A/N: I kinda love this chapter :D

How's my beautiful beam queen this morning? Hope there haven't been any more tears since I saw you. You deserve to be happy and smiling.

The text was a sweet wakeup call on Monday morning, the morning of JJ's last final in Rio.

She was actually a little sad. Twice now, she had trained endlessly with the goal of going to the Olympics, and twice now, it was over all too soon.

Sitting up in bed, she vowed to herself to savor and enjoy every minute of her last final. Unlocking her phone again, she quickly tapped out a reply to Will.

I'm pretty good. Kinda sad that my Olympics are almost over, but excited to go out and compete beam.

You're actually crazy, still can't believe you enjoy beam.

JJ laughed to herself as she kicked the covers off and stood up. Aly was already up, getting dressed for morning training.

"Nick is apparently on the warpath this morning, like a drill sergeant," Aly giggled as she tugged a T-shirt over her training leotard. "Simone's been avoiding him all morning"

"Yeah, because it's beam final day. He's always a Nazi on beam final day," JJ laughed. "It's like all of a sudden, there's a beam title at stake and he starts losing his shit"

"Gotta keep up his reputation as national beam coach," Aly said with a grin, making both girls laugh even harder. "You nervous today?"

JJ shook her head. "It's beam… I'm never really nervous for beam. I think I'm more nervous about what people would say if I fell off the beam"

Aly chuckled. "Yeah, that would cause quite a stir. The gymnastics community has proclaimed you the one and only beam queen, after all"

"Yeah, you getting me a tiara for Christmas?" JJ joked. Aly laughed.

"Only if you go out there and kick some beamer butt"

She was third up in the final, and it was well and truly underway. The morning training that day had gone incredibly well, and JJ was a little sad to think it was her last compulsory training. But even so, she was kinda glad to give her a body a break. Even though physically she was in the best shape of her life, she was tired. A sleep-in the following morning was going to be incredible.

Both she and Simone had chosen the same leotard for the final. It was the red one with the white and navy V line neck, the one that had been released as part of a media summit before the team was even announced.

She was so focused on her own routine that she wasn't actually sure who had gone before her. But soon enough, she was standing on the podium, shaking out her wrists as she waited for the green light. Her left wrist was a little sore, most likely from holding it funny while she slept. She knew it wouldn't inhibit her routine at all; she'd competed with much worse aches and pains in the past.

"This could be history making right here. She's the reigning Olympic and World champion, and she's leading the pack coming in. Basically all she has to do is stay on the beam, and she's got another gold medal"

Green light.

Smiling as she saluted, she quickly narrowed her focus down on the end of the apparatus. One deep breath to steady herself and she took off at a light run. Punching off the springboard, she flipped through a clean pike front to land securely on the end of the beam as the crowd applauded.

"Just stay on baby girl, just stay on," Sandy whispered to herself as she clenched her hands beneath her chin. She hated that she got so nervous when JJ was on beam. It was, after all, the only event she hadn't sustained an injury on throughout her career, and she had been best in the world for five years running. But somehow, every time JJ mounted the suede top beam, Sandy's stomach churned the entire time.

Executing a secure standing Arabian, JJ smiled slightly to herself; she hadn't competed that move in qualifications for fear of coming undone on it. But she needn't have worried.

Swinging back, she sprung off her feet, turning halfway to land in a front walkover. Without even a whisper of movement, she connected it straight into two front aerials. Perfect.

"Nice JJ, you got it!" Aly called out from the stands; they were right above the beam, and Aly was watching so intently, she was almost entirely out of her seat.

Turning, she did two quick runs, punching into a front tuck that was connected straight to a wolf jump.

"Nice!"

A little bit of low beam choreography served to help her catch her breath. As she got up again, she was breathing deeply and calmly. Now for the hardest part of her routine.

"I still can't believe she does this near the end of the routine"

Flip, flip, layout full twist. Landed with a defiant thwack against the end of the beam to raucous applause.

Her leap series came next. Powering through her legs, she forced her legs to oversplit, making sure she was centered and strong on the landing.

'Just the turn, you've come this far,' she reminded herself. Breathing deeply, she pulled her body up into her full turn. It was so strong in fact that she kept going for another half, eliminating the awkward bit of choreography at the end to turn her around for her dismount.

"Oh, just perfection"

The chime sounded indicating she had ten seconds to dismount the beam.

"You got it JJ!"

She swung back, leaping into the first flip.

As her hands hit the beam on the second flip, she felt a crack in her left wrist, followed by a sharp pain, but like the competitor she was, she never even blinked.

Her punch was high, and her dismount was so floaty that she opened out with enough time to ensure a perfect stick.

Which it was.

The crowd went nuts as she lifted her arms up above her head, her smile telling everything to the world.

She had to have done it again.

Turning, she saluted the judges at the edge of the beam podium, before turning and walking back over to the stairs, where Nick was waiting. As she approached him, she clenched her right hand around her wrist tightly, suddenly aware of the pounding ache resonating through it.

She must've grimaced, because Nick suddenly looked concerned.

"What did you do?" he asked softly.

"It cracked. On the last flip before the dismount, I felt this crack and then it just started hurting like hell," she said as she came down the stairs. "It's not that bad, I mean, it was hurting this morning, I probably just overdid it. I bet I popped a fluid bubble in the joint or something, you know my old lady joints don't like me these days"

"We'll get it looked at just to be safe," Nick chuckled, leading her back to her bag even as she received high fives from the other gymnasts and even a hug from Flavia Saraiva.

"Can we wait until my score comes up? That was like, the best routine I've ever done, I want to know what I got," JJ asked. Nick grinned.

"You bet kiddo, because that absolutely was the best routine you've ever done"

At that point, Simone and Aimee returned from the warmup gym where they'd been waiting out the back. Getting a quick hug from her teammate, JJ turned, facing the audience right above them and waving to Aly, giving her a thumbs up. When she stepped back, she could see Will, her mom, and her grandmother all sitting together. Blowing them a kiss, she waved again, before turning back to Nick.

It seemed to take forever for her score to come up.

When it finally did, her jaw dropped as the USA block above them started screaming in delight.

"HOLY MOLY!"

16.133. The highest beam score of the QUAD. And not only that, very likely the highest beam score since the Code had a major change following the 2008 Olympics.

"Everyone else might as well go home, there's no chance of beating a 16! WOW! WOW!"

"That is amazing," Nick laughed, wrapping JJ in a hug as Simone clapped happily.

"You're never gonna let me win beam are you?" she laughed as she approached her older teammate.

"Nope," JJ replied, making the two of them laugh as they hugged.

"Alright, let's go get this wrist looked at and then we can come back," Nick said, wrapping an arm around JJ's shoulders and handing her her warm-ups.

After a check-up with the medical team and a quick portable X-ray done in the medical rooms, it was discovered that JJ had actually fractured a bone in her wrist. It appeared to be a stress fracture that had been developing over time and had given out on the last weight bearing move at the end of her routine.

So she was sent back into the arena, her wrist heavily taped and secured in a splint, with the advisory to have it looked at in a hospital as soon as possible to determine the recovery time.

She wasn't upset at all. If it had happened before beam, she knew she would have been more upset. But her competition was over and she had all but locked up her repeat title. There was nothing to be cut up about.

But when they entered to see the final routine being performed by Flavia, JJ found Simone slumped solemnly in her chair. A quick glance at the scoreboard told her that things weren't good.

14.733 for the normally mid 15s gymnast.

"You ok?" she asked as she approached, taking the free seat on Simone's left.

"I fell," Simone muttered.

"Like… off the beam?" JJ asked in disbelief. Simone shook her head.

"I did my front tuck and my foot slipped. I grabbed the beam to stop myself falling off," Simone said dejectedly. "I mean, I'm glad I didn't fall all the way, and I'm glad they scored me fairly, but it still sucks"

"Yeah," JJ replied, putting an arm around Simone's shoulders. "Hey, you're still badass enough to challenge for the podium even with a mistake"

Simone giggled, nodding in agreement. "What did they say about your wrist?"

"Stress fractured by the look of it"

"Aw man, that sucks!"

JJ shrugged. "I'm done competing, I actually don't really care"

Simone laughed, shaking her head as they turned to watch Flavia.

Minutes later, the tiny Brazilian was done competing, and after what felt like an incredibly long wait, the final scores were released to the arena. More cheers and applause rang out from above them, especially when JJ hopped back up on the podium and waved to the crowd.

RK
1 – JAREAU. J – USA – 16.133
2 – WEVERS. S – NED – 15.433
3 – BILES. S – USA – 14.733
4 – BOYER. M – FRA – 14.600
5 – SARAIVA. F – BRA – 14.533
6 – FAN. Y – CHN – 14.500
7 – PONOR. C – ROU – 14.000
8 – ONYSHKO. I – CAN – 13.400

She was back to back Olympic Champion… twice.

"So there you have it. Jennifer Jareau finished her Olympics with a gold medal on her pet apparatus, and a broken wrist"

"That girl does not do things by halves"

"Absolutely not. She's now a ten time Olympic medalist, five of those gold, she's the most decorated American gymnast at both Worlds, Olympics, AND overall, and she's the first American gymnast to win the team, all-around, and an event title at the Olympics, as well as the first to go back to back as an Olympic Champion on the same event. I believe she's also the first to medal twice on two or more events at the Olympics"

"What an incredible way to go out"

The medal ceremony for beam had been more bittersweet than JJ expected.

Having the beam gold hanging around her neck for the second time felt more incredible than she could describe. Beam really had always been her favourite event, and she knew she'd be lying if she said she wasn't just a little territorial about it sometimes. Not only that, but she had won it with the best score she'd ever received internationally, and she couldn't have been prouder of herself.

The mixed zone felt crazier than usual, but without any more finals to worry about, JJ took it smiling.

"Were you nervous before your routine?"

Smiling, JJ shook her head at the reporter. "No, I wasn't nervous. Beam has always been my favourite event, and I knew I'd done the training required for this moment. I was just thinking about how I wanted it to be my best routine I've ever done, because it was my last routine of the Olympics"

"What happened to your wrist?"

"As I was dismounting, I felt a crack in my wrist. It's not too bad, the medical staff believe it's just a minor stress fracture. I'm just glad it happened at the end of my routine"

"Will you come back to gymnastics next year? Is Tokyo on your mind?"

"I haven't really thought that much about it. Quite honestly, the Olympics have made me push away dealing with the grief of losing my dad, so I need to go home and take some time away from the sport to rest and heal, both physically and emotionally. I'll decide later on what I'm going to do, but there's no rush to come racing back in, we've all seen how successful Aly was after some time off"

"What did you think when Simone fell?"

"I actually didn't see her routine because I was having my wrist looked at, but she told me what happened when I came back out. I just think she's not perfect, none of us are. She's a 19 year old human being who can't be immune to mistakes, and I know she's just thrilled to have gotten bronze even with a mistake, it just shows how good the rest of the routine was"

"How does it feel to go back to back?"

"It's just surreal! I was so happy when I won the title in London, because as I said, beam is my favourite event, and I honestly wasn't really considering defending that title until this year when it started to look like I would make the team. It's amazing to have actually done it, and I hope people understand how much hard work went into it"

"And having ten Olympic medals, what's that like?"

"Crazy," JJ laughed. "I need to go home and lay them all out together, it's just not sinking in that I've actually achieved that"

"How are you going to celebrate having finished your competition?"

JJ laughed. "I'm staying up late, sleeping in, and eating the junk food I've been avoiding all year"

The reporter laughed. "Thank you so much JJ, congratulations on your win!"

Dinner that night in the food hall was exciting. So many of the athletes, both from the USA and elsewhere, came up to congratulate JJ on her ten medal achievement. Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt were both amongst them, making JJ feel a little star struck.

Later that night, she was lying wide awake in bed while Aly slept soundly across the room, her mind going a million miles a minute.

It was over. Her Olympics were over. Four years of hard work, blood, sweat, determination, injuries, and tears had culminated in another five medal haul reminiscent of London.

Talk was already swirling online of what could have been had she not downgraded her floor routine in qualifications, but JJ didn't care.

Tomorrow was Aly's time to shine, and she did not regret giving her that chance.

Not one bit.