Dis: I own nothing. All rights to ABC Family and their respective creators and actors. This is a work of fiction and non-for-profit.

The call wasn't fully unexpected. Mark knew that Sasha had been missing the girls and calling Kim for updates. They were part of his life. Payson's words came rushing back to him not for the first time.

"... he made me feel beautiful, protected and special"

"Hold on Sasha I'll go get Kim.", Mark said, truth be told the Keeler family had missed Sasha Belov's presence almost as much as their daughters. The young man had, without obvious notice, become part of their family. They had moved back to Minnesota to be closer to family as well as for his work, still the friends and gymnastic family they left in Colorado would always hold a place in their hearts.

"Actually I wanted to speak to you. I just got a rather interesting phone call."

There was a tactical pause in which Mark let a soft 'Oh' escape his mouth, his mind immediately turning over worst case scenarios. Had Payson's youthful indiscretion come back to haunt her again?

Her coach must have realized where his mind was going.

"It's nothing to really worry about. I just got a call from Payson's boyfriend." Mark leaned against the counter. He'd heard all about the young man that had caught his daughter's attention. Part of Mark wished that the Training Center had held the same rules as the Rock. Had Sasha expected the girls to stick to those rules while there?

"Her boyfriend, Reggie, Redgar or whatever his name is?" Mark responded.

"Rigo." Sasha supplied, Mark could hear the warm smile in Sasha's voice at the normal reaction of a father refusing to remember his daughter's boyfriend's name.

"He explained to me that they are placing Payson in a place where she will get to go the Olympics but she won't stand a chance to meddle unless she changes her coaches mind, which she has decided to do. And we all have seen what happens when Payson decides that she is going to do something."

Mark has no doubt that both of them are thinking about her sudden change in flight plans before Worlds. Not for the first time, Mark let out a small sigh, one of resignation that he would have to stay open-minded and allow Payson to make her own choices.

"I take it you're going down to see her and make sure she succeeds with this plan?"

Sasha doesn't actually answer the question.

"I was hoping you'd ride out from the airport with me. The last time we talked Kim mentioned that you were coming out to pick up Payson after the final team trials."

"Yeah, the girls wanted to come too, but there is just too much going on after the move and Becca just started school."

"She handling the move well?"

"Well. For a normal teenaged girl."

They both give a small laugh.

Giving Sasha his flight information, Sasha agrees to pick him up at the airport where they'll drive to the training center from there. They discuss that the hotels in the area will be pretty full so sharing a room would be a good plan.

Later that night the conversation was still on Marks mind. Kim leaned back from her husband where they snuggled on the couch.

"What is it Mark?"

He placed a hand over the one she was rubbing up and down his arm.

"Sasha." he said, and gave a soft laugh as Kim gave him a confused look that mirrored how he felt about the entire conversation.

"The whole thing feels weird Kim. I get that he called because he is traveling out there just to work with our daughter and not the other girls, and having me there will keep it from looking inappropriate. But I feel more like I just got done having a conversation with my daughters boyfriend than her coach. He never said it, but it felt like he was asking for permission to go see Payson, not so much asking me to come with him." Mark was now leaning forward wringing his hands, elbows pressed on his knees.

"Mark, he loves her." Mark's head snaps to look at his wife, his expression a mixture of surprise and panic. "Don't look at me like that, and let me finish." she admonishes taking a deep breath.

"He has spent nearly everyday with Payson for the last four years. He has spent more waking hours with her than we have if you think about it. They've been thrown under the bus by the NGO, fought every step of the way to get her to worlds and into the Training Center. Now he gets a call saying that she may be derailed at the very end of that journey... Do you expect him to not care? He loves her in the sense that he would do anything to protect her dreams, much like we would. When this is all done, and the Olympics are over, I have little doubt that Sasha will remain very much a part of Payson's life. They've shared too much to simply part ways as teacher and student often do. He is her friend."

Mark sat silent for a bit thinking on what Kim had said. It was obvious that she'd given some time to the thought of how to define the relationship between their daughter and her coach, and it was very much like Kim to have already looked forward to when Payson's goals would be accomplished.

"True, and I'm sure this will beat listening to Alex Cruze recount his glory days." With a knowing chuckle between them the tension lifted and he reclined pulling his wife into his arms watching the rest of the evenings news.

Mark's flight touched down midday, the trip from Boulder's airport to the Training Center would take only a couple of hours. Sasha took Mark's bag and tossed it into the bed of his GMC with his things.

The conversation flows naturally, they talk about the flight, how bad airline food is, which leads to a pit stop to get edible food. They talk about the different places they have lived, and favorite sports teams.

"Cardinals huh?" Mark comments.

"Well, being part British it's treason as it is to like baseball, and my sister lived in the south part of Missouri. So I followed the team her husband followed to have something to talk with him about."

Mark barked out a laugh.

"How American, making peace with the in-laws over sports."

"Actually I think it was more the beer that went with the sports that kept the peace." Mark could relate.

"Back home, I don't think we've ever had a family gather that didn't require such tactics. Of course such things also have led to some interesting situations, like the year Payson got hold of the Rum filled chocolates. " Mark couldn't miss the spark of interest and the curious twinkle in Sasha's eyes.

"She was only fourteen." Mark pauses, five years feeling like such a long time, and yet no time at all. "Not a clue what was in them, I think she thought they were Cherry Cordials. Anyhow we realized pretty quickly that something wasn't right; she became hyper active, singing at the top of her lungs and dancing around the living room. Things that Payson was normally too reserved to do. Next thing she was sound asleep. She felt awful the next morning, she didn't even want to unwrap gifts."

"How many had she eaten?" Sasha asked, a small smile on his face.

"One." Knowing he would understand, her small stature and inexperience with alcohol would have such effects.

"So mature yet so innocent." Sasha stared ahead at the highway as Mark studied him. Coming from most men that would have put Mark on edge, but given the far off look the younger man next to him had, he could almost see the comparison being made.

"I know, we got lucky. Payson is so focused, so determined that she hasn't even considered doing half of the things that her mom and I got up to at her age." both laughed

"Payson is everything I wish I'd been at her age. It wasn't the sport that ruined me, but the pressure and my arrogance. I had the pressures of an adult, but the emotional maturity of a teenaged boy. I lost my way from time to time. Dimitri could hardly hold himself together after losing my mom. Nicolai, my coach, was there to knock some sense into me on more that once occasion." He shakes his head and takes a drink, Mark is a bit taken by how quickly the light conversation turned so personal.

"I've got the scars from a few of those times." Sasha gives a wry smile.

"Anyhow, Payson has faced more than her share of challenges getting where she is today. This one is a bit different though. It's a gamble. If I go in there and help her rework her routine and Coach McIntire doesn't like it she could lose her spot on the Olympic team altogether." Sasha paused letting what he was saying sink in with Mark.

As he'd said these words they have pulled into the visitors lot at the Training Center. Mark fixed his gaze on the building, allowing the pregnant silence to sit between them.

"Sasha, this is her dream. This is her choice." he finally spoke turning towards the man next to him, who suddenly seemed everyone of his years and world weary for it.

"Our family is the type to strive for normal, to keep things steady, we've taught our girls to think through all of their choices and to anticipate what impact those choices will have on their future. We've done our best to keep them safe, and to install in them to make safe choices. Now you are telling me that if my daughter follows those instructions she loses her dream." Mark takes a raged breath, he can't help but notice that Sasha is tensed, as if waiting for a physical blow.

"Payson changed when you came into her life, maybe it was the changes that brought you into her life, but I think more it was your influence. Without you her dreams would have been over the day she broke her back, and we both know that would have happened no matter who was coaching her. You found her a doctor that would give her a chance at her dreams, you stood by her as she fought her way back, you tried to protect her from Beals even if she didn't listen, you gave her every chance and opportunity to grow, never allowing her to settle for... for... safe." Mark reached out and clapped Sasha on the shoulder.

"I trust you Sasha. I know you have my daughters best interest, happiness and dreams at heart." He locked eyes with the man that would keep his daughter's dream alive yet again, trying to convey how much that alone meant to him.

Mark heads to check into their room while Sasha calls Payson's boyfriend to meet up with them. He makes no comment about Sasha's red eyes, filing it away as something to talk to Kim about later.

AN: I didn't get nearly enough of Mark Keeler in this show. I think Mark is the kind of dad that would hit the boyfriend then hand him a beer five minutes later... save the 'boyfriend' right now is underage ;-)