A/N: I know it feels like JJ and her family seem way too ok for this point in time, but grief is weird as shit and different for everyone.

He woke up in a warm bed.

He stared at the ceiling for a moment, luxuriating in the deep full breaths he was finally able to take. He glanced around, trying to place it. He finally pushed back the blankets and stood up. The walls and floor were blank. He knew he had been here before but he didn't know when.

He walked out of the room and down a hallway. He ran his hand along the wood panelling when suddenly his mind clicked.

He was in the old ski cabin he had inherited from his uncle. He and Sandy had taken the kids there any time they had the chance, before it had burned down right as JJ entered school. Pictures began to spring up on the walls, with all the ones he loved smiling down on him. Piano music began to drift up the stairs, followed by a sweet voice that he hadn't heard in far too long. He hurried downstairs, stopping short when he saw her sitting at the old upright piano.

"Ros," he breathed.

She turned around and stood up, her face breaking into a huge smile. "Hi Daddy."

In an instant she was running towards him. She threw herself into his arms and he clutched her to his chest. How long had he dreamed about holding her again? She pulled back and looked up at him, her face still frozen at a perfect 17. She put a hand on his cheek.

"You got old," she teased lightly.

His eyes flooded with tears. "You didn't. Oh baby, why didn't you tell us? We would have done anything."

She smiled sadly and shrugged. "I didn't know how." She hugged him again. "I've missed you guys so much."

"We missed you too." A thought struck him. "Ros! JJ, she made-"

"The Olympic team. Twice! I know, I've watched."

"All of us?"

"Of course." She took his hand and led him to the old work out leather sofa. The TV switched on and then they were gazing upon Sandy.

She was sitting in the chair beside their bed, staring at where Michael's body had been just a few hours before. Her eyes were red and swollen, her entire body slumped.

"Oh honey." His chest ached for her.

"Was she like this after I died?" Ros asked quietly.

He put an arm around her and pulled her close. "Yeah. She held it together the best she could, especially since JJ was so young, but yeah."

"I couldn't watch. I mean, Grandpa met me, and he told me how but it just hurt so badly. Every time I would try I could see the pain I caused, and it made me feel so awful."

He gave her a squeeze. "It was hard. But we made it." He looked back at his wife on the screen. "She'll make it."

"When you want to switch, just think of the next person."

He shut his eyes and pictured Jason. When he opened them, his oldest was on the screen. He was lying in his bed, Katie lying on his chest. He was stroking her hair as she cried, his face heavy.

"They were thinking about maybe having a baby."

Michael's mouth fell open. "Really?"

Ros nodded. "Yeah. But with everything considered, it didn't seem like the right time."

"He'll be a wonderful dad."

"He learned from the best."

Michael pressed a kiss to her head. "You always were the best kiss up." He closed his eyes again, and when he opened them again his heart broke. JJ was huddled against her bathroom wall, her body shaking as she sobbed.

"She loves you so much."

Michael wiped at his eyes. "I'm afraid I may have ruined her second Olympics."

"She's determined to make you proud."

Will came into the bathroom and crouched in front of her for a moment before she threw her arms around him.

"I'm glad she has him."

"They're so sweet to each other. Although, be ready to switch off of her channel at any given moment when they're together. They go 0 to 60 really fast, and these things aren't censored."

"Oh good grief."

"I'm just warning you!"

They turned back to look at Will and JJ. "I'm gonna miss so much."

"No you won't. You'll get to watch all of it."

"But it's not the same."

"No," she agreed. "Not really." She stood up. "I'm going to give you some time to get settled, but I'll be back."

He furrowed his brow. "You don't live here?"

She smiled. "This is your Home, not mine. But all you have to do is ask and I'll come."

"Everyone has their own Home?" She nodded. "But how does that work? Is it just an endless-"

She laughed. "Always the lawyer. Don't worry about the how."

He stood up and gave her another right hug. "I've missed you so much Roslyn."

"I missed you too, Daddy. I love you so much."

Her head felt like lead from the moment she opened her eyes the next morning. It was still dark outside, the first rays of light just starting to peek over the horizon, meaning it had to be quite early.

Slowly pushing herself up, she sat there for a moment, her head clutched in her hands. She hurt all over. Her eyes were sore and swollen, her stomach was hurting something terrible, and the pain in her head was radiating down her neck and her back.

The heavy ache in her chest was weighing her down like a rock, but, as quietly as she could so as not to wake Will, she slowly climbed out of the bed and padded across the carpet to the door.

When she slipped out into the hallway, she could hear someone softly clinking a spoon in a mug downstairs. That had to be Katie; girl was the queen of the early risers, always wanting to get in an early morning gym session before tackling whatever the day held.

Crossing the landing, JJ turned the handle to her parents' room, realising as she did so that her hands were shaking.

"Mom?" she whispered as she pushed the door open and crept quietly into the room.

Her mom was lying on her side in the bed, which Olivia had clearly remade for her the previous evening, but JJ knew she was awake. Sure enough, at the sound of JJ's voice, her head popped up, her face flooded with tired relief.

Shuffling over so JJ could lie down beside her, Sandy gave her daughter a tired smile, even though it didn't quite hide the pain in her eyes.

"Did you sleep at all?" JJ asked softly, resting her head on the pillow as she took her mom's hands.

"A little," Sandy replied. "I kept... kept dreaming about your dad"

JJ felt the tears coming back with a fresh vengeance, stinging her eyes terribly as she reached up to wipe them away.

"What about you?" Sandy asked, tucking JJ's hair back away from her eyes. "You of all people need your rest"

"I got some sleep," JJ breathed. "Will came over after I texted him... I'm glad he did"

"So am I," Sandy agreed softly. "I was worried that you were all alone in your room, letting your head get the better of you"

"Are we going to be ok?" JJ asked, her voice catching in her throat as she looked her mother straight in the eye.

Fighting back a sob, Sandy pulled JJ into her arms, holding her tight in the way only a mother could do, kissing the top of her head.

"Of course we will," she whispered. "Right now, it hurts like hell... but given some time... I think we'll be ok"

"Aly, you've been through this experience of making an Olympic team before, how does this time around compare to your run for 2012?"

Aly took a deep breath, considering her words carefully as she leant a little closer to her microphone. Tuesday morning in San Jose was another day filled with press and media, before all the girls flew back to their home cities that afternoon. "It's… at the same time, it's both a very similar but also a very different experience. The level of work hasn't changed. If anything, I've probably had to work harder this time around because I took time off after London and spent a good couple of months just getting back to the level of fitness I needed to be at. Proving yourself and making one Olympic team is hard enough, let alone doing it twice"

"Do you feel like you are stronger than you were in London, or at the same level?"

"I think I'm probably stronger. My skills are cleaner and I feel more confident in my routines-"

Her phone buzzed quietly against the table, cutting her off and making her look down. Her eyes landed on a text from Will, the words making her stomach drop.

Al, I know you're probably busy… I just wanted to make sure you knew… Michael passed away last night. I'm… so sorry to deliver it like this, I just don't think anyone is able to actually say it right now.

She felt like she couldn't breathe. She stared in disbelief at the screen, her hands shaking as she gingerly closed her fingers around the phone to pick it up.

"Aly?"

"I… I'm sorry, I have to… I can't… I'm sorry," she stammered out, her voice shaking as she clumsily got out of her chair. She hurried along the dais behind Simone and Laurie's chairs, leaving behind her three confused teammates and a gaggle of bewildered reporters.

In the corner of the room were her parents, standing talking with Mihai and Simone's parents. As she approached them, she lost her composure. Tears ran full force down her face as she ran towards her mom, suddenly feeling like a scared child who just needed comfort.

"Aly?" Lynn asked, breaking off their conversation. "What's wrong?"

"JJ's dad," Aly choked out through tears. "He died last night, Will just messaged me"

Lynn was quick to wrap her daughter into a tight hug, even as the colour drained from her face. They had all known it was coming. It had been this way for months. But to actually lose him… and to have it happen the night after JJ had made the team… it felt like it was more heartbreaking than they ever could have anticipated.

"Is JJ ok?" Lynn asked thickly.

"I don't know," Aly sobbed. "Will didn't say"

Lynn took a deep breath as Rick came and put his arms around both of them, leaving the Biles and Mihai to watch on in confused sadness.

"Why is this so upsetting to me?" Aly cried, clutching at her mom. "He's not even my dad"

"But he's your best friend's dad and he's been a part of your life nonetheless. You've been empathising with JJ all year about everything she's been going through, and you are more than entitled to feel sad about this," Rick said gently, rubbing Aly's back. Aly pulled away from her mom, hiccuping through her tears.

She had no idea what to expect from the days and weeks to come.

Needing to get out of the house, JJ had made the snap decision to go to training as usual. Will had not seen the point of trying to dissuade her, and had insisted upon driving her, not wanting her to drive in the state she was in. So just before eight, he dropped her off outside the gym, promising to pick her up when she was finished.

As she entered the gym slowly, JJ felt like a mess. Half of her felt completely numb, while the other half wanted to collapse in a crying heap somewhere. She was devastated, naturally, but her determination to power forward was overriding everything else. Already, she could tell grieving was going to be a messy process, but for now, she wanted to throw herself into her routines and focus on preparing for the Olympic Games.

Teagan passed her as she was walking towards the cubbies to put her bag away, giving her a chirpy 'hello' as she grabbed some sandpaper off the table next to reception; she and Elliott were clearly elbow deep in preparing the bars for the day's training, and that involved scraping off built up layers of water and chalk.

Pulling her grips bag out of her main bag, she carried them around the trampolines to the edge of the floor, dropping them down beside her as she started stretching in place.

"Hey superstar, hope you're feeling a little more alive than I am this morning. That flight on Sunday night was horrendous, my old man back is hating me," came Nick's joking voice as he walked by carrying a chalk bucket, a grin lighting up his features as he spoke. He was only half expecting it when JJ burst into tears the second he had finished speaking.

"Hey... hey," he said softly, setting down the chalk bucket and approaching her calmly. He said nothing as he gently pulled JJ into his embrace and hugged her tightly. "What's going on today?"

She was crying in a way that he'd never seen from her before. The sobs emanating from her petite frame were much deeper than any of those she'd uttered before. Whereas Sunday night's tears had been of relief, joy, and yet, sadness, these tears were forming a weight like a rock in Nick's stomach.

Surely not...

"JJ," he breathed, just loud enough for her to hear. "Did your dad pass away yesterday?"

It was a moment before JJ responded, never lifting her head, instead choosing to nod into Nick's chest. A painful ache tore through his chest, his eyes burning with tears as he held JJ even tighter, wanting to do nothing more than pull her away from the pain she was feeling. She really was like a daughter to him. He had known her nearly all her life, and he had never seen her as broken as she was right now. And it broke his heart, completely in two, to see his talented star gymnast, the girl who had grown immeasurably in confidence and maturity over the last four years, dealing with the grief of losing her father.

On the other side of the gym, Teagan turned to Elliott, looking immensely worried.

"What's happened?" she asked quietly. Elliott looked incredibly sombre.

"I think her dad might have died," he said in a heavy undertone. Avoiding Teagan's gaze, he hung his head, heading back over to the bars and focusing his energy on tightening the tension cables, so as not to let anyone see that his eyes had just gotten awfully bright.

"JJ, you need to go home," Nick said gently, pulling away and bending down slightly so he could see JJ's face. She looked up at him, her blue eyes swimming in the tears that were dripping onto her jacket, shaking her head.

"I can't... I want to train, we leave for camp on Sunday," she said tearfully.

"I know, but I'm telling you... not today. One day off is not going to hurt you, I promise. What is going to hurt you is training when I think what you need to do is go home and spend time with your family," Nick said, reaching out and wiping away the tears tracking down JJ's cheeks. "Believe me, you'll be glad you took a day off"

Burying her face in her hands, JJ's shoulders shook with sobs again as Nick pulled her back in for another tight hug.

"I'm so sorry kiddo... you and your family don't deserve this"

After making sure JJ was safely on her way with Will, Nick retreated down the hallway to his office, avoiding every other staff member he saw on the way. He was in no mood to speak to anyone.

He wrenched the door open, bursting into his office and slamming it shut behind him so hard that the window out to the car park shook. He was seething, anger to grief and everything in between radiating off of his shaking form.

He had known Michael was going to die. But part of him had hoped, for JJ's sake, for a miracle, a miracle that would have let Michael continue to see JJ succeed, to walk her down the aisle, to watch his children go on into happy and successful lives. Now, he had to watch JJ cope with the grief of having lost her dad, someone who Nick knew firsthand had always been incredibly important in her life. While not made of stone, JJ was normally so strong, so calm and collected... seeing her so heartbroken was killing him. He hated cancer. He'd hated it when it took the life of his uncle, when he'd watched his normally stoic father crying over the loss of the only brother he had ever had. Even as a young child then, he had hated the disease that brought that pain on his father. Now that it was tearing his gymnast apart, he hated it more than he ever had before, the anger and vitriol shaking through his entire body. He had watched JJ grow from the age of four into the incredible young woman she now was, and he always had a place in his heart for her, a place that mirrored that of a daughter.

Whirling around in rage, he blindly threw a punch. The pain of his fist hitting the heavy wooden door didn't even register with him as he leant heavily against the desk on shaking arms, blood running from his injured knuckles.

Now, more than ever, he was going to have to be JJ's rock. He always had been, but now, he would have to step up even further.

He would do whatever it took to get her through the next month and a half.

That was the only thing he was absolutely certain of.