A/N: I don't think there's any surprises here haha.

"Why aren't they lettin' us in? It's her foot, what's holdin' them up-"

"Will, relax a little," Sandy said gently, reaching out and placing her hand on Will's arm. The two of them were in the waiting room of the ER at Montreal General Hospital, having left the arena as soon as the medal ceremony had concluded. "It's ok. They're probably just processing her admission"

"But why can't we go to her, is there somethin' they're not tellin' us?"

"Will," Sandy repeated, her voice a little firmer than before. "She'll be ok. I know she will. She might be upset, probably heartbroken that her worlds ended like this… but at the end of the day, it's just her foot, or her ankle. She's going to be fine, and they will let us in when they're done checking her over"

Will let out a heavy breath, nodding as he dropped his head into his hands. A door opened to their left, making him look up immediately.

"You can come through now," said a young nurse, smiling kindly at the two of them. Will leapt to his feet, Sandy just behind him as they followed the nurse into the emergency department. It seemed to be a maze of curtains and corridors before they finally came to a small room. The nurse opened the door, revealing JJ curled up on the bed, her foot still tightly wrapped in a splint. Nick was sitting in the chair over in the corner, suddenly looking much older than Sandy had ever remembered seeing him.

"The doctor will be back in a little while to talk with you, but in the meantime, just buzz the bell if there's anything you need," the nurse said kindly, before closing the door behind them after they had entered the room.

Will turned, approaching the side of JJ's bed as Sandy came to stand at the end. For a moment there was nothing but silence as the two of them tried to read the room. Without saying a word, Will slowly lowered himself to sit on the edge of the bed, turning his body so he was facing JJ.

"Hey you," he said softly, bringing a hand to her uninjured leg. "You really scared me back there… are you in too much pain?"

JJ shook her head, her face set in stone. She was avoiding making eye contact, and Will knew it was because she was on the verge of breaking down, but for now, he wasn't going to push her.

"I'm fine-" she started to say, but almost immediately her emotions got the better of her and gave her away. She folded, starting to cry as Will hurriedly pulled her into his arms. Her tears came in great gasping breaths, indicative of how hard she had been trying to keep herself together.

"Why did it have to end like this?" she sobbed, prompting Sandy to move further around the bed and take a seat by her legs. "This can't be how it ends"

"It's not how it ended JJ. You ended as the freakin' world floor champion. And vault. And beam. And the all-around. You think people aren't goin' to remember that instead of you gettin' injured?" Will said with a chuckle, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"I just feel so stupid," JJ said in a shaky voice, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I knew it was hurting, I should've stopped and rested it"

"You didn't know it was going to rupture," Will reminded her gently, taking a tissue from the shelf above her head and gently wiping away her tears.

"I told you," Nick chimed in from the corner, grinning at his athlete in an attempt to get her to smile. "JJ, you can't blame yourself for this, I know it's frustrating, it sucks to get injured… but if anyone had at any point thought this was going to happen, we would've stopped you. It was an accident. Shit happens, JJ. Your body has literally supported you through eight years of elite international competition, and it's only ever given out at the wrong time once. You could argue that this is a perfectly timed injury. Because you've been talking about retiring all year, and now you get to actually stop training and just lay around for a bit and get used to being a normal person"

JJ took a deep breath, taking the tissues Will was passing to her and wiping her eyes.

"Do you want to change out of your leo?" Will asked gently. JJ nodded, pushing herself up until she was sitting.

"Want me to help?" Sandy asked.

"No, it's ok, Will can do it," JJ replied quietly.

"We'll wait outside, ok? Will can come and get us when you're ready," Sandy said, smiling and gently squeezing JJ's good leg before turning and making her way out of the partition, Nick a few steps behind her. She walked a little way down the hall, before turning back to face Nick and heaving a deep sigh. There was a short silence between the two of them before Nick's face quirked into an amused smile.

"I don't think she's done"

Sandy raised her eyebrows. "What?"

Nick shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. "I… I don't know what it is, I can't quite put my finger on it, but… something changed. She was talking about retiring all year and she sounded happy about it, she was excited to have a normal life and spend more time with Will… and then as soon as we got to Montreal, her tone completely changed. She didn't sound excited about retirement anymore, and anytime anyone brought it up, she seemed uncomfortable. Whenever the press asked her about it in the mixed zone, the smile on her face seemed fake. I think… I think this year was different from any other. She had no pressure. No month to month borderline abuse at the ranch. Valeri listened to all the girls, trusted that they knew what was best for themselves, trusted that we as their coaches knew what was best for them. I think this year, she… she was finally just doing it because she loves this sport, not because USAG were demanding medals and results from her." He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before speaking again. "I genuinely think she's changed her mind. If she hadn't, I don't think she'd be this upset"

Sandy exhaled heavily, running a hand through her hair. "You really think so?"

"I… I mean, don't get me wrong, Sandy, I'm not 100% sure, there's still every chance she's going to heal up from this injury and retire exactly as she planned. But I know that kid… I mean, I know she's not a kid anymore, but… I feel like if she was done… we'd know. And I don't think she is"

"She is going to drive me to drink," Sandy sighed, getting a laugh out of Nick as they turned to rest against the wall. "I love her to death, and I love watching her compete. I've never pushed her, this has always been what she wanted… but I age ten years every time I watch her do something more difficult than a back tuck"

Nick laughed. "She really did skyrocket the difficulty after London, didn't she?"

"Right? Part of that was probably competing with Simone"

"Oh for sure, they were always trying to outdo each other"

Sandy sighed, folding her arms across her chest. "I promised to support her in everything she wanted to do. I guess I have to keep that promise"

"She could surprise you, and retire"

"When has she ever stuck to a plan?"

Laughing, Nick nodded in agreement.

"And what about you? What if she does want to keep going?"

Nick shrugged. "I'll be there. I'll be in the gym regardless… if she wants to train, I'll train her"

"Knock knock"

JJ turned from her TV, smiling at her mom as she walked into the room. She was back in Pittsburgh, posted up in the surgical ward of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre. Surgery had been almost immediate after arriving back from Montreal a few days earlier, and now she had just one more day of observation before she would be discharged. "Hey"

"How are you feeling?" Sandy asked gently as she approached JJ's bed. "Are you in much pain?"

JJ shook her head. "No, it's alright. I'm on some sort of cocktail of pain meds, but even when the dosage is wearing off, it's only a little sore. Definitely an improvement to how it felt on Sunday"

"Did the surgeon say anything about how the surgery went?"

"Yeah, he said it went really well. That if I follow the post surgery instructions and work hard in rehab, he doesn't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to compete next year"

Sandy's expression fell slightly, which wasn't missed by JJ.

"What?" she asked quietly.

Sandy took a deep breath. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

JJ frowned. "Why?"

"Well… an Achilles injury isn't something you want to rush-"

"I'm not going to rush it, if they say it's not good to compete on it next year, I won't-"

"But if you're thinking long term, if you're thinking Tokyo, it's better to let yourself heal, and rest-"

"I'm not going back to the Olympics," JJ cut in quietly. Sandy looked surprised, lowering herself down onto the edge of JJ's bed.

"You're not?"

JJ shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to," JJ said softly. "I've achieved everything I wanted and more at the Olympics… there's no real point in going back"

"So… why do you still want to compete this quad if you're not going back to the Games?" Sandy asked.

"I didn't originally plan on competing this whole quad. I still don't. I just… in Rio, the lasting impression everyone has of me is me bawling my eyes out after the all-around final. I came back this year because I felt physically able and I wanted my lasting impression to be a happy one. But now, all everyone is going to remember is me crying after rupturing my Achilles at the end of the championships," JJ said heavily. "As long as I'm physically able, I want to leave people with a good lasting impression. That despite all the medals and titles I have, the thing that stood out the most was that I was happy when I was competing and that I love gymnastics. I don't want an injury to be the way this ends for me"

Sandy stared at her for a moment, understanding shining in her eyes.

"But what if you get injured next year?"

JJ shrugged. "Then I'll deal with it. But I don't want to give up. I want to come back, and I want my final season to be one that happened on my own terms. Even though this year I had decided it would be my final one… I want to walk away from it in one piece. Not retire anyway just because I got injured"

Sandy smiled, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to JJ's forehead.

"And I'm sure you will," she said happily, beaming at her daughter. "You know, Nick said to me on Saturday night that he thought you had changed your mind"

JJ chuckled. "I… I kind of had. I wasn't sure. But this, this made my mind up for me"

"Simone will be back next year too," Sandy said knowingly.

"Yeah. It would be fun to compete with her one more time… when we're both not so stressed that we're on the verge of puking every five minutes"

"Lovely"