A/N: Things are about to ramp up

Christmas and New Year whipped by in a flurry of snow, and before they knew it, January was almost over. January had brought a bitter wind that snapped and nipped at exposed skin the second you stepped outside.

On the first of January, JJ had hardly dared to believe it.

2016.

It was here. The Olympic year. After London, Rio had felt so far away, like a distant dream that was always just past reach. But now, it was January 27th, and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games were exactly 191 days away.

Having just returned from the national team camp, JJ was feeling confident in her abilities for the upcoming season. After resuming full strength training after Christmas, she and Nick had eagerly set a plan in place for her routines heading into the Olympic season. Marta had been more than pleased with her progress, and had rewarded her as such by approving her acceptance of the American Cup spot she had earned with her placing in Glasgow.

On vault, she was keeping and refining the Amanar, which had been starting to look very promising come Worlds. Her second vault, however, she was hoping to add another half twist to, turning it into a Yurchenko half on, full twisting front layout off. In the gym community, it was unofficially known as the Mustafina vault; Aliya Mustafina had submitted it as a new skill at the 2010 World Championships, but her teammate, Tatiana Nabieva, had also performed it. This had meant the skill would not be named for either of them and had been added to the Code of Points as an unnamed skill. It was also, quite famously within the USA, the vault that McKayla had fallen on in the 2012 Olympic vault final. JJ knew if she could master the skill, it would give her a berth to the Olympic vault final should she make the team, and quietly, she wanted to give the vault its comeuppance and put it to her feet for McKayla.

Given that JJ's confidence had grown immensely on bars over the years, Nick had taken the executive decision to rework her bars routine in time for the American Cup to give her a chance to test it out; if Marta didn't like it, they would simply revert to her old routine.

Making use of JJ's prowess with execution and big skills, he had worked out a routine that kept the connections rather simple, building the difficulty mainly on the large skills. Her one big connection series came in the middle of the routine; a Downie release, straight into a Pak salto, directly back up to the high bar with a Chow, and a half turn on top of the bar to finish it off. As well as that, they had upgraded her dismount from a double layout flyaway to a full twisting double layout. Having been capable of all the skills for a couple of years, JJ had found it relatively easy to learn the new routine, and the change of pace had left her feeling more refreshed and more confident in her ability. She was eager to hammer home the knowledge that bars, while her weakest of the four events, was not actually a weak event for her as it had once so been.

Her beam routine was remaining exactly the same; on a day where she hit all her connections, her maximum potential score was a 17.200, which was completely off the charts as far as beam routines went. Simone was the closest to catching her, at a 16.800 potential score, but aside from Simone, everyone else was down in the mid 16's, and knowing that that was a secure cushion to have, both Nick and JJ had agreed not to mess with what already worked.

As for floor, there was room to go upwards. Having hammered out the imperfections with her double layout long ago, the two had, over the last year, been messing with some new variations on it, and Nick felt that one of them had huge potential to be ready for competition by July. She was also playing with a new combination on her third tumbling line; a whip into her double Arabian, followed by a stag leap on the end. If the upgrades were successful, her floor would finally reach the level of Aly's prowess.

All in all, she was excited to progress even further in the sport than many had expected of her. As well as that, working with the new upgrades gave her something to focus on in the gym to keep her mind off of the two biggest weights on her shoulders.

Her dad's illness, and the Olympic Games.

Have any of the US assignments been announced yet?

Only the American Cup has been decided, and even then, only one place has been named. JJ was announced by USAG as the headliner for the American Cup last week, but the absence of an announcement about Simone tells me that she has decided to forego her place and hopefully bid for a Pacific Rim place instead. The World Cup assignments will be announced at the end of the February camp, and the Pac Rims team at the end of March.

Is JJ the only elite from Romero's?

She was up until the 22nd of January! Kate Albridge from Romero's actually qualified at the Parkettes Elite Qualifier while JJ was away at the national team camp. She's 12 years old and is, in every way imagineable, JJ's little mini-me; right down to the blonde hair and blue eyes haha! She's got gorgeous form and technique and really tremendous power on vault and floor, so clearly Nick is doing something right with his gymnasts!

What do you think could take Simone Biles out of the running for the Olympic team?

At this stage, I think she'd literally have to break her neck. She's so good and so hardy against major injuries, she's on that team barring like... death.

"Long day?" Will called from where he sat on JJ's bed. She had disappeared into the bathroom about ten minutes earlier, and the tap had been running for almost half that time.

Almost immediately, the tap shut off. Minutes later, she came back out into the room, pressing a piece of gauze down to her right hand.

"Yeah... I got a huge rip on bars right before I finished practice," JJ replied, lifting the gauze and holding out her hand for Will to see. Right in the middle of her palm, a piece of skin the size of a quarter had been pulled away.

Will winced. "Ouch"

"Yeah... stings a little bit, but I'll live," JJ said with a grin, covering it back up once more. Using the short bandage clutched in her hand, she wrapped it up tightly, before falling onto the bed beside Will.

"Hey, tell me something," Will said, looking at JJ with amusement written all over his face. "Where are your Olympic medals?"

JJ glanced over at her display shelf. The third shelf up had, for the last four years, been home to her most treasured achievements. But, as Will had noticed, they had vanished from the shelf, and her World medals had been spread out in their place.

"Oh... I asked my dad to put them in the safe," she said simply.

"Why?"

"Because it was making me anxious every time I looked at them," JJ explained. "I just need to keep calm and focused this year, and it's easier if I don't see them every day right now, it helps keep the pressure away. Maybe I'll feel differently by nationals, but for now... I'm happier if they're in the safe"

Smiling, Will looped an arm around JJ's shoulders and pressed a loving kiss to her temple.

"You're gonna be just fine, darlin'. I know it"