A/N: You bet I'm on a mission to have the longest Willifer fic out there!
"London seems like yesterday. But now the Olympics of Rio de Janeiro are less than two years away! So now, every mount, dismount, and everything that comes in between, are crucial. Simone Biles, the defending national and world champion, knows that. Going back to back is one of the hardest things to do in sports. She knows that too. But she's well on her way tonight, in Pittsburgh, PA"
Night one of Nationals had breezed past.
Now, it was time to hammer it home in the second night of competition. JJ felt energised and ready to go. Will and his parents were sitting with her parents somewhere in the stands, as well as all the kids and coaches from her gym. In town for the summer, their friends from high school were in the stands; Lani had already let out a huge cheer when the girls had all walked out onto the floor. Jason and Katie were also there, having planned a visit to coincide with Nationals being held in Pittsburgh.
"NBC welcomes you to the 2014 P&G Championships, presented by CoverGirl, and Gillette. We're live near the Confluence, where two rivers form a third, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Consol Energy Center! Tonight, the ultimate night in women's gymnastics, there'll be a champion when the competition is done, in a little under two hours. In terms of gymnastics status, Simone Biles has been a rocket ship! Bursting onto the scene a year ago to claim a national title, then backing it up with a world championship. And look at the huge margin for error she has. Jennifer Jareau, Maggie Nichols, Alyssa Baumann, and Kyla Ross may provide the most interesting battle tonight. Good evening everybody, I'm Al Trautwig, champions everywhere in the building tonight and I'm with two of them. Peter Daggett's dad, Tim, and Nastia Liukin. Tim, what is it that sets Simone Biles apart?"
"Well actually, you'll see it Al, in just about three minutes. She is just about the most powerful gymnast that I've ever seen on three events. She just gets... more air, higher than any female gymnast I've ever seen, she's awesome"
JJ was up for floor right after Simone, so during her younger teammate's routine, stayed near the stairs, Nick right at her side. She had looked up a few minutes before and had found all her friends and family; Will, his parents, and her parents were sitting about eight rows back from the commentary row along the vault side of the arena. About a block over was the group from the gym, decked out from head to toe in Romero's gear to cheer her on.
Simone's music filled the arena and the second night was underway. JJ didn't watch (she wanted to focus on her own routine), instead choosing to go over her choreography one more time on the sidelines. She heard the familiar thump of Simone punching her tumbles right into the floor, followed by the excited cheers. It was a new routine for Simone this year, and it sounded like it was just as exciting as the previous year's.
"Remember, drive your shoulders up out of the punch on each pass, and let your body follow through. It's been looking really good in training, so let's keep that momentum going," Nick said quietly as he stood just beside her.
It felt like seconds later that Simone was done and JJ was high fiving her on a great routine before heading up to the floor herself.
"So next up we have... Olympic silver medallist on this event, Jennifer Jareau. What would you say about JJ's chances for Worlds?"
"Oh, she's on that team, no doubt about it. JJ, Simone, and Kyla have all been exempt from the Pan American team, which leaves tomorrow, because Marta wants them rested and ready for Worlds"
"She had a pretty major injury just after last year's Worlds, do you think that's hindered where she's at, difficulty wise?"
"No, I would say she's basically at last year's level with her difficulty, her execution is actually better than last year. I think, for JJ, she's lucky that the injury occurred basically at the end of her competitive season, so she's had plenty of time to rest and recuperate. It did mean she had to miss the City of Jesolo Trophy earlier this year, but I think she would rather miss that than miss Worlds"
"On floor for Romero's, Jennifer Jareau!"
The cheer was ecstatic as JJ saluted with a huge smile and stepped out onto the carpet.
"Sounds like there's lots of people here for her tonight. She actually lives only about... half an hour from here, in the district of Allegheny, so I'm sure her friends and family have all made the journey here to support her"
Her music began, and invigorated with fresh energy, she dove straight into the choreography. She loved this particular floor routine, and she was sure it showed on her face as she danced to the corner.
Rebounding straight from the corner into her tumbling run, she focused on Nick's corrections. Tight shoulders, fast arms, let her body follow through.
The double layout came down from a height that JJ never expected to reach, landed completely solidly on the floor amongst excited cheers. She wasted no time in turning back and heading straight into her second; the piked Arabian. It was a little short, but it was to her feet, so she would take it.
She let the music flow through her as she danced through the routine, executing a clean double spin which followed through straight into her leap series. She found a moment amongst the choreography when she was able to make a connection with the judges, and took advantage of it.
Moments later, the third pass was upon her. She rebounded easily from the backflip into her double Arabian. This time, the momentum was too great, and a big step forward out of the landing put her over the boundary line.
The full-twisting double tuck followed, with a big hop forward at the end; her endurance on floor needed a little bit of work, as she had come up just a tad short, but she'd held on right through to the final pose. The music ended and she held it for a moment before stepping to the side and saluting the judges, looking up at the crowd and waving with a huge smile as she walked along the edge of the podium to the stairs.
"YEAH JJ! ROCK ON!"
Laughing, JJ looked to where her friends and family were sitting and was not at all surprised to see Lani on her feet pumping her fists in the air. She waved, punching the air with her fist, before jogging down the stairs to get a hug from Nick.
"Good job," Nick said happily as he hugged JJ tightly. "Endurance, but that's something we can build on"
Letting go of his gymnast, he smiled, turning with her to walk back towards their bags.
"Good job JJ!" Simone said excitedly as she ran over and threw her arms around JJ, almost knocking JJ off balance. Laughing, JJ hugged her back. The hug was brief, with Simone falling into step beside her older teammate on the way back to the group.
No sooner had the girls finished congratulating her on a hit routine than they were all facing back towards the competition floor, ready to cheer on the next competitors. Amelia Hundley was on the beam, and Kyla was waiting to go on floor.
While cheers of "come on Meals!" filled their side of the arena, JJ turned her attention to Kyla, whose poker face concealed any sort of nerves or worry. But JJ knew Kyla enough to know she was probably a little nervous, especially considering she had fallen on her first pass on the first night of competition.
"You got this Kyla!" she called out. Kyla turned, catching JJ's eye and giving her a small smile. JJ beamed, giving her a thumbs up. She knew Kyla would whip out a great routine no matter what, but felt it was still important to support her and encourage her as well.
The changeover to the second rotation reached them, and JJ was moving around to vault with Simone, Kyla, Mykayla Skinner, Macy Toronjo, and the couple of new seniors in their group whom she wasn't quite familiar with yet.
With her bag slung over Nick's shoulder as she adjusted her tiger paws, she looked up as they walked, and spotted two people standing with Andrea Joyce by the beam.
Her smile could've lit up the whole arena, an excited shriek escaping her as she ran over and threw her arms around Aly, making Andrea and Gabby laugh.
"Wow, I bet you guys haven't seen each other in ages!" Andrea remarked as JJ let go of Aly and hugged Gabby tightly.
"No, we haven't seen each other since Nationals last year," Aly laughed.
"We all video chat and text all the time, but it's just not the same as actually seeing each other," JJ said with a smile.
"Well, I'll keep the three of you for just a moment, since all three of you have your sights set on 2016. JJ, you've been sticking around, you've battled back from an injury, what is most important to you as you head through these final two years to Rio?"
"For me, it's just taking it one day at a time, and making sure I'm listening to my coach, my doctors, my rehab therapists, making sure we take care of minor injuries before they become problems... it'll all work together to help me make it to 2016," JJ replied with a smile from between her two friends.
"Gabby, we know it's a long road, but compare if you can, the gymnast you were when you left London to where you are now, specifically with skills, um, determination, all that stuff"
"Um, the gymnast that I am today, I would have to say I'm a little bit stronger this time, and a little bit more, um... you know, things have changed, like my perspective, you know, I'm a little bit more mature, so I know like what it takes, the experience, so you know, I'm a little bit better this time than I was before," Gabby said, her words spilling out in her trademark quick fashion.
"Aly, we know it is a long road, and we've seen other women in gymnastics try to make this comeback for a second Olympics. What do you think the biggest challenge is gonna be right now as you look ahead?"
Aly took a deep breath. "Um, I think right now I'm aiming for October training camp, the three of us, we're doing this together and I'm really glad we have each other's support, but I think the most important thing is just to stay positive and make sure we keep our conditioning up"
Andrea smiled. "You watched Simone Biles and how incredibly dominant she is, is it inspiring, or is it intimidating?"
"It's both!" Aly exclaimed, much to JJ and Gabby's laughter. "I mean, she's incredible, she is... she's better than incredible, there's no words to describe her. At the Secret Classic and both nights here, she's been absolutely amazing, she's sticking her tumbling passes, I'm so proud and so impressed with her"
"And Gabby, two years before London, you were fourth at juniors, are you afraid a little bit that there's some little Gabbys out there, waiting for that?"
Aly laughed as Gabby spoke up. "Uh no, no, I'm definitely happy that there are little Gabbys more now, you know to inspire them, to know that anything's possible, you know, so I'm happy"
"Alright, we look forward to seeing you guys down the road, and JJ, good luck for the rest of competition," Andrea closed off. The girls thanked her, and with one last hug to each of her friends and a promise to catch up before they left Pittsburgh, JJ headed back over to the vault.
"Come on JJ, you got it!"
"On vault for Romero's, Jennifer Jareau!"
The applause was undeniable as JJ saluted and stepped onto the runway. The roar had gone up to her left, and she'd had to fight hard to keep her focus on the skill ahead of her.
"This vault looked incredible at the Classic a couple of weeks ago, let's see if she can make it happen again"
Up in the stands, her parents watched on, nervously as always, as she took off, rocketing down the runway and hurdling onto the springboard. Her repulsion off the table was just as good as at the Classic, and with Nick's advice of wrapping the twist in even faster, she landed a good, strong, secure vault.
"Yes! That's my girl!" Michael cheered, leaping up from his seat as the crowd applauded her vault, Sandy right beside him with a cheer of 'good job!'.
After saluting the judges, she clapped her hands together, unable to hide her joy at how great her night was going. Beaming from ear to ear, she high fived Nick, before heading back to the end of the runway to complete the second of two vaults.
And the second vault left her feeling just as ecstatic as the first. It was a little higher and a little straighter than it had been at the Classic, proving her focus on blocking hard from the table had paid off. After a solid landing, she practically skipped down the stairs, getting a hug from Nick before walking back towards the bank of chairs. She looked up, spotting her parents in the crowd and giving them a wave, before turning her attention back to the girls who were coming up to congratulate her.
"She's having a great night. Now, after night one, Simone had a two point lead over her, so I don't think JJ can catch her, but she's still out there just rocking every routine and having fun!"
"Yeah, and I think, for JJ, that's the most important part, is that she's having fun. I mean, she's been through this cycle before, to go through it again without a break is an incredible effort, so her having fun through all of it is actually a pretty major priority"
"This is so crazy," William chuckled to his son. "I've never watched gymnastics anywhere other than on TV, it's all so different"
"Makes a bit more of an impression, doesn't it?" Will laughed. William nodded, watching everything going on around them in utter amazement.
"I never realised how... explosive it is in person. I've always known JJ was very strong, but you get a sense of just how powerful she is. Then of course there's that little one she's with, Simone?"
Will grinned. "She's a pocket rocket"
After Simone had vaulted (to much applause), JJ had rushed up to give her a tight hug, both of them laughing.
"I'm just calling you national champ now, ok?" JJ teased.
"Hey, you're the one who's absolutely killing it today! Does having your boyfriend in the crowd light a little fire under your butt?" Simone giggled, getting a light swat on the shoulder as they both reached the chair bank.
"Nice work Simone!" Nick praised, giving Simone a squeeze before the other girls all came up. Simone beamed, visibly thrilled with her own performance.
And, JJ thought, she had every right to be.
"Alright JJ, come on. You got this," Michael said softly as JJ saluted the bars judges about twenty minutes later. Sandy gripped his knee tightly; she was always nervous to watch JJ compete. Even after all these years.
She mounted the apparatus with a glide kip cast, executing the low bar turning skills that had been a staple of her routine. With easy flight, she transitioned up to the high bar.
"Come on... nice!" Michael called out, both him and Sandy fidgeting nervously in their seats with each skill JJ performed.
Her first release was a clear mile over the high bar.
"Catch it!" Michael yelled. "Yes!"
Pak salto to the low bar, Shaposhnikova to the high bar. Pirouette to ready herself for the dismount.
Two giant swings, and she released into her double layout.
"Stick it!" Sandy yelled, her grip on Michael's hand having turned deathly.
The thwack as JJ's feet hit the mats was a sure sign she'd landed it, much to her parents excitement. She had a large step forward on the dismount, due to the momentum of the release, but she'd completed the routine without major error.
"She is just on FIRE today! Don't let her injure herself again, because she is scarily good when she comes back, Simone might be in jeopardy!"
"You are honestly just getting better and better every time you get on the bars, you know that?" Nick said with a smile as JJ hugged him after coming down from the podium. "I'm really, really impressed with your improvement"
"I wanna swing bars like you!" came Simone's shriek as she hugged JJ tightly for the third time that night, making the other girls in their group laugh. "Bars QUEEN!"
"Hardly," JJ laughed. "Have you met Aliya Mustafina?"
"Hey, you're bars queen in my perfect world," Simone laughed, bounding happily alongside the older girl. JJ grinned, shaking her head; her friend really was a little firecracker.
The break between bars and beam had been slightly longer than usual, as USA Gymnastics had held a ceremony to honour the gymnasts of the 1984 Olympic team, including the American sweetheart, Mary Lou Retton.
JJ and Simone had both watched in awe. While JJ had already been to an Olympics, Simone had not just yet, and JJ knew the younger girl was wondering if that would be her someday.
Beam had gone exactly to plan, with no wild saves and no missteps. At that point in time, JJ would have needed a 17.266 to pass Simone for the national title, which was miles beyond her reach, but a 15.000 was more than enough for her to claim the silver medal.
So after a stuck dismount, a celebratory punch of the air as she left the podium, and hugs all around, JJ knew she'd done enough to win silver behind Simone, with Kyla trailing just a point and a half behind her.
She'd also taken out her fifth straight national title on beam, as well as earning silver on floor and bars, and much to her huge excitement, a bronze on vault.
She'd undoubtedly been named to the 2014-2015 US National Team, along with Simone, Kyla, Alyssa Baumann, Maggie Nichols, Mykayla Skinner, Amelia Hundley, Madison Kocian, Brenna Dowell, Ashton Locklear, and Madison Desch.
She'd walked into the arena's foyer nearly an hour later to a waiting crowd of friends, family, and people from her gym, much to her surprise.
"Hey, national champion again!" Michael crowed excitedly, wrapping his daughter in a tight hug. "Amazing, amazing job kiddo. You were on fire!"
"Thanks, I felt really good about everything I did tonight," JJ said with a smile as she accepted a hug from her mom. As soon as she was let go, Will wrapped his arms around her from behind and planted a kiss on her cheek. She blushed, but she was smiling from ear to ear as she spun around in his arms and reached up to kiss him.
"Get a room!" Lani called teasingly, earning an elbow to the ribs from Mackenzie as JJ and Will's parents laughed.
After the ride it had taken to get to Nationals, JJ was thrilled. She was still one of the best, and the people that mattered most to her were by her side, supporting her all the way.