A/N: On an absolute roll because there's so much stuff planned for the future and I'm so excited to get to it!
The day of the 2014 US Classic had arrived, and finally, JJ felt like everything had fallen back into place. Injury, illness, pregnancy scares and everything else that had happened were finally behind her, and all that lay ahead was the competition season.
McKayla was out for the season, after multiple attempts to get back into it, having struggled with injuries and chronic fatigue. She still had her sights set firmly on Rio, and JJ knew she would be back as soon as she was able.
As they stretched out in groups after the morning practice, Simone was talking in her usual animated fashion, her smile lighting up the entire arena as Kyla laughed along with what she was saying.
"And then I just like, died in the foam pit," Simone giggled as she finished her story.
"Ok, I went head first into the foam pit last week and actually thought I would die trying to get out," JJ cut in, making the other two girls laugh.
"What were you doing?" Kyla asked with a grin.
"Nick and I were messing around with some upgrades for later this year and into next year, and for fun, we decided to attempt a double double into the pit. I bailed halfway through the second flip because I thought I had pitched it long again, and I ended up going in headfirst," JJ laughed.
"Try a Biles," Simone said cheekily. "Whip it out at Nationals, just be like 'BAM! Look at that Marta!'"
"Yeah, I've got a Moors, a Biles, and a double double in my back pocket, so watch out at Nationals, I'm coming," JJ joked. Simone laughed, flopping forward in her split as Kyla shook her head, grinning the whole time.
It felt good to be with the girls again.
"Good evening, I'm John Roethlisberger, and I'm here with Olympic gold medallists Tim Daggett and Amanda Borden for the 2014 Secret US Classic! Today, we'll watch as some of the best gymnasts in the United States begin their path to the World Championships in China later this year. Tim, who do you think we have to watch tonight?"
"No question about it, Simone Biles is one to watch. She is the reigning national and world all-around champion, and she's looked rock solid in training all week, she's looking set to make it two in a row this year for a national title"
"Amanda, what are your thoughts?"
"Well, you can't talk about Worlds without discussing Jennifer Jareau; I have been so impressed with her over the past three years. She started to really make a name for herself in 2011, when she was part of that gold medal winning team at the World Championships in Tokyo, and then just exploded onto the stage at the Olympics a year later when she won five medals there. Her success just keeps coming! Of course, she did have a major injury after Worlds last year, and she's had some ups and downs throughout this year so far, but in talking to JJ and her coach earlier today, they're both feeling confident, and JJ says she's ready to go"
"Yeah, JJ's had a bit of a tough year. She broke her leg basically right after Worlds training some new skills into the foam pit. She's also just had a year of constant hurdles, she's been sick a few times, she took half a week off training because one of her friends needed her support. Her coach, Nicholas, actually told us she struggled a little bit after all of that, wasn't sure if she wanted to continue in the sport, but nevertheless, she's here today"
"She's actually right in front of us right now, only about 10 feet away. She's starting on vault tonight, and while she didn't compete in the all-around at the world championships last year, she will be vying for all-around contention in Nanning, China, later this year. Of course, she will also be expecting to defend her two time world beam title... I think we can expect a lot from this young lady this year"
Standing at the end of the vault runway, JJ took a deep breath. She was dressed in a stunning navy blue that was cut with panels of mesh and adorned with thousands of twinkling crystals. Her long hair was pulled back into a bun, two Dutch braids running from her forehead to the base of the bun to keep the shorter layers of her hair slicked away. Topping it all off was a double layered gold and navy ribbon wound around it.
She felt amazing, and she was ready to compete to the same level.
"On vault for Romero's, Jennifer Jareau!"
There was a roar from the crowd as she saluted the judges before taking her place on the powder blue mat. The people watching in the stands were clearly excited that she was back in action, and it only made JJ feel more confident and more relaxed.
Stepping back as was her custom before she vaulted, she took off down the runway, her steps measured perfectly before she hurdled into the round-off, her feet planting down into the springboard. She extended her arms well over her head, meaning her shoulders were completely open by the time she rebounded off the table. Allowing herself a moment to fully rise up, she then wrapped in the twist, executing two clean twists through her flip before landing the vault with only a small hop forward.
"WOW!"
"That was an incredible double twisting Yurchenko! You can tell she and her coach have been working incredibly hard on improving her vaulting. She got so much height!"
She was beaming from ear to ear as she saluted once more. Then, in aid of the well kept secret she and Nick had been holding onto, she walked past the stairs and back towards the end of the runway. As Nick came up from the floor, she stopped, seeing the correction already written on his face.
"Awesome double twist. Really amazing. Just remember to wrap that twist in super tight, you could've gone for it half a second earlier and it would have given you extra time on the landing, but that's really all I can pick. Your block was amazing, and you didn't twist off the table. Really good!" he said happily, giving her a high five before turning to fix the collar and mat as she started walking back towards the end of the runway.
"Uh... is JJ doing a second vault?"
"No way"
As Nick adjusted the springboard again, JJ reached the tray of chalk at the end of the runway, dipping her feet back into it as she flicked the number cards over to indicate the number of her second vault.
"She is! She's changing the cards! Oh my gosh!"
"Wow! I never would have picked her for someone to be doing a second vault, but good on her! She's finding new ways to be competitive. Obviously, with Simone Biles and Mykayla Skinner being two of the best vaulters out there right now, she's gonna have to go all out to contend for event titles, but this is a huge step!"
Turning back to face the vault, JJ gave Nick a thumbs up to indicate she was happy with the board position. He stepped away, making his way down off the podium as she fixed her gaze on the judges, waiting for their green flag.
A minutes or so later, her score flashed up on the screen; 15.566
"Wow, that is a HUGE score for a double twist, they only took a little over two tenths in deductions. I'd say that was the hop on the landing, and a tenth for slight leg separation on the entry"
"I'm... I'm still floored that she's doing a second vault. I can't wait to see this. I think the number she has put up is a Yurchenko half on, half twist off, also known as a Lopez. It's actually the same second vault that Simone Biles does"
The green flag went up and JJ immediately saluted. She stepped onto the blue runway, lining her toes up with her mark, before taking her step back.
Her run was powerful yet again. She hurdled into the round-off, her hands contacting the mat and rebounding back as her feet hit the back of the springboard. As soon as she felt the bottom of the rebound, she turned, throwing her hands forward onto the vault table and blocking up. It wasn't the best block she had ever done, but it was solid enough for her to cleanly wrap in a half twist before touching down on the other side. Breaking into a huge smile, she turned and saluted the judges, before heading over to the stairs where Nick was waiting to give her a hug.
"That was actually really good! Now, she's not a shoe-in for an event final at worlds with those two vaults, but it's not impossible! If she was able to clean up that block on the Lopez just a little more, get it nice and straight off the table, she could sneak into the top eight!"
"And who said a broken leg would stop you?" Nick said with a chuckle, patting JJ's shoulder as she started getting ready for bars.
Bars had easily been one of the best routines of her career, a clear indicator of just how much time she had had to work on the apparatus since her injury. She had felt her own strength through every movement, and had dismounted knowing she had just topped the routine that won her the Olympic bronze medal, as far as performance went.
Moving to beam had seen her first upset of the night. During the break from competitive season, she had noticed fans on social media had come up with a running tally for how long she'd gone in competition without falling off the beam. They were coming up to five years, and JJ had reasoned that unless she absolutely couldn't save it, there was no way in hell she was going to break that streak any time soon.
And she had put that testament to the test on the very opening series. Her first series, two backflips into a layout, had been off from the start.
She'd punched into the layout and straightaway knew it wasn't going to be a solid landing. And alas, she had landed with one foot on the beam, her other foot sliding down the side of the apparatus, and threatening to take her to the floor.
"Oh JEEZ!"
By some stroke of God... she'd somehow muscled the strength in her right thigh to pull herself back up to standing, and had even managed a grin. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nick starting to laugh as he took in the grin spreading across her face.
"Oh my gosh, that was a seriously close save! Look at her face, she knows how close she came to falling off that beam!"
"If someone was going to make the beam bend to their will today, it was going to be JJ, oh my gosh, haha"
By the time she'd dismounted, she was laughing as she headed back towards Nick.
"I have no idea what the hell happened, but I also have no idea how on earth I saved that," she explained through giggles as Nick laughed and gave her a quick hug.
"I have no idea how you did it either, but you know what, you stayed on, you fought through it, and that's what I like to see. There were lots of areas we can work on back in the gym, but I think today, the most important thing was you stayed on. You showed everyone in this building why you're the reigning World and Olympic champion," Nick said warmly. "So carry that through to floor, ok?"
JJ nodded, taking his compliment to heart as she went off to find her bag.
Slowly, JJ and Nick were working on upgrading her acro lines on floor. Her opening pass remained a double layout, which she had landed with ease to much applause. With her ability to do the Arabian in her routine so easily, they had added the piked double Arabian as her second line, with the tucked version being moved to her third pass. Her old third pass, a full twisting double tuck, had been relegated to her closing pass, meaning she was one of the only floor workers in the world not dismounting with a double pike or easier.
Taking off from the corner, she hurdled into the roundoff, entering the tumbling run with ease. The punch from her flip was solid, and the full-in joined the list of successful gymnastics skills she had completed that evening.
Smiling widely, she finished the routine, saluting the judges before waving shortly to the crowd as she jogged down to meet Nick.
"Good job kid, I'm proud of you!" he said happily, hugging her tightly. "How do you feel? Not too puffed?"
JJ shrugged. "No, not really? I mean, I kinda had a moment at the end where I was like 'oh god I still have to do a full-in', but then I just went for it and it was fine, I didn't feel that tired or anything"
"That's good. We were kind of taking a risk with putting that last and putting in harder tumbles, but that's what the goal has been all along, hey? We never know if you can do it in a competition setting until we give it a go"
JJ beamed, turning to hug Simone who had come over to congratulate her on a finished meet.
"She has had a really good night. Some minor errors and a wacky save on beam are all we can fault her on today, and that is seriously impressive considering at the start of the year, she was in a hip to toe cast with that injured leg"
"Oh, there we go, a 14.933 puts her into second behind Simone and just ahead of Kyla... yes, Jennifer Jareau has had a brilliant night, because that all-around total includes a huge deduction for the slip on the beam"
All the way back in Pittsburgh, Will was watching the television closely, Michael sitting on the opposite couch, both of them wearing massive grins.
They couldn't have been prouder of their very own Jennifer Jareau.