Sasha grimaced and sighed as the bathroom door clicked shut. It's your own fault, Beloff, being stupid enough to let your guard down like this.
Drug testing was a normal part of competing at the international level, but when the techs knocked on the door at six in the morning, interrupting what he'd considered a very promising perusal of his girlfriend's body, his hazy mind hadn't had the sense to remain hidden in their bedroom.
So they'd silently agreed, through some meaningful eye contact, to simply play it casual, like there was nothing odd about his presence in her house at that hour. The odds were in their favor that these techs would have no idea who he was or that they'd stumbled upon anything unusual.
"I've always wondered do there have to be two of you?" Sasha asked, leaning back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest as they waited.
The male tech from the IOC's official drug testing company looked at him oddly, as if the answer should be obvious. "To make sure everything is on the up and up. If something goes wrong or if there's a discrepancy, there's always someone else to verify the other's story."
Sasha lifted a brow seeing the inherent problem with that answer, "So, what if someone bribed the both of you?"
The agent snorted, "It's not worth it; our contracts make us legally liable for the falsification of samples. You'd be surprised how stupid people are though. Usually, they only go after the one that actually accompanies the athlete to the facilities and forget about the other."
Sasha nodded, "It happens a lot?" he asked. He figured since it was awkward as hell knowing Payson was in the bathroom with the female agent giving a sample for her IOC drug test, he may as well make small talk.
The agent grimaced and shrugged, "More than you'd want to know about."
The truth of the matter was Sasha had never been tempted to use performance enhancing drugs. He used cortisone for pain management leading up to the games in Sydney, but that was under a doctor's supervision and completely legal in almost all profession and amateur sports. He supposed he understood where the temptation stemmed from. The competition at this level was so fierce, some athletes would do anything to maintain an edge over their competition, but the testing practices were so stringent nowadays it was rare anyone got away with it for long.
The tech seemed nice enough and completely ignorant of their identities, beyond the fact that Payson was an Olympic gymnast and so Sasha decided to dig a little bit, "I'm surprised Ellen Beals isn't with you. Isn't she supervising this for the NGO?"
The tech frowned and his brow wrinkled in thought. "Beals, tall, thin, really bossy, major stick up her ass?" he asked and Sasha smirked and nodded. "Yeah, she was more interested in going to," the tech paused, looking down at his clipboard. "The Chemco-Tanner house?"
"Kmetko-Tanner," Sasha corrected and the tech nodded. Sasha made a mental note to ask Lauren and Emily if anything seemed unusual about their drug tests.
The bathroom door opened and both the female tech and Payson emerged, Payson's cheeks a light pink shade, her embarrassment clear across her face.
"All set," the woman said, storing the samples in a cooler bag and nodding to her partner.
They left the house quickly and Payson rolled her eyes as she shut the door behind them, "That's so uncomfortable."
He laughed softly and then harder when she stuck her tongue out at him childishly. "Uncomfortable, but necessary. Did you get performance anxiety?" he mocked lightly, as she stepped closer to him, leaning against his chest.
"Urg, yes," she grumbled into the fabric of his t-shirt. "So awkward."
He laugh faded to a simple chuckle as his hands traveled against the curve of her waist, resting again the small of her back, holding her to him. "Yeah, but it's one last barrier between you and the Olympics."
She smiled up at him, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "Can you believe it? This time next week we'll be at the Opening Ceremonies. It's really here. I'm so close, Sasha, I can practically feel the gold around my neck."
"You can't feel all six of them?" he joked, though there was a touch of seriousness in his tone. He knew, probably better than anyone, just how good her chances were at sweeping the golds in London. The sport had never seen anyone like her before and would never again. Everything personal aside, as wonderful as that was, he felt honored to have coached one of the greatest gymnasts the sport would ever know.
"One at a time," she said, pushing up onto her toes and pressing a kiss to his lips briefly. "Mmm," she hummed pulling back, her tongue darting out quickly to wet her bottom lip.
"Mmhmm," he agreed, his grip tightening on her hips, not allowing her to move too far away, "I believe we were very rudely interrupted this morning."
Her hand crept to his cheek and she traced the line of his jaw gently with her finger tips. "We've got to head to the Rock soon. The bus leaves at eight."
He grimaced, but nodded, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, releasing his grip around her waist.
When she didn't move for a moment, he looked back down at her and saw a frown marring her pretty face.
She huffed gently through her nose and then looked back up at him, meeting his eyes, "I don't know if I'll get a chance to tell you in the next three weeks, at least not as much as I'd like and things are going to be insane, probably more insane than I can imagine, but I love you. I love you so much and I'm just…I'm so happy that I get to share this with you."
He felt a lump push up into his throat, making it impossible to swallow, forcing tears into his eyes. In his whole life he'd never met anyone who was capable of turning him into such a mess so easily. He took a deep breath, fighting the tears back, lifting a hand to her face as she looked up at him. He could actually feel her love for him in the gaze. "Esti iubirea vietii mele," he murmured in his first language, before translating, "You are the love of my life."
Their lips met in a searing kiss then as he moved back against the wall, pulling her to him. His hands traced over the lines of her body, the curve of her shoulder, the taught lines of her back, the round, firmness of her backside, and the soft patch of skin where her fantastic bum met the top of her thigh, sending a shiver through her entire body. Their bodies pressed together, as their tongues danced, their mouths parting and meeting, until they both pulled back, hearing the alarm beeping nosily upstairs. They'd set it the night before, just in case their nocturnal activities exhausted them to the point of a longer lie in than usual.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Three weeks, Beloff. Keep your hands and every other part of your body, to yourself for three weeks. "We should get going. Don't want to be late."
She looked up at him through her lashes, her desires obviously battling against her better judgment, "Three weeks isn't two years. We can do this," she told him, a smile quirking up at the corner of her mouth.
He nodded, "So none of this," he said, reaching out taking her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. She shook her head, the smile growing. "And none of this," he said, lifting the hand to his lips, brushing a kiss against the soft kiss, trailing his mouth to the inside of her wrist.
"You've got the idea," she said, as he gave her hand a tug, pulling her closer, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.
"And definitely none of this," he said, leaning down to kiss her once more, deepening it immediately. Her fingers slipped into his hair, as his arms curled around her waist, holding her against him.
The alarm grew louder in the distance, a feature created by some evil technician to make the damn piece of crap as annoying as possible. Alright, Beloff, that's enough. He pulled back, catching his breath, feeling her chest rise and fall against his, her breathing ragged as well. With a sigh she stepped back away from him, breaking all physical contact.
"You ready?" he asked, just about an hour later as they stood at her front door, locking it behind them for the last time.
If everything went according plan, they wouldn't be returning. A moving company would arrive in a few days to take the boxes stacked neatly in her living room to New York.
She nodded as they moved down the stairs, each with two large suitcases as well as her gym bag, stuffed to its maximum capacity. They loaded their bags into the truck and then scaled the stairs to the house next door.
They'd already said goodbye to Roy and Rose Hodgson, the elderly couple who lived next door, but they'd promised to say one last farewell.
"You take care of our girl," Roy said, the older man's eyes shining with pride as he watched his wife embrace Payson, after forcing a Tupperware of homemade oatmeal bars into her hands. "I hear different and I'll put you over my knee, son." Roy's voice caught on the last words as the two men shook hands.
Sasha stepped away as Payson embraced Roy, the old man's hand gently resting against the back of her head. "You go win us some hardware, young lady," he instructed. Payson nodded as she pulled away, tears gathering in her eyes and then dropping easily down her cheeks as she made no attempt to stifle them. Roy offered her his handkerchief and she smiled wiping under her eyes.
They left a few minutes later, Payson's tears having subsided, but Roy's handkerchief still clutched in her hand. As they drove in silence to the Rock where a bus would be waiting to take them to Denver he heard her sigh softly as she folded the handkerchief carefully and placed it into her gym bag.
"In fifty years, I want to be just like them," she mused aloud as they pulled down the street.
Sasha looked down and saw her hand resting against her thigh in a tight fist. He reached over, despite his earlier promise to keep his hands to himself, and lay his hand over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze, "Me too."
The bus pulled in front of the hotel, nothing too fancy, but certainly not cheap. Payson looked out the window to see Kelly Parker standing on the sidewalk, luggage at her feet obviously waiting for them.
"Took you all long enough," Kelly muttered as they debarked the bus and gathered their luggage.
Payson grinned and rolled her eyes. It'd be a long time since anything Kelly Parker said got to her. "It's not our fault you chose to train at the inferior club," she said sweetly to Kelly who shook her head. It was more a friendly banter than anything else now, although whether she'd call Kelly a friend wasn't exactly clear. There'd been an informal and unvoiced truce called between them after she recovered from her back injury. It seemed despite the games she loved to play Kelly had a real respect for her and Payson had been more than happy to put old grudges aside, especially since the ultimate goal of team gold depended upon their mutual success.
"Girls," Boris called from the hotel door, "no wasting time, we have a meeting right now and then we go to train."
They sat in one of the hotel's small conference rooms, their luggage lined up neatly against the wall, Sasha and Marty standing off to the side, as Boris stood in front of them all, looking at them intently, eight girls, six ready to compete, two alternates. He opened his mouth to speak, but the door to the room nearly slammed open an Ellen Beals waltzed in.
"You are late," Boris barked at her and she nearly jumped out of her skin, before recovering quickly. Payson had to stifle a smile. She loved when anyone put Ellen Beals in her place, but it was even better whenever Boris did it, being that he replaced her as their head coach.
"I was filing the girls' drug tests with the NGO," she said, frowning in his direction, her usual sour expression plastered across her face.
Boris scoffed, "Late is late," he said, before ignoring her completely and looking back at them. She immediately wiped any traces of her smile away. "We have serious business to discuss, first, girls. First, we must elect team captain," he said.
"We can take care of that right now," Kelly announced from the other end of the row. "Everyone in favor of Keeler, raise their hands." Seven arms shot into the air. "You are going to vote for yourself, aren't you, Keeler? False modesty is so unattractive." Payson lifted her arm into the air with a sigh and Kelly smiled. "Viola, Captain Keeler."
Boris eyed Kelly carefully and Payson thought she saw the smallest of smiles appear on his face as he moved on. "Fine, very good. Payson will be the captain of the team. We also have a," he cleared his throat, "representative from the NGO public relations here and he will talk to you now about something." Boris's face twisted into a frown, as if the words gave him physical pain, but he turned the floor over to a young man standing in the corner Payson thought perhaps worked for the hotel.
"Thank you, Coach Beloff," he said. "I'm Henry Palatt and for the next three weeks, I will be in charge of your public personas. We at the NGO feel like this is one of the most marketable teams we've had in years and we want to make the most of it and promote our sport to its greatest advantage. First off, we've assigned you roommates, Emily and Lauren, you'll be together," he said, handing them room keys. "Our research indicates people are fascinated by the idea of step-sisters making it to the Olympics together," he added before Lauren's call of protest could escape her throat.
"Kaylie and Isabella," he said, giving them keys as well. "I'll be honest girls, it's all about the look with you two. The resemblance is uncanny, truly." Payson bit her lip. It was a fair point, aside from her green eyes, Izzy did look an awful lot like Kaylie had at fifteen.
"And then we have Payson and Kelly, the fiercest of rivals, one and two since you were juniors. It's a great story." She grimaced, but nodded as she took her hotel room key.
"And of course, Andrea and Justine," he said, his smile not quite reaching his eyes as he looked over at the two alternates, giving them room keys just the same as everyone else, though they all knew it wasn't the same at all.
"Now girls, today you have podium training at the Pepsi Center, followed by a few interviews with the NBC crews. We'll be spreading those out over the week so they don't get too overwhelming and then tonight a formal team dinner with officials from the NGO, some of the Denver city council and the folks from the Pepsi Center who were kind enough to allow us use of their arena this week."
The girls let out a collective groan, aside from Kelly and Lauren who both squealed with apparent delight and then looked at each other in shock as neither girl ever imagined they'd agree on anything.
"Right," Henry soldiered on, "why don't you all go up to your rooms and get settled. The bus leaves at noon."
They stood and looked around at each other for a moment before quickly gathering their luggage and making their way to the elevators. Payson caught Sasha's eye as she left the room. She smiled tightly and he returned it before they broke eye contact.
"Not terrible," Kelly said as they entered what would definitely be called a suite and not a simple hotel room.
"A lot bigger than what we'll have at the Olympic village," Payson said, agreeing. She sighed as she lifted her suitcase onto the luggage rack and began to unpack a little, pulling out one of the dresses she brought and hanging it up so it would be ready for later.
She stopped when she realized she didn't sense Kelly moving about the room. She looked over her shoulder and saw the small brunette sitting on her bed, crossed legged, studying Payson carefully. "What?" she asked, wondering what could possibly be running through her former rival's head.
Kelly tilted her head and smiled, "I was thinking about a couple of years ago, just after you got hurt."
Payson rolled her eyes, turning back towards her luggage, searching for her toiletry bag. "Oh yeah?" she asked, though not all that interested in what Kelly was spouting now.
"Yeah, when Russo came to train at Denver," Kelly said as she lifted her own suitcase onto the other luggage rack and started to unpack as well. "You destroyed him, you know that?"
Payson snorted, "Wrong Rock girl. He was hung up on Kaylie by then."
Kelly laughed, a genuine laugh, not that stupid giggles she saved for reporters, "No, it was you," she assured her. "So what did you do to him?"
Payson sighed, "I broke my back and he needed to focus," she said with an eye roll. She didn't think about it much anymore, but at the time she'd felt a little betrayed by Nicky's defection to Boulder, not just by his move, but by the obvious something that developed so easily between him and Kaylie. "And then when he came back, he and Kaylie sort of picked up where they left off, so really Parker, I think you're off base."
"I'm not," Kelly insisted, "besides he only went after Kaylie because you were with Tucker at the time."
Payson sighed, throwing herself back on the bed. When had her life become this? "Austin and I are and always have been friends," she insisted, though she knew it was unlikely Kelly would believe her. It was confirmed as Kelly snorted, hanging up her own dress for the party that night.
"Seriously," Payson said, sitting up. "He's my best friend, it would just be too weird. What's with the sudden fascination with my personal life, Kelly?"
Her roommate shrugged, "Small talk. So Austin's available then?" she mused aloud, fingering the black silk of her dress thoughtfully.
"Nope," Payson said, unable to keep the smug grin off her face. "He's seeing Odette Viennaeu, you know, the French super model."
Kelly bit her lip and frowned, "Huh, I thought that was just a hook up."
Payson shook her head, "Nope and now can we please stop talking about this?"
"Sure," Kelly said carefully, "if I can ask just one more question."
"Anything to make you stop," Payson agreed quickly.
"You always say in your interviews that you have a boyfriend, which by the way, is totally killing your marketability, single sells better, but anyway, if it's not Tucker, then who is it?"
Payson smiled and shrugged before letting her eyes twinkle mysteriously, "None of your business," she said simply.
Kelly frowned, "Fine, don't tell me. Just …" the former national and world champion hesitated for a moment. "Look, I don't really care who it is, but if you don't want people to know, just keep things under wraps around Ellen Beals."
At those words, Payson sat up straight. "What are you talking about?"
"I got my drug testing done this morning," Kelly said, "and Ellen Beals was there with the two techs and they were talking about how they were at your house earlier today and your boyfriend was there. She asked them if it was Austin Tucker and they said no, that they'd been to Austin's house before yours and then we had to leave for the hotel. So just a heads up I guess." Kelly looked distinctly uncomfortable, as if doing something quite this nice was against her nature, which Payson guessed it probably was, so she decided not to torture Kelly too long with her gratitude.
"Thanks, Parker," she said lightly. "I owe you one."
"Perfect," Kelly said, digging through one of her bags and coming up with a magazine, "Sign that and we'll call it even. My pervy younger brother is your biggest fan, I swear most of his deposits to the spank bank are made to your picture, but I did promise him..." she trailed off.
"You have a brother?" Payson asked, taking the marker and copy of Sports Illustrated Kelly offered her and signed it.
"Yeah, the black sheep of the family, he's actually semi-normal compared to the rest of us," Kelly said with a laugh, taking the magazine away and putting it back in her back.
"Sounds like my sister, Becca," Payson said. "Wow, Parker, do we have something in common?" she asked, smiling.
Kelly rolled her eyes and smirked, "I guess so, Keeler. Now get dressed so we can get out of here and get back as fast as possible. I am going to rock this LBD tonight."
"LBD?" Payson asked, as she began digging through her gym back for her Team USA practice leo.
"Little black dress," Kelly said with a frustrated sigh. "God, Keeler, duh." She moved into the bathroom, her leo in her hand.
"Guess the moment's over," Payson said, shaking her head with a smile. Did I just make friends with Kelly Parker? It is 2012, maybe the world is ending.
Kelly emerged again a moment later, "Come on, Keeler, chop, chop," she said, clapping her hands at her before moving to the mirror with a brush and a handful of bobby pins.
"Going with the devil horns?" Payson called from the bathroom, as she slid into her leo and then pulled on the track suit over it.
"Shut up, Keeler," Kelly called back, all traces of their almost friend-like conversation of moments earlier completely gone.
Much better, she thought as she twisted her hair into her signature bun, pinning it carefully into place. Time to go to work, Keeler.