor. Austin saw Payson warming up and frowned. They were alone in the gym together, just like he'd found them every day for the past year. What exactly had changed? He took the steps two at a time and grabbed a seat at Kim Keeler's desk, waiting for Sasha./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His coach was only a few steps behind him. "Austin," he said distractedly, entering the office, staring at a pile of papers./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin's eye twitched in agitation over Sasha's obliviousness, "You wanna look up from your paperwork and talk to me?" he snapped./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha's head shot up, a steely glare in his eyes, "You have a problem, Tucker?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin smirked, "Yeah, I have a problem. I go out on a limb, lie for you, practically throw away the most amazing sex I've ever had, and how exactly do you repay me? You break my best friend's heart?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha shook his head, "You talked to Payson didn't you? It was a mutual decision. Her entire life was almost ruined because Lauren Tanner knows what my cologne smells like. I'm sorry it screwed up your, whatever it is you had with MJ, but believe me you're better off in the long run. I never did thank you, but excuse me if I wasn't exactly thrilled with the way you decided to go about it."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin wanted to leap over the desk and punch his coach's sorry lights out. "You fucked her and then left her," he ground out from between clenched teeth. There had been something different about Payson, the way she held herself, the way she walked and then when he found out that she and Sasha had put on the breaks, it had all clicked into place./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You slept with him, didn't you?" Austin said, frowning at her. He was disappointed in her and he let it show on his face. She didn't looked ashamed in the slightest./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's not any of your business," she said, "but what if I did? I love him, he loves me and we agreed to put things on hold for a year, Austin. A year is a long time. We wanted something to hold onto."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""There could be consequences," he said, eyeing her middle section. "Did you ever think of that?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks for the sex education lecture. We were careful and I haven't had my period since I started training again, if you want to get into the nitty-gritty details," she said, a smug smile appearing on her face when he winced./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I thought you wanted to wait," he said, shrugging. Honestly, she'd become his best friend, the person who understood him better than almost anyone. He couldn't help it, despite the initial attraction, it had morphed into a need to protect her and be there for her, no matter what. Even if that meant kissing her in front of nearly a hundred people, including the woman he'd been sleeping with, effectively killing that arrangement./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She sighed, "I did, but it was the right time. I don't regret it."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin knew he probably shouldn't go there, but he did anyway, "And he was - look I know a girl's first time can be painful. He didn't..." he trailed off./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Payson sighed, "Thanks for the concern, Austin, but you don't have to worry about that. It was..."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He cut her off before she could get too detailed, although there was a part of him that was curious, "I don't need details, but that's good because I saw Sasha beating the crap out of that punching bag in the fitness center and honestly, I think I'd have only gotten in one good punch before he leveled me."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He knew the exact moment when Sasha's patience wore out and it was as the word, 'fucked' crossed his lips. "Get the hell out of my office and start training."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin sighed, regret consuming him. He liked Sasha; he was a great coach and a good man. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "It's just - she was miserable, these last couple of weeks. She put on a good show, but I could tell. The media was ruthless and there wasn't anything we could do to stop it. She handled it pretty well; she just took what they threw at her and didn't let it rattle her. Honestly, though, I just don't get it. I don't get why you guys gave up."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Don't get what?" Sasha asked, tossing the papers onto his desk in frustration, "You don't get that her entire world would come crashing down around her ears if people found out and that we were one tantrum from Lauren Tanner away from that happening?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Austin shook his head, "No, that I get, but we were handling it," he said. "You two were just..."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What, Austin, we were what?" Sasha practically shouted at him. He could see the frustration in Sasha's eyes, his nostrils flared and his jaw twitched./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You were so in love. I thought - it doesn't matter," he said, shaking his head./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You thought what?" a female voice asked from behind him. He turned to see Payson standing in the doorway to the office. She didn't look upset, just concerned. "You thought what, Austin?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I thought that maybe someone could be happy, just once and if anyone would be, it's you two. You guys gave me, I don't know, hope, I guess."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha rubbed a hand across his face. He recognized the tone in Austin's voice. He'd heard himself use that same tone, though his voice had been three octaves lower at the time. His parents sat him down and told him they'd be getting a divorce. Well, this little family dynamic might be even more screwed up then your actual family, Beloff and that's saying something./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked out the window of the office into the gym and saw several of his elites filtering into the gym. With a sigh he looked back at Payson and Austin. "Look, as much as I'd love to relive the single most painful moment of my life so Austin can feel better, this is a gym, not a shrink's office. You two should get back to work," he said, turning again towards the window. "If anyone asks I was lecturing you about the severity and consequences of your actions," he said, trying to keep his voice cold, but knowing Payson would see through it. His eyes caught sight of Kim Keeler's brown hair as she began to climb the stairs. "Your mum is here," he said, turning around. "Go on," he said, nodding towards the door./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They both left the office, trying to look properly chastised. Second later, Kim Keeler walked into the office shaking her head. "Good morning," she said./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Morning," he responded, watching Austin and Payson walk off separately to begin their training regimen./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kim sighed and fell into her desk chair. "Well, I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What?" Sasha asked, turning towards her, confused./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I told you she was seeing Austin Tucker and she was." Kim did not look happy to be right, however. "How could she lie like that?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha swallowed harshly, hoping his face wasn't giving him away completely, "It seems like it was a lot more complicated than that, Kim."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She snorted, "Obviously. She still won't tell me the entire story. She told me to believe whatever I want, since that's what everyone else is doing. There's something else going on, I just wish I knew what it was. Mark was furious when he saw that video. You saw what it looked like. He kissed her and then they left that ballroom together to go do Lord knows what. I just, I don't know what she was thinking. She's always been so level headed."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sasha wanted to reassure her, wanted to tell her that he'd gone straight after them and that Payson had slept alone that night, but it would be a lie, so he hedged, "Sometimes, when you care about someone, level-headedness goes out the window. Payson's a world class athlete and the United States best hope for Olympic gold, six Olympic golds if she has her way. She's got her head on straight, Kim. You don't have to worry."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She snorted, "I can't help it. I'm a parent. I'm programmed to worry." He smiled. "You'll see, one day, your children become your life."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His smile widened as he pictured it. It was his house in Wimbledon, they were out in the garden behind the house, sitting on a bench, there was a small boy kicking a football around the yard and a little girl tugging on his left hand, a white gold band around his fourth finger, pulling him towards a small trampoline. "Bounce with me, daddy," she said, her eyes just like her mother's, lit up with excitement. He allowed himself to be pulled off the bench and looked back at Payson who smiled indulgently, her hand resting lightly on her swollen stomach; amusement and love clear in her eyes./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sasha?" Kim's voice cut into the small fantasy, one he'd been having repeatedly for the last year or so, in various forms and stages. Sometimes they were in New York, other times in Wimbledon, sometimes right here in Boulder, but they were always together. There were always children around them, and they were always happy. He knew he wanted that and sooner rather than later, though later was his only option and he was more than willing to wait./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry," he said shaking his head, clearing his thoughts./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled at him indulgently, "Do you want kids?" she asked, her eyes twinkling at him in the way her daughter's did on occasion, when she discovered something about him that she found interesting./span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, I do, someday" he said. "Always thought it would be great to have kids. Two, maybe three."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded and studied him for a moment, "I think you'd be a great father."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked at her and wrinkled his brow. He hadn't ever really thought about the kind of father he'd be, hadn't wanted to, in case it was genetic. Now that's a frightening thought, Beloff. "You think so?"/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, you've definitely got the instincts," she said. "You've got a great capacity to love, Sasha. I know you're a man and men don't talk about things like that, but I see it in you. And really, when it comes down to it, what kids need is for their parents to love them."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He chuckled, "I think there might be a little more to it than that," he said, "but thanks just the same."/span/p
p style="text-align: left;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We just have to find you the right girl," she said with a wink./span/p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He shrugged, turning towards the floor again, watching his athletes mill around, some working hard, others wasting time. He caught sight of Payson on the tape next to the beam, her focus like a laser as she worked on one of the new elements she'd created, replicating the diagram and description that sat on his desk almost perfectly. "She'll come along," he said. "I'm not in any rush."/span/p