Chapter 29: This one's for the torn down, the ones who seek and find

"So this is nice" Lauren said quietly, holding her burrito. She thought about eating it delicately, but she figured that Leo had known her since she was six and had seen her inebriated, exhausted and after running marathons before training. He was unlikely to be put off by her eating with big bites.

"It is I guess, I would never have guessed Ms Lauren Tanner would condescend to eating burritos, let alone like them."

Lauren threw her serviette at him "there are a lot of things you don't know about me. Besides sometimes when all you have is luxury it's nice to have normal food."

"I hear that." Leo said quietly. "And what is this about me not knowing much about you?"

Lauren raised one eyebrow "what's my favourite band?"

"Muse, although you would never admit it because you don't want to be seen as a hipster."

"Meh that was an easy one. What about my favourite book?"

"The Secret Garden, you liked it because your mum used to read it to you when you were young. Your first memory is of your mum taking you to gym class as a toddler, you've spend your entire life in gymnastics and yet you're afraid of heights, your favourite colour is green, you get hay fever, you love horses, you worry about your dad's health because he works too hard, and you had a crush on Viggo Mortensen when The Return of the King came out."

"You knew all that about…me?" Lauren had spent years being overshadowed by her friends and half ignored by her father. The revelation that someone cared that much about her was amazing.

"Well I do have a photographic memory."

"I-I don't know whether to kiss you or call the cops because I've got a stalker."

Leo gave a wry smile "well it's that indecision that cost you Viggo – you need to commit, one way or another."

"Shut up" Lauren said and kissed her new boyfriend. If someone had told her a year ago that she didn't make the Olympic team and had been happier than she'd ever been in her life she would have called them crazy, but, she mused as Leo hugged her tightly, some things were more important than gymnastics.

"One question, when did you start liking me?"

Leo paused "A while ago I started to see flashes of the kind girl behind all of the drama. I saw her stick up for her friends, convince Sasha to let Kaylie train again, sacrifice her reputation and risk her friendships to help Emily towards her goal."

Lauren shook her head. "But why me? I'm screwed up, petty, insecure and very high maintenance."

"Well I like a challenge."

Lauren raised an eyebrow and then started to tickle Leo mercilessly.

"Master, I give!"

Lauren reluctantly stopped tickling. "Want the rest of my milkshake?"

"I always knew you were a keeper."

XXX

"Ready?" Kelly asked Kaylie.

"No" Kaylie shook her head. "I can't believe I'm at the vault final at the freaking Olympics. A year ago Sasha only had me doing yurchenko 1 and 1/2s and now I'm supposed to do a freaking Amanar. What was I thinking? I should pull out."

"Kaylie, fucking listen to me! You are going to go out there and you are going to do the two best vaults of your career. You are going to show every loser who has ever doubted or mocked you exactly who you are, understand?"

Kaylie nodded

"And most of all you're going to prove this to yourself."

Kaylie nodded, more determined this time. She realised, now that no matter how hard you tried to please people, there would always be those who wanted to bring you down. Well they weren't going to, not today. She saluted the judges and ran.

"Wow! I don't think I've ever seen Kaylie do so well." Elfie said, surprised.

"No this kid – like all the American gymnasts here has proven that she's got mental toughness in spades. She is going to be formidable in whatever she does."

"That's for sure, and now her Amanar – and yes just a small step to the side but for someone who had to downgrade to a Yurchenko 1 and ½ less than a year ago – that is huge! Ladies and gentlemen, Kaylie Cruz is back."

Kaylie ran into Lauren's arms. They had decided to say Lauren was Kaylie's personal coach while Sasha was Kelly's. It meant that both coaches could be on the floor. They sat and watched Gengi, Ivanka, Olga, and the two Romanian girls: Ema and Aurelia all perform their vaults. It was an interesting Olympics in that most of the top all arounders had two vaults. Kaylie purposefully didn't watch the scores. She didn't normally until everyone had finished, but Lauren was watching them eagerly. Ivanka, of course, was in first her Amanar was one of the best in the world and she was the only girl with a Prudonova – although it hadn't been executed all that well. She'd stumbled forward and looked like she'd over extended her knee. Not that she'd ever show pain. Lauren loved how feisty the Russian girl was. And surprisingly Kaylie was in second. That would change though, there was Catherine Tombleson from the UK and Kelly to go, they were both amazing. Catherine saluted the judges and did a flawless Cheng. Lauren whistled – the girl was from a country traditionally weak on vault but she had somehow managed to vault like that when there would be little competition to motivate her. Then she ran for her Amanar, her left hand was slightly misplaced Lauren saw. She swore under her breath – there was no way she was going to get two and a half twists around. She ran up to the table, she needed to stop her getting injured somehow. She barely noticed Sasha, the British coach and the Russian coaches running up as well. The last time a girl had been that wonky off the horse she's broken her back.

It was as if she moved in slow motion, spiralling downwards towards the matt. Sasha gripped Lauren's hand. There was nothing he could do. But then he notice the girl somehow slow down her twisting – it would have been incredibly difficult to work against the momentum, but somehow she did it – and she landed on her feet, just doing two twists instead of two and a half. Sure it was 0.7 lower in difficulty but it beat having a broken back. Most of the audience had no idea how close she'd come to hurting herself but the coaches and the athletes were screaming and hugging Catherine – even Ivanka. Then they realised that Kelly still had to go and they went back to the sideline.

Kelly saluted and did her two vaults flawlessly. She was a champion and was probably one of the few people who could have seen the scene earlier and shut it out. Sasha wrapped her in a bear hug as soon as she'd finished. The crowd was going crazy. Those who knew gymnastics well expected Kelly in the all-around and so were pleased with her performance. She and Kaylie linked arms waiting for her score. There was a pause and one of the judges stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have decided to alter the rules somewhat regarding the tie break procedure. Tonight there were two athletes who had the same score. Normally the highest execution score would determine the winner. However these were equal also – from every single judge – so we have decided to award four medals for this competition. Ladies and gentlemen, please see the scoreboard."

GOLD Kelly Parker USA 16.200

SILVER IvankaYesslinna RUS 16.198

BRONZE Catherine Tombleson15.800

BRONZE Kaylie Cruz 15.800

Kelly couldn't believe what she was seeing. She'd been a good vaulter her whole career. Good, not great. Lauren, Payson, even Kaylie had all been better than her at some time in their careers. She bit her lip. "Sasha – I can't believe it. Me? Really?"

Sasha hugged Kelly. An individual Olympic champion, at last. "You. Kelly Parker your class, determination and support of your teammates has made me so proud. You have worked hard every day and been outdone and overshadowed time and time again but this? You've earned."

Kelly went and hugged Ivanka. She could tell the Russian girl was pissed 0.002 was the smallest of margins, but she shook Kelly's hand gracefully. "Well done – I will see you in beam finals." Ivanka said, leave no doubt as to the fact she intended to come out even stronger.

"Yes you will. I am trying not to be terrified" Kelly said, and Ivanka winked at her.

Catherine hugged Kelly. Kelly would have felt guilty about winning over the auburn haired girl but she was just relieved that she was ok. "That was the best save I've ever seen, but please don't do that again."

Catherine smiled "I promise, well done Kelly. I know this is weird since we've never met but I've always admired your tenacity. It's what's kept me going this quad, seeing you having to pick yourself up again and again. No matter what else was going in the USA, whatever new star was being born – you were always there."

Kelly almost teared up "thanks Catherine, I never knew I had fans, I always thought I was so boring."

Catherine snorted "Kelly, you are many things, but boring is not one of them."

And then there was Kaylie. The two teammates hugged each other in silence for a while. "So proud of you Kales."

Kaylie grinned "well we couldn't let Rosa and Payson out do us." She said looking to the stands where Payson, Rosa and Emily were screaming their support, they waved enthusiastically back.

XXX

"Have you given it to her?" Emily asked Darby. They were sitting in Darby's living room. It was the night before bars finals and Emily needed to be near Darby, she was the only one who could keep Emily's nerves in check, a monumental task. Emily was calmer than she had been when she first came to the Rock but compared to most other elites she was a total newcomer.

"After floor finals, you come first for now."

Emily nodded. She loved hearing that "and once this is over, any help you need with Jenna, I'll give."

"That means a lot, coming from you, Emily." The two of them sat for a while before Emily went back to her hotel room.

Payson shook Emily awake the next morning. It was with a pang that she realised that today and the day after would be the last two times she'd be competing with Emily. She hadn't seen Emily much since team finals. She had copious media functions to attend. Sasha had warned her that her life would be different now – but she hadn't realised how much. She kept getting stopped around the village and she'd changed her phone number so that the press couldn't get hold of her. If she didn't have Sasha and MJ controlling access to her she didn't know how she would cope. She felt a pang of regret for what it was like before but she shut it out. She looked at her two gold medals, both in boxes on her dresser. They were worth more than the inconvenience of any press. Tears still came to her eyes whenever she remembered the all-around final. "Come on Em, time to get up."

"I hate you." Emily said automatically. It was what she told anyone who tried to wake her. Once she'd thrown her pillow at Payson and then yelled at Payson for taking her pillow.

"Love you too, come on bars – move."

Emily groaned "you should join the freaking army."

Payson froze, she really did not want to think about life after this week. More than anyone she'd ever met, except perhaps Kelly, she had focused on gymnastics and gymnastics only. Only during her brief period at Taft High School did she ever even consider that there were things beyond gymnastics. Even then it had only been when gymnastics was no longer a possibility that she reluctantly joined other clubs. She bit back tears, the Olympics weren't over yet. She still had medals to win and teammates to encourage.

"Maybe I will – get up sergeant."

Emily reluctantly rolled out of bed and went to have a shower. Payson went to her desk. It was next to Emily's – Emily's desk was covered with pamphlets from prestigious universities from around the world. She knew Emily wanted to do medicine or psychology, and she was smart. She could do whatever she wanted. Payson wasn't dumb, and she was diligent and stubborn enough that she could probably get into any course she wanted to – but it wasn't the same, she wouldn't have that effortless talent that she did with gymnastics. Nor did she have that huge drive to learn. She sighed.

"Right" Emily said, more awake from her shower "let's do this."

"Finally you're awake", Payson said more tetchily than she normally would, she grimaced. What was wrong with her?

Emily, ever patient smiled at her friend "sorry, come on – we decided on the dark purple leos with the blue sleeves and neckline didn't we?" Like many of the teams, the US girls had decided to wear matching leos for the individual event finals to show solidarity. And slightly to intimidate the other gymnasts, remind them that there were two of them.

Payson finally smiled "yes" they were going to wear Payson's favourite colour – purple for bars, and red – Emily's signature colour for floor.

There was some very enthusiastic knocking on their door. "What!?" Payson yelled.

Kelly marched in, closely followed by Rosa and Kaylie.

"We thought you'd need some help with hair and makeup."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Fine!"

XXX

Ivanka was up first on bars. The girl was amazing. She was the only gymnast in a very long time to make all five individual finals. And so far she had three medals. But Payson knew she wasn't happy. None of them were gold. She was going to want to set this straight. Payson almost felt sorry for her. She knew all of the other girls didn't take Emily seriously, they thought she was just a fluke. To them she was just a girl who had managed to show up and luckily make the Olympic team and stay on bars and not fall on floor. They didn't see how focused and motivated Emily was every single day. She clapped as Ivanka did her double double dismount, she took a step forward but it was a great routine. Payson smiled at her as she went to chalk up, Ivanka looked at her suspiciously, Payson winked. She knew that her confidence was terrifying to Ivanka – not that she'd ever show it.

Payson's two gold medals had given her large amounts of confidence, and now she was just going to enjoy the event finals. She smiled warmly at the judges and Sasha grinned at Payson. It was so nice to see her genuinely happy. The crowd screamed when Payson saluted the judges. The all-around champion always got special treatment from the crowd during the event finals – with good reason. Sasha balled his hands into fists. He never ceased to be nervous when she was on bars. He felt riddled with guilt every time he thought of 2009 nationals. Although, had Payson competed with her back as a power gymnast she never would have made it to this level. He watched in awe at her perfect lines – they were never that straight before, and her swing was better than anyone's, except Emily. And then, too quickly her routine was over. The same dismount as Ivanka's, but stuck cold. Sasha was a perfectionist and expected the same from his athletes. Payson ran over to hug Sasha. To his surprise she was crying, and the tears were not happy tears.

"Pay?"

"It's nothing."

"You're a terrible liar."

Payson glared at him and then "it's just that this was probably my last bar routine in competition ever."

Sasha hugged her tightly. "You're not going to like this, Pay but you can cry later. You've got a teammate to support."

"You're right, sorry I don't know what's gotten into me lately."

"It's normal, you've put so much into this but it's not over yet."

"No, you're right, it isn't." Payson pushed her emotions to the side and focused on the rest of the competition.

Darby gripped Emily's shoulders tightly as they watched Genghi Cho perform her routine. The girl seemed to float on her strongest apparatus. She sometimes struggled with her transition between the low bar and the high bar, but today she was on fire. Emily was certain that the reigning world all-around champion was furious that she'd missed out on the individual medals so far. Her double front half dismount was landed perfectly. It was not lost on Emily that it was the same dismount used by the 2008 Olympic All-Around Champion, she was sure that was Gengi's reason for choosing it.

Anastasia, the other Russian girl was next. She had the grace of Ivanka, but her difficulty was a couple of tenths lower than the rest of the field. Her routine was beautiful though. In the past Emily would have felt intimidated by the fact she was competing with such talented competition, but her teammates had taught her to keep her nerves in check and believe in herself. She watched, feigning calm, as one of Gengi's teammates performed an immaculate routine, she clapped absentmindedly.

Darby gripped Emily's shoulders tightly. "Ok go warm up." Emily was last in the line-up and Darby didn't want her to freak herself out watching the competition right up till just before her routine. Daria Dorsuc from Greece performed a good routine. Good, but not great. The third best bar workers from each of China, Russia and the States would have performed better. But the two gymnasts per country for each individual final was a fact of life. Darby still couldn't help feel sorry for Kelly, and even Rosa. Both girls would have easily outscored Daria.

Sasha looked at the scoreboard. It was as he expected. Payson was in first place, she was going to get a medal with two competitors to go: it was just a matter of which colour. Gengi was in second. He almost felt sorry for the little girl, then he remembered her coach's attitude when they came to the Rock and decided he didn't feel that sorry for her. He watched Amelia Smythe from the UK mount the high bar. He grinned at the crowd's cheer for their home gymnast. Amelia was only fifteen, she wouldn't medal but she was a delight to watch, especially because she was just genuinely happy to be at the Olympics. Sasha found himself letting out a cheer as the girl dismounted. Well he was half English, after all.

Then it was Emily's turn. Emily looked at Sasha, Payson, and Darby. Each of them hugged her tightly, but Emily hardly saw them. She went to chalk up, the world seemed like it was moving in slow motion, and she felt like she was going to throw up. She vaguely noticed Sasha put down the springboard for her. She jumped up to the high bar, and then the passion that she'd always had for gymnastics, especially on bars kicked in. She was a little girl flying on the monkey bars – finding an escape from Chloe's abusive boyfriends and the bullies at school. Then she was crying as Chloe told her the man who'd seen her at the Y was Marty Walsh, and he wanted her to come to the Rock. Then she was kissing Damon for the first time, then she was making the national team. The memories flew thick and fast, she came second on bars at the meet against China, and Payson coming back to gymnastics, her acing her SAT's, chilling after a tough pool training with Darby, giving birth to James, seeing Damon live in concert. Then she was being hugged by Sasha after making the national team, crying into Darby's tracksuit when the Olympic team was announced, winning team gold.

And then her feet found the floor, from a distance her mind registered surprise that she didn't hop forward like she normally did. Her hands immediately flew into her finishing salute, then she turned and saluted the judges again. And then it was though the world had been switched onto mute before and the volume was being turned back on. The arena was filled with cheers. Automatically she found Damon in the crowd. He was in the very front row – screaming. Chloe, Summer, Brian, Lauren, Leo, Kaylie, Kelly, Rosa, Margi, Larissa, and Jenna were all yelling and crying. Feeling numb she went to find her coach.

"How did I do?" Emily asked Darby.

Darby was speechless for a while, Emily could see that she had been crying. "Em – I just want to tell you that I have never been prouder of you and that was…fucking amazing." She wrapped Emily into a bear hug "I honestly don't know what you did to mentally prepare yourself, but it worked."

Payson hugged Emily "I knew you could do it, ever since Damon sent me that video on his phone. No one has as much natural talent as you do Em, no one."

Emily raised an eyebrow "that's an interesting statement coming from the all-around Olympic champion."

Payson shook her head "no, I've got here through stubbornness, luck and talent. You've worked hard too but Em, that routine had the best execution I've ever seen."

Emily hugged Payson tightly. "I wouldn't have been here if not for you."

A second cheer erupted from the stands. "What?" Emily asked Sasha, confused.

"Look at the scoreboard Em" he said gently. He was almost in tears himself. Of all the gymnasts he'd coached Emily had to be one of the most difficult. Never had he had a gymnast with so much natural ability yet so little confidence and discipline. The fact that the universe seemed to have it in for her didn't help either. Finally though, she had done it.

WOMEN'S UNEVEN BARS FINALS

GOLD Emily Kmetko USA 16.900

SILVER Payson Keeler USA 16.233

BRONZE Gengi Cho CHN 16.133

Emily's brow creased in confusion. Her score wasn't possible, her difficulty was 6.9. Then it clicked "I got a 10 for execution?! But how is that even possible? That hasn't happened since…"

"Nadia Comenici" Sasha whispered softly. "1976 Olympics…on the uneven bars. She looked a bit like you too, Em."

Emily shook her head "this can't be right. But I'm not special, I didn't even think I would medal."

Sasha put an arm around her "when you see the replay, you'll realise why. Now I think there are some people here who want to congratulate you." He said nodding towards Ivanka and Gengi.

A/N so sorry it took so long to update – exams were doing my head in. I hope you liked the chapter, I know it's unrealistic to get a 10 in execution on anything, much less the uneven bars but Emily has worked so hard! And she's my favourite character haha. Anyway please let me know what you thought, and if you want anything else put in before the end of the story. Also what do you think of the Leo/ Lauren pairing?