A/N: I really like this chapter, please leave your thoughts in a review!

Clearing security at the airport had been the most difficult part of getting to Rio. With inbound flights coming from all corners of the globe, carrying athletes and tourists alike, the immigration lines had been nothing short of insane.

After saying their goodbyes to Mykayla, Gabby, and Ragan, who were heading to Team USA's alternate lodging in Ipanema, they had boarded a bus that was shuttling Olympic team members from the airport to the Olympic Village. Exhausted as they were from the flight, the girls couldn't help but watch in wonder as the world of Rio de Janeiro cruised by them from the other side of the windows. Rio 2016 banners lined just about every fence and wall they passed, great splashes of green in a city that seemed to be coming back to life.

The armed guards at the entrance to the village were something the girls hadn't been expecting, but by the time they had gotten off the bus and through processing, it had been pushed to the back of their minds.

"I'm gonna take a nap. Forever. Wake me up when it's time to go home," Aly groaned as she fell onto her bed in the room she and JJ were sharing.

"Grandma Aly is willing to nap through medals?" JJ teased, heaving her bag up onto her own bed, which was adorned with a brightly coloured Rio 2016 duvet. "Just FYI, I'm shoving one of these duvets in my bag before we leave, and if it doesn't fit, it's going in yours"

"Sure thing," Aly chuckled, rolling over and pulling the drawer of the bedside table out; in London, the Olympic organizers had left a collection of pins in every bedside table in the Village. Surely Aly was hoping to nab some more.

"I'm going to call Will, let him know we're alive," JJ said, already dialing Will's number on her phone.

It rang nearly six times before he eventually picked it up.

"Hey"

"Hey," JJ said with a frown; he sounded cranky. "Please try and contain your excitement to be hearing from me"

"Ok smartass. You're in Rio, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, we've just gotten to our rooms now. Aly's ready for a nap"

"Of course she is"

"Oh wow, check this out JJ!" Aly suddenly exclaimed, practically diving into the nightstand to reach something in the drawer.

JJ reached over, pulling open her own drawer. "How's my mom?"

"She's fine. We got back to Pittsburgh late last night and went straight to bed. Was your flight ok?"

"Yeah, nothing exciting," JJ replied, rifling through the drawer. She didn't immediately see what Aly was so excited over until she shuffled through all the goodies at the top. At the bottom of the drawer was a box labeled "Samsung", and from the picture on the top, it apparently contained a limited edition Samsung Galaxy S7, adorned with holographic Olympic rings.

In her ear, Will was huffing frustratedly over something in his vicinity.

"You ok?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed, the new phone clutched in her hand.

"Yes, I'm fine," Will replied, a grumpy edge on his voice.

Frowning, JJ tilted her head slightly as she listened to him. "Why are you in a bad mood?"

"I'm not in a bad mood," Will insisted, but the grumble in his voice gave it away immediately.

"Yes you are," JJ said, half a smile finding its way onto her face as Aly looked up with a grin. "What's going on?"

"I fucked up my phone last night when we got home… I dropped it as we were coming out of the terminal and the screen shattered into about a million pieces. It's practically fucking useless… I was looking up how much it'll cost to be repaired just before you called… might as well just a buy a new damn phone"

Looking down at the phone in her hand, JJ grinned. "You won't have to"

"You're not buying me a new phone JJ," Will said dryly.

"No… Samsung have given all the Olympic athletes a limited edition Galaxy S7… obviously I'm not going to use it because I have an iPhone… so you can have it, and then you don't have to buy a new phone, and I don't get stuck with a phone I'm never going to use"

"Seriously?" Will asked incredulously.

"Seriously," JJ affirmed. "You'll get to walk around with a phone that has holographic Olympic rings on it"

"You're sure you don't want it?"

"Will, I hate Samsung phones, I used to bitch about my da…," she trailed off, the stab of grief in her chest hitting harder than she'd expected it to. Shaking it away, she collected herself. "I just don't like them, so if you want it, it's yours"

Will paused for a moment; he'd clearly heard what JJ was about to say, and wondered briefly whether it was worth pressing her to talk. Reasoning that Aly had also heard it, and that that comment aside, JJ actually sounded ok, he decided to let it be for now.

"Thanks babe… that made my day. I can't wait to hurl this lunk of glass out now"

Managing a laugh, JJ shook her head. "I hope you didn't let fly with all your best curse words in front of my mom"

"She heard a few," Will chuckled. "She was laughin' actually, not about the phone, but at me swearin'… said it was funny because I'm normally 'such a gentleman'"

JJ snorted. "She needs her eyes checked"

"You chose me, no complainin'"

Looking up, JJ saw that Simone had come in and was eagerly beckoning for Aly and JJ to come with her. "Hey babe, I gotta go… Simone wants to go exploring," she said with a grin.

"Go have fun, ok? I'll call you when I get to Rio"

"I love you"

"I love you too JJ, don't ever forget it"

A few hours later, back in Pittsburgh, Will was setting about making dinner for himself and Sandy, while Sandy stood at the kitchen counter sipping a cup of coffee.

"You're sure I can't do something to help?" she asked softly as she set the mug down before herself.

Will smiled, shaking his head. "It's ok… kinda have my own rhythm I get into when I cook"

Sandy smiled fondly, her gaze falling just in front of her mug.

"That's what Michael used to say," she said quietly, a light yet sad chuckle lingering in her voice. "He'd never let me help him make a roast. Everything else was a two person job. But hell would have to freeze over before he'd let me near his precious roast"

Will chuckled, straightening up and leaning against the counter as he waited for the oven to warm up. "He was always very territorial about that, wasn't he?"

"That's one word for it," Sandy said with a smile that was almost a laugh. "'Sandy, you don't understand, there's a rhythm to making a roast, and I love you, but if you try to help me, it's going to be a disaster'"

Catching Will's eye, she couldn't help but laugh as the memory washed over her. Even though it was painful as anything, and she missed her husband terribly, it felt good to laugh over the memories.

"Thank you for all of this Will… staying here, cooking, cleaning… it means a lot. Makes it a little easier when there's company," she said sincerely. "Jason really appreciates it as well. I mean, he wanted to stay, but there's only so long he and Katie can be away from the dogs, especially seeing as they'll be in Rio for two weeks very soon as well"

Will nodded knowingly; Jason and Katie's two Rhodesian Ridgebacks were extremely clingy. They were looked after by the couple's neighbor when they were away, but having met them just once, Will knew they could be a handful for even the most prepared and hardy of dog people.

"It's no trouble… I didn't really want you to be here by yourself after everything that's happened, and I know JJ was worried as well"

Sandy sighed, picking up the mug again. "Personally I think we should be a little more concerned about her… losing a loved one is hard enough at the best of times, but when you're representing your country at the Olympic Games… well, that's a whole different can of worms"

"You think she won't be able to handle it?"

"Oh, look, she's JJ, I think she'll manage the Games reasonably fine, she'll maybe just be a little more emotionally fragile than usual, but… I think we might have some fallout to deal with when she gets home. Because she's going to push it all down and not deal with it, and then she'll come home and she won't have gymnastics to throw herself into and she'll just explode"

Will grimaced slightly; Sandy couldn't have described JJ more accurately if she tried.

"What about you?" he asked gently. "How are you handling it?"

Sandy fell silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. Tapping her fingertips against her mug, she pursed her lips for a moment, before looking back up at Will.

"I'm… ok," she said truthfully. "Not great, but not terrible either. The way I look at it is… we were lucky. We had time. We knew Michael was going to leave us, and hard as that was, we had time to mentally prepare for that. Some people aren't that lucky. They go to work and they're killed in a car accident on the way home, and you just get thrown into this horrible pool of grief and tragedy. What we went through, and are still going through, it sucks, there's no two ways about it… but in my eyes… we were very lucky to have had the time with Michael that we did, and I will always be grateful for that. It's going to make this messy grieving process just that little bit easier. And I know that he wouldn't want us to be moping around, sad, and missing him all the time… he'd want us to go on and continue our lives. I mean, look at JJ. We might all know she's a bit of an emotional wreck on the inside, but she's forging on, because it's what she wants, and it's what he wanted her to do. So I just… get up every morning… and tackle the day as it comes, and try to go on as best I can… because that's exactly what Michael would want me to do"

Will had to swallow back the lump in his throat. He'd always known that JJ's quiet strength and tenacity had been inherited from her mother, but it was blowing him away just how strong Sandy could be in the face of such a devastating turn of events for her family.

"But let's talk about something else," Sandy said with a gentle smile. "How are you feeling about watching the Olympics?"

"Stressed," Will replied immediately, making Sandy laugh.

"Wait 'til you see Lynn Raisman in action. My god, I wouldn't be surprised if she's already pulling her hair out"

"It's just such a big thing, and the girls have a lot of pressure on them," Will said quietly. Glancing down at the oven, he noticed the warming light was off. Grabbing the tray with the cut of meat on it, he opened the oven door. "I feel like I probably won't breathe until it's over"

"You won't. You think it'll be the same as Worlds, and then you get there and there's just Olympic freakin' rings everywhere and every time you're watching her compete, you have those rings burned into the back of your mind, and deep down you know it's so much bigger than anything else. It's an incredible experience to have… but it's stressful as well. The girls will handle it a lot better than we will," Sandy chuckled. Will closed the oven door, straightening up and wiping his hands on the dish towel.

"Well… bring it on I suppose"

Sandy grinned.

"Bring it on indeed"