A/N: This one's intense.

"... so you really wanna tighten up and focus on looking ahead of you as you set, you'll get so much more height out of your punch and your skills are going to look so much better"

Reaching into the chalk bucket, JJ felt like her brain was overwhelmed with all the activity in the gym as she liberally dusted her feet and hands with chalk. It was mid afternoon on a Tuesday, and it felt like every group possible was in the gym. She was in a training group currently on the tumble track with Kate and Clem, under Nick's watchful eye. Over on the floor, Teagan was working the remaining level 10s into a state with a conditioning regime that JJ felt was definitely worthy of belonging at the Ranch. There were two training groups apiece on the bars and the beams, each of them with at least fifteen kids per group. JJ could see Julia and Abbey, the two coaches over at the beams, were fast losing the small amount of control they had held on the kids, while Lacey, over at the bars, was a firm leader for both groups while training their new recreational coach, Steph.

With all the recreational kids came their parents, who had taken over the mezzanine above the gym, watching intently as their little cherubs practised to perfection. And then, just to cap off the practically full to bursting space, the elite trampoline team was training up in the back quarter of the gym with Elliott at the helm.

"Earth to JJ"

Shaking her head, JJ turned her face towards Kate, who was standing in front of her with a grin. "Sorry... off with the fairies"

"Tell me something I don't know," Kate quipped with a giggle, laughing harder when JJ flicked chalk at her from the bucket. "Thinking about your booooyfriend?"

JJ mimed laughing, before reaching out and swiping a chalky hand across the shoulder of Kate's black T-shirt. Kate let out a squeal, ducking away just as Nick turned around and shot them both a look.

"Hey! Cut it out," he said firmly. "We've got a lot of work to do"

As he turned back towards Clem, who was standing before him to receive corrections, Kate pulled a quizzical face at JJ, getting a grin and a shrug out of the older girl.

"Alright, Clem, you're going to go and line up at the end of the track and you're having another run. Kate, I want you ready to go after her. JJ-"

"Nick, I've got someone from USA Gymnastics on the phone," came the voice of Wendy, the weekday receptionist at the gym. "I told them you were in the middle of a training session, but they said it's urgent"

Heaving a sigh, Nick nodded. "Alright... JJ, can you spot Clem please? She's not doing anything crazy. And then after this run, I want all three of you conditioning until I get back"

Stepping up as Nick walked away with Wendy, JJ positioned herself on the edge of the tumble track, shooting Clem a readying smile. "You good?"

"Yeah!" Clem called back.

"Alright, I'm ready when you are"

She watched as Clem readied herself at the other end of the track, wriggling her toes up to the line she had marked out for herself. With a deep breath, she leapt forward, a flurry of limbs as she powered forwards. She hurdled into her round-off, her body easily carrying over into her backflip. As she drew closer to JJ, JJ leaned forward, her hand out ready to pop Clem up through her punch and into her skill.

But seconds later, Clem was in front of her, her body suddenly failing her as she punched out of the backflip. There was no height on the rebound, yet her muscle memory was kicking her into a double tuck. In a split second, JJ lunged forward, her hand making contact with Clem's ribs and pushing her out over the pit. There were mere millimetres between Clem's head and the end of the track, but before either of them could register what had happened, the redhead came down headfirst on the mat in the pit, a sickening crack resounding as she let out a panicked scream.

"JJ, my neck!" Clem screamed hysterically, her cries now the only thing anyone could hear amongst all the activity in the gym.

"Shit, shit!" JJ gasped, clambering down into the pit and immediately placing her hands on either side of Clem's head. The young girl was crumpled on her side, her breaths coming in ragged gasps as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. "I need you to hold still, Clem, ok? I'm gonna keep your head still!"

"I can't feel my legs," Clem sobbed in a panicked voice. "JJ, I can't feel my legs!"

"ELLIOTT!" JJ yelled, knowing Nick wasn't within earshot. "I need your help!"

"Coming!" came Elliott's reply from somewhere over to JJ's left.

"JJ, what happened?" came Kate's voice behind her, and it pained JJ to hear how shaken Kate was.

"It's ok, Clem just took a tumble. Can you please go and get Nick for me? As quickly as you can," JJ said in a firm voice, looking over her shoulder at Kate's pale face. Kate nodded, staggering away and breaking into a run as she headed for the foyer.

"Why can't I feel my legs?" Clem sobbed.

"It's alright," JJ said soothingly, her voice shaking as the reality of what was happening started to set in. She leaned down so she could see Clem's face, gently stroking the young girl's temple with her thumb. "I need you to stay really still, and try to calm down. I know you're scared, but it's going to be ok"

"It hurts," Clem breathed, tears dripping down onto the plastic surface of the mat.

"I know, I know," JJ said gently. "Let's take a few deep breaths, ok? In through your nose, one... two... three... four... and out through your mouth... one... two... three... four"

Shakily, Clem managed to follow JJ's commands, her breathing ever so slowly beginning to even out.

"What happened?" came Elliott's voice behind her.

"She landed on her head, she can't feel her legs," JJ said quickly.

"Teagan! We need an ambulance! And you need to call Clem's parents!" Elliott yelled over his shoulder, before climbing into the pit and making his way over to JJ and Clem. At that moment, Kate returned with Nick.

"You're ok kiddo," Elliott said as reassuringly as he could manage, reaching over and squeezing Clem's hand. "JJ's gonna hold your head nice and still until the ambulance gets here, ok?"

"Ok," Clem said tearfully.

"Can you squeeze my hand?" Elliott asked. Clem obeyed, easily squeezing his hand. "Good girl"

"Alright, everyone listen up!" Nick bellowed, his voice easily filling the entire gym now that everyone's attention was on the pit. "We've got a serious injury here and I don't want people training while distracted, it just leads to more injuries. Pickup time for these rec classes is in fifteen minutes. Can all the parents currently upstairs please come down now and collect your child and take them home? Lacey, Steph, can you take any of the kids whose parents aren't here to the homeschool classroom and wait in there for pickup time. Julia, get Wendy to send out a blanket SMS saying classes are cancelled for the rest of the day, and then I need you to stand out the front and send away anyone who misses the message. Abbey, you and James are going to open up the side door and wait for the ambulance"

Once he was sure everyone was following his directions, he turned, stepping past Kate and gently climbing down into the pit.

"You're doing great kiddo," he said gently, giving Clem a reassuring smile. "You really sent it, hey?"

Clem managed a watery giggle. "I... I tried to"

"You're gonna be just fine, ok? The ambulance is on the way, and they'll take great care of you"

"Is my mom coming?"

"She's leaving work now," came Teagan's voice. "She won't beat the ambulance here, so she's going straight to the children's hospital, and I'm going to go with you in the ambulance, that way you're not by yourself"

"Ok," Clem breathed, grimacing suddenly. "Ow, ow"

"Try to relax, the more you tense up, the more it'll hurt," JJ said gently, keeping her hands either side of Clem's head to keep her from moving. "I remember when I broke my leg, my muscles kept going into spasm and it hurt so much more"

The gym slowly emptied out by the time the paramedics arrived, and once Clem was safely in their hands, JJ had clambered out of the pit and pulled a shaking Kate into her arms. Everything passed in a blur, nothing making sense in front of JJ's eyes. She was vaguely aware of someone pulling Kate away from her, moments before Nick came to stand in front of her, his hands resting on her shoulders.

"JJ," he said softly.

And then, snapped from the fog, it came rushing back for her to relive once more. The sound of Clem's neck breaking, followed by the young girl's hysterical screams. All of it was filling her ears, drowning her in every horrific second.

Gagging, JJ turned, staggering over to the plastic bucket she had brought out earlier to fill with chalk. Thankful for her laziness in that moment, she fell to her knees, holding herself up on shaking arms as she retched into it. She felt Nick kneel down beside her, shielding her from view of the kids who were still lingering near the foyer.

"Try to breathe," Nick said gently, rubbing circles on her back. "Everything's ok. Clem was conscious and talking when they took her to the ambulance, even managed a few laughs"

"She's paralysed Nick," JJ choked out, her voice thick with tears as she slowly sat back on her feet, her weight still resting on her shaking arms. "I heard her neck break"

"I know," Nick breathed, the fear and guilt he'd been suppressing suddenly rising up all at once. Equally as shaky, he wrapped an arm around JJ's shoulders, trying so hard to give her the comfort he knew all the gymnasts would be needing that evening.

"I saw her falling... she was going to hit the track, so... I pushed her out over the pit... I pushed her and she landed on her head"

Pulling back, Nick tipped JJ's chin up. "JJ, this is not your fault"

"You left me in charge of spotting her," JJ sobbed.

"I know, because she was only doing a double tuck, and Clem's been doing those with no problems for three years. If it had been anything else, I wouldn't have asked you to spot her," Nick said firmly. "JJ, this is absolutely not your fault. Had you not intervened, it could've been fatal. What if she had hit her head on the end of the track? JJ, I've seen people get killed on impact from something such as a broken neck, you probably just saved her life"

JJ sniffed, her hands shaking as she straightened up ever so slightly.

"If I had been there spotting, the same thing would have happened. This was not in any way caused by you... from what I managed to get out of Kate, it sounds like Clem balked on the punch but her muscle memory took her all the way over. This was an accident, JJ. A horrible confluence of bad luck"

"Nick, I can't get hold of Kate's mom," came Elliott's soft voice, making the two of them look up. JJ's eyes landed on the younger blonde, whose eyes were red from crying, starkly highlighted against her pale face. Immediately, JJ reached out for her. Kate obliged straight away, collapsing down in front of JJ and allowing herself to be pulled into a tight hug.

"She said she can go to her grandmother's but she can't remember her phone number"

"Kate, is your mom at work today?" Nick asked gently. Kate's mom was a single mom, who worked as a nurse at the general hospital in the city. While Kate often spent time being shuttled around to relatives and friends when she wasn't at training or doing homeschool, she never begrudged her mother's job, knowing it was the sole financial support for her to chase her dreams.

"I think so," Kate said shakily. "She won't get off until nine"

"She can come home with me," JJ replied softly, looking up at her coaches. "We'll let her mom know where she is, and at least then she's not waiting here thinking about what happened to Clem"

"Alright, but I don't want you driving," Nick said firmly. "Elliott, do you mind taking them back to JJ's place?"

"I can do that," Elliott said quietly, nodding once as Nick and the two girls slowly got to their feet.

"Ok. Go and get your bags. I'll touch base with both of you in the morning and we'll see how we're feeling about training"

Hours later, after Sandy had lovingly mothered both JJ and Kate through the initial stages of the shock before seeing Kate off with her mom, JJ was laying awake in her bed, her eyes fixed on the clock. It was nearly midnight, and while she was absolutely shattered, she couldn't sleep, for every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was Clem falling to the mat in slow motion.

She felt restless. It was warm enough in her room, but even with a sweatshirt on, she was shivering beneath her blankets.

She didn't want to be alone. But she also didn't want to wake up her mom to nurse her through the night when things had been going so well. She'd been happy, healthy… and now she felt like she was going to spiral.

Reaching out in the darkness, she grabbed her phone off the nightstand, unlocking it and navigating through to her contacts. As if on autopilot, she scrolled down to Will's name, clicking on it straightaway to initiate a phone call.

It rang a few times before there was a click, and the sound of Will sleepily rustling around filled her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey… it's me," she said softly. "I'm… I'm so sorry for calling this late, I-"

"What's goin' on, JJ?" Will cut in, his voice gentle and kind even in his sleepy state.

There was a moment's silence before JJ started speaking, the words spilling from her lips with no hesitation. "One of the girls got hurt today at the gym, and… I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about it. I… I just really… never mind," she murmured. "I'm sorry I woke you up"

"Hey, hey, wait a second," Will said gently. "Are you ok?"

The question seemed to sit on JJ's chest, her eyes burning with tears as she pondered her answer.

"N-not really," she said shakily. "Could… could you come over?"

"Yeah, give me ten minutes ok? I'll be right there"

And true to his word, ten minutes later she was making her way down the stairs to let him in at the front door. She quietly flipped the latch, swinging the door open to find herself immediately enveloped in a comforting hug from Will.

"Thank you," she breathed, burying her face in the cotton of his shirt.

Quietly, so as not to wake Sandy, they headed upstairs, clambering beneath the covers of JJ's bed. Even though everything that had happened that day was still rattling around her head, just having Will next to her gave her a little more comfort, putting her enough at ease to relax into her pillows. His arms were wrapped around her, making her feel warm and safe, even if just for tonight.

Tomorrow, she would tackle a new day, but for now, she was just grateful for the sanctity of Will's presence.