A/N: Enjoy!

"I feel like you probably knew this already, but... your dad and I won't be at Worlds this year"

Despite the fact that her mom was right about her already knowing, JJ's stomach sank. Even so, she didn't want her to hear the disappointment in her voice. Trying to fight it, she forced a smile onto her face, putting the phone on speaker as Aly squeezed into the seat beside her. They were cramming onto the bus getting ready to head to Houston International Airport, bags full of gear being loaded up after them.

"He's not well enough to travel that far. We've booked another appointment with the doctor, but the earliest we could get in is the day before the team final"

"It's ok. The most important thing is that Dad gets better," she said softly as Aly draped an arm over her shoulders.

"She can share my parents Sandy, they'll look after her," Aly said with a smile.

"I don't doubt that for a second," Sandy chuckled. "And your dad's side of the family will be there, they're all so excited to watch you compete again"

"What do they think is going on with Dad anyway? He's been sick for ages," JJ asked.

Sandy shrugged. "One doctor thinks it's one of those long term viruses that's just impossible to shake off, another one thinks it's glandular fever, one of them even said he's just getting old, to which your dad basically told him to stick that idea up his ass"

JJ and Aly laughed.

"I don't know what's going on with him, but he's still up and about, he's just lethargic and feels crappy. His regular GP thinks it's IBS, but no-one seems to think it's serious... it's just figuring out what it actually is"

"Yeah. Well, give him a hug for me," JJ said warmly.

"I will. Let me know when you guys arrive in Scotland. I'm sorry we can't be there, but we'll be watching every session on NBC, don't you worry"

"I know. I love you," JJ said, smiling.

"I love you too sweetheart"

Getting to Glasgow had been the easy part. An intense week of training, followed by podium training, followed with more training, had left the girls feeling completely wrecked. Even Simone wasn't her usual bubbly self, and the stress and pressure everyone was under was starting to wear thin across the whole team.

Qualifications had not gone to plan. Simone had been largely ok on each event, as had JJ, but the other girls had experienced some issues. Aly had by far been the worst of the lot. Running out of her Amanar, falling on bars, missing just about every connection in her beam routine, and going out of bounds on floor had left the usually strong and stoic Aly Raisman quite shaken and upset with herself. As a result of her mistakes, she had not advanced to any of the individual finals.

Simone had qualified first to the all-around, vault, and floor, as well as qualifying in second to the beam final. She'd been shaky, but had kept it together enough to be unbothered by everything going on around her, as was by now expected of her.

JJ had made it through to every single individual final, a first for her in international competition. Her bars routine had only just scraped past Gabby for the final, something that had surprised the US delegation. She was, as expected, leading the pack on beam, and charging ahead behind Simone on floor and in the all-around. Capping off her qualifications was her entry into the vault final, in a steady fourth place with potential to move up if she tidied up her execution.

Gabby had performed strongly to help the team qualify for the team final, but individually, her scores had not been strong enough to make it into the individual finals. Had it not been for the two per country rule, however, she would have easily made it in third to the all-around final, and would have qualified to the bars final. Maggie was in the same boat. Her strong performances had gotten them through to the team final, but she was just under the cut for individual finals, having been two per countried out of the floor final after scoring lower than JJ and Simone. She had experienced issues on floor in the qualification round, the most major of them being that her music had failed to play. Fearing a disqualification as the timer ticked further and further down, she had simply started, completing her routine with no music, much to the applause and encouragement of the crowd in the SSE Hydro. The judges had rewarded her well for the very valiant attempt, but not high enough to make the final.

The last of the bunch was Madison, who at her second Worlds, had performed well enough on her sole event, the uneven bars, in the opening round to help the team qualify, as well as qualifying herself to the event final.

Despite the nerves and shakiness that had come through, the hardest job was done. The team was qualified directly to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio the following summer, and they were looking to build in finals as some of the pressure eased.

Besides... gymnastics was supposed to be fun.