"Go Jimmy!" Lauren screamed as the six foot four inch young man with dark hair, though it was covered by a bathing cap and dark brown eyes, currently shielded by goggles and the body of an Adonis, which was on full display, dove into the pool along with seven other similarly formed competitors.
It would be a quick race, just one length of the pool and back again. It was the finals of the 100 meter freestyle, one of the more prestigious swim events in the world and Payson watched along with her teammates, particularly Lauren as Jimmy Butler, the guy she'd seen Lauren flirting with the other night cut through the water with long, firm and most importantly, powerful strokes, his legs churning the water behind him into a thick, white wake. He was in the center of the pool, as the top qualifier and was in first as the group of swimmers reached the wall almost simultaneously, somersaulting under the water and then disappearing for precious seconds as they propelled their bodies back towards the finish line.
"C'mon Jimmy!" Damon Young joined in from the other side of Emily, who was just to Payson's left.
Payson smiled, remembering how Damon's voice carried in the arena just the day before when Emily nailed her uneven bars routine. The crowed had just quieted, waiting for what they knew would be an incredible score for the American gymnast when Damon shouted, "Yeah, Kmetko!" at such an insane volume that most of the crowd laughed in response before screaming in approval as her score was announced.
They got to their feet as the pack of swimmers approached the final few meters and Payson found herself screaming her head off with the rest of them. Then as the athletes touched the wall everyone's eyes simultaneously flew to the scoreboard where his name was suddenly lit up brightly, a number one flashing next to it.
"Oh my God!" Lauren shrieked, the realization washing over her. "I'm dating a gold medalist."
"Dating?" Emily asked, an eyebrow rising in disbelief. "You met him last night and he was a gold medalist already." They all stood, moving out of the row and down towards the roped off area just in front of the medal stands.
Lauren shrugged, "We just clicked, you know? So it looks like I'm dating a two time Gold medalist. Watch out, Payson," Lauren said, a gleam in her eye, only half joking.
"Sasha has four gold medals, a silver and a bronze," Payson said with a roll of her eyes and a small proud smile.
"It's too bad he couldn't come," Austin said from her other side, arm slung around Kelly's shoulders though as they approached photographers, they stepped away from each other almost instinctively.
"Boris wanted to run through the competition tapes one more time to confirm the order for team finals and I'm glad he's spending time with his Dad, even if it is in the hospital. They still have issues they have to work out," Payson said with a shrug.
Lauren wrinkled her nose, "Didn't the whole Boris almost dying thing fix that?" she asked.
Payson sighed, shaking her head. "He didn't almost die, Lauren. He had a mild heart attack and a stent put in, which is pretty common nowadays and things aren't that simple. The bad stuff doesn't just go away over night and there was a lot of bad over the years."
"Like Boris disowning Sasha for competing for England?" Lauren pressed on.
Payson frowned, "For one."
She accompanied Sasha to the hospital that morning and for the first time Payson thought she understood where much of Sasha's resentment stemmed from, though she'd learned of it unintentionally. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but it just sort of happened…
"Why don't I go get us some tea?" Payson suggested, as Boris flicked through the DVD they'd brought him of the team preliminary round for Group A. Their major competitors in the team competition had been in their group as well, so there was no real need to wait for the result of today's preliminary round for Group B. They watched mostly in silence, though every once in a while one would grumble something in Romanian to the other. She understood most of it, but there wasn't much she could contribute to the conversation.
"Yes, yes," Boris said dismissively, his attention focused on the screen and Sasha looked to her and smiled as she rose from her chair.
She'd been a good halfway to the cafeteria when she realized she didn't know how Boris took his tea or if he wanted black, green, white, herbal, the options were endless. Growing up she'd always thought there was one kind of tea, the Lipton teabags her mother bought. Being with an Englishman had certainly corrected that assumption as at any given time Sasha had ten different options in the tea box she'd bought him one day after opening her cabinet only to be pelted with teabags he'd hastily shoved onto the shelves.
She reached the room and paused at the door. She could no longer hear the echoing feed of the DVD rife with crowd and competition noise, but voices, two very distinct voices.
"Ea luminează, fiul," Boris said, "You are sure she is not pregnant?"
"I'm sure, Dad," Sasha said.
Boris chuckled. "Ah, then she glows for you. I thought you were not," he said before mumbling a few words in Romanian, words Payson was familiar with from moments when Sasha slipped into Romanian during some of their most intimate and decidedly rougher moments. She suddenly realized exactly what it meant.
"Dad!" Sasha admonished. "It's none of your business."
Boris scoffed, "Of course it is my business. I do want grandchildren before I die, Alexander."
"You're not going to die anytime soon," Sasha said and then as an afterthought, "and don't call me Alexander. Only Mum called me that."
"The servants as well," Boris snapped. "The housekeeper calls you by your name and I may not."
"She called me Alexander all my life. If you'd been around instead of in Romania coaching and making my mother look like a fool then maybe I would have been accustomed to you using my given name!"
Payson blinked and closed her eyes. She shouldn't be listening to this. This was between these two men, two very proud men who wouldn't want her to hear this conversation, at least not in this way.
"Your mother was no saint, Sasha," Boris said, giving in on the name, but obviously not on the argument. "Nicolai…."
Sasha cut him off, "I wasn't blind, Dad. But it didn't matter did it? She died six months later."
"It does matter," Boris insisted, his desperation to be understood clear in his tone, "I loved your mother, Sasha, and there was a time that she loved me. But you are my son. I am your father. Rebecca would not want to come between us."
"Dad, can we just…let's just watch the next rotation," Sasha said, changing the subject entirely. Payson could hear the anguish in his voice and it broke her heart. She'd never realized how much pain he must have buried deep inside of him. He was always so strong, so in control and now she was desperate to know more, to help in some way, though she knew there was little for her to do.
She took a deep breath and stepped into the room, "I got all the way there and I realized I don't know how you take your tea, socru."
Sasha's shoulders were tense and he didn't turn to face her, "He has to have herbal, the doctor said, nothing in it."
She heard Boris grumble something about not wanting tea, but a strong cup of cofree instead, but she ignored it, stepping up behind Sasha. She placed a hand at his neck, rubbing lightly, the tips of her fingers sliding gently into his hair. "And you want English breakfast with lemon?" she asked and he nodded quickly, glancing up at her with a tight, but genuine smile. It was the way he took his tea whenever he was stressed and she could see the gratitude in his expression.
She nodded quickly and leaned down to press a kiss against his cheek. "I'll be right back then," she said and left the room again, hoping that she'd eased the tension between them, if ever so slightly and hoped that they'd be able to work through what seemed to be many more issues that those Sasha had shared with her.
Payson sighed as they waited for the swimmers to emerge from the locker room and get ready for the medal ceremony.
"You alright, Pay?" Austin asked, leaning down over her shoulder.
She nodded, "Of course I am. I'm just anxious to see what Boris decided," she lied through her teeth and she knew Austin could see right thought it, but she turned her head quickly so their eyes met and hoped he understood that she simply couldn't share right now.
"It wouldn't hurt you to just not think about it for a little while, PK," Kelly said with an eye roll. "Not everything has to be work. We're here to enjoy ourselves too."
Payson shook her head, "We're here to win gold, Kelly." She sighed again, feeling the crowd press in around her and suddenly she felt claustrophobic. "I'm going to go. I'll see you guys back at the Village."
She heard Austin's voice call out to her, but she just kept walking, pushing through the crowd until she finally reached a security official, presented her athletes credentials and waited while he called her a shuttle car back to the Olympic Village.
"You're Payson Keeler?" the guard said, engaging her in conversation.
She nodded and shrugged, "Guilty."
"My wife and I, we're rooting for you," he said, with a tip of his cap, "seeing as you're about to marry Beloff, it makes you almost a Brit. It would make us right proud for you to win all six golds like you're trying a'do." The car pulled up and he opened the door for her graciously. "Good luck tomorrow."
She smiled weakly at the man and said, "Thank you."
The trip back to the village was relatively fast, though traffic around the city had been horrendous in general during the games. Payson walked slowly back towards her room, thinking about what she heard. Do I tell Sasha? Am I crazy? He'll be furious at me for listening. Though he'll know something's up if I don't tell him and he'll know if I'm lying. She sighed as she wandered into their building, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Looking up as her feet came to a halt she realized she'd stopped just outside of Sasha's door. There's nothing for it. I've got to talk to him about it. We don't keep secrets.
She knocked on the door and Sasha answered quickly. He wordlessly stepped back to allow her in.
"Where's Marty?" she asked, looking around at the empty room.
"At the stadium watching some track and field, I think," he said, rubbing at the back of his neck in agitation. "Payson," he began and then stopped again, obviously not sure what he wanted to say. Things were a little tense after she returned with the tea, the uncomfortable knowledge hanging over her head. She'd excused herself not long after, grateful for the invitation from Austin to go to the aquatic center to watch Jimmy Butler go for gold.
That tension was back now in full force, though obviously Sasha didn't know where it stemmed from. She decided to help him out, "I overheard you and your father this morning, when I came back to find out what tea you wanted."
Realization suddenly appeared in his eyes, "I thought something was off. I thought maybe I'd done something," he said his voice trailing off. "You seemed pretty distant once you came back. I'm sorry you had to hear that. You know how complicated my relationship with my dad is."
"I always thought it was more complicated than you competing for England," she said as she sat down next to him on the bed. He slid back against the headboard, tugging on her hand, a request to join him. "But there's a lot I don't know, a lot I'm curious about."
He sighed heavily, his breath disturbing her hair, "There isn't much to talk about," he said. She could feel the frown upon his face rather than see it. "You read my biography, didn't you?" he teased lightly, attempting levity and failing miserably.
"Tell me about your mother," she said suddenly, lacing her fingers though his, her ring pressing into his palm. He hesitated, so she tried again, "Alexander," she said, looking up into his eyes, "tell me about your mother."
The steely-blue gaze fixed onto hers, "Say that again," he practically commanded.
"Tell me about your mother," she whispered.
"Not that, what you said before it. My name," he said, "call me by my name again."
"Alexander," she said, wondering if he would snap at her the way he did his father, wondering if she'd crossed the line. Then suddenly his lips crashed down upon hers, harsh, punishing even, but his hand wove into her hair gently, his thumb brushing against her ear. The contrast was startling. He rolled into her, his body covering hers, pressing her full length into the mattress as he deepened the kiss, his tongue slipping past her lips. She buried her hands in his hair as he shifted a leg between hers.
As his mouth drifted to her neck and hands slid up under her shirt, she gasped, "Sasha," she said instinctively to the pleasure and then as he punished her lightly scraping his teeth against her skin she corrected herself, "Alexander," she breathed arching against him as he slid between her legs, her hips cradling his. She kicked off her flip-flops, running her foot along the length of his calf, hooking her leg over his thigh as their lower bodies found a familiar rhythm.
She tried to keep her head, but it was nearly impossible. "We can't do this right now," she mumbled as he hummed in agreement, but continued his exploration of her body, his hands pushing further beneath the cotton of her tee shirt, "we have a team meeting in twenty minutes…which you called," she reminded him, as one of his hands went to the button of her khaki shorts, flicking it open and tugging on the zipper, as the other skipped up her ribcage. "Marty could be back any second," she added as her own hands slid between them, pulling at his belt buckle.
"Uh, Marty is back," a voice called from behind them, sounding half terrified and half amused.
"Christ!" Sasha yelled, leaping off her quickly, "wear a bell or something, would you?."
Payson felt a deep flush fill her face as she avoided the eyes of her former coach. She quickly buttoned her shorts again, swinging her legs off Sasha's bed and smoothing her hair, tucking wayward locks behind her ears. "Hi Marty," she said, grinning, despite herself, slipping her flip-flops back onto her feet and standing. Then, the daring coming from a place she'd only found because of him and the confidence he'd awakened in her, she stepped up to him, looking up through her lashes as she buckled his belt again. He stared down at her slack-jawed as she tucked the leather into the belt loop and then patted the buckle lightly.
"Bye Marty," she said leaving the room quickly, not looking back.
Sasha released a shaky breath and swallowed roughly before looking towards his fellow coach and friend. "Do you see?" he said, sitting down on the bed.
Marty coughed and raised his eyebrows before nodding. "Yeah, I saw. You didn't stand a chance did you?"
"Nope," he said, running a hand through his hair.
Marty laughed at him outright and grabbed water from their mini-fridge. "So what did you dad have to say about the lineup for team finals?"
Sasha nodded at the fridge," Toss me one, would you?" he asked, pulling a sheet of paper from his pocket and catching the bottle of water as Marty chucked it to him.
"Just one change," he said, handing the paper over to Marty who sat across from him and studied the small chart Boris had scrawled out after watching the footage of their preliminary round.
Bars: Ruggeri, Kmetko, Keeler
Beam: Cruz, Tanner, Keeler
Floor: Ruggeri, Parker, Keeler
Vault: Parker, Cruz, Keeler
"He wants Kaylie on the vault?" Marty asked, frowning. "I thought he was afraid of her inconsistency?"
Sasha shrugged, "Apparently he's gotten over it. I think the vault was just too good for him not to put her up. If Kelly, Kaylie and Payson nail their vaults, the gold medal could be ours in one rotation."
Marty nodded, "And China won't be playing it safe like they did yesterday. I saw definitely footage of Cho practicing an Amanar on vault back in China. She'll definitely be doing that tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if all those tiny little things have upped DODs from last year."
"That's not Ki Young Tang's style. Usually he's into intimidation, paralyzing the competition with high scores in the first round," Sasha mused, frowning. The man he'd invited to the Rock all three years ago wasn't the type to hold back.
Marty shook his head and shrugged, "Maybe he's gotten word from on high. You know how their government obsesses over these things, he could be just a figure head at this point. Or maybe we're just that much better than they are."
"I guess we'll see tomorrow. Let's go. We've got to tell the girls the lineup for tomorrow, get them fed and then a solid ten hours. Tomorrow's the biggest day of their lives, I don't want them choking because they're tired."
Marty snorted as he stood and led the way to the door, "I'd leave that out of your pre-game speech, Mr. Sunshine."
The competition was going to fly by, Payson thought as she descended the steps from the podium to the floor after her beam warm up. Three up, three count and then rotate. It shouldn't take much more than an hour. She stood still for a moment, the arena buzzing around her. She took a deep breath and looked at the crowd. There was a distinct hum in the air. This would be one for the ages, an epic battle of two great teams. Everyone knew that, everyone it seemed except the media who made it seem like it was a foregone conclusion that the Americans would be walking out of here with the gold medal.
She'd been the favorite before, in fact aside from her first day at the 2010 World Championships, she'd never walked into a major competition without high expectations weighing upon her shoulders and as she looked to her teammates she knew that was true of most of them as well. They were the two time world champs, they had medals galore between them, too many to count and today they were expected to win.
One last time, Keeler. One last time with a team and then you're on your own. Sasha's voiced echoed in her head and she turned catching sight of him, hands on his hips as he studied Lauren's beam warm up.
She remembered the first time she walked into the Rock, almost seven years ago. She'd kept to herself mostly during stretching and warm-ups, but when it came time for apparatus training, Marty had grouped her with Kaylie Cruz and Lauren Tanner, girls whose names she'd heard mentioned before, but had never met since neither had qualified for nationals that year.
"I'm Kaylie," the girl with a long brown ponytail and braces said, smiling. "Did you just move here?"
"Yeah, we just moved from Minnesota. I'm Payson," she'd said, smiling back.
"Welcome to the Rock. And this is Lauren," she said, nudging a girl with dirty blonde hair not so gently in the ribs.
"Hi," she said with a short nod. "We're going to start on beam."
Payson's smile widened, "Great. I haven't trained in two weeks and I can't wait to get started again."
"You took two weeks off?" Kaylie asked, frowning.
"My Dad would never let me take that much time off from training," Lauren said, not in jealousy, but in obvious superiority.
Payson's eyes narrowed at the other girl, "We didn't pay my gym dues at my old gym for this month since we were moving and we just moved into an apartment here two days ago. My parents are looking for a house and things have been crazy."
Lauren shrugged. "Whatever. I'm the Rock's number one junior on beam, so I go first. Kaylie's ranked second, so I guess you can go after us."
Payson nodded, more than happy to let this girl go ahead of her. She looked to her left and she saw Marty on the small balcony just off the gym's office observing the practice. He met her eyes, smiled and then winked. Suddenly she realized that he hadn't introduced her and that these girls had absolutely no idea who she was.
She watched Lauren run through a pretty standard beam routine, though it was obvious she was very good at the event, she needed to upgrade her dismount if she wanted to qualify for junior nationals next year.
Kaylie hopped onto the beam and did a routine obviously meant more for show than skill, but she did it well and pulled it off in a way that would have the judges smiling and smiling judges always scored higher than bored judges.
"All yours," Kaylie said, after she'd saluted, ending her run through.
Payson nodded and approached the beam, taking a deep breath before pushing up, using her upper body strength to press into a handstand, her legs sliding down into a split before she turned and stood tall on the four inches. She moved to the end of the beam and in two quick strides performed a switch leap, landing steadily, then into her aerial series, a double flic-flac into a back handspring.
"Whoa," a voice broke through her focus.
She paused for a second before honing her vision and springing into her back salto. She flicked her hands, lifted them out in front of her to steady herself before taking two steps into a round-off and then a double twist dismounting the beam.
It was the routine that clinched silver in the all-around at Nationals at only twelve, losing to Shawn Johnson, a girl who was just about ready to move into the senior ranks. It was the routine that Marty saw and told her parents just after the competition that if they moved to Boulder and allowed her to focus solely on her gymnastics, that someday she would make it to the Olympics.
"Excellent job, Payson," Marty said from his perch on the balcony. "Can I have everyone's attention please?" he called out and activity in the Rock ceased immediately. "I'd like to introduce a new member of our Rock family, Payson Keeler. A month ago she won the All-Around silver at Junior Nationals, along with gold on vault and uneven bars, silver on beam and bronze on floor. She's also a junior national team member. I expect everyone will make her feel welcome. She is an incredible addition to the Rock. There's a lot you all could learn from her work ethic and dedication." Payson felt her face flush bright as every eye on the gym fixed on her.
She looked up at Marty, much of the intimidation she'd felt as a result of him being a real living, breathing gold medalist fading. Now he was just the guy who'd singled her out and made her the object of everyone's focus. She didn't want an audience and she didn't want friends. She just wanted to train and in 2012 go to the Olympics.
"Payson," a voice drew her from her thoughts. She looked to her right and saw Marty standing there, arms folded over his chest, much like they'd been as he watched her that first day at the Rock. "I told you so," he said, looking down at her with a small smile.
"You did," she agreed, "though not exactly the way you said it would happen."
He nodded, granting her the point, "But here you are anyway."
She felt a presence at her other shoulder, one she'd know anywhere and as his hand came up to rest on her shoulder she sighed softly, her eyes slipping closed. When she opened them again everything suddenly seemed clearer. The world was sharper, colors brighter; even Sasha's touch at her shoulder was heightened as she could practically feel his energy flowing into her. She stepped away from her coaches and turned to face them, smiling.
"This is it," she said, as they looked at her, then at each other, then back to her again.
Neither man said anything, they were both studying her carefully, obviously both unsure what to make of her statement.
Her smile faded and she could feel her body practically vibrating in response.
Kaylie and Lauren stepped down off the platform, their warm-ups complete. They stood next together for a moment. In a second or two they would all move away, visualizing their beam routines, focusing on getting through the first rotation, but for just a moment they stood still.
Payson looked at Kaylie and then to Lauren and then she nodded, holding her hand out in front of her. Kaylie smirked, placing her hand over hers, Lauren followed, then she felt the rest of the team move in, Kelly's hand over Laurens, then Emily's and finally Izzy's.
"U.S.A on three," she said, "One, two, three…"
"U.S.A!" they shouted together.
"Let's do this," she said to Kaylie who nodded, moving up the stairs, waiting the judges' signal.
The flag went up and she watched Kaylie raise her arms and salute. And as her friend mounted the beam, the last team competition of her career began.