Chapter 19: Shine on

Sasha turned the key in the ignition and floored the accelerator before realising his truck was still in neutral. He swore under his breath as the engine screeched at him.

Austin raised one eyebrow "smooth."

Sasha glared at him, before slowly putting the truck into gear and painstakingly reversing out of the carpark. "Better for you grandma?" He asked icily. He was in a rotten mood as it was and Tucker's attitude wasn't helping any. He knew he should ease up on him – Austin had done wonders for Kaylie but one of his elites having a boyfriend still made him nervous.

"Much. So do you know where we're going?"

"I think so, Kelly mentioned that Alex was staying in a hotel about half an hour away on business." Sasha's voice clearly showed his disgust.

Austin resisted the urge to punch something "what the hell? Kaylie never told me that!"

"She doesn't know, she thinks he's still in New York."

Austin didn't say anything he just glared straight ahead. Sasha knew he was mad. It was exactly the same expressionless face Payson had when she was livid.

"I'll hold him down for you while you punch him if you like."

"Thanks coach."

They drove in silence for a while. Both men were introverts, despite Austin's press personality. Sasha abruptly stopped, slightly brushing the curb, making Austin question for the umpteenth time how on earth Sasha managed to get his licence. "Ready?" Sasha asked.

Austin nodded and the two men walked into reception where they turned heads. The lady at reception was only too happy to tell two incredibly good looking men where Alex Cruz's room was and they took the lift to the fourth floor.

"You know I've had to do this before?" Sasha said casually, too casually.

Austin raised a quizzical eyebrow. A skill he'd been trying to perfect for some time.

"He bailed on her before the China meet too."

Austin was silent, he curled his hands into fists. Normally he was a pretty calm guy but the one thing he couldn't stand were guys who didn't take care of the women in their lives, it was why he had punched Damon in front of the Rock so long ago and why he felt like doing the same to Alex. "You'd better go in before me, I'm not sure I can control myself."

"Neither am I" Sasha said gravely.

"But you're old"

"Oh you are so going to regret that when we get back to Boulder!" Sasha joked before knocking on the door. There was a bit of a wait then Alex Cruz hesitantly opened it.

"What the-" he said when he saw Austin and Sasha.

"Is this a bad time?" Sasha said sweetly "good – thanks for inviting us in." He said without waiting for a reply.

Alex rolled his eyes and motioned them in. Austin made himself at home on one of the couches while Sasha shut the door behind them, he doubted Alex would bolt but he wasn't going to take any chances. Once Alex had taken the reclining chair Sasha sat next to Austin on the couch.

"I-I couldn't make it today." Alex stuttered when Sasha and Austin didn't say anything.

"Busy?" Sasha asked casually.

"Extremely."

"That's fascinating, especially since Payson's father who lives in Minnesota and doesn't have a flexible job made it and Emily's godmother who lives in LA not only came but brought all of her foster kids with her. But what is really interesting is that your only job is managing the odd athlete, doing the odd press appearance and spending your millions earned on baseball and yet you can't make it across town to see your daughter in one of the most important meets of her life." Sasha couldn't help but have a dig at what he thought was the most pointless and easy sport on the planet.

Alex gave Sasha a long, cold stare. His eyes seemed empty, it creeped Sasha out. After awhile the tall man sighed. "I can't bring myself to go. I've been watching her on TV, seeing her so timid and unsure of herself. I used to know every move in every single routine. But now..."

"You can have that again. Kaylie will forgive you." Austin said, clearly implying that Austin wouldn't.

Alex stood up, angry now "can't you see that this is my fault! I pushed her and pushed her. I ignored you both about the anorexia and now she'll never be great again. She could have been World Champion, Olympic Champion even and now she probably won't even make the team! I've ruined her dream!"

Sasha put the tips of his fingers together and lent back in his chair "so what?"

"Huh?"

"So what if she'll never be great. What's the big deal?"

Alex stuttered, Sasha had lost it. He'd always heard rumours about him being eccentric but now he was just acting nuts. "All her hard work will be for nothing."

Sasha glared at Alex "You're wrong about three things, firstly Kaylie can still be great, she is just a gymnast that needs her family around her to succeed, secondly if she doesn't make it all her hard work will still pay off, she will have gained self confidence and self discipline and thirdly how does Kaylie not succeeding have anything to do at all with your role as her father? You should be at the stadium supporting her whether she comes first or thirtieth because she's your kid, not just your athlete."

Alex put his head in his hands. Which made Sasha mad

"For God's sakes man, grow up, go shower and get changed we're leaving in twenty. I'm not having one of my athletes have a terrible meet because one egotistic has been doesn't even know the meaning of the word father. And Austin, order me some room service I'm starving."

XXX

Kim thought that her worst nightmare would be one of her girls being seriously injured in gymnastics but somehow Lauren's shaky phone call saying that Payson had collapsed and was on her way to hospital was a thousand times worse. At least with Pay's back they knew what was wrong. This waiting was worse than anything. She lent her head on Mark's shoulder while he wrapped his strong arms around her, but not even this embrace that had protected her so many times could easy her worry.

"She'll be okay, it's going to be ok." Mark whispered for the umpteenth time, tears rolling down his cheeks. He loved his girls more than life itself. Payson was his pride, Becca his joy and he was terrified about what the doctors were going to say. And he was also baffled as to why Sasha wasn't here. He'd had a tumultuous relationship with the man but he'd always has his kid's best interests at heart.

"I've just called Darby" Emily said, appearing at the Keelers' bench. The brunette looked tired but she was totally calm. Mark was astonished at her strength but, he realised, Emily would have been through much worse when Brian was paralysed. "Sasha told her earlier in the evening that he had somewhere urgent to go and that she was in charge. She's on her way now."

Kaylie narrowed her eyes. "Sasha's not here?" she asked anxiously. Sasha had left before and he'd only come back because of Payson.

Kelly put an arm around her friend "he'll have a reason." She was trying to think of something comforting to say but she couldn't think of anything, she was relieved when the doctor came in and broke the silence.

"Keeler family?" He asked, clearly confused as to whether the other Rock girls were Pay's siblings.

Kim shrugged "near enough to, what's wrong?" She asked, fearing the worst.

The doctor half smiled "well it's nothing major, your girl just has exhaustion. All she needs is a couple of weeks relaxation and then she can gradually build back up to a regular routine. Obviously she can't work as hard as she has been."

"That's bull!" Kelly said angrily "I don't know if you realise but Payson is heading towards the Olympics! She can't slow down and there's no way this is just exhaustion, we all train pretty similar hours and we're all fine!"

Kim nodded at Kelly "thanks for the diagnosis doctor, can I see my kid now?"

"Of course. She's a stubborn thing, she wants to leave straight away. Apparently she has a big competition tomorrow."

"Stubborn doesn't even start to explain Payson" Kim murmured. There was no way in hell her kid was competing if it meant she was going to hurt herself. On the other hand – her dreams were about to come true and Kim wanted her to achieve them so badly.

Mark and Kim stood together, his arm around her shoulder. Kim reached out her hand to Becca who took it. Becca seemed really shaken.

Kim's heart rose to her mouth seeing Payson in a hospital bed, her face was ashen but there was a fire in her eyes, she was pissed.

"Don't look so worried Mum, I'm fine. You just need to sign the discharge papers and then we can go."

"Nice try." Mark snapped "Payson I'm worried sick about you. You work too hard, you support all the other girls and you've been doing too many endorsements."

Payson laughed. It sounded hollow "I'm fine, I was just tired is all."

"Stop lying!" Becca snapped suddenly, causing both her parents to look at their youngest. "Tell them or I will."

Payson glared at her sister "you promised you wouldn't tell"

"Well I didn't know you were going to end up in hospital did I?"

"Ok you two, tell me what's going on." Mark said angrily. His kids hardly ever fought, Becca was too easy going and Payson was usually too caught up in training. And he hated the idea of any secrets being kept from him and Kim, they'd always tried to be really open with their girls and they expected the same in return.

"Payson's been training an extra hour and a half every morning." Becca blurted out.

"What?" Kim was mad "you told me you were only getting there half an hour early and that it was only extra ballet and yoga. I'm very disappointed that you lied to me Payson." For the millionth time she wondered if all this pain and effort was really worth it. Her daughter had worked herself into hospital twice in as many years for the sport. If she'd collapsed during competition she could have been seriously hurt, especially with her back.

A rare tear escaped down each of Payson's cheeks "I just didn't want to let you all down. You've all sacrificed so much for me and I wanted to prove to you that it was worth it."

Mark walked over to his daughter and gently held her hand, "Pay, we are proud of you. Proud of all the effort you've put in, of the way you support your teammates and the way you look out for us. I want you to make the team and succeed but it makes no difference to me – I couldn't be any prouder than I already am."

"Thanks Daddy."

"So how did you manage to sneak past Sasha so early in the morning with the Airstream right by the gym?" Kim asked curiously. "He's not exactly unprotective of you girls."

"Oh Sasha was with me – I asked for some extra training."

"Really? How nice of him." Mark said very quietly "excuse me I need to make a phone call." He kissed Payson on the cheek and walked out.

"Where is Sasha anyways?" Payson asked. In all the confusion she'd just assumed he was waiting in the hospital somewhere and wanting her to speak with her family first.

"He's not here Pay, Darby said he had to do something important, and he's left her in charge."

Payson groaned.

XXX

Darby looked at the four girls before her. She didn't feel she really deserved to coach them after what happened last year but here she was. She'd let them all go in quickly to see Payson and then called them back into the now deserted waiting room. Visiting hours were long over and each of them was sitting nervously on a chair around Darby. Darby was amazed at how much they relied on Payson – it helped her understand the pressure that Payson was under.

"You have done incredibly well to get this far. I hope you all know that." She said seriously. "But you're not there yet. I think you know that too."

Kelly, Lauren and Kaylie looked at her mutinously, Emily nodded at her encouragingly to keep going which made Darby smile. That girl made her so proud.

"So I need you all to focus" she looked pointedly at Kaylie.

"What's the point, we'll never be able to do this without Payson or Sasha." Kaylie muttered under her breath.

Darby glared at the girls "I don't ever want to hear that attitude from any of you, is that clear? Do you think Payson wants you to crumple up and headcase tomorrow? Huh? Isn't she always the one pushing you guys to do better? I'm going to take you all home and you're going to go straight to bed and then tomorrow morning when we get up you girls are going to have the meet of your lives. Is that clear?"

Kaylie, Lauren and Kelly were shocked into nodding "yes Darby" they said in unison.

"Not good enough, show me you care"

"Yes Darby!"

"Better. Now go give Pay one more hug, and you know she's probably still going to kick arse tomorrow if the doctors let her out."

The girls left smiling. Emily felt like laughing, she was completely shocked too the first time Darby had been tough on her.

Once the girls had said goodbye Darby went in to see Payson. She was apprehensive, she knew Payson was not a fan of her coaching techniques. Payson nodded at Darby when she entered "Mum, Becca could you leave us for a sec?"

"I know I'm not Sasha –" Darby started.

"I'm glad." Payson said sardonically. "But carry on."

"I just want to tell you that I'm here for you. If you want to compete and the doctors let you out, and you convince me at training tomorrow morning that you're fit I'm not going to stop you. I know you probably don't believe me but I really admire you Pay and you've come too far to be let down again. But if you're not fit you are not competing, you are not going to hurt yourself again. Clear?"

"I'll be fit. I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me, do that and I won't even sign your forms to let you onto the floor tomorrow. How do you feel really?"

Payson raised her eyebrows. Sasha had clearly rubbed off on Darby. "Ok I'm exhausted. Every effort feels like I'm running uphill, my legs feel like lead and I've got a massive headache."

Darby nodded. She'd felt the same way leading up to nationals. "Right, are you dizzy at all?"

Payson shook her head "no ma'am"

"Ok if the doctor lets you out you can come to training tomorrow – we'll do the minimum training, then you'll nap before competition, and you won't do interviews before competition. We're also going to water down your routines a bit" she held up a hand to silence Payson's protests "you're two points ahead of the field, and to be fair you just need to place. Our main goal is getting you onto the national team and rested before trials. So you're only going to be vaulting at double twist, if you try your Amanar I'll pull you from the other events. I want a double tuck dismount off beam, not the Patterson and we'll take the punch front out of floor."

Payson wanted to yell at Darby to tell her she was being ridiculous but she was so tired that she just nodded. All she wanted to do was sleep.

"Good." Darby lent over to hug the blonde girl "I'm taking the others home now but I'll be back, but you need to rest. Your body's been pushing itself to hard, give it a break."

"Thanks Darby"

"You're welcome Pay"

"And Darby?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for talking to the girls. They're going to be ok tomorrow. I know it."

Darby smiled. "Well it wouldn't be the Rock without some sort of drama at nationals anyway."

XXX

Kaylie rubbed her eyes it had been a long day. She wiped off her makeup and let her hair out of its ponytail. Kelly had decided to rent Casablanca so that they could relax after the hospital. Kelly hated it but she knew it was one of Kaylie's favourites. She wrapped herself in her duvet and went to join Kelly on the couch.

"Finally, you're ready child. Honestly you don't even need to wear makeup!"

"Some of us actually care about what we look like in front of the cameras, and if I remember correctly you spent forty minutes in the shower this morning whereas I only spent thirty."

Kelly was about to retort when there was a knock at the door.

"Just leave it" Kelly said.

"It might be someone important." Kaylie got up and opened the door. She covered her mouth to stop herself yelling with happiness when she saw her father there; Austin and Sasha standing behind him. Sasha had a black eye.

"Hey princess." Alex said quietly and Kaylie ran into his arms.

"Mind if I borrow your athlete for awhile coach?" Alex asked Sasha.

"Go right ahead."

Kelly walked up to them "you two have this room, I'll go room with Rachel tonight. She probably wants someone to room with anyway – she was a bit shaken up before." Kelly looked like she was about to cry. She shoved a few things into her gym bag and walked down the hall.

Sasha nodded at Alex and Austin to go into Kaylie's room while he followed Kelly. "Parker, I thought I said no cruising the corridors after lights out." He said jokingly.

Kelly turned around to face him. Sasha was expecting her to show some moxy but she looked upset. "Sasha, please I'm not in the mood, let me keep my dignity. I don't want to cry all over you." A lone tear ran down her cheek.

Sasha put his hands on Kelly's shoulders. "Talk to me."

"You'll think I'm stupid."

"I have thought you were many things Kelly but stupid was never one of them."

That led her to give him a small smile. "I just feel like no one cares about me. Keeler and Kmetko have super supportive families, Lauren has her Dad and Summer and now you go and fetch Mr Cruz to help Kaylie but no one seems to notice that no one has bothered to see me. I know it's tacky and immature but you asked what was wrong."

Sasha took a deep breath, sometimes he forgot KP had feelings, she was that tough. "I can't imagine what your life must be like Kelly but if it's any consolation – I've got your back. If you feel you need your mother there I can go and get her too."

Kelly snorted "it's ok"

"That's what I thought"

"I miss her though, the way she used to be before gymnastics took over, and Dad left."

"She loves you, Kelly. I've seen her; she just doesn't know how to show it."

"People keep telling me that, but I think if she loved me she would have at least called."

"Give her time; she's still mad about rehab. Which was the right thing to do by the way." Kelly had guts.

"Thanks coach." Kelly's eyes looked a bit less watery now.

"Anytime, did you want to talk about anything else?"

"Yeah actually, who blacked your eye?"

Sasha chuckled "that's classified. See you in the morning – I imagine Darby's told you what practice will involve."

XXX

Emily woke early. She went to have a shower, she rolled her eyes, she could hear Lauren still snoring through the wall. Classy.

She showered and dressed in a training leo and tracksuit. She woke Lauren up and then went down to breakfast. Damon, being the perfect person he was had already got her some eggs and milk. She kissed him quickly. She was allowed to date Damon, only because Darby was so insistent on it and she didn't want to rub it in with the others.

"How are you feeling?"

"Terrified and excited and happy to see you."

"I'm not going to comment on the order of those."

"Good." They sat down at a table in the corner, away from everyone else. The Rock girls had caused a bit of sensation at the hotel, not much but enough to make Emily uncomfortable.

Damon didn't force her to talk, he knew Emily liked to focus, even before practice. He just held her hand over the table. Emily grinned and gripped his back. She understood. He was there behind her no matter what.

Margi walked over to them, Jenna was holding her hand and Larissa was walking behind them. "Ready to go?"

"I am, the others are I think, apart from Lauren."

"I'll get her." For some reason Larissa and Lauren got on well. Lauren probably sympathised with the fact that Larissa didn't have a mother and Larissa loved Lauren's brassness.

They arrived at the practice and Jenna insisted on staying. Darby relented and let the girl stay. She was uber good at gymnastics. Payson and Rachel had taught her to backflip and Emily was just happy to see her smile. It was like when Kelly smiled, it didn't happen often but when it did it lit up the whole room.

Payson and Sasha were already there training. They looked very serious, Emily wasn't sure what had gone on between them last night but she was willing to bet that Sasha was mad at himself. He also had a fairly impressive black eye. Emily was mad at herself too – she should have paid more attention to how tired Payson had been looking. Payson vaulted a double twisting Yurchenko – her form was impeccable as always but she wasn't as high and deep as usual. Emily was glad she'd downgraded, she could have injured herself really badly if she'd tried the Amanar.

Emily walked over to the beam and practiced her routine. Her mind was all over the place but all the drama of last night meant that she didn't have time to be nervous and she was fine.

"Good" Darby said quietly, making Emily smile. "But not good enough, again." Emily nodded and did as Darby asked. After five routines, Rachel was allowed on the beam. The rest of the warm up went fairly well.

Darby called them all in "you did well today girls – go home, relax and we'll meet again at 4.30 to get ready for competition."

Emily piggybacked Jenna to the minvans where Margi and Summer were waiting to pick the team up. Margi's face lit up to Jenna having such a good time. "Hey baby – how did the big girls' practice go?"

"Good! They can fly! I want to be able to fly like them one day."

Margi kissed the girl on the head, "well sugar we might have to look into that when we get home!"

The trip back to the hotel was quiet, everyone zoning in on their routines, removing the possibility of any last minute mental errors. The others all got out of the van, Kaylie holding Jenna's hand. Emily started to follow them when Margi asked her to wait.

"What's up?" Emily asked her godmother

"Just a random question, if you don't mind me asking, but how long ago did Darby have her baby?"

"Um I guess 8 years – maybe nine. She doesn't talk about her much, I think she misses her all the time. She didn't have an open adoption like I did."

"So it was a girl."

"Uh huh"

"And she was living in Minnesota at the time?"

Emily frowned. If anyone but Margi was asking her these questions she would have refused to answer but Margi had done so much for her. "Yeah I think so."

Margi nodded and was silent for a moment before saying "don't you think Jenna looks an awful lot like Darby?"

Emily was shocked "I guess she does, her voice is quite similar too."

"Don't say anything to anyone for the moment but I'm going to have a poke around and see what I can find. Because if Jenna is Darby's daughter – I think it would be really good for both of them. Jenna's had a rough life and I think Darby would welcome her daughter back don't you?"

"Yeah I do." Emily grinned "if you're right this is so exciting!"

XXX

The cheers when the Rock girls were announced were considerably louder than they were on night one. Payson had captured the crowd's hearts and Kelly and Kaylie were always crowd favourites. Kaylie was beaming – she had her whole family in the crowds, and Payson was ok. She channelled that energy into her own confidence. Emily did the same, she looked up at Chloe, Damon, Brian, Margi, Larissa and Jenna and waved, and then she blew a kiss to Summer who had James on her lap. Sure it was cheesy but what the hell. Sasha had a firm hand on Kelly's shoulder, he had her back and although she would never say anything, now was her chance to overtake Payson. Not that she'd be able to beat her after nationals when she was at full strength but a win was a win. Lauren waved happily at Summer and Steve, her arm around Rachel's shoulders. Payson just forced herself to walk out with the rest of the team, she was so tired she could hardly stand but she knew her adrenaline would kick in once she started competing.

"Come in girls" she said quietly, she was too tired to shout. "This is the night of our lives, I want all of you to go out and do your best. I believe in you. Now give me your fiercest Rock On!"

A/N so Darby finally finding who her kid is– too cheesy? Probably but I love cheese :p. Sorry I couldn't fit day two of nationals in here, the chapter was getting too long. The result is, well not what you'd expect, I don't think. But remember we have the Olympics still.

Also for all you Pay/ Sasha shippers there will be an outtake! Including how Sasha gets his black eye. Who do you think gave it to him?

As always let me know what you thought! Have a good weekend y'all.