A/N: Yep, I'm smashing through the chapters today!
"So… how's the conditioning treating you?" Nick asked conversationally as JJ dropped down from the bar she had been hanging from.
"I can't feel my arms. Or my legs. Or anything else. But otherwise, pretty great," she replied, shooting him a grin.
"I wanted to come over and have a chat with you about how we're going to move forward from here. I've been watching you over the last two weeks and you've been working really hard without any guidance from me at all, which is what I wanted to see," Nick said warmly, taking a seat on a nearby foam block. "I want to be really careful about how we pace you going back in this year, especially if you're thinking long term and going back to the Olympics"
JJ nodded, dragging the block she had used to climb up to the bars a little closer to Nick and dropping down onto it.
"Now, the first major meet of the season that we would aim towards for you is the Secret Classic, which is being held at the end of July. I spoke to Marta the other day, and she said she would want you verifying at the National Team Camp by the end of May at the absolute latest, but I'm hoping we can get you back to camp by April. Sounding doable to you so far?"
"Well… it's the first week of February, so… we've got two months?"
"Two months to have you verifying skills. We don't need complete routines yet. But obviously, we're going to work on them as much as possible, since you obviously would like to be able to compete at Nationals this year"
JJ nodded.
"When you come in tomorrow, I want to start looking at basics. You've grown since London, not a huge amount, but enough that I can tell, and your body has changed a little in your downtime. It's not a big deal, it basically just means we have to go through all your foundational skills and see which ones are going to need some reworking. You might find that your muscle memory has retained more than you think, or we might find that you need to redo an entire bars routine. We can't tell, so we'll just work through it one by one, ok?"
"Sounds good," JJ said with a smile.
"Now the next thing is that we're in a new quad, which means a new Code of Points," Nick said, and JJ saw the hint of a grimace hanging around his mouth. "I've read through the code, and I've rewatched your routines from London, and… we've got some serious work to do. Half of your connections are now void, and we've lost a few skill values from devaluations"
"I've seen the gym fans online ranting about the code," JJ said with a laugh. "I haven't actually read through it myself"
"Yeah, I mean, it's not terrible, but it's also not great. There's some weird decisions. For example, your front aerial to Onodi connection on beam? No longer considered a connection. And the Amanar got downgraded two tenths, which feels like a slap to the USA since we're the only country with multiple Amanar capable gymnasts. We're just going to have to play around with things until we find something that works and fits the new code," Nick said, stopping to take a deep breath. "Lastly, I had a think about whether dropping an event works for you, and honestly I don't think it does, because you want to be an all-arounder still, so you're going to be training it anyway. But we can keep you in the all-around domestically, and have you focus on a couple of events for international events. I'm not too sure yet. We'll have a chat about that once we gauge how much work we have to do on each event. Sound good?"
JJ nodded, smiling at her coach. "Sounds good"
"You're looking good with your conditioning. I can see you're getting stronger," Nick said warmly, pulling himself to his feet. "I don't think we need to worry too much about how this year is going to go. It's all going to fall into place"
Pushing herself off the block, JJ held out her fist towards Nick. He caught on immediately, bumping his fist into hers as the two of them laughed.
"We're gonna have a good year," she said warmly. "I can feel it"
"Me too, kiddo. Me too"
"Are you seriously telling me you can flip down a four inch wide beam but you can't change a tire?"
JJ giggled. Upon arriving home from the gym, she had realized one of her tires was almost flat, despite having been pumped up only two weeks earlier. Not knowing how to change it, she had immediately gone to her dad for help. "Yeah"
Michael grinned. "And what, my dear, were you planning to do if you got a flat?"
"Call you?"
Michael laughed, shaking his head. "Ok, I'm going to teach you some life skills, because no amount of Olympic gold medals will save you if you get a flat out in serial killer country"
"I can just backflip away from them," JJ said dryly. Sandy burst out laughing from across the room as Michael let out a sigh, dropping his head to his hand.
"Oh boy. Alright. Grab your keys and come with me. Let's change it before it snows again"
Leading the way, he walked through the kitchen and out the side door that led to the garage. JJ followed, still giggling to herself.
"Ok," Michael said once they were in the garage. Pressing the button mounted on the wall, he led her through once the main door had opened. "Let's start with the spare. Yours is in the trunk"
He helped her through lifting the spare from the trunk, jacking up the car, and removing the wheel with the damaged tire. As he watched her undoing the nuts on the wheel, he sat back for a moment. She was so focused on the task at hand, she didn't even realise that he was watching her. He smiled, noticing the way her tongue was poking out from the corner of her mouth. She'd always done it when she was concentrating hard. Michael had first noticed it when she was four, sprawled across the living room floor as she coloured in her book, frowning as she focused on staying in the lines.
But she wasn't that four year old anymore. A thought that caused Michael a small stab of sadness in his heart. She was every bit his little girl, the daughter he had always loved and cherished to no end. But she was growing up. No longer the cute, shy, clingy little four year old, she was now a beautiful, bright, talented young woman with big dreams.
Not to mention the fact she had a boyfriend… the one thing he'd sworn he would never let her have.
He chuckled softly to himself. Some things did change after all.
"Is this right Dad?"
She was looking over at him, smiling as she waited for him to look it over. She looked so happy, proud that she'd managed it by herself.
"Yeah peanut, that's right," he said warmly. "Now we have to lift off the tire. Best to shimmy it off gently, especially if you're changing it yourself"
"Ok," she said softly, setting herself as she grabbed the edges of the tire.
Michael guided her through the rest of the process, and before too long, her car proudly bore a new tire.
"There you go. No backflipping away from the serial killers," Michael teased as they put the tools away in the trunk of her car. JJ laughed.
"What if I wanna show off?"
"Then you go for it peanut," Michael laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze as they walked back into the house.
Even though it was something as simple as changing a tire, he cherished any time he got to spend with JJ. She was his youngest, and as much as he hated to indulge it, he had always had a soft spot for her. He loved all of his children equally, of course, but from the day JJ had entered the world, she had had her dad wrapped around her little finger.
He was a little sad that she was growing up, but at the same time, he couldn't wait to see what she accomplished next.