Chapter 12

At first, Payson wasn't sure what woke her. The clock said it was four in the morning, and her body never woke her before five, especially when she'd been out dancing until two. Frowning, she curled into the covers, making herself a little cocoon, and closed her eyes.

A knock at the door made them snap open again. So that was what woke her.

She slid out of bed, shoved her feet into slippers, and shuffled to the other side of her hotel room. A glance through the peep hole showed no one waiting outside. Payson scowled.

"Pay, are you awake?" The harsh whisper came from the door that adjoined her room to Kelly's. Flicking the lock, Payson opened it.

Kelly stood on the other side, her hair in disarray, with a huge grin on her face.

"I've only been asleep for two hours, this better be good," Payson growled, turning and shuffling back to bed. Kelly came in behind her, flinging herself down next to Payson so hard the bed bounced. Payson groaned and buried her head beneath her pillow.

"Austin and I hooked up," Kelly said. Payson stilled for a moment and then sat up, her brow furrowed.

"Define hooked up," Payson demanded. Kelly grinned.

"We just spent the last two hours doing some hard core making out," Kelly explained. Payson sighed in relief.

"So you didn't sleep with him?" Payson asked. A flush spread over Kelly's neck and cheeks. Payson's jaw dropped; Kelly Parker never, ever blushed.

"No," Kelly admitted. "But we came pretty close."

"Oh Kelly," Payson sighed, reaching for her friend's hand. "Are you sure this is a good idea? He just broke up with Kaylie and he might be ready to move on but what if he isn't? What if…"

"He's not using me, Payson," Kelly snapped. "He wouldn't do that."

"I'm not saying he would intentionally use you, but if he's hurting he might be seeking comfort with you. I just don't want you to get hurt," Payson said.

"He's not going to hurt me. Besides, I initiated it, not him." Payson took a breath. She believed that Austin would never intentionally use Kelly, and he wasn't the type to seek comfort in the arms of another woman, but she still didn't think it was a good idea for Kelly and Austin to be hooking up. There was so much potential for drama they couldn't afford.

"If Kaylie ever finds out…"

"Kaylie thinks we're together anyway. So what if it's true now?" Kelly asked.

"Kaylie is impulsive; she'll realize soon enough that she was wrong. There's time to mend things between the two of you. But if you start seeing Austin, Kaylie will never forgive you," Payson said. She wanted Kelly to be happy, and she had to admit that they made a great couple, but she also wanted a solid team going to London. If Kaylie and Kelly were fighting over Austin, they wouldn't have that.

"I don't care if she never forgives me. Kaylie and I have never really been friends. You're the only friend I care about having, Pay," Kelly admitted, looking down at the comforter. Payson's heart swelled. Kelly never admitted things like that, never left herself open and vulnerable, and to hear those words from her meant more than Payson could express. She reached out and pulled Kelly into a tight hug.

"If you're happy, KP, I'm happy."

"I'm happy PK. Really, really happy."

#

The next time Payson woke up, it was nine o'clock, Kelly was curled around a spare pillow on the other side of the bed and, yet again, someone was knocking at her door. Glancing at Kelly, Payson slipped out of bed and tiptoed across the room. A peek through the peep hole revealed Austin, looking freshly showered and groomed.

"Hey," Payson whispered as she opened the door. Austin frowned at the volume of her voice and then glanced over her shoulder. She could tell the second his eyes landed on Kelly because they softened around the edges. It made Payson's heart ache, in a good way.

"Hey. I thought I'd see if you two are up for breakfast," Austin said softly.

"Sure. Give us fifteen minutes?"

"I'll go down and grab us a table," Austin said. Payson closed the door as he walked away and then ran and jumped on the bed.

Kelly woke up shrieking and flailing. Waking Kelly as abruptly as possible was one of Payson's favorite pastimes. She laughed as Kelly tackled her to the bed.

"I'm going to kill you. Why are you waking me up?" Kelly growled.

"Austin's got a table for us downstairs. Breakfast time," Payson explained. Kelly groaned.

"I'm not hungry," she groused. Payson scowled and scrambled off the bed. She knelt in front of her suitcase, pulling out her outfit for the day.

"Yes you are, you just don't want to get out of bed. Come on."

Kelly groaned and covered her head with the pillow.

"Austin looks really good today," Payson sang, hoping to entice Kelly out of bed. It worked; she popped right up and bounded towards the adjoining room.

"I'll be back in five minutes."

"We've got fifteen," Payson assured her.

They were dressed and ready in record time, and then headed for the restaurant on the main floor of the hotel. Austin was waiting, seated at a table secluded in the back. Kelly led the way, Payson following closely behind. Austin stood as they approach, glancing around for photographers, and then leaned down and brushed his lips against Kelly's.

"Okay you two, cool it," Payson warned. Just because there were no photographers around didn't mean there weren't gossip hungry fans that would snap a picture and send it to TMZ.

"Did you tell her?" Austin whispered. Kelly nodded, blushing again.

"Even if she didn't, you just did," Payson scoffed. Austin rolled his eyes as the three of them sat back down. "Seriously, though, you guys have got to keep this quiet for a while. Kelly I know you don't care about having Kaylie as a friend, but she's going to be your teammate and we need as much trust as possible going into London."

Kelly snorted and opened her mouth to respond, but Austin's hand on her arm stopped her.

"Payson's right. If the two of you are fighting when you get to London, the Games are going to be a disaster. Why don't we just keep it on the DL for now?" Austin suggested. Payson nodded in agreement. Kaylie was going to go ballistic when she found out, and Payson would much rather have that be after London. There was enough drama in her life, she didn't need more. And both Kelly and Kaylie needed to focus on their routines, not hating each other.

"We just got rid of that stupid no dating rule, and now we're imposing one on ourselves?" Kelly groused. Payson laughed.

"We never officially got rid of the no dating rule," Payson reminded her. Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Might as well have. Fine, we'll keep it to ourselves. For now."

#

Kim was exhausted. It had been a long week, and she was looking forward to a weekend at home with her girls and her husband. Family days, plural.

She sank into Mark's favorite recliner, wishing he were there, and closed her eyes. She was just slipping into a peaceful afternoon nap when her cell phone rang. She groaned, all she wanted was a little peace and quiet for an hour.

"Hello?" Kim asked with a sigh. She didn't even bother to look at the caller id.

"Kim? Have you seen the latest issue of GQ?" It was her sister's voice, and she sounded outraged. Her sister was one of the calmest people Kim knew, if something was upsetting her, it was bad. But why would GQ upset her? Why was she even reading it?

"I don't make a habit of reading GQ, Lisa, why?"

"Payson and her friends are on the cover. She's in her underwear, Kim. You need to see it, now," Lisa demanded. Kim felt her heart wedge itself into her throat. Payson said something about being part of a GQ shoot when she returned from her publicity weekend the week before, but nothing about being in her underwear.

"Thanks for the heads up, Lisa." Kim hung up without waiting for her sister's reply and grabbed her purse. She needed to get to the grocery store.

#

Payson walked into her house, happier after a day of training than she had been in a long time. Her new routines were finally coming together and with her higher DODs and more complicated skills, she was going to blow the competition away. At that moment, there wasn't a gymnast in the world whose DOD could even come close to matching hers, and once she perfected those routines she would be unstoppable.

"Payson Elizabeth Keeler!"

Payson felt her blood run cold. Her mom only used her full name when she was really, really angry. A glance at the calendar on the wall confirmed her fears.

Her GQ issue was out. And her mom saw it.

"Hey Mom," Payson said, trying to keep her tone light. Kim was waiting in the kitchen, standing with her hands on her hips. The magazine was lying on the counter. Payson glanced at it.

The cover was a photograph of all three of them standing together on the top of the podium, Sasha's gold medal looped around all three of their necks. Austin had an arm around each her and Kelly. Payson thought they looked fantastic.

"What the hell is this?" Kim snapped. Payson looked at her mom; pinched mouth, narrowed eyes, and tense jaw, and knew that this was about to be a battle of epic proportions.

"It's one of the shoots we did last weekend," Payson said. Kim grabbed the magazine from the counter and flipped it open to their spread. Then she slammed it back down and jabbed her finger into one of the pictures; one that showed Kelly and Payson dumping confetti over Austin's head. They looked happy.

"You're practically naked, Payson!" Kim shouted. Payson took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"I'm not exposing anything more than I would in a bathing suit. And the only thing people see here that they don't in a leo is my stomach," Payson reasoned. Kim snorted.

"They're selling you as a sex object, Payson," Kim said. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I'm nineteen and I have spent my entire life molding my body into what it is. After the Olympics are over, I will never have this body again. Why shouldn't I show it off a little bit? Why shouldn't I be proud of it?" Payson asked. "My body is my instrument, finely tuned."

"There's a difference between showcasing your finely tuned instrument in the gym and exposing your body in a magazine, Payson. Why did you think this would be okay?" Kim asked. There was still a bite to her tone, but not as much as there was and Payson knew her mom was slowly calming down.

"Because I'm an adult Mom, and I thought it was time that everyone, you and Dad included, started seeing me as one," Payson said. She made sure to keep her tone as even and calm as possible. She didn't want to spark her mom's fury again, but she wanted to be honest.

Kim stared at Payson for a moment, and Payson could see her thinking hard, like she wanted to agree with her, but couldn't quite bring herself to.

"You have to understand, Payson, that you will always be a little girl to your dad and me. Our little girl. No matter how old you are, no matter if you're married or have little girls of your own, you'll always be our little girl. I will never be comfortable with you putting yourself on display like this. And I can only imagine what your father's going to say when he gets home."

Payson smiled. Even though it might not sound like she won, she knew her mom had relented and that the only obstacle left to face was her dad. And Sasha, but she didn't care about him. That's what she was telling herself anyway.

#

The gym was deserted on a Saturday morning, which was bad news for Payson because it meant that she and Sasha were going to be alone. It was also the first time Payson would be seeing Sasha since the GQ shoot was released. It would be an interesting morning, to say the least.

The doors were unlocked, but Sasha was nowhere to be seen, so Payson warmed up and started working on the beam.

Payson's new routine was a 6.5 difficulty, the highest in the world and half a point higher than Lauren Tanner's. She started with a forward roll to mount, a relatively simple start, but the higher value stunts came later. She jumped into a standing split, and then an aerial walkover. The routine was all about grace and lines, floating on air. Elegance.

"My office. Now!" Sasha's sudden shout startled Payson so much that she slipped off the beam. Good thing she wasn't in the air when he did it or Payson would have another broken vertebra to deal with.

Sighing and wiping the sweat off her brow, Payson stomped up towards the office.

"What?" she snapped. Sasha stood behind his desk; hands on his narrow hips, looking furious. She took a moment to admire him, to relish in the way he made her blood boil and her skin sing. Even when they were mad as hell at each other, even when Payson wanted to hate him, the attraction between them was tangible. Payson felt it like a tether, pulling her towards him.

Sasha tossed the magazine onto his desk, raising his eyebrows. Payson took a few steps forward and reached for it. She'd already seen the spread a hundred times, but she took the time to look it over again. She wasn't going to let Sasha treat her like a child anymore. She was proud of how she looked.

"These are great," Payson said, setting the magazine back down on the desk. Sasha's gaze darkened as his eyes narrowed to slits.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Sasha asked. Payson shrugged.

"I wasn't, really. I did it because I wanted to, nothing more complex than that," she said. Sasha snorted.

"This was irresponsible of you, Payson, putting your body out there for anyone to see. It's disgusting," Sasha spat. Payson felt heat flair through her cheeks.

"I'm disgusting?" she growled.

"No, but the way you're objectifying yourself is. Did you even think about that? How many men will have your picture tacked to their walls? How many of them will be fantasizing about you because of these pictures?" Sasha asked. Something flared in his eyes and Payson felt her breath catch.

She wanted to laugh when she realized what it was. Sasha was jealous. He was jealous of Rigo for being allowed to be with her, and he was jealous of all those men he talked about for being allowed to fantasize about her while he was not.

"You're jealous."

"You're bloody well right I am! There should only be one person who gets to see you like that, Payson, and it should be me," Sasha growled, closing the distance between them in just a few smooth steps. Payson's head swam with the scent of his cologne.

"You lost that privilege when you started going out with my old babysitter. And if I recall, you told me to go out with someone else. It isn't my fault you can't handle that," she said, trying to be harsh, even though the words came out in more of a whisper. Sasha reached out and twirled the end of her ponytail around his fingers.

"I'm not seeing Kristen anymore. That's what I was trying to tell you that night you slammed the door in my face," Sasha muttered. Payson felt her heart stall; he wasn't marrying Kristen, he wasn't over her.

"Yeah, well, I'm still seeing Rigo." The protest was weak, because Sasha's lips were lowering to hers and instead of pushing him away, she curled her fists into his t-shirt and pulled him closer.

His lips slanted over hers, sealing them together for the first time in weeks. Payson groaned and sank into him, looping her arms around his neck and rising up to her toes, wanting to be as close as possible. She felt like she could finally breathe again.

"Payson," Sasha groaned, tearing his lips from hers to press smacking kisses along her jaw and neck. Payson shivered.

"Shh," she said. "Just kiss me."

A/N: A HUGE thank you to hazel-3017, JTellersOldLady, BearyFunny66, rons1love, Isabella, anon, EkoObi, Silvercrystal77, DarkMoon2222, Kiwiflea, Ncisluver, flowerchild3286, and Ida-cullen for your reviews! You guys are awesome!

So I'm posting this chapter in honor of tonight's MIOBI series finale. Sad, but also yay because anything after Trials can forever be left up to us :D I hope you all love it, however be warned that just because Sasha and Payson are back to kissing does not mean everything will be sunshine and roses.

I promise the next chapter will come faster (or at least I hope it does) but it will definitely come faster if you guys review!