A/N: I'm excited, you guys have no idea what's coming.

"The women of gymnastics have come from the ranch to Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri to find out who this year's national champion is. If it's Simone Biles, it would be four in a row, and that has never happened before. Jennifer Jareau wants the Olympics more than ever after a year of personal turmoil, and she looks poised to reclaim her Olympic title on beam. Gabby Douglas looks to be a returning Olympian as the all-around gold medalist. That hasn't happened since Nadia. Her teammate, Aly Raisman, followed the Olympics into Dancing with the Stars, and she wants the Olympics again. Maggie Nichols returns to competition after a couple of knee surgeries, and she's trying to smile her way into the Olympic picture at this late date as well. And then there's… Laurie Hernandez. She's got that special something in Marta's eyes. And little Ragan Smith has her own big hopes! The road to Rio continues in St Louis!"

41 days.

The opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games was just 41 days away.

The four years since London had gone so fast, JJ couldn't believe she was standing there, right in the middle of the selection process again. Even though the time had flown, so much had happened in that time that in the same instant, it felt like forever.

"NBC Sports presents the 2016 P&G Gymnastics Championships. Not far from the majestic Mississippi River is St Louis University, and we're in Chaifetz Arena for two nights of competition, tonight and Sunday, which will determine the 2016 national champion. Hi everybody, Al Trautwig, along with my favourite gold medalists, Tim Daggett and Nastia Liukin, Andrea Joyce is with us too"

In an effort to keep her focus and stay calm and collected, JJ had barely paid attention to the first rotation after the meet had entered broadcast. She herself had gone through her floor routine, scoring a 15.500 to open her night on a solid effort. Despite the fact that she had been working relentlessly on her upgrades and was feeling more than confident with them, she had decided to play it safe for nationals in order to secure her place at the Trials in two weeks time.

The second rotation took her to vault, where she would be debuting the upgraded second vault she had been working on, the colloquially named 'Mustafina'.

As she was waiting, she allowed herself a moment to watch Simone take the floor. Watching her friend dance and tumble with the joy and fun she carried everywhere she went, JJ felt a tug of emotion in her chest.

41 days until Simone became an Olympian. 41 days until Simone made her dreams come true.

It was the unspoken definite that everyone knew. And thinking of how hard Simone had worked, how much she had achieved over the quad, knowing that she was without a doubt, going to Rio, made JJ feel a little heady for her friend.

But before too much longer, it was JJ's turn to vault.

"So now we'll go over to the vault with Jennifer Jareau. She's had a good start, with a strong floor routine… I'm still waiting for that upgrade she's apparently been working on. I'd imagine she's just trying to secure a place at the Olympic Trials before she busts out the big skills"

"She's had a really rough year… she found out just after the American Cup that her dad's cancer is now terminal, so for her to be here while dealing with that is nothing short of incredible"

"She's definitely a lot more subdued than she normally is, but the gymnastics is as good as ever"

Green flag. Off she went.

Her conditioning and training had helped improve her stamina for her vaulting, and that meant her run was more powerful than ever. Blocking hard from the table, she twisted through the air, landing the Amanar easily on her feet.

"Beautiful! That was a really good vault from her!"

"Watch your hand placement on the table, if they're too turned in you'll hurt your shoulder," Nick called as he came up to readjust the board. Nodding, JJ adjusted her wrist guards as she went back to the end of the runway.

She zoned out for a moment as her score went up, focusing her mind on the second vault. She was determined to make it as good as the first.

Saluting, she stepped back onto the runway as her green flag was lowered.

Taking off again, she rocketed towards the table. Her half turn from the board to the table was swift, allowing her to drive her legs up into the air and propel herself forwards, all the while wrapping in a full twist.

She had to bend her knees more than she would have liked to absorb the landing, but she managed it with only a small step, successfully completing the vault.

"Very good. Almost reminiscent of McKayla. A little more height and she'll have it downpat for Trials!"

Having been lost in her own world all day, she was barely aware of anything around her as she swung around the bars. All her focus was purely on her hands and their movement on the apparatus.

Catching as she transitioned from low to high, she kipped up, before swinging down into her Tkatchev skill. She reached out to re-grasp on the other side, but seconds later, she was on the mat on her knees, earning a gasp from the watching crowd nearest to her.

"OH! That's too bad!"

Breathing deeply, she stood up, readjusting her grips quickly as Nick gave a call of encouragement from beside the mat. He moved in behind her, his strong hands gripping her waist and helping her as she jumped up to re-grasp the high bar. She took a few short swings to regain her momentum, before pulling herself back up to handstand.

Swinging down, she released into her Pak transition, flipping cleanly through the air. But once again, as she re-grasped the low bar, her hand slipped, killing her momentum in a second and bringing her down onto her feet on the mat.

Halfway through and she'd now fallen twice. She was frustrated, all she wanted to do was walk away and yell, but she had to finish it.

"Take a moment, breathe, and remember your training. If you make another mistake, evaluate whether it's worth finishing," Nick said encouragingly as he walked up behind her.

Because she had fallen before swinging beneath the low bar, she had to redo the Pak transition in order to gain the credit for the element. And so it was that she moved back to stand beneath the high bar, before jumping up to grab the bar, and pulling herself back into handstand.

This time, she completed the skill with no problems, but her muscles were tiring fast. The rest of the routine went off without a hitch, but tiny mistakes filled the gaps, and by the time she reached the dismount, she was silently fuming at herself.

Exhausted, but determined, she tapped into her dismount, her body soaring into the air as she twisted and flipped in a completely stretched position.

Seconds later, her feet hit the mat, but she was so underrotated that she staggered forward, throwing her hands down to the mat to catch herself. The lump in her throat immediately welled into tears which she fought back with tremendous vigour as she turned and saluted the judges.

"Oh boy… that's rough. That's three points off just for the two falls and touching the mat with her hands on the dismount. She usually hovers around the mid to high 8s for execution on bars, but even the skills that she didn't fall on weren't up to her usual standard… I'd say her execution is going to be around a 5, a 6 at the absolute best, bringing the entire routine up to a maximum of 12.5"

"Sheesh, that's harsh"

Without a word as she descended the podium in near tears, Nick put an arm around her shoulders and led her along the edge of the arena floor and towards the curtains that led to the back rooms.

Once they were in the hallway, away from the cameras and the eyes of the audience, Nick came to a stop, turning and facing JJ as she undid her grips and slipped them down her wrists free of her hands.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

Knowing if she spoke she was just going to bust out in tears, JJ chose to simply nod.

"I know you already know this, but I want you to push it out of your mind. It's done, and now all you can do is come back stronger"

"I was a disaster," JJ breathed, tears spilling down her cheeks as she finally lifted her gaze to look at her coach.

Nick frowned slightly as he reached out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"JJ… you've had worse routines… you nearly broke your nose last year and didn't even finish… why is this one upsetting you?"

"Because I came here to make Dad proud, I came here to make this team… Marta's going to be so disappointed. My ability to do bars has always been a selling point for her and I just went and fucked that right up"

"JJ…," Nick started slowly. "At 2013 Nationals, you wigged yourself out on a transition and made a bunch of mistakes. The following year, you fell off bars in the World all-around final. Last year, you cracked your face on the high bar and collectively scared the shit out of everyone in the building"

"I really hope this is building up to a compliment," JJ said darkly.

Nick grinned. "What I'm getting at is that you and bars haven't always been a golden combination. But your selling point is that you have never failed to hit bars when it counts most, most importantly in the team competition, and Marta is fully aware of that. What happened out there is no different to what happened last year, and if I know you at all, you're going to absolutely knock it out of the park tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, there's still Trials"

JJ sniffed, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

"I think this is upsetting you mostly because of everything else you have going on right now… you feel like you're letting people down… like you're letting your dad down"

JJ shrugged.

"JJ, you could fall on every event and finish dead last by ten points and that man would probably buy you a chocolate cake to celebrate"

At that, she had to laugh.

"You're not letting anyone down by having a rough routine. So chin up… you've still got beam, and I don't want you to let this carry over"

Taking a deep breath, JJ nodded, allowing Nick to pull her into a hug, before the two of them headed back out onto the floor.

She had angry beamed her way through the final rotation, earning a crowd stirring 16.166 that even got applause from Marta.

After her upset on bars, she was incredibly proud of herself for pulling through the final rotation like nothing had happened. An abysmal 11.533 for bars had stirred something deep inside her, and she was more determined than ever to make night two a better affair to remember.