Love at the Olympics

by abbydepp

Clary Fray, an Olympian for hurdles on the USA team, competes on and off the track for her medals and the beautiful Jace Lightwood. Clary and Jace like each other, but haven't dated yet, but what happens when Clary gets friendly with the one and only Michael Phelps? Will Jace try harder for Clary, or will he just give up? Please read, I know I suck at summaries.

6. Relay Race

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Song belongs to P!NK.

Relay Race

"Clary, you're going to run." Jeff announced, "The only thing that is changed is that you and Lolo are switched. She was just going to run and you were going to do hurdles, but that's switched now so we don't hurt you further."

I nodded before doing what stretches I could around my two braces. Telling myself over and over that I could do it, no matter how bad it hurt. You're only going to be running for about fifteen-seconds, you can run that long. You can do it.

My teammates came over after I finished stretching.

"You running?" Dawn asked.

I nodded, "I am."

"Clary," Allyson hugged me, "That's so brave of you."

"Thanks," I turned to Lolo, "Jeff said you and I are switched."

"He told me that too," She nodded, "That means your last to run."

"We're screwed." Dawn whispered, shaking her head at the ground. Everyone ignored her, the others, except Dawn, wished me luck and in return I wished them and we all departed again.

As we walked onto the track to get in our places, I looked into the crowd. Trying to find my family and friends beyond all the cheering crowd.

Jace:

I stared down at the beautiful redheaded girl that I wished to call mine as she and her teammates walked onto the track.

Clary's hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, she had on the same silver cross necklace that she had on the other day when she won four gold. As for her clothes, I was almost drooling over, she was wearing her blue skin-tight shorts and a long-sleeved white shirt with blue long-sleeves. Her shoes were bright, neon-yellow Nike that she told me she had gotten for free.

"For the USA team," The announcer's voice blared out over the stadium-sized Olympic track, "We have Lolo Jones running first on the hurdles, after her Dawn Harper also running hurdles, Allyson Felix will go third and finishing off will be Clary Fray. The USA team is in lane eight."

The announcer continued to tell us who was running for every nation and what place they were running in. I wondered, idly, why Clary was not doing hurdles but figured out the answer. She was hurt, and Jeff probably wanted to protect her even if this was her last race.

I saw a camera man run up to Clary as she shook her arms and legs out. She did not look at the camera at all, her eyes were glued to the track in front of her. Suddenly, Clary was on the big screen and the announcers spoke about her.

"Clary Fray walked onto the track with two braces on her right leg. She took them off to do this one race. Clary's obviously very hurt and, David, I just don't know how she is going to do today." One man said in a thick British accent.

David replied, "I don't know either, Sean. And with Fray running last for the USA team, she could make or break this team. I'm very curious to see how she does today."

"I am as well." Sean agreed and they moved onto a different runner, a woman from Japan.

"Clary will do great!" A crowd member shouted out.

"Yeah! You go Clary!" A woman agreed, followed by cheers and a short-lived 'USA' chant.

"She will," I said quietly to my siblings on either side of me, "I just hope she doesn't hurt herself."

Isabelle pat my shoulder, "She'll be fine."

"Of course Clary will." Alec agreed, "If she can run with a sprained ankle and broken toes, she can run for twelve seconds."

I nodded my head in agreement but did not reply. I was still staring at my girlfriend- well she wasn't technically my girlfriend because every time I said I love you, she would not reply or change the subject.

But how I wished she would say she loved me back. This would be my first girlfriend that I actually cared about and not just cared about getting into her pants. Honestly, I was scared and I wouldn't admit that to anyone, but I was.

This girl, this little hurdler that I met two-years ago, Clary Fray was my first true love. And I wanted her to be my last as well. I loved everything about her; her hair and how easily it flowed in the wind, her mind and how she could get lost in it, her green eyes, her small hands, her short body... Everything.

And who wouldn't? She was smart, so clearly beautiful, an excellent artist, she saw the best in people and always wanted to make new friends.

I knew Clary cared about me from how her eyes lit up when she saw me enter a room or simply walk towards her. I'm sure my eyes lit up as well, along with my face and my heart started to beat faster.

"Take your mark." The announcer said. Clary, along with everyone else, positioned themselves on the line and waited.

Clary:

The song for this race was P!NK's new hit-single Blow me (One Last Kiss). It was catchy and also pumped me up, which was always would I looked for in a song. Especially for a race.

"Take your mark." I heard for the last time in my 2012 Olympic career.

I did what the announcer said to do. You can do it Clary, I thought, your leg is going to hurt so bad for under thirty-seconds but you can do it.

White knuckles and sweaty palms from hanging on too tight. The gun went off and Lolo started to run, jumping over the hurdles like an expert. Clench of jaw I've got another headache again tonight. She passed the bouton to Dawn and she started to run. Eyes on fire, eyes on fire, and the burn from all the tears I've been crying, I've been crying, I've been dying over you. Dawn passed the bouton to Allyson and I turned around, getting ready.

The USA team was in the lead by at least a second. Tie a knot in the rope, trying to hold, trying to hold, but there's nothing to grab so I let go. I think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much. The bouton was passed to me and I ran, I ignored the pain as best I could and bolted for the finish line.

I think this might be it for us (blow me one last kiss) you think I'm just too serious, I think you're full of it my head is spinning so (blow me one last kiss).The finish line was in sight after a curve and I crossed it, looking at the large time keeper as I past. The world-record light was blinking and I realized we'd won gold and better than that we broke the world-record!

I held my right leg up as I celebrated with the crowd and my USA teammates that were running towards me.

"The gold medal and the world-record goes to the USA team! Congratulations girls!"

Allyson reached me first and hugged me tightly. Yelling her congratulations over the cheering crowd. The others reached us and we all celebrated with running, me hopping and limping, with the American flag. We posed with the time keeper with the world-record time, and got up on the podium, my braces back on at this point, singing the nation anthem and getting our gold medals. We all took more pictures together and I could finally make my way back to my room.

With my new shiny gold medal around my neck, I carried my track meet bag; filled with clothes, extra shoes, my uniforms, etc. (I had changed into long blue sweatpants and my black track USA team jacket with a USA blue shirt on under it). A few people stopped to take pictures with me and my good mood was almost ruin when I saw Michael Phelps standing by the elevator, smiling at me.

I forced myself to smile back, but felt guilty for it. I had to tell him about Jace, that I was choosing Jace over him because the feelings I got with Jace were so much stronger than they were with Michael. I just hoped Michael didn't hate me for it later, because I really did love our friendship.

"Hey," Michael greeted me with a hug and a kiss on my forehead, "Congratulations."

I hugged him back, "Thank you. Did you see the race on your television?"

"Clary, no." He looked offended, "I went to the stadium to see it in person. You were fantastic."

"Thanks."

"What's wrong with your leg?"

I looked down at it, "A sprained ankle with two broken toes and something called iliopsoas tendinitis syndrome in my hip. Which just makes a snapping sound when I walk."

"I'm sorry, that must hurt." Michael hit the elevator button, and gently grabbed my gym bag so I didn't have to carry it, "You shouldn't be carrying this." He slung it over his shoulder.

I blushed again and looked at the ground, "Thank you." The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside.

"So," Michael started pushing the number five and seven buttons, "My mom and sisters said congratulations and that they would like for all of us to go to lunch because my mom fell in love with you." He rolled his eyes.

I smiled up at him, glad for the moment that we were talking like friends and not like boyfriend-girlfriend. "I would love to."

He grinned down at me, "Great." He cleared his throat, "I hear that the media thinks we're dating."

"Oh," I blushed and looked down again. The moment gone. "Yeah, Ryan Seacrest asked me about it yesterday in an interview."

"What did you say?" Michael asked quietly, I kept my eyes on the wall.

"I said that we weren't."

"Do you want to be?" He asked even quieter. This time I looked bravely at his face to see him looking at the ground. "A couple," He pressed, "Do you want to be a couple?"

I took a deep breath, "I think we should stay friends."

"That blonde boy you are always being photographed with, he said he loved you didn't he?" Michael asked boldly now staring at me, I looked up at him shocked, and he nodded, "Do you think he means it?"

I sighed, defeated, "Of course, I do."

"Clary don't be so naive. When did he tell you, after you came here? After you won gold? Isn't that a little suspicious?"

"Michael, you can say whatever you want about Jace. I'm not going to-"

"You love him don't you?"

I didn't answer. So instead, I tried to read him. Michael's face was unreadable, but still he was like an open-book. He looked mad, very angry, maybe a little bit sad...

"You do." Michael shook his head, "Just be careful, okay? Because I know how it happens. They tell you they love you, you start to date, and then next thing you know they make you buy them everything and convince you take them to red carpet events. Trust me, I know. It happened with my last girlfriend." He closed his eyes, "I just thought you were different. I thought we could be different."

"Michael," I wanted to touch his shoulder but thought better of it, "I'm sorry. You're my friend, a great friend, and I just don't think of you in that way."

"I get it, Clary." He opened his eyes and looked at me, his eyes seemed content now,"I like you that way, but it's okay. We can be friends."

"Are you sure?" I asked, still shocked.

"Positive." Michael nodded smiling, "Clary, I value your friendship to much to lose you. You get me and not many people do."

I smiled, "You get me too. The only people I tell my shark-bite story to are my family members and close friends and even on the interview yesterday, I fabricated it a bit."

Michael hugged me as the elevator doors chimed open, "Thank you, Clary, for talking to me about this."

"You're welcome. I'm glad we did." I said letting go of him, hesitantly kissing his cheek, "You're a great man, Michael Phelps, and you deserve someone great."

His face lit up and he handed me back my bag, "Thank you, Clary. Congratulations."

I smiled at him again and walked out of the elevator, "Thank you." I said as the doors shut. I breathed a sigh of relief after getting that over with and walked back to my room.

Now, I was able to fully be with Jace without feeling guilty about Michael. Still, I should tell Jace about the kiss because that's no way to start a relationship-by lying.

I called Jace as soon as I got back to my room, sat down my bag and lay down on my bed. The gold medal still around my neck.

"Hello?" Jace's voice asked and my heart sped up just by the sound of it. I rolled my eyes at myself.

"Hey." I said a smile on my face.

"Clary! Congratulations, baby!" Jace said and I blushed when I heard him call me baby.

"Thank you." I replied, "Can I come over? I need to talk to you."

"Of course." He said, not missing a beat, "Is something wrong?"

"No! Everything's great." Better than great actually.

I could almost see him nod, "Do you want me to come and get you? Does your leg hurt?"

Yes, I thought, but as soon as I heard you speak it got better. "It's not that bad. I can walk alone, Jace."

"Okay, I'll see you soon?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, I should be there in about ten minutes." I replied, glancing at the clock to see that it was noon.

"Great. I love you."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and smiled like an idiot my whole way over to Jace and the Lightwood's hotel room. I knocked on the door twelve minutes later, still wearing my gold medal.

Jace opened the door and my grin grew.

"Hello, baby." Jace leant down to kiss my cheek. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." I said and he let me in, "Is anyone here?"

"Nope, they heard you were coming and wanted to go out and buy you some presents. I wanted to wait on you here." Jace explained, "We're alone."

I smiled over my shoulder at him, "Can we sit down? My hip is starting to hurt a little."

He immediately nodded, "Of course." I sat down on the coach in the living room area and sighed in relief, my hip had started hurting, there was only so much Jace's smile could do. "What did you want to talk about?" He asked, sitting down beside me.

"Don't sound so nervous, Jace. That's not you." I said, looking over at him after I adjusted my leg to make it straight.

"I'm sorry." Jace whispered, still looking nervous.

"I want to talk about a good thing, not a bad thing." I reassured him it seemed to ease Jace slightly, "I realized something today."

"What?" Jace asked.

I took a deep breath and said very quickly,"Jace, I want us to be together. I want you to be my boyfriend, because I love you."

His smile spread from ear-to-ear, "I love you too, Clary. I love you so much."

I couldn't help it. I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly, so happy. Jace gently pulled away and took my face in his hands and he kissed me. This time I wasn't shocked and I kissed him back. Our lips moved rhythmically, they fit together perfectly. As always, the sparks were there and made my toes curl.

"I love you." Jace whispered again, letting me breath. He didn't go far though, only placing his forehead on mine.

"Jace, I want to be with you and I want us to be together," I fought to think, his nearness taking it's tole on me, "However," Jace sighed, "I'm not sure if I want the world to know yet."

"Why not?"

I looked into his eyes, "I don't want you to think that I'm ashamed of you or any of that. It's just, I want us to be with each other before the world joins our relationship."

He laughed, but I was completely serious.

"Also, because, I don't want them to rip us apart with this Michael rumor. I'm sure you've heard of it." I said, my voice coming out as a whisper.

"I respect your decision, Clary. And I'll do it." Jace told me, "But you don't have to worry, I promise you that no one will ever tear us apart. I love you, that will never change."

Nodding, I whispered, "I love you too."

Jace kissed me again and I locked my hands securely in his hair and pulled him closer to me, the brace served to be difficult to move around when I wanted to be closer. He laughed again.

"Stop it," I said my lips curving up in a smile, "This is bad news for you too. If I can't move around, I can't kiss you."

His laughing stopped and said darkly, "Oh, honey. I will move you around so we can kiss. I've been waiting for those lips on mine since the moment I saw you."

"Then why didn't you kiss me sooner?" I asked.

"Good things come to those who wait, baby."

I sighed and took off the heavy gold medal from around my neck. I rubbed the area afterward.

"Can I...?" Jace asked pointing to the medal.

I nodded, "Sure. But you know the rules."

"If I lose it, break it, or hurt it in any way you will hurt me before I can say help. Yes, love, I know." Jace grinned and I gave him the medal. "Wow, this is heavy."

I stopped rubbing my neck, and complained, "I know. I have to walk around with that and I hardly get a break because everyone wants pictures."

Jace frowned, "I'm sorry, baby." He pulled the medal on so it was around his neck and grinned, "How do I look?"

I laughed, "Great, babe. Like a winner."

"Well, I did win my grand prize." He said pulling me towards him in a hug.

I rolled my eyes.

"You said I could be a little cheesy." Jace pointed out.

"I guess I did." I replied, "It's cute sometimes. But otherwise I will just have to get used to it."

"And I'll work on it." Jace pulled away, "Look at that, we're compromising."

"Like a married couple." I nodded, proud of us.

"Well I do plan to be married to you at some point, so I believe we should start acting like one."

"Jace, we just started dating today. Don't scare me away already with marriage talk."

He nodded thoughtfully, taking off my medal from around his neck, "Alright. No marriage talk."

I smiled and said, "At least not now."

He grinned, kissing my forehead and securing his arms around my waist, "Not now, but soon."

At that moment, the rest of the Lightwoods and Jessica entered the hotel room door. I stood up, picking up my medal and placing it around my neck, as they all rushed over to congratulate me. I was suddenly embraced in a multi-personed hug.

"Congratulations!" They all chorused and I thanked them.

"Clary," Isabelle said, "Are you alright? Running on your ankle must have hurt."

"It did, I'm not going to lie, it did." Jace sucked in a breath as I said, "But it felt a lot better when I realized we won."

"I'm sure it did." She nodded, smiling.

"Clary? Clary!" Max hit my un-harmed leg to get my attention, "Can I see your medal?"

"Sure." I said, bending down if I could, but I took it off my neck and handed it to him. Max smiled widely and ran off with it. I instantly became worried.

"I'll watch him." Robert told me, "Don't worry, he won't hurt it." He winked at me before walking from the room, following his youngest son.

"Thank you." I said to his retreating back.

"Clary, everyone, I'm sorry to ruin the moment but Clary you have a press conference in thirty minutes." Jessica told me. "Also," She leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Loreal and Olay want you. And Seventeen Magazine wants you to do a photo-shoot and spread."

I looked over at her, shocked, "Are you serious?" She nodded smiling, "Jessica, I can't do anything with this." I motioned to my two braces.

"We'll work around it." She shrugged, "Everyone say your good-byes Clary has to work."

I hugged everyone apologizing again and again.

"Clary, stop." Jace said as I embraced him, "Stop apologizing, you're famous now. You are going to be busy a lot, but don't worry," Jace pulled away to kiss my forehead, "we'll make time."

I blushed, "Alright. See you all later." Jessica and I started to walk from the room.

"Clary!" Max ran up to me, "My dad said you might need this back." He handed me the gold medal back.

"You're father is correct." I thanked him and embraced Max as well. "Thank you."

"Welcome, bye." Max let go of me and ran over to Alec. I waved to everyone before walking out the door.

Jessica explained to me, as we walked to some random place, that the press conference would start out with only me talking and then Lolo and Jeff would come in a little bit later. She also told me to be extremely truthful except if they asked if I was dating to which I said no. Jessica had then given me a sly look.

I realized where we were as we rounded a corner. We were back at the track, well not exactly on it but we were in the building beside the track. Jessica and I walked down a long hallway with multiple doors on either side, she stopped at one that a man was also stopped at. "Clary Fray?" He asked.

"That's her." Jessica answered for me.

"Great," The man stuck out a hand, "Hello, my name is Sean O'Neill, you probably heard me announcing you?" I didn't hear him, I always zoned into the race and only the race, but I nodded. "Pleasure to meet you and may I be the ten-thousandth person to congratulated you."

I smiled, "Yes, thank you. It's nice to meet you too."

"Okay, Clary. You might want to but that on," He pointed to my medal that was still in my hand. I threw it over around me neck, "Here is how it's going to go, incase you're nervous," Sean pointed to the door, "through that door are about twenty different radio stations and about five different cameras with that there are probably fifty people. They are going to ask you questions and all you have to do is answer them truthfully without giving to much away. Is that clear?"

His tone wasn't harsh, just helpful. I decided that I liked Sean O'Neill as I nodded again.

"Great." He smiled, "The only real thing to remember is that you just need to be yourself and to speak clearly." Sean started to open the door, "Oh! And smile at the camera's!" He grinned before opening the door for me. I walked through it and my vision immediately was tested.

Camera flashes were taken over and over followed by, "Clary! Over here!" or "Miss Fray! Look over here, please!" and "Right here! That's beautiful!" The only thing I could hope is that I wasn't smiling like an idiot or looked possessed.

After minutes of pictures, I walked to a seat behind a table, where Jessica pointed me too. The table had a red covering over it with over ten microphones on top of it, all pointing to the seat. There was also a glass of water. I sat down.

"Clary!" Several people yelled at once, raising their hands as if I were a teacher about to answer a math question. I looked around at all of them.

"Hello, everyone, thank you for coming." I said, making sure my voice was clear. Jessica and Sean both smiled and nodded, assuring me. I pointed to a person against the right wall who had there hand raised, "Let's start over here and make our way to the left."

The other people nodded and almost simultaneously lowered their hands. It could've been comical.

"Miss Fray," The woman I pointed to got my attention, "My question is; how do you feel after winning four gold medals?"

I smiled, "So great. I can't even describe it, I'm so proud of myself and my coach."

"Thank you." The woman said, writing on her note-pad. I nodded at her and moved on.

The next person was a man, "Miss Fray, hello my name is Charles from TV Choice Magazine here in the United Kingdom."

I nodded, "Hi, Charles."

"Hi." He smiled, "Miss Fray, you've meet Jessica Ennis, my question is how you like her and if it is friendly competition?"

"Oh, it defiantly is friendly competition." I nodded, "I have met Jessica, we've become good friends actually, and I have to say that she is such a joy to be around. She's so sweet and kind. I can't say enough great things about her." Charles thanked me and I moved on.

"Clary, congratulations." The next man said, "Clary you always seem to be smiling, can you tell me why?"

I thought about my answer before I replied with, "Thank you, sir. I love to smile because no one gets any joy or happiness from being negative or frowning all the time. I just like to smile because maybe someone somewhere will benefit from it. I hope they do." Again the man thanked me and I moved on again.

"If you were any animal, Clary, what would you be?" The woman asked.

I laughed and thought, "My favorite animal has always been a dog, generic I know, but I love them. But if I had to be an animal," I paused again, "what's a running animal?"

"A cheetah?" The woman supplied.

"I'm not that fast, but sure, a cheetah." I smiled and moved on.

"Have you meet the fabulous five? Are they as nice as they seem?" The next man asked, adjusting his large camera to focus more on my face.

"Yes, I have met them. And just like Jessica they are some of the sweetest people I've met here. I'm happy to say that they are my friends, yes."

The next man asked, "Miss Fray, when is your birthday?"

I smiled, "August 3rd. So, is that Friday? Wow, that came fast." I voiced my surprise, that was in two days.

"Really?" I nodded, "Happy early birthday!"

"Thank you." I said to the multiple people that wished me the same thing.

The next woman questioned, "What are you going to do for your birthday?"

"Actually I'm shocked to think that it's two days away. I can tell you that it will be my favorite birthday for five good reasons," I said thinking of my medals, "What I would like to do is sleep in, hopefully coach will let me." The woman laughed and thanked me.

"Clary, since you're finished with your events, what sports would you like to see?" The next man said.

"Everything." I nodded, "Three of my roommates are Judo, Water-polo, and Soccer or football whatever you want to call it." I smiled at Charles, "So I'd like to see those and then swimming, of course, diving, archery, volleyball, just everything. Now that I'm off I have the time."

"Have you met a lot of people in the sport of swimming?" The woman asked.

"I have, actually, yes. I've met more swimming people than track people."

"Who have you met?"

"Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Tyler Clary," I said, not trying to brag, "I met Missy Franklin the other day. All such sweet humble people."

The questions just started to pour together after that point.

"Miss Fray, are you dating Michael Phelps?" A girl asked.

Not this again

, "No, ma'am, I'm not."

A man asked, "How did you become so good a turns?"

"Because of my height I couldn't jump over the hurdles like Lolo and the other people could," I replied, "So Coach made run with the sprinters and just get faster and that included doing turns, over and over and over again."

"Do you think you did your best during your Olympic 2012 career?"

I shrugged, "There is always room for improvement. I'll watch the tapes back sometime and probably see some errors that I hopefully won't make next go-around."

"So Clary you will go to Rio in 2016?"

"Right now, yes. But I don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow. If you ask me to predict that I will be in Rio in four years then today I will say yes, but life may say no. We'll just have to see."

"How did you feel when you won silver against Lolo Jones?"

"If I were going to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was her. Lolo and I go back and forth winning, every time I think catch her, she bolts ahead and vice versa. That's why our friendship is so great, because we don't get bored on the track there is always someone to compete against."

"Will you be getting the Olympic rings tattooed on you?"

I thought about that, "Maybe. I want them but Lolo doesn't and I think we should get them together because we have been on this whole long journey to get here. But I respect her opinion, she doesn't want something on her body forever, even though we are going to be Olympians forever and we are always going to have medals."

"Where would you get them tattooed?"

"That's a good question," I replied, "Maybe on my wrist so then I could see them when I run or maybe on my foot because apparently that's were most track members get them."

"I've heard the foot hurts really bad."

I nodded, "I've heard that too."

After that, Jessica and Sean brought in my coach and my best friend. I tuned out while they were asking Lolo questions, because they were mostly the same ones as I had just answered. When they would ask us question together or just questions for me, then I would answer them until the press conference was over.

Feeling exhausted after that I went back to my room and slept, tomorrow started all the swimming sports and I wanted to attend them.

A/N: Thanks for reading!