A/N: Again, a lot of what's coming up is pre-written, because most of the stuff from this point on I was already happy with, so up until the point of the original version being left off, I should be able to update pretty quickly!

Numb, in shock, and void of any residual emotion, JJ had spent the day in training simply going through the motions. Mistakes that would normally have frustrated her had absolutely no effect; when she fell from the beam in morning practice, she had simply pulled herself up with absolutely no sign of emotion on her face. It had concerned both Marta and Nick, and had led to a great deal of hushed conversations between the coaches. Not that JJ had been particularly bothered to care.

The other girls had not been told of what was going on, but JJ knew Aly had told them something, because it felt like they were tiptoeing around her. Aly and Simone had taken it upon themselves to keep an eye on her, with Aly offering more reassurance than usual, and Simone keeping her usual bubbly demeanour a normal thing to try and keep JJ's mind from wandering back home. For both of them, JJ was silently appreciative. With the team final looming and the previous evening's news playing in her mind, Aly and Simone were keeping her grounded by simply being their kind-hearted selves.

"Your mother and I are so proud of you. Go out there and keep kicking ass, ok?"

Her father's sweet parting words had been playing on a loop in her head all day, chasing away the saddened thoughts that wanted to take up residence. Two simple sentences were doing the monumental task of reminding her to just breathe. To take it one step at a time even when she felt like she was close to breaking down.

They were now on the bus to the SSE Hydro Arena, dressed and ready for the team final. A leotard in a deep red, adorned with a vortex swirl of Swarovski crystals, coupled with a crimson lip was more than certainly the way to go. It oozed confidence, and threw back to the Olympic team final of 2012. That, coupled with the fact that the girls were back in Great Britain for the first time since their historic win meant they were feeling more than ready to tackle the challenge the final was sure to bring.

As they crawled slowly down the jam packed road towards the arena, JJ's phone buzzed in her hand. Turning it over, she saw Will's caller ID lighting up her screen. Barely hesitating, she answered it, lifting the phone to her ear.

"Hey," she said softly as Aly put in her earphones to give JJ a little more privacy.

"Hey... you ok?"

JJ took a deep breath, biting her lip as she glanced out towards the sidewalk. "Do you know what's going on?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

"Yeah... your mom called me a little while ago... she sounds really worried about you"

"I'm fine," JJ said quietly, but even to her, it didn't sound that convincing.

"JJ, I know you... you've been torturing yourself over it since you spoke to him"

JJ let out a half hearted laugh. "Will... you may think you know me, but please... don't do this now"

"JJ-"

"No," JJ said sharply, her voice cracking and her eyes burning with tears. She dropped her voice to barely above a whisper as she sunk down in her seat so no-one would see her face. "We're on the way to the arena for the team final, Will, I don't care if you want to pick a fight with me later over the worst news I've ever received, but please, please don't do it now"

"Ok," Will conceded softly. "I'm sorry. I don't want to upset you. I'm not trying to pick a fight, Jayje, I just... I want you to know that you can talk to me. Honestly. About anything you're feeling. I just don't want you to suffer through this by yourself"

"Will?"

"Yeah?"

Swallowing hard to fight back the lump in her throat, JJ allowed a few stray tears to slip down her cheeks. Wordlessly beside her, Aly reached over and squeezed her free hand.

"Tell me it's going to be ok"

"Oh beautiful... it's going to be just fine. Your dad is a million times tougher than a few pesky cells. He's going to be just fine darlin'. And you're goin' to go out there with your girls and kill it like you always do, and we're all going to be watchin' prouder than we've ever been before"

Sniffing back more tears before it could ruin her makeup, JJ forced a smile onto her face. "Thank you"

"Any time," Will said sweetly. "I'll let you go, ok? Just promise me one thing. Don't forget how much we love you"

"I love you too"

"Think of how I'll be able to hear your dad cheering and screaming from my apartment"

Letting out a genuine laugh, JJ sat up a little bit more.

"Good luck gorgeous. You're gonna be amazing"

The phone call with Will had proved just the little lift JJ needed to get through the final. They were three rotations down, one to go, and all had so far gone perfectly to plan. The atmosphere in the SSE Hydro was electric, with the competition floor illuminated to make the girls competing feel as if they were truly the stars of their own show. The British fans were energising, and JJ had found herself feeling happily nostalgic for the London Olympics.

JJ was competing all-around for the team, and while it was usually an exhausting decision, today, it was more of a help than a hindrance; her momentum had started off well on vault and she was tracking well with all of her performances. Being in the lineup for all four events had left her with barely any time to get lost in her thoughts, making her gymnastics the perfect distraction. Maggie, in her first major international final, was proving to be a strong and levelheaded competitor who could be counted on to hit when it mattered; even though she was only performing on vault, she had started off incredibly strong for what was now a commanding lead.

Bars had seen Russia close the gap, but only slightly; with JJ, Gabby, and Madison all working bars, they had put up three very consistent scores that had all broken 15. JJ had personally nailed her routine, proving her growing strength and consistency on the apparatus and as an all-arounder. Gabby had also nailed her routine, scoring marginally higher on her signature event than JJ had, but had paved the way for Madison to close out with another solid performance.

Beam in the third rotation had been the game changer. The Americans had seen little to no trouble. Aly had started them off, managing to piece together all the connections that had given her trouble in the qualifying round, delivering a strong set to get the ball rolling on the event. Simone had followed, her confidence only skyrocketing further when she dismounted with little more than a wobble to deduct for. And JJ had proved yet again why she was the reigning World and Olympic champion, with her upgraded difficulty audibly impressing the watching crowd.

But Russia had come to blows. All three of their gymnasts, Maria Kharenkova, Seda Tutkhalyan, and the returning Viktoria Komova, had all counted a fall into their routines. The three point deficit had dropped them down in the standings significantly, opening the door up for Japan, or the chasing Great Britain to get themselves onto the podium. Their turn on floor had not much improved that standing; they hadn't fallen, but the routines would have needed to be significantly better to hold onto a bronze medal.

Aly had gone first for them on floor, with Marta wanting a secure and calm start to their final rotation, and had posted a great score of 15.075 to start them off, much better than her qualifying.

Immediately following Aly's floor routine, Ellie Downie of Great Britain, had delivered the final performance of Team GB's final, a respectably solid double twisting Yurchenko. JJ had watched from the other side of the arena as Ellie rejoined her teammates, a little breathless from what she had just done. Having fallen on bars earlier in the evening, it must have felt incredible to deliver such a strong resurgence.

With chills going down her spine and her already emotionally strained heart aching with happiness, JJ had watched as Ellie's score came in, putting Great Britain into second behind China, meaning they were taking home their first ever World team medal. The arena had seemingly exploded with cheers, the British coaches up in the stands bursting into tears as the seven girls all hugged and shed tears of relief and joy. For Becky and Ellie Downie, Claudia Fragapane, Ruby Harrold, Kelly Simm, Amy Tinkler, and Charlie Fellows, it was a monumental moment. It wasn't gold, but to them, it might as well have been.

And now, JJ was on the floor, readied in her starting pose.

Her upbeat music started, and she took to the floor. Straightaway she was running down the diagonal, hurdling into her first tumbling run, her double double. After nailing it at Nationals, it had been worked to the grindstone at selection camp.

And it paid off, with her feet hitting the ground and never moving much to the applause of the watching crowd.

She danced through her choreography, the world around her melting away as she focused just on herself and her music.

A flighty double layout followed as her second tumbling run; a little piked down on the landing, but still strong nonetheless.

The music slowed, flowing into the section that matched Aly's (probably much to the amusement of the audience), allowing her to breathe and focus on the dance elements of her routine. Her leap series was powerful, sure to have hit 180 degrees of split, followed by her double Y turn, which she had a wobble at the end of. Nothing too major.

Before the music changed back to the faster piece, she ran into her third run, a double Arabian in the tucked position, connected beautifully to a stag leap.

And then it picked up the pace. Her final tumbling run, her full in double tuck, was put effortlessly to her feet, seconds before she struck her final pose with a sharp flourish, her eyes growing bright under the arena lights.

As upset as she'd been the previous evening, she'd pulled it together. The girls had needed her to be in top form, and she'd done so, going out and delivering four very strong routines that she knew had made her mom and dad incredibly proud.

A tight hug from Aly and then from Nick as she'd descended the podium had threatened to open the floodgates, but she'd held it together, gradually pulling her emotions back in check so she could cheer on her younger teammate for the final routine of the evening.

Simone had undoubtedly delivered, her difficulty and execution combination soaring well above the pack with her natural performance value to net the USA their third straight World team title.

And not only that. Now that they had not only qualified to Rio, but stormed ahead of the rest for the win, the pressure was on.

In nine months time, they would be expected to deliver yet again for the biggest prize of all.

The Olympic team gold.