Hey everyone, thank you all for you lovely reviews and TheOnceAnonymous don't worry Payson will screw her head back on soon and make up with Emily.

Also my obvious non-Americanness is about to show. I have no idea about anything to do with the SATs so if I completely confuse you just smile and nod haha. Anyway enough of my rambling here is the next chapter...

Chapter 3: Not done yet

Emily hadn't been this stressed in a long time – not since Worlds trials. She knew she was good at gymnastics, and she had almost become used to the huge amount of pressures whenever there was a meet. The press, the commentators, the crazy parents cheering them on. But somehow all of that was nowhere near as stressful as studying for her SATs. She was fairly confident with her critical reasoning and writing but maths was not her thing. She smiled sadly as she thought of Razor and how he used to help her. She wondered where he was now and if she knew what happened to her. Emily looked at the problem in front of her – she'd reached her twelfth line of calculation when before she'd realised she'd made a rounding error in the second step. Groaning she threw her pencil against the wall.

Deciding that she was in serious need of a study break Emily put her shoes on and walked to the dairy – she had some major chocolate cravings. At the dairy she got a couple of Hershey's bars and put them on the till. The woman looked at Emily and then looked down at her six month pregnant stomach. Emily then felt the lady's eyes flicker to Emily's left hand. After seeing there was no wedding ring she sniffed her disapproval.

Emily rolled her eyes "Hi there" she said, overly sweetly.

The lady ignored her, picked up the bars, scanned them and said "that's $3.15" without even looking Emily in the eye.

"Thanks, have a great day." Emily smiled overtly, she wanted to make this cow as uncomfortable as possible.

The lady ignored her once again and as Emily walked out she swore she heard her mutter 'slut' under her breath. Emily didn't care, she was used to that sort of treatment – it just made her more motivated to work harder.

She rolled over in her bed, and then realised with a panic that today was the day of the SATs. She was so nervous that she thought she would puke. She got out of bed and pulled on one of the maternity dresses that Margi had bought for her, as she did so she felt her baby kick and she instantly felt better. She wasn't alone, even if the little person inside her had completely changed the course of her life. She went downstairs where Margi had made her poached eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice. Margi's faultless organisation was so different to Chloe's disorganised chaos but she missed Chloe like crazy sometimes. There was a card next to her breakfast, she opened it and smiled when she saw Chloe's scrawl and Brian's strong printing

Good luck today! We love you Brian wrote

You're my everything – show them what you've got. Hold your head high Chloe had added.

She wiped the two tears that escaped down her cheeks and popped the card in her bag. Her family always knew how to cheer her up.

The test was much easier than she'd expected. The stares from the other girls and the averted glances from the boys made her feel like crap. But, just like she'd done with gymnastics, Emily used every single mean look as more motivation to keep writing harder. By the time she'd finished she'd written more than any other student in the room. When she finished and walked out the stares weren't of distain but of admiration. Emily smiled, her gymnastics career might be over but her life wasn't, not by a long shot. She walked back to Margi's feeling better than she had in a long time.

"I'm home!" She called down the hallway, she heard the TV on in the lounge and went to see what the others were watching.

"Hey Em" said Larissa – who at fourteen was the eldest of Margi's foster children. She was lying on the couch with her long legs stretched out to rest on the table in front of her. Eight year old Jenna was curled up next to her, with a book in her hand as usual. Ten year old Jacky ran over to hug her, he idolised Emily.

"What are you guys watching?" Emily asked as she picked Jacky up.

"The world championships" Jenna said in an important voice.

Emily cringed, she'd been so busy with her SATs that she'd completely lost track of the date. Before Emily could reply Margi came in. "M- how did the SATs go?" She asked as she gave her a hug. Then she saw what was on the TV.

"Larissa, turn that off would you?" she asked, unusually tense.

Emily smiled "no, honestly it's fine – I want to watch it. And the SATs went much better than I expected thanks."

"Ok if you're sure."

Emily took a seat on the couch with the two younger girls. It was the day of the finals for the team competition. The presenters showed replays of the qualifying rounds. Emily cringed as she watched Lauren's overly serious beam routine.

"Sasha shouldn't have told her to do that." Emily muttered.

"Huh?" Larissa asked,

"Oh that girl is usually really creative on the beam but she was trying to be serious and so she didn't do very well."

"How do you know that? Did you train with her – wow I knew you were good but I didn't know you would have gone to worlds?" Larissa left silent the implication 'if you hadn't become pregnant' but she didn't need to.

"Uh yeah but I'm happy here, I get to eat more carbs this way." Emily forced a smile.

"Well that's what life's all about right?" Larissa joked. Emily laughed; she really enjoyed the younger girl's company. She'd gone from foster home to foster home and had a scar on her left cheek from when her father had thrown a bottle at her but she never let life get her down.

The commentator switched from Lauren's routine to Kaylie on the vault "after a disappointing performance by Lauren Tanner team USA needed the National Champion to prove why the USA was a threat but it wasn't to be."

Emily rolled her eyes "I would like to see them try that vault!"

The TV then switched to Kaylie's announcement that she was anorexic. Emily's eyes were fixed to the screen.

"That girl's brave"

"Yeah, she is. They all are."

Finally they showed Payson's tense floor routine. "Something's wrong." She said to no one in particular. But before anyone could reply the recap quickly showed Kelly Parker's bar routine and moved on to the live coverage of the final. Emily and the others watched as the girls came out, completely transformed – she clapped enthusiastically as Lauren kicked arse, quite literally, on the beam, as Kelly nailed the bars for the second time and as Payson did a Kerri Strugg on the vault. By the time Kaylie had finished her floor routine Emily realised that the girls were in with a chance of gold. Something they'd only dared dream of.

And then they did it – they won the gold. Jacky and Larissa cheered loudly when the score were announced and even Jenna smiled and clapped. Emily didn't know what to feel. She was ecstatic for her teammates of course but there was also a big sinking in her stomach, the realisation that her dream was finally over, as if she didn't have enough proof. She excused herself, claiming fatigue and went up to her room. She picked up the framed photo on her bedside table, she Lauren and Kaylie were hugging Payson after she'd completed her simple bars routine – the first time she'd been on them since her accident. With a sigh she put the photo in her drawer. That season of her life was over now.

XXX

Darby had always loved LA, its busyness and especially the sun. She'd decided that since she was going to have a tough time convincing Emily to come back she'd booked out a fancy hotel – one with a gym. If Emily was anything like her she would be missing exercise and Darby knew exactly what sort of invigorating exercise she could do without harming her baby. She thought about dressing in a tracksuit but thought that would be too obvious. She decided on jeans and a jersey. Darby was incredibly nervous during the drive over to Margi's place. She had no idea how Emily would react. She knew Emily had not respected her at all as a coach and that she'd probably not want anything to do with gymnastics anymore, but heck, she had to try!

She whistled as she saw the impressively sized house, she didn't realise Chloe had friends who were so well off. She walked up the long driveway and knocked on the door. A teenage girl answered.

"Hey – is Emily Kmetko here?"

The girl looked suspiciously at Darby "you're not from the NGO are you?"

Darby was glad she hadn't worn the trackpants, she laughed a bit bitterly. "Haha no, I can assure you I'm not. I'm far from the NGO's favourite person at the moment.

The girl broke into a smile "that's what we like to hear, come on in. I'm sure Emily would be glad to see you."

Emily wasn't sure who to expect when Larissa told her that she had a visitor but it certainly wasn't Darby. Emily forced herself to smile – her former coach had always tried her patience "Hi, how are you?"

Darby stood up, thought about hugging Emily but then thought the better of it "I'm good Em, how are you?"

"Oh you know."

"How does it feel to be out of gymnastics?"

"Actually I think I've made my peace with it. It took a while but now I'm looking forward to finishing high school and then uni"

"Oh nice" darn, Darby thought – this was going to be harder than she'd anticipated.

Emily suddenly realised that Darby might be doing some sort of interview on her that she would print in a gossip magazine. "I don't want to be rude – but is there any particular reason you're here. It's just a little weird is all, and you're not going to publish what I'm telling you or anything am I?"

Darby suddenly realised how dodgy this all looked "oh Emily, no. This is much more personal."

"Personal how?"

"Well when I was a bit younger than you I had just won the junior all around title: I was fifteen, and stupid. My brother was rebelling against my parents at that time and he took me out to a bar to celebrate. He bought be a drink. I don't know how the bar tender thought I was overage, anyway I'd never tasted alcohol before and I got drunk very quickly. Then my brother went to the bathroom and this guy came up to me. He was so nice and I was so flattered and then he asked me to come back to a hotel with him. One thing led to another and we slept together. Two months later I was found to be pregnant. I was devastated – we were only sixteen months away from the Olympics."

Emily had been listening to this and could hardly believe what she was hearing. "You were the girl who got the abortion? The NGO said there was someone. Well it's a bit late for me in that respect I'm afraid."

Darby met the younger woman's eyes "I didn't have an abortion. I kept the baby and put her up for adoption."

"NO!" Emily yelled "don't tell me this now. I've given up on my stupid dream that's been killing me and I'm on a different track now. I'm happy and I'm going to be just as successful. Don't you dare try to change my mind! I've given up so much for gymnastics, don't you dare try to make me hope again." Emily stormed up to her room.

Darby sighed. That had pretty much been her reaction too when someone had told her that it was actually possible "Emily wait" Darby said softly.

Emily turned around "why?"

"Here are my contact details if you change your mind. And if not, I believe in you, you can be anything you want to be, if that means anything to you."

"It does Darby. But I think it's best you leave."

Darby nodded and left the piece of paper with her details on the table before walking out.

Emily ran upstairs and put on Damon's songs at full volume – she just wanted to forget the visit.

XXX

The Rock girls were still ecstatic from their team win. Lauren had suggested a sleepover in Lauren and Kaylie's room. Although they were meant to be in bed at 10 it was 2am. They were too hyper, and Kelly had snuck in copious amounts of junk food that was strictly forbidden.

"Oh my God did you guys see the gorgeous guy from the Romanian team?" Lauren asked.

"Oh yes! He was so yummy" Kelly added.

"Yummy?" Seriously, who says that?" Lauren said snidely – she was still insecure about having Kelly on the team, especially since she seemed to get on well with both Kaylie and Payson.

"Well he is." Kaylie said "don't you think Payson?"

Payson yawned, she really hadn't thought this sleepover was a good idea but she couldn't help being excited and her ankle had pretty much ruled her out of the all around and the event finals. "Sure guys, but he can't even do a decent rings routine."

Lauren and Kaylie both burst out laughing, very loudly. "That's our Payson!"

Suddenly the door burst open. The girls turned around to see Sasha standing there, topless and livid. "And what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Kaylie took a deep breath "Sasha we can explain."

Sasha saw the lollies on the floor "oh great. Do the four of you have any idea how disappointed I am in you at the moment? You've let victory go to your heads before the competition was even over. I can't even look at you – get your arses to bed and you had better be ready to bring your A-game tomorrow otherwise I'll pull you all for the alternates."

"But Sasha" Lauren interjected.

"Now, Lauren – I would have thought you'd want to try especially hard since you only qualified for the all around because Payson hurt her ankle and Kaylie only competed on vault and floor."

Lauren looked as if she'd been slapped turned on her heel and promptly got into bed.

XXX

Larissa had heard the whole confrontation between Emily and Darby but she was so fascinated with gymnastics that she really wanted to watch the rest of the world championships. "Emily"

"Yeah"

"Do you mind if I put the worlds on?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Emily asked defensively.

"It's just that well..."

"You heard me and Darby yesterday?"

"Yeah"

"It's ok Larissa, honestly. In fact I kind of want to watch it too." She put an arm around the younger girl's shoulder and they walked down to the lounge.

Emily turned the TV on and saw her old teammates walk out. "Something's wrong." She muttered.

"How do you know?"

"Sasha – the head coach, he's angry at them – see how he's not even smiling at them, and Kaylie- she's the brunette, looks like she's scared of him, and Lauren – the blonde one is mad, she won't even look at him. That's not good, Lauren always lets herself get distracted. It's a shame because she's probably the most powerful gymnast in the country since Payson hurt her back."

"Wow you know them really well."

"I guess I did."

"I bet they miss you. I would."

"I doubt it – anyway let's watch. Kelly qualified for the all around straight out and Lauren got in because Payson hurt her ankle and couldn't do floor, but if she had her scores would almost certainly have knocked Lauren out. Only two girls per country can make the finals you see."

Emily watched in despair as Gengi Cho did a flawless vault and Evanka, although less powerful did a gorgeous routine following her. Kelly and Lauren both did fairly well: neither of them were particularly strong on vault and just wanted clean routines.

The next apparatus was the bars. "Watch Kelly here, she's amazing on bars." But then Emily saw Lauren walk over to Kelly and say something. It was obviously offensive because Kelly looked hurt. Sasha marched over and said something to Lauren, he looked very angry. Lauren just rolled her eyes and walked back over to the rest of the coaches. Sasha put a hand on Kelly's shoulder and mouthed 'good luck' to her. Kelly forced a smile and saluted the judges. She started well but in the middle of her routine she almost slipped on the lower bar and so she finished her routine and landed when she was only about half way through her routine.

"She's out." Emily muttered.

"But why?"

"Difficulty level wasn't high enough. Man I'm going to punch Lauren. She needs to learn that psyching out your teammates just distracts you. And now she's the USA's only real hope of a medal."

"Wow I had no idea how much the other girls impacted each other."

"Oh you have no idea, gymnastics is definitely a team sport and the problem with both Lauren and Kelly is that they are both so insecure that they tend to bring everyone down if they feel like they don't belong."

They drifted into silence again as Lauren completed a solid bars routine. Again, not her strongest apparatus. Lauren was best on beam and floor where she could put her power moves to good use. She was in fifth place and Kelly in seventh. The commentators clearly were not pleased but Emily knew that Lauren could definitely medal and still maybe have a shot at gold if she performed her beam routine as well as she did in the team final.

"Wow that readhead is amazing!" Larissa said as Evanka did her routine.

"She is – she's super artistic, very Nastia Luikin."

"Who?"

"Never mind" Emily smiled to herself. It was funny how former Olympic gymnasts were all well known and had their routines analysed incessantly by her gym friends but then outside of the gymnastics world they weren't that well known at all.

"Wow" Larissa said as the Russian girl finished her routine.

"Yeah, she's added an extra half a twist on that dismount! She kept that quiet."

The camera zoomed in on Lauren, she looked super nervous.

"She's going to make a mistake."

"How can you tell?"

"Before every routine she aces she has this 'focus' face on that certainly isn't there at the moment. See how she's looking all over the place? At Kelly, Gengi and Evanka, usually she'd just be concentrating on the beam."

Payson walked over to her teammate, and looked like she was giving her some serious pep talk. Lauren nodded and smiled.

"I hope that worked, Payson's got to be the best motivator I've met." Emily said, but then the TV showed Lauren looking to the stands, she saw it zoom in on Austin and she saw that Max was sitting next to him. Lauren's 'focus' face disappeared as she saluted the judges. Her jump up to the beam was sloppy and two of her tumbles almost saw her fall off the beam.

"Come on Lauren" Emily urged her old teammate. After an awkward routine Lauren finally came up to her dismount. At first it looked like she was going to make it but she didn't stick the landing and she fell. She got up and saluted the judges without smiling and then she swore very audibly and kicked a mat.

"That didn't go well."

"Not at all." They kept watching, Gengi and Evanka both performing amazing floor routines. Kelly stepped out of the line and Lauren completed the most perfunctory routine Emily had ever seen her do without even the slightest hint of smile. In the end Gengi Cho took the all around gold and Evanka took the silver. A girl from Romania took the bronze and Kelly and Lauren finished seventh and eighth respectively. Sasha, Kaylie and Payson all looked completely shocked, Lauren looked like she was about to cry and Kelly didn't even acknowledge Lauren when the team gathered together.

XXX

Darby had just turned the TV off after watching the all around finals. She couldn't remember cringing so much in a single afternoon. The girls hadn't been so terrible since they'd lost to Pinewood and at least that hadn't happened on worldwide television. It was also a shame that Lauren and Kelly had been the two to qualify for the final; any other members of the team wouldn't have tried to psych each other out. There was a knock at her hotel door, she opened it.

"Emily?" She said happily.

"Did you see what just happened?"

"Unfortunately. I wonder what went wrong?"

"Darby can I ask you something?"

"Of course"

"Do you believe I can return to gymnastics?"

"Oh Emily, I completely believe it. You are one of most determined people I've ever met."

"Good, because I think I can too. In fact I know I can!"

Darby hugged her "I'm so proud of you!"

"You'll coach me?"
"Every day and every night – as hard as we can and for as long as it takes, you, girl, are going to the Olympics."

Emily grinned "I haven't felt this good in a long time!"

"Can I ask what changed your mind?"

Emily thought about her answer "I guess watching the Worlds made me realise how much I missed gymnastics but even more than that I realised that the girls need me. There was something missing today when I was watching and I realised it was me."

Darby gave her newest gymnast another hug. "Well go and get an early night because tomorrow we are starting you on an eating and exercise plan. Baby friendly of course."

A/N So Emily Kmetko is back! Sorry I don't know anything about gymnastics so I thought it was better to just not describe the routines and try to avoid sounding like an idiot. Next chapter we have the event finals at Worlds. Hope you liked the chapter and please let me know what you thought!