Chapter 19
"What did your mom say?" Kelly asked in a whisper, an hour into the flight back to Boulder. Payson's leg bounced relentlessly, despite Sasha's hand on her knee. She chewed on her nail and shook her head.
"Nothing. She said we'd talk about it when I got back."
"Is Sasha going with you?"
Payson nodded, but didn't speak, so Sasha answered for her. "MJ says that no matter how Mark and Kim react privately, Payson and I arriving at the house together will send a strong message. If she went alone, it would be as good as admitting we're doing something wrong."
"Which we're not," Payson snapped. "Why doesn't anyone believe that?"
"Because he's your coach Pay," Kelly said, sympathetically. "You know I ship Paysha so hard, but people are going to have a hard time getting over the fact that you're dating your coach. Even if there's nothing technically wrong with it, that's a squick factor."
"Squick factor?" Sasha asked, eyebrow raised. Kelly rolled her eyes and steered the conversation away from the mess they'd found themselves in. Sasha silently thanked her for distracting Payson. He'd tried, but his mind was a muddled mess and he was preoccupied by the idea of facing Kim and Mark.
The chartered flight landed an hour after the rest of the team. Reporters had cleared away from the airport, likely assuming that they would be flown into the tiny Boulder airport rather than Denver International. Sasha imagined that they'd gone to wait at the Keeler house instead.
Silence fell during the forty-five minute drive from Denver to Boulder. Payson curled into Sasha's side, MJ across from them furiously tapping out emails on her phone. Kelly and Austin had taken a separate car back to Denver so that Payson and Sash could go straight home.
A few blocks away, Sasha knew that it would be a fight to get inside. News vans lined the sidewalk and reporters and paparazzi swarmed the yard. Payson sat up suddenly, turning to face him and taking his face in her hands. "No matter what, I love you. No regrets."
"No regrets."
She kissed him, a short but passionate press of lips, before the car pulled into the driveway. MJ tucked her phone away.
"I'm staying in the car," she said. "Sasha get out first, shield Payson on the way in. Call me before you leave the house again, I'll bring the car back."
"Thanks, MJ," Payson said quietly.
Sasha took a breath before he opened the door. Sound exploded around him; reporters shouting questions, camera shutters snapping. He held out a hand for Payson, pulling her quickly from the car and wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he pushed through the crowd. As they approached the front door it swung open and Mark Keeler came charging out with a baseball bat.
For an instant, Sasha thought Mark was coming for him. Instead, Mark waved the bat at the reporters while Kim waved Payson and Sasha inside.
When the door slammed shut behind them, Payson and Sasha immediately separated. Mark hefted the bat like he was tempted to take a swing at Sasha, but he just leaned it against the wall instead. Kim glared.
"Let's, uh…let's go into the living room," Payson said. Mark and Kim went ahead, Sasha and Payson following slowly. Sasha tangled his fingers in Payson's and squeezed tight, giving her all the support he could. He smiled when she took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. It was the same thing she did before entering an arena, a sign that she was ready to take on the world.
They sat down beside each other on the couch, holding hands, while Kim and Mark sat in chairs across from them, glaring at the contact.
Payson took another deep breath. "I don't know where to start."
"You lied to us, Payson," Kim said, her voice wavering. With anger or sadness, Payson wasn't sure. "We asked you, just a couple of months ago, about your relationship with Sasha and you told us it was nothing! You told us it was a crush!"
"I know," Payson admitted, nodding. "We never meant for you to find out this way, and we were going to tell you, but when you asked…I just couldn't tell you yet."
"Why not?"
"What would you have done?" Payson asked, allowing Kim to answer her own question.
"I don't know."
"I couldn't risk it, Mom. Sasha and I…we really haven't done anything illegal. I know that most people aren't going to believe that, but we haven't. I want you to know that. I just…"
Payson faltered, so Sasha stepped in. "We tried for months to ignore it, Kim. We dated other people in an effort to stay away from each other, but what Payson and I have…it's real."
"What you have?" Mark echoed. Sasha met his eyes and nodded.
"I love her," Sasha said. "More than I realized it was possible to love another person."
"Payson, you're so young," Kim lamented. "Aren't you curious what else is out there? There's a whole world that you haven't experienced yet."
"Mom, I don't need to experience that world to know that the way I love Sasha, and the way he loves me, is special. You and Dad have shown me my whole life what real love looks like, and that's what Sasha and I have," Payson said. Tears welled in Kim's eyes.
"I don't even really care about you and Sasha," Kim said. She winced, realizing how it must have sounded. "I mean I do, you're too young and he's too old and I don't think it's smart, but I could get over it. It's the lying, Payson. This wasn't just a small deception. You've been sneaking around for months! You lied to our faces! I didn't raise you like that."
"It killed me to lie to you, Mom." Payson didn't know what else to say.
"What's the plan?" Mark asked, realizing that this wasn't going to be resolved with one conversation. It would take a long time for Kim to come to grips with the deception.
"MJ is handling it, and we're letting her," Payson said. "I don't know what the fallout will be, but when we're done here she'll be coming back to tell us, I'm sure."
"What about your job?" Mark asked Sasha.
"I honestly don't know," Sasha admitted. "The NGO would be well within their rights to fire me as National Team coach, and I'm prepared for that to happen. As for the Rock, I'm hoping to talk them out of firing me, but again, they would be well within their rights."
"And the other gymnasts?" Kim asked.
"Austin and Kelly know," Payson said. "They support us no matter what. I'd like to think that the rest of them will as well."
The front door opened, following an explosion of sound from outside, and MJ strode in. She looked as harried as Payson had ever seen her. She was still immaculately put together, but there was a wildness in her eyes that set Payson on edge.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we have a problem," she said, her tone as clipped as the snap of her heels against the floor.
"More of a problem?" Payson asked. MJ ignored Payson and glared at Sasha instead.
"Would you care to explain why Lydia Jacobs is blaming you for her performance this weekend? Why she's "coming out" to tell the world that you took advantage of her, sexually harassed her, and therefore caused her to fall apart in competition?"
"What?" Payson cried. Sasha just rubbed his forehead. "MJ that is not true. Lydia has been hitting on Sasha for weeks, ever since she came to the Rock. She kissed him the other day, but he pushed her away!"
"You know this how?" MJ asked. Payson bristled at the implication that Sasha would cheat on her and then lie about it.
"Kelly and Austin. They saw the whole thing and told me about it. That same day Lydia called me jail bait. She was just pissed off," Payson said.
"And her performance?"
"She's been more interested in being a celebrity than training! She walked into the Rock thinking that Marta would give her a spot on the team just because she's Lydia Jacobs."
"We need to get a statement out, now. I've written one up for you, it's in your email. Kim, Mark, can I count on you to support the two of them? At least publicly?" MJ asked. All eyes turned to Payson's parents and Sasha held his breath waiting for their answer.
"Of course," Mark answered.
"Mark," Kim protested.
"What, Kim? Of course we're going to support them. Look, we don't have to be happy about this, and we're not, but Payson is our daughter. We're not just going to let the world rip her apart because she fell in love, right? And despite how disappointed I am that Sasha chose to engage in a relationship with our teenage daughter, we both know that he's a good man. He's done a lot for our family."
Kim sighed and scrubbed her hand over her face. "You're right."
"I hadn't planned to release a statement today. I've booked a 60 Minutes interview for the both of you, as well as Kelly and Austin, later this afternoon that will be released tomorrow, but I don't think we can wait that long to address this. So Payson will make a brief statement to the reporters out front, and let them know that there will be an in depth exclusive released tomorrow," MJ explained.
"How did you get 60 Minutes to release the interview tomorrow?" Sasha asked, his eyes narrowed.
"It's mutually beneficial," MJ shrugged. "Come on, Payson, let's get you ready."
# # #
The 60 Minutes special was easier to shoot than Payson expected. They spoke with her and Sasha in the Keeler living room, and in the backyard. Kim and Mark were nearby for all of it, often on screen, to show support, and they even gave a short interview themselves. MJ bemoaned the fact that Becca was on vacation with a friend, but Payson was secretly glad for it. Kelly and Austin were interviewed somewhere else, but Payson knew that they wouldn't say anything against them.
MJ spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with the NGO and Payson's sponsors, and Payson was exhausted just listening to her. Finally, at nearly ten, MJ was gone, the reporters were gone, and it was just Payson, Sasha, and her parents.
"It's getting late, and we've all had a long day," Kim said, with a meaningful glance at Sasha. He nodded and stood to leave. Payson chewed her lip, wondering how to ask for what she wanted.
"I, uh…I thought I might stay at Sasha's tonight," Payson said. Sasha narrowed his eyes at her, silently asking what the hell she was doing. Kim shook her head.
"No. You're sleeping under our roof tonight. It's not up for discussion," Kim insisted. Payson sighed.
"Then can Sasha stay here?" Kim opened her mouth to refuse but Payson kept talking. "Mom, please. We've had a long, terrible day. I need him near me. Please."
"Payson," Sasha said softly.
"Fine," Kim said, sighing. "He can stay."
Payson's mouth actually fell open in shock. Her parents weren't really conservative by any means, but they were Midwesterners at heart, and she never thought she'd be one of those girls that was allowed to have her boyfriend spend the night. Sasha shifted beside her.
"I can just…"
"Sasha," Kim interrupted. "It's pretty clear that no matter how Mark and I feel about it, you're going to be around for a while. We might as well get used to it. Besides, you may not have done anything illegal, but Payson has been eighteen for a while now and I'm under no illusions about what that means to her twenty eight year old boyfriend. I'll feel better if you're under my roof where I can keep an eye on you."
Not wanting to give her parents a chance to change their minds, Payson took Sasha by the hand and led him to her bedroom. Payson closed the door most of the way behind them, leaving it open just a sliver to appease her parents, and bit her lip against a laugh. Sasha looked incredibly uncomfortable standing in the middle of her room, his hands shoved into his pockets like he was afraid to touch anything.
"Sasha," she whispered, running her hands down his chest. "You can relax."
"Sorry," he said with a chuckle. "It's just…odd."
They got ready for bed in comfortable silence before slipping beneath the covers. Sasha immediately pulled Payson into his arms, twining their legs together. It felt like years since he'd last held her, even though it had only been a day, and he was glad she'd pushed for spending the night together. He needed her.
"Bloody awful day," he whispered into her hair. For a moment, Payson was silent. He wondered if she'd fallen asleep, until he felt hot tears soaking into his shirt and her shoulders shaking. A sob ripped it's way from her throat before she stifled it against his chest.
"Payson, shhh," he soothed. "It's all right iubito, it will be all right."
"What if I've ruined everything?"
"You haven't ruined anything, Payson. I promise."
# # #
Kim couldn't sleep knowing that her daughter's coach and boyfriend was sleeping just down the hall. She'd always trusted Sasha, always thought he had Payson's best interest at heart. She wasn't so sure anymore. She wanted to believe the best, but every moment of the day they'd been under intense pressure or smiling for the cameras. It wasn't the real them.
She slipped from the bed she shared with Mark and ventured into the hallway. She just wanted to check on them. Payson's door was open just a crack, the lights were out. Kim could hear them talking though. She paused. She didn't mean to spy, but the mother in her had to know that her daughter was safe.
"But what if you lose your job?" Kim could hear the tears in Payson's voice. She had been so strong all day, minus the phone call that morning, seemingly absolutely in control to the outside world. Kim wondered when hers stopped being the shoulder Payson cried on.
"There are other jobs," Sasha said.
"Sasha if you get fired from the Rock what gym will hire you? The scandal will follow us everywhere."
"Then I'll start my own gym. Or I won't, we can go back to Cambria and hide away from the world. Payson, I have enough money, I don't have to work."
"But you love coaching," Payson sniffled.
Kim could see in the dim light from Payson's window that Sasha was brushing the hair from Payson's face. He pressed a light kiss to her lips.
"I love you more."
Payson sobbed as she kissed him, her hands fisting in the back of his t-shirt until she began pulling it up. She rolled atop him, their kisses turning feverish. Kim spun quickly to go back to bed. She didn't like it, but Payson was eighteen, the same age Kim had been when she married Mark. She crawled back into bed and snuggled against Mark's side.
"Everyone okay?" Mark asked.
"They will be."
A/N: Oh, you guys. I know Kim and Mark seem to roll over on this issue WAY too easily. I struggled with it. Honestly, my original plan was for this chapter to go a lot differently. The plan was to have major fall out between Payson, Sasha, and the Keelers, but I just couldn't do it. So instead we get a Mark and Kim who are NOT happy, but who love their daughter and will protect her any way they can, even if that means smiling for the cameras.
Hope you enjoyed!