A/N: The end of this one is SO sweet!

The lights were bright, blaring down from overhead as she stood at the end of the vault runway watching Nick fix the springboard. The all-around final was well and truly underway, but JJ was fighting to stay focused. All morning, her mind had been stuck on the fact that this was her last all-around final. She had competed and medalled in every major AA final since 2012, with the exception of 2013. This was the second to last time she would compete each of her routines. And as much as she felt she had made peace with that decision, she couldn't help but allow a little bit of sadness to settle in her stomach. Gymnastics had been part of her life for so long. Leaving it behind was daunting.

But right now, she had to focus. She had a storied history of all-around finals behind her, with one last one ahead. And she was determined to make it one of the best.

Getting a nod from Nick to indicate the board was ready, she looked to the judges for her green light. It came just a few moments later, and she wasted no time in raising her arms to salute, her chin raising ever so slightly as a smile graced her face.

"Now, the gymnast everyone is waiting to see. The reigning Olympic all-around champion… chasing the World title to add to her already overflowing trophy case"

She took a deep breath, settling herself on her mark. Eyes focused like lasers on the table, she took off, sprinting powerfully down the runway. She launched into her round-off, her hands propelling off the mat and back towards the table as her feet hit the springboard. The block was high and strong, sending her clear up over the table as she flipped and twisted through the air. Two and a half twists later, she came down on the landing mat, hopping once to catch her momentum before stepping to the side and presenting with a smile.

"What a great start for Jennifer Jareau! She is the only gymnast competing a vault more difficult than a double twist today, so she should be clear ahead in the standings after that effort!"

"Nice job JJ!" Ellie Black of Canada said as JJ came down the stairs. JJ beamed, accepting a quick hug from the younger girl just before Nick reached her. "I wish I could do Yurchenko vaults as easily as you, I've never been able to master it"

"Well, I've never gotten the hang of handspring vaults," JJ chuckled. "They terrify me"

"Great start Jayje," Nick said with a smile as she fell into step beside him while they walked back to the bags. "Very nice"

"Are you giving up on critiques because there's almost no point now?"

Nick laughed. "Precisely. I'll just tell you what was good and leave it at that"

"Let's go JJ! You got it!" Morgan yelled from the sidelines as JJ prepared to mount the bars. Mai Murakami of Japan had just completed her routine, and now, JJ was up, ready to lay down a second fight towards the world title.

Spying the green light out of the corner of her eye, she turned towards the judges table and saluted. Turning back to face the bars, she quickly checked the placement of her grips once more before taking a deep breath and jumping into her glide kip. She focused on every muscle in her body, watching her hand placements as she came to the top of the bar and did a full pirouette. Then she was swinging beneath it again, before launching up towards the high bar. As she turned to face the high bar, the lights of the arena flooded her vision, dazzling her for a split second, but thankfully, muscle memory took over, allowing her an easy catch.

"Nice and clean so far for Jennifer Jareau, that's all she needs to do. Just stay on the bars and keep it clean"

Her first release soared through the air, even though the catch was a little far for her liking. Another pirouette took her to her second release, which she connected straight down to the low bar in a Pak salto, another split second where the lights threatened to blind her off the apparatus.

One more transition brought her back to the high bar, where she pulled herself up to the top in preparation for her dismount.

"Just the dismount JJ, come on!"

One swing… two swings… PING!

With the bars rattling behind her, she flipped and twisted through the air, landing her full twisting double layout almost perfectly upright, the smile already on her face before her feet had even hit the ground. The crowd went nuts, filling her with more joy than she thought was possible as she turned to present to the judges.

"Fantastic routine from Jennifer Jareau! I think she had a couple of little moments in there where it could have come undone, but she held it together and put it to her feet! Now she's just got her two best events to go"

"I saw you almost lose it on your Van Leeuwen," Nick said as she came down the stairs. "Did the lights get you?"

"Yeah, it's like there's a thousand people in the ceiling shining high beam torches directly into your eyeballs. When I came up for the bar, I couldn't see it, I kind of just had to rely on the direction I was already traveling"

"You held it together, shows how much you've learnt over the years of competing in all sorts of different setups," Nick replied, patting her back as she reached her bag and began pulling her grips off. "Do you need more tape on your ankle for beam?"

JJ shook her head. "I should be ok until floor"

"Is it hurting?"

"I mean, yeah, but no more than usual. The landings sting a little bit, but it's fine, I've got two more days after this and then I can rest it for good"

"Is it hurting across the front?"

"It's mostly at the back, I think it's from my calf being tight, but it doesn't feel great all around to be honest. It'll be ok though, like I said… two more days"

Nick grinned, nodding as he turned to watch the other girls taking to the events, the lights blaring down from above. The lighting in the arena was extremely intense, and many of the girls were reporting getting disoriented while swinging on bars, or losing their footing on beam because they were struggling to see it while flipping. Bars hadn't been the only casualty of the championships. Even though JJ was the clear favourite for the title, there were many strong contenders missing; Larisa Iordache of Romania had gone down barely minutes before qualifications, very much like Ragan, when she'd torn her Achilles in the touch warmup on floor. Eythora Thorsdottir had withdrawn from a full program after missing a Bhardwaj transition in training and smacking her ribs into the low bar. Rebeca Andrade had been intending to compete, only to take a dodgy landing in training and tear her ACL for the second time. And it wasn't just the women having issues. Over on the men's side, the legend himself, Kohei Uchimura, had injured his ankle in a very similar way to Ragan, and thus he had also had to withdraw from the all-around, his most coveted title.

But JJ was determined to turn what had been a bit of a rocky Worlds overall into one of her best, and so even though the lighting issues had been reported on beam as well, she had marched over to the beam and made it bend to her will, as was by now surely expected of her. She was the first up in their rotation, so after a fantastic routine that had come without so much as a wobble, she felt secure and confident as she watched the remaining five girls compete after her. But as it was so notorious for doing, beam was the undoing of two of the top podium contenders.

Ellie Black was second to last, and after a lot of nerve wracking wobbles, the deal breaker came at the end of her routine. A step out after her punch front turned into a nail biting wobble in which she almost came off the beam. Immediately after Ellie came Mai Murakami, who was eagerly seeking a place on the podium. This was thrown into immediate doubt when she came off the beam on a double spin, incurring a full point deduction for the fall.

As they moved around to floor, silver and bronze were completely up in the air. JJ sat by the sidelines letting Nick make sure her foot was securely taped, cheering as tiny bespectacled Morgan Hurd took the floor as the first of the six competitors in the last rotation. Her routine was a delight, every movement perfectly crafted, her artistry and grace undeniable, but perfectly paired with her powerful tumbling. When her score came up, she was easily into first place, leaving the remaining five to decide the podium standings.

Before long, it was down to the final three. Ellie was up first, chasing a historic medal for Canada. JJ hung by the side of the podium, cheering and clapping as Ellie showcased clean tumbling. It probably wasn't as difficult as Ellie would have needed to surpass Morgan, who was sitting comfortably in first for the time being, but it was enough to get her into second place. With two left to go, Morgan was guaranteed a medal, and judging by the scoring gap coupled with Murakami's average scores on floor, there was a good chance that Ellie was as well.

Murakami put out an incredible routine, packed with powerful, difficult tumbling, and clean dance elements. It was without a doubt, the routine of a lifetime. But it wasn't enough. Tears flowed when she came up in fourth place, just shy of Elena Eremina of Russia, who was no doubt about to be bumped off the podium at the conclusion of JJ's routine.

"On floor exercise, representing the United States of America… Jennifer Jareau!"

A wild round of applause broke out as JJ saluted and stepped out onto the floor. Up in the stands, Will and Sandy were watching on tenterhooks, excited for what now seemed to be an absolute given.

"I wonder how she must feel right now. This is the first time she's ever basically been guaranteed an all-around title"

Her music began, booming dramatically through the space. She broke out into her choreography, moving gracefully from her starting position into the corner. Swiveling on one foot, she took off across the floor, tumbling from corner to corner before launching up into her double twisting double layout, landing it perfectly upright without a flicker as the crowd went wild.

"I love how she does that, she makes it look SO easy!"

In her head, the story played out. She pictured Rio, vibrant and green as she ran into her next pass. She landed her tucked double double just as easily as the first pass, and immediately broke off into her next section of dance.

When she came to the corner for her third pass, she caught Nick's eye just before she turned to face the diagonal, cracking a small smile as he gave her a thumbs up.

"Little smile there as she catches the eye of her coach"

Her third pass was easy, a far cry from how it had felt all of the previous year. Ignoring the ache in her foot, she propelled herself across the floor, whipping into a high double Arabian. She had a little too much momentum, and thus took a step out of it instead of connecting it to a jump, but she knew; the buffer was too high. She could have literally fallen and would still be ok.

By the time she got to the last pass, the final bars of her music echoing dramatically around what felt like a silent arena, her heart was pounding in her chest. Whereas in Rio, she had finished her routine thinking Simone was going to win, tonight was different. She was going to win. She would land this pass and seal the deal on a world all-around title.

She focused hard on every part of her body as she took off down the diagonal, pushing hard through her shoulders and punching dynamically out of her round-off. The full twisting double tuck on the end was high and flighty, and as she landed it, she rebounded into a beautifully horizontal split jump. The remainder of her music was drowned out beneath the cheering and applause as she stepped forward, turning on one foot, before standing stock still and punching her fist twice into the air. Her music faded away as the cheering intensified, and she allowed herself to cast her eyes around the arena, still frozen in her final pose, the smile on her face wider than ever. American flags were waving, some people were on their feet. And they were all cheering for her.

"I think that'll do it! Jennifer Jareau is, without a DOUBT, the 2017 world all-around champion, and absolutely deservedly so, I don't think there is a gymnast out there tonight who would argue that at all"

"A little over six months ago, that same girl laid in my bed in the middle of the night and told me she wanted to hurt herself," Sandy said tearfully from beside Will up in the stands. "I can't believe I'm watching the same person"

"She's just the most incredible human," Will agreed with a smile, reaching over and taking Sandy's hand. He gave it a gentle squeeze, the two of them sitting there and allowing the emotion, the joy, the triumph of everything JJ had just achieved to wash over them.

Finally allowing herself to relax from her final pose, JJ turned to the judges, presenting the end of the routine, before turning and waving to the still cheering crowd as she began to walk towards the stairs. Nick was waiting at the bottom, arms open ready to sweep her into a hug, and JJ could swear there was a hint of a tear in his eyes.

"You will never cease to amaze me kiddo," he said warmly as she reached the bottom, wrapping her up in a tight hug and kissing the top of her head. "Rio was amazing, of course… but tonight… tonight you went out there and you showed the world how much passion and how much joy this sport still brings you, no matter where you finish at the end of the day. I'm so proud of you"

"I couldn't do any of this without you," JJ said thickly, pulling back and smiling up at her coach as she swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat. "Thanks for not strangling me all these years"

Nick laughed. "I came close some days, believe me"

At that moment, JJ's score went up, and the rankings were set.

RK
1 - JAREAU. J. - USA - 56.966
2 - HURD. M. - USA - 55.232
3 - BLACK. E. - CAN - 55.132

"Ellie!" JJ shrieked excitedly, pulling away from Nick and leaping towards her friend who had just taken an absolutely historical medal for Canada. "Look at you go! And so close to Morgan too!"

"I know!" Ellie said excitedly, allowing JJ to throw her arms around her. The two girls laughed, hugging each other in the excitement of the moment. "But you! World champion! Absolute beast!"

"Almost makes me not want to retire," JJ joked as she pulled back.

"Do it. Just Chuso it," Ellie laughed, right as Morgan joined them.

"Morgi! I'm so proud of you!" JJ gushed, wrapping her younger teammate in a tight hug. Morgan was positively beaming, tears of joy filling her eyes behind her glasses as she allowed JJ to give her a tight squeeze.

"I got a silver!" Morgan gushed happily, a couple of tears spilling down her cheeks. JJ smiled, lifting her hands and gently wiping the tears from Morgan's cheeks, both of them beaming from ear to ear. Cameras were all around them, capturing every moment of the joy, snapping every second. Someone passed them a USA flag, and without even hesitating, the two girls draped it around their shoulders, turning to face the cameras with smiles made of gold. Once again, the USA had gone 1-2 on the podium, and in the bid to change the culture, they hadn't done it with fear, pressure, and anxiety. They had done it with joy, love, and passion for a sport that had made them into champions.

|jareaumanar|

*candid photo of JJ wiping the tears from Morgan's cheeks. Both girls are smiling and relaxed*

I can't, I can't! She's so caring. And when the final score went up, the first thing JJ did was turn and hug Ellie to congratulate her for her bronze medal!

|tkatchevmeifyoucan|

PETITION FOR JJ TO NOT RETIRE, WE NEED HER SWEETNESS ON THIS NATIONAL TEAM FOREVER

*photo of Morgan, JJ, and Ellie standing together on top of the podium*

jenniferjareau94
Super proud tonight to be the world all-around champion, and I couldn't have shared the podium with better people. The journey from the Olympic final last year to this final tonight has been… incredibly difficult. I'm so proud to be standing here. This medal means so much more to me than winning the world championship. It also represents every battle I've fought along the way outside of gymnastics. 7 months ago, I tried to take my own life. Tonight, I'm extremely grateful that I was unsuccessful. Because there were so many wonderful things waiting for me. I just couldn't see them yet.

alyraisman I'm so proud of you! Amazing performance, I was watching every second!

simonebiles love you sm! You're amazing! I wanna be like you when I grow up!

will_lamontagne12 unbelievably proud of you babe. You're a rockstar, and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that I'm really really glad you're still here. I love you!