"If you feel any discomfort or pain you must report it immediately," the doctor said, checking the chart one more time. "I'll forward a report to your physician in Boulder, but other than that, you are ready to go, Mr. Beloff."
Boris huffed, "I was ready to go two days ago," he grumbled, "it was you people who insisted I must stay."
Sasha shook his head from his position against the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded to the doctor, "Thank you," he said, extending his hand. The Doctor shook it firmly, obviously not in anyway offended by the older man's words.
"Where is Payson?" Boris asked as the attending nurse pushed his wheelchair towards the exit.
"She's exhausted. I told her to sleep a little bit more. We're going to meet her at the arena."
"Good," Boris said, a note of approval in his voice.
Sasha raised his eyebrows in surprise, but kept silent. "She's happy you'll be there to watch. She wanted her entire family there today."
Boris feigned a cough, "Family? She feels..."
"She hasn't been calling you her socru simply because you called her your noră. She feels it as well."
They left the hospital in silence, Sasha aiding his father into the car, waving off the driver.
"And you?" Boris said as they sped towards the arena.
Sasha ran a hand through his hair, "I think...I think you were right. Mum wouldn't want to get between us and..." He sighed. This was harder than he thought it would be. Sasha still carried a lot of resentment for his father and it wasn't due to any imagined offenses. The hurt was real and it was deep, but he was ready to try to repair the damage. "Payson and I...we're going to start a family. She wants...we want you to be a part of that," he said finally, hoping it was enough.
"I do..." his father began, haltingly, "I know I was not the father I should have been," Boris said and Sasha blinked in disbelief. "I know that, but you, Sasha, you will be what I never was. Veţi fi un tată excelent."
A lump formed in his throat and Sasha looked away, watching the bustling streets around them. He steadfastly swallowed the tightness down and took a deep breath before turning towards his dad. He smiled and nodded, hoping it would be enough.
Boris seemed to accept that and with a nod changed the subject. "Victor Ruggeri came to the hospital before he and his wife returned to the States," he said.
Sasha nodded in understanding. "They told me they were going to offer you the job."
"I accepted, of course, but are you sure you and Payson must go?"
"We have to, even if it's just for a little while," Sasha said. "London is my home and I want her to see that. It's not forever, Dad, but it's where we want to be for the foreseeable future."
Boris grunted, "The future is never foreseeable, fiul meu. When will you learn that?"
Payson watched as Austin and Kelly embraced. Her best friend leaned down and kissed KP and she smiled to herself before turning and facing the arena. It was this moment that was the most nerve wracking of Olympic competition. She felt like they were gladiators being lined up and led into the arena to battle to the death and then as they finally moved onto the floor, the feeling faded.
The crowd roared as they walked through the maze of apparatuses towards the vault. She caught sight of Sasha waiting for her in the competitors area with the rest of the coaches.
Kaylie reached him first, having been at the front of the line. She handed him her gym bag as she led the line up the stairs and onto the raised floor to be announced to the crowd. He took her bag from her as well as she moved past him. He smiled brightly at her and she quirked a small grin in his direction.
She knew he'd gone to the hospital to get his father, but encounters with the elder Beloff rarely put him in a good mood.
The announcer introduced all of them to the crowd and she could practically feel the energy building in the crowd as her name drew closer. The gymnast who qualified just behind her, Charlotte Robinson, representing England drew a huge roar from the crowd.
"Representing the United States of America, Payson Keeler!" the announcer said.
She lifted both arms in the air waving to the crowd in front of her and then turning to wave behind her. The roar was almost deafening and she smiled in response as they all moved back down the stairs. She and Kaylie walked together towards Sasha.
Sasha was already coaching Kaylie through her vaults, so Payson moved away to put on her wrist braces and wait for the signal to begin warmups. She closed her eyes visualizing first the Amanar, the Yurchenko vault with two and a half twists and then the pièce de résistance, her bread and butter, the Produnova.
Then she felt Sasha move behind her, a warm hand on the skin of her back where the official USA leotard was cut low. "How's Boris?" she asked, standing up fully and turning towards him.
"Morocănos," he muttered, and as she furrowed her brow, he shrugged, "grumpy."
She laughed lightly. "Morocănos or not," she said, "I'm happy he's here."
They turned together as the other girls began to warm up. "Go on," Sasha said and she stepped away, "Make sure those knees are locked on the Produnova," he instructed to her back and she nodded, making sure the wrist braces were on firmly.
She waited as the other girls ran through their vaults and then it was her turn. The Amanar first, landing light and bouncing back up into the air to avoid major impact and then, after the other seven warmed up their second vault, she went into her Produnova.
As she landed, she over rotated just a bit and lurched forward just a little. As she did she felt a twinge in her right knee, the same twinge she'd felt for years now. She stood straight, putting all her weight on it and the twinge was gone. Then she took a step and it was back.
The pain wasn't much, it was just a tiny ache, but this wasn't exactly the opportune moment for it to rear it's ugly head. She moved back down onto the floor, taking the steps gingerly.
"You okay?" Kaylie asked, as she stood next to her. She frowned, the discomfort on her face.
"Yeah, fine," she said, shaking out her leg.
"Payson," Sasha said from behind her, "what's the matter?"
"Twinge in my knee," she muttered, keeping her voice low. The last thing she wanted was the announcers getting a hold of it and making it a big deal. If she won, it would be, in spite of an injury and if she lost they'd blame it on that. Win or lose, she didn't want it to be about her stupid knee.
She could feel Sasha tense at her words, so she turned to him, letting her hand brush against his, "Just a twinge, love," she said softly, using the nickname he often applied to her. "I'm fine."
He rolled his eyes lightly, "Not that you'd admit if you weren't."
Payson smiled brightly and raised her eyebrows, "Exactly."
The judges signaled for the competition to begin and Kaylie moved up onto the floor as the first competitor of the eight qualifiers.
Sasha's focus shifted from her to Kaylie as he called out, "Okay here we go, Kaylie, nice and smooth, all the way through, fight for that stick."
"Sasha Beloff is talking Kaylie Cruz through her vault befor she begins. Kaylie's degree of difficulty on her first vault isn't as high as some of the other athletes in this competition, but if she sticks the landing on this one and hits her second, much more difficulty vault, then she'll be more than in the mix for a medal," Tim began.
"Kaylie's first vault is a double twisting Yurchenko. That's a round off onto the springboard, and then a double twist off the horse. Just a few years ago this vault was one of the benchmarks of the sport, but we've seen a leap in difficulty over the last Olympic cycle, especially on vault," Elfie added.
"Here she goes," Al Trautwig said. "Starting off our competition."
"And that was exactly what she needed, Al," Elfie said. "Kaylie nails this vault, great form off the horse and into the air, ramrod straight in the air and a stuck landing. They don't get much better than that."
"Sasha Beloff pumps a fist and then begins calling out instructions for her next vault. Now this is phenomenal when she lands it. Kaylie began working on this vault at the beginning of last year. She's nailed it each time she's done it at these games," Elfie said.
Tim nodded, "Exactly, Elfie. It's an extremely difficult vault, it's a round-off flic-flac on, just like the Yurchenko, but this time, she'll do a half twist off the springboard, which stymies her momentum a bit and then she'll do a one and a half twist, landing blindly."
"It's just really hard," Al clarified.
"Yes," Tim said with a laugh. "It's really hard. It's got a difficulty value of 6.5, one of the most difficult vaults we'll see today."
"A beautiful vault from Kaylie," Elfie said as they watched the former national champion land and take just a small hop on her landing. "That's going to get a big score."
"Based upon what I know of the rest of field, that'll have her in the top four at least," Tim said.
"Well here are her scores," Al said. "A 15.65 on the first and a 16.4 on the second, an average of a 16.025 and that's a great start for the USA's one-two vaulting punch."
Payson lunged to the side, putting her weight on her knee, stretching out the tendons as best she could. Then she stood straight, squatting up and down slowly. She stayed low to the ground as Genghi Cho completed her first vault, a solid Amanar, the vault Payson knew the younger gymnast had in her arsenal, but hadn't used yet in competition.
The strategy was obviously, especially as the Chinese head coach followed Cho back down towards the start of the run, gesturing with his hands about tucked knees and a handspring directly off the horse. Cho would be doing a Produnova.
It was a difficult vault, one much easier for the four foot nine inch Cho than for the five foot four inch Payson, so if Cho nailed it, it would likely draw a higher score than Payson was capable of. However, she hadn't landed the vault cleanly during the entire competition.
Payson watched as the younger girl saluted and took off down the run. Too fast, she thought to herself as Cho bounded off the springboard, much like she had during the all-around competition, sending herself careening off the vault, out of control. Payson's hand flew to her mouth in shock as Cho tried to reign herself in midair.
She managed to bring herself halfway under control and a vault that could have resulted in a catostrophic injury instead ended with the young girl landing on her knees and quickly extending her hands to brace her fall.
Payson let out a shaky breath. That had been too close. The younger girl stood, lip trembling as she saluted the judges and walked slowly off the raised floor and down the stairs. The score flashed up on the board, a 0.00, an invalid vault for failing to land feet first. She'd had a great view of the landing from her position and she'd definitely seen Cho's knees hit the mat before her feet.
For a moment she wished she could go over and comfort the crying girl. They said she was sixteen, but knowing the Chinese, she was probably only thirteen or fourteen. Despite all the success and international acclaim, the pressure got the young phenom and Payson knew a little something about pressure.
She'd focused on Cho for so long she missed Charlotte Robinson's first vault, but judging by the enthusiastic crowd response, it was good. Payson's eyebrows lifted, as she continued to rotate her knee as a score of 16.025 went up. She knew Robinson's second vault was a Tsuk two and a half, and if she hit it, she could knock Kaylie out of first.
She watched the young British gymnast taking a running start, but measured, unlike Cho's and handspring off the horse turning and twist, her body lines perfectly straight.
Payson couldn't help it, as a soft, "Wow," escaped her lips. She immediately regretted it knowing the cameras probably caught her reaction, but it had been an incredible vault.
She didn't have time to think about Robinson's score. She flexed her knee one last time, not feeling the pain at all, likely since her adrenaline had kicked in full force.
Payson vaguely heard Sasha's last words of encouragement and she nodded as she moved up the steps. The crowd roared, likely a combination of reaction to Robinson's scores and her appearance on the floor. She knew they were there to see her, either rooting for her to fail or succeed. Either way, she was their focus.
The flag went up and she saluted, measuring her distance to the midpoint of the run and then taking off at a full sprint towards the springboard, into her roundoff, off the horse and then tucking her arms tightly against her body, twisting two and a half times around before her feet found the mat. She took a small hop forward, but nothing more than a tenth of a point worth and raised her arms over her head and that's when she felt it, an explosion of pain in her knee.
She sucked in a breath and turned to the judges, saluting to them and then walking slowly back down towards the opposite end of the run. She must have given her pain away on her face, because Sasha was up walking with her.
"How bad?" he muttered.
"Pretty bad," she said, whispering so the cameras wouldn't be able to read her lips. She glanced up at him and he was already frowning down at her concerned. Payson took a deep breath and nodded to him before moving past him to the end of the mat.
Her score went up, a 16.325.
Here we go, Pay. So it hurts. It hurts a lot. No big deal. It's hurt worse. Remember junior nationals. Remember that ACL injury. Now that was pain. How did you get through that? You ignored it and powered through.
The judge's flag went up and she raised her arms in salute.
Let's go now. Power though.
Payson sprinted down the run, her knee not even a second thought and as she approached the spring board she thought, this is going to hurt.
Her feet landed exactly right on the board as it launched her onto the horse. Twice around in the air and for a blissful moment there was no pressure on the knee.
Then she landed.
A loud, involuntary grunt pushed out of her lungs as her feet stuck to the mat, body straight, legs nearly pressed together. She stood still for a moment and raised her arms over her head and turned to the judges to salute them as well.
The pain was incredible. Nothing had ever felt like this, not even her back. When she fell at nationals the pain was so much that her body didn't let her feel it. This was different. She felt everything.
She swallowed against it and limped off the floor. Sasha was waiting at the top of the stairs, his eyes wide in concern and near panic.
"And she's hurt. Payson Keeler is hurt. She landed that Produnova beautifully, but she actually cried out in pain as her feet touched down and now Sasha Beloff is carrying her over to a chair and the trainers are swarming around her." Al Trautwig said.
"Let's take a look, Al. I didn't see anything wrong with her on the first vault, no visible limp and nothing that looks out of the ordinary on the landing. But after she landed the second vault she was definitely in a lot of pain," Tim said.
Elfie began, "Payson Keeler isn't just an incredible athlete, she's an incredibly tough athlete. This is the young woman who won a junior national championship with a slightly torn ACL and then broke her back competing through the pain of a major injury. If she's showing her pain, then she must be in a lot it."
The trainer poked and prodded at her knee, but Payson's eyes hadn't left Sasha's.
A cheer went up and seemed to be growing in intensity and finally Payson looked up to the scoreboard. The final standings were up:
Women's Vault - Final Standings
1. Keeler, Payson [USA] V1: 16.325 V2: 16.95 Avg: 16.6375
2. Robinson, Charlotte [GRB] V1: 16.025 V2: 16.450 Avg: 16.2375
3. Cruz, Kaylie [USA] V1: 15.65 V2: 16.400 Avg: 16.025
Kaylie burst through the crowd of trainers and sat next to Payson, throwing her arm around her shoulders.
"You okay, Pay?" she asked.
Payson nodded quickly. "I'm okay."
Kaylie helped her stand and they both waved to the crowd.
Sasha came to her other side and lifted her up against his side. Somehow instinctively he knew that she wouldn't allow him to carry her out of the arena. This wasn't the end, not like what happened with Kerri Strug, though she knew that's probably the footage the television stations were playing at this moment.
Everything was a blur until she was sitting on a trainer's table near the locker room having her knee examined by a doctor.
"Payson, can you describe the pain for me, is it shooting or an ache?" the doctor asked and Payson couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Pain, lots of pain," she said, but then sighed, trying to be more helpful. "It's centralized in my knee cap and it's a constant pain."
Sasha pressed a small kiss to the side of her head.
She turned to him and smiled reassuringly. "I need a cortisone shot and I need someone to come wrap it."
The doctor frowned, obviously disagreeing with her assessment. "It's at least a sprain, but probably much worse. I can't, in good conscience, let you go out there again. So if you do it's against my recommendation."
"Noted," Payson said. "The shot please."
"Payson..." Sasha began softly.
She shook her head. "What's the worst that could happen, Sasha? I blow out my knee on the last event of my career? What am I saving it for? I am going out there."
Suddenly Austin burst into the room, followed closely by her parents, Becca. Together they asked what happened, how much pain she was in and what was hurt, exactly? Then she saw Lauren and Emily hovering by the door, looking concerned.
"Oh my God," she mumbled and Sasha took the hint, turning towards the growing crowd of worried family and friends and ushering them out into the hallway.
"She's getting it looked at," she heard him say as they all filed out dutifully.
The doctor was busy preparing the cortisone shot. He raised his eyebrow in a silent question and Payson nodded, biting her lip.
The relief was almost instantaneous. Cortisone had always been a relatively quick worker on her system and she wasn't going to take the chance of competing in monstrous pain like she stupidly had before her accident at nationals. Pride wasn't worth nearly killing herself. It was a lesson she'd learned the hard way.
Sasha entered the room as the doctor left and he approached the table slowly. "The doctor thinks it's your ACL again," he said.
She nodded, "I could have told him that. It's worse than the last time I hurt it," she admitted softly.
Sasha sighed and placed a hand against the side of her head, trailing it down over her cheek. "How much pain are you in, love? Really?"
"A lot," she said, "but it already feels better after the shot and I have to go out there, Sasha. You know that."
"I do know that. I sent everyone back up to the stands. You've got a half hour until you have to line up for floor."
She shook her head, "Of course it would have to be floor," she said.
Sasha smiled though, "Of course it does. Where better than to cement your place in history, love. Where it all this started, out on the floor."
He leaned down and kissed her lightly and immediately her mind flashed back to three and a half years before.
"Payson, that was...that was exactly right," he said, moving out from behind the camera. "You just, that was perfect."
She took a few steps forward as he met her in the center of the mat, lifting her up into his arms and hugging her tightly.
He released her moments later and suddenly overwhelmed with the moment, of finally succeeding where only weeks before she was sure of her failure, Payson lifted up onto her toes and pressed her lips against his.
The contact was fleeting, though wonderful. His whiskered chin rasped against the soft skin of her cheek as he pulled away.
They stood in awkward silence for a moment. His mouth opened and then closed again. He was stunned speechless. Payson felt a flush bloom into her cheeks.
She put a hand to her mouth and shook her head, before turning and simply walking away, not giving him a backwards glance, hardly believing what transpired was real. She'd kissed her coach and she'd liked it...a lot.
Their eyes met and she knew he was remembering the same moment. "I was so freaked out. I didn't know what to do with myself."
"I felt awful," he admitted. "Awful thinking I'd done something to lead you on and then awful because I'd enjoyed it, more than I was willing to admit to myself fully."
"And here we are," she said, twining their fingers together and pulling him closer as she sat up. He leaned into her and rested his forehead against hers.
"Here we are," he agreed.
They sat in silence for another moment and then he released a shaky breath. "Lay down for a little while and relax. Let the cortisone take effect. You've still got some time before you have to line up."
She shook her head, "It's feeling okay. I need to get it wrapped. Can you send the trainer in here?"
"I'll do it," he said, softly, but firmly and she knew he would brook no argument.
"And that wraps up the men's floor exercise," Al said, "but I think what everyone wants to know is, will Payson Keeler compete?"
"We received word from the event medical staff that it's a significant knee injury, but that's all they were willing to say," Tim said.
"If I had to put money on it, I'd say she's competing. This is the Olympic games, the final event of her career. Unless she's unable to walk, I think we see Payson Keeler come out of that tunnel," Elfie said.
"And you'd be right, Elfie," Al said. "Here are the competitors for the women's floor exercise and there at the end of the line is Payson looking just fine, aside from a tightly wrapped right knee."
Sasha watched as Payson ran through her warmup tumbling passes, not looking any worse for wear, but he could see the pain in her eyes. It wasn't extreme, but it was there and she could feel it.
He turned to Marty Walsh who was on the floor with him now that Kelly was competing. "The doctor thinks it's her ACL."
Marty nodded, his brow furrowing in concern. "She had problems with it as a junior. Tore the damn thing just before the vault when she won her junior national championship. I've never seen anyone with a pain threshold like Payson."
Sasha frowned and took a deep breath as the girls came down the stairs.
"Well?" he asked.
She shrugged, "It feels okay," she said.
"Payson okay or normal human being okay?" he clarified, remembering Marty's words from just moments before.
"It hurts, but not badly," she said, finally and then moved back towards the chairs to take the unnecessary pressure off the body part in question.
Kelly went to sit next to her and the two girls spoke quietly for a moment.
Sasha turned back towards the floor where LiJu Cheung was competing beautifully, obviously recovered from her complete meltdown during the beam competition. It was a gorgeous routine, but the difficulty level wasn't where it needed to be to compete with either American girl, Charlotte Robinson or her own teammate Genghi Cho. Cho's routine was something else all together, though it was her weakest event. Sasha nearly out out a sigh of relief when he saw her score posted, a 16.025.
He watched Charlotte Robinson take the floor next and was impressed with the results. She was only fifteen years old and reminded Sasha of Shawn Johnson, a tiny little fireball, twisting and tumbling through the air like there were springs in the bottoms of her feet, all the while smiling like she hadn't a care in the world.
It was a great routine, the crowd up on their feet cheering the hometown favorite. He knew the girls' story. She was a dual-citizen. Her mum was American, her father British and they'd realized early on that she'd have a better chance of competing at the Olympic level in England than she would in the United States. The rest of the British gymnastics world offered her little competition. In the United States, she probably wouldn't have made the team.
"Good job, Charlotte," he said as the young gymnast walked past him towards her coach after the routine.
"Thank you," she said smiling at him brightly.
It was a good job, a 16.275. She was the leader with two competitors to go. British gymnastics had just taken home a second medal, the most since he'd competed over a decade before.
He saw Kelly moved up the stairs onto the floor and as she did, he felt a presence next to him. He inhaled deeply and smiled. Coconut and gym chalk. Payson. His hand brushed against the skin of her arm. "How does it feel?"
"Better," she said and he could hear the truth in the word. The cortisone had probably eased the inflammation and thus most of her discomfort, but there was still the injury itself.
They watched Kelly's routine together and as the music came to an end and Kelly raised her arms in salute, he felt Payson's hand slip into his squeezing tightly.
He leaned down, not being able to help himself and kissed the top of her head. "One last time, love."
She squeezed his hand again, turning her head to look up at him from beneath her eyelashes. "One last time."
The flat went up and she moved towards the center of the floor, lowering herself into her beginning pose. She could feel her adrenaline pumping through her veins and as the music began, the pain was gone and so, she began.
The pain was excruciating. At least now she knew the damn thing was torn, at least partially, but it was worth the pain as she limped up onto the gold medal podium, with a little help from her fellow medalists, for the second time that day and for the sixth time all together in these Olympic games.
"Ladies and gentleman, the gold medalist on floor exercise, Payson Keeler!" The voice of the announcer echoed through the arena and the crowd cheered.
The routine hadn't been flawless, nor had it been the best she'd ever performed. Despite the cortisone shot, after each tumbling pass, the pain had mounted, but she'd allowed the pain to anchor her, to push her through the routine. She'd allowed herself to feel it, but not effect her performance.
After it was over she moved off the floor slowly and Sasha met her at the top step drawing her into his arms immediately and holding her tightly. "That was it, love, the sadness, the joy, that routine has never been more beautiful," he mumbled into the skin of her neck, before kissing her lightly there and then moving towards her lips.
"I love you," he said, as he pulled away and they stood, with everyone else, awaiting her score.
"I love you, too," she told him as the score went up, a 16.45, just a tenth of a point higher than Kelly's and her sixth gold medal of the games.
"You did it," he said to her as her lifted her into his arms again.
"No, we did it," she corrected him, as she had to so many times before, the enormity of her accomplishment not yet sinking in.
She was bombarded then by Kelly, her friend having no qualms interrupting her moment with Sasha and thus giving the other gymnasts the courage to come and congratulate her on the victory of the moment and the overall victory at the games. Even tiny Genghi Cho who'd watched her first, painfully simple routine three years before at the Rock came over and in an uncharacteristic display of emotion, hugged her tightly.
Payson felt a lump gather in her throat as the opening notes to the Star Spangled Banner began to echo through the arena, the two American flags and British flag being lifted high together toward the roof. She thought of her parents and sister, the sacrifices they'd made as a family, of her friends who'd been with her through the good and the bad, and then of Sasha, who'd come into her life so unexpectedly and become the only person in the world she'd ever let herself truly need.
And as the song came to an end with a resounding note, the tears began to slip free as she realized, after all these years, it was finally over.