A/N: Finally figured out how to upload from my iPad!
"We are back here at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, for the second night of the P&G Championships. Jennifer Jareau, returning Olympic all-around champion, is leading the standings after night one, by quite a healthy lead I might add. What does she need to do to secure a national title tonight, Tim?"
"Well, Al, she basically just needs to land on her feet. But that's not really going to be the obstacle for JJ tonight. She came forward yesterday with a very personal story that I believe she discussed with you on Friday morning, Nastia?"
"She did, and like I said on Friday night, it wasn't my place to speak on any of the things we discussed, but after Friday, she had some feelers out on social media that people were catching wind of what she's been through this year, and she ended up posting the full story to her social media yesterday. She wanted to take control, and she wanted people to hear it directly from her, and I think it was an incredibly brave decision. She's been through a lot this year, but she stands here today taller and stronger because of it. She should be really proud of herself"
The competition was getting underway with vigor as JJ sat on a chair bank, gazing around the arena while Nick taped up her ankle.
"Promise me you'll go and see your regular physio when we get back to Pittsburgh, ok?" Nick said firmly as he pulled an anchor strap around her foot.
"I've seen the physio. And the doctor. They say it's all from my calf being tight, and obviously the only way to fix that is to exercise it and strengthen it, which I've been doing," JJ replied absently, her eyes watching as tiny little Ragan Smith mounted the beam at the end of the arena.
"I know, but if you're wanting to make a good run at worlds, it never hurts to have a tune up," Nick said with a grin. "You gotta start treating yourself like an old car. You're not indestructible, and you're probably due for some spare parts"
JJ laughed, pulling her attention back to Nick. "That's so rude"
Laughing as he pressed down on the tape to secure it in place, Nick shook his head. "Might be rude, but it's true"
Still grinning, JJ hopped up from her chair, taking a few steps and bouncing in place to ensure the tape was supporting her correctly. Satisfied with the job Nick had done, she started shaking herself out, wanting to keep her muscles warm for her upcoming routine.
"Aren't you glad I didn't go to Classics? You would have still been on suspension," she said with a teasing grin as she glanced back over at her coach. She was of course referring to the suspension that Nick had been handed after punching the reporter in Brazil. It had been a 12 month suspension from coaching on the floor at competitions, which JJ personally felt was a little bit harsh for what had been an emotionally charged response, but Nick had appeared to care very little at all.
Nick scoffed. "I didn't care one bit. I'd have just sent you with Teagan. I'm more glad you didn't go so we didn't break you before Worlds"
JJ laughed. "Why am I suddenly so breakable in your mind? I've had three injuries that have physically stopped me from training in my entire career - and the last one I wasn't even training with anyway"
"Maybe because you have a tendency to be stubborn and insist that you're 100% fine all the time, but this year you've complained about your ankle at least once a week. Because of that, while you say it's only aching, nagging, whatever… I think it's actually causing you more pain than you're letting on," Nick said gently as he came up to stand beside her. "And I'm not saying that pain is a reason to stop, you're at the top of your game in an extremely high impact sport… your body is going to hurt, and that's pretty much unavoidable. But it is a reason to be a little more careful and mindful of the loads we're putting on you. So you'll forgive me if I'm just wanting to be a little gentler on you this year. I know you want to finish out the year and then retire, which is absolutely what you deserve, but just let me get you there in one piece, ok?"
JJ took a deep breath, nodding as she gave her coach a reassuring smile. Moments later, she was making her way up onto the podium as Morgan Hurd made her way down, taking her place at the edge of the floor as she waited for the green flag. As she stood there, her dark blue leotard sparkling under the bright arena lights, she felt incredibly calm. She was the undisputed leader of the competition, having finished the first night over a point ahead of Ragan Smith, her closest competitor. She was leading on every event, even vault, where she was up against Jade Carey, the wonderkid from Arizona that Valeri Liukin had discovered as a level 10 earlier in the year.
Her crisis of confidence from Friday night had seemingly vanished. While she still felt as though she was under a spotlight now that her story was out in the world for everyone to know, the fear of having people come to their own conclusions was gone. She felt settled, and ready for whatever the rest of the season was going to hold. People were going to talk. That was unavoidable. But now, they had the whole truth in front of them, and hopefully, that was going to be enough to quell any nasty rumors.
Initially, she had left her leotard sleeves pulled all the way down, concealing the scar on her wrist. But as they had walked out earlier that night, she had pulled them up to ¾ length. Her scar was going to be well and truly on show, and she was not going to let the world shame her into hiding it.
"Now, on floor for Romero's, Jennifer Jareau!"
The cheer that went up was deafening, flooding JJ with renewed excitement for her routine as she smiled and presented to the judges, stepping out onto the floor with a flourish.
Her music began, gentle but dramatic, and she began to move. Teagan's choreography was perfectly matched, evoking passion and drama with every movement. Stepping into the corner, she turned, taking off into her first tumbling pass, hurdling into the roundoff and easily tumbling across the floor. She punched hard, rocketing up into her double twisting double layout, which despite her ankle pain, felt a lot easier than it had the previous year.
When she landed with a defiant THUMP into the floor, the crowd went wild, making her smile as she straightened up to finish off her landing.
"Nice, JJ!" she heard Nick yell from the sidelines, giving her a surge of confidence as she danced her way through her next round of choreography with a certain swagger she knew she had never had before.
"I love this, look at her expression. She knows where she stands tonight. She is the one to beat"
"It's a side of JJ I don't think we've ever seen before. And I love it"
As she broke into her next tumbling run, she allowed herself to imagine that she was back in Brazil, surrounded by the bright tropical green of the Rio Olympic Arena. Muscle memory carried her through, punching off the floor into a flighty double layout, landed to much more rapturous applause.
"She is on FIRE tonight!"
Her third line was just as solid, carrying her into the fourth, representative of that moment she had landed her last pass in Rio, knowing she had put out the best performance of her life.
But instead of tears upon the landing, this time, it was nothing but smiles as the crowd went absolutely wild. Stepping out of her landing, she turned through one last beat of choreography, before punching her fist triumphantly twice into the air with the last two beats of music. As soon as she was finished, the arena broke into a deafening roar, the smile on her face wider than ever as she relaxed and turned to present to the judges.
"Just unreal. She's really come into her own"
"I think we can already crown the champion tonight"
"Tonight? I think we have the gymnast to carry the torch from Simone"
"Al, I think she already proved that in Rio"
Vault had been reminiscent of Simone, soaring through the air with exquisite form, punching the landings into the floor like her life depended on it. She'd followed it up with a clean, beautiful bars routine, her skills and form doing everything to relegate Ashton Locklear's attempt at being the bars queen of the year down to a second best.
It was between rotations, as she was warming up for beam, that she heard a commotion off to her right. Straightening up, she broke into an excited smile when she saw Simone racing towards her, Aly a few steps behind.
"You made me cry!" Simone exclaimed as she threw herself at JJ, almost knocking her off balance as she pulled her into the tightest hug possible. Pulling back, she reached up and placed a hand against JJ's cheek, her eyes filled with sadness as she stared at her friend. "Why didn't you tell anyone how badly you were hurting? You know we all would've dropped everything to make sure you were ok"
"I didn't know how," JJ said softly, her voice suddenly smaller than she had felt all day. "I didn't want to be a burden"
"You're never a burden, Jayje. Not in a million years," Aly said softly from behind Simone. "Also, Simone, you look like you two are about to kiss"
JJ giggled as Simone turned around and shot Aly a look. "I'm so glad you're still here," Simone said warmly as she turned back to face JJ, pulling the older girl in for another tight squeeze. "We love you, you're such a badass, and the world is infinitely better because you're here"
Feeling a lump rising in her throat, JJ managed a smile. "Thanks Simone. I'm doing a lot better now, but… it was a bit of a rocky ride for a while"
"Yeah I bet. How's Will? Is he doing ok?" Simone asked, stepping back beside Aly.
"He's good," JJ said with a smile. "I put him through the ringer as well, so believe me… I'm so fucking glad he's still here"
"You put a lot of us through the ringer," Aly said, her lips quirking into a smile so JJ knew she wasn't upset. "You're lucky we love you"
JJ chuckled. "Yeah. I know. I've got a lot of making up to do"
Aly shook her head. "No, just promise us you'll talk next time. None of us are mad at you. I know I was super mad that night in LA, but I think I was mostly in shock at everything. I'm really just glad you're still here, kicking ass, taking names"
The three girls laughed, the mood lightening around them as the music kicked off to signal the beginning of the next rotation.
"Do you guys need to go back upstairs?" JJ asked. Simone grinned, shaking her head.
"Why would we give up front row seats to watch the beam queen kick ass and take names?"
Sure enough, a short while later as JJ was standing at the end of the beam waiting for her flag, she could see Aly and Simone standing on the sidelines with Nick. They were beaming, excited to watch their friend compete where she excelled.
"On beam for Romero's, Jennifer Jareau!"
Amidst the applause and excitement for her final event of the competition, the flag went up, and she was presenting to the judges.
The routine itself was a blur. But up there, in dazzling navy blue, in front of the American flag, she had nothing to hide. Nothing to be ashamed of.
And everything to be proud of.
When she dismounted ninety seconds later to more applause that could've lifted the roof, she couldn't help but beam with pride, punching her fist triumphantly into the air as soon as she had saluted the judges.
"And that right there, is a cap on a national all-around title for Olympic champion Jennifer Jareau!"
"You're the best!" Simone shrieked as JJ made her way down the stairs only to be swept into an immediate hug from Nick. Beaming from ear to ear, she pulled back and looked up at her coach, lifting both hands to high five him in celebration.
"You really are," Nick said with a grin. "Amazing job kiddo, you've killed it this weekend"
"Couldn't do it without the best coach," JJ replied, making Nick laugh as he stepped back to allow the other girls to hug her.
"You're fishing for something!" He said with a shake of the head.
"JJ has been so solid this weekend. She's a lock for that World Championships team later this year in Canada, without a doubt, and she is absolutely the strongest contender for the all-around title at those championships"
One by one, medals and placings were awarded. JJ had not only netted herself a fantastic win in the all-around, but a clean sweep of the event titles as well. On vault, she had come ahead of Jade Carey with a clean Amanar and Yurchenko half-on full-off combo, the same combo she had competed in Rio to win the silver medal. She and Jade both had great execution on vault, but in the end, her combined difficulty had given her just enough of an edge to take the gold.
Bars had been the biggest fight. With Riley McCusker and Ashton Locklear both competing difficult but clean sets, JJ had had to pull every ounce of effort she had to put up her best work. But in the end, it had paid off, with her coming in ahead of Riley for the title, with Ashton rounding out the podium for bronze.
As the reigning Olympic, world, and national champion, beam had without a doubt been hers to lose. And she had delivered, winning the title by over a point ahead of Ragan Smith, with Riley collecting a neat bronze medal to join her medal on bars.
JJ had rounded out her event collection with gold on floor, easily ahead of Ragan Smith for silver with her difficulty remaining very much the same as in Rio. Bronze had been collected by the wonderkid from Arizona, Jade Carey.
"And now, awarding our national all-around title! Finishing almost three points ahead of her nearest competitor, the reigning Olympic Champion, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, of Romero's, Jennifer Jareau!"
Deafening cheers filled her ears as she stepped up to the top of the podium with a wave, Ragan Smith and Jordan Chiles clapping and beaming on either side of her. The same USAG official who had already awarded all of the event medals stepped forward, smiling from ear to ear as she lifted the gold medal up towards JJ.
"Congratulations again," she said with a chuckle. "Just working backwards, hey?"
"Keeping it interesting," JJ said with a laugh as she shook her hand and took the bouquet of flowers being offered to her.
There was a few moments where the three medallists waved to the crowd, camera flashes filling the space as photos were taken. And then, eight of the girls were being corralled to the middle of the floor, national team plaques being handed out as they grouped together for the official team photo.
"Presenting our 2017-2018 USAG Women's National Team. From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, representing Romero's, Jennifer Jareau! From Lewisville, Texas, representing Texas Dreams, Ragan Smith! From Brielle, New Jersey, representing MG Elite, Riley McCusker! From Vancouver, Washington, representing Naydenov Gymnastics, Jordan Chiles! From York, Pennsylvania, representing Prestige, Trinity Thomas! From Allentown, Pennsylvania, representing Parkette's, Margzetta Frazier! From Phoenix, Arizona, representing Arizona Sunrays, Jade Carey! And from Hamlet, North Carolina, representing Everest Gymnastics, Ashton Locklear!"
"We've got three gymnasts on this relatively small team from Pennsylvania - PA is having a banner year for gymnastics!"
"Well, I'm excited to see what these girls can achieve as part of this team. It's going to be an exciting season!"
"Isn't your fiancee just the best?" JJ crowed as she flounced into the hotel room after Will, her five gold medals rattling together around her neck as she cast her bag to the side. "Clean sweep baby!"
Will laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen you have a cocky side, and honestly, I kinda enjoy it"
"What a way to go out hey? Cap off the national career with all the national titles"
"These gold medals are definitely goin' to your head," Will chuckled, giving her a playful nudge to knock her off balance. "We're gonna have to widen the door to your bedroom so you can fit your big head through it when we get home"
"You are so rude," JJ laughed, falling back on the bed, her medals clattering against her chest as she landed. Will grinned, taking a seat on the end of the bed and letting his hand come to rest on her knee as he turned to look at her.
"You're a beast though. I'm excited to see you at Worlds"
JJ smiled, tipping her head over towards him. "And then it's all done. And we can spend more time together"
"I might get sick o' you," Will teased. "Time to trade up"
JJ snorted. "Nice try buddy, try landing another Olympic Champion"
Will laughed. "You are so full of yourself"
"But you love me anyway," JJ replied, her voice dripping in sweetness. Will chuckled, leaning over her and pressing a kiss to her lips.
"Without a doubt"