Disclaimer: Not mine.

Kelly looked up when the door to the Rock crashed open. She was sure that what she saw a trick of her imagination: Payson was striding across the gym looking furious. This was doubly impossible. Payson was in Denver, not in Boulder, and she never got angry anymore. She hadn't been angry since long before she left the Rock.

Payson glared across the gym at Sasha and stormed up the stairs to his office. He moved to follow her and so did Kelly. Kelly reached the door just after Payson did, only to be shuffled back down the stairs by Kim and Summer.

"Come on," Kim said, "Let's give them a chance to talk."

"What's going on here, Kim?" Summer asked, confused, "Why is Payson back? I thought you said that she went to Denver to get away from the Rock drama."

"Well, that was sort of true," she said as she hurried them across the gym to where Kaylie and Lauren were standing together.

Sasha reached the stairs and took them two at a time. Kelly winced when he slammed the door behind him, the sound echoing against the metal walls of the gym. For a very brief moment there was complete silence as the entire gym stopped to see what would happen. Then there was an explosion of sound.

It sounded like they were both yelling at each other at the same time. Kelly couldn't tell what they were saying, but she made out more than a few swear words.

"I guess Marty did his job," Kim muttered under her breath.

Lauren narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean? What did Marty do?"

"He got her angry and he got her here. They need to have this fight."

Kelly turned toward Kim in shock. "Oh my God, you know!"

"Of course I know," she scoffed. "She's my daughter and he's one of my best friends. I've known longer than they've known."

"Know what?" Summer broke in. "Kim, what are you talking about?"

Kelly ignored their resident Bible thumper and asked, "So what did you do? How did you and Marty get her here?"

"I don't know what Marty did," she admitted. "My job was to get Sasha riled up."

"How'd you do that?" Lauren asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "The only way I know to piss off Sasha is to talk too much during practice."

Kim looked distinctively guilty. "I accused him of ruining Payson's life."

Something about Kim's expression made Kelly suspicious. "Do you believe that?"

"Yes."

"You don't really, do you, Mrs. Keeler?" asked Kaylie. "He's just trying to protect her. He doesn't want to ruin her reputation."

"He doesn't need to ruin her reputation," she spat out. "She's doing a pretty good job of that herself."

Kaylie was too naïve to accept the truth. "That's not true. Payson would never do anything to jeopardize her chance at the Olympics."

Kelly must not have schooled her face very well, because Lauren picked up on something. "What do you know, Kelly?" she asked. "You're hiding something."

She heaved a reluctant sigh before answering. "I've talked to some of the people at Denver Elite. Payson's earned herself a few nicknames since she switched gyms. The nicest of them is Put-Out Payson."

Kim whipped around to face her. "You knew," she accused. "You knew what she was doing and you didn't tell me?"

"What was the point? What could you have done to stop it, put her in a chastity belt?"

"Kim's right, Kelly," said Summer, "You shouldn't have kept something like that from her. It's Kim's job to protect Payson."

Kelly was about to knock Summer upside her bleach blonde head when Lauren interrupted her. "Umm, guys…"

"What!" Kim, Kelly, and Summer all shouted at the same time.

Lauren pointed to the office. "Do you think they know we can see them?"

Payson and Sasha had moved during their argument so that they were standing in front of the office window, and everybody in the gym was staring at them.

Kim was the first one to recover enough to answer. "I'm pretty sure they don't, but do you want to be the one to interrupt that fight to tell them?"

For a long while the five women on the floor stopped their argument and watched the one taking place upstairs. Payson and Sasha were still screaming at the top of their lungs, getting in each others' faces, and occasionally Sasha would turn away and Payson would jerk on his arm to engage him in the fight again. Kelly was legitimately worried that they might kill each other before the argument was over.

Whispers had broken out across the gym. Nobody other than the elite girls knew the reason for Payson's defection to Denver, and the rumors were flying with new ferocity. Some people thought that Sasha had assaulted her, but not many believed that was true. One of the more common rumors was that Payson caught Sasha and her mom together. A few people even thought that Payson and Kelly had a torrid affair that ended badly. Kelly had never negated that rumor; it was better for Payson than the truth.

All around the gym, people were trying to decipher Payson and Sasha's screams and figure out exactly what the fight was about. Then suddenly part of Sasha's words came through loud and clear: "…whoring around in Denver."

A slap rang across the gym, followed by a collective gasp. It was a toss up which was more shocking, Sasha calling Payson a whore or Payson slapping him.

Then the most shocking thing of all happened: Payson lunged at Sasha and kissed him. And he didn't push her away. They attacked each other savagely, looking like they were trying to hurt each other more than give pleasure. Sasha backed her up against the desk and hitched her leg over his hip and she slid her hands under his shirt. If things didn't stop soon they were going to end up having sex in front of the entire gym.

The gymnasts had broken out in catcalls and Summer's mouth was hanging open. "Kim," she said, grabbing onto Kim's arm, "You have to put a stop to this!"

"No. The fight's not over yet. They need to have this out." Kim's words proved to be prophetic, because as soon as they left her mouth Sasha pushed away from Payson. They were quieter now, but it was clear that they were still arguing.

Summer stomped her high heeled foot like a toddler and turned to face Kim directly. "What the hell is going on here? Payson and Sasha just…just…and you let them! Is this why Payson left, because she was having an affair with Sasha?"

Kelly saved Kim the trouble of giving a very awkward answer. "She left because Sasha wouldn't be with her. He such a stubborn idiot that he'd rather hurt himself and her than admit how he feels!"

Summer opened and closed her mouth several times and then stomped her foot again. "Well, I'm not going to stand here and watch this happen."

There was scattered applause as she left. She was a good manager, but she hadn't been a favorite among the gymnasts. Lauren started to follow her but stopped after two steps. She glanced up to the office at Payson and Sasha and then back at the door that Summer had just walked through. She nodded sharply to herself and said, "Payson's more important. I'll talk to Summer later."

They watched with bated breath as Payson and Sasha talked. They had calmed down after their passionate kiss and were no longer yelling. Payson was leaning against the desk, in the same spot that Sasha had left her, and he was pacing the room. They spoke for over half an hour before, finally, Payson held her hand out to Sasha and he took it. When he pulled her into his arms and kissed her the entire gym cheered.

Kelly had forgotten there were other people watching. "Do you think we should break this up?" she asked. They deserved to have a little privacy. There were dozens of people watching what should be a very special, very private moment.

"Yeah," said Kim, "I'll go talk to them. You three try to get the gym going again."

For the second time that day, everybody in Denver Elite was looking at her. Payson should be used to it by now; she had spent pretty much the entire day being stared at.

"Payson, what are you doing back here?"

She looked around to find Marty. He was approaching her cautiously, as if she would run away if he moved too fast.

"I'm training, Marty. It's been a long day and I just want to get back to work." There was no questioning her exhaustion. Her eyes had dark circles under them and she was swaying just a little bit where she stood.

"That's the part where I'm fuzzy," he said. "I thought I sent you back to the Rock."

Payson pulled her hair out its messy ponytail and redid it, pretending like there was nothing unusual about the situation. "What did you think was going to happen, Marty? We would kiss and make up and then the whole gym would break out in a song and dance number about sunshine and kittens? That's not real life."

He ran a hand across his face, a nervous habit of his. "What happened, then?"

She mounted the beam and then said, "We worked things out. But that can't change the things that I've done or the things he's said, and it can't change the fact that he's thirteen years older than me. We can't go back to the way things were. I'm staying here until the Olympics are over. That is if I'm even allowed to go to the Olympics."

"Of course you're going to the Olympics," he said. "You're the best gymnast in the country, probably the best in the world."

Payson scoffed. "You think this is all going to stay in the gym? Everyone knows that I've been sleeping around, and I wasn't kidding about YouTube earlier. Dozens of people just watched me dry hump Sasha against his desk—"

"Christ, Payson, stop saying things like that!"

"—so I'm sure someone was recording that. My DOD might not be high enough to overcome my reputation."

He ran his hand across his face again. "So what do we do?"

"I keep training and we see how things go. That's just the way life works." With that, she ended the conversation and started working. If she worked hard enough she just might be able to undo a little bit of the damage she had done.

A/N: Why Kelly's POV? Because if I wrote the fight the language would have bumped me up to an M rating. They weren't nice to each other.

And, yes, this was the end.